As she clambered down the steps of the stone seawall to the beach below, the roar of the waves gave way to the pounding of her heart. She walked, jogged, then broke into a sprint, hurling herself northward towards Pine Cove until she could run no further and stood gasping for air, finally, on the broad swath of exposed beach.

"He's gone," the encroaching high tide hissed at her ankles.

"You're alone," shrieked the gulls.

There was no mercy from the grey sky. It dragged the sun behind purplish clouds and the beloved landscape of his telescope darkened into the shipwreck of her heart.

At night he haunted in the fluttering of white curtains and in the groans of the ancient house as it sailed into the late-winter storms lumbering off the coastline. The power failed, but the dark hearth was unmoved. Checking on the children, she bent in quiet resignation to detangle heavy quilts from their feet.

"This is your fault," the blankets admonished as she tugged at their weight and wrapped them around the tiny forms above.

"What were you thinking?" groaned the stairs as she descended to the woodpile outside the kitchen door.

Back in the Master Cabin, her breath fogged the binnacle. It dissipated quickly. Too tired to build her own fire, she shivered and stared at the ship's wheel outside. Sturdily it stood, despite the entreaties of the strengthening storm.

"Dead reckoning," cried the woman in love with the dead man.

Bluets heralded mid-summer peonies but their vivid colors stabbed at her heart. The bright sun was no match for the heavy shadows within. The barometer placidly predicted weather changes, oblivious to the heart that swung wildly with the day.

"Come back to me," beseeched the trowel as it worked the garden soil.

"I love you," patted the hands frantically around the begonias.

The late-afternoon thunderstorm roared unannounced into the parlor. Windows banged into walls as the barometer fell precipitously.

"Madame," demanded the voice to the eyes staring widely at the Captain's portrait. "You were saying?"