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time to adjust.” Janice patted Jewel’s hand. “We just want to help you find your feet again.”
    Jewel lifted her head slowly, as if it weighed a hundred pounds. Her desperate gaze traveled from my face to Janice’s to Don’s. Tears swam in her eyes, and she swallowed hard. “I need y’all to know I’m in the family way.” Her cheeks glowed as red as ripe tomatoes. “Three months.”
    Don and Janice gaped at one another, their eyes blank. Then Janice turned to face me. Don turned, as well.
    â€œThat’s . . . wonderful, dear. Why don’t you let us chat with Lula for a few minutes?” Janice nodded to Don, then took my arm and guided me into the front yard.
    Don paced back and forth, head wagging. “No more arguing,Lula. Even you must see now that you have to stay and help. I have no room for her, nor does Janice.”
    â€œBesides,” Janice chimed in, “you’re the only one who can handle her. I love her, but I have no patience with her.”
    I craned my neck toward the house, the one Davy had bought and assembled for Jewel the year after Mama died. Davy had been my sister’s whole world. He’d petted and coddled and romanced her. He’d indulged her love of music and laughter. And he’d made sure Don and Janice and Ben didn’t goad her into doing their bidding. Now she only had me.
    But was that enough?
    Jewel eased out on the porch, her face swathed in sorrow. She and her children needed my help. They needed to keep their home. They needed time to grieve, time to adjust, time to figure out what life looked like without Davy. I wouldn’t let Janice and Don push her to do anything before she was ready. My resolve became as hard as the granite atop the Wichita Mountains. “I’ll stay with her. At least until the baby comes. But we’ll be living here. In their home.”
    Don crossed his arms and lowered his voice. “She can’t afford to stay here, Fruity Lu.”
    I lifted my chin, pulled back my shoulders. My sister might have lost her husband, but I wouldn’t let her lose the house, too. “I’ll get a job.”
    Janice glanced at Don with an almost pleading look. He rubbed a hand over his bulging jaw. “Fine. I don’t care what you do, just as long as someone keeps her out of the poorhouse. Now, if we have this settled, I need to get back to Audra and Pop.”
    Jewel walked down the steps. Don kissed her on the cheek before striding toward his automobile without another glance at me. My blood went hot, and my hands tingled. I stalkedafter my brother. “Just because I’m staying now doesn’t mean I’m staying forever. Just you get that through your thick skull, Donald Bowman,” I hissed, thrusting my hands onto my hips to punctuate my point.
    Don patted my head. Chucked me under the chin. “Maybe while you’re here Jewel can help you catch a husband. Then you won’t have to go back to school again.”
    Janice swept up beside me, her hand on my back. “Don’s right, dear. Daddy wasn’t thinking straight when he encouraged you with all this college stuff. He was out of his mind with grief over Mama. It’s time you got married, settled down. You’ve wasted your best years and oodles of money and time on that nonsense.” She climbed into the seat beside Don.
    I pressed my lips together, holding back the tears that threatened to rise. I thought I’d cried them all in the past three weeks, but apparently those were only the ones reserved for Jewel and her children. These were engraved with my name.

6
    C HET
    â€œWatch out!” Ma’s hand gripped my arm. I glanced in her direction. Her eyes were closed, her shoulders tense. Our usual Saturday routine. I shook my head and continued motoring down Main Street. The bustle of town on Saturdays made Ma nervous—bicycles, motorbikes, automobiles, and