“Will you take a gun with you, just in case?”“No,” he said sorrowfully. “I couldn’t afford to renew the licence.”Penny snorted and then ...pealed with laughter. At last she said: “I’ll teach you how to make a catapult.”That was too much for Peter who roared with laughter and then reached across the corner of the table and squeezed her hand.“Oh, Penny!” he exclaimed. “I’m so glad you happened to us.”The laughter left Penny’s eyes. “So am I,” she whispered. “Very, very glad and thankful.”The sparkle. When Roxie emerged a few minutes later she felt a lot better. She’d brushed her teeth and washed the sleep out of her eyes, and a few other things. She still felt clean from the last night’s shower. She found Phillipe waiting for her.Roxie followed him to his car, an older model Saturn and soon they were on a country road.“Who was the waitress I saw?” Roxie asked.“That’s Marguerite,” Phillipe answered.“I don’t think she likes me much.”Phillipe laughed, like he had in the restaurant when she was. " I reached in my pocket and pulled out a simple gold band, which I slipped on the ring finger of her left hand. I moved over then to Brenda. She was already crying, overcome at what I was doing. I leaned down and kissed her too."I do. I love you, Brenda." I took her ring out, and put it on her finger too. I looked back at Emily. She was staring at the wedding band on her finger. I was seeing that she now understood what I was doing with all the X's. I moved over to Shirley, but she grabbed me. By now Geeta had been around the goddess enough that she could engage in humour of this sort, but of course she had to be careful, and she knelt as she replied to the goddess, tempering with a demonstration of respect her amusing reply to the goddess's equally amusing remark. The patrons at the other tables observed this exchange without understanding it, of course. But somehow it did not seem unnatural that the three very beautiful young woman were showing such deference to the younger and.