by Nancy Howard
Falon noticed right away when she first saw Logan standing in the doorway, that she was wearing her britches, hat, and gun. Something she rarely does unless she has too—she usually has a dress on.
“You bet!” Falon says, enthusiastically. Then she hops up and grabs the gear, and puts them on.
A few minutes later she stands in the office doorway, “I'm ready, I guess.”
Logan smiles at her sister, seeing her dressed exactly like her. Then she gets up out of her desk chair and walks over to Falon, and takes the pistol out of the holster and spins the chamber, it's empty.
“My mistake. I gave you this gun and I didn't even check it. Sorry Falon, I know better.”
“That's okay, it was empty, wasn't it?”
“Yeah, but still.”
Logan places the gun back into the holster, then grabs a carbine off the gun rack and a couple of boxes of shells, and says,” ready?”
“Ready,” Falon nods.
They go out the front door and begin walking down to the stable, where two horses are waiting for them to ride. Now Gavin is still at the ranch, he has not left for town yet. He Chase, Brock, George and Timmins, and some of the boys are hanging around the corral, watching horses being broke in. Brock turns around to see the twins walking down the hill dressed exactly alike.
He asks Gavin, “how do you do it Gavin? How do you tell em apart? You, too, Chase?”
“Tell who apart,” Gavin responds. Looking at Brock to see what he's talking about.
“Those two,” he says. George, Timmins and all of the men are looking now. Watching the twins stride toward the stable. Most all of the men that have worked at Sanderson's Hill for awhile, they're used to having Logan around dressed in britches once in a while. But now they see Falon dressed like her sister, causing all the men to gawk, as they see them together.
The ladies wave at them all, and the men return the gesture.
Gavin looks at the men and says, “it's easy. The one with the wedding ring on her finger, is my Logan.” Now he's teasing the men, because he can definitely tell them apart—most of the time.
Chase says it's easy for him to tell them apart, because Logan gives him orders. And when Falon sees him, she smiles at him and lets him kiss her. Which the men all laugh at his comment.
Then Brock comments, “We know which one is Logan. Don't we boys?”
“Yeah, we do,” George says. “When Logan comes down here we can tell. Cause she's the boss. And Falon just comes here to chat.”
Chase and Gavin agree.
“I wonder where they're off too,” Chase wonders?
“I don't know for sure. Logan said somethin' about teaching Falon how to shoot. And if you guys noticed Falon had a gun and holster on, which you never see. Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about them. Logan will kill anyone who even tries to hurt her sister, again. You can trust me on that,” Gavins says.
They all shook their heads in agreement, because they all know Logan well, as they watch the two women ride away.
FROM THE RANCH HOUSE, they ride out the main road about half a mile, then Logan tells Falon to turn to the left as they head down a cattle pathway. They ride about another two hundred yards, and come up on a grove of trees with some rock outcroppings scattered about. There they dismount, where they're near an old wooden gate and fenced area that John once used for branding. He had abandoned it years ago, as the ranch grew to the huge area it covers now.
“This is a good place to show you some stuff. I haven't asked, but do you want to learn to shoot a rifle or a pistol first,” Logan asks?
“Which do you think would be best?”
“I think a rifle. It's easier to handle at first. Kinda. It’ll kick more—so yeah, let's start there,” Logan answers.
She pulls her carbine out of it's saddle holster, and begins to talk to Falon about the gun. With the gun empty she shows her how to load it, cock it, aim it, and pull the trigger, by squeezing it. Logan then walks around and picks up several rocks lying on the ground, and also finds some old whiskey bottles. She picks them up too, and figures they've been out there for ages. She takes the rocks and bottles and sets them up on the gate, giving them something to shoot at.
Then she walks back to Falon and hands her the carbine.
“Okay, ya ready,” Logan asks?”
Falon shakes her head yes.”
“Good,” Logan says. Then she stands behind her sister, and guides her through the process of pulling the trigger. She makes sure Falon's arms and stance are good, before she lets her shoot.
“Now, just before you shoot, hold your breath just a sec. It'll steady you as you squeeze the trigger.”
Falon does so per Logan's instructions. The gun goes off with a loud pop, kicking Falon up slightly. She shrieks with glee as she sees one of the whiskey bottles fly apart. Then she cocks the rifle again and again, hitting two of the rocks on the fence.
Logan is smiling too, it warms her heart to see her sister happy like this. She remembers how she looked just a couple of months ago, when she first came here.
They were having so much fun they shot up a box of shells, as they had to find more rocks to shoot at. Falon is now very confident shooting a rifle, and has already shown that she's an excellent marksman. Talking as they target shoot, Falon said to Logan that she wishes she could have had a gun the night she was abducted. She knows now, that she would have surely shot somebody when it happened.
Later, Falon asks her sister,” Aren't you gonna shoot your pistol?”
“You want me, too?”
“Well, yeah, silly! That's part of the reason for us being out here, isn't it?” She laughs at her sister.
Logan shakes her head yes, then goes over and picks some more rocks up off of the ground. She places several on the top of the old wooden fence gate. Then she walks back over to where Falon is standing, and makes sure her sister is behind her. In an instant she draws and fires her six gun. Fanning it, and hitting all six rocks dead on, not missing a one.
“Wow,” Falon exclaims, in awe! As she watches Logan spin the gun back into the holster in one motion, after she's done.
“Can you teach me how to do that?”
“I can, but it will take time. I didn't think you would want to learn that.”
Falon is wide eyed, and shaking her head,” yes I would.”
“Okay,” Logan smiles. “Next time we come out here to shoot, I'll show you some stuff, but it will take lots and lots of practice. It's not like leaning to shoot that rifle.”
“That's okay by me, I want to try,” she responds.
With their first shooting session ended, they head back to the ranch house. This would be the start of something that neither of them counted on. That Falon would want to learn as much as Logan can teach her about shooting. But it gave them that precious time away from everyone as they continue to learn to be sisters. Close and loving. After a while though Falon would not need Logan to go out and practice her shooting, as she became very good with a six gun. She even acquired her own six gun and holster, a birthday gift from Logan.
44
Six more months have passed and the changes at Sanderson's Hill continue to happen. Falon has found a job at the dress shop in Folsom, as she and Chase Wells grow ever closer. While what Logan said about Belcher's abuse of her staying with her for the rest of her life remains true. The nightmares are now almost gone, as her focus now is on her work and Chase. She has moved into town and is renting a room from Bill and Jane Chatfield, in their big house on the edge of town. She has the run of the house, and is really happy there, and this makes Logan happy for her sister.
With Falon having moved out, and living in town, Logan and Gavin have moved Molly and Chad back into what was Jennifer's room. It was the kid's room, then Falon's, and now back to the kids. Logan laughs that what was Jennifer's room, has now become a revolving door for their family members. Logan is glad that the kids have the room back to themselves, but she misses having her sister at
the ranch. Falon told Logan that she wanted to get out of her and Gavin's hair. Logan of course poo-pooed that notion, yet at the same time she is happy to see her sister moving on and getting back to life on her own. She knows that wanting to have her own place, even though just a room at the Chatfields, is an important step in the right direction for her sister.
Gavin in the meantime has invited his younger sisters, Ellie, and Amy out to the ranch for a stay. He's paid for their train trip all the way from Cincinnati, and today is the day that they are to arrive. He and Logan are at the train station to greet them on this Saturday afternoon.
“I have no idea what their like now. I haven't seen them in over two decades,” he says.
“You sound apprehensive. Are you?”
“No, I still have those guilt feelings about leaving them to fend for themselves the way I did. They were such sweet little girls. For the longest time, I couldn't get their images out of my mind.”
“You sound as though you still have those feelings. You've talked about this before.”
“Yeah, I guess, I do. I'm glad that I found them and they're coming here.”
“Yes, I'm glad for that, too, Gavin, I think what you're doing for them, is wonderful.”
“You do?”
“Yes I do,” she says, approving. Holding onto his arm and laying her head on his shoulder, and looking up at him, smiling.
He shakes his head and smiles. With the thought running through his mind of what a wonderful woman Logan is, and how much the two of them have changed over the years.
The train soon arrives and Logan and Gavin stand next to each other, waiting, and watching for the two women to get off of the train together. The first car empties out, and there are no women together that get off. So Logan and Gavin looked down at the second car and as it empties, this time they see them get off the train. The girls stand next to each other, looking around—-trying to locate, Gavin.
“That's got to be them,” he says. “Come on.”
He grabs Logan by the hand and they stroll rapidly toward the women, who see them.
“Ellie, Amy,” Gavin hails, greeting them.
They respond with smiles at him, and waves. Even though it has been years since they've seen each other, they recognize him immediately—just as he does them. They were just little girls the last time Gavin saw them, when he left. He was just fourteen, and they were just eleven and nine, Ellie being the oldest.
For a longtime as Gavin has told Logan, he felt guilty about leaving them like he did, to let them fend for themselves against all odds. Their father was gone and the oldest brother got killed in the war. When he left, he wondered if the girls would survive, given their circumstances. But they have, and today as he greets them with Logan—he has his answer. Gavin is now thirty-eight, making his sisters, thirty-five and thirty-three.
“Gavin, my God, look at you.” Ellie says, happy to see her brother. Then the three of them grab each other and hug for several seconds. Logan stands off to the side and watches with a smile, enjoying seeing her husband greet family.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” he says, as the three break their embraces. “This is my wife, Logan.”
The three women shake hands and give each other a soft hug, saying how nice it is to meet the other.
On the way back to the ranch, the two women are awed as they marvel at the huge expanse of open spaces and blue sky that rises over their heads. They have never been this far west, and they are seeing all of this for the first time. Their reactions to what they see leave Logan and Gavin thinking about how lucky they are to live here, often taking all this around them for granted.
IT BEING SATURDAY, once they got to the ranch Ellie and Amy got to meet the rest of the family. Molly was on the front porch playing when they got home. So they met her right away, as the little girl ran to her parents welcoming them home. Then they met Catherine, and before dinner, Chase and Falon arrived.
After a huge meal and everyone in conversation; Logan and Gavin told his sisters the story of how they came to Sanderson's Hill Ranch. Logan filled Amy and Ellie in on how she found her sister, and of course the two of them eluded to how she and Gavin met over fourteen years ago. Telling his sisters that he and Logan were bounty hunters, leaving the two women shaking their heads in amazement. Logan also spent a great deal of time telling them about John and Catherine and the ranch, and how they adopted her. Looking at Catherine as she tells them all how lucky she is to have such a great, wonderful, and loving mother.
She comments, with a big smile, “she's my mom, ladies.”
After dinner, Gavin along with Ellie and Amy went out on the porch together. Molly started to follow them, but Logan stopped her. Sensing that the Sloan siblings needed some time alone, just to talk. It has been a very long time since they were together, and the last time they saw each other it was not a pleasant. The situation that all three of them were in was not a good one, because their family was in shambles. Gavin was a teenager at the time and was sick of it all, so he just left.
Tonight they set together for the first time in over two decades Gavin says,” It's really good to see the two of you. I don't know how to say this to you both, but I felt bad for a longtime leaving you like I did, and not caring enough to stay and make sure you both survived. I've kicked myself many times for being so selfish back then. So accept my apologies girls, I...,” his voice tailed off.
“Don't apologize Gavin, we know, and we thought about you a lot, too. We kept waiting for you to come home, but you never did. We gave up on ever seeing you again,” Amy says. “We thought you was dead, until you found us.”
“I'm sure,” he says, shaking his head. “I gave up on me, too, if it's any consolation to you both.”
“You shouldn't have, Gavin. As we got older, we realized you did it to save yourself,” Ellie said. “We were never angry with you in anyway.”
He shakes his head again listening to them.
“It must have not been fun, for either of you.”
“It wasn't,” Amy says. “But we're together now, and we were so happy when you found us and sent us that first letter. We been waiting for a longtime, for this day to come. You just don't know.”
He shakes his head, and says, “yes I do.”
“So what happened to the rest of the family. Our mom, big sister, and older brother.”
“Mom died about two years after you left. Callie she took care of all of us for a while, then when we got old enough, she just up and left like you did. We never saw or heard from her again,” Ellie told him. “I wish we could find her, too.”
“Any idea where she might have went?”
“Nah, you know how she was, she never talked much, and that got worse after mom died.”
“I was hoping you might have some idea where she might have gone, because if you did, maybe I could track her down.”
Amy and Ellie shook their heads, that they didn't know.
“What about Billy?”
“He died, about ten years ago,” Amy said.
He's shaking his head again, “God, you must have felt so abandoned.”
“Well it wasn't your fault,” Amy says.
“Have either of you ever been married,” he asks them.
“Yeah we both was,” Ellie says. “I was married to this guy, who just ran off and left me. Said, he was goin' to California to hunt for gold.”
Gavin shakes his head hearing that, then looks at Amy, “You?”
“We just didn't work out. He wadn't worth nothin', no how.”
“Oh? How so?”
“He wouldn't work, Gavin. He just sat around the house all day and whittled. Said, he was an artist. Well, artist or not, I got sick of it, and told him to get a job or get out,” Amy said.
Gavin chuckled, “Did he go?”
“He did. Since then me and sis here we been living there in Cincinnati near downtown. We been scratchin' out a livin'. But there's somethin' else we got to tell you, Gavin,” Amy pauses, and lo
oks at Ellie. “Go on tell him.”
Ellie looks at Amy before saying anything. “We can't go back there, Gavin, cause we ain't got no place to live when we go back. The house we was livin' in, it's bein' torn down to build some sort of a factory. So we was wonderin' if you knew of a place we could say out here, until we get on our feet?”
“Of course, right here at this ranch.”
“You sure, Gavin. You sure, Logan won't mind?”
“No, she won't mind at all. Her sister Falon came here about a year ago and stayed with us for a while. That poor girl was a total mess when she got here. So to ask if Logan will mind? The answer to that is no. You’re family. Besides my wife takes care of everyone,” he says.
The two women seemed relieved to hear him say that.
Then Amy says, “so you're a US Marshal, that is so neat.”
“Yes I am.”
“Logan?”
“My wife, is the boss here, girls. She runs this entire ranch, she has for years. She's adopted like you heard her tell at dinner.
“She said, Catherine's her mom,” Amy said.
“Yes she is. Those two women are very close. Actually closer than blood mother and daughter. Yep, they're mother and daughter, for sure.”
“Are Logan and Falon close? They are so identical it's hard to tell them apart.”
“Yes, like Logan and Catherine, they're just as close. Catherine now has twin daughters,” he laughs.
That's too bad that she and Falon were separated at birth, and didn't know each other growing up,” Ellie said. “What about Logan's adoptive father?”
“John? He passed away almost two years ago, and everything you see ladies, he and Catherine built with their own hands. He was a remarkable man, who loved Catherine and Logan with all his heart.”
Just then Logan, Falon, Chase, and Catherine joined them on the porch. Molly was not far behind and immediately began begging her Aunt Falon to play. Of course Falon gave in to the little girls pleas.
