Mom rushed up to me and hugged me. There were tears on her face, but she was smiling at me."Congratulations, Steve," she said, before turning to Ike."...y son, Steve, has proposed to your sister, Ike," Mom said, smiling.The shock on Ike's face was something to see. He sputtered for several seconds before getting up and coming over to shake my hand."Well," he said, "first you got Astrid knocked up and now you want to marry her," Ike said."Didn't you do the same thing with my mother?" I. “Not anymore. I’ve had it! We’re no more!” she said. “I’m sorry,” I said as I gave Amber another hug. “Don’t be. My New Year’s resolution for 2015 is not to date any assholes,” she said smiling. “Maybe you should date a girl,” Erica said in a seductive voice. Amber looked at Erica. “But I’ve never done anything like that,” she said. I put my hand on Amber’s shoulder. “Trust me, if you did, you’d like it,” I said. Amber turned towards me. I could almost feel her heart beating a thousand times a. Carefully, I opened the cover and inhaled the musty, bookish scent. "It's cotton paper," I said softly. "The print is offset." I estimated the proportions of the page and counted the lines of text. My heart pounded. I inspected the print; it had a sheen. "Ink with a high metal content." With my lightest fingers, I turned the pages. "I can see the watermark," I whispered. "Where did you get this?" A dealer in Russia."I studied the illuminations. Every leaf would need to be inspected.I stood and. We decided to have a candle light dinner. As we were finishing the rain started and the plastic chairs on the patio began to fly. I quickly stepped out to bring the chairs inside the storage shed on the side. By the time, I came in, I was thoroughly soaked because it was not only raining but it was also very windy outside. Jody brought me a towel from the bathroom and I began drying myself but my clothes were dripping and asked her to bring me the robe from the bathroom, so I could change and.