Tuesday, April 3, 1860

Vin and some of the men had seen the need for new playground equipment at the schoolyard. They were in his office talking about it when Veronique passed by and overheard. She was on her way to visit Vic at her new job.

When she got to the Station, Vic was in the stables with Ben helping him with a horse that had thrown a shoe. She told them, "Some of the people in town are trying to figure out a way to raise money so that the kids can have some new things to play on at the school and church." Vic thought a minute and then replied, "Well, they could hold a Bake and Craft sale at a dance. That would raise money."

Ben then got an idea, "Well Founder's Day is coming up we could make a holiday of it and hold a race and picnic that way those who might not have fun at the dance could have fun before the dance." The three talked awhile before Buck came in. He had been working on the fence at the far end of the corral and needed to put his tools. When Buck came into the barn, Vic saw the chance to introduce the girl she felt like was a sister to Buck. She knew that Veronique liked him. "Buck, this is Veronique Benard. Chi this is
Buck Cross." The two shook hands and Buck was smitten with her. He wondered about the nickname that Victoria had used, but didn't say anything about it. "Nice to meet you, Miss Benard."

Veronique stammered, but was able to get out, "Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Cross."

When Vic returned home from work, Veronique was there waiting for here.

"Vic!!! I told Daddy your and Ben's idea for the fund raiser and he liked it! They are going to make a whole day of it. School will be closed on Founder's Day and there will be a horse race that you have to pay to enter and a bake and craft sale at a dance held that night!!!!" She rushed out before Victoria could say a word.

Vic's face lit up, "Great! Now I just have to get Jimmy to notice me. Maybe he will ask me to the dance."

"What about Buck? Do you think he will ask me?"

"He might. I think he liked you."

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Jerusha had waited until her ma had returned to the bakery before joining James once again in hte building that was to be her dress shop. Throughout the morning Jerusha's mind had raced with ideas on how to decorate the store's main room, measurements for shelves, bureaus and counters to keep her merchandise in order. There was so much equipment that she still needed and remodeling on the inside that she wanted to do before moving any of her dressmaking supplies over. James convinced her though that whatever they moved could be stored in the large storage area he had added onto the back of the room. She consented and they began moving her meager supplies. They stopped briefly around one for lunch, then went back to work. Jerusha was about to lock the building up and return to the bakjery when a loud thumping noise from outside caught her attention.

She was startled a moment later when the door opened from outside and James appeared in the doorway struggling with a rather large piece of furniture. James maneuvered his heavy burden through the doorway and glanced over at Jerusha, when he felt his fingers slip and the box landed on his toes.

"Ow!" James exclaimed as pain shot through his foot and up his leg.

Jerusha rushed forward and helped James pry the box off of his toes. James groaned as the pressure was removed and Jerusha helped him to sit down upon the box that had injured him.

"James, is your foot alright?" Jerusha asked. "Is anything broken?" James wriggled his toes in his boot and although it was painful to do so didn't think any of his toes were broken."Nope. My surprise is ruined though."

"What is this?" Jerusha asked, crouching down in order to get a better look at the box.

It was made of polished pine and stood about 2ft tall and was about 3ft in length. Four drawers of 1in deep lined the top, followed by two drawers of 2 in and then two more of about 6 inches deep. "I thought you could use it to store all those buttone and frivols women are so keen on." James said.

"Thank you." Jerusha said pass the lump in her throat. "It's beautiful."

"Your welcome."James told her, blushing with pleasure at her thanking him.

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Bryden awoke on his birthday as he did every morning to the sound of the patriarch in the chicken coop crowing his "Good Mornings' to the world.

Bryden climbed out of his bed, dressed, picked up his boots by the door and then headed out to the kitchen in his stocking feet to meet with his pa and Alton.

Instead of the customary "Good Mornings" he usually received , Bryden was greeted with "Happy Birthday" from both men, and Alton handed him a cup of hot coffee. He joined them at the table and pulled on his boots before taking his first sip of the strong coffee. On most mornings the three men talked about a number of things while they partook of that first cup of morning coffee, from discussing the newest price crops or telling of something one of the younger children had said or did. This morning though was different, none of the usual topics were discussed,nor did Bryden do any talking...he just sat and listened.

As per the Cutler birthday tradition of telling each of their children about their births that Cora and Calder had started when Alton was born, Calder talked of the time when he had learned that Cora was going to give him another child. He mentioned how excited he was about the prospect of having another son to be a playmate for Alton or a pretty daughter to dote on. Briefly he mentioned concerns that had also filled him at that time too, whether or not he would be capable of caring for another child, if he had enough love and discipline to give him or her. He reminded the two men sitting with him that it was just about that time that this was before they had moved to Three Crossings and he was still working for his pa.

"Yourn Ma came to me at thet time an' tole me to not fret so an' to seek the Lord's counsel. Ya Ma is a right smart person an' as soon as I went to the Lord a peace-like came over me...not thet I never fretted again mind you...Anyway the day came for ya to arrive and it was near perfect...no clouds in the sky at all and it a blue the color of yer Ma's eyes..yourn too, Bryden... Well this birth was a mite more difficult fer yer Ma cause it was longer then when she had Alton...well we didn't have us a doc back then an' yer ma had only yer Aunt Mahala to tend to her.

We hadn't finished up our own house yet an' we were still staying with the Benards...anyway to keep my mind off my worryin' about yer Ma, Vin tole me one whopper after another...Next thing i know, Mahala was handing me this tiny bundle of warmth and my heart was filled to overflowing with love and pride...those feelings now include respect for the man you have become Bryden." Calder finished, his voice husky with emotion. "Thanks Pa." Bryden said as he left his seat and gave the older man a hug. The two men embraced for several minutes before the embrace ended.

"Well if ya'll have had enough of this gushin' I think we need to git on with the chores." Alton said, brushing away tears as he stood. Bryden and Calder climbed to their feet as well. As the three men headed outside, Alton put an arm around Bryden's shoulders.

"Now as I remember it correct-like, you were a mite puny an' wrinkled...course me bein' only one an' all I wasn't too impressed with ya..."Alton started.. Bryden gave a wry chuckle...Alton almost always started his birthday stories with a joke to cover up the deeper feelings he might be having. Each of the children now went to the member of the family having the birthday and either shared with that person a story about how they felt at getting a younger sibling or something that they admired about that person.

During the remainder of the day, Bryden was taken aside by his mother and other siblings to receive the rest of his stories...The stories were always his favorite part of having a birthday because it reassured him of the love of each family member and was something that he would never forget. Dinner was Bryden's favorite of ham, potatoe salad, buttermilk biscuits and corn on the cob. Besides his family, Ben was in attendence for vanilla cake, vanilla frosting decorated with blackberries and blackberry ice cream...while everyone ate their ice cream and cake, Bryden opened his presents and exclaimed over each of them , thanking the family member who had given it to him.. Right before heading off for home, Ben pulled Everley aside and asked her to attend Victoria's coming out party with him. Everley readily agreed, flattered that he had asked her and Ben rode home happily.

As Philip was picking up the office he came across the bottles he was going to have Jesse send over to Victoria with her new shipment of Carnation.

"Poor kid, starting out his life without a mama." He sat down and remembered the day he drove out to help teach Victoria how to feed baby Allen. Victoria was happy to see Dr. Poor pulling his two draft horses Barney and Bianca to a stop. "Hello, Miss Victoria, how are you today?" "Hi Dr. Poor. I'm fine, I'll get one of the kids to water your horses."

"Thank you," he said climbing down and pulling a big black bag out from the back of the wagon.

"How's your practice, doc? Have you been busy?"

"It's been steady, but slow today, so I was able to make some house calls and have Jesse in charge of the office for a couple hours."

"Hope there isn't an emergency." Victoria said half joking. Dr. Poor made a mock face of concern, "Me, too."

Dr. Poor walked over to the crib where the baby was laying down. "All right, little one, how about I see how your doin?" Dr. Poor did a full physical exam of the baby, then turned his attention to teaching Victoria how to prepare the formula and feeding the baby. As Dr. Poor spoke his instructions he demonstrated how each step was to be performed. "Okay Victoria, what you want to do is bring the water on the stove to a slow boil. While your waiting for that you can be preparing the formula, by putting the mix in a large glass and adding water. Next, stir the mix and pour into the bottle and add the rubber nipple. Then, take a dipper and place the bottle in the dipper and submerge it for a count of 30. Then wait another minute and test it by putting a couple of drops on your forearm until it's the right amount of warmth."

Dr. Poor brought the bottle over to Victoria and sat down beside her. "Okay, I feel foolish having someone teach me to bottle feed, it seems so natural."

"That's what everyone thinks. First, make sure he is sitting up as straight as you can get him while still keeping him cradled in your arm. It is very important that you don't get the nipple under his tongue, and then make sure that the nipple is full of formula and that the bottle is held so that all the formula is on top of the nipple."

"Wow!" Victoria's eyes lit up and she smiled gleefully. "He's the natural."

Just then, they heard a horse approaching at full gallop. Dr. Poor went out to meet his young assistant Jesse who was fastly approaching on Philip's black thoroughbred Nosferatu. "Philip, you gotta come quick," Jesse said hopping off the tall horse. Mrs. Mather's is gonna have her baby at the office! Hurry!"

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Jake smiled and looked around his saloon. The gaming tables were all set up; he had hired a singer as well. A young beautiful Hispanic woman named Rosa. Along with Fifi he hired some other dancehall girls and the saloon seemed to be on its way.
Roy, a dear old friend was the piano player and all he needed now was a bartender. He watched as a young man entered the saloon.

Roger saw his father immediately seated at the bar and his heart sank. He saw the bartender, or who he thought was the bartender watching him out of the corner of his eye. He made his way up to the bar, the opposite end from his father, and looked to the man.

"One sarsaparilla please."

Jake smiled to the young gent and handed him his drink "here you go son." He noticed him eyeing the man at the end of the bar "anything I can help you with?"

Roger's shoulders slumped "I doubt it."

Jake nodded and leaned on the bar looked from the man to Roger "you know him?"

"Yeah he's my dad. My name's Roger Powers." He held out his hand to Jake.

Jake smiled to him and shook his hand, "Jake Lawless."

Roger's eyes lit up "the Jake Lawless?" He had heard about the famous gambler and was amazed to find him in 3 Crossings.

"Last time I checked" Jake's eyes twinkled with their trademark amusement. Jake thought for a moment and smiled "son you know anything about bartending?"

"Yeah I haven't had a choice" he looked over to his father again.

"I tell you what Roger I'm looking for one, jobs yours if you want it."

For some reason he felt the young man was the right choice for the job and he was about Lucky's age too or appeared to be. 'Better then that Wade fella' he thought. It wasn't as though Jake didn't like Wade. Wade was a nice guy but he felt he was too old for his daughter.

Jake stood talking with Roger for awhile and the boy had agreed to start right away. He smiled as Roger's eyes lit up when Lucky entered the saloon. He waved his daughter over and introduced the two. Not being too subtle he left the two alone to talk.
Lucky was so embarrassed her father had practically thrown the two of them together. "So you're going to be the new bartender huh?"

Roger smiled to Lucky "looks that way." he couldn't believe his luck not only had he landed a job but the boss had so much as tried to play matchmaker with him and his daughter. And he thought Lucky was one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen. He leaned on the bar and talked to her then his dad hollered for the bartender.

"Excuse me one moment" he smiled then frowned and walked over to his dad.

Lucky couldn't hear the conversation but could tell the man was upsetting Roger a bit. A few minutes later Roger walked back over "you okay?" She asked curiously.

Roger shrugged "that man's my dad. I just wish he, never mind."

"What?"

Roger looked to Lucky her face filled with concern "I don't know. Any ideas on how to get him to quit drinking and start being a dad again?"

Lucky took Roger's hand "I don't know. Maybe being here, around him, is a start." She felt for her new friend and could see the pain in his eyes "why don't you try and talk to him the next time he's sober. Tell him how you feel and that you need him."
Roger squeezed her hand "doubt it will work but thanks."

"Anytime" Lucky smiled then stood up "well it's time for me to get to work."

"Where do you work at?" He had hoped she worked in the saloon too.

"I work as a waitress over at the hotel." She smiled to him again then turned away.

"Maybe I'll come by sometime." Roger hollered after her then kicked himself for being so impulsive. Lucky waved again then walked out the batwing doors of the saloon. 'He's cute' she thought. But she was already falling for another man and hoped she would see Wade again soon.

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· Teaspoon receives an inheritance.
· Joseph meets someone new
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Wednesday, April 4, 1860

Marshall West was going through Wanted Posters when a middle aged woman strolled into the jailhouse with a little girl in tow. "Mr. Teaspoon Hunter, I presume." The Marshall was taken by surprise at such straight forwardness that before he could utter a word the woman continued, "I'm Mrs. Habersham, and I've brought you your ward."

"My what?" He exclaimed.

"This little girl now belongs to you. You've inherited her." Mrs. Habersham said matter of factly.

"Oh madam you're mistaken. I'm-"

"No sir, Mr. Hunter, I'm not mistaken." She huffly remarked. She didn't like him insinuating that she had made a mistake.

"Ma'am, I'm trying to tell ya--."

"Now Mr. Hunter you're not going to put this poor little girl out on the street. She has just lost her grandpa. She needs you." She stamped her foot to make her point.

"But madam I'm trying to tell you that I'm not Mr. Hunter." Justin West replied.

"You're the Marshall, correct?"

"Yes, but I'm Marshall Justin West. I've just come to live here. I'm not Teaspoon Hunter." He explained.

Her wrinkled face developed a frown. She was hoping to get rid of the girl as soon as possible because she was already too fond of her, and she knew it was going to be heart wrenching to leave her behind.

"Oh madam you're in luck, for here is Teaspoon now." Justin smiled as he looked past Mrs. Habersham. Mrs. Habersham turned to see a plump gentleman behind her.

"What's going on, Justin?" Teaspoon asked as he past by the lady and the little girl to stand around in front of them.

"Well as far as I can make it out, Teaspoon, this little girl is yours, and she's trying to give her to me, thinking that I'm you of course."

"The little girl is mine, you say?" Teaspoon looked down at the little girl and studied her. He had never seen her before. He gave her a big friendly smile and said, "Hello there, I'm Teaspoon Hunter. You can call me Teaspoon. What's your name?" The little girl looked up into Mrs. Habersham's face and clinched her tightly around her skinny leg.

"You might as well get used to him. You're going to be living with him from now on." She told the little girl and then she directed her attention back to Teaspoon. "She doesn't talk much, ever since her gramppa died. She's yours now. You've inherited her." She handed Teaspoon an envelope. This will explain it all."

Teaspoon started opening the envelope. He was very curious as to what this was all about. Justin couldn't wait to hear what it was all about, too.

Mrs. Habersham knew what it was all about, so she didn't care if he opened the envelope now or not. "Molly, I'm going to leave you now. You're to stay here with Mr. Hunter. He's to look after you now. Take care, honey," she quickly hugged the little girl and meant to leave, but Teaspoon stopped her.

"Mrs. Habersham, did I hear you right, you're leaving?"

"Yes, I'm leaving. The stagecoach is due out of here in the next hour, and I plan to be moving with it."

Teaspoon hadn't even got to look over the letter yet, and he might have some questions for her. "But Mrs. Habersham, I might need to ask you some question." He held up the letter.

"Well, alright, Mr. Hunter. But right now I'm going to go over and get some breakfast and freshen up. I'll spend the night, one night Mr. Hunter, but that's all. You best get your questions in pretty fast 'cause I aim to be on that stagecoach tomorrow, and you can bet your money on that." She quickly turned on her heel and strolled out of the jailhouse before Teaspoon and Justin could see the tears in her eyes. There was a lump in her throat, and she swallowed hard trying to get rid of it as she walked over to get a room in the hotel.

Mrs. Habersham did exactly what she had told Teaspoon and the Marshall.

She went over, got herself a room, freshened up a bit and had herself some breakfast. Mid-way into her breakfast, Mr. Hunter brought Molly over, and they joined her.

Teaspoon ordered Molly some breakfast. The shy little girl tentatively ate while Teaspoon asked Mrs. Habersham some questions.

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Joseph had asked a neighbor to keep an eye on the station for him while he went to visit Teaspoon in Three Crossings. Joseph was darn right curious as to who Teaspoon had hired for the Pony Express. So upon arrival in Three Crossings, he had sought out Teaspoon first thing. He had been glad to hear that all of the riders that he had sent to Teaspoon had been hired. He had been there only for a day, but he knew he had to get back to take care of the station.

He had just come out of the saloon and heard some gentlemen talking about the saloon. He stood around to eavesdrop some more when he realized there was five pretty girls involved. He thought, they wanted to buy to the saloon and settle down here, but unfortunately someone had beat them to it. Now they don't know what they're going to do. An idea was forming. He wasn't sure if they would like his suggestion, but all he could do was offer.

"Howdy gents," Joseph said as he walked over to them. "I couldn't help it but I over heard what you were sayin'. I have an idea if you'd like to hear it. By the way my name's Joseph North."

"What's your idea old man?" Mike asked. He knew it probably wasn't something he was going to like, but the others were looking to him for an answer, and right now he didn't have one.

"You want to open a saloon. Well ifin' you have some money to invest, you could build one out by the Sweetwater station. That's the place I run for the Pony Express. I have lots of visitors going by there. It would be a great place for a saloon."

"Lots of visitors, old man?" Mike inquired.

"Lots, and if you think I'm lying, you can ask the Marshall here, he'd vouched for me. We're old friends."

"Hmmm . . . let me confer with my partner." Mike went closer to the wagon, and Matt leaned down. They started discussing the solution that the old man had proposed to them.

The girls pretended not to be listening while talking amongst themselves, but of course they heard every word that Mike and Matt said. Even Joseph heard them talking. His ears weren't that bad yet.

He saw the lads shaking their heads, so he spoke up. "Ifin' you don't have enough money. I have a little saved. I wouldn't mind going in as partners. I think we would triple our money in no time with all those cowboys passing through."

After hearing that Mike decided to go for it. "It's a deal." Him and Joseph shook on it.

"Well, I'm heading out now, back to the Sweetwater station. Ifin' you care to follow, come on." Joseph said as he mounted his horse, Hotfoot.

"Ok Jazzy, hop back in." Mike said.

"OH NO Mike! I want a real bed tonight." Ginger angrily said. And the other girls agreed.

"Alright, but the sooner we get to Sweetwater and build the saloon, then the sooner you'll all get your own real beds and your own rooms. If you want to wait and head out tomorrow, then that's up to you. It will just be pushing us back another day or more cause we don't know where it is, and Joseph does." He hoped that his reasoning would make the girls want to go now.

"Let's go now. The sooner we get a real place of our own the better." Jazzy said, and she looked at the others. Reluctantly the others nodded.

Jazzy returned to the inside of the wagon, and Mike and Matt started the team, following Joseph out of Three Crossings and on to Sweetwater.

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· Alex gives a present to someone
· Brianna receives a present from someone
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Thursday, April 5, 1860

Teaspoon spotted Alex coming out of the barn. "Alex I need you to take the package into town. To Miss Peterson at the hotel."

"Sure Teaspoon. Just let me saddle Cloud." Alex couldn't believe her luck. She ran and saddled cloud and walked him out of the barn. She took the package and put it in her saddle bag. Mounting up she headed into town.
Riding up to the hotel Alex climbed off Cloud and tied him to the post. walking into the hotel

"Hello, Miss Jenkins. Is Miss Peterson in?"

Carrie Anne smiled. "Hello. Sure she is in the office. go right in."

"Thank you." Alex said as she headed for the office.

Brianna looked up as the door to the office opened "Hello."

Hello Miss Peterson. I have a package for you." Alex quietly said noticing the two sleeping children.

Brianna looked up. "OH thank you" As she stood and walked over to where Alex stood. Taking the package she opened it. "Oh it's a present for Laura. Thank you Alex."

Alex smiled. "Your Welcome." then she left and returned to where she had tied cloud. then mounting up. She headed back to the station.

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· Rachel begins a friendship with someone/takes an exiting friendship to a new level.
· Salika makes a profit.
· Calder comes into an inheritance.
· Cora Someone learns a secrete about you.
· Alton tells someone about his dreams for the future.
· Bryden receives an important letter from out of town.
· Everley mails a letter to someone.
· Corbet rescues someone and it's his birthday.
· Ford Recieves a special project to do.
· Gage camps out with someone.
· Halsey plays a joke on someone
· Jexa Someone plays a joke on you.
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Friday, April 6, 1860

Rachel stood in the center of the large store room that had been built adjacent to the kitchen of her house on the Pony Express property and systematically counted boxed, sacked or tinned items lining the shelves on either side of the entranceway. When she was done counting a specific item and found that it well stocked, she would cross it off the long list she and Teaspoon had written down the night before. If the item was lacking in quantity, she would either add a number beside that item or write need beside it. She found that Teaspoon had done a good job of laying in supplies of some of the basic staples, but completely left off others. The majority of the items that she found missing were vegetables. Obviously Teaspoon's idea of a proper meal consisted of only meat and potatoes.

Once he got a taste of her hearty vegetable soup, she was sure that he would change his opinion. It took her about an hour to finish her inventory of the store room, before she lifted the trap door of the root cellar and descended into its dark depths to see what items had been stored below.

This didn't take her long to do, since there was only a few potatoes in a bin. She turned to ascend the steps back into the store room, but caught sight of a weird contraption built into the wall. She stepped off of the bottom rung and walked over to the contraption as she got closer she realized that the front covering was made out of strips of mesh nailed to three one inch wide pieces of wood. On the right corneer of the middle strip of wood, was a hinge and clasp that kept the door fastened in place. Her curiosity getting the best of her, Rachel undid the clasp and opened the door.

Hidden behind the door was a hollowed out space that was about three ft high by two ft wide. While the root cellar itself was cool, this space was even cooler and Rachel realized suddenly that it had been built to store dairy items and eggs in.

If only Henry was here to see this. Rachel thought to herself. As handy as her husband had been with a hammer and a keg of nails, he'd never would have thought of building such a contraption. He would have been just as amazed as she was by it.

Rachel forced back a wave of tears that threatened to fall from her eyes as hazy image of her deceased husband danced before her eyes. She blinked rapidly and as easy as his image had appeared, it dissipated. She fastened the mesh door back into place, quickly climbed the ladder into the kitchen and lowered the trap door.

Setting the paper down upon her table, Rachel went into her bedroom to retrieve her purse and shawl. She returned to the kitchen long enough to grab a basket off of the floor, load her purse and tablet into it and then headed outside to ask one of the boys to hitch up the team so that she could go into town.

Andy was quick to oblige her and soon Rachel found herself heading into Three Crossings to do her shopping. As she walked the team down the street, she read the names of the stores as she came to them, and was pleased to find one called Gentry's Goodies. Rachel pulled the team alongside the store and climbed out of the wagon.

Her senses were assaulted with the sweet aroma of cinnamon, sugar, butter and vanilla as she entered the bakery and browsed the shelves of freshly baked items.

Salika had just entered the front of the bakery of the kitchen, when she heard the bell above the door tinkle as some entered. She watched as a striking woman with strawberry blonde hair dressed in a white shirtwaist and dark skirt began to browse through the shelves. Being the owner of the only bakery for around a hundred miles or more allowed Salika the opportunity to know everyone who had settled in Three Crossings as well as at least a glimpse of most people as they passed through.

"Can I help you?" she called out from where she stood, then started forward as the woman turned in her direction at the sound of her voice.

Rachel turned to see a handsome woman with hair the color of wheat stalks approaching her."As soon as I seen your sign outside, I couldn't not stop. It's been a long time since I tasted anyone else's baking but my own." the woman told her with a smile.

"I get that a lot from people traveling through here." Salika replied with a smile. " I'm Salika Gentry and this is my shop."

"I'm Rachel Dunne. I'm the housekeeper for the new Pony Express Waystation." Rachel replied.

"I don't envy you all the cooking and cleaning you'll be doing caring for all those riders. That's why I went into the baking business, instead of running a restaurant or boardig house. I didn't like the idea of having to clean up after alot of people." Salika told her.
Rachel smiled. "I don't mind so much. I like having someone to take care of."

"That's what husbands and children are." Salika told her.

The smile on Rachel's face faded away and was replaced with a look of longing. Instinctively knowing that she had hit on a sensitive subject for the younger woman, Salika rushed to apologize. " I'm sorry, I did mean to dredge up any bad feelings."

"You didn't." Rachel was quick to assure her.

"Are you sure?"Salika questioned.

"I'm sure. They aren't bad memories..just painful." Rachel said. "How would you like to supply the waystation with fresh bread and rolls on a daily basis?" Rachel asked. "And once a week send out a couple of cakes or pies?"

"I would love it. I'm not in the bakery business for nothing. Why don't you come into the kitchen for a cup of tea and we'll talk about it." Salika responded.

"Tea sounds good about now." Rachel said and followed Salika as she led the way toward the back of the shop.

"Jexa Ivy Cutler, if ya don't hold still and let me finish buttonin' yer pinafore I'm gonna tar ya!"Cora declared in frustration. "Mama I wanna go town. Papa waitin'."Jexa replied excitedly, lurching forward as if to dart out of the room she shared with her older sisters Everley and Halsey.

"Ya ain't gonna go no where's iffen ya ain't dressed proper! Now hold ya still!" Cora commanded in a sterner that told the three year old her ma would brook no more disobedience. Still Jexa struggled to free her ma's hold on her dress, so anxious was she to get outside before her pa left her.

It was too this scene that Calder walked in on a moment later. Cora had barely managed to to fasten the last button in place on Jexa's crisp white pinafore, than Jexa bolted out of her reach and directly into her pa's waiting arms. Instead of lifting her up and swinging her into the air, her pa only scrunched down and turned her around to face her ma. "Jexa ya best be apologizin' to yer ma fer not mindin' her or ya an' I will be stayin' to home while the others go into town." He told her in a firm voice.

Jexa's lips trembled and her eyes filled with tears at the stern tone in her pa's voice. Desopite her tendency to tire both her ma and herself out in these morning squirmishes, they often passed without her pa ever knowing. By mid-afternoon when her pa and brother came in from the fields for dinner, all had been forgotten.

"Me sorry Mama fer not mindin'." she said sorrowfully. Cora sent a grateful look in Calder's direction over Jexa's head for his timely intervention and bit her lip to keep from smiling at the look Jexa was giving her. to do so would undermine the lesson of obedience that Calder was trying to teach their youngest child.

"Thank you, Jexa." Cora replied solemnly and then held out her arms to her.

Jexa climbed quickly into them and was given the reassurance that her apology was accepted. Then Calder swung her up onto his shoulders and together the threesome made their way outside and to the wagon where the other children were waiting. Alton and Bryden each sat astride two of the family's four saddle horses, Cinnamon and Ginger. They waited while Calder tossed Jexa up into the back of the wagon and into Corbet's arms, before assisting Cora onto the wagonseat besides Everley and climbing aboard himself. With a flick of his wrist, Calder set the his two workhorses, Binx and Blossom into motion and the family headed off into town.

When the Cutler family reached the main road in town, the family began to split up. Alton veered off towards the blacksmith's shop to have some fence nails crafted and have new blades put on an axe and saw, while Bryden headed toward Dr. Poor's office to get his opinion on how best to treat the injured wing of a hawk he had found the day before. Calder drove the team up into the schoolyard where he deposited Everley, the new schoolmarm, and Corbet, Gage, Ford and Halsey. With Jexa tucked securely between him and Cora on the wagonseat, Calder then continued on to the Mercantile.

Calder reined Binx and Blossomed to a halt outside the Mercantile and swung down out of the wagon. He tied their reins to the hitching post before stepping back over to the wagon seat and lifting first Jexa, then Cora. Cora smoothed down the front of her blue and white striped skirt and reached to take Jexa's hand before heading into the Mercantile. "Ya go on ahead and do yer shoppin' Cora. I'll take Jexa along with me over to the mill with me an' meet ya back here later." Calder suggested.

Cora eyed him doubtfully. "I don't knows how I care to have Jexa listenin' to all those tall tales an' swearin' ya men seem to do over there."

"Iffen the men are awares thet there be a youn'un present they be more sure to clean their talk. This'n way ya can do yer shoppin' in peace an' not have to run after Jexa every five seconds." Calder was quick to reassure her.

"Alright. Anything special-like ya be wantin' from the Mercantile?" she asked.

"No, but I sure would go fer some of those fruit tarts of Salika's."Calder told her as he took Jexa's hands and started across the street in the direction of the Mill.

Cora shook her head. Most women would be downright upset if their husbands were partial to another woman's baked goods over hers, but not Cora. With the large brood of mouths she had to feed on a daily basis, it was a luxury not to be baking over a hot oven every day. There was still one day a week that she set aside to bake bread and few of her own special desserts, but a good portion of their baking came from Gentry's Goodies, the bakery owned by her good friend Salika Gentry. She let herself into the bakery and began browsing the shelves of goodies as she waited for Salika to finish with the customers that had arrived before her. She found herself practically drooling over the raspberry tarts under one glass counter when she heard Salika's voice behind her.

"You look about ready to eat right through that glass Cora." Cora turned with a start and blushed when she noticed another woman standing besides Salika. The woman's green eyes twinkled merrily at her and a smile brightened her face. Cora found herself smiling back in return and said, "For as long as I've been a livin' in Three Crossin's, Salika's been steadily temptin' me with her baked goods. I'm surprised that I've kept my figure as good as I have."

The strawberry blonde haired woman laughed. "You don't have any reason to fret. Your figure is lovely."

"Thank you."Cora replied.

"Oh, where are my manners!" Salika cried out. "Cora, this is Rachel Dunne. She's the housekeeper for the new Pony Express waystation outside of town. Rachel, this is my best friend Cora Cutler. Cora's family owns the Double C farm."
Rachel and Cora shook hands. "Nice to meet you." Cora told Rachel.

"Likewise." Rachel replied.

"Cora why don't you grab one of those raspberry tarts your so fond of and join us in the kitchen for some tea?'

Salika suggested. "I'd love to." Cora said. She grabbed a tart off the tray and followed Salika and Rachel into the kitchen.

******************************************************************************************

Alton stood leaning against the side of the smithy shop and watched as his friend Ben expertly forged a new blade for the saw he had brought in a short while earlier to be repaired. Ben held the plated metal over the hot forge with one tool and pounded it smooth with a hammer. Next Ben dipped the fiery red blade into a bucket of water to cool it, before bringing it over to the forge again and beginning the procedure over again.

"Ben, is bein' a smithy what you've always wanna to do?" Alton asked. "Never thought much on it." Ben replied. "It's what my pa taught me to do an' when he died I just took over. Had to bein' someone had to care fer ma an' the youn'uns."

"I know thet. An' yer a good man fer carin' fer them. But isn't there anythin' ya wished ya could do?" Alton continued.

Ben paused for a moment to study his friend's face." Somethin' troublin' ya Alton?"

Alton regarded his friend with a smile. Ben always had been quick to catch on if something was bothering him. " It's not troublin' me exactly.

Ya know I love my family an' i love farmin'. There ain't nothin' I like more than seein's somethin' I planted growed. It's thet I want to do it on my own land an' I don't know how i can do thet and leave Pa with the burdin' of carin' for the Double C himself."

"It's not like yer the only son yer pa has, Alton. He's got four others." Ben told him.

"I know. But Bryden's set on goin' away to college as soon as we've earned up enough money to send him, an' the other boys are still in school. Ya know how set my folks are on all us gittin' educated. I just don't know iffen i'm willin' to wait long enough fer them to get out afore I start my own life."

"Thet seems reasonable enough. Go to yer pa an' talk to him. Ya know he'll listen to anythin' ya say. Maybe ya can come to a, what's thet word Everley's always usin'?" Ben said.

"Compromise. Funny how she throws thet word around an' is so unwillin' to use it." Alton said.

"Sounds like women folk to me." Ben agreed, thinking on how much he had tried to get Everley to compromise on letting him court her. "Ain't thet the truth."Alton commiserated, knowing how much Ben really cared about his sister.

"Bryden, the best thing that I know of to do for that hawk of yourn, is to apply some of this salve on the cut you told me about. Then wrap it carefully in some clean cloth, firmly enough so that the wing is immobile while it's healing. Repeat the process until the cut is all healed up. Then I expect you know what to do afterwards." Dr. Poor told Bryden as he handed him the circular tin of salve.

"Thanks Dr. Poor. I done wrapped it already to keep 'im from injurin' it more, but was afeered to put anythin' on it for makin' it worse. what do I owe ya?"

"For the salve, a bit. For the instructions on how to care for it, no charge." Dr. Poor told him with a smile. "Your going to make a fine vet one day Bryden."

"If I can ever save up enough money to go." Bryden replied, digging into the pocket of his denims for money. He handed Dr. Poor a quarter and started out of the door of the doctor's office. " I best be gettin' on back to the Double C. There's chores to be a doin' an' I told pa I'd only be gone a short spell. Thanks again, doc."

"Your welcome." Dr. Poor called out after the young man as he swung up onto the back of his horse and headed out of town.

Everley rose from behind her desk at the head of the classroom and tapped on her desk with the end of her ruler to get her students attention. As soon as they were all facing her she said, "I thought that before I dismissed you all for the weekend, that I would tell you about a contest that we will be having next Friday. The contest is to see who can come up with the most interesting way to describe Three Crossings in honor of the town celebrating it's 20th anniversary. The winner of the contest will be announced at the end of class next Friday and will receive this brand new copy of poetry by Emily Dickinson."

There was a buzz of excitement in the classroom as Evereley held up the small book clothed in shiny black leather and gold etched pages. Everley waited until the room was once again filled with silence before she spoke again. Everley couldn't help noticing the grins her brothers Ford and Gage gave each other from the bench they both shared and wondered if she had made a mistake. Ford and Gage had a habit of competing against each other in anything that they did, and up until recently Ford had been able to best Gage in prior competitions of racing, fishing, jumping and swimming cause he was bigger and faster. Everley wasn't too sure she wanted to be the one to announce to ford that Gage had finally bested him at something and couldn't help hoping that one of the other students won instead.

Corbet Cutler sat at his desk in the back of the schoolhouse and wished just for once that Everley would let them go home early. Today was his birthday and he loathed the thought that most of it was being spent indoors. The weather outside was perfect for loafing or going fishing. The sooner he got home and did his chores, the sooner he would be able to do something that he liked. 'Sides having something enjoyable to do while he waited for the evening celebratng of his birthday, would help him take his mind off on wondering what gifts he had been given. No sooner had he made the wish when Everley's voice reached his ears. "Now I want you all to remember to enter the essay contest before the deadline. " Everley said as she left her desk and came to stand before the class. It was a Friday afternoon and she had decided to let the children go home a little early...she had so much grading to do that any extra time that she got would be a blessing.

The past week had been filled with a series of tests in each academic subject that she taught. There were four sets of test for each subject of history, arithmetic, agriculture, science, English and Reading specifically geared for the four forms of the school. "The winner of the essay will be announced next week and that winner will have the privilege of reciting their essay to the town on Founder's Day.

Since you all have studied so hard for the tests you have taken this past week, I won't be assigning any homework!" Everley continued. "Yahoo!" Corbet exclaimed from his seat. This was exactly what he had wished for. His fellow classmates burst out laughing around him. "Corbet Cutler! You will stay after school and clean the chalkboards!" Everley scolded him and gave him a stern look. "The rest of you are dismissed."

Corbet groaned aloud and laid his head on his desk as the other kids filed out of the schoolhouse. A shadow fell over his face and he looked up to find Ford standing beside his desk.

"I'll help you so you'll get done faster." Ford offered. Corbet perked up at his brother's words. "Thanks Ford."

"That's a nice offer Ford, but I am afraid that Corbet won't be able to take you up on it." Everley said as she walked up to them.

"You go on outside and tell Bryden we'll be along in about fifteen minutes." "Okay." Ford said, sending a sympathetic look in Corbet's direction as he left.

"Aw Everley, do I have to clean the chalkboards?" Corbet proteted.

"Yes, you do. Maybe you'll think twice about disrupting class again."

Everley said. "You best get started."

"Yes'm." Corbet replied and headed outside to fill a bucket with water.

As her students began to file out of the room, Everley got up from her desk and went about gathering her own things. During the week she was content enough to assign two of her students the chore of wiping the chalkboards clean with the erasers, but by Friday the boards were too dirty from chalk residue.

Besides she liked to leave the room as clean as possible for the minister on Sunday morning. When her brother was finished with the washing, she threw the dirty water out, set the pail by the door, gathered up her belongings and then left the school house. They were outside to meet the others in exactly fifteen minutes.

Instead of heading directly home, Everley headed into town. There were some items that she needed to pick up at the mercantile for next week's lessons and a letter to the superintendant of schools she needed to have mailed. As required of new school teachers in the area, she was responsible for giving a monthly report on her lesson planning, how the students were progressing and whether or not the school was in need of supplies that were not readily available at the mercantile.

She made her selections quickly, then headed to the back of the store to the back of the counter and paid for her items, before going over to the counter that served for the post office. She paid the postage to have herletter mailed out and was surprised when the postmaster handed two envelopes. One was addressed to her pa from an attorney and the other was a addressed to Bryden from the scholarship office of the veternarian school he had applied for. Everley suddenly couldn't wait to get home and give the letters to her pa and older brother. She had a feeling that both of them were going to be filled with good news.

The ride home seemed longer to Corbet than it usually did, but Bryden and Everley assured him that it hadn't. As soon as the wagon was stopped, Corbet hopped out and raced inside to leave his books and start on his chores. Both Bryden and Everley laughed as they watched him go.

"Mama, could Ford and I camp out tonight?" Gage asked, coming into the kitchen with a load of wood in his arms for the pile next to the stove.

Cora closed the oven door, where she had been checking on the roast, and straightened, her blue eyes taken in Gage's hope filled ones. Although Spring had finally come to Three Crossings and the days were filled with warmth, the nights still tended to be cool and she didn't like the idea of Gage or Ford catching a chill from being out in the open overnight. She pushed aside the fears that she had, knowing that they stemmed more from her own maternal heart than actual fact.

Neither Ford or Gage had ever taken seriously ill before and had always bounded back from a simple cold, unlike Halsey. "We'll wait until your pa comes in from the field and see what he thinks. If he says it alright, then Everley and I will pack ya some food to be takin' along." Cora told him finally.

"Thanks Ma." Gage said excitely, hugging his ma quickly before hurrying out of the kitchen to tell Ford.

Cora had the sneaking suspicion that Ford was hiding somewhere close by so that he could hear what his ma said for himself. It always seemed to her that if one of her older sons were involved in something, then they always sent the youngest one in to ask the question they all wanted to know. the older children knew how hard it was for her to tell the younger ones no. Although with Jexa, Cora realized, that wouldn't exactly work.

Cora told her no at least three or four times a day. Any time above four, Jexa ended up in a corner with a sore bottom. As Cora went back to rolling dough for biscuits, Everley breezed in through the back door and after depositing her purse, school roster and books onto the desk in her bedroom, returned to the kitchen to help her Ma with supper. Cora looked up in surprise as Everley suddenly let out a loud, "Oh" and hurried out of the kitchen. She was back in only moments, waving two thick envelopes in her ma's face.

"I stopped into the mercantile to mail out that letter to the superintendant and there were these two letters waiting. One's for pa from a lawyer's office and the other is for Bryden from that school he applied to." Everley told her Ma excitedly.

Cora wiped the dough from her hands on her napkin and reached to take the envelopes from Everley. She was a bit puzzled as to why a lawyer would write Calder, but her face filled with excitement and hope as she took in the letter dressed to Bryden.

" Do you suppose thet they accepted him? I wouldna think thet it takes thet much paper to turn 'im down." Cora asked Everley. "I don't know Ma. I just hope for Bryden's sake that they accept him. He wants so much to be a animal doctor. Are you going to open it?" Everley asked.

Cora looked at her in shock. "I don't read yer brother's mail!"

"I know you don't, but couldn't you just this once?" Everley prodded. "I will not! And i'm not goin' to open the one addressed to yer pa either! They'll be in soon enough and they can open them then." Cora told her, tucking both letters safely away in the pocket of her apron. "Oh Ma, your no fun." Everley said with a grin and moved to take her ma's place at rolling out the dough for biscuits.

"And you have a little too much sass!" Cora replied, swapping Everley on her bottom as she began snapping beans into a bowl. An hour later found the family gathered around the large table in the dining room and bowing their heads as Halsey said the evening's blessing.

No sooner had Calder began filling a plate for Jexa, than Gage asked, "Pa, could Ford and I camp out tonight? Ma said thet we had to ask you?"

"I don't see why not, but only if Corbet accompanies you. It's still too early in the season and there are bears still out." Calder said. Both Ford and Gage turned to look at Corbet hopefully. Corbet swallowed the bite of roast he had just eaten and said, "Sure. Been awhile since we've gone campin'. When do ya want us back pa?"

"By six. There's baths to be taken afore church on Sunday." Cora answered firmly.

"Yes'm." Corbet, Ford and Gage chorused.

Everley had held her tongue about the two letters for as long as she could. " Pa, while I was in town today I went to the mercantile to mail a letter and there was a letter for you from a lawyer." "Fer me? Can't imagine why any lawyer fella would be a-writin' me?" Calder said in surprise.

"Want me to get it so you an open it?" Everley suggested.

"Reckon so. Mite be thet I'm in trouble an' don't even know it." Calder joked.

"Mite as well bring the othern too." Cora called after Everley.

"Okay Ma."

"Othern?" Calder quizzed.

"Ya'll see soon enough." Cora answered.

Everley returned and handed her pa the letter addressed to him, then walked around the table and handed the other one to Bryden. Bryden's face flushed with excitement and hope when he saw the return address on the envelope and tore it open. Out fell a piece of stationary and a thin booklet. He quickly scanned the contents of the letter while the rest of the family waited. When a huge grin broke across his handsome features, equally wide grins broke out on his family's as well. "I got it! I have a full scholarship to attend veternarian school! For the fall class of 1860!" Bryden exclaimed.

"That's great news son! "Calder exclaimed.

Bryden's siblings rushed to add their congratulations as well, with both Halsey and Jexa jumping up from thier places at the table to hurry and give Bryden a hug. Over the clamor of voices, Calder reminded the young
girls that they were still at the supper table and needed to return to their seats to eat their supper. Both girls reluctantly returned to their seats.

"Open yours now, Pa?" Everley prodded.

"Thet curiosity of yourn is goin' to get ya in trouble one day, Everley." Calder said, with a wink at his eldest daughter.

"You been saying that ever since I was little Pa and it hasn't yet."Everley answered automatically.

Alton and Bryden both turned to look at her in open amusement. "Thet ain't exactly true sis, 'member thet time when Pa whupped ya fer goin' down to the crik by yerself?"

"Or when I caught ya in the cow pasture with thet ornery bull we used to have." Bryden added.

Halsey and Jexa turned to look at their older sister in surprise. Neither could ever remember a time when they had heard or seen her get scolded or whupped by their pa. Everley blushed at having been reminded that she wasn't always such a dutiful daughter as she let on. Hoping to draw attention off of herself, Everley asked, " Aren't you going to open your letter now, Pa?"

Calder slit open his letter with his pocketknife and pulled out several sheets of paper. It appeared to him to be some sort of legal document and attached to the front page was a brief letter in perfect penmanship.

He cleared his throat and began to read:

"Dear Sir,

It is with my apologies that I should have to write to you in such a manner, but as the longtime friend and lawyer of Sir Jethro Cutler, your great uncle I must. On 21 of February 1860, your uncle went to join his dear departed wife, Flora, after a serious battle with pneumonia. Jethro named you as sole heir to his estate and holdings. Enclosed with this letter is a series of papers that you need to sign and send back to me so that I may transfer everything into your name. I'll await your response.
John Knettle, Attorney-At-Law."

"Does thet mean we're rich pa?" Gage asked.

"It looks like it." Calder responded, shock written all over his face. That evening after dinner was through and the family was enjoying their chocolate cake and watching Corbet open his presents, Everley approached him.

"I held onto my gift for you Corbet cause I wanted to tell ya how thrilled I was to know that I was going to get a younger brother and sister. Having been both bossed around and doted on by Alton and Bryden, I was going to be able to do the same thing. I didn't know then just how difficult it was to be an older sibling and look out for you. I always thought Bryden and Alton did it so easily." Everley paused and glanced lovingly over at her older brothers. Then she continued, " I want you to know how much I love you and how proud I am to know you and know that you are my brother. I feel lucky to have such honorable men in my life and family. And since your a man now, I thought it only fitting that you have this."

She held out her hand and gave the square package she held in it to Corbet. Corbet took the package from her and the two siblings exchanged a warm hug. Corbet unwrapped his gift and found a pocketwatch like their pa's inside. "Thanks Everley." Corbet told her and hugged her yet again.

"Okay son, ya need to be closin' yer eyes. My gift to ya was a bit troublesome tryin' to wrap so's it's not." Calder instructed him.

"No peekin' now."

Corbet obediently closed his eyes and Bryden hurried to get the gift his pa was talking about. he came out of his parents bedroom carrying a shiny new rifle. Bryden laid the rifle across the table in front of Corbet and his pa told him to open his eyes. They lit up with delight as they fell on the Winchester before him. Corbet thanked his pa profusely, turning the gun every which way to check it out.

"Ya been huntin' for a few years now an' can handle a gun right good, so I thought it be time ya had one of yourn own. Mind ya now thet havin' a gun of yourn own is a big responsibility. Ya have to keep it cleaned so's it fires properly an' don't have it loaded unless ya use it. An' I don't want to catch ya pointin' it at anyone lessen' ya plan to shoot 'im. I don't reckon ya'll have a reason to do that anytime soon." Calder lectured.

"I'll do everythin' ya say pa, I promise." Corbet swore. "Thanks everyone for such a great birthday."

After supper had been finished, Cora, Everley, Halsey and Jexa had cleared the table of leftovers and cleaned up the kitchen. Then they joined them in the sitting room where the menfolk had retired to previously and each member was now occupied with their own tasks. Calder and Alton sat before the fireplace and stare at each other over a game of checkers, Bryden was sharpening his knife, Cora was busy darning socks, Jexa and Halsey played with their dolls and Everley sat at the desk in the corner going over her pupil's schoolwork that she had corrected. Corbet, Ford and Gage had already left for their camping trip. After a bit, Cora looked up from her darning and eyed the clock over the mantle. "It's about time for the young'uns to be cleaned up fer bed now.
Jexa and Halsey you run an' fetch yerselves some clean water up to the creek."

"Aw Mama, do we have to?" Halsey protested, from where she and Jexa were playing.

"Yer ma wouldn't have told you to if she didn't mean it. Now ya best git to it." Calder said sternly.

"Yes sir." Halsey said. She and Jexa got up from the floor and went into the kitchen where they retrieved the water bucket and headed down the path toward the creekbed. Neither she or Jexa liked the fact that they still had to go to bed at the same time, seeing how it now stayed light longer. As they neared the creekbed, Halsey hung back on the trail and allowed Jexa to take the lead. Knowing how much her younger sister hated walking into the murky water near the bank because of the frogs and crawdads, Halsey decided to have a little fun to make up for having to go to bed so much earlier than the others.

When she reached the creekbed, she found Jexa on the grassy bank staring fixedly down at the murky water a few inches from her feet. Wordlessly Jexa handed her the water bucket so that she could fill it. "I'm not gittin' it this time. Ya do it." Halsey said.

Jexa looked over at her sister in surprise..and fear."But ya always git it."

"I know. Thet's why I ain't gittin' it this time. Ya do it an' ya better hurry less Pa comes a-lookin' fer us." Halsey told her. The look on Jexa's face nearly made Halsey relent, but she didn't. Jexa was going to have to get over her fear of frogs sooner or later, so it might as well be now. Seeing the stubborn way Halsey was looking at her, Jexa knew that it would be easier to get the water tahn to argue with her sister. Reluctantly she picked up the water bucket and started down the grassy bank and into the murky water. Her heart began to pound wildly as she felt the cool water close around her toes. Crouching down, she lowered the brim of the bucket into the water and anxiously waited for it to fill, her eyes scanning the surface of the water around her. She had just pulled the filled bucket up out of the water, when Halsey let out a yell behind her.

"Jexa hurry, there's a crawdad about to bite your toes!" Jexa shrieked and leaped up with the bucket still in her hand. As her feet lowered back onto the rocky creek bottom, her right slipped on a rock and she promptly landed on her back in the water. Water closed around her for a few seconds, before she came up spluttering and scrambled out of the creek.

Halsey rocked back and forth on the bank, tears of laughter falling from her eyes and holding her sides. Never had she seen Jexa jump so fast or so high before, though this wasn't the first time one of her older siblings had played a joke on her. If Halsey would have had her wits about her, she would have realized that Jexa had already crawled out of the water and come to stand beside her. She would have also caught the angered look cross over her younger sister's face as she realized that Halsey had played a mean joke on her, as well as seen the bucket of water Jexa haved at her before it happened. Neither of these things she saw until it was too late and she was as thoroughly drenched as Jexa was.

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· Wade forgives someone
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Saturday, April 7, 1860

Wade looked down at the broken window pain on the ground. Then back to the frighten child of one of the ranch hands.

"I's sorry, Mr. Williams." whispered the child.

Wade smiled. "It's okay. I forgive you. Now go on and play." The child looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you." Then he ran off to join the other children to play.

Wade smiled as he watched the child scamper off. Picking you the glass.

He couldn't help but think of Lucky, shaking his head Wade knew he could never get her father to let him see her. He had nothing of offer her but his heart. He was just a Ranch hand. He didn't have a lot of money.

But that wasn't going to stop him form seeing her. After cleaning up all the glass from the broken window. Wade went and cleaned up. Vin had given him the night off. So he headed into town to see Lucky.

******************************************************************************************** Easter Day
Sunday, April 8, 1860
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Skye awoke Easter morning with a heavy heart. This was the first time in years that she had thought of Memphis and all the lovely dogwoods being in bloom. She recalled the last Easter she had spent there. It had been a beautiful day. After the service they had picniced along the banks of the Mississippi.

Slowly, she dressed for the service. She put on her best dress wishing as she did that she had thought to have a new one made for the party next week. She smiled as she recalled the excitement she'd seen in Vic's eyes as she told her about the party. Who knew when she arrived here 4 years ago, that she would have been able to make such a fine home for her self.

Yes, she had picked a nice town to settle in.

After putting up her hair she went down stairs to gather up the ham, potato salad, and her specialties, a cake in the shape of a bunny and little marshmallow bunnies she loved to make for the kids. She hoped as she did every year that the little ones liked them.

Victoria and Veronique were about to fall asleep. They were sitting in the sunrise service on Easter Morning. They had stayed up most of the night talking and then Pa had woke them up extra early to go to this special church service. It took all they had not to go to sleep.

Rachel sat beside Salika and Jerusha Gentry and listened to the words of the minister. She had awakened earlier than usual that morning, dressed and gone for a brisk walk before Teaspoon or any of the riders had gotten up. She had found a shady tree in which to set under and once there she had broken down and wept for Henry and the baby she had lost. Her baby girl would have been almost three and able to participate in the egg hunt that day. It was on special days like today that she missed her husband and child very much. When she had gotten control of herself...Rachel had headed straight for the bunkhouse to start breakfast. Hearing the minister's words were a balm to her aching heart and soon she was feeling much better.

Salika seeming to sense how hard the morning was for her new friend, reached over and gave Rachel's hand a gentle squeeze. Rachel glanced over at her at the touch and smiled softly. Though she missed Henry and the baby alot, she was grateful that she wasn't alone. She had Teaspoon and the riders and her new friends in town.

"Girls, if ya don't set back an' stop foolin' aroun', I'm a goin' to take ya outside and whup ya!" Calder whispered firmly from his place at the end of the pew thet the Cutlers had taken upon arriving at the church. Halsey and Jexa, the two girls in question, immediately did as Calder ordered. Only a few minutes went by before both of them had begun to wriggle around again. Bryden who was sitting next to Everley and Gage at the other end, got up and gestured for Ford to move down a little. Ford did as his brother requested and then watched as Jexa was picked up and moved into his previous seat and Bryden settled down where she had been. Separating the two girls worked and the rest of the sevice was spent in quiet listening by the entire Cutler family...

Ben Howard sat beside his Ma and younger siblings Ava and Frank in a pew behind the Cutler clan. His Ma was listening attentively to the preacher's words and making aseenting nods every now and then to something she particularly liked. Nine-year-old Ava sat on the other side of their Ma, back straight against the pew, hands folded ladylike into her lap. Ever the 'little lady' Ben thought with amused affection. Frank, however, was being his usually squirming self on the other side of Ava.

Ben leaned around his Ma and set a firm glare upon his little brother. Frank immediately quite squirming and settled down on the seat. Ben sat back with a slight grin, knowing that in another few minutes Frank would once again be squirming. It wasn't outright disobedience on the boy's part, he just had a hard time keeping still for very long periods. He cleared his thoughts and tried to take in the sermon, but caught sight of Everley's shimmering raven hair and all thoughts of listening escaped his mind. He wondered if her hair was as soft as the feather's on a raven and if he would ever get the chance to find out himself.

As she was leaving the church, Skye was asked by several of the children if she had made her usual goodies. Skye just laughed and said yes as she pulled them from a small pony cart. She would have ridden her horse but the cart made it easier to transport her part of the afternoon feast. Several of the gentlemen smiled her way when she pulled out the ham and potato salad. Everyone knew they were two of her best dishes. The children were all excited as one of the other ladies uncovered the marshmallow bunnies, and the cake. She sent an extra prayer heavenward then asking God to thank her Aunt once again for sharing her secret recipes with her.

She saw him for the first time then as he shook hands with the reverend, and for a moment she was stunned. Skye watched as the young man walked over and joined the Express riders. She figured he must be one of the riders she had heard so much about. He was so handsome, but she knew it wouldn't be proper for her to try to speak to him without an introduction. Come to think of it they all were handsome young men, with the exception of the smallest one. He looked like a kid brother or something.

Skye really wanted to ask her friends about the young man. Though, before she had left Memphis she had mention she thought one of her classmates was handsome to someone she thought a friend and had been teased about it until the day she left. No, she decided it would be best to keep her interest in the young man to her self for a while.

After the service the Vic and Veronique stayed around for a light breakfast with the other members of the church. Then they went home for a nap before the picnic.

Her melancholy gone, Skye relaxed and began to enjoy the afternoon. After the lunch picnic, the kids all gathered into the church while Victoria and Veronique hid the eggs. Skye helped to keep the children distracted as Vic and Chi hid the eggs. They had hid the eggs every year that they could not hunt them. Vic, Chi, and Skye laughed at the antics of the children as they searched for the eggs.

***************************************************************************************
· Jimmy wins some money
· Lou receives a letter from a friend.
***************************************************************************************

Monday, April 9, 1860

Jimmy smiled as he walked out of the Lucky Ace. "I can't believe I won. Must be my lucky day." He said as he pocketed the money. Then he mounted Sundancer and headed back to the station.

As he rode into the station. Vic came out of the barn. "Hi, Jimmy. Have a good time in town?"

"Yes I did. Thank you. I'll rub down Sundance myself." Vic nodded and let him go bye to care for his own horse.

Lou treaded up the bunkhouse steps carefully, her ride had been long and hot and she massaged her back as she neared the last step. Before she opened the door she took a brief look at herself with disdain, she was covered in mud and dirt, but she couldn't help hide a smile when she thought of how the mud was probably covering most of her bruises. Lightening had been particularly jumpy on this ride and on one occasion Lou had hit the ground hard when the horse had been spooked by a snake. She stood before the door carefully trying to hide the fact that she was in pain and made some loud stamping sounds which made her grimace. She then tried to take up a manly stance and pushed the door loudly open.

"Oh hi, Lou. How was your ride?" Alex looked up from her bunk and grinned when she saw the look on her bunkhouse mate

"It was fine" Lou replied a little too loudly and turned around to find all of her bunkmates grinning and looking expectantly at her. Lou wasn't exactly in the mood for games and she grumpily stared at them "What are ya'll looking at!" she glared at Cody who was the nearest one to her.

"Nothin', Lou, we were just all wondering why you were getting mail from a girl." he said as he waved a pink envelope in front of her face. Lou looked alarmingly at the envelope. "Give it to me, Cody" she said as she made a grab for it. Cody whipped it up in the air and out of her reach. "Cody, I ain't playing games now give it or I'll...I'll stamp on your other foot!" she yelled as she brought her foot down upon his.

Cody promptly dropped the letter and picked up his foot to start hopping around "What ya go and do that for?" he moaned as he nearly fell over.

Buck grinned at him, "You were asking for it Cody, now shut up and let Lou read his letter to us."

Lou picked up the envelope from the ground. "No chance," she muttered as she tore back out the door. Lou sat amongst the hay bales in the barn and held the envelope with shaking hands, written on the front in a flowery handwriting was:

*L Mcloud
Pony Express Station
3 Crossings, Wyoming*

She looked at the empty back of the envelope and with a deep breath she ripped the letter open.

*Dear Louise,
I know I shouldn't be writing you, and I don't want you to get in trouble or anything, but I just want to know that your safe. Me and the ladies are always talking about you, and how you made it out. It may sound silly but you don't know what you've done for our morale, you've really given us hope and I just wanted to thank you for letting me get to know you. I hope you won't hate me for writing and I would love it if you could send word back to let us know how you're doing, but unfortunately I don't think it's possible at this time, it would be too dangerous for you if Wicks ever found out, and I wouldn't want to do anything to put you in danger.
Keep safe, Louise.
Fond Memories Always,
Charlotte.*

Lou wiped her eyes and carefully stood up, she reread the letter and softly kissed it. "Thank you, Charlotte," she said as she rubbed her face against her sleeve again and proceeded out the door and back into the bunkhouse.

"Cody, I'm sorry if I hurt your foot," Lou whispered as she saw Cody glare at her from the bunkhouse table, the others were all in their bunks and either sleeping softly or trying to. Cody smiled at her, never able to hold a grudge for long "That's alright, Lou, I spose I shouldn't've teased ya in the first place."

"And I should've held my temper." Lou smiled at him as she took the seat opposite.

Cody offered her some bread "Well, I was kinda relieved to see that you had one, sometimes you're so quiet. We never know what's goin' on; you're more quiet than Ike!"

Lou looked thoughtfully at him "I know, I am trying though." Cody grinned back "Well here's your chance, who was the letter from, Lou?"

Lou shook her head at him. "Nice try, Cody, but I ain't saying a word about that," she said as she slugged him in the shoulder and went to get ready for bed.

********************************************************************************************* ·  · Byron takes a ride with someone.
· Matt takes a ride with someone
*********************************************************************************************

Tuesday, April 10, 1860

Bryon stood outside of the Hotel. When saw Carrie Ann walking towards him. Straightening his jacket Bryon approached her. "Mrs Jenkins, I was wondering if you would care to take a ride with me?"

"Sure I Just need to see if Brianna can watch Daniel for a while longer."

"Alright. I'll get the horses ready."

Carrie Ann nodded and headed into the hotel. "Brianna, can you watch Daniel for me a little longer?"

Brianna smiled, "Sure, Carrie. I don't mind. Go enjoy yourself. He'll be fine."

Carrie Ann smiled and gave a quick nod of thanks. Then headed back outside. "Okay. I'm ready."

Bryon smiled. and offered his arm. Taking his arm Carrie Ann smiled as he lead her down the street. Brianna watched from the window and smiled. "Good she needs to get out and about." She said to herself as she adjusted her small charge in her arms.

***********************************************************************************************

"AAAAhhhhh!!!!" Jazzy screamed for the fourth time in the last half hour.

Everybody looked over at her. "Doggoneit!!" Angrily she threw her hammer down on the ground and stared at it like it was a demon from below. "Jazz, if you keep doing that, we'll never get it done." Mike said as he went back to hammering.

"Well, I can't help it. I wasn't made for this kind of work." Jazzy whined.

The other girls seemed to be doing very well with helping to build the saloon, but Jazzy was a different story, Mike noticed. She always seemed to be hanging around talking or bringing people water instead of working.
It was very hard for him to really get mad at her though because she was very beautiful.Matt pulled the wagon up to where they were building the saloon. "Mike, I'm going into town to get some more lumber."

"Alright, hurry back." Mike replied.

"I will." Matt looked over to where Jazzy was standing, and then he started to turn the team.

"Matt," Mike called, and Matt stopped to looked back at him. "Why don't you take Jazzy with ya. She can give you a hand."

Jazzy's eyes lit up and smile played across her face as she realized that she would get out of hitting any more nails for at least a little while if she went with Matt to town. She turned to look at Matt to see if he would agree.

"Come on Jazzy, give me a hand."

Jazzy quickly ran over and climbed up into the wagon. They chatted about the construction of the saloon as they went to town. After arriving at the mercantile, Matt saw Jazzy admiring the dressmaker's shop. "Jazz why don't you do some browsing while I order a few things." She nodded her head, eager to look in the boutique. "Meet me back here in a little bit. I should have the lumber loaded by then."

On their way back Jazzy talked Matt's ear off about all the pretty dresses she had seen. "I've never seen so many pretty dresses in all my life. As soon as I get me some money, I'm going buy me the most prettiest dress in the shop." She described so many that Matt thought she was redescribing some. But she was enjoying herself, so Matt didn't mind her talking all the way home.

***********************************************************************************************
·Samuel has a visit from someone in his past.
·Skye finds a treasure
***********************************************************************************************

Wednesday, April 11, 1860

As Sameul came out of the small stock room. He spotted his old friend. "John! Is that you?" He exclaimed.

The young man turned around "Sameul! I never thought I would see you again."

The two briefly hugged. "What brings you're here?"

"Actually I'm on my way to Oregon. the land back home is all played out. what are you going here?" John asked.

"Well I live here now, I come west after leaving home." Sameul answered.

The two friends talked for awhile. Then they agreed to meet for supper after Sameul got off work.

Skye figured since this was probably the only day she was going to get off for a while, she'd clean out the attic that she'd meaning to get to every since she moved into the house. Besides it was spring and if she put it off again it would be next spring before she got to it. As she opened the door to the stairs leading up to the attic, she smelt dust and mold. Wrinkling her nose she figured she'd best get started before she backed out of doing it again. Taking a deep breath she climbed the stairs. When she reached the top of the stairs she noticed the attic was quite dirty but not in as bad a shape as she had expected. It was crowded but it was orderly too.
Spotting a trunk at the top of the stairs she figured she would take care of it first. She bent to pull it down the stairs but discovered it wouldn't budge. She tugged again but still it wouldn't move. She figured she would have to get some help from a couple of the boys in town if she was to get it down the stairs. Then it dawned on her to maybe empty it first.

Making herself comfortable she sat down in front of the trunk and then pushed the lid open. She stared in wonder at the items in the trunk. It looked like mostly old clothes and things, but they were of a very fine quality. Pulling out a dress she felt the blue silk slide through her fingers. It was such a fine dress, much to fancy for out here, she figured it had to have been made back east.

Under it lay a shawl made of beautiful lace. Skye fingered it softly as if it would crumble if she touched it. That was when she noticed the letter on top of it. As she read it Skye's face began to light up and what seemed to her a wonderful idea popped into her mind. Gently taking the shawl out of the trunk and the dress she made her way back down the stairs to the parlor where she lay the items and the letter on the table.
Hurrying into her room she changed quickly into a riding skirt and shirt, hoping to catch Vic at the ranch before she took off somewhere. Wrapping the dress and shawl up in a sheet she put them in her saddlebags. Walking out to the small barn behind her house she called to Diamond her horse as she entered. Saddling him quickly she rode out of the barn and headed for the Mon Amore Ranch.

She grew more excited as she rode. Vic was going to be so surprise to see the letter and the shawl. Skye knew that Gloria Hamilton had been well known in the area for her lace work, but she had never dreamed that it was as fine as she'd just discovered. It would look so wonderful with the dress Vic had been telling Skye about for the party. Skye sighed with relief as she rode up to the house seeing Vic's horse tethered to the front porch……

Victoria and Veronique were about to go riding when they heard a knock on the door. When Veronique answered the door, Skye was standing there. "Chi, is Vic around? I need to show her something."

"I'm right here, Skye. What is it?" Vic said from behind Veronique.

"Well, I was cleaning out that old attic of mine and I found something that the previous owners left. I thought you would like to see it." Skye informed Vic as she handed the package to her.

Victoria opened the package and was shocked at the dress and beautiful white lace shawl it contained. She read the letter that was with it. Her mother had made this for Marsha, a good friend of hers. It was in hopes that Vin would notice Marsha, for Gloria was trying to play match maker. However, the day before the dance that the dress was made for, Gloria was killed. So the dress had never been worn.

Vic vaguely remembered her mother sewing their own clothes. She never knew that her mother could have made something this beautiful. *Mama made this with her own two hands* Vic thought.

When Skye saw the tears in Vic's eyes, she asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh no!" Vic said wiping away a tear. "It's a beautiful treasure. My mother made this. I never knew she could make something this beautiful."

"That's what the letter said. I thought the shawl would go great with the dress you were describing top me for your party."

Vic's face lit up, "It would! And this dress would look perfect on you!"

"Oh no, I couldn't it rightfully belongs to you."

"Well then if rightfully belongs to me, then I give it to you. Besides I think that's what my mother would have wanted anyway." Vic smiled. Skye couldn't refuse the dress when Vic put it that way. The two girls embraced in a hug.

*********************************************************************************************
· Vin adopts a baby.
· Judy learns a secret about someone.
· Evie someone learns a secret about her.
*********************************************************************************************

Thursday, April 12, 1860

Vin sat watching Allen as Veronique made supper. He hadn't had much trouble keeping the small inheritance Victor left his children. But he knew as Allen got older it would be harder. So he decided that the best thing to do was adopt Vic and Allen. If she would let him.

Picking Allen up Vin headed into the kitchen to talk it over with his daughter. As he entered the kitchen Vic came through the door. "Vic, Veronique I want to talk with you both."

The girls turned to him and nodded. "Sure, Pa." Vic answered. Vin took a deep breath and sat at the table. He started to bounce Allen on his knee. "Vic. I've been thinking. I know your almost 18. But Allen's so young. I would like to adopt you both. You and Veronique are like sisters now. This would make you truly sisters. Also it would protect your and Allen's inheritance."

Veronique smiled. "Oh please agree. We could be truly sisters. I know Andre wand I already think of you and Allen as family."

Vic sat back to think about what Vin had just asked her. "I need to think about it."

"Sure honey. Take your time."

Vic nodded and left. She headed for the cemetery. Vic sat at her parents graves. "Daddy, Mamma. Pa wants to adopt me and Allen. He already treats us as family. I don't' know what to do?" She fell asleep and dreamed about her parents.

She sat there thinking about everything. "I'll agree to it. Thanks for listening. I miss you both." She got up and headed back to the house. She went to find Vin. She found him in the nursery rocking Allen to sleep. "Pa I would be glad to be your daughter. I think Allen would agree."

Vin smiled. "I'm glad. Don't worry I want you and Allen to keep your last names. But I would like to add mine to yours if you would let me?"

Vic nodded. "I would like that. Well I better get to bed. I have to work tomorrow."

Vin nodded. "Alright, Honey, night."

Vic smiled back to him. "Night, Pa." She then headed for her and Veronique's room.

Vin smiled down at his new son asleep in his arms. He had the papers . He just needed to sign them and send them in. He would do that in the morning. He quietly put Allen in his bed after kissing his head. Vin headed to bed himself.

***********************************************************************************************
By mid afternoon it started raining, so the group couldn't work on the saloon. So they all stayed in the waystation house and discussed their establishment. Of course that didn't take very long, so they had split up and did their own thing. Joey was showing Jazzy how to make different knots at the dining table.

Matt was ciphering figures trying to decide out how long it might take them to break even with the money they had spent on the land and the lumber for the saloon. He wasn't even thinking about how much they would have to spend on the furniture to occupy the saloon. They were running low on money as it was. The girls had all these grand ideas as how they wanted their rooms to look when the saloon was finished. He was afraid that they might be disappointed in the beginning because as far as he could figure it, they might just have enough money left for the grand piano, glasses and the booze to furnish the guests with. Of course the girl's rooms would all have beds, but as it was going it didn't seem like they would have much money for anything else for their rooms. At least not until they started earning some money. He had discussed it with Mike, but he didn't seem to be discouraged by their lack of funds that they would have when their project was completed. Or if he was, he wasn't showing it.
Ginger and Betsy were on the couch sewing quilts. They planned on having them on their new beds when the saloon was completed. Betsy was half way done with hers and Ginger was close behind. Betsy had taught her several weeks ago how to sew a quilt, and she truly enjoyed it. Betsy had tried to teach Evie, but Evie just wasn't the quilt making type. Judy was in her room writing in her diary. Her sister thought it was childish to keep a diary, so Judy liked writing in it when no one was around. She had her window open because the rain had let up and the breeze felt good. The window opened up onto the backporch. She pushed up her glasses that had fallen down her nose. She really didn't need to wear them. They were just reading glasses, but she did because it helped everybody to tell her and Jazzy apart.

When they were growing up, her and Jazzy liked playing tricks on everybody at the orphanage, so Jazzy would wear the glasses and pretend to be Judy, and Judy would pretend to be Jazzy. It was lots of fun until they got caught doing it. Then the consequences wasn't fun at all. Judy seemed to mature quicker then Jazzy, and when she hit 15, she stopped letting Jazzy talk her into switching places. Jazzy would get mad at her, but her anger wouldn't last long, and she would be thinking of some other plot to entertain herself.

Evie tucked the envelope in her pocket and left her room. She went out and sat in the swing on the backporch. Mike had brought back the mail yesterday when he was in town getting supplies, and this had been among them. It was addressed to her from her mother. She dreaded reading what it said.

She had wrote her ma several times since she had turned 16 and the private information about her parents had been released to her from the orphanage mistress. She had only received one letter from her ma. That letter had told Evie that she was on the verge of getting married, and after her honeymoon and when her and Robert got settled into their new home, then she would send for Evie.

For some reason Evie didn't believe her ma. She didn't believe that she was going to send for her. She looked the envelope over as if it would tell her what she feared without reading her ma's handwriting. Finally she ripped it
opened and pulled out the letter. She began to sob as she read it.

Tears ran down her face and her nose began to run. She pulled out her handkerchief, wiped her face and blew her nose. The rain began to pick up, the wind howled as though sensing Evie's misery. She stood up. She didn't care that she was getting soaked. She hollered into the wind. Her hatred boiling over.

Judy heard the thunder and the heavy rain. She got up and went over to her window to lower it so that the floor wouldn't get soaked. As she reached for the window she heard Evie hollering. "I hate you, ma. I hate you. I hope I never see you. I hope you die. You deserve it." Evie screamed into the wind. She then threw the letter away into the wind. Next she went into the house and into her bedroom where she took off her wet clothes.

Judy wasn't sure what was going on with Evie, but as she was about to shut the window for she felt quilty as though she was spying, a piece of paper flew in. She pushed the window down and then grabbed the wet paper that had landed on the floor. It hadn't got too wet because Evie had it mostly wrapped up in her dress until she had decided to throw it away. Then the wind had caught it and had blown it inside. Judy smoothed it out gently and laid it by the candle hoping that the heat would dry it out more quickly.

Betsy and Ginger had watched as Evie had flown to her room. "I'll think I'll go give her a towel. She was soaking wet." Betsy announced. Ginger nodded.

Evie heard the knock on the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me Evie, Betsy."

"Come in," she called.

Betsy immediately opened the door and stepped in, seeing that Evie was naked and shivering, she quickly shut the door and went to her, draping the towel around her shoulders. "I brought you a towel, thinking you might need it."

"Thank you!" Evie began to wipe herself off.

"Is anything wrong?" Betsy thought Evie looked upset. "No, I was just a fool. I stayed out too long and got soaked." Evie brought the towel up to her wet head and then gave Betsy a grin.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Betsy asked. "Shall I get you another towel?"

Evie shook her head. "No thank you. I'm ok."

"Alright," she turned to go, "but if you need anything-"

"I'll let you know." Evie smiled at Betsy and watched her leave. She was lucky to have four such wonderful sisters. They really cared for her. She knew that. She finished drying, got dressed and then went out to help Joey with supper. Ever since they had come to stay there, the girls had been taking turns with helping Joey with the meals. Joey hadn't minded. He loved the girls company.

*********************************************************************************************
· Veronique (Chi) visits a friend or relative
· Andre ask for David's opinion
*********************************************************************************************

Friday, April 13, 1860

Veronique was feeling bored after she finished cleaning up from lunch. Changing her clothes she gathers the stuff she would need for f the papoose so she could take Allen with her. then she went a saddled lady.
Bringing her to the rail Veronique went and got Allen ready to go. After strapping Allen into the papoose she slipped it onto her back. Then she mounted up. Just then Andre came up to her. "Chi where you going?"

"I'm going to take lunch to Vic. can you tell Pa for me?"

"Sure be careful. I'll tell him Allen's with you."

"Thanks, Andre. I'll be home in time to help with super."

"Okay." Andre replied.

Veronique nodded and headed over to the Express station. Riding into the station Allen started to cry, "Shh, little brother. I'll feed you real soon." Veronique spotted Vic walking out to the barn. "Hey, Vic."

Vic looked up. "Hey, Chi. What are you doing here?" Veronique climbed off Lady and tied her to the coral fence. "Got kind of lonely at home. While Allen was napping. So I thought we'd come visit. Besides I think Allen misses his other big sister."

Vic smiled and helped her take the papoose off. "Thanks. His bottle is in my saddle bag." Vic dug out the bottle while Veronique took Allen out of the papoose and handed him to Vic. Vic smiled as she sat and feed him. The two girls talk for a while. Then Vic got Allen back into the papoose and Veronique mounted up and rode back home.

*********************************************************************************************

David came riding up to the house. He saw Andre on the porch. "Andre want to for a ride?"

"Sure just let me saddle Spots." Andre said as he headed for the barn.

David nodded. He wished Vic was around. He had heard about her getting a job at the Pony Express station.

Just then Andre rode out of the barn. "Ready?"

David nodded, "Yep"

The two rode towards the back pasture. Andre debated weather or not to tell David what his father was doing. Nodding to himself he knew he had to. He turned to his cousin.

"David my father is adopting Vic and Allen. What do you think of that?"

"He's what? OH I think that's great." David answered. But in his mind he was screaming *No he can't. She can't be my girl if he does." Andre seeing that something was bothering him. "Something wrong David?"

"Huh? OH no just wishing I had a brother or sister. But Pa's been so busy with raising me and helping your pa."

Andre scratched, his head. "Maybe someday you will. You never know."

David smiled. "You're right."

The boys enjoyed their ride. They rode till it started to get dark. Then they headed back to the house.

*********************************************************************************************
· Victoria and Veronique (Chi) have a dress fitting for the party
· Marshal Justin West calls on a girl. *********************************************************************************************

Saturday, April 14, 1860

Vin watched as his little girls rode off towards town. He still couldn't believe Vic was going to 18 tomorrow. Looking up to the heavens he whispered *Victor, Gloria you did a good job raising her. She's a beautiful young woman. I'm giving her the coming of age party you wanted to. I'll do my best for her and Alan. Rest easy my friends.* Shaking his head he headed off to do some chores in the barn.

                 ***************************************************************

As the girls rode into town, they talked about the party and the riders.

Stopping in front of Jerusha's Boutique, they climbed off Black and Lady. They tied them to the rail and headed into the shop. Looking up from her work on Chi's dress. Jerusha said, "Hi, Vic, Chi. I'm glad you came in today. Saves me a trip out to the ranch to check your dress, Chi." She held up the dress for them to see.

"Oh, Jerusha, it's beautiful. I love the satin in place of the Lace." Chi replied walking closer. Lightly, running her hand over the dress, she added, "I hoped you could get the right shade of peach. Thank you." Vic smiled watching her friend and sister. It had been a long time since she saw her eyes sparkle with wonderment.

"Thanks Jerusha for finding the right color. How much do I owe you for it?"

Chi turned in surprise. "Vic you did this? Thank you."

"You're welcome I wanted to pay you back for all the time you put in watching Alan while I work. I'm glad it makes you happy." Vic answered as she walked to her sister and hugged her.

Jerusha watched them and smiled. "Since it's for such a special occasion, I'm going to only charge you the two dollars for the fabric. Chi go try it on. Vic look at yours and tell me what you think." The girls nodded. Chi went and put on her dress. "It's prefect You did a great job on it. You did a better job on it than the ones Pappa had sent from France."

Jerusha smiled. She took pride in seeing the joy she could give her friend. A girl who seem to have everything she wanted since her father was a wealthy man, but the lost of his beloved wife in childbirth hurt him. He spoiled his children. but unlike other rich children none of them acted spoiled. Shaking her head to clear the thoughts. "I'm glad you think so."

"Oh, Jerusha, you did a wonderful job. Mamma would be pleased." Vic smiled at her friend.

"Oh good. Tomorrow I'll double check the length."

Vic nodded in agreement. The three girls put the dresses back in the boxes then headed over to the Gentry's Bakery that was next door for something to eat. Salika looked up as the bell over the door sounded. She got a plate of goodies together and took it to a small table she had off to the side. "How'd the fitting go?"

"OH it went great. Mrs. Gentry. Jerusha is a wonder with a needle and thread." Chi answered smiling as she saw her friend blush.

" Yes, she is and I'm glad." Salika said with a mother's pride.

                                 ***********************************************************

"Are you going to Victoria's Coming of Age Party?" Teaspoon asked his old buddy Justin.

"No, wasn't planning on it. Why? You think they need me around to uphold law and order."

"I don't think it will get out of hand. But I was thinking that you might ask Rachel to go.""Why?"

"Well, because she's a single lady, and you're single." Teaspoon sat down in front of the Marshall's desk.

"Always matchmaking, aren't you?" Justin flipped through the wanted posters.

"I'm not. I just thought it would be nice for Rachel to be asked to the party by someone other than myself all the time. She ain't bad lookin'."

Justin smiled. "No, she's not." Teaspoon was a true friend. He was always concerned about his friends.

"Alright Teaspoon, I'll ask her, but she might say no."

"Well, that's all you can do, is ask." Teaspoon stood up and left. He smiled. His objective had been accomplished.

That afternoon Marshall West rode out to the station. Rachel poured him some lemonade and they sat on the front porch talking. "I heard that there is a party tonight." Justin stated.

"Yeah, there is." Rachel confirmed his statement.

"I bet a pretty lady such as you already has a date," Justin said as Cody came flying in and handed off a mochilla to another rider. Rachel blushed. "Well, actually no."

Justin starred into her beautiful blue eyes. "Well in that case, would you do me the honor of accompanying me
to Miss Hamilton-Benard's Coming out Party?"

"Why, Mr. West , I'd be delighted." Rachel answered. After they talked about the party and other events that had happened around town, the Marshall departed. After all he had a town to look after.

*********************************************************************************************
· It's Victoria's Birthday
*********************************************************************************************

Sunday, April 15, 1860

While listening to Brother Covington, Chi looked around to see who was all in church that morning. She spotted a dark haired man. Nudging Vic with her elbow, she whispered. "Vic, you know who that is?" Looking over, Vic saw who Chi was talking about. Leaning over, she whispered, "No. I think he's new in town."

Vin smiled as he watched the girls whispering. He had seen Veronique spot John so he had a feeling that's who they were whispering about. He didn't think that they recognized him. Judging by the looks John was returning, he remembered them alright.

John watched the girls. He couldn't believe that these were the same two scrawny little girls who wore pig tails when he left. *They sure grew into beautiful young women. They probably have boys swarming around them.* He thought.

They continued to exchange looks with each other through out the rest of the service. As everyone left the church Chi and Vic went over to where Jerusha was standing with her mother and Rachel Dunne. They pointed out the guy they were looking at to their friend and waited to see what Jerusha's reaction would be.

Jerusha let her eyes skim over the good looking young man quickly her friends had pointed out, before turning back to Chi and Vic with a smile to indicate her agreement with them. Her daughter's actions, along with those of the other two young women had not gone unnoticed by Salika. Nor had their actions escaped Rachel's attention either.

John smiled, watching them as he walked over to Vin. "Hello Mr. Bernard. Boy, Veronique and Victoria turned out to be beautiful young ladies."

"Hello John. Yes they have. They are a handful too." Vin commented as he shook John's hand. "There's a party for Vic tonight out at the ranch. "I'd be honored for you to come join us."

"I'd love to come thank you. Don't tell them who I am just yet please. I am kind of liking the mystery of them not knowing."

Vin nodded. "Alright. See you this afternoon then." Smiling, Vin was going to love pulling one on his girls. John nodded and headed back to his room at the hotel.

At the Ranch

The girls were rushing through their chores so they could start getting ready. While they were cleaning up from lunch there, was a knock at the door.

Drying off her hands, Chi she answered the door. "Hi, Lucky. Please come in."

She stepped aside letting in her friend. Shutting the door, Chi turned to her and said, "Wade's out checking the cattle."

Lucky blushed . "Well I actually came to see you two. I was hoping you could help me learn to use this thing." She held up a ladies fan.

Chi couldn't contain her giggle. She quickly gathered herself together at seeing the hurt look in her friends eyes. "Sorry, Lucky. I forget not everyone was raised knowing that stuff. Matter of fact if it wasn't for Victoria's mother I wouldn't know either. She's the one that taught us both. Sure we'll help. Why don't you come upstairs and we'll see what we can do to help you."

Lucky smiled. "Thank you. Daddy Didn't think I would need to know it. I understand." Chi smiled and lead her friend up to the room her and Vic shared. Lucky was amazed at how big the house was. "Wow! Where does Wade Sleep?"

Vic smiled coming up to them. "His rooms at the end of the hall. He also sleeps in the bunkhouse form time to time."

Blushing Lucky whispered, "I know I shouldn't have asked. It wasn't proper."

"Oh It's okay. He's family. Poppa doesn't make him chose." Chi smiled. As she open the door to their room.

Jerusha pulled lightly on the reins to bring the wagon to a stop in the Bernard ranch yard. She climbed carefully down from the wagonseat and after fastening the reins to a nearby fencepost, moved to the back of the wagon to remove her sewing kit and the dress box containing her dress for the party. Then she proceeded up the walk to the front door of the ranch house and waited for someone to answer it.

The three sat there going over the Language of the Fan for the party. There was a knock on the door. Vic opened it. "Hey, Jerusha, Skye come in." The five girls talked while they got ready for the party. Jerusha made the last minute adjustments to everyone's dresses, before getting ready herself.

She went over to the bed and opened the dress box, lifting the layers of pale blue satin carefully out and slipped it over her head. The bodice was fitted with, three-quarter length sleeves, sweetheart neckline and full skirt. Blue lace, two shades darker than the material lined the neckline, sleeves and hem and a row of tiny buttons lined the bodice.

Vin was receiving the guests when his. When he looked at his pocket watch. He noticed it was time to get Victoria to present her. "Angel, I'm, going to get Victoria. You stay here with your Uncle Joseph and great any guest that show up till I come back down."

"Okay Pappa."

"Joseph, I'm going to get Victoria. Keep an eye on Veronique for me please" Joseph nodded. By the standards of Society, Veronique shouldn't have been there she hadn't had her Coming of Age party yet. But Vincent was making an exception since the girls were so close.

Andre came running to Joseph. "Uncle Joseph, Pappa says they're ready." Andre was also given special permission to be there.

Joseph then announced. "If I can have everyone's attention." Everyone quieted down and you could have heard a pin drop. "I present Victoria Lynn Hamilton-Bernard escorted by her father Vincent Bernard." As the couple walked down the outside staircase to the lawn, everyone was stunned by Vic's beauty. She wore a stunning white dress that was made in the 1830's. Someone said it was her mother's Coming Out dress. She had a white lace shawl wrapped around her. Skye told some friends that Gloria, Victoria's mother, had made the shawl years before.

Vincent escorted Victoria to the family table. Everyone took their cue to take their seats.

Kid introduced himself to the young woman seated next to him. He was pleased to find out her name was Mina.

Ike was please to find out the two women sitting next to him knew sign language.

Andre felt a bit uneasy being between the nanny and Mrs. Gentry. He just hoped he didn't embarrass himself. On the other side of table at their end sat Jerusha and James.

Brianna was glad to see she was seated next to Joseph.

Jimmy talked politely to the two young ladies he sat between. Andy, Alex and Lou played the shy riders well. They didn't' want the young ladies sitting to them to suspect they were girls.

Victoria and Veronique noticed the new guy in town was at the family table. He looked to be older. Maybe he was friend of Wades or maybe a business associate of Papa's. Maybe he was taking on a new apprentice or something.

Bryden jumped down from the Cutler's wagon and reached up to help his Ma down from the wagonseat. As soon as the bottoms of Cora's dress up boots touched the ground, she began smoothing out the wrinkles in her hands over the dark folds of her navy dress. Next her hands went to her hair to see if any straight strand had fallen loose from the combs she had placed in it. "Ya look right pert Ma. Stop fussing." Bryden said. "Thank ya, son." Cora responded and then slipped her hand through Bryden's arm.

"You look mighty pert yerself." Noticing how handsome her second eldest looked in his dark suit and slicked back hair.

They were joined a few seconds by Ben and Everley. Everley's raven hair was piled atop of her head and decked with a strip of emerald green ribbon that matched the color of her dress. The two couples proceeded into the festivities and found seats together.

After dinner Joseph announced that the dancing would begin. The first gentleman on Vic's dance card was Jimmy while Buck had signed up on Veronique's.

Kid had signed up on Mina's dance card for the first few couples dances.

After a couple of dances, Rachel noticed how mersable three of her riders looked. She remembered that these three riders all had runs real early in the morning. She went to Teaspoon, "Teaspoon, Lou, Alex, and Andy all have early runs in the morning. I think they better go get some sleep what do you think?"

Teaspoon looked over at his boys. These three were the shyest of all. They were just standing watching everyone else dance. He decided to let them go home. He walked over to them and said, "Boys, I think you better go get some sleep. These things have a way of lasting until dawn. You should be on your runs before we even get back to the station.

Alex, Lou, and Andy made their apologies to Vin and Vic that they had to leave early. They had rides in the morning. They had to leave and get some rest. The rest of the riders stayed and danced with some of the other young ladies at the party.

Andre even danced with Victoria and Veronique before he had to leave. Buck danced Skye and Fifi a couple of times. Mina danced with the other riders that had stayed. Teaspoon even got in a dance or two with Vic and Rachel. Rachel had a wonderful time with Justin West. Justin was even nice enough to let "her boys" dance with her. Lucky got a dance with her father. Roger even asked for a dance and she agreed. Roger could only have the one dance because he was the bartender and Jake agreed to bartend during that one song for him. But the rest of the night was for Wade. Jake got to dance with Rosa and a few of the widowed women.

Fifi and Dr. Poor also danced together. The party went on till the early hours of the morning. The new guy asked Vic to dance. While they danced, he revealed who he was to her. But made her promise not to tell Chi who he was yet. He wanted to see if she remembered him or not. He asked if she had a beau.

She said, "She likes Buck and he likes her. But they aren't courting. Buck doesn't have the nerve to ask her yet."

John decided not to let Chi know his new found feelings as of yet. If Buck asked Chi to court he wouldn't stand in the way. But if he didn't ask, then John would ask her.

Shortly after his wife's, son and daughter's departure from the Cutler farm, Calder had vanished into his room. When he returned he was clean shaven, his hair slicked back and he was dressed in his sunday suit. Alton let out a whistle of approval, while the other children clapped. With not so much as a word, only a grin, Calder left the house and headed toward the barn. Within minutes he had saddled up one of the horses and was on his way to the Bernard ranch.

Calder's sudden appearance at the party caused a few heads to turn and silence to temporarily descend upon it. Everley was the first to notice her Pa's arrival and became emotional, knowing how happy her Ma would be to see him. Bryden and Cora had been dancing together when the music had abruptly stopped and all eyes craned to see what was going on. At the sight of his pa, a lump rose in Bryden's throat as Calder approached and held out his hand to his wife. Without hesitation Cora placed her hand in his and Calder drew her near. The music started up again. Bryden walked back over to the table to watch his folks dance and was in time to hear Everley assure Vic and Chi that her pa wasn't there to cause any trouble, only to dance with his wife.

The whole town enjoyed the dancing. The older women enjoyed having orphaned young ladies to chaperone. Even Brother Thomas and Mary had a dance or two.

Vin was glad a good time was had by all. He had understood why the three riders had to leave. Even though the town businesses would open late the mail made no such exception.

Tomorrow the ranch hands could sleep in but would have to help with the clean up. Vic and Chi would also have to help.

Teaspoon gave Vic a paid day off as his gift to her. He knew Vic would be too tired to work.

Joleene and Stacie milked the cows before bed. Tiffany and Heather gathered the eggs and gave them to Mina to sell in the store, to Salika to use in her bakery, and to Carrie Anne to use in the hotel restaurant before the business owners left.

Veronique enjoyed dancing with Buck and the others riders. But the new guy in town was a mystery to her. She enjoyed asking him questions as they danced.

He manage to stump her at every turn.

John had fun keeping Veronique guessing. The last thoughts running through his mind were, *Tomorrow I'll buy the bank from Mr. Powers. Then I hope Chi will see me as a man. I guess I fell in love with her before I left. But dad said that if I wanted Chi I had to have another job. Why would I have gone looking if I didnt' want her. I never wanted to stop working for Mr. Benard. Maybe I did want her and I didn't know it.*

Chi and Vic stayed up talking about Jimmy, Buck and the Mystery Guy (John).

*********************************************************************************************
· Amanda makes a profit
· Noah kills an outlaw
· Ginger reflects on her past mistakes and how they affected her future.
· Betsy tells Jazzy about her dream.
*********************************************************************************************

Monday, April 16, 1860

Amanda sat at her desk smiling as she went through her books, She made a good profit off her horses. The last bunch she sold went for higher then she thought.

Closing the books Amanda sat back with a sigh. Pouring herself a drink. "Pa, would be proud of me. I guess the apple doesn't fall far form the tree."

Amanda stood and with a salute of her fingers she headed out to check on her new stock.

The sun shone down on the lone rider. From a distance he was a small speck on an otherwise flat and plain land. He was moving along at a quick pace, pushing his horse as hard as he dared. This was only his second ride for the Express, but he was already loving his job. He was making really good time right now, and he expected to be home at least an hour earlier than he was scheduled. It was just a short run - thiry miles or so - but he would be making his first overnight run sometime the next week if all went well.

He was about ten miles from the Three Crossings Way Station when he heard shots not too far away. He could just barely make out three figures in the distance, all on horseback, all heading his way very quickly. As they got closer, he could see that the first rider was a young woman. The other two appeared to be chasing her, and from the looks of the guns they were shooting in the air, they did not seem to be friends of hers. Noah pulled his gun and steadied his horse as they got nearer. When they were within his sites he aimed at one of the men and fired, knocking him off his horse. He was only hit in the shoulder, but it was enough to make his partner stop.

The young woman reached Noah and stopped.

"Keep going!" he shouted, waving her on. "There's a ranch not too far from here. Send help once you reach it!"
She nodded and spurred her horse on, not looking back.

The second man hesitated, clearly undecided as to whether he should stay and deal with Noah or continue chasing the woman.

"Throw down your guns," Noah commanded, his weapon pointed directly at the man. The outlaw complied, dropping his pistol to the ground. "Now, get down," Noah ordered.

At that moment, the injured outlaw grabbed his gun from where it had fallen.

Noah heard the movement and quickly turned towards the man. Two shots rang out simultaneously. Noah felt the bullet hit his left shoulder, but he managed to stay on the horse.

The other man was unmoving on the ground, pierced through the heart. The remaining man, seeing that Noah was only slightly injured, thought better of going for his gun and turned his horse in the opposite direction that the girl had gone. He apparently wanted to avoid the same fate as his partner.

Noah winced as the pain from the bullet began to set in. He didn't think the injury was too bad, but he should probably be getting home before he lost too much blood.

***********************************************************************************************

That evening on the front porch, Jazzy sat down to try and beat Evie at checkers. Judy and Betsy were sitting on the swing quilting, Joey was sitting on the steps playing the harmonica, and Matt and Mike were over at the construction site making building decisions. Ginger was sitting in a rocking chair reading a book, or so the others thought. But in truth Ginger had been looking at the same page for several minutes now. She was thinking over her past mistakes. She had worked in a saloon and the owner had stolen all her money. She had saved all her earnings because her and the other girls had wanted to be out on their own. They wanted to have a cattle or horse ranch, a home of their own. They wanted to be independent and self-sufficient. But now look where they were. Ginger felt it was her fault because she had lost all her money to Vince, the saloon owner. If only she hadn't been so rude to one of his best friends, then she would still have all the money she had saved. They could be that much closer to their dreams.

One dreary evening, Vince's best friend, Garrett, came into the saloon.

He was very depressed and looking for some type of distraction from his problems. He started drinking and soon he was all over Ginger. Ginger hated the way the man was acting, and his breathe smelled awful from the liquor.
Ever since she had started working for Vincent, Garrett had been trying to get close to Ginger. But she had told Vincent before she had started working there that she wouldn't compromise her morals, meaning she wasn't going to sleep around. But that's exactly what Vincent wanted her to do, and she wasn't going to comply. He had tried to convince her by telling her how much more money she would make. And she wasn't going to lie to herself, she had been tempted, but she just couldn't do it. That horrible night when she wouldn't give in to Garrett, he became vicious and started hitting her, trying to get her to submit to his commands. She fought back and in the process Vincent fell over backwards and struck his head. He didn't move and she thought she had killed him.
Startled by the outrageous display, Vincent ran over to examine Garrett.

There was blood all over the back of Garrett's head. "You've done it now, girl." Vincent yelled at her. "If he dies, you'll be in big trouble with his family. For Garrett belonged to the most prominent family in town. They owned the biggest ranch in the territory, and Garrett was his mother's golden son. She would do anything for him, and she wouldn't take kindly toward Ginger after she heard what had happened. Afraid that any minute Garrett's ma would walk in because she was always tracking her son, Ginger ran out. That was another mistake she had made.

She should have ran upstairs and grabbed her things from her room, but she wasn't thinking properly and she ran out and ran out of town as fast as her legs would carry her. She hid out to nightfall, and then she went back to the saloon, going in through the back way, so that no one would see her. She went up to her room and packed all her things. There was no future for her at the saloon. She knew Vincent hated her. She could tell by his face before she had ran out.

After packing her clothes, she ransacked her room looking for all the money she had saved up. Unfortunately, it wasn't any where to be found.

Furious she ran down the stairs with her bag in tow. She ran over to Vincent and demanded to know who had been in her room. He grabbed her arm and led her into his office. He didn't want his customers to see an ugly scene. He told her he had taken the money. It belonged to him now to fix the chairs and glasses that she had broke when she had her tiff with Garrett. Some of it had also went to pay the doc for fixing up Garrett.
It was her fault so she had to pay for it.

Ginger had tried arguing with Vincent that she hadn't broke the glasses. That Garrett had done that, and that it was all Garrett's fault. He should be the one paying for it. But Vincent was relentless and he wasn't going to give in, so she then decided to argue that it didn't take all her money to square things up, but that didn't get her any money back either.

Finally it was no use. She stormed out, knocking into men as she went. Those men knew better than to confront a lady on the warpath, so they didn't say a word when she stormed past.

She had no money. She had no job. She didn't tell the other girls about her misfortune. Instead she stayed in an old shack that had been abandoned. But it wasn't for long because soon Mike and Matt showed up.
She wouldn't let the others leave without her, so she had joined the troop to Three Crossings. She hated that they would all be saloon girls.

She knew Betsy and Judy weren't the type, but they had accepted the role because they wanted their dreams to come true sooner than later. That's why all the ladies had accepted Mike's invitation to open up a saloon. Ginger was afraid that the girls might get into trouble, so she would have to look after them once the saloon opened up. She had also made Mike and Matt promise that none of the men would be able to be rude and cruel to them. The brothers had assured them that their saloon was going to be a classy one, and under no circumstances would such ruffians be allowed to occupy their saloon. No matter what, she planned on holding them to that agreement because she didn't want to see any of her sisters get hurt.

She still felt bad for not being able to give the others their dreams now. Some how she should have been able to accomplish it. Hopefully something would come along quickly, and they wouldn't have to be saloon
girls for too long. "Ginger, Ginger come on," Evie called.

Ginger looked up from her book and saw Evie looking at her, waiting for her to take Judy's place at the checker board. Evie always beat them all at checkers, but the girls didn't mind because it made Evie very happy that she could win at the game. Ginger stood up on the front porch, laid her book on her rocking chair and walked over to sit down at the checker's table.

"You can go first, Ginger," Evie said as Ginger took her seat. Ginger moved a black checker. She didn't concentrate very well on the game because she was still upset that her and the girls weren't making their dreams come true right now.

Meanwhile Betsy was thinking about her own dreams as she was quilting. She looked down the dusty road and wished that right now a handsome man would come riding up, sweep her off her feet, and take her to his big mansion.

Of course they would get married, and she would invite all her orphan sisters to come and live with them because the mansion would have more than enough room for all of them. The man that would sweep her away would be gentle, strong, loving, and would cater to her every whim. A smile crossed her face as she thought about the prince on a mighty steed carrying her away to her romantic fantasy.

"What's ya dreaming about?" Jazzy asked Betsy.

"Oh, you know. I was just wishing for my prince on shining armor." She glanced down the road.

"Well, if you get one, please tell him to send one my way." Jazzy sighed as she thought how wonderful it would be to have a prince to love her, too.

It wasn't long before Evie beat Ginger, and then the girls had to bring Betsy back to the present because it was her turn to take Ginger's place. Betsy laid down her quilt and feeling happy she sat down and moved a black checker. Just like every other time none of the girls or Joey beat Evie that evening. The girls didn't mind, but Joey insisted that they would have to have a rematch soon.

*********************************************************************************************
· In Andy's action a wagon train is held up
· Ike sees a wagon train held up
· James rescues someone
· Will brings lunch to someone who is working
· Tom reflects on his past mistakes and how they affect his future
· Sid teases someone
· Seth gets in trouble for slacking on the job.
· Carrie forgives someone
· Bob meets someone from a wagon train to Oregon.
· Roger meets someone new.
*********************************************************************************************

Tuesday, April 17, 1860

Andy and Ike were on their way back from a special delivery to Fort Laramie. They were running ahead of schedule, so they weren't in a hurry to get back.

A few miles out of Three Crossings they saw someone who looked like the man who was helping the dressmaker set her shop up.

James, spoke to them, "Hi, the two of you are from the new Pony Express Station, huh?"

Ike nodded and Andy said, "Yes, Sir. I'm Andy and this is Ike. He can hear, but he can't talk."

James looked Ike in the eye and smiled, "Nice to meet you, Ike, I'm James."

Then he turned to Andy ad looked him in the eye. "Nice to meet you too, Andy.

If ya'll ever need any help over there with construction or lumber, just come on by my place and I'll help you out."

Just then they saw a wagon train rolling in the distance. They sat and watched it as it went by. "Were getting more and more people out here. I guess that's good for business. James observed.

Before Ike or Andy could answer, a band of bandits came out of nowhere.

In a matter of seconds, they had the wagon train stopped and held up.

Luckily, the robbers didn't know about the trio watching them. James said, "I'll go get Marshal West and a posse. You can stay here and let us know which way they go." He left before he could get answer out of the young boys.

Andy looked at Ike and asked, "Are we just going to sit here and watch?"

Ike shook his head no and they both charged. By the time James returned with the posse and Marshal, it was an all out gunfight. Ike and Andy had killed all but three of the bad guys, and they were out bullets. They were about to be shot, when James said, "You are surrounded. If you pull that trigger all three of you will die."

The outlaws, put down their weapons when they realized that the Marshal had a posse with guns pointed at the outlaws heads. "Uh you got the wrong men, These two were trying to rob this wagon train."

"That's a lie," said one of he kids in the wagon train. "They were helping us. You were trying to rob us!"

"That's right, "I left these two boys here while I went to go get help. I had only wanted them to watch from safety until we got here, but I see that they did more than just watch." James told the Marshal.

The Marshal, knew that the boys that were held at gun point were Pony Express Riders and were not holding up wagon trains. He had been out at the station to visit Teaspoon and knew the two boys in question.

"Well, I guess if lying was against the law we could add that to your list of charges. I know these two boys wouldn't hold up a wagon train when they got mail to deliver. Go on boys, go to wherever it is that you have to get that mail to."

"Thank you, Marshal, James" Andy said and they each nodded to what appeared to be a young boy. Ike nodded his thanks too and the two boys were on their way back to the station.

When the Marshal brought the outlaws through town, Tom saw who was going to jail. He thought, *That's the men that killed my mama. Maybe if I had tried to do something, maybe if I had gotten the gun out of the
wagon, I could have killed them instead of them killing her. That was a mistake that cost my mama's life. Now I have no mama. She won't be there when I need her most anymore.*

He decided to go tell Miss Jenkins about the Marshal needing some lunch. The hotel supplied the Marshal's meals when he had to watch over people locked up.

"Will, the Marshal's caught some outlaws. I need you to run him some lunch. I'm sure he's hungry." Carrie Ann said.

"Yes, Mam." He said and grabbed a plate of food for the Marshal. When Will got the jail, he saw who was locked up. "Marshal, where are the rest of 'em?"

"Two of the Pony Express Riders killed the rest in a shoot out just a half mile way from the station." The Marshal looked at the boy, "How did you know that there were more?"

"Because they killed my Ma a few months ago."

"Did you see them do it?"

"Yes, Sir. They held up our wagon train and shot her. I was just a few feet from her."

"You willing to testify to it in court, Son?"

"I want to kill 'em myself." Will said as he went out of the Marshal's office.

Meanwhile up in The Johnson's hotel room. Sid was playing with Baby Helen. He was hiding, then popping out and yelling, "I see you!"

The effect of this was making Helen cry. She couldn't see Sid because hid again before she could turn to see him. Sid thought that she was laughing though. Finally after watching to see what was going on, Seth intervened, "Sid, quit teasing your sister. It's not nice."

"Dad, I thought she would like it. She likes it when you, Will, and Tom do it."

Seth's heart and voice softened when he realized what his youngest son was trying to do. "Son, we let her see us. It upsets her when she can't see us. If you hide, then let her see you and then hide again she likes it." He smiled as he watched Sid play Helen's favorite game with her.

Will came up to the room and said, "Dad, the men that killed Ma are in the jail here. I just brought lunch to the Marshal."

"Good now they can pay for what they did!" Sid said. Seth knew he had to persuade his sons to testify so that justice can be done. "That's right, Son. We will make them pay by testifying in court. And not by trying to carry out a revenge. You mother would want justice to be done not any of you in harm's way." he said firmly. He was relieved that the murders were caught.

"Well, I'll testify and when they hang, I'll be the hangman!" Will said as Tom came in so that Seth and Will could go to work.

An hour after Seth started working, Tom came running down the stairs. He was thankful when he saw no one in the restaurant. "Dad, Helen is crying and I can't get her to stop! I think she's hurt!"

"Concerned about his daughter, he rushed up the stairs. He took Helen from Sid and started patting her on her back. After a few seconds of this, she gave a good burp and then smiled. She just had some gas that she couldn't get rid of. Seth was relieved that she was fine now.

As Seth was coming down the stairs, Carrie Ann saw him and thought he was slacking on the job. "Mr. Johnson, I need you in the restaurant. I never thought that you would try to get out of working."

"I'm getting back, to the restaurant right now, Mam. I'm sorry." Sid over reacted and pleaded his dad's case,

"Please, Miss Jenkins, it's our fault not his. Helen was crying and we couldn't get her stop. She was hurting. Please don't fuss at him."

"Is this true, Mr. Johnson?"

"Yes, Mam." Seth said.

"You know, Brianna watches over my son while I work, maybe she'll also watch Helen for you. That would give the peace of mind that if something goes wrong, she can handle it and it would give your sons the time they need for their school work and time to play with their friends."

"Thank you for the information. I'll talk to her just as soon as I can. I know my boys need more time for their school and friends, but I had no other options."

"I know how it is being a single parent, Mr. Johnson. I forgive you for going up to your room when you were supposed to be working." Carrie Ann smiled as Seth went back to work.

At the Lucky Ace Saloon.

If someone was looking for Bob powers they would have found him in the Lucky Ace Saloon. His son, Roger, was bartending. Roger had just gotten the job almost tow weeks ago. Roger was worried about his father who was always drinking instead of taking care of the girls.

The Saloon workers had heard about the hold up outside of town and they new that the wagon train would come into town for a cool drink and supplies.

One friendly traveler came in and sat down beside Bob and said, "Howdy, Partner, Name's Bill."

"Bob, Bill I'm" Bob slurred.

"He means that his name is Bob." Roger interpreted.

"He's that drunk already?" Roger nodded. "Then give me the same thing he has. I need it after my wagon train was held up. I think we are staying the night. Most of the women want to sleep in a real bed at the hotel tonight."

"Good idea." Roger said as he handed the customer a drink.

"Give Roger me another." Bob slurred.

Roger looked at Jake and Jake took over, Mr. Powers, I think you have had enough. Why don't you have a coffee on the house?"

Roger gave his father a coffee and Bob was drunk that he didn't even realize that the coffee didn't have any alcohol in it.

"He seems nice." Bill said pointing to Bob.

"Yeah he's nice, just too drunk to take care of his family and has for the past 5 years."

The man's face darkened. "I can't see what would make a man turn his back on his family and turn tot he bottle instead."

"His wife and infant son died 5 years ago and he is in so much pain, he has forgotten about the children he has living."

"That would do it."

"Yeah. I understand but it still hurts that I lost both of my parents and my baby brother all on the day. Jake hired me so I could take care of my sisters and still keep an eye on my Pa."

"Well at least he helps you out. Not many bosses would do that."

"Yeah, Jake is pretty special." Roger thought. Jake was trying to convince his daughter, Lucky, to go out with Roger. So far it hadn't worked.

*********************************************************************************************
· Mary receive a letter.
· Thomas and Tommy go camping.
· Mina visits a sick friend
· Someone from Kid's past pays him a visit.
*********************************************************************************************

Wednesday, April 18, 1860

Tom looked from his son to his wife. "I was thinking of taking Tommy camping for a few days."

"Oh thats wonderful Honey. It will be great for the both of you." Mary said.

"Really Pa? When can we leave?" Tommy said excitedly.

Tom smiled at his only child. "Yes son. We'll leave as soon as we get everything together."

Tommy smiled and ran to gather his things.

Mary smiled shaking her head. "Go get your things Honey. I'll get some food together."

Tom nodded and kissed her cheek. "Yes dear." Then headed off the their room.

Mary headed into the kitchen and started to get some food together.

As Tom saddled Snow and tied their bed rolls to the saddle when Samuel came running up. "Mrs Covington. I have a package for you."

Mary took the package. "Thank you, Samuel."

Samuel nodded and headed back to the store.

Mary turn to her family. Looking at the return address. "It's from my parents lawyer."

Tom walked over to his wife. "That's strange. I wonder why he's sending it?"

Mary shrugged as she opened it. Inside was her mother's ring and her father's watch. Opening the letter she dropped it after a few minutes. They want to visit. they also want Tommy to have my father's watch and me to give mother's ring to our daughter." Mary started to tear up.

Tom took his wife in his arms. "I know honey. We'll hold it till Tommy older."

Mary smiled "You're right."

Tom kissed her "Alright we'll be back by Sunday."

Mounting up, Tom extended a hand to Tommy. "Ready son?"

"Yes sir." Tommy answered as he mounted up behind his father.

Mary watched as they rode off together. She picked up the letter and headed into the house.

"Hello Rachel, is Noah here?" Mina smiled at the station mistress.

The Express riders hadn't been in town long, but already she had become friends with them. So when she heard that Noah had been injured saving a young woman's life, she decided to pay him a visit. He was cooped up at the station for at least two weeks according to doctor's orders, and she knew he must be hating it. So after she closed her store for the day, she headed out to the station.

Rachel pointed her to the bunkhouse, explaining that Noah was in there resting. Mina accepted her invitation to stay for dinner with a smile and headed for the bunkhouse.

She found Noah sitting up on his bunk, reading a book. "Whatcha readin'?" She asked, setting the basket she was carrying on the table.

"Oh, just one of Cody's dime novels," he said with a smile. "We're a bit short on the classics around here, but I've been cooped up so long even these are looking good."

"I figured that," Mina smiled, pulling a copy of King Lear from the basket.

"Shakespeare," Noah took the book with a smile.

"It's my favorite of all his works," Mina explained. "I figured you might enjoy it. It's got all the excitement and intrigue of Cody's novels."

"Thanks, I'll get it back to you as soon as I've finished it."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I've read it so many times I practically have it memorized anyway. So, the word around town is that you're a big hero," she teased him.

"It was nothing," Noah grumbled. "All I did was get shot. And one of the guys got away. I wasn't much help."

"Of course it was nothing. You just saved that girl's life is all. I bet Cody's really jealous of all the attention you're getting."

Noah laughed. "You should hear him and Hickok arguing over who would have performed the best rescue. The latest version has Cody riding off into the sunset with the girl, who gets more and more amazingly beautiful with each telling by the way, on the back of his horse singing his praises and telling him how much more handsome and stronger he is than Jimmy. And I'm sitting here, stuck at home. Doctor Poor says I can't ride for at least two weeks."

"I heard that," Mina smiled. "Enjoy it while you can. Before you know it, you'll be back working hard for Teaspoon. I've heard that man is a slave driver." She winked at Noah, knowing full well that Teaspoon had just walked into the bunkhouse.

"I heard that young lady," the grizzled man said good naturedly. "Noah, what are we going to do with her? She needs to learn to be polite to her elders."

"How about if I run over to Rachel's and help her with supper," Mina grinned. "I'll make that peach cobbler I know you love."

"Okay, now you're cheating," Teaspoon laughed. "That pretty smile of yours is hard enough to resist, but when you throw in some of your cooking there's just nothing I can do."

"Good, it's settled then. I'll see you two at dinner."

As Kid rode back towards home. He thought about the people he left behind in Virginia. He wondered about his childhood friend Dorthia.

His thoughts were interrupted when someone called his name. Looking up he smiled when he saw that it was his brother Jed. "Hey Jed." He called as he rode closer to him.

"Hey Kid. Got someone here who wants to see you again." Jed commented then moved to the side.

"Hey Kid." Came a familiar voice.

"Doritha? Is that you?" He hugged her.

"Yes Kid. It's me." she hugged back.

"Easy Kid that's my wife your hugging." Jed teased slapping his brother on the back.

"You two are married? That's great. Where you headed?"

"Yes. We're on our way to California. Got us a small farm there. You will have to come visit." Doritha said happy to see her friend again.

"I will but right now I have to be getting back home. Their waiting on the mail there. It's good to see you both again." Hugging is sister-in-law and shaking his brother's hand.

He climbed back on Katie. He rode off towards home. He gave them a wave glad that they were happy together. When he got home, he was pleasently surprised to see Mina at the dinner table. He took his next her and they had a wonderful dinner and he saw that she got home safely.

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· Emily tells someone about her dreams for the future.
· Beth learns a secret about someone
· Someone jokes with Emma.
· Jazzy pretends to mail a letter.
· Cody meets someone new.
· Mike finds a treasure.
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Thursday, April 19, 1860

While Andre and Emily were fishing, Andre asked, "What do you think you will be doing 5 years from now?"

"Well in 5 years, I'll be 17. Hopefully I be able to work on your father's ranch and help out with my sisters. I also hope that in 5 years my father will be a father again." Emily said trying to hold her tears back. While she had a crush on Andre, she knew that she could talk to him about anything.

Beth was walking down to the swimming hole, when she saw 2 of the riders from the Pony Express. She knew them as Andy and Alex. They were taking a bath. She tried to turn away before they came out of the water but was unable to. As they grabbed their towels, she remarked, "I thought you two were boys."

"Well that's what we want everyone to think." Andy confirmed.

"We would get fired if anyone found out." Alex informed her.

"Alright I won't tell anyone." Beth affirmed. Beth then bathed and went home. When she got home, she saw that Emma was sad. So she decided to joke around with her. "Knock, Knock"

"Who's there?" Emma asked solemnly.

"Banana."

"Banana Who?"

"Knock, Knock"

"Who's there?" Emma asked again.

"Banana."

"Banana Who?"

"Knock, Knock"

"Who's there?" Emma asked annoyed.

"Banana."

"Banana Who?"

"Knock, Knock"

"Who's there?" Emma asked getting tiered of this game.

"Orange."

"Orange Who?" Emma asked confused.

"Orange ya glad I didn't say Banana again?" When Emma smiled, Beth knew that she did her job, her sister was happy.

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Mike couldn't wait for the saloon to get done. Joey had been right, there were lots of people that passed by. There were even several stagecoaches that went by the station. They were sure to have plenty of customers when they opened. But first they had to get the place built, before they could open. Several of the girls were very good at construction, but then there was Jazzy. She was always trying to get out of building one way or another. He looked forward to every new day just to see how Jazzy would get out of pounding a hammer.

Jazzy was running out of unique excuses for getting out of swinging a hammer. So today she had decided on a lie. It was a little white lie. She was sure it wouldn't count too much against her when it was her turn to enter heaven. Besides it wasn't like it would be hurting anybody. She would just be getting out of work, and Joey had to go to town anyway. She had started calling Joseph, Joey, right after they had met. She didn't think he looked that old, and she preferred the name Joey to Joseph.

Besides she had a crush on a fellow named Joseph at one time, and he had broke her heart. No one knew that though except her real sister, and she was sworn to secrecy.

Since she had started calling him Joey, all the other gals and Mike and Matt had started calling him that, too. He didn't seem to mind at all though.

"Joey! Joey, wait!" Jazzy called as she ran over to the wagon. "Yes, Miss Jazzy, what can I do for you?" Joey inquired as he twisted around in the wagon to look her way.

"Can I ride into town with ya? I have a letter to mail to a friend back in the orphanage where I used to live." She crossed her fingers behind her back for luck in hopes that Joey would not question her about it.

"Well yeah ya can, I'd love the company. Come on aboard." He held out his hand, and she placed her little one into his rough big one. She smiled as she sat down beside him. On the way into town they jawed about the orphanage that Jazzy was in, and she was glad that he didn't ask about the letter that she was mailing. The less lies she had to tell the better.

"I'm going to load up the wagon. You mail your letter, and when I'm done loading the wagon, we can have some lunch, ok Miss Jazzy?"

"Sounds good to me." Jazzy headed for the post office that was adjacent to the boutique. She chatted with the lady in charge of the post office for a little while, and then just as she was going out, she bumped into a striking handsome young man.

"Oh excuse me ma'am." dropped the a letter on the counter in front of the post office clerk.. Astounded by his good looks, Jazzy watched him. She smiled at him as he turned around to get another look at the beauty, he had just walked into. "Gee, where are my manners? William F. Cody, at your service, ma'am." Cody touched his hat as he bowed his head.

"Hello, I'm Jazzy." She gave him her most pleasant smile. "Please to meet ya, ma'am. I wish I could chat longer, but I have to get moving. The mail doesn't stop for anything, not even pretty ladies. Although if it was stopping for anything, I would want it to be for pretty ladies."

He gave her his most handsome boyish grin and then headed for the door.

Not wanting this great looking gentleman to get out of her sight right away, she asked, "So you're a Pony Express Rider?" Cody stopped and replied, "Yes ma'am." "Do you go to the Sweetwater waystation?"

"Yes, I was just there for a fresh mount. Since they said that Joey was here in town I thought I'd bring in this letter for him."

"Where do you stay-live?"

"I bunk at the Three Crossings waystation."

"Oh we were going to live in that town, but now we'll be living out near the Sweetwater waystation. I hope you'll stop by and see me some time."

"How could anyone say no to you, I surely will." She was the most beautiful gal he had ever seen. "Goodbye, Miss Jazzy!"

Daydreaming about the handsome man she had just met, Jazzy almost got run over by the stagecoach as she crossed the street. "Oh, I'm sorry." Jazzy waved to the driver and then hurriedly crossed to the other side so the stagecoach could pass.

"I'm not done yet, Jazzy." Joey told her as he threw a bag of flour into the wagon.

"Oh. Oh, that's ok. I think I'll go look at the dresses." She had planned on doing that but then Mr. William F. Cody had distracted her.

"Alright you do that, and I'll fetch ya as soon as I'm done."

Jazzy crossed the street again, this time she made sure that there was no one around to run her down before she crossed. She looked at the dresses, but her mind was more on the Pony Express Rider than the dresses, so when Joey came to get her and asked her if she saw anything she liked, she replied, "No, nothing let's go."

Joey and Jazzy had lunch at the hotel and then they headed back to the waystation. Jazzy didn't talk as much as she had on the way to town. She was too busy thinking about the rider who had caught her eye. She couldn't wait to tell Judy all about him.

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Mike rambled up the hillside and into the cave that he had spotted a few days ago. This was the first chance he had to get up here and explore it.

Ever since he was a kid, Mike had a knack for finding weird and unusual things, so when he had found the cave hidden behind some bushes, he didn't consider it lucky at all. He just considered it another every day occurrence to him.

He pulled the bushes back out of the way like he had done two days ago. It had been getting late since he had been out exploring the area all day, and it was close to supper time, so that day he had decided he would come back and investigate it when he had more time. And that time was now.

He lit the lantern that he had brought with him and peered inside. It seemed to be a pretty deep cave. He looked back over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching him. He didn't see anyone, so he pulled the bushes closer to cover up the entrance. He walked on inside and went about twenty feet before he came upon a rusted metal chest. Mike swept his hand across the top of it a few times to get the dirt off of it. It wasn't locked though it looked as though it once had a lock on it. He slowly lifted the lid to peer inside. Astonished at what he saw, he muttered under his breath, "Who in blazes would want to hide a chest full of blankets." It was ridiculous. Too ridiculous, so he started moving the blankets around to see if there was anything else underneath them. And there was.

Pulling out a bag he opened it up to find lots of gold pieces. He sat down on the floor of the cave and counted them. There was 500 gold pieces. He whistled when he had finished counting. That was a lot of money. Who could have left it here and why? He turned around and dug down deeper into the chest. Next he pulled out a map and a deed. He glanced over it, and then stirred his hands once more into the chest where he brought out the last thing, a book.

Leaning against the chest he opened up the book. On the first page it had a name wrote in it. 'Zackiriah Charles Raymond' He quickly flipped through it and went to the last page where he read these words. My enemies are near. I fear that I won't live to see mornin. All my men have deserted me except those that have died for me. They were loyal upstanding men that didn't need to perish as they did. My two loyal guardsmen that I have left, I'm sending them away with my granddaughter.

I have placed her wrapped in blankets inside my old metal trunk. They will hide her in the old cave over the hill until it's safe to depart with her, far away where she will be safe. I've also put the deed, the map of her land-for it will be hers after I die-and 550 gold pieces in a bag for her upbringing. This is all I have to give her. I must stay and try to defend our home because I'm too old to run, and I won't be run off my land. Hopefully I will take some of those horrid men to the grave with me.

That was the end of the last entry. Mike picked up the map again. It was a map of the old man's land, now his granddaughter's-wherever she was.

Mike folded up the deed and map and placed it inside the journal. He would take it with him to read the other entries. Now for the gold- what would he do with it? That was a lot of gold to be carrying around. It had been safely hidden in this cave for 15 years, but he had found it. Someone else could just as easily stumble onto it.
For a half an hour Mike debated on what to do with the gold. He finally decided to wrap the bag of gold up in one of the blankets, and then he hid it in a little hole behind a big rock in the cave. Now he thought, if anyone finds the chest, they won't find the gold. He shut the chest's lid and left the cave covering the entrance with the bushes. As he climbed back down the hill, he looked back to make sure that the entrance to the cave couldn't be seen. He smiled as he told himself that he had hidden it very well.

Mike mounted his horse and rode back to the station. He didn't show the journal to anyone. He hid it underneath his longjohns that he kept in his dresser. He would look at it later because right now it was time to for supper.