The first movie led to a second, and then Chinese delivery. The rain hadn't let up, and neither of them felt like getting soaked. They'd spent a lazy day in, which was a nice change from Melanie dragging her through the city to various museums and art galleries Caroline that had lost interest in on the second day of their visit.

Caroline had left Melanie tucked in on the couch with a book for Flora's goodnight call.

Currently Flora's face filled her iPhone screen in extreme close up. In an instant the perspective zoomed back and Caroline made wide impressed eyes.

"You are always the loveliest in your dinosaur pajamas. Absolutely no doubt."

"Thank you mum." Flora's brown eyes squished in delight and she wiggled her hips back and forth, soaking up the approval. The green dinosaurs danced as she did so, herbivores and carnivores from all evolutionary periods coexisting in harmony on a sea of orange.

"Can you name them for me?" They named the dinosaurs on a weekly basis, as these were Flora's favorite pajamas. A gift from Melanie that had gone over with blazing success.

"Yes!" Flora wiggled more and pointed to her stomach. "Allosaurus."

"Very good. And?"

Flora pointed to her hip. "Stegosaurus."

"Mmmmm hmmmm." Caroline nodded, mouth parted and turned up and eyebrows high.

"T-Rex."

"What else do we call the T-Rex?"

"Tyranosaurus Rex." Flora's alliteration became deliberate and her nose wrinkled as she concentrated.

"Oh very good Flora, well done." Caroline beamed and Flora beamed right back.

The camera zoomed forward again and up to Flora's smile, and Caroline tilted her head back and chuckled.

"When are you coming home, mum?"

"In just a few days, darling. Can I tell you how much I miss you?"

Caroline could not see Flora wiggling from this angle, but the camera danced and back forth. "Yes mummy. Tell me."

"I miss you more than all of the dinosaurs that ever walked the planet."

In the background Caroline heard Gillian chuckle and Calamity reading out loud to herself from Mr. Bump. She missed several of the words, but Caroline judged her phonetic attack strategy as quite strong.

"I love you even more than that, mummy."

"Oh that makes my heart grow a million times bigger." Caroline poked at the screen, wishing she were able to poke Flora right in her chubby cheeks.

"That's impossible, mum."

The practical Caroline in Flora roared forward and she chuckled at Flora and at herself. Physically Flora was so Kate. Hands and fingers beautifully long and agile and just waiting to play a piano. Thin eyebrows that made her brown eyes jump from her face and a pert mouth always ready with the right thing to say to melt her mother's heart, which was a daily occurrence.

She thought of Kate, the balance she'd brought to Caroline, would have brought to them together as parents. Greg wasn't exactly a stand-in, but he kept Caroline's practicality from overpowering the sensitivity in Flora – and in turn Flora brought out all the vulnerability in her.

Flora lost track of the phone as she yawned wide and Caroline was treated to an extreme close-up of a row of small white molars.

"It's bed time, isn't it?"

"Yes mum."

"And you'll be mummy's good girl and go right to bed for Aunt Gillian? One and done on the story time?"

"Yes mum."

"Oh you are perfect, little miss. And I love you." Caroline's blue eyes twinkled and crinkled at the mobile, which she held close looking right into Flora's happy gaze.

"Love you too mummy." More wiggling of the camera.

"Back to Aunt Gillian. Off you scoot."

Flora handed the phone to Gillian and Caroline heard her scamper off to her cousin and begin giggling. Perhaps it was physically impossible for her heart to grow a million times larger, but in the moment it seemed close.

Gillian blew out a hefty breath and ran a hand through her bangs as she plopped down at the kitchen table. Caroline saw a pile of dishes in the sink behind her. Having Flora and Calamity in her charge and Robbie apparently still in an awful mood was piling it on.

"How are you, Gillian?"

"Half-past knackered."

Caroline winced. "I can imagine. Checked on the car today. It will be done on schedule. So I was thinking that you should just keep Flora in Halifax and I'll come get her there? I've put you out enough."

"That's fine. But she's really no trouble. Think it's been good for Calamity to have her around. They've been giggling a lot." Gillian glanced off to where Caroline assumed the current giggles were coming from, and smiled.

"Have you cracked the Robbie mystery yet? How is he?"

"Haven't. And he's still being a twit. Dad tried and got nowhere with him while I was at your place. Took him for a pint yesterday and apparently Dave was at the pub when they walked in. So Robbie insists they go to a different one, but wouldn't give up why when Dad pressed him."

"I can't imagine what it would be that he couldn't share it with Alan."

"I've been racking my brain. Got a few ideas. But none of them makes sense."

Caroline looked down and picked at the comforter on the bed. "Okay. I'm just going to lay the question out there. So don't hate me for it. You're not shilly-shallying about are you? Could Dave have heard something about you and said something to Robbie?"

Gillian rolled her eyes. "Oh for fucks sake. Here we are having a decent conversation, and you have to go and off and act like – like you." She ran her hands through her bangs again and shook her head. "I mean, thanks for the vote of confidence Caroline." Gillian was up and pacing now, and Caroline wondered if she was feeling guilty or angry.

"Like I said, just asking. You can't blame me for wondering. And you didn't really give me a direct answer, did you? John or one of the others hasn't been sniffing around lately?"

"NO. And I mean 'NO.' It's been solid with Robbie. Actually, up until his suspension, things were better than I deserve. I know we hit that rough patch about two years ago but we're on the other side of it now. And even then I didn't cheat on him. Not since we've been married."

"Okay. Okay. I believe you. I just can't imagine Robbie hitting Dave. John yes, but not Dave." Caroline smiled apologetically. "But I'd still pay money to see him punch John. Over sleeping with you." It still stung, but Caroline had finally embraced the hard-won realization that Gillian was far more important to her than any wounded pride or pain she suffered over John.

"You and me both." Gillian sat again. She looked down and fiddled with a kitchen towel next to her. "Well, I took you up on the offer and brought a bottle of Rioja back. I thought maybe a bottle of Spanish red might bring back some memories from our honeymoon there. I'll try to loosen Robbie up after the girls are down."

"Good luck. I hope you get some answers soon. And Gillian – thank you again for everything with Flora."

"Yah. Thanks. Night."

Caroline clicked off. Robbie was good for Gillian. She'd leveled out considerably since the wedding, and it was good to see her happy. She did believe Gillian, mostly. It seemed like she'd changed her spots. But when it came to Gillian and sex – well, it was a little like watching the sharks in Finding Nemo going vegetarian.

She wandered out to the living room to find Melanie curled up on the couch, zonked out with the giant Roald Dahl Omnibus spread across her chest. Mel occasionally read to Flora at bed time when she was over, but didn't jump on the line when Caroline made the goodnight calls.

Melanie was a dream with Flora. But as well as they got on, Mel resisted anything that hinted at real permanence – anything that might start qualifying her as a 'mum.' Another example of that final distance they couldn't seem to close the gap on.

Caroline crossed her arms and took the chance to study Melanie as she slept, the slow rise and fall of her chest, the occasional frown passing through her eyebrows or pursing her lips. What was she dreaming of? What was Caroline dreaming of? Could she imagine a lifetime with this woman?

She could – and she wanted it. She'd dated two other women before she and Melanie met. The first, a set up through Gary, was an absolute and predictable disaster. But Caroline figured there had to be a first after Kate, and it probably wouldn't go well anyway she approached it. She put her head down and got through it.

The second had been a lovely woman, an instructor she'd met at Flora's weekly music meet-ups at the community center. They'd done well for a couple months, before the woman had begged off and admitted she just wasn't up for raising a toddler.

She sighed and picked up the book, marking the page for Melanie who now had a smile on her lips.

"Can we go to bed now?" Melanie slowly opened her green eyes and Caroline couldn't help but love the sight of them.

"Absolutely. Come on." Caroline held out her hand and Melanie took it, but pulled Caroline down to the couch with her.

"Can we have a little bit of mischief before we go?"

Melanie snuck a kiss on her cheek, and then several moving progressively lower, and Caroline laughed.

"I think that can be arranged."

As she finished up tucking in the girls, Gillian heard Robbie coming in the front door. She gave the pair a final glance, clicked off the light and took her time going downstairs, unsure what mood she'd find Robbie in.

"Little cold tonight. Thought I'd go check on the sheep before turning in." He stripped off his barn jacket and hung it at the door, looking at anything but Gillian as he did so.

"Thanks." Gillian hoisted the bottle of red she'd brought back from Caroline's. "After a couple of days straight with the girls I could use a good grown-up chat. Share a glass or two?"

Robbie stretched upward, then rubbed a hand over his stomach and cast a wary glance at her. "Yeah." He nodded, but it seemed more to himself. "Sounds good, actually."

They settled in on the couch and it was a while before either of them spoke. Gillian or Robbie would occasionally rise to add a piece of wood to the fire and nod to the other. But the silence migrated from strained to cozy by the time they emptied the bottle.

Robbie put his arm up on the couch, and Gillian tucked herself under and began to worry at the buttons of his red and black checked flannel shirt.

"Can I know, ever, what happened between you and Dave?"

He paused, and again it seemed to Gillian that whatever he was debating in his head had more to do with him than with her. "I guess I've ducked it long enough. Frankly, it was ridiculous. Don't know why I reacted the way I did."

Gillian knew that was a load of crap. Whatever caused Robbie to blow a gasket, he knew full well and just wasn't up for telling. She waited him out and he finally spilled. Caroline had been on the right track with the wine.

"It was all Cheryl's fault. Did you know that he's been shagging her?"

Gillian sat up and swatted his stomach. What the hell was Dave doing running around with Robbie's ex-girlfriend? "No! Doesn't he understand how bonkers she is? She'll land him in more than a fistfight one of these days."

"Don't know what's he's thinking." Robbie scratched at his beard. "So, what got me riled was, he says to me that one night - when Cheryl was tipsy - she told him that you and Caroline slept together. That day we took Raff to the races and Caroline slept over after you got back from that hotel?"

"Well that's the stupidest thing I've heard in while. I wouldn't sleep with her and that's the absolute truth of it. Never. If I did take up with women, which I won't, it won't be with Caroline—she really is like a sister to me. And she's stuck up. And insufferable. And she's not my type."

"I know that." Robbie looked down at her. "Wait. What do you mean, she's not your type?"

Gillian sat up and crossed her legs, her wine-haze evaporated by turn in the conversation.

"As in missing the important bits, not my type."

"Good to know." Robbie chuckled. "So when I told him he was full of shit, and reminded him what a nutter Cheryl is, he said she had nothing on someone who'd be crazy enough to sleep with that asshole Paul." He shrugged. "I lost it, went off and slugged him. Wouldn't have done it if I wasn't four pints in, but I was. And I did."

"Did he hit you back?"

"We got into a scuffle but we'd had quite a few and were both too far gone to really land anything. Of course it all got back to sergeant. To his credit, Dave tried to take all the blame but the big man decided we were both at fault, so both of us got the suspension."

"Eh. Well. Figures. You two going to sort it?"

"I suppose. What's the use of having a best mate if you can't get into it every so often? He called today after he heard that I walked out of that pub. We're going to grab a pint tomorrow and hug it out, so to speak. Think he's realized what's what and given Cheryl the boot, too."

"That'll help. All the way around."

"Yeah."

Silence fell again and Gillian stood. "What say we go upstairs and I can remind you why you're my type?"

Robbie cracked a crooked smile. "I like the sound of that."