Wide-eyed, Rina stared at him, not knowing what to say.

“My son, Peter…he’s Bram’s kid. My daughter, too. I had chicken pox when I was twenty-two. An odd allergic reaction left me sterile. My wife and I tried all sorts of procedures for a long time. When nothing worked, I went to my brother.”

Luke looked away.

“He wouldn’t agree to artificial insemination…against his Catholic religion to mix seed or something like that.” Luke swiped at his eyes. “But apparently, nonvital organ transplants…or in our case, organ exchanges…were permissible. Which didn’t make a lot of sense to me…or maybe he got permission from the Pope. I never knew much about Bram’s affairs or his religion.”

Rina waited for him to continue.

“He donated one of his…you know.”

Rina couldn’t hide her surprise.

Luke said, “He would have given me both. Said they weren’t doing him any good. But my father put his foot down…wouldn’t allow it.”

“Your father did the surgery?”

Luke nodded. “Yeah, Mister Cutting-Edge Surgeon. Excuse me…Doctor Cutting-Edge Surgeon. He didn’t want Bram to do it. But my brother…once he got a bug in his head…”

Rina was silent.

“Dad did it after hours, in secret, off the record. No one knows. No one. Not even my wife. She thought I went in for a hernia. Anyway, with my dad holding the knife and Bram and me being identical, the exchange took. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, et cetera, et cetera.”

Rina remained quiet.

Luke said, “I bunked in at Bram’s apartment for about…four, five days. Dad did a good job. We healed up, both of us. Lo and behold, we still had beards and talked like men. Three months later, my wife became pregnant. Lucky all the way around. God only knows what my own DNA looked like after ten years of using.”

“That’s a beautiful story.” Rina stared at him. “Is it really true?”

Luke blushed. “Honest injun. Some endings are happy, Mrs. Decker.”

“More like bittersweet.”

“Yeah, more like bittersweet.” Luke’s eyes watered. “But we take what we can get. I don’t know why I told you. I guess I wanted you to know that he didn’t die empty.”

“Thank you, Luke.” Rina smiled sadly. “Thank you very much for telling me. It does make me feel better…for whatever that’s worth.”

“Thanks for your time.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

“Nah, don’t bother.”

Rina watched him go. As soon as his car motor faded to nothing, Peter and Hannah reappeared from the orchard. Peter was carrying a handful of oranges.

“Your daughter has an arm,” he said.

“How many did you let her throw?”

“Let’s change the subject. What did Luke want?”