Mrs. Laurie-Ann Harris was relatively new to Four Corners. She and her husband opened up what they called a Tinker shop, in which they would fix anything and everything, from watches, to guns, to broken furniture. They got a lot of business from the saloon to fix chairs and tables. As Laurie-Ann was a relatively shy and reserved person until you really got to know her, it took her a while to settle in.

She found it was a bit of a strange place. On one hand, it was a typical western town, with it's regular brawls and gun shots ringing out in the middle of the night. On the other hand, it had a settled element that was trying to bring the town out of the typical mold and bring an element of civilization to it's borders. They had their own Newspaper! Even if it was run by what some of the conservative element called 'that woman.' Laurie-Ann had met Mrs. Travis, and found her to be a nice enough person, if a bit on the overwhelming side.

Somehow, as summer turned to fall, she found herself roped into a quilting club and didn't have the heart to say no. She was good at many things, most of which she did more out of necessity as opposed to really liking them, but sewing tiny stitches in quilts while she squinted in the bad light was not something she could do with any skill. It didn't seem to matter to the others in the group though. They figured the young wife needed more social contact than she got, and so she was now part of the Quiet Quilters Club.

The name was more than enough to spark off one of the more hidden aspects of her personality, and she spent a good time laughing with her husband over the ridiculous alliteration. But every Wednesday afternoon, she found herself in the company of the other six women in front of the quilt frame squinting at the tiny stitches she was trying to sew at least relatively straight.

She found it rather ironic that the women in the club called themselves quiet. They were anything but. They spent more time gossiping than sewing. Not that Laurie-Ann minded. Less sewing meant less squinting.

It was through this group of women that she started to find out just how weird the town she currently resided in was. If she thought Sweetwater was weird, Four Corners was worse.

To start off, there was Mrs. Travis. No one else in town really said all that much about her because after all, her Father-in-law was the circuit court Judge for the area and she did run a well read newspaper. That was not exactly an easy thing to do at the best of times and this town did not exactly have a quiet life. She did a really good job though, and Laurie-Ann regularly sat down with her husband to go over the news of what all was going on in town. Mrs. Travis also was a widow who according to the women in the club was madly in love with one of the law men in town. They just weren't sure which one. There were seven of them after all.

Chris Larabee was apparently the leader, even if he wasn't the sheriff. He could often be seen morosely looking out over the town from in front of the jail, and he was almost always dressed in black. Laurie-Ann had to wonder how he managed to keep his clothes from fading since even her navy riding habit had already faded to royal blue since she'd moved here. And she only went riding when she had the time.

According to rumor, he was a widower whose wife and son were killed in some sort of disaster. Mrs. Clark thinks they died in a tornado, while Mrs. Thompson thinks it was a gun fight. But Laurie-Ann didn't think that a gunfight  made much sense, cause how did both mother and son both perish in a direct confrontation? It was possible, but unlikely. Mrs. Smith swears that it was a fire. She heard it from Mrs. Travis herself, so Laurie-Ann was inclined to think it the truth. She even said that the fire was to get at Larabee himself, which is why he was so dark all the time. Mrs. Smith also thinks that he's the one that Mrs. Travis likes.

Mrs. Addely is inclined to think that Mrs. Travis has a flame for Vin Tanner. He's the one that is most often seen hanging around Mr. Larabee. After all, she pointed out that Mary is the one who taught Mr. Tanner to read. And he had the sweetest little smile. Mrs. Addely turned an interesting shade of pink as she said that. Laurie-Ann had to agree though. Mr. Tanner had come in to the Tinker shop a few weeks ago to pick up a fixed weather vane for Nettie Wells. It was such a nice thing for him to do, and he had smiled that sweet little grin of his when she told him that since it barely took a few minutes for her husband to fix, there was no charge.

Everyone agreed he was much too nice a person to have actually murdered the man they said he did. Even if he was the best shot of the seven peacekeepers. He had such a restful personality that just seeing him sitting on the chair in front of the jail was enough to calm a person down. At least that's what Mrs. Thompson thought. But she was a bit of an airhead.

She also thought that Buck Wilmington was, how did she so elegantly put it, was hot enough to melt lead. She also said he was a great kisser. How she knew that, she wouldn't say, and it was the only time that Laurie-Ann had seen the bubbly woman shut up. It hadn't take Laurie-Ann more than a week to find out about Buck, as he insisted on being called. He came in the shop while she was alone and flirted mercilessly with her while she tried not to let the flaming embarrassment on her cheeks start her hair on fire.

She also wasn't the only one with a similar experience. Even Mrs. Henklewitz had been flirted with, and she could barely speak English. Didn't stop the resident ladies man, once he found out that she understood it well enough. It was Mrs. Rankin who pointed out that for a ladies man, he spent an awful lot of time with the Sheriff and the other men. That got a good chuckle out of Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Clark, and a confused glance from Mrs. Thompson. Laurie-Ann just pretended she didn't her it.

Laurie-Ann liked the Sheriff. She thought he was a nice young man, even if he did remind her a bit of her oldest nephew, who had more brass than sense. Fortunately that particular nephew resided more than a few towns away, and she only had to put up with him at Christmas. JD Dunne was often seen sitting in front of the Jail (that seemed to be a favorite resting spot for most of the lawmen) flipping his knife into the wood near his feet. Her husband had already replaced those boards once and they were due to be changed again soon. When Mr. Dunne wasn't playing with his knife, he had his nose stuck in a dime novel. That was another thing Laurie-Ann liked about him.

The one thing the entire group agreed on was that he wasn't the one that Mrs. Travis had a thing for. He was much too young. Not to mention, at the last dance, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off the young Miss Wells. He only danced with her once though. Mrs. Henklewitz, in her broken English, pointed out that he was too shy, as he tried to approach her five times before Miss Wells went over and asked him herself. Mrs. Smith said it was only a matter of time before those two got their act together and got married. After all, it wasn't like it was unexpected.

The dance of a few weeks ago was the social event of the summer and had been to celebrate the completion of the Church. The work done to fix up the old building was entirely due to another of the Lawmen. Josiah Sanchez was the one that did almost all the work on the old church. He wasn't a preacher, or at least, wasn't one anymore, but he was the closest that the town had, and many of the people already went to him to talk over their problems. He was the most approachable of the hired gunmen, and sometimes served as a bit of a liaison between the town and the men hired to protect it.

There was a lot of speculation around the quilt as to why he'd fixed up the church. When he'd started, no one really seemed to care if the town had a church or not. In the three years since, he'd worked in his spare time to fix the roof, replace the windows, refinish the pews and paint any surface that needed it. It really was nice in there now, and though there was talk of getting a preacher to come in, most people weren't too enthused about it. Josiah was the spiritual leader of the town, even if he wouldn't admit it. He was like the town, rough around the edges, but with a heart of gold. Just don't get him mad. Mr. Harris spent a week fixing up the Standish Tavern after somebody got Josiah mad.

Oh, one could not talk about the 'Magnificent Seven' with out mentioning Mr. Ezra Standish, one time owner of the Saloon. He was the second favorite topic of conversation around the quilt after Buck Wilmington's latest female interest. He was even more flamboyant than Buck, which is not an easy thing. He was most often seen playing Poker in the Saloon, but could also often be seen sitting on the bench outside. He was always impeccably dressed, always had a good afternoon to which ever lady happened to be passing (one just didn't see the Gambler before noon), and was a true gentlemen. Unless money was involved. But he was usually forgiven that little fault, after all, who's perfect, and he never lets it get the better of him.

Strangely it was Mrs. Clark, the eldest lady in the group who always stood up for him. Not that she had to stand up much. Everyone in the group, at one time or another had found themselves on the receiving end of Mr. Standish's brand of generosity. He just always swore them to secrecy so nobody knew until Mrs. Thompson let it slip that he always had candy in his pocket for her three year old girls. The twins were holy little terrors, and most of the town avoided the little hoydens like the plague. But Mr. Standish had gotten them calmed down, and spent an afternoon entertaining them with sweets and card tricks when she had the flu.

Mrs. Clark revealed that he returned the money her son couldn't afford to lose to him in a poker game, Mrs. Addely said that he would often lend her his books, Mrs. Rankin admitted that he helping her back to town when her wagon broke down, Mrs. Smith said that he had arranged for a large donation of readers and texts for the school she and Mrs. Travis had been campaigning for and Mrs. Henklewitz shyly smiled, telling how he was helping her with her English. Laurie-Ann just pointed to the new clips in her hair, and commented that it's amazing how often Mr. Standish needed his watch fixed.

That left Nathan Jackson. He was a colored man that was a God-send to the community because he was the closest they had to a doctor. To be perfectly honest, Laurie-Ann had met more than a few doctors who were not nearly as good as Nathan. Most of the people in town accepted him fully, and only a small number resented the fact he was colored. When he wasn't in his clinic fixing people up after the latest altercation, he could be found helping Josiah on the roof of the church, pounding nails into the shingles that seemed to fly off after every rainstorm. Now that the church was pretty much finished, he could be found getting frazzled with preparations for his upcoming marriage.

All the girls seemed to find it amazing that he was as happy a man as he was. He and his soon to be wife, a beautiful lady who currently lived with the Seminole village, were still madly in love, even though it had taken so long for Mr. Jackson to get his but in gear and finally marry the girl. The Mrs.'s Rankin, Smith and Addely, the founders of the club, had been speculating on those two since they started up quilting two years ago. Rain (everyone agreed that was just the most beautiful name, even if it was rather unusual) was a bit of enigma, having been seen in town only a few times. But the sight of those two, lost in each other's eyes at the dance was enough for the Quiet Quilters Club to rapidly finish the quilt for Mrs. Engle's new baby and start planning a quilt to give the couple to celebrate their nuptials.

Yes, this town with it's seven protectors was one of the strangest that Laurie-Ann had ever been in. Every week there was some new crisis to be dissected in detail over the material spread out around them, and something new revealed about the seven men who prevented the crisis from turning into a disaster. Sometimes it was a humorous little tidbit, other times a tragic history revealed.

Laurie-Ann looked out at the women around her, and thought to herself, who needs to read a dime novel when they live here? There was more than enough going on to put the most action packed adventure book to shame. Not that she was going to give up her secret vice. They were fun, mindless babble that she was hopelessly addicted to. Not that she would ever admit it.

Still, in this town there was more than enough going on to keep her active mind busy. She watched as lives were discussed, sorrows shared and joys celebrated, and felt that she was also very lucky to be in this strange town. For all it's oddities, it was quickly becoming home to her and her husband. And she prayed it would stay that way.