Harvest Moon story – Chapter 2

Harvest Moon story – Chapter 2

So, why did I marry Rock ? Now that's a good question.You'd think with my upbringing I'd have seen through someone like Rock with ease. Still things are never quite as simple as they seem and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I arrived in the valley about two years before the birth of Joel. Funnily enough I'd been born in the valley but my father was killed in a fishing accident while I was still a baby. My mother had come from Mineral Town and she hated the place and couldn't wait to leave. Apparently she had fallen in love with my father, Marty as soon as she had set eyes on him at a dance in Rose Square. Throwing caution to the wind she had run off with him only to discover that, for her, the valley was even worse than Mineral Town. She always said that the only unforgettable thing about Forget-me-not Valley was the mind numbing boredom of the place. Unhappily for mum by the time the first flush of love had died away she was pregnant and penniless. She made no friends in the valley and couldn't wait to leave. We left the valley just two days after the funeral taking all the farms money and no note of explanation. The rest of my childhood and adolescence was spent like gypsies, moving on from place to place whenever the fancy took her. On the morning of my eighteenth birthday mum was packing for yet another move and I decided it was time we parted company. I needed somewhere to belong, somewhere to call my own. I was tired of drifting and my soul yearned for an anchor. I found I was drawn to the idea of Forget-me-not-Valley so, despite all my mothers' warnings about it and the collection of creepy characters that lived there, I wrote to Takakura, my fathers old friend and partner. He immediately wrote back and invited me to visit. By coincidence I arrived on New Years Day. It felt like an omen especially when Takakura invited me to take over my fathers half of the farm with a view to owning the whole thing eventually. It was obvious the poor old guy really wanted this, he'd cleaned up the old farmhouse, and he'd even bought a cow. There was nothing creepy about poor old Takakura, just someone a bit grumpy and slightly pathetic. I agreed and Thomas, the plump little Mayor from Mineral Town, came over with the legal papers for me to sign. I'd expected something of the sort but one of the clauses was unusual to say the least. I read through the papers carefully and looked up ion astonishment at the final clause – by the end of my first full year on the farm I had to have married, failure to do so would result in me forfeiting the farm. I found it amusing but felt I understood the reason for it. Thomas knew my mother from the past and her treatment of Takakura still rankled in the valley. This time he'd sunk everything he had left into the farm for me and, even though that wasn't much, the tools were old and heavy, just two small fields were cleared and just two bags of tomato seed sat on the shelf, it was probably all he had. With a smile and a shrug I signed the papers. After all it couldn't be that difficult. I wasn't that bad looking, no potential beauty queen but I had a good brain, a decent figure, thick brown hair and large eyes, surely I wouldn't have that much trouble in finding a good husband. Looking back I can't believe how naïve I was. Still, if only they'd known that it really didn't make any difference to me, from the moment I set foot on the beach I knew I was home. I could feel it strike through me from the bottoms of my feet to the depths of my soul and I would never, ever leave again – no matter what.

So my life in the valley began and I threw myself into it with everything I had. The work was back breaking, so much harder than I'd anticipated but at the same time satisfying. At the end of the day I'd collapse into bed exhausted but content. There were so many things that the farm needed and I could barely afford anything. I spent all my free time collecting wild flowers to sell and fishing, something I'd done to make money in my childhood when things were bad. I was very apprehensive about my reception with the villagers but this soon vanished. As the saw how hard I was working on the farm they couldn't have been kinder. They were on oddly mixed lot but so open and helpful. They appreciated even the smallest effort on my part to be friends. It slowly dawned on my that I was not the only wanderer seeking to make this place home. Tim and Ruby, the couple running the Inner Inn had travelled, especially Tim. Ruby, his wife, was valley born and bred and a wonderful cook, but Tim had travelled the world. This shy, plump, dark haired couple were the parents of a startlingly handsome blonde. It was some time before I figured out the set up there. Rock wasn't their child he was adopted, in a way. Just before Tim and Ruby opened up the Inner Inn their own son had died and soon after that a friend asked them to look after her son while she went away for a few days and she never returned. From the beginning Rock was very attentive. He had a light charm that made me smile. He'd appear by me on the road, by the pool, even on the farm but for all his good looks and flattering manner there was something about him I found hard to take seriously.

As the year moved on I began to assess my choices and one by one I rejected them. Griffin – too old and just not interested. Daryl- too crazy and out of contact with the real world even to notice. Cody – another valley resident wholly absorbed by his art as were the twins. Marlin – Now he was interested but I just couldn't feel that way about him. I tried to dissuade him as gently as I could and Vesta, his sister, realised this. She showed her appreciation becoming quite motherly towards me. Celia also held out the hand of friendship to me. I'd never really had friends before; we never stayed in one place long enough. Friendship was the reason for rejecting yet another prospect, Gustafa. I really liked him and could easily have turned liking into something more if it hadn't been for Nami. Nami with the spiky crimson hair and the spiky manner was just another rootless soul like me and we quickly became friends. Another thing I saw just as quickly was how much she felt for Gustafa. So that was the end of that. Then there was Carter. Right from the start he fascinated me. I'd go up to the excavation site and help out with the dig. He let me keep the things I found there providing much needed revenue for the farm. We'd talk late into the night about all sorts of things, the three of us Carter, Flora and myself. I felt drawn to his strength, his sense of purpose, his compassion but he remained merely friendly. At first I thought this was because of Flora but it became clear she didn't care for Carter that way. So finally I was drawn back to Rock. I wasn't to know that one of the reasons for his attentiveness and his continual presence was that Tim and Ruby had stopped his allowance. His over spending, constant trips to the city and a hushed up scandal with a married woman in Mineral Town had led them to restrict him to the valley. Also they'd observed his attraction to me and they were keeping their fingers crossed. So, as Winter drew to a close I married Rock hoping that a marriage would settle him down.

Oh, at first he was good, he was attentive even helpful to a point. When I became pregnant he was like a peacock strutting around the valley. This didn't last though. He got tired of playing the dutiful husband and slowly he reverted to his old ways. As the farm began to make money he spent it. The escapade at the Goddess pool wasn't the first time. Carter found him in a compromising position with a young girl from Mineral town called Mary. After hauling him off her Carter kicked my naked husband into the waterfall. He informed the humiliated girl of Rocks married status and then took the now hysterical girl home. There was an almighty row and I really think Carter would have killed Rock if he could have got his hands on him. Rock tried to say Mary had come on to him. When this was laughed away he admitted it had all been a mistake, some foolishness he deeply regretted but that he had been feeling very low and UN loved. He said it was my fault making him feel second best, pushing him away, making him feel unwanted now I was pregnant. We all knew this was rubbish but there was enough of a kernel of truth there for me to feel uncomfortable Carter wanted me to boot him out there and then but I assured him I was fine. Rock even tried to justify his affair by accusing Carter of making a play for me. Rock promised it would never happen again and I promised to look more to him and to turn away from my friendships at the waterfall. God knows I tried harder after that to make Rock feel secure. He was quiet and withdrawn but soon back to his old ways. The trips to Mineral Town resumed and he'd disappear with pockets full of profits leaving me to struggle. And then there was the day of the wedding.

Initially, after my discovery, I was so furious I just wanted to run away. I was so angry with Rock I couldn't even speak. How dare he treat me this way again, how could he care so little for the promises he'd made. This time it was just so much worse. I know this girl, this silly little girl, flattered by his attentions, deceived by his lies. I was furious with both of them. She needed her upper class face slapping, she needed protecting. \Luckily Joel was asleep in hi cot because I fled the farmhouse without a thought as to where I was going. The next thing I knew I was by the waterfall, on my knees weeping as though my heart would break. Carter came rushing out of the site and swept me up into his arms. Eventually he got me to tell him and Flora everything. He quieted me and stopped me from just running there and then. He urged me not to do anything I'd regret. He reminded me of all the hard work I'd put into the farm, how could I bear to lose all that to Rock and What about Joel's future? Carter promised me he'd help me whatever I decided to do, reminded me that I wasn't alone but by now I'd calmed down and was thinking more clearly. Flora told us that she'd been fearful that something like this would happen and then told us her secret; She and Rock had been lovers on and off before I arrived in the valley but he'd dropped her to pursue me. She knew he hadn't changed even if she had.

With their help a plan began to form in my mind. There had to be some way to get Rock to leave and for me to keep hold of the farm. Before I did anything though I needed to know where I stood legally. I couldn't go through Thomas, both he and Takakura were old fashioned enough to believe that the man was the head of the household and the woman did as she was told. There was no way Rock wouldn't find out anything I did. Who could I go to? If I was to pull this off Rock couldn't know anything. Chris!! She worked in the city for a firm of lawyers and Rock would never suspect me of just going to visit another housewife. I would go to see Chris and ask her help in finding out just where I stood. Anything I didn't mind Rock finding out could go through Thomas. I would go and sound her out as son as possible. Then there was Romana. Now that was an interview I wasn't looking forward to at all but it had to be done. Lumina had to be dealt with delicately in order not to raise suspicion and how Romana reacted was the lynchpin to my whole plan. Firstly I would have to go home and play the dutiful wife and mother. Rock mustn't know yet what fate had in store for him. Let him enjoy himself while he could.