"Thank you for helping out like this. I don't know how I was going to cook for all those boys with this busted arm."

"I'm just sorry that Jeremiah didn't fix that step properly. Pa's going to make him do it over."

"It shouldn't be your punishment to come out here to cook for me and the boys. It was your brother's carelessness not yours."

"Emma, you've been like a mother to me since Ma died. It's not punishment for me to come out here and help you out and spend time with a friend."

"Well, just the same thank you. I couldn't have supper on the table for all those boys and Mr. Spoon without you." Emma smiled.

"Why were they trying to show off earlier? Didn't they know they looked liked fools? And the girl. What's her name Lee? What is she doing riding for the Express?"

"Some people have no other choice, Louise. We don't know her situation. Besides, if that was the only way to survive, you would do the same thing." When Emma saw the doubtful look on Louise's face, she added "And don't deny it. You are a strong young lady and would do anything for your family. So don't go judging anyone without knowing their story."

Before Louise could answer the older woman, someone knocked on the door. When Louise opened the door, she saw a sandy haired, blue eyed young man standing at the entrance. She couldn't stop staring into those blue eyes. Eyes as crystal blue as she imagined the sea would be.

The young man seemed to be having the same problem. He couldn't take his eyes off her. He had seen her earlier that day from afar, but she was even more beautiful up close. She was wearing a pair of brown riding pants with a white tight fitting blouse. He almost forgot what he came to tell Emma. "Uh ... I'm Kid, one of the riders, Teaspoon said to tell Miss Shannon that we would have supper in the bunkhouse."

"All right, it should be ready in another half hour." Louise trembled. What is it about this guy that made her so nervous? "I'm Louise McCloud. I'm helping Emma out while her arm heals up."

"I got to get back to work." Kid said, after a moment of awkward silence.

"Who was it?" Emma asked.

"That was Kid. He said that supper would be in the bunkhouse." Louise said distractedly.

At supper that night, Emma introduced herself as the owner of the land and the house. She introduced Mary Louise McCloud as the doctor's daughter and told the boys that Louise would be cooking until Emma's arm healed up.

Jeremiah greeted Louise at the door. "Boy are you in trouble, you missed supper and Pa had to cook. And you know how he hates to cook! PA! LOUISE IS HOME!!!!" The young lad shouted.

Bogdanovich "Boggs" Jeremiah McCloud came out of his office area to see his oldest daughter trying to get in the door. However her 13 year-old brother would not budge an inch. The boy wanted to see his older sister get into trouble. She never got into trouble, except when she tried to wear pants to church, but that was two years ago.

"Jeremiah, sit down at the table, Louise and I have something to discuss with you." He said in a grim voice. The boy did as he was told, not sure what to expect.

"Do you know why your sister is late getting in tonight?" Jeremiah shook his head no. "Do you remember that step that you fixed yesterday for Miss Shannon?"

"Yes, Sir." he said proudly.

"Remember, how you hurried through it and didn't do too good a job on it?"

"Yes, Sir, but it worked didn't it?"

"No it didn't work." Louise said angrily.

"What do you mean 'It didn't work'? You weren't there! It works fine!" he informed his sister.

"Jeremiah, if the step works fine, why did Miss Shannon come into my office this morning with a broken arm from when she fell when the step that you fixed broke when she stepped on it? She had her hands full and fell on her arm and broke it. You know how important it was that she had that step fixed by today. You know that she was supposed to start a new job today. Louise had to go over there and fix supper for 6 young men, the new station master AND Emma. That's why I had to cook supper for us." Dr. McCLoud was about to go on when he was interrupted. Jeremiah had turned to his sister, the step forgotten and spoke up, "What were they like? I hear that the Pony Express is going to be wonderful! And the riders will be heros!!!"

"You'll get a chance to meet them tomorrow after school because you're going back over there to fix that step properly!"

"But, Pa" Jeremiah wined.

"You're the one who broke it when you tried to shoot the rabbit under the porch the other day. You're the one who will fix it so that no one else gets hurt."

"Yes, Sir."

"Louise, you best be getting to bed, if you're going to help Emma out in the morning."

"Yes, Pa. Good Night. Good Night Jeremiah."

"Night Louise, you better be quiet, Theresa's been sick since we came home from school. I think she just wants to get out of the math test tomorrow." Dr. McCloud and Louise rolled their eyes at this comment, knowing that Theresa loved school and it would be Jeremiah who would try to get sick to get out of going to school.

As the riders were getting ready for bed, Cody was trying lay his claim to Louise. "She sure is pretty."

"Who?" Lee asked, paranoid that he had seen through her disguise.

"Miss McCloud. Who'd you think I meant? Miss Shannon?"

"And what's wrong with Miss Shannon?" Lee asked teasing the boy.

"I ain't got nothing against her, it's just that Miss McCloud is...."

"A lady," Kid interrupted dreamily.

All heads turn toward the gentle rider.

"It sure did take a long time today when he went to tell Emma about dinner." Jimmy teased.

"What are you talking about?" Kid asked as he sat up on his bunk.

"We were just wondering what you and Miss McCloud were talking about." Buck said.

"Nothing" Kid blushed.

"Sure didn't look like nothing to us. And you even blush when you think about her!" Cody teased.

Lee fearing if she said anything left to go for a walk while the boys ragged Kid out. She felt sorry for him, but couldn't afford to have her identity discovered. Jimmy had to hold himself from going after the small "boy".

Ike signed something that Buck translated into "He said leave the Kid alone"

"We don't care if he likes her." Jimmy said.

"Didn't you hear, she's the doctor's daughter. Her father would never let any of us near her!" Buck said.

"Speak for yourself." Cody said as he straightened his posture.

"Leave her alone Cody. I think that Kid has staked his claim." Buck translated for Ike.

"What do you mean?" Kid asked.

"We all saw the way you looked at her at dinner. I think Cody is just trying to get to her because of her cooking." Jimmy teased both of his new friends.

Louise was sitting at the table drinking coffee when her father came in. "What are you doing up? It's late."

"Couldn't sleep. Trouble at the Saloon again?"

"No, Mrs. Davis went into labor. She has a healthy baby boy now." The doctor said with a smile. "So what's keeping you up?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just can't get those Pony Express riders out of my mind."

One in particular. Kid, what is it about you that I can't stop thinking about you? Louise thought.

"What about them?"

"They're all about my age. Why are they taking on such a dangerous job? Don't they know that the Inadains'll kill 'em if they ride on their land?"

"Some people are not as lucky as you, Louise. You have me to provide for you. From what I hear, these boys have no parents. Some of them might even have younger brothers and sisters that they have to provide for. When you're in that situation, you take any job you can get."

Louise sighed, remembering Lee. I wonder what her story is. "I guess." Dr. McCloud looked at his daughter and was reminded of the look that her mother got when she looked at him. He decided not to ask any further questions for now. He'll go out to Miss Shannon's tomorrow and see for himself which of the boys had caught his baby girl's eye. I'm not really ready for this. Mary, I could really use your help right now. He thought.

Up till now, Louise showed no interest in suitors. She thought of every "boy" in town as her "buddy". Of course, playing with them as a child, and even now she'd race them on horseback and target practice with them, probably helped in that mind set. Of course her father was thankful for that.

After breakfast at the station, the doctor made the visit he promised himself to make. Emma was on the swing watching Teaspoon train the boys. "How are you doing, Emma?"

"Just fine, thanks to Louise."

"Where is she?"

"She's in the house fixing lunch for us all."

He just nodded and sat down in a chair.

Emma just nodded. Louise's mind has been on certain young rider all morning. I bet she forgot to make a small lunch for her father because she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing.

"Jeremiah should be over right after school to fix the step properly. Feel free to make him do any extra chores around here. He has to learn that laziness is not acceptable."

"That's all right, Mr. Spoon said that the riders will be doing all the chores around here. All I have to do is cook and do their laundry. All though, Louise may take away the cooking part of my job. The boys really enjoyed their first meal here."

"Emma, Louise has learned a lot from you, but your cooking is still better than hers." Boggs smiled.

"Hey I heard that!" Louise said as she went out onto the porch. "What are you doing here, Pa?"

Boggs looked up and saw his daughter in a blue and white polka dotted dress, the top of the dress fitted and the skirt flared out. Yep, one of these boys definitely has caught her eye to get her in a dress. Boggs just smiled and kissed his daughter's hand, "I came to get some lunch. You didn't leave any thing for me."

"Yes I did. I left you some soup and bread."

"Jeremiah and Theresa took all of it to school. They said that they needed it for their lunch."

"They took all of it?" Louise asked even though she should not be surprised. Jeremiah could eat them out of house and home if they let him.

"Yep."

Louise was jealous at how much he could eat and not gain any wait. If she ate half as much as her younger brother, she would be fat as Bertha. Of course the difference between her and Bertha was Bertha was looking for a husband, Louise couldn't care less right now. So what if all the girls her age except for Cindy Nelson and Bertha Martin were married. She didn't like any of the boys in town that way. Most were good friends, like brothers. The others -- no girl wanted for a beau, let alone a husband.

"Then you and the kids should be out here for supper too, cause that was also your supper. Since you're here, you can help me take this over to the bunkhouse."

"Hey, Kid, looks like Miss McCloud already has a beau." It was Cody who saw Boggs look at Louise lovingly and decided to take it upon himself to say something to the Kid. Kid looked toward the porch just as Boggs lifted Louise's hand to kiss it.

"Kissing a lady's hand, doesn't mean anything. Where I come from that's the gentlemanly thing to do." Kid retorted. He would wait until he found out who this man was before forming an opinion. Besides, Louise wasn't his, he wished she was, but Cody just might be right. He was new in town and she wasn't. She had grown up in Sweetwater.

At lunch, Dr. McCloud was introduced to the riders and Teaspoon. He saw the young man that kept his daughter up all night. He figured out it was the one they called Kid, by the way Louise looked at him. She got the same look in her eyes that she did the night before, while talking to him. He also saw the way Kid looked at his baby girl. No matter how old she got, she would always be his baby girl. Lord, I'm not sure I'm ready for this. I think our little girl has fallen in love with a cowboy. If he could provide for her, then it wouldn't be so bad. No, I probably would find something else wrong with him. Oh, Lord, help me! How am I going to do this without Mary? He prayed. Then he told himself, Don't over react now, they're not even courting right now. Just admiring each other from afar. So maybe it won't go any feather. All Boggs knew was that his daughter was not going to struggle like he and Mary did their first few years of marriage.

"Louise, why are in a dress? It's not Sunday Morning Church." Jeremiah asked as Kid showed him how to fix the step.

"Cause I felt like it." Louise said, blushing.

"But you never wear a dress unless Pa makes you wear one. And that's only to church and dances."

"Jeremiah, if your finished embarrassing your sister, you can go get your other sister from town. Ya'll are going to have supper out here tonight. Since you took your supper to school for lunch." Emma said.

"Can I help it if Louise didn't fix enough? Besides Pa said to tell Louise that he was eating out tonight with Miss Nelson."

Louise smiled. So her father had listened to her suggestion to take Cindy to dinner. Cindy had confided in her best friend about her interest in Dr. McCloud. Louise knew that her father had had an eye on Cindy ever since she came back from finishing school. (The same finishing school that Louise got expelled from for fighting. It wasn't her fault if Georgia boasted about how many slaves her family had. Louise had just tried to shut the girl up. It worked too.) But ever since Cindy had come back from school in May, she had looked a lot less like the little girl that went off and more and more like a lady. Boggs had forgotten all about the age difference. Even though Louise and Cindy were the same age, Cindy acted a lot older. Or maybe it was that Cindy acted a lot more like a lady should.

After Jeremiah returned with Theresa, they had supper and the kids were introduced to the riders. Theresa, who the riders at first mistook for a boy, was dressed like her sister was the day before with a hat on covering her long locks. "I bet all of you a $1 that Louise can out ride any of you!" This came from Jeremiah. And Louise at this comment died on the inside. She didn't want to show off her riding skills. She had been complaining to Emma yesterday about the boys showing off during their training. Of course it was Cody who was bragging about how they were the best riders in the world. When the boys heard this they thought that the young boy admired his older sister. They did not think that there was any truth to the statement.

"You don't have a $1, Jeremiah. Let alone $6." Theresa pointed out. "You already owe Louise your allowance for the next month and half."

"That's ok, because I won't need it. You know that Theresa. Louise is the best rider there is. She's proven it every year at the Founder's Day Picnic Race." When this was revealed, the boys thought that the men and boys of the town just let the lady win the race.

"Jeremiah, maybe I'll lose the race just to teach you not to bet anymore. You don't ever learn do ya?" Louise said referring to the poker "lessons" she gave Jeremiah on the nights that he had no homework.

However, unfortunately, the boys just thought that she knew they were better than she was and Cody had to open his big mouth again. "See, Jeremiah, you should take a lesson from your sister and keep your bragging to yourself, until you know what you're talking about. Ain't no man, let alone, lady that can beat us in a race."

"Oh really?" Emma and Louise said simultaneously. It was Louise that said, "I bet your first week's pay, Mr. Cody, that I could beat you in a race."

The room went silent. Cody looked amused and smiled and said, "You got that much money. Miss McCloud?"

"You let me worry about that." Louise said defiant.

"Now you gone and done it, you've just lost your pay, Mr. Cody." Emma said.

"Everyone knows not to get Louise mad right before a bet, she might actually let you win if you're nice to her." Theresa added.

"Of course, you don't have to take the bet if you're yellow." Jeremiah said.

Of course Jeremiah you would have to match your mouth with William F. Cody's mouth. Louise thought "Jeremiah, have Lightening ready to ride by the time I get back. I'm changing into my riding clothes." she said as she stared into Cody's eyes. With a look of defiance in her own eyes.

She went into the house and changed into the riding clothes that she had on that morning. When she got back outside, Jeremiah and the riders were waiting for her to return.

Teaspoon stood and watched the boys that had decided to participate in this grudge race between Cody and Louise. Not all of them were keen on losing a week's pay. So Buck and Ike leaned against the fence with Emma, watching the others seated on their horses. The horses sensing the riders’ excitement nervously pawed at the ground with their hooves.

Teaspoon watched them closely, knowing just how well that Louise rode he knew this was going to be a close race, just how close he wasn't sure but with Louise and two of his best riders in the race anything could happen.

"The winner of this here race will be the first person out to the big mesquite tree and back" He spoke to the participants. "Am I clear?" he asked waiting to see them all nod, he lifted his bandanna high in the air "Good Luck everybody" He smiled and then dropped his bandanna signaling the start of the race.

The horses were spurred into action, leaving the way station in a cloud of dust, they galloped as fast as their riders could push them, as if they were all as one with their horses.

Cody grinned to himself as he led the race out to the mesquite patch. This is like taking candy from a baby, he thought, but the smile was wiped from his face as Miss McCloud passed him as he rounded the tree, and then it didn't take long for Kid and Lee to pass him too. Damn he thought as he rode on When am I gonna stop letting my big mouth get me into trouble.

As they approached the finish line, three horses were almost inseparable. The horses matched in stamina the riders matched n skill. If the race was held again it could be a different outcome, but today the luck had been with Louise.

Kid knew that he and Katy had raced their best, he couldn't really afford to lose his first weeks pay but his own greed had gotten the better of him and he was sure that Katy was the fastest horse in Sweetwater.

However, Miss McCloud had raced a better race. She had bee the victor. Though Kid and Lee had not been far behind. Lee was just a head behind Louise and Kid was a nose behind Lee. Kid was even more impressed. Not only can she cook, but she could ride for the Express if she weren't a girl that is.

Dismounting, at the end of the race watching them all congratulating Miss McCloud Cody shook his head in disbelief. How had he let himself be beaten by a girl!

"Mr. Cody, I'll be expecting you to pay me when you get your first week's pay, unless you have the money now?" Louise said sweetly. "Oh and you also owe my little brother $1." She turned to the rest of the riders and said, "My bet was with Mr. Cody, not with ya'll. However, I do believe that my little brother bet everyone."

Each of the riders paid Jeremiah $1. Then Jeremiah turned around and paid Louise what he owed her and pocketed the rest. "Jeremiah, remind me to talk to you about your betting." Louise said as she took the payment from her brother.

After Cody paid Louise his first weeks pay, she went to look for Lee. She was determined to find out why Lee was riding for the Express. She found Lee in the barn. "Hey"

"Hi" Lee said. "Kid's not here. He's on a run."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

Lou looked around making sure that they were alone and no one could over hear. "Why are you dressing like a boy and riding for the Express like this? Don't you know what could happen if they found out?"

Lee looked stunned. "Of course I know what could happen. You won't tell will you?"

"That depends on your reason."

Lee took a deep breath, "I have a twin sister that I'm trying to put through nursing school."

"What about your parents?"

"They both died in Mississippi. We couldn't find our mother's parents and our father's parents don't even acknowledge us. When showed up on their doorstep they said they had no grandchildren. I wanted to go to school also, but we had no money. So we tried to get a job, the only people hiring women were the whorehouses. So I cut my hair and applied for a job with the Express. When they hired me as a rider, we were able to get Lynnette in a Nursing school. When she gets through with school and gets a job as a nurse, I'm going to school to be a veterinarian."

"That must take up all your pay." Louise said stunned.

"Yeah well I'd say it's worth it. My sister is worth my life if need be."

"I know. I have a younger sister." Louise smiled. "Listen, take this, it's what I won from Cody. Put it in your savings and when I can, I'll get you more. What I give you, you save for your own education and if you need anything, anything at all, you just let me know, I'll see what I can do. I want to help you out." Lee looked at the rich girl stunned, more angry than anything, "We don't need your pity!"

"It's not pity, if it were pity, I'd offer you what my father pays me to be his nurse. I'm just trying to help out a friend. I consider all of you my friends. And I help my friends when I can."

"I'm sorry."

"That's ok. Just let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you out."

Six weeks went by and Emma's arm healed. The first dinner Emma cooked for the riders may not have had Louise McCloud physically present, but she sure was the topic of the conversation when Cody suggested that Miss McCloud would not be around any more.

Louise returned to cooking for her family and found that her friend Cindy had been cooking for her father and her siblings. She also got to catch up on the latest gossip, but Cindy could tell that her mind was back at the station.

On to Chapter Three

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