[Firefoot]

"Tell me, Lily, a little more about your family, especially your father," said Posco. "Is he a kind sort of fellow? And what is he like as far as you are concerned?" Lily wondered where he was going with this. "Would he consider you too good to marry a poor lad and want you to marry to someone prominent? Because if he does... I could... introduce you to someone... prominent..." He drifted off, blushing. Suddenly, Lily thought she realized what Posco was trying to get at. Oh, Posco, dear Posco, don't you realize that it is you I love? she thought.

"Well," said Lily. "Perhaps I told you last night that I live with my aunt and uncle, and it is they that are primarily responsible for me. I have seen my real parents very little in many years, but I will tell you what I can. I certainly would not call my family rich, but we got on all right. My father worked hard at his store for what we had. My earliest memories are surrounded by love and laughter. On some nights my mother would get out her fiddle and play, and my father would dance with us children. There were six of us, myself being the third. When I was only seven, though, his store was burned down by a lightning, and with the exception of my next youngest brother and me, my family moved out to Archet where my mother's family lived. After losing everything, my parents were unable to support six growing children. My brother and I moved in with my aunt and uncle who had no children of their own. In the years since my father's primary concern for us - me - has been that we were happy, which I was. All I really want from life are the things I was raised with: love and happiness. And so far, I have found both. Wealth and prominence do not matter nearly so much."

Lily thought she saw relief etched out on Posco's face. She was glad. Sometime when she was talking the thought had crossed her mind that if she said one wrong thing she might end up putting a block between Posco and her, not by design but by something that might make him feel he was not good enough. She wished she could be more open, but there were too many people around, and she would not want to embarass him.

"I think that that is all you could want to know about my family. Maybe you will meet them eventually," said Lily.