Sweetwater, 1886

Emma stepped off the train and turned around to help Rachel. The young woman had recovered from her accident of four years before, but she still walked with a slight limp. The two girls stood on the train platform and looked around the town as they waited for Cassie and their parents to join them. They had never lived anywhere but Richmond, so the trip west had been quite an adventure for them. Sam and Emma Cain, old friends of their parents, had offered them a partnership in their new ranching endeavor. Sam had retired from his job as territorial marshal, and he and Emma had moved back to the old way station in Sweetwater. Kid and Louise had always dreamed of returning to the West, so when Emma wrote to them with her proposal, they did not have to take long to decide. They packed up their house in Richmond and two months later finally arrived in Sweetwater.

Kid and Louise joined their daughters on the train platform, followed by Cassie. "Wow," Louise looked around the busy town. "Sweetwater sure has grown since we lived here."

"Yes ma'am," the porter said. "Ever since they brought the train five years ago the town has continued to grow more quickly than we can keep up with." He began piling their bags and trunks on the platform.

"I need two riders for a special run to Ft. Laramie right away!" a voice said from behind the family.

"Emma!" Louise cried, spinning around to hug her friend. "It's so good to see you!"

Emma stepped back. "Look at you! Last time I saw you, you were nothing but a skinny young 'man' with short hair. You have become quite a beautiful woman. There is absolutely no way you could pass as an express rider now. And what is this? Do I see some gray hair?"

Louise laughed. "That's from putting up with Kid all these years. Sam must not be as difficult to live with, because you look as young as ever."

"Hey, I heard that!" Kid came to stand beside his wife. "She's right though Emma. You haven't changed a bit. Where's Sam?"

"Some of our cattle got out this morning. He had to go after them." Emma looked behind Louise and Kid to Cassie and the girls. She walked up to them to introduce herself. "You must be Cassie, and I can tell you belong to Kid and Louise. You look just like your mother."

"I'm Emma, and this is Rachel," Emma held out her hand to shake Emma's hand, but the older woman pulled her into a hug.

"I'm glad to have you here," she said. "I can't wait to get to know you. Your mother has told me so much about you ever since you were born that I fell like you are my own daughters." She reached out to hug Rachel too. Cassie stood back, a little uncomfortable, but Emma quickly moved to hug her too. "Welcome to Sweetwater Cassie."

"Thank you Mrs. Cain," Cassie said, a little shy.

"Call me Emma," Emma said.

"Thank you Emma."

Emma led them to a wagon that was waiting across the street from the train station. They all climbed in, and Kid drove them to the old way station.

Louise gasped as the house came into view. The old bunkhouse had burned down a few years before, and in its place Sam and Emma had built a new house. "Oh, Emma, it's so good to finally be home!"

"Sam and I were able to move into the new house last week, so the old one is all yours. I've been working on cleaning it, but there is still a lot to be done."

As Kid pulled the wagon up beside the house they saw Sam herding some cattle into the corral. He waved at them as one of the ranch hands came to help him. Handing the reins of his horse to the young man, he walked over to the newly arrived family.

"Kid, Louise! Or should I say partners?"

"Sam, it is so good to see you." Kid shook his hand.

"Why don't you get settled in. I'm sure you want to clean up some after the trip." Emma told them. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour. We'll eat at our house."

"Thanks," Louise said. "I don't think I feel up to cooking tonight."

Kid grinned. "I don't think we feel up to eating her cooking tonight."

Louise playfully elbowed him in the ribs. "You never seem to mind my cooking when it's time to eat."

She marched into the house, leaving the rest of them standing there grinning at the Kid.

"Yep. You sure learned how to manage her Kid," Sam joked.

"Louise and I have no problems knowing who is in charge of our family," Kid grinned back.

"Yeah, Dad," Emma said. "You know good and well that it is Mom!" They all laughed as Kid shook his head woefully.

"Times like this I wish James was here. But Emma's right. The most important words I've learned to say over the years are 'I'm sorry. You're right honey.'"

They all laughed again. The two families separated with a promise to see each other at dinner. Kid led Cassie and the girls into the house. It hadn't changed since they rode with the Express. He showed Cassie her room downstairs and led the girls upstairs to the room they would share. They had shipped most of their belongings before they left Virginia, and Sam and Emma had put them in their rooms. They would start unpacking tomorrow, but for now all any of them wanted to do was clean up and rest for a while.

After leaving Rachel and Emma in their room, Kid went to find his wife. She was standing in the middle of their room, surveying all the boxes around her. She let out a sigh as Kid walked in.

"I'm not even going to think about all the work I have to do here," she told him.

"Come on," he said to her. He sat down on one of the boxes and pulled her onto his lap. "Just relax for a while. Think about how great it is to finally be here."

Louise leaned back in Kid's arms. "Kid, thank you for doing this." She turned to look at him. "I know how much you love Virginia. When we rode with the Express you talked all the time about going back. I know we had planned on living the rest of our lives there."

Kid shook his head. "Louise, wherever you are is home for me. Virginia hasn't been the same since the war. It hasn't been home to me for the last twenty years, it was just where we lived. Here, where I met you and where we fell in love; this is home."

She pulled his head down to kiss him. "Have I told you yet today how much I love you?"

Kid grinned. "Not that I recall. Why don't you go ahead and tell me."

"Hmm. Maybe later." She teased. "Are the girls settled in?"

"Yeah. I left them in their room. They seem to be handling this move well."

"I think they're relieved to finally be here. I can't believe its been twenty-six years since we left. It seems like it was just yesterday Teaspoon popped out of the trough and scared us all to death."

Kid laughed. "I'm surprised we all survived his 'training'."

Louise smiled sadly. "I just have the feeling that if I close my eyes, when I open them again we'll be back. Everyone will be here; Noah and Ike, Jimmy and Teaspoon won't be gone, but we would all be getting into some kind of adventure or Cody would be starting a food fight."

Kid held her close knowing that she needed to remember those times. They hadn't been able to visit since they left. They weren't even able to come home when Teaspoon and Jimmy died. The others had visited them in Virginia, Cody most often. Whenever his Wild West Show was anywhere near them he was sure to come for a few days. And when James was in college in Boston Cody often went to see him.

"We'll try to get Rachel and Buck to come visit us soon," Kid promised.

Louise just nodded, and each became lost in their thoughts for a while.






"Emma, would you calm down? You're making me nervous." Rachel couldn't believe her sister had so much energy. She was exhausted after their long journey and just wanted to sleep in a real bed for once.

"I'm sorry, but I've been sitting in a cramped train for weeks. I just want to run and run forever." Emma kept pacing the room. Rachel just shook her head. Only her sister would have more energy after traveling so long. "I'm going for a walk to look around."

"Emma, don't go too far," Rachel cautioned her.

"Don't worry silly. I'll stay close to the houses or the corral. See you at dinner." She waved as she left the room.

Emma walked over to where Sam and the ranch hands were working with the cattle. She stood at the fence and watched as Sam took a cow and branded it with the ranch's sign, an E in a circle. She remembered her parents mentioning the name was the Circle Express Ranch, after each partner's involvement in the Pony Express.

Sam walked over to where she stood. "Hello, Emma," he said. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

She shook her head. "I can't stand to be still very long. After weeks on a train, I just want to be able to move freely."

Sam laughed. "You remind me of your mother when she was younger. I bet you girls are both good with horses too."

Emma grinned. "Show me any horse, and I can ride it. Actually though, my mother has always been my hero. When I was younger, my friends and I used to pretend that we were Pony Express riders. We'd ride around throwing Mama's sofa pillows at each other, pretending they were the mail pouches. We finally ruined too many of her pillows that she made us a pouch. We got pretty good at it though."

Sam laughed again. "Your mother was one of the best riders the Express ever had. Your father too. You were right to make her your hero."

Emma came out to call them to dinner just then, and they walked to the house. Emma saw her parents walking over with Rachel and Cassie, and she waited on the porch to meet them.

"Emma, that was wonderful," Louise said, taking the last bite of her pie. Dinner had been filled with stories of the Express, and lots of "remember when's." Rachel and Emma had heard most of them before, but Sam and Emma added some new details, so they were still interested.

"Emma," Kid spoke to his daughter, but both Emma's looked at him. "This isn't going to work very well is it?" he asked. "Two Emma's."

"Why don't we just call our Emma Emmy?" Rachel asked. "She's used to it anyway."

Emma jumped in quickly. "I don't want you to have to get used to a new name though."

Emma, or Emmy, reassured her. "Rachel used to call me Emmy all the time when we were younger. We were Emmy and Rach. I love it."

Louise smiled, "From now on, it's Emma and Emmy then. That should make things much easier."

Emmy looked at Kid. "Dad, you were going to say something?"

Kid shook his head. "I forgot."

They all laughed. "You're getting forgetful in your old age," Louise teased him.

He pretended to look hurt. "At least I don't have gray hair, although I must say, it looks lovely on you," he quickly added. They all laughed as Louise punched him in the arm.

"Kid," Sam began.

"Yeah, I know," Kid smiled. "You're right dear. I'm sorry."

They continued to visit for a little longer, but they were all pretty tired. Kid led his family to the old house, and they all retired early.

On to Chapter Two