i do not own the book or the characters

As Nat and I walk to my uncle home, I thought of what Uncle Matthew would say. When we got to the house, there on the porch was Uncle Matthew talking to a man who's back was turned to us. Nat walked up to Matthew and asked if he could talk to him in private. As Matthew was about to answer, the other man turned to Nat and punched him in the stomach. Then the man turned and ran, but I got a good look at his face. It was William. I wanted to run and yell at him for punching Nat, but as so started to ran after him a hand had me back. It was Nat, he thought that if I ran I would never come back. I tried to say, but failed because he was coughing up blood and was trying but failing to get up. Matthew grabbed his arm and helped him inside. When Aunt Rachel saw Nat, she ran to help and asked what happened. As we were walking Nat to the kitchen Matthew told Rachel what happened.

In the kitchen, Nat stopped coughing up blood and asked Matthew if he could talk. As Matthew and Nat talked on the porch, Rachel and I got ready for dinner. About ten minutes later, Matthew come in and asked me, "Do you love this man? I want to know for you are like a daughter to me and I want you to be happy." I told him, "I love this man with all my heart and soul. I liked him from the moment I saw he on the ship, but I said to love he when he 'saved' me from droning. (sp?)" When he heard that he called in Nat and said to him, "Do you not have something to say to my niece for I give you my blessing." With that Nat asked me to marry him. I said yes and that was it, the wedding was planned for the fall.

I thought "Who should I tell first Mercy or Judith" to my surprise the two of them and their husbands came to supper and before that I told them that I have to tell them something after supper. Supper was quiet; Nat was quiet for the first time I knew him. William and Judith stared at Nat with an evil look. I thought that William was about to punch Nat, again for a minute. John and Mercy were talking about the garden that was outside.

After supper we walk to Judith and my old room. I told them what Nat said, what happened to Nat on the porch, and last that Nat asked me to marry him and I said yes. Mercy was so happy for me and I thought that she was going to start to dance, if she did not have crutches. Judith, I thought was going to kill me. I asked her why she was not happy for me and she said, "Why are you marrying my husband worst enemy, is it because he did not ask you to marry him but me, are you that jealous." I told her, "I love Nat and also your husband did ask me to marry him the night of the husking bee, when you were in love with John. I told him no because I was too young, but it was really because I did not love him. He also asked the day before he asked you to marry him and I told him that I did not love him, and I would never love him!!! I told him to never ask me again, and to ask another. So, that is not true what you said."

Judith ran down the stairs and I looked down to see what she was going to do. She told William that they needed to talk, and then he followed her to the kitchen. I looked behind me at Mercy who had her mouth wide up. As soon as I did that, I heard Judith yelling and telling William what she just heard. William was dumbfounded and said, "I can…. She …. And I … was…. It … was just … and I... Not know." Mercy's mouth had closed by now and we both laughed at the answer William gave.

We walked down the stairs and went to our men who were talking to each other and laughing, trying not to listen to the fight. Matthew and Rachel were at the Meeting House at an adult meet about the land or they would have stopped the fight. Judith and William cooled down and said bye to John, Mercy, and me, but they looked at Nat with that same looked, as the one at dinner. Then after they left we started to talk about the wedding. Mercy said I should wear the dress that I first met Nat in. Nat and John talked about how it was when they both met me on the ship and when they first met Mercy, too. They told Mercy of when I jumped in the ocean to save Prudence's doll. Nat and I told them about Hannah and our time with her.

By the end of the night Nat and John became better friends, Mercy and I grow closer. John and Nat made plans that John was going to be the doctor, on Nat's and my ship. Mercy and I were going to teach the children, on the ship in the winter, to read and write. In the summer, spring, and fall, Mercy and I would work on the house that we would share in Saybrook. The house would be near Hannah and Nat's parents' house. We could take a trip up the river to Wethersfield with our husbands, too. When the plans were made we told Matthew and Rachel our plan. They were sad, but when we told them that we would visit. Also that one year, we would take them to Barbados they were happy.

The End

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