How are you sweetie? I wasn't going to get a chance to get too morose. Not with Samantha hanging on me."Horses!" Jennifer shouted as we left the house... None of us were really dressed for riding, but the idea of seeing Gypsy and Jingo and Princess lifted my spirits a little. That and the fact that Samantha jumped on me and wrapped her legs around my waist making me carry her all the way to the barn while she peppered my face with kisses. I just hugged her wiggly frame to my body and kissed her. There is an old saying in the military: "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." Others might refer to Murphy's Law. In any case, things went off track rapidly.Hamako had done her homework, and recognized Hiroto Nakimura as soon as he appeared among the disembarking passengers. She held up the sign with his name on it in Japanese characters. His smile told her she had guessed correctly that his sense of tradition would appreciate his native language being used.But what they were not. A letter from his mama arrived as if by supernatural agency (or the fastest post horses), saying that she was to be staying with her second cousin who was espoused to a canon, and lived relatively nearby. Tobias did not think for one minute that this visit had been quickly arranged for any other reason than to scold him into a hasty marriage with the approbation of the Anglican Communion, or a distant relative’s husband, anyway.Tobias had to admire his mother's cunning. He could wriggle out of. Sure enough she was watching, as she immediately hit the brakes and pulled to the side of the road.I could see her primping in the rearview mirror; I always found it amazing how many women thought they could get out of a ticket just by looking pretty. Now, you can call me a heartless bastard if you want, but that never influenced my decision one way or another. Usually, I'd made up my mind about writing a ticket before I ever got out of my car.I don't figure the taxpayers want me wasting my pay.