20 Years Later:

Laura Hardy closed the photo album with a sad sigh. She had been thinking about her brother today, and how much her life had changed since his death.

She and Fenton had gotten married a year later, and Frank had come along a year after that. Laura smiled as she remembered how ecstatic they had been during those nine months, and then, when they finally got a chance to meet the child she and Fenton had created, there were no words to describe how she felt.

The baby was born with a thick tuft of dark brown hair like his father. And even his eyes were dark brown at birth, uncommon among newborns that are typically born with dark blue eyes that change color over the next little while.

Laura had smiled – this child was definitely a Hardy.

A part of her had hoped the baby would have the vibrant blue eyes of his grandmother and uncle…but once she saw the baby, she would not have changed a thing.

Fenton had thought they should call the baby “Paul” and she had given it some thought. But a day later, she had smiled at her husband and shaken her head. “No Fenton, this isn’t a Paul.”

She wanted to name the baby ‘Francis’ after the man who had become more like a father to her than her own dad; but Fenton had scoffed, pointing out the burden she would be placing on her son when he went to school as Francis.

But in the end, it was the paternal grandfather himself, unfazed by his son’s rejection of his name, who was the deciding factor.

“Well,” he shrugged, looking down fondly at the squirming infant, “some of the guys on the force used to call me ‘Frank’.”

Fenton was shocked – he had never known that, and as he looked down at his son, and saw Frank, he realized just how very little he actually knew about his own father. Francis had surprised him during their search for Paul, and he had done it once again now, two years later….

Picking up the baby, he held him tight and whispered, “Hey my little Frank…what say you and me get to know grandpa, together?”

And 18 months later when Laura had her second son – there was nothing Francis could have said or done that would have surprised his own son anymore.

* * *

Laura’s second pregnancy was nothing like her first. She had been sick from day one, and Gertrude had actually taken a leave of absence from work and moved in with them to help take care of Frank.

Things had improved somewhat between the two women – a kind of unspoken truce, more than anything. They both loved Fenton, and while Laura found the older woman to be bossy and overbearing at times, she knew she could also draw on Gertrude’s unflappable strength during difficult times.

And Gertrude accepted Laura’s place in Fenton’s life even if she did find it hard to see her as the woman of the house. She thought Laura was too soft-hearted, particularly as a mother, but she did love her zest for life and positive outlook on things.

So, Gertrude moved in…temporarily…. 

* * *

The baby came earlier than expected, and was then almost born in the back of Fenton’s sedan when an unexpected blizzard paralyzed the city. But in the end, they did get to the hospital, and just in time. Ten minutes later, the angry bawl of Hardy son #2 reverberated throughout the halls.

Laura looked down at the red-faced howling newborn and smiled as she said soothingly, “Whoa, little one – what’s all this fuss about?”

At the sound of his mother’s voice, the child stopped and then looked right up at her. Laura felt her chest hitch with shock and recognition as the most vibrant pair of blue eyes glared at her momentarily before picking up where he had left off – protesting loudly about all this!

“Laura?” Fenton asked, concern creeping into his voice at the haunted look on his wife’s face, “Is something wrong?”

But she just held the infant tightly to her as fresh tears dampened her already flushed cheeks.  And then she shook her head and smiled through her tears, “Nothing is wrong, Fenton…absolutely nothing.”

Joseph Paul had been born.

And now, 17 years later, Laura Mildred Hardy (Scott) watched her slumbering teen and reminisced.

It wasn’t often that it was just her and Joe home, and she figured that was what had driven her melancholy jaunt down memory lane.

Yes, she thought about Paul every day – it was hard to be so close to someone and not – but it wasn’t very often that her feelings were strong enough to make her pull out her father’s old family photo albums.

She never needed to look at any photos to see Paul, though. All she had to do was look at her younger son. Joe, although a bit taller and more muscular than his uncle had been at the same age, was the spitting image of Paul Scott, to the point that at times, it was downright eerie.

But then, as she thought about her older son’s resemblance to his father and grandfather, Laura thought it only fitting. Frank was a bit more slenderly built than his father, but other than that, she saw the young Fenton she had fallen in love with, with merely a glance.  And her heart soared – she was sure Paul had something to do with that.

Fenton had taken her brother’s place in her life, but not in her heart – and he never tried to.  He had his own special place, no less secure and no less loved.

As Paul Scott had said to Fenton Hardy that day so long ago…

…we Scotts are a very passionate people. We do everything with great passion, including loving the people we care about…

And Fenton wouldn’t have changed a thing.

* * *

Laura sat back and sighed. It’s a great web we weave for ourselves, she thought; when Heart died, I was sure things would never be the same. And I was right – I just never had any idea what I was talking about.

That slight touch of hoof on that horrid rail started a chain of events that ended here with her watching a sleeping ghost, while the man she loved and her older son drove Gertrude to New York.

The older woman had been visiting, and the senior Hardys had agreed to drive her back after an airline mix-up left her stranded in Bayport.

Now a successful dick – or private investigator, as Fenton preferred, his schedule had the flexibility to make such an offer, and his sister was grateful for it…although probably not as much as Laura…. This visit had been a bit long already.

Frank had gone along with his father to keep him company on the drive back, but Joe had declined, as he’d been nursing a bad case of the flu, and decided a campout on the living room couch was much more his forte.

And as Laura thought about that chain of events that led her here, she decided she wouldn’t change a thing. But then her glance caught the closed photo albums, and she decided that wasn’t completely true.

She would change one thing.

* * *

A man glanced in through the living room window.

He could see them - the wife and the younger boy.

The wife was sitting in an arm chair, and seemed to be lost in thought as she stared at the boy who was dozing on the couch.

All he had to do was get the wife into the kitchen and then she’d be his. The boy, he was not concerned with at all.

I don’t need them both, he decided; if the kid gets in the way, I’ll just have to kill him….

Double checking to make sure the gun in his waistband was ready, the man crept around to the kitchen door and deftly picked it.

Too easy, he grinned, Oh Hardy, you have made this way too easy for me.

Slipping undetected into the kitchen, the man took out a small cloth, doused it in chloroform and then glanced around looking for a lure.

He saw it.

* * *

Laura had just closed her eyes, intending on taking a brief nap before finishing the dishes she had left in the sink, when she heard the sound of the microwave beeping. 

Frowning, she got up out of the chair. That was strange – she didn’t have anything in the microwave….

* * *

The man saw the kitchen door slowly being pushed open and he held his breath. If he did this right, then they’d be out of there without even making a noise.

As soon as the wife stepped into the kitchen, he made his move.

* * *

The hair on Laura’s neck stood up as she pushed open the door and stepped into the kitchen. And then out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement, and managed a scream as the man grabbed her and tried to shove a rag into her face.

Panicked, she struggled and fought with everything she had, but the man was just too strong, and she already knew this was a losing battle!

* * *

Joe was off the couch and on his feet even before it registered that it was his mother’s scream he heard.

Hearing sounds from the kitchen; the blurry-eyed teen staggered across the room and pushed the door open.

He saw a big burly man holding his mother and trying to get a rag onto her face, and his mother was struggling furiously but futilely.

Acting on instinct, because his flu-fuddled mind was still trying to fully wake up, he grabbed the man from behind, forcing him to let her go even as the man managed to pull out a gun…

* * *

Laura smelled something sickly-sweet as the rag was shoved into her face, and she tried to hold her breath. And then it was gone, as she was suddenly released, and stumbled forward against the kitchen counter.

Whirling around, she saw Joe and her attacker wrestling for control over a gun.

And for one intense moment she held her son’s vibrant gaze – and then heard him yell, “GO, MOM! CALL 911!”

And she ran….