Or maybe use your hotel room?”“No. I share the room, and no telling how late my roomie will want to sleep. But, lunch? That would be great.”“O...ay!” she said.“You want to come to the game?”“If I did come, you wouldn’t have to rent a car. I could drive us back to the hotel, after.”“That would be great,” I said.Peggy met me for lunch at a downtown restaurant she had chosen. As always, she looked absolutely amazing. The woman was no clothes horse, but she had dressed up for the occasion and, for. “Jennifer and I got the boys right to bed. Jesse wanted to talk to Nicholas, but we managed to get him to agree to wait until tomorrow morning. But I bet Jesse was placating us and started talking to Nicholas as soon as Jennifer and I went downstairs!”“He’s really concerned about Nicholas,” Kara said.“I know,” Bethany replied. “That letter said it all.”There was a knock on the door and my sister stuck her head in.“How long will you be?” she asked.“Probably fifteen minutes. You and Ed want to. . for you. You’re my little girl...Chani... I love you... more than anything... in the world... just as you love... your daddy. ”Exhausted by her outburst and coxed along with my gentle tone, Chani’s eyes had closed, and her breathing was slow and deep. Most people would assume her to be asleep, but I knew there was still a part of her mind listening to my words; and so I continued once more, almost in a whisper:“Chani... Listen to me now, Chani. You are a strong woman, capable of accomplishing. I felt asoft tap on my shoulder and heard a familiar voice ask, "Dawn?"I looked up, and through a haze of tears, I saw Bessie Cleveland, who hadworked at the shack about the time Brit and I were hired. She gotarrested for theft a few months after Brit and I started, and Kaylaimmediately fired her. It had been what, seven years since I had seenher, but I swear she looked twenty years older. Her hair was streakedwith grey, her skin was pockmarked and scabbed, and her cheeks weresunken. When she.