Chapter 1- topic89347.html
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Chapter 2
In the early morning, Alice Roxanne Williams stood in the doorway of her new home. The 17 year old watched the bustle of the Abernacky streets, an intrigued expression across her pretty features. She loved this.
The dust. The craziness. The carriages riding down the streets, the men (and occasional women) on horses, the dust rising. The many shops, the constant movement. Everyone had somewhere to go, something to do. She touched the brim of her new sunhat.
“Come on, Alice.”
The voice behind her made her jump and step out of the doorway. Her aunt Marian stepped out as well in her big dress, adjusting her skirts.
“Mornin’ Missus Williams.” the man leaning against the side of the house said, tipping his hat.
“Good morning to you as well, Mr. Smith.” Alice said politely.
“Lead the way, Smith!” Aunt Marian called from behind Alice. “Watch your skirts, Alice. You don’t want dust on them.”
Alice rolled her eyes, but picked up her skirt a little. So, the group went on. Smith, the local guard hired to protect the Williams women, Alice, Aunt Marian and Eliza, Aunt Marian’s handmaid. The walked down the street, along the houses. These were the nicer houses, in the higher class part of town, but still on the main road. The main road was wide and long, running all the way through town. It was the busiest part of town, shops on one side and houses on the other. The houses up here were the nicest ones.
“Mr. Smith?” Alice asked after a pause
“Yeah?” he grunted.
“Have you ever seen an Indian before?” she asked excitedly.
She could hear Aunt Marian tsk behind her.
“A fair few.” The thirty and five year old or so man said with a nod, not looking back. “Some good, some bad. People ‘round here are more scared of ‘em than they need to be. Most of them just want to trade.”
“Oh.” Alice said, eyes wide. She looked across the street to a shop with the sign “Wills’s General Store” hanging over the door. Maybe she could slip away and get a book from there. Something with Indians in it? Of course, that would mean getting past Aunt Marian, which would be hard. Only possible, really, at night. But Smith told her explicitly not to leave the house after dark. So that plan was kind of in the garbage now.
What would people say? she thought with a smirk. Lester Williams’s only daughter, his gem, his rose Alice, sneaking about Abernacky at night, alone? The talk of the town, it would be.
“I’ll be here.” Smith said, opening the door for Alice. They had stopped in front of the largest house in town, one with a large porch and lacy curtains. It had a long wooden porch that wrapped all the way around with a rocking chair or two, and was at least two floors. The outside was was very fancy and well built. “Yes, yes.” Aunt Marian said irritably, and walked in after Alice. She gave her a dangerous look.
A man came to greet them in the foyer. A butler, probably.
“Mrs. Abernacky is waiting for you in the parlor.” The butler said.
“I’ll be helping around, Ms. Williams.” Eliza said with a nod.
“Good, good.” Aunt Marian said.
Alice looked around. Everything was quite nice in the house. The carpet was red and embroidered, there were paintings and such on the walls of even the foyer. In front of her was a large set of stairs, also covered in carpeting. To each side a room with a closed door.
“Manners, Alice. Manners.” Aunt Marian hissed to Alice before the butler opened the door.
Alice stepped in first, and felt like she had stepped into a large house back home.
There was a fireplace facing the front of the house, above which sat a very large painting of a rich looking man. There was also a large nugget of gold on a holder, among other things. There were mirrors and photographs around on the walls, along with chairs, velvet couches and tables with various items on them. The place was so full of opulent things that it looked cluttered. A bowls filled with dried rose petals gave the whole place a sickly sweet, old scent.
On one of the couches sat a clearly rich woman. She was wearing a fashionable dress, a shock for somewhere so far from the rest of civilization. The large woman had graying blond hair piled on top of hat in an elaborate style, and was somewhat fat. She held a dainty tea cup in her plump fingers.
“Alice Williams, is that you?” the woman asked in a polished accent.
“Good day, Mrs. Abernacky.” Alice said with a smile.
“So nice to finally see you, love!” Mrs. Abernacky informed her with a smile. She looked her over as if assessing every bit of her external image, like someone looks at a piece of fine art. At the moment, Bertha Abernacky looked pleased at this art.
“Thank you.” Alice smiled, but in her head knew that this was the start of a long, boring day.
“And you, Marian! Been teaching this young lady her manners? Sit, sit. Tea, please!” Alice and Aunt Marian sat down on the another couch. Aunt Marian smiled tightly.
“Trying, Bertha, trying. This one’s a suborn one. Chasing after dime novels and the Western sunset.” Aunt Marian said, shaking her head.
Bertha Abernacky laughed.
“She’ll be a fine woman soon!” she said with a smile. Alice smiled weakly back.
“Speaking of which, Harrison should be joining us for lunch. Out riding, he is.”
Aunt Marian smiled for real this time. Harrison Abernacky. Bertha’s only son, and heir to the family's fortune in land, money and gold. Alice had never met him. Her eye caught the large nugget of the precious metal on the mantle, the only thing worth looking at in the room.
“Is that real gold?” she asked all of a sudden, realizing that it sounded rather rude at the last second. Aunt Marian’s angry gaze lashed her like a whip. Bertha laughed again.
“Of course, love! Real Abernacky gold. My husband himself found that piece.”
Alice looked at the painting above the gold. That must have been the man, Wesley Abernacky. Medium height and a bit wide like his wife, he was balding, and looked as important as he was in his fine suit and stern expression. He was out of town on business at the moment. She would meet him later, she was told. He was a very important man indeed. Abernacky, the town, was named after him. He was soon to become business partner of her fathers. This was a very important partnership.
She would not want to mess things up with her quote- “overly free will and curiosity”, as Aunt Marian called it.
In any case, Alice mostly sat while Bertha and Aunt Marian gossiped. Sometimes she was asked questions. “I like to read.” she answered. Or, “Yes, the journey over was splendid.”
She was glad for lunch to come, in any case. She heard the front door opening and closing when they sat before lunch.
“That would be Harrison.” Bertha said with a smile. Aunt Marian smiled back. It was all very cryptic to Alice. Not for long.
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