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want to know what really happened here today?”  Her voice was
trembling with emotion as she fought for control.  She needed to make
Maggie understand.
    “Of course I
do.”  Maggie was no longer angry, just concerned.  Over the years
they had been best of friends and confidants.  She knew it was her turn to
listen now, and prayed for the wisdom to know what to say when it was her turn
to speak.  So often they had been in this position, but this time the
tables were turned . . . now it was Adrianna who needed support and
understanding.
    “Do you know the
worst part of being alone?”  Adrianna sat her glass on the stand by the
piano and moved back to the window.  “It isn’t being lonely, at least not
for me.”  She took a ragged breath and closed her eyes.  This much
honestly was not easy, even with Maggie.  “I’ve prayed for months, asking
God to help me find a new life.  I need to be needed again, to be useful
and challenged.  I cannot spend the rest of my life mourning Jed, living
my life vicariously through my children, and volunteering for every
organization under the sun.  Do you understand what I’m
saying?”   She stood staring out into the storm and felt the chill of
the wind against the window.
    “I understand,
Sis.  Go on.”  Maggie recognized the controlled pain in Adrianna’s
voice.  It was the same voice she’d heard when Adrianna had told the
family about Jed’s disease.  She had never heard it again, until now.
     Maggie sat
on the edge of the couch, paused for a moment, and then went to stand beside
Adrianna. “Would you like another glass of wine?” she asked looking out into
the now raging storm.
    “No, thank
you.  I’m fine; no, that’s not quite true.  I’m not fine, but I will
be.  For a long time now, I haven’t been really living my life, just
existing.  I need to start living again.”  She wondered if Maggie was
following her rambling, realizing for the first time she was talking as much to
herself as to her sister-in-law.
    “That’s why you’re
taking this job, isn’t it?  It’s a way to start living again.  It
will give you a reason to get up in the morning!”
      Adrianna
gave Maggie a gentle smile, knowing she really understood the decision she had
made, and why she had made it. “This was not an impulsive decision on my part,
Maggie.  If Mr. Kilbourne hasn’t changed his mind about hiring me when he
comes tomorrow morning, I’ll be at the ranch with his family two weeks from
today.”
    “Do you have any
idea what you’ll be in for up there?”
    “I have a pretty
good idea,” Adrianna chuckled.  “I will be dealing with a nine-year-old
who is hurting and angry because of his parents’ death and his pain, a man who
is swallowing the pain of finding his daughter and losing her at the same time,
a great-grandpa who doesn’t want anyone there at all because ‘We can handle
this ourselves’ and who doesn’t want ‘another woman in Emily’s kitchen’
and  hired hand that is so painfully bashful, he’s already breaking
out in a cold sweat at the thought of having to deal with a woman on the
place.  This job also includes trying to turn a remote ranch house into a
home, a home that hasn’t had a woman’s touch in better than five years;  I
will also be living away from ‘civilization’ and a lot of the comforts it
provides.”  She laughed at Maggie, whose mouth was now standing
agape.  “Did I forget anything?”
    “Man, oh,
man.  He sure didn’t pull any punches, did he?” Maggie studied her
sister-in-law for a long time and then went into the kitchen and retrieved the
wine bottle.  She poured a small amount into each glass.  “May I
propose a toast to your future?  May it be bright and blessed by
God.  You’re going to need all the help you can get.”
    “Don’t I know it!”
Adrianna laughed.
    “What can I do to
help you . . . short of shooting Jack Kilbourne?”  Maggie teased.
    “I was hoping