This, I thought, just establishing this simple routine was a big step toward recovering a wounded childhood. We were making it the best it could be.

Archie called later that night. Sharon was out of the hospital and recovering nicely. Her experience had frightened her very badly, he said.

“I’m sure it did!” I said.

“She’s driving everyone in the restaurants crazy, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“She wants to know where everything on her plate is grown before she’ll take a bite of anything.”

“Well, in a way it’s understandable.”

“I don’t think she’s having such a great time,” he said.

Too bad, I thought.

“Well, don’t they have carriage tours like we do in Charleston? Take her into Hamilton. There’s supposed to be great shopping.”

“Yeah, maybe we’ll do that. So how are the boys? I should’ve called earlier so I could talk to them, but we were at dinner. Have they driven you insane yet?”

“Not a chance. The boys are great. The house is fine. Everything is just as you’d hope. So y’all just have fun and enjoy your time together.”

“Well, it’s only a few more days,” he said. “Are you sure you’re holding up okay?”

“Are you kidding? I haven’t had this much fun since I don’t even know when!”

We hung up, and I thought he sounded very glum for a man whose new wife told half the world that all she wanted to do was make him happy. It was awfully soon for the bloom to be off the rose, like they say, but now that she had the ring, maybe this was who Sharon really was.

Chapter 17: Bee Ware

“You know, honey bees can’t survive without strong lines of communication, and the queen substance is super important,” I said.

“What’s in it?” Tyler asked.

“Pheromones,” I said. “Like a smell. It tells all the bees in the hive that everything is all right. Or it sends an alarm.”

Chapter Seventeen

Bee Ware

When Archie and Sharon returned from Bermuda it was like a rigid and formal changing of the guard. The boys, of course, flew past me screaming “Dad!” He dropped his suitcases, picked the boys up, and swung them over and over. Sharon politely said hello and went into the house, which, for the record, was exactly as they had left it. She would not be able to find any fault with my housekeeping.

“Did y’all have fun in spite of the hospital? You’ve both got a nice tan!”

“We did,” Archie said. “Bermuda is so beautiful, all that aqua water and the cottages all painted in pastels.”

“I’ll get there eventually,” I said. “How about you, Sharon?”

“I wouldn’t go back there if you gave me a billion dollars!” she said.

“Why not?” Tyler asked.