Second-Time Lucky

He nodded. “Within six months of each other and shortly before I stepped on a mine in a field that was supposed to have been cleared. It was sort of freakish—as if the fates were determined to wipe out the whole family.”

“Sometimes it seems like that,” she murmured. “My records don’t indicate a marriage for you.”

“No. I got the classic Dear John letter when I was in the army.”

“I’m sorry.”

His smile was unexpected. “Don’t be. Oddly, after I got over the wound to my pride, I realized I didn’t really miss her. It was having someone waiting that I missed.”

Caileen thought this over. “You didn’t love her.”

He shrugged. “I suppose not. Not enough for a lasting marriage, I realized later.”

“You were wise to recognize it in time,” she said.

“Well, she was the one who broke it off. I was merely relieved.”

They laughed together. It was the nicest sound.

“I’m going,” Zia said in her defiant voice.

“What about the term paper you’re supposed to turn in next week?” Caileen asked, keeping her tone level when she really wanted to shout and forbid her daughter to go off for a weekend camping trip with the love of her life.

Zia gave her an irritated grimace. “I hate doing term papers. I should have bought one on the Internet.”

Caileen gave a gasp of shock. “That would be cheating.”

“Mother, you are such a Puritan.”

“Maybe so, but you have a whole summer coming up—”

“That’s months away!”

“Two months isn’t a lifetime.”

“Living here feels like it,” Zia grumbled, loud enough to be heard, but soft enough that Caileen could have ignored the statement.

“When you can make it on your own, you’re free to do so,” she told her daughter, wishing Zia hadn’t inherited her stubborn genes.

Zia looked mulish, but said, “I’ll just go for tonight and come back in the morning and finish the stupid paper.”

“That sounds like a reasonable plan.”

Zia flounced down the hall to her room. Caileen ate her dinner and took the plate to the kitchen. Zia had already stowed her used dishes in the dishwasher.

A neat house was one thing Caileen insisted on. Decent grades were another. Money for tuition was too hard to come by to be wasted.

For a second, she wondered if her daughter saw her as unyielding, the way she viewed her parents. While she tried to be tolerant and understanding, there was a point within herself that couldn’t be breached.

“I’m ready. Sammy will be here any moment.”

Caileen turned from the kitchen window and smiled at her daughter, who had a backpack slung over one shoulder. “What time should I expect you tomorrow?”

Zia sighed. Loudly. “By noon.”

“Great. You can have the car to go to the library. I’m going to work in the yard.”

“You should hire someone to do the mowing. I know, we’re saving for a new roof,” Zia added glumly before Caileen could remind the girl of the harsh reality.

The doorbell rang.

“There’s Sammy. See you tomorrow,” Zia sang out and dashed for the door, the backpack swinging jauntily against her hip. “Uh, Mom, I think it’s someone for you,” she called a few seconds later.

Caileen went into the living room. Jeff Aquilon stood on the porch. “Hello,” she said, flustered at seeing him.

He held up the books. “Krista finished these. I thought I would return them since I was in town.”

Zia stepped back so he could enter. The room seemed much smaller with his presence. Noting the questions in her daughter’s eyes, Caileen introduced the two.

“Mr. Aquilon is the guardian of two of my clients. Zia is my daughter,” she explained to him.

“Call me Jeff,” he said, shaking hands with the girl.

“Thank you,” Zia said. Her smile was quick and dazzling. “There’s a guy in my four o’clock history class at the university whose name is Aquilon.”

“That would be my nephew, Jeremy,” Jeff said, returning the smile. “He’s finishing his senior year in high school, plus taking some college courses. He missed a year, so he’s in a hurry to make it up.”

“I see. Please, won’t you have a seat?”

He glanced at Caileen. She indicated the easy chair and took her place at the end of the sofa.

Zia glanced out the door. “Here’s Sammy. I have to run. Nice meeting you, Jeff.”

With another one of her dazzling smiles, she was out the door and off on her grand adventure. Silence prevailed.

“Did Krista enjoy the stories?” Caileen asked.

“She did. I wondered if you could recommend others. Perhaps longer books. She went through those in two nights and could have done it in one if Wednesday hadn’t been a school night.”

“She has a high reading score, more than two grades above the fifth-grade level. I should have remembered that.”

“Is she gifted? Is that the word the academics use nowadays?”

“Yes, it is.” She stared at him while she considered.

He wore dark slacks and a white shirt, the cuffs rolled up on his arms. The collar was open, revealing a white T-shirt. He looked fit and strong.

Forcing herself to look away, she told him, “I’ll have to check her record, but I think she missed the standard tests for the gifted program last year.”