Summary: As the birth of Alice and Joe’s first child approaches, things take a turn for the worst. Part II in “Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Cartwright” Forever WHI series.
Rated: K+ (2,230 words)
Forever Series:
Forever
I would do Anything for Love
The Love of my Life
I Would Do Anything For Love
Joe looked affectionately at his wife Alice, who was sitting beside him going through baby things. She looked so beautiful while pregnant. They had just gotten home from shopping in Virginia City, and they were tired. As Joe sipped his coffee, Alice was looking through a book of baby names.
“I’ve got it!”
Joe jumped in his chair. “Got what?”
“The name, silly! Benjamin Joseph. What do you think?”
Joe’s eyes lit up. “Benjamin Joseph… I like it!”
Alice smiled. “Well, now that that’s settled we can….”
“Hold on there, sweetheart,” Joe blurt. Alice had a look of confusion on her face. “What if it’s a girl?” Joe asked.
“Oh. We could…name her Marie!!”
Joe looked very surprised. He had never thought about naming his daughter after his mother. “Are you sure?”
“Yes! If it’s a boy it will be Benjamin Joseph. A girl… Marie.”
Joe got up, and kissed his wife in gratitude. “I love you!” As he went to pour some more coffee for them, Alice spoke up again. “Oh, Joe, we need to go into town again tomorrow.”
“What now?”
“If it’s a girl, this sun-bonnet will be pink.” The couple laughed as Joe placed the coffee in front of them. As he sat back in his chair, Joe couldn’t help but worry about Alice. It was coming very close to the time when the baby would arrive, and he didn’t want her to be too far from the house when it happened. A couple of hours later, the two of them went to bed.
~*****~
The next morning, Joe hooked up the buggy instead of the buckboard. He wanted to make Alice more comfortable this time in. As they were riding in, they stopped by the ranch to say good morning to Pa, who was sitting on the porch and saw them drive up. “Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise?” he said as he kissed Alice on the cheek after Joe helped her down.
“Morning Pa!”
“Good morning, Joseph,” Ben said with delight.
“Oh, that reminds me! We figured out a name for the baby!” Joe said.
Ben grinned.
“Benjamin Joseph for a boy, and Marie for a girl,” Alice said.
Ben’s eyed swelled with tears.
“Pa?”
“I don’t believe it. You two would name your child after me or your mother?”
Joe and Alice both nodded in unison, then Ben hugged the two of them gratefully. After spending about an hour with Pa, Joe and Alice figured they better get going. They wanted to get to town, and be home before lunch. Just before they left, Ben made them promise to come to dinner the next night.
By the time Joe and Alice were clear away from the house came an strange turn of events.
Out of the blue came 20, maybe even 30, Paiute braves came out and held them at gun-point. Before they knew what was happening, Joe and Alice were being escorted, more like forced, to the Paiute camp as their prisoners.
After a few minutes sitting in the camp and thinking, Joe heard two braves speaking to each other. In English! He couldn’t hear them word-for-word, but heard something about the Chief being gone, and that he and his wife were prisoners of his son. The suddenly, a brave grabbed Alice and took her to the two posts for which they use to tie their prisoners between. She struggled and tried to get away, but it only made it worse.
“Hey!!” Joe yelled. The brave just looked at him. Joe walked up to him, and stared him in the eyes. “Come on, let her go. Tie me up, but leave my wife alone.”
The brave looked at Joe, and threw his wife down. Even though Joe wasn’t struggling, they grabbed him roughly, and tied his wrists and ankles tightly between the posts, stretching his limbs till they ached. After they finished, they left, and Alice walked up to Joe.
“Oh Joe,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“Hey now, don’t look so sad. We’ll be outta here soon, sweetheart.”
“How can you be so sure?” she said trying to hold back her tears.
“Their Chief, Winnemacca, is a friend of Pa. He knows me. I might be able to influence him when he gets back.”
Through her tears, Alice managed a smile, hugging her husband.
~*****~
During the night, Alice couldn’t sleep. She went to Joe, who, surprisingly, was asleep. She sat by him quiet as can be, but Joe still woke up.
“Oh darling, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” Alice whispered.
“Aw, that’s alright,” he smiled. “Trouble sleeping?”
She nodded. Alice leaned close to him and he kissed her on the forehead, afterword she put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “Oh Joe, why can’t we just get out of here while nobody’s watching?” she asked in a tone that proved she was still afraid.
Joe’s eyes widened. “You may just have something there, love,” he saw a knife lying in the dirt. “Over there, on the ground, get the knife and untie me.”
She quickly did as instructed, but no sooner did she touch the blade then five braves surrounded the couple. They spoke a few words in Paiute, something about falling for the trap, and then two braves grabbed Alice and turned her back another brave. Joe instantly knew they had notions to whip her, but he called out to them.
“Wait!!! Let her go, she didn’t do anything. I told her to do it, it was my fault.”
They threw her to the ground and agreed to whip Joe without argument. To them, one whipping was the same as another. They quickly ripped Joe’s shirt off so his back was bare, and the strong one threw the first lashing. He grit his teeth, trying his hardest to hide his pain from Alice. His back quickly soaked with blood as the last lashing was whipped. Laughing, the braves left to finish their work. When they were clear out of sight, Alice ran to Joe, throwing her arms around her neck.
“Joe!!” she cried frantically.
“Ssshhhh…it’s alright. I’m okay, sshhhh, it’s alright,” he kissed her cheek as she cried. By now, Alice was crying so much that she was shaking.
“Oh God, if only my hands were free,” he said. Joe wanted so much to hug his wife, to comfort her, and hold her in his arms. A few moments later, another Brave came, and cut the ropes off of Joe’s ankles. He pushed him down to his knees, so he could sit, but left his wrists tied. The only benefit here was that he could at least sit with Alice. The couple sat on the ground for hours, Alice holding her husband, and Joe trying to comfort her. Before they knew it, the sun began to rise. They hadn’t slept even for a moment. When brought some plates of food be the Squaw, Joe refused to eat. Alice had a mind to do the same, but Joe convinced her to eat it anyway. After breakfast was finished, the tribe began to play some drums to mark the return of Winnemacca. Before he even had a chance to talk to the Braves, Joe called out his name. “Winnemacca!!” he called, sounding like his father.
At first the Chief was angry at the tone of the call, then surprised to see who it came from. He walked slowly to the prisoner.
“Joseph Cartwright, son of my friend. What have you done to be put here?”
“Nothing,” Joe stared angrily into the Chief’s eyes. “These braves took my wife and I prisoner the other day, but we have done nothing. We were on my land, my father’s land.”
Winnemacca turned to his braves in an upset manner. He spoke a few words of Paiute to them, then turned back to the captured couple. “It seems, Joseph Cartwright, that my braves made a mistake. They were to capture another white man to be held as hostage for negotiation of land for them. You were not to be involved.”
“Then let us go.”
Joe’s arms were cut from the ropes, and his horse and buggy were brought for him and his wife. As soon as his arms were free, Alice threw herself to him, hugging him lovingly. He did the same to her. Just as Joe was about to help Alice into the buggy, she stopped.
“Alice? What’s wrong?” She looked at Joe in fear, and then he understood. “The… baby?” She nodded. Alice wasn’t in any great pain yet, but both she and her husband knew that the baby was coming… now! At this point, Joe couldn’t take Alice back to town; for fear that the baby might be born in the back of the buggy. When he turned back to look at the Indian Tribe for help, they all turned away. Winnemacca spoke up.
“My tribe can have nothing to do with the birth of a white child.”
Joe’s eyes widened in anger as his nostrils flared like a bull about to charge. “What do you mean-“he was cut-off when he saw a knife lying on the ground in front of Alice. He picked it up & whirled around the son of Winnemacca, holding the knife at his throat. “My wife needs help! You can’t just stand there and do nothing!”
Winnemacca stepped closer to Joe. “Even if you kill him, we will not help you.” Joe then moved his knife to aim at Winnemacca. Winnemacca’s eyes widened in fear. He spoke some words in Indian to a squaw, who moved to stand near Alice. Joe knew they meant to help her. He put his knife down and released his grip from the brave.
~*****~
Nearly three hours later, Joe was still sitting outside the teepee waiting. Finally, he heard what he was waiting for…… a shrill infant cry. He jumped up and raced inside the hut; stopping at the sight which met his eyes. The Indian squaw had just laid a babe in his wife’s arms. Joe’s green eyes pooled with tears when he saw his wife. She looked up and smiled at him. The woman left, and Joe moved to sit next to his wife and newborn baby. Alice lifted the blanket from the infant’s head, revealing the beautiful child. Tears fell from Joe’s eyes as he put his arm around his wife in a loving embrace.
“It’s a girl,” she said.
Joe grinned proudly. Alice placed the babe in his arms, thrilled to see her husband finally holding their child.
“Marie Alice Cartwright,” Joe declared proudly looking at his gorgeous new daughter. He leaned forward to kiss his wife.
“Now, can we please get out of this camp, Joe? I’m still nervous.”
Joe looked uneasy at first, but agreed since neither of them wanted to spend another night there. “Okay, we’re gonna go slowly with the baby.”
“Agreed.”
He placed the child gently in Alice’s arms, and helped her to stand up. He walked her slowly to the buggy, all eyes on them as they emerged from the teepee. He lifted her up to sit her comfortably in the back. He drove his little family out of the camp, both hastily and easily, trying not to jostle the precious cargo behind him. Within a couple of hours, they were back on the familiar land of the Ponderosa, getting excited to see a new Grandfather. Pulling the wagon quietly up to the house, Joe and Alice were ready to surprise Ben. They were coming up to the house just as he was leaving to meet them for dinner at their home. His eyes opened wide in disbelief.
“Joseph……” he was speechless.
Joe grinned as they walked to him. “Pa, I’d like you to meet Marie Alice Cartwright. You’re granddaughter,” he introduced as Alice held the baby to him. Ben’s eyes watered, then he realized the state the young couple was in. Alice was covered in dirt and looked exhausted, while Joe hadn’t a shirt and was beaten.
“Wh… what happened? Come inside!”
The couple followed him into the house. Alice lay on the couch with the baby while Joe sat in the chair. Joe rolled his eyes in protest as Pa kept fussing over the lacerations on his back. There was the occasional “I’m fine Pa” or “It’s nothing,” followed by a “Joseph!” or “Sit still.”
After Ben finally let Joe alone, he brought out some coffee for the couple. The three of them sat up all night talking and playing with the baby. As Ben sat watching his son and daughter-in-law with his granddaughter, he couldn’t help but wonder what would come of the family as they grew. Whatever happened didn’t matter, since there was now a new generation to live and thrive on the vast Ponderosa.
~THE END~
Forever Series:
This story is based on the Bonanza episode: Forever
Director: Michael Landon
Writers: Michael Landon, David Dortort (created by)
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
