( In which Jack and Henry discuss violence, science, governance, butterflies, the Civil War, horrible ironies, and Henry having a personal life. )

He touches Lucinda’s shoulder every time he enters the room. Sometimes hardly a brush of contact, the backs of his fingers finding the outline of her for the barest instant. Sometimes longer, sturdier; a reassuring squeeze and a possessive kiss to her forehead to announce his arrival. Fingers gliding past the tips of her dark hair. She wears bare- ( Read more... )

( I don't want to be here, I don't want to be here alone. )

So I'm getting married. Really this time.

( This one is much prettier. )

( The results are always perfect and that's old news. )

When Katrina Ghent informed him that he would only have to ruin one life to save his sister’s reputation, he assumed she meant his own. She meant his mother’s. Apparently his own was a nonissue. ( That set a wonderful standard for their future together. )