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Throughout dinner, Miss Brigham watched Hector He sat with his niece on one side and Wendell on the other They discussed the repairs to his boat, young Wendell gesturing wildly with his hands Miss Brigham didn't understandthe way the light frohtsoon As o with him, she couldn't leave the children They were her responsibility Reverend Crane had made it very clear that her sole purpose in life was to care for the children Even with the reverend dead, she couldn't abandon them now They were all just as adorable as the rabbits in the stew had been, even the chubby ones

She hoped to get a moment alone with Hector before bed, but Sairl for wanting to be near her uncle, especially since she had spent the last five years not knoho she was, the poor child Miss Brighaht not remember her parents, but she had always knoho she was

In a way she was grateful she couldn't get Hector alone She wasn't quite sure what to say to him She had tried to rehearse a speech in her head, but it never worked out Even in her own et lost and she would start to rah most of the sermons She never set out to ramble, but her , sending her off onto soain of what to say to Hector She loved him, that much she knew But to a man like hiirl with a head full of foolish dreams Somehow she had to convince him she was a mature woman and then-

Then what? She couldn't very wellhere Nor could she expect him to forsake the wonders of the mainland to stay on this dreadful island, not for her She was just a scatter-brained girl with this unruly red hair and all these blasted freckles that hteen years

Even after everyone had gone to bed, Miss Brigha about the situation She tossed and turned on her pew until she finally fell onto the floor Rebecca opened her eyes "Are you all right?"