Adam looked up at me for a brief moment.

"She is?" he asked.

I nodded. "Uh huh. I left really quick so she didn't see me."

"Hmmm," Adam said, and went on nailing the shingle he was working on.

After a couple of moments, I said, "What do you think we should do?"

Adam finished the last bit of nailing and looked up at me. "I don't think we should do anything."

I was looking at him quizzically, and he finished, putting the hammer in the loop on his tool belt. '

"Go on down," he told me, and I went down the ladder, and he came after me. At the bottom of the ladder,

he stood there for a long moment, and then said, "A person's entitled to their privacy. Let's just leave her be."

"She doesn't seem the type to cry," I said.

"Is there a type?" he asked me, his eyebrows raised a fraction.

"I didn't mean that, really," I said, trying to explain. "It's just-she seems more in control than that."

"Everybody has their moments, sugar," he said. "Jill's human, just like everybody else."

I nodded. "Yeah."

7

In the afternoon, Kristin came. Buddy was the one who brought her, which surprised me. He never does anything nice

for Kristin. He stopped just long enough for Kristin to get out of his car, and sling her bag over her shoulder, and then

he was gone, peeling out in a cloud of dust. I'd walked over to greet her, and we stood there, watching as Buddy

fish-tailed down our driveway.

"He agreed to bring you, huh?" I asked.

"I had to pay him," Kristin said, and I looked at her, wide-eyed.

"You're kidding," I said.

"No. He told me I had to give him five dollars for his time and his gas."

Unbelievable. On the other hand, we were talking about Buddy here.

"You should have called," I told her. "Guthrie could have come."

I didn't say that I could have picked her up, since I wasn't allowed to go to Kristin's at all. Not even to pick her up, since Adam

and Brian didn't want me going there, because of Frank and because of Buddy.

"I knew Guthrie would be busy-" Kristin said. "It's alright. I gave Buddy his five dollars, and now I'm here."

"Yeah, you're here," I said, and squeezed her arm.

As we went into the house, Crane and Brian were just pulling up in the Jeep, near the barn. Brian sounded the horn, which was

sort of sick-sounding, old as it is. More like a goat bleeting than a horn on a car.

"Hey, girls," Brian hollered out to us, with a wave.

We both waved back, and Crane called out, calling Kristin by the nickname that he'd given her. "Hey there, Kris-10!"

"Hi, Crane!" Kristin called back, her face lighting up. I knew for a certain fact how Kristin felt about Crane. He's always been

a real source of support to her, and she's wanted him around a couple of times when things were bad for her at home. She thinks

he hung the moon.

We went into the house, and up to my bedroom, where we left Kristin's bag of extra clothes and stuff. We sat and talked for

a few minutes. I told her about how we were going to do some scrapbooking with Nancy later on. She asked about Jill, and

I told her about the strangeness of the morning, and about Jill holding Pepe and then hearing her crying in the barn.

Kristin agreed that Jill was mysterious, and we went downstairs, where we found Hannah, Clare and Jill, sitting in the living room.

Hannah and Clare told Kristin hello and I introduced her to Jill.

I observed Jill as closely as I could without notice, to see if she had the look of someone who's been crying. She didn't, though. She

looked just as good as always. Perky. Her makeup redone. Her eyes weren't red, and her nose wasn't pink. I get crazy ugly when I cry.

Ford always tells me that I look like a rabbit, with my nose all pinkish.

"We're taking a break," Hannah said, patting the spot beside her on the couch. "Sit down here and talk to me for a few minutes,

Kristin. Tell me what you've been doing."

"Okay," Kristin said, and took the seat beside Hannah.

There was the sound of things being moved around in the little room under the stairs.

"Nancy's looking for boxes of pictures," Hannah said.

Clare took a look up at the big wooden clock. "I'll get the lunch stuff out," she said.

"We're just having sandwiches," Hannah said, mostly to Kristin. "Then tonight, Crane's going to BBQ some hamburgers,

and we're going to make some potato salad and things to go with them."

I went with Clare to the kitchen, and we began pulling things out of the refrigerator for lunch. Cutting up some tomatoes, while

Clare began making grilled cheese sandwiches.

Jill came wandering into the kitchen. She sat down at one of the chairs at the table, watching Clare and I.

"Does Daniel like grilled cheese?" Jill asked us.

"He loves them," I said.

As Clare turned the sandwiches on the griddle, Jill said, "I'm still learning what foods Daniel likes and doesn't like."

"Well, he likes his steak medium rare, isn't that right, Harlie?" Clare said.

"Yeah. Medium rare," I agreed. "And he likes baked potatoes with lots of cheese on the top."

"What's some things he doesn't like?" Jill asked.

"Um," I thought for a moment. "He doesn't really like broccoli-"

Nancy came into the kitchen in time to hear the last statement of mine.

"Neither does Evan. Does he, Harlie?" she said, coming up behind me and lifting me off my feet from behind.

"Um, no," I said, and giggled. Clare laughed, too, and Jill looked puzzled.

At that puzzled look, Nancy said, "Before I knew that Evan hated broccoli, Harlie thought it would be real funny

to tell me to cook a bunch of it for him. She said how nice a surprise it would be for him. Didn't you, wild child?" She

gave me a final shake and set me on my feet again.

I was still laughing, remembering Evan's face when he'd seen, and smelled all that broccoli.

"Yeah. That was funny," I said.

"No, it was not," Nancy denied.

"Daniel likes meatloaf," Clare offered, returning to the original topic.

"Yeah, he does," I agreed.

"I don't know how to make that," Jill said. "I'm not really a very good cook."

"You can learn," Clare said, kindly. "I didn't know how to cook a lick when I met Brian. I'm not the best cook now, but

I can make most things."

"You're a good cook now," I said, loyally, and Clare smiled at me.

"Thanks, toots," she said.

I began to set the table, and Nancy started counting out silverware, and then, with typical Nancy-like directness, she

handed some of them off to Jill.

"Here you go," she said.

Jill took the silverware that Nancy thrust at her and stood up, beginning to place the silverware around the table.

I was impressed, let me tell you. That was one way to get Jill to help do something.

7

Lunch was a quick thing, and all the guys headed back outside to work. Evan had gone up to the cabin for something,

and came back to report that the bull didn't appear to be much better, and in fact, had seemed to have taken a turn

for the worse. So, that was the major topic.

"We'll go back up after lunch," Adam said.

Crane mentioned that someone should call the Peterson's and let them know, since it was their bull.

"Man, I sure hate to make that call," Adam said.

"I'll do it," Crane said, and Adam nodded, looking grateful.

"Ivy was going to be here about four," Crane said. "I'll see if she can come a little sooner than that."

I could tell they were all worried about the bull. When Evan said that he would go and make the weekly feed

trip to town, Daniel said he would go along.

When he said that, I saw Jill lean closer to Daniel and say some stuff to him, really quietly. Daniel listened, looking intent,

and then he put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a light squeeze, as if reassuring her.

As we were doing up the dishes, Hannah went to lay Isaac down for a nap, and Kristin went along upstairs with her.

Again, it was Jill, Nancy, Clare and I in the kitchen.

Nancy told Clare she looked peaked and to sit down and start looking thru one of the boxes of photos. She brought the box in,

and set it on the table. Clare didn't argue overmuch about taking a sit-down.

"Do you want to wash, or dry, Jill?" Nancy asked, again with her direct way.

"I'll dry, I guess," Jill said. She sounded less than thrilled, although not ugly about it. And, again, I was secretly

admiring of Nancy's approach.

As she dried the plates and glasses, Jill asked Clare, "How far along are you?"

"Almost three months," Clare said.

"So, you're due-in about April, then?" Jill asked.

"Yes, April."

"It'll be spring all over by then," Nancy said.

I was busy wiping off the table, and I said, happily, "I hope it's a girl."

Clare smiled at me, and Jill asked, "Is that what you want, Clare? A girl?"

"I don't think we really care whether it's a girl, or a boy," Clare said. "We're just so happy about it."

"I'll bet," Jill said. "Have you had any morning sickness?"

"Oh, yeah," Clare said, and I spoke up, too.

"She's had awful morning sickness."

"My sisters both had terrible morning sickness," Jill was saying, as she picked up another plate and began drying it. "They had

to take something for it."

"I did, too," Clare said.

"It didn't help them," Jill said, and I felt like telling her she was being a Debbie Downer in the conversation.

"Well, the medicine helped me," Clare said, seemingly unperturbed. "Thank goodness."

Hannah came back downstairs, followed by Kristin.

"Anything else that needs done around here?" Nancy asked Hannah. "Before we start on the scrapbooking?"

"You can go on and start on that," Hannah told her. "I'm going to mix up a couple of cakes, and get them frosted. Jill,

would you like to help?"

"Yes, I will. Were you going to make chocolate cake?" she asked Hannah.

"We can. Why? Is that your favorite?" Hannah asked, smiling at her.

"Daniel likes chocolate the best, doesn't he?" she asked, and I thought she almost sounded shy.

"Yes, he does," Hannah said. "Chocolate it is, then. And maybe a spice cake, too? How does that sound?"

"It all sounds good to me," Clare said. "Everything sounds good to me."

We all laughed. Clare's appetite had definitely picked up since she was over her morning sickness.

7

Kristin stayed inside to help Hannah with the baking, and I went outside, going to find Ford, who was in the

barn, up in the loft with Evan, tossing down hay bales to Daniel, who was then stacking them, neatly, against the

wall.

"How are things in the house?" Daniel asked me.

"Jill's helping Hannah bake," I said. "And Nancy's starting to go thru the boxes of pictures."

"That's good," Daniel said, and I thought he looked relieved.

I picked up a hay hook, and began helping. I can't toss the bales like the boys can, obviously, but I do alright. When the row got

higher against the wall, Daniel had to do the stacking, but I dragged bales over, so he could save some steps.

"Kenny comin' over tonight?" Ford called down to me.

"Yep. After he gets done helping his dad," I said.

"Okay. Good," Ford said.

I went to stand under the opening and look up. "Why?" I asked.

"Don't ya want him to come over?" Evan asked me, tossing down another bale.

"Hey," I protested, moving out of the way. "You just about got me!"

"Move, then," Evan said.

"Why is it good, Ford?" I persisted.

"I just thought we might get up a game of Horse," Ford said. "If we had enough people."

"Oh," I said. I drug another bale over to where Daniel was stacking. Once back near the opening again, I called up, "He may not get here

until almost time to eat, though."

"That's okay," Ford said.

I stood where I was, looking upwards. "Well, yeah, but then-"

Ford's face appeared at the opening. "Then, what?"

"Well, we thought we might go-for a walk or something," I said.

Now, Evan's face appeared above me, too.

"So?" Ford said. "He can still play a game of b-ball, can't he?"

"Well, yeah," I said.

"You don't sound too sure of it," Ford said.

"I'm just saying-" I said, and then dragged another bale over to Daniel.

Back again, I looked up and they were both still standing there, staring down at me.

"I thought Kenny liked hangin' around with all of us," Ford said.

"He does."

"Yeah, Har, you're gonna have us thinkin' he doesn't like our company," Evan tossed in. Aw, now I knew. They

were both having some fun with me.

"Ha ha," I said.

"No time for us, Ford," Evan said, looking at Ford, and pretending great sadness.

"I know, right?" Ford said, also looking deeply hurt.

"He can play a game of basketball-" I began.

"Oh? He can?" Evan mocked. "Did you hear that, Ford? Har says it's okay for Ken to play a game of basketball with

us-"

They were both grinning like idiots, and I said, "Ford, you're letting him corrupt you," and dragged another bale to

Daniel.

"I wonder-" Evan said, "Does Kenny know about this? We should maybe let him know when he gets here that he

has permission to play a game of Horse with us-huh, Ford?"

I glared up at them, as Ford laughed.

"Maybe," Ford said.

"Come on, guys," I said. "I just meant that Kenny and I wanna spend some alone time together."

"Yeah?" Evan asked. "Spend some time together, huh? Just what sort of alone time did you have in mind?"

Daniel finished with the last bale, and came to stand beside me, pulling off his leather gloves.

Evan was scowling now, and Ford was frowning.

"You guys are so dumb," I said, irritated with both of them.

"They're just teasin' you," Daniel said, stuffing his gloves into his back pocket.

"Don't have to be jerks about it," I muttered.

"Did you just call us jerks?" Evan called down to me.

"What, you have supersonic hearing or something?" I asked. "How about this. then?" I mouthed up the word, 'asshat'

towards the loft opening.

I knew as soon as I did it that I'd probably gone a bit too far.

"Hey," Daniel said, in a quiet reproval to me.

"You better not have just called us what that looked like," Evan threatened.

"What did it look like?" I asked, pretending nonchalance.

"It looks like you've said enough," Daniel said to me, low.

"Maybe I'll come down there so you can say it to me again," Evan said.

"Maybe you'd better skedaddle," Daniel said, looking faintly amused.

"Maybe so," I said, and handed him the hay hook in my hand, before I did skedaddle, out of the barn, and back to

the relative safety of the house.

7