Buck and Lou were sitting on the bunkhouse porch watching the hustle and bustle of the morning. They watched as more and more kids filtered into the school yard and as the townsfolk went about their daily routines. Buck noticed something out of the ordinary and sat up.
"What's the matter?" Lou asked lazily.
"That group of four girls," Buck answered, "Are they the ones that pick on Cricket?"
Lou sat up and looked where Buck indicated. She squinted and then put on her glasses. "Yeah, they are," she said. "Why would they be going away from school at this time of day?"
"Because that's the way Cricket comes to school," Buck said wearily.
"Do you think they would hurt her?" Lou asked.
"I don't know, but I don't like it," Buck said uncomfortably.
"Well let's go make sure she's alright," Lou said.
The two riders got up off their chairs and walked down the street to where the four girls disappeared.
As she walked to school the next morning, Cricket was thinking about Saturday night and her time with Violet. She had never had a friend over before and she was hesitant about asking her mother what kind of activities they could occupy themselves with. She thought maybe they could make cookies or something and bring some over to the Express station. They could also read some from the books that Cricket found or maybe plan some sort of adventure. She thought that might be really fun.
Cricket stopped walking as soon as she noticed the wall of girls she was about to walk into. She was on a bridge over a swollen creek and she didn't have anywhere to flee to except back home. She hugged her school books close to her body so they couldn't be batted away or taken.
"What do you want, Maryellen?" Cricket asked wearily.
"I want you to stay away from Lou," Maryellen answered pointedly. "He's the only decent gentleman out of all those riders."
"Yeah, Cricket," Hattie agreed. "We all know you're a wanton girl."
"With your reputation, I'm surprised anyone is ever willingly seen with you," Audrey added.
"Yes, I heard that your mother chased that Jesse James out of your bedroom in the middle of the night," Melanie accused.
Cricket was floored. She didn't know anyone knew about that other than her, Jesse, her own mother, and Rachel.
"And who knows what vile, disgusting acts you and that Indian have done together," Maryellen taunted.
"Just leave me alone," Cricket pleaded.
"Only if you stay away from Lou," Maryellen demanded. "If anyone is going to be courted by Lou it's going to be me."
Cricket managed to make her face unreadable. She desperately wanted to laugh out loud at the absurdity of Maryellen being in love with a girl masquerading as a boy. She loved the Shakespearian irony of it. It took every ounce of self control she had not to give in to temptation.
"Sure," Cricket agreed when she felt like she could talk and not break into fits of laughter. "Not a problem."
"It better not be a problem," Maryellen threatened.
The girls started to close in on her and Cricket missed the opportunity to run back home as Melanie cut off her only escape route. Cricket dropped her books as Hattie and Melanie each grabbed one of Cricket's arms and Audrey and Maryellen each grabbed a leg.
Fear gripped Cricket because she knew what was coming. The four girls lifted her off the ground and dumped her over the side into the creek. As a sickly child, she never went anywhere or did anything when she was young so Cricket didn't know how to swim. The water was deep and she couldn't keep her head above water for very long. Every time she broke the water's surface she tried to yell or scream for help. It really was her only chance.
Maryellen and her friends panicked and ran away. They thought it would be funny for Cricket to show up to school soaking wet. It never occurred to any of the girls that Cricket couldn't swim.
Buck and Lou were rounding the bend when the four girls ran past them. Both riders heard the splashing and yelling coming from the creek. Buck took off at a run and Lou followed. When they got to the bridge they saw and heard the problem. Cricket was flailing in the water trying and failing to keep her head above the water. Buck quickly took off his gun belt and boots and jumped in just as Cricket started to lose her battle to stay afloat.
Buck cleared the surface and looked around. He couldn't see Cricket anywhere. He quickly dove under the water. Lou waited nervously as time went painfully on. She was starting to get scared as the surface of the water calmed and there was no sign of either Cricket or Buck. Just as she was about to jump in the water after her friends, they emerged. Lou ran to the bank to help Buck with a coughing and sputtering Cricket. Buck put his boots and gun belt back on as Lou rubbed Cricket's back.
As soon as Cricket stopped coughing, she started crying. She didn't understand why these girls hated her so much. She didn't even notice Buck pull her into a hug and rock her. He looked over at Lou who just shrugged. Buck gently picked Cricket up and started walking toward the Express station. Lou walked beside him carrying Cricket's school books.
Rachel stepped off her front porch just in time to see Lou and a soaked Buck and Cricket walk into the station yard.
"What on earth happened to those two?" Rachel asked Lou.
"Those girls that pick on Cricket, threw her into the creek," Lou answered. "I don't think Cricket knows how to swim."
"That poor girl," Rachel said.
"Rachel, can't you do something?" Lou asked.
"Not really," Rachel said wishing it wasn't true. "It didn't happen during the school day or on the school grounds. There isn't anything I can do except tell their parents next time I see them in town."
"I'm going to go help Cricket while Buck gets himself into some dry clothes," Lou said heading for the bunkhouse. Buck had just headed for the barn with a small stack of his clothes leaving Cricket alone.
"Cricket doesn't have to come to school today if she's not feeling up to it," Rachel told Lou.
Lou nodded and headed for the bunkhouse. Cricket ended up staying at the station. She just lay curled up in a ball on Buck's bed while Lou watched over her. Cricket was angry and now Maryellen had attacked her twice without an answer from her. Clearly taking the high road was not working.
Somehow Cricket made it through the rest of the week without another run in with Maryellen and her friends. Rachel had explained more about what she wanted Cricket to do for a science demonstration/display and Cricket was starting to have some ideas. Perhaps she could put together a contraption like the one she made that caught the bad guys in the mine? She didn't have any really good ideas yet, so she just let it drift to the back of her mind. She had much more fun things to think about anyway. It was finally Saturday. Cricket kept looking outside the window every few minutes. Violet's parents were supposed to drop her off any time now. Cricket couldn't wait.
When Violet finally arrived, Cricket could hardly contain herself. She grabbed Violet by the hand and dragged her into her room.
Cricket and Violet were sitting on the bed and Cricket pulled out her book, Stolen Summer, and showed it to Violet.
"What's this?" Violet asked curiously.
"It is a book my mother had hidden in her room," Cricket said casually. "It has all sorts of..."
"All sorts of what?" Violet asked even more curiously. She noticed Cricket's face begin to blush as she paged through parts of the book.
"Here, read this," Cricket said handing Violet the book.
Violet read through the page and her face began to get more and more red.
"Oh my goodness!" Violet exclaimed.
Cricket giggled. "I always think of Tristan as Buck," she said shyly.
"Do you think of yourself as Helena?" Violet asked.
"I try, but my bosoms don't heave," Cricket replied.
"Well, what if you rewrote it?" Violet asked innocently.
"Violet! That is a great idea!" Cricket said with a mischievous smile on her face. "We can write one for you and a boy you like too."
Violet swallowed hard. She liked Cricket, but this was her dearest secret that only one other person on this earth knew about. She wasn't sure yet if she wanted to share it yet.
Cricket could see the subtle blush on Violet's cheeks and how she looked at the floor nervously. She immediately understood and remembered the way Violet looked at Jimmy. She liked Jimmy and quite a bit at that.
"I won't tell a soul," Cricket promised solemnly to get Violet to open up to her. She could tell by the way she'd seen Violet look at Jimmy that he was the one.
Violet looked deeply into Cricket's eyes and believed her. She took a deep breath and began to tell her story.
"Jimmy is my hero," Violet said shyly. "He saved me from the shadow."
"Jesse said a really bad man attacked you," Cricket said carefully.
Violet just nodded and Cricket didn't want to press her for any more details as she could see the hurt and fear brimming up in her glassy eyes. She wanted to make her feel better.
"Jimmy, huh?" Cricket asked with a reassuring smile. "I think you and Jimmy make a very handsome couple."
"I kissed him once," Violet volunteered cautiously. "Not another soul knows."
Cricket's eyes got big. "Really?" she said in awe. "What was it like?"
"Amazing," Violet said sheepishly. "Have you ever been kissed by a boy?"
"Buck kissed me once," Cricket revealed. "I thought I was going to float away. No one else knows about that either."
Violet and Cricket felt immediately closer to each other. They had both revealed their most precious secret to one another. It was the closest thing to blood sisters they could be without breaking skin.
Cricket grabbed the book again. "I'll rewrite a scene from the book with me and Buck if you write one about you and Jimmy," Cricket gently challenged.
"Oh, I'm not sure I can do that," Violet said with wide eyes.
"Ok, I'll write one about you and Jimmy and you can write one about me and Buck," Cricket suggested.
Violet thought about Cricket's proposition. It would be easier to write if it wasn't about herself. It might even be fun. The two girls set pencil to paper and began to write. They took turns using the book to get phrases and sentence structures and ideas for actions. There was a fair amount of blushing and giggling as they wrote. Violet chewed on the end of her pencil when she was thinking while Cricket was more apt to stick her tongue out of the side of her mouth or chew on her bottom lip. Finally both girls set their pencils down and looked at each other and collapsed on the floor in fits of laughter.
"Do you want to read yours first or should I read mine?" Cricket asked.
"Oh go ahead," Violet said self consciously.
Cricket cleared her throat and began reading.
"Violet looked up from the bar and locked eyes with Jimmy as he walked into the saloon."
"Wait, what am I doing in a saloon?" Violet protested.
"You're an adult in this story," Cricket explained.
"So I'm a saloon girl?" Violet asked offended.
"No?" Cricket said scribbling something out and quickly making some corrections.
"Violet looked up from her desk and locked eyes with Jimmy as he walked into the bank."
"That's much better," Violet said relieved. "Do I own the bank?"
"Yes and you are fabulously wealthy," Cricket confirmed.
"Go on," Violet urged.
The muscles rippling under his dark patterned shirt quickened her pulse and she wondered if his broad shoulders ever tired of the burden he carried. Violet looked away trying not to let her face betray the fiery love she felt for him.
"I wouldn't want to hide my love," Violet said.
"It works with the scene...just go with it," Cricket said smiling. She cleared her throat again and continued.
Jimmy looked around the sal...bank and waited until the last customer left. He locked the door and tossed the key over his shoulder. Without saying a word he quickly crossed the room and swept Violet weightlessly into his arms. The warmth of his arms was so male, so bracing. She was almost overcome. She locked herself into his embrace and buried her hands in his thick hair. Lightly he fingered a loose tendril of hair on her cheek. She looked deeply into his warm brown eyes. He was devastatingly handsome.
"Wow," Violet sighed. "I've got all these butterflies in my tummy."
"No more interrupting," Cricket admonished lightly, "I'm almost at the best part."
Jimmy couldn't wait any longer. He longed to capture Violet's lips with his own. He looked down at her and saw her sweet, ripe, trembling lips. They beckoned to him. He lowered his face and brushed his lips against hers. The caress of his lips on hers set her aflame. Violet longed for him to kiss her deeply and fully. Her calm was shattered with hunger for his kisses. Her lips parted and Jimmy pounced on the opportunity and moved his mouth over hers devouring its softness. His tongue sent shivers of desire racing through her and she felt her breasts tingle against the hardness of his chest.
"Oh my goodness gracious," Violet said trying to fan away the crimson hue of her face.
Cricket and Violet started to laugh, but became really quiet when they heard Cricket's mother coming toward the room. They quickly hid the book and their attempts at writing when she came in with some popcorn and mugs of hot cocoa. The girls giggled in relief and pulled out their papers again.
"Your turn," Cricket said with a smile.
"Oh it's not going to be nearly as good as yours, I'm afraid," Violet qualified.
"Just read it," Cricket encouraged.
"Ok, here goes," Violet said and started in on her paragraph.
Cricket was out behind the schoolhouse cleaning erasers when a familiar boy came riding by.
Cricket shifted uncomfortably on the floor. She knew she needed to be nice, but she really hoped this scene got better.
Buck jumped down from his horse and rushed over to Cricket. She dropped her erasers and looked longingly into Buck's eyes. "I can't stay away from you anymore," he said. "I never wanted you to try," she said breathlessly back. He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately.
Cricket looked at Violet expectantly and then realized that she had finished.
"Well, um, that's not that bad," Cricket lied.
Violet started to laugh. "Oh yes it is," she said between fits of giggles.
"Ok, yes it is," Cricket agreed and started giggling too. "Let's see if we can fix it."
Violet nodded and passed her sheet of paper over to Cricket.
"Ok, first off can I be in a meadow or something instead of behind the schoolhouse?" Cricket asked. "I hate that schoolhouse."
"I suppose if you can put me in a bank instead of a saloon, I can put you in a meadow," Violet conceded.
Cricket started to mark up Violet's piece of tablet paper with fervor. She crossed out words added some and drew lots of arrows to lines of dialogue and other bits of writing. Finally, she stopped and put the pencil down. She slid the paper over to Violet who read a few lines and blushed.
Cricket sat writing in her journal against her favorite tree in a meadow full of wild flowers, when she heard the familiar sounds of a horse and rider. She recognized the gait of the horse and knew it could only be one person.
Buck jumped from his horse and rushed to Cricket's side. He pulled her roughly almost violently to him.
"I don't care what anyone says," Buck proclaimed, "I can't stay away from you anymore."
"I never wanted you to try," she said breathlessly back.
Buck's grip on Cricket softened and the touch of his hands on her was almost unbearable in its tenderness. He gazed deeply into her sparkling emerald eyes and his lips slowly descended to meet hers. Cricket trembled in anticipation. First he kissed the tip of her nose, then her eyes, and finally he satisfyingly kissed her mouth with a series of shivery kisses. She felt transported to a soft and wispy cloud.
Cricket and Violet broke into of laughter at the conclusion of the scene.
"I wish it could be that way now," Cricket lamented. "He's always around to save me just like the other day at the creek. I wish I could thank him with the kinds of kisses we just wrote about."
"Maybe someday you will," Violet said supportively.
"I doubt it," Cricket whined, "Buck treats me like a kid."
Violet chewed her bottom lip and looked away from Cricket.
"What?" Cricket asked. "Do you think I'm just a kid too?"
"Oh, no, never," Violet said. "It's just…sometimes you kinda dress a little bit…sorta like a kid."
Cricket went through a range of emotions from offended to shocked, but then realized that Violet was right. She did dress like a kid and was treated like a kid. Ladies didn't wear pants. They wore dresses and they were treated like ladies.
"I don't think I have any clothes that would make me look more grown up," Cricket said sadly.
"Well, let's take a look," Violet suggested.
Violet started rummaging through Cricket's clothes and appraising them. Then she sorted them by putting things in two different piles.
"I think this is a good place to start," Violet said indicating the pile on her left. "Most of these look like they are too small."
"They are," Cricket said. "See, I don't have anything to wear."
"We can use them in a new creation," Violet said. "Does your mother have any Godey's Lady's Books around? We could look at some of the pictures and get some ideas."
Cricket's mother was overjoyed when the two girls wanted to look at dress patterns in her back issues of Godey's Lady's Book. She clutched her hand to her heart and started to get misty eyed. Cricket thought she heard her mother mumble something about thanking God that her little darling was acting more like a young lady.
They decided to salvage the skirt off of a dress that was too small. They would attach some fabric at the top of it and use it as a long petticoat of a sort so that the skirts would look double tiered. Most of Cricket's clothes were from the same color family so coordinating the fabrics was pretty easy. Violet grabbed a needle and thread and a pair of scissors and started to go to work.
Violet handed Cricket a plain soft yellow dress and asked her to put it on. Cricket looked at her and then quickly changed into the butter yellow frock. Violet then handed her the petticoat she made. It was a plaid composed mostly of blues with a little bit of yellow that matched the yellow of the dress. Cricket stepped up onto a chair so Violet could mark a hem. Violet looked like a dust cloud of activity as she worked. After she marked the hem they worked on the bodice of the dress. There were some nice elements from the plaid dress that Violet thought would look nice on the yellow one. Violet took out the scissors and changed the high neckline into a scoop neck. She used the left over fabric from the plaid dress to make a binding around the neckline. Violet stood back and appraised her work. She pursed her lips rubbed her chin and an idea came to her. She needed something at the waist to tie everything together. She looked down at the pile of scraps and retrieved the waistband of the plaid dress. Violet pinned it on and stood back and looked at it and smiled. It worked perfectly. Now all they had to do was sew it all together.
While Violet did the sewing, Cricket looked through the book for some fun hairstyles for them both to try. By the time they were ready to start with the hair both girls were exhausted. They could barely keep their eyes open. They decided to try the hairstyles in the morning.