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Chapter or Story
Chapter 6
Jarod had been up for hours when the sun finally began to rise. Actually he had slept for only two hours or so that night, an only because his mother had been worried about him working too hard and not sleeping. He didn’t know how to explain to her that he could go up to 100 hours with no sleep and that normally he needed no more than 4 hours a night. Which was about all he got with his nightmares. Explaining all this to her was difficult, mainly because he didn’t want to remind her unnecessarily of all the years apart.
So after even less luck finding where Parker had disappeared to, he was sitting at the table trying to understand her motivations for leaving the only home she’d ever known, hoping to find a clue as to her whereabouts hidden within her motivations. He was also nursing a cup of cold coffee and watching the sun rise on what looked to be another gorgeous late March day.
When he heard the knock at the back door, he moved automatically to get it, still trying to SIM his missing friend. Blinking against the sudden light in his eyes he also tried desperately to cover his shock. She was standing there in front of him, smiling, and holding a baby.
As always it was her voice that ended her bewitching spell, as still smiling openly she asked, “So Rat, can a huntress and a baby claim refuge?”
Jarod stood there staring at her, trying to get his mind around the idea that she was real, and even harder to accept, that she had found him.
When she started laughing at him, he jerked out of his daze and stepped away from the door so she could enter.
“Refuge is always available Parker, but the real question is do you only want a break from hunting or are you done hunting?” His eyes were hard, it was the only defense he had against the memories of their last break from the game on Carthis.
“I was trained to hunt Pez-head; I’m just changing the focus of my hunt.” Her voice and eyes were just as hard as his. The only defense she had against feeling her heart break again.
“So now that ‘Daddy’ is gone you decide to just leave the Centre? Despite all his lies to you about everything in your life you only leave when he’s gone?”
“Since when do people at the Centre die? A jump from 35,000 feet would normally kill someone, bullets to the chest or even the back point blank usually kill too! Besides despite all his lies to me, and I haven’t actually fully believed anything he’s said since I was 10 thank you, Mr. Parker still raised me, he’s still in some way my father, genetics aside. Just because I don’t believe everything he ever told me doesn’t mean I didn’t want to believe it, to believe him.”
“Since when have you not believed him? You’ve been spouting his lies like a parrot since your mother died!”
“Well maybe I wanted to keep my head attached to the rest of me! You can’t do anything if you’re dead! And acting like you’ve always wanted me to would have only gotten me killed or worse. Now is there a place where I can put Ben down before we start arguing again? A crying baby is not conductive to any type of conversation.”
Sighing and knowing that she was right, though his brain qualified it with a “for once,” he nodded, “Yeah, you can put him down on the big chair in the living room. I’ll get him a blanket.”
Separating, and finding that he had been standing only inches from her during their initial argument, he stalked off to find a blanket for the little boy who had miraculously slept through the entire exchange.
Once he had found a blanket, he slipped into the comfortable living room of the large farmhouse. The room was painted a light blue and the dominant pieces of furniture were the large couch and large chair with an ottoman.
He found Parker sitting on the ottoman, which she had pulled right up to the edge of the chair. She had placed the baby on the cushions of the chair, after removing the large pillows that could have fallen on the boy. She was smiling down at the boy and gently talking to him.
“Here’s a blanket for him,” Jarod said, his voice and eyes softening not only at the sight of the baby but also at the softer, gentler side Parker displayed with him.
“Thank you. Sometimes he drools in his sleep; I wouldn’t want your parents’ furniture ruined.”
“The fabric of both the chair and the couch is a soft denim, believe me, there’s very little that this little guy could do to ruin the furniture in here.”
“Both pieces look well used considering you’ve only been in this house for 3 months, were they here before?”
“How did you…?! No they were new when we moved in. Both the couch and the chair are extremely comfortable and this early in the morning is about the only time someone isn’t on one of them. Although Ryan and Ethan both have a habit of sleeping on the couch instead of in their own rooms,” Jarod chuckled, trying to figure out how she knew how long they had been in the house.
“It’s just too comfortable to not lie down on and take a nap, right?”
“Pretty much. Mom tends to get annoyed when they sleep on the couch and not in their own beds though.”
“Only those two sleep on the couch. Yeah right Wonderboy, I have a feeling you’re just as likely a culprit as they are. You’re just more sneaky about it.” She smirked up at him. “He’s good for now. We should probably go back to the kitchen before we start arguing again. We’re not likely to stay on the topic of the furniture for long.”
“True,” Jarod sighed, in the last half hour she’d been in the house she had yet to use his name, “Will he be all right alone in here?”
“He knows I’m near by, and I’ve yet to not hear one of his nightmares. If I don’t hear it, well he has Snowball and he knows that I’m coming as fast as I can.”
“Snowball is the stuffed comfort object he has?”
“It’s a stuffed animal. In this case, a puppy. It was a Christmas present.”
Nodding at this as they reentered the kitchen, he quickly made her a cup of coffee, knowing that she would want one and glanced at the files she had placed on the table before she had taken the boy to the living room. Handing her the cup, he attempted civil conversation again. “So, I never heard anyone give your baby brother a name before. You’re calling him Ben?”
“Staying on a supposed safe subject?”
“It seemed best. We don’t want to wake everyone in the house.”
“True. Yes, I’ve been calling him Ben. When I have the time, I was planning to get him a birth certificate, since his like mine is Centre issue, and well, doesn’t actually exist. I was thinking of Benjamin Kyle as a possible full name for him….if that’s all right with you.”
Jarod was both touched and shocked at her suggestion. Both at her wanting his permissions of the boy’s name, but also at her using Kyle’s name for the boy. But this was her, and she, like him, always had a reason for doing something. “Cut the crap Parker, why do you care what I think of his name? Which, by the way I’m fine with, but I have no connection to the boy, after the two of you leave neither me, nor my family will be seeing you or your brother again.” The hardness was back, it seemed like their safe subject wasn’t so safe after all.
“We just got here and you’re already planning on when we’re leaving? Glad to know I’m so repulsive!” She shot back.
“Well leaving is what you do, isn’t it?”
“Me? Ha! You’re the one who broke his promise. You’re the one who left! Who abandoned both Angelo and me! I never left!”
“Yes you did.”
“What? When I was sent off to boarding school and then college? I had no choice in that! Hell you had more choice in whether or not you preformed SIMs than I did about my education and future!”
“Like you didn’t do everything your father told you to do willingly! You were always so anxious to please him you would have jumped off a cliff if you thought he would be proud of you for it!”
“What?! I had no choice in any part of my future Jarod! I didn’t want to go off to boarding school or to law school, and I sure as hell never wanted to work for the Centre any more than you have ever wanted to go back there! Did I want to make my father proud of me? Yes. That’s something every child wants to do. Tell me you’ve never wanted to make Sydney, or Major Charles, or your mother proud? Hmmm? Tell me that isn’t true!” She challenged.
“This isn’t about me Parker, it’s about you!” He snarled back, avoiding her question.
“Really? Wow! We’ve finally found something that’s not about you, that doesn’t involve you being at the center of all things! I was starting to think the heliocentric model and Copernicus were wrong! Because obviously the world and by extension the universe revolves around the ‘great’ pretender Jarod!”
“I have never said anything like that Parker and you know it!” he growled.
“It’s not what you say LabRat, it’s how you say it. And for the last 30 damn years your tone has said that you are the center of the world and for the last six that the lives of me and my team should revolve around you and your life at all times!”
“Well at least you and your precious team all know who they are and where they come from!”
“Really? I thought we established years ago that I have as little clue about where I come from as you do! And leave Broots and Sydney out of this!”
“At least you had a version of the truth to hold on to! I didn’t even have that!”
“Yes you did! The Centre gave you a version of the truth about what happened to your parents, and you held onto that ‘truth’ for 30 years!”
“But that was a lie!”
“Really? Well who is my biological father? Who’s Ben’s biological father? Cause if a man can’t sire a child as a young man he sure as hell can’t do it as an old man! You’re not the only one who was lied to, so why the hell do you act like you’re any different than the rest of us!”
As their argument had gotten more heated, their voices had steadily risen in volume and in intensity. Both were also focused solely on the other and either noticed the assorted members of the Russell household entering the room, and with the exception of Ethan who had seen them together before, stare in both horror and amazement as the normally extremely patient and even-tempered Jarod completely lost his temper and yelled at this strange woman. They also noticed that Jarod, who was normally extremely aware of people’s personal space, not only completely violated this woman’s personal space, but didn’t even seem to notice that he and the mystery woman were practically standing on top of each other.
“When have I ever given the impression that I thought I was different? The Centre did that Damnit the night they stole me fro my bed!”
“Oh boo-hoo! It’s always the same story Rat, when are you going to stop letting something that happened in 1963 define your entire life!”
“It’s my life. What happened that night created the only life I ever knew for 30 years! And what would you know about it! You’ve let your mother’s death define your entire life, so take your own advice Parker!”
“At least I don’t expect people to behave like they are someone else! And how dare you bring my mother into this! She has nothing to do with any of this! At least I don’t traverse the globe playing judge, jury, and executioner!”
“No, you traverse the globe hunting me like a damned animal! Tell me Parker have I ever even been a person in your eyes? Or am I just a Rat? Because in the entire time you’ve been here you’ve used my name once!”
Margaret was startled at not only the sound of her normally gentle son yelling, but also at the tone he was taking. Frankly, it scared her, and after over 30 years of running very little scared her anymore. But she also noticed that the woman who was currently the focal point of his wrath wasn’t afraid of him and also wasn’t about to back down. Which was something Margaret knew had been a trait of Catherine’s and this woman was obviously Catherine’s daughter. Margaret was about to step in and prevent the two from continuing this argument before permanent damage was done to an obviously very old relationship. But before she could, a sound Margaret hadn’t heard in ages shirked through the room, a baby’s cry.
Both Jarod and Parker instantly stopped their argument and both rushed to the living room, the still unnoticed family members following in curiosity. Using a soft, gentle voice, totally unlike the one they had heard her using in the kitchen, the Russell family watched in amazement as she picked up a young baby boy, maybe only 18 or 19 months old and calmed him with the ease of experience.
“Hey there little mouse, what’s wrong? You weren’t asleep long enough to have a nightmare,” Parker said, holding the boy to her in a firm gentle grip.
“Mama was very mad. Snowball and I don’t like it when Mama mad. Mama only got mad at the Bad Place,” the little boy sobbed, clinging to her and Snowball like his life depended on it.
“I’m sorry sweetheart; Mama didn’t mean to scare you or Snowball. Mama and Jarod, well, we get angry sometimes and yell, but we never mean it.”
“Really?”
“Yup little mouse. We’ve been getting angry at each other ever since we were a bit bigger than you and we’re still friends.”
“Me an Snowball is friends, an we don’t yell.”
“Well that’s because you an Snowball are better at talking than Jarod and I are. Right little mouse?”
“Yup, yup!” The boy smiled brightly at her, but didn’t let up his death grip on her.
“Little mouse? At least I’m not the only one you call a rodent, Parker,” Jarod said, his smile taking the sting out of the comment.
“Mama says I’m special. A special little mouse like John’fan Frisby and Mr. Ages,” Ben told the larger man, not scared at all of him, since he knew his Mama would never take him to a place with bad people like the Bad Place, and that she would protect him and Snowball.
“Who?” Jarod asked, his curiosity peaked not only at the fact that the boy not only considered Parker his mother but that she accepted it. He was also extremely curious about who these two mice were that Ben was speaking of.
“They was from NIMH, just like the rats. They and the rats were very smart. Right Mama?”
“Right little mouse. Absolutely right.” She smiled down at the boy.
“What’s NIMH?” Jarod asked, the boy’s explanation had only confused him more.
“It’s from a children’s story, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I’m almost surprised you haven’t read that book yet. Anyway, think of NIMH as the Centre. They did some experiments on rats and mice to increase their intelligence and not only sis it make them as smart as or smarter than most people, they also escaped. The story is about their struggle t stay free of NIMH and how they help Jonathan Frisby’s widow with a house moving project,” Parker explained to the confused and intrigued pretender.
“And this is a children’s story?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes, Rat. It’s also an animated movie and it has a sequel. Other than the fact that you are a rat most of the time, where did you think I got that nickname from?”
“I don’t know, I never really thought about it.”
“There’s the understatement of the century,” Parker laughed lightly.
“Margaret worried another argument would break out, quickly interjected, “Jarod, sweetie, aren’t you going to introduce us to your…..friend?”
Before Jarod could say a word, Ryan spoke up, “Mom, it’s Miss Parker. She doesn’t need an introduction. I’m very glad to see you again,” the boy added before shocking everyone and giving the first person to be nice and to care about him and ex-Centre operative a big hug.
Jarod had been up for hours when the sun finally began to rise. Actually he had slept for only two hours or so that night, an only because his mother had been worried about him working too hard and not sleeping. He didn’t know how to explain to her that he could go up to 100 hours with no sleep and that normally he needed no more than 4 hours a night. Which was about all he got with his nightmares. Explaining all this to her was difficult, mainly because he didn’t want to remind her unnecessarily of all the years apart.
So after even less luck finding where Parker had disappeared to, he was sitting at the table trying to understand her motivations for leaving the only home she’d ever known, hoping to find a clue as to her whereabouts hidden within her motivations. He was also nursing a cup of cold coffee and watching the sun rise on what looked to be another gorgeous late March day.
When he heard the knock at the back door, he moved automatically to get it, still trying to SIM his missing friend. Blinking against the sudden light in his eyes he also tried desperately to cover his shock. She was standing there in front of him, smiling, and holding a baby.
As always it was her voice that ended her bewitching spell, as still smiling openly she asked, “So Rat, can a huntress and a baby claim refuge?”
Jarod stood there staring at her, trying to get his mind around the idea that she was real, and even harder to accept, that she had found him.
When she started laughing at him, he jerked out of his daze and stepped away from the door so she could enter.
“Refuge is always available Parker, but the real question is do you only want a break from hunting or are you done hunting?” His eyes were hard, it was the only defense he had against the memories of their last break from the game on Carthis.
“I was trained to hunt Pez-head; I’m just changing the focus of my hunt.” Her voice and eyes were just as hard as his. The only defense she had against feeling her heart break again.
“So now that ‘Daddy’ is gone you decide to just leave the Centre? Despite all his lies to you about everything in your life you only leave when he’s gone?”
“Since when do people at the Centre die? A jump from 35,000 feet would normally kill someone, bullets to the chest or even the back point blank usually kill too! Besides despite all his lies to me, and I haven’t actually fully believed anything he’s said since I was 10 thank you, Mr. Parker still raised me, he’s still in some way my father, genetics aside. Just because I don’t believe everything he ever told me doesn’t mean I didn’t want to believe it, to believe him.”
“Since when have you not believed him? You’ve been spouting his lies like a parrot since your mother died!”
“Well maybe I wanted to keep my head attached to the rest of me! You can’t do anything if you’re dead! And acting like you’ve always wanted me to would have only gotten me killed or worse. Now is there a place where I can put Ben down before we start arguing again? A crying baby is not conductive to any type of conversation.”
Sighing and knowing that she was right, though his brain qualified it with a “for once,” he nodded, “Yeah, you can put him down on the big chair in the living room. I’ll get him a blanket.”
Separating, and finding that he had been standing only inches from her during their initial argument, he stalked off to find a blanket for the little boy who had miraculously slept through the entire exchange.
Once he had found a blanket, he slipped into the comfortable living room of the large farmhouse. The room was painted a light blue and the dominant pieces of furniture were the large couch and large chair with an ottoman.
He found Parker sitting on the ottoman, which she had pulled right up to the edge of the chair. She had placed the baby on the cushions of the chair, after removing the large pillows that could have fallen on the boy. She was smiling down at the boy and gently talking to him.
“Here’s a blanket for him,” Jarod said, his voice and eyes softening not only at the sight of the baby but also at the softer, gentler side Parker displayed with him.
“Thank you. Sometimes he drools in his sleep; I wouldn’t want your parents’ furniture ruined.”
“The fabric of both the chair and the couch is a soft denim, believe me, there’s very little that this little guy could do to ruin the furniture in here.”
“Both pieces look well used considering you’ve only been in this house for 3 months, were they here before?”
“How did you…?! No they were new when we moved in. Both the couch and the chair are extremely comfortable and this early in the morning is about the only time someone isn’t on one of them. Although Ryan and Ethan both have a habit of sleeping on the couch instead of in their own rooms,” Jarod chuckled, trying to figure out how she knew how long they had been in the house.
“It’s just too comfortable to not lie down on and take a nap, right?”
“Pretty much. Mom tends to get annoyed when they sleep on the couch and not in their own beds though.”
“Only those two sleep on the couch. Yeah right Wonderboy, I have a feeling you’re just as likely a culprit as they are. You’re just more sneaky about it.” She smirked up at him. “He’s good for now. We should probably go back to the kitchen before we start arguing again. We’re not likely to stay on the topic of the furniture for long.”
“True,” Jarod sighed, in the last half hour she’d been in the house she had yet to use his name, “Will he be all right alone in here?”
“He knows I’m near by, and I’ve yet to not hear one of his nightmares. If I don’t hear it, well he has Snowball and he knows that I’m coming as fast as I can.”
“Snowball is the stuffed comfort object he has?”
“It’s a stuffed animal. In this case, a puppy. It was a Christmas present.”
Nodding at this as they reentered the kitchen, he quickly made her a cup of coffee, knowing that she would want one and glanced at the files she had placed on the table before she had taken the boy to the living room. Handing her the cup, he attempted civil conversation again. “So, I never heard anyone give your baby brother a name before. You’re calling him Ben?”
“Staying on a supposed safe subject?”
“It seemed best. We don’t want to wake everyone in the house.”
“True. Yes, I’ve been calling him Ben. When I have the time, I was planning to get him a birth certificate, since his like mine is Centre issue, and well, doesn’t actually exist. I was thinking of Benjamin Kyle as a possible full name for him….if that’s all right with you.”
Jarod was both touched and shocked at her suggestion. Both at her wanting his permissions of the boy’s name, but also at her using Kyle’s name for the boy. But this was her, and she, like him, always had a reason for doing something. “Cut the crap Parker, why do you care what I think of his name? Which, by the way I’m fine with, but I have no connection to the boy, after the two of you leave neither me, nor my family will be seeing you or your brother again.” The hardness was back, it seemed like their safe subject wasn’t so safe after all.
“We just got here and you’re already planning on when we’re leaving? Glad to know I’m so repulsive!” She shot back.
“Well leaving is what you do, isn’t it?”
“Me? Ha! You’re the one who broke his promise. You’re the one who left! Who abandoned both Angelo and me! I never left!”
“Yes you did.”
“What? When I was sent off to boarding school and then college? I had no choice in that! Hell you had more choice in whether or not you preformed SIMs than I did about my education and future!”
“Like you didn’t do everything your father told you to do willingly! You were always so anxious to please him you would have jumped off a cliff if you thought he would be proud of you for it!”
“What?! I had no choice in any part of my future Jarod! I didn’t want to go off to boarding school or to law school, and I sure as hell never wanted to work for the Centre any more than you have ever wanted to go back there! Did I want to make my father proud of me? Yes. That’s something every child wants to do. Tell me you’ve never wanted to make Sydney, or Major Charles, or your mother proud? Hmmm? Tell me that isn’t true!” She challenged.
“This isn’t about me Parker, it’s about you!” He snarled back, avoiding her question.
“Really? Wow! We’ve finally found something that’s not about you, that doesn’t involve you being at the center of all things! I was starting to think the heliocentric model and Copernicus were wrong! Because obviously the world and by extension the universe revolves around the ‘great’ pretender Jarod!”
“I have never said anything like that Parker and you know it!” he growled.
“It’s not what you say LabRat, it’s how you say it. And for the last 30 damn years your tone has said that you are the center of the world and for the last six that the lives of me and my team should revolve around you and your life at all times!”
“Well at least you and your precious team all know who they are and where they come from!”
“Really? I thought we established years ago that I have as little clue about where I come from as you do! And leave Broots and Sydney out of this!”
“At least you had a version of the truth to hold on to! I didn’t even have that!”
“Yes you did! The Centre gave you a version of the truth about what happened to your parents, and you held onto that ‘truth’ for 30 years!”
“But that was a lie!”
“Really? Well who is my biological father? Who’s Ben’s biological father? Cause if a man can’t sire a child as a young man he sure as hell can’t do it as an old man! You’re not the only one who was lied to, so why the hell do you act like you’re any different than the rest of us!”
As their argument had gotten more heated, their voices had steadily risen in volume and in intensity. Both were also focused solely on the other and either noticed the assorted members of the Russell household entering the room, and with the exception of Ethan who had seen them together before, stare in both horror and amazement as the normally extremely patient and even-tempered Jarod completely lost his temper and yelled at this strange woman. They also noticed that Jarod, who was normally extremely aware of people’s personal space, not only completely violated this woman’s personal space, but didn’t even seem to notice that he and the mystery woman were practically standing on top of each other.
“When have I ever given the impression that I thought I was different? The Centre did that Damnit the night they stole me fro my bed!”
“Oh boo-hoo! It’s always the same story Rat, when are you going to stop letting something that happened in 1963 define your entire life!”
“It’s my life. What happened that night created the only life I ever knew for 30 years! And what would you know about it! You’ve let your mother’s death define your entire life, so take your own advice Parker!”
“At least I don’t expect people to behave like they are someone else! And how dare you bring my mother into this! She has nothing to do with any of this! At least I don’t traverse the globe playing judge, jury, and executioner!”
“No, you traverse the globe hunting me like a damned animal! Tell me Parker have I ever even been a person in your eyes? Or am I just a Rat? Because in the entire time you’ve been here you’ve used my name once!”
Margaret was startled at not only the sound of her normally gentle son yelling, but also at the tone he was taking. Frankly, it scared her, and after over 30 years of running very little scared her anymore. But she also noticed that the woman who was currently the focal point of his wrath wasn’t afraid of him and also wasn’t about to back down. Which was something Margaret knew had been a trait of Catherine’s and this woman was obviously Catherine’s daughter. Margaret was about to step in and prevent the two from continuing this argument before permanent damage was done to an obviously very old relationship. But before she could, a sound Margaret hadn’t heard in ages shirked through the room, a baby’s cry.
Both Jarod and Parker instantly stopped their argument and both rushed to the living room, the still unnoticed family members following in curiosity. Using a soft, gentle voice, totally unlike the one they had heard her using in the kitchen, the Russell family watched in amazement as she picked up a young baby boy, maybe only 18 or 19 months old and calmed him with the ease of experience.
“Hey there little mouse, what’s wrong? You weren’t asleep long enough to have a nightmare,” Parker said, holding the boy to her in a firm gentle grip.
“Mama was very mad. Snowball and I don’t like it when Mama mad. Mama only got mad at the Bad Place,” the little boy sobbed, clinging to her and Snowball like his life depended on it.
“I’m sorry sweetheart; Mama didn’t mean to scare you or Snowball. Mama and Jarod, well, we get angry sometimes and yell, but we never mean it.”
“Really?”
“Yup little mouse. We’ve been getting angry at each other ever since we were a bit bigger than you and we’re still friends.”
“Me an Snowball is friends, an we don’t yell.”
“Well that’s because you an Snowball are better at talking than Jarod and I are. Right little mouse?”
“Yup, yup!” The boy smiled brightly at her, but didn’t let up his death grip on her.
“Little mouse? At least I’m not the only one you call a rodent, Parker,” Jarod said, his smile taking the sting out of the comment.
“Mama says I’m special. A special little mouse like John’fan Frisby and Mr. Ages,” Ben told the larger man, not scared at all of him, since he knew his Mama would never take him to a place with bad people like the Bad Place, and that she would protect him and Snowball.
“Who?” Jarod asked, his curiosity peaked not only at the fact that the boy not only considered Parker his mother but that she accepted it. He was also extremely curious about who these two mice were that Ben was speaking of.
“They was from NIMH, just like the rats. They and the rats were very smart. Right Mama?”
“Right little mouse. Absolutely right.” She smiled down at the boy.
“What’s NIMH?” Jarod asked, the boy’s explanation had only confused him more.
“It’s from a children’s story, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I’m almost surprised you haven’t read that book yet. Anyway, think of NIMH as the Centre. They did some experiments on rats and mice to increase their intelligence and not only sis it make them as smart as or smarter than most people, they also escaped. The story is about their struggle t stay free of NIMH and how they help Jonathan Frisby’s widow with a house moving project,” Parker explained to the confused and intrigued pretender.
“And this is a children’s story?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes, Rat. It’s also an animated movie and it has a sequel. Other than the fact that you are a rat most of the time, where did you think I got that nickname from?”
“I don’t know, I never really thought about it.”
“There’s the understatement of the century,” Parker laughed lightly.
“Margaret worried another argument would break out, quickly interjected, “Jarod, sweetie, aren’t you going to introduce us to your…..friend?”
Before Jarod could say a word, Ryan spoke up, “Mom, it’s Miss Parker. She doesn’t need an introduction. I’m very glad to see you again,” the boy added before shocking everyone and giving the first person to be nice and to care about him and ex-Centre operative a big hug.
