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need.
    I wish you all the luck in the world, and please remember that I’ll be watching over you every
    minute of your life.
    It took Jocelyn the rest of the evening to recover from the letter. It sounded so much like Miss Edi that it
    was almost as though she were in the room with her. She slept with the letter curled up in her hands.
    The next morning, her mind was so full of all that she’d learned in the last twenty-four hours that she could
    barely concentrate. Her job as teaching assistant had become uncomfortable because she’d had a year-long
    affair with one of the other assistants. When they had to work together, he scowled at her across the table and
    she found it very unpleasant.
    He’d been the third man in a row who had been perfectly suitable for her, but in the end, she’d not wanted
    to go on with any of them. Jocelyn knew it was all Miss Edi’s fault. She’d told Jocelyn about the man she’d been
    in love with who’d been killed in World War II—a true love, and that’s what Joce wanted.
    “He was my all to me,” Miss Edi said in the voice that she used only when she spoke of him. She had only
    one small photo of him in his uniform, which was inside a folding picture frame she kept by her bed. He was an
    extraordinarily good-looking young man, with dark blond hair, and a strong chin. The frame was oval, and on the
    other side was a photo of Miss Edi in her army uniform. She was so young, so beautiful. Beneath David’s photo
    was a tiny braid of hair, her dark intertwined with his blond. Miss Edi would hold the frame, say, “David,” then
    her eyes would glaze over.
    Over the years, Joce had pressed her for details, but Miss Edi would just say he was a young man from her
    war experience—which had been brutal and she had the scars to prove it.
    But at last Jocelyn had found out something about him. His name was David Aldredge, and he and Miss
    Edi had been engaged to be married in Edilean, Virginia. But David’s death in the war had ended that.
    “No wonder she couldn’t bear to mention Edilean,” Jocelyn whispered.
    To Jocelyn, Miss Edi’s love for the man had become a legend. It epitomized the love that she wanted. But
    so far, Joce hadn’t been able to find it. Miss Edi never knew it, but Joce had twice lived with young men, and
    she’d been quite happy with the arrangement. It was nice to have someone to go home to, to tell about her day,
    and to laugh with about what had gone on. But when the men started talking about rings and mortgages and
    babies, Jocelyn ran. She didn’t know what it was that was missing from her relationships, but it wasn’t there—
    and she was going to hold out until it was.
    And now Miss Edi had given her a way to change everything. That evening, she looked through the legal
    papers, read them carefully, and held the key that was in the package. All the legal work was being handled by
    the firm of McDowell, Aldredge, and Welsch in Edilean, Virginia.
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    The name of “Aldredge” made her pause for a moment before she could go on. Did descendants of Miss
    Edi’s David still live there?
    A letter was included saying that when she got to Edilean, she should stop by the office and she’d be told
    about the financial arrangements. The letter was signed by Ramsey McDowell.
    Jocelyn shook her head at Miss Edi’s letter. “You never give up, do you?” she said, her eyes raised
    upward. But the truth was that Miss Edi was always right about the couples at church. Many times Jocelyn had
    caught Miss Edi staring at a young couple who were more interested in each other than what the pastor had to
    say. Afterward, she’d tell Jocelyn—and only her—what she thought of them. “True love,” she’d sometimes say,
    but not very often. “Pure sex,” she said once and made Joce laugh. She was right both times.
    “Ramsey McDowell,” Jocelyn said, then looked