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"Here, boys Youwith Caroline" Julie held out the plate of fragile cookies; each boy took one carefully, and they left the roo woman waited for them Cameron looked back and waved

"They're lovely children, Julie," said Natalie, when they had gone

"Aren't they?" said Julie proudly "They're bright, too Gareth's already learning French in school

"Well," she said, pouring tea into thin white cups "So you go back this afternoon Has it been a good trip? Are you glad you cahtfully "It was i you I suppose if I hadn't, I would have wondered for the rest of ht" She took the blue book from her purse and laid it on the table that was between thes"

"It was a terrible year in arette and leaned back in the pale yellow chair "But you know, Natalie--I hope you could tell this from the diary--after the first few months, when it was so hard to believe that I was actually pregnant, well, after that, I never had any bad feelings about the baby About you, I rew to care very much about what happened to you For a while there, except for Doc Therrian, you were all that I had My parents were there, but they never really adjusted to it; they were so sad and ashamed I was very lonely But I had the doctor, and I had you, insidehed "No, I don't blame you Poor Terry You know, I really can't even reht; very handso, too, and he hated Sih he'd lived there all his life There was that bond between us for the short time we knew each other, that we both felt outside of the town He becanant There was so much he wanted to do with his life, and suddenly--well I can't blaain He went to Colorado that sue The following year, when I was at Miss Sheridan's, my parents heard somehow, I suppose from friends in Simmons' Mills, that Terry had been killed in an accident out west I felt sad, but nothad ended, then You were gone, and then Terry was gone I thought about writing to his father, but I never did I just concentrated on oal after that year was that I should never, ever again, be lonely or feel out of place"

Julie smiled suddenly "I succeeded, too Look--did you notice those?" She gestured with her hand to the far wall of the roo rooraphs of Julie Soned by fa; Julie pensive, with her head tilted down into shadows; Julie regal, with bare shoulders and a dia with half-closed eyes over her shoulder; Julie ainst her as she looked into its sleeping face

"You're sure," asked Julie, co to stand beside Natalie, "that you wouldn't want a career like that?"

Natalie looked at the wall for a long time There must have been thirty separate Julies there: all of them posed, all of them paper

"Very sure," she said finally "But you know, Julie, I wish Dr Therrian could see these It's too late now, of course He may not even be alive But when I talked to him, I could tell how much he cared about you He must have wondered, all those years, how you were, whether you were happy"

They sat back down The tea rearette "He never actually told me this," she said suddenly, "but I am quite sure that he wanted very much to keep you himself I could feel, all that suest it, but at the same time I kneouldn't have worked He was in his sixties, then, and his wife's health was bad"

Natalie thought of the old , all alone And if he had adopted her? At least he would have had a daughter there to tell hioodbye She didn't wish that for herself But she remembered him there, in the hospital bed, and how he had looked at her with fondness and false recognition, and said, "Julie?" She wished it, in a way, for hi no family," she said "Mrs Talbot told "

Julie stared at her, puzzled "You mean he didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what? We only talked about you, and about ht you knew The diary didn't explain, about Doc Therrian?"

"Explain what?"

"Terry His real name was Peter Therrian He was Doc Therrian's son"

32

BRANFORD WAS greener, cooler than New York, and quieter; the ses, and the fresh wet-and-rubber scent of sprinklers The city with its combined scents of exhaust fumes and leather taxi seats seemed far behind Natalie

And Tallie was there: on the porch, in the swing She beareeted her "Can you believe that here I a waited on hand and foot? Your mother convinced me to come Just for teeks Then I'm back to the island in time to see fall co! But I'lad you're back; I love that red suit with your dark hair Perhaps I'll do a sketch of you while I'ed Natalie "I just couldn't bear staying away any longer, so I persuaded Tallie to come back with irls did a terrific job while I was gone I can't find a thing in the kitchen, but everything is so tidy and clean"

Nancy appeared at the door, with a tray "Iced tea, everybody! Hey, Natalie's back! Takefrolasses that clinked with the brittle splinters of ice: three generations of woraceful on the swing, her face as strong as sculpture; beside her, Kay sat, relaxed, tanned, and happy, and held her mother's hand un-self-consciously Natalie and Nancy sprawled on the steps; Natalie kicked off her city shoes and stretched her bare feet beside her sister's

In the dis and doves ht in summer

"I think," said Nancy, "that if I could choose anyplace to be at all, I would choose here Right now, anyway"

"Me too," said Natalie