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Show Page 34 The Pierces, too, must have expected me to fall into a swoon, for the captain led me to a stool and his wife held a noggin of ale to my lips. "Poor dear," Mistress Pierce clucked. "First her aunt, now Mr. Littlefield. It must be a great shock to a young girl to find herself alone in the New World." I was not to feel the true shock of which she spoke till later. Meantime, holding tightly to Anne's hand, I pulled myself to my feet. "Please--tell me what happened," I asked Captain Pierce. "According to Company records, your Mr. Littlefield took a fever soon after he arrived in James Towne. He never did reach Falling Creek, for he died within the month." So Edward was dead ere his letter reached Aunt Mary in England and I would be spared having to inform him about her death. Then anger grew within me, for Aunt Mary and I needn't have come to Virginia at all. And Aunt Mary might yet be alive, I remembered my aunt's death in the stinking ship, her hand reaching toward the light she had not seen in days. And strangely enough, it was that thought that brought me comfort, for with it came remembrance of the words Aunt Mary had spoken as she lay dying: "Edward is waiting for me." My anger melted away, for my heart told me they were together. Aunt Mary had her Edward after all. "What will you do?" Anne asked, her arm about my shoulder |