Sweetwater and Lou were no more than 20 miles away when Kid met up with the storm.  As the choking dirt and sand began to blind him, he realized that there was no way he or Katy could make the last leg of the journey without one or both of them suffocating.  Reluctantly, with the grime of the storm beating its way into his clothes and eyes and hair and every possible chink in his armor, he turned his pinto toward the nearest canyon and rode to relative safety beneath a outcropping of sandstone boulders.
 
He emptied one of his canteens into his hands for Katy to drink and after wetting down a rag which he tied over her soft nose, he took shelter himself behind the strong horse's body.  "Please, God, let Lou be alright," he whispered before coughing violently on the sand he'd swallowed.

***

Lou was pacing, wearing a track in the floor as she'd seen Kid do so many times after the war.  The night word came that Buffalo Bill Cody's name was among those listed as "missing" in the war effort, Kid and Buck had worn down her parlor rug trying to decide what their best course of action would be.
 
"But this aint like with Cody, Louise, you big fool," Lou scolded herself outloud.  "You know where Kid is, or was, and you know that he's safe!"  She hated the irrational feeling that was creeping up on her, like so many times during the war.  The irrational belief that her husband who was as strong and brave as they come, had met some fate that he could not overcome.  She'd told no one of her fears during the war years that Kid was gone.  It would be like admitting defeat, admitting that she, too, had doubts.  And if there was one thing Louise McCloud would not admit defeat to was Kid's life.  But the nagging fears were never far away.  So why were they back now?  Lou tried to think back to the last time she'd felt this way.  It had been the day she rode out onto the open prarie looking to escape what a mess her life had become.  It was the same day her life had been given back to her.

***

"Rachael!"  Lou bellowed her closest friend's name, searching for her throughout the house, holding a letter tightly in her fist.  "Rachael!  What the hell is this supposed to mean!?"  Lou thrust open the backdoor to find Rachael hanging clothes on the line and looking at her with curiosity.

"What are you yelling for, Louise?  What on earth is the matter?"  Rachael finished pinning up a sheet and took a step toward the furious-looking young woman.  She was about to snap at Lou for her behavior when she caught sight of the letter in her hand.  "Lou, darlin', what's that?" Rachael asked, quietly.

Lou quickly realized her friend must have thought she'd gotten news about The Kid.  If only that were the case.  "It's nothing like that, Rachael, God wouldn't be that kind," Lou pressed on so as not to hear an reprimand for her balsphomy.  "It's a letter from Teaspoon.  Rachael, how could you!"

Taken aback, Rachael reached for the letter that Lou held out to be inspected.  She opened the crumpled letter and glanced over her husband's scrawl with a warmth spreading through her at the sight.  He was ok, still.  She looked up at Louise with questioning eyes.  "Darlin', I have no idea what you're so fired up about?  What's wrong with a letter from Teaspoon?"

Lou looked mutinous and refused to answer, except to grunt, "Just read it."  Her arms folded in defiance, Lou was not about to give an inch, that much Rachael could see.  Chosing the less dangerous of paths, Rachael looked at the letter a second time and saw the awkward expression of concern and love for his former rider in Teaspoon's letter.  At first, she saw nothing wrong in her husband's heartfelt correspondance, unti she looked up again at Lou and saw hot and angry tears forming in her eyes.  It was then that Rachael realized her husband's letter read like one of condolance.  An expression of sympathy for the bereaved.  Lou must have taken it to mean Teaspoon had given up on Kid's return.  And the only person who could have given him that impression was his wife.

"Oh no, Lou, honey, this aint what it seems like..." Rachael began.

"Aint it!?  Aint it exactly what it seems like?"  Lou was crying openly now, the sense of betrayl coursing through her.  "You all think he's dead!" she yelled, choking on her tears.

"No we don't, you have to believe me, Louise.  We don't think that at all."  Rachael crossed to her and tried to put an arm around Lou, who shook her off and crossed to the clothesline to avoid further contact.  Rachael sighed at Teaspoon's botched effort to bring comfort to Louise.  "I know that this is what the letter sounds like, but you have to remember, Teaspoon can put it on a little thick sometimes.  He probably wanted to get flowery for you and didn't realize how it was going to read to you."

Lou knew what Rachael was saying made sense, it was like Teaspoon to pour the on the extra syrup, but what had prompted him in the first place other than a tale from his wife about Lou's irrational belief that Kid was still....  "Even if that was the case, why would he even feel like he had to write something like this in the first place if you hadn't written him to say crazy Louise was losin' it 'cause everyone else on earth knows her husband's dead!"  The last part came out as a sob and Lou felt her compsure completely deteriorate before her friend.  "And she's too insane in love with him to admit it!" she wept quietly in defeat.

Rachael, however, had lost her patience, "Well you can go on and think what you want Louise McCloud, but I'll tell you one thing.  The only person 'round here crying 'cause they think Kid's dead right now is you, so maybe you best be thinking about why you're blaming me and Teaspoon, who's loved you like our own daughter or sister, for your doubt in your husband's life."  Rachael felt this frustration explode from somewhere deep inside and to her own surprise, tears were accompanying her outburst to match the one's coursing down Lou's face.

Lou was shaking as she stared into the angry eyes of the former house mistress of the Pony Express.  With a shakey step that would carry her toward the barn, Lou spat her final retort, "Go to hell, Rachael Hunter."
 

Chapter 3

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