Perviously,

The elder Peabody’s instinct told her that daughter Helena was indeed up to something that could harm the esteemed reputation of her family and that was the real reason for her trip out west.  Peggy needed as much information as she could get about all the players involved and was particularly intrigued by the unusual Sheriff and wanted to know everything about her.  She knew that if she had a chance of freeing her daughter if someone with Bette’s reputation brought her to justice she would need some serious leverage and practically nobody knew more about the truth, innuendo and lies about the town and its surrounding inhabitants for hundreds of miles than Alice Pieszecki.

Kit and Ivan were struggling to save money to buy the saloon and hopefully send their son David to New Orleans or Paris one day where even a colored man could study medicine when Bette Porter came to town.  Kit sung and put together the burlesque shows at the saloon and when the regular church pianist was ill she filled in (this was the Wild West after all) and led the ragtag choir.  Ivan worked on ranches and took on whatever extra jobs he could find.  As happy as Bette was to have Kit back in her life, it took a while for Bette to get used to Ivan.  Eventually, Bette grew to trust and respect Ivan, his knowledge of the territory, sure handed horsemanship and quiet tread came in handy when tracking down outlaws and his ability to build and fix almost anything came in handy on their homestead.

Ivan was not the first or only woman to live secretly as a man out on the frontier but for Ivan and Kit’s safety it was extremely important to maintain secrecy.  Of course there was speculation about the wiry, tee-totaling, quiet but intense white man who was wed to the dynamic “mulatto” woman.  Ivan was a recalcitrant conversationalist and his gruff manner eventually would get even the most talkative ranch hand to stop asking questions.  They told people that they met in Philadelphia and fell in love and that the only way they could be together was to go out West and that much was true.  

Not even Bette knew how Kit became pregnant with David on the journey to WeHo West and she didn’t ask.  Terrible things happened to those traveling westward, any combination of attacks by bandits and/or Indians, wagon accidents, injuries to animals, illness and inclement weather had to be overcome and just arriving alive was a miracle.  The silver lining beside their love of David was that it made it easier to convince people they were a regular family and everyone knew how devoted Ivan was to his wife and son.   In fact, he was so devoted some of the other wives in town were a little jealous of Kit.  Only Kit and Ivan knew what a lack of vigilance and too much whisky one night had cost them.