She had flower all over the side of her face, and her hair which was usually in a bun, was hanging in her face. Every time she brushed it out of her e...es, she left more flower on her face and in her hair. I was totally ignored by all of them so I got my coffee and snuck back to the porch where I sat down in a chair. I had to admit, it was peaceful sitting here drinking my coffee and listening to the laughter and voices in the background.I got up and went to the garage and dug out the fishing. Shaking her head, she said, “No.”“That’s because I don’t talk. Oh, I mean, lots of the guys know we’re seeing each other, and I suppose they might know we’re, well, you know, but I don’t tell them what we do.” He held her against him protectively, wrapping his arms around her and stroking the smooth skin of her back. “I love you. I wouldn’t talk about you.”Heather relaxed, though she stiffened at his next question. “I mean, do you talk about us?” She didn’t answer right away, and Robby turned. Over too much beer, he told me how he and Ann first got together. The story seemed incomplete. Over many years, I pieced together why he had a darkness about him, what bonded them closer than any couple I know and why the son they had together is pursued by every girl at his school. —————- What Paul told me (in his own words): My ten years in the service were an unmitigated disaster. My parents were killed while I was stationed overseas, I saw too much death, caused too much death, was lied too. It took two whole months for the 24-year-old Shivani to recover physically, but mentally she was still shattered. She had married the love of her life and had lost her child. It made it very difficult for her to move on. She would sit at a corner and keep crying over what had happened.She had a house in Bangalore. But she was living with her parents and younger unmarried brother in Chennai. Her parents and brother suggested that she take up some job and shift her focus to something else.She had.