IT'S ALL IN THE CARDS

by Holly © 2001

Chapter 3

Buck entered the bunkhouse. He had hoped that everyone would be asleep, but of course they weren't.

"Howdy Buck," Cody said.

"Hi Cody," Buck replied.

The riders all looked at him expectantly.

"What?" He said when he noticed their looks.

"What happened?" Noah asked.

"We had dinner, we talked. That's it. I'm going over to her house on Saturday to help her work on it," Buck replied.

~Glad you had a good time.~ Signed a smiling Ike.

"I told her about all of you, and she wants me to bring you to meet her, Ike," Buck said.

Ike's eyebrows rose in surprise. ~Really? That could be fun.~ He signed.

"Ya know, maybe we could all go over there and help her out. Do you think she'd mind?" Jimmy asked.

"No, I think she'd like the help," Buck replied.

"Maybe we could get Teaspoon and Rachel to go too," Kid suggested.

"Okay, so we're all going over to Buck's girlfriend's house on Saturday to help her work on it. Now let's shut up and get some sleep," Cody said, obviously cranky.

"She's not my girlfriend," Buck replied. 'I wish she was,' He added silently.

~You like her don't you?~ Ike signed.

"Well, yeah, but-" Buck's sentence was cut off.

~It sounds like she likes you too, so I don't see a problem~ Ike signed with an 'I-told-you-so' look on his face.

"I think Ike's right, Buck," Kid commented.

~I always am~ Ike signed with a mischievous smile.

Buck threw a pillow in Ike's direction.

"C'mon guys. Leave him alone, we need to wait and embarass him good in front on Emily on Saturday," Jimmy said.

'I don't know if I'll make it till then. It seems like forever.' Buck thought to himself.

Noah laughed. "Let's just get some sleep."

"Goodnight," said Kid

"G'night," replied Jimmy.

All of the riders fell asleep instantly. Except for Buck.

'Goodnight Emily,' was his last thought before falling into a deep, dreamful slumber.

Despite what Buck thought, Saturday arrived right on time. They'd asked Rachel and Teaspoon to come, they had readily accepted, and soon all of the riders, including Lou, who had arrived back at the station Friday afternoon, were on their way to pay a certain unsuspecting person a visit.

When Emily saw the wagon and the seven riders approaching her home, she thought that she or her father were in some kind of trouble, but as soon as she saw Buck's familiar horse and handsome face, she figured that he must've brought all of his friends, not just Ike.

"Hi," Emily said as Buck dismounted.

"Hey," he replied. " I hope you don't mind, I thought that we could use some more help."

"Sure, I don't mind at all. You must be Ike. I've heard a lot about you," Emily said, noticing the green-eyed man beside Buck.

~And you must be Emily. I've heard good things about you. I'm glad to finally meet you.~ Ike wrote this on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

"Likewise. And you all must be Jimmy, Cody, Lou, Rachel, Teaspoon, Noah, and Kid," Emily said, naming them all in order.

"That's right," Rachel said.

"Smart girl. Let's get to work," Jimmy said.

"C'mon Emily. Let's go," Rachel said as she headed for the house.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked. She was headed to the barn.

"We gotta make dinner for 'em. They're growing boys, they need their food. You and me, let's go," Rachel replied.

"But's that's not fair to them. I need to be out there helping them. I mean, I can't pay them, so the least I can do is help with the work. After all, it is my house," Emily argued.

"I won't hear it. Buck said that you'd done most of the work yourself. You've worked hard enough already, you can repay the boys by cooking them a good meal, so c'mon," Rachel said.

After a few more minutes of arguing, Emily finally agreed. Once she and Rachel were in the house, Emily said to Rachel, "Thanks Rachel, I appreciate the help, but I'm gonna pay you back, one way or another."

"I could use some help at the station sometimes. It's not easy taking care of all seven of them, and it'll give you a chance to be near Buck. Would you like that?" Rachel replied with a sly smile. Although she didn't want to come right out and say it, Rachel had a feeling that Emily liked Buck as more than a friend.

Emily blushed. "Yeah, that would be nice." Emily decided to go ahead and tell Rachel what she probably already knew. Emily knew she could trust Rachel. "I guess I like him a little. A lot," she finished.

A smile slowly spread across Rachel's face. She didn't think Emily knew that Buck felt the same way. Rachel decided not to say anything. She didn't want anyone to fell awkward.

"We'd better get started on dinner. I don't want them to starve," Emily told Rachel, trying to change the subject.

"Alright. What should we make?" Rachel asked Emily, noticing what she was trying to do, and letting her. " Something good. After all, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, let's see if they're right," Emily told Rachel with a smile.

Everything ran like clockwork. Lou and Kid were up on the barn roof fixing the hole, and Jimmy and Teaspoon were busy replacing the rotted wood in the fence with fresh wood. Noah and Cody were cleaning out the barn, and Ike and Buck were on the porch fixing the broken windows.

"Somthin' smells good." Teaspoon commented loudly as soon as he was done with his share of the work.

"Dinner's ready when you are." Emily called from the house.

The sweet aroma of the well-prepared food called the tired and hungry workers to the kitchen. They took their seats. Emily bowed her head and began to pray. The others followed, but left the praying up to Emily.

"Lord we thank you for this food and hope that you'll bless it to the nourishment of our bodies so that we may serve you, and thank you for the wonderful help I've received today," she said taking Buck's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. "In your name we pray, amen."

"Amen," they all said.

"Where did your dad go?" Cody asked, after he got a full plate of food, of course.

"Cody! That's none of your business!" Rachel scolded.

"No, it's okay. He's meeting a friend of his in town. I wanted him to be out of our way," Emily replied.

"This food is great Emily. I wish that I could cook something edible," Lou said.

"Yeah, she can't cook for dirt," Cody said with a chuckle.

Lou punched Cody in the arm.

"You don't hafta rub it in," she told Cody.

"What? I was just agreeing with ya," he complained.

"How did you guys find out?" She asked. It hadn't taken Emily long to figure out Lou's secret.

"That Lou's a girl? You'd have to be blind to miss it," Jimmy commented.

"Then how come it took you so long to realize it?" Lou asked.

~It did take us a while to catch on. Kid found out first, and that was by accident.~ Ike signed.

"It must be fun, getting to ride horses and go places. I'd love it, but I don't think my behind could take the hours in the saddle," Emily told them.

"It's hard work, but it's a living," Kid replied.

"But it's not all fun and games. It's pretty dangerous work. You can get hurt if you don't know what you're doing," Buck told Emily.

"I guessed that," Emily replied.

"So boys, what do you think of the food? All compliments go to Emily. All I did was help, she did all of the work," Rachel said to the group.

~It's great!~ Ike signed.

"Thank you Ike. I'm glad Rachel was there to help me though," Emily said with a smile in Rachel's direction.

"Thank you Emily," Rachel replied.

"It's really good. I didn't figure you'd be much of a cook. I mean, you don't look like much of an indoor girl," said Jimmy, never afraid to speak his mind.

"What do you think?" Emily asked Buck. He'd been silent through most of dinner, and she wanted to know why, and hopefully get him to talk.

"It's great Emily." 'Just like you,' he thought to himself.

"You haven't talked much. Is something wrong?" she asked him.

"No, I'm just tired," he replied.

"Well Miss Metcalf, the food was great, and we hate to eat and run, but we've go to get back to the station," Teaspoon said.

"Oh, it's no problem. I'm pleased that you liked it. But I am gonna pay all of you back for your help. I only wish that dad could've gotten home earlier so he could've met you. He would've liked you all," Emily said.

"Hey Emily, why don't you come by the station this week. You said that you wanted to pay us back, so you can help us at the station. As long as your father doesn't mind," Rachel told her.

"I can do that. Dad won't care. When should I come?" Emily asked.

"Everyday if you'd like," Rachel said.

To everyone's surprise, Emily embraced Rachel in a tight hug.

"Thank you so much. I'll be by around noon, is that okay?" She asked.

"Sure, that's fine. I'll see you then," Rachel said.

As they all retreated to the barn to get the horses and the wagon, Ike pulled Buck aside to talk to him.

~What's wrong?~ He signed.

"Why do you think something's wrong?" Buck asked.

~You hardly said anything at dinner. Are you mad?~ Ike signed.

"No, I it's not that......I felt nervous around her. She's hardly said anything to me today. I think she's mad," Buck replied.

~Talk to her. She was busy today. She's not mad. Be thankful that you have your voice. Use it!~ Ike signed.

"You think so?" Buck asked him.

~I know so.~ Ike signed with a smile.

Emily stood on the porch, watching the group getting ready to leave. She could understand the bond between them. Closer than relatives, but family none the less, just a different type of family. 'And love' she thought.

"Emily?" Buck said as he ascended the porch.

"Hey, I want to apologize for being so withdrawn at dinner. I was just nervous about meeting your friends," Emily told him.

' So she isn't mad at me. Ike was right.' He thought.

"That's okay. I should be the one apologizing. I had a wonderful meal and I didn't even thank you," Buck replied.

"I was glad to do it. You and your friends came and fixed my house for free, so I'm ecstatic. I should be thanking you," Emily said.

Ike came up to them then.

~We're ready to go Buck.~ He walked up to Emily and shook her hand.

~Thanks Emily. I'll see you Monday.~ Ike signed. ~It was nice meeting you.~

"I liked meeting all of you too. See you Monday," Emily replied.

Ike walked up to Eve and mounted, giving Buck and Emily their privacy.

"Goodnight," Buck said.

"Goodnight," Emily replied.

With a warm, gentle kiss, the two of them parted. Emily to the house, Buck to his horse, and he rode off with his friends into the dark night.

Emily stood on the porch, watching them go.'Finally, I made some friends. No more running,' She thought.'Especially Buck.' With him she felt special, safe and beautiful, and nobody had been able to do that before. When their eyes met, she felt as if she could fly to the moon and bring it to him if he had asked her to. Emily was starting to get very confused. She'd never felt this way before, about anything. Going into the house, she found a piece of paper and a pencil, and with it wrote her father a note saying that she was in bed, sat it on the table, and got ready for bed. She fell asleep almost instantly as she snuggled underneath the quilt that her mother had made for her when she lived in Kentucky. Just before she fell asleep, she thought of the only explanation for what she was feeling.

'Maybe I'm in love,' She thought.