He pretended as though he had not seen her, and continued to water his horse at the side of the river, somewhat making his way closer to her. Bella was curious. She wanted to know who this man was, and what he was doing here. He finally said aloud “tell me your name.” She backed up slowly realizing he had spotted her, and before she ran he told her it was okay to come out, that he was of no harm to her.

     She slowly stepped out from behind the bushes, and said “my name is Bella.” He replied “I am James.” She warmed up to his kind words very quickly, and as the day passed and they talked, it began to get dark. Bella would not be able to get home before dark. James offered Bella a ride on his horse, Jezebel. She accepted the offer, and they ran through the forest so fast, and Bella loved it. When they reached her cabin, he asked her to meet him again the next day. She kindly accepted.

     So the next day, Bella wanted to look beautiful, and not caught in torn clothes from hiding, like she had the day before. She spent all morning sewing the most beautful dress, and wore her mothers lucky necklace. She left for the river side where they had met, and he had not arrived yet. Time went by very slowly, or so she thought, as the sun moved across the sky, Bella could only think of one thing, something has happened. Something had happened to everyone close to her, and she believed with all her heart that it had happened again.

     She left to head home before the sun went down, explaining to herself that the only way not to get hurt is to stay away from everyone. She was upset, had found a friend, someone she could spend her life with, and something had happened. As she moped home, her cabin came into sight, and someone was sitting on the porch. She looked very closely before she took another step. She saw Jezebel and realized that it was James. “Why was he here? Why didn’t he meet me at the river bank?”

     She walked up to him, and he pulled out a bush of wild flowers he had spent all day picking for her. “I could never get enough beauty out of flowers to match yours”, he told her. She smiled and smelt the flowers he had picked for her. Their eyes met romantically, and a sweet kiss fell between the two. Bella smiled and could tell James had a good heart. He told Bella “you make me so happy, I never want to be without you.” Bella didn’t have to say anything back, he knew she felt the same.

     They planned to marry and stay in the forest. Bella made another beautiful dress, white this time. Again, she put on her mothers necklace. They met at the river bank, and James brought his father to marry them. They were so happy, and swore to each other that they would always take care of each other and never leave one another. So that is exactly what they did. The routine became theirs to wake up each morning and get fresh water from the river and berries and fruit to eat. Water the flowers and also feed the animals.

     Bella realized that this forest did make her dreams come true, just like her mother hoped it would. It was all real. They lived happily ever after.