Aaron, with his ever present scowl, simply glared down at his wife and shrugged because what else could he say? Everyone in the room new Patience was telling the truth.

A frowning Destiny finally decided to drop it and continue eating.

“Deb, did you know Robert was the one when you first met?” Michelle asked once we were about halfway through eating our lunch.

Robert turned to me, giving me the same smoldering stare he’d been giving me for forty years, and nodded.

“Of course.”

“Psh, don’t believe him,” I responded, glancing between our children and two of our now ten grandchildren. The rest were back at our home with three nannies and two babysitters between the eight of them.

“No, princess didn’t realize I was the one. But I knew early on.”

“Oh, we all know the story,” Carter added, causing us all to glance his way. “You both met in college, fell in love, and the rest is history.”

Robert and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“History, huh?” Robert questioned.

“You’ve told us the story, Father,” Aaron added.

“You got the abridged version, son. Maybe it’s time we tell them the full story,” Robert stated, staring at me.

Lifting my eyebrows, I shrugged. I looked at our children whose faces had shifted to ones of curiosity instead of impatience. “I don’t see why not.”

Chapter Two

Then

Deborah

I crouched down low behind the bar, pulling my notecards from my shoulder bag to study for the next twenty minutes before my shift began. The loud music, constant chatter, and strobe lights that were gaining so much popularity in clubs like this, didn’t make for the easiest of studying locations, but I fit my studying in wherever I could. Thus, as uncomfortable as I was, I snuggled into the far corner behind the bar where patrons couldn’t see me, and where I was out of the way of Pia, the bartender for the night’s, way, and went about memorizing the notes I’d taken earlier in my Theory of Probabilities class.

“Hey, you’re studying already? Wasn’t this, like, your first week of the semester?”

Startled, I looked up to find Pia’s two long, blonde pigtails hanging low as she tilted her head downward, staring at me.

I nodded. “Yeah, but our professor gives us a quiz each week. Just trying to stay prepared,” I muttered the last part before turning back to my notes to continue studying.

“You’ve got another ten minutes. And don’t let Mike catch you back here doing that.”

I nodded, not bothering to look up. I knew Pia would alert me if he came out from his back office. I’d gotten used to the absurdity that studying while not even on my shift could be a thing to hide. Mike, the owner, wasn’t looking for girls who wanted to study to make it out of this place.

“Trinity’s on tonight and it’s a Friday. You know what that means,” Pia continued as she wiped down the bar.