"Just two more days left," Lou sighed, hanging her wedding dress back up in her room at the main house.

"The dress fits you like a glove, at least," Rachel said encouragingly. "Too bad it don't fit like a dress, but . . . "

Lou didn't laugh at Rachel's little joke, and Rachel lapsed into silence a moment.

"What is it, Lou? It's not second thoughts, is it?"

Pretending to look out the window, Lou smoothed down her brown skirt while avoiding Rachel's eyes. "It's not second thoughts."

"What, then?"

"Just that at a time like this, a girl thinks about her family, I guess. I can't help thinking how none of mine will be around for my big day."

Rachel stroked Lou's arm gently. "I know how hard it was when you got word from the orphanage that your brother and sister died, before you could go get them, and I know you've never stopped missing your ma. The fellas think of you as a sister, though, and Teaspoon and I think of you as a daughter. I hope that helps a little."

"It does," Lou said gratefully. "It's just a mood, it'll pass."

Lou glanced sharply out the window again. "Looks like company," she said, surprised. "There's an old lady, and she's … she's riding up to the station," she said, giggling.

Rachel looked out. "God bless her, she must be sixty-five if she's a day," Rachel remarked, watching a tiny silver-haired woman in a split riding skirt leap down nimbly from her horse and toss the reins over the hitching post. "Must be here to mail a letter, I reckon."

"Let's go on down and meet her," Lou suggested.

Inside the bunkhouse, Kid and Jimmy looked up from their cards at the knock on the door. Laying down his hand, Kid got up and opened the door.

"Yes, ma'am?" he said respectfully to the pretty, elderly lady standing in the doorway.

"Hello, young man. I'm looking for Lou McCloud. I'm Margaret Boggs."

"Boggs?" Kid said hesitantly, just as Lou and Rachel reached the steps. Margaret turned and looked at Lou full in the eyes. "My land," she whispered. "You've hardly changed, Louise."

Lou looked quizzically at Margaret. "Have we met?"

"I'd say so. I was there the night you were born. I'm your pa's mother, honey."

Lou's face stiffened, and she turned and walked without a word back toward Rachel's house.

Margaret trotted after her, determined. "Now don't you go running off, young lady. I've been looking for you for too long for you to run away without a word!"

Lou turned around and faced her so-called grandmother. "My grandparents are dead, my mother told me so. So unless you have some proof you are who you say you are -"

"I don't have any proof, but why on earth would I lie about being your grandmother?"

"I don't know, but my mother wouldn't have lied to me."

"Wouldn't she?" challenged Margaret. "They told me at the orphanage your mother told Jeremiah and Teresa their father was dead. He only died a year ago, isn't that so? What makes you think she wouldn't lie about me?"

"She had a good reason for that," shouted Lou. "Your son was a monster, a criminal. She was tryin' to protect us."

Margaret looked defeated. "My son took after his pa, it's true. He broke my heart. And the worst thing he ever did was drive you three children away, kept me from knowing you. But I've been trying to find you and get to know all of you."

Lou shook her head. "I don't want to have anything to do with my father's family," she said stubbornly. She glanced at Kid, who looked disapproving.

Lou choked on her tears. "I think you should leave."

Margaret nodded. "I'll be at the hotel in town, if you change your mind," she said weakly. Her shoulders were stooped and she looked ten years older as she went back toward her horse, mounted, and rode off.

Lou looked back at Kid, who said nothing but looked grave.

"What?" she snapped.

"I just think you were a little hard on her. It's not her fault what your pa was, and you and her are probably the only family either of you has left. You mighta tried to give her a chance."

"You don't understand," Lou said, her voice shaking. "And I'd expect you to take my side, you're my fiancé after all," she said, starting to get angry.

"I'm on your side, Lou, but I don't think there has to be sides on this thing. She's never done anything to you, and she came here tryin-"

"Trying what? To make up for what her son did to my mother, to me and Jeremiah and Teresa? Where was she the last ten years, if she wanted to help? Now it's too late, my mother and brother and sister all are dead. It's too late," she insisted.

"Are you sure it ain't you who feels guilty, Lou, and you're putting it off on your grandma?" Kid said as gently as he could. "I know you took it hard when your brother and sister-"

"Shut up!" Lou shouted. "I did the best I could! I was twelve years old when I left them! You of all people know how hard it was for me to even survive on my own. I have nothing to feel guilty about, nothing!" she ranted, defensively.

Rachel intervened, "Lou, nobody's saying that. But -"

"But nothing. I don't want to see her. I don't want to be reminded of my father. And I don't want to hear another word about it."

Lou continued up to the house and slammed the door behind her.

Margaret opened the door to her hotel room and was surprised to see the handsome young man from the station on the other side, his hat in his hands.

"Ma'am," he nodded. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself when you came out earlier." He shuffled his feet awkwardly. "I'm Louise's fiancé, folks just call me Kid."

"Her fiancé?" Margaret said. She shook her head. "My land, it has been a long time. My little sugarsnap gettin' married." She looked Kid up and down, appreciatively. "She's done well for herself, looks like," she said slyly, motioning him in.

"Take a seat, Kid," she said, pointing to the chair as she sat on the edge of her bed.

"When's the big day?" Margaret asked.

"Day after tomorrow," Kid said reluctantly. After a pause, he continued. "Lou was pretty shaken up when you came by today."

"I noticed."

"She's had a pretty hard time of it trying to make a living for herself and her family these last few years. When Jeremiah and Theresa died, she took it hard, blamed herself for not being able to get them from the orphanage earlier. They died of typhoid a few months ago, just before she'd planned to go get them."

"I know. I tracked them down to the orphanage a couple months ago myself. I didn't ever try to find them before, because I knew what my son had done to them, what he would do if he found them again. Got word a while back that someone had killed him, so I thought it would be safe to look now."

A guilty look flashed across Kid's face.

"What is it, Kid?"

Kid's eyes fell. "I'm the one who killed your son, Ma'am. I'm sorry, but he left me no choice."

Margaret's face went ashen, and she put her hand to her heart, closing her eyes a moment.

"Ma'am?" Kid said, frightened.

"I'll be okay," she said. "I just… he was still my baby." She looked at him, her big brown eyes filled with tears. "Can you understand that?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Kid got up, sadly. "I'll be goin' now, I reckon. I just wanted to ask you to stick around a while, if you can, and give Lou a chance to get used to the idea of getting to know you. Maybe she'll change her mind, I hope."

Margaret nodded, her small face still pale. "Thank you, Kid," she whispered. "I know my son probably didn't leave you any option, and … " she trailed off. "Thank you for coming here. And if Lou doesn't change her mind, well, take good care of her, please."

"I will, ma'am."

Lou lay sleeplessly in her bed, where she'd sat since her grandmother had left. Turning on her side, she sighed, thinking over and over about what had happened. Kid was probably right, she'd gotten angry and blamed her grandmother for the loss of her family because she was an easy target. It was a lot harder to face the fact that she herself had failed.

The door to the room opened slightly and a voice came through it. "Can I come in?"

She sat up eagerly. "Of course," she called softly.

He had his boots in his hand, and set them by the door quietly, as she padded toward him.

"I'm sorry, Kid," she whispered against his neck, as he slipped his arms around her.

He kissed her and pressed his forehead against her hair. "I knew you didn't mean it," he said softly. "I need to tell you something," he added, as she drew him toward the bed.

Getting in with her, he pulled her close and told her, "I went to see your grandmother today. I asked her not to leave town too fast, I wanted you to have a chance to come around if you wanted to. I hope that's okay."

She nodded, unbuttoning his shirt. As she pulled it from him, dropping it on the floor, he caught her hands. "Lou."

"What," she said tremulously.

"Are you okay?" he asked, stroking her hair.

She paused, and then shook her head no, the tears flowing over. He pulled her to him and she buried her face in his chest, sobbing.

The morning of her wedding, Lou sat at the kitchen table in Rachel's house, her hair up in curling rags, as Rachel brought the coffee. "We'd best start getting you ready," Rachel said, looking at Lou.

Lou nodded, twisting her fingers.

"What is it?" Rachel asked.

Lou crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

Rachel sighed. "If you want her there, Lou, all you have to do is send for her."

"The way I talked to her, though," Lou said wistfully. "I don't know what to do."

"Just send her a note, I'm sure she'll come."

Lou made up her mind; she took a pen and paper and jotted down a note inviting her grandmother to her wedding, then ran across to the bunkhouse, looking for someone to deliver it.

Lou stood clasped in Kid's arms, outside the church, forgetting everything except the joy of being his wife at long last.

After a long kiss, she rested her head on his chest, and he murmured, "I guess Margaret didn't decide to come after all."

"It doesn't matter," Lou said, "all that matters is that we're together."

"Just the same, I'm surprised. Jesse said she was so excited when he gave her the note you wrote."

Doc Barnes came toward them, calling out to Lou.

"What is it, Doc?"

"That lady in the hotel, Margaret Boggs, was she a relative of yours?"

Lou nodded, frightened. "My grandmother - - but you said 'was' - - "

"I'm sorry to tell you this, especially - - " the doctor looked at the bride's dress. "But she died, Lou."

Lou turned her face back toward Kid's chest.

"Thank you for coming, Doc," Kid said, guiding Lou away from the sympathetic eyes of their friends and toward the hotel, where he'd reserved a room for their wedding night.

As they went into the room, Lou crumpled up in a ball on the bed. "If only I had given her a chance," Lou cried, as Kid curled up behind her on the bed, holding her.

"Lou, you did the best you could. At least she got the note from you before she died," he comforted. "That probably meant a lot to her."

Lou turned in Kid's arms, facing him. She would have thought she'd have learned from losing her mother, her siblings, and even her friend Ike, but once again she'd had to learn the hard way, never to take a single moment with her family or friends for granted. Maybe her grandmother came into her life for this brief time to teach her that again, and she swore to herself never to forget the lesson, as she gazed into her new husband's eyes, and then closed her own eyes as she drew him to her.

THE END . . .

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