Hidden in the Blood: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 5)

Chapter Seven: Sunny, Monday

"Ah." Sunny knew all about the preferences parents had for their children where dating was concerned. His own sister had been the victim of those preferences.

"He'd found a job with VPL, though, and he didn't want to give it up, but more than that, his father was sick, and he didn't want to leave his mother alone in case his father passed. How could I possibly insist after I found that out?" The last few words came out wet, because she was blubbering now.

Sunny sympathized with her, but he couldn't help thinking that if Al had gone with her, he'd never have reunited with them all; maybe Lauren would have found him on Facebook like she had before, but he might not have made the long journey just to attend Mrs. Anderson's memorial and meet a few old friends, not when he had a life with this woman in the Okanagan.  The Lawrence Street Detective Club would never have been whole again, not the original five, even if Tej and Joanie would have still been there to fill in the gap. Rachel wouldn't be married right now, and Emma and Logan wouldn't be in their lives at all. As much as he felt for this woman, he was glad Al hadn't gone with her.

"His father passed away fourteen years ago," he said. "Have you been away that long?"

"That sounds about right." Agnes turned to him and said, "When did he meet Rachel?"

"Summer of 2009." Sunny chuckled and said, "Sorry, I should clarify. He reunited with her, with me, and with Lauren and her husband Joe, back in the summer of 2009. We grew up together back in the Seventies."

Agnes took this in, then her eyes widened and she gasped. "Oh!" She flew out of the room, and Sunny followed after her, concerned.

Rachel turned to see Agnes striding up to her, and something on Agnes' face made Rachel brace herself, curling her hands into fists.

Agnes stopped short, though, and said, "You're Rachel."

Rachel blinked in surprise and said, "Yeah, I thought we'd established that."

"No, I mean you're Al's Rachel. The one he talked about, all the time. His first crush. The one he was so sad to never see again because he'd moved away."

"He talked about me all the time?" Rachel asked, surprised, but Sunny saw a hint of pride on her face.

"Uh, yeah, can you believe I was jealous of a thirteen year old girl?"

"Sorry," Rachel said, chuckling. 

"So, you found each other again," Agnes said. Her voice had a hint of awe in it, like she couldn't quite believe they'd defied the odds.

"We did. It took an old woman dying to be the catalyst, but it happened."

Agnes frowned. "I don't understand."

"We all met at the memorial for a woman who used to live on our street, she was sort of my mentor. Actually, I first ran into Al at the library downtown a few days before that, but I wasn't in the best place, mentally, so I didn't make a good impression. The memorial was where we really got to talking."

Agnes nodded. "And then you fell in love. You couldn't write a better story."

Rachel shrugged. "It's a little more complicated than that, but yeah." She'd refrained from telling Agnes about Lauren, and her relationship with both her and Al; that would have made things even more complicated and diminished the legend of Rachel in Agnes' mind. Plus, Emma didn't need to hear that, and she was listening avidly to their conversation, thrilled to learn an origin story for one of her adoptive parents.

"Are you married, Agnes?" Tej asked, unafraid to establish this fact and lance the boil of two unacknowledged romantic rivals negotiating each other.

Agnes flinched as if slapped and said, "Separated, actually. That's one of the reasons I moved back home. My kids and I."