AN: I am so sorry this is so late… this story has been seriously blocked for me… between school and the holidays I just didn't have the time to get my mental jackhammer and knock down the wall between me and this chapter! Anyways I hope you all will forgive me and keep reading?

Anyways so here you go…. Edward is finally in the picture and you'll see why he wasn't if you keep reading… thanks to all those who reviewed last chapter and especially sendmeonmyway who gave me the fantastic idea that has spurred me to actually write more for this story

Disclaimer: For everyone who did not know already! Stephenie Meyer owns all the characters in this story that are from hers… everyone/thing else… well those are mine

EPOV

The sound of a rooster's crow woke me. I opened my eyes and squinted from the light of the morning sun coming through the window of my room. Groggily I pushed the blanket off of me and made my way to the washbasin. The burnished silver mirror above it reflected my face; I still looked pale and drowsy from sleep. I splashed the water from the basin onto my face and gasped from the cold. At least that had woken me up.

"Edward!" I heard my uncle Carlisle call from downstairs. His voice wasn't urgent so I disregarded it.

The next thing I knew my door was being thrown open and my cousin Jasper stood where it had been. "Edward. You're worse than my sister! She's probably already down at the market. Did you wake up late or something?"

I shrugged at his query. "I guess so." When he shook his head in exasperation I went on, "Relax Jasper. It's early yet. I'll be down there in like 10 minutes."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Of course you will Edward," he said sarcastically. "Just hurry up. You have first shift at the store today remember?" I groaned. I had been hoping they had forgotten. Jasper grinned at my reluctance. "Don't worry Ed, you're not alone today; Rose is with you." He laughed as I banged my head against the wall. Rose and I never got on well and in the mornings it was even worse.

I took one last look in the mirror. My hair was a bronze mess and today I didn't have the time to try to tame it. Instead, I just ran my hands through it once and tucked my shirt into my breeches.

The stairs creaked as I ran down them. Making my way into the kitchen, I gave my Aunt Esme a kiss on the cheek.

"Morning Edward," she sang. As always she was cheerful and bright even this early.

"Hi Aunt," I replied. I grabbed an apple and quickly exited the kitchen. I was just on time as it was, I didn't need to be roped into doing chores just by lingering in the kitchen.

I walked down the unpaved street, the gravel crunching under my sturdy boots. I bit into the apple as I traveled the familiar way to the market. The juice filled my mouth with its sweetness. Apples were my favorite fruit. We were lucky; Apples were hard to come by these days. My Aunt and Uncle weren't the richest in our town, but they were by no means the poorest. Carlisle was a doctor and the rest of us worked selling medicines and first aide supplies in the local market.

Our town of Volterra was small. Named after the mountains it was nestled under, the population was just under 1,000. Our home was the last civilization before the mountains. We were proud of our mountains. They were the biggest range in this part of the world.

The only mar in the landscape was the scum that roamed the mountainsides; making their lives off of stolen goods and plunder. They called themselves the Volturi and their chiefs were known for their viciousness. They were familiar with our mayor; Aro knew not to come near our children any more. Anger filled me just thinking of those rats, I pinched the bridge of my nose to relive some of my tension.

Even at this early hour, when the sun had just come up over the tops of the mountain peaks, there were people out. Most of them merchants and some like me, going to the market to hawk their wares. I knew most of them. Its what happened when you lived in such a small town. I waved to a few of my friends and trudged on, following the path of the trickle of people.

I made my way through the lines of stalls to Uncles. Rose was already there, as Jasper had said she would be, surrounded by a group of her male admirers. I shouldered my way through them and got to the front in time to see Rose laugh at something that was said. The men around her laughed too, entranced as they were by her.

I growled under my breath. Her fan club was blocking our regular customers. I glared at the man next to me. He backed away at my expression so I kept moving. I finally got to the back and let myself in. I marched straight to the front and pushed Rose aside.

"Hey!" she cried.

She started to bitch at me but I silenced her with a look and turned back to the men now bristling by my treatment of her. "If you are not here to but something you need to leave," told the gathering. They didn't move. "Now." I growled. Half of them picked up something random and came to the counter to pay while the other cleared out.

I quickly got through their purchases and went to Rose in the back room. She had her arms crossed in front of his chest and her foot was tapping a hole in the floor. The look in her eye would have made me cringe if I wasn't so annoyed. She was absolutely furious.

"What the hell Edward!" she practically screamed at me.

I shrugged at her and went to the boxes that Carlisle had left for me. When she was gathering herself to scream at me I told her "some of them are still out there you know. Maybe you can get them to buy crap. God knows I need the money." At that she left and went back to the men and I sighed in relief. Finally some peace and quiet; that's all I really wanted. Twelve years of living in the big city and I can't even handle Rose in the morning. I shook my head at my own foolishness. Sighing again I returned to my boxes, documenting the contents and storing them.

The rest of the morning crawled by. The sun inched across the sky. As much as I loved my Aunt and Uncle I would much rather be doing something that I deemed enjoyable. Things like playing our piano, or riding my horse.

Finally Jasper showed up and I gladly turned over the store to him. I didn't bother to say goodbye to Rosalie, she probably wouldn't have cared either way. I practically ran back to the house but instead of going in I slipped around back and went into the stables.

No one in this town got who I was. I didn't want to get married, they thought I was still a stuck up city boy; I didn't show interest in their daughters or nieces; they thought I wasn't interested in women. Why couldn't they understand that I wasn't interested in them just because I was content in who I was? My horse and I, that's all I needed.

I always felt at home with the horses. So naturally the stables is where I spent a lot of my free time. I saddled my stallion, thunder, who was the pride of my life and the only connection I had to my old life in the city. I couldn't complain though. Uncle was good to me and I loved the rolling plains and thickly wooded trails out here in the country side. I met all sorts of interesting people riding around on the roads; most who were riding on to the palace and capital which were only a few days ride from us.

I decided to ride Thunder to a new trail I had found the other day. It turns out that I was right to go there too. The trail was amazing but what I found most intriguing was the magnificent horse standing by the side of the trail and then the beautiful girl standing next to it.

AN: SOOOOO Again I am so so so sorry about the lateness of this. I know you guys probably thought I had ditched this story. Nope! I am back on track now… soo look for another update sometime in the next week!! Review and tell me what you think!