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not... seeing him."
    Aunt Ruth drew in an extended breath. "Does your father know he's back?"
    "No."
    "Then you'd better keep quiet about that. It'll just get him riled again."
    Tess toyed with telling Aunt Ruth about taking Zak up in the plane, now that she'd told her that Zak was back, then discarded the idea. Aunt Ruth had enough on her mind without brooding about her brother's reaction to that.
    ***
    The next day, as Tess pulled up to Zak's cabin, she was surprised to find an old Dodge, in the process of being restored, parked beside Zak's truck. The car's body was covered with gray primer and the rear end was jacked high with oversized tires, and inside, a grouping of beads and feathers hung from the rearview mirror. With mounting curiosity, she stepped onto the porch. But before she could knock, Zak opened the door, and said, "Come on in. Vince was about to leave. You remember my brother."
    Tess looked beyond Zak at a young man wearing a black leather jacket, faded jeans with holes in them, and dirty sneakers. Where the jacket gaped open, she saw the grotesquely contorted face of a rock star on a tight black T-shirt. His mouth was planted in a slash, and his dark eyes shone with irritation, though she knew it wasn't aimed at her. "Yes," she replied, trying to assimilate the change from a bright-eyed youth of thirteen to this angry young man of twenty. "It's nice to see you again, Vince."
    Vince nodded, and said nothing.
    Tess sat on the couch, and Zak sat in an overstuffed chair across from her, but Vince remained standing. From the somber look on his face, and the frustration on Zak's, Tess suspected they'd been having some kind of argument. She was about to suggest she come back later, when she was distracted by movement, and looked toward the hallway to see a young boy rolling a truck into the room. When the boy raised curious eyes to meet Tess's gaze, her lips parted in surprise. It was as if she were peering into Zak's gray-green eyes. The boy scrambled over to stand beside Zak, studying her from within the circle of Zak's arm. His young face was topped by a shock of wavy black hair, and in his chin was a small cleft.
    Looking at the boy, Tess waited for Zak to explain.
    Zak drew the boy against him, and said, "This is Pio, my son."
    At first Tess stared blankly at the boy. Then she focused on his features. There was no question. This boy was indeed Zak's son. And the boy's mother, Zak's wife? Where was she?
    Tess gave the boy a nervous smile, and said, "Hi."
    He didn't smile back. Instead, he looked at Zak and said something in Basque. When Zak nodded, the boy scurried outside. Tess glanced out the window at the boy, who was pushing a larger truck across the ground. He appeared to be about six years old. Which meant... Zak must have either impregnated a woman or married her shortly after he left Baker's Creek...
    "Father's damn traditions are straight out of another world," Vince said, his heated words punctuating the pounding of Tess's heart. "And I'll tell you another thing. I won't marry a Basque girl just because he's decided I should."
    Zak looked at Tess, and said, "Excuse us a minute."
    He took Vince's arm and led him onto the porch then pulled the front door shut behind them. Although their voices were muffled some, Tess could still hear what they were saying...
    "He's a proud man and the old traditions have been right for him," Zak said. "It's only natural that he wants the same for you."
    "That's fine for you to say, you're etcheko primu . Firstborn," Vince spat the words. "The winery will be yours... if you marry a Basque woman and fit into Father's mold, that is."
    Zak sighed. "You know you always have a place there."
    "I'd die of boredom in Navarre ."
    The silence that followed was broken by Zak. "You don't have to turn your back on all the values you were taught in order to be your own person."
    "And I don't have to hang around here and listen to this crap either," Vince said. "I thought at least