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he’d delivered last night, how concerned he’d been when he’d first arrived at the hospital, his relief when all went well. Once he turned onto the highway the talk shifted to Cameroon and his time in the East Region.
    He could still see the men grilling fish and soya and brochette over homemade barrel grills at the side of the roads. Then, the talk turned professional. As a nurse, Mary Karen could appreciate the challenges of providing medical care in hospitals without running water.
    She listened attentively, occasionally making encouraging noises.
    “I’m never going to complain about anything again,” he vowed, turning off the highway onto a side road. “We have so much here, so much to be thankful for.”
    “I’d thought about going into the Peace Corps when I got out of college.” Mary Karen’s eyes took on a faraway look. “As a nurse, I knew I could be of real help to those less fortunate.”
    Peace Corps? Mary Karen? He’d dated her when she’d been in college. She’d been the pretty sororitygirl who always had a smile on her face. This volunteer thing was news to him. “Why didn’t you do it?”
    The smile on her lips vanished. “C’mon, Trav. You know why.”
    Then he remembered. Her senior year she’d begun dating Steven, a man without an altruistic bone in his body. By the time she’d graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, she’d been five months pregnant.
    Travis pulled off the highway onto a rarely used dirt road and parked the convertible.
    “You never told me about the Peace Corps thing.” For some reason not knowing bothered him. They were friends. He knew what radio stations she liked. He knew her favorite flavor of ice cream. Shouldn’t he also have known she’d once considered going into the Peace Corps?
    He motioned her closer. When she leaned in, he slipped an arm around her shoulder and nuzzled her hair. The familiar scent of strawberries teased his nostrils. “You smell good.”
    “None of that.” She pressed a hand against his chest and pushed him back. “We need to talk.”
    Travis wasn’t so easily dissuaded. With gentle fingers he tipped her chin up then kissed her lightly on the mouth. “First let me say I’m sorry.”
    Her eyes were large and luminous. “For what?”
    Both of his arms were around her now. He pulled her close and felt her heart fluttering like a hummingbird against his chest. “I was wrong to leave you behind in Vegas.”
    “You didn’t have a choice.” Mary Karen’s fingers played with a button on his shirt. “You had a plane to catch. So did I.”
    “If I’d have stayed we could have gotten the marriage annulled.” He wondered if she was worried thathe would drag his feet getting the papers filed. “I know how much you wanted to get that done while we were still there.”
    Her hand dropped. “I’m glad now that we didn’t.”
    The words were soft but still audible. Travis frowned. He must be more tired than he realized. Surely she hadn’t just said she wanted to stay married?
    “Don’t get me wrong. I still don’t think marriage between us would work,” Mary Karen continued as if she’d read his mind. “Unless you’ve had an epiphany and changed your mind about children?”
    Her tone was light but her blue eyes were dark and serious.
    In Cameroon he’d had a lot of time to think. During the long hot nights he’d wondered what it’d be like if they stayed married. But each time he’d come to the same conclusion. What he wanted and what she wanted were too far apart. “I love your boys, M.K., you know that. But I’m not interested in spending the next twenty years raising children.”
    “That’s what I thought.”
    “About the annulment. I think—”
    “No annulment.” Mary Karen shook her head, her gaze now on the full moon.
    Travis wondered if she was worried that getting the annulment would cost money she didn’t have. But that couldn’t be it. He’d assured her that he’d pay for it.