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"Thank you," said Charlie, avoiding Adam's eyes, "but I don't think we should accept-- not with things the way they are."

"What are you talking about?" asked Bill, unsure of Charlie's meaning.

However, Adam understood.

"Charlie," he said, "it was my idea."

"Oh," she breathed, trying hard not to cry.

"We'd be delighted to come, thank you," Vera said, accepting the invitation for Charlie.

"After you visit your relatives in Fayetteville," resumed Bill, "if you could be back here by five this evening, a personal assistant will help both of you get ready for the concert on Saturday."

After breakfast, the same car and driver that had driven Charlie and Vera the night before, pulled up in front of the hotel to take them to Fayetteville. It was yet another kindness from Adam.

For Charlie, the drive to Fayetteville was over with all too soon. Charlie at least had the comfort of knowing that Sherri, her Aunt Angela's daughter, would not be home, for this was in the middle of a schoolday.

"It's this house," said Charlie, navigating the driver through the familiar neighborhood.

The car came to a stop, and the driver got out to open the door for Vera and Charlie.

"Well," sighed Charlie, "let's get this over with."

Vera knocked on the door.

"Charlotte!" greeted Aunt Angela, giving the teenager a hug. "Vera, it's been a long time! Please, come in! Excuse the house," said Aunt Angela, "things around here have been a little hectic!"

Suddenly, Charlie heard a baby crying from another room.

"Please, excuse me," said Angela, going to the next room. She soon reappeared with a small baby in her arms.

"Vera, Charlie, I'd like you to meet Eliza Goodman, my new granddaughter!" said Angela.

For a minute, Vera and Charlie didn't know what to think. How could Angela have a granddaughter with the same last name, when her only son was just ten years old?

"It's Sherri's baby," explained Angela, a little nervously. "She got herself pregnant, and the father refused to marry her, so little Eliza has to take the Goodman name, instead."

Charlie was stunned. Sherri was only a year older than herself.

"Sherri has dropped out of school," continued Angela, "to help support the baby. My husband and I argued with her to stay in school and complete her education, but she wouldn't listen... as usual. So," she said, changing the subject, "what brings you both to North Carolina?"

"We're visiting a friend," replied Charlie.

"Really?" asked Aunt Angela, in surprise. "Anyone I know?"

"No," answered Charlie, wanting to keep Adam's name out of this. She wondered if her aunt would even believe her if she had said Wallace Shipley was the friend.

Angela asked how Charlie was doing in school, apologized that Charlie's other Grandma, Janice McEntire, wasn't feeling well enough to accept visitors, and wondered if they wouldn't stay for dinner.

"Thank you," said Vera, "but we have other plans."

"Well," said Angela, "take care of yourself, Charlie. And please tell Chuck I said, 'hello.' If you're ever this way again, be sure and visit!"

Vera and Charlie left-- the drive there taking longer than the actual visit, itself.

It was sobering to think of Sherri as a mother. She was seventeen, had dropped out of high school, was already a single parent, and had no help or support from the father. All this, because two people didn't wait to marry before coming together. In First Thessalonians chapter four, verse three, it reads, "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." True love will wait.

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