"Where did you get that from?" Jo asked, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice.

"A photo of my grandmother's. That's the house she and my grandfather lived in right after the war, when my father was little. Why?"

"It just looked a little familiar to me, is all." Jo gave a shaky laugh. "How long did they live there?"

"Most of their lives. They moved back to Germany right after the reunification. My grandfather said he wanted to die on the soil of his homeland. Why?"

Jo shrugged.

"No particular reason. I was just curious. So did they have that whole house to themselves?"

"My grandmother told me they shared it with another couple for a little while. A reverend and his wife. She never said much about them."

"I'd really like to meet your family sometime," said Jo.

"You can come by any time you want," said Sybil. "We live at 1110 Oak Drive. Second house on the left going south. It's red brick with a garage on the left, and there's a bird feeder in front. Hey, how about Saturday? We could do an outdoor barbecue. We haven't done that in ages!"

"That sounds like fun," said Jo. "Thanks for the invitation."

"No problem at all!"

Outside the fine arts building, the two couples parted ways, and Jo and Fritz headed for his car.

"The German reunification," Jo mused. "That was sometime in the 1980's, wasn't it?"

"October 3, 1990," Fritz said with a smile. "I remember it like it was yesterday. Minna and I both had school that day, but there were no classes. All we did all day was watch the news on television."

"It must have been pretty exciting for you."

"I remember my mother crying with happiness. My parents recorded the event on their VCR. We watched it often." They reached the car, and Fritz opened the passenger side door for Jo before getting in himself.

"I remember VCR's," said Jo as she fastened her seatbelt. "We used to have videos to play on ours when I was little. The Care Bears, The Smurfs, Rainbow Brite - many others."

"While you were watching the Care Bears, I was starting university," Fritz chuckled. "But tell me, Josephine - what was it about Sybil's painting that so transfixed you?"

Jo frowned.

"I'm not sure. I think I must have seen a similar one in a book, once." As much as she hated lying to Fritz, she knew she dare not share the truth.

Teddy told Jo his grandfather had been moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center. He gave her directions, and she and Beth went to visit him.

The building was cheerfully decorated with beach scenes. They entered Mr. Laurence's room to find him sitting up in bed, wearing light blue pajamas. The bedroom slippers Beth had given him were on his feet.

"Hello, dears," he said with a smile. "How are you today?"

"We're both well," Jo told him. She and Beth sat in chairs beside the bed. She noticed that neither Teddy nor Sybil were there. "Where's Teddy?"

"Oh, probably off carousing somewhere. The elderly man chuckled. "He has better things to do than hang around an old grump like me."

"I think you're very sweet!" Beth objected.

"Thank you, my dear." He leaned over to give her hand a pat. "So what have you been doing with yourself lately?"

"I'm still working at the university childcare center, and Jonas has been teaching me to drive," Beth told him.

Mr. Laurence's eyebrows went up.

"Oh, has he?"

"That's right," said Beth. "I'm tired of having to depend on my Mom or Jo to take me places. Jonas has been taking me out in his car to practice driving, and when he thinks I'm good enough, he's gonna take me to the driver's license office for my test."

Mr. Laurence beamed.

"Why, I think that's marvelous! Don't you, Jo?"

"I'm all for it. I couldn't have imagined this happening a year ago." Jo never ceased to be amazed at the changes in her sister since - well, since the heart transplant. "How much do you remember about the time you were in the hospital, Mr. Laurence?"

"I don't remember a single thing about it. For me, it's as if it never happened - it's like I went to sleep in my bed at home and woke up here."

She had to know.

"You don't remember telling me you once saw me when you were a little boy?"

He frowned.

"Why, I'm a good fifty years or more older than you, my dear, so that would have been quite impossible, would it not have? It was that darn medicine they had me on. It messed my mind up. I've been doing so much better since they took me off it."

Jo felt a peculiar sense of loss.

One day, Jo saw Meg and Rosalyn shopping together at the supermarket. Meg had Johnny and Daisy with her, and Rosalyn had her toddler son and infant twins.

"How have you been?" she asked her sister.

"We've all been fine," Meg told her.

"And what about you?" she asked Rosalyn.

The young woman smiled.

"Much better. I've been cleaning houses in the mornings, and there's this government program that's helping me get my own place to live. Aiden, Brennan, Colton, and Cheyenne are all doing good in school, and your sister watches Dominic and the twins for me while I'm at work. She's such an angel!"

"It's really nothing," Meg interjected. "I have to take care of Johnny and Daisy, anyway."

"I just wish I could afford to pay you more," said Rosalyn.

"You have to have some money left over for yourself and the kids," Meg pointed out. "Otherwise, why work at all?"

"Any more trouble with Doug?" asked Jo.

"No, thank goodness. Where the heck did you get that?" Rosalyn snatched a piece of candy away from Dominic, and he wailed in protest. "I guess John really taught him a lesson." She sighed and got a far-away look in her eyes. "Maybe someday I'll meet someone like him."

"I hope so," said Jo.