Chapter 8

She was back to starin' at the fire, but at least she was talkin'.

"My Mam died just after my Pap comed back from the war." She was whisperin' low like the words hurt to say 'em. "She'd been sickly for a time afore he comed home, but she kept fightin' against takin' to her bed 'cause she had me and my brothers to tend to." She said just afore wipin' at her face with the edge of the blanket. "After he comed home, she just lay down on the bed and never got up again."

"Pap was never hisself after that, and worse still, me and my brothers was afeared he'd taken leave of his right mind." She looked up at me with wide eyes, "He was never mean or nothin' like that, he loved us children more than anythin' exceptin' maybe our Mam."

"He just took to forgettin' things, like when to come in out the rain or snow and such. He got a fearful cold the winter after Mam passed and coughed hisself to death."

I couldn't help but speak up then. "Ya been alone all that time?"

She shook her head. "Our Uncle Luke comed for the funeral and never did leave after." I noticed her hands started in to tremblin' and I wanted to hold onto 'em, but didn't dare. "After that, things was fair normal. Well as normal as can be expected for three young'uns missin' their Mam and Pap. I kept house and worked in the garden, like I'd been a doin' since Mam had taken to feelin' poorly. My brothers and Uncle worked the farm. Things warn't good, but they was tolerable."

"Our Uncle liked to go to town coupla times a week. Sometimes he'd stay gone all night. My brother Henry telled me that Uncle Luke was spendin' time at the tavern, drinkin' and playin' cards, but I didn't mind so long as he tooked care of us."

"Things changed for worse again when Uncle Luke bringed home a lady he telled us he was fixin' to marry. She didn't look like no normal lady neither, with her painted face and yellow hair that was almost white." She peered up at me then like she was ponderin' somethin'. "She put me in mind of that painted up woman what runs the tavern back home. The one ya was conferrin' with afore ya set out on the trail."

My mouth falled open, I was that surprised at her words. "What are ya sayin'? Ya was in town?" I didn't get a chance to ask no more questions, 'cause she started in to talkin' again.

"I'd been runnin' all night and day through the woods by the time I got to town. When I seened your wagon, all loaded down like ya was goin' far away, I climbed in the back and hided under a blanket, but not afore I heared ya talkin' to that lady."

I was fair embarrassed that she overheared the things Miss Sally had been asayin', but more than that, I was angry as hell that she'd been hidin' out in my wagon, and I'd never been the wiser. No one got the drop on Ed Cullen, 'specially not a little slip of a girl.

I jumped up from my seat like my ass was afire. "What ya sayin' missy? Ya been hidin' in my wagon all this time, spyin' on me? Was ya makin' plans to murder me in my sleep and steal what was mine?" I grabbed her by the front of her dress, pullin' her to her feet whilst I commenced to yellin' louder. "Did ya go through my things and reckon how much ya could sell 'em for? And while ya was at it did ya get a good look at my pecker when I stopped to take a piss?" Yeah, I reckon I warn't so worried about bein' a gentleman no more.

"Start talkin', 'cause there's nothin' ya telled me so far that will stop me from hog tyin' ya and carryin' ya all the way back to Robertson County!"

The scared look on her face from afore was nothin' compared to the way she was lookin' at me now. A part of me was that sorry I'd hollered at her, but damnit it was high time I got me some answers.

Chapter 9

"Start talkin', 'cause there's nothin' ya telled me so far that will stop me from hog tyin' ya and carryin' ya all the way back to Robertson County!"

"P..p..please don't make me go back Mister…" she whispered out the words.

I let go of her dress and gestured for her to sit, then I commenced to sittin' beside her. I lowered my voice 'til I warn't hollerin' no more, "Maybe I won't take ya back, if'n ya tell me the truth. Start with your name."

She swallowed hard and took a breath. I was for sure and for certain that her heart was 'bout poundin' out of her chest at that moment.

"My name is Izzy. It's short for Isabella." She looked up at me then. "Isabella Swan."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Your Pa warn't named Charlie was he?"

She nodded. "The very same."

Knowin' she was Charlie Swan's girl, I found I was more forgivin' of what she'd done. That is, if she was tellin' the truth.

I thought back to the time I knowed Charlie durin' the war, and seemed to recollect him talkin' 'bout his young'uns every now and again. There was his boys, they was named Theo and Henry. Then the memory come to me as plain as day of Charlie talkin' 'bout his daughter Izzy, and how she baked the best apple pies in Robertson County. He was fair proud of that girl.

"Your Pa loved your apple pies," the words comed out afore I could stop myself.

Izzy's eyes filled with tears and she smiled.

"I knowed your Pa durin' the war, he was a good man. We was so hungry, and sometimes the fellers would talk about what was the first thing they was gonna eat, soon as the war was over. Your Pa was lookin' forward to one of your apple pies." I telled her, feelin' mighty bad about the way I'd treated her. She was wipin' her eyes with the sleeve of her dress. "Tell me why ya was runnin' Izzy." I asked in almost a whisper, knowin' I'd need to apologize soon.

Izzy coughed, no doubt to clear her throat. "I had to run away. Soon as I turned sixteen, Uncle Luke decided it was time for me to marry. He telled me that Lila, the woman who was gonna be his wife, didn't want no other women in the house, so's I had to go."

I frowned. "When did ya turn sixteen Izzy?"

"'Bout a month ago." She answered in a quiet voice. "Directly after that, he bringed one of his card playin' friends around to meet me. Soon as that feller left, my Uncle telled me that his friend had a wish to marry me. It didn't matter what I wanted…" She started in to snifflin' again then. "I s'pose I'm just like any other girl, wantin' a husband and family of my own, but I don't want nothin' to do with that feller, James." She placed her little hand on my arm as she spoke. "He's hard-hearted and ugly, inside and out. Not to mention old. He must be at least thirty or so." She was lookin' scared again, and I was glad it warn't because of me this time. "I seened James kick his own dog, and he warn't much better to his horse." She took a shudderin' breath, "My Mam always telled me that ya could know a person's quality by the way they treated critters. If my Mam was right, then this feller is the worst of the worst."

"The night afore we was supposed to get hitched, I runned away. My brothers lied to my Uncle and telled him I'd gone to bed with a headache in the hopes that he wouldn't come alookin' 'til mornin'."

"So ya think they're lookin' for ya now?"

She nodded, her big brown eyes starin' up at me, makin' me feel the need to protect her somehow.

"I'm sorrier than you'll ever know for the way I hollered Izzy. I didn't know ya was Charlie Swan's daughter. Can ya forgive me?"

"There's nothin' to forgive. I understand why ya got angry, and I don't blame ya for nothin' ya said. All I'm askin', and I ain't too proud to beg ya neither, is that ya don't make me go back." Her voice was barely a whisper.

I couldn't stop myself from wrappin' my arms around her then. "I ain't takin' ya back Izzy, and if they find ya, I won't let them take ya back neither. I'll keep ya safe. That's a promise."

We still had a couple of hours 'til daylight, so I coaxed Izzy into lyin' down by the fire and sleepin' for a spell afore we had to get up. Knowin' that sleep wouldn't find me no more that night, I fixed another pot of coffee and pondered everythin' I'd learned.

As I sat there, the sound of Izzy's voice made me jump a little, 'cause I was fair certain that she'd fallen asleep.

"Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"Just so's ya know. I promise I ain't seened your pecker."

I tried coverin' my laugh with a cough, but Izzy's answerin' giggle made it clear that she knowed the difference.

Chapter 10

Girls was a particular mystery to me. Always had been.

Considerin' I'd spent most of my life with my Pa and brother, I suppose that warn't surprisin'.

Izzy was turnin' out to be the most mysterious of 'em all. I didn't think I'd ever understand the workins of her mind, but I didn't much care, so long as I got to look at her. And lookin' at her was fast becomin' my most favorite pasttime.

If'n I thought Izzy was handsome by the light of the fire, that warn't nothin' compared to Izzy in the bright light of day.

She was a vision, plain and simple.

A vision sent straight from the devil hisself just to tempt me into havin' thoughts I had no business a havin'.

It probably didn't help my addled brain that the last words she'd uttered afore fallin' asleep that first night had been about my dick.

Lord, have mercy…

Chapter 11

"Please Izzy, I telled ya I was sorry."

"The only thing I wanna hear right now is that ya didn't just see me almost nekked, Ed" Izzy shouted the words from under my Ma's quilt in the back of the wagon, where she'd gone to hide herself from me. "Can ya tell me that for truth?"

I knowed I could say the words, but I also knowed that they'd be an out and out lie, and Izzy was wantin' the truth. I paused, considerin' lyin' anyways, just so's she'd calm the hell down.

If I'd a behaved like a decent gentleman, and gived Izzy the privacy deservin' of a lady, she'd have no call to be upset now.

What the hell is ailin' me anyways?

Fact is that I didn't behave like a gentleman. I stood there gawkin' at her, unable to look away 'cause I was fair mesmerized by what I was seein'. Never in all my life had I seened a near nekked woman in the flesh, but I couldn't imagine there was any in this world more beautiful than Isabella Swan.

She fair took my breath away.

While I stood there starin', I went to shift my weight from one foot to the other causin' a dried out old tree branch to crack under the movement. The sound was enough to cause Izzy's head to snap up in my direction. The possibility that she was gonna catch me peepin' startled me into action and I tried to back away in a quick hurry. My luck was for shit though, 'cause in my haste I tripped, and landed on my ass with a loud thud.

Izzy's eyes was on me then, and the look of fright quickly gave way to one of mortification when she realized exactly what I'd seened.

After hearin' Izzy's sobs from under the quilt, I made the decision that a lie would probably be for the best. "Izzy, please come out. I swear for truth that I didn't see much. I didn't even realize ya warn't wearin' your dress 'cause the sun was in my eyes and I was fair blinded by it."

She stopped sobbin' then and I heared some muffled sniffles. "Is ya lyin' to me now Ed? 'Cause I couldn't never look ya in the eye if I knowed ya seened me like that. No one exceptin' my Mam's ever seened me in just my shift."

I swallowed hard, knowin' that, as excitable as Izzy was, a lie was the only way I was for sure gonna keep my own sanity on the trail. "I promise that I'm tellin' ya the truth."

Forgive me Lord, for more than just the lyin'…

Another minute passed afore she finally sticked her head out from under the quilt. Her hair was plastered to her tear-stained cheeks, and I wanted in the worst way to smooth it back with my hand, but didn't dare reach for her.

Later that day, I took a sideways glance at Izzy where she was ridin' beside me in the wagon. She was wearin' some of my old clothes while hers was hangin' in the back to dry, and was pert near unrecognizable as the siren I'd seened bathin' in the creek. I reckoned that was a good thing, 'cause my pecker was 'bout wore out from standin' at attention.

Izzy hadn't spoken more than a word or two since we set out, and I was missin' her chatterin'. It was funny, 'cause there'd been times I was wishin' she'd hush up but now, not so much.

I was that grateful when I heared her soft voice say my name. "Ed?"

I cleared my throat afore answerin'. "Yeah, Izzy?"

"If'n I was to ask a question, would ya answer me for true?"

I thought about that, and so long as it warn't about seein' her nekkid, I knowed that I'd tell Izzy Swan anythin' she wanted to hear. I nodded in answer.

"What happened to your hand?"

Of all the things she coulda asked, I warn't expectin' that.

Chapter 12

"What happened to your hand?"

'Til now, Izzy'd done most of the talkin' on the trail, and for truth, I preferred it that way. I hadn't telled her much about my life afore I met her, but today I was willin' to do anythin' to take her mind off of thinkin' 'bout me bein' a Peepin' Tom. I was that ashamed of my behavior.

For true, I was more ashamed of gettin' caught.

I cleared my throat, fixin' to tell her things that 'til that time I'd only telled my Pa.

"I was too young to join the war at the start. I wanted to, 'cause it was the thing to do at the time, but my brother telled me to stay and help Pa. Emmett's four years older than me, so he joined up right away. Anyways, everyone was sayin' that the war was gonna be over in a few months." I let out a bitter laugh at the memory.

"We heared tell that, after Gettysburg, the South was desperate for recruits, so as soon as I turned seventeen, me and my best friends joined up." I stared ahead, not takin' my eyes off the trail. "I don't reckon Hell could be any more frightenin' than some of the things I was witness to over the next year or so." I took a deep breath in an attempt to help relieve the pullin' feelin' in my chest. Izzy seened me strugglin' and looped her little arm through mine in a comfortin' gesture.

"I almost made it all the way through without gettin' so much as a scratch. My friends warn't so lucky. We lost Fred when we was fightin' down near Atlanta." I rubbed my hand across my eyes, hopin' to push away the memory of what I'd seened. "And Pete died just outside of Nashville."

"I'm sorry Ed," I heared Izzy's sweet voice comin' from beside me.

I didn't turn to look at her, "Don't be sorry. It warn't you that killed 'em."

It was quiet for a time afore I spoke again. "I got shot down in North Carolina, just a month afore the war was over. I was fair lucky it was just my hand that got it. My brother was hit in the leg and he'll be walkin' with a limp for the rest of his days." I looked down at what was left of my hand. "I was holdin' my rifle when I got hit, causin' me to lose two and a half fingers along with a fair piece of my hand, but still, I reckon I was lucky."

"The worst part was the fever that set in afterwards. My brother was frantic with worry. I don't remember much, just missin' my Ma like I ain't done since she died."

Izzy leaned her head against my arm and hugged onto it. I heared her snifflin' but didn't wanna look down at her face.

Izzy's tears was becomin' hard to endure. It was downright painful to see her upset. I felt the worst for givin' her a reason to cry twice in one day, and made a vow to do anythin' in my power to keep a smile on her face always.

She was at her most beautiful when she smiled.