It was entirely irrational, Sisse knew, and yet she felt a stab of jealousy at the closeness of the Bixbys and the Potts. Her early years had been so lonely, so sheltered, her mother doing everything she could to make sure that Sisse was the perfect little girl. Not only had Sisse been sheltered but the Thompsett family was not overly large. Oh sure, there were a few aunts here and there but no children around her age. And while Mrs. Potts seemed to have accepted her friends' families into her own family Mrs. Thompsett had done no such thing. Now, Sisse wondered, if perhaps that was because her mother was all too well aware of how much she had risen in status after her marriage. Yet logic did nothing to sooth the sting. Sisse had always been jealous of Calla and Sloane, of their loud boisterous families and how open and accepting those families were. Showing nothing of her own inner turmoil Sisse gave Alvin a smile, an acknowledgement of his attempt to be friendly. She could do that at least, she could do this.

The smile broke into a laugh though at the bossiness of Mrs. Potts. "That she is." The woman was a force of nature, bright and free, and a captain at the helm of her own ship. "I was hardly here more than a moment before she set me to work." Sisse didn't mind though, she selfishly loved that Mrs. Potts had done such a thing, it made her feel as if she were included in the large brood of an adopted family Mrs. Potts had created for herself.