A String of Beads (39 page)

“I don’t know. How mad did you think I was?”

“Pretty mad.”

He shrugged. “If you have enough time alone with your feelings, they start to separate
out like ingredients in a suspension, and you can identify their proportions. Anger
wasn’t the biggest part. Worrying about you was the biggest, and missing you was most
of what was left.” He paused. “And I guess after I thought about it for a while, I
felt ashamed for pretending I didn’t understand some things, when I really did.”

“What things?”

“That they’re your family too. They were around when you were a kid. You share a lineage
and a language and a history that I don’t, and they have a claim on you. I pretended
to both of us that I didn’t know, so I’d have a right to my irritation.”

Jane hugged him, and held him to her. She said nothing about the things he understood
or the ten thousand things that he didn’t.

He lifted her chin and looked at her closely. “So you’re done now, right?”

“Done?”

“Jimmy’s safe, and the clan mothers are satisfied?”

“They said they were.”

“You’re home for good?”

“If I can be.”

They looked into each other’s eyes, and Jane could see that a hint of the sadness
had returned, but he pretended he didn’t know what she’d meant.

“Want to go out to dinner?” he asked. “I made reservations at the Strathmore.”

“The Strathmore?” she said. “You must have amputated a few wallets while I was away.”

“It’s the only way I can get my patients to lose weight,” he said. “While you were
gone I tried to keep busy.”

“What time are our reservations?”

“Seven,” he said.

Her eyes widened and she gently released herself from his arms. “Then we’ve got to
get ready right away.” She walked out of the kitchen, across the dining room, into
the living room. She reached the stairway and went up a few steps, then glanced over
her shoulder to see him watching her, and smiled. “Too bad for you.”

“I could call them and make it tomorrow night.”

She took another step and looked back. “I would if I were you.”