'Ye-es,' she said. 'I love it.'
'What is your favorite part of it?' he asked her. 'Your favorite place?'
Prue gazed with bright eyes across the river in the direction of Lydmere.
'The cottage,' she said.
'Mrs. Turner's?'
'Yes.'
'Why do you like it?' He went down on his haunches before her, selected a few pebbles, and rolled them in one hand.
'I can do things,' Prue said. 'I can help. It is a dear place.'
'But small,' Joshua said. 'You would not like to live there, would you?'
Prue thought with furrowed brow and then smiled again. 'Yes, I would,' she said. 'I know how to do things.'
'You love Mrs. Turner?' Joshua asked.
'Yes.' Her smile widened. 'And Ben. I love Ben.'
'Do you?' He turned and flung one of the stones. He obviously forgot that bouncing them was a skill he could not master-it bounced five times. Prue laughed excitedly and pointed. 'Why do you love him, Prue? Is he kind to you?'
'Ye-es,' Prue said. 'He likes me making his tea, and he ate my cake, not Mrs. Turner's. Ben loves me.'
'I love you, Prue,' Joshua said. 'Freyja loves you.'
'Yes.' She looked up at Freyja and beamed. 'Josh made you better, Freyja. I saw you in the boat. You went to the island.'
Oh, dear. Freyja smiled back and avoided Joshua's eyes.
Prue looked back to Joshua. 'Ben kissed me,' she said.
His face visibly blanched. 'Kissed you?'
Prue laughed with delight. 'On my birthday,' she said. 'I was eighteen. Mrs. Turner gave me my apron and she kissed me. And Ben poured my tea-we all laughed-and he kissed me. Here,' she added, poking one forefinger at her cheek close to her mouth. 'I said, 'I love you, Ben,' and he said, 'I love you, Prue.' ' She laughed with delight.
'Prue,' Freyja asked, taking the girl by the hand and drawing her to her feet so that they could stroll onward, 'do you love Ben in a special way? As Eve loves Aidan?'
'As you love Josh?' Prue laughed. 'Ye-es.'
Joshua fell into step beside them on Prue's other side.
'Ben has nice hands,' Prue said. 'They are big. He works with them. He wouldn't hurt me with them, though.'
'Of course he would not,' Joshua said, drawing her arm through his and patting her hand. 'No one will ever hurt you, Prue. Do you know what marriage is? Do you know what married people do together?'
'Ye-es,' Prue said. 'They look after each other. And they kiss each other. And have babies.'
Joshua darted a startled look across her at Freyja.
'Miss Palmer told me,' Prue said, 'and Chastity. Chastity took me to see Miss Jewell and she told me. Miss Jewell has David. I love David.'
'Her son?' Joshua said. 'He is a handsome little boy.'
'Miss Jewell said there are bad kisses and I must not let anyone give them to me ever again,' Prue said. 'Ben would not give me bad kisses. Ben loves me. I love Ben.'
The women in her life-all except her mother who was most qualified to do it-had been educating Prue in the dangers of her own sexuality, Freyja thought. They clearly had realized that in some ways at least the girl was no longer a child.
'If you lived at the cottage all the time,' Joshua said, 'you would not have all of Penhallow for your home, Prue. You would sleep there and live there, and the work you do there now would have to be done every day. Lady Prudence Moore should live in a big house, should she not, with servants to look after her and grand clothes to wear all the time?'
'I would like to live in the cottage, Josh,' she said. 'I would like to live with Mrs. Turner. I would like to live with Ben best of all. I love Ben. He kissed me and it was not a bad kiss. He would not give me bad kisses. He would not hurt me with his hands.'
He raised her hand to his lips and held it there for a few moments.
'No, he would not, my sweetest love,' he said. 'I knew Ben when he was a lad. He would not hurt you or any other woman. And if he ever kisses you again, it will be with good kisses. If he touches you, it will be with gentle hands.'
Freyja was startled to notice that his eyes were bright with tears.
'Shall I talk with Ben and Mrs. Turner, then?' he asked Prue. 'Would you really choose to live with them if you could?'
She stopped walking, snatched her arm away from Joshua, clasped her hands to her bosom, and regarded first him and then Freyja with wide, excited eyes.
