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“I think it was rude of him to come,” her mother reiterated for her husband's sake, and he looked surprised.

“Why?”

“He knew he'd see Kate. She's a married woman, Clarke. He shouldn't be chasing her all the way to Cape Cod, or anywhere else.” Nor living with her, which he was, Kate thought. Her mother would have had her committed if she knew that. And maybe she should. “He knows that. He just did it to press himself on her.”"

"“Don't be silly, Liz. That's water under the bridge. That was years ago. Kate's married, and he probably has someone else.

Is he married, Kate?”

“I don't think so, Dad. I don't really know.”

“I saw him talking to you on the beach,” her mother accused.

“There's no harm in that,” Clarke intervened. “He's a good man.”

“If he were, he'd have married your daughter, instead of making her wait for him for two years during the war and using her for two years after he got home,” his wife snapped. “Thank God Kate came to her senses and married someone else. It's a shame Andy wasn't here last night.

”

“Yes, it is,” Kate said softly, but her mother saw something in her eyes she didn't like. There was something guarded and hidden, as though she had a deep secret, and everything in her told her it was Joe.

“You're a fool if you have anything to do with him, Kate. He'll just use you again, and you'll break Andy's heart. Joe's never going to marry anyone. Mark my words.” She had always said that, and so far she'd been right. But Kate also knew he wanted to marry her now, or so he said, although it was easier to say it now when she was married to someone else.

After a while, she took the baby and went outside to sit in the sun on the porch. And as she looked up, she saw a plane doing loops overhead. It was easy to guess who it was. He was such a kid, but it made her smile.

Her father came out to see it, and grinned up at the sky. “Pretty little plane,” he commented, still looking up.

“It's his newest design,” Kate said before she could stop herself, and her father lowered his gaze to look at her.

“How would you know, Kate?” There was none of the accusation of her mother, only concern.

“He told me last night.”

He sat down next to her after that, and patted her hand.

“I'm sorry it didn't work out, Kate. Some things just don't.” He knew how much she had loved him, and how much pain it had caused her when they broke up. “Your mother's right though. It would be very wrong if you started things up with him again now.