Having finished with getting the set of Andalusians to a man in the Gretna Green area, Lorn had bought a ticket to head home leaving the grooms to take the personal mounts back the long way.  As they were so valuable, he had ridden out with them himself with two of the grooms.  It had been quite a trip, and he hated leaving Heidi behind, but it was not the kind of trip she would do well with. 

He wore a deep blue suit, appropriate for a gentleman, though his hat was of the cowboy style from back home.  He had not gotten used to top hats, and they bothered him.  That he was an American, a Texan to be specific, he figured he didn't mind people knowing it.  His accent would give it away fairly quickly anyway.

Taking off his hat, he looked around for a place to seat.  He had not gone on for the first-rate ticket this time as he had found some of the people there to be snobs.  Where he came from, he had rubbed shoulders with the rest of the crew even though his family had owned the property.  He just didn't like how people treated those they considered "less" than themselves.  Maybe it was because he was an American, but it was how he was raised.

He saw an empty seat across from a young woman.  Holding his hat in his hand, he indicated the bench across from her with the empty hand, and asked, "Mind if I sit here, ma'am?"  He asked with his Texas accent making it clear that he was not from the area.

His hair was white.  Not really strange, many men have white hair.  The oddity was that if one looked at his face, it would not seem that he was nearly old enough to have white hair.

She had spent a day in Gretna Green when she had been jilted, rightfully so, for the guilt and shame she felt for even establishing any sort of relationship with a man not nearly long enough after the death of her husband. That was a story for the books, and that was all she wrote. For the moment, she was sitting between two baskets, one babe in each basket. Karen's face was a mask of serenity, though if one looked closely, they might catch a glimpse of eyes that glittered with an... almost feverish look.

However, when approached by a man who spoke in that same manner as her Harold, she could not look up. The Irishwoman smiled politely even still, and gave a gentle wave to welcome him to the seat in question. The gesture was brief, for she returned her hand to the belly of the babe in the right hand basket. Her eyes averted, then, she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, so she closed her mouth and simply nodded in an awkward way.

Then she looked out the window and bit her lip, color filling her cheeks in chagrin more than shyness.

Once he sat looked into the nearest basket as he sat down, his eyes widened.   A baby.  Then he looked at the other basket expecting baby paraphilia to find another baby.  He had not really seen Heidi when she was tiny.  She had been about six months old when he was contacted about the mother's death (after holding the baby but soon thereafter) and that he was the father.  That had nearly, understandably, stopped the plans for his wedding with Cressida.  She had forgiven his poor behavior and lack of responsibility when she found out that he planned to raise the little girl as his ward.

He had not wanted her to grow up with a smudge on her reputation before she was even a year old.  The mother's parents were not able to raise the child as they were not healthy.  Lorn made sure the grandparents got updates about how Heidi is doing via letters.  The story they had planned together was that she was the daughter of a friend of his from the US who had died on the trip to visit him.  They had no family to speak of, so he had taken her as his own.

When Cressida heard what they had come up, she had decided to go ahead and marry him with the condition that she adopt Heidi as well.  Lorn's name had not been on the child's birth certificate, so going through the adoption process had been legit.  Now, she was a three-year-old sprite that had lost two mothers now.

Lorn gave the woman a glance and then looked back at the baskets.  "Looks like you have your hands full. How old are they?"  He asked with a smile.  The eyes looked a bit feverish, he thought, but it could be just being tired.  Some men might be uncomfortable around babies, but having been around Heidi the last few years, it was not an issue for Lorn.

The man spoke to her again, and shame filled her when it hit her that she had subjected her infants to nearly making the worst possible mistake of her life. No, it HAD been the worst mistake just in going to Gretna Green in the first place! Her babies did not deserve the shame… Without looking up, she gave a quiet reply, “Three months.”

Ugh, how could she have done such a thing? Her cheeks felt hot.

And now there was a man sitting across from her and she was traveling with her twin babes, what must he think of her? What must anyone be thinking of her? Her eyes still did not meet his, though they did drift wearily and froze upon seeing the hat. She dragged her gaze upward and was startled by the white hair. He was as light as Harold had been dark.

It took her a few moments to realize that she had been holding her breath. She quickly shifted her eyes back upon the window, wanting to shrink into the seat so very badly.

"Oh, well, that is young."  He gave her a look and then glanced around wondering why she was traveling alone with the two tiny babies.  "Well, I have a little girl and have helped take care of her quite a lot.  So, if you need a hand while we are traveling, please feel free to let me know." He watched her as she avoided looking at him.  He sat his hat beside him on the bench. 

"My name is Lorn Vaughn, by the way."  He didn't reach out to peek into the baskets as he didn't want to scare her or something.  "My little girl is three and already knows she has me by my little finger.  Her name is Heidi."  He spoke low and easy, being friendly. 

The man came by asking for tickets, and Lorn pulled his out of his inside jacket pocket to hand it over and get it punched.  Taking it back, he put it back in his pocket.

“Aye,” she nearly whispered the word. Her gaze finally settled on his face, startled by his offer. What did she say to that? “Thank ye for that.” She stared then, and then the man came by to read tickets and she fumbled in her pocket with shaking hands. At last, the ticket was produced and punched.

“Karen Calloway is me name,” she said in an increasingly tight voice. She wondered if she had done the right thing by letting him sit across from her. But then, he didn’t seem to be judging her for traveling with such young children. The man was harmless, yes? She took a deep breath and let it out, but it didn’t stop the trembling she now felt. Perhaps she was a bit tired… after all, she had hardly slept the night before thanks to the nightmares about her late husband.

"My pleasure, ma'am."  He thought about his first time taking care of Heidi.  Granted he had stayed with the child's grandparents that first night and hired a nanny the next day.  However, it had been stressful and totally out of his wheelhouse.  He had gotten at it better, but then he had Cressida and the nanny eventually.   He gave a look at the woman and then at the two baskets again.  How she was doing this alone, he had no idea.

"I got my girl when she was 6 months old, long story, my late wife and I adopted her in the short of it."  He waved a hand not thinking she would want to hear the fake story anyway.  He wouldn't share the true story with very many.  "But I know I didn't sleep much those first few weeks, not in a normal schedule anyway.  So, if you need to take a nap, I'll keep an eye on them.  Where are you heading?  If its a ways, you'll have time to rest while I'm here.  I won't be getting off till we get to Whitby."  He explained.

She had never just had someone start telling her stories besides her brother, though he was no longer interested in being associated with her at the moment. Karen stared out the window for a long moment as he continued to offer help and the like to the weary young woman. “I am headed to Whitby,” only if to get her things and flee the city so as not to have to face the judgment of those who witnessed her with the clockmaker she almost married.

How did one react to an offer to watch her children while she rested? It wasn’t something she took from just anybody. Finally, she just took in a deep breath again and said, “That would be… lovely… thank ye.” She managed a half smile.

"Well then, you have a couple of extra hands for the trip."  He smiled.  He had been raised to be friendly and helpful to ladies in need.  It was just how things were done with his family. 

"You have family meeting you there?"  He asked, wondering how the young woman was dealing with two babies on her own.  Surely, there was someone there to help her.

"Are they identical?  What are their names?"  He asked peeking again into the baskets.  "In case they fret while you rest.  It might be good for me to call them by name."

"No... I'll be alone when I get there. Well... with Niamh and Harold... their names. A boy and a girl." Her words sounded more and more husky. She closed her eyes, not asleep but thoughtful. She wasn't nearly as talkative as Lorn seemed to be, she wondered if the man didn't like the quiet very much. Oh well, at least it was an easy mouth to look at she thought and nearly giggled at the thought of getting caught staring at a mouth like that. Lord, but she had gotten herself into enough trouble.