Everyone's heard those stories about the days of the old west. A woman's life was never easy in that time, but if she was lucky, she found a good man who would work the land, provide her with a roof over her head, food in her belly and a father for her children. He would be kind enough, maybe even affectionate in private. It was rare, but yeah, it could happen.

It did happen for Sarah Slade. She met Justin Tremaine when she was 14 years old. He was the owner of the property next to her parents. He courted her properly, and when she was of age, he asked for her hand, and was accepted. Now, he was ten years older than her, but that was okay. He treated her well. Life was good for the next four years. Then disaster struck.

Justin was killed in a cattle heard gone bad. Sarah was left to fend for herself, and so, she did what most women were forced to do. She remarried, to Justin's partner and friend, Samual Malone. That, was not such a wise decision. Samual was not a nice man. Infact, he was rather cruel, even on his good days. He paid no mind to Sarah's wants or desires, he cared only about his own. He forced himself upon Sarah whenever he liked, and then blamed her, and beat her, when she'd told him she was pregnant. As if, that too, was her fault alone.

Poor Sarah only lasted a handful of years with Samual, before blessed relief came in the middle of the night. Samual had beaten her too badly this time, and she'd simply slipped into death in her sleep. Leaving behind 5 year old Amanda.. Mandy girl. The poor child's life was the same day in, day out. Constant cruelty and abuse from her father, who hated the girl because she was a) a girl, and b) looked more like her mother each day. Daughter's were useless according to Samual Malone. Women were only good for cooking, cleaning, and bedding, and he'd had her mother to do those things, so he'd had no use for Mandy.

But he'd had to do them after Sarah's death, and he despised that fact. By the time Amanda was 9 years old, it was soon made clear that Mandy, young as she was, was expected to take up where her mother left off, cleaning the house, cooking his meals. And it would only get worse. When Mandy turned 16, she was every bit as attractive as her mother, and it stirred dark, dangerous emotions in her father. He flew into a rage often, drinking himself into a stupor, mumbling about killing the bitch who haunted him in the eyes of her daughter. Other times, she would catch her father looking at her with an even more scary look in his eyes. Hunger.

Soon enough, her father would make comments that made it pretty clear to Mandy that she still had one more role of her mother's to fulfill. One that terrified Mandy while it disgusted her. He was her own father! A very sick, cruel, dangerous man. She knew she had to get away, but she didn't know how. No young men had come to court her, scared off by her father's reputation for violence. What other way out was there?

The answer came one day when she was at the market. Her father was passed out drunk, and she'd managed to scrounge up a few coins to purchase some desperately needed food. At the market, she'd noticed the thin sheet of newsprint on the counter. A man in Dodge City was looking for a young woman of virtue to be his bride. She'd acted impulsively, secretly grateful one of the widow's in town had taught her the basics of reading behind her father's back. She answered the add, knowing if she didn't, she'd end up her father's whore. A week before her 18th birthday, she took off, her meager belongings packed in a battered case, and she boarded the stagecoach from Independence Missouri to Dodge.