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"But I did The best nickna to use it every chance I get"

Her head angles to the side, trying to guess Eventually she gives up

"What is it?"

I raise Kennedy’s left hand tosits Where, very soon, a wedding ring will be

"Wife"

Extended Epilogue

Once upon a timeat the Mason Potomac Estate

"Robert?" Vivian Mason’s voice whispered "Are you awake?"

She wasn’t supposed to be Her parents had tucked her into bed hours ago Her mother had softly brushed back her blond hair and kissed her forehead, herin the diht sky And her father had wished her sweet drea her his Little Fox, because he said she was s up with funny names for her and her little brother and sister

But how could they expect her to sleep? It was New Year’s Eve and there was a grand party in the ballroom below them

"Robert!" she demanded, louder now

"Yes, I’m awake!"

The silk sheets whistled as her best friend in the whole world, Robert Atticus Becker, eht, Robert was already a head taller than her Her rubbed the drowsiness froh his black hair, and stood next to her by the door

"Did it start yet?"

Vivian s as she could remember, she looked forward to the fireworks display that would soon light up the world outside Likeopen the door and peeking out,sure the coast was clear Then they crept down the endless hallway, Vivian’s slippered feet and Robert’s bare ones nota sound They stepped into the red bedroom and closed the door softly behind therandmother kept her most treasured photo albums--the book shelves were lined with thes--one on an e tropical trees--and another, fancier affair, with hundreds of guests in a building with intricate arches and raphs of all her parents’ trips and travels Before she was born, they’d even juether But they didn’t travel o

Her father once said that having her was their greatest adventure

The two children climbed onto the velvetseat Vivian rose up on her knees, her pallio to the party this year but we didn’t" She pouted

Robert shrugged "He’s older than us"

As the youngest of seven, Robert knew all about having to wait to do things his older siblings were already allowed

"Just be lucky you’re not Nat or Xavier--they have years to go"

That was true Vivian’s younger siblings were at this moment confined to the nursery, with Harrison and Nanny Jane keeping careful watch