"Yes, well, there is an old world saying, 'Homo unius libri ' which simply means a man of one book. The other saying is 'hominem unius libri timeo' meaning 'I fear the man of a single book.'" Alannah said with a smile.
"Are you calling me a fanatic Alannah Beringer?"
"You? A fanatic, NO! Actually, I was just thinking out loud. Looking at the world and the way it runs, men like my father and brother would be considered 'men of one book.' But men like Dominic . . . if I allow myself to feel where he is concerned, then I know all that I need to know about him. But when I try to get my head around him, then I find myself running in circles."
"As I said, you are far too cerebral for me," Anya told her, going into the picnic basket for a piece of Maria's fried chicken. "My concerns follow more of the basic needs."
"Oh? And what would those be?"
"Oh . . . I just nothing really, I just had an image of your children playing with mine, and like the two of us becoming best friends. One of my children, a little girl, smelling a flower, while your son was explaning to her the reasoning behind the arrangement of the petals."
Alannah laughed at the thought "yes, well, it would be nice if I could certainly teach my brother and my father a thing or two. Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I was just wondering how you turned out so differently."
"I didn't let their world get to me." Alannah said, "no matter what came my way, I took it in stride. That and I had Timothie to help me see the good in all the bad. He brought me to the Lord, I was ten when I first met him. I swore I was going to marry him some day, he was my savior in the blackness of my life. Whenever my father beat me, I would run to Timothie, we would read from the good book and pray. His father was the pastor of the Baptist church, when I was fifteen Timothie asked my father for my hand in marriage, but because of Mr. Deluca he was turned down. Timothie was poor and had nothing to offer my father."
"Why have you never told me of this before?"
"I don't know, I have never thought about Timothie until today."
"Do you still love him?"
"No, I miss my friend, yes, but no I don't love him. Timothie was thirteen years ago. I don't even know if he is still alive."