*one mild sexual reference
Different Kinds of Mysteries
By Steph
Trixie Belden, aged 24, looked up from her desk to see a very familiar figure walk into the detective agency she shared with her best friend, Honey Wheeler. She had just finished wrapping up their last case. Trixie smiled as she saw her close friend, Jim Frayne.
"It’s great to see you!" Trixie said. "What brings you into town?"
"I came to see you and Honey," said Jim.
Trixie said, "Honey is off today, just taking care of some personal business. We always take a day off each after a case wraps up to take care of other stuff since we can get so involved sometimes. I was off yesterday. Did you want to do lunch?"
Jim looked a little uncomfortable and played with his shirt a little, a gesture Trixie found quite distracting. Seeing him always brought back some of those special feelings they had had as teenagers but never explored, and even though they were both back in Sleepyside, they never even talked about it.
Finally Jim said, "It’s not personal, although lunch does sound great. I need to hire you to look into something for me. One of the boys at the school, Timmy Sandberg, you know him, the one we think looks like Mart as an 8 year old? Well, as you might know, he has a fortune coming to him when he’s 21 but he has no living relatives. Or so we thought. Suddenly I received a letter yesterday from someone claiming to be his father’s illegitimate son and therefore able to claim half the inheritance!"
Trixie was stunned as Jim handed her the letter and she read it. She said, "This man is a first grade creep even if he really has a legitimate claim. Not even wanting to meet his little brother, just wants his share of the wealth. But he does seem to have an awful lot of information that seemingly only a family member would know."
Trying not to notice Trixie’s eyes sparkle and how pretty she was, Jim continued, "That’s what makes me think this might be legit but I want you to check into it before it goes any further. I know Timmy’s father was rather, let’s say, busy as a young man before he married. He is also threatening legal action against us for ‘holding onto’ his assets since we control the trust fund. He claims that we have kept that a secret!"
"That is the silliest thing I have ever heard!" Trixie's eyes flashed with temper. The very idea that Jim would try and hide something like that and be dishonest was the goofiest thing she had ever heard of.
Jim smiled at Trixie’s exuberance and tried to take his eyes off her beautiful face and figure. He kept reminding himself they were just friends, she hadn’t given him any indication that she wanted anything more than that.
Meanwhile, Trixie was having some of the same thoughts as she looked at how handsome and well-built her old friend was. Well, that was all water under the bridge, they certainly would have started something a long time ago if there was something to start, wouldn’t they?
They continued discussing the case and then went to lunch to discuss it further. Trixie promised Jim that she would work hard on it. He asked about her fee and she said that it was on the house, what were friends for?
They shook hands on it and Trixie headed back to the office while Jim headed back to the school. Trixie got working on the case right away.
With the letter, Jim had also brought over Timmy’s considerable file with all the information they had which she would need. Trixie read about Timmy’s parents dying in a plane crash and him being supposedly the last of the Sandbergs, or at least that branch of the family.
She finished a good afternoon of geanealogy and genetics research on the Internet. She decided to stop by the Winthrop and Katje Frayne Memorial School on the way home to talk to Jim.
As she pulled up into the driveway, she felt a surge of pride for her old friend, and also for her brothers; Brian, who was the doctor on campus and Mart, who ran the agricultural program. Brian also was a doctor at Sleepyside Hospital.
The school had a huge main building where the classrooms, offices and gymnasiums were held, as well as an indoor swimming pool and workout room. There were two dorm buildings for the students and also a building with apartments for the live-in staff.
Before she headed to the offices Trixie found herself touching up her makeup and brushing her hair. She laughed at the thought that she was still self-conscious around Jim. Even though they were "just friends", she still liked looking the best for him.
She walked into the office and said "hello" to Jim’s secretary, Chelsea, who said that he was in the office. Trixie walked in and saw Jim in an intense phone conversation, his handsome face scrunched into an angry frown, while he ran his hand through that red hair. Finally he slammed the phone down so hard that the desk shook.
Jim’s famous redheaded temper had simmered down a little over the years but sometimes it was still quite evident!
Trixie laughed. "I see you still have that famous red-haired temper. I wanted to stop by and tell you what I was able to find out today. I didn’t get very far, but I did see the medical records you had on Timmy’s parents in here with the blood types and everything. This con artist, this Frank Caruso guy, I think he thinks we don’t have this information. I know that with the boys you try and get as much medical history as you can."
Jim said, "Thanks for the work you’ve done so far. I don’t know what I would do without you. I want to keep this quiet right now and if people see us talking, they know we’re good friends and, of course, Honey is my sister. I especially don’t want Timmy to know yet. He wants a family so much and if he thought he might have a brother, he might get really excited."
Trixie nodded. "I also did research on the Sandberg family. Apparently his father, Mark, left his family when he was 18 to seek his fortune and was a self made millionaire by his 21st birthday. He only had his parents growing up, who are now dead, but maybe there’s more family. Mark also had a much older half brother, Derwent Sandberg, and I’m going to look up that. They’re from out in Spokane, Washington. "
"Look into that for sure," said Jim. "Maybe Timmy has some cousins or something out there. You know how I felt when I found Juliana. It's hard to believe she and Hans have been married about ten years now and have three children. I heard from them last week, just saying everything is fine and they might visit for their tenth anniversary in two months."
"That would be fantastic. I missed their last visit since I was Chicago training. You know, I’ve been getting this binge in my head about Sandberg and Spokane, Washington. It’s probably just because I went to a few Cubs games when I lived out there and the Cubs had a second baseman named Sandberg then. I heard there’s a picnic on the grounds today. Do you mind if I join?"
"I was just about to invite you. You know you’re always welcome because the boys all adore you." He didn’t want to mention to her that the older boys kept asking him when he was going to ask Miss Belden out on a date, although the idea definitely appealed to him.
"And I love all of them too. I am so happy you let me be a part of this, working with the kids and teaching them self defense and everything."
Jim said, "I think they enjoy it as much as you do and it’s nice to have all the Bob-Whites involved in some way, shape or form."
Di taught art at the school and also worked at the art museum in town. Honey taught crafts. She was also a sort of a den mother type figure. Dan was a mentor for the boys, as well as being Sleepyside’s Chief of Police.
Di and Mart were dating and so were Honey and Brian. Dan was still completely single, having never gotten his relationship with Hallie off the ground, even though she lived in Sleepyside for awhile.
The school was on forty acres of land. Ten acres Jim had inherited from his great uncle, the other thirty, which included some of the game preserve, his father had given him. There were playing fields and tennis courts as well as an outdoor swimming pool and a large picnic and barbecue area. There was a camping area in the game preserve also. They also had the Wheeler lake at their disposal and they used it often.
Trixie went back to her apartment and quickly showered and washed her hair, changing into a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and gym shoes. She loved spending time at the school and, of course, with Jim and their other friends.
When she pulled up she saw that the party was already in full swing. She saw that Honey was there with Brian and Mart was there with Di. Sometimes she thought that she was the only unattached woman in Sleepyside! She was glad to see the other two couples so happy, though, and was wondering when some weddings would happen.
She thought to herself, Even Miss Trask is not Miss Trask anymore. I still can’t get over her falling in love and marrying Uncle Andrew on an impulse when he came in last year for that month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But at least they are happy in Iowa and visit often!
She saw Dan and Jim standing together talking and walked over, gave them both quick hugs and said, "This looks like a great party. Does anyone have the softball game going yet? Let’s play some 16 inch. No 12 inch for me!"
Jim tousled her hair and said "You and your 16 inch softball. You send a girl to Chicago for six months and she likes deep dish pizza, 16 inch softball and the Cubs! There has to be something in the air over there! We’re playing good old- fashioned 12 inch. Timmy is playing second base. He seems to be such a natural at it."
They quickly set up teams of everyone who wanted to play softball. Those who preferred not to play softball had their choice of swimming with Di and Mart or joining a spirited volleyball game led by Honey and Brian.
Tom and Regan were there and manning the grills. Tom and Regan also worked with Jim. Regan tsught horseback riding and ran the combined stables while Tom was a mentor like Dan.
Tom and Celia, and Regan and his wife, Joan, were now running the Wheeler estate for Mr. and Mrs. Wheele,r who were semi-retired and divided their time between their homes in Florida, Maine and Sleepyside.
Trixie went over to talk to them for a few minutes and then joined in the softball game. Timmy was a natural at second base; with a fluid motion, he caught the ball and threw it perfectly to the first baseman, a young man named Mark Dunston. The shortstop was another good kid named Shawn Grace.
The game finished in a tie and they all settled down to eat. Trixie found herself, as usual, surrounded by boys who wanted to hear about the detective agency.
Jim watched Trixie with the kids and, for the thousandth time in the last year or so since her return from Chicago, thought about what a wonderful mother she would make. He looked quickly away when he saw her start to look at him. He felt strange about her seeing him watch her.
The rest of the party was a lot of fun and soon the adults were gathered upstairs talking about Timmy’s situation. Jim had briefed Honey on it when she had arrived for the party. They all said that they would help in any possible way.
They all broke up late. Brian drove Honey home and Mart drove Di home. Trixie watched them go, along with Dan and Regan, Tom, Celia and Joan. She turned to Jim and said, "That was a great party. I promise that we will get to the bottom of this thing with Timmy. I'm also researching the family connections. This is getting really weird."
She went home. The next morning she started to make some calls. She remembered why the name Sandberg and Spokane, Washington rang a bell-- because Ryne Sandberg was from Spokane. She called her old friend, Barry Rozner, from The Daily Herald, where she had worked part time while living in Chicago. She had worked in the crime section but he had always been friendly to everyone.
She asked him about Ryne Sandberg’s family, knowing Barry had written a book with him called Second to Home. She was surprised to hear that Ryne’s father’s name was Derwent and thought to herself that the Beldens weren’t the only family who named their children cruelly. Ryne and Derwent!
After she hung up, she did more research on Frank Caruso and found no criminal record on him or anything except that he had a bad credit history and was banned from the local racetrack where he lived in Ohio for suspicion of race fixing.
She thought to herself that she wanted to go over this with Jim, so she went over to the school where she waited for him to finish teaching a Math class, knowing he had a half hour break afterwards when they could talk. She remembered how he had tutored her in Arizona when they were visiting Di’s Uncle Monty. She walked into the classroom and sat in the back, watching him teach.
He was so strong and confident and there was a sparkle in his eyes when he taught. He looked very handsome, in tan slacks and a white shirt, as he went over fractions. The boys noticed her there first, and when Jim noticed a little bit of fussing in class, he noticed her, too, and waved. He smiled at her and said, "Let’s all behave ourselves or else Miss Belden will give out detentions or make you all do extra chores. She has that power, remember!"
Everyone laughed and Trixie said, "Okay, Mr. Frayne, we’ll behave or else you might have to give one to me!"
The kids all laughed at the thought of Miss Belden having to go to detention, an area outside where the kids in trouble had to go for an hour as punishment.
The rest of the class went smoothly and when the kids had filed out, Jim walked over to Trixie and said, "I think you probably have information on Mr. Caruso for me. I’m glad you stopped by. I can get you a soda and chips from the vending machine in the office if you’d like. Chelsea keeps it well stocked for all the employees who sometimes need a snack."
"Sounds good to me," said Trixie. "It is after lunchtime already. Time always seems to fly when I’m working on a case, especially one that I care about so much!"
Jim smiled at her. "Some things never change. I see that sparkle back in your eyes again like when we were young and you smelled a mystery!"
"And helping you was my first mystery and now it’s my latest."
They sat down over Cokes and Cheez-it, and talked over the case and what she had found out. She thought Caruso was definitely a con artist. Jim revealed that Mr. Caruso had told him that he was flying in to visit the next day, to see his little brother.
Trixie said, "That doesn’t give us much time. I also found out some information on who Timmy’s real family just might be." Trixie told Jim what Barry had told her and he was amazed and said, "So Timmy does have family and it’s no coincidence that he is very good at second base. They’re probably cousins."
"And since it looks like Timmy’s first cousin Ryne is the greatest second baseman of all time, it's natural that Timmy plays second base in softball."
"Since they have the same last name," Jim said,"Timmy already has a big poster of him by his bed. It would be great if they are related at all, but it looks like their fathers were half-brothers!"
Jim had Regan take over his classes. Then he and Trixie spent all the rest of the afternoon working on the case and working with the blood types. Trixie showed Jim what she had figured out. They also enlisted the other Bob-Whites' help to run around checking things out and also working on the computer. It felt like old times.
Trixie also got a fax from Barry Rozner who told her that he spoke to Ryne Sandberg and Ryne had told him that he knew his father had had a much younger brother but his father’s parents had died when he was only two and he had never met his uncle. His father had never spoken much about them. His father had died a few years earlier.
Ryne also had said that he would like to meet his little cousin, if they were really related. They knew Ryne had plenty of money and so he couldn't be after Timmy’s trust fund. He would bring his wife and kids out in a week or so when everything was settled.
Finally Jim said, "We need a break. How about a late dinner? We could go to Wimpy’s for old times sake. I haven’t been there in ages and it’s already eight o'clock! Time sure flies when we’re together, even when we’re working!"
Trixie definitely agreed and they headed off to Wimpy's, which now had dancing, When the jukebox started playing a favorite of theirs, Elvis Presley’s song Jailhouse Rock, he asked her to dance and soon they were cutting a rug together.
They were dancing to some lively tunes when suddenly the song switched to Lady In Red which was a mutual favorite. Trixie happened to be wearing a red dress that night, a beautiful red and white striped sundress that set off her tan.
As Jim rested his chin on Trixie’s head and held her close, he was overwhelmed with feelings for her. He knew that he wanted to be more than friends with her, and start dating maybe after they wrapped up this case.
Trixie had the same feelings about Jim as she felt how natural it was to be wrapped in his arms and dancing like this, in the middle of a dance floor, oblivious to everyone around them.
Afterwards she drove him back to the school since they had gone in her car. She walked with him to the door.
"I really had a good time tonight," Jim said. "It was great to go out and have fun and dance just like old times. Trixie, when we finish this case, I would like us to sit down and have a conversation about--"
Trixie’s breath caught in her throat at his words. He leaned towards her and then she almost screamed in frustration when they heard Brian calling to them.
They turned toward his voice, the moment lost.
Brian said that he wanted to know if they had found out anything new and they told him what they had learned and then Trixie went home, promising to be there when Frank Caruso arrived with his lawyer at noon the next day.
At 11:30 the next morning everyone gathered at the school for the meeting and they discussed strategy. But they couldn't be sure what cards Frank Caruso had in his hands.
Finally a car pulled up and they saw two men in suits walking in, one tall and muscular with an ugly frown, and the other stockily built. Both were as ugly as sin.
Trixie said, "I wonder which one is the lawyer and which one is the con. They both look like crooks!"
Everyone laughed.
They greeted the pair as they arrived and the taller man said he was Frank Caruso and the other man was his lawyer, Phillip Reinsdorf.
They all sat down around conference table and Jim introduced everyone. Frank asked, "Where’s my little brother?"
"He’s in class," said Jim. "We don’t want to introduce you to him until we establish in court that you are really his brother. Your first letter only mentioned the money, so you must not care about Timmy."
"That’s all I want," admitted Frank, "the money. But I would like to meet my brother since I never met my father. Speaking of which, let’s get down to business."
Frank produced a letter from his mother saying who is father was and revealed his blood type to be right for the match and his eye color was right too.
"We have an ability to get DNA from Timmy’s father without bothering Timmy," Jim told him."And since your mothers are different that would be hard anyway. Since he was a well known international businessman, Mark Sandberg stored his blood all over the world because of the rarity of his blood type and we have arranged to get a sample for blood testing from a lab in Chicago."
They saw Frank flinch a little.
"Those might not be admissable in court," his lawyer said. "Why don’t you believe all this information he has on his father? The blood type and eye color do match."
Jim said, "Because we have to for Timmy’s sake. You two might be blood sucking scumbags just after the money and we have to protect Timmy."
Jim’s famous redheaded temper was flaring itself up again and Trixie put a hand on his arm to try and calm him down. She looked into his eyes and whispered "it will be okay" and he smiled at her, calming down. Everyone noticed the effect she had on him.
Finally it was settled that Frank would go give a blood sample to the hospital and the Mark Sandberg blood sample would be retrieved for comparison. Frank and Phillip went off to the hospital. The Bob-Whites watched them leave, all boiling with anger.
Jim bashed his hand into the wall and said, "I could kill that moneysucking creep. What a jerk! Using an eight-year-old boy and his family heritage to try and get rich. Even if he is really Mark Sandberg’s son, we have to get rid of him for Timmy’s sake!"
Jim sat down and put his head in his hands and Trixie rushed over and took him into her arms in a hug, patting him on the back, saying everything would be all right.
Jim looked up at Trixie and said, "Thanks. I needed that."
They all broke up and Trixie and Honey went back to their office where they got a printout from the FBI contact they used. They found out that Frank Caruso was a computer expert and then they called their computer expert, Scott Trachsel, who rushed over with them to the school.
They burst into the offices and Scott asked Jim if he could look over Jim’s files on the computer to see if there was any tampering or something.
Scott sat down at the computer and started investigating the files. "Jim, you’ve been hacked. Someone from the outside has broken into your files from Cleveland, Ohio--I can tell from the ISP number. Did you say this Frank Caruso is from Cleveland?"
Jim said, "Yes, and all the information he has on Tommy is from our computer records obviously. But I wonder how he knew how to look for it? I mean our school is hardly world renown or anything like that. It's hardly publicized that we have kids here who have trust funds waiting for them."
"That is another mystery to find out," said Trixie. "Frank mentioned that his mother is still living. She’s from White Plains and still lives there apparently. I wonder what her name is. He said he was adopted by his stepfather and his mother changed her name after they were divorced."
"There is one woman working here named Elizabeth C. Myers," said Jim."She is in the accounting department so she may have overheard about Timmy. She is always hanging around the office looking for information. Let’s get her file out."
They went to his personnel records and got her file and found out that the C stood for Caruso. They also saw that she had moved there from Cleveland. Now they knew something was up.
When Frank and Phillip came by two days later, they were waiting for them, even before the DNA results were due back.
"We know now what is going on," Jim said. "Your mother works here and found out about Timmy. You hacked into our system and found out that you have the same blood type and eye color, so you looked further to find out more information about his family."
Frank broke down. "Okay, it was all a setup. I am over a million dollars in gambling debt and I thought this was a way out of it. I’m sorry."
Phillip Reinsdorf was upset. He swore that he had known nothing, had been conned by Frank into taking his case. Jim said he wouldn’t press charges if Frank just disappeared off the face of the earth, but his mother would have to lose her job.
Frank, Elizabeth and Phillip scrammed very quickly and then Trixie gave Jim a high five. "That part of the mystery is now solved. Now we just have to figure out if Timmy is related to the Washington Sandbergs."
Jim said, "I spoke to Ryne this morning. Was just going to tell you about it. He talked to some family members. They all live in Arizona now. Derwent and Mark Sandberg were brothers so Ryne and Timmy are first cousins. Ryne also told me that he and his wife have talked about adopting Timmy if everything works out. They’re coming for a ten day visit, starting a week from today."
Trixie impulsively hugged him and said, "That’s wonderful!" as everyone else slowly walked out of the room, sensing that they wanted to be alone together.
Jim pulled away from Trix a little, but still had his arms around her in a return hug. Suddenly he bent his head down and gently brushed her lips with his. Before they could deepen the kiss though, Brian rushed in, having left his bag in the room.
Brian said, "Oh, sorry!" and rushed out, but the moment was broken.
Trixie smiled at Jim as they walked out to the sitting area.
"Trixie, I want to talk to you about something very important. How about dinner tonight at the country club? We can discuss this case more and some other important things. There’s also dancing tonight, that little band we like that they sometimes have that plays all sorts of music from country to jazz."
Trixie said, "That sounds good. You have classes to teach right? How about seven o’clock? Should we ask Brian and Honey to join us?"
"Trixie," Jim said, "I want this to be just us, we have important things to discuss. I want it to be a date."
Trixie was a little stunned, but happy. "That’s what I would like too. I’ll see you at seven. I can’t wait until the time comes!"
They parted so Jim could go teach his class and she could go back to the agency. They were both walking on air a bit, excited about their date.
Honey immediately noticed that Trixie seemed to be very distracted and asked what was going on, sensing it had something to do with Jim of course.
Trixie said, "Jim and I are going on a date tonight and well, he kissed me sort of after you all left. But that older brother of mine, your boyfriend, decided to call down to us right as our lips met. I was ready to scream when that happened!"
Honey said, "I remember you and Jim interrupting me and Brian your share of times when we were first getting together. Turnabout is fair play. I have an idea. Our afternoon is free. Let’s grab lunch and have a girls' day afternoon finding you a perfect dress. We can call Susie’s and get a haircut and manicure appointment too. We want this night to be perfect."
Trixie noticed Honey seemed almost as happy and excited about the date as she was.
They closed the office and first went to Crimper’s where they searched for the perfect dress. They found it in a simple black strapless calf length dress with a fitted bodice and flowing skirt. She bought black matching two-inch strapless heels and black nylons. She would wear light jewelry.
When they were finished they went to lunch in the dining room and were ready for some girl talk.
Honey finally asked, "How do you feel about him? We were all expecting something to happen when you returned from Chicago after college, but it’s been about a year since then. Hey, we were all expecting you two to be together a long time!"
"I think we did too," Trixie replied. "But we never got off the ground. Working together on this case has finally brought us closer together. I sometimes have found myself looking at him and thinking about how handsome he is, how nice he is, what a good friend he has always been. Maybe tonight will be the start of something big. I really hope it will be. When he invited me to go with him tonight, I asked him if we should invite you and Brian. He made a point of saying that it’s a date tonight, just the two of us."
"That sounds very special and romantic," said Honey. "I can’t wait to hear how everything went when you come home tonight or maybe tomorrow morning. Brian and I are going to see a movie and eat at Wimpy’s tonight. I wonder if Jim is as nervous as you are about tonight?"
"I wonder, too. This is going to be great tonight. This date has been meant to be for eleven years. When he just brushed my lips with his, I thought I would melt, I wonder how I’m going to react if he really kisses me."
"Maybe we’ll see fireworks a few weeks early?"
Trixie laughed and they enjoyed the rest of their lunch and then went to the beauty parlor where Trixie had her hair washed and set into a nice cascade of shoulder length curls. She also got her nails done, a bright red, a color she had always wanted to wear.
Then they stopped at the office before heading back to their apartment so they could both get ready for their dates, with Trixie being more nervous of course.
Meanwhile, Jim spent the rest of the day teaching, unable to get his mind off their plans for the evening. He sort of taught his classes in a bit of a daze and the kids teased him a little bit. He wondered what they would say if they knew his distraction was about asking Miss Belden for a date.
Finally, his classes were over and he went to the staff building where he showered and dressed.
Brian walked in."I just spoke to Honey. She mentioned you and Trixie were going on a date tonight. You look nervous."
Jim said, "I am. Here we’ve known each other for 11 years and I feel like this is a blind date. I just want everything to be perfect. I think this could be the start of the romance that has been meant to be for all these years."
"I’m happy for both of you," Brian said. "You’re my best friend and I have always known you and Trixie belonged together. We’ve all always known it. We've just been waiting for you to know it and for you two to start dating. I wouldn’t mind having you as a double brother-in-law, that is, if Honey says yes when I propose to her soon."
"If things move the way I think, they will we just might. So you’re planning to make an honest woman out of my sister? I am so happy to hear that. You belong together as much as Trixie and I do."
They talked about the women in their lives and then Jim noticed it was quarter to seven and time to go over and pick Trixie up for their date. Brian wasn’t due to pick up Honey until eight, so he had time.
Meanwhile, Trixie was finally ready and Honey said, "You look fantastic, Trixie! Jim might fall down when he sees you."
Finally they heard the bell ring and knew Jim was there. Trixie was suddenly full of butterflies as Honey answered the door and said, "Hi big brother! Are you here to take me out for dinner? And is that orchid for me?"
Jim had stopped and bought an orchid corsage for Trixie for old times sake remembering their date at Di’s Valentine’s Day party when the first hint of anything romantic for them had appeared. He thought it would be a nice gesture.
"Actually," Jim said, "I’m here to pick up your beautiful roommate. We have a date. Anyway, your prince is coming over at eight from what I understand. I’ll take you to dinner another night. That would be fun." Then he saw Trixie and simply said "wow".
Trixie blushed. "Thanks. You look handsome yourself. The orchid is a nice touch. I still have the card from the first one you sent me all those years ago. And I’m even wearing that old bracelet from Iowa." She was, he could see it dangling from her right wrist.
"I’m going to let you have some fun tonight and leave you alone," Honey said. "Trixie, I expect to hear all the details when you get home tonight or maybe even early tomorrow morning?"
They laughed and then Jim put his arm out for her and asked, "Shall we go?"
Trixie took his arm and said, "Here we go!"
They both were suddenly very nervous as they walked to his car. He held the door as she got in and then they were off to the country club in silence, each lost in thoughts about each other. At last they arrived and were seated at a table and after ordering their food, they were able to talk.
Jim took Trixie’s hand in his and said, "Trixie, since we started working on this case, I’ve been thinking more and more about us. Seeing you as much as I have recently made me remember how much I always have had special feelings for you and how I still have them. I want us to pursue these feelings if you feel the same way about me. I would like to spend more time with you, just the two of us, not with anyone else around us at all, just us."
Trixie smiled at him. "I would like that too. I have felt this way for eleven years but I never felt the time was right for it. Now it appears to be."
"Tonight is a great start. You look so beautiful tonight. If I wasn’t already falling for you, I think I would with the way you look. You are the most beautiful and special person I have ever known."
"You look handsome yourself. Let’s eat and then I would like to dance. You are such a good dancer and I feel like I’m floating in your arms when we dance."
They ate their dinner, occasionally stopping to touch hands and just look into each other’s eyes. Trixie’s heart raced when Jim looked at her and Jim felt the same way when Trixie looked at him.
After they were finished eating, Jim took Trixie’s hand and led her to the dance floor. They started dancing and the first song was If Your Heart Comes Out Tonight, and then had many more dances before they went back to their table for dessert. They held hands and smiled at each other throughout the dessert, having a wonderful time.
Finally at about 11:30, after more dancing, they decided to call it a night since they both had to go to work in the morning. They had to work on getting Timmy ready to meet his cousins and deciding exactly how to handle it.
He walked her to her door and after eleven years of waiting, a few almosts that were interrupted, and one brush of the lips, Jim finally took Trixie into his arms and kissed her for real. Trixie responded by putting her arms around him and they kissed for a few minutes, wrapped up in each other until Brian and Honey walked up, returning from their date.
Honey tapped on Trixie’s shoulder and Trixie and Jim pulled apart, still looking at each other.
"It looks like this date really worked out!" Brian said. "We’re both really happy for you. It’s about time."
Honey said, "I couldn’t agree more. Brian and Jim, why don’t you come in and we’ll all have coffee?"
The men said that they loved the idea and they went inside the apartment.
They all talked for a little while and then it was time for them to get ready to go to bed. Trixie and Honey kissed their dates goodnight and the men were gone.
As soon as Brian and Jim were gone, Honey pounced. "Okay, Trix, out with it. How was the date? I can tell by the look on your face, the look on Jim’s face and the way you two were kissing when we walked up, that it went perfectly perfect."
Trixie smiled. "It was wonderful. We talked and we both want to start dating and moving towards a romantic relationship. It’s about time! We danced to about twelve songs and then, of course, we kissed, which I think set off early Fourth of July fireworks."
Honey said, "Or a fire if you aren’t careful!"
They talked for a few more minutes and then went to bed. Trixie lay in her bed thinking about Jim and the evening they had just had together and the future she was hoping they would have. She also thought about little Timmy and his family.
Meanwhile, Jim made one stop on his way home to make a special order and then went home where Brian was waiting to talk to him. Brian asked, "So how did it go? Although seeing that kiss kind of gives me the answer."
"It was wonderful," said Jim. "Your sister is so beautiful and so sweet and so perfect, and so funny and so everything. It just took me awhile to figure out that she’s who I want in my life for sure, but we know now. We agreed tonight that it’s about time we start working towards that goal. I want to spend every moment with her."
"I couldn’t be happier and I know my parents will be, as well as our families."
They talked for a few more minutes and then went off to bed. Jim showered, put on his pajamas and brushed his teeth before going to bed, where he dreamt about Trixie all night, and a future full of beautiful redheaded and blonde children with green and blue eyes for them. He knew that it was always meant to be and now it was time for it to be.
The next morning Trixie was getting ready for work when the doorbell rang. She saw a huge package at the door through the peephole. "Flower delivery for a Miss Trixie Belden!" a voice said.
Trixie opened the door and let the florist delivery man in and he put the package on the table. Trixie tipped him and then took the card off and opened it.
She read: "Dear Trixie. These roses represent what we have always been and what I hope we can be, yellow for friendship and red for true love. Yours forever, Jim". She opened the package to find a dozen long stemmed yellow roses and a dozen long stemmed red roses mixed together, a representation of their past, present and future.
She got out vases and was whistling when Honey walked into the room and saw the flowers. "Looks like someones in looooove," Honey joked.
Trixie blushed."These are so beautiful. Did you know that your brother was such a romantic by the way?"
Honey said, "Obviously he is. Those are beautiful. You’re going over there to discuss Timmy later, right? You should bring over breakfast for him."
"That sounds like a capital idea." And Trixie put on a skirt and blouse and headed to a bagel place and got some bagels and cream cheese for them, then headed over to the house. It was Friday and she knew that he was free until about 9:30 and it was only 8:30.
She gave him the bagels and they set it out on the little picnic table in front of the building. They ate while talking about what they were going to do about Timmy and the visit of the Sandbergs in six days. Then he said that he had to teach a class in fifteen minutes. She offered to walk him down to the classroom building.
They paused in front of the building and they kissed softly. Suddenly they were met by a bunch of the younger boys who started chanting "Mr. Frayne and Miss Belden sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Miss Belden with a baby carriage." And everyone laughed.
Trixie said hi to all the boys as she walked off and waved to Jim and he herded the kids inside.
The rest of the week was spent getting Timmy ready for the visit. Timmy was very excited to hear who his cousin might be, one of his heroes (and he hoped relative) with the same last name. They talked about what would happen. They decided not to tell him right away that the Sandbergs were considering adopting him, since they weren’t sure if it would work yet.
Trixie and Jim also spent a lot of time together going on dates and getting to know each other in a romantic way: dancing, talking, kissing, laughing, having a good time and even arguing a little, even though their fights were never very serious.
Finally the day of the visit arrived and Trixie and Jim went to meet the family at the airport. They found Ryne, his wife, Margaret, and their kids to all be friendly. Ryne and Margaret wanted to know more about Timmy and so did their children, who ranged in age from 12-18.
They told them all about Timmy and it was decided that Ryne would go in first to meet him before the rest of the family would. Ryne told them that they had decided to adopt Timmy if everything worked out in their ten days together.
They went back to the school where Brian and Mart were waiting with a very anxious Timmy, who waited patiently while Ryne walked into the small room where they were going to talk. The others all stayed in the waiting room.
About an hour later, Ryne and Timmy walked out hand in hand and everyone could see it was a success. Everyone could tell that there was a good chance they would wind up with the adoption going through which made everyone happy.
Jim suggested they go into White Plains for a day of fun and gave them names of good family places over there and they headed out.
Over the next ten days Timmy spent a lot of time with his new family and by the end it was decided. Timmy was adopted by Ryne and Margaret and went to Arizona to live with his new parents and five brothers and sisters. Trixie and Jim just both wished they could find families for all the children at the school. That would be perfect as far as they were concerned.
After they saw the family off at the airport with waves, hugs and a few tears by everyone, Trixie and Jim returned to the school where they immediately got into a big fight over what they were going to do for their date that evening.
Trixie wanted to go see Shakespeare In Love but Jim wanted to see The Phantom Menace. They had both seen both movies but wanted to see them again.
Being the stubborn tempered people they both were, somehow it turned into fighting over her safety with the agency. They never would be able to later figure out how they got into that, but Trixie stormed out of the school saying that she would rather not ever see him again or at least anytime soon.
Trixie slammed the door behind her and was gone in her car, tears blurring her vision almost enough for her to pull off road, but she managed to get home where Honey was working on something.
"Trixie, my mother just asked me to go with her tonight out of town for a couple of days. I said I would. What’s wrong? You look terrible!"
Trixie said, "Jim and I had a big fight. It looks we were never meant to be." She told Honey about their fight.
"I don’t think that means you’ll never be together," Honey said. "It just means a bump in the road. You belong together. You have had so much fun the last two and a half weeks together and I see the sparks between you growing every day. You have to resolve this though."
"Maybe part of the tension is that I have realized I love him and want to spend the rest of my life with him."
"Sometimes Brian and I fight over the silliest things but we still are together. Maybe we’ll get engaged soon."
"That would be great," said Trixie. "I know you’re in love with each other and maybe we will see our double sisters-in-law dream come true, that’s if Jim and I can work this out. I just love him so much."
Honey patted her back and then Trixie said she wanted to have some time alone so Honey went off to pack. Brian would be there to pick her up to meet her mother soon.
Meanwhile, Brian came to drop off something for Jim and saw that his best friend was seething. Brian asked what was wrong.
"Your sister and I had a big blow up," Jim told him. "I went too far in my concerns over her safety and I think she thinks I was smothering her or something. I was going to tell her I love her tonight and I thought she might feel the same way."
"I think she does," said Brian. "Why don’t you go over there? You need to talk after cooling down. I can already tell you’re cooled down a little."
Jim said, "I have. I just love her so much. Actually, I have an idea. I know you took guitar for fun in college and, of course, you play for the kids sometimes. Trixie once said she thought the most romantic thing in the world was for someone to serenade her. I may not be much of a singer, but maybe that will help resolve things."
Brian laughed."I’ll go get my guitar. This could be a lot of fun. I told her I’d come over and take her to meet your Mom too."
"Trixie can drive me home. You better drive me or else I might lose nerve and turn tail and run away! If she tells me to go fly my kite, I can hitch a ride with you guys to the airport or walk home."
"If I have to, I’ll tie you to me so you can’t leave. I know how nervewracking love can be. It took me more than a week to tell Honey I loved her after I first decided that I was going to. But when I did it was worth it!"
Jim said it sounded like a good idea and Brian went off to get his guitar and he and Jim got into Brian’s car and were off for Trixie and Honey’s apartment.
Trixie was feeling better and decided to go and talk to Jim and see if they could work everything out and she hopped into shower and changed into a nice short and blouse outfit and was getting ready to walk out door and go to Jim’s when the doorbell rang.
Honey emerged from her bedroom with her suitcases. "Brian will be here any second to take me to meet my Mom at the airport. We were going to have sandwiches first or something."
When they heard the doorbell, Trixie said, "That must be Brian. I’ll go in the other room so you can have some privacy."
Trixie headed to her bedroom while Honey went to the door and opened it to find Brian and Jim standing there, Brian holding his guitar and Jim holding a bouqet of red roses, this time meaning true love forever for them.
"Trixie, you have a visitor!" called Honey.
Trixie came out and saw Jim and she started to say she was sorry and had been silly but Jim walked over and said that he had something to say, or actually sing.
He walked over and bent in front of her and sang as Brian played I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You.
Trixie smiled and cried a little as she held his hand and Brian and Honey both found themselves wiping away tears.
When the song was over, Jim said, "Trixie, I’m sorry we fought earlier today. It was silly and I was out of line. But I have something very important to say and that is I love you."
Trixie put her arms around him and said, "I love you too."
And they kissed as Brian and Honey both cheered, then Brian said, "Honey, I’m going to take you to the airport and leave Trixie and Jim alone. They have a lot of talking to do."
They left and Trixie and Jim spent a long evening whispering words of love to each other and excitedly talking about the future. They ordered pizza in and just sat on her couch talking until he went home at one o'clock in the morning.
The End