Thank you all for reading up to chapter eleven! I'm more than likely not going to be able to update until Monday due to no internet service at home, so I apologize for that in advance.
PART ELEVEN:
The new couple lived happily for the next few months. Chelsea's leg was deemed healed a few weeks before the end of fall and she was given more exercises by the doctor and Pierre gave her leg massages to get her muscles to relax.
They were sitting on Chelsea's bed one morning, when there was a knock on the door. Pierre left to go answer it, Salty already barking at the closed door. The little animal ran outside when Pierre opened the door and Natalie chuckled. "This just came over the radio." She handed him a slip of paper with a telegram on it.
"Thanks Miss Natalie." She smiled and waved to Chelsea who waved back sheepishly. Pierre smirked and closed the door, letting the dog run around outside for a while. He went back to sit by his girlfriend and read the message. About halfway through, he groaned.
"What's the matter?"
"My parents want me to come back home again."
She frowned. "Are you going?"
Pierre sat for a moment before turning to face her. "No." He said firmly. "I'm going to stay here with you."
She flushed and he leant over to kiss her softly. "I'm glad about that." She smiled.
Pierre had been staying in Chelsea's house all while she was recovering from her accident and now got to call the house his home with a room of his own. Ariella blushed whenever she talked to Chelsea, but the farmer had to keep reminding the nun that there was nothing like that going on between them. Roven, it seemed, also talked to Pierre, wanting to know what his intentions were with Chelsea. When he'd told her this, she'd giggled. It sounded like something a girl's father would say.
Chelsea went back to helping the family and Mark with the chores, feeding and watering the animals, milking the cows and collecting eggs from the chickens and wool from the sheep. Chelsea still loved the big horse, Cesar and brushed him and rode him whenever she could.
Pierre fussed whenever she got up on the big horse, urging her to be careful or trying to coax her into riding Chef, who was smaller. Chelsea rolled her eyes and tried to assure her boyfriend that he'd only gotten spooked that one time. "It could still happen again." He pouted and refused to look at her until she got down off the horse and walked over to him.
"You're such a big baby." She smiled before kissing him on his cheek. She took his hand and led him over to the big animal. "Horses are actually pretty reliable. Cesar's just not used to having little kids run around him." She reached out her hand to the horse's nose who nuzzled it and gave a happy snort. The girl smiled and patted him. "We had horses on my dad's farm. I rode them in races that the town held."
Pierre looked at her. He knew she'd had farming experience, but didn't know she actually lived on a farm before. He'd always thought it was her grandparents who were farmers or something. "I thought you lived in a bakery?"
"I did. That was after a big storm came and ruined the farm." She looked down. "And my parents died."
Pierre was surprised. Family was something Chelsea rarely ever talked about. "Chelsea. . ."
"It was in the spring, and there was a storm; a tornado. I'd seen tornadoes before, they were nothing new, but this one was strong." She continued. "I was twelve and my parents had rushed me down into the storm cellar before going back to try and save some of the animals. The wind was too strong, though, and my mother and father got carried away. Eleven people in the town died that day, my parents with them."
She sighed. "My auntie was the only relative I had left, so I went to live with her and she sold what was left of the farm so she could keep putting me through school and taught me how to bake. But then she got sick and never got better. Towards the end of her life, a few weeks before the bakery closed, she couldn't get out of bed anymore. Then she just. . . was gone." Chelsea sighed, feeling better now that she had told Pierre everything.
"Oh, Chelsea." He hugged her and she wrapped her arms around him in return.
"I'm alright. I envy you, though. You and everyone else. You have a big family that wants to see you, and asks you to come home. Ferena has her family and has built a new life with them. Julia and Marsell, Goran-san and Elza, Chen-san and Charlie and even Ceffiena and Darshan-san. Everyone has a family."
"Well, you have me."
She smiled a bit. "Yeah, I do."
On the next boat, Pierre rushed with them down to the docks. "What's your hurry, Pierre? Did you order something?"
He nodded. "For your information, I asked my parents to send someone."
"Send someone?" Chelsea asked as she led Cesar and the cart down the path, stopping at the edge of the beach.
"You'll see!" He said as he ran towards the boat. Chelsea looked to the others who shrugged and the three young farmers started hauling crates of produce over to the boat.
As Chelsea set a crate onto the pile, Pierre came down the ramp holding a pink bundle in his arms. "There there, I bet you missed me, huh Strawberry?"
The girl looked at him. "What is that?" He smiled and set the bundle down. A plump, pink pig on a leash started bouncing around his legs. The farmers stared. "Why do you have a pig?" Mark asked the question on everyone's mind.
"He's a truffle hunter. Fall is the best time to find truffles."
"Truffles?" Natalie asked.
"They're really fancy mushrooms. Very expensive, too."
The redhead wrinkled her nose. "Mushrooms? Gross!"
Pierre frowned. "They're good!"
"No they aren't."
Erik smirked. "Natalie was just stupid and ate a poisonous mushroom once."
"Shut up Erik!" She growled.
Pierre chuckled. "I'll make a really good mushroom dish that I know will change your mind!"
She sighed. "Don't expect me to eat it."
He pouted. "But it'll be really good. . ."
Erik patted his shoulder. "Natalie's just stubborn, don't worry about it."
He nodded and watched Chelsea who had knelt down to pat the pig. She had a big smile as he nuzzled her hand. "He's cute."
Pierre smiled. "Can we keep him in the house?"
"In the house?" She looked up at him.
"Yeah. He's house trained and he doesn't cause much trouble."
Chelsea looked at him. "I guess. But if he ruins something, it's out to the barn."
Pierre smiled and nodded. Strawberry was very well behaved. They finished getting things loaded and unloaded and collected their pay for the produce. The workers then headed back up to the farm.
Once back, Pierre pulled on Chelsea's arm. "Come with me! It's still early and I wanna see if we can find anything before it gets dark."
"What? Go mushroom hunting now?"
He nodded. "It's great weather, come on Chelsea, please?"
She sighed as he won her over with the big eyes and went to throw on a sweater before heading into the forest with Pierre. They'd been walking through the dense trees for quite a while, Strawberry rooting around in front of them. "How long does it take to find these things?"
Pierre shrugged. "Sometimes it takes days." He looked around. "I hope this island grows mushrooms. It should." She sighed. This could just be a wild goose chase. Er, mushroom chase.
Suddenly Strawberry darted forward, pulling the leash from Pierre's hand. "Strawberry! Come back!" He ran after the pig and Chelsea ran after him. She could tell they were going uphill and realized they must be climbing the mountain. "Pierre! This is too far, we need to go back!"
"I need to get Strawberry!" She nervously looked around at the rocky terrain and then followed after Pierre. He'd been right in front of her, but now the trees were denser and it was very dark.
"Pierre?!" She couldn't see him anymore and called out again. He didn't answer. Chelsea was starting to panic. What if they got lost in here forever? What if something happened to Pierre?! What if- She stopped thinking as she heard a twig snap.
"P-Pierre?" She looked around nervously, trying to see through the dense foliage. She took a few tentative steps forward. "Pierre, this isn't funny. I wanna go back." Another rustle in a bush behind her made her whip around and she backed up, her eyes wide. Suddenly she backed into something hard. She turned to see what it was and shrieked.
To be continued. . .