Two months passed. The summer of 1940 was coming to a close.

Every Saturday night, after the kitchen at Lockhart's was scrubbed down, and the last of the patrons poured into the night at least about an hour before, Calvin, instead of crossing the street and heading to his apartmen, took a walk down the pier.

It was a warm thick August night. There were still people tussling around further down on the pier, and a few lights were still glimmering from the buildings out onto the water. Times had taken a turn for the better. Things were no longer dismal like they had been when he'd left Brookhurst. The hurricane had brought in a whole new wave of builders and landowners, promising to make their miniature resort town to a summer haven for the wealthy. Calvin wasn't quite sure what to make of the change. He really hadn't spent much time dwelling on it. Most of his time was spent thinking about what an idiot he had been with Teddi. He was caught between wanting to be with her and wanting to forget her.

Just before he reached the livelier half of the pier, Calvin took a seat on a wooden bench and stared out at the water. He would sometimes find a spot like this and spend an entire uninterrupted night staring and thinking until the sun rose up from behind the sea. He reveled in the constancy and comfort it brought him because he had no other source for it.

Tonight, however, his solitude was interrupted after a short while by a very familiar yet very unwelcome male voice. "Hello, Calvin," he said.

Calvin made no move to stand as he stared up at the man who had gone from childhood friend to adolescent enemy to virtual stranger in the span of just a few years. "Ben."

"I heard you were back in town."

"I've been back a while now. Surprised I haven't seen you."

"Obligations." He sat down beside Calvin.

"Right," Calvin said in a low voice. He wanted to hit him. There was no good reason for it, but every fiber of his being screamed at him to do so. He realized how ridiculous he was being and reminded himself that he was not a sixteen-year-old boy anymore. So, he turned to him and asked, "So, how have you been?"He could be friendly if he tried.

"I've been good," Ben replied cheekily. "You might have heard. I'm seeing Teddi now."

Calvin held back a huff and smiled, raising his eyebrows very high on his forehead. "Congratulations," he said, now grinning. It was the only way he was going to keep himself from plunging his fist into his smug face.

Ben laughed heartily. "Why are you congratulating me?"

The smile fell immediately from Calvin's lips. "If you don't know, then I'm certainly not going to tell you."

Ben chuckled again. "You didn't think this was any kind of contest did you? She grew up, Calvin. That's all. She grew up like I told you she would."

"I guess you did too, didn't you?"

"Teddi has an ugly past, things to overcome. Unlike you, I can wash away those stain."

"You're sick."

"I'm right. What could like you ever do for her?"

"Love her."

Ben laughed. "You're a piece of nothing. You can love her all you want, but she'll never be yours." He turned and walked down the pier.

Calvin marveled that he hadn't thrown the sour-faced Nazi into the ocean. But he was oddly calm. Ben was wrong. He wasn't nothing, and neither was Teddi. Ben had no idea what he had in her. But Calvin wasn't sure Teddi need him any more. It wasn't about Ben. It was about the two of them. Were right for each other? He still didn't know. But one thing he did know was that he had to make something of himself now. He had no choice.

The next day, Teddi bounced on her toes and grinned the widest grin she had in months as she stared out of the living room window and watched her grandfather's car pull up.

"She's here! Grandmother!" Teddi shouted at the very same time she made for the front door and wrenched it open. "Liza!"

Teddi ran toward the car, where her sister was standing, holding a toddler in her arms. "Oh my goodness, you're all grown up!" Liza screeched. "You're as tall as I am," she continued, looping her arm around Teddi's neck and giving her a healthy squeeze. "Oh, I missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, Liza." Teddi kept her arm around her sister and crinkled her nose at the baby, giving her a goofy smile. "And who's this?"

"This is Ella," Liza said proudly, love and warm radiating around both her and the baby.

"She's beautiful, Liza," Teddi gushed, kissing the top of her head.

"I know," said Liza, but her demeanor changed immediately when she saw who was standing in the arch of the front door. "Grandmother," she greeted the thin old woman solemnly.

Elizabeth looked from her to the baby, then went inside and closed the door.

"I knew I shouldn't have come."

"I'm glad you did," Teddi said, giving her another hug.

"Come along, young ladies," Grandpa said, carrying Liza's single suitcase along with him to the front porch. "It's time for dinner."

Teddi, lying on her back in the attic later that night, pushed a cushion above her head over and over as she listened to her sister go on about life in Paris. She'd heard most of this before, mostly through letters, but having Liza here to tell the story in person was so much better. Dinner had been horrendous. Their grandmother did not speak to Liza or acknowledge hers or her baby's presence, although Teddi did catch her smiling, if one could call that a smile, at little Ella when she thought no one was looking. Such an odd woman, her grandmother was. Teddi supposed she understood her fear, being the big coward she was when it came to other things in her life. Still, she did not understand how she could let that fear turn her back on her family. But maybe Teddi was the odd one. Everyone else in town seemed to think bigotry was more important than family.

But that was out there. Right now things were perfect tucked away in Teddi's safe haven, and they were happy. Ella had fallen asleep on top of two thick quilts Teddi had laid out in the middle of the room hours ago. And for the first time since she was twelve years old, Teddi was alone with her big sister. "It was amazing, Teddi. It's just too bad things had to turn out the way they did," said Liza.

"I know," Teddi replied, pulling the pillow around her so she could turn and rest her elbows on it. "Um, Liza. I didn't want to say anything before. I mean, when you first called us last month from New York. You said you were with Mac's family, but you didn't mention Mac himself. Then we talked again and you were going on about taking Ella to the zoo and how great things were for you there, and well, I was afraid to ask."

"Mac's fine."

"He is?"

"Yeah. He, uh, managed to leave Paris before the Nazis took over in June and moved south to Biarritz with a friend of his to try and keep out of sight. I was so scared I didn't even want to mention him. I thought if I did I might some how jinx him. But," Liza paused and let out a relieved breath. "I heard from him last week, and he's on his way back home. He told me he wanted to volunteer with the French Army, but-"

"He didn't. That's why he's coming home?"

"Well, he's going to enlist here. He's sure we'll be over there sooner or later."

Teddi's heart thumped and her eyebrows gave a twist. "That's not what the newspapers are saying." Things were bad in Europe. Some of the papers were saying that war was inevitable, but Teddi didn't want to believe it. She was afraid of what it could all mean for... everyone.

Liza shrugged. "Let's talk about something else. How are things going with Ben?"

"All right."

"Just all right?"

"I've got a job at the Brookhurst Observer. I start on Monday."

"Grandpa mentioned that at dinner."

"Grandmother doesn't like it."

"Does grandmother like anything?" Liza went on when Teddi opened her mouth to reply. "You're not going to get away with it that easily."

"Get away with what?"

"I want to know about you and Ben. You never mention him when you call. Every time I bring him up, it's the same thing. So, tell me. What is going on?"

"Nothing is going on."

"Hmm." Liza raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

Teddi didn't want to talk about this now. In fact, putting off talking about it was exactly how she got through the summer with Laura and Harper. All she'd told them was that Calvin was back in town, that she wasn't speaking to him and that she and Ben were starting to get back to normal. Whatever that was supposed to be. It was partially true. Ben was acting like he normally did.

Teddi thought about the conversation she'd had with him just this morning. Once again, he was being unsupportive. "Well," Teddi said to her sister, "he's not happy about my job at the Observer."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. I think he has this idea of what a woman should do, and working at a newspaper isn't really one of them."

"He should realize that we Donovan women are bold and headstrong forces to be reckoned with. What did you say?"

"I told him to stick it in his ear."

"Did you really?" Liza grinned.

"Yes, I did. He promised he wouldn't say anything else about it, if I didn't rub it in his face. I suppose that's fair."

Liza shook her head. "If you think so."

Teddi didn't think so, but Ben was her friend in so many other ways. He was her best friend. He was always there when she needed someone to talk to, even if he didn't give the best advice, even if he wasn't as broad minded as she would have liked him to be, he still cared for her and made her feel safe. That was important to her right now, but, of course, Ben was one to take things too far. He could never leave well enough alone. He was always searching for some way to fulfill some fantasy. For example, "I think he wants me to marry him," Teddi said quickly.

"And that's not a good thing?"

"Liza! I just finished school! I just got a job. I don't think I could just go and be a wife to someone right now."

"Especially someone like Ben?"

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Make me think about things I don't want to think about," Teddi huffed.

"It's a big sister's job," Liza smiled, ruffled Teddi's hair a bit. "I better take Ella down and get some sleep if we're going to be up for the early train." She stood up and padded quietly across the room to pick up her sleeping baby.

"Do you have to go so soon?" Teddi asked, standing up as well.

"Teddi, as much as I'd like to stay here, I know what this town is like. I can't do that to the baby or to you or even grandmother."

"I think it's stupid," she complained.

"I know it's stupid, but we can't change everyone's mind."

"Humph."

"I love you, Teddi," Liza said and kissed her sister's cheek.

"Love you too, Fuzzy," Teddi gave her a warm smile, as Liza walked to the landing. "I'll be up to ride with you to the train."

Liza stopped and turned. "Oh, Teddi, you don't have to do that."

"I know, but I'm doing it anyway."

"I've missed you," Liza said, her eyes becoming misty.

"I'll come see you in New York as soon as I can."

Liza smiled with a nod. "We'll have lunch in Manhattan."

"I can't wait."

The next day, Liza returned to New York, and Teddi was left feeling lonelier than she ever had been. She knew she had no one to blame for that but her cowardly self. What was it she had said about fear and turning one's back on another? Maybe she and Elizabeth Donovan were not so different after all.