After a moment of silence, John spoke again, “Annie, would you take a quick walk with me?” Gwen smiled encouragement to her.
“Sure,” Annie said. John left the booth, and they walked slowly away from the line of booths.
“I want to apologize for my behavior last month,” John began. “There is no excuse for my hasty reaction.” He paused. “I hope you can forgive me.”
“John, I already have,” said Annie. “You were worried about Gwen, and I know how that feels.”
“I shouldn’t have lost control. I said things that weren’t true.”
“As someone who has spoken in haste more times than she can ever count, I can hardly hold that against you, John.” Annie smiled up at him. “Would you and Gwen like to have some chowder with Alice and me?”
“I’ll let Gwen speak for herself, but I’m sure I can delegate the booth activity so we can get away for a bite to eat.” They walked back to the booth, where Gwen enthusiastically accepted Annie’s invitation and poured four cups of cocoa.
John detoured toward the chowder booth for two more bowls of soup, while Annie and Gwen carried the cocoa over to where Alice sat.
“Hi, Gwen. I would have bought you a bowl of chowder if I’d known you were coming,” said Alice.
Gwen sat across from her. “John went to get us some.”
Alice smiled as she blew on the thick chowder filling her spoon. “Good! It smells amazing.” She cautiously sipped some. “The judges got it right. This tastes as delicious as it smells.”
“I’m glad the chowder hasn’t sold out as fast as our projects,” said Annie, picking up her spoon. “I’m starving.”
“This has been the best Harvest day we’ve had yet,” said Gwen. “The weather is as good as it can be.”
“Remember that year with all the wind?” said Alice. “When the volunteer fire department’s booth blew over and fell into the water? It was frigid!”
“And Todd Butler rescued it with his boat, hauling it in like a lobster trap,” Gwen added, laughing.
“I think every year since then Reverend Wallace has been spending extra hours praying about the weather,” added Alice.
“What am I missing?” John said as he set a bowl of soup in front of Gwen and sat down with his own.
“Memories of Harvest days past,” answered Annie. “I’m not sure if I should be happy or sad that I wasn’t here for them.”
“Told her about the year with the bit of wind, did you?” John kept a straight face but his eyes held laughter.
Annie noticed Cecil and his family weaving between the picnic tables with bowls and stood to wave at them. “Cecil! Over here!” When the family drew close to the table, she said, “John and Gwen, have you met Cecil’s family?”
Gwen smiled. “I think I’ve seen them all at one time or another at Ocean View but never all together at once.” She introduced Martin and Nataline to John, who shook their hands.
“Do you think you can all fit?” John asked, waving at the rest of the table.
“We’re used to squeezing together during meals at holidays,” Nataline grinned. “We’ve gotten pretty good at it.” The family demonstrated by managing to arrange themselves on the remaining bench space.
“Cecil, thank you for telling me about the Picture Rocks in Machias,” Gwen said. “John is taking a day off next week, and we’re going to go see them.”
Cecil nodded. “I think you will find it a powerful experience, seeing petroglyphs made by Passamaquoddy people thousands of years ago.”
“We’re thinking of taking our children when they visit next time,” said John. He turned to Gwen. “Did you tell Cecil about Maddy?”
“No, I haven’t had a chance yet,” replied Gwen. “Do you remember how Annie posted requests for information on some of the genealogy websites?”
Cecil nodded.
“Maddy replied to one of them. She’s a relative of mine that I didn’t know I had! We’re going to meet at the Rocks and spend some time together.”
Annie looked down the table filled with people eating, talking, and laughing. Her excitement over her family’s visit for Thanksgiving had not waned at all. But now, more than ever, she knew that once the visit was over, she still had family in Stony Point.