Guthrie and i went about chores without any putting them off, or dawdling. At one point Guthrie asked me to do some of his-so he could

do some that would ordinarily be done by Brian or Crane.

By the time we were done, I felt as though I was dragging.

"You okay?" Guthrie asked me, as we were going in the back door to the kitchen.

I gave him a brief nod. "Just tired."

Hannah came into the kitchen as we were washing our hands. Without saying anything at first, she came up and put an arm around

each of our waists.

"What a mess this is," she said, with a sort of a sigh.

In turn, Guthrie wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "It'll be straightened out by tonight," he said.

"I don't know," Hannah said, sounding unsure. "I'm beginning to think-" Now she paused, realizing that she'd dropped her confident 'mom demeanor'

and was showing her worry and uncertainty to Guthrie and me.

"Beginnin' to think what?" Guthrie prompted.

Hannah smiled at him. "Never mind," she said. "Both of you sit down and I'll get you something to eat."

She didn't have to tell Guthrie twice. He went to pull down two plates immediately from the upper cabinet.

"Grab some silverware, Har," he told me.

I obligingly got us both forks and spoons out of the silverware drawer.

"Where's Clare and Nancy?" I asked Hannah.

"Nancy's doing some laundry for me-and Clare is laying down with Isaac."

I was surprised. Usually Hannah doesn't like for Isaac to take a late nap. I didn't ask anything about it, though. I figured that

with everything that was going on, Hannah either needed a break, or else Isaac was extra tired.

I saw down at the table beside Guthrie, and Hannah heated up, and then served us chicken tenders, green beans, and homemade rolls.

Guthrie ate as if there was no tomorrow, and I ate plenty myself, although I was finished before him, and I put my plate in the sink.

From upstairs, the faint sounds of Isaac waking, and fussing could be heard.

"He's up," Hannah said, with a slight, tired sigh, from her seat across the table from Guthrie.

"I'll go," I offered.

"Okay, thanks," Hannah said. "Tell Clare to keep resting a bit longer."

"Okay," I said. I made my way up the back stairs. I could hear Isaac's fussing coming from Hannah and Adam's bedroom, so I walked down the

hallway and pushed open the slightly open door. Peeking in, I saw Isaac laying on the bed with Clare, and she had her arms wrapped around

him. Isaac surveyed me with interest when I stepped in, and held out his arms to me.

Clare still had her eyes closed, and I wasn't sure if she was awake or still sleeping.

I went to pick Isaac up, trying not to bump her arms. She reacted instinctively, thinking Isaac was escaping her grasp, and opened her

eyes.

Immediately, she half-sat up. "Harlie. Are the guys back yet?"

I hated to have to tell her that they weren't. "No."

"Darn it," she said, finishing sitting up as I reached down to pick Isaac up.

"Hannah says for you to keep resting," I repeated.

"No. I'll get up," Clare said. I studied Clare as she did get up, stretching her back. I thought she looked really tired.

She caught me looking at her, and gave me a wan smile. "What?" she prompted.

"I just wondered if you're okay," I said.

"I'm fine. I'll be even finer when Brian gets his butt home," Clare said.

She sounded sort of mad as she said that, and I thought that she wasn't really fine. I tilted my head at her a bit, and gave her a questioning

look, which she caught because she shrugged, and said, "Alright. I'm not so fine. And, I do want him home. Like right now. I'm so angry

I could spit nails."

Wow. I'd seldom seen Clare so worked up. Maybe a couple of times I've seen her a bit upset, when she and Brian had a disagreement. But, usually

they keep their disagreements to themselves for the most part. They don't hollar and yell at one another in front of the family.

A couple of times Brian had laid down the law, like when he told Clare he didn't want her working at the doctor's clinic during her pregnancy,

due to all the flu and cold germs. Clare had gone along with that without much protest, but she'd confided to me that she was too tired to

continue there anyway.

"Who are you angry with?" I asked, curious.

"With Jill, obviously," Clare said. "And-and Daniel. And Brian."

"Oh," I said, sort of quietly, hugging Isaac tighter. I wondered if she and Brian were going to have a fight when he did get home.

I understood why she was mad at Jill, for sure, and I guess I knew why she was put out at Daniel. But, I guess I didn't really understand

why she was so peeved at Brian.

"Brian didn't want to go back," I said, in his defense. "He tried to talk Daniel out of it, too."

"I know," she said. She dropped her hands to her sides, and bent over to tidy up the quilt on the bed.

And then, I found myself defending Daniel to her, as well. "I think Daniel felt bad-as though he should be the one to warn those guys off himself."

"Manly pride," Clare said, still sounding put-out.

"I guess," I said.

"Ready to go down?" she asked me. I nodded, and she patted my arm. "Don't worry, Harlie. I really will be fine, as soon as Brian

gets home."

"Yeah," I said, thinking that I would be glad when Brian, and all the rest of my brothers were home safe and sound.

"That Leo guy is really scary," I told Clare as we walked down the stairs together.

"The big, huge one? Yes, he is. Very," Clare said.

"No, the big one is Chess," I said. "Leo's the other one."

"Skinny one?"

I nodded, and Clare paused at the bottom of the stairs to regard me with concern.

"Why is he more scary than the big one?" she asked me.

I hesitated, and then confessed about how I'd heard Jill and Leo walking up the alley, and hidden in the truck seat, where I'd overheard

what they were saying.

"He called us hillbillies," I said. "And he said we all were a bunch of bad bitches."

"Well, it's probably good that he thought that," Clare said. She was still looking at me, intently, waiting for me to explain why I thought Leo

was so dangerous. "Jill said he's the one to worry about," I said. "I saw a knife handle sticking out of his boot."

Clare heaved a sigh of worry. "Oh, boy," she said.

I felt bad then, for telling her about the knife. I shouldn't have added to her worries.

"Brian can take care of himself," I reassured her.

"He'd better," Clare said. She gave me another piercing look. "What else about that guy?" she asked.

"He made me feel sort of wierd," I confessed.

"How?"

"He looked at me funny."

Clare raised her eyebrows, and I admitted, "Like how Kristen's stepfather looks at me."

"Oooooo," Clare said, looking angry again. "How did he see you? I thought you were lying in the truck seat."

"I was. But, he kept insulting us-and so I sat up to tell him off."

"Oh, toots," Clare said, shaking her head. "You shouldn't have."

"I know."

"What did Jill do? When he was looking at you that way?" Clare asked.

I thought back, pulling my hair from Isaac's grasp. "She sort of stepped between us, and told him to go inside the bar and get a drink."

"Well," Clare said, and her face softened somewhat. "That makes me feel a little better about her."

I wrinkled my forehead at her, and she said, in explanation, "What if Jill hadn't done that? Hadn't stopped him?"

"Oh," I said, realization dawning on me. I felt suddenly almost ashamed at my anger at Jill, at how I'd yelled at her earlier in front of

all my brothers. Until Clare pointed it out to me, I hadn't thought of it that way. That Jill had really helped me. Kept Leo from pursuing anything

that he might have been thinking of. It's possible that he wouldn't have done anything more than just leer at me a bit. Still, why would Jill have

stepped between us the way that she did, if she didn't think there was something to be concerned about?

I had a sudden chill go down my back, thinking about it.

"Don't tell Brian, okay?" I said.

Clare didn't say she would or wouldn't. She just said, "Let's go see what needs doing."

seven

After the house was tidy, the laundry all folded, we all found ourselves sort of lounging in the living room, no television on or anything. We just

sat, looking towards the door in between talking.

Nancy kept going to the door to look out the screen, and, while Clare didn't do that, I could tell she was very worried and stressed, by the way

that she folded her hands and rubbed her thumbs together.

"Maybe one of us should go to town," Nancy mused, peering down the driveway.

"I don't think so," Clare said.

"I can go," Guthrie said, from his spot on the rug, where he was laying on his back, tossing popcorn into his mouth.

"No, Guthrie," Hannah said.

Guthrie half-sat up, propped on his elbow. "I will, Hannah."

"There's enough McFaddens in there right now," Hannah said.

"It's darn bad that I'm not in there with the rest of the guys-" Guthrie muttered. "Stuck at home with the womenfolk-"

That got Nancy's attention. She twisted to look at Guthrie from her position at the window. "Womenfolk!" she said.

"You know what I mean," Guthrie told her. "I ought to be with the guys."

Nancy sort of frowned at Guthrie, not appeased.

"Careful, Guthrie," Clare spoke up, repeating what I'd told her. "Those two idiots apparently think the four of us are some 'bad bitches'."

Surprised, Hannah looked at Clare. "He does, huh?" she asked.

Clare nodded towards me. "According to Harlie, that's what he said. Which one, toots?"

"Leo," I said, watching as Hannah's look of concern darkened. I wished Clare would have kept quiet. Though I'd only asked her not to tell

Brian, not Hannah, or anyone else.

"You saw him when you were in town earlier?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah," I admitted. "He was walking with Jill, before he went into the bar."

"Did he threaten you at all?" she demanded, in 'mom-mode'.

"No," I said, thinking that I wouldn't say even if he had. Not to Hannah. Not at that moment. She was on over-load and fed up with the

situation. It wasn't the time to tell her anything.

"How does she know these guys?" Nancy asked me, coming over to sit down next to Clare on the couch.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Everything happened so fast-I didn't ask her any of that. She just said that they're not her friends. That's what

she told Brian and Crane."

"Jill owed them money, though, huh?" Nancy persisted.

"I think so."

"What for, I wonder?" Nancy pondered.

"It must be a large amount, for them to come all this way to find her," Clare said.

Nancy, in her usual plain-spoken fashion, said, "Daniel really picked a lemon, didn't he?"

And Hannah, even fed-up, said in her own usual kind fashion, "I think Jill's had a very hard time up to now."

As Nancy and Clare and Guthrie and I all looked at her, Hannah added, "I'm not saying that that excuses anything that she's done."

The first sounds of vehicles approaching, and we all got to our feet, to go look, first out the window and then out onto the front porch.

seven