“I’ve heard almost every word you said,” she burst out. “I had an earache and stayed home this afternoon, and I’ve been asleep in there on the couch. Please don’t worry, Dad. I think it would be glorious for us all to go up into the country.”
She stopped as the front door banged and Tommy came crashing upstairs completely out of breath from a strenuous game of baseball.
“Well, child, keep your mouth shut till we know where we’re at,” warned Becky quickly. “Go back and lie down. Here they come.”
But Kit stood her ground, and Jean and Doris seemed to catch from her the fact that something was up as they came in behind their mother.
“It was a lovely walk,” said Mrs. Craig, removing her gloves as she sat down beside the bed and smiled at the patient. “We went past the Dunderdale place, Tom. It is simply lovely there. I never saw so many shrubs and trees and such beautiful landscaping. It made me think of the homes out in California. You’d enjoy the garden so this summer, and there is a screened-in porch across the back of the house. The garage is small, but it will do if we don’t get a new car this year.”
Right here Rebecca sniffed, a real, unmistakable sniff. She was a believer in quick action. If you had anything to do, the quicker you did it and got over it the better, she always said. So now she raised her head as they looked at her, and set them all back on their heels.
“You won’t get a new car this year, Margie, my dear, and you’re not going to move to any expensive house, either. I’m going to take the whole lot of you to Elmhurst, and see if Tom can’t get his health back up in that peaceful countryside.”
4. Pulling Together
A queer silence hung over all of them in the room. Mrs. Craig looked down at the tired face lying back on the white pillows with a startled expression in her usually calm eyes. Instinctively both her hands reached for his and held them fast, while Jean laid her own two down on her mother’s shoulders as if she would have given her strength for this new problem.
“You mean for a little visit, don’t you, Becky?” she asked eagerly.