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were leaving for the evening, she thought of a way to get to know Evan better and perhaps search him out about these matters.
    “Evan, may I speak with you sometime about a friend of mine who is having some legal problems?” she asked.
    His momentary hesitancy concerned her, but then he replied, “Yes, of course. I could come by your house sometime, if that would be convenient.”
    “Thank you. How about tomorrow?”
    “I have some family obligations, visiting some relatives and such who couldn’t make it tonight. I will be gone several days to Scappoose and Columbia City. Would sometime next week work?”
    “That would be fine.” Maggie tried to hide her impatience with waiting, but she couldn’t very well badger the man. She also remembered that her family had received a letter from Mama’s mother that morning. She would be arriving on Monday, and Maggie shouldn’t make other plans until Grandma had been here at least a day or two. “How about after lunch on Wednesday, then?”
    Giving his spectacles a push up the bridge of his nose, he said, “I will look forward to it.”
    Maggie wondered what she was getting herself into. Could she really maneuver, or as Mabel put it, “give nature a little push,” in this situation? Tamara was obviously not interested in Evan, since she had spent very little time with him all evening. And Evan appeared helpless to rectify the matter. Could Maggie help him? It seemed she had no other choice. Though Tamara hadn’t been with Evan, she had all but monopolized Colby.

FOUR
    There were other things in life besides husband hunting. Maggie knew that while she had lately been spending an embarrassing amount of time on just that, she’d been putting off something far more important, and now she must rectify the oversight.
    She had to visit Tommy Donnelly in jail. Dad didn’t like the idea. He’d never had a high opinion of Tommy. He only saw that Tommy had picked up many bad habits from his father. Dad couldn’t see, as Maggie did, that Tommy had a good heart and wanted to do right. The fact that he’d returned to Maintown after first fleeing following the death of his father proved his good intentions. Maggie only hoped it didn’t get him hanged.
    Zack mentioned as they were leaving Evan’s party that he had the next day, Saturday, off work at the sawmill. He said it would be a good time to go see Tommy, which they had been talking about doing for some time.
    Maggie told her parents about her plan to visit Tommy when they got home from the party last night. Since Mama supported Maggie’s plan, Dad agreed, as long as she didn’t go alone. She quickly informed them that Zack had agreed to accompany her. She would rather have Zack’s company than her father’s because Zack knew her secret and he was Tommy’s friend. Ellie asked if she could come along.
    “Not because I don’t trust you with my fiancé,” she had added quickly. “I just need some things in town.”
    Maggie laughed. “I was hoping you’d come. It’ll be fun.”
    The next morning, before Zack came, Mama almost wavered in her encouragement of the visit. Tommy’s mother might be Mama’s best friend, but she still didn’t like the idea of Maggie visiting the jail.
    However, when Mama voiced her doubts, Maggie reminded her of Grandma Spooner’s visit in a couple of days and pointed out that the flour bin was getting low. That got Mama thinking of all the other things they would need for Grandma’s stay. Now the trip to town became imperative, for Mama had a long list to fill.
    It had been a long time since they had seen Grandma Spooner. She lived over in Deer Island, practically on the other side of the county. She had said in her letter that she regretted missing Ellie’s quilting bee, and though Ellie’s wedding was months away, she hoped she could help out with preparations for it and for Boyd’s wedding, as well, which was next month. Besides, she wanted to meet Ellie’s fiancé.
    “But