She lifted her shoulder in a half shrug. “I’d given him everything he wanted from me. This was something of my own and I wasn’t sharing it.” Her lips twisted. “Sasha is very special. I didn’t want him to find something in her he wanted to mold and develop to suit himself. There are sometimes prices to be paid in situations like that, and I didn’t want her to have to pay them. I wanted her to be free.”

He nodded slowly. “I was cruel about your feelings for her, too. Sometimes I can be a selfish bastard, but fairness is important to me. I regard it as one of the prime virtues in a corrupt world. I don’t think I was fair to you.”

“But I only got one banana,” she said solemnly. “You committed two mistakes. I think if this is an apology that you should do it right.”

“Be satisfied. You still might be nuts. You wouldn’t lie about your Sasha, but you haven’t been overly truthful about anything else on record since I met you.”

“But I promised to change my ways and I’ve done it. You just haven’t seen the proof yet.” She was actually enjoying this odd conversation. He had started off with humor, and the lightness had continued. Very different from the tense, electric atmosphere between them from the beginning. “As long as you’re being generous, you might even find a way to believe it wasn’t one huge lie.”

“Don’t count on it. That was a big stretch. Though I did go on the Net and looked up all those references you mentioned.” He nodded at the banana. “Including Koko. Interesting story. I had a vague memory of hearing about the gorilla before, but the concept wasn’t exactly on my list of subjects I needed to pursue.”

“You Googled it?” She couldn’t believe it. “Why?”

“I wasn’t going to be caught behind the tide of opinion if Margaret Douglas was the real thing. New and wonderful things are happening every day.” He grinned. “And I’m supposed to be a forerunner.” His smile faded. “I guess maybe I wanted to believe you. I didn’t want anyone who had the brains to disarm that XV-10 alarm to be anything less than I thought she should be.”

“That only required skill and memory. You have to begin with an element of faith to believe in Margaret.” She was trying not to be disappointed, but she knew what was coming next. “And you still couldn’t bring yourself to believe me, could you?”