The room grew quiet, uncomfortably so. Max wanted so much to be sensitive, but she also wanted to know if she'd done something to upset her sister.

"Did I do something?"

"You didn't do anything, Max," Lorri felt relieved to say, and also admitted, "I was thinking about the islands."

"What was it like, Raine? Did you swim?"

"I went to the beach very little. I was afraid of being spotted by an enemy ship, so I stayed in the trees. A few times I was so cold I went and sat in the sun and sand, but mostly I kept to the trees"

"You said two islands," Ruth mentioned.

"The PT boat needed repairs, and we stopped before getting to the base in Australia."

i 128.

"Did something happen?" Ruth asked without thinking, her daughter's face was so vulnerable just then.

"A little run-in with sailors from another boat. It just scared me."

Ruth couldn't stop the tears that flooded her eyes. Lorri had been through so much, and then to be frightened by men from their own military. Her daughter looked distressed over the tears, and Ruth knew it was time to lay it out on the table.

"You see how it is, Lorri. I do want to know what happened, but it's going to be upsetting, and then you're not going to want to tell me." Ruth gestured helplessly with her hands. "I don't feel like I can win."

Lorri didn't know what to say, but Max was not at a loss for words.

"You just have to do it, Raine," she told her. "When you're ready, you have to tell us. We mightxcry and be in pain, but it can't be as bad as hot knowing."

Lorri nodded, all of them crying now.

"I think a picnic to the coast is just what we need," Ruth said at last. "I'll start on some lunch. You girls gather everything else."

They were not the happiest crew, but everyone went into motion. m.u.f.fin was made comfortable in the garage, but Buddy was to join them. Picnic basket packed and ready, they left at midmorning, the beach less than a 30-minute drive away.

They were certain to all come home tired and sunburned, but Ruth had been right: Right now an outing was the best medicine.

Lorri sat quietly in the pew next to her mother for the evening service and thought about how painless it had been that morning.

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; Many people had hugged her and welcomed her back, but she caught very few pitying glances and no one questioned her about I her appearance or Josie. And she had needed to hear the sermon I about G.o.d's faithfulness and patience.

Being back this evening at the more casual service felt wonderful and normal, as if she were reclaiming her life. Josie was missing, but Lorri didn't let her mind dwell on that. Amidst these thoughts she spotted her younger sister.

"Well, Max might have sworn off boys, Mother, but they haven't sworn off her."

Ruth looked up from that morning's sermon notes and glanced around the church pews. She spotted her youngest daughter sitting I with Arlene Andrews. Not far from the two young women were three boys. They were talking among themselves, but their eyes strayed continually to the two girls, who seemed oblivious to them. Ruth smiled and even laughed a little. "And it certainly doesn't help that she got a little more color yesterday," Lorri went on. "She's more beautiful than ever." "She is beautiful, isn't she?" "Have you just realized that?"

"No, but I don't dwell on it. It's her sweetness and sense of

jhumor that you really notice."

The women looked over just then to see Max expressing herself with a funny face. They both laughed, and this was the way CoraAndrews found them. She had a hug for Lorri and then for Ruth. "How are you?" she asked them both sincerely. "We went to the beach yesterday" Ruth told her, realizing they

liiadn't spoken that morning. "I can see the burned noses."

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Lori Wick "We were just commenting that Max looks better than ever with pink on her cheeks and nose."

"As if Max needed any help," Cora said with a comical roll of her eyes.

Pastor Higgins was moving toward the pulpit just then, and all over the church, folks got settled in their seats. Max came over in a hurry and sat close to her sister.

"It's great to have so many of you joining us tonight for communion" Pastor Higgins began. "I want to open things up for testimonies, but before I do that, I have some thoughts I want to share, some reminders from our last communion.

"Communion is not a period at the end of the sentence. It might seem that way since Jesus is nearing the end of His ministry on earth, but in truth, this was a starting point for the disciples. We can't come to the table lightly. Our hearts have to be right before G.o.d, and in that, many think that this latest time period in their life has come to a close, but that's not the case.

"Communion is the start of a new time. Until we meet again around the bread and cup, we need to remember our actions this night. We need to keep this event in our minds when temptations crowd in. Tonight is the beginning, not the end. Reflect, certainly. Make sure your heart is clean and confessed before G.o.d, but don't stop there. Determine to partake tonight and to stay holy until we partake again."

Lorri needed these words so much. It had been a long time since she'd partaken in the Lord's Supper, and never had she looked at it in light of a new time.

Help me, Father,she prayed.I want to go from here to be mindful of You and more obedient than I ever have been before.

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Lorri looked up to see that her sister and mother were praying too. She bowed her head again and asked G.o.d for the same thing for them.

Lorri's and Josie's trunks arrived from Australia on Wednesday. Lorri was not prepared for this. She had missed some of her things but was in no way wanting. A truck pulled up, and a delivery man came to the door. Ruth signed for the trunks and stood back while they were placed in the living room.

Emotions surged through her as she remembered packing those trunks with the girls so many years before. A letter from Ian Colins, addressed to Lorri, accompanied the keys, and she sat

. down to read it. She read out loud.

"Dear Lorraine, I don't know where to start. Our sorrow for you and for ourselves is difficult to describe. The children miss [. you both so dreadfully. I hope you can write to them when you feel up to it.

"We comfort ourselves with the fact that if you are reading this, you are home with your family as you need to be. I hope time jl 1 will heal all wounds and that you will find great happiness in the near future. If ever you should wish to return to us, you would be most welcome.

"Out hearts are with you, both today and in the future. I'Sincerely, Ian Colins.

"P.S. Clarence Fuller's family requested your address. I hope it was all right to give it to them."

' Lorri looked up into her mother's eyes and found that Max:had joined them.

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"Clarence Fuller was the pilot?" Max confirmed.

"Yes. I've been thinking about how I would get a letter to them, so I hope they write."

The three women looked at the boxes. No one looked overly eager to dig in.

"What shall we do?" Ruth finally asked.

"I'm in no hurry to open Josie's, but I don't have to be around if you want to."

"I don't," Ruth said. "What about you, Max?"

"No, I'll wait."

"Let's try to get it up to her room then. What about yours, Lorri?"

"Can we just put it in the corner in here for now?"

"Of course. Here," Ruth said, getting right to work, "we'll put it here behind the chair."

With a good deal of pulling and panting, the trunks were moved. Lorri's fit well behind the chair-not invisible, but certainly out of the way. It was no easy task to get Josie's up the stairs, but once there, the three of them breathed a little sigh of relief. They shut the door. For the moment, Josie's trunk did not have to be dealt with.

133>eti "^.

Thursday evening found the three Archer women dining with

he Andrews family. Ruth and Cora had been dose for years, and fpiax and Arlene's friendship went back Jo first grade.

Cora and her husband, Leonard, also had three sons, all grown phd gone from home. Like Max, Arlene was the baby and a senior high school. Her father was the princ.i.p.al at school. He was Unfailingly kind and fair, and the student body loved him. He had t way with young people, and Lorri, without even realizing it, was lore open with him than she'd been with her own family. It didn't happen until after dinner when they were settled on : back porch with tall gla.s.ses of iced tea. Leonard began to ask

Uestions pf Lorri, and she found herself sharing, barely awarethe other four people who sat and listened in silence. "What's the hardest part about being back?" Leonard asked St.

"Being here without Josie. I don't think I realized just how iluch we'd done together. I can probably count on two hands the les we slept away from home and weren't together."

134.

"Did you ever think about the changes that would come with her marriage?"

"Yes, but thinking about something and living it are two different things, don't you think?"

"Yes, they are different. I was just curious if the two of you ever discussed it."

"Not really. I often told her I envied her, and she usually told me it was just a matter of time and I'd be caught as well."

Leonard smiled.

"Is that what she called it, being caught?"

Lorri smiled back.

"Ken always said that he chased Josie until she caught him." Lorri sighed, "They were so perfect for each other."

"Howisthat?"

"Both so kind and caring."

"Who's perfect for you?"

Lorri's smile slanted a little.

"I don't know, I guess that's the other hard part. I think Josie should be the one to still be here."

"Because she had a fianceT'

"Yes. Even more hearts are involved where Josie is concerned. Ken and his whole family will grieve for her."

"And they wouldn't have grieved for you?"

Lorri looked surprised by this. 1 "You didn't think of that, did you?"

Lorri could only shake her head, her face full of amazement.

"If Josie were here, she'd be in the same pain that you are right now," Leonard explained gently. "As would Ken. As would his whole family."

Lorri was speechless. Such a thing had never occurred to her.

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"You still count, Lorraine. You still matter. You're here because G.o.d has a plan. It won't erase all the pain you feel over losing your sister, but you mustn't forget that you're vital to Max and your mother right now. They wouldn't trade you for anything."

"But I wish they could," Lorri admitted, her voice catching a little. "I wouldn't want them to have to choose, but I wish G.o.d had. I wish the plan had included Josie and not me."

"All the wishing in the world won't change the way things are. I think G.o.d understands how you feel; in fact, I'm sure of it, but don't spend too much time telling G.o.d He made a mistake. It's a waste of time and energy, especially energy. Trying to do G.o.d's job is exhausting. We're just not equipped for it."

Lorri looked him in the eye.

"Every student at Harmony Hills High, School, past and present, loves you. Do you know that?"

"I love them," he said simply and then smiled widely, his eyes holding hers. "Some I love more than others."

Lorri smiled, feeling tears p.r.i.c.king at the back of her eyes but ; determined not to give in to them. She glanced around and realized how she'd monopolized the conversation.

"This wasn't very polite of me," she began but stopped when She read the faces around the patio. They needed this too. Her mother looked ready to cry, but then she'd been warned about that.

"Dp you feel bad, Mother," Lorri had to know, "that I haven't 'shared more of this with you?"

"No, dear. I really am ready to wait for you."

"Well, I want to know everything, for heaven's sake!" Max suddenly burst out, sounding so aggrieved and angry at herself that the company had to laugh.

"What's so funny about that?" Max asked, still frowning. "I should be scolded or something, and you're all laughing."

136.

Lori Wick "It's your honesty, Max," Leonard told her. "It's so refreshing."

When the laughter died down, the sisters looked at each other, Max very contrite.