That's right. Their girl hadn't come alone. Miss Pony anxiously stroked down her hair and readjusted her apron, running downstairs. Couldn't she have warned her? What a naughty girl!
Having heard the outcries "Candy's a bride" and seen the red car on the road, the old woman's understanding heart realized that the day had come.
The day when their little Candice had completely grown up and brought the man, with whom she would enter the adult life and become a wife and a mother.
In the moments when Miss Pony was free of concerns (usually before going to bed), in her mind she returned to Candy, to this restless freckled girl, whom, despite the fact that she had grown up and left the orphanage, the old lady still thought of as her little girl.
Maybe it was wrong, but she loved Candy more than anyone else, like her own daughter.
And since that thoughtful dark-haired man named Terrus had shown up at the door of Pony's Home, Miss Pony had often wondered what the man of Candy's choice would be like.
Oh, how she wanted her to find a reliable and loyal person, the one she would be happy with. The girl had suffered enough anyway…
Terrus hadn't come any more, and Candy didn't speak about him. Perhaps, they had a misunderstanding or something, so common of the young people… Miss Pony didn't ask her and didn't try to find it out. If Candy had decided so, then it had to have happened this way.
One day a young Head of Andrew clan came to visit them – Albert. That was the man! So rich and so important, but at the same time so simple and kind and cheerful! He would fool around with the kids like a child himself, he loved animals – he played with Mina. Miss Pony liked him very much, and she would be happy if her girl met such a man…
But Albert never came back, and if Candy talked about him, she spoke of him as a friend. And again, the housemother didn't ask her anything – the heart wants what it wants…
And now their girl has grown up, and this must be her final choice… How old is she now? Twenty-one or so… Time runs so fast!
With an outcry "Hush, children", Sister Lane calmed down the excited kids and thus gave Candy a break.
"Miss Pony! Sister Lane!" Candy rushed to hug her Mothers and, although they hadn't seen each other for about a month or two, it seemed like it had been ages.
Then everyone came up to the red car with an "L" logo. Legan?
The man got out of the car and took the bags with the products from the rear seats. The kids surrounded the stranger, silently staring at him. Candy, having gone red again, was tousling the hem of her dress with downcast eyes.
"Candy, come on," Miss Pony smiled, touching her favourite's shoulder. "Introduce your young gentleman to us."
"Yeah, sure…" the girl reached out her arm. "Ahem… Neil… Daniel Legan. Neil, these are my nur– my two Mothers," she smiled and said it without confusion. "Miss Pony and Sister Lane."
"Nice to meet you!" said the three of them in unison and laughed.
After that, Candy and her housemothers cooked simple but delicious meals, the adults took the tables outside and covered them with white table-cloth.
Time for some feast!
Sitting at the top of the table with his darling, Neil suddenly felt very nervous. Ironic, but he was so nervous as though those were not some ordinary low-born women and orphans, but his girlfriend's important parents and relatives, whose permission to marry her he was going to ask.
Legan had always thought of Pony's Home as some horrible, foul place, the only good side of which was the fact that it had given the opportunity to his beloved lady to survive in her childhood. The inhabitants of this place were the orphans, abandoned by their parents or relatives; the nurses had seemed to him like some vagabonds, criminals, lowlifers – the ones you know about, but neither want to have anything in common with nor meet closer.
But now, sitting next to his darling and listening to the kids vying to tell stories, he felt them casting a huge wave of love upon him – they had already liked him only for loving Candy, their Candy, the one that they adored. The kids put the best pieces in his plate, gave him their candies in spite of his objections, and before he sat at the table, each kid hugged him.
At first Neil barely suppressed his disgust, feeling that he was being hugged by not-so-very-clean hands, but then, looking into the kids' sincere eyes, he suddenly realized that he was glad to see them, too, and responded to each embrace with growing enthusiasm.
Miss Pony had worried in vane: the young man's face, that looked arrogant at first, completely changed when he was looking at their girl, and the hard look of his brown eyes became softer. And when Daniel just stared at Candy for a long time with a strange mix of awe, tenderness and passion, the old woman understood he was actually in love with her.
"And do you love our Candy much?" little Sam asked and even stopped chewing, waiting for an answer.
"With all my heart!" quietly and very seriously replied Candy's chosen one.
Candy was enjoying every moment of it. She had been afraid and confused of something until recently, but now, surrounded by loved and loving people at her home place, she felt that her soul had spread her wings, singing with joy.
She had been crying so much not a long time ago, almost every day; the sense of uncertainty, guilt, alarm and fear would not let her go. But now all the bad things had faded away like smoke in the wind.
Miss White had been worried how Neil would behave towards the kids and how they would meet him, but now she could see she had made the right thing.