Here I am, sixteen years old and in love with a man that is over ten years older than me. What am I thinking? I'm sure he is married and I shouldn't be thinking this. He was so gorgeous standing there examining my leg and listening to my father telling how I injured myself.
I guess I should probably start from the beginning. My name is Esme Anne Platt, and I'm a farmer's daughter. We live on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio where we have a little farm with cows and horses. My mother told me that I was born on a rainy night in March 1895, right here on the farm. She believes that's why I love the farm so much because I was born right there in front of the animals.
To get you back to my rambling, this is my love story which started months ago. I was out riding my horse, Rose, on a beautiful summer day. Her coat just shined in the sun, beautiful black, Arabian horse. My father surprised me with her on my sixteenth birthday. We were out riding and rounding up the cattle. When we had pushed them into the other pasture to eat, I told Rose it was time to head home. She took off in a run, she knew when we arrived back at the barn she would get brushed and receive her favorite snack, apples.
We came around the corner of the barn and she slowed down to a prance and then all of a sudden she reared up and started bucking. I heard my father scream, and then I felt my body hit the ground hard. I gasped for air and my mind was trying to figure out what just happened. I tried to look around when I realized that my left foot was still hooked in the boot strap. As I reached up and tried to grab the boot strap to remove my foot, I saw Rose start to rear up again. I realized that this was going to hurt me. I felt myself in the air again and then felt a sharp pain right below my knee of my left leg which had finally came unhooked from the boot strap. I screamed and when I finally landed I was crying not just from the pain but because I couldn't breath. All the air was knocked out of me when I came down and landed on my stomach. I raised my head up to look for my father but instead of his face in my insight, I saw fangs of a rattlesnake. I knew at that moment why Rose was bucking but also realized that I was in trouble. The snake was alert and had his rattler shaking. I knew it would be at any moment that rattler would lounge toward me and it would be over. I heard my father cocking his shot gun, and then heard a loud band, saw dirt flying up. The rattler was laying in pieces in front of me. Lucky for me, my father is a good shot.
I heard footprints behind me, heard my mother yelling from the house. I felt my father hands around my right arm to pull me over and I screamed. "My leg is broke father! It hurts badly!" He pulled on my arm to roll me over so I could look at him. I saw the horror in his eyes. I could see that he didn't know if he would make that shot or not.
"Stay put Esme!" He whispered to me. He took off running toward the house. II knew he wasn't gone long but I was still scared. He came back with a board and some rope. "Honey, I'm going to tie your leg down to the board. Do you hurt anywhere else?" I tried to move to see, "Don't move! Mr. Saunders will be on his way with a vehicle so that we can take you to the hospital to have the doctors look at it." I just nodded at bit my lip so that I didn't scream again. When he touched my leg, I couldn't help but scream and cry at him to leave it alone. I felt the board under my leg and the ties coming across my thigh and then around my ankle. I must have gone into shock because I don't remember much after that.
I heard a vehicle hit the gravel of our driveway, must be Mr. Saunders. I opened my eyes and saw my mother's face. I felt her cold hand on my forehead; she must have gone to get Mr. Saunders. She had tears in her eyes and she was sitting on the hard ground beside me, whispering words of encouragement. My father told my mother to stay put and attend to Rose, and that he and Mr. Saunders will take me. I felt hands under my arms and ankles. They picked me up as gentle as they could. I felt like I was floating through the air and I didn't feel any pain elsewhere.
And that's where we are now. At Grant hospital and Dr. Carlisle Cullen is addressing my very serious leg injury. He walked into the room like an angel. Very smooth motion and a smile that would make any women's knees go weak. His hair was blonde, and was long enough to give it a little wave. His skin looked soft and transparent. His lips are a delicious pink. When I made it to his eyes I sighed. His eyes were so beautiful and sultry. They were a golden color, reminding me of the maple leafs when they change during the fall.
"Well, Ms. Platt, you have a serious injury here. However I don't see anything that would make me have to do surgery. I have come up with a new technique to help heal this kind of injury. Would you like to try it out and help me do some research with it?" He turned his eyes to me and my breath caught in my throat. My father cleared his throat and I blinked and gasped for air. "What do you say Esme?" My father questioned me. I looked over at my father and then back to Dr. Cullen and smiled. "I would love to Dr. Cullen."
"Great! Now I'm going to remove this board. It's going to hurt and I do apologize. Here we go." He pulled the board as fast as he could. I was holding my breath and biting my lip. I didn't scream but whimper instead. Dr. Cullen just smiled, "You have one tough daughter, Mr. Platt." I grinned and Dr. Cullen looked right into my eyes and I lost all track of time and what he was doing.
"Okay, I'm done! Now, you will not be able to ride until we remove this. Also do not get this wet, it will make the plaster soften and that's not what we want. We want it to be hard to protect your leg." I didn't know that he even did anything to my leg. I was so lost in his face and eyes that when I looked down my leg was covered from my ankle to mid thigh with a white colored substance. I touched it and it was hard as a rock. Shock most have been on my face because I heard a snicker and it wasn't from my father. Was that Dr. Cullen laughing at me? I looked up in his direction and he had a beautiful smile on his face. He knocked on the material and said, "Hard as a rock! You won't be able to destroy this. I have to remove it with a saw. You will unfortunately have to wear it for 10 weeks. At that time Mr. Platt, I'll remove the cast and check the leg and see how it set. If all is well she will be able to walk and ride again." My father nodded and looked at me. I smiled at him and then turned my attention back to Dr. Cullen. He winked at me and moved towards the door.
"Dr Cullen?" Finally I have my voice back. He turned with a smile on his face, "yes, Ms. Platt?" I forgot what I was going to say for a moment. "Do we come back here or do you have an office?" That's a proper question to ask, I was really just trying to keep him there a little longer. He nodded and looked at my father, "Bring her back here in 10weeks about this time. I'll be here." With that he walked out the room with no glance in my direction.
On the way home I couldn't help but think about him. Why was I thinking about him? He is an adult and I'm a young woman; young but still a woman. I let out a loud sigh. "You okay Esme?" My father was concerned for me, so I looked up and smiled. "Yes, father I'm okay, just tired. Do you know if Rose is okay? Can I go see her, she is probably really upset." My father was staring at me and nodded. "I'll help you to the barn so you can say good night to her."
We arrived to the house and mother was there awaiting our arrival. I got out with what Dr. Cullen called a crutch and my mother started to cry. I told her that I was fine, just sore and tired. We thanked Mr. Saunders for the help and the three of us walked to the barn. I could tell Rose was upset, she was hanging her head when I walked into the barn. I went up and started rubbing her nose and whispering to her. "Rose it wasn't your fault. You were trying to protect me and I know that. You did nothing wrong." She finally looked up and started to dig her shoe into the ground to tell me that she understood.
I smiled at her and rubbed her nose some more. "Now, I promised you something didn't I?" I had a red apple in my hand. She nodded her head as if she was talking right back to me. I gave her the apple and rubbed her nose some more. My fathers hand was on my shoulder now. "Come on dear. Let's get you in the house. Get you something to eat and get you to bed. You have to be tired." I nodded and told Rose that I wouldn't be able to ride her for a while. I would be able to come, let her out to run and give her apples every day. She kicked the door to let me know that she was excited about the apples. I snickered at her, rubbed that lovely nose and whispered good night.
That night I dreamed about Dr. Cullen. He was watching me, every time I turned a corner he was there. It was weird at how his eyes followed me and there was difference behind them. They were almost cloudy with a hunger that I didn't understand. When I woke up, I sat start up and was gasping for air. At the end of this dream, Dr. Cullen had reached me and kissed me.
Ten weeks went by faster than I thought that they would. I still had dreams about Dr. Cullen and they were different every time. When my father and I walked through the entrance of the hospital we turned to go towards the emergency room when I saw him standing at the desk. The air caught in my throat and I stopped moving. My father turned and looked at me trying to figure out what is wrong. When he followed my gaze he chuckled and grabbed my arm. "Dear, it will be okay. He won't hurt you."
I looked at my father with the thoughts trailing in my mind. I'm not afraid of him, I adore him. I would love him like no other woman could or would. I blinked and nodded my head to him because I couldn't trust my voice. When we both looked over to the desk again, Dr. Cullen was standing there smiling.
"Well, you look exceptionally well. Let's take a look at that leg." I nodded still unable, afraid to speak. He led us to an exam room off the emergency entrance. He motioned me to get up on the table, not saying anything or looking right at me. I got up on the table still staring at him, hoping to see those beautiful eyes. Finally he turned to face my father and me. I think I stopped breathing for a moment, his eyes were black. That was weird I remember them being golden, not black. Maybe it's the lighting in here. I gasped for air again. I dropped my head to look at my feet. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my fathers' puzzled look. I shrugged letting him know that I saw him. He turned his attention back to the doctor.
"Well, this is what is going to happen," Dr. Cullen said. "I'm going to cut this material off of you and then I'll examine your leg. You will most likely be tender but I want you to tell me if it still hurts like it did when you first fell. Do you think that you can do that for me Ms. Platt?" I looked up at the doctor again while coaching myself to breath. He had that perfect smile again. I nodded at him but didn't taking my eyes off his. I didn't see any color around the blackness, beautiful but yet alarming.
He looked away this time, to get the saw. He told us that it will be loud and might tickle me due to the vibrations. He was so careful and took his time. It almost felt like he didn't want me to leave. Like there was electricity between him and me. Finally he got the cast off, he touched my leg, and a current went threw my body that I never felt before. It felt like I was sapped with electrical wiring. Dr. Cullen pulled his hand back in response to it. He must have felt it too because when I looked at him, he was as surprised as me. He backed away and cleared his throat. "Please Ms. Platt, stand up and tell me how it feels. Mr. Platt, be ready to catch her if needed."
I slid myself to the end of the table and carefully put my leg down. It was very weak, but no pain. A smile came across my face and my eyes went to my father. He was grinning back, excited just like I was. I then looked at Dr. Cullen and he also had a brilliant smile across his face. "I guess you won't need my services again?" I thought that I saw a bit of sadness in those eyes. I nodded yet again, afraid my voice might give me away.
"Well, the best of luck to you Ms. Platt, and Mr. Platt." As if he was a ghost, he disappeared out of the room and out of my life. I will never see him again. I wanted to cry but I knew I couldn't with my father standing right there. My heart was aching and breaking, I could feel it. My father put his arm around me and cooed, "Let's get home!"