As Carolyn danced down the stairs to breakfast the next morning, the front door opened, and Sister Kathryn walked in, wearing clothing similar to that she had on the evening before, and holding a slender, red book in her hand.
"Good morning, Kate," Carolyn said with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"
"Oh, yes, indeed," answered Kathryn. "This sea air is wonderful! And your front porch is a lovely, restful place to praise God in the morning. Thank you so much for letting me come!"
"Well, we're certainly glad to have you."
"Ladies, breakfast is ready," Martha called from the kitchen. "Candy and Jonathan are already eating, so if you want something, you'd better get in here, quick!"
Kathryn placed her book on the telephone table, and the two women entered the kitchen together and sat down at the table, where they helped themselves to sausage, eggs, toast, and coffee.
"Say, Carrie, could I borrow your telephone book for a few minutes after breakfast?" asked Kathryn.
"Of course," Carolyn replied. "Who are you looking for?"
"Well, I need to find a Catholic church for Sunday Mass, at least," Kathryn said.
Captain Gregg suddenly appeared to the family at that point, and said to Carolyn, "Tell her the priest from Keystone comes in every Sunday to offer Mass at the community center at noon."
Carolyn nodded, wondered briefly how he knew that, and repeated the information to Kathryn, who was again looking at where the captain stood behind Carolyn's chair, her head cocked slightly, with a puzzled expression on her face.
That decided Carolyn. "Kids, Martha, we need to have a family meeting in the parlor after breakfast, so please put your plans for the day on hold for a few minutes. Kate, would you join us, too, please?"
"Um…okay, sure," Kathryn agreed, and studiously concentrated on eating her food, but still glancing the captain's way every so often.
Thirty minutes later, everyone, including the captain, had gathered in the parlor, seating themselves on the sofa and chairs under the gaze of Captain Gregg's portrait. All eyes looked at Carolyn, expectantly, Martha and the children guessing what was coming.
Carolyn took a deep breath, then began, "Katie, we're going to share something with you that no one else in our extended family knows about, and which we trust you to not speak of outside of this house." She paused, awaiting her cousin's agreement. At Kathryn's nod, Carolyn continued, "We have another family member to whom we would like to introduce you."
Kathryn raised her eyebrows, very curious, but said nothing.
Carolyn gestured to the ghost of Gull Cottage, standing by the fireplace, who, on that cue, simply wished to be visible to Kathryn, and appeared to her as well. "Sister Kathryn, this is Captain Daniel Gregg. Captain Gregg, Sister Kathryn Love," Carolyn said formally, and waited nervously for her cousin's reaction.
Kathryn blinked a couple of times, then smiled, and calmly said, "I'm very happy to meet you, Captain. This certainly explains a lot!"
Everyone in the room who had breath had been holding it, and released it as one, laughing in sheer relief.
"I am most pleased to make your acquaintance, as well, Sister Kathryn," replied the captain, with a charming smile on his handsome, bearded face. "I must say, you are taking this remarkably well!"
"I'm a Catholic teaching sister who has lived among the Navajo for many years. The supernatural is just part of everyday life!" She shrugged and smiled back.
For the next hour, each person described to their guest how he or she had first met the captain. Kathryn listened and nodded, and asked a question to clarify from time to time, until she had been caught up on all the adventures in Gull Cottage since the Muirs had first moved in.
"Thank you so much for trusting me enough to share this with me," Kathryn told them. "This is really amazing. Carrie, you should write a book about your lives here, changing names and a few other things to preserve privacy, of course. I'm sure it would sell like hotcakes!"
"Maybe, someday," Carolyn agreed. "I've got other projects percolating, right now, though. Speaking of which, how about my interviewing you tonight, after dinner? Would you be comfortable with that?"
"Certainly, Carrie! I would enjoy it."
The morning weather report predicted the day to be a nice one, so, after their meeting, Candy and Jonathan decided to take Kathryn for a long walk on the beach, intending to explore the entire curve of the cove with her. Kathryn exchanged her sturdy, brown leather sandals for a pair of black sneakers, in order to be more comfortable on their walk. Since they didn't know what time during the day they'd be back, Martha packed them a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, some apples, some cookies, and a couple of large dog biscuits which Sister Kathryn put into her daypack to carry, along with a small camera, a first aid kit, and a flashlight. The kids would swap off carrying a canteen of fresh water for all of them to share.
As they walked down to the beach, Scruffy running along ahead, Candy asked, a little bashfully, "Er . . . what should Jonathan and I call you? Sister Kathryn?"
"Oh, no, nothing so formal! You're my cousins, after all, not my students. You can call me either 'Kate' or 'Katie,' like your mom does, or if you really want to be fancy, 'Kathryn.'"
Candy smiled up at her happily. Jonathan piped up, "I'm really glad you know about the captain, so we don't have to be careful about talking about him around you!"
"Does that get to be a problem, Jonathan?"
"Oh, yeah! When Grandfather and Grandmother Muir came to visit us here the first time, I kept talking about Captain Gregg teaching me stuff before I could stop myself—and then had to pretend I hadn't said anything about him at all when Grandfather asked about him! But I was a lot younger, then," he added. "But I made such a mess of things that the captain had to get Claymore to pretend to be him so they'd stop giving Mom a hard time about me not having mailfluence, whatever that is."
"Male influence?" Kathryn suggested.
"Yeah, that's it!" Jonathan confirmed. "Then, last year, Grandpa and Grandma Williams came up to visit, and tried to give Mom a surprise wedding to Captain Gregg, but it was really Claymore, again."
"Yes, I heard about that," Kathryn told them, then muttered to herself, "I can't imagine what Aunt Emily was thinking! It wouldn't have even been legal without a wedding license, and no one can get one of those except the people getting married—which would have removed the element of surprise."
She shrugged, and decided to change the subject. "Okay, so, who's Claymore?"
"He's our landlord, Claymore Gregg," Candy told her. "He says he's Captain Gregg's great-great-grandnephew, but the captain says he isn't. Anyhow, Gull Cottage belongs to him because Captain Gregg accidentally died suddenly, without leaving a will, and somehow Claymore inherited it, after his ancestors died. But that was long before we moved here, so I don't know much about how that happened."
"Does Claymore see and hear the captain?" Kathryn asked.
Both children giggled. "Oh, yeah!" Candy said.
"He's really afraid of him!" Jonathan exclaimed. "He faints a lot when he comes to our house and sees Captain Gregg—sometimes, the captain yells at him, too—and Martha has to splash water in his face to wake him up."
As they hiked along the beach, tossing sea-worn sticks for Scruffy to fetch, and stopping now and then to pick up shells and bits of sea glass for souvenirs, Kathryn mused to herself, as she often had throughout the years, that teachers learn so much about children's families' lives from the kids, themselves . . . but this family was certainly beyond the usual!