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said. “My husband is employed by a major hotel chain.”
    “Nevertheless, you might want to reconsider staying here with us.”
    “If only for this first night,” Opal added. “You must be weary.”
    Of course we were weary. But we had a lot of plans for the week, and none of them included lingering in Olney.
    “You certainly won’t be able to see much of London by the time you get there this evening,” Rose said.
    I knew I was too tired to be responsible for any decisions at that point. Kellie looked like she was succumbing to Rose’s and Opal’s mesmerizing words as well.
    “You’ve gone to all the trouble of bringing in your bags already,” Opal said.
    “And you’ve come on such a long journey …”
    Kellie and I gave each other a look that said, “Well?”
    “I suppose we could call the hotel and cancel for one night.” Kellie glanced around the room for a clock. “I have to call before six o’clock, and we would be leaving here first thing in the morning.”
    “I’ll bring the phone to you.” Rose pushed away from the table and got up stiffly.
    The reservation adjustment took only a few minutes. The next order of business was to move the suitcases to the bedrooms. I already was dreaming about stretching out on a bed with the covers pulled up to my chin. Oh, the thought of being luxuriously reclined and toasty warm!
    As Rose cleared the table, I followed Opal and Kellie back through the sitting room to the entryway and found the suitcases right where we had left them. We wrestled Opal’s luggage down to Rose’s room at the end of the hall.
    Kellie stopped in front of the closed bedroom door while Opal turned the knob and entered cautiously. “Oh, me,” she said under her breath.
    Kellie and I turned to each other and made our “yikes!” faces.
    Everything in the room was pink with lots and lots of roses. The wallpaper, bedspread, curtains, and even the cloth lampshades on the two end tables beside the double bed were plastered with large, pink roses. Four framed paintings of pink roses covered the wall above the dresser. I had never seen anything so pink and so rose strewn.
    Just then Rose joined us. “What do you think, Opal? You haven’t seen my room since the renovation.”
    “It suits you well.”
    “Yes, I think it does. Now, shall we show our guests their room?”
    The upstairs room was simple and sparse without a single rose to be found. This had been Rose and Opal’s childhood bedroom. The lace-doily-covered dresser still displayed a few of their small trinkets, including a music box in the shape of a Swiss chalet and a yellowed baby’s hairbrush accompanied by a nearly toothless comb.
    The narrow twin beds sloped in the middle but were sturdy enough for us. The angled roof rose above a padded window seat where one square window with thick glass provided the only view of the outside world. It was a distorted view of neighboring cottages interspersed with an occasional modern home.
    “Do you think it’s a good idea that we stayed?” Kellie asked after the twins left us to settle in.
    “I don’t know. I think so.”
    “It’s kind of quaint, isn’t it?”
    “Very quaint. This room is how I always pictured the Darling children’s nursery.”
    “What nursery?”
    “In
Peter Pan
. Did you ever read the book?”
    “No. Liz, you keep popping out with all these literature comparisons.”
    “British literature,” I corrected her.
    “I love it. I didn’t know you had so much British literature stored away in your memory. When did you read all those books?”
    “In high school.”
    “The only novel I remember reading in high school was
The Great Gatsby
. Oh, and
The Grapes of Wrath
, I think.” Kellie pulled her cosmetic bag out of her suitcase and looked up at me. “Why did you read so much British literature in high school?”
    I smiled at the memory before giving Kellie information I had never told her. “I had a tutor when I was fifteen.”
    “You did?”
    “Her