Home of  Mickey Minner

Rolling Thunder
First Draft
@ Copyrighted 2004

PUBLISHED BY PD PUBLISHING 2007

PART 1

Jennifer Branson reached back and lifted the hair off the back of her neck in a futile attempt to cool her clammy skin.  It was summer and, even with all the schoolhouse windows open, sitting inside during the afternoon hours was next to unbearable.  From outside, the sound of horse hoofs clomping against the hard packed street and of wagon springs creaking drifted in on the still air.  Jennifer smiled and began to clear her desk, Jesse and KC were coming. 

As she opened her desk drawer and neatly placed her work papers inside, Jennifer's thoughts strayed to the events of the last few months.  Had it really only been such a short time since she'd come to Sweetwater to teach the town's children?  She had arrived barely more than a child herself and now she was married with a daughter of her own.   So much of her life had changed in the past few months.

It had been late spring when Jennifer prepared to secretly leave her birthplace in the east and travel west.  Determined not to be forced into an arranged marriage and anxious to experience life in the west, Jennifer had slipped away from her parent's home during the night and boarded a train bound for Denver.  There she had contracted for the position of schoolteacher for the town of Sweetwater, Montana Territory. 

A few days after arriving in town, Jennifer had boldly risen to Jesse's defense against charges of cattle rustling.  When the rancher had been threatened by a lynch mob, Jennifer had broken the woman she scarcely knew out of jail and the two had set out to find evidence to prove her innocence.  They soon discovered that an old enemy of the rancher had returned to the valley and framed Jesse.  Before the man could be arrested, Jesse had been shot in the head and Jennifer had been terrified that she would die.  Luckily, the bullet had only grazed Jesse and, after a few days, she was well on her way to recovery.  A recovery that was hastened along by the women's declaration of love for each other.

After Jesse's recovery, the women had headed for the mining camp of Bannack to check on a friend.  Unfortunately, their planned quiet trip to Bannack was spoiled when they found a young couple murdered by bandits and later discovered that Bannack's sheriff was their leader.  Sensing that Jesse and Jennifer were a threat to his outlaw organization, Sheriff Plummer had ordered their deaths.  Ambushed as they tried to return to Sweetwater, Jesse had been forced to kill the bandits in order to save their own lives.  But, the disastrous trip to Bannack had also brought joy as they had decided to keep and raise the infant daughter of the murdered travelers.  And, Jesse had proposed to Jennifer.

Upon returning to Sweetwater, the women had announced their engagement and their friends had immediately started planning a wedding.  Theirs was to be the first held in Sweetwater and the whole town came to the festivities.  Their happiness was soon shattered as, soon after vows were exchanged, a message arrived from Jennifer's father.  He was traveling to Sweetwater to take her back and he was bringing her fiancé.

Jennifer had hoped her father would never discover where she had run off to but a chance meeting in Bannack had given away her secret.  Determined to remain in Sweetwater with Jesse and their daughter, Jennifer had refused to accompany her father back east.  Undeterred, her father had assaulted Jesse and kidnapped Jennifer.  Unwilling to lose her new wife, Jesse had tracked Jennifer and her kidnappers.  She had been within minutes of rescuing Jennifer when a mountain lion had attacked and killed the young man who was to be her husband.  In an attempt to save the boy from the cougar, Jennifer had been clawed and her leg ripped open.

'It had, indeed,' Jennifer thought, 'been an exciting few months since her arrival in Sweetwater.'

Jennifer was brought back to the present by the sound of boots crunching on the gravel path leading to the schoolhouse and a steady stream of baby gibberish.  She grabbed the cane leaning against the wall behind her desk and made her way to the building's front door, slightly limping on her damaged leg.  Some days were better than others for Jennifer but, usually, a nice long soak in a hot bath and a rubdown by Jesse helped eased her discomfort. 

Jennifer left the stuffiness of the schoolhouse and stepped out onto the small porch.  She waited in the shade of the building's porch, smiling at her wife and daughter completing their walk up the path. 

"Afternoon, darlin'," Jesse Branson smiled broadly as she greeted the schoolteacher.

"Momma," KC's outstretched arms reached for the ginger hair woman waiting on the porch.

"Hi, sweetie," Jennifer gladly took the baby from Jesse. 

KC wrapped her tiny arms around Jennifer's neck and kissed her on the cheek.  Jennifer returned the kiss, "I've missed you."

"What about me?" Jesse asked as she wrapped her long arms around Jennifer and pulled her close.  Their mouths meeting for a tender, lingering kiss.

"Oh," Jennifer sighed when their lips parted.  "I've missed you, too, sweetheart."

"How's your work going?  Finish it up, yet?" Jesse asked as she kept her hold on Jennifer.

"Almost," Jennifer leaned into Jesse.  She had come to the schoolhouse that morning to work on study plans for the coming school session.  "Come on," Jennifer said as she gently pushed out of Jesse's embrace, "help me get the windows shut so we can go home."

"Alright," Jesse followed the schoolteacher into the schoolhouse.  "Looks like we could get thunder bumpers tonight," she commented on the clouds building over the mountains to the west.

"Thunder bumpers?" Jennifer asked as she placed KC down on the floor so she could help Jesse.

"Storms we get this time of year," Jesse pulled down a window.  "Usually begin to roll in just before nightfall.  Lots of thunder and lightening."

"And, rain?" Jennifer asked hopefully.

"If we're lucky."  With all of the windows closed, Jesse looked around for KC.  "Mostly, just lots of booming."

"Oom?" KC peeked out from under Jennifer's desk.

"Yep, sunshine," Jesse playfully approached the baby like a tiger on the prowl.  "Boom, Boom, BOOM," she teased.

KC giggled at her mother. "oom, oom, OOM," she repeated.

"It sure would be nice to get some rain to break up this heat," Jennifer wiped sweat from her forehead.

"This summer sure has been a hot one."  Jesse grinned as she lifted KC from the floor, "come on, you rascal.  Looks like we better start tying a rope to you, you squirt around so much.  Only way we'll be able to keep track of her," she explained when she saw Jennifer's disapproving look.

Jennifer tried not to smile as an image of Jesse walking around Sweetwater linked to KC by a long rope popped into her head.  She could just imagine what trouble the two of them could cause.  "We'll find another way," she assured the rancher.  Changing the subject before Jesse could offer any other suggestions, she asked, "should we stop by the depot?"

The town of Sweetwater did not have a telegraph or post office.  Messages and mail traveled to and from town on the stage and were held at the stage office until picked up.

"Stopped by there before we came here," Jesse carried the giggling KC to the front door and held it open for Jennifer.  "Nothing, yet."

Jesse thought back on the events of the previous month when she had reunited with her parents after years of no contact.  She had asked them to move to Sweetwater and live with her and her new family.  Her father, a proud man who didn't want to be seen as accepting charity, had agreed to think about the offer.  But, as yet, had made no decision.  At least, not one he had decided to share with her.

Jennifer pulled the door shut, making sure it was secure before turning to face Jesse.  She had heard the disappointment in her partner's voice and knew there really wasn't anything she could say to lessen it.  Jennifer held out her hand and Jesse instantly accepted it.  They began the walk down the gravel path to the footbridge spanning the creek at the bottom of the knoll the schoolhouse occupied.  On the other side of the footbridge, sat a buckboard.  Standing patiently in front of the wagon was a large draft horse Jesse had inherited when she purchased an abandoned ranch.  Jennifer had been speechless, probably for the only time in her life, when Jesse explained the horse's name was 'Boy' because it was a boy. 

Jesse helped Jennifer up into the buckboard, careful not to jar Jennifer's damaged leg.  She then handed KC up to her momma.  KC promptly crawled off her mother's lap and plopped herself down in the center of the bench seat.  She liked to sit between her mothers where she could hold on to both of them while the buckboard bounced along the road.  Naturally, her mothers preferred to sit side-by-side and, much to KC's dismay, Jennifer pulled her back onto her lap. 

"They'll come, sweetheart," Jennifer placed a hand on the rancher's thigh when Jesse joined her on the seat,  "Just give them some time."

Jesse took Jennifer's hand in her own.  She brought it to her lips and tenderly kissed the gold band that adorned Jennifer's ring finger, she wore a matching band on her own hand.  Jesse smiled when she remembered how her father had given them the rings.

"Married folk should wear rings.  You don't wear one."

"Not too many places to buy one in Sweetwater," Jesse looked at her unadorned hand.

Without another word, her father stood and disappeared into the house, reappearing moments later.

"Here," he handed Jesse a small box.  "Belonged to your momma's parents.  Always figured we'd give 'em to our son when he married.  Guess it don't make much sense letting 'em go to waste."

Jesse slowly opened the box.  Inside two gold wedding bands glittered in the sunlight.

"I hope you're right, darlin'," Jesse gently squeezed Jennifer's hand.  "I'd hate to lose them again."

"You won't," Jennifer returned the squeeze.  "Bozeman isn't that far away.  We can visit them as often as you like."

Jesse nodded as she unwrapped the reins from the brake handle and slapped them lightly on Boy's hind quarters.  The large draft horse started walking in the direction of the Silver Slipper, a saloon that Jesse won in a poker game and had turned into a respectable boarding house and restaurant.  The women sat quietly as Boy plodded towards the Slipper. 

Sweetwater was located at the northern end of a river valley, nestled up against a ponderosa pine forest at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  The town took it's name from the valley which was named for the sweet tasting waters of the rivers running through it.  Being centrally located amid the mining camps tucked away in the surrounding mountains, Sweetwater served as a stop for the stagecoach and freight wagons from Bozeman. 

The town consisted of a dozen or so buildings of various sizes and shapes lining the stage road which doubled as the town's only street.  An old adobe structure, badly in need of repair, was the oldest permanent building in town.  And, although telegraph wires had yet to reach Sweetwater, the adobe had always been referred to as the depot and telegraph office.   Directly across the street was the town's only store.  A building next to the store housed the town hall, sheriff's office and jail, and the office of the Gazette, the town's newspaper.  The only other businesses in town were the Oxbow Saloon on the same side of the street as the depot and the stables and blacksmith which occupied the land behind the Oxbow.  Besides the schoolhouse, the remaining structures in town were private residences located between the business district and the Silver Slipper located at the far end of town.

Used to stopping at the Slipper, Boy walked to the front of the two story building and stopped in the shade of it's wrap-around porch.  Jesse hopped down from the wagon then hurried around to help Jennifer.

"Afternoon," a woman stepped out of the boarding house.  "Why I was jus' tellin' ya momma that it was 'bout time for you's to be stoppin' by on ya way home."

"Afternoon, Bette Mae," Jennifer greeted the woman who served as manager for the Silver Slipper and was a good friend to both women.  "Sit still until mommy can get you," she instructed KC who was excitingly bouncing in her lap.

KC liked the older woman and was always happy for the opportunity to spend time with her, especially if Bette Mae was baking.

"Best take care of her first," Jesse told Jennifer who nodded and helped KC crawl into Jesse's waiting arms.

Jesse handed the baby to Bette Mae. 

"Lordy, but ya is growin' like a weed.  I do declare you is bigger than ya was this mornin'," Bette Mae tickled the child's belly.

Jesse laughed, "don't suppose it has anything to do with the treats you keep baking for her."  She turned her attention to Jennifer and carefully lifted her from the wagon.  Jesse carried her up the steep steps before gently setting Jennifer down on the porch next to Bette Mae.

"You don't have to carry me," Jennifer complained.

"Hush," Jesse smiled at her wife.  "I don't mind." 

"Yes, sweetheart, I know," Jennifer leaned on her cane.  "I just don't like feeling helpless," she said unhappily.

"Oh, you're far from helpless, darlin'.  Besides, you'll be running up those steps in no time and I won't have any excuse then to do it."  She grinned at Jennifer, "I really like to, you know."  Jesse wrapped Jennifer in a loving hug.  She had been devastated when the doctor had handed Jennifer a pair of crutches, explaining that she would probably always need them to walk.  He had added that her leg would never heal completely due to the extensive muscle and nerve damage inflicted by the cougar's claws. 

Jennifer never complained.  Instead, she insisted an using the leg as much as possible and it had slowly begun to regain it's strength.  Enough that she had thrown away the crutches and replaced them with the cane she now used.  She had even started riding Blaze, the mare Jesse had surprised her with before their trip to Bannack.  Mostly, she took short rides around the ranch house but each one was a little longer than the last.  She hoped to be able to ride to town before long.

"I love you," Jesse placed a loving kiss on her frustrated wife's lips. 

"Com' on," Bette Mae turned to take KC inside.  "That's not fittin' for a child to see," she smirked at the two women.

"Ah, Bette Mae," Jesse laughed as she broke off the kiss.  "She's seen worse."

Jennifer blushed, "Jesse Marie Branson!!"

"Ya best com' wit' me, angel," Bette Mae said to KC.  "Looks like ya mamas are fixin' to have a fight.  Course now," she whispered mischievously to the child, "they only fight so's they can make up."

"Come on, darlin'," Jesse scooped Jennifer up into her arms.  "Let's see what goodies Bette Mae has waiting for our daughter.  We can make up when we get back to the ranch."

"Jesse," Jennifer exclaimed as her blush deepened.

Being bored with the conversation up to this point, KC perked up upon hearing 'goodies' and asked, "cookie?"

The women laughed as they went inside the Slipper.

"I thought I heard your voices," a small woman with delicate features rose from an over-stuffed chair where she had been enjoying a book from the Silver Slipper's extensive library.

"Hello, mother," Jennifer embraced the woman once Jesse released her.

Mary Stancey Kinsington had accompanied her husband to Sweetwater to reclaim their daughter.  She had been surprised to find her daughter happier than she could ever remember and, unlike her husband, it hadn't taken long for her to appreciate the love Jesse and Jennifer shared.  When Martin Kinsington had been forced to leave Montana Territory or face criminal charges, Mary had decided to stay behind to build a relationship with Jennifer and her family.  Jesse had offered to make room for Mary at the ranch but she decided to stay in town.  She moved into a room at the Silver Slipper, the same room Jennifer had used when she first arrived in the small town. 

"Sit, daughter," Mary Kinsington pointed to a chair at the closest table.  "You should be resting that leg."

"I'm fine, mother," Jennifer assured her mother as she sat.  "Besides, with the mothering Jesse gives me, I really don't need any more."

"You can never have enough mothering," Mary smiled as she sat in the chair next to her daughter.

"Grmm," KC told Bette Mae as she pointed at her grandmother.

"Yep, angel," Bette Mae laughed.  "That's ya grandma.  Still havin' trouble gettin' ya littl' mouth around tha' big word, I see."

"You wouldn't think that was such a littl' mouth if you had to listen to her wail when she wakes up hungry," Jesse chuckled as she pulled a chair close to Jennifer.

Bette Mae placed KC in her grandmother's lap before sitting at the table.

"Grmm," KC smiled at the older woman.  "Cookie?" KC asked.

"Oh," Mary nervously said to the child that reminded her so much of Jennifer at the same age.  "I think there may be some in the kitchen."

Though she was determined to make amends to Jennifer and accept her and Jesse as they were, Mary was still having trouble adjusting to her granddaughter.  It wasn't so much that the baby wasn't Jennifer's by birth but more that KC was her first grandchild and she wasn't sure she was ready to be a grandmother.

"Oh, no you don't," Jesse shook her head at KC.  "You've had more than your share of cookies today."

KC sadly looked at her mother and poked out a quivering lower lip.  Her pout was so pitiful that all four women had a hard time keeping straight faces.

"You're mommy is right," Jennifer told her daughter.  "You can wait until we get home and have supper."

Jesse reached over and gently pushed KC's lip back into its normal position.  "Don't want you tripping on that when we leave," she teased the baby. 

KC playfully tried to nip at Jesse's finger but it was withdrawn too fast. 

"Ha, you missed," Jesse triumphed.

"Som' day my littl' angel is going to catch tha' there finger and than we'll be seein' wha' ya have to say," Bette Mae chuckled.

"Never," Jesse boasted.

"Right," Jennifer smirked as she used her cane to steady herself as she pushed up from the chair.  "Come on, speedy," she placed a hand on Jesse's shoulder, "let's get her home before she asks for something else these two would be happy to spoil her with."

Bette Mae protested, "I do not spoil tha' littl' angel.  I'm jus' tryin' to help her grow big and strong like her mommas.  Ya got ta admit, she is a might on the tiny size."

"Give her time, Bette Mae," Jesse said as she stood.  "She's not yet a year old.  She's got plenty of time to grow."

"I didn't think you knew how old she was," Mary said as Jesse took the baby from her.

"We don't know for sure," Jennifer told her mother.  "But, we figured she was around eight or nine months when we found her."

"Well, tha' would mean tha' she's goin' be a year right soon," Bette Mae said.  "Looks like maybe we should start plannin' a birthday party."

Jennifer looked at Jesse who shrugged, "don't see that it would hurt anything.  She should have a day she can celebrate."

"But, which day?" Jennifer asked.

"Guess you could pick any day you want," Mary told the women.  She was surprised to feel excitement over the prospect of a birthday party for her granddaughter.  Maybe she was finally getting used to being a grandmother.

"Guess we could," Jesse agreed.  "Tell you what, let us give it some thought and we'll let you know what we decide.  You can plan the party then."

"Don' you worry," Bette Mae gave KC a goodbye kiss, "we'll hav' the biggest party this town has ever seen."

"Oh, boy," Jennifer and Jesse groaned at the same time.

**********************

"Jesse," Jennifer was placing a sleeping KC into her crib, "what do you think we should do about KC's birthday?"  With thunder booming and lightening crashing overhead, it had taken extra time to get the baby to sleep.  But, she had finally given in and closed her tired eyes.

"Don't rightly know," Jesse added another pail of heated water to the tub she was preparing for Jennifer. 

"When is your birthday?" Jennifer asked as she began to undress.

"March 21st," Jesse tested the tub's water to be sure it wasn't too hot.  "Your's?"

"June 5th."

Jesse lifted the last pail of heated water from the fireplace and slowly poured the water into the tub as she thought about Jennifer's response.  Jennifer had arrived in Sweetwater around the first of June.

Jennifer turned at Jesse's silence, "sweetheart?"

"You never said anything," Jesse solemnly stirred the water in the tub.

Jennifer, naked from the waist up, walked to Jesse.  She wrapped her arms around her lover, "we were kind of busy at the time."  Her birthday had been the day after she broke Jesse out of jail to save her from a lynch mob.

"Still," Jesse sighed at Jennifer's touch.  "I could have got ya a present or something."

"Oh, silly," Jennifer turned Jesse in her arms and planted a kiss on the pouting lips.  "You gave me the best birthday present I could have ever hoped for."

"I did?" Jesse circled her arms around Jennifer and pulled their bodies closer.

"Yes, sweetheart," Jennifer nodded.  "You gave me you."

Thinking back on the events of that day, Jesse had to agree.  That was the day she had first expressed having feelings for Jennifer.  "Guess I did at that," she smiled.

"Yes, love," Jennifer smiled back.  "You certainly did."

"Still," Jesse kissed the end of Jennifer's nose, "you could have said something."

Jennifer considered how strange it was that she felt as if she had known Jesse forever and, yet, there was still much they didn't know about each other.

"Darlin', are you okay?" Jesse asked when she saw the look on Jennifer's face.  It was if she was a thousand miles away.

"Yes, I was just thinking," she sat on one of the chairs at the table they used for their meals and bent to remove her boots.

"Let me," Jesse quickly knelt at her wife's feet.  "What were you thinking?" she carefully pulled the boot free from Jennifer's injured leg. 

"How much we still don't know about each other."

"Like what?" Jesse pulled off the other boot then stood and held out her arms offering to help Jennifer off the chair.

"Our birthdays, for one," Jennifer accepted her wife's help.  She leaned on Jesse as her pants and undergarments were pulled down.  One by one, she lifted her legs so Jesse could finish removing the clothing.

"Well, you know that now.  As for the rest, guess we'll just find out as they come up," Jesse leaned back on her heels to enjoy the view before her.

"Water's getting cold, sweetheart," Jennifer blushed as Jesse's eyes moved, unhurried, up her naked body.

"I can always heat more," Jesse wiggled her eyebrows.

Jennifer reached down and pulled Jesse upright, "no, that would mean you'd have to go outside and fill those buckets at the well.  I prefer to keep you right here."

"Oh, you do," Jesse laughed as she helped Jennifer step into the tub.  After making sure Jennifer was comfortable, Jesse picked up the wash rag and soap.  "Now, about those things you'd be wanted to know about me.  I suppose you could make up a list," the rancher teased as she worked the soap into a lather on the wash rag.

"No," Jennifer laughed, "I wouldn't know where to start.  And, once I got going, I probably wouldn't know when to stop." 

"Now, ain't that the truth," Jesse chuckled, knowing her wife's penchant for long shopping lists.. 

Jennifer leaned back and closed her eyes, savoring the feel of Jesse's gentle hands washing her body.

"Ready for your hair?" 

Jennifer opened her eyes and slowly sat upright.  "Yes," she said as she ran a hand through her tresses.  "I can't seem to keep it clean, what with it being as hot as it has been."

Jesse soaped up her hands then began to gently cleanse the schoolteacher's hair.  It took a couple of soapings to get the day's sweat out of it.  But, that was alright with Jesse, she loved the feel of Jennifer's locks as they slid through her fingers.

After Jesse rinsed all the soap from her hair, Jennifer again leaned back against the tub's smooth surface.

"Join me."

Jesse was reaching for a towel when she heard Jennifer's request.  Her hand stopped in mid-air and she turned back to look at her lover, "you sure?"

"Yes, sweetheart," Jennifer smiled, "I've missed it."  She and Jesse had begun to bathe together soon after the schoolteacher had moved to the ranch.  But, since her accident, Jesse had refused in fear of hurting Jennifer.  "Please, my leg is much better."

Jesse hesitated.  She had missed their shared baths.  And, Jennifer's leg did seem to be as healed as it was probably going to get.  "Okay," she grinned and began to strip off her clothes.  Moments later she joined her wife in the tub.

"Ahhhhhhh," Jesse sighed as she leaned back to rest against Jennifer, "I've missed this, darlin'."

"Me, too," Jennifer picked up the soapy rag and started to wash the parts of Jesse she could reach.  When her hands came into contact with the rancher's breasts, she felt the nipples harden at her touch.  Dropping the wash rag, Jennifer took the firm globes in her hands and gently squeezed.  Her head bent to leave slow, loving kisses across the rancher's strong shoulders.

Jesse moaned as her body responded to Jennifer's loving touches, "don't think we should...." 

"Hush," Jennifer whispered.  The women had not made love since before Jennifer's kidnapping and both longed for the other.

Jesse shivered as one of Jennifer's hands began to trace irregular circles from her breasts down her stomach and continued lower.  Jesse's head fell back against Jennifer's shoulder, she turned to face Jennifer and moaned when her lover's lips claimed hers.  Jennifer's tongue pressed between parting lips and hungrily explored Jesse's waiting mouth.  As they kissed, Jennifer slipped her hand between Jesse's legs, her fingers sliding smoothly in the slickness they encountered.  Jesse spread her legs invitingly and was instantly rewarded when Jennifer's fingers gently pinched her clit sending electrically surges throughout her body.  While, Jennifer's tongue continued it's assault on Jesse's mouth, she slid her fingers down Jesse's inner lips and slipped them inside her lover.  Their entry aided by Jesse's growing wetness. 

Desperate for her lover's touch, that was all Jesse needed to climax.  Her hands clutched onto the tub's sides as her thighs clinched tight around Jennifer's hand, holding it in place.  Her hips arched up and her chest heaved as the weeks of pent up longing exploded within her.  She screamed into Jennifer's kiss.  Her body trembling with aftershocks even as she collapsed back down into the tub, causing water to slosh over it's sides.

Jennifer wrapped her arms protectively around Jesse and held her as she recovered.  In the throes of their passion, her leg had been wedged between the tub's side and Jesse's hip, but she didn't care.  All that mattered was the love she had been able to show her wife, something she had been wanting to do for weeks.

"God," Jesse's sighed, her body feeling boneless in Jennifer's embrace. 

"I love you," Jennifer left a trail of delicate kisses down the side of the rancher's face and neck.

"Whoa, darlin'," Jesse reached a shaky hand up and gently pushed Jennifer's mouth away.  "Seems that's how I ended up like this in the first place.  Give me some time."

"That good, huh?" Jennifer grinned.  She loved making love to Jesse.

"Uh, uh," Jesse agreed.

As Jesse's strength returned she realized she had Jennifer's bad leg pinned against the side of the tub.  "Oh, darlin'" she jerked away, "I'm so sorry.  Did I hurt you?"  Jesse sat up and ran her hands over Jennifer's leg searching for any apparent injuries.

"Stop," Jennifer pulled Jesse back against her.  "It's fine."

"Are you sure?" Jesse couldn't believe she had let that happen.  "I'm so sorry."

Jennifer cupped a hand against Jesse's face, her thumb tracing Jesse's lips to quiet them.  "It's okay."

"Really?"

"Really."

Jesse's tongue stretched out and pulled Jennifer's thumb inside her warm mouth.  As she sucked, her eyes locked on Jennifer's. 

"Oh, no," Jennifer read Jesse's thoughts.

"It's only fair," Jesse smirked as she released her wife's digit.  "You've had your fun.  Now, I should have mine."  A long arm reached up and cupped the back of Jennifer's neck.  Jesse pulled Jennifer to her and pressed their lips together.  It was several moments before they parted.

"Well," Jennifer breathed.  "You better finish your bath and take me to bed if that's what you want."

"Yes, darlin'," Jesse quickly searched around the bottom of the tub for the wash rag.  She wasn't one to keep her wife waiting.

*******************

"August 1st," Jennifer said.

"What about it?" Jesse asked not raising her head from where it rested between her wife's breasts.

After finishing her bath, Jesse had carried Jennifer to their bed and made love to her.  They now lay in the tangled sheets, the scent of their recent activity hanging in the air around them.  Jennifer was laying on her back with one arm bent up and tucked behind her head, her other hand played with Jesse's hair.  Her injured leg was propped up on a pillow, safely out of harm's way.  Jesse was laying half on and half off of Jennifer, with one arm draped across her wife's waist.  A soft breeze blew through the open window next to their bed, it felt good as it washed over their heated bodies.

"For KC's birthday," Jennifer answered.

Jesse thought for a moment, "why the 1st?"

"It's her first birthday.  Seems right."

"Oh," Jesse lifted her arm and lightly ran fingers up and down Jennifer's leg leaving behind goosebumps.

"That tickles," Jennifer giggled.  "So, what about it?" she asked.

"Sounds fine by me," Jesse's stilled fingers were replaced by lips softly kissing Jennifer's stomach.

"Jesse," Jennifer purred, "you start that and we'll never get to sleep tonight."

Jesse pushed herself up on her elbow and gazed into Jennifer's beautiful sapphire eyes.  An eyebrow slowly raised.  "Who said anything about sleeping?" Jesse asked, seductively, as her lips claimed Jennifer's.

*******************

Jennifer was still sound asleep when Jesse woke to the sound of KC moving about in her crib.  Knowing KC had been experimenting with trying to climb over the crib's sides, Jesse reluctantly left the comfort of the bed and warmth of Jennifer's body to see just what their daughter was up to.  KC, wet, hungry, and ready to start a new day, was very happy to see her mommy look into her crib.

"Up," KC raised her tiny arms in the air.

"Okay," Jesse lifted the child free of the crib, "but, you have to be real quiet.  Momma is still asleep," Jesse whispered.

"Otay," KC whispered back.  "Ugh," the baby said as she patted her wet bottom.

"Yeah, ugh," Jesse agreed as she carried KC to the dresser where they kept clean clothes. 

As Jesse dug in the dresser for a fresh diaper, KC peeked over her shoulder at her sleeping mother.

Jesse pulled a small shirt and pair of britches out of the drawer and added them to the diaper.  She carried the clothes and baby to the table in the kitchen end of the ranch house.  "This will have to do since we can't change you on the bed," she told KC as she laid her down on the wooden surface.

"Momma seep," KC whispered.

"That's right, sunshine," Jesse removed the soiled diaper and nightshirt.  "And, we want her to stay that way."

"Otay,"  The baby sat up as soon as Jesse finished dressing her.  "Mommy, dow," she commanded.

"Nope, you keep your little behind stuck to that table until I get rid of this," Jesse deposited the dirty garments in a wash basket.  She returned and washed her hands in a pail of water kept warming by the fire for that purpose.

Bright eyes, the same shade as Jennifer's, watched Jesse's every move.  "Mommy, cookie."

"No, not this morning.  Here," Jesse grabbed a handful of soft biscuits left over from the previous evening's supper and handed one to the hungry child.  "These will have to hold you until Momma cooks breakfast."

"Otay," KC said as she took a bite.

"Guess you're coming with me to do chores," Jesse lifted KC from the table.

"Baze cookie?," KC reached for another biscuit.

"Yep," Jesse sat the baby on the floor so she could get dressed.  "Blaze, Dusty and Boy will all be hungry."

Jesse dressed quickly not being sure how long she could count on KC's good behavior.  Scooping the child up, she grabbed her boots and stetson and left the now quiet room to her exhausted wife.

******************

"Morning, darlin'," Jesse greeted Jennifer as she entered the cabin.  She had to duck when she walked through the doorway so as not to knock KC off her shoulders.

"Momma, ook," KC beamed at her mother from under the stetson she wore.

"What have you two been up to?" Jennifer asked as she kissed Jesse.

"Was supposed to be the morning chores," Jesse handed a basket of eggs to Jennifer.  "'Till the squirt here decided to help collect eggs," Jesse reached up and carefully lifted the baby over her head.  "Sure got those hens riled up when she crawled through the henhouse.  Probably won't see another egg for days,"

"So, that's what woke me up," Jennifer laughed as she placed the basket on the table.  She took KC from Jesse and kissed her.  "So, you were chasing chickens," Jennifer plucked a chicken feather from KC's fine hair.

"Owie," KC pointed to a red mark on her arm.

"Hens got a peck or two in before I could round her up," Jesse retrieved her stetson and hung it on a peg next to Jennifer's.  "Sorry, we woke you, darlin'."

"It's okay," Jennifer said as she examined KC's arms, kissing each peck mark.  "Looks like you'll live," she placed KC on the cabin floor and playfully swatted her on the butt.  "Next time leave the chickens be."

"Otay," KC crawled to her toy box and toys started flying through the air.

Jesse shook her head as she surveyed the growing disarray on the cabin's floor.  "Sure glad we only have one of her," she chuckled.  "Mmm, something sure smells good," she changed the subject.

"Thanks," Jennifer pulled a pot from the fireplace they used for cooking.  "Get washed up, breakfast is just about ready."

"Come here, sunshine," Jesse called to KC.  "Time to wash up for breakfast."

"Yum," KC dropped her toys and crawled to Jesse.  "Up," she asked as she pulled herself upright on Jesse's pant leg.

Jesse reached down and lifted the baby up.  She stood KC on the hearth next to the wash bucket, the baby dropped her arms over the bucket's side and started splashing in the warm water.

"No, KC," Jennifer scolded.  "Wash, don't play."

"Otay, momma," KC's lower lip pushed out as she did as she was told.

"Best get that lip back in place, sunshine," Jesse whispered into the baby's ear.  "Otherwise, you might not get to eat whatever yummy breakfast momma has made for us."

The pout instantly disappeared, replaced by a smile.  "Keen, mommy," KC held her dripping arms out for Jesse to see.

"Good girl," Jesse winked at her daughter.  Using the towel Jennifer handed her, Jesse dried the water from KC's arms and hands before placing her in the highchair she had made for the child soon after they brought KC home.

Jennifer filled two plates with eggs, bacon, biscuits, and potatoes and placed them on the table.  Both mothers fed KC small bites of food as they ate and talked.

"I'd like to go into town again, today," Jennifer said as she wiped egg off KC's chin.

"I figured you'd want to stay here today.  Especially since it'll be hot again.  Storm last night didn't bring more than a few drops of rain."  Jesse filled a glass with milk.

"Moo," KC liked the white beverage as much as Jesse did.

"Here you go," Jesse held the glass for KC to drink.  "Small sips," she reminded the baby.

"I'd like to finish up at the schoolhouse.  I want to send my class plans to Bannack and have Miss Temple review them," Jennifer told Jesse.

Mary Temple was the schoolteacher in Bannack.  While in town, Jennifer had spent an enlightening afternoon talking with her.  Miss Temple had been teaching in a one-room school for a few years and provided Jennifer with many helpful ideas for instructing different grade levels at the same time. 

"And, I didn't get a chance to stop by Ed's.  I like to see how he's doing," Jennifer added. 

For the last several years, Ed Granger had operated the general store for his brother-in-law, Stuart Cassidy, who had bounced from one gold strike to another spending all his time at the poker tables.  Until one night in Bannack when his wife, Ed's sister, came to take him home.  As usual, Cassidy was drunk and losing.  Irritated at his wife for interrupting his game, Cassidy had shot her. 

"Alright," Jesse nodded.  "I'll hitch Boy up as soon as we finish here."

*********************

"Where's Jennifer?" Mary Kinsington asked when Jesse and KC entered the Silver Slipper.

"At the schoolhouse.  She wanted to finish up before it got too hot," Jesse told her mother-in-law.

"Grmm, owie," KC held her arm out for her grandmother to see.

"Lordy, I done known tha' was my littl' angel's voice," Bette Mae came through the kitchen door.

"Used to be me you listened for," Jesse joked with the older woman.

"That was befor' ya brought this littl' one home," Bette Mae kissed KC then pulled Jesse down and gave her a quick peck on the forehead.  "Happy?"

"Owie," KC repeated, only louder.  Obviously, she thought her chicken pecks deserved more attention than they were getting.

"Well, now.  What have we here," Bette Mae examined the arm but saw nothing more than a couple of small, red marks about the size of a pin head.  She looked at Jesse for an explanation.

Jesse told the women of KC's morning adventure in the chicken coop. 

"My, that must have been a sight," Mary laughed.

"Think them chickens will survive," Bette Mae wiped tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Don't know.  Most probably will, but a couple are doubtful," Jesse chuckled.

"OWIE!!"  KC was not at all amused that the women had ignored her injuries.

"Oh, my," Mary took the child from Jesse and placed her in her lap as she sat on a settee on the library side of the Slipper's dining room.  She made a big show of checking out each and every spot, nick, and blemish on the baby's arms, placing a kiss on top of each one.  "Better?" she asked KC.

"Otay," KC smiled at her grandmother.  "Cookie?"

Jesse groaned at her daughter's instant change of mood and plopped down next to Mary.  "How did you ever raise so many, Mary?  This one is more than I can keep up with."

"You're doing just fine," Mary assured Jesse.  "In fact, I think you and Jennifer are doing an excellent job of raising KC.  You both seem to be natural mothers."

"Lordy, Jesse," Bette Mae winked at Mary, "you's doin' such a good job, I'm thinkin' ya should have two or three more."  The pillow thrown at her bounced harmlessly off the door Bette Mae disappeared behind to the safety of the kitchen, her squeals of laughter echoing back into the dining room.

"Don't even suggest that to Jennifer," Jesse warned Mary.  "She'd have a dozen or two, if it was possible."

Turning serious, Mary asked, "you didn't want children, Jesse."

"Never gave it much thought," Jesse said as KC crawled into her lap and curled up to take a nap.  "Then, we found KC and, well, she just kinda grew on me."  Jesse absently caressed the sleepy baby in her arms.

"She loves you very much," Mary said softly.  "Would you consider having more?" Mary continued.

Jesse thoughtfully watched the baby a few moments.  "I don't know," Jesse answered, honestly.  "But," she smiled, "if Jennifer wanted to, I couldn't say no."

"Jennifer is lucky to have you, Jesse."

"Nah," Jesse looked up from her sleeping daughter.  "I'm the lucky one.  Now, if you'll excuse us, I'll go put KC down in the office."

"Of course," Mary wondered what it would feel like to be loved as much as Jesse and Jennifer loved each other.  'Heaven knows,' she thought, 'such love is precious and so rare.'  She definitely didn't have it with her husband.  In fact, she wondered, exactly what she did feel for him.  To be honest, not much at the moment. 

As Jesse rose, careful not to wake KC, Mary asked, "will you be stopping by here before you return to the ranch this evening.  It seems like I've had so little time with Jennifer."

Jesse considered the question.  She and Jennifer had fully expected Mary to live at the ranch with them but, instead, she had chosen to stay in town.  By doing so, she had limited the time Jennifer could spend with her.  Knowing that Jennifer was just as anxious to find time to spend with Mary, Jesse said, "why don't we plan to eat here tonight."

"That would be nice," Mary smiled.  "Thank you."

Jesse nodded then walked to her office, KC sleeping contently in her arms..

********************

Jesse finished reading the newspaper about the same time KC started stirring from her nap.  Spending less time in town, she had little time to read the Gazette, so Bette Mae stacked the weekly paper on the desk until Jesse could spare a few moments.

"Good timing, sunshine," Jesse said as she folded the paper she had been reading.  "It's time to go get your momma."

KC was laying on the couch in Jesse's office.  As sleep drifted away, she stretched her legs and rubbed her eyes.  Then she looked around for her mother, "mommy."

"Right here," Jesse said as she stood from the chair she had occupied for the last two hours.  "Let's get your britches changed and go get momma."

"Otay," KC sat up, not quite fully awake.  "Moo?"

"I suspect Bette Mae will have some nice fresh milk in the kitchen," Jesse laid the baby back down so she could change her.

A knock on the office door was quickly followed by Bette Mae entering the room.  She carried a tray holding a pitcher of milk, two glasses, and a plate of cookies.

"Thought she'd be wakin' 'bout now," Bette Mae set the tray on Jesse's desk then stood nervously as if waiting for something.

"Expect me to throw another pillow at you?" Jesse smirked at the woman.

"Wouldn' put it past you," she relaxed upon hearing her earlier words hadn't upset Jesse.  "Ya know you've done a right proper job with KC," she said as she filled a glass with milk.

"Thanks, Bette Mae.  That means a lot to me," Jesse sincerely told the woman who had become more than just a friend to her.

"Moo," KC asked again.

"Want some milk, young 'un?"

"I'd like a glass, too," Jesse said as she reached for a cookie.

"I was talkin' to ya," Bette Mae squealed as Jesse shook her head in bemusement.

*********************

Jesse easily balanced KC in one arm as she helped Jennifer cross Sweetwater's only street.  Earlier that morning, Jennifer had asked Jesse to leave the buckboard at the Slipper when she and KC came to the schoolhouse.  She wanted to walk to the general store and then back to the Slipper.  Since the town was so small, Jesse saw no harm in letting Jennifer test her leg. 

Jennifer climbed onto the boardwalk in front of the general store, Jesse keeping close watch in case Jennifer's leg gave her problems.  Jennifer smiled as Ed came out of the store's open front door.

"Afternoon, Ed," Jennifer warmly greeted the man who, since her arrival in Sweetwater, had become the father she had always wanted. 

"Jennifer, how are you?" Ed quickly covered the few steps separating them and wrapped Jennifer up in a bear hug. 

"I'm good," Jennifer said when Ed relaxed his hold.

"Jesse, good to see you," Ed greeted the rancher.  "And, little KC.  My, don't you look like just your momma."

"That she does, Ed," Jesse agreed.  It was remarkable the similarities between Jennifer and her adopted daughter.  Both had ginger brown hair and bright sapphire blue eyes.  Jesse even swore that KC had Jennifer's smile.

"Come on, inside.  It's a bit cooler.  Not much, but a bit," Ed guided the women inside the store.  "Here you go, Jennifer," he pulled a chair out from behind the counter.

"Thanks, Ed," Jennifer gratefully sat.  The walk hadn't been long but it still felt good to get off her leg.

Jesse placed KC on the floor at Jennifer's feet.  "You stay put, sunshine," she handed KC her toy horse.  Then, the rancher pulled a barrel of dried beans over next to Jennifer's chair and promptly sat on it.

"You know, Jesse," Ed tilted an empty wood crate onto it's side and joined the women.  "It'll be hell to pay to move that barrel back."

"I know," Jesse smirked.  Ed was a big man, his solid muscular body toned from years of hard work.  Yet, Jesse had always found pleasure in matching her strength against his.  "I'll help you put it back," Jesse teased.

"Good thing I like Jennifer so much," Ed told the rancher.  "Otherwise, I just might have to do something about your sense of humor."

"Ha," Jesse laughed.  "You use to threaten me with that before Jennifer came to Sweetwater."

"That I did," Ed laughed with Jesse.

"Be good," Jennifer slapped Jesse on the leg.

"Nothin' but, darlin'," Jesse bent over and kissed the top of Jennifer's head.

"So," Jennifer said as she good-naturedly pushed Jesse away, "how are you doing, Ed?"

"I'm fine, Jennifer," Ed answered, knowing that Jennifer was asking about his sister.  "I just wish she had picked better for a husband.  Shame she didn't get more out of life."

Sensing that the merchant needed to get some thoughts out, the women remained silent. 

"You would have like her, always full of life she was," Ed continued.  "When we was kids, I don't think I ever saw her sad.  But, after she married that Cassidy fella, that was her whole life."  He seemed to remember something, "except for those few weeks we spent in Fort Benton.  Funny, now that I think about it.  She seemed happy there.  Don't rightly know why considerin' that good for nothing spent all of his time at the gambling tables.  Lost most of their money there.  Barely had enough to pay to get them to Sweetwater."

Jennifer looked at Jesse and a silent acknowledgement passed between them.  It was in Fort Benton that Bette Mae had met and fallen in love with Ed's sister.  A love that Bette Mae had never confessed to anyone except Jesse.  It appeared that Bette Mae may not have been the only one to have feelings for the other.

"But, she's happy now," Ed reached over and patted Jennifer's good leg.  "I just know it."

Jennifer took the big hand in her own and held it, "I know it, too,"

"You okay here," Jesse asked.  "I mean, Cassidy didn't leave any debt on this place, did he?"

"Nah," Ed shyly withdrew his hand.  Jennifer had become the daughter he never had but he was still self-conscious about their bond.  "Store's done pretty well in the last couple of years.  Well enough to clear his debts with the freight companies and put some money away in a Bozeman bank."  Ed laughed as he sadly shook his head, "always felt bad about keeping that a secret from sis but I was afraid he'd just gamble it away if he'd known about it."

"You did the right thing, Ed," Jennifer assured him.  "She would have agreed with you keeping it secret."

"Guess, now that she's not needin' it, maybe I can use it now to expand the store like I've been thinking to," Ed looked around at the crowded shelves and aisles surrounding them.  Now, with his sister dead and her husband hanged, Ed owned the store outright and could make changes to it..

"That's a great idea," Jennifer exclaimed.  "What do you have planned?"

"Oh," Ed scratched his head, "thought I'd build on out back.  Make a place for the freight wagons to unload without pilin' it out front and blocking the boardwalk.  I could put a small room upstairs for sleepin' and enlarge the back room for keeping the freight that's waitin' for the ranchers to pick up.  Would give me a place to move some of this stuff," his arm swept around the room at the piles of crates and boxes stacked everywhere.

"Sounds like a good idea, Ed," Jesse nodded.  "Let me know if I can help.  It's sure been a long time since anything new was built in town."

"Schoolhouse was the last," Ed supplied.

"I think it would be nice for Sweetwater to start growing," Jennifer suggested. 

"Don't know, darlin'," Jesse drawled.  "I kinda like Sweetwater just the way it is."

"Can't say that I'd be unhappy to see a few more people around," Ed said.  "And, it would mean more business for the Slipper, Jesse,"

"Well, I don't know," Jesse shook her head. 

"Jesse," Jennifer interrupted, "if the Slipper was making more money, we could afford to do more out at the ranch.  Like buy that breeding bull you want."  The money Jesse had been saving for the bull had been used to pay the doctor in Bozeman who had treated Jennifer after the cougar attack.

"I guess," Jesse was determined not to give in too easily.  "Bad things happen when stuff starts to grow."

"KC," Jennifer looked to make sure the baby was okay.  "KC, where are you?"

"Uh, oh," Jesse muttered as she began to search the store for her daughter.

Ed helped Jennifer up and then the two joined in the search.

"KC," Jesse called.  "Where are you, sunshine?"

"Mommy," a small voice came from the rear of the store. 

All three adults converged in the direction of the voice.

"Damn," Ed stood, hands on his hips. 

"Momma, ook," KC smiled innocently.

"Yes, I see, sweetie," Jennifer said, her mouth beginning to twitch.

"Like I said, bad things happen when stuff starts to grow," Jesse stared at KC.

The baby was covered from head to toe in flour and was sitting atop a pile of the feathery light powder.  Next to her, a gallon keg of pickles lay on it's side, it's contents strewn about and juice leaking down into cracks in the floor.  KC was mixing pickle juice with the flour, then patting the mixture into small, flattened cookie shaped mounds she stacked around her.

KC picked up one of the gooey concoctions of flour and pickle juice and offered it to Jesse, "cookie."

"Guess you'll be putting more than that bean barrel back," Ed slapped Jesse on the back before doubling over in laughter.  Jennifer could no longer hold back and joined Ed, the two guffawing loudly.

*******************

"No more cooking lessons with Bette Mae," a very perturbed Jesse sputtered as she poured water over her head to rinse the soap from her hair.

"Yes, dear," Jennifer tried not to laugh but was having a hard time of it. 

After cleaning up KC's impromptu bakery and by the time they got the baby back to the Slipper, Jesse was covered in the same white goop that her daughter was.  Bette Mae had taken one look at the pair and started laughing so hard she had been unable to do anything but point to the bathing room.  Both Jesse and KC were stripped and placed in the tub to scrub themselves clean.  KC thought the whole affair was a funny game, after all everyone was laughing.  Everyone, that is, except her mommy who stewing at being the butt of the laughter.

"Oh, sweetheart," Jennifer tried again to pacify Jesse.  "She was only playing."

Jesse glared at her.

"Mommy," KC was sitting in Jesse's lap playing with a wash rag. 

When Jesse looked at her daughter, she was greeted by a loving smile and twinkling eyes.  But, Jesse was determined to stay upset.

Getting no response from her mother, KC pulled herself upright using handholds that generally were reserved for the exclusive use of Jennifer. 

"Mommy," KC tried again as she was now eyeball to eyeball with Jesse.  "Wuv you."

Jesse's heart melted.  She wrapped her arms around the baby and hugged her close, "I love you, too, sunshine."

Jennifer smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek as she watched the two people who were her life.

"Here," Jesse handed the baby to Jennifer.  "Let mommy get you dressed."

As Jennifer accepted the baby, she took hold of Jesse's hand and held it.  "I love you, too."

Jesse smiled.  "Wonder if Bette Mae found me any clothes."  Jesse used to keep clothes in her office during the days when it wasn't unusual for her to spend a night or two in town.  But, since Jennifer had moved to the ranch, Jesse hadn't had the need and had removed all her personal belongings from the Slipper.

A knock on the bathing room door was her answer. 

"Well, looky there," Bette Mae cried out cheerfully as she entered.  A little too cheerfully Jesse thought.  "I do believe ya look a sight better.  Ya almost scared me to death walkin' in white as a ghost before.  I done thought it was time ta meet my maker, I did," Bette Mae chuckled.  "Why, when I told Billie and Ruthie wha' you done walked in lookin' like, I thought poor Ruthie would....."

Jesse didn't hear the rest, as she slipped under the surface of the bath water.

******************

"Evening, Mary," Jesse joined Jennifer and her mother at a table in the Slipper's dining room.  She wore the clothes that Bette Mae had managed to find, a pair of denim jeans a size too big and a well-worn denim shirt a size too small.  At least, she had been able to put her own boots back on.

"Evening, Jesse," Mary smiled at the rancher.  "Heard you had quite the afternoon," Mary commented as Ruthie, a young woman who worked for the Slipper, set plates of food in front of the women.

"Bet the whole town has heard by now," Jesse grumbled as she filled a fork with the whipped potatoes on her plate.

"Oh, I doubt everyone knows," Jennifer handed a bite of cooked carrot to KC who hungrily shoved it into her mouth.  "I'm sure only the people in town have heard.  It'll take a few days to reach the ranches."

"Not to mention the mining camps," Bette Mae added as she placed a pitcher of cold milk on their table before hurrying back to the kitchen.

"Funny," Jesse jammed her elbow on the table and plopped her chin into her hand.  "It'll probably be weeks before anything happens to give folks something else to talk about," she said then reconsidered.  She looked at KC, happily munching on a biscuit covered with a small amount of butter and honey.  It wasn't long before the baby had butter and honey smeared all over her face with biscuit crumbs sticking to the mess. 

Jesse brightened, "then again, with you and KC around, you just never knew what might happen." 

"Bad, Jesse," Jennifer admonished. 

"Now, darlin'," Jesse sat up straight, "you have to admit. since you hit town, it has been plenty excitin' around here."

"Ain't that ta truth," Bette Mae chirped in as she walked by carrying a pot of coffee.

"That's not fair," Jennifer cried. 

"It's okay, darlin'," Jesse smiled.  "I wouldn't have had it any other way."

"Good thing," Jennifer smiled back.

Mary had watched the playful argument with interest.  "A lot has happened to you, Jennifer."

"Yes, mother, it has," Jennifer said, somewhat suspiciously. 

"And, yet, you are happy, aren't you?" Mary asked, even though she was sure she already knew the answer..

"Yes, mother.  I am very happy," she smiled at Jesse who was listening to the conversation with interest.

"I'm happy for you," Mary reached over and took Jennifer's hand into her own.  "I truly am."

"Thank you, mother."

"I just wish it would be a little less exciting in the future," Mary added.

"Here, here," Jesse raised a glass of milk and nodded.

"Mooooooooooo," KC loudly let her feelings be known.

*****************

The women had finished their meal and moved from the dining room to Jesse's office where they could enjoy a quiet conversation.  Jesse and Jennifer were sitting on the couch, Jesse's arm draped over Jennifer's shoulders.  Mary sat in the armchair with KC sleeping in her lap.

"Mother, why won't you come live at the ranch?  We'd have more time together," it had hurt Jennifer when Mary had decided to stay in town.

"It wouldn't be right, all of us living in that small house."  The one-room log cabin that served as the ranch house was not much bigger that the dining area of the Silver Slipper.

"I don't understand," Jennifer said.

"You and Jesse would have no privacy, dear.  To do, well," her mother's face reddened. 

Jennifer looked at her mother quizzically.

"I think she means that she'd be uncomfortable with us....," Jesse tried to explain.  "Well, you know," she tried again.

Jennifer looked from Jesse to her mother and back.  Slowly, she began to understand what her mother was worried about.

"Oh," she blushed.  "I guess that would be a problem."

The women fell silent, thankful that no one had had to actually speak the words.

"You know," Jesse started slowly.  "We've got that old cabin that isn't used for anything.  Fact is, I think the man owned the ranch used it for livin' in before he built the ranch house.  We could clean it up and make it livable.  It would give you your own place.  That is, if you'd like."

"That's a wonderful idea, Jesse," Jennifer said, excited at the prospect of having her mother closer. "It wouldn't take much to fix it up.  A good sweeping out, some curtains, and such."

"Needs a new roof," Jesse added.

"I don't know," Mary wavered.  "Seems like a lot of work."

"Nah," Jesse told her.  "Couple days and it'll be all shiny and new."

"Please, mother," Jennifer pleaded.  "I really would like to have you at the ranch.  So, would KC."

"What about you, Jesse," Mary asked. 

Jesse thought for a moment, she enjoyed having the ranch as a place for just her family.  It would be different having someone else living there.  She looked at Jennifer who was watching her expectantly.  'Well, Mary is family now, isn't she', she thought. 

"Well, the ranch is for my family," Jesse said.  "And," she beamed, "you're family.  Of course, I'd like you to come and stay there.  For as long as you'd like," she added as Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Jesse," Mary said, sincerely.  "But, only if you let me help fix it up."

"Agreed," Jennifer said before anyone could change their mind.

Jennifer suggested, "sweetheart, why don't we stay upstairs tonight."  It was late and by the time they rode back to the ranch, it would be well after midnight.  "Then, mother can ride with us out to the ranch tomorrow.  We can fix up a bed for her at the house until the cabin is ready."

"Okay," Jesse nodded.  "I'll ask Bette Mae which room we can use tonight.  Be right back," she rose from the couch.

"Better bring some milk for KC, she'll be hungry before too long," Jennifer reminded Jesse.

"I don't have to stay at the ranch, dear," Mary said after Jesse had left the room.  "I can stay here until the cabin is ready."

"No, mother," Jennifer protested.  "It will only take a few days to get your place ready and I'm tired of not seeing you except for a few minutes at a time."

"Alright, if you're sure," Mary agreed.

"I am.  We'll go by Ed's before we leave town tomorrow and get everything we need to fix the place up proper for you.

"Momma," KC whimpered as she started to wake.

"I better go find, Jesse," Jennifer stood.  "This one will be crying for her mommy and her moo before long," she took the half-asleep baby from her mother.  "We'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, dear," Mary kissed Jennifer on the cheek.  "Say goodnight to Jesse for me."

"I will.  Goodnight, mother."

******************

Jesse loaded Mary's few belongings into the back of the buckboard while she was still inside saying her goodbyes to Bette Mae and the other women who worked at the Silver Slipper.  Jennifer, holding KC, stood on the Slipper's porch, enjoying what coolness they was in the morning's shadows.  There had been another rainless thunder bumper the night before and the day was well on it's way to being another scorcher.

A horse and rider passed on the road, Jennifer watched as the rider stopped in front of the general store and dismounted.  The rider wore buckskin pants and vest without any shirt, his dark skin exposed to the sun's harsh rays.  Long black hair, decorated with eagle feathers and beads, hung in two braids down his back.  Instead of boots, his feet were wrapped in a covering that looked more like a pair of slippers than shoes. 

"Sweetheart," Jennifer called softly to Jesse, "isn't that an Indian?"  She had read many stories about the native people but this was the first time she had actually seen one.

Jesse turned to look down the street, the man was pulling a bundle of furs off the back of his horse.

"Yep," Jesse acknowledged.

Ed came out of the store.  Seeing the Indian, he walked to the edge of the boardwalk and and began making hand gestures at the man.  The Indian returned the gestures with some of his own.  After a few minutes, Ed accepted the bundle of furs, taking them inside his store.  He reappeared with what appeared to be a sack of flour and some smaller sacks that he handed to the man.  The Indian tied the sacks together then threw them over the neck of his horse before remounting.  He rode back toward the Slipper.

As he passed, the Indian glanced in Jesse's direction.  Jennifer was surprised to see her nod in recognition at the man before he disappeared around the side of the Slipper and out of town. 

But, how would Jesse know a........

"Oh, my, is it safe?" Mary gasped, having caught a glimpse of the passing native.

"Yep," Jesse climbed the Slipper's steps to help Jennifer down them.  "He's a friend."

Jennifer looked at Jesse quizzically, "but...."

"We'll talk later," Jesse told her.  "Come on, let's get to Ed's and get that taken care of.  I want to get back to the ranch before noon.  The horses need tending to," she took Jennifer's arm and guided her to the stairway. 

Jennifer knew there wasn't going to be any more said about the stranger until later.  So, she let the matter drop, confident that Jesse would tell her about the man at a future time.

"Come on, mother," Jennifer called back to Mary who was now discussing the rider with Bette Mae.

"Ya go on, now," Bette Mae assured the woman.  "Jesse knows what she's doin'.  She'll take right good care of ya.  There's nothin' ta be concerned over."

Unconvinced, Mary reluctantly join Jesse and Jennifer at the buckboard.

*********************

Upon arriving at the store, Ed had directed the women to the front end of the store's long counter.  There a space approximately five feet square had been fenced off with a length of chicken wire.  Every few inches the wire was tacked to the wood floor.  Inside the enclosure a blanket had been spread out and a few toys were scattered about the blanket.

"And, just what is that supposed to be?" Jesse asked.

"That," Ed said proudly, "is a holding pen for that there young 'un of yours."

"Ummmm," Jesse considered the prospects of the flimsy wire holding KC for long, "well, let's give it a try."  Jesse dropped KC over the wire fence and set her down on the blanket.

KC looked suspiciously at her surroundings.  "Up," she demanded.

"No, sweetie," Jennifer told the baby.  "You stay there, and be good, while momma shops."

KC pouted, her lip jutting out.

Jesse reached down and ruffled KC's silky hair, "we won't be long, sunshine.  Then, we'll go home and feed Dusty and Blaze."

"Otay," KC picked up one of the conveniently placed toys and began to chew on it.

With the baby settled and, hopefully, contained, Jennifer looked around the store, deciding on the best approach for finding the items on the list she had written out during breakfast.  Finally, with a plan of action decided on, she set off.

Ed returned to a stool behind the counter and watched Jennifer go through the store's inventory with the precision of a military quartermaster.  Every time her arms filled with items, she would take them to the amused storekeeper so he could make a record of them in his ledger.  Once they were recorded, Jesse was ordered to pack them in boxes and carry them out to the wagon.  Mary chose to sit quietly next to KC's 'holding pen' and watch her daughter's foraging. 

"Anything else, darlin'," Jesse asked as she returned after placing the last box into the back of the buckboard and making sure it was secure.

"Let's see," Jennifer reviewed her list.  "Nope," she said crumbling the paper up and tossing it into a small basket Ed kept behind the counter for rubbish.  "That's all of it.  Guess you can go ahead and pay Ed."

"Thanks," Jesse smirked.  "Glad I'm good for something."

"Me, too," Jennifer gave Jesse a pat on the rear end, her hand lingering for a moment.

"Ooo," Jesse purred.  "Someone woke up in a happy mood this morning."

"Sweetheart, I always wake up happy when I wake up next to you."

"If you two love birds are done," Ed chuckled, "I do have other customers waiting."

"Where?  In Bozeman," Jesse asked as she looked around the store, empty except for her family.

"Don't be smart," Ed told the rancher.  "Okay, with what you got today.  Plus," he paused to clear his voice and loudly announce, "one bag of flour and one gallon of pickles."

"Just tell me the total, Ed," Jesse growled.

"Twenty Seven Dollars and thirteen cents."  He winked at Mary, "sure you're ready to be around this grouchy one all day?"

Jesse slapped three ten dollar bills on the counter, "put the rest on the Slipper's account.  And," she glared at Ed but there was a twinkle in her eyes, "keep your opinions to yourself."

Ed took the money and made a notation in his ledger.  Then, he leaned across the counter and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, "let's just see how long it is before you're making excuses to come to town to get away from all the women folk you have out at the ranch, now."

Jesse leaned on the counter and whispered just as loud, "I'm one of those women folk."

"Yeah," Ed whispered back.  "But, you don't count."

"Well, you're probably right on that one," Jesse started to laugh and slapped Ed on the shoulder.  "Come on, ladies," she bowed to Jennifer and Mary.  "Your chariot awaits."

"Oh, my," Mary swooned, "how gallant."

"My knight in shining armor," Jennifer said as she passed Jesse on her way out the door.  "Don't forget the baby."

"I don't know, Ed," Jesse said as she collected KC from the 'holding pen'.  "I think I may be in way over my head."

"Well, you're outnumbered.  That's for sure," Ed laughed.  "But, I think you'll do just fine, Jesse.  Besides, you know where to find me if you need a break."

"Thanks.  I think."

"Mommy?" KC asked as Jesse walked to the door.

"Yes, sunshine."

"Toy."

"Don't you think you have enough of those at home?" Jesse asked the baby.

"No."

"Yep, Jesse," Ed walked over and handed KC a small but brightly painted bird, "you are definitely outnumbered."

"Don't suppose this is on the house?" Jesse asked.

"Cheep, cheep," KC said as she grabbed the toy.

Ed started to snigger and, without another word, Jesse left to join Jennifer and Mary outside. 

"Ready, darlin'?" Jesse asked, after settling on the seat next to Jennifer. 

"Yes, sweetheart," Jennifer slipped her arm around Jesse's.  "Let's go home."

Jesse released the buckboard's brake and, with a slap of the reins, Boy started down the street in the direction of the Silver Slipper and the ranch beyond.

"Momma," KC held her new toy up for Jennifer to see.  "Cheep, cheep."

Jennifer examined the bird, "it's very pretty, sweetie," Jennifer told the baby as she laid her head on Jesse's shoulder.

**********************

PART 2

Mayor Miles Perkins strode into the general store like he owned the place.  "Ed, I need to place an order," he informed the storekeeper who was currently engaged with another customer.

"Be with you in a minute, Miles," Ed didn't like the arrogant mayor but he was a good customer and paid his bills on time.  "That should take care of your order, Ruthie.  Tell Bette Mae, I'll have it sent over as soon as I'm done unpacking this morning's freight delivery."

"Thank you, Mr. Granger."

"Are you done yet," Mayor Perkins barked, frustrated with having to wait.  Mayor Miles Perkins was a middle-age, balding man who seemed to be wider than he was tall.  He wore a bushy mustache that fluttered when he spoke and seemed to perpetually be in need of a good trimming.  And, he always thought that his business should take priority over anything and anyone else.  An attitude that seemed to have gotten more forceful in the last few weeks.

"I'll thank you not to use that tone with Ruth," Billie Monroe stepped in from the boardwalk.  He had seen Ruthie walk past the jail on her way to the general store and had planned to wait for her outside.  But, hearing the way Mayor Perkins was talking, he decided to enter the store.  He was the town's sheriff and, more significantly at the moment, he was courting the shy girl that worked at the Silver Slipper.

"I have important business," Mayor Perkins explained.

"You can wait your turn like everyone else," Ed told the mayor.  "Besides, what can be so important, your boys eat through the pantry again?"  It was well known that the mayor's sons could put away more food than half the ranch hands in the valley.  It was a wonder the man could afford the cost of feeding them.

"No," Perkins responded, indignantly.  "I have received a charter from the territorial governor for a  bank in Sweetwater," he announced.  "I need to place an order for building materials."

"A bank?" Billie asked, walking to stand next to Ruthie by the store's counter.  "How'd you get that?"  It wasn't easy to be granted a bank charter, especially for a small town like Sweetwater.

"Doesn't matter," the mayor slapped a piece of paper down on the counter.  "This is a list of the materials that I will need.  My architect drew it up, so follow it exactly when you send in the order."

"Arc-e-tech, uh," Ed repeated as he picked up the sheet and began to read.  "Let's see.  Lumber shouldn't be a problem, but you'll probably have to wait a few weeks since I sent in an order a few days ago.  Bricks and sandstone blocks," he commented on the next items, "goin' be a mighty fancy building, Miles.  You sure Sweetwater needs somethin' like that?"

"We need a bank," Perkins stated, matter-of-factly.

"Never said we didn'," Ed was just as aware as the mayor that it was more than a nuisance to have to travel to Bozeman for the closest bank.  Especially during the winter months.  "Jus' wonder if we need such a fancy one."

Ignoring the storekeepers comments, he asked, "can you get those supplies?"

"Yes," Ed pulled a form from under the counter.  "Will take several weeks for the bricks.  Might be several months on the sandstone."

"I need it sooner than that," Perkins demanded.

"I can put a rush on it," Ed offered, "but, probably won't make much difference.  Don' even know if my suppliers in Bozeman can handle an order this big.  And, they're goin' want a deposit."

"Send the order, Ed.  Let me know if they can handle it.  If they can't, I'll send to Denver.  Already, had to order the safe through there.  It's coming from a company in New York City, best safe makers in the country," the mayor boasted.  "If they need a deposit, I'll take care of it."  The mayor turned and marched out of the store.

"Damn," Billie blew out a breath.  "Wonder how he got the governor to give him a charter?"

"I wonder where he's getting the money," Ed started transferring the information on the mayor's paper to the order form.  "This stuff ain't cheap."

"Good question, Ed," the sheriff took a glance at the list of materials.  "Maybe, I should do a little checking into our mayor's activities.  Seems to me, I heard he took a trip to Denver not too long ago."

"Yep, when we was in Bozeman with Jesse and Jennifer."

"Maybe I'll stop and see if Thaddeus knows anything," turning to the young woman who was standing patiently beside him, "can I walk you back to the Slipper, Ruth?"

"I'd like that," Ruth smiled shyly.

"Shall we?" Billie held out his arm and Ruth timidly took it.

As the couple left the store, Ed smiled to himself.  "Almost as cute as Jesse and Jennifer," he mumbled.

*****************

"I can't help you, Billie," Thaddeus Newby owned and operated the Gazette, the valley's only newspaper.  "I heard Miles had gone to Denver but, if he told anyone why, no one's talking.  Why are you asking?"

"He was in Ed's earlier ordering building materials for a bank," the sheriff had stopped at the newspaper office after walking Ruth back to the Slipper.  "Seems he got a charter from the territorial governor." 

"For here, in Sweetwater?" Thaddeus questioned.

"Yep," Billie nodded,  "Wondering how he was able to do that, is all."

"You think his trip to Denver has something to do with it?"

"Could be," Billie took off his hat and scratched his head.  "Don't see that he would have that kind of influence on his own.  Not to mention the money."

"Well," Thaddeus thought for a moment.  "Been rumors of some eastern financiers taking an interest in the valley, seems one or two of the mines are starting to show some good color.  Miles would be just the man they'd talk to if they were thinking of doing anything around here." Thaddeus added. 

"Guess the mayor would be the one they'd go to first," Billie agreed.

"I've been planning to take a ride out to some of the larger mining camps in a day or so," Thaddeus told the sheriff.  "See if there's any happenings that would interest the Gazette.  Let me do some checking, Billie, I'll see if I can come up with anything."

"Alright," Billie said before walking next door to the jail and his office.

*********************

Jesse was standing on top of a ladder leaned up against the back wall of the small cabin that was soon to become the home of her mother-in-law.  She was nailing down the last row of shingles that would complete the roof repair.  Jennifer came around the corner of the small building and stood at the bottom of the ladder.

"Sweetheart," Jennifer held her hand up in front of her face to shield her eyes against the bright sun as she looked up to see Jesse.  "Mother just made some lemonade.  Why don't you come down and rest for a while."

Jesse figured she had less than a dozen shingles left to nail down.  Having been working on the roof since breakfast, she was anxious to get the job done and get out of the oppressive afternoon heat.  "Give me a few more minutes and I'll be finished," she told Jennifer without stopping her work.

"Alright," Jennifer patted Jesse's leg before walking back around the small building. 

"Is she coming?" Mary asked when Jennifer re-entered the cabin.

"She'll be here in a minute.  She wants to finish," Jennifer sat on the edge of the room's bed.

KC, who had been playing on the floor with her toy horse, quickly crawled to Jennifer and began to pull herself upright on her momma's leg, "up."  Jennifer lifted the baby into her lap.

"Can't say I'll miss the noise," Mary handed Jennifer a glass of the cold beverage she had recently mixed.

"Mommy," KC pointed to the roof and held her hands over her ears.

"Yes, sweetie," Jennifer smiled, "mommy is making a lot of noise.  But, she's almost done."  As she listened to the sound of Jesse's hammering, Jennifer glanced around the cabin, which was no more than ten by twenty feet.

There was only one entry into the cabin, a door placed slightly off center in the front wall.  Each of the walls held a window making the building's interior surprising bright, especially after the window glass had received a good scrubbing.   Standing against the back wall was a wood stove that would be used for both heating and cooking.  The rough plank floor had been covered by rugs to help control dust.

The day before, Jennifer and Mary had worked on fixing up the inside while Jesse worked on the outside of the cabin.  The women had spent the day emptying the cabin of it's meager furnishings and cleaning it of years of cobwebs and dirt.  Jesse had re-hung the door and replaced missing chinking between the logs to keep out the nastier weather.  She repaired a broken window and constructed a new frame for it, the old one having rotted through.  And, the small porch had needed some attention.

Since this morning, while Jesse worked to replace the section of leaky roof, Jennifer and her mother had decorated the cabin's single room.  New curtains had been hung in the windows and a table and chair moved in.  The bedsprings had been thoroughly cleaned and now held a new mattress and bed coverings.  A few dishes and some food staples had been neatly stacked on a shelf near the stove.  Although, Mary would take her meals with them, Jennifer had wanted her to have the items for any times she might want to eat in the cabin.

Jennifer surveyed their work.  The bed occupied one end of the cabin and the table and chair had been placed in the front corner at the other end, the arrangement offered anyone sitting there a view out two windows.  The furnishings were sparse and Jennifer wondered if her mother, who had been surrounded by much more luxurious possessions back east, would be happy in the small cabin.

"Mother," Jennifer hesitated. 

"Yes, dear," Mary was sitting at the table, enjoying the view of the ranch yard and forest beyond.

"Are you going to be happy here," Jennifer asked.  "I mean, this isn't exactly how you're used to living."

Mary turned and looked at her daughter.  KC had crawled off Jennifer's lap and was happily rolling around on the soft bed, giggling as she entertained herself.  Mary rose from the chair and crossed the floor to sit next to her apprehensive daughter.

"I'll be very happy, dear," she took Jennifer's hands into her own and lovingly rubbed them.

"Are you sure?" Jennifer would hate to have her mother return to living at the Silver Slipper.  But, if she would be more comfortable....

"Yes, I'm very sure.  Here, I can sit and listen to birds singing in the trees instead of freight wagons rumbling under my window," she referred to the daily activity on the stage road through Sweetwater.  "And, I'll be able to spend time with you and Jesse and your beautiful baby," she told Jennifer.  "I couldn't ask for anything better."

"But," Jennifer started.

"I'm happy, Jennifer," Mary didn't give the schoolteacher a chance to finish.  "I really am.  This is the first time, in a long time, that I'm doing exactly what I want to do."

"I'm glad," Jennifer leaned over and kissed her mother's cheek.  "I'm really glad you're here."

"Now, where's that lemonade you mentioned," Jesse entered the cabin, she pulled a kerchief from her back pocket and, lifting her hat, wiped the sweat from her brow.  The women had been so concentrated on their conversation they hadn't noticed when the hammering stopped.

"Mommy," KC cried out excitingly at the sight of Jesse.  She started crawling towards the edge of the bed.

"Whoa there, sunshine," Jesse plucked the baby off the bed before she fell over the side.  "That's a might far for you to bounce."

"Finished?" Mary asked she walked to the table to retrieve the pitcher of lemonade and a glass for Jesse.

"Yep," Jesse gladly accepted the cold drink and took a long swallow.  "Better than new if I do say so myself."

"Mommy, owie," KC grimaced at her mother and held her ears.

"Sorry, sunshine," Jesse kissed the tip of the baby's nose.  "But, we couldn't let your grandma be rained on, now could we?"

KC wasn't quite sure what her mother had said but the banging had stopped and that's all she really cared about.  "Dink," she asked for the glass Jesse held.

Jesse looked at Jennifer, not sure if the baby should have the lemonade.

"A little bit shouldn't hurt," Jennifer told the rancher.  "But, we probably should stick with milk for a while longer."

Jesse allowed KC a small sip of the tangy liquid.

"Mo'," KC asked, even as her nose crinkled up at the strange taste.

"Nope," Jesse emptied the glass before placing it back on the table.  "Sure looks nice in here," she told Jennifer and Mary.  "You wouldn't know it was the same room we had to kick our way into yesterday."

The ranch's previous owner had obviously been using the cabin as a storage shed.  Jennifer, Jesse and Mary had carried out box after box of bits and pieces before they could start cleaning the small room.  Most of the stuff was piled in the yard waiting to be burned since they discovered what hadn't been eaten by bugs and mice was too rotten or rusty to be of any use.

"It sure was a lot of work," Jennifer nodded.  "But, it does look nice, doesn't it."

"Yep," Jesse shifted KC in her arms, they were sore after all the heavy work she had done.  She was glad the roof repair was finally finished and was looking forward to a nice, long soak in the tub after dinner.  But, there were still a few chores before she could call it a day.  "Say, I think I'll leave you ladies and go check on the horses."

"Me, go?" KC asked.

"Sure, sunshine," Jesse nodded, "I can use your help milking that cow you like so much."

"Will you be long, sweetheart," Jennifer was concerned about Jesse working anymore in the hot conditions of the late afternoon.

"Nope, there's another storm brewing over the mountains.  Looks like this one could have some rain in it.  I'll just make sure the horses are bedded down and everything is put away so it won't get wet if we do get rain."

"Mommy, hat," KC reached for Jesse's stetson as they disappeared out the door.

Jennifer looked out of the cabin's window that faced west.  "Does look like a nasty one," she said as she saw the dark clouds building over the mountains.  "I better get back to the house and start supper."

********************

After finishing the evening meal, the three women continued to sit around the table listening and watching the storm outside.  KC sat in Jesse's lap, she alternated between covering her ears whenever thunder boomed to playing peek-a-boo with her grandmother.  Outside, a bolt of lightening flashed, followed a few moments later by thunder rumbling across the dark sky.  A gust of wind hit the side of the ranch house, shaking the window shutters. 

"It looks pretty bad out there," Jennifer watched as another lightening strike illuminated the yard.

"Goin' to get worse before it gets better," Jesse muttered.  She wasn't very happy that she had to postpone her bath, but she knew she might have to go out during the storm if something happened. 

"Mommy, Stee?" KC frowned at Jesse.  She was still learning to say Dusty, the name of Jesse's horse.

"Dusty and Blaze are okay, sunshine," Jesse told the worried baby.  "Good thing we left them in the barn tonight."  It had become her practice to let the horses stay out in the open corral on hot nights.

"Think we'll get much rain tonight?"

Before Jennifer could finish the sentence, the heavens opened and rain poured out.  The drops were so big that they sounded like stones were being hurled at the windows.

"Guess that answers my question," Jennifer laughed.

KC stopped her game and looked at the window, she had never seen rain before.  Using Jesse's shirt, the baby pulled herself up to get closer to the window and pressed her nose against the glass.  Just then, another bolt of lightening flashed.  Startled by the bright flash, KC fell back into Jesse's lap and began to whimper.

"Hey, I think you better stay away from that window, sunshine," Jesse comforted the startled baby.  "Don't want your pretty hair to get frizzled."

"Sweetie, are you okay?" Jennifer reached over and gently rubbed KC's back.

"Owie," KC pouted.

"I know," Jennifer looked at Jesse.  "Think we can get her to go to sleep."

Jesse looked outside as another bolt of lightening lit up the sky.  The strikes seemed to be getting closer.

"Maybe I should go back to my cabin before it gets any worse," Mary offered.

"No," Jesse handed the baby to Jennifer.  "I'll get her some milk.  Why don't you try rockin' her," she suggested before turning her attention back to Mary.  "This will be over in another hour.  It's best you stay put until then."

"Alright," Mary breathed a sigh of relief, she really had not wanted to go out into the storm.

Jennifer carried the upset baby to the rocking chair Jesse had made for them. As she rocked, she hummed softly to calm the baby.  KC quieted but her eyes remained on the window and the storm.

"You really think this will be over so soon?" Mary looked out the window, a burst of lightening lit up the yard and she could see the nearest trees were nearly doubled over by the wind.

"Yep," Jesse seemed unconcerned with the storm as she filled one of the baby's bottles with milk.  "It'll blow like crazy, rain like there ain't goin' be a tomorrow.  Then, it'll just stop.  Clouds will move on east and the stars will come out.  Tomorrow, you'll wonder if you didn't dream the whole thing."

"I doubt that," Mary instinctively pulled away from the window as drops from another cloudburst began to beat against the glass.

"At least, it should be cooler tomorrow," Jennifer said.

"Don't count on it, darlin'," Jesse her the bottle.  "Soon as that sun peeks over those mountains, it'll be just as hot as today.  Maybe, hotter."

"Really," Mary looked surprised.  "All this rain won't have any effect on the heat."

"Nope," Jesse shook her head.  "Not only won't it have any effect but you'll be raising dust clouds when you walk across the yard."

"Come on, Jesse," Jennifer protested.  "All that water must have some effect."

"Wait and see," Jesse told the doubting women as she again sat at the table with Mary.  "You'd think this valley was at the bottom of a lake the way water runs off it.  All I can say, is it's a good thing we have as many rivers in the valley as we do.  Otherwise, the land wouldn't be much good for growing anything but rocks."

"Guess we'll see," Jennifer murmured as she took another look at the storm raging outside.

*******************

A little over an hour later, Jennifer was putting a sleeping KC to bed as Jesse walked Mary to her cabin.  Before leaving the woman alone, Jesse made sure her repairs on the roof had held.  Seeing that the cabin appeared to be in good order, she bid Mary goodnight.

"Don't forget, Mary," Jesse said, "you have any trouble, you pull on that string.  Any trouble, at all.  Even if you just want someone to talk to."  The day before, Jesse, knowing Jennifer was concerned about her mother being alone in the cabin, had strung a cord from Mary's cabin to the ranch house.  A cow bell was tied to it's end and would serve as an distress signal.  Jesse grinned at the memory of the reward she'd received from her appreciative wife.

"Jesse?" Jennifer sat on the bed waiting for the rancher to finish drying off after their bath.

"Um."

"I think I owe you something for stringing the alarm bell to my mother's cabin."

"Oh," Jesse tossed the towel she had been using over the back of a chair.  "And, just what were you thinking, darlin'?" 

"A reward, maybe," Jennifer teased as she scooted back on the bed and laid down.  She held a hand out and, when Jesse took it, she pulled her lover onto the bed.  Jesse stretched out on top of Jennifer pressing their naked bodies together.  Jennifer's hands roamed over Jesse's back before pulling her even closer.  Slowly, she lifted her good leg, forcing it between Jesse's.  When Jesse opened for her, Jennifer thrust her thigh upwards.  She felt Jesse's warm wetness smear over her cool skin.

Jesse moaned, slowly rubbing against Jennifer's thigh.  She locked her arms on either side of Jennifer, giving the necessary support to rub harder against her thigh.  Jennifer brought her hands around to Jesse's chest, cupping her breasts and squeezing the firm mounds together.  She lifted her head to suck hardened nipples into her mouth, teeth raking over sensitive skin.  Jesse responded to the overwhelming sensations, throwing her head back and forcing her breasts against Jennifer's caressing hands.

Jennifer continued kneading Jesse's breasts with one hand as she slowly slid the other down Jesse's stomach and between their bodies.  Her fingers slipped into Jesse's wetness, quickly finding the hard clit and firmly pressing against it.  Jesse's body jerked, her nipples unwillingly pulled from Jennifer's sucking mouth.  Jennifer reached up and pulled Jesse down to her, capturing Jesse's lips and crushing their mouths together. 

As her need to release built, Jesse pressed harder and faster against Jennifer's thigh, spasms intensifying at her center and expanding outward.  Jennifer slipped her hand inside Jesse, moving her fingers rapidly in the circular motion Jesse liked.

Jesse's back arched, her body going rigid as vaginal walls clinched around Jennifer's fingers.  "Oh, god, yessssssss," she cried when wave after wave crashed through her.  Moments later, as the pent up tension discharged, Jesse collapsed onto the bed beside her lover.

Jennifer rolled onto her side, gently rubbing Jesse's back as she regained her breath.

"I liked my reward," Jesse gasped.

"I thought you would," Jennifer playfully traced irregular patterns on Jesse's heated and sensitive skin.

Jesse adjusted her position so she was facing Jennifer.  "I love you, Jennifer Branson."

"I love you, Jesse Branson," Jennifer bent forward, kissing her wife.

Jesse smiled, "And, now, darlin'," she tenderly pushed Jennifer onto her back, "I'm going to show you just how much." 

Jesse kissed Jennifer, starting with her mouth then leaving a wet trail of kisses down her neck, around her breasts and trailing to the patch of curly hair at the apex of her legs.  She inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of her lover. 

Jennifer's hands clutched at the bed sheets as Jesse set her skin on fire, her breathing becoming unsteady pants.

Jesse slid between Jennifer's legs, lifting them onto her shoulders.  Tenderly, she kissed up and down the inside of first one thigh and then the other, teasingly moving closer to the center of Jennifer's passion with each pass.

"Please," Jennifer whimpered.  Jesse was driving her mad.

Jesse placed her hands on the inside of Jennifer's thighs and gently spread her legs wider, opening her lover up to her.  For a moment, she simply gazed at the beauty spread before her.  Then, slowly, she began to examine Jennifer with her tongue.  The tip of the strong muscle barely gazing the sensitive clit that pulsed beneath it.

Jennifer moaned for more contact.

Jesse adjusted to press her tongue firmly against the nether lips it explored, enjoying the sweet, tangy juices flowing from her lover.

"Inside," Jennifer begged.

Jesse did as she was asked, driving her tongue inside her wife.  She pulled out and thrust in again, at the same time, pinching Jennifer's clit between her fingers.  Jennifer ground her heels into the mattress as her body bucked upward, the motion forcing Jesse's tongue deeper inside her. 

"Jesseeeeeeeeeeeee," she screamed. 

"Thank you, Jesse.  I'm sure I'll be fine."  Mary watched a faraway look spread across her daughter-in-law's face, she wondered what could be causing it.  "I promise, I'll pull on the string if I need anything.  Now, please, go back.  I'm sure Jennifer is starting to worry by now."

Captivated by her own thoughts, Jesse wasn't quite sure what Mary had said.  "Uh, well, yes.  See you in the morning, then," she stumbled.

Before returning to the ranch house, Jesse went to the barn and checked on the horses.  Satisfied, they were okay and the barn had survived the storm undamaged, she walked back across the yard.  Overhead, the moon was shining behind one of the few remaining clouds and thousands of stars twinkled in the black sky.  Jesse stopped for a moment to enjoy the sight.  As she stood looking upward, she heard familiar footfalls coming towards her.

"Beautiful, isn't it," Jennifer said as she wrapped her arms around Jesse and pressed her body against the woman she loved.

"You certainly are," Jesse claimed Jennifer's lips.

"I was talking about the stars," Jennifer sighed as their mouths parted.

"I know," Jesse leaned forward until their foreheads touched.  "But, I do believe you are the most beautiful sight my eyes have ever been blessed with."

"Ah, Jesse," Jennifer felt her eyes fill with tears.  "You are so romantic."

"I love you," Jesse whispered.  "More than anything else on this earth." 

A tear dropped from Jennifer's eye and began a journey down her cheek.  Jesse tenderly reached up, cupping her face.  She wiped the tear away with her thumb.

"Don't ever leave me, Jesse," Jennifer sighed.  "I don't think I could live without you."

"Ain't goin' nowhere, darlin'," Jesse pulled Jennifer close.

Jennifer twisted in Jesse's arms and laid her head on Jesse's shoulder.  The world around them faded until there was nothing but the two of them, happily enveloped in each other's arms.

"How about that bath?" Jennifer asked after some time.

"Oooo, I thought you'd never ask."  Jesse grabbed Jennifer's hand and started running for the house.

**********************

"Mommy," KC tucked her head against Jennifer's shoulder and watched sadly as Jesse mounted her golden mare, Dusty, and prepared to ride to Sweetwater alone. 

"I won't be long, sunshine.  Just want to check on Bette Mae and make sure the Slipper survived intact," Jesse told Jennifer.

Hearing the name of her baking buddy, KC brightened, "cookie?"

Jesse smiled at the baby, "we'll see what she's got in the oven."  The rancher leaned in the saddle to give Jennifer a kiss.  "I'll be back before nightfall.  Stick close to the house, okay."

"Is something wrong, Jesse?" Jennifer asked again.  Since they woke that morning, Jesse had seemed preoccupied but she refused to share her concerns with Jennifer.

"Stick close.  Promise," Jesse looked into Jennifer's eyes.

"Yes, I promise.  I just wish you'd tell me what was bothering you," Jennifer tried again.

"Not sure," Jesse straightened in the saddle.  "Just a feeling, I've got."  She urged Dusty forward.

"Be safe, sweetheart," Jennifer called after Jesse.  With a wave of her hand, the rancher rode toward the ranch gate.  Two large logs standing on either side of the road from town, arching from the top of one log to the other was a third log with the side facing incoming visitors cut flat.  Carved into the flat surface was JJ's Dream.  Jesse had surprised Jennifer by carving the second "J" into it's face after they returned from Bozeman. 

"Come on, sweetie," Jennifer said to the unhappy child watching her mommy disappear over the hillock topped by the ranch gate.  "Let's go see if your grandma is up, yet."

"Otay," KC reluctantly agreed.

Mary's cabin was approximately fifty feet south of the ranch house and separated from the barn and outbuildings by the garden.  As Jennifer walked, she smiled at it's neat rows of vegetables and flowers surrounded by a new picket fence.  After moving to the ranch, she and Jesse had spent several days pulling weeds and tilling the ground so it would be useful again.  It was a good feeling knowing that their hard work had turned the neglected, weed-infested patch of ground into something so beautiful.

"Come in, dear," Mary called out through the open door of her cabin.

"Grmm," KC perked up when she heard her grandmother's voice.

"Everything okay, mother," Jennifer entered the cabin.  Mary was sitting at the table, sipping a cup of tea.

"Yes.  I'm fine.  Water's hot if you'd like some tea," Mary pushed her cup towards the center of the table as KC was placed in her waiting arms.  "How are you this morning?" she asked, as she kissed the baby's cheek.

"Mommy, go," KC pouted.

"Jesse went to town.  KC wanted to go, too," Jennifer explained.  "We were expecting you for breakfast," Jennifer sat on the bed, the cabin being too small for a second chair.

"Oh, I just woke up a short time ago," Mary informed her.

"Did you sleep alright?" concerned that her mother might have spent a restless night.

Mary chuckled, "I can't remember ever sleeping as well as I did last night.  That is, once I got used to the quiet."

"It is quiet out here, isn't it?"  Jennifer thought back to the town she had grown up in.  Carts and buggies seemed to always be traveling the cobblestone streets.  And, the business district around the train depot was never tranquil, the noise from the saloons and freight wagon yards carrying far on the still air.  Many a night, she had laid awake unable to block out the noise.

"Do you ever miss it, dear," Mary wondered if her daughter was ever homesick.

"You mean back east?"

"Yes.  Do you ever miss home?"

Jennifer was silent for a moment, "this is home for me, mother.  Wherever Jesse is, will always be my home."  She watched as KC slipped from her grandmother's lap dropping to the floor to crawl towards her.  "But, do I miss where I grew up?  No, mother, I don't."

"Was it really that bad?" Mary asked as she pulled her tea cup close and took a sip.

"It was never right for me," Jennifer reached down and helped KC up.  The baby curled up in her lap and yawned.  "I felt trapped there, mother.  All I ever wanted was to travel and make my own way in life.  But, father...,"

Mary smiled, sadly, "he believes in his ways."

"His ways are wrong," Jennifer's old frustrations began to pout out.  "How often did you hear him complain about needing someone in the shipping office he could trust?  Or, someone to handle the correspondence from suppliers and customers so he could be free to see to the ships and their cargos?  I could have done that, mother.  I could have contributed to the company.  But, he only saw me as a way to make a business deal."

Mary understood the resentment Jennifer had over being left out of the family business.  After all, it had been her own arranged marriage to Jennifer's father that had provided the funding to keep the business afloat.

"What about your brothers, dear.  They do love you."

Jennifer laughed, a touch of bitterness in her voice, "my brothers barely acknowledged me, mother.  I have no memory of any of them playing a game with me or reading to me.  Or, even talking to me, except to order me about."  Jennifer shook her head, "no, mother.  There is nothing in the east that I miss.  Or, wish to return for," she said before her mother could suggest a visit.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," Mary placed her empty tea cup back on the table.  "I knew what your father expected of a daughter, my father had expected the same of me.  I did try to talk to him after you were born.  I didn't want my daughter forced into a love-less marriage like I had been.  But, your father is a very stubborn man."

"You talked to him," Jennifer was surprised to hear that her mother had contested her father's actions.  She could not remember a time her mother had even questioned her father during her years growing up.  Jennifer was getting to see a completely new side of her mother.

"Yes.  But, it was no use," Mary looked into her empty cup.  "I was scared when you left, Jennifer.  But, I was also glad.  I prayed you would find happiness," she smiled, knowing Jennifer had found that and more.  "I just wish you had sent word telling me that you were alright."

"I'm sorry, mother."  Jennifer had sent no communications to the east, afraid that somehow they would find their way to her father.   "I was afraid that father would find out and come after me."

"I understand," Mary rose to prepare herself another cup of tea.  "Tea, dear?" she asked.

"No, thanks," Jennifer shook her head.  "Never developed a taste for the stuff.  How did father find me, mother?" the question had troubled Jennifer since receiving notice of his pending arrival.

"I'm not sure," Mary returned to her chair with a fresh cup of tea.  "He received a telegram one day and announced he would be leaving immediately.  He wouldn't tell me who had sent the telegram but I did see it for a brief moment.  I think the name at the bottom was Thomas," she considered the sound and decided it wasn't quite right.  "Or, something like that."

Jennifer thought, why did the name sound familiar?  "I knew it," she cried, KC fussed in her arms at the abrupt sound.  "Sorry, sweetie," Jesse rubbed the baby's back until she re-settled.  "The dress shop in Bannack... Thompson's Dress Shop.  I knew that man gave me the creeps, now I know why."

"Of course," Mary nodded.  "Marcus Thompson.  He did some work for your father before he and his wife left for the west."

"I'll have to remember to pay him a visit next time I'm in Bannack," Jennifer vowed.  "I'm real sure Jesse would like stop by and say howdy."

Both women laughed at a vision of Jesse throttling the man who had caused the young couple so much pain.

"Bet he won't send any more telegrams after Jesse is finished with him," Mary chuckled.

"No, I'm sure he won't," Jennifer agreed.  "Now, about that dressmaker," Jennifer began, "I haven't had a chance to try on the dresses she made me.  And, considering the poor job she did fitting my wedding dress, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea.  Want to help?"

"Sure."

"Good," Jennifer stood, careful not to wake KC.  "Let's go put her to bed."  Then, forgetting Jesse's warning, she suggested, "maybe, when she wakes up, we can walk down to the river."

"That would be nice."

******************

"Anything else, Bette Mae," Jesse was on the porch of the Slipper sweeping up broken glass.  She had been happy to learn that the building had survived the storm with only a broken window, a branch having been blown into it.  Jesse had measured the empty frame and was getting ready to walk over to the general store to buy a replacement pane.

"Nope," the innkeeper answered as she righted another chair, the wind had blown the porch chairs about.  "Broken glass from that winda was all we found this mornin'.  Ruthie and Nancy checked all the rooms upstairs.  I gave ya office a quick peek, couldn' find anythin' amiss."

"Alright, I'll go see if Ed has the glass for a new window or if we have to order it from Bozeman.  Either way, I'll come back and cover that hole."

"Ya can pick me up som' salt whilst you're there," Bette Mae said as Jesse walked down the stairs.

"Okay," Jesse stepped from the shade of the porch into the harsh sunlight.  It was hard to believe the storm had been raging less than ten hours before.

As Jesse walked, she spotted Miles Perkins standing in front of the empty space on the far side of the general store.  His arms swinging wildly about as he talked to another man she didn't know.  Jesse wondered what the town's mayor was up to now.  It didn't take her long to find out.

Ed was standing on the boardwalk in front of his store watching the mayor, "have you heard what Miles is planning?"

"Nope," Jesse gratefully stepped into the shade alongside Ed.

"He's opening a bank."

"Really?" 

"Yep, he was in here yesterday ordering the material for the building.  Goin' ta use sandstone blocks, make it real impressive, he said.  Even has a safe coming all the way from New York City."

"Well, I guess that is one thing Sweetwater can use."  Jesse took off her stetson and wiped her sweaty brow.  "Can't believe how hot it is after all that rain last night."

"Funny, isn't it," Ed agreed.  "What brings you to town, Jesse?  Tired of being surrounded by women all ready?" Ed chuckled.

"No," Jesse glared at her friend as she returned the stetson to her head.  "Came in to check on the Slipper.  Need some glass cut.  You have any in stock?"

"Think so," Ed turned to enter the store.  "Let's go see."

Jesse followed Ed into the store and through to a back room Ed used for sleeping.  A small cot, looking too small to hold the big man was shoved out of the way of the many boxes and crates stacked in the room.  Ed moved a couple of the boxes and looked behind them. 

"Thought I had one piece left," he said as he gingerly lifted the glass free.  "Hope this is big enough for you."

"Looks to be," Jesse said.  "I'll be sure as soon as we can set it down and measure it."

It didn't take long for Ed to find a safe spot to lay the glass down so it could be measured and cut to size.  He offered to wrap it in paper for Jesse but she declined.

"I'm taking it right back and sticking it in place.  No use to waste the paper."

"Anything else for you today, Jesse?" Ed asked as he carefully disposed of the left over slivers of glass.

"Bag of salt," Jesse told him.

"Alright," Ed walked a few paces down the counter and pull the requested item off a shelve.  "How's the work comin' out at the ranch?"

"Finished," Jesse accepted the bag from the storekeeper.  "Looks real nice, too."

"Jennifer's momma sure seems like a real, nice lady," Ed opened his ledger and made a notation it

"She is," Jesse was sure the Slipper still had a positive balance on account but she waited for Ed to verify it.

"Too bad her husband is such a bad character," Ed did a quick calculation.  "You still have money coming, Jesse.  I'll just put this against it."

"Thanks, Ed," Jesse readjusted the piece of glass.  She wanted a firm grip on it before she left the store.  "You order the lumber for your add-on, yet."

"Yep, sent the order to Bozeman a couple days ago.  Miles wasn't too happy to hear he'd have to wait 'til mine was filled.  Seems he was hoping that there fella could start building right away."

"Who is he, anyway?" Jesse asked.

"Miles called him a, what was it now.  Some fancy name, oh yeah, an arc-e-tech.  Came all the way from Denver."

"Um," Jesse rolled the word around on her tongue, "arc-e-tech.  Wonder what that fancy word means."

"Somebody who makes buildings, I reckon," Ed muttered as he replaced the ledger.

"I reckon."

********************

"Glad I caught you, Jesse."

"Something wrong, Billie?"  Jesse was putting away her tools after installing the new window pane when the sheriff came looking for her.

"Wanted to tell ya that I talked to a couple of the Rocking B boys this morning."  Conrad Billingsley's Rocking B ranch was one of the oldest and the biggest ranch in the valley.  

"They said that lot's more rain fell in the mountains last night.  'Xpect the rivers to start rising sometime today.  Thought you'd want to keep a lookout for high water seeing how the river is so near your place."

Jesse heart dropped into her boots and she gasped as if someone had slammed a fist into her stomach. 

"Hey, you okay?" Billie was troubled by the look of pure panic spreading across Jesse's face.

"I've got to get back to the ranch," Jesse told him as she ran off the porch.  Moments later she and Dusty were galloping out of town.

"What bit her in the butt?" Bette Mae asked the sheriff at Jesse's sudden departure.

"Don't know," Billie looked after his friend.  "Think maybe I'll ride out to the ranch, just to be sure."

*****************

"Well, that's the last of them," Jennifer pulled a pale yellow dress with a flowery pattern from a box.  She stepped into the dress and pulled it up her slender body.

"I don't know, dear," Mary scrutinized the fit of the dress.  "I'm not sure that this one is any better than the others."

"My measurements couldn't have change that much.," Jennifer looked in the full length mirror that stood in the corner of the house.  The dress bagged around her waist and was a good half foot too short.  "And, I certainly didn't grow since we were in Bannack."

"My," Mary said as she tested the length of the dress sleeves, "her talent as a dressmaker is somewhat lacking.  This work would never have been accepted back home."

"Maybe that's why she moved west," disgusted, Jennifer removed the dress and placed it with the others on the bed.  She retrieved her denim pants and pulled them on.  She was buttoning up her shirt when the door burst open.

"Jennifer," Jesse shouted.

KC, playing on the floor, jumped as Jesse charged into the room.  The commotion scared the baby and she began to howl.

"Jesse, what's wrong?" Jennifer was so surprised at Jesse's sudden entrance, she nearly fell before she managed to steady herself with her cane.

"You're here," Jesse bent to pick up KC, the baby sobbing loudly.

"Where else would we be?" Jennifer asked.

"You didn't go down to the river today, did you?" Jesse was rubbing the baby's back attempting to calm her.

"Well, we were going to," Jennifer admitted.  "But, then, I remembered my promise to you that we would stay near the house."

Jesse let out the breath she had been holding since leaving town as she dropped into the rocking chair, her arms encircling KC.  "It's okay, sunshine," she soothed the baby.  "Mommy didn't mean to scare you."

"She's not the only one you scared," Jennifer scolded.  "Mind telling us just what that was about."

Jesse shrugged, sheepishly.  "I just had a feeling something bad was going to happen today.  Then, when Billie told me what he did.  Well, I know how much you like to walk down to the river in the afternoon.  And, I just...  I guess I just figured that if somethin' was bound to happen, that would be it."

"Sweetheart, what in blazes are you talking about?"  Jennifer walked over and caressed Jesse's cheek, "take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

Jesse did as she was told, and started again.  "Billie said that there had been a lot more rain in the hills last night than what we got here in the valley.  And, he said, that the rivers were probably going to be rising, causing some flooding.  Well, I thought that if you went down to the river like you like to do," the words rushed out in a torrent of their own.

"You thought we might get trapped by high water?" Jennifer asked, softly.

Jesse nodded.

"Oh, sweetheart," Jennifer lifted the baby from Jesse's lap and took her place.  "I promised to stay here and I would never break a promise I made to you."

"I....," tears started to pour out of Jesse's eyes.  "I was so scared, darlin'.  I thought that was what the bad feeling was about.  I had to know."

Jennifer kissed Jesse's wet cheeks, "I understand.  I would have done the same thing under the circumstances," she pulled Jesse's arms around herself and KC.

"Mommy," KC reached for Jesse, a sad look on her miniature face.

"It's alright, sweetie," Jennifer kissed the top of KC's head.  "Mommy is okay.  She was just worried about us, like any good mommy would be."

Jesse remained silent as the adrenaline drained from her body leaving her feeling exhausted.  "Guess I kinda over-reacted," she smiled weakly.

"Nah," Jennifer kissed her on the forehead.  "You just love us."

"I must say," Mary finally got over the shock of the rancher's sudden appearance.  "It is extremely exciting around you two."

Jennifer looked at her mother then at Jesse.  Both women broke into giggles.  KC, happy to see her mommies smiling again, joined them.

After several minutes, Jesse realized that there were dresses and undergarments strewn about the room.  "What have you two been up to?"

Jennifer started to remove herself from Jesse's lap but Jesse held her tight, "I decided I should try on the dresses we bought in Bannack.  Good thing I did."

"Don't you like them?" Jesse asked hearing Jennifer's tone.  She had spent a lot of money to have the dresses made and shipped to Sweetwater.  If there was a problem, she wanted to know.

"Not a single one fits," Jennifer proclaimed.  "They're worse than the wedding dress."  Jennifer had discovered the wedding dress they brought back from Bannack needed major alterations and if it hadn't been for Ruthie, a talented seamstress that worked at the Slipper, she would not have been able to wear the dress for their ceremony.

"Guess I'll be sending a letter to Mrs. Thompson," Jesse growled.

"There's something else you need to know about the Thompsons," Jennifer said cautiously, knowing Jesse was not going to take the news kindly.  "Mr. Thompson is the one who told my father where to find me."

Jesse said nothing but her jaw muscles tensed and the veins in her neck began to pop out.  That was the man behind all the pain Jennifer has suffered.  Mr. Thompson would be receiving more than a letter from Jesse.  Oh yes, much more.

"Sweetheart, would you please breathe before you pass out," Jennifer watched her lover's face change various shades of color as the anger built inside her.  She guessed correctly that if she and KC weren't occupying Jesse's lap, the rancher would have been on her way to Bannack already.  "He's not worth it, Jesse.  Let it go," she said, quietly.

"He hurt you," Jesse hissed.

"I know, sweetheart," Jennifer gently kissed her agitated wife.  "But, I'm alright now.  If you go after him, I'll just be hurt all over again."

Jesse stared into Jennifer's eyes.  She loved this woman so much.  She never wanted to do anything to hurt her.  "Alright," she nodded.  "I'll let it be."

Jennifer smiled, "good girl".

"For now," Jesse got in the last word.

Meanwhile, down by the river, the pine tree that Jesse, Jennifer and KC liked to sit under when they took their afternoon walks, was undercut by a current swollen with the recent rain.  Slowly, tilting until it could no longer hold itself upright, the tree crashed into the rushing water and was rapidly carried downstream.  The river bank vanishing under the churning flow until nothing was left of their favorite picnic spot. 

*****************

When Billie rode up, he found Dusty standing in front of the ranch house, her reins hanging loose in the dirt and the door to the house standing wide open.  Billie cautiously dismounted, pulling his pistol from it's holster as he stepped onto the porch.  "Everything alright," Billie called guardedly into the house, the gun ready for use.

"Everything's okay," Jesse called back as she continued to change KC's britches.  "Come on inside."  The women had heard Billie's horse when it entered the yard.  Looking out a window, they had seen Billie and gave little thought to his unexpected arrival. 

"Billie," Jennifer peeked out the door.  "Goodness, put away that gun before you hurt somebody."

Billie poked his head through the door opening,

Jesse patted KC on her padded rear end, "there you are, sunshine.  All nice and dry again."

"Dow," KC asked for help getting off the bed.

Jesse took hold of the baby's arms and dropped her safely onto the floor.  KC crawled immediately for her toy box.

"Well, come on in," Jesse repeated as she placed the soiled diaper in the wash basket.  Billie still stood outside the door, mouth agape.  "What's wrong, you never seen a diaper changed before?"

"Damn, Jesse," Billie said as he holstered the pistol and stepped inside.  "The way you lit out of town, I thought maybe Jennifer or KC were in trouble."

"What?" Jesse looked confused until she remembered the manner in which she had left Sweetwater.  "Oh, sorry, 'bout that." 

Mary started to chuckle as she cut vegetables for the stew Jennifer was preparing for supper.  "Never a dull moment with you two, is there."

"Hush, mother," Jennifer playfully swatted at her with a towel.  "Staying for supper, Billie?" Jennifer asked, casually.

"Well," Billie continued to look confused at the happy family scene before him.  "I guess," he shook his head.  "But, only if you bother tellin' me what happened."

"Go on and sit down, Billie," Jesse laughed as she filled two cups with fresh brewed coffee from the pot.  She joined the sheriff at the table and began to tell him why she had ridden out of town like someone had lit her on fire.

***************

"So, none of the dresses fit," Billie asked as he finished off his second piece of apple pie.

"Not a single one.  I'll have to ask Ruthie if she'll mind fixing them," Jennifer poured coffee into Jesse's empty cup.  "I probably should of had her sew them in the first place."

"Thanks, darlin'," Jesse rolled an idea around in her head as she sipped the hot liquid.  "You know," she drawled, "that may not be such a bad idea."

"What?" Jennifer asked, feeding a small bite of pie to KC.

"Yum.  Mo'," KC held onto the fork as if more pie would magically appear on it.

"Having Ruthie sew your dresses."

"You lost me, sweetheart," Jennifer pulled the fork from KC's grasp.

"Much as I hate to admit it," Jesse started to explain.  "Sweetwater is beginning to grow.  Ed's going to add on to the store and Mayor Perkins is opening a bank."

"He is," Jennifer interrupted.  Jesse hadn't had time to tell her wife about her earlier conversation with Ed.

"There'll be more folks in town.  Women aren't going to be willing to travel to Bozeman or wait for the freight wagons every time they need a new dress or their young 'uns need clothes."

"What are you suggesting?" Billie asked as he took a gulp of coffee.

"Opening a dress shop."

Billie choked on his coffee, "you plannin' to take up sewing, Jesse."

"No," she scowled at the sheriff.  "I was thinkin' that Ruthie might be interested."

"That's a wonderful idea, sweetheart," Jennifer enthusiastically agreed. 

"That's a nice thought, Jesse.  But, Ruthie can't afford anythin' like that."

"Wasn't expectin' her to pay for it, Billie," Jesse told the man who was sweet on the shy girl who worked for her.  "We'd set up the shop," Jesse told her friend.  "All she'd have to do, is the sewing."

"I don't know," Billie knew how shy Ruthie was.  But, it would be nice to see her doing something she enjoyed instead of working at the Slipper.  Not that Jesse hadn't been more than generous with her.  "Guess it wouldn' hurt none to ask her."

"We could use your office at the Slipper," Jennifer said.  "You barely use it anymore."

After convincing Jesse to let her help with the Slipper's bookwork, Jennifer had moved most of the ledgers and other records to the ranch house so she could do the books at home.  The office was only used now for Jesse to catch up on reading the Sweetwater Gazette or to go through any mail that might come.

"It's kinda dark in there for sewing, don't you think?" Mary asked.

"Guess we could put in some more windows," Jesse hadn't really thought about converting her office into a dress shop but it did make sense to use the idle space.  "Be obliged if you didn't mention this to Ruthie, Billie.  I want to give it some more thought.  We'll talk to Ruthie and Bette Mae next time we're in town."

"Sure, Jesse."

"Mommy," KC looked sleepily at Jesse, "seep."

"Guess it is past your bedtime, sunshine," Jesse lifted the baby from the highchair. 

"Time for me to be gettin' back to town," Billie stood.  "Thanks for supper, Jennifer."

"You're welcome any time Billie," Jennifer handed the sheriff his hat.  "Come by more often."

"Goodnight, Miss Mary," Billie nodded to Jennifer's mother.  "'Night, Jesse."

"I'll walk you out, Billie," Jesse kissed the top of KC's head before passing the tired baby to Jennifer.  "I need to check on the horses."

"I'll come, too," Mary gave Jennifer and KC goodnight kisses.  "If you'll be so kind as to walk me to the cabin, Jesse."

"Glad to, Mary," Jesse held the door open.  "Be right back, darlin'."

By the time Jesse returned to the house, KC was fast asleep in her crib and Jennifer was soaking in the tub.

"Better hurry before the water gets cold, sweetheart," Jennifer purred as clothes began to fly around the room.

******************

Bette Mae had just placed Ed's breakfast in front of him when the door to the Slipper opened and a nattily dressed man entered the dining room. 

"I'm looking for the proprietor," the man announced pretentiously.

"Jesse ain't here," Bette Mae filled Ed's cup with hot coffee.  "Somethin' I can's help ya with?"

"I sincerely doubt it," the man sneered.  "When can I expect him to arrive?"

Bette Mae examined the man standing before her.  He wasn't very tall, barely coming up to her chin, and she wasn't a tall woman.  He had dark hair with a handlebar mustache to match.  His eyes narrowed to slits as he observed the woman analyzing him.

"He is a she," Bette Mae said slowly.  "And, when Jesse comes to town is her business.  Now, you interestin' in havin' breakfast or ya just goin' stand there wastin' my time."

"Eat.  HERE.  I think not," the man shuddered at the thought, ignoring what Bette Mae had said about Jesse.

"Then, I s'gest ya turn around and walk your uppity butt back outside.  You's scarin' my customers."

The man looked around the dining room where several of the tables were occupied with folks eating their morning meal, many of them sniggering at him.  He took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before releasing it.  Then, he turned and left the Slipper.

"Looks like Mayor Perkins done got him some competition for town's most pompous ass," Bette Mae observed as she made her way back to the kitchen.  Hearty laughter erupting among the diners.

******************

"So, who was he?" Jesse asked. 

After spending the past several days at the ranch, Jesse and Jennifer decided a trip to town was in order.  Mary had asked to accompany them.  Their first stop had been to the Slipper to check in with Bette Mae, who now was telling of the strange visitor she'd had.

"Didn' say," Bette Mae told the women.  "Jus' said he wanted ta talk to the proprietor.  Said it like he was real important, he did."  It wasn't hard for Jesse and Jennifer to figure Bette Mae disliked the man.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until he comes back when I'm here.  Or, Jennifer."

"Plan ta do som' work in the office?" Bette Mae asked, she didn't care if the dandy ever returned.

"Nope," Jesse said.

"Got shoppin' to do?"

"Nope."

"Jennifer workin' at the schoolhouse?"

"Nope."

"Then what did ya com' all the way inta town for?"

"Well," Jesse drew out her response just to frustrate her friend.  "We were kinda hopin' to talk with you."

"And, Ruthie," Jennifer added.

"Oh, lordy," Bette Mae exclaimed.  "What trouble ya got yourselves into now?"

Jesse laughed, "no trouble, Bette Mae.  Just find Ruthie and come into the office."

"Alrighty," Bette Mae said, "but I do not trust you Jesse Marie."

"Ooh," Jennifer teased Jesse, wiggling a finger in her face.  "You're in trouble now."

"Ha, ha," Jesse brushed the finger aside.  "Mary, you're welcome to come into the office, too."

"Thank you, Jesse," Mary smiled.  "But, I think I'll sit out here."

"It shouldn't take long, mother," Jennifer said.

"You take all the time you want," Mary assured the women.  "I'll be fine.  Would you like me to watch KC for you?"

"Well," Jesse hesitated.  Since Jennifer's kidnapping, KC had refused to be out of sight of her mothers.  "Sunshine, do you want to stay with grandma while mamma and I go in there?" Jesse pointed to her office door.

"No," KC vigorously shook her head.  "Mommy, no."

"Sorry, Mary," Jesse apologized.

"It's okay, Jesse," Mary patted the rancher's arm.  "She needs to feel she's safe, with her mothers."

"Ah, Jesse, there you are," Mayor Perkins entered the Slipper, followed close behind by another man.  "I thought that was your wagon outside." 

"Miles," Jesse acknowledged the mayor.

"Jesse, I'd like to introduce Mr. Tobias Harrington," the mayor motioned the other man forward.

"That's him, Jesse," Bette Mae came out of the kitchen door with Ruthie in tow.

"You are the proprietor of this establishment?" Harrington looked at Jesse, perplexed.  When Mayor Perkins had told him the Silver Slipper's owner was a Jesse Branson, he had assumed the owner to be a man. 

"If you mean, do we own the Slipper, the answer is yes, we own her," Jesse included Jennifer.

"I wasn't expecting a woman."

"Do you have a problem with that?" Jesse dared the man to answer in the affirmative.

Thinking for  moment, Harrington decided not to answer the intimidating, and quite tall, woman's question.  "I have a proposition for you," Harrington stated.  "I expect you have somewhere private we can talk."

"We have an office," Jesse told the man.  "if'n we were wanting to talk to you, privately."

"Very good," Harrington gestured for the mayor to lead the way, "shall we."

"Yes, yes, very good," Mayor Perkins pointed to the office door, "this way."

"Bring us some coffee," Harrington ordered Bette Mae.  Before she could respond, Jesse had stepped in front of the men, blocking their path.

Sensing Jesse was ready to throw the men out of the Slipper by the seats of their pants, or worse, Jennifer spoke before her wife had a chance.  "Mr. Harrington, we are not accustomed to treating our staff, who are also our friends, so rudely.  Perhaps, if you wish to have some coffee, it would be better for you to ask for a cup."

"I don't have all day, Perkins," Harrington tried to brush Jesse aside but she refused to move and there was no way the small man was going to make her.

"Jesse, please," the mayor pleaded.  "Just a few minutes of your time."

By now, Jesse had no inclination to listen to what the arrogant man and mayor had to say but Jennifer was curious.  "Perhaps, we could give them five minutes," she said to Jesse. 

"We have other business to attend to today, so this better not be a waste of our time," Jesse glared at the men.  "Forget about the coffee, Bette Mae," Jesse said.  "They won't be here long enough to drink it."

"That suits me jus' fine," Bette Mae nodded.  

"Alright, Perkins, you have five minutes."  Jesse turned and walked to the office door, she held it open for Jennifer to enter.

"Business is with you," Harrington stated.

Jesse had had all she was going to take off this self-important man.  "Look, mister," she growled, "I don't know who you are or what you want.  But, you want to talk business about the Slipper, then you talk to me and Jennifer, or leave, now."

"And, don' let the door hit ya in the arse on the way out," Bette Mae muttered on her way back into the kitchen.

"Come on, Tobias," Mayor Perkins pulled Harrington towards the Slipper's office.  "I told you they were partners."

Harrington reluctantly followed the mayor.  If he hadn't been under orders from his bosses to quickly complete the offer on the Slipper, he would have turned on his heel and left rather than continue dealing with these women..

Once the office door was shut and Jennifer, now holding KC, was seated comfortably in the chair behind the desk, Jesse demanded, "what the hell do you want?"

"Miss Branson," Harrington began.

"Mrs.," Jesse corrected.

"If you are married," Harrington stammered, "I should be talking with your husband."

Mayor Perkins looked like he had swallowed something bad for breakfast and was seeking the quickest way to be rid of it.  "I explained all of this to you, Tobias.  Jesse and Jennifer are married."

Harrington looked at the women, then at the mayor, "how is that possible?"

"Doesn't matter," Jesse said.  "It is.  We are.  So, deal with it."

"Mr. Harrington," Jennifer smiled pleasantly at the annoying man and asked, "did you wish to discuss something with us, or not?"

"Go on," Mayor Perkins urged.

Realizing he had no options if he was to carry out his employers' orders, Harrington started, "I represent a group of investors in the east.  They have plans for the town of Sweetwater and they wish to purchase your establishment."

"No," Jesse and Jennifer said at the same time.

"Excuse me," Harrington demanded.

"The Silver Slipper is not for sale," Jennifer explained.

"I am authorized to make you a rather generous offer," Harrington began.

"As my wife said," Jesse walked to the office door and opened it.  "The Slipper is not for sale.  Not for any price.  Not at any time.  And, especially, not to you.  Good day, gentlemen," she waited for the mayor and Harrington to leave.

"You are making a big mistake," Harrington protested, this was not going at all as he expected.

"GET OUT!" Jesse demanded.

After Harrington and the mayor left, Jennifer patiently watched Jesse storm about the office until the steam she had built up over Harrington's attitude finally abated.

"Mommy owie?," KC asked Jennifer.

"No, sweetie," Jennifer told the baby.  "She's just upset over the way that man talked."

"Man, ugh," KC replied.

"Yes, sweetie," Jennifer chuckled at her daughter's insightfulness.  "He definitely was ugh."

****************

"This is going to cost my employers money they weren't expecting to spend," Tobias Harrington was pacing around Mayor Perkins office.

"I told you she was a stubborn woman," Perkins protested.  "They can build another boarding house."

"Of course, they'll build another one," Harrington stormed.  "They just didn't want to go to that expense at this time.  The Silver Slipper is already operating, it would have saved time and money if that woman would have accepted their offer.  Her refusal will not make them happy.  I'll just have to go back and talk to her.  Make her understand that there are changes coming to this town.  Important changes."

"You won't change her mind," the mayor shook his head.  "She runs that place like those women were her family."

"All whores from what I hear," Harrington stopped pacing and looked out the office window to the building at the edge of town.  "Decent people shouldn't have to do business with whores.  And, what about the relationship between those Branson women?" he turned to face the mayor.  "Indecent, if you ask me.  How could you allow something like that to take place?"

The mayor stayed silent rather than tell his new business partner that he had not only allowed it but had performed the wedding ceremony.

"Down right indecent," Harrington repeated.  "It appears I have no choice but to return to the east and inform my employers of this unfortunate development.  What time does the next stage leave?"

In the adjoining office, Thaddeus Newby thanked the stars for the thin wall between his office and the mayor's.  From his desk, he pulled a clean piece of paper and began to quickly jot down a message to a newspaper friend in Denver.  Thaddeus sealed the note in an envelope and addressed it, then stood and picked up his hat from the corner of the desk.  He hurried from his office, the stage was due soon and he wanted to be sure his letter was on the coach when it left town.

*****************

Once Jesse had calmed down, Jennifer asked Bette Mae and Ruthie to come into the office.  Jesse was slumped in the armchair, still simmering over Harrington.  KC was busily crawling around Jesse's chair and climbing under and over her mother's long legs.  Jennifer sat at the desk while she explained their idea of a dress shop to the women seated on the couch.

"Well, lordy," Bette exclaimed.  "That is a right fine idea."

"I don't know, Miss Jennifer," Ruthie said shyly, looking down at the floor.  "I don't think I could...  Well, I..."

Ruthie wasn't much older than Jennifer but had seen a much different side of life growing up.  Shortly after her fifteenth birthday, she had been forced into a life of prostitution when her mother died and her father abandoned her.  Her face bore the scars of being sliced by a customer that had wanted more than Ruthie was willing to give.  

Jennifer knelt in front of Ruthie, she tenderly placed a hand on the girl's knee.  "I know you're self-conscious about your scars," Jennifer stopped Ruthie's hand from instinctively covering her face.  "But, you are a very pretty girl and a very talented seamstress.  And, I know that you'd rather make dresses than work in the kitchen.  You've told me that, yourself.  Jesse and I don't want you to do this unless you want to."

Ruthie thought about what Jennifer said.  It was true, she did like sewing a lot better than working in the Slipper's kitchen and serving folks their meals.  But, she felt uncomfortable whenever people stared at the scars the bastard had left on her. 

"Can't hardly see them scars anymore, Ruthie," Bette Mae said, softly.  She had been so frightened when she'd heard Ruthie crying for help that night.  She had hurried to the girl's room to find the man straddling Ruthie on the bed, his arm raised in preparation of driving the bloodied knife down into the girl's chest.  Without hesitation, Bette Mae had pointed and fired the gun she'd grabbed when she'd heard the screams.

Ruthie had refused to be with any other men after that night and was sure she'd be told to leave by the Slipper's owner.  But a few days later, Jesse arrived having won the Slipper in a poker game.  She not only kept Ruthie on but had paid for her to go to Bozeman and see a doctor.

"If you decide you can't do it," Jesse assured the girl, "you just say so."

"Alright, Miss Jesse," Ruthie agreed.  "I'd like to try," Ruthie smiled, valiantly, at Jennifer.

"Good," Jennifer pushed herself upright off the floor.

"So's, where you plannin' to build this dress shop?" Bette asked.

"Well, actually," Jennifer returned to the chair behind the desk, "we thought we'd do it here."

"Here?"

"In this room."

Bette Mae looked around the office.  The room's few furnishings consisted of the couch she and Ruthie now occupied, a small table beside it, the desk placed in the center of the room, the small armchair Jesse was slouched in, a liquor cabinet that was unused, and a set of shelves behind the desk.  It wouldn't take much to convert the room into a sewing room for Ruthie.  Only one problem she could see, the room was windowless.

"Might dark in here, don' ya think," Bette Mae voiced the obvious.

"Figured I'd use Harrington's head and knock a hole or two in the walls," Jesse grunted, her lips twitching as she tried not to smile.

"Bet ya'd like that," Bette Mae returned the playful jab.  At least, she hoped Jesse was only kidding.

KC climbed as far up Jesse's leg as should could, "mommy, up."

Jesse pulled the baby the rest of the way to her lap, "getting tired, sunshine?"

"Moo," KC yawned.

"Well, unless there's anything more to discuss," Jesse placed a protective hand on KC's back as the sleepy baby snuggled against her chest.  "Jennifer and I will make arrangements with Ed to order the windows."

"We'll see if he has any catalogs, Ruthie" Jennifer said.  "So, you can start ordering dress material and other supplies."

Ruthie blanched at the thought of accepting such responsibility.

"Don't worry, Ruthie," Jennifer quickly added as she saw the girl's reaction.  "Jesse and I will help you."

"Come on, Ruthie," Bette Mae stood.  "Let's go git my littl' angel some milk so's she can take a nap.  Ya can worry 'bout bein' a high and mighty seamstress after you git them 'taters peeled."

After Bette Mae and Ruthie left, Jennifer dropped onto the couch.  Jesse carried KC over and joined her.

"Some morning, huh?" Jennifer asked as KC switched laps.  She leaned against Jesse and felt the warmth of the rancher's arm draped over her shoulders.

"I'll say," Jesse sighed.

"Sweetheart, why do you think Harrington's investors are interested in Sweetwater?"

"Pompous ass," Jesse growled, before she answered.  "Probably has something to do with the mines."

"How's that?"

"Takes a lot of money to get the ore out of the ground," Jesse explained.  "Investors back east have that kind of money."

"But, what would they be doing in Sweetwater?  The mines are all in the mountains."

"Well," Jesse leaned back and got comfortable.  "When a mine hits pay dirt, eastern investors send their errand boys to sniff around like buzzards on a carcass."

"You mean, like Harrington?"

"Yep.  They offer the claim owner a fraction of the mines anticipated value."

"Why would they accept so little?"

"Like I said, it takes lots of money to turn a pile of rocks into a gold brick.  Men who stake the original claims and do the work to find the ore, don't have it.  So, when a vein is struck, they sell out.  They get a lot more than they ever dreamed of and the investors get the future profits. 

"But, that doesn't explain why they'd be interested in the Slipper."

"To make the mine pay, they have to bring in machinery, stamp mills, processors, stuff like that.  To get that equipment to the mines, they have to build roads.  They'll bring in mining engineers, assayers, men to build the roads and take care of the ore wagons and mining equipment.  Those men will need somewhere to stay until lodging can be built closer to the mines.  The investors will want to come and see what their money is being spent on and they'll need a place to stay."

"They can stay at the Slipper even if we own it, can't they?"

"Yes, but the investors like to own what they use.  That way, they keep more of the money.  Probably why Perkins got the bank charter.  My guess is that Harrington's investors will also own the bank.  All those men will need to get paid and it wouldn't be too safe bringing the payroll in from Bozeman every month."

"Can't they just build their own rooming house?"

"Probably will since we turned down their offer.  Just would have been cheaper for them to buy the Slipper."

Jennifer considered all that Jesse had just told her.  "Town is really going to grow, isn't it?"

"'Fraid so," Jesse sighed.

Bette Mae came into the office carrying a tray.  Along with a pitcher of milk and glasses, the tray held a plate of sandwiches and another of cookies, straight out of the oven.

"Thought, ya'd might be hungry," Bette Mae said as she set the tray down on the desk.  She filled a baby bottle with milk and brought it to KC, "there ya go, angel."

KC hungrily grabbed the bottle and laid back in Jennifer's arms, sucking happily.

"That's a right nice thing ya is doin' for Ruthie," Bette Mae told the women.

"Thanks, Bette Mae," Jennifer watched KC, making sure she didn't try to drink too fast.  "Would you ask mother to join us?"

"She said ta tell ya she'd be back in a bit," Bette Mae informed her.

"Oh," Jennifer was surprised.  "I wonder where she went."

"Headed down to Ed's," Bette Mae said as she left the room.

"Uh, I wonder what she's up to," Jennifer wondered out loud.

"Maybe she just wanted to stretch her legs," Jesse offered.

"Maybe."

****************

Mary took the envelope out of her bag and turned it over in her hands.  She again debated whether or not she should she send it or leave well enough alone.  She had been saddened by Jennifer's memories of a childhood devoid of any affection from her brothers.  Maybe it wasn't too late to right the wrong she had allowed her husband to commit by passing his views of women onto their sons.  'Yes,' she thought, 'she had to try.'

With her decision made, Mary told Bette Mae she was going to go for a short walk and left the Silver Slipper.  Not wanting to ask Bette Mae where to post the letter and give away her intentions, Mary headed for the general store.  Certainly, the storekeeper could help her.

"Why, sure," Ed replied when Mary asked for his help.  "Mail goes out on the stage.  You can drop your letter over at the depot."

"When is the next stage?"

"Well, let's see," Ed pulled a pocket watch from his shirt pocket and took a look at the time.  "Should be coming in 'bout two hours.  That is, if it's on time.  Most days it runs late.  Would you like me to take it over for you?" Ed offered.  "I was fixin' to walk over in another few minutes myself."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to be a bother," Mary said, but the idea of Ed posting the letter instead of her made some sense.  If Jennifer saw her going into the small adobe building, she would most definitely have questions.

"No bother at all," Ed replied.  "I have a few letters to post myself, got some orders to send to my suppliers in Bozeman.  So, I can toss yours on the pile."

"Thank you," Mary told the helpful storekeeper. 

Mary returned to the Slipper just as Jennifer came out of the office.

"Mother," Jennifer was relieved to see the older woman.  "I was just going to go search for you.  Why did you need to go off by yourself?  You're not used to being out west." 

"Why, child," Mary laughed, "I'm quite capable of walking around this quaint, little town all by myself."

"I know, mother," Jennifer stammered, slightly embarrassed, "I was just worried."

"Ah, good, you're back," Jesse came out of the office with KC. 

"Grmm," KC grinned, cookie crumbs smeared across her face.

"Time we started back to the ranch," Jesse informed Jennifer and Mary.

"I'll just get my coat," Mary hurried off before Jennifer could ask any more about the purpose of her walk.

*********************

"You're own shop," Billie was sitting with Ruthie in the Slipper's dining room.  Ruthie had just told him of the offer from Jesse and Jennifer.  Keeping his word to Jesse he didn't mention he already knew of the plan.  "Jesse is supplying everything?"

"And, Miss Jennifer," Ruthie reminded him.

"I can't believe it," Billie whistled.  "That's a mighty fine thing for them to do."

"I don't know if I can do it, Billie," Ruthie said, uneasily.  Even though she had earlier agreed to the plan, she was having second thoughts.

"Why not, honey?" the sheriff asked.  He smiled nervously, the use of the endearment still sounding strange to the couple.  "It's what we've talked about, if we ever had the money."

"I know, Billie," she reached up and touched the scars on her otherwise pretty face.  "You know I don't like people looking at them."

Billie smiled at the woman he was falling in love with and pulled her hand away from her face.  "Bette Mae is right, Ruth.  They've faded to where you barely notice them.  Besides, I think you're the most beautiful woman in the entire valley," he crowed.

"Miss Jesse and Miss Jennifer are the most beautiful," Ruthie countered.

"Not to me, honey," the sheriff took Ruthie's hand and held it.  "I think you should give it a try, Ruth.  Jesse said you could say no at any time, right?  What do you have to lose?"

Ruthie thought for a moment, "I guess it can't hurt to try."

"That's my girl," Billie said proudly.  "Now, would you give me the honor of buying you dinner?"

*******************

After arriving back at the ranch, the women spent a few hours working in the garden.  While her mothers and grandmother weeded and tended the rows of vegetables, KC plucked flowers and played in the dirt.  It wasn't long before the baby was covered from head to toe in grime.  Mary returned to her cabin to rest before supper while Jesse and Jennifer gave the baby a bath.

"More coffee, Jesse?" Jennifer filled her own cup as she watched KC splashing happily in the tub.

"Nope, darlin'," Jesse smiled.  "Think I'll go check on the horses.  Might as well take the buckets with me, I can refill them on the way," she picked up the water buckets they would heat for their own bath later in the evening. 

"Me, go?" KC asked when she saw Jesse reach for her stetson.

"Sorry, sunshine," Jesse knelt down beside the tub.  "Can't carry you and the buckets.  You stay here and keep an eye on your momma for me.  Besides, we just got you clean."

"Otay," KC frowned, water dripping off her nose.

Jesse stood and pulled Jennifer to her, their lips met.  "I'll be back before you get the squirt dressed," Jesse breathed into Jennifer's mouth.

Jennifer felt her body react to Jesse, "maybe she'll go to sleep early tonight."

"Let's hope so," Jesse continued to hold Jennifer. 

A knock on the cabin door interrupted the women.

"Who could that be?" Jennifer asked, knowing her mother would have said something after knocking.

"Don't know," Jesse was concerned that she hadn't heard anyone approach the cabin.  Whoever was at the door could be trouble.  "Stay here with KC," she told Jennifer before quickly crossing to the cabinet that held her weapons.  She pulled a rifle from the rack and checked to make sure it was loaded.  Then, she walked to the door.

"Who is it?" Jesse cautiously asked before opening the door.

"A friend," came the reply.

"Damn, Walk," Jesse quickly pulled the door open when she recognized the voice.  "You gave me a scare."

Jennifer, now with KC secure in her arms, watched Jesse open the door to reveal the Indian she had seen in town several days before.   Jesse had told her the man was called Walks on the Wind in his language and that he was an old friend, having met during the years she had wandered the west before winning the Slipper in a Denver card game. 

The man smiled and stretched out an arm which Jesse immediately clasped, "you must be getting old, Buffalo Heart.  Even a young boy would have heard me from the time I put my horse in your corral."

"Come in, old friend," Jesse pulled the man into the cabin before releasing her grip.  As she returned the rifle to the gun cabinet, she continued, "I figured you would be stopping by, after we saw you in town."

"Momma, cold," KC told Jennifer.

"Sorry, sweetie," distracted by the man's arrival, Jennifer forgot the baby in her arms was naked.  "Come on, let's get you dressed," she started for the bed but Jesse stopped her.

"You have a family, Buffalo Heart," Walks on the Wind commented.

"Yes," Jesse smiled proudly.  "This is my wife ,Jennifer, and this," she took the baby from Jennifer, "this is our daughter, KC.  Darlin', this is my friend, Walks on the Wind."

"It's nice to meet you," Jennifer smiled.  Though, nervous about the stranger, she trusted Jesse.

Walks on the Wind looked at Jennifer, then the baby.  The resemblance was startling.  "I knew you were of two spirits, Buffalo Heart, but I didn't know you could make a baby."

Jesse laughed as she handed KC back to Jennifer to dress, "I can't.  Here, sit," she beckoned Walks on the Wind to a chair, "we found her after her folks were killed.  When we couldn't find any other family, we decided to raise her ourselves."

Once dressed, KC asked to be put down on the floor, Jennifer complied.  Without hesitation, KC crawled to Walks on the Wind and pulled herself upright on his leg.  "Up," she demanded.

The warrior cheerfully did as he was told and lifted KC into his lap.  Jennifer's fears for the baby's safety quickly evaporated while she watched KC engage the man in a conversation of gibberish.

"Looks like KC has taken a likin' to ya," Jesse laughed as her daughter pointed and gestured.  After a few minutes, she retrieved her daughter, "she'll talk your ears off if you let her.  Go on and play with your toys for a while," she told KC as she placed her near the toy box.  Returning her attention, to her friend, she said, "we were just gettin' ready to prepare supper.  You'll join us?"

"I'd like that."

"Good."

"Hello," Mary tapped on the cabin door.

"Come in, mother," Jennifer called.

"Oh, my," Mary gasped as she entered the cabin and spied the Indian.

"It's alright, mother," Jennifer took hold of her mother to reassure her.  "This is Walks on the Wind, a friend of Jesse's.  He's having supper with us."

Walks on the Wind stood and held out a hand to Mary. 

********************

The women and their guest were finishing up their evening meal.  KC was sitting in Mary's lap fighting sleep.

"I must say, Walk," Mary addressed the Indian as he had earlier asked.  "Your English is, well..."

"Pretty good for an injun," he finished for her.

"Well, yes....  I mean, no," she was embarrassed to continue.

"It's all right, Mrs. Kinsington," he smiled to ease her embarrassment.  "My mother married a English fur trapper, he taught me the language.  And, I spent a couple of years at a missionary school."

"I see," Mary found that she liked the man.  "So, you are part white?"

"No, the trapper was my mother's second husband.  My father was killed when I was a child.  Fighting soldiers."

"Oh.  I am sorry."

Feeling an uneasiness invade the room, Jennifer decided to change the subject, "why do you call Jesse, Buffalo Heart?"

"She's never told you of her first buffalo hunt?"

"No."

"And, I don't think now is the time to start," Jesse warned Walks on the Wind.  "Come on, darlin', help me clear the table."

"No, I want to hear this," Jennifer refused to budge from her chair.  "Please," she encouraged the man to continue.

Ignoring the looks he was receiving from Jesse, Walks on the Wind began the story.

"Buffalo Heart joined my people on a buffalo hunt.  She was not much older than some of the young boys we had allowed to take part in their first hunt.  And, like the boys, she wanted to prove she was as good or better than the seasoned hunters.  So, she was determined to kill the largest bull in the herd.  She tracked that bull for three days before she got close enough to shoot it and brought it down with one shot to the heart.  Some of the young warriors were jealous and told her she had to rip the heart from the animal and eat it to prove her worth as a hunter.  Buffalo Heart met their challenge."

"Ugh," KC yawned.

"You got that right, sunshine," Jesse took the baby from Mary in order to rock her to sleep. 

KC curled up in Jesse's arms and promptly went to sleep.  Seeing that the baby didn't need rocking, she carried KC directly to her crib.  

"The medicine woman gave her the name that night in a ceremony thanking our gods for a good hunt," Walks on the Wind concluded the story.

"Most disgusting thing I've ever eaten," Jesse shivered at the memory. 

"Okay," Jennifer held up her hands, "I don't want to hear any more details."

"I agree," Mary looked as if her supper was trying to make a reappearance.

Jesse and Walks on the Wind began to laugh.

"So, what brings you to Sweetwater," Jesse asked her friend.  "It's a bit out of you way, isn't it."

"I came to ask you to join us on our hunt this season."

Every summer, Walks on the Wind's tribe left their homeland in the west and traveled over the mountains to the buffalo herds east of the Rocky Mountains.  Hunting the buffalo provided the meat the tribe needed to survive the winter.  

"Sorry, Walk," Jesse returned to the table.  "I have my family now.  Can't take the chance on something happening to me."

Jennifer was disappointed that Jesse declined the offer.  She would have loved to have the opportunity to see the large animals she had read about.  But, she appreciated that Jesse put her family well being first.

"We are traveling on the southern trail," Walks on the Wind told Jesse.  He hoped Buffalo Heart would change her mind and join the hunt.

Later that night, blankets were spread on the cabin floor in front of the kitchen fireplace to provide Walks on the Wind a comfortable place to sleep.  When Jesse awoke the next morning, her friend was gone.

******************

PART 3

The stagecoach left Denver at sunrise with three passengers.  Just before nightfall, the horse team was pulled to a stop at the overnight stop.  The men inside were relieved that the first day of their journey was over. 

At the best of times, traveling by stagecoach was never pleasant.  If the road was wet, mud would be thrown everywhere, caking into globs of sticky goo.  If it was dry, dust would coat the horses, coach, baggage and passengers without prejudice.  Either way, the coach's canvas window covers were almost always tied down to protect the passengers as much as possible.  The curtains did help keep the mud and dust out but they also kept the heat and stall air in, making for steam bath conditions inside the coach.

Stage roads were seldom more than ruts littered with potholes and rocks, causing the stage to lurch violently as it raced over the obstacles.  On the rare occasion that the stage traveled along a relatively smooth stretch of road, the coach would still swayed robustly.  No matter the road conditions, the passengers inside were continually thrown against one another and the sides of the racing coach.  Any attempts at carrying on a conversation while the stagecoach was in motion were quickly abandoned when passengers found all their energy was required just to maintain their seats.

Thus, it was that the three passengers had spent an entire day together with no more than a nod of the head between them. 

********************

"We're leaving tomorrow."  Martin Kinsington stood in the small parlor of his house, his three sons standing in various positions around him.  He had just informed them of his plans to return to Montana and, with the help of his sons, force Jennifer back home.  His wife would also be brought back to his house and would return to her proper duties.  Once he had the women where they belonged, he would make new arrangements for a marriage of Jennifer that would benefit his company.

"Father, I don't think that is wise," Thomas, his eldest son said.

"And, why not?" Kinsington bellowed.  "Am I to leave my wife and daughter in the hands of that bitch?  That outlaw?"

His son continued as calmly as possible, "that is not what I'm suggesting.  I just think that there are better ways to handle this."

"Such as?"

"I don't know," when he saw the look of contempt flash across his father's face, Thomas quickly continued, "give me time to make inquiries into the matter."

"No," Kinsington barked, "they belong here.  I will not allow them to defy me one more day."

"But, father," William, his youngest son injected, "did you not say that you were allowed to leave Montana Territory only because you swore you would never return."

"Do you expect me to be held to such an oath?"

"It is legally binding," Thomas asserted.

"There is nothing about that god forsaken land that is legal," Kinsington stormed.  "If there had been any law, that bitch would have been sent to prison for causing Barrish's death and your sister and mother would be here, as they should be."

"I don't think that is necessarily the case," Thomas countered. 

"Besides," Howard, the middle son added, "sounds to me like Jennifer is pretty happy where she is.  Why should we interfere?"

Martin's head whipped around to look at his son.  Thomas and William exchanged fearful glances, knowing that their brother had just let their secret out.

"How...do...you...know...that?" Kinsington asked, his words deliberate and his anger barely contained.

"Damn," Howard muttered.

"Answer...me."

"We received a letter from mother," Thomas revealed.

"You what?" Kinsington boiled at the information.  "And, you chose to keep this from me."

"She asked us to."

"Since when do you let a woman tell you what to do?" Kinsington stormed.

"Calm down, father," Howard spoke, an action he would quickly regret when his father's large hand struck him across the face, knocking him backwards.

"Father, stop," Thomas grabbed his father's arm while William knelt to check on Howard.

Thomas Kinsington had not inherited his father's temper, but he had inherited his size and, after years of loading and unloading cargo from the family's ships, he was more than a match for the large man.  He easily resisted Martin's attempts at breaking his hold.

"Let me go," Kinsington screamed.

"I will as soon as you calm down," Thomas tightened his grip.  "How is he?" he asked his younger brother.

"Dazed, but he should be alright," William told him.  "He's got a pretty nasty gash on the back of his head.  Must of hit something when he fell."

"Think you can get him to the doctor's office by yourself?"

"Yes," William helped his brother stand on wobbly legs.  "You going to be alright?" he asked, concerned about leaving his eldest brother alone at this time.

"Yes, get him out of here."

"We'll be back as soon as we can," William half-carried his brother to the door.

Martin watched dispassionately as his two youngest sons left the house.  "I want to see the letter," he demanded of the son who still held him.

"No," Thomas said, releasing his grip. 

"Give me the letter."

"I burned it."

"Something else she asked you to do, I suppose," Kinsington snarled

"Yes," Thomas lied as he carefully sat on one of the delicate chairs that his mother had furnished the room with.  "Sit down and we'll talk."

"With or without your help, I'm going back to Montana," Martin proclaimed as he dropped into a matching chair, uncaring how his large stature strained the fragile frame.

Thomas remained silent.  He studied the look of determination on his father's face and knew that nothing he could say would change his mind.  He thought of the letter he had received several weeks earlier from his mother, describing Jennifer's life in Montana.  He was still trying to understand the concept of his sister marrying another woman but from what his mother had written, Jennifer was happy and that was all that really mattered.

His mother had gone on to explain the events of his father's trip to Montana.  How he had attacked Jesse.  How he had forced Andrew Barrish into helping him kidnap Jennifer.  How Jennifer had been seriously injured during her unsuccessful attempt to protect the young man from the mountain lion.  How his father had been arrested and was saved from being sent to prison only because Jennifer asked that he, instead, be forced to leave Montana Territory and told never to return.

Thomas compared the details in the letter to the version his father had told upon returning from Montana.  It appeared his father had left out quite a few facts, especially his role in the tragic consequences that cost Andrew Barrish his life.  He wondered what the cost might be if his father fulfilled his threat to go back to Montana. 

Thomas was several years older than his sister and had had almost nothing to do with the girl as she grew.  It wasn't really intentional, at the age of twelve he was already working in the family business by the time of Jennifer's birth and had little time to spare for the new arrival.  He smiled as he thought of the little girl who always seemed to have a thousand questions.  She had been so full of spirit.  He now realized, that over the years, that spirit had gradually disappeared under their father's discipline. 

Thomas had been upset by his mother's letter, as had his brothers.  It had been disturbing to read of their sister's memory of them and, looking back, they knew that they had allowed their father's opinion of women to color the attitudes they had shown their mother and sister.  The brothers had discussed if there was any way to make up to Jennifer for such a lonely and unhappy childhood.  They hoped their mother was right and that, now, Jennifer was, indeed, happy. 

As he sat watching his father seethe, Thomas determined not to allow his father to destroy the happiness Jennifer appeared to have found in Montana.  "I will accompany you to Montana.  But, only I will accompany you and only under the following conditions."

"If I refuse," Kinsington sneered at his eldest son. 

"I will send word to the territory authorities, alerting them to your intentions."

"You wouldn't dare," Kinsington growled.

Thomas smiled at the man who had always controlled his family through the use of intimidation, no wonder his sister had chosen to run away.  He considered why he had never taken the same option.  "I will," he promised.

When his father didn't reply, Thomas continued, "Condition one, you will not seek Jennifer's return.  Condition two, you will allow mother to make her own decision as to whether she returns to live with us or she stays with Jennifer."

"Then, what's the point in my going?" Kinsington asked, bemused.

'Exactly,' Thomas thought to himself.  "For me to talk to them and ascertain if they are well and what their wishes are in this matter.  And, for me to ask mother to return," Thomas said.  He missed his mother and wanted her to be a part of his life again, especially now that he was preparing to ask a wonderful young lady to be his wife. 

"Not your sister?"

"Jennifer has a new life, father.  She is married and has a child.  There is nothing for her here."

"A bitch and a bastard," Kinsington snorted.  "Some life."

Thomas' jaw clinched at his father's words, "do you agree to my conditions?" 

"I'm going," Kinsington declared.  "And, when I get your mother and sister back here where they belong, I will make sure they understand the consequences of defying me.  Train leaves tomorrow," Kinsington said as he rose from the chair, "whether you go or not, is your choice."  He stormed from the room.

"For Jennifer's sake, I hope the love she shares with her Jesse is as strong as mother says," Thomas muttered to the empty room.  He made a silent vow that he would not let his father hurt Jennifer ever again.  And, if his mother chose to return, things would be different for her, also.

*****************

"What do you mean married to one another," a heavyset bald man asked as he puffed on a cigar.

"Just what I said," Tobias Harrington repeated, "two women married to each other.  All nice and legal according to Mayor Perkins."

"Scandalous," a tall, thin man shook his head.

"They refused our offer?" a third man asked.

"Never heard the offer," Harrington explained.  He was standing at the head of a large circular table around which sat a dozen men who formed the investment group that employed him.  He had returned to their office to report on the developments in Sweetwater.  "Turned Perkins and me down before we could give the details."

"This mayor," a man with curly red hair and bushy sideburns spoke, "did he not promise he could make things happen for us in this town, what's the name of it.... " he reviewed several pages of notes spread out before him on the table, "Sweetwater?"

"Yes, but,' Harrington began.

"Yet," the red haired man continued, "the first thing we ask of him fails to take place?"

"Well," Harrington tries again.

"I don't understand," the bald man with the cigar interrupted.  "how can such a marriage be legal?"

"Will you shut up," the red haired man shouted.  "I don't give a tinker's damn if the women are married to each other.  I do care that we are now required to spend thousands of dollars building a hotel that we hadn't budgeted for.  And," he directed his barb at Harrington, "I wonder if the men we entrusted this project to are worth the money we're paying them."

Harrington felt the ground slipping out from under him and he struggled to regain solid footing, "Mayor Perkins is very influential in Sweetwater."

"Doesn't appear to be," Harrington searched the faces around the table, unsure which of the men had spoken.

"Can we trust him?" a man sweating heavily asked.  "And, do we even need him?"

"We do need Perkins for the bank charter," Harrington interjected.  "Has to be a resident of the territory."

"Hell, we can get any idiot to front for us on the charter," the red haired man argued.  "Perkins is supposed to be able to get things done and do it without costing us money."

"Perkins, non-withstanding," everyone else at the table quieted as the elderly man sitting opposite of Harrington spoke, "is there any chance of getting these women to change their minds." 

"I don't believe so, sir," Harrington told him, omitting that he had no intention of returning to Sweetwater to remake the offer to those rude and improper women.

"Then, there is no sense in us continuing this discussion," the group listened to the elderly gentleman who happened to be the president of their investment company.  "Harrington, I want you to return to Sweetwater and oversee our operations there.  You are to make arrangements for the building of a hotel and at as little expense as possible.  Do you understand?"

"With all due respect, sir," Harrington objected, he couldn't believe he was being ordered back to that nothing of a town.  "It was my assignment to secure an ally in Sweetwater.  That I have done.  I do not see any reason for me to have to return there."  The very last place on earth he wanted to go was back to Sweetwater.

"You are correct, Mr. Harrington," the company's president replied.  "However, it was also your assignment to provide us with a good starting point.  Which, it is very evident, you have not done.  Why was the offer for the boarding house handled so inefficiently?  You said that the owners never actually heard our offer.  Yet, they turned it down.  What happened?"

Harrington couldn't believe he was being held accountable for those unnatural women refusing to sell.  But, he wasn't about to tell these men why his attempt at making the offer had been so abruptly rebuked.  Anyway, he didn't believe his behavior in the Slipper that morning played any part in the rejection.  "Mayor Perkins believed that......"

"Mayor Perkins is a fool," the president slammed a fist on the table, "and you should have made a better choice for our advocate.  Now, we are stuck with this man who seems to be incapable of following instructions.  I have just today received the list of building materials he ordered for the bank building."

'Oh, no,' Harrington thought.  'I knew I shouldn't have left that up to him.'

"Did you know he has engaged the services of a well known Denver architect to design the building?"

"No, sir."  Harrington did vaguely remember Perkins mentioning something about this but the man rambled on so that he tended to tone him out.  Maybe, he should have paid closer attention.

"Did you know he is planning to use brick and sandstone blocks in it's construction?"

"No, sir."  He definitely should have paid closer attention to the mayor's ramblings.

"Did you know he has ordered the most expensive safe available from New York City?"

"No, sir."  He would straggle that overly talkative little man when he got back to Sweetwater.

"It is apparent to me, Mr. Harrington, that you have not performed your duties in a satisfactory manner.  Therefore, I want you on the next train back to Sweetwater.  And, you will not return until you have successfully completed this undertaking.  Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"And, keep an eye on Mayor Perkins.  I do not want him causing us any more problems.  Or, more importantly, costing us any more money."

"But, sir..."

"You are dismissed."

Harrington nodded, thinking to himself, 'those Branson women are the cause of this.  If only they had accepted the offer for their boarding house.  One way or another, I will most definitely make them pay.'  He quickly exited the room. 

******************

"I don't know, Miss Jennifer," Ruthie was flipping through the pages of a catalog.  Each page was filled with descriptions of different kinds of cloth and their advantages for different types of clothing.  "It's hard to know what to order when you can't see it," the catalog lacked pictures.

"I agree," Jennifer was looking through a second book.  "And, all the descriptions are so general.  Like this one," she pointed to a spot on one page, "yellow flowers on pale background.  How are you supposed to know what that is?"

"This one jus' says 'gingham'," Bette Mae pointed at another part of the page.  "Doesn't even say what color."

"And, the notions are even worse," Mary added.

"Notions?" Jesse looked up from the paper she had been sketching on.

"Thread, ribbons, buttons, etc,." Jennifer explained.  "Here it says the thread comes in red, blue, green, black.  That's it, no shades of red, just red."

"So," Jesse asked, absently as she continued to draw.

"What if you're sewing a rose dress," Jennifer said, "what color thread will you use so it blends in and doesn't show."

Jesse lifted her arm and examined the sleeve of her cotton shirt, she scratched her head.  The thread didn't blend in.  In fact, it was quite easy to see.  "Does it matter?"

Jennifer chuckled, "yes, you old cowhand.  For a lady's dress, it most certainly matters."

"Oh," Jesse went back to her diagram.

The women were in the Slipper's office.  Jennifer and Ruthie were sitting on the couch, the catalogs Ed had for the Bozeman suppliers were spread out on their laps.  Mary was sitting in a chair brought in from the dining room and Bette Mae had pulled the arm chair next to the couch.  Mary and Bette Mae were leaning forward to see the books Ruthie and Jennifer held.  Jesse sat at her desk with KC perched next to her, the baby watching Jesse intently.

"T'ere," KC offered, pointing at Jesse's paper.  She was enjoying this game, she would point at the paper and her mommy would draw something.

"Um," Jesse considered KC's suggestion.  "Well, now, we could put the window there but then Ruthie might have some trouble working around it."  Jesse had drawn the interior of the office on a sheet of paper and was trying to figure out the best way to remodel the office into a dress shop.  "How 'bout we put that window in this wall," she pointed to a slightly different spot than KC had.

"Otay," KC agreed. 

"Okay," Jesse drew in a window.  "Now, where should we put the next one?" she asked the baby.

"T'ere," KC pointed at the paper, her finger landing on the location of the office door.

"Jesse?," Jennifer asked.

"Um," Jesse drew another window on the outside wall.

"I think we should make a trip to Bozeman."

"Oh," Jesse muttered absently as she reviewed her drawing.  She wasn't sure how many windows it would take to brighten the dark room or the best place to locate them.  The office had two outside walls but she had the covered porch on the other side of those walls to consider.

"We can't possible know what to order by looking at these catalogs.  I think we should take Ruthie and go visit the suppliers ourselves.  That way we can see what the material actually looks like."

"Oh, Miss Jennifer, I couldn't," Ruthie protested.

"Hush, child," Bette Mae shushed the seamstress.  "Ain't nothin' ta go to Bozeman.  "B'sides, ya gonna have ta learn ta do some of this by yoself.  Jennifer ain't gonna always have time, 'specially when school starts again."

"Bette Mae is right, Ruthie," Jennifer smiled at the nervous woman.  "Once school starts, I won't have time to do much.  And, well," she laughed, "we know Jesse isn't going to be of much help."

"Hey," the rancher glared at her wife.  "I can help.  I know what I like to see on my wife and," she grinned, mischievously, "what I like to see off."

"Jesse," Jennifer's cheeks colored as the other women giggled.  "You are so bad."

"Mommy bad?" KC asked.

"Yep, sunshine," Jesse winked at Jennifer, "guess momma is goin' have ta spank me when we get home."

"Jesse Marie Branson!!" Jennifer cried.

"Oh, oh," Bette Mae whispered to Mary.  "Seems these two are fixin' ta have a spat.  Care ta join me for a cool drink in the other room?"

"I think that would be a wise decision," Mary stood to follow Bette Mae out of the office.  "Come on, Ruthie," she waited for the younger woman to join them.

"T'ere," KC pointed.  She didn't want the game to stop just because the others had left.

"Just a minute, sunshine," Jesse said as she saw the look on Jennifer's face.  "I'm thinking I might have just stuck my boots in a cow pie."  Picking up KC, she walked to the couch and sat beside her steaming wife. 

"My mother was in the room, Jesse," Jennifer said, quietly,

"I know," Jesse draped an arm around her wife's shoulders and pulled her close.  She was relieved when Jennifer didn't resist.  "I'm sorry, darlin'.  Guess I jus' wasn't thinkin'."

Jennifer remained silent but leaned into Jesse's embrace.  "So," she purred after several long and awkward minutes, "just what sort of clothes do you like to see off of me."

Jesse smiled, glad Jennifer wasn't going to stay mad at her, "well, darlin'.  She hooked a finger under Jennifer's chin and tenderly tilted her face upward, "just about anything you have on, I like to see come off.  I love you," she sighed as she softly pressed her lips against Jennifer's.

"Mommy."  When Jesse had plucked KC off the desk, KC had done the same to the drawing.  "T'ere," she poked her tiny finger at the paper.

********************

The one story stage station was separated into three sections.  A dining area in the front with a cooking area behind a partial wall to the side.  The sleeping area for the stage driver and passengers took up the rear half of the building. 

In the middle of the dining room sat a roughly made table which was nothing more than a wide plank resting on two blocks of wood.  Benches on either side of the table were similar in design, only not as wide and not as high.  As the three passengers carried their luggage into the building, the station master's wife was placing bowls of food on the table. 

"Put your bags back there," the woman pointed to the doorway leading into the back room.  "Best come eat while it's hot.

All three men groaned when they entered the sleeping quarters.  Spaced unevenly about the room were a dozen cots, some looking as if their days of usefulness had passed years before.  Covering the cots were linens, pillows and blankets, all of which were dirty, stained, full of holes and, most unquestionably, bed bugs.  Quickly claiming the cots that seemed to pose the least danger, the men set down their luggage and returned to the other room.

"Privy is out back," the woman told them as they took seats at the table.  "Best be careful where you step, rattlers get pretty active this time of day."  She placed a pot of coffee in the center of the table.  "If'n you be wantin' a bath, you'll have to use the trough by the barn.  Just don't get it too muddy.  Horses don't take kindly to that."  With her duty done, she disappeared into the cooking area.

The men looked at the meal provided for them.  It was hard to deduce what many of the bowls held but they were hungry after the long day and started to fill their plates.

As he reached for the coffee pot, Harrington glanced at the men sitting on the opposite side of the table.  One was obviously older than the other and, judging by their resemblance, he presumed them to be father and son.  "Coffee?" Harrington offered the men and filled their cups when they nodded.  "I'm Tobias Harrington," he told them.

"Kinsington," the older of the two responded.  "Martin Kinsington and this is my son, Thomas."

"Kinsington," Harrington took a bite of the stew, frowning when he couldn't readily identify the animal the meat had come from.  "Seems I've heard that name before.  On the coast, perhaps."

"Kinsington Shipping Line," Martin said proudly. 

"Ah, yes," Harrington nodded.  "Mighty fine company you have, sir.  It is well known in the east as one of the best," maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad after all.  If he could get into the good graces of this Kinsington, a position in his company was possible and, then, he wouldn't have to deal with the town of Sweetwater, ever again.

"Thank you," Martin reached for more biscuits, thinking that they were safer to eat then the meat Harrington was having so much trouble chewing.  "However, I prefer to think of it being the best."

"Yes, of course," Harrington gave up on the meat and quickly swallowed to get rid of it.  "You built it on your own?"

"Took it over from my father and his father before him.  As my sons will one day take it from me."

'Probably sooner than you think,' Thomas said to himself.

"A business to pass on to your sons is a wonderful legacy," Harrington decided to give the bowl of roasted potatoes a try. 

"Yes," Martin agreed.

"What brings you west, Mr. Kinsington?" Harrington used a knife to cut through the undercooked vegetable.  "There aren't any sea ports in the territory, that I know of," he added lightly so his dinner companions wouldn't think he was prying.

"No," Kinsington struggled with a potato of his own.  "Personal business.  I've come to escort my wife and daughter back home."

"Visiting relatives, are they?" Harrington asked.

"Excuse me, Mr. Harrington," Thomas interrupted.  "But, I do believe our family business need not be discussed with strangers."  He did not want to listen to anymore of his father's ravings about Jennifer and her wife, which is all he had heard on the long train journey to Denver.

"Thomas," the elder Kinsington barked.  "Mr. Harrington meant no harm."

"It is a private matter, father," Thomas refused to back down. 

Martin fumed at his son's impertinence but, rather than create a scene in front of the other man, he chose to drop the matter.  For now.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Harrington," Martin smiled, uneasily.  "It has been a long trip and my son is tired."

"No offense taken," Harrington smiled back.  There was no reason to alienate the man when he saw potential for a future business relationship with Kinsington's company.  "I think I'll stretch my legs before turning in," he rose from the table.

The station master and coach driver entered, their work rubbing down and feeding the horses complete.

"Best git ya some sleep," the driver told Harrington as he headed for the front door.  "We'll be leaving at dawn.  You'll git called f'r breakfast a hour b'fore."

"Just a short walk to stretch my legs," Harrington told the man.

"Keep a watch out f'r snakes," the station master called after Harrington.

*******************

"Do you really think we need to go to Bozeman?" Jesse asked again as she and Jennifer lay in bed, their naked bodies pressed together.

"Sweetheart," Jennifer lifted her head off Jesse's shoulder so she could look into the eyes she so loved.  She leaned down and kissed sweet lips.  "I know why you don't want to go," Jennifer whispered, "but, I think you'll feel better if you talk to him."

Jesse knew Jennifer was talking about her father.  She still had heard nothing from her parents after they initially agreed to move to Sweetwater and join her family at the ranch.

"Maybe, you're right," Jesse hesitated.  "But, what will I say to him."

"Don't worry," Jennifer started a trail of soft kisses down Jesse's neck.  "You'll figure something out," she murmured as her hand found it's way between her wife's legs.

It didn't take Jesse long to figure out a course of action, though she was sure it wasn't exactly what Jennifer had been talking about.  She rolled over, taking her lover with her.

*****************

"Are you sure about this?" Billie Monroe, Sweetwater's sheriff, asked Thaddeus Newby, the Gazette's editor.

"Yes," Thaddeus nodded.  "Got it from a newspaperman in Denver.  He has a friend back east, they checked the details twice before sending that to me."  Thaddeus had just returned to town after visiting the surrounding mining camps and had found a letter waiting for him.  After reading it, he had immediately taken the letter next door to the sheriff's office.

Billie reread the letter.  "Damn," Billie shook his head.  "I can't believe he'd do this without telling anyone," he said about the town's mayor.  "Folks should have had some say in this."

"I agree," Thaddeus took the paper from Billie.  "I'm sure they'll have plenty to say when the next edition of the Gazette comes out."

"You printing all of it?"

"Yes.  I'll give Miles a chance to tell his side of it but, like you said, folks have a right to know."

"How many mines we talking about?"

"One, for sure.  Possibly, a couple more."

"I wonder which one," Billie knew that the mountains around Sweetwater were dotted with hundreds of claims.  Anywhere from small placer mines worked by one or two men, to larger operations requiring several men and heavy equipment to extract the ore from the ground.

"Word in the camps is that the Songbird hit a vein," Thaddeus replied.

"Hell, that's at the top of a mountain," Billie was aware of the general location of the Songbird claim but didn't know much about the miner that worked it.  He was a loner and talked very little whenever in town.

"Besides, the hotel and bank, the road they'll need to build to get the equipment up there will cost thousands."

"That's a lot of money," Billie whistled.  "Must have got a pretty good assay."  The higher percentage of ore in the rock, the greater the mine's earnings.

"Yep, and Miles stands to share in the profit."

"Think I'll ride out and talk to Jesse."  Billie thought of the rancher like a sister and he was concerned that the mining company's looming investment in Sweetwater could hurt the Silver Slipper's business.

"Say," Thaddeus opened his desk drawer, "if you're going that way, will you give this to Jennifer," he handed the sheriff an envelope.  "Got mixed up with mine." 

"Sure thing."

*****************

Jesse was cleaning out the horse stalls in the barn.  Knowing better than to leave her inquisitive daughter free to wander, especially after the chicken coop incident, KC sat in the carry sack on her mother's back. 

Shortly after she and Jennifer brought KC home, Jesse noticed how hard it was for them to carry the baby while riding horseback.  Using a piece of deer hide, she had set to work making the carry sack for her daughter.  She cut openings in the hide for the baby's legs to drop through and fashioned shoulder straps that would provide a way to carry the sack on their backs.  Then, she had sewn the pieces together with strong rawhide cords. 

"Mommy, ook," KC pointed over Jesse's shoulder to a pile of manure that had somehow been missed in Boy's stall.

"Thanks, sunshine," Jesse muttered as she re-entered the stall she thought she had just finished cleaning. 

"Jesse, I think you should take this more seriously," Billie said from his cozy perch on a hay bale.  Jesse's offer to let him help with her work had fallen on suddenly deaf ears.

"Billie," Jesse emptied the pitchfork into the wheelbarrow, "I can't stop them from building a hotel.  Besides, if they're planning to do all the stuff you say, they'll be plenty of new folks coming to town and plenty of business for both their hotel and the Slipper."

"Billie," Jennifer walked into the barn, she had seen the sheriff ride up, "what brings you out here?"

"Came to warn us that a hotel is being built in Sweetwater," Jesse started on Dusty's stall.

"Sweetheart, give KC to me," Jennifer instructed the rancher when she saw how difficult it was for Jesse to work with the active baby on her back.  "Harrington's investors?" she asked.

"Yes," Jesse came out of the stall and turned to let Jennifer remove the sack and baby from her back.  "They're buying one of the mines and expanding the mining operations."  Now free of KC's weight, she stretched the muscles in her back.  "Seems, Miles is working for them.  That's how he got the charter for the bank."

"Well, we figured when we refused to sell the Slipper that they'd build their own."  Jennifer pulled a few stalks of hay from KC's hair and looked at her dirt stained face and arms, "how you manage to get so dirty, I'll never know."

"Mommy," KC pointed at Jesse, busy in Dusty's stall.

Jennifer looked and, sure enough, Jesse was just as dirty as KC, "guess you do take after her in that way."

"Well, a new hotel is goin' ta take business away from the Slipper," Billie began his argument again.

"Seems like more people coming to town will only help the Slipper's business," Jennifer echoed Jesse's earlier comments as she placed a handkerchief in a bucket of water.  Wringing the cloth of excess water, she used it to try and clean some of the dirt from KC's face.

"Phttttt," KC stuck out her tongue, shaking her head from side-to-side to avoid the wet cloth.  She was not at all happy to have her face washed.

"Alright," Jennifer gave up, "you'll just have to wait and take a bath with mommy."

"Otay," KC grinned.  "Dow."

"Nope, you can leave some of the dirt on the barn floor, today," Jennifer kept a firm grip on the baby.  "You and mommy are wearing more than enough already."

KC's lower lip slowly pushed out as she pouted.

"What about the Slipper?" Billie asked.

Jesse stopped her work and leaned on the pitchfork, "Billie, ain't nothin' we can do, one way or the other.  We'll just have to see what happens when their hotel opens.  Hopefully, it won't hurt the Slipper but if it does, we still have the ranch."

Jennifer said nothing but she knew Jesse was aware if it wasn't for the Slipper's income, they never could afford the ranch.  If they ever set aside enough money again to get the breeding bull Jesse wanted then, maybe, the ranch would begin to pay.  She still felt guilty that Jesse had to use the money she had saved for the bull's purchase to pay the doctor in Bozeman.  She'd already decided to give Jesse her stipend for the coming school year to help replace the spent funds.

"Alright, Jesse," Billie stood up and brushed hay off the back of his pants, "guess you're right.  We just have to wait and see.  Mayor Perkins will have a lot of explaining to do as soon as Thaddeus gets the Gazette out this week.  Maybe, then, we'll know more about just what those 'investors' have up their sleeves."

"Staying for supper, Billie?" Jennifer asked.

"Thanks, Jennifer, but I'm meeting Ruth for supper."

"When you goin' to ask her to marry you?" Jesse asked as she came out of Dusty's stall with the last pitchfork load of manure.

"Damn, Jesse," Billie reddened.  "Ain't talked to her about that yet."

"Sheesh," Jesse leaned the pitchfork against the stall wall and bent to lift the handles of the wheelbarrow, "how long ya need?  You know ya love her."  She pushed the wheelbarrow out of the barn to dump it's contents.

"Hush, Jesse," Jennifer patted Billie on the arm.  "You take your time, Billie."

"Thanks, Jennifer."

"Just don't take too long," Jennifer teased.

"I'll see you two later," Billie shook his head at the good intentions of his friends.  "Oh, wait a minute.  Here, I almost forgot, Thaddeus asked me to give this you," he pulled the envelope from his pocket.

"What is it?" Jennifer asked as she accepted the envelope from Billie.

"Letter came for you."

"Oh," quizzically, Jennifer read the return address.

"Well, I best be getting back."  Billie turned to leave the barn.  Jennifer followed him outside, tucking the letter into her pocket.

"See ya, Billie," Jesse said as the sheriff walked past her.  "What is it, darlin'?" she asked when she saw the worried look on Jennifer's face.

"A letter from Andrew's father," Jennifer told her.

"Aren't you goin' to read it?" Jesse asked.

"Later," Jennifer didn't want to open the letter, apprehensive of what it might contain.  Andrew had been the 'fiancé' her father had arranged for her.  After his death, the young man had been sent back to his family for burial.  Though, she had truly played no part in the young man's death, Jennifer continued to feel responsible for it.  While still recovering from her own nearly fatal wounds, she had written a long letter to his family. 

Could Mr. Barrish be writing to place blame on her?, she wondered.  "I'll read it while you and KC have your bath.  Speaking of which, I better go start heating the water."

"Darlin'," Jesse walked to Jennifer's side.  "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Jennifer sadly smiled at her wife, "just afraid of what he might say.  I'd rather read it later."

"Okay," Jesse wanted to wrap Jennifer in her arms but considering her just completed chore, she opted to kiss her on the forehead.  "Why don't you take KC inside.  I'll just finish up here, won't take long."

Jennifer nodded and turned to walk to the ranch house.

*********************

Dear Miss Kinsington,

I write this letter for two reasons.  First, and foremost, I wish to thank you for the kind words you wrote regarding our son, Andrew.  It was with strong reluctance that I agreed he should accompany your father west.  As you may know, Andrew was my wife's and mine only son and we wished no harm to come to him in such a wild and dangerous country.  However, circumstances clouded our judgment and, for that, I will always blame myself.

I was outraged to hear of your father's demands that Andrew assist him in his efforts to forcible remove you from your home and to participate in the unspeakable treatment of you during that terrible ordeal.  I have taken up these issues with an attorney and assure you that your father's actions will not go unpunished. 

It is, therefore, that I come to the second reason for this letter.  It has come to my attention that your father has recently booked rail passage to Denver.  I can conclude no other purpose for doing such, then he intends to return to Sweetwater and, again, attempt to force your return to the east.  I sincerely hope that this warning reaches you in time to prepare for his arrival.

I wish for you to know, your description of our son's honorable conduct from his arrival in Sweetwater to the event that eventually led to his death has done much to ease our lose.  I shall be forever grateful to you for giving that to us.

Yours,

Mr. Benjamin Barrish

Jennifer read the letter to Jesse as the rancher washed the day's grime from her body.  KC splashed noisily between her mother's legs.

"Bastard!" Jesse exclaimed.  "Sorry, Mary."

"I completely agree with you," Mary had been listening while she cut up vegetables for the evening meal.  "I cannot believe he would dare return."

Jennifer silently refolded the letter and returned it to it's envelope.  "What are we going to do?" anxiously, she asked Jesse.

*********************

The sun had dropped from the sky and the moon was rising in it's place.  Upon finishing their meal in the Slipper's dining room, Billie had escorted Ruthie to the porch, where they now sat in the shadows.   

"Ruth have you ever thought about..." the sheriff stopped, he wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject of marriage. 

"About what, Billie?"

Billie took Ruthie's hand and squeezed gently, he thought back to the night he had first noticed the shy girl.  It was the night he had been shot while attempting to control a lynch mob that wanted to take Jesse from her jail cell.

His vision was finally clearing and the ringing in his head was dropping to a loud roar  His arm was wrapped in a clean bandage and a piece of ice, wrapped in a towel, was being pressed against his jaw by one of the young women that cooked and served meals for the Slipper.  He looked up into the prettiest auburn eyes and tried to think of the girl's name.  After several attempts, he, regretfully, decided that he had never known it and wondered why he hadn't taken notice of the pretty girl before. 

Figuring that he had recovered enough to go back to the jail and check on his prisoner, the sheriff made a mental note that when this matter with Jesse was settled he would come back to the Slipper and see if he could get the girl's attention.

He didn't have long to wait, a few days later when he and the posse returned to Sweetwater, the pretty girl was keeping watch on the porch of the Silver Slipper.  They had ridden over a rise still some distance from town when she'd spotted them.  He smiled when he saw her, even though he was sure he was too far away for her to notice.

Later, when he and the others were enjoying their first hot meal in days, she had come out of the kitchen carrying a tray.  He smiled at her again when she placed a plate in front of him and his heart jumped when she had smiled shyly back.

It had taken him a couple of days to build up the nerve, but one evening when the girl had brought him his supper, he had asked if she would accompany him on a ride to a local lake.  Hesitating for only a moment, she bashfully nodded yes.

"Do you remember that buggy ride?" Billie asked as he remembered how proud he was that night when Ruth had agreed to go with him. 

Confused a little by the change in subject, Ruthie hesitated.  Then, she smiled, remembering the nervous man she had served that night.  She still wasn't sure why she had said yes but she was mighty glad she had.

"Yes, Billie," Ruthie started to giggle.  "I remember it quite well."

Billie had arrived at the Silver Slipper in a buggy hired at the livery, it had been polished until it sparkled in the late morning sun.  The matching team of black horses had also received special attention that morning, their coats glowing under the recently polished and oiled harness.  Billie was wearing his Sunday suit complete with tie, his hat had been brushed free of all dust and dirt, and his boots matched the shine on the buggy.  Ruthie thought he looked adorable.

"Miss, Ruth," he anxiously crossed to where Ruthie was sitting on the Slipper's porch.  "Are you ready?" he stood in front of her, twitching under his pressed pant legs.

"Yes.  I took the liberty of preparing a picnic basket," Ruthie bent to lift the large basket next to the chair.  She knew the sheriff had a healthy appetite so she had packed a lot of food.

"I'll get that," Billie quickly reached down, picking up the basket before Ruthie could.  He was thankful she had thought of bringing food because, so focused was he on making sure the buggy was prepared properly, he had completely forgotten they probably would get hungry sometime during the day.  He nervously offered Ruthie his arm, "shall we?"

Ruthie timidly laid her arm across his, she allowed the sheriff to lead her across the porch and down the stairs.  She felt his strong hands gently grasp her waist as he helped her step up into the buggy, her skin tingling under his touch.  

It had taken a little less than an hour to reach the small lake that was their destination. They talked as they rode, their conversation uneasy at first but becoming more relaxed as the miles passed.  At the lake, Billie pulled the team of horses to a stop.  He helped Ruthie from the buggy and lifted the food basket out, setting it down on a sandy spot near the water's edge.  Normally, this part of the shore was underwater but, because of the dry summer, the water level was down considerable. 

"I'll just tie the team to that tree," Billie told Ruthie.

Surrounded by water a few feet from the shore, lay a tree that had fallen during some storm and had somehow made its way into the lake.  The tree lay with what would have been its canopy end resting in deeper water and the twisted and gnarled root system in shallow water.  Billie thought he would tie the team to the closest end, giving the horses access to the lake's water.  Between dry land and the tree were several large stones that Billie figured he could step on to reach the stump without getting his boots wet.  What he hadn't figured on was a thin, slimy layer of moss covering the stones that were usually underwater. 

Ruthie watched as Billie gingerly stepped onto the closest stone.  When the stone didn't rock or move, Billie warily placed his other foot on a second stone.  He stood on both stones, testing their steadiness.  When neither stone moved under his weight, he became confident to move closer to the tree, a bit too confident.

Not paying close attention to the placement of his feet, Billie missed seeing the small rock half buried under the large stone he was about to step on.  As his foot came in contact with the stone, it shifted and threw Billie off balance.  Tightening his grip on the reins he held in his hand caused the horses to rear and made his tenuous footing more unstable.  He quickly tried to shift his weight back onto his other leg but the action caused his boots to completely lose their grip on the slippery stones.  Billie's feet flew out from under him as his arms flayed uselessly in the air.  Before, Ruthie knew what was happening, Billie fell backwards and splashed into the cold lake.  Luckily for him, he landing in a patch of muddy lake bottom and not the hard stones he had been trying to navigate. 

Billie was wet.  Very wet.  There wasn't a dry spot on him.  His boots were full of water, his Sunday suit was waterlogged and he had a very nasty feeling that the muck on the lake bottom was starting to seep though the suit's material.  His hat, knocked from his head when he landed, was floating off towards the deep end of the lake.  Water, from his drenched hair, ran down his face and dripped off his nose. 

Not quite sure what to do, Billie remained where he had landed.  He was certain that his unintentional performance would ruin any chance he had with the pretty girl.  Humiliated, he looked to the shore. 

Ruthie was mortified.  Billie looked like a drowned rat.  A very cute drowned rat.  But, a drowned rat, nonetheless.  She met his eyes.

What Billie saw on Ruthie's face surprised him, she looked concerned not amused.  Well, maybe a little amused but mostly concerned.  His lips began to twitch, when he speculated that he probably looked pretty silly.

Ruthie was relieved to see that Billie appeared uninjured.  Her lips began to twitch with his. 

Soon, both Billie and Ruthie were laughing so hard that Billie ending up staying in the water for some time before he sloshed his way back to shore. 

"Made quite a fool of myself that day," Billie chuckled.

"No, you didn't," Ruthie objected.  "I thought you looked cute."

"I looked like a drowned rat."

"A very cute drowned rat."

Billie stood from his chair and stepped in front of Ruthie, kneeling down onto one knee.  Ruthie's heart began to race.

"Ruth," Billie took both of her hands into his.  "That day at the lake, I fell in love with you.  And, each day since my love for you has grown.  I've tried to come up with a romantic way to say this but I think I just have to get it out," he took a deep breath, slowly releasing it.  "Ruth, I love you.  And, I would be the proudest man in the territory if you would do me the honor of becoming my wife."

Tears rolled down Ruthie's cheeks as she listened to the most romantic words she had ever heard.  "Yes," she whispered.  "I would be honored to marry you, Billie."

Billie reached up and cupped his hands around Ruthie's face.  He gently brought their lips together and tenderly kissed his beloved for the first time.

********************

Jennifer and Jesse were talking over their options with Mary.  Jesse was standing by the fireplace while Jennifer and her mother sat at the table.  KC had been put to bed many hours before.

"I'm not running from him, Jesse." Jennifer was adamant that her father would not invade her life again.

"I'm not saying to run, darlin'," Jesse picked up the coffee pot to refill her cup, then set it back down.  She'd had so many cups in the last few hours she'd lost count and the thought of drinking anymore of the dark liquid was suddenly very unappealing.  "Just get out of Sweetwater long enough for Billie to handle things."

"I think Jesse is right," Mary was just as upset as the other women over her husband's plans to return to Sweetwater.  "Who knows what he is capable of, Jennifer.  You can't give him the opportunity to cause you or Jesse any more pain."

"This is our home," Jennifer whispered.  She knew Jesse and her mother were right but...  "Why do we have to leave?  He's the one in the wrong."

Jesse sat next to Jennifer and spoke quietly, "we let Billie take care of your father.  When he tells us it's okay, we'll come home."  Taking Jennifer's hands into her own, she pleaded, "please, darlin'.  I would die if anything happened to you.  Or, KC." 

Jennifer looked at the crib where their daughter was peacefully sleeping.  Jesse was right.  If anything happened to any of them........  "Alright, sweetheart," Jennifer leaned into Jesse, "where will we go?"

Jesse thought for a moment, "you wanted to see the buffalo."

"Walks on the Wind?"

Jesse nodded, "there's no way your father can find us there.  It would mean you'd have to ride Blaze, we can't take the wagon on the trail."

"Okay," Jennifer wasn't sure whether her leg would be able to handle the stress of a long ride but she was determined to do whatever she had to, to save her family from her father.

"I think you two should get some sleep," Mary stood, yawning.  "I know I can sure use some."

"I'll walk you," Jesse offered.

"No," Mary bent to kiss both women on their cheeks.  "When I get to the cabin, I'll pull the cord to let you know I got there.  You stay here with Jennifer."

"We'll go to town in the morning and talk to Billie," Jesse said.  "And, get supplies.  We don't know when your father left so it's best we leave as soon as possible.  Mary, it'll be safer for you to stay at the Slipper while we're gone."

"I have no interest in waiting for him to arrive," the older woman announced, "I'm coming with you."

"Mother, are you sure?" Jennifer asked, surprised at her mother's stated intentions.

"Yes.  I'll see about a horse at the livery tomorrow," she said.  "Besides, I think I'd like to see those buffalo Walks on the Wind talked about."

***************

"Are you sure he's coming here?" Billie asked, 

Jesse and Jennifer had walked into the sheriff office just before noon with the news of Kinsington's plans. 

"Yes," Jennifer watched as KC unwillingly played on the floor at her feet.  "Can you have him arrested?"

"Considering that was part of the deal for him to leave," Billie dug around in his desk drawer for his copy of Kinsington's plea arrangement.  "I'll wire all the sheriffs between here and Denver to arrest him on sight and take him to the territorial prison in Deer Lodge.

"Good," Jesse blew out a breath.  "Send word to us when he's locked up."

"That's a good idea for you to stay at the ranch until this is taken care of," Billie nodded.  "Ah, got it," Billie found the paper and pulled it out.

"We're not staying at the ranch," Jesse told him.  She was standing behind Jennifer, her hands resting on her wife's shoulders, she could feel the tense muscles under Jennifer's shirt.

"You're not?"

"No, we're going where he won't be able to find us.  I don't want to take the chance of him trying anything with Jennifer, again."

"You sure you need to leave?"  Billie was concerned about the women running into trouble and there being no one to help them.

"I think it's best,"

"Where ya goin' ta go, Jesse?"

"East of the mountains.  Jennifer wants to see the buffalo herds.  Walks on the Wind is there with his tribe."

"You plan on meeting up with him?"  Billie had met the Indian a few times at Jesse's ranch and liked the quiet man.

"Yes, you can send word there.  It'll be safer."

"You're probably right," Billie made a notation on the paper.  "Okay, I'll start writing the telegrams.  You going to the Slipper?"

"No, Ed's," Jesse told him, "we need supplies for the trip."

"Mary staying in town?"

"Momma, up," bored with her position on the floor, KC tugged on Jennifer's pant leg.

"She's going with us," Jennifer lifted the baby into her lap.  "I don't want him to find us, Billie," she hugged KC, her voice charged with emotion.

"He won't, Jennifer," the sheriff promised.  "Just be careful.  The less folks you tell about your plans, the better."

"No one will know except you, Ed, and Bette Mae," Jesse assured the sheriff.

"When you plan on leavin'?"

"First thing in the morning," Jesse said as she helped Jennifer up from the chair.  KC reached for Jesse and she took her from Jennifer's arms.

"Alright," Billie rose to walk the women to the door.  "You stay put with Walks on the Wind and his folk until you hear from me."

"Thanks, Billie," Jesse clasped Billie on the shoulder.

"Be safe, both of you," Billie told his friends.

"Bye, bye," KC held up her hand, fingers bending up and down.

"Goodbye, KC," Billie playfully rubbed KC's head.  "You take care of your mothers for me, okay?"

"Otay."

****************************

"I can't believe it," the storekeeper said after Jennifer told him about the letter she'd received.

"You can't tell anyone, Ed," Jennifer said.

"I won't," Ed pulled Jennifer into a hug, he could tell she needed one.  "You don't worry 'bout anything, you hear.  Billie and I will take care of ya daddy."

Jennifer started to cry, "I thought this was over."

"It will be, soon," Ed assured her. 

"Darlin'?" Jesse was worried about Jennifer.  It was a good thing they were leaving Sweetwater because if they'd stayed and she saw Kinsington, she'd take care of him herself.  And, she'd make sure he never hurt Jennifer again. 

"I'm alright," Jennifer released herself from Ed's embrace and dried her tears on her sleeve.  "Let's get what we need.  I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

As KC watched from her 'holding pen', her mothers and Ed quickly filled the back of the buckboard.  with the necessary supplies.  It wasn't long before Boy was pulling the wagon toward the Silver Slipper. 

Mary was waiting on the Slipper's porch.  A dark brown horse was tied to the hitching post next to the stairs, evidence that her trip to the livery was successful. 

The women hurried inside to find Bette Mae.

"Lordy, but tha' man must be thicker than a tree stump," Bette Mae said when she heard about the letter.  "Don' ya be worryin' 'bout me.  Ya go on and git goin'," she told the women.  "The Slipper 'ill be jus' fine.  And, I'll have someone keep an eye on the ranch for ya."

"No one can know that we're not there, Bette Mae," Jesse told her friend.

"And, no one will," Bette Mae wrapped her arms around the rancher and hugged her tight.  After a few moments, she released Jesse and hugged Jennifer.  "Now, git," she told the rancher and schoolteacher.

Jesse and Jennifer stayed just long enough for KC to give Bette Mae a hug and kiss, then they returned to the buckboard.

"We can tie him on back," Jesse told Mary, referring to the horse.

"That's okay," Mary said as she pulled herself into the saddle.  "I think I better ride.  It'll give me a chance to get use to doing it again."  Mary had proved herself an excellent rider when she'd accompanied Jesse on the ride to rescue Jennifer a few months before.  But, she had done little riding since they returned to Sweetwater.

"Okay," Jesse said as she helped Jennifer climb into the wagon, careful of her damaged leg.  She hoped the leg would survive the ride ahead of them.  Of course, she knew, if it started to give Jennifer trouble, they'd just hole up somewhere in the mountains.  At least, that way, Kinsington would have no hope of finding them.

Jesse settled beside Jennifer and snapped the reins over Boy's hindquarters.  The women were quickly on their way out of town, completely unaware of the controversy taking place in the newspaper office.

*******************

"Damn it, Miles," Thaddeus Newby sat back in his chair as the Sweetwater's mayor paced around his office, the late morning sun streaking through the building's windows.  "Those weren't decisions you had the right to make."

"As mayor, I had every right," Miles Perkins was not amused at having been summoned to the newspaper editor's office to answer his questions.

"The position of mayor is a honorary one, Miles.  You have no real power.  Heck, we don't even have a town council.  You know it's always been the custom for the town folks to vote on this kind of stuff."

"What's to vote on, Thaddeus?  They're giving us a bank, building a hotel, improving the road, hiring more workers.  All good things for Sweetwater."

"But, at what price?  You guaranteed them water rights, Miles, on stretches of the river that belong to the ranchers.  You promised to let them cut timber on land that doesn't belong to you.  You told them Jesse and Jennifer would sell the Slipper."

"The owners will be compensated.  And, Jesse would have been paid substantially more than that old building is worth, if she'd only listened to the offer instead of throwing us out of her office."

"That's not the point.  They should have been asked before you promised."

"There wasn't time," Perkins protested.

"Especially since you would lose your percentage if you asked," Thaddeus told the mayor the one piece of information he least wanted to hear.

"You know about that?" Perkins turned white.

"Yes, and soon everyone else in the valley will too.  Here's the next edition of the Gazette," he tossed a newspaper at the mayor.  In bold print, the headline screamed, 'MAYOR PERKINS SIGNS CONTRACT WITH MINING COMPANY.  GIVES AWAY VALLEY'S WATER AND TIMBER RIGHTS.'

"Care to make a comment, Mayor Perkins?"

*******************

It was dark in the mine shaft.  Dark, damp, dirty, and smelly.  But, he wouldn't have to put up with the conditions much longer.  The Songbird mine would soon be someone else's problem and he'd be heading back to St. Louis, his wife and children with a bag full of money.  He whistled tunelessly as he worked to clean up the mine shaft as best he could in the dim light his lantern provided.  No reason to leave anything laying about.  The assayer had come and gone and all that was left was to sign the papers and get his money, which he would do the next day.  Yes, soon he would be living on easy street and those big shots from back east could deal with this mountain of rock.

*******************

KC had been placed on the floor to play but, instead, she was keeping a close watch on her mothers and grandmother.  She knew something must be wrong because after they arrived back at the ranch, Jesse, Jennifer and Mary had been busy rushing around the ranch house. 

"Sweetheart, should I pack our heavy coats?" Jennifer asked as she laid out the clothing they would take.

"No," Jesse was filling a pack with food stuffs.  "It's too hot for those.  Our jackets should be fine."

"Won't it be cold in the mountains at night?"

"As hot as it's been it'll only get cold for a few hours.  Our blankets should be enough," Jesse carried the pack to the ranch house's door and set it on the floor with the other items they were taking.  "Coats will be too bulky and we don't want to overload Boy."  Since Mary was accompanying them, she had decided to take Boy along as a pack horse. 

"Alright," Mary lifted a saddle bag for the table to test its weight.  "That's it for me.  One benefit about having so few things," she said as she set the bag back down satisfied she could handle it.

"I think we need to start supper," Jesse went to check on Jennifer's progress.  "If we want to leave at dawn, we better get to bed soon."

"Okay," Jennifer nodded.  "Why don't you finish here and I'll make us something quick."

"Okay,"

"I can help," Mary said as she started to clear the table.

KC crawled to where Jesse was packing their folded clothes into a pack that would be strapped on Boy in the morning.   The baby pulled herself up on Jesse's leg, "mommy."

Jesse stopped her work and lifted the baby into her arms, "what's up, sunshine?"

"Me go?" KC pointed to the clothing spread on the bed.  She didn't like it when one of her mothers went somewhere without her

"Yep," Jesse kissed the baby's cheek.  "You, momma, grandma and me.  We're all going on a trip to see buffalo."

KC smiled, happy to hear she wasn't being left behind.

"Why don't you sit right here while I finish packing," Jesse set the baby down in a clear spot on the bed where the clothes were spread.

By the time Jesse finished packing their clothes and adding them to the pile by the door, Jennifer and Mary had put together a hot supper. 

"Smells good, darlin'," Jesse said as she washed her hands before joining her family at the table.

"Thanks," Jennifer blew on a spoonful of stew to cool it before feeding KC. 

"Jesse," Mary filled a glass with milk and placed it by Jesse's plate, "how does one find the buffalo herds?"

"That's pretty easy, Mary," Jesse took her place at the table.  "The herds are so big that once you get within fifty miles of them, you'll see the dust cloud they kick up when they're on the move.  The closer you get, you'll start to hear them grunting and the bulls buttin' heads.  If the herd happens to be running, you'll feel the ground shake.  It really is a remarkable sight."

"Hard to imagine that," Mary said as she tried to visualize a herd of animals so large they could make the ground shake from so far away.

"In a few days, you won't have to," Jesse told her.

"Walks on the Wind said they were taking the 'southern trail', is that how we'll go?" Jennifer asked.

"No," Jesse took over feeding KC so Jennifer could eat.  "That trail is further south than the one we took over the mountains to Bannack.  "We'll head due east from here and take an old trail that's seldom used anymore.  It's a bit rougher but it'll get us there quicker.  And, chances of us meeting anyone on it is next to nothin'."

"How long of a ride do you think it is, sweetheart?" Jennifer was still apprehensive about her ability to ride any distance with her injured leg.

"Four, five days if the trail over the pass is in good shape.  Another day or two, if not."  Sensing Jennifer's worry, she added, "we can stop anytime, darlin'.  We don't have to get to the buffalo.  Any place along the trail we can hole up and wait for Billie to find us.  You just say you can't go any farther and we'll stop."

"Okay," Jennifer smiled at Jesse.  "That makes me feel better."

"Any time, darlin'," Jesse repeated, "and we'll stop."  Jesse sniffed the air a few times, "darlin', are you trying to burn somethin'?"

"Damn," Jennifer jumped to her feet and grabbed a towel.  She pulled a pan away from the fire in the fireplace.  Carefully, she removed the pan's contents and placed a piece of the slightly overcooked cake on four plates.  In the center of one piece, she pushed a small candle.  Then, she carried the plates to the table.

"What's this?" Jesse asked.

"It's KC's birthday," Jennifer announced.

"It is?" Mary remembered them talking about the baby's first birthday but couldn't remember any date being decided on.

"Yes," Jennifer placed the piece with the candle in front of KC.  "No, not yet, sweetie," she told KC when she reached for the plate.  "We need to light the candle."

"Guess I kinda forgot all about it," Jesse admitted.

"Actually, I did, too," Jennifer retook her seat.  "But, today, when we were in the general store, I happened to see a calendar Ed has on the wall.  Sorry, mother, I meant to tell you but somehow, with everything going on, I forgot."

"That's okay," Mary reached over and patted Jennifer's hand.  "I'm just glad I'm here to celebrate with you."

"Me, too," Jennifer told her mother.

"Bette Mae is sure goin' be mad when she finds out," Jesse said.

"Oh," Jennifer laughed uneasily, she knew the older woman would be hurt that she'd missed the occasion.  "I guess we'll be drawing straws to see who has to tell her."

"Nah," Jesse winked at Jennifer, "we'll just let Mary do it."

"Momma, yum," KC demanded before Mary could protest.

"Oops, seems the birthday girl wants her cake," Jennifer reached back and snatched the box of matches off the fireplace.  "Do you want to blow out your candle, KC?"

KC tilted her head and looked at Jennifer like she had just grown a horn in the middle of her head.

"Guess she doesn't know what that means," Mary laughed at the baby's expression.

"Here, KC," Jesse leaned close to the baby.  "Do this," she took a deep breath, puffing out her cheeks out and blew.  The released breath tickling the baby's face.

KC laughed at her mommy.

"Come on," Jesse tried again.  "Do this," she repeated her attempt at teaching the baby.

KC looked intently at Jesse, puckered her lips, took a deep breath, puffed out her cheeks, and..............

The women waited.  And, waited.  And, waited.

Jesse reached out and gently poked a finger in a bloated cheek, releasing the confined air before the baby turned blue from holding her breath.

"Yum," KC pointed to the cake, figuring she had done what her mommy asked.

Mary chuckled.

"Guess that's going to take a little practice," Jesse scratched her nose.

"Here, sweetie," Jennifer pushed the plate close enough for KC to feed herself and pulled the candle out.  "Looks like we'll be keeping this for next year."

With the cake within her grasp, KC dug in with both hands.

********************

The men had endured several rough days of stage travel.  Harrington had made no further attempts to question Kinsington about his reasons for traveling west, deciding to wait until he could have a private conversation with the businessman.  So far, Kinsington's son had kept close by his father's side but Harrington was patient.  His patience finally paid off one night when he took his after supper walk.

Martin Kinsington stood next to the cascading waters of a small creek.

"Mr. Kinsington," Harrington said as he approached.

"Mr. Harrington."

"Seems our trip is almost complete," Harrington sat on log partially stretched over the creek.

Kinsington nodded, "and, none to soon for me."

"Yes," Harrington adjusted his position to move off a sharp piece of bark poking him in the backside.  "I, too, will be glad for this trip to end.  Although, I'm not anxious to face what awaits me."

"What does bring you, obviously a man of some refinement, to this god forsaken country?" Kinsington sat on the log a few feet from Harrington.

"My employers have sent me back to oversee their investments.  They have been forced to unnecessarily expend funds because the proprietor of a rundown, worthless boarding house in the town of Sweetwater...."

"Jesse Branson," Kinsington spat out the name.

"You know her," Harrington looked surprised. 

"She is the very reason I have come west."  Kinsington proceeded to tell Harrington of his earlier trip to Sweetwater, it's cause and it's unfortunate outcome.  Of course, he conveniently left out his part in the sordid affair.  "That bitch should be in prison."

"But, the law, Mr. Kinsington," Harrington questioned.  "Did they do nothing?"

"Law, ha," Kinsington rose from the log and began to pace, his agitation growing.  "Sheriff in Sweetwater is her best friend.  There is no law.  Not for decent people like you and me."

"I can't believe this," Harrington was worried.  "Why, I had been guaranteed that Sweetwater was a law abiding town."

"By whom?" Kinsington didn't think anyone in Sweetwater was worth much, especially since none would agreed to help him during his earlier visit.

"Mayor Perkins."

"That son-of-a-bitch," he sneered.  "Why, he's the bastard that married my daughter to that bitch."

"He WHAT!!" Harrington rose off the log in anger.

"Guess he left that little fact out of his resume," Kinsington laughed, humorlessly.

Harrington kicked at the log with his booted foot.  "I must wire my employers about this immediately.  They will not be pleased to hear that the law in Sweetwater cannot be trusted," Harrington was sure that this bit of news would probably cost him his job but he felt obligated to report it anyway.  "They will take the appropriate action."

"What can they do?"  Kinsington became very interested in what Harrington was saying. 

"They will have the territorial governor assign a U.S. Marshall to look into these matters."

Kinsington looked at the man he had, until now, taken little notice of, "your employers seem to have friends in high places, Mr. Harrington."

"It is in their best interest to ensure their money is not wasted."

Kinsington nodded.  "Maybe, Mr. Harrington, we can help each other."

"How so?"

"You want the Silver Slipper?" 

"Agreed."

"I want that bitch out of my daughter's life."

Harrington listened, saying nothing.

Kinsington continued, "if you were able to have her arrested and put in prison, the Slipper would revert to my daughter.  Once that happened, I would have Jennifer sign over all rights in the Slipper to you."

Harrington consider the proposition.  If he could deliver the Slipper to his employers, he would regain their trust and, quite possibly, be able to return back east.  On the other hand, if he could put Jesse Branson behind bars, Kinsington might just be grateful enough to offer him a position with his company.  Either way, he couldn't lose.  "And, what would you have her arrested for?" he asked.

"I have it on good authority that the child being referred to as my granddaughter was orphaned when it's parents were murdered."

"That seems to be common knowledge in Sweetwater."

"Do you know the entire story?" Kinsington asked.  When Harrington shook his head in the negative, he continued.  "The story told is that the child was discovered by my daughter and that bitch when they traveled to Bannack.  When they arrived with the child in Bannack, they reported to the sheriff that outlaws had killed the parents during a robbery attempt."

"And?"

"I have a friend in Bannack who informed me that when Sheriff Plummer went to investigate their story, instead of outlaws, he found evidence that the Branson bitch had actually been the killer."

"Why wasn't she arrested?"

"She managed to get Plummer hanged before he could do anything about it."

"How'd she do that?"

"Talked her friend, Sheriff Monroe, into sending a telegram to the territorial governor reporting Plummer to be the leader of a gang of outlaws.  Vigilantes got wind of it and took the law into their own hands."

"If what you say is true..."

"It's true enough," Kinsington figured if it would get Jesse hanged, it didn't hurt to stretch the facts a little.  "I suggest you have that U.S. Marshall check into it."

Harrington thought for a moment.  "Mr. Kinsington, if what you have just told me turns out to be true and you do, in fact, deliver the Silver Slipper to me.  I will make sure that you are rewarded with a percentage of the Montana mining investments of my employers."

"You take care of that bitch," Kinsington held out his hand, "I'll take care of Jennifer."

"You have yourself a deal," Harrington put out his own hand and the men smiled as their deal was sealed.

"Father," Thomas, who had been looking for his father, saw the two men shaking hands.  "What's going on here?"

"Nothing that concerns you, son," Kinsington nodded to Harrington before turning to walk back to the stage depot.

"Good evening," Harrington said to Thomas as he followed Kinsington.

"What the hell are they up to?" Thomas wondered.

*********************

PART 4

The sun's rays were just starting to peek over the mountains in the east, the sky unsurprising cloudless after another night of light rain.  Jesse, with KC snug in the carry sack on her back, mounted Dusty,  Moments before she had assisted Jennifer onto Blaze while Mary mounted her borrowed horse.  Jesse made a last visual check of the ranch buildings.  Satisfied nothing looked amiss, she knew it was time to leave.

"Ready, darlin'?" she asked Jennifer.

"Yes.  Mother are you ready?"

"Yes, dear."

"Okay, let's go," Jesse tapped her heals against Dusty's sides and the large palomino started walking,  Jennifer and Mary urged their horses forward.  Boy had no choice but to follow since his lead was wrapped around Jesse's saddle horn.

Jesse led the group due east from the ranch.  Within an hour, they left the rolling hills of the valley floor behind them and entered the pine forest at the foot of the mountain range.  At first, with no trail to follow, Jesse guided Dusty through the trees and underbrush picking the best path as they rode.  As their horses kept pace with Dusty, Jennifer and Mary looked in awe at the splendor of the terrain they were traveling. 

Ponderosa pines standing hundreds of feet high and with trunks several feet in diameter surrounded them.  The reddish brown bark shone bright wherever the sun's rays penetrated the dense canopy above.  The recent rains had encouraged wildflowers to bloom and the forest floor was carpeted in a mixture of yellows, blues, and reds.  Squirrels chattered at them and birds were heard singing and chirping in the tree's branches.  Occasionally, deer or elk bounded through the trees after being startled by the group of riders.

It was late morning when Jesse pulled Dusty to a halt next to a small creek.  "Let's take a break," she said as she swung her leg over Dusty's back.

"How ya doin', darlin'?" Jesse asked Jennifer, helping her to the ground.

"So far, so good," Jennifer gingerly put weight on her damaged leg, it was sore but seemed alright.  She took her cane from the, otherwise, empty rifle scabbard on her saddle.

"This is beautiful," Mary said, walking to the edge of the creek where the forest yielded to a small clearing covered in pine needles and moss.  Small boulders were jumbled in the creek, it's water washing over and around them.  A few more boulders were scattered about the clearing, providing handy places to sit and rest.  A large pine tree, probably blown down the previous winter, lay on it's side stretching from the clearing across the creek and back into the forest on the opposite bank.  The creek's waters flowing under the fallen tree.

"Water's a little dirty," Jesse commented as she and Jennifer joined Mary.  She noticed the creek was muddier than usual.

"Is that bad?" Jennifer asked as she sat on one of the larger boulders.

"May mean trouble up higher," Jesse slipped her arms free of the carry sack and gently placed it next to Jennifer.  She helped KC out of it, "let's check your britches, sunshine."

KC, released from the carry sack's confinement, started scooting for the rock's edge.

"Hold on there, squirt," Jesse grabbed KC before she could get too far.  "You stay right here with momma while I get you a fresh diaper."

"Pftttt," KC expressed her disappointment over not being allowed to play.

Jennifer lifted the pouting baby into her lap.  "Sweetie," she said to KC, "I know you want to play but you need to stay with mommy or me or your grandma, okay?"

KC continued to pout.

Jennifer kissed the baby's forehead, "I don't want you to get hurt.  So, you be a good girl and, I promise, mommy and I will let you play when we stop for the night.  Okay?"

"That's right, sunshine," Jesse returned with the pack Jennifer had filled with the baby's diapers and clothes.  "You be a good girl and I'll take ya in the creek after supper."

KC cheered somewhat with her mothers' promises, but she was still disappointed she wasn't going to get to play until later. 

Mary had been exploring the clearing and spotted what looked like a path coming out of the trees on the opposite side of the creek, then turning to follow the creek eastward.  "Is that the trail, Jesse?"

Jesse didn't look up from changing KC's soiled diaper, "Yep.  It's an old Indian trail, this end isn't used much any more.  It'll take us all the way to the pass and down the other side."

"Why don't they use it anymore?" Jennifer could just make out the overgrown path from where she sat.

"It's not safe for them, now.  Not with so many white men in the valley.  They still use it from the other side to reach the pass and the hunting grounds near the summit."

"Will we run into Indians?" Mary asked, suddenly concerned for the group's safety.

"Maybe," Jesse finished with the baby and sat her up.  "There ya go, sunshine.  All ready until we stop again."  Returning her attention to Mary's question, "might be a hunting party around.  But, I don't expect we'll have any trouble with them, most are pretty friendly unless you give 'em a reason not to be."

"Oh," Mary said regretting her apprehension.  She knew her fear was wrong, especially after the pleasant evening she had enjoyed with Walks on the Wind.  Realizing how affable the man was, she had wondered why the Indians were generally referred to as savages or worse.  Back home, she had read many gruesome newspaper accounts of violent Indian attacks against settlers but Walks on the Wind had said his father had been attacked and killed by white men.  She'd talked to Jesse about that and had been surprised by her daughter-in-law's response.

"Been bad things done by folks on both sides," Jesse said sadly.  "I've learned it's best not judge a fella by what his kinfolk have or haven't done.  Way I figure it, there's good and bad in every group of people so I try to take each person for who they are, not what they are."

It was good advice and it showed Mary that she was going to have to work a lot harder to overcome her own preconceptions of the native people. 

Jesse carried the pack back to Boy and tied it in place.  She retraced her steps to place KC back into the carry sack and found the child anxiously waiting for her. 

"Mommy, go," KC said as Jesse approached.  If she couldn't play here, she wanted to get to where she could.  And, the sooner the better.

"Alright, sunshine," Jesse bent down and lifted the baby.

"Here, let me help," Jennifer stood and took the baby allowing Jesse to slip her arms into the straps of the carry sack.  She placed KC into the pocket of the sack and made sure the baby was comfortable, "all set."

Jesse turned to face Jennifer, pulling her wife into a hug, "I love you."

Jennifer melted into Jesse's embrace.  "Mmmm," she sighed, she wasn't sure what prompted Jesse declaration but she was glad to share it, "I love you, too."

"Wuv," KC, not wanting to be left out, added as she wrapped her little arms around Jesse's neck and squeezed hard.

"Ack," Jesse laughed, choking a little.  "Not so tight, sunshine." 

Jennifer reached up and gently loosened the baby's grip, "you're getting strong, KC."  Then, she smiled as she thought about her words, "she is, isn't she, Jesse?"

"Yep," Jesse agreed, "she's not the littl' tyke we found, any more."

"No, she's not," Jennifer looked at the baby on Jesse's back.  No longer the tiny infant they had discovered buried under the remains of a burned out wagon, KC was growing into a healthy, resilient child.  "She's getting so big," Jennifer said sadly as she remembered the infant, "she's not a baby anymore."

Chuckling, Jesse tightened her hold on her tearful wife, "darlin', she's still a baby.  Don't go marryin' her off just yet."

Jennifer sighed deeply.  "I'm being silly," she sheepishly grinned at the rancher.

"Nah," Jesse leaned to kiss sweet lips, "you're just bein' a momma."

"I am, aren't I?" Jennifer smile widened.  It was amazing, right here in this little forest clearing, she had everything she had ever dreamed of.  A spouse she loved and loved her in return, and a beautiful child.  Happiness.  Then she remembered the threat looming over that happiness and her thoughts darkened.  "Let's get going," she pulled out of Jesse's embrace.  "We've rested enough."

"Alright," Jesse could guess the cause of Jennifer's sudden mood change and she agreed it was time to get moving.  "Ready, Mary?" she called to her mother-in-law.

"Yes, I'm coming."

***********************

Jesse guided the horses through the shallow water of the creek and onto the trail.  It showed evidence of once being a well used path, wide enough for two people to have walked side-by-side along it's surface of hard packed dirt covered by leaves and pine needles.  The trail paralleled the creek as it wound it's way east through the forest to the mouth of a canyon.  After a mile or two, the trail began a gradual ascent with the path narrowing and becoming rocky and irregular, making travel more difficult for the horses and riders.  The trail started to distance itself from the creek and, though soon lost from sight, the riders continued to hear the water tumbling and cascading down the canyon to the valley now far behind them.  

The further into the canyon Jesse led the group, the closer the canyon's steep stone cliffs closed in on them.  At one point, Mary was sure she could easily have lobbed a rock from one canyon wall to the other. 

The trail eventually found it's way back alongside the creek and the horses were making their way across a sandy stretch enclosed by a rocky ledge on the one side and the creek running along the other.  It was a welcome break for the horses who had spent the better part of the last miles picking their way along the rough stone littered path.

Being so close to the creek's waters did little to relieve the heat building in the canyon.  As the sun beat down, it's warmth was absorbed by the rock and radiated back out, baking everything between the canyon walls.  Jesse, sweat rolling off her back where KC sat, started to look for a camping spot.  They would stop as soon as she could find an adequate location.

Riding at the front of the group, Jesse could not see the strained features of Jennifer's face.  Her leg had begun to throb and ache and no matter how many times the schoolteacher adjusted her position in the saddle, she could not ease the pain.  Jennifer looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was well past the midday point, she was sure Jesse would be calling an end to the day's travels sometime soon.  She knew she only had to tell Jesse to stop and the rancher would do so immediately but she refused to say anything.  She would wait to rest her leg, first she wanted to get her family as far away from her father as she could.  And, she was more than willing to endure any pain to do so. 

The horses crested a rise and the rocky, uneven trail leveled and smoothed.  A small clearing opened before the riders.  Jesse looked around, the creek was close, the ground was relatively level, there were plenty of trees for shade and a good supply of firewood laying about.

"We're camping here," she announced and wasn't surprised when she heard no objections.

Jesse swung herself down from Dusty and turned to help Jennifer who was struggling to dismount.  The rancher grabbed the schoolteacher around the waist and carefully placed her on the ground.  When Jennifer maintained her hold on the saddle and made no attempt to remove herself from Jesse's steadying hands, the rancher knew something was wrong.  She scooped Jennifer up into her arms and carried her to a nearby tree, setting her wife down softly on the bed of pine needles at it's base. 

"How bad is it?"

"It's not too bad," Jennifer lied.  "I just need to rest it for a while."

"You should have said something," Jesse scolded as she slipped KC and her carry sack off her back. 

"Here's some water," Mary walked up, handing Jennifer a canteen.  "You don't look well, daughter," she knelt beside Jennifer, extremely concerned about the paleness of her skin.  When she placed her hand against Jennifer's cheek, the skin felt damp and clammy.

"I'm okay," Jennifer tried to smile but the pain was too great.  "I just need to rest."

"Stay with her, Mary," Jesse said, "I need to take care of the horses." 

"Momma," KC crawled to where Jennifer sat and started to climb onto her good leg, "yum."

"Are you hungry, sweetie?" Jennifer reached to lift the baby into her lap but stopped immediately when the action caused a stab of pain to shoot up her leg. 

"You sit still," Mary placed KC next to Jennifer.  "I'll help Jesse."

Jesse had pulled the saddles and packs off the horses and was standing near the creek letting the animals enjoy a long drink.  Mary knelt by the packs and began to open the ones holding the cooking utensils and food.  Each woman, feeling guilty for not paying closer attention to Jennifer's discomfort during the day's ride, kept a remorseful eye on the schoolteacher.

Happy to be out of her carry sack and unaware of her momma's suffering, KC pulled herself upright against Jennifer's shoulder, she stood on wobbly legs pointing and telling her momma about the surrounding sights.  Jennifer tried to pay attention to KC's gibberish but she found it hard as she watched Jesse and her mother prepare the campsite.  She was exasperated and annoyed at not being able to help.

Jesse let Dusty and Blaze loose, knowing they would not wander far, but Boy and Mary's borrowed horse were picketed next to the creek with a good supply of grass within reach.  Next, she set to work getting the campsite set up.  Water for cooking and cleaning was brought from the creek, a fire was started and bedrolls were laid out.  She made sure Mary had everything she needed to prepare their supper, even offering to help cook but Mary had insisted she could manage on her own.  With nothing else to keep her from Jennifer, the embarrassed rancher walked to where Jennifer waited.

"I got your bed ready, darlin'," Jesse knelt beside Jennifer.  "It'll be more comfortable than sitting here on the ground.  I'm so sorry, Jennifer," Jesse blurted, cupping her hand on the side of her wife's face, "I should have been payin' closer attention.  I should have stopped hours ago."

"Jesse," Jennifer's eyes filled with tears when she saw the mortified look on her lover's face.  "You have nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart.  I should have said something but," she leaned into Jesse's touch, "I wanted to get as far away from Sweetwater as we could.  I'm so sorry."

Jesse moved so she could sit behind Jennifer and lovingly wrapped her arms around her wife, Jennifer gratefully leaned back into her embrace.

"Come on, KC," Mary walked over and lifted the baby.  "Let's get you pants changed and then you can help me make supper," she told the baby, knowing the women needed some time alone.

*********************

Jennifer awoke to the sound of water splashing and KC giggling.

"Hush, sunshine," Jesse whispered, "we don't want to wake momma."

"Otay," KC whispered back but, as babies will do, continued making noise.

Jennifer opened her eyes to discover the sun was well up in the sky.  "Guess yesterday took more out of me than I thought," she said, not thinking anyone would hear.

"It sure seemed to."  Mary was sitting close by, she had been watching Jesse and KC play as Jennifer slept.

Jennifer grimaced as she stretched to work out the kinks that sleeping on the ground can cause.  The night before, Jesse, unable to provide a hot bath for her wife, had soaked towels in hot water and wrapped them around the leg.  Just before they went to bed, the rancher had lovingly massaged her tired body, lavishing special attention on her leg.  By the time sleep claimed Jennifer, the pain had lessened considerably.  Unfortunately, stretching the muscles had reawakened the raw nerves. 

"I'd ask how your leg was, but seeing the look on your face, I think I have a pretty good idea," Mary frowned.  She was still feeling guilty for not noticing Jennifer's distress the day before.  "Are you hungry?"

"A little," Jennifer smiled to ease her mother's concern, "and, the leg isn't as bad as I expected.  Isn't much worse than a normal morning."

Mary knew better than to question Jennifer any further.  For her daughter, the leg was just a fact of her life now and didn't need to be discussed.  It had taken Mary some time to understand, that for Jennifer, it was easier not to have to talk about the leg because that kept away the awful memories of the cougar's attack and Andrew Barrish's death.  She appreciated that Jennifer lived with a great deal of pain and soreness, and had come to respect how she never allowed herself to complain. 

As more laughter floated across the campsite, Jennifer propped herself up on her elbows so she could see what KC was doing that sounded so fun.  Jesse was sitting in a small, shallow pool with KC sitting on her legs and the two were splashing each other unmercifully.  The pool was encircled by several large stones that separated it's calm water from the creek rushing beside it.  Jennifer didn't recall seeing the pool the night before so she figured Jesse must have created it that morning.  Jennifer chuckled as she watched her wife and daughter play.

"Jesse sure has a way with the child," Mary observed as she followed Jennifer's eyes toward the creek.

"Yes, she does," Jennifer, now fully awake, realized how warm the day was and how hot she was under the blankets covering her lower body.  She threw the blankets aside, "and, KC simply adores her,"

"Seems she adores both of you," Mary told her.

"Momma," the movement of the blankets attracted the attention of KC.

"Good morning, sweetie," Jennifer called to the baby.  "You're not getting mommy too wet, are you?" she laughed when KC punched her little fists into the pool causing water to fly everywhere.

"Afternoon, darlin'," Jesse held up her hands to protect herself against KC's assault.

"Afternoon?" Jennifer questioned.

"Yes, dear," Mary explained.  "Jesse didn't want to wake you, she said you needed to rest.  She does look after you, doesn't she?"

That was one of the things Jennifer loved most about Jesse, she was always there for her.  Even when she didn't think she needed it, her wife would surprise her with a thoughtful word or action and her heart would melt all over again.  Like now, when she looked to the pool and saw the center of her life playing with their baby as if they didn't have a care in the world.

"Yes, mother," Jennifer sighed, contently, "she does."

Jesse stood up, lifting KC from the water as she did.  The baby was not happy to be removed from the pool but Jesse whispered something in her ear and KC smiled and nodded.  Jesse sloshed to the edge of the pool, her long legs making short work of the distance to the campsite. 

"Jesse!," suddenly Jennifer became aware that Jesse was as naked as KC.

"How ya doin'?" Jesse settled on the bedroll next to Jennifer, the sun's warmth making quick work of drying the water droplets remaining on her tanned skin.  KC climbed from Jesse's lap onto Jennifer's.

"You're naked," Jennifer whispered.

Jesse scratched her head, bewildered at Jennifer's comment, "usually am when I take a bath."

"But, Jesse," Jennifer wrapped her discarded blanket around the rancher, "someone could see you."

"Darlin'," Jesse laughed, "ain't nobody around here for miles.  How's the leg?" she turned serious.

"It hurts," remembering how hurt Jesse had been the day before when she'd kept her leg's condition to herself, Jennifer decided to tell Jesse the truth.  "I don't think I can ride very far today."

"No problem," Jesse bent to kiss Jennifer, "we're staying here.  Aren't we, sunshine?"

"Yep," KC said proudly.

Jennifer laughed as the baby imitated Jesse, "how long have you been working on getting her to say that?"

"A while," Jesse smirked.  "Thought since she looks like you, she should sound like me."

"Oh, you did," Jennifer shook her head, amused, "I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

"Too late," Jesse told her.  "Come on, KC," Jesse placed a hand on the baby's back to steady her, "get off your momma so she can get up."

"Otay," KC swung her feet off Jennifer's side, she slipped off to sit next to Jesse on the bedroll.

Mary brought a cup of stew to Jennifer.

"Thank you, mother," Jesse accepted the cup, thinking about what Jesse said.  "Sweetheart, maybe we shouldn't stay here today.  Father could already be in Sweetwater."

"Darlin'," Jesse was too concerned about Jennifer's leg to care where her father-in-law was, "we don't know that he's even arrived in the territory, yet.  And even if he has, he can't find us here.  Very few people know about this trail and the one's that do, won't be tellin' him anything.  Besides," she delicately ran her hand the length of Jennifer's leg, "you need to rest."

"But," Jennifer wasn't convinced her determined father wouldn't be able to find them.

"No," Jesse said softly.  "We stay here today.  Tomorrow, if we have to."

"Alright," Jennifer agreed.  There really was no point to argue.  Jesse was right, her leg needed the rest,

************************

"Miles, what in the hell were you thinking?" Conrad Billingsley demanded.

The citizens of Sweetwater crowded into the dining room of the Silver Slipper, it being the largest room in the town for such a gathering.  The day before, the Gazette had broken the story of the mayor's association with the eastern investment group and of the guarantees he had provided them.  It hadn't taken long for a town meeting to be called.

"It's good for Sweetwater," Miles Perkins, the embroiled mayor, tried to worm his way out of the fact he had promised rights to valley resources he did not own or control.

"I'm not giving up my water rights so some group of dandies back east can dig up a mountain," Billingsley continued.  Conrad Billingsley had come west after serving in the conflict between the northern and southern states, and had been the first rancher to pound in a stake claiming part of the valley as his own.  He built his Rocking B ranch into the largest in the valley and, with it, he owned more than half the valley's water rights.

"They will compensate you, Conrad," Perkins told the angry man.  "Rather handsomely, I might add."

"You fool," Billingsley reached for the mayor's neck, "I can't water my herds on their greenbacks."

"Back off," Billie Monroe, Sweetwater's sheriff, stepped between the two men before any harm came to the mayor.  "Sit down, Conrad," Billie commanded the rancher.  "We need to talk about this but I'm not going to let anyone get hurt."

"He promised them my water rights," Billingsley stood his ground.

"And mine," Marcus Butler, owner of another of the valley's biggest ranches said.  "I don't care how much money this Harrington and his investment group plans to pay, I'm not selling those rights."

"SIT," Billie was tired of everyone trying to out shout the others, "so we can discuss what we can do."

"Hang the bastard," someone yelled, many others in the crowd quickly voicing their agreement.

Perkins blanched, he instinctively reached for his throat as if a noose was tightening around it.

"No one's going to be hanged," Billie told the angry people.  "I know what Miles did was wrong and he'll pay.  As for selling your rights, you don't have to accept their offers."

"Billie's right," Thaddeus Newby walked from where he had been watching the proceedings to stand next to the sheriff.  It was the front page article in his newspaper that had alerted Sweetwater's residents to their mayor's activities.  "You can tell Harrington and his group you refuse, just like Jesse and Jennifer did."

"What about Jesse?" Billingsley asked the newspaperman.

"Tha' Harrington waltzed in here and said he was ta buy the Slipper," Bette Mae told the room.  "Miles done told him they'd be happy to sell."

"I did not," Perkins protested.  "I simply said that Jesse and Jennifer were too busy to bother with this place," his arm swept around the room.  "And, that they'd probably be real glad to have someone offer to take it off their hands."

"What 'bout me and the girls?" Bette Mae glared at the mayor.  "What was we supposed ta do?"

"I'm sure you could find jobs in Bozeman or Bannack or one of the mining camps," the mayor explained.  "After all, your services aren't exactly dependent on Sweetwater."

"Why ya littl'......." Bette Mae stormed towards the arrogant mayor."  Several of the women who worked for the Slipper followed close behind.

At one time, the Silver Slipper had provided gambling, drinking and prostitution to the miners and cowboys in the valley.  But after being won by Jesse in a card game, the drunks and dishonest card dealers were tossed out and the use of the building's second floor rooms by the 'working women' was stopped.  Jesse kept part of the main floor as a saloon and turned the rest of the Slipper into a boarding house and restaurant.  The women who had once plied their trade in the upstairs rooms had become the Slipper's card dealers, maids, and cooks and took great pride in the new professions. 

"Stop," Billie moved in front of the angry women.  "Killing him won't solve anything, Bette Mae," he told her even though, after hearing the mayor's offensive remarks, he could have killed the man himself for insulting the Slipper's employees which just happened to include his fiancé.

"Miles Perkins," loud and clear, a voice from the middle of the room cut through the confusion of angry shouts.  "I knew you were a horse's ass when I married you, but I will not sit here and listen to you say such terrible things."

"Why now, I think Mayor Perkins simply spoke the truth.  The Silver Slipper is nothing but a whorehouse.  And, it's scandalous that decent folks are expected to allow such an establishment in their town."

Everyone in the room looked to see Tobias Harrington standing just inside the Slipper's front door.  At his side stood Martin Kinsington and another man.

"Kinsington, what the hell are you doing back here?" Ed Grainger roared, seeing the easterner brought back the memory of fear on Jennifer's face just days before when she and Jesse had come to town with the news of her father's intentions to return to Sweetwater. 

"Mr. Kinsington has a right to be here,"  Harrington, confidently, told Ed.

"Like hell he does," Bette Mae turned her anger away from the mayor and at the man who had caused Jesse and Jennifer so much pain.

"Who the hell is that?" Billingsley and Butler both demanded at the same time, having never seen Harrington before.

"Mr. Harrington, it's so good to see you again," Mayor Perkins, anxious to focus the room's attention onto someone else, literally ran to greet his benefactor.  An action his dismayed wife could not recall ever seeing before.

"That's Harrington?" Billingsley started for the small man at the door. 

All at once, everyone in the room was shouting, their rage directed at Harrington, Kinsington and Perkins, individually or together depending on their situation.  Chairs were overturned and tables knocked aside as folks jumped to get closer to the men standing near the front door.

"Dammit," Billie yelled over the growing bedlam.  "Everyone calm down."

Seeing the hostile crowd surging towards them, Thomas Kinsington pulled his father and Harrington back out the door.  Mayor Perkins squeezed through the opening seconds before Thomas yanked the door shut for the slight protection it might provide.  "Run," he directed the men.

"Where?" Harrington asked.

"This way," Perkins took off down the stairs like a stick of dynamite had been stuck up his.... well, um....  okay, under his shoes. 

"My office."  Harrington and Kinsington followed immediately as Thomas continued to hold the door against the frantic efforts to open it from inside the Slipper.  As he felt the door slowly begin to be pulled from his grasp, Thomas heard a shot inside the building.  Releasing his grip, he took off at a run after the others.

*********************

Inside the Slipper, chaos had taken over.  Shouting, pushing, arguing, everyone seemed to have a different idea as to what should be done with Kinsington and Harrington and Perkins.  And, they were voicing their opinions quite loudly and freely. 

Thaddeus looked at Billie, "another orderly meeting of Sweetwater's finest."  His tone mocking as he remembered a night not too long ago that he and Billie had faced another out of control mob.

"Seems there's only one way to get their attention," Billie pulled the pistol from the holster he wore around his waist.

"Jesse won't like another hole in her ceiling," Thaddeus said as he saw the gun in the sheriff's hand.

"Doubt if she'd like them tearing the place up," Billie pointed the gun towards the ceiling and pulled the trigger.

BANG!!

Everyone froze.

"Please," Billie told at the crowd, "sit down."  He was smiling but his tone was anything but happy.  Folks continued to murmur between themselves as they followed the sheriff's order.

Conrad Billingsley, still standing next to the Slipper's door which he had just about managed to pull open when the gun was fired, asked Billie, "what you plan to do about Miles?"

"And, Kinsington?" Bette Mae added.

"You're letting them get away," someone in the room shouted.

"No one is getting away," Billie calmly replied, his gun remained in his hand, ready if needed.  "Miles won't go any further than his office and I'm sure the others are with him."

"So, what are you going to do?" Billingsley repeated.

"I'll go over there and talk to them.  Before you say anything, Bette Mae, I'm arresting Kinsington for violating his release agreement."

"You can tell that Harrington, I'm not selling my water rights.  No matter how much he plans to pay," Billingsley said, many others echoed his sentiment.

"Alright," Billie nodded, "I'll tell him.  Now, I want you all to go back to your own business."

"This is our business," Butler said angrily, from where he stood by Billingsley.

"I know that," Billie, just as angry, shouted back.  "Let me handle this.  Anyone that wants to can come by my office and file a complaint against Mayor Perkins.  The judge will have to sort all that out when he comes to town next month.  Until then, I'll tell Harrington the deals he made with the mayor are invalid.  He'll have to approach each of you individually and you can make your own deals with him, if you have a mind to.  Okay?"

"Alright, Billie," Billingsley nodded to the sheriff.  "We'll let you handle it for now.  But, if that man sets one foot on my property, I'll blow his head off."

"You talkin' Harrington or Perkins?" Butler asked.

"Both."

************************

After the townsfolk cleared out of the Slipper, Billie took a moment to talk to Ruthie.

"Billie," the young woman was worried about the sheriff facing the mayor and other men alone, "why don't you take Mr. Grainger and Mr. Newby with you?"

"I'll be fine, honey," Billie assured his fiancé, "and Thaddeus is coming with me.  He'll be wantin' to write it up in the Gazette."

"You be careful," Ruthie wasn't appeased at all.  "I don't trust Miss Jennifer's father.  And, he brought that other man with him who looks just as mean."

"I'll be careful."

"Billie, ya ain't plannin' ta keep tha' sorry excuse for a papa in your jail, are ya?" Bette Mae walked up to the couple.  "'Cause, I'm thinkin', he ain't goin' be too safe there.  'Specially since, I do all the cookin' for your prisoners," she grinned, wickedly.

"Hope that's not a threat," Billie glared at Bette Mae.

"Yes, sir," she sneered, "tha's 'xactly what tha' is."

Billie thought for a moment.  He knew Bette Mae disliked Jennifer's father.  Disliked probably wasn't a strong enough word to describe her feelings, yet she wasn't about to poison the man.  At least, he didn't think so.  However, she just might be willing to make him a little sick.  Okay, probably much more than a little sick.

"You promise not to poison him," Billie smirked, "and I'll take him to Deer Lodge in the morning."  The territory's prison was located in the small town on the other side of the mountains.

"Make sure ya git the nastiest horse the livery has to drag his sorry butt there," Bette Mae huffed as she started to straighten up the mess left behind by Sweetwater's citizenry.

"I've got to go," Billie told Ruthie as Bette Mae walked away.  "I won't be able to see you tonight, I'll have to stay at the jail."

"Alright," Ruthie smiled, demurely, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Billie, after a quick check to make sure Bette Mae wasn't watching, pecked her on the cheek.

"Be careful," Ruthie's face was tinted by a blush.

"I will."  Billie walked to the door, "come on, Thaddeus."

"Right behind you," the newspaper editor smiled, he had watched the exchange between the couple and knew a story when he saw one.  Billie would be answering some questions of his own before the day was done.

Billie and Thaddeus went straight to the sheriff's office after leaving the Slipper.  Billie took a shotgun out of the rack behind his desk and loaded it, putting extra shells in his pocket.  The sheriff marched out of his office and walked the few steps to the office next door, the newspaper editor on his heels.  Without warning, Billie kicked in the door of the mayor's office.  "Nobody move," he leveled the shotgun at the room's occupants.

*******************

Mayor Perkins sat at his desk while Harrington paced nervously about the room.  Martin Kinsington and his son sat in chairs opposite the desk watching the irritated man.

"Perkins," Harrington stopped momentarily to look out the window at the Slipper.  Seeing no activity outside the building, he continued, "your mess just keeps getting bigger."

"But, I," Perkins tried.

"Shut up," Harrington was pacing again.  "I have to think.  Martin, you dealt with these people.  What do you think they'll do next?"

"Father, what in the hell have you gotten us missed up in?" Thomas couldn't believe the angry reactions his father's appearance had provoked from some of the people in the Slipper.  Not to mention, the open hostility shown towards Harrington.

"Be quiet," Kinsington hissed.  "You wanted to come along.  Don't start questioning it now."

"I said we'd talk to Jennifer, nothing more."

"Look," Harrington slammed a fist down on the mayor's desk, "right now, I don't give a damn about your family problems.  I have a job to do.  A job that seems to have just gotten much more complicated thanks to you, Perkins," he snarled at the mayor.  "But, nonetheless, I have every intention of doing as my employers have ordered.  Now," he demanded, "I need to know what the townspeople are likely to do and how I can....."

The door burst open and the men were shocked to find themselves looking down the barrel of a loaded shotgun held in the sheriff's rock solid hands.

"Nobody move."  Billie stared at each of the four men, making sure they knew he was serious.  "Martin Kinsington," he focused on the large man, "you are in violation of your agreement to never return to Montana Territory.  By order of the Bozeman court, I'm placing you under arrest."

"Just a minute," Kinsington started to stand.

"Don't move," Billie ordered. 

"Father," Thomas saw that the sheriff was in no mood for a confrontation.  "Sit down, please."

"I will not have this incompetent lawman arrest me again," Kinsington shook off his son.

"Kinsington, you take one more step and I'll blow a hole clean through you," Billie calmly aimed the shotgun's barrel at the man's chest.  "And," he smiled viciously, "I'll take great pleasure in pulling the trigger."

Realizing, the sheriff meant what he said, Kinsington stopped.

"Just a minute, sheriff," Harrington protested, "you have no authority to arrest Mr. Kinsington." 

"Shut up," Billie hissed.  "You have enough of your own trouble, Mr. Harrington, without taking on this.  By the way, any agreements you've made with Mayor Perkins are being declared invalid until the judge gets here next month.  Until then, you talk directly with the property owners.  If they want to deal, okay.  If not, you get nothing."  He looked at the younger version of Kinsington sitting beside the man, "you related?"

"His son."

"Jennifer's brother?" Billie was surprised at the man's identity.

"Yes."

"You here to make trouble?"

"No, I just want to talk to her and my mother."

"Guess that's up to them," Billie told him. 

"Will you ask them to see me?"

For some reason, Billie trusted the younger man even though it didn't make much sense considering his father's unreasonable behavior.  "Right now, I need to get your father to the jail and locked in a cell for the night.  I'll be taking him to Deer Lodge first thing in the morning.  Once I get back, I'll talk to Jesse and Jennifer."

"Fair enough," Thomas agreed knowing he couldn't do much else.

"Let's go, Kinsington," Billie motioned for the man to accompany him.

"Don't worry, Martin," Harrington told his secret partner.  "The marshal should be here, any day."

"Marshal?" Thaddeus Newby had been quietly taking notes as he stood off to the side of the room.

"Yes," Harrington puffed up, "my employers have arranged for a U.S. Marshal to be assigned to bring law to Sweetwater."

"We have already have law here," Thaddeus pointed at Billie with the end of his pencil.

"Honest law," Harrington sneered.  "Not someone to turn a blind eye on the unlawful acts of certain individuals."  Billie's comments about shooting Kinsington had convinced him that his partner was telling the truth about the sheriff's willingness to turn aside the law in order to protect the Branson women.

"What are you talking about?" Thaddeus asked.

"I think the sheriff knows the answer to that," Harrington challenged.

"I don't have time for your games," Billie had no idea what Harrington was talking about and really didn't care at the moment.  "Come on, Kinsington," Billie led the man from the room, Thomas followed at a safe distance.

"Care to explain your comments?" Thaddeus asked again after Billie left with his prisoner.

"No," Harrington smugly replied as he sat on the edge of the mayor's desk.  "I think it will become apparent when the marshal arrives."

"And, when will that be?"

"Any day, now."

********************

Jennifer woke up giggling with Jesse nipping and nuzzling her ear.  It was still dark out and Jennifer was glad for the warmth of both their bedroll and Jesse's body wrapped protectively around her.  "Stop that," she playfully batted at Jesse.

Jesse continued to suck on the silky earlobe before whispering back, "if your mother wasn't sleeping on the other side of the fire, I'd be doing much more than this."  Her hot breath softly puffing across Jennifer's skin and awakening other areas of her body.

Jennifer turned her head and captured Jesse's busy lips with her own, she moaned quietly when her wife's tongue traced around her mouth before seeking entrance.  After several long moments of shared exploration, the women pulled apart.

"We can't," Jennifer whispered as she twisted her entire body to face Jesse's.

"I know," Jesse confessed.  "But, this is good, too," she smiled as she pulled Jennifer close.  "How do you feel this morning?" she asked, hoping the day of rest had helped the schoolteacher's leg recover.

"Well," Jennifer stretched her leg, testing it for soreness and pain.  "Actually," she happily reported, "it feels pretty good."

"Think you can ride?" Jesse kept her voice low since Mary and KC were still asleep and there was no reason to wake them if they weren't going to break camp.

Jennifer was unsure how to answer, "how far would we be riding?"

"Summit is 'bout half a day's ride," Jesse told her, thinking that if they could make the summit, it would be enough riding for the day.  "But, it's rough trail the last few miles and the canyon really narrows at the top.  We'll have a drop off to one side and a steep cliff on the other. there'll be no where to stop once we start up."

"I think I'm ready," Jennifer told Jesse but the worried look on her face said otherwise.

"You need to be sure, darlin'.  We can stay here, for as long as you want," Jesse didn't want Jennifer to feel forced into continuing their journey,

Jennifer considered their options.  They could remain in the camp, it was a nice spot and was probably far enough away from Sweetwater to keep them safe.  On the other hand, she wasn't sure how far her father would go to find her.  Even if Billie arrested him, she was sure that he would never have returned to Montana without a plan to circumvent the prior agreement with the territory authorities.  And, if he somehow found the trail they had taken out of the valley, they were less than a day's ride from the ranch.  No, it would be better to keep going.  The more distance they could put between themselves and her father, the better they would be.

"I can make it," Jennifer said, her determined tone more to convince herself than Jesse.

"Okay, if you're sure," Jesse looked into Jennifer's eyes in order to catch any doubt that might flash through them.

"I'm sure, sweetheart," Jennifer nodded, her jaw firmly set to the day's task.  "When should we leave?"

"As soon as we can, we'll want to get to the top before the afternoon heat sets in," she wasn't sure Jennifer was telling her everything but she was just as anxious to reach the summit and put the worst part of their journey behind them.

"Alright," Jennifer tried to push herself upright but found she was still securely held by the rancher.

"I love you," Jesse placed a tender kiss on her lover's lips.  "What say, I see about catching us some fish for breakfast while you get the sleepy heads up," she pulled away just as Jennifer tried to deepen the embrace.

"That wasn't nice," Jennifer pouted as Jesse sprang to her feet, leaving the schoolteacher alone in their bedroll.  Well, almost alone.  KC was tucked safely in the blankets where Jesse had placed her the night before.

***************

The citizens of Sweetwater watched as freight wagon after freight wagon rumbled along the stage road and pulled into the open field next to the general store.  Several men climbed down from their perches atop the heavy loads to help unpack the wagons.  Mayor Perkins and Tobias Harrington rushed out of the mayor's office to greet the wagons.  Hearing the commotion, Thaddeus Newby quickly followed.

"Mr. Harrington," one of the workers broke from the others to meet the men.

"You're late," Harrington grumbled as he hurried past the man's outstretched arm to inspect the materials being unloaded.  "Be careful, there," he shouted at a couple of men struggling to unload a large, bulky box.  "Anything broken will be deducted from your wages."

"Mr. Harrington," the first man turned to join the overseer.  "My name is Frank Wilson.  I'm the foreman sent to...."

"I know who you are and why you're here," Harrington kept his eyes on the workers.  "Why are you late?"

Frank Wilson had not been happy to hear he would be working with Tobias Harrington in Sweetwater.  The diminutive man was known in the mining camps for doing whatever was necessary to complete his assignments.  He also had a well earned reputation for being rude, arrogant and uncooperative.  But when orders came to pick up the building supplies in Bozeman, hire a work crew, and proceed to Sweetwater to build a bank and hotel for the company, Wilson complied.  He only hoped Harrington would make himself scarce once he saw that the foreman was more than capable to carry out his orders without his help.  Until then, he would have to try to get along with the supercilious man.

"We came as quick as we could.  The loads were heavier than we expected, it's been tough on the horses."

"Humpth," Harrington grunted.  "You have the invoices, I assume."

"Yes," Wilson handed Harrington an envelope.  "This is what they gave me."

"Well, let's hope you didn't leave anything behind," Harrington ripped open the envelope and began to scan the papers inside.  "How soon can you start building?"

"Soon as we get unpacked and I get the men rooms at the boarding house."

"You'll find tents and cots among the items in the wagons.  You can set the tents up there," he pointed behind the site where the hotel would be built.  "You and the men will be staying in them.  I've hired a cook to prepare your meals.  One of the tents will need to be set up near the creek for him."

"What?" Wilson had been told to house the men wherever he saw fit.  And, sleeping outside in a tent was not what he had in mind.  Especially since he'd heard many stories about the Slipper's clean rooms and good meals.

"Boarding house is off limits to employees of the company," Harrington shoved the papers back inside the envelope and turned to return to the mayor's office, now also his office.  "I suggest you get the hotel built quickly if you don't like the arrangements," he told Wilson as he walked past him.

"Hey, wait a minute," Wilson called after Harrington.

"Perkins will answer any other questions you may have," Harrington never broke stride.

Wilson looked at the mayor who smiled nervously,

"Mr. Wilson, I have the buildings' plans for you," Perkins handed the disgruntled man several rolled up drawings.  "The hotel is to be built on that lot," he pointed across the street to the empty space next to the stage station, "and the bank is to built here," he pointed to where the men were unloading the wagons, next to the general store.  "You might want to stack your materials elsewhere." he suggested.

"Damn," Wilson took the drawings as he mumbled, "this is starting off great.  You men," he called to the workers, "stop unloading that stuff.  We need to move the wagons further back."  Ah yes, he thought as he listened to the men grumble, he could tell that the coming weeks were going to be a lot of laughs.

"If you have any questions or require anything, you can find my office there," Mayor Perkins pointed to the building on the other side of the general store.  "Nice to meet you," he said before scurrying away before the man could think of anything.

*********************

Sheriff Billie Monroe looked up as the door to his office opened and a form stepped through blocking out the late morning sunlight.  He had planned to leave for Deer Lodge at first light but trouble with a couple of drunks at the Oxbow saloon had delayed his departure.

"I'm looking for the sheriff," a man wearing a badge over his left breast said.

"I'm Sheriff Monroe," Billie figured that the mysterious marshal Kinsington had been bragging about all morning had finally arrived.  "How can I help you?"

The man stepped further into the small office and shut the door behind him.  He stood about the same height as Billie but was thinner and older.  He wore a faded blue cotton shirt tucked into a pair of denim pants.  His well worn leather coat and boots were covered in trail dust.  A black stetson sat on his head and was pulled down tight over his eyes.  A thick salt and pepper handlebar mustache was about all of his face the sheriff could make out.

"I'm United States Marshal Bret Morgan," the man pulled a wrinkled paper from his pocket.  "I have an arrest warrant for one Jesse Branson."

Billie was taken aback by the man's announcement.  "What the hell are you talking about?" Billie leaped out of his chair. 

"I told you things would be changing around here," Kinsington laughed.  He was listening to the conversation from his cell.

"Shut up, Kinsington," Billie shouted.

"Would that be Martin Kinsington?" the marshal asked.

"What if it is?" Billie really didn't like the way this was going.

"Yes, marshal," Kinsington called from his cell.  "I am Martin Kinsington."

The marshal reached back into his pocket and pulled a second wrinkled paper free, "I have a release order for Mr. Kinsington."

"From who?" the dismayed sheriff asked.

"Territorial governor," Morgan tossed both papers onto Billie's desk.  "All charges have been suspended pending investigation into the charges against Branson."

"I don't believe this," Billie collapsed back into his chair.  He picked up the papers and read them, very carefully.  "You can't be serious," he told Morgan as he read.  "There's no truth to these charges."

"That's for a judge to decide.  Where can I find her?"

"What's up, Billie?" Thaddeus entered the room, he had seen the marshal enter the sheriff's office from where he was watching the freight wagons being unloaded.

"See for yourself," Billie handed the papers to the newspaperman before opening his desk drawer to retrieve the cell door keys.

"Now, sheriff," Kinsington said as Billie unlocked his cell, "you can take me and the marshal to where my daughter and that bitch are."

At that moment, Billie was very glad Jesse had the forethought to leave town with Jennifer and KC.  "Sure," he agreed knowing that he was about to lead the men on a wild goose hunt, "we can ride out to their ranch."

"Billie, are you crazy?" Thaddeus looked up in surprise.  Since Jesse and Jennifer had not told him of their plans, he assumed they would be at the ranch.

"Marshal has a warrant," Billie told him.  "I have to cooperate."

"Jesse didn't do this," Thaddeus shook his head.  "You'll be giving her over to the hangman."

"Why don't you ride with us, Thaddeus?" Billie hoped his friend would, he could use his help in making the marshal's job as hard as possible.  Something he knew Thaddeus would be glad to do once he realized Billie wasn't riding out to arrest Jesse.

"That's a good idea," Harrington proclaimed.  "Then, you can write how that bitch is going to pay for her crimes and how Jennifer is going back east with me, where she belongs."

"Dammit, Kinsington," Billie grabbed his hat from a peg on the office wall, "don't you ever get tired of making a fool out of yourself?"

"Father," Thomas entered the sheriff's office, expecting to find his father behind bars, "what's happening?"

"We're riding out to find your sister and arrest the bitch who took her from us."

"You can't do that," Thomas was concerned how such an action would affect Jennifer. 

"Sheriff, I'd like to get this taken care of as quickly as possible," the marshal said, tired of all the talk.  Especially, since he couldn't figure out how half of it was possibly related to his stated business.

"Alright," Billie nodded, "let's go."

*********************

The trail narrowed becoming increasingly rocky and treacherous.  Recent rains had loosened the ground further up the canyon's walls and rock slides had covered many stretches of trail with jagged stones.  A few of the slides had been big enough to wash out small sections of trail.  The women let the horses pick their own way around the obstacles as they slowly made their way towards the summit.  Jesse knew they were rapidly approaching the point where turning around would be impossible, she had to stop and ask Jennifer how she was doing.

Choosing a spot where the trail widened as it re-entered the cover of trees for a short stretch, Jesse pulled Dusty to a stop.  "Jennifer," she turned as her wife rode up beside her, "if we have to turn around, this is the place to do it."

Jennifer knew what Jesse was asking.  She took her booted foot out of the stirrup and tested the leg.  It was sore and she had begun to feel a little pain about an hour before but it didn't feel too bad.

"How far to the top?" she asked as she reached behind Jesse to give KC a drink from her canteen.

"Three miles," Jesse drank from her own canteen, "four, at the most."

"Mother, how are you doing?" Jennifer wanted to hear her mother's answer before she made any decision.

"I'm fine," Mary had dismounted to stretch her own legs.  "I can make another few miles."

"It's going to be rough," Jesse told both women.  "Rougher than what we've already seen."

Mary considered this information.  The past few hours she had spent holding on to the saddle horn with a death grip hoping that her borrowed horse wouldn't suffer a misstep that sent both of them plunging down the steep slope to the creek now several hundred feet below them.  If the miles ahead were worse........   Of course, once they reached the summit, the frightening trail would be behind them.

"I can go on," Mary remounted.

Jennifer reached for Jesse's hand and brought it to her mouth, placing a tender kiss on the soft skin.  "I'm okay, sweetheart."

"Alright," Jesse wanted to get to the summit as much as the other women.  "Let's check KC's britches and get moving.  If we don't run into trouble we should make the summit in a couple of hours."  They wasted no time in seeing to the baby's needs and getting back on the trail. 

Half the distance to the summit had been covered when Dusty rounded a granite outcropping and came to a stop.  The trail ahead was gone, washed away by a mudslide.

"What's wrong?" Jennifer asked, Blaze had yet to clear the outcropping and she could only see the back end of Dusty..

"Wash out," Jesse told her.  Carefully, she stood in the stirrups to get a better look at how much of the trail had been washed away.  "Damn," Jesse muttered, frustrated that she couldn't see an end to the damaged section.  There was no way to turn the horses around and go back and it was too dangerous to try to back them down the trail.  She would have to find a way across.

"Stay there," Jesse told Jennifer, "I'm coming back to you."  She looked to her left, the slope of the mountain was almost perpendicular and covered in debris from the slide.  To her right, the drop was just as steep and she couldn't see the bottom.

"Easy girl," she settled Dusty before trying to dismount.  With the baby on her back, she didn't need Dusty getting nervous just now.  Jesse turned her head to look into the baby's eyes, "sunshine, I need you to sit very still.  Okay."

Sensing the danger, KC whispered, "otay."

Jesse edged Dusty as close to the left as possible, then carefully swung her leg over the saddle.  She made sure her foot was on solid ground before putting all her weight on her leg.  Carefully, she worked her way down Dusty's side, breathing a sigh of relief when she reached the trail behind the horse.

"Sweetheart?" Jennifer saw the trepidation on Jesse's face.

Jesse was glad to see that the section of trail where Jennifer and Mary waited was actually wider than she thought.  It would provide a place for them to wait without worrying about being right next to the edge.  It wasn't a lot but it would have to do.

"Mudslide took the trail out," Jesse helped Jennifer and Mary carefully dismount.

"What are we going to do?" Jennifer asked.

"You're staying here," Jesse took a deep breath.  "I'm going to lead Dusty across and set a trail."

"Jesse, no," Jennifer shook her head violently.  "We can go back."

"Darlin'," Jesse placed her hands around Jennifer's face, "we can't.  Not without leaving the horses."

"Jesse, please," the schoolteacher was scared that Jesse would fall down the mountain.

"Listen," Jesse tried to assure her wife, "Dusty is the most sure-footed horse I know.  We'll go slow and find a way across.  Then, I'll come back for you."

"No, Jesse," Jennifer was on the verge of tears.  "I can't lose you," she whispered, desperately.

"I'm not going anywhere," Jesse wiped the tears away with her thumbs.  "I promise, darlin'," she smiled, "I'll be back."

"Jesse," Mary wrapped her arms around her distraught daughter, "are you sure that's the only way?"

"Mary," Jesse answered quietly, "you know what lays behind us.  This slide can't be that long, we're almost to the top.  I'll be back before you know it."

"Be careful," Jennifer pleaded.

Jesse pulled Jennifer close and kissed her.  With her own voice full of emotion, she told the woman she loved more than anything, "I love you, Jennifer.  You are my life, I won't lose you now."  She swung the pack off her back and handed KC to Jennifer.  "I love you," she kissed the baby's forehead.  "You be a good girl."

"Wuv," KC threw her arms around Jesse and held tight.

"I love you, Jesse," Jennifer gently pulled the baby off Jesse.  "Come back."

"I will, I promise," Jesse said before turning to work her way back to Dusty.

"Okay, girl," Jesse rubbed Dusty's head.  "Let's get this done, we have people counted on us."  She turned to survey her options of a path through the debris field.  It didn't look good, rocks, tree branches, and dried mud covered the mountain side in front of her.  "Guess there's only one way to do this," she said as she started to pick her way across the rubble.  She held the reins loosely in her hand, not wanting to be pulled over the side if Dusty lost her footing.  

Jesse was scared as she worked her way across the wash out.  One wrong move and she'd be on a fast trip to the canyon bottom before she could stop herself.  She thought of Jennifer and KC waiting for her and was determined to return to them.  She came to a solid ledge under the debris and was grateful for it's support on the otherwise shaky cliff.  Just at the end of the ledge, a boulder blocked her progress.  She thought she could climb over it but there was no way for Dusty to do so.  Jesse studied the situation, she saw a small branch wedged under the rock and holding it in place.  If she could move the branch, the boulder would fall down into canyon and out of their way.  But, she wondered, how much more of the hillside would go with the rock. 

Calculating that the ledge she and Dusty currently occupied was relatively secure, Jesse decided to try to move the branch and hope for the best.  She really didn't have any option.  She could go back to where Jennifer and Mary waited but Dusty could not.  Warily, she climbed upslope of Dusty so she could pull the rope coil from her saddle then she returned to the ledge.  She opened a loop in the rope and tossed it over the end of the branch.

"Please let this work," she prayed as she yanked the rope as hard as she could.  At first the branch resisted her efforts, then ever so slowly it began to slip out of the mud under the boulder.  It had pulled only partway free when the rock began to budge.  Sensing, the rock's movement, Jesse released her hold on the rope so she wouldn't be pulled with it if the branch was carried down slope by the boulder.  Moments later, the boulder rolled free, bouncing and crashing all the way to the bottom of the canyon.

Jesse froze.  Breathlessly, she waited.  The ground beneath her feet held. 

"I hope we don't have to do that again," she let out a long sigh. 

Looking beyond where the boulder had rested, she thankfully spied the end of the washout less than fifty feet ahead where the trail curved out of sight.  It wasn't long before she and Dusty were standing back on the trail and firm ground.

*********************

The sheriff had led the men into the ranch yard moments earlier and made a show of calling out for Jesse and Jennifer.  When no response came, Kinsington had kicked in the door to the ranch house looking for his daughter.  The marshal rode to the barn to check there and Thomas had walked off to investigate Mary's cabin.

"Where are they?" Thaddeus whispered to Billie so the other men wouldn't hear.

"Gone," was the only reply.

"Where are they?" Kinsington stormed out of the empty ranch house.

"Sheriff, do you know where they are?" the marshal asked returning from the empty barn.

"Nope," Billie told the man.  "Figured they'd be here since they weren't in town."

"You know where they are," Kinsington tried to pull Billie from his horse but was stopped by Thomas.

"Stop it, father," the younger man threw Kinsington to the ground.  "How would he know where they are?  They could just be out for a ride or something."

"They must have known I was coming," Kinsington picked himself up and brushed the dirt from his clothes.

"How?" Thomas countered.  "You didn't send word telling them, did you?"

"No," Kinsington considered the question.  "But, you could have," he accused his son.

"I wish I had," Thomas mounted his horse, disgusted by his father's behavior.  He hoped Jennifer had had prior warning and was somewhere safe and very far away. 

"Guess I'll just have a look around," the marshal looked at the sheriff, trying to gauge his reaction.  He had a gut feeling the lawman knew more than he was saying and considering he had been sent to Sweetwater because the sheriff was accused of collaborating with Jesse, he was determined not to trust the man.  "Maybe I can pick up some tracks."

"Suit yourself," Billie shrugged, confident in the fact that Jesse was one of the best trackers in the territory and was just as skilled at hiding tracks.  He was sure she had left nothing behind to give away their movements.  "Think I'll swing by the river on the way back to town."

"Where they like to picnic?" Thaddeus asked, picking up on Billie's attempt to keep the marshal chasing his tail for a while.

"Yeah," Billie nodded, "by that big pine tree."

The marshal watched Billie and Thaddeus ride away, Thomas and his father close behind.  He looked around at the empty ranch yard and scowled.  There were a hundred different ways Jesse Branson could have ridden away from the ranch and most would take her to extremely remote parts of the territory.  The kid was right, if they hadn't had prior warning, they were probably just out for an afternoon's ride or picnic.  They were sure to show up sooner or later.  Maybe, he'd do well to follow the sheriff.  Morgan kicked his horse into a trot and rode after the others.

********************

Jennifer waited, her heart in her throat, as Jesse made her way back across the washout alone.  She had refused to wait with Mary but had stood at the edge of the slide watching every move Jesse made.  She had almost screamed when Jesse loosened the boulder, sending it to the bottom of the canyon.  But she hadn't, afraid it would startle the rancher causing her to loose her footing and fall.  Now, Jesse was returning to her and she could breath again.

"Whoo," Jesse whistled when she reached Jennifer.  She wrapped her arms around her wife and hugged her tight.

"You okay," Jennifer asked from the safety of Jesse's arms.

"Yep," Jesse tightened her hold.  "I am now."  Jesse released Jennifer then led her back around the outcropping to Mary and KC. 

"You're back," Mary rushed to hug Jesse, KC in her arms.

"Mommy," KC reached for the rancher.

"Hi, sunshine," Jesse laughed as the baby literally leaped into her arms.  "Have you been good?"

"Yep," KC giggled.

"What now, Jesse?" Jennifer asked, she knew they still had to cross the stretch of washed out trail.

"Now, I take the horses across," Jesse told her.  "Then, I come back for you."

"Can't we go at the same time?" Jennifer offered. 

"No," Jesse picked up a canteen and took a long drink.  The heat was building between the canyon's walls and she was starting to feel it.  "It's not safe to try with the horses, too much could go wrong."  She pulled the canteens from the saddles to leave with Jennifer and Mary.

"But, sweetheart," Jennifer noticed Jesse appeared drained from the treacherous first crossings of the washout, "that means you have to make two more crossings."

"It's okay," Jesse smiled.  "I know the way now.  Won't take nearly as long this time.  Plus, the horses will beat down a path for us to follow and make it that much easier."

"I don't know, Jesse," Jennifer would rather be able to get everyone across and be done with it.

"Trust me, darlin'," Jesse grinned.  "I'll be back before you know it." 

Jesse tied Boy to Blaze's saddle horn and Blaze to Mary's horse, preferring to lead the horse most unknown to her.  She was confident that Blaze and Boy would follow with little difficulty.  With quick kisses planted on Jennifer's cheek and KC's forehead, Jesse started back across the debris field.  Having Dusty's hoof prints to follow was a big help and it wasn't nearly as long before she reached the other side.  Once she had secured the horses, Jesse began to ease her way back to her family.

It was getting hotter and it didn't help that the debris field was in the open providing no protection from the sun.  Jesse could feel the sweat rolling down her back, legs, and arms.  When this was done she planned a nice long soak in the small lake at the top of the summit. 

Jennifer met Jesse with a canteen, the rancher quickly drained it.  "Glad this is the last trip," she said as she picked up KC's pack and prepared to put the baby into it.

"Why don't you let me carry her?" Jennifer reached for the sack.

"No, darlin'," Jesse kept the sack out of Jennifer's grasp.  "You will have enough to walk across, I'll take KC."

Jennifer knew Jesse was right, trying to make her way across the narrow, uneven path would be all she could handle.  If she was honest with herself, she wasn't really sure she could do it.

"Here ya go, sunshine," Jesse placed the baby in the carry sack and swung it onto her bag.  "You need to sit real still for mommy, okay?"

"Otay,"

"You've been a real good girl today, sunshine," Jesse twisted to smile at KC.  "There's a nice lake not too far away and when we get there we'll go swimming.  Does that sound good?"

"Yep," the baby smiled back then hunched down in the pack to do as her mommy asked.

"Good girl," Jesse winked at the waiting baby.

"Mary?"

"I'm ready," she wasn't so sure, but she'd made it this far.  What was another few hundred feet?  She had the canteens tied around her waist, most were empty so they didn't add much weight to her small frame.

"Darlin'?"

"Yes, I'm ready, sweetheart."

"Okay," Jesse adjusted the pack on her tired back.  "I'll go first, then Jennifer, then Mary.  Follow the path the horses left.  If you have any trouble, call out.  It's better to wait than try to force your way across," she looked at the women to make sure they understood.  Both nodded.

"Let's get out of here," Jesse lead the women out of their temporary sanctuary.

Leaning heavily on her cane, Jennifer made it partially across the washout when she realized her leg would go no further.  Picking her way through the debris had taken it's toll and to make matters worse, her bad leg was on the downhill side.  "Jesse," she called to the rancher several feet ahead of her.

"What?" Jesse froze in place, hearing the anguish in her wife's voice.

"I can't go any further," Jennifer told her.

"Don't move," Jesse said as she continued to make her way to the other side.  She couldn't help Jennifer with KC on her back without endangering all three of them.  "I'll be right back.

Unable to move, Jennifer could do nothing but watch Jesse's move steadily away from her. 

Reaching the spot she had left the horses, Jesse placed the carry sack at the base of a small tree.  KC still sat inside.  "KC," she told the baby, "I want you to sit right here.  Don't move.  I have to go get momma," Jesse wasn't sure the baby understood but leaving her in the carry sack would limit her ability to go anywhere.  "Sit right here."

"Otay," the baby looked up at her mommy.  Somehow, she knew her mother was counting on her to do exactly what she was told.

"Good girl,"

Jesse bent to kiss the baby and had to put a hand on the tree to keep herself from keeling over.  She was tired.  More than tired, exhausted.  Taking her time, she stood and waiting for the dizziness to pass.  She looked for a canteen, then realized Mary was carrying all of them.  Not that they would do her much good, most were empty.  She had to get back to Jennifer and then get the family to the summit where they could all rest.

"Come on," Jesse told herself.  "You only have one more trip to make.  You can do it," she headed back for Jennifer and Mary.

Jennifer was getting concerned when Jesse didn't reappear around the curve at the far end of the washout.  She was about to call to her when the rancher walked out of the shadows and started back for her.  The closer Jesse got, the more Jennifer could see how worn out she was.

"Tomorrow, we're resting in camp for you," Jennifer mumbled.

"What's that?" Mary asked from where she waited a few feet behind Jennifer.  Too concerned with where she was placing her own feet, Mary had not realized Jennifer was having problems until she'd called to Jesse.  At first, she had been happy to wait and rest but, now, she was anxious to be off the slippery slope and on solid ground.

"Nothing, mother," Jennifer's eyes never left Jesse.  "Jesse is on her way back."

By the time, Jesse reached her stranded wife, she was breathing hard.

"Are you okay?" Jennifer was more than concerned over the rancher's condition. 

"Fine," Jesse smiled but her tone said otherwise.

"You need to rest."

"Let's get you over there so we all can rest," Jesse turned her back to Jennifer and bent down.  "Climb on."

"Jesse," Jennifer thought Jesse had lost her mind.  "You can't carry me."

Slowly, Jesse stood upright and turned back to face Jennifer.  She took a deep breath before speaking, "darlin', you can't walk.  Can you think of any other way to get you across?"

"You can't carry me," Jennifer couldn't imagine Jesse carrying her in her present state of exhaustion.

"Then, what?" Jesse tiredness was making her frustrated.  When she heard no answer, she added, "KC is all alone over there.  No tellin' how long before she decides to try and find us.  Please, climb on my back so we can get this over with," Jesse pleaded.

Mary said a silent prayer as she listened to their conversation and knew the exhausted rancher would get her daughter to safety even if it cost her own life.  Mary hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Jennifer sighed.  Damn, it was times like this that she hated her father.  If it hadn't been for him, she would not be in this situation.  She and Jesse would never have been forced to leave their home.  She would not have been attacked by the mountain lion.  She would not be dependent on an exhausted woman to carry her to the top of a mountain.  'Damn you, Martin Kinsington,' she thought, 'if I ever see him again, I'll make sure he never, ever, does this to us again.'

Jennifer nodded and Jesse turned to present her back to her wife.  Jennifer climbed on Jesse's back and waiting breathlessly while Jesse got her balance and straightened.  Her steps were shaky but Jesse carried Jennifer to safety and set her down near KC before collapsing.

"Jesse," the schoolteacher cried when she saw Jesse drop to her knees.

"Water," Jesse asked, her throat so dry the words hardly made their way out.

"Here," Mary handed Jesse the last canteen to carry any of the precious liquid.

Jesse gulped the water down, sucking in the last drop.

"We're camping here," Jennifer announced, even though they were only in a wide spot in the trail with the horses tied to trees standing within inches of the path.

"No," Jesse said, her energy returning as she resolved to get her family to the safety of the summit.  "The summit isn't far from here."

"Jesse, you need to rest," Jennifer was just as determined her wife would go no further.  They could get to the summit tomorrow, or the next day, for all she cared.

"Darlin', we need water," Jesse pushed herself upright.  "If we don't run into any more problems, we'll be there in less than an hour.  Then, we rest.  For as long as you say," she added when she saw Jennifer was about to protest.

Jennifer glowered, she'd been outmaneuvered.  "Okay, but remembered you promised."

"I'll remember," Jesse smirked. 

"You get the horses, I'll carry KC."

"Deal."

*******************

Jesse lay in the cool waters of the mountain lake with barely any part of her visible except her face.  KC sat on her stomach splashing and laughing.  Jesse had been underwater since they had finished supper.

Jennifer sat on a smooth rock, her bare legs tangling in the water.  "You planning on staying in there all night?" Jennifer inquired of the submerged rancher. 

"Yep," KC answered.

Jennifer could see the ripples in the water created by Jesse's silent laughter.  "I give up," she chuckled as she lay back on the rock to enjoy the setting sun. 

****************

PART 5

Jennifer sat on the same flat rock she had used the night before to watch Jesse and KC play in the lake.  From her perch, she could see for hundreds of miles in every direction.  It was a panorama she had never in her life envisioned and she was enjoying every second of it as she watched the sun rise in the east and paint the sky in pinks, reds and oranges.  It was a glorious morning.  Especially when she considered that less than twenty hours before she had been trapped on the side of a cliff trying to pick her way across a washed out section of trail, unsure if she or her family would survive. 

Jennifer's eyes surveyed their campsite situated in an alpine meadow that gently sloped down to a crystal clear mountain lake.  The meadow was quite large forcing the trees of the surrounding forest some distance from the camp.  The supply packs were stacked about fifty feet from the shoreline and a campfire had been built between them and the water.  This morning, the fire glowed softly, surrounded by dark forms still tucked in their bedrolls.  The horses were happily munching on an early breakfast of ankle deep, sweet, dew covered grass and tender wildflowers,

Jennifer heard a sound.  Instantly alert, she scanned the area for the source.  Across the meadow, a elk cow and her spotted calf cautiously emerged from the shelter of the forest.  At the same time, far off in the distance, Jennifer heard the cries of a coyote greeting the dawn.  The mother elk lifted her head and listened, taking a few sniffs of the air while her calf pranced nervously at her side.  Deciding the coyote posed no immediate threat to her calf, the elk put her head down to graze.  The gangly calf edged close to the cow and nosed underneath her belly for the tit and warm milk it knew would be there. 

The elk reminded Jennifer of her own wife and child sleeping a few feet away.  Jesse lay on her back with KC sprawled on top her.  The baby's head was nestled between the rancher's breast, a long arm draped securely over KC's back.  Jennifer felt the sting of tears in her eyes as she observed the peaceful sight.  This was the life she wanted and she resolved to protect it from any and all threats, including her father.

********************

"Billie," Ruthie looked in disbelief at the sheriff, "they can't arrest her for that.  It's not true."

Billie had come to the Slipper to have breakfast with Ruthie.  They were seated at one of the dining room's tables and he was telling Ruthie and Bette Mae about the marshal's arrest warrant for Jesse. 

"What ya plan ta do abou' this, Billie?" Bette Mae asked when the lawman remained quiet.

"Nothin' much I can do," Billie sadly shook his head.  "Warrant is legal.  If the marshal finds Jesse, he will arrest her."

"Must be somethin' ya can do," Bette Mae slumped in her chair, looking expectantly at the sheriff.  She knew Jesse and Jennifer had left the valley and that keeping that information from the marshal could get Billie into trouble.  She also knew that Billie was Jesse's best friend and looked out for her like a brother. 

"Been doin' what I can," Billie said in a low voice.  Right now, it was more important to him to keep the marshal occupied chasing his tail while Jesse and Jennifer got far away from Sweetwater.

"It's bad enough that Miss Jennifer's father has come back," Ruthie was close to tears thinking of the women who had been so kind to her, "but, to be accused of this.  Poor, Miss Jesse.  And, what will Miss Jennifer do?"

"I'd like to know who made up such a story and how they got the governor to believe it," Billie, unthinking, reached out and gently took the hand of his upset fiancé into his own.

"I'll bet tha' sorry excuse for a papa has somethin' ta do with all this," Bette Mae said as she thoughtfully considered the intimate gesture.  "Somethin' the two of ya wants ta be tellin' me?" she asked in a lighter mood, smiling at the pair.

"Oh," Ruthie's cheeks turned a deep rose color as Billie quickly withdrew his hands.

"Been kinda wondering that myself," Thaddeus Newby had entered the Slipper in search of breakfast.  He sat in the table's vacant chair just as Bette Mae asked her question.

"Well," Billie, his skin also a slightly deeper shade than normal, looked at Ruthie, "guess we were plannin' on breaking the news sometime, weren't we, honey."

Ruthie smiled bashfully, "go ahead, Billie."

"Well, we did kinda want to want until Jesse and Jennifer were here but," he reached out and re-took Ruthie's hands, "Ruth has agreed to be my wife."

"Well, lordy," Bette Mae chuckled, "it's abou' time ya asked her.  Littl' Ruthie a married woman.  Ain't that grand," she smiled broadly at the blushing soon-to-be-bride.

"Congratulations, Billie," Thaddeus thumped the sheriff on the back.  "And, to you, Ruthie.  When do you plan on tying the knot?"

"Oh," Ruthie immediately spoke up, "not until Miss Jesse and Miss Jennifer come back."

"Maybe by then you'll get use to not using the 'Miss' with their names like they keep askin' ya," Billie teased the shy girl he loved.

"Come back from where?" the voice came from the steps leading upstairs to the boarding rooms.

"Damn," Billie muttered.

Marshal Morgan completed his descent of the stairway and crossed to the table. 

"Come on, Ruthie," Bette Mae stood, "we have work ta do in the kitchen.  Jesse don't pay us to sit around all mornin'."

"Yes, ma'am," Ruthie sprang to her feet, she was petrified she had given away Jesse and Jennifer's secret.

"I ask again, sheriff," the marshal repeated, "come back from where?"

"From wherever they've gone off to," Billie calmly poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot Bette Mae had placed on the table earlier.  "Care for a cup, marshal?" he asked, casually.

The marshal studied Billie as he took a seat and accepted a cup of the hot coffee.  He had been told the sheriff was a good friend of the Branson woman and wasn't to be trusted.  But, until he could prove the man was keeping information from him, he would have to accept what he was told. 

"Here's yor breakfast, Billie," Bette Mae came out of the kitchen carrying two plates heaped high with eggs, ham, and potatoes.  She placed one in front of the sheriff and the other in front of the newspaperman, "and, yor's, Thaddeus."  Then, turning to the unwelcome third man sitting at the table, she asked scornfully, "ya be wantin' anythin', marshal?"

"Bring him a plate, Bette Mae," Billie answered with a wry smile, "just 'cause he has a job to do, don't mean we can't be friendly."

"If that's wha' ya be wantin', Billie," Bette Mae said without acknowledging the marshal.  "Though, I don' rightly know why we have to put 'im up and feed 'im when he wants ta arrest Jesse," she mumbled as she disappeared behind the kitchen door.  Moments later she returned with a plate, not half as full as the others, for the marshal.

Marshal Morgan ate in silence while Billie and Thaddeus, not wanting to inadvertently say anything of interest in front of the marshal, discussed a engagement announcement to be published in the Gazette. 

When all three plates were empty, Billie asked, "want are your plans today, marshal?"  He hoped he could spend another day leading the man on a fruitless search for the missing women.

"Think I'll talk to folks around town," the marshal pushed his chair away from the table and stood.  "Maybe someone heard or saw something last time Branson was in town."

"I'll come along," Billie downed the last of his coffee, "if you don't mind."

"Actually, sheriff," Morgan said as he walked to the door, "I think it's best I do this alone."

"Suit yourself," Billie reached for the coffee pot to refill his empty cup.  "Let me know if you need my help."  He smirked as the marshal's only response was a grunt while he walked out of the building.

"Aren't you afraid he might talk to the wrong person?" Thaddeus asked.

"Nah," Billie leaned back in the chair.  "Nobody knows nothin'.  Jesse and Jennifer kept their plans to themselves." 

Billie figured the white lie was better than telling any more to the newspaper editor and having him accidentally say something that got back to the marshal.  It was bad enough that Ruthie had made the slip earlier.  Luckily, that one was easy to cover but there was no guarantee the next would be.  No, it was better to keep the information of the women's whereabouts as secret as possible.  He would make a point of telling that to the only others that knew, Bette Mae, Ruthie and Ed, when he could talk to them privately.

"Guess I'll take a walk and see what Perkins and Harrington are up to this morning," Thaddeus told Billie.  "Heard that they might be riding up to the Songbird mine today to take a look around."

"Say, Thaddeus," Billie was curious about something that had been nagging at him ever since he'd heard the Songbird was the mine Harrington's investment company had purchased.  "You've been up to the mining camps, what's the scuttlebutt on the Songbird?"

"What do you mean, Billie?"

"Well," Billie scratched his jaw, "seems to me that the fella who was workin' it never had much more than two coins to rub together when he came to town for supplies.  Fact is, he always had a balance owing at Ed's.  Kinda surprisin' that the Songbird is worth the effort Harrington and his investors are goin' to."

The sheriff knew when miners stuck a good vein or found a few nuggets, they would usually came to town and drink up any money they received for their find.  And, when miners drank, they talked.  It was rare for a miner to keep a rich strike a secret.

Thaddeus thought about the sheriff's comment for a moment, "it might be worth looking into.  I'll ask around and see what I can find out."

"Let me know."

"Will do," Thaddeus headed for the dining room's door.

"Keep an eye out for the marshal, too."

"Will do."

************************

Ed Grainger was sweeping off the boardwalk in front of the general store.  As he swept, he heard the sound of quarrelling coming from what used to be an unoccupied field next to his store.  The storekeeper walked to the end of the boardwalk to see what was causing the ruckus.  Freight wagons were lined up at the back of the field with piles of lumber and other supplies stacked next to them.  Several men were milling about, most looked unhappy and many were grumbling among themselves.  Near the road, two men stood toe-to-toe, one towering over the other and both trying to out shout the other.

"I'm telling you, Perkins," Frank Wilson shoved a finger into the mayor's chest with some force, "I can't ask these men to work without feeding them first."  If it wasn't for the mayor's solid girth, the foreman would have had no trouble pushing the shorter man backwards.  

"The cook hasn't arrived," Mayor Perkins held his ground against the man who stood well over a foot taller than himself.  "He should be here soon.  As soon as he comes, the men will be fed."

"Are you an idiot?!" Wilson shouted.  It was only his second day in Sweetwater and already he was wishing he was somewhere else.  "These men have to eat.  And, I'm not going to eat any more of that slop they serve at the Oxbow," he referred to the saloon next to the stage station where his boss, Tobias Harrington, had insisted they eat the night before. 

The Oxbow's clientele was made up of cowboys and miners who came to town for a night of drinking and they normally weren't too particular about the food that might accompany their liquor.

"There's nothing I can do," the mayor shouted right back, though he wasn't really sure why he and not Harrington was handling this situation.  After all, Harrington was responsible for the work crews while he was only supposed to deal with the town folk.  After all, Harrington had been the one to decide the Slipper was off limits to the workers.

"Well, there's something I can do," Wilson told the mayor.  "I'm taking them to the Silver Slipper for breakfast."  The foreman's words were greeted with cheers from the hungry men who immediately started walking in the direction of the building at the opposite end of town.

"That's not allowed," Perkins sputtered as the men charged past him.

"If Harrington doesn't like it, he can get his ass out here and start cooking." Wilson joined the workers, leaving the hapless mayor standing alone in the street.

"Morning, Miles," Ed smirked from the boardwalk.  "Trouble?"

"Ah, no," Mayor Perkins looked at the departing men.  "Just a misunderstanding.  Nothing for you to concern yourself with."

"If you say so," Ed chuckled. 

Muttering under his breath, the mayor stepped up onto the boardwalk to return to his office.  He wasn't sure how he would explain the recent events to his business partner but he was sure that no matter how he spun the story, Harrington would blame him..

"Bet Harrington will be real pleased to see the Slipper's bill for feeding that group."  Ed called after the mayor as he scurried along the boardwalk to his office. "I know Jesse will be more than happy to collect it."

Ed noticed a man come out of the stage station and look his way.  He decided to wait in front of his store when the man strode directly across the street towards him.  As the man neared, Ed saw the badge he wore.

"Morning," Ed nodded as the marshal stepped from the dusty street onto the wooden boardwalk.

"I'm Marshal Morgan," the man responded.  "I'm looking for Jesse Branson.  Understand you're a good friend."

"That I am," Ed had heard of the marshal's reason for being in Sweetwater and had no intention of helping him complete his task.

"Do you know where she is?"

"At their ranch, I s'pose," Ed turned to go into his store. 

"She's not there."

"Well," Ed said over his shoulder, "she ain't here, either."

"Damn friendly town," the marshal mumbled.  Since leaving the Slipper, he had talked to a dozen people.  All denied any knowledge of Jesse Branson's whereabouts.  He decided he might have better luck with the ranchers in the valley and stepped off the shaded boardwalk to retrieve his horse at the livery.

**********************

Martin and Thomas Kinsington were just finishing their breakfast when the door to the Slipper's dining room opened and several, obviously hungry, men rushed in, grabbing every available chair.  Two men sat in the empty chairs at the table the father and son occupied.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" Kinsington bellowed as one of the men helped himself to the coffee remaining in the pot.

"I'm sorry, sir," Frank Wilson apologized for the men's behavior, "but my men haven't had a decent meal since we left Bozeman."

"I don't give a damn," Kinsington started.

"Father," Thomas interrupted, "we were finished.  Let's just go."

Martin pushed back from the table and stood, "is there no civility in this god forsaken country."

"For a man tha's mighty lackin' in tha' there area, I wouldn' be so uppity," Bette Mae said as she cleared the table of the dirty dishes in preparation of serving the new diners.

"When my daughter takes over ownership of this establishment," Kinsington began a threat that had been heard several times since he and Thomas took rooms at the Slipper the day before. 

Bette Mae had only agreed to let the two stay since they were Jennifer's kin but she was regretting the decision more and more.  "Jennifer already owns the Slipper and I'm still here," Bette Mae countered.  "So, if yo's done with yo'r meal....."

"We're leaving, Bette Mae," Thomas smiled apologetically, "thank you."

"Yo're welcome, Thomas," Bette Mae was beginning to like Jennifer's brother.  "You," she emphasized the word, "come back any time."

"Let's go, Thomas," Kinsington growled, he would see that woman run out of town if it was the last thing he did in Sweetwater.  "I've got things to do."

"What things?" Thomas asked as he followed his father to the door.

*******************

The night before, Jesse hadn't given any argument when Jennifer finally asked her to leave the cool waters of the lake and go to bed.  And the fact the rancher was still sound asleep was testament to how exhausted she had been after the previous day's harrowing experience. 

"Ugh," Jesse groaned as she forced her eyes open.  She was laying on her side with one arm folded under her, tingling from lack of blood.  She flopped over onto back to free the arm.  Everything hurt and she decided she would just lay there until the others woke up.  It took her brain, still muddled with sleep, a few minutes to realize she was alone on the bedroll and the sun was almost to the half way point in its day's journey.  She begrudgingly pushed her sore body upright.

Jesse looked around the empty camp.  The fire, not needed during the hot day, had been allowed to burn down but was banked to keep a small flame burning under a cooking pot.  Jesse's stomach growled as her nose recognized the aroma of one of the spices Jennifer liked to use coming from the simmering pot.

Jesse wondered where her family had gone.  Lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the harsh sunlight, she spotted the missing women at the far side of the lake, leisurely exploring the shoreline.  Jesse smiled as she watched Jennifer, always the teacher, point out interesting things to KC.

Jennifer sensed she was being watched and smiled as she looked across the water to see Jesse sitting up.  "Mommy's awake," she told KC as she waved to Jesse.

KC bounced in Jennifer's arms, excitingly calling, "Mommy, mommy." 

Jennifer quickened her steps to return to camp. 

Jesse stood with the intention of walking to meet Jennifer and KC but her body had other ideas.  She took a few tentative steps before being forced to stop by legs stiff from the previous day's struggles.  Her back ached and it was difficult to find a position that didn't add to it's pain.  Not to mention, she was a little lightheaded from having slept so deeply. 

Jesse looked for a place to sit, and quick.  A small section of a fallen tree had been rolled into camp the previous night to use as a bench and Jesse dropped down on it to wait for Jennifer and Mary to arrive.

"Sweetheart," Jennifer hurried into the camp after watching Jesse's aborted effort to walk, "are you alright?"  She bent down so she could look directly into her eyes.

"Little sore, darlin'," Jesse smiled in a futile attempt to allay Jennifer's concern.

"Mommy," KC reached for Jesse.

"Hi, sunshine," Jesse opened her arms and Jennifer placed the baby inside them.  When the rancher tightened her arms in a hug around the child she grimaced in pain, her back protesting the action.

"Jesse?" Jennifer had seen the expression.  "Sweetheart, maybe you should lay back down," she took the baby back.  "Hush, sweetie," Jennifer told KC when she grumbled at being removed from Jesse's lap, "mommy can't hold you right now.  Come on, you can sit next to mommy over here," she carried KC to the bedroll and sat her down.  "Stay here while I help mommy."

Jesse didn't complain when Jennifer helped her up off the log, she was happy to have the assistance.  She leaned on the schoolteacher as they slowly made their way to where KC was waiting and groaned as she lowered her tender body back to the ground.

"What can I do to help?" Jennifer asked as Jesse eased herself down.

"Not sure," Jesse responded.  KC crawled to her side and laid her small head on the rancher's stomach, her eyes looking sadly up at her mother.  Jesse smiled at the baby and ruffled her fine hair.  "A rub down might be nice," she told Jennifer.

"Okay," Jennifer gently patted Jesse's leg.  "Let me get a pot of water heating so I can wrap you in hot towels afterward," she had found the hot wraps Jesse used on her leg to be extremely effective in relieving the pain and soreness she experienced at the end of the day.  "Then, we'll get started," she used her cane to push herself upright and started for the lake, picking up a bucket on her way.

"Is there anything I can do?" Mary asked, smiling uneasily at her daughter-in-law.  She was aware that without Jesse's extraordinary efforts the day before, they probably would not have made it safely off the cliff and she felt awkward that the woman was suffering today while she was unscathed..

"No," Jesse guessed why the older woman was edgy and smiled at her, "I'll be alright, Mary.  Just need a little rest."

"Which you'll have plenty of," Jennifer said as she added wood, stoking the flames before she placed a large pot of water on a rock in the center of the fire.  "I don't see any reason for us to leave here for a couple of days."

"Darlin', we can't stay here," Jesse started.

"Yes, we can," Jennifer left the pot to heat and went to the stack of packs and gear.  She rifled through a pack until she found the bottle of lotion she sought, "no one will follow us across that slide.  Besides," she said as she limped back to Jesse, "you said, we would stay here as long as I wanted.  So, we'll stay.  Now, take off you clothes and turn over."

Jesse started to unbutton her shirt, "guess I did, didn't I."

"Yes," Jennifer smirked, enjoying the view of Jesse undressing.

Sensing her wife's eyes on her, Jesse's skin colored with a light blush. 

"Roll over," Jennifer instructed, her eyes twinkling as they playfully dropped down the length of Jesse's athletic yet lithe body, pausing momentarily on her gorgeous breasts and again at the tantalizing apex of her legs.

"Now, that's not nice, darlin'," Jesse blushed deepened as she followed Jennifer's eyes, embarrassed with her wife's candid display of desire.  "What will your mother think," she whispered even though Jennifer's mother was standing only a couple of feet away.

"She'll think that my daughter has married a very beautiful woman," Mary told the rancher.

Both, Jesse and Jennifer looked at Mary as if she had just spouted a second head.  They never would have expected the demure woman to make such a comment.

"Now, I think I'll check on that pot of stew," Mary chuckled as she left the two slack jawed women alone.

"Wow," Jesse murmured after a few moments.

"Yeah," Jennifer looked after her mother, "wow."

********************

Ed Grainger came out to greet the driver of a heavily loaded freight wagon that had just pulled to a stop in front of the general store.. 

"Afternoon," Ed said as the driver climbed down from the wagon's bench seat.

"Afternoon, Ed.  Sorry, I'm late but had some trouble on the road."

"Nothin' serious, I hope," the storekeeper looked over the load. 

"Nah, just some boys thinkin' their loads was more important than mine.  Found it best to pull over and let them go by 'fore they caused some real problems."  The freight road over the mountains was narrow with few places for the big freight wagons to pass one another on the twisting path.  It wasn't unknown for a wagon to get too close to the edge and roll over the side, destroying the wagon, it's contents and, many times, the driver.

"Let me guess," Ed looked to the end of the boardwalk and the men working in the field there.

"Yep," the driver followed his gaze.  "Them boys was sure in a hurry ta git here."

"Kinda wondered how they got their supplies 'fore mine," Ed shook his head, would this insanity with Harrington and his investment company ever end?  "Considerin' how I sent theirs in a couple days after mine."

The driver stomped his boots on the boardwalk trying to loosen some of the dust clinging to them, "ya don't know the half of it.  Som' fellow was bullying the stores in Bozeman to fill their orders first," he told Ed, "got real nasty when they refused.  What's going on in Sweetwater that's so important?"

"Harrington," Ed muttered, not really answering the man's question.  "Come on inside," Ed slapped the driver on the shoulder, regretting it when a cloud of dust rose off the man's shirt, "I was just goin' to pour me a glass of cold cider.  Bet, you could use one yourself."

"Sure could, Ed.  Thanks," he followed the storekeeper.

********************

"Way things are going," the livery hand was telling Thaddeus Newby, "we gonna need to buy some more horses."

"Why's that?" the newspaperman asked as he saddled his horse.  Thaddeus had come to the livery to get the horse he boarded there.  After listening to the sheriff's questions about the Songbird, he figured it would be worth a ride out to the mining camps to ask some of the miners their thoughts on the recently purchased mine.

"Well, with so many folks askin' to rent our horses, ain't got 'nough to go around."

For the first time, Thaddeus noticed that most of the barn's stalls were empty.  "Who's been renting them?"  As the editor of the valley's newspaper, he was also alert to possible story sources.

"Well, first Miss Jennifer's ma came in a asked for one.  Then, that Harrington fella got one ta use whilst he's in town and Wilson, his foreman, came by yesterday and hired a couple more.  Jus' this morning, that Kinsington fellow came by an got two more.  Don't leave any but the old mare and she's no good for ridin' anymore."

"Sounds to me like business is pretty good," Thaddeus commented as he wondered where Kinsington would be going that he needed a horse.  Only one place he could think of and he hoped he was wrong.  He walked his horse out of the livery before mounting and rode straight for the sheriff's office.

"Billie, you in there?" Thaddeus asked as reached the jail.

"Yep," the sheriff came out of the building and crossed the wide boardwalk to stand at its edge.  "What's up, Thaddeus?"

"Thought you might want to take a ride out to Jesse's."

"What for?"

"I was just over at the livery," he told the sheriff, "said Kinsington rented horses this morning.  Can't think of any place else he'd be riding to."

"Damn," Billie's gut clinched as he listened to Thaddeus.  "He better not be up to anything."

"Chances are, he is," Thaddeus didn't like the idea of Kinsington being out at Jesse and Jennifer's any better than the sheriff.

"I'll leave now," Billie said as he reached back inside the jail's door for his hat.  He pulled the door closed, "you headed that way?"

"No," Thaddeus shook his head, "I'm going out to the camps to check on your doubts about the Songbird.  Be back in a couple of days."

"Be careful," Billie said as he stepped off the boardwalk to retrieve his own horse from the livery.

"You, too," Thaddeus urged his horse into a trot and was soon leaving a cloud of dust behind him as he rode out of town.

**********************

"Father, what are we doing here?" Thomas asked as they rode under the gate to his sister's ranch.

"Don't you want to see where your little sister has been living?  And, how?" Kinsington sneered. 

"We shouldn't be here.  Especially, since Jennifer isn't here."

"That's exactly why we should be here," Kinsington said as he rode up to the ranch house, it's door hanging haphazardly open from being kicked in by him during their earlier visit.  He dismounted and tossed the reins to his horse over the hitching rail Jesse had erected for that purpose, disappearing inside the house before Thomas could dismount.

Martin Kinsington stood in the center of the log building that his daughter called home.  He had come to the ranch to see what he could find out about the property the women owned.  He had tried to get into the office at the Slipper but found his access blocked by Bette Mae who kept a close watch on his every move.  He had remembered that during his previous visit to Sweetwater, Jennifer saying she helped the rancher with the Slipper's bookkeeping and he thought he might find the information at the currently unoccupied ranch. 

Kinsington had been considering whether the boarding house might be worth keeping after Jesse was out of the picture.  He already decided he could make money by selling the ranch to one of the other ranchers in the valley.  If necessary, he could find a way around his agreement to have both the Slipper and ranch signed over to Harrington in exchange for an interest in his company's mining operations,  But, first he had to know the financial situation of the Silver Slipper, then he would decide which was his more profitable option.

Kinsington surveyed the room's simple furnishings, looking for a desk or other likely space to keep the ledgers and other business records.  His eyes abruptly stopped when they fell on the room's sole bed.  "Bitch," he growled, at the perceived symbol of the aberrant power Jesse held over his daughter.

"Father," Thomas entered the plain but cozy room.  "What are you doing?" he cried when he saw Kinsington pulling the coverings off the bed and throwing them into the fireplace used for warming the sleeping area of the room.

"It's unnatural," Kinsington didn't hesitate in his frenzied activity, "to be sleeping in the same bed."

"Stop it," Thomas ran to his father and tried to remove the items from his grasp.

Kinsington pushed his son aside, "I will not have my daughter doing such things."  He tossed the bulky blankets at the stone opening.  Grabbing a lantern off the mantle, Kinsington threw it against the back of the fireplace.  The lantern exploded spilling its contents.

"Father," Thomas screamed.  "You can't do this."

"Shut up," Kinsington's rampage continued as he crossed to the chest of drawers, yanking each drawer free.  Clothes flew everywhere as he whipped the drawers around.  He spotted Jesse's bookcase and ripped it from the log wall, the books spilling out.  Then, he stormed to the kitchen area, frantically demolished the neatly stacked cups and dishes.  The shelves were pulled from the walls and the table and chairs tossed outside through the windows.

"Please, father," Thomas begged, though he knew his pleas were falling on deaf ears.  He couldn't believe what he was witnessing, his father was destroying everything.  Thomas made several attempts to stop his father but the older man's rage seemed to give him strength and he easily eluded the efforts.

The smashed lantern's fuel slowly dripped down the rock surface at the back of the fireplace, pooling in the coals remaining from the fire Jesse had tended during the last night she and Jennifer had spent in the cabin.  Buried deep in the coals a small piece of wood still smoldered.  When the flammable liquid reached this source of heat it burst into flame, igniting the linens that lay within the fire's reach.  Licking it's way along the layers of blankets and sheets that stretched from the fireplace to the bed, the fire began to spread out on the wood floor of the cabin.  The tongues of flame discovered the clothing scattered in it's path and fed hungrily on this additional source of fuel.  It didn't take long for the inferno to spread to the furniture and then up the log walls.

Thomas, concentrating on his raging father, wasn't aware of the fire until he smelled the smoke.  When he turned to look, he found the entire bedroom end of the cabin in flames.  He knew there was no way to save the house. 

"Father," Thomas moved to grab the older man still intent on destroying anything he could, "the house is on fire.  We have to get out."

At first Kinsington did not hear his son's warning.  The thickening smoke made breathing difficult and only when he started to cough on the caustic fumes did he notice the flames covering the other end of the building.  He laughed, "a fitting end."

"Father," Thomas pulled at his father, "we have to get out."

"Yes," Kinsington cackled.  "Yes, let's go outside and watch it burn."

Thomas followed his father outside to the safety of the open yard.  Seeing a bucket next to the water pump, he ran to fill it.  Pumping furiously, Thomas watched as flames broke through the roof and black smoke billowed out.  With the bucket full, he ran back to the porch and threw the water uselessly on the hot flames.

"Don't waste your time," Kinsington crowed.  "Let it burn."

Not agreeing with his father but knowing it was futile to attempt to put out the fire by himself, Thomas dropped the bucket and watched his sister's home consumed.  Tearfully, he asked, "how could you?"

"How could I?" Kinsington barked.  "How could I?  Your sister defies me.  She runs away to live here.  To live a life with that woman?  And, you ask how could I?  If you were anything of the man I raised you to be, you would have done this and saved me the trouble.  How dare you ask how could I."

Thomas stared at the man before him.  A man he realized he didn't truly know.  "You're right, father," he said, "I'm not the man you raised me to be.  And, because of that, I could never have done this.  Not to Jennifer.  Not to anyone." 

Thomas went to his horse who had pulled free of the hitching rail as the fire grew and was standing nervously next to the corral fence.  He walked the horse inside the corral and closed the gate.  Then, he returned and picked up the discarded bucket.  Filling it at the pump, Thomas began to wet down the other buildings to keep any stray spark from igniting them.

"What are you doing?" Kinsington asked as Thomas made another trip to the water pump.

"Making sure you don't destroy anything else."

"Let the damn buildings burn," Kinsington tried to take the bucket from his son.

"No," Thomas pushed the man away.  "Go back to Sweetwater and your friend Harrington.  Better yet, go home.  You've done enough here," he returned to his undertaking.

"Come back here," Kinsington yelled after his son.  When Thomas continued to douse water on the buildings, Kinsington shrugged.  "Good riddance.  You were never much good as a son, anyway," he muttered as he turned back to the burning structure, the roof collapsing as he gleefully watched.

**********************

"Guess that's it," Ed had finished explaining the recent events in Sweetwater to the freight wagon driver.  He had left out the part about the marshal and Jesse, figuring the man didn't need to know.

"Sounds like Sweetwater done got itself a wagon load of trouble.  Been my 'xperience that folks make a big fuss whenever they think they've hit pay dirt.  Build everything up, then leave it all ta rot when the ore runs out.  Seems ta me, they'd do better to leave things alone.  Be a lot less broken lives, if ya ask me," the freight driver finished off his glass of cider.  "I best be getting the wagon unloaded so I can head back.  Thanks for the cider."

"You're not staying in town?"

"Can't," the man answered.  "Lettin' them other wagons go by put me behind schedule.  Got ta git back to Bozeman, got me a load waitin' ta go to Virginia City."

"I'll give you a hand, then," Ed offered.

"Much obliged.  Work goes a lot faster when ya help," he grinned at the large man who could lift three times the weight he could.

The two men worked non-stop to unload the wagon.  By the time they finished, Ed was glad he'd decided to make some changes to the general store.  One thing for sure, the dock he was planning for the rear of the building would make the unloading of freight much easier. 

With the wagon's load now on the boardwalk, Ed noticed some of the load contained the items Jesse had ordered for the redesign of her office at the Slipper into a dress shop for Ruthie.  He thought of the missing women and hoped they were safe.

********************

"Feeling any better?" Jennifer asked as she slipped beside Jesse sitting on the flat rock by the lake.

Jesse laid her arm across Jennifer's shoulders and pulled her close.  "Much.  KC asleep?"

"Yes," Jennifer melted against Jesse.  "Mother is napping with her."

Jennifer had finished Jesse's massage a short time earlier and, after a lunch of stew and biscuits, the baby had been put down for a nap.  The women sat silently, content just to be with the other.

"It's beautiful here," Jennifer finally broke the silence.

"It is."

"I saw an elk this morning in the meadow, sweetheart," she smiled at the memory. 

"Oh."

"Yes.  She was so beautiful and she had a baby with her."  Jennifer looked down at her hands, "it made me think of you and KC."

Jesse hooked a finger under Jennifer's chin.  As she gently lifted her wife's face upward, she leaned over and captured her sweet lips.  At first, the kiss was tender as Jesse softly explored Jennifer's welcoming lips but after a few moments the kiss deepened.  Jesse sought entrance into Jennifer's warm and waiting mouth and it was quickly granted.  The women's tongues danced and twisted around one another.  Needing to breathe, the kiss ended with the women clinging together.

"I love you," Jesse whispered as she lay Jennifer back on the rock's smooth surface, her nimble fingers opening the buttons of the schoolteacher's shirt. 

Jennifer arched into Jesse's touch as gentle hands cupped her breasts, squeezing lightly.  Feeling aroused nipples press against her palms, Jesse playfully pinched them between her thumbs and index fingers while her lips covered the sinuous breasts with feathery light kisses.  Jennifer moaned, burying her hands in Jesse's long hair, urging her to continue.  Jesse complied, planting soft kisses around the outside of the mounds of soft tissue.  Slowly, her lips trailed down to Jennifer's taut stomach, the skin twitching beneath her kisses.  With her lips exploring her wife's body, Jesse undid Jennifer's pants and pushed them down below her knees.  Loving hands glided back up the inside of damp thighs, teasingly stopping just below the spot that Jennifer needed her the most. 

"Please," Jennifer gasped as she spread her legs, opening herself to her lover. 

Jesse's nose detected the sweet, musky bouquet of Jennifer's arousal as her lips neared the thatch of silky hair.  Her lips retraced their path back to Jennifer's firm breasts then broke new trail up a smooth neck, then along her jaw line and, finally, back to waiting lips.  She slipped her hand between her lover's legs and stroked the clit, her fingers sliding easily through a thick wetness.  Fingers slid along drenched labium lips to ring the vaginal orifice.  Jesse felt Jennifer's hands move down her back, clinched fingers digging into the skin demonstrating her desire. 

Wasting no time, Jesse drove three fingers into Jennifer and felt the muscular walls tightened around them as the schoolteacher climaxed.  Jennifer screamed as her heels braced against the rock's hard surface, her hips thrusting hard against the fingers inside her.  Feeling her beautiful wife's thighs clamp together, trapping her hand in place and hearing Jennifer cry her name was all Jesse needed to join her lover in a shared ecstasy.  Her back arched and her body stiffened as orgasmic waves washed through her. 

With their energy spent, the lovers collapsed, their bodies pressed together. 

Jennifer recovered first.  She lay under Jesse, kissing and caressing her face, "Jesse Marie Branson, I love you so much."

"Mmmmmm," was all Jesse could manage.

********************

Billie saw the black smoke before he reached the gate to the ranch, his horse already at full gallop.  As he rode over the rise just before the road dropped down to the ranch yard, the sheriff could see the burned out shell of the ranch house.  He pulled his horse to a stop several feet from the smoldering remains, not bothering to dismount.  The house had been completely consumed along with everything inside.

"Damn, Jesse," the sheriff whispered, "I'm so sorry."  There was little doubt as to what had happened, Billie passed Kinsington riding away from the ranch as he raced for it.  

Slowly, he rode to the barn knowing he would find the tools inside he would need to clear a perimeter around the destroyed building, making sure the fire didn't spread to any of the other buildings.  Noticing the horse inside the corral, he pulled his pistol.  Looking around and not seeing the rider of the horse, he called out, "who's here?"

"It's me, sheriff," Thomas came out from behind the small cabin his mother had been staying in.  "Find a shovel and come help me," he said before disappearing again.

Billie dismounted and hurried into the barn to find the requested implement, then he rushed to find Thomas.  Rounding the corner the cabin, he saw Jennifer's brother trying to contain a fire on the side wall of the building.  Using the shovel, Billie threw dirt on the blaze while Thomas doused it with buckets of water.  It didn't take long for the men, working together, to put out the fire that had started when a burning shingle had drifted against across the yard.

"Glad you came along, sheriff," Thomas wiped his brow with a sooty sleeve leaving a streak of black across his sweaty skin.  "Wasn't sure I could stop it by myself."

"How'd this happen?" Billie indicated the burned ruins.

"It was an accident  I'm not excusing what he did," Thomas quickly added when he saw the look of disbelief on the sheriff's face.  He went on to explain the events after his father had entered the cabin.  "My father is to blame but I don't believe he came here with any intention to burn it down." 

"Doesn't much matter whether he intended to or not," Billie handed the other man his bandanna and pointed at his smeared forehead.  "He's the cause and I'm going to arrest him as soon as I get back to town."

********************

Tobias Harrington was sitting at the mayor's desk going over the purchase papers for the Songbird mine.  Needing a place to conduct business while in Sweetwater he had taken over the mayor's office.  Mayor Perkins sat in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk struggling to read the papers upside down.  Both men looked up when the office door burst open.

Martin Kinsington strode in, he was covered in soot and ashes and reeked of smoke but didn't seem to notice.  "Afternoon, gentlemen," he said cheerfully as he dropped into the chair beside the mayor.

"Kinsington," Harrington looked suspiciously at the man.  "What have you been up to?"

"Taking care of some business," Kinsington leaned back in the chair.  "Went out to the bitch's ranch to have a look see.  Unfortunately, there was a small accident while I was there."

"Anybody hurt?" Harrington asked.  Although, he really didn't care..

"No," Kinsington brushed some ash off his pant leg.  "What they referred to as a house, caught on fire."

"Don't suppose you had anything to do with that?" Harrington was beginning to believe that Kinsington may not be the answer to his problems as he had hoped.  In fact, the businessman was beginning to be more trouble for him than the mayor.  Maybe he should have just left him in the sheriff's custody. 

"You burned down Jesse's ranch?" Mayor Perkins gasped.

"I did not burn it down," Kinsington smirked, "it just happened to catch on fire while I was there."

"Oh, my god," the mayor drooped in his chair.  "We can't have these things happening," he said to Harrington.

"Why do I care if their house burns down," Harrington told the mayor.  "It's not like they'll be needed it."

"What are you talking about?"

"When the marshal finds Jesse, she'll be going to prison.  If she's lucky," he smirked.  "And, Jennifer will be going back east with me, where she should be," Kinsington smugly informed the mayor.  "Neither one of them will be coming back to Sweetwater and I'll have Jennifer sign over her interest in both the ranch and the saloon to Harrington."  That is, he'd have them signed over, if he decided not to keep them for himself.

"Is there something you wanted, Kinsington?" Harrington interrupted, he wasn't comfortable with their secret plans being so openly discussed in front of the gossipy mayor.  "I have to ride up to the Songbird with Wilson this afternoon and I have a lot to go over with Perkins before I leave."

Kinsington resented the other man's tone, "just wanted to know if the marshal has come up with anything, yet."

"Haven't seen him," Harrington said, his attention returning to the papers in front of him.  "I suggest you find the marshal and ask him yourself."

Kinsington rose, he really didn't like the small man's attitude.  Harrington needed to be put in his place and he knew just how to do that.  He would contact the man's employers, detailing why they should put him in charge of their business in Sweetwater.  After all, he had experience running a large company.  And, with himself in charge, Harrington would become his employee and have to show him some respect.  Yes, he would waste no time in sending a message to the investment company back east.

"Don't let me keep you from your work," Kinsington stomped out of the room. 

"Fool," Harrington muttered under his breath.

"What did he mean, he would have Jennifer sign over the Slipper to you?" Mayor Perkins was not happy with the way things were going in Sweetwater.  What he had thought to be a opportunity for the small town was rapidly turning into anything but. 

"Doesn't concern you," Harrington growled as he neatly stacked the papers and placed them in the top drawer of the desk.  "Do you have a key to this?" he asked.

"Yes," the mayor nervously answered.

"Give it to me."

Mayor Perkins pulled a ring of keys from his pant's pocket.  Selecting one, he handed the ring to the other man.

Harrington separated the key from the ring and tossed the discarded keys on the desk.  He locked the desk drawer before placing the key into his own pocket.  "I have to meet Wilson," he said as he pushed himself up from the desk.  "Try not to let anything happen while I'm gone."

"Now, just a minute," Mayor Perkins didn't mind sharing his office but the man couldn't lock him out of his own desk.  "I have important papers in this desk."

"I doubt it," Harrington walked to the office door.  "But, I'm sure anything you have in there will wait until I get back," he slammed the door behind him.

******************

Marshal Morgan returned to Sweetwater after a long day of riding.  He had visited many of the valley's ranches only to be met with the same response, no one knew the whereabouts of Jesse Branson.  As he rode up to the livery, he silently debated his options.  It was apparent that the people of Sweetwater weren't going to help him find the fugitive.  Maybe, he should head back to the woman's ranch in the morning and see if he could pick up any tracks. 

"Surprised to see you back in town, marshal," the livery hand said as the tired man walked his horse inside the barn.

"Why's that?" the marshal didn't recall seeing the boy before.  There had always been an older man at the livery when he had been there.

"Thought ya was goin' after Jesse," the boy commented as he took the marshal's horse from him. 

"Haven't found her yet," the marshal followed the boy to the stall where he was pulling the saddle off his horse's back.  "No one in the valley seems to know where she is."

"She ain't in the valley."

"You know where she is?" the marshal was surprised by the boy's response.

"Yeah, they went over to the east side of the mountains."

"East?"

"Yeah," the boy picked up a pair of well used brushes and went to work on the tired horse's coat, "gone to see the buffalo."

"How do you know this?" the marshal angry, he had been looking for the woman all over the valley.  Now, he hears that she left Sweetwater.  And, quite possibly, people in town knew about it.

"Miss Jennifer's ma came in a few days back and borrowed a horse.  Said they was going to meet up with a friend to see the herd."

"What friend?"

"Don't know," the boy continued his work, "some injun, I think."

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Nobody asked me.  'Sides, this is the first time I seen ya.  Been gone the last couple of days visiting my brother in Garnet."