Summary:\u00a0\u00a0 Even when the time together is brief, memories can last a lifetime.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published in the Bonanza 2009 Friendship Convention Anthology.<\/p>\n
Word count: 3,500\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rating: K<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A\u00a0Quiet Legacy<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n by pjb<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIf this ain\u2019t the dumbest idea\u2014\u201d Joe muttered under his breath.<\/p>\n \u201cWould you just hush up and help me move this danged thing!\u201d Hoss lifted his end of the massive sideboard and waited while the smallest of the Cartwright brothers edged himself in between the other end and the dining room wall.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat jackass put it so far back in the corner, anyway?\u201d Joe grumbled. \u201cWhen we put it back this year, we\u2019re leaving more space at this end!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t,\u201d said Adam, his reasonable tone undercut with irritation. \u201cIf we move it down, it\u2019ll block the window. Now, would you two get that blasted thing away from the wall?\u201d The irritation was blossoming into downright aggravation.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, if you\u2019d move the table out of the way, maybe we\u2019d have some place to put it!\u201d Hoss pointed out.<\/p>\n \u201cThe table\u2019s over as far as it can be without blocking the doorway to the kitchen!\u201d Adam objected.<\/p>\n \u201cWho cares about blocking the doorway?\u201d demanded Joe.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need someplace to put this thing,\u201d Hoss added.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, just move the sideboard already! There\u2019s plenty of room!\u201d But his brothers stood motionless until Adam shoved the table with a fierce grunt. \u201cThere!\u201d he snapped. \u201cHappy now? Can we finally get that damned sideboard out of the corner?\u201d<\/p>\n With an enormous, eye-rolling sigh, Joe began to inch down far enough to grasp the back corner of the sideboard. A moment later, his eyes widened. \u201cI\u2019m stuck!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat? Joe, just shove it!\u201d Dadburn if that boy didn\u2019t make a melodrama out of everything.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t shove it! Didn\u2019t you hear me? I\u2019m stuck! One of you jaspers had better move this stupid thing now<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n It was like this every spring. None of them knew just why Pa subjected them to this ridiculous exercise, but right around the time the last snows melted, the Cartwright brothers found themselves shoving furniture around and lugging pails of wash water until they were ready to drop. Adam attributed it to their father\u2019s days at sea, when quarters were tight and everything had to be shipshape. Hoss figured it was more likely Pa\u2019s militia days, since everybody knew officers were supposed to be pretty orderly fellows. Joe was convinced that it was simply their father\u2019s way of torturing them after a long winter indoors when the brothers\u2019 primary activity was getting on each other\u2019s nerves.<\/p>\n Whatever the reason, the ritual was always the same. Every single inch of the house and barn had to be scrubbed and scoured. The draperies were washed and rehung, the rugs beaten to within an inch of their lives, and the floors scrubbed and oiled. The mattress ticking for all the beds had to be emptied, washed and refilled\u2014which ones got fresh feathers depended largely on how many chickens, geese and ducks had graced the Cartwrights\u2019 dinner table over the past year. The glass in every window squeaked after its bath of vinegar and water. Even the upholstery was soaped and rinsed until not the slightest hint of a stain lingered\u2014no small task, considering how many muddy or bleeding men had been deposited on that settee. Bowing to Hop Sing\u2019s experience with this chore, Pa had agreed this spring just to change the fabric completely. Three of Hop Sing\u2019s cousins were busy at that task right now.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you do? Why you not finished? Hop Sing have much work for sons!\u201d Hop Sing glared at the brothers from the now-blocked doorway. \u201cMove table!\u201d he added as he retreated to his domain, pigtail flying.<\/p>\n Hop Sing was never especially pleased to have the brothers helping him at any time since, in his opinion, they were slow and clumsy and couldn\u2019t do anything right the first time. At cleaning time, though, his already-miniscule patience shrank tenfold. Every demand had to be satisfied immediately, and it was no excuse that the last job was not yet finished. Despite his sons\u2019 vigorous protests, Ben always gave Hop Sing free rein to employ them whatever manner the little man deemed appropriate until the cleaning was finished. And so, every year, the Cartwright brothers took on the role of oxen, hauling heavier pieces and supplies hither and yon as an army of Hop Sing\u2019s relatives scurried about to obey the pigtailed general who commanded the Ponderosa\u2019s troops.<\/p>\n Out on the porch, Ben sorted through the contents of his desk drawer in relative peace. Some cousin or other was polishing his desk with a mixture of beeswax, lemon juice and some secret ingredient that would leave behind a faint exotic scent reminiscent of jasmine. He heard Joe yelp something about his foot, and Hoss snapped back in a most uncharacteristic manner, but he didn\u2019t investigate. His sons knew where to find him if they truly needed him. A slight breeze threatened to dislodge his orderly stack of papers, and he set an ink bottle on top.<\/p>\n \u201cSir like coffee?\u201d A young Chinese girl stood at his elbow with a fresh pot. How she\u2019d managed to make coffee while the kitchen was in such disarray was anybody\u2019s guess, but he smiled gratefully.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Mei-Zhen,\u201d said Ben. She bowed slightly and poured coffee into his cup. Then, she set the pot on the table, well away from his papers, and bowed again as she withdrew.<\/p>\n Ben sipped his coffee, not looking now at the stack before him. He allowed his mind to drift forward to how the house would be when the work was finished. The wood would gleam in the firelight, the rich colors of the rugs and draperies would glow softly, and when he lay down to rest, even the pillow slips would smell meadow-fresh.<\/p>\n It was just as Inger had said.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n They\u2019d been married nearly a year, but he\u2019d rarely seen her cry. On this day, when he found her in tears down by the stream, he\u2019d thought at first that she was simply overtired. After all, she was well along in her confinement, and they\u2019d been traveling for weeks without a break. Adam was a good boy, but he was still a child, and sometimes he did what children did, getting caught up in his own world instead of remembering to think of others.<\/p>\n When the wagon train had stopped to make camp, Inger announced that she wanted to take everything out of their wagon and clean it from top to bottom. The other women exchanged looks, but they put it down to the whims of a woman in the family way, and they began to heat water and gather rags as the children unloaded the wagon.<\/p>\n \u201cTake the top off, too,\u201d said Inger. \u201cIt needs to be washed. It is so dusty. Adam, you and Robert and Jason take the wagon cover down to the stream.\u201d<\/p>\n The Davidson twins, Robert and Jason, were nearly ten, and they were large and sturdy for their age. They\u2019d taken a liking to young Adam early on, and the three boys often played together. Ben and Inger enjoyed watching Adam and his \u201cbig brothers\u201d running around camp on late summer evenings; despite their substantial size advantage, the twins seemed to have an instinctive understanding of how to play with the smaller boy, and Adam, for his part, was not above taking advantage of the fact that he was littler and faster.<\/p>\n \u201cIsn\u2019t it going to be too heavy for them to carry?\u201d Rebecca Cooper looked skeptical, but then, she usually did. Ben had once commented privately to Inger that Rebecca wouldn\u2019t believe that rain fell from the sky unless she was standing out in the storm.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will be fine,\u201d said Inger. \u201cIf they need help, one of the men can help them.\u201d And with that, she turned her attention to washing trail dust off the wagon wheels.<\/p>\n The wagon was as clean as it possibly could be when somebody noticed that the boys weren\u2019t back yet. Ben, who was tending to the horses, heard the ruckus before he saw it, and he dropped the harness to run down to the stream.<\/p>\n The boys had decided that the best way to wash the cover was simply to haul it into the stream. So, they\u2019d shed their clothes and waded into the clear water that sparkled so invitingly under a prairie sky. Somewhere in the chore, though, they\u2019d become more interested in splashing and playing than in washing the large canvas cover. As Ben came over the rise, he saw three dripping wet boys standing wide-eyed beside the canvas wagon cover that was now half-covered in mud as Inger began to sob.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s going on here?\u201d he thundered. He placed a protective arm around Inger as he glared at the culprits. \u201cAdam, what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2014we came down to wash the wagon cover, and\u2014well, I reckon we kind of started playing.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d His voice trailed off. It was nothing,<\/em> he wanted to say, but it wasn\u2019t nothing, and he and Pa both knew it. Not only had Adam been disobedient, but he had upset Ma. Pa had already talked to him about how important it was for Adam to take good care of her in her condition, to be helpful and not to worry her. And now, Adam had not only failed to help her, but somehow, he\u2019d made her cry. The thought almost made him cry, too, but he was a big boy of six, and so he just stood silently beside the twins.<\/p>\n Ben glared at all three of them as he held his weeping wife. \u201cYou will wash every bit of dirt off that cover,\u201d he said. \u201cThen, after you\u2019ve laid it out to dry, you will get dressed and go back to the wagon\u2014all three of you,\u201d he added. \u201cI will deal with you then.\u201d<\/p>\n The twins exchanged fearful glances. It was one of the things they didn\u2019t like about the wagon train. The group traveling together had become so much like a family that you might get treats from anybody, but you also might get punished by anybody, and your folks weren\u2019t going to say anything against it. Mr.\u00a0Cartwright wasn\u2019t one who was quick to tan a boy, but when he did, that boy knew for several days that he\u2019d been tanned.<\/p>\n His arm securely around her, Ben led Inger back toward the wagon. \u201cYou need to rest, darling,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve been working far too hard in your condition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just wanted\u2014I just wanted it to be nice,\u201d she sobbed.<\/p>\n The ladies clustered around them anxiously. \u201cIs she all right?\u201d asked Marianne Weston.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s just tired,\u201d said Ben. \u201cWill one of you ladies please see to it that the boys finish their chore?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost definitely,\u201d said Elinor Davidson in a voice that didn\u2019t bode well for the twins. She drew the other ladies away, and Ben helped Inger to sit down in the shade of the wagon. Then, he sat beside her and held her as she wept on his shoulder.<\/p>\n Finally, Inger lifted her head. Ben smiled. He\u2019d never known any other woman who could look so beautiful, even with her eyes and nose all red from crying. He held her close, kissing her damp forehead.<\/p>\n \u201cNow,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat was that really all about?\u201d<\/p>\n Inger dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief. \u201cI feel so silly,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone must think I\u2019m a very foolish woman.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re with child,\u201d Ben said as though she needed reminding. \u201cNo one will think anything.\u201d He stroked her cheek, still wet with tears. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n She shifted on the hard ground to accommodate her awkward shape. \u201cI just wanted everything to be clean,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clean enough,\u201d said Ben, his brow furrowing.<\/p>\n Inger shook her head. \u201cWhen I was a little girl, every year in the spring, we cleaned the whole house from top to bottom. It was a small house, and most of our furniture was homemade or cast-off from friends, but we were careful to take the best care of it that we could. We washed all the floors, and we polished all the furniture, and we beat the rugs and\u2014we just did everything. We mended what was torn or shabby, and Mama taught me to use such tiny stitches that nobody could have seen. There wasn\u2019t a single corner in the house that we didn\u2019t scrub until it shone. Papa and Gunnar moved all the furniture so that we could clean behind it. We emptied out the drawers and put them in order, and we washed all the bedding and put new straw in the mattresses and my mama would put fresh new candles in the lamps even if the old ones weren\u2019t all used up. Gunnar grumbled about being the tallest, because he was the only one who could reach up high to wipe the tops of the doorframes and the corners of the ceiling. It was a tremendous amount of work, but I loved doing it. And when we were all done\u2014ah, Ben, there was something so wonderful about it. Our little house felt new again. Everything sparkled. Even the sun seemed to shine brighter. Mama would tuck sweet flowers in with the straw when she filled the mattresses, and our beds would smell of meadows, and we felt like the luckiest, most special family in the world because we lived in such a fine place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur beds smell of the prairies now,\u201d Ben pointed out gently, but Inger shook her head again.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is just\u2014everything is so dusty and dirty, and it all smells of horses and sweat and dung and I just\u2014I just wanted to make our home, our little home on wheels, clean and fresh.\u201d Tears welled up in her eyes again, and Ben cradled her lovely cheek in his hand, marveling that the harsh sun and wind had somehow failed to dry her soft skin.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeday,\u201d he promised. \u201cSomeday, we\u2019ll have a beautiful home. It\u2019ll be the finest for miles around\u2014you\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt needn\u2019t be large, Ben,\u201d Inger protested. \u201cWe can be just as happy in a small house, as long as we can make it special.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be,\u201d he vowed. \u201cAnd every year, we\u2019ll clean it from top to bottom, every inch of it. We\u2019ll make it sparkle and shine, and our family will be the luckiest, most special family in the world because we live there\u2014together.\u201d<\/p>\n Her delighted smile was a rainbow through her tears. \u201cI love you, my darling,\u201d she whispered. She leaned in to kiss him, and he murmured in her ear, \u201cToo bad we don\u2019t have the cover on the wagon.\u201d Her laugh rang like music in his ear, and he kissed her hungrily. She was the angel who had brought him back from the dark world of bitterness and anger into a new life filled with sunlight and love, and he\u2019d have done anything for her.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Not a fingerprint marred the surface of the tin that held his pipe tobacco. His pipes hung neatly in their stand on the gleaming surface of the table. Carefully, Ben selected a pipe without knocking the others askew. He opened the box by the edges so as not to smear the polished surface. The rich, promising scent of the tobacco blended with the savory aromas of roast pork and fresh bread that wafted from the kitchen. He dropped tobacco into the pipe bowl and used his hand to sweep up the shreds that fell to the tabletop, adding those to the bowl.<\/p>\n He smiled as he heard his sons\u2019 boots on the porch. Sure enough, all three stopped to wipe their feet on the way in. It was a habit that never stuck for long, but for at least the first day or two afterward, they tended to remember.<\/p>\n As they headed up the stairs to clean up for supper, Ben gazed at the room. She had never seen the Ponderosa, of course, but the house was as fine as he\u2019d promised her. The beams overhead soared, and he smiled at the thought that not a speck of dust lurked, even up where they met at the peak. The books in the bookcase stood perfectly straight, and the stove by his desk was deep black again. The new fabric on the settee\u2014broad stripes, this time\u2014gave the room an air of opulence. Two of Hop Sing\u2019s cousins had spent most of a day cleaning and oiling his leather armchair, and now it was as supple and sensuous as the curve of a woman\u2019s leg. When he went to bed that night, he would see moonlight glowing through the lace curtains that had been bleached in sunlight, and when he lay down, he would catch the slightest fragrance of the wildflowers that Hop Sing tucked inside the pillows.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t quite certain why he\u2019d never told anyone the real reason they did this every year. In some peculiar way, the intimacy of that moment lived as long as he kept the truth between himself and Inger. He\u2019d never even explained it to Marie or Hop Sing\u2014all he\u2019d ever said was that it was a family tradition. He knew that Marie had found it curious that her rancher husband was so committed to such a domestic ritual, but to her credit, she\u2019d never voiced this opinion aloud. After her death, Hop Sing took the custom over, arranging for crews of cousins to descend on the Ponderosa, working from dawn to dusk until every last smudge and cobweb had been banished.<\/p>\n Ben poked at the fire with the newly-polished poker as his sons tumbled down the stairs like a pack of puppies. The wide, gap-toothed grin on Hoss\u2019s face looked nothing like Inger\u2019s exquisite smile, and yet the same gentle spirit glowed in mother and son. He turned away for just a second as a wave of missing her broke over him, and then he turned back to his sons as they deposited themselves around the room.<\/p>\n \u201cJoseph,\u201d he warned before his youngest son could rest his boots on the new red and gold stripes of the settee. Joe had the sense not to roll his eyes, and Hoss chuckled as he plopped down beside his brother.<\/p>\n \u201cYou put your feet up here, an\u2019 Hop Sing\u2019s gonna cut \u2019em off and make \u2019em into soup!\u201d he chortled.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t gonna!\u201d Joe protested, and Adam, ensconced his freshly-brushed blue velvet chair, was the one to roll his eyes.<\/p>\n Ben watched his sons throughout dinner, smiling to himself as Adam wiped up a splash of water without seeming to notice that he did so. Joe held the platter with both hands instead of just one as Hoss speared another pork chop. Even Hop Sing set the dishes on the table with extra care.<\/p>\n \u201cWe felt like the luckiest, most special family in the world because we lived in such a fine place.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Her words, spoken with that soft Scandinavian lilt, echoed in his heart again. It was true\u2014even with all the loss and heartache they\u2019d endured, they were the luckiest, most special family in the world. Yet it wasn\u2019t the house that made it so, no matter how well it was kept. It was the people who lived in the house\u2014this family who worked and played, rejoiced and mourned, argued and confided and loved here. Inger\u2019s tradition was about far more than scrubbing floors. With her gentle words, she\u2019d left them a legacy\u2014a quiet way of cherishing each other by caring for the home they\u2019d worked so hard to build together.<\/p>\n \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n He shook himself out of his reverie to see Hoss peering at him. \u201cSorry, I was just .\u00a0.\u00a0. thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbout what?\u201d Hoss\u2019s guileless blue eyes were the color of a summer sky, just like Inger\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout your mother,\u201d Ben said honestly.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019d have approved of your cleaning spree,\u201d Adam said, startling Ben. Seemingly unaware, Adam continued, \u201cI remember one time, not too long before Hoss was born.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben sipped his wine as Adam recounted the story. So long ago, and yet it might have been yesterday. Their lives would have been so different if she\u2019d lived\u2014no Marie, no Little Joe. How to have Inger, and Elizabeth, and Marie, and all their sons, without the loss .\u00a0. . it was one of the mysteries he\u2019d never unraveled.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the Davidson twins stayed far away from Pa after that!\u201d Adam finished.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m surprised you didn\u2019t go with them!\u201d Joe laughed. \u201cHey, Hoss, are there any potatoes left?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI still can\u2019t believe she went to all that trouble just to clean a wagon,\u201d Adam mused.<\/p>\n \u201cBet she\u2019d have liked the job we all did on this place,\u201d Hoss offered as he handed the dish to his little brother.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll bet she would, at that,\u201d Ben agreed, his voice only slightly husky.<\/p>\n Adam winked at his father. He raised his wineglass, and by the light of fresh new candles, they toasted the memory of a lovely woman and all she had brought to them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe felt like the luckiest, most special family in the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We are,<\/em> Ben told her silently. Because we had you, my love, we are.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tags:\u00a0 Ben Cartwright,\u00a0Family,\u00a0Inger Borgstrom Cartwright,\u00a0wife \/ wives<\/p>\n