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like no other time. Just how late is this period?”
    â€œA couple of weeks. But you know me….”
    â€œSo far you’ve been late exactly three times. But why didn’t you do the test right away?”
    â€œIt costs seven dollars! And besides, I don’t want to know for sure,” she said softly.
    â€œAfter dinner with your folks,” he said dreamily. “I loved that—that was wonderful. I wish that would happen more often.”
    â€œI wish you’d turn me off, not on.”
    He grinned. “Well, that explains why you’ve been such a bear. Jesus, there was no making you happy. Except, what’s up with the wine? You’ve had wine.”
    She shook her head. “Apple juice in a wineglass with Cassie, that’s all,” she said. Then she started to cry and he held her close. “Billy…” she cried. “Billy, I don’t want this to happen…not now. If we were on our feet…”
    â€œYeah, it’s okay, baby. You’re just feeling the pressure—I understand that. But we’ll be all right. In the end, things always work out for us. Listen to me—I want you to listen to me now. We have something special. We’ve had it since we were kids, and it’s never been about money. We’re not going to be broke forever, honey. But we’re going to have something special forever. I love you, Jules. Since I was just a boy, I’ve always loved you—only you.”
    â€œThis is the talk you give me when I’m upset about being pregnant….”
    â€œWhich is just about every time you’re pregnant,” he laughed. “I’m not a real religious guy, but these kids—they have to be meant to be. They just keep sneaking up on us. And they come out perfect.”
    â€œYou’re a Mormon, aren’t you? All along, keeping it from me….”
    He covered her mouth in a kiss. “I must be,” he said. “Makes me so happy, watching you round out, get bigand moody. Please, Jules. Don’t be unhappy right now, because it’s going to work out. Somehow, it always works out.”
    â€œOh, Billy,” she said, putting her hand against his cheek. “I just don’t know if I can do it again….”
    â€œYou’ll start to feel better pretty soon. It’s just the first couple of months that are hard on you, then you feel good. And you stop being so mean .”
    She sniffed. “I think I’ve been a little cranky lately.”
    He laughed. “Well, no shit, honey,” he said. “Now love on me. It doesn’t cost anything…”
    Â 
    Cassie had trouble sleeping soundly through the night for a few nights, and then it got worse before it got better. Billy told her he checked high and low, talked to a lot of people about the guy. There was a real Ken Baxter, but he was out in northwest Sacramento and he was fifty. Billy had looked as far as Folsom, a pretty long drive from the Sacramento bar where Cassie and Ken had met, and he hadn’t turned up another one. It gave Cassie the cold willies to think he had lied about everything; he made up a name, profession, tricked her into trusting him, all for the purpose of overpowering her.
    â€œThe way I see it,” Billy said, “the guy played off you and what you said and insinuated himself into your comfort zone. Have a couple of glasses of wine, tell him you’re a nurse and several of your friends are firefighters and paramedics, and bingo—he’s practically family. If he’d met an aerobics teacher, he’d have made himself the owner of a fitness center.”
    â€œScary,” she said. “I wonder how much success he’s had with that modus operandi.”
    That’s when she called the police and asked to speak to a detective, preferably a woman who handled rapes.
    â€œHave you been raped, ma’am?”
    â€œNo, but I had a close call, and one of