Before Midnight

Chapter 3

"Tilleford is a Magical place, Sara. I can't wait to shown it to you."

    Sara looked up at her father from where she sat in the back of the cart. She had always thought that her father was the handsomest of men. His thick black hair shining in the sunlight and his smile stretching from ear to ear. She copied his smile knowing that she was just as beautiful as he was. She had been lucky enough to have her fathers looks from his black hair to his sloping nose. The only thing she had inherited from her mother were her deep blue eyes, like a stormy sea. Her father often told stories of how he had fallen in love the moment he saw her mother's eyes.

"Papa, don't forget that you promised to buy me a new dress when we get to the farm. Just as nice as the ones the girls in London wear." She said moving behind him and throwing her arms around his neck as she smiled broadly. She dreamed of a blue dress with pink silk ribbons, tailored to perfection and best of all, clean. As the eldest, she was always expected to help her mother with the house hold chores. Every item of clothing she owned had stains or tears. Now that her father was the owner of a farm they could afford to hire a servant to help her mother and Sara could buy beautiful dresses. They had been traveling for two days and she had argued with her mother more than once about wanting to change her clothes. Her eyes shifted to her mother whose face was taking on the pinched look she got when she was tired.

"Sara, there will be other, more important things to tend to once we get to the farm, such as unpacking and checking on the animals. If there is time and money we can talk about getting you a new skirt and apron. You will be living on a farm now and will need an apron to keep from getting too dirty." Came her mother's voice dashing her pink and blue dreams aside. It was just like her to try and spoil everything. Sara wondered if maybe her mother was jealous that no one had mentioned her getting a new dress. She decided that this had to be the problem. She usually attributed all of the issues between her and her mother to jealousy. Aside from her eyes, her mother had nothing beautiful about her. Just as she began to compare her mothers own sun spotted complexion to her own porcelain skin , she felt a tug at her back. She turned to look at her younger brother, Joseph.

"Dirty like the pigs! Oink oink!" Shouted the boy, inches from her face, drops of spit hitting her. She wiped her face in disgust.
"That's right Joseph, Do you like pigs?" Came her mother's cooing voice her face brightening as she spoke to her son.

    Sara frowned at him and her mother. It had been this way even in London. Her mother would constantly tell her that they were poor and couldn't afford to spend money on frivolous things like hair ribbons and sweets. Then her father would come home from a long trip out to sea and he would bring her back gifts from the places he had visited and she would tell him of all the things she had wanted while he was away and he would get them for her. Until Joseph or mother complained and the gifts would stop. Things were different now that her father was a respectable farmer and not a poor sailor. For instance, Sara thought that the role of farmer suited her father much better. He was too handsome to go away for months at a time and return with a thick beard and his skin dry and weathered.

"Mary, my love. A farmer earners more than a sailor. There will be money and time for both. Although, you should be worried about how you're going to keep such a large house. My father wanted a large family and added on two rooms before my mother passed." He said to his wife while patting Sara's hand lovingly. She watched as her mother pressed her lips into a severe line. Sara smiled secretly glad, she'd always felt that her mother was being selfish with the money that her father brought home and now that he would be home all of the time he would see to it that she was given her fair share. Hopefully, she would be too busy now with all of the extra work to concern herself with what she did.

"Papa, I won't really have to take care of pigs, will I? You know how I don't like to be dirty." Sara said this with a pointed stare at her mother whose clothes were travel worn and her shoes covered in dust from the road. Mary shifted her feet slightly so that her shoes where hidden under her skirts, he cheeks flushing pink.