The following day
Sun rays go into the room that Victoria sleeps peacefully in. Waking her from the events that has happened from the day before. She opens up her eyes lazily as she looks at the wall before her. She sits up slowly on the bed as she looks around to see that everything that has happened yesterday was not a dream at all, it was all real. She was chased out of London, had to walk miles until she met Alexander, rode with Alexander back to his house, experience yelling, almost getting killed, and having a pleasant time with Adam. Everything that was so current, she is surprised with herself that she hasn't broken.
Victoria flings the blankets off herself and brings her feet to the ground. She stands up and walks out of the room to go use the restroom. Everything feels so weird to her as she walks to the room with toilet in it and uses the restroom. Once she stopped using the restroom, she walks over to the sink and begins to wash her hands. She left the room while drying her hands off on the clothing that she wears. It's new to her, but it did not bother her as much as she thought it would. She walked to the living room to see that the blood stains were gone, Adam must've stayed up all night in getting the blood out. A sudden urge of sadness washes over her as she remembers how welcoming Adam was until after the old lady and Alexander have died. It surprised Victoria, but there is not much she can do about that.
Victoria hears laughter coming from outside as she walks over to a window to see Adam talking to about 9 other men who were outside. She can see that they were having fun outside and it made her upset that she can no longer do that with Isabelle. A sigh left her lips as she looks down, she hears, "Who is that, Adam?"
Adam turns to see Victoria and smiles a bit, "That is the woman who I was talking about, Victoria Brimswald."
"The Victoria Brimswald?"
Adam nods, "That's her."
"She is beautiful in person, but wasn't she known to be the woman in black?"
"I burned her clothes." Adam smiles wide.
"May the Lord bless you, Adam."
"Thank you, Ben." Adam laughs a bit.
Ben smiles a bit at Adam from underneath his mustache, "You are welcome old friend."
"Why not get her out here?"
Adam turns towards a man with dirty blonde hair, "I am not sure that is the right thing to do, I have been watching her movements, she is not mentally well."
"Is that so?"
"That's correct, Asa." Adam walks over to the front door and opens it. He pokes his head to where he can see Victoria, "Morning, would you like to come out?"
Victoria looks at Adam, "I do not have shoes."
Adam walks into the house and runs into a room. It took him a few minutes to find a pair of shoes and runs back out with a pair of dark brown boots that Victoria can wear. He hands them over to her, "Here you are."
Victoria grabs the boots and begins to put them on. She puts on the right boot first to see how it fits and it fits her perfectly. She then puts on the other boot and follows Adam out of the house. She sees how the men watch her every move as she walked towards them.
Adam stops walking and turns a bit to where Victoria could see the men in front of her, "Victoria, I would like you to meet some of my friends."
"Greetings." Victoria says politely.
Adam motions to each of the men as he says their name, "Meet Benjamin Jackson, Asa Allen, Amos Evans, Augustus King, Chester Jones, Eldon Johnson, Gideon Carter, Jedediah Edwards, and Marshall Bennett. Gentlemen, this is Victoria Brimswald."
Asa smiles wide, "Well, fancy to meet you, Ms. Brimswald. You are more beautiful in person than they say."
"Your flattery is appreciated." Victoria says calmly.
Augustus runs a hand through his black hair as he turns to Adam before looking at Victoria, "Aren't you married to the Harbor man?"
"I do not count myself as married."
"What about the ring around your finger?" Augustus points out.
Victoria pulls up her hand to look at the ring, "I have not yet found the time to get rid of it."
"While that ring is on your finger, you are called Mrs. Harbor. Let's get rid of it before someone finds out about you." Augustus smiles warmly at Victoria.
Victoria carefully takes off the ring and holds it out.
Adam takes the ring before Augustus could take it, "I will do something about this ring, for now, let's figure out a place so that Victoria and I could spend the week at." He puts the ring into his pocket.
"I have a room that you 2 could share for the week, my wife is always welcoming you to our home, Adam." Chester says with a wide smile.
Adam smiles back at Chester, "Thank you, Chester."
Benjamin crosses his arms, "Now that we have that sorted out, Ms. Brimswald. Did you have something to eat yet?"
"No not yet." Victoria shakes her head.
Benjamin looks at Adam, "Why you go get her something to eat, me and the boys will be here gathering clothes for the both of you."
"Thank you, Ben." Adam puts an arm around Victoria's waist and leads her over to the horses.
Victoria waves at the men while walking, "Thank you for the talk."
Eldon waves back at her, "You are welcome, Ms. Brimswald!"
Victoria walks with Adam over to the horses as he grabs a saddle puts it on one of the horses.
Adam looks at Victoria, "Do you know how to ride a horse?"
Victoria nods, "I have my own horse named Samuel."
"We will get your horse soon enough, but for now, you will be riding Merrill." Adam puts the lead onto the horse and holds onto it.
Victoria walks over to the horse and gets onto the animal as Adam hands her the lead. She takes the lead as she watches Adam walk over to the other horse and does the same thing. She realizes that Adam is wearing a shirt this time which made her blush again and wishes that she could hide it.
Adam notice Victoria staring at him and he smiled a bit, "Thinking about last night?"
Victoria looks away, "I would never." She tries to hide her blush.
Adam laughs a bit as he motions his horse to go forward, "Let us go into town to get something to eat."
Victoria motions Merrill to go forward which the horse complied to the action. She follows Adam as they begin their journey of going to the town.
The ride was nice as Victoria feels the wind going through her hair. She doesn't get this luxury back in London, it was compacted together and the roads can be narrow so Samuel would be unable to run through it. She closes her eyes and smiles while enjoying the wind. Having the sun rays on her face as she soon opens her eyes to see Adam looking back at her smiling at her. She soon loses her smile and looks away.
"You look beautiful smiling like that." Adam says.
"I appreciate your compliment." Victoria looks back at Adam who turns away. She smiles a little again and continues on enjoying the ride. She watched as the wind went through Adam's dark brown hair, she notices that his hair is a tad bit darker than her own. She watches how the wind is making his coat and clothes fly behind him. Watching every part of him as she tries to study him closely.
Adam is certainly different from the other men that she has seen. Not greedy from what she has known. He has been helping her ever since she first arrived to the place, but their first greetings was not good due to the old woman yelling at him. His every being is so different from what she knows. His kindness is what stands out to her the most, he respected her when her other husbands did not.
Victoria speaks up after studying Adam, "I have heard that you are a ladies man, Adam."
Adam slows down his horse enough to where he is on Victoria's right side, "Is that so?"
Victoria nods.
"I must disappoint, but I have never brought home a woman before. I have been out and about in having women as friends, but they would leave after I shoot them down."
"Are you into men?"
Adam chuckles, "Not quite, I just have not found the one." He looks at Victoria and smiles, "But I do think that I may have found a rose that has yet to be plucked by a man."
Victoria raises an eyebrow, "Are you saying that you wish to be mine?"
Adam shrugs, "I may be, what would you do about it?"
Victoria smiles a bit at Adam, "I shall say to try and take your shot, Mr. Smith."
"I will try my best, Ms. Brimswald." Adam let's go of the lead to grab onto Victoria's hand. His expression falls, "But I must say that you are not alright , Victoria. I want to help you out if you would let me."
Victoria looks down at her hand. She felt her face heat up again as she soon looks away, "I would like to open up, but I have been raised with a screwed on head."
"Not bad to loosen yourself, take your time in doing so." Adam removes his hand from her own and grabs onto the lead once again.
The nearby town has shown itself in grand beauty as Adam and Victoria take a right to where a nearby farm is at.
Adam gets off his horse and grabs a hold onto the lead. He walks over to a house's front door and knocked on it. He stands back a bit as he watches Victoria slow down Merrill and gets off the animal. He smiles until he hears the door open up. He turns to look at a gruff looking man looking down at him. Adam smiles wider, "Lewis! Nice to see you again, old champ!"
Lewis puts a hand onto his bald head, "Ahh, Adam. Good to see you again. What brings you here?"
"Me and my new lovely lady friend are here to grab a bite. Are you selling any food for us to eat?"
"Are you avoiding to enter the town again, Adam?" Lewis crosses his arms while staring down at Adam.
Adam laughs nervously, "Hehe... Probably..."
Lewis shakes his head and moves out of the way a bit, "Bring your horse over to the stables as well as your lady friend and come on in." He walks into the house.
Adam leads his horse over to Victoria and grabs onto her horse. He winks at her before leading the horses over to the nearby barn to put the horses in.
Victoria shakes her head and waits for Adam to walk back over to her to lead her into the nicely white painted house.
Adam walks over to Victoria and leads her into the house to where she is introduced to a living room that reminds her of when she had visited Isabelle's house on the weekends. There is a flowered cushioned couch sitting in the center of the room while 2 other flowered cushioned chairs lay across from the couch. 3 small caramel brown colored tables were on either side of the couch and the center between the chairs. Not much artworks of family, but rather of animals, mainly birds.
Victoria walks over to a specific painting of a blue jay. She was about to look at it closely until she hears a man clearing his voice. She turns to see Lewis standing next to her.
Lewis looks at Victoria than at Adam, "Who is your lady friend?"
"Victoria Brimswald." Adam says while closing the door behind him.
"The wife of John Harbor?" Lewis asks surprised.
"Indeed she is in the flesh." Adam walks over to Victoria and wraps an arm around Victoria's shoulders.
Victoria looks at Adam's arm before looking back up at Lewis, "I am she, but I have been ran out from my homeland."
Lewis nods and uncrosses his arms to where he is putting his hands onto his hips, "So you are a runaway?"
"Yes sir." Victoria keeps herself together.
Lewis holds up a hand, "No need to be proper with me, I hate being reminded in how old I am."
Victoria slightly bows, "My apologies, this was how I was raised into a proper noble lady."
"Not wearing those clothes you aren't no noble lady. You look as if you slept with Adam here." Lewis smirks at his friend.
Adam blushes a bit before clearing his throat, "It is not what you think."
"A man and a woman who looks as if she just got out of bed has surely not been in kahoots?" Lewis walks into the kitchen.
"Listen here you old man, we have done nothing of the sorts." Adam runs after Lewis after letting go of Victoria.
Victoria smiles and shakes her head. Hearing the men playfully argue in the kitchen as she goes over to the couch to sit on. She enjoys the new company as she never really got to experience this kind of company with Isabelle. This is peaceful and she wishes that it can stay like this.