”“Mistake?”Lynn picked up Ariana, as Jim picked up and cuddled Marshall who had gained sufficient weight to earn the occasional nickname Marshma...low. She said apologetically, “I couldn’t get into the ‘universal grandmother’ role right away. Somehow I had to KNOW it was Kyle’s seed that started the baby growing.”“What changed your mind?” Jim asked, as he watched Lynn cuddle and kiss Ariana.“Kyle gave me an ultimatum. He’s an only child, as you may know, and I’m single now. He said I had to. She didn't even have her hunting knife with her!She was wrapped in a torn nightgown. With nothing on her feet to protect her against the ravages of thistles, poison snakes, deadly swamp burrs that stuck to the soles of the feet and burrowed into the bloodstream so thick they clogged the arteries to the heart, leaving the recipient to die a slow, agonizing death.No, that sort of thing wasn't for her. She would stay put a few minutes until she could think clearly.She couldn't go anywhere. She was. "If you aren't in the room then there is no reason for any of your, uh, business dealings to be part of the conversation."Tony chuckled and held his granddaughter at arm's length. "Honey, thanks for being concerned but I've been sparring with the police for over fifty years. No one is going to say anything in that room that will cause me a problem. There's no reason for it to come up. This meeting is about keeping you and Pam safe. I need to be a part of this discussion. Besides," he said more. But somehow they didn’t seem quite the same. She realized that it was she who had changed and not the others. Or maybe she hadn’t actually changed but what had been hidden deeply inside her had now blossomed and the real Emily was showing through.Whatever the reason, it now seemed to Emily that her real world was somewhere else. Back on the campus or even somewhere beyond that. That is, until the first evening she climbed to her hilltop and sat beneath the old maple, looking out over the.