His father and grandfather both lived to be over 100 years old, spending most of their lives as widowers despite marrying much younger women; fearing the same bitter fate, Holling had sworn off love until Shelly appeared.
Njegov otac i djed živjeli su preko sto godina, provevši večinu života kao udovci unatoč tome što su oženili mnogo manje žene; bojeći se iste sudbine, Holling se odrekao ljubavi sve dok nije pojavila Shelly.