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    "Gramps, I don't think we need to encourage him any more."
    "Nonsense, girl. He'll have this figured out in no time. A chip off the old block, if I may say so myself." Her grandfather's chest puffed out as though what Joey had done was something to be proud of. Obviously plunging from a second story building was nothing to her grandfather.
    "No, he won't figure it out Gramps. He will not try to fly again." The pounding in her head intensified as she pronounced each word slowly, to try and get both of them to understand.
    "He'll be fine. I'll supervise."
    "That's supposed to reassure me after what happened to you today?" She rubbed her temples, and again drew in deep breaths that weren't doing the trick. She wasn't calm. Her nerves had taken an extra beating today—two accidents in one day. Even for her family that was unusual.
    "Harold, why don't you show me your lab while Leah gets Joey to bed? With all this excitement, I'm sure the boy needs his rest." Margaret placed her hand on Harold's arm, effectively turning his attention to her.
    Leah could have kissed the woman in that moment, and would have if her grandfather hadn't ushered her away faster than she had seen him move in twenty years. She knew Gramps was in heaven showing an attractive woman around his lab.
    "Mom, I'm not ready to go to bed. It's only eight o'clock. It's not even dark yet."
    Leah grasped Joey's hand and started marching him toward the steps that led to the porch. "You're going to bed. If you're smart, which I know you are, you won't argue this point with me. I need the rest."
    "But Sam helped me. Why does he get to stay up?"
    "He did?" Halting at the front door, Leah glanced back at her eldest. "You, too?"
    When Sam trudged up the steps, he stared at his feet, his chin resting on his chest. "I can't believe you allowed your little brother to do something like that. You have more sense than that."
    "He told me I could try it after he did. Besides, Betsy was being a pain in the bu—"
    "Samuel Franklin Taylor, don't use that language in my presence. I'll talk to you both tomorrow morning." Leah thrust open the door and pointed toward the stairs. "Now go up and get ready for bed."
    The boys walked slowly into the house, their shoulders slumped. Sam's whispered words floated back to her, "She must really be mad. She used all three of my names."
    "And after getting ready for bed, you two, get into bed and go to sleep. I'll be up to check on you when I'm calmer." Leah knew if she didn't spell out exactly what she wanted them to do they would do only what she said. Both of them could be quite literal when it suited them.
    She listened to them moving around upstairs for a few minutes before she went back out on the porch to sit on the swing, thankful the crowd of neighbors had dispersed. Dusk settled into shadows of night while the summer air encased her in a heat that warmed her chilled body. What was she going to do with her children? It took all her energy lately to keep up with them. She hadn't even had time to set up her computer. She wasn't going to make her deadline if many more things distracted her.
    Just at that moment, Shane appeared out of the shadows and sat down next to her on the swing. Scratch that. She wouldn't get her children's book to her publisher if too many more people distracted her, she thought as the heat of the night soared. She felt the man next to her, her every sense, every nerve, attuned to him. Shane O'Grady could definitely become a distraction if she didn't keep her distance, and she knew how to get rid of the man. It had worked quite well before.
    "Joey is a genius. His IQ is one-hundred and sixty-five, and sometimes I wonder if it isn't higher." There. She had told him what he must have suspected. It always made the men who had shown any interest in her flee.
    Shane lounged back. "That must make your life interesting."
    She slanted a look at him. Her youngest son intimidated most adults. "That's an