Author's note: Thank you so much for the lovely reviews and for adding our story to your favourites and alerts! And thanks to everyone for reading it! Special thanks to Aubrey212, Mynerva24, cmaddict, afrozenheart412, SMacked Hard and Hylen! Also check out our stories under our individual accounts! Here's the next chapter for you. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 2: The Adventure Begins

There was a lot Lindsay loved about her home state Montana. Since she couldn't ever imagine herself growing up and living at any other place. There were towns in Montana of course, some of them even rather big in her opinion. She had heard about the large cities at the east coast of the country though, and in a place like this she could definitely not see herself. She needed the quiet and peace of nature she knew she got wherever she went in Montana. She needed the tall, mighty mountains, the deep, blue lakes, the long, wild rivers, the thick, dark forests and the endlessly long fields. She needed this landscape, with everything it had to give. It was her home, more than a house could ever be. Something like this she wouldn't be able to find in the dusky, busy cities, like the most famous one of them; New York.

For Lindsay, living in Montana meant to be free, now more than ever. Back home, on her parents' farm she had used every possible opportunity to escape, to sneak out, mount Ranger and ride out. How many hours she had spent on the back of her horse, riding through endlessly long wheat fields, enjoying the heat of the sun on her bright skin. Or though the dark forests, enjoying all the delicious smell only a thick forest could give.

"You know, Ranger, actually I don't understand why they've been so surprised," she said, patting his warm, soft fur. "They know I've sneaked out all those times; you know how often I've been lying in my bedroom, crying my eyes out because they've yet again yelled at me for being out in the country again instead of sitting at home, doing what every woman is supposed to do. They knew that no matter what they told me, I'd sneak out again, maybe even the same evening already. They shouldn't have been surprised by my plans. Am I right?"

She moved a bit in the saddle to glance at her horse. Like all the hours before, Ranger was walking, his hooves hitting against the dusky, dry road in a steady rhythm. Nothing could scare this calm, wise animal. Knowing him almost as good as a human friend, she didn't miss how his ears moved lightly at her spoken words, standing up straight, signalling her he was listening. And possibly once again the only one who understood her.

"Still they've acted like I came up with the most senseless plan ever," she added, sighing.

Of course Lindsay had expected her parents wouldn't be happy the moment she'd announce she was going to leave the farm. They weren't even aware of the fact that their youngest daughter had applied for a job on another ranch. She had tried her best to keep it a secret, had always been the first one at the mail box to catch the letter she was waiting for desperately every day before anyone else could read it. One day it had arrived and with shaking hands, Lindsay had opened it right out there at the mail box. Quickly she had let her eyes wander over the lines written on white paper before she had turned around and rushed into the barn, trying her best to not shout out in joy at the wonderful answer she had found in said letter. She had gotten the job. And back then she had known her parents would be anything but amused about that. She had been right.

"How can you do that to us?" her father had yelled, in a voice that had caused her to shudder. "Our youngest daughter! Applying for a job on a ranch! Didn't we give you anything you needed? I always knew this girl would cause us problems one day, with this stubborn mind of yours." This last sentence had been directed at Lindsay's mother. Lindsay had been prepared for another attack coming from her mother this time. The woman's response had surprised her though.

"She'll have her reasons for doing so," she said. "I didn't see this coming, but I knew we couldn't lock her up in her room forever. She needs to decide what's the best for her, even if that's not what we'd like to see her doing." To Lindsay she had said, "I hope you made the right decision for yourself. There's always still the opportunity for you to come home."

This reaction hadn't been what Lindsay had expected to come from her mother. She knew the woman wasn't amused about her decision either. Owning an almost as stubborn mind as herself though, her mother could partly understand her daughter's decision; she needed to try something on her own, needed to follow her longing for freedom and independence. Lindsay was aware of the fact that her mother was certain she'd come back home one day, but she was determined to prove the opposite.

"It was the right decision," she announced, blinking lightly in the bright afternoon sun. They had been riding for hours now, all the time following a dusky road through long, dry fields. "It was the right decision and I will prove it."

Once again she noticed Ranger's ears moving lightly. Lindsay knew if he could speak, he'd agree with her. She was determined, sometimes even stubborn. She had a mind of her own though and she knew what was good for her. She knew working on the Taylors' farm was what she wanted and she was excitedly looking forward to this new challenge.

Sitting in the train, Danny kept on staring out of the dusky, dirty window next to him, trying to keep his eyes open. Sighing lightly, he shifted in his hard, uncomfortable seat, accidentally bumping into the person sitting next to him lightly. The person, an old man with long, grey hair and a long, grey beard, mumbled some words he didn't understand but didn't wake up, so Danny didn't see a sense in changing this with his apologies.

Releasing another light sigh, Danny turned his attention back to the window. He had given up on enjoying the beautiful landscape outside, rushing past him while the long, loud train found its way through the country. How much he wished he had already reached his target. Still there were so many hours left; hours he'd have to spend in a small, very small cabin of an old train, together with at least ten other people. He could consider himself lucky he had gotten a seat and could even sit near the window, which had two big advantages; he could look out of it instead of staring at either the wall in front of him or the other passengers and he was closest to the bit of fresh air that found its way into the cabin. Fresh air possibly wasn't the right description for the dusky, smelling breeze that found its way into the inside of the train. Still it was more welcomed than the smell of ten sweating passengers.

But despite himself, Danny didn't find himself being annoyed at all. He was willing to take the burden of this long and hard journey, because it was worth it. It was only one part of his fresh start. Every mile he spent on his seat in the little cabin brought him further away from the large city of New York and closer to his new future; a ranch somewhere nowhere in the middle of Montana. Still it felt like a dream, still he couldn't believe he had managed to do it; leave his past behind.

It had taken Danny a lot of strength to tell his family about his plans. Although he knew he couldn't bear this lifestyle of his criminal family, there was still a connection between them, and always would be. After all they were his family and during the years he had risked a lot to take care of them and get them out of trouble. Being so completely different from them though had made it almost impossible for keep on following this way of life. He was different and he needed a change. A huge change. He needed a fresh start and what was better than earning his money with honest, hard work on a ranch where he did something good instead of helping those who broke the law? Of course his family hadn't been amused, but he didn't care. After all Louie, his brother, had taken him to the train station and had told him to visit them somewhere in the future, or at least send some letters. He knew even though no one of his family liked the fact their youngest member was going to work on a ranch so many miles away, they were able to understand him. He wasn't like them and they would accept it, if they wanted or not.

"Not the most comfortable way to travel, eh?" a dark, raspy male voice interrupted him in his thoughts. Turning around to where the voice had come from, he found the man in front of him looking at him. Did he talk to him?

"What?" Danny asked, just t make sure he was the one the question had been directed to. The man was short and thin, with messy grey hair and beard, revealing he possibly didn't even own half of his teeth anymore when he laughed.

"Not a nice way to travel I said," he repeated. "Surely could imagine something better than being locked in a box like this."

"At least we can sit," Danny answered, adjusting his position lightly, making sure he didn't bump into the person next to him again.

"True, true," the man said, again laughing. "So kid, where're you going to?"

"Montana," he replied. Actually Danny wasn't in the mood for making conversation. Saying this wasn't polite though. Also he hoped the conversation with the man would keep him awake. Still he felt uncomfortable with sleeping in this cabin, not sure whether he'd wake up with the few things he had taken with him on his journey. The money surely wouldn't be anywhere to find anymore then.

"Montana?" the man repeated. "Beautiful country, I can tell you, son. But what's a young man like you gonna do over there? There's nothing but...nothing. And some mountains and stuff."

Danny couldn't help but smile at the man's description. Everyone living in the city had kept on telling him heading to the West of the country wouldn't be worth the cost. The countryside was quiet and lonely. This was exactly what Danny was looking for though.

"I'm gonna work on a ranch over there," he explained then.

"On a ranch?" The man raised his eyebrows. "A city boy like you? Not afraid of the hard work?"

Still smiling, Danny shook his head at the comment. Possibly this wouldn't be the last time he'd get confronted with opinions like that. "Not at all. It's what I need to do I guess."

"Good luck then," the man said, nodding his head to emphasise his words. "Don't know you, son, but looking at you I reckon you're gonna be fine. Looks like you won't shy away when it comes to hard work."

"Surely not," Danny agreed.

He knew working and living on a ranch in the countryside of Montana wouldn't be easy. Danny was well aware of the fact he'd have to work hard. Especially if he wasn't planning on losing his job after not even a week. Still he was sure his decision had been right. The old man in front of him believed in him, so did he. This was an adventure and a challenge; exactly what he wanted.

"Here, let me do that, Miss Jessica." Don's voice came through the back door of the store, stopping Jessica in the process of gripping the corners of a large sack of flour ready to lift and place it at the front of the counter. With a grin, she let her hands slacken, and turned to face him.

"Think I'm not strong enough for this, Don?" Her hands went to her hips, and her stare challenged him as he strode over, heaved up the sack with a grunt and deposited it next to a barrel of molasses.

"Nope." He replied, dusting off his hands, "Not what I think at all. You got more strength than many men I know of. Guess I like doing things to help you, that's all. Gotta allow a man a few chances to be chivalrous to his girl." With a grin, he folded his arms and stared back at her.

Jessica pursed her lips, trying her hardest to give him a glare, but her mouth soon crinkled into laughter and she shook her head, "Sure, Don, take your chances, I'll allow you a few. Don't think you can get away with taking on all the work though, just 'cause Ma and Pa are out of town. I gotta do my fair share here too."

"Course you do, I'm not gonna stop you doing that. Like I say, I like to help you out when I can."

Jessica's grin widened, and she pointed to the far end of the counter, "In that case, you'd best be picking up that sack of flour again, and moving it to where I was going to put it, which is over there."

His face flushed, and he frowned, but only for a moment, before he shook his head ruefully, "Guess I asked for that." He hefted the sack again and placed it to her satisfaction, before turning back to her, redder in the cheeks and a little out of breath, "Sure don't fill those sacks to be easy to carry, do they? Good thing I was around to move it for you!"

With a wink, he dodged out of the way of her attempted smack to his arm, and they both giggled together.

As their laughter gave way to shy smiles, they realised they had moved closer together, and Jessica suddenly became aware of Don's presence in front her, the scent of wood shavings on him, and the small streak of flour across his cheek.

"Hey." She murmured, and raised her hand, "You got something on your face. Let me…"

Moving in closer to him, she felt her heart beating a little faster and the warmth flooding her skin as her fingers brushed his face. For a moment they stood there, eyes drawn together, breathing in rhythm, and then the bell above the door jangled, and Jessica jerked a step back, aware suddenly of their surroundings, and the fact that they had customers.

Glancing quickly at Don, who had retreated behind the counter, his appearance all business-like again, she smoothed her apron down and readied herself as the door opened.

A flood of sunlight washed into the store, illuminating the somewhat dusty interior and Jess blinked, dazzled for a few seconds. A couple walked in, and she recognised them as the new owners of the old ranch a few miles out of town; the Taylors, who she had met briefly twice before when they had come to the store for provisions. She had liked them immediately, and smiled warmly at them now.

Mr Taylor was a serious faced man, though his expression softened whenever his gaze fell on his wife. Something that happened often, Jessica had observed with a smile.

The first time they came into the store with orders for groceries and a length of material for Mrs Taylor, she had noticed that where Mr Taylor was slow to relax his manner, his wife was immediately open and generous. Her face had beamed with pleasure as Jessica had found her the perfect colour and pattern of fabric for the new curtains in the farmhouse she was eager to tell her about.

She had also watched with pleasure as Mrs Taylor exclaimed over things to her husband, pointing at all the goods hanging from the ceiling, touching the different items on display, running her hands over the bolts of cloth and picking out the ones she liked, turning now and again to her husband with a raised eyebrow, or a quirk of her lips, which he seemed to understand perfectly. Between them both seemed to be running an unspoken conversation, which she had enjoyed observing.

As they walked into the shop now, she noticed the way Mr Taylor stood protectively at the side of his wife, and how she took the lead in opening the conversation.

"Good morning, Miss Angell." She shook Jessica's hand warmly, and her husband followed suit, with a touch of his hat to her also. Don came forward from behind the counter and handshakes were exchanged with him.

"What can we do for you both today?" Jessica asked, stepping back a little to allow the couple to look around, and, she hoped, admire the display of boxed candies she had arranged so carefully earlier in the centre of the floor, "Is there anything in particular you were wanting?"

Mrs Taylor turned to her husband, "Shall we share our good news, Mac?"

A smile spread across his face, "I can see you're eager to, Stell, so go right ahead. It isn't a secret."

Jessica lifted her eyebrows, and took a guess at what their news might be, given that they were a newly married couple.

Mrs Taylor, turned to her with a look of excitement, "We're expecting two new additions to our little family!"

Feeling her eyebrows rising higher, Jessica sneaked a glance at Don, who was looking equally surprised, and was scratching the top of his head. Two new additions? That she was not expecting.

"Really?" She managed to say, "Then, er, congratulations to you both. That's, er, that's wonderful news."

Nodding eagerly, Mrs Taylor clasped her hands and sent a look of happiness to her husband, "It is indeed. We're thrilled about it."

"And when… when do you expect their, er, arrival?" It felt to Jessica as if she was stepping into possibly forbidden areas of conversation, given that she had only met the couple twice before.

Mrs Taylor however, seemed to take no offence at the question, or seem to feel that it was impertinent, and answered without hesitation, "Oh, very soon, not long to wait. If all goes well, they should both be here this evening!"

At that, Jessica's jaw dropped in a most unladylike fashion, and a glance at Don, showed his face in a similar expression. As little as she knew about such matters, seeing as they were, so her mother told her, to be talked about only when she was married, she knew enough to be startled at the information. From what she knew, new additions to families generally took a few months to appear, and usually involved a change in appearance of a married lady. Even though she was trying not to stare at Mrs Taylor, it was easy to see that she certainly did not look to be expecting new additions imminently…

Gathering her wits, she cleared her throat, and chose her words carefully, "Well goodness, that is soon! Are you, if I'm not being too forward in asking you, all prepared for their arrival?"
A merry laugh came from Mrs Taylor then, "Oh no, not at all! That's why we've dashed over here. We've hardly a crumb of food in the pantry, and I'm guessing they're both going to be needing a good meal inside of them when they arrive. They're both making a long journey to be here."

Jessica's face scrunched up in confusion, "A long journey?"

"Yes indeed, why, one of them's coming all the way from New York city itself, isn't that right, Mac?"

"It is." Her husband answered, "He'll have had a fair few days of travelling along the railroad."

"By rail? Ah!" Suddenly, feeling embarrassment wash over her, Jessica realised what the couple were not talking about, and felt very foolish. Mrs Taylor looked at her, tilting her head to one side, then realisation dawned on her face and pink tinged her cheeks as her hand flew to her mouth, "Oh my! You thought I was talking about something else entirely, didn't you? Goodness me no, no, I should have explained myself more clearly. Fact is, we have two young folks arriving today to be working on the ranch! So Mac and me have come into town to make sure we got enough food and supplies to give them a good meal and make sure they got everything they need to be comfortable with us."

Mr Taylor's face was poker-straight, but Jessica did not fail to see the twinkle in his eyes as he looked at his wife, and stepped in to save any further embarrassment on anyone's part, "We've got a few items of groceries we need, Miss Angell, that we'd be much obliged to you to find for us. Hope a list is acceptable to you."

"Acceptable indeed, thank you, Sir." She took the proffered slip of paper with a grateful smile, feeling her cheeks cool, and then waved them both over to the chairs set at one end of the counter for customers to wait on, "Make yourselves comfortable, please, while Mr Flack and I complete your order."

Mr Taylor nodded, "Thank you both." He moved to lead his wife over to the chairs, but she grasped his hand and shook her head.

"We've got enough sitting to do on the ride back, let's look around whilst we wait. Sure, there's plenty of interesting things here for us to admire."

"If you say so, Stella." He smiled at her, and did not pull his hand away, and the two of them roamed around the shop floor, looking and exploring, and talking in low tones, or just exchanging glances that spoke volumes. Keeping her attention on her tasks, Jessica still found them fascinating, and enjoyed seeing their obvious happiness with each other, and all the signs of a couple very much in love. It was in the way Mr Taylor's hand stayed in his wife's, and how he straightened the shawl over her shoulders; and it was in the way Mrs Taylor's hand touched her husband's cheek and the smile she had in her eyes whenever she looked at him.

Without realising, Jessica found herself sighing, and her gaze wandering to Don as he attended to the rest of the Taylor's order. Watching as he climbed up to take down items from the top shelves, she began to consider their future, and all the promises it held. And a smile crept across her face as she allowed herself to dream.

In no time at all, the order for the couple was packed up and the bill was settled. Mr Taylor picked up the parcels and packages, and would have carried them all, had not Mrs Taylor plucked several out of his arms with an amused frown, "Mac, I know you're only being a gentleman, but I do have arms myself and the ability to carry a parcel or two, so hand a few over. 'Sides, I don't want you dropping any of those fresh eggs we've just bought!"

"Well don't you be dropping them neither!" He retorted, but the smile on his face belied any severity.

They turned then to Jessica and Don, and farewells were exchanged, before Mrs Taylor breezed out of the store, her husband following close behind, turning back before the door closed to raise his hat once more.

Then they were gone and silence drifted into the store again. Jessica stood in thought, until a light touch on her should made her spin round.

"You all right, Miss Jessica?" Don asked her, concern in his blue eyes.

She squeezed his arm gently, "I'm fine. Just thinking about the Taylors, thinking about how they're setting up together and making that old ranch into a home. They've sure got plenty ahead of them. Good things, I'm hoping."

"Reckon they've got good on their side." Don smiled, "They're real decent folks. Hope we see more of them soon, and get to meet these new folks they've got coming to work for them."
"I hope so." She mused, just as the bell above the door jangled again, announcing new custom, "Hope they've got a happy road ahead of them too."

And with that, her attention turned to their next customer, and the day continued.