Andy was at his smallest for a little over a day. On Monday afternoon he started to grow at the same pace as he shrank. With the worst of the disease behind them, he and Kimberly continued to have fun at their ever-changing respective sizes. The use of floss was a revelation, and they introduced it to their repertoire of games.

But all was not well. Underneath the smiles and the folly, Kimberly felt tense and uneasy. The import of the promises the two lovers had made to each other seemed suddenly upon her. Now that Andy was growing, their idyllic, island-like romance was falling further under the weight of an impending return to reality. Lurking in her mind was the fear that his love was an aberration, and his feelings for her would fade as he regained his stature and his normal way of life.

She didn't want to kill Andy's jovial mood, so she kept her concerns to herself. It wasn't hard to hide her deepest emotions from the shrunken man. The size difference at this extreme fostered an emotional disconnect, whereby anything that wasn't related directly by voice or touch was missed by both of them: by her because her eyes weren't sharp enough to read him, by him because there was so much of her that her body language was too much information for him to process. But for how long could she hold her emotions in check before Andy noticed them? For when he did notice them, it surely would prompt a serious talk about the future, the result of which she wasn't sure of.

For his part, Andy felt no sense of urgency, no fear of a return to normal, because there was no normal to return to. The shrinking disease was a line of demarcation in his life. Before, there was Alicia and Brooke's childhood. After, there was Kimberly and Brooke's adulthood. He was a brand new man.

On the third day of his regrowth, as he was belaying down Kimberly's back from her bra strap, the house phone rang. She ran to the kitchen, swinging him like a pendulum over her round butt cheeks.

She was giggling as she answered the phone. "Hello?"

It was a woman's voice, but deep, and tight with sorrow. Her accent was from somewhere in New England, maybe Canada. "This is Madeline Prater. Can I speak to Andrew Speed, please?"

Kimberly smile faded. She looked down at Andy, whom she'd placed on the counter. "Do you know Madeline Prater?"

"Doesn't ring a bell," he replied.

"What is this in regards to?" Kimberly said.

"My husband was Robert. He worked with Alecia Speed."

Andy remembered. Madeline Prater was Robert the lawyer's wife—widow, now. The last time Andy had seen her, she was picking up her husband's body in Richmond. So far away the recent past seemed to him. 

He gestured to Kimberly to place the handset next to him. He said into the transmitter, "Hello, Mrs. Prater. This is Andy Speed."

"Hi, Andy. Please, call me Madeline. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

He glanced at Kimberly. "Not at all. What's this about?"

"I have information about your wife."

"What information?"

There was something like a shudder or sob on the other end of the line. "I feel like we should discuss it in person. Can you meet me at 2 o'clock. Mirkwood Park?"

"Uh, okay."

She hung up without saying goodbye. Kimberly held the receiver to her ear to make sure. She hung up. "What do you think she wants?"

"She must have found out about Alecia and Robert."

"I mean what does she want with you?" she clarified. He shrugged. "Are you going to meet her?"

"I said I would."

She nodded resignedly and looked at the clock. "It's one, and the park is on the other side of town. We better get going."

He touched her arm. "You don't mind taking me, do you, Kim?"

Her look was business-like. "Why would I mind?"

Madeline was easy to spot at the park. It wasn't crowded, it being the hottest part of the afternoon. She was sitting by herself on a painted wood bench, wearing all black, watching her kids playing languidly in the midday sun.

Andy hadn't noticed how attractive Madeline was the first two times he'd seen her. She was tall, taller than Kimberly, and had a glamor-model physique that her conservative, black attire couldn't disguise.

She stood up when she saw Kimberly approach with Andy standing in her palm. "Hello, Andy."

"Hi, Madeline."

The widow looked at Kimberly the way a lady of the manor would dismiss a servant. Kimberly glared back at her and held her ground, letting the older woman know she would leave when her boyfriend asked her to.

"I'll be fine on the bench, Kim," Andy said, oblivious to the nonverbal jousting going on above him.

She lowered him to the wood bench and Madeline sat next to him, her black skirt sliding up her stockinged legs. Kimberly walked to a bench 20 yards away and watched them out of the corner of her eye.

This was Madeline's meeting, so he waited for her to speak. She stared placidly at the kids playing on the jungle gym, including her son and daughter. A few other women tended to their toddlers or chatted while their older children tired themselves out. Birds were chirping loudly in the thick, leafy trees.

"She's very pretty. Is she your daughter?" Madeline finally said.

"My daughter's friend, actually."

She frowned slightly. "Oh."

"What?"

"The way she held you, I thought… never mind."

Andy smiled thinly, waiting for the awkwardness to pass. Yes, he was head-over-heels in love with an 18 year-old girl. No, he didn't feel like talking about it to a recently widowed woman he hardly knew.

"One of my brothers had the shrinking disease last year. He shrank to less than 2 inches tall. How much smaller will you get?"

"I'm actually growing now. I was 1.2 inches tall just a couple of days ago." He cleared his throat. "So, you said you had information about my wife."

She sighed. "There's no easy way to say this, Andy. Your wife and my husband had a lot more than a professional relationship. Yesterday I found emails and text messages he was sending to Alecia. They were very flirtatious."

"I know," he said.

She did a double take. She half expected him to disbelieve her, and her hand was already halfway into her purse where she kept the printed emails to prove her claim.

"You do?" she asked, perplexed.

"Yeah. Well, not about the emails. But I've known about the text messages basically since she died."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"My priority was protecting my daughter from what happened." He weighed his next words carefully. "For what it's worth, Madeline, I knew my wife very well. She was a very reserved woman. I don't think she slept with Robert."

The widow laughed mirthlessly. "Well, I knew Bobby. If he didn't sleep with your wife, it was because he died before he got the chance. This isn't the first time he wandered outside our marriage."

"You're kidding," Andy said. What idiot would cheat on a knockout like Madeline? Then he remembered how close he'd come to cheating on his wife. Nobody in this situation, it seemed, was innocent, except maybe the woman sitting next to him.

A black crow alighted on the back of the bench, a pink worm wiggling in its gray beak. The bird's head moved jerkily as it eyed Andy on the seat. Madeline reached instinctively for him, encompassing him in her warm hand and holding him tight against her firm body. At her sudden movement, the crow hopped off the bench and flew away.

She opened her hand, palm up. "I'm sorry."

Andy looked over her bust at her made-up face. Big hazel eyes sparkled at him through long, dark lashes. High cheekbones arched from her pouty lips, forming a soft, feminine jaw line. She truly was a breathtakingly beautiful woman.

"That's okay. Good reflexes," he said.

She set him on his feet on her taut, black skirt between her spread thighs. "I'll keep you here, in case it comes back."

He sat down and folded his legs under him on the trampoline-like skirt. "It's partly my fault, what happened between Alicia and Robert."

She scoffed. "How?"

"When I was shrinking, I wasn't the easiest person to get along with. I pushed Alecia away. I think Robert became an outlet for her frustration. From there it grew into infidelity—or the possibility of infidelity," he corrected himself.

"You're not responsible for her choices, Andy."

"I don't believe that. No one makes choices in a vacuum. I'm not saying it's not wrong, I'm saying people have reasons to do what they do." He had to smile. It sounded like something Kimberly would say. He was recognizing more of her in himself every day.

"Well." Madeline pulled the emails out of her purse. "I don't suppose you want to see the evidence? Some of it is pretty steamy."

Andy looked from the sheaf of papers to Madeline's composed face. He saw past her captivating features, saw desperation there, and anger. Her motive for the meeting immediately became clear. She was furious at her dead, wayward husband, and she wanted him to be furious, too, so that they might put the memory of the dead behind them in each other's company. It was an ingenious plot that probably would have ensnared him, if he weren't content with where he was, thanks to Kimberly. He smirked wanly. Not so innocent after all.

"I hope one day you can forgive him," he said.

The mask fell from her face. A sob shook her body, and she lifted her hand to dab away a tear.

"I'm ready to go now. Can you wave her over?"

Madeline nodded as she put the emails back in her purse.

"What was that about?" Kimberly said when they were in her car, air conditioner running.

"It was as I thought. She found Robert's text messages and emails to Alecia. Apparently he cheated on her before. But I told her I didn't think she and Robert—"

"I mean her picking you up and putting you in her lap," Kimberly interrupted. "Do you let just any woman handle you like that?"

Andy was taken aback. She was jealous! He almost laughed. "Trust me, Kim, it was entirely innocent." Only it wasn't. "She was afraid the birds would eat me."

Kimberly harumphed. "Did you at least tell her we're a couple?"

Oh, boy, this is going south in a hurry, Andy thought. "I didn't want to make her jealous," he said lamely.

She blinked her eyes, as if absorbing an uppercut to the psyche. "That's the first lie you've ever told me."

"I'm not lying, Kim! She just lost her husband. I didn't think it would do her any good for me to talk about how I've moved on already. What would she feel if she knew I suffered the same loss as her and I was already dating some—some…" His voice trailed off.

Kimberly glowered. "What?"

"Don't do this, Kim—"

She forced the issue, wanting to know at least where the relationship stood and where it was going. "Some… WHAT, Andy? Finish your thought."

"Some tart who's half my age! There, I said it, are you happy?!" He took a deep breath to calm himself after his outburst. This was ridiculous. He loved Kimberly with all his heart. There was no one else for him.

"Look, you have nothing to worry about from Madeline," he said. "You're the only woman in my life. I love you, period."

Kimberly played with her fingers. "I know you do. I just wish your love didn't embarrass you. It doesn't embarrass me."

"I'm not embarrassed, Kim. It's just… what we have is a lot to explain. I don't think people would get it."

"Who cares whether they 'get it'?!" she erupted. "You don't have to explain yourself to anyone."

"But we do, Kim. We have to explain all of this to your parents. They have the power to make or break this deal. I need your dad's blessing to marry you, or it won't get done. I can't take you from them."

Kimberly's expression changed. "You want to marry me?"

Andy searched deep in his heart for any doubt. There was none. He couldn't pinpoint when exactly he knew this is what he wanted. He supposed it went back to being in her mouth. His soul had become intertwined with hers in that moment.

"Yeah," he said.

"You're not afraid to tell my parents?"

"With you by my side, I'm not afraid of anything."

Eyes watering, she fought herself for control. She'd dreamed about this moment all her life. It had come sooner than she expected. She was supposed to be in her 20s, not 18. And he was supposed to be a couple of years older than her and 6 feet tall, not 22 years older and 3 inches tall. But she was willing to compromise there. What she couldn't compromise was how she wanted to be asked.

"What makes you think I'll say yes?" she said coyly.

Andy got down on one knee in her quivering palm, his voice strong and purposeful. "Kimberly, I love you more than my own life. For better or for worse, I want to be with you forever. Will you marry me?"

"Of course!"

She plastered him against her hand with a passionate kiss. He fought for breath between smacks from her plush lips. "Easy, Kim!" 

"Sorry." She put him on the dashboard. "You don't have to tell my parents on your own. We can tell them together."

"How? When?" These were riddles he hadn't been able to solve.

"Sunday. Come to church with us, to show them you're serious. Bring Brooke, too. We'll have lunch at my parents' house afterwards."

"You realize this means you can't stay at our house anymore, don't you?"

A burden visibly lifted off her shoulders. "Yeah, but a lifetime together is worth it!"