Page 17

remembered her as a bright and happy girl.

Toby was two years younger, and although she didn't look like her mother as much, she had her mother's serious demeanor. She was a little shorter but with broader hips and a fuller bosom. She kept her dark brown hair trimly cut. Her eyes were more perceiving, studious and inquisitive. She had a way of twisting the corner of her mouth downward when she doubted or disapproved of something someone else had said or done.

"I told them to wait until tomorrow," Paul said angrily.

"It's all right. I'm glad they've come," I said, joining them. They both hugged and kissed me and then followed me up to the nursery, Jeanne chattering away as I changed Pearl's diaper.

"Of course, this is all a shock," she said. In a breathless gush, her words spilled forth. "It's so unlike Paul, Mr. Perfect Little Man."

"Why did you two do it now?" Toby asked. "Why didn't you do it as soon as you knew you were pregnant?"

I didn't look at her when I spoke, for fear she would see the lies in my face.

"Paul wanted to," I said, "but I didn't want to ruin his life."

"What about your life?" Toby countered.

"I was all right."

"Living by yourself with a baby in that shack?"

"Oh, Toby, why drag up the past? It's over now, and now look where they are," Jeanne cried, her arms extended. "Everyone's raving jealous over this house and Paul's good fortune."

Toby came up beside me and looked down at Pearl. "When did you two. . . make her?" she asked.

"Toby!" Jeanne exclaimed.

"I'm just asking. She doesn't have to say if she doesn't want to, but we're all sisters now. We shouldn't have secrets from each other, should we? Well, should we?" she asked me.

"No, not secrets, but each of us has something private in our hearts, something best kept locked up. Maybe you're still too young to understand that, Toby, but you will," I said. It was the sharpest thing I had ever said to her. She blinked and pulled her lips thin for a moment and then she nodded after considering what I had said.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Ruby."

"That's okay," I said, smiling. "We should be sisters now in every way possible."

"And we will!" Jeanne declared. "We'll help with the baby, won't we, Toby? We'll be real aunts."

"Sure," Toby said. She gazed at Pearl. "I've baby-sat enough to know how to take care of an infant."

"Pearl will get more love and attention than she can stand," Jeanne promised.

"That's all I want," I said. "That's all I really want. And all of us to become a family."

"Mother is still quite speechless, isn't she, Toby?" Jeanne said.

"Daddy isn't exactly bursting with pride and happiness either," she said.

"Maybe Daddy doesn't want to face the fact that he's a grandpere so soon," Jeanne quipped. "Don't you think that's it, Ruby?" she asked.

I stared at her for a moment and then smiled. "Yes, probably," I said. It was uncomfortable to stand waist-high in deceptions and half-truths, but for now there was no other way, I thought.

Jeanne tried to wrangle a dinner invitation out of Paul, but he insisted they leave and return with their parents tomorrow.

"When we'll have a real celebration," he said. "Ruby and I are just very tired and we need to be alone, rest up," he explained.

Toby smirked, but after Jeanne flashed her face of disappointment, she burst into a smile and exclaimed, "Of course you should. It's your honeymoon!"

Paul shifted his eyes toward me quickly and blushed.