Ruth had pocketed the letter after reading it at home the night before. She'd penned a letter to the gazzette and secreted it there, and now she was approaching her childhood home with a lump in her throat. She could make out the sound of her son laughing while Pearl took care of him; she would not intterrupt that play time and nor was she coming to pick him up since Pearl was quite smitten with Jacob.

She quietly walked in through the front door and greeted her sister in law with a soft nod, then asked gruffly, "Ma?"

Seeing the expression on Ruth's face, she pointed toward the kitchen and said, "Yes, she is home working on supper now. Are you quite alright, Ruth?" She gave a soft nod, and then a strained smile. Knowing that expression all to well, Pearl stood and brought the boy over to give his mother love for a moment.

Once she was done, she moved to the kitchen in search of Lottie, wanting to catch her before her father got home because he was going to be angry at Angus as soon as he got the story. She needed to be able to speak to her mother about it first and get it off of her chest.