AN: I've skipped forward again; the twins are now three years old and are called Joe and Elizabeth a.k.a Lizzy
Mari smiled as her beautiful daughter played in the shade behind the barn. The farm was beautiful now and since Lizzy and Joe had been born Jim and the boys had worked like mad to build the barn, stables, and a house for Jesse and Zee who was now also expecting a baby of her own any day. Bob, Cole and Frank shared a house in between, it had three bedrooms but it had the smallest lounge and dining room.
Everything was perfect, money was no object as the boys still had some money from their outlaw days stashed under the floorboards of Mari and Jim's house. They had there own little village. They had begun growing their own food, harvesting it, and selling it to the people in the nearby town for reasonable prices. But most importantly no one knew they were the members of the famous James-Younger gang, the people of the village weren't in the way of the railroad, and in fact the railroad couldn't be further away. It seemed like a lifetime ago when Mari had lost her friends to the war and then run away from home to join them after saving Jim.
Jesse and Frank were trying to help one of the lambs to suckle from it's mother but the ewe was refusing to stand still because of a small boy whose hands were waving madly in front of her face as her tried to grab her and hold her still.
Joe was trying to help his father and uncles with the lambing but was so far only getting in the way. Mari laughed and looked over at Zee, she was sitting on the veranda next to Mari but she hadn't spoken in at least half an hour.
"Zee are you alright" Mari asked putting her hand on Zee's shoulder.
"Yeh I'm fine it's just I can't help but think that any day this could all go wrong."
"What are talking about?" Mari frowned.
"What if someone finds us all? What if Jesse and the boys are taken to prison? What if you and I have to raise our children alone and then explain to them that their fathers and uncles are here because they were murderers? Mari I can't lose Jesse and you can't lose Jim. We have to do something to stop that happening Mari, we've all worked for this and no one is taking that away from us, no one."
"Zee nothing is going to go wrong?" Mari smiled and took Zee's hand. "We are all going to be fine I promise."
"How can you promise me that?"
"Because I need to believe it myself" Mari sighed and called Joe away from the sheep stall.
"They won' let me help." Joe frowned as he climbed up the steps to the veranda and stood in front of his mother.
"Well why don't you help mummy and auntie Zee with lunch?" Joe nodded wildly as his mother and aunt stood up and he led the way into the kitchen.
Lizzy soon joined them and insisted on helping too. When Jim and the other men came up to the house the table had been laid beautifully by Zee, and in the middle were sandwiches and homemade biscuits, fresh from the oven. The sandwiches had clearly been made by Joe and Lizzy, they were all different shapes and sizes and the fillings were spilling out the sides.
"Well now, don't these sandwiches look fit for the king" Bob smiled, as he lifted little Joe onto his lap.
"Lizzy and I made them Uncle Bob" Joe smiled.
"Did you now," Cole laughed as he sat down and pulled Lizzy on his lap.
"Well I think that you two might be allowed to help feed the lambs later on as a reward for your hard work." Mari smiled and sat down between Jim and Zee. There wasn't a happier sight than that of the beautiful family gathered round the table laughing and joking without a care in the world.
When everyone had finished Mari and Zee were washing the plates and watching the twins out the window as they stood holding the lambs beside the ewes as they suckled on the tasty milk.
As night fell, Jesse and Zee returned to their little house and Bob, Cole and Frank returned to theirs, leaving Mari, Jim and the twins sitting happily beside the fire. Joe and Lizzy were playing with Lizzy's doll and Joe's cowboy puppet. Jim sat opposite Mari and was staring at her as she was mending a hole in his jacket.
Her hair was getting lighter now because of the summer sun and her face was slightly tanned from working with the horses. He smiled to himself as he remembered the day he and Mari had first met, sixteen years ago. They had been three years old when Mari and her parents had moved to Liberty. Jim and his brothers were out playing with Jesse and Frank when Jim had spotted the pretty little blonde girl watching them from her window. She watched them for several days before joining them on afternoon when they were sword fighting with sticks. Mari had become their princess and whoever won was to ride of and marry her.
Mari smiled as she stitched the hole in Jim's jacket, she too was thinking about when she was younger but not of the day her and Jim had met but of her tenth birthday when Jim had asked his mother to help him make her a doll. Mari finished her sewing and wandered to the bedroom; she hung the jacket up in the wardrobe and frowned as she spotted a lumpy looking cloth in the corner. She bent down and reached out and picked it up and her face glowed as she looked upon her little doll Jim had made. She sat it on her dresser and returned to the lounge and ushered her children to bed. Jim retired to bed as his young wife tucked their children into bed and kissed them goodnight. As he pulled off his dusty shirt he heard Mari singing sweetly to the twins. It was a song his mother had sung to him when she was alive. He had sung it to Mari the night that Jesse, Cole, Frank, Webb, Bob and the other boys had gone off to war. He sighed to himself as he sat on the bed and mimed the words to himself.
Dream your way to the stars in the sky,
You and me, me and you on our ay to the top,
Spread your wings, we can fly to the stars in the sky,
To the left to the moon is the star on the right,
And I can meet you, I can meet you, I can meet you,
The second star to the right,
Shines in the night for you,
To tell you that the dreams you plan,
Really can come true,
The second star to the right,
Shines with a light that's rare
And if it's never land you need,
Its light will lead you there.
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star,
So I'll know where you are,
Gleaming in the skies above ohhh,
Lead me to the land I dreamed of,
And when our journey is through,
Each time we say good night,
We'll think the little star that shines,
The second star from the right
The second star, the second star,
Dream me away to the stars never stop,
You and me, me and you, on our way to the top
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star,
So I'll know where you are,
Gleaming in the skies above ohhh,
Lead me to the land I dreamed of,
And when our journey is through,
Each time we say good night,
We'll think the little star that shines,
The second star from the right
The second star, the second star,
Every time you need it's light, it'll be there,
To show the dreams you pan can come true
AN: I know it's a bit of a boring chapter but I don't want to go straight back into action but I guarantee some more is on its way.
The song at the end isn't by me it's by Jesse McCartney and I have changed it slightly. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW, if there's anything you really want to happen let me know and I'll try to fit it in. x x x x x x