‘Very well, Jules, I’ll do all the giggling. Thomas,’ Saint continued, ‘have you decided anything yet? Is the world to have another doctor?’
Thomas played with the mashed sweet potato on his plate for a bit. ‘I have decided that I can’t go back East, Saint,’ he said at last. ‘I have no money and I can’t drag Penelope with me.’
‘So,’ Jules said, ‘you’ve decided to marry her?’
Thomas nodded, a crooked grin on his lips. ‘The problem is, of course, that she’s never qQQ
known a day’s want in her life. And I refuse to take money from her father.’
‘You might have to,’ Saint said bluntly. He raised his hand to stem Thomas’ protest. ‘No, listen to me. You’ve some years of study ahead of you, with no income. Either you negotiate a … loan from Bunker, or you don’t get married.’
‘But you did,’ Jules said.
‘Only at the very end,’ Saint said, ‘and it wasn)t easy for a while. Incidentally, Thomas, I was speaking to Dr. Samuel Pickett at the Seamen’s Hospital about you. He needs good men, and at least he’s an excellent doctor. You’d get good training there. Not as extensive as in New York or Boston, but adequate.’
Thomas brightened considerably. ‘He’d take me on, really?’
‘Yes,’ Saint said. He didn’t add that he himself would provide funds during Thomas’ instruction period.
‘You could live here, Thomas.’
But Thomas was frowning. ‘What about Penelope?’
‘You’re having problems fighting her ofR’ Saint asked, his wide grin revealing his white teeth.
‘Yes, I am.’Thomas sighed. ‘And myself as well,’ he added.
389
‘You could marry and live at the Stevenson mansion,’ Jules said.
‘Damn,’ Thomas said. ‘I don’t know.’ He smiled suddenly. ‘Do you know what Bunker Stevenson offered me? He’s willing to give me the foundry as a sort of wedding present. Penelope’s dowry, I suppose.’
‘That sounds like a financially wise solution,’ said Saint.
‘He wants me to run the place. I told him I wanted to be a doctor, and he stared at me like I was one of Jules’s arc-eye ravenfish.’
‘If I were you, Thomas,’ Jules said, ‘I think I’d let Penelope convince her father that you’d be the greatest doctor in San Francisco, after Michael, of course. And it’s an arc-eye hawkfish, Thomas.’
‘I’m glad to see you happy, jules,’Thomas said to his sister later that evening when they were alone for a few minutes. ‘It’s about time. Saint’s a fine man, and for a woman, and my little sister, you’re not so bad either.’
‘Yes,’ said Jules, ‘yes, he is.’ She heard Michael’s boo-ted step upstairs and smiled wistfully.
‘My little virgin sister is no more,’Thomas said, grinning at her lecherously.
She poked him in the stomach.
‘You sure you want me to move back in? I don’t want to find myself lying in my bed at Ion
night listening to your … well, your devotion to your husband.’
‘He is equally devoted,’ said Jules, refusing to let him bait her into blushing.
‘I’ll just bet he is! Good night, love. I’ll bring my meager belongings back tomorrow.’ ‘I’ll knit you something to cover your ears at night, brother!’
‘I simply don’t understand how we fit so well,’ Jules said, her eyes resting on her husband’s swollen manhood. ‘You are so large.’
‘Fate,’ Saint managed.
‘And so different from me. Now, my love, I want you to relax so I can begin my lessons.’ Jules delighted in the results of her
handiwork, and Saint thought he’d die from the pleasure of it. ‘No,’ he gasped, pulling her away, ‘no more.’
She gave him a slightly dazed, very pleased smile. ‘I don’t pull you away,’ she said in a voice of reproach.
‘It’s not quite the same thing,’ he said. ‘Now, my beautiful, greedy, wife, it’s my turn.’
‘Oh dear,’ she gasped. ‘Thomas –
‘I’ll put my hand over your mouth,’ said
q01
Saint. ‘Just promise not to bite me inadvertently, all right?’
The first explosion rocked the house and the bed. Saint, instantly alert, leapt out of bed and rushed to the window. He could see nothing.
‘What was that?’ Jules asked, sitting up. ‘God only knows. Whatever and wherever it was, I’ll be needed, Thomas too.’