Levi sat on the side of his and Hope's bed watching Mason and Emma sleep together in their cradle. They had tried putting them in separate cradles but they just weren't happy unless they were together. Their soft sighs filled the air as the morning sun filtered into the room, giving the white walls a warm rosy glow. The love that he felt for his children, all three of them still amazed him every single day. Secretly he had worried that he might love the twins more than Ellie, only because he loved Hope so much and had never even liked Alicia. Smiling, he realized that his fears were unfounded. It didn't matter who their mother was, he loved them all the same.

A noise at the door pulled his thoughts back, turning his head, he saw Ellie standing there, in one of the new soft pink gowns with a ruffle at the bottom, rubbing her eyes. "Good morning." He whispered, getting up and walking across the room to her. He bent down and swooped her up into his arms. She had been so wonderful and helpful since the twins were born, but he knew that she missed having all of his and Hope's attention. "How about we go downstairs and we'll fix breakfast together, just like we used to."

Ellie sat on the counter in her night gown with her bare feet swinging back and forth as she stirred a bowl of pancake batter while Levi sliced thick slabs of bacon. Half an hour later, he and Ellie were taking two trays of food upstairs for the three of them to have breakfast in bed. They walked into the bedroom just as Hope was throwing the covers back to get up for the day.

"Oh no you don't. You get right back into bed. The three of us are having breakfast in bed." He said with a cheeky grin, as they sat the trays at the foot of the bed. They ate and talked and just enjoyed their time with each other as the twins slept.

Hope set her fork on her plate and leaned back against the carved cherry headboard rubbing her full stomach and groaned. Her ebony hair hung in silky curls framing her face, emphasizing her ivory complexion. Today her eyes were a vivid violet, letting him know that she was feeling better and more comfortable with the memories that had begun to trickle back to her.

The first couple of days had been pure hell. She had been beside herself with worry and fear now that Philip knew where she was. Levi had sent another Pinkerton detective to follow Philip and keep an eye on him as soon as he found out the man had been Hope's former fiancé. About two weeks ago he got a telegram that the detective had lost Philip's trail completely. Levi hadn't been worried, until then.

There really wasn't a whole lot that Philip could do. After all, he and Hope had been married for a year now, and they had the twins. Hell, he couldn't even have their marriage annulled because they had the twins. About the only thing Philip could do is just outright kidnap her, and he really didn't think the man would go that far. Well, if he were to die, then Hope would be free to marry someone else. That thought didn't sit well with him, at all.

"I think I'll take Ellie into town with me. Cole and I are meeting with Andy today to see if he's heard anything from the other sheriffs." Levi said as Hope nursed Mason and he burped Emma.

Three hours later Hope sat in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch with Claire running her fingers over Emma's downy soft head, loving the way she and Mason smelled after they'd had a bath. "Thank you for sitting out here with me Claire."

"Oh, you don't have to thank me. I love spending time with you and the babies."

"Well, I'm sure that it won't be too much longer and you will have a houseful of your own." Hope said with a knowing smile at her friend.

"No, I don't think so."

"Oh, you don't? And why is that? I thought that Tuck asked if he could court you and that he was courting you." Hope cut her eyes over to the other woman and watched as a becoming flush crept up her face. She knew that they went off for walks after supper most days. Moving her eyes back to the front, she soaked in the beautiful landscape. A soft breeze rustled the leaves, causing the sunlight that filtered through them to dance along the thick green lawn.

"He did, but I really think that Levi pressured him into asking." Claire sighed as she turned her head to look over at the barn just in time to see the object of their conversation walk out and head up to the house.

A few minutes later Tuck bounced up the steps to stand in front of them. "Good afternoon ladies." He said as he took his dusty hat off, holding it in his hands turning it around with nervous hands. "Miss Claire could I interest you in a walk?"

"Oh, I don't think I can right now, I'm watching Mason." Claire said quickly.

"Sure, you can." Harold said as he walked through the front door. "I'll take that little angel from you and sit with Hope. You two kids go enjoy yourself."

"I think they are so sweet." Hope said as they watched Tuck and Claire walk along the bank of the creek.

"Hope, I know that I'm only Ellie's grandfather, but I just wanted to thank you for letting me be here and have so much to do with these two little darlings. It means so much to me. I love them just as much as I love Ellie." Harold said as he patted Mason on the back.

"Harold Morgan! I cannot believe after all this time you would say something like that. You are their grandfather, and if we have any more children you will be their grandfather too. Family isn't always related by blood. Now, that's enough about this topic. Let's talk about the wedding we'll be planning in a couple of weeks."

Levi swung his leg over Whinney and jumped down, then reached up and grabbed Ellie, setting her on the boardwalk. He tied Whinney to the hitching rail, then he and Ellie walked the short distance to Andy's office. Cole and Blake were already there talking to Andy. As soon as Ellie saw Blake, she ran over to him throwing her arms around his waist.

Blake being the good natured kid that he was just took the unwanted attention in stride. "I'll take her over to the mercantile and then by the creek, if that's ok." He was smart enough to know that even though his papa had brought him to town, he wasn't going to let him stay and be part of their conversation. Levi reached into his pocket and handed each one of them a penny for candy.

Blake took Ellie's hand and led her out the door and down to the mercantile. They each got a peppermint stick and walked out to sit beside the creek behind the hotel. They'd only been there for a few minutes when Timmy Blackwell walked from between two buildings and over to them.

"What are you doing with scar face, Blake?"

"Shut your mouth Timmy before I shut it for you. I've told you before not to call her that." Blake said as Ellie put her hand up over the side of her face covering the scar and trying valiantly not to cry in front of the boys.

"What are you going to do Blake, scalp me?" Timmy laughed

Blake sat there for a minute thinking about what his papa would do. He'd always been taught to never go looking for a fight, but if one comes to you, not to back down. He cut his eyes over to Ellie and saw the tears swimming in her eyes that she refused to let fall. He could handle someone picking on him, but he would not let anyone hurt Ellie.

Blake jumped to his feet and sauntered over to Timmy. "I'm going to tell you one more time. Do. Not. Call. Her. That. Name." He said between gritted teeth.

"What? Scar face? Why? That's what she is, an ugly scar...."

That was all he got out. Blake balled up his fist, drew back, and let it fly. A satisfied smile settled on his face when his fist met Timmy's face. Instantly the boy began to scream in pain as he fell to his knees, cupping his hand over his broken nose as blood ran down his shirt front. After a moment, Timmy managed to get up and run off.

"Thank you." Ellie said quietly as Blake sat back down beside her. "You didn't knave to do that for me."

"You're welcome, and yes I did. Nobody is going to call you names or make fun of you while I'm around."

"It's true though, I am a scar face. I'll never be beautiful like my mama and marry some man like my papa." Ellie said with her head down.

"Let me tell you something Ellie Matthews. You are pretty and you will grow up to be beautiful like your mama." Blake said as he took his fore finger and thumb lifting her head and turning it towards him to get a better view of the C shaped scar. It was still pink, but it wasn't jagged. To be honest, he really didn't ever pay attention to it.

A noised rustled behind them, but before either could turn around, a big beefy hand reached out and snatched Blake up by the collar of his shirt. "You broke my boy's nose." The man, Ellie now knew was Timmy's father began to drag Blake off towards the jail. Blake began to thrash about in an effort to get free. Ellie followed along behind them yelling for Jed Blackwell to let Blake go.

Frustration, that's what Levi felt. How in the hell could someone as ostentatious as Philip Huntington just disappear? But disappear the bastard did. The three of them had been so engrossed in their conversation that none of them had heard anything before the door burst open. Jed Blackwell walked through the door dragging a struggling Blake by the scruff of his neck, and Ellie screaming behind them.

"Jed Blackwell, you had better have one hell of a good reason to be handling my son that way." Cole said in a low voice. But when he spoke everyone stopped as if he'd shouted. Ellie ran past Jed and Blake, throwing her arms around Levi's legs crying.

"The little bastard broke my boy's nose. Punched him for no good reason!"

Before anyone could blink, Cole had is Colt .44 in his palm and pointed right at Jed's forehead. "You insult my wife and my son like that one more time and I will kill you. You understand me, Jed? Now let go of my son." There was no mistaking the quite calm in Cole's voice and no one doubted for one minute that he would make good on his promise, if he had to.

"Sheriff are you going to let him threaten me like that?"

"Jed, you and I both know that was a promise. You also know that you don't go insulting a man's wife and kids like that either. When you walked in my door you were man handling his son. So, yeah, I'm going to let him threaten you like that." Andy said.

Jed let go of Blake's collar, the boy walked over to stand beside his father. "What happened Blake?"

"I took Ellie to get a peppermint stick, then we went to go sit by the creek. Timmy walked over to where we were then started calling Ellie names. I told him that if he didn't stop I would make him. He kept calling her names and I punched him."

Levi looked down and picked up his daughter, his heart breaking over the hurt a careless child had deliberately caused her. "Is that what happened?" Ellie nodded her head but said nothing.

fullyremo(D:~