~ oOo ~
So I'm more than a little overwhelmed at the amazing reaction to this tale
of mine so far! You've all sent such kind, supportive words, and I'm grateful
for every single one of them! I'm loving your theories so please keep 'em coming!
A few people are wondering where this is going, so let me just reassure you that
I only write Happy Ever Afters, and though it'll be a slow burn, it will be an
Edward and Isabella (or Scarlett in this case) fic in the end.
As you may have guessed, it's going to be a rough ride for our girls
for a little while, but I promise from this chapter on you're going to start
seeing a little light peeking into the tunnel! There are still a few bumps in the
road, however, so hang tight.
I'd like to say a huge thank you! to SunflowerFran for her rec on her page!
I appreciate your support more than you know, it really does mean a lot :)
Last thing...from here on out I plan to update on Mondaysand Fridays.
~ oOo ~
Summary: When two little girls were allowed to walk
home from school one bright spring day nobody could've
predicted the events that followed. The way two families
were torn apart by the vendetta of a deranged man.
Nearly twelve years on, we'll watch as the two girls stolen
away from their homes at eight years old fight to take
back their lives. If only it were as simple as escaping. AU
Pinky Promises
Chapter Four
"Oliver?" Her voice was a whisper in the darkness, but he heard. A slim figure left his cover beneath the trees to step out into the moonlit meadow where the young woman waited. His teeth glinted white in the pale light as he smiled sadly.
"It's true, isn't it?" Tears filled the woman's eyes when she nodded. She felt guilty for losing her composure, but her horror at the secrets they'd uncovered in the past two months pushed past her barriers. She'd learned more than they ever could have dreamed, more than they could have feared. Oliver was close to tears himself as he remembered an encounter with a frantic man a few days previous.
"I need your help."
Oliver lifted his head from the pillow upon which it had been resting, offering a tired smile to the man in the doorway.
"C'mon in." The two men sat up on the bed, one wrought with nerves, the other perfectly calm, already knowing what this chat would be regarding.
The visitor's tirade erupted from between tightly pursed lips. "I've heard things. Seen things…you have weird calls all the time and I saw you going into the barn the other night." He turned piercing gray-blue eyes on Oliver. They were wary and accusing and hopeful all at once. "It was one a.m. What were you doing out there?"
Oliver weighed up his options. There was only so much he could say without breaching his orders, but looking at this desperate man he knew half-assed answers weren't going to cut it. "Would you believe me if I said it was an emergency call to a family member?"
"No," he scoffed, scowling. "You're not who you say you are, are you?"
"No, but that's not public knowledge, and I'd prefer it stayed that way."
Immediately he knew Oliver was not a man to be messed with. The look in his eyes said everything he didn't need to vocalize. "Ok." He gulped, still staring at Oliver with apprehension written all over his face. "You've gotta help the girls. Scarlett, Rosalie, and Marley…they're, well…shit."
One strong, large hand reached up to tug at riotous blond hair before a long breath escaped him. Oliver held his breath, knowing this moment was pivotal. Something was about to change.
"They're not his daughters. I don't know who they are or who he is…but he's not their dad. No way. He can't be."
Oliver's stomach lurched, brain flying into action, because this man…he was the break in the case they'd been waiting for.
Somehow, he knew.
Back in the moonlit meadow the man and woman discussed their options. There were all-too-few with the shaky sources they'd been relying on thus far. They were told this mission would be a simple recon one – get in, get the evidence, get out. It hadn't been until a few weeks ago that Oliver realized there was a lot more to this ranch and its occupants than he, or any of his colleagues, previously thought. His eyes fell on the woman before him, her eyes filled to the brim with pained tears, her body trembling with the chill of their new knowledge, one word resonating far stronger than any other in their minds.
Abduction.
They'd been sent here to uncover a threat to unknown targets, not realizing all along they'd been living in much closer proximity to victims of the crime they were investigating than they could have guessed. Shrewd, trained eyes had failed, until recently, to catch the thinly veiled origin of the despair cloaking the waif-like young women on the ranch there in Montana. Oliver's focus hadn't been on the boss' daughters other than to determine that they weren't involved in any illegal activities. The past weeks had shown him there was a lot more to Scarlett and Rosalie than met the eye.
Once he'd assured himself and his superiors of the girls' innocence his focus had switched to the inordinately larger, and more dangerous, task ahead – gathering the evidence while maintaining their cover. Not once had he considered the idea that the girls could have a much more sinister past then just two girls raised by an absentee father on a ranch in the middle-of-nowhere, Montana. It hadn't occurred to him, or any of the other people involved in this mission, that they might be overlooking what could quite possibly be the ranch boss' most hideous transgression to date.
In the meadow, the sudden, too-loud ringing of Oliver's phone made him and his colleague jump. He quickly silenced it, raising the phone to his ear and pressing the flashing green button.
"Newley. Anything new before I fill you in on the latest from our end?" A gruff voice barked.
At once, Oliver was torn. Nervous, because there was nothing cheerful about the voice in his ear. Excited, because it could be intelligence that would help them, help the case. He finally reasoned with himself that their increasing knowledge could do nothing but aid them. He sighed and shared a look with the woman in front of him.
"Yes, Sir," he admitted. "We've located another ranch close to the Montana-Wyoming border, smaller than this one." Oliver winced as a loud curse tore through the phone line from his boss, who was sitting in a darkened office almost two-thousand miles away. Both shadowed in the field could hear him anyway, so Oliver pulled the phone from his ear and hit the key to activate the loudspeaker option. "We wrote the details down we could get from the ranch hand who worked there, and I'll be faxing it to you in a few days if everything goes well."
He outlined his plan for the upcoming two weeks, making sure to include all of the details and that they were nailed down. It was a lesson he learned early on and rarely forgot.
The trio memorized the decided plan of action, Oliver explaining that he and a few of the other ranch hands would be travelling to the nearest airport in the city of Billings to pick up some new recruits for the ranch. Mr. Smith had suggested they stay in a hotel between the two arranged pick-up days a week apart, using the free time to get supplies they depleted during the winter.
Oliver wasn't on board at all with the idea of leaving his colleague behind, but as she frequently reminded him, she was capable of defending herself if she needed to and what she did wasn't down to him.
Speaking to the female scowling beside Oliver, their boss said, "James, I trust that you'll be updating me daily while Newley is away?"
Both occupants of the field understood that while their boss had phrased his words as a question, it was most definitely an order. With that in mind, however much she disagreed, James wasn't naïve enough to believe she'd get away with arguing. The duo's boss hummed when she acknowledged his order with a confirmation. "Glad to hear it. Now, we've got a lead."
Oliver's heart took off at a sprint in his chest, his stomach full of anxious anticipation. He normally loved this part of a case. The crux. The point at which the case hinged. He didn't feel that way this time. He was confused, and hopeful, and desperate for good information. If there was a lead it meant Emmett had to be right, on some level. A lead confirms what Oliver hadn't known to fear until recently.
The girls couldn't be who they claimed to be.
Oliver and James tensed, eyes wide and locked, with baited breath.
"We did some digging in the missing person's records and came up with nothing." There were unhappy sighs at the news. "However, we had a hit when we threw the net out further afield. England, specifically. Your source was correct, Newley. The girls are not in any way legally connected to Garrett Smith."
In the dark of night a lone cloud drifted across the inky sky as Oliver and James soaked up that piece of information. Pivotal, like Oliver suspected.
"England, you say? How did they get here if they've been reported missing?"
"Involuntarily, I'd guess. At this point we haven't got anything concrete but we've found records of an Isabella Scarlett Swan and Rosalie Daisy Hale being reported missing on…February 7th, two-thousand-four."
The date tumbled around Oliver's head. It took a few moments to sink in that not only was it looking as though Scarlett and Rosalie had a far stranger past than anybody thought, but that they weren't even sisters like they had people believe. It was a hard pill to swallow, standing in eerie silence two-hundred feet or so from the ranch house the 'family' was currently sleeping in.
"And the child? Marley?"
A sigh. "We've got nothing. No reports matching the child's description here or England. We really need a picture to compare. DNA."
"We'll do our best when we head to Billings, Sir. It's difficult to get a picture when she's always with Scarlett. And DNA…we'll give it a go."
"Good. Without DNA or a picture at least we've got nothing to go on, nothing to compare. But judging from your description I can hazard a guess at where she came from, or who she belongs to partly, at least."
Oliver winced. He'd had the conversation with his boss early on, describing the little girl. She had long, curly chocolate brown hair, was a tiny thing even for her age, which he'd put at around three or four years, and had the sweetest of features. Neither of the older girls had her shade of hair color, nor did they share her button nose or shape of her face.
But Scarlett did share her eye color. An unusual sea-blue-green, the likes of which Oliver had never seen before, couldn't be coincidental.
"What's the POA, Sir? This changes things."
"We'll carry on as planned, at least until we've got confirmation of who these girls are. For all we know they're not Isabella Swan and Rosalie Hale. Until we know for sure I'm not going in all guns blazing. You hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Sir."
"Good."
With the plan set in place, Oliver and James walked back to the house with knots in their stomachs and a renewed hope for their mission, which had seemed like it was coming to a standstill.
They were completely unaware of the blue-green eyes watching from the upstairs window.
~ oOo ~
"Just there…that's it! You got it!" With a wide grin Rosalie found her heart thundering while Emmett caught her gaze to shoot a proud smile her way, his happy eyes dancing before returning to the guitar in her lap where her fingers strummed the melody almost easily. Emmett had decided to teach her John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads first because he thought it would be the easiest to learn, of course not realizing how close to home the song hit. It had taken a month but finally Rosalie had mastered it, playing all the way through without pause. The feeling of accomplishment surging through her body was foreign but totally welcomed.
"I'm doing it," she mumbled, cheeks aching with the strength of her smile. Scarlett laughed joyously from across the loft where she pushed Marley gently on the rope swing Emmett had constructed for her. Her ribs weren't healed just yet, so she winced with the movement, but they were getting there slowly. Laughing and sudden movements still hurt but she could lift Marley again, albeit carefully, and she wouldn't let the injury ruin this accomplishment for Rosalie. She refused to let the boss' cruelty override her pride.
"You're getting really good. Pretty soon you won't need me to teach you at all," Emmett teased, tossing a wink in Scarlett's direction when his praise made Rosalie's cheeks flame.
"Maybe you're exaggerating just a little."
Emmett couldn't help but chuckle as she stopped strumming to pinch two fingers together, leaving the tiniest gap she could without them touching. "All right, Missy. Unleashin' the sass, are we?"
Over the past few weeks the girls had been different. Not as tightly strung. After one of the rungs of a ladder broke with him on it almost two weeks ago he'd been confined to the house and the ground floor of the barn on light duties, ensuring he'd be well for the upcoming summer when he'd really be needed. The large wound on his leg was healing far slower than he or the boss would've liked, but Emmett wasn't worried. He wasn't bothered in the least that it meant he wouldn't be able to go on the supply run. In fact, he was pleased to be staying behind. It meant he'd have unfettered time with the girls while both Mr. Smith and his wife were away in New York. Looking at them then, Scarlett smiling as she whispered to Marley on the swing, Rosalie basking in the warmth of her accomplishment, it was almost impossible to comprehend that they spent so much time hiding from the world.
Someone who hadn't see it wouldn't believe it, Emmett mused, reaching up to ruffle his hair while leaning back on the other to watch his favorite girls smile.
~ oOo ~
Outside the wind howled, the odd spatter of rain splashing the windows of the ranch house. In the field the horses spooked easily, a jet black stallion galloping gaily with his tail streaming like a banner in his wake.
Inside, in the kitchen doorway, Paul leaned. His arms were crossed over his chest, mouth pulled downwards in a frustrated scowl. "Did he say why?"
Lola rolled her eyes, scoffing. "Does he ever? No. He came in and said we all have to go. Apparently he's taking the family on holiday." She shrugged, rearranging her ponytail into a loose bun. "I thought the girls were staying behind but I guess not."
Paul saw the worry in Lola's eyes. He didn't know her well enough to ask about it, but he desperately wanted to. His lack of confidence around her was new and unusual. He didn't like it.
"Is there anyone else staying behind?" He asked instead.
"Nope, don't think so. Maybe Emmett." Lola popped the 'p' in 'nope', wrangling a little cheer into her voice before turning to get started on the washing up. She knew Scarlett and Rosalie were out helping Emmett in the barn with the horses, so they wouldn't be back inside until whenever they were bedding down for the night. Lola knew from experience that they'd spend the evening out there and come in when they wanted to shower before bed. She liked that they were spending more time outside, even if it was just to the barn, but she felt their absence strongly.
"Are you going to help me or are you just going to stand there and watch me do all the work?"
Paul's slackened jaw brought laughter bubbling up from Lola's stomach, ending with her clutching at her mid-section with giggles shaking her frame. For a few long moments he watched on in wry amusement, shaking his head while admitting that perhaps she wasn't as annoying as he first thought. Once her giggles had tapered out he stepped into the kitchen and picked up a dish towel so he could get to work.
They didn't leave the room until forty minutes later when Rosalie, Scarlett, Emmett, and Marley trooped in with muffled laughter alerting them to their arrival. It was quickly followed by footsteps on the stairs, and their quiet 'goodnight's as they headed up to their rooms.
Despite the strangely upbeat mood surrounding them, Paul and Lola couldn't help but feel this was the calm before the storm.
"Monkeys."
"Bananas?"
"Yep, that goes. Um, strawberries."
"Hmm…chocolate."
"Chocolate dipped strawberries."
Two stomachs grumbled loudly. The girls they belonged to snickered noiselessly so they wouldn't wake Marley, sleeping soundly curled into Scarlett's side. Rosalie rolled her head on the pillow to smile wistfully at Scarlett.
"I miss chocolate dipped strawberries, Barley."
"Me too, Ro, me too." Scarlett sighed. The use of both her childhood nickname and the reference to their favorite childhood snack made her stomach twist unpleasantly. It had been a good day. Too good. The boss had arrived back from his trip earlier in the evening, thankfully spending the entire night in his study – alone.
By then, with the sun sinking towards the horizon, the girls found themselves at a loss for things to do. If it weren't for Emmett's pain medicine making him too tired to stay up any longer they'd still have been out there, strumming away and starting on the next song.
It was ironic, Rosalie thought, that Emmett had hit on the one song that perfectly outlined their plight.
Take me home, country roads…she pleaded, glancing out of the curtain-less window to her right, the rain pattering against the glass. A soft, rueful smile overtook her face when her eyes fell upon the hayloft she, Scarlett, Emmett, and Marley had been sitting in just a short while before. It had become a haven of sorts. It was somewhere they could go once their chores were done and know they wouldn't be disturbed or have to listen to the men being rowdy in the house, or the boss stomping around.
Not that he'd been around a lot recently. To everyone's relief he'd been away until earlier that day, so no new injuries were displayed on Scarlett's faintly tanned skin, and her old bruises had been left to heal – slowly.
"I'm going to get a drink. You want one?" Scarlett muttered a while later, sliding off the bed carefully before heading for the locked door to their room. She zipped her black jacket to the base of her throat, glancing back at Rosalie. She shook her head, so Scarlett let herself out of the room, closing the door behind her with a quiet click and padding downstairs on feet as silent as a mouse. As she passed by the big window beside the front door she paused to take in the peaceful night. In the glow of the moon the track leading away from the ranch looked effervescent. Oh-so-enticing. The bolt of longing slicing through Scarlett as her eyes remained glued to the farthest part of the track she could see was as familiar as the dry heat that plagued Montana in the summer, as familiar as the quiet ease with which she and Rosalie willed away their days. It was as familiar as the pain they felt when they thought of their much-missed familiar, which admittedly wasn't all that often for fear of spiraling into the depression lingering in the wings like a dog waiting for a bone.
"No!"
An angry yell made Scarlett jump. She yelped, leaping away from the window. Landing awkwardly on her left foot resulted in a twisted ankle and a sudden, sharp pain rippling up her leg.
"I won't let them get away with everything I've worked so hard for. If they go they'll blow it all to shit."
With a sort of sick fascination, Scarlett shoved the pain in her foot to the back of her mind, something she'd become adept at doing, edging closer to the hallway she shuddered to even think of. At the end of the hall was the study. The boss was in there, yelling at someone. It went against every instinct she had to stop herself getting as far from the study as possible. But she ignored the urge to scarper, pushing forwards.
Her heart lurched when his tirade continued, voice booming as usual.
"No, Remi, it's not happening! I've spent my whole life working for this family and I won't let two spoilt brats ruin it by running off! Security here is tighter than ever, there's no way they'll get off this ranch without my say-so. I'd kill them both, and the brat, before I let them get away."
Scarlett's lungs constricted. "Is he…" she whispered, already knowing in her heart of hearts that he was referring to her and Rosalie. And he called Marley 'the brat'…It could only be them.
Of course they'd always known the security was tight, though hearing it and thinking it were two completely different things. Just small things like the distance between the ranch and the nearest city – Billings, according to the ranch hands making the supply run -, the way there were no electronic devices allowed anywhere near the girls, and no money left lying around except the occasional few coins here or there made it very clear that there was no way for the girls to get off the ranch by themselves. They were trapped. And even if they had tried to make their escape on foot? There were cameras stationed outside the ranch house, and on the exterior walls of the barn. Scarlett knew the boss had screens in his study, she'd spent a lot of time in there after all, so it was highly likely he had them elsewhere too. He always kept his cell with him so Scarlett was fairly certain the cameras were hooked up to it so he could monitor the comings and goings of the ranch even while he was away.
Scenarios began to fly through Scarlett's mind, her heart racing, stomach churning. She felt the bile working its way up her esophagus.
He was never going to let them get away. Not ever.
It felt as though someone had simultaneously poured a bucket of ice cold water over her then stabbed her in the gut.
Nausea gripped her in its tight fist. Tears sprang to stormy ocean-tinted eyes, prickling hotly. All Scarlett could think of was Rosalie and Marley, laying upstairs with no inkling of the realization she'd just come to.
When the clock struck ten there was only the sound of Scarlett's pained whimper to be heart in the entire house. Whoever the boss had been yelling at had apparently hung up, because even he'd gone quiet. Battling shivers that wracked her entire body, Scarlett clung to the wooden railing on the stairs and used it to make it to the bedroom. When she burst in it was to the sight of Rosalie and Marley fast asleep side-by-side, their arms entwined, hair a mish-mash of red-blonde and chocolate, chests rising in synchronization with their breaths.
The sound of their breathing usually soothed Scarlett yet her heart thundered away without reprieve. Her eyes flitted anxiously around the room, returning to Rosalie and Marley every few seconds before finally finding the bright moon outside. From her side of the glass everything suddenly seemed even more tainted than before.
The old wooden dresser standing sternly opposite the bed with twelve scratches carved into the base was particularly painful to look at. Each scratch represented a year of captivity.
Over the ringing in her ears Scarlett heard heavy, booted footsteps clomping up the stairs. She darted back to the door to hastily shove one of the smaller dressers in front of it before using the key to make sure it was locked. With baited breath, she waited, stock-still, for the boss to pass the room on the way to his own further down the hall. Her body was a giant knot of fear when there was an audible pause in his gait.
Right. Outside. The door.
The steps resumed a second later, but to Scarlett, it felt like a lifetime.
She breathed long and low, a relieved sigh if ever she'd heard one. For a horrifying moment she'd thought he'd heard her downstairs and had come to deliver her punishment. There was a doubt in her mind that if he did discover she'd been eavesdropping she'd likely not have escaped an encounter with his study unscathed.
The thought chilled her to the bone.
The night passed with excruciating hesitation. It was almost as if it knew the dawning day, which bore a significance Scarlett solidly ignored each and every year, would bring turmoil.
Scarlett paced, restless.
Rosalie's sleep was fitful. Perhaps she sensed Scarlett's anxiety even while she herself was unconscious.
Marley fidgeted, not quite waking but alarming Scarlett every hour or so with keening cries that tapered off with a stroke of her soft hair.
On the other side of the wall Emmett barely managed to get a couple hours sleep. Not only was his injured leg bothering him, the other ranch hands had all set off on their supply run so he was struggling to adjust to the unsettling quiet. The silence was loud without Jesse's bear-like snoring, or Paul's fidgeting.
Even the horses out in the barn were skittish, spooking at every sound. Charlie and Violet hissed at one another before stalking off into the pale dawn, long, feline tails swishing angrily.
And in the master bedroom, Mr. Smith slept peacefully, completely unaware that it would be the last time.
A new dawn was breaking, for all of them.