Chapter 9

"Sister, you have heard him say that he might try to free you. There is hope and he is good-looking so you do not have to worry about your children not being beautiful little kids. He will be the one to free you and you can see all of his family and see Mike, and the kids that are alive and not a beast. Then he has a house that you can go and stay at for a while and have change of scenery. Maybe start a family there in the house and raise them there for a while. You can come here only when you have to come when you have to you while be queen as our family has agreed for a long time. It would be a good thing for you, he seems to like that house, and I like it to I have used the glass to see the entire house so that I could know it for the future. I have known that he would free you since that night four years ago, even if you did not begin to have hope," said Alice. "I have some hope now and I do hope you are right. I do like the house and you know I will have to bring a few servants since I do not know how to clean," I tell her. "You know I can see the two of you with three or four little ones running around the yard and you playing with them and him working on something in the yard watching all of you, a happy family," says Rose. We had never been very close but we have become close over the years and she has helped me see this time as a way to find a way to look on the bright side of things.

The wedding day was great the sun was out and there was not a cloud in the sky, and in a week, it has been decided that the news of Alanna and Gorge engagement will be announced to the town. Then within three months, they will be married in July so I can start working on the song as soon as she moves to our new Mother's house. Ginny's friends leave me alone now even the ones that had not left me alone when she had asked. They do not wish to date her new brother, so I am off limits now. I just hope I can just find the way to free Mr. Beast's aunt since she is looking like the most likely one for me. I just wish I was two or three years old so that I could save her this year. Since I am not her age I will have to wait until I am, then I will save her. I hope she will marry me after I free her but I do not know and if she does not then I will try to find someone that will. Three days after the wedding Father and Alanna had moved out completely and the house was really big and empty Twilight Queen and Storm Cloud are in to stable but they did seem to notice a change in the house and in me I have a year till I try to free her and I hope it goes by fast. So that I can have some company in this house if she does agree to marry me. I am not sure what to do with myself now that I have this huge house all to myself. I do know this I have to take care of it all by myself now, Ginny will help but she will only clean the main rooms not the attic rooms.

So I will have to clean them myself so I have to learn how to clean and polish floors and do the laundry on my own now. That is unless Ginny will help me by doing that bit of housework for me to, if not I think I will have to ask Mother. I have not been able to call anyone that since I was three years old, so I am not sure if I should call her that or still call her Ms. Mary. Over the next three months I worked and even added on to the house and to the stable, I built a cow stable and a chicken coop as well. I now have a cow and a bull, I have six chickens and one roster so I have eggs and milk the garden is doing great and so is the apple grove. Not only can I give Alanna the new song but also apple jelly her favorite. I have so much food that if I did not wish I would not have to work if I did not want to work. Mr. Beast has even told me that if I wanted to I could stay home and read if I wanted to but I do not wish to just sit and do nothing while the rest of my family works. I will work but not all day I will come home and work here as well. I am on my way to work when I spot none other than Jane, "Josh hey how are you. I see your pony is still doing well, do you still have the other one as well or have you sold him and I messed it," she asks me.

"Jane, what are you doing here in town didn't you have to move since you would not leave my family and our horses alone," I do not like the fact that she is here. "Oh, have you not heard the sheriff has had to resign so that means I could come home. Do not worry I am still free if you want me," she has no dignity. "Jane I do not want you. If I find you hanging around my house or my horse I will call on the new sheriff and have him remove you from my property. Now go home and leave me alone," I have to warn Ginny to keep an eye out for Jane around the house when she is there.

I get to work and tell Mr. Beast what I just found out. "The new sheriff will be no help Josh. Since he is her cousin, see the new sheriff is Lucas, he will not do anything to upset his aunt Mrs. Cross. See she is not just his aunt but his mother as well. It is one of the best kept secrets in this town but I know since well I was friends with his father, his wife could not have children so they went to her sister, to see if she would carry a child for them. His father had to get her pregnant and then his wife had to act as if she was with child, well no one found out and she just said she lost the child. Well after his wife died, he married her sister but when he found out the truth, he left town he had said he would never return but he has and I know why. He got a young woman that was just married pregnant and he fled so that he would not be found," said Mr. Green, he had just returned from a trip and was getting a few things repaired. "Then how did he become sheriff if he had done that in the city. We had told many people we were heading here and that he was going to help us get here," I ask.

"Well the child did not make it he had a son and he died at a few months old I was there the young woman has since been left and has been frowned a pone from every one. They are moving here in a few months and her father tends on making Lucas marry her since her brought this shame on her and his family," Mr. Green tells us. "Well then he will have a wife that he had left expecting and the girls here that he chases as well," said John. "If I catch him trying to get his hands on Maria again I will kill him she was hanging out the laundry to dry and he came out of nowhere and grabbed her, if I had not come out of the house I do not know what he would have done," said Freddy. "He has even tried to get Alanna, like that just last week; I saw it and came out of the house with Mr. King. I have never seen Mr. King so mad, he yelled at him. "Boy she is engaged so leave her alone or I will find the sheriff and have you thrown out of town to so get out of my yard right now," I can never remember him yelling at anyone here or in the city, and I lived next do to you," said Gorge. "That is why the news of the engagement came out just a few days after the wedding not a week like it had been planned. If he tries anything with Amy then he would have tried with almost all of my sisters now, oh no Ginny is at the house all by herself," I tell them. "Go boy and let her know the danger she could be in, go and hurry," yells Mr. Beast.

I ran out, jumped on Twilight Queen without a saddle, and galloped all the way through town all the way to my house, when I got there my heart dropped the door was opened and a horse I did not know was tied up at the door. I run in and call for Ginny and here a scream coming from the room that we had added on the first year we were here I run in and find her trapped but fighting Lucas he had not got a good grip on her yet. I run in and help her he might be older but he is not as strong as I am and I free her and get him tied up and tell Ginny to go and get Father, John, Freddy, Gorge, Mr. Green, and Mr. Beast. Then she should go and stay with Mother until we come to the house.

After she left to get them, I put Lucas out in the yard and leave him there while I tend to Twilight Queen. She was good and I finished right as they got here, "So what do we do now. He is the sheriff and he is trying to rape the women in our family. I know how about we take this bit of knowledge to town and let the people decide his fate. I know he will not be sheriff much longer since he seems to have a habit of doing this it is the reason he left the city after all," I tell them. "I think we go and get the sheriff from the next town and bring him here since he is a sheriff we should get one. Josh I will tend to the animals, go and get the sheriff from the next town and bring him here," Mr. Beast tells me. "Do all of you agree with that," I ask. They all nod and tell me to go I get Twilight Queen and saddle her as Mr. Beast brought it from the store. As I start to head out I ask "What are you going to do with him," they all look at each other and Mr. Green answers, "We will put him in jail that is where he belongs after all," I nod and head out. I stop to see if Ginny is all right she is I tell them what is going on and what we are going to do about him. As I turn to leave Ginny says, "Josh thanks for saving me from him. I do not know how much longer I would have been able to hold him off," she stops right there and hugs Mother.

"Ginny you are my sister when I found out that he had been going after my sisters I remembered you were all by yourself out at my house cleaning. I was not going to let him get to any of my family members even if you have not been my sister long you are my sister so you are part of the family. So cheer up and think of this he will be in jail for a long time for this and he cannot try to get any one every again," I tell her. She smiles at this and says, "You would have been a good king if you were a king like you last name is Josh," that is not something I thought she would say after what she just went through today. "Thanks Ginny, that does mean a lot even though I have never thought of being a king it is nice to know that" I tell her she is a good person I hope she can find someone soon.