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[iwillresume]

Starting just before he realised Cecilia was on the island, Robbie had begun a regimen of morning runs on the beach. He had been one of the few in basic training who had not minded the daily physical regimen, and after a little while on the island found that he missed it. The building crew and now the island task force kept him quite busy these

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[headline_maker]

Sacharissa was herself headed toward the compound when she spotted Robbie coming along on the path, presumably headed toward his own home. It had been quite some time since she'd last spoken to Briony herself, and the circumstances had been less than likely to leave her with any particular feelings of kindness toward the girl who shared her face. Her life was her own business, and Briony's condemnations were more than a little unwelcome. Robbie, however, was a welcome sight indeed, and she smiled as she spied him. "Robbie," she called, "good morning. You're about early."

[iwillresume]

"Miss Cripslock," said Robbie, coming up to meet her on the path. "Good morning." He smiled, running a hand through his sweaty hair and then grimacing at it. "I'm usually up this time of day to take some exercise before it gets too hot out, and leave time to do other things."

[headline_maker]

That made sense enough, with the island heat being what it was at mid-day. She was glad to spend the worst of it indoors. "Far more reasonable than my reason," she said with a small, self-deprecating laugh. "I can't seem to shake the habit of going in to work early, even when there isn't much to do. How've you been?"

[iwillresume]

"Quite well, actually," he said. "Cecilia found out a few weeks ago that she's going to have a baby." She was far along enough now that they felt it was safe to speak of it more publicly, and Robbie could hardly stop telling people in his pride. "So I suppose you could say things have been very good, lately."

[headline_maker]

"Oh, congratulations," Sacharissa said, lighting up, "that's so wonderful." It was clear enough that he was pleased about it, and with how upset she'd seen him at times, it was a nice change to see him happy. He certainly deserved it. "Oh, the two of you must be thrilled. I hope you'll give her my best wishes."

[iwillresume]

"I will," Robbie replied, and the smile that spread across his face gave him such a lift in spirits he felt he might go round with his feet five inches off the sand. "It's a bit strange to think of myself as a father; I've got a few more months to get used to it, but I'm fairly certain I won't quite have my mind wrapped around the idea before it happens."

[headline_maker]

"I suspect it's one of those things you just have to get used to as you go." Sacharissa tipped her head to the side a bit as she considered this. She had nothing but suppositions to go on, and sometimes thought that would always be so. "It must be lovely. I bet you'll make a wonderful father."

[iwillresume]

Robbie laughed a little, trying to imagine himself doing anything remotely paternal, and though those imaginings filled him with a warm and contented feeling, he also felt a kind of insecurity that had never before been a part of him. This was not something that could be learned from a book, or gleaned from research, the kind of things at which Robbie excelled. It was something more primitive, and while it was thrilling to contemplate, it was somewhat intimidating as well. "I'll do my best," said Robbie. "I suppose that's all any of us can really do, isn't it?"

[headline_maker]

"In this as in everything else," Sacharissa agreed. "It's the kind of thing you learn as you go, I guess. I mean, it's not exactly something you can practice." Although she supposed, too, that time spent with children was something close to practice, it couldn't be the same. There was, for example, a vast difference, she was sure, between spending time with Jane's sweet Lydia and how it would have felt to hold a child of her own.