Chapter 31 Memories Of Her

• "So I arrive at the gallery show and buy the damn portrait within a few moments of seeing it, like a sodding poet or something! As soon as I met her I was ready to send in the guard to keep her safe if need be." I shook my head. "What the hell happened to me, Dad?"
• "Your mother loved to read all the poets, Keats, Shelley, Byron." He smiled just slightly. "It happens that way sometimes. You find the one for you and that's all there is to it. Men have been falling in love with women since time began, son. You just finally made it to the head of the queue." Dad took another drink of his beer. "Why does... Brynne need protection?"
• "That US congressman who died in the plane crash has got a replacement. Name is Senator Oakley from California. Well, the senator has a son, one Lance Oakley, who used to date Brynne. There was some trouble . . . and a sex tape- I paused and realized how horrible it must sound to my dad. "But she was a very young girl only seventeen-and terribly hurt by the betrayal. Oakley was a right prick to her. She sees a therapist..." I trailed off wondering how my dad was taking all this in. I drank some more beer before telling the last part. "The son got shipped off to Iraq and Brynne came to study at University of London. She studies art and conserves paintings, and she's absolutely brilliant at it."