Molly watched as her father brought the remainder of their bags to the wagon. Colum was in the middle of teasing her yet again when a lone rider coming down the street caused him to trail off whatever it was he was saying. Molly followed her uncle's gaze to the rider.

"Stay here," he told her. Before Molly could reply he was across the street, her father following close behind. Molly strained to see who it was that her uncle and father were talking to. After a moment her father came back.

"There's been a change in plans, Molly. We're not staying at the ranch, we'll be staying here in town," he said reaching up to help her back out of the wagon. Molly waited until she was on the ground before asking,

"Why, what's the matter?"

"Nothing for you to concern yourself with," her uncle's voice said behind her. Her father brought their bags out of the back of the wagon and the three began to walk up the street toward the hotel, Molly in-between her uncle and father. As they were walking past the saloon her father reached back for her hand. There were two men standing outside of the door. Bryan whispered something in Gaelic to Colum that Colum shook his head to. One of the men stepped out in their path, smiling at Colum. His smile widened when he caught sight of Molly. She found herself averting her eyes from him, his gaze making her uncomfortable. He was around the height of her father, his hazel eyes seemed to be twinkling offset by a mustache that gave him an air of mischievous.

"This must be the brother you always go on about," he said to Colum. Colum introduced Bryan to the man calling him Buck Wilmington. The two men shook hands and his gaze fell on Molly once again. "And this ray of light must be your niece," he said, causing Molly to blush in spite of herself. Colum tilted his head back and laughed.

"She is that, isn't she. Molly Gallagher, meet Buck Wilmington may God have mercy on you," he said with a laugh. Molly extended her hand out to shake his but he took it and brought the top of it to his lips and kissed it.

"I assure you that the pleasure is all mine," he said to her. Molly's voice left her and it took a squeeze from her father's hand, silently reminding her she was being rude before finding it again.

"Likewise," she said, softly. Bryan and Molly were introduced in the same manner to the other man. He was the man that was staring at the passengers getting off the stage coach moments before. He had blond hair that reached his shoulders and had a quietness about him that startled Molly slightly. Colum called him Vin Tanner. Mr. Tanner said nothing to Molly but tipped his hat to her, she nodded in return.

"Heading for the hotel?" Buck asked them. Colum nodded.

"That's probably best considering?" a quick shake of Colum's head with an even quicker glance at Molly cut him off. Buck took the hint, they hadn't told the girl yet of the trouble that was brewing at the ranch where Colum worked.

"Considering what?" Molly asked. "Uncle Colum, is something wrong?" Colum placed his hand on her face.

"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with, darlin'," he said to her. "Let's get you both settled." Bryan took his daughter's arm and they continued up the boardwalk toward the hotel. After walking away from the saloon Bryan stopped and turned his daughter to face him.

"I want you to listen to me very carefully, Molly," he said to her. "You are never, under any set of circumstances, to set a foot inside that saloon. I don't even want you crossing in front of it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but why..." her father cut her off.

"We're not in Charlottetown now. You must be careful here. I would never place a limitation on you if it wasn't for your own good."

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Da," she said to him.

"Don't remind me," he said, planting a kiss on her forehead. He took her arm and they walked up and into the hotel. Her uncle was already there, getting them signed in. Molly noted how dimly lit the inside of the hotel was. She looked around at her surroundings wishing she were anywhere else. Her father took her arm again and led her up two flights of stairs to the two rooms they would be staying in. Molly opened up the door and walked inside toward the window. She pushed the lace curtains back to reveal the view she had of the main street of the town. The view was no better than when she was at street level and for the thousandth time she wished herself home.

"Your uncle and I will be doing a few errands," her father's voice said to her. "My room is right next door if you need anything." She nodded her head. He came up to her. "Everything will be alright, Mollybon," he said to her. She looked up at her father and forced herself to smile at him. She went to the small bag she had brought up with her and took out the envelope that she had been carrying for two days. It contained a letter to Emily Sullivan, her best friend. She had written it during their last stop and promised herself she'd mail it as soon as they reached Four Corners.

"While you do that, I'm going to mail this to Emily," she said to her father.

"You don't know where the post office is," he said to her. Molly took note of the sudden desperation in her father's voice, as if he was afraid to let her step out of the room.

"The front desk will know and besides, you can't expect me to stay in here forever." Her father gave her a quick kiss on her forehead.

"Of course not. Be careful," he said to her, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. Molly turned to the mirror that was on the bureau. She smoothed back her hair that she had put back in a braid that started at the top of her head and wove down. A few stray hairs had come loose and were framing her face. She smoothed the front of her dark green traveling dress and tried in vain to get some of the dust from the front of it. Once satisfied that she looked alright Molly grabbed the letter and her small pouch, took in a deep breath and left the room. She inquired at the front desk the location of the post office and was told it was on the same side of the street as the hotel up about six buildings. Molly thanked the clerk and started up the street.

She tried to take in all that was around her. The town was smaller than Charlottetown. This whole town made up one square block of the island town. But where the streets of Charlottetown were cobblestone, dirt made up this town's main street. She noted that only one or two of the buildings weren't made of the wood that most of the others were made of. She was trying so hard to take in all that she could about the town to tell Emily in her next letter, that she found herself one building away from the saloon. She noticed that the post office was only two more buildings up and it would be ridicules to cross the street only to have to come back over again.

Molly started her walk again only to hear a voice that stopped her in mid-stride. It was a woman's voice, singing. It was her mother's voice. Without even thinking of her father's warning, Molly found herself approaching the swinging doors to the saloon. She took one step inside and her hand flew to her mouth. There, standing in front of the saloon, near the bar was her mother. Molly shut her eyes at the sudden and hard realization that the red-haired woman who was singing wasn't her mother at all. Tears came out of the corners of her eyes. They flew open at the sound of cheering and applauding and Molly realized that she had completely defied her father by not only passing by the saloon but also stepping inside of it. She was aware of several pairs of eyes on her including a woman behind the bar and the woman who had been singing, not to mention the man she had met earlier named Buck Wilmington who was with several other men. Molly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and walked out of the saloon and up the street as fast as she could.

Buck Wilmington automatically looked up at the entrance to the saloon as soon as Molly Gallagher had entered. She walked inside as if in a trance, staring at Bryn who was singing one of her comical songs. The look that washed over the young woman's face was pure sadness. He looked over at J.D. Dunne who had also noticed the girl come into the saloon. He had a look of someone who had just made a discovery. Buck exchanged a knowing look with the other men and looked back to Molly. She was J.D.'s age at best, maybe a year younger. She was pretty enough with long brown hair and kind, deep brown eyes. He remembered her shyness when he had met her earlier, a stark contrast to her uncle. He watched J.D.'s expression turn to that of concern at the tears that started to fall down the girl's face. Lily approached the two men from the other side of the bar. "Who is the girl?" she asked nodding her head to Molly who seemed to snap out of her trance and realized exactly where she was.

"Colum Gallagher's niece, Molly," Buck answered her.

"Why would you cry at such a funny song?" she asked, as Molly wiped her eyes then left the saloon.

"I don't know, but I mean to find out," J.D. said and he got up to follow her. Molly entered the post office and when she told the clerk where she wanted the letter mailed he looked at her as though she said she wanted it sent to the moon. Molly sighed and repeated herself. He looked it up in a book and she gave him the change for the postage, silently thankful that there wasn't all that much difference in American and Canadian money, only the way it looked. Molly walked out of the post office and noticed that the general store was across the street from her. She wanted to get more writing paper, having used the last of hers on the letter to Emily.

"Excuse me, Miss Gallagher," a voice Molly didn't recognize called out to her and Molly turned toward it. It appeared to belong to a young man around her age with brown hair and brown eyes. He was dressed like many of the young men from the island and wore a look of genuine concern on his face.

"Yes," she said softly, realizing she had no idea who this young man was.

"I'm J.D. Dunne, a friend of Buck Wilmington's. I was in the saloon just now and noticed you seemed upset. Is everything alright?" Molly was slightly taken aback by his concern for her well being and didn't know weather to be flattered or scared by it.

"I'm fine, thank you just the same," she said softly, slightly embarrassed that anyone had seen her.

"You seemed pretty upset. Are you sure that you're all right?" he asked her again.

"Yes, thank you."

"Can I walk you to where ever you're headed?" he asked, offering his arm. Molly found herself blushing at his interest in her.

"I was only heading for the store to purchase some more writing paper. I see it's only across the way, you needn't trouble yourself."

"It's no trouble," he insisted. Molly smiled at him.

"If you're sure, I'd be delighted," she said taking his arm. He returned the smile and they crossed the street. Inside the store was a middle-aged woman helping out a man who turned at the sound of the door opening. She heard J.D. call out a greeting to the man calling him Chris and the woman calling her Mrs. Potter. The woman came out from behind the counter and walked up to them.

"You must be Colum's niece," she said, taking both of Molly's hands in hers. Molly liked her instantly. She smiled and said,

"Yes, I am. I feel as though I have that stamped on my face somewhere, so many people seem to know who I am." The woman laughed.

"Ever since your uncle got the letter from your father that you'd both be coming here, he's talked non-stop about the two of you.

"I'm afraid that my uncle's been known to exaggerate," Molly said.

"Oh, not from what I see," she said to her. "Now, what can I help you with?" Molly told her what she was looking for and Mrs. Potter showed her where in the store the stationary was kept. All the while, Molly could feel the other man's eyes on her. "You pick out how much you need while I finish with Mr. Larabee," she said to Molly. Molly watched the woman walk back behind the counter and speak with the man. He gave her one last long look before turning his attention to Mrs. Potter who hadn't noticed he wasn't paying attention to her chatter. The look caused a shiver to go through Molly. It made her feel as though she'd done something wrong. He was dressed from head to foot in black, and had a gun strapped in plain sight on his belt, which made him appear even more freighting to her. He turned back to her, package in hand.

He tipped his hat to her saying, "Miss Gallagher," and left the store.

J.D. nodded toward the door the man just left from and said, "Chris Larabee." It took Molly a moment to find her voice.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"That's Chris Larabee," he went on to tell about his reputation for being a gunfighter like himself and the other men he rode with, all hired by a judge to protect the growing town. Molly snapped to attention at his statement said with pride and saw the gun that was strapped to J.D.'s belt, noticing it for the first time. Mrs. Potter came back still chattering about something or another but Molly was paying no attention. No one in Charlottetown carried a gun. No one had a need to. Molly herself had never seen a gun except for the shotgun her father had for the occasional times he'd go hunting.

"Molly, are you all right?" Mrs. Potter's voice asked her, concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine," she answered. She took the items out of Molly's hands and Molly paid her for them. Molly took her package and wishing Mrs. Potter a good day turned to walk out of the store, nearly forgetting about J.D. who was waiting for her. "I need to be getting back. My father will be worrying about me," she said to him.

"I'll walk you," he said, a bit too eagerly. For once a girl was paying attention to him and he didn't want to let her go in case Buck or any of the others saw. As if his mind was being read Buck's voice came from behind them.

"I was heading that way this very minute. I'd be happy to walk Miss Molly back to the hotel."

"So was I," J.D. said, somewhat annoyed.

"So you're not in town for more than an hour and already you have men fighting over you," Colum's teasing brogue came from behind Buck. Molly found herself blushing at her uncle's comment and felt somewhat relieved that he was there. "If you gentlemen don't mind, I'll escort my niece back to the hotel."

Molly turned to J.D., "Thank you for your concern earlier and for accompanying me to the store. Good afternoon, gentlemen," she said taking her uncle's arm, breathing a quiet sigh of relief.