Chapter 16

Lou peeked in the spare bedroom and saw that Jamie was sleeping peacefully. She and Jimmy had just ridden back from the pond and he was in the barn with Buck taking care of Sundancer.

"Are you feeling better?" Cody asked as he walked up behind Lou "Ya know Teaspoon meant well."

"I swear the next person that says that is going to be the one to ride six days with that baby all the way back to Julesburg" whispers Lou as she steps into the room to tuck her daughter in.

"All right, all right I'll change the subject," Cody whispered from the doorway. "So, you and Jimmy still fightin'?"

Lou smiles as she walked past Cody "Not hardly…not hardly."

Cody chuckles and gently elbows Lou "Well that explains why you're feeling better than when you took off."

"Shut up Cody" Lou blushed and elbowed him back.

Lou quietly closed the door and headed to the kitchen "You want some coffee?" Lou asks pouring herself a cup.

"Sure" Cody says grabbing few cookies from the jar on the table "Let's take it out back"

They head out the back door and stroll through the garden that Rachel planted a few years ago.

"So does this mean you're staying here or going to Abilene?" Cody asks.

"What?" Lou said, "I ain't going to Kansas. Why would you think that?"

"If you two are together, you and Jimmy, well I figure you have to be together somewhere."

"Oh, well ….Cody I….I don't know, we didn't talk about it, we didn't talk much at all."

"Well maybe Jimmy will go live in Julesburg with you?" Cody leaned against the fence that wound its way around the garden as Lou climbed up and sat on top.

"What's he gonna do out there. Be a ranch hand or a cowboy? That's not his kinda life anymore. Can you see Jimmy living like that?"

Cody looked real serious "Yea I can Lou. Most of us get to pick the direction our lives go in. But it's been different with Jimmy; to him it seems like it was all planned out, that he ain't got no choices. The judge taught him to be a gunfighter and when he tried to change, that Marcus fella wrote those stories and it cemented his reputation, it made him live a life I don't think he'd have picked given the choice. And Jimmy ain't felt like he had anyone in his life, 'cept you that believed in him. The rest of the family loves him and all, but Lou you've make him wanna be something better."

Lou looked down, "I don't know about all that Cody, and since when did you start talking like Teaspoon."

Cody smiled "I guess some of the old man is wearing off on me. I'll I know is Jimmy lives a certain way now, a kinda life folks expect of him, gambling, gun fighting, and ….well not keeping time with the best of folks, if you get my drift."

"Saloon girls and such" Lou said.

Cody nodded "But he ain't happy Lou and I do know that the only way he'll live any other kinda life is with you."

Lou sighed "Maybe that ain't the life I want Cody. Maybe the thought of being married again scares me" Lou paused "It didn't really go so well 'tween Kid and me."

Cody looked up at Lou "I always wondered about you and Kid, but didn't want to stir things up for ya. I remember that day in the barn, before you left to go to Virginia, when Kid hurt you and I guess I always worried that maybe it would happen again. The day you two left it was all I could do not to ride after you and drag you back home ….. Did it happen again Lou? Did he hurt you?"

"We fought a lot Cody, about the war, where we were going to live, about everything. He wanted me to be something, someone I wasn't, that I couldn't be. Even if there hadn't been a war and if we'd stayed here, I don't think it would have worked out and I don't want to live like that again, I won't. Kid wasn't a bad person; he just didn't know how to live with someone like me. I cain't change Cody, I ain't a normal woman, I'm a stable master for heaven's sake! It's not that I'm 'manly' or anything, but I ain't pretty, well not like some woman anyway, I'm strong and I work hard, I don't know anything but hard work and I'm independent. I prefer the company of horses to society ladies and I'd rather play poker than go to tea parties. What man can live like that? Could you Cody? Be honest."

"Well like I said before you ain't my type, but it ain't cause you ain't pretty, actually Lou you're real pretty always have been, but most men like ta eat and frankly I want a woman who can cook and would be happy ta do it."

Lou laughed as she knocked the hat off of Cody's head.

"I've been looking for you" Jimmy said walking up "Rachel said that supper should be ready soon and there is left over peach cobbler" Jimmy looked at Lou and smiled softly.

Cody picked up his hat and headed for the house " "You best come on before I eat the rest of that cobbler, hell it's what I came home for."

Jimmy climbed up on the fence next to Lou and took her hand "You really should talk to 'em Lou, Teaspoon and Rachel both look like someone died. They feel pretty bad about the whole thing."

"I know" Lou says scooting closer to Jimmy "I'll be headed back to the ranch in a few days, so at least it will be a nice visit if I forgive 'em."

Jimmy's face got serious "You going back? After….." he nodded in the direction of the pond a few miles out of town "…after today?"

"I have a job Jimmy, I cain't afford ta lose it. I got plans to have Jeremiah and Teresa come live with me in a couple of months. I'm having another room added to the stables where we live and it will be done by then."

"See, now that's another thing, I don't think I like her, or you living in a barn. You deserve better and so does Jamie."

"Thank you for thinking so Jimmy, but it's nicer than it sounds. You'll see when you come visit us." Lou practically held her breath "You will come see us, won't ya Jimmy?"

Jimmy didn't say anything he just kept staring straight ahead.

"Oh well ok, I guess that's ok, maybe we'll see you here sometime" Lou said as she was about to jump of the fence.

Jimmy was shaking his head as he put his hand out and stopped her "I guess I thought maybe you'd come to Kansas to live with me."

Lou looked at him with a little fire in her eyes "Jimmy I know I ain't a conventional woman, and I know what happened today 'tween us, well, I know what that makes me, at least in some folks eyes, but Jimmy I ain't going to just live with you. And I'm not living in Abilene; I'm not raising Jamie there. Do you really think it's a good place to raise your daughter?"

"I don't know I haven't thought about it. But I have a job too Lou. How are we supposed to be together with you all the way out in Colorado?"

Lou looked at Jimmy "And you all the way in Kansas…. I don't know Jimmy. I don't think either of us was thinking about all that when we….. when we loved each other today. Maybe we need to take some time to think about it. Think about what we really want" Lou leaned in and kissed Jimmy softly and then jumped down and headed towards the house.

…..

"Hello?"

Lou heard Jimmy's voice calling as he came into the house, she hesitated before she answered him… they had been tippy toeing around each other since yesterday and she didn't really know what else to say, she sighed, "In here Jimmy."

Jimmy opened the door to the mud room off the kitchen and as his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the one candle burning he saw Lou soaking in the tub and smiled "Don't you look cozy" He said.

"I am and I'd like to stay that way. Shut that door you're lettin' a chill in." Lou said as she sunk lower in the water for warmth as well as modesty.

Jimmy moved Lou's cloths off the lone chair that stood in the room and sat down, "Where is everyone?"

"Teaspoon took Rachel over to the Stampers place, it seems Caroline had her baby yesterday and Rachel went to help out."

"They live out near Big Sandy don't they?" Jimmy was looking at Lou's bare shoulders and trying not to think about what lay hidden in the soapy water.

"Yea I figure they'll stay late and maybe not be back till tomorrow. Buck and Emily are home and Jamie is asleep, it's kinda late Jimmy. Where you been all day?"

"Oh here and there, when Cody left this morning I rode with him part of the way. I did a little hunting while I was out, got Rachel a couple of rabbits. It was peaceful and I needed to do some thinking. I got back to town a while ago. Went by the saloon for a drink and played a few hands of poker."

"There's stew on the stove if you're hungry"

Jimmy nodded "Maybe later, I bought you something" He stood up looked down at her and smiled "wait right here."

Lou just tilted her head and looked at him with a slight grin on her face.

Jimmy came back in the room with a bottle tucked under his arm and a kettle of steaming hot water in one hand and two glasses in the other.

"Move your legs sweetheart, I'll add more hot water" Lou pulled her legs closer to her and put her feet on the side of the tub exposing her legs up to the top of her thighs. Jimmy set his jaw, took a breath and tried unsuccessfully to look away.

He set the kettle down and showed Lou the bottle "Wine?" She smiled as her put her legs back in the warm water "You got me wine?"

"Yea they have it at the saloon now, I thought you'd like some" Jimmy opened the bottle and poured two glasses handed one to Lou and set his on the table as he began to remove his boots.

"What are you doing Jimmy?" Lou asked after taking a sip of wine.

"Joining you in the tub" he said as he finished undressing.

"Jimmy you cain't! What if someone comes in?"

Jimmy steps into the warm water and sits down, sliding his long legs along either side of Lou's small body "You yourself said no one was here and probably won't be till late or even morning."

Jimmy raised his glass to Lou and took a sip of his wine "hummm pretty good"

Lou nodded "I like it"

Jimmy smiled "I remember"

They sat silent for a while sipping their wine, Jimmy never taking his eyes off of Lou "You still leaving tomorrow?"

Lou nodded "But I'll be back for Rachel's birthday next month. She and Teaspoon are trying to convince me to leave Jamie here till then. It would make getting back to the ranch faster for me but three weeks is a long time to be without her. What about you? Are you headed back to Abilene too?"

"Yea probably right after you," Jimmy paused and looked into her deep brown eyes, softening with each sip of wine. "What are we going to do Lou?"

"I don't know Jimmy. I've been thinking and praying even, but I cain't tell you what you want to hear."

"What'd a you think I wanna hear? That you'll come live with me in Kansas, live in sin with me, is that what you think I want to hear?"

Lou shrugged "I don't know maybe."

"Lou I want to marry you, I want to be with you, have a family with you. I know that's not a fancy proposal, but if you want I'll get outta this tub and get down on one knee for ya."

"You don't know what you're askin'. I'm a package deal ya know, it ain't just me or even me and Jamie, but Teresa and Jeramiah too. That's a lot to ask anyone to take on. I ain't gonna ask you ta do that…..Anyway….." Lou smiled and scooted closer to Jimmy wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck "This might not be the best time ta talk about it, might be nice ta not talk at all"

Jimmy pulled her close 'damn she's gotten real good at changing the subject' he thought to himself as his lips found hers, 'but she can't run forever'.

…

October 1863 Plum Creek Nebraska

"Sorry to hear that Sharp how'd it happen?" asked the bartender at Miss Annie's saloon.

"Virgil was shot dead, over near Fort Kearny, trying to bring in a low down murderer." Calvin Sharp tossed back his shot of whiskey "He and Earl tracked her from Louisville and ….

"Wait 'Her'?" the bartender said refilling Calvin's glass.

"Yea, some woman outta Virginia killed a sheriff and an army officer, probably others too. She ambushed Virgil and Earl, and she got away but I heard she was shot, so I'm headed to Fort Kearny to pick up her trail." Sharp took another shot of whiskey "My brother Virgil probably got sloppy 'cause he was tracking a woman. I won't make that mistake." Sharp took one more shot, none seeming to have any effect on him, then he threw some coins on the counter slung his saddle bags over his shoulder and walked out.

The bartender walked down to his only other patron this early in the day "You want another?" he asked.

"Nope, I'm headed out." He said draining the last of his beer.

"Where you headed Coulter?" he asked wiping the bar.

"I guess I'll see if I can locate me a bounty" Jake Coulter says with steel in his voice, as he watches Calvin Sharp ride away "before someone else does.

…..

"When did Lou get in?" Cody asked leaning against Teaspoons desk looking at the other men of his family, gathered in the marshals' office.

"Last night" Teaspoon said "About supper time and Jimmy got here day before yesterday and now you're here. Having you all together is the best birthday present Rachel could hope for."

"Especially now that winter is coming on" Buck Said "It may be a long time before we see Lou again, once the snow starts to fly it will be too dangerous for her travel so far especially with Jamie."

Jimmy took a deep breath and held his tongue. He and Lou hadn't had much time to talk and it felt like she was avoiding him. He spent some time last night with Jamie and he and Lou were civil but he wanted more. He managed to visit them two weeks ago, just for a few days and where they were living wasn't 'that' bad. Lou had managed to make it real homey and when the addition was finished it would be real nice. He still didn't like the idea of them living in a barn. But there was no changing her mind. Not about anything.

"Jimmy…Jimmy?" Cody snapped his fingers in front of Jimmy's face "You listening to anything we're saying?"

"Sorry, what?" Jimmy looked up at Cody.

"I was sayin' that for the party tonight…."

Cody was interrupted when the door opened and a tall long haired man came slowly strolling in.

"Well, looks like that gangs all here" Coulter looks around at teaspoon and the boys. "Most of the gang anyway."

They all look at him with a little suspicion in their eyes; even though they knew he was the one that let Jimmy know that Lou was a wanted women.

"Well well" Teaspoon says "Is this another courtesy call Coulter, you tracking someone in my town?"

Coulter offers Teaspoon a cigar "You could say that."

"Let me rephrase the question. What exactly brings you to Rock Creek?" Teaspoon says taking one of the cigars.

"Checking up on things" Jake says in his slow drawl "Thought I'd see if Hickok located the little lady. Did you find her, is she alright?"

"Yea she's alright, why you asking?" Jimmy said eyeing Jake.

"So is she here?" Jake struck a match on the wall and lit teaspoons cigar.

Jimmy took a step closer to the bounty hunter "I'm asking you again, why ya want ta know?"

"I'm gonna take that as a yes." He said.

Teaspoon spoke up "Coulter why you interested in Lou?"

"Well let's just say I am protecting my investment." Coulter took a long drag off of his cigar and blew the smoke out slowly.

Buck had taken a step forward to put himself between Jimmy and Coulter, he could tell Jimmy was getting riled up and they were all starting to wonder why the bounty hunter was taking such an interest in Lou, when the door swung open and she came strolling in.

"Teaspoon, Rachel was looking for you; she wanted to know….." Lou stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at the tall, longhaired bounty hunter.

Jake smiled at her "Well hello Louie, we were just talking about you."

Lou tried to erase the stunned look from her face and she could feel the tension in the room "What are you doing here Jake?"

"Now Louise is that anyway to great an old friend? Especially when I'm the one that told Hickok you needed help. Why without me Lou…"

"Don't Jake," Lou said putting her hand up "don't start with how much I owe you. I'm pretty sure if anyone 'owes' it's probably you owing me, considering…"

"Hold on Hold on" Jimmy steps next to Lou "You too know each other?"

"Yep" Jake said pointing his cigar towards Lou "why she's like a little sister to me, ain't that right Louie"

"Don't know about the sister part" Lou looked up at Jake and then over at Jimmy and nodded "but yea we go back a ways. And stop calling me Louie."

"Let me go Jake. I ain't going back! I ain't I tell ya, I AIN'T!

"OWWWW, you bit me! Louise I don't care where ya go, but I have to take ya somewhere or Charlotte won't let me hear the end of it." Jake says as her lets her go and begins rubbing his arm where Lou's teeth left impressive marks.

Lou stops and stares at Jake "You ain't taking me to the orphanage?"

"Naaa, I came up in an orphanage, I wouldn't take a dog I hated to one of them places. They probably beat ya all the time I bet."

"No" Lou said a little horrified.

"Oh. Well if you didn't get your chores done they'd let you go for a few days without food, right?"

"No, the food was ok." Lou shrugged "We didn't go hungry or nothin'"

"I bet if you was real bad, and knowing you that was all the time, they'd lock ya in the cellar or a closet."

Lou shook her head

"So they was good to ya?"

"I guess" Lou said.

"Then why the hell don't you wanna go back!? Listen Louise you stay out here in the world and things are gonna happen to ya, could be bad things. More of what ya got from Wicks and worse, the world ain't no place for a little girl."

"I can take care of myself!" Lou yelled "I don't need anyone. I just need a job. To find some work."

"Why is that so all fired important. You could be living good at the orphanage, three meals a day and they don't beat ya. Well Hell I'd live there if they'd have me." Jake took his saddle bags off the horse and started pulling dried biscuits and jerky.

"My brother and sister are still there. I promised my Ma I'd take care of them. I ain't done real well so far" Lou sat down on a log by the creek where they were making camp for the night.

"Ya got kin there huh? Well that's real noble of ya wanting to do right by 'em, but there ain't a lot of honest work in the world for little girls."

"I ain't a little girl."

"Lou, I'm trying ta tell ya that if you stay out here you're gonna end up like them girls at Wicks place. Listen honey" Jake squats down in front of Lou "Wicks is a bastard for sure, a mean one that's true, but he's a prince compared to most in his line of work."

"Well then I won't be a girl anymore, I'll dress like a boy and do odds job or something. I ain't going back."

"Dress like a boy huh?" Jake thought for a moment and reached out to take a lock of her hair "If we cut your hair it might work, just might work."

"Louise," Jake got kind of quiet "I was awful sorry to hear about Charlotte" Jake said putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Yea, thanks, Charlotte said she looked for you. She was going to open that dress shop she always talked about."

Lou looked up at Jake "I appreciate you letting Jimmy know I was in trouble but Jake why are you here now? You don't do anything lessin' there's a good reason."

Jake let his hand slip down from her shoulder and take hold of her arm as his smile faded "Well Louise McCloud, I've come ta do something about the bounty that's on your head"

Jimmy, Buck and Cody all drew their guns and Teaspoon stepped between Lou and the Bounty hunter "Colter you try and collect on that bounty and we are likely to have ourselves a problem. You ain't taking my girl anywhere"

Lou just shook her head, stepped in front of Jake and placed her hands on Teaspoon's chest.

"Relax boys, Teaspoon. Jake ain't gonna take me in for the bounty," turning back she looked at Coulter "what are you talking about Jake?"

"Gee Louie I don't think your friends here trust me. There was a time when collecting a $500 bounty was a fun challenge for you." Jake looked at the men in the room "She was kinda the brains of our little operation."

"Jake what's goin' on?" Lou asked in earnest "You gotta tell me, what have you heard?"

Jake's face got serious as he looked down at Lou "The fellas you killed near Kearny…."

"…I killed them" Jimmy said still holding his weapon.

"Shut up Jimmy, let him finish" Lou nodded to Jake.

"One of them had a brother…."

"…..they always do" said teaspoon.

Jake nodded "….Calvin Sharp is looking for you and he is about a half a day behind me at best. You need to lay low Louise, he won't give up easily and he won't hesitate to kill the rest of ya to get to her."

"Calvin Sharp" Teaspoon shook his head "That one's rotten to the core."

"Well we'll just tell him I shot his brother, hell Lou shot one and I got the other. I could have been me. Let him call me out." Jimmy said coming to stand next to Lou.

"He won't believe ya, no one even knows you were there Hickok. The story is that Louise ambushed them two and shot 'em dead while getting shot herself." Jake looked Lou up and down, "You ok Little Sister?"

Lou smiled "Yea all healed up" she put her hand on her side "But he got me good"

"I cain't run and hide Jake" Lou said "I have a baby now and unless they kill me and take my body back to Virginia they cain't make me go, they cain't arrest me"

"Well sweetheart, that's the trouble, Sharp will shoot ya in the back, without warning and you'll be dead and half way to Virginia for anyone knows it. And truth be told I don't know if he even cares about the bounty at this point, just about getting revenge for his brother."

Jake smiled and took Lou's arms "But Little Sister I have a plan"

"Jake it always worries me when you that sure of yourself, remember Silver Springs?"
"Louie" Jake says "those were unforeseen circumstances, and a long time ago"

"Ok, whats your great plan?" Lou asks.

"Well before Sharp gets here I intend ta Kill you first"

Lou turns towards her family as she hears the sound of three guns being cocked "Boys, put your guns away, I'm telling you Jake would never hurt me."

"I think I know where he's going with this boys" Teaspoon said "Coulter you wanna make it look like you got to her first, fake her dying."

"Yep, it will get Sharp off her trail and no one else will come looking for the bounty either" Jake look s down at Lou "What'a ya think Louie? You wanna play dead?"

Lou reaches out, puts her hand on Jakes arm and smiles up at him, "I think you need to quit calling me Louie…Jake let me talk to the boys for a minute, why don't you head over to the saloon, have a drink and I'll meet up with ya later"

Jake smiles back, "Sure thing Little Sister, just don't try running off, you know I always find ya" He winks at Lou and walks out leaving Lou to face the volley of questions from her family.

Teaspoon put his hand up quieting the boys and turns to Lou "How long have you known Coulter?"

"About 8 or 9 years year's; since I worked for Wicks in St Jo" Teaspoons face softened he knew about what Lou went through at the hands of Wicks but he didn't know what the boys knew.

"Well ain't you just full of secrets and surprises Lou" Jimmy said obviously unhappy about her knowing Jake and about there being more secrets.

"You don't know the half of it Jimmy I've told you that…And I'm sure there are plenty of things I don't know about you Jimmy" Lou barked back.

"Wicks?" Cody frowned "Didn't he own a Saloon …..of sorts, not very reputable Lou, I can't imagine you working in a place like that."

"A place like what" Buck asked.

"You ain't got ta tell em Lou, not if you don't want to" Teaspoon said putting his arm around her.

"A whorehouse Buck, he owned a whorehouse. And yea I worked there….. in the laundry. After about a year, Wicks decided it I was old enough to earn money doing other things" Jimmy turned his back to her, He didn't want to hear this, he couldn't hear this.

"But Wicks liked to break the new girls in himself…..well Charlotte found me the next day and helped me runaway."

"Oh god Lou I'm so sorry" Cody said sadness and anger written across his face.

"But you were just a little girl, how could someone do that?" Buck said

Lou shrugged and continued "You remember when Charlotte came ta town don't ya?" Teaspoon nodded "Well Jake and her was close, he was a favorite of hers'. Under other conditions, they might have gotten together. She really liked him a lot, loved him I guess."

Lou looked at the surprised looks on their faces "Don't be surprised, Jake can be kinda sweet."

"She bought me a ticket for the stage to St Louis, when I got there Jake was waiting. Charlotte wanted me to go back to the orphanage and Jake was supposed to take me but I told him I wasn't going and I ran away, but he caught me and said I could ride with him till I found a job. But we knew Wicks was still looking for me and it was safer for me to be a boy so Jake got me some boy's clothes and I cut my hair and Lou was born. I rode with Jake the better part of that year. I learned a lot from Jake and I owe him a lot, but if you tell him I said that not only will I deny it but I'll probably shoot ya'.

Alright Lou if this is what you want, I won't stop ya." Jake and Lou stood alone

behind the livery "I know you gotta make your own way. But you know if ya ever need

me you just gotta come looking and maybe if I get back this way I'll stop in and check on ya. You take care now."

Jake turned to walk away but looked back at Lou her cheeks wet with a few tears,

"Awww Louie" Jake pulled her into a big bear hug "You'll be fine, you'll do alright."

When I found a job in Seneca at the livery he rode on and I didn't see him again till a few months before I signed on with the express."

"Jake? Jake Coulter"

Coulter turned around and looked at a young boy standing with a group of cowboys on the other side of the street. Jake looked him up and down as the boy raised his hand in a greeting, something about him was familiar but he couldn't quite place him. And as the boy crossed the street and got closer Jake smiled "Hi Little sister"

"Not so loud, no one knows I'm a girl. Its good ta see ya Jake. What are you doing in Lincoln?"

"Oh ya know the usual business, huntin' down the bad guys."

Lou laughed "Well try to take 'em alive for a change"

"What have you been up to? I ain't seen you since we parted ways in Seneca"

"Oh this and that, mostly doing ranch work when I can get it. I was coming through St Jo and heard they were hiring riders for some express mail they are settin' up, thought I'd give that a try. I heard tell they are gonna pay $100 a month!"

"You could ride with me, we made a pretty good team, you could help me track this guy he's a real bad one, your favorite kind."

"No, I think I'll give delivering the mail a try. It was good ta see ya Jake. I best be going."

"Yea, me too," Jake smiled "hey Louie, you hungry?"

"Why didn't you say anything when he was after Jimmy?" Buck asked "Why didn't you tell us you knew him?"

"Or when they rode after that bank robber Lon Chase….. " Cody asked.

"I wasn't here when Jake came looking for Jimmy, or I would have talked to him, he would have listened to me, I didn't hear about him tracking you" she said to Jimmy's back "until after I got back and what was I supposed to do tell you that I used to ride with a bounty hunter, Jake Coulter at that."

Cody smiled "Well Lou ain't you just full of surprises. What else ain't you telling us? Did you sail with Blackbeard the Pirate or explore the Wild West with Kit Carson."

Lou smiled at Cody "No….But I met him once…Kit Carson." She looked at her family "I did, in Missouri, he still had family there."

Jimmy turned and quietly walked out the door.

"What's wrong with him?" Cody asked.

"I'll go after him" Buck said heading for the door.

Lou reached out and took Bucks arm "No, let him go. It's like I've told you before, I ain't lived a normal life, I'm not a regular woman and no man's gonna be able to live with that." Lou turned to Teaspoon "Let's find Jake and see if we can't figure out his crazy plan."

…

Thank you for all the kind words, reviews and msg's. I know this has gone longer than I originally thought, but Coulter wanted more air time and as I said before I kinda like Jake. So at this point I'm pretty sure that 3 more chapters will wrap this story up…Thank goodness! 'Cause I have several more ideas knocking on my brains back door and I need to work and I have a life LOL.