A/N: This is my entry for Durotos' Dark and Stormy Night Prompt! Hope you enjoy it!

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, it wasn't actually night, but from how gravel gray the sky was, thick with dark clouds, it certainly looked as though night had come early, and there had only been two or three rumbles of thunder in the past five hours. An army of water droplets pelted the glass windows Georgia Sewell looked out of, drumming against the panels in an ethereal melody consisting mostly of whirring and murmuring. Everything in Bluebell danced with spray, and all Georgia could do was watch as the spray danced across the roof of the stables. It was sturdy enough, so she was sure the horses would be okay as of right now. But she knew they were not going to like being stuck in there, especially since the newscaster said on the radio that this rain was going to last all day. Georgia stole a sideways glance at her clock. It was 1:08 PM, still daytime.

"I hope Phoebus doesn't try to break out of his stable again," Georgia murmured to herself dully, staring out the window, watching the world drown. The entire day had been nothing but non-stop ennui. The horses had already been fed and taken care of this morning, and nobody stopped by the store to buy anything. But she didn't blame anyone for not stopping by. Who would want to come out in this weather anyway? All of the animals were safe downstairs, either playing in the main lobby or taking shelter in their kennels and beds, warm and protected from the rain.

Simply put, there wasn't anything that could occupy her time.

Georgia sighed, melting into her snow white shirt sleeves. "Rain sure does make time move a lot slower, don't it?"

Just as she started thinking about finding something she could do, a sudden thudding downstairs made her whirl around in surprise. Russet curls flew in front of her face as she spun, and she pushed them away as she hopped off of her bed. What was that? Had one of the animals gotten hurt? A rush of adrenaline ran through her as she raced downstairs, her wellington boots thundering against the wooden floor with every step she ran.

"What's goin' on here?" Georgia asked aloud, to no one in particular. As she got her bearings, she saw a black dog standing in front of a small wooden cabinet in the living room. The black lab shook its body, like it was shaking off rainwater even though he hadn't gone outside. Lying next to him was a framed photograph, face down, along with a green tennis ball just a foot away.

It didn't take long for the adrenaline rush to dissipate. Georgia smiled and walked over to the dog. "Were you making that racket just now, Mirth?" She asked in a cutesy, high pitched voice, kneeling down to pet the panting dog by its ear. "I get it. You were just playin' with that ball, weren'cha? You gotta be careful, or you'll get hurt."

Mirth's tongue hung out from his mouth as he allowed Georgia to pet him, reveling in her gentle touch. Then, Mirth climbed onto Georgia and trailed his tongue all over her face. Georgia fell on her rear, giggling as the dog's drooly tongue washed her face.

"Mirth! Oh, you know I love you!" Georgia squealed, trying fruitlessly to back away from Mirth's persistent licking, though she did appreciate any love he gave her. "Alright, off. Off," She gently chided him before nudging him off of her. The energetic black dog picked the tennis ball up with his mouth and trotted away, his nails scratching the wooden floor beneath him.

"He's such a playful little scamp," Georgia mused to herself as she pulled the framed photograph off the floor. She figured Mirth must have run into it by accident when chasing after the ball, and the photo fell as a result. Georgia examined it in her hands, looking for any potential rips, nicks, or marks. Thankfully, there were none, though one corner of the picture stuck out on one side. She gingerly opened the back of the frame and slid the photo back in before closing it.

"There! Back to normal!" Georgia said to herself. The photograph was tucked back into its frame.

But when she looked at the picture, a familiar longing suddenly lurched in her heart. The photograph showed a large man with short hair the same burgundy color as hers standing next to a plain, mousy young woman with black hair tied into two long braids. The woman carried a little girl in her arms, with short hair that cascaded to her chin. All three of them were smiling, and Georgia could see the head of a Clydesdale horse poking out from behind the man, facing away from them. But she could see a touch of sadness in the woman's amber eyes. She was looking at the little girl, but her eyes seemed distant and far away, like she was looking through the girl rather than right at her.

Georgia's hand trembled. The frame began to feel heavy in her hands.

"Mom…"

Her chest tightened, even as she put the frame back on the cabinet. Memories flooded her mind in that moment. Georgia and her mother running through meadows and green grass among the horses, laughing and playing and rolling around. Georgia and her mother going to a little restaurant and ordering pizza. Neither had any toppings on their pizza, and the cheese would drip off as soon as they started eating. Georgia running through rivers and creeks, catching frogs, crickets, and butterflies and showing them to her mother, even as she screamed in terror at the sight of them. Soon, her eyesight started to blur. Knowing what this meant, Georgia quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"Georgia?" A large man with a bushy mustache came ambling down the stairs, his thick burgundy eyebrows furrowed together in worry. "What was that noise just now?" He asked.

"Not to worry, Dad," Georgia reassured him. "Mirth was playing and he ran into the cabinet, that's all."

"Oh. Is that what it was," Her father said, smiling. A hand rested on his chest as he let out a sigh of relief, his yellow and orange sweater heaving as he exhaled. "I thought maybe you fell and got hurt."

"I'm fine," Georgia told him, stifling a light giggle.

But when she turned around, she noticed something next to the photograph. A small, blue vase with white flowers painted around it stood next to the framed photo, and sticking out from the vase were three flowers, with white, cotton-like petals that, unlike most flowers, had a distinct, dense fuzz on them. The fuzz made the petals look more like wool from a sheep than actual flower petals. Right in the middle of the flowers were central floret-pods that had already bloomed, round and prickly. Georgia's amber eyes widened at the sight. These were edelweiss flowers. What were these flowers doing here? She was sure they weren't in season right now.

"Dad?" Georgia pointed to the vase. "Where did you get these edelweiss?"

"Hm?" Her father took his yellow hat off his head, eyeing the flowers in question. "Oh! Those? I was up the mountain yesterday and I happened to find some in bloom," He explained, his voice bright and cheery. "I have to admit, I was surprised. Normally they don't bloom until late July, and it's still early June right now!" Her father bellowed with merry laughter as he remembered finding the flowers by chance on the mountain.

He was right. Edelweiss flowers normally began appearing on the mountain until later in the summer. Although they're hardy plants, able to withstand the cold, they were scarce, and didn't last very long. Georgia looked back at the flowers. Their wooly petals and prickly inner pods made it a distinct flower all its own. Soft on the outside, prickly on the inside. Just like her mother.

"Mom liked these flowers, didn't she?" Georgia asked, her voice softening.

The smile on her father's face immediately turned into a frown. He sat down at his chair behind the counter, looking down at the register, his amber eyes glassy. "Yes. Yes she did. They were her favorite flowers. Her parents named her after them. Edel Patrice Sewell," Her father mused. "She always hated her middle name. She said it sounded too country."

Georgia sat on the floor, legs crossed, curious to know more. But she could see the despondent, pained look on her father's face, and her chest tightened again. Seeing her father look so sad and solemn felt like a spear was going through her heart. The last thing she wanted was for her father to be sad. He deserved to be happy, and he always looked his best with a smile on his face. On the other hand, Georgia had wanted to know more about her mother for a while. She never had the opportunity to ask him anything about her, especially not since she just up and left when Georgia was twelve. She wanted an answer to the questions that had lingered in her mind for eight years.

Why did her mother leave? Where did she go?

Figuring it'd be a bit too much to just ask him right off, Georgia asked something else. "How exactly did you and Mom meet?"

Her father's lips curled upward as he fiddled with his beige apron, rolling it up and then letting it unfold when he let go. "Didn't I tell you this story before?"

"Nope," Georgia shook her head.

"I really didn't?" Her father held a hand to his chin, pondering. "I was so sure I did. Well, anyway...I lived with my uncle back then, and I first met your mother at a barn dance in high school," With that, he told Georgia the story of how he and his wife first met.

They were in high school at the time, and he, along with several of his friends, were tasked to decorate an empty barn for an upcoming dance as part of the school's committee. When the day of the dance arrived, the entire town was covered in a blanket of pure white snow. The dance was still held, but instead of dancing and listening to people playing fiddles, most of the teenagers either talked amongst themselves or threw snowballs at each other. At one point, one of his friends threw a snowball at him, and he wound up with a face covered in ice cold snow. It burned deep into his skin as he wiped it off his nose.

"Ha! Got'cha, Grady!" His friend laughed, watching with glee and mischief as Grady shot a glare in his direction.

The nerve of him! He was going to pay for that. The desire for revenge rose within him, and he didn't hesitate to take the opportunity. "Oh, you think you're so tough?! Take this, Hartley!" In response, Grady made his own snowball and threw it right at his friend.

Only he slipped out of the way, and the snowball wound up pelting a young woman right on her face. A perfect bullseye. The woman let out a high pitched yelp as the snowball made contact, and she fell right on the snow, her cotton dress stained and turning dark from the snow melting underneath her. Grady's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe he hit a woman with a snowball! He hoped to God that she didn't get hurt. Worried, Grady rushed over to the woman, kneeling to her level as she wiped the snow off her face.

"Goodness! I'm so sorry, ma'am! Are you alright?" Grady asked, hoping the snowball didn't hit her too badly.

"Uhh...yes, I think," The woman sputtered, brushing some snow out of her curly black hair. Once the snow was off, Grady found himself dumbstruck. The woman, mousy as she looked, was quite beautiful. Curling black hair cascading down to her shoulders, and her amber eyes met Grady's. They were bright and full of spirit. The woman stood up and wiped some snow off her dress. "Oh dear. Mom's never going to let me hear the end of it if she finds out I got my dress wet," The girl complained.

Grady tugged at his sweater, guilty for having done this to her. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to throw a snowball at you. Honest," He told her. "I was trying to throw it at Hartley."

Oddly enough, the woman giggled. "It's okay. I understand, though you did hit me real good," She reassured, her voice as light as the ringing of a silver bell.

Since the snow fell off her face, Grady managed to get a better look at her. She had a slightly mousy figure, a little rounder than most of the girls in his class. Dotting her cheeks and nose was a light constellation of freckles, similar to those that his own mother had, which he, thankfully, hadn't inherited. She had a friendly, kind face, though he could see a slight pimple down near her chin. She was wearing a long sleeved pink cardigan over a mauve cotton dress covered in very thin, white stripes. She definitely wasn't someone he recognized. But he did remember hearing rumors about a new girl in town.

"My name's Grady. Are you the girl who moved here from San Sebastian two weeks ago?"

"Yes, I am. I'm Edel Cleary."

Grady beamed, clasping his hands together. "I see! It's good to meet you!" At this point, the freezing cold didn't bother him anymore. Even Edel found herself not caring so much about her dress getting wet now that she had company. They didn't even notice snowballs flying over them or right near them, pelting whoever happened to be within their vicinity.

"So…" Suddenly, the conversation turned awkward. What could Grady say to Edel? Would asking her to dance with him in the barn be appropriate in this situation? They had only just met, and he didn't want to seem like he was throwing himself on her, a complete stranger. But there wasn't much else to do right now, and people were still in the barn dancing the day away. "Do you want to go inside?" Grady stammered, pointing to the barn. "We wouldn't want to get hit with more snowballs."

Edel flashed a shy grin in his direction. "That'd be swell. Thank you, Grady! You're quite the gentleman."

Immediately, his cheeks burned, even after he escorted Edel inside.

"No way!" Georgia clutched her stomach, roaring with laughter. Tears trickled down her face as she found herself unable to stop laughing. "You pelted her with a snowball? Seriously?" The idea of her parents having met through an unfortunate snowball fight was such a ridiculous thing to imagine. Still, she did find the mental image to be hilarious. She kept laughing even as Grady fiddled with his mustache. "Oh, this is too dang funny! Poor Mom! I reckon she musta been mighty surprised!"

"She sure was, poor gal," Grady agreed. "But we danced the day away after that, and boy, was she fixin' to have a real good time."

Grady continued the story. After their rather rough start, things got better. They had a lot of fun at the barn dance, and he had to admit, she really knew how to twirl her dress around on the dance floor. She had actually swept him right off his feet, and he didn't hesitate to ask her out right afterward. He didn't expect her to say yes, since he was often made out to be the kind of guy who'd never be able to get a girl. He was too quiet, too fat, too much of a prude, some of his meaner classmates told him. But to his complete surprise, Edel accepted! Their dates mostly consisted of going to the movies, though sometimes she would come to his house and they would play table tennis on the dining room table.

"What movies did she like?" Georgia asked.

"I know she really liked Wizard of Oz and Denizen Lane," Grady said, continuing to wrap his mustache around his finger, curling it. "But we mostly watched romances and Westerns. I never did like the romances too much, though."

Romances. No surprise there. Georgia could tell that her mother definitely looked to be the romantic type. She remembered her mother telling her about how she used to be obsessed with this one movie actor growing up. Georgia couldn't quite remember his name off the top of her head, but her mother showed her a trunk that contained all of the posters she collected that had said actor on it. Many of the movies he featured in happened to be in the romance genre. Some of them went as far back as when Edel was four years old. The dreamy look she saw in her mother's eyes told her everything she needed to know.

"I think I still have some of Mom's movie posters down in the basement," Georgia mused. Maybe one of these days, she could dig one of those posters out and hang it on her wall. That, or find some of those movies and watch them herself, maybe see what her mother saw in them or in that actor she loved so much.

"After we graduated high school, we both went to college, though we took on different fields of study," Grady continued on. "I studied animal care, and Edel majored in English. We still went out on dates every now and again, when we had time. Then, after we graduated, I popped the question and she said yes."

Georgia could picture it in her head. Grady going down on one knee, showing Edel a ring, asking to marry her. Edel's hands flying to her mouth, barely suppressing squeals and cries of joy. Edel wrapping her arms around her boyfriend, tears of happiness trickling down her cheeks.

"I reckon she was mighty happy when you asked to marry her, right?"

It was here that Grady's smile turned back into a frown again. He didn't notice one of the kittens rubbing against his leg. "Actually...No, she wasn't. She said yes, but...when I showed her the ring, her eyes got all big, and she looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears."

"Huh?" Georgia's jaw dropped. Normally, girls would be delighted if someone asked them out or to marry them. But to be completely flabbergasted or freak out? That wasn't the normal reaction. At this point, she paid no heed to the heavy rain continuing to pound on the glass windows and their roof. "How come?"

"At the time, I didn't know," Grady said glumly, gently using his boot to nudge the kitten off of his leg. The orange kitten trotted away, jumping into Georgia's lap instead. He hung his head down, clutching his yellow hat in one hand. "We got married, moved to Westown, and then had you. After we got hitched, she did seem happy. She loved you like the dickens, and her old self would come out from time to time."

She could hear her father's voice growing more and more wistful. His story was building up to something Georgia was sure wouldn't be good. Her mother's reaction to the proposal and her constantly changing were pretty big red flags in and of themselves. What else was there?

"Did something bad happen to her?"

Grady shook his head. "No. While you were at school, she would often get mad at me if I so much as did anything. She criticized everything about me. The way I talked, the way I eat my food, the way I dressed, the way I raised you, how I don't praise her cooking enough, blaming me for things going wrong, claiming I care more about animals than her...I did everything I could to make her happy, but…" Her father put a hand over his forehead. "It was never enough."

Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. Her mother? Doing all of those things? And to her father, no less? Georgia couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. That didn't sound like her mother at all! She searched through her memories to find any trace of that kind of person her mother was. Nothing. She didn't even hear them argue. Not even once. Could he have been talking about a different person? That person couldn't be Edel, her mother. It just couldn't!

"I'm sure you're wondering why she left," Grady finally broached the subject, his eyebrows furrowing into a deep frown. She could see his eyes turning glassy, like he was sure to break at any moment. Instead, he stood up from his chair. "Come with me. I want to show you something."

Silently, Georgia followed him up the stairs. They reached his bedroom, and Grady rummaged through one of the dresser drawers before pulling out a folded piece of paper. It was crinkled, full of creases and bent corners, and the paper was an ugly shade of yellow, obviously from the passage of time. Georgia looked down at it, wondering what it was. But her vocal chords were paralyzed, rendering her unable to speak. What was this?

"A few weeks after you turned twelve, I went into the kitchen to make breakfast…" Grady let the sentence trail off for a moment. Then he sniffed before saying, "I found this on the table."

Unable to wait any longer, Georgia took the paper from his hands and opened it. Scrawled across the paper was her mother's handwriting. She recognized her beautiful penmanship and curly cursive words. She always made every letter look round, swift, and elegant, even if Georgia could barely read it most of the time. She never did like how the cursive words bunched together and looked more like gibberish than anything else. But the letter felt heavy in her hands. She could read every word perfectly.

But the words Edel wrote were like poison.

Grady,

I can't keep doing this. Pretending to be someone I'm not. Being happy with a low class, animal-loving country bumpkin. I'm not fit for this kind of life. My parents always told me that your kind of people were nothing but scruffy hillbillies, that loving you would be my social suicide and hurt my chances of having a decent future. After all these years of putting up with you, I finally realize that they're right. We have nothing in common, and I don't know why I stuck with you for so long. There's no point in dragging this out. It's better if I just rip off the bandage, get it over with, and leave this prison forever.

I'm leaving. Forever. I don't think I ever truly loved you. I'm going back to my family where I belong. I deserve better than to slave away in a farm forever and get nothing out of it. Just forget about me. A man of your ilk is better off with someone who can actually put up with you.

"What…?" Georgia's hands trembled as she held the letter in her hands. Something warm trailed down her cheeks, dripping off of her chin. Tears fell on the paper, leaving dark spots, sparing the ink. "Why? Why? I don't...get it…" This couldn't be her mother. It just couldn't. Her mother would never say things like this, especially to her father, who saw her as the center of his world. Grady's family meant the world to him. He would move the Earth for him. And she just left? All because she felt trapped? She even had the nerve to call him low class, a hillbilly, and claim she was only putting up with him, like he was a naughty child rather than her husband.

"Did she really hate us this much?!" There was no holding back now. Georgia wailed, throwing the letter onto the dresser with such force that it fell right off soon after. She buried her face in her hands, her effort to muffle her cries futile.

Grady simply wrapped an arm around his daughter and pulled her close. Georgia could feel the soft, prickly fabric of his yellow sweater. The same yellow sweater that had horses embroidered on it, similar to her own, only hers had no sleeves and a slightly different design. Her father smelled like horses, just the way she liked it. No, she loved that he smelled like horses, cat hair, dog hair, and straw all put together. That scent was her father's, and his alone. Nothing could be better, and his embrace was warmer than any fur coat she could ever wear.

As far as Georgia was concerned, her father was perfect. Everything about him was perfect. His flaws, his mannerisms, his occasional slipping into the Westown accent just like she would sometimes, his limitless love for every one of God's creatures, big and small, his thoughts...how could her mother not like him and everything that he was? She saw him being nothing but kind to her. What was so bad about that? What did he do to deserve that?

"Your mother came from a rich family that had very high social standing," Grady explained. A single tear trickled out from his eye. "They never approved of her having anything to do with me. They thought the working class were beneath them. I think your mother fell back under their spell and succumbed to the pressure to...conform to her family's expectations."

He said nothing more after that. Grady just stroke Georgia and let her cry. This was too much. Too much. Georgia buried herself in her father's favorite sweater, listening to her own sobs and the thrumming of her father's beautiful heart. He didn't deserve this. Grady deserved so much better than this. How could her mother do this to a man who treated her like a queen? But more than that...Georgia scolded herself for not having seen or known any of this before. How in the world did she not see any of this? For all she knew, her mother might have hid everything so she could project the idea that she and Grady were happy together. The perfect parents. Now she knew the truth. Edel strung her father along, felt stuck with him, and then left because he didn't meet her standards.

"You didn't do nothin' bad to her...she shouldn't have treated you that way!" Georgia exclaimed. She had never felt so betrayed by someone she loved in her whole life. By her own mother, no less! But she was sure her father was hurting even more from the betrayal.

"I'm sorry I never told you any of this before now," Grady murmured, continuing to stroke his daughter's shoulder. "Your mother's actions hurt me a great deal, but I knew you would suffer even more for it. I couldn't bear to subject you to that kind of pain. The pain of your mother leaving you and not having any concrete answers. I was sure you would blame yourself and believe she left because of you. I didn't want you to think that at all."

She knew that. She always knew that. Her father always tried to put others first, before himself. He was too kind for his own good. She did appreciate his intentions, but it did nothing to alleviate the pain in her soul. But what really hurt was...the memories. The good memories she spent with her mother. Were those completely fake? Were they all just a lie? Did her mother even love her, or was she just putting on an elaborate facade?

After a while, Georgia's lungs began to hurt, so her crying ceased. Her eyes were red and puffy, but now she was calm. It was then that she realized something important.

Not once did the letter mention Georgia.

Did that mean something?

"Dad...are you mad at her for all that she did to you?" Georgia asked, her voice still little more than a choked whimper.

Grady forced a sad smile. "I was, originally. But I knew holding onto that anger wouldn't do either of us any good. I decided it'd be better to focus on taking care of you," He still held her close, a firm hand resting on her shoulder. "She had her reasons, and I've since accepted that she wasn't happy living with me. I don't hold it against her anymore. Besides, I still have you."

At this point, Grady gently pushed Georgia off before putting both hands on her shoulders. He looked her square in the face, his eyes no longer sad but determined, and said, "Georgia Margaret Sewell, you are my whole world."

She heard the sincerity in his voice clear as day. No sound in the whole world could ever compare to her father's lovely, determined voice.

"Don't ever stop being who you are. You are strong, kind, caring, lovely, hard-working, and a spirited young lass. I would never trade you for all the riches in the world," Grady told her in an uncharacteristically stern tone. But Georgia could feel the love radiating from it. "I honestly don't really know what went on in your mother's head, or why she never gave you any answers, or why she hurt you in this way. But no matter what her reasons, don't ever believe that you're not worthy. Race, orientation, social standing, none of that matters to me, and it shouldn't matter. God gave you to me, and you are the greatest gift I have ever received in my life."

It was a simple, somewhat preachy declaration, but she could feel a lump form in her throat. "I know that already…" She reiterated, closing her eyes to hold back the tears. Of course, it was futile. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Georgia."

It was Grady's turn to wipe his tears this time. Then, Georgia noticed something. Or rather, the lack of something. There was no rain pounding on the windows anymore. She didn't even hear the thrumming of the rain on the roof. She ran downstairs and flung the door open, looking outside. The rain had stopped. Big puddles of water formed all over Bluebell, and with the clouds having scattered just enough to let the sun in, some of them became little pools of liquid golden light. Bluebell had a whole new glow to it that seemed to make it come alive.

Georgia smiled, bright as the sun above. This was her home, the place where she would always be accepted no matter what. It didn't matter if her mother didn't accept her. If she didn't, she didn't. Even so, Georgia still had her father, her horses, the other animals, and everyone else here.

"Georgia!" A young woman with blonde hair tied into a braided bun came bounding out of the cafe next door, her starry sky skirt flying as she ran in her direction. "Goodness! Some rain we had just now, huh?"

Today was another day, and it would be a good day. A great day, even. The air was fresh and damp with moisture left over from the rain.

"Did your power go out, Laney?" Georgia asked, grinning as she brushed some stray hairs out from Laney's face. "I didn't see any lights on in your house."

"Yeah...our power did go out. But it's back now that the rain stopped!" Laney exclaimed cheerfully. "How are your horses doing?"

"They're doin' right fine," Georgia replied. "Phoebus is still a mite stubborn, though! Want to come and check on them with me?"

Laney beamed. "Sure!"

With that, the two girls trotted into the stables, happy as can be, just like the hardy edelweiss flowers blooming high in the mountains. Their wooly petals unfurled in the rain drenched landscape, strong and willing to withstand anything. Georgia wanted to be her strong, rugged, untainted self, whose beauty came from her strength and unyielding resolve, just like the edelweiss flower that grew in the mountains, withstanding cold and sunlight.

The rain passed, and out came the sun.