AND JILL CAME TUMBLING AFTER

"I still can't believe you're really here!" Jack exclaimed as she and her mother unpacked the suitcases and trunks later that evening. They were upstairs in the spare room next to Jack's, tucking things away into dresser drawers and closets. Downstairs Ken was in the living room talking with the rest of the family, his granddaughter on his knee.
Em turned to her daughter and smiled.
"For three whole months!" Jack continued delightedly.
"Three whole months," echoed Em, as if in a daze, sitting down on the bed with a sigh. She hadn't meant for Jack to hear, but she did.
"Mum? Are you all right? You must be knackered from the trip. Should I leave you alone?"
Em reached out and took her daughter's hand, pulling her alongside her.
"No, silly girl, don't leave. I want to spend every moment I can with you."
Jack sank down next to her mother and studied her with worried eyes. She brushed her mother's hair back from her tired face. "Mum, what's troubling you?"
For her daughter's sake Em managed a smile. "Nothing. Just tired.
Knackered, as you put it so charmingly." She grinned at her daughter. "I guess you'll never give up on that Cockney slang you picked up in your childhood."
"Too bloody right I won't," replied Jack. It received the reaction she had been hoping for: her mother giggled in mock outrage.
"I ought to wash your mouth out with soap, you insolent child!" Em laughed, then stopped short. "Only you're not a child anymore, are you?" she continued wistfully. "You're a grown woman."
"Mum, didn't we have this talk years ago? The day I married Magnus, as I recall."
Em nodded. "We did, and I suppose I thought I believed it, but I didn't. Now I do. I look at you now -- you're so beautiful and grown up, Jill. You're not even Jill anymore! You've got a new name, a new life...a new man."
"Not so new, really," Jack said. "They've been here all along, only now I can enjoy them and be happy with them. I'm very happy, Mum."
"That's the only thing that makes it bearable."
Jack stared questioningly. "Makes what bearable?"
"Leaving you behind when we go back to England."
"Oh, Mum. Did you think I might come back with you?"
"I must admit, we hoped." Catching the reproachful look on her daughter's face, Em explained, "It's not that you didn't seem happy, love; you sounded very happy in your letters. After that first one, at least." She eyed Jack with a raised eyebrow. "I take it that's when you and James reconciled?"
"Yes, after that first letter I sent."
"And did you explain about Magnus?"
"Yes. Jimmy knows everything there is to know."
"He's a good man, love. I could see that the moment I met him." She sighed again. "I just didn't realize how hard it would be having you and Maddy so far away. Somehow it's even worse than when you left the first time."
Jack winced at her mother's choice of words. "I know, Mum. I'm sorry."
"Oh, darling, you've got nothing to be sorry for!" Em swept Jack into a motherly embrace. "Absolutely nothing," she murmured against her dark hair.
"You grew up and I have to deal with that. I'm mother and that's my job, after all. I'm supposed to raise you to leave and start your own life. That's exactly what you've done. I couldn't be prouder of you or happier for you. Truly. Now let's stop wasting our time unpacking. Let's go downstairs and join that lovely family of yours."

Ken and Em were welcomed into the fold of the Sweetwater family. They were a bright, energetic pair, looking and acting younger than their ages. Em was only a few years older than Rachel, and the two women immediately took to each other. Teaspoon found a new friend in Ken, and all the boys looked up
to the kind, intelligent Englishman. As for Ken and Em, they not only found new friends in the people of Sweetwater, but Ben, Hannah, and Adam eagerly adopted them as surrogate grandparents. "Now we don't just got Grandpa Teaspoon, we got Grandpa Ken, and a grandma, too!" Adam remarked to his
mother one day.

After his initial spate of nerves, Jimmy found Ken to be a relaxing, easy-going companion, more like the father he'd never had than he'd ever expected. He spent more and more time with the man, riding, talking, working alongside him as they helped the Kid to repair his fences and tend to the livestock. Ken was always willing to lend a hand, a fact which earned him a great deal of respect with the boys and Teaspoon.

Jimmy at last got up the courage to approach Ken about the one thing that was always foremost in his mind. It would be difficult but he was determined to swallow his anxiety and finally broach the subject. "Ken?" he began one afternoon. They were out in the middle of Kid's property, putting the finishing touches on the fence. Suddenly the carefully thought-out speech was obliterated from his mind, and Jimmy blurted out, "I'd like your permission to ask Jack to marry me!"
Ken turned to him in surprise, a tell-tale smile of amusement crossing his lips. "You would, would you?"
Jimmy gulped. "Yes sir, I would. I love your daughter very much and I'd like to marry her."
Ken nodded thoughtfully and spoke with a grave tone full of the solemnity of the moment. "I would very much like for you to marry her, James. I grant you my permission." He bowed his elegant head as if he were a king granting the request of a knight.
"Thank you," Jimmy managed to reply, barely able to choke back a yelp of elation.
"You're welcome. I know you love her and Maddy and they love you as well. Em and I have grown very fond of you; we would be very proud to call you son."
Jimmy could find no words. Ken just grinned at him. "Go on now, lad. Go clean yourself up and practice your proposal. Maybe Em and I can see our girl married before we have to leave for England."
"Thank you, sir."
"Go on now!" Ken shooed him away.
Jimmy fumbled his way onto his horse, Ken's words running around and around his head. They had touched him deeply. In the years after Jack's departure he had attempted to shut himself off so completely from his emotions that he knew if she and Maddy hadn't shown up when they did, he might have ended up a lonely, bitter old man. It had gotten to the point where even the sight of Lou or her children did nothing to lift his spirits. Until now. He rode on to the house. It was a blistering hot day, dry with no promise of moisture to come. Jimmy could feel the sweat trickling a fine line down between his shoulder blades. He shifted uncomfortably in the saddle, feeling the heat of the sun bake his legs through his breeches.

Maddy and Ben greeted him, running up to his horse, shouting their hellos. They bounced up and down like Mexican jumping beans. "Will you take us to the old station, Uncle Jimmy? Will ya? Will ya?"
"How about tomorrow?" Jimmy asked as he hitched Manhattan to the fence.
"Awww....tomorrow?" they chorused in disappointment, frowns etching their little faces.
"Do we hafta wait till tomorrow, Uncle Jimmy?" begged Ben. "Maddy and I wanted to go play Pony Express."
"Well, you can go play if you promise to stick together and not go messin' with anything. All right? And I'll come get you in an hour."
They bounced off their feet again, cheering loudly. Then Ben grabbed Maddy by the hand and they ran from the house and started their short journey to the old station a short distance away. Jimmy watched them go for a moment.

Walking into the house, his mind raced with ideas of how to get Jack alone should May or Lou or anyone else be with her. He didn't care anything about cleaning up before he proposed; now that he had her father's permission, all he wanted to do was ask the question he had been wanting to ask for a long,
long time. He was in luck: Jack was in her room, alone. She had changed into a dress, something she and Lou seldom wore even after all these years. It was a soft green, of some light material Jimmy didn't know the name of. She had swept her dark hair up into a loose, drooping knot at the back of her head. She
smelled heavenly, like flowers and rain, and looked as fresh as the morning. Jimmy suddenly wished he had followed Ken's suggestion and freshened up a bit himself.
"Hey there, handsome."
Jimmy quickly dipped his hands in the basin of water sitting on the nightstand. "Hey, good-lookin'." He washed and dried his hands.
"I thought you two would be out there working all day."
"We, uh, we were. Somethin' else came up."
"Something to make you rush back here and wash your hands?" She was teasing now.
He flashed her a crooked grin. "I reckon so."
"Well, why don't you tell me all about it?"
"I plan to. Why don't you have a seat?"
"Here or downstairs?"
"Here." He patted the cushioned window seat. "Sit here for a minute."
"Jimmy, what is it? You're worrying me."
He grinned again. "Well, I hope I don't give you much more cause for worry. I just need to ask you somethin', Jack."
"Well, for heaven's sake, ask me! I don't think I can stand the mystery!"
Jimmy waited until Jack had seated herself. "Jack, I've been thinkin' on somethin' for a long time now. Longer than you've been back, to be honest. I know we've had some trouble in the past with you thinkin' that maybe I was comparin' you to someone else, but the truth is that I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. And I've known that from the moment I met you. Maybe it took me a while to figure it out, and maybe I fought it longer than I should've, but I know it now. I shouldn't never have let you go, and I let you leave twice. And now you're back. Someone's decided to give us another chance, Jack. I can't let you go again."
Jack's breathing suddenly became a difficult task. Was Jimmy about to ask what she hoped and prayed he was about to ask? She shoved her hands under her legs so he wouldn't notice their trembling. She bit her lower lip and waited, gazing up at him with eyes full of adoration. He was so tall and handsome, so full of the moment, running long fingers through thick, short hair, rubbing his hand across the back of his bare neck as he paced back and forth in front of her.

Suddenly he stopped and stood in front of her, crouching down before her, taking her hands in his. "Jack, I love you and I love your daughter. These past coupla months have been the happiest of my life. I want every day to be happier than the next, and I think that can only happen if you're in my life, if you belong to me."
"I do belong to you, Jimmy," Jack whispered earnestly, leaning forward to look down into his eyes.
"I know you do, sweetheart, but I -- I want you to be bound to me in the eyes of God and the law and our friends and family. I want you to marry me, Jack. Will you marry me?"
Happiness broke over Jack so quickly it threatened to overwhelm her. Tears poured from her blue eyes. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but it was futile. Instead, she spread her arms and threw them around Jimmy's neck, hurling herself at him, knocking him backward onto the floor in the process. Jimmy laughed as they attempted to straighten themselves. Jack wouldn't release him. "Is that a yes?"
"It's an absolutely," Jack sniffed through her tears.
They were quiet then, Jimmy's arms dragging her closer against his body. They sat in silence for a long moment, holding each other. Jimmy said, "Your pa would like to see a weddin' before he and your ma leave for England."
"I think that can be arranged!"
Jimmy pulled back to gaze into the face of this woman he loved so incredibly. He wiped away the traces of tears that marred her pale skin.
"Hey, now -- don't be cryin', woman. This is a good thing, ain't it?"
Jack buried her face in the crook of his neck. "It's a very good thing," she murmured.
"You ready to go downstairs and spread the word?"
"In a minute. I'd like for us to have this moment to ourselves."
"You know, I may not be good at this marriage thing, Jack. I'm only promisin' that I'll try."
"That's all I ask. And I'll do the same."

Screams. Loud, piercing, terrified screams filled the air. Jack and Jimmy jumped to their feet. "Lou!" cried Jack. "That's Lou!"
"Oh God," breathed Jimmy. He opened the bedroom door and tore down the stairs, Jack close on his heels. The closer they got to the living room the louder Lou's screams became. Jimmy burst through the screen door and found Lou standing on the porch, her hands to her heart. Kid had grabbed Manhattan's reins and was slipping his foot in the stirrup. Jack and Jimmy followed Lou's gaze, into the distance where thick drifts of black smoke could be seen filtering into the air. Jack wrinkled her nose as the acrid stench of burning wood filled her nostrils. They heard the clatter of hooves as Buck came around the corner of the house and continued on, racing in the same direction.
"Fire!" he shouted. "Fire at the old station!"

CHAPTER 1 ¤ CHAPTER 2 ¤ CHAPTER 3 ¤ CHAPTER 4 ¤ CHAPTER 5 ¤ CHAPTER 6 ¤
CHAPTER 7 ¤ CHAPTER 8 ¤ CHAPTER 9 ¤ CHAPTER 10