Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga and its original characters are the sole property of Stephanie Meyers. I do not claim ownership to her characters. Texas, 1857 is strictly a creative writing exercise.
Rating T: This story will contain strong but non-explicit adult themes that are not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16.
Summary: (AH/AT/OOC) A short historical romance. At the age of 15 Isabella, a young Hispanic girl whose family's lands were seized by the US was married off to a childless widower, Edward Masen Swan. Nine years later, a medical corp Army platoon on their way to Fort McIntosh in Laredo, TX seeks shelter at the Swan plantation. After years of doing things by the book, Major Whitlock finds himself desiring another man's wife. A series of events unfolds, forever entwining his destiny with Isabella's.
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Texas 1857
Chapter One
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"Mistress Swan." Nathanial's baritone rumbled across the distance between him and Isabella. "I need to be excused for a few moments." Nathanial couldn't hold it anymore. In a few minutes he was sure he'd soil all over himself.
Isabella stood, turning toward the direction of Nathanial's voice. With her hand shielding her eyes, Isabella squinted. "Eygh," she grunted making a strange sound. "Nathanial por favor," she called out. Dropping her hand, she lifted her skirts with both hands just enough to be able to take long strides. "I've told you not to call me that." Her voice seemed to become more animated the faster she walked. "Even Margaret knows I don't like you to call me that," she rambled, "I'm still just the daughter of a hardworking respectable Mexican farmer. Nothing has changed except for my name and clothes." She came to a stop next to the wagonette, her hands on her hips. "Llámame Isabella." She stared down at Nathanial though from her position she had to crane her neck back to look up at him.
"Yes." Nathanial knew when Ms. Isabella started speaking Spang-lish he'd lost the argument. "But Mr. Swan told me it's to be Mrs. Swan or Mistress."
"Bueno, Mr. Swan no está aquí, right?"
"Yes, Ms. Isabella," conceded Nathanial. "He isn't here."
"If he was here it would be one thing. Pero look around." She gestured toward the horizon in each direction. "We're all alone out here. No Mr. Swan telling us how we ought to act or talk. Here, we're free. ¿Entiendes?" she asked looking up at him expectantly.
"You're somethin' else." Nathanial grinned. "You and your crazy ideas."
"Well, good." Isabella knew she'd won. "Go and do whatever you need to do." Turning, she went back to picking wild flowers and enjoying the sun.
Isabella was truly grateful that Edward had allowed her to get away from the house. Of course he'd sent Nathanial with her. With the Indian problems, he said she needed a guard, thus Nathanial. His appearance alone was enough to intimidate even a drunk. He stood at least six feet with broad shoulders and a protruding chest. Maybe to some white men, Nathanial being black only accentuated his intimidating physique, but to the Indians, Isabella doubted Nathanial would have the same effect.
"¿Qué pasó?" asked Alice, Isabella's little sister.
"Nothing," replied Isabella. "Sólo me dijo that he was going that way." She pointed toward the wagonette. "He said he'd be right back."
When Isabella and Alice were alone, away from Edward Masen Swan, they often spoke in their first language. But when they were around Mr. Swan, neither dared to speak nothing but English. He didn't tolerate it. Before age and infirmity weakened him, he'd beaten Isabella for speaking Spanish. She'd learned at the age of fifteen to be careful and mindful of her P's and Q's around him. Edward had a short fuse and wasn't shy about expressing his anger on Isabella. Even now, infirmed, he was still rather strong. And Isabella had every right to fear a man who towered over her.
She was only fifteen when the widower Mr. Edward Masen Swan asked for Isabella's hand in marriage. He was nearly forty to her fifteen. Had their family circumstances been different, Isabella knew her father would have never allowed her to be married off to Mr. Swan. But Isabella was grateful that her father wasn't alive to see what they had become. Then again, she wished on the stars that her father Charles was still alive. Maybe if he was, their family would still have their farm and their own home.
After Texas' annexation to the US, they were assured by the new government that they could keep their land. That is until the treaty was ratified in 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, had guaranteed that Mexican Americans would be allowed to keep their personal and property rights. That's what they said, but quickly it had become clear after 1848 that the new government had no intentions in honoring their land titles. The new government subjected Mexican American land owners to tedious and expensive litigations in order to keep their land. They had two years to have their land titles revalidated.
Isabella didn't know whether or not her father's efforts to revalidate their land would have succeeded. Before the two years were up, he died, leaving just her, her little sister, and her mother. The US seized her family's 300 acres; land that had been in their family for three generations prior to the US invasion.
That's when Renée, Isabella's mother, took a position working for the widower, Edward Masen Swan. One day Isabella remembered living in their hacienda and the next, her, her sister, and her mother were living in a small room.
"Isabella!" Nathanial shouted. The alarm in his strong voice boomed across the field. Isabella quickly stood. Her first thought was Indians. Nathanial was pointing toward the horizon.
"Alice, ven a mi." Isabella's hand reached out to her little sister. "Hurry, tenemos que ir."
"What's wrong?" asked Alice.
"I think there's Indians," explained Isabella. Alice turned to follow Isabella's gaze. "We need to hurry to the wagonette." Isabella tightened her grip around Alice's little hand. Dropping their baskets of wild flowers, they hurried toward Nathanial.
"Nathanial." Isabella's voice was urgent. She gripped her younger sister by her waist and hoisted her up. In one smooth movement, Nathanial took little Alice, situating her in the back of the wagonette.
"It ain't Indians, looks like white folk to me," Nathanial said reaching over the edge of the wagonette for Isabella's hand.
"I think he's right," said Alice, staring off into the horizon. "Looks like soldiers."
Isabella turned to study the figures.
"They're probably heading to Laredo," Nathanial guessed. There was a military fort there. Isabella took several hesitant steps alongside the wagonette. Alice scurried to the edge of the wagonette to be closer to her big sister. Isabella stood silent studying the silhouette of men on horses. In the distance she could see flapping lazily in the breeze what looked like flags.
"Yep," said Nathanial. "Soldiers."
"Can I go get our flowers?" asked Alice.
"Yes," Isabella absently replied.
Alice rushed over to Nathanial who helped her down from the wagonette.
"Don't go too far little Miss," Nathanial instructed.
As soon as Alice's feet touched the ground, she ran back into the field to gather the flowers her and her big sister had collected.
"Well," Isabella breathed.
"Sorry for alarming you Bella." Nathanial gave her an apologetic look.
"It's better to be safe than sorry." She smiled. The Indians in the area were hostile. The Comanche were causing a lot of trouble. They were moving down from the north into Texas in an effort to extend their reign. The Indian problem was one reason Texas entered the Union in 1845. Isabella had never seen an Indian in the flesh. All she had to go on were the periodicals Edward had delivered from Galveston. "I'm going to go help Alice."
"Don't go too far," Nathanial advised. Isabella gave him a sideways look. "I'm just sayin'. Them storm clouds are closing in something fearsome."
Isabella studied the storm clouds. Silently, she turned from her protector and headed toward Alice who had already moved on to picking more flowers.
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