Lily paused outside the telegraph office to read the message from Terrence. He had arrived in San Francisco safely and was glad to hear that she hadn't been hurt in the tornado.

"Mrs. Patterson, I'm so glad I caught you." Mary Travis called to her from the left.

"Good morning, Mrs. Travis."

"I was wondering whether you had given any more thought to participating in the social." Lily had given it some thought over the last couple of days, mostly of how she could decline politely. But then last night over a glass of whiskey Maude Standish had convinced her to do.

"Oh yes, I was going to come see you about that. I decided I will join you for it."

"That's wonderful. I've asked Molly Gallagher to participate. We're going to have it next Saturday, which will give her time to recouperate a little. Her father was a little reluctant but I promised him that she'd have a chaperon and he finally gave in."

"Well, I can already guess who will be bidding for a lunch with her." Lily smiled knowingly.

Lily bid goodbye to Mary and continued on her way toward the Gallaghers. She knocked lightly on the front door, not wanting to disturb Molly if she were resting. Heavy footsteps approached from the other side. Bryan Gallagher's face showed his exhaustion as he opened the door.

"Hello Mrs. Patterson. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to stop in and see how Molly was doing. Mr. Jackson said that she was doing better. I thought she might enjoy a bit of company."

"Oh, uh . . . well that was a nice offer." Bryan took a hesitant look over his shoulder. "But its not a good time. She's asleep right now."

"I understand. Please tell her I stopped by."

"Yeah, sure. I'll do that." Bryan closed the door and returned to Molly's bedroom. A smile crossed his face as he watched her writing furiously on a tablet of paper. "What are you doing?"

"Writing a letter to Emily. I want to tell her all about the tornado." She set the tablet down and looked up at him. "Who was at the door?"

"Mrs. Potter's boy from the general store. A delivery came in for Colum and they thought he might be here." Molly's smile drooped slightly. "What's wrong Mollybon?"

"Nothing Da'. I just thought it might be Lily coming to visit me."

"We need to have a little talk." Bryan had been in the general store earlier and had overheard a conversation about Lily. Two women were discussing how she'd spent the night of the tornado in her saloon with at least one man. And the next morning she'd been seen in a ripped dress. He'd tried to pretend not to hear their more disparaging remarks about her. If this was the type of woman she was he certainly didn't want his daughter associating with her.

"It's about Mrs. Patterson and the saloon. I don't want you spending time there anymore. It just isn't a proper place for a young lady like yourself."

"But Da'--," Bryan stood quickly halting Molly's plea.

"We'll not discuss it anymore."

Chris set the hammer down and took a sip of water from the canteen. He and Buck had been on the saloon's roof half the morning making repairs.

"What's wrong?" Buck recognized the disturbed look on his old friend's face.

"I need to know what happened between you and Lily the other night." Chris had heard the same rumors around town that Bryan Gallagher had heard that morning.

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. I know you and she spent the night together. I just want to know what happened."

Buck leaned back and set down the piece of wood he'd been holding. If it had been anyone else asking he might have played around with his answer. But the cold steel in Chris' eyes told him he was not in a joking mood.

"Nothing happened."

"You sure?" His questioning tone cut Buck like a knife.

"Don't believe me?"

"You and a beautiful woman all alone for a night and nothing happened. Can you blame me for not believing it?"

"Yeah, well, might be a different story if that beautiful woman hadn't only had you on her mind." Chris let Buck's words hang in the air between them.

"So, what, I ought to settle down and marry her?"

"Hell, no, nothing like that. Though you could do worse. All I'm saying is that it ain't wrong to be happy. Sarah'd want you to be."