‘I can’t believe you believe what those jackasses were saying,’ Dex said as they walked through the play ground. Shella sighed and sat down on a...swing. ‘They’re right Dex, I’m not pretty, and can’t even find a guy without parental interference,’ Shella murmured. Dex sighed and knelt down in front of her, wiped the tears off of her cheeks. ‘Shella Lynn Hansen, I want you to listen to me.’ Shella looked at him, found herself being lost again in his green eyes. ‘You are beautiful, insanely so. If. “Really, I’ve quite enjoyed my life. Someday I want to hear the specifics of the career I gave up to become Mrs. Bob Brennan. Because that was my dream from sometime in high school.“Well, dear, we’d planned to support a single Bob through college and law school. We saw you as a tremendous block in that road. Your sacrifice removed that block -- eased our financial burden, actually. But it was a sacrifice.”“If I were to list the hundred most pleasant moments in my life, few of them would have. It seems Candy never talks with anybody about it, except when her and Carlo are together.I try researching pumas and find that the puma Carlo and Candy met must have been a cougar, a mountain lion fairly common in the southwestern US where the Lanes were vacationing before Carlo moved to Italy. It's a large frightening animal, especially dangerous to children. I can't imagine what it must have been like. I try telling Candy in an email that I need to understand about her and Carlo and the cat,. ”#################“Where’s Mara?” Marcos wondered aloud looking over the practice room.“She’s with her girls.” Ein replied quietly from behind him. “She’s helping the Mistress.” “What about your mistress?” Marcos asked, “Will she come out of the library and share the day?”Ein lifted a brow. “Mistress is busy, she is pleased with your concern nonetheless and send you her compliments.” Ein added and walked off to practice with a bow.Marcos wondered what all that meant but was distracted as.