"I'm fine," I assured her. "It's hard to explain."

"Well, you better try! Where are you?"

"Just hold up," I said. "I know you're mad but I promise to come visit you soon and tell you everything. How's Bama?"

"I wouldn't know." Molly snorted. "I left."

"What? You dropped out?"

Xavier widened his eyes at me as if to say seriously?

"Yeah, something kind of happened...." Molly's voice petered out. "I had to transfer."

Why did I immediately assume it had something to do with us? It was probably because bad fortune was haunting us these days.

"Why? What happened? Where did you go?"

"To Ole Miss," Molly replied. "I'm gonna be a Rebel."

"Oh, boy..." I glanced across at Xavier.

"What?" Molly demanded. "Hello?"

"Where are you right now?" I quizzed.

"In the Crosby parking lot. I actually just got here."

"Okay, stay there," I told her. "We're going to come meet you in five minutes."

"Wait, are you..." Molly began but I hung up on her.

"What happened?" Xavier mouthed at me, and I smiled nervously in response.

"Molly's here," I said. "I've got to go find her."

"Who's Molly?" Mary Ellen barked, concluding it was another long-lost girlfriend making a reappearance in Xavier's life. I didn't bother to respond. I was too anxious. I needed to find Molly straightaway and explain the situation before she called someone and accidentally gave us away.

"I'm coming with you."

Xavier stood up and Mary Ellen tried to tug him back into his seat.

"Why do you need to go?" she whined.

He extricated himself from her grasp like one might shrug off a demanding child and followed me toward the dorm. I was almost jogging in my hurry to reach Molly. Why had she left Alabama? Had the Sevens shown up and tried to interrogate her? I sent a silent message out to Gabriel and Ivy, letting them know to be on hand in case we needed their help.

ALL four of us arrived at the same time and found Molly standing alone by her car. Gabriel and Ivy closed in protectively around her. She was unchanged with her baby blue eyes and pert little nose, holding nothing but her pink cell phone and a matching purse.

"Molly!" I threw my arms around her and hugged her tight. "I'm so glad you're okay. Whatever happened, I'm so sorry and you don't have to be afraid. We'll take care of it."

"Yes," Gabriel said, his voice deepening with concern. "We'll make sure you are protected."

"Just tell us what happened and who came looking for you," Ivy said.

"What did they do to you?" Gabriel asked. "What did they say?"

Molly put her hands on her hips and inspected us closely. "What are y'all talking about?"

I realized then that she didn't appear scared or shaken at all. "You mean the Sevens didn't find you?"

"The who?" Molly stared at me. "Apart from being seriously mad at you, everything's fine."

"Molly." Gabriel fixed his penetrating silver gaze on her. "If everything's fine then what on earth are you doing here?"

"I had to leave," she said simply, and Gabriel's eyebrows knitted with concern.

"May we know the reason? Did you run into difficulty?"

"No," Molly said. "I ran into love."

For a moment Gabriel's face clouded over as he recalled Molly's infatuation of last year and the tension that followed as a result. But it wasn't Gabriel Molly was thinking about. I could tell by the way she was looking at him that she had struggled to master her obsession and forced herself to think of him as a friend. She was looking at him now in an open, generous way that suggested she had smothered her previous expectations.

"You changed schools for a guy?" Xavier blurted out. He missed my signal to show a little more sensitivity. "Are you insane?"

Molly was too elated to take offense. She gave Xavier a condescending sigh.

"Not just a guy, the guy."

"Who is he?" I prompted.

"He's name is Wade Harper and he's a junior. He's going to be a doctor and the course here at Ole Miss is more specialized or something."

"He asked you to come with him?" Xavier asked. I could see he was worried about Molly having made such a momentous decision without serious thought.

"Don't worry; he wants me here. He was totally buzzed when I told him. I can't wait for you to meet him. He's the best."

"We're very happy for you, Molly," said Ivy. Gabriel didn't say anything but a tiny frown had appeared between his brows.

"Thanks," she said, beaming.

"May I offer one word of advice?" my sister said.

"Of course."

"Take your time with this boy." I could hear genuine affection in my sister's voice. She didn't want to see Molly getting hurt again.

"Oh, I plan to," Molly replied. "I'm the one slowing him down, can you believe that? He's already talking about having kids and everything! He's super respectable, goes to church and all that."

"He sounds great." I smiled.

"He's very serious. He dropped his fraternity because it was taking time away from study and he doesn't party at all but I'm working on that. Hey, I'm meeting him right now in the Union. Why don't y'all come?"

"We can't stay," Gabriel said.

"That's okay. Beth, you'll come, won't you? We haven't hung out in forever!"

She remembered Xavier's presence and cast him a fleeting glance. "You can come too if you like." She slipped her arm through mine, claiming my attention.

"Uh ... Molly, I have a few things to tell you before we go."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Like where the heck you disappeared to on graduation and why you haven't answered any of my calls."

"It's complicated," I said. "We kind of got married."

"Shut up!" Molly let out a scream of excitement and I frantically shushed her. "You did not."

"Yeah, we did," said Xavier. "But here's the best bit: You can't tell anyone here because they think we're brother and sister."

Molly blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

I patted her on the arm. "It's a long story. I'll explain on the way."

"Wait!" Molly shook her head in dismay and stopped dead in her tracks. "You got married and didn't invite me?"

Xavier looked over his shoulder and shared a look with my brother and sister. "Good to have you back, Molly," he said.

I turned back to see Gabriel still standing by Molly's car. His hands were deep in his pockets and even from my distance I could see his frown had deepened. I'd never seen quite that expression on my brother's face before and wasn't sure I was reading it right. Perhaps I was imagining things but Gabriel looked a little lost.

11.

Hello, Stranger IN the Union, Xavier detached from us to go and talk to a table of friends. I didn't know who they were or when he'd even had a chance to meet them but Xavier had always operated with such a cool, confident air that people seemed to gravitate toward him and seek out his company. Molly and I lingered at the salad bar.

"So ... just married and having to play brother and sister. That must be fun," she teased.

"It sucks," I confessed, ignoring her levity.

"I guess you can't even hold hands."

"That's not the worst part. It's the other girls. I see the way they look at him."

"That's nothing new-Xavier's always had girls falling over him."

"Molly, there are a lot more girls here."

"Yeah," she agreed. "And Ole Miss students were voted the most attractive in the country."

"Thanks," I said. "That's very helpful."

"C'mon, don't stress about it," Molly reassured me. "Xavier's never even looked at another girl. Why would that change now?"

"Well, some of them are really pretty and normal," I said. "Xavier must wonder sometimes how much easier it'd be if he'd just picked one of them instead."

"He doesn't think that. You're just being paranoid."

"I wish they'd be a bit more subtle about it, y'know? They just drool over him, it makes me so mad!" I clenched my fists involuntarily.

"Well, you can't blame him for that. As soon as he starts showing any interest in one of them then you have my permission to get mad."

"I know," I agreed. "What makes you so wise all of a sudden?"

Molly's face became suddenly distant. "I know what it's like to want someone who doesn't want you back. I see how Xavier looks at those girls-he doesn't see them."

"How can you tell?"

"Because someone once looked at me in exactly the same way."

I didn't have to ask who she was referring to. It still pained me to think of the unhappiness she'd endured in regard to my brother. I had tried to warn her at the time but my warnings had fallen on deaf ears. Months had passed but I sensed the wound was still raw.

"And how do you feel now?" I asked, hesitant to say his name. "About Gabriel?"

"It was hard to move on," Molly admitted, examining the salad dressings with unnecessary focus. "But I'm with Wade now."

"What changed?"

"I just woke up one morning and realized how desperate and pathetic I'd become," Molly said. "I don't want to be that girl. Life's too short to waste loving someone who doesn't love you back. And then Wade came along and I knew he was going to be good for me."

"Wow, you sound so mature these days," I teased. "Who are you?"

"Are you saying I was immature before?"

"I wouldn't say immature exactly-more like psycho."

Molly feigned shock. "Well, I'm boring and stable now."

"That's good but please be careful, Molly," I said. "Don't rush into anything you might regret. If this guy is as good as you say he is, you should be able to take your time."

"Oh, you don't have to worry," Molly said breezily. "Wade's not like that-he doesn't even believe in sex before marriage. Nothing physical is really important to him-he says all that can wait."

"Really?" I was genuinely surprised. This boy didn't sound like the type Molly usually went for. In fact he sounded like ... well, like Gabriel. I hoped she hadn't gone out and found a human substitute for him. "Is that what you believe too?" I asked.

"I think I've made a lot of mistakes," Molly said. "Wade's been teaching me how I've been on the wrong path this whole time. He really understands."