Juliet's second book about her mother was published late in the summer. She received her own copy in the post shortly after, and it was still a shock to see her name embossed in gold on the cover. She had written this! It was her book--with her name on it--for the world to see!

"I might not have a B.A. but I've done something," she breathed in awe.

She took her copy of Emily Climbs over to show the War-Widows--well, to show Maggie really. It was Maggie's idea that they read it out loud to each other in the long afternoons. She was not getting well from her summer cold as quickly as she should have been and she had to spend many long hours indoors. Juliet didn't mind--she liked being wherever Maggie was. She was so sweet and kind, and she had such a quiet, funny sense of humor. She was good. All of her life Juliet had tried to be good, and it had been a struggle. But Maggie didn't seem to have to try at all. She lay on her chaise lounge, listening to Juliet with a little smile.

It was Juliet's idea that they include Miss Eppie--the old woman was jealous of the time Juliet spent reading to her new friend.

"Aren't Margaret O'Keefe's eyes just fine?" Miss Eppie sniffed. "Well, anyway, go to her, Juliet. I didn't want to know what happened to that harebrained Ilse's mother, anyway. "

But in her eyes Juliet could tell that she was dying to know. Maggie said that of course Miss Eppie might come in the afternoons! She had always admired Miss Eppie, though her shyness prevented her from getting to know her.

They had two other little listeners as well. Mona's little girl and Maggie's little boy often crept in to sit with the adults and hear the story. Melanie, the girl, seemed to enjoy it immensely, and Juliet thrilled to see her listening raptly from the stairs. She had made that dreamy look come over the girl's face--through the simple act of stringing words and thoughts together. Maggie's little boy, Denny, was a serious little chap of five, with straight black brows and solemn brown eyes. Juliet couldn't tell from his face whether or not he enjoyed her reading, but he was always very well-behaved. Only once did he start to fidget, and then Maggie touched his foot gently and said, "Oh, please don't do that, Denny!" And the little boy stopped right away.

Of course Mona was always there, too, to Juliet's chagrin. In the weeks that had passed, while Juliet and Maggie had grown closer together, she and Mona had drifted further apart, if that was possible. Mona was still surly and unkind, though Juliet gritted her teeth and tried to be nice to her. She listened to the story with the rest of them, but gave Miss Eppie-like sniffs at anyplace she didn't like to show her disapproval. She still called Juliet 'Mrs. Miller,' though Juliet had asked her many times to call her by her first name. And she said it with a sarcastic edge, too. Juliet tried to ignore the sniffs and the pointed, mocking look on Mona's face while she was reading, although her temper almost boiled over when, after they'd finished for the day, Mona stood and said,

"I must get back to the chores. I've wasted enough time listening to that silly story."

"Well, I think it's lovely," Maggie said, patting Juliet's hand soothingly. "Oh, Juliet, I'd love to have the flash, like Emily in the books did."

"She does in real life, too," Juliet said, smiling as she thought of her faraway Mother. "Sometimes she gets very quiet and still--and a starry look comes into her eyes--and a mysterious smile spreads across her face. It's as if she's looking at something no one else can see. I've never had it, though."

"I wish I could," Maggie murmured, pulling little Denny close and stroking his hair absently. "Sometimes it seems that things are so beautiful they hurt--but there is always that pain there, behind any beauty or happiness. It is never true--it is always tinged with something dark. I don't think that could be it, do you?"

"No, I don't," Juliet admitted.

"Well I don't believe it at all," Mona said--with a smirk. "I don't believe it's possible to get anything like that. Why would you? A tree, even if it's beautiful, is still just a tree. Same thing with a brook--or a flower--they're nothing to make such a fuss over. Yes, Mrs. Miller, I think it's just a lot of poetic nonsense over nothing!"

Juliet breathed in sharply. "I'm not making it up," she said. "And I don't think Mother would either!"

"Mona!" said Melanie, in a shocked voice. "Of course Juliet's mother wouldn't lie! Do apologize. We're so very lucky to have a real authoress--a real, true authoress--come to read her book to us. Juliet, dear, you'll sign a copy for us, won't you? That would be so nice, wouldn't it, Mona?"

Mona grudgingly admitted that it would, and apologized. Juliet noticed that she always did what Maggie told her to. Why, Mona did love Maggie, she realized. And she was very kind to Melanie, and to Denny. It was just people from the outside world that she was unkind to.

"I feel terrible for intruding and making her feel uneasy," Juliet murmured, when Mona was safely out of earshot. "Maybe I shouldn't have come here at all."

"Don't, darling!" Maggie pleaded. "If you hadn't come here think of how dreary my days would be! I love you already. And Mona will love you in time--but Juliet, you must remember that her story isn't like mine. I had happiness--oh yes!--and love. Mona's is much bleaker. But I can't tell it to you--it's not mine to tell. You'll have to wait until she trusts you and tells you herself."

"What is your story, Maggie?" Juliet curled up on the sofa and stroked little Denny's hair and watched his heavy-lidded eyes close as he settled into sleep.

"Oh, you don't want to hear about that," Maggie laughed quietly.

"I do," Juliet protested. "You know all about me. Please tell me, unless it will be too hard for you"

"Well," Maggie began, and then closed her eyes and settled deeply into her story. "I met Dennis O'Keefe when I was sixteen. I wasn't in love with him then--or at least I didn't think I was. I fancied I was in love with a boy named Abe Gregory--he was my second cousin on my Mother's side. Everyone hoped I would marry him, when he was done college. Dennis wasn't half so handsome and hadn't hardly any money but he was persistent. He hung round until my dad begged me to go out with him--just once--so that he'd leave us alone. Well, I did." Maggie smiled.

"I didn't fall in love with him, Juliet, not then, either. He took me to a dance and he couldn't dance, either. But he was so fun. And I was still more in love with Abe than ever, and Dennis knew all about it, but we became friends.

"We were friends for years, and when I was nineteen, war broke out. I know it was earlier for you Canadians. But I will never forget the day it happened for us--December 7, 1941. I was with Dennis when I heard about it and I cried and cried because it meant our world would be changing forever. That was the day he kissed me--my first kiss.

"When his lips touched mine a sort of shiver went through me. I thought nothing of it then--it was only strange--but later I knew it was because I loved him. Well, things did change after that. All of the boys our age signed up--and Abe, my cousin, the boy I loved, was the first I knew to go. And he married Mary Lindley before he went.

"Oh, Juliet! I was devestated. I cried for days, I couldn't eat, I was beside myself. And when Dennis told me he was going--and asked me to marry him before he went--I said I would. Oh, it was to get back at Abe, I suppose, though Abe never cared. It was the funniest thing--we had eight days together after the wedding of perfect happiness--the purest happiness in the world. I've never been so happy before or since then. Sometimes I think I dreamed it! It couldn't be real. But Dennis shipped out and I plummeted back to earth and then my happiness seemed like a distant dream. I still told myself I didn't love him. Dennis knew I didn't, either. But he promised that one day I would.

"Of course you know what happened." Maggie gave a sad little smile. "Denny was born three months after Dennis died--was killed in battle. I--don't--remember anything about those first days. I was so upset. Everyone thought it was because of Abe--oh, Abe Gregory died in the same battle. But I didn't give a bit of care to Abe! It was Dennis, only Dennis.

"You see, Juliet, I did love him! I'd written him about it not a week before he died--and the day after I heard he was gone I got the letter back, unopened. Denny--my own darling Dennis--he never got it. I wrote a day too late for him. Well, that will teach me not to put things off!" Maggie gave a little, soundless laugh.

"He never knew you loved him?" Juliet questioned, aghast.

"He knew," Maggie said resolutely.

"But how do you know?"

"I know," said Maggie, just as resolutely. "And anyway, he knows it now, wherever he is--because we're capable of knowing all things in the Great Beyond. Don't you believe that, Juliet? And our time on this little planet that we love is short--so short. I'll be able to tell him so myself soon enough."

"How did you come to be able to live here?" Juliet gestured at the walls of the cozy cottage.

'That's the funniest part of all," Maggie laughed. "Dennis' mother was a Haight--one of the most prestigious families in the area--and we didn't know until after her died. He hadn't thought to tell any of us. He didn't think it was important! And my family, who'd thought him so poor and unworthy were suddenly so proud of him. Yes, they mourned that he was gone--or at least mourned that their chance of getting any of the Haight dollars was gone! My own Father died before the end of the war, and my Mother two years ago. I don't have any brothers and sisters, and no money. I couldn't afford to keep up our big house. Denny's mother--Mrs. O'Keefe--nee Haight, of course--let me live here."

"How did Mona come to live with you?" Juliet asked. "Were you friends before?"

"Ah!" Maggie shook her head. "That is Mona's own story. I can't tell you--you'll have to hear it from her, when she's ready."

Juliet trudged home with a heavy heart through the twilight. She found Allan reading at the table and deposited herself in his lap, throwing her arms around him.

"Allan, you know that I love you, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Allan laughed. "Juliet--darling--what's come over you? You look as if you've seen a ghost."

"I haven't seen one," Juliet said, "I've just been hearing about one. Oh, Allan, I love you with all of my heart and I'll try to make you know it everyday!"

"Maggie's story was so sad," she thought to herself, as she lie awake in bed that night. "And she said Mona's was even more bleak--but I can't imagine that. I'm glad Mona doesn't trust me--if hers is any worse then I couldn't bear to hear it!"