Before we continue, I want to say something that I am actually super excited about. As you may know, this website does not let you attach images to stories (unlike Wattpad which does), so I'd like to let you know that I have an Instagram page to go hand in hand with my stories. Go follow me to see photos I reference when writing my books. My handle is in my bio. Currently you'll find pictures for this book, as well as two of my other books "Centennial" & "The Way Back Home". The page is updated in unison with chapter updates, although not all chapters will have pictures for them.
Hope you enjoy this idea.
Esme's POV
Mother comforted my younger self through the bumpy ride in the back of the wagon, to town. The young girl whimpered in pain, coiled up on her side, her head in her mother's lap. I knelt near her feet, Carlisle at my side, a hand on my back.
"Mother it hurts so much,"
"I know darling, we're almost there,"
I watched the exchange between my mother and myself as father pulled the cart up to the hospital. Carlisle and I slid off the back of the wagon and watched as my mother and father carefully helped their child down, supporting her as she whimpered and crying out in pain. A nurse had noticed the commotion outside and had come out with a wheelchair, allowing my parents to set me down. I felt Carlisle's hand squeeze my gently as we followed several steps behind my parents and the nurse. The nurse led everyone into a small room, where she and my father lifted me up onto a bed.
Carlisle and stood off to the side, listening and watching; his free hand was resting softly on my lower back.
"Well, my dear, it appears you took quite a spill," the nurse said with a comforting smile as she peered under my skirt as it covered the already swelling leg, "What's your name, love?" she asked, lowering the hem of the skirt and turned to a clip board, picking up a pen.
"Esme Platt," younger me said softly. The nurse smiled.
"And let me take a guess…you're…15?"
"Sixteen," I corrected her with a cheeky smile. The nurse smiled again, collecting the clip board and looking at me.
"I'll call for the doctor to come and take a look at that leg," she said and swiftly left the room.
I felt Carlisle pull me a little closer as we listened to my parents talk to me.
"Esme," my father began, his arms crossed as her stood beside mother "I'm glad you were not injured any more than this, but young lady, we will be having a discussion about your foolishness when we get home," he reprimanded. She hung her head, her hair falling in her face, and then tucked it behind her ears.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled.
The sound of the door opening again turned everyone's attention away from the poor girl, and the nurse reappeared, with the doctor behind her. I smiled, looking at my husband, and then back to the very different version of his that had entered the room. Dress shirt, tie, lab coat, stethoscope around his neck, and clip board in hand. His blonde hair slicked back in the way I remembered.
But I saw something I hadn't noticed in him when I was a human. The shift in the dilation of his pupils, and the ever so slight flare of his nose. He hesitated for only a second.
"Miss Platt, I'm Dr. Cullen. I'm filling in for Dr. Cavell temporarily," he explained as he smiled at me, and then set the clip board aside, "Seems you've taken quite a nasty fall," he said, seeing the swelling that was crawling toward my exposed ankle. Younger me nodded at the doctor's observation, "Do you mind if I take a look?" he asked, and the young girl nodded nervously. He smiled and gently lifted the skirt to just above herknees. I watched as Dr. Cullen did his examination of Esme's leg. Heprodded gently, trying not to inflict any pain on the wincing girl. After a few minutes Dr. Cullen lowered Esme's skirt and smiled softly at her and her parents, "We're going to take an x-ray of your leg, but just by taking a look, I can probably guess you have a fairly serious break," he explained, "Mr. and Mrs. Platt, I'll have Nurse Miller escort you to the waiting room until we get your daughters leg fixed up here,"
I watched as my mother and father were escorted out of the room, leaving younger me alone with Dr. Cullen.
"Thank you," the girl said in a shaky and raspy voice before clearing her throat upon realizing. Dr. Cullen looked up from the charts he had picked up again. He smiled.
"You seemed uncomfortable with so many people around," he said. Esme nodded.
"My parents…they're pretty upset with me," she told him. Dr. Cullen gave her another soft smile. A sympathetic one.
"I'm sure they're very relieved you weren't hurt anymore than this," he tried to assure her. She bit her lip, nervous and unsure.
Carlisle and I watched from the sidelines as this interaction between his former self, and younger me took place. I lifted the time turner up and fast forwarded until after the x-ray had been taken and Esme had been brought back to the room. Nurse Miller returned with a cart containing everything to build a cast.
"Because of the type of break you have, Miss Platt, Nurse Miller and I are going to have to set your bone back in place," Dr. Cullen explained.
"Will it hurt?" Esme asked, biting her bottom lip again.
"It will, I'm sorry, but as soon as it's over I will give you something for the pain," Dr. Cullen promised, as he and Nurse Miller prepped the leg. I was looking at the leg that had been broken and felt my husbands hand squeeze mine softly.
Dr. Cullen and the nurse each took a position and he took a moment to look Esme in the eyes.
"Deep breath for me," he said as Esme closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then there was an unpleasant noise and a loud, painful yelp that came from her mouth. She grasped the bedding in her fists as tears spilled down her cheeks in thick streams.
Suddenly Dr. Cullen's head snapped up and his eyes were locked on his patient. I looked over at what had caught his attention. It was the fresh blood that was dripping from Esme's lip. She had bitten down hard on her lip to hold back her cries. The doctor rushed to her side, and gently wiped the blood from her lips with a damp tissue. Esme whimpered softly from the pain.
"It's ok," he said softly to her, tossing the bloody tissue away and offering her a new one. The tears were still streaming down her cheeks, "Keep the pressure on that," he instructed her, letting her hold the tissue. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief and handed it to her. She wiped her tears with it and the doctor returned to his place beside Nurse Miller, and drew up a needle, handing it to the nurse, who administered it to younger me. Shortly after she relaxed, when the pain had subsided. Dr. Cullen began wrapping her leg in a soft layer of bandage, and excused Nurse Miller, who hesitated, but he assured her that he was ok doing the cast.
After Nurse Miller had left, I watched as Dr. Cullen tried to comfort the weary, teary eyed teen who was wiping her eyes with his handkerchief and, if I recalled correctly, inhaling his scent that lingered on it to calm herself.
"So, if you'd like, Miss Platt, indulge me in how this incident occurred," Dr, Cullen asked as he began casting the young girl's leg. Esme lowered the handkerchief from her face and took a deep breath.
"Esme," she said, her voice low, "You can call me Esme,"
Dr. Cullen smiled softly, pausing for a moment, pondering on her name.
"Carlisle," he replied, and Esme smiled back at him.
"I fell from a tree in our front yard," she said, continuing their conversation, sounding embarrassed. Carlisle gave her a curious look.
"And what was a young lady like you doing up a tree?" he asked, his voice genuinely curious. Esme lifted her head and smiled awkwardly, meeting his eyes.
"I was sketching a picture of the yard. The view from that tree is breath taking," she told him, a light of enthusiasm glowing in her eyes. Then her face fell slightly, "When mother called me in for dinner, I climbed down too fast and slipped," she added. Carlisle had his eyes on her leg as he plastered the bandages, but his ears were on her, listening to every word. He smiled sympathetically again. Esme looked at the doctor's work.
"How is the pain?" he asked. Esme looked down at her toes, peeping out of the end of the cast the doctor was working on. She wiggled them ever so slightly, wincing.
"It's tolerable," she told him. Carlisle smiled softly.
"I'll make sure to send something with you to manage the pain for a week or so," he told her.
I turned my attention away from the two and back to my husband, who was watching in awe. I smiled, knowing he was feeling all the effects of nostalgia, watching the events of how we met playing out in front of us.
"Carlisle," I said softly, and he looked at me. His eyes met mine for a few seconds longer, studying my look.
"Yeah…" he whispered, "We should go,"
We left the room, and sauntered through the hallways of the hospital, passing my parents, who were sitting in the waiting room. As we stepped outside, I noticed the horses tied to a post outside, nibbling on the grass they could reach. Carlisle followed me over, as I smiled at them animals, reaching to pet the face of one gently. Although my hand fell through them, they seemed noticeably unease, their ears alert.
"Did they have names?" my husband asked, his tangled hand squeezing mine. I chuckled lightly.
"To father, no, they were work horses, not pets… but I called them Chance and Charlie," I told him. Carlisle smiled, reaching out to ghost-pet one of the horses.
"Shall we hop back on and mosey on home?" he chuckled, his cute demeanor making me smiled goofily.
"Yeah," I said, lifting the time turner to spin just forward enough ahead to when was wheeling younger me, followed by my parents, out the front door.
We stood watch as father climbed up on the wagon, and gingerly lifted Esme up in his arms so her father could take her, allowing her to settle on the blanket once more. The doctor also held out a hand to mother as she took a step up onto the cart, settling beside her daughter.
"Thank you, doctor," mother said with a kind smile. nodded, returning the smile, and then looking at Esme.
"I think it's best you stay out of trees for the next while, Miss Platt," he said light heartedly. Father's nerve seemed to be struck by the tone of his voice.
"Oh, she'll be staying out of trees forever, so long as I can help it," he grumbled, taking his seat and picking up the reins.
I motioned to my husband for us to climb up as well, and he jumped up on the wagon, helping me up. The two of us sat opposite on the side benches, Carlisle leaning forward, our linked hands meeting in the middle.
"Thank you again, Dr. Cullen," the young girl said softly from her spot near the front of the wagon, curled up with her mother and a blanket. The doctor could only offer her a simple smile before the wagon started rolled off, away from the hospital.
As I looked back, at the man who stood there, with a fond smile on his face, and his hands in his pockets, did I only then notice how black his eyes were. He curled his lips inwards, in an uncomfortable way, before turning and slowly sauntering back inside. When I turned my attention back to my husband across from me, his focus was on something else. The girl curled up to her mother had the doctor's handkerchief pressed softly to her face, tears streaming slowly out of the corners of her eyes. Her gaze was fixed back at where the doctor had stood moments ago.
I looked back at Carlisle again, grazing my thumb soothingly over the back of his hand.
"Was it as hard for you as it was for me?" I asked him. I know he heard me, because he sighed, exhaling heavily, but not turning his head to meet my gaze.
"Every fiber in my body was trying to push me to follow you," he said quietly, "It took more strength than you could imagine to turn around and go back inside,"
"I wish I knew," I replied, the only comfort I could offer him.
"It's ok," he said softly, finally turning his head. I turned my gaze to the sad girl in the corner, making his gaze follow mine, "You look heartbroken," he said sadly, watching younger me quietly inhale the scent on the cloth. I nodded.
"I was… It's not how I thought my heart would be broken the first time," I admitted.
We spent the rest of the ride back to the farm with silence between the two of us, listening to my parents scold younger me about my actions.
OoO
Upon arriving back at the farm, we hopped off the wagon, watching from the sidelines as mother helped Esme inside and father went to put the horses away. It was growing dark outside; the sun had set on the ride back and the many shades of purple and orange that had littered the partly clouded sky, were now fading to deep blue. We stood in the grass, listening to the crickets for a minute. It was peaceful.
"Now where?" Carlisle asked, as I lifted our hands again grasping the time turner.
"Back to the present day first," I said, as the world started spinning in fast forward.
