They sat down to eat dinner together that evening. Eliza tried hard to concentrate on her food and surroundings, anything to avoid looking too long at his face which would cause a blush to creep up her cheeks. It was a quiet meal, but as they were finishing Trent offered, “if we take the over night stage tomorrow we can be at the train station the day after next”

Eliza thought for a moment “I think with having the break from the stage today, I would be willing to do that, plus I know the train ride will be much more pleasant, so the sooner we get there the better.”

The next day as the loaded onto their stage Trent offered his hand to help her in and then climbed in behind her. Obviously, with riding through the night he couldn’t ride along on horse back, why hadn’t she thought of that? “Is no one else getting on at this stop?” She asked.

Trent replied “no, since we’re riding through the night, I bought all the seats, so we could be more comfortable.”

Eliza was surprised her father had been so generous with a travel budget, while she knew he had plenty of money, he tended to be tight pursed with it.

Now in a closed space with him for the next day and a half she was a little nervous. Wishing she was still ignorant of his beauty, she fidgeted around to find something to do. Out of habit she reached for her sketch book. Finding Trent was the only thing she was drawn to sketch at the moment, she set the book to the side to remove the temptation. To her surprise, Trent initiated a conversation. Their conversation soon put her at easy and she found she could look at him without blushing. They spoke of family and horses, the east and the west.

“Have you ever been to New York?” Eliza inquired

“Oh yes, several times. I was born and raised in Philadelphia.” Trent replied

Eliza was shocked “I didn’t realize you were raised in the east, what took you out west? We’re you looking to strike it rich?” she said with a playful grin

Her laughed slightly “not exactly, more just looking for some adventure. Your father knew I was planning a visit to my mother later this year and asked if I would move up my trip to escort you”

Their conversation continued interlaced with companionable silence for the rest of that day and they both stretched out on their benches to get a little sleep. When day began to peek through the curtains, Eliza awoke. Seeing Trent was still asleep, she grabbed her sketch book and began to draw his handsome features. She was just finishing up a rather good likeness of him when he began to stir. Quickly she tucked her sketch book away to avoid detection. She could at least look at him now without blushing but she would be mortified if he knew she was sketching him.

Later that day, they reached their destination. Luckily the train they needed wouldn’t depart until the next morning. Eliza’s first order of business was a nice hot bath. After which she met with Trent for a nice meal before both of them turned in for an early night after getting such poor sleep on the stage the night before.

The next day they began their train ride, which would take 3 days to get to their final destination. It was pretty uneventful until the last stop before New York when word came rushing through the train like wildfire that there was a small pox outbreak in the city.