 After
being abandoned by her father and the death of her mother, Louise and her
two siblings, Teresa and Jeremiah, were taken in at a local Catholic orphanage.
Promising to give her siblings a better life, Louise only stayed at the
orphanage for a short while before heading out to provide a grub-stake
for her family. She made her way to St. Joseph Missouri where she
found employment as a laundress at a less-than-reputable establishment.
Such was Louise's innocence that she didn't even realize said establishment
was the local whorehouse until she had worked there for quite some time.
Maturing under its roof, she ultimately endured a brutal rape by Wicks,
the owner of the brothel.
Borrowing
money from Charlotte -- a prostitute at the brothel and her only friend
-- Louise fled. Determined never to be victimized again, Louise cut
her waist-length hair and began dressing like a boy. "Louise" became
"Lou".
Proving
that she could handle herself, Lou joined the Pony Express. She had
been away from the orphanage for five years, and was finally ready to visit
her siblings. She traveled back to Teresa and Jeremiah, only to discover
that her abusive father had returned and left with them. The
riders banded together to save the children from the despotic and cruel
Boggs, who was killed during the rescue. Lou left the children in
the orphanage as she returned to the Express to earn a grub-stake for them.
It hadn't taken long for Kid to discover Lou's secret, and now the other
riders were let in on it as well. Lou and Kid began a tentative courtship
that culminated in the consummation of their feelings after a run to Redfern.
They had rushed ahead too soon, however -- Lou began to feel stifled by
Kid's overprotectiveness and the couple broke up. But in the end,
their love could not be denied -- despite many bumps on the road to happiness,
the couple were finally married.
Photo:
ABC Third Season Promotional Photo showing Yvonne Suhor as "Lou McCloud"
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