"Mommy?" I said, pleading for information.

"Just wait, Melody. Let everyone get to know everyone before you start asking all your questions."

She looked at Archie. "She's always full of questions."

"You don't have to tell me." He gulped down some cranberry juice. "Hey, this is good."

"Cranberries are a big thing here," Mommy said. "I'd like a penny for every one I harvested. I'd be rich."

"You're gonna be rich," Archie promised.

Mommy's smile warmed and she turned to me. "Isn't this a nice house, honey? There's a beach right behind it and a dock, too." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I forgot how refreshing the ocean air could be," she said, which I thought was funny. She had never enjoyed our trips to the ocean as much as Daddy had.

"Yeah, it sure cleans the coal dust out of your lungs," Archie said.

Aunt Sara brought in pretty blue-and-white china soup bowls and set them in front of us. Then she brought in the kettle of clams and a bowl of melted butter.

"Please help yourselves," she said. Archie dipped his hand into the kettle quickly and brought out a clam. He plucked the meat with his thumb and forefinger and dipped it in the butter and sucked it down quickly.

"Great," he said.

"Use your fork," Mommy instructed as quietly as she could.

"What? Oh. Sure." He took a handful of clams out of the kettle and dropped them into his bowl, this time digging into the clams with his fork.

Aunt Sara smiled quickly and then looked as if she were at a loss as to what to do next.

"Aren't you having any, Sara?" Mammy asked.

"No. I'm fine. Go on. You eat, Haille." She looked at me again, stabbing me with her penetrating gaze. I nervously reached into the kettle and scooped up a few clams. I put them into my bowl and picked out the meat of one with my fork. Aunt Sara watched my every move, approving with a little nod every gesture I made. I felt like a specimen under a microscope. I looked at Mommy.

She didn't seem to notice or care about the way Aunt Sara was looking at me. "These clams are as wonderful as I remember them. It's been a long time."

"Yes," Aunt Sara said. After a deep sigh, she finally sat in her chair. "Was it a hard trip?"

"Naw," Archie said. "Some rain along the way is all."

"We had an unusually cold winter this year,"

Aunt Sara said. She looked around. "This house never seemed to warm up."

"How do you heat it?" Archie asked.

"Fireplace, and kerosene stoves. It's an old house, but we've been here ever since."

"Ever since what?" Archie asked.

"Ever since Jacob and I got married," she said.

She looked at Mommy a moment. "You haven't changed all that much, HaiIle. You're still so pretty."

"Thank you, Sara."

"Melody has inherited your best features," Aunt Sara added, gazing at me again. I couldn't help blushing. "Yes," Mommy said. "Everyone says so."

"Cary, he takes after Jacob, but May looks more like my side of the family. Laura.. Laura was special," Aunt Sara added softly. Her eyes grew glassy and her gaze grew faraway. Then, suddenly, as if realizing we were there, she turned to me again and smiled. "Are you a good student?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"She's a very good student," Mommy said. "All A's."

"Just like Laura," Aunt Sara said. She shook her head. "Cary isn't like his twin sister was. He gets by, but he's not much for being shut up in a classroom.

He's more like Jacob," she said. "Give him something to do outside and he'll be happy, no matter how cold it is or how much it's raining. When the Logan men get busy, the world could come to an end around them and they wouldn't know it."

"I know," Mommy said.

Aunt Sara sighed again, so deeply I thought she might shatter like thin china right before our eyes.

"I'm sorry about Chester. Might as well tell you that before Jacob comes in. He won't want me speaking about him."

I looked at Mommy. Why wouldn't Daddy's brother permit anyone to speak about him even now, after he was dead? Mommy nodded, as if she had no trouble understanding.

"So how old's Cary now?" she asked, deliberately changing the topic.

"He's sixteen. May was ten last month."

"I bet she's a good student," Mommy said, struggling for conversation. Aunt Sara raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, but she goes to the special school, you know. Cary sees she gets there all right and home all right. He's devoted to her. I think more so since Laura.

. since Laura's been gone," she said.

Again, I looked at Mommy. She shifted her eyes away. "You don't like the clams, dear?" Aunt Sara asked me, poised to be disappointed.

"What? Oh, yes," I said and dug my fork into another.

"How are Samuel and Olivia?" Mommy asked Aunt Sara. I knew those were my grandparents so I stopped eating again to listen.

"They both suffer from arthritis now and then, but otherwise they're well. I told them you were coming," she said, almost as an afterthought.

"Oh?"

Aunt Sara said nothing more about them. The topic disappeared as quickly as a popped soap bubble, but neither Mommy nor Aunt Sara seemed unhappy about that. I wanted to know more. They had never seen me. Were they curious about me as I was about them?

The door opened and closed. Uncle Jacob appeared, a rag in his hands. The shape of his chin and mouth resembled Daddy's, but he had a longer, sharper nose and larger ears. His eyes were more hazel than green.

"Clams are sweeter this year," he said.

"They're great," Archie said. Uncle Jacob finally considered him.

"This is my friend Richard, Jacob. He drove us here."

Uncle Jacob just nodded and then looked at me.

"She's not as tall as I thought she'd be," he said.

The way he said it made me feel as if I had failed at growing properly.

"Melody, this is your Uncle Jacob," Mommy said, her eyes on him.

"Hello," I said, my voice cracking.

He didn't smile. He wiped his hands and stared at me. "Plenty of time for us all to meet later," he declared. "I got to do some work on the boat right now. Sara, send Cary down as soon as he's home." He left through the rear of the house.

"It's very important to look after the boat," Aunt Sara explained, with another quick smile. "Well," she continued, "I imagine you plan on staying the night, Haille."

"No," Mommy said quickly. "We have a tight schedule."

"Oh."

Why had we come so far if we were going to leave so quickly? I wondered. Mommy had talked about showing me Provincetown. Before I could ask, we heard the front door again.

"That should be Cary and May," Aunt Sara said. A few moments later, my cousins appeared in the dining room doorway.

Cary was tall and did indeed take after his father. He had the same dark complexion as Uncle Jacob only he had a more sensitive face with much softer features. He had green eyes like Daddy, but because his hair was darker, almost coal black, his emerald eyes seemed brighter. He wore his hair rather long, almost to his shoulders. He was dressed in jeans and a dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

Beside him, still clinging to his hand, was my cousin May. She was small, birdlike for ten, diminutive except for her round, very bright hazel eyes. Her hair, the same chestnut shade as Aunt Sara's, was cut short in a pixie style. She wore a light blue dress with an embroidered bodice and saddle shoes. Her feet were so small, they made her look like a doll. She smiled, but Cary kept a very serious expression on his face, his gaze quickly moving from Archie to Mommy to me. When he fixed his eyes on me, I thought his look softened.

"Well, now, say hello to everyone," Aunt Sara said. "This is your aunt Haille, her friend Richard, and your cousin Melody."

Cary immediately turned to May and began to move his hands. She watched him and nodded when he stopped. Then she turned to us and said, "Hello."

She stretched the syllables so that it sounded mechanical.

I couldn't help my look of surprise, but I saw it displeased Cary.

"Yes, she's deaf," my cousin said sharply to me.

"Well, ain't that a shame," Archie muttered.

Cary threw him an angry look that, were it a knife, would have cut off Archie's head.

"How was school today, May?" Aunt Sara asked her, signing as she spoke.

May proudly held up a paper with a bright gold star at the top.

"She got a hundred on the spelling test," Cary boasted.

"That's nice, dear," Aunt Sara said. She seemed a bit more uncomfortable with the hand movements than her son was. "Your father wants you to go right down to the dock, Cary," she said. He nodded. "You can visit with everyone at dinner."

Cary turned immediately and signed something to May. She nodded and then looked at me. He glanced at me once more before heading out back.

"Go up and change your clothes, dear," Aunt Sara signed to May. The young girl nodded and signed something back before hurrying off. "Cary takes such good care of her," Aunt Sara remarked with a sigh.

"I didn't know she was deaf," Mommy said softly. "I don't think Chester knew either."

"Yes, she was born deaf. Seems like that should have been enough of a burden for us, but then. . . there was Laura."

A heavy pall fell over the table.

Archie couldn't stand it. "Why don't we go into the town and see the sights before dinner, Haille?"

Mommy nodded.

"Can we take May along?" I asked Aunt Sara.

"Oh, I don't think we should," Mommy said quickly. "We're still strangers to her."

"Your mother is right, dear. It's a little soon,"

Aunt Sara said. She got up and started to clear off the table.

"Let me help you, Aunt Sara," I said. She turned with surprise.

"Why, thank you, dear, but I can manage fine.

Why don't you go and get your things and show you your room now."

"My room?"

Aunt Sara smiled and went into the kitchen. I turned to Mommy.

"My room? What's wrong with her, Mommy?

Didn't you say we weren't staying overnight?"

"Let's go outside, Melody," Mommy said in a whisper.

I followed her and Archie out. He headed for the trunk of the car.

"Let me talk to her first, Richard," Mommy told him. He paused and shrugged. Then he dug a cigarette from his pocket and leaned against the car.

"What's going on, Mommy?"

"Nothing terrible," she replied quickly. "Isn't it pretty here? Look at the view of the ocean you get from the house, and it's not too far from the town, is it?"

"Mommy, what is happening?" I demanded.