Disclaimer: Let me think…Um, no! (I don't own that either. I got the saying from my t-shirt)
A/N:Well, I'm back once again with a nice long wait between chapters (sorry!). I hope everyone liked my last chapter. I got very confused while writing it – too many choices! As you all know, I'm nearing the end of the book, but my story is not quite over yet, so things will start to have to be based solely on my imagination. Scary thought:-D Well, here's the new chapter…
P.S. It's really not as long as it may seem. It is my longest chapter to date, but a lot of it is author's notes.
A/N: I have just noticed that my past 3 or so chapters have taken place in two days. Interesting. Here comes another day. If my responses sound somewhat strange, I'm sorry. I'm writing them at night after having functioned on 5 hours of sleep for the past week and a half. I'm very tired, yet too tired to sleep. But, anyways, here's Chapter 9.
Chapter 9:
The days passed, then the weeks, until finally it had been months since Kit had received Nat's letter. The winter's snow melted to reveal pink and white blossoms on the trees and green blades of grass in spots that had been desolate only days before. The sight of the new blossoms was one of the only things in Kit's life that gave her any happiness just then. She adored the spring and sang its praises when it banished the cold of winter.
Kit was decidedly unhappy and anxious. She had waited on tenterhooks for Nat's coming, but he had never appeared. She had wanted to tell him of her engagement to William before she told her family, feeling he deserved that much, but he didn't come back. William, who did not know of the real reason why Kit did not want to tell the family yet, grew impatient. After three weeks, he convinced Kit to tell them, and Kit, feeling she could no longer hide behind Mercy's own engagement, was forced to agree. The Wood family was told and there were hearty good wishes from all. On a Lecture Day in April, two marriage announcements were announced together in the Meeting House. John Holbrook and Mercy Wood. William Ashby and Katherine Tyler. The townspeople were surprised that William's infatuation had lasted this long and that Kit had managed to catch him. It was also a common wonder that Judith, the most beautiful in the Wood household, was the only one without a wedding of her own in the future yet.
Kit and William began making plans, but no one failed to notice Kit's attitude. She was very often snappish and absentminded. They did not know the reason, but she did. She was anxious for Nat. Where was he? Why had he not come back yet? He had promised to be back in a week, but months had passed since then. Had anything happened to the Dolphin? Kit's worry made her disagreeable to all except her cousins. Mercy was of the kind that always knew and understood when her friends were in pain and Judith, though not as insightful as her sister, realized that the reason Kit could not sleep at nights was not because of her nerves for her upcoming wedding.
When the shipping season came, Kit began to meet every ship that came to port in Wethersfield. Every time a ship came and it was not the Dolphin, her heart grew heavier with disappointment and worry. Day after day she met ship after ship, but the Dolphin never came. She was really becoming frantic about Nat and his fate. No one truly understood her passion for meeting the incoming boats, but found it best to just leave her be. Kit gazed anxiously towards the sea everyday, rain or shine, looking for that beloved boat, but it never appeared. Kit knew she was worried for a dear friend and the rest of the crew, but that pesky part of her kept telling her, He's not a friend. You know that he is more, but Kit had given up trying to drown the voice out. It was now just ignored.
Kit went to town on the second day of May when the sky was a piercing blue with hardly a cloud in sight. There were a few ships tied up at the landing. A couple of large ones and a few more smaller ketches. But there was no Dolphin. The large ships were obviously seasoned sailors, dented and chipped. Most of the smaller ones were veterans of the high sea as well. But there was one small ketch that was different. It had on a fresh coat of paint and no barnacles like the other boats to disfigure it.
A tall man in front of this ship who had been bending down to examine some cargo stood up. He was wearing a new blue jacket with brass buttons. He turned his head to talk to someone to his left.
Kit stood shocked for a couple of seconds. Then, before she knew what she was doing or even consciously recognized who he was, she began running towards the man.
"Nat!" she yelled, not realizing what she was saying. "Nat!"
The tall man in the blue jacket turned around and his blue eyes, which could shoot spits of fiery anger or twinkle with suppressed laughter, lit up now with pure joy. "Kit!" he let out before he began to run towards her as well.
The two met and they grabbed each other's hands. Kit was delighted. He was safe. She looked into his eyes and they were full of happiness... and something else. What was it?
Kit only realized then that she was holding a man's hands, a man who was not her fiancé. She quickly grabbed her hands away from Nat and blushed, looking at the ground and trying to ignore the sounds of all the shocked people around her.
"N-Nat, how is Hannah?" Kit stumbled.
"Chipper as a sandpiper. She and Gran have been great for one another," the sailor replied, leaning against a post, not noticing the disapproving glances thrown at him by the audience they had assembled.
"Where is the Dolphin? Where have you been, Nat?"
"Oh, she just hit a little storm. Got a little bruised, but she'll be all right. Dad says he'll be sailing her in a few weeks time. But what do you think of the new ketch?" Nat inquired.
"She's lovely." Something in Nat's voice, a hint of pride and happiness, made Kit look up again for the first time. She finally saw more of him than just his eyes. She noticed the smart jacket and the brass buttons and the way they made Nat carry himself. "Nat, you don't mean – you can't mean – that, that she's yours. Why, she's even more beautiful than the Dolphin!"
"All but a few payments. She'll be mine from stem to stern by the end of this summer, so longs as it's a good one. Did you notice the name, Kit?" he asked, a bit of mischief in his tone.
Kit looked. "The WITCH! How could you name it that? Does Hannah know?" she demanded.
"Oh, she's not named after Hannah, Kit," laughed Nat. "No, not Hannah. I hadn't gone ten miles down the river that day before I knew I'd left the real witch behind."
Kit was too busy looking at her namesake to really understand the meaning behind Nat's words. "Can I see her, Nat? Will you take me on board?"
"No, not yet." Nat was firm. "I want to see your uncle first. Kit, will he think it enough – the new ketch? There'll be a house someday, in Saybrook, or here in Wethersfield if you like. I've though of nothing else all winter. I love you. In November we'll sail south to the Indies. In the summer –" Nat broke off. "Kit, what's wrong?"
For Kit had grown steadily paler and she was now trembling. All at once, the realization of that look in Nat's eyes earlier hit her like a brick. He was in love with her! "You love me? But – when? How? Why?" she managed to sputter.
Nat, thinking she was just in a bit of shock after so much news in such a brief period, from his coming back alive after months of being missing in action to his proposing marriage to her within five minutes, was not really very anxious yet. "Yes, Kit," he said gently, taking her cold little hands in his large capable ones. "I do. When? Well, probably since the time I saw you jump into the water after Prudence's doll, but I didn't know for sure until I saw you at your trial. You were so scared, but so brave and unselfish, trying to save Prudence from trouble by casting all the blame on yourself! How? I don't know. Does anybody know how they fall in love? Why? Because you're you. I could not help it. I had to love you. And I do. I love you, Kit."
Kit heard all this with a terrible feeling in her heart. She couldn't look into Nat's eyes as he told her all this, but at the end of his speech, she forced herself to look up. She saw his eyes, shining with love rapture, and she wilted visibly.
"I – I – I don't know what to say, Nat," was all she could get out.
Nat, sensing something amiss, tried to joke. " Well, you could say you'll marry me and then take me home to let me ask your uncle for your hand in marriage," he suggested uneasily.
"No, I can't," said Kit quietly, her head down.
"Why not?" asked Nat, afraid of the answer.
"Oh, because I'm already engaged!" Kit cried out in a fit of passion, looking up at him at last, her eyes red. "To William. We've been engaged since right after you left. I wanted to tell you before I told anyone else, but you didn't come. And then I had to tell everyone else, who mostly pretend to be happy but are really just shocked. And we're going to live in that house." Kit knew she was rambling. "But I do care so much for you, Nat! We must continue to be friends."
"Friends! Your friendship is not enough for me anymore, Kit. I want your love – and you tell me I can never have it," said Nat hollowly, dropping her hands.
"I'm so sorry, Nat," whispered Kit. "Please forgive me."
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Kit," said Nat, pulling himself up straight. His eyes were dead, not pained, not joyous, not anything. "There have been times I thought you did care for me – that way. But now I know I had just been deceiving myself. Goodbye, Kit. I don't think I shall ever see you again. Goodbye for the last time."
With that, Nat looked away from Kit and headed back to the Witch. He ordered his crew to hurry up so that they could catch the tide to head to Hartford. Then he climbed the gangplank to his ship and disappeared from Kit's view.
Kit stared after him as he left her alone, surrounded by people. She looked wildly around her with desperate, red eyes, not seeing the multitude of people around her. The only thing she saw was Nat's face as she told him she was already engaged and the only thing she heard was his voice as he said, "Goodbye, Kit. I don't think I shall ever see you again. Goodbye for the last time." It kept pounding in her brain.
Kit turned around and fled, running into scores of people. She had to get away. She flew to the Wood home and up to her, thankfully, empty room in the attic. She buried her face in her pillow and cried over her lost friend. For once, that voice in her head was drowned out by her tormented sobs.
A/N: And that is the end of the actual book. Wasn't it sad? Do you like how I managed to skip all the months in between the last chapter and this one? It was to make up for spending 3 chapters on two days. ;-)
Disclaimer, Jr.: I know it's very similar to the book, especially in dialogue (with a few necessary changes), but I felt the book expressed it perfectly and I could just fiddle around with it to make it fit my own story. If you want to see the actual text, go to Chapter 21 of the book. Also, several of the lines are from L.M. Montgomery's Anne of the Island, one of my favorite books, from Chapter 20.
All right, I am now in a very chatty, very random mood and wish to cheer myself up, so if you do not feel like reading my very strange thoughts, please feel free to skip to the end where I beg you all to review. But back to my randomness. I love random comments, so watch out. I was reading The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, earlier today for school and we have to take notes and answer questions about it. One of the questions was to identify the pathos, logos, and ethos in a particular chapter. I take notes by marking passages with Post-Its and Post-It Flags, which I call "stick-ums," and then going back to it. So, I had three different color Post-It packets, blue, green, and purple, and I was trying to decide which color for which –os. I ended up making purple pathos, green logos, and blue ethos. Why? Because certain words make me think of certain colors. For example, pathos is red (passion) and purple is closest. Logos is green, don't ask me why. And blue was ethos, even though the word ethos actually brings the color yellow to mind. I tried it by thinking of other random words. Some were obvious, or at least clearer, like 'majestic' was a deep, rich, royal purple. But others were less so, like I found out 'quantum' was orange. Strange, oui? I have also determined that I do not like being a junior. I thought sophomore was bad, but junior is a big year and all my teachers like to stock up on homework. I especially hate physics. I have learned about vectors for the past three weeks, and all I can tell you is that they are lines with a cone at the end and they have direction. That's it. I do not like marching band because we have to memorize music. So far this year, it's the Star-Spangled Banner (which I have had memorized from last year. Yay!) and the Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Arc (which I do not think I will ever memorize, past the first 13 measures, which are rests). Urgh. I do have more random thoughts, but I think I will spare you for the moment. I told you I was in a chatty mood.
PLEASE REVIEW! I want to know what you think! I have reached the end of the book and I will be relying on my own imagination and what you guys give me. Please don't leave me hanging! Help me! Thanks for all your reviews for the last chapter. I got a total of 7, the most for a single chapter at the same time (meaning all those reviews came for chapter 8 when it was the latest chapter up)! I've gotten 7 for only one other chapter, chapter 1, but one of those came after I wrote chapter 6 or something. I am begging you, please, please review! I want to get between 8 and 10 for this one (a girl can dream, can't she?) at least. Please help! I don't know when I'll next update, but I hope it will be soon. No promises, though. Now I must leave. Vectors are calling me. :-( Help me by reviewing please! All reviews, so long as their not flames, cheer me up. So, make me happy and leave me a little note! Pretty, pretty please, with a cherry on top?
Thanks to my original reviewers: Bac210, KarismaJulian4ever, Febreez, Steph, Laura Depp, Mt, and Hikaru.
Thanks to: Sarralyn Numairsri, ffgirlmoonie, Bac210, and Halli-Raye.
Author's Note: Well, I'm back. I'm sorry it took so long. This past month has been crazy. I had prom, graduation and my 18th birthday (on the same day), my graduation party, all my friends' graduation parties, work, and lots of movie going. (Everybody, I recommend Pirates of the Caribbean II. 'Twas amazing.) It rained on every single senior event: Senior Cut Day, Senior Picnic, Prom, and graduation - where it was pouring. But I had a great time. Cried more on the last day of school than I have in the previous 6 years. If you read my random spewings above (sorry about that, by the way), I feel I should update you on what happened senior year. I ended up taking AP Physics and I loved the class, meaning the people in it. It was great - I was one of 4 girls in a class of 20, our class got along great, and we were constantly playing games. I quit band and found out I'm a band geek at heart. I hated english, mainly because we stayed on one book for 2 months that nobody read. But all in all, senior year was my favorite since 5th grade. Now, I'm not going to be able to update until July 20-something. I will be on vacation without a computer, so I'll be bringing my handy-dandy notebook (sorry again, I babysit a 3 year old). Please review, it'll make me so happy. I'm trying to get 5 reviews for this chapter, please. You are all awesome and I hope you're having a good summer.