Chapter 1- New Day, New Valley

"No! I'm not going to do all that farm work with my Uncle! It's too much!" Angie screamed at her mother.
"You don't have a choice!" Her mother scowled. Angie's father, Mark, had just died in a fire, along with her only other siblings; Mabel and Eli, a few days ago. Angie was waiting until her 23rd birthday to go and live with them, her job was to make sure the farm stayed safe and the future was well protected, and help a little with the farm work. Angie quickly got together her items and left. She slammed the door behind her and pulled out her map to Fort-way Valley. The only family Angie had, besides a stranger of a mother, was a wise old uncle named, Tarquin. Tarquin was the only one that would be able to help on the farm.
"Why do you even care about the farm!?" Angie yelled at her door, "After you kicked Dad to the curb, you haven't cared at all!"
Angie traveled and traveled, she stopped at ports, shops, and clearings in short forests. Finally, she spied a little valley near mountains; she darted towards them as fast as she possibly could. When she arrived, Angie looked around. It was not crowded at all! She took out her map.
"Well this… is the place," Angie said wearily.  
"You are correct, Angeline" a deep rusty voice came from behind her. Angie turned around sharply.
"Uncle Tarquin! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Angie yelled at the man.
"He, he, nice to see you, too, Angeline," Tarquin chuckled, and then he beckoned her to follow him to the farm. "Well here it is, isn't much, but with a lot of TLC and work ethic, it could still make a profit." Angie walked around a bit, when she spied a dog eating a wild plant.
"BoBo!" Angie squealed with excitement. Then the little Jack-Russell came running towards her. Angie bent down and BoBo came licking her face and smelling her. Tarquin came behind Angie, and put a hand on her shoulder. Angie got scared and fell on her side. "Not funny!" She scolded him.
"Why don't you explore the town a bit, maybe you can meet some of the villagers, and see the great views," Tarquin chuckled.
Soon Angie found herself walking around, alone, in the town. Tarquin had enough work that day and had been upset for losing his last living brother, his niece, and only nephew. Angie introduced herself to many of the new villagers and she was a real charmer with them as well. She walked by the beach and she walked through the woods. She saw a few wild animals but saw thousands of flowers.
"Wow! The city was never like this!" Angie exclaimed looking up in the sky, she stared at the sunset, "Gosh, I'm kind of glad I went to live here," Angie assured herself.
Before she went home for the night, she decided to go to the diner. She walked in and saw all of the villages; laughing, smiling, eating, and drinking. She sat in an empty booth and stared at her menu.
Then, Angie found herself listening to a conversation between some of the bachelors.
"Can you believe it?!" A young man blurted out.
"I can't believe he is dead! Mark, the best farmer to ever walk this earth, gone forever!" A widower replied.
"I heard his last daughter is going to come take care of the farm with that old man, Tarquin!" Replied the young man.
"FALSE! No way can that man and that little girl take care of that farm! It will end up being sold by the end of the year, you hear me?!" Blurted out a drunkard.
"Hey, hey! Who is that girl over there!?" The widower said pointing towards Angie. She shivered in her seat. All the bachelors were staring her down.
"H-hi," Angie said waving a little.
"Oh my…" Replied the drunkard, "dibs!"
"Hey, young thing, what's your name?" Asked the widower.
"An-Angie Hasilin," Angie stuttered. The bachelors gasped, and all yelled.
"You're Mark's daughter!?" Angie nodded. She stood up and walked out of the diner. She was scared; she never had men look at her like that in the city. Angie decided she had a big day ahead of her tomorrow, so she went to go check out her new house. When she got there she flipped on the light switch. She saw a little room with a neatly folded light pink bed.
"This must have been Mabel's bed," Angie whispered to herself, and then she sat on the bed and started to cry.
The next day Angie awoke to a loud pounding on the door.
"Get up, lazy! Your two hours late!" Tarquin yelled.
"Oh my gosh, I'm two hours late and it's so early already!" Angie yelled back. She rubbed her eyes and stumbled out of bed. "Great, I slept in my jeans, lovely!" Angie said sarcastically. After working hard; planting seeds, watering plants, and feeding the animals, she lied down on a pile of hay.
"Work wouldn't be this hard if you were married!" Tarquin called out from outside of the barn.
"Keep your yapper shut, grandpa," Angie said under her breath. After work was done, Angie headed out into the forest near the farm; she sat under a tree and fell asleep. Soon Angie awoke to the sound of a guitar playing near her; she got up, brushed the dirt off her pants, and looked around. She saw the young man who was the quiet bachelor at the diner last night. She walked towards him and soon found herself sitting, facing towards him.
"You are really good!" Angie said smiling and continuing to listen. The man looked up and their eyes met. They looked away from each other after that spark.
"Yo-you really think so?" The man stuttered.
"Yes! Incredible!" Angie exclaimed, "What's your name?"
"Gustafa Camar, and what about you?" Gustafa asked looking at Angie's brown hair waving in the breeze.
"Angie Hasilin, Ma-Marks daughter," Angie said smiling. Gustafa's jaw dropped, and then he smiled.
"Wow! You look a lot different from Mabel! I would have never guessed!" Gustafa chuckled. Angie nodded and held back a few tears. She bit her lip and looked away. "Oh, oh, I'm sorry! I forgot!" Gustafa moved over and put his hand on her shoulder. They both felt a stronger spark.
"It's," Angie rubbed her eyes and cleared her throat, "It's okay, you forgot." Angie turned to Gustafa and smiled. Then she looked at the sun, "Crap! It's late!" Angie jumped to her feet. "It was really nice meeting you, Gustafa; I hope to see you around!" Angie said running off towards the farm. Gustafa sighed.
"Mabel was never that cute, but Angie, wow!" He chimed to himself leaning back against that tree. Angie went home and looked in the mirror.
"My, oh my, Gustafa was a really nice young man, his shaggy brown hair, and those blue eyes were my safe haven!" Angie squealed to herself. She brushed her hair and examined herself in the mirror. "I wish my eyes were the color of Gustafa's; instead of this weird dark green I call my eye color!" She washed her face and brushed her teeth. Angie went to bed late that night.
When Angie woke up the next morning it was almost 11:00. Angie sprung out of bed and opened her door. On the step, Angie found a bunch of forget-me-nots that were tied up with red ribbon along with a yellow note.

Dear Angie,

              I know we just met, and you don't know me very well, but I think there is something special about you. I picked these flowers for you because they are the second most beautiful thing in this valley.

                                                                                                     -Gustafa Camar

Angie smiled and put the flowers in her house. She went to work right after that. When Angie was finally done with the day's work, she decided to head back to the diner. When she walked through the doors, all eyes fell on her. She smiled and sat in an empty booth when the drunkard came up and sat right next to her.
"Hey! You wanna come over to my place? We can watch the stars!" The drunkard said putting an arm around Angie.
"No, no thanks…" Angie said removing his arm from her.
"Did you hear me? I said do you wanna come over!" The drunkard latched on to Angie's arm and tried to pull her out of the booth. Then Gustafa walked over.
"Tony! Leave that poor girl alone!" Gustafa said threatening to backhand him. Tony got up and left. "Tony is a nice guy, but when he drinks, he turns into somebody's he's not."
"Thanks, Gustafa," Angie said patting the seat next to her. Gustafa sat down. "Boy, I'm exhausted!"
"That's right! You aren't used to working on a farm yet! Why don't you come over to my place for dinner tomorrow! You know, so you don't have to fix that too," Gustafa lost his focus.
"That sounds wonderful! Should I bring anything?" Angie questioned while bouncing in her seat a little.
"Just your bubbly personality, I'd love to stay and eat with you, but I really must go," Gustafa stood up. He nodded to Angie and walked out of the diner.  

Hartman Boulevard, well, it's not too far from the public library... I don't have a bicycle like my boyfriend Danny does: a blood red Schwinn. He decided to walk with me to the park on Hartman Street.
I felt like a rebel! I hadn't gone to school that very day, but I was far from playing hooky. My cold had gotten worse, but my beau didn't seem to mind. It was sunny outside! It was just a little over seventy degrees. He had started working on the song he was writing, which was about me. So, I was pestering him for a sneak-peek at the lyrics.

That is when it started pouring down rain...

"Put your hood up," he told me as he rubbed his slightly wet, light brown hair. I shook my head. I knew putting up my jacket's hood would mess up my hair. I didn't know the rain shower would last more than a few minutes.
He starting improvising songs about everything; the walk, us, his bike, animals... Everything. My boyfriend had been paid by the local performer theater as an actor in his childhood and preteen years, so he had some vocal training. He was quite impressive! (I'm not just saying that because I'm his girlfriend and I shouldn't say bad things about him behind his back.) He sounded as if he was late for his angel chorus rehearsal up in Heaven.
The rain continued as he sung and rhymed. I had always hated the feeling of rain against my skin, but somehow when I was with him, it didn't feel like it was raining at all. The lighting, the translucent rain, it all seemed like I was in a movie. We stayed at a steady pace while passersby in cars were looking at us as if we were insane for being out in the weather like this. Trying to avoid main streets, we tried to walk in alleys as much as possible. (Danny and I couldn't be seen together because his parents won't let him date until he's eighteen.) He had been in relationships before me so he knew how to hide it pretty well.
Skipping over puddles, I wished we were holding hands; but he needed a sturdy grip on his trusty, undistinguished bike. I hopped over a big iridescent puddle, a perfect mixture of rainwater and car oil, and he stopped.
"I should have taken my jacket off and let you walk on top of it," he told me half jokingly. I smiled knowing that if I really wanted him to, he'd actually do it. Danny wasn't the most chivalric of men, but he had a noticeable sweet spot for me.
Hartman Road came in our sights as we continued our soaking wet romantic journey. Finally, I got him to sing 'my' song. As I predicted he added the detail of my hair being a golden color. I can't recall the full lyrics but I remembered... "I lay in bed, wondering who God had in store for me."
I was extremely thankful Danny was religious, but just not 'Yeah, I'm a Christian,'... No, Danny was a churchgoer and a strong faith man. I had always been close to God; it was nice to finally have that connection between a lover. My last boyfriend had been a practicing Wiccan, and that wasn't an issue I wanted to deal with (especially again). At my immature, adolescent state of mind, every boy I'm with, at the time, is the guy I'm going to stay with until I'm old enough to finally marry him. When a child is born into the arms of two parents who don't even share a common religion... Well, it just doesn't make sense to me.
The rain began to cease as the sun finally appeared from the gloomy rainclouds about ten minutes late of what I had hoped for. I began to look around in a frantic search for a rainbow. I ended up not finding one; unfortunately. The newly rediscovered warm inviting sun made me feel rejuvenated from head to toe. My hair could finally begin its long drying process in peace.
We had reached our destination; despite of my cold and the chilling rain. A few sprinkles of rainwater cannot break the path of two stubborn, determined sweethearts.