Authors Note—

Umm… yes, well, as you can see this is a new story… not that I particularly need one at the moment BUT its one that I've been thinking of for a while (like a long time). Annette (Horselover20693) is actually the one who convinced me to write this… that was along time ago too. It's AU (of course) and OOC (a given with me) but I hope you'll enjoy it anyways… oh yeah, and it takes place in, like, 1750, though, it starts when Amy is nine and Ty is twelve… just for one half of a chapter though :) If it's not all historically accurate… well, who cares? It will be a fun Amy/Ty story.

Summary: The Flemings are a wealthy family living in the 1700's in Virginia. They own the second largest ranch in Virginia. The first largest ranch belongs to the Flemings neighbors, the Baldwin's. The Baldwin's are a very wealthy family. The Flemings and Baldwin's have arranged a marriage between Miss Amy Fleming and Mister Tyler Baldwin. The agreement between the Baldwin's and the Fleming's goes unbeknownst to the two it will affect most until Amy's seventeenth birthday. The Fleming's and the Baldwin's see the union of their children as a way to unite two of the wealthiest families in all of Virginia… a way to combine two large ranches to make one super ranch. It wouldn't be such a problem if the two children in question could even so much as tolerate the other… when one cannot stand the other and the other lives to torment the first… how far can family honor go? Amy's sworn to marry only for love but can she disappoint her whole family? Or will feelings change? In a day and age where children are expected to be seen and not heard, to obey and respect their elders and their family in particular and in a time where arranged marriages are perfectly acceptable, what are a seventeen-year-old girl and twenty-year-old boy to do?

Review!

-Steph

Disclaimer: Lauren Brooke owns everything recognizable.

The Unbreakable Pact

Chapter One—The Pact

May 24, 1742

Mama threw me a grand little party for my ninth birthday celebration. It wasn't anywhere near as spectacular as the one that I would get for my seventeenth birthday, but it was nice.

Mama had gotten the servants to decorate the back lawn of our small ranch house with streamers. The streamers blew on the branches of the trees. Mama had the iron table and chairs cleaned off and set with her special china. The kitchens were busy the whole morning as the cooks prepared a grand meal… and my favorite chocolate cake.

It was enough to send my little head spinning. Of course, that was before I saw the dress mama had ordered special from Paris for me. It was the prettiest little dress I had ever seen. It was a smoky blue color with little, light pink flowers. It had a square neckline that was, along with the hem and bottoms of the sleeves, lined with delicate white lace. The bodice was hard but not uncomfortable… it took away any need for a corset… not that there was any. Mama got me a pair of blue satin slippers to wear. Mama wouldn't let me pin my hair up though, she said I was too young and it was not proper for my age, instead, she had my maid brush it out and curl it the littlest bit so that it fell down to the middle of my back in light waves. Mama even put a little of her special powder on my cheeks! With my little crown of pink flowers atop my head I felt every inch a princess.

The guests were mostly mama and papa's friends but many of them had daughters that were my playmates. My elder sister, Lou, was fifteen at the time and no longer deemed it acceptable to play with me. She sat under one of the big trees with two of her friends.

I had to stand with mama and papa and Lou to greet the guests. I smiled and curtsied my best curtsy as the guests stepped from their carriages and wished me a happy birthday. I felt so proud of all the compliments I'd gotten. "My, Miss Amy, how grown-up you look!"

It was in the middle of the arrivals that the genuine smile faded from my face.

I curtsied and smiled as I murmured, "Good day, Mister and Missus Baldwin."

Mister and Missus Baldwin with kind folk, it wasn't them that I was disappointed to see. Mister and Missus Baldwin owned the ranch next to ours. It was a grand ranch, the biggest in the town, and they were mighty wealthy. They had a young son at four-years-old, Lee. They also had another son at twelve-years, Tyler. Tyler was arrogant and cocky and rude, he especially enjoyed picking fun at me. Mama always forced me to be nice to Tyler though, and I did try my best.

"Amy, dear," mama laid a hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you show Tyler around to the back?" she smiled brightly down at me.

I would have enjoyed nothing more then to have refused but children were taught to always obey their elders and to be respectful.

"Yes, mama," I murmured.

"Tyler," Missus Baldwin's voice stopped me from showing him away. "Don't you have something you wish to say to Amy?" she gave her son a meaningful look.

"Of course, mother." Tyler turned to face me said, "Happy birthday, Miss Amy." He even gave a little bow that I returned with a small curtsy. I wished I hadn't shown manners when I caught his eye as he straightened back up. His eyes were a disturbing emerald green that were almost covered with his dark hair but always managed to follow you. There was that look of mischief that I so dreaded shining through the locks of hair.

"Thank you, Mister Tyler," I managed to utter, looking down to the tips of my new slippers that just managed to show from the bottom of my party dress.

I looked up in time to see the look that passed between mama and Missus Baldwin. It was no more then a quick smile and small nod of the head but it was there.

Mama ushered us away then and I took Tyler to the back of the house.

He did not engage in the games of hop-scotch or jump rope that I played with my friends. He looked disgusted as we pulled out our paper dolls and dressed them in their fine, grown-up clothes.

"Why, Miss Amy," his voice was so full of self-confidence that it made me shiver. I glanced up from my doll and saw him walking towards us, his hands were in the pockets of his trousers and his steps were casual but strong.

"Yes, Mister Tyler?" I tried my very hardest to keep my manners. I would rather do anything then shame my mama after the party she'd given me.

"That is quite a pretty little crown you have there," he lifted his chin, a gesture I suppose was meant to indicate my crown.

I quickly touched the crown with my fingertips. Tyler never complimented me unless it was to tease me. The flowers seemed in order, none were missing or crushed and they were not yet wilted. I did not like the slight gleam in his eyes as he observed my actions.

All the while he continued to come closer still to me. When he reached my side, he towered over me. I was sitting on the grass and he was standing but he was always a good deal taller then me.

"It would be a fine shame if someone were to… steal it," and in a movement that was so fast I hardly caught it, he was holding my crown of flowers in his hands. He twirled it around his finger and I feared it would break.

I jumped to my feet, my paper doll falling harmlessly to the grass.

"You give that back, Mister Tyler," I demanded with a stamp of my slippered foot.

"Where are your manners, Miss Amy?" he taunted me as he tossed the delicate crown the air. "Has your mother not told you how to behave around a gentleman?" he inquired.

"You are no gentleman, Mister Tyler!"

"Ah-ah-ah, Miss Amy," he laughed at me openly. "That is no way to regain possession of your crown, is it?"

I took a deep breath and put on my politest voice. "May I please have my crown back, Mister Tyler?" I even batted my eyelashes in the way I'd seen Lou do around the handsome Mister Trewin.

Tyler just raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that was quite sincere enough."

"Give me back my crown!" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at him. "It is my birthday and this is my party!"

"Well then," Tyler said, actually seeming to consider my words, "that just changes everything now, doesn't it?" I knew I daren't have hoped he'd just give it back to me but he actually managed to seem sincere and slightly sympathetic! I held out a hand, waiting to receive my crown. Tyler started to hold the crown out to me but at the last second he grinned and yanked it back. "Come and get it!" and he took off running!

I dashed off after him, eventually finding it easier to run if I picked up my skirts.

"Tyler Baldwin!" I yelled after him as I weaved my way through party guests. "Give it back!" he hardly even seemed to be trying as he ran at an easy lope. He bounded effortlessly around party guests and the tables.

He even had the nerve to run right by Missus Baldwin and mama! He was running backwards at that time so that he could taunt me with the crown. I hoped he'd crash into the tree. Mama and Missus Baldwin just smiled as we passed and bent their heads together as to carry on their discussion, glancing at us from time to time with small smiles.

"Fine!" I yelled, out of breath. "You can have it, it will probably look better on you anyway!" I yelled in huff without thinking. I realized with a start that I had just insulted one of my guests and immediately fell quiet.

I made my way slowly back to my friends who were still playing quietly with their paper dolls. As I walked, Tyler fell into step besides me.

"Here you go, Miss Amy," he said cheerfully, hardly seeming to be out of breath at all. He handed me my crown. I looked at him warily but he just moved it closer to me. I snatched it quickly and settled it back on my head before he could do anything else. "You didn't think I was going to keep it, did you? You know, I don't have much of a fancy for flowers," he laughed.

"Really?" I put on my best innocent voice and peered up at him from under my bangs with wide eyes. "The colors looked lovely with your eyes," I batted my eyelashes again and this time Tyler stopped in his tracks. He stared at me with an open mouth. I waved before skipping off, giggling all the while. I had finally stunned Tyler Baldwin enough as to leave him void of any of his usual remarks!

The rest of the party passed by quickly and rather uneventfully. We ate the meal that the cooks had prepared for the occasion and we had my favorite chocolate cake for dessert! We even got strawberries! The adults had their wines and ices while the rest of us had Grandpapa's special apple cider from his apple trees at home. It really was quite a grand party!

After the meal had been finished and the servants had cleared the dishes, papa and mama announced that they had a special present for me. Mama had me hide my face in her skirts as I had done when I was younger while papa went to fetch my gift. I was very excited; everyone was making such a fuss! It had to be something good… something better then dolls and clothes or accessories.

Mama told me I could look and I looked around eagerly. I shrieked, a rather unladylike sound, and ran towards my papa and gave him a hug. Because, standing right next to him was Snow Belle! And, Snow Belle had a piece of red satin tied around her neck!

Snow Belle was one of the foals that had only been born two months ago on our farm. Snow Belle had been my favorite since she was born, I absolutely adored her. She was pure snow white and had big, brown eyes. She was still fuzzy from her baby fur and I loved her!

Papa patted my shoulders. "Go on, give your first horse a hug, too," he laughed.

I stared up at him with wide eyes, hardly daring to believe what he had just said. "Oh really, papa? Is she mine?"

Papa smiled at me. "Yes, darling," he assured me. I hugged him around the waist again. I was so excited that I was bouncing up and down! "After all," he said, "you are nine-years-old now and well in need of some riding lessons!"

"Oh thank you, papa!" I cried before I hugged Snow Belle around the neck, too. She whickered into my hair. "Do you hear that, Belle?" I whispered into her small ear excitedly. "You're all mine now!"

Papa said that I could visit Snow Belle later, but that Snow Belle had to go back to her mama then. I knew it would be a few years before I could ride her but it didn't matter now! Instead of selling her after she had been weaned as most of the other foals were, she was all mine now!

"You are so lucky," my best friend, Soraya, came up to me and took my arm. We began to walk around the yard. "My papa said he won't get me a horse," she complained.

We glanced at each other and then laughed.

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May 20, 1750

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Eight years may have passed, but four days before my seventeenth birthday I found myself walking my backyard with Soraya, our arms companionably linked.

Eight years had changed me considerably though, even though my friendship with Soraya had remained the same. My skin was clear and had a healthy glow though it was not tanned. It was not proper for a lady to have tanned skin. My hair was still down to the center of my back on mama's insistence because she said it was very flattering. My childhood bangs had been grown out and now my hair was pinned up. I was to wear corsets now… and I actually had a reason to! Maybe I was not having as… large a bosom as other women in my acquaintance but I still had something there.

All of my dresses were favorable now, no more child frocks. Mama made sure that I had all of the latest gowns. I don't know why she took such pains to always have me so presentable but she did. Maybe it was because I was her only daughter left.

Lou had been wed to the respectable Mister Trewin when she was near eighteen and she had a son and two daughters. My sister was very happy with her life, she was fortunate to have found love.

Soraya and I seated ourselves under the shade of a tall tree. I situated my skirts around my legs carefully so that none of my legs were to show.

"My dear friend," I began, "you have not yet told me how you feel about the young Mister Trewin."

"Oh," Soraya flushed a pretty shade. "Well, Mister Trewin is quite a kind and thoughtful gentlemen but I am not sure if I…" she trailed off.

"Ah, yes, I understand." Mister Trewin was Lou's Mister Trewin's younger brother. Mister Trewin was one of Soraya's early suitors and he seemed so very besotted with her.

"I must admit," Soraya began in a low voice and scooted a little closer so that I might hit hear her, "Mister Stillman is quite the gentlemen, too, and…" she glanced around quickly, "and he is quite handsome as well!"

We giggled together girlishly.

"Of course," Soraya began, "Mister Trewin is quite handsome as well."

"I see you are in a rather tricky spot, my dear friend. Who shall you choose? Mister Trewin or Mister Stillman?"

"I don't you," Soraya confided. "They are both such fine gentlemen, I shall have to wait a time and then decide."

"Oh!" I couldn't hold it in any longer. "You're quite so lucky, my dear friend!"

"How do you mean?" Soraya inquired curiously.

"Well, you are seventeen!" I started. "And you have many handsome suitors! How exciting it must be!"

"Now, now, don't fret, my dear," Soraya smiled. "You shall turn seventeen in but four days time and you will certainly have many a handsome suitor yourself!"

"Oh, I suppose. It is just so frightfully dull all by my lonesome while you, my dear friend, are with a suitor. Some of the ladies our age are already engaged! Engaged! Do you believe it?"

"Aye," Soraya consented.

"And, besides," I continued, "you have stolen all the handsome gentlemen's hearts already! You are so very pretty, my dear."

Soraya blushed lightly at my complimented. She had skin like a porcelain doll. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyelashes thick and her lips full. Her hair was black and curled in a way that was oh so lovely. She was the perfect height for a girl and skinny, she had a figure that I was mighty envious of.

"Oh," Soraya began, "you are so much more beautiful then I," she said humbly.

"I am rather plain," I said. "You have the figure all girls want, my dear friend! I am rather lacking of a fine figure."

"You are not!" Soraya claimed. "You are so beautiful, my dear friend, that I believe once my suitors see you they shall leave and flock to your door! In fact," she said in a softer voice but it held a smile, "I believe Mister Baldwin rather fancies you."

Soraya's claim was perfectly ridiculous and I wasted no time in laughing aloud at it. "I'm afraid that you must be mistaken, my dear friend!"

Soraya shook her head. "No, no, my dear, I am most certain of it!"

"My dearest friend, Mister Tyler enjoys nothing more then picking fun at me! I am sure you can recall the time at my ninth birthday celebration that he stole my wreath of flowers right off my head! There is no way that that man could possibly fancy me.

"But you refer to him as Mister Tyler!" Soraya said. "It is not proper for a gentlewoman to use a gentlemen's Christian name unless they are married or betrothed!"

"Pish posh," I waved of her claims with a dainty wave of my hand. "I call him Mister Tyler merely because I was permitted to as a child and it has stuck. I daresay I call him Mister Baldwin in his presence or the presence of adults, though! It means absolutely nothing though, he despises me and I him."

"I suppose you are right," Soraya admitted feebly. "But he does pay you a good deal of attention whenever in your presence."

"Yes," I agreed, "but it is only to torment and taunt me in someway."

"I daresay," Soraya said after a moment of thought, "Mister Baldwin does not seem so very fond of you after all! I do not see how he could possibly fancy you!"

"Neither I, my dear friend," I agreed. "He really is most unpleasant a gentlemen."

"But he is so handsome and wealthy!" Soraya added in his benefit.

"He is wealthy," I admitted.

"Oh, my dear! Do you not think Mister Baldwin is most pleasing a gentleman to look at?" Soraya laid a hand on my arm as she spoke.

"He is a rather handsome man," I admitted grudgingly. "But he is no gentleman! He is much too self-confident and he is rude! Mister Trewin and Mister Stillman are much more gentlemen then Mister Tyler!"

"But he is so handsome…" Soraya said wistfully. "I've heard Miss Ashley talk of a marriage between her and Mister Baldwin!"

"Miss Ashley?" Soraya nodded. "I daren't believe a word Miss Ashley utters!"

"You are right," Soraya agreed quickly. "That is just what she says."

"How is your dear sister?" Soraya inquired after a bit.

"She is very well… and happy," I relayed the information on Lou happily. "The children are all healthy.'

"Ah, that is the most pleasing of news! Missus Trewin is such a fine gentlewoman."

"Aye," I agreed with a smile. "That she is, Sister truly is one of a kind."

"And how lucky she is to have found true love!" Soraya smiled giddily. "I only hope that I shall be so fortunate one day. I would dread an arranged marriage!" she admitted.

"Me, too," I admitted. "In fact, I shall only marry if I am in love with a man and he is in love with me!" I declared boldly.

"Oh!" Soraya gasped. "That is quite a thing to say… but I must agree! I shall only marry for love!"

I smiled warmly at my friend. "What's say, dear friend, that we make a pact?"

"A pact? Whatever could it be on?"

"We shall make a pact this very day that we shall only marry if we are in love, a pact that we will not consent to an arranged or a loveless marriage."

Soraya looked uncertain for a brief moment. "Yes!" she finally said. "I agree that is a wonderful idea!"

"Take off your glove," I instructed Soraya as I removed my own glove. Soraya removed er glove carefully and set it atop her skirts so as not to dirty the fine linen. "Now…" I looked around briefly, scrambling my mind for some idea. "Ah, I've got it," I murmured. I tore up a clod of grass and marveled at the hole of brown earth it left. I rubbed some of the dirt onto my palm before saying to Soraya, "Give me your hand." She held out her hand and watched in fascination as I rubbed a bit of dirt on her palm as well. I held up my hand. "Now, put your hand on mine," I instructed her. Soraya held her hand up against mine so that our dirtied palms rested against each other.

"Now," I began, "we make an unbreakable pact, an unbreakable pact between two sisters, Miss Soraya Martin and Miss Amy Fleming. A pact that states that neither of the two sisters shall ever marry if they are not in love with the man and the man is not in love with her. This is an unbreakable pact that will withstand even family honor. Our pact shan't be broken by anything. Say aye if you accept the terms of the pact.

"Aye."

"Aye."

a/n: definitely different from anything else I've ever written but I think it will be good, don't you? It won't be really long anyways and it will just be a fun little Amy/Ty story. Reviews are appreciated! -Steph