A/N: This story takes place during the movie. It's Dorcas' point of view. Since nothing is spoken of Dorcas' background (or any of the others, for that matter) I made up a background for her.

I'm hoping that this story will make sense to everyone, even if they haven't seen the movie.

A/N 2: I must apologize. When I started writing this fanfic, I had the names of Ruth and Sarah mixed up! I don't know how it happened, but I realized this while I was re-watching the movie the other day in order to continue writing. I meant the right girl, but for some reason I thought that Sarah's name was Ruth and that Ruth's name was Sarah.

So, I'm going to be re-uploading every chapter, revised. I'm also going to take this opportunity to alter the chapters a bit. Don't worry; the main points will stay the same. Thanks in advance for your patience.

-7-

I have been living in this town for 3 months now, and this was the first time I'd heard about the Pontipees. And boy did I hear about them…

-7-

"Girls, the quiltin' bee is in two days, and I hardly have enough fabric to make an apron, let alone a quilt." Ruth said disappointedly as she looked into her bag of scrap fabric.

Sarah, Liza, Ruth and I were sitting in Sarah's parlour having tea when the subject was brought up. This immediately dampened the mood considerably. We had been looking forward to the bee, and had all been saving as much fabric as we could spare.

"Gee, I hate to tell all the girls it'll be cancelled." Ruth sighed, "It would have been so much fun, too."

"Are you sure we don't have enough?" Martha asked. "I mean, surely we must have enough if we combine all of our material?"

"I know I don't have much to contribute. We only had enough fabric this season to make one new dress each, and even then we had to be very careful." I sighed and folded my hands together. Sometimes I missed living in the city.

Pa had moved west a few months ago, bringing us all with him. I was torn: excited about settling a new territory and helping to create a new land. The other part of me was scared of what would happen. It was, after all, unsettled country, wild and yet to be tamed. My fears were assuaged when I saw the town. It was quaint, and I fell in love with it.

My other fears, the ones of not fitting in and not being welcomed by the other girls were put to rest as well. There were hardly any girls in the town, and they all welcomed me with open arms.

It's a hard life out here, but I'm finding that I enjoy it. There are some definite disadvantages, though. Why, in the city, all I'd have to do would be to go to the store and ask if they had any leftover material...

"Girls! Why don't we go ask Mrs. Bixby if she has any extra material that we could use?" I interrupted.

"Dorcas, that's a wonderful idea, why didn't we think of it before?" Sarah said excitedly. "Come on girls; let's get over there right away!"

-7-

We walked as fast as we could over to the Mercantile and entered the store, engulfing Mrs. Bixby.

"We're havin' a quiltin' bee." Ruth started excitedly.

"We thought you might have some odds and ends," Martha finished quickly.

"I'll see," Mrs. Bixby smiled as she went behind the counted and started poking around under the counters.

We all watched her eagerly until our ears caught the sound of a man talking. I looked up and my eyes widened. He was the first man that I'd ever seen dressed in buckskins. He walked over and I looked at him interestedly. He was tall and well-built: the very image of a backwoodsman. He had fiery red hair and a beard to match, his blue eyes were piercing.

"Pay him no mind, girls." Mrs. Bixby said firmly as she laid some bolts of cloth on the counter.

I looked down at the floor. Is it considered polite to talk to a stranger? Back east we never engage with someone we haven't been introduced to. Do the same rules apply here? What do I do? I'll play it safe and wait to see what the others girls do.

"Fred, put his things in the wagon, don't keep him waiting." The good lady motioned to her husband.

"Oh I'm in no hurry," the large, powerful man said. "I got all afternoon."

"Well you're wasting your time," Mrs. Bixby said bluntly. "There's not a girl in this town to marry you."

At this, I couldn't help looking up at the man. So that's why he's over here and acting so strangely. I must say this is a strange way to go about courting a girl. Is this some strange custom that I don't know about? His eye caught mine and I quickly looked down again.

"I haven't set my mind to something yet, but what I got." He boasted and I raised my head, choosing to fix my eyes on Mrs Bixby's apron. The nerve of that man. I thought angrily. To think that he can just show up and get what he wants.

"Whether it's ploughin' twenty acres in a day or droppin' a tree within an inch of where I want it." Impressive, but a real man wouldn't boast about it so much.

"I'm here today to get me a wife. I don't mean to go home empty-handed." I could feel him looking at me appraisingly. Like I was a hunk of meat!

"You're all pretty and fresh and young." I couldn't help but smile at the compliment. Maybe he isn't half bad... "I'll keep ya in mind. But I aint deciding on nothing until I look 'em all over." With that he turned and walked out of the mercantile.

"The nerve of that man," Ruth huffed, her pride hurt.

"I've never met a more unpleasant man in my life." Sarah frowned and turned back to Mrs. Bixby. "Now about that material..."

-7-

We returned to Sarah's and during the ensuing conversation, I found out every piece of information that was known about the Pontipees. It wasn't much: just that there were seven of them and they all lived several miles out of town. It wasn't long before we were talking about other matters and the Pontipees were far from our minds.

-7-