Cutler's Intro

It was love at first sight for Calder and Cora. Their parents were close friends and Calder's mother was who attended to Cora's mom when she gave birth to Cora. Calder was only two at the time, but was given the privilege of viewing Cora shortly after her birth and was immediately taken with her. Calder was the only child at the time and thought Cora was God's answer to his prayers about getting a playmate. That bond grew as the years passed and Calder and Cora grew. One was never far from the other. Calder was Cora's fiercest champion, although she later had two brothers Allen and Owen who were just as protective of her.

Calder grew to be a tall man, with a stocky build and determination. He was determined to eventually make a life for himself and for Cora as well, whether that meant staying in Charleston or moving somewhere’s else. Calder's pa was a smithy who was as handy with a hammer and nails, as he was with a forge. He passed these natural talents onto Calder who used them, but Calder's dream was to one day have a prosperous dairy farm. He hated living in the tiny suite of rooms at the back of his father's smithy and hoped to save up enough money to purchase some land, before he and Cora were wed.

Eventually Cora convinced him that she would be happy living anywhere, as long as she was with him. They were married on his eighteenth birthday and settled into married life in his childhood bedroom. Nine months later, Alton Lloyd made his appearance into the world and both his parents doted on him.

Their happiness was short-lived when tragedy struck. During a furious thunderstorm, lightning struck the wall of the smithy and it was engulfed in flames before anyone knew it. Calder, having been awakened from sleep by a fit of coughing, had leaped out of bed as soon as he smelled smoke. Using the rocking chair, he had made for Cora for their first Christmas together, Calder busted out the single window in their room and helped his family to safety.

Against Cora's frightened protests, Calder tore a piece of flannel off of Cora's nightgown, wet it down and went back inside in search of his parents.

He never made it out of the bedroom though. When he opened the door and tried to go out into the sitting room, he found a rafter from the roof barricading the entrance. Frustration and grief swept through him at the loss of his parents, but Calder didn't let that stop him from gathering up whatever belongings of his, Cora and Alton's that he could find and throwing them out of the window. He raced back and forth from the dresser to the window, tossing items out and just when he thought he would collapse from the strain his lungs were going through because of the smoke, Calder remembered the large bundle of money under the mattress. He forced himself to move to the bed and then back to the window, knowing that Cora and Alton were depending on him. Calder barely managed to climb out of the window before he collapsed to the ground and darkness enveloped him as he heard Cora hysterically calling his name.

Three months after the fire, Calder sold the property his father's business had resided on and used part of it to purchase a set of sturdy geldings, a wagon and supplies for his family. He and Cora bid goodbye to her folks and brothers and set out to find a new home. They arrived in Three Crossings in January of 1841 and were befriended by Vin and Mahla Bernard when their wagon lost a wheel and Calder was forced to find a place to camp for the night with his family. The place he found was half on Vin's property and half on a piece of unclaimed land.

Vin was doing a nightly round of checking on his cattle, when he came upon Calder and his family. When Vin told him that he was camping out on his land, Calder explained that they were new in town and that their wagon had slipped a wheel and he had needed a place to keep his wife and son warm for the night while he repaired it. Seeing that Cora was heavy with the couple's second child and holding Alton in her arms, Vin invited them to stay with him and his family while Calder fixed his wagon.

That was the start of a close friendship between the two families. Calder was ecstatic to find out that the land next to Vin's ranch was unclaimed and went to examine it the next morning. What he saw convinced him that he and Cora had just found their new home. He purchased the land and with Vin's help quickly built a house for his new family.

As the years passed the two families visited back and forth, until the Spring of '47. Some land lining the borders of both their properties came up for sale and both men bid on it, unbeknownst to the other. The property went to Vin because his bid was higher and in his excitement, he went to share the news with Calder. Upon hearing that it was Vin that had outbid him, Calder became angry over his friend's apparent underhandedness and declared their friendship over. Vin tried unsuccessfully to explain to his friend that he hadn't known about him bidding on the land and tried to patch up their friendship to no avail.

At present the rift in the friendship remains and the Cutler children are under strict rules not to have anything to do with Veronique, Andre or anyone else who is related or associated with the Bernard family.