She watched silently as her fellow riders moved around the room, preparing themselves for bed, each in different stages of undress. She closed her eyes hurriedly as Kid approached the set of bunks they shared. She stayed as still as she could, and kept her breathing even so that Kid would believe that she was still asleep. She felt his gaze upon her for several moments, then felt the blanket at her feet being gently tugged out from underneath them. A moment later, she felt the blanket being placed gently over her.
Then she heard him say ever so quietly, "Goodnight Lou, I love you."
Tears filled her eyes at the quiet endearment and she ached to tell him she loved him to, but she couldn't. If she did, he would never let her leave and she knew that she couldn't stay. All she wanted was for him to be happy and she knew that he would be once she was. It was better this way. Better for both of them, the baby too.
She lay on her bed and waited until everything was quiet, except for the occasional snore that slipped out from between the lips of one of the riders. While she had been observing the boys as they prepared for bed, she had noticed that Buck wasn't among them. She was thankful for that. Although Buck lived the ways of his white father, he still had all the instincts of his Kiowa mother. Buck's uncanny ability to hear things that the rest of them couldn't had helped them on several occasions, but tonight it would have been a problem. She would have never made it off her bed and across the floor of the bunkhouse with Buck in the room.
She just hoped that the others wouldn't hear her as well. She slowly lowered herself to the floor of the bunkhouse, mindful not to move too fast in climbing off her bunk, less she wake Kid up from all the movement. She slipped her hand underneath her pillow and carefully extracted the letter she had written. She bent down and carefully picked up her boots, then tiptoed to the door, placing the letter on the table as she passed it. Cody muttered something in his sleep as she passed by his bunk and she froze, thinking she had awakened him. When he continued to snore, she removed her gun-belt from its peg by the door and slipped it on. She opened the door barely enough for her to squeeze through and closed it behind her.
She sank against the door briefly and drew several breaths to calm her racing heart. She felt as if she was running away from home and didn't want to get caught. Then she realized that was exactly what she was doing, although she knew that she wouldn't get into trouble for doing so. Quietly she removed the hidden valise and bedroll from under the porch and ran across the yard to the barn. Luckily for her, the barn was a considerable distance away from the bunkhouse and the shed that teaspoon and Jesse used for sleeping quarters.
She opened the door of the barn and went inside. She felt her way to the back of the barn, fearing that if she was to light a lantern it might draw attention to someone outside. Even though it was late, she knew that the saloons were still open and that Barnett would be patrolling the town. Finally she reached the tack room, opened it up, carried out her saddle and fastened the door back into place. She led Lightning out of his stall, and down the aisle to the front of the barn. Using her hands to figure out where each piece went, she was quickly able to saddle Lightning. Tying her bedroll and the valise onto the back of the saddle, Lou pushed the barn door open and led Lightning out of the barn. Once the barn door had been secured back into place, Lou mounted Lightning. She paused long enough to glance around the place that had been her home for such a long time, then kicked Lightning into motion. Together she and Lightning galloped out of Rock Creek.
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