Eldorado…Part 6.

*Before…

I come out and she and Daniel are there waiting and I sort of blush at them being so close to such a personal thing and all but they don’t mention things and soon we’re show to our quarters. They’re small, just enough for our things and a folding cot from the wall but it is private.

I look at Daniel and I see him blush as I do as we likely had the same idea. That these beds will not be comfortable to make love in or on.

She catches the look and then she’s looking at Daniel with this look of …oh really…and it’s the oh really you slept with her too look.

I look at her trying to be a straight shooter. “We did, I hope that that won’t be a problem will it?”

*And Now…

She looks at me and she does that little semi-side tilt of her head that Jade can manage but I can never do without feeling foolish. It’s one of them mannerly lady things y’know.

“Oh it will not be a problem for me. As long as I have the same consideration though.”

What?

Oh…oh her and Daniel.

And there must be something to that because they’re not together and there is certainly a lot to be attracted to with a well-heeled woman like her.

I’ll admit the very first time I laid eyes on her and she was turning in that pretty dress with the fancy patterns and the whole corset and the perfect hair and the ringlets and that fancy little hat I was thinking of how lovely she looked and that she was attractive.

An yes I mighta been a little bit jealous too.

I am what I am now and I’ve settle inta being Nikki and I’ve adopted a lot of things from being a woman and sometimes as country and saddle as I am I like to feel pretty and sometimes I like to feel beautiful.

Though I have no illusions that I’m not much more than sorta a Plain-Jane despite my breasts.

I hated and curse then for my misery a long time but after a life with my girls and my time with Daniel I have darned good reason to be proud of them in like the womanly way.

“No not at all we all have a past and the world’d be a might lopsided if some folks avoided all the folks that they’ve been with.”

She quirks her face in this little smile and says. “Quite.” And then she moves away from Daniel and moves passed me. “If you’ll excuse me I need to get us underway Ms. Steele…Daniel…” she gave him this little high society head nod and she heads off down the hallway.

D’ya call a hall of a ship a hall?

He’s still blushing a bit. “Sorry she’s a bit well…”

“British?”

He smiles. “Yes, sort of that yes. She has a bit of a wit that takes getting used to.”

“She’s gotten under your skin.”

“Well uhm…no not that.” He blushes a lot and tries to get his composure. “She’s a genius, a real genius and she’s a little eccentric too and very misunderstood.”

“Sounds like you have a soft spot for her.”

“She doesn’t have many people close to her Nicole, she has no country.”

I look at him and back to where she went. “Well I get a lot of that. Guess I’m not used to folks like her and all still.”

I take my things other than the usual bits that I carry and I put them in my quarters and he’s doing the same and we’re still quite close and have the doors open so we’re almost in the same room still.

I hear a hissing sound and then that tinkle of metal that reminds me a whole lot of the train and I feel us start to move and I look out of my little round window and we are and moreover we’re going fairly fast.

“This is a steamboat?”

“Yes I think so.”

“Ain’t nothing like the ones I’ve ever seen. No big water wheel and there ain’t no coal that I can see for a ship this size.”

“I think she uses oil.”

“Oil, would it burn hot enough?”

“She’s a chemist as well as an inventor so likely her oil burns pretty hot.”

I get finished and I get changed too into something cleaner and a little more presentable and maybe a little more revealing seeing how things is and all and I see Daniel waiting for me and we both head up the hall and up the stairs and up onto the deck.

We’re pulling out of port pretty fast and we’re passing the few ships that are there and anchored and some of the fishing boats and it’s ten minute later and we’re not just free of the harbor but we’re heading out into open water.

I’m impressed.

I do take a large inhale of the fresh sea air and I smile. I wasn’t raised around the sea or water but I did like some of the ports I had seen and been to when I was in the circus and I did enjoy the trip down to my new home too in a lot of ways and after all my years in the saddle and such the motion doesn’t really bother me too much.

Too much if we get a big bobber of a swell or something I’ve always felt those but right now I feel quite good.

I walk with Daniel to the place where she’s at and the wheel and it’s shiny with all sorts of do-dads and thinga-ma-jigs and they all look like they do things or measure things and she’s looking at a map.

On a table outside but it’s under a sheet of good glass with hinges and clips and there’s marks with a waxed pencil? And she’s doing maths in a notebook and looking at some other thing that looks like a gauge for a steamer.

Okay he’s right, she is hella smart.

I’m with Daniel in just watching and keeping quiet and she gets done and passes off her book to one of the people that she has working for her.

“I just did some rough calculations and I think because we are lighter and we do not displace as much water and have less drag and we’re not utterly dependent on the wind we will be able to catch up with the cad in time.”

I blink. “In time for?” Wow that was a lot of silver dollar words.

“Hopefully if my estimates are true before we have to cross and go around Cape Horn.”

I blink and nod. I did that once and our ship was taking it’s time and we waited a full day and a half for the weather that the captain had wanted.

I look at Daniel and we both nod and Dr. Faraday looks at us both. “Perhaps you both should have a plan of action for when we do catch up with them.”