Those few days were some of the best days of my life. Most of what we did was chores: painting boards, building steps, cleaning up the grounds. But we did it together. We would sit and have lunch together, eating sandwiches and drinking coffee. We took walks together, talking about everything that came to mind. Sometimes I wrote what I wanted to say, knowing that she wouldn't be able to get what I was talking about. Other times I signed and she tried her hardest to understand everything I said.

The thing I remember most about those days was our first kiss. It was like no kiss I had ever experienced before. We had been working all day at rebuilding the porch railing. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was falling slowly toward the horizon. Wanting to take a break, we packed a picnic lunch and headed out to a spot that I knew of that overlooked a beautiful valley.

It was a quiet spot, lush with greenery. We unpacked out blanket and laid it under a big shade tree. Once we were comfortably seated, we ate and talked for the rest of the afternoon. Emily told me all about her life and her pa's problem with gambling. She told me about growing up in Montana, and about her ma that died when she was just a kid.

As I lay on the blanket, my head resting on my elbow, I took in every detail of her beautiful face. She had the tiniest freckles that were scattered across her nose and I loved each and every one of them. Sitting next to me, her legs crossed underneath her, she looked down at me and smiled. Gently she brought her hand up to my cheek and cupped my face in her hand. At that moment, I knew that I was in love with her. I could feel it in every ounce of my being. She was beautiful and smart and kind and I loved her.

She leaned down to me, her eyes growing serious. Running her thumb across my lips, she licked hers with anticipation. I know I did the same. I watched her coming closer and closer and I knew that I had never wanted anything so bad in my life as I wanted that kiss. I could almost feel it, taste it. And when our lips finally did met, I tell ya I thought my heart had stopped. I thought time had stopped. I knew nothing in that moment, but the love I felt for her. And it was beautiful.

The day before the dance, I started to get real nervous, but excited. Emily was like no one I had ever met. I was gonna be so proud to show up with her on my arm. And things were going good too. I loved being with her and she really seemed to like being with me.

She had told me how nervous she was to go to the dance 'cause she don't know no one, but I kept telling her that she knows me, and the other riders too. Seems everyone took a real liken' to her.

Jimmy had the morning run that day so since I had some free time, I went out to Emily's to help do more work on the house. We had done a lot together and it was coming along nicely.

As I came over the hill that surrounded her ranch, I saw the slow drifts of old smoke rising from what was left of the barn. I panicked, concern for Emily sent me racing to the house. Emily was out front with a wheel barrel picking up pieces of burned wood.

I rushed to her, trying to wrap my arms around her, but she shrugged me off. She wouldn't even look at me. I grabbed her by the arm and turned her to face me so I could ask her what had happened. I drew quickly back at that look of sadness and contempt that she had in her eyes.

"Ike, go away."

I didn't understand. I looked at the barn and back at her, only to find her walking towards the house. My mind raced. What had happened? Why was she mad at me? I grabbed her arm again.

Abruptly, she yanked her arm away, turning back to me with fire in her eyes. "I said GO IKE. Leave me be." I could see that there was nothing I was gonna be able to do. I headed for my horse, my shoulders slumped. My heart was aching and the worst part was that I didn't know why.

I mounted and quickly rode off. Hot tears built up in my eyes, blurring my vision. And still I kept riding, her venomous words stinging like the crack of a whip.

That night I lay in my bunk, thinking about Emily and what she had said. Obviously, something had happened. I had a pretty good idea what, or actually I should say who, it was. But that still didn't explain her walled up reaction when I only wanted to help.

After I left Emily's, I had gone to the saloon looking for the gambler. I didn't know what I was gonna do. I didn't have any evidence to back up what I suspected, but it just didn't feel right leaving nothing done about it. He was smug and arrogant, saying hateful things and calling me names. But I didn't rightly care about that. I just wanted to make sure he knew that someone was watching over Emily.

The gambler looked like quite a crafty character. He was smooth; that's for sure. And he didn't seem to be phased by anything that I or Teaspoon and the other riders did. He had burned Emily's barn down and still stayed right in town like he had done nothing wrong. I don't know if he ain't that smart or that he ain't quite all there. Either way, he was dangerous.

Outside, the rain fell softly on the roof of the bunkhouse. It had been pretty hot for several days so the rain was real nice. After supper, we had all gone out and horsed around in it. Rachel kept yelling at us to get inside, but we didn't listen. We was having fun.

Now, it was nothing more than a soothing comfort, tapping the roof before it fell to the ground. The only other sound at all in the small bunkhouse was Buck's soft snoring coming from the bunk underneath me. His snoring had taken me a long time to get used to, but now it was such a part of my surroundings that if Buck ain't in the bunkhouse at night, I can't hardly sleep.

As I lay there, thinking about all that had happened in the last couple of days, I felt sad that I wouldn't be going to the dance. Not just for me, but for Emily too. She had been excited about getting to meet people and I had wanted to show Emily a really great night.