"I'll never forget all the fun I had with you this summer, Jamie." Andy embraced her and kissed her forehead. "I'll stay in touch, and after you graduate, if you feel God's calling you into the mission field, then...who knows?"

Tears were in Jamie's eyes as she watched him walk away, and as she turned to leave the airport with her family, she felt as if there was a large, gaping hole inside her.

"How about if I take us all to Western Steer for dinner?" Doug suggested. He knew it was Jamie's favorite restaurant.

"I'm not very hungry, Dad."

Jo smiled at her daughter. "It might help take your mind off things."

"Perhaps."

Doug took his family to the restaurant, where Jamie was able to finish most of her meal and took the rest home in a doggy bag. She was quiet all the way home, and when they got there, she went straight to her bedroom, where she stayed for the rest of the day.

"I didn't realize how hard she'd fallen for him," Jo commented.

"Aw, school will be startin' soon, and that'll keep her occupied," Doug replied.

On the first day of school, Jamie met up with Taylor before class. "What's wrong?" asked Taylor. "You look like you just lost your best friend!"

"Andy went back to the Amazon a few days ago, and already I miss him like crazy!"

"Have you heard from him since then?"

"Just a brief email telling me he got there all right. That's all!"

"Maybe he's just busy."

"I hope so."

Weeks passed, and still there was no word from Andy. Fortunately, the school football season soon began, and Jamie got involved with that, which helped take her mind off things. At the school dance following the homecoming game, a tall boy with medium-length brown hair and hazel eyes approached her. "Hi, I'm Nolan. Wanna dance?"

"Sure. I'm Jamie."

She had a nice time dancing with Nolan, but he didn't ask for her telephone number afterwards. "Well, I guess I'll see you around," was all he said.

Several days later, she finally heard from Andy. "Sorry I haven't been in touch," he wrote in his email. "It rained for almost two weeks straight, and many of the villagers got sick. The rain delayed delivery of our supplies, so there wasn't enough medicine for everyone, and a two-year-old boy just died. His parents are inconsolable, and I've been doing my best to comfort them. I've only now gotten access to the internet for a few minutes. I just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten about you and I hope you're enjoying school."

Jamie's heart leaped with joy. She couldn't wait to write back to him, but just then, Jo called her to dinner.

Natalie held Luke's first birthday party on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Blair came accompanied by Adam, Alyssa, Katelyn, and Kimberlyn. Everybody watched as Natalie lit the numeral '1' on her son's cake and encouraged him to blow it out. Then they sang 'Happy Birthday' to him and Natalie cut and served the cake.

"So what grade are you in now, Kimberlyn?" she asked Blair's younger stepdaughter as they were eating. It was the first time she'd met the girls, and she was anxious to get to know them.

"Third." Kimberlyn looked up at her out of the corner of her eyes.

"That's nice. How are you enjoying school this year?"

Kimberlyn shrugged. "It's OK, I guess. This cake is really good. Did you make it yourself?"

Natalie laughed. "Oh, no. It's from a bakery. I wish I could bake like this, though."

Katelyn and Alyssa were playing peek-a-boo with Luke. Adam was playing with his cell phone, looking bored.

"How about you, Adam?" asked Natalie. "How's your school year going?"

"All right. I have to do a report on the medulla oblongata for science."

"What's that?" asked Kimberlyn.

"Part of the brain stem," Adam told her.

"You mean brains have stems?"

Adam sighed and rolled his eyes while Katelyn and Alyssa giggled.

Natalie posted photographs of the party on Facebook. "Luke's a year old now!" Jo called to Doug, who was sitting on the sofa watching television.

He walked over to look at the computer screen. "Cute little fellow, isn't he?"

Jo sighed. "Natalie and Blair look like they're having so much fun."

"Maybe we could drive out to California to visit them some day," Doug suggested.

"That would be quite a drive!" Jo exclaimed.

"Shoot, I bet it would only take a couple of days. Hey, maybe we could do that over the holidays, y'know? It might even help take Jamie's mind off missin' Andy so much."

Jo smiled. "What a great idea!"