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years earlier for her birthday.

"Do you like her?"

Sharon sighed. "I only met her once, briefly. She's a nice girl, what can I say? The twins seem to like her."

Jerry sat on the edge of the mattress, his shoulders sagging. "It shouldn't come as a shock. Seth's young and healthy. I didn't know he was dating. He hasn't before now, has he?"

"I wouldn't know."

Jerry looked away, as if the subject were an uncomfortable one. "It's not that I object, mind you, it's just that I've always thought of Seth as Pammy's husband."

"I did, too, but it's time. Past time. Like you said, Seth's young and healthy. From what he's told me about Reba, meeting her was like a gift from God. It's the same for her, apparently, although he didn't mention why."

"You say the twins like her?"

"Very much." It was one thing to accept this other woman as part of Seth's life and quite another to view her as a possible stepmother to Judd and Jason. Since she'd taken over Pamela's role until the last four months, Sharon had suffered more than one qualm. The fact that the children were eager for their father to remarry was confirmation that she'd done her job well.

"If the kids like her, then that's good enough for me." Jerry tended to see things in black and white. As far as he was concerned, the matter was settled in his mind.

"It is for me, too," she added with only the slightest hesitation.

Jerry removed his clothes and climbed into bed, then sat up, with his hands braced behind his back, his elbows jutting out at his sides. She'd been dressing and undressing in front of her husband for nearly forty years; it was ridiculous to be shy about doing so now.

Jerry studied her as she self-consciously removed her clothes. "You're a fine figure of a woman, Sharon."

Even more ridiculous was the wave of color that flooded her cheeks. "Thank you," she mumbled, embarrassed and eager to turn off the light.

"Will you remarry?"

The question came out of the blue and caught her by surprise.

"Remarry? Me?" she snapped. "Of course not, why would I do anything so foolish?" She didn't mean to sound waspish, but she was genuinely taken aback by the absurdity of the question.

"You're the one who asked for the divorce," he reminded her, his jaw tightening. "For all I know there might be someone else in your life right now."

For a moment Sharon was too stunned to respond. "Do you mean to say you've been living with me all these years and you still don't know me, Jerry Palmer?"

Jerry pinched his lips tightly closed.

Sharon tossed back the covers and climbed between the sheets - only this night she was the one who rolled onto her side and presented her back to her husband. She tucked the sheet more securely about her shoulder and held it tightly in place at her neck.

"I...I didn't mean that to sound the way it did," Jerry admitted gruffly a couple of moments later.

She heard his regret and sighed brokenly. "I know."

"I was curious, is all, but you're right, it was an insulting question." He turned off the light and hunkered down under the covers.

Sharon heard the even flow of his breathing.

"Who knows what the future holds for any of us?" he whispered.

"What about you?" She repositioned herself so she was on her back. They lay side by side, each staring up at the ceiling, being careful not to touch one another. "Will you remarry?"

"I doubt it," he answered after a thoughtful pause. "I've loved you all these years. I...I can't imagine loving somebody else.... But then, like I said earlier, who knows what the future holds? Not me. Definitely not me."

Chapter 23

Swallowing angry words is much more palatable than having to eat them afterward.

- Mrs. Miracle

Emily Merkle poured herself a cup of freshly brewed tea and made herself comfortable at the kitchen table. A slow, easy smile spread across her face as she gave herself a mental pat on the back. Everything was falling neatly into place. Seth and Reba were thick as thieves; she glanced heavenward and asked pardon for the analogy. Certainly they had enormous problems to work out, given Reba's troubles with her sister and Seth's obsession with the past, but her prayer was that love would see them through all that.

She wasn't nearly as comfortable with what was happening between Sharon and Jerry. Those two were stubborn, equally at fault, each willing to blame the