Tribute

you’re engaged, and there’s Matt with his lovely family, how long before the last of the Musketeers settles down?”
    “Your turn,” Ford said gleefully.
    Brian shook his head. “You bastard. Under the circumstances, I don’t know why I’m telling you we’re continuing this holiday with poker— guys only—at my place tonight. We’re tapping you for leftover beer and food, Rembrandt.”
    “I suck at poker.”
    “Which is why, even under the circumstances.”
    “I don’t know if—”
    “See?” Brian pointed at his father. “She’s already got him by the balls. And you ask me why I’m single.”
    “She doesn’t have me—”
    “Still getting pantsed. Only now by a woman.”
    “Jesus. Remind me why I’m friends with you.”
    “Nine o’clock. Bring beer.”
    WITH CONSIDERABLE HELP from friends, cleanup went quickly. Trash was bagged, leftovers tubbed, recyclables binned. A small convoy of the faithful hauled what needed to be hauled back to Ford’s.
    “Two households,” Angie commented, “and still not quite enough room. What should I do with this pie?”
    “Ford can take it to Brian’s.”
    “I don’t think I’m—”
    Cilla cut him off with a look. “Go, be a man. Get out of my two households for a few hours. I’m fine.”
    “Of course she’s fine.” Patty sealed a small bowl of leftover three-bean salad. “Why wouldn’t she be fine? Has something else happened?” she said when she saw the way Ford glanced at Cilla. “Is something wrong?”
    “Hennessy killed himself last night. Ford’s worried I’ve taken it too much to heart.”
    “Oh, honey!”
    “It’s that, plus I don’t like leaving you alone.”
    “We’ll stay,” Patty said immediately.
    “We’ll all stay,” Penny put in. “We’ll have our own—all women— party.”
    “You will not stay. I don’t need babysitters. I’m going to work on the photos your father gave me,” she said as she handed a bowl to Ford’s mother. “A couple of hours of quiet is just what I need. No offense.”
    “But—”
    “And I want to draw up some ideas for the gym and studio addition without you hanging over my shoulder. Go away. I’ll stay here until you get back,” she added when she saw more arguments in his eyes. “Brid, Warrior Goddess, requires no bodyguards. Now leave.”
    “Fine. It won’t take me more than a couple hours to lose anyway.”
    “That’s the spirit.”
    “All right, girls, let’s claim our dishes and load it up. I’ll give everyone a ride home since the men have deserted us.” Penny put her hands on Cilla’s shoulders. “I’m going to call you tomorrow, and we’re going to set the time and place for you, Patty and me to hold our first Wedding of the Year strategy session.”
    “Should I be afraid?”
    “Very.” Penny kissed her cheek. “You’re a good girl.”
    Watching the way Penny herded everyone out the door told Cilla she would have a very interesting, and very compatible, mother-in-law.
    “Now you,” she told Ford.
    “I can probably lose in an hour.”
    “Stop. I’m tucked in here. No one’s going to bother me. No one has bothered me for some time now. The fact is, Hennessy’s dead, and the media is going to pick up on that. Some of it will start again. I could use a quiet, normal evening before the circus comes to town. And I’m not going to have either of us live worrying about me spending a quiet, normal evening alone. Besides . . .” She bent down to scratch Spock. “I have a bodyguard.”
    “Keep the door locked anyway.”
    “I’ll keep the door locked anyway.” She gave him a last kiss, then a shove out the door. “Don’t bet on an inside straight.” Then shut it, locked it at his back.
    She turned around, let out a long sigh, then grinned at Spock. “I thought they’d never leave.”
    Content, she walked upstairs for the box of photos.

THIRTY
    I t gave her such pleasure to look through them. It occurred to Cilla that Ford might like to choose some of the photos they’d frame and display. The group shot, for instance. Her father, his mother, her uncle, Janet, and . . . that had to be a young and handsome Tom Morrow. Brian certainly took after him.
    She began to sort them by type, then the types in a loose chronological order.
    She watched her own mother grow, from child to girl to young woman. Amazing, Cilla mused, how much better they got along with distance. Not so amazing, she added with a dash of cynicism, how much better they got along