Sara turned on the boy who had asked. "I know because I saw. I saw them in the woods one night."

"Then you broke the rules," he charged.

"You're not supposed to go into the woods at night."

"Right," she said, crinkling up her nose in a taunting way, "but we all do it. It was right after fall break. Julie and Ron were out there, and they weren't being quiet. And even if I hadn't seen them, I'd have known it was Ron the same way you do. All of you know.

Everyone's been talking about it for days."

Still angry, she turned to Noah. "I'm saying it was Ron. Do you believe me?" "I do," he said. Ron Jordan was the one boy on his short list of three who wasn't there.

He was also the one several of the faculty had suspected.

Noah went to her at the same time Paige did, but Sara wasn't interested in either of them.

She was looking at the others, her body trembling with anger. Tears slipped down her cheeks, but still she said, "It was hard for me coming here in September. I didn't know anyone. Every time I turned around, someone was calling my father names, and I was terrified you'd find out who I was. Then I made friends. And you found out he wasn't so bad.

And you found out who I was and liked me anyway. And then this I happened." She wiped her nose with her hand.

Well, I don't care if you don't like me anymore That's your loss. My father's coming here was the best thing that's ever happened to this school. If you're all too selfish to see that, fine. I don't want to be friends with you."

A voice emerged from the crowd, then a face.

It was Meredith. "I'm not too selfish," she said, and threw her arms around Sara. "It was Ron," she conceded softly.

Behind her there was a momentary silence.

Then Annie Miller and another girl came forward to join them. Timidly Annie said to Noah, "Julie was upset. I don't think she knew what would happen when she accused Dr. Grace.

She wasn't thinking about that."

Three more students gathered around Sara, boys this time. One was Derek Wiggins. "At first, people thought it was me. But when I was with Julie, I always used something.

Always. I didn't know who else she'd been with."

Another twosome came forward. "She couldn't believe she was pregnant.

She didn't know what to "I know that," Noah said kindly. "And I don't want us standing here criticizing her. She's gone through a lot. As long as I have the truth, I'll leave her alone to recover."

"It was Ron."

"He wanted to come forward, but she swore him to silence."

"He's in big trouble."

Noah shook his head. His anger had gone the way of false accusations overturned. "Ron made a mistake. He owes Julie a call. He owes apologies to her father and, more important, to Dr. Grace. You can be sure I'll be talking with him, but the past is done. The baby is gone.

The important thing now is to move on." He felt a hand slip into his, Paige's hand, warm, confident, and committed.

He was stunned by the incredible peace he found on her face.

"Tucker?" she asked softly.

He sought out Sara, who was surrounded by friends and smiling now through her tears. Her eyes met his.

"Tucker?" he mouthed. She nodded. He looked at Paige and felt a wash of the very same peace that made her face a joy to behold.

"Tucker it is." wDear Mara," Paige wrote, Spring has finally come.

The sun is appearing earlier, rising higher, staying longer. I saw the first of the snowdrops today, vividly green against the last of the melting snow, topped by little white bells just aching to open. They are sweet things, hopeful things, things of promise, as life is now.

In the six months since you left us, much has changed. The least of that is the practice, which continues to thrive and will do so as long as babies are born, toddlers catch colds, and children shove impossibly small foreign objects into their ears. Cynthia Wales is wonderfulyoung, full of energy, and dedicated to kids. She isn't the crusader that you were.

Hell, she isn t you. But then, we knew she wouldn't be. And it's all right Because we're carrying the bull more now. The three of us.

Who survived for angie and Ben, the past few months have been ones of soul-searching and healing. You'd have hated Ben for what he did, but l do believe he hates himself for it, too. Hurtful as it was, his telling Angie about Nora Eaton shocked them both out of complacency.

They think about things now that they had taken for granted. They talk more. They do more. Ben has s signed on to teach a seminar at Dartmouth next full, l which will give him the intellectual stimulotion he needs, and with Doug boarding at Mount Court he and Angle ha)e more time to devote to themseioes. t They go off .r weekends sometimes, or just for the daythough there are times when I suspect that they are holed up at home not answering the phone.

If so, that's good. Angie needs it. And Ben. Men are needy l creatures. You knew that long before we didr Needy But neither hopeless nor helpless, as Peter L has proven. He was devastated when you died, though {t took him a while to admit it. He loved you deeply and profoundly. When he came to realize it, he hit rock bottom. Then the old movie house collapsed, and It was like he rose from the debris, a phoenix from the ashes. He is more at peace with himself now and, in that sense, more self-confident, which isn't to say that he'll ever be totally free of the little boy who was the playground pariah, just that he accepts himself more now. He feels better about himself. He takes pride in doing things that are right, things that once upon a time you would have done. He has picked up the banneryou left behind and carries it well.

Kate Ann Murther lives with him. You knew she was special, didn t you?

Not me. I was as guilty as the rest of the town in overlooking her.

Having come to know her now, I find her loyal and determined She is probably more active in a wheelchair than she ever was before, though that is in part because of Peter. He takes her outto dinner, a movie, even on a sled in the snow when he's in a photographing mood.

He has forced the town to take notice of her, and while he doesn t exactly take her to the Tavern, nor does he go there nightly himself anymore. A few times a week enough to keep dibs on his booththat's aa The rest of the nights he's with Kate Ann. Trite as it sounds, she has made his house a home.

As for justice, Jamie Cox is cooked Ben gave Peter the name of an aggressive lawyer from Montpelier, who is in the process of filing a class action suit against him. By the time the courts are done, Jamie will be persona non grata in Tucker. He'll be powerless. He'll also be stone broke.

And for me, the only way my life could be richer would be if you were here to share it I have formally adopted Sami, who is such a joy that I shudder to think of her not being mine.

You did that, Mara, forced me to be a mother, and if it had never happened, I would have missed out on a kind of fulfillment that being a pediatrician just can't match. Now I have Sara, too. And with a little luck given the way Noah and I spend our nights, I'm bound to have another.

Nonny says I should have six. Don't ask me why six. But she keeps saying it.

We'll settle for one or two, Noah and 1. I'm not sharing him with six.

He's too special.

We had a Christmas wedding. It was beautiful You should have been there, damn it.

She paused to wipe her eyes, then looked up at a wavering image of Sara at the bedroom door. It was Noah's bedroom, in the beautiful brick Tudor at Mount Court that was old but being renovated room by room, and too small but being enlarged that summer. Sara spent as much time here as she did in the dorm. Paige suspected that she would live with them full-time come fall. She was starved for the kind of family life she had never really had.

"What are you writing?" she asked.

Embarrassed, Paige looked at the paper. She thought of fibbing, then thought again. Sara needed the truth. So she sighed and said, "It's a letter to tMharak.hl wnant her to know what's happened A d @ s h t C PajgereadjdnY lletterw she wiped them and sniffed, then took the tissue Sara "Want me to send Dad in?" done Ig,lel sbemiOeudt through her tears. "No. I'm almost ba,c,k Can I get you anything" but turned No, sweetheart. Just be out there when I finish " etr be a thing of the past Not in theardaeeWpoultd gYou left us too soon," Paige wrote, butyour leaving taught us much, which is some consoahon for misszng you. You etched your initials on our lives. We are changed forever, for having known you and, yes, for having lived through your death I think of you often.