Read As Time Goes By (The Californians 2) for Free Online Page A

would make him the perfect husband?" "Not perfect, I guess, but certainly more appealing. And like I said to Troy, if I was wild to marry Cleve, would it maer where we lived?"
    "You might find that you feel differently in a few months, honey; you might find you don't really want to stay in Santa Rosa after all." Bobble stared at her mother in surprise.
    "Don't get me wrong, Bobbie," she explained. "I wish we could live out the rest of our lives living only a few blocks from each other, but I must face facts. Santa Rosa has changed in five years, and so have you. And you might miss Cleve so much that the miles between us won't seem near so important. As hard as it would be to see you go, I would understand. I feel God has been
    52

    preparing me for something just like this for a long time."
    "Oh Morn," Bobbie spoke as she hugged her. "I missed you so much."
    Maryanne couldn't stop the tears as her own arms surrounded her daughter. They were probably closer through letters than they might have been if Bobbie had lived at home during her transitional teenage years, but it didn't stop the ache. It didn't ease the longing of wanting to touch and hug each other for all those years and not be able. Who would have thought five years would pass?
    "Look at us," Bobbie said as she wiped her streaming face. "We really have got to stop getting each other wet. Now," Bobbie continued with determination, "I want to go see Alice and the kids. Do you want to come?"
    "Sure. I just have a few things to do and then we can start. Do you need to stop at the shipping office?"
    "No. When I wrote back to Mr. Taylor and accepted the job, he said that unless he heard otherwise he'd plan on my starting work the morning of the eighth."
    "Good enough." Maryanne moved from the table to do a few things, and a half-hour later the women were headed to the other side of town. They had a mile walk ahead of them to the Townsend residence.
    Alice Bradford had married Stuart Townsend the sum mer after she finished school. He was four years older and she had met him when attending a party on the far side of Santa Rosa. For Stuart, seeing Alice was love at first sight.
    Alice was very shy, even where her family was con cerned, and had been slightly overwhelmed by the attention of this stranger. She was not yet done with chool, and she knew Stuart to be a man with his own
    As Time Goes By 53
    room in one of the boarding houses and a steady job at the bank. Stuart was relentless, however, and by the time Alice completed her final year he had won her heart.
    Stuart adored his wife and was crazy about his chil dren. In fact he was. so tender that he had insisted that Alice go to visit Bobbie when she had been gone for over two years. Maryanne had wanted to go in the worst way, but both of the ladies she cleaned for had planned parties and would not have been prepared to let her off for several weeks.
    Maryanne and Bobbie walked the distance in compan ionable conversation. They were both dressed warmly, since January in Santa Rosa is usually rainy and quite cool, enough to chill a person to the bone if not dressed appropriately.
    Alice's home was a welcome sight at the end of their journey, and the sisters embraced for long moments. Alice was much the same, and even though she was not talkative, her expression told her sister how glad she was to have her back.
    They settled in the kitchen and Alice set mugs of coffee in front of her sister and mother. A moment later Paige and Wesley entered the room. They stood shyly near their mother at the stove as they greeted their grand mother, and then, seeing their Aunt Bobbie for the first time, they stared in wide-eyed silence.
    "Hello," Bobbie said softly, and told herself she was not going to cry. Paige and Wesley Townsend were ador able. They were both blonde and freckled and their eyes were the exact shade of green as her own. Alice had dressed them warmly and in matching outfits. Wesley's pants were the same material as