YOUNG LOVE IN
OLD – FASHIONED AMERICA
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
OOOOOO means time change
XXXXXX means POV change
So, I've been lurking in the Twilight fandom for a few months, particularly with stories about Carlisle and Esme. And now, I've decided to write my own fic about them. It will be a multi –
chapter story. I'm really excited about this story, because it allows me to write about history and some of my favorite characters at the same time. (I was a history major in college.)
Also, a warring. This story contains a lot of religious themes. I don't think it's a problem to write this in a Twilight story, because it's canon that Carlisle is a Christian, anyway. But I know some people have a problem with reading a lot of stuff about Christian faith, so I figured I'd let you know in advance.
Esme Platt woke up as the sun hit her face. She stretched for a minute before climbing out of bed. Then she proceeded to look for a dress in her trunk. After searching for a few minutes, she realized the only dresses she had available were her "girlhood" dresses. She should have done the laundry yesterday. Mother would have a fit. Esme could still hear her the last time Esme tried to wear one of these dresses. "You're far too old to be showing your legs, Esme. It's unbecoming! And you will wear a corset everyday now, do you understand me? How do expect to find a husband if you don't dress properly?" Esme shook her head. As if she had any desire to find a husband!
Esme shrugged and put on a green checkered calico dress that went just past her knees. Her mother would just have to accept this was all that was available today. She'd do the laundry later. Despite the problems that she expected to have with her mother, Esme smiled. This dress was so much more comfortable than her new ones. She giggled as she kicked her feet a few times and relished the ability to breathe normally. Then she came downstairs. Her mother was expecting her to help with breakfast, after all.
Even though she didn't get along with her mother, Esme liked making breakfast for her family. She just wished she could do it by herself. Her mother was mixing eggs in the kitchen, looking every bit the prim and proper farm wife she wanted Esme to be. "Hello, Mother," she greeted her, pulling out ingredients for flapjacks.
"Hello Esme," her mother replied, still concentrating on the eggs. Esme waited until her mother looked up and noticed her appearance. About thirty seconds later, she let loose. "Esme! What are you wearing! Haven't I told you? You're too old to go around dress like that! GO BACK UPSTAIRS AND PUT ON A RESPECTABLE DRESS AND A CORSET!" Her mother screamed her last words so loud; Esme hoped her younger sisters and brother didn't get up.
Still, Esme stood her ground as she looked at her mother in the eyes. "Mother, this is all I have to wear today."
Her mother's eyebrows rose even higher than they already were. "Why is that, Esme?" she asked. She began beating the eggs so rapidly Esme hoped they didn't end up all over the kitchen. Then her family wouldn't have any scrambled eggs to eat.
Esme sighed. "I didn't get the laundry done yesterday, mother," she admitted. She eyed the eggs as she said that, hoping to catch them, at least, before her mother threw the bowl all over the place in her anger.
Her mother slammed the bowl of eggs down on the counter hard before Esme could catch them. Fortunately, only a little spilled. "I see," her mother replied. "What did you do yesterday instead?" she snapped.
Esme smiled despite herself as she remembered the day before. Her younger siblings had begged and pleaded with her to show them how they could turn flowers into paints. (Something an old art teacher had taught Esme to do a long time ago when she complained her family never had enough money for paints.) She'd finally given in, and they'd spent the entire afternoon painting. It was one of the best days she remembered having in a long time. So she raised her head high and told her mother, "I showed Camille, Linda, and Timmy how to paint with flowers. They loved it."
Her mother frowned. "Well, after breakfast is finished, I suggest you get right to the laundry, Esme," she said firmly. "Honestly, taking care of you siblings is good, but you have to take care of your other chores, too. No farmer is ever going to want to marry you if you can't take care of chores and dress respectably!"
Esme sighed as she returned to the flapjacks. She wished she could make her mother understand she didn't have much interest in getting married, much less to a farmer. She loved her family and their farm, but…sometimes she felt trapped here. She wanted to see beyond their farm or the farms down the road. She wanted to experience new things and see the cities. Sometimes she thought about becoming a teacher. One thing was for sure. The last man she was going to marry was another farmer, no matter how many of her older brother's friends her mother threw at her.
OOOOOOOOOO
The family finished their breakfast, which included bread with molasses as well as the flapjacks and scrambled eggs. Then Esme's father set off to work in the fields. The younger children began taking care of the dishes. Her mother walked off to the sitting room saying, "I think I'll do some sewing. After all, I can't very well mend clothes that haven't been washed yet, can I, Esme? Isn't it a shame when one person prevents another from doing their responsibility?"
"Yes, Mother," Esme replied. She knew her mother was going to have a fit about this. The air inside the house felt closed in, being near her mother. At least doing laundry meant going outside on a nice summer day. She picked up the big basin they used for clothes washing and filled it with water. Then she put it on the stove to heat up. "I'm going to wash the clothes outside. I'll be back when the water heats up," she explained.
Esme thought she heard her mother grumble, but she really didn't care. The laundry would get done either way, right? She picked up all the clothes and took them outside. Freedom.
As much freedom as Esme could get on the farm. At least her mother wasn't nearby to bother her anymore. Of course, eventually the water would heat up and she would have to retrieve it in order to wash the clothes. That meant going back inside. But that didn't matter right now. She could sort the laundry while she waited.
Esme wished she could paint today as well. She remembered the way the colors blended together to form a perfect picture of the sky. The sky was fascinating to her. She'd heard in some bigger cities they had buildings that almost reached the sky. Would she ever see them? Not if Esme's mother had her way that was for sure. When she was much younger, she climbed trees to try to reach the sky. Growing up with two older brothers, she learned how to climb trees easily. But Esme hadn't climbed a tree in a few years. She had too many responsibilities now. Besides, it would be almost impossible to climb a tree in an ankle – length gown and a corset.
Then Esme looked down at the dress she wore today. Just below the knee, instead of ankle – length. With no corset. She could climb a tree today. Try to reach the sky again. Taste even more freedom. No, Esme she told herself. You have responsibilities, remember? Besides, she was in enough trouble with Mother already. Still, the water wouldn't be hot enough to wash the clothes yet. And they were roughly sorted already. What if she climbed one, real quick? Just one last time. She'd probably never wear a short dress again, after all.
Esme ran as fast as she could to the edge of the farm where the trees grew and grabbed the lowest branch of her favorite tree. She could barely contain her excitement as she began. It felt just like old times, to feel the branches under her feet and the sky become closer and closer. Too late, she realized one of the branches she'd always stood on wasn't meant to take her current weight. She began to slip. Esme scrambled to grab one of the other branches. But she was slipping to fast. She landed on the ground, on top of her right leg.
"Ooowwww," she moaned in pain. "Goodness, that hurts!" What was she going to do now?
Her father came running up a few minutes later. "What happened, Esme?"
Esme sighed. Still, at least her father would be easier to deal with than Mother. "I was climbing a tree…and I didn't realize…ooooowwww….doesn't take my weight anymore….ooooowwww!"
Her father nodded. "Well, I hope you realize you aren't supposed to be climbing trees anymore?"
Esme nodded.
"Then let's get you back in the house. You're going to need a doctor. I think your leg is broken."
With that, he picked up Esme and carried her back into the house. Esme couldn't believe her stupidity. A broken leg? What if it had to be amputated? She could lose her leg just because she wanted to climb that darn tree one more time? Her mother was right. She had no sense of responsibility. How would she help take care of her siblings with a broken leg?
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Carlisle Cullen watched Dr. Aro Parrino as he pulled another tooth out of the old man on the bed. "Ooowww!" the man screamed, loudly. Fortunately, there was only one other person in the hospital right now. The nurse. She would probably come in after Dr. Parrino was finished, to make the man more comfortable. It was a good – sized hospital, with five patient rooms and two full – time doctors. They had all the modern equipment and medications here as well. It was a wonderful place for Carlisle to become the doctor he wanted to be.
Dr. Parrino ignored the man's screams and gestured for Carlisle to hand him his next tool. Just then, a man came running into the hospital out – of – breath. "I need a doctor to help my daughter!" he exclaimed. "Her leg is broken."
Dr. Parrino nodded. He looked around. "Dr. Roberts already left on another house call. You'll have to do it yourself, Cullen."
Carlisle took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, sir," he replied. He knew one of the reasons Dr. Parrino wanted him around was to take the house – calls, so Dr. Parrino could stay in the hospital with the state –
of – art – equipment and the nurses to take care of the patients' comfort. Still…Carlisle had never treated a broken leg before by himself. Could he do it? Of course you can, he said to himself. You read about it in medical school. You watched Dr. Parrino do it before. Besides, God would watch over him.
Carlisle picked up his medical bag and headed out the door. Then he climbed into the man's buggy. "It will be easier if we go together," he explained.
The man nodded as he picked up the reins. He was…rugged, you might say, with brown hair and a mustache. Carlisle assumed he was a farmer, with the way he was dressed and the dirt on his hands. He was probably so worried about his little girl's broken leg, he hadn't bothered to wash himself before going into town. Carlisle respected that. Before the man motioned for the horses to move, he paused for a second. "Are you actually qualified to treat my daughter's leg? Wouldn't it be better for that other, more experienced doctor to come with me?"
Carlisle sighed. There was a part of him that agreed with this man, but he couldn't admit that. He was hadn't been a doctor for very long, after all. He hadn't even gone to medical school in Germany, where all new doctors were recommended to go today. Still Carlisle was a doctor. "As Dr. Parrino already said, the others are busy. Besides, God will take care of your daughter, regardless."
The man looked surprised at that comment. Still, at least he didn't argue with him. "Yes, of course. You're right." If Dr. Parrino had been here, he would have made another one of his comments that Carlisle relied too much on God and not enough on science. The older doctor thought it was ridiculous that Carlisle prayed for every patient he assisted. And he would pray for this patient before treating her leg as well.
Carlisle sighed as he rode on. He really shouldn't be so hard on Dr. Parrino, even though it was difficult to deal with his jabs against God. If it hadn't been for Aro Parrino , Carlisle would probably never have become a doctor at all.
Carlisle's father was a Presbyterian minister and expected his only son to take the pulpit as well. He sent him to high school in Columbus, to prepare him to study theology. Imagine his surprise when Carlisle told his father he wanted to be a doctor, not a minister. "I'm fascinated by how the human body works, Father," he had tried to explain. "And if I'm a doctor, I'll still be a healer, just like you."
But his father hadn't agreed at all. "Healing the soul is what is important. The body dies. Soul is eternal. You will become a minister. I'll never pay money for a medical education. Worldly nonsense!"
Fortunately, Dr. Parrino had noticed Carlisle Cullen a promising student, and agreed to sponsor his education. Carlisle became a doctor, just like he wanted. Unfortunately, his father never forgave him. He hadn't seen or spoken to his father since he left for medical school. In some ways, Dr. Parrino became his father instead. But Dr. Parrino believed in science, not God. He thought people used God as crutch. He claimed believing in God made you weak. He actually embraced that strange new theory…what was it called? Darwinism, that believed people came from animals.
For a while Carlisle had actually considered Dr. Parrino's ideas. His own father had rejected him, after all. Would God really let something like that happen? And it was easy to see things Dr. Parrino's way, anyway, considering he was helping him learn medicine. Why not other things as well?
Then he met Eleazar, another student at the medical school. Eleazar had been courting a young woman named Carmen, but there had been some problems. But no matter how bad things got between them, Eleazar still prayed they would be able to marry someday. And when Eleazar finished medical school, Carlisle was the best man at the wedding. Since then, Carlisle never doubted the power of God or His love for his people.
He still didn't. And so, with God's help, he would fix this girl's broken leg.
I know that in canon Carlisle's father was supposed to be an Anglican minister, which in the US would be Episcopalian. However, "purging the world of the unholy souls" (which Carlisle's father believed he was doing with vampire raids, etc.) was a Calvinist/Puritan practice, not an Anglican one. So I think Carlisle's father was one of those who called himself Anglican but actually practiced Calvinism. (That was actually quite common in sixth and seventeenth century England.) I've been told that Presbyterian is a modern version of Calvinism, so that's what I'm running with.
The name "Parrino" means "godfather" in Italian. Quite fitting for Aro on several levels, don't you think?
I realize this is kind of presumptuous on my part, considering I don't give too many reviews in this fandom myself. But I would like some reviews, please. Let me know what you like about the story and what you don't like, and what works and what I need to work on. Especially considering I don't have a beta. I will tell you, if you give me a review, I will respond. It doesn't matter if you are a registered user or a guest/anonymous. So keep that in mind.
Also, speaking of betas, I would like to have for this story, if possible. Give me a PM if you are interested. Thank you.
