NOVEMBER 14, 1860

Grace walked out of the house slowly. For the first time in her life she was wearing pants. She was on her way to purchase a horse at Walter's and had decided if she was going to have a horse, she was going to need some riding pants. She had her golden locks pulled back from her face with a blue bow that matched her cornflower blue eyes. She smiled as Ike approached her and offered his arm, and she blushed when he signed and told her how nice she looked. The two
walked over to his horse. She watched as Ike checked his saddle. She signed to him, Thank you for taking me.

Ike smiled and helped her up into the saddle then mounted in front of her signing, I'm happy to do it. We are going over to Walter's. He has the horses now.

Grace noticed that Ike looked a little sad when he mentioned the horses, Where were they before?

Ike stiffened up a bit. He cared for Grace, but his thoughts went back to Karen. Grace was a sweet beautiful young woman, and any fella would be lucky to have her, but that was just something he was not ready for at this time. And he especially didn't want to talk about Karen with her.

Grace didn't repeat her question. She could tell she had somehow struck a nerve with Ike. She was starting to have feelings for him but was unsure as to how deep they ran. She had never been in love and really didn't know what true love really was. But one thing was for sure, she cherished their friendship and was not about to jeopardize that.

Later she stood at Walter's holding the reigns of her new golden mare. Ike smiled and signed to her, What are you going to name her?

"I don't know. I was thinking 'Buttercup'."

Ike nodded in approval. Well, we should be heading back. He took the reigns and tied the horse to his.

Grace wanted to ride 'Buttercup' but she needed a saddle. She would have to look into purchasing one. For now Ike said he had an extra one she could borrow.

As she wrapped her arms around Ike's torso she laughed, "Kind of silly for me to buy a horse with no saddle huh?"

Ike turned and signed, Well, I'm the one who forgot to bring the extra one along. Although, he wasn't so sure if he had done that on purpose or not. He looked down at her hands that were clasped over his mid section, smiled then road back towards the station.