Summary:  Adam is hurt, Hoss is missing, and Ben faces fraud charges in court. The enemy is quickly identified, but the fight against them is the stuff of nightmares as so much that can go wrong, does go wrong. 4th Adam and Leah story.

rating = T   WC = 25309

Leah Series:

One Step at a Time
One Step Back
One Plus One
Guilt Trap

Guilt Trap

Chapter 1

Desperately Adam had fought the vicious assault but felt the knife go in. It seemed like all motion had slowed as he looked down to see the knife handle in the man’s hand, but the blade had disappeared. He felt helpless. He looked up into the man’s eyes and saw the feral gleam in them as the man suddenly withdrew the knife and plunged it into him almost as rapidly. He was falling to the side by that time which was the only thing that saved his life. The second blow meant to kill him slid into his side by his ribs causing a long painful wound as the knife slipped against his ribs protecting his vital organs from the thrust meant to penetrate him. The attacker didn’t seem to realize that his ferocious attack had not achieved his objective because the long gash began bleeding profusely. Adam lay on his side almost unable to breathe as a pool of blood grew beside him. He heard the men talking.

“All right, we done what old Rigg wanted. He’s dead.”

“You sure?”

There was a kick to his leg that toppled him over on his back as he stared at the night sky unable to blink or speak. “See, he’s dead. Now let’s get out of here before someone happens along. We’ll get our money and then some whisky and some women.”

Adam heard them shuffle away in the darkness. He wanted so much to call for help but even trying to breathe shallowly was taking all the effort he had left. He thought to himself that he was going to die. He had faced it before, but the thought was so clear and certain that he felt that this time it would happen. In his mind, he said goodbye to his father and youngest brother and wondered if he would see Hoss next. Only that day, he had gotten a telegram that his middle brother was missing. He had packed and planned to leave the next morning, but sadness nearly overwhelmed him when he realized that he would not be there to support his father and Joe. He felt badly about that, but there was nothing he could do. He would never get Leah’s forgiveness and never see his son grow to manhood. His eyes closed as he thought about what had happened. He had always assumed that when one was dying, that consciousness would flee. Instead, intense pain radiated through the center of his body, breathing was excruciating, and his weakness was profound.

“You see, Martin, I told you I heard some nasty rough voices out here. It hasn’t been safe in this neighborhood for some time now with ruffians waylaying innocent people and stealing their valuables. Is he still alive?”

“Yes, Anne, he’s alive but I don’t know for how long. Go to the Baxter house there and get them to help. Tell them that Adam Cartwright has been stabbed. He may be a scoundrel, but he never deserved this.”

For the next few days, Adam’s life consisted of hearing voices talk about him as if he wasn’t there. He wanted to open his eyes and say something but couldn’t. Whenever he was awake like that, he felt searing pain that debilitated him. Occasionally small spoonfuls of water were put in his mouth very gently. The effort to swallow was so much more difficult than he had ever imagined it would be. He was sure he was hearing Leah’s voice among those others and dreamed that it was her soft touch on his cheek or chest but knew it couldn’t be. She had left him and taken their son. He had no idea where she and Lucas were. He couldn’t explain what had happened even to himself so he knew why he had not had a decent explanation for her. He remembered that day two weeks earlier so well too but didn’t like to think about it.

“Adam, you better open this door or I’m gonna kick it in!” He had heard Hoss’ voice but had been unable to move. With blurry vision, he had seen a woman slip from the bed and pull the blanket to cover herself. She answered the door. Adam couldn’t see well but had seen the look of disgust and anger that Hoss had. As the woman yelled and made a scene, Hoss had walked to the bed and pulled him from it. He was naked but his mind was foggy and speech was nearly impossible. Hoss had hit him then, and pulled him from the floor and hit him once more.

“Damn you, how could you do this? You got a great wife and a boy who adores you. You threw it all away for an afternoon with a whore?”

That had set the woman to once again begin to protest loudly. Soon there were several people at the door staring at the scene inside. Too late, Hoss had realized that the story of what had happened here would travel faster than the wind. He pushed the woman from the room and slammed the door. Adam tried to get up but the movement caused him to retch. He emptied his stomach of its foul and rancid contents. He had heard Hoss’ words then.

“I’ll go talk to Leah. I’ll try to get her to give you a chance to explain, but I don’t rightly think you’re gonna be able to do that, are you?”

Then Hoss was gone. It took nearly an hour for Adam to feel well enough to pull on his clothes and stagger from the room. He had enough sense to go down the back stairs of the hotel that he didn’t even remember entering. Once on the street, he hailed a hackney and went to the home of his friends, the Baxters, to try to talk to Leah. He had found her hurt and angry especially when all he could say was that he didn’t remember how he got into that predicament and then asked for her forgiveness. He hadn’t gotten it. Darrell Baxter had helped him to a guest room, and when he awakened the next morning with a terrible headache but a clear mind, Leah and Lucas were gone. Darrell could not tell him where she had gone except to say that friends of her brother had come to the house, and she and Lucas had left with them.

For nearly two weeks, Adam had tried to find his wife and son, but the police had heard what he had done as had nearly everyone in the city apparently. No one was willing to help him. His investment broker had told him to get someone else to handle his accounts, and when he went to the bank where they had done Ponderosa business for two decades, no one wanted to speak with him. Nearly out of funds, he had relied on his friend for a place to stay. His funds were nearly gone by the time he received the telegram summoning him home and telling him that Hoss was missing. He had to assume that Hoss had told his father what had happened, but Adam wasn’t sure he knew what had happened. He couldn’t remember going to the hotel. He certainly couldn’t remember the woman who had been in bed with him. The clerk said he had arranged for the room and paid for it, but he didn’t remember that either. He had talked to Darrell about it because no one else seemed to want to even be in the same room with him.

“Adam, something just doesn’t add up with all of this. I know the court of public opinion has condemned you, and even Leanne thinks you a terrible man, but I cannot see you doing something like that. I mean, any man can be tempted, but to take her to the hotel where your brother was staying so he was bound to be told that when he returned there. That I cannot believe you would do. No, you are not that stupid by any count.”

“Well, thank you for that, I think. You do think I would be with a woman who was not my wife, but you think I would be smart enough to hide it better. Is that it?”

“Adam, when we were in school together, you were not always within the letter of the law on some of our escapades, and you know very well which ones. Now we are older and more mature, but those young men are still part of the men we are. I do believe you would step over that line if you thought the reason was good enough. To be brutally honest, there are many women much more beautiful than your wife. I know that you could be tempted. What I’m saying is some trollop who cannot even be found now would never be good enough, and if there were a woman good enough to entice you over the line, you would never have been so brazen about it. You are far too clever for that.”

“Hoss thought I would.”

“Your brother was very upset and angry as was your wife. The shock of learning that you were found naked in bed with a woman caused a very emotional reaction in both of them. I’m sure that both of them are rethinking their conclusions by now.”

“I can only hope that’s true, but their absence makes me think that it isn’t what’s happening. For now, I have lost my wife and son as well as the respect of my family, and I have no more idea of how to repair the damage than I did nearly two weeks ago.”

“I have an idea. Tomorrow afternoon, I want you to go with me to a detective agency that is well respected. I want them to help you.”

“Darrell, I have no money to pay for something like that right now.”

“I know. You can pay me back once this mess is cleaned up.”

Adam had thanked him and planned to do just that, but then he had received that telegram, packed his bags, and set out to make arrangements to leave the city. He was returning to the Baxter home when he was attacked. When he finally awakened after five days of hell, he thought he must still be in some sort of dreamland. Leah was sitting in a chair near the bed staring into space. His slight movement to try to turn toward her caused him great pain and the resulting moan drew her attention. He felt tears in his eyes when he saw her smile at him. He had never thought to see that smile again. Leah pulled the chair closer and touched his cheek.

“I am so sorry that this happened to you. I am even more sorry that I left you and took our son with me. Can you please forgive me?”

Unable to speak, Adam struggled to speak and couldn’t say anything.

“I know you must be very weak. From what I have been told, you lost a lot of blood when you were attacked and more in the surgery to close the wounds. If you remember when we first met, we had a code. You can blink your eyes or squeeze my hand to answer my questions.”

Leah reached for his left hand then and squeezed it softly. Adam squeezed back and did his best to smile but knew it probably looked more like a grimace.

“You don’t need to say any more. I’ll tell you what we know already. You were drugged. I should have known it right away, but I was too upset and hurt to think. I remembered eventually that Hoss said you retched, and it smelled like you had eaten gunpowder and wine. Now that was ridiculous of course, but as I thought about that, I realized that someone used ether on you. They probably stunned you with a blow of some kind and then gave you ether. It often makes the patient violently ill when they awake, and it has a sweet but sulfurous odor. I thought that was what Hoss smelled, and Darrell had the detectives question the clerk at the hotel. He admitted that it did smell like that, and under pressure, admitted that he had taken a payment to tell your brother that you had taken a room with a woman even though he never saw you enter the hotel. We know now that it was all set up. A woman’s body has been found floating in the harbor. The hotel clerk has said it does look like the woman who was found in that room with you. She had been in the water for some time so he can’t be sure, but the clothing, height, and hair color are a match according to him.”

Adam struggled to speak. He wanted to know about his brother. He couldn’t say it, but Leah got enough from his efforts to guess.

“Hoss is still missing. Your father has been charged with fraud on the railroad deal. He has to appear in court soon. It’s for the contract that you negotiated, and the one on which you and Hoss supervised the deliveries. This is an all-out assault on the Ponderosa. All of us now believe that the attack on you and Hoss missing are connected.”

Adam then did his best to ask why Leah had not come back sooner. “Lem’s friend is one of the investors in the railroad that has caused your father to be charged with fraud. Mr. Riggins did his best to make me stay at his estate outside of the city. I had no way to leave with Lucas unless I walked, and the weather was not suitable for that. It took me some time to get away.”

“How?” Adam choked out his first word. It was soft and hoarse but intelligible.

“I got to know one of the cooks. Hop Sing has cousins everywhere it seems. Once he knew what I needed, he and the other cooks smuggled us into a wagon when they went to town for supplies. They brought me here, and Darrell has been sheltering us since. He hired guards for the house. Adam, you are still in danger. As soon as you can travel, we need to get you out of here to some place much safer. I don’t know where that is, but we have to find a place.”

“Sacramento. Daley.”

“I’ll talk to Darrell about it. He’s worried that they may try to kidnap Lucas and me now that we are out of their clutches. At this moment though, I think Lucas has probably awakened from his nap. Do you want me to go get him?”

A full dimple grin from Adam was her answer. He couldn’t hold it for long because of the pain, but that was the most precious smile Leah had ever seen. She leaned down to kiss his cheek before leaving to get their son. Adam did his best to stay awake and might have dozed off except for one thing. He remembered the men said that Rigg had wanted him killed, and now Leah had said that a Mr. Riggins had done his best to keep her at his estate. It had to be the same man. They had their first clue, but it wasn’t enough to make an arrest, and certainly the man had important connections in California government. They needed to tread very carefully. Their opponents had already shown that they would murder to advance their plans.

When Leah brought Lucas into the room where Adam was recuperating, at first, the boy was very shy with his father. He hadn’t seen him in nearly three weeks. It had to be very confusing to him. Leah sat at Adam’s bedside until Lucas smiled at his father and began his familiar combination of babbling and words. Lucas wanted to get on the bed with Adam, but Leah knew that wasn’t a good idea. She let Lucas hold Adam’s hand which satisfied him for the time being. Leah watched as Adam’s eyes slowly closed before taking Lucas from the room. She asked Leanne to watch him again, and then returned to Adam’s side.

Chapter 2

“He can’t travel yet. If you try to move him any distance, he’s going to start bleeding inside. If he does, there may be nothing that can be done. It stopped once which I took to be a small miracle, but there are limits to miracles.” Adam’s doctor was adamantly opposed to Adam being moved to Sacramento even though most of the trip was by boat.

“Doctor, we have reason to believe that Adam and his family are no longer safe in my house. We have guards posted around the clock, and this morning one of them was found unconscious. If not for our very large dog barking quite loudly and alerting the other guard, the men who did it could have entered the house. We need to get him moved to some place that is safer.” Darrell had already arranged for his wife to stay with friends, but he wanted to make sure Adam and his family were someplace just as safe.

“I am most concerned about him being moved from the house and into a carriage. Every time he is moved, the risk of opening the worst of his wounds is great. If you could find a way to move him without having to jostle him too much, I suppose the risk would be minimal.” The doctor wanted his patient to live and conceded as much as he thought was medically sound.

There was silence for a while as all of them thought about what they had to do. Adam, who spoke in a halting and weak voice, had all of them shaking their heads by the time that he finished suggesting the solution. Arrangements were made for the family to travel to Sacramento, and anyone seeing that would logically assume they were headed back to the Ponderosa. Late in the day, a casket was carried from the Baxter house and placed in a hearse. Following in a carriage, Leah and Lucas were dressed in mourning clothes as were Darrell and Leanne who accompanied them to the docks where the casket was carefully carried into a stateroom aboard a paddlewheeler. Darrell and Leanne bid a tearful goodbye to Leah and Lucas and waved sadly as the boat pulled away from the wooden dock heading upriver to Sacramento. In staterooms to either side of Leah and Lucas who sat quietly at first with the casket, there were well-armed men there to protect them as needed. Once the boat was out of sight of the city, one of the men came into the stateroom to assist Leah in getting the cover lifted off the casket. Inside, Adam looked up at them from a well padded and comfortable if somewhat warm berth. There were large holes in the top of the casket so that he had enough air. The holes had been concealed by a large bouquet of flowers atop the casket as it had been moved.

In San Francisco, the men who had first attacked Adam and thought that they had killed him, reported to their boss.

“Mr. Riggins, he is dead now. They carried him out in a casket and put him on a boat for Sacramento. His wife was in mourning clothes. If they was trying to trick us, well he would a suffocated in that coffin as slow as that hearse took him to the docks and then they had to carry him onto the boat. It must a been at least two hours before it was all done.”

“Good, we needed him out of the way. Now, the other one is being held near Sacramento so the next thing I want you to do is go there and make sure he stays locked away. We can’t afford any more mistakes.”

Bristling a bit at the implied criticism, the men could only nod and keep their looks impassive. “Do you want us to kill him too to make sure he never talks?”

“No! Now that we lost the woman and child, we need to keep him as a hostage just in case things don’t go as planned with the trial. Nothing would make Ben Cartwright back off more than the prospect of losing another son especially when he finds that he’s still alive. No, keep him alive. If things work out as we plan, then you can kill him.”

The subject of their conversation was in a warehouse in Sacramento. Hoss had been returning to San Francisco when he had been abducted and brought to this city in a crate. He had a severe headache, and even though they brought food and water, he had a difficult time keeping it down and found that small sips of water and small bites of food at regular intervals was better than trying to eat a meal of quench his thirst. He had overheard enough to support the suspicions that had developed as he talked with his father about what had happened in San Francisco. A week after he arrived home, he and his father talked extensively about the incident.

“Hoss, it seems so preposterous that if it wasn’t you who had told me, I never would have believed it. Even now, it seems too outlandish to accept as the truth.”

“I know, Pa. I started to feel the same way as I was coming back home. I’m uneasy about the whole dadblamed thing, but I can’t rightly say exactly why.”

“Well, Adam loves Leah. We both know that. I know he’s a man who likes to look at beautiful women, but you said this woman wasn’t beautiful. It seems unlikely too that if he was going to betray his wife that he would do it in the hotel where you were staying. There are so many other hotels in that city. It doesn’t make sense.”

The more that Ben and Hoss had talked, the more the whole story seemed strange. Then when Ben had been served with papers charging him with fraud in his latest lumber deal with the railroad, their suspicions grew exponentially. Adam had negotiated that contract with the railroad. It had been an excellent contract, and Ben recalled that Adam had said that the railroad negotiators had been unusually reserved in their demands. The whole negotiation had gone more easily and much faster than normal making Adam suspicious. Ben remembered telling him that he shouldn’t always question good fortune. The whole thing began to look more sinister though. An attempt had been made to discredit Adam and destroy his reputation, and had been remarkably successful. That it happened in the city where the railroad had its headquarters was too much of a coincidence to be ignored. Making his brother the bearer of the bad news was cruel.

“Pa, I gotta go back. I’m guessing that Adam is trying to get Leah to forgive him, and I gotta help him figure this whole thing out. I hit him that day, Pa. I should not of done that. I need to find out what’s going on and help him as much as I can.”

“Yes, you should go. Joe and I can handle things here for a while. Get everyone home as soon as you can. We need to figure this out.”

“Pa, what should I say to Lem?”

“For now, don’t say anything. We’re not sure any more what’s going on. Let’s get Adam and Leah home with their son, and then see what we can do.”

Hoss had left then, but the stage he was on was found abandoned just west of Placerville. The driver was dead, the horses were gone, and there was no sign of Hoss. Ben had been rocked by the third and most devastating blow. Adam’s marriage was in trouble, he was being charged with fraud, and now Hoss was missing. He couldn’t imagine how things could get any worse, and then he got the telegram from Darrell Baxter telling him that Adam had been attacked. They didn’t know if he would live. He wanted desperately to go to his son, but if he tried to leave the state of Nevada, he was subject to arrest. He was being allowed to stay on the Ponderosa until his trial, but was court ordered to remain in the state.

When Joe had brought home the news of Hoss, he had been almost unable to walk into the house. The news had staggered him even as Sheriff Roy Coffee told him he was sending Clem there to find out what had happened.

“I know your family is going through a lot right now. You need to stay here for your pa. Do you want to send a telegram to Adam and let him know about Hoss?”

Joe had done that, and the next day was back in town to find out if Roy knew any more. That’s when he received the telegram about Adam. As difficult as it had been to ride home with news of Hoss missing, it was doubly hard to carry that news of Adam home. Joe had been as angry as Hoss when he first learned of what had happened in San Francisco, but like his father and Hoss, the more he had thought about it, the more he knew something was very wrong with the scenario. His calmly logical brother was no saint, but Joe couldn’t see him doing what he was accused of doing. He had talked to Doctor Martin just a few days before when he had seen Hoss off on the stage. When he told the story to Paul, he had nodded and asked Joe to repeat what he had said of Adam’s condition. He had told Joe the same theory that Leah had: Adam had been drugged. All the signs were there: the apparent confusion, the vomiting, and the smell of what Adam had spewed out. Joe had told his father all of that which made them even more sure that it was part of a conspiracy against them.

“Pa, it has to be the railroad. They want the Ponderosa.”

“Joe, I agree, but how do we fight them? They’ve slapped liens against every Ponderosa account and asset.”

“I know, but Adam has property and investments. I have some, and so does Hoss. We need to call in favors from our friends too. If we go down, there’s nothing to stop them from taking other businesses here. It’s in their best interests to help us.”

“Joe, I can’t do it. I have to stay on the ranch. Can you handle it?”

“Pa, you know I will. They’ve hurt Adam, and I’m sure they have Hoss. We’re going to fight them, Pa, with everything we’ve got.”

The only good news in the whole tense situation had come when they received a telegram from Leah that Adam was recovering. It was a great relief to know that Adam was not going to die and to assume that Leah was back with him because she had sent the telegram. Then they heard nothing more and began to worry until a familiar man rode into the yard of the Ponderosa.

“Good to see you again, Uncle Ben.”

“Will, I’m surprised to see you. I’m very glad to see you though. There’s a lot of trouble right now.”

“Let’s go inside Ben. There may be too many ears out here.”

Surprised by the request, Ben turned to walk inside with his nephew. Joe walked behind them as concerned as his father. There simply couldn’t be any more bad news. Joe was worried about his father’s health with as much as he had to bear over the last few weeks. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take. Inside the house, Will got directly to the point.

“Adam is at the Daley ranch outside of Sacramento. It’s nearly a fortress. He and his family will be safe there. As far as anyone knows, the casket being shipped here contains his body. That’s how they got him out of San Francisco.” Ben and Joe were shocked so Will told them the whole story as it had been told to him. When he finished, Ben had a few questions.

“So Leah knows that Adam was not unfaithful to her?” Will nodded. “Where are Laura and Peggy?”

“Adam suggested that they be somewhere safe as well so they are also staying with the Daley’s. It seems it makes more sense not to have them in two locations. Extra men have been hired to protect them, all of them.”

“Who’s paying for all of that?”

“For now, Darrell Baxter and David Daley are providing the funds. They’re good friends of Adam and want to make sure he and his family are safe. There are detectives working the case too, and the attorney general and governor of California have been informed of an apparent conspiracy. I’m not sure how much help they will be, but if anything happens, they know everything we know except for the location of Adam and the others. We didn’t want to risk a telegram or a letter that could be intercepted so that’s why I’m here. Adam believed I might be the only messenger you would trust at this point.”

“How is Adam?”

Will grimaced a little. “He’s still in some pain. The wound bled some because he had to be moved. It’s not bad, but with all the blood he lost in the attack, it was a strain. Leah thinks he may need to stay there in bed for two or three weeks.” Ben frowned a little at that. “I know that Adam will be out of that bed as soon as he’s able, but Ben, I have to say I’ve never seen him so weak. He couldn’t fight off Lucas at this point. The best news is that there has been no infection. If that had happened, I think we would have lost him.”

Ben got a cold chill just thinking about that. “Any word on Hoss?”

“No, but the detectives working the case don’t think he’s been killed. They think that the railroad was going to hold your grandson as a hostage. That didn’t work out, so unless they try to take Joe, Hoss is likely being held as a hostage to control you if need be.”

Joe was relieved but wondered why his father looked so downcast at that news. “Pa, that’s good news, isn’t it? Here we were thinking Hoss had been killed, but they think he’s alive.”

Ben had a difficult time answering so Will did. “Joe, they’ll use him as a hostage if the court case doesn’t go well.”

“Yeah, so then we can get him back, so why the long faces?”

“Joe, if it goes well, they’ll kill him. He’s a witness to another crime or even crimes. They can’t let him testify against them or the whole scheme could still fall apart even if they win the case against Ben. They have already shown that they will kill. The woman who was part of the scheme against Adam was found floating in the harbor. They tried to kill Adam, and they think that they succeeded. One or two more bodies won’t bother them.”

“All of this just to get the Ponderosa?”

“Joe, if they get the Ponderosa, then they can use the wealth here to take all the surrounding properties. They could raise the freight costs until they forced everyone to sell out to them or work with them on their terms. It’s not just the Ponderosa. It’s that the Ponderosa is the key to taking it all.”

“And it all started with a contract that was too good to be true. I remember Adam worrying about us signing it even though he was the one who negotiated it. We should have paid attention to his suspicions. Pa, I guess we all learned a lesson here already.”

“Yes, Joe, just like we trust Hoss’ gut feelings, we should pay attention to Adam’s suspicions.” Turning to Will, Ben had one more question. “Does Adam have any idea who is ordering all of this?”

Will nodded. “Riggins has got to be part of it, but we have no evidence as to who the other conspirators are. Adam heard the two men who attacked him say that Rigg had ordered his death. Then Mr. Riggins picked up Leah and Lucas supposedly at Lem’s instruction, but we know now that Lem knew nothing of what had supposedly happened. Leah was too upset at the time to realize that there was no way for Lem to know because she was the logical one to tell him, and she hadn’t. She thought only that she was going to be able to be away from Adam for a short time so that she could think through what had happened. Her emotional reaction played right into their hands.”

“When did she realize that?” Ben loved his daughter-in-law and wondered how she could have mistrusted his son so much not to give him a chance to explain.

“Soon after she arrived at Riggins’ estate. When she insisted that she wanted to go back to talk it out with Adam, he made one excuse after another until finally telling her that he knew what was best for her and was only following her brother’s instructions. Then she knew because her brother would never have tried to do anything like that.”

“And Hop Sing’s cousin helped her and Lucas to escape?” Will nodded. “Is he in any danger?”

“Maybe, but it’s a she. I’ll talk to Hop Sing next to see what he wants to do about that.”

Smiling, Ben called out to Hop Sing. “Hop Sing, you may as well come in here. We need you to tell us what to do about your cousin.”

Smiling a bit sheepishly, Hop Sing came out from the kitchen doorway where he had been listening to the whole conversation. “You have job for cousin if she come here?” At Ben’s nod, Hop Sing smiled. She was already on the way. From his cousins in Virginia City, he had heard much of what Will had recounted. He and his many cousins would help the Cartwrights who had helped them many times.

Chapter 3

It had to be the bread! Hoss was studying his food. He realized over the course of a few days that he was sickest right after he ate some of the food. If he drank just the water, he felt fine. If he ate something, he had cramps in his abdomen and felt dizzy and drowsy. His mind was most clear when he awakened each morning with the sounds of dockworkers arriving to work. There was a small hole in the corner of his prison for him to use to get rid of waste. In the morning, he relieved himself there and then drank whatever water he still had from dinner the night before. He had eaten no food at that point in the morning, and he felt fine although he was weak. He hadn’t been getting much food, and now he would have less. He didn’t think they could easily put drugs in the greasy beans on the plate so he suspected the bread. Peeling it open carefully, he placed the bread in the light that shone in between two boards that were not tightly fitted. He nodded. He could see where the bread was slightly damp and a bit discolored. He peeled the soft inside of the bread away from the crust and dumped it down the waste hole. He decided to risk eating the thick crust. He ate a small piece with the beans and felt fine.

Deciding they might be checking in on him occasionally though, he laid down and appeared to be drowsy as he had felt for the last few mornings, but his mind was actively plotting what he could do to escape this place. When they brought the food, there was always an armed guard standing behind the Chinese man who opened the door and set the plate of food and a bucket of water inside the door. If he rushed him, the other man would likely shoot him so that was out of the question. He had to find a way out of this room in which he was locked though. He had begun to suspect that the predicament in which Adam had found himself and now the one that he was in were related. He wasn’t at all sure how, but somehow, it was too much of a coincidence. He lay on his back that night with a clear mind and a nearly empty belly and addressed the ceiling in the darkness.

“Adam, wherever you are, I hope you know that I believe you now, and I never shoulda done what I done. You’ve never lied to me, and I shoulda known. I really shoulda known. I need to get outta here cause I think you might be needing my help.”

Miles away at the Daley ranch, Adam was resting in bed. He was glad to be out of the coffin. Even knowing it was a ruse, it had been difficult to face laying in that casket and thinking about it being his last resting place. He shivered a little with the thought, and that caused Leah to sit up in the bed next to him. She was surprised that Lucas hadn’t awakened yet, but then remembered that Peggy liked to go in his room in the morning and play with him and read to him. It allowed Leah more time with Adam to help him with necessary tasks in the morning. But she was concerned to feel him shiver. Chills and fever from an infection were her greatest fear at this point as Adam recovered from a nearly fatal attack.

“Are you cold?”

“No, but if I said yes, would you snuggle in with me and try to warm me up?”

Leah shook her head at his lecherous grin. “You can’t even sit up by yourself. I don’t think you’re strong enough for anything else except resting.”

“I could be if you did all the work. It’s been weeks now. Aren’t you the least bit interested?”

Leah touched his cheek and leaned down to kiss him before resting against his undamaged side and answering his question. “Of course I am, but I won’t do anything that could jeopardize your health in any way. You’ve only recently had bleeding from that deeper wound, and the other one is so long that we’re still worried about an infection. Until you’re better, I’m afraid that kisses and sleeping beside each other are all that you will get.”

Smiling at his profound look of disappointment, Leah kissed Adam again before sliding from the bed and dressing. The next task was to get Adam sitting up in bed and then getting his legs over the side so he could sit on the side of the bed and get ready for the day. After a couple days of this, they had developed an efficient routine. When Leah finished with him and had him settled back against the pillows, she went to get their breakfast after checking to see that Lucas was in fact playing with Peggy. While Leah was helping Adam with breakfast, their host knocked and came in to talk with them.

“Adam, I’ve been talking with one of the detectives we hired. Your casket should be arriving in Virginia City today. It’s going to look very odd not to have your wife and child there when they have the funeral.” Adam nodded, but Leah shook her head.

“I won’t leave him. He needs me here. Look what happened the last time I left him.”

Adam reached for Leah’s hand. “Sweetheart, he’s right. People would begin to ask a lot of questions if you aren’t there. Once you’re home and safe, I’ll feel better about things too.”

“But what if they come for you here?”

Dave took over there. “Leah, if they can be convinced that Adam is dead and buried, they won’t even think to look for him. Right now, they’re fairly sure he’s dead. Once that casket goes into the ground, they’ll be sure, but you need to be standing there mourning him when that happens for it to work. I have plenty of men to keep Adam safe here and get him to the Ponderosa when he’s capable of traveling.”

Adam squeezed Leah’s hand. “Sweetheart, it’s what we need to do.”

“But who will take care of you; Laura?”

Dave took over again. “No, Will went to the Ponderosa, and we think that Laura and Peggy should go too. All of you can be at the funeral for Adam. That will make it look authentic. I want you to go by private coach. No one will know it’s you. I’ll be sending enough men and extra horses that the coach won’t have to stop except in Placerville to rent some additional horses. Coaches of rich men go through there all the time. No one will likely pay any attention, and if they do, the guards will handle it. They are all experienced men who are skilled with firearms.”

“But I still want to know who will take care of Adam?”

“We have staff here who can do that. Leah, I want you to know that he is one of my best friends from college. He helped me out a lot there not only in my studies but in meeting my wife. He coached me through the whole courtship. I owe him a lot, and I’m grateful to have a chance to repay part of the debt I owe him. He’s never needed anything from me before, and I’m feeling very proud that when he needed help, he thought of me. That says a lot, doesn’t it? In the face of so much adversity, he trusted me. I hope I’ve earned your trust by what I’ve done for him so far.”

“Dave, of course you have. All right, I’ll do what you say.”

“I have the coach and the men ready. Once you pack, all of you can get started. With good luck, you’ll be back on the Ponderosa in time for the funeral, and Adam can relax knowing that you are safe there.”

Before Leah left, she brought Lucas in to say goodbye. She had tears in her eyes as she said goodbye to Adam and kissed him. Something didn’t feel right about the situation, but without anything concrete to criticize, she had to cooperate. Then she was gone, and Adam felt like the house had gotten smaller and darker. That evening, Dave came to talk with Adam again.

“I’m worried that if they do look for you, they’ll know that we’re friends and that you might be here. With all the people who work for me, they must know that Leah stayed here. If they put some pressure on, they may find out that there was a wounded man here too.”

“What are you getting at, Dave?”

“You can’t travel as far as the Ponderosa. Going over the mountains is too difficult in your condition, but do you think you could make a short trip? I own some property east of here. I never changed the name of the place so it would be difficult for anyone to know I own it. If we could get you there, no one could find you.”

Although Adam felt a little uneasy about the proposition, he was hardly able to offer an alternative. He needed help to even sit up. He had to agree so he did. Dave smiled and said he would make the arrangements. The next day, Adam was moved by carriage to the other ranch. With blankets wrapped around him, no one could even see him in that back seat. By nightfall, he was ensconced in a new place to hide hoping that he wouldn’t have to travel any more for a while for just that short trip had sapped what strength he had. The next morning two Chinese servants came in to help him. They apparently spoke no English, but Adam did his best to know that he appreciated their help by telling them thank you in Chinese, and saying a few other things he remembered from learning them as a young man from Hop Sing. The two smiled as they left the room so Adam assumed that he had not said anything offensive and that he had been as gracious as he could be under the circumstances.

About that moment, Hoss was wishing he had paid better attention to the words and phrases Hop Sing had tried to teach him. A small hand had come up through the waste hole with a bag that was deposited on the floor next to it. Hoss had hurried to the waste hole and looking down, he had seen a Chinese face that he did not recognize. The man said something to him. It sounded familiar but Hoss didn’t know what it meant. Then he heard the men at the door who were bringing his food and water for the day. He quickly pushed the bag back behind where the door would open and laid down on the floor next to the waste hole. The door was opened, the plate of food and bucket of water were brought in as usual, and then the door closed leaving Hoss in the semidarkness of the early morning. As the day went on, his room got brighter and hotter. He looked down the waste hole and the man who had been there was gone. He opened the sack and pulled out a small hammer, a small pry bar, and a note. He was given instructions for how to escape his captors. He began to work as soon as he finished reading.

“There will be much noise in a few hours. If you pull some nails from the boards, you will be ready then to pull up the boards by the hole. You can escape into the river from there. Swim to the boat and hang onto the side of it. The men in the boat will take you to safety. Trust these men. They are friends of Hop Sing.”

With the limited light, Hoss had to feel for the nails. He used the small pry bar to get an edge under the nail, and then used the hammer to pull the nail. The first one squeaked a lot but Hoss had a solution. He used the greasy beans to soften the wood at the surface. It lubricated the wood enough so that he could pull each one out with almost no noise at all. Even then, he cringed with the small squeaks that were made. He paused after each one hoping that he would get enough done by the time the ‘noise’ happened. He had no idea what the noise was to be, but he assumed it would be obvious enough that he would recognize his opportunity.

With no way to tell time, Hoss thought two hours must have passed. He pulled more and more nails assuming that he had enough loose so that he could pull up the boards to escape. He tentatively tried one and realized he could lift its entire length up. He quietly and carefully removed it and found that made it easier to remove nails from the other boards. Light reflecting from the river below helped him find the nails and remove them. By the time the noise finally came, he had two more boards completely loose. The noise was not what he expected. It was a lot of shouting by Chinese men and answering complaints and yelling from men he assumed were his white captors. Without hesitation, he removed the two boards and hung down from the joist with his feet only slightly above the water. When he had stopped swinging, he dropped straight down hardly making any noise at all. Then with strokes as strong as he could manage, he swam out into the river. That’s when things started to go wrong. One of his guards thought he had heard a splash that was too loud for waste. Wondering what the noise was, he had walked to the edge of the dock and saw Hoss swimming about fifty yards away. He opened fire on him which silenced the men on land and made the men in the boat stand and begin screaming at the men on shore. With bullets hitting the water very close to him, Hoss let himself slip beneath the surface.

“Aw, shut your yaps. We ain’t shooting at you. Get out of here. Go away.” The men on the docks yelled at the Chinese in the boat.

Hoss thought he had a good idea of how far away the boat was, but he thought his lungs might burst before he saw the shadow of the boat above him. Finally he surfaced as slowly as he could and tried not to make noise as he sucked air in. The small boat hid him from those on shore. He could hear them talking as he reached up to put only a few fingers on the gunwale of the boat.

“We got him. He didn’t get away cause ain’t no man can hold enough air to be under water this long.” On the dock, the men waited for Hoss to surface. When he didn’t after five minutes, they assumed he was dead.

“What about those Chinese fishermen? They saw what we did.”

“They won’t say a word, and if they did, who’d believe em. Naw, let’s go tell the boss we lost this one, but at least he’s got the other one safely locked away.”

“Yeah, the boss sure knows how to have one plan to back another to back another. He’s always thinking.”

Slowly and without looking at him at all but shaking their fists at the white men on the dock, the two Chinese fishermen paddled their small boat to the opposite side of the river and downstream about two hundred yards. As they reached shallow water, they looked back. No one was watching them. They gestured to Hoss then to get out of the water. Once he climbed up the embankment, there were two other Chinese there. One could speak English as well as Hop Sing.

“You go with us. We take you to safe place.”

“I need a horse. I need to go help my brother.”

“You no can help him now. You wait. You see. Come with us now.”

“What do you mean I can’t help him now? What happened?”

“You come. You will be told.”

“Where are we going?”

“To safe place, and then maybe you go home. You will decide.”

Chapter 4

On the Ponderosa, Joe was getting very frustrated. The funeral had gone as expected. Leah was able to cry genuinely because when she saw that casket lowered into the earth and thought about how close that had come to being reality, she did break down sobbing. Ben held her and felt his own heart break thinking about how his dream of the Ponderosa had once again almost robbed him of a son. With all of that, it was fairly simple for everyone else to shed real tears and put on a convincing act for any who were skeptical. As they trooped back into the house after saying goodbye to the last of their friends and neighbors, Joe’s temper flared.

“I hate this sitting around. I want to go find Hoss. I want to go bring Adam home. This isn’t right with the family split up while we’re facing the biggest threat we’ve ever faced.”

Leah sympathized with Joe for she felt much the same way. It seemed wrong to do things the way they were doing them. She was very worried for Adam and wondered how he was faring on the Daley ranch. They had heard nothing since leaving there. When she said anything to Will or to Ben, they always told her that they had people watching out for Adam and looking for Hoss. With Joe’s outburst, Ben became more specific.

In the corner of the great room, Ardis sat nursing her small infant and waited. She was an intelligent woman, but there was so much going on here that she couldn’t begin to think of what to do. She wanted someone to spell it out. She had been told first that Hoss might be dead, and then that he was probably alive. At night when she was alone, she cried herself to sleep, and often felt tears well up in her eyes when she did the simplest things. Ben tried to console her, but she couldn’t be consoled. All she wanted was for Hoss to walk through that door. She felt numb as she waited. Married a year and with a newborn baby, she was overwhelmed by circumstances. Leah saw her sitting, pale and quiet, and moved to sit beside her. At least Leah knew that Adam was alive. She understood how Ardis must feel not knowing.

“Joe, there are people working on finding and rescuing Hoss. You can’t go because if Hoss is rescued, then you would be a target. We need to keep all of you here on the Ponderosa and safe. We have to trust our friends to help us.”

“But can we, Pa? Adam was staying with the Baxters who are good friends of his and look what happened to him right outside their door.”

“Joe, I’m sure that Darrell had nothing to do with the attack on Adam. It was unfortunate that it appeared that he might be involved. He has been one of our biggest assets in this situation. He got Leah and Adam and Lucas out of the city. Leah and Lucas are safe because of him.”

Suddenly Leah was far more worried about Adam than she had been. She wished he could be here at home, but had not thought of him as being in any particular danger until that moment when Ben began to explain why Joe couldn’t go looking for Hoss. “But Adam isn’t here, and he can’t defend himself at this point. Who’s protecting him if Hoss is rescued? Won’t Adam be a target then?”

“Leah, Adam understands this. I’m absolutely certain of that. He wanted you and Lucas safe, and he couldn’t travel. As soon as he is capable of making the trip, we’ll see about getting him home. For now, he’s safe. We have people watching over him. We have others nearby if he needs more help.”

Joe suddenly understood why Candy had taken twice the men he needed for a small cattle drive. “Candy isn’t on the drive. He’s near Sacramento waiting to help out as needed.”

“Yes, I thought that if you couldn’t go and I couldn’t go, Candy was the best choice. He’ll make sure the cattle get sold when they get there, but he and the others who volunteered to help rode ahead to Sacramento. Now, none of you can say anything about this where anyone on the ranch can hear.”

“Why” seemed to come from several mouths at once.

“We have reason to believe that some of the detectives here are not working for us as they claim to be. The agency hired extra men for this assignment but discovered some unusual backgrounds when they went to check the men out.”

“Why not fire them?” Joe liked a more active approach.

“It’s better for us to know where they are. The men who are experienced in the agency know who the new men are. They will neutralize them if needed. For now, let our enemies think they’ve outmaneuvered us on every front. Our best defense at this point is to look defeated. They know Adam isn’t dead. The funeral was to make them think we don’t know that. We all acted our parts very well today. We’re playing along with their script, but they have no idea that we know it’s their script.”

“Why don’t we simply expose them for what they are?” Ardis echoed Joe’s sentiments. She wanted Hoss back.

Leah asked the same question. “Can’t we put this all in the paper and let everyone know what they’re trying to do?”

“Leah, we have to find out who’s behind it, or face this same crisis again with no idea when they will hit us and what they will do. We know some of the people in the conspiracy. Riggins is one. We strongly believe the circuit judge here is part of it, but this whole scheme took a lot more than two men to organize. We have agents of our governor helping us, and we have lawyers who work for the California attorney general digging into what’s happened there. For now, we need to trust those we know are our friends and try to determine who among the others is not a friend but an enemy.”

“Adam is still in danger, isn’t he?” Leah was scared.

“Yes.” Ben pulled a letter from his pocket. “Adam wrote this to you with instructions to give it to you if you guessed exactly that.” Ben handed the envelope to Leah who tore it open to read Adam’s letter to her.

“My dearest Leah: If you’re reading this, then you know that I could still be in a bit of trouble. I want you to know that I had to see you and Lucas get to safety. I made sure that they knew I was too weak to travel so that it would seem logical to send you on your way and keep me. I have friends here who will watch over me. Please, don’t worry too much, and give my son a kiss for me. I hope I am wrong about who my enemies are, but I fear I am not. Pa has sent help by now I’m sure. Please trust that we will prevail, and I hope to see you soon. Love, Adam.”

“Daley and Baxter are part of the conspiracy?” Leah was shocked to think that.

“Perhaps not Baxter, but yes, I’m afraid Daley is based on the information we have been able to gather at this point. As far as we can determine, Riggins acted on his own in trying to get Adam killed. That was not part of the scheme that has been concocted against us by those who want the Ponderosa and their partners. Baxter protected Adam and got him out of the city. Daley too has no interest in seeing Adam killed. The only suspicion we have of Baxter at this point is that he moved Adam to Daley’s ranch and that he and Daley have been great friends and business partners for a long time. But as long as Adam treats the two of them as friends, they have no reason to harm him. He will be their hostage, but supposedly will not know that he is. Adam is quite an accomplished actor. He can pull this off. He couldn’t travel anyway, but as long as they keep him safe, we’ll play along with their scheme.”

“But they’re paying for the detectives who are investigating all of this.” Joe was flabbergasted.

“Yes, it’s part of Daley’s cover and Baxter’s too if he’s involved. No one would suspect them if they’re doing that. Of course, Daley got some of his people hired to make sure the investigation turns up nothing. And it won’t. It’s a smokescreen for the people who are doing the actual investigating.”

“When did all of this start?” Joe wondered why he had not been in on the planning.

“Remember when Adam has said that when things are too strange to be a simple coincidence, then they aren’t? Well Hoss and I began talking about that before he left to return to California. We never expected that they would kidnap him. That was a big mistake. It was an even bigger mistake not to realize that these people could be deadly. We should never have anyone in the family traveling alone. But we talked to Roy about our suspicions and he began to quietly get an investigation underway here. Will got called in when we needed someone in California to contact the people there. Hop Sing’s cousins and friends as well as the Tong are our communication network as well as part of the group looking for Hoss and protecting Adam. They are repaying our kindness to them a hundredfold.”

Joe nodded as he began to understand. “So that’s why Hop Sing has been going to town every day for supplies or to deliver laundry.”

“Yes, and sometimes a message is left at Adam’s house. No one is there except Jackson and Melanie. That’s why Jackson has been over here several times to borrow tools.”

Joe was getting the whole picture. “Pa, why tell us now? Why not tell us before? Leah and Ardis especially have been worried terribly, and I have to tell you, I have been too.”

“Until the funeral with all the witnesses, I didn’t want any of you to falter. We needed you to act just as you did today. I’m sorry to have to deceive you even by omission, but we needed you to do exactly what you did. You sold the whole thing perfectly. Now no one will be surprised if we stay close to home for a while. We won’t have visitors under these circumstances so there will be no one to see how we’re acting and report to our enemies. If you want to smile a little, it’s all right now.”

Almost like a charm, there was a knock on the door. Hop Sing came from the kitchen to tell them it was Jackson. Ben answered the door and invited him in.

“I got good news. Griff is at my place. He didn’t want to come here because some might wonder why he’s back from the drive so soon, but Hoss has been rescued. He’s with Candy right now. He’s decided to stay there in case Adam needs help. He’s not hurt, but apparently said he was powerful hungry and he sent his love for his wife and daughter saying he’ll be home as soon as he can. He didn’t write a note because nobody there had paper and a pencil. They didn’t know they would need them.”

“Keep Griff at your place then. Do you have space in your room for him?”

“We’ll put together a temporary cot, and I can get extra bedding from the house. No one needs to know he’s there.”

After Jackson left, Ardis and Leah talked together for quite a while. Joe moved over and sat with them after asking what had caused them to talk so seriously for so long. A few glances at Ben let him know he was at least part of the conversation. Finally, the three were ready to speak. Joe was first.

“Pa, it was wrong of you to hold back information about Adam and Hoss. You should have trusted us to be able to do what was necessary. From now on, we expect to be included in all discussions about what’s happening with the family with no exceptions. If one knows, then all should know.”

Ardis nodded, but for Leah, it was not enough. “Love is based on trust. If we can’t trust you, then that hurts our relationship.”

“My dear, you can trust me.”

“No, I can’t because if you don’t trust me, you won’t be honest with me just like you weren’t honest this time.”

“Adam could have told you what he suspected.”

“That’s not fair. He’s hurt, and as it turns out, we were in the house of the enemy. Even if he knew more than just his suspicions, I understand why he didn’t explain what was worrying him. Someone might have overheard, and then we would all have been in terrible danger including Lucas. No, Adam would have told me if he could. You could, but you chose not to tell us. That’s an entirely different matter.”

Ben sighed audibly. They had given him a lot to consider. Finally he looked up to see all three waiting for his response. “You’re right. I should have trusted you with that information because I do trust and love all of you.” Taking another deep breath as if to calm himself and take a moment to be sure of his decision, Ben looked at each of them in turn. “All right, what do you want to know?” For the next hour, Ben answered their questions and explained the strategy they planned to use in court.

“Now, not even Adam and Hoss know about this because they haven’t been in touch since we came up with this part of the plan. I have to go to court and let them present their case. It will be at that point that we think all or at least most of the conspirators will be named. They’ll produce their phony documents and their paid witnesses who will lie. Once they have put it all in the public record, we’ll open up with our artillery. We have to keep Hoss and Adam under wraps until then so they don’t know that they will be available for testifying. Leah, you can help too. If you would go to your house and find the documents that Adam had from those negotiations, that would be very helpful. In every negotiating session, Adam always takes copious notes and keeps any document no matter how temporary it was intended to be. I know he would keep all of that until the completion of the contract so those papers must be at your house somewhere.”

“I’ll do that. Now who will ride with me? You said earlier that none of us should go anywhere alone. It makes a kidnapping too easy.”

Joe volunteered to go and to help find the documents. Ben smiled. The three of them had been correct. It was better to have them all working together.

“But, if kidnapping is an issue, is my brother safe?”

“Yes, he is. He’s with Candy and the men who are waiting to help Adam if needed. We don’t want to tip our hand too soon, but we also want to be prepared for anything. Lem is there should Adam need medical care. Once we took you away from him, we wanted to be sure that he had someone near by to help.”

Leah gave Ben a hug for that one. “Thank you. I knew I had to protect Lucas and get him home, but it broke my heart to have to leave Adam alone there.”

By late the next day, they had those documents, and Ben was smiling even more. Hoss was alive, Adam was recuperating, and they were building up a case for the defense that would be overwhelming once Adam and Hoss got to testify. They needed documents from the timber camps and lumber mills as well as from their teamsters. Ben thought that he and Joe could ride out the next day and get those. By the time the lawyers came out to the Ponderosa to speak with Ben about his defense, they were very pleased to find all of those useful documents sitting on Ben’s desk. Hiram had a suggestion though.

“Ben, as your lawyer, I advise you to put all of those papers in a safe. They are invaluable, and we need to keep them intact and in our possession. With those, I feel even more confident going into court.”

Chapter 5

The man crucial to the case wasn’t feeling well. Adam Cartwright lay in bed and stared at the ceiling knowing that he was developing a fever. He had some pain in his side as well. He wasn’t sure how serious the infection was, but he was worried. When the Chinese servants had come into the room, he had showed them the yellow fluids staining the bandage around his chest that held the thick pad of cloth against the long gash. They had pulled the bandage back to inspect the wound and then talked in very serious tones to each other before leaving. Adam had only had water for dinner. The sight alone of the food made him nauseated. He knew he needed to leave to get medical attention but wasn’t at all sure how he could manage that. He had assumed that he would be getting stronger by now and soon able to travel. This infection messed up his plans. He did have lots of time to think, and the infection had not produced a fever high enough to muddle his thoughts or confuse his thinking. He had to hope and pray for that one. He slept fitfully that night, and in the morning there was no one there to help him. There was no water and no food. He didn’t want the food, but he was very thirsty as the fever was beginning to get much worse. He thought that possibly he could get out of bed and get to the pitcher of water that was across the room. He hoped he could. There was one thing for which he couldn’t think of a solution. He needed medical care and wasn’t likely to get it.

Hope and prayers were what Hoss was using to keep himself from worrying too much. His wife and child were many miles away, Adam was in the hands of the enemy if their suppositions were correct, and the court case loomed. It took some time for him to find Candy and the others because they had found a natural hideout near Sacramento. They were camped in a small valley that was entered from the east but ran north and south. Someone would have to be in that valley to see their camp. Hoss could hardly talk when he got there. They were cooking a shank of beef over an open fire and potatoes were frying in a skillet. Hoss had been given several bowls of noodles by his rescuers, but that hardly satisfied his hunger after his deprivation in captivity. His mouth was watering with the smells of the meal being prepared. Candy had to grin and had the men slice some beef and dish it up with a heaping helping of the potatoes. Hoss found it difficult to talk for the next several minutes because his father had always said not to talk with your mouth full, and his mouth was full.

“Hoss, I was worried about leaving your rescue in the hands of our friends, but your pa said that if we did it, there was likely to be gunfire, and you or some of us could be killed. So how did they get you away from those men who had you?”

“They slipped some tools into where they had me so I could take up the boards in the floor. Then they made a commotion so I could drop down into the river and not be heard. It was a tight squeeze getting between them floor joists, but not eating much for days made me plum trim so I slipped right between em slick as you please. Then I swam out to the boat. Them jaspers tried to shoot me in the back as I was swimming, but I went underwater until I swam under that boat. Then my two new friends paddled away yelling like a bunch of drunken cowboys on Saturday night.”

“Sometimes that hate that some people have toward the Chinese helps. They didn’t think they were capable of helping you or even wanting to probably.”

“Yeah, well between you and me, Candy. Never underestimate what they can do. They’ll help their own or any of their friends doing whatever is necessary. I sure do appreciate what they done for me. But what about everybody else? Everybody safe?”

“Mostly, they’re safe. Your father has everyone at the house or here. He sent Lem with us in case he was needed.”

“Mostly?”

“We’re a little worried about Adam. He couldn’t travel home, and now we haven’t had any word on his condition since yesterday. It’s making me real nervous.”

“I thought the two of you was usually bickering back and forth?”

“With some people, that’s how they show they care. Me and Adam got a real understanding.”

“Where is he? Maybe we oughta go check on him?”

“He’s at a ranch that Daley owns. Until yesterday, two of the servants who have cared for him have been sending word each day on how he is. But suddenly, there’s been nothing.”

“Candy, I don’t like it. I think we oughta go check.”

“Your father didn’t want us to let them know we were on to them. But I can see your point. It wouldn’t matter if we were on to them if something happens to Adam. All right, but you can’t go. I’ll take a few of the men, and we’ll get in there and see what’s going on.”

“Candy, if you ain’t back here right pronto, I’ll be going anyway. Ain’t nothing worth my brother’s life, and Pa would understand.”

“Yeah, I know.”

At the Daley ranch not far from where Candy was organizing a scouting mission that might turn into a rescue mission, David Daley arrived to check on Adam. He knew Adam had figured some things out and was ready to confront the man he had once called friend but who had been a thorn in his side. David had been jealous of Adam from the moment he met him. Adam was smarter, more intelligent, charming, and talented. David had wanted to smash him in the face the first time they met. He wanted to mar those handsome features that had girls practically swooning over the slightest attention he paid them, but David was a practical and cunning man even then. He gained more by being Adam’s friend. However he longed for the day he could bring him down, see him humiliated, and scorned. It had almost worked just the way he wanted until that damn Riggins had decided that he knew better and that a dead Adam was preferable to a discredited one. Once Riggins was no longer needed, Daley had some plans for him too. He and Baxter had similar feelings for Adam except Baxter had truly liked him even though he too was insanely jealous of him.

Neither of them had wanted Adam dead, but that could change. David needed to see Adam in order to make that decision. When he walked in, he could see that he had surprised Adam. That momentary glimpse into his eyes was what David needed. He wasn’t as intelligent as Adam but he was as cunning as a cougar. He saw and he knew.

“You’ve figured it out, haven’t you?”

“Figured what out, David?”

“There’s no need to hide it any more. We knew the Chinese had to be the ones who helped your brother Hoss try to escape. Those fools shot him instead of pulling him out of the river, but I didn’t think it was a problem because I still had you as a hostage. I should have known better than to trust those fools to do the job. It’s hard to find good help.”

Watching Adam intently, David was somewhat pleased to see the look of pain that passed over Adam’s face with news that his brother Hoss was dead. Adam quickly adopted that neutral look again, but he had let David see his sorrow if only briefly.

“It took only a little time to find out that the two here were feeding information about you out to your friends. You just can’t trust people.” David laughed a mirthless laugh. If Adam hadn’t figured it all out, David knew that he had just confessed, but the lack of surprise by Adam was the giveaway. He tried to act as if the information was new to him, but it was clear that he understood far more than David had divulged. He couldn’t help the anger he felt toward this man either now that he heard that apparently Hoss had been killed. “We haven’t found your friends yet, but it doesn’t matter. We’re moving you.”

“Why? You know what will happen if you move me and don’t give me any medical care.”

“Oh, yes, but you see then you die naturally and it wasn’t my fault at all. By the time we summon a doctor, you’ll have so much infection, you won’t be able to be saved. I’m thinking the fever will make you unable to tell the doctor anything, and even if you do, it will the taken as the fever induced hallucinations of a dying man. I am sorry about this. I never intended for anyone to die, but the way this has gone, you know too much. That damn Riggins is just too bloodthirsty and thinks the only way to take care of someone is to kill them. He killed that woman that we had in bed with you. That was unnecessary. It could have brought the law down on us when a nice little payment would have sent her off to ply her trade in any other city.”

“Why?” Adam’s felt weak, and he didn’t want to talk any more than he had to talk, but he was fascinated by the willingness of David to divulge everything. His confidence apparently knew no bounds. If somehow Adam could escape his predicament, he had the whole scheme laid out in detail for him if he could simply get David to keep talking. He was filling in all the blanks in what Adam had been able to determine so far.

“Why do all of this? Adam, you must know that consolidation is the wave of the future. We’re planning to consolidate vertically and horizontally. We want the timber, the lumber mills, the mines, the ranches, the stockyards, and the railroads as one large conglomerate. No one will be able to compete with us. Hell, even the banks will have to come to us to make deals.”

“Why the Ponderosa?”

“Well, it’s the key to it all, isn’t it. If we get the Ponderosa timber and lumber as well as the cattle, we can use it to control prices to drive anyone out of business who tries to compete with us in those areas. As we take over more ranches and timber, we control the food supply and the building materials. We already have a majority interest in one railroad. We’ll use it to carry our goods at cost or below while we charge any price we want to our competitors. By this time next year, we’ll have a small empire and it will keep growing and growing. Sadly, you won’t be around to appreciate what your old classmates have accomplished, but your father will still have a son. I’m sure they can create a ranch somewhere else and do just fine.”

“Why do I have to die?”

“Well, old Baxter underestimated you. He sees you as some kind of honorable man like a knight. I tried to tell him that you can be as dangerous and ruthless as anyone we would likely come up against. He did his best to save your life, but that’s not an option any more. You know too much now and if your friends were to save you, you could dismantle our whole case in court.”

Saddened further by the news that Baxter had been part of the conspiracy all along, Adam tried to find if there was any mercy in Daley at all. “It’s all conjecture and hearsay. I couldn’t prove any of it.”

“That’s probably true, but I don’t want to take any more chances. We’re moving you to another ranch east of here. It’s nice and remote and makes a great hideaway. Sadly, we’ll have to inform your family that you succumbed to infection while you were there. We’ll get a doctor for you just before the end so he can testify quite honestly that you died from an infection. Just to speed it along a bit, you won’t be getting any more food or water. You probably noticed that there was no water for you today. That will make your demise from the fever and the infection happen much more quickly. It may be rather painful, but it probably won’t last long. In some ways, I regret this. If I could have done it my way, I would have much preferred seeing you discredited, humiliated, and scorned. In the long run, it doesn’t matter much though, does it. You have a big enough family that if we decide to take another hostage, there are many from which to choose. Your son, perhaps?”

Without another word but with a vicious laugh, David left the room.. Adam could hear him giving orders to move him the next day as soon as it was light. He tried to think of what he could do by then to try to survive this. He knew there was only one option. He pushed the covers back and slowly sat up. Just that effort had him sweating and breathing hard, but he had been through ordeals worse than this. He tried to pull up that desperate strength he had found in the desert when he defeated Kane and then dragged him on a travois until his father found him. That was the kind of effort he needed. Adam was wearing drawers and nothing else. He knew the night would be too cool so he looked for his clothing. He used the bed at first to walk and then staggered the five feet from the end of the bed to the dresser. He clung to the side of the dresser for several minutes until the pain diminished and the room stopped spinning. The water was there. He drank from the pitcher. It was warm but tasted as good as any sweet water he had ever had.

Adam knew he should probably drink all of the water, but he pulled open a drawer first to find a shirt. He pulled that on before he drank more water. He fumbled with the buttons deciding that they weren’t that important at that point. He pulled open another drawer and found pants. He pulled those on as well almost toppling over in his effort. He couldn’t find any socks but did find his boots when he staggered to the closet. Realizing how noisy he would be trying to walk in them, he looked for a way to take them with him. He managed to get back to the bed and rolled the boots into the blanket that had covered him. Every movement caused pain from his infected wound to radiate out, but he found that he could ignore it. His desire to live was enough to offset the pain and let him proceed. He hadn’t been out of bed on his own since he had been attacked. His strength had been increasing until the wound got infected, but he had hidden that from those around him as he began to realize they might be his enemies instead of his friends.

The next test was to see if they locked the door. Adam knew that if he had to try to go through the window, it would be almost certain failure. He almost cried when he found the door unlocked. He heard men talking in what he assumed was the kitchen as it was near time for dinner. He had heard David say goodbye so he knew he was gone. He decided his one chance was to walk to the front door and leave. As quietly as he could, he made his way to the door, opened it, and stepped outside closing the door softly behind him. He got to the edge of the steps and sat down pulling on his boots. He wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and stood up and promptly fell forward. That jarred his wound and nearly made him cry out. He looked around and saw some sticks and such stacked up probably to be used in the fireplace. He crawled there and sorted through them until he found one about three feet long. He used it to push himself to his feet and then began walking as well as he could to the east. With no idea from where help would come, he began a trek that might be nearly hopeless, but staying there meant his certain death. It was cold, the terrain made it difficult to walk, and from the looks of the sky, there were storms rolling in. Adam hoped that was the case because a storm although it would be miserable, it would also wipe out any tracks giving him a better chance of escaping the pursuit he expected the next morning.

Chapter 6

Arms grabbed Adam making him try to fight back, but a voice penetrated his consciousness and that made him stop fighting them. The arms lowered him to the ground using the blanket he had around his shoulders as a ground cover. A canteen was offered and gladly accepted although it was pulled away before he had as much as he wanted. He looked up in the moonlight. In a weak and hoarse voice, he looked into Candy’s face and smiled a little smile.

“I never thought I could ever be so glad to see such an ugly face.”

“You be careful with what you say. I could still tell Hoss we never found you, and let you lay here for the buzzards.”

“Hoss is alive?”

“Of course he is, but you may not be for long if I leave you out here.”

“I know you won’t.”

“Oh, yeah, and how can you be so certain of that?”

“You wouldn’t do that to my family.” Adam smirked and then lost consciousness.

Addressing the men who were with him as he pulled back Adam’s shirt to take a look at his wounds. “At least he must be reasonably all right if he could talk smart with me. I’ll take him with me on Scout. After I mount up, lift him up and be careful. He’s hurt.”

In the darkness and with Adam riding double on Scout, it took nearly three times as long to get back to camp as it had to ride out that evening. Candy had sent one of the men ahead to tell them that Adam had been found but seemed to be in need of medical attention. Lem was there preparing to care for him when they rode in. With Hoss’ help, they had torches set in the ground around a bed on the ground. The entire area was covered in blankets from bedrolls, and Lem’s surgical kit and his medicine saddlebags were laying beside the bed. As Hoss helped take Adam from Candy and carry him to the bed, Lem pulled out a candle lantern with reflector and lit the candle. He waited until Hoss had Adam on the bed and then pulled back the shirt and removed the putrid wad of bandages on Adam’s chest. He found that the deeper wound was beginning to heal well, but the long gash was draining pus.

“Hoss, I need someone to hold this candle lantern close to the wound so that I can work on it. I also need someone to wash the instruments as I use them. I have a bowl of carbolic acid solution here.”

Without being asked, Candy knelt down next to the doctor as Hoss knelt on the other side of him. With Hoss making sure that Lem could see what he was doing and Candy washing instruments after use and then handing them back to the doctor, Lem was able to open the wound, drain it, and flush it with more carbolic acid solution. He had to hope he wouldn’t need more soon because he had nearly used the entire bottle he had with him. A few times, Adam groaned and moaned as he tried to get away from the pain, but Hoss was able to calm him each time and keep his arm away from where Lem was working. Finally, Lem put a clean wad of bandage over the wound and loosely secured it.

“Aren’t you gonna stitch it up again?”

“No, Hoss, that wound needs to drain. Bleeding is not going to be an issue. I don’t want any more putrefaction and letting it drain is the best solution for now. I’ll be cleaning it out again if needed, but usually draining is sufficient once a wound like this has been thoroughly cleansed. Once it stops draining, I’ll close it as needed.”

Almost a week later, Adam awoke and smelled rose water. He felt a warm presence next to him and an arm resting on his midsection. He assumed that he was dreaming for he felt no pain, and it was very dark. He tried to move his arm but that did hurt. He decided instead to enjoy the dream for he had been having nightmares of pain and heat as well as fear of dying so this one was so much better. Just as he was about to close his eyes and let the warmth of the dream soothe him, a lamp was turned up and he heard his father’s voice.

“Leah, wake up, dear. Adam is waking up.”

Next, Adam felt kisses on his cheek and lips, but before he could respond, they were gone. He blinked a little and saw his wife at his side. Turning his head, he saw his father sitting on a chair next to the bed. He looked back at Leah as his father spoke again.

“I’m sorry to be sitting here at your bedside, but your wife wouldn’t sleep. She has been at your side almost continuously since you arrived home nearly two days ago. This was the only way to get her the sleep she needed so much. She agreed that if I watched over you, she would sleep beside you.”

“Thank you. Water, please.”

Ben helped Leah prop Adam up on pillows, and then she helped Adam drink. He felt remarkably well which surprised him. The last he remembered, he had terrible pain and an infection. He glanced down at his chest and saw only a light bandage.

“What happened? How did I get home?”

Ben leaned back in the chair and looked at Leah. “Should I start telling the story while you start cleaning him up a bit?”

“Candy and his men rescued you and got you back to the camp they had where Lem and Hoss worked together to clean up your wound and get you the food and water you needed. It might have gone quite differently except for a thunderstorm that hit. They had to sit it out under tarps for nearly a day, and it made the trip home a bit slower than it would have been otherwise. However it wiped out any tracks that you or Candy and his men may have made. We assume that Daley and the others think you perished out in the desert. You walked away to the east from his ranch, and right into the most desolate region you could have found, but that also meant you walked right toward the rescue party. They spent a day there, four days traveling, and got you home two days ago. You still had a high fever that only broke yesterday. We expected you to wake up soon. That about sums it up.”

“I’ve been unconscious for almost a week?”

“No, you were frequently awake and even took water and some broth, but you weren’t lucid. It was clear that the fever and the infection had affected you a great deal.”

“Hoss?”

“Hoss is fine. He’ll probably be in here as soon as he wakes up. Everyone has been stopping by several times a day hoping you would wake up. Lucas doesn’t understand and has been quite upset not to be able to climb in the bed with you.”

As Leah had bathed his face and arms, and wiped him dry, she had said nothing. Adam turned to look at her and saw tears streaming down her face. He held out his arm and she moved into his embrace. Ben stood and left the room closing the door softly. He pulled a chair into the hallway next to the bedroom to give the news to the rest of the family as they awakened while making sure that the couple had privacy for a short time at least. Leah could fill in the details of the story as well as he could, and Adam could talk to her about his ordeal. Ben relaxed. His entire family was now sheltered in the house. Adam and Leah shared a room as did Hoss and Ardis. Joe and Ben each had their rooms, and Peggy was sharing a guest room with Lucas. Downstairs, Will and Laura were using the small guestroom there. There were many guards around the perimeter of the place to keep them safe, and their enemies probably had assumed that not only was Hoss dead but Adam too. Almost by magic, Hop Sing appeared then with a tray for Adam. Ben knocked softly on the door before opening it.

“Hop Sing has some breakfast for Adam. Do you want some help getting him to the table?”

Slipping from the bed, Leah wiped her eyes one last time and took a deep breath. “Yes, we’re ready. Adam said they threatened to kidnap Lucas. Could we make doubly sure that no one can enter this house and do that?”

“Leah, we’ll double the guards. Court is in two days. Until then, we will be as vigilant as possible.”

“Pa, what about when we go to court? How will we protect everyone?”

“I’ve made arrangements to transport everyone to town. We’ll take rooms at the hotel, and there will be guards and deputies protecting the whole family. It’s crowded here right now. It will seem like a vacation to have all the extra rooms we can get at the hotel.”

“Pa, I know why they’re doing this.”

“We have a good idea of how they plan to do it too. You have breakfast and get dressed. We’ll help you go downstairs if you’re strong enough, and then all of us will talk this through.”

“I’m fine.”

Ben smiled as did Hop Sing who was setting out breakfast on the small table in the room. Leah shook her head, and even Adam had to smile a little. He always said he was fine when he wasn’t. It was like a code word that said he wasn’t fine but he would manage. Hop Sing and Ben left the room once they had Adam seated at the table dressed in pants and a shirt that he hadn’t tucked in. He didn’t realize how famished he was until he began eating. He ate everything that Hop Sing had brought. Leah brought him his razor then and propped a small mirror on the table so he could shave. As she mixed lather for him, he stared into the mirror surprised at how bad he looked with sunken cheeks and dark circles around his eyes. He knew then why Leah had cried. He did look like he had been dying. Once he shaved, Leah washed his hair for him. Hop Sing had brought up a second pitcher of water.

As they finished that and Leah was towel drying his hair, there was a knock on the door. Hoss came in followed by Ardis who was holding their daughter, and then Ben came in with Lucas. Finally there was laughter and joy all around as Lucas squealed with delight to see his father awake and smiling at him. Ben ushered the rest of the family out after a few minutes to give Adam time with his wife and son. After about an hour, Leah came to the top of the stairs and asked Hoss for help. Adam had thought he could walk by himself with only Leah helping him, but the debilitation from the wounds, the infection and fever, and spending so much time in bed meant that he had a very difficult time staying upright. Hoss reached down and helped Adam to stand by pulling one arm over his shoulder. Once Adam was standing, Hoss was nearly overwhelmed by emotion. Each of them had been holding so much inside, it was more and more difficult to maintain that tough exterior. Adam rested his head on Hoss’ shoulder and patted the big man on the back until he got his composure back. Then they smiled knowingly at each other before Hoss helped Adam walk down the hall and down the stairs to where the rest of the family was waiting.

Once Adam was settled into the blue chair, he wanted to know what had happened to Hoss explaining that he had thought at one point that Hoss was dead, but had found out shortly thereafter from Candy that Hoss was alive. He also wanted to know how he got home for he remembered the rescue by Candy but then nothing more until he had awakened. Once all of that was explained, he began to tell everything that he had learned as well as what he had deduced. The others especially Ben and Leah were shocked that Darrell was part of the conspiracy and could see that it hurt Adam to have to tell them that. He had thought that Darrell was a true friend. He had always thought that there was an undercurrent of animosity with David so his betrayal was not so much of a surprise. He apologized to everyone for having friendships that had contributed to the mess in which they were ensnared.

Hoss walked over and put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Aw, Adam, ain’t your fault. Jaspers like that will do evil things no matter what. They used you to get this going, but if it wasn’t you, they woulda found another way. You know they could have just killed the two of us outright. Then there’d be no evidence against them really. Ifn there’s anybody who’s got to do some apologizing, it’s me. I should never have done what I did to you in San Francisco. I was coming back to tell you that and see if I could help when they got me.”

Leah had already apologized very sincerely once more for not believing Adam right away. He told both of them that he understood completely and he did. The conspiracy had been well organized and well executed. Except for people who had helped them, they would have been at the mercy of the conspirators.

By the time Adam finished talking, his voice was so weak that it was clear he was exhausted. To be sure that he didn’t weaken himself any further, Hoss and Lem helped him back up the stairs and into bed. It was hours before he awakened and found Leah sitting in a chair by his side.

“Lucas needed a nap too. He should be awake soon. Would you like me to get him?”

Adam nodded. He felt so much better than when he had awakened in the very early hours of dawn. He was home and could recover now especially because he had given all the information he had to his family, and they could pass it on to the authorities. For a few days at least, he hoped not to have to do anything except sleep, eat, and be with his family. He had missed lunch, and again as if he had a magical communication device, Hop Sing appeared with a tray of thick broth, coffee, and biscuits as well as cookies and milk because Lucas was usually hungry after his nap too.

When Adam finished his late lunch and Leah took Lucas to play with Peggy, Ben came upstairs to ask him if he could repeat everything he had told them that morning. He asked why and Ben explained that Candy, Griff, and Jackson were taking the information to various businessmen as well as to Roy and wanted to be sure they could answer any questions that arose. So Adam repeated everything and answered the questions that he could answer. All of the men took notes as well as listened attentively. Then satisfied that they understood everything, they headed out to disseminate the information to the family’s allies in this struggle.

Jackson had been the last to leave. He had some news for Adam and delivered it with a smile. “Me and Melanie are getting married. I’m gonna buy a small house in town. I can afford it because Lem will pay me enough and he’s gonna board with us until he gets his own house so that will help too.”

“Congratulations, Jackson. I’m happy to hear that. I know the two of you will be very happy together, and Melanie is a wonderful cook too. I’ll miss her.”

Jackson nodded and left. Adam turned to Leah. “Did you know this?”

“Yes, and you don’t have to look so worried about having to endure my cooking. The woman who helped rescue me and Lucas from Riggins is here. She’s been working with Hop Sing because he has so much more to do with so many people here. I’ve asked and she’s willing to be our cook and housekeeper if you approve.”

“Of course, I’ll approve. She saved you and our son. What’s her name?”

“Sun Li Li. She’s very nice, and Hop Sing thinks that she is a very good cook. He has even let her prepare some meals when he was in town.”

“Well, then, that’s settled.”

“No, she insists that you must be the one to hire her as the head of the household. We can do that later if you come down for dinner. Otherwise, tomorrow would be fine. I’ll tell her it’s going to happen. Lucas already likes her. She’s not that much taller than him.” Adam’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, I’m exaggerating, but don’t stand when you talk to her. The poor girl could be frightened. Hoss seems to make her very nervous just by being in the same room. I don’t think the men in this country have been kind to her at all so we need to give her time to realize that the men in this family are her friends and would never harm her.”

“She worked for Riggins?”

“Yes, and whenever she talks about that, she looks haunted. I think he hurt her.”

By Leah’s look, Adam knew exactly what she meant. “He’s that kind of man from what I’ve heard. We’ll keep her safe here.”

“I’m sure she will come to understand that in time.” As she had been talking, Leah had locked the bedroom door and moved to take Adam’s hands and lead him toward the bed. “I know you’re still weak from your ordeal, but I think a little time together may invigorate you. You mentioned once that I could do all the work. I think I’m ready to try that.” Adam nodded and began to unbutton his shirt, but Leah told him to lie back on the bed and she would do it. That got a big grin. They weren’t late to dinner though so both thought that perhaps no one had suspected their late afternoon tryst. It took a lot of energy even in a more passive role, but he did feel stronger again after another short nap, but the knowing looks as he and Leah came down the stairs slowly let them know that their loving interlude with each other was no secret. Adam couldn’t wait for this to be over so he could be back in the privacy of his home.

Chapter 7

For the next two days, everyone stayed in the house or close to it. Tempers were getting short with the enforced companionship of the whole family. Lucas seemed to be the only one who enjoyed it thoroughly. He was the one bright spot for everyone so he got attention as soon as he was awake in the morning until he went to bed at night. People were guarded too about any temper flares or complaints around him not wanting to upset the sensitive child.

The night before Ben was to appear in court to face charges, the family sat at the dining table after dinner to discuss the logistics of the next day. Moving such a large group of people and keeping them safe was a complex task. Ben wanted to be sure that everyone knew what each had to do.

“Now they’re not likely to be surprised to have us move en masse to the hotel. We would be stupid not to consider the possibility of a kidnapping attempt to something else. Candy has suggested that we even post someone on the roof of the hotel. Fire is a horrible thing to consider and it could devastate the town, but I don’t think these men care too much about things like that so I’m inclined to agree with Candy that we should do that. We will have two men in front, two in back, and two on the same floor with us in the hallway. They’ll work in shifts and have rooms to use in the hotel where we are. We’ll take our meals in the hotel restaurant or have them delivered to our rooms. Hop Sing and Sun Li Li will be working in the kitchen to oversee our food preparation and make sure nothing is put in it that’s harmful. Knowing that both Hoss and Adam were drugged has let us know that poison or some other drugs could be a threat.”

“Hoss and I will be brought into the back of the hotel before you arrive. We’ll meet you up in the rooms. We’ll be with the guards and dressed very differently than the usual, but I have to say that if anyone pays close attention, they can hardly miss Hoss’ size or miss that I’m walking with a cane.”

“So the plan is that no one will pay attention to some guards if the rest of the family is arriving at the hotel. I don’t like being split up again, but it doesn’t sound like it will be for very long.” Leah had not wanted to leave Adam at the Daley ranch, and after what she had heard of his treatment there, she was feeling not only scared for him but guilty. Adam squeezed her hand to reassure her that all was well. When she turned toward him, he pulled her into a hug and held her for a moment. Ben waited for Adam to turn his attention back to the table, but then Hoss had a question.

“I been thinking on this for a long time. I know Adam pretty much spelled out what they’re planning to do and why they want the Ponderosa, but I still don’t get how getting Pa charged with fraud helps them do that.”

“Hoss, if their plan had worked the way they set it up to work, I would end up in prison, and you and Adam would be dead. Joe would be on his own when they sued for damages. With my conviction and papers proving the fraud, they would win that court case easily.”

“Oh, so this isn’t the end of their plan. It’s the beginning.”

“Yes, it’s the beginning, and if we can stop them here, then none of the other plans they have will happen either. It has to stop here.”

At that point, Hoss had to take Ardis up to their room. She was crying softly, and he wanted to spend some time with her and his daughter, Isabella. He knew the next day was going to be difficult for her. The others were quiet until they heard the door close upstairs, and then Leah spoke.

“She’s having a difficult time getting used to the danger that this family often faces. She thought things would be much better in this family because we have so much wealth and property. She had no idea that meant that others would be trying to take it. She wants to protect her baby and can’t imagine life without Hoss. I know how she feels. I felt much the same way when I joined this family. It takes some time to adapt to the demands. She’ll be fine, but with Isabella being so young, she is very scared for her. She and I will talk more tomorrow. She’ll be fine.”

That night as Leah lay next to Adam, she could tell he was troubled. She caressed his chest rubbing her hand in gentle circles and staying away from the wound that was not yet healed because of the infection. She asked him again about some of his scars. She had found that in telling stories, his mind could temporarily be diverted from his darker thoughts giving him a respite from the worrying that seemed to plague him sometimes.

“I know what you’re trying to do and it won’t work. I’ve explained my scars to you before even when I knew I had but you said you didn’t remember. I’m worried about tomorrow. So much is riding on my testimony and Hoss’. It has to go right.”

“You and your father and brothers have planned with the lawyers. You’ve gone over everything again and again. It will go well. I’m sure of it.”

“So often, overconfidence can lead to making big mistakes. I don’t want to fall into that trap.”

“So that means you have to worry?”

Adam could feel the vibrations from her chuckle even if he couldn’t hear it. “All right, I’ll stop worrying for now. I can worry again in the morning.” He smiled then. Leah did know how to get him to relax. He needed to sleep too for he was still weak from his ordeal, and testifying was likely to be difficult. He hoped that perhaps he would have another day before they got around to him. He could spend a day relaxing in his hotel room playing with his son and being with his wife. That made him think of what he would like to do before he fell asleep. “C’mere. I think some kisses would help me forget about worrying.” Leah was more than happy to oblige that request.

The next morning, the move went as planned. Joe and Ben went to the courthouse to listen as the prosecution laid out documents that were supposedly forged by Ben Cartwright because they had documents that they said were the ones originally negotiated and signed by Adam Cartwright. It was all rather well done, and as Riggins, Baxter, Daley, and their lawyers and business associates testified, it painted a picture of a dishonest Ben Cartwright and a conniving Adam Cartwright who were forged documents and were assisted in their defrauding of the railroad company by Hoss Cartwright who forged inaccurate bills of lading for deliveries never made or considerably under the amount listed and all for outrageous prices. Ben was a wealthy man, and by the end of the day, there were those in the jury who were being convinced that he might be guilty of the charges. Several times, Ben had to fiercely caution Joe not to say anything in response to what was being said or implied. Hiram wanted the men involved in the conspiracy to testify and swear to the authenticity of the documents that had been brought to court. It would make their eventual defeat all the more complete. By the end of this trial, Hiram had advised Ben and his sons that those who had come after them would be charged with forgery, perjury, and conspiracy. It would only get them several years in prison at most and perhaps far less than that because they had never been convicted of a crime before this, but that would be time enough for the authorities in California to use to build the case for murder, kidnapping, and attempted murder. It was five before the prosecution finished presenting its case. Court was recessed until the following morning when Ben was set to testify.

That evening, Riggins, Baxter, and Daley were not as confident as they had been. Ben’s demeanor in the courtroom had unnerved them somewhat. Baxter especially was worried because he had met Ben before whereas the others had not.

“He doesn’t seem like what I would have expected after losing two sons. By now, he must know that Hoss and Adam are not coming home. Hoss’ body floated out to the ocean by now, and Adam walked out into a desert with no food and no water when he was suffering from infection. We never found his body either, but no one could have survived that. Scavengers probably tore his body apart leaving nothing for our men to find.”

Riggins was angry. “I tried to tell you two that killing them outright was the way to go. What if Adam Cartwright survived and comes in here to testify? He could blow up our case, and if we don’t win this case against Ben Cartwright then there goes our chance to grab the Ponderosa. Without that, we don’t have enough to move ahead with any of our other plans.”

“We need a hostage to force him to do what we want before he gets a chance to testify.” Daley fell back on the strategy that had so far failed them.

“”Who would we get? They’ve got the whole family in that hotel and guards and deputies all around protecting them. Besides, any attack on the family now and in so public a place will only support his claim that this is an attack on them and not a legitimate case. Now, I say we go with what we have. We have stacks of documents with Adam’s signature forged on them and more with his brother’s signature. They won’t be here to dispute any of that, and Ben Cartwright can’t prove a thing. He can try to but he hasn’t got enough by a long shot.” Baxter was still hoping that the reasoned approach would work.

“For now, that’s what we have to do, I suppose, but if he doesn’t get convicted, we’re gonna do it my way. We’ll take him out and last son. We can take the Ponderosa piece by piece from whoever is left.” Riggins was the most dangerous of the three by far, and even Daley and Baxter were afraid of him.

The next morning, the defense began their case. Hiram had not said much in his opening statement because he wanted to keep his strategy to himself for the time being. He had several other lawyers coaching him on how to proceed, and all of them warned him about not saying too much. If he did, their enemies might realize that Adam and Hoss were alive, and if they did, many lives could be in jeopardy. No, he had to play it out until the end so he called Ben to the stand and asked him to talk about the contract and how they had gotten it.

“So even you found the terms of the contract surprising?”

“Objection, Your Honor, he’s leading the witness.” The prosecutor knew it was futile. Even if Hiram had to rephrase his question, Ben would know what he wanted. It was a time tested strategy in court. It went as he suspected it would with the judge sustaining his objection, but Hiram asked what Ben had thought when he got the contracts.

“I was very surprised. Adam cautioned me that something was wrong because no railroad company would pay us those rates with bonuses for early delivery and no penalties for late delivery or failure to deliver. We did wonder at the terms because Adam knew two of the railroad men very well. They went to school together. We thought it strange that they didn’t bargain hard as they had in previous contracts.”

“So you are saying that the contracts you presented are the real ones?”

The prosecutor had no option except to object again and again, but Hiram, despite being warned by the judge, continued to lead his own witness on direct examination. The prosecutor knew that the jury was probably tiring of his objections which had done nothing except prolong the testimony. He finally stopped because the objections were causing more trouble for his case than helping it. When it got to be his time for cross-examination, he could ask the leading questions then and try to blow Hiram’s case out of the water with only a few pointed questions. Finally it was his turn. He picked up the documents that had been presented in evidence by the representatives of the railroad that they claimed were the real documents that had been superseded by the documents Ben had produced. They claimed that Ben’s documents were forged, and it was Ben’s contention that the railroad documents were forged. Holding one of the railroad documents in front of Ben, the prosecutor had his first question.

“Does this look like your son’s, Adam Cartwright’s, signature?”

“It looks like it, but it isn’t.”

“Your Honor, could you instruct the witness to answer the question as stated? It required only a yes or no answer.”

“Mr. Cartwright, you will answer as directed with a yes or no answer. Is that clear?”

There was a bit of angry murmuring in the large gallery, and the jury looked unhappy with that as well. They felt as if they were being denied the chance to hear information they might find useful. Formal courtroom procedures were not the norm in the Sierras. The prosecutor had to tread lightly, and Ben knew it. With a second document, he asked a similar question.

“Does this look like your son’s, Eric or Hoss Cartwright’s signature?”

“It looks like it, but it isn’t.” Ben had the slightest smirk as he answered, and the prosecutor was irritated but not enough to harm his case. He let it go even as there was some chuckling in the gallery and even some jurors looked amused.

Hiram had no re-direct so Ben was excused. Then Sheriff Roy Coffee, Doctor Paul Martin, and a number of other businessmen and bankers were called to the stand as character witnesses for Ben and attested to his honesty. The final character witness was Barney Fuller, a long-time rival of Ben’s who had close to violating the limits of the law at times himself but never crossed that line.

“Ben Cartwright has bamboozled me and outmaneuvered me on occasion, but he has never lied or done anything illegal in our competition for contracts. He wouldn’t and neither would I. We might skirt close to the limits at times, but we don’t cross that line. Ben Cartwright is as honest a man as you can find. I look forward to competing with him in the future and winning, but I’m smart enough to have a lawyer look over any contracts he sends my way. I didn’t once, and it cost me dearly. So there’s no friendship between us, but I’m here to say that what’s being done here today is a sham.”

The prosecution had no questions for any of the character witnesses, and the judge addressed the defense as Barney Fuller left the stand. “Is that your case for the defense?”

“No, Your Honor, we have two witnesses to the negotiations and the delivery of the goods specified in the documents and they can testify to the authenticity of the documents presented by the prosecution as well as the negotiations of which they were a part.”

“That’s ridiculous! We have heard from everyone who was at those negotiations.”

“No, Your Honor, we respectfully disagree. Two more men were there.”

“But they’re dead.”

“Your Honor, they were reported to be dead by the very men who stand to gain the most if Adam Cartwright and Eric Cartwright could not testify here today. But they are both in fact alive and quite anxious to tell their side of the story to this court.”

“That’s preposterous.”

“Not at all, Your Honor. If you give me one moment, we will produce them for the court.” Turning to the back of the courtroom, Hiram signaled Joe who opened the doors with Sheriff Roy Coffee’s assistance and allowed Adam and Hoss to enter the courtroom. Adam was leaning on a cane as he walked unwilling to let anyone help him. Shocked beyond measure, Daley, Baxter, and Riggins stood from their seats in the back and got ready to leave, but Roy and Clem pulled their pistols and told them to sit down. More deputies entered the room then and ringed the back and sides to make sure that nothing happened to Hoss or Adam. There were sounds of scuffling in the hallway, but after about two minutes, Will came in to say that some ruffians had to be taken to the jail. Hoss helped Adam into a chair that was vacated by Doctor Martin who moved to sit further down the row to allow Adam and Hoss to sit directly behind the defense table. Ben leaned back and asked Adam how he was doing. Adam’s scowl was all he needed to see.

Suddenly realizing that he had been duped into this charade of justice, the prosecutor stood to offer to dismiss all charges with prejudice explaining to Ben that it meant that they could never be refiled. Ben smiled and was ready to accept, but Hiram put a hand on his arm before turning to the prosecutor.

“Thank you for that offer, sir, for it shows that you were not part of this conspiracy. But it is important for the future of the Ponderosa as well as the whole Sierra that we have Eric Cartwright and Adam Cartwright explain everything that they know about this case and tell what happened to them as the near victims of a vicious conspiracy.”

The prosecutor nodded and sat as Hiram called Hoss to the stand first. The judge was in a quandary wondering how he could escape the jaws of justice and only hoped that no one understood the part he had played in this conspiracy. “Yes, justice will be served. Please, Mr. Cartwright, take the stand, and tell us what happened.”

Chapter 8

“Well, I initial every delivery. I don’t sign em. Ifn you look at that logbook from the timber camp, you can see my initials on every order that went out when I was there before and during the contract we got right now. So my signature on those papers they said was real, well, that ain’t how I do things.” The logs from the timber camps and lumber mill had been introduced into evidence for the defense, and Hoss was being asked questions by Hiram about them and then about the papers produced by the railroad and introduced by the prosecution.

“So that is not your signature on those papers?”

“No, it surely ain’t. It looks like my signature cause somebody over at that railroad musta been practicing a lot, but that ain’t my signature. It’s a fake.”

The judge looked at the prosecutor expecting an objection to the conjecture and slander contained in Hoss’ statement, but there wasn’t one. The prosecutor looked as fascinated by what he was hearing as were the jury and those in the gallery except for the ones who had a vested interest in Ben Cartwright being convicted of fraud. Realizing that he had a free hand in his direct examination, Hiram began leading Hoss through the story of what had happened in San Francisco and then when he was kidnapped through to the rescue of Adam with a detailed description of his brother’s condition and how he came to be wandering in the desert. Finally Hiram finished, and the prosecutor was asked if he had any cross-examination for the witness.

“No, Your Honor, I’m satisfied that the truth has been told and have no need to cross- examine this witness.”

The lack of objections and then the capitulation by the prosecutor had Riggins furious. He turned and nodded toward one of his men who left the room quietly. Baxter and Daley saw what he had done and looked at him for an explanation. “What should have been done before but you were too cowardly and overconfident to do it. We’ll have some hostages soon, and Ben Cartwright is going to change his plea to guilty before any more of this farce can continue and take us all down. Once Adam Cartwright starts testifying, we’ll be the ones on trial.”

The judge wanted to order a recess then for a late lunch. Hiram objected saying he only had one more witness and the case could go to the jury. There was a long discussion with the prosecutor backing Hiram’s idea as did the jury who were willing to wait for lunch to hear the rest of this tale. In the back of the room, Daley, Baxter, and Riggins locked their gazes on the judge so he would know exactly what they wanted. They needed to get out of this courtroom and possibly out of town especially if Riggins’ plan didn’t work. The judge was saved by having to make a decision when there was a call repeated by many. “Fire! Fire!” A small warehouse at the back of Cass’ store and across the street from the hotel was on fire. Adam looked at Hoss and Ben.

“Go to the hotel. This has got to be a diversion. I’ll get there as soon as I can. Go!”

Hoss hurried from the room and broke into a run for the hotel. Ben turned to Adam. “This could be one more attempt on you.”

“All right. I’ll stay here. I have my pistol, and tell a few of the men to stay to help me if needed.”

Once that was done, Adam and two of the detectives moved to a corner of the courtroom and waited. This was one of the hardest things that Adam had ever done. Everything in him screamed to go to his wife and son, but by doing that, he could put them in more jeopardy because some of the men out there would have to protect and help him. The judge had remained on the bench as the others had raced from his courtroom. Adam could see that he was in a daze and hardly seemed aware that Adam and two others were still in the courtroom. From beneath his desk, the judge pulled a small revolver. Adam pushed one of the men to go quickly to get it. He did and the judge looked up at him in dismay. Adam addressed the judge in a fairly neutral tone that was far from what he wanted to do.

“Judge, you’ve made a mockery of your whole life. Now, we aren’t going to let you end it that way. You’re going to preside over this case until it is concluded. Then you’re going to tell the governor’s men what you’ve done and throw yourself on his mercy. Tell the truth and help get these vicious criminals successfully prosecuted, and there may be a way for you to retire and live out your life in quiet contemplation. Refuse and you’ll be locked up with the men you sent away. Your life expectancy would be very short, and I would guess your demise would be excruciating.”

“You are a ruthless, vindictive man.”

“Threaten and attack my family, and yes, I am. Remember that if you start to have any doubts about what I may do. You have two sons, don’t you?”

“You wouldn’t!” The judge was shocked.

“For all I know, they were part of this. If there were any who wanted to investigate them too, the stink of it would never leave them. Their careers would go the way of a horse with a broken leg. But I could make sure they were kept out of it.”

Staring at Adam and certain that Adam would do exactly as he said he would, the judge nodded. He was beaten. Those dreams of being wealthy and living in luxury in San Francisco that had tempted him so much had instead destroyed him, and he knew it. However much he wanted to blame Adam Cartwright, he knew he had done it to himself.

As Hoss and Ben raced to the hotel, there were gunshots which caused them to expect the worst. Will and Joe had run ahead and were already inside the hotel. Ben had to stop at the base of the stairs even as Hoss thundered up the last few steps and disappeared down the hallway. Ben looked over at the desk clerk who looked terrified. Then Ben heard his name being called and hurried up the stairs. Joe and Will were checking a body in the hallway. Hoss had already gone inside the room.

“How bad is it?”

“Pa, it’s pretty bad for this one. He’s dead. The one inside is gut shot. I don’t think he’s going to make it. Two others ran off. We think at least one of them is wounded by the blood they left behind. Some of our men are tracking them down now.”

Ben stepped into the room and was shocked. Hoss had his arm around Ardis who was holding their daughter who was still whimpering. Leah stood with Lucas who had wrapped his arms and legs around his mother and buried his head into her shoulder. A man was on the floor with a pool of blood rapidly expanding beneath him and a great red stain in his shirt. With his hands clutched over his abdomen, he was softly moaning.

“Hoss, let’s get these ladies to another room. Joe, which room is safe and secure?”

“We’ll check them out to make sure there aren’t any more of these bastards around. Just a moment.” In less than a minute, Joe was back. “Your room is fine. It’s right across the hall so we can move them safely and quickly.”

Once Leah and Ardis and the children were safely moved to Ben’s room, all of the men wanted to know what had happened. Ardis surprised them by answering first. “We heard people yelling about the fire and saw it was just across the street. We saw some of our men running to help. Leah looked at me and said it was time to prove I was a real Cartwright. She handed me the shotgun after we tipped over the table and got the children behind it. She said if anyone tried to come through the window, I was to shoot, and no matter what, she said not to let anyone near the children. She pushed the dresser from the wall and got behind it with her pistol. Adam had told her to bring it and extra shells. When those men came in the door, she shot them.”

“Ardis, you didn’t have to shoot then?” Ben was curious because he was sure he had seen the evidence of a shotgun blast in the door of the room across the hall.

Leah answered. “She did. I think she wounded one of them. She fired and we heard him yelling about how that stung. I think that’s the one Joe said is leaving a blood trail. No one tried to come through the window, but after I shot the first two, I had to reload and another one tried to come in the door. That’s when Ardis shot. She’s not a very good shot, but she did just fine. Then we heard Joe yelling, and they left.”

Ben was relieved but still worried. “Well, they didn’t get any hostages here. The fire didn’t work if they were planning to use it as a diversion. It makes me worried though as to what else they have planned. They always seem to have one plan on top of another.”

“Pa, where’s Adam?” Joe had his own worry.

“He stayed back at the courtroom with a couple of our men.”

Suddenly Ben was as worried as Joe. They turned almost as one to get back to that courtroom. As they left they hotel, they heard muffled gunshots. It was clear that they were coming from the courthouse. Roy and a number of men were running in that direction as well. When they got there, they found two men in the hallway wounded but more gunshots coming from the courtroom itself. As fast as they could they got there but it was already all over. Adam and the two hands were barricaded in the corner behind several benches they had piled on top of one another. The judge was under his desk, and the other assailant was on the floor clutching the wound in his arm and had one in his leg too. Roy took charge of removing the wounded man as well as the body in the hall.

“You Cartwrights sure have made today a real shoot-em-up day. By golly, I sure as shooting hope this is the last of it.”

“Roy, I certainly hope so. Now what about our three prime suspects?”

“Clem has them at the jail. They said they was just leaving town, and we didn’t have nothing to arrest them on. I told them that they was material witnesses, and that I had a right to hold any material witnesses until a trial was over. They didn’t dare do anything then, but I could see that one, that Riggins, he was just spoiling for a fight.”

Hoss arrived then with the rest of the family including Leah, Ardis, and the children. “They said they was coming, Pa, cause they didn’t want us to be separated again. They want to be here. I figure we’ll keep them out here. No need to bring the little ones into the courtroom.”

Will arrived a few minutes later with Laura and Peggy. “They were in our room, but I don’t want to leave them there now.”

“Where’s Joe?” Ben wanted to know where his youngest son was. There had been entirely too much danger to his sons recently.

Coming out of a room, Joe smiled. “Right here, Pa. I was just checking out this other room. It only has one window, and I think it would be a good spot for the ladies and the babies to stay. I can stay with them.”

“I’m staying too. Adam don’t need me in there, but my wife and daughter need me here with them.”

“Where is Adam?” Leah went into the courtroom then with Lucas still clinging to her. She sat with Adam until everything had been cleaned up and they were about to call court back into session.

In the hallway, Ben had looked around at everyone. “Let’s get this courtroom cleaned up and ready for the rest of this trial. Joe, will you ask Will to take charge of setting guards on a perimeter around the courthouse and then come inside the courtroom?”

Joe nodded. He wanted to hear everything that Adam had to say. He still didn’t understand everything that had happened, but he knew that once Adam finished testifying, he would know. It also gave him a chance to watch out for his oldest brother. Adam had done that many times for him, and he rather enjoyed the chance to do that for him.

The fire was out, people had grabbed lunch, and the news of what had happened at the hotel and with the fire was all over town. There wasn’t room in the courtroom for everyone who wanted a seat or even standing room in the back. Adam took the stand, and Hiram began having him explain everything that had happened. He started with the negotiations and the documents much as Hoss had done, but then his story became more shocking as he explained about being drugged, and then stabbed. He explained how he escaped the city and was at the Daley ranch. It was his conversation with Daley at the other ranch though that had complete silence in the courtroom. Baxter, Daley, and Riggins had insisted they had a right to hear what Adam had to say so they had been allowed back into the courtroom. Daley stood when Adam began recounting their damning conversation.

“That’s hearsay. You can’t let him talk about it like that. He had a fever. He admitted that already.”

The judge said nothing except he looked from Daley to the prosecutor and back again. It was clear there were not going to be any objections. Hiram continued his leading questions in a direct examination, and the prosecutor enjoyed hearing the whole truth coming out in court. In his opinion, that didn’t happen often enough. He was starting a checklist in his mind of who was to be charged and with what crimes. Soon he had enough that he pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing. Daley’s name was at the top of the list. Based on what had happened so far, he put the judge’s name on the list with a question mark.

At nearly five, Adam finished his testimony and Hiram rested his case. There were no closing arguments. The prosecutor looked at the jury and the jury members looked around at each other and said a few words. Then they looked at the prosecutor and most of them smiled.

“Your Honor, I believe the jury has reached its decision.”

Looking at the jury, the judge had to ask. One of the men stood. “Your Honor, Ben Cartwright ain’t guilty of nothing.”

“You have reached a verdict of not guilty then?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“So say you all?”

Nods and affirmative answers were the only responses.

“Ben Cartwright, you have been found not guilty of all charges. You are free to go. Gentlemen of the jury, thank you for your service. The clerk has your payment if you will stop by his table. Ah, if I could have a word with the prosecutor, please, before you leave?”

Adam was still sitting in the witness chair. Ben and Joe went up to him to see if he was all right. “I’m fine, but I’m so tired, I’m not sure I can make it out of here on my own.” Ben and Joe helped Adam to the room across the hall from the courtroom to be reunited with his wife and son. Lucas had relaxed and taken a nap. He was overjoyed to see his father. The three sat quietly as Roy and the prosecutor got to work.

Roy had arrested Daley, Riggins, and Baxter and had Clem put them in a cell. Roy headed over to the doctor’s office to interview the men who had been wounded. Both of them agreed to testify if they were not charged. Because they were not suspected of a murder in Virginia City and they had suffered wounds that were a punishment in a way as well by his thinking, Roy agreed to that and then went back to tell the prosecutor what he had done. He found the prosecutor finishing up a conversation with the judge.

“He’s agreed to resign, Roy, and then testify against Daley, Baxter, and Riggins. He’s also given me some names of other men here who were involved. Here’s the list. Arrest those men as well. The other names are of men who were involved in California. I’ll be sending a message to the attorney general there.”

“What we charging them with?”

“Conspiracy for now. Daley, Baxter, and Riggins will be charged with forgery, perjury, conspiracy, and bribery for now. If I can come up with anything else, I can add it later. Anyone who acted on their orders should be charged with conspiracy and assault. I think we can turn some of them with an offer of leniency if they will give us information on the arson. We may have to hold some for extradition to California. We’ll sort all of that out in the next few days.”

Outside the courtroom, the whole Cartwright clan had gathered. Originally, Ben had planned that all of them would go home after the trial concluded, but it had been an exhausting day especially for Adam. The family trooped back to the hotel where the rooms had been cleaned up and readied for them if they chose to stay. They did, and soon the whole family was in the restaurant for dinner and to celebrate the successful conclusion of the trial and not just the formal one held in the courtroom.

Chapter 9

The next morning, the family slept late. Finally they had a night with no worries and no threats. There were still many things to do, but none of them involved risks to life or property. Once men had been paid and statements written and signed, their horses and carriages were prepared for the trip home. Adam drove to the main house to pick up their belongings there and also to invite Sun Li Li to come to their house as their cook and housekeeper. Adam bid his father goodbye and headed to his house, and Ben got to walk back inside where Will and Laura were packing up their belongings to head back to San Francisco. By that night, the house was back to the usual number, and Ben found he missed all the activity of having everyone in the house. Joe missed Peggy because she had become his regular checkers partner with Hoss away, and Hoss was spending all of his time with Ardis and Isabella now that he was back because they had missed each other so much.

At Adam’s house that night, there was a first that was unlikely to ever be repeated. Adam had slipped into bed before Leah who took her time combing out her hair and slipping on her gown. When she got into bed, she ran her hands over Adam’s chest making her intentions quite obvious as her hand began to roam lower and lower on his torso. He reached down and wrapped his hand around hers. “I never thought I would ever say this, but, sweetheart, I am too tired. I can’t. Trust me. These are words that you are unlikely to ever hear from me again in your life, but tonight, that’s the truth.” Mentally, emotionally, and physically spent after everything that had happened and getting their house organized again as well as spending every moment with Lucas that he could, Adam had no energy left.

“Even if I gave you a massage?”

“Even then. Sweetheart, will morning be soon enough? I have no work to do for the next week on the ranch. Pa told me that he wouldn’t expect me to do anything until then. The next week is for you and for Lucas. But tonight, I have to sleep.”

In answer, Leah snuggled up to his chest and closed her eyes. Within a few minutes, she felt Adam relax into sleep. She knew then how tired he must have been for he almost never went to sleep before she did and had always told her how he had so many thoughts as he lay down to sleep that he had to turn them off one by one until he could clear his mind for sleep. In the morning, Adam was true to his word. Leah awoke to kisses on her cheek, her nose, her chin, and finally pulled him to her lips. He had shaved, and she was well aware of what that meant. If he hadn’t been kissing her so sweetly, she would have grinned. Later as they rested in each other’s arms, she did grin. Adam must have sensed it because he asked her why she was smiling.

“Well, this is so nice, but I was remembering the look on Melanie’s face yesterday when she realized we were home for good. She and Jackson must have enjoyed having the place all to themselves.”

Adam moved to lean on one elbow and look down at Leah. “You mean you think they were together here in the house? Damn, her parents are going to kill me.”

“Oh, Adam, they’re getting married. I’m sure her parents probably suspected something like this could happen. Melanie is older than the usual bride. No man has been able to get past her shyness before.”

“And accept that he may have to make all the decisions and planning. The poor girl isn’t that bright, but she is pretty and a helluva cook.”

“So, you don’t mind having a wife who is the opposite of that?”

“I have told you over and over that you are my precious gem. I wouldn’t give you up for anything.” Leaning back on the pillow, Adam had a sudden thought and moved back to look at Leah directly. “Is that why you were so quick to think I could step out on you in San Francisco? Leah, I am not that type of man. I may look, but I won’t touch except for you. You do believe that, don’t you?”

“I do. I am so sorry for San Francisco. It was the shock of it, I guess. As soon as I could think about it, I knew something was terribly wrong, but by then Riggins wouldn’t let me go. How much worse this could have been if we didn’t get back together in San Francisco.”

“Yes, I let my guard down too much with people I thought were friends. I don’t know how they could have fooled me for so long. In a way, this is all my fault, and I’m just glad no one else in the family got hurt.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself for the evil done by others. Any one of us could say how we could have done things differently and made this all turn out better, but we had no way of knowing what was being unleashed against us.”

Adam smiled a little smile before leaning down to kiss her. “You are just what I need. I don’t know how I could ever be happy again if something happened to you. Or to Lucas. By the way, shouldn’t we be hearing from the master of the house by now?”

“Yes, he was tired out last night, but he should be awake by now. Perhaps Melanie got him up. I’ll check.”

Leah went to check as Adam got up and dressed. She came back to dress when it was clear that Lucas was up. Once dressed, both of them headed out to the great room and then the dining area but Lucas wasn’t there and neither was Melanie. Adam felt fear grip his heart just a bit until he entered the kitchen to see Lucas sitting on a chair facing Sun Li Li who was feeding him breakfast.

“Li Li, where is Melanie? She usually got Lucas up in the morning.”

“She bring boy to me. Missy Melanie leave with Mistah Jackason. They say be back later to get things. I take good care of Lucahs. He very fine boy.”

“Well, I guess we got notice from both of them.” Leah nodded and Adam looked back to his son. “Lucas, I didn’t think you liked eggs.”

“Mix with cheese and potatoes, and he like fine. I make noodles later. I think he like noodles too. What I fix for your breakfast?”

“I think I wouldn’t mind trying some of that egg mix my son seems to enjoy. You could add some bacon to it for us if you would, please.”

Leah took over feeding Lucas who looked up at his father and grinned. He rubbed his stomach. “Hmm, good.” Then he opened his mouth wide for more food.

“Leah, we have got to have him spending less time with Hoss. Soon he’ll be saying dadburnit and dadblamed.”

Leah grinned a little. “Oh, I don’t mind. Better that than some of the words you let loose with when you get upset.”

Adam was a little chagrined knowing that was true. “I will try to do better. I don’t want my son to learn those words too soon either.”

For the morning, Adam got caught up on the correspondence he had received in the month he had been gone from his home. Then in the afternoon while Lucas took a nap, he checked out Jackson’s room in the stable and decided it would make a good workshop. With the stove in there, he could use it in the winter too. He began making a list of tools he would need to outfit his workshop. When he got to the house, Leah had a request for him. She wanted to turn one of the upstairs bedrooms into a sewing room and where she could work on other crafts as well.

“Well, it’s a good thing that one of the rooms up there isn’t finished yet. You can look it over and decide how you want it done. Make a list of things you’ll need for the room, and I’ll make a list of things I’ll need to finish it. I already have a list of tools I want to get to set up a workshop in Jackson’s old room. This will give us a lot to do.”

“Adam, while you’re doing all of those things, perhaps you ought to finish the cradle you never finished for Lucas. I would like to have it in the great room, and it would look nicer if it was varnished.”

“Yes, I can probably get Hoss to do some carving on it before I varnish it.”

“Don’t put it off too long.”

Adam was busy adding to the list in his hand when suddenly what she had said penetrated. “You are?”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure. At first I thought it might be all the stress and turmoil, but that’s been better since you got home, and now I’m feeling some of those same things I felt with Lucas. I was rather tender in a couple of spots this morning. That’s what made me even more sure. I needed to find a way to tell you. You are happy about it, aren’t you?”

Adam had that stunned look, but it quickly turned to a grin. “I’m delighted. I’m thrilled. I’m ecstatic. Let’s take a ride to town and start picking up the things we’ll need.” Adam wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her. He knew that nothing that happened was more important than what happened with his family. There would be months yet of statements, testifying, and getting all the business of the Ponderosa straightened out, but they would do it together.

 

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Family, Hoss Cartwright, hostage, jail / jailed, Trial