“Yes,” she said. “He was the best. I miss him very much. All us kids do. As for Mom, she was a mess for a long time. She met this guy, a congressman from Missouri, just last year, still claims they’re only friends, but she’s a lot happier, smiles a lot more, just plain gets out and does more things. She adores Sean, too. He’s the only grandkid close by.”

“What did your mom think of all the legends about Buck Savich? There were so many colorful ones floating about long before he died.”

“She’d just shake her head, grin like a bandit, and say she didn’t think the tales were exaggerations at all. Then, I swear it to you, she’d blush. I think she was talking about intimate things, and it always freaked us kids out. You just can’t think of your parents in that way, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do. I guess, on the other side of the coin, our parents look at us and see little kids who will be virgins for the rest of their lives.”

Lily laughed. “What about your parents? Where do they live?”

“My folks have been divorced for a very long time. My dad’s a lawyer, remarried to a woman half his age. They live in Boston. No little half-brothers or half-sisters. My mom didn’t remarry, lives in Los Angeles, runs her own makeover consulting firm. If they ever had any liking for each other, it was over before I could remember it. My sisters, both older than I am, told me they’d never seen anything resembling affection either.” He paused just a moment, slowed a bit for a particularly gnarly turn, then sped up again. “You know, Lily, I have a hard time seeing you as a bookie. Did you make some money for college?”

She gave him a shark’s grin, all white teeth, ready to bite. “You bet. Thing was, though, Mom decided it was better that Dad not know exactly what my earnings totaled from age sixteen to eighteen, especially since I hadn’t paid any taxes.”

“It boggles the mind.” He looked at her then, saying nothing, just looking. “Do you know that you’re looking more like a fairy princess again? I like you in all that black. How’s your scar doing?”

“My innards are fine; the scar itches just a bit. It’s no wonder you like all black since you bought all my clothes. You want me to look like Batgirl, Simon?”

“I always did like to watch her move.” He grinned at her. “Truth is, I saw the black pants and knew it would have to be black all the way.” He gave her a sideways look. “I don’t mean to be indelicate, but did all the underwear fit?”

“Too well,” she said, “and I don’t like to think about it, so stop looking at me.”

“Okay.” For a couple of seconds, Simon kept his eyes on the road. Then he said, chuckling, “As I said, when I saw the black, I knew it was you. But you know, I think the biggest change was your getting all that ash and soot washed out of your hair and off your face.”

Every stitch she was wearing was black, even the boot socks. She said, not intending to, “Why haven’t you ever married?”

“I was married, a very long time ago.”

“Tell me.”

He gave her another sideways look, saw that she really wanted to know, and said, “Well, I was twenty-two years old, in overwhelming lust, as was Janice, and so we got married, divorced within six months, and both of us joined the army.”

“That was a long time ago. Where is Janice now?”

“She stayed in the army. She’s a two-star general, stationed in Washington, D.C. I heard she’s gorgeous as a general. She’s married to a four-star. Hey, maybe someday she’ll be chief of staff.”

“I wonder why Dillon didn’t tell me.”

“He would have been my best man in the normal course of things, but we eloped and he was off in Europe that summer, living on a shoestring, so I knew he didn’t have the money to fly home, then back to Europe again.” Simon shrugged. “It was just as well. Who was your first husband? Beth’s father?”

“His name was Jack Crane. He was a stockbroker for Phlidick, Dammerleigh and Pierson. He was a big wheeler-dealer at the Chicago Stock Exchange.”

“Why’d you split up?”

She tried to just shrug it off, give him a throwaway smile, but it wasn’t possible. She drew a deep breath and said, “I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Okay, for now. Here we are. Keep your eyes open, Lily, I really have a bad feeling about this.” He turned right onto the narrow asphalt road that led to the cottage, looked back, and saw their protection turning in behind them.