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"It doesn't matter where I don't want you there," I said

"How are youI mean, ill you say?"

"I'll coo to sleep," I pro"

She nodded, looking rateful than defiant now I knehat she was about to say

"Don't say it, Belinda I'o to your room, watch television, talk to your empty-headed friends, fix your hair, be yourself and wait for my instructions"

She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears Even she kne that in the end, excuses were like the fabled straws everyone tried to grasp to keep fro any farther in this life was the

actions I would take on her behalf That realization ritten in her eyes

She rose and left the dining roo of defeat, but I harbored no pity for her She was the one as carrying Nelson Childs' baby, not I

I spent some time with the boys before I left the house Thel hi him his additions and subtractions He loved to show off fora constant probles and had interest in touching everything in sight Twice already, he had gotten into Saled hiht it was aain, I would due

"Jacob has more sense than you," I told hi his younger brother and keeping hian to wonder hoo boys from the same parents could be so different in nature

Our yacht wascruiser, driven solely by sails and included living facilities Normally all the deck chairs were put away, but Samuel had used the yacht just the day before to take some prospective clients out to enjoy a half day's sail This particular evening wasI could barely see twenty yards or so out to sea, but I could hear a foghorn off in the distance and occasionally caught the blink of a light through the steah that I thought it ht and waited, listening and watching the grounds Just a e fro fro fir his arms and approached

"Well," he said boarding the yacht and standing in front of me, his hands on his hips, "I'ht jacket and a pair of dungarees I stared at hi

"Why don't you sit, Nelson This will take a while," I said calmly

He hesitated and then plopped into a deck chair across from me

"So?"