"Good, then it's settled," Bill said, relaxing into the sofa. "We'll visit on Thursday and enjoy a nice day without all those children running about."

"William!"

"What? Oh, come on, Ellie, that little Myles needs a good thrashing, if you ask me. Always running all over the place yelling mine, mine, mine. It truly is obnoxious!"

"He's three."

"Well, if they don't start disciplining him, I'll doubt he'll see four."

"He's not that bad."

"He's not that good, either."

"He's a child."

"Laura was never like that."

"How would you know? You weren't there, remember!" Laura blurted, glaring in Bill's direction. "What makes you think you have the right to judge a child's behavior? You gave that up when you decided that catching fish was more important than being a father. Stop insinuating that you knew me back then, Bill, because you didn't...and you still don't!"

A deafening silence fell over the room, and scowling, Eleanor shook her head. "Laura, please-"

"No, Ellie, she's right. I wasn't around," Bill said quietly, all the while returning Laura's angry stare with one of his own. "But I do know your mother, Laura. She would have never allowed you to act so rudely. I fear you must have learned that all on your own." Getting to his feet, Bill headed toward the kitchen. "I'm going out for some air."

Watching as he left the room, Eleanor sighed as she glared at her daughter. "I thought you were going to try to get along with him?"

"I was. I am, but it just...it just came out. I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Eleanor said as she got to her feet and headed toward her bedroom. "Toni, do me a favor? When William comes back inside, tell him where I am. Will you please?"

Anger flickered in Toni's eyes as she glanced at Laura. "Sure, I'll let him know."

"Shit," Laura said, flinching when the bedroom door closed with a bang.

"He didn't deserve that," Toni said through clenched teeth.

"I was only stating the truth."

"No, you were ramming it down his throat. There's a difference."

"I'm sorry, but I was sitting there listening to him talk about raising a child and I just wanted to remind him-"

"But you don't have to. Don't you get that?" Toni said as she stood up. "Laura, that man doesn't need to be reminded of what he did because it looks him square in the eye every bloody day!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Darling, look around you. This house is filled with photographs of you, but none of them include him. He sees a picture of a little girl in pigtails with a missing front tooth, but he never had the chance to play tooth fairy for her. He sees her dressed for a dance, standing next to a young man in an ill-fitting suit, and he wonders if that boy was the one. He sees you standing on the steps of your university with diploma in hand, but he can't remember the day or the smile you had when they called you up on that stage, because he wasn't there. The other night, he sat where you are right now and cried his eyes out as he read the Christmas cards you made for your mum, all the while wishing that one of them had been addressed to him. Laura, you don't have to remind him that he fucked up. Trust me, he knows!"

"Then why can't he tell me that?"

"Would it make a difference? Would words really be enough for you, because they aren't for me."

"What do you mean?"

"Just because someone tells me to trust them doesn't mean I can, or I will. I need a reason. You know that, and Bill knows that you need more than words in order to have a reason to forgive him, so he's doing the only thing he can do. He's giving you time to get to know him and hopefully to love him." Taking Laura's hand, Toni said, "Laura, you've given me so many reasons to trust and to love, but you also taught me something that I don't think even you realize."

"What's that?"

"Don't live in the past so much that it blinds you from the future."

Letting out a ragged breath, Laura said softly, "What do I do?"

"Go tell your father that you're sorry."

Laura was standing at the counter when he walked in the door and looking up, she asked quietly, "I was just making some tea. Would you like some?"

Bill took off his coat and tossed it on a chair. "No, I think I'll have something stronger if it's all the same to you."

Before he could take a step, Laura pulled two glasses from a cabinet and poured a splash of Scotch in each. Picking up one, she offered the other to her father.

"Thanks," he said quietly, taking the drink. Unable to make eye contact, Bill sat down at the table, bowing his head and staring blankly at the glass in his hand.

"I want to apologize for what I said earlier," Laura said, looking over at the man slouching in his chair. "You were right. It was rude and uncalled for."

"That's okay. We both know I deserved it," Bill said. Taking a sip of his drink, he paused and then raised his eyes. "I can't go back in time and change what I did, Laura."

"I know."

"I'm not expecting you...I'm not expecting you to ever look at me like you do your mother. She's your parent, and I never was, but I hope you'll be able to accept the fact that I'm here now, and I'm staying. I love your mother, and even though I'm sure you don't believe it, I love you, too, and I plan to spend the rest of my life proving it to both of you...as well as to your charming partner." Seeing his daughter's face light up, Bill added, "She's marvelous, Laura."

"Thanks," she said, walking over to sit at the table. "She likes you, too, which actually surprised me."

"Do you really think me that horrid?"

"No...no," Laura said, placing her hand on his arm. "That's not what I mean."

If Laura was still speaking, Bill didn't notice. Mesmerized by his daughter's touch, he stared at her hand on his arm and remembered tiny fingers reaching out to him so many years before. How could so many years have passed, yet her touch still feel the same? Brought back to his senses by the chimes from the mantle clock, he took a hasty sip of his drink before raising his eyes to meet hers. "I'm sorry...you were saying it wasn't what you meant?"

"No, it wasn't," Laura said, shaking her head. "Driving up here, all I could think of was all the things that could possibly rattle Toni. I knew that she'd be okay here in this house, but when it came to meeting the family and meeting you, I wasn't so sure."

"I'm not that awful, you know?"

Leaning back in her chair, Laura said, "Christ, you're as bad as Toni. She's forever trying to put words in my mouth, and she's horrible at it. Apparently, so are you."

"Oh...right. Well, perhaps I should let you finish then."

"Good idea," Laura said with a chuckle. "Like I was saying, she's at her worst when she's around strangers, and especially men, but around you, she's fine. A bit hesitant at first, but now it's like...I don't know, like she's known you for years and trusts you completely."

Thinking back to Toni's fall from the ladder, Bill said softly, "That's because she knows I'll never give her a reason not to."

Hearing the door open, Toni looked up from her book. Smiling as Laura walked into the room, she watched as she placed two cups of tea on the night stand. "So, did you get a chance to talk to your dad?"

"Yeah, when he came inside," Laura answered, kicking off her shoes and heading into the bathroom. "I apologized and told him that I'd try to curtail comments like that in the future."

Toni sat cross-legged on the bed watching Laura through the crack in the door. She was all too familiar with Laura's nightly routine of removing makeup, washing her face, brushing her hair twenty times and then cleaning her teeth, and Toni found herself looking forward to a lifetime of it.

When Laura finally emerged, she saw Toni's giddy expression and jerked back her head. "What's that look for?"

"I just like the way we are. That's all."

"What do you mean?" Laura asked, stepping out of her jeans.

"It's nice. Watching you get ready for bed...taking off your clothes. It makes me smile."

"I can see that, but that smile usually leads to other things, and I don't know that my back can handle another night on the floor."

"Is that your polite way of telling me to get my hormones under control?"

"Maybe," Laura said, removing her bra and quickly pulling on her pajamas. "But if you're lucky, they can run free and wild tomorrow."

"Why's that?"

"Da...um...Bill and Mum have a few things to get in Stirling tomorrow, and he asked if we wanted to come along, but I told him no."

"No? Laura, I told you this morning that I wanted to go out one more time."

"I know you did, but we can do that on Wednesday."

"What's the difference?"

Sauntering over, Laura pushed Toni to the mattress. Quickly straddling her, she placed a light kiss on Toni's lips. "The difference is that tomorrow, we'll have the house to ourselves."

The bed squeaked from their movements, but neither paid attention to the noise. With Eleanor and Bill out of the house, they were free to make love without the constraints of silence...and they were making good use of their time.

Before Bill's SUV disappeared down the driveway, Toni found herself being pulled up the stairs, and while she laughed at Laura's eagerness to get her alone, when she saw the heat in the woman's eyes, Toni's amusement turned into something else.

After closing the door to their bedroom, she took Laura to orgasm pressed against it, and minutes later, Toni found herself being stripped of her clothes and taken to climax as she stood in the middle of the room. Out of breath and covered in sweat, they ended up on the bed, lying naked on the sheets as their bodies slowly cooled.

A short time later, passions flared again. Climbing atop her lover, Toni groped and tweaked the breasts offered her while Laura ground herself into Toni's wetness until she begged Toni to take the lead...and take it, she did. Rolling Laura to the mattress, Toni lapped at her juices until Laura couldn't bear it any longer, and when the moans of her climax finally quieted, Laura gave back to Toni what she had been given, two times over.

"Do you think your parents will be suspicious when neither of us can move later tonight?"

Grinning, Laura looked at her exhausted, albeit happy, partner. "We'll get our second wind."

"I already had my second wind, and my third, come to think of it. Don't know if I've got any left."

Seeing that Toni's nipples were once again erect, Laura smiled and lightly touched the closest. "It appears that you do."

"Behave, woman! It's been hours since they left, and we both need a shower," Toni said, covering herself with the sheet.

"Is that an invitation?"

"Christ, you're horny!"

"Me?" Laura asked innocently.

"You're the one who dragged me up here."

"I don't remember you saying no."

"I don't remember you giving me a chance to. You practically pounced on me."

"You pounced back."

Toni's cheeks bested a cherub's as her face lit up. "Yes, I guess I did, didn't I?"

"I'm thinking you're not missing the fact that we aren't shopping today, are you?"

"No, but we need to go out tomorrow. I want to get your dad something."

"You don't have to. I'm not."

"You're not?"

"Well, maybe a card."

"Wow, that's pretty harsh, don't you think? I mean, you could at least buy him a...a tie or something."

"He doesn't wear ties."

"Okay, then how about a box of chocolates?" Toni asked.

"Why are you trying to get me to get him something? I'm sure he doesn't expect anything."

"Then it would be a nice thing to do, wouldn't it? Surprise him. Show him you care."

"And if I don't?"

"You don't mean that."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because I've seen the way you look at him when you think no one's watching. Like you're trying to convince yourself that what you're feeling is wrong, when it's not."