As always, blonde Jamie presented a calm, cool exterior. She prided herself on that.  She wanted to appear strong in all things; but truth be told, she was probably even more nervous than Pascal.  She watched as Vincent read the pipe-master's letter and silently worried that hers wouldn't be good. enough.

  Vincent always told her:  'Jamie, you try too hard.'

  And she did.

  She tried hard to not be like all the other women in the tunnels, who wore dresses and tended the children.  Jamie wanted more from life than that, so she wore leggings and she carved out tunnels right along side Vincent.  She did a man's work, and she did it well.

  Deep inside, though, where she dared to dream, Jamie wanted to be like Catherine. Catherine was strong, but she was so soft, too.  Everybody loved her, even Father, who refused to admit it.  Once, late when night when Catherine was waiting for Vincent to return from someplace or other, she said:  'Jamie, you are always here for me. You are always so very kind.'

  It was the nicest thing anybody had ever said to her.  When Jamie wrote her letter, she wanted Vincent and Catherine to feel the way Catherine's words had made her feel.

  Oh, why did I have be after Pascal? Jamie wondered. He's so good with words. He always says the right thing.

  But when he read her letter, Vincent looked at her and smiled. "Thank you, Jamie,"  he said. "It’s lovely."

  Lovely. That was even better than strong.