trepidation, hoping she wasn't going to be unwillingly let in on Ruth and Frank's bedroom habits.
"Chicken butt!" Henry laughed gleefully, slapping his little knee. "You know why?"
"Why?" Laila asked, laughing along with him.
"Chicken thigh!" This really set Henry off into gales of laughter. His small face scrunched up in the sheer pleasure of the joke, and Laila loved him so much she had to suddenly bend down and kiss his sweet, soft cheeks until he yelled and pushed away.
"Yuck," he said resentfully, rubbing away the marks she'd left. "I'm getting out of here!"
Watching him go, Hal smiled. "He's a great kid."
"Yes." Laila sighed. "They all are."
"You'd be a great mom," Hal said.
"Sure." Laila laughed, though she didn't feel like it.
"No, I mean it." Hal took her hand. "You're great with him. With all of them."
"Someday," she said, and stopped. Then shrugged, as though it didn't matter. "Should we find the others?"
Hal nodded. He didn't let go of her hand. They walked down the hall toward the stairs leading to the lodge's lower level. How had something as simple and complicated as a few kisses made holding his hand seem so natural?
"What is your mate's favorite color?" The young man read the question off the card, then looked at the contestants expectantly.
Hal had been able to answer most of the questions so far, hair color, eye color, height. But now he stared at his blank card and fiddled with his pen. What to answer? He snuck a glance around at the other men sitting in the folding chairs. All of them were busy scribbling. He was the only one with a blank look on his face. He thought hard, and decided to take a guess. Laila looked good in purple, and he'd noticed she wore it often. Purple, he wrote on the card.
"What is your mate's favorite perfume?" That's easy. Roses. She smelled like roses.
"Now here's a hard one, guys. What size shoe does your mate wear?"
At least Hal wasn't the only one with a blank look this time. The crowd laughed and teased as the men who'd gamely agreed to play the Bramblewood game shrugged and scribbled.
"All right, now let's bring out our ladies and have them answer the questions! Whoever gets the most right wins!" The young man, dressed in a pullover with Bramblewood's logo embroidered on it, waved the cards in the air. "Ready?"
The crowd hooted. Bubbe Esther led the ladies in, and they took their seats next to their spouses and boyfriends. Laila's expression was excited, but Hal knew she was faking. Neither of them had volunteered for the game, but had been recruited to fill the last empty slot. He knew she was worried his answers would expose how little he knew about her.
The emcee went down the line, asking all the women to answer the same question. After they gave their answer, their respective partner was supposed to show what he'd written on the card. Most of the men, Hal was relieved to note, got a slap or an outraged squawk when they read their answers.
It was their turn. "Brown," Laila answered confidently when the announcer asked her eye color.
Hal looked at the answer he'd written. "Brown with amazing flecks of gold, like the finest expensive caramel."
Laila stared at him in amazement. The catcalls and teasing shouts coming from the audience turned to oohs and ahs. The announcer chuckled and gave them the point.
She looked at him again with wonder when he named her perfume, favorite color and shoe size all correctly. That he'd only guessed at the shoes didn't seem to matter. Out of all the couples playing along, Hal was the man who got nearly all the questions right. The only one he missed was her middle name, Eliana, and he'd had no way of even guessing that.
"We have a winner!" The announcer declared when the game ended. "Hal and Laila!"
The family members and strangers in the small room cheered and hollered. Everyone congratulated them. The prize was a weekend for two at Bramblewood. The package included the honeymoon suite with private whirlpool tub, champagne breakfast in the room and a horse and carriage ride, plus dinner at a neighboring gourmet restaurant.
"Laila, it looks like you and David will be coming to Bramblewood for your honeymoon, just like me and Zayde did." Bubbe Esther linked her one arm through each of Laila and Hal's. "Oy, sixty years ago. How time passes! I wish the same joy for both of you that your grandfather