Author's notes: This is a sequel of sorts to another story I wrote called The World As We Know It. It's set in the not too distant future.  The story contains some references, quotes, and characters from the episode Obsession, which I stake NO claim to.

My thanks to Marnie and Lynn for all their help and advice. Any mistakes or unnecessary commas that remain are entirely my fault. :)

Castles Built of Sand

by Estee

Chris Larabee gazed out at the amber tinted sky. There had been a thick, dingy haze veiling the sun all week, but it seemed to be breaking up now that the wind was blowing in from the northwest. There had been much speculation as to the origin of the smoky haze. The theory that made the most sense to him was that there were oil wells burning in Texas.

Whatever the cause, thankfully the smog seemed to be dissipating. The only thing they could do now is hope that whatever they’d been breathing wouldn’t turn out to be harmful or deadly. Even if it did, there was little they could do but worry, and like his old friend Jack Tanner used to say, “Worry is like a rockin’ horse. It’s somethin’ to do but it don’t get you anywhere.”

He turned his attention back to the book he’d been reading, but before he was able to get too far the camper door swung open and three familiar figures appeared before him. Looking up from his page, he lifted an eyebrow in question.

The man he’d always considered his partner and best friend stood with his head tilted, a smirk on his handsome face. On either side of him were Vin and JD, both wearing light jackets and the damn coonskin hats Buck had gotten them – God knows where. The boys looked adorable in the fuzzy hats, the only problem was that they refused to take the damned things off. Most nights they even tried to sleep with them on.

“Sorry to disturb you, pard, but me and my posse are gonna go take a little walk,” Buck informed him, scooping the youngest boy up into his arms.

“Your posse?” Chris asked with a grin and then reached for Vin, pulling the boy closer to him. “Hey, pard,” he said quietly, zipping the boy’s coat up to his chin. “You need to keep this zipped up. Don’t want you getting sick on me again.”

Vin’s cheeks flushed and he smiled shyly.

“So, where are you three headed?” Chris asked.

“We’s fixin’ to go ‘tract some women,” Vin informed him, his expression serious even as Buck let out a burst of laughter.

“Is that right?” Chris asked, a corner of his mouth quirking up. It still amazed him to hear Vin speak. Over the months the boy had been living with them, Chris had become used to his silence – resigned to the possibility that he may never speak. Now, each time he heard the soft, soothing drawl it was like a wonderful gift. He wasn’t sure what had finally triggered the release of the boy’s vocal ability, and from what he’d been able to gather Vin didn’t really know, either. Chris could only assume that some sort of emotional healing was taking place and for that he was grateful. “Aren’t you a little young to be out ‘tracting women?” he said to Vin, while raising a questioning eyebrow at his old friend.

Buck simply shrugged in reply, but JD leaned forward, a bright smile on his cherubic little face. “Buck says we’s chick maggots.”

Vin agreed with a solemn nod. “That means the womens pay lots more ‘tention to him when he takes us along.”

“I’ll just bet they do,” Chris shook his head, not at all surprised by his friend’s clever new tactic to ‘tract women’. “You oughtta be ashamed of yourself, Buck.” The scolding was given wryly and the words didn’t appear to faze the grinning man in the least. Buck might be considered a scoundrel with the ladies, but Chris knew that he’d never let anything or anyone distract him from looking after the boys. Still, he couldn’t resist adding, “You boys keep an eye on him and make sure he behaves himself.”

“Buck says he’s gonna get us some candy!” JD licked his lips at the very thought and Chris couldn’t help but smile. The little imp smiled back at him, dark eyes sparkling, cheeks dimpling -- front tooth dangling by a thread of flesh. Chris forced his hands to remain in his lap and not reach up and pluck out the dangly tooth, not yet anyway. Besides, it was too much fun watching big, bad Buck Wilmington – former homicide detective, a man who’d been shot and stabbed, faced horrific crime scenes and deranged criminals – squirm and squeal like a little girl at the sight of JD’s tongue flicking the wobbly tooth back and forth.

“Buck’s gonna get you some candy, huh?” He probably ought to mention something about candy not being a good idea before supper, but he’d never known either of the boys to have any problem finishing off a meal. The boys might look scrawny, but it wasn’t from lack of appetite.

“That’s right,” Buck said with a wink. “A man’s got to be paid for his work.”

Vin nodded with enthusiasm. “Buck says we get a sweet for every sweet thing we ‘tract.”

Chris rolled his eyes and stood, setting his book aside. “Buck says, Buck says . . ..” He grinned at his charge, reaching out to ruffle the boy’s hair. “Well, if you’re going then you’d best get on out of here before I decide to put you to work myself.”

“We won’t be gone too long,” Buck said as he headed down the trail toward the women’s tents. They had routinely checked on the women while they’d been in quarantine, and even though that period was over, they still checked daily to see if they needed anything. The women and few children from Wickes’ camp had set up a cluster of tents a few hundred yards away from the Mission’s main building. Chris couldn’t blame them for wanting to have a little privacy after the way they’d been treated by Wickes and the men who’d frequented the camp.

There was already the beginning of a path leading from the main section of camp down to the women’s section -- mostly due to Buck and his frequent checks, although the boys had probably been back and forth just as often. They’d taken a shine to the newcomer Nettie Wells and her young niece Casey.

After rescuing the women and children from Wickes’ camp and bringing them back to the safety of the Mission, Chris and Josiah and a couple others had returned to the camp to scavenge whatever supplies they could use. Nettie Wells had demanded to go with them to retrieve her belongings.

Apparently before the war, she’d lived on a small farm not far away from Wickes’ place. For almost two years, she and her niece had been relatively safe and self-sufficient, living on her secluded property. Then, one day both her barn and house mysteriously burned to the ground and her livestock disappeared. She and her young niece had packed what little they had left and set out on foot to find some sort of shelter. They’d happened upon the camp and been encouraged to join those already staying there. It hadn’t taken Nettie long to spot some of her animals and figure out who had destroyed her property and stolen her livestock, and it hadn’t taken long for her to figure out that accusing Wickes would get her nothing but trouble.

Wickes had put her to work, laundering, cooking and cleaning, but he hadn’t harmed her or her niece, or she’d likely have killed him with her bare hands. She’d seen what he’d done to some of the younger women and children in the camp. Nettie had bided her time, hoping for a chance to escape with her niece and her belongings. Finally, the good Lord, with the aid of the men from the Mission, had provided her just that opportunity.

With Josiah’s help, Nettie had built a wire-meshed chicken coop and Chris and Buck had made another lean-to for the two milk cows they’d been able to fit in the small trailer and bring back. Both Vin and JD loved to feed the chickens and gather eggs, but they had yet to gather enough courage to attempt milking the cows.

The boys had made a point of dropping in on the Wells at least once a day, until last week, when Vin had come down with a nasty virus and been confined to the camper. At first, Nathan had thought it was a cold or the flu, nothing to worry about. After a few days Vin seemed better, only to have a relapse the first day he was allowed out again. Now, the doctor was saying little about Vin’s state of health, only that they should be cautious to avoid another relapse. Still, he had the feeling Nathan was at least mildly concerned over something, although he was confident that he’d be taking more precautions if he suspected the illness was serious or infectious.

Once Buck and the boys disappeared from sight, Chris sat back down, picked up his book and resumed reading. He wouldn’t have minded going along, but he figured the three of them needed to spend some time together. In the past few weeks since JD had come into their lives, Vin had been feeling a little left out. He was used to having Buck all to himself, and although he hadn’t verbally complained, Chris had noticed more than a few glares directed Buck’s way. Most recently he seemed to be trying to avoid the other two altogether.

Josiah had assured Chris that the behavior was perfectly normal, comparing it to any child who had suddenly been ‘blessed’ with a new sibling. He just needed a little time to get accustomed to sharing Buck, and Chris.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Buck and his boys moseyed amongst the tents, saying hello and checking to see if any of the women needed anything. After letting the kids spend a few minutes with Nettie and Casey, which got them a small basket of eggs, Buck had urged them on to their final, and Buck’s personal favorite, stop – the tent that housed the fiery, dark-haired beauty, Inez.

No matter how boldly he flirted with the woman, she seemed oblivious to his charm. When he asked if there was anything he could do for her, she responded with a curt, “No, thank you, senor,” and tried to escape back into her tent.

“Hey, wait,” he called, trying to keep her there. With a grin, he continued with the first thing he could come up with, “How ‘bout tonight, you and me take a little stroll in the moonlight?”

She turned back to him, her dark eyes narrowed. “I do not think so, senor.”

“One of these days you’re gonna realize that you and me are destined to be together,” Buck told her, using his most seductive voice. “So you might as well just give in and stop tryin’ to fight it.”

“Is that right, senor?”

“Yep.”

“Well,” Inez huffed, placed her hands on her hips then smiled tightly. “Just so you know, I will never stop fighting it.”

“A little romance, a little moonlight . . . c’mon, how about one little stroll with ole Buck?” he asked, his voice soft and his smile devilish.

Inez pretended to think about it for a second then smiled mischievously and answered, “I would rather stroll with a goat.”

JD snorted, then burst into a fit of giggles, while Vin pursed his lips, trying hard not to laugh. Buck’s reaction was a mixture of surprise and obvious delight, although he tried to cover it by acting hurt. “Aw, now darlin’, ya don’t mean that.”

“Oh, but I do,” she said, looking smug.

“How about tomorrow night?” he tried once more. “The two of us could make beautiful music together.”

She rolled her eyes and moved back toward her tent.

“Does that mean yes?” He looked at her hopefully.

“Nunca!” she snapped and began muttering in Spanish.

“Okay . . . I’ll take that as a maybe.” He gave her a lecherous grin.

“Get lost!” She sighed exasperatedly, pointing a finger in the direction of the Mission.

“Alright, alright,” Buck said, holding up his hands in surrender. “You know where to find me when you come to your senses.”

Vin took Buck’s hand and followed him away from the tent, wondering about Miss Inez. It seemed like she didn’t care too much for Buck and he found that hard to believe because everyone he knew liked Buck. He couldn’t figure out why she would be so mean to Buck when he was just trying to be nice to her? Glancing over his shoulder, he caught the woman still watching them with a smile on her face. When Vin smiled back, she winked at him and then disappeared into her tent. Vin decided that tryin’ to figure out women made his head hurt too much.

As they walked up the hill, Buck looked down at the boys and said, “I can tell she likes me.”

Vin furrowed his brows, even more confused now. “She told ya to get lost, Buck.”

”Yeah,” Buck admitted with a grin. “That’s called ‘playin’ hard to get’.”

JD giggled at that, but Vin looked worriedly at his big friend. “She said she’d rather go strollin’ with a goat.”

”I know.” Buck reached up and smoothed a finger over his moustache. “She didn’t mean it, though. I could tell by the look in her eyes.”

Vin snorted. “If you say so.”

“Yeah,” Buck said dreamily. “She sure is something else.”

Vin scrubbed a hand over his face and decided that Buck was just plain crazy.

The trio headed up the path toward Mrs. Potter’s store.

The Potters had just finished setting up the little variety store, had yet to officially open it, when Mr. Potter was wounded in an explosion. The man subsequently died from his injuries, but Mrs. Potter had resolved to open and run the store herself, knowing how much effort her husband had put into it already. Now, the little store offered fresh vegetables and baked goods, as well as used books, some second-hand clothing and toys and other used items for trade, or for borrowing. At the front counter Mrs. Potter almost always had a jar filled with some type of old-fashioned, homemade candy.

Once inside the store, they set the basket of eggs on the counter and Buck allowed each boy to pick out a cluster of rock candy from the jar. As the boys browsed through the books and toys, Buck heard an engine running outside and glanced out the window. There was a black SUV parked in front of the Mission, and a moment later he saw a dark haired woman get out and look around the camp. He was about to go out and see what she needed when Josiah and Nathan appeared. From the window he watched the two men speak with the woman. When he noticed Chris making his way up to the old building, he thought about joining him. He was curious and wanted to know who she was and what was going on, but at the same time wouldn’t risk any harm coming to the boys. These days it was best to be cautious of strangers, no matter how pretty they were.

“You boys find something good there?” he asked, spotting the two hunched together on the floor.

“Look, Buck!” JD shouted, holding up a tiny object.

Buck moved closer to get a better look. “Hey, ya know what these are?” When both boys shook their heads, he told them, “They’re marbles. I ain’t seen marbles since . . . well, probably since I was a kid.”

“What d’ya do with ‘em?” JD asked, leaning against Buck and studying the swirled glass ball.

“Ya play with ‘em, of course,” Buck said, winking at the boy. “I can’t remember right off hand, but if you want ‘em, I’m sure we could figure the rules out.”

“Really?” JD hurried to scoop all the marbles off the floor and back into the little cigar box, while Vin sat there watching in silence.

“We’ll just let Mrs. Potter put them on our account,” he said loud enough for the woman to hear.

JD hurried to the counter, thrusting the box up for Mrs. Potter to see, while Vin slowly rose up from the floor.

“C’mon, son, let’s go play marbles,” Buck said, holding a hand out for Vin, but the boy frowned ducking away from the hand.

Buck sighed, wondering what he’d done now? And here he’d been thinking that things were going so well.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris watched curiously as the black truck pulled up to the mission building. They didn’t get a lot of visitors and usually when they did it wasn’t somebody stopping by for a friendly chat. He stood up and cautiously made his way up to the old building. As he got closer he thought he recognized the woman who’d just gotten out of the truck. His eyes were telling him one thing but his common sense was telling him that it was highly unlikely the woman could be the person he had in mind. But then again, this particular woman did seem to have a knack for popping up unexpectedly.

He watched as the large door to the mission opened slowly and the big preacher and the doc emerged to greet the newcomer. A moment later they all turned toward him and he could tell for sure that it really was her.

She smiled and waved to him, and he couldn’t help but smile back, amazed that they always seemed to run into each other – even out here in the middle of nowhere.

He remembered the first time they’d met. He’d still been in the Navy, just sent back to the states because of injuries he’d received on a mission. She had been one of the nurses in the military hospital where he’d ended up spending long weeks recuperating. They’d gotten to know each other pretty well, and he’d thought maybe they could have gotten to know each other even better, but before that had happened he’d gotten his discharge papers and been sent home to Indiana.

“Chris!” she called out, hurrying toward him with open arms and a big smile. “It’s so good to see you!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

“Good to see you, too, Ella,” he told her.

“When I heard you were here,” she released him, reached up and wiped the spot where she’d kissed his cheek, “I just had to come.”

“You heard I was here?” Chris gave her a puzzled look.

“Yes, a mutual friend told me I’d find you here.” She nodded, looking thoroughly pleased.

“And who might that be?” he questioned, unable for some reason to stop smiling.

“Chris,” Josiah interrupted, “Maybe our guest would like to sit down?” He gestured toward the garden. “Have a cup of coffee or tea?”

“That would be wonderful,” she replied. “Thank you.”

Chris held out his arm and she curled hers around it and allowed him to escort her to the garden. “It feels so good to run into someone I know!” she said, as Chris was taken back several years.

~ ~

“Captain Larabee? Chris?”

Chris had just sat down to grab a quick bite to eat. He always ate lunch here when he was on duty. Junie’s had the best greasy food in town and he usually met a familiar face or two, usually someone he’d grown up with, but he’d never expected to run into this woman.

”Ella?”

“It’s so wonderful to see you!” she exclaimed, her face fairly beaming with joy. “It feels so good to run into someone I know!”

He looked at her a little puzzled then said, “It’s good to see you, too.” He couldn’t imagine what she was doing in Indiana. The last time he’d seen her, nearly six months ago, had been in the hospital in Maryland. “What brings you to these parts?” He gestured for her to join him at the small table.

“Well, I decided I needed a change. Sent my resume out to a few places and ended up here.”

“Wow . . ..” He wasn’t sure what to say to that. This was a great place to live – if you grew up here and wanted a nice, safe place to raise a family, but most folks his age were more than eager to get out and find someplace more exciting. Which was what he was planning to do in the next few weeks. “Well, I’m sure you’ll like it here. It’s a little quiet but the people are friendly.”

“I’m hoping to find out just how friendly at least one of them is.” She gave him a seductive smile.

“Is that right?” Chris said in a low voice and couldn’t help but smile back. He was starting to feel warm just looking at her.

“Are you busy this evening?” she asked, looking up through her lashes.

“Well . . ..” he pretended to think about it then shrugged. “Thursday’s the night I usually uh . . . wash my car.”

”Wash your car?”

“Yep.” He took a drink of his soda and grinned at her. “But I might be able to wait until tomorrow. “

“What do you think it would take to persuade you?”

Chris shrugged. Just as he opened his mouth to make some sort of remark, he felt her toes, the ball of her foot rubbing, pressing against the inside of his thigh. He looked across the table and his eyes were drawn to her mouth, to the pink tongue sliding between her dark, glossy lips and he shook his head then cleared his throat.

“Have you thought about me at all since you’ve been home?”

Chris grinned at her. “I’m thinkin’ about you now.”

~ ~

Chris pulled out a chair, then waited for Ella to be seated before he sat down himself. Josiah poured each of them a cup of coffee. Nathan had joined them as well, pulling up a small wooden bench to sit on.

“You mentioned a mutual friend?” Chris asked her after taking a sip of coffee.

“Yes,” Ella replied, her eyes twinkling. “Maude Standish.”

“Maude?” Both Chris and Nathan repeated with astonishment.

“Yes, she stopped by the ranch a couple weeks ago with her son.”

“What was she driving?” Josiah asked with narrowed eyes.

“Was it an ugly, beat up, old pick-up truck?” Nathan said, winking at Chris.

“I’ll have you know that is a classic pick-up,” Josiah interjected.

“Classic.” Nathan snorted. “You keep on tellin’ yourself that.”

“Actually, yes, she was driving an old, uh . . . classic pick-up.” Ella smiled at Josiah. “And she told me she’d borrowed it from you.”

“Borrowed?” Josiah said with a laugh.

“It’s out at my ranch if you’d like to retrieve it.”

“Is she out at your ranch?” Chris wondered.

“Yes she is, along with her son Ezra. I’m not sure why, but he doesn’t seem very happy with his mother.”

“That makes two of us.” Josiah said.

“Three,” Chris added then looked at Ella. “You came all the way down here to tell us you have Josiah’s truck?”

“Well, no, not exactly.” She took another sip of coffee then leaned forward, “The main reason I came was because she mentioned that you might be interested in looking at some horses. I have quite a large ranch with plenty of breeding stock.”

“You’re into horse breeding?” Chris asked dubiously.

“Well, my husband was into it, more as a hobby, although he had planned to take it up full time when he retired, but . . ..” She shrugged, looking a little wistful. “He was killed in a prison uprising, right after the attacks.”

Chris had met Joe Petrie on several occasions. They hadn’t been friends or anything, but Chris had thought he seemed like a decent enough person. He had supposedly run the prison with an iron fist and Chris had to admit that the man had reminded him of a drill sergeant.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Chris said. He remembered being happy for Ella when he’d found out that she’d finally settled down with someone. Especially since the two of them hadn’t exactly ended their relationship on the best note.

By the time Ella had shown up in Indiana, Chris had already accepted a job in Phoenix. When he informed her he was moving, she had offered to go with him and split the expenses. Chris hadn’t felt ready to settle down with anyone at that point in time, so he’d tried to gently dissuade her, but she was intent on accompanying him. She’d assured him that she wasn’t trying to tie him down – that she didn’t want to be tied down. He remembered her saying, “Can’t we just be friends?” Then she’d given him a sultry smile and added, “With fringe benefits, of course.”

For the first few months, they’d been just that – friends, with benefits -- and had a great time. Ella made everything seem like some wild adventure. But after a while, he’d started to feel penned in. They each had their own apartment, but Ella was at his apartment night and day, so much so, that he began to wonder if she even had an apartment.

He started trying to drop hints about the two of them needing space, but she didn’t seem to catch on. If possible, she became even more clingy. He started coming home late, then very late and sometimes not at all, but that only made her angry, more possessive – it didn’t make her leave. Finally, he came right out and told her he didn’t want to see her anymore, feeling awful about it, but not knowing any other way to make her understand. She’d had a meltdown right there in his tiny living room. She’d threatened to kill him, kill herself – all loud enough for the entire neighborhood to overhear. The police were called in, which should have embarrassed him, but it was hard to feel anything but grateful to the officers for prompting her to leave -- if only for a few hours. To his dismay, she was back the next evening, cooking dinner in a satin teddy when he got home from work, like nothing had ever happened.

A few days later, with a little assistance from the chief, he was offered and accepted a job in another state. A few days after that, while Ella was at work, he packed up his things, gave a brief explanation to the landlord, and then he was gone. He didn’t see Ella again until several years later when he and Sarah ran into Ella and her husband at a charity event. She seemed to have calmed down some, or maybe she was just content -- definitely more mature. Chris had to admit he’d been a little relieved, but mostly just happy for her.

”Well, I always said he’d work himself to death,” she said, a frown creasing her brow. “When the prisoners started getting rambunctious he made me go home. I tried to get him to come with me, but he wouldn’t listen.”

The three men nodded, not sure what to say and not wanting to offer empty platitudes. Practically everyone had lost someone -- some from disease, some during the attacks, some in the aftermath.

“What about you, Chris?” she asked, suddenly. “You had a wife, didn’t you?”

Chris nodded then looked away. “And a son,” he said quietly.

“Chris lost his wife and son a couple weeks after the attacks,” Nathan supplied. A moment later the doctor stood up and gave Chris a supportive pat on the shoulder. “I best get some work done. It was nice meeting you, ma’am. Chris,” he gave Chris an authoritative look, “you make sure Vin keeps his coat zipped up no matter how warm out he thinks it is. I don’t want that boy getting sick again.”

Chris smiled at him. “I know. Don’t worry, Buck’ll make sure he keeps it zipped.”

Ella smiled as Nathan excused himself, then she reached over and took Chris’ hand. “I’m so sorry about your family, Chris.” For a moment her expression was purely one of sympathy, then she suddenly looked puzzled. “Who’s Vin?”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Buck had tried to teach JD what he could remember of marbles, but JD seemed more interested in marveling over the colors and designs of the tiny spheres than in actually playing a game. Vin had been sullen since they’d left the store, deciding it was more interesting to sit in Chris’ lawn chair, swinging his legs back and forth and gazing out at the landscape through his spyglass. He’d even taken off the coonskin hat that he’d been wearing constantly for the past few weeks.

Chris was still up at the old Mission and Buck had been growing more and more curious about what the mysterious woman was doing there. He was about ready to tell the boys to stay put and go find out for himself when he saw Chris, Josiah and the woman coming toward their camper.

“Looks like we got company,” he said to the boys, noticing that JD looked up at him and Vin turned his spyglass toward the approaching group. Chris was smiling, walking with his arm around the woman, and Buck thought they looked like they knew each other. That made him feel a little less apprehensive about the visitor, but apparently it didn’t have the same effect on Vin.

Vin watched through his glass as Chris and the lady came closer. They were talking and laughing and the lady kept looking at Chris funny. Vin didn’t like it at all.

Closing up his spyglass, he tucked it into his belt and kept an eye on the woman. She was dressed in a long red duster with black, high-heeled boots. Vin had never seen anyone dressed like that before. She wore lots of make-up like the ladies at Wickes’ camp and had red lips too. Vin thought she looked a little scary, but Chris didn’t seem to be afraid.

When they came up to the camper, Chris pulled the woman closer. “Buck, boys,” he said, looking happy, “I’d like you to meet an old friend of mine, Ella Gaines.”

Vin stood, subconsciously moving closer to Buck, who put an arm around him before removing his Stetson and nodding, “Ma’am.”

From his spot on the ground, JD grinned up at them. “Hi! I’m JD!”

Buck nudged Vin, but Vin was trying his best to suddenly turn invisible. When Vin refused to speak, Buck automatically spoke for him. “This little guy here is Vin.” Vin shot a glare at Buck, letting him know how he felt about being called a little guy. Buck winked back at him, already knowing.

The woman smiled at them. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

Buck thought the name Ella Gaines sounded familiar and, after a bit of pondering, he figured out where he’d heard it before. Then he wondered what in the world Chris was doing cozying up to the woman.

From what Chris had told him, Ella Gaines was a ‘fatal attraction’ sort of gal. Buck had always imagined her with nest of snakes set on top of her head like Medusa. Even though she looked fairly harmless – pretty hot, even -- something about her presence seemed to stir up a sense of unease inside him. He watched as she lowered her gaze to rest upon Vin. For a moment, Buck wondered if it was his imagination or if her smile had suddenly changed, become less than friendly, almost cold. He realized by the way Vin was now practically hiding behind him that Vin must feel uncomfortable, too.

“Vin,” Chris said, reaching out for the boy. “C’mere.”

Reluctantly, Vin walked over to Chris, clutching his coonskin hat tightly to his chest and giving the woman as wide a berth as he could. Chris didn’t seem to notice Vin’s discomfort. Smiling, Chris pulled the boy close then tilted his head to look down at him. “Vin, can you say hello to Ms. Gaines?”

“Hello, Vin, it’s nice to meet you,” the woman said, her voice kind.

Buck watched as Ella bent down and held a hand out to the boy. He could see Vin’s apprehension as he said hello and slowly extended his hand to Ella. Vin was always courteous, though. The boy’d shake hands with the devil himself if called to do so.

“Ms. Gaines has a horse ranch a little north of here,” Chris explained. “She’s invited us to go up and take a look, see if we’re interested in any of them.”

“Trade?” Buck asked, running his fingers through his hair before putting his hat back on.

“I can’t imagine what we’d have that she’d be interested in swapping for,” Josiah spoke up. “But, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take a look.”

“You’d actually be doing me a favor by taking a couple off of my hands,” she told them. “I have more than I know what to do with.”

“Well, we’ll see,” Chris said hesitantly. “I wouldn’t feel right not paying something.”

Ella put her hands on her hips, looking exasperated, but laughing. “You can be so stubborn, Chris Larabee.”

“Well boys, seems like she knows Chris pretty well,” Buck teased, winking at the boys. Vin didn’t look too happy; but JD giggled, then he reached for Buck to pick him up. “You best pick those marbles up first, mister.”

“Marbles?” Chris asked.

“Yeah! Look Chris!” JD kneeled back down on the ground and began scooping his marbles into the box. “Buck gotted me marbles!”

Ella grinned and moved to kneel beside JD. “I used to know how to play marbles,” she said, picking up a cobalt blue marble. “Oooh, this is a pretty one.”

JD got a big smile on his face. “That’s my favorite one!”

“This one’s pretty, too,” Ella said, inspecting one with purple swirls through it.

“That’s my other favorite one.”

Chris leaned closer to Buck. “I better not be stepping on stray marbles in the middle of the night,” he murmured so only Buck could hear.

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re no fun at all?” Buck replied.

“Mostly just you.”

“Come on, Chris, let’s play marbles,” Ella said, looking pleased.

“Okay, sure,” Chris answered. “Vin?”

Vin stepped closer to Buck, slipping his hand into Buck’s hand and looking up at him.

“You guys go ahead and play. Me and Vin are gonna go see to Mary and Billy,” Buck told them. When Vin smiled up at him and put the furry coon hat back on his head, he figured he’d said the right thing.

“Buck,” Chris said in a warning voice, “stop calling that colt Billy.”

“But that’s his name, ole pard. He comes to it and everything.”

“He comes to anything you call him,” Chris replied.

“Maybe so, but I’d hate to confuse him,” Buck said, trying to appear concerned, “‘sides, he’s Vin’s horse. You said so yourself.”

“Well, then, let’s let Vin pick the name.”

Vin looked up at Buck with a big grin, and together they mouthed the name ‘Billy’.

“I saw that.”

Buck and Vin laughed and headed for the stable, as Chris and Ella began arguing the rules of marbles. “Aren’t we supposed to have our own marbles?” Chris asked. “We can split these up three ways,” Ella answered. “But you’re supposed to play for the other guy’s marbles,” Chris replied. Buck could imagine JD grabbing his marbles away possessively, even before he heard Chris add, “Don’t worry, JD, we’re not playing for keeps.”

Hearing Chris’ laughter, Buck turned to look over his shoulder. The scene was eerily reminiscent of his best friend in another time – another life. Buck shook the memories away, turning his attention back to Vin and giving the boy’s tiny hand a squeeze. When Vin look up at him with adoration, Buck realized it had been a while since he’d seen that look directed at him and he realized how very much he’d missed it.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Ezra Standish let out a long-suffering sigh as he rolled over on his side; he could not believe his mother had left him and gone to Virginia City on her own. He could not believe she’d left him *here* of all Godforsaken places. If she’d been planning to ditch him again, why couldn’t she have just left him with his friends at the Mission? Ezra had no problem doing a little work, he’d been happy at the Mission. But the moment they’d mentioned “work” to his mother, she’d taken off like a shot. Maude’s definition of ‘work’ was spending a few days at the casinos in Virginia City and apparently this mentally deranged woman qualified as her definition of ‘friend’.

A small, bitter part of him actually hoped her stolen truck broke down on the way, but he didn’t want anything worse than that to happen to her. Virginia City was a dangerous place, especially for a woman – even if that woman was his mother, who could take care of herself better than most. He knew he shouldn’t wish anything bad on her, but it wasn’t beneath him to hope she had a less than pleasant time.

Ms. Gaines had left for the Mission earlier in the day, promising to return with Chris Larabee, and promising Maude that she’d make things right between them all. Not too long after Ms. Gaines had left, his mother had also taken off, assuring Ezra she’d be back in a few days. She’d taken Josiah’s truck – again. Ezra had his doubts that anything could be made right now, since his mother had twice now, stolen the preacher’s beloved ‘classic’.

Apparently his mother had stayed at the Gaines’ ranch during the time she was out looking for him. There were others staying here as well – a couple of guests in the main house and some of her ranch hands were living out in the bunkhouse. As far as he could tell, nobody was being forced to live there against their will. In fact, they seemed to be quite content there. Who wouldn’t be? Ms. Gaines had somehow managed to retain all of the luxuries no longer available to the average citizen: electricity, indoor plumbing, all the food and drink you could want. She had cookies, and little boxes of cereal, soda pop and more. He had no idea where she managed to get the stuff, but he did know that he’d give it all up to be at the Mission. Something he’d never admit to another living soul.

At the mention of Chris Larabee’s name, Ms. Gaines had made it fairly obvious that she didn’t have quite everything she desired. And when Maude had complained about her son being forced to labor as a ‘stable boy’, Ms. Gaines had been most interested in what exactly Chris kept in his stable.

When she’d found out that Chris and the others were trying to breed horses, she proposed a way of making things right for Maude, as if Maude cared about making things right. His mother usually waited until an actual confrontation before owning up to her past misdeeds. But Ms. Gaines had generously offered to travel to the Mission and bring back Chris Larabee, so he could inspect her stock and take whatever he felt would be suitable reparations. Ezra hadn’t had to look very hard to see that the woman had ulterior motives.

As Ezra closed his eyes, images of Vin and Chris, Josiah and Nathan, and all the others played through his mind, giving him a familiar sense of warmth and security as he drifted into sleep.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

“Vin . . ..” He could hear the beloved voice calling to him from somewhere in the distance, the sound echoing in his ears.

“Momma?” he called back, looking in every direction, but unable to see her through the hazy mist that surrounded him.

“Here I am! Over here!” The mist suddenly cleared and he caught a glimpse of her peeking out from behind a lone tree. Knowing that he’d finally found her, he smiled and hurried towards her hiding place, feeling the crunch of tall grass beneath his bare feet as he crossed the now bright meadow. As he got closer, he was able to catch the sweet, flowery scent of her perfume on the breeze, and he thought to himself this was the best day ever. A few steps more and the scent grew stronger, suddenly more pungent. By the time he approached the tree, the cloying sweetness was making him feel sick to his stomach. He faltered, his eyes watering as he peered around the tree. The figure standing there appeared blurry and he wiped his eyes trying desperately to see his mother. He missed her so much.

When his vision finally came into focus, he gasped, taking a step back. The woman didn’t look anything at all like his mother. She had pale skin, long, black hair and red lips; she was dressed in red and in her hand was a big red pitchfork. Behind her he could see a pile of lifeless bodies, their arms and legs tangled and bloody. He couldn’t make out their faces, but somehow he knew who they were. No! He tried to shout in denial, but nothing came out. The woman laughed at him, her red lips drawing back to reveal gleaming, sharply pointed teeth. She took a step closer and he tried to run, but his legs wouldn’t cooperate. He was completely helpless, could only watch as she raised the red fork and thrust it directly at him.

With a gasp, Vin sat up in his bed and looked around the dark room. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but then he realized that he was safe in Chris’ camper.

“You okay, pard?” He heard Chris’ sleepy voice from the bottom bunk across from him.

“Yeah,” he answered, trying to calm his ragged breathing.

“Bad dream?”

Vin rubbed his eyes and nodded absently. He heard Chris’ bed creak and before he knew it Chris was sitting beside him, his hand on Vin’s shoulder.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” asked Chris.

Vin shook his head then yawned and slid back down on his side, thankful that Chris remained next to him. Chris didn’t say anything more; he just pulled the blanket up and moved his hand to Vin’s back and began rubbing slow circles.

Vin reached his trembling hand out from beneath the blanket, grasping the material of Chris’ sweatpants, wanting to keep him as close as he could.

“Close your eyes, buddy,” Chris whispered, lifting his hand to push the hair away from Vin’s forehead, before resuming the backrub. “We gotta get up early and go take a look at those horses.”

Horses, thought Vin, struggling to replace the images from his nightmare with images of horses -- wild horses running in the sunshine, their long manes whipping in the wind. He didn’t think he’d be able to go back to sleep, but as Chris continued to rub his back, murmuring soft, reassuring words, Vin found it impossible to stay awake.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

They’d set out for Redfork shortly after dawn, hoping to be back home by evening. Nathan had only come along so he could take a look at some of the medical books Ms. Gaines claimed to have. At the Mission, he only had a few textbooks and a little information on chemical and biological agents. Not nearly enough information.

Over the past couple of years, he’d managed to get his hands on some basic laboratory equipment, as well. The little lab set-up was nothing fancy, but it usually got him by and he knew it was more than most folks had. Unfortunately, it wasn’t doing much to help him solve the dilemma he was facing now. If only he had a little more technology available to use. If only . . .. He seemed to be saying that a lot these days.

He knew Vin’s lymph nodes were swollen, his white blood count was unusually high, but those symptoms were common and could occur with any of a hundred different illnesses. He’d thought at first that maybe it was strep throat, but he’d been able to rule that out fairly quickly. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He knew whatever Vin had, it wasn’t bacterial, but in a way that was almost worse. That meant antibiotics would be useless in treating the illness.

The boy had gotten sick before the smoky smog had drifted in, so he knew that the illness had nothing to do with that. Besides, he could smell burning oil in the air even if nobody else could. He knew that breathing those fumes wasn’t exactly good for a body, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the other things they could be exposed to at any time. Most of the smog had lifted when the wind kicked up yesterday and today the sky was almost clear.

Vin wasn’t running a fever anymore and he wasn’t coughing, so all he could do was assume the boy wasn’t contagious. They’d kept him confined to the camper, partly because he needed to rest, but mostly because Nathan had worried the boy would pass on whatever it was. So far, nobody else had come down with any symptoms, thank the Lord.

Still, he found the whole situation frightening. If only he had better equipment . . .. He wondered, not for the first time, how doctors managed back in the old days, before there were labs and tests and easily accessible information. Well, truly he didn’t have to wonder; he was finding it all out firsthand. He knew he should be thankful that he at least had more skill and knowledge than the doctors of yesteryear, but he was getting so tired of speculating and worrying.

Nathan glanced over his shoulder at the object of his concern. Vin was gazing out the window; his big, blue eyes wide with fascination at the scenery. At least he seemed better the last couple days, except for his lack of energy, but that could just be the toll taken from the illness and recovery. His blood count was still too high, and his glands still enlarged, but not as bad as they were in the beginning. That could mean he was recovering or it could mean nothing at all. He supposed he’d just have to wait and see, but damn, he’d always been terrible at doing that.

Vin had to admit to being a little bit excited -- not only because they were going to see horses, but also because of the trip itself. He loved to go for rides in the truck; he loved going to places he’d never been to before. He even loved watching the scenery they passed by on the way.

Chris was riding with Ms. Gaines, which didn’t make Vin too happy, but hopefully by this evening she’d be at her ranch and they’d be at the Mission and everything would be back to normal again.

“Are we almost there?” JD asked for the hundredth time, his voice growing whinier each time he asked.

Vin just scowled then shrugged. He had no idea how close they were, but he now knew why it irritated the grown ups to be asked that question over and over. Ms. Gaines had asked if JD wanted to ride with them, but JD hadn’t wanted to. He didn’t like being too far away from Buck. Vin had been feeling a little upset with the younger boy lately, but right now he was glad that JD was with them instead of with Chris and that woman. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t seem to make himself like her.

Ms. Gaines hadn’t even asked if Vin wanted to ride with them – something Vin had mixed feelings over. On one hand, he didn’t want to be anywhere near her, but on the other hand, he hated not being with Chris.

“We’ll be there pretty soon,” Nathan told him from the front seat. Vin wished he were in the front seat, but ever since JD came to stay with them, they’d started treating Vin like a little kid, something else he had mixed feelings over. They made him go to bed early every night, made him tell them everywhere he went, made him ride in the backseat, made him drink milk from Nettie’s cows and the worst thing of all was that they were making him learn school stuff. As far as he was concerned, it was a waste of time. He’d gotten by just fine all these years without knowing that stuff.

As they came to the top of another hill, Buck pointed to his right. “That must be it.”

Vin craned his neck to get a look out the window. He saw the vehicle Chris was driving slow down, then turn right down a gravel road that led to what looked to be an enormous ranch. He could see the big, brightly painted house, a huge grassy yard, bordered by corrals and several other buildings.

“Wow!” JD said, looking out his window. “Look at all the horsies, Vin!”

One corral had more than a dozen horses in it, and the other, much bigger one held more cows than Vin could count. As they turned off the main road and got closer, he could see that there were even more horses, along with other pens filled with animals, a huge garden and a long garage with a whole lot of trucks and cars and even a couple tractors.

Josiah was sitting in the back between the two boys and he leaned closer to the window. “I don’t see my truck. Does anyone see my truck?”

Nathan turned back. “I’m sure it’s here somewhere,” then he grinned, “Maybe there’s a bone yard somewhere out of sight, where they park the more . . . classic vehicles?”

“Very funny, brother Nate.”

They followed the black SUV as it turned down a long driveway that circled up to the porch of the house. Chris parked off to the side a little and Buck pulled their truck up beside it. JD was already struggling to get his seatbelt off and Buck turned back to them with a smile. “Now, you boys don’t go wanderin’ off. You stay close to us, ya hear?”

“I wanna go see the animals!” JD exclaimed as the seatbelt clicked then recoiled. He reached for the door handle only to be halted by Josiah.

“Now, JD . . . what did Buck just tell you?”

“Not to go wanderin’. To stay close to you,” he replied dutifully. “But I ain’t gonna go wanderin’! I’m just gonna go see the animals!”

Vin smiled. He wanted to go see the animals, too, but he fully intended to behave and stick close to the grown ups. He looked up at the big house. He’d never seen a house that big before. The way it was painted and all the fancy trimmings made it look like something from a fairytale. He waited patiently as Buck ran through a list of rules: Don’t go into the corrals, don’t stick your hands into the corrals, don’t touch any of the plants, don’t . . .. And then he saw the front door open and a familiar figure step out onto the big front porch. “Ez!” he shouted, and he couldn’t get the car door open fast enough.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris found that he was enjoying Ella’s company. Somehow, being with her made all the troubles in the world seem much less significant. His usual, almost constant worries over the future seemed to all but fade away. Instead, he had a vague sense that he’d been transported back to the days past – the days of his youth, when he hadn’t had a care in the world; he’d lived for the moment, had his whole future in front of him.

Ella was as lively, spirited and tempting as she’d ever been, although he thought she seemed more self-confident and mature. Maybe it was their lack of maturity that had made their relationship so unstable all those years ago.

Chris hadn’t been too surprised to hear that she’d never had children of her own. Not that she wasn’t good with them, when the mood struck her, but he just couldn’t imagine her going through pregnancy, labor and childbirth. She’d always been vain and a little self-centered, although she managed to make it look good on her. The thought of her nine months pregnant or waking in the middle of the night to feed a squalling infant was beyond the scope of his imagination.

Chris turned off the ignition and handed the keys over to Ella who had a big smile on her face. “So . . .what do you think, Chris? A little bit of heaven?” She gestured toward the house then the yard.

“It looks like a whole lotta heaven,” he said honestly, turning to her with a smile. “Its pretty impressive, Ella.” He didn’t think he’d ever seen anything quite like it – even before the attacks. The ranch itself was huge and obviously well cared for; there were trees, bushes and flowerbeds all around the yard. There were several sheds and buildings and in the center of everything stood a grand, ornately trimmed Victorian house complete with tall, beveled windows, and a huge wrap around porch. “Very impressive.”

“Well, well . . . who do we have here?” Chris said, spotting Ezra come out of the house. He might be ticked off at Maude Standish, but that didn’t carry over to her son. Ezra could be a little precocious, a little annoying sometimes, but more often than not he made Chris smile. And Vin thought the world of him. With a grin, Chris stepped out of the truck and called out to the boy. “Hey, Ezra.”

Ezra paused to return the grin then bolted down the stairs toward Vin, who was out of the truck and moving just as fast. The two boys nearly collided but came to a halt just in time. They just stood grinning at each other until Chris approached them and put a hand on both of their shoulders. “Good to see you, Ezra.”

Vin nodded agreement.

“Is your mom around?” he asked, his tone neutral.

Ezra beamed up at him for a moment, then looked suddenly uncomfortable. “My apologies, Mr. Larabee. But my mother left yesterday for Virginia City. She said she had some business to tend to and she’d be back in a couple of days, but . . ..” He shrugged, obviously not able to totally believe that she would be back.

Ella put her hands on her hips and looked around the yard. “What did she drive?”

Ezra looked even more uncomfortable, his eyebrows drawing together as he met Chris’ eyes. “She uh . . . borrowed Reverend Sanchez’s truck. Again.”

Chris shook his head. “Borrowed it, huh?”

“Wait a minute,” Josiah’s booming voice made them all jump, “did I just hear you say that she stole my truck again? Why my truck? Why not someone else’s truck?”

“Most likely because it won’t attract attention,” Ezra offered.

Buck joined them, carrying JD on his hip. “It also ain’t likely to be too big of a temptation for someone else to . . . “ he nudged Ezra with his elbow, “borrow.”

Josiah narrowed his eyes. “Are you inferring that my truck is—“

“A classic, of course, reverend.” Ezra cast a beatific smile on the preacher.

Vin giggled and Josiah growled at him making him giggle harder.

“I gotta go!” declared JD, in a voice loud enough to cause Buck to flinch.

Ella smiled graciously and gestured toward the house. “Right this way, gentlemen.” They followed as she practically waltzed into the house, through the foyer into a large, sunny parlor with floral wallpaper, antique furniture and lamps.

“The facilities are down the hall that way, second door on the left.” She continued into another large room, this one tastefully decorated with a mixture of contemporary and antique. There was a huge crystal chandelier hanging over a long, dark oak dining table that was filled one end to the other with platters of food. “Are any of you boys hungry?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Josiah spoke up for the entire group.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

They were finished eating for the most part, with the exception of JD, who was still picking things off of his plate and probably wearing as much food as he’d eaten. Buck was being Buck, flirting with some young lovely he’d found . . . somewhere.

Vin was sitting by Chris, who was talking quietly with Ella. Josiah was ogling all the antiques, while Nathan sat at large oak desk in the corner of the parlor browsing through several very thick medical reference books.

The sudden report of a gunshot, coming from very near the house, disrupted the seemingly peaceful afternoon. Chris instinctively pulled Vin to the ground then shouted for everyone to get down.

Ella crawled toward the window to peer outside, then she let out a long breath and slumped against the wall. “I was hoping this wouldn’t happen while you boys were here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s my dear stepson . . . Jake.”

“I didn’t know you had a stepson.”

“Well,” she smiled, looking a little embarrassed at the same time, “now you do.”

“Ella!” Came a shout from outside the house. Ella stood up, brushed off her skirt, and headed for the door.

Chris jumped up, startled that she was going to face this person, stepson or not. “What are you doing?”

Ella laughed a little. “I’m going to see what he wants this time.”

“Probably to shoot you,” Chris retorted.

“I doubt it.” She opened the door with Chris at her side. Buck scrambled up from the floor to back them up.

“Hello, Jake.”

Whatever they’d been expecting it wasn’t this boy. He looked no older than fifteen or sixteen, but he was holding a shotgun in one hand and a pistol, aimed right at them, in the other hand.

The boy smiled menacingly then nodded toward Chris. “Found a new one, huh?” he said to Ella.

“This is an old friend of mine, Chris Larabee.” She lifted her chin and glared defiantly back at him. “He’s come to look at some horses.”

“Sure,” the kid chuckled, shaking his head. Behind him there were at least a dozen other youths ranging anywhere from early to late teens.

“What do you want, Jake?”

“Well for starters, I want you off my property.”

Ella actually rolled her eyes. “Not this again.”

Chris had pulled his Glock at some point, undid the safety and was holding it behind him.

“Jake, I showed you the will,” Ella said, sounding disgusted. “You could have stayed here, too. You’re the one who chose to leave.”

“Stay there with you?” the kid shot back incredulously. “I don’t think so.”

“That was your choice, not mine.”

The kid laughed. “If I’d stayed here with you I’d probably be dead by now, just like my parents.”

“You know that isn’t true.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “I’m not getting into this with you again. I want you outta my house . . . “ he raised the gun, “off my land. I mean it this time.”

”Sorry, that’s not going to happen.” She said calmly. “I guess you’ll have to shoot me because I’m not leaving.”

“You heard the lady,” Chris finally spoke up, bringing his own weapon into view. “Now, I suggest you leave.”

Several of the other boys drew weapons, but Jake waved a hand. “This ain’t your business, mister.”

“It is now.”

“This was my parents’ ranch. It ain’t right that she gets to live here after what she’s done.”

Ella suddenly clenched her fists, took a step toward the boy and snarled, “I did not kill anyone, Jake!”

Jake smiled, seeming to be amused by her outburst. “Maybe you didn’t actually do the killin’ . . . but it was still your doing.”

Chris finally stepped off of the porch with Buck beside him. “All I know is you’re the one standing there aimin’ a gun at her. Why don’t you boys just leave before someone really does get killed?”

Josiah and Nathan stood behind them on the porch. They were all armed, and even though they were outnumbered, they seemed to be enough of a force to intimidate the youths, at least for the moment.

Jake turned and mumbled something to the rest of his group then turned back to the men. “Okay, we’ll go for now. But, we’ll be back . . . soon, and if you’re all still here . . . well, it won’t be my fault if someone gets killed.”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Ella had assured them she wasn’t too worried about her stepson’s threat, but the men agreed to stay on for a couple of days just incase he did show up again. Neither Vin nor Ezra took the news with too much enthusiasm, but JD seemed happy enough. Of course, that might have had something to do with the hot fudge sundaes that were served for dessert.

Chris thought Vin’s cheeks were looking a little rosier than usual, so during dinner, when Vin barely touched his meal, Chris had laid a palm on the boy’s forehead then tried not to laugh when his face went from pink to scarlet. As he’d suspected, Vin had a slight temperature again. Nathan seemed a little worried, but all he said was the boy needed to rest more and they ought to keep a close eye on his temp for the next few hours. The doctor had been skimming through medical books like a mad man and Chris had the feeling it had something to do with whatever was ailing Vin. The illness didn’t seem too serious, but it also seemed like it wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

After supper they’d all sat in the parlor sipping bottled beer – something they hadn’t had in a long time – and discussing everything from the weather, to horse breeding, to the difference between defiant and dangerous teenagers. JD had fallen asleep early, sprawled across Buck’s lap. Not too much later, Vin had dozed off, too, sitting on the floor, leaning against Chris’ leg.

Ella offered to let the boys share the guest room Ezra was using, so Buck and Chris just picked them up and carried them upstairs with Ezra following behind.

Buck settled the sleeping JD on a cot they set up between the two beds. Then he quietly said goodnight to the other two boys and headed back downstairs.

Vin woke long enough for Chris to explain where they were just incase he woke up in the middle of the night. Then he tucked him in and – much to the boy’s dismay -- kissed him on the forehead, finding the skin still a little feverish, but not any worse than it had been. Chris had smiled apologetically. How could he have forgotten that ten was way too old to be given a goodnight kiss in front of peers.

Chris stayed for a few minutes, seated on the side of Vin’s bed, making sure the boy was comfortable and feeling all right, and listening to Ezra complain about his ‘sudden appalling lack of privacy’. As he stood completely naked, rummaging through the dresser drawer for appropriate pajamas, he swore on his unknown father’s grave that one of man’s basic human rights was to be allowed to dress without an audience. That had made Vin smile and Chris laugh. Chris promised that neither of them were looking and kept his face turned toward Vin. After a few minutes Vin’s eyelids started to droop then they closed, and he drifted to sleep.

Chris offered to read Ezra a bedtime story, just to irritate the kid. Once he’d been assured, in no uncertain terms, that Ezra did not require any bedtime story and hadn’t for years, Chris returned to the parlor where the others were talking, and sipping brandy. He sat down beside Ella and she poured him a glass.

“Why does he think you had something to do with his parents’ deaths?” Josiah asked.

The question had been on Chris’ mind, too. He knew teenagers could be pretty melodramatic to begin with, more so when dealing with a stepparent, but still he’d been curious to hear the story behind the accusation.

“I have no idea.” Ella shook her head, her expression blank. “His mother was killed in an automobile accident. His father and I . . . “ she lowered her voice, looking a bit guilty, “well, they were already going to get a divorce when the accident happened. After her death . . . I knew it would be tough for Jake to accept me. He’s always been a bit hostile to me, and I don’t blame him for that, but I had no idea that all the while he was blaming me for his mother’s death.”

“What about his father’s . . . your husband’s death?” Buck asked.

“You said something happened to him when he was at the prison?” Chris added.

“Yes, after the attacks, the electricity went out, and the phones. The facility had a backup generator of course, so they still had power there, but the prisoners started getting antsy, hard to control. Joseph ordered me to go home, but he refused to leave. I learned later that the backup generator went out sometime during the night and they ended up losing all power. That’s when the rioting started. Several of the guards and other employees managed to escape, but Joseph was not one of the lucky ones.”

“I’m sorry about that, Ella,” Chris told her, looking her in the eye solemnly. “Still, I can’t help but wonder why your stepson blames you for what happened to either of his parents.”

“You’ve got me,” she replied with a shrug. “I guess he just needs someone to blame and I’m convenient. Honestly, I had no idea he’d felt this way until I told him the news about his father. He just blew up at me and started making all these accusations. I thought it was just the initial shock and grief talking, so I tried to be patient and reason with him, but . . . well, you see how far that got me. He stayed for a week or so, then one day I woke up and he was gone.”

“But he’s been back since then?”

“Yes, he comes and goes. Never stays too long. Every time he has to make a big scene, accuse me of those terrible things.”

”Who are those other kids he was with?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never seen them before, actually.”

“There are a lot of kids with no families, no homes,” Buck said morosely, “just runnin’ around out there, trying to survive.”

“Too many,” agreed Josiah. “They tend to stick together in groups; safety in numbers.” Ella gave him a dubious look. Josiah shrugged and continued. “Nathan and I were stopped by a few on the way up to Raton Pass a few months back. One of ‘em had gotten himself shot in the arm somehow and they were lookin’ for someone to help. I think they’d been on their own for a long time.”

“Yeah,” Nathan agreed, taking up where Josiah left off. “The kid was lucky that the bullet had just grazed him. It took out a good-sized hunk of flesh, but it could have been a lot worse. All I could do was clean it up and bandage his arm for him.” Nathan shook his head. “There were probably twenty or more other kids . . . all of ‘em scared to death of us, kept their distance like they thought we were gonna grab ‘em or something.”

“All of ‘em were scrawny, raggedy lookin’, all different ages, but most of ‘em no older than Ezra. Hate to think of what happened to cause ‘em to be that scared. We left them a box of supplies, bandages, alcohol, a little food . . . not much. We had more to offer on the way back, but when we came back through they were no where around.” Josiah looked a little frustrated. “Wish we could have done more.”

Nathan patted him on the shoulder. “Like you said, we can only do what we can do.”

Chris, knowing how upset both men had been after the incident, decided to steer the conversation back to where it had been.

“Your stepson said he’d be back,” he asked Ella. “What do think he might do?”

“To be honest, I don’t really know.”

“Do you think he’d actually use that gun he was wavin’ around?”

“Maybe . . . I don’t know. He never liked me, but he was a good kid. An honor student, into sports . . . his father’s pride and joy. I don’t want to think he’d do anything bad, but . . .” she took a deep breath and frowned, “I can’t really say for sure.”

Chris nodded. “Do you have any idea where they might be staying?”

“I’m not sure about that either.” She took a sip of her brandy then stared thoughtfully into the nearly empty glass. “There are a few old line shacks west of here. I don’t know what kind of shape they’re in, but I suppose they could be staying in one of those. I wish I could be more helpful but I’m just really not sure.”

“Well, it can’t hurt for us to hang around for a couple days,” Chris told her. “After that, you know where to find us, if you need us.”

“Thank you, all of you,” Ella said, smiling gratefully at each of the men. Then she yawned, and glanced down at her watch. “Oh my, it’s getting late. The boys are already sleeping in my spare room, but the bunkhouse is clean and warm. There are enough beds for the rest of you, if you don’t mind.”

Josiah and Nathan stood up, both murmuring that they didn’t mind. Ella told Nathan to feel free to take some of the books along with him if he wanted. He thanked her and took two books that looked as if they weighed 100 pounds each, then they thanked her for the hospitality, said their good nights and headed for the door. Chris and Buck waved them on, both men reluctant to leave the boys upstairs alone.

Apparently, Ella already had that worked out. “Chris,” she gave him a sly, seductive smile, “I might have a place upstairs for you.”

Buck laughed, stood up and stretched his back until it made a crackling sound. Then he leaned over and patted Chris on the shoulder, giving him a knowing wink. “I’ll be out in the bunkhouse if ya need me, pard.”

Chris lifted a hand in a half-hearted wave before turning to Ella. “And just where might this place be?”

“Upstairs.”

“A spare bedroom?” he asked with feigned innocence.

“Well, not exactly spare, but it’s a room, and there’s a bed.”

“Oh really?” He lifted an eyebrow.

She stepped up close to him, pressing her body to his and running her hands over his shoulders and down his arms. “Really.” She took a hold of both his hands and pulled him toward the staircase.

“I don’t know, Ella.” Chris hesitated, an image of Sarah suddenly forming in his mind. His body was saying yes, but he hadn’t been with another woman since . . ..

Ella stepped close to him again, looked up at him with glittering eyes. “Come on, Chris.” Then she reached up to run her fingers through his hair before pulling his face toward hers. “It’ll be okay.” She brushed her lips across his and Chris gave in to her kiss. When she pulled back, she licked her lips and arched an eyebrow. “See, I don’t bite.”

Chris had to clear his throat in order to find his voice. “That ain’t what I remember.”

Her smile turned wide and almost predatory. “And, if I remember correctly, you always liked it when I did.” With that she turned and started up the stairs, Chris following without needing any further coaxing.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris was used to waking up early, so he was more surprised to find a working alarm clock than he was to find it read 6:15 am. Beside him, Ella stirred, pulling blankets away from him and clutching them under her cheek. She looked so beautiful lying there, so peaceful and innocent. Looking at her now, you’d never guess what a hellion she really was. That thought caused him to grin. She’d been pretty wild last night, not that he’d expected otherwise. Even during their worst moments, she’d always been able to easily seduce him in the bedroom and into seeing things her way. That had been one of the reasons he’d left without saying goodbye. If he had told her he was leaving, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have made it any further than the bedroom.

The relationship had started out being fun, the two of them being friends and lovers. Neither one of them had been ready to settle down. Chris had been fine with that and he’d thought Ella was, too. Looking back on it all, it was easier to see the signs, the subtle changes in her behavior, but at the time he’d been clueless. It had come as a complete shock when one day, seemingly out of the blue, she started talking about love and settling down, like they’d already made a commitment. Until then, he hadn’t even given a thought a future with Ella. When he tried to imagine it – if only for her sake -- he just couldn’t see himself settling down yet. There were too many things he wanted to do and see, but mostly, he just couldn’t imagine himself spending the rest of his life with her. He simply wasn’t in love with her. He didn’t even know what it felt like to be in love . . . until he met Sarah.

“It’s too early to have such deep thoughts.”

“Hey, sleepyhead,” he said, smiling at her.

“Is that anyway to say good morning?” Then she rolled on top of him and pressed her lips to his. They stayed that way for long moments, lips, tongues and bare flesh moving together then she pulled back and studied him. “What were you thinking about?”

He grinned up at her then slid his fingers down the satiny skin of her back causing her to shiver. “You. Me. Other things.”

”Hmm . . ..” She raised an eyebrow thoughtfully then rolled her hips, grinding her pelvis against his. “Funny, I’ve been thinking about the same things.”

“Really?”

More wet kisses, then she pulled back again. “Seriously, Chris. I’d like you to think about something . . ..” She trailed off, twisting her mouth as if maybe a little nervous.

Chris couldn’t resist; he kissed her again. “Tell me.”

“Well . . . I was wondering how you felt about maybe staying on here for a while. You could help out with the horses, and I could teach you a thing or two about breeding.”

“I’m sure you could,” he said, unable to hold back his laughter.

She slapped his bare shoulder. “I’m serious. I’ve learned quite a bit about horse breeding over the past few years and I have everything you could ever need here.”

He studied her for a long minute. “It sounds nice, Ella, but I wouldn’t feel right just leaving the Mission, and I couldn’t leave Vin.”

“Well,” she licked her lips, giving him a hungry look. “Maybe you could work something out?” she whispered, tracing the tip of her tongue along the shell of his ear. “It’s not that far away. You could stay here with me for a while and still commute back and forth.” Each warm puff of breath against his ear made it more difficult for him to think clearly. “Then you’d be able to keep up with whatever obligations you have there. I have plenty of fuel. As for the boy, well, if it would make you happy he’s welcome to stay here, too.” She moved on from his ear, began working her way down his neck.

Chris’ eyebrows drew together and he chewed his lip, trying to force his brain to work properly. It sounded nice, very nice. He wouldn’t be making a commitment, just staying on for a while. It also reminded him a lot of the way they’d started out all those years ago, just fun. No commitments.

“You don’t have to answer now,” she said, tracing a wet finger over his chest, “but promise me that you’ll think about it?”

He looked into her eyes, trying to read her thoughts and intentions. She seemed so different from the Ella he remembered; yet she was the same in all the ways that mattered. Still, was he crazy to even consider her offer? “All right,” he agreed, thinking what could it hurt to think about it? Ella squealed with delight, then swooped down and took his mouth passionately, her body moving over his, her skin pressing against his in all the right places making it impossible for him to think about anything else.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Buck sat in the dining room, JD on his lap and JD’s coon hat occupying the chair to his left. On his right, Vin had his chair pulled up as close to Buck’s as he could get it. For some reason Vin had left his hat at home, but as long as the boy wasn’t angry with him he wasn’t going to question it. He couldn’t believe Chris was still sleeping. Chris always woke up before him, but then just because Chris was still in bed didn’t necessarily mean he was sleeping.

Vin kept looking anxiously toward the staircase, but he hadn’t asked about Chris yet. Buck wasn’t about to offer any information either. He knew that Vin probably had a vague notion of what was going on in Ella Gaines’ bedroom. Unfortunately, he realized, any knowledge Vin might have on that topic was likely to be inaccurate, tainted by things his tender eyes had witnessed during his time in Wickes’ camp. Buck wondered if Chris had ever given that much thought and doubted that he probably had. It wasn’t something Buck had even thought about before today. But he figured it was Chris’ place, not his, to explain or justify anything of that nature to Vin.

“You’re looking lovely this morning, darlin’,” he said to the tall, slender beauty that sat across the table from him.

She gave him a bored look, flipped a light brown lock of hair over her shoulder and continued sipping her cappuccino, watching with half-interested disdain as JD picked marshmallow bits out of his cereal and slurped them noisily into his mouth. The woman beside her perked up and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin then beamed a smile at him. “Did you sleep well, Mr. Wilmington?”

“I sure did, ma’am,” he replied with a wink. “And it’s Buck . . . Mr. Wilmington makes me sound old.”

She giggled at that, then she said, “I’m Hilda, and this is my sister Jeanie. We’re Ella’s nieces, well . . . actually, her late husband’s nieces.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Your two boys are just adorable!” she gushed. “Absolute dolls!”

JD grinned at the woman across the table, always happy to be fussed over. Vin scowled, looking down at his lap like he’d just been insulted – which in his mind, he probably had been. Buck couldn’t help but chuckle and nudge the kid, which only made the scowl deepen.

“I’m so sorry . . .” the woman – Hilda – said, her expression turning solemn as she reached across the table to Vin. “What I meant to say was you two boys are very handsome.” Apparently she knew a little something about a young boy’s ego, because Vin’s scowl changed into a bashful smile and his cheeks flushed pink. Then she looked up at Buck with a twinkle in her eye and said, “And you’re very handsome, too.”

Buck almost choked on his coffee, but the statement brought an impish grin to Vin’s face, so he figured it was worth it. “Why thank you, darlin’.” He nudged Vin again, feigning a stern look, but happy to see him feeling better this morning. “What are you laughin’ at?”

Jeanie let out a long sigh and sat back in her chair and began picking at her long fingernails, huffing and buffing them, then holding them out for scrutiny like they were the most interesting things ever.

The rest of breakfast was eaten in relative silence with the exception of JD’s slurpage. They’d just about finished up when Chris and Ella came down the stairs hand in hand. Buck had expected Vin to be a little bit happy to see Chris, but instead he looked away, sidling up even closer to Buck.

Buck wondered what was going through Vin’s mind, but decided that now wasn’t the time to address any issues the kid might be having. Instead, he put a big hand on his back and gave him a reassuring pat. Vin looked up at him, his expression grateful.

Chris and Ella sat down beside each other at the table, still holding hands, gazing at each other with smoldering eyes. Buck cleared his throat loudly, lifting an eyebrow and nodding surreptitiously toward the boys when he got Chris’ attention. Something was definitely wrong in the universe, he thought, if Buck Wilmington was having to remind Chris Larabee to behave in front of the children. He was sure it was supposed to be the other way around.

Chris looked somewhat apologetic and gave Buck and then Vin a smile. “How you feeling, cowboy?” he asked, pressing the back of his fingers to Vin’s cheek. “No fever.”

Vin gave him a baleful look that rivaled any of Chris’ then turned his attention on stirring what was left of his cereal. Chris raised a questioning eyebrow and Buck just shrugged.

“What are you boys eating there?” he tried again, looking interestedly into their bowls.

“Cereal!” JD happily told him. “Look! It’s got candy in it!” He scooped a sticky, green marshmallow bit out of the bowl and held it out for Chris to inspect.

Chris looked impressed. “So it does. What do you think, Vin?”

Vin let out long suffering sigh, but was saved from having to answer the lame question by a disgruntled voice from behind them. “How is a man supposed to get any sleep around here?”

“Well, good morning Ezra,” Chris greeted, too cheerily. “Or should I say good afternoon?”

“It is hardly afternoon, Mr. Larabee,” he replied drolly. He glanced around the table, his eyes brightening when he noticed what the other two boys were eating. “Oohh, are those Lucky Charms?”

Buck gestured to the chair beside him. “Have a seat, pard. Man should always start the day with a bowl of Lucky Charms.” JD nodded enthusiastically.

“I haven’t had these since I was a kid.” Ezra sat down and emptied two miniature boxes of cereal into his bowl, ignoring the quiet chuckles around the table.

“Ella’s been telling me that the ranch is almost totally run on solar energy,” Chris said to Buck. “That’s why we were so late to breakfast.

Buck gave him a look that said, ‘Riiiiight’, and when he glanced at Vin, he saw the same look mirrored there.

“We’re hoping to be running entirely on solar power in the near future,” she informed, “but right now we still use gas generators, also.”

“Josiah has a couple of solar panels stored away, but we haven’t been able to figure out how to set them up. I don’t think we have all the parts we need.”

“My foreman Rafe could probably take a look for you,” Ella offered. “He set ours up. I’m sure he could get yours set up, too.”

“That’d be great. We’d really appreciate it.” Chris nodded to Buck. “Where are Josiah and Nathan?”

“Just so happens they’re helping the foreman fix one of the panels over the barn. They already had breakfast.” Buck noticed that JD had eaten all of the marshmallow bits and most of his cereal, too. Vin didn’t look too interested in finishing his bowl so he clapped his hands together. “What d’ya say we go outside and take a look at them horses?”

Vin smiled and JD squealed, “Yay!”

“You comin’, Ez?” he asked, ruffling the boy’s hair just to tick him off.

Ezra shot him a glare. “I’d be happy to join you, after I’ve finished my breakfast.”

“Vin,” Chris spoke up, “don’t forget to put your coat on, buddy.”

Vin glanced briefly at Chris then nodded.

“And zip it up or Nathan will get you.”

“Okay.”

“Anyone else comin’?” Buck asked specifically to the beauty across the table. He was determined to somehow get her to smile.

“I’ll join you,” Hilda said, pushing away from the table. “Let me just clear some of these dishes away first.”

“How ‘bout you, angel?”

Chris coughed and Jeanie looked up at him like he was from another planet. “Ah, no thanks.”

“Okay,” Buck resigned. He’d have to work a little harder on this one; he refused to believe that anyone could be totally immune to his charm. “Let’s help Miss Hilda clear the table.”

Vin cast a quick glance at Chris then looked away, climbed out of his chair, picked up his bowl and followed the others out of the room.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

As Josiah and Nathan waited for the foreman to return from the tool shed, both leaning against the corral fence. Josiah turned his head to look at the doctor, a serious yet calm expression on his weathered face. “So, brother Nate, you finding anything helpful in those books you’ve been lookin’ at?”

With a look of disgust Nathan shook his head. “I wish I was.”

Josiah nodded, letting out a long sigh. “Just goes to show you, you can’t always find the answers you’re looking for in a book, sometimes you have to search elsewhere.”

“Yeah?” The doctor rolled his eyes, used to hearing the preacher philosophize. “Like where-elsewhere?”

“Your heart, your head . . .” he replied, touching the side of Nathan’s head. “How do you think the authors of those books found their answers?”

Nathan nodded, resigned. He knew where the big preacher was going, but it was all just so frustrating to him.

“It wasn’t all that long ago when doctors thought patients got sick from demons or bad air.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You’ve got a lot more going for you than they did.”

“It’s just that whatever he has could be something as simple as a cold . . .or it could be something serious. I just can’t tell without the proper diagnostic equipment.”

Josiah nodded consolingly, then put a hand on his shoulder, and looked him in the eye. “And if it is something serious?”

“Well, if I knew,” he began indignantly, only to halt his reply and turn away from the preacher. If he knew – what? What could he do? It wasn’t like there was a hospital nearby. There weren’t any hospitals . . . anywhere. If Vin or any of them got too sick, came down with some disease that was beyond his ability to treat -- well, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

“Sometimes we don’t have any say in these matters.” Josiah shrugged and looked out at the horses. “No matter how much technology, or how many resources we have at our fingertips, sometimes it just isn’t up to us.”

Nathan let out a huff of laughter, knowing his friend was right, but still feeling frustrated. “Tell me about it.”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Buck and the boys headed out to the corral at the same time Josiah, Nathan and a dark-haired, Hispanic looking man, dressed from hat to boots in black, were climbing down a tall ladder that led to the roof of the barn.

”Hi, J’siah,” JD screeched loud enough to make Buck wince. “Hi, Doc Nate!”

The three men brushed their hands off and headed over to the corral. “Buck, boys, this is Rafe Cordova,” Josiah introduced. “He’s the foreman around here.”

“Raphael Carlos Antonio Cordova de Martinez,” the man said with a grin and a slight bow, then he gripped Buck’s hand in a firm handshake -- something Buck always admired. His mouth curved in amusement when the two small boys held their hands out, but he shook each of them as sincerely as he had Buck’s.

“Rafe offered to pay us a visit sometime and help us set up some solar panels,” Nathan told him, then he paused to study Vin for a moment before reaching out to tug the zipper of the boy’s coat up another half inch. He put his hands on his hips. “You best keep that zipped up all the way, Vin.”

“He will, Doc,” Buck grinned.

“Vin!” Ezra called from the porch of the house. “Come here!”

Vin looked up at Buck who gave him a nod, then he headed across the yard toward his friend.

“Vin oughtta be inside, anyway,” Nathan said, his eyes narrowing a little. “I just hope they don’t get up to anything in there.”

“Ah, they’re good kids, Nate.” Buck waved off the concern. “They’ll behave.”

JD was standing at the corral, more interested in watching the horses than he was in being abandoned by Vin and Ezra. “Buck! Buck!” JD shouted, pulling on the man’s belt loop, tugging him closer to the corral. “I wanna ride that one!” he pointed to a big black feisty looking beast with a white blaze down its nose.

Rafe laughed. “Ah, he is impressive, but I do not think he is the one for you, chiquito.”

“But, I like that one.”

“I know of another one that is more your size,” he gestured toward the barn.

JD held onto the corral, stubbornly raising his chin. “But, I like that one!”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Vin trotted up the stairs to the porch where Ezra was waiting. He’d really missed having Ezra around. JD was fun and he was glad that they’d found him and brought him to the Mission, but JD was just a kid.

“Whatchya doin’?” he asked the older boy.

“Well,” he replied, conspiratorially, “I was thinking of doing a little explorin’. Would you care to join me?”

Vin nodded enthusiastically. He didn’t know what Ezra wanted to explore, but exploring anything was *always * fun, and Ezra could make almost anything an adventure.

“Remember the door at the end of the hall upstairs?” Ezra asked him quietly, ushering him toward the door.

“Yeah.” They’d looked around yesterday afternoon, poking their noses into each of the rooms on the second floor. The room at the end of the hall had been locked though, so they hadn’t been able to peak inside that door.

“Well, I figured out how to pick the lock,” he waggled his eyebrows, a big smile on his face.

Vin’s eyes went wide. “Ya picked the lock?” Oh boy. Ezra always had good ideas, but some of them were a little bit dangerous and some of them led to trouble. The pumping of adrenaline made the decision for him, as it usually did in these cases. “Okay, but we gotta be careful! If we get caught . . ..”

“I assure you I have no intention of being caught.”

Vin rolled his eyes. Ezra usually said that right up to the moment they were caught. “What about Chris and Ms. Gaines?”

“What about them? They’ve retired to the master suite, again.” Ezra shuddered. He couldn’t understand what Mr. Larabee saw in the woman. In Ezra’s opinion she was just plain scary.

“The master suite?”

“The bedroom.” He gave Vin what he hoped was a meaningful look, but children could be so . . ..

Vin scrunched his nose up. He knew what Ezra meant. When he’d been in Wickes’ camp, he’d seen lots of men haul women off to their rooms. Him and Ezra had spied on them sometimes and Vin didn’t want to think that Chris might be doing *that * with Ms. Gaines, or anyone else. Gross.

“The two of them are quite noisy,” Ezra told him as they slipped into the house. “I doubt they’ll hear a thing.”

Vin didn’t even want to think about that. He took his coat off and hung it next to Chris’ jacket on the coat tree by the door.

They quietly went up the stairs, practically tiptoeing past the ‘master suite’. At the end of the hall, they stopped in front of the locked door. Ezra pulled a fingernail file out of his pocket and held it out for Vin to see, then he slid it into the lock, jiggled it a few times, twisted the knob and the door opened. “Voila!” he whispered with a devilish grin.

Vin just shook his head; amazed again that Ezra seemed to know how to do everything.

Inside the door, there was another set of steps, and another door at the top. Carefully, they closed the door behind them and locked it again. Then they quietly ascended the steps, both feeling a jittery rush of anticipation. The next door was locked as well, but no more difficult to open than the last one had been. Vin felt like his skin was tingling, he could hear his heart thumping loudly in his ears. He loved adventures.

It was mostly dark up there, and they could find no light switch on the wall, but after his eyes adjusted Vin spotted a long string hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room. Cautiously he tiptoed over to it, gave it a yank and suddenly the room was dimly illuminated in an eerie, yellowish glow.

The room they were standing in was fairly big, but not as big as they’d expected it to be. There were tall panels on each side of the walls that probably led to other storage rooms. Along the back wall there was a long table that looked sort of like a workbench. On closer inspection Ezra thought perhaps it was an altar. There was a carpeted aisle down the middle of the room with benches on each side. There was also a small, dark stained glass window over the altar near the peak of the wall.

Vin shivered. He didn’t believe in ghosts, but this place definitely felt haunted and the stale air he was breathing made it even smell haunted, in his opinion. There was an altar, just like in Josiah’s mission, but this one was cluttered with all sorts of stuff. Vin wanted to leave, he didn’t like the feeling he was getting just being there, but Ezra was already walking toward the altar. “Ez,” he whispered. “I don’t think we should be up here.”

Ezra paused half way down the aisle and glanced over his shoulder, lifting an eyebrow. “Of course we shouldn’t be here, that’s the fun part. You’re not gonna chicken out, are you, Vin?”

Vin scowled at him. “No. I just don’t like it up here.” He wasn’t no chicken.

“Well, just hold on a minute. I want to look around,” Ezra told him. “You can stay there if you wish.”

No way was he stayin’ there. He hurried as fast, and as quietly, as he could to the older boy’s side and gave him a tremulous smile.

Ezra smirked at him. “There are no such things as ghosts, Vin.”

“I know that,” Vin snapped at him, reminding himself that wiping the smirk off Ezra’s face right here and now, might end up making too much noise.

As they got closer to the altar, the air seemed to grow heavy with a foul smell that Vin found oddly familiar. He’d smelled it before, somewhere . . . and then he remembered that his momma used to have a box stored in their attic. The box had contained a few old keepsakes – things she’d been able to save after her childhood home had burned down. Even though the objects were whole, they were ruined nonetheless by the stubborn awful odor of soot and ashes.

With a gasp, Ezra picked up a burnished frame, handling it carefully. “Oh my . . ..”

Vin moved closer to get a look. Ezra handed him the frame which held a picture of a younger Chris, looking very happy, sitting in a porch swing with a woman next to him and a child in between. Chris’ face was perfectly intact, but the images of the woman and child had been burned, so they were almost completely unrecognizable. Vin had seen other pictures of Chris’ family though, and he knew that’s who this was. As he set the frame back on the altar, he couldn’t figure out why Ms. Gaines would have such an awful picture.

Ezra now held a locket, but Vin had spotted Chris’ bandanna, the one he’d had in his pocket just yesterday. “This is Chris,” he said as he inspected it. It was mostly black with white and gray swirly designs -- Vin had never seen another one like it. He shoved it into the pocket of his jeans, sure that Chris would want it back.

There were other things placed there, some of them obviously salvaged from a fire, while some looked practically new. He found a watch in perfect condition, on the back was an inscription ‘To Chris - With all my love—‘ the name was scratched over. An old, soot covered harmonica also with an inscription – Adam Larabee - March 13,1945. Vin stuck that in his pocket, too, then looked around to see what else she had hidden away up here for whatever reason.

“She’s crazy,” Ezra whispered, setting down another framed photograph that looked like it had been a wedding picture. “She must have dug through the ashes of his house to get some of this stuff. What kind of a person does that?”

Vin felt confused. He didn’t know whether to be frightened, or angry, or what. In all the pictures of Chris’ family, his wife and little boy had been scratched or burned away; and all of the objects that had once had names on them, like the watch, and the locket, only one name remained legible.

His first instinct was to run downstairs and tell Chris, to bring him up here and *show* him, but he was also afraid that seeing all of this would only hurt him and Chris was the last person Vin would ever want to hurt.

“Ezra?”

Ezra already knew what Vin was going to say. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

They hurried out of the room, making sure the light was turned off and the door was locked. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Ezra quietly opened the door to peer out into the hallway. The coast was clear, and both boys hurried to the guest room they’d slept in the night before.

Vin was stunned by what he had seen, and by the way Ezra looked, he was feeling the same way. “What should we do?” he asked, hoping the older boy would have a solution.

“I don’t know.” He sat on his bed, staring at the wall for a long time before speaking again. “Perhaps we should keep this to ourselves?“

Vin had taken the harmonica out and was trying to polish away the soot. “But, don’t you think Chris should know about that stuff? It’s his stuff.”

“Maybe, but not right now, Vin. Hopefully in a day or two we’ll be out of here, away from this place and then we can decide whether or not to tell him.”

“Maybe we could tell Josiah first or maybe Buck?”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Ezra nodded, then held up a finger. “But not yet. Let’s wait until tomorrow.”

Vin let out a long breath, but nodded in agreement. Then another thought struck him. “Are you comin’ home with us, Ez?”

“Hopefully,” he answered with a grin. “The way I see it, they’ll need to take me along, for security. Unless of course my mother shows up beforehand.”

“Security?”

“Yeah, security on the good reverend’s *classic * pick-up truck.”

“Ohhh . . ..” He still didn’t get it.

“If they take me back with them, Maude is sure to show up looking for me . . . someday.” Ezra lay back, folding his arms behind his head as a pillow.

Vin sprawled on his stomach across the other bed. “I hope she don’t show up for a long time.”

Ezra could only smile at that, hoping he didn’t convey the bittersweet emotion he felt.

Just as they’d both relaxed enough to almost doze off they heard the loud roaring sound of engines revving up outside. A few moments later, the sound quieted down and Ezra and Vin scrambled off their beds, hurrying to the window to see what was going on.

From what Vin could see, there were two truckloads of teenagers. Apparently Ella’s stepson was back.

Ezra and Vin looked at each other, wondering what, if anything, they should do. They heard footsteps outside their door, rushing down the hall and continuing down the stairs. Vin knew it was Chris. Without giving it much thought, he hurried from the room, with Ezra following close behind him.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris stepped out onto the porch, trying to keep Ella safely behind him. The teenagers were armed to the teeth and whether they intended to shoot anyone or not, it was a dangerous situation that could turn deadly in the blink of an eye.

Across the yard, Buck, Nate and Josiah stood just outside the barn door; a dark-haired man, dressed in black was standing beside them.

“We don’t want anyone to get hurt. We just want you off this property!” The boy, Jake, ordered, a sawed off shotgun at his side. “One way or another!”

Chris couldn’t help but wonder where the kid had managed to get his hands on a sawed-off shotgun, or where any of them were getting the weapons they had, for that matter. He had his own revolver out and he could see the men at the barn were armed as well. “We’re not leaving, son,” he told the kid. “This ranch belongs to Ella as much or more than it does you. If you can’t live here peacefully, then that’s your problem. Not hers.”

One of the teenagers, a tall, gangly, red-headed boy with freckles, raised a high-powered weapon and aimed it at Chris, but Jake waved him back, muttering something that Chris couldn’t hear.

“We’re not here for a showdown,” the kid said.

“Looks like a showdown to me,” Chris replied, coolly.

“I’d rather nobody gets hurt, but that’s up to you.”

Chris watched as Jake nodded to the red-haired boy who raised his assault rifle and fired into second story of the house. Chris raised his own weapon, ready to fire, but Buck beat him to it. From his position at the barn, Buck shot the kid’s right hand causing him to drop the weapon.

Jake and the others turned and aimed their weapons toward Buck. Buck was ready to fire again when the man in black stepped up behind him. Chris’ blood ran cold when he noticed the man had a weapon pointed at Buck and another pointed in the general direction of the boys. “Put down your weapons,” the man ordered, his voice and eyes steely. “All of you. Now!”

Ella cursed the man – ‘Raphael’ -- under her breath, as Buck, and everyone in the yard lowered their weapons.

The kid Buck had shot was looking like he was in shock, cradling his bloody hand to his chest, his face twisted in pain.

Jake handed his weapon to another of the boys, took off his flannel shirt, and wrapped it around the boy’s hand. He turned back to Chris, still unarmed but looking angry and maybe a little uncertain. “We said we didn’t want anyone to get hurt!”

“Yeah, well there’s people in that house,” Chris said, angrily. “Maybe you shoulda thought about that before you went blowin’ holes in it.”

The fool kid actually looked startled, like he hadn’t thought about that.

Jake and a few of the others gathered in a huddle. Chris couldn’t make out what they were saying, but after a couple of minutes one of the boys broke away and began waving the others toward their vehicles. Jake turned back to Chris again and walked a few steps closer to the porch. “No matter what you think, this is my ranch . . . my great grandpa built it himself. I lived here my whole life, just like my dad did, and his dad,” the boy paused, obviously fighting his emotions. “But, I don’t want nobody getting killed. Cause I ain’t like you, Ella.” Then he turned away, pausing to look at Raphael. The foreman nodded at the boy, his expression grim, yet at the same time he lifted his chin, looking proud. Jake nodded in return, then allowed himself to be guided back to the trucks.

Chris was feeling a little numb and uncertain over the whole situation. He certainly hadn’t expected the boy to retreat the way he had. He wished he could think of some way to fix things for both parties, but, he reminded himself, the boy’s hostility toward Ella made that all but impossible.

As soon as the trucks had peeled out, kicking up grass and dirt and dust, Ella was stomping down the stairs toward the barn. “Raphael! What the hell was that all about?” she demanded, getting right in the man’s face.

Raphael had his weapon put away, but he held his head high, prepared to face the consequences of his action. “Joe Petrie was a good, honorable man . . . I owe him my life. His son, Jake, is my godson,” he said frowning, like he couldn’t believe that he had to explain this fact. “He’s just a boy. I could not let anyone kill him.”

Chris was somewhat surprised at Ella’s anger toward the foreman. There was anguish in the man’s eyes as well as his voice. Whoever he was, apparently he’d been here long enough to remember the family that used to be. And he had succeeded in stopping the gunplay. Chris didn’t like thinking about the different ways things could have turned out, but he did understand the man’s need to step in.

“Well, I want you to pack up your things and be out of here by morning,” Ella demanded, apparently unforgiving and unable to understand the man’s sense of duty. “You can take a week’s worth of supplies, and Chavez and Bonita with you, consider yourself paid in full for your services.” With that she turned and stalked back toward the house, leaving them all staring with open mouths.

JD darted out of the barn at the same time Vin and Ezra passed Ella in the yard. JD shouted for Buck, then squealed as Buck lifted and tossed him in the air before bringing him down into a hug,

Vin gave Ella a wide berth, but once he was past her he took off in a dash, flinging himself at Chris and wrapping his arms tightly around him.

Chris knelt down and hugged the boy, patting his back and murmuring reassurances. “You both okay?” he asked Ezra, since Vin’s face was buried in his shoulder.

“Yes, we’re unharmed,” Ezra answered. “We heard a gunshot at the same time the wall exploded. It . . .” he arched an eyebrow, “scared the shit out of us.”

Vin giggled a little hysterically, the sound muffled into his shoulder. Chris hugged him more tightly and stood up with Vin clinging tenaciously to him.

“Well, amigos,” Raphael said a little wistfully. “It was nice meeting you, but I must be packing my belongings now. I apologize, Senor Buck,” looking somewhat uncomfortable, he extended his hand to Buck in apology, “for holding a gun on you.”

“I understand, Rafe; you did what you felt you had to,” Buck said solemnly, then a spark of mischief lit his eyes. “Just don’t do it again.”

“Where will you go?” Josiah asked him.

“I do not know for sure.” He pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair then shrugged. “Perhaps I will just ride out and let Chavez and Bonita choose which way to go.”

“You’re more than welcome to join us at the Mission,” Josiah offered sincerely. “We could always use a good man like you around there.”

“Gracias,” he replied with a grateful smile. “Who knows? Perhaps they will decide to wander that way.”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris couldn’t figure out why Ella had felt it necessary to dismiss Raphael. She didn’t seem angry over the incident, instead she seemed to have totally put it out of her mind. When he had tried to question her over it she’d evaded answering him, and instead playfully coaxed him up to the bedroom for some ‘afternoon delight’.

At dinner that evening, Josiah raised the subject of heading back to the Mission. Chris told him he’d like them to wait a day or so longer, just incase Ella’s stepson was trying to pull one over on them or happened to change his mind. “It seemed a little too easy.” It was also a lot easier to be suspicious of the kid’s motives than it was to accept that they’d just battled against a good, decent kid who’d already been through hell.

“I doubt they’ll come back again,” Ella told them. “Now that they know you have real bullets in your guns, they’re probably going to be a little more reluctant to come looking for trouble.”

He wasn’t sure if there was any good way to broach the next topic, so he decided to just come right out with what he wanted to say. “Well, I thought you all should know that I’m planning to stay on here for a while,” Chris announced looking a little sheepish. In the chair beside him, Ella looked like she just might burst with joy.

The others around the table stared at him for a few moments, looking stunned, then Buck shook his head and said, “Okay then . . ..” like he didn’t know what else to say.

Vin kept his eyes focused on his plate of food, which he’d eaten very little of. “What d’ya say, cowboy? You wanna hang around here with me for a while, maybe help me work with the horses?”

“I do! I do!” shouted JD, clapping his hands excitedly.

Vin’s head shot up; he looked from Chris to JD, then back again, his eyes wide. Chris wasn’t prepared for the answer Vin gave.

“No, JD, we ain’t stayin’.” JD looked confused, then sad, but Vin just shook his head firmly, then he looked Chris in the eye. “I wanna go home.”

Chris opened his mouth to reply, but found his voice refused to work. His eyebrows drew together in a pained expression, his gaze coming to rest on Vin. He couldn’t believe Vin didn’t want to stay with him. It wasn’t too hard to figure out he felt uncomfortable around Ella, but Chris thought maybe he just needed to get to know her a little more. He hadn’t really even spoken with her, because every time she spoke to him, he clammed up, or took off. Chris had thought it was just his shy nature, but he hadn’t thought it was anything more. “You sure, buddy?” he tried again.

But Vin nodded, looking a little like a deer caught in headlights. “I wanna go home,” he repeated in what was barely a whisper.

Chris looked away, cleared his throat and finally managed to say, “Okay,” as casually as he could. He glanced over to Buck who was watching the scene and looking a lot less surprised than Chris felt.

Chris couldn’t imagine not having Vin around. He thought back over the past couple days and realized he hadn’t spent much time at all with Vin. He hadn’t exactly neglected the boy, but now that he thought about it, he’d spent more time in the bedroom with Ella and less time with Vin than he was comfortable admitting to. Thankfully Buck had been around to keep an eye on him, although he hadn’t even bothered to ask. He’d just taken it for granted that Buck would look out for Vin, something he’d have never done if Vin were Adam.

“I’m tired,” Vin spoke up, distracting Chris from his introspection for a moment. “Can I go to bed?” Chris felt a stab in his heart when he saw that Vin was asking Buck, not him.

Buck frowned and reached over to place his big palm on Vin’s forehead. “You feelin’ all right, partner? It’s still pretty early and you didn’t eat much dinner.”

Vin nodded. “I ain’t hungry. Reckon I’m just kinda tired,” he replied, in the soft, lazy drawl that Chris had come to love hearing over the past weeks.

“All right, then,” Buck answered. “You go on, I’ll be up to check on ya in a little bit.”

Vin scooted out of his chair and hurried out of the room without a backwards glance. Chris watched him go, then folded his napkin and set it on his plate, his appetite gone now, too. “I’m gonna go up and talk to him,” he said to nobody in particular.

Buck held up a hand, making Chris wonder ridiculously if Buck thought he was asking permission. He’d meant it as a statement, not a request, but he wasn’t about to clarify that to anyone. Somehow he managed to hold his temper, knowing that the sting of Vin’s declaration was making him feel defensive -- clouding his judgment.

“Chris, why don’t you let him get a good nights sleep and the two of you can talk about it in the morning?” Buck said.

“Yeah, you gave him sort of a shock, Chris,” Josiah added. “Maybe you should let him think things over for a while.”

Chris wanted to go to Vin, but he took a moment to contemplate his friends’ advice. Yeah, he had popped that out of nowhere, not to mention that he’d put Vin on the spot. He should have talked to him in private first, but for some reason it never entered his mind that Vin might be opposed to staying. With a reluctant nod, he sat back down at the table feeling a little foolish. He glanced at Ella noticing she looked a little uncomfortable, too. He doubted she was upset for the same reason he was, however. More than likely she was worried that Vin’s refusal to stay might cause Chris to change his mind.

“Would you like another slice of cheesecake?” Hilda asked Buck, trying to break the tension that had settled around the table. “I made it myself.”

“Well, thank you, darlin’,” Buck replied with a wink.

“Me, too!” said JD waving his fork in the air.

“Well, of course, sugarplum.” Hilda slid a piece of cheesecake onto both of their plates and glanced questioningly to Ezra.

“No, thank you,” he said, holding up a hand and looking a bit sickly. “If I eat one more bite, I’m going to explode.”

“So, Mr. Wilmington,” Hilda’s sister Jeanie leaned forward, seeming to notice him for the first time. “Is it true that you used to be a detective?”

“Why, yes I did,” Buck answered with a big grin on his face. “Matter of fact, I was captain of the Homicide Division.”

“Really?” Jeanie’s eyes grew wide with interest. “I’ll bet you could tell us some stories.”

Buck beamed at her, his dessert forgotten. “I sure could, I remember one time . . .”

Chris and Ella exchanged glance and as one, they stood up. “We’re going to turn in,” Chris told them. “See you all in the morning.” The others around the table acknowledged their departure with the exception of Buck.

“. . . we got a call to the most gruesome scene . . . “

“Look, Buck!” JD suddenly shouted.

Chris glanced over his shoulder. The boy was holding something between bloody fingers -- waving it in Buck’s face. It took a moment for Chris to realize it had to be the loose tooth.

“Good God, JD!” Buck scooted back in his chair, holding a hand up to ward the boy off. “Get that thing outta my face!”

JD only laughed and leaned even closer to the big man.

So much for Buck’s story, Chris thought, grinning as they went up the stairs.

Once they were up in the bedroom, Ella looked at him a little uncertainly then stepped up close and asked in a low voice, “So, if Vin goes back with the others, will that change your mind about staying here?”

Chris smiled as she started undoing the buttons of his shirt. “I’m hoping to change his mind.”

“He doesn’t like me very much,” she said, her expression pouty.

“He’s just a little shy.”

”What about JD?” she asked, suddenly brightening as she slid his shirt off of his shoulders. “He likes me and he wants to stay.”

“Yeah,” Chris chuckled, suddenly having problems staying focused on the conversation. “That would probably last right up until he saw Buck get into the truck to head home.”

She gave him another pouty look. “Really?” Then leaned forward and put her lips to better use.

“H-He’s pretty attached to the big guy,” Chris managed to say, and then he pressed her closer and completely forgot that they were talking about anything at all.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Vin woke early in the morning, feeling a lot better than he had the night before. He’d fallen asleep almost the moment his head had hit the pillow, even though when he’d claimed to be tired at dinner, it had just been an excuse to get away; he hadn’t really felt that tired.

Glancing over at Ezra’s bed, he wasn’t surprised to find him still asleep. Ezra would sleep ‘til noon if they let him. JD wasn’t on the cot they’d set up, so Vin figured he must have slept out in the bunkhouse with Buck.

He’d fallen asleep thinking about what Chris had told them at dinner, and still couldn’t believe Chris was fixin’ to stay here. He also couldn’t believe that Chris had asked him if he wanted to stay, right in front of everyone. He knew he’d hurt Chris when he’d said he wanted to go home, and he hated to think about the way Chris had looked afterwards, but the truth was, he hated it here and he wished he’d never come here.

Ms. Gaines had lots of nice things like horses and animals and a TV that played videos and games. She had lots of things they didn’t have at home – things that seemed real important to Chris and Ezra and everyone else, even JD. Maybe he was being dumb, but he didn’t think that having more stuff could make you more happy. Ms. Gaines acted happy, but Vin didn’t think she really was. And he could tell that she didn’t like him much. She seemed to like JD a lot though, and he liked her too. Vin wasn’t too thrilled about that, but as long as she was nice to JD, he reckoned it was okay if JD liked her.

He just wanted to go home and have everything back the way it was before they came here.

Later, he’d have to have a talk with JD to let him know he wasn’t mad, and to try and explain why he didn’t want to stay. There are more important things than videos and ice cream. Besides, Mrs. Potter could make ice cream that tasted lots better than Ms. Gaines’ ice cream. When they got back, he’d have to ask her if maybe she’d make them some and then maybe JD wouldn’t be so sad about having to leave.

He wished he could think of some way to get Chris to come home, too, but he wasn’t sure how to go about that. Should he tell him about what they found upstairs? Vin wanted to tell him, but he was starting to think more and more that it wouldn’t be such a good idea. Chris wasn’t acting like his normal self, but he seemed real happy here. He seemed happier here with Ms. Gaines than Vin had ever seen him, which is why Vin couldn’t figure out why Chris had even asked him to stay here. He’d sure made it clear enough that he had better things to do now than hang around with Vin.

Vin was still pondering these things when he was suddenly hit in the face with a thick, fluffy pillow.

“You’re gonna regret that, Ez.”

“Oohh, I’m so frightened,” Ezra replied in a warbling voice, right before the pillow was returned, followed immediately by another. Ezra rubbed his nose, grabbed both pillows and glared at the younger boy. “Surely you know, sir,“ he said in a deeper than usual southern accent, “this means war!”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Ella had left the ranch sometime before lunch, telling Chris she needed to speak with a neighbor. Chris had offered to go with her but she’d encouraged him to stay and talk to Vin, then grabbed an automatic weapon and assured him she’d be just fine.

Chris had spent a good portion of the morning working out an entire speech in his head, not that it had done him any good. So far, Vin had made sure to stay just out of his reach all day.

By the time Ella returned he still hadn’t spoken with the boy. Feeling more than a little frustrated, he decided to spend some time working with the horses; at least he could manage to catch them. He’d just have to wait until bedtime to try and talk to Vin and if he still wasn’t able to get his attention, well, maybe he’d have to try using a lasso.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Vin sat for a long time on the steps of the big porch, both watching Chris and avoiding Ella at the same time. He was really impressed with the easy way Chris handled the horses, especially the big, ornery black one. After a while, he made his way slowly down to the corral and climbed up on the fence so he could get a better view.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Buck, JD riding on his shoulders, and the two sisters following at Buck’s heels. At breakfast, he’d thought for sure he was gonna barf. Both sisters sat close to Buck as they could, both making a big fuss over him. Buck had loved every minute of it – JD, too, since the bigger one was making just as much of a fuss over him.

Vin didn’t think much of the skinny sister, but he liked Hilda. She was really nice. The other sister was pretty on the outside, but he thought Hilda was pretty outside and inside where it mattered, too.

“You wanna ride, cowboy?” Chris asked, reining the horse up alongside the fence.

Vin smiled, eagerly climbing to the top of the fence and allowing Chris to hoist him into the saddle. “He’s comin’ along real good, huh?” Vin said, glancing at Chris over his shoulder.

“He sure is,” Chris replied, handing him the reins, seeming happy to be with him. For a moment, Vin wondered if he’d changed his mind about staying. “I figure if I keep working him like this, in a few more weeks, he’ll be gentle as Mary.” Vin gave him a look and Chris laughed. “Okay, maybe not, but he’ll be a lot better behaved.”

“You’re really gonna stay here?” Vin couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“Yeah, for a while.” Chris wrapped his arm more tightly around Vin’s waist. “Wish you’d stay, too.”

“How long are ya fixin’ to stay?”

“I don’t know for sure.” Vin thought he sounded a bit sad. “I guess long enough to make sure her stepson isn’t going to cause anymore trouble for her.” Vin knew he should probably care more about that, but all he cared about was the possibility of losing Chris. “After that . . . well, I’ll just have to see how things are working out.”

“You ain’t comin’ back are ya?” He knew it then. Chris didn’t plan on ever coming back. He said for a while because he didn’t want to admit he was leaving for good.

“I didn’t say that.”

”I want to get down now.” Vin told him, handing the reins back to Chris.

Chris trotted the horse over to the same place Vin had got on, but didn’t let go of him right away. “Honest, Vin, I haven’t made up my mind to stay here permanently. And even if I did, I’d still spend time at the Misison. I wish you’d just stay a week or two, give it a chance.”

Vin shook his head. “I don’t wanna stay here. I wanna go home.”

“Why couldn’t this be our home for a while?”

Vin squirmed out of his arms, then dismounted with Chris’ help. He looked at Chris for a long moment. “It just can’t,” he said quietly; then he took a deep breath and raised his chin. “I reckon you’re thinkin’ this place has everything ya need to be happy, but it don’t.”

Chris looked a little surprised.

“The folks here don’t do none of the things we do at the Mission. They have all this fancy stuff . . .. They could help a lot of people, but they don’t. What good is it to have all this stuff if ya only keep it all to yourself?”

Chris gave him a hard look, but nodded then looked away. “I don’t know, Vin. Maybe they’ve never had the opportunity?” he said quietly like he was trying to find an answer for himself.

Vin just shrugged. He didn’t know if Chris was right about that or not. Ms. Gaines had lots to offer, but she hadn’t gotten it by trading with anyone, at least she hadn’t mentioned it. In fact, they had talked about trading some generators and joked about how it turned out to be a good deal for the kids, ‘cause they had gotten a whole carton of bubble gum; she’d said she was thankful she didn’t have to do that kind of thing. Far as he knew, she kept everything to herself.

And there was nobody camped out on her property, nobody taking refuge there; she had mentioned having parties, having people stay there for a few days, but she hadn’t mentioned helping anyone and he couldn’t help but wonder at that. At the Mission and even at Wickes’ camp there was always folks showing up looking for shelter. But it didn’t look like anyone had ever found shelter here.

Just yesterday, she’d told a man who lived and worked there to leave, and her own stepson didn’t even want to live there with her. He could be wrong, but Ms. Gaines just didn’t seem like the type of person who cared to help anyone but herself.

“You best go get washed up for supper,” Chris said after a long silence. “I’ll be in after I put the horse up.”

Vin headed for the house, waving to Buck on his way in. Buck was sitting on the porch with a woman on each side and JD was nowhere around. Once he got inside he found JD with Ms. Gaines in the living room. They were sitting on the sofa looking through a big book.

“Hi, Vin!” JD called out. “Me and Miss Ella’s lookin’ at a caterlog.”

“That’s nice, JD,” he replied with a smile.

“Ya wanna come look with us? It’s got lotsa toys and stuff in it.”

“No, thanks.” He tried to make sure he sounded friendly. “I’m gonna go upstairs and see what Ez is up to.”

“Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes,” Ms. Gaines told him, then she pointed to something in the catalog and nudged JD. “Look at that!”

“Whoooeey! That’s cool!” JD said, sounding a lot like Buck; his big dark eyes filled with awe. Then he frowned scrunching up his nose. “What is it?”

Ms. Gaines laughed. “It’s a jungle gym, silly.”

“A what?” JD questioned.

Vin snorted and trotted up the stairs having no idea what a jungle gym was either.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Dinner was even less cheerful than it had been the night before. They discussed again how much longer they’d be staying and decided that most likely another day would be enough. They hadn’t heard from Ms. Gaines’ stepson, and she said that she doubted he’d be back, but regardless, she felt safe as long as Chris was staying on.

Vin chose not to have dessert even though it was little cups of chocolate ice cream. Instead, he asked permission to be excused and sullenly went up the stairs to the room he was staying in. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at the carpet, feeling totally drained when he heard the soft knock on the door. He knew right away it was Chris. Before he could acknowledge the knock, Chris opened the door and entered the room. “Hey there,” he said, standing in front of Vin. “Mind if I sit down?”

Vin nodded.

The bed squeaked as Chris sat beside him putting his arm around Vin and giving him a squeeze. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah,” he replied, leaning into Chris.

“How come you don’t like it here?”

Vin thought about that for a while, but couldn’t narrow it down to a specific reason. He just had a bad feeling about this place, about Ms. Gaines. He’d felt uncomfortable around her from the moment he’d laid eyes on her, but if he said that he knew he’d only sound stupid.

“Can you tell me what it is that don’t you like?”

Vin shrugged. He wanted to tell Chris that he didn’t like *Ella*. It also crossed his mind again to tell him about the things they’d found upstairs in the attic but, again, he wasn’t sure how to go about it. He knew it would be better for him to tell Buck or Josiah first, but so far he hadn’t had a chance. The more he thought about it, the more he felt Chris needed to know about the stuff upstairs. At first, he hadn’t wanted to ruin his happiness, but then he got to worryin’ about what might happen after they left. What if he found out about the stuff then, and was sad, or mad, and none of them were around to help him? But, how could he tell Chris about the awful things they’d found?

“Did the boys that were here yesterday scare you?”

Vin shrugged again. “A little.”

“I know it scared me when they shot at the house,” Chris told him, his voice gentle. “I was afraid you might have been hurt.”

When Vin didn’t respond, Chris sighed and then continued, “You know you can talk to me, Vin,” he said sincerely.

Vin looked up at him with worry in his eyes. “Don’t want ya to feel bad.”

Chris nodded and took a deep breath then let it out slowly. “Well, I gotta tell you, buddy, I’m already feeling kinda bad,” he admitted. “I’m thinking maybe if you’d at least talk to me, well, maybe we’d both feel a little better.”

Vin was pretty sure that telling Chris about what they’d found would only make them both feel a lot worse.

“You know, Ella ain’t so bad, once you get to know her.”

Vin turned to face Chris, looking startled by the man’s words.

“She can be a lot of fun,” he said with a fond smile. “I’ll bet you’d like her if you gave her a chance.”

The boy frowned at that, and the next thing he knew he’d started blurting out the information that had been weighing on him so heavily. “Me and Ez found things up in the attic, yesterday.”

Chris frowned then looked at him with a puzzled expression. “What things?”

Vin swallowed hard, his throat was hurting again and he wondered if it had more to do with his struggle for words than it did with being sick. “Your things . . .” he swallowed again, thinking this was a lot harder than he’d thought it would be, “pictures and stuff. I think some of it was from your house that burned down.”

“From my house that burned down?” Chris repeated, looking even more confused.

“Yeah,” he decided maybe he should start at the beginning, “Me and Ez wanted to go explorin’, but the door . . . down at the end of the hall was locked, so he got the lock to open and we went upstairs to the attic and that’s where we found . . ..” Maybe if he could just get Chris to go up and look for himself then he wouldn’t have to say what they’d found. “Your stuff. It’s up in the attic.” He moved to get the bandanna and harmonica from under the mattress, but Chris stilled him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Wait a minute.” Chris was staring at him, looking serious, maybe even angry. “You know better than to go around picking locks and snooping around in peoples attics! What were you thinking?”

Vin sat there stunned for a long moment and then he shook his head slowly not knowing what to say. Now that he thought about it, Chris was right, they’d had no business going up there, especially since the door had been locked. At the time though, he’d just thought of it as . . . as explorin’. He shrugged his shoulders finding that he had to blink and look away from the accusing eyes. Chris had never looked at him that way before and it frightened him. He suddenly wished he’d never gone explorin’ with Ezra, never found that stuff up in the attic, and never opened his big mouth about it. But, more than anything, he wished he’d never come to this place.

Neither one of them said anything for what seemed like a very long time then Chris turned to him on the bed, still looking a little angry but obviously trying to tone it down some. “If you don’t want to stay here, I guess there’s not much I can do about that, right now. I can’t make you like Ms. Gaines either, but I want you to at least respect her and her property while you’re here. Now, I’m gonna forget you two were snooping around in her things, but I don’t want to hear about you doing anything like that ever again. You understand?”

Vin nodded, a tingling, numbing sensation creeping over his entire body. He could hardly get his mind to accept that Chris wasn’t mad at Ella -- Chris was mad at him. He scooted over on the bed, for the first time ever, wanting to get far away from Chris, unable to stand the anger and accusation he saw directed at him.

This can’t be happening, he thought to himself. He didn’t want to lose Chris like he’d lost everyone else. You can only count on one person, he reminded himself of Ezra’s words, because as soon as you start to depend on anyone else they always let you down . . . or disappear. And he knew from experience that Ezra was right.

Chris ran a hand through his hair then let out a sigh and stood up. “Get some sleep, Vin,” he said.

Vin closed his eyes, but he didn’t hear Chris leave. In fact, Vin could practically feel Chris’ eyes on him and found it hard not to squirm farther away. He wondered why Chris was still there, but he was afraid to ask . . . afraid to open his eyes and look, because he might see the stranger, or worse, he might see a glimmer of the Chris he’d known, the Chris he was losing. He rolled over, curling his body away from Chris, and tried to hold back the tears and grief he felt rising. Some time later he heard the door open then close and knew that Chris was no longer there.

Vin had expected to feel relieved when Chris was finally gone, but all he felt was alone.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

After leaving Vin’s room, Chris went back downstairs and was surprised to find everyone still sitting at the table. They were all talking quietly, sipping coffee, just like they spent most evenings at the Mission. Chris joined them at the table, but found it difficult to keep focused on what was being said. He couldn’t stop thinking about Vin.

It wasn’t like Vin belonged to him. Vin wasn’t his son; there were no papers declaring he had any obligation toward Vin. Everything between them was completely unspoken, and until now that had always been enough. He wanted Vin to stay with him, but he didn’t know that he had the right to demand anything of the boy.

There was no longer a court system in America; there were no lawyers or judges to decide what or who belonged to who, or what rights anyone had. The reality was that Vin Tanner wasn’t legally his son; therefore Chris had no right to tell him what to do or where to live. For some reason Chris just couldn’t get his mind to accept that. It didn’t seem right.

Chris had never liked ultimatums, but here he was being forced to choose between Ella and Vin, even though neither of them had come out and said so.

He glanced at Ella, who just smiled calmly back at him then reached over, squeezed his thigh and flicked her eyes toward the stairs. The woman had a one-track mind, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe he needed a good nights sleep, or at least something to get his mind off of his worries for a while? Maybe things would make more sense in the morning? He gave Ella a subtle nod then yawned and stretched his arms out. “Well, boys, I think I’m gonna turn in.”

Buck laughed out loud then turned to him with a wink. “Right. Well, reckon we’ll see you in the mornin’, stud. JD’s gonna bunk with me tonight.”

JD beamed up at Buck.

“No!” Ella sat up straight in her chair, looking almost panicked. “He shouldn’t sleep out there. It gets cold this time of year; he might catch a chill.”

Buck gave her an odd look but then smiled. “Don’t you worry, none, ma’am. I’ll make sure he’s covered up good.”

Ella looked like she might just continue her protest, but Chris nudged her. “He slept out there last night, Ella. Don’t worry, Buck always takes good care of him.”

She stared at him with what appeared to be alarm, which puzzled him until she smiled and seemed to relax.

“Well, I’m sleeping upstairs,” Ezra informed them, like it was beneath him to sleep out in the bunkhouse. Chris studied Ezra for a long moment, thinking about Vin’s admission of their breaking and entering activities. Ezra noticed he was being scrutinized and began to squirm nervously in the chair, his guilty green eyes darted around the room perhaps looking for a route of escape.

Deciding a confrontation with Ezra could wait until later Chris stood up then stood by Ella’s chair, taking her hand as she rose. “Sorry,” she said, looking from Buck to Chris, laughing a little. “I guess I was being a little overprotective?”

“I remember you telling me once that you didn’t have any motherly instincts,” Chris said, half joking as he escorted her up the stairs.

“Yes,” she smiled, looking a little embarrassed. “Well, I may have acquired one or two over the years.”

“Riiight.”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Vin kept his eyes closed and pretended to be asleep when he heard Ezra come into the room and turn on the small lamp. Apparently Ezra wasn’t fooled. “Did you tell him what we found upstairs?” he asked sitting down on the edge of Vin’s bed.

Vin rolled over so he was facing Ezra, squinting at the brightness of the small light between the two beds. He rubbed his eyes then nodded. “Yeah.”

“I thought so. When he came back downstairs he was glaring at me. I thought for sure I’d spontaneously combust.” In spite of that, Ezra didn’t seem too worried. “So, what did he say about her little collection?”

Vin shrugged, but a frown creased his forehead. “I don’t think he cared.”

“What? You’re joking?”

“Nope,” replied Vin. “He sure got mad at me, though. Said for us not to go snoopin’ around no more.”

The older boy looked stunned. “Did you tell him about the photographs and everything?”

“I tried to, but he got real mad. Didn’t give me a chance to say a whole lot.” Just talking about it made Vin feel like he might cry. “When I told him we found his things, from the fire . . . well, he didn’t want to hear no more than that.”

Ezra didn’t say anything for a long time. He got up and put on his pajamas, while Vin lay back on his pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

“Perhaps tomorrow we should try telling Buck?”

Vin shrugged and then closed his eyes. He heard a click as Ezra shut off the lamp and the rustle of bedding as he settled under the blankets, followed by a long sigh. “Don’t worry, Vin. Everything will work out all right. You’ll see.”

But Vin didn’t think that anything would ever be all right again.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris lay there in the dark staring up at the ceiling. Beside him, Ella had been sleeping for hours. The woman had managed to leave him exhausted every night, so far. Tonight, though, despite his weariness, he was unable to fall asleep. He couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Vin -- the look on his face was stuck in Chris’ mind. He’d looked stunned, lost, bereft, almost the same way he’d looked when Chris had first met him. Of course, then he’d just gotten out of Wickes’ camp, just found and then lost his father, all in the same week.

Sudden realization made his heart ache. In Vin’s eyes, he was losing Chris, just like he’d lost his father. The knowledge that Chris hadn’t seen it earlier made the ache even worse. He couldn’t do that to Vin, not after all they’d been through, but he wasn’t sure how to fix things, because he didn’t want to leave Ella either. She’d been a little desperate tonight, promising him things that maybe she hadn’t entirely meant. She’d only known they were important to him, though. She’d said she could give him a son, that they could start a family of their own. He’d known it was just her way of trying to make up for his loss, to make him happy, and maybe a little extra incentive for him to stay? She’d never had a child, so she couldn’t possibly know that there was no way to replace a child you’ve lost.

Maybe he didn’t have to lose Vin, though. Maybe he could have both? There was no reason he couldn’t spend time there, no reason he couldn’t still do his share and help out whenever they needed him. The commute could be done on horseback, and that was something he and Vin could do together. Maybe there was a way to bind the ranch and the Mission together? With all their resources combined, they’d sure be a force to be reckoned with.

A sense of peace finally settled over him, and he found himself drifting, his mind still envisioning plans for the future, his heart longing for the morning, and his arms aching to hold Vin.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Vin had a hard time falling asleep that night. He’d feel like he was starting to doze off only to find himself wide-awake again. He was somewhere between the two when he heard a noise in the room that woke him up completely. He held perfectly still, trying to keep his breathing steady and even. He listened, could hear Ezra snoring softly but nothing else, so he opened his eyes just a fraction. It was dark but the moon was bright, illuminating the room enough for him to be able to make out shadows and objects. Then he noticed the curtain was rippling inward, which could only mean that the window was open and he knew it hadn’t been open before.

He heard a creak on the floorboards and then the slide of a dresser drawer. He moved just enough to be able to see whoever it was in the room with them. The figure stood up then and turned right toward them. Vin closed his eyes, and held still, silently praying that the person would think he was sleeping. He heard footsteps coming closer, and was ready to jump out of the bed and scream for Chris, but the footsteps ceased and nothing happened.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just getting some of my stuff.” A voice whispered.

Vin opened his eyes knowing that it was Ella’s stepson.

“This is my room,” he said. “Or it used to be, anyway.”

Vin didn’t say anything, didn’t know why the teenager was saying anything to him. Maybe he was just hoping Vin would let him get his stuff without causing a scene.

“We decided that we’re not coming back here anymore,” the boy told him. “We’re gonna go somewhere else. Somewhere far away.” Vin thought he sounded a little sad about that.

“Is your dad gonna be staying with Ella now?”

Vin shook his head. He didn’t know if the kid was trying to get information from him or just talking, so all he said was, “Chris ain’t my dad.” He heard the bed next to him shift and knew Ezra was awake now, too.

“Well, whoever he is, I hope he don’t cross Ella or he’ll end up just like my dad.”

“What happened to your dad?” He thought he’d heard that he was killed in a prison riot.

“It’s kind of a long story, but my mom was killed in a car accident.” He paused for a moment, then leaned against the bed and continued. “Ella and my dad got married a few months later. Not too long after that, I heard her talking – whispering to someone on the phone. She was telling them not to worry, that the police had already ruled it was an accident, and nobody would find out otherwise. I tried to tell my dad, but he didn’t believe me. Told me never to mention it again and sent me to a shrink. For a while, I wondered if he was in on it, too, but I don’t think he was.”

Vin took a deep breath, not knowing what to say, or why this stranger was telling him all of this. Oh yeah, he’d asked.

“Anyway, my dad was at the penitentiary when the attacks came. He sent Ella home, but he stayed there. We didn’t hear anything, didn’t know if he was okay or not, until a few nights later. A bunch of men showed up here in the middle of the night. They were driving my dad’s brand new Hummer, but I didn’t see my dad. I knew right then that he was dead, ‘cause he wouldn’t have let nobody drive that truck if he had breath left in his body. Ella went out to talk to the men and I saw some of them were still dressed in prison clothes.” The kid shook his head like he still couldn’t believe it. “The window was open and I tried to hear what they were saying, but I couldn’t. All I know is that Ella let ‘em have a bunch of our supplies and they drove away in my dad’s Hummer. The next day when I woke up, she said some of the guards from the penitentiary had come during the night and told her my dad was dead.” He took a deep breath. “Never knew no guards that went around dressed in bright orange prison clothes.”

Vin didn’t know this boy, but he found himself believing everything he was saying. Should he tell this to Chris, he wondered. Then he doubted that Chris would believe him.

“Didn’t a prison gang kill Chris’ family?” Ezra spoke up quietly, startling Vin.

“Yeah.”

The older kid huffed out quiet laughter, but Vin didn’t ask what he thought was funny.

“Well, I best get moving. We’re heading for Purgatory.”

“Purgatory?”

“Yeah, a town, south of here. Used to be called something else, but it was abandoned after the attacks. Now only kids live there, they call it Purgatory. No adults anywhere around.”

Ezra and Vin looked at each other and Ezra asked, “No adults?”

“Nope.”

“Well now, that sounds more like Utopia than Purgatory.”

The older boy studied the two younger ones for a long moment, “You’re kinda little, but if you wanted, I guess you could come with us.”

“Really?” Ezra sounded hopeful.

“It would probably be better than staying here . . . with her. We’re leaving at first light. If you want to come, there’s a bridge about two or three miles down the road, that way,” he said, gesturing a hand in direction. “Meet us there at dawn.”

“We just might take you up on that offer,” Ezra said, thoughtfully.

“Whatever you do,” even in the darkness Vin could see the boy’s expression turn hard, “don’t you dare tell anyone else about Purgatory, okay?”

Both Ezra and Vin nodded solemnly; then they watched as the boy slung a duffel bag over his shoulder, climbed out the bedroom window and disappeared into the night.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris woke up sometime before dawn, thinking he’d heard a noise, but not entirely sure. He listened carefully for a minute or two, hearing nothing more than the wind blowing at a pretty good clip outside the window. He glanced toward the alarm clock out of a long ingrained habit, noting the time at the same moment his brain registered gratefulness over the simple fact that there was an alarm clock to look at. Back at the Mission, there was no alarm clock in their camper because they simply couldn’t spare their precious energy on things like that.

It was 5:25AM; the sun would be coming up in an hour or so. Ella was sleeping on her side with her back to Chris, and he was a little surprised to find an inch or so of space between the two of them. He yawned, thinking he should probably try to go back to sleep, but then he heard a muffled thump that sounded as if it had come from the boys’ room across the hall.

As quietly as possible he crawled out of the bed, grateful when Ella didn’t stir at all. He pulled on his jeans and slipped out of the room, pausing only to stand at the boys’ closed door and listen for a moment. When he didn’t hear anything else, he twisted the knob and peered into the room. Both boys looked to be sleeping and he could see nothing out of the ordinary, so he backed out of the room and closed the door again.

He stood in the hallway near the top of the stairs, trying to listen for anything from upstairs or down. The house was dark and still, and when he heard nothing more than the wind blowing outside, he decided that whatever he thought he heard must have only been the wind. He almost went back to bed himself, but something made him stop to study the door at the end of the hall -- the door that Vin had told him led to the attic. What had Vin been saying about finding something of his up there?

His curiosity got the best of him and he walked down the hallway, trying the knob and finding it locked. He fingered the keys in his jeans pocket, knowing that he had a tool there that would easily open the lock, and feeling more than a little guilty when he took it out and used it. The lock opened without problem and he felt a chilly draft on his bare feet when he opened the door. As he crept up the staircase, he thought about the harsh way he’d spoken to Vin earlier, when he’d scolded him for snooping around. ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’ He smiled, remembering how his dad would use that whenever Chris busted him doing something he’d previously scolded Chris for doing. Now, he knew for certain that the words were merely a quick cover for a guilty conscience.

As he stopped to jimmy the lock on the door at the top of the stairs, it occurred to him that he’d never gotten the chance to use that theory with his own son. In fact, there were a lot of things he’d experienced with Vin that he’d never been given the chance to with Adam. Having Vin in his life had been such a blessing to him and he’d been taking it all for granted. He of all people ought to know better than that. Somehow he had to make things right with Vin and let him know how he felt.

There was the tiniest hint of light inside the cold room, coming from a triangular shaped, stained glass window high up on the wall. It was enough that after his eyes adjusted a little he could barely make out a white string dangling a few feet in front of him that he assumed led to a light bulb. He decided that if the light worked, he’d look around, if not he’d go back downstairs and forget about it.

Whatever she had stored away up here, whatever Vin had seen -- if it was his stuff -- must be junk he’d left behind when he’d made his break from her all those years ago. It couldn’t be anything that had ever mattered much to him because he’d never noticed anything missing. But, still . . . he was curious to see what she’d been holding onto for all these years.

When the light switched on, he looked around the room, immediately getting an eerie, chilling sensation that sent a shiver up the length of his spine. He looked around, guessing that the attic must have been used as a church at one time -- most likely because there hadn’t been and there still wasn’t a real church within 100 miles of the place. There were four finely crafted wooden pews set before an altar that was cluttered with various objects. Above the altar was the stained glass window that had a depiction of a hill with three crosses, against a dark crimson colored sky with jagged bolts of lightning coming down from it.

The room smelled old and musty, like it had been closed up for years, but there was no dust or cobwebs that he could see. Then another scent caught his attention. As he took a few steps toward the altar the stench of soot and smoke and ashes filled his nostrils.

Chris glanced at the stained glass window again and forced himself to keep walking toward the altar. As he got closer, the acrid smell intensified, triggering painful, unwanted memories, and making him feel slightly nauseous. A few feet away, he paused to let his eyes travel over the items laid out there. The cross that was supposed to be mounted on a center platform of the altar had been knocked over and pushed aside, apparently to make room for the other objects to fit there.

A lot of the things were burnished or blackened with soot, but not all of them. One thing in particular caught his eye: A uniquely designed frame in pristine condition. He knew it well, could remember looking at it almost everyday -- in its place atop his and Sarah’s bedroom dresser. Sarah had bought it on their honeymoon and it still contained the photograph. The frame itself was undamaged, apparently untouched by the fire, but the picture inside . . .. With a shaky hand, he reverently traced his fingertips over the glass covering the marred photograph. Grief welled up inside him as he lifted the frame and stared in bewilderment at the gouged out section that had once been the image of his bride’s beautiful face.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

As soon as the door closed, Ezra and Vin opened their eyes. Vin’s back had been toward the door, so he whispered, “Who was it?”

“Chris,” Ezra whispered back, then let out a relieved breath. “That was close!”

Vin nodded, then looked a little puzzled when Ezra threw the blankets back and climbed out of bed. “What are you doing?”

He started pulling his clothes on, but glanced up at Vin. “The Macarena. What does it look like I’m doing?”

Vin rolled his eyes. “Getting dressed, but why?”

“I’m going to Purgatory.”

That made Vin sit up. “Why?”

“Why not?” he replied, grabbing a t-shirt and pulling it over his head. “It sounds like the perfect place. No adults . . . no one to tell you what to do, or not to do . . ..” He pulled another shirt and buttoned it up. “No one to tell you where to go . . .” he pulled on a fleece sweatshirt and looked at Vin pointedly, “or leave you behind.”

Vin frowned for a moment, trying to puzzle things together. Ezra was leaving, to go with a bunch of teenagers, to a place where there were no grown-ups? Okay, it had its good sounding points, but truthfully, he wasn’t sure he believed there was such a place. And grown-ups had their good points, too. At least some of them did. Chris and Buck and the others had always taken good care of him. They made sure he had food, clothes and a warm place to sleep. They took care of him when he was sick . . ..

Some part of his mind whispered a reminder to him that all of that was about to change. That he was about to lose Chris, and he’d already pretty much lost Buck, and even if he went back to the Mission he couldn’t imagine that anything would ever be the same again.

“Are you coming?”

Vin stood up and gathered his clothing, deciding he might as well go. Because if he didn’t, he’d lose Ezra, too.

Ezra grinned at him. “Think of it as an adventure.” He quietly slid the window open and looked down to the ground below. “Hmm . . . I don’t think we’ll be able to go this way.”

Vin hurriedly dressed, still buttoning his flannel shirt as he joined the older boy at the window ledge. Whoa, that was a long way down. He wondered how the other boy had gotten up there to begin with.

“Perhaps he had a ladder?”

Vin nodded. “Must have.”

“Well, in any case, I suggest we make our exit the conventional way.”

Vin grinned at him. “Chicken?”

Ezra grinned back, gestured out the window. “Are you volunteerin’ to go first?”

Vin looked down again then backed up and shook his head. “Heck no.”

“Well, then, shall we Mr. Tanner?”

“Quit callin’ me that,” then he smirked, “Ez.”

Ezra rolled his eyes and gave Vin a shove toward the door. “Get going, Pipsqueak.”

“Wait a minute.” Vin moved to the side of his bed, reached under the mattress and pulled out Chris’ bandanna and the old harmonica. He stuffed the harmonica in his back pocket then tied the bandanna around his neck like a cowboy. “Okay, I’m ready.” He grinned and gave Ezra a playful shove. “Hurry up. We ain’t got all day.”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris stood at the altar, not feeling the chill of the air, nor the goosebumps that covered his bare flesh. He held the frame tightly to his chest as he looked more closely at the other objects laid out before him, most of them ruined, but some things completely in tact. His good watch, a bottle of his brand of cologne . . . oh God. “My baby . . ..” he whispered brokenly, setting down the one frame and picking up another. He stared in disbelief at the photograph, remembering with clarity that the image had been of him, Sarah and Adam, taken right after he and Buck had set up the front porch swing.

“What are you doing, Chris?”

Chris spun around, grief and pain instantly turning to rage. “Where did you get these things?” he demanded.

She smiled at him, apparently unconcerned that he had found her secret collection. “They were brought to me after the fire.”

“The fire? But . . .. You--”

“Well, I couldn’t just let her have you, Chris,” she said patiently, as if talking to a small child. “You belong to me.”

Chris stared at her, emotions twisting his face into a mixture of rage, despair and confusion. Then he squeezed his eyes closed, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking several ragged breaths, trying to think of any rational explanation for this horrifically bizarre situation.

“I love you. I’ve always loved you, Chris,” she said calmly, smiling and reaching up to touch his face. “And now you know just how much.”

Finally, he managed to make his voice work, barely. “I-I don’t understand.” He didn’t want to understand. It was just . . . crazy – insane. He’d seen a lot over the years, dealt with a lot of psychotics, criminals and murderers during his years working homicide, but he just could not comprehend that something like this could happen -- was happening -- to him. That someone he knew, intimately, could be capable of such an unspeakable act.

“I won’t allow anyone to come between us,” she told him, her eyes darkly intense.

Chris stood there seemingly dumbfounded as he worked to fit all the puzzle pieces together. He held out the frame, what was left of the photograph, taking a long moment to stare at the remains of what had been his happy family, his happy life.

Slowly, he looked up until his eyes met Ella’s. He could see no remorse there, no regret or even the slightest hint of sympathy. But she did seem to be growing impatient that he was taking so long to process everything. His mind flashed back to the scene of the fire: he and Buck bound to the big tree, struggling desperately against the ropes, watching the house burn, knowing his family was inside, knowing they were dying horribly, and being utterly helpless to do anything to save them. Then, something snapped inside him and he took a step toward her, letting the frame slip from his hand and fall to the floor; his soul thought was that he would need both hands to choke the life out of her.

“I did what I had to do,” she told him, suddenly anxious now. Even as she backed toward the door, she reached out for him, her eyes pleading for him to understand. “Don’t you see, I had to do it so we could be together.”

Chris pushed away the hand reaching out to him. He advanced on her steadily, purposefully moving forward as she tried to back away.

Somewhere in the distance he heard the sound of breaking glass followed by gunshots, but he ignored it, letting vengeance consume all of his rational thoughts. Ella turned sideways at the stairs, going down each step slowly, still calling his name and trying to reason with him. He followed her down the stairs, down the hallway and down the second set of stairs. Like a cat toying with a mouse, he enjoyed watching her panic grow. She would not escape him.

Then, as she stepped down the very last step, the front door burst open. Buck looked up at him, his eyes wild. “Chris we got to get the boys! The house is on fire!”

And Ella was pushing past Buck, running out the door before Chris could tell Buck to grab her. He wanted to go after her, but Buck was already racing up the stairs two at a time. Chris automatically followed him, some part of his brain registering that they needed to get the boys to safety, first.

They nearly busted the door down only to find an empty room. With frantic urgency they shouted for the boys, looking under the beds and in the closet before dashing out of the room. “Where the hell are they?” Buck asked, ready to bust down the other doors.

“I’ll look downstairs,” Chris told him, then rushed down the steps as fast as he could. He’d already lost one son to fire, he’d be damned if he was going to lose another.

Buck lifted a hand, ready to pound on one of the doors, but it opened and Hilda looked fearfully up at him. “Buck? What’s going on?”

Buck didn’t want her to panic, so he tried to sound calm. “The house is on fire. We need to get you out.”

She was already dressed, but turned from the doorway. “I need my shoes. Are the boys out? What about Jeanie?”

“Chris is lookin’ for the boys. I haven’t seen ‘em yet. Hurry up now.” He knocked on the door opposite of Hilda’s. “Jeanie?” When he got no answer, he forced the door open and went into the room.

Hilda heard the shriek of surprise from her sister, and heard Buck telling her about the fire and that she needed to hurry and get some clothes on. She slipped her shoes on and looked up and down the hallway, immediately noticing the attic door was wide open. “Oh no, the boys . . ..” she whispered with dread, knowing that the door was always kept closed. She glanced once more into her sister’s room, thankful that she was getting dressed. Buck was holding her shoes, coaxing her to hurry. She heard Mr. Larabee shouting for the boys downstairs, but she was pretty sure he wouldn’t find them down there.

Thick, black smoke had already started to billow up the corner of the living room wall and she knew the old house was likely to go up in a hurry. She hurried for the open attic door; her only thought to save the boys.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris ran back up the stairs just as Buck dragged Jeanie from her bedroom. “Go on now! Hurry!” he ordered, guiding her urgently toward the staircase. “Any luck?” he asked Chris, watching as Jeanie made for the front door. Chris was standing at Ella’s bedroom door, hurriedly pulling his boots on and wearing a shirt now, although he had yet to button it up. The house was filling with smoke, flames were licking up one of the walls and it was already getting hard to breathe.

“No, I didn’t find them,” Chris said, “I checked the basement, too. The whole back part of the house is on fire!”

“I’m gonna go look up them stairs,” Buck told him pointing toward the attic door, but Chris grabbed his arm.

“No, I was up there already. They aren’t there.”

“Okay, so what now?” They both looked once more in the boys’ room, then Ella’s room just to be sure, and then headed back down the stairs, barely making it to the bottom before the entire staircase went up in flames. They ran outside, hoping that they’d find the boys out there.

“We let the horses out of the barn,” Nathan said, handing a crying JD over to Buck then pointing to the section of the barn that had caught fire. JD wrapped his arms around Buck’s neck and laid his sooty face against the big man’s shoulder. Buck whispered shushing noises and patted his back as the little boy cried quietly, his eyes streaming tears, his nose running.

“What the hell happened?” Chris shouted, noticing that the bunkhouse was completely engulfed in flames. The wind was blowing, too, fanning the fire; spreading it to the surrounding buildings.

Josiah came jogging over to them looking as soot-covered as JD. “Where are the other boys?”

“We can’t find them!” Buck said.

”Dammit where could they be?” Chris looked desperate.

Jeanie was suddenly there, pulling on Buck’s sleeve. “Where’s Hilda?”

“What?” Buck looked confused. “I sent her out before I woke you up.”

“Nobody else came out that I saw,” Nathan told them.

“She’s still in there?” Chris asked.

“Oh shit, Chris,” Buck said, stricken. “She knew we couldn’t find the boys. What if she went up them stairs to look for them?” Just then there was a loud crash as the bunkhouse collapsed in on itself.

Chris suddenly looked like he might throw up. Buck handed JD back to Nathan and dashed back toward the house.

“Buck!” They all shouted at the same time as Buck ran through the flames and into the house.

Chris started to follow him, but Josiah grabbed a hold of him and said, “We gotta get out of here fast; as soon as that barn goes up it’s gonna take those gas tanks and everything else with it.”

“Okay, you boys take one more quick look around,” Chris ordered, “and then run for that tree line and keep going. Get as far away as you can. I’ll get Buck!”

“Buck!” he called out through the roaring of the flames. He spotted his friend standing still, staring with desperation at the place where the staircase used to be. If Hilda was up there, there was no way they could get to her, and most likely, she was already gone.

Chris fought his way through the smoke and flames, grabbing Buck by the arm, half pulling - half pushing him back toward the front door. It was no longer possible for them to get out that way, though. That part of the ceiling had collapsed, blocking the doorway and flames were quickly eating up the floor, spreading out across the front wall. He ran past the door to the opposite side of the house, still dragging Buck, and managing to pick up a chair on the way through the parlor. He let go of Buck long enough to swing the chair through a thick leaded glass window then took hold of his friend again, prompting him through the window frame then following close behind.

His left pant-leg caught on something as he cleared the window; there was a sharp pain when he yanked it free, but he paid no attention to it. Once out, he focused on keeping a hold of Buck, forcing him to keep up as he made a dash across the yard. Both men were coughing hard, struggling to catch their breath and run at the same time. Although his eyes were stinging and tearing, Chris could see the blurry forms of their friends a short distance ahead of them, still running, trying to outrun the impending explosion. The calf of his leg was starting to throb; the pain intensifying each time his left foot hit the ground. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered that he must have pulled something, injured it some way, but at the moment he didn’t have time to stop.

They were all still running when it hit, the force of it rocking the landscape and tossing them through the air like rag dolls.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

“What was that?” Vin asked, halting in his tracks, turning to look at Ezra with wide eyes.

Ezra was frowning, looking back in the direction they’d just come from. Even though he couldn’t see the house from where they were, he could see a thick column of smoke rising into the air. “An explosion?” he guessed, looking more than a little horrified. “Like, a really big one.”

Vin’s face went white as a sheet. “Chris!” he shouted, and took off at a near sprint back up the hillside, Ezra on his heels. When the boys reached the top of the hill they both stopped, looking down at the horrible scene in the valley below. They were close enough to see the huge smoking crater, the fire still shooting out of the ground where the house, barn and bunkhouse had been, just moments ago. Vin dropped to his knees, staring in shock. “No . . ..”

Ezra could see no movement, no signs of life. There were two buildings, equipment sheds, still standing, mostly in tact, but he doubted anyone had been in either one. They’d all been sleeping when he and Vin had snuck out. Nobody could have survived something like that and there was no way he was going back to check. Neither was Vin, if he had anything to say about it.

He kneeled beside Vin, letting his friend have a moment of grief, which was a moment longer than he was comfortable with. Then, as gently as he could, he took hold of his arm and tugged. “Come on, Vin. We have to go.” It was the truth. The sun was already up in the sky, and they needed to get to the bridge before the others left. For all he knew, they were already too late.

Surprisingly, Vin didn’t protest. He allowed Ezra to guide him back toward the road. They watched as two vehicles sped over the hill, the first truck going air born for an instant before its tires reconnected with the road. Both vehicles flew by, never slowing down and leaving a trail of dust behind. It took only a moment for Ezra to realize that the first vehicle had been driven by Ms. Gaines. He didn’t know who was in the second vehicle, but he had an idea. He’d seen a Hummer before, and knew that at one time it had been an extremely coveted, extremely expensive vehicle. He doubted there was even a chance of finding two models in the same state.

When they came to the bridge, there was no sign of the boys they’d planned to meet. Ezra paused, wondering if they should turn back and head north. He knew his mother was in Virginia City, which was north, but he had no idea of how to get there. He supposed they’d eventually run into some form of civilization, someone who’d be able to direct them – but there was even more of a chance that they’d run into miscreants who would only cause them trouble.

If they went south perhaps they’d eventually find Purgatory on their own? Or perhaps they’d catch up with the other boys? More than likely they were on the same road and if they just kept going they’d be able to catch up.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that there was more of a possibility of them catching up to the boys, or finding Purgatory than there was of them making it to Virginia City or finding Maude. “Come on, Vin,” he said, guiding him over the bridge.

As they continued following the road, southward, Ezra had a sudden, painful urge to see his mother. It was something he felt more often than he liked, but would never reveal to another soul. Not even Vin. He tried not to think of his mother coming back for him and finding only a gaping hole where the ranch had been. He wondered if they should maybe stick around there for a few days, just incase she would show up, but knowing his mother she was still in Virginia City - ‘working’, and if they waited, and she didn’t show up, there was that much less of a chance they’d catch up to the other youths. He forced himself not to turn around -- to continue in the direction they were going – letting the anger he felt over his mother’s unpredictability keep him in motion.

Vin hadn’t said a word since the explosion; he was trudging along, stone-faced, his head lowered, fists clenched. Ezra wished his friend would say something – anything -- just so he’d know that he hadn’t gone back into his non-speaking mode.

He knew Vin was grieving over Chris, Buck and JD and the others; he knew his friend was feeling their losses much more than he was. Ezra was trying hard not to think about it, trying to keep his mind focused on other things, like their survival, but he doubted that Vin would be able to do that for a while. Ezra was worried about Vin; he wanted badly to ask his friend if he was okay, but he was afraid to hear the answer, afraid that he’d be incapable of dealing with the emotions Vin might display. As Vin would say, he was a chicken.

Instead of offering shallow-sounding words of sympathy or encouragement, Ezra decided to let his actions speak for him. He vowed to himself that he’d stick by Vin, keep him going, keep him safe and do whatever needed doing as long as Vin needed him to. It was what Vin would do for him if the tables were turned.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Buck had never been so happy to see that old monastery. He was glad to be home, but now that they were, it was painfully apparent that they were missing one of their own. Two, if you counted Ezra. And, three if you counted Chris – because it was all too plain that Chris was only here in body; his soul was somewhere else entirely.

Nettie Wells had taken good care of their horses while they’d been away, but now apparently the responsibility had fallen to Buck. It broke his heart to look at those horses, to look at Vin’s little colt – all legs, playful and full of mischief.

Chris was in no shape to be riding, or mucking out stalls, which was probably a good thing for now. It would tear Chris up to see that little horse growing like a weed, romping around like everything was fine and dandy. And Chris surely didn’t need to see that every time Buck entered the stable, the colt would tilt its head and try to nudge him out of the way so he could find his boy.

God, Vin . . . where are you? He couldn’t seem to stop asking that question, even if there was no one who could give him an answer. In the aftermath of the fire and explosion, they’d found no trace of either Vin or Ezra. As soon as the earth had stopped shaking and they’d been able to get to their feet, he’d noticed Chris had been wounded. His friend’s dark jeans had been torn from knee to ankle, and beneath the material there had been a huge gash running down his leg.

Nathan had wrapped it tightly, trying to staunch the liberal flow of blood. Chris had insisted he was fine and able to help search for the boys, in spite of the doctor’s protests. Sure enough, after a few hours of walking around the man had nearly passed out from the loss of blood. By then, Nathan had managed to scrounge up a needle and thread in one of the machinery sheds and ended up putting about fifty stitches in the stubborn man’s leg. After that, Chris had sat in the bed of his truck with his leg elevated. JD had sat beside him, patting him on the arm, trying to offer comfort and reassurance. When they found nothing around the ranch property they’d searched the woods, the pastures, everywhere they could think of, hoping to find some sign that the boys had made it out alive, but in the end, they’d come up empty.

Buck had no idea what might have happened to them. The boys hadn’t been in their room; hadn’t been anywhere in the house – which made it all the more difficult to believe that they were gone. Hell, maybe they weren’t? Maybe they’d taken off? Vin had been none too happy with Chris, after all. Still, Buck couldn’t imagine the boy taking off on them. Vin hadn’t been feeling that well, and he’d said he wanted to go home. So, it just didn’t make any sense that he’d have run off. But, he and Ezra had run off before, so he couldn’t totally rule out the possibility that they might have done so again.

Thank God, JD was safe and sound. If the boy wouldn’t have demanded to sleep with Buck that night he’d most likely be missing as well. Because of his young age, JD couldn’t quite seem to understand that Vin and Ezra weren’t coming home. The little boy had been continuously trying to assure them that Vin would be home soon, until Buck finally had to sit him down and ask him to stop. It had broken his heart, but the truth was that he simply couldn’t bear to hear the innocent words of comfort and hope, and he knew it was tearing Chris apart.

Chris hadn’t said one way or another what his thoughts were, but Buck could tell by the way he kept looking out at the horizon that he hadn’t given up on the boy. He’d searched that ranch with single-minded determination until he’d nearly dropped and then he’d been reluctant to leave even when they’d finally had to admit they weren’t going to find anything.

They were pretty sure that Ella Gaines had gotten away; her vehicle had been missing from the garage. Even knowing what Chris knew about the woman, knowing that she was responsible for the death of not one, but two of his sons, Chris had pushed that need for violence and revenge aside during his hunt for Vin. Now though, Buck figured that was probably all that kept him going. That and the small spark of hope that Vin might still come riding over the hill.

Buck had no doubt that as soon as that hope was gone, Chris would be gone too.

And then there was Hilda. He couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her. More than anything, he regretted not paying more attention to her when he’d had the chance. He’d spent so much time chasing after her sister and trying to impress her that he’d almost completely overlooked Hilda.

Jeanie’s beautiful features had caught his eye, but Hilda had such beauty inside that she’d captured his heart and he hadn’t even realized it until it was too late.

“Wherever you are, darlin’,” he whispered to the heavens, “you took a part of me with you.”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Vin had no idea where they were going and he doubted Ezra knew either. Truth was, Vin didn’t care as long as they stayed on this road, and kept going in the same direction Ella Gaines had gone. He hated that he still didn’t feel good; that he felt so tired all the time. His legs felt heavy and seemed to move to a lot slower than he’d have liked. He almost wished they could stop and take a break, but his want for revenge kept him going.

The image of Ms. Gaines’ ranch mingled with images from the dream he’d had before they’d even left the Mission. He could picture the heap of bodies he’d seen in his dream -- only now they were lying in a big, smoldering crater, and Ella Gaines stood by them, laughing at him, trying to stab at him with her pitchfork. He wondered if it would have made any difference if he’d have told Chris about his dream? No, he decided, Chris would have told him that it was only a dream, and they would have went anyway.

He had no idea what had caused the explosion. He hadn’t seen anything suspicious when they’d snuck away that morning. It had been pretty dark though, but still . . ..

He had seen Ella Gaines, and Miss Jeanie drive past them on the road. He’d noticed that they were alone in the first truck, and the second had been full of men, but none of them had been Chris or Buck or any of his friends. Had Ms. Gaines exploded the ranch and killed them all on purpose, just like she had killed them in his dream? He wished he had his dad’s gun, or any gun, because he wanted more than anything to shoot her dead.

As he lifted his head to survey the long, deserted stretch of road ahead, he decided that no matter how long it took him, somehow he would find that woman and make her pay.

“Vin?”

Vin heard Ezra say his name, but he kept pushing forward, afraid that if he paused he might fall over.

“There’s a tree up there,” Ezra told him. “Why don’t we sit down and take a rest?”

Vin shook his head. No, he wanted to keep going.

“Vin?”

He heard Ezra calling his name, but the voice seemed so far away. And then the voice and everything else faded away.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Chris sat outside the camper, trying to read, but finding himself stuck on the same page he’d started with. He heard Buck and JD come up behind him, and sit down on the stairs, but didn’t acknowledge them. His leg was healing up all right, and he knew he was fit enough to help out with some of the chores, although Nathan was likely to disagree. Problem was he just couldn’t seem to find the energy to do much of anything at all. He couldn’t even read the damn book in front of him. Not for lack of trying, though. It was just hard to concentrate. He’d start a paragraph, and without realizing it, look up and begin scanning the distance, his eyes automatically following the deserted highway, the line of bare trees that ran alongside it, over and over. As soon as he was aware of what he was doing, he’d turn his eyes back to the page and the process would start all over.

Now, he found himself doing it again, and was about to force himself to return to the book, but this time . . . he thought for a brief moment that he saw movement. He squinted his eyes, trying to distinguish the trees and shrubs from whatever had caught his eye, at the same time, trying to snuff out the tiny spark of hope he felt before it could flare up only to fizzle out again.

But, there it was, the moving object, and this time he managed to keep track of it despite its antlike appearance. He was afraid to blink; afraid it would disappear. He kept telling himself that if it was a person, it was most likely a stranger needing help or directions. It could even be a bandit out for an easy score, something he definitely wouldn’t find here. Whoever it was – and it was looking more and more like a person, on horseback -- it surely wouldn’t turn out to be who he wanted it to be.

Minutes went by, Buck and JD stood up and went inside the camper, but still Chris kept his eyes focused on the tiny approaching figure, not allowing himself to hope, because it could be anyone. It wasn’t Vin, he kept repeating to himself. It couldn’t be Vin.

Besides, where would Vin have gotten a horse?

Two horses, he realized as the ‘figure’ turned off of the highway and onto the long gravel road. Two horses and possibly two riders, but it was still hard to tell. His eyes were burning and he had to blink, his fear becoming reality when the figure disappeared behind a hill. He kept his eyes glued to the next hill, waiting for the horses to reappear. It seemed to take a long time, long enough that Chris almost wondered if they’d stopped – or if he’d imagined seeing them to begin with. But, sure enough a few minutes later, there they were, coming slowly up and then over the rise: two horses and at least two riders.

He kept watching, trying desperately to contain the excitement building inside him. The horses and riders continued down the gravel road at a steady pace, close enough now for him to see that the second rider was actually two riders, and both were much smaller than whoever was riding on the first horse.

At the same time they turned onto the drive, Chris heard Buck open the camper door, and tell JD in a firm but mild voice to keep his eyes closed. He knew that Buck had left the door open a tiny bit like he always did when JD took a nap. Buck came over to him, squeezed his shoulder then sat down in the squeaky chair beside his. “Hey, pard, how you doing?”

Chris didn’t reply; he leaned forward in his chair letting the book slip from his lap.

“Chris?”

“Buck . . .” he grabbed Buck’s arm and squeezed it hard.

“What’s going on, Chris?” Buck sounded worried, but Chris felt himself grinning like a fool.

“Am I seeing things? Tell me I’m not seeing things.”

He waited, only half listening for a response, unable to take his eyes off the approaching riders. When he heard his friend’s sharp intake of breath followed by, “Well, I’ll be damned,” he stood up, his vision blurred with tears.

The horses came to a halt and Raphael Cordova – his grin nearly matching Chris’ – removed his hat and bowed cordially. Chris had completely forgotten about foreman that Ella had sent away – with two horses. On the second horse sat Vin who looked tired, pale and too thin – but Chris thought he had never seen a more beautiful sight. As he watched, the boy handed the reins to Ezra, slipped from the saddle and was walking slowly, uncertainly toward him.

Chris wanted so badly to meet him half way, but he couldn’t seem to get his legs to cooperate. He felt his chest heave, felt the tears sliding down his cheeks, and didn’t care in the least that he was crying. He dropped to his knees just in time to catch Vin, to wrap his arms around him and hold on, with no intention of ever letting go. Vin wrapped his skinny arms around Chris’ neck, holding on just as tightly. They stayed that way, time standing still as the bond between them flared larger than life.

Not too far away, Josiah and Nathan were alternately teasing and hugging Ezra, who looked happier than Chris had ever seen him. And then there was Buck, standing beside him, loyal and steadfast as always. Chris could tell his fingers were twitching to get at Vin and he knew eventually he’d have to give Buck his moment, and the others too -- but not yet.

These days not too many folks had friends they could count on, or family, or a purpose to their lives. But Chris Larabee had them all right here, in this place he was proud to call home. And he couldn’t bear to think of how close he’d come to throwing it all away. For what, he honestly couldn’t say, because right now Ella Gaines and everything she’d had to offer seemed so meaningless and insignificant – so insubstantial compared to everything he had here, everything he held in his arms right now.

When he finally stood up, still holding Vin, he turned to face the old mission. Looking up at the steeple, to the cross on top; he sent a silent thank you to whomever might be listening, for showing him what was real and what really mattered, and for giving him the chance to understand so he could cherish it all the more dearly.

Finally, reluctantly, he handed Vin over to a teary-eyed Buck, who gave him such a look of gratitude as he took the boy in his arms. Chris watched as Buck turned, walked a few steps away, murmuring quietly in Vin’s ear, needing a moment alone, for just the two of them. Chris could understand that, but there was no way he could take his eyes off of the boy, until he heard the door of the camper slam open and a high-pitched squeal of delight from JD. “Vin! I knew you would come home!”

Buck and Vin looked at each other, both laughing through tears and then Buck reached out and scooped JD into his arms, including him in the hug too. Vin didn’t seem to mind, in fact he was holding onto Buck and JD with all the strength he had. Then he turned his head, his arm reaching out for Chris -- and Chris wouldn’t have let the devil himself hold him back.

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Epilogue:

As soon as Nathan had gotten a good look at Vin, he’d whisked him away to the camper, saying he needed to check him over. Vin had been feverish, worn out; his throat had been sore and he’d admitted to having a stomachache too. Raphael had quietly confided to them that when he’d found the boys, Vin had been feverish, unconscious and Ezra nearly beside himself with worry.

Without protest, Vin had allowed Nathan to examine him, and fallen asleep half way through. The doctor had taken his time, being as thorough as he could. After gently probing Vin’s belly, he put his instruments away with a strange, almost curious look on his face. Then, to Chris’ surprise, he’d told him that he had a tentative diagnosis. It was more than he’d been willing to give before, and Chris was confident that the doctor wouldn’t say anything unless he was relatively certain.

“I think,” he scratched his chin, looking almost surprised, “I can’t be sure, now, but it looks like . . ..” his voice trailed off before he finished the sentence.

“Like what?” Chris asked impatiently.

“Well, like Mononucleosis.”

“Mono?” Chris had to blink; feeling surprised himself.

“That’s what it looks like.”

“The kissing disease?” Chris asked. They’d been worried all this time over that?

“Ya don’t only get it from kissing, Chris. He coulda gotten it from . . .” Nathan scratched his head, looking perplexed. “Well, truth is, I’m not exactly sure how he got it. Nobody else has any symptoms that I know of. I suppose he coulda caught it from someone from Wickes’ camp. Maybe we oughtta ask around and see if anyone of them has been sick recently, but it’s possible for someone to have the disease and be a-symptomatic.”

“Mono,” Chris repeated, shaking his head with relief.

“It almost seems too easy,” Nathan said, looking down at the sleeping boy. “The sore throat and swollen glands, the lack of energy . . .. Those are all symptoms of mononucleosis, but they could be symptoms of a lot of other things, too. But now, his spleen and liver are enlarged, too. That’s why his belly’s aching,” the doctor continued, matter-of-factly. “He’s pretty small, and he don’t have a whole lot of room inside to accommodate the enlarged organs. He’ll need to stay in bed a couple of days, and if it is, in fact, mono then . . ..”

What was that? Enlarged organs? Chris’ ears were ringing so loud that he could barely hear what Nathan was saying; he was barely aware that Nathan was standing right in front of him, looking at him with concern.

“Chris? Maybe you best sit down.” Nathan guided him into the chair and poured him a glass of water. “Here, drink this. You’re white as a ghost.”

Once he was able to make his voice work, he looked at Nathan with fear in his eyes. “What can you do for him, Nate?”

“Well, unfortunately there ain’t much anyone can do, Chris.”

”Oh, God.”

Nathan gave him a strange look, then suddenly his eyebrows lifted and he raised his hands. “No, no . . .. Damn, I’m sorry, Chris. Listen to me,” he waited until Chris met his eyes, “Vin’s gonna be okay, Chris. He’s just gonna need to take it real easy for a while and get lots of rest.”

”But, you said . . . enlarged organs. That can’t be good.”

“No, it ain’t good,” the man said, calm, yet serious. “In fact, it can be real bad if a person doesn’t take care of their self properly. But if we keep a close eye on him, don’t let him overdo it, I’m pretty sure he’ll be okay in a few weeks or so.”

Later that day, when Buck was told of the diagnosis, he responded pretty much the way Chris had, at first.

Awake, but forced to remain in bed, Vin had no choice but to put up with the man’s response. “The kissing disease?” He’d said giving Vin a nudge and wink. “Well, alright pard.”

“I didn’t kiss nobody!” Vin cast such a deadly glare on Buck that Chris wouldn’t have been surprised if the man burst into flames.

“Hey, it ain’t nothing to be embarrassed about. I had Mono once, back in the second grade. If I remember right . . .” his eyebrows drew together thoughtfully, “I got it from my babysitter, Beth Marie Halverson. Course, Beth Marie didn’t know she had it at the time . . . ended up passing it around to the whole varsity football team--”

“Buck,” Chris said in a warning tone.

“But that’s another story.”

~ ~ * * ~ ~

Sitting around the campfire after supper, drinking coffee and chatting seemed like such a normal thing; it almost felt as if they’d never gone to Ella’s ranch – like the past several days had never happened at all. The conversation was much livelier than it had been the previous evening. They had reason to celebrate and Raphael had generously shared his flask of rum, aiding their already cheery moods.

JD had fallen asleep first. Buck had scooped him up, taken him into the camper and tucked him into his little cot. Ezra had been next, nearly falling out of the lawn chair he’d been seated in. When Josiah had picked the boy up, he didn’t so much as twitch a muscle, but Chris had the feeling he’d be mortified to learn he’d been carried to bed like a child. Oddly, Vin was still awake, although blinking owlishly, trying hard to keep his eyes open. Chris had him wrapped up in a thick blanket, warm and snug. “Go to sleep, pard,” he whispered, carding through the long curls.

Vin was clutching Grandpa Larabee’s old harmonica under his chin, like it was a teddy bear. When the boy had first shown it to him, he’d stood there staring, unable to speak as waves of emotion pounded at him. The last time he’d laid eyes on the harmonica it had been stored away in their dresser drawer – for when Adam got a little older. Vin had held it out to him, wanting to be able to give back something he’d lost.

When he’d finally regained control of himself, Chris had held it in his hands, gazing down at it with a soft smile. “I remember the day my dad gave this to me. I was just a little tike, even smaller than you.” Vin had made a face at that, causing Chris to laugh. “He told me that it had belonged to his dad – my grandfather, who I never got a chance to meet. He’d been killed in the war, back when my dad was still a kid. He said I should take real good care of it and then someday I’d be able to give it to my own son.” He’d stared at the harmonica for another few moments, remembering the words, remembering his dad’s voice, his face – that strong jaw and cocky grin; those piercing eyes that would look so intense one minute and so soft and full of love the next.

His heart was telling him that Vin was his son, as much as Adam was. True, they might not share the same last name, but they shared a whole lot of other things, and he couldn’t imagine having the same name could make him love this boy any more than he did right now. He remembered the time Sarah had told him she thought she might be pregnant again. He’d actually worried and wondered how he’d possibly be able to love the second child as much he did Adam. But, it was all so clear to him now. There was no measuring love, you simply loved your children – each of them -- with all your heart, with every bit of love you have inside.

He’d looked up to find Vin staring at him solemnly, with wide eyes, and knew he was making the right decision. “Here,” he said, taking hold of Vin’s hand and placing the harmonica across his palm. Curling his fingers, he closed the small hand around the object and then smiled. “I’d like you to have it.”

Those clear, blue eyes had grown impossibly wider and he knew Vin understood his intent. “Are ya sure?”

Chris wrapped his other arm around Vin’s shoulder and pulled the boy close. “Absolutely, I’m sure.”

Raphael had already explained to Chris and Nathan how he’d happened to find the two boys, and what condition they’d been in. But as the man began telling the story to Josiah and the others, Chris gave him his full attention.

“I was camping out a few hours west of the ranch,” he began, adding a splash of rum to his coffee, then passing the flask around again, “trying to decide what to do with myself . . .whether I should accept your gracious invitation, or set out on my own. I was awakened by the explosion, as were the horses. They panicked, and got loose, but thankfully didn’t run too far away. As soon as I rounded them up, I hurried back to see what had happened and if I could be of help. Unfortunately, by then, there was nothing left. I checked through the debris, but could find no bodies. I found some of the livestock roaming nearby, so I rounded up as many as I could and put them in the north pasture, then I decided to try and find my way here. I could only hope to find that someone had survived.” He took a long drink of coffee, then glanced over at Vin, whose eyes were now closed.

“I found the two chiquitos by the side of the road the next day. The little one was burning with fever and the older one was trying to keep him cool, but they were almost out of water. I told them I would take them with me, on Bonita, but we had to get this one’s fever down first.”

“Damn,” Nathan said quietly. “If you wouldn’t have come along, they woulda really been in trouble this time.”

“Si.” Raphael nodded. “When he woke up the next morning, he was doing much better. When I told him we were coming back here though, he didn’t want to come along.”

They all looked a little surprised to hear that. “Why wouldn’t he want to come back?” Chris wondered.

“From what I understood, this one already had his mind set on where he wanted to go.” Dark, serious eyes met and held Chris’. “He intended to hunt down Ms. Gaines.”

Nathan shook his head, looking at Vin with disbelief. “What did he think he was going to do if he caught up to her?”

Raphael shrugged, then took another sip of his coffee before continuing. “Ezra talked him into coming here . . . only to get his father’s gun.”

Buck whispered a curse, looking like he didn’t know whether to laugh or curse again. It might have been funny if they’d been talking about any other kid. Kids were prone to saying such things on a whim in the heat of temper. But, Vin was different. It wasn’t hard for anyone to picture a calm, determined Vin Tanner, dogging his target without ever considering that he was too little to be doing such a thing.

“It was good that we found you here.”

There was an extended silence after that, each man seemed lost in his own thoughts. After a while Chris spoke again. “Any idea who would have started the bunkhouse on fire that morning?” he asked, sounding exactly like the detective he’d once been.

Raphael shrugged, seeming puzzled. “The bunkhouse?”

“The fire started with the bunkhouse, spread to the other buildings, the house, barn, the gas tanks . . ..”

“Are you sure somebody started it purposely?”

“Pretty sure.” It had been so much chaos, with the boys being missing, and then Buck running back into the house for Hilda . . .. “What about your Godson?”

“No,” the man firmly denied. “He would never do such a thing.”

Chris shrugged, his eyes hard. “He’s the only one I can think of with a motive.”

“Wasn’t him,” Vin spoke up quietly, letting on that he hadn’t been as deeply asleep as they’d thought.

Chris looked down, his expression softening. “Did you see who did it, buddy?”

“No, but he was there earlier in our room. Said he was getting his stuff and going away.”

“Well, there ya go,” Buck said, mostly to Raphael. “That puts him at the scene.”

“No, Buck.” Vin pushed himself up so he was sitting. “He was really going away. He said we could go, too, but we didn’t know for sure if we wanted to. Well, Ez did, but I didn’t. He said we could meet ‘em at the bridge at dawn if we decided to go, but when we got there they was already gone.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t start the fire before he went,” Nathan said. “You should be sleepin’, young man.”

Chris nodded agreement, adjusting the blanket so the boy was wrapped up warmly.

“But, wait . . .” Vin continued, trying to make them listen. “He told us about what happened to his mom and dad. Why he thinks it was Ms. Gaines that got ‘em killed. He said he heard her talkin’ on the phone about what happened to his mom, but when he tried to tell his dad, he didn’t believe him. Then he told us that one night when his dad was still at the prison some men came in the middle of the night. Some of ‘em was dressed in orange clothes and they was driving his dad’s new Hummer. He said his dad never let nobody drive it, as long as he had breath.” Vin was utterly serious, but the words brought a smile to Raphael’s face. “And that’s what made him know his dad was dead, and then Ms. Gaines gave the men supplies and let them drive away in his dad’s new car.”

“Okay, cowboy,” Chris said gently, trying to get him to lie back again. He didn’t know whether the story was true, or whether it was something Jake Petrie had worked up in his imagination. Most likely, they’d ever know all the facts for certain. But he didn’t really need to know anymore than he already did. Because he had his own reasons for wanting to make sure Ella Gaines got what was coming to her.

“We saw that Hummer car, me and Ez did. It was followin’ Ms. Gaines’ car after the . . . ‘splosion.” Vin took a deep breath, suddenly looking drained.

“Did you see who was in the Hummer?” Raphael questioned, leaning forward in his chair, looking intense.

“No.” Vin shook his head sadly, glancing at Chris then back to Raphael.

“It’s alright now, okay?” Chris assured him, settling him back down. “We can talk about this tomorrow. Right now, I need you to go back to sleep, partner.”

”Okay.”

Raphael took another sip of his coffee, then leaned back in his chair again with a distant look in his eyes. “I hope the boy did not travel south. It’s very dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Vin asked quietly, keeping in mind his promise to the older boy. He knew they’d gone south, but he wouldn’t give that information away.

“There is a town, not too far away, that has become a haven for criminals – murderers, thieves . . . prisoners exiled here from other countries. They could end up in a lot of trouble if they go near this place.”

”I’ve heard of that town,” Josiah said. “They call it Purgatorio.

“Great,” Chris said with disgust, “that’s all we need.”

They sat there a little longer, watching the fire die down. Vin wondered if he should break his promise and tell where the other kids had said they were going. Maybe if he only gave away a little information? Later, he’d tell Chris and let Chris decide whether to tell Mr. Rafe.

After a while, Nathan excused himself, followed by Josiah and Raphael – who notably wasn’t being subjected to the quarantine rule, and was sleeping up at the mission in one of the extra rooms. Chris and Buck sat a little longer, neither one speaking, until Buck finally yawned then said, “I think I’m gonna turn in.”

”We’ll be up in a few,” Chris replied, still staring at the glowing embers of the campfire.

With a nod, Buck folded his lawn chair and headed for the camper.

Chris was just about to rise himself when Vin shifted in his arms. “Chris?”

“Hey, I thought you were sleeping.”

“Not yet.” Vin yawned, then licked his lips. “I was just ponderin’ . . ..”

Chris grinned. “Ponderin’ huh? Well, why don’t you tell me what you’re ponderin’?”

“When I thought you were . . ..” He looked up at Chris with troubled eyes. “I wanted to find her, so bad, and . . ..”

Chris nodded, tucking the blanket around Vin’s shoulders. “I know, cowboy.”

“Do you think she started her own ranch on fire?”

He thought back to the words Josiah had spoken, when he’d first come to live there. The preacher had been trying to make him see that allowing himself to be driven by anger and revenge could easily lead to destruction, not only of himself, but all those around him, and anyone else who might happen to get in his way. “Obsession over anything, whether it be money, food or drugs, love or hate, it’s never a good thing.” At the time, Chris hadn’t really listened. Hadn’t cared whether it was good or not, whether he or anyone else ended up dead. He’d only wanted to avenge his family. But, now he understood exactly what the man had been trying to make him see. Mostly likely Ella hadn’t intended for house and barn to go up in flames, for the gas tanks to explode. It would seem that her own ranch had become a casualty in her deluded obsession.

“Yeah, Vin. I think she probably did.”

“But, why?”

He could think of one reason why Ella would have wanted that bunkhouse destroyed. She wanted the men sleeping inside to be out of her way, no matter the cost. His friends could be dead right now, just like his wife, and his son -- all because of that bitch’s sick delusions. And it made his stomach roll to think how easily he could have become just like her – how easily he still could. He vowed silently that he would never give her the power to turn him into that.

The past, the future were exactly what they were, and he couldn’t do anything about either one, right then. The only thing he could do – the only thing he wanted to do at that moment was to shelter this child, his child, from everything bad in the world. “I don’t know the answer to that, Vin.”

“Ms. Gaines went south, toward that Purgatory place,” he said thoughtfully; then he looked at Chris, his eyes both sleepy and troubled. “Her step son and his friends went that way, too.”

With a nod, Chris combed his fingers through the sandy locks, smiling as he watched sleepy eyes struggle to remain open. “We’ll worry about all that later, okay? Right now, you need to get some rest, so close those eyes.”

Thankfully, Vin didn’t argue. One more yawn, and his eyelids slid shut.

Chris waited a few more minutes, then he stood up, kicking a little dirt over what was left of the fire. Josiah had once told him about a thing called Karma. Other religions had different names for it, but the meaning was pretty much the same. What comes around goes around. For now, he would leave her fate in the hands of karma or cosmic justice or whatever else might be out there. But if that didn’t work, he’d have his retribution one way or another.

Next time.

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