Disclaimers and other Info. in Part 1 - additional acknowledgements will be included in parts where needed.

Part 7: Bucklin

Buck walked back to his room, downhearted at Dorothy's rejection. The others had all gone to bed now.

Morning soon came and Chris was the first to get up, full of the joys of spring. He went downstairs to where Shirley and Dorothy were at the kitchen table eating breakfast.

As it was a Saturday, the children were outside in the large garden playing on the swings and slide. They could be seen out the window, happily playing.

Shirley put a cup of coffee down on the table for him and Chris tried it.

"How did you know exactly how I like it?" the blonde man asked.

"Lucky guess!" exclaimed Shirley, pleased that she had got it right.

Shirley went upstairs to make the beds, leaving Chris and Dorothy having breakfast.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Dorothy.

"Very well - my bed was so comfortable!" answered Chris happily.

"I'm glad you like it. My husband's fixed it up real nice over the time we've been living here."

"He's done a great job, you're very lucky to have such a talented man."

"Yes, glad I didn' marry Buck," joked Dorothy, realising too late what she has said, thinking it may have been a bit unkind.

Buck, who's not far from the kitchen, hears this remark, which obviously wasn't meant to be heard by him. He goes back upstairs and lies on his bed on his front so his face is buried into his pillow.

JD comes in, knowing something's wrong and asks, "What's wrong, Buck?"

Buck replies sarcastically, "Bucklin can take rejection, always other fish in the sea for him. Women don't ever hurt Bucklin."

"What?"

"She probably never really loved me at all," replies Buck.

"Pull yerself together."

Back downstairs…

Chris says to Dorothy, "Don't be so hard on Buck, he's a good guy."

"He's tryin' to get roun' me while my husband's not here, he shoul' know better," replies Dorothy.

"Do you mean he tried to get close to you last night?"

"Yes."

"I'll talk to him; he knows he shouldn' do that with a married woman," says Chris. "Is Shirley seeing anyone at the moment?"

"You like her don't you? You're in luck; she's been single for a few months. Poor girl - she really wants someone in her life," hints Dorothy.

"We're only here for a while," reminds Chris.

"That wouldn't stop you keeping in touch with her afterwards would it? Somethin' could still come of it, if you both wanted it to," says Dorothy.

Chris looks distant for a moment, thinking of him and Shirley in a relationship, then he says, "Thanks. Could you try and humour Bucklin a bit? I don't want him gettin' upset, 'cause he'll be awkward to travel with if he's like that."

Dorothy replies, "Okay."

The other guys come down and eat their breakfast really fast. They all have sausages, bacon, eggs and beans. Chris frowns at the group except for Nathan, eating really fast.

Nathan looks at the men eating their food fast and says, "Don't complain to me when you get indigestion!"

JD changes the subject to explain why Buck's not with them, "Buck's not feelin' too good so he's stayin' in bed fer a while."

Dorothy makes a cup of coffee, puts it on a tray and takes it out of the room intending to go and check on Buck.

"What are we doing today?" asks Josiah, finishing his mouthful first.

Chris looks at him for a moment then says, "There's a big ranch near here. How 'bout we get some horses and go ridin'?"

Josiah frowns at him and replies, "I don't feel like riding today."

Chris looks unhappy as he really wanted to go riding.

Vin sees Chris looking unhappy and says. "How 'bout we split up. Some could do ridin', some do somethin' else."

"I don' like ridin' much," says Nathan.

"I'll go ridin' I wanna do some jumpin' over things," says JD, jumping up from his chair and miming riding a horse much to everyone's amusement.

"JUST ridin', JD, no fancy jumpin'," says Chris sternly.

"Shoot!" says JD, looking disappointed.

Krys looks at Vin and asks, "I've never ridden before. Can someone teach me?"

Vin realises she wants him to teach her and says, "I'll teach ya, how 'bout you, Lucy?"

"Please, it's Lu. I don't fancy riding."

"We're gonna go do some target practice somewhere," says Nathan, having conferred on this with Josiah.

"I'll have a go at that," says Lu.

"Ezra, you haven't said what you want to do?" Chris says.

"I don't wish to participate in either activity. I would prefer to sunbathe in the glorious sunshine," says Ezra, feeling quite lazy today.

"Ez, we're not splittin' three ways," says Chris sternly.

"Mistah Wilmington hasn't voiced his opinion in the matter yet."

"He'll do one thing or the other."

Upstairs…

Dorothy knocks on Buck's door and says, "Bucklin, I bought you some coffee."

"Go away!" comes the reply from the room.

Dorothy opens Buck's door and goes in. She puts the tray down on his bedside cupboard and sits on the edge of his bed.

"Buck I don't hate ya - I'm still fond of you a bit," says Dorothy.

"You're glad you didn' marry me."

"You wouldn't have fixed this place up so well, Bucklin."

"I bet there were other reasons as well," says Buck angrily.

"You misunderstood. It was only for that reason I said what I did. There have been times I regretted not marryin' you!" says Dorothy.

"Why did you say 'No' then?"

"'cause I thought you weren't right to be my husband."

"Perhaps you was right, but you really made me mad when you said 'no'. I was expectin' you to say yes."

"I'm glad you came back to visit though," smiles Dorothy.

Buck looks into her eyes and asks gently, "Could I have a kiss for old times' sake?"

Dorothy leans towards him and they kiss. Dorothy pulls away after about 40 seconds feeling guilty.

"Happy now?" she asks him.

"I feel much better. Where're the others?" asks the man.

"I left them in the kitchen," says Dorothy. "I'd love to hear about your adventures and how you ended up here. You said you'd got a flight back to Tennessee from somewhere."

Buck starts telling her the story from the beginning.

Downstairs…

"I don't think Buck's comin' down today," says JD.

Chris thinks for a moment, concerned for Buck then says, "Go up and see if Dorothy's talkin' to him."

JD goes upstairs to find out.

"I think Buck would rather go target shooting than horse ridin'," says Nathan.

"I hope you're proved wrong," replies Vin, wanting Buck to go horseriding with him, Chris, JD and Krys.

"At least there's no snakes around here," says Nathan, relieved that there's no risk of anyone suffering from snakebites.

Chris looks at him, remembering the snake in his tent and says sternly, "No snake talk please."

"I wonder what Mistah Tannah is scared of," says Ezra, thinking they should get revenge for the joke Vin played on Chris.

"I ain't scared of nothin'," says Vin.

Nathan decides to embarrass Vin, "He's scared of the rabbits."

"That's not true," states Vin.

"You run a mile when you see a wild one," argues Nathan.

Buck and Dorothy leave the bedroom after Buck told her briefly about their adventures, he left off so he could tell her some more that night as an excuse to be in her room with her. They leave his bedroom and bump into JD, who couldn't find which bedroom they were in. They all go downstairs.

"Buck, you wanna go horseridin' or do target practice?" asks JD as they walk down the stairs.

"Are there any other choices?" They reach the rest of their group as Buck asks this.

"No, Buck. I want to know where everyone is, so you do one thing or the other," says Chris sternly.

"Can't I stay here with Dorothy?"

"Aren't I showing them around?" asks Shirley, wondering why the plans have suddenly changed.

"You can show them around later," says Dorothy.

"Are you coming with me horse-riding, Dorothy?" asks Buck.

"I'm taking the kids shopping."

"Can I go shopping with Dorothy and the kids?" asks Buck.

"Don' show us up though," says Billy, who has just come into the house with his brother and sister.

"We're well respected aroun' town," says Jane, sounding very grown up.

"I wouldn't show you up," says Buck.

"Okay Buck, you can help them with their shopping. Just behave yerself," orders Chris.

Buck goes with the kids to get ready.

Chris, JD, Vin and Krys head out in their borrowed truck to go horse-riding while Ezra, Nate, Josiah and Lu start walking to do target practice at a shooting range nearby.

To be continued…