Lois and Clark were packing up their belongings to head back to Boston. The Continental Congress had lasted over a month. They had been staying with Mrs. White's sister during that time.

"Thank you, Mrs. Shaw, for letting us stay with you," Lois said.

"Yes, thank you," Clark said. "You have a lovely home."

"You were wonderful guests. I enjoyed it."

She gave them a couple jars of raspberry jam. "Take this back to Alice. I know she hasn't been getting a lot of time to preserve with you two away."

They thanked her again and got on the road back to Boston.

"I'll miss living with you," Clark said.

"Why? We'll still see each other every day. It's not like we were sleeping in the same bed."

"I know," he said with a smile, "but it was nice knowing you were in the same house."

She shook her head, but she was smiling too.

The Lane family was gathered around their table eating their stew.

"How was Mrs. White's sister? Does she have her household back in order?" her father asked.

That had been the lie they had told her father. Mrs. White's sister from Philadelphia was recently widowed and needed an extra pair of hands. Mrs. Shaw was widowed, but not that recently.

"She's doing much better," Lois replied, as she pushed Elroy away from the string hanging at the edge of her gown. She plucked the string off and Elroy jumped on her lap. He couldn't get enough of her after her month absence.

"Cat!" her father barked, making Elroy jump back into the floor. "You know better than to jump on people while they're eating."

Lois smiled to herself. Her father's bark was worse than his bite, which Elroy was aware of as he was now rubbing apologetically against her father. "Did you see or hear anything about the Continental Congress?" he asked.

"Of course. I was in Philadelphia, wasn't I?"

"Well?"

"They're giving it another chance and sending a petition to King George."

He flushed red from anger. "They went to all the trouble of a meeting to do that? The time for peace is past."

She shrugged. "I agree with you, but I guarantee you, King George will ignore it. They're having another meeting in May after they see what happens. It's not the only thing they did either. We received the colonies support in a full boycott. The only colony who didn't send delegates was Georgia. I think they would have if it wasn't for their skirmishes. They need the British army to help them."

"One day soon they won't. We'll have our own army."

"They're also going to cut off exports if the Intolerable Acts don't get repealed," she finished off her stew with the swipe of her bread. "They sent invitations to Quebec, Saint John's Island, Nova Scotia, and West and East Florida. I don't think they're all going to join us though. They're too far away from the conflict and after Quebec got that great act, I don't think they're too eager to join us."

He nodded in agreement.

Lucy sighed. "Can we stop talking politics, please?"

Lois smiled before she took a swig of her ale, "Sure."

"I'm glad you're back," Lucy said.

"Aw, did my baby sister miss me?" Lois teased.

"Yes, I've had to do the dishes all by myself."

Lois laughed and stood up, "Let's get started."

Their father turned in for the night. Lucy filled one of the wooden buckets with hot water; the other already had cold water in it. She cut off some of the lye soap into the hot water. Lois handed her the dishes from the table.

"You can tell me," Lucy said, handing Lois a wet dish.

"Tell you what?"

"I know Clark Kent was in Philadelphia too, covering the Continental Congress."

Lois rolled her eyes as she dried the dish with a linen cloth. "There is nothing to tell. Cl—I mean Mr. Kent is—"

"Interesting slip, Lois. You're using first names now?"

"Even if I used Mr. Kent's first name, it means nothing. I use Mr. White's first name."

"But Mr. White isn't an attractive, young man."

"Lucy, I barely even saw him. He was out doing his thing and I was helping Mrs. Shaw."

"You know what I don't get?" Lucy said as they toted the dirty dishwater outside. "Why you won't admit you like him."

Lois let some of the water spill on the edge of Lucy's gown.

"You did that on purpose," Lucy cried.

"Maybe you'll learn to mind your own business."

"Fine, but I know you like him," she said before she ran back into the house.

TBC