There isn't a child who hasn't gone out into the brave new world who eventually doesn't return to the old homestead carrying a bundle of dirty clothes. ~Art Buchwald

"See kid, I told ya you'd be good as new in no time." Felix said as Jack stood up and stretched out his now splint free leg. Jack nodded as he shrugged into his worn out brown leather vest pulling it over the new white shirt that Felix had given him. The black trousers on his legs were also from Felix.

It had taken longer than they had thought it would for his leg to heal and he had been living here in Felix's cabin for nearly two months instead of just six weeks.

"If that was no time then I would hate to see how forever feels." Jack replied. He grabbed his gun belt off the bedside table and buckled it around his lean waist.

"You leaving me already?" Felix asked. Jack nodded.

"I've imposed on ya long enough. I'll pay you for all you've done just as soon as I get some money." Felix waved his hand.

"Just having some company to get me through the rest of the winter was payment enough. This cabin was awfully lonely without my wife."

"Just the same I'll pay you back someday." Jack replied as he put his hat on his head.

"Where you headed to, kid?" Felix asked as he followed Jack outside into the early morning sunlight. Jack shrugged.

"I don't know yet." he replied.

"Ain't you got a family to go home to?" Felix asked. "You ain't never mentioned one but I just assumed you had one somewhere." Jack stared up at the sun sadly for a moment and then shook his head.

"Naw I ain't got a family. The only place I ever had a real home was Great Valley but they won't want me back."

"Why not?" Felix asked as he sat down on the porch swing. Jack leaned against the banister and sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"They were the closest thing I ever had to a family. The special girl, the one I told you about, her name was Allie and I lived with her and her sister and her sisters husband. Her sister Lily was the closest thing to a mom I ever had even though she's only a couple years older than me. She made me clothes, cooked for me, taught me to read and write and patched me up when I hurt myself and was just always there with something nice to say.

"Hawke, her husband, he is easily the most intimidating man you'll ever meet. He don't talk a whole lot but usually when he does speak what he says has meaning. He was always trying to teach me and guide me and tell me wrong from right.. Back then it irritated me and I didn't appreciate a damn thing he said because I thought I was already a grown man and knew all I needed to know." Jack snorted at his own foolish boyhood stupidity. "They were damn good people." he added.

"That sounds an awful lot like a family to me." Felix said matter of factly as he rocked back and forth and looked out over the long grasses and plains around them. Jack nodded.

"I guess they were." he agreed. "But I can't go back there. I burnt my bridges pretty damn good and lost them." Felix chuckled and shook his head.

"You can't lose family, kid. Trust me, with some of the nuts growing on my tree I wish ya could but you can't. They're your family no matter what ya do and I think you should go on home." Jack wanted to believe that was true but would Lily and Hawke let him back in their home if they knew the kinds of things he had done and let happen? Would Allie welcome him back or was she married now and madly in love with someone else? Jack didn't think he could stand to watch her love someone else. Thoughts of her were all that had gotten him through a hell of a lot of dark days and nights the past five years.

"There's stuff you don't know about me, Felix. Stuff that even my family won't be able to see past." he said sadly. Felix pulled a toothpick from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth.

"You ain't given them much credit kid. If they loved and cared about ya as much as you say then you need to leave the decision up to them on whether or not to forgive and quit leaving it up to yourself." Jack let out a long breath and decided that now was the time to tell Felix the kind of man he'd been nursing back to health the last two months. He just hoped Felix didn't run him off at gunpoint because he really did like the old man.

"I got something I need to be telling you, Felix." Jack said looking out at the sunrise.

"What's that, kid?"

"I wasn't a passenger on the stage that day." Felix pulled the toothpick from his mouth and nodded.

"I done figured that out." Jack's eyes widened.

"How?" Felix smiled and stuck the toothpick back in his mouth.

"When I went to town to get your pain medicine back when ya first woke up I heard some people talkin. They said there was only five passengers on that stage and all their bodies were already found and buried." Jack nodded and took a deep breath before saying what he hoped wouldn't make the old man hate him. Jack knew it would be easier to just walk away and never tell Felix the truth but he wanted to be honest with the man who had saved his life.

"I was part of the gang that held the stage up." Felix stared hard at Jack for several long tense moments as he chewed on his toothpick with his toothless gums. Jack stood straight and ran his hand over his beardy face.

"They shot ya?" Felix asked and Jack nodded. "Damn kid, you must a really pissed them off bad because it don't seem like they liked you very much at all." Jack couldn't help but grin.

"Yea I guess I did piss 'em off pretty bad." he replied.

"Why don't ya have ya a seat on that rocking chair and tell me about it." Before Jack even realized what he was doing he had launched into his life story, starting back when his ma and step pa had died and ending when his pa's bullets had ripped through his body just two months ago.

Felix listened patiently and never interrupted him once and when Jack finished he was surprised to see that the old man wasn't looking at him with anger or with pity but simply with understanding.

"You could have told me sooner." Felix said matter of factly. "I wouldn't have turned ya out. If there is one thing my Penelope taught me in the forty-five years we were together it was to always help those in need. Whether you agree with how they live their life or not." Jack just nodded and said nothing as he stood up and walked to the edge of the porch.

"Borrow one of my horses to get ya to town and just leave him at the livery and I'll pick him up later." Felix said as he too stood up on his old creaking bones.

"Thanks." Jack replied.

"Go home kid. Them people you told me about would probably be damn happy to know that you're still alive and okay. Ya need to just go home." Jack nodded but didn't say anything as he went into the barn and came out several minutes later on a brown mare.

"Thanks for everything you've done for me, Felix." he said. Felix just gave him a toothless smile and stood on the porch waving until Jack was out of sight.

Jack rode into the small town, the mares hooves sloshing through the mud covered streets. The air was growing warmer and the snow had all melted leaving everything a mess of mud and water. Jack jumped down from the horse once he got to the livery and cursed as his boots sunk a good four inches into the muck and drops of mud splattered all over his pants.

"This horse belongs to Felix Coots. Put it up and see that he gets it back." Jack said to the stable hand who nodded and took the reins. Jack turned his back and walked away.

First thing Jack needed to do was find a way to make some money. He had no horse, no supplies and not a cent to his name. The only thing he had to sell were the pearl handle grips on his revolver and he would part with his right hand before he parted with those. He saw a man down the road smoking a cigarette and was tempted to shoot the man to get hold of his tobacco but instead he walked down the road to him and asked him for a smoke.

Jack leaned against the banisters in front of the mercantile as he puffed his newfound cigarette and tried to think of a way to get some money. He could steal it but he didn't want to be that man anymore.

He looked over at the blacksmith shop and listened to the sound of metal pounding metal. His sharp eyes caught sight of a sign on the door that read 'help wanted'. It had been a hell of a long time since he had blacksmithed but the smithy here didn't need to know that.

Jack took one last long draw off the cigarette before throwing it down in the mud and heading across the waterlogged street. He blew out the smoke in one giant cloud and walked inside the shop.

"What can I do for you?" The blacksmith asked standing straight and setting his hammer down on a wooden table. The man was short and stocky with thick black beard and hair. His eyes were dark and set in a permanent squint as he looked at Jack.

"I saw your sign. I've done a bit of blacksmith work in the past and I could use some money." The blacksmith nodded and pointed to an extra leather apron.

"I only need the help for the next three days until my partner gets back to work but if you do a good job for me I'll pay ya three dollars." Jack couldn't believe his luck. Three dollars was a heck of a lot of money for just three days of work. He nodded and pulled on the leather apron, happy to finally be earning money instead of taking it out of someone's back pocket.

Jack walked into the telegram office that evening and walked up to the sleepy looking clerk at the counter. The clerk sniffed and looked down his long pointy nose at Jack and Jack couldn't blame the man. He didn't have money for a bath and he was covered in black soot and ash.

"I need to send a telegraph to Great Valley, Montana." The thin man nodded and pushed his square framed glasses up on his nose.

"Who is it for?"

"Hawke Owen." Jack replied trying to ignore the nervous fluttering inside his stomach as the man wrote Hawke's name on a piece of paper.

"Okay. And what would you like to say to Mr. Owen?" the man asked and Jack nearly laughed out loud. He was sure Hawke had never had anyone call him Mr. Owen. Then suddenly Jack didn't feel like laughing anymore when he realized he didn't know what to say. Should he beg forgiveness? Say Hawke was right? His mind was racing trying to think of just what he should say.

"Sir." The clerk said with irritation. "What would you like to say in your telegram?" Jack sighed and pulled off his hat to scratch at his hair that was getting entirely too long and hanging to his chin.

"Can I come home?" he replied with a shrug.

Three days later Jack walked into the telegraph office and hoped that today would be the day he heard from Hawke. He was done working at the blacksmith shop, he had left one dollar at the mercantile for Felix and so he had two dollars to his name now instead of nothing.

"Any messages for me?" Jack asked the clerk when he walked in. The clerk wrinkled his nose and happily grabbed a piece of paper from beneath the counter and handed it to Jack. Hopefully now the dirty, stinky man would not come back.

Jack took the message outside before leaning against the wall of the telegraph office and opening it. In true Hawke form it only said one word.

Yes. Jack couldn't believe his eyes. He had a home to go to. He could take the train to Helena and then catch the stage to Great Valley. It would probably take close to two weeks to get there but at least he had somewhere to go.

Only one problem remained and that was the fact that two dollars was not going to get him all the way to Great Valley. He looked down the road at the only saloon on the main street and smiled. If there was one thing he was really good at other than thieving, it was poker.