The Locket

"Good Lord," Buck breathed. "It's Lydia!"

"Who?" Kid glanced up at him, puzzled.

"Lydia Mitchell. Ike and me worked for her father in Colorado about six months before we started with the Express."

"Colorado?"

"It wasn't Colorado Territory back then. Anyway, Lydia and Ike were close."

"Is she alive?"

Buck nodded. "We have to get her out of here before McCaffrey comes out. He'll kill her." He'd seen McCaffrey glaring at them from above.

"Buck, maybe this is none of our business..."

"Kid, you heard her, she doesn't want to work for him. Do you really want McCaffrey to get his hands on her?"

Kid shook his head. "Maybe we should take her to Doc Seyton."

It was Buck's turn to shake his head. "No, McCaffrey could get to him. Better take her back to the ranch. We can send for the doc later." Buck glanced worriedly at the saloon as they heard McCaffrey yelling at someone inside to get Lydia and get rid of the 'unwanted company'. "Kid, we ain't got time to argue. We need to move her now." As soon as Kid nodded, Buck mounted his chestnut gelding and waited while Kid gently picked Lydia up and handed her to him. When Kid mounted Katy, they rode hard out of Lone Tree valley, with McCaffrey's henchmen on their tails. Although the henchmen also rode hard, firing their weapons, they could not catch up with the ex-riders, even with the burden the riders carried.

Louise was sitting on the front porch, waiting for her husband's return. She had seen Wilson and Durand ride in with the horses Kid and Buck had purchased, and she rolled her eyes when she heard that they went into town for a drink. But she could not blame them, she herself knew how thirsty a long hard ride can make you. So she sat on the porch to wait.

She hadn't been sitting there long when she saw Kid and Buck ride up. Realising that they had not been in town long enough for a drink, Lou stepped off the porch to greet them. By doing so, she saw they were not alone.

"What happened?" She asked as Kid dismounted and gently took Lydia from Buck's arms. Lou's eyes widened when she saw the unconscious girl, judging her to be at least a year younger than herself. She did not notice Buck dismount.

"Could we talk about this inside? Lydia needs tendin' to." Buck pleaded, taking Lydia back from Kid and heading inside, not waiting for any reply Lou might give.

"Of course, just put her in one of the spare rooms," Lou called after him. She turned to the Kid, but all he could do was shrug and follow Buck in.

Buck had placed Lydia on the bed in the room across from his. He was sitting on the bed beside her when Lou and the Kid came in; tenderly brushing matted strands of wavy reddish-brown hair back from her face. His fingers came back bloody. "She's bleedin'."

Quickly Lou moved to examine her. It took a moment to find where the blood was coming from, there was no obvious wound. But she finally found the gash where Lydia had hit her head. "What happened?"

"She fell from the balcony above the saloon."

"Jumped," Kid corrected.

Buck ignored him. "Is she alright?"

"I'm not sure. Was she unconscious all the way here?" Lou asked, frowning when Buck nodded. "That's not good. We'd better send for Doc Seyton. I can't tell you what's wrong; I'm not a doctor, just a nurse."

Jeremiah McCloud poked his ginger head round the door. "What's goin' on?" The overly curious 14-year-old asked.

Lou turned to reprimand her younger brother, but stopped before she got the words out. "Jeremiah," she asked instead, "could you do me a favour, please?"

"What?" He asked cautiously -- in case she asked him to do something really gross.

"Could you ride into town and get Doc Seyton for me. Please? Kid and Buck just got back from Fort Kearney, I don't want to ask then to ride again."

"Sure!" Jeremiah said, glad to be doing something grown up for once.

"And ask Emily to bring me a basin of water and a cloth, please." Lou called after him. "Buck, how do know this girl?" Lou asked after her brother left.

"Her name's Lydia Mitchell. Me and Ike worked on her father's cattle ranch in Colorado."

"Colorado?!" Buck nodded. "What would she be doin' out here?"

"She might be lookin' for Ike," Buck replied, clearing his throat. "They fell for each other pretty hard, but Mitchell didn't approve, so we left. That was about six months before we joined the Express though."

Kid caught something in his friend's voice. "Somehow, I think there's more to it than that."

"Lydia'll have to tell you herself if she wants to. It's her business...hers and Ike's."

"What's that about Ike?" A fourth voice asked.

They turned to see Emily Metcalfe standing in the doorway, with the basin and cloth Jeremiah had sent her for. Buck nodded toward Lydia. "Ike and Lydia were close, a long time ago. I was tellin' Lou, it's up to Lydia whether she wants to fill you in."

"Oh," was all Emily could say as Buck took the basin and cloth from her to give to Lou. She was not sure that she liked the thought of meeting one of Ike's ex-girlfriends. Not that she was jealous, but she never thought she'd meet any of them.

Lou tended to Lydia for a moment, then turned to Buck, concerned. "She doesn't know about Ike, then, does she?"

Buck shook his head. "I don't see how she could. We lost contact right after we left. Never heard from her."

"Did she know where to find you?"

"Well, Ike wrote from time to time, but he never got any reply. He gave up after about six months. It cut him up pretty badly."

"Oh."

It was almost an hour before Jeremiah came back with Dr. Seyton. By that time, under Lou's ministrations, Lydia began to come to. The doctor looked Lydia over. In addition to the gash on her head, she had a dandy bruise coming up on her cheek where McCaffrey had hit her. Dr. Seyton inquired where she got it, but Lydia refused to tell. He had a pretty good idea, though. He had heard the commotion at the saloon -- especially afterwards, when McCaffrey was yelling at his men for letting 'that damn half-breed go!' Wisely, Dr. Seyton refrained from commenting on this. He just pronounced that Lydia should be fine provided she stays in bed for the next few days. She was not to fall asleep for a few hours though, as she was concussed.

In his room over the saloon, McCaffrey paced to and fro. He was incensed at losing Lydia. He found her very attractive, with long reddish-brown hair and blue-green eyes. She was also very spirited, McCaffrey found as he longed to crush that spirit -- mainly for turning down his offer of work after all he'd done for her. He honestly assumed that she was a runaway who wanted nothing to do with the law. Her reaction both intrigued and surprised him.

McCaffrey's thoughts turned to the gold locket Lydia wore on a chain around her neck. It was obviously very important to her -- especially as she would not part with it even to pay for food and lodging. Maybe it was a keepsake from a long-lost lover, McCaffrey thought, whom she was searching for. McCaffrey rejected that idea. Lydia didn't look old enough to have a long-lost lover. Maybe it held secrets -- possibly from the War. Maybe she was going to give information to Southern Sympathisers...

The saloon owner shook his head, His imagination was running overtime. The answer was probably nothing more sinister than and heirloom from mother to daughter. Though he might never know unless he saw her again. Unless he got her back -- for he already begun to think of her as his.

With disgust, McCaffrey's thoughts turned to Buck. That 'half-breed' had been nothing but a thorn in his side ever since he arrived in Lone Tree Valley. McCaffrey, in his own mind, knew Buck was a thievin' stinkin' savage who would be the towns undoing. McCaffrey had yet to prove it to the town, though. Every time he came close, Kid, Lou and the local law, Marshal Pierce, thwarted him on some technicality or other. But some day...

Lydia was very confused when she first came to. She looked around the room, blurry though it was. Nothing was familiar, not the room, not the people. She briefly recognised Buck, but before she could say anything, a doctor came in, and Buck was ushered out, along with another man, whom she did not recognise.

But as she became more and more alert, she managed to convince herself that she'd been dreaming. The lady helping Dr. Seyton, who introduced herself as Louise, did not mention him. Then, after the doctor left, there was a knock at the door.

"Is it alright to come in, now?" A deep, muffled, male voice asked from the other side of the wooden door.

Lou smiled. "Sure, come on in Buck," she called.

Lydia couldn't believe first her ears, then her eyes as Buck opened the door and came in. She just blinked and stared.

"How are you feelin'?" Buck looked at Lydia, who just stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. He frowned as she just stared, then he burst out laughing. "You don't even remember me, do you?"

Lydia blinked again. "Of course I remember you, Buck. I just can't believe it, is all. I never imagined it. Anyway, I'm fine. Just have a headache, and I'm incredibly tired."

"Yeah, well, remember what Doc Seyton said. You need to stay awake for a few hours. Just keep her talkin', you probably have a lot to catch up on," Lou said to Buck. "I'll leave you to it, then."

"Thanks, Louise," Lydia smiled.

"That's all right. Good night."

"Night, Lou."

Lydia gave Buck a strange look as Lou left. "Lou?"

"It's a long story. So what happened after we left?"

Lydia frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Ike wrote to you for months, but we never got any reply. We gave up after a while, he was pretty hurt."

Pain crossed Lydia's face. "I'm sorry. I wrote on and off, but I didn't know where to send the letters, so I don't suppose you got them." Confusion flittered across Buck's face, so she hastened to continue. "I never got any letters. As soon as I recovered from the beatin' Papa gave me, he sent me to a Ladies College in Baltimore. I doubt he would've forwarded your letters to me."

"He sent you away?"

"It was my darling stepmother's idea. She thought I needed some 'culture'." The contempt in Lydia's voice was unmistakable. "So, I went to school, got a teachin' licence, and taught in Baltimore for a while, still tryin' to reach you. I didn't want to come back straight away. Not to Papa and Wendy. Papa...Papa died a few months ago."

"I'm sorry."

"Are you?" Lydia gave Buck a curious look.

"We may not have gotten along, but he was still your father."

"Anyway, I decided to come back West. Not to see Wendy, we never got along when she was married to Papa -- it would be all out war now that she's his widow. I came back to find Ike."

"Ike," Buck looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.

"I've missed him so much. I can't wait to see him again."

The eagerness and longing in Lydia's tone made Buck glance at her sharply. She still loved Ike, after all this time. He easily recognised the look on her face, and he saw the locket on the chain around her neck. Noticing her hand unconsciously coming up to hold the locket, Buck looked away again. He dreaded what he had to tell her.

"Er...Lydia...there's somethin' you oughtta know."

"What is it?" She asked when Buck hesitated.

"It's about Ike."

"What about him?" Lydia suddenly afraid.

"He...he was...killed almost a year ago."

"Killed?" Lydia turned a deathly white. All her hopes and dreams came crashing around her. "No, not Ike..."

The tears and anguish in her voice just about killed Buck. He'd had time to come to terms with his own grief at Ike's loss, but he knew Lydia's heart was breaking. She had loved Ike, and Buck could tell that she still did. As Lydia began to sob, he drew her into his arms and gently rocked her back and forth. "I'm sorry, Lyd," he murmured, tears choking his own voice.

After a while, her sobbing eased, and she drew away from Buck, an apology forming on her lips for acting like a fool. However, it died there, as the sharp sound of a baby's cry cut through the night. "What was that?"

"A baby."

"Whose? Louise's?" It was a natural assumption.

Buck shook his head. He couldn't keep it from her, she was bound to find out, and it was bound to hurt no matter who told her. It would be better coming from him. "No, it's not Lou's, and it's not mine, either. It's...it's Ike's."

A few days earlier, Simon and Adele Walters had been left for dead by Matthews and his gang when they abducted Lydia. They were found a few hours later, by Captain McMullen and some soldiers tracking the gang. Simon and Adele were both alive -- barely -- and were taken into Fort Kearney.

There were three days of silence as everybody waited to see of they would survive. Then, on the evening of the third day, Simon began to come to. Not wanting to wait any longer, Captain McMullen began asking Simon questions while he was still groggy. This was not the wisest course of action.

"Where am I?" Simon asked groggily.

"You're in Fort Kearney," Captain McMullen replied.

"My wife?"

"She'll be fine, and so will you. Now, this is important. Do you remember what happened?"

"Attacked...gang of bushwhackers...looking for gold...Lydia...Lydia...she...the gang..." Simon lapsed back into unconsciousness. Captain McMullen looked at his Lieutenant with interest. Was this Lydia a member of the gang?

Onto to Chapter 3