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wanted to be married to, but it had seemed to work for them. Julie and Georgina were like everyone else they’d known growing up, but their marriages had lasted, Bill had always thought they were content, and they had decent kids. Jenny was very different, she was deeper, stronger, her own person, and he loved the life they shared. And everything between them was honest.
    “Whatever works,” Bill said reasonably. “Jenny and I are happy. I hope you are too. No one in the family ever gave Jenny a break, and God knows she deserved one. She’s a terrific person. But we’ve done fine anyway.”
    Tom didn’t comment. Occasionally he felt guilty about it, but not enough so to make an effort to get to know Jenny. And Peter made no effort at all. He was still outraged by Bill’s choice of wife, and so were their parents. It was as though they considered it a personal affront to them. Tom was more reasonable about it, and simply ignored Jenny when he saw her, and only addressed Bill. But at least he wasn’t overtly rude to her, like Peter and their parents.
    “Do I have any chance of talking you into coming back to the law firm?” he asked, giving it one last shot, and realizing once again that the chance was slim to none. His younger brother shook his head.
    “It may take a while, but I want to find a church. I got an offer from one in Kentucky, but I refused it. Something will turn up. Jenny keeps telling me to be patient.”
    “Let us know if you change your mind,” Tom said, as he picked up the check. He had invited Bill. But he knew Bill wasn’t going to alterhis course now. He was eager to find a church so he could enter the active ministry, not practice law.
    “I’m as likely to go back to being a lawyer as you are to enter the church,” Bill said, laughing, as they walked out of the restaurant. “Thanks for lunch.” He smiled at his brother and hailed a cab. Tom walked back to the office, thinking about what Bill had said. He seemed so sure about everything. Tom envied him that. And Peter asked him about how Bill was when he got back to the office.
    “He’s fine. He seems happy in his life, and sure of what he’s doing. Maybe happier than we are. Who knows? Maybe he really does have a vocation. I can tell you one thing—he’s never coming back to the firm.”
    “He’s always been a little nuts,” Peter said, sounding dismissive and very smug.
    “I don’t think he is,” Tom said honestly, more respectful of Bill than Peter ever had been. “He’s doing what he wants to do, and believes in, and he’s married to a woman he’s crazy about. What’s so nuts about that?”
    “You can’t just walk away from history and tradition, give up a career with the most respected law firm in New York, and marry some girl from nowhere. What’s that all about? Teenage rebellion? He needs to grow up,” Peter said with a sour look.
    “I think he has grown up. He doesn’t want the same things we do. He never did. He never went out with the kind of women we did, and I think he hated every minute he worked for the firm. He wants to go out and help people. Maybe that’s not so wrong.” Tom was trying to be fair.
    But Peter was having none of it. He thought Bill’s marching to a different drummer was juvenile, and their father thought so too. Their mother was more upset about Jenny than the law firm. Not one of them approved of him, or the choices he had made.
    “That’s fine if you want to join the Peace Corps at twenty. He’s thirty-four years old, and he wants to be a Boy Scout.” Tom was shocked at what Peter said. After what he’d heard at lunch, it sounded disrespectful. Bill was joining the church, after all, not the Boy Scouts.
    “I’m not sure most ministers consider themselves Boy Scouts. There’s room for both camps in the world,” Tom reminded him. “What we do, and what he does. Bill wants to repair the broken of spirit. We just handle their taxes.” Bill’s choice seemed nobler to