1

Chapter 1

Growing up in a small town was near torture for Sara. She was so tired of wishing and dreaming for a prince charming to come and rescue her from the daily chores she was forced to do. She hated living at the farm her aunt, and her new uncle had. She had to begin to wonder what her parents had been thinking when they had named her aunt as her guardian if something had happened to them.

At fifteen, she had been orphaned in a car accident that had nearly taken her own life. Sara Green had to live with the fact she had been the only survivor of the crash. It had taken her parents and her two brothers and sister away from her. It has also left her mother’s evil sister as the one to make decisions for her until she turned eighteen.

Sara had lived two years in the household now, and she had hated every minute of every day. She missed her family. She was told by her aunt to not think of them at all. That fate had different plans for her, and she wasn’t good enough for them anyway. That was why her god had taken them and not her. She simply wasn’t good enough to die.

Sara now had a way out. It was getting closer by the day. She couldn’t wait to turn eighteen and leave her aunt's household, where she had been a slave to them. Her aunt's kids, two girls, were spoiled beyond belief and could never lift a finger; otherwise, they might break a nail that they had to pay for bi-weekly. Her new uncle, however, was not as bad as her aunt. He had four children that came over on the weekends, and Sara would have to give up her room to one of his daughters. Sara didn’t mind. She asked to move to the barn on her own. It would make her life easier. That is where she worked most of the day when she wasn’t in school.

She hated the family. Her step-cousins weren't all that bad, and they did their fair share of the work when they were there. Garret was the oldest, and he was a little older than Sara by a month or so. He looked at her as she worked in the barn when he arrived. “What needs to be done?” he asked as he walked up to Sara, and she turned and smiled.

“They need to be fed and make sure they have tubs of water ready to go. It is going to get cold, and though it might not freeze, there will be ice in the bowls tonight.” Sara said with a smile. She was putting on the blankets onto the horses that her cousins would never ride because they were the wrong color this week. She sighed as she patted the horse's sides.

“Did you really move out here?” Garret asked. “Isn’t it too cold out here for you?”

“Better out here than in there. Now they only expect to see me at meals.” Sara said. She knew Garret had been one of the few people who saw what she had to go through as she adjusted to this household.

“But you’ll freeze out here during the winter,” Garret said.

“I will be fine.” Sara said with a smile, “only a few more months, and then I can leave.”

“Where will you go?” he asked.

“I have no idea.” She said as she shrugged. “it can’t be worse out there than here.”

“I hate coming here.” Garret said with a sigh. “if it wasn’t court-ordered, I don’t know if I ever would. I love my dad, but.”

“I get it,” Sara said as she looked up. “It isn’t like I had a choice, though. The will and everything stated she got me. I have zero clue as to why though. I mean, one of my father's brothers or sisters could have taken me, and they did try to fight it for a while. Even my mother's other sisters did as well. Everyone, though, stopped when it got too rough. I don’t hold it against them, though. They tried.”

“Sara, you are a lot stronger than I am.” He said with a chuckle. “three years with her around is enough to break nearly everyone. When I am eighteen, I am going to try and get the contact dropped, so they have a choice. Our mother needed a break, and I get that. She has done everything for us since they got divorced. A few days a month, he could deal with us. She was not part of the bargain, though.”

“That I understand. “Sara said with a laugh as the others came in to help as well. She pointed out everything and how they could help out, and everyone worked together. Sara looked around and smiled at the sight of the siblings that were around her. She began to think of her own brothers and sister and could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. Garret looked at her as she stopped doing what she was doing and now looked like she was ready to cry. He walked over and looked her over.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“Sorry. You and your brother and sisters reminded me of my family.” She said as she sniffled to try and get the tears to go away from her eyes.

“That is nothing to be upset about.” Garret said, “And you don’t ever have to say you’re sorry for that. Sara, I get it. It must be hard. You know what, maybe one day I will just marry you so you can have a family again.”

“Sure, Gar.” Sara laughed. “How about when we are twenty-five.?”

“Why twenty-five?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Because that way we can enjoy our lives and then live as a family.” Sara laughed.

“That sounds like a deal to me,” Garret said. He put out his hand and looked at her in the eyes. “if we don’t find love, whatever that is, by the time we are twenty-five, you and I are going to get married.”

“Shouldn’t we write this down?”  Sara laughed again, “You know to make it legal and all of that?”

“We should,” Garret said as he thought about it. He knew somehow the rest of his life was now set in stone. Hers too. There was nothing to change any of that now.