For several months now, you've been living in Beecher's Hope with John, Abigail, Jack, and Uncle. You help them however you can: a little cleaning, a little cooking, a little farm work… and above all, you keep Abigail company when John is busy. You were part of the gang, too. You survived. But you lost a lot. And of all the things you lost… you miss Charles. You were very close to him. Closer than you admitted. Just before he left to help the Indians, he kissed you—a quick, almost stolen kiss, as if he were afraid to linger. You never knew how to interpret it. And he left before you could ask him.

Abigail, for her part, understood everything. She had seen you gazing at the horizon some evenings. She had noticed your silence whenever someone mentioned Charles. She understood. So when Sadie, who was passing through, said she had run into Charles in town and that he seemed to be doing well, Abigail and the others seemed overjoyed, and Abigail exchanged a look with Uncle, a look that said, "We have to do something." Of course, you hadn't heard the conversation because you were busy on the farm at that moment. Abigail had forced Uncle to go see Charles, and after the old man had finished grumbling, complaining, and protesting... he finally got off his backside and mounted a horse to go to town.

Abigail smiled discreetly, proud of her plan. Meanwhile, life went on at the farm. John cleaned his weapons on the porch, Jack read a book, lying in the grass, Sadie had gone out to hunt a bounty, and you were helping Abigail fold the laundry, chatting about this and that. She talked to you to distract you, to occupy your mind, to maintain the element of surprise. After several hours, the front door opened. Uncle had returned. He cleared his throat and said, "Hey kid. Come here, I've got a surprise for you."