A/N: Oh well, so much happens in this chapter and it is important to remember all of the characters have layers. Nobody is perfect, all are going to make mistakes, and say and do things that they will later regret or cast them in a negative light. Hunter begins his path to redemption in this chapter and we want to hug Harry by the end of this hot mess. I am still offline typing this but will be online later today, so I may post it. Thanks for all of your reviews and support. Can't check my email, but I will assume someone is enjoying this retelling. Please forgive all mistakes, I own nothing but them.

Chapter Twelve

Cedes let the restaurant door bang behind her and crossed the sidewalk, blind with the need to save herself. She stepped off the curb and a horn blared and somebody yanked her back from the street, and she turned and barged into Sam.

"I'm sorry," he said, holding on to her. "Whatever it was that I did—"

"You're going to hurt me," she said, breathless.

"What?" he said, looking appalled. " No. I'd never—"

"You're going to break my heart," Cedes said, taking a breath like a sob. "I'm going to love you, and you're going to leave, you always do, it's what you do, and I don't think I can get over you, if I ever let go and love you, I think it'll be forever because it's so deep, it already hurts just the little bit I let myself—"

"Cedes, I'd never hurt you," Sam said.

"Not on purpose," Cedes said. "But you have the right to leave. You've never promised me you'd stay. That's the way it always is. You're wonderful, you know us, and we love you, and you leave. I can't do that. I could tell myself that Anthony was an idiot who didn't know me, but you know me."

"Cedes, wait," Sam said, trying to put his arms around her.

"No," Cedes said, slipping away. "Nobody in my life has ever known me the way you do. Nobody in my life has ever made me feel as good as you do. You know me, you know everything about me, and when you leave me, you're going to be leaving the real me, the me nobody else has ever seen, that's who you're going to be rejecting."

"What makes you so sure I'm going to leave you?" Sam said, his voice sharp.

"Because that's what you do. You always leave. Are you going to promise me right now that you'll stay forever?"

"I've known you three weeks," Sam said. "That'd be a little impulsive, don't you think?"

"Yes," Cedes said. "So why the full court press? Why the perfect shoes and the perfect song and ..." She shook her head, helpless. "I told you we should start as friends, I told you —"

"You want more than friendship," Sam said flatly. "That's the dumbest line you ever pulled on me."

"Look, I'm not ready for you," Cedes said. "I'm not prepared. I don't have any defenses when you're around. I make these plans and I mean it, I really do, and then I kiss you because I'm crazy about you which would be fine if I didn't fall in love with you but you are just standing there, and you know it, you know you've got me." She stopped because she was sounding hysterical.

"All right," Sam said, setting his jaw. "Maybe we—"

"I need to go home," Cedes said.

"All right," Sam said again. "We can—"

"No," Cedes said. "Bree will be out to find me in a minute and she'll walk me. We'll walk each other."

"Cedes," Sam said.

"I just wasn't expecting that song," Cedes said. "Not the way you sang it."

"Neither was I," Sam said grimly.

"I know," Cedes said. "I could see it in your eyes. You didn't mean it."

"Of course I meant it," Sam snapped, as Bree came out into the street. "I just didn't know I meant it until I sang it."

"Well, that's the thing about music," Cedes said, finally losing her temper. "It makes you honest. There are no damn secrets—"

"What secrets?" Sam said.

"—and there aren't any damn lies."

Cedes turned away and started off down the street, making her heels click on the pavement like a backbeat.

"You know, all I wanted was a little peace and quiet," Sam yelled after her. "But no, I had to get you."

Bree hurried behind her to catch up.

"Why are you upset?" Bree said when she was beside her. She looked back over her shoulder at Sam." That was the most romantic thing I've ever heard."

"I know," Cedes said and walked faster.

"What's wrong?" Bree said.

Cedes stopped. "I'll tell you if you tell me what's wrong with you and Jake." Bree bit her lip. "You first."

"The first night Sam picked me up?" Cedes said.

Bree nodded.

"He did it because Anthony bet him ten bucks he couldn't get me into bed in a month," Cedes said.

"No, he didn't," Bree said, positive. "He wouldn't do that."

"I heard him, Bree," Cedes said. "He did it. And I know there's more there now, but I've only known him three weeks, and I'm already lost whenever he's around, and it's just too big a gamble. He's just... he leaves women all the time. Jake was right about that. I don't want to be in a place where I'll die if he leaves me because he's going to leave me." She felt tears start and blinked them back. "And then the son of a bitch sings to me like that, and I just... He's just too ..."

"Dangerous," Bree said. "That's why I picked Jake. I knew he'd never be dangerous."

"What happened?" Cedes said.

"I am not the same person that I used to be. I used to think that being like mom was the best thing ever. I even allowed myself to have best friends just as toxic as I was. But I don't know what is happening with me lately and it is all because of Jake. He is like a new person, and I have become a new person cognizant of others' feelings because the first time I feel awful and I don't want to make others feel as wretched as I am feeling. I don't think he wants to get married anymore," Bree said, and Cedes heard the tears in her voice. "I asked him, I told him if he wasn't ready we could postpone it, but he keeps saying he's ready, he wants to, and I think it's just because he can't stand disappointing everybody but he's—"

"What are you guys doing?" Hunter said, coming up out of the dark and scaring them both into shrieks."Standing around waiting to get mugged?"

"And now our wait is over?" Cedes said, trying to get her breath back.

"Sam sent me," Hunter said. "He doesn't like you walking home alone. So you get me."

"You don't have to," Cedes said.

"Are you kidding? I'm with two hot women in the dark," Hunter said. "By the time I'm finished retelling this in my head, it's going to be phenomenal."

"Is he joking?" Bree said to Cedes.

"I don't think so," Cedes said. "Could you picture me about twenty pounds lighter in this fantasy?"

"No," Hunter said. "I'm picturing you just the way you are, babe. Don't tell Sam or he'll break my teeth."

"Your teeth are safe," Cedes said and began to walk again.

"So what would we be doing in this fantasy?" Bree said to Hunter as they fell into step beside Cedes.

"Well, first we'd read a good book because I know that classy women like you go for guys who read," Hunter said.

Cedes took his arm. "Thank you for walking us home."

"Anything for you, babe," Hunter said, patting her hand, and then he went on with his fantasy, and Cedes held on to him and tried not to think about what she was walking away from.

Back in the restaurant, Anthony looked at Lucy Quinn triumphantly and said, "We did that."

"No," Lucy Quinn said, her face white. "That wasn't us."

"Cedes was jealous," Anthony said, feeling better than he had in weeks. "And then Sam made a fool of himself making her sing that stupid song with him and he embarrassed her. You were right about us..." He waved his hand and added silently,. . . having the best sex in the history of the world. God, I'm good.

"I wish that were true," Lucy Quinn said, still staring at the door.

"You know they're out there fighting," Anthony said. "Why aren't you happy?"

"There's a certain kind of fight that is ... a relationship adjustment," Lucy Quinn said, her voice dull. "You fight, and then reconcile and move closer together. And then fight again, and reconcile. Each time there's a compromise. Each time you grow closer."

"Fighting is good?" Anthony said. "That's nonsense,"

"What's the best kind of sex there is, Anthony?" Lucy Quinn said. "Makeup sex. It's because you've come back even closer. If it's the right kind of fight. You're going to have to move fast if she truly is upset with him."

"I'll call her tomorrow," Anthony promised."She's emotional right now. Better to let her calm down."

Lucy Quinn looked back at the door. "All right. Be careful."

"Stop it," Anthony said, covering her hand with his. "We won."

Lucy Quinn shook her head. "Nobody won tonight."

Later that night, after Cedes and Bree had folded two hundred cake boxes and talked about the wedding but not Jake or Sam, Bree went to bed, and Cedes sat alone on the couch and tried to figure out where she'd gone wrong. Maybe if she hadn't said yes to that picnic in the park, if she hadn't kissed him back, if he hadn't kissed her at all, if she hadn't met Harry. Definitely, before she met Harry. Maybe if she hadn't thought she was so damn smart that she could play Anthony and Sam in the beginning. Maybe if she'd had enough sense not to cross the damn bar in the first place, if she'd looked at him and known nothing good could come of him and had never overheard that damn bet. It was hard to pinpoint exactly where she'd moved past reckless and into insanity, but she kept thinking if she could just figure out where she'd gone wrong, she'd understand what happened, and then she'd be done with it—

Somebody knocked on the door, and when Cedes opened it, Marley was standing there in her chenille robe holding a teapot. "I made cocoa," she said, and Cedes felt the tears start. "Oh, baby," Marley said and came in, putting her arm around Cedes, balancing the cocoa pot in her other hand. "Come on. We just need to talk about it."

"I thought I was so smart," Cedes said, fighting to keep her voice steady. She took a shuddery breath. "I kept thinking I had it all under control."

"I thought you did pretty well," Marley said, putting the cocoa pot down on the sewing machine table. She took a cup out of each pocket, and Cedes laughed at her through her tears.

"Where's Ryder?" Cedes said. "I don't—"

"He's asleep downstairs," Marley said, picking up the pot. "He's worried about you, but it gets to be midnight and he clonks right out for a solid eight hours."

Cedes laughed again and then sniffed. "If I'd had any brains, I'd have grabbed Ryder that first night."

"Ryder would bore you to tears," Marley said, handing her a filled cup. "Just like I'd have shoved Sam under a bus by now."

"You would have?" Cedes sniffed again.

"Oh, please, that master of the universe act?" Marley said. "That's one scared man you've got there. I don't have the time for that. I want kids, I don't want to marry one."

"He's a good guy, Marl." Cedes sipped her cocoa and began to feel better.

"I know," Marley said. "And someday he'll grow up and be a good man. In the meantime, he broke your heart so I'm mad at him."

"No, he didn't," Cedes said. "He tried not to be with me."

"No, he didn't." Marley sat down next to her on the couch with her own cup. "He had every opportunity in the world to get away from you and he passed up every one of them to be with you."

"That's because he couldn't charm me," Cedes said. "It wasn't—"

"Oh, stop being such a baby," Marley said, and Cedes jerked her head up. "Well, listen to yourself. You're miserable, but it's not his fault and it's not your fault. Well, screw that."

"Marley," Cedes said, scandalized.

"What do you want, Cedes?" Marley said. "If life were a fairy tale if there truly was a happy ending, what would you want?"

"I'd want Sam," Cedes said, feeling ashamed even as she said it. "I know that's—"

"Don't," Marley said, holding up her hand. "Why do you want him?"

"Oh, because he was fun" Cedes said, smiling as she blinked the tears away because she was so shallow. "He was so much fun, Marley. And he made me feel wonderful. I was never fat when I was with Sam."

"You're never fat when you're with Holly and me," Marley said.

"I know," Cedes said. "He was almost like you except I couldn't trust him and he really turned me on."

"Maybe that's why he turned you on," Marley said. "Somebody you couldn't handle."

"Yeah." Cedes let her head drop back against the couch. "He was exciting. I never knew what was coming next. And neither did he. We fed off each other. What dummies we were."

"I wouldn't rush to use the past tense," Marley said. "So back to the fairy tale. Tell me about your happily ever after."

"I don't have one," Cedes said. "Which is why I'll never get one."

"Mine," Marley said, "is that I marry Ryder, and we have four kids. We live in a nice house in one of the suburbs with good schools, but not one where everybody wears plaid."

"Makes sense," Cedes said and sipped her cocoa again.

"I'm a stay-at-home mom," Marley said, "but I do keep a few clients, my favorite clients, and I watch their portfolios like a hawk so I don't lose my edge. And word gets out, and as the kids get older, I add to my client list because there are so many people who are dying to get me."

"That's not a fairy tale," Cedes said, putting her cocoa cup down. "That can all happen."

"And our house," Marley said as if she hadn't heard, "becomes the place everybody comes home to, for the holidays and everybody's birthdays, everybody comes to us. And we have these big dinners and everybody sits around the table and we're family by choice. And you and Holly and Sam and Hunter are all godparents to our kids, and every time there's a big school thing, you all come out and cheer our kids on—"

"I'll be there," Cedes said, trying not to cry.

"—and none of us will ever be alone because we'll have each other," Marley said. "You're going to like my grandchildren, Cedes. We're going to take them shoe shopping."

"Oh, Marley," Cedes said and put her head down on the couch cushion and howled, while Marley stroked her hair and drank her chocolate.

When Cedes had subsided to a few gasping, shuddering sobs, Marley said calmly, "Now you."

"I can't" Cedes said.

"Well, you're gonna," Marley said. "It starts with Sam, right?"

"Why?" Cedes sat up and wiped her face with the back of her hand. "Why does it always have to start with some guy?"

"Because it's a fairy tale," Marley said. "It all starts with the prince. Or if you're Santana, with the princess, but still. It starts with the big risk. You're all alone sitting on a tuffet, on in your case, an Aeron, and this guy rides up and there it is, your whole future right there before you—"

"What if he's the wrong one?" Cedes said. "Accepting for the moment, which I don't, that the whole thing starts with the prince, how do you tell the prince from—"

"The beast?" Marley said. "Honey, they're all beasts."

"Ryder isn't," Cedes said.

"Oh, please," Marley said. "He's down there snoring like a bear now," and Cedes laughed in spite of her tears. "You really think Sam's a mistake?"

Cedes swallowed. "Well, logically—"

"Do not make me dump my cocoa on you," Marley said.

"I don't have anything else to go on," Cedes said. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Tell me your fairy tale," Marley said. "It's just between you and me, nobody else will ever know. If you could have anything you wanted, no explanations, no logic, just anything you—"

"Sam," Cedes said. "I know that's stup—"

"Stop it," Marley said. "God, you can't even dream without qualifiers. Tell me your fairy tale."

Cedes felt the tears start again, and admitted: "It's Sam. And he loves me, so much that he can't stand it, as much as I love him. And, uh," she gulped back tears, "we, uh, we find this great house, here in the city, maybe on this street, one of the old bungalows like the one my grandma used to live in. I'd like that. And maybe a dog, because I like dogs."

Marley nodded, and Cedes sniffed again.

"And I keep working because I like my work, and so does Sam because he loves what he does." She sighed. "And sometimes he calls me up and says, 'Mercy, I've been thinking about you, meet me at home in twenty minutes' and I do and we make love and it's wonderful, right in the middle of the day..." She stopped to sniff and Marley nodded.

"And sometimes we go to Rory's, we meet all you guys at Rory's, like every Wednesday, we all meet, and we laugh and catch up on what's happening, and when you and Ryder have your kids, Rory adds more tables, and he and his wife and kids eat, too, and Myron serves us, and sometimes we go out to your house ..."

Marley smiled and nodded.

".. . and the guys watch the game and hoot and moan, and you and I and Holly and Rory's wife sit out in the kitchen and eat chocolate and talk about all the things we've done and they've done and laugh. . . ."

Cedes took another deep breath and realized she was still crying.

"And then Sam and I go home," she said, her voice breaking, "and it's just the two of us, and we laugh some more and hold each other and eat and make love and watch dumb movies and just... be with each other. We just feel good because we're with each other." She wiped her eyes again. "That's all I'd need. The two of us, talking and cooking and laughing. It's so simple."

She took a deep shuddering breath and met Marley's eyes. "I can have that, can't I?"

"Yes," Marley said.

"But only if Sam is who I need him to be," Cedes said.

Marley nodded.

"So I just have to trust that he's who I think he is and not who he thinks he is," Cedes said.

"Big gamble," Marley said.

"Do you ever wonder what happened after the happily ever after?" Cedes said. "After the wedding was over and the townspeople went home, and they finished opening all the stuff that was monogrammed with a gold crown? Because the story's over then. All the questing and the courting and the trauma. From then on it's just sitting around the castle, polishing all the toasters they got for wedding gifts."

"That would pretty much depend on the prince," Marley said. "I can see Anthony polishing a lot of toasters."

Cedes laughed in spite of herself.

"But Hunter would hot wire them all together and calibrate them so they'd shoot toast at varying intervals," Marley said and Cedes laughed harder.

"And Sam would bet on it," Cedes said, smiling and crying at the same time now, "but only after he'd seen Hunter shoot the toasters a thousand times and calculated the odds."

"And Ryder would put out stakes and yellow tape so that nobody got hit by flying bread," Marley said with affection.

"And Holly would figure out how to make the whole thing pay," Cedes said. "And you'd make sure Hunter bought the bread at cost and invested the profits wisely."

"And you'd look at the whole thing and gauge the risk and tell us what we'd missed," Marley said.

"You know this toaster thing might be worth looking into," Cedes said. "Hunter's nuts, but his ideas are always good."

Marley nodded.

Cedes bit her lip and swallowed more tears. "I want the fairy tale."

"Okay," Marley said. "Now all you have to do is figure out how."

"Yeah," Cedes said. "I can do that. I just have to think it out." She looked at Marley. "Are you going to dump cocoa on me?"

"No," Marley said. "The only illogical thing you have to do is believe. After that, you need brains."

"Oh, good," Cedes said. "Brains, I got. Leap of faith, taken. Plan, still in the works."

Marley nodded again. "Can you sleep now?"

"Uh huh," Cedes said, tearing up again. "Why can't I stop crying?"

"When was the last time you cried?" Marley said.

"I can't remember," Cedes said.

"When was the last time you cared enough to cry?" Marley said.

"I can't remember that, either," Cedes said, appalled.

"So you've got some catching up to do," Marley said, standing up. "I have to go downstairs and sleep with a bear."

Cedes gave her a watery grin. "Do not expect me to feel sorry for you because you've got Ryder."

"I don't," Marley said airily. "I expect you to envy me beyond measure."

"I do," Cedes said, thinking of the man she'd left enraged in the moonlight. "But I want Sam." Sam didn't call, and that was all right, Cedes told herself, because she'd see him at the rehearsal dinner since he hadn't called to cancel, plus she didn't have time to think about him with the wedding only four days away, especially since she found herself fielding a dozen calls a day from her increasingly frantic sister, and anyway she was better off without him as a distraction.

She missed him.

Sunday, she kept telling herself, on Sunday this will all be over, Bree will be married, and I can fix my own life then. The only part she wasn't sure about was the "Bree will be married," but since Bree was insistent that her romance was a fairy tale, there wasn't much Cedes could do besides hold her hand, make supportive noises, and listen. So she propped Bree up, went to the If Dinner on Thursday night and brought the rest of the hand-packed quarts of ice cream that Sam had given her, told Holly there was no need to apologize for making Sam sing since their fight had been inevitable, and tried to figure out a way to make things right without actually talking to him or seeing him.

But on Saturday morning, she had to go to the baseball game for Harry, so she put on her newest sandals—clear plastic mules with French heels and cherries on the toes—and got to the park a couple of minutes after the game started. She found a seat to one side, trying to stay inconspicuous and wave to Harry at the same time, but Harmony saw her and motioned her up. Cedes smiled at her and then realized that the man sitting next to her wasn't just a miscellaneous father, he was Steven Reynolds. Lucy Quinn was on Harmony's other side, wedged in next to another parent, which meant Cedes was going to be stuck sitting beside Steven Reynolds. This has to be payback for something, she thought, and climbed to the top and sat down.

"So how are we doing?" she asked him.

"These kids can't play," Steven Reynolds said, shaking his head. "No discipline."

"Well, you know, they're eight," Cedes said.

"Discipline starts young," Steven Reynolds said, looking at her with contempt, and Cedes thought, There goes our chance at bonding.

Down on the field, Bentley hobbled a catch and the ball rolled over to Harry, who picked it up and threw it in the general direction of a base he thought might be appropriate.

"Oh, God, Harry," Steven Reynolds said loudly.

Cedes saw Sam off to one side of the field and felt her stomach lurch. Ridiculous, she told herself and swallowed hard. He spread his arms out at Harry as if to say, What? and Harry shrugged and crouched down again. Sam shook his head but Cedes could tell from the set of his shoulders that he wasn't mad. When he turned around he was grinning, and then he caught sight of her and his grin vanished, and she felt the rejection in the pit of her stomach.

Oh, ouch, she thought and looked away to the dugout where Hunter was eating a hot dog and shaking his head, and Holly was sitting next to him with her chin on her hand. Down at the bottom of the bleachers, Marley was keeping some kind of tally for Ryder who would use it to explain to the kids later the importance of something or other. Lucky kids, she thought and wished she were down there with Marley, or with Holly, or better yet, shoe shopping somewhere. Anywhere but here, looking at what she couldn't have. Or didn't have the guts to go after. Same thing, really.

Throughout the rest of the game, Steven Reynolds continued to express his disgust at the general ineptness of the team, winning no friends among the parents in the bleachers and making an already jittery Cedes long to hit him with something. Harmony grew more and more owl-like, and Cedes wondered why she put up with him. She'd have left his ass a long time ago.

Down on the field, Harry came up to bat. He looked up at them and Cedes waved to him, smiling. He pounded his bat on the ground a couple of times and then put it on his shoulder, dead serious. And when the pitch came, he missed it by a mile.

"Come on, Harry," Steven Reynolds yelled. "You can do better than that. You're not trying."

Shut up, Steven Reynolds, Cedes thought.

Down on the field, Harry's shoulders hunched a little, and up in the bleachers, Harmony grew even stiller. Harry fanned the next one, too, and Steven Reynolds yelled, "Concentrate, Harrison! You can't swing at anything like a dummy. Think," and Cedes saw Sam look up at his brother, his face set.

Might want to ease back on that, Steven Reynolds, Cedes thought, and then Harry stiffened up and swung at a pitch that was so bad it didn't even cross the plate, and Steven Reynolds stood up and yelled, "Harry, that was stupid, damn it, can't you do anything right?," and Harry froze, his little shoulders rigid, and Sam left the field, coming straight for his brother, murder in his eyes.

"No, no," Cedes said, panicking as Sam hit the bleachers. She stood up and stepped in front of Steven Reynolds and hit him hard on the arm with her fist.

"Hey!" Steven Reynolds said, grabbing his arm.

"You miserable excuse for a parent," she said to him under her breath. "You do not humiliate your kid like that." She raised her voice and yelled, "Harry is really smart, he's always smart," and then she whispered, "But you are the dumbest son of a bitch I have ever seen in my life."

"I beg your pardon," Steven Reynolds said, outraged.

"It's not my pardon you need, you miserable butthead," Cedes whispered, leaning closer. "It's your kid's, the one you just humiliated in front of all his friends, and if you think that made you look good to anybody here, your head really is up, way up inside your butt."

"You're out of line," Steven Reynolds said, but he looked wary now, darting a glance at the other parents, who were clearly not amused. He shook his head, trying for bluster. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Well, for starters, she's the woman who just saved your ass," Sam said from behind her. "Because I was going to throw it off the bleachers until she got in my way."

"You," Steven Reynolds said, looking past Cedes. "Like you could do anything about it. You can't even coach these kids—"

"Oh, give it up," Cedes said. "You know you screwed up, and the best you can do is blame your brother?"

"Listen," Steven Reynolds said, raising a finger. "You are not—"

"You know, Steven Reynolds," Sam said. "When you get home, you're going to figure out that you just gave your kid the same kind of flashback you and I have been having all our lives. And while you are a butthead, you're not a mean butthead, so that should give you some good nightmares about your parenting skills. In the meantime, you're picking a fight with somebody who takes no prisoners. I'd back away slowly if I were you."

"We're going home," Harmony said.

"I don't see why—" Steven Reynolds began and then Harmony looked at him, her blue eyes steely cold.

"We," she said, "are going home where we will discuss this. Cedes, will you and Sam see that Harry gets home safely?"

"Yes," Sam said from behind her, and Cedes nodded, shaking now that the first adrenalin rush had passed. She stepped sideways, back to her own seat, feeling incredibly rash, not to mention rude, and when she turned and sat down, Sam had already started back down the bleachers, Steven Reynolds and Harmony following him.

Out on the field, Harry had his back to them, but Hunter was talking to him, so that was all right. Of course, Hunter was probably telling him that his father was a jerk, but as far as Cedes was concerned, that was all right, too.

She glanced over at Lucy Quinn, who looked thoughtful. "Hi," Cedes said, taking a deep breath. "Enjoy the show?"

"I wouldn't have done it," Lucy Quinn said, "but good for you anyway. You have more guts than I have."

"It wasn't guts," Cedes said. "I probably overreacted."

"No," Lucy Quinn said. "Sam overreacted, but he couldn't help it. Steven Reynolds played that family script and it makes Sam insane. He can't stand being called stupid."

"They get that a lot when they were kids?" Cedes said.

"I think they both had lousier childhoods than we can imagine," Lucy Quinn said. "That doesn't mean you get to hit your brother in front of your nephew."

"He probably wouldn't have," Cedes said.

"I don't know," Lucy Quinn said. "But now you're the bad guy for the family, not him. So you did him a favor there."

"I was already the bad guy," Cedes said. "His parents hated me."

"I don't think they like anybody much," Lucy Quinn said. "They're very self-absorbed people. Not cruel. They just don't pay attention."

"So," Cedes said. "You're the psychologist, right? What do we do for Harry?"

"Sam will take care of it," Lucy Quinn said, nodding down at the field, where Harry and Sam were now sitting in the dugout. She tilted her head at Cedes. "It was doubly bad because you were here, you know. Harry has such a crush on you and to be embarrassed like that." She shook her head and sighed. "You're right. Steven Reynolds is a butthead."

"Is that the clinical term?" Cedes said.

"In Steven Reynolds' case, yes," Lucy Quinn said.

Down in the dugout, Hunter sat down next to Holly and said, "You know, I used to think that if I was ever in a bar fight, I'd want you backing me up, but I think Cedes just moved ahead of you in the ranking."

"I wouldn't cross her," Holly said. "That man is a complete loss."

"Yeah," Hunter said, his eyes on the field. "But Harry'll be okay. He has Sam and Harmony and Cedes on his side. I'd take that team any day. Christ, look at that." He raised his voice. "Hey, Soames, look where you're throwing the ball."

He shook his head but kept watching Soames anyway, ready to help. That was Hunter all over, Holly thought. He acted like a big womanizing lug but if anybody needed him, he was there. She was really going to miss him.

"Hunter," she said as he bit into his hot dog, waiting until he was eating on the theory that it would soften the blow. "We are not going to work out."

"What was your first clue?" Hunter said around his hot dog, his eyes still on the field.

Holly let out her breath in relief. "It's not that you're not a great guy—"

"I know." Hunter swallowed and bit into his lunch again. Out on the field, a kid bobbled a catch, and he closed his eyes. "Jesus."

"We just got caught up in that threesome thing," Holly said, and Hunter stopped chewing and looked at her.

"I mean, the three of us, the three of you. You know."

"Right." Hunter resumed chewing and watching the field.

"Marley and Ryder," Holly said, "that's a little spooky, but Marley doesn't make mistakes."

Hunter swallowed. "Neither does Ryder. They'll be okay."

Holly nodded. "And Cedes and Sam. . . well, I don't know, but he's not taking her for a ride, so I'm butting out of that one."

"Good." Hunter took another bite, squinting at the field.

"But you and I are toast," Holly finished.

"Yep." Hunter shook his head at the field. "That kid has no arm."

"I'm glad to see you're taking this so well," Holly said, annoyed.

Hunter shrugged. "I like you, but you're always charging someplace, creating a disturbance, and I like my stability."

"Chaos theory," Holly said.

"Yep," Hunter said. "Disturbed systems move to a higher order or disintegrate. We disintegrated. Also, you hate sports which is a big deal. You really have to be in control and although I admit I speak before I think, you are another level entirely."

"Then why didn't you end it?" Holly said, annoyed.

"I liked the hot and sweaty sex. Oh, hell." Hunter scowled at the field where a hapless child had just missed a grounder.

"You know, some kids should not play baseball."

"Actually, I liked the sex, too," Holly said, thinking about it.

"Anytime," Hunter said. "Now that's an arm." He lifted his chin and shouted, "Nice one, Jessica!" Jessica waved back at him and then forgot Hunter and crouched down, waiting for whatever came next.

Jessica is no dummy, Holly thought. "I do like you," she told Hunter, and he looked at her and grinned.

"I like you, too, babe," he said. "If you ever need a guy beaten up, call me."

"Thank you," Holly said, touched. "If you ever need a woman slapped, you have my number."

"Really?" Hunter perked up a little. "Can I watch?"

"And this is why we're no longer having sex," Holly said. "So you're okay?"

"Yes," Hunter said, and then yelled, "No, no, no," at the field. Holly stood up and kissed him on the top of the head. "Don't be mean to these kids," she told him before she left him. "They're going to grow up to own the companies you'll be working for."

A few minutes before the game ended, Cedes went down to the fence where Sam was leaning on the dugout. She stood there for a minute, not sure what to do, and then she cleared her throat.

"That was good, what you said to Steven Reynolds," she said, hooking her fingers in the chain link. "Really good."

Sam looked out at the field.

Look at me, damn it, Cedes thought, and searched for something that would get his attention. "And . . . really hot," she lied and swallowed hard. "I was very turned on. If there hadn't been so many people here, I'd have done you in the dugout."

Sam stood very still and then turned to her, his face still wooden.

Uh oh, she thought.

"Give me five minutes," he said. "I'll clear the place."

Cedes exhaled in relief. "You had me worried."

"Sorry." Sam walked over to her and leaned on the fence to talk to her, looping his fingers through the chain link so they touched hers. "That was a bad flashback."

"Your dad." Cedes crossed her fingers over his because touching him again felt so right. "I got that. Is Harry okay?"

"No," Sam said. "But he'll live."

"I don't know if Steven Reynolds will," Cedes said. "Harmony looked like the Angel of Death."

"His ass is grass," Sam said. "Doesn't help Harry much."

"Why did she marry him?" Cedes blurted. "I'm sorry, but—"

"He blinded her with charm." Sam smiled at her tightly. "He met her in college and then she looked a lot like you now, so soft and round, and he took one look at her money and threw everything he had at her. She never had a chance."

Cedes thought of Harmony, probably a frightened little owl in college, running into the glamorous and gorgeous Steven Reynolds. "Why does she stay?"

"Because he loves her now," Sam said. "Harry's birth changed him. He's a lot better than he used to be. It also didn't hurt that she lost a lot of weight after his birth and Steven Reynolds realizes just how hot and beautiful she is."

"Damn," Cedes said. "What was he like before he supposedly changed?"

"A charming bastard," Sam said, his face grim again as he looked down at her. "Just like all the Evans."

"That's not you," Cedes said.

"Oh, honey, it is sometimes," Sam said miserably. "More than you know."

"I've never seen it," Cedes said.

"That's because I wasn't a bastard with you," Sam said. "You beat that out of me early."

Cedes grinned. "Well, you asked for it, Charm Boy."

"Thanks for coming down here," he said softly, and then Hunter called him and he went back to the field. Cedes went to sit beside Marley, and it wasn't until Marley reached over and covered Cedes' hands with hers that she realized she was shaking.

"How's it going there?" Marley said.

"This fairy tale thing," Cedes said. "It's not for kids." Cedes went out to the parking lot after the game and found Harry in the backseat of Sam's car, and Sam leaning against the passenger door, waiting for her. Don't lunge for him, she told herself. Harry will notice.

"How are we doing?" she said.

"We're going to have lunch," Sam said, straightening. "And hear a lot of Tupac because thanks to you, that's now Harry's favorite music." He opened the car door for her.

"That's because Harry has great taste," Cedes said, sticking her chin out. She got in the car and said, "Hey, fish guy, I hear we're going to the diner for lunch." Harry nodded.

"If I were you, I'd ask for processed meats," Cedes said. "In fact, ask for a brat. Milk this sucker for everything you can get."

Harry looked surprised and then he nodded.

"Ready, Harry?" Sam said as he got in.

Harry nodded at him, soberly. "May I have a brat for lunch?"

"What?" Sam said and turned to look at him.

Harry peered back, woebegone.

"Mercedes," Sam said, looking straight into her eyes. "You're corrupting my nephew."

"Me?" Cedes lost her breath and smiled at him. "No, no. It's just that Americans eat twenty billion hot dogs a year and I think Harry should have one of them."

"Yeah," Harry said from the backseat.

"Twenty billion," Sam said and started to laugh, and Cedes relaxed a little.

When they were on the road, Cedes looked over the seat at Harry. "So what's new in the world of fish?"

"Are you wearing those fish shoes?" Harry said.

"No," Cedes said. "I found another shoe sale. I am wearing glass slippers with cherries on the toes."

Sam looked down at her feet. "They're okay," he said after a moment. "But they're not fish." Harry nodded.

"So explain to me about ichthyology," Cedes said, and for the next two hours, Harry did, while Cedes tried to be fascinated but mostly thought about ways to get Sam to touch her. Anywhere. She'd take a pat on the head. To start with. But even with the distraction of Sam, by the time they were finished with lunch, Cedes knew more about fish than she thought possible.

"I may never eat seafood again," Sam said, as he held the car door for her.

"Yes, but if there's any money in fish, Harry will support you in your old age," Cedes said, trying to ignore how close he was, and got in.

When Sam was in the car, too, Cedes said, "So, Harry, how are you doing back there?"

"Can I have a doughnut?" Harry said, looking woebegone again.

"Harrison," Sam said. "You are pushing it."

"Drive to Krispy Kreme," Cedes told Sam, who rolled his eyes and drove. When they got there, the "Hot" sign was on, and Harry turned his owl eyes on Cedes. "Can I have two?"

"Harry," Sam said.

"Yes," Cedes said. "Today you can have two."

"This is a mistake," Sam said, but he went inside with them and they drank milk and ate warm chocolate-iced glazed doughnuts and talked about fish, and Cedes remembered the picnic table and tried not to breathe faster. By the time Harry was done with his second doughnut, he didn't look woebegone anymore.

When they got back to the car, Sam said to Cedes, "You're in the backseat."

"Okay," Cedes said, and got in the backseat, not sure why she'd been banished. Maybe Sam had seen the lust in her eyes and was trying to protect himself.

Harry looked happy as a clam riding shotgun for about five minutes. Then he turned green.

"Yep," Sam said and pulled over.

Harry opened the door and lost two doughnuts and a pint of milk into the gutter.

"Oh, honey," Cedes said, wincing with guilt. "I'm sorry."

"It was worth it," Harry said, wiping his mouth. "And I kept the brat." Sam passed him a bottle of Evian. "Rinse and spit. At least twice."

"Where'd you get that?" Cedes said while Harry rinsed and spat.

"I bought it when I paid for the doughnuts," Sam said. "I've been here before."

Harry sat back in his seat. "It's pretty gross out there. Should I pour the rest of the water on it?"

"Sure," Sam said and met Cedes's eyes in the rearview mirror. "We Evans always wash out gutters with Evian."

"You people are pure class," Cedes said.

When they pulled into Harry's driveway, which was a clone of Sam's parents' drive, Harry turned to Sam and said, "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome, Harry," Sam said.

Then Harry leaned between the seats and whispered, "Thank you for the doughnuts."

"My pleasure," Cedes whispered back, and then she leaned closer and whispered in his ear, "I love you, Harry."

He grinned at her and then shot a superior look at his uncle.

"Harrison, if you're trying to steal with my lady, you're in big trouble," Sam said.

Harry grinned wider and got out of the car. "See ya," he said and slammed the door.

"He's a little young for you, don't you think?" Sam said, meeting her eyes in the rearview.

Cedes swallowed. "Yes, but he's an Evans. You can't resist that charm."

"Yeah, I thought it was particularly charming the way he barfed in the gutter," Sam said. "You going to move back up here with me?"

"I kind of like it back here," Cedes said, faking unconcern. "Home, Evans."

"Get your butt up here, Jones," Sam said, and Cedes laughed and got out of the car.

When she was in the front seat and Sam had pulled out of the driveway, she said, "Is he okay?"

"Sure," Sam said. "Harry's used to throwing up."

"I mean about the game."

"Yeah," Sam said. "It'll come back to haunt him at odd moments from now on but he'll handle it. He got rescued. The people around him told him he was fine. And Harmony will handle it for him at home. It's just tough when it's your dad telling you that you're stupid."

"Yeah," Cedes said, hating Dwight Jefferson Evans with a passion. "How are you doing?"

"Me? I'm fine."

"Good," Cedes said, and took a deep breath. She'd been on simmer for way too long. She had him alone, it was time for a plan. The smart thing to do would be to get everything out in the open, beginning with telling him she knew about the bet, discuss it like adults, and then maybe she could jump him—

"What?" Sam said into the silence.

"What?" Cedes said, jerking back in guilt.

"You went quiet," Sam said. "Spill it."

"Oh." Maybe a full frontal approach wasn't the way to go. "Well," Cedes said. "I was thinking . . ."

"Uh huh," Sam said.

". . . that we have some issues to, uh, settle. I think. I would like to settle them."

"Yes," Sam said, sounding as if he didn't have a clue what she was talking about but was willing to play along anyway.

"Because I think . . . maybe ... we could . . . you know ... give this a shot," she said. "If we talked." Sam's hands tightened on the wheel, but he kept his eyes on the road. "All right." You're not helping, Cedes thought. "Did you know that seventy-eight percent of couples keep secrets from each other?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Sam said.

Cedes nodded.

"You made that up, didn't you?"

"Yes," Cedes said. "Although I bet it's close. Is there something you're not telling me? Something from ..." She shrugged. "... oh, before you met me?"

Sam didn't say anything, and when she looked over he had that Oh, hell look on his face. "You already know," he said, "or you wouldn't ask."

"Well, yes," Cedes said, every muscle she had tensing. Why did you have to ask? All those people who say, 'Just talk about it,' they're idiots.

"Cedes, it was years ago. My life was hell, and she was so great, and Steven Reynolds was treating her like dirt—"

What? Cedes thought, her stomach plummeting.

Sam shook his head. "She's a good person. I fell pretty hard."

"Oh," Cedes said, and told herself, Next time be more specific about the confession you want, you dumbass.

"Nothing happened, Cedes," Sam said, glancing at her as he drove. "Harmony isn't a cheater, and as much as I want to smack my brother every time I see him, I wouldn't do that to him. We just talked. A lot."

"Uh huh," Cedes said, trying to sound bright and encouraging.

"It was years ago," Sam said. "She said I was the only person who didn't care about her money. You've met her. You know what she's like. She's wonderful."

"Uh huh," Cedes said. I'm going to kill myself now.

"Are you okay?"

Cedes turned to look at him and blurted, "Did you love her?"

Sam slowed the car and Cedes thought, Oh, just hell, when will I learn not to ask what I don't want to know?

He pulled over and shut off the ignition and turned to her. "Yes."

"Oh." Cedes nodded. "Okay. From now on, when I ask you something, just refuse to answer, okay?"

"All right," he said.

"Do you still love her?" Cedes said.

"Yes," Sam said.

"You don't listen," Cedes said.

"Cedes, it's not like that. I haven't been in love with her for a long time. I think we both saw where it was going and neither of us wanted that nightmare, and Steven Reynolds starting paying attention to her again, and I dated other women, and over time, it went away."

"Not really," Cedes said. "There's something nice between you. More than in-law affection."

Sam nodded. "Yes, she's special. But it's not... romantic. That was over a long time ago. Years and years ago."

"Uh huh," Cedes said, still coping.

Sam stared out the window. "Lucy Quinn," he began, and Cedes thought, Oh, kill me now. "She never caught that. She's the psychologist, we were together for nine months, and she never saw that I'd felt like that about Harmony. How did you?"

"I'm very acute," Cedes lied.

Sam slid a little way down in his seat and stared out the windshield, and Cedes watched the ease in his broad body and wanted him more than she thought was possible. "You know, Quinn spent months trying to figure out why I was a serial dater."

"A what?" Cedes said, trying to find her way back from lust and misery.

"That's what she called it. The hit and run thing you keep busting me on. She decided it was because I was trying to make up for my mother, that I was trying to get love from all these women, and then when they gave it to me, I'd leave them to try to earn it from somebody else."

"That Lucy Quinn, a theory for every occasion," Cedes said, feeling bitter and wanting somebody to take it out on. Lucy Quinn seemed good.

"I wasn't looking for my mother," Sam said. "I was looking for Harmony." He turned and Cedes smiled at him so he wouldn't see she was about to open the car door and throw up in the gutter. "I wanted somebody I could talk to, somebody I didn't have to charm and please, somebody it just felt good to be with." He shook his head. "I just didn't realize it until now."

"Well, good luck on that," Cedes said brightly.

"Pay attention, Mercy," he said. "I was dead in the water the minute you sat down on my picnic table." Suddenly Cedes realized there was no air anywhere. That would account for the dizziness.

"It took me a while to figure it out," he said. "I wasn't used to anybody like you. Because there isn't anybody else like you."

Keep breathing, Cedes thought.

"And then you ripped up at me in the street in front of Rory's, and I thought, Well, the hell with you. For about five minutes. Then I just wanted you back. You're the only woman I've ever wanted back. And I've been trying to figure out a way to get you back ever since."

Cedes sucked in some air before she passed out.

"I love you," Sam said. "I know it's insane, we've only known each other a few weeks, we need more time, I get all of that, but I love you and it's not going to change."

Cedes took another deep breath. You needed air to talk.

"For God's sake, Cedes, say something," Sam said.

"I love you," Cedes said on a breath. "I've loved you forever."

"That'll do it," Sam said and reached for her.