Absolutely, Positively

the impression that Jasper had intended to use the cash to make household improvements. He did not take kindly to the discovery that the money had been poured into a failed design for robotic control systems.

    Jasper had been educated as an engineer, but he was constitutionally incapable of holding down a regular job. The compulsion to design and invent always got in the way of even the most liberal corporate routine. Jasper had chafed under any sort of restriction. He had to be free to pursue his dreams.

    Molly's mother, Samantha, had loved her husband with patience and understanding. She had also been practical. It was Samantha's steady paycheck that had kept the family afloat during lean times.

    Things changed with Samantha Abberwick's death in a car accident. Kelsey had been only nine at the time. The family had been devastated, both emotionally and financially.

    Molly had missed her mother desperately, but there was scant time to grieve. Too many things had to be done. Kelsey was Molly's top priority. And then there was the family's fragile financial situation. Without the income from Samantha's job to rely upon, disaster loomed.

    Jasper Abberwick was the epitome of the absentminded inventor. In the days following his wife's death, he could not deal with the realities of the family's cash flow problems. He took refuge in his basement workshop, leaving Molly to confront the crisis.

    Molly had assessed the situation, and then she had done what had to be done. She had left college for the working world.

    The shop she now owned had not been named Abberwick Tea & Spice in those days. It had been called Pipewell Tea in honor of its owner, Zinnia Pipewell.

    It had been located in a dingy hole-in-the-wall near the Pike Place Market. Business had not been what anyone would have called brisk. Seattle was a city addicted to coffee, not fine tea. Zinnia could barely afford an assistant.

    Molly had suspected from the start that the older woman had felt sorry for her. She knew Zinnia had hired her in the middle of a recession out of compassion, not because she actually needed a counter assistant.

    Molly had been determined that her new employer would not regret her act of generosity. She had plunged into the task of working full-time with the same energy and enthusiasm that she had once reserved for her studies. There had been no other option.

    Within a week of working at Zinnia's tea shop, Molly had realized that unless something was done, the business would not last the year. With it would go her job. After some research, Molly suggested that Zinnia add a full line of spices to be sold in bulk. Zinnia had gone along with the plan.

    Seattle was what gourmets and restaurant reviewers liked to call afoodie town. Molly knew that exotic spices were of interest to a lot of people. After locating and contracting with various sources for a steady supply of everything from dried New Mexican chiles to Spanish saffron, Molly had turned her attention to packaging and advertising. The shop changed its name to Pipewell Tea & Spice.

    Instead of opting for a trendy, Euro-modern image, which the espresso bars favored, Molly had chosen an old-fashioned, antique design for the shop. The result had been a store that captured the feel of an early nineteenth-century tea and spice traders' dockside warehouse.

    Business had picked up rapidly.

    Molly expanded carefully. She offered a mailing service so that out-of-town customers would not have to carry their purchases home in their baggage. She provided recipe books and prepackaged dip mixes. She developed catalogs. She installed a tea bar in the front window.

    Molly capitalized on the new research reports that promoted the healthful aspects of tea drinking. She pursued health food junkies and jaded coffee drinkers with clever marketing schemes. When that proved profitable, she started marketing to the New Age and meditation crowd. She hired an instructor to give lessons in the ancient art of the Japanese tea ceremony.

    The bank got its money. Jasper borrowed more. Life went on. Somewhere along the line Molly realized that she was never going to go back to college to finish her studies.

    Zinnia made Molly a partner in the business. With a view toward her own retirement, she had suggested that the name of the shop be changed to reflect the future. Molly had never forgotten the thrill of pride she had experienced the day the Abberwick Tea & Spice Co. sign had gone up over the door