"I do not understand." It was but a simple answer that pleased the children," Pedro muttered in a lowered voice so that the children could not overhea... them. "The children are my responsibility. I saved them when I had just saved myself and since then they have been in my care and in some ways they have aided me in returning here. When I saved them, their parents had been murdered by bandits and they were on their own. I learned that they had no other kin that they knew of and while there were. "Rick and Mike get along well, and if Rick thinks Dionne wants him to do this, he won't say no," she laughed."I get that impression too," I said with a smile."Are you okay with Rick and Dionne?" I asked, switching the topic for a moment.They looked at each other and I saw Al shrug."Sure," Marion said. "Your daughter is a very nice young lady. The nicest that Rick has ever been involved with, in my opinion. My sense is that they are good for each other." How do you mean?" I asked.Marion thought. "Is that you Jeff?" I heard as we entered through the front door."Hi, Mom."She walked into the foyer. She was a little shorter than I, with brown hair, brown eyes, a thin face and a warm smile that dominated it. She took him in her arms."I'm so glad you're home." She released him and turned to me."Mom, this is my friend Ashley." The same..." she had a quizzical look on her face. "So nice to meet you. If Jeff says you're his friend, I'm sure you're a lovely girl. Come on in and meet everyone."I. "My mom just nodded. I knew that even though my father wouldn't be back until the end of the week, she'd keep herself quite busy with all of her meetings."You are doing laundry?"I nodded not really wanting to get into the details."Yeah I had some clothes to do," I said, "and I just am finishing up this morning ... I fell asleep while starting a load last night."I was getting good at this ... this lying part of it but I knew my mom would freak if she had a clue what I'd been doing last night and.