Summary:  Little Joe knows whom Adam should marry.  Now he just needs to make Adam realize who it is.

Rating:  K+ (19,180 words)

Remember the Breaking Series:

Remember the Breaking
Mending the Break

 

Mending the Break

 

“Joe!”

 

Little Joe jerked upright and turned. His tensed muscles relaxed as it registered that his brother Hoss, not his brother Adam, stood in the doorway. “Shush!” he responded as his pointer finger went to his lips.

 

“What in tarnation are you doing in Adam’s room,” Hoss hissed trying to control the volume while magnifying the force of his words. “He finds you going through his things, and he’ll bust a gusset right before he busts your tail!”

 

“Is he coming?”

 

“Stopped to talk to Pa, but he’s heading. . .”   Before Hoss could complete his sentence, Little Joe was darting past his brother headed toward the door.

 

“Come on then!” Little Joe grabbed Hoss’s sleeve and tugged.

 

Hoss moved forward, and the two managed to exit the room as boots began resounding on the wooden stairs. Hoss jerked the door to Adam’s room shut as the footfalls approached the hall.

 

“My room!” Little Joe’s whispered urging set Hoss into motion. Ben Cartwright’s two younger sons darted into Joe’s sanctuary and banged the door closed. Joe threw his body down on his bed. “Thank the Lord you came up first!”

 

Hoss straightened, and his eyes narrowed. “Your hide ain’t safe quite yet, youngun. I might still tell elder brother. Now what were ya doing in his room?”

 

Little Joe looked at his brother and shrugged mentally. Hoss never tattled on him to Adam, and Joe had little concern that he would this time, but Little Joe did pause and consider just what to tell his middle brother. He also pondered how useful Hoss could be to his plan with little worry about his own ability to convince Hoss to participate.

 

“Nothing bad, Hoss, really, just looking.” Joe sat up and gazed directly at his accuser.

 

“Looking for what?”

 

“Just something. Not to take it, just to see.”

 

“Not much Adam’s got that you ain’t seen one time or the other,” Hoss stated while his eyes narrowed.

 

Little Joe relaxed against his headboard. “Hoss, you remember when Adam and Miss Margie were engaged, don’t you?”

 

Hoss’s face grew puzzled. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

 

“But you do, don’t you?” Joe insisted.

 

“Sure. Back when they were real young.”

 

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Joe whined the words into an accusation.

 

“What do you mean, Joe? It weren’t no secret; you knew.”

 

“But I didn’t remember,” Joe stated petulantly, “You should have known I was too little to remember and told me later.”

 

Hoss rubbed his chin.   “Guess you were just a mite; I was a kid myself. But why are we talking about it now, and what’s it got to do with you being in Adam’s room?”

 

Little Joe rolled his eyes at Hoss’s reference to his misdemeanor. Sometimes Hoss worried over the littlest things like a dog with a bone. “Miss Margie told me about it at the church picnic.”

 

“She did?” Hoss was surprised. “Why would she tell you about it now?”

 

“I asked,” Joe replied as if that said all that needed to be said. “Anyways, she said Adam gave her a ring. Do you remember it?”

 

“Sure, I do.”

 

“What did it look like? Was it gold or silver?” Little Joe paused for an answer.

 

“Weren’t neither. Adam didn’t have no money for something like that.”

 

“Then what was it like?” Joe demanded impatiently.

 

“Well, it was made out of their hair. Adam wove it and sealed it with wax and shellac. Miss Marge’s hair is as dark as Adam’s, and ya really couldn’t tell one from the other. Adam said it sym. . . sym. . . well, it showed as to how they would meld their lives together into one.”

 

“See there; I knew it!” Joe exclaimed as if he had just won an important debate. “Adam said he still has it.”

 

“Adam told you about the ring?” Hoss’s eyebrows drew closer together.

 

“Well, not exactly, he told Miss Margie he had it in his bedroom.”

 

Hoss fixed a glare on his little brother. “You were eavesdropping, weren’t ya, Joe? Weren’t ya?”

 

“Hoss, how I heard is beside the point,” Joe soothed.

 

“Not to me and not to Adam. If he. . .”

 

“But he won’t, will he?” Joe infused the words with a pleading tone.

 

“Tell me, Jospeh!” Hoss had taken a hands-on-the-hips stance.

 

“Now don’t go getting ruffled. It’s this way. Some ladies at the church picnic were taking to Miss Margie, and they made mention of her being engaged to Adam. I weren’t listening; I just heard. I asked Miss Margie about it, and she told me she and Adam got engaged when they were sixteen, and I near about dropped my teeth. I still can’t believe Pa let Adam get engaged when he was sixteen even if they weren’t to get married until they were eighteen.”

 

“Yeah,” Hosss interjected. I asked Pa about that once when I was sixteen and thinking on a gal.”

 

“Did he say why?”

 

“Said it was mainly so as they wouldn’t get it in their heads to run off and get married anyways if Pa and Mr. Rainsford said no.”

 

“Adam run off and get married.” The idea was beyond Little Joe.

 

“Wouldn’t have been the first time Adam got his stubborn up and defied Pa.”

 

Little Joe mulled over the thought that there were just too many things he had forgotten or never known about his elder brother’s youth.

 

“Miss Margie’s got some stubborn in her too,” Hoss continued, “but Pa knew Adam wouldn’t never go back on a promise to wait if they got engaged. Really, it wasn’t like there were many other gals for Adam to give up courting, and after all Pa and Ma thought Adam and Margie were well-suited. If they stayed engaged for two years, well, the worst thing that could happen was them getting hitched, and nobody thought that would be bad.”

 

“See, I knew it!” Joe bounced to his feet with that exclamation.

 

“Knew what?”

 

“Adam should have married Miss Margie. Blast that Saul Eckers!” Little Joe declared vehemently.

 

“What do ya know about Saul Eckers?” Hoss’s eyebrows drew together. “And how do you know it?”

 

“I know he was the reason Adam and Miss Margie broke up.”

 

“Miss Margie told ya that?”

 

“Yeah,” Little Joe assured his brother, “and Adam said so too.”

 

“Adam said? I thought it was Miss Margie who told ya about how things were?”

 

“She did, but then Adam was telling her.”

 

Hoss ‘s glare returned. “Oh, Adam told Miss Margie and you.”

 

“Well, he told her, and I heard.”

 

“Because you were eavesdropping, right?” Hoss’s voice once again had an edge.

 

“Well, yeah, but that’s not the point.” Little Joe pushed the problem aside.

 

Hoss pulled it right back. “Eavesdropping ain’t right.   You know better. If Adam. . .”

 

“Adam won’t know if nobody tells him. Anyways, Adam eavesdropped on us first, so he can’t get mad ‘cause I didn’t do nothing he hadn’t just done,” Little Joe declared.

 

Hoss looked doubtful. “You best tell me about all of it.”

 

Little Joe heaved an exaggerated sigh. “I was. Well, Miss Margie told me about the engagement and about Saul Eckers coming and tutoring Adam, and how Adam got mad at her because he thought she was flirting with him, and how they fought and broke the engagement and all. Then she sent me off, but I only kinda went, and when I saw her and Adam, I slipped back to find out if he’d been eavesdropping.” Little Joe’s tone was one of injured innocence. “And he had. He told Miss Margie his side of things. He thought it was Miss Margie flirting. I bet it was that Saul Eckers that was doing the flirting. Miss Margie’s a pretty lady.”

 

Hoss nodded. Then he remarked quietly, “Never did know what that fight was about.”

 

“You knew about the fight?”

 

“Knew there’d been one. Me and Ma came down the stairs right after Miss Margie slammed the door on her way out. Ma said something to Adam and called Margie his betrothed. Then Adam up and said she wasn’t – his betrothed that is – and slammed off out the door too. At first Ma and I thought he might have gone after Miss Margie, but he hadn’t. He didn’t come back ‘til way after midnight, and then Pa and him had a row.”

 

Hoss shrugged, and Little Joe knew how that row had ended. “They didn’t speak for a long time.”

 

“Adam and Pa or Adam and Miss Margie?”

 

Hoss rolled his eyes. “Adam and Miss Margie, of course. When I found the ring and gave it back to Adam, he didn’t say nothing not even thank you.”

 

“You found the ring?”

 

“A couple of days later under the settee.” Hoss gave Little Joe a perplexed look. “You were looking for that ring?”

 

“Yeah. Adam told Miss Margie he still had it in his room.”

 

“Why would you want to see it?” Hoss did not see idle curiosity as the reason.

 

“Well, it’s just, well, just because elder brother was stupid enough not to make up with Miss Margie then, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t now.”

 

“Adam and Miss Margie done made up years ago, Joe.” Hoss stated firmly while a flicker of worry began burning.

 

“Not all the way, Hoss, but we can help fix that.” Joe’s tone had grown conspiratorial.

 

“Now, Joe, you ain’t figuring on messing around in Adam’s private matters.” Hoss shook his head for emphasis. “Even Pa don’t do that.”

 

“I’m just gonna see to it that Adam does what he should have done a long time ago. If he wasn’t such a stubborn cuss, we could have had a sister for years. We could even be uncles by now.”

 

“Joe, well, you best just let Adam do his own wife-picking.”

 

Shaking his head, Little Joe said firmly, ““That’s just it, Hoss, he’s already done the picking; we just need to get him down off his high horse, so he can pick up what he let drop.”

 

Hoss shook his head. “We? Oh, no, Joe, we ain’t doing anything of the sort.”

 

“Now, Hoss, just think on it. Is there any of the girls that Adam’s sparked since he came back from college that you like better than Miss Margie?”

 

“Well, no,” Hoss agreed. Dadburnit, there’s some that I didn’t like at all.

 

“I’ve thought it through, and Miss Margie’s the best choice. You, me, and Pa, even Hop Sing, all like her lots. It wouldn’t be bad having her on the Ponderosa. What’s even better, her pa and sister live here. She ain’t going to be talking to Adam about moving off to California or back East or getting him to go traipsing off to Europe or Australia or the like. If Adam married Miss Margie, he’d stay put right here on the Ponderosa where he belongs.” Little Joe knew that Hoss and Pa both shared his fear that something or someone would lure the eldest Cartwright son away from his home, and Joe saw his words nudging Hoss over to his side.

 

“But to go pushing our brother at a gal.” Hoss shook his head doubtfully.

 

“But, Hoss, he loves her.”

 

“Well, he’s sure done a good job of not showing it for the past five years or so.”

 

“But, he does; you could tell when he kissed her.”

 

“Adam kissed Miss Margie?”

 

“Yeah, and it weren’t no peck on the cheek. He has holding her and pressing his mouth right down on hers, and it looked like they only stopped ‘cause they needed air. Then they said something I didn’t hear, and Adam laughed, Hoss, not chuckling or hew-hawing, but that soft laugh of his when he’s really happy, and Miss Margie laughed too.”

 

“Miss Margie laughed too? She laughed that way like Adam?”

 

“Yeah, they love each other, Hoss; they just got too much stubborn up to admit they were wrong. We won’t be pushing them into nothing but what they won’t admit they want. We’ll just be making them open their eyes to see the truth is all.”

 

Hoss capitulated.   “What have you got planned?”

 

“Haven’t really worked up a plan yet. Just that Adam needs to start remembering when he knew he loved her and all. That’s why I wanted to see the ring seeing as how he kept it.”

 

“I know where he keeps it,” Hoss interjected.

 

“You do?” Hoss nodded, and Joe demanded, “Well, where?”

 

“In his Chinese puzzle box.” Hop Sing had given Adam the intricately designed box, and it had taken weeks for even his engineer’s mind to unravel the secret to its opening.

 

“Blazes! If it’s in there. . .”

 

“I know how to open it; Adam taught me.”

 

“He did!” Little Joe was awash with indignation, “Why even when I begged, he wouldn’t!”

 

Hoss lips twisted wryly. “Now, Short Shanks, Adam knows I don’t never mess with his things.”

 

“I don’t mess. . .” Hoss’s eyes caught Joe’s. Joe cleared his throat and finished, “Well, I hardly ever mess with his things anymore.”

 

Hoss rolled his eyes and let the matter drop.

 

Joe bit his lip. “Well, anyways, then you can get the ring while I keep Adam busy.”

 

“No, I ain’t sneaking in and taking that ring, ‘sides if it shows up anywheres else but that box, elder brother’s gonna know I was the only one ‘sides him who could have moved it.”

 

“Well, there is that.” Little Joe’s lips twisted in thought. Then suddenly green eyes lit with inspiration. “And anyways you don’t need to. I just need to get him to open the box with me there. Then I can get him talking about the ring.”

 

Hoss turned the idea over in his mind and could find no harm in it. “Wouldn’t be nothing wrong in that.”

 

Little Joe nodded vigorously. “Ain’t no harm at all.” Then he slapped Hoss triumphantly on the back. “We’ll get her done, brother; that we will. You know, I might like being an uncle.”

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Little Joe went up the stairs on Adam’s heels and followed his brother as he went through the bedroom door. Flopping down on Adam’s bed, Joe gazed casually around the room.

 

“Something you want, Little Joe?” Adam asked overlooking Joe’s feet on the bed since the boy was in his stocking feet.

 

“Not really,” Little Joe replied mentally congratulating himself on picking a time when his brother was in such an agreeable mood, “just, well, I thought, maybe, well, maybe we could talk about, well, something.” Little Joe gave his brother a shy and slightly embarrassed smile. Adam reacted just as Little Joe had expected.

 

Coming to sit on the end of the bed, Adam leaned back and replied, “Sure, Little Buddy. Is there something in particular that you’d like to talk about?”

 

“Well, umm, well,” Little Joe ducked his head, so Adam couldn’t read his eyes, “you’ve sparked lots of girls, ain’t ya, Adam?”

 

“Some,” Adam replied.

 

“How young were ya when you sparked your first girl?” Little Joe’s voice was slightly overeager.

 

“Why I guess. . .” The memory of Margret Rainsford’s face was quickly replaced by the picture of Margie telling Little Joe about her engagement to Adam. He had wondered about his baby brother not asking him questions on that subject, and his eyes narrowed. “You already know, Joseph.” Then Adam remembered that he had been eavesdropping when Margie told his brother that tale, and a tinge of red came to highlight his cheekbones. He should not know that Joe knew.

 

Little Joe bit his lip. “Then Miss Margie was your first . . . that you sparked, I mean?”

 

“Yes.” Adam sighed. “Margie was the first girl I courted, the first I kissed, and the first I asked to marry me.”

 

Little Joe decided not to pursue a line of questioning about what other girls Adam had asked to marry, at least not until another day. Instead, he asked softly, “Was ya really in love with her for real or was it just, well, what Pa calls puppy love?”

 

Adam hesitated and then replied, “We were both very young.” Straightening, he looked at his nearly fifteen-year-old brother and stated firmly, “Too young.”

 

“But did ya really love her for real?” Joe’s voice remained soft but insistent.

 

Adam stood up and walked to his window. Gazing out, he said simply, “Yes.”

 

“And she loved you?”

 

Adam’s stance grew tense. “Joe.” The one word conveyed the message “don’t push any further.”   Adam turned to face Joe. “Is there a girl. . .”

 

Little Joe turned away from his brother as if embarrassed, caught sight of the object he sought, and moved nervously toward it. “Well, I, not really, but, well, there are some gals at church and all. . .” Joe let his words slip away and picked up the Chinese puzzle box turning it idly in his hands. “Well, when I look at them, I, sometimes, I. . .” Joe swallowed convulsively and pretended to be too mortified to go on.

 

“That’s natural, Joe, what you’re feeling.” Adam walked over and put his hand on Joe’s shoulder.

 

“Yeah, well,” Joe stopped and then suddenly veered from the subject, “You never showed me how to open this thing.”

 

“It’s a puzzle, Joe.”

 

“I’m never any good with puzzles.” Joe put a little-boy whine on the declaration.

 

“You’re supposed to work at them until you solve them yourself.”

 

“Not if you have a big brother to show you how.” Little Joe widened his eyes and gazed up at his brother.

 

Adam took the box from Joe’s hands. “Okay, I’ll show you, but you better watch carefully; I’m not going to tell you or explain how to do it.”

 

Little Joe kept his eyes focused on his brother’s long fingers as Adam manipulated the box through a series of steps required to open it. When the hidden center compartment was revealed, Joe quickly took possession again. He kept the grin that threatened off his face as he saw the contents.

 

“What’s this?” Joe inquired with practiced innocence as he lifted the ring into the light.

 

“Just a ring.”

 

“I’ve never seen one like it. No, wait; I have; it’s a hair ring, isn’t it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Who made it?”

 

“I did.” Reluctance was creeping into Adam’s voice.

 

“Whose hair? Yours?” That would have seemed obvious enough; Adam had the only raven black hair in the family.

 

“Yes.”

 

Joe decided a little push was necessary. “Just yours?”

 

If he refused to answer the truth would be obvious, so Adam admitted, “No.”

 

“Whose?”

 

“Joe, it’s not your. . .” It’s not like it’s a secret! “Margie’s. I made it for her. Boyish sentimentality.” Adam gave a dismissive grunt.

 

“You can’t tell,” Joe said peering closely at the ring, “It’s like there was only one person’s.”

 

We’ll be that way, Margie, like one, like the Bible says, “and two shall become one.”  Then he had kissed her and slipped the ring on her finger. Adam snatched the ring and the box back from Joe. Placing the ring back in its resting place, he clicked each section back into place.

 

Little Joe knew when to back off and not press his elder brother any more. “Thanks, Adam,” he said quietly and slipped out of the room.

 

Adam stood for several minutes staring at the puzzle box before he set it gently back on its accustomed shelf.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Little Joe whistled as he went about his early morning chores.

 

“You’re sure enough the cheery one this morning, Short Shanks,” Hoss observed as he entered the barn to saddle Chubby.

 

“Hoss,” Little Joe called and motioned his brother closer, “Adam showed me the ring last night. I had him thinking about loving Miss Margie; I know I did.” Joe’s chest puffed a little with pride.

 

Hoss felt a tickle of concern at the light in his little brother’s eyes. “Nothing wrong in that,” Hoss declared to reassure himself.

 

“Nothing wrong! Hoss, everything’s going right, just like we need. Now for step two.”

 

“What is step two going to be?” Hoss inquired with a twinge of trepidation.

 

“Well, I’m not exactly sure, but we do need to get Miss Margie thinking about loving elder brother. I don’t know. . .” Then Hoss saw a thought run through Little Joe like a strike of lightening. “Hoss, we need. . . just maybe we can get. . . Yeah, that’s what we need!”

 

“What, Joe? What is it we need?” Hoss’s trepidation had increased a notch.

 

“Why, an ally in the other camp.” Joe punctuated his statement with a decisive nod and declared, “Melody Ann!”

 

Hoss brought his hand to his chin and rubbed. Andrew Rainsford had five daughters: Margret Ann, Melissa Ann, Millicent Ann, Martha Ann, and Melody Ann. Missy, Millie, and Martha were all married and each of them had moved away. Only Miss Margie and her youngest sister remained on their small ranch with their now widowed father. Melody Ann was nearly a year older than Little Joe and considered to be the most serious and biddable of the five.

 

“Melody Ann don’t hardly seem the sort to involve in no scheme, Joe,” Hoss said with a shake of his head.

 

“Well, she’s not one for pranks, but this ain’t nothing like that. Girls are all for matchmaking, Hoss; everybody knows that. Besides, she’s got as much at stake as we do. She’s had three sisters marry fellows that done drug them off where she don’t get to see them or their babies; she’s bound to want Miss Margie to marry up with someone who’s got a ranch right next door. She’ll think it’s perfect,” Little Joe declared with abundant confidence.

 

“Well, maybe,” Hoss allowed, “but what iffen you tell her about things, and she don’t quite see it that way. She could tell Miss Margie what you’re trying to do.”

 

“What we’re trying to do,” Joe declared with a loud clap to Hoss’s back. “You worry too much, Brother! I’ll have Melody Ann in our camp quicker than spit. Now you just have to think of a reason for the two of us to go visiting the Rainsfords. Then you can keep Miss Margie busy while I talk to Melody Ann.” Little Joe began whistling again as he returned to his chores.

 

Hoss rubbed his chin once more and began to saddle Chubby. Don’t see as how talking to the little gal can cause too much trouble. Little Joe’ll just give her that smile and them big eyes, and even if she don’t want to help, he’ll have her promising not to say anything. Hoss pushed another tingle of concern out of his mind and considered what errand might take him and Joe to their neighbor’s home.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Upon arriving at the Rainsford ranch, Little Joe managed to elicit the information that Margret Ann was in town and that Melody Ann was in the kitchen baking bread. Deciding the angels were smiling on his endeavor, he then left his brother Hoss discussing the fence line between the Cartwright and Rainsford properties with Andrew and slipped into the house to talk to Melody Ann. Pausing for a moment to study Melody Ann Rainsford, he smiled. Melody Ann was a petite girl with hair as dark as her sister’s. She had always brought the word soft to Little Joe’s mind: soft curves, soft wisps of hair, soft clear-water eyes, and a voice that hovered just above a whisper. Confident that he could turn the girl to his own purpose, Joe stepped from the parlor into the kitchen.

 

“Hey, Melody Ann!”

 

The girl startled and twirled around with her hand raised to her throat. “Oh my, Little Joe!” She smiled and then chided, “You shouldn’t sneak up on a girl like that.”

 

“Sorry,” Joe smiled apologetically as he walked further into the room. “I never meant to scare ya.”

 

Melody Ann smiled back. “That’s what you said when you dropped that baby snake in my lap.”

 

“This time I mean it, though. Honest I do!” Little Joe drew a cross on his chest above his heart.

 

“Well, then, you’re forgiven. Set yourself down, Joe. Would you like something to eat or drink?”

 

“I always did like fresh-baked bread with preserves especially Miss Margie’s blackberry preserves.”

 

“I’ve some left from breakfast. Do you want buttermilk or coffee with that?” Melody Ann asked as she began cutting slices from a still warm loaf.

 

“Buttermilk and company,” Joe replied.

 

Melody Ann brought the preserves and slices of bread to the table and then poured two glasses of buttermilk. She set one glass before Little Joe who was already smearing preserves on a large piece of bread and then took a seat across the table from him.

 

“Did your pa send you over?” Melody Ann asked to open the conversation.

 

“Not exactly,” Joe stated and then took a large bite. “Mmmmmmm.” He rolled his eyes heavenward as an expression of delight.

 

“Margie’s preserves are really good.”

 

Joe swallowed. “So’s your bread. Don’t offer any to Hoss, or you’ll be loaf short when we leave.”

 

“Hoss is here too? Let me. . .” Melody Ann rose and turned toward the door, but Little Joe caught her wrist to prevent her leaving.

 

“Wait. Hoss is talking to your pa, and, well, I need to talk to you.”

 

A puzzled look settled on the girl’s face. “About what?”

 

Little Joe set his tone at a conspiratorial level and said, “Something important and, well, kind of secret.”

 

“Secret?”

 

Joe nodded and took another bite of bread. Melody Ann settled back into the chair. Joe chewed for a moment as he thought, swallowed, and then decide to be straightforward.

 

“Melody Ann, you like my brother Adam, don’t you?”

 

“Of course, but. . .”

 

“And you know he and your sister were betrothed?”

 

Melody Ann’s brow furrowed. “Sure, but. . .”

 

Little Joe leaned even closer and dropped his voice to a whisper. “They were first loves, and, well, they were kissing the other day.”

 

“Kissing?” Melody Ann’s eyes widened.

 

“At the church social. And it got me thinking.”

 

Melody Ann leaned toward Little Joe. “What were you thinking?”

 

Little Joe brought his nose within a hair of Melody Ann’s. “I was thinking that they still love each other only, well, you know how prideful and stubborn the both of them are.”

 

Melody Ann nodded as a flicker of excitement entered her eyes, but a cautious girl she drew away from Little Joe and leaned against the back of her chair.

 

Little Joe decided the minutes were fleeing and plunged, “Melody Ann, you know Adam would make your sister a good husband and her living right next-door, so to speak, well, wouldn’t that be better than her going off like Missy, Millie, and Martha?”

 

“Of course, but I don’t know what you’re thinking. . . “

 

“I’m thinking we should nudge those two a little and help them see they’re perfect for each other.”

 

Melody Ann chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t rightly know, Little Joe, if there’s anything we could do.” She hesitated. “Anything we should do.”

 

Little Joe leaned back, dropped his eyes, and said softly, “I was only thinking of my brother’s happiness, and Miss Margie’s, and pa’s, and, well, everybody’s.”

 

“Papa always did think highly of Adam.”

 

“And Pa thinks real highly of Margret Ann. Don’t you see how fine the two of them getting wed would be?”

 

“Yes, but what could we do. Margie’s got a mind of her own.”

 

Joe nodded in agreement. “So does Adam, but a little nudging couldn’t hurt, now could it?”

 

“What kind of nudging?” The look in Melody Ann’s face told Joe the hook had been swallowed and set.

 

“Well, to start it would help things if they spent time remembering what it was like before and thinking how fine it was when they were sparking each other.”

 

Melody Ann brought her pointer finger to her lips and chewed on the nail. “That wouldn’t be hard, and it couldn’t hurt anything.”

 

“That’s what Hoss and me figured. We’ve already started in with Adam.”

 

“Hoss is in on this too?” Melody Ann considered Hoss a much more stable member of the Cartwright clan, and after all he was a grown man.

 

Joe nodded solemnly. “Lots of folks do a little matchmaking, Melody Ann.” Joe let the thought settle in the girl’s mind and then looked at her with his most pleading gaze. “Are you in?” He held out his hand.

 

She took it and shook it gently. “Yeah, I’m in.”

 

The sound of boots in the next room drew their attention to the fact the Hoss and Andrew Rainsford were about to enter the kitchen.

 

“We’ll talk again Sunday,” Little Joe whispered quickly. Then he raised his voice as the two men entered the room. “Best come quick, brother, if you want any of this bread and preserves.” Taking a large bite, he chewed appreciatively as a large grin grew on his face.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Little Joe shook the reverend’s hand and slipped away from his father’s side. Scanning the people standing in the churchyard, he spotted the Rainsfords. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he strolled in their direction.

 

“Hello, Mr. Rainsford, Miss Margie, Melody Ann,” he called out cheerfully as he approached.

 

Each of the Rainsfords responded warmly and smiled at the boy. Behind her sister’s shoulder, Melody Ann caught Little Joe’s head gesture and gave a slight nod. As Little Joe strolled out of sight, Melody Ann murmured an excuse and slipped into the crowd. A few minutes later, she and Little Joe stood behind the screen of several lilac bushes in the far corner of the churchyard.

 

“Have you been nudging Miss Margie’s memory?” Little Joe asked eagerly.

 

“Yes. I’ve probably mentioned your brother more times in the past few days than in the rest of my life.” Melody Ann put the tip of her pointer finger against her bottom lip. “Maybe I’ve mentioned him too often.”

 

Little Joe gave a definite shake of his head. “Hoss and I keep slipping Miss Margie into the conversation. What else have ya done?”

 

“Well,” Melody Ann drew out the syllable, “I asked her what it was like to be betrothed like I was dreaming about it for myself, you know, and she told me, well, some things. Then I asked her about the first time she got kissed because I figured it was probably Adam who kissed her first, and it was.”

 

This time Little Joe’s head nodded. “That was good.”

 

Melody Ann’s eyes sparkled as she leaned close to Joe’s ear and whispered, “She said, umm, she said he was real good at it. Kissing, I mean.”

 

Little Joe’s eyes sparkled in response. “Well, he is a Cartwright! When did he do it the first time?”

 

“When they were berry picking.”

 

“Where?”

 

“She didn’t say.”

 

“You didn’t ask!” Melody Ann heard the rebuke at her oversight in Little Joe’s voice.

 

“No.”

 

Little Joe sighed. “Your pa let Miss Margie go off alone with Adam berry picking when they were old enough for kissing?” He gave an incredulous shake of his head.

 

“Not exactly. Margie went off berry picking with Missy. Adam went berry picking with Hoss. At least that’s what my folks and yours thought. Then they met up. Adam and Margie went off a ways for a while. Margie made a deal with Missy not to tell. I don’t know how Adam got Hoss to keep quiet, but as far as I know they didn’t get caught.”

 

“Hoss wouldn’t tell something that would get Adam a tanning.” Little Joe grinned. “Hoss knows where they were then. What kind of berries were they picking?”

 

“Strawberries.” Melody Ann gave a speculative grin. “Maybe that’s why Margie favors strawberries so.”

 

Little Joe’s thoughts had moved on. Considering the fact that girls were more likely to talk about weddings and betrothals and such as a matter of course, he decided to assign Melody Ann a task. “Melody Ann, you need to get Miss Margie to tell ya about when Adam asked her to marry him. Where and when and how and, well, everything about it. You can do that, can’t ya?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Do it then and see if you can find out about anything that was special to them when they were courting.” Melody Ann nodded her assent. “Good. We’ll talk next Sunday and make a plan.” Then a sudden gleam in Little Joe’s eyes caused a tendril of worry in Melody Ann’s mind.

 

“A plan, ummmm, shouldn’t Hoss be here when we make that plan?”

 

“Sure,” Joe agreed easily. “I better go.” He darted off leaving Melody Ann chewing on the nail of her pointer finger.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Little Joe leaned back into the sweet-smelling hay. “You know, I never would have dreamed of Adam being so deceitful.” He had just recounted to Hoss everything Melody Ann had told him as they sat in the loft of the barn.

 

“If you plan on sparkin’ with a gal before your twenty-one and married, you better count on deceiving Pa some.”

 

Little Joe shifted nervously, and the flicker in his eye made Hoss’s brow furrow slightly. “Still, I thought Adam was more of a goody-goody than that and using you, his little brother, as a cover.”

 

“Oh, you ain’t never used me to cover your doings.”

 

“That’s different. You’re my big brother! Anyways, can you remember where you were at the time?”

 

“Well, now, ya said we were picking strawberries. Did we walk or ride?” Hoss mused.

 

“I don’t know.” Joe snorted in exasperation.

 

Hoss snorted back. “Now give me a minute. Missy and Margie would have had to walk, so . . . no, no, they didn’t. I remember! Missy and me. . .”

 

“I don’t care what Missy and you did. Do you know where you did it?”

 

“Yeah, but why. . .”

 

“I’ve got a plan.” Little Joe’s eyes gleamed.

 

“Now, Joe, what kinda plan are you. . .”

 

“A good one, Hoss, and simple.   Besides it’s meant to be. After all the wild strawberries are getting ripe just now.” Little Joe grinned and laid the plan out for his brother.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

It had taken some manipulation on the part of both Little Joe and Hoss, but Adam and his little brother were right where they needed to be at the appointed time.

 

“Adam.” Little Joe reined his horse to a stop. “You know what?”

 

“What?”

 

“I’ve been thinking how seldom we get to eat any fresh berries now seeing as there ain’t any kids with the time to pick them anymore.”

 

Adam’s eyebrow inched upward, and a smirk came to his lips as he looked at the fourteen-year-old. “Is that so?” he drawled.

 

Little Joe ignored the smirk, which should have been a warning to Adam. “Yeah. We’ve got a bit of time, and if I remember there’s a stand of wild strawberries just over that way a bit.” Joe pointed in the appropriate direction.

 

“You want to go berry picking?” Adam made a show of looking over Little Joe and his mount. “Do you have a bucket or two tucked into your saddle bags?”

 

Little Joe did give his brother a sneer for the mockery. “We could go and eat a few is all I’m saying. Though I might have a sack in my saddlebag if we want to take a few home to Hop Sing.”

 

“I…”

 

“Don’t you think fresh strawberries would be worth a couple of minutes ride?”

 

“I suppose, but. . .”

 

“We worked real hard, Adam. We deserve a reward.” Little Joe gave his brother a pleading look. “I’ve really got a hankering for some strawberries.”

 

“Well, all right then. If I remember that patch always did have the earliest and sweetest berries.”

 

A grin spread over Little Joe’s face. “Yeah, it always did.”

 

Adam spotted Margie and Melody Ann before Little Joe and called out to them. Little Joe’s grin widened as the two sisters answered. Reining their horses to a stop beside the Rainsfords, Adam and Joe slipped from their saddles.

 

“Picking strawberries, I see,” Adam observed.

 

“Melody Ann had a sudden hankering for them this morning,” Margie replied.

 

“Did she now?” Adam slid a glance over at Joe and quirked his lips. “So does my baby brother.” Adam emphasized the word baby slightly and paused to listen for the expected sputter.

 

 

“Then it was Joe’s idea for you to be here?” Margie gave her sister an appraising glance.

 

Joe ignored the appellation and remarked cheerily, “And a great idea it was, right, Adam? We get sweet strawberries and the sweeter company of two pretty gals.”

 

Ingrained manners prevented Adam doing anything but giving his assent. “So right, Joseph, such a fortunate coincidence.” Joe and Margie were too familiar with Adam’s voice to miss the sarcastic emphasis on the word coincidence; even Melody Ann recognized it. She glanced at Little Joe, but he simply forged ahead.

 

“Since it’s Melody Ann and me that want those strawberries, we’ll get to hunting them. You and Miss Margie can just rest here while we do, Elder Brother.”

 

Melody Ann joined in after a nudging look from Joe, “Yeah, we might have to go down a ways to get more; Margie and I have about picked this spot clean.” The younger pair then quickly took the two baskets and headed away.

 

Adam turned and tied the horses, so they could graze without wandering. Then he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against a tree. Looking down at Margie with a wry grin, he stated, “It’s your fault, you know?”

 

“My fault!” Margie tossed her head.

 

“Yes.”

 

“And how, Adam Cartwright, is your brother’s and my sister’s attempt at matchmaking my fault?”

 

“You’re the one who told Little Joe that we had been engaged.”

 

“Oh, I didn’t realize you had never told him.”

 

“He’d forgotten.”

“And when he asked, I was supposed to lie?” Adam watched her nostrils flare, her color heighten, and her eyes flame. He had always found her perversely attractive when she was angry.

 

“You could have equivocated,” he suggested.

 

“I was never anywhere as adept at that as you.”

 

Adam took a step closer to her. “Oh, you do well enough when you set your mind to it.” His voice had softened and lowered in volume. He stepped to within inches of where Margie stood.

 

Their closeness forced Margie to tilt her head to look into his face. Her breathing quickened. “Melody Ann mentions you half-a-dozen times a day.”

 

“I hear your name from both Joe and Hoss. They even have Pa remembering for them, though I don’t think he realizes he’s a pawn in their plan.”

 

“How do you think my sister got tied up in it with those brothers of yours?”

 

“The Cartwright charm.”

 

Margie took a step back and quirked an eyebrow. “The Cartwright charm?”

 

Adam ignored her query. “Have you been eating any of those strawberries?”

 

“Why would you want to know?”

 

Adam closed the gap between them and slipped an arm around her waist. She leaned back against it and lifted her eyes to meet his. “I enjoy the taste of strawberries many ways, but my favorite by far is this.” His head came down and settled his mouth against hers. The taste, the tingle, and the deep sweetness were the same as they had been the first time the two had kissed.

 

Margie slipped from his arms. “You always did that far too well, Adam.”

 

“I don’t recall your minding.”

 

“I don’t.” She turned away to stare in the direction their siblings had gone. “That part of things always seemed right.” Then she turned to face him again. “Melody Ann’s naïve enough to think if you enjoy kissing the boy he’s your knight in shining armor; Little Joe too.”

 

“And you don’t believe in knights on white steeds anymore?”

 

“Sport’s a chestnut.”

 

The mood had changed, and Adam simply replied, “That he is.”

 

Margie’s tone was serious. “I don’t want, well, I don’t want the children’s silliness to, well, I don’t want something to happen to spoil our friendship, Adam.”

 

“We’ll always be friends, Margret Ann.” His tone was mildly chiding as if she should not consider things being otherwise.

 

“Will you talk to Little Joe?”

 

Adam’s right hand tugged his left ear. “I do believe it’s time I did.”

 

“I’ll talk to Melody Ann.” Margie did not hear Adam’s sigh and managed to stifle her own.

 

Adam’s eyes swept the area around them. Then he turned to Margie and smiled. “As they didn’t leave us any of the berries you’d picked, we’ll have to pick our own.”

 

“Blast them,” Margie said softly but with vehemence. “After you, Sir.”

 

Adam bowed elegantly and doffed his hat. Taking her arm, he led her to the berry plants with as much gallantry as if they were attending a royal banquet. Then their eyes met, and they laughed. They had always laughed at the same things.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Little Joe stood, brushed the dirt from his pants and shirt, thrust his hands into his pockets, and sauntered over to where Melody Ann knelt plucking strawberries. They had decided that Little Joe was more skilled and more appropriately dress for secret observation while Melody Ann needed to make sure that they returned with filled baskets of berries as their older siblings were already harboring suspicions.

 

“Well?” Melody Ann hands stilled, and she gazed inquiringly at Little Joe.

 

Little Joe picked a strawberry from the basket and popped it into his mouth letting a grin expand on his face. “He kissed her; she kissed him back. A loooong kiss!”

 

A pleased smile curled Melody Ann’s lips. “Maybe this will work. Margie wouldn’t just kiss any old fellow.”

 

“You know how respectable Adam is; he wouldn’t go about kissing a girl he wasn’t willing to marry.” Joe ate another strawberry.

 

“What should we do next?” Melody Ann was quite willing to let the younger boy lead in this scheme.

 

“Ummm” Little Joe drew his knees up and placed his arms and chin upon them as he settled in to think. “What did you find out about when Adam did the asking?”

 

“Well, it wasn’t like you would have thought.   Not very romantic, sorta unplanned and all.”

 

“But Miss Margie told ya all about it?”

 

“Pretty much.”

 

“Well,” Joe demanded wondering why the girl was hesitating.

 

Melody Anne settled back and began her story. “Seems your family and mine and the Larkins- you remember the Larkins- well, all three families were up at the lake having a picnic to celebrate Margie’s birthday when Timmy Larkin started in about the Indian treasure over on the island. The Larkin boys had this raft, and pretty soon the parents let the kids go over to the island to hunt treasure- you know, like we’ve all done- except you and I didn’t go that time because they said we were too little.” Little Joe snorted in disgust but made no comment. “Anyways, they were told to all stay together, and Adam and Margie and Young Tom were supposed to be in charge of the littler ones. Margie didn’t say exactly how- I mean, I know they would never just up and go off- but it seems Margie and Adam ended up separated from the rest and all by themselves. They didn’t do nothing really…” A raised eyebrow from Little Joe made Melody Ann pause. “No, really, I believe Margie that they didn’t, but when they realized they were alone, well, at first they enjoyed it a bit.”

 

Just bet they did.  Little Joe smiled.

 

“Then they realized it had gotten late and headed back, but when they got to where the raft had been it wasn’t there.”

 

Little Joe’s eyes widened. He exhaled a low, “Ohhh.”

 

“Well, they called for the others, and then they realized they must have crossed back. See, Hoss got to worrying about Adam, and then Millie started carrying on about Margie being missing. My sisters all got upset, and Young Tom decided to take everybody back to their folks. Of course, Margie and Adam didn’t find out about any of this until later, and when Adam lit into Young Tom for not having the sense to know they were fine and just wait, Young Tom said that he did what he needed to do, and it was Adam’s own fault leaving him with a bunch of young’ns and that he wouldn’t have sat there with three caterwauling girls either.”

 

“Adam would have waited,” Little Joe stated, “or found them.”

 

Melody Ann shrugged. “Like I said, when they couldn’t find anybody or the raft, Margie and Adam kinda figured the rest had gone back to the folks. They knew somebody would come back for them, so they waited.”

 

“Bet they were wishing it would be Young Tom and not Pa or your father that came back.”

 

“Well, yeah, and they started thinking, well, what folks might think and say about, well, them being alone there so long. Then Adam said it didn’t really matter if my papa sent for a preacher because he wanted to marry Margie anyway. Then he asked her if she wanted to marry him. She said she did and was he asking.   He said he was, and they got betrothed.”

 

Little Joe nodded; it made perfect sense to him.

 

“When my papa and your pa got to the island, well, Adam and Margie told them they wanted to get married, and I guess all our folks got caught up in that discussion, and Margie and Adam never did get into trouble for going off.”

 

Little Joe shook his head. “Pa doesn’t ever get that distracted. Adam got in trouble, I bet; he just didn’t tell Margie.”

 

Melody Ann harrumphed but decided not to debate the issue. “Anyway, that’s how they got betrothed. In the end, everyone agreed they could be, but they had to wait until Margie was eighteen to get married.”

 

At that point, the conspirators heard their names being called.

 

“Best not make them mad,” Little Joe observed springing to his feet. “Come on!” He reached out his hand to Melody Ann and helped her stand. They each picked up a basket and walked quickly to join their siblings.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Adam ate the last of the sweetened strawberries and pound cake that Hop Sing had served for dessert. Setting down his fork, he settled his gaze on his little brother trying to decide if he should talk to both Hoss and Joe or just Little Joe alone and when the best time would be for the discussion. As he studied Little Joe, the thought crept into Adam’s mind that his brother looked not just pleased with himself but happy. Adam chewed the inside of his bottom lip.

 

He wants me to be happy, and he thinks marrying Margie would make me happy. Adam’s right hand crept toward his left ear. Is that such an awful thing, his wanting me to be happy? He’s always liked Margie even when he was a little scamp. It’s not like he was pushing me at someone like Abigail Jones. Adam rose abruptly. “Excuse me, Pa.”

 

Ben watched his eldest walk over to the credenza and reach for his gun belt. “Where are you headed, Son?”

 

“Just for a ride, Pa.” Adam buckled on his gun as he turned toward his father in time to see Ben’s slight frown. “I’ll be fine and not too late.” The frown did not fade. “Promise.”

 

“I’ll be holding you to that.”

 

Adam smiled and tipped the hat he had picked up toward his father. He turned his back and walked out the door before he rolled his eyes. Don’t I know you will!

 

Adam kept his promise and returned before his pa had begun to worry instead of simply fret. Adam’s desire to ride about alone at night had long been an issue between Ben and his eldest. Before Adam left for college it had been a forbidden activity, and it was a couple of years after his return before he had made his departure while his father was in the room.

 

“I’m home, Pa.” Adam’s tone was light and slightly mocking.

 

Ben looked up from his paper, arched his eyebrow, and then said simply, “Good boy.”

 

Adam recognized the tone. Point taken, Pa! He cleared his throat. “Hoss and Joe have both gone up to bed?”

 

“Hoss was tired from clearing that waterhole,” Ben answered, “and it is past Little Joe’s bedtime.” The fact that Little Joe still had a set bedtime came from the reality that he would have stayed up until the wee hours of every morning if the decision had been his.

 

“I think I’ll follow their lead,” Adam remarked and started toward the stairs.

 

“Adam.” Ben’s voice stopped his son in his tracks.

 

“Yes, Pa?”

 

“Is there something I should know about?”

 

“Not really.”

 

“Not really?”

 

“Pa, it’s just. . .” Adam turned to face his father and walked toward him. “Well, it’s just that Joe and Hoss too, well, they’ve been trying a bit of matchmaking.”

 

Ben leaned back and templed his fingers, “I see.” He did not pretend that he could not figure out who they were trying to match. He studied his eldest and then sighed. “Your brothers have your best interests at heart.”

 

“I know, Pa. I’m not angry, but I need to let them know that sort of thing, well, it’s not, it’s never welcome.”

 

Ben searched Adam’s face. “Hoss will see that. Your younger brother may take a little more convincing.”

 

“I told you, Pa; I’m not angry.”

 

“Very well. Good night, son.”

 

“Good night, Pa.” Adam turned and ascended the stairs as his father gazed speculatively at his back. He stopped at Hoss’s door and could discern his brother’s snoring without opening it. He then went to Little Joe’s door and eased it open.

 

“You know better, Joseph.”

 

Joe jumped. He had been reading by the light of a candle with a rolled towel against the bottom of the door to block the light. He had been so deeply focused on his dime novel that he had not heard his brother’s footsteps.

 

“Ohhh.” It was more of a soft moan than an utterance. He bit his lip as his older brother walked toward his bed. “Adam, please. . . Are you going to tell, Pa?”

 

Adam leaned over and picked up the book that had fallen to the floor. He looked at the cover and shook his head. He rolled the soft-cover volume and stuffed it into his back pocket.

 

“Are ya, Adam?”

 

Adam lowered himself to the edge of the bed. “Not this time.”

 

Little Joe exhaled in relief. “I’ll go straight to sleep,” he offered and slid down beneath the covers.

 

“Wait. I want to talk to you.”

 

Adam’s serious tone caused Little Joe’s eyes to widen and stilled his breathing. Then he ventured, “About what?”

 

Adam rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We didn’t just happen to go after those strawberries at the same time as Margie and her sister, did we?”

 

Little Joe considered several possible answers before he simply said, “No.”

 

“You and Melody Ann had things arranged?”

 

“Yes.” This answer was even softer in volume.

 

Adam leaned back against the footboard and let his gaze sweep over Joe. “You’re a little tall and overly clothed for playing Cupid.”

 

Little Joe shifted nervously. “You’ve always liked Miss Margie, and you planned to marry her.”

 

“That was long ago, Joseph, and part of the past not the present.” A chiding tone had crept into Adam’s words.

 

Little Joe answered without thinking. “Your kissing her is in the present!”

 

Adam arched his eyebrow. “You’ve been spying on us, have you?”

 

“You’ve been doing it right out in the open,” Joe sputtered back.

 

Adam straightened, and his voice grew stern. “Whatever is between Margret Ann and myself is our private affair, little brother. I am going tell you this, and then I shall repeat it only once and that is to tell Hoss. Margie and I do not need nor want nor will we tolerate any more of your matchmaking as well-intended as it may be.” Adam’s eyes flashed, but then he reined in his irritation. “Joe, I’m not angry, truly I’m not, but that will change quickly if you do not sheath your arrows and hang up your little Cupid wings. Do I make myself clear?”

 

Little Joe nodded.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yes, Adam.”

 

“Fine.”   Adam rose. Then he smiled down at his brother. He leaned over and pulled the bedcovers up to the boy’s chin and said softly, “I’ll give you a sister-in-law soon enough. There’s no need to rush things.”

 

“Okay, Adam.” Little Joe rolled onto his side and curled up comfortably.

 

“Good.   Now get to sleep because Pa will be the next one up those stairs.” Adam picked up the candle and exited the room.

 

Little Joe snuggled deeper into his quilt. He knew the sister-in-law he wanted, and Adam had said not one word about not loving Margie Rainsford.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

“Margie was real firm about it, Little Joe,” Melody Anne declared, “She said straight out, ‘No more matchmaking!’ So I guess that is that.” Margie’s sister sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

 

“Adam said the same.” Little Joe paused and looked at the girl sitting in the grass before him.   Then he said softly, “I don’t always do what Adam says, sometimes I do what I know is best.”

 

Melody Ann’s eyes widened. “What does Hoss say?”

 

It was Joe’s turn to sigh. “He says we have to quit.”

 

“Well, then. . .”

 

“Not because he thinks it shouldn’t be done,” Little Joe inserted quickly, “but because he thinks more nudging will just get Adam’s stubborn up.”

 

“Margie’s too,” Melody Ann added with a nod of her head.

 

“Nudging, yeah, more nudging might do just that, but. . .” Joe paused.

 

Melody Ann jumped in, “But what?”

 

“I think it’s time for one last almighty shove!”   Little Joe’s eyes shone as he leaned closer to the girl. Melody Ann only shifted nervously as her brow furrowed.

 

Her hand slipped up, and she nibbled at the nail of her pointer finger. After a few seconds she said hesitantly, “What kind of shove?”

 

Joe leaned conspiratorially closer, “When we got them together where they first kissed, they kissed, didn’t they?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Well, if we get them alone together where they got betrothed,” Little Joe let the thought hang for a few moments in the air between them, “well, if that didn’t work then there wouldn’t be no more we could do anyway.”

 

Melody Ann swallowed convulsively, “No way Margie’s gonna just come with me to the island. She’s no fool, Little Joe.”

 

“Neither is Adam. We’d have to trick ‘em and trick ‘em good.”

 

“What kind of trick?”

 

“Adam would go anywhere with the devil himself if he thought I was hurt and needed him. I bet Miss Margie would do about the same for you.”

 

“Well, sure, but. . .” Melody Ann hesitated, “there’s no way they wouldn’t know later that they had been tricked.”

 

“Nooo, but if they get themselves betrothed, most probably it will be like the first time in that everybody will be so excited they won’t think about being mad at us.”

 

“If they don’t?” Melody Ann now chewed on the nails of three fingers. 

 

Adam will kill me! Little Joe kept this thought silent. He saw nervous fear in the girl’s face and said, “I’ll try to take all the blame, Melody Ann. Folks will know it was my idea anyway. I’ll get them to let me take all the punishment.”

 

“No!” She shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t be right.”

 

Little Joe reached out and put his hand over the one that still rested in Melody Ann’s lap. “I figure getting Adam hitched to Miss Margie forever would be worth whatever punishment Pa or Adam gave me. It’s not like they wouldn’t forgive us.”

 

“I know they would forgive us.” Melody Ann gazed directly into Little Joe’s eyes. “Why are you so sure about it being the right thing to do?”

 

Little Joe gazed steadily back. “Adam never said one word about not loving Miss Margie, not one. If he didn’t love her, he would have said it straight out, ‘Joseph, just stop it because I don’t love Margie!’ but he didn’t because Adam doesn’t ever lie to me, not straight out. He loves her, Melody Ann. Did Miss Margie say she didn’t love Adam?”

 

“No.” Melody Ann shook her head. Then her eyes dropped to their hands, and Joe barely heard her say, “I think she’s always loved him.” Her eyes came up, and her hand turned to clasp Joe’s. “I’m in!”

 

Joe’s smile was dazzling. “Great! We’ve got some planning to do. It’s gonna be tough ‘cause Adam don’t trick easy, but we’ll get it done.” Little Joe enthusiastically slapped Melody Ann on the back, and then remembered suddenly that she was a girl and snatched back both his hands.

 

“That we will, Joe!” Melody Ann laughed and returned the gesture. For the first time in his life, Little Joe saw a touch of Margret Ann in her little sister.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

“Are you sure you can row all the way back yourself?”

 

Melody Ann snorted and flounced her head. “I’ve rowed back and forth to this island before, Little Joe.”

 

Ignoring her tone Little Joe continued, “And you know where to find Adam?”

 

Melody Ann rolled her eyes. “Yes. And I know what to tell him and what to do after I get him here.”

 

“And you’re sure there’s no way your pa will be home?”

 

“He left yesterday and won’t be home before Thursday. Even if something happened to make him turn around, he won’t be home before evening, or he would have been home yesterday.” Exasperation had driven Melody Ann’s hands to her hips.

 

“Then it’s now or never ‘cause we’ll never be able to get things set like this again,” Little Joe stated with a decisive nod. “Get in, and I’ll push you off.”

 

Melody Ann scrambled into the skiff. As she picked up the oars, she looked at Little Joe. “We are doing the right thing, aren’t we?”

 

Without hesitating, Joe stated, “We’re fixing a past wrong, Melody Ann, and someday Adam and Miss Margie will thank us for it.” He pushed the skiff into the water. I just wish there was a snowball’s chance in Hades that that someday would be today.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Adam heard her before he saw her, but it took a few seconds for him to recognize the girl that rode up screaming his name. He caught her horse’s bridle and cooed him to a standstill feeling the lather beneath his hand as he ran it down the equine neck.

 

“Melody Ann! What in the world?”

 

“Mr. Adam, you’ve got to come; you’ve got to come quick. He’s hurt! He needs you. You’ve got to come!” Melody Ann had ridden at a gallop, and the panting breaths that punctuated her words were real.

 

“Who needs me, child? Has something happened to your father?”

 

“No, no, it’s Little Joe. Little Joe needs you.” She saw the panic flicker in his eyes even as his voice grew cooler with precise control, and a tendril of regret circled her heart.

 

“Little Joe’s hurt.” He registered the girl’s nodded affirmation and began a silent prayer. “Take me to him.” He released the bridle of her horse and mounted Sport. Seconds later he was following Melody Ann toward the lake.

 

Adam saw Cochise and passed by Melody Ann headed for his brother’s horse. His eyes searched the area and spotted the skiff but found no signs of his brother. “Where’s Joe? Where is he?”

 

Coming to a halt, the girl answered, “On the island.”

 

Adam’s head snapped in the direction of the lake and gazed across the water. “The island?” He kept his curse soft enough that Melody Ann almost did not hear it.

 

“We were. . .” she began.

 

“Tell me as we go,” Adam snapped. He had dismounted and ground-tied Sport before Melody Ann could answer. Then he swung her from her horse in one motion. “Come on.”

 

With immediate obedience Melody Ann scrambled into the boat. Shoving it into the water, Adam heaved himself in. He grabbed the oars and began rowing. “What in the devil happened?”

 

“Well, umm, Little Joe and I, umm, we went out to the island.” Her voice was breathless, and her words came in spurts.

 

“Whatever for?”

 

“Umm, well, Little Joe and I, we were working together, well, you know, and then you and Margie both said no more. We didn’t have anything more to plan, and, well, talking to Margie reminded me about the island and that story about the treasure. Little Joe, well, he wanted to do something. I guess he was kinda bored, and he got the idea of us finding the treasure and all. I don’t know why; I guess I wanted some adventure too ‘cause everybody’s always saying how I’m, well, how I haven’t got much, umm, spunk, not like Margie or Missy even; I decided to go with him. I mean I didn’t really think we’d find anything like Joe did but I thought. . .”

 

Adam cut off her recital with a curt, “So you went to the island. What happened?”

 

Melody Ann bit her lip and drew in a deep breath. “Little Joe fell and hurt his leg.”

 

“He hurt his leg: How badly?”

 

“I think maybe it’s broke. I couldn’t. . .we tried a little but. . .Joe said it was too far to the skiff and that you were working close by. He said go and get you and things would be fine.”

 

Just fine! Adam remembered that Melody Ann was just a girl and swallowed the scathing remark that sprang to his lips. “And everything will be fine. You’ll show me where he is, and I’ll get him home.” He did not notice her lack of response, and neither of them spoke until the skiff reached the island’s shore.

 

Adam jump out and pulled the skiff onto the sand. He scanned the area and noticed the footprints, two sets headed away from shore and one returning to the water. Melody Ann jumped from the boat and stood beside Adam.

 

“Show me to Joe.” The command was curt, and Adam had already headed off toward the trees.

 

Swallowing hard, Melody Ann called, “This way.” She lifted her damp skirts and trudged from the beach. Good luck, Joe, and hurry!  She fought to keep her eyes from searching for her co-conspirator.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Little Joe made sure that Adam and Melody Ann were out of sight before he ran across the beach and pushed the skiff into the water. Pulling himself aboard, Joe grabbed the oars and began to row furiously. He did not take time to look back but focused on reaching Cochise as quickly as possible. Beaching the boat, he took time only to hide Sport from sight, and then he was in the saddle and headed toward the Raisfords’ ranch house. “Come on, Cooch! She’s not going to be able to keep him fooled for long.”

 

Little Joe gave a silent hallelujah when he saw Margie Rainsford at the nearest edge of the Rainsfords’ considerable garden. He started shouting her name immediately.

 

“Miss Margie! Miss Margie!” He halted Cochise with a flourish and immediately launched into his tale. “Melody Ann’s hurt! We went to the island for treasure, but she fell and hurt her leg. She’s calling for you.”

 

“Melody Ann’s hurt! On the island? But . . .we’ll need. . .”

 

“I said I’d bring you to her. You’ve got to come. Then I’ll go for help.”

 

“But. . .”

 

“She’s alone. She’s crying. She needs you. She needs you now!” Joe saw the panicked wavering in Margie’s eyes and urged her relentlessly. “She’s not bleeding. She needs you; then I’ll go. Come on! I’ll take you on Cochise.” He held out his arm as if the decision had already been made, and seconds later Margie was on Cochise headed for the lake.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Saints preserve me! Adam followed the thought with a mental curse. He looked for some sign that the two children had passed anywhere near his current position. Then he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning toward Melody Ann. “Are you sure this is the way you and Joe came?”

 

“Nooo!” The girl’s answer was a piercing wail followed by a burst of sobs. Adam grabbed her arms and then gained control of his temper before speaking.

 

“You have to calm down and think, Melly child.”

 

“I think. . .I don’t know. . .Joe was leading. . .” The girl spoke between sobs and seemed unable to complete a thought.

 

“Perhaps we should go back to the beach, and I’ll try tracking. . .”

 

“Nooo!” This wail was louder, longer, and sharper than her first. “I can find him. I can!” She took off at a dead run; Adam cursed and followed.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

There was no opportunity for conversation on the gallop to the lake. Little Joe hustled Margie into the skiff and set course for the island. With Margie’s first question, he began an unfocused soliloquy of half-sentences interspersed by pants. Deciding questions could wait, Margie insisted on helping with the rowing, and conversation ceased. When they beached the boat, Joe was on the beach and headed toward the trees in seconds calling for Margie to follow. Little Joe did not think Margie Rainsford would notice two different sets of boot prints, but he did not want to risk her glancing around the beach.

 

“Joe! Wait a second!” Margie called as she hurried after him impeded by her long skirts.

 

“Come on. This way!” Joe continued to rush forward knowing Margie would follow in his wake.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

How could I lose her! There was no reason he should have lost sight of the girl and no way she could have gone beyond the range of his shout, so how could he be standing wondering where in blazes Melody Ann had gone? Adam’s hand rose to pinch the bridge of his nose. If she’s not answering, it’s not because she can’t hear, it’s because   … The answer came to him full-blown, and his curse ricocheted off the surrounding rocks. I’ll kill them! Lord, I’ll kill them both and don’t you dare have mercy on their souls!

 

Adam’s call rivaled his father at his most commanding, in her hiding place Melody Ann shuddered at the sound. She bit her lip and wondered if Little Joe had had enough time to bring Margie to the island.

 

“Melody Ann Rainsford, you will come here, and you will come now! You’ll only make it worse for you and Joseph if you don’t.” Adam knew his voice would carry as far as needed.

 

Melody Ann chewed her fingernails for a few seconds and then decided. When Adam saw her emerge from a cleft in the rocks, a wave of relief washed over him, but it was immediately followed by repeating waves of anger. His fists clenched, and he remained silent as the girl walked slowly toward him.

 

“Joe’s not hurt.” It was a statement not a question, but she answered anyway.

 

“No, sir.” She seemed to wither and shrink beneath his glare.

 

“Where is he?”

 

“I’m not sure exactly.”

 

“He was to bring Margie here?” Adam’s voice was sharp enough to cut bread, and Melody Ann winced each time he spoke.

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

Adam forced himself to take a deep breath and release it slowly. “This was another of his matchmaking plots.” Melody Ann nodded her head. “I swear, when I get my hands on him …”

 

“It’s my fault too; it wasn’t just Little Joe; it’s my fault too.” Melody Ann looked up at Adam for the first time, and her eyes pled for mercy.

 

“Oh, I intend to deal with you too, little missy; don’t you think otherwise.” He reached out and took her by the arm and started back toward the beach.

 

Adam heard them before he could see them and called out, “Joe! Margie!” Melody Ann came to a dead stop. Adam called again, and a few seconds later Little Joe and Margie came into sight.

 

At the sound of Adam’s voice, Margie Rainsford had felt a flash of relief. It had lasted three seconds before the question of why on earth he would be on the island intruded. By the time they emerged from the trees, she was not surprised to see her sister standing a few yards behind Adam on two perfectly good legs.

 

“Adam,” Margie closed the distance between them swiftly while Little Joe trailed slowly behind, “She’s fine?”

 

“Obviously they are both fit as a fiddle for the moment.” Adam stared past Margie and settled a glare on his younger brother. His anger and the import of his final words were apparent to all.

 

Margie’s own anger flared, but one look at her cowed baby sister cooled it to a simmer. Setting her gaze on Adam, she shuddered and kept her place between the brothers as Adam began his advance.

 

“Adam, now, Adam, wait a minute.” She brought her hands up and placed them flat against his chest. “They didn’t. . .”

 

Adam caught her wrists and lifted her hands from his chest but stopped and looked down at her. “I’ll deal with this, and I assure you it will never happen again.” His voice was cold and even. Margie knew him well enough to recognize the depth of his rage.

 

“She told you he was hurt?”

 

“Then ran me around. . .”

 

“They didn’t realize. . .”

 

“Oh, they will. They most definitely will.”

 

“You’re too angry.”

 

“You’re not!”

 

“Of course, but. . . You have to calm down some before. . .”

 

“I kill him.” The words were delivered with a smooth coldness that would have convinced most people of Adam’s sincerity.

 

“Adam Cartwright, that’s enough of that kind of talk.”

 

Adam released Margie’s wrists and looked up for the first time since their conversation had begun. A growl left his throat as he realized his mistake. “Joe!” The curse that followed caused Margie’s jaw to drop. Adam turned three-hundred and sixty degrees and realized that not only his brother but also Melody Ann had disappeared.

 

Margie’s eyes had followed his. “They’re gone.” It was somewhere between a question and an exclamation. “Lord in heaven, I may let you at them both.”

 

Adam looked down at her flushed face and flaming eyes. The wind ruffled the stray curls that had escaped from her coiled braids. For a moment his only thought was how softly her hair used to curl around his fingers. “I would have had him if you hadn’t stopped me.”

 

Lifting her gaze to his face, Margie replied, “And the sheriff would have had you before sundown. Murder is murder even if the victim is your little brother.”

 

“Pa would never file charges for simple assault.”

 

“No, Mr. Ben never would; he’d handle your simple assault himself.”

 

Adam allowed himself an exaggerated sigh. “There is that. Hoss would be none too pleased either; he has an unreasonable fondness for the boy.”

 

“Come to think of it, Papa’s awfully fond of Melody Ann.” Margie cocked her head and studied Adam. “He’d file charges against you, and I never was as good at assault as you are.”

 

Adam rolled his eyes. “You had your moments and a great deal of potential.” He could not prevent a wicked smile from appearing on his face.

 

She slapped the back of her hand against his stomach and with more weariness than grace sank to the ground. “They wanted us to have time alone together here. Eventually they will reappear.”

 

Adam dropped down to sit beside her. “Their reappearance may be debatable. It would make better sense to wait on the beach.”

 

“Let me catch my breath first.”

 

“Sure.” He leaned back on his elbow and spent the next minute studying her profile.

 

“Little Joe won’t be too scared to make an appearance, will he?” Margie inquired with a touch of worry.

 

“He had to know that at some point the truth would be clear and that he would have to face me. Melody Ann knows I wouldn’t really kill her, doesn’t she?”

 

“She knows I wouldn’t let you.”

 

“Well, then that’s that.” He lay flat and stared up at the sky. “They’re nothing if not persistent, though.”

 

“Melody Ann always liked you.”

 

“Little Joe thought you were the next best thing to rock candy the way you pampered and petted him.” There was a slight accusation in Adam’s tone.

 

“Is that so, and just how much time did Melly spend in your lap getting cuddled, not to mention how you cosseted Martha, Millie, and Missy.” Margie’s voice became edged with indignation as she spoke.

 

“I never baked them cookies; you must have baked hundreds for Hoss.” Adam had risen to a seated position.

 

“Sweets for the sweet they say, Hoss was always the sweetest Cartwright.” She turned at the waist and gave him a look he had not seen in years.

 

“Sure about that are you?” He leaned forward and placed a hand on each of her arms.

 

“Absolutely.” As he pulled her to him, her eyes gleamed. “But I was always one to prefer a little spice.” She made no effort to resist his kiss, but then she never had.

 

Adam released her and ran his tongue over his lips. “No strawberries; this time it’s blackberry preserves.”

 

In their hiding place, Little Joe and Melody Ann heard the mingled laughter and smiled.

 

“We’ll go down and wait by the beach. Down where I hid before,” Little Joe whispered into Melody Ann’s ear. She nodded, and they began to quietly head toward the cove where the skiff was beached.

 

Margie mine. The words echoed in Adam’s mind and played with images of a laughing girl. He reached out slowly and touched a stray curl wrapping it around his finger. Somehow the act seemed filled with a deeper familiarity than their kiss. Margie’s teeth sunk into her lower lip.

 

“Adam.” His name was little more than an exhalation. Then Margie rose to her feet in one swift move. “It’s time we headed to the beach.” Her voice had a breathless quality, but she followed words with action and began walking away from him. Having little choice, Adam followed. As they walked, Adam scanned the sky and pushed other thoughts from his mind with a new worry as he watched the thunderheads build.

 

The beach was empty when they arrived. Adam called Joe’s name, but the rising wind seemed to swirl it around and toss it away.

 

“Little Joe! Melody Ann!” Margie’s call followed Adam’s. She looked at him when there was no response. She tried again. “Come on. We need to leave now.”

 

“Actually, it’s already too late to try leaving the island, but we do need to leave this beach.” Adam gazed around again and bellowed, “Now, Joseph! Don’t make me call again.”

 

Little Joe and Melody Ann appeared just as the first drops of rain began to fall.

 

“Hey, Adam.” Little Joe’s greeting held a forced cheerfulness. A roll of thunder swallowed his brother’s first response, and then the deluge began in earnest.

 

“Come on!” Adam grabbed Little Joe and Melody Ann each by the arm and trusted Margie to follow. The cave to which he led them was little more than an elongated hollow in the rock, but several feet of granite would protect them from the lightening and cover them from the rain.

 

Bending over to keep from hitting his head, Adam pushed both kids inside and then pulled Margie around him and urged her forward. Thunder exploded followed by a flash that cast shadows through the cave. Melody Ann screamed, and Margie wrapped her arm around her sister. Little Joe had jumped, and even Adam took an involuntary step away from the entrance. Then the four of them stood silent as the rain fell in sheets. Adam drew in a long breath. He had to stand with his head slightly bowed as the roof of the cave was several inches lower than he would have liked.  Perhaps that was the reason his eyes settled on the water pudding beneath the girls’ skirts. They were all not simply wet but drenched and dripping. The thought caused Adam to sink his teeth into his lower lip. There’s not a blame thing to burn in here, and nothing will be dry enough out there until hours after we’re gone! 

 

“I don’t see any reason for us to stand the entire time.” Margie’s voice attempted to hit a light note but managed only to sound thin.

 

Adam appeared to ignore the statement. “You and Melly are soaked.” He cleared his throat. “It would be a good idea if you took, well, your dresses are just going to hold water.” He cleared his throat again. “It’s not as if, well, it’s not as if you wouldn’t have anything on.”

 

Margie’s lips curled up slightly as she saw a hint of red shade Adam’s cheeks while Little Joe’s eyes grew two inches wider. Then she shook her head. “When white cotton’s wet; it amounts to the same thing.”

 

Adam rubbed his chin. “You’re wet clear through?” Margie nodded. “Well, take off your petticoats then. No chance of anything drying if you don’t.”

 

“Actually, you’re right,” Margie declared resignedly.

 

“Margie!” Melody Ann flushed as she stared at the Cartwright brothers.

 

“Don’t be a priss, Melody Ann.” Margie slipped behind her sister. Her hands went to Melody Ann’s waist and seconds later yards of wet cotton dropped to the ground around her feet. Then Margie reached behind her back and managed to unfasten her own petticoats allowing them to drop also. Stepping free of them, she leaned over and gathered up the wet garments. Cocking her head and gazing appraisingly at Adam, she smiled. “You and Little Joe would dry faster without your shirts,” she observed, “or you pants, for that matter.”

 

Adam had seen the same challenge in her eyes many times. He returned a wry smirk. “True.” He began unbuttoning his shirt.

 

“Adam!” Little Joe said his brother’s name with the same shock that Melody Ann had used for her sister’s.

 

“Shirts only, Joe. Even ladies see a man shirtless from time to time.” Adam‘s eyes followed his words, and when he saw the embarrassment on Little Joe’s face, he was just angry enough to add, “For that matter, you could actually doff those pants. After all, both Margie and Melly have already seen you in the all together.”

 

Little Joe’s cheeks flamed, but all he managed to sputter was “Never!”

 

Margie’s grin broadened. “I’m afraid it’s true, Little Joe.”

 

Melody Ann stared at her sister and then shook her head vehemently. “I never!”

 

“You might not remember, little sister, but you did. Though to be fair, I have to admit Little Joe saw you the same way.” Margie’s laughter echoed Adam’s before she added, “He was all of two, and you had just turned three.”

 

“We didn’t have time to heat two tubs of water, and Marie would have blamed me for Joe getting in that mud puddle.”

 

“I should have known better than to let Missy keep an eye on you. She was the most irresponsible child in the territory.”

 

Adam’s gazed settled obviously on Little Joe. “At least she was at the time.”

 

Little Joe snorted and turned his back to his brother.

 

“Your shirt, Joe.” Adam’s own shirt was already held in his hands. He turned toward the entrance and stepped forward. Then he twisted the shirt in his hands as the water ran in rivulets to the granite below. He shook it out as Little Joe slapped his own shirt against Adam’s arm. Adam took it and wrung it out. Then he demanded the girl’s petticoats.

 

“We can see to our own things.”

 

“Don’t be a priss, Margie. I can get it done twice as well with half the effort.” He held out his hands toward her. Margie looked at the long, strong fingers, shrugged, and handed him the petticoats watching silently as he wrung the water from her underwear. After laying the wet garments out against the walls on either side of the entrance, Adam turned back to his companions.   With a sweeping gesture he announced, “Like Margie said, there’s no reason for us to stand.” They settled in a row: Adam nearest the entrance, then Little Joe, Melody Ann, and up against the back wall Margie.

 

They listened to the storm, cast glances at one another, and said nothing. Melody Ann curled up against her sister and buried her head in Margie’s shoulder.   Margie slipped her arm around Melody Ann’s waist and leaned against the granite wall.   Little Joe drew his knees up under his chin and rested his head on his arms. Adam stretched out his legs and brought his hand to rub his temple in slow circles. He tried closing his eyes but found himself glancing down at his brother repeatedly.

 

He looks like a half-drowned puppy. Adam bit the inside of his lower lip. Miserable and scared. His eyes traveled to Melody Ann. She’s crying” Adam’s eyes found Margie’s. I know! I know! I don’t really intend to kill them, and if we all die of pneumonia, Lord, go ahead and have mercy on their souls.

 

An hour later Melody Ann had cried herself into a fitful doze, and Little Joe had relaxed enough to slump against his brother with closed eyes and even breaths. The storm had increased in fury, and the resulting noise made reasonable conversation impossible. Adam watched Margie aimlessly pleat the folds of her skirt and sighed. Then a wry smile twisted his lips. For all your efforts, little cupids, you ended up becoming two very effective chaperones. His soft chuckle came between peals of thunder and managed to draw Margie’s eyes to his. His chin jerked ever so slightly toward the two bodies that separated them, and Margie smiled and shrugged.

 

Adam returned the smile and let his head fall back against the rock behind him. Closing his eyes, he allowed memories to drift across his eyelids: Margie laughing, Margie dancing, Margie shepherding her little sisters, Margie cuddling a two-year-old Joe and kissing his skinned knee, Margie teaching Hoss to dance a reel, Margie throwing a book at his head, Margie the moment before he first kissed her and the moment after she said she would be his wife. Little Joe stirred, and Adam opened his eyes. The thunder had grown softer and more distant, but the rain still drummed.

 

“Adam.” Joe’s voice managed to reach his brother’s ears without being discernable to either of the Rainsford sisters. Adam dipped his head closer to his brother’s. “I.. I’m s sss…I’m sorry.”

 

Adam released a slow breath. “I forgive you.”

 

“You’re still mad.” It was as much a question as a statement because Joe desperately wanted Adam’s denial.

 

“Yes.” Adam felt the shudder that ran through Little Joe at his affirmation.

 

Little Joe pulled away slightly, glanced toward the girls, and then leaned closer putting his mouth next to Adam’s ear. “It was my fault, Adam, my idea. Don’t. . .”

 

Adam’s finger came up against Joe’s lips. “When we get home.” Joe opened his mouth to speak, but the look on his brother’s face closed it. He swallowed convulsively and slumped against the cave wall. The rain continued for two hours more.

 

When the rain had settled into drips, Adam picked up their wet clothes and led the bedraggled group down to the beach. He and Little Joe made quick work of rowing the skiff back to the spot where the horses had been tied. The trip was marked only by the lack of conversation, each of them speaking only out of necessity. Adam swung Melody Ann and then Margie out of the boat as Joe scrambled toward the horses. Luckily all three had remained safely tethered.

 

“You’re father’s gone until tomorrow?” Margie had mentioned her father’s business trip earlier, but Adam still asked for confirmation.

 

“Thursday or the day after.”

 

“Well, at least he hasn’t been worrying.” Adam’s observation carried a sharp edge as he knew his own father would be worried if not about his eldest at least about his baby. Melody Ann’s chin dropped, and Joe shifted nervously. Margie sent Adam a sharp glance. Adam announced his decision. “You and Melly will go with us to the Ponderosa.” He turned and began stuffing the wet clothes he carried into Sports’ saddle bags.

 

“Adam, we…”

 

His interruption was peremptory. “I’ll send a couple of hands to tend to whatever is necessary. Now let’s see. . .”

 

“Oh, you will, will you?” Margie’s voice and posture bristled.

 

“Yes, I shall, and yes, you will.” Adam glared down at her.

 

Margie rolled her eyes, dropped a curtsey, and said in an overly simpering manner, “As you say, your lordship.”

 

Adam gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes. Then with a large smirk, he swept Margie into his arms and then onto Sport’s back. Mounting behind her, he pinned her in place with his arms, and stared down at his brother. “Help Melly.” The words snapped Little Joe into action and mere seconds later the group was headed toward the ranch house.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Ben Cartwright had indeed been worrying, and the sound of horses brought him immediately onto the porch followed by Hoss.

 

“What in blazes!” Ben muttered to himself as the bedraggled bunch came to a halt in front of the barn. “Adam!” The name rang through the yard. Still sitting in front of Adam on Sport, Margie felt his reaction.

 

“Everything’s fine, Pa,” Adam reassured at an equal volume swinging to the ground.

 

Ben approached with Hoss in his wake. Both sets of eyes scanned each member of the returning group as Adam set Margie on her feet, and Little Joe scrambled to help Melody Ann dismount. Seeing no obvious signs of injury, Ben growled, “Is that so?”

 

Margie made her voice both cheerful and soothing. “We’re all fine, Mr. Ben, just a little wet. I hope you don’t mind damp dinner guests.” She managed to stop Ben’s advance by placing herself in his path. When he stopped, she tilted her head back to smile directly into his face.

 

Ben smiled back. “No, no, my dear! You know you are always most welcome at our table.” Glancing at Melody Ann, he added, “Any and all of the Rainsfords have a standing invitation.” His voice was welcoming, but his eyes sent a piercing look toward his eldest.

 

“Actually, Margie and Melody Ann will be staying the night. Hoss, would you let Hop Sing know. First though, they’ll need hot baths and, umm, dry clothes, I don’t know what. . .” Adam made a dismissive gesture. “Oh, Hop Sing will find something.”

 

“Sure, brother,” Hoss replied though his reluctance to leave the scene without an explanation was evident. “Things’ll be ready for you and the little gal quick as a wink, Miss Margie.” Margie sent him a warm smile, and he departed to his assigned task.

 

“Margie, you and Melly go on inside. Joe and I’ll see to the horses,” Adam directed sending Margie a message with a look.

 

She studied his eyes for a moment and then glanced from son to father and back again before acquiescing. “Come on, Melly.” She took a few steps toward the house and then paused. “You both need to get out of those wet clothes and into a hot bath too, Adam.”

 

Adam followed Margie’s gaze to settle on his little brother. “Actually, I can handle the horses. Little Joe, you get to the wash house now. Hop Sing will send out some dry things.”

 

Little Joe shifted nervously. “I can help with the horses first.”

 

Adam shook his head. “No, no, go on and get in a hot tub.”

 

When Joe started to speak, Adam’s “Now!” and their father’s “Go!” sent the boy off without another word.

 

Adam looked at his father and said softly, “I do need to see to the horses.” He turned toward the barn. Ben said nothing.   He only took the reins of the Rainsford’s mare and followed his son inside.

 

“Adam, I want an explanation, but I have a feeling this is going to be a long story.”

 

Adam’s hand went to the bridge of his nose. “Actually, Pa…”

 

“No,” Ben interrupted, “Margie was right. You need to get out of those clothes and try to ward off a chill as much as the girls and your brother.”

 

“I’m fine, Pa. I can. . .”

 

“You can do as I say.” Ben’s eyes snapped along with his voice. Then it softened. “I’ll see to the horses and wait for my explanations. Unless there’s something. . .”

 

“No, no, Pa, there’s no problem. Really, we are all fine except for a drenching. Hot baths and some hot food will set everything to rights.”

 

Something in Adam’s voice or eyes caused Ben’s eyebrow to rise slowly. “This is one of your little brother’s messes?”

 

Adam’s right hand tugged his left ear as his eyes dropped to the floor. “All’s well that ends well, Pa.”

 

“I’ll be the one deciding how this ends for your brother.”

 

“Pa, umm, actually I think, well, I think after you hear the story you’ll agree that, well, that this time it’s my, umm, place to deal with Little Joe.”

 

“Perhaps.” Ben watched Adam tug his ear again. “But that can wait. Get to the wash house, boy.”

 

“Yes, sir.” Adam managed to infuse the two words with a youthful cockiness Ben had not heard from him in a dozen years.

 

As Adam turned his back to his father, Ben resisted the urge to forget that his eldest was totally grown. He shook his head and started tending the three long suffering horses.

 

Adam detoured to the bunk house in order to send two hands over to the Rainsford’s ranch. Then he strode over to the wash house and walked inside. Little Joe was soaking in the smaller tub while steam rose from the already filled larger one.

 

“Adam.” Little Jo’s voice was barely a whisper.

 

“Don’t.” Adam’s response was not harsh only firm. “We are going to soak in silence. We are going to eat a pleasant meal. We are going to inform our father of the circumstances that have lead to our having house guests, and if I have my way, we will deal with everything else tomorrow. Is that clear?” Adam had finished peeling off his wet pants and slipped into the hot water.

 

“Yes, but. . .”

 

“That is not a word I would be using in my presence if I were you. Make sure to wash your hair.” Adam leaned back against the high curve of the tub and closed his eyes.

 

Little Joe closed his mouth and sighed. He’s mad. He’s really, really mad.

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

They managed to have Adam’s pleasant meal mainly because Margie kept an almost constant flow of pleasant chatter going between herself and Ben Cartwright with occasional asides to Hoss who recognized a diversion when he saw one and gamely tried to assist Margie’s. Little Joe and Melody Ann focused on not being noticed and spoke only when politeness required while Adam watched Margie sitting at the dining table in an old night shirt of his, an old robe of his father’s, and pair of Joe’s socks with her damp hair plaited down her back. He marveled at her ability to still play the charming dinner guest.

 

She’s got Pa smiling and relaxed. Not that he’s going to stay that way, mind you, but at least I won’t be starting my story staring into a scowl. Of course the fact that she was always awfully good at bringing out his soft side saved my hide more than once. Adam reached for his wine, and catching Margie’s eye raised his glass ever so slightly and smiled.

 

Margie swallowed the last bite of her cobbler and set down her fork. She drew in a slow breath and then said, “I don’t think I can eat another bite. Melody Ann, are you finished eating?”

 

“Yes.” Melody Ann’s eyes remained fixed on the table.

 

“Then you can take your dishes out to the kitchen and tell Hop Sing you’ll be clearing the table and doing the dishes.”

 

“Little Joe will help,” Adam interjected immediately. “Won’t you, Joe?”

 

“Uhh. I mean, yes, yes, I will.” Little Joe recognized his chance at escape and was on his feet in a second. “Come on, Melody Ann. Should we tell Hop Sing to bring out coffee?”

 

“Yes, Joseph. We’ll have it by the fire.” Ben rose and gave his hand to Margie. She let him escort her to the settee. Adam followed remaining on his feet as Ben settled into his favorite chair. Hoss decided to simply stay at the table with a second helping of cobbler thinking that way he could hear everything without being in the line of fire.

 

Ben did not speak until the coffee had been brought and the table cleared. Then he cleared his throat. “I take it the two of you will be giving the explanation.” His face and his voice had both become stern.

 

Adam tried leaning nonchalantly against the settee but then straightened and jammed his hands into his back pockets. “I guess we are.”

 

“Now, Mr. Ben, it’s not that bad, really. Some of it’s a little funny actually.” Margret Ann’s tone had a forced lightness which withered under the look Ben sent her way. It was a look she remembered all too well from her youth, and she dropped her eyes to the floor. Tilting her head slightly and glancing up at Adam, she saw a glare that caused her eyes to widen. She shrugged slightly and subsided into silence.

 

“Adam?” Ben’s patience had clearly reached its limit.

 

“Well, it’s this way, Pa. I told you before that Little Joe had been trying his hand at matchmaking. I thought I’d made myself clear on that subject but apparently not.” Adam paused checking his father’s face for a reaction.

 

“This has something to do with Little Joe playing Cupid?”

 

“Yes, and, well, since it involves Margie and me and what I told him not to do, well, that‘s why I think that this time I, well, that you should allow me to handle the consequences.” Adam moved to turn toward the kitchen but stopped at the sound of his father’s voice.

 

“Not before I know exactly what those consequences are for.”

 

Recognizing that retreat was impossible, Adam sat down on the hearth and gave his father a succinct account of the day’s adventure. Ben did not interrupt even once, but his eyes grew progressively darker, and his brow drew into an ever-deepening v.

 

“Was Hoss involved?” They all heard Hoss choke on his cobbler at that question.

 

“Little Joe said Hoss didn’t know anything about this plan.” Adam answered and heard his middle brother’s chair scrape against the floor as Hoss rose and departed.

 

Adam fixed his eyes on his father’s and said simply, “Let me handle it, Pa.”

 

Ben sighed. “I’ll leave Little Joe to you. Melody Ann, well, that is another matter. Andrew. . .”

 

Margie interrupted, “Papa, well, you know how he felt about things when Adam and I were the ones getting each other in trouble. I truly think he would trust Adam to deal with all of it.”

 

Adam gave Margie an appraising look. I didn’t think you were mad enough to throw your baby sister to the wolves, or do you just think that in the end I’ll go easier on her than your pa?

 

Ben stood and looked down at Margie. “Melody Ann was in your charge?”

 

“Yes, so Papa would say the decision is mine.”

 

“I plan to discuss things thoroughly with Margret Ann tonight and deal with the children in the morning.” Adam used Margie’s full name and emphasized the word children ever so slightly.

 

Ben noticed that Adam’s hand had settled on Margie’s shoulder, and that they both seemed quite comfortable with that fact. “Very well then. Margret Ann, if you will excuse me, I’ll send the two of them up to bed when they finish and retire myself.”

 

“Of course, Mr. Ben, and thank you for everything,” Margie smiled.

 

Adam picked up a cup and went to his favorite chair as his father left the room. He sipped his coffee in silence. While he drank, he studied Margie as the firelight flickered across her hair and the lines of her bent head. She sat with her feet curled beneath her holding the coffee cup not drinking but only running her thumb around the rim.

 

“They didn’t. . .I mean they just. . .” Her voice was hesitant, and her eyes remained downcast.

 

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” At his slightly acerbic observation, Margie’s head snapped up and a glare shot from her eyes.

 

“You’re really going to punish them for a harmless prank?”

 

He arched his eyebrow. “Harmless?”

 

“Basically.” She bit the corner of her lower lip. “You saw them, Adam. They were as miserable as we were.”

 

His eyebrow inched higher. “Were they?”

 

Her hand moved dismissively. “They’re children; that’s something they don’t really understand.”

 

“They are old enough to understand no, and I made it clear to Joe that he was not. . .”

 

She cut him off. “Fine, but you don’t have to. . .”

 

“I’m not really going to kill them.” Adam’s back had stiffened, and his voice dripped ice water.

 

“Just make them wish you had.” Margie’s voice had grown brittle.

 

Adam rose. “I’ll leave Melody Ann to your coddling then, but Joe. . .”

 

“That wouldn’t be fair. Blast, Adam, they won’t try anything like that again either of them. You’ve made enough of an impression already; it’s not necessary. . .”

 

Adam’s hands settled on his hips. “Little Joe is going to have a greater impression made on his backside. I. . .”

 

“Have obviously forgotten that you played a few pranks yourself.”

 

“And paid the piper every time I got caught.”

 

“Every time?” Margie spat the inquiry at Adam.

 

“Yes, every time I was caught out I paid the price.” The declaration was low and definite.

 

“How selective memory becomes. I know at least one time when you managed to avoid the piper. Of course, you had to ask me to marry you to do it.” The edge on her voice was razor-sharp.

 

His right hand came in front of his chest and wagged a finger back and forth. “Wrong, wrong, wrong, Margret Ann. I assure you that was one tanning I’ll never forget.”

 

Her eyes grew round, and her mouth opened with a soft exhalation of air and emotion. “You told me you didn’t get a whipping.”

 

He closed the gap between them. “No, I told you a few things that let you believe that Pa let me off the hook.” He saw the sheen that formed in her eyes and went down on his heels. “I wanted to maintain a little dignity; I was newly betrothed after all.”

 

Her chin dropped, and she stared at her hands. “I am sorry.”

 

“It was ages ago.” Adam reached out and placed his hand over Margie’s.

 

“It was my idea.”

 

“I was more than willing.”

 

“Still. . .”

 

He shook his head and laughed softly. “I can punish you too if you’re feeling that guilty.”

 

She smiled and shook her head. Then she looked at him through lowered lashes and asked, “Too?”

 

An exasperated sigh escaped Adam’s lips. “Margret Ann Rainsford, your children will be spoiled beyond measure. They won’t have to wrap their father around their fingers; they’ll have you to do it for them.”

 

She bit her lip and studied his eyes. “I suppose that depends on their father. You still plan to punish them, don’t you?”

 

“Yes, Joe definitely, Melly if you trust me too.”

 

“I trust you, Adam; you know I do.”

 

His hand tightened on hers, and he pondered the taste of cherry cobbler mixed with port wine. Leaning toward her, he was startled when she slid away and stood.

 

“It’s settled then. Good night, Adam.” She was already moving toward the stairs.

 

He stood and watched her go. He was alone in the great room when Hoss slipped back in the door.

 

“Folks all gone up to bed?”

 

“Yes. No, you’re not in trouble with Pa.” Adam set down the book he had not been reading.

 

Hoss crossed the room and took a seat on the hearth. “I thought Joe had listened to ya, Adam; I told him to. I didn’t have no idea he’d do something like this.”

 

Adam saw the concern in his brother’s face. “I didn’t think you did. You’re not in trouble with me either, little brother.” Adam smiled, but it faded quickly.

 

“You’re still mad though.”

 

“Not nearly as angry as I was before.”

 

“But you’re still planning on handing out the comeuppance.” It was a statement that Hoss obviously wished he could have posed as a question.

 

Adam rolled his eyes. “Not you too. Margie would have me let them off with a finger-wagging ‘Naughty, naughty, children! You’re never to do that again.’”

 

“Maybe they don’t need no more than a scolding not to do the same again.”

 

“They’re getting more than a scolding in the morning, and that’s that.”

 

“They just. . .”

 

“They lied to us.”

 

“You’ve lied before, Adam. Everybody lies if they think they have good reason.”

 

Adam snorted. “Hoss. . . “

 

“It ain’t the lying, though, is it?” Hoss saw affirmation flicker in his brother’s eyes. “It’s the scaring ya. It’s the hurting they caused ya when ya thought they were on that island hurt and needing ya.”

 

Adam rose in one swift motion and strode past Hoss to stare toward the empty dining room. “You don’t know. . .he hurt Margie with his lie, Hoss. He’s old enough to have seen that and stopped it then and there, but he let her suffer.”

 

“Same as Melody Ann let you.”

 

“Yes.” The word was ground out between clenched teeth.

 

“Ya gonna forgive him?” Hoss’s inquiry drew a sigh from Adam.

 

“Of course. He is my baby brother.”

 

“Who believes you love her; believes ya love each other. Ya know, I kinda keep getting that idea from time to time myself.”

 

Adam turned to face Hoss.   “You do?”

 

“Ya keep doing things that would make it seem so, and I ain’t talking about your kissing her. You’re getting ready to blister Joe for hurting her feelings, ain’t ya?”

 

“I’ve never thought Joe should get away with hurting people.”

 

“No, no, ya ain’t, but you didn’t sound the same just now as when you said Joe deserved a tanning for embarrassing Miss Jones.” Hoss rose and walked toward the stairs. Then he stopped and looked back at Adam. “The nudging and pushing and trying to trick ya was wrong, and I guess as how they might deserve a spanking for the lying and all, but they don’t deserve all that anger ‘cause if their reasons was wrong, well, that’s partly your and Miss Margie’s fault.” Hoss did not wait for a reply but mounted the stairs two at a time leaving Adam opened-mouthed though silent in the fire-lit room.

 

Two brandies later, Adam went to his own room. Lighting the lamp, he turned the wick down until there was only a soft glow. Then he took off his boots and stretched out on the bed. Crossing his arms behind his head, he stared at the moonlight splashing the opposite wall. When he heard the door creak open, he ran the list of possibilities through his mind.

 

“Joe?”

 

The indistinct form of his brother slipped through the barely open door.

 

“Adam, I…”

 

Adam gestured with his entire arm, and Little Joe walked slowly over to the bed.

 

“You’re barefoot.”

 

“Didn’t think about slippers.”

 

“You never do.” Adam patted the mattress, and Joe settled himself at the foot of the bed with his knees drawn up beneath his chin.

 

“I’m sorry, Adam. Really, I am.”

 

“I know. I forgive you.”

 

“You’re still mad.” Little Joe had learned to read his brother’s voice unerringly.

 

“Do you understand why?”

 

“You told me to stop.” When Adam did not respond, Little Joe continued, “We tricked you. . .we lied. . .and, well, we scared ya both.” Adam’s sigh was audible to his brother. “That ain’t all of it though, I guess.”

 

“No, that’s not all of it.”

 

Little Joe’s words were low and hesitant. “I, well, I told Melody Ann when we were. . . well, I told her that you would go anywhere with the devil himself to help me if you thought I was hurt.”

 

“You know I would, little brother.”

 

“And Miss Margie’s the same about her sisters, about Melody Ann, and we,” Little Joe’s voice faltered as he tried to swallow the lump rising in his throat, “we used that against you. It was real wrong; it was a . . .” Joe searched for a word and grabbed the best one he knew. “It was a betrayal.” Joe slipped from the bed and started toward the door, but Adam caught him by the waist and pulled the boy to him.

 

His mouth next to Little Joe’s ear, Adam breathed out the words, “Not betrayal, Joe, but you understand the wrong of it?”

 

“Yes. I won’t. . .never again, Adam.”

 

“I forgive you, and I’m not angry anymore.”

 

Joe leaned into his brother and for a minute their breaths came slow and easy and in perfect harmony.

 

“Adam,” his voice the softest whisper Joe continued, “I believed you loved her, or I wouldn’t have done it. Melody Ann said she had always loved you. We would never have done it except for that.”

 

“I know. Joe, what’s between a man and a woman, well, it’s best left between the two.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Adam patted his brother’s back. “Go back to bed now.”

 

Joe straightened. “Adam, I know what I got coming, but, well, Melody Ann… I mean it was my idea, and she…well, it was my idea, and she’s a girl.”

 

“Girls are quite capable of saying no, Joseph. Melody Ann could have said no. Pa never let Hoss off the hook just because it was my idea or yours.” Adam’s authoritarian tone filled his voice.

 

“Nooo, he never did, but. . .you think Mr. Rainsford. . . you think you should be the one to punish Melody Ann?”

 

“I would never have said I would if I thought Mr. Rainsford would object. I wouldn’t do it if Margret Ann thought he would, or if she asked me to leave it to their pa. I won’t if Melody Ann says she would rather I leave it to her father.”

 

“She’s got a choice?”

 

“Yes. So do you, Joe. If you ask me, I’ll leave it to Pa.”

 

Little Joe chewed his lower lip. “I. . .I. . .” His fingers plucked at the bed quilt. “I guess, well. . .it’s right I should answer to you.”

 

Adam’s hand stilled his brother’s. “Will you sleep tonight if we wait until the morning to settle up?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“First thing in the morning then.”

 

“Okay.” Joe slipped from the bed. “Good night, big brother.”

 

“Good night, Little Buddy.”

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

Adam undressed and donned a nightshirt in deference to their guests.   Blowing out the lamp, he stretched out beneath the covers and waited for sleep to come in slow easy stages. Memories flickered, and voices echoed randomly through his thoughts as his breathing slowed.   A sense of stillness grew in the room as the shadow of a flying owl passed the window.   Suddenly the bed creaked with the abruptness of his rising. His feet slapped the floor as his hand rose to the bridge of his nose. Only a soft expletive was actually vocalized, but his thoughts coalesced vehemently.

 

Lord God in Heaven, she thinks she trapped me! That I only. . .that she. . . His hand massaged his temple, and a low, wry, mirthless chuckle escaped his throat. Saints preserve us from our own stupidity!

 

~€~€~€~€~€~

 

The sky was blue and white without a lingering trace of pink, but drops of dew still dampened the greenery, and the fresh chill of early morning had yet to depart. As Adam’s long strides carried him down the path, he whistled softly a tune he had neither played nor sung in a decade. He stopped at the edge of the trees and found her where he had expected. A grin lifted the corner of his mouth, and he made his steps light and silent. Standing behind the boulder on which Margie perched gazing across the meadow, he reached out and around to place his palms flat against her eyes. “Guess who?”

 

“The Lord High Executioner?”

 

His hands dropped to his sides. “Do you really think of me that way?”

 

She turned at the waist to look into his face. Her teeth peeked out and bit into her lower lip; then her eyes sparkled. “No, but I’ve a feeling Melly might.”

 

“Really?” His eyebrow rose.

 

“For a while anyway.”   She slid her body around to face him. “You could have relented.”

 

“I didn’t.” His arms crossed on his chest. “They’re punished, deservedly so I might add, forgiven totally, and recovering nicely from their guilt.”

 

“Is that so?” It was her eyebrow that rose this time.

 

“Yes, and don’t you dare go coddling them, Margret Ann, at least not today.” His commanding tone caused her eyebrow to rise higher.

 

“Will you glare at me until I promise, or will a simple ‘Yes, sir’ do?”

 

He leaned against the boulder. “No one ever coddled us after, and we survived.”

 

She gazed at him from the side of her eyes and then placed her hand on his arm. “I shouldn’t make it harder for you. I’m sorry if I did.”

 

Adam shook his head. “I could have left it to our fathers. It’s not like I don’t know they would have made a good job of it.”

 

“Now, Adam, Mr. Ben didn’t beat you that regularly.” Her voice teased, and her hand slapped his arm lightly.

 

He grinned. “Nawww, not nearly as regularly as I deserved.”   He cocked his head and gazed at her. “I didn’t speak the whole truth a moment ago when I said no one ever coddled us. I remember a few times when you coddled me.”

 

“Purely out of guilt, I’m sure. Mr. Ben always seemed to think it was your idea, Papa too.”

 

“It’s that totally guileless innocence you fake so well.”

 

“You’re just jealous that I was always better at deception than you.”

 

Adam’s tone went from teasing to totally serious. “Perhaps we’ve both been far too good at deception, Margie mine.”

 

Her eyes widened and then dropped to the ground. How long has it been since he’s called me that? She answered without looking at him. “Whatever do you mean?”

 

A hand on each shoulder turned her toward him.   “I wanted to marry you, Margret Ann. My desire for you was more than…, well, I wanted you for my wife. I’ve done quite a few things to avoid Pa’s ire and a few to avoid public condemnation, but asking you to marry me was never one of them.”

 

Her smile was wistful. “That was a long time ago. We were too young for marrying. . . for giving up other dreams.”

 

“You thought I wanted Harvard more than I wanted you?”

 

She shook her head. “Maybe, I. . .Adam, I wanted you for myself, but I wanted the world for you.”

 

His hand went to her face and cupped her cheek. “I came home, Margie.”

 

“To your father and brothers.”

 

“You never called me anything but an old friend.”

 

“Better friendship than nothing.”

 

His thumb stroked the line of her jaw and caught the tear that slid down her cheek.

 

“You loved me.”

 

“We were children.”

 

“But you loved me.”

 

“I loved you.”

 

“And I loved you. I loved you then with all my heart, I love you now with all I am, and I shall love you always with my entire soul.” He released her to go to his knee at her feet. Taking her hand in his, he gazed up into her eyes. “Will you, Margret Ann Rainsford, take me to be your lawful wedded husband?” Her mouth opened, but she didn’t speak. He filled his eyes with more pleading than they had ever held. “Please, Margie, say you’ll marry me.”

 

“I, I . . .”

 

“Melly told Joe you’ve always loved me.”

 

“I have, but. . .”

 

“Then marry me.” He rose and encircled her waist with his arms. “Won’t you please, Margie mine?”

 

“Yes.”

 

He pulled her close, his kiss slow and long. When he released her, he laughed. “Strawberries! Wild strawberries!”

 

Her smile dazzled. “There were a few over near the creek.”

 

He lifted her into his arms, stepped away from the boulder, twirled her around, and then kissed her again.   “I’ll have no long engagement this time. We’re having the wedding as soon as we can arrange for your sisters to come.”

 

She was still within the circle of his arms. “Missy will be able to come. Milly and Martha, well, they don’t have. . .”

 

“They’ll be coming.” The statement was confident. “It will be my present to you. Besides, I want them to understand that they shall have a big brother in their lives.”

 

She tilted her head and curled the corner of her lips. “Something Melly is well aware of already.”

 

Adam’s rueful smirk showed his dimples. “At least she’s the only one young enough for that kind of brothering.”

 

“I should think so being that Missy and Millie are already mothers.”

 

“Another reason they all have to come. An uncle should most definitely meet his nieces and nephews.”

 

“Shall you like being an uncle?”

 

“It will do until I’m a father.” His smirk was blatantly suggestive.

 

“Adam!”

 

“Pa wants grandchildren; he’ll be impatient.”

 

“Well then, if it’s for Mr. Ben’s sake. . .”

 

“You won’t mind living with Pa and the boys until we get our house built, will you? I don’t intend to rush it. Perfection takes time.”

 

“Of course I don’t mind. Hoss and Little Joe could still use some mothering, well, big sistering anyway.”

 

“Little Joe,” Adam winced, “he’s going to gloat from now to forever.”

 

“Will you mind?”

 

“Not nearly as much as he’ll think I do. After all, my little brother may come in useful.”

 

“In what way?” She could see the teasing sparkle in his eyes.

 

“You can practice being a firm disciplinarian on him. Lord knows he’ll be able to provide enough practice even for the likes of you.”

 

Margie shook her head. “Discipline will be your job; coddling will be mine.”

 

He wagged his finger in front of her face. “Wrong, wrong, wrong, Margret Ann, discipline will come from both of us so will coddling.”

 

“Together?”

 

“Together.”

 

They laughed. It was the soft, warm laughter that they had always laughed best with each other.

 

Summer 2010