Chapter Seven

November

Snow

Charles and I had settled into our new life easily enough. The Meriwethers had been more than happy to trade their home and its furniture for my gold ring and pearl earrings. That had left Charles and I with a bit of silver left, I had a solid clasp silver bracelet that I was able to exchange for a good deal of money at a jeweler's in Boston. With the money, we had been able to feed ourselves until Charles had taken up a job at a printers'. He had worked there for the last eight weeks.

The only jewels I had left – and cared to have – were St. Julian's pendant and Charles' ring. Though I did not work myself – Charles had a talent in the company, and was quickly promoted and generated enough income for us to live comfortably – I did not take up the same tasks as the other women in the community.

They held weekend knitting circles, practiced their needlepoint together. Instead of sitting for hours indoors doing something that pricked my fingers more than fabric, I had taken up the habit of tree-climbing.

I did do the daily housework, not because it held the appearance of normalcy because every other woman did it, I did it because it was convenient. Charles worked during the day, so while he was away, I kept things tidy. I made sure I had at least an hour to myself each day to sit outside and read.

With his first month of earnings, Charles had purchased a membership to a library in Boston. Every few days, Charles would bring me a new book to read and return the old one. If I was not reading, I was working with a garden outside our home.

On the weekends, Eloisa and I would get together over tea and biscuits and chat. It was the most feminine thing I had ever done, and likely ever would do. Initially, Eloisa and the other women I had acquainted myself with had been scandalized when they realized I was literate and spent a good deal of time reading. Everyone but Eloisa had actually ostracized me initially, but after our first week, they encompassed me back into their social circles.

Perhaps it was because I cared little for social propriety and rules that governed gender roles that I became immune to the consequences of my 'ignorance'. If I did not care what everyone thought, they had no power. Therefore, I was not just an aberration, but a symbol of feminine strength. At least, that was how I reasoned my peculiar rejections and acceptations, for either way I cared little. Eloisa, though, had grown into a woman I could trust and a friend I could rely on.

Our home was cozy, but rather comfortable. When Charles and I had planned to run away together, we had envisioned a life of servitude initially. We had not hoped we could be able to have our own home right away, with so little to offer. The gods had been kind to us and offered us a beautiful home, tailored neatly to our wants. It was as if Fate had conspired for everything to align so neatly: The Meriwethers were looking to move to London, and we had just sailed from England. It had been the perfect arrangement.

The home was one story with two bedrooms, a bath chamber, a spacious cooking area and a separate sitting area. I was sitting in the sitting area penning a letter to London when I heard the front door close. I smiled as I addressed the envelope to my mother and sealed the back.

"Hey," Charles said softly from the doorway. Setting the wax down, I turned and stood up and walked to him. "Have you been in here all day, Little Flame?"

"Yes," I replied as his arms moved around my body. My arms found their way around his torso, and I pressed my forehead into his shoulder. I felt his chest vibrate with his usual low chuckle. "Why?" I asked curiously.

"Come see."

Mysteriously, he stepped away from me and backed into the living area. Overcome with unadulterated inquisition, I left the drawing room to follow.

"See?" He paused in front of the windows and gestured as if I could somehow miss it. He stood by the window, watching for my reaction. I could not prevent the grin that split my face.

"Oh Charles! Come, let us go play!"

"Play?" His charming smile slipped with his confusion.

"Yes, I want to go outside. Let me fetch my shoes," I explained. I darted into the bedroom that Charles and I shared. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I shoved one of my stocking'ed feet into one boot and laced it up before doing the second. Grabbing a long coat and thrusting my arms through the sleeves as I did so, I left the room.

"Victoria?"

I halted and turned to look at Charles.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing, exactly?" He seemed so confused and all I could do was smile at him warmly.

"Playing," I explained before moving to the door and opening it. I could not help the smile that spread across my face. Earlier this morning, I had been out. There had been nothing but bitter cold. Now, a blanket of silver lay at my feet.

I paused a moment and waited, absorbing the entirety of the surreal beauty around me. Silver snow glossed every tree branch, every shrub and every inch of the ground. Cotton-like flakes continued to float down from the sky. I watched as one drifted earthward toward me, stopping only in its flight path as it landed on my nose.

It was surreal feeling – as if time were slowing down around me. I turned to look to my right, and it was as if my vision lagged behind. Once my eyes focused on the road, I could see everyone. The few people who were out hurried around. They held things over their heads to keep their hair and hats dry. Long dressed flowed around them as they walked, and a carriage rattled on by.

To my left, as I turned my head and time slowed around me, I saw the free falling snow. A gentle wind picked up, swirling the silver into the air and making the air sparkle as it rained down on me.

A fire twisted inside of me and without warning I leaped from our front step and into our yard of unblemished snow. Instantly, I sank down into it as it came to caress my knees. Bending over, I scooped up an armful. With a blatant disregard for anyone who might be watching me or judging me, I spun in a fast circle, releasing the silvery flecks in a typhoon around me.

I laughed with the ecstasy of the release, but too soon I stumbled from my spin. Before I realized it, Charles' arms closed around me, pulling me to his chest. He could not, however, save me from gravity.

A wave of snow flew up into the air before raining back down on us as we fell into the snow together. I sat upright quickly, concerned that Charles had injured himself in the fall.

He, contrarily, continued to lie in the snow, staring up at me. After a moment, his surprised look shifted into one of amusement. Charles burst out into laughter, laying in the snow staring up at me.

Flecks of snow clung to his hair, his jacket and his nose. I watched enviously as a flake drifted down and landed on his flush red lips before melting. Perhaps wantonly so, I leaned down and kissed him fully on his lips in the wake of the snowflake.

Charles was surprised by the sudden movement, but he quickly wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down into the snow next to him.

Murmurs of surprise echoed around as Charles consumed me. I barely registered the shock of our voyeurs. Perhaps it was our fault because we chose to display it so publically, in our own yard. I did not care.

I reluctantly pulled away from Charles, but only enough for him to breathe. My hands still rested on his chest, my hair fell around us like a thick red curtain, snowflakes trapped in the treacherous curls. Our lips were but an inch apart, and I felt his breath on my face as he exhaled.

A strange sensation bubbled in my body, and before I could put a check on it, I started laughing. It was a soft laugh, and Charles chuckled beneath me in response. We sat like that for several minutes: Charles on his back in the snow, my body on top of his, my hands on his chest and our noses nearly touching.

"Your hands are like ice," Charles whispered in my ear, exciting a hot blush across my cheeks. I smiled wryly – not a spot on my skin felt cold at the moment. My chest rested against his, and I could feel his heartbeat as if it were the mechanism driving the blood through my body. In many, non-physical ways, it was.

I leaned down and pecked his lips once before sitting back up and rolling off of him. Together, using each other for balance and support. My hands were both cupped between his, and as we stood together in the snow, we looked around. Where there had been untouched pristine snow, there were now tracks, scrapes and entire body imprints. I smiled sheepishly up at him.

Charles looked over my shoulder at a group of women who had gathered at our fence. They wore expressions of confusion, except for one. Eloisa looked strangely content, as if she already understood.

"It is her first snow," Charles explained. This seemed to satisfy two of the four women, and turning, they began to walk away. The third remaining one cocked her head to the side in disbelief.

"Are you tellin' me she didn't see snow in London? Betsy and Sue, there," she woman nodded to the retreating women, "have never left America. But I am fairly certain there was snow there."

"Jemma, have you not ever wanted to do something, but felt restricted?"

"Of course, and I restricted myself."

"But why?"

"Because it would shame my husband."

"There is nothing Victoria could ever do that would make me ashamed of her. I love her, and if something makes her happy, then that pleases me. She did no harm, she did not even soil her dress. The snow will melt off. Is it so wrong to be so free?"

I buried my face in Charles' jacket as tears sprang to the corners of my eyes. His words were so true of me, I really did not care. But they were so beautiful because he loved me for being me. Not for dressing up and going to a debutante ball and looking fetching and being able to waltz in perfect time. He loved me because if I wanted to play in the woods, I would play in the woods. He loved me because I ran away from home, and he loved me because I tripped and fell in the snow, taking him with me.

He loved me because I was Victoria.

I could not be more lucky in this life. God loved me for some reason – I had so much more than anyone could ever hope to have. I was able to 'marry' for love, not familial convenience, and he was the most amazing man in the world. Truly, the most beautiful soul I had ever seen.

The way he stood, and held me in his arms and defended my unladylike actions to our neighbors as if I were in the right – and perhaps, on a fundamental level, I was – and the way he spoke of all the reasons he loved me caused a strange feeling to stir.

It was a warm, bubbling sensation that started at my toes and filled my entire body. I felt weightless in his arms, and my heart swelled slightly.

I realized, in that moment, I loved Charles even more, and before that point, I had not thought it possible.

As Jemma walked away, leaving a smiling Eloisa alone on the fence, I turned and whispered to Charles.

"You know, if you keep doing things like that, I'm going to love you so much my heart will explode," I murmured.

"What?" Charles barely had time to ask before I stepped away, leaving his bewildered question in the air. I approached Eloisa, and she smiled warmly at my approach.

"How's the snow?" She inquired, as if it were normal for a woman to frolic around in the snow like a child.

"Cold," I replied honestly. "Beautiful," I added, glancing over my shoulder to watch Charles move back to the warmth of the house, pausing on the doorstep in an attempt to dust off the accumulated snow.

"That it is," Eloisa murmured softly, her eyes following mine to look at Charles.

"Do you have plans tomorrow evening?" I inquired, looking back to her.

"Just dinner, when Benjamin gets home," she murmured again.

"Well, would you and Benjamin like to join Charles and I for dinner tomorrow? I think that would be lovely, myself. Charles and Benjamin seem to get along quite well."

"That would be lovely, thank you. Would you like me to come over early and help with preparations?"

"Of course, if you like. But for the company, not the work. Come over about, perhaps four? Most of the preparation will be finished then and we can chat."

"And then Benjamin can come over when he finishes work-"

"And once Charles get home-"

"We can have dinner," Eloisa finished. I smiled at her; perhaps it was frightening how close we were. Finishing each other's sentences, practically reading each other's mind; it was not a surprise that Charles slipped inside when he did.

Eloisa touched the fence top lightly and smiled.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Goodbye, Eloisa," I murmured, turning away as she walked from our yard.

I stopped at the step and dusted off my shoulders and shook out my hair. After trying to kick some of the snow from my boots, I walked inside…

…and right into Charles' arms.

His arms closed around me tightly, and he pressed his lips to my forehead.

"You feel cold, Little Flame. I started a fire for us," he whispered. After releasing me, he led me into the sitting room where a small fireplace held a warm, crackling fire. Instantly, we both sat down on the floor in front of it, his arms never leaving where they were wrapped around me.

"I love you," I whispered to him softly. He smiled, and kissed my temple.

"I love you too, with all that I am, for forever," he murmured in my ear.

"Forever," I assented quietly.