Skip to the dinner before leaving.

The placings in the dining room were set for four people. Two placings side by side. One across from the two and one adjacent at what would have been the opposite of the head of the table.

In the kitchen the cook and his helper prepared feverishly for the dinner, the last minute things always remembered at the last minute. Even with the list the cook and Gemma had created the day before things crept up and smacked them in the face.

"Careful with that skreep, it was expensive and it's the last on the island at the moment. There's no replacing that one." the cook said, while he was checking the white sauce he was making for the fish.

"Even if it weren't the last one, we wouldn't be able to prepare another in time to do the appetizer any good." the assistant said lightly, careful to not sound like she was annoyed at his micromanagement.

Outside James was dressed in his finest waiting for his pregnant girlfriend, Marna Joxine. He paced nervously.

Marna meanwhile was watching him as he paced, unawares that she was right around the bend on the path to the house. She smiled fondly at the father of her child, and hopefully children. As a child she had wanted to be a warrior, and in fact until she had found out about her being with child that was her lifelong goal. Amazing how priorities can change in an instant.

She had always been attracted to both the Caruthers boys, but James' oxymoronic shy confidence had won her heart a little over two years before. She'd found his exuberance in learning cute, his intelligence down right sexy, and his ability to see beyond her tough exterior and see her for a woman heart melting. He had a quiet and calming strength. His brother was physically superior, but James was no weakling with a more wiry body. His hands were strong and skilled. Marna smiled remembering how skilled those hands were.

Her smile faded, and now her James was going to tell her something she may not want to hear. When Julien talked to her yesterday she felt there was something he wasn't saying outright. Crossing her arms she muttered, "Oh, Xeltan please don't let it be to tell me that he found someone smarter than me. I love him." With a calming breath she walked up the rest of the path to the Caruther's house.