A young 23 year old woman has had a rough life... she can kick tail and made a life for herself beyond anything most people expected of her, but she's got trust issues... and she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life alone...
A Carlisle Cullen...
Vale stared at her reflection in the foggy mirror. One question revolved around in her mind: Did Carlisle really love her?
The last time she was truly loved was when her parents were still alive... It was true, Walt and Henry were fond of her in their own way. Henry was a confirmed old bachelor of sorts, and Walt had a daughter of his own whom he loved with all his heart. She remembered how her heart ached every time she's see them together, the father-daughter team she always wanted to be with her own father. But that opportunity was savagely snatched away from her.
She remembered the days after Walt found her, dying, in a field on the far edge of town.
The Wyoming sun beat down on her small exhausted frame. She was 18 now, and legally, Chance Gilbert could do nothing to her. She had bolted the day after her birthday, taking nothing with her but the clothes on her back.
She was desperate to get away from that hellhole.
Chance knew the law better than the average man, and knew that if she got away, he could no longer do anything to keep her under his control.
She hadn't even thought about what she would do with her life if she escaped. She was only focused on not getting caught again by Chance's kids: Nick and Melissa. They were bigger than her, physically stronger, and meaner...
But Vale's was stronger than both of them put together. Her heart and spirit were free, even if her body was not.
Now she lay, gasping for breath, under the clear blue sky, the tall grass blown wildly by the wind.
They could not touch her now. She was dying. They can't hurt the dead.
She had won, in the end and that was all that mattered to her.
She didn't hear the horse hooves cantering closer. She didn't see the tall man in the cowboy hat bend over her and check for her pulse. She didn't feel him pick her up and carry her to safety. She felt nothing.
Nothing but freedom...
Walt knew of Chance Gilbert's survivalist fanatics, but the law could not do anything to him if the stayed on his own land and didn't harm anyone else. People had disappeared on Chance Gilbert's land... but not a shred of evidence was ever found to convict him. Even now, with this girl who had been supposed dead for a decade had no evidence to find him guilty of anything. Chance said he had never seen the girl in his life - but Walt saw the glint of wrath in his eye as he said it.
Walt had seen something in her. A spirit that would not die. Henry nailed it after he had gotten to know her for a while. "Her spirit guide is the owl, Walt. Like yours. The owl is the Cheyanne messenger of death. It is also the emblem of wisdom, courage, agility, keen insight, and powerful intuition. Her spirit soars the wind - while earth below burns in flames."
Walt also noticed that she possessed a great deal of knowledge about the law. "Chance spoke of almost nothing else. He had a library committed to it. I read them all."
Walt wanted to help her on her feet, so he trained her himself. She was quick on her feet to learn. He made her his deputy. She would have stayed there for years to come if it weren't for Walt's superiors.
But then she met Carlisle.
And he... loved her?
Vale slowly came down the stairs to meet the others. Jasper was the first to approach her. He surprised her by enveloping her into a hug. She slowly returned it.
"Please don't leave us, Mama..." he whispered.
Her eyes glistened with tears at the name. She had always wanted a family of her own.
"Never."
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