Farradyne interrupted her: "Be happy, baby!" He bent down and kissed her. Then he turned on his heel and left the room. He paused long enough in the corridor to shake the vacuum out of his feelings and then went down to the waiting room.
"Howard? She's awake and feeling fit, even though weak. A bit of the sight and touch of you would work wonders. She wants you."
Clevis nodded and started for the door. Farradyne caught him by the arm and turned him around. "Look," he said with a crookedly amused grin, "I want to be second-best man."
"Any damned day in the week, Charley," said Howard Clevis.
Farradyne sat down in a chair and waited. He lit a cigarette and blew smoke at his toes. Somehow he felt disappointed in himself; he should have been despondent instead of content.
And then the plume of smoke curled around a pair of slender ankles and Farradyne realized what his unfinished business was.
The waiting room resounded gently with a delicate musical chord, operatic in quality like a trio of angel, hoyden, and devil singing a bacchanal. He smiled and looked up at her. "Any damned day in the week," he promised, getting to his feet.
Against his face, softly, Carolyn laughed. "But you don't even know my name!"
"I'll find out," he promised. "Later."