DISCLAIMER:- I do not own any of the characters from Dr Quinn, but am merely borrowing them for a little adventure. The character of Georgiana Richards is all my own.
I have rated this "M" just in case, as later chapters may well involve some steaminess!
CHAPTER ONE
Georgia sat across the breakfast table from her aunt who was reading a letter from her daughter Michaela – Georgia's cousin. Michaela had lived in a small frontier town called Colorado Springs for over a year, having answered an advertisement for a doctor there. Michaela's four elder sisters and her mother all thought she was insane and disapproved intensely of her lifestyle, but Georgia knew Michaela's father would have been proud, despite what the others said. She admired her elder cousin greatly and only wished she had the gumption to do something with her life too.
Georgia was twenty-three years old, already a widow and destined to spend her time with Aunt Elizabeth living the life of an old lady for the foreseeable future. With all of Michaela's sisters married, only Georgia and her aunt lived in the huge Boston house, surrounded by servants and with a dozen equally elderly, refined and boring neighbours.
"Michaela's getting married two weeks from Saturday," Aunt Elizabeth said. "I really hoped she would change her mind. You remember Sully. He came to Boston that time when I was ill and Michaela brought the children to visit."
"Yes, I remember," Georgia replied. She hadn't been living with Aunt Elizabeth then. She had lived with her husband Frederick, but the pair of them had been invited to a large family dinner at the house during which Sully had arrived out of the blue, long-haired, unshaven and dressed like a savage. To her credit, Aunt Elizabeth had simply invited him to join them, but it was clear she was unimpressed by the interruption and hoped fervently that Michaela would turn from him in favour of the young doctor who had wooed her during their visit.
"We will all go, of course," Aunt Elizabeth went on. "Your cousins will no doubt follow later, but you and I must make haste to help with the arrangements. If Michaela must marry this man, the least we can do is ensure she has a proper dress and all the necessary things on the day."
"Won't she have already made her own arrangements?" Georgia said.
"Not suitable ones, I don't suppose. Since she moved to that godforsaken place, she seems to have become part heathen like the rest of the town." Aunt Elizabeth folded her letter and stood up. "Come along, Georgiana, we must pack. Be sure to take one good dress for the wedding – the blue silk, I think. Your black will do for the remainder of the visit."
Georgia had been wearing black for six months as was required when mourning one's husband. Aunt Elizabeth and Frederick's parents had made this quite clear. With a sigh she set off upstairs to her room to pack the outfits, glancing sadly at the rows of beautiful gowns hanging in the closet which she could no longer wear. As a small gesture of defiance she folded her favourite, a deep green satin, into the bottom of the case and hid it beneath the blue just in case. She had only worn the dress once. She had bought it from the boutique on the High Street, newly imported from London, England, at once struck by the rich colour and modern style. She had worn it for dinner with Frederick and his parents and been properly chastised afterwards for allowing a hint of cleavage to be visible. She smiled as she closed the case, hoping she would have the opportunity to wear it, if only once.
Three days later the two women were on the train to Colorado Springs. Aunt Elizabeth hadn't bothered to write back to Michaela, but had decided they would surprise her. Georgia knew Michaela well enough that the pair of them arriving with an entire carriage full of wedding decorations and outfits would horrify her rather than give her a pleasant surprise, but she knew there was no point saying anything to her aunt about it. What did she know? She had only lived twenty-three years after all.
Georgia gazed out of the window of the carriage daydreaming as Aunt Elizabeth dozed, looking forward to the adventure of visiting Colorado Springs and escaping, if only for a week, the utter boredom of life in Boston.
It was a long journey and although tired after the days of travelling as they approached the little town, Georgia was also excited and looking forward to seeing Michaela. She saw a little of Michaela in herself and hoped one day she would be able to break away and make her own life doing as she pleased, just as Michaela had.
At last the train pulled into the station and Georgia looked out of the window to see a crowd of people gathering on the platform. Amongst them was Michaela. Aunt Elizabeth rose swiftly and looked critically at her niece before they left the carriage.
"Goodness, Georgiana, what is your collar doing? Fasten up that top button at once!" Aunt Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Yes, Aunt." Georgia fastened the uncomfortably tight top button again, smoothed down her black skirts and followed her aunt out of the carriage into the narrow corridor and towards the door.
"Why, Mrs Quinn, how nice to see you again," a grey-haired man said, reaching up a hand to help Aunt Elizabeth down the steps onto the platform.
"Thank you, Mr Bray," she replied.
"Loren, please," he protested, gripping her hand tightly until she had both feet on solid ground.
Georgia put her hand on the safety rail to climb down and immediately found a hand being offered to her for assistance.
"Let me help ya down," drawled a deep voice.
"Thank you."
She put her small hand in its neat black glove into his large one and he gripped it firmly. She looked at the owner of the hand as she began to descend the four steps, taking in long hair streaked blond, a bearded face and piercing blue eyes. He was wearing dark blue trousers and vest, a lighter blue shirt and a necktie. As her feet reached the platform, she realised how tall he was as she had to tilt her head back to look at his face.
"Hurry along, dear," Aunt Elizabeth said, grasping her free hand and pulling her away. She looked back over her shoulder as she drew her other hand free from the man's grasp.
"Thank you," she said again, before she was hurried away towards Michaela.
"Mother!" Michaela hugged her mother carefully and then turned towards Georgia. "Georgia, it's lovely to see you!" She gripped the younger woman's hands and kissed her cheek.
"Michaela, I wish you'd use her proper name," Aunt Elizabeth said in exasperation.
"You know how I hate it," Georgia muttered.
"Georgiana is your given name, you should respect your parents; I'm sure they wouldn't like you to keep shortening it the way you do."
"Mother called me Georgia herself often enough," Georgia said. "Michaela, who was that man?"
"Which man? Why don't you just call me Mike?" Michaela said with a smile and a raise of her eyebrows in her mother's direction as if daring her to argue. "Everybody does here."
"Alright," said Georgia, smiling at her. "The man who helped me down from the train."
"Oh, no one important," Michaela said, ushering her towards the end of the platform. "What's Mother doing?"
Georgia turned to look at Aunt Elizabeth who was giving orders to the train porters regarding the contents of the carriage.
"I'm afraid she brought some wedding things for you," she said. "Clothes, decorations, a cake….all kinds of things."
"Oh, no," Michaela sighed. "Oh, well, we'll worry about it tomorrow." She squeezed Georgia's arm. "Still in mourning, then?"
Georgia nodded wrily. "I'm sure I will be for some years yet."
"Don't worry, I'm sure we can do something about that," Michaela said. "Actually, there's something I want to ask you, which I think will do you the world of good. You know Sully and I are going away for two weeks for our honeymoon. Mother and my sisters will return to Boston on the Monday morning after the wedding, but I'm going to need someone to take care of the children while we're gone. Colleen and Brian anyway. Will you stay? Don't worry about Mother, I'll deal with her."
"Do you mean it?" Georgia beamed at her.
"Of course I mean it, silly. I only wish I could do more than give you a couple of weeks of freedom. You won't be on your own anyway; you'll meet Dorothy and Grace and Myra – they'll all look in and help you out. Colleen's fourteen now too, almost grown up. They'll be under strict instructions to make sure you enjoy yourself."
"Thank you, Mike, this is wonderful," she said.
"Michaela!" Aunt Elizabeth's imperious voice boomed across the platform. "Where's your wagon? These things will need to go to the house." She indicated two chests and Georgia's suitcase. "The rest of the things are to go straight to the church."
Michaela exchanged glances with her cousin and then went over to her mother, leaving Georgia by herself while she arranged the loading of the wagon.