“They can be. It is usually the high water and high winds that cause the most trouble.”
“They talk about it as if it is a fifth season,” said Robbie.
“Well, you just wait for one to come along and you will see why,” said Belle as she entered the kitchen and sat next to Geordie.
They talked more about where he was moving to and Belle reissued her open invite to come and stay when they wanted to. Belle noticed Mrs. O’Neal’s children kept watching their mother and she suspected they would eventually see the family come for a visit. The Powells had also spoken of coming to visit, and she hoped they did.
Chapter Nineteen
Despite the sadness of leaving such a nice group of people, the leave-taking was relatively painless at the end of three weeks. The brothers all went out to look at a place where they could make a swimming hole and then spent a lot of the evening looking over Geordie’s information and drawings of the shower bath. Belle visited with the women, gaining recipes and some patterns for sewing, knitting, and crocheting.
Robbie’s decision to leave went harder. His partners in the cider business were saddened, yet cheered by the thought of Robbie gaining them some new recipes. They all spoke of coming to visit now that there was the convenience of trains. Robbie’s family saw the ocean as part of his healing and they embarrassed Belle with their thanks.
Robbie followed Belle up the stairs, stopping outside her bedroom door, and she asked, “Are you very sure about this, Robbie?”
“Aye. Oh, I feel sad, but not about moving to the ocean. That might change when I try to find a place to live and a job to do. Although my hand has improved so much, I can actually do some weaving.” He grinned and wriggled his fingers. “I am taking my loom back with me to keep working. If I can get back to what I used to do, I might be able to make a living as a weaver.”
“I hope so, Robbie. I saw some of your work and it was lovely.” She grinned. “And if you feel a need for your own house, it appears we may have one to be rid of soon.”
“Get some sleep. Geordie will be wanting to head out early.”
Belle was tucked up in bed and just about to close her eyes when Geordie came in. As she enjoyed watching him undress, she tried to listen carefully to what Geordie had to say. As he spoke about Robbie, she had the feeling he did not know about his brother being able to do his weaving again.
“He won’t have to try, Geordie, he can already do it.”
“He has tried?”
“He has, and he proudly wiggled his fingers at me and said he can do it. Well enough that he is taking his loom back to the coast.”
Geordie got into bed and flopped back onto his pillow. “He actually thinks he can get back to what he used to do?”
“Yup. He said he just needs to find a place to live and a job. That was when he mentioned his weaving.”
“That would be wonderful.” He frowned. “Of course, I need to figure out how to make a living, too.”
“Well, you could take up digging clams.” She giggled when he rolled onto her and started tickling her. “Never mind then. Never mind.”
She stopped laughing when he kissed her. “I saw the furniture you made, Geordie. You have a skill to make a living with. But don’t think you can cut down my trees for it.”
“I dinnae think getting the wood will be hard. Now, we are married, and I think since we have the luxury of a bed this night, we should take advantage of it.”
She put her arms around his neck. “You do have the best ideas.”
* * *
In the morning, leaving proved a little harder than it had the night before. Iain and a couple of his brothers filled a cart with some things to send back to the beach. Belle welcomed them all to come and visit. They even loaded up some yarn for Robbie to use and some wood they had collected for Geordie.
The brothers followed them to the train and helped load everything onto the rail car for shipment to Boston. Belle hoped the arrangements worked well. The trains were still too new to packages and passengers for her to trust them. Robbie obviously had some doubts as well, as he had wrapped his loom in such a way he could take it on the train with him, with Geordie and Belle helping.
As Belle slid into the seat next to Morgan, she bumped into the doll. It hurt, and she looked at Morgan. “That doll weighs a lot, love. What have you stuffed it with?”
“Gold coins,” Morgan said in a whisper.
Belle just stared at her, then said, “Just be careful with it and we’ll talk about it at home.”
When Morgan nodded, Belle sat back and tried very hard not to sweat with worry all the way home.
Chapter Twenty
