Chapter 28

Buck awoke sometime in the middle of the night, he laid there quietly holding Lou to him unsure as to what had woken him. He listened for the baby, but did not hear anything coming from the nursery. Buck quietly slipped from the bed and padded out of the bedroom he shared with Lou to check on the baby. He found Rider sound asleep, his little fist curled next to his face. Buck smiled as he looked down at the sleeping infant who looked so much like Kid. He leaned over the baby and kissed him on the forehead before tiptoeing out and down the hall to check on the rest of the family. Teresa was snoring softly, one foot hanging off her bed from under the covers, Buck gently poked it back under and tucked the blankets back under her chin before leaving the girl sleeping. Next he went to Jeremiah's room, the boy was sprawled spread eagle on top of the covers, his face buried in the his pillow. Buck smirked as he looked at the young boy before closing the door quietly and leaving him to sleep. He paused outside of Teaspoon and Rachel's door and listened quietly, soft snores could be heard through the door, satisfied that all was well, Buck made his way to the outhouse.

As Buck slipped out of the house, he had the strangest feeling he was being watched, but he could see nothing. But the hairs on the back of his neck would not let up, so he went right back inside never going to the outhouse. From inside the kitchen Buck peered out the window towards the darkened barn, he knew he was being watched, he just knew it but there was no movement, no light, nothing to indicate there was anything amiss. Buck shook it off and went back to his room. The sun would be up soon so there was no sense in trying to go back to sleep, so instead he quietly dressed and strapped his gun to his hip before slipping out the front door, he hoped to sneak up to the barn and catch whoever unaware, but by the time he made it back out to the barn he found it empty.

Lighting a lantern Buck looked around the barn and found boot prints in the soft dirt below the loft ladder, Buck climbed up into the loft and found evidence of someone having been there. It appeared as though someone had been sleeping in the hay. Had someone from town crashed in the barn after the wedding? Buck climbed back down the ladder and examined the boot prints, they were small, too small to be a man's, a young boy perhaps … or a woman? Buck felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, surely not. Would Kathleen really be stupid enough to come out there? But that was exactly what Buck was thinking. He needed to tell Lou, he needed to make her aware of the possibility. And he needed to find out for sure just who had been in their barn last night and if they posed a threat to his family.

Buck blew out the lantern and went back inside, Rachel was just starting to make coffee, "Mornin' Buck, you're up early."

"Rachel …" Buck said, hesitating on whether he should say anything.

"Something wrong Buck?" Rachel asked noticing the look on the young man's face.

"I dunno Rachel … Something woke me and when I went out to use the outhouse, I felt like I was being watched. I went out to the barn after I came back in and dressed and got my gun to find someone had been in there, there's evidence of someone having slept in the hayloft, but the boot prints are too small to be a man's." Buck told her quietly.

"A runaway maybe?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe but unlikely … Sam warned me that Kathleen might still be in the area. I dunno if she'd be stupid enough to come around here but..." Buck said, with a shrug.

"Have you told Lou what Sam said?" Rachel asked.

"Told me what?" Lou asked walking in at that moment, going straight to Buck to kiss.

Buck pulled his wife to him and kissed her softly before breaking away and sighing, "Sam thinks Kathleen might still be in the area."

"So? She comes back to town I'll just let her secret be known." Lou answered going over to pour a cup of coffee.

"It's not that simple, Kathleen is not sane. And I think she might have been in the barn last night." Buck told her sitting next to her at the table.

"Are you sure?" Lou asked surprised.

"No … but someone was in the barn last night and the footprints I found are too small to be a man's." Buck explained.

"Well… I'm sure it was just someone passing through and if it was her, I'll deal with that devil woman." Lou said kissing Buck on the cheek before standing to go get the baby when he started crying from the nursery.

"Keep an eye out Rachel … I don't trust that woman." Buck warned, he had a sinking feeling that something bad was coming.

Little did Buck know that it was indeed Kathleen who had been in the barn last night. And the reason he had woken up was because at that moment Kathleen had been walking around their house trying to find a way inside. He had heard her trying to open the kitchen door which they had actually remembered to lock for a change. When he had gotten up to check on the sleeping baby, she had spotted him through the window as she walked around the house and had panicked. Rushing back into the barn just as he came out of the house. When he had gone back inside never leaving the porch, she had slipped out of the barn and had made her way to the swimming hole and to the little cave, she had seen Buck and Lou slip into just a few days ago. She'd hide out there until later when she felt it might be safe to return to the barn, the barn she had slept the past week in. She was leaning the family's routine. Granted the wedding had been a fly in the ointment, but she'd have Buck, she would wait until just the right time to make her move, but she needed to be more careful, she had been reckless last night. She couldn't afford to be that careless again.

A/N: Thanks Shauna for the beta. Sorry for the short chapter but I'm still recovering from the flu, my energy levels are nonexistent at the moment, so after 10 hour shifts at work, I just want to go to sleep when I get home. But I hope everybody enjoys the chapter and hope to have the next one to you soon.