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"Proble her head out of the kitchen "I should’ve cleaned the oven after Thanksgiving and didn’t, and then the minute I turned it on to preheat for the turkey, s out"

"Mom set off the smoke alarm!" Andy shouted

Carol’s eyes widened "What did you do?"

"What could I do?" Cathy joked "I shoved the bird inside and closed the door, hoping the alarhed "That’s exactly what I would have done"

"No," Cathy objected "You would’ve had a spotless oven, so this sort of disaster would never have happened I, on the other hand, only cook when necessary and on holidays"

What Cathy had said about her was true, but Cecilia wasn’t going to admit it She did like a clean house and took pride in her ho us for sure," Cecilia said, delighted that her new friend had agreed to come Both Carol and Cathy had otten to know her fairly well Cathy and Carol were perfectly willing to invite her to their Christmas party, even if she wasn’t officially a Navy wife Nate Olsen was a friend of their husbands

"Great," Cathy said, "the more the merrier"

The doorbell chi Carol answered, and Rachel walked in, her nose red fro with a ferapped presents peaking out "Merry Christmas," she said "I’m not late, am I?"

"No, no, not at all," Cathy assured her She took the casserole dish and set it on the kitchen counter

"Welcoed off her coat and hung it on the rack by the front door, then arranged her gifts by the tree

"I got delayed at Bruce’s," she explained, glancing at her watch

At first Cecilia assumed that Bruce was Rachel’s brother or some other relation, until she remembered he was her er friend

"Jolene didn’t wantand they all sat down in the living rooht each of the other women a tube of luxurious hand cream, and puzzles for the kids; in return she received nail polish from Rachel, in a color called "Santa’s New Suit," a paperback froraved with booties and other baby ione over their price liht her friend’s eye and mouthed, "Thank you"

Soon after that, the two kids moved into the bedroom, where Amanda had convinced Andy to play house with her

"I’ll make you dinner," the four-year-old said so off again?"

"Who are Bruce and Jolene?" Carol asked Rachel "I think Ihere"

"Well, Bruce is a…friend A er His daughter, Jolene, is nine now Her o, she said she wants me to marry her dad"

"How did Bruce react to that?" Carol asked

"Forget her father, how did you handle it?" Cathy wanted to know

Rachel grihtly "It ard for both of us Bruce and I see each other on occasion Mostly for coo Christlance with Cecilia "Does Nate know about this other guy?"

Rachel nodded "Bruce is just a friend Nate knows that Technically I--I’ve only gone out with Nate twice, and we’ve stayed in touch"

Cecilia knew they’d been in daily contact ever since she’d shown Rachel how to log onto the Internet and send e-es Ian had recently mentioned how much happier Nate seemed to be now that he was able to coave me a computer for Christmas," Rachel said shyly "I told him it was too much, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer"

"Wow," Cathy ot the bucks," Carol said matter-of-factly "Or rather, his family does"

Cecilia, Cathy and Rachel all stared at her

"What do you ht?" Carol said, turning to Rachel, who nodded "That’s the guy I thought you were talking about His daddy’s Nathaniel Olsen"

The name wasn’t familiar to Cecilia, and she noticed the others looked just as blank

"Who?" Cathy asked

"Nathaniel Olsen, as in Congresslanced from one woman to the next "You mean you didn’t know?"

Rachel looked shocked, then confused "N-no, Nate neverin politics"

"We’re talkingthe role of expert "I’--probably coal--but there’s lots of it now and Daddy doesn’teveryone know"