Sarah went into Kelly's for coffee. She saw Emily sitting there at a table.

"Hi, Emily," she said.

"Oh, Sarah, hi, sit down," Emily said. She was unusually cheerful looking, at least, to Sarah.

"I haven't seen you here since I've been back," Sarah said, deciding she would take five minutes to talk to Emily.

"I was trying to avoid this guy, Sean," Emily said. "Now I don't care. He lives in one of the rooms upstairs."

"Sean Monroe?"

"Yes. You know him?"

"He was the lawyer for the other side in the accident case. I mean, for your sister, sorry. I thought he was dating Skye. How come you avoided him?"

"I was dating him and then he cut me for Skye, more or less. But now I don't care any more. I've got another guy anyway."

"Great, who is that?"

"Wylie Doyle is his name. He's a student at PCU, and drummer of a rock band. The Dissenters."

"Yvonne Edwards' band."

"Right, you've heard of them. Have you heard them? They play the club downstairs a lot."

"No," Sarah said. "I would like to. Elizabeth's niece in law is dating another one of them. You must know her. Taryn."

"Oh, I know Taryn," Emily said. "What a joy she is. She's dating another guy too, but Toby doesn't know. Everybody knows but Toby. And we don't know whether he'll hate us more for telling him or for not telling him. And another thing is that she hasn't turned 18 yet."

"Maybe Toby knows and doesn't care," Sarah said.

"Could be, but it doesn't seem likely," Emily said. "I just doubt he'll like it one bit. But if we don't tell him, she might just quit seeing the other guy on her own, and why make them unhappy when it might work out in the end? I don't know. I can't even decide what I'd want a friend of mine to do in the same situation."

"It's Toby's problem to decide if he wants them to be exclusive and to tell her that and to decide what to do if she doesn't want that."

"Yes. I think that's true, too. I just feel bad for him. She must be letting him think they are. I was thinking I could tell him. It wouldn't matter if he was mad at me. Then his three best friends, his band mates, would be off the hook."

"What do they think?"

"Wylie thinks he'll find out on his own anyway and that he won't know we knew. If he ever finds that out, at first he'll yell at us for not telling him then forgive us."

Sarah smiled. "Logical," she said.

"Ian thinks we should just tell him and get it over with," Emily went on. "Yvonne is like me, doesn't know which way to go. She thinks he might understand why we didn't say anything and let him handle it on his own. On the other hand, it is gossip they would normally talk about, and we go out of our way not to, as if we're keeping it like a secret from him."

"Amazing how one little fact can cause so much pressure," Sarah said.

"It is. I wonder if back when I dated Sean, I'd have thought he and Skye should tell me what they were doing. I just found out for myself. If one of my other brothers found out, I don't know what I'd want them to do, but I'd respect what they did decide to do. I think they'd have gone and yelled at both Sean and Skye, for one thing."

"That's a thought. Go and yell at Taryn about it. Then that makes it more obvious that you know, though. That's the risk there."

"Taryn could then end up telling Toby about us knowing," Emily said. "That's true. A part of me says let Toby handle it himself. There must be signs. To Toby, there must be something. I think he could end up sometime confiding in me, too, like saying he thinks Taryn could be cheating because of this or that. Then what? It'll be different. I'll feel more like I should tell him. It makes me interested in doing sneaky and manipulative things. Like try to find some way to get Toby to find out. In that London Underground, with Toby in the band there and the other boyfriend as the bartender, it amazes me that they don't find out about each other. I almost think the bartender must know about Toby. Then he makes the moves to hide it."

"That's a good point," Sarah said. "But you're right, it will come out one way or another. Taryn can't hide this forever. I know her. She's Elizabeth's husband's niece. She's going to trip up on the secret somehow."

"Yes. Taryn is a character. How she got herself into this, I don't know. But it's not a big surprise, somehow."

Sarah's sister was drinking coffee, too, with their mother, Dr. Jennifer Webber, in the hospital cafeteria.

"Have you seen Sarah?" Jennifer asked her daughter. "I haven't since she got her apartment."

"I've seen her," Elizabeth said. "She came over to the box car. We went out to the London Underground with Jason and Maureen. We saw Patti there, too. Dancing with this guy."

"Patti getting out? That's good."

"What do you think of the man Sarah is dating?"

"I haven't heard of any man Sarah is dating."

"She hasn't told you? That's odd. She must not think much of it, then."

"I'm sure she will tell me if there's anything to it."

"Yes, she must not think there really is."

"But she talked to you about it."

"A little. But I can't tell you anything if she hasn't."

"How is Patti doing?"

"As well as can be expected. Taryn is becoming a problem."

"That happens when people get divorced. Their children act out. Especially at that age. She's asserting her independence anyway. Now it is compounded."

"I guess you know all about that, Mom."

"A little, then friends, I hear their problems, too," Jennifer patted Elizabeth's hand. "It's not all you, you know."

"Good," Elizabeth said.

"What is Taryn doing?"

"Dating two guys, both of whom are dating a minor. They aren't minors. This is in reaction to her break-up with Jeremy, who was her high school boyfriend, who wanted to date other girls. She decided what is good for the gander is good for the goose."

"Hey, she's right! We have our equality, now."

"Then I suspect she is the minor involved in the drunk driving train incident."

"The one in the paper? That wasn't too bad. Nobody got hurt. But why do you think it was Taryn?"

"One of Taryn's boyfriends is Clay Delaney, the bartender at the London Underground. She went out to a party with him that night. His name got mentioned, because he's not a minor."

"So you think the minor who was drunk and drove the train off the tracks must have been Taryn."

"And it is so like Taryn. It is a thing Taryn would do."

Jennifer smiled.

"And don't think it is a thing I would have done, Mom, when I was her age," Elizabeth said. "I always had a thing for self preservation. I wouldn't have tried to get the car off the tracks. It would have gotten hit."

"I'm glad," Jennifer said. "That was a risk. Taryn could have been killed or badly hurt if she couldn't get the car started. The train would have been there and if she had the chance to get out and run, she'd still be close to the impact."

"True. It's a miracle she's still alive."

"Maybe she learned a lesson from it," Jennifer said.

"I hope it's not the wrong one," Elizabeth said. "She took that chance, but it worked."

"She's young and thinks she is indestructible," Jennifer said. "But that brush with death might bring her to see the light."

"I hope so," Elizabeth said. "Patti has enough trouble with Kevin leaving her and three children and her divorce proceedings."

"That's so sad, after all those years," Jennifer said. "To get a divorce."

"Yes. What comes over a guy like Kevin?"

Jennifer shrugged. "Mid-life crisis."

"Yeah, but does he have to act on it like that? At least Sarah's not into that. Like Kevin's girlfriend. How crazy do you have to be to go with a guy who is married and has three children?"

"Sarah would never get involved in something like that," Jennifer said. "Where'd that come from?"

"Oh, Mom, please talk to Sarah about it, I feel like I'm violating a confidence, even though I know she'll tell you. This guy, he's divorced. But at least he's already good and divorced."

"OK, don't worry, Elizabeth, dear," Jennifer said. "I'm sure Sarah doesn't mind. If she didn't want me knowing something, she wouldn't tell you either. We don't have secrets from each other. We just get busy with life, and don't have the time to talk that we might like to have."

"Don't you run into Sarah at the hospital?"

"Not that much, strangely. There's so many people there, and so many departments."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you're right. You don't run into Paul a lot, either. I just attributed that to psychiatrists being so specialized, they stay in their own little hallway."

So later that evening, Jennifer called her daughter Sarah and after work, they went over to Luke's bar.

"Funny I don't run into you as much at the hospital as I thought I would, Mom," Sarah said.

"Yes. It's fun to hear them page you, though."

"We're just like the Quartermaines now. They have to use first names too, because there are three Dr. Webbers, like there are three Dr. Quartermaines."

"That was always my goal in life," Jennifer joked. "To be like the Quartermaines."

Sarah laughed. "The three doctor thing will be enough."

"Have you seen much of Jason? Elizabeth said you went out with he and some other girl."

"He's got a new girlfriend. One of the nurses. Maureen Donovan. She's very nice."

"I think I know which one that is. She's very pretty?"

"Yes, that's her."

"So you are dating someone? Elizabeth said so, but when she found out you hadn't told me anything, she felt she could not tell me any more. Then she told me inadvertently that he was divorced, and wanted me to talk to you so she won't feel like she's violating a confidence."

"Oh, Elizabeth. She's against it. I think. Like divorce is so rare."

"I'm sure you would make a good decision who to go out with."

"I really think I have, this time."

"I'm glad, really is it one of the doctors?"

"No. A lawyer."

"What is Elizabeth's problem with that? That he's not a doctor?"

Sarah laughed. "No, it's just that I have anyone interested in me. You know that. I have the career, Elizabeth has the husband. She really needs confidence, Mom. I know her career isn't one with easily blocked out clearly marked successes. It could take forever to get recognition. V. is a good influence, but Elizabeth needs to have something on me, and for awhile, she had a husband first, though she's the younger sister."

"She's still got that."

"Yes, and I'm still early in that dating stage and could get my heart broke again, for all she knows. She says her caution is that she doesn't want that. Consciously maybe. Subconsciously, maybe not."

"Good thing she is married to a shrink. But be objective. Do her alleged concerns have validity?"

"She zeros in on one factor only, the most negative. Nothing is perfect."

"What's this negative factor?"

"Superficial. An age difference."

"Too young or too old? Wait, let me guess. You aren't the younger man type. It must be he is older."

"But that's not as important to me as other things."

"I'm sure you made a good decision."

"Thank you, Mom."

"Why is he right for you?"

"You always look at the positive, Mom. That's so wonderful. I'm not sure I can describe it in words. Because he is strong, confident, but when it comes to me, vulnerable."

"I like the sound of that."

"He is a risk taker but a calculated risk taker. He's not afraid of getting involved in things."

"And you've had enough of that. Guys who are afraid to get involved. You know that last guy, what's-his-name, I think he was just afraid you'd be more successful than he. And that's happened before. An older man already successful avoids that."

"It does. I can handle whatever disadvantages there are to his age. Elizabeth said maybe he doesn't want children now. He has children who are grown. But that's jumping way ahead. We'll see. If he thought he didn't want them, he wasn't thinking of the possibility of being with a woman young enough to still have them."

"He can still be talked into it."

"Right, Mom, and I hadn't even thought of it. I was just enjoying it all. It's not even a consideration yet. Elizabeth brings out every negative and no positives. The grown children won't like me. Well, they're OK with it. His friends won't like it. I already dealt with one who didn't. He apologized for jumping to conclusions. He'll have grandchildren soon, suggests Miss Liz. I doubt it. Neither daughter is married, both are into what their careers are. They're not into that part of life any more than I am. Oh, gee. As Liz would say, we're at the same stage. Well, I am a couple of years older than the older daughter."

"That's my Sarah," Jennifer sighed. "Ready to deal with anything. How many children are there?"

"Two daughters. I met them at a party he had."

"Just how much older are we talking here?"

"Twenty years."

"He had children young, then."

"Yes, he's younger than you and Dad, at least."

"Well, there's a positive. I want to feel at least a little matronly around your boyfriends."

Sarah laughed. "OK, maybe you can! You and Dad waited a while before you had us. I tried out being a little motherly towards the daughters. With the younger daughter, I felt successful."

"And the older?"

"She's unusual. She's such a character. I think there's a way to get along with her.

"I'm sure there is."

"She was friendly to me. I think they're both accepting of their parents divorce. Their mother left, her new husband was the home wrecker. All that happened before I met him, so I'm off the hook."

"That's how Elizabeth let on that he was divorced. She was talking about Kevin Polk's girlfriend and saying how at least Sarah's guy was already divorced. That girl got herself involved with an older, married man."

"I wouldn't do that in a million years."

"Of course not. Let me know how it goes, OK?"

"I will, Mom. Thank you."