The Homesick Heart [antikvár]

*^You're willing to marry Tipif you mn," said Karen derisively, ^'knowing that he's not in love with you?""Yes/' said Maggie, and Karen looked as if she had been slapped. ^'That's if you're quite sure you don't want to marry him? He's in love with you, not me."Karen drew herself up, and her eyes swept the lush beauty all around her the beautiful house, the gardens, the velvety lawns, the pool beside her. She threw back her head and laughed, a harsh, ugly laugh.''Can you really imagine," she drawled savagely, "me giving this up to go and live in a tenant farmhouse with anybody, no matter how crazy-mad I was in love with him?"''No," said Maggie quietly. "I can't."CHAPTER ONEMaggie shifted the heavy bag of groceries to her other arm, reaching with her free hand into her purse for the key which she fitted into the lock of the door. Inside the narrow hole of the old house that had been remodeled into apartments, she eyed the two flights of stairs that she must climb to reach the apartment she shared with Florence and Iris.She was very tired, and at the end of the day those stairs always loomed ahead of her as one more wearisome ordeal. But Florence and Iris would be home soon and they would want dinner. They left the office at the same time she did, but always stopped off at the coffee shop in the lobby for gay chatter and discussion of the nighfs dates. Since Maggie rarely if ever had a date, it was her lot to come home, do the grocery shopping and prepare dinner for the three of Âem. More often than not she ate alone, since Florence and Iris were very beautiful and gay and seldom lacked dinner dates if they wanted them.She mounted the stairs, unlocked the door to the apartment and stood for a moment, despite her wea-