Alice remained quiet for a long time, her whole body trembling. "What will 'e say?" she finally whimpered. "e'll be so ashamed of me."

Bess came in with a tray with three cups of hot cocoa. She gave Alice a pitiful look and glanced at Elijah.

Elijah thanked Bess and took some cocoa and tried to make sure the girls took theirs as it wouldn't hurt after what they'd been through. "He mostly cares that you are safe. You made a mistake, it should't ruin your life. He loves you and will get over it if he doesn't forgive immediately."

Alice sniffed and tried to dry her tears. But just then there was the noise of a cart outside, and both girls looked up anxiously. Tobias reentered the room to go outside and meet the visitor.

He helped Ben in.

Elijah reached out and patted Alice's hand. "It'll be alright. I promise." He looked to the door, ready to handle Ben if he was angry.

Ben stopped at the entrance. Anne looked up fearfully. Alice didn't look up, but curled up. "I'm sorry..." she cried. There was a pained expression on Ben's face as he watched his daughter. And then suddenly her walked over, sat beside her and pulled her into a hug. Alice, who had been whimpering quietly all this town began to wail, and Ben gently pressed her face against his chest, patting her head, before reaching out to Anne, inviting her into the hug as well.
"'s alright, lass. 's alright. Ye'r alive, ye'r both alive and that is what counts." Ben looked over to Elijah, tears in his own eyes, and he mouthed a 'thank you'.

Elijah smiled weakly glad to see that Ben had his priorities straight. He stood up with his cocoa. "I'll let you have your privacy. "He walked to talk to Bess and ask her for the delicious cocoa recipe.

Bess gave him the recipe. "Poor lass. That's a hard reality she's facing." She commented.

Elijah nodded after thanking her for the recipe. "She's got a very loving family though, so I'm sure she'll get through it alright."

"Hope they can work out a solution." said Tobias. "She must have truly despaired to have risked her and her sister's life like that." Bess nodded.

Elijah nodded as he sipped the hot cocoa but frowned. "They shouldn't have though. I've always tried to be a good friend of the family and help them out when things went wrong. It hurts that they can't trust me and would rather risk their life."