(29) For Now, Forever by Nora Roberts

Daniel is the father of Allan, Caine and Serena. Roberts wrote three books covering these individuals, their spouses, one cousin of Daniel and a brother of Allan's wife.

Borrowing what Mrs Higgs said on page 112: falling in love is like riding a roller coaster
                                                                      being in love is like going round a carousel
                                                                      staying in love is like being in a maze

There is a well publicized case in my country: a school teacher was about to marry her sweetheart. The day before he was to say I do, he died mysteriously in some corruption investigation. Since the marriage was hastened by the impending arrival of a baby, this poor lady went on to deliver her son in the traumatic aftermath of the untimely death of her intended. To "make" the heir legitimate, she submitted to a "Taoist marriage" with a ghost in the yin world.

Daniel wanted to marry Anna right from the first moment of meeting her. But Anna was not willing to give up her lifelong dream of becoming a surgeon. Therefore she compromised: she lived with her beloved until her graduation. Well, she is lucky in that she was able to have her cake and eat it.

Three old friends of Elizabeth came to celebrate her birthday from Silver City. I grabbed hold of the golden opportunity to tell them a story or two. It took half an hour to transport them from the subway station to my place, I have a captive audience along the way. I have known these girls since they were seven years old. Since one of them recently snared a boy friend and just came back from visiting his parents, it is time to talk about Aids. A friend of mine is a General Practitioner in Singapore, she counted five single girls from good backgrounds who came for HIV tests in her clinic last month. Each of the five girls has only one sexual partner, the guy they planned to marry. Sad to say, three of them tested positive.

There is this 24 year old handsome young man I have known very well all his life. He is on to the fourth girl friend now. Well, it is like the program Friends with Benefits. Since he was abroad for almost five years, I really don't know how many sexual partners he has had. Within a period of two weeks, he has had stomach problems and purged many times. For his parents' sake, I certainly hope it is just a case of poor food choices.