The living room, after Evan's attention-grabbing proposal, was one giant mass of talking, and laughing, and hugging. The noise level was

over the top.

Nancy, who had looked properly surprised, had then pressed a hand to her mouth, just like girls do in the movies, when someone proposes

to them.

There was an ear-piercing whistle, as Brian placed his pinky fingers in his mouth, and everybody quieted somewhat.

"Hold on," he said. "She hasn't answered yet, has she, Ev?"

Evan, who'd gotten to his feet, now looked at Nancy, as if he'd just realized that as well.

"Well?" he asked, looking somewhere between hopeful and happy. "What do you say?"

"I say yes," Nancy said, clearly, and Evan broke into a huge grin.

He slid the ring onto her left ring finger, and then Nancy flung her arms around him. Family began to crowd forward, each of us

intent on giving our love and congratulations. Back-slapping and more hugging began, all while Nancy kept one hand thru the crook of

Evan's arm.

When it was time, I hugged Nancy, and she leaned back to give me a dazzling smile. "Sisters for real, wild child," she said.

"I'm so happy for you," I told her. "Both of you."

I watched as Adam took his turn, giving Nancy a quick hug, and then he gave a much longer hug to Evan, and I could tell he was

saying something low, that only Evan would be able to hear.

"This calls for a celebration," Daniel said, speaking over the noise. "We should have some champagne!"

Even I knew that there would be no champagne to be found in our house. My brothers are definitely much more of the

beer type.

"We don't need any champagne," Nancy said, still with the biggest smile on her face. She was practically radiating joy.

"Beer, then," Daniel said. "Help me, Ford."

The two of them scurried off toward the kitchen, while Hannah and Clare came to take a closer look at Nancy's

engagement ring. It was a beautiful ring. Simple. But Nancy kept looking at it in admiration, and then squeezing Evan's

arm, so I knew she loved it.

When the boys brought back two six-packs of beer, and a six-pack of Coca-Cola, we all toasted the engagement. It turned into

a really awesome evening, just everybody hanging out, and eventually Ford sat down at the piano, playing soft country love

songs.

"Come sit with me, Har," he encouraged, and when I went to sit beside him on the piano bench, he began to play what

I recognized as Anne Murray's song, 'Can I Have This Dance for the Rest of My Life?'.

After I'd listened for a few minutes, I tried to join in with Ford on the song. A couple of times I paused, not able to

follow. But then when I looked at Ford, embarrassed, he leaned closer, and said quietly, "Forget about everybody else. Focus on the

music. Just play."

And so I tried to do that. I still didn't think I did that great, but Ford, when we were done, told me I'd done fine.

And Nancy came over and hugged Ford and said it was terrific.

"Yeah. It was good," Evan said. He looked nearly as beamingly happy as Nancy. Since I hadn't actually

congratulated him as yet, I stood up from the bench, and said, "I'm happy for you, Ev."

Evan grinned. "Thanks," he said, giving me a sideways hug.

Eventually, things settled down to be a good bit quieter. Evan and Nancy left, to go out on the promised evening date.

Daniel and Crane went out onto the front porch, and sat, no porch light on, in the dark, picking out chords

on their guitars. Guthrie and Kristin went outside to the porch, as well, sitting on the top step to listen.

Brian and Clare were sitting on the couch together, and Hannah went upstairs to rock Isaac. I wasn't certain just

where Ford had gotten to. That left Adam unaccounted for, and that was who I needed to see. So I went in search of

him, first making sure that he hadn't gone upstairs to go to bed. He hadn't, so I went thru to the kitchen, and felt

the coffee pot with my fingers. It had been turned off, but it was still warm. Which meant that he likely wasn't too long gone, or too

far away.

I went out the back door, not letting the screen door slam, and let my eyes adjust to the darkness. Warrior, who'd been

lying beside the door, got to his feet, and greeted me with a wag of his tail.

I rubbed his head, and then, with the pole light from the barn illuminating the trees in the back yard, I saw Adam. He was

leaning against a tree in the orchard, close to where the two old metal chairs sit at.

I walked across the yard, the grass cool on my bare feet. I came up quietly, touching the tree that he leaned against with

my fingers.

"Hi," I said, softly.

"Hi." His voice was just as quiet.

I leaned against the other side of the tree. "It's cool, isn't it? About Evan and Nancy?"

"Very cool," he said in agreement.

I wondered what it was that Adam had said so quietly to Evan earlier in the evening. But I knew it was none

of my business, anyway. I did know that Adam liked Nancy. I'd heard him say once before that she had a 'good head on

her shoulders'. That's high praise from Adam.

"We McFaddens just keep growing," I said then.

"That we do."

After a couple of moments of silence, he said, "It's late, isn't it? You should be getting to bed."

"It's a little after ten."

"Tell Kristin to go to bed, too, when you head up," he said.

"Alright." I left the side of the tree and walked a few steps out, looking toward the giant moon in the sky. I turned back to

face him. I could make out his profile by the yard light, but just barely.

"I got a letter today in the mail," I said.

He didn't say anything, but I could tell he was looking at me, waiting for me to say more.

"It was from Karissa," I said, getting directly to the point. No sense in dragging it out.

For a very, very long few moments, he said nothing. I thought he might say something like 'you're kidding', or

something like that. But he didn't.

"What'd she say?" he asked.

"That she thinks about me. That she hopes I'm having a good summer. That she misses me," I relayed.

"Hmm," he said.

"I was surprised," I said.

"Nothing she does surprises me," Adam said. He didn't sound particularly bothered or upset. "I don't want you to answer

the letter," he said then.

"There was no return address on the envelope," I told him. And then, realizing that it sounded as though I would have wanted to answer the

letter, I added quickly, "I wouldn't want to answer. I just meant that I wasn't sure where she sent it from-"

"I know what you meant," Adam said. His tone was still the same. Calm. Mellow. "I'm glad you told me."

"Okay," I said, relieved that he understood what I'd been trying to say. Still, I knew he thought I was at the end of what

I'd needed to tell him. I took a couple of steps closer to him, so I could see his face a bit better.

"She put some money in there, too," I told him. "She said to buy something that I wanted."

"She never quits," he said. He said it so quietly, so low, that I nearly didn't hear the words. I heard him sigh.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked him. "Since I don't know where to send it to return it?"

"Yeah. That does present a problem," he said.

"I could try to call the last phone number that I had for her," I suggested. "If she still answers at that number, I

could ask for her mailing address, and return the money."

"No," Adam said, sounding decisive. "I don't want you to try calling her. That might set things into motion that we

don't want."

"Okay," I said, in agreement, knowing that what he meant was that Karissa might take a phone call as encouragement, and start

trying to contact me again.

"How much money was it?" he asked.

"Fifty dollars."

"Hmm," he said, sounding thoughtful. "I suppose you could spend the money. Buy yourself somethin', like she suggested."

I was totally surprised by that comment. Still, I feel as though I know Adam very well, and I could also hear something

in his tone. I didn't want him to feel as though what he and the others were able to provide for me wasn't enough.

"I don't really need anything," I said, trying to sound casual.

Adam chuckled a bit. "You must be the only teenage girl in the entire state that would claim not to need anything."

"Well, I don't," I said. "I mean it."

"I know you do." He reached out, and put a hand on the back of my neck. "You're a rare gem, sugar plum."

I stepped on in, and wrapped my arms around his waist. "I have an idea," I said. "I could put it in the bank, in my savings

account. And that way, it's there in case she wants it back or something. She's majorly fruit loops, you know. She might demand it back sometime."

"Harlie Marie," he said, but not in an irritated way. Just softly.

"What?" I asked. "You don't think that's a good idea?"

"I actually think it's a great idea."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Okay. That's what I'll do then," I said.

Adam brushed my hair away from my face. "I'm glad you told me about getting the letter. And about the money." he said.

"I want to keep my promise that I made to you."

"I appreciate it," Adam said. "Thank you."

We were quiet for a bit after that, just looking at the stars, until Adam finally said he was nearly falling asleep while

standing up, and we headed inside.

7

Guthrie and Kristin still weren't inside, and I was going to go and tell Kristin that Adam had said for her to come

inside, like he'd told me to do.

Before I could, though, he'd stepped outside onto the front porch, listening to Crane and Daniel play their music. I was close

behind him, and I heard him tell Kristin himself.

After I'd done my shot, I went on upstairs, knowing Kristin would be a few more minutes longer, saying her goodnights to Guthrie.

I went to the bathroom, smearing Noxema on my face, and then washing it off. I love the feeling that my skin gets after I

use Noxema. And the smell of it. If I could, I'd use it as perfume.

By the time I was done with my face and brushing my teeth, and changing to my pajamas, Kristin was already in my bedroom,

sitting on the rollaway cot, and pulling on some socks.

"I brought us up some potato chips to snack on," she told me, holding up the bag. "Crane told me I could."

"Awesome," I said.

I curled up, cross-legged on my bed, and Kristin sat at the other end, also cross-legged. As we shared the bag of chips,

I began by asking her if she'd had a good time that evening.

"Oh, sure," Kristin said, her face immediately lighting up. "I always have a good time when I'm here. I'd rather be

here than anywhere else that I can think of."

She must have been able to read my thoughts, because she said, "It's not just because Guthrie is here. I mean, of course that's

part of it. But I always feel different when I'm here."

"Different, how?" I asked.

"Well," she considered. "I feel included in things. Not left out. And-everybody treats me as though they like having me

here."

"They do," I assured her. "Everybody likes you."

"No drunken rages here, either," she said, brushing her hands against her leg.

"Your mom let Frank come back?" That was all that I could figure that she meant.

"Well, not officially," Kristin said, making quotation marks in the air. "But he's there all the time. So, yeah, pretty much."

"I'm sorry," I said.

Kristin shrugged. "Nothing that I can do about it," she said, sounding resigned.

"Why does your mom do this?" I asked. "I mean, why does she put you, and herself, thru it?"

"Because she loves him, is what she says. To me, that's not love."

I felt so bad for Kristin. It was obvious how much she was hurting over all of it.

"Maybe you could stay here for awhile," I suggested.

"Do you think they'd agree?" she asked, so quickly that I knew she'd been hoping for it herself.

"I think they would," I said.

"That's what Guthrie said, too," she said.

"Well, there you go then," I said, sounding positive.

After that, we talked about other things. One of the subjects being, would we rather be proposed to in front

of other people, like Evan had done, or in a private setting.

Kristin thought it was romantic the way that Evan had done it, though she pointed out that it would be embarrassing if

a girl wanted to say 'no', but everyone in the room was watching.

I agreed, but added that I thought Evan had to have been nearly positive that Nancy would say 'yes', or he

never would have done it the way that he had.

7

The next morning when I woke up, Kristin was already gone, the cot neatly made up, and pushed against the wall,

so that it was easier to walk thru the room.

I got dressed, and went out to the hallway, nearly bumping into Ford.

"Hey. Good morning," he greeted me.

"Morning," I returned.

As we went down the stairs, Ford said, "I'm driving to Davis sometime this week. Would you want to go with me?"

"Sure. What are you going to do there?"

"I'm going to SC to talk to a counselor," Ford said.

"Oh," I said, stopping to regard him with interest, and anticipation. "Are you thinking of switching to SC?"

"I'm thinking about it."

"Ohhh," I said, tugging on his arm in excitement. "That's great!"

"Well, I'm only thinking about it," he said. "I'll talk to Adam and Brian, and see what day works out best for me

to be gone this week."

"Can I go visit the animal clinic while we're there?" I asked. "Like I did when Crane took me?"

"I figured you were going to ask that," Ford said. "Yeah, its alright with me."

As we reached the foot of the stairs, we had to step around Guthrie and Crane. They were ensconced in a corner,

talking in low tones, about something that looked to be very serious, judging by Guthrie's expression, and the way that

Crane stood, with his arms crossed.

"Looks like a major powwow," Ford said, in a low tone, as we walked on toward the kitchen together.

"I think it's about Kristin," I whispered back.

"What about Kristin?" he asked.

"She wants to stay here for awhile," I said.

"Again? What happened?"

"Frank's back," I said, and Ford raised an eyebrow, in concern, and we stopped talking, because we were

walking into the kitchen.

A platter of eggs was already on the table, and Brian was standing at the stove, still flipping pancakes.

"We need more syrup," Daniel said, holding the syrup bottle upside down, watching as the remaining drops

drizzled out.

"We don't have any more syrup," Hannah announced, from where she putting Isaac into his high chair.

Brian reached into a cabinet, and took down a jar of molasses, and set it on the table with a flourish.

"There you go. Nothin' better than molasses on pancakes," he said.

I wrinkled my nose, thinking that I'd rather eat a pancake plain, than put that black molasses on it.

"Jelly?" I suggested, and went to grab the apple and the pear jelly from the refrigerator. I slid into my chair,

and when I forked a pancake, I spread pear jelly all over it.

Brian, who'd finished cooking, set a plate piled high with pancakes in the center of the table, before heading around to his

own chair. "You should try the molasses, peach," he told me.

"No, thank you," I said, very definitely.

"I'll try it," Kristin spoke up. She let the molasses drip onto her pancakes, and took a bite.

Looking across Guthrie and Clare, to where Brian was watching in expectation, she said, "Umm, good."

"Good girl," Brian said, in approval. "Pass it down this way."

"I think molasses has a weird smell," I volunteered.

"Oh, it does not," Evan said, from his spot across the table.

"It does," I insisted. "It smells like a-a weed, or something."

"Oh, Harlie," Hannah said, looking amused.

After a few minutes, the conversation turned to Evan's wedding proposal.

"When are you thinking of getting married?" Hannah asked Evan. "Or have the two of you decided that?"

Evan gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't think it's set in stone yet. Nancy said something about in the Fall sometime."

"What part of the Fall?" Hannah asked, stopping in her eating, to look at Evan.

"I don't know," Evan said, carelessly, in typical guy fashion.

"Hannah exchanged a look with Clare, who obviously understood, because Clare looked at Evan and

said, "Like September? Or October? Early fall or late fall?"

Again, Evan looked at them, as if puzzled. "Not sure."

"Well, we need to find out," Hannah said. "If it's September, that's only a few weeks away-"

"Hannah, that's two months," Adam spoke from his end of the table.

"Men don't understand anything about weddings," Hannah said, spooning more baby food into Isaac's waiting

mouth.

"Nope. Nothing," Clare said, in agreement.

"I understand plenty," Brian said.

"Oh, is that so?" Clare asked him, tilting her head to look up at him. "What do you understand about weddings?"

"I understand they're a heck of a lot of hard work to get ready for-" Brian said, as Clare raised her eyebrows at him.

"That's exactly my point," Hannah said. "We have a lot to do to get ready if it's going to be soon."

"A lot of hard work, huh?" Clare said, nudging Brian in the ribs.

Brian grinned, and kissed her on the forehead. "But worth every bit of it, darlin'. Every bit."

7