I slept badly that night. I even had a nightmare. Which, even though I do dream sometimes, it's never about anything super scary.

But, this was. It was a weird one. I could see Leo in some sort of shadow, and, Jill was there, too, and it looked as though they were opening a box

or something. I kept calling out to Jill so she would get away from him, but it was like she couldn't hear me. And Daniel was there, too. He didn't say anything,

he just went towards Leo-and that's when I woke up. Sitting straight up in bed, feeling hot and sweaty. My heart was pounding. It took me a couple

of minutes for my chest to stop pounding that way. I got up and went out into the hallway, as quietly as I could, and went to get a drink in the bathroom.

I guzzled down two dixie cups of water, and then wet the end of a towel and dabbed it on my face.

I snapped off the bathroom light and went back to my room. I left my lamp on and got back into bed. I laid there, trying to go back to sleep.

My thoughts kept jumping around. It was like I was wide-awake. I got back up to peer at my alarm clock. Two-thirty a.m.

I thought about going down to the kitchen to get a glass of warm milk. That sounded so good. So soothing. I debated for a few minutes, sitting there

on my bed, my arms tucked around my knees.

I decided to go down and heat up a glass of milk, and then I'd come back up, and if I couldn't sleep again for a hour or so, then I'd just read.

I slipped down the back stairs, using my small flashlight. The small light over the sink had been left on by somebody. I got down a cup and filled it with

milk, and put it in the microwave, standing right there, so I could catch it before it dinged. I didn't want to take a chance on it waking anybody up even though

it likely would not.

I took it out and sipped it in contentment. There was a scraping out the back door, and for a moment I felt my heart pound again. Good grief, what

was wrong with me? It was probably just Clarence, or one of the other dogs. I tiptoed over and peered out the door, and then unlocked it, and opened it

cautiously. It was Clarence. I sighed with relief.

"Come in here, fat boy," I told him softly.

Clarence obligingly pushed at his blanket, and looked up at me. I picked up the blanket for him, and he lumbered into the back porch and

then the kitchen. I closed the back door, and twisted the lock. Usually, we don't lock the doors, at least not all the time, but it had been locked

before I'd opened it, and so I locked it, too. Somebody else had felt the need last night to lock it. The thought of why made me shiver again. We'd locked

our doors last summer, when there were the people in the area stealing the Mustangs and scaring everybody. Now there was evil around, yet again.

The thought of that evil made me think again of the look in Leo's eyes.

I was still sitting at the table, my milk in front of me, while I ran my bare feet over Clarence's fat belly as he laid on his back, when there were light

footsteps on the stairs.

"Hullo, Harlie," Jill said, softly, as if there wasn't anything remotely strange about somebody being up at this time of the early morning.

"Hey."

She didn't ask me why I was up, or if anything was wrong, so I didn't ask her anything, either.

She went to get down a glass, and filled it with water from the faucet.

"My stomach's rolling," she announced.

"Hmm," I said, in answer.

Jill sat down across from me. "I told Daniel about seeing Leo in town."

"I figured that out," I said, dryly.

"Yeah. That was lots of fun," Jill said, sarcastically. "Adam and Brian can be pretty harsh, can't they?"

I instantly felt my hackles rise in defense of my brothers. "You don't blame them for that, do you?" I accused. "They're worried about

Daniel and all of us getting hurt. And you," I added belatedly.

Jill rolled her eyes. "Their concern is not for me, Harlie."

"Of course it is!" I said, indignantly, but still trying to talk softly.

"Oh," she said, waving a hand. "I mean, I know it is, but only because of Daniel."

"You haven't learned anything about them," I said, feeling angry at her. "They do care for you-they've shown you that."

For a moment Jill's face looked softer. I thought maybe she was thinking of Adam's kind advice, or Brian teasing her about

eating like a bird.

"They're good men," Jill said. "There's no argument about that."

Into the ensuing silence, I said, "Was Daniel mad at you? About talking to Leo?"

She could have told me it wasn't any of my business. I half expected her to do just that.

Instead, she said, "Well, he wasn't happy about it, that's for sure." She looked across the table at me. "But, we'll work it out. Daniel and I

have a way of doing that."

"I'm glad you told him," I admitted.

"I'm honest with Daniel. I have been from the very beginning. About everything." She seemed to be lost in her own thoughts then. "I never knew

there were men like Daniel. I sure never met any of them before."

I knew then, right then, that there need be no question in my mind any longer about whether Jill loved Daniel. She did, indeed, love him. It was

in every portion of her words. In her tone.

I don't know why I popped up with my next comment. It came to me just then. But, I did.

"I'm going to tell Adam, and Brian, too, about what happened today with Leo," I said.

Jill's eyes widened. "Why would you do that?" she asked. "It's all done now. I didn't mention it. They don't have to know."

"I know," I sighed.

"I thought you were so worried about how mad they would get about it," she said.

"I was. I am. But, I still need to tell them."

"Why would you want to have their wrath rain down on you, then?" Jill asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.

I thought about telling her about Brian, and how he'd given me the worst spanking of my life, worse than anything Adam had ever done, when I'd lied

about skipping school, and getting into that accident, but I decided that was too embarrassing to share. I could have told her about last summer,

when Adam took me camping, and made me promise to always tell him the truth, straight, so he never had to hear things about me from other people.

Okay, that wasn't as embarrassing.

"Some stuff happened last spring," I said. "And it got pretty bad. And I promised Adam that I'd be honest with him, and come and tell him

things myself. And, I want to keep that promise."

Jill lifted her shoulders. "Okay. I guess I don't understand that."

"Well," I hesitated. "Why did you tell Daniel the truth?"

"Because I want honesty between us," she said.

"Right. And-also because if you aren't honest with him, you know it might change your relationship, and he might not have the same

trust in you. Things might not be the same, ever. Right?" I prompted.

I'd caught her by surprise, that was evident. She gave a soft laugh. "You're a smart girl, Harlie. You know that?"

"Am I right?" I persisted.

"Yes. You are exactly right. I never had anybody in my life before now that I wanted to be totally honest with. Nobody that I ever

cared about enough to do that," she said.

"But, now you do," I said.

Jill gave me a full smile. A genuine one. "Yep. Now I do."

7

I got back into bed about 4 a.m. The milk must have helped, because I dropped off, and caught another couple hours of sleep.

I was tired when I got dressed and headed down to breakfast. Not like exhausted, but I was tired. I slid into my seat at the kitchen table,

saying good morning to everyone. Hannah was talking about what she and Clare might do during the day, including gathering up some

quilt pieces that Clare had found in the attic. It was believed that they had been pieces our mother had been gathering to make a quilt

with. Clare and Hannah were discussing who in our area might be able to complete the quilt, since neither one of them knew how to do that.

"I can probably do that for you," Jill said, sipping her orange juice.

"Do you know how to quilt?" Hannah asked, looking pleased.

"I've helped one of my foster mothers years ago," Jill said, still nonchalant.

"Jill, that's a true gift," Clare said. "So few people know how to do that these days."

"Oh," Jill said. "Well, I'll try if you want me to."

Daniel was looking at Jill proudly, and touched her shoulder gently.

And, it was sort of dumb, but I even felt a little proud of Jill right then.

7

Adam and Brian were on the front porch, standing with their coffee, looking over the cattle in the fields, as Guthrie and i prepared

to head out to school. Adam was always on the front porch like that every morning when we set off, so he could say goodbye to us. Today,

Brian happened to be there, too. It was meant to be, I thought.

Guthrie said his goodbyes, and Adam said his customary, "Have a good day, Guth."

After Guthrie had started his truck, and driven off, I hoisted my book bag over my shoulder, pausing there on the porch.

"Ready to head out?" Adam asked me.

I nodded. '"Uh huh."

"You look pale to me," Adam said, surveying my face. "You feeling alright?"

"I do. Just tired. I was up around two this morning. I had a nightmare."

"You did?" he asked.

"Yeah. It was about Leo-and Daniel, and all that," I said.

"You need to put that stuff out of your mind," Brian said. "Especially before you go to sleep."

I thought about saying that was easier said than done, but I didn't.

"Maybe you ought to get to bed early tonight," Adam suggested. "Catch up on some rest."

"I think I will," I said. I hesitated. "Can I talk to you tonight about something? I mean-to both of you."

"Sure. You can," Adam said, and Brian nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," Brian said.

"Okay. I'll see you both later, then," I said. I felt relieved already. Knowing that I was going to come clean to them-they'd be furious, I knew, but

I'd feel better once it was over.

7