"I don't know about this, Andy. There are so many people down there." Carrie whimpered.
They were alone in the loft where he had been trying to convince her to come down and be sociable. So far he had had no luck.
"Come on." He pushed. "I want to see what Pa said about me staying here to help. This is your family, that's it. They love you no matter what, remember?"
"Then you go on down. I'll be fine."
"I know you will, because you are coming downstairs if I have to carry you."
"You wouldn't." Remembering the side of the usually docile Andy Garvey that she had seen yesterday, Carrie replied to her own comment, "Wait; yes you would."
She heard one of the boys coming up the ladder and heard Albert say, "Come on, lovebirds. Ma says breakfast is ready and getting cold."
"Lovebirds!" Andy's voice came out an octave higher than it should have. "We are not-"
"Don't even try it on me." Albert interrupted. "I was up all night helping you with those canisters for Carrie."
"They're just as much for Mary." Carrie listened to Andy's defense as she went slowly down the loft ladder with the boys' right in front of her.
As Albert and Andy's feet hit the floor with twin "bangs!" Albert pointed out, "Mary doesn't live here; Carrie does."
"The children will have to eat outside." Pa declared over the general din.
Again, Andy had a defense against Albert's opinion. "Carrie mentioned how difficult it would be since they were all the same. I was just trying to help her out. After all, I am her teacher."
"That's my point." Albert crowed before Carrie heard the door slam behind him, as if her oldest brother had wanted to add an extra exclamation point to his statement.
Someone laid a hand on Carrie's shoulder and Mary leaned in to whisper to her, "You know, Charlotte Gray said, 'You can fool the world, but not your-"
"Sister. I know." It seemed like a world away since Andy had told her that yesterday.
"Brothers aren't too oblivious either, apparently." Mary observed.
"Especially not this one." Adam spoke up from Carrie's other side.
"You had me help her on purpose?" Andy asked from what sounded like beside Mary.
"Trust me," Adam answered cheerfully. "I know exactly what I'm doing."
As Carrie managed to fill her plate, she heard Andy mutter from in front of her, "That's what I'm afraid of."
Her task completed, Carrie stood uncertainly out of the way. She hadn't been outside since the accident, and she was a little leery to try it.
"Are you coming, Carrie?" Cassandra asked hopefully.
Carrie shook her head and started towards Ma's rocking chair.
"Yes you are." Andy told her forcefully. "You're nothing special."
"I'm not?" She asked, trying her best to appear clueless.
"No. Well, yes, but no. What I mean is that you're not an exception to the rules. Even if you are special."
Carrie couldn't help smiling, because, even though she couldn't see him, she was certain that he was beet red.
As she followed Andy outside into the sunshine, she heard Adam remark, "I'm impressed. It took Mary at least a few weeks to think that one up."
She giggled. All traces of her sour mood gone, Carrie felt Andy slide his hand into hers as soon as the door had closed behind them. She tilted her face up to the sun that she couldn't see, loving its warmth no her skin and that of Andy's closeness to her. She felt all of her misgivings and hesitancies slip away as she stood there. She heard birds singing and the laughter if her family and friends, and, for the first time in what felt like forever, a sigh of contentment, and, she would admit, possibly a bizarre touch of desire, escaped her lips.
From the there on out, the days sped by, rapid and sweet, and she was happy.
April, May, and June all flew by in an ironic succession of slow, lazy-feeling days. At first, Carrie filled them with learning to test her limits and expand her horizons, getting back every ounce of independence that she had had before the accident. By the end of June she had overcome it all, largely in part because of their three visitors.
Even so, not a one of the trio showed any inclination to leave. Adam and Mary seemed to be waiting on something, though Carrie didn't dare guess what, and Andy – she didn't have to guess what he was staying for – was there for her. Although it was hardly public knowledge, they had begun courting in the beginning of May, amid many I-told-you-sos from family members.
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