"I Loved Her, Even Then."
Summary: Carlisle remembers why he first fell in love with Esme.
I always knew I was going to marry her. That sweet little farm girl from Ohio. She was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. Even as a teenager. Most girls her age were sitting inside the house, sewing and knitting and taking tea time lessons. But she was out on the fields, climbing and dreaming and running.
I loved her even then. I know I did.
I saw her eyes look up at me and she looked at me with so much trust. No one had ever looked at me that way before. I was stunned.
She trusted me to help her, to put her leg in its cast. I told her she would be up and ready to run again in a short while, but she wasn't easily fooled. She cried when she finally got the truth out of me.
Two months! Two months before I can climb again, she said.
I wanted to tell her no more climbing, ever.
But I did not have the heart.
Instead I took her hand in mine and gently told her that she would find another way to chase her dreams. A way that involved staying on the ground.
She giggled a little at that, and she graced me with a smile. A smile I never once forgot.
The image of her face appeared a thousand times until we met again. But it had been clear to me on that very first day.
I loved her, even then.