wasn't inviting it either," she added as Aleu looked up at her dubiously. "In the end your father was the only one who got past them, and even then we had to meet secretly for a while."

"Kinda like Romeo and Juliet, huh?" asked Aleu.

"Hmm," Jenna mused. "More like Midsummer Night's Dream, but you don't know that one. The point is, your father had to work hard just to get near me without my trying to attract the wrong kind of boys. If I'd worn immodest clothes like some of my friends did, I don't think even he would have stood a chance. He probably would have just decided I was too shallow to see past his outside, and we never would have ended up together."

Aleu thought about that as she found a bathing suit of which Jenna finally approved. She had to admit that her mother was making a lot of sense, but her stubborn side still wanted to be right. "I still think it's unfair," she argued. "Why do I always have to be the one whose mom has the strictest rules?"

Jenna sighed. "Because I love you," she answered. "I'm willing to do what's best for you in the long run, even if that means you don't like me very much for a while. It's what my parents did for me, and even when they were wrong I'm glad they did. And just like they did, I'll relax the rules – your father and I both will – once we're satisfied that you can be responsible."

"Meaning once I start picking clothes you like without you saying it, you'll stop making me pick the ones you like."

The husky shook her head, exasperated with her daughter and yet unable to help smiling a little, at least inwardly, as she thought of some of the headaches she'd given her parents when she was young. "Each generation's battle," her father had called it.

"Even grown-ups need some help staying on the right road sometimes," she admitted. An idea occurred to her. "I'll tell you what," she said. "There's a story about Papa that might help this make more sense. Once we catch up with him I'll see if he minds me telling it."

Aleu was puzzled. Balto usually didn't mind Jenna telling family stories without getting his okay first. "What kind of story?" she asked.

Jenna smiled. "You'll see."

The two of them soon tagged up with Balto. Kodi was busy elsewhere in the mall, having bumped into Dusty and been asked to give his opinion on a few things in another store.

"Now see," Aleu complained, "that's what I'm talking about. Kodi gets to go hang out – with a girl," she added pointedly, "and no one questions it. If a guy wanted my opinion on something in another store, you'd be watching me like a hawk."

"You would tell him to get lost," Jenna chuckled, hoping that Aleu would stay that way as long as possible. "Balto," she asked, "would you mind if I told Aleu about the Bog Incident?"

Balto looked puzzled. "Why would I?" he asked with a shrug. "She was there, right?"

Aleu made a face. "What's to tell anyway?" she added. "I fell in a swamp and got a lecture about staying on the walkway."

Jenna laughed. "Actually, I was thinking of the other Bog Incident."

A look of pain and nausea, mixed with a little bit of dread, passed over Balto's face. He slumped with embarrassment. "Oh, that Bog Incident. Jen, you promised never to tell the kids about that."

Aleu was immediately all ears; a fact not lost on Jenna. "I know," she admitted, "but it's for Aleu's own good, and this way you won't have to worry about my dad spilling it."

"That's true," Balto admitted. Even though he got along well enough with his in-laws, he often dreaded what Buck might say at family get-togethers. His frown didn't decrease by much, though. "Are you sure you're not just getting even for me sticking you with the swimsuit dispute?"

"I hadn't thought of it that way," Jenna admitted, propping up her chin on a knuckle, "but I'd be willing to let you off giving me a foot rub tonight."

Balto sighed. "Okay, but let's get the shopping done and grab a bite first. If I have to swallow my pride, I might as well have some salami to go with it."

Aleu had never been so helpful on a shopping trip as she was for the rest of that one, and as soon as they had gotten their orders at a sandwich outlet in the store, she demanded to know about "the other Bog Incident."

"Well," Jenna explained, hiding a smile, "you remember that your Bog Incident happened when we took you and Kodi on that wetlands trail at the nature center."

Aleu nodded. "Yeah, so?"

"Well, there was a reason we told both of you to stay on the marked path – and not just because of all the signs saying so. Back before you were born – before we were even married, in fact – your father wanted to show me some of the sights on that same trail. The difference was, he didn't bring someone along who knew the territory, and..." she trailed off. "Balto, why don't you tell the rest?"

Balto grimaced. "I was trying to find a spot with a good view of the beaver lodge," he explained. "I'd heard there was a heron around that liked to perch on it at sunset, and that when the sun caught the bird's feathers just right it looked like the phoenix lighting up. Naturally, I wanted to share a sight like that with your mother. The problem was, I got overconfident, went too close to the edge... and I fell in, just like you did."

Aleu laughed so hard she got hiccups. She remembered her tumble – a world class face-first flop – and the thought of her papa taking a similar fall was too much. "You-hic... did?" she asked.

"Yes, and I took twice as long to get out because I didn't have someone to reach down and pull me up." Reaching out and pinching Aleu's mouth shut until she stopped hiccuping, he explained, "That's why I didn't want you or Kodi leaving the trail when it was your turn," he explained. "I wanted you both to be able to enjoy the fun – all the sights and sounds – but I also didn't want you to have to deal with the not-so-fun parts, like getting covered in pond weeds and having your shoes squish for the rest of the day."

Aleu scowled. "Not to mention the smell," she added. "My classmates were calling me 'Swamp Thing' for a month."

"Well you see," Balto went on, "That's why your mother and I sometimes tell you, 'Don't do that,' or 'don't go there.' It's not that we don't want you to enjoy the good things; it's that we know some things that look good aren't, and we don't want those to ruin the ones that are. Understand?"

Much to her chagrin, Aleu did understand. "Yes, Papa," she answered. She put her elbow on the table – something her parents often chided her not to do – and propped her chin in her hand. Despite her annoyance, she did understand – and even found herself feeling a little better about the bathing suti she had gotten. I guess the one I got isn't so bad anyway, she decided. Then something dawned on her. "Hey, you said no one else was around to pull you out, so how'd Mom find out about it?"

Jenna, who had just recovered from the first part of the story, snorted a little and covered her mouth. "Oh, that's a story," she laughed. "I found out because Balto was going to take me out to that same trail that evening. Instead he came to my house after dark to explain that he couldn't take me anywhere until he got the seat of his car cleaned because it smelled of mud and rotted duckweed. You should have seen my dad's face; I never saw an expression like that."

"Yeah, that would be because he knew I was planning to propose on that date," Balto countered, hoping to recover some of his dignity. In response to Jenna's surprised silence, he added, "It took me another month to work up the nerve after that."

His wife stared at him. "Why did you never tell me that?" she asked.

He blushed. "Would you?" he countered simply. "Besides, you said yes when I did ask; the time I didn't didn't seem so important."

There was nothing Jenna could say to that logic. "Well, I'm glad you did tell me."

Just as they were getting lost in the moment, Aleu made a gagging sound. "Do you mind not looking at each other like that while I'm eating?" she complained.

Balto laughed as Jenna's face soured. "Just be glad you have parents who still do," he told the pup. "Anyway, that's the last time I took that trail alone – especially since it was more fun with two. All we want is for you to handle life like that. Make mature choices, think before you do something, and know when to listen to an expert."

Just then his phone rang, the tone identifying a call from his son. "Hi Kodi, what's...?" he trailed off into puzzled silence as he listened, his brows knitting and his mouth curling into a confused frown. At last he moved to hang up, then thought better and put the phone aside. "Speaking of asking for help," he remarked, "it sounds like Kodi's gotten himself stuck too."

"What's wrong?" asked Jenna.

He shook his head. "Ah, nothing you need to worry about," he assured her. "I'll go find him

Previous Page

1 2 3

Next page