Part 2
 
************
 
The cabin slowly lost it's chill and loneliness as Lilly went about preparing a meal for the men that had come to be her guests. A heavy dutch oven hung over the fire in the hearth with baking biscuits inside and the thick aroma of the simmering stew filled the room. For the first time in months she had a purpose and she went about her work with an enthusiastic diligence, the baby tucked safely in the small cradle near the fire sleeping.
 
The door suddenly swung inward with Frank making his way inside, arms laden with wood for the fire and behind him was the man she recognized as Bob Younger carried the wooden bucket near full with fresh warm milk. "Where you want this, ma'am?"
 
"There on the table will be just fine. Thank you very much." She smiled, finding she liked the man as she spent more time in his company. He nodded moving toward the table.
 
"Sure smells good in here." He sat the bucket on the table and turned to leave and stopped turning back to where Lilly watched Frank from the stove. He couldn't contain the smile that spread across his face. "I just wanted to say thank ya, ma'am, for all you're doin. Been a while since we had a home cooked meal."
 
Lilly turned with a guilty blush. "You're welcome, Mr. Younger. Jackson would be glad to help you men if he were here ... but now I stand in his stead ."
 
"Jackson?" Frank turned his head his gaze pinning her as he carefully stacked the wood near the hearth.
 
"My husband. Jackson Montgomery was my husband but he was killed by jawhawkers a few months back. He's buried out there by that big buckeye tree in the yard." She nodded her head toward the front of the house like the men could see the tree that was in her mind's eye.
 
"Sorry for you loss, ma'am," Bob said, ducking out of the door, uncomfortable with talk of death. To him it seemed like they were always so close to it that is was just plain bad luck to speak overly of it.
 
Frank moved back from the fire cutting his eyes to the cradle as the infant inside began to squirm. His hand automatically went to the tiny back patting gently and soon the baby was sleeping soundly again. He spent several long moments just looking at her angelic face. Finally, he stood and moved to the stove beside Lilly inhaling deeply. There was a moment when he thought she wasn't watching when he dipped a finger into the stew and promptly received a resounding thwack with a wooden spoon.
 
"Damn, woman!" he yelped, only to be met with her giggling.
 
"I imagine you can wait for your dinner, Frank James," she admonished, teasingly brandishing the wooden spoon in front of her.
 
For a moment his breath lodged in his throat, the scene almost domestic, almost making him forget who and where he was.  As her sable hair bobbed around her waist his fingers itched to reach out and run through the thick shinning tresses. The deep blue of her eyes filled with amusement, instead of the sadness he'd seen there earlier, and it hit him like a well aimed punch to the gut that he had done that, he'd made her forget for a moment.
 
"Come on, Lilly, just a little taste," he managed as she turned back to the stove.
 
With a mock sigh she took the wooden spoon and dipped out a fair amount and moved to him, guiding he spoon to his mouth as he leaned down. His fingers circled her wrist to steady her hand and he felt the sure fire of a lighting strike travel his body, her skin so soft and smooth. The quick secession of images that traveled his mind had him burning from the inside out, touching her, running his hands over her naked skin until his touch was burned into her mind.
 
In Lilly there was a sudden quickening in the pit of her stomach, butterflies taking flight. His hand so strong and sure on her wrist drove her to a quickly aroused state. She knew she should feel guilt, a man touching her that wasn't Jackson, but Frank's touch felt more right than any that had come before. Her tongue slipped from her mouth to travel her suddenly dry lips, her legs had turned to saplings below her. Then the moment was broken as a hitching whimper came from the cradle a second before a full fledged wailing began.
 
"Can you?......" she turned, looking to the pots that took up residence on the stove top. "I'll see to her."
 
"Yeah, I reckon I can handle it." He smiled, trying to charm her as thoroughly as she had him.
 
Lilly nodded her head and released the spoon to him. Walking over to the cradle she picked up the aggitated infant and quickly slipped the buttons free from the bodice of her dress. She lifted her child and the baby quickly latched onto her, soft smacking noises coming from the tiny lips.
 
Frank managed to stir the stew once before the curious sounds drew his attention, and as his eyes lit on the sight of her suckling the baby his breath rushed from his lungs in one long gasp. It was then that the blood seemed to drain from the rest of his body and settle right in his groin, his manhood stiffening at the sight of her creamy breast bared so throughly to him.
 
Her eyes shot up hearing the gasp and she blushed a hot scarlet. "I...I'm sorry...I'm used to it only being...." Lilly stammered, trying to tug the edges of the material back in place.
 
"No, Lilly. I'm sorry. Damn it, it's a natural thing. A mother feeding...." He couldn't even say it without for a moment being jealous of the infant at her breast. It took him a few attempts at breathing before he could stamp down his embarrassment enough to put her at ease. He strode the short distance to her and lay a caressing hand on the baby's head and the other on her shoulder. "Honestly, Lilly, it doesn't bother me." He smiled, leaning in slightly as he inhaled the clean new smell of the baby combine with honeysuckle scent from her. "What's 'er name?"
 
Lilly worried her lower lips uncertainly, but enjoying the seeping warmth from him being so near. "Annabelle."
 
"That's a real pretty name," he whispered. "Howdy, Miss Annabelle. I'm Frank."
 
At the sound of his deep voice Annabelle released the nipple she had been so contentedly suckling to turn curious eyes to him. His eyes fastened on her desperately trying to wish away the damn war, this was suppose to be his, a wife and child, someone to love and to love him in return. Then he realized that Lilly was slowly handing Annabelle over to him, the trust she had in him filled his heart to near overflowing. "Dinner's ready." She smiled sweetly, working the buttons of her dress back into place. Frank nodded and began pacing with Annabelle patting her tiny back and singing low a lullaby he remembered his ma singing to Jesse as a boy.
 
After the rotation of the men around the small table Frank finally sat down with Lilly and they ate in silence, the men retreating for some well deserved sleep in the barn. Their eyes strayed to one another over and over, wondering just what the tension was between them. When the last of the stew had been eaten and Frank couldn't stand another bite he stood, and she shot to her feet beside him, eyes wide and frightened. "What's wrong, Lilly?"
 
"Nothin much." She shrugged, her trembling hand reaching out for the stoneware that littered the table. He quickly moved to help her clear the table and then turned toward the door. "Please," she whispered, a pleading in her voice..
 
"What?" He turned back to her, his hand reaching out to her shoulder but ending up against her cheek his thumb caressing the pale skin. "What is it?"
 
"Stay?" Her eyes dropped, not wanting him to see the desperate need ripping at her, a need solely for him. "Make love to me," she gasped, not believing her own wantonness.
 
With a hard moan of lust laced love he dragged her small frame against him. "Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I adore thee; O, my love, my love is young!" Frank whispered against her lips, nothing keeping her from him now.
 
"Shakespeare," she sighed, her lips opening to him, permitting the sweet touch of exploration. Her lips sealed against his a frenzy overtaking them.
 
His mind was screaming that there would never be a moment in his life quite as sweet, as impassioned at this, with a flourish of movement he bent and lifted her into his arms. He steps carried him around the table to the small partioned alcove just off the main room. There Frank stood his arms wound around her, kissing her breathless. In one fluid movement he was laying her gently on the feather mattress below, his knee anchoring at the side.  Poised above her, he held his breath as he looked at her. From her over bright eyes, flooded by desire to her kiss swollen lips, he loved her. It had come hard and fast but in such time wise men didn't question such blessings.
 
He noticed the visible quiver of her fingers as they went to her bodice and then lay his hands over her. "This is my pleasure," he told her, languidly working one button loose at a time. The whole time his erection strained at the front of his trousers, begging for release.
 
There was a quick rush of air across her breast as Frank pushed aside the gaping material of her dress and her nipples puckered to tingling peaks. There wasn't one wasted second as his hand closed over the heavy orb kneading and plucking at the aching point until a thin liquid formed. His mouth followed, pulling the dusky bud between his lips and suckling all the while pushing down the thin gingham material of her dress.
 
The first splash of her sweet milk across his tongue had his fingers jerking at the buttons of his trousers to free himself. With a satisfying pop his throbbing length slipped from the painful imprisonment just as her dress fell to the rough floor. Pulling her legs up she spread her thighs in invitation to him. He groaned against the fullness in his mouth, his hand moving to stroke himself several times before he hesitantly pulled away. As he straightened he looked down to her ripe pink folds that glistened with her feminine moisture. "Christ, you're beautiful, Lilly," he mumbled, as his hands went to her bent knees and teasingly worked downward  kneading the flesh of her inner thighs. As his fingers met her petal soft lower lips he inserted a finger tip inside her and immediately her muscles clenched around the invasion. Another excited groan rumbled through his chest as he pushed the digit further into h
 
"Please, Frank. Please," she whimpered as she writhed below him, her body feeling hot and cold all at once, pulled taught as a bow string.
 
This time when he straightened it was to rid himself of the rest of his clothes. Then he was moving back to her, settling between her thighs. "Lilly?" he began his jaw clenched tight as the tip of his staff nudged the wet opening into eager body. "Are you sure? Sure you want me?" he question, giving her the chance to end it her, while he could still stop.
 
"More than anything, Frank. More than anyone. Ever." Panting she opened her glazed eyes to meet his. With that Frank entered her inch by slow inch, dying slowly with the stretch and grip of her. He paused a moment as he pushed in to the hilt, reining in his control. When he could move without the threat of ending the pleasure too soon he set the sweet roll and ebb off their love making, riding out wave upon wave of erotic pleasure.
 
Lilly was awash in the tactile world of pure sensation, her body being throughly loved by the man above her. Rolling her hips to meet his rhythm she panted her rapture to her lover, one word, his name, over and over. Until the whirlwind inside her whipped her way, rising up inside her and shattering the world around her into thousands of meaningless fragments. Arching her back with a strangled cry, she reached a soul branding climax.
 
Frank watched her sweet features contort with the orgasmic fervor that had her fully in its grip and he followed, shouting his own completion to the rafters, his seed filling her womb. Their bodies atangle, they twisted together onto the bed, careful not to loose contact. "I never knew it could be so perfect..." she whispered in the still aftermath.
 
"Lilly, you were married...." he began, only to have her shake her head negatively.
 
"It was never like this," she assured him.
 
"What was it like?" He knew he was asking for pain, for torture but it didn't stop him from asking the question all the same.
 
"Well, it was never love. We never had this."

Part 3
 
**********
 
 
Inside the barn Cole Younger tossed and turned, something undefinable disturbing his sleep. "Goddamn it!" he hissed, rolling onto his back and tossing his arm over his eyes.
 
"Stop your figitin, Cole," Bob grumbled, cracking an eye open to stare at his brother.
 
"The both of you shut your traps," Jesse, growled from nearby.
 
"I can't sleep," Cole replied, leaning up on his elbows just as Tom slipped through the barn doors.
 
"You best get your sour ass some sleep, Cole. No tellin how long it'll be before we find hospitality again." Jess, turned onto his side, pinning his cousin with an irritated glare.
 
"Can't help it," he huffed, closing his eyes in another attempt to seek out sleep and still there was something at the back of his mind that nudged him awake.
 
Cole could feel the Comanche scout moving near him and smiled with closed eye lids. "You find us any Yankees out there, Tom?" When Tom didn't answer but simply stood there his eye snapped fully open. "What's wron......"
 
"Shhhhh!" Tom had his head cocked, listening. "You hear that?" he asked.
 
"Hear what?" Bob and Cole asked in unison.
 
"That," he replied, and then suddenly Cole knew what had so carefully kept him from sleep. There was the sound of running water, the sound distant but distinct.
 
"Where the hell's it coming from?" Jesse spoke up, climbing to his feet as Tom began to turn in a circle. "The creek's at least a mile or more."
 
The three man stood in a semi-circle watching the scout scan the floor of the barn working his way to a stall filled to overflowing with hay. "Here." Tom pointed down to the ground. The men were quick to come to his side and help clear the hay way and when all was done there, in the barn floor was a crude hinged door. They glanced at one another for long seconds and finally it was Jesse that grasped the iron ring and pulled the door upward. "Get some light." He looked to Cole. In seconds he returned with a lantern lit with a small flickering flame. Jesse took it and held it over the gaping hole.  Below, no more than a couple of feet, there was a ladder leading downward. One by one they disappeared into the hole, too curious not to investigate such an odd thing.
 
"Hey, maybe it's just the potata cellar," Bob said as his feet finally touch solid ground, the sound of rushing water louder now.
 
"Sure as hell ain't no cellar!" Jesse replied, holding the lantern high illuminating the walls of the large cave and what was stored so carefully there.
 
****************************
 
"Frank!" Bob poked at his cousin's shoulder, trying to rouse him without waking the woman wound so thoroughly around him. "FRANK!" he hissed again and found the barrel of Frank's revolver in his face. He shoved it aside.  "It's me.."
 
"What?" Frank managed, slipping the revolver back into the holster beside the bed.
 
"Come on, there's something you gotta see." Bob nodded his head toward the door urging him to follow.
 
Beside him Lilly began to stir. "Something wrong, Frank?"
 
"No, darlin. Go back to sleep." His hand went to her back rubbing gently. But there was no more sleep for her when she noticed Bob beside the bed. "What is it?"
 
"I'll be waitin outside," Bob spoke up, glancing between the two.
 
Moments later she was dressed and followed Frank to the door. After checking on Annabelle the three walked to the barn in silence, Frank concerned at what could have Bob so cryptic.
 
"It's over there." Bob pointed to the stall, and strode toward the yawning hole. "Tom found it right off once we heard the water."  He glanced at the two expectantly. "Well, go on."
 
"It's damn dark down there," Frank countered, his patience growing in short supply.
 
Bob yelled down into the hole and a dim light appeared at the bottom. "Come on down and take a look at this, brother," Jesse shouted and Frank disappeared into the muted light below, seconds later he was followed by Lilly and Bob.
 
"God, all mighty!" Frank bellowed as Jesse held the lantern his and its light shone over the stacked crates against the wall.
 
"We got amminituion and blankets over there." Cole strode over and pointed to a set of crates behind them. "All union marked."
 
"How the hell?....." Frank began turning to Lilly.
 
She stood with her hands covering her mouth in shock. "I...I... I had no idea. Jackson he was a bushwacker for sure but I never knew nothin about this."
 
Hearing the name again something collided inside Franks mind. "Black Jack Montgomery," he whispered. "Your husband was Black Jack Montgomery," he repeated a little louder, the name gained the other men's attention.
 
She shook her head shruggin, having no idea what he was talking about.
 
"Black Jack was the one to provide information about where and when the yankees were movin supplies. Always took a fair share of 'em after the raids and hid 'em away." He turned in a full circle looking at the bounty they had stumbled on. "Guess we know where now."  He pulled Lilly into his arms and hugged her gently to him.
 
"We're gonna have company real soon, boys," came the call down into the cavern. A deathly silence fell over the cave, all eyes turning to Lilly.  They could ride away, outride the yankees but she would be staying, left behind and they all knew it.
 
Lilly pushed outta Franks arms, steeling herself against the pain to come, the pain of desertion. He would go and she would be left alone again. "Take what you need. Take what you can carry, blankets, hardtack....." She watched the Yonger brother scrammble to crates, removing select items.
 
"That way..."  Tom pointed to the tunnel leading to the east, the direction from which the distant sound of running water was coming. "Opens to the creek. It's running damn high but I think we can get the horses down here and....."
 
"No," Frank barked. "Were not hidin here. If we can we'll lead 'em away. But we don't hide here." His eyes bore into Lilly's, his chest constricting painfully at the pain in her eyes.
 
Tom nodded and strode over to help Cole and Bob with the supplies.  Forming a chain they began handing them up the ladder.
 
Frank turned taking Lilly by the shoulders. "I'm sorry...."
 
"Shhhh...." She caressed his check lovingly, dictating the warm feel of his skin to memory, knowing she would have to make enough memories to last a lifetime. "Go. Help the boys." She stepped away from him and with one look erected a barrier that prevent any argument.
 
Supplies were carefully packed onto the backs of the horses, as much as they could carry and not be slowed. Outside the barn each man swung up into the saddle, all but Frank. He stood with arms wrapped tightly around Lilly, staring down at her pale heart shaped face, falling into the warmth of her expressive eyes.
 
"I have to go now, darlin. But as soon as I can I'll be back for you and Annabelle," he swore, forging that promise into the chambers of his heart. He leaned down and melded his lips to her in a heated kiss.
 
She tilted her head as he broke the kiss with a regretful groan. "Know this one thing when things look bad. I loved you, Frank James. Loved you for a night, loved you for a lifetime." Her whispered voice was filled with loving vehmence."Now, you ride outta here and you don't look back, you hear?"
 
He nodded his head, not knowing if it was a promise he could keep. He stepped up into the saddle, with her hand gentle against his thigh in a last touch he leaned down and gave her a lingering kiss, a parting kiss. Then he kicked his mount into a fast gait following the rest of the group from the yard.
 
Her arms wound around herself in an attempt to keep the piece of her broken self together, to keep from crumbling to the ground and remaining there until time stopped. A heavy sob broke from her throat as the pain finally took over, ripping her heart to shreds. Then when she would have given into the pain completely she looked up and saw him, sitting on his horse watching her as the tears spilled down her cheeks. There was a heart stopping moment when she thought he might sacrifice everything and ride back to her, she prayed not, not for her. But no, he whipped the bandanna from his neck, the only thing he had he could spare, could leave her with, and wrapped it around a thin branch of the fading dogwood tree past the barn, then he was gone again.
 
Lilly ran as fast as her legs wood carry her to the tree. Reaching up she pulled the fabric free from the branch, hugging it to her chest and then lifting it to her nose to inhale the scent of her lover, to inhale Frank and remember being so close to him there wasn't a space to seperate the two.
 
"I love you," she whispered, the wind carring her words among the trees and toward the clear blue sky ... carrying them away from two people whos lives had been changed forever.

EPILOGUE
 
*****************
 
"Thank you, miss."  Walter Preston finished with his customer. The general was a rather slow place for a Saturday but then he didn't mind when he had such wonderful company. Rounding the counter, he made his way over to the bundle of fabrics ."Well, Ms. Lilly, how are..."
 
"Mama! Look as this!" The raven haired girl turned to her mother smiling, fingering a particularly fine bolt of fabric. "This would be so pretty for a Sunday dress." Lilly could hear the pleading in her daughter's voice and smiled.
 
"I'll think about it, Annabelle." She turned her attention back to Walter. "I'm sorry, I truly have taught my daughter better manners than that." She cut her eyes sharply back to Annabelle.
 
"I'm sorry, Mr. Preston," the girl pouted.
 
"It's quite all right, dear." Walter reached over and patted the girls head indulgently.
 
"Mama, can I have some peppermints?" A blonde head appeared around the corner of the aisle. But before Lilly could deliver an answer to her son, Walter spoke up. "Take as much as you want, Frank."
 
"Walter Preston, you spoil that child shamelessly." Lilly's smile sparked with warm affection for the aging man.
 
"Now, Lilly, he's a good boy and it ain't gonna hurt him none." Walter returned her smile, wondering for the millionth time about the man that had captured Lilly so completely that in the years since Frank's birth she'd never accepted a suitor, not one. It was clear the title that most would label the boy with, everyone knew he wasn't Jackson's son, the timing was all wrong and he looked nothing like the man. But Lilly and her children were well liked in the town, she was a charitable woman and her children were the apple of many of the towns folks eye.  As a result there had never been a harsh word said to either Frank or Lilly about his parentage.
 
Lilly followed Walter back to the front counter. "Lilly, I didn't wanna say anything in front of Annabelle but Martha is making a dress for her from that very material." He leaned over the counter whispering.
 
"Oh, Walter...." she began, her hand flying up to her mouth.
 
"Now, no arguing. You know how she misses the children. Let her do this, it makes her happy."
 
A low whistle came from down the counter and they both turned toward Frank. "Now, that's just a beautiful piece of steel,"  he piped up. "Think I'll have me one of those one of these days." He pointed to the shiny new Colt in the display case.
 
"You'll settle for that right now," Lilly admonished, pointing to the shelf behind the counter where a volume of Shakespeare sat.
 
"Yes, ma'am," he smiled, working his fathomless charm on his mother. "But can I have this too?" He pulled a thin dime novel from his pocket, The Adventures of The James Younger Gang.
 
Lilly rolled her eyes and sighed as Walter handed over the thicker book. "I suppose...." Frank ran off down the aisle to tease his sister with his good fortune.  Then a voice rang through the store and her legs grew weak. She knew it as well as she knew her own voice, it was every breath she took and in every beat of her heart.
 
"I'm looking for a Lilly Montgomery," the voice called from the doorway, filled with hope.
 
"Well, Mr..." Walter began, feeling tension radiate from Lilly. But he never finished. She turned her head meeting the man's eyes over her shoulder. He was a little older, but if possible even more handsome than she remembered.
 
Frank was struck hard with the first sight of her, his breathing all but stopped. She was beautiful and hadn't aged in the least. He took as step toward her and then another earth shattering moment unfolded before him. He looked down just as the boy came to a skidding hault in front of him, his small arms cartwheeling to keep from colliding. To Frank is was like looking straight into a mirror, like looking at himself.
 
"Frank!" Lilly called, and both man and boy turned toward her, understanding dawning in the older of the two.
 
Frank James had just met his son for the first time and knew in that moment he'd never be apart from him or his mother again.
 
**************
 
Fini