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273
vulnerable she'd ever been with another person, and she had been rejected.
He'd asked for time. But it was almost Labor Day. She didn't have any more time. She was going back to Buffalo in a week.
274
mara finds happiness in a hammock
"Mara and Ryan sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I ...," Madison and Zoe chorused, waking up their big brother and the au pair in his arms.
"MARA AND RYAN ARE IN LOVE!" William snickered and made loud sloppy kissing noises.
"Shush," Ryan said, batting at his smaller siblings.
"Wake up! Wake up, sleepyheads! We wanna go swimming!" Mara blinked and smiled. "You guys go and get changed and we'll meet you in the pool."
Instead the girls climbed into the hammock with them, so that William, who never liked being left out, scrambled in, too. "Oof! You're heavy!" Ryan said, hugging his younger brother.
Mara laughed as the kids began wildly swinging the hammock. "We're all going to fall off! Okay, if no one's going to get out, I will!" she threatened, trying to grab hold of one side of the hammock so she could climb off safely.
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"No, you don't, you're staying right here," Ryan said, reaching over to pull her back against him.
The two little girls whispered to each other on the far end of the hammock, cupping their mouths with tiny hands.
"Zoe and I decided," Madison said, in a very serious tone,
"that you are a LOT prettier than Ryan's old girlfriend."
"Oh, thanks." Mara winked at Ryan. "So I'm prettier than
Camille, am I?"
Madison and Zoe looked confused. "Camille?"
"Um, Ryan's old girlfriend?" Mara asked.
"You mean Sophie?" Madison asked.
"Or Annette?" Zoe chimed in.
"There's more than one?" Mara asked.
"Maddy! Zo! Don't answer that!" Ryan said in a half-jestful manner.
"There are tons," Madison assured Mara.
"Lots." Zoe nodded.
Mara raised an eyebrow at Ryan. "Lots, eh? How many were there?"
"Do we have to get into this now?" Ryan laughed. "It doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, we're together now" He noticed Mara looking downcast. "My sisters don't know what they're talking about."
He cupped Mara's chin and kissed her again. "You're the only one I want. Ok
ay?"
