“Really?” Victoria asked Duncan as he said it was the nearest he’d been to a calf. “Could have fooled me. You must be a natural then.” She chuckled sweetly. As he mentioned that he was supposed to head into town, her face dulled slightly as she realised she had put him on the spot like that. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to intrude on your day. But…if you’ve not got any cooking supplies or even furniture, it won’t do you any good. You need the necessities before you get anyone in there, that’s for certain!”

He offered for her to hop onto his wagon She took one look at her white steed and nodded. “Alright.  Phillipe, you head on back to the stables now” She patted his back and he trotted off as that was the signal he was home free to roam a bit. She turned to Jasper then “Home.” He yapped and trotted off back to the house. “Good boy!” She yelled after him and then turned, picked up her long skirt and held it slightly higher than her knees as she took a running jump and vaulted over the fence. She landed in the dirt somewhat sloppily. “Much harder in this darn dress.” 

She dusted her dress down but the hem was a lot dirtier than before. “Belle’s gonna be mad.” She simply stated nonchalantly at Duncan as she passed him by and got up on the wagon by herself. “We going or what?” She asked with a playful smile. Any other girl in town would have expected him to help them up to it. Not Victoria, she was more independent from being used to doing things for herself. It would be nice to be treated like a Lady sometimes though. And this Duncan seemed like a gentleman, good mannered. She hoped her father would like their new neighbour or it would cause all sorts of problems and drama she didn’t want.