Summary:\u00a0 A WHN for both the episode ‘A Time to Step Down’ and ‘The Lonely House’. Five years have passed and Trock has been released from prison and returned to marry Lee Bolden. Little does the former bank robber know, but his past is about to catch up to him – and Joe Cartwright – in the form of a man whose dark secret only Dan Tollivar knows.\u00a0 A note for the Adam-gals, your feller is home for a visit.<\/p>\n
Word count: 61,659<\/p>\n
Rated: PG-13 for adult situations and innuendo, torture, and typical Western violence and brutality<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All the Butterflies have Broken Wings<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n PROLOGUE<\/p>\n Autumn light streamed in the window of\u00a0 a rundown cabin nestled deep in the woods, striking the floorboards and washing them with rosy hues of red-gold and pale pink-orange.\u00a0 Before it could strike the low bed shoved up against the cabin\u2019s back wall, the gleaming light brushed the shoulders and quavering form of a young woman who knelt beside it.\u00a0 She said her prayers every day as her mother taught her, though she knew they went unheeded.\u00a0 God did not hear them.\u00a0 He would not reply.\u00a0 Each new day he turned His face from her as He had done for the last six years, for God knew everything.<\/p>\n He knew what she had done and what she had become.<\/p>\n She had few memories of her childhood. \u00a0It had been tumultuous at best.\u00a0 Born back East, her family had pulled up roots and heeded the call of the West, traveling all the way to California where they bought a few acres up north and began to farm.\u00a0 She\u2019d been three at the time and by the time she was eleven she had had enough \u2013 enough of back-breaking labor and sleepless nights, of poverty and privation \u2013 enough of sitting at the family table with her silent mother and brow-beat siblings drinking water and eating stale bread for which her overly-religious father insisted they give thanks.\u00a0 Her father ruled their house like a tyrant.\u00a0 Her mother was completely subservient and, out of fear of retribution, most often silent.\u00a0 The petite woman was of mixed heritage \u2013 half-Chinese and half something \u2019else\u2019 that was called American. \u00a0As she grew, her mother sensed her unrest.\u00a0 One day, shortly before she left, she\u2019d told her to count her blessings.<\/p>\n Blessings.<\/p>\n And so, at the age of twelve, she ran away, hitching a ride on a stage by batting her eyelashes and letting a strange man put his hands where they shouldn\u2019t be.\u00a0 She should have known better \u2013 should have seen the writing on the way \u2013 but she didn\u2019t.\u00a0 She was beautiful in an \u2018exotic\u2019 sort of way, he told her, and she supposed it was true.\u00a0 Like her mother she had long, slightly wavy black hair and big brown eyes and the kind of slender childlike figure older men liked.\u00a0 Unlike her mother, her figure had waves as well \u2013 her ample breasts were the one gift her father\u2019s line had given her.\u00a0 She\u2019d learned to use all of her assets to get what she wanted on that trip south, and even more so when she landed in San Francisco.<\/p>\n She met a man in the city.\u00a0 He said he loved her.\u00a0 He rescued her from the streets and took her to his home where he fed her and cared for her, dressing her and treating her like a queen.\u00a0 For about a month.\u00a0 Then, he used her \u2013 which wasn\u2019t so bad \u2013 until he told her he \u2018owned\u2019 her and began to \u2018rent\u2019 her out.<\/p>\n And so it began, this thing she called a career.<\/p>\n After the man tired of her, he sold her to the owner of a place situated on the Barbary Coast.\u00a0 It was run by a man from China.\u00a0 A month after she got there, she\u2019d tried to kill herself, but being inexperienced at just about everything other than being used, she\u2019d failed.\u00a0 While she lay recovering, one of the older women came to her and told her she could teach her things that would keep her safe \u2013 how to bring pleasure to a man without being violated for one, but also \u2013 and this was the most<\/em> important \u2013 what to do to bring a man to the point where pleasure became pain.\u00a0 Her newfound \u2018talents\u2019 served her well and kept her alive, but at a cost.<\/p>\n That cost was her soul.<\/p>\n The word \u2018Amen\u2019 escaped her lips as she rose to her feet and headed for the kitchen area.\u00a0 This run-down cabin in the woods was a far cry from the life she had once envisioned for herself.\u00a0 As was the man who kept her now.\u00a0 She\u2019d gotten into trouble in San Francisco when she used her \u2018skills\u2019 on a high-ranking official and the man had gone to the authorities.\u00a0 Ahab had happened along at just the right time, taking her under his wing and helping her to flee the city.\u00a0 At first, she\u2019d thought maybe God had<\/em> heard her prayers.\u00a0 At first the older man treated her well and wanted noting more than companionship.\u00a0 But then, like it always happened, he began to use her.\u00a0 Oh, not like the other men \u2013 not for what she was<\/em>, but for what she could do.\u00a0 She was the bait; her fine white skin, shining black hair and ample breasts, the hook.<\/p>\n And her hands, the weapon that extracted it.<\/p>\n The pattern was always the same. \u00a0They would move into an area and spend a few days asking questions, learning what they could about its richest men and their liabilities.\u00a0 Most often Ahab chose one with a young son or daughter \u2013 someone who was an easy mark.\u00a0 She\u2019d expected it would take them some time to work through Virginia City\u2019s elite.\u00a0 After all, there were so many<\/em> fabulously wealthy men in the fast-growing Western metropolis. \u00a0Surprisingly, there had been no reconnaissance at all.\u00a0 Instead, Ahab took her straight to a large home made of hewn logs with white chink and pointed out a well-muscled young man with a head of chestnut curls who stood beside a pile of chopped wood, leaning on his axe.\u00a0 She watched as the handsome cowboy ran a hand over his brow, wiping away the sweat, and then headed toward another man who was exiting the barn; an older man with gray hair going white, whose rolling stride marked him as an ex-sailor.<\/p>\n \u2018That\u2019s the mark,\u2019 Ahab said as he placed a hand on her shoulder.<\/p>\n She\u2019d turned to look at him and asked, \u2018Which one?\u2019\u00a0 Though it was routine for them to kidnap the children of the wealthy and hold them hostage, there had been times when her procurer deviated from what was normal.<\/p>\n Times she preferred not<\/em> to remember.<\/p>\n \u2018Which one do you<\/em> fancy?\u2019 he\u2019d asked.<\/p>\n Her eyes had rolled at that.\u00a0 She was nineteen, after all.\u00a0 There was no need to ask.<\/p>\n \u2018The handsome one.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018He\u2019s yours then.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018And the other one?\u2019 she\u2019d asked as she watched the pair embrace thinking, surely, this was the younger man\u2019s father.<\/p>\n \u2018That\u2019s the great and mighty Benjamin Cartwright,\u201d the man who owned her snarled.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s mine.\u201d<\/p>\n Passing through the kitchen \u00a0the young woman moved on to the common room and halted before a cracked mirror hanging on the wall.\u00a0 She was attired in emerald-green today \u2013 in a gown that showed everything she had.\u00a0 It had a matching box hat with a feather and a little reticule.<\/p>\n Today, she was a lady \u2013 a beautiful young lady who had been done wrong by her husband and left at the side of the road.\u00a0 In other words, a damsel in distress. \u00a0That young man with the chestnut hair was taking a stage coach ride today.\u00a0 It was her job to get him to leave the stage behind and take her home.<\/p>\n And then to break him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ONE<\/p>\n It never ceased to amaze him that a man could get more saddle sores riding in a stage coach than on the back of a horse.<\/p>\n Joseph Francis Cartwright, youngest and most charming \u2013 at least in his book \u2013 of Benjamin Cartwright\u2019s three handsome sons glanced at the coach window and blew out a sigh as the mountains bounced by.\u00a0 He\u2019d done everything but grovel to get his pa to let him ride Cochise to Lee\u2019s house, but Pa wouldn\u2019t hear of it.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s gaze dropped to the waistband of his green corduroy coat.\u00a0 Underneath it he still wore a bandage. \u00a0If it had been anything other than him being shot, Pa said, he would have considered it, but with the wound in his side just healed Pa didn\u2019t trust him on the road alone because of highway robbers, desperados, outlaws, plague, famine, pestilence, and just about anything and everything else Biblical the older man could conjure up out of that overly-protective, vexed, and highly imaginative mind of his.<\/p>\n Come to think of it, he had<\/em> groveled.<\/p>\n So, here he was, making what would normally have been an enjoyably short jaunt on Cochise in a stifling, cramped coach smelling of smoke, sweat, and too many men.\u00a0 What the heck they were all doing heading to Platt City he had no<\/em> idea.<\/p>\n Maybe the town was having a contest to see who could knock a man down at ten paces by sheer stink alone.<\/p>\n Joe sighed as he leaned back in his seat and pulled his Stetson down.\u00a0 He should have been there by now.\u00a0 Since Lee knew he was coming, she\u2019d have prettied herself up.\u00a0 She\u2019d probably be wearing deep red like she liked to in order to show off those big blue eyes of hers and that raven-black hair \u2013 and have a smile and a fine supper waiting on him.\u00a0 He looked forward to the time he would spend in her company.\u00a0 It had been kind of awkward at first since she wasn\u2019t quite old enough to be his ma and a little too old to be his sweetheart, but after a rough start five years back they\u2019d become good friends.\u00a0 Joe chuckled at the thought of how he\u2019d fought his pa the first time the older man sent him out to check on Lee, shortly after her first husband died.\u00a0 Here he was thinking she was gonna be some stuffy old lady with gray hair and at least one double chin.\u00a0 He had to admit he\u2019d been mighty surprised when the door\u00a0 opened to reveal a beautiful, trim young woman \u2013<\/p>\n Pointing a rifle straight at him.<\/p>\n Joe glanced again at the jostling scenery and then reached over the man sittin\u2019 next to him, who was dead- drunk and snoring, to pull the shade down against the light of the setting sun.\u00a0 Truth to tell since he\u2019d taken that bullet, his head had ached just about as much as his side.\u00a0 He\u2019d never be so happy in his life as when he got out of this bouncing, jiggling, torture chamber called a \u2018coach\u2019 and put his booted feet down on solid ground. \u00a0Turning his head, Joe looked out of the window on the opposite side of the stage. The light was nearly gone.\u00a0 Nothing remained of it but a few blood-red streaks near the horizon.\u00a0 Stars were twinkling in a sky grown dark as his father\u2019s eyes and the moon was rising.\u00a0 All in all it was a pretty sight \u2013 \u2018sweet\u2019 as middle brother would say.\u00a0 The curly-haired man snorted as he adjusted his position again and elbowed the drunk into the corner of the coach.\u00a0 Older brother Adam would have pronounced it \u2018beautiful as the seraph\u2019s dream\u2019 or some other such nonsense.<\/p>\n The thought of Adam wiped the smile from his lips. \u00a0Brother Adam had been gone for two full years and he\u2019d found that, while he missed him, Adam\u2019s departure had \u2013 well \u2013 freed him to be himself.\u00a0 Pa had put a lot of trust in him, turnin\u2019 over the horses and all that went with them to him, letting him handle that part of the family business as he saw fit.\u00a0 Since Adam had come home for his \u2018visit\u2019, older brother had made it damn clear that he still saw him as a snot-nosed little kid who couldn\u2019t wipe his own back end.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what it was with the two of them.\u00a0 He\u2019d talked to Hop Sing about it and the little man had said it was because the two of them were too alike.<\/p>\n He\u2019d put out his hand and checked to make sure the little man didn\u2019t have a fever.<\/p>\n A disgruntled noise brought him out of his musing.\u00a0 He thought it might have been the stage driver, Charlie, cussing, and if it was, he wanted to know why.\u00a0 Leaning over the drunk, Joe snapped open the blind and stuck his head out the window.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, Charlie, what\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n Charlie Martin was an old hand at stage runs.\u00a0 Heck, Charlie was an old hand at just about everything.\u00a0 The older man had worked for his pa when he was a little boy and been one of those hands who\u2019d let him get by with way<\/em> too many things, so they had been and still were good friends.\u00a0 After workin\u2019 on the Ponderosa, Charlie\u2019d tried his hand at banking.\u00a0 Well, that wasn\u2019t quite right.<\/p>\n He\u2019d robbed one actually.<\/p>\n Charlie got five years for the crime, but it was reduced to two for good behavior.\u00a0 When the state let him out, he came back to the ranch and asked for his job back.\u00a0 Pa hired him again, but after that it seemed like they were never alone.\u00a0 Adam or Hoss or one of the other trustworthy hands was always around to see that neither of them got into any trouble. \u00a0Charlie was older than Adam and younger than Pa.\u00a0 Probably somewhere around forty.\u00a0 It was hard to tell exactly how old he was due to the time he\u2019d spent in prison and the fact that he currently spent most of his days bein\u2019 baked by the sun.\u00a0 In prison they\u2019d cut Charlie\u2019s pale yellow hair short and he found he liked it that way.\u00a0 The older man looked like he\u2019d been scalped and survived it.\u00a0 A knife fight or two since he\u2019d been released had added scars to his thin face that made him look \u2013 at least, according to Maggie at the Bucket \u2013 slightly rakish.<\/p>\n Yeah, he knew what that word meant too.<\/p>\n \u201cI ain\u2019t sure, Joe!\u201d Charlie called back. \u00a0He liked the fact that the older man never called him \u2018Little Joe\u2019 even though he\u2019d known him since he was a spud.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s somethin\u2019 in the road.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou want me to come up top?\u201d<\/p>\n There was a pause.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinkin\u2019 that might be a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlie had slowed the coach but not brought it to a stop.\u00a0 Joe disentangled his boots from those of the inebriated \u00a0man next to the window and stepped over him to catch the handle of the door.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re just plain stupid for going out there, kid,\u201d one of the passengers \u2013 a man in a dark gray business suit with a black string tie and matching bowler hat \u2013 growled.\u00a0 \u201cThey aren\u2019t paying you to put yourself in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe paused to tip his tan hat.\u00a0 \u201cNo need.\u00a0 That\u2019s somethin\u2019 I do for free,\u201d he answered with tight grin.<\/p>\n The man studied him a moment before pronouncing, \u201cYou\u2019re an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n The curly-haired man bit back his anger and his desire to say, \u2018It takes one to know one.\u2019\u00a0 \u201cGuilty as charged,\u201d he said instead and then swung out into the night.<\/p>\n Charlie was waiting for him when he dropped down onto the weathered seat next to the older man.\u00a0 Turning his face forward Joe squinted into the night.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see anything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a ways off yet.\u00a0 When you do this for a livin\u2019 you gotta have vision sharp as a hawk\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 Charlie\u2019s profile was clear against the risen moon.\u00a0 His jaw was set and his lips tight.\u00a0 \u201cYou got that pretty pearl-handled lady with you?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe patted his hip, reassured by the feel of his revolver beneath his fingers.\u00a0 \u201cSure do.\u201d<\/p>\n The lean man\u2019s pale eyes rolled over to meet his puzzled gaze.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d be wakin\u2019 her up and gettin\u2019 her out of bed if I were you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you think it is?\u201d Joe asked, squinting harder as he drew his pistol.<\/p>\n The older man turned toward him.\u00a0 His white teeth gleamed in the moonlight.<\/p>\n \u201cJust what you ordered, boy,\u201d he said with a grin. \u00a0\u201cTrouble.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cPa.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright dropped his newspaper to the top of the rugged wooden table he sat behind and looked up at his oldest son, still not quite believing he was there.\u00a0 Adam had only recently returned.\u00a0 Two years before, at the age of thirty-five, his eldest had declared the need to find himself and made it clear that he felt he had to leave the Ponderosa to do so.\u00a0 Though he had written faithfully, chronicling their day to day lives as well as anything out of the ordinary and sending the letters to Adam\u2019s various ports of call, his son\u2019s replies had been sporadic at best.\u00a0 So it had come as quite a shock when he opened the front door and found the boy standing there with his hand raised as if he had hesitated to knock.\u00a0 He\u2019d just left Joseph\u2019s room where he\u2019d been sitting at his youngest\u2019s side, praying for the fever that wracked his ravished form to abate.\u00a0 He\u2019d been expecting Paul Martin.\u00a0 The physician\u2019s visits had been regular as clockwork since the debacle with Dan Tollivar that had left Joseph gravely wounded.<\/p>\n Adam explained that he had been in California working when he\u2019d received the letter telling him of Dan\u2019s betrayal and Joseph\u2019s close brush with death.\u00a0 At the time he wrote he hadn\u2019t known that the wound would become infected and threaten Joe\u2019s life.\u00a0 In spite of that, Adam had headed straight home, driven by some inner demon he had yet to explain.<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s dark eyes went to his eldest child.\u00a0 Adam was standing on the other side of the table, facing into the yard.\u00a0 Perhaps he was being too harsh.\u00a0 Perhaps there were no demons.<\/p>\n It was possible Adam had been driven home by love.<\/p>\n His eldest\u2019s strong form blocked his view of the barn.\u00a0 Still, he knew it\u2019s interior was lit.\u00a0 Dan Tollivar was working late.<\/p>\n Making amends.<\/p>\n Leaning back in his chair, Ben acknowledged his son with a nod.<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s full lips were pursed.\u00a0 \u201cPa,\u201d he repeated.\u00a0 \u201cAre you sure you know what you\u2019re doing?\u201d<\/p>\n Never one to beat about the bush, that was Elizabeth\u2019s son.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout what?\u201d the older man inquired, though he knew full well.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout Dan.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben sucked in the sigh that sought to escape.\u00a0 \u201cYou know what your brother said.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, and I know another thing.\u00a0 Dan Tollivar almost got Joe killed.\u00a0 If you ask me \u2013 and neither of you have \u2013 I don\u2019t think either<\/em> of you are thinking straight where Dan\u2019s concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher hesitated and then said, \u201cSon, I would have expected more of you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMore of me?\u00a0 What \u2018more\u2019?\u00a0 You mean you expect me to forgive and forget and put my trust in a man who kidnapped my brother, betrayed my father, and then stood by while Joe was shot!?\u201d\u00a0 His son paused to contain his temper. \u00a0\u201cPerhaps you would care to explain to me just what<\/em> is wrong with my having a slight…problem with that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSon, the Bible teaches us to forgive \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt also says to be of sober spirit and on the alert,\u201d Adam snapped, \u201cfor our adversary prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour!\u201d<\/p>\n Ben rose to his feet and planted his hands on the table.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t teach you to bend the scriptures to suit your own prejudices, boy!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s jaw grew tight.\u00a0 Rage was written into every line of his lean form.\u00a0 \u201cThis is why I left!\u00a0 I\u2019m not a boy<\/em>, Pa, but you seem to be unable to accept that.\u00a0 I\u2019m nearly forty.\u00a0 Older than you<\/em> were when you and I headed west!\u201d\u00a0 His son\u2019s voice had risen with his temper.\u00a0 He stopped, sucked in air, and visibly struggled to rein it in.\u00a0 \u201cI happen to love my brother and I for one don\u2019t believe a leper can change his spots.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI thought I taught you better.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam snorted.\u00a0 \u201cPa, you taught me that family comes first.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry, sir<\/em>, but I think your friendship with Dan Tollivar blinds you to the obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you think your brother is blind too? \u00a0Joe has forgiven Dan \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHas he?\u00a0 Has he really?\u201d<\/strong> <\/em>Adam snorted.\u00a0 \u201cHave you asked him?\u00a0 Or have you just assumed Joe thinks like you do?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben opened his mouth to reply, but shut it just as quickly.\u00a0 Had he?\u00a0 Had his decades-long friendship with Dan blinded him to the obvious?<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 Joe had gone with him a few days before.\u00a0 The two of them sat on their horses and watched while Dan taught one of the younger hands the ABCs of roping and wrangling.\u00a0 He could see his youngest laughing, encouraging the older man.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course he does.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa,\u201d Adam\u2019s tone softened, \u201cJoe loves you.\u00a0 No, he worships <\/em>you.\u00a0 He\u2019d do anything to make you happy.\u201d\u00a0 A flicker of something \u2013 it might have been fear \u2013 colored Adam\u2019s hazel eyes darkening them to brown.\u00a0 \u201cEven forgive a man who tried to kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t true \u2013 at least not technically.\u00a0 Joe insisted Dan had saved him.<\/p>\n After <\/em>he had allowed him to be kidnapped, brutalized, and shot.<\/p>\n Ben fought to still his indignation; to listen<\/em> to his son. \u00a0So far as he knew Dan Tollivar had been a model hand for the last month since…the incident.\u00a0 Perhaps Adam knew different.<\/p>\n \u201cHas Dan done something to arouse your suspicions?\u201d<\/p>\n Elizabeth had done the same thing, pursed her lips and given him that \u2018look\u2019 when she knew something and knew it for sure, but had no idea how<\/em> she knew.<\/p>\n \u201c…no.\u201d\u00a0 Adam glanced toward the barn again.\u00a0 \u201cBut I don\u2019t like the way he watches Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n This was news to him.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you mean, \u2018watches\u2019 your brother?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say, Pa, but you know how it can be,\u201d his son replied as he turned back to face him.\u00a0 \u201cWhen a man\u2019s done something wrong \u2013 and his conscious pricks him \u2013 sometimes he comes to resent the…reminder.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe \u2018reminder\u2019 being your brother?\u201d\u00a0 Ben frowned.\u00a0 \u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Pa, I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 I wish I was.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that I\u2019m….\u201d\u00a0 His son shrugged and his lips curled up on the ends with chagrin.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m scared.\u00a0\u00a0 Joe….\u00a0 Well, he could have died and I wouldn\u2019t have been….\u201d<\/p>\n Adam had a right to be scared.\u00a0 They had almost lost Joe.<\/p>\n When Joe and Dan rolled into the yard in that wagon and his son debarked, Joseph had been on his feet and talking.\u00a0 Joe explained what had happened and insisted he was \u2018fine\u2019 as he walked him up the stairs and put him to bed.\u00a0 The boy had pleaded that he let Hop Sing attend him and not call in Paul Martin in, since doing so would spread the tale all over town.\u00a0 He had reluctantly agreed.\u00a0 At first, it seemed the wound was just a glancing one, more blood than bite, but two days later \u2013 in the middle of the night \u2013 he had heard his son crying out.\u00a0 When he went in to check on Joe, he found him nearly delirious with fever.\u00a0 By the time Paul Martin arrived his youngest was the color of the sheets and barely conscious.\u00a0 From the time he had been a little boy, Joe had been a healthy, robust child \u2013 when<\/em> he was healthy.\u00a0 But when the boy was sick, he was sick.\u00a0 For someone only a few years over twenty, Joseph had tread the path between life and death more times than he cared to count.<\/p>\n This last time it had been very close.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right, son,\u201d he said at last.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not dismissing your concerns, but I would like to know what\u00a0 your other brother thinks.\u00a0 Have you asked Hoss if he\u2019s noticed anything odd about Dan\u2019s behavior where it concerns Joseph?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss had been away handling some business in Carson City and only returned the night before.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know Hoss, Pa,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n Yes, he did. Where his eldest was wary, his giant of a middle son was willing to see the best in any man.<\/p>\n Still, if it meant Joseph was threatened….<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shrugged a look over his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cIn the barn…with Dan.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben moved out from behind the table.\u00a0 As he passed his son, he placed a hand on his arm.\u00a0 \u201cAdam, I want you to know that I am not dismissing your concerns and,\u201d he drew in a breath, \u201cI do see you as a man \u2013 a man I had no idea<\/em> how much I had come to rely on until he was gone.\u201d\u00a0 As he lifted his hand, Ben looked at the barn.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll just go pay the two of them a visit.\u00a0 Oh, and Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cForgive me?\u201d<\/p>\n They had been through everything together \u2013 feast and famine, hardship and danger, loss, grief, and more things than he could name.\u00a0 They were, in some ways, two halves of a whole \u2013 him and his eldest.\u00a0 One day, he knew, his son would leave again and he knew as well that it would tear him apart.<\/p>\n He just hoped it wasn\u2019t today.<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s callused hand closed over his.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to forgive, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben stared into his son\u2019s eyes, nodded his head, and then began the short walk to the barn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They were rolling forward…slowly.\u00a0 The wheels of the stage coach squeaked as they moved, marking off the yards toward….<\/p>\n What?<\/p>\n The moon was high in the diamond-pierced sky now, but a bank of clouds had drifted in, masking it and tossing shadows across the road.\u00a0 Whatever was in the middle of it \u2013 or right beside it \u2013 was small.\u00a0 About the size of a deer, or maybe a young steer.\u00a0 Joe squinted his eyes as he mentally ticked off the distance they\u2019d traveled.\u00a0 Charlie had fallen silent.\u00a0 The life of a stagecoach driver was straightforward. \u00a0When a ride went well, it was easy money in his pocket.<\/p>\n When it didn\u2019t, well….<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you tell what it is?\u201dhe asked, his voice breathy with anticipation.<\/p>\n Charlie was squinting. \u00a0He was chewing his lip too.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t look like nothin\u2019 I\u2019ve ever see\u2019d afore.\u00a0 Funny kind of shape.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike a steer?\u201d<\/p>\n Suddenly, Charlie reared up and snorted.<\/p>\n \u201cOr maybe a filly!\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked.\u00a0 A beam of moonlight had broken through the clouds.\u00a0 It shone down on a small bedraggled figure sitting at the side of the road in the midst of a pile of suitcases.\u00a0 It was a woman all right, or more likely a girl.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t tell for sure. \u00a0Joe started to call out, but Charlie\u2019s hand on his knee stopped him.<\/p>\n \u201cCould be a trap.\u00a0 I seen somethin\u2019 like it before.\u201d<\/p>\n He hadn\u2019t thought of that.<\/p>\n \u201cYou think so?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, but it don\u2019t hurt to be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n As his friend spoke, the stage coach rolled to a stop. The woman didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want me to go check on her?\u201d Joe offered.<\/p>\n Charlie\u2019s eyes were roaming the land before, behind, and to each side of the coach. There wasn\u2019t much cover, but there was enough to mask a man on a horse \u2013 or two.<\/p>\n \u201cYou, or me,\u201d his friend said.<\/p>\n Joe put his hand on the older man\u2019s shoulder. \u00a0\u201cCharlie, no offense, but one look at you and, whoever she is, she\u2019s gonna think an Indian looks good.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlie was still laughing when Joe jumped off, landed on his feet, and headed for the figure beside the road.<\/p>\n At first, she didn\u2019t seem to notice him.\u00a0 In fact, it seemed she hadn\u2019t heard the coach at all.\u00a0 Then, as she lifted a tear-streaked face and looked at him, he saw that she just didn\u2019t care.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t really tell how old she was since the moon was still playin\u2019 hide and seek, and he only got a glimpse of her face before she turned away, but she was pale, dark-haired, young, and….<\/p>\n Lost.<\/p>\n Joe stopped about five feet out.\u00a0 \u201cHey, there,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cYou look like you could use a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n For a moment she said nothing.\u00a0 Then, only, \u201cGo away.\u201d<\/p>\n The curly-haired man blinked.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think I can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLook,\u201d she snapped, \u201cI didn\u2019t ask for your help.\u00a0 Leave me alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe glanced over his shoulder at Charlie where he sat in the driver\u2019s seat.\u00a0 He gave his friend a shrug and then turned back.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I hate to tell you, but you sitting here beside the road in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night….\u00a0 Well, it ain\u2019t such a smart thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n The girl shot him a look.<\/p>\n It could have killed a cougar.<\/p>\n Joe took his hat off, ran a hand through his hair, and then along the back of his neck before trying again.\u00a0 \u201cLook, Miss…?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMissus.!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay….\u201d\u00a0 He sucked in a breath and a bit of temper along with it.\u00a0 \u201cLook here, Missus….?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor the record it\u2019s Mrs. Jones,<\/em> and thank you very much for your concern, but I\u2019m just fine.\u201d\u00a0 She sniffed again s she looked him up and down.\u00a0 \u201cAnd pardon me, but I don\u2019t need Sir Galahad riding in on a horse to save me!\u201d<\/p>\n His temper was straining the reins to the point of snapping.\u00a0 \u201cWell, pardon me<\/em>, but if you\u2019d paid attention you\u2019d know I don\u2019t have a dang horse!\u201d<\/p>\n He saw the edge of one lip quirk.\u00a0 The smile was brief.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease, go away.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe plopped the hat back on his head and then plopped right down on the ground beside her.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you think you\u2019re doing?\u201d she asked as she scooted back and away from him.<\/p>\n He crossed his legs Indian fashion as he settled in.\u00a0 \u201cYou know a law says I can\u2019t sit here?\u201d<\/p>\n The young woman had cocked her head and was looking at him.\u00a0 The moon was shining again and he was thinkin\u2019 maybe she wasn\u2019t tellin\u2019 the truth about being married.<\/p>\n \u201cHow old are you?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t anyone ever tell you that you\u2019re not supposed to ask a lady her age?\u201d\u00a0 She scowled.\u00a0 \u201cHow old are you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-five,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cYou next.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty,\u201d she replied with a roll of her dark eyes.<\/p>\n He looked her up and down.\u00a0 \u201cTry that again?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost <\/em>twenty.\u201d<\/p>\n It might have been the truth, though he doubted it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I really am<\/em> married,\u201d she went on.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I was<\/em>…for about a month.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe eyed the suitcases.\u00a0 \u201cHe leave you here?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just like a man!\u201d Mrs. Maybe<\/em> Jones snapped.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re all alike!\u00a0 No, he didn\u2019t leave me. \u00a0I left him!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Joe hid his smile.\u00a0 \u201cRight here?\u00a0 In the middle of nowhere?\u201d<\/p>\n She turned away so the shadows masked her face.\u00a0 \u201cI packed up and left.\u00a0 He came…after me.\u00a0 I told him I didn\u2019t want to go home, and he….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe left you here.\u00a0 In the middle of nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Tears entered her eyes.<\/p>\n A second later, a voice came out of night.\u00a0 \u201cHey Joe, I know you\u2019re one for the ladies, but do you think we could get a move on it?\u201d<\/p>\n The young woman\u2019s eyes went to the coach.\u00a0 \u201cYou better go back to your friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe snorted.\u00a0 \u201cFriends?\u00a0 That bunch?\u00a0 You know, I\u2019m surprised you let me sit next to you.\u00a0 You gotta be upwind.\u00a0 I ain\u2019t never nosed me a sorrier bunch of drunken cowpokes and pomaded dandies than that lot.\u201d<\/p>\n A small smiled curled her lips.\u00a0 \u201cYou do kind of…reek.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked mightily offended \u2013 and half meant it.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what a man gets for being turned into a pillow for a two ton soused louse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u201d<\/p>\n Rising to his feet, he took a couple of steps toward the coach.\u00a0 Then he looked back.\u00a0 \u201cYou got any sort of transportation?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe was sure she\u2019d call him an idiot again, but instead she nodded.\u00a0 \u201cMy carriage. \u00a0It\u2019s back there a ways.\u00a0 My husband, he said he\u2019d take me to town, but a wheel came off and so he left me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCarriage got a horse?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy husband unhitched one and took it.\u00a0 The other is still there.\u00a0 I left him tied to a tree,\u201d she replied.\u00a0 \u201cI walked to the road because I figured someone would come by…eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked at her luggage, which was about enough to contain an entire house. \u201cYou carry all this by yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, I did!\u201d she answered, indignant. \u201cWhat do you think?\u00a0 My husband deserted me and then politely agreed to help me tote my bags?\u201d<\/p>\n This <\/em>was going to prove interesting.<\/p>\n \u201cYou stay here,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cNow, I mean it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n Her eyes rolled again. Then she saluted.\u00a0 \u201cYes, sir!\u201d<\/p>\n Joe did some eye rolling himself as he walked back to the coach and then mounted the rungs to talk to Charlie.<\/p>\n After he\u2019d explained everything, the older man said with a shake of his head, \u201cI don\u2019t know, Joe.\u00a0 You\u2019re pa ain\u2019t gonna be happy with me if he hears I let you go off in the middle of the night with a strange woman without so much as a by your leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe suppressed a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cCharlie, I\u2019m twenty-five.\u00a0 I can make my own decisions. \u00a0No one will blame you.\u201d<\/p>\n The older man eyed him.\u00a0 \u201cYour pa won\u2019t blame me.\u00a0 He\u2019ll just take it out of my hide if somethin\u2019 happens to you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat can happen?\u00a0 I fix a wheel, I get Mrs. Maybe Jones and her luggage in the carriage, and I take her home and see if I can help straighten things out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere\u2019s home?\u201d<\/p>\n He ran a hand along the back of his neck.\u00a0 \u201cUh, I forgot to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about Miz Bolden?\u00a0 Wait, that ain\u2019t her name anymore, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n Lee had married again.\u00a0 Her name was Throckmorton now \u2013 a fact he had a tendency to forget himself.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you take her a message?\u00a0 Tell her I\u2019ve been delayed and should be along tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter you deliver Mrs. Maybe Jones who is married to \u2018you don\u2019t-know-who\u2019 but isn\u2019t.<\/em> to \u2018you-don\u2019t-know-where\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, then, tell Lee I\u2019ll be along…sometime,\u201d he growled.\u00a0 \u201cI was plannin\u2019 on stayin\u2019 a week or so.\u00a0 Pa won\u2019t know any different if I take a little…detour.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlie was staring at him \u2013 just like Adam did when he thought he was hare-brained.\u00a0 \u201cJust make sure it\u2019s a \u2018little\u2019 detour, okay, Joe?\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t want anythin\u2019 to happen to you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know me, Charlie,\u201d Joe answered with a smile as he grabbed his bag and began to descend.<\/p>\n This time he got the look that Pa always gave him.<\/p>\n The one that said Charlie knew him only too <\/em>well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TWO<\/p>\n Ben halted just outside the barn door at the sound of Dan and his middle son laughing.\u00a0 It took him back.\u00a0 Dan Tollivar had been with him since he\u2019d come out West.\u00a0 The older man had taught him much of what he knew about ranching and \u2013 if the truth were known \u2013 saved his life a couple of times in the bargain when his youthful arrogance had caused him to take chances that were anything but wise.\u00a0 At the time Dan had been \u00a0in his mid-forties.\u00a0 Now, over thirty years later, his old friend was an old man.<\/p>\n Just as he would soon be.<\/p>\n Perhaps that was what gave him more tolerance.\u00a0 Maybe that was why he had been able to forgive Dan when he had warned him \u2013 no, promised<\/em> him \u2013 that if anything happened to Joseph due to his irresponsible actions, he would take it out of his hide.<\/p>\n No, that wasn\u2019t it.<\/p>\n He had forgiven Dan because that was what Joe wanted him to do.\u00a0 His brilliant, bonny boy had lain in that bed, fighting for his life; those green eyes of his wide and pleading, begging him to promise that he would.<\/p>\n How could he have said \u2018no\u2019?<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s gaze returned to the barn door.\u00a0 Inside shadows shifted as if his middle boy and his old friend were hard at work.\u00a0 Hoss was always the first to forgive, though this time it had been a choice and not a given.\u00a0 Hoss and Joseph were two halves of one whole and Dan\u2019s betrayal of both him and his brother had hurt the gentle giant.\u00a0 Still, once Hoss had made the decision, he stuck with it and didn\u2019t look back.\u00a0 Hoss treated Dan now like he had treated him before \u2013 as a beloved uncle.<\/p>\n The rancher frowned as he turned and looked toward the gate.\u00a0 He could still see his youngest sitting there in the wagon, waiting on Hoss to come and drive him into town.\u00a0 Joseph had been laughing and joking, but looked less than his usual self.\u00a0 His youngest was still hurting.\u00a0 The bullet wound in his side was \u2013 for all intents and purposes \u2013 healed, but the fever brought on by infection had left him weak.\u00a0 He\u2019d hesitated to let him go to Lee\u2019s but then changed his mind, deciding a little motherly care would be good for the boy.\u00a0 As Joe and Hoss left, Dan Tollivar had walked from the corral to the barn.\u00a0 He\u2019d been surprised at his reaction to the sight of the old wrangler smiling and waving goodbye to his youngest.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been furious.<\/p>\n Ben sighed and ran a hand along the back of his neck.\u00a0 If he was honest, he\u2019d have to admit that he was still incredibly angry about everything that had happened.\u00a0 For Joseph\u2019s sake, he had buried that anger deep, layering decency and understanding and clemency and pardon over it until it turned into forgiveness.<\/p>\n But he hadn\u2019t forgiven.<\/p>\n Not really.<\/p>\n The older man closed his eyes for a moment and drew in several long, calming breaths. Then he looked to the sky and to his God before laying a hand to latch and opening the barn door and stepping in.<\/p>\n \u201cHey there, Pa!\u201d Hoss called cheerfully when he saw him.\u00a0 His son was using a pitchfork to toss hay into one of the stalls.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019re you doin\u2019 out here?\u00a0 Night\u2019s fallin\u2019 and it\u2019s gettin\u2019 so cold the cows are gonna give icicles soon.\u201d<\/p>\n He had noted the chill as he walked from the house.\u00a0 His thoughts had gone immediately to his youngest.\u00a0 There was a lot of barren land between Lee\u2019s and the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Still, Joseph should be at her house by now, or \u2013 if he wasn\u2019t for some unknown reason \u2013 secured in some way station for the night.<\/p>\n Dan Tollivar had stopped what he was doing and was staring at him.<\/p>\n He decided to cut to the chase.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to talk to Dan.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss looked at Dan and then back at him.\u00a0 He could see the wheels turning in his son\u2019s head.\u00a0 Hoss was curious, but too well-trained to question him.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just about done, Ben,\u201d Dan said.\u00a0 \u201cI could come up to the house in a few minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n He held out his hand and indicated the pitchfork.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 This is fine.\u00a0 Hand me the fork, son.\u00a0 I\u2019ll finish up.\u201d\u00a0 When the boy hesitated, Ben added with a smile, \u201cI definitely<\/em> caught the scent of fresh baked cookies coming from the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss\u2019 brilliant blue eyes lit up.\u00a0 \u201cWas they chocolate chip by any chance?\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cThat would be my guess.\u201d<\/p>\n His son handed the tool to him and then rubbed his hands together.\u00a0 \u201cHot diggity!\u00a0 And I won\u2019t even have to turn that little brother of mine upside-down and shake \u2018em out of his pockets to get one since he ain\u2019t home!\u201d<\/p>\n Ben was facing his son, but watching Dan Tollivar.\u00a0 At the mention of Joe, a shadow darkened the older man\u2019s countenance.\u00a0 It was hard to tell what it meant.\u00a0 The look could have been anything from anger to shame.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you will, son, check in on Adam when you get inside.\u00a0 He went up to his room a little bit ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss pursed his lips.\u00a0 \u201cWhy? \u00a0Was he upset about somethin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n Again, his middle son was too well-trained to ask if they\u2019d gotten into it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 Just see that he\u2019s all right.\u201d\u00a0 Again, Ben\u2019s gaze returned to his old friend.\u00a0 Dan had moved into the room adjacent to the stalls where they kept the horse liniments, extra saddles and such, and taken a seat at the table.\u00a0 \u201cWe can\u2019t afford any discord with the drive coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure thing, Pa, but you know older brother.\u00a0 Even if<\/em> he\u2019s got somethin\u2019 caught in his craw, he\u2019ll think himself right out of it by mornin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI hope you\u2019re right.\u201d\u00a0 As his son turned to leave, he called him back.\u00a0 \u201cHoss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben winked.\u00a0 \u201cSave a few of those cookies for your old man?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss\u2019 bellowing laughter followed him all the way into the house.<\/p>\n His exit left him and Dan alone.<\/p>\n They hadn\u2019t spoken for a few\u00a0 days.\u00a0 It had been shortly after Joe was well enough to sit in a saddle that they\u2019d gone out to watch Dan work, and since then time and tide had kept them apart.\u00a0 Even though Joseph had begged him to forgive the older man, he\u2019d been startled by his son\u2019s willingness to act as if nothing had happened.\u00a0 Joe had laughed and egged Dan on as the older man worked with a nineteen-year-old greenhorn, teaching him the basics of roping that Joe himself had mastered by the age of ten.<\/p>\n Dan, of course, had taught him as well.<\/p>\n The old wrangler finished what he was doing and then, with a sigh and a shift of his shoulders, pivoted on his seat to face him.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve known each other too long, Ben.\u00a0 You may as well come out with it,\u201d he said without preamble.<\/p>\n \u201cCome out with what?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Dan sighed as he nodded toward the table.\u00a0 \u201cI know you didn\u2019t come out here to commend me on how well I mend harnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Taking hold of a chair, the\u00a0 rancher turned it around and sat down.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 No, I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re lettin\u2019 me go.\u201d<\/p>\n That caused him to pause.\u00a0 Were his feelings more apparent than he realized?<\/p>\n \u201cWhy would you think that?\u201d<\/p>\n Dan shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI know that oldest boy of yours thinks you should.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u00a0 How would you…?\u201d\u00a0 Ben frowned.\u00a0 \u201cWere you listening earlier?\u201d<\/p>\n The wrangler\u2019s head shook.\u00a0 \u201cDidn\u2019t need to.\u00a0 I seen how he watches me. \u00a0Like he don\u2019t trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben drew a breath and let it out with the words.\u00a0 \u201cShould he?\u201d<\/p>\n For a moment anger flickered in his old friend\u2019s eyes. \u00a0Quickly, Dan dropped his gaze.\u00a0 \u201cI guess he don\u2019t have any reason to.\u201d\u00a0 When the older man looked up again, there were unspent tears in his eyes. \u201cI did him \u2013 and you wrong, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou did Joseph wrong,\u201d he said softly.<\/p>\n Dan had picked up a length of braided leather from the table.\u00a0 His fingers worked it as he spoke.\u00a0 \u201cI did, and I\u2019m sorry for it.\u00a0 I\u2019m right<\/em> sorry for it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you?\u201d<\/p>\n The wrangler\u2019s eyes went wide.\u00a0 Ben sensed astonishment rather than anger.\u00a0 \u201cHow can you ask that, Ben?\u00a0 You know I am.\u00a0 I near got that boy killed!\u201d<\/p>\n His fingers gripped the chair\u2019s arms as he fought for control.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u00a0 Yes, you did.\u201d<\/p>\n A silence fell between them, broken only by the sound of the horses\u2019 evening conversation and the jingle of harnesses as a few of the men rode in from the range.<\/p>\n \u201cI better go,\u201d the old wrangler said at last. \u00a0\u201cI tried it for Little Joe\u2019s sake, but it ain\u2019t gonna work.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan\u2019s words surprised him.\u00a0 \u201cFor Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBen, I love that boy.\u00a0 You know that.\u00a0 I just…well…I lost my mind.\u00a0 I can\u2019t explain it any other way.\u201d\u00a0 His old friend paused.\u00a0 When he spoke again, the raw emotion in Dan\u2019s voice surprised him.\u00a0 \u201cYou know I had a life before I met you.\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 The older man had spoken little of his youthful days and he had honored his wish to keep the past to himself.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a…boy, Ben.\u00a0 One a lot like Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n He sat up and leaned forward.\u00a0 This was new.\u00a0 \u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Dan hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s just say we…came to a parting of the ways.\u00a0 One day he up and decided he knew everythin\u2019 and I didn\u2019t know nothin\u2019 at all.\u201d\u00a0 The wrangler sighed as he looked toward the open door and the house beyond.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t never felt so betrayed in all my days.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when Joseph…turned on you….\u201d<\/p>\n Dan shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou and I know the boy did no such thing, but I gotta admit, that\u2019s how I saw it.\u00a0 Little Joe and Mal, well, there\u2019s a lot about them that\u2019s the same.\u00a0 Mal had his ma\u2019s hair.\u00a0 It was curly like Joe\u2019s \u2018cept it was golden as honey.\u00a0\u00a0 He was a smart boy too.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s lips twisted with an unexpected smile.\u00a0 \u201cWith a smart mouth?\u201d<\/p>\n The old wrangler nodded his head.\u00a0 \u201cJust like Little Joe.\u00a0 That boy\u2019s mouth ran a mile ahead of his brain.\u201d<\/p>\n When Dan fell silent again, he prodded gently, \u201cWhat happened to him \u2013 to Mal?\u00a0 Do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAin\u2019t got no idea.\u00a0 He headed off and never looked back.\u201d\u00a0 His old friend paused.\u00a0 \u201cThe next winter his mother died and I took off\u00a0 too.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben leaned back in his chair and ran a hand over his chin.\u00a0 Dan\u2019s words brought him some hope.\u00a0 Perhaps what Adam sensed as Dan\u2019s resentment of Joseph was nothing more than a deep regret.\u00a0 It was obvious his youngest reminded the wrangler of his own long lost son.\u00a0 No wonder he had taken such an interest in Little Joe when he\u2019d been a boy!\u00a0 It could possibly also explain the anger and resentment Dan felt when Joe fired him \u2013 an anger and resentment that drove him to make what had to be the biggest mistake of his life.<\/p>\n A mistake that had almost cost Joe his <\/em>life.<\/p>\n \u201cYou ain\u2019t forgiven me, have you?\u201d Dan asked out of the blue.<\/p>\n The rancher hesitated and then decided to be honest.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d he said with a slap of his knees, \u201cI\u2019ll pack up and be gone in the mornin\u2019 then.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDan, wait.\u00a0 Sit down.\u201d\u00a0 When he remained standing, Ben added, \u201cPlease.\u201d<\/p>\n The wrangler hesitated and then did as he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cDan…this is hard for me.\u00a0 I have taught my boys that in order to be forgiven, a man has to forgive.\u00a0 My son \u2013 Little Joe \u2013 it seems has learned that lesson better than I have.\u00a0 Joseph has forgiven you.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI know that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he has asked me to do the same.\u201d \u00a0Ben\u2019s smile was weary.\u00a0 \u201cI am…trying.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know that too.\u00a0 Just like I know Hoss don\u2019t hold nothin\u2019 against me.\u201d\u00a0 Dan\u2019s lips thinned.\u00a0 \u201cAdam is another story.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam is protective of his little brother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I nearly got him killed.\u201d \u00a0The wrangler sighed.\u00a0 \u201cSince Adam\u2019s back, it ain\u2019t gonna work, Ben.\u00a0 I might as well go.\u201d<\/p>\n He could see his old friend had made up his mind.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 Maybe I shouldn\u2019t have brought this up.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan looked toward the house again.\u00a0 \u201cNah.\u00a0 It\u2019s okay.\u00a0 I been thinkin\u2019 about it anyway.\u00a0 I appreciate your takin\u2019 me back on, Ben, and I enjoy workin\u2019 with the young\u2019uns, but I been thinkin\u2019 maybe it\u2019s time I see if I can find my own.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour son, you mean?\u00a0 Do you have any idea where to look?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI got a few letters.\u00a0 Not from Malachi, but from my wife\u2019s sister.\u00a0 Seems the boy mentioned California when he was visitin\u2019 her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow long ago was that?\u201d<\/p>\n The wrangler shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cBought as long as that youngest of yours has been walkin\u2019 the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n So the boy \u2013 no, he would be a man now \u2013 could be long dead.\u00a0 Ben eyed his old friend and saw in him a broken, defeated man.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t consider him a threat.<\/p>\n And yet, Adam was seldom wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy don\u2019t you wait until spring?\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat good would that do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need your experience to train the new men for the drive, for one thing, and you\u2019re not going to make much progress beginning a search just as the snow flies and winter hits the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan thought about it a moment.\u00a0 \u201cAdam won\u2019t want me on the drive.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam doesn\u2019t make the decisions around here.\u00a0 I do.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a flicker of something in his old friend\u2019s eyes \u2013 a remembrance, perhaps, of how he had put Joseph in charge and let his young son make the fateful decision to fire Dan; a decision that had put into play the events which ended in the old wrangler\u2019s disgrace and his youngest son\u2019s close call with death.<\/p>\n Or was it that he was seeing what Adam saw when Dan looked at Joe?<\/p>\n His old friend looked down and then raised his head and met his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll stay \u2018til spring.\u00a0 No longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Rising to his feet, Ben held out his hand.\u00a0 \u201cYou won\u2019t regret it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He only hoped he wouldn\u2019t either.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A knock on the door of his bedroom brought Adam Cartwright\u2019s head up.\u00a0 He\u2019d been reading Henry Maudsley\u2019s \u2018The Physiology and Pathology of Mind\u2019<\/em>.\u00a0 Maudsley, a Yorkshireman, had spent his early years working in sanitariums and lunatic asylums and had recently become the co-editor of the English Journal of Mental Science<\/em>.\u00a0 In his current book he advanced what was known as the \u2018degeneration theory\u2019.\u00a0 Maudsley believed that inherited “taints” were exaggerated through succeeding generations.\u00a0 In other words, drunkenness in a man could lead to idiocy in his offspring by the fourth generation.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure what he thought of the man\u2019s ideas, but found the idea of the psychology of the mind fascinating.<\/p>\n And a bit frightening.<\/p>\n Closing the book, he placed a hand on the cover and then said, \u201cCome in.\u201d<\/p>\n The door opened to reveal his big, beefy brother.\u00a0 Hoss looked at the room and then at him, and then shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI gotta admit, I still ain\u2019t sure you\u2019re not a ghost,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adam chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cI can assure you that I am quite substantial.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you mind if I come in?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course not.\u201d\u00a0 He turned and placed the book on the side table.\u00a0 \u201cWas there something in particular?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss took a seat.\u00a0 His brother paused and then said, \u201cPa\u2019s in the barn with Dan.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss dropped his hands between his knees and looked at him.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think about it, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDan. \u00a0Pa.\u201d Hoss sighed.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n It had been interesting<\/em> home-coming, to put it mildly.\u00a0 In the time he\u2019d been away his little brother had grown into a man \u2013 and into quite a competent and determined one.\u00a0 When he\u2019d left, he\u2019d assumed \u2013 foolishly, it seemed \u2013 that everything at the Ponderosa would remain the same.\u00a0 That whether he was gone a day, a week, a year, or a lifetime, Pa and Joe and Hoss would go on about the same routine, and that when he chose to return \u2013 if<\/em> he ever did \u2013 he would slip right back into his old place.<\/p>\n The truth was, he wasn\u2019t sure he had<\/em> a place anymore.<\/p>\n Adam pursed his lips.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think Joe was too happy to see me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, Adam, don\u2019t you go sayin\u2019 that.\u00a0 You just…surprised him.\u201d<\/p>\n The man in black\u2019s words were soft.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe surprised me too.\u201d<\/p>\n He had arrived at the height of the crisis.\u00a0 He learned later from Hop Sing that Pa had been at Joe\u2019s side for nearly thirty-six hours straight, hoping for the best and fearing the worst, and had just been ordered out of the room by Paul Martin.\u00a0 After Pa greeted him, the older man had excused himself and gone to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee \u2013 obviously intending to ignore the doctor\u2019s orders that he get some rest.\u00a0 A moment later an exhausted and exasperated Paul Martin had appeared at the top of the stair.\u00a0 The doctor had greeted him as well and then told him point-blank that it was a good thing he\u2019d chosen to come home when he did because, if things went on as they did, it was going to be just him and Hoss running the Ponderosa because Little Joe would be dead and his Pa was going to kill himself grieving.<\/p>\n Some things, it seemed, never changed.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, there weren\u2019t nothin\u2019 you could have done if you\u2019d been here.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t have guessed in a hundred years that Old Dan would \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n His hazel eyes pinned his brother.\u00a0 \u201cYou know I never felt the same about Dan as the rest of you.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss leaned back.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, and I never understood why.\u201d<\/p>\n It was hard to explain.\u00a0 Perhaps because he saw the world in grays rather than in black and white like his father and brothers, he tended to mete out trust in inches rather than miles.\u00a0 Dan Tollivar had a secret. \u00a0He was sure of it.\u00a0 And that secret had almost gotten his brother killed.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe Dan\u2019s ever been honest with Pa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hoss shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cPa\u2019s a good judge of character.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he\u2019s seeing clearly.\u00a0 He\u2019s never seen clearly where Dan is concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n Thinking back, he remembered the first time he\u2019d met the older man.\u00a0 He might have been eight, but more likely, seven years old.\u00a0 Like most cowpokes Dan Tollivar had come and gone, working just about every spread in the area.\u00a0 On that particular day, Pa had loaded him into the wagon and headed to the settlement.\u00a0 His father was on the hunt for someone to handle the horses he\u2019d just purchased.\u00a0 While Pa could do it, he admitted wrangling wasn\u2019t where his talents lay \u2013 that was in organization and empire building.\u00a0 Dan heard through the grapevine that Ben Cartwright was looking and came by to show him what he could do.\u00a0 Just like that, Pa took him on.\u00a0 The Ponderosa had been a very different place in those days.\u00a0 Pa was often gone and that left other men in control.\u00a0 It was when Pa took his trip to New Orleans, to seek out Jean De Marigny\u2019s widow, that he had seen the wrangler\u2019s true colors.\u00a0\u00a0 There had been a hand \u2013 a young man, full of himself \u2013 who had challenged Dan\u2019s authority.\u00a0 He\u2019d been in the house with Hoss and Hop Sing, but he\u2019d heard the argument. \u00a0Later, he\u2019d watched as the young man \u2013 who was barely able to stand \u2013 limped out of the yard, taking his tack and bedding with him.<\/p>\n He\u2019d never forget being awakened in the middle of the night by a sharp knocking on the door.\u00a0 Pulling on his robe, he had followed Hop Sing down the stairs and to the door and been just as surprised as their cook to find Sheriff Olin standing outside. \u00a0Robert had come to tell them that he\u2019d found their former hand lying by the edge of the road, not that far off their land.<\/p>\n Dead.<\/p>\n Of course, he had no proof that Dan had anything to do with the young man\u2019s demise.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to talk to his pa about it, but he was eleven years old at the time and Pa had told him in no uncertain terms that Dan was his friend and he expected him to respect that. \u00a0He\u2019d respected it all right.<\/p>\n But he\u2019d never trusted Dan.<\/p>\n Hoss was staring at him. \u201cSo you think old Dan\u2019s been hidin\u2019 somethin\u2019 all these years?\u00a0 And maybe, well, maybe Little Joe firin\u2019 him…triggered it somehow?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam glanced at the book he was holding.\u00a0 They knew so little about the mind.\u00a0 A man could appear to be sane, but harbor some dark secret deep within that would cause him snap.\u00a0 All it took was the right trigger.\u00a0 Maudsley had documented case after case.<\/p>\n Shifting back, he sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m thinking other than that it was a mistake to come home. Joe\u2019s threatened by me and Pa…well, it\u2019s like I\u2019m<\/em> the one who is twenty-five.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou came\u00a0 home\u2018 cause you were afeared Little Joe was gonna die, didn\u2019t you?\u00a0 Not \u2018cause you wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam closed his eyes.\u00a0 As much as he and Joe disagreed \u2013 as different as they were \u2013 there was a tie of blood between them.\u00a0 He loved his little brother with a love as deep as the roots of the Ponderosa Pines that surrounded the house, and as towering as the mountains that shadowed them.<\/p>\n He just wasn\u2019t sure he could live with him.<\/p>\n Or in the shadow of his pa.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dan Tollivar walked slowly away from the Cartwright\u2019s barn; his head down and his hands thrust deep in his pockets.<\/p>\n He was a tormented man.<\/p>\n How could he tell Ben the real reason he\u2019d gotten mixed up in that hair-brained scheme to kidnap Little Joe and hold him for ransom?\u00a0 Oh, he\u2019d done a right good job of convincing the older man and everyone else that he wanted the money for himself \u2013 that he believed the Cartwrights owed him and he was gonna make them pay \u2013 especially Joe.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t mean none of it.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it took him so long to work up the courage to tell Ben what he was about when the rancher opened the door and greeted him like a member of the family.\u00a0 He loved that boy.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t no way in Hell he wanted him to come to harm, but he needed that money.<\/p>\n And then, when it came to it, he found he couldn\u2019t do it.\u00a0 When he\u2019d seen Little Joe \u2013 a boy he\u2019d cared for since he\u2019d been born \u2013 layin\u2019 in a pool of his own blood, he just plain couldn\u2019t do it.\u00a0 If he took the money he had to leave the boy, and if he left the boy, the odds were Joe would have died.<\/p>\n He almost did<\/em> die.<\/p>\n The old wrangler stopped beside the fence that corralled the horses \u2013 a spot he\u2019d stood on many a day and for many a year.\u00a0 Gripping the top of one weather-worn post, he steadied himself.\u00a0 He had to leave.\u00a0 He just had<\/em> to.\u00a0 He\u2019d meant to go right after it happened, but then Joe had taken that turn for the worse.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried again when he knew the boy would make it, but Little Joe\u2019d asked to see him and begged him to stay \u2013 like it was somehow his<\/em> fault that he was goin\u2019.<\/p>\n It weren\u2019t Joe\u2019s.<\/p>\n It was Malachi\u2019s.<\/p>\n Dan closed his eyes and sighed.\u00a0 He could see it all unfolding again.\u00a0 His long lost son \u2013 a son he had given up for dead \u2013 showin\u2019 up late one night, catchin\u2019 him outside the bunkhouse.\u00a0 There were men after him, Mal said, men who were gonna kill him unless he came up with near ten thousand dollars.\u00a0 He\u2019d thought about askin\u2019 Ben Cartwright for a loan \u2013 and knew he\u2019d give it to him just like he said \u2013 but Ben was a good man and would have had nothin\u2019 to do with savin\u2019 a low life like what his son had become.\u00a0 Seems the boy had gambled away his good name and everythin\u2019 else he had, and the men he owed meant to take the debt out of his hide.\u00a0 He\u2019d gone to town after that to see if he could scare up some money.\u00a0 When he couldn\u2019t, he\u2019d picked up a bottle and gone back to his room at the hotel to drown his sorrows.\u00a0 That was when he met Temple and Sand.\u00a0 He turned them down at first, but then, it seemed like it could be a God-send.\u00a0 The older man blew out a sigh.\u00a0 He knew now he\u2019d been green as a fresh hand who wouldn\u2019t savvy cow unless it was served up as stew.\u00a0 He wouldn\u2019t never have gone along with their scheme if he\u2019d thought any harm would come to Ben\u2019s boy.\u00a0 Truth to tell, he had<\/em> been a mite mad at Little Joe.\u00a0 He\u2019d thought \u2013 just maybe \u2013 showin\u2019 the boy he wasn\u2019t quite the man he thought would teach him a thing or two.\u00a0 But then it all went wrong.\u00a0 The men he trusted turned out to be no better than his good-for-nothin\u2019 boy.\u00a0 They meant to kill Joe all along. \u00a0That night, after he\u2019d returned the boy and his pa\u2019s money, he went lookin\u2019 for Malachi to tell him that he\u2019d failed and found his son\u2019s camp empty.\u00a0 There were signs of a struggle as well as smears of blood on the ground, and he figured the boy had finally reaped what he sowed. \u00a0So, when Ben said all was forgiven and offered to take him back, he jumped at the chance.\u00a0 It had all been goin\u2019 well until Ben\u2019s oldest boy returned with those suspicious eyes of his.<\/p>\n Just about the same time Malachi rose from the dead.<\/p>\n Dan glanced around before reaching into his pocket and pulling a crumpled envelope out of it.\u00a0 His eyes went to the Platt City postmark before he turned it over and opened it. That was up near where Ben\u2019s youngest was headed. \u00a0Malachi\u2019d sent the letter a few days back, tellin\u2019 him he was alive.\u00a0 He\u2019d found a place, Mal said, and was gonna hold up there until he brought him the money.<\/p>\n The money he didn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n The old wrangler scanned the written words on the paper again, tryin\u2019 to read between the lines.\u00a0 He\u2019d been a wild one in his younger days too, before he met Ben Cartwright and decided he wanted to be a decent man.\u00a0 Malachi\u2019s ma had been a fancy woman.\u00a0 She\u2019d birthed the boy and taken off less than two years later.\u00a0 He\u2019d done his best to rear his son alone, but most of the time it meant leavin\u2019 that rearin\u2019 to others so\u2019s he could make money for them to live.\u00a0 He\u2019d made some poor choices of who those \u2018others\u2019 were.\u00a0 The boy\u2019d grown up wild and, unlike Ben\u2019s youngest who was of a like type \u2013 headstrong and reckless \u2013 Mal had no one to set his compass.\u00a0 While Ben\u2019s boy had his feet planted firmly on the ground, his own son had sown the wild wind and was reapin\u2019 the whirlwind.<\/p>\n He just hoped that wind didn\u2019t blow the Cartwrights down.<\/p>\n Folding the letter, Dan returned it to the envelope and placed it back in his pocket.\u00a0 He\u2019d promised Ben he\u2019d stay, but it had been a lie.\u00a0 He was leavin\u2019 tonight.\u00a0 He had to find Malachi and tell his son he\u2019d get no help from him; that he\u2019d had to make a choice and that choice had been that he wouldn\u2019t let Joseph Cartwright die for his sins.<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to leave that to his son.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n THREE<\/p>\n \u201cHow far did you say it was to this place of yours?\u201d<\/p>\n The woman, well, girl<\/em> beside him sniffed.\u00a0 She turned on the padded carriage seat, glared at him, and then faced forward again.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe studied her profile in the rising light.\u00a0 She was pretty, with a pert little nose that turned up at the end, creamy white skin, and wide near-black eyes that reminded him a lot of his pa\u2019s and a little of Hop Sing\u2019s.\u00a0 Her hair was ebony as a desert night without stars and hung about halfway down her back.\u00a0 Her traveling dress was modest, but saucy enough to show him she had a lot going on upstairs.<\/p>\n Just as that thought crossed his mind the horse pulling the carriage shied \u2018cause a rabbit popped out of the foliage to peer at them.\u00a0 Fighting back a sigh, Joe corrected the animal with a few sharp words and got them back on course and then, with a glance at his annoyed passenger, urged it to give him a little more speed.\u00a0 In his opinion the nag would have been better suited to pulling a plow then people, and the way the horse kept glancin\u2019 over its shoulder at him with a baleful look, he thought it probably agreed.\u00a0 After a few hours of rough sleep \u2013 him on the ground and Mrs. Jones in the broken down carriage \u2013 it had taken him about an hour to fix the wheel and then another hour to get the plow horse hitched up and moving \u2013 if what they were doing could be classified as moving.<\/p>\n At this rate he\u2019d be twenty-three before he got to Lee\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cYou keep doing that,\u201d Mrs. Jones said.<\/p>\n It seemed ridiculous to call a would-be-twenty year old Mrs. Jones, but she had yet to tell him her Christian name.<\/p>\n \u201cDoin\u2019 what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSighing. \u00a0It\u2019s irritating.\u00a0 You need to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n He wanted to tell her that her less-than-grateful attitude was a sight more<\/em> irritating, but he resisted the urge.<\/p>\n Instead, he sighed again.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re doing that just to annoy me!\u201d<\/p>\n Joe drew a breath as he drew in on the reins.\u00a0 He waited until the rig had rolled to a stop and then turned and looked straight at her.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what?\u201d he asked, his tone sharp.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m beginning to understand why Mr. Jones left you sittin\u2019 in the middle of nowhere!\u201d<\/p>\n Her nose wrinkled.\u00a0 She blinked.\u00a0 And then she did that thing girls do that makes a man feel about a foot tall.<\/p>\n She started crying.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, come on.\u00a0 Don\u2019t do that!\u201d he protested even as he reached into his coat and scrambled about, trying to find his handkerchief.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, yes you did!\u201d she wailed.\u00a0 \u201cYou think I\u2019m a terrible person!\u201d<\/p>\n Next, she reduced it to an inch.<\/p>\n She began to sob.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, hey!\u201d\u00a0 The handkerchief miraculously leapt into his fingers.\u00a0 Joe pulled it out and thrust it toward her.\u00a0 \u201cHere!\u00a0 Blow your nose or somethin\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n The sound made the plow horse turn back and look at him again.\u00a0 He thought about telling it to keep its opinion to itself, but decided it wasn\u2019t worth it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry…I….\u201d\u00a0 Mrs. Jones gasped and then let out a little sigh.\u00a0 She patted her nose before holding the handkerchief out to him.\u00a0 As he shook his head, insisting she keep it, she went on, \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t been entirely honest with you.\u00a0 I…. Well, I don\u2019t really want to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d talked her into it.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re afraid your husband is still gonna be angry.\u00a0 Is that it?\u201d<\/p>\n She shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen you\u2019re afraid he won\u2019t <\/em>be?\u201d<\/p>\n Her head was down.\u00a0 Her thick black lashes brushed her pale cheeks twice \u2013 \u00a0languidly, in a somewhat seductive manner \u2013 and then she focused on him.\u00a0 Mrs. Jones looked him up and down, her dark eyes taking in his face and chest before settling on the bits below the belt.<\/p>\n \u201cNot really.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe scooted back as far as he could \u2013 which was about six inches.\u00a0 \u201cMa\u2019am \u2013 Mrs.<\/em> Jones \u2013 what do you think you\u2019re…thinkin\u2019…?\u201d<\/p>\n He hated it when his voice squeaked.<\/p>\n She scooted closer and her hand went to his thigh; her fingers brushing his inseam. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m thinking, Joe Cartwright, that I\u2019m all alone in the middle of nowhere with a handsome cowboy from Virginia City who probably wants to have his way with me.\u201d\u00a0 Those eyelashes batted again.\u00a0 \u201cYou do?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n And then, before he could do anything, she kissed him.<\/p>\n Deeply.<\/p>\n The words his pa would have wanted him to say were on his lips when he came up for air.\u00a0 Unfortunately, a second later someone cleared their throat and he felt the barrel of a pistol press into his side. \u00a0As it did, he remembered he hadn\u2019t told her his<\/em> Christian name either, or where he came from.<\/p>\n Two seconds after that, he knew he had been had.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Several miles away a dark-haired beauty whose lithe body, slender waist, wide blue eyes and long black hair made her appear younger than her years, leaned on the fence at the edge of her property.\u00a0 She had left her bed, pulled her robe on, and come outside in her nightgown to watch the sun rise.<\/p>\n She was completely content.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t that life had been easy.\u00a0 In fact, it had been downright hard.\u00a0 She and her husband had come out West to build a life together and then he had been taken \u2013 suddenly \u2013 in the midst of a Typhoid outbreak. \u00a0Tom Bolden had assured her that day, when he went off to care for the sick, that the Almighty granted a special dispensation to doctors and he\u2019d be fine.\u00a0 She\u2019d watched him pull away in his buggy never suspecting that it would be the last time she would see him alive.\u00a0 Saying \u2018goodbye\u2019 had taken her over three years and it had come at a price.\u00a0 She\u2019d closed herself off from the world, refusing to enter into it, caring little for the living and living on her memories.\u00a0 It had taken the arrival of Ben Cartwright\u2019s young son, Joseph, to force her into the open.\u00a0 She\u2019d behaved badly, doing everything she could to drive him away as well, and might have succeeded if a storm had not arisen. \u00a0Joseph had been forced to take shelter in her barn.\u00a0 While there, he\u2019d been accosted by a desperate man with a gun who had taken him \u2013 and her \u2013 hostage.<\/p>\n That man held her hostage still.<\/p>\n Paul Throckmorton \u2013 his friends called him \u2018Trock\u2019 \u2013 was asleep in her bed.\u00a0 He had come back to her as promised.\u00a0 At first she had feared him, and then she had loathed him, and then, finally, loved him.\u00a0 Along with the other men who held her and young Joseph Cartwright hostage for two days, Trock had robbed a bank in Virginia City.\u00a0 He was a wanted man.\u00a0 She\u2019d held a gun on Ben\u2019s son at the end, ordering Joe to let the bank robber escape, but he\u2019d returned.\u00a0 Trock stood in her doorway and told her that he had no place to be unless it was to be with her<\/em>. \u00a0The judge gave him five years in prison.\u00a0 He\u2019d asked her as he was taken away if she would wait.<\/p>\n She\u2019d waited. God, how<\/em> she had waited.<\/p>\n A month ago he had returned.<\/p>\n It was the sheriff \u2013 an old friend \u2013 who had delivered Trock to her place, and it was the sheriff who united them in marriage that very day.\u00a0 They spent the first week in each other\u2019s arms and then slowly, Trock began to bring her place back to life.<\/p>\n Just as he had her.<\/p>\n A sound behind her made Lee turn and look.\u00a0 Her handsome husband, with his coal black hair, sparkling blue eyes, and rugged, intelligent face was walking toward her.\u00a0 His navy shirt was open, exposing that muscled chest that she had come to know so well. \u00a0She could just see the edge of the little white line on his shoulder. It was all that remained of the scar from the surgery she\u2019d performed to keep him alive.\u00a0 As she\u2019d removed that bullet, she\u2019d come to know him \u2013 to know the losses he\u2019d suffered. They were as deep as her own and had left him just as lonely as she and her house had become.<\/p>\n Trock had arrived.\u00a0 He circled her waist with his arm and kissed her on the nape of the neck before asking, \u201cNo sign of Joe yet?\u201d<\/p>\n He knew she was worried.\u00a0 Joe had been due the night before.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n \u201cShould I be jealous?\u201d he asked, teasing.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe\u2019s a boy,\u201d she said as she turned in his arms and pressed her body into his.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re my<\/em> man.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe might have been a boy five years ago, but he\u2019s a man now.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled. \u00a0\u201cI saw the way he looked at you.\u00a0 I have every right to defend what is my own.\u201d<\/p>\n There was still danger in him.\u00a0 Trock had not been completely tamed.\u00a0 Still, she knew \u2013 where Joe Cartwright was concerned \u2013 that he was playing with her.<\/p>\n \u201cJust promise me you\u2019ll wait and see what kind<\/em> of a man he has become before you shoot him,\u201d she replied in kind even as she kissed his chest.<\/p>\n \u201cYou keep me busy enough and I won\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n Trock caught the back of her head in his hand and crushed her to him with a kind of desperation, and then kissed her hard on the mouth, taking her breath away.<\/p>\n It was at that moment that she heard the rolling noise of approaching wheels.<\/p>\n \u201cOdd that the stage would come all the way out here,\u201d he said as he released her.<\/p>\n \u201cA stage coach?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 \u201cHow can you tell?\u201d<\/p>\n Her husband frowned.\u00a0 \u201cPractice,\u201d he replied as he placed himself between her and whatever was coming.<\/p>\n Sure enough, a moment later a red and black overland stage coach rolled into view.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s empty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n Trock opened the gate and moved to stand beside the sign that said \u2018Bolden\u2019.\u00a0 They hadn\u2019t changed it yet.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s riding too high.\u201d\u00a0 Trock lifted a hand to block the sun from his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cCharlie\u2019s driving.\u201d<\/p>\n She knew Charlie.\u00a0 He was an old campaigner and a friend of her late husband, as well as Ben Cartwright and his boys.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe\u2019s not with him?\u201d she asked as she joined him.<\/p>\n Trock shook his head even as Charlie shouted \u2018whoa!\u2019 and reined in the team.<\/p>\n \u201cMornin\u2019 Lee,\u201d the blond man said.\u00a0 \u201cTrock.\u201d<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t go to town much, but Charlie and her husband had met.<\/p>\n The driver wasn\u2019t too sure about him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere\u2019s Joe Cartwright?\u201d Trock asked without preamble.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m here for,\u201d Charlie replied.\u00a0 \u201cI promised the boy I\u2019d bring Lee his regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe didn\u2019t make it?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n The driver shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cHe was on the coach.\u00a0 He just took a little detour.\u00a0 He wanted me to tell you he\u2019d he here…eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat kind of detour?\u201d Trock asked, his tone wary.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did it have to do with?\u201d<\/p>\n Charlie looked right at her.\u00a0 \u201cWhat would you expect from Joe Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n She grinned.\u00a0 \u201cA pretty girl?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYep!\u201d he laughed. \u201cLeave it to Joe to find one smack dab in the middle of nowhere.\u00a0 She was sittin\u2019 by the side of the road.\u00a0 Needed someone to see her back home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Joe volunteered.\u201d\u00a0 It didn\u2019t surprise her.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere did this girl live?\u201d her husband inquired.<\/p>\n \u201cSeems the boy forgot to ask.\u00a0 Don\u2019t think he cared particularly.\u201d\u00a0 Charlie picked up the reins again.\u00a0 \u201cWell, now that I delivered his message I best be on my way. \u00a0I\u2019m due back in Virginia City tomorrow morning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you going to tell Ben?\u201d Lee asked.<\/p>\n The driver shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cJoe said he\u2019s old enough to make his own decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n She nodded.\u00a0 Then, as a sudden chill shivered through her, she added, \u201cStill, it wouldn\u2019t hurt to let his family know.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlie nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYou take responsibility and I\u2019ll do it.\u00a0 That way Joe can be mad at you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do,\u201d she replied.\u00a0 \u201cAnd tell Ben again how thankful I am for all he\u2019s done for me….\u201d\u00a0 She reached for \u00a0Trock\u2019s hand. \u00a0\u201cFor us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWill do,\u201d the blond man said as the coach began to roll.\u00a0 \u201cSee you later, Lee.\u00a0 Trock.\u201d<\/p>\n As the stage moved off into the distance, she turned to her husband.\u00a0 He had an odd look on his face. Almost as if he\u2019d seen a ghost.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it, Trock?\u00a0 Do you think something\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI knew a man once,\u201d he said, speaking slowly.\u00a0 \u201cHe had this gambit.\u00a0 He\u2019d choose a mark and then would leave his woman \u2013 along with suitcases and trunks \u2013 alone beside the road.\u00a0 When the man came along, she claimed she\u2019d been deserted and asked him to take her to town or home.\u00a0 Along the way she\u2019d work him into a compromising position and then….\u201d<\/p>\n Lee\u2019s hand went to her throat as the chill returned.\u00a0 \u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n Trock looked at her and then, without a word, headed for the house.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d she called after him.<\/p>\n \u201cTo get my gear and then head out to look for Joe,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n \u201cTrock, why?\u00a0 Tell me why!\u201d<\/p>\n He stopped just outside their door and turned back to look at her.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like Joe Cartwright might just end up owing me his life again.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He felt like an idiot.<\/p>\n No, twice over<\/em> an idiot.<\/p>\n First of all he\u2019d failed to notice that the girl in the carriage had used his name when he hadn\u2019t told her what it was and, secondly, he\u2019d fallen for one of the oldest ruses known to man.<\/p>\n A pretty face with a sob story.<\/p>\n Joe reeled back from another blow and tasted blood.<\/p>\n His<\/em> wasn\u2019t so pretty anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cStop it!\u201d the girl shouted.\u00a0 \u201cWe need him alive!\u201d<\/p>\n Her name was Jezebel, or she went by Jezebel, or at least that was what the brute she was with called her every time he shoved her or hit her or ordered her around.<\/p>\n Joe remembered Adam telling him that Pa had said there were different kinds of love shortly after Adah Menken had gone back to John C. Regan; the ex-prize fighter who had nearly beaten him to death when he was seventeen.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t want to know anything about this<\/em> kind.<\/p>\n The bully halted with his hand in mid-air to glare at her.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t a tall man, but he was compact and powerful. \u00a0He reminded Joe of the sailors he\u2019d seen working the wharves in San Francisco.\u00a0 His hair was curly but, unlike his, the curls were cropped and lay close to his head like a sheep\u2019s skin.\u00a0 They were the dull, dirty yellow-gray of unwashed wool.\u00a0 The man\u2019s eyes were the color of steel and they sat in a face that was at once ordinary and unsettling.\u00a0 There was something about him \u2013 about the way he moved, about his voice \u2013 that struck a chord of familiarity, but he couldn\u2019t place it.<\/p>\n Probably because the guy kept hitting him and driving it out.<\/p>\n \u201cI want him dead,\u201d he growled.<\/p>\n \u201cI know you do,\u201d Jezebel agreed. \u201cBut later.\u00a0 After<\/em> we get the money.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe couldn\u2019t help it.\u00a0 He groaned.<\/p>\n Not again!<\/p>\n \u201cSomething wrong, boy?\u201d<\/p>\n His mouth was gagged, which was probably a good thing since it kept him from saying something smart that most likely would have gotten him killed.<\/p>\n So he let his eyes do the talking.<\/p>\n Which earned him another blow that set his head to reeling.<\/p>\n \u201cIf not for him<\/em> I\u2019d already have the money,\u201d the brute snarled.\u00a0 \u201cSo much for the ties that bind!\u201d<\/p>\n Jezebel was standing with her hands on her hips. \u00a0She looked from his tormentor to him and back. \u201cYou can\u2019t blame the old man.\u00a0 If I had a choice, well, anyone with eyes would pick Joe here over you.\u201d \u00a0The dark-haired beauty sashayed over to him.\u00a0 She stared at him a moment and then took hold of his chestnut curls and pulled his chin up.\u00a0 Running a finger along his jaw line, she sighed, \u201cYou sure are pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe sighed.\u00a0 There were times \u2013 they weren\u2019t many \u2013 but there were<\/em> times when he wished\u00a0 he was ugly as a mud fence.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if I had a choice, I would have left you flat on your back in San Francisco where your \u2018talents\u2019 were appreciated.\u201d\u00a0 Joe winced as the man caught Jezebel\u2019s arm in his fingers and reeled her around.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cLook at him!\u00a0 Do you really <\/em>think a rich boy like him would have anything to do with a wasted slattern like you?\u201d<\/p>\n The girl was stronger than she looked.\u00a0 She broke free of the brute\u2019s grip and, using both hands, shoved him hard so hard he teetered for a moment before finding his footing.<\/p>\n Joe slammed his eyes shut.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to see the blood.<\/p>\n Riotous laughter opened them a moment later.<\/p>\n The man was bellowing and the girl, instead of being dead, was grinning from ear to ear.\u00a0 She shoved the brute again and then turned back toward him.\u00a0 Crossing the room in a few quick strides, Jezebel stopped in front of him and then \u2013 \u00a0in one graceful if…er…bold <\/em>move \u2013 tossed one leg to either side of him and straddled him and the chair.<\/p>\n As she began to undo his string tie, she leaned back and looked at her companion who was wiping tears from his weathered cheeks.<\/p>\n \u201cNow you be a good boy, and go somewhere else while I see if I can get Mr. Cartwright here to cooperate and write that letter to his pa telling him to bring the money.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019d demanded he write it before.\u00a0 He\u2019d refused. \u00a0That was what the beating had been for.<\/p>\n Joe pulled his head back so he could look into Jezebel\u2019s eyes as she settled on his lap.\u00a0 Her hands were at his belt now, unbuckling it.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you want to know where I worked in San Francisco, Joe?\u201d she asked, her voice quiet now \u2013 sultry and sad.\u00a0 \u201cIt was on the waterfront. \u00a0That\u2019s where I met Ahab.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahab and…Jezebel.\u00a0 So, most likely, the name wasn\u2019t<\/em> her real one.<\/p>\n \u201cI have certain…talents.\u00a0 He decided I could be useful.\u201d \u00a0Jezebel leaned in until her words were a soft whisper on his lips and her body a weight at his hips that his involuntarily began to respond to.\u00a0 \u201cI learned how to pleasure a man and, do you know what else I learned?\u201d\u00a0 The movement was swift and without warning.\u00a0 Her weight shifted. Her fingers twisted.<\/p>\n Joe gasped.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned just how close pleasure is to pain.\u201d<\/p>\n A second chance. \u00a0That\u2019s what the warden had said when he\u2019d handed him his release papers \u2013 one year early \u2013 that he had a \u2018second chance\u2019.<\/p>\n Trock let out a deep sigh.\u00a0 He could see it as if it was happening at that moment.\u00a0 He\u2019d been sent for and ordered to the warden\u2019s room with no explanation.\u00a0 Prison was a harsh place. \u00a0Nearly impossible to survive.\u00a0 There was plenty he\u2019d done while he\u2019d been there that he wasn\u2019t proud of.\u00a0 As he walked the corridor, he\u2019d wondered just which offense it was that was to be thrown in his face and how many more months would be tacked onto his sentence.<\/p>\n And whether Lee would wait.<\/p>\n \u2018Paul Edward Throckmorton, you\u2019ve been an exemplary prisoner.\u00a0 That, along with the testimony given at the parole hearing by Joseph Cartwright of Virginia City concerning not only your change of heart regarding the money you had stolen, but the fact that you saved his life, has earned you an early release.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re free.\u201d<\/p>\n Free.<\/p>\n Trock eyed the road ahead, which was rosy with the dawning light, and then reined his horse in and reached for his canteen.\u00a0 The night was over and the day was dawning.\u00a0 It had been an unpredictable September, hot as late August one day and cold as early November the next.\u00a0 Today promised to be one of those in the middle and that usually meant a storm \u2013 sometimes a wicked one.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t much of a farmer, but it didn\u2019t take much of one to know that a hard rain this early in the game was not going to improve his chances of a good crop come spring.\u00a0 He was doing his best, but his…talents…lay far afield from repairing outbuildings, mending fences and tossing seed.\u00a0 He was willing to learn, but as an ex-con, there were few who were willing to teach \u2013 or help.<\/p>\n Other than the Cartwrights.<\/p>\n It puzzled him still, Joe Cartwright speaking up for him. \u00a0The truth was, if Lee had agreed, he would have tied Joe up and left him in her house while he and she rode away with the money from the robbery.\u00a0 He\u2019d had no scruples about taking and using it.\u00a0 That had been Lee.<\/p>\n The truth was, you could take the man out of the business of robbing banks, but it took a whole lot more to take the bank robber out of the man.<\/p>\n Oh, he intended to go straight for Lee.\u00a0 He loved her more than he loved a life of ease \u2013 and that was saying a lot.\u00a0 Still, when he watched her working her pretty fingers to the bone, struggling to make ends meet, or waited for her to come out of the mercantile after selling a few dozen eggs, it was almost more than he could take.<\/p>\n One job.\u00a0 One quick<\/em> job in a town far away and he could take care of her like a queen.<\/p>\n Trock made a face and spit out the tepid water as if cleansing his soul of some taint.\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n He had put that life behind him.\u00a0 He\u2019d promised Lee.\u00a0 Hell, he had even promised Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 He owed not only his life but his marriage\u00a0 \u2013 and maybe his soul \u2013 to that young man.<\/p>\n And now he was missing.<\/p>\n As he made a kissing sound, Trock put his spurs to his mount\u2019s side and urged him on.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know where he was going other than that he was backtracking the route the stage had taken.\u00a0 The story Charlie, the stage coach driver, had told struck a nerve.\u00a0 A while back he\u2019d run with a gang in California.\u00a0 The leader was a former dock worker turned crimper who had to flee the city when the local constabulary busted up his racket.\u00a0 The man was shrewd and a bit off his nut.\u00a0 He went by the name of \u2018Ahab’, though whether that was a reference to the Biblical king or to Melville\u2019s Great White Whale he wasn\u2019t sure.\u00a0 While on the wharves Ahab had used the same gambit \u2013 find a pretty girl, make her his \u2018partner\u2019, and then use her to lure men in so they could be shanghaied.\u00a0 One night he remembered Ahab laughing and saying that stage coaches were just ships of the desert and why shouldn\u2019t he try it in the West?\u00a0 Of course, he wouldn\u2019t be shanghaiing them.\u00a0 He\u2019d take them and hold them for ransom.<\/p>\n As he moved along, watching the ground for clues, Trock cast his mind back to the time he and Ahab parted.\u00a0 Though he had been somewhat uncomfortable with the man\u2019s modus operandi, it worked, and so he had gone along with it.\u00a0 At the time he was desperate for money. \u00a0A bank heist had gone wrong and the law was on his tail.\u00a0 He\u2019d needed to get out of the country for a while and figured Mexico would do.\u00a0 Jez \u2013 Ahab always called his current squeeze \u2018Jez\u2019 \u2013 had hooked a big fish the night before; the son of the owner of one of the biggest shipping companies in the city.\u00a0 They\u2019d demanded twenty thousand for him and the kid\u2019s old man had paid it without batting an eye.\u00a0 Ahab was supposed to take the boy out of the city and let him go.\u00a0 Stupidly the kid tried to escape and, in the attempt, saw his captor\u2019s face.\u00a0 The next night, when he asked Ahab where the boy was, he said he\u2019d put him on a ship and sent him to Jamaica.\u00a0 Two days later the newspapers ran an article about how the young man\u2019s body had been fished out of the water by the pier.<\/p>\n Ahab had missed the boat.<\/p>\n That was it.\u00a0 He decided right then and there that it didn\u2019t take that much money to live in Mexico and he\u2019d taken off and laid low for nearly two years. \u00a0The bank robbery Joe Cartwright thwarted in Platt City had been his reintroduction to crime.<\/p>\n Apparently the Almighty intended for him to go straight.<\/p>\n Trock halted his horse and dismounted.\u00a0 After ground tethering it, he moved off the road a little ways and bent to examine the ground.\u00a0 It was plain as the nose on his face that a buggy had been parked there and was listing to one side as if a wheel had come off.\u00a0 Casting about, he found the prints of a woman\u2019s shoes and a small pair of men\u2019s boots.\u00a0 From what he remembered, Joe Cartwright was on the sleight side compared to a lot of the men in the West and not particularly tall.\u00a0 He thought Ahab was about the same height, but anything he lacked in stature he more than made up for in muscle.\u00a0 They\u2019d gotten into a fight one time and, though he topped the other man by several inches, he\u2019d gotten the worst of it.\u00a0 His former partner was not only explosive but unpredictable.\u00a0 In fact, Ahab was a lot like Gavin, the blond who had worked that last robbery with him.<\/p>\n Gavin who didn\u2019t like mouthy kids like Joe Cartwright and would have taken Joe\u2019s head off if he hadn\u2019t been there to stop him.<\/p>\n Rising to his feet Trock turned and looked in the direction the buggy had gone.\u00a0 Ahab didn\u2019t work his schemes on just anybody. They had to have money. \u00a0Somehow, he must have known Joe Cartwright was on that stage and known the kid was the type to fall for his live \u2018bait\u2019 \u2013 which meant he had been watching Joe.<\/p>\n Trock blew out a sigh.<\/p>\n That boy found trouble quicker than Hell could scorch a feather.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FOUR<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, what you got there?\u201d<\/p>\n The black-haired man\u2019s head jerked up.\u00a0 He lowered the telegram he\u2019d been perusing to his lap and looked up to find his giant of a brother, Hoss, looking down at him.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd don\u2019t you say nuthin\u2019,\u201d the big man added, suspicion in his voice.<\/p>\n With a sigh, he replied, \u201cWell, obviously, it is \u2018something\u2019, but I fail to see why my reading a telegram would surprise you.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss\u2019 blue eyes shifted to the table beside him where, plain as day, a large envelope lay. \u00a0Upon its surface was written, \u2018For the eyes of A. Cartwright as regards his inquiry into D. Tollivar\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hired yourself a detective or such?\u201d Hoss asked.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a matter of fact, I did.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo look into old Dan? \u00a0Whatever for? \u00a0We know\u2019d him practically our whole lives.\u201d \u00a0Hoss paused. \u201cPa ain\u2019t gonna be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. \u00a0He felt a headache coming on. \u00a0The black-haired man drew a breath to calm his nerves and let it out slowly before answering, \u201cFirst of all, \u2018Pa\u2019 doesn\u2019t rule my actions.\u00a0 Secondly, since I am thirty-seven and Dan is near or over seventy, that means he was close to forty years old before Pa met him.\u201d \u00a0He looked at his brother.\u00a0 \u201cHave you never wondered what he was doing all those years?\u201d<\/p>\n The big man was scowling. \u00a0\u201cPa knew\u2019d him afore that.\u201d<\/p>\n He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cPa met Dan after <\/em>I was born.\u00a0 You have to face it, Hoss, there are nearly four decades of the man\u2019s life that we know nothing about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, why would you do this?\u201d \u00a0His brother indicated the envelope on the table.\u00a0 \u201cIt ain\u2019t…right.\u00a0 A man\u2019s past is his past.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven if there is something in that past that would allow a man to stand by while one of his \u2018nephews\u2019 is killed?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, that ain\u2019t what Joe said \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know what Joe said!\u201d he countered. \u00a0\u201cI also know that Joe can be as…gullible as Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n There, it was out.<\/p>\n Hoss\u2019 eyes were wide.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you let Pa hear you call him that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right, then, as \u2018overly trusting\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 Adam tossed the telegram to the table and rose to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cFace it, Hoss, there\u2019s something here that doesn\u2019t add up. \u00a0I understand that Dan felt Joe had done him wrong by refusing to take him on the drive \u2013 especially after he\u2019d kept Joe from that beating the day before.\u00a0 Still, that isn\u2019t enough to make a man who is practically family<\/em> turn to crime.\u00a0 Dan had to be criminal to begin with and what Joe did…well, exposed it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA man can change Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, yes, he can. \u00a0I believe that.\u201d He paused and looked at the stair, remembering his baby brother not all that long ago, laying in his room, fighting for his life.\u00a0 \u201cAnd maybe Dan has, I\u2019ll give him that. \u00a0But it bothers me that it took very little provocation for him to…revert.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa says we gotta give a man a chance and forgive.\u201d<\/p>\n He threw up his hands. \u00a0\u201cPa says. Pa<\/em> says!\u00a0 Pa is not God<\/em>.\u00a0 He\u2019s a man, Hoss, and like any man, he can make a mistake.\u201d \u00a0His voice and temper had risen so the words came out rapid fire with no time to think better of them.\u00a0 \u201cAnd that mistake almost got Joe killed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs that what you really believe, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n They both froze. \u00a0The voice had come from the doorway, which had just opened to admit their father. \u00a0He\u2019d been gone handling some timber business in another town and chosen…well…a rather inopportune moment to return.<\/p>\n The black-haired man sucked in air and reminded himself that he was not<\/em> a little boy. \u00a0He did not have to back down just because he and \u2018daddy\u2019 disagreed.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Pa, that\u2019s what I believe.\u00a0 I told you years ago that Dan Tollivar was not a man to be trusted, but you trusted him anyway and look where it ended. \u00a0I said it when I arrived two weeks back and I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 Dan Tollivar should be in jail for what he did and not working on the spread.\u201d\u00a0 He paused for emphasis. \u00a0\u201cIf it was me, he\u2019d have been tried for attempted murder and kidnapping as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSon,\u201d his father said as he approached, \u201cwhen did you grow so hard?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot hard, Pa.\u00a0 Realistic.\u00a0 Would that the world was peopled in the way you think, with those who helplessly stumble into evil; who make poor choices and mistakes they regret and then choose to do what is right and don\u2019t look back.\u201d\u00a0 He sighed.\u00a0 \u201cSadly, that is not my experience.\u00a0 Men are evil unless they choose to do good and even then, it is a struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo you would give no man a second chance?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would a man who has earned it.\u201d<\/p>\n His father pulled off his gloves and tossed them onto the credenza. \u00a0\u201cAnd just who would be the judge of whether or not he has earned it?\u201d the older man asked as he moved past, headed for his chair. \u201cYou? Adam, you are not God either \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s my point, Pa!\u00a0 Neither of us are.\u00a0 We can\u2019t see into a man\u2019s soul….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so we trust no man?\u00a0 We are suspicious of all?\u00a0 That\u2019s not a world I want to live in, son. \u00a0Neither should you.\u201d\u00a0 The older man paused as if considering his words. \u00a0\u201cAdam, what\u2019s happened?\u00a0 What brought this on?\u201d<\/p>\n How could he explain it when he hardly understood it himself?\u00a0 He could still feel the raw emotions that had all but overpowered him when he read his father\u2019s letter detailing Dan Tollivar\u2019s betrayal.\u00a0 He knew it was bound up with his own feelings of guilt and remorse.\u00a0 He\u2019d gone away and look what had happened! \u00a0His father betrayed. \u00a0His little brother kidnapped, brutalized; nearly killed.\u00a0 They were too innocent, the three of them.\u00a0 Hoss, Pa…Joe.\u00a0 One day someone would take advantage of them and he wouldn\u2019t be here to warn them or to stop it and one of them would die and…<\/p>\n It would be his fault.<\/p>\n \u201cSon…\u201d<\/p>\n He held up a hand. \u201cI have to go, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n His father rose to his feet. \u201cWhere? Why?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just….\u201d Adam headed for the door.\u00a0 \u201cI just have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n He saw Hoss look at his father.\u00a0 The same question passed through both their eyes.<\/p>\n Was he coming back?<\/p>\n As the door slammed beside him and he headed for Sport, Adam had to admit \u2013<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben Cartwright dropped into his deep crimson chair and stared at the door through which his oldest son had just disappeared.<\/p>\n \u201cYou think he\u2019d comin\u2019 back, Pa?\u201d Hoss asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, son.\u00a0 I imagine he will.\u201d\u00a0 The older man paused and a slight smile curled the corner of his lips.\u00a0 \u201cAfter all, his books are upstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes….\u201d<\/p>\n Ben looked up.\u00a0 \u201cGo ahead, son. \u00a0Say what you are feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it seems them dang books mean more to older brother than any of us do!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll admit that it does look that way, but I think you\u2019re wrong.\u201d\u00a0 He paused. \u201cDo you want to know the real reason I think your older brother left us?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss came around the settee and sat down. \u201cI sure do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSince he was a boy, Adam has wrapped himself in indifference.\u00a0 It\u2019s a sort of defense \u2013 his \u2018armor\u2019, you might say.\u00a0 He has spent decades building it up layer upon layer until it is nearly impregnable.\u00a0 But there is a chink in it.\u00a0 One he has spent the last two years attempting to remedy, apparently, to no avail.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what would that be, Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n The older man sighed.\u00a0 \u201cFamily.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou make it sound like a bad thing. At least to older brother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot bad, but, I believe Adam perceives it as a weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss looked puzzled.\u00a0 \u201cYou mean…loving each other?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cLoving someone makes you vulnerable.\u201d\u00a0 Ben rose then.\u00a0 He crossed to the door, opened it, and looked out just in time to see his eldest fly out of the yard as if the devil himself were on his tail.\u00a0 \u201cI think, when Adam received my letter about Dan and…what happened to Joe…that it terrified him.\u201d<\/p>\n His son had come to his side.\u00a0 \u201cBut Joe\u2019s okay. \u00a0I mean, he ain\u2019t in any danger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t mean Adam was terrified of Joe dying, though I believe he was.\u201d\u00a0 Ben braced himself with a hand on the door jamb..\u00a0 \u201cI meant it terrified him to realize just how much<\/em> he loved Joe and feared losing him.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss was shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re paintin\u2019 a mighty sad picture, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, and he had<\/em> painted it.\u00a0 Every day when he had called upon Adam to be an adult before it was time, he\u2019d added another stroke to that sad picture.\u00a0 Each time the boy had to endure the death of someone he had come to care for on the way out West \u2013 as the child Adam was became first Hoss\u2019 mother, and then Little Joe\u2019s surrogate father when he abdicated that responsibility.\u00a0 With a wide brush, his own selfish needs had white-washed those walls of indifference his son erected, proclaiming them clean and acceptable. \u00a0Solid Adam. \u00a0Steady Adam. \u00a0Deep-thinking, responsible Adam.<\/p>\n His eldest was a study in contradictions \u2013 a man who showed little feeling but felt things so deeply he felt the need to run from them.<\/p>\n \u201cDear God,\u201d Ben breathed softly.\u00a0 \u201cWhat have I done?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n At that moment, when the last thing he wanted to do was answer another question, God or fate intervened. \u00a0A lone rider appeared at the end of the yard.\u00a0 At first he thought \u2013 hoped \u2013 it was Adam returning, but then Ben realized the man was blond and older and…out of place.<\/p>\n \u201cPa, what\u2019s old Charlie doin\u2019 out here?\u201d Hoss asked as they both moved onto the porch. \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t see Joe with him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re brother should be at Lee\u2019s by now,\u201d he replied. \u00a0\u201cMaybe he sent a message.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat makes sense.\u00a0 I sure hope she\u2019s all right.\u201d<\/p>\n He did too.\u00a0 He knew from Lee\u2019s letters that Trock had returned \u2013 the bank robber who had both threatened and saved Joseph\u2019s life \u2013 and that they had married.\u00a0 He had no reason to question her choice, though it had surprised him. After all, Joseph had felt strongly enough about the man that he had gone to testify at his parole hearing.<\/p>\n \u201cHo, Charlie!\u201d Ben called as he moved into the yard.\u00a0 \u201cWhat brings you out here?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t a fellow make a friendly call?\u201d the stage driver answered, thankfully with a wink and a smile.<\/p>\n \u201cMy son didn\u2019t give you any trouble, did he?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you call splittin\u2019 my sides on the trip to Platt City trouble,\u201d the lean man replied as he\u00a0 dismounted. \u00a0\u201cThat young\u2019un of yours, when the Lord poured in his brains someone must have jangled his arm!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, if it\u2019s not\u00a0 Joseph,\u201d the rancher chuckled, \u201cwhat it is brings you to the Ponderosa?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, now, I didn\u2019t say it wasn\u2019t<\/em> that boy of yours what brought me out here. \u00a0Was in a way, though the message I\u2019m deliverin\u2019 is from Lee.\u201d\u00a0 Charlie\u2019s thin lips pursed as he shook his head. \u201cI told that pretty woman she\u2019d have to take the responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben scowled.\u00a0 \u201cDid Joseph do something to upset her?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou might say so and you might not.\u201d<\/p>\n His head was beginning to hurt.\u00a0 That was the trouble with stage coach drivers. \u00a0They spent so much time alone that when they got to talk, it was hard to stop them.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, what did Joseph do?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n Charlie grinned, knowing he had succeeded in getting under his skin.\u00a0 \u201cHe got off the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss was frowning.\u00a0 Apparently his head hurt too.\u00a0 \u201cYou mean somewhere\u2019s other than Lee\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean smack dab in the middle of nowhere!\u201d<\/p>\n Ben blinked.\u00a0 \u201cI beg your pardon? \u00a0In the middle of nowhere?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWas there a pretty girl involved?\u201d his son asked.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t much of a leap.<\/p>\n Charlie placed his thumb on his nose.\u00a0 \u201cKee-rect!\u00a0 Pretty little thing sittin\u2019 by the side of the road all by her lonesome.\u00a0 Joe said he knew you\u2019d want him to see her home.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben captured his sigh.\u00a0 After all, he had<\/em> trained the boys to be gentlemen.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I suppose so.\u00a0 And where was home?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe forgot to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe…forgot to ask?!\u201d<\/p>\n The blond man was squinting.\u00a0 \u201cI told Joe you wouldn\u2019t like that part.\u00a0 And then he told me he was twenty-five and could make his own decisions.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t see as it was my place to argue with that, me not bein\u2019 kin of any kind.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course not.\u201d Ben exchanged a glance with his middle son and then suddenly remembered himself.\u00a0 \u201cCharlie, you must be hot and thirsty. Would you like to come in for a drink and something to eat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMuch as I love Hop Sing\u2019s cookin\u2019, I got me a stage to catch!\u201d\u00a0 Charlie laughed at his own joke.\u00a0 \u201cGotta take off in about six hours for San Fran. \u00a0I just come by to tell you about Joe.\u00a0 Now, Ben,\u201d he began, noting his look, \u201cthat boy\u2019s old enough to look out for himself just like he said. \u00a0After all, what trouble could one itty bitty pretty little gal be?\u201d<\/p>\n A moment later Charlie rode out of the yard.<\/p>\n He and Hoss stood for a moment considering what the stage driver had said, then they turned and looked at each other.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll tell Hop Sing to pack two bags,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019ll saddle up the horses,\u201d Hoss replied.<\/p>\n Unfortunately \u2013 where Joseph was concerned \u2013 they both knew just how<\/em> much trouble that could be.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dan Tollivar glanced at the map he held in his hand, and then up into the hills where the trail drawn upon it led.\u00a0 Malachi had included it in his letter so he\u2019d know where to deliver the money.\u00a0 There was a lake close by to the \u2018X\u2019 that marked the spot, which didn\u2019t surprise him.\u00a0 Mal had spent nine years of his life living on the wharfs; the first few with his wife and her..associates, and the rest moving from boarding house to boarding house as he sought employment.\u00a0 The boy had a mind quick as his smile and he\u2019d fallen into petty crime fast enough.\u00a0 In order to put a\u00a0 stop to it, on Mal\u2019s tenth birthday he visited the boy and announced the two of them were heading West.\u00a0 His son fought him.\u00a0 Mal knew the city and how it worked, and knew how to use it to get what he wanted.\u00a0 The idea of wide open spaces \u2013 of just the two of them and the land and a dozen head of cattle \u2013 held no appeal.\u00a0 He\u2019d always heard tell boys took after their mothers and that sure enough was the fact with his.\u00a0 Beryl, that was the name he knew her by.\u00a0 Never knew if it was her real one.\u00a0 Beryl lived in the badlands where the lights were red and the carpets soft.\u00a0 Men said there was somethin\u2019 in the blood could be passed down.\u00a0 The Good Book called it the \u2018sins of the fathers\u2019.<\/p>\n More like the sins of the mothers.<\/p>\n He\u2019d loved her.\u00a0 Or at least he thought he did.\u00a0 She was a looker and he\u2019d never been, so when she took interest in him, well, he just fell arse over head.\u00a0 Might as well have been blind \u2013 or blind-sided. \u00a0Found out later the whole time she was with him she\u2019d been seein\u2019 other men.\u00a0 He always figured one of them offered her somethin\u2019 better and that\u2019s why she left. \u00a0Left him.\u00a0 Left her son.<\/p>\n Left them both with nothin\u2019.<\/p>\n Mal came West \u2018cause he had no choice and stayed with him for around five years.\u00a0 That was \u2018til he was fifteen and old enough to make it on his own.\u00a0 Then the boy disappeared. \u00a0He hadn\u2019t heard from him in nigh onto forty years.\u00a0 He\u2019d been a young scrubber barely older than his son when he fell hard for that fallen woman. \u00a0After Mal left, well, he wandered through the land lookin\u2019 for the boy.\u00a0 That was how he met Ben Cartwright.\u00a0 Ben had a son too and truth to tell, he was drawn as much to Adam as to his pa, though he and Ben soon became fast friends.\u00a0 He tried to make friends with Adam too, but that boy was a hard one \u2013 hard to pin and harder to get to know.\u00a0 Seemed like he was always watching him with those amber-green eyes of his. \u00a0Maybe he\u2019d tried too hard.\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019d wanted to make Adam into Mal and the boy\u2019d resented it.\u00a0 Whatever it was, they\u2019d never got on, not like he and that youngest one of Ben\u2019s.<\/p>\n He hated himself for what he\u2019d done to Little Joe.\u00a0 The boy didn\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n And so here he was. \u00a0He\u2019d taken all his gear and belongings \u2018cept for his saddle and spurs and pawned them in the town. Came up with about fifty dollars. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t much \u2013 and it sure wasn\u2019t enough to pay off the debt to the man Mal owed \u2013 but maybe it was enough that his boy could run somewhere, maybe to Mexico.\u00a0 Once in Mexico Mal would be safe.<\/p>\n And the Cartwrights would be safe too.<\/p>\n Folding the map over, Dan tucked it back into the pocket inside his coat.\u00a0 He reached up then and pulled the collar close around his throat.\u00a0 The day had been hot, but the night was pushin\u2019 in and the wind that was pushin\u2019 in with it was bitter cold.\u00a0 It was like that in Nevada.\u00a0 A man had to pack for every season since he never knew which one he was gonna get.\u00a0 He was gonna miss it, but he\u2019d made up his mind that once he saw Mal, he was leavin\u2019 for good.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know where he\u2019d go.\u00a0 Maybe to Mexico too.<\/p>\n Or maybe just to Hell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam held out his hand and caught the fast-sliding glass just before it could clear the counter.\u00a0 He turned and flashed a grin at Sam, the bartender, before raising it to his lips and downing half of its golden contents in one gulp.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the house,\u201d Sam said. As he tipped his black hat in gratitude, the big man went on.\u00a0 \u201cWhat brings you back to town after two years absent? \u00a0Last time Hoss was in he said they\u2019d gotten a letter from…San Francisco, was it?\u201d<\/p>\n The black-haired man turned so his back was resting on the counter\u2019s edge and surveyed the crowd. \u00a0It was the usual mix of miners, loggers, cowboys and card sharks. \u00a0The sun was down and trouble was bound to show up.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSaid you had a big project there.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, he had, and he had abandoned it to come home.\u00a0 Not very professional of him.<\/p>\n In fact, it had been downright irrational.<\/p>\n The city was still in recovery from the last quake that hit the Santa Cruz mountains and effected the bay area.\u00a0 One of the city\u2019s wealthiest men had a building that collapsed due to stress fractures incurred in an earlier quake.\u00a0 He\u2019d decided to build new rather than restoring what he had and had employed him to make sure the fresh structure was sound and could withstand the pressures common to the area.\u00a0 He\u2019d written his father and brothers to let them know he was in the States again, but had given no indication as to whether or not he would come for a visit.<\/p>\n And then the letter had come about Joe and Dan Tollivar.<\/p>\n \u201cI do,\u201d he answered at last.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I need to get back to it.\u00a0 I came into town to check the stage coach departures, but the office was closed. \u00a0I\u2019m going to get a room at the International for the night so I can go over first thing in the morning.\u00a0 I heard there\u2019s a stage heading to California before noon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou heading back so soon?\u00a0 After what Little Joe said the other day \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d been sipping his drink.\u00a0 He stopped to ask, \u201cWhat\u2019d Joe say?\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, he asked it so quickly Sam\u2019s brows popped up toward his hairline.\u00a0 \u201cOnly…that he was happy you were home. \u00a0He was talking to one of the girls and told her how much he\u2019d missed you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u00a0 Missed me<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n Sam snorted.\u00a0 \u201cYou seem surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam sighed.\u00a0 \u201cWell, to tell the truth, I am.\u00a0 Joe and I have done little but knock heads since he\u2019s been on his feet.\u00a0 If you ask me, I\u2019d say that little brother feels he doesn\u2019t need an older brother around anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, you know that ain\u2019t true, Adam,\u201d a familiar voice remarked from close beside him.\u00a0 He turned to find his brother Hoss standing with one hand on each of the batwing doors, spreading them wide.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t you think I\u2019m a little old to have you trailing me?\u201d the black-haired man snapped as he signaled to Sam, indicating he wanted another drink.\u00a0 \u201cShouldn\u2019t you be out looking for the youngest Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019d stop thinkin\u2019 everythin\u2019 was about you, Adam, you\u2019d see that\u2019s just what I\u2019m doin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam scowled over the edge of his freshly-filled glass.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you mean?\u00a0 Joe\u2019s at Lee\u2019s.\u201d \u00a0He swallowed and then asked, \u201cIsn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe. Maybe not,\u201d the big man answered as he sidled up and leaned on the bar beside him.\u00a0 \u201cBut then, if you\u2019re takin\u2019 off again, I guess you don\u2019t rightly care.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWere you listening outside?\u201d he asked as Sam offered his brother a beer and Hoss turned it down.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t need to listen to nothin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 The big man paused.\u00a0 \u201cYou might as well have not come home, Adam.\u00a0 You ain\u2019t been here \u2013 least not since the night Joe turned the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss eyed him for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cOlder brother, you know I never did think I would say this to you, but seems to me you\u2019re a bit of a coward.\u201d<\/p>\n The word was like a slap in the face.\u00a0 His temper flared.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s easier, ain\u2019t it?\u00a0 Livin\u2019 far away and thinkin\u2019 of no one and nothin\u2019 but yourself.\u00a0 It\u2019s all…clean…like Hop Sing\u2019s kitchen late at night.\u00a0 But you know what, Adam, livin\u2019 starts in the mornin\u2019 when the taters are peeled and the eggs broke and it\u2019s real messy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not making sense!\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss took hold of his arm.\u00a0 \u201cYes, I am, older brother, but you don\u2019t want to admit it.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to admit all of them emotions churnin\u2019 in your guts.\u00a0 It\u2019s easier just to walk away and pretend they don\u2019t exist!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet go of me!\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n His brother\u2019s blue eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u00a0 Cause you\u2019re mad enough to take me on?\u00a0 You know what, Adam.\u00a0 That\u2019s messy too!\u201d<\/p>\n His jaw was clenched and a cold fire burned in his gut.\u00a0 \u201cYou will unhand me.\u00a0 Now!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHoss, let him go.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam turned his head.\u00a0 His father was standing in the door.<\/p>\n The look on the older man\u2019s face took the fiery wind out of his sails.<\/p>\n And the rumpled tan hat in his hands sank the ship.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben let the doors go. \u00a0He drew a breath as they swung to behind him and faced his sons.<\/p>\n He and Hoss had decided to come into town, hoping that town was where Adam had gone.\u00a0 He\u2019d also wanted to check in with Roy before they headed out to Lee\u2019s. \u00a0Roy had just returned from Platt City where he\u2019d been called to give a deposition.\u00a0 He had hoped that, perhaps, the lawman had run into Joseph somewhere along the way. \u00a0He\u2019d started toward the jail only to be hailed and turning, found that Roy had been looking for him.<\/em>\u00a0 An abandoned rig had been found by the road a few miles out from Lee Bolden\u2019s place \u2013 no, make that Lee Throckmorton\u2019s<\/em>. \u00a0He had to remember she had remarried.\u00a0 There had been signs of a struggle as well as a trail that indicated someone had been dragged off.<\/p>\n Joseph\u2019s hat had been found lying by the side of the rig.<\/p>\n He\u2019d left Roy and headed straight for the saloon where he\u2019d asked Hoss to wait for him.\u00a0 They\u2019d seen Adam\u2019s horse tethered outside the International House and he\u2019d gone there first to see if his eldest had rented a room.\u00a0 The man at the desk indicated Adam had headed out for a drink and so he had come to Sam\u2019s place expecting to find the two brothers seated at a table in the corner affably sharing a beer and enjoying each other\u2019s company.<\/p>\n Instead he had found them at each other\u2019s throats.<\/p>\n \u201cHoss, let him go,\u201d the rancher said as he stepped into the establishment. \u00a0\u201cWe have other things to worry about.\u201d<\/p>\n His eldest was staring at the hat in his hands.\u00a0 It was hard to miss the condition it was in, which was trampled.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere\u2019d you get that, Pa?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cLike you\u2019d care,\u201d Hoss muttered as he shoved past.\u00a0 It was meant to hurt and Ben watched the verbal dart strike his oldest son. \u00a0Once he was at his side, his middle boy reached out to touch the tan Stetson.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he answered honestly, and then he explained what Roy had told him. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s possible your brother simply lost it.\u00a0 It looked like the rig had run off the road.\u00a0 If he was busy helping the young lady, well…you know your brother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat \u2018young lady\u2019?\u201d Adam asked.<\/p>\n Ben looked from one son to the other.\u00a0 Their common concern about their missing brother seemed to have smoothed over their disagreement.<\/p>\n For the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to get on the road, Adam,\u201d he replied. \u201cRoy told me where to find the rig.\u00a0 I\u2019ll explain as we ride.\u201d\u00a0 The older man paused.\u00a0 The man at the desk had told him of his son\u2019s plans.\u00a0 How Adam intended to catch a coach in the morning and head back to San Francisco.\u00a0 \u201cThat is, if you don\u2019t have other<\/em> plans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, I\u2019m coming,\u201d his eldest replied as he shifted his hat forward on his head and pulled his collar up.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see what predicament the little scamp has gotten himself into this <\/em>time.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FIVE<\/p>\n \u201cDid he write the letter?\u201d Ahab demanded.<\/p>\n His current Jezebel \u2013 it amused him no end to call all of the trollops he took under his wing that \u2013 shook her head as she sidled over to him.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard Ben Cartwright bred them tough,\u201d she sighed.\u00a0 \u201cJoe Cartwright may look like a pretty boy, but there\u2019s nothing soft about him.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahab\u2019s salt and pepper brows peaked toward the stocking cap he wore pulled low on his wrinkled brow.\u00a0 \u201cNothing, eh?\u201d he asked, leering.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I get to enjoy my work from time to time.\u201d\u00a0 The slut\u2019s full lips pursed and then a slow sneer spread across them.\u00a0 \u201cHe didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Jezebel\u2019s real name was Hadley Marie Jones \u2013 or so she said.\u00a0 A name as ordinary as she had once been.\u00a0 When she was child, her family had moved to California to homestead.\u00a0 By the age of eleven, she knew it wasn\u2019t for her and ran way.\u00a0 Of course ol\u2019 Jez had no idea what life was like for a woman alone in the West and by the age of fifteen, she was selling herself to stay alive.\u00a0 When he found her she was a cheap whore turning tricks in a crib.\u00a0 That was where he trolled for his companions, picking up women who had no hope and would snatch at any morsel of life offered them.\u00a0 He\u2019d take them under his wing, train them and use them in his schemes, and then \u2013 when he got tired of them \u2013 offer them a way out.<\/p>\n A permanent<\/em> way.<\/p>\n His current Jezebel had been with him for about six months and he figured she was good for a few more.\u00a0 The girl knew her stuff.\u00a0 The cathouse he\u2019d lifted her from was run by Orientals who dabbled in the crimping game.\u00a0 The Madame there was known for her…unusual appetites.\u00a0 She taught her girls well. \u00a0They knew how to bring pleasure and inflict pain.<\/p>\n It was the latter Jez excelled at.<\/p>\n She was turned to one side now, looking back toward the room that held Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 Ahab eyed her up and down.\u00a0 Hadley was no heavyweight in the brains department, though what she lacked on the upper floor was more than made up by those below.\u00a0 He kept her fed and clean and she made a good show.\u00a0 He fought the vile laughter that bubbled up in him as he watched her take a step toward the back room.\u00a0 In spite of everything she had seen and done, Jez was naive.\u00a0 She\u2019d actually believed him when he assured her he had no intention of killing the Cartwright kid.\u00a0 Just like every other damn female on the face of the earth, her head had been turned by the brat\u2019s good looks.<\/p>\n At least as a woman she couldn\u2019t help it.\u00a0 Women were plain no good. \u00a0Never could depend on one.\u00a0 His father was another story.\u00a0 The old man had chosen<\/em> to save Joe Cartwright\u2019s life and damn him <\/em>to Hell and there was just no excuse for that.<\/p>\n He knew.\u00a0 He\u2019d been watching.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re very quiet, Ahab,\u201d Jez advanced, a slight tremble in her low, husky voice revealing her apprehension.\u00a0 \u201cAre you mad at me because I didn\u2019t get Joe to write the letter?\u201d<\/p>\n Ahab rose and moved closer to her. \u00a0Once there, he stopped and waited, enjoying the scent of her rising fear.\u00a0 She had no idea if he was going to cuff her or kiss her.<\/p>\n He liked that.<\/p>\n Reaching out, Ahab took the girl\u2019s chin in his hand.\u00a0 He waited until her deep brown eyes met his.<\/p>\n \u201cNah,\u201d Ahab said.\u00a0 \u201cThat just means now it\u2019s my<\/em> turn.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Cartwright woke to a world of pain such as he had never known.\u00a0 As he rolled from his back to his side and curled into himself, he remembered their father\u2019s warnings about visiting the Barbary Coast.\u00a0 It was the first time they\u2019d gone to San Francisco on a business trip as a family and they had an evening free.\u00a0 Pa had spoken sternly to the three of them before he let them go their way, telling them of the dangers of the coastal city and its less than admirable districts.\u00a0 As they started to leave, he caught him by the arm and pulled him aside to give him a special warning.\u00a0 He\u2019d been pretty young at the time \u2013 still in his teens \u2013 and he\u2019d bristled at the fact that his father singled him out.<\/p>\n That had been nothing compared to how embarrassed and mortified he\u2019d been when the older man explained why.<\/p>\n \u2018Joseph,\u2019 Pa began, \u2018this is going to be hard for you to hear, and \u2013 in truth \u2013 for me to say. \u00a0I know you\u2019re angry.\u00a0 If you ask your brothers, they will tell you this is not<\/em> the talk I had with them when they were younger.\u2019 \u00a0When he\u2019d started to protest, his father continued, \u201cFacts are facts, young man. You have a slight build like your mother and,\u2019 Pa had held up a hand to stifle his protest, \u2018while I have every confidence that you can handle yourself under normal circumstances, the Barbary Coast is anything but \u2018normal\u2019.\u00a0 It is the bottom of the barrel \u2013 the place where the flotsam and jetsam of humanity coalesces and rots.\u00a0 A young man like you….\u201d \u00a0Pa reached out to touch his face before starting again. \u2018A beautiful, slender, and seemingly<\/em> vulnerable young man like you will be a target for every slaver and crimper on the coast.\u00a0 These are people who will not see you as a human being with worth,\u00a0 but only \u2018worth\u2019 what they can get from and for<\/em> you.\u00a0 There will be woman \u2013 stunning, enchanting women. \u00a0Some of them will be what they seem \u2013 poor abused creatures who have been reduced to selling themselves to make a living.\u00a0 The threat from them is bad enough.\u00a0 But there will be others, son, women who belong to men who use them for their gain and in their games. \u00a0Women who are schooled in…certain things. \u00a0Women who can bring a man incredible pleasure and will do so to possess him.<\/p>\n \u2018These women, son, can also bring incredible pain.\u2019<\/p>\n That talk was part of the reason he fought so hard \u2013 why<\/em> he pushed himself so far and went out of his way to prove he was tough and just as strong and physically powerful as his big, brawny brothers and father.\u00a0 He\u2019d been taken advantage of before \u2013 by men like Sam Wolf, by John C. Reagan….<\/p>\n But never<\/em> as he had just been taken advantage of.<\/p>\n He was no innocent.\u00a0 Oh, even though he\u2019d hinted enough about dalliances with the women who populated Virginia City\u2019s pleasure palaces, that was just talk.\u00a0 His pa had taught him better than that \u2013 to use women just for a moment of pleasure.\u00a0 But there had been the women he meant to marry. \u00a0Women he loved deeply and had known joy with, even though they\u2019d taken care.\u00a0 Julia.\u00a0 Amy.<\/p>\n Laura.<\/p>\n A tear escaped Joe\u2019s swollen eye to trail down his battered cheek.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know if he would ever know that kind of joy again.\u00a0 If he ever could….<\/p>\n Not after Jezebel.<\/p>\n Joe lay on his back, fighting to calm his breathing.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t like they\u2019d made love.\u00a0 It was…what she\u2019d done while makin\u2019 him feel the things he\u2019d felt before.\u00a0\u00a0 He groaned as he felt the myriad inch long slashes on his skin \u2013 some in places she had no right to go.\u00a0 The thought of what she\u2019d done to him brought tears to his eyes, which shamed him, and then \u2013<\/p>\n It made him mad.<\/p>\n Closing his eyes, Joe fought for control and then pushed it all to the back of his mind.\u00a0 Lifting his head, he studied how Jezebel had left him.\u00a0 He was still tied to the chair, but there was a little give in the ropes on his wrists. \u00a0Probably because he\u2019d struggled so much.\u00a0 His ankles were still bound tightly, but if he could get his hands free, maybe \u2013 just maybe- he could escape.\u00a0 Nothing that woman had…done…had really harmed him.\u00a0 At least, not so\u2019s he couldn\u2019t make an escape attempt.\u00a0 No, what she had done could be put aside to be dealt with another day.<\/p>\n A day when he was slingin\u2019 a sledge hammer and drivin\u2019 posts into the rock-hard ground might be a good one.<\/p>\n Uncurling his fingers, which had formed themselves into fists, Joe began to work at the loose rope that was hanging down onto his palm.\u00a0 His hands were slippery with blood from the trails left by those little itty-bitty irritating cuts, but he did his best to work around that.\u00a0 He\u2019d been cut before when he was bound and he\u2019d never let it stop him.<\/p>\n He was Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 He never let anything<\/em> stop him, and he wasn\u2019t about to begin now.<\/p>\n After all, he had people counting on him.\u00a0 His Pa had already been through so much with what happened with Dan.\u00a0 And Lee, she was probably beside herself.\u00a0 If Lee sent word to Pa, then it would be last month all over again.\u00a0 And then there was Adam.<\/p>\n Even though he didn\u2019t exactly know \u2018where\u2019 Adam was where he was concerned.<\/p>\n Still, older brother had left his all mighty important job in San Francisco to come sit with him while he recovered.\u00a0 That had to mean something.<\/p>\n Even if they did still fight like hell-roosters.<\/p>\n So, for Pa, for Lee, for Hoss \u2013 and especially<\/em> for Adam, he had to escape. \u00a0He couldn\u2019t \u2013 he wouldn\u2019t put all of them through it again.<\/p>\n Not if he could help it.<\/p>\n Joe had just freed one hand when the door to the room he was in opened.\u00a0 He looked up expecting to find Jezebel standing there, eying him like a slab of meat ready for the butcher\u2019s knife.<\/p>\n Instead, it was Ahab.<\/p>\n Looking at the hulking brute of a man , Joe swallowed hard over his fear.<\/p>\n \u2018God\u2019, he thought as he gritted his teeth and steeled himself for the first blow.\u00a0 \u2018Please, help me help it.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The beautiful young woman who, once upon a time, had been Hadley Jones, cringed as she watched the man who owned her step into the room that held Joe Cartwright and close the door.\u00a0 She knew what Ahab was capable of.<\/p>\n She\u2019d borne the brunt of his anger all too many times.<\/p>\n She also knew what he wanted from her and she gave it to him \u2013 the fierce proud look, the saucy swing of her hips \u2013 the hard, cruel words that bespoke of a heart just like his, one without mercy; with no pity.<\/p>\n The truth, hers was a heart with no hope. \u00a0In the forest of her life, it was very dark.<\/p>\n All the butterflies had broken wings.<\/p>\n Hadley shoved a lock of her raven-black hair back from her slightly oval face.\u00a0 She\u2019d had no hope since the first man who pretended kindness and then betrayed her, shattering her dreams.\u00a0 She\u2019d been a child set adrift on the streets of a city that swallowed up children. \u00a0The man \u2013 she didn\u2019t even remember his name \u2013 had taken her in.\u00a0 He\u2019d fed her and clothed her and given her a warm place to live and promised her a job.\u00a0 \u2018The work is easy.\u00a0 You\u2019re just right for it,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll make a good wage for doing practically nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n The young woman sighed.\u00a0 \u2018Practically nothing\u2019.<\/p>\n Just selling her soul.<\/p>\n At first, she\u2019d worked inside where the lights were red and the beds soft.\u00a0 But then she\u2019d fallen ill and been unable to work. \u00a0Every day she missed was another year added o to her sentence.\u00a0 By the time she recovered she\u2019d lost weight and, with it, her figure. \u00a0Her hair had been cut off to speed her recovery and so she looked like a boy. \u00a0No one wanted her.<\/p>\n That was when they sent her to the cribs.<\/p>\n She knew from experience that the crib girls had short lives.\u00a0 They either died of disease or were murdered by the men who used them \u2013 and no one cared.\u00a0 Not their owners. \u00a0Not their families.<\/p>\n No one.<\/p>\n Ahab cared.\u00a0 He\u2019d treated her kindly that first time and then, a few days later, offered to take her away from it all.\u00a0 He was\u00a0 hard man \u2013 she\u2019d known it then \u2013 but he seemed fair.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t young or a looker, but that was okay. \u00a0Too many young lookers had used her and not looked back.\u00a0 Ahab was of middling height, with blondish-gray hair and a face that looked like he\u2019d spent most of his youth in brawls.\u00a0 He had a bandy-legged sailor\u2019s walk and a mouth to match.\u00a0 His eyes were pale \u2013 some might have called them gray, though she thought they were blue \u2013 and he had a hard mouth, like a piece of twine pulled taut as it would go. \u00a0He seldom smiled or laughed.<\/p>\n When he did, you paid attention.<\/p>\n She\u2019d been with him about half a year now and in that time they\u2019d taken several rich men for all they were worth.\u00a0 It had been kind of fun at first and definitely better than the cribs. \u00a0Of the men who had used her, the rich ones were the worst.\u00a0 They expected everything and paid nothing.\u00a0 She and Ahab would enter a town and cast out a line and then, when they found their mark, arrange an \u2018accidental\u2019 meeting between her and the son of some banker or lawyer or railroad president who had thousands to spare.\u00a0 Once they had the fish on the hook, they would either blackmail the son or take him hostage and demand a ransom from his father.\u00a0 It was an old game for Ahab.\u00a0 One he had been playing for years.\u00a0 She knew there had been other \u2018Jezebels\u2019 before her.\u00a0 He did nothing to hide it.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t ask what happened to them.<\/p>\n Walking over to the window, Hadley looked to the West.\u00a0 In some ways she missed the big city with its noise and excitement.\u00a0 Being out here \u2013 in the wilderness with nothing to do \u2013 left too much time to think.\u00a0 She still didn\u2019t really understand it.\u00a0 They\u2019d been in San Francisco back in the spring, working the game and making money hand-over-fist, when suddenly Ahab pulled up stakes and headed east.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t tell her why, but one of the girls she knew from before told her there was a man after him. \u00a0She\u2019d hated the cold mountains and the rough journey, but Ahab assured her that once they hit the West there would be fresh pickings; new-made men whose fortunes made those of the men in Frisco look like a penny-ante pile on the table.\u00a0 Simple naive rich men they could fleece.\u00a0 Timber barons. \u00a0Mine owners.<\/p>\n Ranchers.<\/p>\n She thought now that their departure might have had more to do with the young man tied to the chair than with the promise of that money.\u00a0 For whatever reason, Ahab hated Joe \u2013 and his family.\u00a0 She\u2019d thought he was half-crazy when they were on the Coast.\u00a0 He liked to play it fast and loose.\u00a0 Ahab took chances.<\/p>\n Now she knew he was all<\/em> crazy.<\/p>\n Hadley started as she heard the sound she\u2019d been expecting \u2013 that of a hard fist slamming into flesh.\u00a0 There was a grunt.\u00a0 Then, a shouted curse \u2013 it didn\u2019t come from Ahab.\u00a0 The curse was answered by an inhuman sound, like the bellow of an infuriated grizzly.<\/p>\n Then, Joe screamed.<\/p>\n Hadley closed her eyes and her heart to the sound.<\/p>\n There was nothing she could do for the young man Ahab\u2019s fury was being spent on; nothing she could do for Joe Cartwright.<\/p>\n As there was nothing she could do for herself.<\/p>\n Except walk a little deeper into that forest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe was doing his damndest to remain upright in the chair.\u00a0 His freshly bound hands were in front of him, braced on the table as if in an aspect of prayer.\u00a0 He was breathing heavily and fighting to remain conscious.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t want to write a note to his father.<\/p>\n He had<\/em> to write a note to his father.<\/p>\n Pa would never forgive him if he got himself killed.<\/p>\n Joe stiffened as the shadow of his tormentor loomed over him, casting his broken body and the table into darkness.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken it \u2013 everything this man and his Jezebel before him had handed out \u2013 and he hadn\u2019t given in.\u00a0 After all, he\u2019d been beaten before.\u00a0 Badly.\u00a0 In a way, he supposed, he\u2019d even been tortured.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t afraid of dying.\u00a0 He knew who was waiting on the other side.\u00a0\u00a0 He could see his mama standing with her arms out, welcoming him.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the image of his father standing with his head hanging low; tears on his cheeks and one quaking hand on the gravestone that bore the inscription \u2018Joseph Francis Cartwright, beloved son, gone too soon\u2019, loomed larger.<\/p>\n \u2018There are times, Joseph, when a man has to humble himself,\u2019 he could hear his pa saying.\u00a0 \u2018A neck that is too stiff, too soon snaps.\u2019<\/p>\n A pen was inserted between his bloody fingers.\u00a0 Ahab\u2019s hand remained wrapped around his own.<\/p>\n Joe bit his swollen lip.\u00a0 He spoke, cleared his throat, and tried again. \u00a0\u201cWhat do you…want me to write?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou won\u2019t catch me so easy, lad,\u201d the brute replied.\u00a0 \u201cUse your own words \u2013 and no tricks.\u201d \u00a0The pressure increased on his injured fingers.\u00a0 \u201cI know all <\/em>of them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Pa wants you to live,\u2019 he reminded himself.\u00a0 \u2018Those who run away live to fight another day,\u2019 he heard Adam say.<\/p>\n Hoss?\u00a0 God, Hoss….<\/p>\n \u2018Pa,\u2019 <\/em>he wrote. \u2018I\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 I was stupid. \u00a0I\u2019m being held and they want money.\u00a0 Ten…\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>Joe looked up at Ahab who sneered as he nodded.\u00a0 \u2018Ten thousand dollars.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>He closed his eyes for a second, wondering again about this next part.\u00a0 It made no sense to him.\u00a0 \u00a0Or he didn\u2019t want it to make any sense.\u00a0 \u201cThe man who has me says to send Dan Tollivar with the money.\u00a0 No one else.\u00a0 Anyone else and,\u201d <\/em>his hand trembled, \u2018he\u2019ll kill me.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n The pen dropped from his shaking fingers.<\/p>\n Ahab pressed it into them again. \u201cSign it!\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n Joe closed his eyes.\u00a0 He knew<\/em> he was signing his death warrant.\u00a0 Money or no money, Ahab intended to kill him.<\/p>\n \u201cSign it!\u201d the brute yelled, punctuating the order with a slap on the side of his head.<\/p>\n Tears fell from his eyes, striking the paper and mingling with the drops of blood that dotted it \u2013 blood that would make his father do just what this horrid man wanted him to do.<\/p>\n \u2018Your loving son<\/em>,\u2019 he wrote. \u201cJoseph Cartwright\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n Ahab snatched the note from under his fingers and then he began to laugh.<\/p>\n No, laughter was a gift of God \u2013 a beautiful, joyous gift \u2013 and one he had been blessed by his entire life.\u00a0 Ahab chortled, nearly choking on his immoral glee, and then he bellowed out his triumph.\u00a0 Seconds later a pair of burly hands caught his shoulders, turned Joe in his chair, lifted him up and threw him across the room.\u00a0 He struck his head on the wall and slumped down into near darkness.<\/p>\n \u201cThat will teach the old man!\u201d Ahab roared.<\/p>\n As Joe lost consciousness he wondered \u2013 which old man?<\/p>\n His Pa.<\/p>\n Or Dan Tollivar?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hadley had been outside the cabin when Ahab finished with Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 Her owner struck her for her cowardice in passing, just before he mounted his horse and took off into the darkness, headed for the nearest town.\u00a0 The note he had forced Joe Cartwright to compose would be delivered before dawn. \u00a0Ahab had a way.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t know how he did it, but he always did.\u00a0 While in San Francisco, she\u2019d learned about the Free Masons. They were a group of men that supported one another no matter what. You never betrayed a fellow Mason, even if he\u2019d broken the law. \u00a0While Ahab wasn\u2019t a Mason, he was a member of a fraternity of men just as secretive but, instead of being sworn to do good, they were the servants of evil.\u00a0 No matter what town they went to, they were there \u2013 liars, cheaters, pimps and crimpers, thieves and worse.\u00a0 They helped one another \u2013 until they turned on one another.<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright would know one more night of peace.\u00a0 Tomorrow his world would change forever.<\/p>\n The weary young woman ran a hand along her neck before turning back to look at the cabin they were holed up in.\u00a0 Joe Cartwright had a family that loved him.\u00a0 She\u2019d heard about the Cartwrights in Reno.\u00a0 They were well known and liked there.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright had three sons by different mothers \u2013 Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe.\u00a0 The oldest had been gone for a while, or so the gossip went, and just returned.\u00a0 Rumor had it that he and his powerful pa had fallen out and that was why he left.\u00a0 She\u2019d wondered at first, when Ahab chose the Cartwrights as their next mark, which son he would use to make his play.\u00a0 After scouting out the Ponderosa, they\u2019d gone to Virginia City and rented a room.\u00a0 Then they went to the local saloon and occupied a table at the back where they could keep watch.\u00a0 No one paid them any attention.\u00a0 Who would notice a gnarly old wreck of a man and his whore? \u00a0The second night the Cartwright brothers made an appearance.\u00a0 The eldest, Adam, was a handsome man in his thirties, self-assured and well-controlled.\u00a0 And, even though he was not as big physically as Ben Cartwright\u2019s middle son, Hoss, who accompanied him, he looked like a dangerous man. \u00a0Joe Cartwright had come in shortly after his brothers, laughing and carrying on with his friends. \u00a0When she saw him up close, she understood why Joe was the one Ahab chose as their \u2018mark\u2019.\u00a0 \u2018Little\u2019 Joe, as they called him, was the youngest and slightest of the trio, just the type Ahab liked \u2013 and liked to pound.\u00a0 Still, it was odd.\u00a0 The moment Ahab saw Joe something overcame the man she often called her \u2018procurer\u2019. She would have named it \u2018anger\u2019, but it went way <\/em>beyond that.<\/p>\n The only word for it was \u2018hate\u2019.<\/p>\n This job was different for the brutish man.\u00a0 It was personal.\u00a0 Hadley shuddered and wrapped her arms about her shoulders.\u00a0 It was going to end like it had that \u2018other\u2019 time \u2013 the time it all went wrong.\u00a0 She just knew it.<\/p>\n Joe Cartwright was as good as dead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The sound of the door opening and a soft footfall as someone moved across the floor didn\u2019t wake him. He\u2019d been awake before.\u00a0 But it did surprise him.<\/p>\n And terrify him.<\/p>\n Joe shuddered and inched back toward the wall \u2013 away from the beautiful and venomous woman who had just entered his torture chamber.\u00a0 As he did, he heard someone whimper.<\/p>\n Shame flooded through him when he realized it was him<\/em>.<\/p>\n A moment later a hand brushed his cheek moving the curls, which were clotted with blood and sweat, away from his face.\u00a0 It was followed by a cool cloth.<\/p>\n What new treachery was this?<\/p>\n Joe shifted back again but came up short when he ran into the cabin wall. \u00a0Something snapped in him when that happened and he struck out with his bound feet, catching the woman in her stomach and thrusting her away.<\/p>\n Pa would never forgive him.<\/p>\n He struck<\/em> a woman.<\/p>\n Panting, breathless, Joe turned eyes filled with hate on his tormentor and found her crying.<\/p>\n Crying.<\/p>\n Jezebel was crying.<\/p>\n \u201cI know<\/em> what…you are!\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n She said nothing.\u00a0 Jezebel just stared at him; the bloody cloth still in her hand.<\/p>\n His strength was ebbing.\u00a0 \u201cI know…what<\/em> you are,\u201d he repeated, quieter this time and with more meaning.<\/p>\n Tears slid down her cheeks.\u00a0 \u201cI know what I am too,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n He knew the game.\u00a0 Brutalize a man and then pretend sympathy. \u00a0It was a way to break him.<\/p>\n Well, Joe Cartwright would not be \u00a0broken!<\/p>\n \u201cGet..away from me!\u201d\u00a0 Joe snarled as he forced his badly abused body into a seated position. \u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t touch me!\u00a0 Don\u2019t you ever<\/em> touch me again!\u201d<\/p>\n She started as if he had struck her.\u00a0 The girl\u2019s eyes went to the bloody cloth she held and then she looked over her shoulder toward the door.\u00a0 A moment later she came to a decision.\u00a0 Rising, Jezebel went over to it and pushed it to.<\/p>\n Joe panicked as the key turned in the lock.<\/p>\n \u201cGet out!\u201d he cried. \u201cYou…get out of here!\u201d<\/p>\n Jezebel turned to look at him.\u00a0 Her near coal-black eyes were wide with expectation and they were fastened on him.\u00a0 Joe grew physically sick at her approach and fought to rise to his feet.<\/p>\n He would go through her and<\/em> the door before he let her near him again.<\/p>\n Halfway across the room, the girl halted.\u00a0\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t tear his eyes from her.\u00a0 She was beyond beautiful with her silken black hair, pale skin, and wide pensive eyes; not to mention her full lips and curvaceous hips and breasts.<\/p>\n Beautiful as a rattler in the sun.<\/p>\n She met his gaze and said, her tone curiously flat.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s gone.\u00a0 Let me help you while I can.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d written that he was stupid, but he wasn\u2019t that<\/em> stupid.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce bitten,\u201d Joe snarled between clenched teeth.<\/p>\n The girl winced and then nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI understand.\u00a0 You have no reason to trust me.\u00a0 What I did….\u201d\u00a0 Her jaw grew tight.\u00a0 \u201cHe was watching.\u00a0 I had to \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHumiliate me?\u00a0 Debase me?!\u201d\u00a0 Joe blinked back the tears that formed.\u00a0 God, he hated<\/em> her for what she had done!<\/p>\n Jezebel took another step.\u00a0 \u201cHe would have killed me…and you….\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe I\u2019d rather be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n Another tear fell.\u00a0 \u201cI know<\/em> I would.\u00a0 But you have to understand.\u201d\u00a0 She opened her hands wide. \u00a0One of them still held the bloody cloth she had used on his face. \u201cI have nothing \u2013 no one else.\u00a0 I have to do what he tells me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to, but I have<\/em> to…\u201d<\/p>\n Joe sneered.\u00a0 \u201c…dance with the Devil?\u201d<\/p>\n It was one of Adam\u2019s quotes. \u00a0\u2018If you dance with the Devil, then you haven\u2019t got a clue.\u00a0 You think you\u2019ll change the Devil, but the Devil changes you.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n He could see she knew it.<\/p>\n Knew it all too<\/em> well.<\/p>\n With sudden inspiration, he asked, \u201cIs Jezebel your real name?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s what Ahab calls me,\u201d she replied.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s what he calls all his girls.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen you…made a…choice.\u201d He was breathing hard, damn it!\u00a0 So much for not showing fear before your enemy.\u00a0 \u201cYou have to f ace it, it\u2019s who you\u2019ve chosen to become.\u201d<\/p>\n Her head shook. \u201cI had no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou had a choice.\u00a0 You made a bad one.\u201d\u00a0 Joe sucked blood from his lip and spit it out.\u00a0 \u201cBad choices usually come out of fear.\u201d<\/p>\n She was looking at him like he\u2019d grown two heads.\u00a0 So maybe, just maybe,<\/em> he was getting through to her.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s your name \u2013 your real name?\u201d<\/p>\n The girl took a step back. \u00a0\u201cI…I don\u2019t have one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, you do,\u201d he pressed. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. \u00a0Tell me…what it is.\u201d\u00a0 Joe tried to stand but gave up as fresh pain shot through him, threatening to take him out again.\u00a0 \u201cLook, Jezebel or whatever your name is, I think I…might be dying.\u201d\u00a0 He was saying it for effect, but still \u2013 the way his insides felt \u2013 he wasn\u2019t so sure it was far from the truth.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, is that what you want me to tell him?\u00a0 \u00a0That the woman who killed me was a scheming, conniving whore with no heart?\u201d<\/p>\n She glanced at the door again and then back at him.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t want you to die.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I\u2019m gonna and…you know it.\u00a0 Ahab isn\u2019t gonna let me…go.\u00a0 \u00a0He can\u2019t.\u00a0 I\u2019ve…seen him, just like I\u2019ve seen you.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 It was a desperate game he was playing.\u00a0 If she wasn\u2019t what she appeared to be \u2013 and was instead what he had experienced a while back \u2013 then he was falling right into her trap and she was going to hurt him like he\u2019d never been hurt before.\u00a0 \u201cWhy don\u2019t you kill me right now?\u201d\u00a0 Joe sucked in air against renewed pain.\u00a0 \u201cKill me, Mrs. Maybe<\/em> Jones, or set me free.\u201d<\/p>\n For a moment she remained where she was and then, haltingly, moved toward him.\u00a0 Then, just as quickly, she turned and ran toward the door.<\/p>\n It opened on Ahab.<\/p>\n Joe watched helplessly as the brute\u2019s hand shot out to take Jezebel by the neck.\u00a0 He held that pose for several seconds and then drew her into an embrace and kissed her hard.<\/p>\n At that moment Joe knew he had been had.\u00a0 It had<\/em> all been a game, meant to break him.\u00a0 Ahab had been outside the door, listening \u2013 and probably laughing \u2013 all along.<\/p>\n Ahab took Jezebel by the shoulders and thrust her out the door and then slammed it shut behind him.\u00a0 He locked it before turning back into the room.<\/p>\n \u201cBet you missed me, didn\u2019t you?\u201d he sneered.\u00a0 \u201cPretty boy.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n SIX<\/p>\n There was one thing you could say for the life of a bank robber.\u00a0 It honed your senses to a very fine point.\u00a0 One second\u2019s hesitation and you knew you could be captured.<\/p>\n Or worse.<\/p>\n Trock ran a hand through his thick black hair before placing his hat back on his head. \u00a0He had followed the trail from the abandoned rig through the countryside and up into the hills.\u00a0 When he left prison \u2013 and before he joined Lee \u2013 he\u2019d taken time to scout the surrounding territory around her place, looking for signs of trouble.\u00a0 He was no innocent.\u00a0 Most men were out for themselves and he knew it was now his job to protect her.<\/p>\n After all, look what happened when he<\/em> first darkened her doorstep.<\/p>\n He\u2019d come on the old cabin in the woods during that trip.\u00a0 It had showed signs of recent habitation, but been unoccupied at the time. \u00a0Using one of his former…skills…he\u2019d picked the padlock on the door and gone inside.\u00a0 There were indications that it had been occupied by a man and a woman.\u00a0 From what he\u2019d seen, she was young and probably not<\/em> the kind of girl Ben Cartwright would have wanted his youngest associating with.\u00a0 The clothes in the trunk in the corner were flashy and cut to show off everything a woman owned.\u00a0 There were other things as well, tricks of the trade \u2013 rouges and powders and perfumes.<\/p>\n That was one of the things he loved about Lee. \u00a0She smelled clean.<\/p>\n Just…clean.<\/p>\n The man was harder to pin.\u00a0 Older, he would guess \u2013 at least older than the woman.\u00a0 Not a cowboy or ranch hand as the clothes were mostly naval in origin.\u00a0 Not rich either, though there was evidence of money.\u00a0 The whiskey bottles he\u2019d found abandoned out back dated to the last century.\u00a0 At the time of his discovery, he\u2019d thought little of it.\u00a0 Now, those particular labels sent a chill up his spine.\u00a0 \u2018Ahab\u2019, as his old partner called himself, out of some twisted \u00a0sense of destiny and devil\u2019s humor, had a taste not only for doxies but for aged bourbon whiskey, and at least pretended to the life of an ex-sailor.<\/p>\n The former bank robber sighed as he urged his mount to move faster and headed for the cabin.\u00a0 He and old Ahab had had a grand time of it while it lasted.\u00a0 The man was a brute, but at the time a brute had been what was needed.\u00a0 Trock\u2019s lips curled with chagrin.\u00a0 Sometimes he missed the old days.\u00a0 There was an undeniable and illicit excitement to the criminal.\u00a0 Of course, as he had learned when he took a bullet during that last robbery, there was also a heavy price to be paid, and not only by him.\u00a0 Lee could have died.\u00a0 Joe Cartwright almost did.<\/p>\n He almost did.<\/p>\n No, he\u2019d been right to abandon Ahab when he did. \u00a0The man had gotten completely out of control.\u00a0 He\u2019d joined up with the crimper for his strong arm and ended up with that arm around his neck \u2013 and almost as a noose. \u00a0The powerful man who was the father of the boy Ahab killed vowed he would find them all and bring them all to justice.\u00a0 His<\/em> kind of justice.<\/p>\n Trock snorted.\u00a0 Most likely, the noose would have been preferable.<\/p>\n Anyhow, he\u2019d put all that behind him years ago.\u00a0 Or, so he thought.\u00a0 With Ahab\u2019s return, he was going to have to face what he\u2019d done.\u00a0 Lee had no idea that he was wanted in another state for a murder he didn\u2019t commit.\u00a0 He\u2019d hoped she would never have to know.\u00a0 If Ahab had left a trail the man could follow, then it might just be that his past was about to catch up to him.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t drag her into it or take her down with him.<\/p>\n He loved her too much.<\/p>\n The trouble was, he didn\u2019t know what he could do to stop it that was legal.\u00a0 If he went to the local sheriff and confessed and led the man to Ahab, it might buy him a lighter sentence \u2013 and keep that noose from around his neck \u2013 but he was still going to serve time and that was the last thing he wanted to do.\u00a0 Four years in Hell had been more than enough.<\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n He could kill him, of course.\u00a0 But then there was the woman and he didn\u2019t want to kill a woman.\u00a0 Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing whether she was with Ahab by choice or by force.\u00a0 Knowing his old partner, he imagined it was the latter, but the woman was an unknown quantity in the equation.\u00a0 She might help him or she might turn him in.<\/p>\n Or maybe just shoot him.<\/p>\n Who could have imagined that going straight would prove so complicated?<\/p>\n He\u2019d reached the edge of the yard that fronted the cabin.\u00a0 Reining in his horse, Trock dismounted.\u00a0 He looked around until he found a vantage point from which to watch that he felt was not only safe but defensible, and then made his way over to it.\u00a0 It had a view of both the front and the eastern wall, plus a bit of the back where he could see a boarded up window.\u00a0 There were several small outbuildings \u2013 a shack and a privy and something else, maybe a chicken coop.\u00a0 They were pretty evenly spaced, so he could probably make his way from one to the other without being spotted.\u00a0 If Ahab was a man of habit \u2013 and by all means, he was \u2013 and he did<\/em> have Joe Cartwright, then most likely the luckless young man was being kept in the room with the boarded up window.\u00a0 Ahab had a sadistic streak. \u00a0He took great joy in breaking the unbreakable.\u00a0 That was part of the reason he targeted the poor young man he\u2019d ended up killing.\u00a0 The boy\u2019s father was a self-made man, hard-nosed, a bit brutal, and almost disagreeably self-assured.\u00a0 The other part was that Sunders Haywood and his only son were close.\u00a0 That was another thing about Ahab. \u00a0There was nothing that moved him more than the closeness between father and son.<\/p>\n Moved him to murder.<\/p>\n As he lowered himself into a nest of branches, using them and the fallen trunk they sprang from as cover, Trock noticed movement at the other end of the yard.\u00a0 At first he thought it was Ahab, but then he realized the man couldn\u2019t have aged that much since he\u2019d ended their association. \u00a0The build was the same \u2013 square, solid, and a bit stout \u2013 and the man coming toward him had grizzled blondish gray, but the way he held himself said nothing of power or supreme confidence and everything of despair.\u00a0 Whoever it was walked with their head down; their steps slow and uncertain.\u00a0 He muttered as he went.\u00a0 Trock couldn\u2019t hear what he said, but it seemed the man was arguing with himself.<\/p>\n He snorted.\u00a0 Seemed like the thing to do today.<\/p>\n Settling back, the former bank robber set himself to watch hoping, but not in the least suspecting, that he was wrong about the pair that occupied the cabin.<\/p>\n And wondering what the Hell he was going to do to save that fool Cartwright if he was right.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAhab, there\u2019s someone outside.\u201d<\/p>\n Hadley sucked in pain and put a finger to her mouth.\u00a0 Her lower lip was swollen to nearly twice its normal size.\u00a0 Once Ahab…finished with…Joe Cartwright, he had come for her and beaten her soundly.\u00a0 There were times when she was sure he was a mind-reader.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t said anything or done anything different, but he knew.<\/p>\n Ahab knew <\/em>what she was thinking.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t that she intended to free their captive.\u00a0 She was too afraid to do that.\u00a0 But she\u2019d, well, for some reason she\u2019d started to think of Joe Cartwright as a human being and wanted to do something \u2013 anything<\/em> \u2013 to ease his suffering even if only a bit and that simply wasn\u2019t allowed.<\/p>\n Being human, that is, wasn\u2019t allowed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you mean, someone\u2019s outside?\u201d Ahab growled.\u00a0 He was at the dry sink washing the blood from his knuckles.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t looked in on the man she\u2019d enticed and tormented.<\/p>\n She couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an old man walking up the path,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n Hadley squinted in concentration.\u00a0 It was hard to see with her eye swelling shut.\u00a0 The old man looked kind of familiar.\u00a0 She thought she might have seen him in Virginia City. \u00a0Come to think of it, it had been the day after Joe became their mark . The day Ahab seemed to…well…go over the edge.<\/p>\n Turning she looked at Ahab\u2019s back.\u00a0 There was a definite resemblance between the man coming toward the cabin and the one at the sink.<\/p>\n Was this Ahab\u2019s father?<\/p>\n Ahab growled again as he threw the blood-stained towel into the basin and stormed across the room.\u00a0 Hadley moved quickly out of his way.\u00a0 She\u2019d seen the signs before.\u00a0 He was at a fever pitch.\u00a0 One little thing could set him off.<\/p>\n She feared for Joe Cartwright\u2019s life as well as her own.<\/p>\n When he reached the window and pulled back the curtain to look out, Ahab did something that surprised her.\u00a0 He let out a mirthless chuckle.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, what do you know?\u201d he snorted.\u00a0 \u201cIt must be true that God favors the bold.\u201d<\/p>\n If he meant himself, Hadley doubted God had anything to do with it.<\/p>\n \u201cWho is he?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll let you know once he tells me,\u201d her procurer snarled as he moved to the door.\u00a0 Before opening it, Ahab turned back. \u00a0\u201cGo in the back and see if the kid\u2019s still breathin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAhab, no.\u00a0 I don\u2019t….\u201d\u00a0 Hadley\u2019s voice trailed off.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you don\u2019t do, my girl, is get any high-handed notions about rich boy back there.\u00a0 Don\u2019t fool yourself that Joe Cartwright sees you as anything other than a slut who betrayed him.\u00a0 He hates you.\u201d\u00a0 If Ahab had anything about him that was clean it was his teeth.\u00a0 Stark white flashed in a deeply tanned face, making him look like a predator.\u00a0 \u201cHe made that clear while we were having our little…discussion\u201d<\/p>\n She opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out.\u00a0 Seconds later she closed it and nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s my Jezebel.\u00a0 You might just live to see another day.\u201d<\/p>\n With that, he was out the door.<\/p>\n Hadley stared after Ahab for several heartbeats and then turned on her heel and walked woodenly toward the back room.\u00a0 At the door she paused, steeling herself for what she knew she would find.\u00a0 Ahab knew how and where to hit to inflict the most damage without putting a victim\u2019s life in danger. \u00a0He would have done everything he could to reduce Joe Cartwright from the cocky, handsome, sure-of-himself man he was to a quivering mass of jelly.<\/p>\n Putting her hand to the latch, Hadley drew a breath and stepped in.\u00a0 She was immediately assaulted by the stale smell of sweat, vomit, and old blood.\u00a0 Her eyes darted about the room, noticing the spatter on the walls and then sought out the man she had betrayed.<\/p>\n She expected to find a corpse.<\/p>\n Instead \u2013 battered and bruised; his expensive clothing stained with blood, sweat, and the contents of yesterday\u2019s breakfast \u2013 Joe Cartwright lifted his head from the floor and looked right at her.\u00a0 He blinked as he focused on her face \u2013 on the bruises and the blood \u2013 and noted she looked much the same.<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s green eyes widened.\u00a0 Those full lips parted.\u00a0 No sound came out, but she could read the words.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d he mouthed.<\/p>\n Just before his head hit the floor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dan Tollivar halted in his tracks as the door to the rundown cabin opened emitting a ghost.\u00a0 It had been decades, but there was no mistaking the boy the man had been.\u00a0 It was like looking in a mirror \u2013 except for Mal\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n They were all Beryl.<\/p>\n \u201cSon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou lost the right to call me that a long time ago, old man,\u201d Malachi Tollivar growled.<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 It was true.\u00a0 \u201cMal, then.\u201d<\/p>\n His son snorted.\u00a0 \u201cI haven\u2019t used that name since I was fifteen. You can call me \u2018Ahab\u2019 like the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAhab?\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019d been one of them fancy women \u2013 a friend of Beryl\u2019s \u2013 had read to the boy out of the Bible. \u00a0Ahab had been one of Israel\u2019s wickedest kings who\u2019d led the land and its people away from God and to destruction.<\/p>\n The name defined the man.<\/p>\n His son took a step toward him. \u201cYou got the money, old man?\u00a0 You better or my life ain\u2019t worth a plugged nickel.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan cleared his throat.\u00a0 He looked into those cold, lifeless eyes.\u00a0 \u201cNo, I don\u2019t.\u00a0 I…couldn\u2019t go through with it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCouldn\u2019t go through with what?\u201d Mal, or Ahab demanded.\u00a0 \u201cKidnappin\u2019 Joe Cartwright, you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTemple and Sand didn\u2019t want to kidnap the boy. \u00a0They was gonna kill him!\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t let them do that to Ben Cartwright or his boy.\u00a0 It weren\u2019t right!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut lettin\u2019 me die is?\u201d\u00a0 His son\u2019s face grew dark. \u00a0Thunder sat on his brow and lightning flashed in those empty eyes. \u00a0\u201cYou care more about those high-and-mighty Cartwrights than you do me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat ain\u2019t true.\u00a0 If you\u2019d of let me, I\u2019d of taken care of \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStow it, old man!\u00a0 You\u2019re only fooling yourself.\u00a0 Old man Cartwright took you in so he could take from you what he needed and then let you fall.\u201d \u00a0His son had moved to stand before him.\u00a0 He jabbed a finger into his chest to emphasize his point.\u00a0 \u201cI asked around Virginia City. \u00a0I know all about it \u2013 how you had the kid and<\/em> the money and you turned yellow and let them both go!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut they would have killed him!\u00a0 They would have killed Little Joe!\u201d<\/p>\n The man before him who had been his child, but was now a monster sneered. \u00a0\u201cWould have saved me the trouble then.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan paled.\u00a0 His eyes shot past his son to the cabin behind him. \u201cJoe\u2019s safe at Lee Throckmorton\u2019s place,\u201d he said, his voice hushed with fear.<\/p>\n \u201cIs he?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean you got him here?\u00a0 <\/em>Why, Mal?\u00a0 Why would you hurt him?\u201d \u00a0Tears filled the older man\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s just a boy barely begun his life.\u201d<\/p>\n His son\u2019s body was rigid; his face became granite.\u00a0 \u201cWhy, old man?\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell <\/em>you why.\u00a0 Because you chose that snot-nosed prissy son of a rich man over me. \u00a0You chose to save his<\/em> life when you knew it would cost mine!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u00a0 I knew you had a chance.\u00a0 Together, I thought, you and me…we\u2019d find a way out!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a lie and you know it,\u201d his son breathed.\u00a0 \u201cYou think he\u2019s better than me.\u00a0 More worth livin\u2019 than me.\u00a0 You wrote me off all those years ago and you ain\u2019t given me a thought since!\u201d<\/p>\n Dan was shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo. \u00a0No!\u00a0 I\u2019m tellin\u2019 you, that ain\u2019t true!\u201d<\/p>\n Without warning, his son\u2019s hand shot out and caught him by the collar of his coat.\u00a0 He reeled him in closely \u2013 so closely he could smell the whiskey on his breath.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re coming with me, old man.\u00a0 I\u2019m gonna show you what\u2019s left of your precious Joe Cartwright and then….<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m gonna kill you both.\u201d<\/p>\n Hadley stood for a full minute, staring at the door to the back room, and then reached out and closed it and turned the key, locking it.\u00a0 She\u2019d listened long enough to realize she\u2019d guessed right about who the old man was who had come to call.\u00a0 She knew Ahab had asked his father for money on the pretense that someone was after him who would kill him if he didn\u2019t get it.\u00a0 That was just another of his schemes, formed to hurt the old man.\u00a0 There was no one pursuing him, unless it was the father of that boy he had killed and Haywood had no idea where to find him.\u00a0 She\u2019d seen how infuriated Ahab grew once he realized his father had chosen to save Joe Cartwright rather than do as he asked.\u00a0 She had no doubt he would kill the old man, but not before he forced him to watch him murder the boy he loved. \u00a0Hadley glanced at Joe where he lay semi-conscious on the floor, just beneath the boarded up window. \u00a0There had to be something special about him for so many people to care so deeply about his fate.<\/p>\n She had no idea what she could do to save him, but she had to try.<\/p>\n Crossing over to the wounded man, she knelt and fingered his sweat-soaked curls.\u00a0 When Joe Cartwright mouthed those words \u2013 \u2018I\u2019m sorry\u2019 \u2013 something in her had shattered.\u00a0 After what she had done he felt…compassion for her.\u00a0 It was misplaced.\u00a0 She knew that.\u00a0 She\u2019d seen the road to Hell her choices had paved and accepted the fact that there was nothing that could be done to stop her descent into the pit.\u00a0 Like the other fancy women Ahab had bought and used and discarded, she was doomed.<\/p>\n Still.\u00a0 Maybe \u2013 just, maybe \u2013 if she committed one selfless act….<\/p>\n Then again, if she thought of it that way, was it truly selfless?<\/p>\n Rising, she moved to the window and began to pry the rough boards loose with her fingers.\u00a0 Blood dripped from their tips as she did, adding to the\u00a0 pool of red slowly spreading out from Joe Cartwright\u2019s slender form.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t know what Ahab had done to him.\u00a0 Since Joe had regained consciousness \u2013 briefly \u2013 she prayed the amount of blood was due to the gash on the side of his head.\u00a0 She knew how scalp wounds could bleed.\u00a0 As she dropped the first board to the floor, Hadley\u2019s lips opened and she voiced a prayer.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease, God. \u00a0Please,<\/em> listen!\u00a0 I\u2019m not asking for myself this time….\u201d\u00a0 She looked down at Joe\u2019s pale face.\u00a0 \u201cPlease, God, save this man.\u00a0 He\u2019s a good man.\u00a0 He\u2019s done nothing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Another of the boards came loose.\u00a0 Startled, Hadley let out a little yelp as it did and then cast her gaze toward the door.\u00a0 She could hear raised voices.\u00a0 For the moment Ahab was occupied with his father, but soon he\u2019d realize where she was \u2013 and then, know what she\u2019d done.\u00a0 And then, like the obsessed seaman in Melville\u2019s tale, Ahab\u2019s compulsion would be to find and kill her.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n A third board came loose. This time to a small cry of triumph.\u00a0 When the fourth was out, the opening was large enough to allow her to escape.\u00a0 She glanced at the man lying on the floor.\u00a0 Joe was slender, but thicker than she was; his form well-muscled \u2013 not a son of wealth, but of hard work and honest living.\u00a0 Knowing she had to make the opening wider, she reached for the remaining board.<\/p>\n When her hand found not a board but another hand, she let out a distressed cry.<\/p>\n Outside the window a black-haired man stared at her as if she was out of her mind. \u00a0He leaned in and used his hand to cover her mouth.\u00a0 He shook his head and then, with pain in his eyes, inclined his head toward Joe.<\/p>\n \u2018Help me,\u201d he mouthed.<\/p>\n Hadley nodded and then turned back toward the entry to the room.\u00a0 She\u2019d heard the front door open and knew, any second, Ahab would be coming.<\/p>\n They were out of time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dan Tollivar halted on the threshold of the cabin his wayward son occupied and refused to move.<\/p>\n \u201cTell me what you\u2019ve done to the boy,\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n Ahab snorted as he continued on toward the back room.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll show you.\u00a0 You know what they say?\u00a0 A picture is worth a thousand words.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf all you want to do is get away, Mal,\u201d Dan said, deliberately using his boy\u2019s given name, \u201cyou can do that on less than ten thousand.\u00a0 Run to Mexico, boy.\u00a0 There\u2019s no jurisdiction there. \u00a0That man can\u2019t follow you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou gullible old fool!\u201d his son spat.\u00a0 \u201cDo you think I actually needed that money to pay off a debt?\u00a0 It was a test, old man.\u00a0 A test<\/em> to see just how much you loved your Malachi \u2013 and you failed!\u201d\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t get it, do you, Pa<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0 He nearly spit the word.\u00a0 \u201cLife means nothing to me except that every day I breathe is another day to take what I want and get what is owed me.\u201d<\/p>\n Tears kissed the older man\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u201cBoy, is there nothing of me in you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou?\u00a0 Of course, there is something of you in me!\u00a0 After all, didn\u2019t you jump at the chance to betray your best friend? \u00a0And for what reason?\u00a0 Because his son wounded your pride?\u201d\u00a0 Mal moved closer.\u00a0 \u201cI asked around in town.\u00a0 You let everyone know how much you hated Joe Cartwright for demeaning you; for making you feel worthless. Well, you know what, old man?\u00a0 Cartwright was right.\u00a0 You are worthless. Worthless to him, to Ben Cartwright, and to me!\u00a0 You deserve<\/em> to die!\u201d<\/p>\n Dan hung his head.\u00a0 He was right. His boy was right. \u00a0Looking up, the old man fixed his long-lost son with a look that spoke of despair and<\/em> determination.<\/p>\n The only thing left now was to make sure his death counted for something.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cPa, no! \u00a0Wait!\u00a0 We can\u2019t just go charging in there!\u00a0 We don\u2019t know if there\u2019s any more of them and we don\u2019t know where Joe is.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright glared at the hand that restrained him.\u00a0 He was right.\u00a0 Adam was right.<\/p>\n Adam had been right about everything.<\/p>\n They\u2019d followed the signs from the abandoned carriage. \u00a0About one third of the way along, they encountered two sets of tracks.\u00a0 One rider did nothing to hide his presence while the other was more secretive. \u00a0He made several feints and then his trail disappeared. \u00a0Hoss was the best tracker he knew, but whoever it was outfoxed even him.\u00a0 In the end they abandoned their pursuit of the unknown horseman and returned to the point of origin and took off after the other one.<\/p>\n Hoss believed it to be Dan Tollivar.<\/p>\n Hoss had, of course, tended to Dan\u2019s horse from time to time when the older man came to visit before…before Dan made the choice he made and caused a rift to open up between them.\u00a0 Hoss was sure the tracks they were following were his as he knew the cast of the black\u2019s shoes and its gait.\u00a0 His middle son admitted he\u2019d been surprised when they came across Dan\u2019s tracks, though Hoss \u2013 with his trusting nature \u2013 tried to explain it away, suggesting that, perhaps, Dan was seeking Joseph too.\u00a0 Adam had agreed, though the two brothers differed in what they believed the end<\/em> of that seeking was.\u00a0 Hoss wanted to believe Dan was trying to help Joseph.<\/p>\n Adam believed he had been in on it all along.<\/p>\n His eldest believed that, after his scheme to take Little Joe and hold him for ransom the first time failed, Dan had found a new partner and begun the whole thing again.\u00a0 A rider had overtaken them on the way.\u00a0 A young man who carried a note, written by Joseph and sealed in his young son\u2019s blood.\u00a0 Ben glanced at Hoss who stood stone-faced at his side.\u00a0 The big man had all but taken the boy apart before he and Adam were able to make him see that the young man was just a messenger and that killing the messenger would do nothing to bring Joseph back to them.<\/p>\n Alive.\u00a0 He prayed he came back alive.<\/p>\n They had come across Dan\u2019s trail shortly after that and followed to see where he would lead them.\u00a0 They were not that far out from Lee Throckmorton\u2019s place. Adam remembered an old abandoned cabin in this neck of the woods and suggested they head for it.\u00a0 Sure enough that was where they found Dan. They\u2019d watched him dismount and approach the cabin, and continued to watch as another man \u2013 he could have been Dan\u2019s twin in size and coloring \u2013 came out to confront him.\u00a0 The pair got into a heated discussion, which they had just moved inside.<\/p>\n From the sound of it, they were still arguing.<\/p>\n Ben turned to look at his eldest son.\u00a0 \u201cAdam, I can\u2019t just sit here while your brother \u2013 while Joe may be in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know that, Pa.\u00a0 I\u2019m just saying, we need a plan.\u201d Adam looked at his brother.\u00a0 \u201cThe cabin has a back room, right? \u00a0With a boarded up window?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss nodded. \u00a0\u201cLeastwise it did when the Kelly\u2019s lived here.\u201d\u00a0 He turned to him.\u00a0 \u201cYou remember, don\u2019t you, Pa?\u00a0 We stopped there for water once when we were heading to Doc Bolden\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019d been on their way home. \u2013 him and Adam and Hoss.\u00a0 Joseph was a baby and had remained at home with Marie.\u00a0 Adam had fallen ill on the trail and they\u2019d stopped to care for him before pressing on to Tom\u2019s home.\u00a0 Cabins had been few and far between in those days and it was always wise to note where help, if needed, could be found.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember.\u201d\u00a0 Ben thought a moment.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll head around the back.\u00a0 You boys wait for my signal and then go in from the front.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s hand caught his arm.\u00a0 \u201cPa, Dan may be caught in the crossfire.\u201d<\/p>\n He drew in a breath.\u00a0 If Dan was innocent, God would preserve him.\u00a0 If not….<\/p>\n \u201cI know, but your brother comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 I wish I had been wrong.\u00a0 I know what Dan means to \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n He stopped him.\u00a0 \u201cNo one means more to me than you or your brothers.\u00a0 Do what you have to do to protect Joseph \u2013 and yourself.\u00a0 Do you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam held his gaze for a moment and then nodded.<\/p>\n What Ben found when he reached the back of the house confused him.\u00a0 The window of the room at the back