Another Reality

by: Stacie-Marie Covington DeShazer

Disclaimer: Oh boy it's that time again. OK here's the boring formalities. The Young Riders is the creation of Ed Spielman, and the popery of Ogiens/Kane productions in association with MGM/UA television. For entertainment purposes only, no money is being made off of this story. Feel free to post this story on your web site or send this story to a friend with disclaimers attached. (If you have your own disclaimer posted on your site, lease keep the "Thanks" part of the disclaimer and anything else that you think might help our readers to follow the story.)

Now for the other formalities (Author's Notes and Thanks). This is an Alternate Universe story, so if things don't fit into The Young Riders Universe as you know it, that's why. Hint: You might want to forget everything about Lou's past on this one -- I've changed her past. Therefore the history of Boggs, Jeremiah, and Theresa, and Mary (Lou's mother) are going to be different also. I'm going to try to keep everyone else's past like the creators of The Young Riders had it. But please forgive me if I had to change something of some one else's history for the story. Thanks to my beta readers, my two Cyber Sisters Lynn, Suzy, Greg, Maja, Josh, Hanny, Aimee, Becca and a special thank you to Kathi, Heidi and Starbright who betaed the last chapters for me. Thank you for helping and even on a few occasions giving the scene to write when I got "writers" block, for making sure I stayed "in character", and for proofreading for all my typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes. I couldn't have written this story with out you!

Chapter 1

April 1, 1960

"Thank you for helping out like this. I don't know how I was going to cook for all those boys with this busted arm."

"I'm just sorry that Jeremiah didn't fix that step properly. Pa's going to make him do it over."

"It shouldn't be your punishment to come out here to cook for me and the boys. It was your brother's carelessness not yours."

"Emma, you've been like a mother to me since Ma died. It's not punishment. for me to come out here and help you out and spend time with a friend."

"Well, just the same thank you. I couldn't have supper on the table for all those boys and Mr. Spoon without you." Emma smiled.

"Why were they trying to show off earlier? Didn't they know they looked liked fools? And the girl. What's her name Lee? What is she doing riding for the Express?"

"Some people have no other choice, Louise. We don't know her situation. Besides, if that was the only way to survive, you would do the same thing." When Emma saw the doubtful look on Louise's face, she added "And don't deny it. You are a strong young lady and would do anything for your family. So don't go judging anyone without knowing their story."

Before Louise could answer the older woman, someone knocked on the door. When Louise opened the door, she saw a sandy haired, blue eyed young man standing at the entrance. She couldn't stop staring into those blue eyes. Eyes as crystal blue as she imagined the sea would be.

The young man seemed to be having the same problem. He couldn't take his eyes off her. He had seen her earlier that day from afar, but she was even more beautiful up close. She was wearing a pair of brown riding pants with a white tight fitting blouse. He almost forgot what he came to tell Emma. "Uh ... I'm Kid, one of the riders, Teaspoon said to tell Miss Shannon that we would have supper in the bunkhouse."

"All right, it should be ready in another half hour." Louise trembled. What is it about this guy that made her so nervous? "I'm Louise McCloud. I'm helping Emma out while her arm heals up."

"I got to get back to work." Kid said, after a moment of awkward silence.

"Who was it?" Emma asked.

"That was Kid. He said that supper would be in the bunkhouse." Louise said distractedly.

At supper that night, Emma introduced herself as the owner of the land and the house. She introduced Mary Louise McCloud as the doctor's daughter and told the boys that Louise would be cooking until Emma's arm healed up.

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Jeremiah greeted Louise at the door. "Boy are you in trouble, you missed supper and Pa had to cook. And you know how he hates to cook! PA! LOUISE IS HOME!!!!" the young lad shouted.

Bogdanovich "Boggs" Jeremiah McCloud came out of his office area to see his oldest daughter trying to get in the door. However her 13 year old brother would not budge an inch. The boy wanted to see his older sister get into trouble. She never got into trouble, except when she tried to wear pants to church, but that was two years ago.

"Jeremiah, sit down at the table, Louise and I have something to discuss with you." He said in a grim voice. The boy did as he was told not sure what to expect. "Do you know why your sister is late getting in tonight?" Jeremiah shook his head no. "Do you remember that step that you fixed yesterday for Miss Shannon?"

"Yes, Sir." he said proudly.

"Remember, how you hurried through it and didn't do too good a job on it?"

"Yes, Sir, but it worked didn't it?"

"No it didn't work." Louise said angrily.

"What do you mean 'It didn't work'? You weren't there! It works fine!" he informed his sister.

"Jeremiah, if the step works fine, why did Miss Shannon come into my office this morning with a broken arm from when she fell when the step that you fixed broke when she stepped on it? She had her hands full and fell on her arm and broke it. You know how important it was that she had that step fixed by today. You know that she was supposed to start a new job today. Louise had to go over there and fix supper for 6 young men, the new station master AND Emma. That's why I had to cook supper for us." Dr. McCloud was about to go on when he was interrupted.

Jeremiah had turned to his sister, the step forgotten and spoke up, "What were they like? I hear that the Pony Express is going to be wonderful! And the riders will be heroes!!!"

"You'll get a chance to meet them tomorrow after school because you're going back over there to fix that step properly!"

"But, Pa" Jeremiah wined.

"You're the one who broke it when you tried to shoot the rabbit under the porch the other day. You're the one who will fix it so that no one else gets hurt."

"Yes, Sir."

"Louise, you best be getting to bed, if you're going to help Emma out in the morning."

"Yes, Pa. Good Night. Good Night Jeremiah."

"Night Louise, you better be quiet, Theresa's been sick since we came home from school. I think she just wants to get out of the math test tomorrow."

Dr. McCloud and Louise rolled their eyes at this comment, knowing that Theresa loved school and it would be Jeremiah who would try to get sick to get out of going to school.

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As the riders were getting ready for bed, Cody was trying lay his claim to Louise. "She sure is pretty."

"Who?" Lee asked, paranoid that he had seen through her disguise.

"Miss McCloud. Who'd you think I meant? Miss Shannon?"

"And what's wrong with Miss Shannon?" Lee asked teasing the boy.

"I ain't got nothing against her, it's just that Miss McCloud is...."

"A lady" Kid interrupted dreamily.

All heads turn toward the gentle rider.

"It sure did take a long time today when he went to tell Emma about dinner." Jimmy teased.

"What are you talking about?" Kid asked as he sat up on his bunk.

"We were just wondering what you and Miss McCloud were talking about." Buck said.

"Nothing" Kid blushed.

"Sure didn't look like nothing to us. And you even blush when you think about her!" Cody teased.

Lee fearing if she said anything left to go for a walk while the boys ragged Kid out. She felt sorry for him, but couldn't afford to have her identity discovered. Jimmy had to hold himself from going after the small "boy".

Ike signed something that Buck translated into "He said leave the Kid alone"

"We don't care if he likes her." Jimmy said.

"Didn't you hear, she's the doctor's daughter. Her father would never let any of us near her!" Buck said.

"Speak for yourself." Cody said as he straightened his posture.

"Leave her alone Cody. I think that Kid has staked his claim." Buck translated for Ike.

"What do you mean?" Kid asked.

"We all saw the way you looked at her at dinner. I think Cody is just trying to get to her because of her cooking." Jimmy teased both of his new friends.

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Louise was sitting at the table drinking coffee when her father came in. "What are you doing up? It's late."

"Couldn't sleep. Trouble at the Saloon again?"

"No, Mrs. Davis went into labor. She has a healthy baby boy now." The doctor said with a smile. "So what's keeping you up?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just can't get those Pony Express riders out of my mind." One in particular. Kid, what is it about you that I can't stop thinking about you? Louise thought.

"What about them?"

"They're all about my age. Why are they taking on such a dangerous job? Don't they know that the Inadains'll kill 'em if they ride on their land?"

"Some people are not as lucky as you, Louise. You have me to provide for you. From what I hear, these boys have no parents. Some of them might even have younger brothers and sisters that they have to provide for. When you're in that situation, you take any job you can get."

Louise sighed, remembering Lee. I wonder what her story is. "I guess."

Dr. McCloud looked at his daughter and was reminded of the look that her mother got when she looked at him. He decided not to ask any further questions for now. He'll go out to Miss Shannon's tomorrow and see for himself which of the boys had caught his baby girl's eye. I'm not really ready for this. Mary, I could really use your help right now. He thought.

Up till now, Louise showed no interest in suitors. She thought of every "boy" in town as her "buddy". Of course, playing with them as a child, and even now she'd race them on horseback and target practice with them, probably helped in that mind set. Of course her father was thankful for that.

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After breakfast at the station, the doctor made the visit he promised himself to make. Emma was on the swing watching Teaspoon train the boys. "How are you doing, Emma?"

"Just fine, thanks to Louise."

"Where is she?"

"She's in the house fixing lunch for us all."

He just nodded and sat down in a chair.

Emma just nodded. Louise's mind has been on certain young rider all morning. I bet she forgot to make a small lunch for her father because she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing.

"Jeremiah should be over right after school to fix the step properly. Feel free to make him do any extra chores around here. He has to learn that laziness is not acceptable."

"That's all right, Mr. Spoon said that the riders will be doing all the chores around here. All I have to do is cook and do their laundry. All though, Louise may take away the cooking part of my job. The boys really enjoyed their first meal here."

"Emma, Louise has learned a lot from you, but your cooking is still better than hers." Boggs smiled.

"Hey I heard that!" Louise said as she went out onto the porch. "What are you doing here, Pa?"

Boggs looked up and saw his daughter in a blue and white polka dotted dress, the top of the dress fitted and the skirt flared out. Yep, one of these boys definitely has caught her eye to get her in a dress. Boggs just smiled and kissed his daughter's hand, "I came to get some lunch. You didn't leave any thing for me."

"Yes I did. I left you some soup and bread."

"Jeremiah and Theresa took all of it to school. They said that they needed it for their lunch."

"They took all of it?" Louise asked even though she should not be surprised. Jeremiah could eat them out of house and home if they let him.

"Yep."

Louise was jealous at how much he could eat and not gain any wait. If she ate half as much as her younger brother, she would be fat as Bertha. Of course the difference between her and Bertha was Bertha was looking for a husband, Louise couldn't care less right now. So what if all the girls her age except for Cindy Nelson and Bertha Martin were married. She didn't like any of the boys in town that way. Most were good friends, like brothers. The others -- no girl wanted for a beau, let alone a husband.

"Then you and the kids should be out here for supper too, cause that was also your supper. Since you're here, you can help me take this over to the bunkhouse."

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"Hey, Kid, looks like Miss McCloud already has a beau." It was Cody who saw Boggs look at Louise lovingly and decided to take it upon himself to say something to the Kid. Kid looked toward the porch just as Boggs lifted Louise's hand to kiss it.

"Kissing a lady's hand, doesn't mean anything. Where I come from that's the gentlemanly thing to do." Kid retorted. He would wait until he found out who this man was before forming an opinion. Besides, Louise wasn't his, he wished she was, but Cody just might be right. He was new in town and she wasn't. She had grown up in Sweetwater.

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At lunch, Dr. McCloud was introduced to the riders and Teaspoon. He saw the young man that kept his daughter up all night. He figured out it was the one they called Kid, by the way Louise looked at him. She got the same look in her eyes that she did the night before, while talking to him. He also saw the way Kid looked at his baby girl. No matter how old she got, she would always be his baby girl. Lord, I'm not sure I'm ready for this. I think our little girl has fallen in love with a cowboy. If he could provide for her, then it wouldn't be so bad. No, I probably would find something else wrong with him. Oh, Lord, help me! How am I going to do this without Mary? He prayed. Then he told himself, Don't over react now, they're not even courting right now. Just admiring each other from afar. So maybe it won't go any feather. All Boggs knew was that his daughter was not going to struggle like he and Mary did their first few years of marriage.

Chapter 2

"Louise, why are in a dress? It's not Sunday Morning Church." Jeremiah asked as Kid showed him how to fix the step.

"Cause I felt like it." Louise said, blushing.

"But you never wear a dress unless Pa makes you wear one. And that's only to church and dances."

"Jeremiah, if your finished embarrassing your sister, you can go get your other sister from town. Ya'll are going to have supper out here tonight. Since you took your supper to school for lunch." Emma said.

"Can I help it if Louise didn't fix enough? Besides Pa said to tell Louise that he was eating out tonight with Miss Nelson."

Louise smiled. So her father had listened to her suggestion to take Cindy to dinner. Cindy had confided in her best friend about her interest in Dr. McCloud. Louise knew that her father had had an eye on Cindy ever since she came back from finishing school. (The same finishing school that Louise got expelled from for fighting. It wasn't her fault if Georgia boasted about how many slaves her family had. Louise had just tried to shut the girl up. It worked too.) But ever since Cindy had come back from school in May, she had looked a lot less like the little girl that went off and more and more like a lady. Boggs had forgotten all about the age difference. Even though Louise and Cindy were the same age, Cindy acted a lot older. Or maybe it was that Cindy acted a lot more like a lady should.

After Jeremiah returned with Theresa, they had supper and the kids were introduced to the riders. Theresa, who the riders at first mistook for a boy, was dressed like her sister was the day before with a hat on covering her long locks.

"I bet all of you a $1 that Louise can out ride any of you!" This came from Jeremiah. And Louise at this comment died on the inside. She didn't want to show off her riding skills. She had been complaining to Emma yesterday about the boys showing off during their training. Of course it was Cody who was bragging about how they were the best riders in the world. When the boys heard this they thought that the young boy admired his older sister. They did not think that there was any truth to the statement.

"You don't have a $1, Jeremiah. Let alone $6." Theresa pointed out. "You already owe Louise your allowance for the next month and half."

"That's OK. because I won't need it. You know that Theresa. Louise is the best rider there is. She's proven it every year at the Founder's Day Picnic Race." When this was revealed, the boys thought that the men and boys of the town just let the lady win the race.

"Jeremiah, maybe I'll lose the race just to teach you not to bet anymore. You don't ever learn do ya?" Louise said referring to the poker "lessons" she gave Jeremiah on the nights that he had no homework.

However, unfortunately, the boys just thought that she knew they were better than she was and Cody had to open his big mouth again. "See, Jeremiah, you should take a lesson from your sister and keep your bragging to yourself, until you know what you're talking about. Ain't no man, let alone, lady that can beat us in a race."

"Oh really?" Emma and Louise said simultaneously. It was Louise that said, "I bet your first week's pay, Mr. Cody, that I could beat you in a race."

The room went silent. Cody looked amused and smiled and said, "You got that much money. Miss McCloud?"

"You let me worry about that." Louise said defiant.

"Now you gone and done it, you've just lost your pay, Mr. Cody." Emma said.

"Everyone knows not to get Louise mad right before a bet, she might actually let you win if you're nice to her." Theresa added.

"Of course, you don't have to take the bet if you're yellow." Jeremiah said.

Of course Jeremiah you would have to match your mouth with William F. Cody's mouth. Louise thought "Jeremiah, have Lightening ready to ride by the time I get back. I'm changing into my riding clothes." she said as she stared into Cody's eyes. With a look of defiance in her own eyes.

She went into the house and changed into the riding clothes that she had on that morning. When she got back outside, Jeremiah and the riders were waiting for her to return.

Teaspoon stood and watched the boys that had decided to participate in this grudge race between Cody and Louise. Not all of them were keen on losing a week's pay. So Buck and Ike leaned against the fence with Emma, watching the others seated on their horses. The horses sensing the riders excitement nervously pawed at the ground with their hooves.

Teaspoon watched them closely, knowing just how well that Louise rode he knew this was going to be a close race, just how close he wasn't sure but with Louise and two of his best riders in the race anything could happen.

"The winner of this here race will be the first person out to the big mesquite tree and back" he spoke to the participants "Am I clear?" he asked waiting to see them all nod, he lifted his bandanna high in the air "Good Luck everybody" He smiled and then dropped his bandanna signaling the start of the race.

The horses were spurred into action, leaving the way station in a cloud of dust, they galloped as fast as their riders could push them, as if they were all as one with their horses.

Cody grinned to himself as he led the race out to the mesquite patch This is like taking candy from a baby he thought, but the smile was wiped from his face as Miss McCloud passed him as he rounded the tree, and then it didn't take long for Kid and Lee to pass him too. Damn he thought as he rode on When am I gonna stop letting my big mouth get me into trouble.

As they approached the finish line, three horses were almost inseparable. The horses matched in stamina the riders matched n skill. If the race was held again it could be a different outcome, but today the luck had been with Louise.

Kid knew that he and Katy had raced their best, he couldn't really afford to lose his first weeks pay but his own greed had gotten the better of him and he was sure that Katy was the fastest horse in Sweetwater .

However, Miss McCloud had raced a better race. She had bee the victor. Though Kid and Lee had not been far behind. Lee was just a head behind Louise and Kid was a nose behind Lee. Kid was even more impressed. Not only can she cook, but she could ride for the Express if she weren't a girl that is.

Dismounting, at the end of the race watching them all congratulating Miss McCloud Cody shook his head in disbelief. How had he let himself be beaten by a girl!

"Mr. Cody, I'll be expecting you to pay me when you get your first week's pay, unless you have the money now?" Louise said sweetly. "oh and you also owe my little brother $1." She turned to the rest of the riders and said, "My bet was with Mr. Cody, not with ya'll. However, I do believe that my little brother bet everyone."

Each of the riders paid Jeremiah $1. Then Jeremiah turned around and paid Louise what he owed her and pocketed the rest. "Jeremiah, remind me to talk to you about your betting." Louise said as she took the payment from her brother.

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After Cody paid Louise his first weeks pay, she went to look for Lee. She was determined to find out why Lee was riding for the Express. She found Lee in the barn. "Hey"

"Hi" Lee said. "Kid's not here. He's on a run."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

Lou looked around making sure that they were alone and no one could over hear. "Why are you dressing like a boy and riding for the Express like this? Don't you know what could happen if they found out?"

Lee looked stunned. "Of course I know what could happen. You won't tell will you?"

"That depends on your reason."

Lee took a deep breath, "I have a twin sister that I'm trying to put through nursing school."

"What about your parents?"

"They both died in Mississippi. We couldn't find our mother's parents and our father's parents don't even acknowledge us. When showed up on their door step they said they had no grandchildren. I wanted to go to school also, but we had no money. So we tried to get a job, the only people hiring women were the whore houses. So I cut my hair and applied for a job with the Express. When they hired me as a rider, we were able to get Lynnette in a Nursing school. When she gets through with school and gets a job as a nurse, I'm going to school to be a veterinarian."

"That must take up all your pay." Louise said stunned.

"Yeah well I'd say it's worth it. My sister is worst my life if need be."

"I know. I have a younger sister." Louise smiled. "Listen, take this, it's what I won from Cody. Put it in your savings and when I can, I'll get you more. What I give you, you save for your own education and if you need anything, anything at all, you just let me know, I'll see what I can do. I want to help you out."

Lee looked at the rich girl stunned, more angry than anything, "We don't need your pity!"

"It's not pity, if it were pity, I'd offer you what my father pays me to be his nurse. I'm just trying to help out a friend. I consider all of you my friends. And I help my friends when I can."

"I'm sorry."

"That's OK. Just let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you out."

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Six weeks went by and Emma's arm healed. The first dinner Emma cooked for the riders may not have had Louise McCloud physically present, but she sure was the topic of the conversation when Cody suggested that Miss McCloud would not be around any more.

Louise returned to cooking for her family and found that her friend Cindy had been cooking for her father and her siblings. She also got to catch up on the latest gossip, but Cindy could tell that her mind was back at the station.

Chapter 3

My Dearest Lynnette, May 13, 1860

My job here at the Pony Express is going good. Hopefully I'll be able to send you a little more money next time. I'm still trying to work out a savings plan so that when you get out of school, we will have a place to call our own.

In my last letter I told you about the boys that I work and live with here at the station. I also told you about the doctor's daughter, Louise. She and I are becoming good friends, I think you will you like her when you come for a visit next month. Can't wait to introduce you to everybody!

Well better go Cody is eyeing this letter pretty hard and I don't want him to read this. I'll try to write more later.

With all my love,

Your Sister,

LeAnn

As Lee sat writing to her sister, Lynnette, Kid and Louise were at the table playing poker with Jimmy, Cody, Buck and Ike. By the looks of the pile of money in front of Louise, she was winning. When Cody had lost all his money, he decided to go torment Lee, the smallest of the riders and the easiest to get riled up.

"Whatcha writin', Lee?"

"A letter." she answered and kept on writing."

"Well, why don't you share with all of us?"

"Why don't you leave him alone, Cody?" Louise spoke up. Her father had told her to bring some bandages out to the way station. While she was helping Kid put the bandages in the cupboard in the bunkhouse, it had began to storm, so she stayed.

Cody gabbed the paper from Lee and held it away from the smallest rider.

"Give it back, Cody" Lee said angrily.

"Cody give it back." Jimmy protested.

But all attempts to come to Lee's rescue stopped when Cody began reading the letter out loud. Lee was mortified. He was going to find out her secret and tell everyone at the same time. How could I have been so careless as to sign "your sister, LeAnn" Of course Lynn would know that I was her sister why didn't I just sign it "Love Lee"? Lee thought.

When Cody finished reading the letter, including the "Your Sister, LeAnn", you could have heard a pin drop. In fact you could hear all the mouths drop open. All mouths except for Lou of course. Lee just ran out into the rain. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She has right to make her own way the way she sees fit." Jimmy said

"She's putting her sister through school so that she can become a nurse. When her sister finishes, she's going to go to school to become a vet. Please, they have no one but each other." Louise pleaded on behalf of her friend. "Will ya'll keep it just between us?"

"Yes." Came the reply simultaneously from everyone in the room.

"And if anyone in here says anything to Teaspoon about Lee being a girl, then they'll answer to me." Jimmy threatened and promised. As Louise turned to go talk to her friend, Jimmy said, "I'll go after her." Louise stepped aside and let Lee's crush go by, wondering if it was such a good idea to have Jimmy be the one to go after her.

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Lee ran into barn to her horse's stall. She was sure she had lost her job. She liked here and didn't want to leave. She was trying to hold back the tears, but she was failing. When she heard footsteps, she turned her back to the door. She didn't want anyone to see her cry, least of all Jimmy. And by the sound of the footsteps, it was Jimmy. She would know the firm, sure tread of his feet anywhere.

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Jimmy walked quickly from the bunkhouse with a broad smile across his face. He went immediately to her beloved horse, Black Beauty's stall knowing that that's where she would be. He watched her as she stood against her horse trying to stifle her sobs as she stood there. Feeling her pain, but his mind and thoughts clear for the first time in the months since he had met her. "You know it's a lot more comfortable inside the bunkhouse."

Lee wasn't sure she could trust her voice not give away the fact that she had been crying, so she kept silent and her back facing Jimmy.

"Come on back inside." Jimmy tried again.

After she thought she could trust her voice, she asked, "Why so ya'll can ridicule me? No thanks you. I'll sleep out here with Black tonight and then I'll get my stuff and I'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Why are leaving?"

"I'd rather quit than be fired."

"Who says you'll be fired?"

"Even if nobody else tells, Cody'll tell Teaspoon and he'll fire me."

"Nobody's going to say anything. Especially Cody. We all talked it over and convinced Cody that it would not be in his best interest to tell anyone anything."

"He's going to let it slip you know that? He can't keep a secret worth a damn."

"He'll keep this secret if he knows what's good for him."

Is that love I hear in his voice? she thought. For the first time since he had entered the barn, she turned to face him. Their eyes locked onto each other for what seemed like forever. Lee could have sworn she saw something different in his eyes, something more than friendship. She decided that it was just wishful thinking. She had fallen in love with Jimmy the moment she set eyes on him. With her low self-esteem, she thought that there was no way that Jimmy could ever return her feelings. Lynn was the pretty and proper one. She was just a tomboy, a "buddy". None of these guys would ever like her in that way.

When Lee's eyes locked with Jimmy, he saw an emotion there that he didn't understand, but hoped against hope that it was the mirror image of his own feelings. He had been mistranslating the feelings he had for Lee since they first met. He thought his protective nature of Lee was because he thought of Lee as younger brother. The "little brother" of the group. Now that he knew she was a girl, he was sure those feelings were more of the romantic nature. But he was that no one could ever love him like that. Just look at the trouble that he caused when Longley was in town. And what about that Marcus fellow. Marcus had made him into a legend. And Jimmy didn't want he reputation that came with it, but he was stuck with it.

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That night at dinner, Teaspoon spoke up, "Boys, there have been some reports of the Williams Brothers robbing banks and murdering anybody who see them. The Company wants two riders at all times until these robbers and murders are caught. If you see the two brothers, you are to ride as fast as you can away from them. The Company says get the mail through." All of them knew that that meant at any expense to the rider

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A few days later, a well dressed, gray haired 6 foot gentleman came to the station. "Excuse me, Sir." The well built man interrupted Teaspoon. "I was wondering if you could help me. You see I'm looking for my granddaughters. I was wondering if you had seen them." he handed Teaspoon a poster with a drawing of the two girls. It was obvious that the two were twins, but one looked more familiar than the other one. The shorter twin looked exactly like his smallest rider. (If you cut her hair.) So that's what's different about Lee. I knew there was something different, just couldn't put my finger on it. The names at the bottom of the page read Lynnette Helen and LeAnn Arline Ethridge $100 Reward ALIVE

"My, my, they sure are pretty."

"Yes, well they do take after my son. Although I do unfortunately see some of their mother in them"

"What do want with them?"

"I just want to talk to them."

"Can I keep this?" the man nodded. "I'll see if any of riders have seen these girls. We'll let you know if we see them. Mr..."

"Ethridge, my name is J.D. Ethridge" Mr. Ethridge stuck his hand out for a hand shake.

"All right then MR. Ethridge, I'm sure that if my boys have seen either or both of them, that they will let you know." Teaspoon said shaking the man's hand and smiling. I'm going to have a talk with Miss Ethridge right now and see what this is all about.

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"Kid, where's Lee?" Teaspoon asked.

"Uh in the barn mucking out the stalls, why?" Kid replied, but Teaspoon didn't even hear the question as he ran into the barn.

"What's the meaning of this, Young Lady?" Teaspoon asked as Lee looked up and saw him enter the barn. Teaspoon handed her the poster.

Damn. I'm fired. She thought as she looked at the poster. She answered Teaspoon truthfully. "I'm not sure. Who gave you this?"

"A Mr. J. D. Ethridge. He said that he just wanted to talk to you. But there was something about him, I don't trust. He said he was grandfather."

"If he was J.D. Ethridge, then he was my grandfather. Although he made it perfectly clear that he did not want us around."

"I don't know. Do you want to talk to him?"

"Not really."

"All right. Then you don't have to talk with him. Kid is supposed to be going with Jimmy to Willow Creek. Why do you go instead. Just be on the safe side that your grandfather doesn't recognize you."

"You mean I'm not fired?"

Teaspoon looked as if he was about to burst out laughing. "No. Why would you be fired? You didn't do anything illegal did you?"

"No, Sir"

"Then you're not fired." He started to turn around then changed his mind to say something, "Oh, just so you know, I knew all long you were a girl if that's what you're worried about." Teaspoon lied. "Just let me know how long it takes for the boys to find out."

"Uh. They already know. Cody found a letter I wrote to my sister." Lee explained.

Teaspoon nodded and walked out of the barn. "You better get ready for that ride, Lee." He called out over her shoulder. "Kid, Lee's going with Jimmy you take over her chores!"

Lee followed Teaspoon out of the barn and got her things together while Kid got Black ready. When Lee entered the bunkhouse, she started to get her things ready to go. Jimmy looked up and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Kid and I switched, I'm going with you. I'll tell you about it on the way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way to Willow Creek, Lee explained how her mother and father were disowned after they married each other and how her mother died of Yellow Fever when she was 10 and then 5 years later, her father was killed by Indians. She had found out that her father's parents lived in Denver. Her and her sister had sold the farm and went to Denver to see the grandparents they had never known. However, when they had gotten there, their grandparents had said that their son had died 20 years ago. Jimmy sympathized with her She told Jimmy that the reason that she and Kid switched rides, was because her grandfather was looking for her and she did not want to see him. She also told Jimmy that her grandfather had shown a picture to Teaspoon and that he said that he had known all long that she was a girl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way back, Jimmy and Lee made camp miles away from any town. As if by unspoken agreement, Lee started to make camp, while Jimmy went hunting for small game for their supper.

Jimmy was some distance from their camp tracking their dinner, when he heard a sound that made his blood freeze in his veins. It was Lee's high pitched, terror filled scream. He knew that when they were out on a run together she had started to let down her guard and relax with him, looking more and more like the beautiful young woman she was. A sudden thought flashed thorough his mind that he had left a beautiful young woman alone in camp alone in the middle of nowhere while there was a blood thirsty gang in the territory.

Completely forgetting their dinner he ran towards the camp, fear driving him to run as fast as he could, stumbling over the rocky terrain to get to Lee, to protect her whatever way he could. Reaching the outskirts of the clearing they were camped in his worst fears were realized.

Lee was pinned to the ground, one filthy man holding her down by the shoulder, hr tiny hands caught in his as she struggled against them, the other man stood over her between her legs, holding her flailing legs tight while he struggled to pull her baggy pants from her body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Williams Brothers saw Lee with her guard down and she definitely looked like a girl. They were there to hide the money that they just had "acquired" when they saw her. They decided to have a little "fun" with her. When Lee saw them, she screamed. Jimmy was off in the woods and heard the scream and tried to make it back to camp. When he got there, he saw one man holding Lee down on the ground and another standing over her, trying to get her pants off of her.

Without even thinking, Jimmy cocked his navy colt and said in a very stern authoritative voice,

"Leave her alone."

"Leave us alone, boy go find your own whore!" The one standing above her

said. At that moment, Jimmy pulled the trigger and the bullet went through the man's

head while he pulled the trigger again and the second bullet found it's mark

in the other gang members heart.

Needless to say they were both dead. "Are you all right?" Lee unable to talk

just nodded. "Did they hurt you?" She shook her head no.

"You showed up just in time. Jimmy?" He met her eyes and somehow he couldn't help himself, he couldn't even turn away, drowning in the tear filled depths of her eyes as she spoke "Thank you." Lee wondered if the attraction she thought she felt and saw was really there or not.

"You're welcome." he turned away to go back into the woods, suddenly afraid of the depth of the feelings he felt for her

"Jimmy?" He turned around to face her again hearing the fear in her voice. "Don't go anywhere, please?" Lee pleaded . For the first time since her father's death she was afraid to be alone.

"I'm not going anywhere." He moved the bodies out of her sight and then started searching through their saddlebags to find something for them to eat.

They ate strips of Rachel's beef jerky and drank hot coffee sitting silently around the campfire, settling down to sleep side by side, Jimmy hearing her silent sobs reached out a hand to take hers into his reassuring grasp, trying but not quite sure how to help her through the ordeal she had almost been through.

Twice during the night she woke screaming in terror the evenings event s playing over and over in her mind, after the first time she woke, Jimmy moved his bedroll beside hers and held her in his arms providing as much comfort for her as he could.

Jimmy awoke in the morning with Lee tightly in his embrace, cradled against him spoon fashion, his lips pressed against her sweet smelling hair. He knew he should be starting the campfire for their morning coffee but he couldn't bring himself to move, the feeling of rightness and belonging he felt was too much for him to leave. He lay there for some time just enjoying the feelings that he was having. He knew the very moment she awoke, she stiffened in his arms and he knew she was feeling embarrassed at the weakness she had shown last night, Jimmy was just glad that she felt safe enough with him to be herself and feel secure in his company.

When Lee woke, she was embarrassed at how she could have let that happen last night. She knew better than to let her guard down, but somehow when she was with Jimmy her brain stopped working. And he had seen how she couldn't always take care of herself.

"Good morning" he said with a smile in his voice

"Good morning" she said distractedly. "Um, Jimmy?"

"Yeah?"

"You won't tell the others about what almost happened last night will you?"

"No of course not, not unless you want me too."

"I'd rather you didn't. I don't want anybody to know."

"OK."

"Thank you." she said. As she rolled over to face him, their lips brushed up

against one another.

Jimmy didn't know what came over him but he returned her friendly kiss with a love and passion that he wasn't sure he had known he was feeling. He knew he had deep feelings for her but he was confused by just how deep. What surprised him more was the fact that she kissed him back with just as much passion, yet somehow he knew that this was her first real kiss. Their kiss was a kiss reserved for lovers, but somehow it seemed just right for them.

He wasn't sure about Lee but it was at that moment he knew that he loved her more deeply than he had ever loved another person, he knew that if the others ever found out they would never let him have any peace so he decided then and there he would protect his new found love with his life and keep their fledgling love a secret until they were sure it was safe to reveal it.

Lee didn't know Jimmy felt, but she had never felt this way about anyone. But she didn't think that anyone could ever love her the way that she now knew that she loved Jimmy. So she decided not to tell anyone how she felt until Jimmy said something about how he felt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they neared the station, Lee's horse was spooked by a rattlesnake. As Black reared up unexpectedly, Lee slipped off. She started to get up then froze. Jimmy back to see what had happened and saw that Lee looked as if she had seen a ghost. When Jimmy saw what Lee's eyes were glued to, the snake was about to bite her. He immediately drew his gun and killed the snake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night when the nightmares came, she not only woke Jimmy up, but the whole bunkhouse. Everyone saw how she was trembling. Jimmy had a hard time keeping his promise not to say anything when Cody asked what was wrong. "Just a nightmare about snakes is all. I'm terrified of them and Black was spooked earlier today by one." Lee told the boys.

"Yeah I saw that when you and Jimmy came in from your run. If jimmy hadn't shot the snake you'd been bit." Kid informed everyone.

Jimmy got out of his bed and stood up to where he could see Lee. And talk to her where no one could him but her. (Jimmy was on the bottom bunk and Lee was on the top bunk.) "You all right?" he whispered. Lee Just nodded her head yes. "Was the nightmare really about the snake this afternoon? Or something else?"

"Both" Lee whispered. "I told the truth when I said that I'm terrified of snakes."

Jimmy nodded and wondered if he should try to hold her to help her go back to sleep.

"I'm fine, Jimmy. Really I am. It was only a dream."

"OK. If your sure. I'm here if you need me."

"All right."

After Lee thought everyone was asleep, she went out onto the porch and sat sown for a while, she knew that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. Jimmy had seen her get down from her bunk and walk outside so he followed her. Lee had the door open, she didn't need to turn around to who it was. "Couldn't sleep either huh?"

"Just wanted to make sure that you're all right. For the past two nights, you've been waking up screaming."

"I'm fine." she lied trying to put up her tough exterior.

Jimmy saw through it. He also remembered that her nightmares went away when he held her. While he couldn't really hold her while she slept in the bunkhouse, maybe he could say something that would help her sleep. "Just know that all of us will protect you."

"That's just it, Jimmy, You shouldn't have to protect me! I should be able to take care of myself!"

"Why?"

"That's one of the job requirements."

"Do you remember the first Longly called me out?"

"Yeah."

"What did Kid do?"

"He knocked you out."

"Yeah why?"

"He did it to save your life."

"Yep. He did it to protect me." Lee gave him a confused look then she realized what he was saying. Jimmy continued on with what he was saying, "Sometimes we all get into situations that we can't handle by ourselves. And it's OK to need others to help you out." Lee nodded. Jimmy took Lee's face into his hands and kissed her deeply . The first kiss since yesterday morning's "accidental" kiss and Lee returned it with all her pent up fear and passion.

When they finally broke apart, they walked back into the bunkhouse and while Jimmy's words did not keep the nightmares away like his arms did, they did lessen the intensity of the nightmares and she did not wake up screaming anymore.

Chapter 4

As he sat at the round table, looking across at his opponent, then looking back down at his cards, he was disgusted. Richard Wicks was just passing through Sweetwater looking for a runaway. The runaway was a 14 year old girl. He had been telling the authorities that she was his daughter, when in fact she was his "employee". Her father had fallen deep in debt to Richard Wicks and had sold his daughter into Mr. Wicks "business" to pay off his debts. However the young girl would have no part of it and ran away her first night with Wicks. So here he was in a little town called Sweetwater looking for this girl, when someone else caught his eye. She was wearing tight fitting pants and a loose blouse and had a young man with her, possibly her brother. They didn't act like a couple. When they sat down at the Poker table, Wicks thought that he could replace the runaway with this girl. Get her brother to loose enough to buy the girl. However it was the girl teaching the boy how to play Poker. When Wicks realized the girl was the one that was going to play, he thought for sure he could get her in debt enough to make her come work for him. However, it had seemed that Lady Luck was with the lady tonight, because she was getting all of his money.

Wick's attention was caught by a young boy of 12 or 13 walking into the saloon. The young boy looked around the room and spotted who he was looking for. "Louise, you get on to me for betting and here you are betting."

Louise sighed and Wicks could tell that she was frustrated with this young boy. "What do you want, Jeremiah?"

"The Kid's looking for you."

Louise signed again "OK. I'll be there in a minute. Let me finish this hand." She studied her cards again. Then decided her move. "All right, Mr. Wicks, since this is my last hand, I'll give you the chance to win back all your money." She announced as she put her winnings into the center of the table.

Wicks thought that this was his chance to get her. He 'Saw" her bet and thinking that she didn't have the money, he doubled the bet. Louise looked at her cards and thought a moment. She knew she shouldn't do this, but she "saw" the bet anyway and "called" him. Wicks looked at his cards and smiled. He had 4 Aces and an eight. Of course the Ace came out of his pocket. Louise looked at her cards and said, "Well, Mr. Wicks, I do believe you have been cheating, and very badly. "Cause I've never known a deck to have two Ace of Spades."

"You trying to cheat, Miss McCloud?" a big hefty man asked as he pointed his gun to the visitor.

"Now hold on there Raymond. I said he was cheating badly." she said as she laid down a King of Spade, a Queen of Spade, a Jack of Spade, a Ten of Spade, and finally an Ace of Spade.

Wicks saw this as his chance to clear his name. "You're the one cheating. You're the one with the winning hand!"

"Mr. Wicks, I saw you pull that card from your pocket." Lee said as she took the rest of the deck and laid it all out so that you could see what the cards were.

Walter said, "The Nine of Clubs is missing."

"If you search him you'll find it in his shirt pocket." Lee informed them.

Walter searched him as Raymond held him and found the Nine of Clubs in his shirt pocket, just like Lee said. "Looks like we found the cheat!" Raymond said as he cocked the his gun.

"Ray, leave him be. He didn't win, I did. Maybe this will teach him that cheating is no way to make a living."

Wicks smiled at that. "Darlin', I make my livin' by owning an establishment. This is just a hobby." Yes, I can make more money with her than I ever could with that kid. He thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"All right, Jeremiah. Where's Kid?"

"Right here." Kid said as he walked up behind her. "Just wanted to know if you still wanted to have a picnic tomorrow. Cody switched with me so I got the day off."

"Sure, I'll see ya around noon?"

"OK"

Jimmy and Lee were whispering something to each other when Kid caught up with them and they all rode back to the station together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Louise and Jeremiah got back home, there was two reasonably handsome man talking to their father. One was their father's age and the other around Louise's age maybe a few years older.

"Louise, I'm glad you're home. I would like you to meet Nathaniel Becket and his son Christopher. Gentleman my eldest daughter, ;Louise and my son Jeremiah."

"Nathaniel Christopher Becket III at your service Miss McCloud." The youngest of the two men said as he took her hand and kissed it.

"I thought you could show Christopher around town tomorrow, Louise."

"I would but I just made plans for tomorrow, how about the next day?"

"Kid can wait, Louise, you will be hospitable to our guests."

Louise's face was beat red. But she nodded her head and said, "Fine. Tomorrow it is. I'll just go out to the station and let Kid now he changed rides with Cody for nothing."

"You will go up to your room right now, Louise and we will talk about your behavior later." her father demanded. She went to her room like her father asked her to cursing him under her breath the whole time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About two hours later, Boggs made his way up to Louise's room. To say that he was angry was an understatement. "What the hell were you thinking out there!?!" he practly yelled.

"What the hell was I thinking?! What the hell were you thinking?! Planning my day for me when I had something to do?!" Louise yelled back.

"Louise, you are my daughter! You will do what I say! When I say that you will show a friend of mine around town that's what I mean!"

"You had no right! Kid and I were supposed to go on a picnic tomorrow! He even switched rides with Cody."

"Louise, I'm sorry about that, I didn't know. I had already told Chistopher that you would show him around while his dad helped me in the office. Look, why don't you take Christopher out to the station first thing in the morning and explain to Kid what happened, I'm sure he'll understand. And I want you in a dress and acting like a young lady, do you understand?"

"Kid won't understand, he'll kill Christopher," Louise sulked.

"Listen, Louise, I will not approve of a marriage between you and Kid." When he saw the horror on his baby girl's face, he explained why. "Now, Kid's a nice guy and all, but he can't provide for you. I don't want you to have to struggle like your mother and I did."

"But Kid is the one that I love!"

"I love you too much to see you go through what your mother and I went through."

"I won't be your pawn. I'll do what you demanded of me, but I assure you I will be me and I will not marry this man."

"Louise, please act like a lady and wear a dress."

"I'll decide tomorrow what I'll wear. And I will take him out to the station. Just in time for my picnic with Kid. I'm sure he'll enjoy the company of one of the other riders while Kid and I spend some time alone." Louise said defiantely.

"Louise..." Boggs started to warn.

"Good night father." She said as she laid back on her bed signaling that she was through talking. Boggs knew that what ever else he would say would go in one ear and out the other. She was too much like her mother. So he just left, he would talk to her tomorrow morning before Christopher came to pick her up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Louise was dressed in a dress while she was making breakfast for her family. Theresa, who knew nothing about what had happened last night, just though that she going to see Kid again. Jeremiah knew that his sister and their father had an argument last night, by the looks of it, Boggs had won the argument. When the doctor desened the stairs and entered the kitchen he said a quiet thank you prayer to God for making Louise wear a dress. He assumed that she was going to act like a lady today. It wasn't until she started loudly putting up the pots and pans that she had just washed that Boggs found out that he might be wrong about his assumption.

"Jeremiah and Theresa you should hurry, You over slept and you're running late. You need to get to school." Louise said sharply.

The kids ate quickly and ran out the door with their school things. The tension was so thick in the room that you couldn't cut it with a knife. Boggs knew that his daughter was mad. He was just trying to do what's best for her. He had started to tell her that, when there was a knock on the door. "That'll be, Mr. Becket " Louise said angrily. "I'll see you later." and with that, she left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Louise showed Chirstopher around town, they got on a first name basis. While they were walking side by side, he asked, "Surley a beautiful lady such as yourself has a beau."

"As matter of fact, I kinda do." Louise answered.

It dawned on Chris that he was the person that she was supposed to meet. "You were supposed to meet him today, weren't you?"

"Yeah I was. My father doesn't approve of him courting me because of his job."

"What's his job?"

"He's a Pony Express rider."

"What's wrong with that?"

"The pay isn't good."

"You know it's a relief that you're already spoken for." Louise just looked at him. "Yeah, I'm kindda in the same situation you are."

"What you're in love with someone who your father doesn't approve of?"

"You could say that my father doesn't approve of my Sweetheart." Chris said smiling.

"Louise!" Kid yelled as he rode down the street as fast as Katy could run.

"Whoa! Kid, slow down, we were just on our way to get the horses to come out to the station. This is Nathaniel Christopher Becket III, Chris this is Kid."

"Please to meet ya. Louise, Jeremiah and Theresa are gone."

"What do you mean gone?!"

"Ike and Buck were returning from their ride when they saw Jeremiah and Theresa tied up in the back of a wagon and heading east, Ike is following and Buck and everybody's getting ready to ride out, Buck's going to track."

"Chris, go back and tell my father that Jeremiah and Theresa have been kidnapped and we're going after them, have him bring Lightening out to the station. I'm going with Kid. And tell him to get Sam." She said as Kid was helping her mounting up behind him.

"Sam's already at the station getting the horses ready." Kid said and they sped off.

On their way back to the station, Kid asked "So who was that guy?"

"My father's friend's son. Seems like his father doesn't like the girl he's in love with so they set us up. Pa wouldn't even let me come out to the station to explain things to you. Chris and I were going to show up and I was going to let one of the other riders show him around while went on our picnic."

"No, I wouldn't let you do that. You're father already doesn't like me, I don't want to do anything make him hate me."

"It's not that he doesn't like you, he just doesn't like what you do for a living."

"Do you have clothes to change into?"

"Yeah I keep some extra clothes at Emma's."

"Good, cause we're going to be riding pretty hard."

"I know. " she said as she got off Katy at the station. "I can keep up."

"I know you can." Kid said as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't worry, we'll get your brother and sister back safely."

Louise took a deep breath trying to keep her worries at bay, "I know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Louise had changed clothes, her father was already at the station. Just as they were getting ready to ride out, a teenage boy came riding up. "Dr. McCloud, My pa said to come get you. Ma's real sick."

"Boggs, you go take care of Mrs. Harris, we'll get your kids back." Sam said.

Boggs looked at his daughter, "Louise, you look after them you here?"

"I will, Pa." She said. Boggs turned his horse the other direction and rode out with the Harris boy. Teaspoon, Sam, Louise, Kid, Lee, Jimmy, Buck, Cody, and Christopher rode east with Buck in the lead as tracker. It wasn't too hard to follow Ike's markings, but if the kidnappers saw Ike, the markings could stop and Buck was the best tracker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Since I have the kids, she'll have to come work for me."

"Do you think this will work, Boss?" asked one of "body guards".

"If she doesn't agree to work in the brothel, then she will never see the kids again."

"How do you know she won't come for them a second time?"

"Because I'll kill them." Wicks said. Since he owned the law in St. Joe, he thought he would get away with murder everywhere else too. Truth was he didn't really own the law in St. Joe, there just was nothing but circumstantial evidence and the Marshall couldn't ever get any of the witnesses to talk.

Ike, just a few feet away from them, heard what Wicks had said. Still he had no idea of who these guys were. Close to dark, then men made camp and Ike rode back about a mile. Just as he suspected, the riders there making camp. He told them what he heard the men say about killing the children if Louise did not agree to work for him in his brothel.

Louise paled as Buck translated what Ike was saying in sign. She knew she had to get them away from that man, while still keeping her dignity. She wasn't sure how she was going to do that. She started to walk off so that the others wouldn't see her fighting tears. When Kid started to follow, Lee offered, "Kid, let me go, she might talk to me. Besides from the description of the man, it sounds like the guy we caught cheating last night."

Lee followed Louise and when she caught up with her, tried to comfort her. "Don't worry, we'll get the kids back safely."

"I know."

"You know I've been thinking, maybe you can go in and pretend to agree to work for him. Then you can get the kids out, and we'll be able to catch this guy."

"How will they know where to go?"

"Well, I can go with you and they can leave with me."

"Ok. I like it, we'll do it."

"Great!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No, you're not going to do it! You're father would kill me if something happened to any of you!" Kid yelled. "I can't let you do it."

"You're not going to *let* me? Kid, I don't recall asking your permission."

"Kid, Louise can take care of herself." Jimmy spoke up. "It's the best idea we have so far."

"Calm down, I'm in charge here." Sam said. "And I think it's a crazy idea. Going in there alone."

"She won't be going in by herself, I'll go in with her and bring the kids back here to safety."

"Like hell you will!!! It's too dangerous." Jimmy shouted not really thinking. It was just that now the tables were turned some how.

"Jimmy, Lee can take care of herself." Kid shot back with a smile on his face. Jimmy shot Kid a murderous look.

Meanwhile, Lee was sharing the feelings that Louise had when Kid got upset at her going in. This was a new side of Jimmy that she hadn't seen before, but she knew that it just proved that he cared for her.

"Well, Jimmy you're right." Sama said.

"Thank you." Jimmy said relieved.

"It's the best idea we have We'll send the girls in."

Jimmy and Kid both looked horrified, but there was nothing short of tying them up that could be done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mr. Wicks, we meet again. Here's the deal, you give me my brother and sister, and you live. You don't give them to me, you die." Louise said confidently. Pretending that she didn't know what he was up to was part of the plan.

"I've got a better deal for you." Wicks started. "You work for me, and the kids live."

Louise fought to keep a straight face. "What exactly would I be doing."

"You'd be working in my brothel."

"As what? A waitress?"

"Nope." Wicks said with a smile.

"Forget it!" Louise said.

"Then your brother and sister die. Chad." Chad brought out the kids, who were tied together (back to back), and pulled a gun on them. Wicks continued with his persuasion. "All it would take is one bullet, Miss McCloud."

"I do what you ask and they go with my friend, Lee, here."

"Deal."

"Fine let them go."

"Chad, tie her up. Can't risk her leaving after the children are gone."

"You can't keep me tied up forever."

"Oh I'm not, but I have to write up a contract first."

"I give you my word I will stay here, please let the kids go."

"Untie the children, Chad."

"Jerimiah and Theresa, go with Lee, you hear. And tell Pa, that I'm not coming home."

"But, Louise"

"Now Jeremiah! Don't argue with me!"

Lee took the children to safety. Once there, Jerimiah saw Kid and ran up to him, "Kid, he's got Louise and won't let her go! He's going to make her work for him!"

"Jeremiah, we got it under control. You and Theresa are going to stay here with Chirs while we go get your big sister, ok?"

"I'm going with you! She came after me, I'm going after her."

"Sam. I told you he wouldn't want to stay." Cody said.

"Chris, if he tries to follow, tie him up." Sam said.

"Yes, Marshell."

"You're kidding right, Marshell Cain! I just got untied and you're goin to tie me up again!?!"

"Not if you stay here, Jeremiah. I promised your Pa that I would bring you back safe, not dead. It's dangerous enough that Louise is with him right now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Louise knew she was supposed to play the helpless woman right now, but she had a hard time of it. All she wanted to do was clobber this sick man. He kept looking her up and down. And her pleas of not being tied up fell on deaf ears, although he did wait until the children were gone to tie her up. Lee had looked back and saw Chad tie her hands behind a tree. Buck who was watching from up in a tree, saw Wicks untie her hands from the tree and then tie them behind her back. When he knocked her down onto the ground and got on top of her, Buck hoped everyone was in place because he was going to give the signal anyway.

When Louise heard the crow call, she looked up and saw Buck. She hoped that everyone was ready because she really didn't want Wicks to continue with what he going to do. She didn't have to wonder long because almost immediately, she saw Kid, she laid all the way back onto the ground and Kid pulled the trigger. The bullet went though Wicks' head. Wicks lifeless body fell forward onto Louise. While she was disgusted, she rolled over to where she was on top of him. She ran to Kid and he hugged her and untied her hands. She hugged him tight and let the tears fall.

Kid could hear another gun shot behind him. Chad fell to the ground from Jimmy's bullet. The kids said that there were only two of them. So with the kidnappers dead, they headed back to Sweetwater.

Chapter 5

Boggs and Mr. Beckett resigned to the fact that their match-making was a failure. When

Louise announced that she would attend the summer dance with Kid. Even though Mr. Beckett wanted to stay, he knew he had a town to get back to saving from the various illnesses around.

Lee got a surprise when she returned home from a run one day shortly before the dance. Lynnette, her twin, was at the station waiting for her. She looked to be in deep conversation with Buck.

Buck had demonstrated his awareness of what was around him, when he announced "Rider Coming" while having his back to the direction that the rider was coming from. Lynn was facing that direction and saw on the horizon a speck that as it got closer, looked like to be a rider.

"That should be Lee," Buck had told Lynn long before the rider could be seen. But somehow he was right.

After Lee passed the mail off to Cody, she got down off of Black and ran to her sister giving her a big hug. "What are you doing here?"

"The school lets out for the summer so I thought I'd come see you."

"That's great!"

"You know Grandfather came to see me."

Lee's face got a far away look. "Yeah he came here looking for the both of us."

"He told me when I told him where you were and what you were doing."

"What did he want?"

"To apologize for turning us out. Seems like Grandmother didn't like him turning us away."

"Oh well, I like working for the express. I'm not going to quit so he can make up with his wife. He didn't care about us, so why should I care about him?"

"Because he's our father's father."

"Who turned him away for marrying the woman he loved!"

"There was more to it than that."

"What did the old man tell you?"

"Mama told me that they believed that she was marring Daddy just for the money. Grandfather found out years later, that her parents thought the same thing about Daddy. When they tried to make up with him, he denied them being his parents. Mama did the same thing with her parents."

"They turned them away, I don't blame them."

"Maybe, maybe not. But it seems like a lot of people got hurt over a misunderstanding. He tried to offer to pay for my schooling. He even said that he would pay for your schooling too."

"No. We're not accepting any money from that hypocrite!"

"Well, it doesn't matter because my grades were so good, that the school awarded me a scholarship for the rest of my schooling. You don't have to pay a thing, they said that I earned it. They're even thinking of doing a pilot program for women to become doctors. If they do I'm first choice." Lynn said with a smile.

"That's great, Lynn!" Lee shouted! "I'll still send you some money to live on though. After all you need to eat and all."

Lynn laughed and said, "But you don't have to send so much now. If you're not going to accept Grandfather's offer to send you school, then take the rest of the money and save it for your schooling."

"Hey, have you met everybody, yet?"

"Umm, I've meet everybody you have written me about except Jimmy. I got here yesterday morning. Rachel said that you had just left."

Lee smiled. "OK, Jimmy should be back anytime now."

Just then they heard Kid yell "Rider Coming"

"I'm up, I should be back tonight though." Buck said.

"OK." Lynn said with a smile.

Lee smiled. She might do some match-making herself. It looked as though Lynn liked Buck and he liked her back by the looks of it. She would see what she could do to get the two together.

The rider coming in was Jimmy. When he saw Lee standing there talking with some lady, he smiled at thought of getting some private time with her. He didn't know who the lady was, for she had her back turned to him, so he knew he couldn't great her with a kiss like he really wanted too. The others had figured out that their relationship was more romantic than a brother/sister relationship, when Cody walked in on them kissing in the barn the day they got back from rescuing Jeremiah and Theresa from Wicks. So without having to worry about the others he had gotten used to greeting her with a hug or a kiss. His love for her had grown since he was able to show his feelings for her. After he had dismounted, Ike took his horse and he went inside the bunkhouse hoping that Lee would come inside as soon as she got finished talking to that lady.

Jimmy didn't have to wait long, but he was on his bunk with his eyes closed when Lee and Lynn walked inside. "Hard ride, Jimmy?" Lee asked. Jimmy didn't open his eyes, just nodded his head and yawned. "There's someone I want you to meet."

Jimmy opened his eyes to see that the lady that Lee must have been talking to was standing inside the bunkhouse. And she looked just like Lee. He stood up to shake he hand.

"Jimmy, this is Lynnette, my twin, Lynn, this is Jimmy."

"Pleased to meet ya," they said simultaneously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The riders were the only ones in the bunkhouse. Everybody else had turned in for the night. They sat around the table doing various different things. Buck, Ike, and Jimmy were playing poker, Lee was trying to go to sleep, and Cody was trying to tease Kid about Louise, "So, Kid, you going to the dance with Louise, or is her father going to prevent you from taking her?"

"Cody, Louise is going to do what she wants, weather or not her father approves." Lee said.

"Yes, Cody, I'm taking Louise to the dance. Who are you going with?" Kid turned the tables.

"I'm not going to tie myself down to one girl."

"In other words, you couldn't find a date," Lee explained.

"How about you, Ike?" Cody asked, for once, trying to get the attention off of himself.

"I'm not taking anybody." Ike signed.

"See, I'm not the only one who wants to dance with every girl there." Cody explained.

"So, Buck, how about you? Who are you going with?" Lee asked. Buck looked uncomfortable, so Lee continued. "I was just wondering because I happen to know that Lynn needs an escort and she would be happy to go you" Before anybody could respond, she continued, "Now, if ya'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep. I got a ride first thing in the morning. Night." And with that, she closed her eyes hoping and praying that things worked out between Buck and Lynn. She thought that they would make a great match.

"So, Jimmy, are you taking Lee?" Cody said. Jimmy just shook his no. Jimmy and Lee had already talked about it. She didn't want the town's people to get suspicious and tell the company that she was a girl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Jimmy came to see Lee off. Everyone else was asleep in the bunkhouse. "Mornin'." Lee said when she saw him.

"Mornin'." Jimmy returned as he gave her a hug. But there was something else that was on his mind. "Were you trying to do a little match making in there last night?"

"Well, Um, not really. Lynn just mentioned that she liked Buck and I could tell that Buck liked her, so I just let Buck know that Lynn liked him"

"Uh huh." Jimmy mumbled with a smile. "And that's not match making?"

"OK. I was match making a little." Lee admitted.

"Well, good luck with it. You know how Buck won't let anyone get close since Kathleen."

"I know, but maybe, Buck will see that Lynn is different."

"I hope so, for you and your sister's sakes." Jimmy said as he bent down to kiss her.

"I better get gin'. It's not a long ride, I'll be back for lunch."

"OK. Ride Safe."

With that Lee mounted and rode off. Jimmy stayed there until he could no longer see her on the horizon. Then turned back to go inside the bunkhouse, but was interrupted.

"You really care for her, don't you?" Lynn asked as she stepped down from the porch. Jimmy just nodded, so Lynn continued. "Have you told her that you love her?"

"Excuse me?"

"It's written all over your face. Have you told her?"

"I don't see where that's any of your business."

"It may not be. But she is my sister, and I just don't want to see her hurt. I can tell in her letters how much she loves you, but Lee's the type who has to know what you feel before she will let you know how she feels. You hold her heart in your hands weather or not you know it, Mr. Hickok. So my question to you is are you just leading the both of you on, or are you going to be true to your own heart?" she turned, went inside and left Jimmy to ponder what she said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the day of the dance finally came, the boys were disappointed that Lee did not wear a dress. "Come on, Lee, nobody's going to tell the company nothin'. Go head and wear a dress." Cody pleaded.

"Cody, if you want to see what I look like in a dress, then look at Lynn, we look the same, only she has longer hair. I'm not going to chance my job, just to have a little fun." Lee stated and then left to go help her sister get ready for the dance and so the boys could get ready themselves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Louise, Kid could come here to pick you up." Boggs said.

"Pa, I'm going to lend Lynnette one of my dresses. I want to be there to see the expressions on the boys faces when they see her in this." She said as she held up the deep purple party dress that she wore to the last dance. "I'll get ready over at Emma's."

"All right." Boggs resigned to the fact that Louise was going to go to the station to get ready and leave from there.

"I'll see you and Cindy at the dance."

"I'm not taking her, just meeting her there."

"Why?"

"Because she doesn't think her father would allow it."

"You have got to talk to that man. He believes that money is the most important thing in a marriage and love has nothing to do with it. I think that if you talk to him, he would agree to a marriage between the two of you." Boggs looked at his daughter shocked. "Don't be so surprised, Pa. Cindy and I talk. I know how the two of you feel toward each other, and I think it's great. And as long as her father doesn't know how she feels about you, which he doesn't, then he should agree to the marriage. Cindy told me that her father was looking for a rich man to marry her. He thinks that he will get part of money."

"I know she's told me the same thing."

"But I've been there when he has called her into his study to meet someone. Pa, these men are twice your age. They decline because of how young she is. At least you know how old she is and you're in love with her."

"Louise, didn't you say you had to go deliver one of your dresses to the station?"

Louise smiled, "Bye, Pa. I'll see ya there." and she left.

The conversation with Louise had got him to thinking. He still loved Mary, but at the same time he had really fallen for this girl. She was Louise's age. But none the less he had fallen in love with her. Mary was no longer with them. She was in Heaven. Would it be right to marry someone his daughter's age? Louise didn't seem to mind. She thought it was great. Had she known how lonely he had been since her mother had died? When he and Cindy started to see each other, the loneliness had gone a way some. Then when he said good night to Cindy, the loneliness returned. Instead of longing for Mary, he was longing for Cindy. Was this wrong? He wasn't married anymore. His wife had died 7 years ago. Something inside said that this was right. Maybe he should take his daughter's advice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"OK, Barnette, here's what I want I want you to do. When Jo gets here with my package, come and get me, if Emma's nearby, say that there's someone that needs to see me. OK?" Sam made sure that his plan was going to go right.

"OK. Got it. When Jo gets here with your package, come get you and say that there is someone that needs to see you."

"Right. Now I'm going to pick up Emma and I'll see you then OK?"

"OK."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the dance, every man wanted to dance with Lynn, but it was her escort, Buck, who got the most dances with her. It made Lee see just how pretty she really was. Lee just stood back and watched the scene unfold before her. Her twin sister was having the time of her life. Lee wished that she could dance the night away, like her sister. She also knew that it could jeopardize her job if she did.

About an hour later, Barnette, walked out onto the dance floor, and told Sam what he wanted to hear. Sam made his apologies and left.

When Sam reached his office, Jo was there with the small package. Sam paid him the money and went back to the dance. When he saw Emma, she was dancing with Teaspoon. After the song ended, Emma, saw that Sam was back. "Everything OK, Sam?"

"Yeah Emma, everything's fine." at Emma's sigh of relief, Sam changed his mind. "No, actually, not everything is OK." Emma looked puzzled, so he continued. "And it won't be OK, until you become my wife." He blurted, but before she could respond, he went down on knee and asked, "Miss Shannon, would you marry me?" and as tears came to Emma's eyes, Sam held his breath.

"Yes." She said through her tears of joy. Everyone clapped, and Lee snuck out. Jimmy saw that Lee snuck out and followed her. As Jimmy stepped outside of the door, the musicians were playing a love song for the newly engaged couple. You could hear the music outside.

When Jimmy found Lee, she was in the alley between the building where they were holding the dance and the general store. She had her back turned to the entrance, so no one could see her face. Jimmy put a hand on her shoulder and knew something was wrong. When he turned her to face him, he saw the tears. "What's wrong?"

"Nothin', I just needed to get out."

Jimmy knew that she didn't want to talk about it, so he just dropped the subject and held her until he could tell that she had stopped crying. When he thought she was ready, he asked her, "Before we go back inside, may I have this dance?"

Lee looked stunned, but agreed. After an initial awkwardness, they fell into a comfortable hold that lasted for three songs ... until Cody had noticed that Lee was gone and decided to go look for his bunkmate. "Oh there you are. Jimmy I didn't know you were missing too, well, I 'll just leave you too alone." He left but the mood was spoiled so they went back inside. Lee wondered just how Jimmy knew that she was feeling left out of the dance, but she was glad that he did figure it out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The summer past quickly with planning Sam and Emma's wedding. The twins catching up and getting close again. Also, Lynn and Buck were getting closer and closer each day. For a special treat, Emma, found two wigs. One that looked like Lynn's hair and one that looked like Lee's hair. Lynn would wear the wig that looked like Lee's hair and vice versa. She wanted Lee to attend to her wedding as a girl. She also wanted Lee to stand beside her at her wedding. But in order to do that, the girls had to some how switch places. The only way to do that was to get wigs made. When Lee put her Wig on, and Lynn put her wig on, not even Jimmy and Buck could tell the two apart.

The wedding was set for August 17. On August 18, Lynn had to go back to school, so the week before, Lynn was packing to go back to school, while Emma was packing to move and leave Sweetwater. In July, Sam was offered the Territorial Marshall position and after much discussion, Emma and Sam thought it was best for them for him to take the job. They were going to have to move to St. Joseph. Emma had promised her friends and family that she and Sam would visit often.

The day of wedding was beautiful and it was a lovely wedding with Lee and Louise both standing beside Emma at the alter, while Sam had Teaspoon and Barnette standing beside him. The reception was held out at the way station and everyone had a wonderful time.

Lee was the one this time to dance the party away. She enjoyed every minute of it, and Lynn enjoyed seeing her sister enjoy herself freely. Lee had one dance with all her bunkmates and Teaspoon and then danced the rest of the time with Jimmy.

While Jimmy was dancing with Lee, Kid was dancing with Louise and Boggs, well he was sharing Cindy with the rest of the riders. The riders knew that something was going on between him and Cindy and he knew they could keep the other suitors away from her and keep her father's suspicion down at the same time. He had decided that he was going to ask her father for her hand, but he hadn't quite decided how or when he would ask him.. He was a strange man when it came to ideas on marriage and his daughter, so he knew he had to be careful or he wouldn't get a positive response from the man.

Buck did get Lynn to sneak away and they shared a couple of dances as well, but they had to get back before they were missed. When they got back, Emma and Sam were about to leave and they arrived just in time to see Cindy catch the Bride's bouquet.

Chapter 6

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.

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