That sort of started when we were little kids.” He reminded them. “We’ve both suffered from a near-death experience and have that in common. We�...�re carrying on the tradition of the Anderson’s being there for the Saunders.”Rita motioned Jackie to follow her into the living room for a mother-daughter chat. John and Steve watched the preview for the NASCAR Quicken Loans 400 taking place at Michigan International Speedway.“Jackie, you didn’t, I’m surprised at you!” John could hear her mother. All of which vanished however when she simply smiled and said, “Be honest, were you just thinking about me?”My response of “what do you mean” sounded innocent enough, but my face turning bright red revealed the truth to her.“I’ve been watching you admire me for the last half hour,” she said with a smirk. “Why do you think I chose to do squats right in front of you?”I was speechless, not only was she not infuriated at what she had walked in on but actually seemed amused by it. “I was surprised. But she stood and waved with both arms and when he acknowledged her, she was so excited. Then she settled back onto the rock. And we talked. About nothing special, just talked … and that was very special.A day later after our swim to the rocks we were sitting on the edge of the water on the beach. I had just combed out Alex’s hair and I was sitting in front of her with her legs on either side of me as she combed out mine after washing in the pool. Landda came up. We were laughing about. I clucked at the horse, handed the girl the reins and got to reloading. She flapped the leathers and avoided my look, chin thrust out.Another man in black stepped out into the road, knelt and fired, hitting the poor horse in the chest. He made an awful noise, stumbled and fell forward as I jumped down and ran at the man, my weapon still unloaded. The soldier stood and met me in good form, musket in both hands, but when we closed, I kicked his feet from under him and ended the fight quickly with.