If there was any one thing that Charlotte was glad she’d done for the sake of her schemes it was save up her money. All of her money had been saved for her Cambridge tuition, and now it was just sitting there waiting to be spent, so when it was time to buy herself a ticket to America she was able to afford second class passage. It was the best twenty pounds she’d ever spent. The ride was long and she got sick a few times because of the boat rocking back and forth. She wasn’t sure how Nick had managed to do this so many times; back and forth from America to England in the most uncomfortable way. She thought that maybe her first boat ride wasn’t meant to be quite so long. On the plus side though, at least she wasn’t staying in steerage.

Charlotte disembarked when the ship docked briefly in Bar Harbor, Maine before it was meant to move on to New York. There she was, finally in America, almost to Nick, but the problem was still that she had no idea how to get to Nick’s from where she was. There was a long line of carriages all waiting to pick people up and she walked along them, not really knowing what she was looking for.

“Need a ride?” a voice called out and Charlotte turned in surprise at a man standing next to a carriage, adjusting his horse’s feedbag. He was a stocky man, very round, but very friendly looking. He had a warm smile and Charlotte couldn’t help but smile back.

“Are you taking fares?” she wondered, reaching out to pet the horse quickly.

“Absolutely, for a small price I’ll bring you in to Bar Harbor. It’s a bit of a walk from here, especially carrying your case there,” he explained.

“Actually, you might be able to help me. I need to get to Winter Harbor, do you know where that is? Is it close?”

“Winter Harbor?” the man chuckled, “There’s really not that much to see there, I hope that’s not where you’re vacationing?”

“So you know where it is?” Charlotte asked excitedly, a smile brightening up her face.

The driver nodded his head, “Of course, I live there. It’s not that close, about an hour’s ride. I can take you.”

“Thank you so much,” Charlotte smiled and the man helped her with her case then they set on their way to Winter Harbor much to the girl’s delight. She was so excited that not only did she find the right place to sail to (she bought a ticket for Maine, not for where she specifically needed to go) but she had met someone nice enough to take her to where Nick lived. The ride felt short and soon Charlotte was paying the man (a big profit for him because she had no American money and had no idea what the exchange was like on the shilling) and wandering the town in search of a clue. The driver was indeed right; the town was small but not as small as some of the towns she’d been to in Britain. Even Cambridge was smaller!

After walking for a while Charlotte stopped into a tea shop for a break and a snack, and to collect her thoughts before she went on the hunt. She had thought to ask around and see if maybe anyone knew Nick, but she was hesitant since she didn’t know what people were like. Obviously they were nice since Nick spoke so highly of them, but her parents had drilled it into her head for so long that Americans weren’t fond of the British, and that thinking had never left her even being married to one. She entered the quaint little tea shop, smiling at the nuances around the store that made it feel comfortable and like being at home. She looked over a small display of sweets and really realized just how hungry she was. 

“You should try the butter tarts, they’re amazing!”

Charlotte looked beside her and smiled at an elderly nun who had moved up beside her to also enjoy the view of the cakes and tarts, “I’ll keep that in mind,” she told her. As she went to walk away there was something about that nun that drew her attention, but she wasn’t entirely sure what it was, “Excuse me Sister, I don’t mean to offend but…you smell very familiar, is that…”

“Moth balls,” the nun answered with a chuckle, “No offence taken, it’s the truth. For some reason everything that comes out of our cedar chests at the orphanage smells more of moth balls than of cedar. You aren’t the first to tell me I smell like an attic.”

Charlotte couldn’t help but smile at the old woman’s wit, “That must be very common in this town.”

“Whatever do you mean?” 

“Well you see, my husband,” Charlotte paused, getting a strange feeling of déjà vu as she spoke, “My husband is from here, and always speaks of how his mother had the same smell before she died.”

The nun led Charlotte over to a table, inviting her to take a seat, “Would you mind if I asked who your husband is?”

“I don’t know if you’d know him,” Charlotte said modestly, “His name is Nick Carter.”

“Nickolas told me you hadn’t accompanied him, you must be Charlotte?” the Sister spoke and Charlotte’s eyes went wide when she realized that she was sitting with someone who not only knew Nick, but would know where to find him.

“Yes, I am! So you know him?! Who might you be?” the young girl questioned rapid fire. 

“I’m Sister Mary Agnes, but you can just call me Agnes,” she chuckled, “I’ve known Nick since he was a baby, except I knew him as Nickolas Patterson, his name before he was adopted by the Carters.”

“To be honest,” Charlotte sighed, “I didn’t accompany him here. We had a spat and he came here and I followed him. I’ve been trying to find him and didn’t even know where to start looking,” she explained then thought back to something Agnes had just said, “You said you’ve known him since he was a baby but he told me he only spent a few years in the orphanage which would mean he was six or seven.”

“What exactly did Nick tell you about his time at the orphanage?”

“Not very much,” Charlotte admitted, “Just a bit about his mother... the moth balls, he said that she was very sick and he thought she took too much medicine. Because of what happened to her he doesn’t trust doctors.”

Agnes sighed with a small smile on her face, not surprised that Nick wouldn’t be too open with the details about his childhood, “One morning the Reverend Mother and I were approached by a man to come take a child he’d found abandoned. I guess the child’s mother was in a bad place, and took her own life but not before trying to take the life of her baby, but somehow the baby survived. It was truly a miracle. At the time the orphanage was very small, and we didn’t have a lot of space, especially not for such a small baby so the Reverend Mother took it upon herself to care for the boy until someone wanted to adopt him, and he didn’t know any different. No one came to take him unfortunately and she grew so fond of him that even when he was old enough to go stay with the other boys she kept him as if he was her very own. He never realized that it wasn’t possible for her to have been his real mother until well after she passed. The poor boy was so lost without her, and resented the orphanage’s doctor who had been caring for her. She may not have been the greatest doctor, or even licensed, but she was all we could afford to keep on staff. He was lucky that it was only a few years before the Carter’s decided to take him. Most boys his age are never adopted.”

“The doctor was a woman?” Charlotte whispered, more to herself than anyone else as she realized why Nick felt the way he did on so many topics. He wanted women to have independence, and be strong just like the Reverend Mother had been but didn’t want the power to go to their head, like the female doctor who in his opinion, killed his mother, “Where is Nick now? Do you know where I can find him?”

“He’s probably at the school now,” Agnes said, taking a moment to think, “But he comes to church every morning so I can guarantee that at seven he’ll go visit the Reverend Mother’s grave.”

“Thank you so much,” Charlotte praised the woman, resisting the urge to reach across the table and hug her. They talked a little more about what Nick was like as a child, and then Agnes had to go back to the church. She had given Charlotte the name of a good place to stay for the night before she went to see Nick in the morning. 

To say she was nervous when the time finally came to get up and head to the church would be an understatement. She knew that anything could happen. Nick could put her back on a ship and send her back home or he could forgive her and they could both go back. It was all up in the air. 

The sun was barely peaking through the clouds as she made her way to the church and headed to the back where Agnes had instructed her. All of the breath left her as she turned the corner and saw Nick kneeling down in front of a headstone, brushing some leaves away that had blown on during the night. 

“You miss her?” Charlotte spoke as she approached him and she watched as his back stiffened at her voice.

“She was a great woman,” Nick replied before standing and brushing the dirt from the knees of his pants, “What are you doing here?”

“That’s not much of a greeting,” she said sarcastically, using his line against him. Nick rolled his eyes and cross his arms over his chest still waiting for an answer, “I came here so we could work things out!” 

“Who told you where I was?”

“No one did,” she said, making sure to cover everyone’s behinds so he couldn’t get mad, “I figured it out on my own.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Nick said, obviously not too happy to see her.

“Please Nick; we need to work this out. I miss you! Don’t you miss me?” 

Nick sighed and took off his hat so he could run a hand through his hair. He never thought that Charlotte would end up there. He knew it couldn’t have taken too long to find out where he was once she got into town since he knew pretty much everyone, “I’ve been doing well these past couple of months but I still haven’t figured out how to forgive you.”

“Then don’t,” Charlotte sighed, “All I want is to know where we stand! I understand you were embarrassed, but haven’t I been embarrassed enough in return? I’ve been punished for what I did, and I deserve an end to all of this too,” she said, waiting for his tirade about how wrong she was.

“You’re right,” he said and Charlotte looked up in shock. 

“What?”

“I said you’re right. You have been punished, and you’re going to have this follow you for the rest of your life so you are absolutely right you deserve closure. I’ve been really bull headed.”

Charlotte was happy to hear him say that, but didn’t have a good feeling about it, “Does that mean I’ll be heading back home by myself?”

“No,” Nick let out a frustrated breath and walked up to Charlotte, “One thing I have learned while I’ve been here is that I really do love you. I kept saying I didn’t know you but I do. When we were younger you obviously weren’t playing me and I’ve liked you for a long time no matter what I may have said to the contrary. I believe you when you say you were still you, and although there were a lot of lies clouding everything I could see the real you underneath. I can’t go back with you right now though. I’ve been accepted to a teaching college, I decided to become a teacher. I need to do something for me because everything has been for you for a long time.”

“So you’re saying you love me, and what? Does that mean you want to work things out?” she asked, secretly jumping for joy on the inside.

He took a long time to think about what she was asking and finally, he nodded, “For better or for worse, right?”

Charlotte squealed then threw her arms around his neck with excitement and he finally broke a smile and wrapped his arms around her back, hugging her tightly.

“I did miss you,” Nick finally admitted in a soft whisper and Charlotte couldn’t stop smiling.