A Small Town Dream (26 page)

“It wasn’t appropriate, Anne, professionally, I mean. Not right after your graduation. I also was fairly sure you’d give up on me after a while, find some nice young man here.” Annie just looked at him.

“You’re kidding, right? About finding another guy?” Dean looked at her, suddenly serious.

“Anne, you went through a lot, and your little quips about transference? You were right to catch yourself in that way. I was proud of you.”

“Then why didn’t you—”

“Tell you?” She nodded. “Same reason. Professional ethics. I had no business leading you on.”

“You wouldn’t have been leading me on.”

“Exactly.” She blinked.

“You mean…?”

“I had some very strong feelings for you, too, Miss Anne Stewart. But I respected you too much—and myself—to let something happen between us prematurely.”

“And things have changed now?” He reached out and kissed her hand.

“The only thing that has changed is time. And circumstances. I heard you’ve been working with the psychologist I recommended.” She nodded. “Well, I got some professional help myself. I needed to make sure my feelings for you weren’t temporary.”

“And you found out they weren’t?” she said, batting her lashes. In answer, Dean nodded and laughed. “So, why didn’t you return my calls this last month?”

“I lost my phone.” Annie was flabbergasted. “Yep. Left it somewhere, and no one returned it. I felt like an idiot, but I wasn’t seeing clients, so…” He shrugged and lifted his hands in a helpless gesture. “I may be a decent counselor, but I’m still just a guy sometimes, and guys do stupid things like losing cell phones.” Annie swatted him playfully.

“So how did you find me?” Immediately Annie realized that was a stupid question, considering not only were her parents listed in the phonebook, but in a little town like Rockland, everybody knew where everybody else lived anyway. “I guess I should ask, why are you here
now
?” Dean put down his coffee and took both of her hands in his.

“I saw the news report.” Annie didn’t have to ask which one. “Listen, Anne, I need to go.” She couldn’t keep her face from crumpling. “No, no,” he said hastily, “I need to go to the bed and breakfast and pack a bag. You need time to do that, too.” Now Annie couldn’t help her heart beating faster.

“Where are we—
going
? She managed. Then she heard her father from the living room.

“Elope with my daughter to Niagara Falls, young man,” her dad bellowed, “and you’ll never work in this town again.” Annie and Dean both dissolved into laughter. When they’d calmed down, Dean took her hand in his and looked at her, serious once more.

“I’m going with you to the prison, and we’re going to finish things with Parker.”

***

“You know,” Dean said, facing Annie in their seat on the train, “I’ve never been on a train before, isn’t that embarrassing?” Annie reached for his hand.

“Please,” she said, “the list of things I’ve never done would put you to shame.” Dean laughed and pulled her over to sit beside him.

“In good time,” he smiled at her, “all in good time.”

He put his arm around her and, leaning into each other, they watched the world roll by.

“What the fuck do I care how she feels,” Parker spat into the phone. Dean sat and looked at him through the glass, the phone to his ear, Annie at his side. “Huh? Tell me, why the fuck should I care?”

“Because, Parker,” Dean said, his tone even and direct. “It’s time for things to change. People need to heal and move forward with their lives. You know this, Parker. You need to man up and take responsibility for what you did.” Parker was bouncing in his seat, rocking back and forth, his eyes on Annie. He looked like he would break through the glass.

“Look at me, Parker,” Dean said softly, but Parker ignored him. “
Look at me Parker!
” Parker’s eyes shot to Dean. “Stop being a complete ass. Tell Annie you’re sorry, admit that she had nothing to do with your actions, and we’ll all move forward.”

“But what’s in it for me,” Parker asked, a smirk spreading across his face. Dean lifted one finger,
wait
. Then he hung up the phone and turned to Annie.

“Anne, I’d like you to leave us alone for a few minutes.” Annie’s first reaction was to insist that Dean tell her why. But something in his eyes told her to honor his wish.

Once Annie was out of earshot, Dean sat again and picked up the phone. He leaned in toward the window.

“Here’s the deal, Parker,” he began, his voice even, but with an edge that made Parker blink.

“I love Annie and, in time and with a great deal of luck, I’m going to marry her. I can make her happy. I can take her on
real
adventures, build a home with her. Maybe even make a few dreams happen together. We will, I have no doubt, be very happy together. Annie Stewart won’t forget you because she’s not like that. But in time, like everyone else in this town, she’ll let you fade into the past. At most, you’ll be an unpleasant memory. Your parents will be the only ones who visit you, and unless you get it together, you will die—maybe even in here—alone, bitter and miserable. I have no problem with that. I’ll recuse myself from further defense because you’ll be a conflict of interest—in the worst possible way.”

Dean watched Parker carefully. Parker’s face, once defiant and smug, began to change. His eyes grew misty, and his head began to hang lower.

“What’s in it for you, Parker, providing you start working on yourself, is having her as a friend. She could be the one person who forgives you, tries to understand you and continues to visit you. She could be the one person who helps you not feel like the animal everyone believes you are.
That
is what’s in it for you, Parker, the friendship of a good, decent, caring woman. I cannot think of anything that could be better or that you could possibly need more.”

Dean sat back and waited for Parker to respond, but Parker just sat there. Dean finally looked at the clock. The hour was drawing to a close. In a way, Dean himself began to feel ill, feeling that he had, once more, failed to get through to someone in desperate need.

Parker held very still, unblinking, so Dean said, “OK then. That’s it.” Dean hung up the phone and stood. He motioned Annie to come back so they could leave together. Suddenly, Parker thumped on the glass. When Dean saw tears in his eyes, he reached for the phone, but Parker waved him off.

“I want to talk to Annie,” he said through the glass, pointing at her.

“You go,” Annie said to Dean. “I’ll be all right. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She hugged him, but he wouldn’t leave.

“Anne, I know you care about this guy, but I won’t allow it. We need to leave.” Dean took her elbow gently. “Please.”

Annie looked at Parker. She couldn’t read the expression on his face. She’d never seen such a thing. It wasn’t anger really. It was…

Whatever it was, it frightened her. So she gave Parker a formal little wave and allowed Dean to escort her from the room.

Annie didn’t visit Parker again.

She spoke at his first parole hearing, and she was honest. She still believed there was good in everyone, even Parker Levitt. But Dean also spoke, and Parker wasn’t so pleased after Dean was subpoenaed as a consult. The psychological tests conducted at the request of the prosecution overrode those of the defense so much that Parker Levitt faced possible life in prison without parole. Still, Annie wanted to know if there was a chance.

“Everyone deserves a chance, Dean,” she insisted. “Can’t he be rehabilitated enough to visit his family at least?” Dean closed his eyes and sighed. Then he took his fiancée’s hands in his, and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Honey, don’t. Don’t ask. Trust me, Anne. I’ve seen a lot of these kinds of tests, and Parker’s responses were just…scary. So for my peace of mind, please stay away from him.”

Dean had done everything he could to make Annie’s dreams come true. He had come to Rockland on her birthday with more than just flowers. Under the tree that Christmas Eve was a tiny velvet box. Annie nearly fainted, then looked frantically first at her mother then, more importantly at her father.

“Dad—?” Annie was sure he’d disapprove, but her father just beamed.

“The young man asked me first, dear.” Annie looked at Dean wide-eyed. He nodded, then took the ring from the box and held out his hand for hers.

But before he slipped it on her finger he paused. “You know, you don’t have to say y—”

“Yes!” Annie threw her arms around his neck, then kissed him. “Yes.” Kiss. “Yes.” Kiss.

“
Yes
,” he said huskily, and pulled her into their first truly passionate kiss.

Dean rented a room in a boarding house in Rockland and commuted with Annie to Davenport. She took extra classes, and with summer semesters, she graduated with a double major just a few months after Dean finished his doctorate in child psychology. He’d told her he was tired of putting out emotional fires, and would rather help kids before things started going wrong.

“What are you going to major in at Davenport,” he had asked her, the two of them bundled in front of the fire on that Christmas Day evening.

“I don’t know for sure. I’ve almost two years of general education credits to work on, so I guess I’ll wait to declare, see what feels right.” He rubbed her back affectionately, then pulled her closer.

“I’ve got an idea,” he murmured in her ear. She pulled back.

“Why, Dean Moore, what do you—” He shushed her with a finger to her lips.

“I think you should be a psychologist.”

“
Me?
” Annie was both flattered and shocked.

“You’ve got a natural grasp of the concepts. I told you how impressed I was by how you handled…
that whole
business
.” They’d begun to refer to Connie’s murder as
that whole business
.

“I don’t know. I’d feel strange competing with my…” Her diamond solitaire sparkled in the firelight. “
Husband
.”

In the end, they compromised. Annie took a double major in psychology but also in business because, while Dean admitted to being, as Annie insisted, a
brilliant psychologist
, he was lousy at finances.

They visited Seattle a few times because Annie had truly enjoyed her time there, but in the end, Rockland won out.

“Are you sure I’m not hurting your feelings, Dean?”

“Anne Stewart, there is nothing you could to that would ever seriously hurt my feelings.”

“It’s just that you really loved Seattle—”

“I did
not
love the rain.” They both laughed.

“I like Seattle, too, but the truth is,
I love Rockland more, and I really don’t want to leave.” And so they didn’t.

As a pre-wedding present, Annie’s father paid to remodel the old mechanic shop by the train depot into an office for them. He also paid for the wedding, everything from altering her mother’s wedding dress, right down to the peppermint twist roses in Annie’s bouquet.

As Annie was dressing for the ceremony, which was to be held in front of her family’s Christmas tree, Ellen was busily adjusting her veil when there was a knock on Annie’s bedroom door.

“Dean Moore, go
away
!” Annie shouted playfully. The knock came again. The girls looked at each other and shrugged. Annie hid partially in the closet while Ellen went to the door.