I
CHAPTER ONE 1
1
LAURA ROCK~RDHATED the phrase p or litt/e nchg
but she d spent most of her life painfully aware thati:
plied to her. Old Philadelphia money didn t often ~z
happiness， as was evident in the lives of the people ar(~，
her as she grew. She remembered her father--a fourth~
eration financier who accumulated wealth the wai
accumulated World War I paraphernalia--as a diste
crotchety man much too old for her mother. He taughl!
nothing during the years that she knew him except to sta~
whatever wing of the huge house that he didn t occup~
any given time and to remain as silent as the servants ~i
their paths did cross.
His greatest gift to her came at his death. Laura had~
forgotten that the first time in her life she had got d0wni
knees and prayed， just as she had ~n her Hisp~
nanny do so many times， it was to thank God for rern0v~:
her father from their home. She hadn t wasted any ~ :
praying for another one.
As she d pointed out to God on that cold， quiet night， l~
mother
was still quite beautiful. She had a trophy case[d
af the awards she d won for that beauty， and any man w0u~
be proud to be teen with her. In her four-year-old vayl
however， Laura had indicated to God that her mothe~*:
mmonality might need a few adjustments. \"Don t let her~
had at him， (kxi. She gets mad easy. And don t let her hax~
m?od when she meets him. If he s nice， maybe he ll keg
mr m a good mood all the time.\" She had considered t~
oxibility of that， then， as an afterthought， added， \"Ma#
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