Chapter 4

Thanks to all my reviewers: uwsconnect, Bene, Endzi, koulitsa, amarie5 and Lisa L. (from the Ranch); even if I couldn't respond to all of you, I'm always happy to read you comments.

Since it's almost the Dec 25th…Merry Christmas to everyone!!

"Good morning, boys!" Lou exclaimed, entering the bunkhouse with a steaming coffee pot in her hand. Several semi-comprehensible grunts welcomed her, along with: "The door! It's cold!" groaned by Buck, the only one who seemed to have the gift of speech at that moment.

"C'mon, it's almost 8:30, sleepyheads!" she continued, ignoring their moaning.

Her words didn't have the desired effect, so the girl went to their beds and, with three sharp strokes, stripped off their blankets.

"Noo!"

"Help!"

"Kid! Take her away!"

Those were the answers she received, but they didn't deter her.

"Kid is getting Katy ready," she said. "Cody, didn't you want to see the Rosebush Ranch?"

" I changed my mind," he responded, curling up and hiding his head under the pillow.

"What if there's an apple pie just come out from the oven for breakfast?" Lou said enticingly.

Cody removed his head from under the pillow, suddenly more interested. Jimmy and Buck had begun to dress, resigned to her morning wake up, but they stopped to look at her suspiciously.

"Did you say apple pie?" Jimmy ventured cautiously.

"Rachel made it. I only prepared the ingredients," Lou said, annoyed. She had understood the implicit question.

The girl saw the hint of relief on their faces, but decided to not attach importance to it. Within a few days they would take back all their bad words about her cooking…at least she hoped so.

"How can you be so cheerful at this ungodly hour?" Jimmy whined while he was trying to make himself presentable. The night before all of them had gone to bed late, celebrating Cody's return; and, knowing Lou and Kid, the two of them didn't go straight to sleep when they returned in their room.

"It's not so early." The four of them turned toward the door, where Kid had just entered. A delicious smell emanated from the tray he was carrying. Their stomachs grumbled.

"I brought the pie. Mia and Tessie are at school and the horses have eaten and are ready to go." He smiled at Lou and slipped an arm around her waist.

"Perfect," she responded, giving him a peck on the cheek.

Cody exhaled behind his coffee cup, still unaccustomed to all this smugness; but soon his thoughts concentrated only on Rachel's wonderful pie.

About half an hour later they were ready to go.

"Ain't you coming with us?" Buck asked Lou, noticing she wasn't wearing her pants.

"Nuh uh." She shook her head no. "I'll come for lunch. I have an engagement this morning."

Three heads turned to look at her.

"What kind of engagement?" Cody began to ask. But the interrogation was interrupted by the arrival of Penelope Barnes.

"Good morning, Louise," she greeted Lou, smiling.

"Good morning to you, Penny," the ex-rider replied. "Boys, this is Penelope Barnes. Penny, this is Buck, Cody and Jimmy, and this is my husband, Kid."

"Good morning, miss," they said, tipping their hats.

"Good morning to you." Penny smiled again with cheerful eyes.

"So, you must be Lou's morning engagement!" Cody exclaimed.

"Cody, don't be impolite!" Lou elbowed him.

"Ouch! I ain't said nothing bad," he whined, rubbing his side.

"Will you be giving her cooking lessons?" Buck asked Penny suspiciously.

"Buck, that isn't any of your business. Go now, or you won't get anything done this morning." She pushed them toward the horses. "See you later!"

Penny was a big chatterbox, kind and merry. During her cooking lessons she talked to Lou about herself and her family. She was the town doctor's daughter, the same Doc Barnes who had patched them up so many times.

"Doc Barnes!" Lou had exclaimed when she told her that. "I never imagined he had a daughter!"

Penny was his youngest child to be precise, the last after two brothers who had yet settled down elsewhere. And soon she too would leave her family. Penny blushed when she said it. She was engaged to a young man named Sullivan Brown. He was currently in Fairbury but soon he would return to take up a telegrapher job in the new Rock Creek office, and Penny and Sullivan would marry. The girl told Lou how they met – her father had treated Sullivan's widowed mother – and that she couldn't wait for his return.

When she spoke those words, Lou noticed that her expression saddened slightly.

"Penny, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I feel a little guilty," the girl replied.

Lou didn't understand. "Why?"

"Because the telegraph took your job away. The Pony Express ended because of it."

"Oh no." Lou shook her head, touched by her kindness. "It wasn't anyone's fault. The Express would have ended anyway." She missed her riding days terribly, but now she had a new whole life before her.

Penny didn't talk only about herself. She told Lou everything she needed to know about being a young woman in Rock Creek. Lou was never much interested in this issue before, worried only about not being noticed, but now she was happy to have a new friend, the first true female friend her own age after so long. In the days that followed the two of them became closer and soon Penny became a familiar figure at the waystation.

Finally the big day arrived. Lou and Penny had cooked throughout the afternoon, helped by Rachel and little Teresa, and now all the Pony Express family was in the bunkhouse, waiting curiously and a bit worried about what they would have to eat.

"Well…it won't be so terrible if Penny helped her, will it?" Cody whispered hopefully.

Buck smiled at him, but he wasn't too convinced. He loved Lou as a sister and would eat all her dishes, as he promised, but he was afraid that dinner would ruin his holidays.

Lou finally brought out the first course. She was nervous when she began to serve, but Penny winked at her encouragingly. Around the table sat her entire family: Teaspoon and Rachel, Buck, Cody, Jimmy, Rosemary (who Lou decided to invite so she could begin to feel accepted), her siblings who smiled at her, and Kid. He wouldn't have said a word to her even if she served him charcoal, she knew, but this time she wanted to make him something delicious.

After the first suspicious morsel the boys began to truly appreciate what she had cooked.

"Hey Lou, are you sure you did this?" Cody asked, chewing the roast chicken the girl had cooked as the main dish.

"Of course I did!" Lou exclaimed angrily. "Not alone though…" she continued in a lower tone.

"C'mon, Louise. Don't be modest," Penny intervened. "I simply told you how to…you were the one who never took her eyes off the oven until the chicken was ready."

"You never moved?" Buck asked, amused. There was the hint of a smile on his lips. "Really?"

"Well…yes…" Lou admitted. "I didn't want it to burn this time." Her brow knitted as she silently challenged them to tease her.

"Lou, this is the best roast chicken I have ever eaten." The young woman turned towards Kid who had spoken.

"Really," he added when she glared at him in case he was only humoring her.

"He's right, Luly!" Jeremiah exclaimed with a full mouth, appearing from behind his brother-in-law's shoulder.

Louise looked at them tenderly. "Look how you messy you're getting, you two," she scolded them playfully. Kid and Miah had gravy-stained cheeks. She leaned over with a napkin to wipe the face of first her brother and then her husband.

"We have to teach them everything," Teresa said, very well mannered with Miss Mumblepuss on her knees.

Lou giggled. "You're right. I don't know what they would do without us!"

Miah and the Kid pretended to be offended and the others laughed at the cute scene.

Rosemary frowned. She saw Jimmy look at them, smiling, while Lou got up to serve dessert; perfect Louise, always her. She felt the rage growing inside of her. How could it be that no one understood who that woman really was?

Lou returned to the table with her best creation – at least she hoped so – a cake with cinnamon and apples.

"You have done very well, Louise," Rosemary told her suddenly.

Louise was a bit surprised, but accepted the praise with a smile. "Thank you," she replied.

"Especially since your life hasn't been easy…" the woman continued.

Lou didn't respond this time. She couldn't figure out where Rosemary was going with this. The others fell silent too, confused.

"It isn't everyone who is raped and has to endure a miscarriage. It's a terrible thing to deal with…especially if you were only the wisp of a girl – thirteen, right?"

Lou began to tremble, the color draining from her face. "W-what are you saying, w-what miscarriage?"

"Well, what happened to you is quite clear, Louise, the blood, the pain…didn't you figure it out yet? It's obvious you are afraid you can have children now. But with the life you chose it's been advantageous for you, don't you think?"

Lou stared at Rosemary and saw only contempt in her eyes. The tray fell of her hands. Everyone was looking at her – Lou saw Kid's sweet face upset, Miah and Tessie confused, Penny with her hands pressed to her mouth to cover her astonishment. She ran away without looking at anyone. Kid followed her immediately, throwing a look of pure hatred at Rosemary and Jimmy, but his friend appeared as confused as him.

Everyone sat motionless, frozen at their places, angry and grieved. Jimmy stood, his eyes two pieces of ice. He dragged Rosemary up too.

"Come on," he said sharply to her. "Now."

Without waiting for her answer Jimmy took their coats and left.