Those same ducks were floating on the still water of the pond when we reached the little cave in the hillside above it and looked down across the pond...to the valley and beyond to where the ugly towers of London marred the landscape"Tommy" she said quietly, "I can't believe a place like this exists so close to London, it's beautiful!"I took her hand as we stood quietly together for a moment and breathed in the fresh, country air"My boss owns it mum" I told her, "He told me about it and said I. Married... , “ Oliver Stack declared, “and I’m ... Stick’s lover. He’s married, too.”“You must not mind chaw stains or something!” Aunt Molly mocked him while Uncle Curtis and the rest of us laughed.“Apparently, neither does his wife!” I added, getting a wide-eyed stare from Stick.“I’m married, too,” Neil Purdy conceded, “and I’m screwing, or was, Stick’s wife.”“Wow, this here’s a hillbilly soap opera!” Erin snorted now.“That’s okay. I was banging Neil’s wife myself,” Kieran admitted now, “and. After I activate the lock with my card, I open the door and see a silhouette on the bed. She is there, dimly lit by candles on the nightstands. She is laying on her side with the white sheet loosely draped over her. I can see the edge of her rosy-colored areola peeking out from the sheet. I close the door behind me.“Welcome home, dear, I have been waiting for you,” she says then giggles. She turns her head and then her body as she follows my movements in the room. Without a word I cross. That was going to be a slippery slope, but one I was willing to put offuntil the last possible moment. I hid it in the recesses of my mind andcontinued the recovery of our latest London holiday.After a weekend of laundry and sleep, going back to classes was almostwelcome though the brain didn't want to come back as fast as theprofessors wanted. We were in the home stretch now, six weeks left ofschool. The pressure was on now to finish this chapter of my life andthe professors were ready to.