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dollars, I wouldn’t mind being corrupted a bit.”

      Remy put her cup down and studied her sister’s face, surprised to see its strong features set in a serious look. “Where is this mercenary streak coming from?”

      Phil laughed. “It’s always been there, Remy. Face it, you turned out to be the only incorruptible kid in the family.”

      “I don’t believe that.”

      Phil smiled. “Yes, that’s what I like most about you. You’re putty in my hands. Don’t worry, I’ll stand...uh...sit by you through the worst of this, even if you refuse every cent.”

      Remy rested her hand on her sister’s shoulder. One of Phil’s strong hands covered hers.

      “Hey, this hand is going to mush. Have you been keeping up with your weights?” Phil asked before removing her hand and wheeling herself away.

      Remy knew Phil’s intentional change of subject came because of her difficulty in displaying her gentler feelings.

      “I’ll get back to the hand weights today, Phil. Promise.”

      The telephone rang, again. Remy reached for it automatically, but this time Phil stayed her hand and answered it. “Dr. Phillida Moore... No, she’s not here. She left this morning for a long vacation in the Virgin Islands.... Yes, naturally she took her baby with her.... Yes... You’re welcome.”

      Phil hung up the phone. “Maybe you’d best let Braden screen your calls for the next few days.”

      “Don’t you need him to help you with Thumper’s physical?”

      “We already did that yesterday while you were at the courthouse. You got back to the lab so late you missed everything.”

      “How’d it go?”

      “Braden relates well to the chimp, has from the first day. And now that the boys are no longer shy around him, I think he’ll work out just fine.”

      Remy followed Phil’s eyes to the scene taking place on the other side of the glass partition. Their new lab assistant, Braden Fromm, a dark-haired, Atlas-shaped graduate student, was taking notes as Remy’s son, and another toddler and a chimpanzee all practiced saying hello to one another in sign language.

      “We always seem to end up with good-looking body-builders for lab assistants, don’t we, Phil?”

      Her sister’s eyes twinkled. “Yeah. Don’t we.”

      Remy chuckled. She knew Phil always selected attractive men because she liked looking at them.

      Remy’s eyes, however, were drawn to her son. A small smile circled her heart, as well as her lips. She was certain there had never been a more beautiful child.

      Nicholas’s hair was a silky cognac cap, his large eyes bright blue lagoons fringed in a ring of coral lashes. His lean, sturdy little body—wrapped in an over-the-shoulder, tiger-striped outfit—gestured with overabundant enthusiasm at Thumper, the chimp.

      “Nicholas is so smart for just seventeen months,” Remy said. “Sean’s twenty-one months, and yet Nicholas has a much larger vocabulary. And did you notice that Nicholas also understands he must never talk in the sign-language sessions with Sean and the chimp?”

      “I noticed,” Phil said without a lot of enthusiasm.

      Remy immediately picked up on the change in her sister’s tone. “I’m being one of those adoring, boring mothers again, aren’t I?”

      “No. I’m just as proud of our little Nicholas. He catches on to things quickly, and his curiosity for finding out how things work is amazing. Unfortunately.”

      Remy turned to her sister in surprise. “Unfortunately?”

      Phil laughed. “You haven’t noticed? Not only has Nicholas memorized the keypunch code on the security doors, but the other day I saw him teaching Thumper how to unlock them, too.”

      Remy looked back at her boy, her lips drawing into a proud smile. “The little rascal. I’m constantly amazed at what he picks up and then turns around and teaches Thumper. She learns faster from him than she does from us.”

      “Yes, and that fact is rapidly becoming the most interesting part of this research for me. You were smart to make him part of your work.”

      “I couldn’t stand the idea of being separated from him all day. I don’t know how other working mothers do it.”

      “They do it because they’ve learned that being with a toddler dynamo, who has to be constantly watched and worried about twenty-four hours a day, constitutes far too much cruel and unusual punishment for one stay-at-home mom.”

      Remy laughed. “You’re probably right. Here, at least, I have Braden, Sean, the chimp and all the lessons and activities to help keep Nicholas occupied and focused. Not to mention his very special aunt. Still wish he had been a girl?”

      “Stop baiting me. You know I stopped wishing that the moment I held him. He’s perfect just the way he is. Just perfect.”

      Remy looked away from the sudden stillness in her sister’s eyes and back to the joy on her son’s face as the chimp returned his sign for “toy” and they went off to the toy chest together. She was happy to share him. Nicholas would probably be the closest Phil ever got to having a child of her own.

      The telephone rang once again. Phil picked it up and announced her name. “Yes, she is. Do you want to talk to... Oh... Okay... I’ll tell her.... Yes... Goodbye.”

      She turned to Remy. “Dr. Feeson wants to see you in his office right away. Says it’s urgent.”

      Remy frowned. “If it’s urgent, why couldn’t he have told me over the phone?”

      “I thought you liked the handsome Dr. Feeson. I know all the other single faculty women were positively green when you guys went out six months ago.”

      “Well, I was the green one by the end of the evening, believe me. Only thing he had any passion for was genetically engineering white mice with persimmon coats. When I asked him why he was doing it, he looked at me as though I had asked Picasso why he had painted an eye where an ear should be.”

      Phil smiled. “So that’s why you never dated Feeson again.”

      “Fortunately, I offended him enough that he never asked me again. Until yesterday afternoon, that is, when he waylaid me on my way back from the courthouse.”

      “Wait a minute. Don’t tell me he came on to you, too?”

      “He’d heard a radio bulletin about how Bio-Sperm was claiming Nicholas to be David Demerchant’s son. Apparently, he thought I’d jump at the chance to marry him and produce his persimmon-coated mice. I’m sure he still thinks I’m crazy for declining his generous offer.”

      “What an incredible imbecile. Remy, why didn’t you tell me about this when you got back to the lab yesterday?”

      “Because I was embarrassed for having even dated the guy.”

      “He’s the one who should be embarrassed, only he’s too dumb to be. Take it from your older and wiser sister, men are good for one thing only—and most of them need detailed instructions just to get that right.”

      Remy laughed as she checked her watch. “In another ten minutes, it’ll be time for the children and the chimp’s cookie break. I don’t want to miss that. Feeson can cool his heels.”

      “Maybe I’d better go. Feeson’s just received a lump-sum donation from an anonymous source, earmarked for our higher-primate language studies.”

      “A donation? For us? He said that?” Remy repeated in rapid succession as she swung out of her chair and landed on her feet. “Phil, why didn’t you tell me that in the first place? I can stomach Feeson long enough for him to hand me a check. Keep an eye on Nicholas for me, will you?”

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