Ralph rose and caught her hand as she started to leave. “I hope your ambitions carry you far, Jean,” he said earnestly. “Sally, Buzzy, Mrs. Hancock and I are leaving for Saskatoon Monday morning and I’ll hardly get over again since Buzzy and I are doing all the packing and crating, but you’ll see me again next spring, won’t you?”
Jean looked up at him startled.
“Why, I didn’t know you were going so soon. Of course, I’ll see you when you come back,” she said with a heavy heart. Heavier than she would have wanted Ralph to see.
“I’ll come,” Ralph promised, and he stood where she left him, under the blossoming apple trees, watching her as she joined her family circle. Ralph had deliberately planned this abrupt goodbye. With his usual thoughtfulness he did not want to influence Jean’s thinking.
As Jean walked back across the path to the lower terrace, her thoughts were sad. Perhaps she would never see him again, perhaps she would decide never to marry and to continue her art career, yet if she could have known, many changes would take place in the next year that are told in Jean Craig Finds Romance.
She shook off these unhappy thoughts and came up to the others smiling and saying to Becky, “You’ll be over again to see us soon, won’t you?”
Becky gave her an understanding smile that seemed to say, “I’m always here and you belong here too.”
Transcriber’s Note:
Punctuation has been standardised. Hyphenation has been retained as it appears in the original publication. The following change was made: