"No. And I can't talk about it any more ... not now.... But, Lucienne, I need you."
"You have me, Raul."
"Not by my side."
"Maybe it's better that way."
"Better?" he asked.
"For all of us. Angelina, Vicente."
He realized she was straining a point for his sake; her face, her hands, told him she was nervous. They had been seated together. He cupped his chin in his hand.
"You're wonderful," he said. "I love you because you stay the same, taking the good and the bad as it comes."
"I wish I were really like that," she said.
"You've been like that all these years."