At least not until Karen got married, she remembered. And that happiness, if such a happiness existed for a girl of her personality, seemed so distant from her she thought that she was sure to die an old maid in this house.
Remembering all this, she walked down the stairs as silently as she could in her heavy boots. If she was going to die an old maid here, she schemed, she would at least lead a life like her grandmother did. Her father's attempts to restore the vineyard were futile, and Kai was intimidated of practically every aspect of life on the vineyard, so she would have to restore the vineyard and find out the secret to her grandmother's famous Door to Heaven wine all by herself. Only this thought cheered her up about staying here if her dream of going to the city fell through.
Karen thought she had her life all figured out when Sasha told her, still without looking at her, that her best friend Ann was here to see her. Karen couldn't possibly leave Ann, at least without a special event before her departure. Ann, at times, was her only window to the possibility of an outside world. The atmosphere Ann lived in was open with enough fresh air for the humans and animals alike. She had never been to Green Ranch before, at least not past the gate, but had a pretty good idea what the leading farm of Flower Bud Village was like.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye to your mother?" Ann peered around the doorway curiously when Karen stalked out the front door.
"Nope." Karen flipped her hair behind her shoulder and continued walking toward the village with her. Only seldomly did they do this anymore, but the two best friends used to make a habit of walking along the cobblestone sidewalks of the main part of Flower Bud, scheming and dreaming of the distant future.
"Tell me a story, or something," Karen asked of her when they began to circle Ann's cousin Rick's tool shop. "I'm dying for some news or entertainment, anything besides my life."
"Nothing much here," Ann looked up at her. The strawberry-blonde stuffed her hands into the pockets of her overalls. "But the other girls have been talking about the new guy. Have you seen him?"
"Oh," Karen sniffed, remembering what she had seen and heard in the bar last night. "That Jack fellow, right? I haven't really spoken to him; you see he won't be here very long anyway."
"That's too bad," Ann's face fell, "because I kinda let him have that pony. Cliffgard's brother. He seemed like a really nice guy, so I gave it to him." With the feeling that Karen would voice out her disapproval, Ann didn't look at her friend. Instead she kicked aside a few pebbles in the crevices of the sidewalk and acted as if it were really no big deal, but inside she couldn't hide that it would have been a big mistake. Ann never made a mistake in her love for animals, and although the two friends were very frank with each other, Ann didn't want to talk about Jack being a nice guy if Karen didn't like him.
"What do you mean, you gave him a pony? He's staying?" Karen's green eyes widened instead, and she raised an eyebrow at her quizzically.
"You mean you don't remember that kind old man's farm? Jack is his grandson."
"You're KIDDING!!!!"
"No, I'm not. Jack inherited the farm, although you wouldn't tell immediately since he arrived so late." Karen had stopped walking but Ann, still shuffling her feet, didn't notice.
"No, I sure couldn't tell. Gosh, I didn't know that!....So you gave him a horse. You must have confidence in him, then."
"Not really. I mean, he's from the city and he's only been here like once when he was younger, and he's sort of off to a good start. I couldn't deny him Cliff's brother after looking at those eyes and his face; you can tell he really, really loves animals."
"What's he like?"
"Nice, I guess. Like I said, he likes animals, so he can't possibly be a bad person. You know how they say, all people whom animals like are nice. And between you and me," Ann leaned in, "he's kinda good-looking!"
"Is he now?" Karen folded her arms, entertained. She'd definitely have to pay closer attention this time!
"Yeah. He's up in the mountain like all the time, if you ever wanna take a good look."
"I most certainly will." After saying that, Karen smiled in a devilish way she hadn't smiled in a very long time.