"Hmmm..." Nell said. "I'll have to see what I have to work with when we get back."

The child curled up in her lap stirred slightly, and she sat still for a moment until the little one sighed and subsided. She was happy to sit here for ages with him and the other children as long as it kept them safe.

Not even the church. She'd left that behind gratefully when John and Leah had offered for her. And she would have completely understood the feeling of people's concern making her feel that she was too helpless to have fixed things. Which she had been, but having someone else see it didn't always make things easier.

"I guess people most always worry about their kids when they go out on their own," Nell said. "I wonder sometimes if mine did."

She gave him a half smile. "I was pretty lonely," she admitted. "It's hard to be all alone. But you get used to it, mostly, and then after a while you find it hard to deal with a lot of people. When I still had my dogs... They were comfort."

Nell found men to be dangerous creatures, but here, in this place, with a man who brought her coffee with no sign of wanting anything in return... it seemed okay.