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On his back, piled atop his father, Kazim planted a pompommed shoe in the stomach of the first gendarme. Because he was the only one looking up, Kazim alone saw the woman fall from the restaurant porch. She came flying at a slant down the diagonal of the stairway, arms outstretched, mouth straining open like an avenging djinn. • 2 • Madame Chapoulie, hurrying out of her flower shop to see what the commotion in the square was all about, nearly tripped over the body of the old woman lying at the bottom of the Two Sisters’ stairs.

We’re pretty concerned,” said Donny. Jacqueline’s face went stony. “He doesn’t want a nursing home. He wants to live out his life in his own house, on his own land. It’s his choice …” She broke off, laboring for breath. “Damned right,” muttered Mara, and was rewarded by a cool, porcelain stare from Daisy. “And he’ll get good care, if that’s what you’re worried about,” said Jacqueline drily. “Oh, I didn’t meant that,” said Daisy. “Not at all,” seconded Donny, anxious to conciliate. ” He knew Jacqueline but always called her “the nurse,” as if she had no identity outside of her function.

If this”—she thumped the page again—“proves to be a native, it will be two. ” Good God, she didn’t have to tell him! The monumental possibility had long teetered in his mind like a boulder on a slender finger of stone. ” “Even so, it makes for a remarkable story,” Julian countered. The chances of a transplant surviving were slim, which made his Cypripedium not only alluring but vulnerable and valiant. “Hmm. ” She referred to two blackish purple petal-like structures flanking the labellum; a third of similar hue arched over top, like a canopy.