The main charaters are not mine, wish they were. The only reward I get is reading and writing about them. Please if you can, leave a review, good or bad, this is how I learn.

Mary Travis was both thrilled and sad at the same time. She had not seen Anna Davis in ten years. They had gone to school together and had kept in touch over the years. Now she was suddenly coming here, to Four Corners. She was afraid Anna would not like her small town; after all she had been raised in Boston, a big city.

She heard the sound of the stage. The sound of iron hooves hitting hard packed ground, the jangle of the metal on the harness, the roll of the iron bound wheels and the creaks of the Concord Stagecoach. She looked up to see the stage driver make the corner into the town and straighten out the leaders and began to slow down the wheelers and line the stage into the middle of the street and toward the stage station.

Mary waited expectantly; she was going to have some company. As the stage rolled to a halt, she caught a glimpse of a woman sitting in the middle of the coach. She smiled, not being able to contain her delight.

"Mrs. Travis, you meeting someone?"

Mary turned her head and saw Buck Wilmington standing next to her. She smiled at the tall handsome man. She had grown to like Buck, like she had with all seven of them, the magnificent seven men who protected their town. "Yes Mr. Wilmington, a friend from school."

As the stage rocked to a halt, Buck smiled at Mary and being ever the gentleman stepped to the door of the stage, and nodded to the driver. "Smooth run Earl?" Part of Buck's duties were to greet the stage, check with the driver to make sure there had been no problems, and to see if the driver had seen anything that needed to be passed on. But, the real reason he volunteered for this job was that he also got to meet any new women first.

Earl nodded back seeing Buck was already looking at his only passenger. "No problems Buck." He saw the dark colored hat absently nod.

Buck opened the door and offered his hand to the woman sitting in the shadows of the coach. "Allow me Miss---" He felt soft delicate fingers touch his rough hand and he looked up to see the greenest pair of eyes looking back at him. She had red hair, piled up high on her head it was the color of fall leaves, deep reds with reddish gold touches. There was tiredness to her thin, heart-shaped face. The green eyes were wide set and expressive. H er nose was small and slightly turned up at the tip and full lips that parted in a smile. She was dressed in a grey traveling dress.

"Why, thank you sir. . ." Her voice was a soft, New England tone.

Buck directed her to the steps of the coach, watching her the whole way, he saw her green eyes sweep past him, narrow a little at the sunlight and then the smile that radiated her whole face came into those green eyes.

"Mary!"

"Anna. . ."

Anna moved down out of the coach and let go of the hand that had helped her down.

Mary was surprised. Anna was thin, there were circles under her eyes and her normal cream colored face was pale, even for her red hair. But, she had been traveling for several days, and traveling in that coach was hard on everyone."

They hugged and the question and answers started.

"How was the stage ride . . . Are you tired. . . How long have you been traveling . . . Did you see the things you had wanted to, written about?"

"How good you look . . . Where is Billy . . . Where is the Clarion . . . was this one of the men she had talked about?"

They stopped talking, looked at each other, laughed and hugged again.

"Mrs. Travis," Buck stepped to them "I'll escort you over to the hotel and then I'll fetch the bags over." Buck, tilting his head just slightly, gave the little red haired lady his best smile. He saw the green eyes look back at him. He knew the lady found him handsome, all women found him handsome, but saw there was no interest. That would not dissuade him. He looked at Mary, waiting for an introduction.

"Anna Billings, this is Buck Wilmington."

Anna turned and smiled at Buck.

Buck watched as the smile turned the tired heart shaped face into a radiant mask of beauty. He turned his head slightly and touched the tip of his hat, feeling his heart quicken. He turned on his best charming smile...

"Thank you Mr. Wilmington, there are two pieces of luggage, and that canvas covered bundle and that small satchel." She pointed inside the stagecoach.

"Please call me Buck. . ." He stepped around them, and then offered them both an arm. "Allow me to escort you two fine young ladies and then I'll come back for the luggage." He looked up at Earl. "I'll be back for the bags Earl…"

Mary looked at Anna; she could see the tiredness in her face. "Thank you Buck, that would be fine." She looked back at Anna and saw she was looking around the town. Anna was use to Boston, Birmingham, and New Orleans . . . Not a place that was half a ghost town. Mary suddenly felt very self conscious about how the town looked.

Anna didn't see the boarded up buildings, or the still un-built watch fire pyres. What she saw was the beauty in the stained and weathered features of the buildings. The way light reflected from the hotel windows down onto the street, the small tuft of prairie grass that grew from around the posts of the hitching rails. The rolling hills in the distance and there must be a stream back there, she saw a line of trees. She turned toward Mary and smiled. "Oh Mary this country is so beautiful. . ."

Mary hesitated for a brief moment, looking at everything with a different light, seeing it the way Anna was looking at it. "Yes it is. . ."

They took Buck's offered arms again, and they headed off across the street.