Fairest in the West- Chapter Five:

The girl stood and ran a hand through her disheveled hair, pulling out the remaining pins and tossing her head to free the locks of their bun.

“My name’s Dalton, ma’am, Dalton Prince,” he began. “I own this here ranch. I’d like to know who you are and what you’re doing here, in my house and in-” He swallowed hard here, uncomfortable, letting the unfinished sentence hang between them.

She looked up at him, her pins sticking out of her mouth as she attempted to twist her hair back into a bun. Now that she was out from under the blankets, he could see that her dress was in as sorry a state as her hair, mud splattered and much the worse for wear. But it was a respectable dress, none too fancy but not too plain either. He guessed she came from a good family.

Which certainly didn’t explain anything. In fact, it only raised more questions.

She finished poking her pins back in her hair and turned to him. “I stopped here to wait out the storm last night but no one was home. It was unlocked so I just came in. I hope that’s all right.” He nodded. “And then the house was in such a state! I couldn’t leave it that way, not when you so kindly provided me with shelter and a hot meal.”

“A hot meal?”

“Oh, I hope you don’t mind,” she hurried to say. “I helped myself to some of your provisions. But I scrubbed the floor extra hard to make up for it! But that made me so tired so I laid down here and didn’t wake up until just now when you came in.” She smiled triumphantly to show that was the end of her story.

He sighed. “What’s your name? And, where are you from?”

“Snow White,” she told him. “And, my daddy owns a ranch over-”

“You’re Henry White’s daughter?” he questioned. Everyone around knew about this girl, but no one had seen her. Mrs. White kept her at home for most of her childhood and then shipped her off to finishing school when she was of age.

She nodded. “That’s right.”

He nodded too, pleased. It would be easy enough to get the girl home. He only prayed the man believed him when he told him that she spent the night here alone- that he himself wasn’t anywhere close to the premises.

“Well then,” he said. “I’ll just get the wagon hitched up and we can-”

“Oh, I can’t go home!” Her eyes went wide, her mouth a little ‘o’ of fear and surprise.

“Pardon?”

She shook her head, her curls falling loose about her shoulders, bobbing merrily as she moved, her attempts to right them with the pins failing. “I can’t go home. My stepmother will kill me.”

“Because you left?” he asked kindly. No doubt she was scared of the repercussions that would come of her running away.

“No, that’s why I left,” she clarified. “Because she wants to kill me. She tried to have me killed.”