2

Gainsby wasted no time getting his hands on Mrs. Hansen’s money. He was already leaving the bank by the time Joe got there.

“Mr. Gainsby?” Joe called out.

The man stopped and turned, but made no attempt to answer.

“I wonder if I could have a word with you.”

“Why?”

“I’d just like the chance to understand why it was so important for you to take that money from Mrs. Hansen.”

“What business is it of yours?”

“You can think of me as a concerned neighbor.”

“Well then, take your concerns elsewhere, neighbor. This particular matter is of no concern to you.”

“I disagree.”

Mr. Gainsby huffed and turned away, sounding every bit like an angry bull but looking more like an overfed and ill tempered mule.

“Mr. Gainsby!” Joe called louder.

“What are you going to do, boy? Shoot an unarmed man for conducting honest business? They’ll hang you for sure.”

“I’m not here to fight you. I just want to talk.”

“Well go ahead and talk then. I’m sure someone will listen.” Gainsby walked away, leaving Joe fuming and unable to do anything about it.

“Mr. Cartwright?” Hearing Mrs. Hansen’s soft voice behind him, Joe turned. “Why have you taken such an interest in all of this?”

“I think it’s wrong what he’s doing. That’s why.”

She smiled. This time, it appeared to be genuine. “You’re obviously a very kind and caring young man, Mr. Cartwright. I admire what you’re trying to do.” She shook her head. “But there’s no cause for you to do anything at all. My husband made a mistake. He gambled on a business deal and then had the bad fortune of dying before he could follow through with it. Mr. Gainsby is simply collecting on a debt owed.”

“Maybe some debts just aren’t worth collecting. It’s obvious you need that money more than he does.”

“That may be. But it doesn’t change the fact that he has more right to it than I do.”

“More right to it? How can he? Your children have a right to it. Your children have a right to stay in their home, with their mother.”

“I wish life could be that simple. But we both know it’s not.”

“There has to be a way to fight this.”

“There isn’t. And even if there were….” She shook her head slowly. “I’m afraid I haven’t any fight left in me. I’ve been fighting for fifteen years, Mr. Cartwright. Fifteen years struggling just to survive in a land that fights back at every turn. I just can’t do it. Not anymore.”

“Then let me help.”

“You really are very sweet.” Her smile returned. “You remind me right now of my husband all those years ago. He was just as determined then as you are now. But determination alone isn’t enough, I’m afraid. And you need to save yours for fights that matter to you.”

“This does matter to me.”

“Go home, Mr. Cartwright. Go home to your family, where you belong. Count your own blessings. Leave me to mine.”

“What about your children?”

“They will do well in my brother’s care.”

“They need you.”

“Good day, Mr. Cartwright.”

She turned away, leaving Joe no more certain what he should do than when he’d first arrived in town.

XxXxX

Shortly before noon, as the stage was loading up, Joe watched Mrs. Hansen adjust her daughter’s bonnet and usher all four children into the coach. When he saw Mr. Gainsby walk by, Joe decided it was as good a time as any. He pulled Mrs. Hansen aside.

“I purchased passage for one more,” Joe told her. “You need to go.”

She studied him for a long moment, seeming unable to speak. Her eyes began to glisten again with unshed tears. Slowly, she began to shake her head.

“I…can’t,” she said.

“You have to.”

“I need to…to finish things here. I just…I just can’t.”

“You can’t let your children ride all the way to San Francisco with no one but Mr. Gainsby for company. They need someone to look after them, and I have no doubt Mr. Gainsby ….” Joe looked up at the man, seeing nothing but gray steel. “He won’t,” Joe finished. “Please. Go. Whatever you need to do here, let me do it for you.”

Her tears were falling now. “Not this. This is something I need to do. Me. No one else. Just…me.”

“Either you go or I will.”

Her eyes wide, she stared more deeply into his. “You would do that?”

“Someone has to.”

Gasping, she wrapped her arms around him. Her grip was weak yet intense, as though, having lost all of her strength she needed to cling to his. When she pulled away, she wiped frantically at her eyes, seeming desperate not to cry.

“How can I ever repay you?”

“Just take care of your children.”

“You’ll watch over them? Make sure they’re safe?”

Now it was Joe’s turn to stare.

“When you get to San Francisco,” she went on, “Martin has all the information you’ll need to contact my brother. He can tell you what—”

“You…you’re still refusing to go?”

“I can’t. I told you. I truly can’t.”

She was serious, Joe realized. She was really counting on him to go to San Francisco with her children. How could he? Pa would be furious. Yet how could he not?

“God bless you, Mr. Cartwright,” Mrs. Hansen said. “I owe you so, so very much.”

Joe gazed at the stagecoach and then back to Mrs. Hansen. “If…if I really am going to San Francisco, then I…I guess I’ll need for you to do me a favor.”

“Of course. Anything.”

“Tell my pa I’m sorry I didn’t talk to him first, and…and I’ll see him in about a week.” He tried to smile, but thoughts of his pa turned a grin into a grimace.

XxXxX

“San Francisco?”

Ben Cartwright’s voice was loud enough that Mrs. Hansen could hear him over the rattle of the buckboard and the soft thump of the horse’s hooves on the road. He’d been pleasant enough when she’d delivered Little Joe’s message; but now that she had left his house he no longer had to hide his true reaction behind the etiquettes of hospitality.

While Mrs. Hansen had come to see Joseph Cartwright as her own angel of mercy, it was clear he would have hell to pay when he returned home to his own family. She really did owe him her life. Sadly, all she could do was pray Joe would someday understand that was one debt simply not worth collecting.

XxXxX

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