“Excuse me, but what kinda black lady are you?" I smiled, looked at her, and said, "The kinda black lady that you wanna know.”

“There's a girl, Dad."He smiled a bit. "A girl.""She kinda hates me, and I kinda...""Love her?""I don't know. I don't think so. I mean...how do you know?"His smile grew wider. "When you're talking about her with your old dad because you don't know what else to do.”

“A black-sharded lady keeps me in a parrot cage.”

“That's what I'd call him if he was my dog. Jacket-humper. Kinda had a ring to it. Although it seemed a little long for vet visits and intros to lady dogs.”

“Fallon smiled. 'We said we are going to try. You are declaring love and saying I'm not going anywhere.' Lucas shrugged his shoulders. 'I'm a confident, cocky kinda guy, I know what I want and I will succeed.”

“She stretched out her hand, saying, “Vernon! My dear, what a delightful surprise!”“What’s surprising about it?” he enquired, lifting his black brows. “Didn’t you ask me to come?”The smile remained pinned to Lady Buxted’s lips, but she replied with more than a touch of acidity: “To be sure I did, but so many days ago that I supposed you had gone out of town!”“Oh, no!” he said, returning her smile with one of great sweetness.”