Liz was silent, though only for a few minutes after Marcus stopped talking.<br/><br/>"No, Marcus," she said, finally, "I can't say I'm not going to be with Lan. I like it that you and your sister are close. I'm not asking you to not to be with your sister, but you are asking me not to be with Lan. Our family only works because we don't ask things like that of each other. We don't make bargains about who we can and can't be with, that's what everybody else does. You don't have to live with Lan, just see him at holidays, now and then when he visits. He never liked  you, that isn't going to change, but if I do what you ask it'll only make him hate you more, it'll hurt me, and it'll hurt our family. Can you understand that?"<br/><br/>Liz had hoped it wasn't coming, but Marcus had said it. The thing that Liz had hoped would not come. The jealousy. If she could have her kids be with each other, her husband be with them, be with them herself, and put all of society aside for that, surely, when it came to Lan, she'd thought they could set it aside.