I know most Karkallian men don’t mind, but I’m possessive of the women who claim me.“If Tiyya didn’t almost demand that I have sex with other ...women, I wouldn’t. I don’t feel that it’s fair when I expect them to not have sex with other men,” I explained.“Even though you were asleep when I got here last night, the others took care of me. I can live with just one man,” she agreed, then hugged and kissed me again.“Terran men give their intended a ring. Is there any custom like that here?” I. "Yeah," I said. "Trojan lubricated with reservoir tip, to be exact." I don't know how something like that could have happened," she blurted, her eyes looking everywhere but my face. "I mean... couldn't it be one of yours?" I had a vasectomy," I said. "And even before that, Cathy was on the pill. I haven't used a condom in more than ten years." But maybe... I mean isn't it possible that Cathy... you know..." Meghan, please," I said, holding up my hand. "Let's not go there. Cathy and I haven't. “You’re right,” I said, staring out at the woods. “It was a foolish fantasy that started in eighth grade when your sister walked into class and ended, finally, once and for all, a few minutes ago. I came to tell you that I’d lived that foolish fantasy for too long, and to apologize for leading you down a path that would take us off a cliff if we followed it blindly. We tried a few times to discard the fantasy, and failed. Now, I think we both have. So, here we are.”“Yes, here we are,” she said.. Fate was about to step in again...Sunday afternoon, Barbara Adams came to see her good friend Diana. She couldn't go to the hospital. She'd had an intense aversion to hospitals ever since her husband was killed—Diana understood that.She told Barbara what one of the detectives had said.She threw a fit. "WHAT?! How dare he say something like that! He's a detective ... it's not his job to decide which cases warrant investigating! Charles, how could you let him get away with saying something like.