After Emma had moved away, Louise became the temporary cook and housekeeper. She moved into Emma's house until Teaspoon could find a replacement for Emma. Teaspoon would hire a woman on a trail basis while Louise trained her. They never lasted more than a week. One was too lazy, another wanted the riders to do all the work, one was too old for the job (physically unable to the work), and one, not even Cody would eat her meals. One, who had recognized that Lee was a girl, was rude to everybody and made lude comments about Lee to Louise. Calling Lee a tramp and saying that she was whoring herself out at night to the boys for extra money. She lasted 2 seconds after that comment. Teaspoon overheard her say it and immediately fired her for it. They also insisted that Lee was not female, and really confused the woman. The next person to answer the ad, seemed to be the perfect person for the job, Lee was the only one that didn't like her. Louise had talked with Lee as to the reason why she didn't like the woman, and Lee couldn't say why she didn't like her, so Louise recommended that Rachel be hired permanently. It was latter discovered that Lee was just uncomfortable with the way the boys acted around Rachel and that she was just jealous over Rachel's beauty. It took a talk between Rachel and Lee for Lee to realize that she was just jealous. However, she decided not to let that stand in the way of a friendship that eventually turned into more of an older/younger sister relationship.

While the way station was having trouble finding a replacement for Emma, Boggs was having trouble of his own. He decided that he was he was tiered of having to hide his feelings for Cindy. He went to see her father to talk to him.

"Hello, Dr. McCloud, what can I do for you today?" Mr. Nelson greeted Boggs, as they walked into the study of the Nelson's house.

"Well, Mr. Nelson, I wanted to talk to you about your daughter." Mr. Nelson remained quiet. "You see, I've noticed that when Miss Nelson comes over to visit my eldest daughter, Louise, that she just has a way with kids ... and Louise will be getting married soon, maybe, and I'll be left alone to raise Theresa and Jeremiah by my self. Well, Sir, I just don't think that I could do that, and I know it wouldn't be proper to have Miss Nelson come live us to take care of the children unless we were married, so I was wondering if I could have her hand in marriage." Boggs found himself babbling on and stumbling over what he wanted to say and what he had wanted to say did not come out at all. But for some reason he couldn't remember what it was that he had wanted to tell Mr. Nelson.

"If you cannot keep a reign on your own daughter, how do I know that you can keep Cindy in line?"

"Sir?" Boggs sat there stunned and stocked, this is not what he had expected at all.

"Your, daughter, Louise, was expelled from finishing school for fighting and she out there whoring herself to the pony express station riders. How do I know you won't let my daughter do that?"

"Sir, with all do respect, your information is wrong. Yes, Louise was expelled for fighting. The person she knocked out was bragging about how many slaves they had and how badly they treated them. My daughter was standing up for stranger's rights to be treated human. She was standing up for what she believed in. And as for as whoring herself to the riders, I don't know where you got your information, but that's a flat out lie. She has moved out there to help the station run smoothly until they can find a replacement for Emma. She's cooking and cleaning up after those boy, Sir, nothing more, nothing less."

"You can't stop her from seeing a man that you despise!"

"I do not despise Kid. I just don't like his job. And I see that they really love each other. I will not come in between them."

"Maybe that's your problem, Dr. McCloud. You're too soft. No, I will not allow you to marry my daughter if you can not control your own daughter. Is that all?"

"Yes, Sir, that was it." Boggs said through clenched teeth. He got up and left -- with his temper in check. Later he decided not to tell anyone of his conversation with Mr. Nelson. If he told Cindy, it would destroy the light in her eyes and if he told Louise, she'd go over there and knock him out for insulting her and him that way. Yes, it was best if nobody found out about that conversation. As he was thinking about all this, he almost ran into Louise.

"Hi Pa." She said as she gave him a hug. "This is Mrs. Rachel Dunne. Rachel, this is my father, Dr. McCloud."

"Hi, Mrs. Dunne, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you Mr. McCloud."

Boggs smiled at the formal title, only those that were really formal called him that. "Feel free to call me Boggs. Just about everybody around here does."

Rachel just smiled as Louise continued. "I'm showing Rachel around town. She's going to be the new cook out at the way station. I should be home tomorrow if not tonight after supper."

"OK."

Louise could tell that something was wrong, by the way her father was acting, "Listen why don't you, Cindy and kids come on out for supper?"

"OK Me and the kids will be there, but I'm not so sure that Cindy's father will let her go anywhere right now."

Oh so that's it! Cindy's father found out. I'd better go see Cindy before we head back to the station. "All right, we'll see you at supper then."

Louise and Rachel went into the general store to get supplies and Rachel met Mr. Tompkins. While Tompkins had someone load up the wagon, Mrs. Nelson came down the road and grabbed Louise's arm. Louise turned to find that Mrs. Nelson had been crying. "Louise, you've got to get Cindy out of there, he'll kill her."

"Mrs. Nelson, tell me what's going on."

"Your father came to see Mr. Nelson this afternoon. He asked for Cindy's hand, but my husband denied him. Cindy over heard and tried to talk him about it and he just slapped her. He's never done that before, Louise. Not to her, just to me. You have to get her out of there, before it gets worse. You get her out of there, and I'll bring some clothes to her."

"I'll be right back, Rachel." Both Mrs. Nelson and Louise ran down the road.

From outside they could hear Mr. Nelson yelling, "You will not talk back to me. You will do as I say!" He was so caught up in the beating of his daughter that he didn't even hear the door open.

"Leave her alone." Louise said in a calm stern manner.

"Get out of my house you whore! This is all your fault! You're a bad influence on my daughter. I thought that she could change you, but you changed her!"

"Cindy can you get up?" Louise looked at her best friend laying on the floor.

"I think so."

"Then you're coming with me. Get up and let's go, before I lose my temper." Louise said calmly.

Cindy saw a way out, and she knew that Louise had a gun on her, even if no one could see it. So she felt safe going with Louise. She slowly got up and stumbled to Louise. Louise placed herself between the abusive man and the friend that she had come to think of as a sister.

"Cindy, you leave and you're dead to me."

"She stays and she's dead for real. You'll kill her."

"Cindy I mean it, I'll disinherit you, if you leave."

Cindy just turned and stumbled out of the door with her father yelling after her, "I mean it! You're dead to me! I no longer have a daughter! You will never see me or your mother again."

Louise backed out of the house keeping an eye on Mr. Nelson until they were out on the street. Louise looked at her beaten friend and said, "Don't worry your mother will find a way to see you. She's the one that came to get me to help you out." Louise looked at the injuries and said, "I think I better take care of your injuries. Let's go to the clinic."

"I don't want your father to see me like this."

"Cindy, don't worry about my father seeing you like this, OK? Worry more about the cut on your head, it looks like it needs stitches. And I wouldn't be surprised if he cracked or broke a couple of ribs. I need to check you out and care for the wounds, all my stuff is at the way station and the clinic is closer, I'll use my father's stuff to clean you up. Don't worry, I'll lock the door and he won't see you until after you're all cleaned up." Louise saw Rachel and said, "This is going to take longer than I expected."

"It all right, take care of her"

"Thanks I'll be in my father's clinic. You can come and wait or you can go on back to the station."

"I can wait, it looks like she needs some friends around."

Louise smiled. "Thanks, Rachel."

The three ladies walked to the dr.'s clinic and went in the back door. The kids were still at school, and Louise had seen her father go into the house. As she worked on getting Cindy cleaned up, she had Cindy tell her what had happened.

"Well, your father came by and asked my father if he could marry me. My father told him no. And after your father left, I tried to talk to him. I tried to tell him that I loved Boggs, and then he slapped me. That's when I told him that I would marry him with or without his permission. And then he knocked me down and started beating me like he does Mama."

Boggs had come into the clinic to get something, when he heard Cindy talking. He heard everything. He knew how bad, Mr. Nelson's beatings could get. He had patched up Mrs. Nelson on a number of occasions. She had assured him that Mr. Nelson never touched Cindy though.

"You know, he's never hit me before, I didn't think he would."

"He did and it's worse than when he beats your Ma." Louise said. She had always helped her father tend to Mrs. Nelson, begging her to get out and take Cindy with her. But Mrs. Nelson always refused to leave. She said she would go to Hell if she left her husband. No matter what Boggs and Louise told her, she refused to chance her Salvation.

When Boggs had heard that Cindy had suffered a beating worse than what Mrs. Nelson suffers, he walked in. Cindy was facing away from him. Louise was setting her broken wrist and Cindy had cried out and no one heard the door open, but when Louise looked up, she saw her father. She said nothing. "There your wrist is set. How did that happen?"

"I tried to block one of his blows like you taught me, and he caught my arm and twisted my wrist."

"Well it's broken. It'll be a while before it heals, let me go get something to wrap it up. I'll be right back." Louise slid past her father and Boggs went around the table that Cindy was sitting on.

When he saw the dried up blood, the stitches on her head and the bruises already forming around her eyes, his heart broke. He felt responsible for this. "I'm sorry, Cindy. I shouldn't have gone over there this afternoon."

"No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have said what I did when you left."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." she replied as she shook her head and trying to hold back her tears. She really didn't want Boggs to see her like she was, but it was too late. "He disowned me." Boggs just gave her a hug. "I'm not upset that I won't be getting anything from him when he dies, it's just that I thought he loved me."

"I know." Boggs didn't know what else to say. He just rubbed her back. When Louise came back with the stuff to wrap Cindy's wrist, Boggs informed her, "She has two cracked ribs. I'll go get something for you to wrap them with."

"OK."

When Boggs got back with wrap for the ribs, he left Louise to wrap her up. While Louise was tending to the rest of Cindy's injuries, he went back to the Nelson house. When Mr. Nelson answered the door, he said in a very calm, but threatening voice, "You touch her again, and I'll kill you." He turned and left a very shocked Mr. Nelson standing in the door way.

Boggs went to the hotel and rented a room for Cindy and told the hotel manager to bill him for how ever long the room stayed in use. The hotel manager gave Boggs the key and He went back to the clinic. By the time he got back to the clinic, Cindy was cleaned up, and bandaged. He gave her the hotel key.

"I can't let you do that."

"Non since. I'm going to. You need a place to stay and if you stay here, people will assume the worst. I can't let that happen."

"Go on, go get set up. Be ready to go out to supper by 6. We've been invited to supper out at the way station."

Mr. Nelson went to Teaspoon, who had become the Marshall after Sam left and Sam's replacement was killed. "Marshall Hunter, I want to report a kidnapping."

"Who's been kidnapped, Mr. Nelson?"

"My daughter."

"Sir, everyone in town heard you shouting that you disowned the girl. I also saw what you did to her, if I were her I would have left too. I have already talked to her and she doesn't wish to press charges against you. She left on her own free will. She was not kidnapped. She's an adult and can leave your home if she wishes. And frankly, Mr. Nelson, if it were up to me, you'd be locked behind bars for a very long time. But I can't do that unless she presses charges and she refuses to do that. So if I were you I'd get out here before I forget I'm wearing a badge and accidentally pull the trigger on my gun sending a bullet it into your heart of ice and send you to Hell myself"

At the way station, Louise had already explained to the riders what had happened and warned them not to say anything. She assured them that Cindy would not be going back to her father and that she had a safe place to stay. It took a lot of convincing to keep them from paying Mr. Nelson a little visit, but in the end she won out. Cindy still had hopes of her father changing and nobody was going to do anything to stop that from happening. In other words no one was allowed to kill Mr. Nelson. They all groaned at this but agreed not to even mention Mr. Nelson or the incident tonight at dinner. Instead they would ignore her injuries in an effort to boost Cindy's self-esteem.

Dinner was noisy as usual, with Cody leading the banter. They kept the topic off of Cindy and on their exploits as Pony Express Riders, carefully editing any abusive stories out of the conversation. They were also getting to know their new rider, Noah Dixon. Everyone was impressed with Rachel's cooking.

Louise left the way station that night after supper. However, she stayed with Cindy to make sure everything was OK. Theresa came over with clothes for Cindy that Mrs. Nelson had smuggled to the Doctor's house. Mrs. Nelson had suffered a beating after Cindy left as well. Dr. McCloud had patched her up and started to tell her where Cindy was when she stopped him, "Don't tell me, if you tell me, he might beat it out of me. If you don't tell me, he'll still beat me, but I can't let it slip if I don't know where she is. Just tell me when the wedding is and I'll be there if at all possible."

"OK. I'll let you know as soon as I can."

"Thank you. You're a good man and you have done a fine job raising your children. I know you'll treat my daughter good. I can no longer protect her, I learned that this afternoon. It's up to you to protect her now."

Cindy set the wedding date in April. She wanted to give her body time to heal and she also wanted to give her father time to change his mind and hopefully come to her wedding. Despite everything, she still loved him and wanted him to return that love. What she didn't understand, was that he had never loved her. He had wanted a son anyway, then when Cindy was born, he beat his wife so bad for not giving him a son that she could no longer have any children. So he was stuck with Cindy to get more money, but in order to do it properly, she would have marry rich and he would have her husband bequeath everything to him and not to her. He knew that Boggs would never do that.

As Christmas drew nearer, Kid decided that it was time that he made a comment to Louise. However, he was not so confident when it came to asking Boggs. Boggs sat in his chair, watching a very nervous Kid sitting across from him. He was afraid of what could have Kid so nervous. He knew what the boy wanted, but he was not ready to give up his "baby girl" to someone who could not support himself, let alone a wife too. However, he was determined to hear Kid out. "Kid, what is it?" Boggs asked trying to push the boy to ask the question that had brought him here.

"I was wondering ..." Kid cleared his throat. "I wanted to ask you if I could marry Louise, if she would have me."

There it was the question that Boggs had been dreading since the day that Louise was born. Without thinking, and seeing a memory of Louise playing in the creek at age 5, he said, "No." I see that they really love each other. I will not come in between them. He heard the words he had told Cindy's father echo in his mind. God, What am I doing? I refuse to do this to my daughter. This is the man that she loves.

Kid had expected Dr. McCloud to say no, and momentarily forgot his argument as the speculation became reality.

"Let me explain to you the reason." Boggs went on to say. "It's not because I don't like you. Because I do like you. It's just that I don't think that you can support yourself, and a wife on what Russell, Majors and Wydell is paying you. Now I know that Louise loves you and you love her. And you have been very good for her. She's starting to act more like a lady at times rather than the tom boy she became when her mother passed away." Boggs, sighed and then continued. "I'll make you a deal, Kid. You become my apprentice and I'll teach you everything I know about medicine and you can marry my daughter."

"Sir, with all do respect and as tempting as that offer is, I'm no doctor. There is no way I'd be able to become a good doctor, even with you as my teacher. My heart wouldn't be in it and to be a good doctor, your heart has to be in it. Now, I've got some money saved up, enough to get us a house built and we'll still have some left over to keep saving so that one day I could buy enough land to start a ranch." Kid let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding and continued. "Sir, I may not be able to get everything that we want, but I have enough saved up so that we will be able to get everything that we need."

"What's the difference?"

"A need is something that you can't live without, like food, and shelter and love. A want is something that you can live without, like a saddle when your old saddle works just fine."

Boggs smiled at the analogy. This boy, he could tell, was nervous and couldn't really think straight, but he did know the difference between wants and needs. Here was his chance to make sure that his daughter got everything she really needed in life and to feel good about it. "Kid, if you promise me that if you ever need anything and find that for one reason or another, you can't afford it, then you come ask me for it, if you promise me that, then I'll give my blessing."

"If I can't find any other way of getting our needs, then I will." Kid promised, however he hoped it would never come to that.

Boggs walked over to a safe and opened it up, he took out a small jewelry box, "Fine. Then, I give you my blessing, but you're going to have to ask her, although I don't doubt for one second that she'll say yes." He opened the box up and looked at it. He remembered the look on Mary's face when he had bought it for her. It was the first want that he was able to give his wife. When she had passed away, Louise went looking for the diamond ring that her mother had always worn for as long as she could remember. Her father had told he had put it up in a special place. As much as it pained him, he handed it across the desk to Kid. "Give this to her, and she'll know that I have given my blessing." It did not pain him because it was Kid he was giving it to, but because it was something of Mary's and it meant that his "baby girl" was growing up. "She hasn't seen that since her mother died. I took off her mother's hand to save for this occasion. When Louise asked me about the ring, I told her that the man that I wanted her to marry would give her that ring when it was time."

"Thank you, Sir."

Lynnette was able to come to the station for a visit for Christmas and Sam and Emma showed up for a visit too. However, Kid did not want his proposal to be as public as Sam's had been. So after everyone had opened their gifts on Christmas day, Kid asked Louise to go on a picnic with him. He took her to the frozen pond, Noah and Jimmy had already set up candles, the blanket, and the food that Rachel had prepared for them. They had already left and the scene looked beautiful and romantic.

"Kid, this is beautiful!"

Kid just smiled and hoped that Louise couldn't tell that he was nervous. He didn't know why this was more nerve racking than asking her father if he could marry her, but it was. He had her mother's ring in his pocket, but he had momentarily forgot about it. After they finished their lunch, they strolled around the pond.

"Kid, just say what's on your mind."

"What do you mean?"

"You've had something on your mind ever since we left the way station, go on say it." Louise was afraid of what she might hear. She was sure that he had been transferred to another station or something awful.

Well here goes nothing. When Kid bent down to one knee, Louise stood stunned. "Louise, will you marry me?"

Louise stood there with tears in her eyes, she thought that she would have more time to make her father come around, but she knew that he still didn't want her to marry Kid. She had to give him just a little more time to make him see how responsible Kid was and that if she had to, she's work as a nurse to help with fiancees. But she hadn't been able to tell her father that. She knew that her father wanted the best for her. As much as she wanted to say yes, she heard herself say "No" and she let the tears fall. She could see the hurt on Kid's face and it mimicked the hurt she felt inside. "I can't." That's all she said.

Kid remembered the ring her father had given him and reached inside his pocket and handed it to her. "Then you better give this back to your father."

When she opened it up she saw her mother's ring. "My father gave this to you?" Kid nodded, because he couldn't trust his voice. "When did he give it to you?"

"Two weeks ago when I asked him for your hand."

God, I've been such a fool, why didn't I just follow my heart, instead of my head? When she looked up, Kid had turned his back to her and was leaning up against the wagon. "Kid," Louise began. Is it too late? Can I undo what I just did? "Can I ... Can I change my mind?" She finally blurted out and held a breath.

Kid looked back at her and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Kid, the only reason I said no was because I wanted to give my father a little more time to accept you for you. I want him to be at my wedding and I want him to accept my husband. If he gave you this, then that means, he has accepted you."

Kid didn't say a thing, just hugged her and bent down and kissed her. When they broke apart, Louise said, " I'd like to get married on my mother's birthday, June 23."

Kid just nodded and was thankful that she had changed her mind. If he had known that the ring would make a difference he would have given it to her before he asked her.

Sam and Emma made plans to come back in April for Boggs' Wedding and again in June for Kid and Louise's Wedding.

Saying goodbye was getting hard for Lynnette, but she had been accepted for the pilot program for women to learn to become doctors and had to go back to school. She promised Buck and Lee that she would try to make it back as soon as possible.

To be continued...

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