"Yes, I am." I am Yelena. Yelena Kuznetsova." Ah, yes, the new Russian team. You guys won Junior Worlds last year, right?" Da. We love you, your skati...g. We big fans." Thank you. That's always nice to hear." Betsy had stopped suckling. "Ah, I think somebody's done." Sophia pulled her away and refastened her bra and buttoned her dress. She chuckled to herself at seeing Yelena turn away."Done. You need a burp, sweetie," Sophia said, holding Betsy's stomach with her hand and gently patting her. The salt is very good." I will give you the other canister too." That is quite an interesting offer, but still too little for a fresh mate. We only have four in camp and three have been spoken for." I'm not interested in a fresh mate. I want an older mate. Preferably one who has been married and widowed." You want a widow for a mate? Mike, you are a strange man, but I like you. A widowed mate would bring far less in trade. I have several to offer. Do you care if they have children?" No. I'd be. "That will be one of the tamer ones," she said to herself, and then turned towards the door at the sound of footsteps.Emily was holding Max by his collar as she led him into the room and Lisa realised that the dog was larger than she had expected. Because Max wasn't normally allowed in the house, Lisa had only seen him a couple of times and from a distance. Up close, the German Shepherd was massive and much larger that the farm dog. She didn't want to look or sound unsure in front of Emily, so,. “Jess just called,” I said. “I assume you knew yesterday?”“Yes. We’d like you, Jessica, and Kara to come for a celebration dinner on Sunday.”“We’d love to,” I said. “See you then!”At lunchtime, instead of taking Jesse for a walk, I drove to Bridgeport to meet Father Basil for lunch. We’d met again in February and continued our conversation about life, death, and God. This would be our third lunch. I enjoyed the conversations, but the impediments were not going to go away.“Will you be coming to.