Frontier General Store

Emily arrives at the Cassadine place and puts her horse up. It's kinda crowded in the Cassadine barn what with all of their mounts and the horses up from the Smith place. But even with all those mounts there are more that she didn't recognize. The Cassadines must have company. Her movements are sure but hurried. The last thing she wanted to do was run into Roscoe out here in the barn. Not that she wouldn't put him down like the mangy rabid dog that he is but it would create a hell of a fuss. Doing as she feels the most comfortable she goes around to the kitchen door. She knocks on the door after glancing in one of the small windows to see Mrs. Lansbury working by the stove.

"Miss Emmie! Come in! Come in! You must be chilled to the bone."

"My bones are just fine." Em counters as she sheds her coat and hat and hangs up her gun belt on the pegs by the door. "But you might make sure that the kettle is on. My Grandfather and Mr. Cassadine are on their way here. Figure I got about..." Em makes a shaking motion with her hand. "... half an hour give or take. The stables are looking kinda crowded. You have company?"

"Miss Natasha has the ladies of the valley over for a sewing bee. They are all in the library."

Em winces. "Great. They couldn't be doing something really civilized like playing cards or listening to music?" Mrs. Lansbury hides a smile as she goes over to the stove and dishes out a bowl of soup. It had become her custom to keep vegetable soup on the simmer. It was both warming and filling. Em has a seat at the kitchen table. It might not be polite but she was going to avoid the hen party as long as she could. "Course it's playing right into Grandfather's hands." Em can tell she has Mrs. Lansbury's attention but the older woman won't say a word figuring it's not her place. So Em takes pity on her after taking a quick sip of the warm broth. "Grandfather is on a bride hunt. He figures it's time that my brothers were married and they aren't moving fast enough in that direction."

"I see."

A gentle flake falls onto the back of the horse and then melts. Edward spies it and grunts.

"It's good that we are so close to the house." Stefan says quietly.

"Could be worse." Edward checks out the clouds to the northwest against the angle of the sun in the sky and shakes his head. "Gonna get worse. Yah!" Edward slaps the reins against the backs of the horses and has them pick up the pace.

"There is no cause for concern... yet."

"Nope." Still Edward is glad that Emily had gone on ahead. She should be at the Cassadine place already.

Elizabeth takes a break from reading to the women that are busily stitching the quilt to the backing. She stands up and goes over to the window. They should have a few more hours of daylight left but it didn't appear to be so. The sky was darkening significantly. Liz frowns and calls her Grandmother over. "Gram, I think you should take a look at this."

Audrey scoots out from her place around the quilting frame and goes over to the window resting an arm along her granddaughter's shoulder as she looks out to the distance. "Oh Dear." Turning back to the group she informs the ladies that are about to rush the window as well. "Miss Cassadine, I'm afraid we're going to have to cut this short. The girls and I need to get home before the weather hits."

Natasha looks up from her stitching but it is Bobbie who stands up and goes over to the window. "The weather hits?" She goes over to the window as well and swears under her breath which has Audrey stiffening and Liz wincing next to her. Bobbie could be so... colorful at times. "Lulu, baby, go get our coats. We need to get home before your Daddy comes looking for us."

"But Mama! What about this?" Carly demands. Everything is going to be ruined.

"We'll leave the quilting stand here." Laura decides trusting Bobbie's judgment. "Come on, Carly, lets just roll it on to the stretcher bars. We're going to have finish this later."

"But..."

"Caroline Spencer, come over here and look out this window." Bobbie demands in a voice that brooks no back talk.

Carly stomps over there ready to give her mother hell and then after taking one look at the threatening sky. "Fine." Carly stomps back to the quilting table. "Sarah, Miz Flo you'd best start packing back up your sewing kits. Gia?"

"I'll go hitch the team." Gia grabs her coat off of the stack that Lulu is buried under. All you can see is a bundle of coats with two feet sticking out under it. If the northerners were saying it was time to leave then it was time to leave, probably past time. Gia heads to the kitchen where she is still winding her scarf and buttoning her coat when she runs into Mrs. Lansbury. "Mrs. Lansbury, Miz Audrey says that the weather is turning and we'd best be heading home."

Emily pops off the bench that runs along the side of the kitchen table and goes over to the window. She starts cursing a blue streak of language that she must have picked up out on the range when the cowboys didn't know she was listening.

"That's about what Miz Bobbie said." Gia agrees with a nod. "I need to get the team hitched and brought around."

"I'll help." Em offers. She grabs her coat off the peg by the door and goes out with Gia buttoning up as she goes out the door. Damnit Grandfather Emily gives a worried look to the sky and then into the distance wondering where the heck the Old Man is. He ought to be here by now.

In the Woods down by the Hardy's place, Nikolas stops abruptly. Zander just figures he is taking a break and leans against one of the trees to take a rest of his own. "Take a deep breath." Nikolas demands.

"What?" Zander rolls his eyes and does as his friend asks... just humoring him. Then he frowns.

"Smell it?"

"Yeah, I think... I guess. What is it?" Zander straightens.

"Snow." The bushy limbed fir trees block their vantage of the sky. "Do you need my assistance to get up on the horse?"

"What about you?" Zander asks.

"We'll ride double if we have to. But I don't think it will be necessary." Nikolas says calmly. What he really wants to do is get out of the woods so that he can make a proper assessment of the situation. "We aren't that far from the Hardy's homestead. We'd best get back there. If we delay too long, the Hardy's will be having yet another guest."

"Don't think that would go over too well with Lucky." Zander says wryly. He uses a stump from one of the trees they'd felled to assist him onto the back of the horse. He'd be glad when he is out of this splint. If only to be more mobile.

That sky is looking something fierce. And as cold as it is... figure it ain't going to be rain. Marcus worries as he stands on the porch having a quick smoke. The Spencer's had headed back to their place awhile ago. He'd prefer that Gia and Mama were home but had to have faith that they were with the Spencer women and the Hardy's and they'd be keeping an eye on things.
The homestead is never not tidy. Florence wouldn't stand for it. So it only takes him a few minutes to put away any tools that he might have been using for the day. He checks on the animals' supplies, including for the horses that are with the women, making sure they have plenty of food and water. Then he starts hauling wood from the stack up to the porch figuring that if the weather did get bad they'd need a little extra and wouldn't care to be fetching it. Looking around the homestead he wonders what next? His eyes fall to the water barrel. Definitely going to have to get a well dug come spring. They could always melt snow on the stove for water... but that would take quite some time if they were melting it for the critters as well. Need to have a bigger reservoir for them than just some water barrels. Where the hell are the women?

With the skill of plenty of practice, Gia and Emily soon have the horses hitched to the wagon and pull it around to the front of the Cassadines house. Emily climbs down but Gia stays up on the wagon keeping a firm hand on the team. "I really appreciate your help. Where in the heck is the Cassadines hired man? He should have been the one to hitch the team or at least help."

Emily frowns. "Roscoe? He wasn't in the stables when I arrived."

Luke and Lucky arrive on foot from down the way. "Saw him riding hell for leather out of the valley not too long ago. Figured there was trouble." Luke comes up to stand up by the horses heads giving the one closest to him a pat on the neck.

"Roscoe left?" Emily looks up at the sky. Not too bright. And figure he's going to be someone else's problem since there is no way he could make it to Charlestown, three days away, before the weather. He was definitely going to be caught out in it.

"He must have know that the jig was up when he saw Dara." Gia realizes. "Dara let all of us know that he was a man lacking in both character and backbone, not to be trusted around women."

Lucky and Luke stiffen at that one. "Oh really."

Emily flushes; this is not what she wants getting around-- her own reputation on the line. Gia realizes at the same time and rushes to fill in a blank but in a slightly deceptive way. "Dara didn't say anything different really than what Miz Bobbie did. Just that she knew it for fact rather than just intuition."

"Cowboy, why don't you go see what's holding the wimmen up. We need to get back to our place. Slide on over, Miss Gia, I'll handle it from here." Lucky goes to the front door and raps once and then enters without waiting for anyone to come to the door.

Gia slides over and once Luke is on the bench beside her, hands over the reins. The women inside the Cassadine place once the decision had been made to cut short the quilting bee are soon making their way to the wagon with Lucky giving them a hand up into the back. It's going to be a bit of a crowd with the three women from the Hardy's, two more from the Taggart's and three and a half from the Spencer's. Gia is counting herself lucky to be sitting up top with Luke when Lucky climbs up next to her and squeezes her between the two men.

Emily comes around to the back of the wagon and sees Mrs. Hardy there. "Mrs. Hardy," She pauses as she thinks if she really wants to get into this but figures she must. "...Roscoe left the Cassadines high and dry. Mr. Spencer saw him heading back toward Charlestown."

"But..." Miz Audrey looks toward the sky.

"Exactly. Figure once he has time to think-- he's gonna be turning back around and heading for the first shelter he spies. And I'm not saying that you ought not to give it to him... but keep a close eye on anything precious to you." Emily steps back from the wagon. Luke gives a yah sending the team down the path. Em goes inside to check with Mrs. Lansbury on anything she figures needs to be done before the weather hits. Looks like they'd be staying awhile.

"Nikolas, get out of here." Zander demands. His friend is making work now. They'd already hauled some wood up to the north side of the porch creating a block and a stockpile of fuel. "I've got it. With your Uncle up at the Quartermaine place, you're going to have to take care of things for Miss Natasha and Mrs. Lansbury."

"Roscoe is there." Nikolas says easily. He checks the tension on the ropes that have been strung from cabin to barn and cabin to outhouse. Hopefully they wouldn't be needed but still good to know they were there.

"Oh yeah, like that guy does anything that isn't put down in writing or spelled out for him." Zander shakes his head. "Go on. I'd rather you make sure Mrs. Hardy and the girls are on their way back from your place."

Nik sees the sense in that and goes over to Sheba still saddled in the corral. "You've been waiting for this one since you moved out here. Hope you're ready."

Zander laughs. "Still have a book or two I haven't read yet so I guess I am. Or I will be as soon as I know that the Hardy's are on their way. You get a spare second check out my place to make sure no bears have moved in."

Nik laughs and nods giving Zander a wave as he heads up the road.

Lucky climbs down from the wagon as his father pulls up in front of the Spencer place. Coming around to the back he grabs the baskets that the women had taken along and then swings Lulu down. Lulu grabs one of the baskets and heads into the cabin. Lucky assists his mother, Aunt and cousin then puts the gate up on the back of the wagon. He gives his father the all clear and then waves as Luke pulls off. Lucky looks around the place figuring that there was plenty to do before the storm hit. A big white flake hits his coat and sticks, followed soon by another. "Lulu, check on your chickens and make sure they are out from under the porch and in the coop. Carly, wanna gimme a hand in the barn?"

Carly hadn't even had a chance to go into the cabin and take her coat off so she starts toward the barn.

Laura as soon as she enters the house gets a lantern and lights it setting it by one of the front windows. They'd nearly put it off too long. And Luke was going to be caught out in the weather for sure since the snow was already starting.

Bobbie looks under the lid of the Dutch oven set on the back of the woodstove. "Well Lucky took care of the beans. It won't take long for them to cook down." Thank Goodness! It wasn't Luke or we'd be here all night. She gives them a quick stir and moves them more to the front of the stove to really start cooking. She loads up the woodstove to put out more heat. Then she takes off her coat and hangs it on a peg.

"Lesley Lu Spencer! What on earth do you think you are doing?" Bobbie turns around at Laura's protest.

"But Mama, he'll be cold outside." Lulu protests guiltily. She'd known she wouldn't get away with it but she had to try.

"You take that dog out to the barn!" Laura demands. "I'm not going to have that wet smelly dog in the cabin."

"But..."

"The other animals will need Foster to protect them. Now, Lulu. And tell your brother and Carly to not be dillydallying out there either."

"Come on, Foster." Lulu stomps off much the same way Carly had when told that the quilting bee was being cut short. She gives her mother the evil eye as she leaves. "Daddy would have let him stay." Lulu slams the door behind her.

Bobbie starts to say something and then decides against it and starts working putting together some biscuit dough.

"Go ahead and say it." Laura says wryly. "Luke would let her."

"Doesn't mean that you aren't right. There are plenty of us to trip over without adding Foster to the mix."

The wagon and Nikolas cross at about the Taggart place as Lucky is assisting Gia, Flo and Dara down from the wagon. They are still a distance from the house since the Taggart place is set back further than the rest of the houses but this way when Luke came back with the team after dropping off the Hardy's it would actually be a shorter stop and get them back to their own place faster... even if it was on foot and cutting thru the woods. (by the still.)

"You know that your hired guy left?" Luke tells Nik as he is giving Mrs. Taggart a hand down and reaching back to grab her sewing basket to hand it to her before reaching for Dara's hand.

"What?!" Nikolas reins in momentarily.

"Yep, saw him hightailing it down the valley. Way his horse was packed didn't figure him for looking for you but taking a longer trip."

"My Aunt?" Nikolas' protests with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Now, Mr. Nikolas, that polecat left your place afore we did. Miz Natty is just fine." Flo says reassuringly. "Between Mrs. Lansbury and Miss Emily... everything is just fine."

"If you'll excuse me." Nikolas tips his hat and continues down the road giving Sheba a nudge to increase his gait.

Luke swings up on to the wagon. "Tell Marcus we'll be back with the team in no time." In the back of the wagon, Sarah, Elizabeth and Audrey huddled together. It isn't even dark yet but already you could feel the temperature dropping like a stone.

"I'll have the coffee on." Flo agrees with a nod. Together with Gia and Dara they make their way to the house. The flakes are coming down pretty steady now but there isn't enough on the ground to actually wet the bottom of the their gowns and coats. That wouldn't be said for too much longer.

Stefan and Edward study the side of the wagon side by side. They'd been lucky. If you could call it that. The horses hadn't spooked when the wheel had come off. Or rather they had but Edward's skill had managed to keep the damage to a minimum and the wagon upright rather than pitched on it's side. Edward shakes his head. "Son of a bitch."

"Indeed." Stefan agrees not offended at all by the vulgarity. The situation just seemed to call for it. Stefan sighs. "Repairing the wheel is beyond our abilities and the time needed to get to shelter. We should return hopefully tomorrow to make the necessary repairs."

Edward nods and heads back to the front of the wagon to start unhitching the team. No use crying over spilt milk. He'd be fine out here on the range, if he had to. Could use the wagon for shelter or worse case break it up for firewood. Not the first time he'd slept out by any means in the years he'd been out here in Montana and building his empire. But if he knew his granddaughter, and he did know his granddaughter, if he didn't show up in plenty of time at the Cassadine place then she'd come looking for him and wouldn't stop even if it was a blizzard. His Emmie is just soft hearted that way.

Riley and Annabelle greet the wagon, barking their fool heads off. Liz jumps down from the wagon when Luke pulls around and races into the house and up the stairs to the loft that all the Hardy women are sharing now since Zander had the alcove downstairs. Not even a hello or good bye as she turns right around and races back out to the wagon. "I was kinda saving these for Christmas but I think you might need them now." Liz hands up gloves and scarves to Luke.

Luke immediately wraps the scarf around his neck. "How does it look?"

"Warm." Audrey gives him a pat on the chest as she steps away from the wagon. Luke already has a hand up for Sarah and swings her down easily. "We won't keep you. Do let Caroline know we had a lovely time and we'll reschedule for when the weather is more cooperative."

"I'll let her know." Luke agrees with a nod. He checks out the gloves that Elizabeth had made and sees that they are super fine and hmms to himself as he strips off his leather gloves, puts on the knitted and then the leather over the top. Luke stretches his hands out examining the fit and feeling the warmth. He looks over at Elizabeth and gives her a nod and a grin. "You're good, Girl."

Luke climbs up in the wagon and gives everyone a wave. "See ya later."

The women head into the cabin where Zander has been hard at work. The stove is going and the kettle is on. He assists with coats while filling them in on everything he got done to make sure that he hasn't missed anything on Audrey's mental list.

"My word! You have been busy!" Audrey exclaims. "How on earth did you manage or even know..."

"Nikolas. I now know the smell of snow." Zander says wryly but with a bit of pride. "We were out clearing dead trees out of the forest so we've got plenty of firewood."

Sarah sets a pot of tea to steep. Liz hangs up all the coats and ignores Gatsby who'd snuck into the house from the barn. The dogs were out in the barn or could get in and out as they needed. And she could take Gatsby out to the barn in the morning when she feed the critters but one thing about cold weather... even the field mice were looking for someplace snug to bed down and the house wasn't going to be that place. Audrey puts on her apron and goes over to the makeshift counter by the stove and starts to prepare dinner-- a nice stew to celebrate the first real snow.

Zander stands at the window leaning up against the wall to take the pressure off his weak leg and just watches the flakes gently fall. He'd seen snow before of course. Back in May when they'd first moved to the valley. But then he'd woke to it, never actually seen it coming down and it didn't look like it was gonna be stopping any time soon.

Em stands by the barn looking out into the distance, her eyes straining as the light fails. Her broad brim leather hat is low on her head and the collar of her water repellant oilskin coat up. Her arms are crossed with her hands tucked into the arm pits for warmth. The Old Man should have been here by now. He's overdue. Something had gone wrong. Em is so focused on keeping her vigil that she jumps when Nikolas comes up behind her. "What are you looking for?" Nik looks out into the distance.

"I rode ahead. My Grandfather. Your Uncle. They should have been here by now."

"How long overdue?" Nikolas asks curiously. His eyes narrowing and examining every shadow with increased interest.

"An hour." Em shrugs.

"Have you heard any shots?"

"No."

"That's a good sign." Nik tries to reassure. Em just gives him a look. "My Uncle is very skilled. He would not travel without being prepared."

"Either would The Old Man." Em says defensively.

"You are chilled. There is a vantage from inside of the house." Nikolas suggests. "Besides we need to put lanterns at the highest point in the house to give them an advantage if they haven't already decided to make camp."

"I'm going to go look for The Old Man." Em decides then and there and starts toward the barn to saddle her mount.

Nik shakes his head and knows that he is losing any headway he might have ever made in getting Miss Emily to consider him as anything but a curiosity. With a sweeping motion he gathers her up and tosses her over his shoulder like a sack of flour from the General Store.

"Hey! What in the hell do you think you're doing?! You put me down you son of a bitch!" Emily screeches and starts struggling. Her hat falls to the ground.

Nik bounces his burden on his shoulder knocking the wind out of Em as he tries to open the back door to the house.

Luckily Mrs. Lansbury hears him at the door and opens it. "Master Nikolas, what on earth do you think you're doing! You put that young lady down at once!"

"I'd like nothing better, Mrs. Lansbury. Miss Emmie will be staying in Grandmother's room for the night until her Grandfather arrives with Uncle Stefan."

"Your Grandmother's room?" Mrs. Lansbury's unspoken question comes thru loud and clear. Are you sure?

"Grandmother's room... Now." Nikolas insists. before she gets away from me After a rude pinch from his hostage, he jostles Emily again. "Knock that off."

"Then put me down-- you no account mangy dog!"

Mrs. Lansbury leads the way and steps up the pace practically running up the stairs to stay in front of Nikolas with his squirming burden. Natasha comes out of the library after hearing all the commotion. "Nikolas?"

"She was going to look for her grandfather he is overdue."

"Ah." Natasha goes back into the library.

At the top of the stairs at the back of the hallway is a room, more of a cell really. Mrs. Lansbury fumbles with the lock and gets out of the way so that Nikolas can enter. He plops Emily on her feet and then starts backing toward the door. Emily starts to follow him. Her steps stalking and angry. "Nobody lays a hand on me. Ever."

"We'll talk about it in the morning." Nik counters slamming the door shut and then relocking it.

"Let me out of here!"

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