"Haley, do you think the two of us could talk?" Diana asked while I was grabbing an orange from her fruit basket.

"Sure, I'll be there as soon as I find Zoë's Pound Puppy."

"I know about the brownies, Haley," Diana said, as I was just about to leave the room. Her tone of voice matched Mama's whenever I was about to receive a diatribe. Her brownie remark stunned me, and left me feeling unbelievable inferior.

"Um really?"

"Yes, really."

"Oh, then, I guess Zoë's Pound Puppy can wait." Mrs. Hanson grinned.

"Good, have a seat." I sat down at the dining table, across from her.

"How did you find out about the brownies?"

"Haley, I knew about the brownies from the second you and Zac baked them. It's not like I didn't notice that an unidentified and pitifully concealed Ex-Lax bottle suddenly showed up in the garbage."

"Oh, then that's Zac's fault. He was the one who threw it away."

"And of course, Taylor was suddenly rendered with a mysterious stomach virus after consuming the batch."

"If you already knew about the brownies, then why did you give them to Helen?"

"Simple. I knew about the magazines."

"You knew about the magazines? How?"

"I live here. I was watching Days of Our Lives when Helen came into the house selling magazines. I was there for the entire show, while Taylor made a spectacle of himself."

"You knew about that?"

"Yes, and I know about the kiss." I was frozen. I used to have these dreams where I couldn't move fast enough, or I couldn't move at all. It was like I had to go somewhere or do something in a hurry, and my body wouldn't move in order for me to do it. Those dreams always made me feel powerless, and that was how I felt at that exact moment.

"The kiss?" Shades of pink rose into my cheeks, and I became very interested in the wood grain of the table.

"Don't be embarrassed. I didn't watch."

"Then how did you know?"

"Let's just say I didn't watch the whole thing. I might've seen a short portion while trying to get myself a snack."

"I'm sorry." She smiled at me.

"Don't be. When I was your age, I was just as guilty as you." I tilted my head up to see her face better. She didn't mean for me to feel inferior; she just wanted to talk.

"It was a good kiss," I sheepishly added, and pursed my lips together so I wouldn't laugh. My voice was still quiet.

"Haley, what's the reason that Taylor brought you here?"

"Mama. He knew I wasn't ready to go back home with her not there." I felt unworthy to say it.

"And what else?"

"He wanted me to get to know you," I smiled.

"Then how come you've been here for three weeks, and haven't made any attempts at getting to know me? You've been too busy kissing Taylor, talking to Zac, reading to Zoë, trying to make a star out of Mackenzie, acting stupid in front of Isaac, shopping with Jessica, and watching television with Avery. You've done nothing with me. I have no girls your age, and well, I want to talk to you." I was taken aback by her response. She wanted to talk to me, and I didn't realize this. She even knew everything I was doing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Then, let's chat."

"What about?"

"Well, now that we're talking, I don't know."

"Um . . ." My mind drew a blank.

"The kiss." Diana decided for me.

"The kiss?"

"The kiss."

"What about the kiss?" I knew I'd be ashamed to tell Diana exactly how I'd felt and what I'd thought during that kiss, and what else I'd like to do with her son.

"Was that your first kiss with Taylor?"

"Of that nature, yes. I mean we've never done anything that comes close to compare to it." For some reason, I couldn't wipe the goofy grin that had somehow found itself on my face. In fact, my jaw ached from being poised in that stretched position.

"Do you know that when I was nineteen, I was getting married?"

"Taylor told me a little about that." I was somehow relieved that Diana was about to tell her experiences. With my big mouth, I'd have slipped extra information about the kiss that she more than likely would not have wanted to know.

"It was my freshman year at the University of Oklahoma. Our parents were so angry at us for getting engaged before we graduated. We were still teenagers, they said. We didn't know what love was. We did, though. Every time I was with Walker on a date, or just talking to him on the phone, I knew it." I grinned at her. She had a beautiful voice; one not just for singing, but also for storytelling.

"We'd just gone to eat at a stuffy old restaurant. It was an Italian place called Nadia's. My hair was a little longer than it is now." Judging by the length of her blonde hair now, I found it difficult to imagine it any longer. She gave me a gentle smile. "So was Walker's. I was wearing Birkenstocks and a very long, flowing dress." This didn't surprise me. I'd always imagined Walker and Diana to be hippies. It wouldn't even faze me if Diana turned out to have been quite the protestor of her day. "The waiters gave us a horrible table by the kitchen. Walker had made reservations, and wanted the night to be perfect. He was so angry at those waiters, and I swear he would've caused a scene if I hadn't begged him to sit down. Who could blame the waiters? They had no idea what they were getting into with us dressed the way we were. The spaghetti was good, but I told Walker he could make it ten times better.

"I knew that Walker was going to ask me to marry him from the moment he picked me up for the date. I could just sense it, so I threw him compliments right and left. I thought that maybe I'd get to see the ring sooner. Every uncomfortable silence, every smile we shared, I kept waiting for him to say it. He waited until I'd eaten every bite on my plate, and then we both left.

"He took me out to the pond near his house. I knew it was a perfect place to get engaged at, and I was quickly learning how romantic Walker could be. He took me out on a little wooden bridge that curved across the water, and got down on one knee." Diana's eyes were glassy, and suddenly I felt this incredible urge from inside me to watch Sleepless in Seattle a million times over.

"He reached in his pocket, and pulled out a black, velvet box. I wanted him to open it, so I could catch the size of the rock, but he insisted on keeping it closed until he said his piece. It wasn't like I needed to hear it. I knew all he said. I knew we loved each other, and we'd always be together. I knew all the stuff about finding a little house, and starting a family of our own. He just couldn't shut up, though. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but when you're waiting for a man to say 'Will you marry me?' I guess you get impatient. Then it happened. He said those four words, and I shouted at the top of my lungs, 'Yes, I'll marry you!" I stunned him, because he hadn't even finished his question. What came next was a flurry of motion that I still get sick about when I remember it."

"What happened?" The second she paused to catch her breath, I got impatient to know what happened next.

"Well, Walker's never been the most graceful human being to walk the Earth. He dropped it. He dropped it right over the side of the bridge, into the pond. The only light in the whole sky came from a huge full moon, and those beautiful stars. I don't know what came over me; I just stepped out of my sandals, and dove in. Walker was surprised, because there wasn't a way I'd be able to find a little black box in a pond at night. I was Hell bent on finding that diamond, though, and nothing was about to stop me. Walker did what any respectable gentlemen would do. 'Honey, it's just a ring. It doesn't show our love,' he said. I just ignored him, and kept diving back into the water. He realized there wasn't a way he could change my mind, and searched right along with me. We stayed out there for an hour, before I felt something soft at the bottom of the pond. It was a pretty shallow pond, but in the dark . . . Well, Haley, you understand why it was so tough to find. Well, it turned out I'd found the box, and I opened it up."

"Oh, Diana. What did it look like?" Tissue in hand, I'd long given up the thought of not crying. Who couldn't cry at the thought of losing a diamond in a murky pond?

"An empty box."

"What? Did it fall out?"

"It was empty. I started crying so hard, and when Walker found me, he put his arms around me so tightly. That was the exact moment he realized he'd picked up the wrong box from his dresser. This was the box he used to hold his guitar pick. Of course, Walker never put that guitar down, so the pick wasn't in its rightful position."

"Oh no. You spent an hour in the pond, looking for an empty box?" She shook her head yes, and I realized I was crying and laughing at the same time. I hadn't been on a roller coaster of emotions like this since junior high.

"When Walker told me, there in the pond, he thought I was going to kill him. I didn't, because I was too thankful my diamond hadn't been lost. He kissed me there. We didn't stop kissing. The way he felt to me, I forgot about the ring. I knew then, that if I didn't marry this man, this wonderful, extraordinary man, I was throwing my life away." She paused again, and held her left hand to her mouth, lightly kissing the infamous diamond ring. Now, however, a golden band was joined with it.

That was love. Stories like that were romance. I only hoped I'd have a good collection of those stories to tell my children. I hadn't experienced a love like Walker and Diana's, though. I didn't think I was in love with Taylor. I got tingly when I was with him, but you can get tingles from using Pert Plus shampoo. I needed something more concrete to prove I was in love. My quest for romance had somehow landed in Taylor's hands.

"That was in 1973. We didn't even have children until 1980. We moved out of the dorm rooms and into an apartment of our own. Everyone told us we were making a huge mistake. Everyone was wrong." I grinned at her. "We had babies. Brilliant, talented, loving babies. I wanted to fill my house up with splitting images of Walker. However, they all pretty much ended up looking like me," she smiled. "I do see bits of Walker in their personalities, though. Images of memories pop into my head when they play. When Mackenzie breaks a bone, when Zac terrifies me with his driving, when Isaac writes a sappy love song for Theresa, when Avie punches the boys across the street because they've stolen her toys, when Jessica tries to teach Zoë how to read, and when Taylor looks at you . . . that's when I see Walker. I love him more than love could ever conceive of being used, and I'm happy he's here to stay.

I had no clue why Diana was telling me all of this, but I was greatly appreciative. "Why did you stop having babies, Mrs. Hanson?"

It's just time for me to have grandbabies. I've heard stories that grandbabies are even better than babies I doubt it, though. I've experienced something that many won't ever know, and I've experienced it seven times. Seven! People look at me, and they're shocked. I'm proud at what I've done, and believe you me, I'm not nearly finished."

"Grandbabies?"

"Grandbabies. I can spoil them silly with toys and candy, and send them home to their parents, so they can worry about putting them to bed when they're too wired to sleep. I can keep them for a night, when they're six-years-old, and want to run away from home. I can color with them, and send them back home when they're sick. I wouldn't have to worry about punishing them or making them do schoolwork. I'd just be called Mimi."

"Mimi?"

"That's what I called my maternal grandmother. Oh, how I loved her. I want to be a Mimi, too." Somehow, I got the feeling as Diana was talking about being a grandma, that she was implying I should help her to be one. No way. Not yet, anyway. I was only nineteen, and only presently getting over my crush on Isaac Hanson, and replacing him with his younger brother.

"You'll make a wonderful Mimi, Diana."

"You'll make a wonderful Mama." She surprised me, but also touched me. I let the tears roll, and I got up from my seat. Wrapping my arms around her in a hug, I felt her hands rub gently, up and down my back. I cried into her shoulder; this was too much for me. She reminded me way too much of Mama. Mama would never get to see her grandchildren on Earth.

"Mama," I cried. She continued to comfort me, and I heard the door open. I broke away from Diana, and saw Walker in the doorway. He wasn't stunned at what he saw, or even remotely surprised. He seemed very understanding.

"Diana, what did you do to Haley?" He asked sweetly. "I know. I bet she told you the engagement story, huh?" This was just enough to send me blubbering again.

"I need to go clean myself up," I said between sobs. Just as I'd gotten to the end of the hall, I looked back at Walker and Diana. They were both standing in the center of the floor, rocking slowly to some kind of silent melody. Diana leaned back from Walker's shoulder, and delivered a sweet kiss to his lips. True love. That's the one thing that doesn't change, as time goes by.