''s the hurry?"
"Listen to me. Invite him over here for dinner. I'll cook it,, and you tell him you made it.' Julia laughed. ' you. No. When I find the man I want to marry, we may be. eating Chinese food out 237 of cartons, but believe me, the dinner table will be beautifully set with flowers and candlelight.' On their next date, Henry said, ' know, Kansas City is a great place to bring up kids.", it is.' Julia's only problem was that she wasn't sure that she wanted to bring up his children. He was reliable, sober, decent, but.. She discussed it with Sally. ' keeps asking me to marry him,' Julia said. ''s he liket She thought for a moment, trying to think of the most romantic and exciting things she could say about Henry Wesson. ''s reliable, sober, decent ... " Sally looked at her a moment. ' other words, he's dull.' Julia said defensively, ' isn't exactly dull.' Sally nodded, knowingly. ''s dull. Marry him." ' him. Good dull husbands are hard to find.' Getting from one payday to the next was a financial minefield.
There were paycheck deductions, and rent, and automobile expenses, and groceries, and clothes to buy. Julia owned a Toyota Tercel, and it seemed to her that she spent more on it than she did on herself. She was constantly borrowing money from Sally. 238 One evening, when Julia was getting dressed, Sally said, ''s another big Henry night, huh? Where's he taking you tonigliff ''re going to Symphony Hall. Cleo Laine is performing." old Henry proposed against Julia hesitated. The truth was that Henry proposed every time they were together. She felt pressured, but she could not bring herself to say i6s. ''t lose him," Sally warned. Sally is Probably right, Julia thought. Henry Wesson would make, a good husband He's ... She hesitated. Be's sober, reliable, decent ... Is that enough? As Julia was going out the door, Sally called, Can I borrow your black shoest '.' And Julia was gone. Sally went into Julia's bedroom and opened the closet door- The pair of shoes she wanted was on the top shelf As she reached for them, a cardboard box that was sitting precariously on the shelf fell down, and its contents spilled out all over the floor. '!' Sally bent down to, gather up the papers.
They consisted of dozens of newspaper clippings, photographs, and articles, and they were all about the Harry Stanford family. There seemed to be hundreds of them. Suddenly, Julia came hurrying back into the room. ' forgot my -' She stopped as she saw the papers on the floor. ' are you doing?' 61@m sorry,' Sally apologized. ' box fell down.' 239 Blushing, Julia bent down and started putting the papers back in the box. ' had no idea you were so interested in the rich and famous,' Sally said. Silently, Julia kept shoving the papers into the box. As she gathered a handful of photographs, she came across a small gold heart-shaped locket ; her mother had given her before she died. Julia put the locket aside. Sally was studying-her, puzzled.
"Juliat '." are you so interested in Harry Stanfordt ''m not. I ... This was my mother's.' Sally shrugged. '.' She reached for a paper. It was from a scandal magazine, and the headline caught her eye: Tycoon GETS cmldrm's GOVERNESS PREGNANT - BABY BORN OUT-017-WEDLOCK - MOTHER AND BABY DISAPPEAR! Sally was staring at Julia, openmouthed. ' God! You're Harry Stanford's daughted' Julia's mouth tightened. She shook her head and contmued putung the papers back. ''t yout Julia stopped. ', I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind." Sallyjumped to her feet. ''d rather not talk about it? You're the daughter of one of the richest men in the world, and you'd rather not talk about it? Are you insane?' 240 '.. sm you know how much he was worth? Billions.' That has nothing to do with me." you're his daughter, it has everything to do with you. You're an heiress! All you have to do is tell the aim y who you are, and .$No.' "No ... whaff ' don't understand.' Julia rose and then sank down on the bed. ' Stanford was an awful man. He abandoned my mother. She hated him, and I hate ' don't hate anyone with that much money. You understand them." Julia shook her head." don't want any part of them.", heiresses don't live