Mary Anne smiled as she received messages from all the girls- all of them were going to be in Stoneybrook on August 7th. She knew Kristy already lived there, but she wanted them all there- it was time. She wasn't sure if they wanted to come, particularly after the way they all said goodbye to each other, but there were some important issues that needed to be address. She sounded like a business. manager, she thought to herself as she placed her mobile phone back on the bedside table, and leaned back on her pillows. She unfortunately had caught the flu, and Logan and the doctor had sent her to bed. It was a pity, because Louisville was always pretty in the summer.........Hopefully she would be better before going back to Stoneybrook next week- she didn't want to miss it for the world.........

She had always loved the BSC more than everyone else- even Kristy, she suspected- and the friendships that had formed and endured (or fell apart as the case maybe). When Kristy had formed the club when they were 12, it was a means of escape for Mary Anne. Her mother, Abigail, had died when she was a baby so it was only her father Richard and herself. That had been hard growing up with- he had been a strict father, and insisted that she dressed like a little girl, and be home at a certain hour. In retrospect, she understood his feelings- he had already lost his wife, he didn't want to lose his only child- but it still made it hard on her as a teenager. It had been a long, hard battle to let her join the club, but she made him realize that the club would make her responsible with money, and children-, which she proved over and over again. The fight between her, Claudia, Kristy and Stacey had been awful, but it also taught her to be less dependant on them as her friends, and make new ones- such as Dawn.

The next momentous occasion in her life was when she met Logan Bruno- a gorgeous boy from Louisville, Kentucky. She knew, the moment she met him, that he was the only one for him. They had an on-off relationship for most of their high school years- Cokie Mason had tried to split them up, as had other people, but they both knew their relationship could stand the test of time. Although Logan and the BSC changed her, she was still essentially a shy girl who didn't ever want to offend anyone. Even when the BSC spread rumors about her and a high school boy (just after she had all her hair cut off), she didn't want to retaliate. Their high school years were fairly smooth, although there were some rough spots- Dawn zigzagging across the country most holidays, Kristy wanting to spend time with Bart (who then tried to take advantage of her), Claudia's battles with her parents, Mallory completely going off the rails, hurting Jessi, and Stacey leaving and coming back to the club as she dated numerous high school boys. She had been surprised at the BSC splitting up, but Mal had clearly been adamant. Happily, some of their former 'clients' decided to take on the club and, when she came home in the holidays from college, she was pleased to see the club thriving. Mal was completely uncontrollable, and Jessi was clearly devastated:

"I don't know what to do with her- she doesn't even want to be seen with me anymore. She never used to be prejudiced towards me, but now she's always making smart aleck remarks about me." Although Mary Anne was sympathetic, she was secretly angry about the way Mallory was treating her. Just before she went to Stanford, in San Francisco, she had tried to talk to her

"What are you doing to yourself, Mal? You're hurting yourself, your family and most especially Jessi. She's still very supportive of you, despite everything...why don't you talk to her?"

"Go away," was the rude response. Mary Anne was unsure about going to college- she didn't want to leave her father- although he had Sharon, she didn't want to leave him

"If you don't want me to go, I can go to college here," she said to him at the airport, half hoping that he would want her to stay.

"No, Mary Anne- I want you to go to Stanford. You have to fly and be free, without your old Dad hanging onto you like an old woman. Just remember, you've always got a home in Stoneybrook."

"Thanks Dad," she said, dissolving into tears and flying into his arms. She was extra emotional because, a few days before, she and Logan had decided to end the relationship for good. She was going to be in California, he was going to college in the middle west- both knew that a long distance relationship wouldn't last. But they vowed to still keep in touch, and maintain their friendship.

Although it was difficult to leave Stoneybrook, she took a long look around in San Francisco (one of the cities she had always wanted to explore), and knew she had done the right thing. For starters, being alone in the city, she was forced to make friends and she did so, rather quickly. She also explored the city and college campus many times, until she knew where everything was. She also made study her priority, although she sometimes went out dancing with her friends. She called Dawn several times, but after a while she seemed to busy to talk- the reason why was made obvious when pictures and billboards of her appeared everywhere. Stacey was equally successful in New York, and they kept in touch sporadically. The only one who was really constant was Jessi, who was lonely in Stoneybrook, then in Boston. However, her ballet career took off and she was busy all the time- yet she always made the effort to keep in touch, even popping in when she was in San Francisco.

She finally began settling into San Francisco- although not as glamorous as New York or Los Angeles, she had to admit that it had it's own charm- although the fog was a nuisance at times. Her father and Sharon flew out several times, and she went home for the holidays- Dawn rarely did anymore, and she knew it hurt Sharon deeply. While home one Christmas, she saw Kerry Bruno, Logan's younger sister, who was finishing high school.

"How's Logan?" Mary Anne tried to sound casual, but Kerry knew her too well.

"He's home for the holidays- you should call him!" However, he called her 2 days later:
"Mary Anne? Kerry told me she had seen you- how are you?" his voice sounded as warm as ever, and she felt butterflies in her stomach. No one had ever made her feel like this- no one.

"I'm fine- what are you up to now?"
"I'm going to law school next summer- in Boston. What about you?"

"I'm nearly finished my teaching degree- the next thing to do is find a job!"

"You won't have too much trouble with that.... Mary Anne, do you want to meet up and catch up properly?"
"I'd love to," she tried not to sound breathless. However, she was less than successful when they met at the Rosebud Café, where Logan used to work. He was as good looking as ever- even better. He still had his sandy brown hair, intense blue eyes, and he was just less than 6 foot 3 inches tall. She tried to hide her feelings by teasing him, but Logan took her hand just after they had sundaes for desert.

"We've tried to keep apart, but fate just seems to bring us together, doesn't it?"

"Yes..." He looked at her, she at him, and they knew that they belonged together. They always had- it had just taken 7 years to realise that.

By the following summer, they were engaged and planning a wedding for the end of the summer. Now that they had found each other again, they were determined not to take their chance for granted. Her father was pleased, as was Sharon- lately it seemed that Dawn had decided not to come home for a while, which hurt Sharon a lot. So, she was living with Mary Anne's joy. She invited all the girls to the wedding, but only Claudia and Jessi came- Stacey sent her apologies, and she didn't know where Kristy or Mallory were anymore. It was a beautiful wedding, and she cried (as she usually did when she was feeling sentimental) when Logan slipped the ring on her finger. After all this time, they were married! She had graduated from college earlier, in June, so she was happy to follow Logan to Harvard, in Boston. She managed to get a job in Boston, and time seemed to fly by. On their first wedding anniversary, when they were both 23, she had some very special news for Logan:
"I'm having a baby next May," she still blushed at things she felt shy about, but Logan was ecstatic.

"All right!" Around the same time Dawn announced her relationship with Jake McKenzie, and their highly publicized romance was all over the newspapers- particularly when they announced, three months later, that they were getting married in February. Dawn sent a token invitation to them, but Mary Anne didn't feel comfortable going, and she was 6 months pregnant, and didn't want to travel. She saw the wedding pictures in women's magazines and, although she was happy for Dawn, she felt that Dawn wasn't ready- or hadn't wanted to marry him. By that time, however, she was more concerned about the baby. Her father, perhaps tormented by memories of her mother, came down to spend 2 weeks with them- close to when she was due. She knew that she had had some difficult times with her father, but she was grateful for his love and support. She went into labour exactly on time, and Abigail Claire was born in 10 hours, weighing 7 pounds 6 ounces. Everyone had been ecstatic- and her father had been touched that they named the baby after her late mother.

"It's times like these that, although I love Sharon, that I remember how much I loved your mother," he said tearily as he held his first granddaughter. He also told her that Dawn was expecting her first child in December.

"Although I don't know how she's going to get through the months with all the press hounding her- and her husband seems to love the attention."

It was a happy year for them, and they both adored their daughter. Logan graduated from law school the following year, and he landed a job in Louisville, Kentucky- where he grew up.

"Now I can show you everything that made me me," he teased as they flew there to find a house. Mary Anne had decided to stop teaching until Abby (as they called her) was at school- and when they moved to Louisville, she discovered she was expecting again- as was Dawn, by the media announcements on her 'condition'. They found a sweet house, with three bedrooms and a beautiful garden- and they moved in just in time for Joshua Logan Bruno to come home to his new bedroom. With the two children, she had never been as content or in love with her husband- she was so happy with being a mother and wife over anything else. Just after her 28th birthday, she discovered that she was pregnant again, but she lost the baby 2 weeks later. She had been devastated, but Logan and her father and Sharon had been incredibly supportive, and she had thought she was on the road to recovery, until the doctors found a tumor and a low blood count.............

Mary Anne smiled, and looked out the window- she could see the children, now 7 and 5, playing in the back yard. She loved them so much, and she still would love another baby- maybe one day...

"Are you all packed sweetheart?" Logan asked as he brought a glass of lemonade into the bedroom. She laughed, and indicated the bags beside the bed

"Luckily I have a very helpful husband and housekeeper who did that for me!" He handed her the glass, and sat on the bed next to her.

"Are you ready to see them again?" She sighed, then sipped her lemonade

"Yes, there is so much we have to tell each other. I know, deep down, they miss each other very badly- and we have to trial and heal the past."
"Do they..."

"No, they don't and they won't till we see each other. Are you still alright to come?"
"Absolutely- I don't think I'd mind seeing good ole' Stoneybrook again after all these years." He kissed her cheek and looked into her eyes

"It's going to be alright, you know that. You have Claudia and Jessi on your side."
"I hope so."