Elijah sighed and knelt down to look at Bram as he held the sobbing boy. "Bram.." he spoke quietly trying to help. "Your father is right. You need to be strong for Alice, and he might not show it... but your dad is very sad to see her go too. Sometimes when people are sad they can show anger because they don't want to cry. Can you try to be strong and nice to her and her husband..for her and all of us? I know it isn't easy..."

Ben turned on his heel and walked away, going back into the cottage.

Bram clung on to Elijah tight. "O-okay..." He said, still sobbing.

People were passing them as they left the 'party'.

"Thank you. I'm so glad you understand. If it's too hard for you, you can come to me. I will always listen to you. And I know sometimes your family is too busy, I am sorry. They still love you."

He ruffled his hair and smiled softly, "Want to try to apologize to mister Tobias?"

Bram sniffed, tried to stop crying, and slowly pulled back. But he shook his head at Elijah's question. "He makes Alice cry. And he takes her away. And I hate him. And I don't care what you say, I hate him."

Elijah nodded and sighed. "Alright. It is too early and I can understand how you feel. Can you let Alice know you love her and will miss her?"

Bram nodded slowly. He didn't understand any of this. Father had been angry with Alice because she was pregnant, but why did he want to make her so sad? And why wasn't Elijah helping her? "I could leave school and get a job, so I can look after Alice," he tried as a last resort. "Then she won't be a burden."

Elijah smiled sadly and shook his head. "I am afraid it isn't that simple. If it was, I'd have helped as much as I could. Unfortunately, she needs someone to be a father to the baby, otherwise her life will be very hard. aNot just financially.." it was the best way he could explain it.

"But Noah's the father," Bram argued.

Just then, the family came out of the cottage. Perhaps the mourners wouldn't have been misplaced now, for it certainly looked like a funeral, with Alice holding her bag and looking at the ground straight ahead of her, Tobias looking uncomfortable, Ben looking grim, Maggie carrying her toddler on her hip and trying to stop it from crying, Will quiet and sulky, and Anne near tears.

Bram began to cry.

Elijah frowned and held his hand as he guided the boy to approach them. "He won't take responsibility for it though." He had told the boy in a whisper.

He looked up as he got close to them and nodded to Alice. "Whitby won't be the same without you. I hope you won't mind a visit in the near future. I.. have failed you a lot recently... but I do care and I want to help if I can.."

She was trying so hard not to be there and not to feel anything, not to make it harder. But Elijah's words upset her. She wanted to cry when he said Whitby wouldn't be the same without her, and she was reminded so painfully that Whitby was no longer her home. She wanted to tell him he had been good to her when he said he had failed her, but she couldn't get any words past her lips. For she didn't know what she would say once she did open her mouth. She didn't know what would happen. Instead, she stepped forward and hugged him. Tight. Pressing her face into his chest, in a way that was probably inappropriate now that she was a woman, but she clung on and wanted to speak. She couldn't. But she couldn't let go, for they would see that she had started crying. Suddenly Bram joined the hug, wrapping his arms around both of them. "Aliiiiiiiice!" he cried.