I do need to tell you that I’ll probably be really busy all of next week. I’m off on Friday to take care of a few things before we leave, but I’...l be pretty swamped until then.’ That was total bullshit. I just didn’t want to risk anything screwing up this trip or my plans for Moira, or how Moira felt about me — anything named Shelly. I was pretty sure Moira wasn’t upset about Nurse Shelly, but she had offered me something very special. I felt like, at least between now and then, I owed it to. Ifthere was any doubt about that, now there isn't."Well, that shut her up! Mother was finally speechless. Finally shesaid, "OK, Honey. Well, I guess, I thought that you are so feminine,that you might find yourself attracted to a boy. And I think it wasworth finding out. And I think you did the right thing by giving him akiss. But I also think you did the right thing by keeping your mouthclosed. Because you want to reward him for being a gentleman, but youalso don't want to give him the. He'd vaguely mentioned once doing three tours in Vietnam, but he never spoke of anything that he did while there.As for my mother, she was stone quiet, rarely ever seen in public or speaking much even to our few family friends. When she did speak there was a faint hint of some foreign accent, but her English was technically textbook perfect. I'm not sure where she was born but she seemed to be of mixed racial stock, perhaps part Middle Eastern, and she had obviously also had served in the. Then the click-thump of the Mercedes' doors closing. The engine roaredback into life. Without turning their lights back on, they glided pastthe back of the Land Rover, and up the exit ramp. He heard the tyressquealing away until they were lost in the background noise.He realised he'd been holding his breath. He let it all out in oneshuddering motion. He was alive. But what about-He heard the sound of the magazine being replaced in the gun. Then herfootsteps coming back, clicking on the hard.