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"This is one amazing ghetto child," Victoria quipped and sipped her wine. With her eyes narrowing suspiciously, she looked at Megan. "It's just lucky the one you had assigned to you and Mother was so talented. You could have gotten a drug addict or something." She turned to me again. "Not that we know all there is to know about Rain. Police files on juveniles are usually kept under wraps."

"I don't have a police record," I snapped.

"Rain has a good reputation and a good school record," my mother said calmly. "She deserves a chance to make something of herself."

"You and your altruistic little endeavors, Megan. What does Grant think of all this?" Aunt Victoria asked.

"He's very supportive of my charity work, Victoria."

"What people will do to make a place for themselves in the political scheme of things," Aunt Victoria said, shaking her head.

"That's not why I do it," my mother said sharply.

"I know. I know," Victoria said in a tired voice. "Did you ever think of putting some of that energy into work that would earn your family something more than pats on the back, Megan? You still have that silly idealistic streak that got you into loads of trouble all those years ago."

"We do well enough without me having to find ways to create more income, Victoria. And it's not silly idealism to want to help people who aren't as well off as you are."

"You never can do well enough," Aunt Victoria insisted. "You have your own children to worry over."

My mother shot me a quick worried look.

"Are your children here, too, Mrs. Randolph?" I asked, expecting they might be in some

other part of the house. I took a deep breath. It was time to meet them, I knew.

"No, I didn't want to take them out of school with such short notice," she replied.

I simply stared for a moment. She didn't want to take them out of school? Their grandmother might have died on the operating table and they didn't insist on coming here?

"They'll visit sometime in the near future," she added, seeing the look on my face.

"Oh. Are you staying awhile?" I asked, hoping she was. I wanted so to spend more time with her.

"That's what Victoria and I were discussing. We've decided to hire a nurse for a few weeks. Victoria's too busy to spend a great deal of time here and I'm too far away. And," she continued, "the awesome responsibility will be taken off your shoulders, not that you're incapable of handling it. However, you have to be in school, too, and I didn't make arrangements for you to be here to baby-sit," she concluded.

Victoria shook her head and finished her wine.

"I've got to get back to the office," she said rising. "You'll see that Grant looks over those papers I sent along last week?"

"Yes," my mother promised her.

"It's not an insignificant matter, Megan."

"I promise. I'll see to it," she emphasized, but Aunt Victoria didn't look placated.

"I'll be calling him," she threatened and started out of the living room. She paused beside me in the doorway. "I've left numbers on the bulletin board in the kitchen if for some reason you need something important, although I expect the nurse to keep me informed as to my mother's condition." She glanced back at my mother. "At least you won't have to call my sister and drag her all that distance back. Understand?" she pumped at me.

"Yes, ma'am," I said. I nearly saluted.

She pressed her lips together and left. When I saw her go out the front door, I turned to my mother, who put her finger to her lips before I could speak.

"Merilyn is nearby," she whispered. She pointed to the chair in front of her and I sat. "So how is it really going for you here?"

I told her again about my grades, how much I enjoyed the horseback riding lessons and the play.

"But are you able to get along with my mother? I know how trying she can be. Her ideas are planted in cement."

"We have a truce between us," I said. "She pretends to be a lot harder than she really is, although she's always complaining about the way young people are brought up today," I said, which made me think about Grandmother Hudson's other grandchildren. "I was hoping you would bring Brody and Alison."