As if sensing her thoughts, he said, "I think that I'd like to have a nice vineyard. I can see myself puttering around with the grapevines." Of course...you would, dear," she said thinking that a leisurely retirement was about as likely to happen as snow in the middle of summer."Let's go down and welcome him home," Lord Drake said.The table was set with a spread that would have done a king proud. Lord Drake watched as Fred tasted everything before fixing a plate for Sid. It was hard to take. She asked Mrs. Brodnowski if they were goingto take Dick to the hospital. Mr. Brodnowski said no. Hesaid that Dick was a tough kid, and the doctors said he wasfine. Jamie protested, but to no avail. She could see thatTrudy agreed with her, but she wouldn?t disagree with Fred.Leslie could see that the argument was futile, so she said,?it has been great to see you again Fred and Trudy. Dickplayed great today. I will make sure you get copies of thepictures I take of Dick and Jamie tonight. I hope. "I am a seventeen and a half year old...girl who will become a woman one way or the other, and if I could, I would dress like a girl all the time, naturally, and be a girl, and I think like a girl, and I am truly a girl, and I like being what I am just perfectly fine, and..." And?" He was smiling."And I am lying in bed with the most kind and smart and gorgeous man I'll ever meet, and I'm in love and I want to be his girlfriend and I want him to be my boyfriend, seriously, really, really. I managed, after the first week, to change my habits. I no longer ran around naked and I stopped barging in when I came to a closed door, but something else also changed in the house. Jane started being careless. It seemed like once a day I was accidentally seeing some bare tit, or she would bed over and give me a beaver shot. I told my wife she should have a talk with Jane, but she laughed and said that Jane just needed to get used to being around us just like I had to adjust to having Jane.