Prologue

Nettie looked up from dressing Kiele to see her friend Issa standing at the door.

"There's a phone call for you Nettie."

Nettie nodded her head and asked Issa to finish dressing Kiele. She headed downstairs and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Annette Lore?"

"Yes, can I help you with something?"

"I'm sorry to inform you, but your sister Clara and her husband Max died last night. They were on a plane heading to England. A terrorist killed everyone on the plane, causing it to crash in a field."

Nettie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her sister had only been 23. Why would someone kill her?

"B-but, what about their daughter? What am I going to do with her?"

The man on the phone said she should check with her sister's lawyer. "I'm sorry ma'am, but that's the only advice I can give you."

Nettie put the phone back in it cradle. She stayed like she was, staring at the wall until Issa, carrying Kiele, walked into the room. "Who was it, Nettie?"

Nettie looked over. "Some guy." She started to cry. "My sister is dead. Some terrorist killed her!"

Issa yelled for Alyss and Lissi. They huddled around her and Kiele, who had started to cry when Nettie had.

********three hours later********

Nettie sat in Clara's lawyer's office, with her niece on her lap, holding her best friend's hands. Clara's lawyer, Mr. Carr, was reading Clara and Max's will.

"The guardian of our child, Kiele Belle Farrow, will be my sister, Annette Delphine Lore. Our home and any money, stocks, or bonds will go to Kiele, with Annette holding them until Kiele is eighteen. The money used to raise Kiele will come from the money, stocks, or bonds that we have."

The lawyer looked up at that moment. "Well, that's the end of the will. Are there any questions?"

Nettie looked at him. "So I have to stay here in Los Angeles and raise my niece?"

"No, you could move back to Maine. However, I advise against that. The house is completely paid off, plus you would uproot Kiele from everything she is familiar with."

Nettie nodded. It really didn't matter, she had nothing in Maine anyway, other than her three friends. She turned to them. "You guys might as well head back to Maine. Your parents are expecting you back soon anyway."

Issa spoke up. "Actually, when I asked to come, my mom told me to never come back. All I need to do is go back for my stuff."

Alyss and Lissi looked at each other. "Our mom should let us stay. She was planning on making us move soon anyway. She was tired of the snow in Maine."

Nettie looked around at them. "Okay, then tell her she's moving in with me, as are the rest of you. You guys just go back to Maine, get your stuff and my stuff, then come back."