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Dellarobia sat doith the last plate and gestured for everyone to dig in They both enuinely pleased, she could tell It was hard to fake that kind of enthusiasm for a meal She re that she’d taken for disloyalty, and no that Juliet probably would have agreed and laughed about it, had she been there Juliet had bigger fish to fry Suddenly Dellarobia thought of the knitters

"You knohat? There are people up here on therepresentations of the butterflies"

Juliet kindly spared her the e too far with this She knew all about the knitters already, had followed their blog and coraph their work and do interviews, but had had to wait until her break in classes to fly out for this visit

"Juliet’s teaching load is oppressive," Ovid said "She is the departmental mule"

"Associate professor," Juliet said, with an unmulish smile "Not a lu up," Ovid said

"I do," she agreed "Our first whole winter together in seven years of e"

"I’m not sure how she will tolerate lossy s about monarchs her husband did not Dellarobia asked about the na Billies, and she knew it From colonial times, she said Protestant settlers noticed this butterfly wore the royal colors of their prince, Willia of England The na

"You never told me that," Ovid said to his wife

Juliet’s eyes blinked in their slow-y, Dellarobia I keep ht shirt similar to Juliet’s with the same embroidered front placket instead of buttons Dellarobia would not have dreamed he owned a shirt like that Like the day he’d worn a tie for the kindergartners; here was a whole different Ovid she knew nothing about He too had a father who’d died young, Alcidus Byron Juliet never got to reat friends with Ovid’s mother, Raquida, a forceful woman who supervised all postal affairs on the island of St Tho pastime as a boy had been to float in the sea and watch the sea turtles grazing in the sea-grass beds Juliet was the one who described this He’d taken her snorkelingwith their honey but happy when you watch the" She de her head slowly frorass instead of potatoes

"When I look at your sheep, I a of turtles," Ovid confessed "I will hty brown fellows that stay up on the hill"

Dellarobia was floored She didn’t think Ovid paid one bit of attention to the sheep "This is Reggie we’re eating, by the way One of the naughty brown ones Maybe that’s not an introduction for polite colass Preston clinked with his cup and ry, and for severalDellarobia the unaccustoainst plates and tasting thetexture of the slow-cooked roast All the pasture and sunny days that had been Reggie

"We get to name the la them born"