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"How aze in the mirror

"About an inch," she said, "and I’d like you to triuessed she and Rachel were close to the sae; perhaps Rachel was a few years older It was hard to tell

"When’s your baby due?" Rachel asked, leading Cecilia to the shampoo sink

"March fifteenth" The date was embossed in her mind as she mentally counted the days before she would hold her son in her arms

"Is this your first baby?" Rachel asked conversationally

Cecilia hesitated The question always stopped her cold And it was always acco Allison "No," she whispered, trying to speak norhter died shortly after she was born"

"I’ hand on Cecilia’s shoulder and squeezed gently

Not wanting the other woman to think she’d taken offense, Cecilia offered her a reassuring set asked often enough You’d think I’d have a standard response by now I should" Except Cecilia didn’t knohat that response should be "It’d be easier to tell everyone this is our first baby, I suppose," she said, thinking out loud, "but I can’t make myself do it Allison was part of me and Ian, and I refuse to pretend she never lived"

"You said exactly the right thing," Rachel told her She busied herself by turning on the water and leaning Cecilia back so that her neck rested in the curve of the shampoo bowl

Rachel worked the sha her scalp Her touch relaxed Cecilia as she lathered her hair, rinsed and then repeated the process

By the time Rachel had washed out the cream rinse and placed a towel over her head, Cecilia had started to consider having her hair cutit Over the years she’d had it styled a nuth, so that was how she kept it Maybe she could have two inches cut off--e in increuided Cecilia back to her station

"It htly "The only tinant"

Rachel directed Cecilia into the chair She co each section and securing it with a clip "Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?"

"Boy," Cecilia said, sht of her husband’s happiness when she’d told hiirl, but in the most recent one, the baby looked very much like a little boy I know Ian will be thrilled with either--I will, too" She rested her hand on her stonancy to be perfect, her child to be healthy, and was doing everything she could to ensure that

They chatted while Rachel expertly cut her hair, going a little shorter than Cecilia had originally requested Her hair would just touch her shoulders "Since you’re a first-time custo away "I like to thank the person who gave ht be difficult My husband’s the one who suggested I make an appoint to recall which of her male customers was married to Cecilia

"Apparently, my husband is a friend of a friend of yours," Cecilia clarified "I understand Ian and--I think Ian said his naether"

Excitement lit Rachel’s eyes "Your husband’s in the Navy?"

Cecilia nodded

"Did he have any news about Nate?" There was no disguising Rachel’s exhilaration now "We write to each other, but the letters take so long, and I haven’t heard fro’s okay, isn’t it?"

"Oh, yes… The last I heard, everything was going well"

"Oh, good" Rachel smiled in obvious relief "I’ve only known Nate for a few ood money for hihtly overweight woman in the station next to Rachel’s

"Teri," Rachel said, scowling at her friend

"You…paid for hi, yes…"

She was about to continue when Teri cut her off "She bought hi said that, the other beautician turned back to her customer

"Rach was the only one of us who plunked down her hard-earned cash for a uys were out of ue"

"Mine, too," Teri added

"For that matter, he was out of mine," Rachel told her

"Then why did you bid on hi an article about the auction in The Cedar Cove Chronicle The piece had stated that the Dog and Bachelor Auction was by far theactivity ever put on by the Aniht it was certainly innovative

"I can’t say exactly what appealed to me about Nate," Rachel confessed "He was one of the last bachelors available and not a single one of us girls had bought one yet" She paused "Although a girlfriend of h hopes for this event," Teri said "We went thinking this ood way to irl chi ani out for Rach," a young wo it was the best reed