Rhonda knew Tommy wasn't telling her everything about his previous night's adventures with Camille and Eric, but didn't mind. Her man sometimes left out tiny details he thought might upset her—or that might embarrass him. She also knew that if she pressed him even mildly he would tell her all. For now, she preferred to walk on in silence, happy to be shoulder to shoulder with her other half after a long night at work and a wonderful breakfast.

As they approached their building, she realized she wasn't yet sleepy and pondered what they might do until she dozed off. Something occurred to her on the way up the stairs. "Don't you dare go to Chicago tonight and not send back pictures of the girls," she said in her best tone of authority.

Tommy's laugh said her words hadn't had the desired effect. "When have I ever gone anywhere and not sent pictures?"

"Well, A," she said, "you don't like the girls. And B, I know how you and your drinking bud are when you get together." She gave him a long look as he unlocked the door. "If I read about another Chicago Fire in the next two weeks, I'll know who to blame."

He couldn't hide a smile and opened the door for her to enter. "I haven't burned a city in ages ... and was nowhere near Chicago the first time that happened." His tone had changed to one of polite patience. "And I love the girls as much as you do ... whether they like me or not. In fact, they're the reason I'm going."

"Oh, don't tell me this is anything more than the pub crawl it is." She gave him one of her crooked smiles and wandered into the living room, where she slipped off her shoes, wiggled from her uniform, and lay on the couch.

She stretched her full length and began wiggling her toes. Tommy followed a few moments later. Taking a seat at the far end of the couch, he cradled her feet and began to rub.

"You haven't seen much of Sam since the girls showed up, have you? He's a different man. After sixty plus years as a bachelor, the girls are the center of his life. He worries, dotes, and frets like an old grandpa. They missed out on so much while they were locked away, so all he wants is for them to be happy, educated, and ready for life."

"That's the part I didn't quite get," she said, nibbling an index finger. "What are you going to teach them?"

"I'm going to help train Lydia."

Rhonda could tell he was starting to act a little guarded and pressed him. "What do you mean 'train'?"

"Lydia's getting stronger ... a lot stronger. Christy Sue has been working with Celia, helping her improve and control her Gift, but Sam wants Lydia to know how to fight. He's afraid he's being too easy on her."

Rhonda raised up a few inches. This time, her shock was real. "Are you going out there to beat up that poor little girl?"

"Rhonda," said Tommy, surprising her by using her proper name, "Lydia has grown over six inches and has more than doubled her body weight in the year since you saw her last. Sam thinks her Gift ... or Gifts, will fully express soon. She's already nearly as strong as he is."

Rhonda's hand went to her mouth, and the look of shock on her face deepened and spread to her eyes. "But she's not even fifteen, yet."

"I know," he said in a calm voice. "But that's the way things are with people like us ... and, anyway, if she were a boy, it would seem perfectly normal to give her that kind of training." Tommy moved closer and took her hand. "I won't hurt her. But she wants to learn to defend herself ... even against people like us. Neither she nor Celia want to be victims again."

"No, you're right. I guess ... I dunno ... both girls just seemed so vulnerable when I first saw them."

"I know they did. They just want to put that behind them." He looked hard at her. "Are you going to be okay with me being gone for two weeks?"

"No, I'll be fine," she said, waving off his concerns with a hand. "I guess a few weeks away won't hurt you ... or me. Besides, you've prepared everything, as always ... there's the new security system, I've got Cecil on speed dial ...."

"... and you have Kenny coming by to keep you company," he continued.

"Are you still jealous I stole one of your friends?" she said as she poked him in the belly with her big toe.

"Phewww ... she's not mine to steal any more than Sam, Eric, Camille, or half a hundred other people. I'm very glad you like her ... though I will be seeing her in a few hours for a final session before I go."

Kenny was another friend Tommy was training to fight.

"Well, don't hurt her either," she said.

He smiled back at her. "Do you want anything else to eat before you sleep?"

"Yeah," she purred. He always knew when to ask. "How about half a bagel ... with just a little cream cheese."

He knew how she liked her bagel, and as he got up to move to the kitchen, Rhonda purred again and stretched. But she was sober still at the thought of the world in which the girls lived. Quite out of the blue, something seized her, and words exploded from her that she promised herself, swore to herself, she would never speak.

"Is there a God?" she whispered in a husky voice.

***

Tommy took the few extra seconds it required to finish preparing her bagel slice and went back to the living room where Rhonda still lay stretched on the couch, now with a look of deep unease in her eyes. He gently placed the saucer and bagel on the coffee table and sat down next to her. Rhonda sat up, turned, and lay across his lap, where he cradled her in his arms. His t-shirt where her right eye pressed against his chest soon was sodden with tears.

They said not a word.

The worst of Rhonda's pain from losing her husband and child ten years before long had passed, but there were still moments. Marlena would have been starting college in the Fall, and over the last several months Tommy had noticed different college brochures laying in various out-of-the-way places throughout the apartment.

It was clear this was a difficult time for her. And, still, the question of God had surprised him. During the last year, she'd queried him over the existence of all manner of things and beings. It had saddened her to find they lived in a world thoroughly devoid of werewolves—"not a single one?" she'd pleaded. But she greatly was comforted to know zombies and "shit-eating" vampires were but creatures of fancy.

After a few minutes, he estimated the worst was over. "I don't know if there's a God, sweetheart," he whispered.

With a quiet sniff and a swallow, she sat up and wriggled until she was fully in his lap. Her tears were still half dry on her face as he continued speaking in a gentle voice.

"I have seen wonders, darling ... wonders. I've seen men and women with Gifts beyond imagining, some so powerful that they likened themselves to gods. I've seen mere mortals toil and trouble, age after age after age, trying to unlock the secrets of the universe, until some few have even walked on the Moon. I have seen other things ... things I could never explain. I don't know if there's an all-powerful God behind all of it, but I can't help but think something is, whatever we might call it."

Rhonda sat silent, as if in thought. She swallowed again and began to speak.

"When Marlena and Mark died," she said in a quiet, calm voice, "we had the services at my folk's church, the same church we'd always gone to. Toward the end of the viewing, I was in the back trying to get away from it all ... you know, to pull myself together, and, um ... our minister came back and walked right up to me." Rhonda paused and looked into Tommy's eyes before continuing. "The guy always creeped me out a little, but I just ... well, you know ... this time he walks right up to me and, as a-matter-of-fact as you please, tells me that Mark and Marlena died because I didn't believe enough."

A look of pure, white-hot fury flashed in her eyes. She breathed twice.

"He started to spout some other stuff," she went on. "I didn't listen. I doubled up my fist and hit him in the face as hard as I could." Rhonda almost laughed, but Tommy was too stunned to say anything. "It broke his glasses and knocked him flat on his ass. I turned around, walked out, and never went back."

The two sat there a time, Tommy devising plans to find this man and, just perhaps, rip off one of his arms. After a while, he noticed Rhonda was regarding him and smiling, a look on her face so serene and happy that he wondered whether he'd ever see its like again.

"I'm sorry I made a fuss." Her words were the sweetest honey. "And, no, I'm not telling you his name."

"Oh, jeez, you really do know me," he whispered before shaking his head. "There was no fuss."

She reached in and kissed his cheek and then kissed him hard on the right ear.

"Either way, I didn't mean to ask you that. But I'm glad I did. I feel so, so good right now." She stood and stretched to her full height. "Now, I'm gonna eat my bagel slice and you are going to get on with your day. Give my love to Camille, and don't you dare hurt Kenny."