“Rawnie!” he called out, doing his best to keep his anger in check. When there was no reply he repeated her name. The second time he heard her steps down the stairs.

“What is it?” she asked a bit apprehensive at the sight of him.

“I think you know well enough what it is, young lady,” Teaspoon said sternly. “I thought we had an agreement.”

“About what?” Rawnie replied defensively and slightly arrogant.

“Do I have to spell it out for you? I thought we agreed you would not be seeing Buck.”

Rawnie shrugged, while inside she smiled gleefully at how perfectly her plan had worked. Now it was Teaspoon’s time to feel betrayed and left out.

“You dictated you mean,” she retorted and crossed her arms defensively. “I never agreed to anything.”

“Well, that’s over now. I don’t want to see you anywhere near Buck from now until you leave, is that understood?” Teaspoon growled.

Rawnie paled slightly but stood her ground. Even though her original intention had been to hurt and anger Teaspoon, she felt she had almost found a friend in Buck. Suddenly she knew she didn’t want to loose that fragile bond hopefully beginning to grow between them.

“You have no right telling me what to do!” she yelled back. “You’re not my father.”

“As long as you’re staying here, you will do as I say,” Teaspoon retorted angrily as he stared at her.

Red spots of anger and frustration were slowly appearing on her cheeks and her eyes were no more than slits in her face. In her anger she was a copy of Logan and Teaspoon felt an old frustration return. He had never been able to talk some sense into his brother, how would he manage with his child?

“Why do you even care?” Rawnie spat. “You’ve disliked me from the moment I showed up, so why should I even listen to you?!”

“I do care,” Teaspoon said through clenched teeth. “And I’m telling you to stop seeing Buck. Is that clear?”

Rawnie stared sullenly at him. Teaspoon took a step towards her.

“I asked if that was clear?” he said curtly.

“You’re just like everyone else,” Rawnie muttered. “I don’t even know why I even bothered to stay here.”

“Well now you are.”

Rawnie looked at him. This was not at all how she had expected it to turn out. She had expected him to be hurt and kindly ask her to listen to him, or even be a little angry with her, but not this. Not this angry. She didn’t care about him, so why did she feel ready to cry?

“You can’t stop me from seeing Buck,” she tried once in a last effort to stand up against him.

“Go to your room,” Teaspoon ordered. “I don’t want to see you out of there for the rest of the day.”

“You can’t…”

“You want me to lock you in? And don’t think I wouldn’t do it. I’m tired of this nonsense right now. Go.”

There was something in his voice telling her it was no longer a game. Teaspoon was serious. She quickly turned and rushed up to her room. She slammed the door behind her in a final defensive argument.

Teaspoon sank down on a chair by the table. He hadn’t meant to loose his temper with her, but she reminded him so much of Logan, the same stubbornness, the same anger and he didn’t know how to handle it. Something inside him kept telling him he was making the same mistake all over again, but he didn’t know what else to do. And there was one more he had to talk to.

***

Buck carefully brushed down the horse and when the animal playfully nibbled after him, he struck it lightly on the neck while muttering a soft reprimand. He had a strange feeling of comfort, although he didn’t know why.

The trip with Rawnie hadn’t exactly been all enjoyable. The girl seemed to have a lot of issues to deal with, but even so – there was something. A feeling of kinship perhaps. He couldn’t explain it, but he was happy they were talking to each other. Actually it felt strange having somebody being jealous of his life for a change.

He smiled softly as he once more was forced to shoo the playful horse away. At the sound of steps he looked up. He smiled when he saw Teaspoon, but the smile faded away when he saw the displeased look in the stationmaster’s face.

“Something wrong, Teaspoon?” he asked as he turned to face the older man.

“Where have you been, son?” Teaspoon asked, trying to keep his voice at a normal level. He had already yelled at Rawnie and yelling at Buck would not make things any better.

“I took Rawnie for a trip to the pond,” Buck replied truthfully. “She…”

Teaspoon held up a hand to interrupt him. “That’s fine,” he muttered and grabbed one of the poles to the stable as if he needed the wood’s support.

“Look here, Buck, I know it might seem all innocent and everything, but I want you to stop seeing Rawnie.”

Buck look baffled at him. He tried to understand what Teaspoon just had told him, but it didn’t make sense. He tried a weak smile to see if the stationmaster was pulling his leg, but Teaspoon remained serious.

“Teaspoon, nothing happened,” he said reassuringly.

“Well, I sure as hell hope so,” Teaspoon barked more harshly than he had intended. The boy’s word struck a fear in him causing his chest to restrain.

“I was just trying to be friendly.” Buck felt more confused after each second. He felt like Teaspoon was accusing him for something, although he didn’t know what.
“I don’t care what you tried to be.” Teaspoon’s headache was back with renewed force. “I don’t want to see you touch her, talk to her or even look at her. Understood?”

A tight belt seemed to be pulled across his chest and Buck took a deep breath as he stared in disbelief at the angry face of his mentor. His hand clenched around the brush he was still holding as he tried to cope with this unexpected situation.

“Understood,” he said finally.

“Good,” Teaspoon muttered relieved. He had no doubt the boy at least would stand by his word and the realization made him breathe a lot easier. “Good,” he said again and turned around. He quickly left the barn, ignorant to the crestfallen look on his Indian rider’s face.