restaurant.â
âThe evidence was damning,â he said, frowning slightly. âI couldnât blame you for doubting me.â
âWhen I learned youâd been at the restaurant that night, and then later, when your mother told me youâd started a number of small fires when you were a kid, my faith wavered.â
âMine would have, too.â Again Anson came to her defense. âI looked guilty as sin. I canât blame you, Allie.â
âLuckily you saw the man who really started the fire and were able to identify him.â
Zach had played a role in determining that Warren Saget, a local builder, was the arsonist. Teaming up withSheriff Troy Davis, Zach had convinced Anson to come forward and speak to the authorities.
âIf it wasnât for your dad, I might still be on the run,â Anson said. âYour familyâs been a lifeline to me,â he continued. âMrs. Cox, Rosie, youâve been more of a mother to me than my own. I know Cherry loves me in her way. She never counted on being a single mother, and she didnât have the greatest role model herself. She does the best she can.â
Zach admired Anson for defending his mother. He didnât question that she loved her son. Unfortunately, Cherryâs life had been a long series of low-paying jobs and living with neâer-do-wells who used and abused her. Anson had been instructed to refer to these men as âuncle,â none of them ever being a father figure of any kind. His father had left Cherry as soon as he discovered she was pregnant. Turned out he already had a wife and family.
âAre we going to play bingo?â Eddie asked, straightening. âItâs tradition, you know.â He nudged Anson as he said that, and Anson elbowed him back.
âWhy donât we set it up while Allison and your mother finish getting dinner ready,â Zach suggested. He slid off the stool and headed into the living room. He didnât recall how Christmas Eve bingo had begun,but the kids couldnât have been more than eight and ten. He thought Rosieâs parents mightâve started it and that Rosie had carried it on, since she was big on traditions.
In the living room, Zach took out the game. He handed the cards to Anson to arrange, while Eddie gathered up the small prizes and placed them on the coffee table.
âIf you have a few minutes Iâd like to speak to you privately,â Anson said, sitting next to Zach on the sofa.
Eddie picked up on the âprivateâ part right away and excused himself, mumbling that he needed to make a phone call.
Anson waited until Eddie had left the room. âWhat I said earlier about you and Mrs. Cox being more of a family to me than my own? I meant that.â
âWe feel the same way about you, Anson. Iâm proud of what youâve accomplished.â
Anson smiled, as if Zachâs words had pleased him. âI never applied myself in school. I didnât really have to. Everything came easily to me, so I got through without trying. I had no real plans, no aspirations. Then I met Allison and she encouraged me to do betterâto be better. I wouldâve done anything to make her happy.â
Zach remembered how heâd separated the two as teenagers. Anson had given his word and broken it, and asa result Zach had refused to allow Anson and Allison to date or even talk to each other. On Valentineâs Day, Anson had come to the door and handed Zach a card for Allison. At that moment Zach had begun to see a real sense of honor in the boy.
âI loved Allison when I was seventeen, and I love her now,â Anson went on. âIt hasnât been easy to maintain a long-distance relationship with me living in D.C. and her going to school here in Seattle.â
Zach nodded; he understood the challenges of such a relationship.
âI want you to know Iâve dated other women, but itâs Allison I love.â
His
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley