Dearest Mia-

Your father and I stopped by today—our ship only just arrived. We had to make several stops along the way but we have finally arrived in America. We had hoped to meet you and possibly take you to lunch at the Plaza Hotel...be a real family even for a little while. But we assume you are out with new friends, which is good news. We do not want our daughter to sit around and mope all day long.

We miss you terribly and think about you often. I do wish we had more time to wait for your return, but we have a train to meet in only a little while. We are first going to Washington D.C, and then we will go to my family in Indiana. It will be nice to see my mother and father again, although I do believe that Papa is dreading it. Your Paw Paw will most likely make him milk the cows and do the real farm work. I cannot possibly wait to see it! I wish you would be able to as well so we could tease him together, but we must do this for Genovia. To be strong for it.

What am I talking about? I just want my daughter back. I want to braid your hair after you take a bath, and to hear about your new adventures in a new city. Have you made many friends? Any boys? It must be nice to be a normal girl now, not with your Grandmama breathing down your neck. Use this time wisely. Date. Be a foolish teenager. I know I loved being sixteen...I'll tell you more about that later though.

I know how you feel about Americans, but I'm sure by now you have grown used to here. And to the American way of life, how do you like it now?

Papa is getting agitated. I'll let him write now.

-Love Always, Mama

Melia (that's what my papa calls me, no one else dares to though)

It has been so long since I've seen your sweet face. I understand that it must be difficult adjusting to this way of life, I know myself I am dreading it. How have you fared with it? Any advice for the old man?

The journey here was very eventful, I shall give you a full report in my next letter. That way you can write it all down and put your imagination to good use. I cannot wait to hear your latest tale.

You have been behaving yourself I hope. Been good to the Moscovitz family. How are the children? Robert tells me that they are about your age now. Do you get along with them very well? I know it must be hard...you have such a different background than they do and all. But you must adjust my daughter. You must adjust to your new living situation. Be polite to the son and daughter.

And be sure to have fun. Enjoy yourself there, you even have my permission to court. But be smart about it. Do not let boys know who you really are...do not get serious with anyone. You are still very young.

We must be off now. But we love you darling, do not ever doubt that. You can reach us at

23 Patchwork Road

Slannen, Indiana 34293

We await your letter

Love, Papa

I bit my lip. I was not going to cry again. I couldn't. I had cried too much last night out of the guilt. My brother could be lying in a ditch somewhere or in an unidentified grave. He wouldn't have the full funeral that he deserved if he had died over there. And we would never know. He had given an assumed name and age to the military. Otherwise they would have needed my parent's permission.

I decided to write to them. By the time it got to Indiana they would be there.

Dear Mama,

How I wish I had been here when you and Papa arrived! But I do have interesting news. I was out with the Moscovitz son. Mama, he is so handsome! He is very smart, and very funny. Imagine me laughing! I never find anyone funny... he is sarcastic but charming.

I wish you were here to help me. Mama, I have my very first beau! He is very tall, has brown, kind of shaggy hair (which his mother wants him to cut, but he refuses), and his eyes...Mama, he has the most amazing brown eyes that I have ever seen. It is almost like he sees deep within my soul with them. Imagine I did not know him only a month and a half ago!

He gave me my very first kiss last nigh. Mama, remember when you told me about your and Papa's kiss? You said it like butterflies were in the deepest part of your belly? It felt like that, plus I felt so lightheaded I thought I would faint! Mama, I am so confused, is that what love is? Is it possible that I love a boy I only just met?

But he's also going to be leaving. He is joining the Navy when he turns eighteen in January (aren't you proud that I am dating an older man?). I turn positively silly when I think about him! But his mother and father cannot know about this...they would be far too upset. Why though? They trust us, don't they?

Please don't tell Papa...he still sees me as a little girl. And he would not want me to date a boy he has not met.

Your Devoted Daughter, Mia

P.S. How did you know Papa was the one? Please tell me so I can know what to look for in Michael...oops, I never told you his name. Isn't it just perfect? Imagine, he would be Prince Michael Renaldo of Genovia....am I being silly? Grandmama would say so.

Dear Papi (my nickname for my father)

I am so upset I missed you and Mama! Lunch would have been lovely! The older Moscovitz's go there sometimes with their colleagues for meetings and whatnot. I would have felt like a true lady had I gone! But what would I have worn? All my clothes are rather American now.

I am making friends Papa. Lilly is the girl I am living with. Her brother Michael has also been very kind to me. Sylvia, Tina and Laura are girls I go to school with. I am doing very well in my classes Papa. I am in the eleventh year French class, got an A on my last geometry exam, and doing well in all my other subjects.

I must go back to studying now. I love you Papi!

Your Faithful Daughter, Melia

I kept Papa's letter short because I hated lying to him. Telling him that I was simply friends with Michael and nothing else. I wanted to announce to the world that I was with Michael, but Papa would not fully approve. He may say I should, but he didn't want me to be serious about anyone.

I did not have very much time to mull this though through because a knock came to the door. I was alone. Was if safe to answer the door with no one else around? "Hello?" a voice said tentatively.

"Hello?" I said back. "Who is there?"

"It's Tina and Sylvia," it replied.

I slowly opened the door to see my new friends standing there with wide eyes. "We're going to the park and you are coming with us," Sylvia said grabbing me, nearly jumping up and down with excitement. They dragged me wordlessly onto the trolley car. Maybe I was being kidnapped. Maybe the Italian-

My thoughts stopped when we hopped off at the first Central Park stop. We sat on a bench and they smiled.

"So?" Tina asked.

I smiled.

"Did our plan work?" Sylvia hissed.

"He's really as cute as can possibly be."

"Did he take you in his car? I hear boys can convince their fathers to loan them the car if-"Tina yammered on.

Sylvia stopped her.

I laughed, "Look, he got my suit all wet today," I said pointing to the mark on the side of my skirt. I hadn't bothered to change it. I would have had I been back home but I don't know...those sorts of things do not matter as much to me anymore.

"I wish I had a beau of my own. Was this love at first sight?" Tina asked with a sigh as we jumped off the bench

I rolled my eyes. "So last night we had a little bit of lemonade that his mother had made for their friends that had been over earlier in the night. We held hands...kissed a little..."

"What is it like...to kiss a boy?" Tina asked.

"One as gorgeous as Michael?" Sylvia added.

I closed my eyes and thought about Michael. I had been so terribly nervous before he kissed me. Expecting him to ask for permission but he hadn't. He was a pompus American...and I loved it. "He was very gentle."

"Gentle kissers would make perfect husbands," Tina said with a giggle. "Do you love him?"

I half smiled, "It is far too early to tell about that." She was awfully pushy. She had already asked me that.

"Because I was reading this new magazine, Seventeen and it says you can tell if you are in love in five simple steps."

Sylvia and I looked at her like she was absurd. "I heard about that magazine. Who knows, maybe it is right. It can't hurt."

"Girls, I don't know...I don't even know if I can love him."

"But you would like to love him, wouldn't you?" Sylvia asked sagely. We started walking in the direction of Tina's Park Avenue Apartment. "I mean, nearly every girl in school has a crush on him. Everyone is jealous because he only talks to you and that weird Judith girl. No one is jealous of her because...well, there's obviously nothing to be jealous of. But you..." she said with a coy smile, "You look right with him. Everyone was talking about you two at the dance after you left."
"Oh?" I asked nervously.

"Yes. One boy, Jonathan Hall had heard a rumor that you were coming to the dance so he had planned on asking you for a few dances, but then you came into the hall with him and...well...Jonathan simply had to dance with Minnie Mae in order to resist pounding Michael."

I smiled. Jonathan was a boy in my French class that I had to tutor from time to time. "I never noticed."

"Of course you didn't. You were too involved with making googily eyes with Michael!" Tina practically screamed.

We ran into her bedroom and she pulled the magazine from her dresser drawer, "I have to hide it because Dad doesn't think it's right for me to spend my allowance on a girls magazine."

"How much was it?" I asked, looking at the cover of a blonde girl holding a cut out of the number seventeen.

"Fifteen cents. It's definitely worth it. It tells you how to do your hair properly and how to dress for a first date. Sadly I will be far too old for Seventeen when I have my first date."

Sylvia and I gave her pitying smiles, "It'll be okay," Sylvia promised, trying to remind her that we were there for me and my current problem. Am I in love with Michael?