Tony waves me over. He's reached the kids. When he first told me about calling the house on our very first morning on board, I thought he was crazy. There had hardly been enough time to miss them, or for anything to have changed. But then a couple days later I found myself calling my agency, just to check in. That's my other "baby," and I do feel guilty being away.

Also, it's strange on the ship. No pun intended, but it's hard to find my bearings. I've never been disconnected from the land like this, not for so long. You always hear that water covers most of the Earth's surface, but you don't believe it when you spend most of your life on land, with occasional trips into the air. And those are over in a matter of hours, while this has been days.

It really is strange to be cut off not just from land, but from everything that's familiar. Except Tony of course. We spend part of each day doing our own thing, but it's always wonderful when we reunite, like finding a piece of home in a foreign land.

And, yes, it usually leads to sex. Or at least making out. It's not that we can't keep our hands off each other, but there really isn't any reason to keep them off each other.

I was afraid at first that I had spoiled the mood by introducing the "baby topic," but we seem to have worked through that. Of course, I haven't yet gone off the Pill, so that may change things again when I do. Not to mention that we really will be on our own then.

It's almost a shock to hear the kids' voices again, even though it hasn't been that long. I can visualize them in our home, everything just the way we left it, the way it's been for years. I have to remind myself that Jonathan has the summer off from MIT, and Sam is processing the end of her marriage.

She sounds like she's OK. Clearly, I can't ask how she's really feeling, not over the phone and not with Tony and Jonathan listening. It's not a good time for girl-talk, and I don't know if she's ready to open up to me about it yet. Maybe when we return.

I will admit I am curious about something, but it's not a question that Sam can answer. Mother might be able to get the answer out of Hank, if she hasn't already. But I don't want to call her up in Hollywood and ask her.

I want to know, what is going on with him filing for divorce? Is he waiting for Sam to do it? If so, I think he'll be waiting a very long time. She is still a good Catholic girl in some ways. And Tony, despite his lapses, did not like the idea of having to divorce me a few years ago. (It wasn't even that he didn't want to end the marriage. He agreed with me then that it wasn't how he wanted to be married, by accident. He just didn't approve of divorce.)

Sam definitely wants to be married to Hank, or at least she did before this happened. She's also a romantic and she's learning the bitter lesson that I learned over ten years ago, that romantic ideals aren't enough to make a happy marriage. She's probably still waiting for things to work out, for Hank to leave his girlfriend and take Sam back. But I don't know if I would let him do that. I'd like to think she has more pride. Yes, I did take Michael back, briefly, but he hadn't cheated on me. And we soon found out that we still had the same issues as before.

If Hank won't file for divorce, and Sam won't either (although she certainly has grounds), then I could see this dragging on for months, maybe even years. I don't want Sam to live in the kind of limbo I did. I really will need to sit down and talk to her about this when we return. I hope by then she'll be ready to talk, and to listen.

While these thoughts have been going through my head, we've all been having a four-sided conversation, although my contribution has been minimal. I try to focus, remembering that this may be the last time we can talk to the kids for awhile.

"You guys eating all right?" Tony of course. Sometimes I tease that if he ever gets another tattoo, it should say, "Mangia!"

"Yeah, I guess." Jonathan of course, typical teenage boy. If he eats anything, then it's all right.

"We're going grocery shopping later," Sam says.

"You got enough money? Do you want me to wire you some?"

"No, Dad."

"You sure? Jonathan said you went to the mall last week."

"You said that, did you?"

"Um, sorry."

"Hey, don't be mad at him, I took it as a sign of mental health."

"I guess. I, I just window-shopped."

"That can be fun," I chime in.

"But who wants all those windows?"

We groan at Jonathan's joke.

"I think we can rule out stand-up comedy as your future career."

"Oh, Sweetie, have you been giving some thought to your career plans?"

"No, Sam and I were just talking."

Tony and I look at each other. That's a hopeful sign, that Sam was able to have a serious conversation about something unrelated to Hank. And maybe she's making some progress towards finding a job herself.

"So, um, Sam, anything new?"

I hit Tony's arm. He shouldn't just ask straight out like that!

"Like what, Dad?"

"Oh, any prospects?"

"Um, prospects?"

"Yeah, any record companies you're thinking of applying to?"

I know I should stop Tony, but I'm curious, too.

"I'm, I'm still looking."
"OK, yeah, no rush."

"You know you're welcome to stay as long as you need to," I blurt out.

"Yeah, even if you get a job in the big city, you could commute."

"Yes, you could take the train with me and Mother. It'll be fun!"

"Well, we'll see." She doesn't sound terribly enthusiastic. I hope she doesn't feel like we're pressuring her. We're just trying to be supportive.

"Hey," Jonathan says, "this call must be costing you guys a fortune."

"Yeah, but you're both worth it."

"We'll call again from Rome. A week from yesterday," I say, deciding as I say it.
"OK," they both say.

"Does this time work for you? Is it too early there?"

"It's fine, Dad."

"Yeah, it works for me."

"It'll be 2 p.m. in Rome, so that should work for us."

"Uh, sorry we were late today. I got confused about the time difference."

"Yes," I say quickly, "it's harder to keep track at sea than on land."

"It's OK."

"Yeah, we were hanging out anyway," Jonathan says.

Tony and I look at each other again. That's a good sign, too. And they're buying groceries together. I'm so glad their days of bickering and squabbling are over! They've really grown up.

Still, there is a part of me that misses even the adolescent turmoil. I definitely miss the very early days, when we were first forming a family, without knowing it. How nice it would be to start from the beginning, raise a child with Tony from birth onwards. Of course, by the time our child would be Sam's age now, I'll have reached retirement age!

"We love you two! We miss you!" Tony and I say in sync, just like we used to.

"We miss you, too," Jonathan says with surprising sincerity.

"We love you," Sam says quietly.

And then everyone says goodbye and we hang up. I feel a strange sort of let-down, although nothing bad happened during the call. Maybe it just feels strange to be connected to someone far away and then have to disconnect.

Tony seems to understand what I'm feeling, because he kisses my cheek and hugs me. We're still standing close. I remember sharing a receiver when the kids had a field trip to Washington, and Tony and I were about to have dates with other people (Geoffrey and Tanya). I'd felt connected to him, too, sharing our kids with him. And then I remembered, we weren't a couple. I'm so glad that time is over, no matter how nostalgic I may get over our children's childhood.

We thank the shipboard operator and go back up on deck. We're not ready to return to our cabin, not yet.

We stroll hand in hand, looking out at that seemingly endless ocean. It's hard to believe that we're at the midpoint of our journey. In some ways it seems like we'll never land.

Then he surprises me by saying, "Should we have told them?"

"Told them what?"

"About the maybe baby."

I shake my head. "It's too soon. And I don't think Sam wants to hear about something like that when her husband left her just a few weeks ago."

"Yeah. But if it happens, I think she'll be happy for us."

"I hope so. And Jonathan, too, of course."

"Yeah."

"But let's not say anything unless I do get pregnant. They don't need to know that we're trying."

"OK. Angela, where are we going to put a nursery?"

"Well, it depends on when it happens, if it does."

"Yeah. I guess we could use Billy's room. That way the kids and Mona don't have to give up their rooms."

"Right. Oh, Tony, I just had a thought."

"What?"

"Do you think Mother will want her old place when she returns? After all, Hank is gone."

"I don't know. But Mona can be surprisingly considerate when she wants to be."

"True."

"Anyway, we can deal with all this when we get back."
"You're the one who brought up the nursery."

"I was just wondering. I mean, it's going to change our lives in a lot of ways, if it happens."

"I know. It's a big step."

"Yeah."
"Tony, if you don't want a baby, just say so. I'll be disappointed, but I'll understand."

He stops strolling, so I have to. Then he kisses me tenderly. "I want a baby with you, Angela. But that doesn't mean I think it's going to be easy."

"I never said it would be. And in case you haven't realized, it's going to change my life more than yours."

"It'll change your body more. It won't change your life more."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I might want to be a stay-at-home dad."

"Tony, you don't have to make that kind of sacrifice."

"Sacrifice? You kiddin' me? Don't you remember what it was like with Baby Clint? I loved that!"

"But you were a housekeeper then, not a professor."

"I think Ridgemont would work with me, give me a schedule that would let me spend time with our child. Evening classes or something."

"I want to help. It won't all be you. It's my child, too!"

I'm serious, but he laughs, so then I do. Does any other couple in the world have conversations like ours?

"OK, Angela, maybe we don't have to figure out everything about the baby before we make him or her."

"No, not everything." I lean close, nuzzle his neck, and whisper, "Do you want to go practice everything-but-conception?"

He holds me close, close enough that he doesn't have to answer with words. After our earlier encounter, I put fresh panties on, but I'm still wearing that short dress. I'm not even sure if we'll make it back to our cabin this time.