This story was written between 1992 and 1993 with my friend Ellen, who is now a high school English teacher, during Mr. Mitch's Journalism class. Good use of our time, don't you think!


Allison

Kid reread the letter again as he walked toward the marshal's office. Not noticing, he walked right into Teaspoon.
"What'cha reading there that is so all fired important that you don't know where you're walking?" Teaspoon asked.
"A letter from my cousin. I have problems, Teaspoon, and I don't have much time to figure it out." Kid told him.
"Well, Kid, why don't you give me a try?" Teaspoon told him.
"Okay', Kid began. "She, my cousin Allison that is, is on her way here right now. She will be here any time. I don't know what I am going to do with her."
"I'd say you're family just got a little bit bigger. You and Lou will be getting her brother and sister soon as you can, right?" Teaspoon asked.
"Yeah. But it may be awhile before we get them. What are we gonna do with her in the meantime. She doesn't have any family left, and I don't want to send her back to Virginia with all the tension going on down there.
Teaspoon regarded Kid carefully. "Welcome to the world of being in charge of other people's lives, Kid. Just wait until they're your youngin's." He laughed. Kid stood there in utter disbelief. Lou walked up beside him.
"What's the matter Kid?' She asked her future husband. He handed her the letter. "Well, I guess we better go and see if she can board with Rachel." She told him. Kid looked at her as if she had just invented the wheel. A smile broke across his handsome face. Louise just looked at him quizzically.
"Lou, have I ever told you how smart you are?" He asked as he took her arm and practically dragged her to Rachel's house.

"Of course she can stay here, Kid, what would you have her do, stay in the bunkhouse with you?" Rachel asked with a smile.
"Thanks Rachel. This takes a load off of my mind." Kid told her, relieved.
"How old is your cousin, anyway?" Rachel asked him.
"She's got to be around sixteen now. She was just a little girl when I left, all knobby kneed, I don't really know what to expect of her." Kid explained.
"I have to say that it sure will be nice to have another female around for Kid to fuss and worry over. Take some of the pressure off of me." Louise joked about her fiancée's over protective streak. Kid looked down at her with a hurt expression on his face.
"Don't worry, Kid, I'm just joking. I love that you care enough to worry about me." Louise soothed him. She tiptoed up to kiss him. Rachel smiled at the two that were due to get married in two weeks. She always knew that they would make it to the altar. Their adversity and strife had only served to strengthen and prove their love for each other.
"So, What's say we get that extra room cleared out for Miss Allison, okay Kid?" Rachel suggested. Kid was just staring at Louise. Ahh, young love, Rachel thought. "Kid?" Rachel repeated, bringing Kid's head out of the clouds.
"What did you say, Rachel?" Kid asked. Louise blushed.
"I was just suggesting that you help me get ready for Allison by clearing out the extra room upstairs." She told him.
"Yeah, I'll do that." and he bounded up the stairs. Louise and Rachel laughed.
"Lou, I do believe that he loves you." Rachel teased the young woman.
"I'm pretty lucky, I guess. I'm just glad that we found our way back after all that happened." Louise told her.
"Know what? I think you both found your way back because of all that happened to you. I just don't think you too could live without each other.' Rachel smiled. Lou ducked her head and blushed. "Now, I believe that we have a wedding dress to get altered before you get married, Not to mention a couple of suits that need to be finished." Rachel reminded Louise of the chores that needed to be done before her wedding.

Kid worked the afternoon away clearing out the spare room and Louise and Rachel worked just as diligently to finish her dress and Kid's suit while they had the opportunity to do so. The Pony Express had been running less mail with every week that went by, and the rides where scheduled further and further apart. Louise was apprehensive about taking her final run next week. It meant that apart of her that she love would be ending. But, in its place, a whole new adventure was beginning, and she wouldn't be on this one by herself.
Teaspoon walked in the door. "Kid, I do believe that your visitor is waiting for you to pick her up." He shouted up the stairs. Kid ran out of the room and down the stairs.
"Already? I didn't think she would be here for a couple days at least." Kid said as he ran out the door. Rachel and Louise looked at Teaspoon with the same bewildered expression as Kid had on his face as they put down their work and walk out of the house to follow Kid.

Sure enough, standing at Stagecoach stop, was a young woman with long hair the same chestnut shade as Kids. She was slightly shorter than Kid, with a build that would have the boys bumping into each other at dinner tonight. She looked around for a familiar face, looking slightly afraid that she had made a grievous error in coming all the way out to Nebraska territory with out hearing back from her cousin first.
"Allison?" Kid asked from a few feet away. She turned at the sound of her name.
"Kid? Is that you?" She asked, Hopeful.
"Yep.' He told her, coming close to give her a hug." I wasn't expecting you for a couple of days yet. I just got your letter today. Seems that the mail is running as fast as the stage now days." He half joked.
"I do hope that I haven't caused you too much of a problem. I just couldn't stay with the Calder's any longer. They already have so many mouths to feed, and with the war coming on, I felt that I was a burden on them. I miss home, but with out having your people around, nothing is really home. You are the only family I have left." She told him. She reached for one of her bags and Kid beat her to it. He spied Jesse standing by Teaspoon and asked him to help him out. Jesse walked up to the pair, the awe in his face naked to those who saw it.

"UHHO,' Rachel whispered to Louise, "looks like we have a case of puppy love starting here." And she pointed Jesse out to Louise, who covered her laugh with her hand.
"Allison,' Kid began, walking his cousin to the house, "This is Rachel Dunn, you will be staying in the house with her. And this,' he set the bag down on the porch and put an arm around Louise," Is Louise. We are getting married in two weeks." He said with a grin. Allison smiled at Louise brightly.
"I am so glad to meet you Louise. Congratulations." And she hugged the woman.
"Why don't Louise and I get Allison settled in, Kid, and then we can all sit down and get reacquainted?" Rachel suggested. Allison nodded her agreement to the suggestion, and Rachel and Louise showed Allison to her room upstairs. Allison glanced around the room that would be her home for who knew how long, relieved to see that she would not be sharing it with four other people, as had been the case at the Calder's. They were good people, and she would miss them, but, like her cousin, the call of the west was louder than her need to be around all the bloodshed that was soon to come. She wanted to be a teacher, and when war was around, very little teaching got done. She put her things in the dresser and hung her dresses in the small wardrobe that stood against one wall. She took a deep breath and Walked down the stairs.

Kid and Louise sat on the settee and Jesse was leaning against the wall, just watching her walk. Allison looked at the young man, intrigued. He was around her age, and had a wizened appearance, as if he had already been through too much for one his age. Allison could relate to that. She decided that she would like to get to know this young man.
"You can't be all settled in already, Alli." Kid asked his cousin.
" I have the important things put away. For now, I want to hear everything you can tell me about living out here, not to mention about you getting married. I used to think that you would end up with Doretha, but she ran off and married that slick fellow that was always hanging around."
Kid looked down at the floor, and Louise told her what had happened with Doretha.
" Uhmm, Doretha was here a while back with her husband, Garth, and well, they were in some trouble and Garth was shot, and Doretha killed herself." Louise told Allison.
"Oh, Kid, I am so sorry. I didn't know. That's just awful. I knew about Jed, but no one has heard anything about those two in so long. We had just figured they had made it to California like they had talked about." Allison finished.
"No harm done. Anyway, That doesn't really matter, does it?' Kid reassured the girl. "You wanted to hear about what it's like out here, right? Well, I'm sure Cody will be more than happy to tell you all." Kid began.
"Okay, but what about you two?" Alli asked, motioning between Kid and Lou. Louise laughed.
"You are going to have to be here all day to hear that story. I have a brother and sister in an orphanage in St. Joe that I am trying to get out. So, to try and get the money for a grubstake, I started working for the express, as a boy. Would have kept my secret longer, too, if it weren't for your cousin here finding out.' Louise nudged Kid in the arm. They smiled at each other for a moment, remembering that first moment of realization. " The boys found out when I had to rescue my brother and sister, and Teaspoon didn't find out until Rachel came along to save us from Jimmy's cookin. I guess, though, with me and Kid, I loved him from the moment that I saw him. Even though he was wearing those god-awful buckskins." Louise laughed at her future husband's early choice of clothing.
"Hey, they were comfortable!" Kid tried to defend himself. The whole group laughed.
"What about you, Kid? When did you realize that you loved Louise?" She asked.
"That would be the first time I kissed her. If she hadn't been so dang mule headed, we would have gotten married the first time I had asked her." Louise narrowed her eyes at him.
"I guess I deserved that. He had a lot to learn about me, though. I had some demons to deal with, and so, I told him no, twice. We stopped seeing each other, and had some tough times. But we were always there for each other. Then, I knew that anything that I had to deal with, he would be with me. That's when I knew we would survive anything. It just took him longer to ask me to marry him. But I sure am glad that he did. I can't wait to be his wife. Shoot, I'll even cook every once in a while." She joked.

Outside, the dinner bell was called, and the group headed to the bunkhouse to eat. Cody, Buck, and Noah already sat at the table. They all stood up when they saw the unfamiliar woman enter the room.
"Cody, Buck, Noah, I would like you to meet my cousin, Allison. She has just moved here. She's going to be staying with Rachel." Kid told the bunch. The boys showed Allison their best manners, and as promise, Cody told Allison the bounties of the west, in all of his dramatic ways.
"Now, I must say, that all of this great land and open space that we have is just the greatest thing that I have ever beheld, but more and more people are moving out here and not respecting what was here before them. Like the Indians. Buck could tell you first hand the beauty of their ways, and the atrocities that have fallen them since Lewis and Clark came this way looking for the ocean. We have done nothing but make promises to them and not keep a one. It just makes me sick to see what is happening. I don't know what this war is going to do to this nation, but I do see that not much good is going to follow." Cody finished. Allison regarded the blond man quietly.
"I understand that there have been some conflicts all the way out here. I had always thought that the war would only be fought in the direct south, like Georgia and Virginia. Why, I heard about some horrible atrocities on my way out here. I heard that they have been burning people's farms and taking livestock all the way out here. I must say, though, that it is so much nicer here than back in Virginia.
"I think,' Rachel interrupted, "that we should put aside all of this talk of war for the moment. I am afraid, that while it is inevitable, we can probably find a better conversation for the dinner table." She finished, noting that the mood was growing somber.
"Can't help it Rachel.' Jesse began. " It is right in our face. I can't rightly remember a time when my family wasn't talking about it. I just hope that we can all make it through this before too long."
"I know, Jesse, I know." Rachel told the boy.