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“Aye. Tis why I dinna.”

“Okay. That’s good.” I stared off into space. “I wouldn’t want to know. I think...”

Magnus said, “So we daena ken whether we can change the outcome of a story...”

Zach said, “Nope, but that’s cool right? It makes you exactly like every other mortal on the planet — just doing the best they can do.” He gestured toward Emma. “Acting with morals as my sweet church-going wife would say and hoping it turns out fucking okay in the long run.”

I said, “I think the one thing we are all saying is yes, we can go back in time and try to save Lizbeth’s life. If I can, I have to, right? Don’t even answer that. I know it. I have to do everything I can.” I turned to Emma. “That being said, what can I do?”

“I can talk to my midwife about it in the morning.”

Zach’s phone vibrated. He picked it up. “Hayley is here.”

He went to the front door and opened it as Hayley had her hand about to knock. She bustled in with a full bloom on her cheeks. She took off her jacket and tossed it toward the hooks on the wall, came to the living room, dropped on the couch beside my feet, and tossed a stack of mail on the coffee table. “Here’s your mail. Don’t worry about it. It’s junk.” She sighed loudly.

Zach followed her into the living room. “You look like you need a stiff drink?”

“I do. I need one. And you’re partly responsible. But I’m not going to because that’s not me anymore, in case anyone bothered to notice. I’d like a soda please.” She jerked her shirt back, frustrated. “And why is Quentin still gallivanting around in the 18th century? He should be here to take me to a meeting.”

I asked, “You could go by yourself?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t actually need to go, I just thought if Quentin was here I could be supportive of him going and that would be... Is anyone going to ask me what I’m doing here or do I have to talk about this bullshit the whole time?”

I said, “You are in a pissy mood, what’s up?”

Zach handed her a drink.

“If you must know, Michael and I have just broken up.”

“Oh no!” I left Magnus’s side to throw an arm around her. “Oh no. Oh no, this sucks. What happened?”

Hayley waved her hand at Zach and Emma. “They happened, with all their love and marriage and having a baby and, ugh.” She dropped her head to the back of the couch. “Right after the turkey, Michael gave me an ultimatum, marry him and start a family, or not.”

I pouted in sympathy. “You chose not?”

“I did. Of course I did. Because I’m a dumbass. Probably.”

I pulled her head to my shoulder. “You aren’t a dumbass, you didn’t want to marry him. That isn’t dumb. That’s what your heart is telling you and you have to listen to it.”

She started crying. “I look at you with your awesome hunky husband and I want that, I mean, not him, he’s prettier than me and I wouldn’t be able to take the pressure, but someone who really likes me. And that I really like. I thought Michael was the one because I’ve been with him since I was seventeen, but maybe he’s not the right one. He doesn’t even really like me that much. Like not really. I want what you have.”

“I have been crying for a year. You really want that? You really want to never know if you’ll survive being apart? What I have might be a little too death-defying.”

She looked at me with a red puffy face and tear-sopped eyes. “You missed him! You know what I think when Michael goes away for two whole days?”

I shook my head.

“‘Eh. Whatever.’ That’s not who I should spend the rest of my life with!” She looked across at Zach. “Sorry, I know he’s your little brother, and I don’t mean to blame you guys, not really. I’m happy for you. Really. Your timing just blew my whole life apart.”

“No worries, Hayley, I’m sorry about that. You’ve been my future little sister for years. I don’t know what I’ll do without that. Are you sure? You guys aren’t going to get back together?”

“Nah.” She waved her hand. “Kleenex please.”

Emma brought her a box of Kleenex and Hayley blew her nose loudly. “When we were discussing it tonight it wasn’t even sad, not really. It was like I knew it for a long time, but I didn’t really know it.” She sighed. “I guess now I can stop doing the races, though they were actually kind of fun.”

“They were fun. Magnus and I will do them with you. Quentin will come and you can take him to meetings. And we’ll all go out and do fun things together.”

Zach began texting. “I’m checking in with Mikey now.”