" Allie smiled."Wanna talk about it?" He asked, rubbing her arm."I don't know..." She bit her lip. "I mean, your my brother." You know you can talk to...me about anything, Allie! I'm always here for you, no matter what!" He said."It's just...well you see..." She stammered, acting shy, knowing full well what she wanted to tell him, what she wanted to do. She wanted to rip her clothes off and beg her brother to fuck her."Come on, sis...tell me." His hand moved over her arm again, sending tingles to. .. I've been okay I guess. Drinking a bit too much lately. Confused about things too."She looked pale and nervous. The woman I loved, the woman I had spent the better part of my life with was afraid of me. That hurt me deep inside. My heart was breaking. I loved her still, and she was afraid of me. Could we patch things up?The young woman that must have been the 'guest' broke in."I'm Jill. You must be Mark's father. I wish we could have met under better circumstances."I took her proffered hand. Steve organized a three-person operation to right the situation without Gayle having to get up. The guys, even with all they had to look forward to that night, clearly enjoyed lifting Gayle. Who could understand guys?Trent noted Bill’s policy towards Gayle. He’d shielded as much of her from the breeze as one could without actual body contact. Bill and he were very different body types, but somewhat similar in their being outliers in size. Bill was all muscle; he was all bone. Still, the girls. We had the room, so why not?By the time we finished taking what we wanted, including a forge for Thomas, we had filled all nine wagons and could have filled a couple more if we had them handy. It took us two days to get home because the wagons were so heavily loaded, but it was all worth the effort.Albert Smith was the name of the man whom we had originally rescued, and the Smith family consisted of his wife, Emily, and his children Charles, Sarah, and Alice. Charles had been one of the men in.