"Because my mother loved the flower," he said, grinning up at her. "There was a bush of them that bloomed all spring long outside the apartment she lived in. She swore the scent helped her morning sickness abate and eased her loneliness. So when I was born, she dubbed me after the thing she loved most about the city that was now her home."

He leaned up and kissed her. "Why is your name Xanthippe? 'Tis a Hellenic name, is it not?"