Seeing Stars: A Loveswept Classic Romance by Fran Baker Page A

dress and hung the black one back in the closet. “I guess people grow at different rates, don’t they?”
    “Right. Even though you’re changing for the better, you have to remember that we’re a fairly conservative family, for the most part, and prepare yourself to wait it out.”
    “That could be a long siege.”
    “Maybe; maybe not.” Arie’s shrug was almost audible. “The other thing you have to remember is that when you change, people have to change the way they react to you. For instance, they can’t assume you’re going to baby-sit on Saturday nights; they have to ask.”
    “Which they should have been doing all along,” Dovie added a little peevishly.
    “Yes.” Arie’s pause was eloquent. “But you’ve always let them assume you were available, so—”
    “So I wear a share of the blame.”
    “If the shoe fits …”
    “Perfectly.” Dovie glanced down at her new black pumps and smiled as realization dawned.
    “See, even a small change in your physical appearance, such as wearing makeup, whenyou’ve never worn it before, forces people to look at you in a different light. And if they aren’t ready to do that, it can cause some resentment on their part.”
    “Hm, you may be right.”
    “I know I’m right,” Arie said with emphasis. “Take it from me, enrolling in the Art Institute of Chicago was the smartest move I ever made. It not only offered me the opportunity to develop my artistic talent; it also gave me a chance to be treated as an adult rather than the baby of the family.”
    As she’d confessed to Nick the other day, Dovie had been plagued by a smiliar sense of dissatisfaction for a couple of years now. Only her own fear of failure had prevented her from acting on it. “Are you saying that I should leave home too?”
    “Not necessarily. I know how much you love Spicey Hill. But if you stay, and if Curtis and Jack and the rest of them continue to behave the way they have been, you’ll have to confront them sooner or later.”
    “What I’d really like to do is turn each and every one of them over my knee!” Dovie burst out.
    “It’s no less than they deserve,” Arie agreed. “But since they all outweigh you by at least thirty pounds—Mary included—you’ll probably have to be satisfied with a tongue-lashing.”
    The line buzzed voicelessly for a few seconds before Dovie laughed. “How did you get so smart at the tender age of twenty?”
    “I had a good teacher … and the most wonderful surrogate mother in the whole world.”
    “Would you settle for best big sister? Surrogate mother makes me sound older than Spicey Hill.”
    “Consider it settled.”
    They chatted a while longer, mutually lamenting the fact that Arie’s part-time salary as a window dresser for Marshall Field’s wouldn’t stretch far enough to include both a trip home for the holidays and next semester’s tuition at the Art Institute.
    Before they said good-bye, Dovie mentioned that she was giving serious consideration to submitting an application for the nurse-practitioner’s program, and Arie expressed wholehearted approval.
    “You’ve certainly got the compassion and the common sense it takes to be a good nurse.”
    “Talk about your late bloomers, though. I just realized I could be the oldest living college freshman.”
    “Better late than never. The most important thing is that you never stop growing and never stop enjoying. Besides, nobody tells a rose when to bloom.”
    Dovie cleared her throat. “Thanks. I needed to hear something like that.”
    Arie laughed. “Listen, I’d better go before I have to make a choice between paying my tuition or my telephone bill.”
    “I’ll call you Christmas morning,” Dovie promised.“I’ll be here alone, because everyone else is staying home to start their own traditions, so we can talk to our hearts’ content.”
    The line went quiet again. After a long time Arie said, “I just hope Prince Charming knows how lucky he is.”
    “To