"Here's a deal I want you to think about." Okay," I said. "Lay it on us."Jim fingered a stack of papers on his desk. "I talked with the curriculum peo...le and the standards people and we all reviewed Cindy's grades and test scores, and they talked with her teachers and the principal. And me."Cindy fidgeted, uncharacteristically nervous."What I came up with, and THEY approved, is a plan that has one Miss Cynthia Susan Smith, age fourteen, graduating from HIGH SCHOOL with the current high school. When Lord Thurlow called shortly after the chairman, I suspected they had talked to each other because it was too much of a coincidence. Sarah confirmed my suspicions in an e-mail on Tuesday night. Lord Thurlow is paying for our flights and also our accommodations in St. Andrews. I tried to convince him I would pay for it but he refused. I told him there might be three of us."Alec shook his head in wonder, "This will be an incredible trip. I can't wait to tell Shauna. Passports, we have to get. So there!”Of course she wouldn’t actually say that. But all those people were smart, too. It would be obvious.The importance of all this, at least from Bob’s point of view, was that Lacey had become normal enough to have a little vanity. It didn’t amount to narcissism, but she was proud of the strides she’d taken to leave the hypothetical, illusory world her mother had constructed in her psyche, and become a woman who could find happiness, passion, and hope for the future.It worked rather too. A few moments later, a young blonde woman walked towards me. She looked very familiar, but I couldn't place from where."Mr. Jones," she said. "I'm Denise Mitchell." Please, call me Victor," I replied."Only if you call me Denise. Please come back to my office."She was still looking very familiar, but I still couldn't place from where. I was thinking maybe she just had one of those faces. Besides, she was from London and I was from Glasgow, so the chances of us having met in person recently were.