Love and Freedom (Book 1 in the Finding My Way Series)

Words and more Words

Words and more Words

 There were far more people here than I remembered from last time at this hour. And the quality of person here had changed somewhat. The atmosphere had a roughness to it that was new also. We said hello to Sue, and some of the other women that were on the beach with us, and then sought out Red. I’m glad we didn’t linger around Sues tent for long, she seemed on edge tonight.

Red was happy to see me, it seemed that he wasn’t getting as much money since the shift in crowd, and he blamed it on them being too familiar with him, but I sensed there was something else behind it, and worried that the tents may not reap as much as we hoped. Mags told him not to worry, that she, Beth and Francis would see that he got a pay tonight.

Francis was a little wary, her eyes were shifty, and she fidgeted. I thought she was scared to be here maybe, because she may be asked to do something she said she wouldn’t, or even, maybe she was mentally calculating how much she could make if she did. I hoped it wasn’t the later. I kept smiling at her and making sure she was apart of what we were doing because hopefully it would ease her mind on both things.

“Shall we start out with some fun stuff then?” Red asked I nodded. I wasn’t sure how my voice was going to go, I think I should have asked for something a little slower to warm me up, but Red was already into the first song, smiling at me. So I smiled back at him and fell into the fast tempo he set.

Half way through the second song I saw from the corner of my eye, Benjamin, the man who helped me with the horse, when I was going after the Governor on that horrible night. He was smiling at me and tapping his hand on his leg to the beat of the fiddle. I was sort of used to men looking at me here, it was the nature of the place, and as time went on I began to recognise a lot, not all, but a lot of the faces.

Benjamin looking at me the way he was, was making me feel ill at ease, even though his smile was wide and warm. It felt hard to keep my gaze away from him, I had a feeling that the moment I finished this set he would be by my side. I didn’t smile back I didn’t want to encourage him at all. Which was silly I thought, I should be trying to broaden my horizons a bit, shouldn’t I? I hadn’t heard hide or hair of Brandon since the night I barged into the Davidsons. I was probably an embarrassment to him, and my actions I felt may have driven him away. I didn’t think he was like that, but it was the only logical explanation. The situation with him nagged in the recesses of my mind, I’ll deal with that later too.

I glanced briefly at Benjamin again, he wasn’t too bad to look at, and he seemed strong and capable. But with the feel of Tristan’s touch still lingering on my skin even hours later; I couldn’t look to someone else, not yet. So I turned my head away again, to smile at a portly man sitting near the front. Which was a timely move because he stood up and threw a coin onto the cloth laid near my feet.

I could see Mags and Beth moving around the crowd of people, sometimes stopping to chat and sometimes just encouraging them to go ahead and give some money. I was glad I could see them, to know that they were near and supporting me this way felt good. Well they had an interest in it too, but it went beyond money now, and from where I was standing they were having a good time socializing it seemed. Francis stayed close, and every now and then I could hear her joining in or humming. She did this at the beach too; it made me wonder if we should try to sing together sometime. That may make her feel better about being here. That is, if, we came back again.

Red said he needed a break, I knew what that meant; it meant that he had too much to drink prior to starting, and he needed to visit nature. I welcomed the break because I needed to wet my throat; it felt on the verge of becoming hoarse. When I turned around from talking to Red, standing before me was Benjamin, just as I had predicted. I don’t know why, but I felt the warmth of a blush creep up my neck and spread through my cheeks. The heat intensified as he reached for my hand, opened my fingers and laid some gold pieces into my palm. I looked up to see his face, he was smiling.