This is the part that Gwen never told me the details ofherself, but her mother let slip to me once, that right after she hadgotten her first period wa... when they realized something was wrong.It was her mother who noticed it first. The irritability, fatigue,unexpected crying jags, not Gwen, but herself, and also seemingly Gwen'sfather too. Classic PMS symptoms, but that wouldn't explain both parents.She got her answer a couple weeks later, when Gwen sheepishly came to herfor some mother-daughter. I told Linda we would all go out to eat afterwards . I shaved and cleaned up and went thru my mail and ran some errands, while the girls were doing what girls do. I laid down and took a nap. It was dark when the phone rang and it was Linda telling me to meet them at restaurant across town. I explained I would be there in a half hour. When I arrived at the restaurant, I found Linda already seated but no girl. Linda explained she was in the ladies room. I was seated facing the. She moved my stuff to one side and hung her stuff up and then, after patting me on the chest and smiling up at me, went back to the kitchen to continue making supper.I followed her in a daze and asked, "Um, what just happened back there Steph?" I just brought some stuff over in case I need to change clothes and get cleaned up," she said, looking over her shoulder."Oh, I guess that's ok, but you could have asked," I replied."I didn't think you would mind me getting freshened up after getting. Cherylnow called her 'mother' instead of auntie, and JoAnn began to developmaternal feelings towards this c***d. They began to spend most of theirfree time together. They talked and gossiped about girl things, andwithout any shame Cheryl talked about wanting to fall in love with a boyand get married someday. They held hands when they walked together andbonded. Because Cheryl looked no more than nineteen most of her friendswere that age and Cheryl took on the role of a nineteen year old. .