Chapter One
As Chelsea jumped off the boat and onto the dock, she filled her lungs with the fresh ocean air. Her heart expanded as her ears heard, not the sound of congested traffic, but birds chirping and the waves crashing gently against the rocks by the shore.
The man who'd been steering the boat handed Chelsea her trunk.
"Thanks." She said happily. Any sadness from that morning had vanished and all Chelsea was thinking about was her new life here.
"See you ma'am." The captain's voice broke through Lexi's thoughts. She turned to say goodbye and he tipped his hat and hopped back aboard his boat.
"Chelsea Monroe?" A man, with a halo of white hair that circled the bald center of his shiny head, began striding toward her. "Excellent, excellent. I was hoping you'd arrive before dark." He said looking up at the sky, painted a dusky rose. "Good thing Denny saw your ship arrive, or I wouldn't have been able to great you and show you to your house."
"Denny?" Chelsea asked. She'd had a friend named Denny when she was younger. He had moved away when they were eight. Chelsea doubted there any connection, although she knew that some of the butterflies in her stomach would leave if she knew someone here.
"Oh yes. He's a resident here. A very avid fisherman. He has quite a gift for it. His cottage is over on the east coast of Verdure Island. But I'll introduce you to the other residents later. First let me show you to your abode."
Chelsea nodded and followed the man. "Oh!" he exclaimed suddenly. "I'm Taro by the way. We spoke on the phone. I'm in charge of hiring people to work on our island. And here we are…"
He trailed off as they approached a small cottage right in the middle of the island.
"Here you are. Your own little house on Ranch Island."
"Wow" Chelsea whispered. Her own house. Taro tossed her a key and she stuck it in the knob and turned it opening a doorway to the house. "It's perfect!" she said as she stepped into the room. There wasn't much in it, just a bed, a table with a phone, one with a large book, a trash can in the corner, and a calendar hanging on the wall by the bed.
"You can always upgrade later." Taro chortled. "I'll introduce you to Gannon, he's the carpenter. He can build you anything you desire for this house." He smiled happily at the light in Chelsea's thrilled eyes. "Oh and one more thing before I take you to see the rest of the island." He walked over to a door the same color as the wall. In fact if he hadn't exposed its position, Chelsea was sure she never would have known it was there. Taro pushed it open to reveal a small lavatory complete with a shower.
"Why is it hidden like that?" Chelsea asked.
"Well the first rancher ever on this island built this cottage himself. He built it into the wall for privacy reasons."
"Why did he leave?" Chelsea murmured, tracing the patterns on the wood on the door with her fingers.
Taro chuckled darkly to himself. "He just vanished one day. The folks looked all over the place for him, but he disappeared without a trace." He grinned wickedly at her. "Rumor has it that he was taken away by sprites."
"Sprites?"
"You know, fairy folk."
"Fairy folk." echoed Chelsea looking at Taro in awe.
"Yes ma'am" He looked out the window at the twilight sky. "Let's take a look at the ranch; we'll worry about introductions tomorrow."
Chelsea followed him out the front door to a huge field.
"This is where you'll grow your crops." He continued north up the island to a large, dark, musty stable. "You can fix this up and keep animals in here."
"Can I get a horse?" she breathed.
"Sure thing." Taro grinned. "You a rider?"
Chelsea sighed longingly. "I rode at my grandmother's plantation one summer." Her eyes stung a bit at the thought of her old, forbidden memories. "Um…what else is there?"
Taro motioned for her to go forward. "Here is your chicken coop."
"Chickens?"
"You know, for eggs. Your job is to ship both eggs and vegetables."
The ranch was now lit so dimly it was hard for the couple to maneuver their way back to Chelsea's house.
"It's a Sunday, so tomorrow a young man named Vaughn will be here to talk to you. He's the island's animal distributer and since you're the new rancher you two will be seeing a lot of each other."
"Okay." Chelsea felt her eyes droop some.
"You'd best get some rest Miss Monroe. Good night."
Chelsea turned to her door and turned the handle.
"Oh and Chelsea? I feel the need to warn you that Vaughn isn't the friendliest person in the world. He warms up to some people, but when he first meets you, he can tend to be pretty icy."
"Oh…thanks."
"No problem. I'll see you tomorrow."
Chelsea got into her pajamas, mentally planning to unpack in the morning. She made up her bed with the soft sheets that smelled of home. As tired as she was Chelsea couldn't fall asleep. Even though she was beyond thrilled to be on this beautiful island with new people and surrounded by plants and animals, she felt alone as she lay in her dark home. She couldn't hear the usual sounds of her brother's steady snores or her parents talking in hushed tones in the living room and the silence was deafening. No honking, no cars screeching, no one shouting at each other from the streets below. Just crickets and an owl hooting and the waves churning outside. Chelsea closed her eyes and pretended she was at a camp of some sort. She'd always wanted to go to camp, but her parents had never had enough money for them to "blow it" on fun things such as camp. And yet her mother was always buying fancy new party dresses and her father was always treating his company to lavish dinners at New York's most elegant restaurants. Smiling slightly Chelsea turned on her side. She was making her own money now, and living at the ultimate summer camp. Chelsea fell asleep thinking that maybe she might just invite Nick to come stay with her.
Sun filtered in through the windows, waking her. Chelsea washed herself in the hidden bathroom's shower. The water wasn't hot, but the lukewarm flow was just fine. After getting changed she exited her house, intent on meeting her new neighbors and exploring the islands. But before she could start out towards the bridge a voice called over the rush of the waves.
"OY!"
Chelsea spun to see a handsome boy about her age striding toward her, a crate under one of his arms. She smiled hesitantly at him, but her attempt was friendliness wasn't returned. She remembered what Taro had said about Vaughn being icy to new people. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that this was him.
"You must be Vaughn. I'm Chelsea Monroe." She held out her hand for Vaughn to shake. He looked at it a moment then gently shook it with his own.
"Taro said you were coming today to talk to me…" Chelsea began awkwardly.
"Yes." Vaughn replied simply. "You're the rancher, you own and raise animals, and I bring them to the island and then back off again. We need to have communication."
"O-of course. What's that?" Chelsea pointed to the crate beneath Vaughn's arm.
"An incubator full of baby chicks. Normally I'd give this to you, but since your new and need to clean up around here before I can give you animals I'm delivering them to Mirabelle."
"Who's Mirabelle?"
Vaughn gave her an icy look, then smiled coldly. "Well, well you are new around here. I suggest you meet the people around here or you're screwed. Why you didn't do it yesterday I don't know…"
"I got here late. Taro had only enough time to show me Ranch Island." Chelsea held herself up higher. She was not going to take this boy's attitude.
"Whatever. I'll see you around Monroe." He turned and crossed the bridge to Verdure Island, leaving Chelsea slightly shaken, but hiding it well with a lethal glare aimed at Vaughn's retreating figure.
Vaughn was heading to Mirabelle's thinking about Chelsea. He'd never seen a female rancher running the island before. He could definitely tell she was strong and wouldn't be easy to put down. He remembered how when she'd puffed herself up as she spoke to him. She wasn't going to take his crap. It was oddly refreshing. He smiled a bit, but wiped it quickly off his face before anyone could see. He had a public image to uphold. And so he put on his biggest scowl and marched into Mirabelle's shop radiating bitterness.
Chelsea set off across the bridge once she was sure Vaughn had left it. She stepped onto it and felt as though she was walking on water. She laughed and ran up the bridge as she's done as she was a kid, sprinting hard and feeling it rock dangerously under feet then she felt herself run into something and fall to the ground."
"Ow!" A boy's voice huffed.
Chelsea looked up to see the object she'd run into. He was laughing a little as he offered her his hand. She smiled at him, took it and he helped pull her back to her feet.
"Bridge running?" he chortled. "I used to do that when I was a kid."
Chelsea blushed and noticed light dancing in the boy's brown eyes.
"I'm sorry." She muttered.
"No problem. Hey…uh…do I know you from somewhere?"
"Um…I'm actually new here. I'm Chelsea Monroe. I'm the new rancher."
"Chelsea!" Suddenly the boy was holding her tightly in his arms.
"Ouch!" Chelsea winced.
"Oh sorry." He grinned and let go of her, but held her at arms' length as though inspecting her. "Wow you've grown up so much since I last saw you."
"I'm sorry, but I don't remember…"
The boy's face fell slightly. "I'm Denny? Denny Grey. We were best friends when we were younger."
"Denny!" Chelsea cried and threw her arms around him again. "Oh my God! Taro said there was a Denny here, and I thought, but then I thought it was impossible…and oh my God you look so different I didn't recognize you!"
It was true. When they were eight, Denny was a scrawny little beanpole with milk white skin and a buzz cut. Now his skin was tan and muscular and he had grown his hair out to its natural dark brown curls. But even though he'd changed so much Chelsea looked into his eyes and wondered how she could possibly have not known who he was. His eyes were the same warm brown color they'd always been. A hint of his kind personality that had led to them being so close as young kids.
"Oh Chelsea I missed you so bad."
"What's this?" Denny and Chelsea turned to see a girl with long, straight blonde hair sashaying toward them. Chelsea glanced at Denny's face to see him smiling warmly.
"Lanna, this is Chelsea. She's the new rancher here. She just moved in yesterday."
Lanna smiled in a bitter sort of way and held out her friend. "How do you do Chelsea?"
Chelsea shook Lanna's hand and tried to smile back. "Very well. And you Lanna?"
"Terrific. Denny? You know Chelsea."
"Yeah. We were best friends. Chelsea's amazing."
"So it seems. I've got to go. Wanna come with me Denny? I'm fishing over on Meadow Island."
"Not today Lanna. I want to show Chelsea around. I haven't seen her in forever."
"Wonderful. Have a great time with the amazing Chelsea." Then Lanna stomped off towards the dock where a small motorized boat was waiting.
"Um…is she always like that?" Chelsea asked worriedly. She was beginning to fear that everyone on the island would be opposed to her presence.
"Who Lanna? Naw…she's a drama queen. Doesn't like being second best at anything."
"Or being turned down?"
Denny chortled. "Or being turned down."
"C'mon let's go."
Denny introduced her to everyone. The local fishermen; Pierre, an aspiring chef; Taro's daughter Felicia, and her kids Elliot and Natalie; a minor in search of treasures names Regis and his shy daughter Sabrina; Chen, the local general store owner and his little boy Charlie; Gannon, the carpenter, and his daughter Eliza; and Mirabelle (They ran into Vaughn in her shop and Chelsea made a point to avoid looking at him) and her daughter Julia.
"See we're not all bad here." Denny laughed as they sat in a quiet café near his house. "You just got Vaughn and an annoyed Lanna at the same time."
Chelsea sipped on her tea and looked out the window at the rain that was beginning to fall.
"You okay Chels?" Denny asked.
"Yeah I'm fine. I just can't believe this is all happening."
"Well I for one am overjoyed that you took that job. I always wondered if I'd meet you again."
His hand wandered across the table and rested atop Chelsea's hand.
Then a blast of cold air blew in from the door, hitting Chelsea in the face. She turned to see which one of the residents had entered and found her blue eyes locking with Vaughn's cold grey ones.
Vaughn's eyes flashed to Denny's hand, overlapping her own. Then he went to sit in the far corner of the café so that his face was partially obscured by the dark.
Denny saw Chelsea stealing nervous glances at Vaughn.
"Is he always like this?" she whispered across the table.
"Ever since Taro hired him. He's cold, but he's the best we've ever had. He's wonderful with the animals."
Chelsea sighed and leaned back in to her chair.
"Homesick?" Denny murmured trying to read her expression.
"No. This is my home now." She said with a blinding smile and Denny smiled back clasping his hand tighter around Chelsea's.
And Vaughn sat in the corner watching sadly, part of him wishing he was in Denny's place without really knowing why.