" His reply was short and sweet and told Nicole all she needed to know. She sighed. Strangely, she found she didn't care any more. Much of the pain an...d horror had passed and she needed to move on with her life. Lying here, immobile in her hospital bed, she looked at the face of the man she had loved so deeply and found it hard to understand why she had ever loved him at all. He seemed so much smaller and less worthy than he had before. He was the past, not the future.But Kate was her sister and. "I suppose you think women should be kept in the kitchen or the bedroom until summoned, do you?"The game was on."Heck no! They can do some gardening too! And somebody has to clean the rest of the house. Might as well be the women 'cause the men have to work all day," he said haughtily."Them's fightin' words, buster," she growled."Oh yeah? What kind of fight would you like?" he said ominously as he began to walk toward her lounge chair. When he reached her side he had a maniacal look on his. ’ ‘Yes and she sure saw you pal,’ Quipped Brian. Robin added, ‘She’s quite a looker.’ Martin retorted, ‘Shut up Robin.’ None of the men pursued it. They knew an injured player when they saw one. They left him alone. ———— The mens business meeting went pretty much the way they expected it. They got some information and gave some up. The five member team that included Martin agreed to meet again in a week to reassess where they were. Until then they each had their own work to do. Martin got back. " Okay fine," James said and started working on breakfast.It was another five minutes before Shawn emerged from the bedroom, now dressed in shorts and a sleeveless tank top. "Morning," James said when Shawn came into the kitchen."Hey, got coffee?" James pointed to the coffee pot that his mother-in-law had shown him how to set the day before she left. It was one of those things that James had Molly ask Shawn about. Did either of them drink coffee? When he found out that Shawn did indeed drink.