Rick roared. "Is it working? Wait until I drag out the naked baby bathtub pictures of you. He was adorable, by the way."

"I would pay to see those!" I loved the way the two of them bantered back and forth and ribbed each other. It reminded me of the way Mom and Ian got along.

"What?" Rick put on a totally innocent look. "Your mother's probably asked how you met Seth, right?" His gaze bounced between us, landing on me.

I squirmed and shrugged noncommittally.

"She hasn't commented on the coincidence of the Butler last name?" Rick was clearly prying now, trying to draw me out.

Did she remember him? Had she asked about him? The questions were there in his eyes.

So the games begin again, I thought.

When I hesitated, Rick continued, "Butler is a common enough last name, I suppose."

"I haven't told her Seth's last name." It was the truth, and a d.a.m.ned partial lie again. I hadn't told her anything.

I don't know why I felt compelled to put Rick at ease regarding Mom. To not hurt his feelings with the thought she'd forgotten all about him.

Rick frowned. "I see."

Beside me, I felt Seth stiffen. I shouldn't have felt guilty. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, either. He knew I was keeping our relationship from my family, and was in agreement with me.

"It hasn't come up yet. I'm..." I paused. "Mom has the tendency to get way ahead of herself when I tell her about guys. It's better to share as little as possible with her until...we've only been dating a little over a month."

"And yet Seth brought you home to meet me." Rick's gaze was intense. "You're the first girl he's brought home from college."

If Rick meant to hang me out to dry and condemn me, he was doing a fine job.

I squeezed Seth's leg and switched the subject back to his original question. "We met in cla.s.s." I beamed at Seth like I adored him. Because I did. "I was single and looking for the next boyfriend. I knew, just knew, that something life-changing was going to happen this semester. I figured that meant a new guy. I mean, had to be." I squeezed Seth's hand.

He relaxed and beamed at me.

"And I had this feeling that cooking cla.s.s would be it. So I got all dressed up and strutted into cooking cla.s.s, totally trolling for fresh blood."

"And there was my boy with his eyes popping out!" Rick took a sip of wine. "Do you remember exactly what she was wearing, Seth? Was she bathed in a golden romantic glow?" He laughed like he was laughing at himself.

"I remember every detail." Seth squeezed my hand back as he described the outfit I was wearing and how he'd spotted me sitting in the auditorium.

"I remember exactly what your mom was wearing the first time I met her, too, Maddie." There was that nostalgic look in Rick's eyes again. "Then again, it was pretty dramatic." He paused. "Did Laura ever tell you how she and I met?"

My heart thudded to a stop. This was information I desperately wanted. I didn't want to shut him up by offending him and telling him she'd never mentioned him, period. So I simply shook my head.

"Really? Huh." He shook his head like he couldn't believe she wouldn't have.

I thought he was being incredibly arrogant.

"I'm surprised. A brush with death isn't something you forget." He shrugged and poured himself more wine.

"What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "A brush with death?"

"Yeah, Sethie here should thank me. Without me, there would be no you."

Or Ian, I thought.

Rick raised the wine bottle. "More?"

I laced my arm through Seth's and hung on tightly.

Seth slid his gla.s.s over. I covered mine with my hand. I was still nursing my first gla.s.s and dying to hear his story with a clear head.

"The first time I met your mom, I saved her from being blown up by a heartsick, maniacal bomber." Rick's eyes lit up, like the memory was still an absolute adrenaline rush.

"What? Bulls.h.i.t, old man!" Seth shook his head. "How come I've never heard about this before?"

"Maybe you never asked." Rick winked at his son, seemingly unoffended and nonplussed by Seth's disbelief.

"What? How?" It seemed too fantastic to believe.

Was Rick really-like, literally-my mom's hero?

Rick nodded. "You never heard about the big spring dorm bombing of nineteen eighty?"

We shook our heads.

"Ah, well, I suppose they don't advertise it for obvious reasons. It was all over the national news when it happened." He looked lost in thought for a second, like he was traveling back in time.

"I was working on a lab report with my lab partners Steve and Sarah in Sarah's dorm room at Cole Hall. You know the one," he said to Seth. "The old concrete one at the top of Stadium Way. It was only a few years old then. Nice, st.u.r.dy modern construction. Which saved a lot of lives and property.

"Sarah lived on the fifth floor. Had her own single room. We studied there a lot. We could blast our music. It was private. No roommate to disturb.

"We heard a commotion in the hall. Some jerk screaming obscenities at some girl Sarah knew who lived near the end of the hall near the stairs.

"'That has to be Becky's ex.' Sarah was shaking. Which was uncharacteristic. Usually, she was fearless. 'He said he'd kill her if she ever broke up with him.' She looked at us with round eyes. 'She broke up with him last week.'

"Well, s.h.i.t, I thought. I'm not going to let some jerk terrorize a defenseless girl. I stepped out in the hall to tell him to can it and get lost.

"I stopped short just in time. He was armed to the teeth with shotguns and rifles. And had something strapped to him that looked like a homemade bomb. I stepped back in the room and locked the door.

"'Call the cops,' I told Sarah as calmly as I could." Rick paused and took a sip of wine. "She grabbed the phone just as we heard sirens. A dozen or more cop cars and fire engines pulled up. Along with the bomb squad.

"Cops got out with bullhorns and started yelling directions for everyone on all floors but the fifth to evacuate. They told those of us on the fifth floor to stay put and wait for help.

"A ladder truck pulled up at the opposite end of the building and raised its ladder to help two girls out.

"'We'll be last', I told Steve and Sarah. There was a large evergreen outside Sarah's room. 'To h.e.l.l with waiting,' I told my lab partners. 'I'm not waiting to be blown up.' The three of us decided to climb out the window.

"I was good at climbing trees and not afraid of heights. I went first and tested the tree out. I decided the nearest branch was st.u.r.dy enough to hold one or two of us at a time and the climb down would be safe. Safer than staying inside.

"Steve guided Sarah out the window. I grabbed her from my perch on the branch and helped her to the trunk. I was going back to help Steve when the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen leaned out the window next to Sarah's room. 'Can you help us, too?'

"Her eyes were the deepest blue. Round and large. But not afraid. Why hadn't I ever seen her before?'" He took a deep breath, lost in the memory.

I was lost in his story, picturing Rick Butler coming to an impressionable young Mom's rescue. Imagining Seth rescuing me in a similar situation. The bond would be unbreakable.

"The sun lit up her flowing hair like a halo. There was no way in h.e.l.l I could have said no. Fortunately, there was another, equally st.u.r.dy branch near her window. I climbed out it to help her.

"'I'm Laura,' she said, as calmly as if she was introducing herself at a party." He smiled at the memory. "'And this is Mary.'

"Mary was hunkering inside the room. It took some doing, but Laura and I coaxed her out. I helped Mary to the center of the tree where Steve waited to help her down while Laura waited for me to come back for her.

"Sarah was already gamely scrambling down. By the time I went back for Laura, she was climbing out on the branch herself. She wobbled. I caught her hand and helped her to the tree trunk.

"'Do you always skulk about in trees helping damsels in distress?' she asked me.

"'Always. It's a calling. My superhero power-tree climbing. I haven't seen you here before,' I said to her.

"'You wouldn't. This is the first time I've visited Mary. We were supposed to be studying. So much for that. You don't live on the fifth floor, I hope?'

"The dorm was coed by floor. The fifth was obviously a girls' floor. 'I'm a Tau Psi,' I told her.

"'Too bad,' she said. 'I don't much care for frat boys.'

"She scrambled down the tree like a seasoned tomboy. The tree was large and the bottom branch was trimmed a good six feet off the ground. I swung down first and held my arms out to catch her as she hung from the bottom branch, and I helped her down.

"I remember everything about that moment as if it was yesterday. The smell of her perfume. The look in her eyes. The way she smiled down at me. The way she felt in my arms-" He stopped himself short, as if he'd said too much already.

"You saved her? Wow!" I was picturing the scene. Mom in his arms. Danger in the air. Rick playing hero. Mom a hero, too, for making sure Mary was safe first.

I agreed with Rick. He wasn't being arrogant at all when he wondered why Laura hadn't told me about her adventure. Who wouldn't tell such a story? Why hadn't Mom ever mentioned she'd almost been blown up? And that a guy had saved her. It was as if she was trying to completely erase Rick from her life. Trying to forget he'd ever existed.

I had to know the rest. "Then what happened?"

"I took Laura's hand. The cops were directing students into the street and the far parking lot. Hand in hand, we ran toward the crowd. We'd just reached the street when the bomb went off, deafening us for a minute."

He turned serious. "Windows blew out. Gla.s.s rained down, just missing us. I wrapped my arms around Laura to protect her from the debris. But d.a.m.n if that solid concrete dorm was still standing when the smoke cleared. Barely damaged. Except for the fifth floor."

He took a deep breath. "The rooms we'd been in were badly burned, completely destroyed. But only one person died-the bomber." He paused again.

I had no words.

Rick looked me right in the eye. "Do you know what Laura said to me when our ears stopped ringing enough so we could hear again?"

"Thanks for going out on a limb for me?" I said, fearing what she really said.

His eyes went wide with surprise and then he broke out laughing.

"You're your mother's daughter, all right. No," he said. "She said, 'Do you think my prof is going to believe the excuse that a bomber blew up my homework?'"

My eyes welled with tears. "That sounds exactly like her." I was so proud of both of them.

I just couldn't get over it. He'd risked his life for Mom? I pictured it all too clearly. Rick with his c.o.c.ky frat-boy att.i.tude and long, s.e.xy hair. It was like the prince coming to rescue Rapunzel from the tower. I had the feeling he was sanitizing the account for our ears. I imagined him coaxing the girls down with a lot of flirting going on. Laughing at danger. Putting them at ease.

After that, even if he hadn't been totally hot, she would have been hard-pressed not to develop a hero-worship crush on him.

"I took Laura out for ice cream," Rick said as an afterthought. "Because that's what you do to calm nerves after nearly being blown up. And she refused my offer of a beer at the frat." His smile turned sad. "That was the beginning of a whirlwind romance."

He must have seen the look of shock on our faces.

He couldn't have guessed the real reason for mine. I was becoming convinced he'd been in love with Mom. Really in love. The look in his eyes when he talked about her. The romantic way he remembered their dramatic first meeting.

So what had happened to break them apart?

"You can look up the old news reports about it," Rick said. "Probably have the news story on microfiche at the college newspaper archives."

"And I thought ma.s.s campus killings were a modern-day phenomenon." Seth laced his fingers through mine, holding on protectively.

"Human nature hasn't changed." Rick picked up his gla.s.s again. "Explosions seemed to be the theme that school year. Just five or six weeks later, Mount St. Helens blew up."

I made a mental note-Mom and Rick Butler had dated for about six weeks. Okay, not an eternity. Not a long-term thing. But, evidently, not inconsequential, either. I had to keep Rick talking.

"Dessert, anyone?" Rick asked. "Caesar will be insulted if we don't indulge."

I nodded. "Sure, why not?" I didn't want to insult Caesar. Plus, the cookies he'd packed us for lunch had been delicious. "We studied the eruption in, like, the fifth grade." I leaned back to let the waiter clear my plate. "What was it like in person?"

The waiter set a dessert menu in front of me.

"Gray." Rick didn't bother looking at the dessert menu. "The creme brulee is superb. So are the chocolate lava cake and the early spring rhubarb cobbler. We grow the rhubarb at the winery."

"You'll have to be more specific," I said. "About the eruption."

He ordered coffee for the table. "That. Not as spectacular as the old news footage. I'd gone home for the weekend. Which made Laura unhappy. I left home in Seattle to drive back to school shortly after the mountain erupted. Drove all the way across the state in an ash cloud.

"Poor visibility. We crawled along. I was concerned the ash would clog my air filter. Cars were stalling out along on the freeway. Took me forever, but I made it back as the worst of it hit the university. Day turned to night. The birds roosted. It was eerie. Back at the frat, they'd thought ahead to buy beer. Got as many kegs as they could get their hands on and prepared for a long volcano party.

"I tried to call Laura. But the phone lines were busy, totally overloaded. So I disobeyed university orders and went out in the ash to her dorm to rescue her from certain boredom.

"The girls were scared. But there was really no reason. I convinced Laura to come back to the frat with me and party on." He paused.

I tried to imagine Mom at a frat party. She hated the Greek system. Never said anything good about frats or the guys in them.

"Mom wouldn't go to a frat party. She doesn't like frats or frat guys. She's always warned me off them." I didn't know why I felt I had to challenge him.

"You don't know your mom as well as you think." Rick looked out over the lake, like he was getting control of his emotions.

When he looked back at me, he was grinning. Arrogantly. "Is that what she told you? d.a.m.n. Could have fooled me. She liked frat boys well enough in those days."

He had the nerve to laugh.