To The Eastern Gate - Pt 3 of 3 (Lancer)
Dec. 15th, 2005 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gilda_eliseJohnny lay awake, staring at the ceiling. He figured it had to be way past midnight. Not that he’d been watching the clock. But he’d come to his room right after that god-awful dinner and no way could have any less than half the night already passed. It seemed like an eternity since that silent meal, him and Scott both sitting there pretending to eat, pretending that their world wasn’t falling apart around them.
He’d never forget the driven look on Scott’s face as they left the bank and started their journey home. *Home. But for how long?* He closed his eyes and tried to banish any thought of that. They’d figure something out; they had to. If for no other reason than he didn’t think he could stand seeing Scott like that anymore. His brother was fast reaching his breaking point and it showed.
*And what about me? What’s my breaking point?*
It surprised him a bit, how well he seemed to be taking all this. He missed Murdoch; after the first couple of years, once they’d managed to settle into an easy relationship based more on the here and now rather than the past, Johnny had come to realize just how much like his father he was and how easy that made it for him to enjoy Murdoch’s company.
Johnny hadn’t lied to his brother when he said what was between his father and mother wasn’t something he was interested in, he just hadn’t told the whole truth. When a woman you loved left, no matter the reason, the wound was just as deep, the pain something you learned to ignore if you wanted to survive it. The scar he himself carried made it impossible to want to pick at his father’s.
He smiled into the dark. Never would he have dreamed that entire mess with Lúpe would actually have a bright side. If nothing else, it had brought him peace of mind in regards to his father and he and Murdoch had gone on from there. But he did not mourn, not in the way Scott did.
The noise was barely perceptible at first, a soft bump, as if something had fallen. Johnny got up and padded over to the open window. The cool night air felt good against his bare skin as he gazed out into the courtyard. Nothing. The dark was uninterrupted by either moonlight or lantern. If anyone was out there, they would have to be part cat to see where they were going.
It was the crash that spun him around and had him hastily pulling on his pants and rushing toward the door. He grabbed his gun off his dresser and stopped at the entrance to his room, just listening. There, to the left. Murdoch’s old room.
He crept down the hallway, his bare feet aiding his stealth. But whoever it was wasn’t even trying to be quiet. it sounded like the place was being torn apart. When Johnny reached his father’s room, he slowly pushed the door open and peered in.
Later, he thought he must have stood there for a full minute, watching as his brother continued his frantic demolition. Scott was fully dressed and had obviously not been to bed. Drawers lay open, their contents neatly stacked on the floor. Some of Murdoch’s clothes were strewn on the bed, the pockets turned inside out. But it had apparently been the armoire, locked, the key missing, that had started Scott on his destructive rage.
“Scott!” Johnny shook himself out of his inertia and, taking only enough time to place his gun on the bed, hurried over to his brother. He threw his arms around him and tried dragging him away. “Scott, cut it out!”
Scott fought back, kicking out and struggling to throw Johnny off.
It couldn’t last; Scott was running on little more than sheer willpower and the rage that fed it. Johnny hung on, their struggle quiet except for the grunts of exertion from both men. Finally Scott seemed to give up and slumped in his arms. Unprepared for the capitulation, Johnny found himself going down and they both landed in a heap on the floor.
Scott’s head was down and he was panting heavily.
Johnny leaned over and looked up into Scott’s face. His brother’s eyes were closed. “You okay now?”
Scott didn’t answer at first. But after a couple of minutes he took a deep breath, let it out slowly and sat upright. Finally, he opened his eyes. “Yeah, I’m okay. You can let go now.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” He snorted. “At least, I think I am. I’ve never done anything like that before.”
Johnny finally let go and clumsily stood up. He put out his hand. With a weak smile Scott took it and Johnny helped him to his feet. “Guess we all get a little loco from time to time.” He glanced around the room. “What were you looking for, anyway?”
Scott shrugged. “Anything, everything. More secrets.”
“You think there were more?”
“Who knows.” He walked back to the armoire and studied the ruined doors. “I’d still like to get in there.”
“Where’s the key?”
He gave Johnny a look. “If I knew that....”
With a grin, Johnny started searching around the room until he found one of the fireplace pokers. He came over and stood next to Scott. “Move over.”
With a flourish, Scott moved out of the way.
He stuck the point of the poker under the lid of the wood and with one hefty pull, tore the door open.
Murdoch’s clothes hung in orderly fashion; his work shirts hung next to those he wore to church, which hung next to his three good jackets. Johnny broke the other door. The three shelves held mostly personal items, things, Johnny supposed, one would want to keep under lock and key. There was a box of letters he knew they’d be going through, and an assortment of pictures. But what got their attention was the small valise sitting on the bottom shelf.
They looked at each other and then Scott grabbed it and tossed it on the bed. He undid the clasp and, taking a breath, pulled it open. It was filled with money.
§§§§§§§§§§§§
“Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, five hundred. Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, six hundred. Twenty, forty, sixty...that’s it. Fifteen thousand, six hundred sixty dollars.” Scott placed the last set of bills on the table. He and his brother looked at each other over the stacks of money laid out between them.
Johnny picked up one of the stacks, flipping through the bills like playing cards. “It’s not enough. You think he’s got anymore stashed around here?”
“I doubt it.” Scott picked up the small journal he’d found in the side pocket of the valise and tossed it at his brother. “This notes every time he took money out and why. Taken together with the ledgers from his desk, it tells a pretty grim story.”
He rubbed his hands over his face and leaned back into the larger of the great room’s sofas. He had hoped to find more money; he knew just by looking what was in the case wasn’t all of it. They’d spent the last week looking for it, but this and the journal was all they’d ever found.
It had been a busy week. While both were needed in running the ranch, Johnny had taken the heavier share of the burden while Scott had spent every free moment trying to untangle the financial mess Murdoch had left. Today had been the first free time both men had to count the money and figure out where they’d go from here.
Johnny had put the money down and taken up the journal. It lay open on his lap while he stared at the first page, his elbows propped up on his knees. “Looks like he spent most of the money the first couple of months.”
“He had to. Everything was coming due and the money he’d expected to pay it with was gone.” He picked up the glass of wine sitting on the end table and took a sip. “According to the ledgers, the first couple of years he was able to pay back a decent chunk of the loan. We were doing fairly well and there was more than enough money coming in.”
“But by then the drought had really taken hold,” Johnny remarked.
“Exactly. Money we’d always had before to get us through hard times just wasn’t there anymore, so he started using the cash he had on hand from the loan. That’s also when the books I worked on starting diverging with the ones Murdoch kept. Bills were being paid with money I didn’t know about.”
“Scott, why’d he keep the money here, anyway? Why not in the bank?”
“Would you, after losing everything to one?”
Johnny gave a wry smile. “You got a point. So, if he used the loan money to keep us paid up, why does the bank want it all back now?”
“Because it’s not Murdoch making the payments anymore. And since we didn’t know about the loan, we didn’t make the payment this month. That’s all they needed. Guthrie practically admitted the bank was in trouble. They weren’t about to let something like this slip through their fingers. For less than thirty five thousand dollars, which is what’s left on the loan, they get Lancer. I’d say that’s quite a deal.”
“So what are we going to do?”
Scott sat forward. He’d been thinking about a couple of things. He hoped Johnny would be willing to go along with them. “First, I thought I’d take some of this in tomorrow. Not everything, we still need money to run the ranch; maybe keep ten thousand and hope the rest is enough to make them hold off, give us some more time.”
“Some more time for what? Even if they agree, that still leaves almost thirty thousand due.” Johnny narrowed his eyes. “What are you up to?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“I can tell that already, so give.”
“I’m going to wire my grandfa-”
“Like hell you are!” The journal fell to the floor as Johnny gained his feet. “Are you crazy? How would being in debt to your grandfather be any better than being in debt to the bank?”
“Because Grandfather would give us time to pay it back!”
“And what if he doesn’t want to lend you the money?”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
Johnny snorted. “Why wouldn’t he? What happens if we lose Lancer, Scott? What would you do?”
Scott started to speak until he realized he didn’t know what to say. What would he do? But that was something he didn’t want to think about right now. “That doesn’t matter. All that matters is getting hold of enough money to pay off the loan.”
“It would matter to your grandfather. I’d lay odds he’d figure you’d hightail it back to Boston.”
“Refusing me the loan certainly wouldn’t make me think to return to his house, Johnny. He must realize that.”
“Don’t bet on it. He probably figures he could talk you into it, eventually.”
“It’s our only option. Don’t you see that?”
“It’d be like selling our souls to the devil. Don’t you see that? Even if he did lend us the money, there’d be hell to pay.”
“It doesn’t matter! Think about it, Johnny. We’ve got a week to come up with the money; I can try to get us more time but don’t count on it. And if we don’t....”
“We lose Lancer.” Johnny slumped back into his chair. “I hate this! God, Scott, isn’t there some other way?”
“If you can come up with another way, I’m more than willing to listen.” Scott grabbed his brother’s arm. “Don’t think for a moment I’m looking forward to this. I love my grandfather but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to his faults. He’s a shrewd businessman and my being his grandson isn’t going to hold that much weight. He’s going to get the best deal he can for himself. All we can hope for is, whatever it is he wants, it’s ours to give.”
§§§§§§§§§§§§§
His hat tipped forward to shade his face, Johnny sat on his horse and watched as the cattle moved past. The days weren’t quite as hot; summer was giving way to autumn and the cool nights spoke of things to come. Still, the midday sun gave a lie to that promise as he sweated beneath its unyielding rays.
His saddle creaked as he readjusted his position. They’d been at this since dawn and his body was protesting the long stretch on horseback. Johnny glanced over at his companion. Cipriano surveyed the cattle with a shrewd eye. There are been no more outbreaks of disease for over a week but they were taking no chances. Each herd was kept from the other and all were being carefully watched.
“I hear Matt Forrester’s been snooping around here.” Johnny had been surprised. He hadn’t thought any of the other ranchers would step foot on Lancer.
Cipriano nodded his head. “He says he might be interested in buying some of our stock.”
“Did he, now?” Johnny snorted. “I can just imagine the price he’s willing to pay, too.”
“Si, it was less than half the going price. He knows no one else will touch our cattle.”
“I wonder why he’s not afraid.”
“The man is a thief but he knows we would not sell them to him if they were diseased. But more like him will come, like vultures.”
“Damn.” Johnny lifted his hat to wipe his brow with his shirtsleeve. “All this work and we’ll be practically giving them away. I don’t understand how Murdoch could stand dealing with some of these men.”
“He understood them. Senór Lancer was an honest man but....”
“But what?”
Clearly ill at ease, Cipriano seemed to weigh his words. “In México, there is always el patrón, the one in charge. He is born to the position and the power weighs on him lightly. Su papa, he was the same way. When he dealt with these men, it wasn’t as an equal.”
“But Murdoch wasn’t born to power. He had to fight for everything he had.”
“That is so. But many men fight for wealth, power; few get it. Those that do, there is a thing in them that sets them apart. A hunger, maybe.”
Johnny remembered back to his first meeting with Murdoch. He’d thought the man ruthless, a feeling that had changed as the years had gone by. He wondered now how much of that was his not wanting to see it in his father. “So, you saying you think Murdoch would have done the same thing?”
“No, he would never have done that. But I think he would have found a way to get the better of these men, a way to keep the ranch going no matter what.”
*Oh, yeah, he found a way, all right.* Trouble was, if there was more to his plan, he hadn’t bothered letting him and Scott in on it. “I guess I never thought of him that way. As far as I could see, he was just a rancher like all the rest of them.”
“And you were just a rancher’s son?” Cipriano asked.
Johnny gave the man a speculative look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“No more than Sénor Lancer was just a rancher, are you just a rancher’s son.”
“I’m just like everyone else.”
The man shook his head. “Perhaps that is how you see yourself; maybe you were at one time but no more. Your brother, now he carries himself as the son of a great man should, expecting to be obeyed, knowing he is heir.”
Johnny laughed. “I’m gonna tell Scott you said that, too. Come on, Cipriano, we’re not royalty.”
“Look around you. Is Lancer not a kingdom? What do you call a man who creates such a place? What do you call those who inherit it?” Cipriano hesitated a moment. “I received a letter yesterday.”
Johnny blinked. Where the hell had that come from?
“It was from my niece.”
Damn. Johnny couldn’t remember Cipriano ever bringing up Lúpe before. He’d always had the feeling the man was somehow ashamed of what happened. But maybe talking the whole mess over with Scott had helped because it didn’t hurt quite so badly this time. He licked his lips. “What’d she have to say?”
“She is doing well. As well as can be expected for one who will never have what she wants.”
“She didn’t want me, Cipriano. She’s the one who left, remember?”
“She wanted you, Johnny. But, unfortunately, she thought it would be the same as if she’d married someone like you at home. She didn’t want un vaquero; she could have wed a dozen times over if that were the case. No, she wanted el patrón’s son.”
“Lúpe wasn’t a gold-digger.” Johnny bit out the words. “Besides, I gave her everything she ever asked for.”
“Ay, muchacho, you do not listen. It wasn’t the money, not in the way you think. She came from a small town, where men work hard all day to scratch out a living.”
“That’s the way it is here, too, pretty much.”
“But she married the son of Senór Lancer. She thought it would be different with you.”
“She thought we’d sit around drinking tea all day, is that it?”
Cipriano shrugged. “Perhaps. She lived in a grand house, with servants to do her bidding, like a great lady. You were her, como se dice, her knight, her lord. Such a person doesn’t spend the day working like a common peasant. Or maybe she just needed more time from you than you had to give.”
Johnny scowled. “The ranch takes a lot of time.”
“Si, that is what your father always used to say.”
§§§§§§§§§§§
They broke off checking the herd when evening fell. Johnny left Cipriano in charge of the men and rode back to the house, all the while going over in his mind everything the segundo had told him.
He’d known almost from the beginning how unhappy Lúpe had been but wasn’t able to figure out exactly what it was she was unhappy about. Now that he knew, it disturbed him more than he could say. Whether it had been true or not, she had seen Lancer as a rival. Just like his mother.
He had caught the similarities in his and Murdoch’s positions, both marrying women who eventually left them, right from the start, but only to a point. It had never occurred to him that the women might have had a lot in common, too.
The lights of the house came into view and Johnny gave the horse its head. It was already full dark, he ached from a long day in the saddle and he was hungry. He hoped Maria had left something out for him.
As soon as he entered the house he knew something was wrong. There was a heaviness weighing down on it, yet, at the same time, it felt empty.
Johnny walked through the house into the kitchen. Sitting on the slowly cooling stove was a plate with his dinner. He grabbed it but instead of taking it over to sit at the table, he took it along with him as he checked both the upstairs and downstairs rooms. He found nothing. Though empty of life, each room was as it should be. It was only when he was returning his dish to the kitchen that he thought to check the verandah.
“Scott?” He could barely make out his brother’s figure in the gloom of the enclosed area.
“Here.” A match flared, brightening the table in the corner. Scott lit the candle at its center and motioned Johnny over.
Johnny pulled a chair around and straddled it. “What are you doing sitting in the dark?”
“Waiting for you.”
Johnny studied his brother. Even in the candlelight, Scott’s features were wan and tired looking. “What’s happened now?”
“I got a reply from my grandfather.”
“He’s not going to lend us the money, is he?”
Scott almost smiled. “That just about sums it up. No, that’s not quite true. You were right, about making a bargain with the devil. He’ll lend us the money if I agree to return to Boston...permanently.”
Johnny frowned. “What would be the point, then?”
Scott didn’t answer right away. Instead, he seemed to be scrutinizing Johnny. Finally, he spoke. “You’d be able to keep the ranch.”
Yeah, he’d have the ranch. He’d never have to worry about where his next meal was coming from or who’d he run into in the next town he entered. There’d be no returning to the haphazard way of life he’d had before Lancer. He could continue to live here for the rest of his life. Alone.
“The price is too high, Scott. Nothing is worth a person’s life. Besides,” he threw his brother a telling look, “then it’d be my soul your grandfather would own.”
Scott took a breath and Johnny could hear the shakiness in it.
“Thank you. I would have done it, you know. If that’s what you had wanted.”
“I know you would have. Sometimes, Scott, you’re so noble it’s scary.”
There was a bark of laugher, as if he had surprised his brother. And then Scott gave in fully to his relief, letting go of weeks of worry and despair. It was several minutes before he could talk without it degenerating into peals of mirth. “I do try, little brother.” He held his sides and chuckled. “God I needed that.”
“I’d surely love to be there when he reads your answer.”
“Knowing Grandfather, he’ll crumble up the telegram and then get on with his business.”
“Speaking of business, what did the bank have to say?”
Scott sobered. “I managed to get a three month extension on the loan but only by paying them five thousand dollars.”
“Why didn’t you give them all of it?”
“For the same reason Murdoch didn’t. We’re going to need it, Johnny. To eat, to pay the men, and hope there’s not another emergency.”
“We might have some more money coming in. Matt Forrester was sounding out Cipriano about buying some of our cattle.”
“Yes, he was here.” Scott leaned forward to rest his arms on the table. “I thought maybe I should wait for you before making a decision but since we’d already talked about it...” He looked at Johnny, apologetically. “Anyway, it isn’t much, nowhere near what they’re worth.”
“Look on the bright side, at least we don’t have to feed them anymore.”
His brother didn’t answer.
“Scott?”
“I....there may not always be a bright side. You know that, don’t you?”
Johnny nodded. “So, we won’t be princes, anymore.”
He laughed at the look on Scott’s face. “Come on, it’s getting cold out here. Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you all about it.”
§§§§§§§§§§§§§
Scott tied his horse to the railing and stepped up onto the wooden porch. Honeysuckle vine grew along its southern exposure, shading and cooling the house’s entrance. He lightly rapped on the front door.
It opened on the first knock. Maria stood just inside, not speaking. Scott could tell she’d been crying.
“I’ve brought you something.” He motioned behind him. “He’s going to need a home and, well, he’s used to you.”
She stepped out and followed him off the porch. He undid the rope tied to the pommel of his saddle and handed it to her. “Go ahead, take it,” he coaxed.
At first she only stared at it, as if it were something that would harm her. The animal tied to its other end she barely glanced at. Finally, she took the rope. It looked like she was about to speak but instead she covered her mouth with her hand and closed her eyes.
“Maria, please, don’t cry.” It tore at him, watching her this way, when she had never been anything but strong. He found it harder to bear than the forced stoicism from Teresa when they had last seen her. He wrapped the woman in his arms and held her as she cried out her grief.
With her face pressed against his chest, he could feel her tears as they wet his shirt.
“Don’t go,” she whispered against him.
“We have to. There’s nothing for us here, anymore.”
They had tried. God only knew how hard they had tried, perhaps longer than they should have. How long did you fight for a dream when that dream wasn’t even yours? When did you let go of the past in order to grab the future? Finally, with only two weeks left on the loan extension, he and Johnny had decided. It was time to go.
They agreed to the offer that had been forwarded to them through Mr. Guthrie from an unknown buyer. It wasn’t what the land was worth; things being what they were, they hadn’t expected that it would be. But it was enough to pay off the loan and still leave them plenty to make a start somewhere else.
“There are the people who love you.”
“Oh, Maria, don’t. I know you’re going to miss us; we’ll miss you, too. But you have your children; I’m sure your sons will be happy to have you home all the time. You have your grandchildren. And Teresa has Jesse.”
He felt his own eyes fill and he blinked to clear his vision. “We need to go somewhere where we can start fresh, without the burden of being Murdoch Lancer’s sons. Here, there would always be the reminder of what might have been. Murdoch’s gone now; and so is Lancer.”
Maria nodded and moved out of his arms as she wiped the tears from her face. “Where are you going?”
“San Francisco, for now. That’s where we had the stuff we kept from the house shipped. We took a lease on a place for a year. That’ll give us enough time to figure out what we’re going to do next.”
“You’re leaving today?”
“Yes. The new owners are here. We were showing them around when I remembered about an errand I had to run.”
She looked at the calf who had been placidly standing nearby. “What am I supposed to do with him?”
“Raise him. He’ll make a good breeding bull someday. You said so, yourself.”
“He is getting so big.” She petted the animal’s head. “I will take him. My son’s herd is in need of a good bull. And he would have been afraid, left with strangers.”
“That’s right, he would have.” He looked away. “I better be going. Johnny will be wondering where I got off to.”
“Did he remember to pack the silver set?”
Scott couldn’t help but smile at that. She’d been on them almost at once, cajoling them to take as much as possible. Even then he had known she was using it to hide behind, unwilling to deal with their leaving until she absolutely had to. “Yes, he packed it. It was one of the first things to go.”
“Bueno. It might bring pain now but someday, when you have children, it will be a comfort, something you can point to and say, ‘look, this was your grandfather’s.’”
He couldn’t take anymore. He pulled her to him once again, holding her close while she clung to him. Kissing the top of her head, he forced the words passed the tightness in his throat, “I have to go. Take care of Cisco, okay?”
The strangled cry from the woman propelled him from her embrace and onto his horse. He rode off, unable to look back. He didn’t know if he’d have the strength to keep going if he did. The ride back to the ranch was a blur.
Cresting a hill, Scott could see Johnny waiting for him on the road that led away from the ranch. Scott didn’t even think of it as Lancer, anymore. It was just a place where he had lived for a time. Where he had found a brother. Where his father once reigned.
He quickly rode across the field that separated them and came to a halt at Johnny’s side. “You ready?”
His brother turned and gave the place one long, last look. Nodding toward the arch that had met them so many years before, Johnny grinned wickedly. “We should have blown it up.”
Scott gave a startled laugh and felt his spirits lift. With an outlook like that, how could the future not beckon? “Come on, brother, we have a train to catch.”
They wheeled their horses around and rode away.
Finis
In either hand the hastning Angel caught our lingring Parents,
and to th’ Eastern Gate led them direct, and down the Cliff as fast
To the subjected Plaine; then disappeer’d.
They looking back, all th’ Eastern side beheld
Of Paradise, so late thir happie seat,
Wav’d over by that flaming Brand, the Gate
With dreadful Faces throngd and fierie Armes:
Som natural tears they drop’d, but wip’d them soon;
The World was all before them, where to choose
Thir place of rest, and Providence thir guide:
They hand in hand with wandring steps and slow,
Through Eden took thir solitarie way.
“Paradise Lost”
John Milton, 1667
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-11 05:51 pm (UTC)I like that the brothers remain together and find their own way. In that respect, they certainly didn't lose.:)
Shal
Shal
no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 11:59 am (UTC)Murdoch's character being what it was, I do think it would have taken years for his sons to break completely through his gruff exterior, especially when it came to their pasts. Sadly, in this story they just didn't have the time.
I like that the brothers remain together and find their own way. In that respect, they certainly didn't lose.:)
Oh, I don't know if I could have done that. The brothers losing each other would have been too much to bear!
I'm so glad you stuck through the sadness and, hopefully, truly enjoyed the story. And thanks so much for commenting. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 04:05 pm (UTC)Much as I hate to see the loss of Murdoch and Lancer, it is interesting to imagine Scott and Johnny starting over on their own terms. I believe they would have done quite well for themselves.:)
Shal
no subject
Date: 2009-02-13 12:03 pm (UTC)Glad to hear it!
Much as I hate to see the loss of Murdoch and Lancer, it is interesting to imagine Scott and Johnny starting over on their own terms. I believe they would have done quite well for themselves.:)
Oh, so do I. I can just imagine them living in, say, San Francisco and starting some sort of business. Or maybe saving up enough money to buy a chunk of land somewhere and start a ranch of their own. Nothing as big as Lancer, of course, but something that would make a good living for them. The possibilities are endless. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-15 05:46 pm (UTC)Very nice!
Anna
no subject
Date: 2009-02-16 12:18 pm (UTC)Yes, unfortunately that seemed to be very much a part of Murdoch's personality.
I love the rhythm you have going here - it's slow and relentless and achingly poignant.
Very nice!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the story, and I appreciate the comments!
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 01:40 pm (UTC)Thank you for such a beautifully done story. I t was bittersweet with the death of Murdoch and the loss of the ranch yet I loved how you srengthened the bond between the brothers.
Thank you for sharing your creativity and imagination with us.
take care
hugs
Angela
no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 10:48 am (UTC)Again, thanks for reading and commenting.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 10:01 pm (UTC)You're welcome
I can so totally see' how devestated Johnny and Scott were but you're right as long as they had each other they would be fine and could do anything they set their minds, hearts, arms, legs and guts to.
I've begun to read the "Remembrance" series. I will leave proper feedback when I've completely read it.
You're welcome.
take care
hugs
Angela
no subject
Date: 2009-05-10 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 02:22 am (UTC)You're welcome.
Will send feedback on the series soon.
I was distracted by some Lancer graphics making.
Have a great week.
take care
hugs
Angela