"She's over there," Jack gestured toward the pond. Elizabeth followed his line and frowned quizzically.

"In the rowboat?" she asked quietly. He nodded.

"I saw her there but she pulled a blanket over her head to hide from me," he explained. "I don't think she is going to talk to me." Elizabeth sighed. Jack grabbed her elbow to stop her as she headed down the path toward the boat in the pond.

"Elizabeth…" he warned. "What are you going to do?" She sighed and pulled gently away from him.

"Jack," she said. "You've taken me out lots of times. How hard can it be?" A smile teased his lip as he stepped back and watched her pick her way through the weeds and rocks on the path to the rowboat. He folded his arms across his chest and suppressed a grin as she lifted her skirts and stepped into the boat. She balanced precariously for a moment and then settled herself on the seat he usually took. She struggled to fit one oar into its lock and used the other to push the boat off shore. She glanced back triumphantly and slipped the second oar into place before gently guiding the boat into deeper waters. Suddenly the blanket in the bow of the boat flew aside and Lou reached out to grab both sides of the boat.

"Oh….Louisa," Elizabeth said matter of factly as she pulled on the oar. The rowboat wobbled slightly in the water and Lou frowned. "I didn't know you were in here. I just thought I would go for a short row before the memorial service." The little girl's frowned deepened and she settled herself deep into the bow of the boat.

"I'm not going," she muttered and didn't look at Elizabeth. "You can't make me."

"That's okay," Elizabeth assured her. "I won't go either. But your friends have been collecting memories to share with you and Maeve."

"They didn't know him," she said defensively. "Not really." Elizabeth's heart broke a little as she studied the sad, little girl huddled in front of her.

"Oh Lou," she sighed as she looked out over the pond. "They might surprise you. They know a lot about your Pap." The boat rocked wildly as Lou suddenly jumped to her feet. Elizabeth gasped and reached for the sides of the boat.

"They never even saw him until the Poetry Night," Lou cried as she put her hands angrily on her hips. "No one even talked to him because he never came in to town. He was afraid of what they would think of him!" She wobbled a bit but didn't pull away as Elizabeth reached for her and helped her onto the seat next to her.

"You brought him to school with you every day, Lou," she said as she wrapped an arm around the girl and held her close to her. "You made your Pap come to life for every friend in our classroom. He taught them so much through you. They admire him as much as you do." Lou lifted sad eyes to her and Elizabeth smiled a bit. She reached up to the straggled ribbon that held Lou's curls off her face and retied it into a bow.

"They can't," Lou said as a tear dripped off the end of her nose. Elizabeth pulled a snowy handkerchief from the pocket of her skirt and handed it to the little girl. Lou wiped the tears away and scrunched the handkerchief into a ball in her fist.

"I know that you feel all alone right now but you shouldn't," Elizabeth said as she wrapped her arm around her again. "There is someone that misses him just as much as you do. Maybe even more." Lou looked up at her teacher again and Elizabeth tipped her head toward shore. Maeve stood at the end of the path where the boat was always moored, hands clasped. Just waiting.

"She doesn't miss him," Lou sputtered. "She left us."

"She's here now," Elizabeth as she glanced back at Maeve. "She came when your Pap sent for her. That's important." Lou smoothed the skirt of her dark wool dress over her knees as she thought. She glanced in Maeve's direction and then sighed.

"I guess maybe I should go with her," she said as she looked up at Elizabeth, "so she's not alone either."

"That's a very good idea," her teacher said. Then Elizabeth shrugged.

"But we have a little bit of a problem," she said. "And you can't breathe a word to Mountie Jack about it." Lou frowned quizzically.

"I got the boat out here okay," Elizabeth said. "I'm just not sure I know how to get us back to that particular spot." Lou's mouth dropped open in surprise and she glanced back to shore and then up at Elizabeth. They both started giggling and each took hold of the oars and started to row.