Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but I'm grateful to Stephenie Meyer for her dream/vision. Please don't steal my original work.
Thank you to Sarah for the medical advice in this chapter.
"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord." ~ Proverbs 18:22
EPOV
In the gathering twilight, we assembled our search party quickly. We each had a bedroll and some food stored on each horse. We weren't certain how long this search would last. It would consist of Mike, Isaac Hale, and me. I felt if more men went, there would be more conversation amongst each other and quietness seemed the order of the evening. We needed to be able to hear where James was without creating too much noise and tipping him off to our location.
As we rode out of town, I noticed a piece of white cloth caught in the leaves of a tree near the road. What in the world? As I plucked the fabric from where it was caught, I noticed it was quite a delicate piece of material – almost something my mom would wear – a piece of a petticoat. Had Bella tossed this here to let me know I was on the right track? Alice told me it sounded as if Bella had trouble getting on the horse James had for her. Perhaps she'd ripped her petticoat then.
Lord, I prayed as we rode along; please help us get to Bella. I pray she's not hurt. If she is hurt, please help both of us to have the strength to endure it.
With James, I was never sure how far he would go. I would like to think he was an honorable man, but I could not be certain of that. The more I heard about him, the more I doubted that statement to be true.
Isaac, Mike and I agreed James wouldn't have Bella anywhere near town. It would be too easy for us to find him. He would likely be taking her in the direction of Carson City. We rode for what seemed like hours. In fact, after checking my pocket watch, it was hours. I was glad I had taken one of the horses from the livery instead of subjecting Bear to another punishing ride today.
For a moment, I felt a check in my spirit and I asked the other men to stop. There was a small rise in the path in front of us. I asked them to keep my horse back with them while I scouted out in front of us before riding over the rise.
I practically crawled in the dirt on my belly to peer over the rise in the embankment. Just over the embankment, I saw a small fire burning along with James drinking something out of a glass bottle and a figure with dark hair leaned up against a large boulder. That had to be them! Thank You, Lord!
I scooted back to Isaac and Mike and told them quietly of my discovery and we developed a plan of action. If James had been imbibing in alcohol, I wasn't certain what his actions would be toward us or Bella. We had to be very careful.
A slight breeze had come up which worked in our favor. We were able to come in to his campsite through a small thicket of trees and sagebrush without attracting too much attention. Each of us had our pistols out, at the ready.
I said in a loud voice, training my pistol on him, "James Smith, you are wanted for the robbery of the bank in Virginia City and the kidnapping of Isabella Swan."
He smirked at me and took another drink of the amber-colored liquid in the glass bottle and then said, "Just what are you going to do about it, you two-bit sheriff?"
"I intend to bring you to justice," I replied.
"I don't think so. I'm going to take your little woman here and show her what a real man is like. She's a feisty little thing so I didn't get the opportunity to soil her good and proper like I wanted to yet, but I will," he affirmed.
I could feel the muscle working in my jaw. He was trying to get a rise out of me. My gaze flickered over to Bella, still sitting silently beside the boulder. She looked miserable and like James had dragged her face-first on the ground. What kind of a monster was he?
He followed my gaze and said, "I had to give her some of my whiskey. She wouldn't stop caterwauling after I broke her leg. So that put her right to sleep. But we'll be on our way here before long."
I tried to live my life as a peaceful man even though I was the sheriff of Virginia City, but right now I felt anything but peaceful. I wanted to tear James Smith limb from limb. Not only had he hurt and broken Bella, he still thought he was going to leave with her? Over my dead body!
Things seemed to happen in slow motion then. As soon as James went to reach for his gun, mine went off, hitting him in the shoulder. At that same moment, another pistol went off as well, the bullet going straight into James' chest. I looked over and Isaac's gun barrel was smoking.
James was lying on the ground, gasping for breath, as his red blood was spreading quickly over his yellow shirt.
Isaac said, "You're a coward, James. I never expected you to end up this way. You had such a promising future. That's all gone now."
James lie dying as Isaac went over to him and kicked his gun from his grasp and I ran to Bella's side.
"Bella? Love? You need to wake up!" I implored her.
"Edward?" she questioned.
"Yes, it's me. I need you to come with me. Can you walk?" I cupped her face gently in my hand.
"No," she furrowed her brow and whispered, "My leg hurts so badly, Edward."
I told her I would be right back and went back to the small thicket of trees to find two small branches on the ground I could use to splint Bella's leg to hold it steady as we rode back to town.
I returned as quickly as possible, carrying the needed small branches. "Bella?" I said, "I'm going to splint these to your leg now. I'm going to need a bit of your petticoat." She nodded miserably and I tore off just the bit of cloth I'd need.
I pushed up her dress on her one leg to reveal the break. I'd rather be admiring Bella's shapely calf, but right now it was bruised and misshapen. I kept my mind on my task and was finished quickly.
By the time I was done, I heard Isaac say, "James is dead. I suppose I should wrap him up in my bedroll, sling him over one of the horses he stole and haul him back to town. I'll get the blacksmith to make a coffin for him tomorrow and get him buried. What a waste of a life."
Mike assisted Isaac as I set about extinguishing the small fire by dumping dirt on it and tamping it out with my boot and breaking up the small encampment. Once James' body was securely tied over the saddle of one horse, Isaac tied the two horses James stole to his horse so he could bring them back to town. Isaac and Mike then helped me lift Bella up onto my own horse so she could ride with me. I didn't want to chance her falling off a horse on her own with a broken leg.
The ride back was going to take a little bit longer as I didn't want to jostle her leg any more than necessary. We mostly kept to our own thoughts and didn't talk much on our ride back.
At one point, I heard Bella sigh. I swallowed deeply and asked with trepidation, "Did he hurt you?" I truly had to brace myself for the answer. I didn't know if James had been lying to us or not. I would still accept her, no matter what the truth was. I just wanted to hear it from her lips.
"No," she said quietly, "except for breaking my leg, slapping me and then dragging my face through the dirt. He never touched me inappropriately. Even if he had, Edward, I would only ever love you."
I hugged her to me and her hands hugged my arms. Tears must've fallen from her eyes as I felt her reach up with one hand to wipe something off her face. We only had the light of a somewhat visible moon to guide us on our way back.
Once we reached Virginia City, we dropped Isaac off at his house and Mike and I continued into town. Mike went home to bed. I continued on to the medical clinic. My dad was still there. It looked like he was just finished stitching up a saloon patron who had been in a fight. There was rarely a dull moment in our little town.
Dad met me outside the clinic and exclaimed, "You've found Bella! Excellent!"
"Yes, Dad, but that lowlife broke her leg and drug her through the dirt. Can you help her, please?"
"Of course, son. Let me help you get her inside," he said.
Once Bella was on my dad's operating table, she looked so small, pale and frightened; all I could do was hold her hand. I said, "He gave her some whiskey after he broke her leg to dull the pain, I guess."
By this time, Dad had Bella's skirt bunched up on one side so he could look at her leg. I couldn't stand to look again, so I looked deep into her eyes instead. I needed her to be well.
"Bella," my dad said, "you're going to need an operation to straighten out your leg so it will heal properly. I want to perform the surgery right now." Then he took me aside and said, "Edward, I want you to go home and stay with your mother and Alice."
I opened my mouth to protest, but he shot me a warning look. "I know you love Bella. But I think you're too close to the situation and you would become alarmed at surgical procedures and be more of a hindrance."
After telling Bella I'd be back in the morning, I went home. Thankfully, I had a dreamless sleep.
There were things to do in the morning. The first order of business was to inform Ali over the breakfast table that indeed, the "bad man" was gone and would not be coming around again. She was sad to learn he had hurt her Miss Bella, but she skipped off to draw a picture for her that I could take to her later. Dad informed me the ether he gave her would likely not wear off until mid-morning or thereabouts. One of his surgical assistants was watching over the clinic during the night.
After breakfast, I stopped at the boarding house to let Eli and Rachel know what was going on. Rachel immediately set a stockpot of broth on the stove. She said she would be over to the medical clinic to see Bella later and bring some broth.
My next stop was to the telegraph office. I figured Bella's parents should know what was going on and determined to let them know. I held the pencil in my hand and went through several drafts before I settled on: Judge Charles Swan and Mrs. Renee Swan: Bella victim of foiled kidnapping attempt. Leg broken but healing nicely. Sheriff Edward Cullen. I paid my quarter to the operator and went to the clinic.
Dad warned me not to wake Bella up, but I was determined to sit in that uncomfortable wood chair beside her bed until she did on her own.
I must've dozed off because the next thing I knew, I felt Bella's voice ask, "Edward?" and felt her hand drifting over mine.
I instantly jolted awake, looked over at her and said, "Bella, you're awake! How are you feeling?" I took her hand in mine and knelt with both knees on the floor next to the bed.
"My leg still hurts. Where am I? Where's James?"
I answered, "You're in my dad's medical clinic, healing after your operation last night. James is gone. He won't ever be coming back. Isaac shot him." Her shoulders shook a bit and I continued, "He won't ever hurt you again, love. I'm sorry I wasn't here to protect you."
She smiled a wan smile and stroked my cheek weakly. "As I recall, you were off, building our future, like a man in love would do." I thought about what she said for half a moment, and then smiled brightly.
I squeezed her hand and said, "Let me go get my dad so he can check you over. I'll run over to Rachel's and get you something to eat."
And so it went for the next couple of weeks. Dad forced me to go back to work instead of being underfoot, bothering Bella all the time. He assured me she needed her rest. When she wasn't resting, Jessica or Rachel was coming over to quilt or sew with her.
One night over dinner, Dad said, "I think Bella's trying to overdo it."
Immediately my ears perked up and I asked, "Why?"
He continued, "She's growing quite weary of staying in bed for the six-week recovery period for her leg to heal. She wants to begin teaching school again. I told her it might be possible a couple hours a day, but only in her room at the clinic and as long as the children don't disturb any other patients I may have. That girl certainly is stubborn when she gets an idea in her head."
I had to laugh at Dad's explanation. That was certainly true. In the months I'd known her, Bella certainly had displayed some stubborn tendencies. Not that being stubborn was always a bad thing – it had turned her into a wonderful cook and baker, it had taken her out of her comfortable and familiar environment in Chicago and brought her to Nevada, it had earned her a teaching certificate. Her stubbornness had also caused me to love her more when she refused my dreadful marriage proposal.
After Bella was hurt, a sign had been posted on the school that it was closed until further notice. After her suggestion to my dad, Jessica went to the school and gathered up the needed textbooks and slates for the children and brought them to the medical clinic. Then she and Rachel went around letting the children know school would resume in the medical clinic for a few hours each day. A lot of the parents were narrow-minded in their thinking and figured if Bella could only teach for a few hours each day, it wasn't worth it to their child's education and they would keep their children home.
I held Bella as she cried about those children missing out on their education. Jessica finally did come to report the children who would be attending the makeshift school the next day would be Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett. I wiped Bella's tears away with one of the beautiful handkerchiefs she'd monogrammed for me.
After about a week of Bella teaching, I could see it was doing her a world of good. It gave her a sense of purpose and happiness in the world again. She felt like she was a contributing member of society.
I saw the children with their slates leaving the clinic one day and decided right then to let them be a part of my plan to win Bella. And Rachel's lilacs were starting to bloom again.
The next morning, I got Mike to cover for me at the jail as I waited for the children at the clinic with my hand full of lilacs. They all came running up to me on the boardwalk, excited to get started. I gave the lilacs to Ali to hold while I wrote a word on each of their slates. I wrote the last bit on the extra slate Ali had brought for me. After reading them, the children giggled amongst themselves. Ali declared, "This is going to be so wonderful, Edward!" Then I noticed she had some kind of dreamy look in her eye as she looked over at Jasper. Oh boy, she's too young for this, I thought to myself.
Ali handed the lilacs back to me and we went up the clinic stairs quietly. Dad eyed us curiously but let us continue – I had told him of my plan last night and he seemed agreeable with it. Now hopefully the woman of my affections would be as well.
The children filed in Bella's room in order with their slates turned toward their bodies and I stayed out of sight in the hallway.
"Good morning, children," Bella said with a smile in her voice.
"Good morning, Miss Swan," they all said in unison.
She said, "You look like you're up to something. What is it?" No answer was forthcoming. "Alice?" she asked.
"Nothing," Alice answered cheerfully.
"What is on your slates?" Bella asked. I couldn't get anything by this woman.
I peeked around the door frame as the children turned the slates around one by one, just as I'd told them outside. The words formed: "Bella" "will" "you" "please" and then I stepped around the corner into the room. My slate held the last two words "marry me?" I wasn't looking anywhere else in that room but into her eyes.
I immediately dropped to one knee and held the flowers out in offering to her. She smiled, and then a tear trickled down her cheek. I was going crazy with worry as she wasn't saying anything. Finally she spoke the words that meant the world to me, "Yes, Edward, I'll marry you."
I let out a big whoop of joy in gratitude as did the children in turn as I went to hug Bella. I kissed her cheek. I didn't dare kiss her any further, not in a room full of children and not like I wanted to. I still wanted our first real kiss to be on our wedding day.
We were making such a commotion Dad came to see what was going on. Alice explained, "Bella's finally agreed to marry Edward, Dad! Isn't it exciting?" His knowing smile spoke volumes.
I left Bella – my fiancée – with her lilacs, her students, and a huge smile on her face and went down to the general store. I noticed the stagecoach was pulling into town. Mike was coming over to meet it as there was cash on board and he was covering for me.
As we both stood there waiting for the money to be delivered to the banker, we watched as three well-dressed occupants emerged from the interior of the stagecoach – a man and two women.
The man came right up to me, noting the star fastened to my vest. "Good day. Are you the sheriff?"
"I am, sir. I'm Sheriff Edward Cullen," I replied.
"Excellent," he replied. "I'm Judge Charles Swan from Chicago, Illinois. I received your telegram." He indicated the two women and continued, "This is my wife, Renee, and my mother, Marie Swan. I'd like to see my daughter, Bella."
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