then grinned.
"Or maybe we should try to be a little more open-minded
to this new development."
Clyde groaned. "I can"t believe you"re giving up, Maggie.
I thought you were such a fighter."
"I"m not giving up. I"ll keep investigating the whole thing.
I just need to find out if this Byers fellow is really who he says
he is or not. And if it turns out that he"s really on the up-and-
up, we"ll be open to this whole thing, right?"
"And if he"s not, will we slap his sorry story all across the
front page?"
She couldn"t help laughing. "You bet we will!"
Barbara Harris arrived in Pine Mountain a day earlier
than she had planned, and Maggie met her at the hotel for Looking for You All My Life127
tea the following afternoon. Barbara was a fragile and
refined-looking woman, and though probably only a little
older than Audrey, in some ways she seemed to come from
a generation long past. With her perfectly coifed snow-white
hair, soft powdery face, and pastel blue woolen dress com-
plete with a single strand of pearls, she reminded Maggie of
someone from the Victorian era, especially by the way she
held her teacup so daintily with her little finger gracefully
pointing down.
"I"m still so amazed to be back here in Pine Mountain,"
she said as she set the fine porcelain teacup carefully back
into its saucer. "Everything looks so wonderful. Much nicer
than when we left. In fact, much better than I ever remember
it being. This hotel has never been this lovely before."
"How long did you live here?"
"I came as a young bride just after the war. My husband"s
family ran several businesses in the area. I was originally
from the East-I met Steven Sr. while volunteering at a dance
for servicemen soon to be shipped off to fight in Europe. I
was only seventeen at the time, but totally smitten by this
handsome young man in uniform. I gave him my address and
we wrote regularly throughout the war. I guess we fell in love
long distance. And during that time I promised that if he sur-
vived the war I"d marry him." Her eyes grew misty.
"And so you did." Maggie smiled. "Then you came
here?"
"Not at first. We stayed with my parents for a while. But
Steven missed his home and family-he"d been through so
much during the war-I thought the least I could do was to
come out here. I didn"t realize at the time that we"d settle
here permanently. I must admit that I hated it at first, but
over time I grew to love the mountains and the fresh smell
of pine trees. After many years of waiting, our little Stevie
was born here; then life was complete for me. Oh, it was a
quiet Sort of life, to be sure, but I had a few good friends and
belonged to a bridge club. A couple of my old friends still