It was a full life, but something was lacking. Did it make him a misfit? Probably, but he had his own life to lead, his own fulfillment to achieve, his own strange kinship with the early rebels who had blasted monogamy from the pages of social history.
"You'll think this is silly," Jane-Marie whispered in the darkness.
"What's that, dear? What will I think is silly?"
"What I'm going to ask you."
"No I won't. Honest."
"Well—"
"Go on, if it will make you happy." He could sense her presence near him.
"Well, it isn't that I don't trust you, but there's so much of it going on lately that I thought—"
"What did you think?"
"The—the parting ritual. You know what it's for, darling. A safeguard."