She would do this at home, just the two of them. As always, Brian had been a silent wall of strength in the hours ahead. He had held her hand as she e...dured what she clearly knew were contractions as if giving birth. But this time there would be no happy ending. As grotesque as it might sound through those hours Tara would examine everything that came from her body looking for anything that might represent the baby that should have been. Just as Ella awoke and Brian tried valiantly to prepare. Hey, he said, looking at the rows of petunias she was planting. She must have been working since dawn. Can I help you with anything? she asked politely when he didnt say anything else. I have a question, he said, not bothering with introductions. Ive seen you work in three different yards now over the past two weeks. Are you like a serial gardener or something? His super lame joke actually got a smile, but that it was tinged with pity, so he wasnt sure that was a good sign. Its just a summer. "The Wiz saw the puzzled expression on Sara's face and realized his explanation had probably muddied the waters more than cleared them. Immediately he apologized. "Forgive me Sara, I'm chattering on here and you have questions. Please, ask me a few and I'll see if I can answer them for you."Sara smiled and then sighed as she tried to pick one of many on her mind. "I've been here before, but it was in a dream, actually several dreams and they were almost identical every time. Am I like. I was not used to visiting such places; I had done so only once before, in my callow youth, in company with some of my school friends, and I was not particularly proud of that. But now my scruples were more or less drowned out by the unaccustomedly savage lust that watching Samantha's whipping had aroused in me. I paid the driver, approached the house and pulled on the velvet bell rope that hung by the door. The door was opened by a tall, dark-skinned and rather grim-looking gentleman,.