A/N: I'm almost ashamed to post this it's been so long since I've updated. Shortly after the last update, the mental well went dry, and I couldn't get anything out concerning this story. But, I'm hoping I'm over that hump and humbly present this latest offering to you.

The weeks passed and John slowly regained his strength. True to his word, John had behaved and said nothing about the kiss he and Ida had shared. She hadn't said anything about it either, which was disappointing. He didn't want to forget the moment they had shared, and Ida seemed bound and determined to do just that. Quite frankly John didn't see the point in forgetting about it. As far as he was concerned, there was absolutely nothing to keep them from acting on any feelings they might have. The only reason he could see for Ida to not mention what had happened was if she didn't feel the same way he did, but even that didn't make sense to him. Given Ida's profession she shouldn't have been rattled by something as simple as a kiss unless she did feel something, and if she felt the same thing he did, why was she trying to act like nothing had happened?

The whole thing had been an enigma to John since the day it happened, and he was almost glad when he was able to return to his own room. Almost. Going back to his own place did mean seeing far less of Ida, and frankly, he'd grown to like seeing her every day. Still, it wasn't as though he could be sorry he was getting better. That's what he told himself as he was getting ready to make the trip back to the boarding house anyway.

He was packing up what few things he had when Ida came in. "Almost ready to go?"

He smiled, wishing he could do something to dispel the aloof tone Ida's voice always seemed to carry now. "Almost."

"I can't say I hate to see you go considering what brought you here."

John chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

She didn't say anything for a long minute then she sighed. "I think we need to talk, John."

"All right." Taking her hand, he led her to the bed. She cautiously sat down, him taking the spot beside her. "Talk."

"Please stop looking at me like that."

John blinked, he was unaware he'd been looking at her anyway. "What way?"

"Like you . . . never mind." An awkward silence settled between them. "I need to apologize to you," she finally said.

John scoffed. "For what? Saving my life?"

"For kissing you."

He'd known the kiss had bothered Ida, but he hadn't been expecting that. He almost laughed. "I'm not an innocent young girl, Ida. I have been kissed before."

"But not by me."

"Ida . . . ."

"I think I gave you the wrong impression."

"Just what impression did you give me?"

"You enjoyed it." It sounded almost like an accusation.

"Yes, I did. Can you tell me you didn't?"

"I shouldn't have," Ida said hotly before she jumped up.

John also stood and grabbed her arm. "Why?"

"Because nothing good can come of it."

"You have a reason for thinking that."

Ida sighed. "Do you have a reason to think differently? You're the law in this town, John. You have a very public job and you're respected. I'm a prostitute; a whore."

"You're not a whore," John shot back, not realizing how the name would grate on him.

"Yes, John," Ida stated calmly. "I am. There are better names, but prettying it up doesn't change facts."

"The mayor has a very public job too, and I don't think there's anyone who doesn't know about the time he spends with Maggie."

"That's different."

"Is it?"

"Yes. Maggie . . . Maggie's paid for what she does. Is that what you want?"

"No," he snapped, insulted Ida would even suggest that.

She smiled kind of sadly. "I didn't think so. That's the difference, John. Maybe if you were in here looking for a whore we could do whatever you wanted. But you're not, and we can't have it any other way. I'm sorry." She turned to leave.

"You know how ridiculous that sounds?"

Ida faced him. "It's not ridiculous at all."

John sighed. "Ida . . . ."

"John, we can't."

"Just tell me one thing." John took a step closer. "If there would be no consequences, no ramifications, how would you feel then?"

Ida looked away sharply. "That's not fair. We both know there would be, so talking about it is moot."

"How would you feel?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Answer the question."

Ida closed her eyes. "John, please. Please let's forget about it."

John had his answer, although not exactly the one he wanted. Ida did feel something, she had to, but it was unlikely that she would choose to act on it. He could see her point. Hadn't he always tried to keep a low profile at the Palace before because of the very reason Ida had just stated? He supposed his realizing he cared for Ida hadn't changed the situation too much, just how he felt about it.

"I'm sorry," he offered now feeling a little guilty about how he'd pushed her.

Ida reached up and touched his cheek sending that jolt through him again. "It's better this way."

"Even if it's not what we want?" He couldn't resist trying one more time to get Ida to admit her feelings.

"Even if it's not what we want."

The admission didn't bring the satisfaction John was hoping for. Instead, he felt a pang of disappointment. "I guess I need to be gettin' on back then."

"That would probably be best. I should get back downstairs too."

John briefly considered kissing Ida before she left, but he again behaved himself and let her walk out of the door. He didn't see another kiss doing anything but making this worse, but this wasn't the end. John cared about Ida, he cared about her son. He wouldn't let it end here.

The day John left the Palace to go back to his own room, Buck went down to the creek to meet Del. He hadn't seen much of Del since John had been shot, and Buck had missed running around with his friend. He didn't regret having spent so much time with John while he was healing, but there was very little summer left and Buck planned on spending as much of it as he could with Del.

Buck got a knot in his stomach whenever he thought of going back to school, and it wasn't a case of just not wanting to go back this year. He had no small amount of anxiety concerning his new teacher. He hadn't heard a word about who would be taking Mr. Harper's place, or what kind of a man he was. To make things even worse, this would be the last year he would be at school with Del, providing Del passed his exam in the spring, that is, but there was no reason to think he wouldn't.

Buck was skipping stones when he saw Del coming and tried to push all thoughts of school out of his mind. He wasn't going to have to go school today, and he and Del had a whole year together before he had to worry about Del leaving.

"Guess what I just found out?" Del asked before Buck had a chance to say anything.

"What?"

Del jumped off Red and tied the horse by Genevieve. When he faced Buck there was a big grin on his face. "Last night I heard Pa talkin' 'bout the new teacher."

Buck stopped what he was doing and gave all his attention to Del. "What he'd say?" He didn't want to think about school when he was alone, but he had to hear what Del had found out.

Del's grin grew. "He said she's coming out from Illinois."

"She's coming?" Buck's eyes widened. "It's a woman?"

"Yep."

Buck stared in disbelief. "A woman teacher?" Buck had never had a woman for a teacher before. Would that be better or worse than the teachers he'd had before?

"That's what he said. Her name's Miss Borden and she'll be coming in next week."

Buck blew out a breath and sat on the bank of the creek. "What kind of teacher do you think a woman will be?"

Del shrugged and sat down beside him. "I don't know. She can't be any worse than Mr. Harper, right?"

Buck smiled thinking about the man and how much trouble he and Del had gotten in while Harper had been teaching. "I guess not. I hope not. Is that all he said?"

"Yeah. He saw me then and stopped talkin'." Del almost looked ashamed. Almost.

"A woman. I didn't even know they let women be teachers."

Del shrugged. "I guess they do."

"Well, come on," Buck said jumping up and tugging on Del. "I'm tired of talkin' about school. Let's go for a swim."

As the days went by, news of the new teacher spread and pretty soon the entire town had heard of the young woman who would be teaching when school began again. Buck and Del, particularly Del, had tried to pick up more information about her, but they hadn't been able to find out much. She was coming from Illinois and this was to be her first teaching job, but they still didn't know much beyond that, and neither boy had seen her, but Miss Borden remained a favorite topic of conversation for them. Del loved to speculate about what she would look like, but Buck was more concerned with how interesting she would be.

The last Saturday before school was to start the boys were outside the livery enjoying as much of their last real day off as they could. They had been talking about fishing and horses but when there was a lull in the conversation things began to drift back to the teacher.

"I asked Ma what she looked like last night," Del said. "She didn't say much though except she's young."

"What do you think young means?" Buck already knew there was a big difference in what he thought was young and what Mama thought was young. Mama called Lisa young, but at nineteen Buck thought she was kind of old.

Del just shrugged.

"Didn't your pa see her when she came in?"

"Yeah, but he didn't say much about it either. Monday ought to be interesting, though."

Buck looked over and noticed Del had a big grin on his face. In Buck's opinion, Del was far too happy about the start of school. But if Buck was starting his last year of school, he supposed he would be happy about it too. He wasn't starting his last year, though, and Buck just couldn't be as excited as Del, even if he was curious about Miss Borden.

Talk of the mysterious Miss Borden was interrupted when Becky walked up. "Hi, Buck. Hi, Del," she said sitting down on Del's other side.

Buck returned the greeting, but Del immediately began questioning the girl about his new favorite topic, Miss Borden. It turned out Becky didn't know any more than they did.

"Ain't your pa on the town council?" he asked, disappointed Becky couldn't add anything to their gossip.

"Yours is too," she replied. "Hasn't he said anything?"

"Nothing you don't already know."

"Maybe they don't want us to know," Buck said.

Both Del and Becky looked at him, and Del had a strange look on his face. "Why wouldn't they want us to know?" he asked.

"I don't know, but why's it such a secret?"

"Dadgum," Del muttered. "What do you thinks wrong with her?"

"Why would there be something wrong with her?" Becky asked.

"Cause Buck's right. Why else wouldn't they tell us?"

"And why would a lady from Illinois want to come here?" Buck added.

"Maybe they don't think it's any of our business."

Buck scoffed. "It's our teacher. Why wouldn't it be our business?"

"Maybe she's a criminal runnin' from the law. Or maybe she's hidin' from somebody else; somebody that's tryin' to kill her or somethin'. Or maybe she's deformed and couldn't get a job anywhere else." Del's eyes were now shining and Buck had to admit, this conversation did make the teacher more interesting. Becky didn't share that opinion, however. She was looking between the two of them in disbelief.

"Maybe she's a hunchback," Buck said wondering why he and Del hadn't thought of any of this sooner.

"I think the two of you are being ridiculous," Becky broke in. "And I think you're both going to feel really silly come Monday."

Del shrugged. "Maybe, or maybe not. They haven't told us a lot."

"So that means she's a hunchback?" Becky rolled her eyes. "I'm going to see Julia." She got up and started down the street muttering something about boys.

Buck and Del watched her go before Buck looked at his friend. "You really believe all that? That she's a criminal or a hunchback?"

"Nah, probably not," he admitted. "But it would make things interesting."

Buck laughed.

"Ma said you could come over for supper tonight," Del said. "You want to go for a ride before?"

"Sure." Buck was always ready for a ride, and they might as well enjoy their last full free day.

Monday morning Buck was waiting for Del at the edge of town and they made the rest of the walk to school together. When they arrived, they went over to what had become their tree over the years and sat down to wait for the bell. They were making small talk when Becky came up with another girl.

"Did you and Buck come up with any more ridiculous ideas about Miss Borden?" she asked.

"No, but that don't mean we're wrong," Del replied.

Del and Becky continued to talk but Buck's attention was on the girl who had come up with Becky. He was puzzled by the girl. Del hadn't asked about her, and Becky hadn't said anything about her, but Buck had never seen her before. He hadn't heard of anyone new moving to town, but he was sure he would have remembered seeing her before. She was . . . well, pretty. He couldn't remember ever thinking a girl was pretty before, but he couldn't think of any other word. Auburn curls were tied back in a blue ribbon, and the ribbon looked like it was the same color as her eyes. And very light freckles were spread across her nose.

He was watching her wondering why none of the other girls in town looked like her. If they did he might like girls as much as Del did. She suddenly turned to look at him and smiled. The smile brought on an odd flipping sensation in the pit of his stomach, something Buck had never felt before. He liked it and hated it at the same time.

"Hi, Buck," she said.

Buck started. How did she know his name? His stomach did that flip again and this time, his felt his face flushing too. "Hi," he mumbled hoping no one had noticed his red cheeks. His hopes were dashed when he heard Becky and her new friend giggling. That only made the flush worse.

He kept his eyes glued to the ground until he heard the girls walk away. When he was sure they were gone he finally dared to look up and found Del watching him with a smirk on his face.

"Who was that?" he asked trying to act nonchalant and praying Del wouldn't say anything about his face turning red.

"What do you mean who was that? It's Julia."

"Julia?" Buck's voice cracked unexpectedly and that blasted flush came back.

That stupid grin of Del's grew and he pronounced the name slowly. "Julia. Morgan."

Buck looked over to where the girls were standing. If that was Julia, what had happened to her? He didn't remember her being that tall, and she definitely hadn't had those curls that last time he'd seen her. And had her eyes always been blue? Most importantly why did he care?

"What's the matter, Buck?" Del asked nudging his arm. "You're acting like you've never seen her before."

"Shut up," Buck snapped wondering if his face would ever go back to its normal color. He shook his head trying to clear it of the peculiar and somewhat disturbing thoughts. He had bigger things to worry about then Julia. Things like dealing with a new teacher and making it through the day.

He found his eyes going back over to where the girls were, and unfortunately they saw him. They both started to giggle again, and then he felt Del nudge him. Aggravated at getting caught Buck dropped his eyes again and promised himself he wouldn't look at Julia again today. He was spared anymore embarrassment by the bell ringing, and for the first time that he could remember, Buck was glad to be going to school. Whatever he was going to find inside with Miss Borden and new lessons couldn't be as bad as what he'd just been through.

Historical note: Back during this time in U.S., most schools only went through what would now be considered the 8th grade. While this doesn't seem like much by today's standards, they actually received a full, well-rounded in this amount of time, and an exit exam, a challenging exam, had to be passed in order to actually "graduate." After they were out of school, children would start learning how to be adults. A boy like Del would begin working with his father so he could take over the farm one day, this would also by the case if the family owned some type of store, they also might start an apprenticeship with someone to learn a trade. Girls, meanwhile, would usually learn how to run a household and begin preparing for marriage. Any higher formal education would have been was usually for professions like doctors, lawyers, etc...