"Sorry I'm late, Ma," Joseph kissed his mother's cheek as he sat down at the table. "I fell asleep."

"That's okay. You've had a long trip," Emma passed him the platter of roast.

Rachel looked at Emma and almost imperceptibly shook her head. I agree that he looks familiar, but I can't tell you why. Emma nodded back. I told you. The two girls had the uncanny ability of twins to know what the other was saying without having to speak aloud.

"Joseph, these are our new partners," Sam said from his place at the head of the table. "This is Kid and Louise, and Cassie. And these two lovely young ladies are Rachel and Emma."

"It's nice to have you here," Joseph looked at Kid and Louise. "Actually, though, Miss Emma and I have already met."

"Really?" his mother asked.

"We met at the stream earlier and rode home together," he explained. "Actually," he continued, "we were trying to figure out where we had met before."

"Emmy said you look familiar to her," Rachel said. "When were you in Richmond?"

"About four years ago, but I was only there for a week."

"Did you go to any parties or social events?"

"A few," he laughed. "I tried to get out of as many as possible, but there were some that I had to attend."

"Did you go to the Independence Day celebration?"

"That was the only one I was looking forward to," he said regretfully. "Unfortunately, I was called to Charleston suddenly, and I had to miss it."

"That was the only event we attended that year," Emmy remembered. "So I still have no idea where we could have met."

The moved on to other subjects then, deciding that they may never know the answers to where they had met. After dinner, Joseph joined Kid and Sam on the porch to give a report of what the buyers had said while the women cleaned up. After the dishes were done, they joined the men on the porch for dessert and coffee.

"So," Louise asked, sitting down next to Kid. "What did the buyers have to say?"

"Well," Joseph replied. "It looks like we can get a good price if we can get the cattle to Cheyenne in the next six weeks. It will be hard, but I think we can make it."

"We'll have to hire some extra hands," Sam said, "and leave about two weeks earlier than we had planned; but the cattle should be ready."

"The only thing I'm worried about is that now we'll all have to go," Kid said.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"Well, we were going to hire three extra hands so Sam could stay here and run the ranch, but with having to leave two weeks early, we'll only be able to hire two, and even that will be stretching our money."

"Why will we have any less money in two weeks than we would have in four?" Emmy asked.

"Well, we don't actually pay them until we sell the cattle. But we probably won't have as many to sell. The price difference makes it worth going early. We would actually make less profit if we waited," Kid explained to her. He and Louise had agreed that they would involve the girls in every aspect of the business. He didn't agree with the prevailing belief that women were incapable of understanding business, and even if he did, his wife would have quickly set him straight.

"Well," Emmy said matter-of-factly. "Don't you worry about a thing. We girls can take care of things while you are gone."

Sam laughed. "It looks like you've raised quite a girl there Kid. It seems that I remember another young lady who was just like that," he said, winking at Louise. She laughed at him as Kid grinned.

"Well, Sam, if Emmy turns out anything like her mother, she'll make one lucky man very happy one day. Both my girls will," he said proudly.

"What if we never get married?" Emmy teased him. "What if I decide to be an old maid?"

"Well," Kid teased back. "Then some very unlucky man will lose out." He became serious. "But no matter what you do, whether you get married and spend your life taking care of your family, or you cut off your hair and dress as a boy to ride for the Pony Express, I would be very proud of you."

"Whatever," Louise jumped in. "You would worry yourself to death, and you know it."

Everyone laughed as Kid had to agree. "You're right, I would worry. But I would still be proud. My girls can do anything they want."

"Even be the President of the United States?" Rachel joined in the fun of baiting their father.

"You see what I have to put up with?" Kid looked woefully at Sam and Joseph. "Times like this, I wish James was here to help me."

"He wouldn't win," Louise pointed out. "James is a wonderful lawyer; he can argue any point and win, but he had never won an argument with Emmy."

"Yeah, maybe Emmy should be a lawyer," Rachel said.

"Actually," Emmy shot back, "I was just thinking that President Emma Macloud sounds really nice."

"Emmy in a position of power? That's really frightening," Louise teased her daughter.

They all laughed. "This reminds me of the old times," Emma said. "With all of you picking on Cody."

Kid laughed at the look of horror on his daughter's face. "I don't think Emmy is very happy being compared to Cody."

"Well," she retorted. "Uncle Cody is a wonderful person, but can you imagine having him in power?"

"I see you've gotten to know him really well," Emma smiled.

"Well," Sam said, standing up. "It's been nice talking to you all, but this old man needs his sleep. We're gonna be working extra hard the next couple of weeks. I'm gonna get all the rest I can. Goodnight everybody," he said going into the house.




Over the next two weeks, Kid, Sam, and Joseph worked harder than they ever had in their lives, trying to get the cattle ready for the drive to Cheyenne. They also had to get the ranch ready for the month they would be gone. Fences had to be mended or strengthened, wood chopped, and other minor repairs done. Emmy and Rachel helped where they could, mostly taking care of the animals and other chores so the men could work longer. Emmy also rode with them to herd the cattle in from the farthest boundaries of their land.

One afternoon, about three days before they were supposed to leave for Cheyenne, Emmy, Joseph, and Allen were mending the fence at the boundary farthest from the houses. Some of the cattle had already gotten out, but luckily, they had not gone far and were easy to find.

Joseph was holding the fence post while Allen was attaching the new barbed wire to it. He pulled the wire tight and reached out to take a nail and hammer from Emmy. None of them saw the rattlesnake that spooked Joseph's horse, and the horse reared up and crashed against the fence. Joseph pulled Emmy out of the way, but Allen couldn't move fast enough and the horse hit him. Joseph grabbed the reins and calmed his horse down while Emmy ran over to check on Allen. He was unconscious, and the barbed wire was wrapped around his arm.

"Is he going to be okay?" Joseph joined her.

"I don't know," Emmy replied. "He probably has some broken bones, and his arm looks horrible."

Joseph helped her cut the wire from the fence so they could get Allen to help. He quickly made a makeshift repair to the fence so the cattle would not escape again.

"Let's get him to a doctor," He said. "I don't dare remove the wire from his arm. It's wrapped pretty tight, and the barbs are probably embedded deep. I'm afraid we would tear his arm up." He laid Allen over his horse, and mounting his own horse, grabbed the reins, and they headed for Sweetwater.





"How is he?" Louise and Emma rushed into the waiting room where Emmy was waiting for the doctor to finish examining Allen. Joseph had returned to the ranch to let them know what happened, and he and Kid had gone to finish fixing the fence.

"I don't know, the doctor is still with him," Emmy replied. "But he looked pretty bad."

The doctor came out of the examining room to give them a report. "He's got some broken ribs, and he's not going to be able to use his arm for a while, but he'll be fine. I want to keep him here for a couple days, but then he can go home and take it easy for a while."

"Can we see him?" Emma asked

The doctor nodded. "But just one of you. He's just waking up right now, so I don't want to tire him out."

"Why don't you go on in, Emma," Louise said looking at her daughter. "I'm going to take Emmy home to get cleaned up." Emmy was covered in dirt, and her blouse was stained with blood from Allen's arm.

Emma walked into Allen's room and sat by his bed. He was just beginning to wake up.

"How do you feel Allen?" Emma asked him gently.

"My arm is on fire," he moaned.

"You really got the wire wrapped around it tight," she said. "But you'll be fine. Doc says you won't be able to use the arm for a while, but there's no permanent damage."

"I won't be able to go on the cattle drive will I?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"I'm sorry Miz Cain. I know how tough things are right now."

"Don't you worry about that. We'll manage just fine," Emma reassured him.

I don't know how though, she thought. There's no way we can afford to hire another hand now. What are we going to do?

On to Chapter Four