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In the middle of the bedroom we shared, Chris and I reached for each other There we stood, wrapped in each other's ar fast to the only security we ever had that lasted: each other All about us the house felt so quiet We could have been lost and alone in eternity

"All right, spill it out," said Chris after long minutes passed "I can always tell when you're worried"

"I wish things could be different between you and Bart, that's all," I replied in an offhand way, not wanting to spoil this evening

"I feel my relationship with Jory and Cindy onisenuinely sense Bart does not hate me There are times when I feel he wants to reach out to e of our true relationship that holds hiuidance but is ashamed to ask for it He wants a father, a real father His psychiatrists have always told us that He looks atso he looks elsewhere First it was Malcolrave Then it was John Amos, and John failed hi that he, too, may have his flaws Yes, I can tell at tireat-uncle And because he can think like this, Bart is not beyond saving, Cathy We still have time to reach him--for we're alive and he's alive"

"Yes, yes! I know, I know While there's life there's always hope Say it again, and then again And if you say it often enough, maybe the day will come when Bart says to you, 'Yes, I love you Yes, you've done your best Yes, you are the father I've been looking for all my life'--and wouldn't that be wonderful?"

His head bowed into my hair "Don't sound so bitter That day will come, Cathy As surely as you and I love each other--and our three children--that day will come"

I knew I'd do anything that was necessary to see that one day Bart would speak genuine words of love to his father! I'd live forever to see the day when Bart not only accepted Chris and said he loved him and admired him and thanked hiainand a brother to Cindy

Minutes later ere at the head of the stairs, starting to descend and join Jory and Melodie, e could see near the newel post at the bottoown that draped frolea pearls

Upon hearing the clatter of h-heeled silver slippers on thehis custoht He could have been his father when I'd seen him the first time

His o--had grown thicker He looked happy, and that was enough to make him look even more handsome His dark eyes were full of admiration as he saw my dress, my hair, s! You bought that lovely white dress especially for , I said yes, of course, I couldn't wear anything old to a party such as this

We all had co at all to Chris, although I saw hiood looks kept taking him by surprise Melodie and Jory, Chris and I, with Bart and Joel, formed a circle at the botto to talk at the same time Then

"Mo down the stairs toward us and holding up her long flame-red dress so she wouldn't trip I turned to stare at her disbelievingly

I didn't knohere Cindy had found the shocking red dress she wore It seemed the kind a hooker would wear to display her char dread of Bart's reaction that all my former happiness flowed like stale wine down intoshe wore clung like a coat of scarlet paint, the neckline plunged al underneath The peaks of her jutting breasts were too obvious; and when shesatin sheath was cut on the bias, and clungoh, it did cling There wasn't a bulge or a ripple to betray an ounce of fat, only a superb young body she wanted to display

"Cindy, go back to your room," I whispered, "and put on that blue dress you promised to wear You're sixteen, not thirty"

"Oh, Moed Nudity is in, Momma, IN And compared to some I could have chosen, this dress is modest, absolutely prudish"