Episode 1: Rejected invitation

"Mother, I will not do what you are asking of me. I am serious."

"You must and you will." Her mother retorted.

"I would rather die than do something against my will." She said.

"Why would you leave such an opportunity for what purpose?"

"Who... not a what, but who.."

"Don't tell me you are still thinking of that useless boy."

"Glad you recalled, that boy mother, is someone I care about and always will, so unless you want your daughter to be named a whore you will not force me to marry Frederick."

"Fredrick is a fine young man, he owns a ranch, a refinery and will take very good care of you and the family you both will have." Her mother retorted.

"Since he is so appealing to you mother, why don't you get married to him instead after all that is what you are good at." Melissa retorted.

"Melissa!!"

She walked out on her mother and climbed onto her horse and rode off.

"She'll come around." A husky voice said.

"When will she Henderson? When will she accept that you are her stepfather and that her father is long dead and buried?"

"Give her time, she will. I will continue to watch over her like you want me to. Come on, let's go get you some juice."

"*Sighs* Thanks for coming into our lives, I don't know what I would have done without you here."

****

'I don't know why mother can't see through him, he is so pretentious, I hate him so much. Why did you have to go father? If you were here you would never ask me to marry someone I don't want to get married to all because of wealth.' Melissa McCarthy thought as she sat down on the roots of a tree.

She had always wanted a peaceful life, she had that when she was still back at San Francisco, back then she had a friend she could play with, but then they had to move out because her father got a job in Cody Wyoming. So she had to go along with them.

Melissa is a smart young lady who doesn't like dressing in female clothing she prefers wearing pants and having a cow boy look. She feels those gowns are too big and are uncomfortable to put on.

To make matters worse, her mother wants her to look feminine at all times, it's like she has no say in anything and now even a rich aristocrat took a liking to her and wants to marry her, and she isn't at all interested in getting acquainted with him.

She no longer wants to be a puppet who does everything it's master commands, in her case, her mother. She wants to break free from her at all costs. She has always loved adventure but she had no means to travel so she remained to put up with her mother, while looking for ways to get out of the city.

Stephanie McCarthy lost her husband to the cold hands of death five years ago, she was devastated. Her life crumbled right before her eyes, she wondered how she was going to take care of her young daughter since she was a stay at home mother, full time.

When her husband was alive, she had nothing to worry about since he had a stable job and always did all he can to make sure they don't starve.

But one day things took a turn, he died while working out in the cold.

But three years after his death she found love in the eyes of Henderson, a man who showered her with the luxurious things in life, so she need not worry about anything and just be his wife.

This got Melissa upset that her mother replaced her father with someone else, and what her mother didn't know was that Henderson has been trying to assault her but she escapes each time unharmed how she does it, is a wonder.

But when he heard that a rich man was after her, he let her be because he wouldn't want to be hanged and stripped off his little wealth.

******

Frederick Stein is one of the rich people in all of Cody Wyoming, he had everything he could ever need.

He is a young man with great muscles, he is rich, dead handsome, a well known mine owner, has a huge ranch and refinery, he is well respected in the state, but few knows he has a wide range of gang. Therefore, he is every woman's dream man but apparently not Melissa's.

Frederick had never wanted anything else but when he saw a beautiful girl he loved her and wanted her for a wife and partner, so he proposed marriage to her mother which she accepted willingly on behalf of her daughter.

Frederick thought Melissa loved him, so he keeps sending gifts to her house almost everyday which her mother Stephanie accepts making Frederick think the love of his life was into him as much as he was into her.

When he proposed marriage to her, he was excited, he couldn't wait to have her as his lady.

So he proposed a date, he wanted to know his soon to be fiancee more.

'I can't wait to see my pretty angel today.' He thought as he sat in the room smiling sheepishly to himself like a fool would.

One could say he is so in love with her that he couldn't think straight.

While he was fantasizing about her, someone rushed in without knocking and was panting rapidly startling him.

"Jim you better have a reasonable explanation for this outburst."

"I... I sure... do." Jim replied catching his breath.

While he was still doing that another rushed in and said,

"Young master Frederick, she won't be coming."

"What?" Frederick yelled out

What he just heard was unbelievable, because he had this longing of seeing the one his heart beats for all day, so hearing such a statement wasn't at all what he had expected or hoped for.

"She rejected the invitation." He announced.

"Does she know it's from me?" Frederick asked.

"Yes she is very well aware." He replied

"That was what I was trying to tell you." Jim said.

"Ready the carriage, if she won't come to me, I'll go to her." Frederick stated.