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Now, as rain began to beat on the roof and ith renewed force, Carol sensed that he was staring at her, and she opened her eyes They were so brown that, from a distance of more than a few inches, they looked black She sht you were dead"
"Wasn’t"
"After the lightning stopped, I called you, but you didn’t answer for the longest ti
"Seriously"
"Okay It was San Francisco"
"I was scared"
"I couldn’t answer you right away," he said soothingly "In case you’ve forgotten, O’Brian fell on top of , but he’s as solid as a rock I guess he builds a lot ofhis shoes nine hours a day"
"That was a pretty brave thing you did"
"Making loveof it"
Playfully, she slapped his face "You knohat I mean You save O’Brian’s life"
"Nope"
"Yes, you did He thought so, too"
"For God’s sake, I didn’t step in front of him and shield him from the tree with mine own precious bod! I just pulled him out of the way Anyone would have done the sa Not everyone thinks as fast as you do"
"A fast thinker, huh? Yeah That’s so I’m a fast thinker, but I’m sure no hero I won’t let you pin that label on me because then you’ll expect ine what a hell on earth Superman’s life would be if he ever h!"
"Anyway," Carol said, "even if you won’t admit it, O’Brian knows you saved his life, and that’s the i"
"It is?"
"Well, I was pretty sure the adoption agency would approve us But now there’s not the slightest doubt about it"
"There’s always a sli hi to fail you after you saved his life Not a chance
He’s going to wrap the recoer"
Paul blinked, then slowly broke into a smile "I’ll
be damned I didn’t think of that"
"So you’re a hero, Papa"
"Wellmaybe I am, Mama"
"I think I prefer ‘Mom"
"And I prefer ‘Dad"
"What about ‘Pop’?"
"Pop isn’t a naesting a celebration?" she asked
"I thought we’d put on our robes, mosey down to the kitchen, and whip up an early dinner If you’re hungry, that is"
"Famished"
"You can make a mushroom salad," he said "I’ll whip up ot a bottle or two of Mu for a special occasion We’ll open that, pile our plates high with fettuccine Alfredo and mushrooms, come back up here, and have dinner in bed"
"And watch the TV nehile we eat"
"Then pass the evening reading thrillers and sipping chane until we can’t keep our eyes open"
"Sounds wonderfully, sinfully lazy," she said
More evenings than not, he spent two hours proofreading and polishing his novel And it was an unusual night when Carol didn’t have some paperwork to catch up on
As they dressed in robes and bedrooot to learn to take s off We’ll have to spend plenty of time with the kid We’ll owe it to him"
"Or her"
"Or them," he said
Her eyes shone "You think they’ll let us adopt more than one?"
"Of course they will--once we’ve proven we can handle the first After all," he said self-ood old Al O’Brian’s life?"
On their way to the kitchen, halfway down the stairs, she stopped and turned and hugged hi to have a family"
"So it seems"
"Oh, Paul, I don’t reoing to last forever"
He held her, and it was very fine to have her in his arht down to it, affection was even better than sex; being needed and loved was better than ," she said
"Nothing can go wrong, and that feeling you have will last forever, and I’lad you’re so happy There
How’s that?"
She kissed his chin and the corners of his mouth, and he kissed her nose
"Now," he said, "can we please get soue?"
"Such a rory"
As they reached the botto sound It was
steady but arrhythmic: Thwsk, thunk, thunk-thunkthunk, thunk-thunk
Carol said, "What the devil’s that?"
"It’s co from outsideand above us"
They stood on the last step, looking up and back toward the second floor
Thunk, thunk-thunk, thunk, thunk
"Damn," Paul said "I’ll bet one of the shutters came loose in the wind" They listened for a o out and fix it,"
"Now? In the rain?"
"If I don’t do anything, the wind ht just hang there and clatter all night We won’t get any sleep, and neither will half the neighborhood"