I brought it with me to school to show my friends,
especially the ones who had looked skeptical when I
had told them about the two older boys who said I
could pass for a high school girl.
Most of Raymond's letter was about his work at
school, but he did say how much he had enjoyed
spending time with me, and at the end, he signed it,
"Fondly, Raymond."
Toward the end of the first week, Daddy called
to tell me about his plans for his next voyage. There
was a lot of noise around him in his office, and even
though it was a short talk, we were interrupted several
times. He said he would try to write or call as soon as
he reached the Canary Islands. Oh, how I missed him
and how I tried not to hate Momma for driving him
out of my life.
A few nights later, Momma came into my room
to announce that we were going to go to Farthinggale
Manor for Thanksgiving dinner.
"It's going to be the most magnificent
Thanksgiving dinner we ever had. Many of Tony's
wealthy friends will be there and he's even invited
Patrick and Clarissa Darrow, the publishers of my
illustrations, and of course, Elizabeth Deveroe, the
decorator, and her husband, so there will be people we
already know. Isn't that nice?"
"But we've always had Thanksgiving here,
Momma." It hadn't occurred to me until just this
moment that Daddy wouldn't be home and with us for