part 3
"Ma, I'm not supposed to talk about the stuff that happens over there."
"Don't be ridiculous! Where are the Germans who will find anything out from me? You tell me what happened to him," she turned and stood in his path, her fists planted firmly on her hips. If Garrison had been there he would have seen where Casino learned that stubborn stance. "I'm not moving 'til you do."
Casino took a deep breath, "Well first there was this explosion, and he got hurt,,, and the wound got infected, and then he just got worn out and sick. He's been losin' weight and had fevers and a cough for a while now. They did all sorts a stuff for him over in England, Ma, but I guess it's just not workin'. They'r gonna give the doctors here a chance at him."
She softened and reached out to take his arm, looking up into his face. "You know where they're taking him? Do you have a way we can check and make sure he's alright?"
"Yeah." Rawlins had come up with that, the Warden would a never thought of it. He would've kept track a them wherever they were, but he never would a thought they'd be just as concerned about him. "I got a telephone number for the hospital." He smiled at the look in her eyes and shook his head. "We can keep track of him."
He put his arm around her shoulders and turned her towards the cars. Marika and Chris already had Jeanette settled on Mari's lap in the front seat of their large car. Casino was going to ride back to the neighborhood with them, just in case the little girl needed the security and comfort of someone familiar around. Pop was taking Becky and the kids with him and he expected Ma to slide into the back seat behind Mari, but she surprised him by turning out of his grasp and reaching up to lay her hand on his cheek.
"You go with them. We'll meet you back at the house." She tilted her head towards her daughter sitting with the little girl cuddled in her arms. "She needs to get used to her new Mama right now." Then she raised an eyebrow and smiled. "My turn comes next!"
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It had taken two hours to make the trip back from the air field. Jeannette had ridden wide eyed and silent all the way home, leaning into Marika's shoulder as they covered the miles from the airport. When they'd turned into the neighborhood and she'd whispered 'all the houses are up' tears came to Mari's eyes as she realized how different the child's world had been until now. They'd decided that her first day or two she'd spend quietly, with just the two of them. She'd need time to get used to them and to the house, and the whole idea of being here, before they introduced her to the loud, loving crowd of family and friends who were waiting to embrace and welcome her. Her pleasure and amazement at the house finally broke her silence, but her rapid fire French was too fast for their beginners skill and it had taken Casino's loud laughing reminder of "English!" to stop the torrent.
"You make a little hill. No steps."
"It's called a ramp, honey. It'll make it easier for your wheelchair." Chris swung her up from Marika's lap and settled her firmly on his hip and headed around the house. "There's one up to all the doors. Wait'll you see the backyard." And he disappeared around the corner with her, leaving brother and sister to bring the little girl's things into the house.
Still sitting in the car Mari laughed and watched them go before turning to smile up at her big brother. "He's worse than I am! I can't believe you managed it." Throwing her arms around his waist she laid her head on his chest, squeezing him with all the strength in her. "I love you so much! I'm so glad you're here." A loud squeal of laughter drifting from the back of the house caused her to push back and look up into Casino's questioning face. "She's just been introduced to the biggest swing you have ever seen in your life! Help me out of this darned thing!" Starting for the door she called over her shoulder. "Come on, make yourself useful and haul her stuff into the house will you so we can get out there too. No sense in Chris having all the fun!"
It had only taken two trips to bring everything Jeannette had into the house. He brought one small bag that held the few clothes she'd been given by Mrs. Reid and another the new stuff the fellas had bought her as presents was in, and then the crutches that were too heavy and the wheelchair that was too large. Everything was soon in the room that had always been meant for a nursery, the room that sat next to Chris and Marika's. Casino looked around at all the love that had been poured into getting it ready and knew he'd done the right thing when he'd written Mari about the little girl. He wasn't sure at first, didn't know how'd she'd take to the idea, but now he was sure. Another shout of laughter from the backyard had him headed out the door and down the hall that led through the kitchen and out into the back.
Casino stopped short on the back porch. Mari hadn't been lying! It was the biggest swing he'd ever seen. And everything else! This wasn't a backyard anymore, it was a kid's fun park! Jeannie'd hit pay dirt. With an architect for a 'Dad' who had a builder for a father, anything anybody could dream up to build for her amusement was gonna be a done deal. When the door opened behind him and Mari came out on the porch he rounded on her.
"How'd you get all this stuff ready in time!?"
"Well it's not all new! Chris built the swing for me. I love it! And those bars. They're a heck of a lot of fun. See the supports? He just drilled a hole lower down and made them her size. We can move them up if I want to use them again. All the rest of it went up pretty fast. Pop, Stefan and the boys were here, and Ed's whole crew. The construction business came to a dead stop while all of this was going in! Did you see the house?" Shaking her head she answered her own question. "Of course you didn't' see the house, there hasn't been time. Wait 'til you see the house. Chris put bars along the hallway and in her room, and put in a bathroom just for her. He tore out a section in the kitchen and put in a little counter so she can help me cook. It's got pegs in the wall and the cabinets on either side so we'll be able to raise it up as she gets bigger. I'm sure the neighbors are just as glad it's all done and she's here. Now they can finally have some peace and quiet and get some sleep at night!" Holding the platter she had in her hands out to him she said. "Here take this out to the table under the tree. I'll be right out with the drinks."
They'd spent the day playing with the little girl in the backyard, trying out all of the rides and toys that had been built for her. She'd worn herself out trying first the swing, then the bars, then riding on the contraption that looked like a miniature roller coaster. It was powered by a crank that Casino and Chris took turns on while she and Mari whooped and giggled as the car climbed to the top of the track, and then sped down the other side, bouncing them over all the smaller bumps in the circle before jolting to a stop at the bottom of the incline where they called out to be cranked up to the top again. When Chris had finally carried her into the house she was drooping in his arms, happily exhausted and nearly had to be propped up at the table to eat her dinner. A warm bath followed the meal and she was tucked up in her new bed, in her new home, deeply asleep and smiling.
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It was a two hour drive north to reach the hospital. Garrison hadn't been able to sleep in the car, tired as he was from the long flight over he was still too uncomfortable to find escape in sleep. When they'd arrived the driver handed him and his bag over to an orderly, saluted and left. Paperwork followed, and tests. Poking and prodding by a new set of doctors. X-rays, blood work, more paperwork, and another round of doctors. Finally he'd been shown to his room. Basic hospital gray and white, a bed on one wall with a small table next to it where his meal sat, untouched. There was a closet, and he had his own bathroom, but no chair or desk. 'Guess they really mean rest,' he thought as he sat on the side of the bed staring out the window at the trees at the edge of the hospital complex.
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"My God, Chris, she's beautiful!" Mari reached up and covered the hand Chris had placed on her shoulder as they gazed at the little girl sleeping in the bed they'd never thought would hold a child.
"See, I told ya. She looks just like you when you were little." Casino smiled from the doorway and watched as his sister and her husband stared at the treasure he'd brought them.
"I can't believe she's here." Chris squeezed his wife's shoulder and turned, leaving her to her vigil. He knew it would be days before she'd have eyes for anything other than this little girl. Moving out into the hall he drew his brother-in-law into the kitchen with a question.
"How did you ever talk them into it?"
"Oh that was mostly the Warden�. Lieutenant Garrison. Soon as I told him you wanted to do it he went to work on 'em. You should a seen the pile a papers we had to fill out. He even had the Sergeant Major workin' on it if we had to be away" He settled into the chair and leaned his elbows on the table. "I was kinda worried they wouldn't let you have her. You know, 'cause a me and Marcus."
Chris turned back from the stove where he was setting another pot of coffee to brew. "I was worried about that too." he said honestly. "They had a lady out here snooping into everything. Asking all sorts of questions about you guys. It must've made a difference, what you're doing for the Army, and Marcus taking all those high school classes. And Nick kinda balances you guys out." It always surprised him how easy it was to joke with this brother-in-law of his about his status as one of the black sheep of the family. "She started in on us next. Picked us to pieces over what we do, how we live, and how we thought we'd manage to take care of Jeannette." His freckled face crinkled up into a smile. "We sure got her with all that stuff in the back yard. Then she met my folks, and the rest of your family. Everybody in the neighborhood went to work on her, even the guys from the construction crew. She never had a chance!"
Jeannette wasn't the only one who was worn out. Casino thought he'd fall asleep and drown in the coffee that was sitting in front of him on the table. The long flight over, the excitement of being back with his family and the afternoon spent outside laughing and playing like a little kid� He was ready for someone to tuck him away in a bed too. "I better get goin'. Ma's gonna let me have it for bein' here so long."
"Are you crazy? Mari's fixed a room for you here tonight. She and Ma worked it all out. We thought maybe,,, well, you know, in case Jeannette didn't take to us." Chris smiled as that foolish thought went up in smoke. As soon as the little girl put her arms around his neck, when he took her from this brother-in-law of his at the airstrip, he'd known she was theirs. The way she'd snuggled against him, and then melted into Mari's lap� It seemed she belonged there, that she'd always been there, that she'd just been away a long time and was finally home.
Chris took the cup Casino handed him and set it in the sink. He filled his own mug again and smiled. There wouldn't be any sleep for him tonight. He'd spend the hours sitting by his wife, watching the little wonder they'd just received sleep and dream. He'd be there in case any hint of fear threatened her in the night. "I already took your bag back into the guest room. So if you're tired you can just go back in there and sack out."
Casino yawned and stretched as he got up from the table. "Yeah, that'd be great�. Wait! I gotta make a call first."
"Fine. The phone's in that little alcove in the hallway."
"It's gonna be a toll call�."
Chris laughed as he left the kitchen and walked back to Jeannette's room. "So leave your dime on the counter then!"
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Casino leaned against the wall in the hallway, reaching down into his pocket he pulled out the slip of paper the Sergeant Major had given him and set it on the shelf next to the phone. Picking up the receiver he dialed the operator and waited. "Hi. Yeah I need to make a long distance call." He read off the number and yawned. "Sure, I'll wait." Sliding down the wall he sat on the floor and waited for a connection.
He'd let the guys talk him into calling the hospital every few days to check up on the Warden. He'd have done it on his own, but it didn't hurt his image as a tough guy to make them argue him into it. He gave a derisive snort at that. Some tough guy! He was probably the softest touch in the mansion and they'd all worked together long enough, the others probably knew it. Still, he wished Mrs. Reid hadn't spilled it about playin' the clown for those kids. He'd had some real trouble from Goniff and Chief over that.
The voice on the other end of the line brought him up with a start. "Yeah!� I need to talk to somebody about a new guy you got up there today... A patient!? Sure, what else? Name's Lieutenant Garrison... Craig, yeah, that's the guy... Sure. I'll hold."
"Hi! Yeah, I'm callin' on Lieutenant Garrison. You got him up there, right?.. I just wanted to let somebody up there know that the War� the Lieutenant, he grew up talkin' German, see, so when he's sick, or hurt, or somethin', sometimes he� Yeah, that's right. I just didn't want anybody up there to get the wrong idea, ya know?�.. No. I'm not� Well sorta, I guess. See he doesn't have anybody� No, his folks are dead, and there weren't any other kids, see. So, I promised the guys I'd check up on him�. The same unit? Sure, that's right. We're all in the same outfit. The Lieutenant, there, he runs it, he's the boss."
"What!?" Casino sat forward with a frown as he listened. "He did, huh. He doin' OK now?� You sure, 'cause�� Well, as long as you got it all under control. Say� It's OK if I call in on him, right?� OK! Thanks�... No! No, don't tell him I called. He's kinda stubborn, and he might get kinda mad if he found out�. OK. Thanks."
"What is it?" Chris watched him for a moment as he tried to land the receiver back on the phone from his position sitting on the floor, then he reached out and took it from him and did it himself. "Anything wrong?"
"Aw, the Warden took a dive once they got him up to that hospital."
"Everything OK? We could drive up there if you want."
"No. She said they had everything under control. Doctors figure he just got too tired out. He should be OK. I'm gonna call and check up on him tomorrow." Casino rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"Well, OK, but if you change your mind it's only about three, four hours from here."
"Thanks, but I'm probably the last thing he wants to see." He rested his head back against the wall and smiled up at Chris. "If I walked in the door up there he'd just think I was in some kinda trouble. He'd probably kill me before I got a chance to open my mouth."
Chris cocked an eyebrow and smiled back, reaching down he hauled Casino to his feet and placing a hand on his shoulder, turned him and gave him a shove towards the bedroom. "You better get some sleep or you're going to be taking a dive yourself. Then it'll be Ma after blood,,, and it'll be mine."
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Casino pulled the pillow over his head and held it down with both hands.
"Are you ever going to get up out of there?" Mari pinched him on the shoulder again and then pulled the covers back and attacked, tickling his ribs until he had to come out from under the pillow for air.
"Hey! I just got back. You'r not 'spose to beat up on me yet!"
"There are rules about that?" She asked with a smile as he rolled out to sit on the side of the bed, the sheets pulled around him.
"Sure! Geneva Convention covers it somewhere." He yawned and stretched. "Covers makin' people starve to death too. When's breakfast?"
"Breakfast! You're kidding, right?" She turned and headed out the door, calling over her shoulder. "It's two in the afternoon, you slug. Now get up! Ma's already called three times wondering where you are. You've got to get out of here before she comes over and scalps me for keeping you too long���Ooops!��.
Casino heard her start to giggle and shot a panicked look around the room for his pants.
"���. Hi, Ma!"
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From the moment he walked in the door at home it seemed like there was an endless stream of neighbors, friends and family coming in and out to greet him. The ones that couldn't come in person were on the phone. Everyone they knew wanted to come and see him, make sure he was alright, that he was really out of prison, back from the fighting and OK. He hadn't realized how many people cared about him. His parents, and his brothers and sisters, sure! But there was a whole crowd in the house, all of them there to tell him what a great thing he'd done by bringin' Jeannie over, and to tell him how they'd been prayin' for him and hopin' he was alright. How they'd always known he'd turn things around. Made him a little uncomfortable, havin' that many people worryin' over him, expectin' stuff out of him.
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The light coming into the room was subdued. The nurse had dropped the shades before she left, telling him it'd be easier for him to get some sleep. The doctors had ordered complete bed rest, withdrawing the offer of a walk around the grounds after his knees had buckled on him out in the hallway again yesterday. Garrison punched the pillow, turned and tried to get comfortable, cursing under his breath as the IV in his arm pulled and stung.
What in the hell did they expect? Let one of them make that long trip over here, then sit through an endless stream of doctors and technicians who all wanted a piece of them. Let them answer question after question, give up every type of bodily fluid, and climb in and out of wheelchairs, and on and off exam tables, and see if their knees didn't give out on them.
Then they'd gone after him about the food... He wasn't hungry damn it! The stuff didn't taste any different from the plate it was sitting on anyway. Besides, they had him swallowing handfuls of their pills already. There wasn't room for anything else. When the damn nurse that just left had ordered him to eat, again, he'd finally lost it. He slid the tray back into her hands, and a couple of less than gentlemanly suggestions about just what she might do with it followed. She'd smiled sweetly, cut her eyes and turned on her heel and left�..but at least she'd taken the tray.
When the door opened on her again five minutes ago she had the order and the supplies... And a burly orderly at her back. He was now tethered to a bottle hanging from a pole next to the bed, and had to watch out so he didn't strangle himself when he moved.
Call if he needed anything, she said. Revoked bathroom privileges, she said. Yeah. Well, they'd just see about that one.
Hospitals!
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Casino spent long lazy days getting to know his family again. It had been years since he'd seen them without a grate between them. Almost two years since he'd seen them at all. They'd tried to come visit when he was in the joint, but when things got tight and rationing had got rolling they couldn't make the long trip out, and there was no way a phone call was allowed, not even for an emergency. And then the Warden had picked him up and they hadn't even known where he'd gone off to. They'd just gotten the notice that he'd been transferred. It had been three months before any of the guys had been allowed to write a letter to anybody, and then it had gone through the censors, so that first letter, and the ones that followed had to be pretty bland. No details about where he was, nothing about what he was doing. He'd only been allowed to tell them he was with the Army now, working on a special project.
He'd managed to put his folks off about what he really did for the government since he'd gotten back but they were zeroing in on him. Each of them asking questions, gathering information from him, sharing it he was sure, before the next round of questioning started. They were sitting across the table from him now, waiting expectantly for him to come up with something. He stared down into the coffee cup he held in his hand and chewed on the corner of his lower lip as he wracked his brains for something he could tell them, and not get in trouble with the Warden. �.
As soon as he sat down at the table with them this morning he knew the sanitized version wouldn't pass inspection. They'd both know he was keeping information from them and they'd keep at him until they got their answers. Pop would go about it quietly, like he always did, outwardly accepting whatever he was told, just adding it to the knowledge he was gaining, using it to ask the next, more penetrating question. Ma would just stay in his face until he told her. And he knew if he lied to her she'd know and it��Aw, hell! What's the use!
"Look, we pull jobs for the government, OK? They want somethin' swiped, we go over and swipe it�.."
His mother narrowed her eyes and looked at him for a moment. "So you aren't teaching soldiers how to break into safes?"
"No. Well, only one. The War� the Lieutenant, he's gettin' pretty good at locks, but I don't think he'll ever make a livin' robbin' banks." He tried to laugh it off as a joke, but she wasn't having any part of it.
"Is that how you're going to make a living?"
"Not if I can help it Ma."
"But what you do� It's very dangerous isn't it? You've been hurt�?" She'd seen the scars on him as he'd scrambled into his clothes yesterday.
"No... Ma, they're real careful with us 'cause we're the only team they got that does this kinda stuff. And the Lieutenant, he plans things out real good before he lets us go in on a job�" He figured they didn't need to know if it was something that could be patched up. If he ever caught one that was bad enough to send him home permanent, then it'd be different. And if he bought it� He didn't even want to think about that. It was one thing to pop off with some sarcastic remark about foreign graves and body bags to the Warden, but sitting here looking in their eyes�
"I asked you if you've been hurt doing this�" She had every letter the Lieutenant had written her in a box upstairs under her bed. She knew every scar that had been added to his body before she'd seen him at Marika's.
"Only a couple a times Ma, and it wasn't anything�"
"You never said anything in your letters." She knew he didn't want to worry them, and she didn't want him to know that they did just that. Sitting here at home, not knowing exactly where he was, every bit of bad news that came through they imagined him in the middle of it�
"Uh��.Look,,, Ma. I really gotta make that telephone call. I promised the guys I'd keep checkin' up on him." He tried an innocent smile out on her. "You wanted to keep up with him too, remember?"
Casino managed to slip out of the kitchen and into the hall where the phone was. He took a deep breath and shook his head. Man, she was tough!, he thought, smiling as he reached for the phone. How in the hell had he ever managed to get into trouble in the first place?
He rattled the number off to the operator when he got her on the phone and leaned up against the wall to wait. "Yeah. I'm callin' to check up on a guy you got up there. Yeah. Lieutenant Craig Garrison. He came in a couple a three days ago and they put him over in building C, up on the third floor. OK, I'll wait." He smiled at her as she brought him his coffee and kissed her on the top of her head, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she settled in next to him to listen.
"Hi. I'm just callin in on Lieutenant Garrison�.. That's right. I called yesterday. You the one I talked to? Great! How ya doin'?" He listened for a moment and smiled as the voice on the phone recounted the gossip of the day. "That's good. How's the Lieutenant doin'?" Casino stiffened and frowned, causing his mother to glance up in alarm. "They what?!� That can't be very comfortable�. Oh. OK. They put him out for somethin' like that?��.. Isn't that kinda dangerous?� Yeah, well, I guess if it's for the best." When he relaxed back against the wall so did his mother, but he gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze anyway.
"How's he doin' with the bad dreams?��.. Good! So you got somebody? Good. What?� No. Just keep tellin' him that old guy's dead and buried, and he didn't have nothin' to do with it. They think this is gonna work? ��. Yeah? Well, I guess I'll call back then. What?� No! No, don't tell him I called." He winced as his mother pinched him on the arm. "OK, Jeeze! OK!! Tell him that I called when he wakes up, but tell him that I just wanted him to know that Jeannie's settlin' in real good. Yeah, just tell him that. Tell him I'm havin' a real good time with the family and there's nothin' to worry about��. OK? You on Friday?� Alright, I'll talk to ya then."
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When they told him what they were going to do it didn't sound like very much fun. It hadn't been. They'd set him on the side of the bed and draped him over the bedside table and then shoved a needle in between his ribs. Garrison thought it was probably easier getting shot. At least it was a surprise. Knowing somebody was walking around behind you with a sharp object, waiting to slide it into you somewhere, wasn't all that easy to sit still for. Didn't help to have that same damn little nurse standing in front of him, telling him it was for his own good!
He was drifting somewhere. Not asleep, but even as he struggled, not quite awake. He vaguely remembered them telling him they were going to give him something to help him rest�. Rest... He was beginning to hate that word. And something about Casino�..
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"They're sending that boy to another heartless hospital? He most certainly will not go! You just get up there and bring him back home!" She'd turned her back on him and started slamming pots around on the stove.
It'd been more than three weeks. The reports Casino got from the nurse up at the hospital when he checked in hadn't been very good at first. They'd drained some fluid out of the Warden's chest a couple a times and it just came back again. The doctors tried some fancy experimental stuff on him, pouring the medicine right into his chest while they kept him out of it. Scared Casino enough that he'd taken a run up there and hung around in the guys room for a couple a days while he slept. Got the low down on what they were doin' right from the doctor. But, it seemed to have worked. Whatever they were lookin' at on those x-rays was clearin' up and he hadn't had a fever in three days now. "Ma, he's gettin' out of the hospital, this is a place to go and rest some more. And they probably got everything all worked out and�"
She rounded on him and jabbed a finger into his shoulder. "Then you tell them to work something else out! You tell them exactly what I told you to tell them, and you get him out of there and bring him home here were he belongs."
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When Garrison looked up he'd expected to see an orderly strolling in the door, ready to take him out to the transport to the next place they had lined up for him. He'd pretty well worn out this hospital, and even though he was headed for another one just like it he was ready for a change of scenery. He had to take another look to make sure he was seeing right.
"Casino! Is Jeanette alright? What's wrong, what are you doing here?"
"Aw, it's OK. I cleared it with that watch dog a yours." Casino held the door open as the nurse rolled the wheelchair in, smiling at her as she moved past. "He knows where I am."
"But what are you doing here?" he insisted frowning from the nurse, that same damn little nurse, didn't she ever take a day off?, to the man who stood shuffling his feet in the middle of the room.
"I come to take you back home with me." There was just a hint of belligerence in his safe cracker's tone.
"What?!" Garrison's jaw dropped. "No. I�. They're sending me up state�"
"Yeah! And as soon as Ma found out about that she had a fit."
"Found out? How'd your mother find out!?"
"You told the watch dog, the watch dog told me, and nobody has any secrets around Ma." The east coast thief prayed that Garrison had been talking to the guy like he said he would, checking up that he had been calling in, and hoped that he'd said something about the doctors' plans for him. He hadn't thought to ask the guy when he'd called and told him he was headed up here. "I swear those Intelligence guys could learn a lot from her! She can get anything outta anybody." Casino had started searching the room for baggage, anything to keep from meeting the Warden's eye.
"But I can't�" He frowned and fixed Casino with a black gaze. He hadn't told anyone anything. That little dictator of a nurse wouldn't let him anywhere near a phone. What was going on here?
"Look. You think I'm stubborn?" He finally stopped what he was doing and turned to face his commander. "Where do you think I got it!? She's gonna make my life miserable if I don't bring you back with me. So just do me a favor and come along quietly, will ya Lieutenant? It'll save me a whole lot a trouble." Casino threw his hands up, exasperated at the Warden's doubtful look. That little woman wasn't just going to make his life miserable, she was gonna kill him if he didn't pull this off. "I'll bring ya back here if ya don't like it. OK?" Then he fired his last, best, shot. "Alright! You can go on up to that place if ya want to," he paused for a moment. "but the food's way better at Ma's"
That got him! Casino smothered a triumphant smile.
"But the doctors..." the Lieutenant was still arguing, but there was just the hint of eagerness in his voice. "I already have my orders."
"Are you kiddin'! She's been workin' them over for two days on the phone! They'll probably be glad to see the back side a you. It's all arranged. Now come on," Casino tossed Garrison his jacket, shouldering the bag he'd found in the closet as the Warden settled himself in the chair and the nurse started it rolling towards the door. He winked at her over the Lieutenant's head as she moved past him into the hall. "Let's get the hell outta here."
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The house and neighborhood had come as a surprise. Casino talked so tuff and used so much street slang he'd just assumed he was a product of the inner city. A tenement kid who played stick ball in the streets and hung out on the corner around the lamp post with 'the guys.' But this was a broad street with houses set well back from the road and large trees cast deep shade over the sidewalks. The places were older but taken care of with obvious pride and the activities on the street watched with interest by the neighbors. Several greetings had been called out to them when they'd pulled in and as they were making their way up the walk to the front door. There was a ramp leading up onto the front porch too, obviously they'd been busy getting ready for Jeannette to arrive. That addition to the house made him know, before the door ever opened, that he was going to like the people who lived here.
"Papa, Ma, this is my boss, Lieutenant Garrison." Casino sat the bag just inside the door and watched as his father reached out and gravely shook the Warden's hand, then smiled as his mother reached up and pulled the startled officer down so she could land a kiss on his cheek. "Warden," he chuckled, "meet my folks."