Chapter 50

Once Lou was at the bottom of the stairs, she did the one thing that had become a habit ever since Kid left: she glanced out each window or door she passed, hoping against hope to see someone coming down the road toward her.

She did a double take at the front door as she could swear she noticed dust rising off the road. The wind blowing was a natural occurrence around those parts but there wasn’t much of a disturbance anywhere else except on the road headed toward the house. She opened the door and stepped onto the porch to get a better look.

"Louise, what are you doing outside?" Rachel asked as she came out of the kitchen in time to see Lou step out the door.

Lou didn't answer, instead she leaned over the railing, squinting then shielding her eyes from the afternoon sun. "There's a rider comin'," she informed her. "I can't quite make out who it might be ... wait, it looks like ... it can't be ... that's Jimmy's horse."

"Jimmy's?" Rachel joined her on the porch, following the direction of Lou's eyes.

"Yeah, it's his horse but that ain't Jimmy ridin' it - he doesn't sit a horse that way." Her mind suddenly got a crazy notion, forcing her to lean as far over the railing as she could. "That's the way ..." she couldn't finish her thought. "Rachel," she whispered then caught her breath. Lou grabbed tightly onto the railing for support then turned tear filled eyes toward her friend. "Am I seeing correct?"

Smiling at her, Rachel answered, "If you're wrong then we both need to have our eyes checked. Well what are you waiting for?"

Lou looked at her nervously then turned to the figure on horseback as he rode into the yard. She held onto the railing as her feet suddenly felt like dead weight and she was forced to drag them toward her destination. "Kid," she whispered, making it to the ground. "Kid," she called slowly.

She started to cry as she clearly saw the familiar blue jacket and white hat. Through the tears, she began laughing and her feet finally obeyed her. She broke into a run and cried out, "Kid!"

The group had made good time getting back to Rock Creek. During one of their short water breaks, Jimmy laughed as he saw how impatient Kid was behaving - his feet were almost doing a dance step, he was moving them so much. Jimmy then offered Kid his horse, knowing that once Kid was on the outskirts of town, he would head straight toward the new homestead. Jimmy had told him Lou was going out there every day, working on the place and they would reach it before the old way station.

Just like Jimmy predicted, once Kid realized the house was nearby, he took off, leaving the others to follow his trail of dust. He quickly rode over the rise in the road then headed into the yard. He hoped she was there but couldn't be sure - it was awful quiet and still. As he slowed the horse to a gallop, Kid could barely make out one then two figures on the porch. The wind picked up, blowing dark brown hair around one of the people. He knew who that head of hair belonged to and broke out into a wide smile.

"Lou," he whispered, urging the horse faster toward the house.

Kid pulled the animal to a stop as he saw Lou begin to run toward him and he heard his name called out. He got down off the saddle just in time to catch the figure flying at him with outstretched arms. He wrapped his free arm around her frame as she hugged his neck so tight he was afraid she would cut off his air.

She laid her head against his chest, rejoicing in the rise and fall of his breathing as it tried to get back to normal. He was real, not a dream, and was standing with his arm wrapped around her. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world. All she could manage to get out was, "Kid, oh, Kid. I can't believe it's you."

He buried his face in her hair. "It's me, Lou," he kept saying over and over again.