“Roxanna?” Ma must have been speaking for some time while she was daydreaming.
“Yes, Ma?”
“Why don’t you go pack a bag for you and for Fran. Send her to me and I will explain what is going on. Albert, do you want to wait for her or shall we bring her over later?”
And so it was done. An hour later Roxanne and Fran were tucked into the buggy with their belongings in a carpetbag headed for Alberts’s house. When he brought the boys home on Saturday, the house was clean and tidy with every shelf rearranged. Supper was on the table when they came in the door: chicken and dumplings, green beans, and the first of the strawberries from the garden for dessert. Everything looked perfect. Albert and the Renfrow girls were all smiles. The boys, however, were holding back tears all evening and picked
