Chapter 10

Lewis reaches his house as the moon begins to rise. The sun no longer in the sky as he slows down the horse and walks it over to the barn. He gets off the horse and opens up the barn to let the horse inside. He walks over to his horse to take off the saddle and lead. Walking out of the barn and closing the doors behind him, Lewis puts the saddle and lead onto a rail and heads into his house. He sees Adam and Victoria lying down on the couch. He smiles a bit and closes the door behind him. Walk over to Adam to see him and Victoria are cuddling each other. Lewis clears his throat which causes Adam to turn a bit to look at him. Lewis asks concerned, "She asleep?"

"She was able to eat bread and drink some water than she passed out." Adam says quietly.

"Benjamin is on his way to take a look at her. Did you eat anything?" Lewis crosses his arms on the couch as he looks down at the duo.

"Is he going to hurt her in any sort of way? Also I ate some apples as well as some carrots, I was not too hungry." Adam moves his arm a bit that has Victoria's head on it.

"He did not say." Lewis says.

Adam nods as he stares back at Victoria who is beginning to open up her eyes. He smiles a bit, "Good evening, Ms. Brimswald."

Victoria sits up and places her hand below Adam's arm that she was using as a head rest, "Evening..."

Lewis looks at Victoria, "How are you feeling?"

"I am a bit better than from earlier..."

"That's good. We have a certified doctor coming over here to take a look at you to get you seen." Lewis stands up straight while putting his hands onto his hips.

"I-Is he going to send me to an asylum?" Victoria asks concerned and scared.

"We will make sure that does not happen." Adam says confidently. He looks at Lewis for approval.

Lewis nods, "Trust me when I say this, Ms. Brimswald. My wife had to go into an asylum and I was unable to see her. They treated her poorly and abused her to where she could no longer stand. They let her leave the hospital, but she only ended up worse than she did before. Not even a week passed and she died from the abuse."

Victoria covers her mouth with her hand, "I... I am so sorry..." Giving her a bit of space to be able to talk freely.

"Benjamin used to work in one of them asylums and understood that the way people are being treated there is not healthy so he left and became a doctor that helps with wounds. He was the last person to have seen my wife in a healthier state as well as Augustus's brother." Lewis sniffs a bit. He swore to himself to not cry about what happened to his wife.

Adam sits up as well and has his back turned towards Lewis. He faces at Victoria, "Due to the things that we heard from Benjamin, we swore to never let another person to go into one of them asylums. You can trust us."

"B-But it's mandatory that people like me are required to go into one of the asylums." Victoria lowers her hand and stares into Adam's eyes.

"The last thing that we need is someone like you, Ms. Brimswald, to be out there and being put in an asylum. When Benjamin comes, we will teach you how to act normal and carry on with your day." Lewis says with confidence.

"I can do that myself, thank you, but it has been a long time since I have been able to lower my guard and actually embrace what is going on with me." Victoria looks away from Adam and stares at the couch.

Lewis and Adam look at each other before looking back at Victoria. Lewis knows that pain that Adam is going through, he didn't want his wife to go to the asylum. He wants to help make sure that Adam and Victoria will be ok before they leave his house. He let's out a heavy sigh, "I have to go chop some lumber with Chester in the morning, Benjamin will be here soon. Tell him that he can sleep on the couch for the night until morning." Lewis turns away and walks into the kitchen.

Victoria looks at Adam again, "Will Lewis be alright?"

Adam turns his head to where Lewis went, "I have known Lewis ever since I was a teen, he has been the strongest man that I have ever known, but the mentioning of his wife is what breaks him. He could not help her when she needed help."

"What was her name?"

"Virginia, why?" Adam raises an eyebrow.

Victoria's eyes went wide and asks, "Did she have blonde hair and wears red every Friday?!"

"Yeah?" Adam backs up a bit.

"I know her! She would come by the bakery in London every Sunday to get some loafs for her and her husband! I did not know that her husband is Lewis!"

Adam smiles, "I am surprised that Virginia and you knew each other."

"She would always talk about things that made no sense to my friend, Isabelle, but to me. They felt real to me!" Victoria says happily.

Adam chuckles a bit, "Nice to know that she has friends other than doctors and nurses."

"But she disappeared 4 years ago and we have not seen her since." Victoria says disappointedly.

"That is because Virginia was sent to an asylum for 4 years, when she got out... She died..." Adam says hesitantly.

Victoria nods, she now knows what happened to her friend that she loved to see. This friend is no longer alive. She would not be able to hear her thick accent and hear about the things that Virginia would talk about on the daily basis. It made the room colder, but it made sense as to why Lewis does not have any paintings of his wife around, he does not want to be reminded of how she went out of the world.

Victoria and Adam hears a knock on the door and Adam gets up from the couch to go get it.

Adam nears the door and asks, "Who is it?"

"It's Benjamin, Adam." Benjamin's voice rang.

Adam smiles wide and opens up the door to see his friend, "Ben!"

Benjamin smiles and pulls Adam into a hug, "Hello again, Adam!" He let's go of Adam, "I heard from Lewis that there is a little lady who needs to be checked out on. That little lady being Ms. Brimswald, herself."

Adam moves out of the way for Benjamin to enter the room.

Benjamin looks over at the couch to see Victoria sitting up on it. He smiles and walks over to her with his equipment. He sets the equipment down and squats down in front of her, "Hello again, Victoria."

"H-Hello Benjamin." Victoria says politely, but shakily.

"I want you to be aware that I am not here to hurt you in any sort of way, but rather here to help you." Benjamin says.

"It helps when I talk to Adam about it."

"But Adam is not a doctor, he cannot do much to help you with your medical needs." Benjamin reassures Victoria, "But I can let him stay nearby while I examine you."

Victoria nods and let's Benjamin open up his bag to bring out a stick. He turns towards Victoria, "Open wide please."

Victoria does so.

Benjamin looks around to see if he can find anything wrong once he put the stick on her tongue. He takes the stick out and looks over at Adam, "Her throat is fine."

"She is experiencing hallucinations, Ben." Adam corrects his friend.

"Hallucinations are severely an issue, Victoria, when was the last time you had an hallucination?" Benjamin asks.

"Earlier today when I was trying to eat breakfast." Victoria says honestly.

"Can you describe it?"

"I saw little red men crawling over my food, but I had one of them in my mouth." Victoria puts her right pointer on her bottom lip.

Benjamin takes out ink, a feather, and a book and begins to write down what Victoria talked about. He looks up at her, "Did you notice anything out of the ordinary with these men?"

"Other than that they are red and had no clothes on, no." Victoria lowers her finger and places her hand onto her lap.

Adam looks over at Victoria, "T-They had no clothes on?!" He nearly screams.

"Shut up, Adam!" Lewis yells from his room.

Adam goes over to where Lewis and begins to argue with the older man. Leaving Benjamin to tend to Victoria.

Benjamin let's out a sigh, "Ignore him, he is not the brightest of the bunch."

"He is smart to me." Victoria says calmly.

"When he wants to be, but other than that he normally argues with Lewis as if they are father and son."

Victoria smiles a bit and laughs. She have heard Adam and Lewis argue before, but now knowing that they act the way that they do is normal around here. Benjamin talking to her is making her feel a bit more at ease, she knows that she won't be sent to the asylum for undergoing some sort of problem with her and will be treated. She stops laughing as soon as Adam walks back out from arguing with Lewis.

Adam scratches the back of his head.

"Did Lewis kick you out?" Benjamin laughs at his friend.

"No, he told us to do this tomorrow." Adam says.

Benjamin stands up while putting away his supplies, "Might as well, it has been a busy day." He looks over at Victoria, "We will pick things back up again in the morning. Have a good night for now."

Victoria says politely, "You as well, Benjamin."

Benjamin picks up his bag and walks over to the stairs to walk up to his room.

Adam watches Benjamin before looking at Victoria, "Will you be alright to sleep alone tonight or do you want me to stay in the room with you?"

Victoria looks up at Adam, "Stay with me for the night, I do not trust myself well enough to not have another hallucination."

Adam nods and holds out a hand for Victoria to take it.

Victoria puts her hand onto Adam's and he helps her onto her feet. She smiles wide at him as he leads her to the room so that they can sleep.

They went up the stairs carefully just in case Victoria has another hallucination. Adam would occasionally look back at her to see if she would be alright. He smiles knowing that she wants him to stay by her side for the night. It brought him happiness that she trusts him enough to stay in the same room together. He brought her over to the room and opens the door for her.

Victoria thanks Adam and walks into the room and goes over to the bed. She takes off her shoes and gets underneath the covers. She looks at Adam to see him taking off certain clothes which is his shoes, coat, and shirt. Victoria looks at Adam from head to toe to see that he is an attractive male. She has never done this to another male before especially not to her late husbands. Adam has shown her sides that the other males don't even show her. She feels her face burn as she can imagine what Adam would look like without pants, but she shakes her head to get rid of the thought. She has only met the man for a day now and he has shown her the most kindness that she has received in a while. She didn't want to ruin the kindness now. Her eyes looks onto the bed as she forcefully closes her eyes.

Adam watches Victoria eye him up and down and hiding herself in the covers. He smiles as he goes over to the bed and gets settled in. He turns to where he can see Victoria, he wants to touch her, but he is giving her respect into not touching her just yet. It feels too early for him to make a move on her for now. He lies down onto the pillow and closes his eyes. Letting sleep engulf him.