DECEMBER 27, 1861

Mary came out of the hotel and when she saw Joshua a smile crept across her face. She watched him strolling across the street with his back to her. She had decided to follow him, but after taking one step she froze.

Joshua was crossing the street when Samantha called out to him. He ran up the steps and then turned around to see her. She stopped her horse in front of the boardwalk and greeted him. "Good morning."

"Morning Miss Samantha," he replied. "Where might you be off to?"

"I'm headin' out to `Joker's Wild Ranch'. I'm going to watch Jedidiah train one of those white horses. And where might you be headin'?" She watched him inching his way down the boardwalk wondering what he was up to.

"I'm just out for a walk, going this way." His arm shot out pointing his hand in the direction he was walking. He grinned and pushed his hat up on his head so that he could see Samantha better when his eyes glanced up.

"Oh," She knew if he didn't want to tell her anything that she couldn't pry it out of him, so she decided to let it drop. "How do you like working at the bank?" She kicked her horse lightly to make him walk along so that she could stay eye to eye with Joshua.

"It's a job. The boss pays a fair wage." It was the closest Heyes had ever been to a lot of money that he hadn't stolen.

Heyes was still walking forward, but out of politeness, he had his head turned towards Samantha, and because of this he didn't see that the boutique shop's door was opening.

"Joshua look out," Samantha called, but she was too late.

As Joshua started to turn his head to see why Samantha had yelled, the right side of his body hit something.

"Aaaah," the young lady's voice cried as her packages went flying out of her hands and she almost fell down.

His quick reflexes went into play as he grabbed the light brown haired gal. Grabbing her arm and pulling her into him had stopped her from falling onto the boardwalk.

As Jacy found herself staring into a black shirt, her eyes glanced up to see a ruggedly handsome face. She remembered this fella from the Thanksgiving Dinner party that her brother had invited everyone to. That evening he had mistaken her twin sister for his childhood sweetheart.

It was strange that she should bump into this particular man because she just happened to have been thinking about him as she left the shop. She had heard from her brother that he had helped in her brother's escape from the bad men in Wyoming, and from Melissa she
had heard that he was looking for his childhood sweetheart. She thought his life could make for a very interesting story for her readers, but she was having a hard time getting up the nerve to ask him for an interview.

"Ma'am are you alright?" She nodded as she backed up. "I'm very sorry. Here let me help you." Joshua started picking up her packages. Jacy stooped and picked up one, and then she watched as Joshua gathered all the others. To see this man holding packages for her,
she couldn't help but smile.

Though it had been funny to see all those packages go flying, Samantha was glad that her friend hadn't been hurt. "Good morning Jacy."

Jacy looked over and saw her good friend, "Good morning Samantha."

"Are you alright?" She inquired.

"Yes, I'm fine," Jacy answered.

"Good, well, I'm heading out to your brother's. You have a good day."

"Thanks, you too," Jacy watched Samantha ride off then she turned back to Joshua and realized that he was just standing there starring at her. She began to feel uncomfortable at being alone in this man's company, so she said, "I should be going. I have things to do."

"Let me help you. Where are you heading? I'll carry these packages for you." He gave her his charming winning smile, so she couldn't refuse.

"I'm going over to the Pony Express Gazette office." She told him, and he nodded. With a grin on his face, Joshua followed the gal who looked so much like his Jessie.

Seeing Joshua with Jacy made Mary jealous. He hardly gave her the time of day, just yes ma'am, no ma'am, good morning ma'am, and how are you ma'am, but she couldn't get him to stay put long enough to enjoy a conversation with him. He was always excusing himself and running off to do something, but now here he was helping and talking to this other girl as though they were long lost friends.

After Joshua and Jacy enter the newspaper office, Mary stormed over to the saloon. She was furious when she walked up to the bar and practically bit the bartender's head off when he was too slow bringing her a glass of whiskey. She had acquired a taste for it when she was pretending to be her sister, Red, in Broken Bow.

"Is there something I can help you with, ma'am?" Being softhearted Richard hated to see any lady in distress or upset.

"I don't want to talk about it." Mary angrily replied.

"Are you sure? Sometimes when you talk about it, you feel better." Richard stated.

"I told you NO!" She screamed at him. "Give me another one." She picked up her glass and sat it down hard on the bar to make her point.

Richard poured her another glass full. After a few more glasses of whiskey, she was talking Richard's ears off, and before she left she had acquired a job as a saloon girl.