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night,” she said, steeling herself to settle this for once and for all. “I said yes.”
    Zoe looked as though she’d been struck. “Mama, you can’t mean that! Why don’t you wait –?”
    â€œI’m going to marry him. Soon,” Seana repeated gently but firmly. “And there’s no use in trying to talk me out of it.” How her heart hurt that she should have to be so – so radical.
    And she felt a twinge of resentment that Zoe forced her into this militant stance.
    â€œWhat is he bringing into this marriage, huh?” Zoe’s voice trembled with indignation. “Nothing. That’s what. You’re giving him a meal ticket, you know. He doesn’t have a job or anything.”
    â€œHe’ll soon be helping Pastor Keith out at the church. He’s a wonderful speaker and musician, Zoe. You should hear him play –”
    â€œGotta go.” Zoe swept past, eyes straight ahead. “You’re making a huge mistake, Mother. A really huge mistake.”
    The door slammed behind her. Seana stood there, frozen in shock as she heard Zoe’s car roar from the drive.
    How her heart bled. Just when she thought she’d found happiness again, along comes this – this jealousy thing with Zoe. It had to be that, didn’t it?
    Zoe had been Ansel’s little girl. Those two had been tight. And since his death, Seana had been both mother and father to her children.
    But didn’t she have a right to love again?
    After all, Barth was everything a woman could want in a man.
    Wasn’t he?
    Despite the dark past he’d shared with her. A past she could not reveal to her children. Not now. Maybe never. She remembered something F. Scott Fitzgerald once said: “Family quarrels are bitter things. They do not go by any rules. They’re not like aches or wounds; they’re more like splits in the skin that won’t heal because there’s not enough material.”
    Would that be the case with Zoe and Tim? Would they – if they discovered the whole truth of Barth’s past – have enough mercy and grace, the material of forgiveness?
    Seana wasn’t willing to risk it.
    She deserved happiness and Barth represented everything she desired in life.
    Then in a heartbeat, confidence filled her. From deep, deep inside her, the feminine intuition well sprang up and filled her with certainty.
    Barth was the man she loved. He was the man she would marry.
    â€¢ • •
    Seana couldn’t repress a grin as she climbed from her silver 4Runner and spotted the beauty shop’s sign, Homecombing Queen Beauty Salon, Joanie Knight, proprietor. Her pal Joanie’s joke was that she hadn’t been the high school homecoming queen like Seana, but darn it, she would be queen in her own hairstyling kingdom.
    â€œHey, Seana,” Joanie called out from behind the shampoo sink. “Grab a seat. I’ll catch up in a jiffy. Got a little late start, what with the long night at the Spring Festival and all. Nearly clogged my legs off, but oooh how much fun it was. I won’t be long catching up.”
    â€œNo problem.” Seana settled into one of the crimson-padded white wicker chairs lining the soft pink waiting area of the Homecombing Queen Salon. A quaint jungle of assorted, vibrant greenery, strategically arranged, brought together the warm feminine hues in a way delightful to the eye.
    Seana picked up a Ladies Home Journal from a white wicker table and began flipping through it. But she couldn’t arrest her thoughts to the pages. Couldn’t get past the shock of Zoe’s earlier, vehement objection to her engagement to Barth.
    â€œHey,” Joanie’s assertive voice scattered Seana’s thoughts. “Barth’s a real hottie, when he takes off those specs, Seana. Smooth as silk on the dance floor, too. Things getting pretty serious, huh?” Her astute gaze required a