We saw very little of our dad, he was a member of the Teams and was always rushing off on some Special Ops to save the world, for a while I dreamed ab...ut signing up and trying out for the Teams myself but when he was killed on one of those ops a few days before my seventeenth birthday, I realized that my place was at home with my girls. Clarisse was a country girl born and bred, you know the old saying, “You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy,”. I closed the door and walked to church, wishing everyone I saw a Merry Christmas. When the service ended, I went to dip my fingers in the holy water on the way out and accidentally bumped a woman’s hand. I felt something in that touch as I looked to see who it was.“Excuse me miss, I should be more careful.”“It’s quite alright, and you may call me Carol.”“Well, Carol, you can call me Robert.”We both looked at each other and blurted out at the same time…”Have we met before?”“We may have a long. His victim’s hand flew to his throat, his rifle dropping but coming up short, tethered to the battle harness on the man’s chest.Carol, gun in hand, and steady over the top of the love seat, shot the man on the right. Her shot hit the man just below and to the left of his nose, dropping him in his tracks. He hit the floor bonelessly, his rifle clattering to the flagstones beside him.The middle man opened fire at Carol, the shots going wide and missing Stella’s prone form by mere millimeters as. He most needed a horse wrangler, but there were positions available in the guard troops and as a farm hand. Sam jumped at the horse wrangler job, but admitted that he had little experience. Bill told him not to worry; they would teach him what he needed to know. Sam gratefully accepted the job and was told that he could find a place in the bunk house; supper would be served in 40 minutes.About this time, that beautiful woman "happened" to walk up and Bill introduced Sam to Ann. Bill couldn't.