“But I was mean to him. I didn’t talk to him.” JT’s voice was starting to take on a hysterical edge. Gone was the fixed look, and panic was setting in. “If I had been nice to him—if I had told him that I loved him when he came to say good-bye, it wouldn’t have happened. It’s my fault.”

“That’s not true. Please listen to me. Life doesn’t work that way. God isn’t that way. You were angry at Papa, but he understood. He told me so. He didn’t hold it against you.”

“But maybe God did. Maybe God is punishing me.”

Gloriana had wondered at God’s part in it herself. Why had He allowed this to happen?

“No.” She forced the word out. Even if she knew it to be true, she was angry at God herself. It wasn’t fair that Papa was gone—that they were orphaned. That Sally had no husband—no father for her baby.

JT broke into tears. “Maybe he’s not really dead, Glory. Maybe he washed up on shore. Maybe he doesn’t know who he is anymore, and he’s lost. We should go look for him.” The voice grew hopeful.

“Captain Johnson saw him go down into the water, JT. Captain Johnson wouldn’t lie about something like that. Papa is gone.”

“It’s not fair.” He pushed her away and ran from the room. “It’s not fair!” His door slammed.

Gloriana drew a deep breath. “No, it isn’t at all fair.”

She walked to the kitchen and saw the potatoes she’d left on the table. She put them back in the pantry. No one was going to want chowder tonight. She thought about the laundry on the lines outside and, hearing the wind pick up again, decided it would be best to bring it in. She made her way outside, trying to think of what she should do next. How was she supposed to manage things? There wasn’t that much money in their savings. The property was paid for, but there would be taxes due eventually. Food to buy. What was she supposed to do now?

She looked out across the water. The cursed water. Her father’s burial ground. With his blanket in hand, she walked toward the edge of the ridge and looked down on the rocks below. The wind whipped up and unfurled the blanket like a flag. Gloriana let it ripple in the wind and then released it. The gust snatched it up, taking it out over the water. Then, without warning, the blanket dropped to the waves and floated on top for several moments.

It was a fitting farewell. Papa would sleep forever in the deep.