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looked healthy and brown and happy, and her mother looked better too. It had been an easy, peaceful summer for them, after their tragic spring.
    Once back in the city, Annabelle joined her mother doing hospital work again. And she volunteered on her own one day a week at the New York Hospital for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled. They were doing extraordinary work that fascinated her. She told Josiah all about it when he came to the house in the city to have tea.
    “You haven’t gotten to work on any cadavers yet, have you?” he asked, pretending to be worried, and she laughed at him.
    “No, I just bring food and jugs of water to the patients, but one of the nurses said I might be able to watch a surgery one day.”
    “You are a remarkable girl indeed,” he said, with a broad easy grin.
    And by the end of the month, Consuelo finally had the courage to go through her husband’s and son’s things. They put some of them away, and gave away most of their clothes, but left Arthur’s study and Robert’s bedroom intact. Neither of them had the heart to take the rooms apart, and there was no reason to. They didn’t need those rooms.
    They saw very little of Josiah in September, compared to his summer visits. He was busy at the bank, and they were still settling the estate. Although Arthur had no reason to think anything would happen to him, he had left his affairs in perfect order, and Annabelle and her mother were in excellent financial shape. Both of them could live easily for the rest of their lives on what he had left them, and there would still be a healthy estate to leave to Annabelle’s children one day, although it was the last thing on her mind.
    Annabelle saw very little of Hortie that month too. The wedding was only six weeks away, and Hortie had a lot to do. She had fittings for her wedding gown, a trousseau to be ordered, her father had given them a house, and she and James were buying furniture for it. They were going to Europe on their honeymoon, and would be gone until Christmas, and Annabelle knew she would miss her while she was away. Once she was married, it would never be quite the same. Annabelle had seen it with other friends, and she missed Hortie already.
    It was early October when Josiah finally came to visit again. Annabelle was at the Hospital for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled, and Consuelo was in the garden, enjoying a sunny afternoon with a cup of tea. She was surprised to see Josiah, but he was always welcome, and as she stood up to greet him, she looked genuinely pleased.
    “We haven’t seen you in ages, Josiah. How are you?”
    “Fine.” He smiled at her. “I’ve been in Boston for the past few weeks. My family had some things I needed to handle for them there. What have you and Annabelle been up to?”
    “We’re fine. Annabelle’s been busy at the hospital again, but at least it keeps her occupied. There’s nothing much else for her to do here.” They had another six months in their formal mourning period, and Consuelo knew that although Annabelle never complained, it was hard on her. She hadn’t been out with her friends in six months, and it was boring for a nineteen-year-old girl. She needed to be out in the world, but there was nothing Consuelo could do.
    “I know this time must seem long to both of you,” Josiah said quietly, as he sat down in the garden with her, and declined a cup of tea.
    “I don’t mind it for myself, but I do mind it for her,” Consuelo admitted. “She’ll be nearly twenty before she gets out in the world again. It really doesn’t seem fair.” But what had happened to Consuelo hadn’t been fair either. Life just worked that way sometimes.
    “She’ll be fine,” Josiah reassured her. “Annabelle’s the sort of person who makes the best of every situation. She’s never complained to me once about not being able to go out,” he said honestly, and her mother nodded.
    “I know. She’s a dear. I’m sorry you missed her