BPOV

Caps fly into the air and land in scattered disarray around us as we celebrate our graduation. I finally finished school with a Ph.D. in veterinary science, specializing in equine studies. I stood and watched as my fellow doctors hugged their families and each other, excited for their jobs at little practices in big cities. My family was nowhere to be found, of course, and the job I looked forward to holds much more interest than a few sick dogs and cats.

"Isabella, there you are. Are you ready to go?" My mother approached me, with my father in tow. "It's just so wet out here, why you went to college in Washington, I'll never know."

"Yes, I'm ready, mom. Let me just go collect a cap." I reached down to the nearest cap, which was mine because all the others were clumped near the huge crowd of other grads, and followed her over to the car.

"Are you sure you want to go out to Wyoming? You could find a much more renowned ranch in Arizona, with me." She smiled, though it didn't touch her eyes. The truth was, she didn't want me around so she could gallivant around the world with any one of her many boyfriends.

"I'm sure, mother. Wyoming is where I need to go." My dad looked relieved, but sad. He had asked me to move in with him, here in Washington, but I had to explain to him that there are no ranches nearby, and I won't work for the local vet office. He really did care, and wanted me to be safe, unlike my mother.

"Ok. Let's get you home then, you have a long few days ahead of you." She climbed into the passenger seat as I helped dad load my luggage in the back seat and headed off toward Forks, where a car waited to take me to the airport.

The ride home was mostly quiet, the radio playing quietly to keep the silence from being awkward. I watched as the forests rushed by in blurs of green and brown, as familiar as my own reflection. I wondered what it would be like to look out a car window and watch fields pass by. Would the open skies be as freeing as I thought they would be? Would the sunshine be a stranger to me now, after so many years under a constant cover of clouds and rain? Everything would be new, different, and strange. And that's where the lure lay. I needed a change, and Wyoming would be just that.

Dad pulls into the drive, and I see the taxi waiting for me. I planned it so my mother wouldn't be stuck pretending to be emotional and my father could be spared my tears. I climbed out of the car, taking a deep breath, and load my luggage from the car to the taxi, before facing my father. He looked so defeated I nearly cried.

"I love you, daddy." I said, embracing him. "Always have, always will." He hugged me to him tightly.

"I love you too, Bells. No matter what happens. Just promise you'll call, and maybe visit from time to time." He gave me a squeeze, then released me.

"I will call dad, as to when I will visit… Just depends on when I can get time off." I looked over at my mother, who sat carelessly staring at her nails, and sighed. "Bye, mom."

Realizing how insensitive she seemed, her fake tears flooded her eyes and she ran to me. She pulled me into a tight embrace and sobbed into my shoulder.

"Why did you have to leave? Oh, my dear, I love you so much. I will miss you every day. Promise you'll write me? Every day?" She hugged me tighter, then released me and wiped at her eyes. "You should get going, you don't want to be late." Just like that she didn't care anymore.

I smiled at dad one last time, and then climbed into the taxi. Next stop was the airport in Seattle before I headed to Cullen Studs ranch. My life would never be the same again.