The twins took Jace inside to meet their sister Heather and the specialguest, Ellie Joseph. Ellie caused Ryan to blush when he entered, whileHeather's... big hug caused him to flinch over her direct action to let himknow that she knew who he was and why he was there. It was a targetedhug, but she wanted it known that she knew about him and wasn't going tohold it against him.Carl gave Ryan a look that told him not to dare saying anything, whichEllie caught and asked about. It led Henry to spit out,. ”“When are you thinking of asking her?”“ I don’t really know but I thought I’d ask you first. Obviously, we will have to wait till May when the divorce is final.”“Hmm… so why don’t you ask her at the family party in two week’s time?” I knew that party was being arranged to celebrate the eighteenth birthday of Sally and Richard’s daughter, Jesse, a clever girl who was studying to be a vet and living in college halls. “That could work out,” I said, “but isn’t it Jesse’s party?”“Yes, but you know. See me through the window earlier?"Once again she blinked twice. I swallowed, hard."Do you know what I was doing?" This time, she didn't just blink twice, but four times in succession, rapidly. Her eyes grew wide, there was even excitement in them, and again, another emotion I hadn't seen before, until now. I was again dumbfounded by all this, not at all sure what to think about, or make of it. As I sat there, I felt movement in her hand once again as she managed to lift it, placing it over. "Yes, are you still with him?" Ritchie asked."Err no. He err got cancer and died," Julia lied."That must have been awful and you are only twenty three. How long did ittake you to get over Frank's death?" Ritchie asked."Oh about six months, I was pretty broken up about it," Julia replied.Malcolm felt he was doing pretty well.Ritchie put down his pen and looked directly into Julia's blue eyes."I think we're going to have to concoct a better back storey than this,"He said simply. Julia/Malcolm was.