"You can't miss out on this. Take his hand honey, live the life we never could."
"I respect the both of you so much. Please respect my decision to stay. I'm not going to marry sir Prescott, end of discussion."

Maxine leaves her two parents in the silence of their heated discussion. The sun that radiated it's warmth, inside the decaying farmer's hut, seemed to have disappeared. Only the sounds of teeth grinding together could be heared. "I need some fresh air." The young girl says. She ties her long brown hair into a knot and takes an empty leather bag with her; would she be so lucky to find anything to eat worthy of bringing home. Her parents yell her name but she blocks them out. They eventually realise their daughter is as stubborn as them and let her go. She ventures towards the woods. The forrest full of life where she came to life. Not literally of course, her mother gave birth to her inside their house not in the middle of the woods like a bear.
Her father calls out for her as a last resort but it only makes her fasten her pace. Maxine doesn't look back, she's focussed on getting some rest near her favorite pond. She learned to swim in it's waters and at the age of twelve she was robbing it from the minor amount of fish that used to live in it. One burning summer almost vanished the entire pond from existence, killing the last remaining fish. A rainy winter filled the pond again but the fish never returned obviously. Besides the tragedy it was still Maxine's favorite spot in the entire world. A beautiful little piece of nature she can proudly call hers.

Despite getting physically away, from her parents, the voice of her mother keeps haunting her mind.
As she throws a rock upon the still and undeep waters of the small pond she hears her mother's pleeds.
"I know we encouraged you to find the love of your life but we're struggling. You look like a skeleton and your father can no longer pick up his axe let alone lead a herd of sheep. No parent should worry about loosing their daughter every single day. We don't want the money, we want you to be safe."

It was true her mother always encouraged her to find true love but true love didn't matter if you could die of hunger the next day.
"Besides how bad could this Nathan Prescott be?",She thought.
Maxine hadn't focussed on her love life, she never got the chance. With her father falling sick on such short nottice she had to take over most of the work around the farm.
How could she meet her true love if she lived in the middle of nowhere?The nearest village was a firm 2 days ride away, and a trip like that was rarely made. Her father needed a doctor though, badly, but he begged his wife not to safe him. It was not worth the money or the tears, he said.

Maxine found herself struggling about the decision for the first time. She had never thought it all through. Marrying such a powerful man could be rather beneficial for both her and her parents. Nathan had already declared his "love" towards Maxine. A simple gesture really. He visited the farm a few months before her father got sick.
He asked Maxine for her hand but she declined. She didn't feel attracted to him, not physically and definitely not mentally. The way he would pull up his nose whenever he would speak made clear he really liked to hear himself talk. Nathan was good-looking but that couldn't outshine the very rotten parts of his flawed personality. Maxine couldn't force herself to ignore all  those major flaws, not  even with the mountain of gold attached to his name. They had different standards. Sir Prescott wants to rule the world, not in a pure way, and Maxine is foccused on surviving.

She let him down easy but his ego was still a bit wounded. You could see it by the way he would squint his eyes and would scoff a little underneath his breath. Nathan accepted Maxine's choice but left one of his pigeons just in case the fair lady would change her mind.
And almost a year later she did.

"My dearest Nathan Prescott,

With this letter I would like to remind you of your visit to my farm a year ago.
You asked me for my hand and I gently declined. I now see the error in my decision. Any women should be so lucky to join your side in the unbreakable bond of marriage. I don't know why I was so weak minded to not see the perfection that is Nathan Prescott. After all I'm just a farmer's daughter. I still do not understand why you would marry someone so low in comparison to your own rank, but I shall not complain.
Knowing that thou hasn't spoken the holy words to another women, I would gladly accept your offer.

I Maxine Caulfield will give you my hand in marriage.
I shall plead my loyalty to you for the rest of my life and live by your side untill death do us part.

Praise to Sir Prescott,
Your Love

Maxine C."