The next morning Laura awoke to a sharp pain in her side, but she did not tell her parents. If she did they would think she was trying to find an excuse not to do her lessons and she didn't want the strap. As the day past the ache in her side grew worse. She was finding it hard to concentrate on what her mother was trying to teach her. She was finding it harder and harder to hide her pain from her mother, who finally felt her head and asked her if she was all right.

Molly had noticed the pained look on her daughter's face; the girl looked flushed. Molly reached out and felt her child's forehead to find it fevered. "Laura why didn't tell me you didn't you tell me you felt poorly this morning."

"You would have thought it was just an excuse." Laura explained as she gasped out in pain. The pain in her side was almost unbearable by now.

"Where does it hurt?" the concerned mother asked.

"Here." The little girl pointed to her right side.

'Oh God, NO!' Molly's mind screamed as she picked her child up and carried her to her bed. 'Please don't let it be her appendix.' Not only was the nearest school seventy miles away, but also so was the nearest doctor. There would be no way they could get the child there in time.

The girl's pain and fever continued to increase. With each scream of pain that past her daughter's lips Molly cursed the day she move out to this remote area with Ben and the children. Two years ago Ben had staked his claim on this land and insisted that his family come with him. In the winter months he trapped for fur in the surround wood and in the summer he panned for gold down at the river. Molly had reluctantly agreed to follow him out to this wilderness, but grew to love the place. That was until today, when she realized just how isolated they were.

When Ben came home for supper he found Molly in Laura's room applying cold compresses to the girls head while their four-year-old son sat on her lap. He walked over and took the boy from Molly as he asked. "What is wrong?"

"I think it's her appendix." The frantic mother informed him.

Both parents sat by their sick child's bed helpless to do anything to ease the girl's pain. They prayed that the attack would subside and the girl would be all right by morning. Their prays went unanswered; their little nature child passed into the Father's arms about four in the morning.

With a heavy heart the grieving father dug a little grave under Laura's favorite tree, the one where she fed the squirrel she had tamed. Then he lowered their child into the dark cold ground and covered her with dirt as Molly stood stoically watching. Ben read a few passages from the bible, then both parents knelt by the grave and wept for their lost child.

During the following weeks Molly found it hard to get up in the mornings. It was usually the screams of her young son demanding attention that pulled her from her grief-induced slumber. She spent her days in a haze of deep depression just going through the motions of living. The grief stricken mother could not bring herself to go visit the grave that was her daughter's final resting-place. That mound of freshly dug dirt made it too real, she wasn't ready to accept that her child wasn't coming home. She found herself expecting the dark haired girl to come rushing through the door with some injured animal.

When Ben suggested that they move to some place else, someplace closer to doctor for their son's sake, she told him that she could not and would not leave her child behind. To move away from this place would be like abandoning Laura - she couldn't do that; maybe in time she could, but not now. For now she needed to be here.

Ben dealt with his own grief by working extra hard. He would get up early in the morning after a fitful sleep, leave Molly asleep in their bed and go pan for gold down at the river. He watched as Molly drew deeper and deeper into herself. Unable to deal with the shell of a woman that once was his vivacious wife, he spent more and more time down at the river. He would come home late usually after Molly had gone to bed, eat the cold supper she left for him and then go to bed. Both husband and wife were so wrapped up in their own grief they could not reach out to help the other; they were drifting apart.

About a month after Laura's death Molly was out in the yard going though the motions of washing clothes when she heard her husbands horse in the yard. Wondering why he was home so early in the afternoon she looked up. Sitting in front of her husband on the horse was a little girl.

"Laura!" Molly screamed as she ran to greet her husband and the girl she believe was her daughter. She reached up and pulled the girl down from the horse.

"Laura you scared your father and me. Don't ever leave us again." Molly whispered as she hugged and kissed the little girl.

"Molly this isn't Laura. You know La." Ben was confused and concerned by Molly's reaction to the girl.

"Where did you find her? What happened to her head?" Molly interrupted what Ben was saying. She was concerned about the gash over the girl's right eye. She picked the girl up and carried her into the house.

As Molly tended to the girl's injury Ben told of how he found the girl wondering around down by the river. He once again tried to tell Molly that the girl was not Laura, but she would not listen. Two days latter they moved away from the little cabin in the woods and they took the blonde girl with them.

They traveled for days until they were a few miles from Carson City, Nevada. Needing money they stopped at small ranch to ask for work.

"I sorry mister, but my husband died a few months ago. I am afraid that I will have to sell this place. I don't want to, but I can't run it myself and I can't afford to hire anyone." The elderly lady told him.

"Let's make a deal. I'll work for a place for my family to live and food. When the ranch starts making money you can start paying me." Ben suggested.

"Well that might work. Names Ally." The woman said extending her hand.

"I am Ben." Ben said taking the woman's offered hand and they shook on the deal. "This is my wife Molly, my daughter Laura and my son James."

"It’s a pleasure to meet you all. There is a bunkhouse, but you and your family can move into the main house with me. It will be nice to have kids under this roof. My husband and I always wanted kids, but never did." Ally said as she turned and led them into the house.

So it was agreed that they would move in with Ally. They stored the chest of things they brought with them from the cabin in the attic, since they did not need them. Four years latter Ally died and left the ranch to them, since they were like family to her. The chest containing the articles from the cabin remained unopened in the attic for years until two curious little girls opened it and found the secret buried within.

Mae had moved to England with her husband when Laura was two. This was the first time in thirteen years that she had been back to the States to visit her sister. She had corresponded with her sister through letters. Mae remembered how relieved she was when Molly had wrote her and told her that they had move away from the remote cabin in the woods to a ranch just outside Carson City. Mae hadn't like the idea of her little sister living so far away from help, but could do nothing about it. Molly also wrote her about the kind lady that took them into their home and years latter how the lady left the ranch to them in her will.

The last journal entry in the diary was the next day after the girl was found at the river.

Dear Diary.

This will be a short entry tonight since I have to be up early tomorrow morning to pack our things. Ben has decided that it is too dangerous to be so far away from other people. I agree. It will be so nice to live close enough to a town so Laura can attend school. It will also be nice to have other women to talk to. I can't wait to leave this place.

Molly

When Mae arrive a week ago she had expected Laura to have dark hair and was surprised that the girl had blonde hair. Since she had not seen the child in thirteen years, she just thought that she had forgotten that the girl had blonde hair not black. After reading her sister's diary she realized that the blonde girl was not Laura.

'Oh Ben, Molly what have your done.' She thought as she looked up into the tear stained face of the blonde girl standing before her.

"I think that you and I need to talk to your parents before we allow our imaginations to run wild with us." Mae said as she tried to keep the panic out of her voice. "Come downstairs with me and I will make you some hot chocolate."

Mae stood up, put the diary in the pocket of her robe as she picked up the lamp and headed for the door. The blonde girl bent down, picked up the lamp that she had brought up to the attic and followed her Aunt downstairs.

As usual Ben was awaken by the loud crowing of the rooster in the barnyard. He arose from his warm bed and quickly dressed for the day. He decided that he would go to the kitchen to grab a piece of fruit before heading outside to start his morning chores. Ben was surprised when he entered the kitchen to find his daughter and her Aunt sitting at the table.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Ben asked when he noticed that Laura was crying. He walked over to the girl and tried to put a comforting arm around her, but she pushed him away and refused to talk to him.

"Ben we need to talk." Mae said

Ben turned from where his daughter sat staring at the mug of cold cocoa to look at his wife's sister. "Do you know why she is so upset?" The concerned father asked.

Mae nodded as she pulled Molly's diary out of her pocket, she open it to the journal entry that told of Laura's death and handed it to him. "Karen and Laura were in the attic yesterday afternoon and found this diary of Molly's. What exactly happened seven years ago?"

Ben took the diary from Mae. His face turned white as he read the entry; he did not know that Molly had written about that day, if had known he would have destroyed the book to protect his family but now it was too late. Now all he could do was tell the truth and pray that the girl would forgive him.

"Seven years ago Laura died when her appendix burst and we buried her in the woods by the cabin where we lived. About a month after she died I was down by the river where I found this little girl. When I asked her who she was she could not tell me, because she could not remember. I could not leave the child there, so I took her home with me. When I arrived home Molly came out to greet me. As soon as she saw the little girl she called her Laura; she scooped the child into her arms and hugged and kissed her. I tried to tell her that the girl wasn't Laura, but she wouldn't listen to me. Molly honestly believed that her daughter had come back to her. I could not take Laura away from Molly again, so I decided that the girl I found would be Laura. We packed up the next day and left." Ben stopped talking and turned to the blonde girl that he had come to love as his own daughter.

"It was you I found at the river that day, but we have always loved you as our own daughter, Laura. Please forgive me."

Just then Molly entered the kitchen to start breakfast when she saw her daughter's tear stained face. "Laura what's wrong?"

"I am not Laura. I am Amy. Laura is dead. I am just her replacement he found at the river." Amy screamed as she stood and faced the man that stole her from her family. "You buried the truth in a trunk and forced me to live a lie. I'll will never forgive you."

Amy raced out of the kitchen, up stairs to her room where she threw herself on the bed and buried her face in her pillow. She knew her words hurt the man and woman that had claimed to be her parents, but she did not care; they deserved to be hurt; how could they have lied to her for all these years? How could they have kept her from her real family? Who where her real parents? All she knew was her real name was Amy. She clutched the locket, the only connection she had to her past, tightly to her heart as she lay on her bed crying.

Amy's words struck Molly like a bolt of lighting and she collapsed to her knees as the truth and grief overwhelmed her. Ben knelt beside her, took her in his arms; he rocked her back and forth. "I sorry Molly, I am so sorry."

Mae helped Ben get Molly upstairs to their room. Once they had the grieving mother settled into bed Mae went to find the girl. She found the child curled in a ball on top of the covers on her bed sobbing uncontrollably. She sat down on the edge of the bed and put her hand on the blonde girl's shoulder.

"I want my Papa and Mama. I want to go home, but I don't know where home is." Amy whimpered as she sat up and looked at Mae.

"What ever takes, sweetheart I help you get home." Mae promised as she took the girl in her arms and held her tight. "Don't worry everything will be alright."

As Amy collapsed into the arms of the only person she could trust she wondered if everything would be all right. She kept remembering how the blond man, who she now knew was her father, had jumped into the river after her. What if he had died trying to save her?

The rising of the sun over the horizon; painting the sky in pink, red and gold had been his favorite time of day. As a boy he loved watching the sun bring forth-another day with his mother; it had been their special time together. As a young man working hard to make a living it always brought hope for a new day. Even though the sunrise this morning was the best he had ever witnessed in his life the blond man found no joy in it. He had not been able to enjoy a sunrise for the past seven years; not since the day he lost his child.

For the past seven years Heath Barkley would arise early; he would ride out to the graveyard where his father was laid to rest and where a small headstone was placed in remembrance of Amy Marie Barkley, his daughter. He would sit on the ground between his father's grave and the headstone as the first rays of sunshine kissed the morning dew and he would remember his child.

Heath would never forget the day his daughter slipped from his arms and his life. He remembered the doctor telling him how lucky he was to be alive when he awoke six hours after his brothers pulled him from the river, but he didn't feel lucky. He had dislocated his shoulder, broken three ribs and had a slight concussion, but the physical pain he felt could not match the pain and dread he felt in his heart when they told him that they were still looking for Amy. When he tried to get out of bed to go join the search for his daughter, the good doctor sedated him. The doctor had to keep him under heavy sedation for the next week to let his body heal.

While Heath was forced to remain in bed Nick, Jarrod, the sheriff and a group of men from town searched the riverbed looking for Amy. At first they hoped they would find her alive, but by the second day they only hoped to find her body and bring her home. By the end of the week they gave up looking.

Heath refused to believe his child was dead. For the next three months he rode up and down the river. He would stop at every ranch or town he came across asking if anyone had found a little blonde girl, but no one had. Finally he lost hope and returned home a broken man. He started to drink way too much. Becky, his wife, was a strong woman and even though her own heart was broken by the loss of their child she took care of their two sons, their baby daughter and the running of the house. For four months Becky carried the load alone while he drank to kill the pain and guilt he felt, then she threatened to leave him.

"Heath, I am taking the children and I am going back to my parents." Becky choked. She had come downstairs to find him sitting in his chair by the fireplace nursing a bottle of whiskey.

"You are going to leave me?" Heath asked. He staggered to his feet and walked unsteadily toward her. "Why Becky?"

"I can live with Amy's ghost, but I can't live with yours. I will not stay here and watch you kill yourself and I won't put our children through that either." Becky cried. "I love you, but I can't stay."

"You blame me don’t you? That's the real reason you leaving?" Heath snapped.

"I never blamed you." She answered

"Well you should because I do." Heath screamed as he threw the bottle of whiskey across the room causing it to smash against the wall. "If only I had hung on to her she would be alive. It's my fault she's dead."

"No, papa. It's because of me she died." David yelled. "If I had not teased her about being a scaredy cat she would not have gone onto the bridge. She would still be here."

Heath and Becky had been so rapped up in their conversation that they did not notice the boy standing at the door listening. They both turned to looked at their son. They could see the pain and guilt etched on the boys face.

Heath walked over, grabbed his son and pulled him into a strong embrace. "It's not your fault, David. It was just a horrible accident. It's not your fault."

As Heath stood holding his son in his arms, he realized that by drinking to forget his pain he was causing his family more pain. That night he swore to Becky and his son that he would never drink again. The next day he and Becky went into town to arrange for a memorial service for their daughter. After the service his family started to put the shattered pieces of their lives back together.

"I thought I would find you here." Nick's loud voice disturbed the peaceful morning bringing Heath back to the present.

'Right on time.' Heath thought as he shook his head slightly and a half grin crossed his lips.

Nick knelt down beside his blond brother and placed a comforting hand on his broad shoulder's. He knew that his younger brother had been come up to the gravesite every morning since the day they erected the memorial stone for Amy. Nick did not like the idea of his little brother brooding by the grave by himself, so he would always give his brother a few minutes alone at the gravesite then he would show up. The two brothers would spend a few minutes together in silent thought, and then they would head back to the ranch to start the morning workload.

"Well we better get back to the ranch. Those horses won't break themselves you know." Nick said as he stood up.

"It's too bad they won't. I think I getting to old to get thrown." Heath joked.

They left the gravesite, mounted their horses and headed back to the ranch.

Amy sat staring out the window of the stagecoach watching the scenery flash by as each turn of the wheels took her closer to home. At least she hoped it was home. She still could not remember much detail of her life before she had fallen in the river, so she wasn't sure where home was. The only thing that she really remembered well was the day she received the locket and the day she fell into the river. She also started to remember other bits and pieces, but nothing concrete; not anything that would help her find her home. Mae and her were travelling to Stockton on a hunch.

The morning that she found out that she was not Laura, but really Amy she had been devastated. She had spent most of that morning in her room crying. When she finally calmed down Mae suggested they talk to Ben. They got him to show them on a map exactly where he had found her. After carefully studying the map, Mae suggested the most logical place to start looking was Stockton, California a town upstream and on the other side of the river from where the cabin had been. The town sounded familiar to Amy, so she agreed. They would travel to Stockton and show the locket around to people in hopes that someone would know who the people in the pictures were.

The next day Ben drove Mae and Amy into Carson City to catch the stagecoach. Even though it broke his heart to let her go, he knew he had no choice. Karen remained at the ranch to help care for Molly who was having a hard time dealing with the truth. Amy refused to talk to Ben all the way into town and she did not even say good bye when she got on the stage.

A bump in the road jolted her out of her deep thoughts. She turned to Mae who was sitting beside her. "When will we get to Stockton?"

"We should be there around noon." Mae answered the anxious girl.

"What will happen if no one in Stockton can tell me who my parents are or what if some one does recognize them but tell us they moved away?" Amy voiced her concern.

"We'll continue to look until we do find them." Mae assured her.

"What if we can't find them? What if we find out that Papa died trying to save me? What if. "

"Amy calm down. There is no point worrying about things until they happen. We will deal with each situation as it presented to us."

It was easy for Mae to say calm down she wasn't the one whose whole world was turned upside down, but Amy realized the older woman was right. All they could do was pray that things would work out. Amy turned back to the window to watch the scenery.

They arrived in Stockton shortly before noon. The stagecoach driver pulled the horses to a stop then jumped down to helped them out of the stagecoach. While they stood on the boardwalk waiting for the driver to get them their bags Amy looked up and down the streets. When she saw a blond man coming out of the General store caring a sack of flour, her heart leaped for joy.

"That's him." She gasped. Then she started walking toward her father.

"Amy wait." Mae tried to stop the girl. She wanted to talk to the man first in private. She wanted a chance to prepare the man for the shock of his life, but Amy wasn't listening to her.

"Papa." Amy croaked as she walked up to stand behind the blond man who had his back to her arranging the supplies in the wagon.

....Continued