She would also be free, she realized suddenly, for Joe's passion. The thought worked through her mind. She would be available without excuses to be led at any time to their bed for another bout of sex and another prolonged declaration of love. Her reverie ended as Tommy leaned into her face and seductively moved his hand across her back. “Let's move the party to your place, Beck,” he said. “I got two six-packs in the car. I'll grab them and we'll go party at your place, Beck.” “Come on, Becky,” Peggy urged. “You can show me the house and tell me just the way you want me to do things.” Becky could never refuse them. They were fun and this afternoon she needed fun. It was almost 5:30. Joe would be home by 8 or 9. He would probably stop for a break. If he had left Minneapolis at two as he said he would he'd need a break when he got to Duluth. He'd stop for a cup of coffee or a drink at the hotel there he liked so much. She could get them out of the house by 7:30. Becky put her foot down hard on the accelerator. The tires of the Jeep squealed a high complaint as she cut through the parking area and onto the highway. Ten years ago she would have been intoxicated with the camaraderie of the group, knowing that she belonged with these people as she had never belonged to her own family. Ten years ago she gloried in being a part of the Indians who existed here in the northern forest apart from the main thrust of civilization. She had loved the faces and the stories, the myths and legends of the lake and forest. Now they were becoming as apart from her as her family. She no more belonged here than she had ever belonged anywhere. As if he could hear her thoughts, Tommy suddenly crawled from his place next to her to the back seat. In a moment he and Peggy were necking as though Becky were invisible. Becky glanced at them in the rear view mirror and smiled wryly to herself. There were, after all, only two things men cared about – money and sex. For Tommy, the money part wasn't working so he doubled up on the sex end of it. Cold air rushed through the open windows and blew her long brown hair around her face, whipping each strand into a tiny lash to sting her face and open the hidden doors of her mind where memories of her stepfather lived. The terror and horror lay only a few layers deep behind the doors, the sleepless hours wondering whether he would come, when he would come, whether she would be able to keep from