Erin, do you remember the locket that my papa gave me years ago?" The locket had sprung to Emma's mind as she had been washing the dishes at the cafe she worked at from Monday to Wednesday.
After Erin thought for a moment, she nodded her head. "Yeah...didn't Elizabeth take it?"
"I don't remember that. I think I remember losing it when I was about fourteen, then giving up on ever finding it again..." She frowned. "Why would Elizabeth take it?"
"Don't ask me. I have to go help Jim Bob with his car." Erin knocked on the boys' door. "Jim Bob, are you finished?"
"Amen." John said, and the whole family started to pass around the food. "So, how was everyone today?"
"All right. I've been asking the editors about my novel, and they said it should probably be published in a few months." John Boy took a sip of water. He was getting ready to graduate from Boatwright University soon, and he was working hard on his novel. The family had been sad to learn he was planning to move to New York soon after he graduated, but they were getting more used to the fact.
"Well, I saw Martha Rose today on my way home from school. Grace is walking faster than ever! And Martha Rose is sure the next one is a boy." Erin smiled.
"He'll be good company for this one." Mary Ellen remarked, putting a hand on her stomach.
"I still think you should have the baby at a hospital." Curt and Mary Ellen had been arguing about that for days.
Grandma scowled. "The mountain is where Mary Ellen belongs. So does that child."
Emma shared a worried look with Jason. "Anyway, I was selling dresses as usual today, when somebody came in. You'll never guess who." Emma worked in a dress shop in Charlottesville from Thursday to Saturday.
"Who." Jim Bob smirked.
"Jim Bob," Emma rolled her eyes. "Marcia Woolery."
John Boy spluttered. "What?! How do you know it was her? I haven't seen her in ages! Not since she moved away five years ago!"
"Well it was definitely her, all right. I would recognise her a mile off."
"Miss her, John Boy?" Elizabeth made a kissy face at him.
"Not at all." John Boy tried to keep the colour off his cheeks, standing up abruptly and taking his plate and cup over to the sink. "I... gotta go."