I just want so say thank you to Heart-Good and Evil and CarlyO'Brien for the feedback, and all the other silent readers that, I hope, are enjoying this little drabble of mine.

I thought it was better not to put more than the strictly necessary Portuguese words since it would probably be too confusing but please assume that anytime Luisa is talking with her father or Henrique they are speaking in Portuguese. Bo's voice will be more present since she's Luisa's guardian angel and again sorry for Connor's "absence", I'm picking the perfect time to put him forward and I'm afraid he'll skip this chapter again.

The chapter's name came from the song Winter Winds by Mumford & Sons, which I like to think described the importance of this two last chapters, especially from Connor's perspective, but I never really know what is going on on the character's heads, even when I'm writing them, they are always on the mirror's edge and just out of my reach.

Chapter Three – When The City Clears And The Sun Ascends

Luisa woke up with the white light of the winter sun coming in from the windows, Bo had obviously been in the room, the fire had been re-lit, her favorite emerald green dress was on a chair ready to be put on and the smell of breakfast filled the room. She got up and when to the small table near the window where she wrote her letters and currently held her breakfast. Bo came in a few minutes later and the ritual of getting dressed started and even if Luisa loved the bright colors and big skirts she hated the fact that these clothes were impossible to dress on your own; they were too heavy, the corset was impossible to tie in the back and once that was done she could barely move enough to put on her bonnet when she left the house.

"How's our guest." She asked between the pulls and twists of Bo's hands.

"He was up before the sun rose; Jack found him downstairs and gave him some bread. He had some errands from your father and said he would be back later." Jack was the Jack of all trades in the house, no one knew if that was his real name or not and no one really cared since he was honest and always greeted every one of them with a smile.

"Make sure he doesn't forget the cocoa." She heard Bo laugh behind her and the last nights doubts crept over again.

"A messenger came, said Henrique would stop by before setting sail. I think he likes you." Bo said with her hands on Luisa's shoulders and laughed again when she felt them warming up under her hands when she mentioned the young man. "That's why I took the liberty of picking this dress." She said picking it up.

"Thank you."

"But you won't need color on your cheeks if you keep on blushing like that."

"Bo…"

"Connor was nice too..." Bo said ignoring her.

"He wasn't father approved."

"…and he isn't leaving today for the other side of the Atlantic."

"He's a native."

"And…?"

"And if anyone saw me near him all of father's hard work and money will go down the drain, I owe him a good marriage."

"He wants you to be happy."

"And I am Bo, every day and every hour I'm not begging on the streets alone and helpless, I'm happy. My father and Jane are my happiness and it's my vow to give them happiness in return."

"And the only way a girl can do that is by marriage." Bo said not hiding the sarcasm in her voice.

"By a right marriage Bo, it has to be the right one. Besides… I fancy Henrique… and not much to say about Connor." Bo smiled when she finished Luisa's hair and she turned to her. "Now I must go and see my father. Really Bo, he's more than enough the matchmaker I need, don't join him, especially if you're going to push on the opposite direction." This time Luisa was the one smiling when Bo laughed and gave her a small peck on the cheek before leaving the room.

Bo's smile faded when Luisa left the room, she was sad for she had seen the three of them sitting on the living room the previous night and her heart stopped with the realization of how right the picture looked, but she couldn't explain to Luisa the senses of her culture, the sight that saw the links between souls, ignoring their status and prejudices. If Luisa had been her daughter Bo would explain it to her, but she wasn't, she was her lady and she would leave her as soon as she was married, and Bo felt she was the foolish one for trying to push her over boundaries that were too deep, too well defined to ignore; and to be fair she hadn't even met Henrique.

On the other side of the house Luisa entered her father's room after a soft knock on the door. He was already up, taking is breakfast wrapped in covers in front of the fire.

"What a lovely dress Lu."

"Henrique is coming over." She said kneeling beside him, laying her head on his knees like she did since she was ten years old.

"So I heard."

"Do you think he'll come back someday, or is he just coming to say a final goodbye?"

"Oh, I know what I think, but my thinking doesn't change much and the future has a whole thinking of its own and I don't do much thinking about what destiny is thinking."

"I didn't get half of that."

"You weren't supposed to, dear." Domingos said with a warm laugh that brought a dry cough that made Luisa stand to try and help him, worried again by his frail state. "It's fine… I'm fine Lu."

"You won't leave today, will you?"

"Oh no, I asked Jack to call a doctor, I know that forcing myself will only prolong my misery."

"You aren't just saying that to me, are you?" Luisa frowned at his silence and decided to give a small warning to Bo so she would look out for any misbehaving.

"Will Henrique come by after lunch?"

"I don't know, the messenger said before the ship sets sail."

"Bring him here once he comes, I whish to speak to him."

"Another secret talk." This time Domingos looked at her with worry in his eyes, hearing the edge on his daughter's voice.

"What are you implying?"

"Only that you seem to keep many secrets lately. Private talks with strangers that come around the house when neither I nor Jane is around, friends that I don't know about and troubles that you don't tell me!"

"It's not secrets… my relationship with Connor is strictly professional, I brought him here because it's the only place I feel like I have some privacy. It's a delicate business that will bring us great riches if succeeded but it must be kept secret, not from you, but from other traders in Boston."

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"To keep you safe, Boston traders can be very… barbaric when it comes to getting answers."

"I wouldn't tell."

"I know Lu, but the best way to convince them that you know nothing is if you actually know nothing."

"Not even Connor."

"That was my intention, yes. Not being able to link the two of you would have made thinks a lot easier."

"It has nothing to do with him being a native?" She said with sarcasm.

"Well he's not a native his father was English."

"Oh then we must introduce him to Catarina!"

"Lu, be serious! Native or not you two must not be seen together, if admitting that his skin is a factor will keep you away then I'll do it because he's dangerous and you must focus on your education and on finding a good husband that will take care of you." Luisa heard the danger of pursuing this matter on her father's voice, but it was too late, she was much too angry to ignore the opportunity to provoke him, her one true weakness: she loved to see people out of their comfort zone; and when you're angry keeping your dark side under control is near impossible.

"So you're implying that Connor is unable to take care of me?" She had gone to far, Domingos face turned red as his hand hit the chair and made Luisa stand, suddenly scared.

"God forbid Luisa of you even thinking of that man in those terms! He's not for you! I'd rather die than seeing you turn away all that I worked so hard to get you by marrying an American commoner, a savage! I raised you too well for that! You're too beautiful for that!" He was interrupted by a knock on the door and by then Luisa had backed away almost all the way to the wall, never having seen her father like that or saying such cruel words. "Come in! You may leave Luisa."

She opened the door and her heart froze as she stumbled into Connor on the other side of it, burning red with embarrassment she mumbled an apology and ran to the kitchen straight into Bo's arms, not really crying but trembling with the shock of seeing her father so enraged and wondering just how much did Connor hear since by the end of it her father was already screaming his words at her.

"Don't worry child, your father had a terrible experience yesterday, his body is still recovering… his mind is not in its right place." Bo said to Luisa while moving her hand in smooth circles on her back to relax her.

"Do you think he heard?" Luisa didn't need to specify who she was talking about and Bo answered her with a frown.

"I'm afraid the whole house heard it."

"Then why did he knock? How come he didn't left after what he just heard his partner say?" Bo looked into her eyes and was amazed to find in them, amongst the fear, curiosity.

"Because he's a good man and decided to interrupt your father before he said anything else that he might regret."

"How do you know?"

"Because that's what I would have done if I saw a sick man on a wild rampage."

"So he won't hold my father's words against him?"

"And neither should you." Those words comforted Luisa and Bo felt her muscles relax under her hands, she hoped in the bottom of her heart she hadn't misjudged the young man, but she knew that after a whole life of insults you learnt to build a wall around you against them. She was more worried about Luisa, Domingos' sweet child suddenly coming to face his demons, the rough man of the sea. Bo had seen him in the last month when he was alone with his troubles on the house. Something was changing, as she only hoped Luisa would come out of it in one piece and she prayed every night for the strength to protect her.

At that time there was a knock on the door and after making sure Luisa was perfect she went to open the door while silently telling her to sit by the fire on the living room. It didn't take much to know who was at the door and she formally introduced Henrique, proud of how Luisa managed to hide away her worry and presented herself with a perfect posture and a perfect smile, the only thing she really needed to add to her dark brown hair and green eyes that turned into a deep emerald color with the reflections from the fire, perfectly matching her dress. Her smile turned larger as she left the room and noticed she forgot to put on the rice dust to hide the tan Luisa had gained over the years spent under the Portuguese sun that never really faded, a constant source of embarrassment for Luisa and a delight for Bo who hated the pale sickly skin of the European ladies.

Luisa did her best to be warm and a good company but she couldn't help breaking her act a little when Henrique asked to see her father, she told him about the previous night and that he had to receive him in his own room and when he showed no reservations about it she felt a shiver in her spine when she thought about going upstairs again. She stood up and asked Henrique to follow her and every step she took upstairs she got more nervous and had to take a deep breath before she knocked on the door, taking the absence of sound from the room as a good sign.

"Come in."

"Henrique is here." She said opening the door seeing her father and Connor bending over some papers which her father hid before telling her to enter.

"Welcome to our home Henrique. Lu, bring Connor downstairs and tell Bo to prepare a good meal for him as well as a good portion of food for his journey."

"Yes father." She avoided his eyes, and Connor's too as she left and waited for him to follow her and once downstairs she gave the instructions to Bo, not really knowing what else to say, she let silence take over the kitchen.

"Here's your food," said Bo putting the meal in front of Connor, "and this is for the journey," she brought a small basket filled to the top and covered with a cloth to the table with a smile on her face hearing Luisa in the back ground suppressing a laugh as she imagined Connor with his serious face and gigantic physic carrying the basket around. "I must go now or I'll never find a good piece of meat from the market. I'll be back in time for lunch, don't worry Lu."

Luisa waited until Bo left to face Connor, barely keeping the laugher as it threatened to come out of her, again.

"You can leave the basket, I'm sure she'll understand."

Connor took the cloth and putting the contents of the basket on the center of it, tied the ends together, easily tucking it away in one of his satchels.

"Thank you."

"I lost count of how many times you thanked me in the last twenty-four hours and barely said anything else." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she covered it with her hands, embarrassed. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." He was looking weirdly at her, the best word Lucia could come up with to describe it was… surprised? Mixed with some amusement?! What was wrong with her today? She was edgy and all too keen to come up with rude answers and accusations. There was a lot happening in such a short time she just wished she could hide in her bed for a week and wait for all of it to go away. It didn't help that he wouldn't take his eyes off of her and it got under her skin because it felt like e was judging her.

"I'm sorry… about earlier."

"Why?" He was judging her, he knew, she could tell he knew what she was talking about and still asked her so she would have to say. Mad as she was, she knew he had every right to ask.

"Because I taunted my father, knowing he was fragile and it made him say some things he will regret once he recovers."

"I doubt he will ever regret protecting his daughter as much as he can. If calling me a savage will keep you away from danger than he would do it, wasn't that what he said?"

"How much did you hear?!"

"Enough to know I should keep away from you."

"And scare me?!"

"If that's what it takes. Your father was right to worry." He finished the meal and now she was the one staring, not really believing what he was saying and that he was the same quiet man from last night, who was now almost making direct threats to her and implying a deeper knowledge about Domingos, deeper than hers. "I know your father for longer than you might think." Those were the last words he had a chance to say as hurried footsteps were heard coming down the stairs and Henrique showed up at the kitchen door with a beaming smile on his face.

"Come with me." He said in Portuguese taking her hands and leading her to the living room, not loosing time in getting down on one knee and almost bringing Luisa with him since she felt her own knees turning into jelly. "Luisa, with my promise to come to Boston as often as I can and to be devoted to your beauty and kind spirit, will you give me your hand, and be my wife?"

She froze, almost laughing as she remembered that just moments before she asked for some quietness and all of the sudden life was taking another turn and she was barely able to keep up with it. She looked at Henrique, all her father ever wanted for her, all she had promised never to accept and yet she found him so hard to refuse knowing how happy her father would be.

"Lu dear, he has a ship to get on to." She turned to the door seeing her father at the doorway with Connor standing behind him, his face a blank expression, much like a statue.

"Father you shouldn't be up!"

"I wouldn't miss this moment for anything in this earth." Domingos said with a smile, after which she raised her eyes, meeting Connor's, and saw how unsynchronized they were with his face, there was nothing blank or indifferent in them, she saw a fire inside them, hidden, carefully controlled much like her own, but his was darker. She saw the shades of dark memories she had left behind her in Lisbon, he had the eyes of the orphans she coldly forgot, the eyes of the prisoners forgotten in the gallows, of poets arrested for their liberty of thinking. She saw the danger, but instead of fear, she felt a strange attraction towards that fire, much like a moth does to a candle.

She knew she stared too long at him and turned to Henrique, suddenly disappointed of his eyes for they held no fire, no pain, no freedom, only an existence too easy to give him any interest. The quiet she needed so much, so she smiled and said, "I will," hearing his laugher and her father's, feeling herself being lifted in his arms.

When Luisa looked at the door again her smile faded a little, Connor was gone.