They Learn About Each Other

"Yes, they both died a few years ago. My mother first. I think my father missed her too much and died of a broken heart."

"Sounds like my Dad. He's this really big guy. Makes you look small since he's broader, but if Mom snaps her fingers, he jumps. She'd have to be, to raise us all."

"Four boys," Gus mused. "Almost five. My mother kept trying for a girl, but I only wore dresses for two years. She said after I heard 'You can't do that in a dress' too many times I revolted. I wanted to do what my brothers did. Climb trees and such. She gave up and didn't make me wear a dress again until my senior prom."

The vision of Miriam as a tomboy amused Gus. "And who did you go with?"

"Jeb Hartford, the new guy in town. He hadn't heard about my brothers." She chuckled. "He arrived in his tuxedo to find a gauntlet of four Stokes boys. They made sure he knew what time I needed to be home and he could kiss me, but nothing else."