Victoria finally let the tears she had been holding back for hours trickle down her cheeks. She took a couple of deep breaths to try and calm herself. She felt as if she had no control over her life. Now, here she was, knowingly stepping into a pile of manure. A fabrication of a wedding to the town’s black sheep. “Get it together, Victoria Nicolette Jameson!” she said to herself and wiped her face.

This man, Garrison, she wondered how he felt. He is being forced into this game of pretend and doesn’t know what he is getting himself into either. He’s getting an old maid with extra unruly curly hair, big ears, and an extra loud laugh. Maybe they could be friends, given the circumstances, and it could turn out to be a pleasant situation. Who cares if he looks like a toad? She wasn’t a Helen of Troy herself. Why was she trying to convince herself that any good would come of this? She was going before a holy man and lying, and there was nothing else to say about it. She could hear thunder in the distance. Apparently, God thought the same thing…

She woke up to the sound of the train whistle. There was a tap at the door, and then it slid open. Victoria was disoriented when Ruby and Delores entered with what looked like a wedding gown. If that wasn’t enough to snap her back into reality, the veil sure as hell did.

“We’re about an hour away, so we need to start getting you prepared,” Ruby said with a sniffle.

“Don’t cry, Mrs. Ruby. Winston explained everything to me and even gave me the option to go back home. I agreed to stay. We have to help these people open their eyes. How long was I sleep?” Victoria asked with bloodshot eyes.

“For about three hours, dear. So much like your daddy, it breaks my heart. Edward would be so proud of you,” Delores said, wiping her eyes.

“I appreciate that you think that. I know he’s looking down at me, and he will protect me from harm,” she said, happy to be discarding her sweaty attire but scared under the circumstances. Her little speech was to reassure them as well as herself.

They got her dressed in silence, which she was grateful for. It allowed her to drift into her thoughts about her duties. It was Victoria’s job to teach as many people as possible who wanted to learn to read and convince those who were not why they should. This would give them a chance to fight back against those trying to silence them and keep them from benefiting from the 14th amendment. Things were not super easy in New York, but the white people pretty much left them along to live their lives as long as they stayed out of their way. This would only be the beginning. Winston and the others would seek aide from those willing to help get the word out about having a right to vote for the other coloreds in the town. Her grandfather had been a slave, and her father would have been to if his mother had not run away while carrying him. A white pastor and his family took her in and eventually bought her freedom. The sound of more sniffles brought her back to the present. “What is it now, ladies?”

“Oh my dear God, you make such a beautiful bride. It’s such a shame that Gloria isn’t here to see you,” Delores said through her tears. The train whistle sounded off again. They were pulling up to the station.

“It’s all an act, and when we get back home, we must not speak of this!” She had caused her mother enough grief. The roar of thunder was on top of them as it drowned out the whistle. They had finally reached their destination. It was a long 12-hour trip. The woman frolicked over her some more and then presented her to the shepherd, who was escorting her to the wolf. She gave a chuckle.

“Oh dear, Ruby, she’s becoming delirious. I think we should call it off…”

“It’s too late to call anything off,” Winston said as he opened the boxcar door. Even without him saying that, Victoria knew it was too late to be calling anything off, and she had no intentions of doing it.

“Mrs. Ruby, Mrs. Delores, honestly, I’m fine,” she said with a smile and then lifted the hem of her dress and stepped out of the too-crowded room. She didn’t bother addressing Winston. Had she looked up, she would have noticed that his eyes had turned glassy and his jaw had dropped open. She was just ready to hurry this part along so she could get to the important part. She marched out onto the platform and landed on Mr. Pickett’s foot. “Pardon me.”

“No, my apologies for being in the way of such an exquisite beauty,” he said with a twinkle in his eye as he reached out and grabbed her hand. She wanted to snatch her hand away but forced herself to endure the feel of his cold lips upon her hand. She always felt unclean after an encounter with him.

“I really would appreciate it if you didn’t touch my bride again,” came a rough baritone voice.

She and Mr. Pickett both looked in the same direction. To Victoria, he looked like a giant. He had on a cowboy hat, but even without it, he would have been intimidating. His skin tone was that of lightly roasted peanuts, and he had stubble on his face. The shadow of his hat concealed the top half of his face, but the bulkiness of his body told her he was no one to anger. His hair was longer than hers and hung in two thick plaits past his back, suggesting mixed heritage. She felt her knees give way, and down she went.

The strange man caught her before she hit the ground. He had to be quicker than lightning, she thought. She looked up into his angry silver-grayish eyes and then over his shoulder to see the sunlight peeking through the dark clouds and felt her daddy looking down on her.

“Garrison, I see you still have the same effect on women, and I don’t mean that in a good way either.”

He stood her back up on her feet and then turned to Mr. Pickett. “Julius, what the hell are you doing back here?” he said in the same unfriendly voice.

“He’s here with us, Mr. Hurston,” Winston said.

Victoria hadn’t realized the others had exited the train. She walked quickly to stand by the other women and their husbands. Away from the man with the wicked colored eyes.

“Another bad choice on your behalf, Mr. Lewis,” he said coldly.

“What was the first one?” Winston asked.

“Coming down south. Let’s hurry this along; I have something else to tend to,” the man said, turning his back on the group.