The last day of June was suddenly sultry and close. Mrs. Frederick spent all day darning and dusting, minus a few minutes spent reading The Woman's Walk to God. But she'd given that up in disgust at the section aimed toward mothers. Always recognize your children, it read, no matter how far they stray, and you'll reflect God's love.
Amelia had irreverently thought that God hadn't counted on girls who said shocking things at family gatherings, consorted with 'bad girls', or was overly familiar with men of whom town society disapproved. Thus, the book had been slammed shut, and she'd returned to house work.
Some of the clan stopped to visit—though each independently—and so became the audience for the worst scandal of all. Of course it would have happened that way, Amelia thought bitterly afterwards. None of Valancy's queer anomalies would happen privately.
"What's the difference between a bee and a donkey?" Benjamin had come to ask.
"One gets all the honey, the other all the whacks," Christine dared to answer. Benjamin frowned.
"What's the difference between—," he attempted again, but just then Valancy stepped into the room.
Valancy! But how changed! A dress that didn't go near her ankles, that left her arms bare, and a hairstyle that make her face look bolder—not repentant or demure as she ought to have been. She didn't look in the least sorry.
"So you've come home at last," Amelia managed to say.
Valancy smiled broadly, and Mrs. Frederick felt irked. How dare Valancy seem so radiant and flippant after all the grief she had caused her family! After the talk she'd made around town!
"Not exactly," Valance said coolly. "I thought I'd drop in and tell you I was married last Tuesday night, to Barney Snaith."
The room went dead silent as Valancy flashed her ring at the dumbfounded gathering.
"Bless my soul," panted Uncle Benjamin.
Gladys turned faint and was hurried out of the room.
Valancy and James got into a bit of a row over Barney's 'real' character and the appropriateness of Valancy's behavior—knowing she'd asked him to marry was another shock—and Amelia wished she had Gladys's knack of turning faint. Speaking that way to James, one of the great clan patriarchs!
Benjamin, who'd been listening idly by, was saying, "Edward Beck is worth twenty-thousand dollars and has the finest house between here and Port Lawrence."
"That sounds very fine, but it can't be compared to feeling Barney's arms around me and his cheek against mine."
Everyone looked shocked at this bold manner of speaking. How indecent! Yet Valancy didn't look perturbed at all. Instead, she merely asked for the cushions she'd worked the winter before, when the clan had thought her last hope of getting married had flown away for the constraints of time.
"Take them—take everything!" Amelia wept.
Valancy smiled gratefully and nodded. She didn't want 'everything', just the cushions. She'd motor in for them later—and no doubt make talk every time she came and went.
"There's Valancy Stirling again. Or, should I say, Valancy Snaith!" Amelia could hear her neighbors saying in her imagination, which was saying much, as she didn't approve of imagination. Why does the family recognize her? If I was Amelia, I'd tell her to not even come to town!
Uncle James said as much. "You shouldn't even recognize her," he said after Valancy had left.
Amelia sniffled. "I can't forget that I'm a mother!"
It got easier and easier to forget about Valancy, however. For sure, she had a habit of appearing in town from time to time, and Cousin Georgiana often spoke of her or even brought her little gifts—dandelion wine and a candlewick spread among other things—but overall, Valancy was as of the dead.
Until one bizarre spring day, that was. And it all began with a sudden appearance and the words:
"I'm not going to die."