Summary:  Set 18 months after Inger…a little boy longing for his mother, a beautiful lady who looks just as mother should, a father facing a murder charge …

Rating:  T  (19,930 words)

Inger Series:

Inger
After Ash Hollow
Searching for Elizabeth
Journey’s End

Searching for Elizabeth

Chapter 1

 

Two heads bowed closer together over the counter at the haberdashery store. Two pairs of eyes suddenly looked furtively devious. Two mouths opened and closed as furiously as the beaks of two starving baby starlings as news was passed too and fro, to be garnered and harvested and spread on…….

 

“So? Henry Gilberts employed a new man !” that was a statement of fact from Mrs. Kristic

 

“A new man with two young children” the statement of fact was embellished by Mrs. Howle, but only slightly.

 

“I hear he’s a widower” Mrs. Kristic flourished her snippet like a true champion.

 

“That’s true, his wife was killed by Indians only 18 months ago and just a few weeks after their little son was born.”

 

“Ah, bless him!”

 

“Who?”

 

“The baby, of course.”

 

Two heads bowed closer together over the counter at the Dry Goods Store. Two pairs of eyes suddenly narrowed and darted shiftily too and fro. Two pairs of lips opened and closed and shot off information with the speed of a Gatling gun

 

“Henry Gilberts new man …have you seen him yet?” said Mrs. Lowe in a hushed voice

 

“I have!” replied Miss Fabian with a slight toss of her golden head

 

“I hear he’s quite young!”

 

“Young-ish!”

 

“And handsome?”

 

“Perhaps…he has a large nose!” Miss Fabian sniffed her own pert little nose and then smiled and leaned further forwards “He has the deepest voice…it sends shivers down one’s back bone to hear it, I declare, Mrs. Lowe, I’ve never heard a voice like it in all my life!”

 

“I thought I heard he was handsome!” Mrs. Lowe frowned, she didn’t like to think her supply source to be flawed

 

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Mrs. Lowe.” Miss Fabian smiled “Actually…he has the darkest eyes you could ever imagine…two pools of deepest ink….”

 

“So..” Mrs. Lowe raised one eye brow “You rather took a shine to him then?”

 

“Oh I don’t think so….” Miss Fabian backed away, not wanting to become an appendage to Mrs. Lowe’s news to the next customer that came that way…”He is a widower with two young children you know.”

 

“I had heard!” Mrs. Lowe sighed “So sad. She fell over a cliff I believe!” and she glanced shrewdly over at Miss Fabian who opened her eyes wider than ever

 

“Gracious, certainly not “ she declared with disdain, as though falling over the cliff was rather a crude way of being killed off “They were attacked by Indians, and she was killed by seven arrows!”

 

“Seven arrows….lawksamercy!”

 

“She died in her husband’s arms with her children looking on…” Miss Fabian took a deep breath and shook her head “Isn’t it just so sad?”

 

“Terribly sad!” Mrs. Lowe frowned “I didn’t know about the seven arrows!” she added.

 

“No, well…” Miss Fabian shrugged and turned her attention to her goods, she opened her purse and pulled out some money “It was his second wife, you know!”

 

“His SECOND wife!” Mrs. Lowe exclaimed, THIS was really a piece of brand new news, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head “But he’s so young!” she leaned forward

 

“What happened to the first wife?”

 

“I hear he has two young children” Mrs. Poole commented as she examined her grocery list and looked thoughtfully at her own four children who were running around the store doing a good impersonation of most people’s opinion of wild Indians

 

“Yes, the youngest is only eighteen months old. He’s the child of his second wife, you know” Mrs. Lowe simpered and weighed out the coffee beans

 

“His second wife? Gracious! I heard he was a sea man, and I know sailors are reported to have ..” she lowered her voice and leaned forwards over the counter “a lady in every port so to speak, but…”

 

“Oh, gracious me, it’s nothing like that at all…..” Mrs. Lowe tutted “Charlie….Charlie…put your sister down this instant do you hear or you’ll get the back of your legs slapped! Jimmy…Jimmy….will you do as you are told..” Mrs. Poole shook her head and raised her eyes to heaven “How on earth does he manage to cope with two children and no wife!”

 

“Well, there you are!” Mrs. Lowe said smugly and shrugged

 

“Miss Davies said he is extraordinary handsome….”

 

“Miss Davies is quite right….Mrs. Henry told me that he is one of the most charming men she had ever seen. Miss Fabian told me that he had a beautiful voice.. Charlie…Charlie Mrs. Poole, you must do something about that boy, he’s just practically drowned your Sally in flour!”

 

Miss Fabian smiled at Miss Davies and Miss Grice. Their bonnets met in a circle, feathers and flowers bobbing away at one another as the three young women began to chatter.

 

“I tell you, he is really handsome…dark eyes and such a lovely voice” Miss Fabian sighed.

 

“You mean you’ve actually seen him?” Miss Grice almost wept, some how she always seemed last to receive any news.

 

“Phyllicia Gilbert does happen to be my aunt” Miss Fabian replied, tossing her head and sending her feathers quivering as a result

 

“I’ve seen him” Miss Davies smirked, and blinked her eyes rather rapidly at the disappointment on both their faces “He is a real honey! I do declare I doubt if HE will be a widower for long in this town!”

 

“His wife was killed by Indians..” Miss Grice managed to slip in but both the other young ladies looked at her scornfully, THAT was OLD news!

 

“No one seems to know what happened to his first wife, though…..” Miss Fabian leaned forward, so that feathers and flowers were quite entangled “it seems she just went off after the baby was born!”

 

“No, that was the second wife…she was killed by Indians just after the baby was born” Miss Davies retorted

 

“We know that already…” Miss Grice muttered impatiently “So? What’s this about his first wife?”

 

“Well” Miss Fabian glanced over her shoulder, nearly pulling Miss Grice’s bonnet off her head as a result because of her flowers being too involved with her feathers…”My aunt told me that when she asked him about the children , he told her about his second wife being killed….and the baby was a few weeks old …but when she asked about the first child he just said that HIS mother went shortly after he was born…”

 

“Went where?” Miss Grice asked

 

“He never said”

 

“Do you think he meant ‘Up There’” Miss Grice pointed skywards and raised her eyes for some divine confirmation of the fact……none came!

 

“No, he would have said, wouldn’t he? After all, he said about his second wife, Inger her name was…., if his first wife had ….gone upstairs….so to speak…he would have said so, wouldn’t he?”

 

“Fancy that! Just going off and leaving a man and a child like that, that is something disgraceful.” Miss Davies shook her russet coloured head and sighed “Such a handsome man too….I wonder why she went off then?”

 

 

“I don’t think that red will go well with the blue, dear” Phyllicia Gilbert said to her niece, Miss Fabian, at the Quilting Circle some evenings later.

 

“I thought it would look rather rich” Miss Fabian replied

 

“Why not try the burgundy?” Mrs. Hansard suggested, she was nearly – well – she was old, the fact she looked almost a hundred did not mean that she actually was….her one tooth gleamed in the light of the lamps shining in the room where twelve heads were bent in serious hand stitching of the latest quilt…a soon to be wedding gift for some happy couple and every single woman there hoped it would be theirs…

 

“Has that young man settled in now?” Mrs. Lowe asked, not looking up at all from her work because they all knew who she meant.

 

“Yes, very well. Very neat and tidy he is too….which comes from being a sea man and having to be careful where you put things with space being so limited…” Mrs. Henry Gilbert replied, not looking up either, because she enjoyed knowing all the news first hand and just waited for the questions to trickle through for her to answer.

 

Fingers worked on, lips were pursed, eyes narrowed, brains ticked over. It was not as though Boulders Creek was short of men, or visitors either, and this kind of conversation was by no means unusual, because everything that happened in Boulders Creek came under microscopic inspection from The Ladies of the Sewing Bee….but this particular young man was rather unique. He was handsome, he had two children, he evoked sympathy, the maternal passions in the female breast were stirred to comfort and care for him and the little ones, and he had had TWO wives….

 

“Is he a Mormon?” Mrs. Hansard asked in her rather cracked voice “I heard tell they went in for more than one wife!”

 

“What’s a Mormon?” Miss Fabian whispered and the ripple went round the circle and came back unanswered

 

“You don’t mean a moron, do you, aunt Hansard?” Miss Tattershall asked with a suppressed giggle

 

“Don’t be silly….although the man who marries you would have to be a moron to put up with your prattle” the old lady snorted.

 

Miss Tattershall raised her head and shot two arrows of hate from her livid blue eyes towards Mrs. Hansard, but the old lady was ignorant of this, or used to it, she continued sewing. Mrs. Henry Gilbert cleared her throat

 

“The eldest little boy is highly intelligent. He loves reading. His father taught him to read while they were travelling. They’re very close. The child positively dotes on his father and baby brother. Of course, my mother is only too happy to care for them, she loves children as you know….the baby is the happiest child imaginable, you would never think he had had such a sad beginning,with his mother being killed …”

 

“Seven arrows….” Mrs. Lowe muttered

 

“Nothing of the kind.” Mrs. Henry Gilbert snapped and pulled her thread out of her needle rather more energetically than she had intended, nearly spiking Miss Grice in the nose as a result. “ I do beg your pardon, my dear…”

 

“Quite alright..” Miss Grice muttered, rubbing her cheek and blinking rather fast.

 

“That was his second wife, wasn’t it, aunt?” Miss Fabian said demeurely.

 

“Yes.” Mrs. Henry Gilbert deliberately took her time to thread her needle with new silk, and to sort out the colour material to match “Of course, what ever happened to his first wife is quite a mystery. He won’t talk about it, although heaven knows I’ve hinted enough. He just said that she went soon after Adam was born…he left New England when the child was about six months old to look for her. Then he met his second wife when the child was about 5…so …” she shrugged her plump shoulders “I daresay his first wife has run off with someone or other…”

 

“Oh!” Mrs. Lowe and several others exclaimed

 

“Sounds like a bad ‘un to me…” Mrs. Hansard muttered dourly

 

They settled quietly to their sewing…thinking of the handsome young widower with his two children and the errant first wife who ran away with …perhaps…a lover? Heavens forbid! But sadly, that was the picture they kept in their minds, and the story that trickled from their lips throughout the town as a result.

 

Chapter 2

 

“Happy, son?”

 

Ben Cartwright looked down at his eldest son and smiled and forced a chuckle so that his son would know that he was happy, and the question was meant to confirm that they were all happy….were they not? Adam nodded and glanced over at his baby brother, who was already asleep in his little truckle bed beside the big bed Adam shared with his father. He looked up past his father to the window in the roof and saw the stars twinkling down at him and allowed the briefest of smiles to grace his lips, before looking at his father once again and wondering what he should say now, what was he expected to say and why!

 

Ben stroked back the near black hair that curled over the boys high brow, and smiled gently down at his first born. It was like looking down at Elizabeth’s face and the feeling of longing for her swept over him as it did every night when he came to bid his son good night and to say their evening prayer together. The same dark brown hazel eyes, with the long lashes that formed a crescent over his cheeks when he was asleep, the same bow shaped mouth and he sighed and touched the child’s nose gently

 

“What are you thinking about, son?”

 

“I’ve got another loose tooth” Adam pronounced solemnly

 

“Ah!” Ben nodded and smiled

 

“Pa?”

 

“Yes, son?”

 

“When I go to school, do I have to wear that hat Mrs. Gilbert got for me?”

 

“Well, she meant kindly. The jacket fits well, doesn’t it?”

 

“Sure it does….”

 

“And the pants…?”

 

“Yeah, but the boots don’t. They rub my heels something awful.”

 

“Can you manage to put up with them until I have enough money to get you some more?”

 

“Oh, it’s okay, pa….I only said so that you’d know in case I got blisters…it’s alright, they’re jest a mite too big, is all.!” Adam exclaimed hurriedly, money was short, always short…and Mrs. Gilbert had been kind to go round and find clothes from the townsfolk, and the boots were good leather ones, it would cost a lot of money to buy new boots and the thought of his father having to worry about finding the money for such a luxury smote his heart. Pa had enough to worry about without thinking about boots!

 

“If they’re too big, they’ll last a while then.”Ben said quietly

 

“Yes, sir…that’s right, they’ll last for..oh..years and years I reckon”

 

“You reckon, huh?”

 

They smiled at one another, and Ben drew his son into his arms and held him close. This precious child. He released him and settled him down into the bed and pulled up the covers around the boys shoulders

 

“Get some sleep now, son…it’ll be a busy day tomorrow. A new school and new friends ..it’ll be exciting, huh?”

 

“Hoss will miss me”

 

“I know, but Mrs. Gilbert and her mother will make a fuss over him and he’ll be as right as rain.”

 

Adam frowned, rather envying his little brother being made a fuss over while he had to go to yet another new school and endure meeting more new children and being gawped at by them all. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. He could sense his father turning down the lamp light, leaning over Hoss to make sure he was covered and then creeping out of the bedroom with the door just ajar. He dared hardly to breathe, it would b e just too awful for pa to have to worry about him, when he had so much to think about, and worry over now.

 

Meeting Mr. Henry Gilbert had been a miracle, so Pa had said to them. Mr. Gilbert had served on a ship when Ben had been at sea and so recognised Ben and knew he was a good worker. They joked about it a bit because Ben had been a master’s mate and Mr. Gilbert was merely a seaman first class, now Mr. Gilbert was the boss and Ben had to submit to taking orders from him. But Mr. Gilbert was a good-hearted man, and his family were kindly, and had taken to the children and almost forced Ben into taking occupancy of a cabin that had been built for Mr. Gilberts son and daughter in law years before…but then they had upped and moved on and it had been empty for a few years…now it was the Cartwrights temporary home, until Ben had enough money to continue their journey to Nevada.

 

Since Inger had died the weeks had crawled by and the only joy came from seeing how well Hoss grew. Such a happy child, so loving and gentle, so handsome and blue eyed, and so placid and content. It was almost as though by some sixth sense he had known that he had to be quiet and good for his pa and brother, although if he did cry over anything they were quickly there to soothe him, and fuss over him.

 

Ben took the time to continue teaching Adam to read, consequently Adam read to Hoss, or made up stories for him. Life travelling through the west was an adventure, so Ben kept telling Adam, but the only adventure Adam could see was watching his brother grow, watching him take his first steps, being there to help him up, steady him up, encourage him to walk once more. It was fun to see Bens face crease into smiles when Adam would carry his baby brother to him, and set the child on his sturdy little legs and then say “Walk Hoss…walk to pa…” Now Hoss could walk and run and climb…in fact, Hoss had the disconcerting ability to be able to get just about everywhere at once and to disappear when one least expected it!

 

Adam rolled over onto his side and surveyed the dark shadow of the small bed upon which his brother slept. Sometimes he wished as only a young child could, that he had been the one to have been killed and to have gone away so that Pa and Hoss could still enjoy having Inger there with them. Sometimes he wished that he could remember all the stories she had told them, and the songs that she would sing to them, so that Hoss would never forget that he had had a mother who loved him..sometimes he just wished that Inger were still there, most of all he wished that….he wanted to be able to hear her sing first thing in the morning, to feel her arms about him, and hear her whisper in his ear that she loved him…and he wished and wished that he could forget the sight of her lying in his father’s arms that awful day, with her life’s blood creeping out over the floor. He could remember how it had trickled towards him and he had held onto Hoss and shrieked. He could remember the sound even now….and then someone had come and picked them up and hurried them away, but not before he had seen Pa with Inger in his arms, and he had been crying so much.

 

Adam raised himself on his elbow and leaned forward

 

“Hoss? You ‘wake?” there was a snuffle and a snort from the bed covers in the shadows “Hoss… I gotta go to school tomorrow so you had better be a very good boy, d’ya hear? No cryin’, nuthin’ silly like that…you gotta show ‘em you’re a Cartwright..and Cartwrights don’t cry….so…you remember that tomorrow morning…” he frowned “I guess my loose tooth will come out tomorrow too…I’ll show it to ya when I get back if’n you like? I reckon Ma Gilberts made a apple pie, ‘cos I could smell it cooking on the range when we came in…you like that don’t’cha?” he rolled over onto his back and surveyed the stars through the window and sighed “Leave some for me, wont’cha?” he licked his lips and thought of apple pie for a moment or two, then closed his eyes “G’night, Hoss!”

 

For as long as he could remember Adam had watched over his father. He tried in his little boy way to always be accommodating, to say what he assumed Ben would want him to say, to do the things Ben would expect him to do. He knew his pa got angry sometimes, and his deep voice would get very cold and clipped, and he knew why…or thought he knew why…and what he wanted most of all was to spare his pa any extra pain or hurt.

 

He folded his arms behind his head and opened one eye…before Inger came his pa would often sit alone staring at the picture of another lady, a lady whom he called Elizabeth and who had been Adams mother. Sometimes Adam had seen his father weep over the picture, and sometimes his father would talk to him about the pretty lady who liked to wear green. This would always lead to talk about ships, and the sea…and then Bens spirits would rise and he would describe the feeling of a clipper ship lifting in the swell of the sea as the masts were unreefed and would fill with the winds….

 

Since Inger had died,, Ben did not speak about the other lady in the picture and he did not play the little musical box any more either. Since Inger had died, something inside Ben had died too, and when Adam tried to talk about Elizabeth and about the clipper ships,, Ben would brusquely stop him. It was like someone shutting a book and every attempt to open it again, was met with an aloof and cool refusal to do so.

 

Adam closed both eyes, and snuggled down deeper under the covers. In his dreams the lady in the picture still came to him, but not so often…sometimes he would dream of Inger and she would be dancing with him through meadows full of spring flowers, and she would sing too….but the best dreams were the ones when the dark haired lady would step out of her picture frame and come to him…yes, they were the best dreams of all and now, because he was just a little bit scared about going to that new school tomorrow, he wanted to see her again that very night.

 

…………….

 

Ben Cartwright turned up the lamplight in the other room and brought out his ledgers which he placed on the table with the pen and ink and his salary for the week. Very carefully he noted everything down… expenses were rent and food and a few nickels and dimes in the jar for the boys when they went into town and everything else for the journey to Nevada…he sighed, ‘everything else’ did not amount to very much but he felt honour bound to pay some rent for the cabin and he couldn’t expect Mrs. Gilbert and her mother to care for Hoss for nothing…he bowed his head and buried his face in his hands and stared at the figures until they blurred before finally drawing a line beneath the total and closing the ledger and putting it back in the trunk with the money belt. He paused a second to touch, very lightly, the picture of Inger that smiled up at him from the wooden carved frame he had made years before and he shook his head and swallowed the lump in his throat.

 

If anyone had asked him how he could love two women and miss them both so much, and long for them both equally as much…he would not have been able to find the right words to explain it. He locked the trunk and slid it beneath the bureau before picking up the jug of water and filling the basin for his ablutions.

 

To morrow was going to be a busy day. Adam was to go to school. He frowned and surveyed the dark face in the mirror and stared into the black eyes that were reflected back at him. He had loved two women but more wonderfully, two women had loved him and provided him with two handsome perfect boys…that, he admitted to himself humbly, was the true miracle of love.

 

Chapter 3

 

Mrs. Gilbert had ideas above her station. When she was in charge of the buck board she thought she was Jehu who drove his chariots so dangerously fast that his reputation as a driver equalled that to his being a champion for true worship in Israel! When she drew up by the school yard she, and everyone else on board, were liberally coated with dust and grit and children were running across the yard for the school building as though their lives depended upon it.

 

Oblivious to such petty matters she dismounted and turned to Adam who was coughing and spluttering and beating the dust from his jacket. His hat, he was pleased to note, had disappeared when they spun round the first corner into town and his loose tooth had come out when the buckboard had jolted over some boulder in the road, but the force of the bump back down had caused him to gulp hard…thus swallowing it!

 

“Come along, come along…” she clucked fussing over her skirts and straightening her hat “We don’t want you to be late on your first day, do we?” and she smiled kindly at her charge, and helped him down.

 

Very gently she brushed the dust from his jacket and then stood back to admire him…she clucked again when she realised the hat had gone and when he bared his teeth at her to show her the gap, still bleeding, she clucked even more and pulled out a handkerchief and passed it over to him …

 

As he was hauled up the hill by her side, and she clinging to his hand as though if she did not he would take immediate flight, Adam thought over his farewells to Hoss. The poor baby had whimpered and held out his dimpled arms and clutched at his ‘Addy’ for comfort

 

“Me tum too” he wept

 

“No, Hoss. You ain’t big enough yet.”

 

“Hoss is big boy now.”

 

“Not that kind of big, Hoss.” Adam pushed away the hands and looked at his brother, because in size, Hoss was big, in fact, he was already nearly as tall as Adam, who was near 6 years older than him. He was broad too, and Mr. Henry Gilbert had called him a ‘strapping lad’ and then looked at Adam as though he were some kind of runt in comparison. “When you’re my age then you go to school….”

 

“Hoss is big ..Addy..you take Hoss too?”

 

Adam shook his head, and sighed. He showed Hoss his wobbly tooth and made the child chuckle by letting him wiggle it just a little, and when Hoss had been distracted by Mrs. HenryGilbert calling out ‘Cookies, Hoss’ he gave his brother a hug and a kiss and beat a hasty retreat to the buckboard, clutching his hat firmly to his head.

 

Now, here he was, hatless…and minus the tooth…and breathless from the ride and from the pace Mrs. Henry Gilbert set in getting up the hill to the school house. The door was thrust open and Adam was more or less propelled into the school’s interior.

 

“Mrs. Merriweather, I’ve brought you a new pupil…Adam Cartwright.” Mrs. Gilbert produced Adam from behind her skirts much like a magician produces a rabbit from a hat.

 

Mrs. Merriweather smiled and stood up from the desk and looked down at the boy who stood before her and looked up at her. She saw a slim child, 8 years or so of age, with a handsome face, a determined chin, too pretty a mouth, dark well shaped eyes with long lashes and near black hair that waved gently just to his collar. The dark eyes were looking up at her with no hint of fear, but were intelligent, clear and bright, inquisitive…and she smiled with pleasure for she was a teacher of many students over many years and had learnt to discern the measure of her pupils very quickly.

 

“Good morning, Adam”

 

“Good morning, ma’am” came the reply and Adam glanced around him and waited to be directed to the desk assigned for the ‘new boy’.

 

“Thank you, Mrs. Gilbert” Mrs. Merriweather smiled at the kindly woman who looked now at Adam as though she regretted her haste in bringing him to confront the lions of education, she paused and leaned forward to just straighten the curls over his brow

 

“Now, remember, Adam…you walk home tonight…don’t get lost and don’t loiter!”

 

”I won’t, ma’am” he replied solemnly, after all, he had to get Hoss and he couldn’t loiter or his little brother would be distressed

 

Mrs. Merriweather put a friendly hand on Adams shoulder and turned him to face the class. There were about twenty-five children there of different ages and all of them with their eyes wide open and staring at him. He stared resolutely back and refused to be intimidated

 

“Children…this is Adam Cartwright. His pa is working for Mr. Henry Gilbert and they are living there for the time being. Now, Adam…would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?” she smiled down at him in encouragement “Like, how old you are and where you come from…” she nodded, and opened her eyes wider as though to urge him to speak.

 

Adam looked at the faces of his audience and took a deep breath

 

“I’m 8 years old and my brother Hoss…”

 

“HOSS!” someone jeered, “What kind of name is that?”

 

“His real name is Erik but we call him Hoss…it’s Swedish and his ma was Swedish and we call him Hoss because he was so big..and still is…” he frowned “My pa was a seaman and we lived in New England and then pa wanted to travel to Nevada…and that’s where we’re headed anyways..” he scowled at them and some of them scowled back.

 

“Thank you, Adam…take a seat next to Abbey” and he was given a gentle push to a desk next to a red headed girl who squeezed up to her neighbour to make more room for him.

 

“Now..” Mrs. Merriweather smiled at the whole class “Who knows where Nevada is…apart from Adam of course”

 

 

…………………

 

Ben Cartwright rolled up his sleeves and bent his back to haul up the large sacks of wheat flour that he had to carry out to the wagon for the Gilberts. There were other things to collect from town as well, and he took the list from his pocket and perused it thoughtfully.

 

“Mr. Cartwright?” a soft voice spoke closely to his ear and he stood up and glanced round in surprise “Mr. Cartwright? I’m Melissa Grice…” he touched his hat politely and smiled at her, much as any grown person would smile down at a young child, although Melissa was not a child anymore, far from it, she was all of seventeen years of age! “I’m very pleased to meet you” she extended her gloved hand and smiled

 

“I’m very pleased to meet you too, Miss Grice” he smiled and his deep voice did indeed send quivers down her spine just as Miss Fabian had said that it would “Is there something you wanted to say…?” he raised black eye brows and smiled gently again, trying hard not to be patronising as young girls, he knew, could be very sensitive

 

“Oh..yes.” she paused and looked over his shoulder for inspiration, for the sight of him and the sound of him had sent the purpose of her approaching him clean out of her mind “Yes..there’s a town benefit on Saturday evening and I was wondering if you would like to come…”

 

“I’d be delighted to come, Miss Grice…but I happen to have other plans for Saturday evening.” He turned to haul up another sack into the wagon and realised as he dropped it carefully into the wagon that she was still standing there, so with a slight frown he looked at her again “Miss?”

 

“Oh, I was just thinking what a shame that you couldn’t come, after all, it would be such a wonderful opportunity for you to meet everyone.”

 

“I don’t really think it’s necessary for me to meet everyone, Miss Grice, as I don’t intend to be here for very long.”

 

“Not be here long? Why not? It’s a very pleasant place in which to live..” she stammered, her young face blushing slightly at her daring in asking such forward questions to this very attractive, but more mature man.

 

“I’m sure that it is..” he said with a smile “Now, if you would excuse me, I really do have a lot to do.”

 

 

Mrs. Lowe handed him some change and smiled

 

“How’s your boy settling into school, Mr. Cartwright?”

 

“Very well, thank you.” He pocketed the money and turned to leave

 

“Mr. Cartwright…I was just wondering …”

 

“Yes, Mrs. Lowe?” he turned and looked at her, his black eyes dark in his tanned face, and the generously shaped mouth curling over his teeth into a kindly smile.

 

“There’s a benefit in town on Saturday evening, and it would be so nice to see you there….do you think you would be able to attend?”

 

“I doubt it very much, ma’am. I have a lot to do on Saturdays…” and he smiled and bade his excuses and hurriedly left the store.

 

Yes, a lot to do. Saturdays were the days he spent with his children and nothing was going to interfere with that because time was precious, and needed as much, if not more, care to be spent on it than any other commodity because otherwise it would disappear quicker than a snowball in a bakers oven! He clambered onto the wagon seat and flicked the reins to get the horses moving and thought about the coming Saturday. He planned to take the boys to the river and just play about , do a little fishing, a little lazing, and a little talking…he wanted to hear all about Adams school week without time and weariness stopping him showing the real interest he had, he wanted to hoist Hoss onto his shoulders and run around with him until the child shrieked for him to stop…and in the evening they would sit together and he would tell them stories and bath them and put them to bed and sing some songs ….he sighed and turned the wagon towards the hardware store where his next consignment of goods awaited him.

 

A tall slim young woman was walking down the sidewalk with a smile on her face, and he did a slight double take, for she looked so like his Elizabeth that for an instant he wondered if he had drank one beer too many in the saloon before he had set out on his pick-ups. She was not looking directly at him, and it was obvious that she was not going to stop and ask him to go to the town benefit with her, but her hazel brown eyes suddenly focused upon him, and he noticed how the iris’ in them widened into black totality and how her lips parted into a friendly smile. He took off his hat expecting her to speak but she merely inclined her head and walked on…leaving him to glance back at her and shake his head as though to shake off some spell that prevented him from moving.

 

As he walked into the store he admonished himself roundly for being so taken aback…he had had Elizabeth on his mind so much lately, and was not there a saying that everyone had a doppleganger somewhere ! He thought about the woman a little as he walked to the counter and pulled out his list, of course she did not have Elizabeth’s smile, nor her pretty bow shaped mouth and this woman’s hair had not been so dark…so…he shrugged…she had not really looked like his Elizabeth at all..not really!

 

Errands finished he drove the wagon slowly homewards. The Gilberts had been generous in letting them have the cabin at a reduced rental, but he worked hard and long hours to compensate for it and for all the other kindnesses they had extended to him over the weeks. He slowed the horses down as he recognised a small figure toiling his way homewards, swinging his books by the leather strap, and his lunch pail in his other hand.

 

“Adam..?”

 

The boy turned and looked up at him and smiled,, but it was not Adam…just another child who was alike enough to be mistaken for him, and Ben felt foolish and went unaccountedly red in the face

 

“Have you seen Adam Cartwright anywhere? I thought he would be on the road home by now?” he blustered a little

 

“Adam’s just a mite ahead, Mr. Cartwright.” The boy pointed to the horizon and there, sure enough, Ben could see his son walking hurriedly up the hill, and shaking his head at his own foolishness, he clicked the horses leads and was soon at his sons side.

 

“You’re very quiet today” Ben said after a few minutes elapsed in silence between them. “Was it a hard day at school?”

 

“No,pa…not ‘specially.”

 

“Nothing happened to worry you about anything?”

 

Adam frowned and said nothing, but stared ahead a little more intensely, then he turned to Ben and looked into the black eyes

 

“Pa, I ain’t an orphan am I?”

 

“No, son…not while I’m alive you’re not” Ben smiled

 

“Tommy Hislop said I was…”

 

“Well, Tommy Hislop was wrong. I thought you would have known that anyway, Adam. You know what an orphan is, we’ve discussed it often enough…”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

The silence fell upon them again and Ben cast an anxious eye at his son and frowned,

 

“What happened?” he finally asked

 

“Nuthin’ much happened…he kept saying I was, and I kept sayin’ I weren’t, and in the end I had to whop him to get him to shut up!” he frowned “Now I feel kinda bad about it, because I don’t think it’s good to whop folk…but he just wouldn’t quit yelling names at me.”

 

“There’s worse names to be called than an orphan…” Ben said softly

 

“I know…” Adam muttered, and from the tone of his voice Ben realised that his son had probably been called them all that afternoon.

 

“Well, sticks and stones, Adam..” he forced a smile down at his son who only nodded seriously and muttered that Mrs. Merriweather had said much the same.

 

The journey continued to be made in silence from then on, both immersed in their own thoughts. It was only when they saw Hoss and Adam was able to run to his brother with glee that the restraint finally left them, and while Ben toiled to unload the goods he had collected for the Gilberts, Adam took his brother by the hand and ran with him to the cabin both of them shouting and laughing together with the innocent joy of childhood .

 

Chapter 4

 

“How is young Adam Cartwright coming along, Angela?”

 

Mrs. Merriweather paused in her perusal of the lace and ribbons she was intending to buy and turned to look at Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Grice thoughtfully. She sighed and returned her attention to the ribbons and laces on display

 

“Very well.” She said quietly

 

“We heard he had a little bit of trouble with the Hislop boy…” Mrs. Grice, mother to Melissa, murmered

 

“Everyone has trouble with the Hislop boy” Anglea Merriweather said “I have trouble with the Hislop boy regularly!”

 

She left the ribbons and laces and walked out of the shop, sending the little bell tinkling loudly overhead. Mrs. Grice and Mrs. Wilson looked at one another and raised their eye brows

 

“She always was rather a hoity-toity young woman” Mrs. Grice muttered

 

“It was just a kindly remark…” Mrs. Wilson frowned “It’s just such a shame..have you seen the child?”

 

“Yes, a handsome boy. I should imagine that come another twelve or so years he will be able to take his pick of ladies…he’s going to grow into a a very attractive young man”

 

The bell jingled lightly indicating a new customer, and the two women turned to another counter to look over some threads of silk and cotton

 

“It is a shame about his mother though…” Mrs. Grice murmered

 

“Which one.. the one that ran off with another man, or the one that got killed in an Indian attack?”

 

“I don’t think there were two mothers…I think Mr. Cartwright only had the one wife…it’s ridiculous to think a man could marry two women and lose both of them….”

 

“It happens!”

 

“In fairy stories…in those cheap romantic novels that are being churned out ten a penny nowadays!” Mrs. Grice frowned “I’ve forbidden my Melissa to bring any of them into the house!”

 

“Have you met Mr. Cartwright yet?”

 

“Melissa has…she said that he was a very handsome young man, and she didn’t believe the rumours that were going around town.!”

 

“They are not rumours. Mrs. Gilbert told Bella Fabian everything…” she lowered her voice a little “Ben Cartwrights first wife left shortly after Adam was born…now, I ask you…what could be more obvious than that? If he is such a handsome and pleasant young man, why would she leave him with a young child to look after, huh? Huh?”

 

Mrs. Grice frowned and shook her head, her friends voice was getting a little too strident for her own good. She beckoned to her to lower her voice

 

“I don’t believe it” she glanced over her shoulder “Why would he re-marry then? No, I think he had just the one wife and that’s that….really, I don’t like the way people gossip so much about things over which they know nothing at all!” and with a toss of her head the regal Mrs. Grice disappeared out of the store, nearly colliding with a small boy who had been standing at the other side of the counter, clutching his coins tightly in an increasingly hot and sticky hand.

 

Adam Cartwright walked over to Mrs. Lowe and pointed to some candy in a jar and passed over his nickels. Mrs. Lowe smiled down at him and asked him if he would like the candy in a bag or would he prefer to eat it now but Adam shook his head and said it was for his brother, so would she please put it in a bag.

 

He left the store with his head low on his chest. There was so much to think about…so much to rearrange in his own mind. He clutched the bag of candy to him as though they were the most important things in the world and slowly began to walk homewards.

 

What did they mean? What had they said about his pa and his ma? But apart from what they said, apart from what any one had said, it had created the situation whereby he was forced to ask the main question that tore his heart apart, the answer to which he had always been too afraid to search and that was WHY! Why had his ma left him ? Where had she gone? He had believed once that she had died and gone to that eternal sleep..but…for some time he had wondered whether or not that had really happened. In his confused, troubled mind, and in his proud, tender heart, he wanted there to be another truth, another hope, another reality…one that would mean his real mother would one day step back into their lives just as she could step from the picture frame when he slept.

 

He crossed the road and turned left as usual, his eyes downcast as he walked slowly along the sidewalk People hurried past him, other children ran by and some joggled against him, so that he had to hold more tightly to his bag of candy. He paused at the entrance of the Mercantile as the door opened and a tall woman walked hurriedly out, paused to let him pass by and smiled at him, and because she was so pretty and reminded him of someone, he smiled back and watched her walk away down the sidewalk. He was a few paces along when a mans voice shouted out behind him “Elizabeth…Elizabeth…you forgot your purse!”

 

He turned then, and watched as a tall, long legged man with blonde hair and a gingery moustache ran down the sidewalk holding a black velvet purse aloft and laughing as he ran,for the tall woman had paused to turn back and smiled at him at first and then began to laugh.

 

“Elizabeth!” Adam breathed and stared with his eyes as wide as they could go….and she was dressed in green, even the feather in her velvet bonnet was green and the necklace around her neck had green stones in them…and he watched them walk down the sidewalk together, laughing, and arm in arm.

 

His feet just seemed to walk by their own volition…he had turned and was following them without even fully realising what he was doing. He watched as they walked together to a house, and stopped to talk a little together at the gate, and then the man had turned and walked away, and she had stepped into a little garden behind a white picket fence and closed the gate and walked up to the front door of the house and stepped inside. He blinked and shook his head…this was like seeing a miracle in real life, he told himself…it all fitted into place now…and everything made sense at last and he was not to blame after all, no, it had not been his fault that she had gone ….and here she was, safe and sound! He turned hurriedly, wait until Pa heard about this…and then he stopped and thought about it a little, perhaps not, perhaps it would be better just to make sure before he told his father anything, after all, Ben had not told him the truth, had he?

 

 

If Ben thought that his son was unusually withdrawn over the next few days, he said nothing. Sultry summer days were there to be enjoyed and Saturdays were spent down by the river playing together. Hoss grew, and not only in girth – but he began to chatter, to observe and notice things, to become more interesting as a person in his own right. He demanded more attention, and as a result, Ben found his time taken up more with his younger son than with his eldest. This seemed to suit Adam who would sit amongst the grasses with a book to read, or paper and pencils to sketch and draw, or just to lie down in the grass and flowers to think. For Ben they were idyllic days, for Hoss…all part of his childhood and for Adam, days in which he watched his father, and longed to ask him a thousand and one questions but dared not!

 

“Adam” Ben called over to his son who was playing a game with Hoss on the rug in front of the fire “I have to go and help Mr. Gilbert, make sure you’re both in bed before 7 and don’t let Hoss touch the lamps. Be careful…” he looked at Adam and smiled and ruffled his dark curls and Adam nodded and watched as his father slipped on his hat and left the house.

 

“Pa gone out?” Hoss observed, sticking his thumb into his mouth and his big blue eyes blinking fast.

 

“Not for long. Best get to bed.” Adam replied

 

“No…not bed…Addy, you read …” and Hoss tugged at his brothers hand and smiled his beguilingly sweet smile “Read ‘bout big bad wolf …”

 

Adam looked at his brother sternly and shook his head

 

“Bed time, Hoss.”

 

“Not bed..story”

 

“Bed!”

 

“STORY!”

 

“BED!”

 

They stared at one another and tears welled up into Hoss’ blue eyes and he put his arms around his brothers neck and hugged him close, then with a stifled sob he wobbled to the bedroom and within seconds Adam could hear the little truckle bed give a groan under Hoss’ weight.

 

“I’ll come in and read to you in a minute” he yelled.

 

The trunk was peeking from under the bureau and he pulled it carefully to the centre of the floor and pushed the lid. Normally it was locked but for some reason this particular evening it was not,and he was able to push the lid up and gaze upon its contents. Very carefully he moved aside the things that were of no interest to him, and looked anxiously for the two items that he needed to find. When he saw them at last he froze guiltily and looked around as though his fathers stern features would suddenly loom over him and with a forbidding scowl drag him away from his prize.

 

Gently he lifted up the silver frame and gazed at the woman in the picture. He tried to remember the features of the lady in the town, whom he had seen several times now, and tried to compare them with the features of the lady he gazed upon now. There were similarities to be sure, but…was that all they were? The musical box with the plump little cherubs floating on clouds was close to hand and he gently raised the lid and listened to the music as it played…

 

“Ooooh” Hoss breathed behind him and reached out a chubby hand to touch the box.

 

“Hoss Cartwright!” Adam jumped, and the box fell with a clunk “Now see what you made me do!” he scolded.

 

Hoss screwed up his face and his bottom lip pouted and trembled whilst his brother checked the box and with greater relief than his brother would ever know, discovered it to be unharmed. He held it in his hands and looked at Hoss

 

“You mustn’t touch…” he said warningly

 

Hoss nodded that he understood. For a few minutes the two children sat together with the musical box playing its tinny little tune and when it ended Adam turned the key as his father had shown him a long time ago, and the music began again, tinkling even faster …and Hoss laughed and clapped his hands and stood up and began to dance around the room “Clap, Addy, Clap hands for Hoss!” he chuckled and Adam laughed too, and began to clap his hands in time to the music.

 

Neither heard the door open. Ben stood for a moment on the threshold of the room and took in the picture at a glance. A small child in his nightshirt with golden curls bouncing about a bright face with red cheeks and twinkling blue eyes and laughing lips. Another child sitting cross legged on the floor in his nightshirt, black hair tumbling in gentle waves to his collar, brown eyes alight with merriment as he clapped in tune to the music from the little musical box…

 

“What do you think you are doing…” Ben heard his voice saying and wishing the words back immediately as he saw the little tableau immediately frozen in panic and fear.

 

“I go now…” Hoss bellowed and ran for the bed

 

“Pa…I jest…” Adam stuttered, scrambling to his feet and hastily putting the box and the photo back into the trunk “The trunk was already open, pa…I jest took a minute to take a peek..I wanted …”

 

“I thought I told you not to touch that trunk!”

 

“I know,pa, but…”

 

“So why did you disobey me, Adam? There are things in there I do not want you to touch, do you understand?”

 

Adam drew in his breath sharply and it quavered a little and when he blinked there was the sheen of tears on his lashes, he swallowed manfully however

 

“I wanted to see ma…” he whispered

 

“I told you before, Adam, your ma’s gone…” and more roughly than usual Ben pushed Adam out of the way and picked up the picture and the box, and then, very carefully, folded them in a shawl, Elizabeth’s shawl, and put them back at the bottom of the trunk. This he pushed back under the bureau, after having locked the lid down. “Go to bed, Adam. I don’t want to talk to you, you’ve been very disobedient…”

 

“But, pa….”

 

“Do as I tell you or do I have to give you a hiding?”

 

Adam cringed back, and with tears trembling on the brink of falling he went to his bed. In his truckle bed Hoss had the covers over his head and hardly dare breathe, he heard his brother clamber into the big bed and slowly peeked

 

“Addy….is pa mad?”

 

“Madder’n a hornet!”

 

“Hornet’s bad, Addy?”

 

“Yeah, real bad and mean…”

 

Hoss contemplated that information for a moment and never having seen a hornet in his life began to worry about what exactly his father had changed into, he pulled the covers back over his head

 

“G’night, Addy”

 

“G’night, Hoss.”

 

“Adam?”

 

“Yes, pa?”

 

“Come here.”

 

He clambered out of the bed and walked to the other room, and stood by the table. Ben looked down at him and drew him towards him

 

“Why did you disobey me?”

 

“’Cos I wanted to see ma’s picture.”

 

“Why?”

 

“’Cos I can’t remember her face no more. I don’t see her in my dreams no more. I wanted to see her agin, that’s all.”

 

Ben looked at his son and saw the wistful sadness of his child’s face and drew him closer in his arms and held him tight. Both could hear the heartbeat of the other and soon they began to synchronize in rhythm.

 

“Adam..I’m sorry I shouted at you like that…it’s just that I don’t like you touching those things.”

 

“But…I was jest looking…” Adam whispered “Then Hoss came out and he liked the music…”

 

“Don’t touch it again.”

 

“Why not,pa?”

 

“Because I asked you not to do so…”

“Pa?” he stepped back just a pace or two and looked up at the sad features of a man who had known love, to be loved and to love, and to have lost…”Pa…where did ma go?”

 

“You know where she went..I told you before..” Ben said quickly

 

“Was it my fault that she went away…?”

 

“No, of course not…”

 

“Then why did she go away..?”

 

“Because she had to…that’s why… she had to go..”

 

“But she didn’t, pa, she didn’t have to go…” he pushed his fingers into his fathers hand and curled them about his fathers fingers “Pa…do you now what I think?”

 

Ben looked down at the earnest little face and tried to muster up a smile, once again he brushed away the curl that had fallen over his sons brow and once again he felt his heart beat faster for the love he felt for him “What do you think, Adam?”

 

“I think she’s here, pa. I’ve seen her”

 

“What?” Ben frowned, not understanding what Adam was saying “What do you mean, son?”

 

“Ma’s here. She only went away for a little bit and she’s here…I’ve seen her.”

 

“No, son…”

 

“I have, I have” Adam insisted, his voice a little shriller than normal

 

“You can’t have done, son, your ma died…”

 

“No, pa…no, she didn’t die..she jest went a way for a little while and came here to live and I’ve seen her, she’s waiting for us, and …and she didn’t die, pa…”

 

Ben grabbed his son now, his hands rough as they tightened around his sons arms and he gave the boy a little shake

 

“Stop this nonsense at once, Adam. Your ma died when you were born, and nothing, and no-one, can bring her back .. do you hear me…”

 

“She ain’t dead…”

 

“She’s been dead for a long time, Adam….”

 

“SHE AIN’T….SHE AIN’T..”

 

“Stop it…stop it…” Ben gave the boy another shake but Adam twisted and pulled himself away from his father’s grasp and ran back a few paces

 

“She ain’t dead…because I know what dead means.. I know ‘cause I saw what they did to Inger and how they put her in a box and then they put her in a hole in the ground and everybody just threw mud on the box and I saw that…and that’s what dead is..but ma ain’t dead….MY ma ain’t dead…”

 

“Adam….Adam…” Ben rose from the table and lunged to grab at the boy, and caught him up in his arms and held him tightly “Adam….” And he buried his face into his sons nightshirt and tried to stem back the tears “Adam…”

 

Chapter 5

 

“Hello”

 

She was wearing a white dress with small green flowers sewn all over it and her Spencer jacket was green velvet. Her bonnet was the one he had seen her wear before but she had a little flimsy netting drifting over her face this time. She smiled down at him and the little boy smiled back up at her

 

“What are you doing here?” she asked “Are you following me?”

 

“I ..I …well..I guess I was, ma’am”

 

“Then I’m mighty flattered. But may I ask why?” she pushed open the gate into her garden, and indicated that he could step inside too

 

“I don’t know” he said shyly and looked down at his feet

 

“Do you want to come inside my house and have some milk and cookies?”

 

“Oh!” Adam looked up with a wide smile “Yes, please!”

 

“Come along then…” and she extended her hand to him and he took it in his own and walked by her side up the garden path and into the cool interior of the house. She left him standing there for a moment as she took off her hat, and perched it on a small gold painted table. Adam gazed about him. He had never seen quite such a house as this before, so much gold glittering everywhere, on mirrors, and furniture and picture frames…she smiled and looked down at him “It would help if you would tell me your name?”

 

“I’m Adam.” He replied immediately “Adam Cartwright.”

 

“And I’m..”

 

“You’re Elizabeth….” He replied promptly

 

She laughed then, and put her head playfully to one side “I see! So you know all about me, do you, Mr. Cartwright? Well, come along then, come and get this drink …” and she led him into another room and pointed to a chair “I’ll go and get you the milk and cookies and then you can tell me all about yourself.”

 

Adam watched her go and pondered as to why she would want to know all about him when she would already know…unless, of course, she would want to know all about what had happened since she had left…when she returned with the milk and cookies on a tray she sat opposite him and smiled “Well, now, Adam….where did you spring from….?”

 

………

 

“Mr. Cartwright?”

 

Ben turned and did a slight double take before he could catch his breath and nod in acknowledgement “Yes, ma’am, I’m Ben Cartwright”

 

She smiled and extended her hand

 

“I’m Rhiannon O’Shaughnessy. People here in town call me Elizabeth…because it’s my middle name and they feel more comfortable with it.”

 

“I understand. Rhiannon’s a very pretty name….” Ben pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his hands, well aware of the fact that he was beginning to feel very hot around the collar. “Can I help you at all, ma’am?”

 

“I’d like to talk to you, if I may”

 

“By all means, but …”

 

“I can see that you are busy. Could I see you when it is more convenient?”

 

“Certainly…tomorrow afternoon?”

 

“At the coffee house…over there to the left of the dry goods store…” she pointed at the coffee shop with her parasol and then smiled “Would 2.30 p.m. be alright?”

 

“Yes, ma’am”

 

“Please…call me Elizabeth.”

 

“If you wouldn’t mind, ma’am, I’d prefer it if we could keep it more formal…Mrs. ..”

 

“Miss….”

 

“Miss O’Shaughnessy”

 

He tipped his hat to her and watched as she walked away from the wagon. Mr. Lowe came and stood by his side and turned to watch the woman walk down the street towards her home and nodded sagely

 

“Mighty fine lady” he said quietly

 

“Yes, I guess she is…”

 

“Bin here ten years.”

 

“Mmmm..” Ben turned to pick up the sack of coffee beans

 

“Her fiancé got himself shot in a gun fight right out there in main street…sad business!”

 

Ben said nothing, but turned to go. Small towns, small minds and big mouths!

 

………

 

“Thank you for coming” she smiled and shook his hand as they met outside the coffee shop. She pushed open the door and he followed her inside and to where there was a more private table.

 

She watched as he sat down on the chair, and smiled slowly to herself. He was certainly a very handsome man and well built too. She had seen the day before that he was muscular and strong, now she could that he dressed well when he had to, and looked even more handsome as a result. His black hair was slightly streaked at the side, and it looked as though he were going to go grey early in life as so many dark-haired people did if they lived too good or too sad a life. She beckoned for service and then ordered coffee…and while they waited she peeled off her gloves and surveyed him,

 

“Well, Miss O’Shaughnessy…what’s the verdict?” he smiled

 

“The verdict?”

 

“Yes…. You’ve been scrutinising me so carefully that I was wondering whether or not there was some ulterior motive to your asking me here today.”

 

“Oh…” she laughed, a good hearty laugh that drew the attention of several other customers at their tables who glanced over at them before returning to their drinks “Oh, Mr. Cartwright…” she paused as the coffee things were set down on the table and when they were alone again she leaned forward “I had a visit from your little boy yesterday”

 

“Adam?”

 

“Yes.” She stirred sugar into her coffee very slowly “He’s a charming child, handsome..intelligent…and he likes books.”

 

“Oh, you’re the lady who loaned him the book he brought home…” Ben frowned

 

“Yes…unless he makes a habit of calling on everyones house for a book…”

 

“I hope not…” he smiled and stared into his coffee “I’ll tell him not to bother you again…”

 

“I’d rather you didn’t. I enjoyed his company. He’s …different …”

 

“He’s had a strange life, I suppose….we’ve always been travelling, never settled anywhere…”

 

“He told me you had been a seaman”

 

“Yes, that’s right.”

 

“That must have been very exciting..”

 

“Sometimes…” he drank the coffee and then looked at her and noticed that she had dark brown eyes and long lashes and that they were regarding him very steadily “Did Adam say anything else?”

 

“We just chatted…like old friends…” she smiled

 

“Did he say anything about……his mother?”

 

“No…only that his step mother had died in an Indian attack not so long ago.”

 

Ben frowned “So…what is the purpose of this …interview?”

 

“I think he wanted me to get to know you.” She smiled “He cares about you very much, and I think he wants to ..matchmake…”

 

“Oh!” Ben relaxed, just a little “I – er – I’m sorry about that….he misses Inger”

 

“You must miss her too…” There was a long pause then and she smiled and just nodded “I know…that was a bit too personal, wasn’t it? Can I ask another personal question?”

 

“Go ahead?”

 

“There’s a dance at the town hall on Saturday…would you come as my escort?”

 

“I usually…”

 

“It would make Adam happy…and me as well, come to that….”

 

Their eyes met and twinkled together…he smiled, she smiled…

 

“Very well, Rhiannon, I’d like that too…”

 

 

Chapter 6

 

Rhiannon O’Shaughnessy danced like a dream. She laughed and chattered and twinkled like a star. Ben felt like a man who had stumbled upon an oasis in a desert as he held her in his arms and danced with her, escorted her to and fro around the room, was introduced to her friends. He even felt a slight twinge of irritation when others came and claimed dances from her, especially the tall thin blonde haired man who seemed very disinclined to talk to him and very much inclined to take sole possession of her. There had even been a slight hiatus when she and the other man had a little difference of opinion during one of the dances, and as it seemed to be getting a little heated, Ben had ventured to intervene, and felt grateful when an old friend of Rhiannon’s, also noticing the argument, took the chance to cut in and take her for the remainder of the dance. The thin blond man then disappeared for the remainder of the evening.

 

It had been the first social occasion Ben had been to since he had been married to Inger. The first time he had held a woman in his arms and danced with her. The first time he had walked down a sidewak with a woman on his arm, looking up at him in admiration, whilst they both knew that they had drunk a little too much, danced a little too often, and enjoyed one another’s company ..yes, a lot.

 

“Will I see you again, Ben Cartwright?” she murmered as they stood by her garden gate

 

“I certainly hope so, Rhiannon” he smiled

 

“I enjoyed this evening…very much”

 

“So did I”

 

They smiled at one another and shook hands, held hands a little longer than normal, and then parted. He watched her as she reached her front door, and when she turned she waved…

 

…………….

 

“Did you dance, pa?” the little boy looked up at him with wide brown eyes and an excited look on his face, by his side Hoss bounced up and down on the bed and clapped his hands, which he always did when they mentioned the word dance.

 

“I certainly did. I reckon my feet have blisters.” Ben pulled off his boots and together his sons and he examined the soles of his feet and laughing declared them ‘jest fine’.

 

“Was it fun, pa? Did you enjoy it?”

 

“Yes, I did.”

 

“Did Elizabeth like you, pa?”

 

“Yes, she seemed to…and her names Rhiannon, Adam” and he looked at the boy sternly and stood up “Now, both of you, get to bed and when I come in I’ll tell you both a story.”

 

He listened to the patter of their feet across the floor boards and their excited chatter as they jumped into bed, and he pulled off his tie and his shirt and walked to the where the basin of water was and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

 

He felt guilty. He dipped his hands into the clear water and sluiced it over his face. He felt guilty and ashamed. But why? He pulled over the towel and dried himself slowly…why feel ashamed because he had danced with a lovely woman for the first time in nearly two years? Why feel guilty because he had felt attracted to her and had even wanted to kiss her….he decided to give his face another quick sluice, seeing how the water was cold now anyway…

 

She did remind him so much of Elizabeth. The same gaity, the same sensitivity and the same mischief lurking in her dark eyes. She had been intelligent, conversation had flowed between them so easily…she had enjoyed his company and found him attractive. And now he felt ashamed and guilty.

 

“Elizabeth..Elizabeth…” he whispered to himself “Why did you have to go and leave us…” and he bowed his head and stared down at the water and saw only a faded reflection of himself staring dismally back at him.

 

……….

 

Adam could feel his heart beating like a drum under his ribs as he ran from the house. He wanted to shout but he seemed to have lost his voice. He glanced over his shoulder to look behind him …

 

The horses neighed and reared up and the wagon rolled back and then rolled forwards. Soneone screamed. A man ran out of the barbers and pulling off the towel from around his neck yelled for someone to get the doctor.

 

Angela Merriweather had seen it all happen before her very eyes…she ran now across th road and threw herself down in the dirt and took the little body in her arms and turned him over very slowly. She brushed dirt and blood from his face and ran his hands down his body and over his limbs and looked earnestly into his face

 

“Adam..Adam…” she cried “Adam, wake up, wake up”

 

………………..

 

Ben Cartwright pushed open the door of the house and frowned slightly. He had knocked and the door had just swung open. He glanced down the path and over the hedge as the sound of some commotion reached his ears, and he could see a small gathering of people huddled together in the road, but curiousity as to why the door was open was too much….very tentatively he stepped inside the hallway.

 

Rhiannon O’Shaughnessy lay on the hallway floor in a huddled heap. It was obvious from the way her eyes stared ahead of her into nothing that she was already dead and past any help, but even so he approached her and knelt at her side and lifted her still body just a fraction so that he could look down again at the still, bloodied features of the dead woman. How strange, he thought, in death she looks nothing whatsoever like my Elizabeth. He touched her neck, to feel for any sign of a pulse, but there was none, and when he gently lay her back down on the floor he felt the blood on his hands and looked down to see for himself how her blood covered his fingers and hands.

 

He was wondering what could have happened to her when a hand touched his shoulder and looking up he saw a thick set man with grey eyes staring down at him and on his shirt was pinned a star. Several others were crowding into the house now…all of them looking in shock and horror at the sight before their eyes.

 

What did they see? They saw a startled man with blood on his hands and denial in his eyes. They saw the body of a woman lying broken at the foot of the stairs….There could have been any number of explanations, but to them there was only one. A woman killed and her murderer, with her blood still on his hands, caught at the scene of the crime.

 

Sheriff Layton slipped Bens gun from its holster and told him that he was being arrested on suspicion of murder…and Ben, confused as he was, threw a wild punch and struggled to get away….it convinced all those there of his guilt! In the crowd a tall, thin blond haired man glared at Ben Cartwright and shook his fist at him…but all Ben could think of was why? Why did it have to happen and why did he have to be the one to have found her..

 

“I didn’t do it…I promise you, I’m innocent..” he pleaded as the handcuffs went on and Layton pushed him forwards through the crowd “I tell you I’m innocent…”

 

“You can tell me when we get to the jail house, I’ll take down your statement there..” Layton said quietly “Don’t make a scene, Mr. Cartwright, it only makes matters worse.”

 

Chapter 7

 

Sheriff Layton read Bens statement out aloud to him and Ben nodded and took the pen and signed it carefully.

 

“Can I go now?” he asked, holding out his handcuffed wrists

 

“No, I’m sorry you can’t “ Layton frowned “The fact is that you’re the only suspect we have and..”

 

“Then why aren’t you looking for someone else…for evidence to prove I’m innocent.”

 

“Because there isn’t anyone else.”

 

“Don’t be so ridiculous, of course there’s someone else. I would never harm anyone…”

 

“Perhaps it was an accident…maybe a little struggle on the stairs …and she tripped..” Layton suggested, pushing Bens statement back to him “Why not write it down there, son, it’ll make it much easier for you”

 

“I am not going to write down anything that isn’t true. I’ve already told you….” Ben raised his hands in exasperation and was about to launch into another explanation of what had happened when the door of the office opened and Mrs. Merriweather stepped inside. She glanced at the two men, and the deputy standing near by, and walked very slowly forwards, her eyes on Bens face.

 

“Mr. Cartwright…”

 

“Yes, ma’am?” Ben stood upright, and looked her in the face and felt a dark feeling of dread well up inside of him “What’s happened?”

 

“Your son, Adam….”

 

“What’s happened to him?”

 

“He ran out into the road and was knocked down by some horses…please” she extended her hand and placed it gently on his arm “Please don’t be overly anxious. I know you’re worried enough about things as it is, but please…he will be alright. He’s got a concussion, but the doctor assures me that he will be alright.”

 

“I must go and see him..” he stepped forward but Layton stood up and put a restraining hand on his chest

 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you go…”

 

“But I must.. my son..you heard what the teacher just said? For pities sake, man…”

 

Layton looked over at the deputy who gave a slight shrug, and spat out onto the porch. He looked at his prisoner and frowned, then with a nod he drew out his gun and prodded Ben forward

 

“You can leave the gun in your holster, Sheriff, I’m not likely to run away”

 

“I’m sorry, the rules stipulate…”

 

“Look, I’ll stay put because I want this matter cleared up too….and if I have to stay in jail and be tried for murder to prove my innocence, then so be it…but I don’t want to go in and see my son in handcuffs, and with a gun in my back!”

………….

The morning came but it made no difference to Ben. He had not slept during the hours of darkness, and early morning had come and gone with him pacing the cell floor, trying to put together the fragments of time that had turned a reasonable life into a nightmare.

 

He thought of Adam, and his heart lurched. What if he had died? What if something happened even now and he died and he, his own father, was unable to go to him in his last hours? What had the child been thinking of, to run out into the street without looking and why had he been there in the first place!

 

He was sitting on the bunk with his hands tugging at his hair in despair when the chink of keys rattled and he looked up to see Layton opening the door and with a tray of food in his other hand. It would be a simple thing to over power the older man, he thought, and to run off…he sighed, run off where? And what about Hoss? What about Adam?

 

“The doc said your boy had a good nights sleep. Still unconscious though but it ain’t unusual with concussion” he placed the tray on the bed “More good news…the Judge arrives in town today and he should be able to hear your case on Friday. I’ve got a legal guy onto your defence…if you’re insisting on pleading not guilty that is…”

 

“I am not guilty, of course I’ll be pleading not guilty”

 

“You can change your mind…”

 

“Why should I do that? I didn’t kill Rhiannon”

 

Layton frowned and sat down beside Ben and shook his head

 

“I’ve known her a long time.” he said “The whole town held her in great respect, you know. She was going to marry my predecessor, Sheriff Andrew Dowson. He was a good man and the fairest man I’ve ever known. “

 

“She told me about him.” Ben said quietly

 

“We had some trouble with gun fighters drifting in….it happens with new settlements and this town was just about getting itself on its feet. Dowson was called out…”

 

“…and killed”

 

“Yeah, and killed. Miss O’shaughnessy was mighty upset I kin tell ya….”

 

“She told me that she thought Dowson had been murdered”

 

“Murdered?” Dowson frowned “Yeah, she went on about that for a while. Fact is that he faced the man who called him out and shot him, killed him stone dead, but …he was shot too…it happens sometimes.”

 

“She told me what happened” Ben said quietly

 

“She told you what she thought happened.”

 

Ben said nothing to that, but picked up some bread and pulled off a chunk and began to eat it slowly, whilst he surveyed the floor of the cell and thought over the young girl who had been killed…

 

“Perhaps it was an accident” he muttered

 

“What? Dowson’s death?”

 

“No…Rhiannon’s…maybe someone did just happen to see her fall down the stairs, maybe they were arguing, or maybe she just turned and tripped…”

 

“You are thinking of changing your plea then…” Layton said smugly

 

“No..not at all…I wasn’t there when she died ..I’m just saying that may be that’s how it was and now that person is scared, and too frightened to come forward and tell the truth…”

 

“The truth is, Mr. Cartwright, that according to the doctor, Miss O’Shaughessy died from a blow to the head administered before her fall down the stairs…so…you had better start thinking up a good story to get out of this…”

 

“To get out of what?”

 

“A hanging, mister…murder is a hanging offence in this township!”

 

………..

 

Adam half opened his eyes and looked about him. His eyes felt so heavy that he gratefully closed them again and with a sigh allowed his mind to drift back into the cobwebs of dreams.

 

“Never be frightened…” a voice whispered in his head

 

“I ain’t frightened” his own voice whispered back

 

The lady smiled down at him, and he smiled back. This was his ma, his Elizabeth and he reached out and she took hold of his hands and pulled him up gently to her side. He slipped easily and comfortably into the nook of her arm, his head on her shoulder and her arm about his …

 

“You know I’m always here, don’t you, Adam?”

 

“Yes, yes, ma…for a while I thought you had gone away for ever, but I know you’re there now…”

 

“I shan’t ever leave you…” she whispered and kissed his brow.

 

Angela Merriweather kissed his brow and sighed, and stroked back the dark hair that was spiked wet with perspiration

 

“Is he going to be alright?” she turned to the doctor “He’s been drifting in and out of consciousness for so long now…”

 

“He’s going to be alright, Angela. He’s strong and healthy and not giving in to it…there is something worrying him though.” He approached the bed and took the boys wrist and felt for the pulse and shook his head “Every so often he gets feverish and his pulse starts to race…then it calms down and he slips into a good healthy sleep. Thankfully, they are not so often as they were at first so I think we can safely say we have passed the danger time.”

 

“Mr. Cartwright will be on trial tomorrow morning…”

 

“Well, if he killed Elizabeth he deserves everything he gets.” The doctor replied, and wiped his hands methodically and thoroughly with a clean cloth.

 

“You were always very fond of Elizabeth, weren’t you, Dr. Miles.”

 

“Yes…well…the whole town was fond of her, weren’t they?”

 

“Yes, of course they were. “ she smiled gently “No one could or would dream of saying a bad word against her…she was a lovely young woman in every sense of the word.”

 

“Exactly my point…” Dr. Miles smiled at her “Now, I think we should leave this young man to sleep….I’ll let you know if there is any change at all…” he assured her and led the way to the door.

 

………………

 

Ben stopped his pacing and walked to the barred window of his cell. He could hear the hum of people walking pass on the sidewalk, some of them raised their voices deliberately so that he would hear their opinions of his part in Elizabeth O’Shaughnessy’s death, and none of them gave him any feelings of encouragement or cause for optimism. He knew that they were going early to the Court in order to get good seats and he felt his collar and realised that this must have been much the same way the French aristos had felt on the way to the tumbril and the kiss of death from Mam’zelle Guillotine.

 

“Sheriff?”

 

“Yes, Mr. Cartwright?”

 

“Is there any chance of my seeing Adam before I get to the courtroom?”

 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Cartwright…it’s going to be hard enough to get you through the crowds as it is”

 

Ben frowned, that really did sound ominous. Elizabeth or rather Rhiannon was certainly very popular in this town, and he hadn’t realised by how much until now. He returned to the window and looked up at the sky and saw the barest slither of a cloud sweeping its lazy way across the blue expanse above them. He shook his head, perhaps he should be praying for a miracle right now, he thought, but he had already spent so many hours praying…and hoping…

 

“Are you ready?” Layton was turning the key in the lock

 

“Sheriff, did you look for witnesses? Did you really look for someone …”

 

“Oh back to that are we…the ghost…the mysterious person who was in the house when you found her…” Layton shook his head sadly “Look, Mr. Cartwright, why drag this out? The towns not favourably inclined towards you, it’s a dead certainty that things are going to go only one way…” he looked at the younger man sadly and scratched behind his ear “I’ve asked around, I’ve questioned folk all over town…no one else was in the house, no one else was anywhere around and no one else had reason to kill her anyway…”

 

“I had no reason to kill her…”

 

“Well, that’s what you say…” Layton muttered and led the prisoner from the cell.

 

………………

 

Angela Merriweather leaned over the boy as he lay on the bed and smiled down at him

 

“Are you feeling better now, dear?” she whispered

 

“Yes, ma’am” he said quietly “Can I see my pa now, and Hoss?”

 

“Later, when you’re feeling much better. Your pa’s been here to see you but he’s busy right now…and Mrs. Gilbert has care of Hoss…”

 

“But there’s something I have to tell pa.” Adam whispered and raised his hand to his head, and rubbed at where it hurt so much. He knew it was something important, but he could not think what it was at all…there was a movement behind Mrs. Merriweather and he realised that there was a man standing behind her, and for some reason this man looked familiar “Who are you?” he whispered

 

“I’m Dr. Miles…” came the gentle response and the Doctor smiled down at his young patient and took his hand in his “Welcome back to the land of the living, Adam”

 

“Was I dead then?”

 

“No..” the doctor smiled and looked over at Mrs. Merriweather who smiled back with respectful admiration ”No, it’s just an expression…it means that we’re glad that you’re well enough to talk and …” he paused as he saw a spasm of emotion swiftly pass across the boys face “Is there something the matter, lad?”

 

Adam frowned, there was definitely something the matter but he could not find where or what it was…somewhere tucked in the back of his memory there was definitely something…Angela Merriweather looked down at him and smiled

 

“You need something to eat and drink, my dear…” she said quietly and turned to the doctor who had retreated back into the shadows.

 

“Mrs. Merriweather..ma’am…can I leave here now..can I come back home with you?” Adam cried, his voice suddenly shaky with alarm and something akin to panic.

 

“I don’t know…Dr. Miles…would it be alright if he left here now…?”

 

“I don’t see why not…so long as you promise me that he has a good light breakfast and some orangeade to drink …” Miles smiled at them both and Adam had a rather strange feeling creep down his spine… it was rather like watching a crocodile smile, all teeth but no warmth or feeling in the eyes.

 

Outside there was so much going on that even a child of eight could see that something major was about to happen. He tugged at the teachers hand

 

“What’s going on, Mrs. Merriweather?”

 

“Oh…nothing about which you need to be worried about…”

 

Adam frowned, he knew enough about adults to know when they said things like that he had every reason to worry. He glanced over at the crowds streaming towards the court house and tugged at her hand, but she only pulled him along more hurriedly,, hoping that they would get to her house before the sheriff emerged with Ben.

 

Tommy Hislop ran over to them and looked at Adam thoughtfully, he sidled closer

 

“Where’ve you bin?” he whispered

 

“At the doctors…I banged my head when I fell down.”

 

“Tommy…go home to your mother, you know theres no school today…” Mrs. Merriweather said briskly

 

“Have you told anyone yet?” Tommy hissed

 

“Told anybody what?”

 

“You know…” and Tommy nodded his head rather more vigourously than usual and winked.

 

Adam looked at him rather scornfully and quickened his pace to catch up with his teachers.

 

Tommy Hislop was left standing on the sidewalk scratching his head…surely Adam would want to say something now, especially with the trial about to start and his father’s life hanging in the balance!

 

Chapter 8

 

Hoss saw his pa standing across the room from him and waved chubby hands at him and called out “Papa” so plaintively that Mrs. Gilbert burst into tears and had to leave the court room. Hoss seeing his father disappear from his view as Mrs. Gilbert bore him away, promptly burst into tears and his pleading for his ‘papa’ echoed for some minutes around the room before fading into silence.

 

Ben could have cried himself when he saw his little son. But he steeled himself and waited for the court to convene. His defence lawyer had entered a plea of Not Guilty and that had been greeted with mutterings and some expletives from the audience and the jury had been sworn in and all of them glared at him so openly that he knew that he had no chance for an impartial hearing at all.

 

Eyes stared at him from every angle. They bore into the back of his head and burned into his own eyes. He could feel the perspiration breaking out under his arm pits and around his brow and wished that the day would just end, and be over and done with for good! Whether it meant him swinging at the end of a rope or not, this ordeal was something abhorrent to him. He believed in justice, and in fairness and impartiality, but he saw nothing of that here…and the Judge had glared down at him with such venom that he felt like throwing up his hands and declaring himself guilty just to end it all!

 

The case was put forward. Witnesses were called who testified seeing Ben Cartwright in Elizabeth’s house bending over her body and with blood on his hands. The defence declared that anyone could have stumbled on the body and been in just such a situation when found, it did not mean that person would be guilty..every witness agreed on that point but stressed the fact that this particular suspect did LOOK guilty and that was sufficient for them!

 

Their testimonies were laughable and inexcusable, but they served a purpose, in that they reinforced the invention on the minds of the jury….every witness was convinced that the suspect had committed the murder, therefore it must be so….!

 

Eventually, due to the lack of witnesses for the defence, Ben was called forward to give his statement and answer questions from the representatives of law and order…his lawyer, who did not believe him, and the prosecution who didn’t care enough to believe him or not…

“Why were you at Miss O’Shaughnessy’s house that day?”

 

“I was in town and decided to pay a call on her…”

 

“Is that what you normally did?”

 

“No”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because until recently I was not acquainted with Miss O’Shaughnessy.”

 

“Were you good friends?”

 

“We could have become good friends…..”

 

“And what happened when you got to the house…?”

 

“The door was swinging open.. I pushed it and stepped inside. I thought I heard someone breathing and called out her name..”

 

“You thought you heard someone breathing..but Miss O’Shaughnessy was already dead according to your statement….”

 

“Objection….” Yelled the prosecution lawyer who was already bored out of his head

 

“Overruled!” yawned the Judge

 

“I thought I heard someone breathing, and when I went into the house I thought there was movement…then I saw Rhiannon on the floor and knew she was dead.”

 

“You knew she was dead….just by looking at her…?”

 

“Yes, she was dead…I knew just by looking at her…” and Ben swallowed hard and thought of the bodies he had seen and known to be dead by looking at them…like Elizabeth and Inger….

 

“And this someone who you thought was in the house…did he or she materialise…?”

 

“I knew there was someone else in the house. I could sense them…”

 

“Sense them? In what way do you mean?”

 

The prosecution stood up and sighed “Excuse me, but is this all the defence you have in your favour…an unseen person…?”

 

“Yes, it’s all I have to offer as a defence…” Ben said very quietly

 

The Prosecution lawyer turned to the jury and gave a very exaggerated shrug, spreading out his hands as though to say “Well, I give up!” the jury shifted in their seats, some yawned and some snickered between themselves. In the audience, there were already bets being made as to how long it would take them to get Ben from the court room to the gibbet!

 

“Did anyone else see this unseen presence? This person you sensed to be in the house when you were there making sure that Miss O’Shaughnessy was dead?”

 

“I don’t know…I don’t suppose so otherwise they would have come forward by now..” Ben frowned

 

“Mr. Cartwright…was there any reason of which you know, that would give anyone else in this town reason to kill or attempt to kill Miss O’Shaughnessy?”

 

Ben frowned and glanced over the audience with his near black eyes intensely dark indeed. Only a few there gave him a nod of encouragement. He frowned

 

“Just the one that I know of…”

 

“Ah! A motive you mean?”

 

“Perhaps!”

 

“And what was this reason?”

 

“Miss O’Shaughnessy told me that she thought her fiancé, Sheriff Dowson, had been murdered. “ his voice was drowned out by the chorus of chortles and chuckles from the audience, this old story had been going the rounds for a few years now, and with much shaking of heads and widening of eyes the audience gradually quietened down

 

“What exactly did Miss O’Shaughnessy tell you, Mr. Cartwright?”

 

“She told me that there was someone in the town who had always hated Dowson, and who had at one time had hopes of marrying her…”

 

“Objection…” the Prosecution stood up and sighed heavily “We haven’t come here to listen to an old fashioned love story…”

 

“It’s my defence…”

 

“It’s his defence, sir…and proves, perhaps, a motive..” the defence threw back, his first attempt at any spirit in his task.

 

“Continue..” the Judge murmered and pulled out his watch to check the time by the clock on the court room wall.

 

“When Dowson was called out he shot and killed the gunman, who fired off a shot…”

 

“..that killed Dowson…” the prosecution lawyer growled

 

“This is my interrogation…” the defence lawyer spat “Please refrain from interupting…”

 

“And please stop taking over my job for me…” the Judge banged his gavel and then looked at Ben and nodded “Carry on….”

 

“It was assumed that his shot killed Dowson, but Rhiannon said that she had proof that the bullet that killed him actually came from the rear, that he was shot in the back by someone hiding in a back alley….”

 

“What proof did she have?”

 

“She said she would show me the proof next time we met…”

 

“And this so called murderer cum rival in love….?”

 

“He was still in town…”

 

“Did he know about this claim ..this proof she claimed to have on him…?”

 

“I don’t know…” Ben shook his head and glanced up and around him . Suddenly there had been a hush settling around the court room, and people in the audience and on the jury were looking thoughtful, concerned, and confused. He leaned forwards “I had no reason, no motive, for killing Miss O’Shaughnessy. None whatsoever….But she believed that there was someone out there…”

 

The gavel banged on the judges table and a loud voice told him to ‘shut up’. He glanced up at the Judge and shook his head

 

“How can I keep quiet when this was and is my only defence? I’m not going to let you hang me on the hearsay of a group of people who can’t …”

 

“Mr. Cartwright…please..keep silent…” the judge turned to the defence lawyer “Continue with your questioning, unless you’ve finished….”

 

The defence lawyer looked up from reading a slip of paper and looked at the Judge and raised his eyebrows.

 

“May I speak to you a moment, Judge…” he asked quietly and beckoned to the prosecution who glanced around him and frowned when he saw the young woman standing by the barriers wringing her hands and looking anxiously up at the judge…he shook his head…oh, for an easy life! The last thing he wanted was a twist in the tail….

 

Chapter 9

 

An hour passed and for Ben every moment seemed an eternity. He studied the walls, the faces of the jury and the townspeople who were restless, confused and whispering amongst themselves. The certainty of the culprit was now in question and the thought of what to do as a result hung like the sword of Damocles over all their heads.

 

Eventually there was the stir of activity that proclaimed the return of the Judge and the lawyers. Mrs. Merriweather sat on the bench close to Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert. Hoss, hot and sticky from misery, had fallen asleep in Mrs. Gilberts arms and snored very lightly. The townspeople began to settle down into silence. Perhaps only Ben, who had reasons of his own for such vigilance, noticed that the sheriff had now posted deputies at every door, which, rather intriguingly, were being very stealthily locked. He shook his head slightly, surely they did not think he would be making a run for it…not now!

 

The Judge banged his gavel and looked at them all sternly

 

“There have been some interesting developments in this case. In order to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible I am going to proceed with the cross examination of the two main witnesses. Bring in the first witness..”

 

Every head turned at the same time to view the appearance of young Tommy Hislop who looked much like a terrified rabbit caught in the glare of a hundred oil lamps. Amidst a little muttering and mumbling the boy took his place on a chair near to the judge and waited.

The Defence lawyer walked up to him and smiled

 

“How old are you, Tommy?”

 

“Ten, sir”

 

“Do you know the difference between the truth and a lie, Tommy?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Very well, now you know what we want you to do, don’t you?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Very well…Now, Tommy, tell me…no, look at me, and don’t mind all of them …tell me what happened the day Miss O’Shaughnessy was killed. What were you doing…”

 

“Well, Adam Cartwright said that he had a book he wanted to take back to Miss O’Shaughnessy and I said he was a liar because Miss O’Shaughnessy never gave books to folk and he said if I didn’t believe him to go with him and find out for myself.”

 

“And did you go with him?”

 

“Yes, sir…”

 

“What happened?”

 

“We knocked on the door and it was already unlocked so he said it would be alright to go inside because Miss O’Shaughnessy was probably in the back of the house. We went inside and he called for her but no one came although we knew there was someone there because we could hear someone moving about and then being very still…” he frowned “so he put the book back on the shelf and was about to pick up another one when we heard her come back. He was about to call out to her when we heard them talking…”

 

“Who was talking, Tommy?”

 

“Her and a ..a..man.”

 

“Did you hear what was said?”

 

“She said to him…’what are you doing in my house, get out of here’ and he said ‘I came to see you ‘”

 

“Were they angry with one another?”

 

“She was frightened because her voice was kinda squeaky…she said ‘I ain’t got nuthin’ to say to you, go away or I’ll get the sheriff’ and he said ‘You try and I’ll kill you.””

 

“Were they fighting, Tommy?”

 

“Me and Adam were skeered, we crouched down behind the door and peeked out to see what was happening …he had hold of her wrist and pulled her and she pushed him away. “You killed Andrew’ “

 

“What happened then…” the lawyer tapped the boy on the knee to get his attention back for the child was now looking even more terrified “Don’t look at them, Tommy, just look at me and tell me what happened.”

 

“You’ve no proof.’ And he shook her and she squealed and told him to let go of her or she would scream and he said scream as much as you like no one will hear you. She ran up the stairs then and we decided to run for it, but we only got as far as the hall when there was a big bang…”

 

“A shot gun..?”

 

“No, sir…not a bang like that, just a bang like something heavy falling down on the floor.”

 

“Had there been much noise beforehand?”

 

“Sort of..like fighting..then after the bang it was very quiet…we were wondering what to do when we heard lots of thuds and she came falling down the stairs…Adam said to run for it and to get the doc…but…” he lowered his eyes and shivered “Anyway..he ran out of the house and I ran too but tripped over something …then I heard someone coming and hid in the shrubs and that’s when I saw Mr. Cartwright coming to the house.”

 

“What did he do?”

 

“He went to the door and pushed it open and went inside..”

 

“Had the other man come out?”

 

“No, sir…he was still inside…” he frowned “Unless he went out the back window.”

 

“Tommy, is that man here in the court room?”

 

“Yes,sir.”

 

“Is it Mr. Cartwright…I mean the man who had the fight with Miss O’Shaughnessy”

 

“No, it wasn’t him.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell us this before, Tommy…you do realise that Mr. Cartwright may have been hanged for something he didn’t do, don’t you?”

 

“I was skeered…” Tommy looked up at the judge with wet eyes and the freckles on his face stood out like brown blotches on parched linen “I was skeered….and anyway, I didn’t know him, no one really knew him, so it didn’t seem to matter so much at the time. Not like the other man…I’d known HIM all my life and he saved my ma’s life once…I didn’t know what to do! I was too skeered to tell anyone and Adam was hurt so I couldn’t talk to him about it…but ma knew I was worried about summat so she got on to me until I told her this mornin’…..”

 

The Judge leaned forward now and surveyed the boy, and the audience, many of whom were nervously fidgitting and eying the doors anxiously

 

“Tommy…can you write?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Would you write down the name of the man who was fighting with Miss O’Shaughnessy?”

 

“Yes, sir..” and taking the pen from the clerk the child carefully wrote down a name on a piece of paper which he handed to the Judge.

 

“Now, Tommy, apart from your mother, does anyone else know about this?”

 

“Only Mrs. Merriweather, she was the one told me to come here…with ma…”

 

“Have you discussed this at all with your friend, Adam Cartwright?”

 

“No, sir, I ain’t….he’s been ill for days now, and I ain’t even seen him until this mornin.”

 

“And did you say anything to him then?”

 

“I only asked him if he had told anyone..but he looked at me as though he didn’t know what had happened…”

 

“Alright, Tommy, go and sit with your ma…you’ve done very well. Thank you.”

 

With shaking legs Tommy Hislop hurried to sit beside his mother and received a well earned hug from that worthy lady. Glancing around he caught Bens eye and lowered his head, the thought that he could have been responsible for that mans death now weighed heavily upon what conscience he possessed.

 

Doctor Miles pulled out his watch and checked the time, remembering that he had promised to visit Mrs. Smith about some ailment or another. He picked up his medical bag and very quietly began to leave his seat. A firm hand on his shoulder made him jump however, and looking up he saw Layton’s laconic features staring down at him

 

“What’s wrong, sheriff? I have to visit a patient in ten minutes…”

 

“Sorry, Doc. Judge’s orders but no ones to leave the premises..”

 

“I’m sorry, sheriff, but my patient ..”

 

“Sit down, Doc…” and the pressure on his shoulder made the doctor appreciate just how determined the lawman was to keep him right there. Rather reluctantly and very quietly he returned to his seat and placed the medical bag at his feet. All round the room now there were whispers about the room being locked and people began to fidgit restlessly and glance over at Tommy Hislop as though he were the cause of all their woes.

 

“The next witness please” the judge said in such a kindly manner that he had to repeat himself twice to the clerk of the court who hurriedly rushed out and escorted into the courtroom Adam Cartwright.

 

Ben’s heart did a somersault when he saw his boy led into the courtroom, and he longed to rush over and give him a hug. How pale the child looked and how dark under his eyes..how sad the droop to his mouth and how small amongst the crowd…he looked down at his hands and hid them in his lap, just in case Adam, on looking over at him, would see the handcuffs and be ashamed of his father.

 

Adam did, at that moment, glance over and see his father and pure joy lit up his features and he turned as though to run towards him but the clerks steely hand gripped his shoulder and he was steered firmly to a chair close by to the judge, who smiled down at him in such a friendly manner that Adam was reminded of the mans previous reassurances that there was nothing of which to be afraid. He took a deep breath and looked about him and then the lawyer for the defence stood up

 

Chapter 10

 

“Your name is Adam Cartwright and you are 8 years old, is that right?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“Do you remember what we were talking about in the other room, Adam?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“So you know that all you have to do is tell the truth about what happened the day you went to visit Miss O’Shaughnessy with Tom Hislop”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“You do know what a lie is, don’t you, Adam?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

The lawyer for the Prosecution stood up and shook his head

 

“Excuse me for mentioning the fact, but this child does happen to be the son of the accused man…of course he;s going to lie …”

 

“Objection..” the defence lawyer snapped

 

“What proof do we have that this boy and the other child did not conjure up the story they are about to spin just to cause doubt in the minds of the jury and ..”

 

“Objection..”

 

“Objection sustained…continue Mr. Marshall”

 

Mr. Marshall approached the chair where Adam sat and touched his knee gently

 

“Adam, look at me for now, would you” he smiled as he spoke for he well understood the boys longing to be with his father and the reason why his eyes would be strained towards the face of that dear one,so with a sigh Adam wrenched his eyes away from Ben, who had smiled and nodded reassuringly, and now looked directly at the lawyer. “Adam, were you a good friend of Miss O’Shaughnessy?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“Did you visit her often?”

 

“Yes, sir”

 

“And did you like her very much?”

 

“Yes, sir..”

 

The lawyer for the prosecution yawned and stretched, rather theatrically, which earned him a look of stern reproof from the Judge, for such an action could sway the jury into a lapse of concentration on what was being said…if the lawyers were bored, shouldn’t they be also?

“How much did you like her?”

 

“Well…” Adam frowned and his little fingers intertwined with each other restlessly . He glanced over at Ben and then looked once more at Mr. Marshall “I used to pretend she was my ma, because she reminded me of what I thought my ma would be like if she were still alive.”

 

“Did Miss O’Shaughnessy know that?”

 

“Yes, sir…she pretended too. She said she wished she had a little boy like me so she used to pretend she was my ma…and she would sit on the chair and tell me stories and we would talk about things, and she would give me milk and cookies…and cakes too…sometimes.” He took a deep breath “She said I was able to go into her house whenever I wanted and take a book, so long as I left the other book on the table.”

 

Mr. Davies stood up and hemmed to get attention “Does this child know the difference between pretence then? Pretence, a lie..and the truth…?”

 

“Do you, Adam?” Mr. Marshall smiled at the child

 

“Yes sir…it was okay to pretend because Miss O’Shaughnessy was pretending too, and we knew we were pretending….she didn’t mind…” his voice drifted off and his eyes went a little moist at the memories of pleasant hours in her company

 

“But pretending could be mistaken for a lie, Adam?”

 

“No, well, maybe…if you weren’t in on it…” the boy said charmingly “A lies bad, pa would give me a hiding if I lied. Sometimes if you tell the truth it can hurt but it’s always best to tell the truth, that’s what my pa says.”

 

“So…when the door was open that day..you weren’t surprised?”

 

“No, she would often leave the door open. I didn’t want to make too much noise though because Tommy was with me..and I did think she was in the house because we could hear someone …but then it wasn’t her at all.”

 

“And what happened? Can you remember?”

 

“I can remember her coming home and I was going to call out that I was there but she was angry..she said “What are you doing in my house?” and I thought she was angry with me, but before I could explain about Tommy being with me, I heard a man say “I come to see you”

 

“What happened then…”

 

“She said if he didn’t go she would get the sheriff, and he said he would kill her if she tried…we were frightened because he was shaking her. I got up to help her..” his fingers began to nervously twiddle at the buttons on his jacket “but they were shouting and then she ran up the stairs…” he paused and lowered his eyes “She said ‘You killed Andrew’ and he started to hit her”

 

“Was this before she went upstairs…?”

 

“In the hallway” Adam nodded “and he shook her and she screamed and then ran upstairs…then there was a lot of shouting and I said to Tommy we had to get out quickly and get the sheriff and then there was a big bang”

 

“What kind of bang, Adam?” he smiled at the boy “Was it like a pistol shot or something like that?”

 

“Like when someone throws something on the floor” the boy replied quietly “And we ran to the hall and then we heard the thumps as she ..she came down the stairs…and I said to Tommy “run for the doctor””

 

“What happened then, Adam, can you remember?”

 

“I ran out of the house and I was scared because I thought he would be after me…I looked back and then something happened to me..Mrs. Merriweather said I ran into some horses and a wagon…” he frowned and glanced over at his father, a white pinched little face with large dark eyes “they took me to the doctors and I was there all the time until this morning when Mrs. Merriweather came”

 

“And did you know that Miss O’Shaughnessy was dead?”

 

“No, only that she must have been hurt”

 

“Did you know that your pa was accused of killing her?”

 

“No…Mrs. Merriweather never said that…she just said that I had to tell the sheriff what I told her.”

 

“And what did you tell her, Adam?”

 

“I told her that the doctor pushed Miss O’Shaughnessy down the stairs…only I never knew it was the doctor until this morning when I saw him..and I remembered then…” he paused as a ripple of voices trickled through the court room and he glanced up with fear on his face as his eyes met those of the thin blond man who had spent the past few days caring for him, but whom he knew to have been the man he had run from days before…Miles stood up and his face was drained of any colour

 

“You can’t take the word of a boy…for goodness sake..he’s suffering from concussion, can’t you see he’s ill!” he glared about the room, at the suddenly stoney faces that looked back at him with their small minded memories ticking away…..yes, they remembered how he had declared his love for Rhiannon O’Shaughnessy years ago, and they recalled to mind the depression he sunk under when Andrew Dowson appeared on the scene and the threats he had made to get rid of him…they had been ignored but now suddenly they were remembered. “I tell you, he’s ill…you can’t take him seriously. Of course he’s trying to cover up for his father…can’t you see that?”

 

The Judge raised his hand for silence and looked at the crowd before him. He looked at the young man who had been accused of murder but had remained dignified in the face of death. He looked at the two children who, young as they were, had stood firm under questioning and spoken the truth despite their natural fears. He looked at the pale tall doctor who looked badly in need of doctoring himself at that precise moment of time.

 

Another word from you, doctor, and you’ll be fined for contempt of court” he muttered. “Read this out to the court” he held out the slip of paper upon which Tommy Hislop had written the name of the man he had seen in Rhiannon’s house. The Clerk of the Court opened it and read “I saw Doctor Miles…” at which point the whole room erupted into a babble of sound and the Judge’s gavel banged on the desk so violently that his arm ached. Silence fell and the Judge looked at Ben Cartwright

 

“Mr. Cartwright, there is no charge against you, you are free to go.” He looked up then and nodded to the sheriff who put a heavy hand upon the doctors shoulder. He then leaned down and shook Adam by the hand but the child was not too bothered with any Judge, he just wanted to see his father. With tears in his eyes he ran across the courtroom to where his father was standing, rubbing his wrists ruefully

 

“Pa? Pa? Are you alright, pa? You ain’t hurt are ya, pa?” he sobbed throwing himself into the mans arms and holding him tightly “Oh pa…you ain’t hurt, are ya?”

 

“No, son…no…I’m not hurt!” Ben whispered and held the child close to him. The little body so slim and slender, so vulnerable and so brave. He held Adam to him and slowly sunk down onto one knee and looked up at the child and brushed back that stubborn curl that had fallen over the pale brow “Are you alright, Adam?”

 

“I’m alright, pa…but…can we go home now?” the child whispered and cuddled into his father. With his head nestled into the curve of his father’s shoulder and the security of his father’s arms about him he felt that everything precious in his life right then was what he held in his arms…and had he but known it but his father was thinking exactly the same thing.

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

The wagon was loaded with their belongings, few though they were…and inside the cabin that had been their temporary home for a few months Ben and Adam were carefully putting away their most precious treasures….

 

“Gently with that, son..” Ben said quietly as he watched Adam wrap a musical box in a fringed shawl and Adam looked up and smiled.

 

If one held the shawl close to one’s nose and breathed in deeply Ben said it was possible to smell Elizabeth’s perfume, ‘her smell’, he called it, but when Adam had given it a hearty sniff it smelt of nothing at all except of the wood of the trunk which Ben had bought from foreign parts …he finished wrapping the box in the shawl and passed it to his father to lay into the trunk. Next to go in was the framed picture of his mother, and he looked at it and then passed it to Ben.

 

“I was only pretending Miss O’Shaughnessy was my ma…” he said quietly

 

“I understand, Adam” Ben looked at the photograph and felt the familiar knot in his throat

 

“I knew ma was dead like you said….but I wanted to have her back…for a little while, that’s all!”

 

“I understand, son” Ben put the photograph into the trunk and smiled at Adam gently. Perhaps one day Hoss would be feeling the same, and making searches for a mother substitute too…he picked up the dried flowers that Inger had carried on her wedding day…they had been beautiful and fresh and blooming then, full of colour and perfume…they were faded, dried, dead…but he couldn’t bear to throw them away. His eyes met his sons and he smiled “It’s good to hold onto memories, son.” he murmered.

 

Mrs. Gilbert gave a light knock on the door and stepped inside. She looked around the cabin and sighed and then looked at the man and the boy and smiled

 

“I’ve baked you some bread and some cookies…and there’s an urn of fresh milk here…and Henry wants you to take the milk cow, so Hoss can have his milk regular” she frowned and dabbed at her cheeks “I ‘m going to miss you all so much”

 

Ben gave the woman a hug and thanked her, and Adam shook her hand and carefully carried the milk urn to the wagon. There tied to the tail gate by a thick rope was a beautiful milk cow, her dark-brown eyes gazed mournfully at the little human and she low’d, deep and long.

 

“Is she really ours?” he asked, looking at her in admiration

 

“She certainly is…” Mr. Gilbert said, walking towards them from the ranch house. He was not walking alone, for a short man with his long hair tightly braided down his back was walking beside him. Whilst Mr. Gilbert took long strides this man was walking with a rather strange shuffling movement but his round face was split into a merry smile and his olive eyes could hardly be seen as a result. “Well, Ben, this is the parting of the ways for us…”

 

“Thank you for all your help, Henry…I appreciated it..and for the cow too…that was a surprise”

 

“She could be the start of something big, Ben…when you get to Nevada.” Henry smiled and paused “I’m sorry about what happened in town…”

 

“Well, at least justice was done in the end..although I’d rather not get that close to a hangman’s noose again” Ben chuckled

 

“It’s a pity…Miles was a dedicated doctor to these people, perhaps that’s why they found it so easy to pretend that he hadn’t been involved in Dowson’s killing all this time…still, with Rhiannon dead he had nothing to live for anymore…once he started to talk , they couldn’t shut him up, it was almost as though he welcomed death!”

 

“I can understand the feeling..” Ben said quietly “Had it not been for Adam when Elizabeth died, perhaps I would have …been as stupid..”

 

“Ha-hum.” Said the oriental gentleman at Gilberts side, still with the broad smile on his round face

 

“Oh yes…” Henry Gilbert took the pipe out of his mouth and looked at the two men “Ben, we were a mite worried about how you were going to get along with no woman, and with two kids to care for…and we hit upon a solution…for you…and him” he pointed to his companion, who bowed and nodded and hugged his carpet bag closer to his chest, as though he was now in fear of losing it altogether

 

“Yes…how?” Ben asked

 

“This is Hop Sing. He has family near San Francisco and in San Francisco….he’s the best cook in the world, and a loyal friend. He wanted to know if he could come along with you…he wants to join his family …and while he’s travelling with you, he’ll care for the kids and the cooking and the laundry and anything else you would want to mention”

 

“I milk cow…” Hop Sing said in a merry lilting voice and he bowed again, over hs carpet bag.

 

“Well, I don’t know..” Ben said gruffly “I hadn’t intended to take any one with us…”

 

“I have hoss of my own.” Hop Sing declared “And cook good”

 

“Your Hoss is very fond of him…” Mrs. Gilbert chimed in “They’ve been best buddies for weeks now….”

 

“Yes, Hoss and Hop Sing velly good fends…” Hop Sing bowed again and looked at Ben so earnestly that the poor man could do no more than agree to take him along for the journey

 

“Only to San Francisco…no further.” He said in his deepest and most authoritative voice.

 

“I heah you, Mr. Catlight….” Hop Sing’s round face nearly fell in half as he gave the widest grin possible and then ran towards his horse, his plait bobbing about against his back.

 

Ben grinned and looked down at Adam, and raised his eye brows and Adam looked at Ben and raised his eyebrows and chuckled

 

“Come on, son….time to move on…” Ben said quietly and lifted his son into his arms and onto the wagon seat. He looked into the back where Hoss was strapped securely and snoring happily, quite oblivious of the fact that when he woke up he would be miles from the bed upon which he had fallen asleep.

 

“Nevada…pa?” Adam smiled up at his father

 

“Nevada, son!” and Ben flicked the reins and the horses lumbered forward, and they were rolling away from the cabin and the friends they had made, rolling towards a new life, new friends…one of which now rode by their sides, the widest smile creasing his cheerful face and his almond shaped eyes twinkling with happiness as he ventured forward with HIS new friends and family…..

…………………………………………..and did they part company at San Francisco? Of course not!

 

 

The End.

Author Krystyna Woollon

 

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Ben Cartwright, Hoss Cartwright, Trial