“When I was thinking about that—around the time Colin and I were breaking up—I realized that he had been the same when we had met. He hadn’t had friends after the war; I had been better situated in that respect. He developed the talent he had for meeting people. I’m not contradicting myself. He had a talent and developed it. When we met he was very good in intimate relationships. He was good with me. I told him things I’ve never repeated, things that don’t matter much but were important when they happened. A kitten I once had. You’re the only person in the world who knows I had a kitten—and you know it because we’re speaking of Colin. I’ve never bothered to mention it to Murray.

“By the end of our marriage the people we had in were the people he had met at school or his part-time job. We had lost touch with my friends, which was my fault. We went in his direction because it was the only direction there was.”

She would have continued, but he raised his finger. “I’m interested in his friends. Who were they?”

“Young people like ourselves. All married. We would visit back and forth. We really weren’t close.”

“Do you know if he kept in touch with any of them?”

“I have no way of knowing. We stopped seeing anybody months before we broke up. It was a long time happening. Once I suggested calling some people—at the beginning of the end—but he said no. Afterward, before I left Port Smith, I called one of the girls to tell her—actually I was looking for someone to talk to—and she was upset, but not very, which shows you how close we were. It turned into one of those newsy calls. I heard who was pregnant. I didn’t send her my address in Manitou, and I never heard from her again.”

“MacIver gave you no indication that he was going to start seeing them again?”

“No—no.” She swallowed. “They were married and he was single. He had nothing in common with them.”

He had detected something, but he wanted to continue on relatively solid ground. “Did you ever try to have children?”

“There was no chance. He was finishing school, things were unsettled.”

“What about now, you and Murray?”

She smiled. “Checking on me?”

“Go ahead, say what you want.”

“I understand. We’re trying. I’ve been to a doctor. If you had been in the bathroom on Tuesday, you might have caught a glimpse of my temperature chart. I keep it in there to show myself that I’m unashamed.”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“There’s a temperature change during the month. You’re supposed to be able to tell when—when, okay?”

“Okay. I hope you have a great baby.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I wish I could repeat that to Murray. We’ve just started, of course. There’s nothing the matter with either of us.”

“I don’t have to hear that.”