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and I are here, I want your chores done and no bickering."
    The girls all agreed respectfully and finished their breakfasts, but as Jackie, who had finally understood, was leaving the table, she mumbled under her breath, "At least Clayton won't be there."
    "Why do you say that, dear?" her mother, whose hearing was keen, wished to know.
    "He told me he was leaving town."
    "He is. So is Mr. Taggart, but not until Tuesday. That's why we were asked over tonight." Addy turned away then, missing her daughters face. To look at her, one would have thought she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Indeed, something told Jackie it was going to be a very long day.

    "A telegram?" Eddie questioned the kind man. "For me?"
    "Well, if your name is Edwina Fontaine, then its yours."
    "Thank you," she said faintly and then turned to find her parents' and uncles eyes on her.
    "I received a telegram," she explained unnecessarily and then stood there.
    "Are you going to read it?" her mother asked gently.
    "Oh!" Eddie started. "Yes." She unfolded the thin piece of paper and read the few short lines.
    EDWINA STOP AM LEAVING BOULDER BY STAGE STOP SHOULD BE WITH YOU FRIDAY STOP ROBERT LANGLEY
    "He's coming," she now whispered, her eyes flying to meet her mothers. "I never actually asked him; I just sort of hinted, but he's coming. Next Friday he'll be here. Oh, Mother, he's actually coming to Georgetown!"
    Something clenched around Morgan's heart as he watched his wife move forward and hug his oldest daughter, his precious Ed. She's really going to leave. His heart faced the fact for the first time. She's really going to be married and go away For an instant the pain of it threatened to rob him of breath, but he was swift to recover. Suddenly he knew it was good and right and also realized that he'd come to this conclusion none too soon. Eddie was now turning to him, the need for approval lingering in her eyes.
    "You still feel it's all right, don't you, Father?"
    Morgan held out his arms, and Eddie welcomed his embrace, hugging him in return. He then held her at arm's length.
    "It will take a very special man to be good enough for my Ed, but I am looking forward to meeting your Robert."
    Eddie, who couldn't have asked for more, beamed at him. Her heart felt like it was going to float from her chest. Your Robert had been her father's words. Eddie felt his acceptance in those words, and her heart knew a soothing rest.

    Jackie held her body poker straight as she walked into the Taggart home that night, but there was no need. It had seemed to her she would be walking into the enemy camp, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Mr. and Mrs. Taggart were kind to a fault, and neither Clayton nor Milly gave her any undue attention.
    With the seven Fontaines joining them, the families were forced to sit at two different tables. The adults, along with Clayton and Eddie, were at a makeshift table set up in the middle of the living room; Elaine had decorated it with a white cloth and flowers. Milly and the rest of the Fontaine girls were around the kitchen table. There were no flowers, but the pale blue tablecloth was clean and pressed. The food was wonderful, and it wasn't long before Jackie felt herself relaxing. Indeed, Sammy was telling a riotous story about something that had happened in the store, and she had her eating companions in stitches. Jackie nearly forgot all her previous fears.
    "This certainly sounds like a lot of fun," Kevin Taggart commented when he came through at one point.
    "Oh, Dad!" Milly gasped. "You should hear this story."
    Sammy repeated it for her hosts benefit, and during the telling of it, Clayton appeared. He laughed as hard as his father, but for Jackie the tenseness had returned. She watched Clayton's eyes rest on her for a moment and dropped her own. With his warm, brown eyes and sun-blond hair, all set off by a dark tan shirt and brown pants, she had to admit that he was handsome, but she still