Dear Teddi,

You must be so excited with the due date getting closer. I'm sorry that Uncle Richard hasn't gotten any better, if you need somewhere else to go after the baby comes, just let me know, and I'll see what I can do. I know that coming to live here isn't really an option for you. I wish things could be different. I chose the life I live, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I love little Ella and Mac, but the world is cruel, Teddi. And speaking of babies, please keep taking good care of yourself, so you'll have a healthy one. I do think you're doing as well as could be expected. I'm not sure I could do the same in your shoes, but you know if it were me, Uncle Richard would have thrown me out long ago, baby or no baby. So, you should be happy to hear that in spite of the devil-incarnate's presence, I will be there in about a week. Mac's mother promised to take care of Ella while I'm gone. I just called her a baby and here she is beside me telling me it's time for dinner. I can't believe she's already three years old. Time goes by so fast. Well, I just wanted to write you back after that letter you sent. I meant to call you, but I was sure the reason you sent a letter in the first place was that you didn't want to have to talk on the phone with Uncle Happy Face around. I'll be in touch as soon as I can. Love you. And give Calvin a big kiss for me in your next letter to him.

All my love,

Liza

"Theodora, your breakfast is still on the table," said her grandmother as Gertrude moved through the drawing room to clean the windows. "You know you should be eating and not poring over those letters all hours of the day and night."

"This isn't from Calvin. It's from Liza."

"Liza? Has she left New York? Couldn't she simply call?"

Teddi pushed herself up out of the chair she'd faced toward the front window. "Not everything is as simple as you would like it to be, Grandmother."

"There is no need to be nasty, Theodora. I thought we had grown past that."

"I'm sorry," said Teddi, following her grandmother to the kitchen with a slight waddle. "Liza's coming to visit me," she said when she'd managed to get herself feeling halfway comfortable in the hard wooden kitchen chair. Cold eggs, toast, and juice. She was rather hungry.

"Is she?" her grandmother asked as Teddi began eating.

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Well, your uncle might—"

Teddi plopped down her fork. "Uncle Richard can go lay an egg. I'm tired of him insulting my family. If it isn't Calvin, then it's Daddy and Mother. If not them, Liza. The things he says about her. Well, just tell him to stay out of our way, and there won't be any problems."

Teddi was sure Uncle Richard would try to make the last days of her pregnancy as difficult as possible. She wasn't sure if having Liza around would be a relief or a burden, but she knew one thing: she missed her sister. In fact, she missed a lot of people right now. But there was no need to feel sorry for herself. A lot of women were going through the same thing. Even some of the men. Hugh Morgan, for instance, was homebound, while his lady love Harper Cooper had flown stateside to help the troops. An army nurse. Who would have thought her old friend could be so brave? It gave her little room to complain. Times were what they were, after all.

***

Liza had been right. She was excited—excited and agitated, uncomfortable and feeling like an overstretched balloon. Her head felt like it would float right off her neck. She really couldn't get herself to feel calm. The baby had dropped and the bathroom had been her best friend for nearly three weeks now. Last week her grandmother had rushed her to the hospital when the sporadic contractions she'd been having over the last few days painful, and she burst into tears of frustration. Her grandmother was never very comfortable around any sort of tears or loss of control, so she insisted she go to the doctor to remedy it or in other words, get the baby out. Of course, it had been a false alarm.

At the moment, Teddi and her sister were sitting in the drawing room doing pretty much what she did every day lately, a whole lot of busy nothing—crocheting, reading fashion magazines, doing crossword puzzles, and ignoring newspaper headlines. Uncle Richard, Aunt Olive, and their grandmother had just flown out the door as if they were ten minutes behind schedule but, as always, the general had them all outside right on time.

"It's like clockwork every Sunday. Hustle and bustle on their way to church," said Teddi. "When Grandfather was alive things were much calmer around here. I can't believe I used to spit and complain about it."

"At least, they don't try to force you to go with them," said Liza, concentrating on the gift she was crocheting for Teddi's baby.

"It helps that Uncle Richard can't stand the sight of me."

Liza shrugged. "He doesn't seem that bad anymore."

"That's what you think," said Teddi, closing her eyes and attempting to ignore a contraction she was having.

"Really. He was much worse when we were kids. At least, he's been civil."

Teddi bit her lip and swallowed and managed to say after about a minute, "That's because Grandmother threatened to cut him off if he wasn't polite, and I wouldn't exactly call all that grunting and half-nodding polite behavior."

Liza put the crochet set she'd been working on aside. "I'm hungry. I'm going to put together something in the kitchen. Do you want anything just yet?"

Teddi shook her head. She had been anxious since last night. She knew the baby was coming. Her contractions were getting closer together, and she felt ready. They had set up a space in the corner of her room for the baby. Teddi thought they should convert the attic, but her grandmother thought it too stuffy for a baby. A tiny corner in her adolescent bedroom would not do for Calvin's baby. If her aunt and uncle would have simply left none of this would have been a problem.

She felt a trickle of warm liquid slide down her leg. "Liza!"

Her sister burst into the room, carrying a plate of biscuits. "The baby?"

Teddi nodded.

Liza dropped the plate on the nearest surface, sending it toppling to the floor along with the biscuits.

Teddi stood up. "I'll get them."

"Don't be crazy. Get your coat, and let's go," Liza said, looking around frantically. "No, I'll get the coat. You go stand by the door."

"No, you have to call the doctor."

"Oh, of course. Then you get your coat."

Teddi was cut off mid-eye roll as she felt another contraction, this one longer than the last. She placed her hand on the nearest wall until it was over.

Liza appeared, scolding her for not having her coat. But Teddi forgave her, for her sister was making very little sense at the moment. Liza pulled the coat out of the closet then opened the door and rushed them onto the porch.

Teddi looked around. "You know that we don't have a car, don't you?"

"What do you mean, we don't have a car? Grandfather's car is right there."

"The engine is busted. Hugh promised to fix it, but he hasn't."

"Damn it!"

"I'm going back inside," said Teddi.

"Get your bag. We forgot it. Get it, and I'll get us a car."

She loved her sister for being there, but she wanted Calvin so badly. It was hard to keep his face out of her mind. She grabbed her bag, feeling utterly alone.

She heard her sister yelling. "You there, girl. Is Mrs. Holliday home?"

"She's just left," Teddi heard Samantha Chatfield reply.

"Oh no."

"Aren't you Liza Donovan?" said Samantha. Teddi leaned against the pillar behind the door. She really did not feel like seeing Samantha right now.

"What does that matter?"

"I was just wondering."

"Well, my sister doesn't have time for your wondering. She's having her baby right now, and everyone else is out."

"I can drive you," said Samantha.

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

"Really?" said Liza, obviously not knowing to whom she spoke. "Thank you."

Teddi went outside. "I'm sorry, but I'd rather stay home than let her drive."

Liza grabbed her bag and waved Samantha onto the steps.

"Don't be stupid, Teddi," said Samantha. "You know it's dangerous to have your baby at home."

As another contraction shot through her, Teddi saw Liza pushing the suitcase into Samantha's arms. "People have been doing it for millions of years, Samantha. I think I can handle it." She held her stomach and wanted to viciously kick someone.

"Teddi, would you just shut up and get in the car?"

Liza. She should kick Liza. Or Calvin. He probably deserved a good swift one for the love-her-and-leave-her dash he did about nine months ago. When her contraction passed, she looked up to see her sister and her one-time enemy looking at her anxiously. "Well, let's go. I'm trying to have a baby here, and I'd rather not have it on the porch."

Samantha drove so fast Teddi thought the baby might just slip out of her onto the floor of the backseat. Teddi closed her eyes. The fate of thousands would be hers soon—a mother at home, a baby at home, a father at war.