“To attract a mate.”
“Oh.” She was very quiet, thinking very hard. “Miss George is very lonely.”
“She is?”
Kirsty nodded. “She told me in the closet. Maybe we should tell her to sing so she can attract a mate.”
He looked down at her; his face was a little sad.
“Are you lonely too?”
“Aye. Sometimes I get lonely.”
“Do you miss Mama?”
“Aye. I do.”
“So do I.”
“Look. There.” He pointed up at the moon.
“There’s a ring around it,” she said. “That means rain will come soon.”
“I’m surprised you can remember that. I thought you were too little. I used to take you riding when you were but a wee thing.”
“I always remembered.”
They rode along the sand in the cove, then he led Jack up to the path near the big old hemlock tree by the house.
She tugged on his shirtsleeve. “Since you’re lonely and Miss George is lonely, maybe you should marry her.”
“Would you like me to marry her?”
“She’s very pretty.”
“Aye. She is.”
“And she likes to hide in the closet during storms.”
“That’s important.”
“Yes. And she saved me from drowning. We shouldn’t forget that.”
“No. We shouldn’t.”
“And Graham and I need discipline.”
He began to laugh then. He laughed really, really hard. And it made Kirsty feel all warm inside because she liked to make him laugh.
He dismounted and lifted her off Jack. “You know what I think?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t think you need discipline.”
“You don’t?” ‘
“No. I think you need this.” Then he picked her up in his huge arms and right there, under the bright pearly moon with the rain ring around it, he gave her one of those great big hugs, the kind the kids at school got from their fathers, the kind Kirsty had wanted all her life.
