FAMILY MATTERS

LYNN

Because the prisoner Teaspoon was suppose to pick up had been shot trying to escape, Teaspoon had some free time to spend with his new found daughter. He had decided that he and Lou could take their time heading home. He regretted that he didn’t know about Louise when she was first born and why he didn’t put two and two together when ‘Lou’ first showed up still bothered him. He was so proud of his daughter and it really hurt him to know that he missed out on so much of her life.

How can I ever make it up to her? I should have been there when she was first born and when she was afraid I should have been there to tell her that everything would be all right Teaspoon had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard Lou yelling at him. He probably would have forgotten that she was there at all if she hadn’t rode up next to him a grabbed his reins.

"Teaspoon! Why ain’t ya watchin’ where you’re goin’?"

Teaspoon looked up to see that some fallen trees blocked the path they were on. I hope she don’t tell Kid about this one. After all the times I’ve yelled at him for getting distracted when it came to Lou, I’d never hear the end of it. "I guess my mind was just on other things." Teaspoon looked around but realized there was no way around it. They would end up having to turn around. "Let’s make camp here for the night. We can head off in the morning and it will be at least another day until we make it home."

After a couple of hours went by and the two had ate the rabbit Teaspoon had shot, they sat by the fire and began to talk. They had done this every night since Teaspoon had read the journal.

Lou felt completely at ease talking to him. They talked about everything from what her childhood was like to the future she hoped to have with Kid. "Teaspoon, what are we goin’ tell everyone when we get back home?"

"The truth, would be the best thing."

"That’s not what I mean. How do we tell them? Do we flat out say it or should we hint around about it?"

"Don’t know. I think we should tell them at dinner and just play it as it goes."

Lou soon drifted off to sleep. Teaspoon, however, stayed awake. Something didn’t feel right to him and he wasn’t about to let something happen to his daughter.

"I don’t get it, Kid. You’re always the first one ready to go after her when she is five minutes late." Jimmy was becoming extremely irritated with his friend. "They’re almost a week late! Something has happened. We have to go after them."

"Maybe Teaspoon didn’t have to pick up that guy and he decided to just take some time off." At least that is what Kid had hoped had happened. Finding out that Teaspoon was Lou’s father was a big shock to him, he couldn’t even think of what it must be like for either Lou or Teaspoon. "Besides, they are only two days late, maybe they just ran into a storm or the paperwork wasn’t ready. If they’re not here by the end of the week, then we will go after them."

"I don’t buy it Kid. What is it that you know that the rest of us don’t?"

Before Kid could answer, Cody spoke up, "With everything that has happened Teaspoon and Lou need to take some time off. After all, Teaspoon needs to make up for all the time he has missed with her."

As soon as the words had left Cody’s mouth, Kid grabbed a hold of his shirt and began pulling Cody out of the bunkhouse and to the barn. The look he gave the others was their warning to stay far from the barn, which they did.

"OK, Cody, tell me what you think you know."

"Jeez, Kid, you could have just asked me to come out here with ya."

"Cody I’m not playin’. Tell me now!"

Cody knew that Kid meant what he had said, but he couldn’t understand why he was so upset, "That night Lou seemed so strange that after everyone else had went to bed I went out to the barn to check on her. You was out there with her and I heard her tell you that that book says Teaspoon is her daddy."

"Cody, you can’t tell no one about that, ya hear?"

"Sure, Kid. But I don’t see why not. I mean they’re gonna know sometime."

"I just think that Lou and Teaspoon should be the ones to tell them. I also think that they should take all the time they need. If you, or I, tell everyone else that wouldn’t be fair to Lou or Teaspoon."

"Alright, I won’t say anything." Cody smiled as the next statement came into his mind. "So do ya think a lot of things will change now? I mean between you and Lou."

"No, why would anything change?"

"Well, Teaspoon decides who takes which runs. And, well, we all know that when you and Lou take a run together ya only need one bed. Now that Teaspoon is her daddy I’m sure he’ll be doing all he can to keep your hands off her." Without waiting for an answer Cody walked off.

Kid sat down on a bale of hay and began to think about what Cody had said.

Teaspoon woke with a start. After cursing himself for falling asleep in the first place he looked over to the empty bedroll where Lou had slept the night before. Assuming that Lou was just off answering a call of nature, Teaspoon began to clean up the camp. When he picked up Lou’s bedroll a note fell off. After reading it, he knew that he had to get help right away.

Lou had woke up a few hours before. She was sure she had heard footsteps, but Teaspoon was asleep. She looked around once more and noticed a piece of paper lying next to her on the ground. She had to strain her eyes to read it by the light of the few flames that had refused to die with the others.

Lou kicked Lighting, she was now far enough from the campsite that she could run at full speed without fear of waking Teaspoon. She had been careful to cover her tracks. She knew what Alex wanted from her and if she had to, she would give it to him. Someone’s life was riding on this, and she knew that if she showed up with anyone, they would all die. After all he has been spending the last few years working and learning from that monster.

Damn you Alex! You used to be such a nice man. Why are you doing this to me now. And if you want something from me, why didn’t you just take me last night. Oh you have learned a lot from him. But why can’t you leave her out of this. I hate you for this Alex! "I hate you. Alex, I do. I hate you!!"

"Rider coming!" Rachel yelled, by the way this rider was coming something was wrong. Buck held Ike’s horse, but soon tied the horse back up when he realized that it was Teaspoon, riding in fast without Lou.

All the riders began to gather outside as Teaspoon jumped off his horse. "Cody get me a fresh horse. The rest of you get ready to saddle up. Rachel when the next rider gets here tell him that there was an emergency and he’ll have to double up."

No one questioned Teaspoon as they all gathered what was needed. Kid walked up to Teaspoon with Katy close behind him. "Its Lou, ain’t it?"

Teaspoon met his eyes as he nodded. "She was gone when I woke up. Do you know if she is hiding a secret in St. Louis?"

"No, she never told me about one, why?"

"Nothing, just forget I said anything." Teaspoon wanted Kid’s mind to be as clear as possible, after all Kid knew Lou better then anyone else and if he was focused on this one thing, he may miss something else.

"Teaspoon, where are we going to start looking for her at?" Cody wanted to know.

"Well, I think the best place would be back at the campsite, where I last saw her. Maybe Buck here can pick up on some clues that I didn’t see."

"I’ll try."

"Over here!" Buck waited until everyone had gathered around him, "She headed off this way. See these brush marks, I think that was Lou covering up her tracks. I’m also guessing that if we take it slow and follow the marks soon she will have gave up trying to cover them and we will have a clear trail."

"Buck, how far behind her do you think we are?"

"A day, by the time we find a clear trail it will be closer to two."

"Then we have no time to waste. Boys, saddle up. Buck, you lead. Kid, watch around you, let us know if anything looks like something that Lou has told you about."

Well, here I am home sweet home. Now where is Alex, I was sure that he would be standing here waiting for me.

Lou rode closer to the barn. She was sure this was the place that Alex had talked about. She remembered it well. This had to be the place. She opened up the barn door and was greeted by two men. They looked familiar to her.

"Its good to see you again Miss Louise." The first man smiled.

The second one stepped closer to her, "What did you did with your pretty long hair?"

Lou looked long and hard at the two men. The first one was around twenty-five short blond hair, from what she remembered about him he love to fight and didn’t mind that one of the perks with his job was getting to sleep with a different woman every night of the week. The other one was older, maybe 43. When Lou had worked with him he acted a little like what Lou had guessed a father would. But unlike a father would, he turned his head whenever the boss wanted to beat or rape one of the women, including Lou. "Ben, Pete, have you seen Alex? He wanted me to meet him here."

"Yep, he said to have you go inside." Ben replied.

Pete smiled at her, "It seems Alex still has something for the little laundry girl."

Without replying Lou started walking to the house. She opened the door and couldn’t believe what she saw. The house was exactly what they had always talked about. When Lou first started working for Wicks, Alex would come out and talk to her as she did the laundry, they would talk about everything. They spent many nights walking the streets talking about where they wanted to live and how they wanted their house to look. Then one night, the night before Lou left, Alex took Louise out for another late night walk and asked her to spend the rest of her life with him. They went in and told Wicks of their plans to marry. Louise then went to her room and that is when it happened. That is when Wicks raped her. She had wanted to tell Alex about it. She wanted him to go with her, but Wicks had told her that if she ever told Alex about it he would kill him. So Louise left without a word.

"Miss Louise, it is so nice of ya to come visit me."

Lou turned around and came face to face with the most intense green eyes, she knew in a heartbeat that this was Alex. Oh, why does he have to still look so good. Come on Lou pull yourself together. "Its Lou now. And I didn’t have much of a choice, I had to come see you."

"Lou. You cut your hair. I used to love your hair." Alex moved closer to her. His hand lightly touching the remains of her once long hair. He moved behind her and lowered his head just enough so that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. "Do ya like the house? I always knew ya would be back and I wanted to make it perfect for ya. If anything is wrong, please let me know and I’ll fix it at once." He moved her hair slowly out of the way and placed a warm kiss on the back of her neck.

"Do you mean that? If I told you that something was wrong, you would fix it?"

"Yes. I would do anything for ya." Alex closed his eyes, he knew what she would ask for and that was the one thing he couldn’t do. "Except, I wouldn’t let ya leave."

"Alex, please?" Tears began to from in her eyes. "You don’t understand. I have a good life now. I just found my real father and there is this man…"

"Ya found someone to replace me! Ya told me ya would love me forever. And that is just what ya are going to do! We’ll be married Saturday. That gives ya two days. If ya want a dress, get one. Ben will go into town with ya and Pete can give ya away and if you try anything the girl will die. But if you are a good girl and do as I tell you, I’ll even let her come stay with us. Got it?"

"Yes, I understand! Where do I sleep?"

"Well our bedroom is the first door on the right."

"Great! But until we are married it is my bedroom."

"Sorry Dear, but I know you are not a virgin. How many times did Wicks have you? How many other men had you been with all those nights I took you home late?"

"I was with him once and it wasn’t by choice. He raped me, the night before I left!" The tears in Lou’s eyes began to drop down her face. "I have never been with a man because I wanted to be, I think that you are the perfect guy for that to happen with and I also think that our wedding night would be the perfect time for it to happen." Please forgive me for lying. Being with Kid was perfect. I have to find a way to get out of this. Please Kid, help me!

"OK, we’ll wait until Saturday. But it will happen that night." Alex smiled at her. With that said Lou walked to her bedroom to try to think of a plan to get out of there.

"How’s she doin’?"

"Don’t worry about her Pete, she’s fine. Listen boys, I need the two of you to keep a close eye on her. She’s a little afraid that the boss will find her, so I told her that the two of you would sleep in shifts. Pete, she wants you to give her away at the wedding. And Ben, will you go with her to the dress shop tomorrow?"

"Sure, Al, I’ll go."

"Alex, are you sure she wants to go ahead with this wedding? I mean it has been years sense the two of you saw each other, she hasn’t found another beau?"

"Of course she still wants to marry me, Pete. And no, there is no one else and there never will be. She loves me!"

"Yep, just as I thought. She stopped trying to cover her tracks. We should be able to catch up with her soon." Buck smiled slightly to himself before jumping back on his horse.

"Teaspoon it is getting late and the horses aren’t gonna be any good if we don’t give them some rest."

Jimmy looked back at Teaspoon and Kid, "Cody’s right. As much as I hate to say it, we do need to stop."

"We’ll make camp just up the trail. Buck, how far behind her are we?"

"Close to two days, at most."

Everyone settled in for the night as Teaspoon walked over to Kid, "Well, Lou and I had a lot of time to talk this past week, but I didn’t hear her say anything about what would make her act stupid enough to run off without telling someone were she was heading. Kid, do you know what would make her do this? What did that note mean, what surprise?"

"I don’t know. I have tried to remember everything that she has ever told me and I can’t think of anything it could be. I know she lived in St. Louis for about nine months, maybe ten, I don’t remember which. Anyway, it could be anything. I don’t even care if I ever find out what it is, I just want her to be safe. And I have this feeling that she is in danger."

"We’ll find her Kid. We’ll find her." Nine months, if I didn’t know better I would say that Lou has a child in St. Louis. But I know Lou, that can’t be true. She would have at least told Kid about the baby.

"Here we are Miss Louise. Alex said that you can pick out any dress you want. Don't even worry about the cost."

"Great. Where’s the money?"

"I have it. Oh, didn’t Alex tell you, I’m going in with you. Pete thinks that you want to marry Alex, but Alex told me that you want to leave. I’m here to make sure you don’t." Ben took a step forward and opened the door for Lou. As she passed by him Ben grabbed her arm and whispered in her ear, "Don’t even think of saying anything to the dressmaker when she helps you into the dress. If I even think that you have, I’ll kill her." He took Lou’s hand and ran it over a bulge in his jacket that she knew was a gun.

"Fine, I’ll be good" Lou walked into the dress shop. She looked around at all the beautiful dresses, Her first thought was of Kid and how she should be picking out a dress for their wedding. I have to think of something that will get me out of this. I have to think of a way to get back to Kid…and Teaspoon. I just found my daddy, I’m not ready to lose him so soon. I can’t say anything to the dressmaker, I can’t be the reason she is killed. Maybe when I get home I can get some time alone with Pete. Maybe once he knows that this is not what I want, he will let me go or at least help me figure out a way to get out of this.

Lou thoughts were interrupted by a lady that came over asking if she could help with anything.

Before Lou could answer Ben spoke up, "Yes, Ma’am. My sister here is getting’ married tomorrow and she needs a dress for it."

"I think we can find something, what kind where you interested in?"

"I think she would like a white one, you can still wear a white one, right, Sis?"

"Yes, a white one would be great." Ben, I’m going to kill you for that comment! If either of us should be labeled as a slut it is you, but you are male and I’m female so because I’m not going to my wedding bed a virgin you think I have slept around. Life is so unfair at times.

In less than an hour Ben had picked out what he felt was the perfect dress. It was low cut, tight, and covered in lace. Ben was sure Alex would love it. Lou didn’t care about the dress or any other part of the wedding. She just wanted to find a way out of this before she had to say ‘I do’ to a man she didn’t even know anymore, much less love.

"We’re close to her now Teaspoon, it shouldn’t be much longer, maybe another day." Buck knew that Teaspoon loved Lou, hell he loved all of them and would go out of his way to make sure any one of them were safe, but something was different about this. It was almost as if Teaspoon had formed some type of bond with Lou, one that was stronger then the one he had with the boys or even the one he had with Lou a few days ago. Buck was sure he wasn’t the only one to notice this, but so far no one had said anything about it and he wasn’t going to be the first to bring it up.

"Teaspoon, we have to slow down a little, or we are gonna kill the horses and then we’ll never find Lou." Cody wanted to find Lou as much as the others, but at the rate they were going, the horses would die, they, themselves, would end up sick. They weren’t stopping to eat and none of them got more then a couple hours of sleep, he was sure that Teaspoon, Kid and Jimmy got even less then that. "Teaspoon, I understand that you want to get to her soon, her being your daughter and all, but this won’t help her."

Teaspoon and Kid both gave Cody a murderous look as the others just stared at him in disbelief. Noah was the first to regain his wits, "Cody, you mean that Teaspoon thinks of Lou as a daughter, right?"

"No, Cody’s right. Louise is my daughter." Teaspoon raised one hand, which told everyone else that they were not to talk. "Lou’s mama kept a journal when she was carrying Lou. In it, it told about an affair the two of us had down in Texas. Lou and I figured it up and the dates worked out. I’m her daddy."

"Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?" Jimmy was shocked, How could Teaspoon and Lou keep this from me? How, Why would they tell Cody before me?

"It wasn’t that we wanted to keep this from you. Lou was sent this journal just days ago. Her mama had given it to a friend to send it to Lou when the time was right. Lou told me the day that we left. She told Kid the night before, and I’m not sure how Cody found out. Anyway, that ain’t important. What is important is finding Lou."

Jimmy smiled at Teaspoon, "Well then, Daddy, let’s go find your little girl." With that they all started off again.

"Alex please, you said you would wait."

"I know, but seeing you here. Knowing that you are laying here in a bed that we will share tomorrow, I’m just unable to wait." Alex lifted the covers and slowly crawled in to bed next to Lou. He cupped her face with his hand and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I love you Louise. If you’ll let me, I know I can show you what it should be like."

Lou’s mind started to race about a night that she shared with Alex a few years back…

"Alex, we can’t do this."

"Why not? I love you, Louise. I’ll be gentle, we can learn together how it should be." Alex cupped Louise’s face with his hand and kissed her softy.

"Alex, I really want our first night together to be our wedding night." Louise kissed his check and then laid down on the soft ground.

"All right. Just promise me we will get married six months from today. I don’t want to wait any longer then I have to. And by then I should have enough money saved up for us to start out lives together."

"Can we make it for a Saturday, I have always wanted to get married on a Saturday."

"If that it what you want, then that is what you shall have."

"Alex, as much as I hate to say it, I have to get back. Mr. Wicks will yell if I stay out late again. He was so mad when I came home so late last night."

"OK, I’ll take you home. I just can’t wait until we share a home and you no longer have to work for him!"

"Will you still be working for him?"

"Well, yes, but only until I, we have enough money saved up. And then we can move out West, just like you always wanted to do, and once we get there, we can decide from there what we want to do."

Once again Louise had ended up staying out too late. It wasn’t like she had been doing anything wrong, but Wicks had not been happy about Alex bringing Louise home so late once again. As soon as they walked in he sent Alex home and Louise up to her room.

Louise had walked into her room and shut and locked the door behind her. She walked over to the dresser and picked up her hairbrush. She started to think about Alex, the only man she would ever love, as she brushed her hair. She was snapped out of her fantasy world when she heard a noise. It sounded like someone was trying to break into her room. She turned around so that she was facing the door with her back against the dresser. She slid down trying to be as quiet as possible. This wasn’t the first time that one of the men, who had paid for some entertainment, had went to the outhouse or downstairs to get another drink and tried to go back to the wrong room. Every time it happened it scared her, but after the first time it happened Wicks assured her that no one could get in when the door was locked, unless they had a key.

She heard a key slide into the lock and her fear began to rise. Wicks walked into the room. He shut and locked the door behind him. His cruel eyes met with Louise’s terrified ones. He had hit her before, but this time he looked like he wanted to do more. Louise couldn’t help but be shaken with fear at what was about to happen.

"You’re all grown-up now, Louise." Wicks smiled as he took a step closer to the child before him. "You and Alex will be getting’ married soon, but I have a couple of rules here, Miss Louise, one of them is that none of my boys get to be with one of my girls until I break her in."

Louise screamed for help and started to struggle against the strong hands that were holding her down.

"Louise, Louise. Hey it’s me Alex."

Lou slowly opened her eyes and began to look around.

"Louise, are you all right? You started screaming in your sleep."

"Alex, what are you doing here?"

"We were talking about the past, and you fell asleep. I hope you don’t mind that I stayed."

"How long have I been asleep for?"

"Oh, close to two hours. Up until about fifteen minutes ago you were laying up next to me. You even kissed me."

"I kissed you?"

"Yep. The only thing I don’t understand is why you kept calling me kid. Louise, I’m older then you. Why would you call me that?"

"I don’t know why I would call you Kid." After all you are nothing like him! "I was sleeping, Alex, I didn’t even know I was talking much less what I was saying. Let’s just get some sleep."

Alex leaned over and kissed Lou’s head, "OK, sweet dreams, Honey."

"She’s been missing for three days now. Do you think she’s been hurt?"

"No, Cody. I get this feeling that she is fine. She won’t be for much longer, but for now she is all right."

"Well then, we don’t have any time to waste, do we Kid?" Without waiting for an answer, Teaspoon turned to Buck, "Have you found the tracks again?"

"Yes, and I think we are close. It looks like she has slowed down, like she was looking for something."

"Well, good mornin’ Sunshine. Alex went out for a little while. You better start getting ready for your big day." Pete truly loved the young woman standing in front of him. He hated himself for turning his head so many years ago. He knew that it was just a matter of time before Wicks would rape Louise, but he was afraid of what he would do to him if he tried to stop it. The day that he found out that Louise left was the day he promised himself two things. The first thing was that if he ever found Louise again he would do everything he could to make sure that no one ever hurt her again. The second thing was that he would never again stand by, knowing that another young girl was abused that way. Pete even stuck to the last one.

Almost two years ago Wicks took in a fourteen old year girl to do the cleaning. She was so different from Louise. This girl was not nearly as innocent as Louise, nor did she have the same fire that Louise did. Late one night Wicks decided to ‘teach her the ropes’. Pete was able to stop it from taking place, but he was almost killed for his actions.

Alex ran into him about a year ago and gave Pete only two options. One, he comes to work for him or two, he tells the boss where to find him.

"Yeah, he’s outside somewhere. Sun, I’m so happy that you and Alex are getting married today. And I’m very excited that you are letting me give you away." Pete knew what he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure how he should word it, "Don’t you have some friends that you would like to invite to the wedding?"

"Well, Pete, the truth is, that yes I do have friends I want at my wedding, but…"

"But they would take weeks to get here and neither, Alex nor Louise, want to wait." Ben flashed Lou a smile, which seemed to say, ‘Nice try, but Alex won’t be happy about this. I can’t wait to tell him.’

Pete looked back at Louise. He was sure there was something that everyone knew but him. Oh, Sunshine, what did you get yourself into now. If you would only tell me maybe I could help you. I’m not the same man I was back then. I would do anything to help you be safe.

There was a knock at the door. Ben cracked it open and said a few words that Lou and Pete couldn’t hear. He turned back to face Lou, "Alex and the preacher is here, best get ready. Pete, I think we should leave Miss Louise alone."

Oh, how am I going to get out of this one? I can’t do this alone, but maybe if I had help I could find a way out. Pete looked like he wanted to help me, but he never helped me in the past. But still he is my best shot.

Lou walked over to the door and cracked it just enough so that the men outside could hear her. "Pete, could you come in here. I need some help…with the dress."

Alex walked close to the door. He made no attempt to open it, but rather stood close to the crack so that she could hear him without having to shout. "Honey, I can help you with that. I wouldn’t mind getting a little preview before the wedding."

"Sorry Alex, but that is bad luck, remember. So I need either Pete or Ben. And I would much rather it was Pete who touched me."

Alex nodded for Pete to go in. Then he turned to Ben and the preacher. Ben moved to one side of the older man as Alex moved to the other side. "Now Preacher," Alex moved a step closer so that his face was just inches away from the older man’s, "My bride is a little nervous about this weddin’ so if she were to say no when she should be saying yes you’re not going to pay no never mind to it, understand?"

"No, I can’t…"

Ben pulled his gun out and placed it right up to the other man’s temple. "Well then maybe I can help you understand. You will marry those two no matter what she says and if you do that then we will give you a little something for your trouble. But if you don’t marry them simply because the girl is having some small doubts, then I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson about doing what you are told." Ben gave the man his wicked smile, "Understand now?"

"Yes, I understand." Came the stammered response.

Alex slapped the man on the back, "I’m glad we understand each other. Oh, one more thing. I want this wedding to go as fast as possible so skip everything you don’t really have to say."

"Sunshine, didn’t you say you needed help with the dress?" Pete looked around the room once more, "I don’t even see the dress, where is it?"

"It is still hanging up. Pete I need some help and you are the only one here I can trust, please help me. Please."

"Of course I’ll help you with anything. I’m guessing this isn’t about the dress, right?"

Lou smiled at him. Even if he did turn his head years ago he was a wonderful man, he just got mixed up with the wrong people. "I don’t want to marry Alex. I just got my life back and now he is trying to take it away again." Lou couldn’t help the tears that started to fall, she sat back on the bed and pulled her hands up to cover her face.

Pete came over and sat next to her, "I thought you loved Alex. And at one time the two of you couldn’t stop talking about how much you wanted to marry the other. What changed?"

"I guess I did. I have a good life now. I have a family that loves me. And about a week ago I found my real father. He is a wonderful man, all of them are and I would do anything to be back there with them. Pete please help me get out of here."

"Why don’t you tell Alex this? He is always telling Ben and myself that he would do anything to make sure you are happy. If you told him that you would never be happy with him then I’m sure he will let you leave."

"I have told him that. He doesn’t care, in fact he has even said that if I don’t go thought with it then he will tell Wicks about my daughter. And I won’t let him know about her!"

"Sunshine, you have a child. How old is she? Who is the father? Where is the father? Are you already married?"

"Wicks is the father. And no, I’m not married yet and in all honesty I have no plans on getting married anytime soon. And even if I did it sure as hell won’t be to a man that doesn’t think my child is important. All Alex wants her for is to force me into marrying him. Even if he helped me raise her, I don’t think he would ever love her and I don’t want that kind of life for my little girl. I had that kind of life. The only reason my mother married my father was because she was carrying me and needed a man to help her. I think in his own way he loved his two kids, but he didn’t even try to put up with me. Every time I did the smallest thing wrong he would hit me." Lou wiped a few tears away that had fallen due to the memories of Boggs. "I have to find a way out of this. I want Charlie in my life, but I won’t if that is the type if life she will be forced to have. And I can’t let Wicks find out about her. Oh, Pete, what am I going to do?"

Before Pete could respond there was a knock at the door. When the doorknob began to turn Pete knew he had to act fast. He walked over to the door and blocked it from being opened completely. "Alex, we just need a little more time. Louise is a little nervous, I’m just trying to get her calmed down."

"How much more time are we talking about here?"

"An hour"

"I’ll give you half that. Then she better be ready. Nothing is going to go wrong today, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes." With that Pete walked back to where Lou was as Alex left the doorway. "OK, we have half an hour to get you out of here, do you have a plan?"

"Sort of, but I really need your help. I’m going to go out there, but before I get asked the famous question I’m going to faint. I can handle Alex. But I need you to find a way to stop Ben and also keep an eye on the preacher just in case he is on their side."

"I’ll find something to stop Ben, but I don’t think the preacher is in on this, I have talked to him in town a couple of times and I think he would be willing to help us, but of course that depends on how badly they scared him."

"Teaspoon, I don’t understand this. It looks as if Lou didn’t want us to follow her. She is leading us in circles and I think she has even covered up half of her tracks." Buck was stumped he had never had such a hard time tracking someone before.

Teaspoon placed his left hand over his mouth as he looked off into the horizon. He could feel his eyes began to water up but he wasn’t ready to give in to the tears. He spent the last year loving every moment that he spent with the boys. Lou was the hardest one for him to get close to. He had always felt that something was different about him, and a few months ago he found out just what was so different about her. Once he found out that Lou was female they seemed to bond almost instantly and now knowing that she was indeed his daughter, he couldn’t give up, not now, not on her.

"It’s hard, ain’t it?"

Teaspoon was pulled from his thoughts as he looked up at Kid, "What is?"

"Knowing that she could be in trouble and there is nothing you can do about it. Once your mind starts thinking about what she could be going though it seems like it tries to one up itself and it keeps thinking of worse things." Kid took a deep breath and looked down at the ground before continuing. "I know Lou can take care of herself. But I also know that if she loses control of the situation that she is in it wouldn’t be hard to overpower her."

"I’m beginning to understand why you worry so much." Teaspoon gave a slight smile, "Where’s the firewood when you need it?"

Kid shook his head slightly. No one is ever going to let him live that down.

"Over here! I found them again."

Everyone took off following the almost non-existed trail that Lou left.

Alex knocked on the door. He was now ready and wasn’t going to wait any longer for this wedding.

Lou told Pete to answer the door and to tell Alex she would be right out. She then told Ben to head out she could get ready on her own. Pete left and Lou walked over to the wedding dress. I can’t wear this for him. If it comes down to me marring him or Charlie dying I will marry him. But I won’t I can’t wear this. That would mean that I wanted to be his bride and that is something I don’t want. Not at all. She touched it gently before changing back into the pants and shirt she had on when she first showed up there.

She knocked on the door to tell everyone she was ready and Pete slipped back into the room. "Oh, Sunshine, Alex is not going to be happy about this."

"This is my wedding Pete and I will wear whatever I damn well please!"

Without music the two started down the make shift isle. Lou could tell be the way Alex was looking at her that he did not approve of her choice of ‘dress’ yet she wasn’t prepared for him to yell, "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"I know this is just a guess, but I think I’m getting married."

"Not in that!"

"This is who I am. If you want to marry me then this is who you will be marrying!"

"Louise, you get right back in that room and put on the wedding dress you have in there!"

"No! You will marry me wearing this or not at all!" Lou was hoping that he would says ‘Not at all’ but instead he waved to the preacher to continue.

"It has to be that house." Buck had found the end of Lou’s trails.

Teaspoon looked around, "I don’t think it is. I think Lou would have been able to get out of here too easy. We would have passed her on the way."

"That is only if she was being held here." Cody looked around for a minute. He wasn’t sure how to say what was on his mind. "What if it was her choice to go and to stay here?"

Kid looked towards the house. "I have to agree with Teaspoon, she’s not here. This place is too quiet."

Jimmy shook his head. "She’s here. Lou and I have talked so many times about what kind of future she wanted. A couple times she talked to me about the kind of house she wanted. This is it!"

"I don’t buy it, she never told me about this house."

"I hate to be the one to tell you this Kid, but Lou doesn’t tell you everything she does, let alone everything she thinks."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Kid, Jimmy, we don’t have time for the two of you to fight right now! If you both want to help Lou, and I think you do, then you have to put this off and work together." Teaspoon was beginning to get irritated with those two. "Now the two of you know Lou better then any of us. We, I need your help in finding her."

There was no longer a debate about staying or leaving once the gun shot was heard.

The boys rode as fast as they could to the house. They ran into the house only to find two men dead on the ground, a man who looked like a preacher was leaning up against a wall and Lou was holding the hand of another man who was laying in a pool of blood.

After the man took his last breath, Lou looked up to see that her family was standing in the room with her. She started to get up as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. She walked over to the preacher and asked if he would take care of the bodies. After he agreed she told her family that she wanted to leave.

After a few hours of riding they made camp for the night. Everyone had asked her what had happen in there. She didn’t go into all the details, but told them that Alex was a friend from a long time ago, as was Pete. Alex had wanted to marry her. They had a small fight in font of the preacher and Pete had tried to step in saying that she didn’t have to marry him. Pete even pulled a gun on Alex, but Ben shot him. Lou was able to get a hold of Pete’s gun and killed Ben with it, Alex moved for Ben’s gun and Lou shot him too. Alex didn’t die right away and although Lou didn’t love him like she used to, she still cared for him and wanted to comfort him in what little time he had left.

"Teaspoon, can we take the long way home, just me and you?"

Teaspoon looked around at the boys, "Louise, we have jobs to get back to."

"Don’t worry Teaspoon, we’ll cover for you." Noah smiled as the rest of the boys added, "Like we always do."

"Lou this is more than just the long way around, you have a place you want to go to, don’t you?"

"I have someone I want you to meet. See there was a little more to the story than I told the boys." Lou told Teaspoon the story about how Alex was going to make her marry him by saying that if she didn’t marry him he would kill her daughter.

"Your what?!"

"My daughter. I was, uh, raped when I was, uh, fourteen and then I had Charlie." Lou wiped a single tear from her face. "She is with a good family and they are going to keep her for me until I’m ready to take her back."

They pulled up to a fairly large house. Lou asked Teaspoon to wait there. She went to the door and talked to the lady that answered. She pointed over to Teaspoon and then went inside. Lou returned a few minutes later with a small child on her hip. Teaspoon dismounted and took a few steps toward Lou.

"Teaspoon, this is Charlie, your granddaughter."

"Charlie, this is your grandpa!"

Teaspoon reached out to touch the little girl, who at first shied away from him, but with a little coaxing from Lou she finally let Teaspoon hold her.

Holding his granddaughter on his lap with his daughter sitting next to him brought tears to the marshal’s eyes. After spending the day with Charlie, Lou and Teaspoon started to head back to their lives in Sweetwater.

"Have you told Kid about her?"

Lou tensed up. She knew she had to tell Kid, but wasn’t sure how she was going to and even worse she didn’t know how he was going to react to the news. "No, not yet. But I will, when the time is right. Oh, Teaspoon, please don’t tell him about her."

Teaspoon raised his hands and smiled, "I won’t. That is your place. Besides, I know you will tell him when the time is right. After all you don’t want her to just show up on the doorstep one day, right?"

"No, that would be one of the worse things that could happen. I don’t know how he would react to something like that. I’m sure he would either leave me or die from the shock of it."

"Just remember that in cases of family matters the sooner someone knows something the easier it is for them to handle it."

The End!