Promises Read Online Free PDF Page B

was great fun, and I think I learned a lot.”
    “Crozier and Dexter,” said Louise. “I must look for the name. Are they men or women?”
    “Two guys, Willie and Ernie.”
    “Aha,” cried Gilbert. “Which one has his eye on you?”
    Nina laughed. “Neither, you can be sure. Willie and Ernie are—married, so to speak.”
    “Oh, dear,” said Louise with a little sniff.
    Adam laughed. “It’s safer for Nina that way, don’t you see?”
    And Nina retorted, “Not at all. I can find plenty without Willie and Ernie.”
    “I’m sure of that,” said Fred, who still had the puppy on his lap. He made a mock face of sorrow so thateveryone laughed. “Oh, if I were younger, Miss Nina! I remember you sitting in your stroller.”
    It was growing dark. A narrowing line of hazy pink wavered in the western sky. Then a slight wind stirred, and the birds went silent.
    Adam stood up, saying, “Let’s go inside. Who wants popcorn?”
    He always knows what the children want, thought Margaret. And Louise, expressing the same thought, remarked, “Do you realize that Adam’s been entertaining those children all afternoon? Between softball, croquet, Japanese origami, you name it, those are three lucky kids.”
    “Yes, and I think they know it too,” Margaret said comfortably.
    Indoors, after the popcorn had been made in the kitchen, the men, followed by children, dogs, and a trail of popcorn on the floor, went to the computer room to see Adam’s latest miraculous acquisition. The three women went to the parlor. Before the evening ended, Julie would be asked to play something on the piano. This was a routine in the Crane house; family and close friends expected it and found it pleasant.
    Nina looked around at the familiar room, the banjo clock, the old sepia photographs, and the rolltop desk heaped with chemistry and biology final exams to be graded. “It seems ages since I lived here,” she said. “Do you think you’ll ever move?”
    Margaret shook her head. “Why should we? It’s home.”
    “Don’t you get tired of it? It’s typical gingerbread.”
    “My great-grandfather built it.”
    “That’s sentimental.”
    “Maybe so, but I don’t care,” Margaret said with a smile. Nina had always been blunt. But that was good. It was good to know what people were really thinking.
    “Then let me fix it up. There’s plenty of space here, tall windows and high ceilings. I could do things with it.”
    “So? What would you do?”
    “Get rid of all this heavy furniture, to begin with.”
    “Why? It’s good stuff, well kept and polished, nothing wrong with it. And it’s old.”
    “But not the right kind of old. If it were eighteenth century or French Empire or something, that would be different.”
    “ ‘Empire’? Which empire?” Margaret teased.
    “Napoleon, of course.”
    “The first or the third?”
    “Oh, you know I don’t know any history. I only know there’s one with the eagle and the bee and a lot of ancient-Rome business. One handsome piece, a desk for instance, could change this whole room. That alone, and perhaps a touch of gilt here and there around the room, would do wonders for it.” Nina got up and walked around. “Also, a small fruitwood table next to this chair,” she mused. “A pair of lusters on the mantel, reupholster everything pale blue and dark red, a pair of plain modern pull-up chairs here—I love an eclectic room. I’m positively itching to try.”
    “Itch away, darling. We can’t afford it.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes, really. We haven’t got thousands to spend on fruitwood or gilding. Adam doesn’t own the computer company! And you know what teachers earn. Also, what it costs to educate three children. Anyway, I reallydon’t care tremendously about having
stuff.
Never have.”
    “I’m so different from you, but I love you so much.” And Nina kissed Margaret on both cheeks.
    “Gil and I are going to Europe in the fall,” Louise said. “I was thinking we might stop off