It had been years since Jesse had seen any of his Sweetwater family and he was shocked to see Lou holding the shotgun pointed at him and his brother Frank as they rushed into the barn not far from Liberty, Missouri. “Lou!” he said grinning, helping his brother sit on a bale inside the barn. “What the devil are you doin’ here? I thought you and Kid went back to Virginia when the war started.” It took a moment to recognize the young man in front of her as the Jesse she knew a few years ago. He had grown into quite a good-looking young man. “Jesse? Is that really you?” she said in disbelief putting the shotgun down. “What on earth is goin’ on here? You’re hurt! What happened?” Before Jesse could answer, horses could be heard approaching outside. Rushing to her side Jesse pleaded, “Please Lou, don’t tell them we’re in here or that you’ve seen us. Please!” “Oh Jesse, what have you gotten yourself into now?” Her sad eyes searched his as voices outside called her name. “Hide in the last stall in case anyone does look in. I’ll send them on their way as fast as I can. Go, now!” Glancing back as she hurried out the barn door, Lou saw the two men disappear into the darkness. “Why Marshal, is there a problem?” Lou inquired looking at the posse in her yard. “Beggin’ your pardon Miss McCloud, but the James gang just robbed the bank. We chased two of them out this way, they were hurt and goin’ a bit slow but we lost their trail and we just wanted to check and see if you’ve heard or seen anyone?” “No, I haven’t,” Lou told him shading her eyes as she gave him an innocent look knowing full well the men he was searching for were not more them twenty yards away. After several more moments, the posse turned to leave. “If ‘n you do see or hear anythin’, you be sure to let one of my men know.” “I sure will Marshal. Thank you for stoppin’ and lettin’ me know. I hope you find them soon.” Lou waited until she was sure that the posse was not going to return before heading back into the barn. She was spitting mad when she grabbed Jesse by the arm, “What the heck do you think you were doin’ robbin’ that bank? Teaspoon would tan your hide if he were here to see this. Thank God he’s still in Sweetwater!” With a sheepish look on his face at Lou’s chastising, Jesse murmured a heartfelt ‘thank you’ before helping Frank up. “Lou, I know I’s got no right askin’ this of you, but please, Frank needs some doctorin’. Can you help him? I know you did some patchin’ up of the boys when they was hurt, maybe you can help him too...” Jesse pleaded. With a sigh, Lou told him to help Frank into the house and she’d look them both over. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Putting a dressing on Frank’s wounded leg, Lou told him that he’d live. “Now I want you to lie here and rest. I will send Jesse up with some food and drink shortly. Jesse, you come with me.” Jesse gave his brother a pained grimace at her tone and quietly followed her out of the room. “Let me explain Lou…” Jesse started to say as Lou turned and held up her hand to quiet him. She pointed to a seat in the kitchen and he sat immediately, feeling like a schoolboy about to be reprimanded instead of the young man he was. While she prepared something for the men to eat, Lou waited for her anger to subside before speaking. “I’m disappointed in you Jesse. I thought Teaspoon and Rachel had gotten it through your thick skull about not goin’ down the path that Frank was headin’. There ain’t no future in it Jesse! None of us want you to end up at the end of a rope or getting’ shot!” Hanging his head in shame, Jesse stammered, “I know that Lou, but you don’t understand. Frank needed me. We’s family.” “What are the rest of us? I thought we were your family too.” “You are family Lou. I love you more than anyone else I know. Always have,” he confessed. He looked up to see a sad smile on her face. “I know you love me Jesse. I’ve always known.” Jesse got up and gave Lou a hug when he heard a different kind of sadness in her voice. Holding her for a moment, he inquired why she wasn’t in Virginia and where Kid was. As the young man ate with a gusto that would rival Cody, Lou filled him on what had happened since she had left Sweetwater. “As you know, Kid insisted on leavin’ before we were married. He just had to rush back to Virginia to fight in this Godforsaken war. I tried to change his mind, to get him to go back to Sweetwater where we could buy a nice place and start that ranch Buck and Kid had wanted to go in together on but he refused. We had some terrible rows. Then one night, Kid went all wild-eyed and crazy like. He carried on and on about how he was the man and that I had to do what he said and not question him and if I couldn’t handle that, he’d have to teach me a lesson on who was in charge.” Jesse was afraid of what Lou might say next but encouraged her to go on. He could tell that she needed to tell someone, someone who cared about her and there was no doubt that he was still in love with her. Starting to cry, Lou told him how Kid had hit her, how he just wouldn’t stop. The next morning, while he went for supplies, she had packed all of her belongings and left on her horse. She didn’t know if Kid had looked for her or not but she hadn’t seen nor heard from him since. “I couldn’t face everyone back home, so when I found this place, I stayed.” Jesse’s heart went out to her. He just wished she would see him as a man and not the boy she had known. His first attempts at wooing her were rebuffed gently and he had a feeling that they would be again if he were to try now. ‘Oh, Lou! I wish I didn’t still love you but I do. I wish I could take all the pain away but you’d never let me. Maybe one day I’ll forget you, but I doubt it…’ As Lou excused herself from the room, Jesse couldn’t help thinking to himself, ‘She’s still runnin’ with my heart after all this time.’ Drop me a note and let me know what you thought!