Days didn't get much better than this one, Cody thought to himself. The sun was high in the azure sky sending warmth on soft yellow rays toward where he sat on a blanket with Miss Greta Klassen. From the corner of his eye he could see her long brown hair shining in the sunlight and saw her relax even as her hand tightened in his.

He dropped his eyes to the place between them where their hands were clasped together. Her delicate fingers laced through his calloused ones. It was captivating to see how interwoven they were, how different and yet so intermeshed as to almost seem to belong to just one person.

"Greta," he said breaking the easy silence that had settled between them. He had never thought that silence could be easy or comfortable but somehow, with Greta, it was. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Billy," she replied. Her voice was sweet but she stiffened at the request. There was still so much she hid. He wasn't sure why. He knew the bulk of her lack of confidence came from the scars on her face and he hardly noticed them anymore. Yet she still seemed afraid to open up to him fully.

"In your letters," he began, referencing the letters that had accompanied her gifts of baked goods that first captured his attention. "You said you'd seen me with my friends, seen me reading and writing in my journal. I never saw you. How is that?"

"I've gotten good at hiding," she said softly. "I make sure no one notices me."

"I'm glad you're not hiding from me anymore. You never needed to, you know."

"You've been very kind to me, Billy."

"It's not about being kind, Greta," he insisted. "I wish you'd understand that. I care for you. You're so sweet and smart and pretty."

"It's not nice to lie."

"I ain't lying. Please stop that. You are beautiful. I see it. I don't know why you don't. But I do."

"Billy," she began to argue but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"No!" he growled more harshly than he meant to. "Don't. Don't try to tell me that you're not beautiful. Just don't. You said it yourself. It's not nice to lie."

"You make me almost believe it when you say it," she whispered at him. "If only everyone looked at me like you do."

"I get what you're saying," he told her smiling and arching his eyebrows ever so slightly. "But I think I might have to punch any other guy looking at you like I do."

She giggled softly.

"That's not exactly what I meant."

"I know," he said as he brought her hand to his lips.

"What are you hiding her for, Cody?" Jimmy asked. "If I hadn't seen the pies and cakes myself, I'd think you made this Greta up."

"Yeah, Cody," Buck jumped in. "Makes me wonder if you really had an admirer. Maybe it was someone playing a trick on you."

"Or you trying to play one on us," Kid added with a grin.

"Greta's real," Cody bellowed. He'd had this same talk to one extent or another since he had begun to spend time with Greta. The others had not met her yet and they were growing impatient and doubtful of her existence.

"She's just…shy," he tried to explain.

"She can't be too shy if she was sneaking out into the night to bring treats to some boy she didn't know," Lou said. She tried not to pass judgment on the girl but the more time Cody spent with this girl without any of them making her acquaintance, the more suspicious she grew of this Greta.

"You don't understand," Cody sighed before storming out toward the barn to see to his chores. In time he heard someone else come into the barn.

"Ain't you got chores of your own to do?" Cody fumed. "Or anything at all besides hassling me about Greta."

"I ain't here to hassle you, son," Teaspoon said softly. "Just to listen. I heard the tail end of the conversation earlier in the bunkhouse. You're right, we don't understand. But I want to."

"She…I've tried to bring up her coming to meet everyone here," Cody said. "She's too scared. It's…I don't know if it's my place to even say why."

"So you do know why she thinks we're so scary."

"Yeah, I know. I still don't think she has anything to worry about but I know."

"Care to enlighten me?" Teaspoon asked.

"I-I don't know if I should," Cody wavered. "It ain't exactly a secret but…"

"Saying things out loud sometimes takes the power from them," Teaspoon offered. "It's worth a try."

Cody sighed and began explaining about Greta's accident and why she often felt so insecure to be seen, especially by people she didn't know.

"Thing is, Teaspoon, she's real pretty only she can't see it no more."

"I'd say it's pretty common for folks to not see themselves like everyone else sees them," Teaspoon said pondering a solution. "Let me think a little bit, okay?"

Cody nodded and went back to his work.

"No Billy. I can't. I just can't."

Tears were standing in Greta's deep brown eyes.

"You don't know them like I do, Greta," Cody pleaded. "I ain't going to lie, seeing your scars the first time is a shock but once I got past the shock, I just saw you. They will too. Give them a chance."

"Billy…you don't understand."

"Yeah, I do," he said. "You're scared. I understand scared better than you and everyone else thinks. But I also understand you got to trust someone at some point."

"You-you don't understand anything!" she nearly yelled. Cody was taken aback. She'd never yelled before. She'd always been so meek and mild. He liked this bit of a spark in her. He liked it a whole lot. Maybe he could even use this fire to his advantage.

"I know I can't possibly understand being scared," he said with a sardonic smile and an angry edge creeping into his voice. "I'm just the joker, the smart mouth. I eat too much and work too little and I judge everyone-especially females-on their appearance. Yeah, I know. Only thing is…none of that's actually true. I don't trust too many people to see anything but those things that I created. They're no different than how you hide your face."

She opened her mouth as if to begin an argument but he just kept talking.

"No different at all," he continued. "I was afraid. I still am afraid, I think, that people will see me and…not like me. That they'll see how sensitive I am and they'll take advantage. I get scared that the others will realize how much younger I am or that people will think I'm weak. I ain't always been treated nice. Found out that people don't beat on you if you make 'em laugh. I learned things since I been working with these guys though. I learned not everyone is someone you need to be scared of. And I learned there's other scared people in the world."

"It's different for you, Billy."

"I don't think it is. Not with these guys anyway."

He could see her hemming and hawing over it.

"I won't let you get hurt, Greta," he vowed. "I would never let anyone hurt you. Please trust me."

"I do trust you, Billy."

"Then you'll come to dinner?"

She nodded looking at the ground and Cody let out a loud and victorious "whoop" before picking her up and swinging her around. Then he set her down and kissed her gently on her lips.

"I just never get tired of kissing you, Greta."

"Boys," Teaspoon hollered getting the attention of everyone in the bunkhouse. "I need your attention front and center here. Cody's got something to say. I expect you to listen good."

Cody looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable.

"I…uh…I wanted to tell you all about Greta," he began.

"Story time? We got to listen to these fairy stories, Teaspoon?" asked Jimmy.

"Maybe if you could stop being such an ass," Cody grumbled and Jimmy withered under the glare that Teaspoon shot him. Cody took a breath and continued talking.

"Greta…she's terribly shy. Well, more insecure than shy really. See…" his voice trailed away as he thought how to get this back on track. "A year or so ago, there was an accident. The buckboard she was driving rolled over. She was hurt pretty bad and almost died."

Cody had to pause to get his emotions back under control. If he had looked up at the other guys, he would have seen their discomfort at having teased him so. But he was too busy trying to keep himself together. The idea that she could have died before he ever even met her hit him fully for the first time. He swallowed hard and blinked a few times.

"Anyway," he continued though his voice was still thick with the emotion. "She pulled through, obviously. But she's got some scars…on her face. I don't think they're so bad but I know the first time I saw them they shocked me a little. I thought maybe if you're prepared then they wouldn't shock you so much and you could skip right to seeing her for what she is. She's real smart and sweet and pretty."

"So all this time you been seeing her and she wouldn't come meet us because she was scared of how we'd react?" Kid asked.

"That's about the size of it," Cody replied. "But I talked her into it finally. I'm going to leave in a little bit to collect her. She'll be joining us for dinner tonight."

"And I expect proper gentlemen when Greta arrives," Rachel warned. "Clean yourselves up and remember your manners. Don't make her think poor Cody here lives with animals."

"Even if I do," Cody muttered under his breath.

Cody made it as far as the bunkhouse porch before Jimmy's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"You know I was just joking around before, right?" Jimmy asked. "I mean…I didn't mean nothing."

"I know," Cody said. "It's just been kind of hard on me lately."

"How bad is it? The scars, I mean."

Cody shrugged.

"I think they aren't so noticeable but I'm used to them. They get better all the time. But I don't think I'm a real good judge anymore."

"Well, we'll behave ourselves," Jimmy assured his friend. "Don't want her regretting coming to meet us."

"Just…try not to react too much to…well, to her face. She always thinks the worst."

"I'm sorry, Billy," Greta said softly looking at her feet, at the door, at her hands, really anywhere at all but at the young man she was addressing. "I thought I could do this. But I just can't."

"You can," he replied flatly. "You just don't want to."

"I do so!" she hollered at him. "I want more than anything to be normal and go where other girls go. I want to meet your friends. I want them to…to think well of the girl you're seeing. I know they probably don't. But it won't do you any good to bring home an ugly girl."

"I ain't trying to bring home an ugly girl," he growled at her. "I'm trying to bring you."

"What is wrong with you?" she nearly hissed at him. "Don't you know how people cringe from me? I'm repulsive! I'm a freak...hideous! I can't show my face in public and when I do...children cry and grown men recoil! That's all I have to look forward to. That's all we could have to look forward to! Why can't you see what's in front of you?"

"I do!" he yelled back at her. "It's you with the vision problems! It's the rest of the folks who won't let you heal...and it's you again for not giving people a chance to see you!"

"Stop!" she screamed. "Just stop! I can't stand it anymore."

Tears were flowing freely over the unblemished skin on the left side of her face and following the subtle pink trenches that wove their way down the right.

"It was nice at first," she whispered. "Hearing you say such nice things, thinking maybe you even meant them, taking a break from the monster that I am now. But you have to see…There's nothing for me. And if you stick with me then there's nothing for us."

He smiled at her. It was a small smile at first and then it was wide and as joyful as a child on Christmas morning.

"What are you smiling at?" she snapped at him. "It's over. And you're smiling. It never really meant anything to you, did it? I never meant anything to you."

"Nothing's over," he said matter-of-factly. "Nothing is over at all. I don't give up that easy. You want to know why I'm smiling? It's something Teaspoon told me. I was asking him why sometimes I thought maybe your scars made you even prettier. They do. I don't know why. I wish you hadn't gone through such a thing but I can't see your scars as ugly either. He reminded me that we don't get scars from dying. We have to survive to get scars."

"I might as well have died that day."

"See now, talk like that...it just...it hurts me, Greta. I don't even think you know how much. I always used to just feel the hurt but recently it's set me to wondering," Cody went on. "With that attitude, how did you ever live to even have the scars? But you just showed me, didn't you? You stood right up to me. I mean, you're wrong as you can be here. I'm starting to think I am falling in love with you and something as silly as an overturned buckboard ain't going to make me leave the first woman who ever made me feel like this. But that fire, you yelling at me…that's how you lived. You wanted to live. You must have. And God must've wanted you to live too or all the wanting in the world wouldn't make it happen."

Cody was panting and his eyes were full of fire. He noticed his hands were clenched into fists. Slowly he relaxed his hands and took a few steadying breaths.

"So how about we find a way to direct that fighting spirit to getting you living like you really want to?"

"But…people always ask…"

"And you tell them there was an accident. Nothing more than that…and nothing to be ashamed of, Greta."

"I still don't know if I can face your friends."

"Well, you don't have to explain because I already told them," he assured her. "And they get people making assumptions about them plenty from how they look and rumors that get started. If any bunch in the world is going to give you a chance to be the wonderful girl you are inside, it'll be this one."

She looked up at him almost helplessly. Her eyes were puffy and red and her skin was splotched with red from her crying. He was pretty sure her nose was running too. Gently he took her by the hand and led her to the pump where he filled a bucket partway with cold water.

"Come here, sweetheart," he said softly. He urged her to bend her face over the bucket so that he could fill his hands with the cool water and press it to the heated skin on her face. Then he took his water cooled hand and pressed it to the back of her neck before kissing the side of her head.

"Feel a little better?" he whispered in her ear. She nodded. "Good. Now show me that pretty face of yours."

She looked up at him as if about to cry again. Cody pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and proceeded to tenderly wipe the water and tears from her face.

"There," he said at last. "I don't expect you to be really alright yet. It'll take time. But are you better enough to come with me now? I think Rachel was roasting chicken. I sure don't want to miss any of it."

She nodded at him.

"Can you give me a smile?"

It wasn't the best smile she'd ever offered him but it was brave and it was as real as she could give.

"Much better."

Cody got his foot onto the first step of the bunkhouse porch before Greta's cold feet surfaced again.

"Billy," she whispered in terror.

"I'm right here," he assured her softly gripping her hand just a little tighter.

It was then that the door opened and Jimmy stood in the doorway. Cody heard the sharp intake of air from the girl next to him. Jimmy could be an imposing figure at the best of times. He must look terrifying to Greta.

"There you two are," Jimmy said with a wide smile. "I was about to head out to make sure you hadn't gotten lost."

His gaze turned to Greta.

"This must be the lovely Greta," he said extending a hand to her. "It's nice to finally meet you."

If he was taken aback at all by her appearance, he didn't let on. He merely took her hand and assisted Cody in leading her to the door.

"Greta," Cody said. "This here's one of my best friends in the world, Jimmy Hickok. If you come on in, you can meet the rest."

Jimmy reached for the doorknob and both he and Cody felt Greta begin to dig her heels into the porch in an effort to stay out of the bunkhouse. Cody opened his mouth as if to speak but Jimmy piped up first.

"Oh I know we're a motley looking bunch," he said easily. "Indian, black man, bald guy...terrifying notorious gunman."

He looked over at her with a raised eyebrow and a trace of whimsy playing across his features.

"But I swear we're not that dangerous. Give us a chance. I promise no one will bite you."

She looked at him with her brow furrowing. Cody leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"Told you there's nothing to be scared of here."

His words were met with a frightened whimper which he answered by squeezing her hand tighter.

"Was that really so bad, Greta?" Cody asked as he walked her home after supper. The meal had been delightful with the usual teasing and laughter among the usual attendees. Cody had even noticed that Greta laughed once or twice.

No one had even batted an eye at the scars on her face. At one point, as Rachel had Greta pulled aside asking her something about her cherry pie recipe that the guys had not stopped raving about since they had tasted it, Noah sidled up to Cody.

"I thought you said she was scarred up bad," Noah had said. "I mean, I can see them but they ain't what I'd call bad."

"I don't think so either," Cody had told him. "I think she sees them as worse than they are."

"Must be," Noah agreed. "I mean I can see them but..."

"I know, they don't seem to matter, do they?"

"Greta?" he asked again shaking his head out of the memories of the evening. "Are you alright? It wasn't so bad, was it?"

He heard the hitching breath next to him and stopped dead in his tracks. Her hand was in the crook of his arm so that he jerked her to a stop as well. Cody turned abruptly toward her and winced at the tears streaming down her face.

"Who said something?" he demanded. "Who was it? Which one of 'em made you cry?"

"Me," she whispered through her tears.

"Now that don't even make sense."

"Stupid!" she growled and Cody pulled back from the venom in her voice. "I'm so stupid!"

"What happened, sweetheart?" he asked, begging for an answer.

"Nothing happened," she choked out bitterly. "That's just the point."

"That makes even less sense. Greta, please, tell me why you're crying."

"If I could explain it, I would, Billy," she sighed sadly.

"Can I do anything at all to help you feel better?" he implored of her.

"You're doing it," she replied softly. "You always make me feel better."

"Then come a little closer to me, sweetheart," he said as he pulled her to him. His arms wound around her and endeavored to envelope her in his love so that she would never doubt it. Her tears flowed even harder as she clung tightly to him.

"It's alright," he cooed softly into her silky, brown hair. "Let it all out. I got you."

Another multi-chapter story? yeah. It didn't start out to be one but I guess it is. I sort of liked Greta and I thought she gave Cody a chance to show his (oft hidden) depth.

Parts of this story were inspired by the book Little Bee by Chris Cleave. If you've not read it, I highly recommend it.

I am not sure where this goes...how far we follow them or even what is fated for them...is this true love or merely a passing fancy? I surely don't know as of yet. I like them together...they are very honest and raw right now which is kind of fun to write.

I must, as always thank my dear ladies of the plus for their constant encouragement and support. And I must especially thank dear Beulah for putting eyes on this as well as for taking Greta into her heart and often Cody into her home. I know how he can run through the pop tarts.

I promise I haven't abandoned my other stories entirely...although I know I have lost a few of you with being so sporadic with updates. I apologize. The muse and real life can sometimes be canines of the female variety. I do so appreciate those who stick with me though. You are very hearty souls.

So let me know what you think. I still really like Greta. I'm not sure I always know what's going on in her noggin but I like her.-J