Chapter Three

Some people think fall is a depressing time of year. The air begins to have a cool nip in its heels….it's not cold, but you know winter's bite is around the corner.

The days grow shorter….the nights longer. And if you're alone, sometimes those nights seem endless. The trees lose their leaves and seemingly shove their naked arms towards the heavens, as if appealing to God for some kind of warmth and covering to protect them from the cold.

Woody didn't quite see autumn that way. He was raised on a farm. He really was a Farm Boy. And to him, fall…autumn, meant harvest. Everything you so diligently and lovingly prepared in the spring, faithfully attended to during the summer, was now going to bear fruit. Or vegetables. Or need college tuition.

He wasn't quite sure how it happened, but one day it did. He and Jordan looked at each other and realized for the first time in years on a Friday night, they were alone. Just the two of them. "What do we do now?" she asked him.

"If I remember correctly, we used to spend time like this in bed….together," he said, suggestively wagging his eyebrows at her.

"Woody…" she protested, as he pulled her to him and began a slow slide of kisses down her neck. "There's the dishes, and the laundry, and the deck needs sweeping…."

"And I need you," he said, looking into her eyes. "I've gladly shared you for years with Savanah and Jake. I always will. But they're nearly grown…soon they'll leave home. It's my turn now. I need you…I want you…I want to spend time alone with you again."

That was all it took. She melted into his arms, chores and things forgotten. And so it began again…a slow dance back towards each other without two small children dancing in between. It was time for all the work they had put into each other in the spring and the care the care they gave their family during the summer to come to harvest.

And it did. Bountifully. Savanah was accepted into Tufts….her mother's alma mater. It was with great pride and some sadness that Jordan helped her daughter pack up her things and get settled in at college. Like her mother, Savanah was majoring in pre-med, but was unsure what field of medicine she wanted to study.

Jake was finishing high school by then….played football….had a driver's license, a car, a job, and a girl. Two years later, he was accepted into MIT. Uncle Nigel had a great deal of influence on his godson. Jake wanted to work with computers. Technology fascinated him.

He and Jordan were proud and grateful…two great kids. And they still were young enough to expand their own careers…Jordan was now chief ME at the morgue and Woody was assistant chief of police. They had laughed when this happened. Now, despite all the personnel rules, they had to work together. It was poetic irony and romantic justice all rolled into one.

Both had worked hard. Both had accumulated weeks of vacation time they had never taken. So, they began to travel. Jordan had always wanted to see the Pyramids. Woody had desired to see the Mediterranean. They discovered another part of the world while rediscovering each other. He was sharply reminded why he fell in love with this woman all over again. She was smart. She was beautiful. And her body was still one of the hottest he had ever seen. If possible, he had held her tighter than he ever had before.

Then it seemed like overnight, the kids were completely grown….and then completely gone. No more coming home during Spring break. No more extended stays between semesters. No more fights about who left the bathroom in a mess. Their bedrooms were converted into a guest room and a study. Jake was working in Dallas…with the ME's office there, doing much of the same thing that Uncle Nigel did in Boston. With Savanah, they were luckier. She got a job at Boston General…in the Cardiac Care Unit. While her mother may have decided against that field of medicine, Savanah embraced it, becoming a well-respected heart surgeon.

And it was Savanah who had Jordan now. Woody wished someone would come out and tell him something…anything. He leaned back in his chair some more and found himself dozing off against his will. An early morning phone call had urged him from his bed to Massachusetts General….and now hours later, lack of sleep was catching up with him. Soon his head nodded and he was asleep.

"Hey, Farm Boy….wake up," a teasingly familiar voice called to him.

"Jordan…How is everything?"

"Everything is fine. Want to come and see your new grand kid?"

"Boy or girl?"

"I'm not telling. I promised Savanah and Baxter I wouldn't."

"Is Savanah okay?"

"More than okay. She's got her first baby….they're cleaning her up now and Baxter's with her…Want to go see our grandchild?"

Woody pulled himself up out of the uncomfortable hospital chair and followed his wife to the nursery. There were two rows of infants in bassinets lining the window. "Which one is ours?" he asked, squinting through the glass.

"That one right there," Jordan said pointing to a blue-swaddled bundle being brought over to the window.

"A boy. We have a grandson."

"Yep. Check out the name."

Woody read the card at the foot of the baby's bassinet. "Wilson Nigel Townsend?"

Jordan grinned. "Yeah. Savanah knew you'd kill her if she named him Woodrow. So they settled for Wilson. They're going to call him Will."

"Does Nigel know yet?"

"I've called and left messages…but because Will made his appearance two weeks early, I'm sure Nige has no clue he's now a grandfather."

"How's Baxter taking it?"

"He's totally besotted with his son. I've never seen the man swagger, but he's so proud, he's positively strutting."

Woody gently put his arm around his wife's waist. "Cigars are in order…."

"As long as you don't smoke them in the house."

He pulled her into an easy stride beside of him. "So when do I get to see my daughter and hold my grandson?"

"Soon…in a few minutes they'll call us in. I've already held him," she said smugly. She had been with Savanah during the entire labor.

"No fair. I get to hold him first this time, then."

She smiled up at her husband. "Okay….Grandpa."

Woody winced. "That sounds old. We're not old."

"I know," she answered softly. "We're not. Not really. At least not in my mind. I still remember seeing you for the first time…at the bank heist. I remember thinking how blue your eyes were and how horrible your ties were. You know, come to think of it, I fell in love with you then."

"And fought it for years."

She nodded. "I wasted a lot of time. Nearly lost you, too."

"Want to know when I knew I had to have you…and only you?"

"In LA?"

"No…further back than that."

She wrinkled her brow, thinking. "When?"

"Sickboy23 ring a bell?"

"That was that weird S&M murder case….we did a stake out in Dad's bar."

"And you wore that red dress….the one with the split up the thigh."

"That was when you knew you loved me?"

"Not exactly. I knew I wanted to take you somewhere and get you out of that dress and keep you for myself. I think I fell in love with you later…when you came all the way out to LA just to make sure I came home. I knew you cared more then than you let on…and I knew I had to come back to Boston. My life wouldn't have been complete without you."

"And now here we are with a Cavanaugh-Hoyt-Townsend dynasty sleeping in the hospital nursery."

"Spawning a whole new generation of ME's, detectives, forensic specialists…."

Jordan laughed. "Who would have thought?"

Woody looked down at his wife then, gently pulling her to him in the lobby of the maternity wing of Boston General. He softly planted a kiss on her lips…just letting their mouths brush against each other. They were just beginning the autumn of their lives…and the harvest was sweet. Winter was still years away when the coldness of an unwilling and long separation might part them. They'd enjoy this time…right now…this minute, as the seasons of their lives were passing them by.

Most of their horses had ridden safely off into the sunset. Now it was time to watch their children's do the same…