Even before Dave started the long drive to New York on Thursday, he knew he could have avoided the trip if the only reason he had for going was a visit to Dunlap and Fyre.

Since the first of the year, the company in general had sunk down on his priority list. The money was still very good, but a career there just wasn't as appealing as it had been only a few months before. Still, as long as he was there, he figured he wanted to do a good job for them. While he knew he was in a financial position to kiss them off, he felt he wanted to maintain some contact, at least until the still unnamed fantasy novel was established. That could take a year or more; in the interim he needed the job to keep some order and stability to his life and finances.

As usual, he parked the Chevy in the parking lot at Shae's studio on Friday morning. It was tempting to head in and try to beard someone in charge to find out what was going on with Avalon, but it was only a temptation -- it was something Shae would have to deal with, and he had no business butting in. Still, the indecision chafed at him while he walked up the windy street to the familiar subway stop and took it to Manhattan.

The Dunlap and Fyre offices were as crowded as ever -- maybe even more crowded, if such a thing were possible -- and the confusion was at a high level and little got accomplished. He was able to have a quick conference with Michelle between several continuously interrupting phone calls. There wasn't much said that couldn't have been handled on the phone or by e-mail, but the chance for the occasional face-to-face was important, too, even if nothing much of importance was said.

His meeting with Michelle was winding down and Dave was thinking he'd have plenty of time to get to his appointment with Tietelbaum when one of the phone calls landing on her desk was from Rob, asking her to have Dave meet with him.

"No reason not to," he shrugged, wondering if the long-dormant question about the online books had come to life again. "If you don't have much else for me, I don't really have anything more for you."

"Not really," she shook her head. "Other than to say, I think we've pretty well chased the kinks out of this working-out-of-the-office business."

Dave shrugged. "Not entirely. Some of my concerns about intra-office communications are still valid, but in the short run it's working out all right. I guess I better go see what Rob wants."

In the bustle and confusion of the office it took a few minutes to get to Rob's office. "Dave, shut the door," Rob said as soon as Dave appeared. "I've got a couple things to talk about that I really don't want to be part of the office gossip just yet."

"Sure," Dave said as he shut the door, closing off a lot of the noise and confusion from the front office. "What's up, anyway?"

"Long story," Rob said. "Look, I know we talked last fall about the ideas you had about those online books, and I really appreciated your memo on the subject. It's something we're really going to have to do some creative thinking about, but I'll be honest, we're just not in a position to do anything right now. I don't need to add even more confusion to the nuthouse out front."

"Yeah, I can see that," Dave smiled as he found a seat in the easy chair across the small room from Rob. "I'm sure glad I'm not trying to work out there. I wouldn't get half done compared to what I do now."

"Right, we have problems enough as it is without asking for more," Rob nodded. "So how are things working out for you in Indiana or Ohio or wherever it is you're at?"

"Michigan, but not far from the other two," Dave grinned, realizing his boss's knowledge of geography pretty much ended at the Hudson River. "Actually, things have been going pretty well. It's been a little hectic the last couple weeks. The editor of the local newspaper had a heart attack, and a friend of mine is filling in for him. She's also thinking about buying him out. I owe her a couple big ones, so I've had to put a couple days a week in helping edit the paper until she gets her feet under her. What with everything else, it's made the weeks a little full, but it's not going to last for long, I think."

"A big newspaper?" Rob asked conversationally.

"No, just a little one-horse country weekly," Dave said. "I may take a piece of the action if my friend needs help with financing, but it's all up in the air at this point. It's about as different from this as it can be and still be involved in publishing. It's been kind of fun for a change."

"So, you're getting yourself settled in there pretty well, I take it?"

"Yeah, as well as can be expected," Dave replied, wondering just how far he should go with that thought. Perhaps it was better if Rob didn't know just yet that he had pretty well decided to not move back to New York, depending on what happened with Shae. "My fiancée is still here in the city, so it makes life a little interesting at times."

"Fiancée?" Rob brightened. "When did this happen? I thought you were still pretty trashed about Julie."

"I'm getting over it," Dave admitted. "The whole thing came down a little more quickly than I expected, so it's been keeping me hopping, too."

"Is this that big gal you brought to the Christmas party? The one who works on that kids' show? She's really something!"

"Yeah," Dave smiled. "We've known each other since grade school, and we've always been pretty good friends."

"Well, congratulations," Rob smiled. "I guess it means you're getting your life back to normal. So when is the big day?"

Dave shrugged. "We haven't set a date yet. I'm a little reluctant to do it before next fall, when Julie will have been gone for a year. But it could change, depending on how loud Julie's folks bitch about it. I'm going to run up and break the news to them tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to it."

"I don't blame you," he shook his head. "That could be a tough one under the best of circumstances. But, I've got a question for you. Back last fall, you were saying you weren't anxious to move back here before school was out."

"Right," he said. "I've got the boys in a stable situation in a good school, and I don't want to have to mess with changing without being a got to, if you know what I mean."

"Well, fortunately this is something that isn't going to break loose that soon," Rob said understandingly. "I'd like you to keep this just between you and me. To make a long story short, Dick told me a couple days ago that he's planning on retiring about the end of the year. He wants to get out of the city and go to Florida or some place like it while he's still young enough to enjoy it. Of course, it means a shakeup down the line. Right at the moment, I'm thinking I want to give his job to Michelle."

"She'd probably do just fine with it," Dave said, feeling a sickening certainty about where this was leading.

"I think so, too," Rob said. "The problem with it is, if I give the job to Michelle, Rayme is going to get into a hell of a snit about being passed by. I wouldn't put it past him to head for the door. Now, I'm not actually offering you either job at the moment, but would you be interested in replacing Michelle in sci-fi? Or, if Rayme walks or I give him Dick's job, taking over general fiction instead?"

That was just about exactly what Dave thought was coming. Six months before -- Lord, was that all? -- he'd have been all over the offer so quickly it wouldn't have been funny. But that was six months ago, and a great deal had happened since. "Rob," he replied, stalling for time. "I can't say yes right at the moment, but I'm not saying no, either." He let out a long sigh, trying to phrase his words in a way that left his options open. "To be honest, Rob, right now, it's beginning to look like if I come back to New York, it may not be permanent. Shae's job is involved in the decision. I'm getting settled in where I am, and I have a couple other irons in the fire. In fact, I've been kicking around the idea of seeing if I could work at doing editing on contract on a part-time basis, rather than coming back to the city at all."

"Wow, I never figured you'd say that," Rob shook his head. "You like that working-at-home stuff, huh?"

"Yeah, I've come to like it a lot. Like we were talking earlier, I feel like I'm a lot more productive working at home instead of trying to work in a madhouse like outside, or even back at the old place. It gives me time for other things, too." Dave wanted to avoid getting into the subject of the book taking shape in his spare time. If it were to be published, he wanted it to be judged on its own merit, rather than a favor to an employee. He might use a little influence to get the book looked at, but he didn't want to push it any further than that. The problem was it wasn't ready for someone in the trade to look at just yet, and it would probably be a while before it was -- it being the project getting squeezed out because of his Dunlap and Fyre work and working at the Courier.

"So, how about this gal you're going to marry? Doesn't she want to stay in the city?"

Dave shook his head. "That's complicated. The big question is whether they continue her show and they may not. Frankly, if they pick it up again, I'm back in the city sometime over the summer. If they cancel it, her options are open." He let out a sigh. "If they pick it up, I'd certainly be willing to talk about taking over one of those positions, even if I'm not anxious to. If they don't -- well, there's something to be said for walking the boys to school, picking up a cup of coffee on the way home, flipping on the computer and avoiding all the other hassles."

"So, you're not giving me a yes, and you're not giving me a no," Rob sighed. "Well, it's not like I need an answer today, but I thought I'd float it by you since you were in the office. Give it some thought, but don't say anything to anyone outside, would you? I don't need it getting to Rayme and having him in here kissing up for Dick's job five times a day."

"That may be your best reason to give it to Michelle," Dave smiled. "I don't think too much of the joker at the best of times, and don't forget, he's the one who let Pittman get away with the deal with Larissa Hamilton. I don't know the details, but it strikes me that, if Rayme had been keeping his eye on what his people were doing, Pittman wouldn't have gotten away with that shit in the first place."

"Well, that's true," Rob sighed. "But at least we're getting what looks to be a pretty good book out of it."

"Yeah," Dave snorted. "But it was based on her 38-double-D's, rather than her writing. Look, I don't want to sound like I'm laying down an ultimatum or anything, but I would not be very happy working under him."

"But you would if you had to?" Rob asked in a leading tone.

"Yeah," Dave said slowly. "If I had to." And thank God, he thought -- well, actually, thank Julie -- he wouldn't have to. But Rob didn't need to know it just yet.

"So, when he said that, it was pretty clear where the bodies were buried," Dave told Shae later that evening. "I'd say it's about eighty percent certain Rayme gets the job. Of course, if he does, there'll be some fair-haired boy in general fiction he'll pull strings for to take his place. If Rob were to give the General Fiction manager job to me, I'd have to watch out for knives in my back every second. I didn't want to just say 'thanks, but no thanks,' even though I probably should have."

"Why didn't you, just out of curiosity?"

"Because I don't want to have to burn any bridges just yet," he sighed. "You never know what's going to happen. If Avalon gets picked up for another year, and if Michelle gets the promotion, I'd be tempted to take the job while it lasts, if for no more reason than to back her up while she's playing office politics with Rayme, establishing herself. It's a good line on my resume, too, if I want to freelance outside of Dunlap and Fyre. But then, I might just be tempted to chuck it all, sit in the apartment and pound the keys on the book."

"And do some editing, don't forget," she reminded him.

"Not if Rayme gets the job," he said. "He knows I'm no fan of his, and it's not just because he has the hots for Mistress Grimm."

"He'd kill a deal like that?"

Dave shrugged. "Not that it matters, but he probably wouldn't be direct about it. I just wouldn't get very many contracts, and the ones I got would be shit. Really, it doesn't matter. I've got a good reputation in the industry; I can freelance if I have to just to kill some time. It'd be tight if we were living in New York, but we could live in Bradford and neither of us actually have to work for the sake of the money. But I don't want to just sit on my dead butt, and I don't think you do, either, if for no more reason than to set a good example for the kids."

"Yeah," she said. "I think you have me figured out that far. Changing the subject on you, have you decided if you want me to go with you tomorrow?"

"To tell you the truth, Shae, I haven't even thought about it," he said, leaning back in the big easy chair in her living room. "I didn't want to. I'm not sure what will piss them off worse. I mean, I know they're going to be pissed off, that's a given. Hell, Rayme has a higher opinion of me than they do."

In Midwestern terms, it wasn't far from Staten Island to Hartford -- only about a hundred miles -- but this wasn't the Midwest. In the past Dave had made the trip in as little as two and a half hours from lower Manhattan if everything went right, which was a rare occurrence. There was a number of possible routes, and he'd tried most of them at one time or another, finding them all equally bad, except for the ones even worse than others.

At least he had Shae along with him to talk to -- although he still wasn't sure her coming was a good idea. He'd chickened out, he thought, bringing her along, rather than facing the music by himself. "You know, I really hate this drive," he observed after a while. "Not just this trip. I've never found going up to see Stan and Deborah to be anything other than unpleasant in every possible way."

"I know you don't like them," she replied. "I've met them a couple times and I can see why, too."

"You know, what really rattled my chain is the way they had of lousing up anything I wanted to do," he said. "I would have sort of liked to go to the tenth reunion I've heard so much about, but no. After I told Julie I wanted to do it, they came up with some sort of family thing on Cape Cod that was obviously much more important than anything I wanted to do. Then, I can't remember if it was the next year or two years later, you guys had a get-together of people here in the east, gathering at Eve's. Emily called me up and asked if I'd like to go too, but no, all of a sudden we had to go to the Cape again, instead. We went to Hartford a hell of a lot more than we ever went to Bradford."

"Dave," Shae said softly, "Are you blaming them, or are you blaming Julie? I mean, did she tip them off and they'd come up with something because they knew she didn't want to go?"

"Good question," he said, reflecting on the observation. "I don't know who to blame, when you get right down to it. I suppose I could have put my foot down, but I was just trying to keep the peace. But yeah, at least one of those times nothing would have happened if Julie hadn't blabbed to them, so she was responsible for at least part of it."

"Maybe I'm stepping out of line in saying this," she said. "But a few months ago, Julie was the perfect angel who could do no wrong. Yet more and more, I hear you saying you were unhappy about this or that thing about her or your relationship. I mean, like last weekend, we were talking about the boys ought to know the differences between boys and girls. Your opinions differed from Julie's, but you pretty much knuckled under to what she wanted, right?"

"Well, not always," he said. "But for the most part, yeah. I mean, if things got too far out of line, I'd hear about it from Stan or Deborah. More Deborah than Stan. I mean, she'd call me up at work and get me out of a meeting to give me hell about something. It didn't take that happening too often to get pissed off just from the sound of her voice alone."

"I thought it was something like that," Shae nodded soberly. "As I recall, Julie was the one who wanted to stay in the city, right?"

"Well, both of us," he said. "There just aren't the jobs our fields in Hartford." He let out a sigh and continued, "But it always seemed like Stan and Deborah acted like it was my fault we didn't move up to Hartford after graduating."

"Was it?"

"Hell, no," he snorted. "Don't get me wrong, Shae. Julie didn't have a lot of use for her parents, either, but she could . . . well, she could use them as weapons if she wanted to. I'm sure she must have let them think not moving there was more my idea than hers."

"Playing both ends against the middle?" she smiled.

"Yeah, I guess," he said. "When you put it like that." He was silent for a moment, his mind working hard, before he continued. "Yeah, Julie and I had a few issues, I guess. But there was a lot of good, and not much bad. After all, Shae, we came from different places, different backgrounds. There were bound to be some differences. For the most part, we overlooked them."

"And you were gentleman enough to let her get her way when she wanted it," Shae nodded. "Dave, that's not a criticism, it's a compliment. It's one of the things I like most about you. You're easy-going, maybe a little too easy-going for your own good. I'll have to watch that I don't take advantage of it too much. But Dave, I have to ask: how much do you intend to let Stan and Deborah be involved with the boys? It is your decision, after all."

"I can't answer right now," Dave said. "But I suspect I'll be able to in three hours."

"You're saying it's going to depend on how they act today?"

"Yeah, I guess," he nodded. "I mean, if they're willing to accept the reality of the situation a little, I'm willing to be flexible. If they get rude and start making demands, then I don't know how much I'll want to expose the boys to them."

Shae shook her head. "I wonder if they realize what's riding on this?"

"Probably not," he said. "Although I'd like to think different."

It was not much longer before Dave turned the Chevy off of the Interstate at the familiar exit, and drove through some upscale suburbs to the Albright house. "Well, here goes nothing," he said to Shae as they pulled into the driveway.

"Try to keep your cool," she advised as she opened the door and unfolded herself from the seat. "Even if they don't. It gives you the moral high ground in the long run, after all."

"I think that's why I brought you along," he said as he got out the other side. "I'm less likely to lose my cool with you here."

Dave had called early in the week to inform his in-laws that he needed to talk with them, but hadn't let on the reason why. They'd worked out the best time to see them was on Saturday morning, and one or the other of them must have been watching for him to arrive for the front door opened even before he and Shae got to it. "Dave," Deborah said. "I thought you were bringing the boys with you."

"Not this trip, I'm afraid," he said. "This is primarily a work trip, and too much car time for kids their age for just a quick visit."

"I suppose," Deborah said in clear disappointment. "Maybe another time?"

"Could be," he replied noncommittally, a little surprised that Deborah was less emotional than he had expected.

"Miss Kirkendahl," Deborah smiled. "I'm a little surprised to see you instead."

"I thought I'd come along for the ride," she replied.

"Well, come in," Stan said from the door. "Miss Kirkendahl, it's good to see you again. I wish the last time had been under a little better circumstances."

"I do, too," Shae told him. "In fact, those were about as lousy as they could be."

"Dave, you're looking good," Stan said. "I guess life out in the Midwest is treating you well."

"It has its good moments," Dave smiled. Though they were only exchanging pleasantries, this was going way better than he'd expected, even this early.

"Would the two of you like some coffee?" Deborah asked.

"Sounds good to me," Shae said.

"I could use some, too," Dave agreed.

In a couple minutes the four of them were seated in the living room, coffee in hand, after exchanging a few more neutral comments about the weather and the traffic. Finally, it was Stan who got down to business. "So, Dave," he said. "You said you needed to talk with us. Is there some problem with the boys?"

"Oh, no, everything's fine with them," Dave said. "I guess the best place to start is to say I need your opinion on something. Last weekend, Shae and I told the boys that I'd asked her to marry me, and she accepted."

"I thought that might happen," Deborah said. "Every time we talk to the boys it seems like they want to talk about 'Aunt Shae'. Miss Kirkendahl, you seem to have made quite an impression on them."

"Oh, call me Shae," she smiled. "They're both good kids. From what I can see, your daughter did a good job raising them. I know I can never fill her shoes entirely, but I'll do what I can. I'm sorry I never had the chance to meet her, but I had no idea Dave was even in New York until the day, well, last fall."

"When the towers went down," Stan said. "We don't like to say it either, but we've had to learn to accept it."

"So when are you getting married?" Deborah wanted to know.

"It's part of the reason we're here," Dave said. "I wanted your opinion on whether we should wait until after next September. That was my initial gut reaction, but there's another factor involved. If we wait until, say, October, Shae will be having our baby before we could get married."

"Deborah," Stan smiled. "You're right again."

"Don't make it sound worse than it is," Deborah replied, and turned to Dave and Shae. "What I said was I hoped Dave would find someone who could act as a mother to the boys sooner, rather than later. Dave, you did it a little more quickly than I expected, but I'm fine with it."

For as long as Dave had been dreading this conversation -- and in fact, avoiding it for some time -- it was going totally the opposite from what he had expected. "I'm glad," he said. "I was worried you'd take offense."

"There would have been a time it would have been likely," Stan said. "Dave, we realize there's nothing you could have done to keep what happened from occurring. I'm sure if you had known about it you would have done everything in your power to keep Julie home that day. But it didn't happen, and it's taken us a while to accept it. I'm afraid when your friends John and Eve brought Julie's things to us last fall, we were very bitter about it, and I know we weren't very nice to them at all. But that little woman is a wonder, and her husband isn't very far behind."

"They spent hours with us that day," Deborah reported. "I . . . I don't know how we could have made it without them."

"I know what you're saying," Dave agreed. "Eve and Shae and the boys were the primary reasons I managed to put things back together again. I still spend some time with her on the phone or in person working out some of the problems I've had."

"We have, too," Stan smiled. "There was a period there I'll bet we talked to her every night. She and John were up here with their kids several times, mostly last fall. John would take the kids down to the park to play, while Eve sat here and helped us to put things back together."

"Huh," Dave said. "I never knew that. Shae?"

"News to me," she replied, obviously surprised at the revelation. "But then, Eve is a professional. In most cases it would be unethical for her to tell me who her patients are."

"Even though it was accidental, I'm glad it worked out you were able to put us in touch with her," Deborah said. "Don't get me wrong; I miss Julie terribly, and I've missed the boys almost as bad. But Dave, we all have to move on with our lives. Now, as far as the question of when you get married: under normal circumstances, I would agree it's only proper to wait for a year after Julie's death. But these aren't normal circumstances, so I guess about all I can say is do what you feel you have to do."

"That's about how I look at it," Stan agreed. "Dave, I just want to wish the best of luck to you two. I know we've had our differences in the past. At least part of it has been my fault, and I apologize for that."

"Mine, too," Dave said, utterly flabbergasted at the whole direction of the conversation, but trying not to show it.

"So," Deborah smiled, "Are you going to have a big wedding?"

"No," Shae told her. "We haven't even begun to work on the plans for it, other than it'll probably be in Bradford, with the mayor officiating. She's a close friend of both of us. It'll just be informal. Unless we decide to do it pretty soon, I'll either be very pregnant or have a small baby, so anything extravagant would be inappropriate."

"Make sure you let us know," Deborah said. "I think we'd like to be there, especially if Eve is there. Do you think she'd be likely to come?"

"She's been my closest friend forever," Shae grinned. "I really doubt she'd miss it. In fact, I'd call off the wedding and reschedule it if something came up and she couldn't be present."

"So, are the two of you going to live in New York, or what?" Stan asked.

"It's still up in the air, too," Shae replied, and went on to explain about the uncertain future of Avalon and how it would affect their plans. "But Bradford in the long run, I think."

"Good," Deborah said. "Shae, you have a very nice apartment and it fits you very well, but it just doesn't strike me as the best place to raise a pair of active boys."

"We'll make do there if we have to," Dave said. "If it looks like we're going to be in New York more than a few months, I think we'll look for some place with some headroom and some elbow room."

The next couple hours continued on in much the same vein -- a pleasant conversation, getting caught up on things, with no evident hard feelings. It didn't keep Dave from wanting to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming -- of all the things he could have expected out of this meeting, this was the least expected, not that he was complaining.

By mid-afternoon, it was time for Dave and Shae to be heading back to the city. They were a while getting out of the Albright house, with promises to come back some time and bring the boys. They were back in the car and headed down the Interstate before Dave commented, "That is without a doubt the most pleasant four hours I've ever spent with those two. When I was there with Julie, we could always find something to fight about."

"It sure wasn't what I was expecting, either," Shae said. "Especially after meeting them last fall."

Dave shook his head. "I'll tell you what, Shae. I've got something to put on my to-do list, and that's to find our little transsexual friend and turn her over my knee. Cripe, she's been up here greasing the skids for us all winter."

"No, Dave," Shae said quietly. "Eve was being Eve. She wasn't doing it for us, at least not intentionally. She saw a pair of hurting people last fall, and she reached out to help them. That's who she is and what she does. You remember up on the stage of the gym in Bradford, at the concert, when you said something to the effect of, 'there have been thousands of deaths but millions of acts of kindness?' There's one of them."

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