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" And then I graduated valedictorian at ive the speech to all the kids, and then I got a job volunteering at Goodwill, in addition to et and Super America, while I waited to start at the U in the fall"

I stifled a yawn and shifted the phone to hter would be nice, but dull"Yeah, then what happened?"

"Well, that&039;s about it Imuch has happened to me yet"

Give it ti? You&039;re-what? Twenty-five?"

I laughed "Actually, I turned thirty in April And I&039;ve had kind of a checkered career Model, secretary, waitress"

"And right now you own a nightclub?"

"Right now, yeah" I&039;d just looked over the books the other night, in fact We were definitely in the red-I was shocked at the price of booze, not to mention utilities-but so far I had been able to borrow from Peter to pay Paul Without Jessica&039;s help, I couldn&039;t h to ask her for a loan when she wasn&039;t pissed and terrified "I guess we&039;ll see how that goes"

"So, tell me aboutI wanted to do I downed my hot milk in a hurry and tried not to drop the phone She&039;d called me about a minute after I&039;d woken up that afternoon Three thirty in the afternoon, yippee! A new record Maybe soee, so much to tell Where to start Ah"

"Do you think I could meet them sometime? I wouldn&039;t want to push ave ht was best for me I wouldn&039;t want to intrude or et, Dad didn&039;t even know you existed until after you were adopted" Why had I said that? Did I want her to like Dad? Maybe I was so dreading telling her about the devil, I wanted her to have so nice to hold on to

"That&039;s true, Betsy And I know , she must have been so worried when she found out No one to turn to maybe her minister was able to counsel her"

Her " Suddenly, a wonderful (or terrible) idea came to me "Listen! Do you want to meet them both? This afternoon?" The shower started in I checked my watch Twenty minutes Well, we&039;d be fashionably late

Laura&039;s happy squeal was answer enough

"She&039;s pregnant again?" Laura asked, staring at the Ant&039;s too-big-for-two-people house "At her age?"

"She&039;s not that old, remember" I checked , fresh beauty, I don&039;t knohy I bothered

She looked wonderful; her hair was in two golden braids today, the ends brushing the tops of her breasts, her bangs perfectly level with her eyebrows She earing a clean white blouse (she must have a closet full of them) and a navy A-line skirt No panty hose, and sensible black flats Isaac Michener, good The Target collection, bad She looked like an extra on Touched by an Angel And I felt like a before on Nip/Tuck

"I&039;o"

We knocked politely but, since it was a party, opened the ht in The driveas packed with cars, and I could hear the gabble of voices off to the right

The Ant ca when she saas lanced over my shoulder to the s on either side of the door, confir the sun was still up, looked back at ratulations," Laura said

The Ant sed her tongue and forced a grimace that I suppose was technically a sed "Betsy, you knohere to hang up your coats"

Laura handed th mustard-colored trench coat (I know it sounds awful, but on her, it worked She probably could have worn the kitchen curtains and it would have worked) I slung it into the hall closet

"Gifts gifts can go in the living roo a present," I inforift," Laura corrected me Now that I&039;d relieved her of her coat, I saw she was holding a small box of Tiffany blue, with the standard white ribbon

Relief washed over the Ant&039;s face; I could alht: Not a total disaster after all! She practically snatched the present out of Laura&039;s hand and ripped the ribbon off Inside was a sterling silver baby spoon

"Why, this is-it&039;s very nice Thank you, er-"

"Laura Goodman, ma&039;aht as well come in and have some cake," she almost snapped To Laura, she added war surprise, Laura the Great had won over the second most evil creature in the universe And where&039;d the present coe student on scholarship; I doubted she kept a closetful of Tiffany baby gifts around

Sixteen thousand years later, it was al on their coats Laura and the Ant were chatting like old pals-Laura see about her birth mother, from the bleached hair to the fuzzy pastel sweater to the knockoff pumps-was just swell Me, I was ready to bite everybody in the room just for the relief of the screams It was the usual collection of wannabe socialites and poseurs Believeevery one of thenize s that had happened all week

"Cohter She didn&039;t say anything to reat!" Laura yaeous house! And she&039;s so nice! And pretty, don&039;t you think she&039;s pretty? I wish I could have told her the truth-I feel so bad about lying And to a pregnant lady!"

"You didn&039;t lie," I said, wondering why there was never a pack of feral vampires around when you needed them "We are friends Just ones who haven&039;t known each other very long"

"Oh, Betsy" She slung an ar "You&039;re the greatest Thank you soclose to it "Listen, can I ask you so"

"How&039;d you have a present all ready to go?"

"Oh, I bought that a long tihtly nauseating) earnestness "I always knew I&039;d meet my birth mother soift But it works even better to give it to my future brother or sister Just think, I was an only child s!"

"That&039;s super," I said I&039;d been half-hoping for an evil explanation but was yet again disappointed

"Well, I have homework to do, so can I trouble you to take me back to my apart to do No one to go hoe a dozen balls of yarn-balls of yarn-and he was busy unrolling the them when I left Tina had stayed behind, amused, to watch him (at a prudent distance) Marc had work, as usual Jessica was gone-her car was, anyway Sinclair was so for another dose of chill nasty

"Gosh, Betsy, I don&039;t know"

"Oh, come on You&039;re not at the minister&039;s house any-more, Laura, time to let your hair down Literally-those braids are a little 2002 Or 1802 I know! We&039;ll go to the Pour House We can drink daiquiris, talk about boys, go crazy"

"I can&039;t, Betsy"

"Pleeeeease?" I wheedled