baby.
At the ranch, lunch was set out as it had been on Becky's wedding day, but it was easier this time with fewer people. The women sat in small clusters talking about who was getting married and who was having babies. No one knew about Hiroko yet, and they were much more interested in whispering about Ginny Webster. She had put on weight, and there were rumors about her sleeping with Marshall Floyd. Someone had even seen them leaving a hotel in Napa.
She's pregnant, mark my words, Olivia announced conspiratorially, and Becky added that Ginny had almost fainted the week before during a church social.
You think he'll marry her?
He might, one woman offered. But he'd better do it quick, before she gets any bigger. The women talked as the men stood apart and drank and ate, and the children played just as they had the year before. Two years after the end of the war, nothing much had changed, except that the children seemed a little older. Crystal herself no longer seemed so childlike. Her body seemed to be all curves with long graceful legs and a figure that caught the men's eyes now. Her dresses no longer concealed her as they once had, and her eyes were quieter and wiser. She had been worried about her father all winter. Jared had finished high school in June, and he was going to work full-time on the ranch with Tom and his father. His father had wanted him to go to college, but Jared didn't want to. He tinkered with the ranch cars, and went out driving with his friends. He had a girlfriend now, in Calistoga.
He's quite a young man, one of Olivia's friends said admiringly to her, he'll be getting married next, mark my words. I hear he's seeing the Thompson girl. His mother smiled proudly in answer, and her eyes clouded when she glanced at Crystal. She was wearing a blue dress the same color as her eyes that her father had brought back from San Francisco. She's a fine-looking girl ' a real beauty. ' The other woman had been watching Olivia glancing at Crystal. You're going to have to lock her in the barn one of these days, the woman teased, and Olivia pretended not to notice. Her youngest child was still a stranger to her. She was so different from the other girls, and particularly from her sister. She was quiet and solitary, unlike the rest of them. She had deeper thoughts, and when she spoke of them, which was rare, it always annoyed her mother. A girl didn't need to think about deep things, or dream about the places she and Tad talked of. It was all his fault, filling her head with those things. And his fault, too, that she liked to run free in the hills, riding her father's horses and swimming naked in the streams, like some wild thing, disappearing for hours sometimes.
She wasn't like the other girls, or Becky or her mother. She never had been, and it was even more noticeable now as she grew up. She didn't even seem to notice the boys at all anymore. She seemed happiest alone, or talking for long hours with her father about the ranch or the books she read, or the places Tad had been, and she wanted to go to. Olivia had even heard them talk about Hollywood one day. And he had known that was crazy. At this rate, it wasn't going to be easy to find a husband for her, even with her looks. Looks weren't enough. She was just too different, and if anything, her looks set her apart from the rest of them, it made the women wary, and the men stare, but not in a way that flattered Olivia. It was small comfort being the mother of the prettiest girl in the valley. She was too beautiful, too free, and much, much too different. Even as the women talked, Crystal was sitting alone on the swing, soaring high, as the others played nearby. She seemed not to notice them at all, or even see them. She had grown more solitary in the past year, instead of more like them. And, busy with his own life, even Jared left her alone now. The only time anyone noticed her at all was when they heard her singing, as in church on Sunday mornings. She had
At the ranch, lunch was set out as it had been on Becky's wedding day, but it was easier this time with fewer people. The women sat in small clusters talking about who was getting married and who was having babies. No one knew about Hiroko yet, and they were much more interested in whispering about Ginny Webster. She had put on weight, and there were rumors about her sleeping with Marshall Floyd. Someone had even seen them leaving a hotel in Napa.
She's pregnant, mark my words, Olivia announced conspiratorially, and Becky added that Ginny had almost fainted the week before during a church social.
You think he'll marry her?
He might, one woman offered. But he'd better do it quick, before she gets any bigger. The women talked as the men stood apart and drank and ate, and the children played just as they had the year before. Two years after the end of the war, nothing much had changed, except that the children seemed a little older. Crystal herself no longer seemed so childlike. Her body seemed to be all curves with long graceful legs and a figure that caught the men's eyes now. Her dresses no longer concealed her as they once had, and her eyes were quieter and wiser. She had been worried about her father all winter. Jared had finished high school in June, and he was going to work full-time on the ranch with Tom and his father. His father had wanted him to go to college, but Jared didn't want to. He tinkered with the ranch cars, and went out driving with his friends. He had a girlfriend now, in Calistoga.
He's quite a young man, one of Olivia's friends said admiringly to her, he'll be getting married next, mark my words. I hear he's seeing the Thompson girl. His mother smiled proudly in answer, and her eyes clouded when she glanced at Crystal. She was wearing a blue dress the same color as her eyes that her father had brought back from San Francisco. She's a fine-looking girl ' a real beauty. ' The other woman had been watching Olivia glancing at Crystal. You're going to have to lock her in the barn one of these days, the woman teased, and Olivia pretended not to notice. Her youngest child was still a stranger to her. She was so different from the other girls, and particularly from her sister. She was quiet and solitary, unlike the rest of them. She had deeper thoughts, and when she spoke of them, which was rare, it always annoyed her mother. A girl didn't need to think about deep things, or dream about the places she and Tad talked of. It was all his fault, filling her head with those things. And his fault, too, that she liked to run free in the hills, riding her father's horses and swimming naked in the streams, like some wild thing, disappearing for hours sometimes.
She wasn't like the other girls, or Becky or her mother. She never had been, and it was even more noticeable now as she grew up. She didn't even seem to notice the boys at all anymore. She seemed happiest alone, or talking for long hours with her father about the ranch or the books she read, or the places Tad had been, and she wanted to go to. Olivia had even heard them talk about Hollywood one day. And he had known that was crazy. At this rate, it wasn't going to be easy to find a husband for her, even with her looks. Looks weren't enough. She was just too different, and if anything, her looks set her apart from the rest of them, it made the women wary, and the men stare, but not in a way that flattered Olivia. It was small comfort being the mother of the prettiest girl in the valley. She was too beautiful, too free, and much, much too different. Even as the women talked, Crystal was sitting alone on the swing, soaring high, as the others played nearby. She seemed not to notice them at all, or even see them. She had grown more solitary in the past year, instead of more like them. And, busy with his own life, even Jared left her alone now. The only time anyone noticed her at all was when they heard her singing, as in church on Sunday mornings. She had
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