The weeks were rushing by and Alexandra was getting bigger and bigger. The townspeople under the leadership of the owl-faced Postmistress, Emily Pritchard, were now looking at her with a mixture of contemptuousness and fear.
     "What do you suppose her baby will look like?" 'Old-Lady' Pritchard asked the tall, burly, full bearded General Store Proprietor, Ebenezer Grayson.
      "I hear her talking to 'it' when she doesn't think anyone can hear her," a woman customer volunteered.
      "And," another added, "she acts as if 'it' answers her."
      "Well, I don't believe the stories we've heard," 'Old-Lady' Pritchard interrupted. "Lt. Jacobsen is the father of her child and she is trying to make it out to be the poor soul who disappeared. I don't believe that one for an instant!"
      "Well what is she staying here for?" Ebenezer Grayson thundered. "Why doesn't she go back with her Lieutenant when he leaves?"
      "I think she's trying to shame us all for the way our town acted when her 'friend' disappeared, don't you know," Emily Pritchard answered. Then she added haughtily, "Flaunting her 'condition' and allowing the Lieutenant into her home whenever he comes to town, so it would appear he's not the real father! Harrumph!"
      And so it was with most of the townspeople. Alexandra, and her unborn child, became their favorite subject for gossip.

     The stories spread by the women in the town reached Alexandra. She did her best to ignore them and tried to avoid running into them whenever she went into town to shop. Most of her daylight hours, when Henderson was not harassing her, were spent walking along the shoreline, afraid to climb or walk along the rocks above, afraid something or someone would cause her to fall and injure Joshua's child.
      On nights she could not sleep, she wandered along the lonely beach, staring at the stars trying to contact Joshua and hoping he would answer her.
      She sorely needed a friend. All of her friends had long since left town and gone their separate ways. They had begged her to leave with them, but she would not. Sarah's Landing was the only place she felt close to Joshua. With the exception of her doctor and the two police officers, no one in town spoke to her, afraid too, afraid of what might happen if they did; and she felt desperately lonely.
      One afternoon, when she was at her lowest ebb, a messenger rapped furiously on her door and scurried away after leaving a long white box, in the hallway, at the foot of her door. 
      When she answered the door, she was surprised to see the white box sitting there.  Looking around for the person who delivered it, she saw no one. She reached down to retrieve the box.  Taking it inside, she cautiously looked at it before opening it.  Not knowing who could have sent it, she wondered if Henderson has something to do with it. 
      ìIt would be just like him to drop this at the foot of my door and disappear pretending someone else had sent it to me.î
      Iím almost afraid to open it, she thought.  If it is from Henderson it could be a bomb.  She shook her head.  No, not even he would stoop that low.
      She finally decided it was safe enough and gingerly opened the box. A dozen of the most beautiful red roses she had ever seen greeted her. The card inside read, ìThought you could use a little cheering upÖwill call tomorrow. Love, Harry.î His timing could not have been more perfect.
      Tears ran down her face when she heard his voice the following day and saw his smiling face on the vicom unit. He said he had a few days off and if she was up to it, he would like to come up and visit.
      She answered first by telling him how happy his roses made her, and how much they lifted her spirits. His smile deepened, delighted he had pleased her. And when she added she could not wait for him to get there, his heart soared.
      Harry made it a point to send flowers or telegrams just to cheer her up and called as often as possible between his brief visits. He had a long leave coming up in a few months. He planned to spend it all with her. She did not object.
      She liked Harry, he was a good friend. He was thoughtful, considerate, and always seemed to know the right time to call or drop in for a brief visit. She knew he hoped for more. If it was not for Joshua, things might have been different.
      Harry's visit was all too short. To Alexandra, it seemed as if he had just arrived, when he had to leave and she was alone again...Alone to face the town and Henderson.

     Henderson, the Elder's right hand man, had been constantly harassing Alexandra, with occasional periods of abstinence in order to throw her off balance. And its effects were beginning to show on her. His unnerving calls, intermittently spaced during her waking hours, coupled by his deliberately disturbing her sleep with bizarre nightmares, were finally wearing her down. He was desperate. He had orders to force her to relinquish her claim on Joshua, and to that end, he obeyed them with an insatiable degree of enjoyment. But now he was running out of time.
      "Stop it! Stop it!" she screamed wildly. "No more! PleaseÖno more! What are you trying to doÖkill us both! Stop!"
      Her screaming woke her. She was covered with perspiration. Her damp hair was strewn across her face in stark testimony to her terror-filled night.
      Henderson's retreat was swift. All he wanted her to do was release her claim on Joshua. He had felt closer to success than he had ever felt. "But, kill them? No!" That was not his intention. It was never his intention.