As the horses' hooves stopped galloping at the post, Joe Jamerson knew the mail had come. It was not out of the ordinary for the Pony Express to stop over on the weekends in San Francisco, California.

But it was unusual for mail to be delivered to Billy Johnson. As the driver gave the envelope to Joe, he saw that it was postmarked from Dodge City, Kansas. Billy was originally from there, but the addressee was to a Billie Johnson instead.

Joe thought it was just a spelling mistake, so he thought nothing of it. He was thinking about the reasons why Billy would receive something like this. Perhaps, he was needed back home, or there was a death in the family.

But it was best for him to keep quiet, despite his curiosity. He didn't want to be like Mrs. Eaton, the town's gossiper, who spread rumors like a blazing wildfire. No, he didn't want to peer into the envelope that was addressed to Billy but decided to hand it to him in person.

Unknown to townspeople, Billy Johnson was really a woman who was donning men's clothes in public. Billy's real name was Billie 'Clementine' Johnson, however, she buried that long ago when she left Kansas.

She needed to provide for her poor family and was secretly sending them money back home by working as a man. As one of the fastest sharpshooters in the Wild West, many were afraid of her.

And 'Billy' did well in shooting the bad guys who robbed the stagecoaches she guarded and as a reward, the wealthy paid her with 'bits' and coins.

She was able to ride her horse all the way to California in some old trousers she borrowed from her father and cut her blonde hair short to disguise herself.

Yet, she did not expect anyone from her hometown to know where she was when she sent the money to her family. It was always written under an alias "Your beloved" through the Wells Fargo stagecoach, so her family only knew it was her.

Billie was quite astonished when she received an envelope from Mr. Jameson. However, she only opened it when she got into her room in the inn she stayed in.

As she ripped the envelope open, she started to panic. It was from her former love, Tom Hardin.

Billie assumed her sister, Mary told him where she went and from there, Tom found out her secret location. But he needed help as he was caught by some smugglers in the nearby town. Now he wants her to save him.

In a way, she would be happy to see him again, but if Billie was exposed as a woman, she'd lose her job and the respect she had from the townspeople. Oh, what's a cowgirl to do?

Count: 496 words

Prompt: You never thought you'd see the sweetheart of yours again ... until a vague letter came in the mail.
The love of your life is in the territories and heeds your help to solve a huge problem. What comes next?

Youtube video: Clementine by Halsey

Note: I wrote this based on the fact that in most Westerns, Men take on the main lead. I wanted to change that as later in U.S. History, we do know that some women donned as men to become active in the cowboys/cowgirls lifestyle. So that is how I came up with my new character Billie 'Clementine' Johnson. And if you enjoyed this story and would like me to continue it in the future, please leave a comment and I'll might just do that. *smiles*