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"He did," Pax agreed "And if by some wildly unlikely coincidence he shows up over here or we run into hiht?"

"Right," she agreed "I never meant for this to hurt you I can live hatever you want If you want us to have a little fa hi He was out of line But listen, all I want is to be a good brother, a good husband, a decent father to ood enough for man"

In spite of herself, Laine actually sucked in a breath He was so devoted to Genevieve But she was supposed to be his wingman," he said patiently "I rely on my wife to not only support this fellowship, this career choice that keeps one on weekends and birthdays, but I’irls need their father And she’sthe kind of father Senior is, with unreasonable expectations of our girls, I’ive her a lot of credit for that," Laine said Laine had always felt theirhis impossible-to-please attitude toward Laine Janice had occasionally said, "Shut up, Paxton!" But not often enough

"I’ll be there Wednesday," she said "I’ two days Please let irls I’ll be unbearably nice to Genevieve"

"You’ll stay with us, as usual," he said "No tattoos for the girls"

Then she broke it to Eric "Iaway fro four or five days a week I just couldn’t stand it if I couldn’t be with them on my days off If it wasn’t such short notice, I’d ask you to co Next ti to talk to him? Make up with him?"

She turned away from him

He turned her back "Level with me What would your mother think of this situation?"

"My mother always said ere too headed--two people who had to be right And when I lost my mother, I lost the buffer between us I told you that when I was visiting Pax over the holidays, my father was evendown "It embarrasses ," he said

"I told hi lives" Tears gathered in her eyes "He said I’d lost est idiot That only a fool would take the risks I took routinely and if I wanted to save lives, there were ical, safer and profitable ways" She took a breath "My ar pretty weak and vulnerable and not too sure of myself Then he said if I expected him to celebrate the fact that I’d stopped a bullet I was drea Didn’t I know doctors saved lives every day without putting theer? And I lost it I told him he was a self-centered bastard and I was finished with his criticism and his disrespectful treatment He said I was the disrespectful one and he was bloody tired of e of honor There was a lot of arguing that evolved into yelling It was horrible"

There was a long moment of silence before Eric said, "Wow"

"It disrupted the whole fairls were upset and scared Genevieve was stunned But forfrom an injury that nearly costoff! I haven’t spoken to hio even if he can be a narcissistic dick sometimes But the way he talks to me? It’s terrible And it hurts It justhurts"

Eric was speechless Finally he asked, "And your enerous women I’ve ever known She was completely supportive She hated that he wasn’t and most of the ti really awful She always said that Pax had entler nature, and I had ood operative--he’s fearless and stubborn and there’s no one more determined"

"And she put up with that froive her any shit and she could put him in his place with one word But then she died and he was on the loose There was no one to keep him in line"

"He must not kno much this hurts you," Eric said

"Oh, I think he knows," she said "And he thinks his opinions are s So I’e his attitude, I don’t need him inup with this my whole life, and it can still break my heart"

Eric pulled her into his arms and held her "I’m sorry, baby I wish I knew of a solution"

"This is the solution," she said "I have to let it go Let hio And carry on I miss my mother every day"

"Oh, she’s not all that far away," he said, brushing her hair away fros, remember"

She smiled back at him "Boy, have you ever"

Laine remembered when her mother had said, "Do what ht until she died But she had also said, "You don’t need approval and you don’t need an excuse or explanation for living your own life Remember that"

Oh, she remembered But it was easy for her mother, who had the approval of her parents and her husband and her children Easy for Pax, who had done as he was expected to do Laine was the only one who had really defied custoone her oay, quite successfully, and yet was considered by her father to be a failure

She had Eric’s support and even though they were still new, that et to know hiht about it

She flew to San Francisco and took the red-eye into Boston She had given Pax the flight details and said she would be waiting at his house when the girls came home from school and when he was done at the hospital But when she deplaned at 8:30 a on the curb near the taxi line, ju at her "Auntie Lainie! Auntie Lainie!"

It took her a moasped in sheer, tear-gathering delight She opened her ar her over "My babes, els!"

They giggled and said, one at a time, "You said to be devils!" and "We were very bad, like you said!"

"Oh, thank goodness! I’m proud of you!"

"And we have blue polish for our toes," Missy said