Prologue

Sam knew that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Leah Clearwater drove him crazy. He was actually beginning to think it was a good thing that Edward, her best friend, kept her busy so often. It was plain to him that he needed breathing room when it came to Leah. They'd been in an on and off relationship for three years now. He'd worked hard to keep them together and it seemed Leah worked equally as hard to keep them casual.

For that reason tonight was extremely important.

Tonight was their third anniversary of sorts and Sam had planned a romantic dinner for them at Lue Shue's, the premier Chinese restaurant in Port Angeles. He needed to talk to her and to find out where her head was at when it came to their relationship. Sam needed to know what her hopes and dreams for them as a couple were. There was absolutely no doubt on Sam's end. He was perfectly clear where he saw them going...white picket fence, three or four kids, a successful medical practice and a business of their own. He had to know once and for all whether Leah saw the same path for them. He felt pretty certain that she did. It was just that she had a different way of dealing with things and people.

When Sam said people he meant her cousin Emily. He always knew that Emily had a thing for him. It was there in her eyes, in the way she sought him out at every Clearwater family gathering and ...in her very blunt words:

"Sam, we would be so good together, Leah isn't ready for a man like you. She still is in the league with the boys. She's always running around with that best friend of hers Edward. Don't you find it passing strange that she doesn't have close female friends? That she always spends so much time with him. I would never do that to you. I am a one man kind of girl."

"Emily, Leah does have female friends the closest of which is you! I really don't think she'll appreciate that you're going behind her back and saying the things that you're saying. It would break her heart if she knew the things that you of all people are insinuating about her."

"Well what about the things that she's saying about you Sam? Don't you wanna know?"

"Not particularly Emily. And if I were even slightly inclined to find out what if anything she said, you'd be the last person that I'd want to hear it from." Emily chuckled, the sort of chuckle that let Sam know she thought she had some heavy ammunition. He tried to walk away from her but she was not having any of it. She followed him into the crisp night air that was blowing across the Clearwaters' porch.

"But you need to hear this Sam. It's important that you do"

A feeling of unease settled on him. He knew that he wouldn't like whatever it is she would have to say. Part of the problem is that he wouldn't be able to discern whether she was telling the truth or spinning a lie to suit her own ends. It was never easy to tell with Emily. The thing is Sam knew that he would have to listen to her anyway. There was no getting away from her. She was nothing if not persistent and Sam didn't want to draw any untoward attention to them. So after a minute of useless flight, he decided to turn and face Leah's accuser, her cousin and best friend Emily.

She continued without missing a beat. Any objection Sam offered or attempted to offer so quickly forgotten.

"Do you remember when you vacationed in Washington last year? You rented that cabin near to the lake. Did Leah tell you that she saw Aunt Sylvia and me there?" A pregnant pause for a rhetorical question. Sam didn't even bother to pretend to answer. There was no need since the train wreck that was Emily's story had already left the station. "Well she did. Funny that she would keep that from you. Anyway, when Aunty found out that you and Leah were there together she of course asked Leah if she planned on marrying you. I mean Aunty is over fifty and you know that in the eyes of that generation once you start vacationing together you may as well call all the family together for the nuptials. Do you know what Leah replied? I bet you can't guess."

Another rhetorical question. Whether she intended it to be so or not it was rhetorical by virtue of the fact that Sam had no intention of providing her with any answer whatsoever. He was sure she read that in his expression.

"She told us that she had no intention of ever marrying you. Isn't that a strange thing to say? Let me try to recall her exact words...hmmmmm...she said that it wasn't you it was her, she doesn't plan on ever getting married. You see what I'm talking about Sam? Leah is still a little girl and you most definitely need a woman."

That conversation haunted Sam for months now. Even as he continued making preparation for his life together with Leah, even as he put in extra shifts at the hospital saving enough money to start his own private practice, he would worry that Leah wasn't ready to take the journey with him. Sam knew that he was a thirty-one year old doctor and it was time for him to settle down with the love of his life, time for him to build a family and put down roots of his own in Port Angeles. He knew that Leah was younger than him and that at only eighteen years it was possible that she wasn't thinking about marriage in the same way that he was. The important thing however was that they should both see it as a certainty in the near future. Sam knew that her parents were on his side. He was a good catch after all. He would be able to provide well for all of Leah's as well as their family's needs. He just had to ensure that Leah was on the same track with him.

Hence the dinner tonight in Port Angeles.