The greatest disappointment of Gwen’s eight-year marriage was that she failed to conceive a child, but she found solace in the company of the children who made their home at Blackstone College. President Matthews’s two boys often climbed the fence separating their yards to play in Gwen’s garden. Then there was little Mimi, whose mother worked in the accounting office. Mimi was eight and suffered a number of physical disabilities that prevented her from attending a normal school, so she spent her days on campus. She was a favorite among the students, who coddled and protected her.

This morning Gwen sat with all three children at her backyard koi pond, the centerpiece of her garden. A physics professor had installed the pump, and a group of students had helped her stack rocks to create levels within the pond so that water splashed down the tiers and attracted birds and butterflies. There was plenty of room to perch on the flat rocks surrounding the pond, and the children loved to feed the fish.

Naturally, the boys started pelting the food at the fish, but what could one expect from six- and eight-year-old boys?

“Be gentle,” Mimi said from where she sat on a chair next to the pond. The iron braces on her legs made it impossible for her to clamber over the rocks like the boys. Life wasn’t easy for Mimi, who already wore thick eyeglasses and depended on a rolling walker. Nevertheless, she lit up the entire campus with her bottomless good cheer, and Gwen had always been protective of her.

“This one is fat,” the older boy said as he dangled a bit of lettuce just above the surface of the water. “I’ll bet it’s pregnant with a baby.”

Gwen bit back a smile. “Koi don’t have babies. They lay eggs.”

Behind her glasses, Mimi’s brown eyes grew wide. “When is she going to lay eggs? Can I watch? Will you let me name the babies?”

Before Gwen could answer, the older boy started climbing the oak tree, reaching for a tiny plant that had taken root in one of the deep chinks in the tree bark.

“Leave it alone,” Gwen cautioned. “I don’t know how much longer that bromeliad can survive in that spot, and I want to protect it.”

“Why is it growing on a tree trunk instead of in the ground?” Mimi asked.

“The wind must have carried the seed there,” Gwen answered. “They can lie dormant for years before a bit of water and heat awakens them. Seeds are hardy little things, and I admire that.”

“I admire that too,” Mimi said, looking at the bromeliad in its precarious perch.

“Ahem.”

The man’s voice startled her, and Gwen shot to her feet. Good heavens, that lawyer from the Five Points was at the gate of the garden fence, watching them. How long had he been standing there?