Chapter 7

The next few days were very hard for Melissa. She missed Emma so much. She wanted to talk to her about Buck, how much she loved him, about everything they did together, how happy every smile filled her, but the house was so empty. Sure, there was Lou, but it wasn't the same because they didn't live together and she was often busy with work. Buck tried to be with her as much as possible to make her miss her friend less, but it was very difficult to get used to the new situation.

In addition, without Emma's help, Melissa struggled to keep up with all the chores around the house. In September she had started her job as a teacher at the city school, as planned, an opportunity she did not want to give up, so it was really difficult to manage six couriers and Teaspoon.

In order not to miss anything, one day Jimmy returned home in the company of another boy, Noah Dixon, who had had problems with a slave owner: Noah was a black boy and that man did not accept that he was a free person. They had been involved in a shooting and Jimmy had been wounded in the leg.

Teaspoon had proposed to Noah, who had nowhere to go, to stay at the station to replace Jimmy while he was convalescing. Noah accepted and a beautiful friendship was born with the other guys so that Noah decided to stay forever: the couriers had become 7.

Teaspoon put up a notice to seek help for Melissa and after a few failed attempts, they found a woman who seemed to meet all their needs: Rachel Dunne.

Lou had a hard time accepting Rachel's arrival because the boys, including Kid, paid a lot of attention to her as she was a young, beautiful and attractive woman.

Melissa, on the other hand, appreciated the woman's arrival because she immediately found herself in tune with her even though she missed Emma a lot.

Buck, for his part, seemed numb to Rachel's charm, he only had eyes for Melissa.

"Are you happy honey Rachel's arrival?" He asked.

"Yes, I really like her and it's a big help to me. While I am at school in the morning she is dedicated to cooking and on my return I can do the other household chores. We are a great team. And you? What do you think of her? "

"Well, I like her too, I think this time we were lucky"

"Do you like her huh?"

"Not in that sense, silly, you know I only have eyes for you and all the other women disappear"

"Mmmm, I'll pretend to believe you ..."

"Are you really jealous? Of me? I can't believe it, come on, don't joke "

"Why shouldn't I? You are a very handsome, kind and charming man, every woman would like to have you by her side "

"Not a white woman ..."

"Still with this story! I don't feel like I have green skin! Do you want to stop thinking you are not up to par? "

"Melissa is stronger than me, I still find it hard to believe that you are in love with me and maybe that's why I'm afraid to go on ..."

"Do you think I didn't understand it? You have to believe in yourself and you have to trust me. We are a force of nature together and I will never stop thanking the Lord for meeting you and deserving your love. I love you, I love you, maybe I have to repeat it to you more often to make you understand how much "

"Well, I think you tell me at least a dozen times a day but if you want to increase go ahead, I certainly won't complain"

"I think at least in this we are even and I feel very lucky because I know how much it costs you to say these two magical words" and she kissed him tenderly.

They were interrupted by Rachel who entered the room and coughed to reveal her presence.

"Excuse me, I didn't want to interrupt you. You are so beautiful together and it shows a mile away that you love each other. I think the same can be said for Lou and Kid but I think their relationship is more complicated, or am I wrong? "

"More than ours? I can hardly believe it. At least they are both of the same breed ", Buck pointed out.

"Oh but you know, this doesn't mean anything, despite your differences you two are better matched in my opinion than them, even if I admit that I am not able to judge well since I have known you for a short time."

Buck smiled, greeted them, and went back to his work.

Rachel felt Lou's hostility and one night when Cody overdid his spicy comments, Rachel set the record straight with the boys and then joined Lou who had run away into the barn bothered by the boys' behavior.

"We need to talk Lou", Rachel told her.

"We have nothing to say to each other", the girl replied.

"Oh no? Are you really sure? "

Rachel persisted a little and got a dialogue with Lou. The girl confided her annoyance and confessed how much she missed Emma. The two women managed to find a point of balance and from that day they began to become friends.

Lou, Rachel and Melissa were rebuilding the same relationship they had previously had with Emma.

Melissa was very satisfied with her life. She liked teaching at school a lot and often during the break, if Buck was in town, he would visit her and then wait for her to go home together.

When Buck returned from a race, as soon as he passed the mochilla to the courier on duty, he dismounted and took Melissa in his arms and kissed her tenderly, even before saying goodbye to the others. Melissa, as soon as she heard shouts: "Rider is coming" and understood that Buck was returning, she would leave whatever she was doing to go outside to welcome him,

The boys teased Buck a bit because they didn't think he could express his feelings so openly. In fact, at first he was a little ashamed, but then his relationship with Melissa had become so solid that all traces of embarrassment were gone, at least in front of their family.

When they were together in the city, however, he was more and more reserved because he did not want to cause her problems and it was always she who attracted him to her when he went to pick her up or to find her.

The routine of the boys, of Teaspoon, Rachel and Melissa was one day interrupted by a big change.

Rock Creek station had been destroyed by fire due to some questionable men and Teaspoon sent Kid and Jimmy to rebuild it. Rock Creek had a friend of Teaspoon's as a marshal who became involved with the men who had destroyed and burned the Pony Express station and went to his death.

Teaspoon, also in view of the war that was about to break out between the North and South of the nation, decided to move to Rock Creek as the new marshal and to take his couriers with him.

Melissa and Rachel had to find a new home, still fortunately a few steps from the station and Melissa was able to work as a teacher also in the Rock Creek school.

They all managed to adapt well to the new city, but Buck saw his insecurities resurface again because again he had to be accepted by people who did not know him.

Melissa tried to reassure him as much as she could but some men prevented him from entering their premises and someone even came to spit on him.

Rock Creek also soon had to deal with the Indian problem and Buck was sent as a scout to help the soldiers.

This helped him to make himself known because once again he managed to mediate and more and more people who owned a ranch turned to him to help them deal with Indians to buy horses.

Gradually the citizens of Rock Creek also learned to know and accept him and help also came from the town's general store: Tompkins had followed in Teaspoon's footsteps because he had smelled a bargain and had moved to the city after buying the emporium from the previous owner who could no longer manage it.

Tompkins, chatting with clients, often recounted Buck's role in Sweetwater in the Indian raid business and so the townspeople got used to trusting him.

Everything seemed to be going well and Buck felt so comfortable and contented with his life that he felt ready to take the big leap with Melissa.

Unfortunately, however, a tragedy happened that upset everyone's lives.

One day a new family arrived in town: a father and daughter who wanted to start a new life in Rock Creek. The father was an inveterate gambler and his daughter, Emily, no longer knew how to remove him from the cards.

One day, while Ike and Buck were in the saloon, they witnessed a heated argument between him and Nevill, a cheater exposed by Emily's father.

As Ike walked back to the station, he found Nevill threatening Emily and her father to get his money back. Ike intervened and saved them both. Ike was very impressed with Emily and proposed to help her restore the house she and her father had bought.

Emily accepted his help, as well as his invitation to the town ball.

"Ike, don't rush things, you haven't had much luck with women", Buck tried to warn him, only getting the opposite effect.

"You have dealt with the subject well", Cody teased him.

"Oh sure, from the height of her enormous experience ... Is there anything from your past that I should know Buck?", Melissa asked mischievously.

"Ok, ok, I didn't use the right words but you understood perfectly well what I meant, don't be so fussy", Buck replied worried about his friend.

"He'll be fine, darling, don't worry, and you haven't answered me anyway, is there something I should know?"

"Yes, Buck, is there anything we should know?" Cody teased him.

"Cody, please!" Buck scolded him.

Cody understood and walked out. Buck then decided to talk to Melissa about something he had never told her and that still weighed on his heart.

"Melissa, let's sit down please"

"Then there really is something I should know! Are you hiding some wife from me? Yet you told me that I was the first one with whom ... "

"And so it is. I've never been with a woman before you and I don't hide any wife from you but yes, I should have had one "

Melissa sat down and listened. Buck told her about Camille-Little Bird, a white girl raised by the Kiowa and who had been betrothed to him. One day he and the men were hunting and their camp was attacked by the whites who carried out a massacre and took Camille away.

"I've never forgiven myself. If I had stayed in the camp I could have saved lives and I could have defended Camille, I never heard from her again "

"Buck, I am immensely sorry for what you went through and for the guilt that overwhelms you, but if you had been there they would have killed you. Stop feeling guilty. And thank you for sharing this burden of yours with me ".

She approached him and kissed him tenderly.

When they both came out of the bunkhouse to get back to their chores, Cody intercepted them and asked again: "So, this secret?"

"There's no secret, Cody, and it wouldn't be your business anyway" and Buck ended the conversation.

Ike was very happy, his face in those days had always printed a beautiful smile that nothing could take away and everyone was happy for him.

"I'm really happy for you, Ike", Melissa told him one day, "it would be nice if all four of us organized a date: you, Emily, Buck and me. I'd like to get to know her better "

Ike signed that he agreed and they decided they would go to dinner the next day.

Melissa told Buck who was partly happy for Ike but partly tense.

"What's wrong, was I wrong to organize this dinner?"

"No, no, absolutely, it's just that I'm not at ease in these official situations, you know"

"But love, it'll be the two of us, Ike and Emily, the only one you don't know is her but if Ike is so crazy about her, she can only be a lovely girl. You will see that we will have fun. I'm just sorry that Lou and Kid won't be there too, in fact I have to talk to her to make sure she doesn't feel bad "

"Hers is a really difficult situation"

"Yes"

Melissa immediately went to find Lou and explained to her about the dinner, telling her she wished she and Kid were there too but she didn't know how.

"Don't worry Melissa, it will mean that we will soon organize a picnic by the river and I can come with Kid too. We will be far from prying eyes "

Melissa was thrilled. She didn't want Lou to feel excluded from her life.

So the next evening they went to dinner at the same place Buck had taken Melissa on the day of their first official date. Melissa told it to Emily to break the ice and Emily told how she met Ike. The two girls immediately found themselves in harmony and the atmosphere melted with Ike and Buck who found themselves sharing episodes of their life together that they no longer even remembered having lived.

At the end of the night, Melissa told Emily and Ike about Lou's idea and they made arrangements for the Sunday after the prom.

Unfortunately the day before the party, Emily was home alone and suffered a fire caused by Nevill. Ike joined her in the morning and tried to help her with the rubble but she chased him away. Despite Emily's behavior, in the evening he showed up at her house to take her to the prom and she, incredulous that Ike still wanted to accompany her, hastily greeted her father who in the meantime had returned home from an errand that he was supposed to carry out but that again it had failed due to his gambling addiction and she went to the prom with Ike.

The boys were happy to see him arrive with her and congratulated them because they were such a beautiful couple.

Buck and Melissa danced all evening and the more they danced together and Buck admired his woman, the more convinced he became that it was time to propose to her: he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He proposed to go as soon as possible to buy her a ring and at the first opportunity to ask her as a wife.

Ike and Emily at one point withdrew and went to the stable where they were together for the first time, happy with their love.

Their happiness was interrupted, however, by Buck and Melissa who broke into the stable to tell Emily that her father had been killed by Nevill.

Emily's father had wanted to take revenge for the fire caused by the man, had waited for him outside the saloon and had pointed a gun at him but it had jammed, thus giving Nevill the opportunity to shoot himself, killing the man.

A witness confirmed that Nevill had reacted in self-defense and so Teaspoon could not arrest him.

Ike accompanied Emily home in tears and destroyed and stayed with her all night but the next morning, she asked him to leave, making him understand that there was no future for the two of them.

Ike left and talked to Buck who decided to go to Emily's to plead his friend's case. Emily appreciated Buck's intervention and thanked him, but replied that first she had to think about her father's funeral and then she would decide what to do.

After the funeral, Emily greeted everyone saying that she had some chores to sort out and that she needed to be alone.

The others returned to the station, where Cody arrived shortly thereafter and reported that he had seen Emily walk to the saloon almost beside herself.

Ike immediately understood the girl's intentions and rushed to the saloon, followed by all the couriers. Buck told Melissa to stay home and although she tried to protest, this time she listened to him.

Ike entered the saloon just as Emily was about to shoot Nevill who again to defend himself shot in turn, hitting Ike who had rushed to shield Emily with his body. Ike collapsed to the ground with a wound in the chest.

Buck's scream was more heartbreaking than Emily's, so much so that Melissa heard it from the station and immediately rushed to the saloon. When she arrived she saw Ike lying on the ground covered in blood, Buck and Emily leaning over him and Teaspoon carrying off Nevill with a wounded arm.

Jimmy immediately went to get the doctor and Ike was transported to his office. After visiting him, he went out to report that the boy had lost a lot of blood and the wound was very bad. He couldn't give guarantees.

Buck was allowed to enter. He tried to reassure Ike by telling him that he would soon be healed and remembering the good times they spent together, as tears welled up from his eyes. He understood that his friend, his almost brother, was leaving. She greeted him for the last time and then went out to call Emily.

He did not say a word, he tugged Noah and Melissa who tried to hold him back, took his horse and as fast as the wind went to pray on the prairie, where he took some of Ike's items with him to give him the last farewell in the Kiowa way.

After some time that Emily was inside with Ike, Teaspoon walked in to see what was happening. He went out shortly after to call everyone to the boy's bedside: Ike hadn't made it.

The chill fell on the whole family: one of them was gone forever.