Chapter Three

"Hiiiiiiii!"

A chorus echoed through the Havenston house on Saturday, three days after Annemarie had found the diary. Three girls and a very skinny woman burst through the screen door. The woman embraced Annemarie and smothered her with kisses. "Ooooh, Annemarie, you're getting so big! It's been two years since I last saw you! How old are you? Oh, you must be about eleven, thirteen?"

"Twelve," answered Annemarie weakly.

"Oh, yes."

Annemarie blinked. "Uh…"

"Oh, don't tell me you don't remember your ol' Aunt Robin!"

Annemarie blushed and looked past her aunt to stare at the three girls.

Aunt Robin smiled. "You haven't met any of your cousins, have you? That's Meredith, the redhead, who's fourteen; Kory's the brown, she's sixteen; and Lucy-May is the blonde." Aunt Robin looked from Lucy-May to Annemarie. "My! If you two were the same age, you would be twins!"

Lucy-May smiled at Annemarie.

Mrs. Havenston bustled through the entryway. "Robin, hello!"

"Kate, how nice to see you!" Aunt Robin and Mrs. Havenston chattered as they made their way through the hallway. At one point Annemarie's mother turned around and called to her daughter, "Anne, show your cousins their rooms!"

"Come on." Annemarie led her cousins upstairs and showed them to various guest rooms.

"I want the room by Annemarie," Lucy-May said suddenly. "Better yet, can I sleep in your room, Annemarie?"

Annemarie was flustered. The girls had only been here ten minutes and already Lucy-May wanted to bunk with her?

"That'd be great." Annemarie let Kory and Meredith choose their rooms before leading Lucy-May to her room.

"Wow!" Lucy-May set down her duffel bag. "Great room!"

"Thanks." Annemarie sat down on her bed. "Um, I don't suppose you'd want to tell me about Kory and Meredith and yourself?"

"I don't mind." Lucy-May sat down beside Annemarie. "Well, Kory's kind of snobby. She's the kind of lip-gloss-fingernail-polish kind of girl. She doesn't like to talk to anybody.

"Meredith is kind of quiet and shy. She'll talk to you, but not much. She doesn't do much, either. And me? Well, I'm your average girl-talkative, fun to be around, you know?"

Annemarie nodded. "Lucy-May, did you ever have a sister?"

Lucy-May paused. She seemed deep in thought. Finally, she said, "Yes. Her name was Callie. She…died here two years ago. I…."

Annemarie took her hand. "I want to show you something." She led Lucy-May downstairs, down the hall, up the attic stairs, and into the attic.

She looked around and spotted the diary on the floor by a bunch of cartons. "Here," she said, and handed Lucy-May the diary. "Is this yours?"

"NO!" Lucy-May dropped the book. "Um, no, it isn't. Are you sure you read the name right? Maybe it's Callie's."

Annemarie shook her head. "No way!"

"Well, it isn't mine!" Lucy-May snapped. Then she softened. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. It's just…this isn't mine, okay?" She whirled around. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

With a glance back at the diary, Annemarie followed Lucy-May.