* * * *

No matter how many angles she considered it from, she came to the same conclusion. Someone needed to go deal with the Harborside’s deliveries. They had a shipment of Puer-Sheng coming, along with more Assam and the boxes of teabags for Miss Harriet’s.

She glanced at the captain, trying to gauge how soon he would be awake. Sally’s flight had landed and she was on her way from the airport in Mrs. James’ car. If she could get to the Harborside by three, she would be there when the deliveries came. It was too cold and damp for the boxes to be sitting out on the step. The tea always came carefully packaged, but still.

The weight of responsibility made her stomach feel tight, as another wave of loneliness swept over her. She had to figure this out, to keep things together. Lord, help me! She prayed.

* * * *

“Hi.” Sally smiled shyly as Katherine got in the car.

“Hi.” Katherine tried to smile back.

“How is he?”

“Asleep. He sleeps a lot right now. I’m hoping to be back before he wakes up. The nurses said they would call if I’m needed or if he asks for me.”

“Is he…going to be okay?”

“Yes, he should be, but the doctors say it’s going to take some time.”

“What can I do?”

Katherine recognized in her friend’s face the same frightened helplessness she had been feeling. “Pray.”

“I am. Anything else?”

“Yes. After you drop me off at the Harborside, could you go to Miss Harriet’s and make sure we have everything we need for tomorrow?”

“Sure. When should I pick you up again?”

“Probably four. In case the delivery comes late."

“Ok. Want me to prep the pasty filling for tomorrow? I should have time.”

“That would be great.” Katherine let out a long breath and actually managed a smile as her friend pulled up to the curb outside the Harborside’s green door. “Thank you, Sally.”

“Happy to help.”

* * * *

The familiar jingle of the bell over the door jarred the silence of the old building as Katherine walked in. She picked up the broom and dustpan from where Tommy had flung them in his rush to be helpful and walked over to the shelves.

He had done a good job of sweeping up, but there were still a few fragments of pottery that had bounced further away. As she bent to retrieve one, something caught her eye behind the curve of the spiral staircase. She took a step nearer and felt her breath catch in her chest.

No, not that too! She stooped to pick up the Anne from where it lay, a mass of tangled rigging and broken spars. All the pent-up emotion of the last two days welled up in Katherine’s heart, and she wept.

She felt she had been shipwrecked, too, left to struggle alone, clinging to the last shattered remnants of all that was dear and familiar. Sinking to her knees, she held the broken pieces of the Anne to her and let the tears fall, mourning the loss of such a precious symbol of so many generations of Braddock history. She wondered how the captain would take the news of this tragedy, and dreaded having to repeat the loss over and over till his concussion healed.

Shivering, she suddenly realized how cold it felt in the empty shop. She stood and laid what remained of the Anne on the counter, then rushed over to the thermometer. 68. At least the tea is all right. She went to a bookshelf in the Captain’s Quarters and took down a box, revealing an old dial thermostat. She turned it up some, and heard the ticking of the ornate cast iron radiator in the corner.

Entering the shop, Katherine switched on the lights and the warm, rosy glow of the old converted gas lights filled the shop with visual warmth. She knelt in front of the wood stove, and felt herself stiffen. She had never lit the fire herself. Taking a breath, she closed her eyes and breathed out her new favorite prayer: “Lord, please help.”

She picked up the metal dustpan and brush and cleared out the ashes of the New Year’s Day fire, taking note of where the charred remains of the logs had been. Then, she arranged the wood and kindling as she had seen the captain do, and soon the fire was blazing away.

She left the door open and leaned her head against the arm of the chair, as she had done the day the captain told the last of the Anne’s story. A new wave of loss and anxiety swept over her.

The Anne. How was she ever going to tell the captain?

15 Hope for the Harborside

Katherine glanced up from Middlemarch the next morning to see a tall lady with dark, silver-streaked hair leaning on the doorframe and looking in with loving compassion in her weary eyes.

“Serena!” Katherine jumped up and hurried to greet the captain’s sister with a hug. Remembering to speak softly, she whispered, “I can’t believe you got here so soon!”

“I was able to find a flight out right away. I didn’t tell you, because travel can be so unpredictable this time of year, and I didn’t know when I would actually arrive.” Turning towards the bed, she asked, “How is he doing?”

“Doctor says he’ll be released this afternoon.”

“And the concussion?”

“He’s sleeping a lot, and still asking the same questions over and over, but the doctors said that’s fairly normal at first.”

“I can’t tell you how glad I am you were there when it happened, and that you stayed with him.” She smiled sympathetically and nodded toward the blanket tucked into a corner of the chair. “Have you even been home at all?”

Katherine shook her head. “Just to the Harborside, to clean things up and bring in the deliveries. I didn’t want the tea shipments left out in the cold and rain.”

Serena smiled and shook her head. “Are you sure there isn’t a Braddock hiding somewhere in your family tree?”

The two chuckled, and Katherine felt for the first time in days that perhaps all was not as dismal as it had felt. Sally was at Miss Harriet’s, and now Serena would help with the captain.

While Serena watched for her brother to wake up again, Katherine went out into the hall to ask the nurses for another chair. Finding a space in the corner that seemed more or less out of the way, Katherine set the chair down and curled up in it. Serena had taken the chair by the captain’s bed, picking up Katherine’s book.

“Is it good?” She handed it back to Katherine with a smile.