She was a tireless woman, modest and calm, but wherever she went in Immaculate, eyes followed. Men and women both hated and loved her, simply because she was beautiful . . . Before she married Ray Marak, nearly every man in town had dreams of being with her and many pursued her while Ray was in Vietnam, but they gave up hope when she left for university in Minnesota . . . from the pocket of her bathrobe she pulled out a notebook and made a summation of expenditures, sighing as she wrote, and shaking her head as the total grew. It was Christmas Eve, and she suspected it would be the last one the family would spend on the farm.