How is Kit received when her aunt finds out she has come to live with her in The Witch of Blackbird Pond?

You've asked how Kit is received when her
aunt Rachel finds out that Kit has come to live with her. Thanks for your question!

In fact, her aunt Rachel has several reactions to Kit's arrival on her doorstep in
Wethersfield. At first, in chapter 3, when Captain Eaton (who has accompanied Kit from the ship
to Rachel and her husband Matthew's house) knocks on the door, Rachel opens it and stares in
shock, believing for a moment that Kit is her (Rachel's) own sister Margaret. It would be fair
to assume that Kit has never met Rachel since Rachel is said to have run away with a Puritan
(Matthew) to America when she was young; Rachel had only ever communicated with Kit via letters
every year since Kit was a child. Equally fair, then, would be the assumption that Kit
presumably looks like her own mother, Rachel's sister Margaret, enough to cause Rachel herself
to be startled almost speechless at Kit's unannounced arrival.

Once Rachel is
given to understand that Kit has come for what she believes to be a visit, Rachel is delighted
at the prospect, and welcomes Kit very gladly into the house (see chapter 3 for more details you
could include in your own assignment). Other emotions you might explore that Rachel seems to
feel include nostalgia, longing, and even homesickness.

Finally, when the
truth comes out that Kit has really come to the New World to live with Rachel and Matthew and
their daughters, Rachel is the one who comes quickly, if timidly and with careful deference, to
her niece's defense, where Matthew comes across as far more severe and forbidding. Where Matthew
asks question after question, probing Kit's motives and actions, Rachel comforts her and
acknowledges that Kit has done the right thing in coming to them, that of course she will be
taken in as one of the family now that her grandfather has died in Barbados.

Rachel's reaction to Kit's arrival and intention to stay is something you might find
interesting to explore insofar as it reflects the belief at that time that the husband was the
head of the household, his wife, his children, and all who came under his roof. Rachel's
kindness to Kit is tempered by her (Rachel's) clear deference to her husband's authority; there
would have been no way for Rachel to make the decision to keep Kit without Matthew's approval
foremost.