The entry phone buzzed, and Calvin’s voice was on the intercom, on his way up. She’d have to settle it now, and try to relax. She threw on a pink hacking jacket with multicolored buttons on the cuff, and pinned a silk rose to her lapel. She looked quirky, and stylish too, and it would have to do. “Will left me,” she whispered to herself, “so they can hardly hold it against me that there’s someone else in my life now. Alex has always been too kind to make me suffer for it.” But she felt an anxiety, an edginess, that she couldn’t fathom.

ALEX RESCUED LUCY FROM HER SUNDAY SOLITUDE PROMPTLY AT ELEVEN A.M., noting that the ill spirits of Friday night seemed to have fled. Her dark hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, knotted with a scarf, and she looked somehow chastely sensual, but certainly lovely. He held her hand softly down to his car. Their talk had a light rhythm as he filled her in on the rendezvous, aware that meeting his friends might seem a bit daunting. He explained the proposal had come from a cousin he’d never properly met, who wanted to see him before he went back to the States in a few weeks. With Alex’s busy schedule, it was now or never. He thought he’d omit the intricacies of this cousin’s present love life. He hadn’t considered how he felt about it himself, though he had no conscious objections he could identify.

Simon waved as Alex parked behind his distinctive four-wheel drive on Woodlands Road. He whistled appreciatively to himself as he took in the apparition that was Lucy, ushered on Alex’s arm, walking toward him. The men shook hands firmly, Alex making the introductions. Whoa! thought Simon. Why are doctors always blessed with such good fortune?

“Have we met?” Lucy asked him immediately. She was very comfortable with his open, intelligent face.

“I’d definitely remember.” Simon’s gallantry couldn’t always be relied upon; like Will, he had a powerful critical eye and satirical wit, which stubbornly refused to bend a knee to social mores. However, the lady was disarmingly lovely, and he added with honesty: “But I’m delighted to do so now.”

Lucy smiled naturally at him, and stepped comfortably between him and Alex.

“Siân and Calvin will be somewhere near the duck pond.” Alex’s tone was placid, but Simon wondered how he was feeling inside.

“I’m very curious,” Simon replied. “I hardly spoke to him at the funeral.”