The next few years passed following the same basic pattern. Angel Eyes married Anna Bannister, and they soon had a son of their own. But he did not neglect his firstborn son and visited him as often as possible, usually after completing a job.

Emma continued to keep company with Dr Jeremiah Garrett, though she was reluctant to take the next step in their relationship. Her first priority was her son, and she knew she'd not be ready for marriage until Lee was past his early formative years.

The doctor sometimes visited when Angel Eyes was in residence. Fortunately, the two men got along reasonably well, with the hired gun approving of the man being around his son. The doctor found the other man to be an absolute mystery, even after Emma told him he was a bounty hunter. Unlike most men, he never talked about his job. But he was good to his young son, and that was enough to gain the doctor's favorable opinion.

Angel Eyes and Emma were never intimate again, so he had another room built onto the house, so he'd not have to sleep on the couch every time he came to visit his son.

Lee grew like a weed over the next few years and would likely be as tall as his father when he grew up. When he was four years old, Angel Eyes bought him a pony and taught him how to ride. After he gained an acceptable level of proficiency, his father took him on rides every time he came to visit.

They had long talks on these rides, with the normally taciturn man making a special effort to be more communicative for the sake of his son. As a hired gun, he knew he could be killed at any time, so he wanted to make sure his son would know him as much as possible with memories to carry him through his life.

Emma would pack them a picnic lunch; and sometimes she went along with them, when Lee especially wanted her to come. His parents got along well most of the time, all for his sake.

Everything pretty much stayed the same for them all until the Civil War began.

1861

When the Civil War began, Emma hadn't seen Angel Eyes in several months. Having two families to support, he'd sought out more work, including rarely taking a few bounty hunting jobs, if they were sufficiently lucrative.

Lee was now five years old and had grown into an intelligent and inquisitive child. He enjoyed a close relationship with his mother and grandmother, who both doted on him. Emma had been teaching him to read, while Lavinia had taught him the basics of arithmetic as he was taught some simple tasks at the store. He was especially attached to his Uncle Tom, who had taught him how to play checkers and often took the time to play the game with him.

Though he was a happy child, he missed his father acutely as his visits became more infrequent. Emma didn't know what to tell him, but did tell him that Angel Eyes loved him. She did tell him he was having to work more, but let Lee believe the fiction that he was a bounty hunter. She didn't tell him he had a younger half brother; that was a conversation for when he was older and also was one about his father's true occupation.

Over the last five years, Lee's grandfather had slowly grown to love him, though he still disapproved of Emma being a single mother. He had never met Angel Eyes, and had no desire to. Thomas, Sr did approve of Emma's friendship with the town doctor and hoped Emma would someday marry him and become a respectable homemaker.

Emma had got into the habit of eating dinner with her family every Sunday afternoon. Many times, her grandfather would join them for the meal. On one evening shortly after the war had begun, he announced to his family that he was going to join up with the Confederate army.

"Pa, you're too old to join the army," his son protested. "Whatever possessed you to come up with such a harebrained idea like that?"

"I'm not going to be a foot soldier," the older man assured him. '"I signed on to be a cook. I've been lonesome and bored since your mother died and I figured this would be just the ticket for me."

"I don't suppose I could talk you out of it?" his son asked hopefully.

"You know better 'n that," the old man replied.

And so Ezra Baker marched off to war. But he was back within six months, having contracted consumption.

He decided to remain in his own home, insisting that his son's quarters above the mercantile were too cramped for him to move in there. He didn't go out much after returning home, wanting to conserve his strength. His family brought him meals each day, so he'd not have to expend energy making his own. On good days, he'd go to town and spend a couple of hours at the saloon. On bad days, he'd stay at home coughing in bed.

The doctor visited weekly, saying he had about a year to live; more, if he took it easy. Ezra was unimpressed, figuring he'd live as long as the good Lord wanted him to.

Ezra also came home with a secret weighing on his mind. Not long before he mustered out of the army, he, along with two other men from his unit, discovered a strongbox containing two hundred thousand dollars in Confederate gold coins. It had been hidden beneath the false bottom in a supply wagon, found when Ezra Baker was helping to load the wagon with kitchen supplies, along with the two men.

They'd made a pact to leave the box where they'd found it until the unit had reached their next destination and could find a more private spot to divide the gold.

But after they'd arrived at their new camping

ground and had a chance to retrieve the gold, Baker and Stevens discovered the cashbox missing. And the third member of their group, Jackson, was missing, apparently having deserted. The money still hadn't been located by the time he'd mustered out and he could only conclude that Jackson had taken it.

After returning home, Baker had a visit from another Army friend, who knew nothing about the money. He'd told him that Stevens had been shot in the leg and had also been sent home. The friend heard that Jackson had visited Stevens at his home, only to disappear again. He presumably was now using a false name, making him harder to trace.

Ezra now suspected that Jackson and Stevens might likely have conspired to cut him out and decided to split the money two ways, instead of three. He stewed about his suspicion for the next two weeks, wondering how best to proceed to prevent being cheated out of his share of the gold.

First thing he needed to know was the name Jackson was using now, so he could be tracked down. He wasn't able to do it himself, so he decided to pay a hired gun to get the name and to eliminate Stevens. He'd go to town tomorrow and see if anyone at the saloon knew where he could find a hired gun to do the job.

Satisfied with his decision, he turned over and slept better than he had in weeks.