Trust, Love, & Happiness

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or anything else in this story. All credits go to the Hallmark Channel, Janette Oke, Brian Bird, Michael Landon Jr., the actors, and the writers of this amazing show. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 1

It was 7:30pm on a nice summer night and Elizabeth Thatcher and her boyfriend Charles Kensington had just finished a delicious dinner. As usual, Charles grabbed a 6-pack of beer and went into the living room to watch TV while he drank and Elizabeth was left to clean up. Elizabeth hated that Charles had become an alcoholic but even worse, she was physically abused by him almost daily and hadn't told anyone, not even her best friend Rosie LeVeaux.

After she finished cleaning the table and doing the dishes, Elizabeth walked into the living room where she watched Charles consume his beer and started expressing what she was thinking. "Charles, I want to have a life together but for that to happen you need to stop drinking completely. I don't want to live like the way we are any longer."

Charles turned and stared at her with an angry look and rose from his chair yelling which let Elizabeth know that the abuse was going to occur again. "This is my house and I'm in charge of our relationship! Not you! You understand me?!"

Elizabeth started crying and before she could respond Charles had just then slapped her on the cheek, grabbed her arm, and dragged her on the floor down the hall while she sobbed loudly and begged him to stop and let go of her. "Charles, please let me go! I'm sorry!"

Charles stopped dragging her and hit her again giving her a black eye on the right side. The abuse went on for 30 minutes before Charles decided he wanted to go to bed. Elizabeth stayed up and waited for him to fall asleep so she could gather the belongings she needed and go stay with Rosie hoping that night would be the last time she would endure abuse from the man she once loved and who had treated her like a gentleman until he started drinking and became an alcoholic. She knew she deserved better and to increase her chances of no longer being involved with the man she thought she knew she had to be gone by dawn which is when Charles woke up every morning.

After Elizabeth locked the front door of the house she jumped into her car and headed to Rosie's knowing her house would be the safest place she could go to for the night.

When Elizabeth arrived and parked in front of her best friend's house she noticed the lights in the front room were still on which meant Rosie was still awake. The hurt and bruised woman approached the door and rang the bell hoping she wouldn't have to wait long for Rosie to answer. The single woman inside the one story house was in her living room watching TV and wondered who it could be on the other side of the door since it was late and wasn't expecting anyone. She went over to the window and looked out seeing Elizabeth standing crying, scared, and trembling from the fear.

Rosie raced to open the door and before she could say something, Elizabeth spoke. "Hi, Rosie. Sorry, it's late. Do you mind if I stay here for tonight?" The woman who Elizabeth came to stay with knew something bad had happened but didn't want to make her feel forced to share anything so she let her stay and helped get her settled.

Around 8:30 the following morning the delicious smell of breakfast, which included bacon being made woke Elizabeth up. She got up to straighten herself up before going to the kitchen. Entering the kitchen she found Rosie finishing up with cooking and getting ready to set the table for the 2 of them. "Good morning, Rosie. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Rosie turned around and smiled. "Good morning, Elizabeth. I could use your help setting the table."

Elizabeth smiled as she helped her best friend so they could sit and eat a great breakfast. The 2 women had finished their breakfast but still sat at the table talking while slowly drinking their coffee. A brief silence then occurred which was when Elizabeth decided to tell Rosie what was going on with Charles. "Rosie, there's something you need to know about Charles."

Rosie looked at her friend concerned and hinted that she was listening which Elizabeth knew. "Well as you know, Charles and I have been together for a little over 2 years now and everything was going very well in our relationship until last year which is when he started drinking and abusing me. At first the abuse only occurred once a week to every 2 weeks. After the first 2 months since it all started it became almost daily and now it's every single day. He threatened me by saying if I had told anyone he would go after you or my family. Not knowing how serious he is about it that's why I haven't said anything until now. I need you to know that Charles could show up here any moment to try to get me back since he has more than likely figured out that I'm nowhere to be found at home."

Rosie was scared. "I'm calling the police to have them come now just in case he decides to show up. He's not going to mistreat you anymore Elizabeth."

She quickly grabbed the phone and called 911 praying that the cops would arrive at her residence in just minutes.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Yes. I need to report a Domestic Violence incident going on and the guy is super dangerous so we need someone out here immediately!"

"Ok Miss, what is your address?"

"1719 Willow Way."

"Ok, we have officers on their way now and they should be there in 5 minutes or less. Call us back if you need to."

Rosie hung up and looked at Elizabeth as they waited for the cops and the possibility of Charles showing up at any time.