I had to break it into pieces. Grandpa is gone. My school is gone. All of my friends are gone. My future, my dreams, my hopes, all gone. Everyone else...s future and dreams and hopes were even more gone than mine. Me and Felicia cried together for hours. I gained control of myself first. “We're going to beat this, Felicia. We're going to beat this.” I wiped my face off. “Listen, go and shower off and put on some different clothes. I'll get supper going.” She nodded silently and rushed off. I. " He grinned at Hal. "You've got a soft spot for that girl, haven't you, son?"Hal looked at his feet and Nick laughed. "So have I, son, but I'm a married man." Dad!"Nick sucked his cheeks but his eyes were sparkling. Hal growled at him but gave him a shame-faced and shy smile.That Friday evening as they all sat down to supper, cooked by Diana, Nick said, "Well, harvest in, and everything sold at a reasonable price, same with the livestock so I reckon we can take a break and let our hair down so. And one moonswept night, Sarah fired the hem of her nightdress with a parlor candle and ran headlong down the hillock and into the arms of Lake Pontchartrain. Unnervingly, she was screaming the name of the wronged Ham LeMoynes as she was swept into the sea. I, the family solicitor, watched Henri sink into a morose madness as more and more of his being was absorbed in the melancholy tunes on his square grand. While Henri sank, the family fortune, power, and prestige melted away until the day. "I don't care." We're drunk," I hedged."Yes, but again, I don't care." She pushed herself upright, and sat on me, and I could feel the damp heat of her as she nestled me against her with only two thin pieces of fabric between us. "Tell me you care. Tell me this doesn't turn you on. Tell me you don't want me... and I'll stop." Anna..." What," she whispered, leaning forward to stare at me."Say we make love. How do we go back from here?" No going back. Only forward. That's what this is, what time.