The Vicky Series: Book 3: Living A Dream

Chapter 1 Part 1

Brevet Major Quinton Emiliano McClintock stood with his new bride at the rail of the steam boat as it pulled away from the dock. Victoria looked quite lovely wearing his favorite yellow dress as she leaned over the railing and waved at Nanny and the twins. Red, Gibson, and a few of the men he commanded also came to see them off. Everyone loved the Major's wife, especially the Major.

He slipped an arm around her waist and she looked up at him with a dazzling smile that sent his heart thumping. The twins weren't his, but he had loved them from the day they were born. Jeremy was their father, her first husband, and his best friend. Jeremy was recruited to go undercover for the Union and left the care of his family with Quin.

Before Quin realized what was happening folks assumed Vicky was his wife. With a war raging around them it was safer for Vicky and the children for folks to go on assuming that. They lived that way almost two years before news of Jeremy's death reached them. It was a devastating loss that they both felt keenly. Quin's sorrow was doubly weighted with the guilt he carried.

He never meant to fall in love with Victoria, but the day the twins were born, a friend of the family pointed it out to him. It was a bittersweet moment for him to realize that his heart had healed and that after the loss of his first wife he could love again...but it nearly broke again in that same moment. Victoria could never be his.

It was a few days after the news of his death that they read a letter that Jeremy left for them, a last wish if you will. Jeremy anticipated his death. In his letter he hoped that Quin would continue to care for their family, to love them and claim them for his own. Jeremy gave his blessing. The quiet little ceremony that legally bound them in marriage was a difficult day for Quin.

Victoria was finally his own true love, but he would gladly have given it up. He would gladly have gone on loving her in secret from a distance if only he could have is best friend back again!

As they stood at the rail arm in arm watching Fort Point fading in the distance he placed a kiss on her temple. She smiled up at him and his heart skipped a beat. He counted himself a very lucky man.

"Shall we go to our cabin or would you prefer a stroll around the deck?" He asked.

She sighed and leaned into him.

"I miss them already." He said, guessing the reason for her quietness.

"I miss them too, but I was thinking that it will take two days to reach Oregon."

"Are you really that excited for the excuse to be riding again?" he laughed.

"I didn't even realize how much I'd missed it. I was so free when I rode the stage line dressed as a man. It didn't take anything more than a skirt for folks to start ignoring me and doubting what I could do. I've learned to make a new life here in the west but I really do miss the freedom sometimes. I miss racing the sunrise. I wonder if Jonah misses it too."

"Since I've been riding Jonah I can't say I've noticed. But I often ride pre-dawn so maybe he—"

"No." She chuckled. "Back in Missouri there was a wide gently rolling meadow. I used to let him run as fast as he could toward the rising sun. Moses saw me once and teased me about trying to beat the sun to the horizon."

"That sounds like our friend." He smiled. "Come on. Let's take a walk and then visit the dining room. I'm thinking a drink might be nice."

Quin, as Vicky called him, found himself hard pressed to keep her occupied until they landed in Oregon two days later. Thinking the hardest part was past he was surprised to find her long faced as they waited to disembark.