Cold All the Way Through, But Warming

Showtime

It was a blustery day as we waited on the platform at the station, the afternoon train from London would arrive to a bright and breezy day, perfect weather it seemed. I, on the other hand, was frustrated with the skirt of my traveling suit that kept blowing up around my knees. I heard Will chuckle as I batted it down for what seemed like the fifth time in the past hour, "It's quite alright you know, your stockings aren't showing that much."

"I wouldn't be having this problem if you'd let me wear the dress here." I reached up to touch the hatpin securing my straw hat to my hair. I hadn't thought to need one this morning when I had set it out, but after we had spent the first five minutes outside of the house chasing my hat down, Will had managed to find an old hatpin of Ada's in his wardrobe. It was plain silver, but it did to hold the hat on my head. "The skirt is much heavier on it than this one."

"After what you spent on that, I am hardly going to let you get it covered in soot and dirt." He pulled me back from the platform, which was quickly growing crowded with passengers waiting for a train. I let him pull me along, using the opportunity to stand close to him so my skirt wouldn't blow up any more. We must have watched three different trains pull out of the station before the boat train arrived. We patiently watched as crowds of people started making their way down the platform, porters following with carts tacked high with luggage.

I pointed out a lady wearing a skirt that bore a striking resemblance to a lamp shade. "Do you think she has a first class ticket?"

"Perhaps she's in third, and she can use it as an umbrella for her children." Will kept his voice low, but I had to cover my mouth to not start laughing loudly. The crowd had mostly moved off before I saw him start and stand up straighter. I followed his gaze, finding an older couple standing to the side of the platform, talking to a porter who was loading a single trunk onto his cart. Will caught my arm and began to walk over, and I took the brief walk to study his parents. His father was a burly man with a clear pair of blue eyes looking out from above a beard that must have been dark but was now scattered with silver. Where his father was large, his mother was small and fine, with a small nose but a great mass of gray hair braided and dressed above her head, a small white hat pinned to it. I looked aside at Will as he stopped, "Mother, Father, it's good to see you again."

"Oh me Willie," His mother stepped forward, drawing him down to an embrace before she stepped back to take him in. "Ye're looking even better than ye did last month." She turned, "And this must be Anastasia, my Will, she's a beauty."

I ducked my head, blushing. "It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Murdoch."

"Call me Jeanie, lass." She reached out and patted my hand, "We're to be family after all. Samuel, come meet your future daughter-in-law."

Having apparently settled with the porter to take their trunk away, Will's father lumbered over. "'Tis a pleasure to meet ye, miss. Will here couldn't keep his mouth shut about you back home."

If I had thought Will's brogue got thick sometimes, his father's was almost unintelligible and it took me a minute to figure out what he had said. "Oh, well, he has told me so little about you. I'm looking forward to getting to know the both of you."

"Perhaps we should get you to your hotel," Will smiled, taking my arm, "And we can join you for dinner tonight." We wound up following the porter with their trunk through the station, and Will saw them off in a cab before claiming another for us. He looked aside at me, "I'm sorry about them, they were just so excited back home."

"Oh Will, they're lovely." I pulled his hand into my lap, running my thumb along his knuckles. "Although your father's accent is, quite thick to say the least."

"My grandfather was far worse. Sometime's I wasn't sure if he was speaking English." He shook his head, "It took me a long time to lose mine."

"I like it when you have your Scottish accent." I glanced forward, making sure the driver wasn't looking back as I leaned over and whispered, "It makes me want to go to bed with you."