Tales of the City 03 - Further Tales of the City

“Bambi.”
    “Who’s Bambi?” asked Jon.
    Michael regarded him for a moment, then turned to Mrs. Madrigal. “Your turn,” he said.

Family Man
    P RUE WAS SO HORRIFIED BY THE SIGHT OF THE RABBIT skins that she didn’t look up until Vuitton’s yelping disturbed her.
    “Hush, Vuitton. We’re going soon … I promise.”
    “I hope you don’t,” said a voice just outside the door.
    The columnist’s heart caught in her throat. She spun around to see Luke crouched in the doorway, stroking the wolfhound’s muzzle. He looked up and gave her the sunniest smile. “Welcome home, my love.”
    “Luke, I …”
    “Don’t say a word, O.K.? I don’t care where you’ve been, I’m just glad you’re back.”
    Disbelieving silence.
    “I knew you’d be back,” Luke continued, rising to his feet. “I knew you’d come here to find me, if I waited long enough.” He extended his arms in a posture of crucifixion. “Doesn’t Dad get a hug?”
    Some nameless instinct told her to do it.
    “You’re shivering,” he said, holding her in his arms. “That fog’s pretty bad, huh?”
    She nodded against his chest.
    “How did you do it?” he asked.
    “What?”
    “Miss the ship.”
    She pulled away from him. “Luke … what on earth are you talking about? This is … crazy. I’ve practically had a nervous breakdown this week. I can’t take this anymore, Luke … I can’t. Where are those children?”
    “They’re here,” he smiled. “They’re fine.”
    “Where?”
    “Huh-uh. You answer my question first.”
    “Luke … uh, what question?”
    He traced her eyebrow with his beefy forefinger. “I waited for you,” he said quietly. “Two hours, at least. I was mighty worried, Prue.”
    “When? Where?”
    “Back in Sitka. After we had our … little tiff at the café, I took the children back to the ship and waited for you in my room.” His finger slid down the side of her face, stopping at her chin. “But no Prue. The ship sailed without you.”
    “You mean … you were on it?”
    “You deserted me, Prue. No one’s ever done that before. I hope you realize that.”
    “ I deserted you? Listen to me, Luke … you dragged those children off under your arm! I saw you do it!”
    Luke shrugged. “I was angry. I didn’t want them to be around you … no, not you, your principles … all the bourgeois babble. Your world doesn’t work, Prue. I realized that in Sitka. There’s a reason I live the way I do. Surely you can see that now.”
    She jerked away from him and snatched up one of the rabbit skins. “I see this, Luke! I saw what you did to those poor little things!”
    He took the skin from her and stroked its fur gently. “Didn’t your brother ever skin rabbits back in Grass Valley?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous!”
    “Well, didn’t he?”
    Prue looked away. “Why on earth would you …? Those rabbits weren’t yours, Luke. You had no right to…. This is insane! What am I even discussing this for?”
    His hand moved down the long curve of her neck and came to rest on her shoulder blade. “You still haven’t told me why you didn’t come back to the ship.”
    “But I did. I spent half-an-hour searching for you in Sitka, and then I came back to tell Frannie Halcyon that … you and the children were missing.”
    “You didn’t check my room?”
    “Twice. It was locked both times.”
    “I must’ve been off with the children. I was still a little angry, hardly in a mood to seek you out. It simply never occurred to me that you might not be on board when the ship sailed. When I realized you weren’t on board, I couldn’t even ask for help, Prue … or report you missing. I was traveling with a phony ID. Anyway, why didn’t you put out a missing persons notice?”
    “We were going to,” blurted Prue, “but Frannie called DeDe when we realized that the ship was about to sail … and DeDe said to get off the ship immediately and not to say a …”
    “Wait a minute. She called who?”
    “DeDe. Her daughter.”
    “I thought you said she died in Guyana.”
    “No … lost. I said she was lost. She’s home now. Oh, Luke … we really thought you were ashore. I never dreamed you’d come back to the ship after …” She cut herself off.
    “After what?”
    “It doesn’t matter. Really.”
    He leaned down and kissed her softly on the mouth. “What matters, my precious one … is that we’re together again.”
    “Luke, I don’t …”
    “We’re together in body and spirit. A