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riding time. Marie certainly deserved a little happiness in her life right about now, and Carole was going to make sure she got it.
    I’ll be just like a sister to her, Carole promised herself with a smile.

T HE NEXT DAY Carole arrived home from school just in time to meet Marie and Mrs. Dana.
    “Hello, Olivia,” Carole’s father exclaimed, hurrying out to the car as Mrs. Dana got out. “You two are right on time.” He gave her a hug.
    “Hello, Mitch,” Mrs. Dana replied. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned after spending so much time with a Marine, it’s the importance of punctuality.”
    “Aha!” Colonel Hanson said. “I’m glad to see that my good qualities are rubbing off on you.”
    Marie climbed out of the passenger seat. “Don’t get too excited,” she told Colonel Hanson. “Mom’s just being careful because the last time she went on one of these trips, she almost missed her plane.”
    “Hush, child,” Mrs. Dana said with a slightly embarrassed smile. She turned to Colonel Hanson. “Whatever happened to the good old days when children were seen and not heard?”
    Colonel Hanson laughed heartily. “I don’t think we ever had any of those particular good old days around here,” he said, ruffling Carole’s curly black hair.
    “Neither did we, come to think of it,” Mrs. Dana said with a sidelong glance at Marie, who grinned back innocently. “Come on, kiddo, help me with the bags.” She opened the car’s trunk and started to lift out a large suitcase.
    “Please, ladies. Allow me,” Colonel Hanson said gallantly. He grabbed Marie’s two suitcases and led the way into the house. “Right this way. Could you get the door, Carole?”
    Once inside, all four of them headed up to the guest bedroom, which was right across the hall from Carole’s room. “You’ll be staying in here, Marie,” Carole said, opening the door and ushering Marie in ahead of her.
    “Nice,” Marie said, looking around.
    Carole surveyed the room as well, satisfied with her efforts to make it cozy. The flowered spread was tucked in over fluffy pillows, and Carole had brought in a bright hooked rug from her own room to cover the wood floor beside the bed. A vase of sunflowers from Colonel Hanson’s small garden added a splash of color to the dresser.And to add the finishing touch, Carole’s black cat, Snowball, was curled up on the bed.
    “The room looks lovely, doesn’t it, honey?” Mrs. Dana said, putting an arm around Marie’s shoulders.
    “It certainly does,” Colonel Hanson said. “And I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t have a thing to do with it. Carole fixed it up for you all by herself.”
    “She did a great job,” Marie said.
    Carole smiled at the compliment.
    “But I’m a little surprised,” Marie added. She stepped farther into the room and looked around, a puzzled look on her face.
    “What do you mean, hon?” asked Mrs. Dana.
    Marie shrugged. “Well, knowing that Carole did the decorating, I would expect to see some more horsey stuff. You know—some hay, maybe a saddle or two. Or at least a few dozen horse posters.”
    The adults laughed, but Carole blushed, thinking of the walls in her own room, every inch of which were covered with pictures and posters of horses. And once again she found herself wishing that Marie didn’t have to be so sarcastic all the time.
    “Are you hungry, Marie?” Carole asked, trying to change the subject. “We could go downstairs and fix ourselves a snack.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Marie said.
    “I’m one step ahead of you,” Colonel Hanson said, settingMarie’s suitcases down beside the dresser and then heading back out to the hallway. “Follow me.”
    He led the girls and Mrs. Dana downstairs to the kitchen. With a flourish he brought out a platter of chocolate-chip cookies from the oven.
    “I’ve been keeping them warm for you,” he said. “I baked them this afternoon from my own secret recipe.” He winked at Carole.
    “Yum!”