"How to handle being in love." Ann laughed softly.

"My god, you’ve finally admitted it! Well go tell her, Morgan!" Ann exclaimed. Morgan shook her head sadly and stared at the flowerbed across the path.

"She’s married now, Ann. Her father called the chaplain in and had him marry them before his ship left." Ann reached out and rubbed Morgan’s back gently.

"Oh, Morgan, I’m so sorry." Morgan shoved her fingers through her hair and pushed away from the bench, pacing restlessly back and forth as Ann watched.

"I can’t sleep, I can’t work, I can’t find any peace knowing that she’s with someone else, Ann! How am I going to get past this! How do you get over someone?" Morgan turned and looked pleadingly at Ann.

"It will get better, Morgan, I promise. It just takes time. Maybe you shouldn’t stay in that room?" Morgan nodded a little.

"I know it would get better if I wasn’t there where everything reminds me of her, but all the rooms in town are booked." She sighed heavily and sat back down on the bench next to Ann.

"Maybe you should come stay up here with us, Morgan." Isabelle stepped out from behind a rose bush and looked at the two young women. "That way you are with family and, god knows, George could use your help." Morgan frowned deeply and looked from Ann to Isabelle.

"What’s wrong with George?" Ann sighed softly and Isabelle answered quietly.

"The doctor has said that he needs to slow down. His body can’t take the stress that he goes through any more." Isabelle stepped closer and looked beseechingly at Morgan. "Please, Morgan, you are like one of our own, and with you here maybe he will slow down." Ann turned pleading eyes on her as well.

"Yes, please, Morgan. I don’t know enough about business to give Daddy the help he needs, and he’s really in a bind now. Jack can take over for him but there’s no one to take over for Jack." Morgan frowned and cocked her head at the two women.

"What do you mean? I thought Henry was training to take over as Dockmaster?" Isabelle laughed softly and Ann patted Morgan on the arm.

"Morgan, what would Carolyn gain if Henry became Dockmaster?" Morgan’s brows drew together in consternation as her tired mind tried to wrap around the question. "Daddy’s health has been failing for a while, but only family knew. So, if we assume that everything Henry knows, Carolyn knows, then what would she gain from that alliance?" Isabelle was watching her face and Morgan looked off into the distance, trying to remember what contacts Carolyn had and why having the Dockmaster in her pocket would be a good thing.

"I’ll have to think on that for a while, my friends, but I’m sure you’re right, that was part of the plan, and some of it has got to have something to do with me or else she wouldn’t have harassed us like she did." Morgan drifted off in deep thought.

"So will you come stay up here, Morgan?" Isabelle asked gently. Morgan looked up at her and the older woman met her tired gaze with a sympathetic one of her own, tilting her head slightly in question. After a moment Morgan nodded slowly.

"Yes, Isabelle, I will. I need to get away from…from those memories." Ann pulled her to her feet and Isabelle set off for the house.

"I’ll send John down to get your things and settle with the innkeeper, Morgan," she said as she walked away.

"Have him tell Jacob what’s going on too, please!" Morgan called after her. Ann laughed softly and tugged Morgan down another garden path.

"Walk with me a little longer, Morgan," Ann said quietly. Morgan nodded and as they strolled along she was reminded of the first walk she took Allison on. As she sighed softly Ann looked up at her. "What’s wrong?" she asked. Morgan shook her head and gave Ann a wry look.

"I just realized exactly how blind I was to my own heart, Ann," she said softly. Ann patted her arm and they continued along in companionable silence, stopping every so often to smell a flower in bloom.

The door was pulled shut with force and Allison shuddered, grateful to be safe from Joseph’s advances for yet another night. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to stave him off with the excuse of feminine complaints, but she was determined to use it as long as she could. She pulled her chair over and braced it under the doorknob after locking the door, not sure if it would hold if her husband were truly determined to get in, but hoped for the best. With a heavy sigh she walked across the room to the window and gazed out at the blaze of color painting the sky. It would be the third sunset she had seen since her father took her away from Morgan, her second night as a married woman, and she wished she could turn back time. She looked down at the street below, her eyes automatically seeking out the post across the street and the man sitting there. She recognized him now, knew that he was the man that helped her and Morgan escape from town what seemed like ages ago.

Jonathan looked up at the window after a moment and flashed a smile at her, drawing an automatic smile from her in return. Allison cocked her head in silent question, looking meaningfully towards Morgan’s inn. The man shrugged one shoulder a little and shook his head slightly, drawing a sad sigh from the redhead. She nodded slowly then backed away from the window. Looking at her trunks she took a deep breath and walked over to one of them, lifting the lid to look at the bag nestled among her clothes. Steeling herself she lifted it out and carried it over to the bed, setting it in the middle then crawling in and propping her back against the wall. She pulled the bag closer and slowly loosened the straps holding it closed, her chest tightening painfully as Morgan’s distinct smell filled her senses. She closed her eyes and bowed her head for a long moment then returned her attention to the bag.

Morgan had packed everything she had given her neatly inside, but the first thing Allison found was the shirt that the captain had given her to wear to bed. Allison took a shaky breath as she pulled it out and buried her face in it, momentarily transported to the cozy room on the other side of the harbor. Setting it in her lap she reached into the pack and carefully pulled out the rest of the items, setting them around her on the bed. Allison sighed softly as she looked at the gifts from Morgan, wishing desperately that she had realized how deep her feelings ran and told the older woman before her father arrived…wished desperately that she could ask Morgan to rescue her now. Tears ran slowly down her cheeks as she repacked her memories, leaving out only her journal and the puzzle box. She tucked the pack back into her trunk, hiding it under her dresses, then turned her attention to finding a hiding place for her journal. Finally she managed to hide it in the springs under the chair and returned to the bed and her box, wondering if she could find the hidden compartment.

Allison sighed softly and worked at the box, struggling for a long while before remembering how to get the first compartment to open. She gasped in surprise as she found a small piece of paper folded into it and slowly pulled it out, hands shaking as she unfolded it.