A/N: I am sorry to inform you all but I made a huge mistake. I said that like 3 or 4 years had passed but that is not true only two have passed. Anthony is 9, Carmen and Esther are 8 and Mark is 7. I tried to repost that chapter (8) with the new information but it wouldn't let me. So please forgive me and from now on I'll make sure the ages don't have to change like this. Thanks. Tara

"There you are!" Carmen exclaimed, "What took you so long?" She asked him as she ushered him in.

"My women wanted me!" Mark replied.

"Well whatever, let's go. Dad has already saddled the horses and he's waiting out front." Esther helped Mark put the eggs in the kitchen, where Cookie took them. "Thanks Cookie!" They called as they ran down the hall to the front door. They bounded down the steps and up into the saddles.

"There you are," Robert said "Well now that we're all here, let's ride!" They were soon off and heading towards town.
After an hour long ride into town, they finally arrived.

"Dad," Esther called, "Dad, can we have our allowances now?"

"Sure, but you must stay together. I'm going to check the mail and I'll meet you at Smithy's in 15 minutes." Robert said as he handed them each their dollar allowance.

"Ok" They called as they darted down the wood boards, towards the candy and sweet shop.

Anthony, Mark, and Esther entered the store in a hurry. Ready to make their decisions on what they wanted to but. But something had caught Carmen's eye.

"Aww.. Esther, Anthony, Mark come here!!" Carmen called. Soon all the kids were back out side. Carmen was holding up a dusty, yellow puppy. A box was beside here with 4 other puppies, 2 brown and 1 more yellow. A sign on the outside of the box read: 'NEED GOOD HOME.'

"Oh, mom would love to have a puppy! Here comes dad, let's ask him!"

"Dad! Dad come here!" Robert was heading down the street, mail in hand.

"What... Oh look at the puppies!!" Robert said as he picked the one Carmen had in her hands.

"Dad, don't you think that mommy would like one?" Esther asked, her blue eyes pleading his approval.

"Well sure... we came here to get something special for mom, so this will do fine!" He said as took the pup into the store. The kids followed him to the back where Charlotte, the owner, sat unloading a box of can goods.

"Ah Mr. JoHanson, you brought your children with you today. Land sakes, how you've all grown. Esther you be liken those books that May Ellen gave you last week?"

"Very much ma'am, they are very exciting." Esther replied.

"Yes, May Ellen thought you'd take a liking to em'. And you Carmen, why you get prettier with each passin week. Did you smell those new bath salts I got in yet?"

"No ma'am, but I will."

"Anthony how do you like school this year? I hear from Miss Opal that you're quite the scholar." Anthony blushed and turned to look at some marbles. "And why Mark, my goodness, you look just like your brother did at that age!"

"Charlotte..." Robert began to say, but he was cut off by Charlotte.

"Oh yes Mr. Robert. What can I do for you today?"

"Well, I'll take this pup-.."

"Oh that there puppy is free. My dog Bitsy had em' a few weeks ago."

"Ok well then I need, um well I'll take five chocolate chip cookies, a cup of coffee, and um the items on this list." Robert said as he slid a piece of paper to her. Charlotte handed Robert the cookies and he, in turn handed them out between the kids. He went and had a seat on the wood bench at the far side of the store while the kids mingled and looked at the new stock. Now's when I can read my mail. Robert thought to himself. There were only a few pieces of mail. He flipped through the first tow advertisements and when he came to the third his hands froze. It was from his mother, at her summer home. After reading it his face turned pale. The letter had been written by Matthew and it was requesting his presence in Massachusetts. His mother had fallen ill and was requesting his presence.

"Mr. Robert, your things have been loaded into your wagon." Charlotte said from her seat at the desk

Robert slowly rose, "Thank you Charlotte," he called "See you soon. Children, children come on let's go home."

The children bought their few items, and soon were mounted on their horses. 'Caramel' the puppy was loaded into an open saddle bag. They rode home in silence, all thinking of different things. Robert's heart was heavy at the thought that he would have to leave, yet his heart was equally heavy at the thought of his ailing mother. He didn't wish to bring his whole family with him, for fear of the extra strain it may bring his mother. Yes, he thought, I'll tell Maria I have to go alone. I shouldn't be longer than a month at most.

'Click' went the door as Maria closed it as quietly as she could.

She was exhausted. She felt as if she couldn't even make her muscles think about moving. But, somehow she was able to climb the stairs that lead her to her bed room.

'Pitter patter' came a noise behind her. She continued to climb, and still the noise followed her. Suddenly she made a dart as quick as her tired legs could to the bedroom. She burst in, and slammed the door shut behind her

"Oh your home honey!" Robert said as he got up from a chair he was relaxing in.

"Robert," Maria had to pause and catch her breath, her hand lay across her chest in an effort to help her breathe. "Robert, there... there is something in our house!"

"Oh my, I'll have to go and see what it is." He said with a smirk, as he picked up his coffee cup.

Maria was infuriated that he though she was joking. "Robert! There is something out there!"

"Oh all right I'll go see what it is." Robert rose from his chair and headed towards the door. He swung it wide open and there at on the floor was Caramel, tail wagging. He bent down and picked up the puppy. "Maria, is this your 'creature'?"

"Oh my look at the cute puppy!" Maria exclaimed as she came and gave the puppy a buig hug. Caramel just wagged her tail.

"Oh yeah, darling," Robert remembered that he had to talk to Maria. "Come sit here next to me on the bed." Maria came and joined him on their bed

"What is it Robert?" Maria asked as she petted Caramel's head.

"Maria, I received a letter from Matthew today."

"Oh, and how are they doing? I suppose that their at your mother's summer home in Connecticut?"

"Yes, they're at mother's place in Massachusetts. But, not all is well. Mother is ill and she is requesting my presence."

"Oh Robert, I hope she is all right. Shall we leave soon?"

"Maria, do you really think we should all go up to Massachusetts?" Robert asked, "The kids will miss the beginning of school and who knows what condition my mother will be in. I want you to go, but I really don't think it's feasible. And the money issue, we live pretty comfortably here, but buying 6 train tickets to Massachusetts, that would set us back a lot. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know... what do you think?"

"I wish I could make my self believe that it would be good for us all to go, but I can't. When do you have to leave us?" Maria replied as her eyes welled up with tears.

"I should leave tomorrow evening." Robert replied as Maria winced at his words. "But maybe I'll wait until Wednesday morning. How was your trip? Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Well yes and no. I did find out that my mother was married to a man named Eric Lewis. I found where they were married but nothing on where she lives now. I did make some inquiries and sent some telegrams. I hope that someone will reply with a positive note."

"I will pray that they do honey. Now let's get to bed you must be so tired."

"You have no idea." Maria replied as she collapsed into bed.

As planned, Robert left Wednesday morning.

"By Papa!" Esther called after her father's train as it pulled out of the station.

Maria waved as tears streamed down her face she called, "Goodbye Robert, Come home soon!"

He called back, "I love you all!" And he was gone.

"Mom," Anthony called "We're home from the shore!"

"I'm upstairs!" Maria called down the stairs

As a group, all the kids climbed the stairs and found their mother on her floor packing a saddlebag.

"Mom," Mark said, "What are you doing?"

Anthony picked a piece of paper of Maria's bed and read it to himself.

"Mom, are we going here?" he asked

Maria looked up and saw that Anthony had found that piece of mail that had begun her packing frenzy. "Um. yeah darling, this man has some information I need."

"Wait mom where are we going?" Esther asked.

"I can't give you the details right now. But, go into your rooms and pack all the clothes and things you can pack into your horses' saddlebags." Maria saw that her children, especially her daughters were frightened. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. It's a good thing. Now go and pack, and then meet me in the kitchen."

They all nodded and ran off to do their mother's bidding.

In 20 minutes they were all gathered in the kitchen and Maria began to pack as much food as would fit in the saddle bags on her horse

"Ok, now lets' go and get those horses." Maria led the way out of the house and all her children followed her, bags in hand. Shortly they were saddled and ready to go.

Maria and the kids rode for many miles. When the sun began to sink below the horizon, Maria knew that they had had enough riding for the day.

"Let's head for that town over there. If we hurry we can make it before it gets too dark." Maria said

"Finally. It seems like we a million years ago we rested. I'm so tired." Anthony exclaimed

With renewed vigor they headed off for the town. Once the reached the town Maria found a small inn, and booked a room for the night. The kids plopped onto the blue covered bed. Anthony and Mark instantly fell sound asleep, but Carmen and Esther wanted to talk to their mother.

"Momma, what are we doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Yeah, I was planning on telling all of you," she glanced at the sleeping boys. "But I think we should let them sleep. Now you see when I was gone. well... the point is I got a letter from a man, a pastor actually, who thinks he may know something about my mother."

"Your mom?" Esther asked with a confused look on her face. "You never spoke of her before."

"Yeah honey, I didn't, but that was because.. you see sweethearts. I was taken from my parents when I was only about 2. So I never knew her."

"Oh mommy! I'm so sorry!" Carmen went and hugged Maria close.

"Yeah darlings, well it's ok now because I may find something about her. We just have to travel down to Louisiana."

"Louisiana! Mom that's really far!" Esther exclaimed in astonishment.

"Well not the much sweetheart, you see we're going to travel all through Virginia, then we'll leave the horses and take a boat down the Kanawha river to the Mississippi down to Louisiana. It won't take more than 3 weeks tops. We're already almost halfway through Virginia. About 6 more hours of pure riding, and we'll be there."

"Oh that's so cool!" Carmen said as she clapped her hands in quiet delight.

"Yes, it's very cool. Now off to bed you too we need to rest up if we're going to ride tomorrow" Maria said as she tucked her daughters in, then she went to bed, and fell asleep while praying for safety.

The next morning proved to be a perfect day for riding. Maria and the kids went into town for breakfast, and then split up. The boys went to ready the horses and pack up their bags. The girls went to the local mercantile to buy food and canteens for their trip that day.

Once all the bags were packed, the horses ready to be ridden, supplies bought and packed, the JoHansons were ready to ride again.

"Mom pass the canteen, please." Mark asked as the family rested under an oak tree. Maria handed Mark the canteen and he drank fully.

From where they sat, just outside Christiansburg VA, they knew they had less than an hour left to ride before they'd come to Kanawha River. The rested there for 15 more minutes and finished up their lunch of cheese sandwiches, and apples. Soon the remounted and headed off in search of Radford.

"Mom, come on there's a place up here with some stables." Anthony called from the front of their train of horses.

Maria caught up with him and spotted the house he was speaking about. It was a lovely whit house with a big set of stables in the backyard. Maria asked the boys to stay with the horses as she and the girls went to speak with the Mister and Mistress of the house.

'KNOCK' 'KNOCK' Maria knocked on the large wood door.

"Hello" A man answered the door. He was dressed in a black suit and a white collared shirt.

"Um. hello, may I please speak with the Mister or Missus of the house?" Maria asked kindly.

"Surely, if you would all please step inside here, I will go and get Ms. Greena." The butler quickly disappeared down a corridor. Shortly he reappeared with a beautiful tall beautiful woman with him. "Ms. Greena," The butler replied "Your guests."

"Hello, my name is Maria Jo Hanson..." Maria was cut off by Ms. Greena's delicate voice.

"I am so very sorry to interrupt you, but I am quite tired, would you please follow me to my parlor where we can talk?"

"Um, well certainly." Maria replied as Ms. Greena led them into a bright room, with flowers in vases scattered about.

Ms. Greena sat down on a comfy sofa, and smiled at Maria "Oh yes, now please continue."

Maria continued, "Well, yes I'm Maria and these are two of my four children. And we're headed for the Mississippi, to take us to Louisiana. We rode horseback, so that now proves to be a problem, because there is no place for us to store our horses. I would pay you if you would let us keep our horses in you stables. It would only be . well I just found out that I'm expecting a baby so it might be anywhere from 8-10 months from now that we'd be back."

"Well, I would love to help you, and it's not like we don't have the room. You see Mrs. JoHanson, my husband worked on this river and he loved horses, we had some at one time." Ms. Greena looked to the floor. "He died a few years ago, and then I just couldn't keep them any longer. My son Daniel doesn't enjoy riding as his father did, but we would love to take care of your horses, for as long as you may need."

Just then the door swung open, "Mother." a boy of no more than Esther and Carmen's age entered the room. He did have his mother's long flowing blonde hair but not her face or eyes, his were a pale blue. The instant he saw Maria, Esther and Carmen, he ducked and ran to his mother, "I didn't know we had guests." He said once he was at her side.

"This is my son Daniel. Danny these people want to have us watch their horses." She explained

"Oh really mother? Please, please say yes!" his face lit up with joy.

"Well... Okay!" she smiled and Daniel's face lit up even more.

"Esther, why don't you and Daniel go and get Anthony and Mark?" Maria suggested

"Ok come on!" she motioned to Daniel, and she and she jogged out to get the horses from her brothers.