This story begins one morning about nine and a half years after the end of Three Amigos.

Chapter 1.

When I woke that morning, I was alone. But that was not unusual. My wife and my kids knew not to wake me before nine. This day wouldn't be an exception, even if it was an exceptional day. Slowly I swung my legs over the side of the bed and automatically reached for my cane. At seventy-four, I wasn't exactly decrepit, but I was in no hurry, either.

After a trip to the bathroom, and a quick shower, I put on a clean T-shirt and my jeans. I followed the voices to the kitchen. Allison was busy at the cooktop making eggs. She handed me a cup of coffee without taking her eyes off the omelets.

One of the voices I heard was Emily Billings, coming from the videophone, her pretty face animated as she said, "But I thought Ruth wasn't going to be able to come!"

"She arranged to take four days off, and managed to get a flight from Boston," Gretchen replied excitedly. "I can't wait to see her! It's been over a year since she's was home last." Their friend was head obstetrics nurse at a small Massachusetts hospital.

"I know she was a little bit afraid of running into Brandon," Emily said.

"I told her he's in Asia working on the design of a new car," Gretchen related. "Then, of course, she was disappointed that he WOULDN'T be here."

They went on and on, gossiping about their friends, but eventually they both got hungry and took a break. It probably wouldn't last longer than it took them to eat breakfast.

"Alex!" Allie yelled as she dished out our food. "Breakfast!" She'd barely finished calling before he showed up, all six foot six of him.

He sat down at the table just long enough to inhale his food and drink two glasses of milk. "I'm done," he announced. "Can someone give me a ride to Joey's?"

"What's at Joey's?" I asked, looking up from my own plate.

"He's got the new Spot." That was the latest generation of quantum dot communicators.

"Sweet!" I said. I'd looked at them online the other night, thinking that maybe I needed one.

"Sweet?" he asked. "No one says that anymore!"

"So, what DO they say?" Was I that out of touch?

Alex shrugged. "Sharp, or sparkling."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said with an eyeroll.

"You know your cousins will be here soon," Allison reminded him. Her sister, brother-in-law and their kids had arrived the day before, bringing her dad with them. We'd seen more of Butch since Cheryl died a few years earlier.

Another face appeared on the screen and another voice said, "Good morning, all!"

All four of us replied, with varying levels of enthusiasm, "Morning, Scott!" There really was little privacy when you had a videophone.

"You're not supposed to see Gretchen today," I added.

"That's tomorrow!" my daughter corrected. "We can see each other as much as we want today. And when did you believe in any superstitions?"

I didn't answer.

"Gretch, I just wanted to tell you that I spoke to Tony," Scott said. "He and Sofia aren't sure now when they'll get here."

"Is something wrong?" Gretchen and her mother held matching looks of apprehension.

"When they got up this morning, the baby was very congested. They've taken her to her pediatrician and they're waiting for the doctor to tell them what to do."

"Didn't you tell them that you have a resident Resident in Peds?" I asked.

It took him just a few seconds to realize I meant his sister. One thing you could say about Scott, he wasn't dumb.

"Not to mention the head of Infectious Diseases and a hematologist," Allison said.

The only non-M.D. in their family was Scott himself, and he now ran our Radiology department, which had expanded beyond X-Ray, MRI, and CAT scan equipment to be one of the most modern and well-equipped in the country. And that included a robotic imaging device that Scott and Tony had patented two years before. Tony's company, located in Connecticut, was manufacturing the devices, along with a couple of others he'd developed himself since then.

"But the rehearsal is this afternoon!" Gretchen said.

"Gretch, if they make it, they make it. If not, we'll have someone stand in for Tony, OK?" Scott tried to reassure her.

"Sure," she agreed.

The doorbell rang and Alex sprang up from his chair. "I'll get it!"

"I'll see you all later," Scott said, and disconnected.

Bonnie, Billy, Kevin, Keith and Butch trooped back in after Alex. We'd seen them all just a few weeks before when we'd traveled to Illinois for Kevin's graduation from Northwestern. He'd be returning there in the fall for graduate school, and his brother would be entering his junior year at the University of Chicago.

"Morning, everyone," Allie said. "Can I get you some breakfast or at least some coffee?" she asked.

"No thanks. We ate at the motel," Bonnie replied. I could have predicted that.

"But I'll take some of your coffee," Butch said. I could have predicted that, too.

Allison poured her father a mug of java, then said "I'm going to check whether Blythe wants anything."

My mother had been staying with us for a few days. Alex had relinquished his room to her, taking the sofa bed in the living room for the duration of her visit. She'd accepted his offer and never said what she thought about the teenage décor. In her mid-nineties, she didn't get around as well anymore, but she seemed excited to be here with us.

"Joey's got the new Spot," Alex told his cousins. "Wanna come with me to see it?" He wouldn't give up until he got someone to take him. I couldn't let on that I wanted to see it too, so I waited for him to beg.

"Is that the one that just came out?" Billy asked. Guess he was interested too.

"What's a Spot?" Butch asked, and his three grandsons filled him in.

"How did Joey get one of those if they're so new?" Gretchen asked. I could see she was beginning to become intrigued with it too.

"His uncle is the manager at an electronics store," Alex explained. "Dad's gonna take me to see it, right Dad?"

Well, it wasn't exactly begging, but I agreed. "I'll take the boys," I offered, trying to make it sound like I was doing them a favor. I don't think anyone bought it.

Chapter 2.

Gretchen turned to her Aunt Bonnie. "I'm taking my grandmother to see the apartment," she said. "Wanna come with us while the guys go to gush over the latest toy?" Obviously, her apartment trumped new electronics for her.

"I'd love to see it!" Bonnie replied just as Allison returned with my mother. She may have been a bit stooped, using a cane like mine, and her hair completely white, but she was still a lovely woman, almost as lovely as my wife and daughter.

"Good morning, everyone," she said. Her voice was still strong, too. "Isn't it a wonderful day?"

"Aunt Bonnie is coming with us to see the apartment," Gretchen told her.

"I might as well go with the three of you," Allison said. "Are you going with Alex?" she asked her nephews, brother-in-law and father.

"Sure!" Butch said.

"Is Steven going to be there too?" my wife then asked. She knew the three high school boys were still as close as Gretchen and her friends were.

"He has a deadline for his i-strip," Alex reminded her. Although Steven was still in high school, he had a very popular online comic strip, and was also asked occasionally to do political cartoons for the local online newsies.

In the end, while the women drove off to see the apartment, the males of the family all went to see Joey's new toy. I think Allie would have liked Gretchen and Scott to move in with us, but there was room for only one horny couple in the House house.

"You still have this old thing!" Billy exclaimed as we piled into the family bus we'd bought almost fifteen years before.

"Why not? It still runs, gets us where we want to go."

We drove across town to the Samuels' place. Alex, Joey and Steven had remained friends even though they were very different. It was remarkable that Joey, the youngest Brazilian flu patient we'd seen had become a strong and healthy teenager. I knew that the football coach at his high school was interested in recruiting him, just as the basketball coach at Mercer had already talked to Alex, who towered over his two older friends.

Joey looked a lot like his great uncle, with very light blond hair, blue eyes and a pug nose, but I didn't hold it against him. He was a good kid, and smart too. He'd probably be the first one in his family to go to college.

His new device was as interesting as promised. He demonstrated what it could do, and we left, agreeing that we all wanted one.

We drove directly to meet the women and the rest of the wedding party at Sunset Gardens. Sounds like a nursing home, doesn't it? But it's really a new catering facility west of Princeton, acres of gardens with clusters of benches and strategically placed gazebos. There were also a few shelters and enclosed buildings for use in inclement weather.

We were directed to the rose garden. The almost overpowering scent of blooming flowers filled the air. The gazebo there was one of the largest, and the open lawn in front of it was already filled with rows of folding chairs.

Except for Scott's best man, Tony, everyone else was there including Gretchen's maid of honor Emily, her bridesmaids Audra and Elizabeth, and Scott's groomsmen Tommy and Alex. Justin agreed to stand in for Tony so they could go on with the rehearsal.

I'd only given one other bride away, Chase's wife Sully, who'd been one of my Fellows at the time. But I knew the drill.

Our families and the Billings family watched as we were put through our paces. We saw Clair's sister and her husband often, but I hadn't seen Arthur's sister and her crew since Arthur and Cynthia's mother's funeral. They'd be related to my daughter now, but I still didn't have to like them. Thia's daughters were kind of pretty in a cheap and gaudy way, and seemed just as wild as ever. Her husband was an over-the-hill rocker, but he didn't have the credentials of a Jagger or a Clapton to pull it off.

The coordinator had Audra and Tommy walk down the aisle first. Wilson's son was walking better than ever since his doctor replaced the atrophied muscles in his legs with the newest composites of an elastomer, a ceramic and titanium. I'd hoped they could do the same for me, but it had turned out to be impossible. Still, with the most recent targeted pain killers, my leg gave me much less trouble than it had since before the infarction. It also helped to have a wife like mine.

"Hard to imagine that Audra's the same girl you met when you first came here," I told Gretchen as we watched her take her place at the end of the aisle.

"She isn't. She's much more self-confident, friendlier..."

"...and prettier," I finished for her.

Gretchen laughed. "She was always pretty, but she doesn't have that sad waif-like quality any more. And she's always been smart. That's why you hired her, isn't it?"

Audra was my newest Fellow. I had a feeling she'd be as good as some of my best, Allison, Chase and Foreman, Sully, a few others. For someone who had an aversion to hospitals as a kid, and for good reason, she was fascinated with medicine and with solving difficult cases.