He listened.

He was learning.

Pearl, meanwhile, had begun asking about the beach cottage.

Her parents had taken her there when she was three.

The memory was mostly sensory: wind, gulls, and her mother wrapping a red scarf around her shoulders.

Desmond asked whether she wanted to visit.

She signed YES, THEN NO, then sat with Captain for a long time.

Later she wrote, WITH PEOPLE I CHOOSE.