I had noticed that the people were washing in the nearby river, and also that no one except me wore any clothes? After several days there was the soun...d of children chattering in a most excitable way. I ventured out of my little hut to see what was going on.A boat had moored up alongside the riverbank, and the men of the village were unloading various boxes and crates. I turned to go back into my hut when a voice boomed out from the direction of the boat."Hey, How's it all going?" I couldn't. That was perhaps the biggest shadow of our marriage.I did not talk to my parents again until Pierce was eight years old; I wanted him to know his grandparents and for their grandparents to know him, since he could not meet his other grandparents whom had died years ago in a plane crash. Pierce's father had no other family and I wanted my child to have some kind of family reference. Dale agreed with me but let me be the one who handled the matter, only forced by circumstances would he speak with. Even though he would rather face sudden death than come back home right now, he did as his mother requested, but that didn’t mean he had to be around everyone all the time. The Stones were a large family, but Dante didn’t care to mingle with the people who shared his last name. He didn’t want to hear about family events, babies, marriages, or scandals, he would rather talk about business he had more important things to focus on. Fortunately for Dante, he had taken extra classes this semester,. "Great," she said relieved. "In an hour then." I hung up and held the phone to my chest for a moment, breathing deeply. What am I getting myself into? And what am I getting that girl into? What was happening to me? I would have to contact Missy before that meeting, if only to see if she approved of me meeting with someone. Ten minutes later, and I had wrapped up the couple in my office, trying to get them out quickly so I had still time to get prepared and, hopefully, get another call. Just as.