She lay curled in a ball, hiding as much of herself as she could.  The smoke and mist swirling about her was lessening, the same smoke and mist that had hid her attackers and had choked her for what felt like forever.  The hands were gone with their grasping, tearing fingers, the faces of her tormentors as well, but she knew they just lay in wait for her.  Wicks and that soldier had tormented her with their words but she'd fought their clutching fingers successfully.  Each time their words threatened to drive her insane, she was comforted by the soothing, low tones of Kid's voice.  Desperately she'd sought out his visage, but the maddening, swirling eddies had hid him from her.  So, she'd given up looking for him.  It was enough to hear him, to feel him near.

"He won't love you once he discovers how you've lied to him, Louise."

Lou glanced up between her arms as they covered her head to see Wicks arrogantly striding out from the mist.  No, no he's back.  I can't do this anymore, she thought desperately.  I won't give up.  I won't just lie down and die for them.  She rose to her feet quickly and stepped back a few paces.  "You don't know anything!" Lou shouted.  "I never lied to him.  I just couldn't tell him what you did to me.  It's all your fault!"

Wicks shook his head.  "Ah, Louise," he said patronizingly as he reached to chuck her under the chin.  She pulled away violently and he chuckled.  "You're still so innocent.  You were the one who chose not to tell him about us--chose not to trust him."

"Wicks, here may have taken your innocence as a child, but, as a grown woman, you offered yourself to me," said the renegade soldier suddenly standing next to Wicks.

"I thought it was the only way!  I did it for 'Miah!" Lou shouted in frustration.  She pointed at the soldier.  "You promised you'd let us go, that you'd spare him if I did.  But you killed him anyway.  I did what you wanted and you shot my baby brother anyway?!"

The mists parted again and Lou watched as Laura and Kid emerged.  Laura clung to Kid's arm, Lexi sitting merrily on her opposite hip looking for all the world like a happy picturesque little family.  Forget that that's the man I love and my son, Lou thought bitterly.  I've died and gone to Hell.

"What goes around comes around, Louise," Laura said loftily.  "Your lies must be paid for.  Did you honestly think that an honorable man like Kid would understand your deceptions?"

"Kid, please, I'm sorry," Lou begged, reaching a hand out to him.  "I never meant to deceive you.  I just...."  She broke off and swung her head around to face the blonde woman.  "What about your deceptions, Laura while we're on the subject?"

Laura stroked Kid's arm possessively.  "What deceptions dear?  I've told him everything and Kid's graciously forgiven me."

"But he doesn't love you!" Louise protested.

Suddenly, the pleasant look on Laura's face changed.  She dropped Lexi onto his backside on the ground.  The child cried lustily, but hadn't broken anything.  When Lou tried to reach for the screaming baby, Laura moved again and there was suddenly a long, gleaming knife pressed into Kid's throat.  His eyes were wide in shock but still speechless.  He hadn't said anything at all, merely been a player in the game.  "What right does a lying whore like you have to my dream?!" Laura screamed at her, her visage suddenly contorted and ugly with rage.  "He's mine, he's part of my dream and you will never have him!"

Lou watched in horror as the knife began to move.  As the first flash of red showed she screamed his name.
 

Kid sat a couple feet away from Theresa on the braided rug on the floor, the baby perched between them.  After Lou's fever had broken, Doctor Broxson had assured Kid that it was just a matter of time until she awoke.  In the meantime, he and Theresa had been playing with the baby and spending some quality time together.  "Maybe he's too young yet, Tessa," he suggested unsurely.

"He's not too young, are ya Angelbaby?" Theresa cooed, using Lou's nickname for the little one.  "See?  He's headed in the right direction.  See how he's up on his hands and knees?  It's just a matter of getting it to all work together."  She sighed as the baby continued to rock in place and smile at his aunt.  "Maybe if you tried it, Kid."

"Alex," Kid called in a singsong voice.  He chuckled as Lexi flopped over to his backside and bounced slightly, his hands moving up and down excitedly on his chubby thighs as he made his baby sounds of delight.  "That's it.  Come on.  You gonna crawl?  Crawl for Daddy, Buddy.  One step at a time.  Come on," he coaxed sweetly as the baby shakily moved forward once.

With Theresa and Kid's constant encouragement, Lexi slowly moved closer and closer to his wildly grinning father.  When he was about six inches away, Kid decided not to push him anymore and picked his son up, cuddling him close and rubbing his back.  "Good boy.  Daddy's big boy, ain't ya?" Kid cooed as reward.  Lexi brought his hand up and Kid playfully pretended to gobble it up.

"Kid!"

His head turned at the hoarse sound of his name.  Lou was struggling on the bed to sit up, tears streaming down her cheeks and a look of panicked desperation on her face.  Kid quickly passed the baby to Theresa and crossed to the bed, settling down next to Lou.  "Shh, Angel, I'm here," he said softly.  He stroked her hair back from her flushed face and arranged a couple pillows behind her back to make her more comfortable.  "Take it easy, honey, you don't wanna strain yourself too much yet."

Lou struggled to shake the memory of the dream.  Or was this the dream?  She lifted a hand and slowly drew it across his throat.  There was no cut, no blood.  He was fine, alive, and she could see the warmth in his eyes.  She closed her eyes briefly in gratitude to God for making this the reality and not that other world.  "Lexi?" she asked tremulously, her harshly whispered voice sounding strange and foreign to her own ears.

Theresa came forward quickly and passed Lexi back to Kid.  "He's right here, Louise," she said.  "You missed all the excitement just a bit ago.  Kid got Lexi to crawl."

"But I'm sure he'll be anxious to show his mama his new trick," Kid spoke up quickly, not wanting Lou to feel she'd missed such an important moment in her son's life..  He put the baby on his lap smiling as the active little one immediately tried to crawl away.  "Oh, I see how you are, little boy.  Now that Mama's awake Daddy's not good enough, eh?"

Lou smiled weakly at Kid's jest, as Lexi awkwardly crawled over her legs to get to her lap.  "No one will ever replace your Daddy, huh baby?  Nobody'll replace him.  You got so big since I went to sleep," Lou continued quickly.  "You're crawlin' and everythin' now.  Bad Mama sleepin' on the job, huh?  Probably sent your uncles and your Aunty Rachel into a tizzy."

"Can we get ya anythin', Lou?  You gotta be starvin'.  Tessa, run down to Rachel and see if there's any sandwiches left from lunch," Kid requested.  "Oh, and tell her Lou's awake, will ya?"

Theresa scurried downstairs and Kid turned back to Lou.  He watched her silently for a few minutes as she cooed to Lexi, the excited baby wriggling and squirming in her arms.  It was hard for her to hold onto the little boy with her good arm.  The other, her left wounded shoulder, was bandaged and her grip was weaker.  In the back of his mind was the itching knowledge of the secret she'd kept from him -- the secret he'd badgered Danny Keaggy into revealing.  I could've lost her so many times over these last days, Kid thought.  he pushed any doubts behind him, his relief outweighing the edging annoyance and disappointment her felt over her deception and lack of trust.

"Here, let me take him," kid said, reaching to relieve Lou of her squirming burden.

Louise had seen the way he looked at her a moment ago, his gaze warm and caressing.  But then his smile faded a bit, the warmth in his blue eyes grew just a bit colder, a bit sadder, as if a cloud had passed over the sun and then disappeared.  She looked away slightly as vestiges of her nightmares came back.  Had she thrashed and shouted in reality as she had in her dreams?  Had she revealed those secrets she'd locked away so deeply?  If he knew, if she told him, could she do what was right and stand back if he chose another over her?  Adding to the uncertainty was the pressing need she felt to remember what had happened to her.  In the few moments since she'd awakened, she'd wracked her brain in a desperate effort to remember.  When she closed her eyes, all she could remember was the stinging pain of being shot in the shoulder and the hot orange flames, crackling around her.  God, please help me remember, she pleaded silently.

"Kid, we need to talk," she started, her voice and hands shaking slightly.

He deliberately pretended not to understand what she was talking about.  Not now, he thought.  I just can't talk about it now, can't even think about it now.  hell, I don't even know how I feel yet or how to react.  Why didn't you trust me Lou, he wanted to ask her.  Audibly, however, he asked, "You remember anythin' about what happened before the fire, Lou?"

Lou shook her head sadly, swallowing hard.  "All I seem to see behind my eyes is the flames," she said quietly, a shudder running through her small frame.

"Any idea why Laura and Tom Anderson might have been in the area?"

laura.  A thought drifted through her head like the gossamer silk of a butterfly just long enough to make her aware of it but not long enough for her to catch hold of it.  There was something she had to remember about Laura--Laura and Tom Anderson.  However, try as she might, Lou couldn't remember anything after Laura's wild declaration that she was carrying Kid's child.  "I'm sorry, but I haven't a clue," she replied, shaking her head.  Like tumbleweeds in a tornado, her thoughts and memories kept swirling about furiously in her head defying all of Lou's attempts to remember.

Seeing her confusion and frustration, Kid leaned forward and cupped her cheek.  "It's alright Lou.  Teaspoon and the others should be back soon from questioning them.  Maybe they'll turn up something," he assured her.  She looked so upset that she couldn't remember, almost near tears that he wished he'd never mentioned that night and that there were something he could do to make her smile again.  Suddenly, in the back of his mind, he remembered the conversation he'd had with Danny and Theresa the other day.
 

'I think it's a little late to court her,' he'd said.  'I mean, we've got a child together for goodness sake!  Seems to me like we put the cart before the horse already.'

"Where's your sense of romance, Kid?' Danny had replied with a mischievous grin.  'Write little notes for her telling her how much she means to you or just saying how much you like her smile or something. Maybe a little poetry borrowed from yours truly of course.'

'And flowers!' Tessa exclaimed.  'She'd never admit it, but Louise loves flowers and no one's ever brought them to her.  Roses,...no that's too expensive and it's not like you can just ride into someone's yard and pick their flowers.  Daisies maybe.  No, too plain.'  Then she glanced out the window.  'That's it!  Lilacs!  Rachel has those lilac bushes out back behind the house here.  I'm sure she wouldn't mind you picking a few for love's sake.'

"They are her favorite flowers, man.  Can't go wrong with pickin' flowers for a lass,' Danny insisted.  'Better than buyin' 'em 'cause it shows you put a little effort into gettin' 'em.'

"Kid!" she protested grabbing the baby as best she could with one arm.  "Where are you goin'?"

Kid paused in the doorway turning to bestow a flirtatious smile on her, his eyes glinting excitedly.  "Now don't go nowhere.  I'll be right back."

Louise laughed in nervous expectation as he loped out the door, nearly colliding with Rachel and Theresa on the stairs.

"My heavens!  You'd think they were givin' away money at the bank by the look on that man's face," Rachel laughed as she entered the room and set a tray on the bedside table.

"Oh, he's up to somethin'.  I just know it," Lou exclaimed.  "He's got that 'you're-gonna-wanna-reward-me-when-you-see-this' look in his eyes."

Rachel eased herself into Kid's chair at Lou's bedside and chuckled again.  "When ain't he up to somethin'?" she asked with a wink.  "Now, you eat up, Louise.  You gotta be starvin' after almost two days without eating."

And Lou had to admit that she was hungry --ravenous even.  So, she dived right into the leftovers Rachel's brought up.  As she ate, Rachel and Theresa filled her in on what had happened while she'd been delirious and unconscious.  by the time she was just about to tuck into her second sandwich, there was a polite clearing of the throat from the doorway.

Lou turned toward the sound, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at kid who stood in the doorway, one hand behind his back.

"Kid Travis, what in the world do you have behind your back?" rachel asked.

Looking closer, al Lou could see was the green of a leaf.  "You didn't," she said in quiet disbelief.

Still grinning a Cheshire cat's smile, kid stepped toward the bed.  He pulled his hand from behind his back producing a bouquet of dark purple lilacs.  His heart beating hard, his stomach in knots, Kid presented them to Lou with a slight flourish.  "For you," he said.

Lou stared at the flowers now in her own trembling hand.  He hadn't bothered to strip the leaves from the stems and the dark green provided a warm counterpoint to the cool and fragrant purple star like clusters of blooms.  Even reclining as she was, Lou could feel her knees weaken.  Her face softened emotionally, tears welling up as she looked back up at him.  "You did," Lou whispered astonished.  Not even when their relationship was hottest had he ever given her flowers before.

"So I did good?" Kid asked expectantly as he perched facing her on the edge of the bed.

She smiled and shook her head in mute disbelief for a fraction of a moment before dashing into his embrace.  Lou felt the laughter reverberate through him as she nuzzled his neck, kissing him there before cupping his face and placing a plethora of enthusiastic kisses up to his mouth.  She paused there to kiss him properly for an all-too-brief moment.  "Oh, they're...they're just beautiful, Kid," Lou exclaimed breathlessly.  "Thank you!  How did you know that lilacs are my favorites?"

Kid blushed slightly at her praise and looked down abashedly before glancing up at her through his lashes.  "Would you believe a little bird told me?" he asked.

Rachel leaned towards Theresa and wrapped an arm around her slim shoulders.  "Good job, little bird," she whispered in the girl's ear.

"Step one," Theresa muttered to herself proudly.
 

Tom had walked into the silent, darkened barn and found Laura strangling one of the poor stray cats that lived in the livery, taking out her wrath.  When he'd stopped her from killing the poor animal, she'd turned on him with a wicked, demonic gleam in her eye which had caused him to back up until his back was against the wall for protection.  He still stood there as she paced the length of the floor whispering and muttering in her madness.

"That baby...that baby is the key," Laura muttered, pacing the length of the barn once again.  "We could be so happy just Kid and Lexi and me and the new baby.  I'll take such good care of them, he'll see.  Someone's gotta get that innocent, sweet little thing away from that horrible woman who claims to be his mother.  If she really loved him she'd give him to us so he could have two loving parents instead of one.  Children oughta have a mama and a daddy to raise them up properly."

Unnerved by the woman's agitation, the horses began to stir nervously and Anderson had images of the spooked horses stampeding from their stalls.  As Laura moved by him again, Tom bravely reached a hand out to touch her arm, careful not to stand in her way and make her more upset or nervous.  "Laura?  Laura, take it easy, girl.  You're startlin' the horses," he said in a quiet and nervous voice.  The woman before him was worse than a skittish horse; she was nitroglycerine just waiting for the right temperature or the slightest bump to inspire an explosion.

She stopped and looked up at him, her face all innocence and sweetness.  "But I'd be a good mother to him, Tommy.  Wouldn't I?" Laura asked pleadingly.  "I'd be a good mama."

Tom gulped slightly and prayed lightning wouldn't strike as he lied to her face.  "I-I'm sure you'll be a wonderful mother, darlin'," he replied.  He glanced at her hand which still held the pistol she'd stolen from him.  "Uh, Laura, honey do you know you're grippin' that pistol awful tight.  I-I was wonderin' if I could get it back seein' as how we're out of danger right now."

"But I still need it, Tommy," she said childishly, her lips forming a petulant pout.  "I need it for my plan.  You don't mind if I borrow it just a little longer do you?"

Sensing she'd act irrationally if he insisted, Tom merely nodded.  "What plan are you talkin' about, sugar?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light and playful.

Laura smiled up at him and stroked his cheek affectionately.  "Why, we're gonna save that poor child from the clutches of that evil, no-good whore that's the plan I'm talkin' about."  Her eyes gleamed with purpose and intent, her expression that of a righteous saint intent upon saving a sinner's soul.

"Poor child?  What poor child?"

"Why Lexi McCloud of course!  I should say Lexi Travis 'cause that's his rightful name," Laura continued without a pause.  "Imagine, a woman so hateful that she'd deny her child the right to his father's name!  That baby needs help and you and I are gonna help 'im."

Then it dawned on him, what she was planning to do.  Laura was planning to kidnap Louise's child and raise it as her own.  It wasn't right!  None of this was right.  He wracked his brain for something to say that would dissuade her from her purpose but nothing came.  Oh, God, the woman's absolutely crazy, he thought.  I can't do that.  I can't be a party to this anymore. Someone's gotta stop her before someone dies!  "L-Laura!  You can't just kidnap another woman's child!" Tom protested vehemently.  "Ya know, I done a lotta things for you, sweetheart but I gotta draw the line somewhere.  Travis would hunt us down, you know that."

"You gotta draw the line?  You gotta draw the line?!" she spat angrily.  "I will not have that child brought up to ruin by Louise McCloud when I could raise him in a good Christian home.  And why would Kid hunt us down when he'll be at my side?  We'll raise that little boy together, be a family."  Laura turned on her heel to flounce away but was pulled back around by Anderson's strong arm on her elbow.

"That child you're carryin' is mine!  Mine by right and mine by blood and I won't stand by and watch you raise my child with Travis, you hear me?" Anderson growled letting his temper get away with him.

With more strength than Tom had ever seen from her before, the blonde woman snatched her hand back from his tight clasp.  There was a hollowness in her eyes as she brought the pistol up to his face and shoved the barrel in his mouth, cocking the hammer back.  "Now you listen to me, Tom Anderson," she growled at him.  "You're in this up to your ass, you uncultured cowboy.  You do anything other than help me with this and I'll kill you all the way up to dead you got that?  You breathe a word of this to anyone and I'll split you from stem to stern and hang your entrails up for decoration!"

Slowly, his heart pounding in his chest, Tom nodded in agreement.  But as Laura smiled, removed the gun, and began talking out the details of her plan, Anderson listened carefully having made up his mind.  He'd never thought that a harmless dalliance could turn into harassment, arson, attempted murder, and a plan to kidnap an innocent child.  This was gonna end once and for all and he didn't care what punishment he himself received.   I've gotta end it before anyone else gets hurt.
 

Chapter 21