"Did she have a good time?" Ellie asked her mother over the phone on Saturday of the following week.
"Yes. She misses her family there terribly, but—and that's the positive take—she was happy to return."
"Was she? Oh, Mom, that's great."
"It's huge. She's beginning to see America as her home, and she knows she'll get to see her grandparents plenty."
"Terrific. You have no idea how happy it makes me, to know that she's adjusting here so well. I sometimes feel so sorry for her."
"You and I both, baby," Alice sighed. "But I'll make sure she doesn't suffer another day in her life. I love her so much, as much as I love any of you. God, I missed her."
"It's incredible, isn't it, Mom? How she's become such an integral part of our family in so little time."
"I can't imagine this family with
