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I smiled. I really did feel safer now, even safer

with them than I had felt with Geraldine. And that's

what family was supposed to do for you, I thought,

make you feel secure, let you know that there are

people who care about you and want to protect you

and love you. We'd be friends forever and ever, and

there was nothing I wouldn't do for them and nothing

they wouldn't do for me. It wasn't just the vodka that

made me feel warm and comfortable now. It was their

smiles and their laughter and their promises. We could believe in the promises we made to

each other easier than those our parents made to us.

Because we were all veterans of disappointment, we

knew how painful it would be to disappoint each

other. What better guarantees were there than the ones

born out of mutual pain and respect?

"To the OWP's," Misty cried, holding up her glass as if she could read my very thoughts. "One for

all and all for one!"

"To the OWP's," we joined, and drank down

our drinks.

Jade started to prepare another for all of us as

the dinner arrived. We were just beginning to feel

very good and be happy. The best was yet to come, I

thought. My friends had helped me bury all my

disappointments, forever and ever.

Was I being too optimistic? Was Misty rubbing

off on me? Was I turning into a dreamer? What if I

was? Anything was better than what I had been, I

thought. This was like being born again and there was

no turning back now, never.

Geraldine could rise from the grave; she could