"Oh no! You never said, I thought... " When had we started calling himthat? I thought it might have been Karen who'd started it, but I'dblamed her for...everything, almost everything, in my childhood."Aye, well, you know me; anything for the uncomplicated life." Pulling arueful face he opened the huge fridge and found some milk."You know, Dad, maybe this is as simple as it ever gets."He acknowledged that insight with a tilt of his head. "You know yoursister's pregnant again?" She told me last. ”“I’m going to flick you two more times,” she said. “Then I’m going to get serioushhh. First I might use your car to work on my squats, though.”In a desperate attempt to appease the preteen muscle goddess, I reached back onto the bench and gave her the Smurfette that I had been carving. “I made this for you, Princess Becky, Queen of the Universe.”Becky’s eyes lit up and her posture softened as she took the whittled figurine. “It’s neat,” she said. “I’m a little too old for Shhhmurfs, though.. Have you set a date yet?" Not yet, but we both want it to be sometime in the fall or winter." I'm so happy for you." I wanted to tell you before we announced it to anyone else. We were thinking of hosting our own engagement party on Sunday. Would you all come?" Of course. John will be here tonight and I don't think Jules is working on Sunday."Chris hadn't intruded on our moment yet, but I reached past Mom to give him a big hug. "Congratulations." Thank you. Your happiness right now means the. “From whom?” Susan asked with some aggression.“A Private Investigator.”“Who hired him?”“I ... I ... don’t know.”“You don’t know! It never crossed your tiny mind did it? You were so certain John had betrayed you, you never thought to question anything!“Who’s Gary best mates with? Who was also at the conference? Another thing, do you really think that John would invent a statement from the Chief Executive Officer? Is he suicidal?” Susan’s words dripped scorn.“And you’ve just called me a liar,.