Only Human

room, grades one and two in another, and third and fourth graders sharing the third room. After fourth grade, Mr. Madoc told her, the children had to go into town.
    Classes in various subjects were offered during the summer. Today twelve kids agedsix to ninewere there for art lessons. The wilderness studies group, she was told, had already left the building.
    Lily joined the budding artists, who were experimenting with print-making. She dipped leaves, twigs, and sponges in
    paint and dabbed them on paper. She helped other artists dip things and admired the results. And she asked questions.
    After her shock had worn off, she'd realized she had more than one investigation to make.
    One of the little girls wanted to be an airline pilot like her mother when she grew up. One wanted to be a doctor. Another thought she'd do something with computers, while a third couldn't decide between building houses like her uncle or being a movie star.
    More of Lily's preconceptions toppled quietly. "What about babies?" she asked casually, daubing her sponge in canary yellow paint. "Or getting married? Do you think about doing that, too?"
    "That shade of yellow won't work with purple," the budding actress said critically. More patiently, the would-be physician told her, "Not everyone gets to be a mommy, so you can't plan on having babies. Unless you want to marry out," she added, and her expression made it clear she considered that a poor choice.
    "Not always," the computer enthusiast said with the air of correcting a small logic error. "Sophie Duquesne mated with a man from Rachmanov Clan."
    The future pilot rolled her eyes. "Like that's going to happen. We were talking about plans. You can't plan to mate. That's like planning to win the lottery. My dad says—"
    "Time to finish up," Mr. Madoc said pleasantly. "It's pastnoon."
    The builder's niece had been right about the yellow. It didn't look good with the purple.
    When Nettie came to get her, Lily wasn't surprised to learn that Rule's uncle, not his aunt, had cooked lunch. She was surprised, though, when those she sat down to lunch with included Rule's five-year-old son, Johnny. And Johnny's mother.

    "I'M NOT UPSET with him for not telling me," Lily said, handing the bright blue plate she'd just washed to Nettie, then plunging her hands back in the soapy water. "Not exactly. He doesn't owe me his life story, and besides, I knew he had children. I'd dug into his background in the course of my investigation."
    "But you are upset." Nettie stacked the dried plate on top of the others in the oak cabinet. "I suppose it's one thing to know something professionally, another to unexpectedly sit down to lunch with the mother of your lover's child."
    That was putting things bluntly. "It's the way he did it. Just like the way he let me arrive at his grandfather's house without telling me Paul would be there. He's putting me through some kind of tests, and I don't like it."
    Nettie didn't answer.
    The two of them were alone in Nettie's small, cheerful kitchen. Lily had offered to help clean up after lunch. Somewhat to her surprise, Nettie had accepted right away and delegated the washing to her. Everyone else had left after they ate, with Johnny and his mother going home with her friend, Paul to his grandfather's, and Rule's uncle back to work at the vineyard.
    Rule had said he needed to talk to a few people. "You can't come with me," he'd told her. "I'm sorry, but they won't speak freely if you're there. I'll tell you what I learn."
    "Will you?" She'd studied him gravely. "People hold things back. They want to protect those they care about, and tell themselves whatever they're hiding couldn't really matter." Instinct, culture, history—all would shriek at him not to reveal too much to an outsider. To human authority.
    He'd hesitated. She'd had the idea he was weighing his response, making sure he could speak the truth. "I'll tell you," he'd repeated.
    Nettie stacked the last of the plates. "I take it Rule hasn't told you a lot about Johnny and Paul."
    "He hasn't told me anything." Lily scrubbed hard on the pot in her hand. "I didn't know they lived here. I didn't know Johnny's mother was Nokolai."
    "Johnny and Belinda do live here, but Paul is just staying for the summer. In August he'll return to his mother inWashington. She's a reporter for CNN."
    Good grief. Rule's former lover, the mother of one of his sons, was a reporter? "That's almost as tricky for him as having a relationship with a