Lou McCloud dismounted her wet steed & led him into the barn where they would both be out of the Autumn storm. As she removed his saddle, she heard fast approaching footsteps. " Oh great, someone to talk to! Just what I wanted!" she sarcastically grunted to herself. She was in no mood to talk. All she wanted was a nice hot bath, climb into bed & have a reasonable night's sleep.
She turned around to find herself looking into two deep pools of darkness.
"God I've missed you!" Buck whispered as he placed soft gentle kisses on her neck.
"Hey darlin', I've really mith…." She replied, but was cut off mid sentenced by her own yawn.
"Here, why don't you go in & I'll take care of Lightning for you?" Buck offered, giving her a loving wink.
"Now that's an offer I can't refuse. I'm so cold & wet & tired & …ah…ah…achoo. Great, now I'm getting a cold. I'm gonna run over to Rachel's & have a hot bath before I get any worse." Lou sniffled
"Hmmm, sounds tempting. Keep talkin' like that & I might consider joining you" Buck teased.
Lou was mesmerised by the man that stood before her, but a cold wind blew through the barn at that minute, reminding her that she still stood there in her wet clothes. She shivered as she walked over to Buck & gave him a kiss on his cheek, then she ran out the door into the cold rain to the main house to have herself a nice hot bath.
Rachel & Teaspoon were enjoying each other's company in the sitting room when they were suddenly disturbed by a loud knock at the door.
"What could anyone possibly want at this hour?" Teaspoon quizzed noone in particular as he arose to answer the door.
"Maybe something's wrong with one of the boys!" Rachel explained, worry evident in her voice as she got up & followed Teaspoon to the door.
"Why, Louise, honey, when did you get back?" Teaspoon asked, staring at the dripping wet girl he had come to love as a daughter.
"I, ah, got back about ten minutes ago. I was wondering if I could use the bath… you know, just to warm up a bit?" Lou explained uneasily. Although she loved both Teaspoon & Rachel dearly, she felt like she was intruding when she came over to the house. Ever since Rachel & Teaspoon found a lover in each other. They had been married for almost eight months now & Rachel's stomach had only just started to show the bump their love's power made over five months ago.
"Of course, Louise. Come on in" Rachel stepped forward, "My goodness, Louise, why did you try coming home in this weather? We didn't expect you for another week…it is, after all, your time off!"
"Well, Rachel, I really wanted to get back before the storm hit. I knew once it hit, it was here to stay for a while. I guess I miscalculated, coz I got about two miles out when it started, & ah…ah…achoo, sorry" Lou was cut off by another sneeze.
"Oh hush now. Excuse us Teaspoon." Rachel led Lou into her wash room & proceeded to get everything ready for Lou's bath. Meanwhile Teaspoon prepared some water on the fire for the bath. He tried to do all the things he considered too heavy or not suitable for Rachel in "her condition" as most folks referred to pregnancy as.
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