Jake was the first to find his voice. ‘Left it a bit late to change your mind, haven’t you? Your wedding date is fixed for October. I’ve already reserved a suite at the Savoy for the reception, and Kurt’s parents have spent time looking for a flat for you—’

‘All that,’ Laura cut in, ‘is the least of it!’

Jake stared down at the lamb chop on his plate. ‘You’re right, dear. It is. What I’m doing is letting the practical inconveniences stop me from thinking of my daughter’s suddenly—’

‘It isn’t sudden, Dad.’

‘Is that a fact? Well, you could’ve fooled me!’

‘Me also,’ said Kurt, his complexion a deathly white. ‘And I do not believe that Janis means what she has told us.’

‘She had no right to do this the way she has!’ said Laura angrily. ‘You are entitled to have been told first, Kurt, and privately.’

Circumstances Janis had chosen to avoid, lest Kurt take her in his arms and her resolve fail her. ‘This seemed a good opportunity to get it over,’ she said.

‘Get it over?’ Kurt’s expression was as if she had slapped his face. ‘How can you be so cruel, Janis?’

‘I’m beginning to think I didn’t know my own daughter,’ said Jake.

‘That isn’t surprising, Dad, since I’ve found out I didn’t really know myself. But I’m still only twenty-one. That’s too young to settle down for life. Well, it is for me. I know that now. After I get my degree I want to see a bit of the world.’

‘I would gladly do that with you,’ Kurt told her.

‘You’re missing the point,’ Janis replied. ‘Freedom to be my own person, to find out what I really want, is what it’s all about.’

‘Another Henry Moritz in the family!’ Laura exclaimed.

‘I like Henry, and I’m sure he’d put me up at his place if I happened to be passing through where he’s living at the time,’ Janis rattled on. ‘Howard and Karin would, too, if I decided to spend some time in Munich. And I wouldn’t mind seeing for myself what’s going on on the West Bank. I might do that first. I think I’ll give Kate a ring—’

‘That girl,’ Jake said to Laura, eyeing Janis anxiously, ‘has gone clean out of her mind—’

‘On the contrary, Dad, I’ve just come to my senses. And by the way, I’ve decided to spend a week or two in Switzerland. I shall leave at the weekend and do some of the required reading for my finals there.’

‘Who the hell do you know in Switzerland?’ Jake thundered.

‘Not a soul. That’s what I’m looking forward to. If nobody minds, I shall now leave you all to recover in my absence.’