Victoria

"What? No! No, don't kill anyone. It is long over. I won't forgive any of them, not ever, but it's behind me now and I won't let it hurt me any more with thinking about it. When are you going to let me in that shop of yours? It's been long enough!"

"Soon! I am almost ready," he laughed. He leaned close and kissed her head. "I will show you this week, I have a surprise."

"Yeah? I have one too. I'll tell you if you tell me."

"I know your surprise," he laughed.

"You do not!"

"I do! And I know more than you."

"What are you talking about? You are wrong, you can't know more than me!" she laughed, turning to look up at him.

"Oh but I do! I know a great many things, my people do. I was told two nights ago of this secret of yours and now I have a secret that you do not know."

"I think you are bluffing!"

"Am I? She will be born in June, on the twenty seventh day."

Her smile faltered. "What? How could you possibly know that?!? And you knew? Who told you? I haven't told anyone!"

"Grisha told mama and mama told me. Grisha see's a great many things, yes? It is so," he said with a pleased nod.

"A girl? Really?"

"Yes."

"So I will need to find a lovely girl's name!"

"Tradition says first born children are named after their fathers and second born their mothers."

"We are not naming her Patron!"

"Patrona."

"No! I will think on it and we will compromise. I need to talk to Fern."

"She speaks to you now?"

"A little more. She is starting to try. I think she knows she was wrong, but she is too stubborn to admit it. Now she is acting some like it never happened. She asked me to come to tea on Saturday."

"And she will tell you about mothering? There are women among my people who could do the same."

"Oh, I know. I have invited your mother and your cousins many times to the sewing circle and they won't come. I am trying to get them to socialize."

"They do not sew, Zana, they do not see the point. They have asked all of you to come and sit at the fires and dance."

"Perhaps a compromise? A dinner at the church for all of us ladies. We can eat and talk and all get to know one another."

"I will ask, Zana."

Victoria rolled her eyes at the nickname that she had hated at first, but had come to secretly like. She refused to let him know she loved hearing it on his lips.

"So now I get to know your secret, right?" she asked, pulling him down for a kiss.

He chuckled and kissed her gently. "Soon. Not today. I will hurry, yes?"

She smiled as he left, then it slipped away when her eyes fell on the note. She threw it in the trash, her heart a little heavy. Men began bringing things in and she started opening crates and boxes and putting things away.

Willie was among the men bringing things in, but she didn't notice until he cornered her. "Sorry, Victoria. I never got to finish. Beth said if you wanted she would come here and see you and your store. Bart said he hoped it was because of him and what you learned that you opened this place. I..."

"Do you want forgiveness, Willie? Truly?"

"Yes!" he said quickly and she could see the torment in his features.

She pushed past him and pulled the note from the trash. "Give this to Beth. Hand it to her and stand there while she reads it. They need to know why I left."

"Victoria... this will..."

"I know what it will do! He doesn't deserve the way they miss him and the love they have for him! You give them the letter and you stand there while they read it. Answer any questions they ask honestly. Then, when that is done, you are forgiven."

He nodded sadly, taking the note from her. "I will do it, Victoria. I won't like it, but I will do it. Not just for you, but for Millie and our daughter. I don't want to be a man they can't look up to. I will do it for them too, because they need to know what their son was. What all of us were. I will show Tucks ma too. You have my word."

He left, his head down and Victoria spun away. A man was looking her over and she thought she remembered him. A friend of Barts. He gave her a sad nod and went back to his work. She wondered if he had gleaned enough from what they had said to know what happened. She didn't care. She went back to putting things away, trying not to think about it.

That night, Patron woke her, holding her and kissing her temple. "Hush my love, it was just a nightmare," he whispered as her heart hammered in her chest. "You were screaming again, like you do sometimes. Are you sure you will not let me kill the man? If they are all gone you will have no reason to remember the bad things they did, yes?"

"I'm sure. Patron? Make love to me? Make me forget?"

He chuckled and made her forget. Three times.

Two days later, he came into the store and set a carefully folded paper in front of her. She smiled, looking up at him, then picked it up. It was heavy. She unfolded it to a beautiful silver filigree comb for her hair. Her mouth opened wide. "Where did you get this? It's lovely! Did you order it?" she asked, immediately putting it in her hair and looking in the mirror.

"No, my Zana. It is your surprise."

"My surprise?"

"Yes. Come and see," he laughed, pulling her out to the old store and in. It was like a blacksmith... but in miniature.

"What is this?" she asked, looking around. After asking, she saw it. The mold in the hardened clay for the comb. Another mold for the filigree design. There were buttons, rings, earrings, all lined up as if about to be displayed. "You MADE this?" she asked, touching the comb in awe. "How?!?"

"It is called silversmithing. Smaller things. Some of us, we know the mending and casting of pots and other things. I can cast pots and pans as well, but I will need an outdoor space akin to the smithy. It can be added onto the back, yes?"

"Patron! This is amazing! These are all so lovely!"

"And the selling of these things, they will help, yes?"

"Yes! I am still so... These are all so beautiful! This is a lovely surprise, Patron, truly. Worth the wait."

"You are happy, yes?"

"Blissfully happy," she laughed, hugging him.

"Happy enough that you will allow Patrona?"

"I was talking to Fern! She had an idea and it's a compromise. Patricia. It's close to Patron. It's the feminine of Patrick."

"I will think on it," he answered, pretending to frown at her teasingly. She giggled and hugged him again.

It was an easy winter and Lavinia hovered more and more as Victoria got bigger. When spring came, she kept trying to convince them to come stay at the wagons. No matter how many times Patron told her no, she always asked again next time she showed up. Victoria was beginning to feel hunted.

Just before summer started, Lavinia began demanding that she stop working. Finally, Victoria had enough. Her emotions were high and she snapped.

"Your son is next door in his shop! If you want to harangue someone, go see him! I am done listening to you harp on me and tell me everything I am doing wrong! You can come back when you learn to keep your opinions to yourself and not before!"

Lavinia stormed out, offended, but Victoria didn't care. She had a brief hope that Patron wouldn't be too upset with her, but she had too much on her plate to worry over his overbearing mother.

Patron came in ten minutes later, laughing. "I had a wonder on how long before you sent her away!" he teased, pulling her close to kiss her. He bent more than double to kiss her belly, something he always did now. "She says she only has a worry for Patricia, but I know her. Her worry turns into misery for another, yes? How are you feeling? Is she still stretching up into your chest and making it hard to breathe?"

"She is better now, she is being still at the moment. We..." she trailed off as the front door opened and stepped away from Patron to go to the counter to help whoever came in. She blinked at the couple standing there, shocked. "Beth! Bart! I wasn't expecting to see either of you..."

Beth's eyes were red like she had been crying, but her eyes dropped to Victoria's belly and her face lit up. "When?" she asked, hurrying closer.

"June," Victoria answered slowly.

Bart stepped up next to his wife. "We came to have words," he said softly. "We... we knew some of what happened. We knew you weren't happy about it being Lane, even though you were always very sweet to us. We knew the boys was all hard on them Irish, but there was no real harm in them, we thought. Just words. Willie told us everything that happened. Everything they did. We... had no dealing in that, no knowing of it at all. We wanted you to know that."

"I knew you didn't."

"Despite all they did, you were still so sweet to us. Coming and working, always smiling and warm to us. Never letting on how much you were hurting. We didn't come to ask you to forgive our boy. We know that aint fair. We wanted to say we're sorry for not seein you was in pain. Sorry we couldn't be there for you. Sorry you thought you couldn't tell us or come to us for help after he was gone. You didn't have to run off alone and afraid, we would have helped you. Even to come back here. We care about you. Still. You are the closest thing we have to a child now and we don't want you to think we hold any ill will for you," Bart said, his voice thick with emotion.

Beth was wiping her eyes with her kerchief. "Tori... can I come and hug you?" she asked.

Victoria hurried around the counter and hugged Beth tight, the older, taller woman hugging her and sobbing on her shoulder. Bart hugged both of them and they all stayed in that embrace for several long moments. Victoria had tears running down her cheeks when she finally pulled away.

"I'm sorry. Patron, this is Bart and Beth Bristoe. This is Patron Cooper, my husband now."

"Not the big irish man?" Bart asked, confused.

"Caius died a while back."

"I'm sorry to hear," Beth said sadly, looking at Patron with wide eyes. "Is he...?"

"A gypsy? Yes. You have purchased some of his work for your store. Combs like the one in my hair? Rings? Bracelets? Brooches? All his creations and designs."

"Oh! That is lovely! You do lovely work young man," Beth said faintly. She looked back to Victoria. "So, June? Have you thought of names? Are you hoping for a girl or boy?"

"According to Patron's people, it's a girl. Her name will be Patricia."

"Oh? Is that right? Well that's lovely! Do you think... do you think if we visited again this fall we could see her?"

"I would like that. If you need a place to stay tonight, tell Seamus over at the inn that you are guests of mine. I would like to meet you both there for dinner as well. I don't normally cook much, I am too busy, or I would offer to make you a meal."

"The inn sounds splendid!" Beth said happily, smiling and a bit wide eyed.

"The rooms are nice and the food is wonderful. We have a cook named Hattie who is amazing. She puts almost every woman in town to shame with her meals."

"Even I like her food and I do not so much care for the food not made by my people," Patron said with a smile and his gallic shrug. "If ever they leave us, we will sorely miss them, her and Amos both."

Victoria smiled up at him and patted his hand. "No one will be rude to them and run them off, husband," she said softly. "Your unsubtle warning was very... unsubtle."

He grinned down at her and leaned down, kissing her. "It is so. They are people I care for and would not like to see them hurt. Feelings or otherwise."

"I know. Hattie and I have become close too, she has helped me with my back pains and ankle swelling so much. Now enough. Bart, Beth, I will let you go settle in and I will be over as soon as I close the store. Who is watching your store?"

"Willie. He started working for us not too long ago after his pa passed and the bank was took over by another man. He sent Willie off though he knew the running inside and out because he had two sons in law to put to work. We brought him to work with us, his Ma is livin with him and Millie and their little girl Sophie. Things are hard on them right now after Willie told everyone what they all done. Why Tucker... did what he did. He's trying hard to make his amends."

Victoria only nodded, her cheeks red.

"No need to go off on that road," Patron said quickly. "She only just stopped the nightmares from last time. Too much stress on her right now, yes? Only good things for her, yes?"

"Of course! Yes, you are right. We will go see ourselves settled and visit with you this evening!" Beth said quickly.

"Young man," Bart said thoughtfully, "You think I could come have a look around your place? Show you a few things I had in mind, see if you could make them?"

"What sorts of things?"

"A hat pin my ma had. Lost it in a fire, but I can remember it to draw it. It would mean a great deal to me if you could get it close?"

"I will make an effort based on the likeness, yes? We will see. You may come as you are finished with the finding a room, yes? My place is next to this one, with the red sign."

"Yes, I saw that sign. Very bright," Bart said with a nod. "Certainly grabs your attention! Maybe I should try that. Draw the eye with bright color. You a hand with painting too?"

"I have a cousin who is. Perhaps we will speak of it later, yes? After you have seen to the inn?"

They nodded, finally getting the hint and left. Victoria turned to Patron and pulled him down into a deep kiss, her heart both heavy and happy at the same time.

"They are not so bad people. It is a shame their son was who he was. They have a care for you, and they hold on to their son through you I think, yes? They want someone to care for, to be close to. A grandchild to spoil and love on. It is so, yes?"

"Yes. They are good people. Lane... After reading that letter... I think he wasn't really so awful, he was trying to be worse than he was... but that no longer matters. Done is done. I know he tried to make up for what he did, but it would take a better person than me to forgive him. Even in death. His parents though, they were always good and kind to me from day one. I can return that in kind. Thank you for being so understanding."

"It is not without reason," he answered with a smile. "I will keep you in a happy mood so you will let me make you scream for me, yes?"

Victoria laughed and hugged him against her.

Patricia was born on June 27th, exactly as 'Grisha' had predicted. Victor was born 14 months later and Caius 17 months after that.

Willie came to Newhaven and opened a bank there, teaching one of the swedish men the running of it, then he went up to O'Dowd and opened one up there that he ran himself.

Victoria still refused to forgive him, but she tolerated him and accepted that he was trying. She actually liked Millie a lot and their two daughters were as sweet as Millie was.

Patron's people moved up between Newhaven and O'Dowd, making a community for themselves and others specifically like them. Not a town, just a community. Close enough that Patron could visit and Lavinia could come and see her grandchildren.

Victoria adored Patron, loved him without reservation, but she often thought of her gentle giant. How much he would love how big and successful Newhaven and O'Dowd had become. How proud he would have been.

Her heart was full, even as she missed him. She knew he would be happy for her.