The Secret Life of Mister Moffat

           The Moffat family seemed like an average American family with two children and a dog. They lived in a small suburban town called Fairview on Mainstream Road in a split-level home with beautiful marigolds bordering the front wall in front of a large bay window.

           Sitting inside on the window ledge, were Steven and Rachel; two rambunctious pre-teens with limitless energy. They waited anxiously for their father to return home from work, for he promised them each a surprise.

           In the kitchen, Mrs. Moffat, or Jessie to her friends, cooked faithfully for her family. Where some mothers or housewives grew tiresome of doing housework every day, Jessie thrived on it. It always brought her great satisfaction to show off her sparkling home to friends that dropped by.

           The children grew excited as the familiar, white-colored Chevrolet Corsica turned into the driveway. Their father waved joyfully from behind the windshield. As he exited the car, the front door swung open, and the first one out the door was their golden retriever, Molly. She nearly knocked her human daddy over as she pounced at his chest repeatedly. Soon after, Steven and Rachel came racing out the door with arms stretched out. Their father grabbed hold of them both in one embrace before leading them back inside.

           “Where’s our surprise?” the children chanted over-and-over, but their father insisted that it would have to wait until he was settled.

           He made his way into the kitchen and was overcome by the aroma of pork roast and potatoes. Jessie stood at the stove stirring a pot of mixed vegetables. When she saw him, she dried the moisture from her hands and turned to greet her husband.

           “Welcome home, Matthew,” she began. “Dinner will be ready shortly if you want to get washed up.”

           “Thank you, my dear. I don’t know how I ever got so lucky,” Matthew replied.

           When dinner was finished, Matthew helped Jessie with the dishes before joining their two anxious kids in the living room. He could tell that they were bursting with curiosity about his surprise, so he decided not to keep them in suspense any longer.

           Matthew reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a white envelope. He opened it, and pulled out the contents, and as he laid it on the table in front of his family, he said,

           “It has been a few years since we have been able to take a vacation, but I spoke to my boss at the furniture store, and he allowed me two weeks vacation. I went online and booked us a family trip to California.”

           Steven and Rachel screamed with excitement while Jessie sat quietly by her husband’s side showing no indication of joy over Matthew’s news.

           “When do we leave? When do we leave?” the children shouted.

           “I need to work the rest of this week, then we fly out on Saturday morning,” their father replied.

           Later that evening, after the children were in bed, Matthew questioned Jessie about how she felt about the vacation.

           “It’s great,” she lied. “I just wish you would have discussed this with me before making such a big decision. I mean, can we really afford to take this trip right now?”

           “Yes, love. I already calculated our budget. We will make sure that all our household expenses are covered before we leave, okay? Besides, you always tell me that I should be more spontaneous!”

           Jessie wasn’t completely certain that it was a good idea, but she decided to give in and go along with the plan despite her doubts.

           When Saturday rolled around, Matthew dropped the dog off at the neighbour’s house, then the whole family climbed into the Corsica and headed for the airport.

           They boarded the plane, and three hours later, they landed at Los Angeles International Airport. The airport was overcrowded, but they managed to get through to baggage claim relatively quick. They made their way to the Budget Car Rental booth and rented a Hyundai Elantra for their two-week stay. The kids were excited to be driving in a new vehicle. Their Corsica was more than twenty years old now and was showing its age.

           Twenty minutes later after battling the stop-and-go traffic on a very congested North Pacific Coast Highway, they arrived at their hotel in Redondo Beach. They checked into the Best Western Redondo Beach Inn located five minutes from the beach. They were barely settled in, and the children were already getting changed into their swimsuits.

           Matthew suggested that Jessie take the kids to the beach while he had a short nap. He told her that the time change was affecting him, but he would join them on their next beach outing. Steven was out the door before Jessie could answer her husband, so she shrugged her shoulders, gave Matthew a kiss and tried to catch up to her kids.

           It was a beautiful day on Torrance Beach. The waves crashed against the rocky breakers that jutted out from the shore to outside the swimming area. Palm trees danced in the wind to the sound of the gulls that flew above in search of food scraps. Light blue lifeguard shacks lined the beach with their guardians on watch constantly.

           Jessie and the kids picked out a spot to lay out a blanket on the sand, then, after spraying them down with sunscreen, she let them run off the water’s edge, warning them not to go out too far. Jessie watched them like a hawk to make sure they remained safe. She wished at that point that Matthew would have come along so that one of them could have gone into the water with them.

           After a couple hours of sun and fun, they decided to head back to the hotel. Jessie told the kids not to make any noise before they entered in case their father was still sleeping, but when they snuck inside, Jessie was shocked to see that Matthew wasn’t there, and the bed did not look as if it had been slept in yet.

           She tried calling his cellphone, but it went directly to his voicemail. She was upset at first that he gave up spending time with them and lied about sleeping, but after another forty minutes had passed and she still hadn’t heard from him, she began to worry.

           A full hour had passed when the door opened, and in walked Matthew with several plastic bags in his hands.

           “Where have you been?” Jessie asked; her voice high-pitched as it gets when she is angry.

           Matthew replied, “Sorry, honey, but I realized we had nothing to eat, and I went to pick up a few groceries. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

           She seemed to understand, but Matthew could tell that she was still upset.

           They all sat around and watched the movie, “Mrs. Doubtfire” on the television and munched away on chips. Jessie noticed that Matthew continuously glanced at his phone, and occasionally replied to a text. Halfway through the movie, Matthew excused himself to go get ice from the ice machine.

           After a minute, Jessie followed her husband onto the outside corridor and as she neared the corner where the ice machine was located, she could hear her husband speaking to a woman. She carefully glanced around the corner and saw Matthew with a beautiful blonde woman in her mid-twenties. She handed Matthew a piece of paper that he slipped into his pocket. Jessie hurried back to the room and waited for his return.

           When he re-entered the room, Matthew sat the bucket of ice on the dresser at the front of the room and began to fill cups for each of them. He showed no signs of guilt for talking to this strange woman, and Jessie’s blood pressure began to boil.

           For the days that followed, Matthew spent a good deal of time with his family, though he did sneak off a few times to answer phone calls. He told Jessie that they were work-related calls. Jessie had her doubts but kept her opinion to herself.

           During their second week, Matthew suggested that they go out for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Everyone thought it was a great idea. Jessie’s insecurities about their relationship were finally beginning to subside, and she looked forward to a night out as a family.

           The restaurant was crowded, and it took thirty minutes to get a table. After they placed their order, Matthew excused himself to use the restroom. Jessie watched him walk across the room, and moments later, she noticed the blonde woman from the hotel walking toward the restrooms as well. She couldn’t handle it anymore, so she told the kids to remain at the table while she goes and washes her hands. As she entered the hallway leading to the restrooms, she witnessed the woman whispering something into Matthew’s ear. The woman noticed Jessie standing there and nudged Matthew. When he turned around and saw her, his face went white with fear.

           Jessie turned and headed back to the table, telling the kids that they were leaving. He chased after her saying that he could explain, but she wanted nothing to do with him, and left with the kids, leaving him stranded at the restaurant with no vehicle.

           After calling for an Uber to pick him up and return him to the hotel, Matthew was greeted with the night lock being engaged on the hotel room door. He called through the crack in the door begging for Jessie to open the door so he could talk to her, but she refused. She told him that she and the kids didn’t need him around. Matthew spent the next twenty minutes begging for forgiveness from Jessie, but she wouldn’t budge until she received a call from the front desk. People in the adjoining rooms were complaining about the noise and were threatening to call the police, so she let him back in.

           Steven and Rachel still weren’t sure what their parents were arguing about, but they begged them to stop. Matthew sat across from Jessie on the edge of the opposite bed and attempted to take her hands in his. She pulled away. He tried to have her look into his eyes, but she refused. Finally, after seeing no other options, Matthew stood up and announced that he had something to tell them all.

           “Listen guys, I have not been completely honest with all of you, and I think it is time for you to know the truth.”

           Jessie glanced up, now curious about Matthew’s confession.

           “I am probably going to get into a lot of trouble for saying this, but I can see what it is doing to our family, and I need you to know everything.”

           Jessie clicked the remote and turned off the television. The room was now in complete silence, and Matthew could swear that he could hear his own heartbeat.

           “Jessie, the woman you saw me with is someone I work with.”

           “I’ve been down to that furniture store dozens of times, and I have never seen her there, so don’t give me that crap, Matthew,” she argued.

           “She doesn’t work at the furniture store, Jessie. In fact, I don’t technically work at the furniture store either. That was just a cover.”

           Matthew paused before continuing, debating whether he should say any more or not.

           He continued, “I have been working with the Government for over twenty years now. That woman you met is a covert operative…like me. I was asked to come to California to gather information about something big that is going down very soon. I thought that I would be able to do what I needed to do without you finding out. I can’t go into any more detail though. I’m sorry.”

           “You honestly expect me to believe that you are some sort of spy for the government? What kind of idiot do you take me for, Matthew? Do you really think I am that gullible?”

           “I will prove it to you, Jessie.”

           Matthew reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He dialed a number and turned on the speakerphone. A moment later, a woman answered.

           “Hello, James?” she asked.

           Jessie looked at Matthew at the mention of the name, James.

           “Yes, Rebecca, it’s me. I have you on speaker with my family. I need you to tell them what we do for a living…please. This is very important.”

           The woman hesitated, took a deep breath, and corroborated the story that Matthew had told them. Matthew thanked Rebecca then hung up the phone.

           “Why did she call you James? Are you telling me that you were even lying to me about your name all this time? Are we even legally married?”

           “Yes, we are legally married. I had to go by a pseudonym after I met you to protect you. That’s why I had to keep you all in the dark all these years too. I’m very sorry.”

           He turned to the kids and asked them how they felt. Rachel was a little frightened, but Steven thought it was cool that his dad was like James Bond.

           “It’s not like everything you see in the movies, Steven. A lot of what I do can be done through computers, drones, and satellites now. It is not very often that I need to travel, but it does happen.”

           Jessie sat on the bed with a confused look on her face. Her emotions were twisted with feelings of fear, hatred, compassion, and love for her husband. When she finally spoke up, she had tears running down her face.

           “Matthew…or James. What do I call you?”

           “I am still your Matthew,” he replied.

           “Matthew, I have to admit that it angers me that you spent the last twenty plus years deceiving me and the kids, and it scares me to think that you do such dangerous work, but at the same time, I know that you have always treated me with love and respect since the day we met, and you have been an amazing father to Steven and Rachel, so I am torn in how I feel right now. I know that it wouldn’t be fair for me to ask you to give up your career for us, and I know that I am going to worry every day when you leave the house from now on, but I choose to continue to believe that our marriage can outlast any obstacles that come our way, even the dangerous ones.”

           Matthew stood in front of Jessie and helped her to her feet, then he wrapped his strong arms tightly around her. They were soon joined by Steven and Rachel who hugged their parents like they had never done before. From then on, there would be no more secrets in the Moffat household…except for the government secrets, that is.