My first FanFiction, here it is! I hope everyone likes it. Will be posting the second chapter if I get reviews saying they'd like to know what happens next. :) Please review, I'd really like it! Thanks! :)

~Quinlyn

Felicity Merriman walked briskly along the path one crisp fall day, shawl over shoulders and basket tucked under her arm. She was going to her father's store, which he still ran, to get some things to make supper with.

Felicity was 17 now and quite the young lady. Her hair had darkened to a deep auburn and she no longer had troublesome freckles, but her green eyes were as sharp as ever. Felicity's personality had changed, too. She was now more submissive and had a bigger desire to please others. But she still had her strong opinions and wouldn't back down on things she believed in.

As she opened the door to Merriman's Store, she breathed in the all-too-familiar scents that she had smelled almost every day of her life for years.

"Good afternoon, father," she said to a tall man who was writing up accounts on the desk.

"Good afternoon, my pretty Lissie," he said fondly, looking up and tucking a strand of hair back under her cap. Felicity smiled and then turned her head to look at Martin, Father's apprentice. His old one was Ben, but he had joined the army when he was 18 and now he was gone. Felicity missed him quite terribly but she wouldn't let on to anyone else, and besides it was only a pang now and again.

Martin was just as young and flighty as Ben had been; only he was more reserved and almost never talked about politics with Mr. Merriman. He was a nice lad and Felicity liked him well enough but she felt that he could never replace Ben. When Mr. Merriman had hired Martin the whole family was surprised. They didn't think he could handle another apprentice in his advancing age. But he laughed at them and told him he would teach a hundred young men if he could. So that was that.

William, Felicity's 11 year old brother, was working at the store too. He gave Felicity one of his mischievous but sweet smiles.

Felicity helped herself to what she needed, reaching up high or bending down. It was a slow morning and only a few customers were there, so Felicity opened the cash register and put the pay in herself. Why bother Martin, she thought.

After a hearty good-bye-I'll-see-you-at-home, Felicity walked home, more burdened than she had left. Before stepping into her house she stopped in the barn and looked over the horses, as she loved to do. She had not grown out of her love for horses; nay, the love had only gotten stronger. She had three horses but she loved her first horse, the horse she had rescued, best of all of them. Her name was Penny because he coat was the color of a bright copper penny. Felicity stroked Penny's soft coat and gave her a carrot from her basket that she had gotten from the store especially for her. Then she checked on Patriot, Penny's foal, which was now a beautiful colt. The third horse was a gift to Felicity from Mr. Merriman on her 16th birthday. She was a pretty piebald and Felicity had named her Anne. She tried to treat Anne with the same loving affection she did Penny, so she fed her a special carrot too. Patriot had developed a strange dislike to carrots, so he got a sugar lump instead.

She would have stayed in the stable all day and quite forgot her duties if Nan, Felicity's sister, hadn't called her into the kitchen building. Nan was 13 and had always been the opposite of Felicity. Tidy, prim, and sweet, she never socialized with boys unless absolutely necessary (although she was developing rather a crush on young David next door), claiming they were too rough. She had red hair too but it had never been as wild as Felicity's. Hers hadn't darkened any (yet) but it was still perfectly lovely, not a hair out of place under her white cap.

Felicity heaved a sigh and, resigning herself to her fate of being cooped up inside for the rest of the day, walked as slowly as she dared toward the kitchen, savoring each moment of the brilliantness of the outdoors.

When she finally got in she immediately smelled something burning. Wrinkling her nose, she took off her shawl and ran as fast as she could toward the stove, where Nan was vainly trying to save a pot of soup from becoming combustible. Felicity couldn't help a laugh even as she was helping Nan take the heavy pot off the heat. Mother came back from the house with a loaf of bread and 5 year old Polly following close behind her. Usually their cook, Rose, would help but she had the night off because one of her sisters was dreadfully sick. She wouldn't leave the Merrimans' without a fight in any other circumstance, but this was too bad to NOT go, and Mrs. Merriman let her go easily.
Mrs. Merriman laughed with Felicity at the sight of her girls trying to contain the meal. She helped them get everything under control then turned to Felicity.

"Lissie, have you gotten the things from the store?" Mrs. Merriman asked. Felicity nodded, remembering that she had forgotten her basket outside.

"Yes ma'am, I'll go get them," Felicity said. She ran back to the stable where she had left the basket. She knelt down to reach for it and just as her fingers hit the handle a deep voice startled her.

"Hello Felicity." It said.
Felicity spun around, prepared to tackle her intruder, but her face melted into a shocked but happy expression instead. Standing right in front of her was Ben, back from the army!

"Ben!" Felicity cried and hugged him, feeling like she was 10 again. "When did you get back?"

Ben laughed and undid her arms from around his person. "Just today. I couldn't find anywhere to stay but I figured the Merry Merrimans, if they could find it in their good hearts, would take a poor solider in," he said. Felicity nodded.

"Of course we will. Mother and Nan and Polly are in the kitchen and Father and William are still at the store, but I'm sure they won't mind. Oh dear, I've almost forgotten my basket. Nan and mother are expecting it. And I've been talking entirely too much. You must be exhausted. Here, let yourself in the house and sit down in the parlor and make yourself comfortable; I'll be along as soon as I can." Felicity gasped for breath at the end of this long speech but picked her basket up and practically ran toward the kitchen. Halfway there she turned and shouted, "I'm so glad you're home, Ben!" Chuckling, Ben made his way toward the house, thinking about how much Felicity had changed since he had left.