Summary: The third story in the Vine series answers the last question of who sent the vine, but there is also an examination of Marie’s background to explain the motivation for that act. The story may not make sense in every part unless you have read the first two stories in the series.
Rating: T  Word count: 5,865

The Vine series
Cold Fingers Around My Throat (by BettyHT)
Cold Vine (by BettyHT)
Cold Hearts, Warm Hearts (by BettyHT)

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Cold Hearts, Warm Hearts

Homecoming was bittersweet. Emotions were mixed with love and resentment in varying degrees so that words held double meanings, and intent had to be considered for each action and deed. Even as skilled as Adam Cartwright was with language, he couldn’t have described the situation to anyone and have them understand the turmoil that made him want to hug his father and youngest brother and smash them in the face with his fist at the same time or kick them in the ass. What was happening mortared solidly into place the decision he had made while traveling. Pursuing his interests, he planned to live as near as he could to the Ponderosa but not on it and never again under his father’s authority. If his help was needed, he expected to respond appropriately if asked.

When Ben and Joe headed to town with Hop Sing to get supplies to stock up for the winter, Hoss had a chance to speak honestly with his brother.

“By now, you must know one of the reasons Joe is upset is you went to New Orleans without him.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Well, Joe doesn’t know this, but Pa thinks maybe you stuck your nose into things down there that he would rather you didn’t know.”

“Yeah, but I already knew enough.”

“Figured you did or you wouldn’t know who to see or ask about. Always figured Pa knew you knew some of that too. So did you find out about that damn vine?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Are you going to spit it out or keep it bottled up inside you?”

“If I told you the story and not Joe, he would be upset, and Pa would be upset if I told either of you anything at all.”

“Rolling the dice there by telling Joe, aren’t you? One thing everybody knows is how he is about anything comes near to his story of his mother cause he likes to think of her as a saint or maybe an angel.”

“Yeah, I know, but he should know the truth which isn’t as bad as he fears. That’s probably why he never wants anyone to say anything. Deep inside, he thinks it could be bad, but it isn’t. I had heard some things, and the way Pa talked, I always assumed, her background was worse than what I had heard. It wasn’t. In fact, I feel so sorry for her now that I know more about her story. A better woman than I ever thought, she deserved far more than she got from me and from nearly everyone else.”

“Now I really want to hear this story. So how you going to do it?”

“It’s a good time of year for a hunting trip, isn’t it?”

That turned a frown into a grin. Raising his hand in salute for that part of the plan, Hoss thought only briefly about how it would go.

“Yeah, it is. Pa won’t go, and I can stay between you and Joe so he don’t try to kill you when you start to tell him some stuff he don’t want to hear cause I know you will. There’ll be time so he can cool down about it all too before he gets back so Pa never needs to know he heard anything at all.”

“Bravo, Hoss, you’re a great planner.”

It was one of those moments that Hoss should have basked in his brother’s praise because it wasn’t ever easily offered, but the look on Adam’s face said the time for planning was for more than the hunting trip. Guessing that Adam knew what he was thinking, he was correct.

“Thank you too, because I’ve had weeks to figure out how to tell you what happened, and I haven’t come up with the words yet.”

“That bad?”

“Maybe not so much bad as murky in the morality of motives and execution.”

Hoss stood still and stared because he was never quite sure how far Adam would go in seeking justice for a family member.

“No, you executed somebody?”

“No, is correct, but I got someone to execute himself. No laws were broken except those of God perhaps, and I expect I may have to answer for that someday.”

“On the scale, I’d say you’re still going to come up with a good positive balance.”

“Sure hope He sees it that way.”

The two had been working as they were talking, and as they finished, they put the tools away and finished their conversation with a discussion about the possible consequences of what they were planning to do.

“And that’s why you want a hunting trip. Yeah, if you told Pa something like all that, he’d be up there with his eyebrows all bunched up on his forehead and his pointy finger poking out at ya and spouting off in that stern fire and brimstone voice of his. Then you’d get all mad and start stomping around. Yeah, better this way. The three of us can work this out and come to some sort of understanding of it all.”

“My comment about your planning still stands.”

“Well, I figure I’m only saying what you already had in mind.”

“It took me two weeks to construct a sensible plan, and you did it here in twenty minutes.”

“And maybe you had some things troubling your heart and your mind that was interfering with what you had to do? At least this way, the three of us are gonna be on better terms.”

“It’s what I want.”

“Remember, you did it all for the right reasons. In my heart and soul, I know that, and He’ll understand.”

Saying nothing more, Hoss finished up the few things he had left to do. The look on his brother’s face had given him all the answers that he needed. All Adam could think about were those last nights in the Crescent City when he stood across the street in the lengthy shadows offered by the old live oaks generously endowed with Spanish moss. There were some redbud and crepe myrtle a little further down the street when he needed to move to escape detection. After so many nights of observation and talking to gardeners, he had learned a lot about the trees and plants of the city. It took time, but his plan worked well. The man was in a panic that increased to a manic state by the last night. When he ran screaming into his house, it wasn’t too much of a surprise to hear a gunshot. The neighbors had grown a bit bored with the man’s bizarre behavior as he planted lanterns all over his lawns, dug in the grass and well-maintained flower beds at all hours of the day and night, and screamed at no one. It was as if he thought there was someone there doing something to him. When he was exhausted, he would go inside to sleep for a time, and gardeners would come to try to repair the damage by planting and cleaning up. Then he would come outside again, scream obscenities, and the whole process would begin again. But the gunshot brought the neighbors out again. They sent someone for the police who approached the house cautiously. They came out to say it was over as he had ended it himself and permanently. No one was surprised at the neighbors’ comments.

“That evil man killed many men, and if stories are to be believed, women too. Who would have thought his last killing would be himself. There will be no tears shed over his death only that it did not happen sooner.”

“Too many powerful friends protected him from the gallows where he belonged.”

“Yes, even after that old arrogant de Marigny died, he still had enough favors to call in that he escaped justice.”

“Until now.”

“Yes, someone made him frightened of his own shadow. The city has its ghosts, but someone brought out the demons and had them chasing D’Arcy.”

“Whoever that man is, I applaud him. He has rid the city of a pestilence.”

“D’Arcy has been killing for thirty years. He was one of the demons.”

“Not only killing but the evils he perpetrated on others as well deserved an accounting. None should be surprised that an avenging angel of one of those victims came to exact retribution.”

Not feeling like much of an angel, Adam returned to his hotel, packed his bags, and began his journey home. As he traveled, he tried to compose the sentences and paragraphs he would need to explain the whole story to his brothers, especially his youngest brother. Planning to make more of an overland trip by horseback, he realized he was too distracted to keep himself safe. So he took riverboats, trains, and stages and spent time in cabins and hotel rooms living as a recluse in between bouts of traveling. Then he got home and found turmoil there which meant there were weeks again before he opened up to Hoss because it was time to spill the truth.

Later that day, as the brothers had agreed, Hoss suggested the hunting trip to their father as the way to have it gain approval with the least objection. Ben agreed that it was a reasonable request. Because Hoss discussed it with Joe before bringing it up at dinner, Joe thought it was their plan. In their discussion, Hoss had suggested Joe invite Adam to go along with them and to do that at dinner as well because both assumed their father would agree to the planned trip. It was settled quickly when Adam agreed with no reservations. Although Joe did wonder briefly later at Adam’s easy acceptance after all the turmoil of the previous weeks, he assumed it was because Adam must have believed that on a hunting trip, there would be no similar problems.

The next day as they packed, all the bickering made Joe second-guess his assumption. When Adam wanted a rasp, hoof knife, claw hammer, and driving hammer as well as spare horseshoes and nails for each of their mounts and the packhorse, it seemed excessive. But when Joe objected. The answer Adam gave made Joe suspect he had prepared it in advance expecting the complaint.

“On this trip, we’re going into the mountains. The possibility of losing a shoe is great, and I have no great desire to walk back home.”

In addition to the usual tin plates and cups with forks and spoons, Hoss wanted hardtack, jerky, a slab of bacon, cans of beans and peaches, flour, lard, potatoes, an onion, and seasonings. When Adam agreed with him, Hoss got that smug look Joe hated.

“This week, we’re supposed to be hunting not sitting around like old ladies and cooking.”

“Shortshanks, you never know about the weather and what else can happen. It’s best to be prepared.”

“By now you should know I don’t like being called that. And with all this stuff we’re taking, the packhorse is going to be overloaded.”

“Good idea, little brother which shows you are the smart one. A second packhorse is what we need so I’ll go get one right now. Then we can take some oats for the horses too.”

With two packhorses, they could take whatever they wanted and soon had them loaded up with the food and cooking supplies, ropes, blankets and bedrolls, extra matches, extra candles, extra ammunition, curry combs and brushes, and oats. Changes of clothing, matches, candles, ammunition, and personal items went into their saddle bags.

Although Joe wanted to ask why they needed five tins of matches, five candles, all that extra ammunition, and blankets as well as bedrolls, he guessed that the answer would be similar to what he had already heard. Evading his observation, both Hoss and Adam slipped bottles of whisky into the well-padded supply packs. Although to Joe, it had seemed they had wasted most of the day, it was only eight in the morning, and they would be almost to their destination by sunset.

Traveling as long as they could meant making camp in the dark. However, all three knew how to do it so well, that was not a handicap. When Adam grabbed the picket rope, Hoss suggested he add an extra line to anchor it in the middle as well as at both ends because the trees were little more than saplings. With Hoss and Joe cooking, dinner was ready by the time Adam was back from picketing the horses and giving each some water from the nearby stream. After dinner, Adam stretched out with a book and a candle so Joe understood why they had so many candles along. Hoss pulled out his knife to do a little whittling. Both waited to see what Joe had brought along. The youngest brother was pleased to see their expressions when he pulled out the small bag of magic tricks he planned to practice. Soon his older brothers were watching him instead of paying attention to their activities even though both tried to act like they weren’t. When he quit to turn into his bedroll, he could tell they were disappointed.

The next day, they made camp about midday because they were in hunting territory. After getting everything set up, they made a short foray to see if they could get some fresh meat for dinner. Hoss bagged some birds, but they didn’t see any large game. At dinner and later, Joe sensed tension between Adam and Hoss. When Joe asked, Adam rebuffed him immediately.

“Let it alone.”

“Things were going well. Why do you always have to ruin things?”

Then Hoss got involved.

“Let it alone, Joe. It’s something you don’t understand.”

“Maybe I would if you two would talk to me.”

The next morning continued with more of the same, but it escalated until Adam decided that he had enough.

“Time to talk.”

“You sure, Adam?”

With Joe already on edge, Hoss was leery, but moved to be in position for what he expected to happen next.

“Yes, there is no good time. Delaying won’t help matters. All right, Joe, you know I went to New Orleans because I wanted to find out who sent that damn vine. In the process, I found out some things about your mother.”

Lunging at Adam at that point, it could have been a fight except Hoss was ready and caught his younger brother.

“Don’t you dare say anything about my mother.”

“Like Pa, you think it’s going to be bad, but it isn’t. Both you and Pa always bristle at any hint of scandal in Marie’s past, but you worry it might be true at the same time. The story I’ve got is one you should hear, and you’ll know a lot more about your mother if you’ll listen.”

“There’s nothing you can say that I want to hear.”

Pulling Joe back toward him, Hoss got his attention.

“Now, when have you ever known our brother to lie, Joe? If he says what he says, he means it.”

“Are you telling me you want to hear this?”

“So far, I only heard a little bit cause he wouldn’t tell me the story without you being here, but it sure does sound like something we ought to hear.”

“All right, but if he says one mean thing about my mother, nobody, not even you is going to stop me from punching him for it.”

“Then I ain’t worried at all.”

With a flourish, Hoss gestured for Adam to begin.

“When I left, I think you both knew part of what I wanted to know was who sent that damn vine, and there were multiple suspects although some were better than others.”

“So, who were the suspects?”

“There were only a couple of real suspects, but I had people I wanted to talk with before I investigated anyone I suspected of sending that vine. There were some who could be possible suspects, and those had to be ruled out. What I needed to know too was if descendants of any of the principals might be holding grudges or more important to me, what they could tell me of the story. There was much that I didn’t know. I was young then and there are things no one says in front of a boy that age.”

“Don’t talk in circles. Who were they? And what did they have to do with my mother?”

“Now, Joe, calm down. Let Adam tell the story, and it ain’t going to start at the ending.” “But he’s as hard to pin down as smoke in a bottle.”

“Maybe let him open the bottle and follow the smoke. You might learn something.”

Not the way Joe preferred to get answers, but he was smart enough to know it was the best way to proceed.

“All right.”

“Some of the first I contacted were the descendants of Maurice Angerville and Simon LaRouche.”

“Isn’t LaRouche the one Pa was accused of murdering?”

“Yes, Joe, and cleared of it because witnesses said LaRouche pulled a knife on Pa who defended himself. His descendants are more ashamed of him than anything and would prefer he be forgotten. The opposite is true of Maurice’s relatives who are proud that he died with honor as a hero and have only good things to say about our father. There are no de Marignys left except Clay as far as anyone knows. Although I thought of Frederick Kyle, he carried a torch for Marie not any enmity. So there were only two left to question. There are two men Pa could have killed but didn’t: Eduard D’Arcy and Inspector LeDuque.”

“But Pa and LeDuque seemed like they left things on a friendly note.”

“Recently they did, Hoss, but what about twenty years ago?”

“Oh, yeah, he blamed Pa cause he shot himself in the knee kind of accidental like when he was chasing Pa because of LaRouche being dead.”

“Yes, but I still didn’t think it was him because he seems more the type to take things on directly. The more I talked to people, the more I suspected D’Arcy. First, he was the one Madame Lilly Valenty de Marigny, Jean’s mother, paid to set Marie up in a scandal. Then, he paid a man to mislead her so that she could be found in a situation that could appear to be adultery. The man was paid well. Jean was fooled and left her ignoring all her protestations of her innocence. His thoughts were poisoned by D’Arcy and his mother and the stories that were being spread around. LaRouche helped spread those stories because he loved Marie and wanted Jean out of the way. Marie truly was the innocent victim of a cruel deceit by those three. So D’Arcy got paid well, Simon got rid of Jean, and Madame got rid of the daughter-in-law she never wanted. What the arrogant and haughty Madame never expected was that Jean would flee the city and head off into the wilderness.”

“And that’s where Jean met Pa.”

With all the information showing his mother as a victim of cruel villains, Joe was settling down into the story being told. Sitting beside him, Hoss put a hand on his shoulder and suggested they might all do with a cup of coffee laced with a little of that whisky he and Adam had brought along.

“Later, I want to hear the rest of this now. What else do you know about my mother?”

“With Jean gone, she was abandoned and with child. It is possible Jean did not know about the child, but there is no way to confirm that now. Pa suspected it but couldn’t prove it then. Homeless, with her reputation ruined by the villains, and without resources, Marie had to accept whatever help she could get, but she set strict limits. Although D’Arcy stepped in again to control her as much as he could, she still had spirit. Even though she worked at D’Arcy’s gambling club as a hostess, it was only to greet the guests as they entered and to serve drinks at the tables. Any other stories were those pushed by Simon LaRouche. There were threats from him that he would have told more stories unless she agreed to pay his blackmail. The other choice was to marry him, and she wouldn’t do that.”

“Ah, now I get why Pa went after LaRouche. Damn, that makes a whole lot of sense.”

“Yes, Hoss, Pa could have told us that. Sometimes, I think he may have been afraid that some of the stories were true. Remember how he says what she did before they met didn’t matter. Well, she did nothing shameful. She survived with her dignity in circumstances many women could not have faced. Those who despised Madame de Marigny and loathed D’Arcy universally wanted to help Marie. It was difficult though. The two main villains had money and power, and both were dangerous. There was only so much they could do to help Marie against them and stay alive.”

“Until Pa got there.”

“Yes, Joe, that shook up the whole thing. Once Pa got to know Maurice and heard the story and met Marie and heard her story, he had to right the wrong as he saw it. She believed Jean had not loved her and did not understand how his mind had been poisoned against her. To make a dying request that his friend tell her that he had loved her meant he always had. She needed to know that, and Pa thought the whole city needed to know the horrible deceit that D’Arcy had carried out at Madame’s instructions. Madame tried to get rid of Pa too.”

“Oh, I know that next part. What they done was trick Pa into a sword duel, but Maurice went instead of Pa. Then Pa tricked D’Arcy into a pistol duel and could have killed him but didn’t. Didn’t matter cause he beat the living tar out of him though.”

“Better if he had killed him, Hoss, because it did matter.”‘

“Oh, he’s the one, huh? Why didn’t you suspect Madame?”

“Although she was dangerous, she always had others do her dirty work, and it was direct. Not her nature to be patient and hope that in years something vile would happen.”

“But D’Arcy would?”

“Yes, when I confronted him, he was smug about it. Too sad that in the midst of bliss, tragedy struck, he said, but what could I do about it because who would ever believe such a story? When I said none of that mattered because he believed it and so did I, he laughed and declared that it was all right if I thought a moral victory was enough for he cared little for morals. My heart felt like it was burning when I told him he should be careful because I was far more dangerous than my father. That’s when I told him I would have killed him in that duel with a sword or a pistol.”

“Damn cheeky of you, Adam.”

“No, Joe, it was step one. That night, I moved from my hotel room and moved several more times at night each time over the next few weeks. No matter how much he tried, he could not have found me. In my time there, I had made friends, and he had no real friends. There were only people who were afraid of him. Because I had promised to rectify that situation or die trying, there were many who were willing to help me in my quest.”

“What’d you do, older brother?”

“Mostly it was all rather innocent at least in appearance, Joe, because I hired two teams of gardeners. One was to work mornings and the other was to work afternoons or evenings. The assigned task was to clean up the yard and plant vines, small healthy little vines, a dozen or so, all over D’Arcy’s property.”

“No, you didn’t!”

“Relax. They were ordinary vines, and there was nothing special about them, but a guilty man might think they were something else.”

“Damn, that’s cruel.”

“Only if his guilt betrayed him, and make him think they must be evil. That is what happened too, and it was effective. When he came out that first morning and saw those vines growing all over his property, he screamed, got gloves, a shovel, and a big bucket. After hours of hard work, he gathered them all up, poured coal oil on them, and had a huge smoky fire in the middle of his drive leaving all these horrendous holes in his lawn and beds.”

“And then you had the second set of gardeners come to repair the damage.”

“Yes, I did, and in the process, I had them plant more vines in different spots. The pay was generous. Doing a good deed and being paid well for it makes for happy workers. Day after day, it went on like that although sometimes he was gone for a day and would find them in the evening or the next day when he got home. If it was dark, he would put lanterns all over and dig until he thought he had found them all. Neighbors would come out to watch at first. With a crowd, it was easy to stand there and watch him. After days and nights of that, it got boring so they didn’t come out to watch most of the time. Every night and day, I watched him as I matched his schedule as much as possible.”

“Knowing the evil thing he did, I understand torturing the man who was responsible for killing my mother, but what was the point of it all?”

“About six weeks ago, he ran screaming into the yard when he returned home from a short trip. Like a maniac, he was pulling at his hair and yelling obscenities as soon as he got out of his carriage, and it didn’t stop. He came out with a shovel like he usually did but kept running from one vine to the next and then threw the shovel. Screaming, he ran back into the house, and within minutes, there was a gunshot. The neighbors came out for that and called the police wondering if he was a threat or if he had shot himself. When the police came and cautiously entered the house, they emerged to say he had executed himself. Most thought it was well deserved and long overdue.”

Silence reigned for several minutes until Hoss got the tin cups and filled each about halfway with hot coffee. Reaching into the supply sack, Adam pulled out a bottle of whisky and poured a generous amount into each cup. The brothers sat back and sipped their drinks until Joe made the first comment.

“Based on everything you told us, you knew that was how it was going to end.”

“Yes, I expected it.”

“That was your plan because there was no legal way to go after him.”

“Yes, that about sums it up.”

“If we try to tell this story to Pa, he’s going to blow like a, well, you know what I mean.”

Slowly a grin spread on Adam’s face and he looked over at Hoss.

“Maybe you would care to repeat what you had said to me when you first heard a few tidbits of what I did.”

After taking a generous swallow of his drink, Hoss was ready.

“If you told Pa something like all that, he’d be up there with that stern schoolmaster look and his pointy finger and spouting off in that fire and brimstone voice of his. Then Adam would get all mad and start stomping around. There’d be a big ole mess like letting Gigger Thurman’s bull loose in town. Oh, wait, we already done that.”

The laughter started then, and it was the release they needed. Over the rest of the week, the bond created that night was reinforced by conversation and activity including some practice of magic tricks. Once Joe mastered the trick, he taught both of them how to make a coin disappear, and he discussed with Adam the recipes for disappearing ink and invisible ink. The three hated the thought of ending one of the best experiences they had ever had, but it was time to return home. On the last morning in hunting camp, Adam called ‘picket’, and Hoss chimed in with ‘tack’ before Joe was fully awake.

“That’s not fair.”

“Now don’t be beating the devil around the stump on this, Joe, cause you know if you’d been the first one awake, you woulda yelled ‘picket’ to take care of the horses.”

“It still ain’t fair not even giving me a chance.”

“Now, you’re just barking at a knot cause you lost. Give it up. Time for us to get moving.”

Going with Adam as he led the horses to the stream to water them, Hoss took the coffee pot to get water for their breakfast and took the canteens to fill them. The two thought it best to use some time as Joe began packing and loading everything except the kitchen pack. Time was the best way to let him cool down.

While at the stream, the two older brothers heard a terrible commotion and Joe calling for help. Knowing who was best suited to each job, Adam grabbed a rifle and ran up the slope to the campsite as Hoss grabbed both ends of the picket line to stop the horses from running off.

At the camp, Adam was shocked to see Joe wrestling with a bear cub over a food sack. Joe was getting the worst of it.

“Let him go, Joe. Let him go!”

“His leg is caught in my gun belt.”

“Damn!”

Grabbing the upper half of the cub, Adam allowed Joe to free the cub’s leg so he could escape its assault. The cub gave a few backhanded blows though to Adam before leaping away and scampering off uninjured. Bleeding from quite a few shallow lacerations, Joe looked over at Adam and grinned.

“What’s funny?”

“Anybody looking at us would think we were in a fight.”

“Yeah, I guess so. What happened?”

“While I was packing up the food, I never heard him coming until he jumped on me and chomped down on that leg of deer. When I tried to push him away, his leg got caught in my belt, and he started punching away.”

“Throw that meat away in the direction he ran. If his mama comes looking, that should keep her attention for long enough for us to pack this stuff up. He’s small for a cub so both of them are probably looking for food.”

“He’s small? His mama?”

“He’s maybe fifty pounds at best and that puts him at less than a year old. By now, he should be bigger than that. His mama is still around here watching out for him, but I hope not too close. Keep a rifle handy until we ride out.”

That made Joe nervous. As Hoss led the horses in, Joe stammered out the story and helped Adam pack up. While they did that, Hoss had to work to keep the horses calm because they could smell the bear and the brothers suspected they could smell more than one. Still nervous, they felt relief to ride away from there, but Hoss insisted they stop after about an hour so he could tend to his brothers’ injuries. Although they protested that they weren’t so bad, Hoss said he knew what happened with cuts made from a bear’s claws.

“We got water, soap, whisky, and flour. I’m gonna clean you both up, and then I’ll just put a flour paste on the ones that bleed and don’t stop on their own.”

After considerable complaints from Joe about Hoss’ techniques and the stone-faced scowls from Adam, the three were ready to ride again.

“For crying out loud, in all my born days, I never seen two such babies when it comes to a little doctoring. Anybody watching like to split a gut laughing how two tough guys can be such little kids sometimes.”

That made Adam and Joe mad, but they were unfortunately unable to argue the point. It was enough to make Hoss laugh and take the unopened whisky bottle and pass it around.

“Don’t suppose a swig of the good stuff can hurt anything, can it?”

The good mood returned and lasted until they reached the ranch house the next day. Bruises had emerged to frame the cuts from the fight with the bear cub. When Ben saw his youngest and oldest sons, he looked every bit as Hoss had described him, and the pointy finger came out aimed directly at Adam. Before Ben could say much of anything, Adam wheeled his horse around.

“Right now, I need a bath, and I know a place in town where I can get one and get my back scrubbed too. For a few cents, I’ll get my clothes laundered, and then get a good meal, and decide what I want to do before I settle into a soft bed at the hotel, finish reading my book, and sleep like a baby in peace and quiet.”

Before a shocked Ben could respond, Adam rode away. Looking wistful, Hoss watched him go and looked back at Joe and then at his father.

“Wish I would have thought of that first. Guess I’ll be the one putting the horses away and such.”

“What in tarnation is going on here?”

Sliding down from Cochise, Joe walked to his father and put an arm around his shoulder.

“There’s a great story you’re going to want to hear. Got some time now?”

A few days later, Adam came back in a rented carriage to pick up more of his things.

“I’ve got a temporary place in town. I’ll let you know what I’m doing as I figure it all out.”

“You don’t have to leave because I said a few things you didn’t like.”

“You need to understand something, Pa. It’s not about you. At least not anymore. It’s my life, my plan. I said my piece to Hoss by the barn. He said Joe is upstairs. I’ll see him, and then I’m going. No fighting. You can try to have one, but I’m not participating any longer.”

Upstairs, Adam found Joe in his room and they talked briefly. Adam wanted to make sure Joe understood it was the next step, not the last step. Then he hugged his little brother.

Listening as Adam walked from the room quiet as a whisper of leaves on a calm day, Joe knew he was unlikely to hear that sound again. But it was all right because Adam wasn’t leaving. Although he wasn’t going to be on the ranch, he was going to be around. Life was going to be interesting as they worked out the new arrangements and relationships. Smiling, Joe thought about the frown lines he thought he could already see forming on his father’s forehead.

 

Author notes: Used the Camp In the Pines lessons on passive voice, adverbs, and the craft twist to varying degrees of success. Included two story twists from the list and packed according to Hop Sing’s instructions. Used two cowboy phrases and used two items from the list supplied by Dr. Martin.