by Nancy Howard
CATHERINE AND MOLLY, are swinging in the porch swing, when Catherine sees the buckboard coming over the hill. Gavin is driving it as it slowly ambles and makes its way down the hill and toward the house. Molly has spied it too. She quickly jumps out of the swing, and starts running toward the wagon.
“Daddy!” she yells out, then stops and turns around. “Grandma, daddy and mommy are home.”
As the Wagon gets closer to Molly, it stops still about twenty yards from the house. She runs up to it and her dad reaches down and hoists her up so she can set beside him.
Catherine catches up and sees her daughter in the back, looking at her, she says, “I was beginning to wonder about the two of you. I got your telegram.”
“Good. Will told me he sent it.”
“Yes, thank you. I was so worried, until I got it.”
“That's why I sent it. Is the baby okay,” Logan asks?”
“Yes, he's fine,” Catherine responds. Logan smiles in approval.
Gavin stops the wagon in front of the ranch house. He gets down and Will dismounts, so they can get Falon out of the wagon and inside. They're joined by George, who saw the wagon coming, too.
Logan turns to him, “George, I want you to ride into town and fetch Doc Burroughs. We need him to come out here to the ranch as quick as he can.”
“Yes, Ms. Logan, will do,” he says. As Gavin and Will help Falon out of the wagon, and to her feet, and into the house.
Catherine is there assisting and tells the men to take her up to the guest room.
Little Molly, who is in her mother's arms notices right away that Falon looks exactly like her mother, “mommy, there are two of you,” she says.
Logan kisses her daughter on the cheek, “no, honey, she's my identical twin sister. Her name is Falon, and she's your aunt.”
“Oh.” The little girls says, confused, and wondering what an identical twin is.
“Mommy?”
“Yes sweetie.”
“What's a iden.. ti.. cal twin?”
“Well, it's kinda complicated, so I'll tell you later. Right now we have to take care of her. Okay?”
“Okay,” the little girls says. Then she goes off to play, after her mother sets her down.
Inside the two men get Falon up the stairs and onto the guest room bed.
“Logan, I don't want to be a bother to you,” she says, weakly.
“Bother? What are you talking about? You're my sister, and you need care and rest, girl. I sent for the doctor, because you need medical attention as well. So you just lay there and rest and don't worry about anything.”
Falon shakes her head and looks at Catherine, who seconds Logan's advice. She is setting on the edge of the bed, as Zelda walks into the room with a washcloth and pan of cold water. Catherine dips the cloth in the water and wrings it out, placing it on Falon's forehead. Falon looks at her and smiles, “thank you mam. That feels so good.”
“I bet it does, sweetie. Like Logan said, you just rest.”
Falon this is my mom, Catherine Sanderson.”
“Nice to meet you, mam.”
“Nice to meet you, too, Falon. The doc will be here in a bit, to tend to you.”
Logan leaves the room knowing that Falon is in good hands, she wants to see Chad. Gavin and Will are in the kids room playing with the baby, who is awake. They are joined by Catherine a few minutes later.
“She's very week Logan, she's gonna need lots of time,” she says.
“I know,” Logan says. Looking seriously at her mother, and taking her son from, Gavin.
A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER Doc Burroughs arrives and examines Falon. After he's done examining her, he comes back downstairs to the dining room. Where Logan, Gavin, and Catherine, are waiting anxiously to hear what he has to say. His look is somber.
“Well doc, you think she's pregnant.” Logan asks?
“I can't answer that right now, Logan. We'll just have to wait and see about that. But I will tell you what I do know, and you know, too. That girl has been through one hell of an ordeal. I can't begin to fathom the things she was put through. I don't need to tell you how weak she is, as well as malnourished. So right now, what she needs is rest and care. Lots of rest and lots of care. Those cuts, bruises, and abrasions will heal, but her being sexually assaulted like happened to her was very traumatic,” he pauses. “That will take a lot of time. "
“I'm concerned about how well she'll do, mentally,” Logan comments.
“Well, Logan, that's where you and you all come in. She's gonna need you, all of you, and all of the support you can give her. She been hurt deeply. I'm no psychologist, but she's gonna need some time to deal with everything, including having a sister. Just as I'm sure you may be dealing with that, too. She's in new and unfamiliar surroundings. She gonna need all of us. I can heal those cuts and abrasions, and I'll do all I can to help her with the mental stuff, too. I'll read up on some things, but for now she needs rest, and nourishment, and plenty of it.”
“She will get anything she needs. Trust me on that,” Logan says.
“I know she will. How are you holding up Logan? You too Marshal.”
“We're both just tired,” Gavin says.
“Yes, well I want the two of you to get some rest, too, though I figure that advice is falling on deaf ears.”
“Rest? I don't know how to do that doc. If you've noticed, I've got a three hundred thousand acre ranch to run, a husband and two children, and now a sister to tend, too.”
“I know that Logan, but I have no doubt in my mind, that if anyone can handle all of that responsibility, it's you.”
40
Three weeks have passed since Logan and Gavin returned to the ranch, bringing Falon home with them. Gavin has gone back to being a lawman, and Logan of course has Sanderson's Hill to run. In between running the ranch, Logan is of course a mother, but again she has lots of help. Catherine and Zelda take care of keeping Molly out of the office, but she goes in anyway. To Logan having her daughter come in to visit her is a joy, not a bother. Chad is in the office with his mother, as he has been even before she and Gavin went after Belcher.
But Logan's main concern and focus other than her family and the ranch, is on her new found family member, Falon. And making sure she comfortable and is getting well.
She is doing that—healing. For the most part Falon is quiet, she doesn't talk much. She joins the family at dinner sometimes, when she wants too. Logan has told her, it's not necessary for her to be there with them if she's not up to it. That they all understand if she chooses not to eat meals with them on a regular basis. Along with trying to deal with healing up both physically and mentally, Falon is still trying to get to know the family. She's trying to get used to her new surroundings, and having a sister.
She is of course curious as to what Logan does, she knows that she spends a lot of time in her office. And that she is very important to the ranch, but isn't sure why yet. Falon would like to find out what Logan does, but is afraid to interrupt her because she's always so busy.
Falon's abrasions and physical wounds are healing, and she is getting some of her physical strength back. She is awake all the time now, and spends her days in her room. Sometimes she just sets on her bed, and stares out the window for hours on end. She will often just set and cry, wondering why she went through what she did. Even though she knows she's safe now, with Logan and Gavin. That they will not let anything happen to her. She has learned very quickly about her sister's protective nature, after spending just these few weeks with her.
On some days she will go out and set on the front porch in the swing, or in one of the wicker chairs. She has her good days and her bad days. Sometimes she is joined by Molly, who seems to be Falon's best therapy right now. And Falon seems to enjoy Molly's company. Logan sees it—she sees Falon go out to the tree swing with Molly in the backyard, where she swings her daughter. She notices that she can from time to time hear Falon laugh, as Molly says or does something to amuse her. Logan rem
embers how Molly had the same affect on her mother, after her dad passed away.
But for Logan just hearing her sister laugh is music to her ears. She sees that her sister is spirited like her, and she's getting just a little better as the days go by.
Today Falon sees her sister in the office, she's still curious as to what Logan does and decides to go in and talk to her.
“Hey you! How are you feeling today, lady,” Logan asks? Looking up from her desk to see Falon walk in. “Sit down.”
“Hello, to you. I'm as good as I can be, I guess,” she says, sitting in one of the big chairs. “I hope I'm not interrupting you. I been wantin' to come in and talk to you, but you always seem so busy.”
“Never. I will always have time for you Falon. I'm just glad to see you're getting a little better each day.”
“Yeah, I only have a little bit of the black eye now, and my lip is almost healed completely,” she says, then pauses. “So what is it you do here? If you don't mind me asking, I see you in here most of the time and you're always working. I've figured that you must be very important to this ranch.”
“Well, I am, really, I run the place. I have for a longtime. John gave me this job right after I came here.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Um, nine years ago, now.”
“So, you're the boss here.”
Logan smiles, “yes, I’m the boss.”
Falon pauses, she has more questions.
“I hear you call Catherine mom all the time.”
“Yes, they, the Sandersons adopted me, and made me the heir to this ranch. They lost their only daughter Jennifer about four years before I showed up here. But she's my mom, Falon, and in time she'll probably be that to you, too.”
“I'd like that,” Falon smiles. “She must be great.”
“She is, trust me on that.”
“Why did you guys come here?”
“Well, when me and Gavin first came here, we were hired to chase off cattle rustlers.”
Falon looks at her, cocking her head and widening her eyes, upon hearing that.
“Wow, how did you guys get a job like that?”
Logan smiles. “Well,” she says slowly. “We were...you see, bounty hunters.”
“You were a bounty hunter? Did you like that,” Falon ask? Interested in what her sister just told her.
Logan shakes her head, no.
“It got to the point where all I could think of was changing my life, before I got killed being a bounty hunter. I ran into John and Catherine just after arriving here in Folsom with Gavin. John hired both of us, though it took some persuasion to convince Gavin to take the job. I never wanted to leave after I got here, and got situated. I'd been looking for stability in my life and John and Catherine provided me that avenue. And I'm forever beholding to them for all they did for me.
“They must have loved you a lot, Logan, to do all of that for you.”
“Yes they did. You know what was really great for me, to do, Falon? It was, that I was making them happy. I was helping from the beginning, from the time I got here. I was helping them deal with Jennifer's passing. Understand, I wasn't replacing her in anyway, but I was here and helping them have a daughter in their lives again.”
“So you loved them, too,”
“I did, and I still do.”
“Were you and Gavin married back then?
“No, not back then. That's a whole other story,” she smiles. “We'd been riding together for about three years, and then he decided to go to Texas. When he came back he was looking for me. And we've been together ever since. I'll tell you more about that later. Right now, sister, I am so glad to see you getting better. We sure got a lot to catch up on, girl.”
“We sure do.”
“What about you? Where have you been?”
“I was raised in Greeley, Colorado, by Joan and Burt Long. I thought they were my mother and father, but I guess maybe I was adopted, too.”
“Are they still there, in Greeley?”
“No, they both died. Dad he died of a heart attack and mom she had a cancer.”
“I'm sorry. I was just wondering who they were, and how they figured into this.”
“I'm not sure, now. Anyway, after they both passed away, I was alone, and decided to move to Denver and get a job, I was working at the dry goods store, when I was kidnapped,” she says. Then asks, “so what about Mr. Sanderson, Catherine's husband, is he gone?”
“Yes, he is he passed away about a year ago.”
“What was he like?”
Logan paused, and sighed before she answered, as she thought about John
“He was a big, strong, honest, and proud man. I wish you could have known him Falon.”
There's a pause again as Logan remembers John. Falon could see by the look on Logan's face how important he was to her.
“You must miss him.”
“I do, a lot. More than most people realize,” she pauses a second. “So tell me, how in God's name, did you have the misfortune to run into, Travis Belcher?”
“It all started one night when I was on my way home from work, and I got grabbed.”
“By who?”
“Some guy who's name I know is Joe Biggs, and a couple of other men. I'd seen him in the store before, and I'd talked to him. He seemed nice, and friendly. I never figured he was one to kidnap me.
“Anyway, they grabbed me, and tied me up and gagged me. Then took me to an old abandoned barn. Where they put me into the back of a Conestoga with seven other girls, who were also bound and gagged. After they put me in there, they shackled me and tied me to the wagon. I was there for awhile, cause when Biggs came back, he'd hired Travis and his men to take us to a Comanchero camp here in New Mexico. Belcher took the gags off of us when we stopped the first day, that's when he first saw me, and thought I was you. I heard him tell one of the men that was with him, named Burl, that he wasn't gonna give me up to the Comancheros.
“I told him that I wasn't you. My name was Falon Long. I told him I'd never heard of you, and at first he didn't believe me. It was then that he and the man named Burl figured out that we were twins, and somehow got separated at birth. Which I knew nothing about. I thought maybe Belcher was wrong, and he just thought that I looked like you. Anyway, he said he wanted to keep me to get back at you, for making him look like a fool and nearly getting him hanged. He said he hated you.”
“I can only imagine what he said about me. My feelings about him were mutual. He was a bully and a cowardly murderer. I had a run in with him in Miner's Hill years ago, before I met Gavin. I had him arrested for murder,” Logan says. “Listen you don't have to answer this if you don't want to Falon. It might not even be the time to ask you, but when did he start to sexually assault you?”
Falon paused and put her hand over her mouth, not wanting to talk about any of it, even with Logan but decides to anyway. She turns her head away and begins to whimper and cry, then says, “immediately. That first day we stopped.”
“And it went on until I killed him. Right?”
Falon shakes her head, “you killed him? You say.”
“Yes I did.”
Falon is crying, and wiping tears with her handkerchief. Logan gets up from behind the desk and goes over to her sister. She pulls the other chair over in front of her so she could be face to face with her. Logan takes her sisters hands in hers and holds them. Falon is shaking like a leaf with all those bad memories, and Logan knows how painful this can be for her.
“It was awful, Logan, I thought, I was gonna die,” she states tearfully. “I didn't do nothin' wrong to him.”
Logan sets and listens, because what her sister is saying, harkens her back to the days that their dad abused her.
“No, no, you didn't Falon, you did nothing wrong to deserve what he did to you. You've got to remember that. That sonofabitch put you through pure hell. And the good news is he can't hurt you anymore—no one is going to hurt you like that ever again. I will make damn
sure of it, and so will Gavin. I want you to remember that. Okay?”
Falon shakes her head, as she listens to and trusts her sister too do that.
“And, I want you to know, that I know a lot about what your feeling right now. You may not believe me, but I do.”
“How?” She asks, tearfully.
“Our real father, Cal Kincaid, that's how.”
“What did he do,” Falon asks?
“When I was eighteen, just a couple of months before I got out of school, he began to rape me and commit incest with me. It took me a longtime to deal with what he did to me, and I still carry those scars around with me to this day, Falon. Though time has helped me heal, but that bastard assaulted me intentionally. I was his daughter, for Christ’s sake! And he would come home drunk and screw me, like I was some saloon whore.”
“Where was our mother during all of this? Did she know what he was doing to you?”
“No, our mom died when I was seven. She was always sick Falon, and I'm sure she couldn't have stopped him, anyway.”
“Were you able to get away from him.
“Yes I did. The evening after I graduated from school, he came home drunk as hell like he always did, and we got into it hot and heavy. I met him at the front door, with his rifle in my hands. And I shot him Falon. I didn't kill him, but I did shoot him in the shoulder. He pulled a gun on me and was going to kill me—he left me no choice but to defend myself.”
“He deserved it.”
Logan shakes her head, and says emphatically, “Yes he did! He was nothing but a mean, perverted sonofabitch.”
“But you learned to trust, Gavin.”
“Yeah, I just always did, he always treated me right. When I first came here I trusted no one, except, Gavin. And what did I find? Two of the most wonderful people in the world. Who didn't care that I was a bounty hunter, or anything else about me for that matter. They just accepted me for me, and never made demands that I be like Jennifer, or anybody. We bonded instantly, and they let me know from the time I got here that they wanted me to stay. They taught me that I was loved, and respected here.
