Roxanne and Van Dyke stood, making a unique couple. He, with his prematurely greying hair, a big, solid man, built like an ox, his face hard and weathered, the generally grim cast of his face not visible that evening. And glowing with a radiance that came from an inner joy, stood Roxanne, her soft, beautiful features shining with happiness.

Gone were those dreadful memories of how she had been ill-treated at the house of her father, by his legally wedded wife; gone were the memories of her hateful half-siblings who had tried everything in their power to make her unhappy.

Roxanne was a stronger woman now. Shooting her half-brother, Nico,...