Tuesday was busy but not out of control for Emily and Dave, although Hazel came up with quite a few ads to be made up, and they had to add pages to the paper twice. It was clear this issue was going to be a collector's item, and Hazel sold that point up and down Main Street. They wrapped it up in pretty good shape, got the pages sent to the printer, and Dave was even able to pick up his kids before JoAnne made it home. It had turned out a heck of a lot better than Emily had ever dreamed after being confronted with the mess on Monday morning.

Things didn't go quite as well on Wednesday, since Emily had never had much to do with the mailing. Hazel had some idea of what was going on, and Dave was able to figure out the label printing program. With those under control and the papers at the post office, Emily figured maybe she'd better find the time to drive up to Borgess Medical Center to see Lloyd and show him the newest issue of his paper. Dave was a little proud of it himself, and offered to drive them up there in his Chevy. Emily was just as happy to let someone else do the driving.

Lloyd seemed weak and drawn, and Dave was sure it was more than the drugs he was on. This heart attack had given him a real scare, although he now seemed to be on the way to recovery. He gave her a big smile when she handed him the Courier. In huge type across the full page it said Local woman averts hijacking. There was a photo of Southern 111 sitting on the runway at Keesler, another photo of Jennlynn shaking hands with Colonel Hadley, and a smaller photo, her high school graduation photo. "Looks like a hell of a job I stuck you with, but you did real good," he smiled finally. "How'd you get those photos?"

"Dave called a friend who called a friend at WNN," Emily explained. "We got them free and clear."

"I'd say you did real good," he repeated. "Especially to have this dumped on you like this. Emily, I hate to ask this of you, but I don't see any other way. Can you keep on doing the paper?"

"I figured it would be a while before you'd be back," she said. "I can juggle the schedule around at the Spee-D-Mart for a while."

"Thanks, Emily," he said slowly. "I knew I could count on you. But that's not quite what I meant. I know you're not going to be at the Spee-D-Mart much longer. Betty has been bugging me for a while to slow down and take it easy. After this I'm not so sure she ain't right. Emily, my mind ain't made up all the way yet, but I'm talking about you taking over the paper. I'm not sure how we'd work it out; maybe you manage it for me; maybe you buy me out. This ain't the time to decide, anyway. But I'd like you to think about it. I'd much rather have someone who knows and likes Bradford take it over than someone from outside."

"Lloyd, short term, until you get better, no problem," she said. "Permanently, well, I'd have to think it over, talk it over with Kevin. This is a bad time, what with the knife shop getting going. A buyout might be beyond our reach."

"We ought to be able to work out something," he said. "I know there could be a better time for you, but it could be worse, too."

"But Lloyd," she protested. "I really am just a fill-in. I'm not a professional newspaper person. I never went to college; I've never even had a class in journalism."

"Neither have I," he smiled. "But you can handle it. This," he said, pointing at the newspaper lying on his lap, "Proves it. Emily, you have the basics, you're a solid writer, you're a good businesswoman; you know how small towns work; you know how local government works; and you especially know how Bradford works. I don't think there's anyone available who's better qualified."

Things were pretty silent in Dave's Chevy until they were out on I-67 heading back to Bradford, but the thoughts were heavy. Finally, Dave broke the silence. "You have to admit it takes care of the what-am-I-going-to-do-when-the-Spee-D-Mart-closes problem."

"Yeah, it would," she sighed. "I suppose I might be able to make a go of it. I, well, I have the feeling Lloyd has sort of been letting things run on automatic the last few years, if you know what I mean. It's seemed to me a few things could be done better if he had more energy to put at them. But, I don't necessarily know what those things are."

"You can learn," Dave counseled. "Emily, I told you, I'm not a newspaperman, I'm a book editor. But I do know stuff in small towns gets done in its own way, and it's not always the way it's done at a big newspaper. People will know you're taking over under pressure and will cut you some slack. You're well known and well liked in the community. That counts for a lot."

"I suppose," she sighed. "The problem is we're already taking a big risk with the knife shop, and it's got us pretty extended financially. The plan was that I was going to stay with the Spee-D-Mart so there'd be at least one stable income, but now that's gone. I figured I'd get another job somewhere. If I do this, it's another big risk. With the knife shop just getting going, I don't know the bank would want to talk with me about another big loan."

"It's possible you could get Lloyd to carry the note," Dave suggested. "But I got the impression that Betty wants him free and clear. But I think the bank would back you if I guaranteed the loan."

"You? Dave, I can't ask you to take a risk like that! I mean, I think I can make a go of it, but I wouldn't want to leave you hanging in the breeze if I can't make it work."

"I think you can make it work. What's more, I watched you the past couple days, and that's what makes me think it," he grinned. "On top of that, it's not a risk I can't handle."

"But Dave," she protested. "How can it not be a risk for you?"

"Well, first off, I have no idea of what he'd be asking for the business, but it's not a very big business. For the sake of talking, let's say a hundred thousand."

"That's a lot of money to risk," she said.

"It is," he agreed. "But there's some real estate involved. I have no idea what it's worth; you'd know better than I would. It would cover some of the risk. Beyond that, well, there's something I don't think I've told you."

"What?"

He took a deep breath. "It's not quite real to me, either," he said. "As you know, Julie worked for a brokerage firm, Bellinger Gates, one of the better ones, and she was one of the better brokers. She had a private account she played around with. She had nearly a million bucks in it when she died. With some other things, including some smaller accounts, a block of company stock, her insurance, and a possible settlement, it all adds up to a windfall of several million dollars. I'm not sure how much. It is absolutely a hell of a way to get it and I'd trade it all in an instant to have Julie back."

"Dave," she shook her head. "I never knew any of that. I always knew you said money was the least of your worries, but I had no idea it was that much money."

"I didn't either, at least when Julie died," he said slowly. "Some of it, I didn't know until I was working with my accountant on my last trip to New York. Anyway, the point I was leading up to is my tax situation is such that I could easily eat a hundred thousand dollar business loss, and it wouldn't cost me a cent, probably save me some taxes. So, it's no risk to me. Now, you went to a lot of trouble and effort for me out of the goodness of your heart, and the only thing you've ever asked of me is to lend you a hand when you needed it, so I'm willing to take some of the risk off your shoulders. I mean, I'm willing to look at it as an investment. If I lose it, I've lost nothing. But, if I know you, the way I think I know you, I don't think I'll lose on it."

"Dave . . . " she said slowly. "I . . . I don't know what to say."

"'Yes' would be a good word," he grinned.

"No," she said flatly. "Not like that, anyway. I don't expect you to just back me with no hope of reward. We set the knife shop up as a separate corporation, and we all own an equal part of it. The corporation is buying Jason's tooling and stock and such, it's a pretty big note, but he's carrying it. Vicky worked it out, with some help from a lawyer. If you want to share the risk, you can share the reward, if there is any."

"Those are details that can be worked out," he smiled. "I admit to not knowing much about the details, but maybe we'd better ask Vicky about it to get things rolling."

"Seems like it to me," she agreed, realizing her life had just changed into a direction she had never anticipated. "Does this mean you're going to be a part of the business, and not move back to New York?"

"I don't know," he said slowly. "That's still up in the air, and it's flopped back and forth a couple times in the last month. If I do, it won't be until school is out, but I have to have a decision made one way or another by August, since I don't want the boys to have to change schools in the middle of the year."

"I never had it happen to me, but I know it can be a pain in the butt," she conceded. "I know you felt at one time that you couldn't stay away from your job for much more than a year."

"That part is working out better than I expected," he said. "In fact, it's the big argument for staying in Bradford. I'm getting a lot more done in Bradford than I could in New York because I mostly keep my nose to the computer screen. In New York, I was forever having someone plop their butt on my desk to tell me the latest dirty joke, or I had to go to a meeting or business lunch or show some writer around while I should have been editing. My concern about coming here was I'd miss out on all of that, because some networking is important if you want to have a career in the business." He let out a sigh and shook his head. "I knew when I came here that not being able to network effectively could in time cost me my career, which is why I was reluctant."

"Yeah, I guess I see that," she said. "You're saying you're not sure you want to continue your career?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It's an option I'm playing with. When I made the decision to come here, I didn't know the financial situation I'd be in. On top of all the money from Julie, I'm getting $90,000 a year from Dunlap and Fyre and banking much of it. If I were to stay here, I'm pretty sure I can do contract editing for them for quite a while at about that figure and still have half my working time to myself. I've always wanted to write fantasy. I'm using my free time now to work on a book, and while I don't want to judge it, it seems like it's going all right."

"When you put it like that, I don't know why you'd want to go back," she said. "I mean, I know you like New York, but Bradford isn't such a bad deal in that situation."

"Right, and in many other ways, not the least of which is I can be a much better father to the boys here," he said slowly. "But there's something happening that means I may have to go back."

"What's that, Dave?"

"Emily, this has to stay just between us two for a while," he said nervously. "I mean, you don't even tell Kevin, OK?"

"I may be known as a gossip but I can keep a secret if I have to," she smiled. "What is it?"

He took a deep breath and almost blurted it out: "Shae is pregnant."

Emily was incredulous for a moment. "Dave?" she said in a small voice.

"It's not an accident," he said reassuringly. "Not really. Just a little sooner than we anticipated." He took a deep breath and continued, "I only slowly became aware of the fact that Shae has been a very lonely person. Especially in the beginning, I was so wrapped up in losing Julie that I was a little blind to it, so she and Eve really had to lay it out for me. Shae told me she'd had a lot of problems with guys; we don't need to go into why, but it's nothing that affects me. She told me she had about given up hope on giving married and was giving some thought to taking a swing at single parenthood when Avalon ends its run, which will probably happen in the foreseeable future, two or three years at the most, maybe sooner. I grew up as the child of a single parent; you know my dad died when I was young, and I told her it was no way for a kid to be brought up. And it isn't."

"I see people making it work," Emily replied. "But it is a heck of a lot tougher than having two good parents."

"Actually, I don't think Shae would disagree," Dave admitted. "I certainly don't want it to happen if it's my kid involved, and it is. And actually, I should say, they are, since I'm dealing with it from the other end, too. But, at least for the moment, while Avalon lasts she has a career in New York."

"I get the picture," Emily nodded. "She's not sure she wants to be in Bradford. She's become a New Yorker herself, and she worked hard enough to get out of here in the first place."

"You get the picture," Dave smiled. "I understand perfectly because I'm in exactly the same boat. Shae and I weren't real good friends when we were in high school, and not because of Denis, either. But we've discovered walls have come down over the last few years, and we've moved toward each other a lot since. New York has had much to do with it. What happens if we're in Bradford, well, it's anyone's guess. To top it off, Shae's only real close friends are Eve and John, especially Eve. And they're in Philly, which is a lot closer to New York than it is to Bradford, enough so she can spend a lot of time with them, and she does. Sergei and Milla are just about as much her kids as they are John and Eve's."

"I remember seeing that when we visited John and Eve that time," she nodded. "And I can see how you'd be pulled both ways. Have you talked with Eve about this?"

"Frequently," he said. "Both with Shae and without her. Short term, if Avalon is continued, the boys and I go back to New York in the summer. If it's cancelled, we may try it here. The problem is that while I know Shae is going to make an absolutely wonderful mom -- I've seen her with Sergei and Milla enough -- she's not going to be happy just being a mom, no more than you could manage it."

"I remember her saying often enough that she didn't want to grow up to be a Bradford mom who runs a fork truck out at General," Emily smiled.

"She still says it," Dave grinned. "Unless things get screwed way up, she's not going to have to do it. But she's going to want to do something in her field, and I don't think it includes doing local sports in Fort Wayne or something."

"Dave, I wish I knew what to say," Emily said. "I'm sure you'll do the right thing by her and your kids, all of them, whatever it is. If it's you come back here, I'll do what I can to help." She snickered for a moment, then continued, "If all else fails, she won't have to drive a fork truck at General. I don't think Hazel is going to want to stay around the Courier very long if Lloyd is gone, and I can see you and me needing a sports editor and ad salesman."

Dave broke out laughing. It took him a moment to get over it enough to explain why. "Have you ever watched Avalon much?" he smiled.

"A few episodes."

"Have you ever seen that bit where she puts her hands on her hips, gets a pissed-off expression on her face and stares someone down from a couple feet above them? She says in the scripts they call it 'The Glare'."

"Yeah," Emily grinned, getting the picture, and laughing herself. "I can just see her staring someone down who's trying to turn her down on an ad."

Working at the Courier with Emily the first three days of the week thoroughly screwed up Dave's work schedule, not that he begrudged it in the slightest, considering everything Emily had done for him over the recent months. In practice, what it meant was he had to shove the novel onto the back burner while he kept up with his work for Dunlap and Fyre. That ate the rest of the week up quickly, working both days and in the evenings, although he managed to do a little on the book often enough to keep it moving.

Things weren't going to get better in the near future, either. It was clear as could be over the next several weeks, he was going to have to be a part-time weekly newspaperman on top of everything else, at least until Emily got her feet under her or until Lloyd came back. Again, it wasn't a case of whether Dave wanted to do it or not; it was something he had to do. In the future, he hoped to be able to hold it down to a couple days a week, but it meant things were going to be even busier for a while.

About the only thing he did during the day on Thursday and Friday, not related to his work for Dunlap and Fyre, was to give Aaron Tietelbaum a call on Thursday morning. He wanted to briefly discuss the best approach to financing the purchase of the Courier with the best tax advantage for him. Not surprisingly, while guaranteeing a note would be the lowest-risk approach, it would do the least for his tax situation. Aaron told him there were better options, and since there was no big rush he'd put together a memo and e-mail it to him. Without it being said in so many words, the best approach seemed to involve Dave being at least a partial owner with a note held on the rest of the business. Nothing much more could be done at this point, at least until Lloyd was out of the hospital, but at least Dave was able to tell Emily over coffee on Friday that, however it worked out, the financing could be assured.

Shae was always near the top of his mind. They had planned to tell the boys about the impending marriage the next weekend she was in town, and somehow the two of them had to pass along the news about her pregnancy without it seeming a big deal. From Dave's perspective it was a big deal, and he was glad he and Shae had decided to tell the boys together. It might make it simpler, or, at a minimum, dilute the awkwardness.

Dave had really missed Shae the last few days, with everything else going on, so was glad when Friday rolled around knowing she was on her way. When she called with the boys' bedtime story on Friday night she mentioned she was running a little behind, so Dave figured he had a few hours before she got there. Once the boys were in bed, he used the time to sit down and work on the novel, the first sustained burst he'd had on it all week. He was relieved to see headlights pulling into the driveway, and was out to greet his fiancee almost before she had her engine shut off. "God, it's good to see you, babe," he said, throwing his arms around her right in the driveway.

"I know," she nodded. "Dave, it's good to see you, too. I'm starting to hate that drive more and more every time I make it. I'd just like to stay here with you."

"I know the feeling," he admitted. "It's been my experience that the drive heading toward you goes pretty good, but the one heading back just plain sucks."

"Knowing it's coming all too soon makes the drive out suck just about as bad," she grinned. "Hey, I've got to head in and get to the john before I burst."

"I'll bring your stuff in," he smiled.

A few minutes later, they were sitting in the kitchen, drinking hot chocolate. "Have you given any more thought to telling the boys this weekend?" she asked.

"We about have to," he told her. "It's getting harder and harder to keep the secret. Worse, Emily knows most of the important parts. I've asked her to keep quiet about it, and as far as I know she has, but her phone dial finger has been itching something terrible. She's got enough on her plate right now that I don't want to torture her any more than I have to."

"Telling Emily is about like putting it in the Courier, isn't it?" she giggled.

"That always was true, except now it's more true than ever," he laughed. "I told her this morning I'd talked to Aaron and could cover the financing if she wanted me to. At this point I don't think she's talked with Lloyd about it again, but I do know she's talked to Kevin. He basically told her to go for it."

"You're going to be involved, right?"

Dave shrugged. "In the short term, until she can get another set of hands in there, I'm pretty well going to have to," he told her. "A lot depends on Lloyd. Long term, well, there are a lot of ways it could go. I'll tell you what: even this one week showed me I enjoyed being plugged into the community a little more. I couldn't do it on a permanent forty-hour basis, and I don't think I'd want to anyway. However it works out, if I'm involved, it's still got to be Emily's baby. And, of course, there's still the question of whether we're going to be here or in New York."

"Good question on that," she sighed. "I still don't know anything more about Avalon than I knew the last time we talked about it. Ben was out of town until today, but I finally got to talk to him between setups this morning. He still doesn't know any more than he knew a couple weeks ago, right after I told him I was pregnant. Or, if he does know, he isn't saying anything. That's Ben for you, always looking for the angle. I wish they'd just make up their damn minds one way or the other. Until they do, there's no way I can commit to moving here with you."

"Is that what you really want to do?"

She let out a long sigh. "I almost hate to admit it to anyone, much less myself," she shook her head. "But yeah, it is what I want to do. I spent so damn much time trying to figure a way to get out of this town and never come back that it's hard to believe I really do want to come back here, at least if this is where you want to be."

Dave was silent for a moment, formulating an answer. "I'm coming to the same conclusion myself," he said finally. "A couple minutes ago I was talking about the Courier. Like I said, there's no way to tell how that's going to play out, and it may turn out I'm just the banker in the deal. But if it works out I have to be a part of it in some way, I don't think I'd mind. I can continue editing here, that's no problem. It's not a bad place to sit and write. On top of everything, I think it's a pretty good place to raise kids. Granted, we're lacking some of the things we have available in the city, but sometimes I wonder about that. Having them available and using them are two different things, and I'm beginning to wonder if having them available is worth all the hassle involved."

"I hear you," she sighed. "So, I guess we're stuck until we see what happens with Avalon. I wish they'd get off their dead butts, but I guess we're stuck with them doing things at their own pace. The heck with it, Dave. We've talked this around till we're blue in the face and it's still the same question it was a month ago. I've done what I can to hurry the process. Let's finish this hot chocolate, then go to bed and enjoy ourselves."

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