“But Peter, that’s what you said about Aldin Launt, and you never picked him up.”
“We will,” he predicted. “We were hoping he would help us trap the others, but now that house with the boarded-up windows is all the trap we need.”
“Does that mean we can’t go back there and look for Blackberry? Oh dear! I couldn’t go anyway with all these babies in the house,” Judy remembered. And suddenly, partly because she was overtired and partly because she felt she hadn’t been much of a help after all, she began to cry.
“Don’t worry, Angel, Blackberry will turn up.” Peter was trying to comfort her and only making matters worse with his sympathy.
Blackberry wasn’t the only reason for her tears, Judy insisted. And yet, somehow, her cat’s latest disappearance and the responsibility of three children all at once made her feel as if the sky had fallen on her shoulders.
Twice, during what was left of the night, the babies cried and Judy had to get up and attend to their needs. She was sound asleep, and the whole house was quiet and peaceful, when Holly arrived in the morning.
“I’m here!” she announced, ringing the doorbell and shattering the quiet. Still half asleep, Judy put on a housecoat and went downstairs to let her in.
“Ruth says you found my typewriter. I’m so grateful to you, Judy!” Holly exclaimed as she bounced into the living room. “I’m here to baby sit for those orphans when you drive over to get it. I may as well get in practice. Some day I intend to get married and raise a whole houseful of children.”
“You do? That’s a switch,” declared Judy, blinking in the sudden sunshine that streamed through the open door. “What’s happened to you? I thought you were going to be a grief-stricken old maid without even a cat for company. You said it was unlucky to love—”
“Oh, but that was before I met Roger! We had a fabulous time last night,” Holly declared. “I hardly knew the girl who gave the party. Ruth made me go, and am I ever thankful! Lois was there with some boy I’ve never seen before, and Donna Truitt had this handsome stranger off in a corner. They talked and talked.”