*Author's Note*

Thank you for all the follows, faves, and reviews.

You've Got Mail

Jessa POV:

It was early, around dawn, and I was sitting in the living room waiting for Johnse and Roseanna to come over for our shopping trip in Charleston, which was a few hours away. While I was sitting with Silas curled up sleeping on my lap, Shaw was in the kitchen. "They should be here soon, honey." He assured me, pouring some milk into a mason jar (so we could take it with us for Silas).

"I know." I simply said, watching him screw the top on the jar.

Grabbing a leftover biscuit from last night, he told me, "I'm not sure if he's bringing his own wagon or if they're riding with us since he needs to buy a stove."

"Well, whatever they do's fine." I told him as he went over to the table and grabbed the satchel he had laying there.

"I'm hoping to push Johnse into marrying Roseanna soon." Shaw revealed, placing the biscuit and milk jar into the satchel before walking out of the kitchen with it slung over his shoulder. "I tried talking to Devil Anse, but he wouldn't budge, so I'm just pressuring Johnse into doing the right thing now." He explained, coming to a stop in front of me and handing me over the satchel that he made into a makeshift diaper bag.

"You think he'll marry her?" I asked as he sat down in the arm next to the sofa I was on.

"I think so, but only cause we're in his corner." He old me, nodding his head and making his golden-brown hair slightly muss up against the back of his chair.

I didn't say a word, just nodded at him. I really hope Johnse marries Roseanna, I don't want her to end up going thru what I read in my history book.

Before Shaw could say another word, a knock echoed in the air. "Must be them." He said, getting up from his chair. "Come on, let's go." Shaw told me, motioning for me to get up, before heading over to the door.

Not saying a word, I got up and followed him over to the door. As I reached his side, he was opening the door only to reveal Johnse and Roseanna standing on the other side. The men didn't even have a chance to greet each other before Roseanna rushed over to me with big friendly smile on her face. "Oh, I'm so happy for you, Jessa." She gushed, hugging me. Pulling away from our hug, she added in, "Johnse told me about your engagement."

"Thank you, Roseanna. I'm happy too." I smiled even tho my words weren't truly genuine. In a way I was happy, but I wasn't truly happy yet. I was still harboring some feelings for Tolbert, but I'm sure as time goes by and I see how good Shaw is to Silas that my feelings will change.

"Are you riding with us or taking your own wagon?" Shaw asked Johnse while grabbing his hat off the hook near the wall and putting it on.

"We got our own wagon. Figured after the trip you'll need t'hunt a bird for tomorrow and I don't want us holdin' you up from that." Johnse thoughtfully told Shaw as he grabbed his jacket and put it on.

"Okay. Well, just follow us on the road then." Shaw told Johnse, taking my shawl off the wall hook and draping it over my shoulders.

"Thanks." I told my fiancé since it was the polite thing to do. Honestly, I was a bit taken aback that he placed my shawl on me since Tolbert never did things like that. Seems like Shaw was a bit more thoughtful then Tolbert; was a gentleman too.

Roseanna was just giving me a soft smile, silently telling me that Shaw was being romantic and charming. God, I remember the talks we would have about him and how she'd swoon and tell me I was so lucky to have him. Guess we're going to be having those talks once again.

"No problem, baby." Shaw kissed my cheek. Looking at Johnse and Roseanna, he told them. "We're ready to go."

Johnse just grabbed Roseanna's hand and led her out the door. Placing his hand on the small of my back, Shaw assured me, "Todd and Mary'll be fine; they can manage to get to school themselves.", before ushering us out the door.

"I never said that they wouldn't be, Shaw." I told him as we crossed the porch.

"I know, I just don't want you worrying about them's all." Shaw explained as we walked down the porch. Roseanna and Johnse were getting into their wagon as Shaw led us over to ours (which was hitched up and ready to go since he did that after getting dressed this morning) while telling me, "They're pretty independent kids, given that they're almost 12-and-8-years old. They're also used to doin' a lot for themselves since I'm always workin' and Olga wasn't much of a caretaker to them."

"Okay." I simply said, handing him over Silas so that I could climb up into our wagon.

"Don't worry, they like you." I heard him say as I sat down, quickly straightening my skirts and adjusting myself. Passing me over Silas, he added, "If they didn't, they would've said something."

"Well, I like them too. They're nice kids." I told Shaw, watching him round the wagon and climb into it.

"Yea." He nodded, grabbing the reins. "Mom did a good job with them." Shaw snapped the reins, directing the horses to pull the wagon away from the front of the house. "Better job then she did with me, but I reckon I was the experiment kid since I was the oldest."

"You had a hard childhood, didn't you?" I asked since that's the impression I was getting.

The sound of Johnse and Roseanna's wagon following us echoed in the crisp dawn air as Shaw told me, "Somewhat. It got easier whenever I moved to Tulsa."

I nodded before revealing my own family secret of, "My mom's a bipolar with manic depression. My entire childhood was filled with my dad making up excuses for her and my having to tell lies and stories to my friends about why they couldn't come over or why I couldn't go do something. Everyone just thought my parents were hovering or super strict, but that wasn't the case."

Shaw gave me a soft look and took my hand in his. "I should've asked you out the minute I met you. I could've given you some solace from that." He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and told me, "At least we're together now."

"Yea." I nodded, giving him a small smile.

"Silas ain't gonna grow up like me or like you, I promise." Shaw told me, vowing that he was going to make sure that Silas had a stable family environment.

"I know, Shaw. That's why we're together, so he can have a good life." I told my fiancé as he guided our wagon down the road while our son was perched on our lap, sleeping.

"We're not just together for him tho, babe. We do love each other." Shaw reminded me, even tho I was with him for our son and just that despite that fact that he loved me and I cared for him.

"I know, honey." I softly told him, trying to make him believe that I reciprocated his feelings even tho at the moment I didn't. Sadly, right now I felt like our entire relationship revolved around raising our son and our sex life (hey, he was good in bed so…).

He just smiled at me and patted my knee in an affectionate way before turning his attention back to the road we were traveling on.

The ride to Charleston (West Viginia's capital) took a few hours, but it was worth it. The city was built up with cobblestone streets and there were so many shops in the market district too. It reminded me a lot of a modern city. Currently, I was in the china shop with Roseanna while Shaw and Johnse were in a hardware store. I felt a small weight be lifted off my shoulders as I shopped with my friend. In a way I felt like a teenager again, not the mother that was forced to grow up too fast, as I looked at dishes with Roseanna.

"Those are nice." Roseanna told me, referring to the white and blue bone china I was looking at.

"Yea, I think I'll get these." I nodded, hiking Silas up higher on my hip since he was beginning to feel like dead weight. "Did you see anything you like?"

"Yes," She told me before quickly adding in, "but it's too much to take Shaw up on his offer t'buy me china."

"It's not an offer, Roseanna. He said he'd pay for your dishes as a housewarming gift." I told her, attempting to get my friend to relent and let me pay for her dishes. Shaw gave me quite a bit of money to shop with. Unlike Tolbert, he didn't mind spending his money on fine things. Maybe that's cause he had the money to spend tho. Shaw wanted both me and Roseanna, who he considered family since she was with Johnse, to get something nice. I knew he wouldn't have told us to pick out whatever we wanted if he didn't mean it.

The fair blonde bit her thinking, mulling over my words. Meekly nodding, she told me, "Okay. I'll show ya the china I like." She linked her arm in mine and quickly dragged me over to where a rose printed bone china set was on display. "Those are the prettiest plates I've ever seen in my life."

"Let's go find the clerk and tell him what sets we want to buy." I suggested with a smile, causing Roseanna to just nod in agreement.

Quickly, we went to go find the clerk.

Meanwhile In The Hardware Store…

Shaw POV:

The girls were down the street at the china store while we were in the large hardware store, looking at stoves. Johnse seemed a bit overwhelmed as he walked thru the selection of various sized and styled wood stoves. It was a no brainer that he needed the small potbelly stove since his cabin only had one room, but he was still looking at every model out on display. Tired of seeing Johnse floundering around aimless, I suggested, "That potbelly stove over there'd be nice for you and Roseanna."

Looking between me and the stove, I was pointing at, he asked, "Ya think so?"

"Yea." I nodded. "Your cabin's small, a startup one, so that stove'll be perfect." I clarified, easing any doubts my cousin had about the small wood stove.

"I really appreciate you helpin' me with my cabin." Johnse told me as we went over to look at the small pot belly stove, I told him to buy.

"It's not a big deal, Johns. We're family plus our women are close friends so I don't mind helping you out." I told my cousin as he inspected the stove.

"Once I marry Roseanna, they'll be cousins so them bein' close's good."

"So, you're really gonna marry her then?" I asked, one of my brows arched up curiously.

"Yea, after the cabin's done." He comfirmed with a nod. Praise Jesus he's gonna marry Roseanna.

I clapped him on the back and told him, "Well, looks like we need to take a trip to the jewelry store after we're done here."

Looking at me, Johnse asked, "You'll help me get a ring for Roseanna?"

"Yea. Besides, I need to get some wedding bands too considering I'll be marrying come spring." I stated, reminding my cousin that I was engaged and planning a wedding too. He wasn't the only one that had a wedding in the works. "Come on, let's buy the stove and then run to the jewelry store before lunch with the girls." I told Johnse, walking off towards the clerk's desk in the front of the store.

After shopping, we met up with the girls and got something to eat at a diner before making the long ride back to Mate Creek. Once back in town, Johnse and Roseanna went their way while I took my family home. It wasn't too late whenever we got home, meaning that I had plenty of time to go hunt a turkey for tomorrow. While Jessa changed Silas and put him down for a nap, I unloaded the large box of china from the wagon. After placing it on the kitchen table went over to my gun rack to grab my rifle. "Babe, I'm goin' huntin' now!" I called out to Jessa, who was still upstairs with our son, since I didn't want her to worry about me.

"Okay!" She loudly replied from upstairs.

"I won't be long!" I exclaimed before walking out the door. I had just walked down the porch steps whenever the mailman, Fred Wolford, rode up. Waving at him, I asked, "I got mail today?" I rarely had mail delivered to my house, it usually went to my livery office so I was a bit surprised that Fred was delivering something.

Stopping by the hitch post, he told me, "No, but your woman does."

Oh, so somebody sent Jessa a letter; just happened to know where she was too. Oh, I can just imagine who the letter's from. Before the mailman could dismount, I went over to him and simply said, "I'll take the letter."

Fred just nodded and dug the letter out of his large mail sack. Handing me an envelope, he said, "Here ya go."

I silently nodded and walked up my porch, making it look like I was going to bring the letter inside even tho I wasn't. Once I heard Fred's horse gallop off, I took a seat on one of the porch's rockers. As I looked at the envelope, I realized that the writing belonged to a woman and not a man. The way Jessa's name was scripted in elegant loopy letters was too clean to be Tolbert's writing. Only one other person with a tie to Jessa knew she was here with me, Allie (since Cap most likely told her).

Curiously, I opened the envelope and took out the letter. Once I unfolded it, I found that there was $50 tucked inside of the letter. What the fuck? Quickly, I began to read the letter.

Jessa, it's Allie. I'm writing this to warn you about Shaw. He's not the man you think he is. He's a narcissistic psychopath. He's nothing but a selfish liar. Shaw's ex, Olga, was a very sweet girl that had a hard life in New York City. She answered a mail order bride ad for him, thinking that she's have a good life in Mate Creek, but he treated her like shit and was mentally abusive to her. Shaw even manipulated the family and made them doubt her skills as a mother. He was very controlling and rarely let her care for their daughter. He's a hateful man that's obsessed with you. Sad to say, but both Shaw and Tolbert are crazy.

I gave you $50 so you can take a train somewhere and get a fresh start away from both Tolbert and Shaw. Even tho we haven't been friends for a while I still care about you. I don't want to see you get into a toxic relationship with Shaw like Olga did. Thankfully, Olga listened to me and left him. I reckon her and her baby should be in San Francisco by now with her family. Just, please, hop a train this busy holiday weekend and go somewhere nice. Somewhere far away from Shaw, Tolbert, and the feud.

Always Your Friend,

Allie

Why that little bitch. Who the fuck does she think she is messing around in my affairs? My blood was boiling as I crumbled up the letter, shoving it into my pocket. Well, at least I found out where Olga ran off to. Looks like Friday I'm taking a trip to hire a Pinkerton.

I was livid as I stormed down the porch. Making my way over to my horse, I decided that before hunting the turkey I was going to pay Allie a little visit. That meddling bitch needed put in her place.

Allie POV:

I was in my kitchen, pulling some pies for tomorrow out of the oven, whenever I heard the front door slam open. I was startled since I knew Cap was at work. Nobody should even be in my house right now. Setting the pies on the table to cool, I looked up only to see Shaw storming over to me. Holy shit, this isn't good. He shouldn't be here. "Why're you in my house for? You weren't invited." I told Shaw, keeping a straight face on, as I stared him down. Even tho I was freaked out I wasn't going to let him know that.

"I'm here to return the goddamn money you gave Jessa to leave me with." Shaw told me with a cold stony look, taking the money out of his pocket and slapping it onto the table. Oh my god, he read Jessa's mail. That controlling piece of shit. I felt my breathing increase as fear coursed thru my veins. His honey eyes turned a dark amber color as he pulled the letter I wrote out of his pocket. Waving it in the air he darkly chuckled, "Thought you could warn Jessa against me, didn't ya? Too bad I ran into the mailman first." Shoving the letter back into his pocket he told me in a low chuckle, "But now at least I know where that stupid crazy bitch ran off to with my kid." Oh no.

"Leave them alone, Shaw." I ordered him, my voice coming out a bit more pleading then I had intended. Dear god, he can't hunt Olga down. She's finally free of him and had her baby. Only a monster would rip a child away from their mother.

"Sorry, Allie girl, but I can't do that." Shaw told me before rounding the table and getting into my face. Hmm, seems like Shaw was in fact a monster when it suits him. Conniving dick. I could feel his breath as he sneered, "I'm gonna warn ya once, bitch. Don't meddle with me and Jessa or else."

"Or else what, Shaw?" I asked, not showing him any fear or letting him think he had an effect on me. Subtly, I looked around to see if here was anything close by I could use as a weapon if Shaw got a bit too crazy. Sadly, the only thing within reach were the pies cooling on the table. Damnit, the rolling pin would be on the counter a few feet behind me.

"Or else I'll have to make you disappear; make it look like McCoys had a hand in it too." Shaw threatened with a smirk. The hateful look in his eyes revealed that he wasn't kidding either.

Oh my god, this guy was a crazy selfish prick. He was threatening to take me out if I came between him and Jessa, the object of his obsession. My poor former friend, she's got no idea what she's getting herself into.

Backing up a few inches, I told the crazed man in front of me, "I'll leave it alone, but hopefully Jessa sees thru your facade before it's too late."

Shaw POV:

My façade? Really, this blonde bitch had some nerve to tell me I put on a fake front for Jessa. She doesn't know shit. "What I feel for Jessa ain't a façade. It's real." I told the blonde, who was looking as frightened as a lamb at the slaughterhouse. She might think she's putting on a brave face, but she's not. I can tell that I'm scaring her. Good, if she's scared, she'll leave me and Jessa the hell alone.

She shook her head, causing her light blonde braid to shift slightly on her shoulder, before telling me in a haughty tone, "You're so fucked up in the head, Shaw, that you think your obsession's love. You don't love anybody, but yourself, and I pray Jessa figures that out before you tear down her self-worth the way you did Olga's."

"You think you're so smart, but in reality, you're not." I told her, earning me a curious look. Humoring her cluelessness, I told Allie the hard truth of, "You don't know how strong love can be or how it feels to fight for it. You and Cap have that sickeningly sweet fairytale bullshit going on; never had to fight tooth and nail to be together since everybody approved instantly of you guys."

"Are you jealous of my and Cap's 'fairytale bullshit'?" Allie asked, making me laugh.

Once I calmed down my laughter, I answered her with, "No. I'd rather have the real thing, the nitty gritty love that was hard fought for and won then some sweethearts shit."

She steeled herself, trying to camouflage the fear she was clearly feeling. Her face faltered for just a second before she told me in a low snap, "Well, if you're done with your threats and rants you can go. You're not welcomed here."

"I'll go, but don't forget that if you ever try to meddle again it won't end too good for you." I told her before walking away. Stopping in my tracks, I looked over my shoulder and sneered, "But you better start meddlin' into Abel's affairs since he's fuckin' Nancy McCoy. Most likely has her holed up in his shack by now too."

"Don't talk shit about my brother." Allie ordered me, her sapphire eyes turning dark with anger. Clearly, she was offended, but I didn't give a shit. The sooner she realized Abel was fucking Nancy the better. Her denial's gonna get Cap hurt or killed. Her denial's also a liability for the entire family too.

"It ain't shit, it's the god honest truth." I retorted before storming out of the house; slamming the door in my wake.

Hell, now I need to go hunt a turkey. Damnit, it's gonna be a long afternoon.

AN:

Well, looks like Allie's plan backfired. Uh oh, Shaw wants to hire a Pinkerton to hunt down Olga in order to find Lydia (Imogene). Johnse made up his mind to marry Roseanna once his cabin is fixed up, but do you think he'll go thru with it? Anyways, we have another filler chapter before the Thanksgiving stuff.