■■■

"Victoria Edwards! Pull your head back in, right now!"

Victoria's face fell to a frown but she did as she was told and reluctantly pulled her head back inside the carriage. She tried her best to fix her ever so messy curly brown hair and stopped when it went back to its place. Which still looked messy...

"Sorry mother." Victoria apologized, making her older brother snort. Their mother turned her gaze towards her brother. "Sorry mother." Her brother, Hamilton, looked down and from the corner of his eye, he could see his sister sticking her tongue out at him.

"Are we there yet?" Her younger brother who was about six years old huffed as he sat on his brother's lap, looking out of the window with boredom.

"We're almost here, Edward. Just a tad more." Her father smiled at the little boy as he set his newspaper down.

"It's so beautiful here. It's blinding!" Victoria exclaimed as she looked out at the green fields. "Avonlea is a marvellous place, and we haven't even arrived there yet."

"It is indeed," Hamilton exclaimed. "Very different from London. At least here I get to see the blue sky, not grey." Victoria agreed with him as she nodded her head, making her wild curls bounce out of their place.

"We will arrive in ten minutes." The Edwards family heard the man who was driving their horses and carriage.

"Finally! I'm getting tired of being cooped up in here." Her mother said which made Edward shout in joy.

"Edward, keep it down," her father said with a grin. "I think you might have damaged my eardrum." All the children laughed especially when they saw their mother hit his arm with her bag. But even she was wearing a smile of her own.

The last of the ride went by quickly as the family of five chatted and joked with one another. When the carriage stopped, Victoria and Edward were the first to step down and breathe in the fresh air.

"The last one to arrive at the house is a rotten egg." Victoria joked as she took off running towards the gigantic mansion. "No fair!" Edward shrieked as tried his best to reach his older sister.

Victoria saw her brother struggling to keep up and purposely stopped as she pretended to have hurt her foot. Edward took it as an opportunity and passed her which made him arrive first. "I won!" Edward exclaimed as he jumped up and down.

Victoria laughed and walked towards him at a slow walking pace. "Blimey! I guess then I'm the rotten egg. I am absolutely gutted!"

When Victoria reached her brother at the front porch of the house, she quickly lifted her brother in her arms and spun him around. Making him giggle and laugh.

"You two! This is not how you behave!" Their mother scolded the two children. Victoria set her brother down and they both looked down as they muttered sorry.

"Come on Caroline, they were only having fun." Her father reassured as she placed a hand on his wife's shoulder. "Yes, well, let's get in. Where's the key?"

Hamilton held out his index finger, indicating to wait one moment and as he searched in his pockets, he finally found the key.

Hamilton opened the door and the entire family stepped in. Victoria was gobsmacked at how wonderful the house was. It was huge and every inch of it was decorated with some sort of riches.

"I'll tell the servants to bring down the boxes and suitcases, Hamilton go help them. You, Victoria, put all the horses into the stables." Caroline commanded her children. Victoria nodded her head and went outside to do what she was told. She wanted to see the rest of the house but she didn't want to argue.

As she arrived next to the carriages she started by grabbing her horse Baelfire and held onto his reins as she guided him towards the stables.

The Edwards family had a horse for each of its members. Her father, Benedict, had a white horse named Neigh-than. It was originally just Nathan but he put his twist in it.

Her mother had a mare named Hepburn, no special meaning in it. Hamilton's was Ash, as the horse was as black as ashes. Edward's was a horse that wasn't bought very long ago and was still a small foal. The little horse, Clover, was still growing and trying to figure out how to gallop properly. But Edward still loved the horse. Even if he was a full-grown horse, Edward wouldn't have been allowed to ride him so it worked greatly to his favour.

He first could share a bond with the horse from a young age and the two would grow up loving one another.

It was the same case with Victoria and Baelfire. Baelfire was a beautiful reddish-brown horse with a few spots of black here and there. The name came from a character in one of her favourite books and she decided to name him after the character.

Victoria took her horse into the stable and guided him into one of the empty stalls. Victoria ran her hand up and down Baelfire's nose. "It won't take long until you and I can go for a ride. We just have to settle in. I'm sure you'll like it here in Avonlea, I already do and I have barely seen anything at all. Love you!"

Victoria went for the horse one by one, settling them each into one stall. Clover was the last one to be placed as to when Victoria went outside to grab the second horse, she found him asleep on the grass and decided that she would leave him to rest for a bit. The long journey must have taken quite the toll on him.

When Victoria finally entered the house she noticed that her mother was cooking in the kitchen. Victoria couldn't help but smile. Her mother loved cooking more than anything in the world and even weeks of travelling across the world doesn't stop her from doing what she loved.

"It smells great in here. Shouldn't you be resting?" Victoria asked as she took off her coat and placed it on a rack. Victoria turned 360 degrees for her to take a look at her surroundings.

"Pie for our neighbours. I would like for you to deliver it to them after I'm done." Her mother explained as she placed one pie in the oven and continued on the one that she was making on the table. "And take Edward with you. He isn't doing anything useful anyway. Just take a wash and change in the meantime."

Victoria went up the stairs to try and find which room was made hers. She immediately noticed Edward opening every door in the corridor, peeping inside and closing it again. When he noticed his sister, he quickly ran towards her.

"Vicky, guess what? Your room is right across from mine! Isn't that great! Better than at the old house where it was six doors away!" Edward explained with a grin on his adorable face and a shine in his forest green eyes which both he and Victoria shared.

"That is great! Now listen to me," Victoria said as she kneeled to reach her brother's level. "Mum told me that you and I should go send the neighbours some pies after she's finished. Are you all bathed and changed?" Edward nodded his head and Victoria ruffled his hair.

"Good boy. I just have to get ready myself. Now, where is my room that is so close to yours?" Victoria asked with a grin. Edward grabbed her by the hand and guided her down the hall towards the very end of it.

"That one's yours," Edward explained as he pointed to a door. "And that one's mine. Over there's the bathroom." He pointed towards another.

"Splendid. Now, wait for me, understand?" Edward nodded his head. When Victoria entered her room she gasped. It was beautifully decorated and had a window with a splendid view of the green fields and white flowering trees.

Victoria also noticed that she had a four-poster bed just like the ones royalty had. Their old house wasn't as magnificent as the one she was currently in.

The curly-haired girl couldn't resist but she went towards her bed and started to jump on it. She stopped when she was tired and then laid on the bed while staring at the ceiling with a smile decorating her face. She loved Avonlea.