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He chuckled "I don’t think that will be necessary, young lady"

Carol reached for his hand and pumped it several times "I can’t tell you how happy you’ve , the white-haired doctor said, "Tellwhen you’re in labor and I’ll believe you"

Carol watched as Lindy entered the restaurant and paused to look around Feeling a little self-conscious, she raised her hand Lindy waved back and headed across the floor, weaving her way through the crowded tables

"Hi Sorry, I’iven Carol a chance to study the menu Her stomach had been so finicky lately that she had to be careful what she ate This being pregnant was serious business and already the baby had made it clear "she" wasn’t keen on particular foods – especially anything with to has been so hectic lately," Lindy said, picking up theit aside almost immediately

"That was quick," Carol co her head toward the menu

"I’m a woman who knows my owna laugh "What are you having?"

"I don’t know What are you ordering?"

"Soup and a sandwich," Carol answered, not fooled Lindy wasn’t interested in eating, she wanted answers Steve’s sister had been bursting with questions fro lot

"Soup and a sandwich sounds good toto waste ti her head, Carol studied Lindy "Okay, go ahead and ask I know you’re dying to fire away"

Lindy unfolded the napkin and took pains spreading it over her lap "Steve didn’t come home Christ, and ever since that night he’s been whistling ‘Dixie’" She paused and grinned "Yet every time I said your name, he barked at me to mind my own business"

"We’ve seen each other since Christether and sadly shook her head "That brother of ht-lipped, I can’t believe the two of us are related!"

Carol laughed Unwittingly Lindy had pinpointed the crux of Carol and Steve’s marital problems They were each private people who preferred to keep probles out the way they should

"So you’ve seen Steve since Christmas," Lindy prompted "He must have contacted you after Rush and I moved"

"Actually I was the one ent to him"

"You did? Great"

"Yes," Carol nodded, blushing a little at the reat"

"Well, don’t keep ether or what?"

"I think it’s the ‘or what’"

"Oh" Lindy’s gaze dropped abruptly and she frowned "I don’tyou, I’m disappointed to hear that I’d hoped you tould be able to work things out"

"We’re heading in that direction, so don’t despair Steve and I are going to talk about a reconciliation when he returns"

"Oh, Carol, that’s wonderful!"

"I think so, too"

"You tays seeether The first tinize him He was so cynical and unhappy He’d sit around the apartment and watch television for hours, or stare out the "

"Steve did?" Carol couldn’t i – he’d never taken the tiether Another probleh of the same interests Carol bla to coe was about to have new life breathed into it

"I wasn’t joking when I told you he’s been miserable I don’t knohat prompted you to contact him at Christmastime, but I thank God you did"

Carol smoothed her hand across her abdolad I did, too"

Steve’s letter to Carol was nearly fifty pages in length now The days, as they often did aboard a subether It felt as if they were six erness to return to Carol explained a good deal of this interh it would ht about herto do after they’d talked was throw out her birth control pills And then he was going to take her to bed and make slow, easy love to her

Once he had her back, he wasn’t going to risk losing her again

In the past two months, Steve had made another decision They needed to clear the air about Todd Larson He’d proain, but he had to, just once, and then it would be finished Laid to rest forever

Finding Todd in their shower hadn’t been the only thing that had led Steve to believe Carol and her e an affair There had been plenty of other clues Steve just hadn’t recognized the a lot of overti paid for it At first Steve hadn’t given it ry that often she couldn’t see him off to sea properly At the time, however, she’d seemed as sorry about it as he was

His return ho point Until that tour, Carol had always been eager to make love after so many weeks apart Normally they weren’t in the house ten minutes before they found thereeted him with open arotten what he wanted, but fifteen roceries and had left the house

None of these events had ht be wrong, but he hadn’t kno to ask her, how to approach her without sounding like an insecure schoolboy Soon afterward he’d flown east for a teek communication class It hen he’d arrived hoether

The acid building up in his stomach seemed to explode with pain and Steve took in several deep breaths until the familiar ache passed All these months he’d allowed Carol to believe he’d condemned her solely because he’d discovered another man in their home It was more than that, much more, and it was time he freed his soul