Draft 6

Posted on May 29, 2018 by Lix

She remembers all the lies, all the deceit. But, above all, she remembers betrayal and the feeling as though she were trapped. There was no number of extravagant gifts bestowed upon the young woman from her parents and their so-called friends of the LaBelle family that would ever be able to hide what she'd only just begun to see after she'd been able to wake up and break away from the complacency she hadn't even known she'd been in. Then again, it was always easy for those new and shiny things to leave a young child so enraptured. They only ever knew what was in front of them, their wants and desires perhaps some of the easiest to see and to please. What young girl did not want a pony of their very own to ride in their backyard? When one was so young, so pliable by those in their life, how might it be possible for a child to know when it was that they were being manipulated, coaxed into becoming something that they otherwise would never want to become, tricked into being seeing splendid things without seeing just how truly empty and shallow those new and exciting gifts were? That was perhaps the biggest flaw to be found in the beauty of young innocence. Naivety. It was not a simple choice, like deciding what to wear for the afternoon or what might sound appealing for dinner that night. It was something that all children were born with. To trust with an unwavering faith those responsible for their existence, the ones who were thought to love them above all else, the beings meant to want only the best life for the new life they'd created â€" whether intended or not. That was all that they knew then, having no understanding of just how easily such a belief that their mothers and fathers would never do a thing that would not be something which would not be for the best. Adelaide had been no different when she had been so young, so little... so utterly blind to what it was that her wretched father and tamed mother had planned for the dark-haired girl who had once been so bright and sweet, loving with that childish, reckless abandon and trusting without knowing if those whose hands she held truly cared for her, wanted to help her reach those dreams she has yet to really discover and understand. She never stopped to ask her father why it was that he'd decided to surprise the dark-haired girl with her very pony, a little grey French saddle pony mare she had named Estelle. The young girl had yet to understand that the gentle pony she would spend hours brushing and riding under the supervision of the trainer that the man had also seen fit to hire so that Adelaide could learn to ride competitively should she so desire to was just another gift meant to keep her happy... meant to try and keep her from seeing what he had plotted for her future, the future that he wanted for her.

It had worked for the first years of her young life, too. Just as many children born into such a world where she could quite literally have just about any material thing she might want, the French girl had what could have been considered to be the perfect childhood. Her mother would read her bedtime stories and tuck her in at night, and her father would bring her presents that she would open with bright eyes and eagerness, only to gasp with glee at the pretty little doll she'd seen at a store on those uncommon - though not entirely rare - ventures into the heart of the city they lived just on the outskirts of. And when she had been so small, being given all those toys and pretty things that would make innocent sage eyes once so soft and so full of trust for even the man who'd been far from the same nearly constant presence in her day to day world as her mother - and later Townsend - was to glitter and gleam with that childish delight, it had all been enough to keep her happy. While the man she knew as her father hardly spent any amount of time with his one and only child, she hadn't minded, far too busy with those toys or her pony to mind that she only saw him at dinnertime and right before bed to be wondering what it was he did with all his time or why he spent hours upon hours of his day speaking and laughing with all those rich people that would come over to the estate and lounge around with the nobleman. Before she discovered the real world beyond those guarded fences and huge estate with gardens that seemed to be endless which later made the perfect place for her games of great jungle adventures or braving an untamed mountain wilderness when she'd truly begun to grow into the wild spirit she had yet to find within herself, young Adelaide only ever worried about what dolls she might play with that afternoon or what her lessons for the day would consist of. She had her mother's love, beautiful dresses, home-cooked meals... there was next to nothing her parents didn't make sure the dark-haired girl had to ensure that she was happy, that she had everything she might ever want or need. Adelaide once believed that she had the world in the palms of her small hands - until the day when the girl finally realized that she didn't. It was the afternoon when her private tutor had shown the girl for the first time that book of the world and its seven wonders, when those bright eyes of glittering sage had explored those geography books of majestic and giant mountains or the vast, deep blue waters of the Pacific which served as the very first spark to ignite the fire in her. In a matter of mere hours, her world suddenly became so terribly small. After that, those dolls and toys were barely touched or regarded with even the faintest adoration by young Adelaide. It was that day when everything changed for her, and she began to see things for what they were.

They tried to undo what had been done that day. Oh, how they tried! When her father would bring the girl who was beginning to discover her spirit and the real dreams she had for the future those gifts, she would open them with a disinterest expression and place them among the rest of the objects meant to reinforce the shattering illusions. She'd begun to see the motives behind those extravagant trinkets meant to content her, make her more willing to do whatever father dearest so asked of her when in fact he never asked at all. He'd lost his hold of the once-young and naÃ¯ve mind when those books opened up her eyes, and he had tried almost desperately to contain the fire that lit up his daughter's spirit. He tried to conceal the deceit, but it had been about as effective as retrieving all that had been released from Pandora's box. He had even gone to the lengths of purchasing one of the finest Selle FranÃ§ais stallions in all of France that she had named Tristram, the one thing that the nobleman had given her in her teenage years she had truly enjoyed - at least for a time. When he'd asked her why it was that she'd chosen that name for the dark bay horse, the grin she's given him had been bold, daring, perhaps even coy as the defiance in her gaze flickered like flames. She remembers the displeasure on his face when she'd told him that the name meant "riot", the man far from dim-witted and surely having seen in the blossoming young maiden the very fire within herself she'd named the stallion for. He knew in that moment the dark-haired woman was hardly contented or swayed by the gift he'd brought her. Her mother had attempted to soothe his temper by telling the nobleman it was likely just the angst of those teenage years and that their daughter would soon grow out of that "rebellious phase". How wrong her mother had been, and Adelaide wonders if even she had known then that her words could not be farther from the very thing the gentle woman had seen in her growing daughter. She'd tried to coax the dark-haired woman into understand that what they wanted was only from good intentions borne by parents that wanted to be certain their daughter would be able to live the life she deserved, but Adelaide had easily challenged her mother's words. What if a suitor was not what she wanted? What if she wanted to fall in love before she decided to marry? Little did either of them know that it was merely the beginning of what would soon become a wildfire they would have no chance at extinguishing, marking only the earliest flames of fury that would come to sever those ties that seemed so adamant to keep her grounded when she wanted nothing more than to spread her wings. Then, Julien came into her world... and that was when she learned just how wicked deceit could be, and the betrayal that broken her heart had in turn unleased the true defiance the French woman had always been told to smother. But, there would be no smothering that fire, no taming that storm that raged behind sage eyes.

And to think that they had been shocked into speechlessness the day that she demanded her freedom. They should have seen it coming, and perhaps they had and worked to try and deny their strong-willed daughter. Only to fail so miserably because now, she was here with Taylor and there would be nothing that would call her back home. When he lifts that collar of his shirt teasingly, those tenor tones have the French woman giving him a daring and impish grin. How utterly right the devilishly handsome man was. And so, she leaves the conversation there, knowing that it was already tempting enough to delay their trip for just a few more hours. She wanted to reach their first unknown destination before the sun would set, her excitement easing from her thoughts how she wanted him. For now, anyway. It was almost a certain thing that they would find a moment today for such ventures, and she very much looked forward to it. After fastening their affects and their helmets, she happily takes Taylor's hand and climbs onto the back of the Harley she finds herself thinking often of. They head off, the roar of the machine only urging that exhilaration further from the dark-haired woman as they make their way through the city streets, reaching the outskirts before long. Her heart raced, beating wildly within her chest as they drove on, the road soon changing from several lanes to only two, those tall buildings left far behind them as they traveled deeper into the countryside. The trees, the open fields, the fresh air that filled her lungs, it was hard for her to contain the laughter that tumbled freely, carelessly over her dusty-rose lips. It was when she tells him that she could never tire of moments like this that he returns the sentiment. And then, he pushes the Harley faster, dark locked pulled back into that ponytail streaming out behind her as they drive faster, her laughter ringing out like bells in the summer breeze. She hardly notices how the hours seem to pass by in only fleeting moments, simply reveling in her arms around his waist, leaning against his strong back only to tease him on occasion as she would trail her fingers along the lower half of his defined abdomen to feel the toned plains there, moving lower to trace the hem of those jeans she could feel through the shirt she would soon take possession of. She is anxious to see just where this road would lead them, and when he turns from the paved road to one of dirt and gravel, she grows more excited, and yet in the same moment she knows that they could drive like this clear into the evening and she wouldn't be happier. Sage eyes rove over the fields where horses, sheep, and cattle graze lazily, unfazed by the roar of the Harley, the French woman seeing in the distance a parting flock as a black and white dog performs the very tasks its ancestors have for hundreds of years. All this open space and countryside only makes her wish more for a life like that, with Taylor.

Looking ahead now, she can see the big barn, and behind it, the western-style homes and various other buildings that dotted the open expanse among the fences of both wood and wire. He slows the motorcycle then, pulling up to a stop beside an archway that gives the dark-haired woman this beautiful, quiet town its name. Wainsville."It seems so quiet, so peaceful here", she remarks gently then as takes a look around them for a moment before her gaze reads the smaller sign, and that's when Taylor turns to grin at her, his words confirming they've arrived at their first stop. Smiling coyly in return as she accepts his hand to help her from the back of the bike, she unfastens her helmet and pulls the hair tie out, freeing long and silken locks of dark cocoa from their containment, shaking her head and sending them tumbling around her shoulders, cascading down to the middle of her back before running a hand through them with an impish smile as she watches him fetch a ticket and chain up the Harley before she walks over to it and settles the helmet on the back seat. When he reaches for her hand, that smile softens as he begins to tell her about how he'd found this place only to have no one to take with him. And he goes on to tell her more about this place, she can't help but feel mystified as they walk together, hand in hand, their arms brushing against one another while she places the other hand into her back pocket idly."This is amazing, mon cher", she says warmly as eyes of glittering sage eagerly look at all they can see, even settling upon the horses that have come up to the fence they were walking by."I would love to live in a quaint little place like this", she remarks with a soft and wistful sigh. She pauses for a moment then, looking at the two mares fondly for a moment before looking up to Taylor. She doesn't release his hand as she moves over to the fence, reaching up slowly for a moment with her free hand to stroke the white blaze marking the gentle face of the dark bay that reminded her so much of her own horse she'd left behind."I miss riding. I had a stallion named Tristram back in Paris that I loved to jump. He was an amazing creature", she says softly before looking to the black mare that arched her neck over the fence to sniff at Taylor. Melodic and soft laughter falls from her lips then as she watches them, blinking dark lashes over glittering sage."Have you ever ridden before, Taylor?", she asks in lilted words, curious about if he'd ever had such an experience. It seemed like a good place to start learning more about the man she loved more than anything, considering she knew of his troubled past already. She wanted to know more, wanted to see the pages of his life that hadn't been all bad, just as her own hadn't been. It was often times easy to forget those small moments where there might have been the slightest taste of happiness, of something that kept the fire alive, and Adelaide wanted to know his just as much as she wanted to share hers.

Adelaide Claire LaBelle
i'm the hero of my own story; don't need a knight in shining armor

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Draft 6

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