Lottie just stared out into the distance, wrapped in her own thoughts. Her Joe, married. She just couldn't grasp it. It seemed like just yesterday that he was a fussy, little tot in her lap. Now he was married. Not to someone like Rose Ward - as Lottie would have expected - but to one of the town's most well-heeled young ladies. Oh Joe!

Bill sat there quietly, looking blankly at the letter. He still could not quite comprehend the notion of his youngest son married. He quietly drank his tea.

Kate felt a little better than last night. She had not been able to sleep at first and then she had cried herself to sleep. But this morning upon waking, she had resolved that she would go see Anne today and would rejoice in the fact that at least she was there to comfort her friend.

She skipped down the stairs but stopped in the doorway when she saw her parents sitting at the kitchen table, looking so downcast.

"What's wrong?" she asked timidly.

Lottie's trance was broken by her daughter's query.

"Hello Kate, dear. It's about yer brother Joe..."

Kate's stomach tied to a knot. What if her brother was dead in a ditch. "Is he hurt?" She asked nervously.

"He will be, as soon as he sets foot in this house," her father said grimly.

"Kate, Joe's fine. He's just.., he's just gone and gotten married."

"Married!?" Somehow if her mother haf told her Joe had robbed a bank, it would be easier to believe. "But 'e's far too young!"

"Aye" Lottie answered Katie's exclamation with that universal tone that she too had thought that very same thing.

Kate slowly entered the kitchen and sat down. "Who's his bride?"

Would her brother move out now too? The thought filled Kate with deep sadness.

"Pearl Carrington." Lottie answered flatly.