Page 109 of Her Creation

“Dance with me,” Inno said as they took their first steps inside their new home. “I’ve been waiting a lifetime for this dance.”

“There’s no music,” Victoria giggled.

Inno pulled her into his arms and began to dance across the empty cabin’s entrance. The smell of freshly cut pine lay softly at the edges of the cool air inside.

“I don’t need music.” A smile lit up his face as he twirled Victoria, then dipped her low and pressed his lips to her neck, just below her ear. “You’re all I need.”

Slowly, over weeks and months, and eventually years, the hard times melted away and turned into days filled with satisfaction, joy, and always love. They spent their days together in the safety of solitude. The occasional hunter was never a problem; most of the time they never found the small cabin tucked in the middle of nowhere, despite Inno tracking their whereabouts.

Until one day an expedition ship anchored on the shore too close to their home.

“Let it be. They are probably lost,” Victoria urged Inno as they watched the large ship approach.

“No. It’s a brig, square-rigged. It’s for exploration, surveying, and charting. Look at how carefully they approach.” He leaned over and kissed Victoria. “Get back in the house and do not leave until I return.”

She nodded and fought off the unfamiliar rise of panic. “They will be tracking the boat. Even if you kill everyone inside, you cannot destroy the boat,” she reminded him.

He frowned. “Why not?”

“Because someone else will come looking for it, and then we will have another issue entirely.” The panic bled from her eyes and Inno stiffened in response.

“Then we will deal with that then,” he said as he stood from the cover of trees and helped her up. “Go inside, my love. Do not worry.”

Victoria’s face scrunched. “Of course I will worry; we’ve only just gotten here,” she cried as she pressed her head against the fur coat that covered his chest.

“We’ve been here for over three years,” he said with a smile.

“Yes, and it’s been peaceful. I am not like you. I cannot keep running. I want to grow old here with you, away from everyone.”

“And we will.” He kissed her. “I have to go. Take my coat. I need to pull out the old longboat.”

“That one’s broken, remember. It broke on our way to the other hunting cabin.”

“I know. Go inside. When I return, there will be no survivors, and the ship will be gone, and it will be only us again. Safe from everyone.”

Chapter 32

Log entry

March, 1803

Location: Unknown

Here you are, Clara. It will help with your injuries.” Victoria refilled the steaming cup of tea and handed it to me before she sat back down on the chair. Inno had returned and was tucked in the shadows as he leaned against the doorframe of the small bedroom I was laid in.

I took a sip of the hot black tea. My hand trembled and shook the golden-brown liquid as I glanced about the small cabin with a new perspective. “That’s quite a story,” I said, still processing the wildly romantic tale.

“It is,” Victoria agreed. She sat with hands crossed, and despite her tense, rigid body, hope sat in her eyes.

“So now what happens?” I asked as I pressed my logbook to my chest for comfort.

Victoria swallowed. She took a breath and seemed to struggle with her words for a moment before finally speaking. Her almost red-tinged brown eyes looked tired and weary. “It seems our story isn’t complete, not yet. I need your help,” she whispered softly as she helped me up from the bed.

I steadied myself as she helped me stand with only one usable foot. Our eyes met and something passed between us. A silent kinship of the struggles of being a woman.

“My help with what?” I asked, already beginning to understand what they were about to ask of me.

Victoria glanced at Inno.