She shook her head and dabbed at her tears. "No... I do not know what he said, ye ken? He was like... someone else," she whispered. Then she sighed and looked down at the remainder of her soup and said thickly, "I sold our house after he died and I came here ta find Pony-- that's me brother's name, and by then I was ready ta give birth to the babes and shouldn't have been travelin' so much."

Then Karen looked at him, and whispered some more, "I don't wish ta be alone anymore and if I had ta choose someone ta be in me company, it'd be ye and yers... Ye don't even ken how much I've come back ta life since ye took me in." Her eyes searched his, "And now whatever seems ta be between us... I don't want it ta go away. It's too precious ta me." She reached out and grasped his hand.