Summary:\u00a0 A new school teacher comes to town and Adam and Hoss fear their little brother is growing too attached to her. Little do they know that the real danger is to their father. Will Ben’s heart break if he dares to love again, and what secrets does this mysterious woman hold?<\/p>\n
Word count: 50,584<\/p>\n
Rated: PG-13<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Heart of Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Prologue<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben Cartwright came home late.<\/p>\n He was hot and sweaty, exasperated, and just about at the end of his tether.\u00a0 It had been one long hard day.\u00a0 A mine had opened recently, close enough to the settlement and offering ridiculously high wages, and it had drawn even some of his seasoned hands away. They were men used to the wide open spaces who would hate being in the dark and underground, but at the prices the Corabelle was paying, even a few short abortive weeks would be enough to set a man up for the winter.<\/p>\n The few short weeks he needed them desperately for the autumn cattle drive.<\/p>\n The rancher scowled as he removed his gloves and tossed them on the credenza.\u00a0 He had Adam and Hoss, of course.\u00a0 They were his good right hands.\u00a0 So far he had not allowed Joseph to go.\u00a0 The thirteen-year-old was on the cusp of being a man, but he was excitable and unpredictable and that was the one thing he did not <\/em>need when it came to driving several thousand cattle to a fort in another territory.\u00a0 This army contract would see them <\/em>through the winter.<\/p>\n It had to go off without a hitch.<\/p>\n As Ben turned to enter the great room, ready for his chair and a glass of brandy, he realized he wasn’t alone.\u00a0 Someone shifted and rose from the blue chair to the right of the hearth.\u00a0 It wasn’t Adam as he suspected but Hoss, who came his way.<\/p>\n “Welcome home, Pa,” his son said.<\/p>\n “Thank you.\u00a0 What are you doing up?\u00a0 It’s late.\u00a0 I would have thought you’d be in bed by now.”<\/p>\n “I gotta admit I thought about it,” his big teenage son said.\u00a0 “I got a lot to do tomorrow.\u00a0 So does Adam.\u00a0 But we wanted to talk to you\u2026.”<\/p>\n “When Little Joe wasn’t around,” came a voice from near the dining table.<\/p>\n Ben looked from Hoss to Adam, who was emerging from the shadows. \u00a0Both of them.\u00a0 Up late and wanting to talk about their little brother. This must be serious.<\/p>\n The older man sighed.<\/p>\n He was too tired for ‘serious’.<\/p>\n Ben moved to his chair and dropped into it.\u00a0 “What has Joseph done now?”<\/p>\n “Pa.\u00a0 It ain’t that,” Hoss said as he took a place on the settee across from him.\u00a0 “Little Joe ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”<\/p>\n “Yet,” Adam added as he handed him a brandy.\u00a0 Apparently that was what his oldest had been doing by the table – getting him a drink.\u00a0 “I thought you might need it,” he added with a grin.<\/p>\n The older man took a sip.\u00a0 “So what is it your brother hasn’t done – but might do?”<\/p>\n “Pa, Little Joe, he’s\u2026.\u00a0 Well, he’s just a kid, but he’s\u2026.” Hoss started.<\/p>\n “He’s getting to be a big<\/em> kid,” Adam finished for him and then added with a wry grin, “It’s hard to believe, but in a few years Joe will be a man.”<\/p>\n It was hard to believe. \u00a0Joseph had been four when his mother died.\u00a0 It seemed like yesterday.<\/p>\n “And is there a problem with your little brother becoming a man\u2026in a few years?”<\/p>\n Hoss and Adam were looking at each other.<\/p>\n “What aren’t you telling me?” he demanded.<\/p>\n “Now, Pa, keep your temper,” twenty-five year old Adam said and then winced as if he shouldn’t have.\u00a0 “Sorry, sir, I meant any disrespect.\u00a0 It’s just that, well, it’s hard to explain.”<\/p>\n “Mistah Hoss and Mistah Adam need to stop beating bush.\u00a0 Tell father number three son in love!”<\/p>\n Ben didn’t know which startled him most – Hop Sing popping up out of nowhere or what his Chinese housekeeper had said.\u00a0 He looked at his boys and then turned to the Asian man.<\/p>\n “Little Joe is in love?” As Hop Sing nodded, he turned back to his sons.\u00a0 “The boy’s only thirteen.\u00a0 He doesn’t know what love is!\u00a0 No doubt it’s just a crush.”<\/p>\n “Oh, it\u2019s a crush all right,” Adam sighed.<\/p>\n Hoss’ head bobbed up and down.\u00a0 “Yes, sir.\u00a0 That’s what it is.”<\/p>\n There was something they weren’t telling him.<\/p>\n “You both had crushes at that age.\u00a0 Why is this any different?”<\/p>\n Adam ran a hand over his chin.\u00a0 “Have you noticed, Pa, how lately Little Joe hasn’t been fighting you about going to school?”<\/p>\n The abrupt change of subject had his head reeling.\u00a0 “What does that have to do with\u2026this?”<\/p>\n “You know Miss Jones is away?”<\/p>\n Of course, he knew.\u00a0 As a member of the school board he had approved her leave.<\/p>\n “Yes.”<\/p>\n “Have you seen her replacement?”<\/p>\n Actually, he hadn’t.\u00a0 He’d been away when Mrs. Drummond arrived in town and hadn’t had time to make her acquaintance yet.<\/p>\n “No, I haven’t,” Ben admitted.\u00a0 “But I’ve heard very good reports of her.\u00a0 Is she giving your brother trouble over this crush of his?”\u00a0 Perhaps Joseph had been acting up in school, or maybe even skipped it to be with this girl, whoever she was.<\/p>\n Could it be that Mrs. Drummond was even more old-school than Miss Jones?<\/p>\n But no, that made no sense.\u00a0 As Adam said, Little Joe hadn’t fought going to school. In fact, the boy had been eager to leave the house in the mornings and often late to return.\u00a0 Come to think of it, he’d taken extra time with his ablutions and worn his best suit today.<\/p>\n Oh.<\/p>\n “Pa,” his eldest said, confirming his suspicions, “Mrs. Drummond is <\/em>Little Joe’s crush.”<\/p>\n The rancher adjusted his purchase on his chair.\u00a0 “Yes, well, we’ve all had crushes on our teachers at one time or another. The fact that the woman is married\u2026.”<\/p>\n “She’s not.”<\/p>\n He looked at Adam.<\/p>\n “Well, at least not anymore. I checked.\u00a0 She was widowed last year.\u00a0 It’s why she sought a position out West.”<\/p>\n “\u2026her age then\u2026.”<\/p>\n “Missy Drummond very young,” Hop Sing chimed in as he placed a tray with coffee and cake on the table before them.\u00a0 “See her leaving mercantile.\u00a0 She very young\u2026very<\/em> pretty.”<\/p>\n He looked at Hoss.<\/p>\n His son shrugged as he reached for a piece of cake.\u00a0 “She’s in her twenties, Pa.”<\/p>\n “From what I hear, she’s in her early<\/em> twenties,” Adam corrected.<\/p>\n Ben tried to recall if Mrs. Drummond had given her age on her application.<\/p>\n He couldn’t.<\/p>\n “She came highly recommended and is considered well qualified.”\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 “Has she behaved improperly toward your brother?”<\/p>\n “Oh, heck no, Pa. We ain’t sayin’ that,” Hoss said, his mouth half-full.\u00a0 He swallowed before continuing.\u00a0 “It’s just that, well, like we said, Little Joe’s gettin’ older and you know how it is when you ain’t a man, but you ain’t a boy anymore.\u00a0 You get certain\u2026.”\u00a0 He glanced at Adam.\u00a0 “\u2026feelin’s.”<\/p>\n Adam wrinkled his nose.\u00a0 “Urges, you might say.”<\/p>\n Good lord!<\/p>\n “Has your brother <\/em>behaved improperly toward Mrs. Drummond then?\u00a0 Is that what you’re telling me?”<\/p>\n “Not as I know,” Adam said. \u00a0“But Mrs. Carrington told me – ”<\/p>\n “Mrs. Carrington?\u00a0 Cora’s mother?\u00a0 How would she know?”<\/p>\n “She’s been helping out at the schoolhouse with the smaller children.\u00a0 Hop Sing and I ran into her at the general store.\u00a0 She mentioned that Little Joe had been coming to school early and leaving late.\u00a0 She said he had been very helpful, but that she was concerned he was becoming too attached to Mrs. Drummond.”\u00a0 Adam reached into his pocket and drew out a note.\u00a0 “She gave me this to give to you.\u00a0 It’s from Joe’s teacher.”<\/p>\n Ben looked at his son as he took the note.\u00a0 “And just when were you going to get around to telling me about this?”<\/p>\n Adam looked sheepish.\u00a0 “I knew you were tired, Pa.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want you\u2026going off half-cocked.\u00a0 Remember, Joe hasn’t done anything wrong.”<\/p>\n The older man stared at the note.\u00a0 Then he looked up the stairs toward his youngest’s room.<\/p>\n Yet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ONE<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Pa, what’re you doing here?”<\/p>\n Ben jumped a bit.\u00a0 He hadn’t expected to be discovered by his youngest standing, as he was, outside of the schoolhouse in the shade of a large tree.\u00a0 He’d been waiting for Joseph to leave so he could talk to his teacher.<\/p>\n “Where did you come from, son?” he asked. The boy had come upon him from the rear, as if he had been in town instead of in the school.<\/p>\n Little Joe nodded toward the stack of books in his hands. “Dora asked me to go to the mercantile and see if these books had come in on the morning stage.”<\/p>\n Ben was glancing at the readers.\u00a0 It took a moment.<\/p>\n “Dora?”<\/p>\n His son grinned.\u00a0 “Mrs. Drummond.\u00a0 She told us to call her Dora.\u00a0 She said ‘Mrs. Drummond’ was her husband’s mother and she was too young and nice to be that old and crabby.”<\/p>\n “I\u2026see\u2026.”<\/p>\n So much for decorum.<\/p>\n Ben held out his hand.\u00a0 “Why don’t you give me the books?\u00a0 I’ll take them in.”<\/p>\n Little Joe looked confused.\u00a0 “Dora\u2026Mrs. Drummond sent me on the errand, Pa.\u00a0 She’s counting on me.\u00a0 Don’t you think I oughta\u2026.”<\/p>\n “Your brothers are at the mercantile.\u00a0 They’re ordering supplies for the drive.\u00a0 I thought maybe you would like to help them.”<\/p>\n The boy’s wide green eyes lit up.\u00a0 “Really?\u00a0 You mean I can help?”\u00a0 Little Joe paused as if he was afraid to ask.\u00a0\u00a0 Then he did.\u00a0 “Does that mean you’re considering letting me go on the drive this year?”<\/p>\n Joseph would turn fourteen just about the time they set out.\u00a0 If he had been any other man’s son, he would have already been on a drive.\u00a0 He had to admit that he\u2026coddled the boy just a bit.<\/p>\n After losing Marie\u2026.<\/p>\n “Do you think I should?” he asked.<\/p>\n The boy opened his mouth to recite a number of reasons why he should, but then closed it and nodded.\u00a0 “I won’t let you down if you do, Pa,” he said.\u00a0 “I promise.”<\/p>\n Ben placed a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 “I know you wouldn’t, son.\u00a0 It’s just – ”<\/p>\n “Joseph?\u00a0 Is that you?”<\/p>\n They both turned toward the schoolhouse.\u00a0 The sun was setting and it cast the fa\u00e7ade into darkness.\u00a0 He could just see a slender figure moving into the doorway.<\/p>\n “Yes, Ma’am,” his son answered.<\/p>\n “Do you have the books?”<\/p>\n Ben stepped in front of the boy.\u00a0 “He does, but I need Joseph to run an errand for me.\u00a0 I’ll be bringing them in.”<\/p>\n The woman shifted slightly as if trying to see.\u00a0 “Mister Cartwright, is it?” she asked.<\/p>\n “Yes,” he replied as he took the books from his son.\u00a0 “Ben Cartwright.\u00a0 The school board sent me to check up on your progress.”<\/p>\n That wasn’t quite a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth either.<\/p>\n “So, that’s why you’re here,” Little Joe said.\u00a0 “Mrs. Drummond isn’t in any kind of trouble, is she, Pa?\u00a0 She’s just about the nicest teacher I ever had.”<\/p>\n The tone in the boy’s voice caught his attention.\u00a0 “Just<\/em> the nicest?”<\/p>\n His son’s smile was dreamy.\u00a0 “She’s the prettiest too.”<\/p>\n “I see,” he said.<\/p>\n And he did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The woman had her back to him when he entered the school.\u00a0 The light was fading fast and the room was cast in shadows. Mrs. Drummond had yet to light a lamp.\u00a0 Ben could see that she was a slender slip of a thing with a waist small enough for a man to circle with his hands.\u00a0 Her hair, he thought, was a rich blonde and she wore it in a twist on the top of her head, secured with an ivory comb. She was dressed respectfully in a high-necked white blouse and deep red skirt.\u00a0 A touch of gold glinted at her neck and flashed from her ears as she moved by the window.<\/p>\n “Thank you for coming, Mister Cartwright,” she said as she reached for the lamp that sat on a low table before the window. “I presume this is in response to the note I sent through Mrs. Carrington.”<\/p>\n “Yes.\u00a0 My eldest son gave it to me last night.”<\/p>\n “Thank you for giving such prompt attention to the matter,” she said as she struck a match.\u00a0 Its light cast her face even further into shadow.\u00a0 “I am very fond of Joseph.\u00a0 I wouldn’t want to see him get hurt.”<\/p>\n “His feelings you mean?”<\/p>\n She pivoted toward him.\u00a0 The lamp was in her hand now.\u00a0 He caught a glimpse of a lovely if slightly troubled face before it vanished into the dark.<\/p>\n “Of course,” she replied after a moment.\u00a0 “What else would I mean?”<\/p>\n Ben cleared his throat.\u00a0 “Your note seemed to indicate you were concerned about Joseph’s\u2026attentions to you. \u00a0That they might be, well, improper.”<\/p>\n “Oh dear!”\u00a0 The woman crossed to her desk and placed the lamp on it.\u00a0 “Did it sound that dire?\u00a0 Forgive me if it did.\u00a0 Joseph has done nothing wrong.”\u00a0 Mrs. Drummond sat down, just out of the circle of light.\u00a0 “In fact, he has been nothing but a gentleman.\u00a0 But you know how rumors begin.”\u00a0 There was a tone in her voice indicating that she<\/em> did.\u00a0 “He’s been coming in early and leaving late and the other children have begun to talk.\u00a0 It is only a matter of time before they say something to their parents that might be misconstrued.”\u00a0 Joe’s teacher paused. “Mister Cartwright, will you please take a seat?\u00a0 You are making me nervous.”<\/p>\n Ben started.\u00a0 “Forgive me,” he said.\u00a0 “Where would you like these books?”<\/p>\n “Just place them on one of the tables.”<\/p>\n He did so and then moved to take the chair she’d indicated, which was directly in front of her desk.<\/p>\n A moment later he laughed.<\/p>\n “Is something wrong?” she asked.<\/p>\n “No,” he replied with a smile.\u00a0 “It’s just that I feel like I’m<\/em> the one who’s about to end up with his nose in the corner.”<\/p>\n The young woman laughed as well – a lovely lilting sound.\u00a0 “From what your son has said, I have a feeling you might deserve it.”<\/p>\n He sobered instantly.\u00a0 “What has Joseph told you?”<\/p>\n “I’m sorry.\u00a0 That was out of place.”\u00a0 She hesitated.\u00a0 “It’s just that I’ve spent a good deal of time with Joseph and he seems at ease to speak with me.\u00a0 He’s told me all about his brothers and your fine house and\u2026.”<\/p>\n “And me?”<\/p>\n “Yes.\u00a0 Joseph loves and respects you, Mister Cartwright, but he also fears you.”<\/p>\n Ben swallowed.\u00a0 “A boy should<\/em> fear his father.”<\/p>\n “I agree.\u00a0 If it is a healthy<\/em> fear.\u00a0 What I am speaking of is a fear of a different kind.\u00a0 Joseph is afraid of failing to live up to your expectations.”<\/p>\n “How old are you?” he asked, his jaw tight.<\/p>\n “Are you indicating that I don’t know what I am talking about because I am young?” she countered quickly.\u00a0 “I can assure you I do.”<\/p>\n “Just how old are you?”<\/p>\n “Twenty.”<\/p>\n Just about Hoss’ age.\u00a0 Seven years older than his youngest son.<\/p>\n “I’m surprised, Mister Cartwright, to find you prone to hasty judgments.\u00a0 I would have expected more considering all I have been told.”<\/p>\n He was trying very <\/em>hard to control his temper. “Mrs. Drummond, you have held this position for how long now?\u00a0 A few weeks?\u00a0 And you claim to know my son better than I <\/em>do??”<\/p>\n “This is not my first position, Mister Cartwright.\u00a0 I have been teaching for just under five years.\u00a0 I received my certificate when I was barely older than your son.\u00a0 I also had\u00a0 a father whom I loved dearly, \u00a0and I might add, who loved me the same, who was extremely demanding and -”<\/p>\n Ben rose from his chair.\u00a0 “I am not<\/em> demanding!”<\/p>\n “And <\/em>short-tempered.”<\/p>\n He’d been about to blow.\u00a0 Drawing a deep breath, the rancher sought to calm himself.\u00a0 “Mrs. Drummond, you came highly recommended.\u00a0 I am not<\/em> questioning your credentials.\u00a0 What I am<\/em> questioning is your right to interfere in my son’s -”<\/p>\n “Interfere?” she snapped.\u00a0 “Mister Cartwright, being an educator is more than just teaching children to read and write.\u00a0 It is investing yourself in them and always – always<\/em> – looking out for their best interests. Joseph hungers for approval, sir, and in the end that will lead to nothing but trouble.\u00a0 He will seek it – look<\/em> for it in all the wrong places.\u00a0 He\u2026.” The woman drew a breath and paused, as if she knew she had gone too far.\u00a0 “Forgive me.\u00a0 I have overstepped my bounds.\u00a0 Your son is a very special boy.\u00a0 I have grown quite fond of him and want only his best.”<\/p>\n Ben still had not seen her clearly, but he knew what kind of a woman she was.<\/p>\n He puffed out a breath and then said, more calmly.\u00a0 “You are very passionate about your work.”<\/p>\n “I am passionate about my students.” \u00a0She thought a moment.\u00a0 “Mister Cartwright -”<\/p>\n “Ben.”<\/p>\n “Ben.\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 I have been told that I have a gift for teaching. \u00a0Helping children to realize their full academic potential is very important to me, but that is not why<\/em> I teach.\u00a0 My own childhood was\u2026troubled.\u00a0 It is my desire to help others avoid the mistakes that I made.”<\/p>\n He actually smiled this time.\u00a0 “You sound very old and wise.”<\/p>\n “I feel <\/em>very old some days,” she admitted.\u00a0 “Ben, I know you are a very busy man.\u00a0 All I am asking is that you give Joseph a little more attention.\u00a0 He needs reassurance. He needs to know that he is important, not only to you but to your work.”\u00a0 The woman paused.\u00a0 “But most of all, Joseph needs you to spend time<\/em> with him.”<\/p>\n Ben fell silent.\u00a0 It was as if someone had walked over his grave.<\/p>\n “Mister\u2026Ben, are you all right?” Mrs. Drummond asked as she rounded the desk.<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 “What you just said.\u00a0 My late wife.\u00a0 She said the same thing just before\u2026.”<\/p>\n The late afternoon light flooding in the open door struck Joseph’s teacher fully for the first time.\u00a0 As Hop Sing had said, she was very young and very<\/em> pretty, but there was something else she was that he had failed to mention.<\/p>\n No wonder Joseph was attracted to her.<\/p>\n Dora Drummond, with her blonde hair, small-boned form, and strong, forceful personality, was a dead ringer for Little Joe’s mother.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Hi, Little Joe.”<\/p>\n Adam had sent him back into the store to get something they’d left behind.\u00a0 Joe was in the middle of reaching for it when that soft voice made him turn.\u00a0 When he did, his hand brushed the fabric of Cora Lee Carrington’s finely boned ivory dress –<\/p>\n And her breast.<\/p>\n He went white as a sheet.<\/p>\n She just laughed.<\/p>\n “Cora, I’m\u2026.\u00a0 Gosh, I’m sorry.”\u00a0 A blush replaced the pallor.\u00a0 “I didn\u2019t mean to.\u00a0 I\u2026.”<\/p>\n Cora leaned in so close he could smell the sugar-water in her hair.\u00a0 “It’s okay, Little Joe.\u00a0 I was hoping you would.”<\/p>\n Joe’s gaze went to the young man standing outside the mercantile talking to his brothers.\u00a0 Cora was a month or two older than him.\u00a0 Her brother Jenson was a few months older than Hoss.\u00a0 Their pa was\u00a0 the one who had just opened a mine outside of the settlement.\u00a0 He called it the ‘Corabelle’.<\/p>\n Pa didn’t like him.<\/p>\n But then, Pa didn\u2019t like Cora much either.<\/p>\n “You know, Little Joe, you’re just about the handsomest boy in school.\u00a0 All the girls say so.”\u00a0 She moved a little closer, so her hand was brushing his. “They say you’re the best kisser too.\u00a0 Is that true?”<\/p>\n Now he wasn’t going to deny he’d kissed a few girls.\u00a0 And he wouldn’t be surprised if he was<\/em> the best kisser, even though he really didn’t have much of anything to compare himself to.\u00a0 But he wasn’t about to kiss Cora.<\/p>\n Not with Jenson around.<\/p>\n “I gotta go, Cora.\u00a0 My brothers are waiting,” Joe said as he reached for the package on the counter behind her.<\/p>\n “They aren’t paying any attention. \u00a0I told Jenson to keep them busy.”<\/p>\n Joe glanced out the window.\u00a0 Sure enough, his brothers were moving way – with Jenson.\u00a0 “You what?\u00a0 Why?”<\/p>\n “So I could talk to you, silly,” Cora responded as she walked her gloved fingers up his chest to his chin.<\/p>\n “But your brother doesn’t like me.”\u00a0 The nineteen-year-old had made that<\/em> clear enough a few days before when he warned him to stay away from his sister.<\/p>\n “Oh, it isn’t that Jen doesn’t like you.\u00a0 He just doesn’t trust <\/em>you.”\u00a0 Cora leaned in and lowered her voice.\u00a0 This time her leg beneath her skirts brushed his thigh.\u00a0 “He’s a man, after all.\u00a0 Just like you.”<\/p>\n Being a man was all that mattered, really.\u00a0 Joe wanted it so bad he could taste it.\u00a0 Hoss and Adam were men and he wanted to be just like them.\u00a0 He wanted to rope and ride and work the drives and be able to pull his own weight on the ranch.\u00a0 That was the part of being a man he understood.<\/p>\n What was happening with his body at this moment was the part that scared the wits out of him.<\/p>\n “Hey there, Little Joe!\u00a0 You got that package yet?”<\/p>\n Joe let out a long breath.\u00a0 He’d never heard anything as sweet as his brother’s voice.<\/p>\n “Sure\u2026sure do, Hoss,” he squeaked as he made a grab for it.\u00a0 Once it was in hand, Joe tipped his hat to Cora and slipped around her.\u00a0 “I gotta go.”<\/p>\n As he came abreast Hoss, the big man said, “Miss Cora, I plumb near forgot.\u00a0 Your brother told me to tell you he’s waitin’ at the livery for you.”<\/p>\n Cora didn’t look too happy about it.\u00a0 “Is that so?\u00a0 Well, you can tell him he can wait until I am good and ready!”<\/p>\n Hoss smiled.\u00a0 “Jenson said you’d say that, so he gave me another message for you.”<\/p>\n “Oh?”<\/p>\n “Yeah, he said you was to come, ready or not, otherwise he’d be by to pick you up – and none too gently.”<\/p>\n And Joe thought he’d<\/em> gone white before!<\/p>\n “Oh, very well,” Cora pouted.\u00a0 “I was ready anyhow.”\u00a0 Joe moved out of the way as the flirtatious girl started for the door.\u00a0 She glanced at Hoss and then turned and gave him a teasing smile.\u00a0 “See you later, Little Joe.\u00a0 It was fun ‘running’ into you.”<\/p>\n Hoss watched her go and then looked down at him.\u00a0 “You got anything you want to tell me?”<\/p>\n He was holding his hat in front of him – just in case.<\/p>\n “No. \u00a0I just want to go home.”<\/p>\n His brother nodded.\u00a0 “Adam went to get Pa.”<\/p>\n “What? You mean Pa’s not back yet?”\u00a0 Panic set in.\u00a0 “Hoss, you don’t think he’s yelling at Mrs. Drummond, do you?\u00a0 I mean, you know how Pa can get.\u00a0 Maybe I oughta\u2026.”<\/p>\n “You oughta take it easy, little brother.\u00a0 Pa’s on the school board.\u00a0 They’s probably just disscussin’ her job.”\u00a0 Hoss pinned him with his crystal blue eyes.\u00a0 “There ain’t any other thing they’d be talkin’ about, is there?”<\/p>\n “Why are you lookin’ at me like that?\u00a0 I haven’t done anything wrong!”<\/p>\n “That’s why<\/em> I’m looking at you that way, little brother.\u00a0 To make sure you don’t<\/em>.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “ah\u2026hem\u2026.”<\/p>\n Hoss didn’t know whether to bust a gut laughin’ or shed a tear at the look on Little Joe’s face.\u00a0 It was obvious little brother thought the man who had just arrived and was standin’ in the doorway was Pa and the poor kid had near fainted dead away with embarrassment.<\/p>\n The fact that it was older brother, Adam, didn’t help much.<\/p>\n “Pa’s on his way,” Adam said as his stepped into the mercantile, his eyes on Joe.\u00a0 “Are you two ready?”<\/p>\n “I was ready yesterday!” Little Joe exclaimed as he started to work his way past.<\/p>\n Adam’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.\u00a0 “Did you get that package?”<\/p>\n Joe glanced at the crook of his arm where it was anchored.\u00a0 “Are you blind?\u00a0 Of course, I got it!”<\/p>\n Older brother blinked.\u00a0 “Well, pardon me for asking.”<\/p>\n “Here!\u00a0 Take it if it’s so dang important!” little brother said, thrusting it at him. \u00a0“I got other things to do.”<\/p>\n As Joe bolted out the door, Adam let his feelings out in a whistle.\u00a0 “What’s up with him?” he asked.<\/p>\n Hoss failed to hide his blushes.\u00a0 ‘Up’ with him was sure enough the problem.<\/p>\n “Cora Carrington,” he said.<\/p>\n Adam’s look darkened. \u00a0They both knew the Carrington girl for what she was, a flirt – and trouble with a capital ‘T’.<\/p>\n “Working her wiles, eh?” older brother asked as he came alongside him.<\/p>\n Hoss pushed his hat back with two fingers.\u00a0 “She’s workin’ somethin’ all right.\u00a0 When I came in, she was mighty close to little brother and that boy’s cheeks were – ”<\/p>\n “Red as a fire engine.\u00a0 I noticed.”\u00a0 Adam folded his arms.\u00a0 “I guess we knew this day would come.”<\/p>\n The big man blinked.\u00a0 “What day?”<\/p>\n “Joe, well, you know\u2026.”\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 “Becoming a\u2026man.”<\/p>\n Hoss glanced out the window.\u00a0 Little Joe was in the back of the wagon, propped up against the feed sacks with his hat pulled down over his eyes.\u00a0 Most like he was pretending to be asleep to avoid talkin’ to Pa who was just pullin’ up alongside it on Buck.\u00a0 The boy’s golden-brown curls were peekin’ out from under the flat black brim and blowin’ in the breeze.\u00a0 All of a sudden the big man was filled with a kind of sadness – a melancholy, the doc would have said, like he’d lost somethin’ precious.<\/p>\n “I know,” Adam said softly as he placed a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 “I felt the same way about you, you big lug.”<\/p>\n Hoss stated.\u00a0 “Me?\u00a0 What do you mean, me?”<\/p>\n “Emily Sue Sallinger.\u00a0 Or don\u2019t you remember?”<\/p>\n He thought a moment and then blushed right up to his eyebrows.\u00a0 “Oh.”<\/p>\n “How old were you?\u00a0 Fifteen?”<\/p>\n “I don’t remember how old I was, but I can tell you I remember right well the talkin’ to I got.\u00a0 That was the last time I ever tried somethin’ like that.”<\/p>\n “And<\/em> the last time you and Pa visited the woodshed, if I <\/em>remember correctly.”<\/p>\n Hoss let out a little sigh.\u00a0 “I was near as tall as Pa but that didn’t matter none.”<\/p>\n Adam looked out the door, into the fading light.\u00a0 “I don’t think Joe’s headed for the woodshed, but I think – unless I am sadly mistaken – that it’s time for ‘that’ talk.”<\/p>\n The big man nodded.\u00a0 “You think that Cora’s been puttin’ ideas in little brother’s head?\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s why he’s, well, thinkin’ about Mrs. Drummond?”<\/p>\n “From what I understand, Dora Drummond is an attractive young woman.\u00a0 I don’t think Cora has to put any ideas in Joe’s head.\u00a0 I’m sure they are already there.”<\/p>\n Hoss nodded.\u00a0 “You think Pa’s feelin’ like me – like his baby’s gone and grown up all of a sudden?”<\/p>\n Adam moved into the doorway.\u00a0 He didn’t answer for a moment but stared at their father and brother who were talkin’.\u00a0 Apparently Little Joe’s playin’ possum didn’t work.<\/p>\n “I imagine that’s among<\/em> the things Pa is feeling,” Adam replied.<\/p>\n “What else do you think he’s feelin’?”<\/p>\n Big brother looked over his shoulder and grinned.<\/p>\n “Scared.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Just as he was heading for the staircase and the safety of his bed, the words came that Joe had been dreading.<\/p>\n “Joseph, son, I think we need to talk.”<\/p>\n That<\/em> was the last thing he wanted to do!<\/p>\n As his foot touched the bottom step, Joe managed a huge<\/em> yawn.\u00a0 “I’m awful tired, Pa.\u00a0 Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”<\/p>\n His father was standing at the end of the dining table looking at him.\u00a0 Just\u2026looking at him.<\/p>\n “It could.\u00a0 But I don’t think it should.”<\/p>\n What did a feller say to that?<\/p>\n “Did I do something wrong?”<\/p>\n “No,” Pa replied as he moved to the settee and sat down – and then patted the fabric beside him.\u00a0 “No.\u00a0 I just feel it’s time for a heart to heart, father to son.”<\/p>\n The good Lord help him!\u00a0 The last time they’d had a ‘heart to heart’ he’d ended up apologizin’ to just about everyone in the settlement except the town drunk.<\/p>\n “I did<\/em> do something wrong,” he moaned as he took a seat.<\/p>\n His father frowned.\u00a0 “Joseph, no.\u00a0 Not wrong.\u00a0 Perhaps\u2026inappropriate.”<\/p>\n That puzzled him mightily\u2026for about five seconds.<\/p>\n Joe’s temper flared.\u00a0 “Hoss told you, didn’t he?\u00a0 Dang him!\u00a0 Can’t a fellow have a little privacy?”<\/p>\n “Joseph!” his father said sternly.\u00a0 “Mind your tongue – and your manners.\u00a0 Your brother didn\u2019t tell me anything.”\u00a0 Pa paused and then added with that ‘look’.\u00a0 “Should <\/em>he have?”<\/p>\n Now he’d done it.<\/p>\n “\u2026no, sir.”<\/p>\n “Would you<\/em> like to?”<\/p>\n Joe wriggled his nose and swallowed.\u00a0 “No\u2026sir.”<\/p>\n “Let me put it another way.\u00a0 Should<\/em> you?”<\/p>\n His shoulders slumped.\u00a0 “I don’t understand, Pa.”<\/p>\n “You don’t understand what?”<\/p>\n How should he put it?\u00a0 How could<\/em> he put it and not go to Hell?<\/p>\n Joe looked down at his fingers, which were working as quickly as his brain.\u00a0 “Me.\u00a0 I don’t understand\u2026me<\/em>.\u00a0 It used to be, well, if a girl like Cora well\u2026you know\u2026.”\u00a0 He glanced at his father who didn’t look mad – yet.\u00a0 “If a girl like Cora told me I was handsome and brushed up against me\u2026where she did\u2026I’d want to pop her in the nose.\u00a0 But now, well\u2026”\u00a0 He could feel the color rising in his cheeks.\u00a0 Joe drew in a big sigh and let it out as he met his father’s stare. “Poppin’ her in the nose ain’t\u2026isn’t\u2026exactly what I want to do.”<\/p>\n Pa remained silent a moment before saying, “You and I have discussed the birds and bees before.”<\/p>\n “I know where babies come from, if that’s what you mean.”\u00a0 It was hard not<\/em> to when you lived on a ranch where you bred cattle and horses.\u00a0 Joe thought for a second and then added, “You mean that’s why I\u2026?”\u00a0 Panic set it.\u00a0 “I don’t want to be a pa!”<\/p>\n His father laughed.\u00a0 “I don’t want you to be a ‘pa’ either – for a very<\/em> long time – but God’s first command to man was to be fruitful and multiply.”\u00a0 At his look, his father added, “What I am saying, son, is that man is created with certain instincts.”<\/p>\n “How come I didn\u2019t have them before?”<\/p>\n “Have you noticed any other changes?<\/p>\n He knew what his pa was talking about.\u00a0 Adam and Hoss had mentioned it to him.\u00a0 “I haven’t grown any taller.”<\/p>\n It was a disappointment to him.<\/p>\n “You will, son.”\u00a0 His father smiled.\u00a0 “You may not have noticed, but your shoulders are a little broader and your voice is a shade deeper.”<\/p>\n Maybe.\u00a0 But there was another more important thing he’d noticed hadn’t grown.<\/p>\n “I don’t have any whiskers.”<\/p>\n “Your mother was very fair.\u00a0 That will come later.”<\/p>\n “Adam said he had whiskers at five.”<\/p>\n His pa laughed.\u00a0 “Well, not quite that early.\u00a0 Your brother takes after me in that.\u00a0 Hoss was nearly seventeen before he began to shave.”<\/p>\n Joe opened his mouth, but hesitated.\u00a0 Something else had begun to grow but he didn\u2019t know if he should mention it.\u00a0 It wasn’t\u2026proper.\u00a0 And he’d begun to have problems that he couldn’t always keep under his hat.<\/p>\n “Pa, today when Cora\u2026well\u2026when she touched me\u2026there\u2026I\u2026.”\u00a0 Joe swallowed.\u00a0 “Am I going to Hell?”<\/p>\n His father looked at him with sympathy and then circled his shoulders with his arm.\u00a0 “Joseph, you did nothing wrong.\u00a0 You have no control over your body and its reactions. What you do<\/em> have control over is your thoughts and actions.\u00a0 Have you\u2026done anything with Cora?”<\/p>\n Joe whistled.\u00a0 “That hussy?\u00a0 No way.”\u00a0 Then he winced.\u00a0 “Sorry, Pa.”<\/p>\n “Apology accepted – and<\/em> expected.\u00a0 I have taught you better than that. \u00a0You are to show respect to women at all times, no matter their behavior.\u00a0 Is that understood?”<\/p>\n He nodded.<\/p>\n His father released him.\u00a0 “Which brings me to the matter that I came discuss.\u00a0 Joseph, look at me.”<\/p>\n He did.<\/p>\n “We need to talk about Mrs. Drummond.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben watched his boy wither before him.\u00a0 He wasn’t sure exactly what Joseph’s body language was telling him, but he had a feeling it was not what he wanted to hear.<\/p>\n “What about Dora\u2026Mrs. Drummond?” Joe asked.<\/p>\n “I understand you have been arriving at school early and staying late to assist her.”<\/p>\n Joe’s aspect brightened.\u00a0 “Yes, sir!\u00a0 You taught us to be helpful and, bein’ new and all, Dora\u2026.”\u00a0 His son winced.\u00a0 “Mrs. Drummond’s needed a lot of help.”<\/p>\n “You desire to help, son, is admirable.\u00a0 I am not disputing that.\u00a0 It’s your\u2026motivation that I am concerned about.”<\/p>\n “You mean\u2026why<\/em> I’m doing it?”<\/p>\n Ben nodded.<\/p>\n “Because you’d want me to.”\u00a0 Joe paused.\u00a0 “You would want me to, wouldn\u2019t you?”<\/p>\n This was getting difficult.<\/p>\n “Yes, I would, but only if your motives were pure.”<\/p>\n That made the boy frown.\u00a0 Joe wrinkled his nose and his dark eyebrows followed, forming a ‘v’ at the center – before they leapt for his hairline.<\/p>\n “Pa\u2026you don’t think\u2026.\u00a0 I mean, you don’t think I\u2026.”\u00a0 His son’s face had gone beet-red.\u00a0 “I mean I wouldn’t\u2026.\u00a0 I couldn’t!”\u00a0 Joseph paused and then added quite dramatically.\u00a0 “Pa, for gosh sakes, I’m only thirteen!”<\/em><\/p>\n Like he didn’t know it.<\/p>\n Ben waited a moment and then asked quietly.\u00a0 “So your feelings for Mrs. Drummond are just that of a school boy toward a gifted teacher?”<\/p>\n He gave him credit.\u00a0 Joe thought a moment before replying.\u00a0 “Well\u2026I never felt this way about Miss Jones, but then she’s mean.”\u00a0 His son’s eyes flicked to his face.\u00a0 “Sorry Pa, but it’s true.\u00a0 Cora\u2026Mrs. Drummond is really nice.”<\/p>\n “She’s also very pretty.”<\/p>\n Joe swallowed.\u00a0 “She sure is,” he admitted, a little dreamily.\u00a0 “You know, Pa\u2026.\u00a0 There’s something about her.\u00a0 I don’t know what it is. \u00a0I just\u2026.”\u00a0 The boy drew in a breath and let it out slowly.\u00a0 “I just want to be around her.”<\/p>\n “Do you know why?”<\/p>\n Joe shrugged.\u00a0 “Cause she’s nice I guess.”\u00a0 Then he grinned.\u00a0 “And pretty.”<\/p>\n Ben rose to his feet.\u00a0 “Come with me, son.”<\/p>\n The boy didn’t move.\u00a0 He stared at him.\u00a0 “We’re not going to the woodshed, are we?”<\/p>\n The rancher sighed.\u00a0 “No. \u00a0I just want you to come over to my desk with me.”<\/p>\n “Oh.\u00a0 Sure thing, Pa.”<\/p>\n Ben led the way to his desk.\u00a0 The top of it was bare at the moment, which was rather unusual.\u00a0 A melancholy had seized him of late and he had removed Marie’s picture – along with the ones of his first wives – from it.\u00a0 That beautiful face, with its gracious loving smile, and those green eyes with their spirit and fire had simply become too hard to look at.\u00a0 As Joseph watched he sat down and opened the drawer and pulled the elegant silver frame from it and returned it to its place of honor.<\/p>\n “Come here, son,” he said gently.<\/p>\n Little Joe came around the back of his chair.\u00a0 He halted just to the left of it.\u00a0 While Joseph had a miniature portrait of his mother in his own room, its very nature limited the likeness to Marie.\u00a0 The tabletop one he had showed her in her full glory.<\/p>\n “Pa\u2026.” his son breathed.<\/p>\n It took a moment for Ben to compose himself, after which he replied, “I know, son.\u00a0 The likeness is startling.” \u00a0Shifting back in his chair, he studied his son a moment and then added, “Joseph, please, take a seat on the corner of the desk and listen to me.”<\/p>\n As his son complied, the older man went on.\u00a0 “First of all, son – and I want you to hear this – I love you, but more than that, I trust you.\u00a0 I know you will conduct yourself in a manner becoming a Cartwright where your teacher – or any young lady – is concerned.”<\/p>\n “And secondly?”<\/p>\n Ben’s eyes flicked to Marie’s portrait and back to her son.\u00a0 “Secondly, I want you to think long and hard about just why<\/em> you want to spend so much time with Mrs. Drummond.\u00a0 She may look like your mother, Joseph, but she is not<\/em> your mother.\u00a0 It is unfair to your teacher to impose your feelings for your mother on her.\u00a0 Do you understand?”<\/p>\n “I\u2026don’t think that’s what I’m doing, Pa.”<\/p>\n “Just so it isn’t,” he said, rising.<\/p>\n “Pa?”<\/p>\n Ben turned toward his youngest.\u00a0 The boy was so young, but stood on the threshold of manhood.\u00a0 He had taught him everything he knew, but each man had to make his own choices – had to choose his own path.\u00a0 He worried more about Marie’s boy than he did his others.\u00a0 Like his mother, Joseph was impulsive and a bit reckless, with a devil-may-care nature that had the power to make his knees go to jelly.\u00a0 But at the same time Little Joe was loyal and true, with a heart for justice and a hatred of injustice.\u00a0 Of all his boys Joseph was, at one and the same time, the most selfish and the most selfless.\u00a0 But more than any of these qualities, Joseph had another that gave him pause.<\/p>\n The boy loved deeply – so <\/em>deeply he left himself wide open to a hurt that might, one day, be his ruin.<\/p>\n “Er\u2026Pa?”<\/p>\n Ben stirred.\u00a0 “Yes, son?”<\/p>\n “Can I still help Mrs. Drummond if she asks me?”<\/p>\n The older man drew in a breath and held it.\u00a0 What should his answer be?<\/p>\n A knock on the door extricated him from having to make it at that moment.<\/p>\n “I’ll get it!” Little Joe called and was off before he had time to say a word.<\/p>\n Ben followed more slowly.\u00a0 He heard his son talking and then saw Joseph’s face as he turned into the room.\u00a0 It was a mixture of apprehension and surprise.<\/p>\n Standing in the doorway with her traveling suit on was the subject of their conversation.<\/p>\n Dora Drummond.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TWO<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Thank you, Joseph,” Mrs. Drummond said as she followed his son into the house.<\/p>\n As he joined them, Ben looked out and saw a buggy – with no driver – parked in the yard.\u00a0 “Did you come all this way by yourself?” he asked, just a bit astonished.<\/p>\n “Of course, I came by myself,” Joseph’s teacher replied, her tone a bit indignant.\u00a0 “How else would I have come?”<\/p>\n He almost chuckled.\u00a0 She was so young and so<\/em> fierce.<\/p>\n “I thought perhaps you would have had an escort.\u00a0 It’s a long way from the settlement to the Ponderosa.”<\/p>\n “I assume Joseph travels it every day,” she replied.<\/p>\n “He does.\u00a0 But he’s a\u2026.”\u00a0 Ben paused.<\/p>\n “Boy,” she finished for him.\u00a0 Then, with the slightest smile, Dora Drummond added, “Why Ben, from your reply one might mistake you for a misogynist.”<\/p>\n “Or a gentleman,” a rich voice chimed in.<\/p>\n “Pa, I was just coming to get Little Joe when I saw we had company,” his eldest said as he stepped in the door.<\/p>\n Dora was speaking to Joseph, so her back was to Adam.\u00a0 She turned as she was introduced.\u00a0 “Adam, this is Dora Drummond.\u00a0 Miss Jones’ replacement,” Ben said, and then waited.<\/p>\n “Pleased to meet you\u2026Mrs. Drummond.”<\/p>\n It was only a beat he missed, but it was there.\u00a0 Adam’s eyes met his over the young woman’s honey-colored head.<\/p>\n There was pain in them.<\/p>\n “And you, Mr. Cartwright.”<\/p>\n His son recovered quickly and grinned.\u00a0 “Adam.\u00a0 Please.”<\/p>\n Dora smiled as well.\u00a0 The sight nearly took his breath away.<\/p>\n Thank goodness Joseph interrupted!<\/p>\n “”What’d you want me for, Adam?” he asked.<\/p>\n His brother reached over and cuffed him on his curly head.\u00a0 “There’s a tack room waiting with your name written on it.”<\/p>\n “Ah, Pa\u2026.”\u00a0 His youngest turned those green eyes – so like his mother’s – on him.\u00a0 “I’m awful tired.\u00a0 Do I have<\/em> to?”<\/p>\n The boy was<\/em> tired.\u00a0 It had been a long tough day.\u00a0 He almost gave in, but something stopped him.<\/p>\n Ben had a feeling Dora wanted to speak to him alone.<\/p>\n “Say, Joe, how about you and I do it together?” Adam suggested.<\/p>\n His eldest was a wonder.\u00a0 They’d been together so long, it was as if he could read his mind.<\/p>\n “You\u2026and<\/em> me?” Joe squeaked.<\/p>\n Adam slung an arm over his brother’s slender shoulders.\u00a0 “Sure, buddy.\u00a0 That way we’ll have time to sneak a couple of pieces of that chocolate cake Hop Sing just baked out of the larder before he gets in from feeding the chickens.”<\/p>\n Using his strength, Adam directed Little Joe toward the door.\u00a0 Once there, the boy turned back toward them.<\/p>\n “See you tomorrow morning, Mrs. Drummond.”<\/p>\n Dora smiled.\u00a0 “I look forward to it.”<\/p>\n As the door closed behind his two sons, Ben made a motion and directed the young woman toward the hearth area.<\/p>\n “Won’t you sit down?” he asked.<\/p>\n “Thank you.\u00a0 I am a little weary.”\u00a0 As she positioned herself on his late wife’s settee and spread her crimson skirts about her, the young woman admitted, “It was<\/em> a long ride out here.”<\/p>\n Ben sat across from her in his chair.\u00a0 “And not too wise to make on your own.\u00a0 You may well be able to take care of yourself, but this is not the city.\u00a0 Between here and the settlement there are many dangers.\u00a0 Most of them on two legs.”<\/p>\n “Yes, Papa,” she said, her lips twisting up at the ends.<\/p>\n The older man started and then laughed.\u00a0 “Forgive me.\u00a0 It’s a habit.”<\/p>\n “You have just the two sons, isn’t that right?”\u00a0 She paused. “No, it’s three, isn’t it?”<\/p>\n “Three, yes.\u00a0 Adam, Hoss, and Joseph,” he replied.\u00a0 “Hoss should be in soon so you can meet him.”<\/p>\n “Hoss? I do remember Joseph mentioning that name.”\u00a0 Dora scowled.\u00a0 “If you forgive me, isn’t it a rather\u2026extraordinary name for a man?”<\/p>\n “Well, my middle son is quite extraordinary.”<\/p>\n “As are all<\/em> Cartwrights, it seems.”<\/p>\n Ben leaned back and observed her.\u00a0 “I am sure you didn’t come all the way out here just to compliment us.”<\/p>\n The young woman paused.\u00a0 She gnawed her lip a moment before replying.\u00a0 It was yet another <\/em>affection that reminded him of his late wife.<\/p>\n Marie had always done it before admitting she was wrong.<\/p>\n “I was quite out of turn when we spoke today.\u00a0 I thought it over and realized I was projecting my own rather difficult relationship with my father onto you and Joseph.\u00a0 I had no right to do that.\u00a0 I don’t even know you.”<\/p>\n “I am sure you’ve heard about us in the town.”<\/p>\n Her eyes brightened.\u00a0 “Oh yes.\u00a0 ‘You’d best beware of Ben Cartwright’, I was told.\u00a0 ‘He’s a hard man.\u00a0 A tough, unbending man; unyielding as the rock the Sierras are comprised of.\u00a0 Old Ben would as soon shoot you as look at you if you stepped onto his land without permission.'”\u00a0 Dora raised her hands and opened them wide.\u00a0 “Somehow, I seem to have managed to remain intact.”<\/p>\n Ben wasn’t sure whether to be amused or angered.<\/p>\n “What else do they say?”<\/p>\n Dora’s gaze went to the door through which Adam and Joseph had gone.\u00a0\u00a0 It came back to him.\u00a0 “The only thing fiercer than Ben Cartwright’s anger is his love of his sons.”<\/p>\n He nodded.<\/p>\n That, at least, was true.<\/p>\n “So, you see, you are nothing like my father.\u00a0 He never loved me.”<\/p>\n Her statement took him aback.\u00a0 “I beg your pardon?”<\/p>\n The young woman frowned.\u00a0 “Oh, there I go again!\u00a0 I have been told that if I have one fault, it’s that I cannot seem to hold my tongue!”<\/p>\n “So you have only one?” he asked.<\/p>\n Dora laughed.\u00a0 “That’s been found out,” she answered coyly.<\/p>\n He waited a moment and then said, “Tell me about your father – and about yourself as well.”<\/p>\n Joseph’s teacher stared at him for a moment and then rose to her feet and began to move about the room, flitting from here to there like a brilliant butterfly, never alighting for long.<\/p>\n “I was born in England,” she said.\u00a0 “My father was a good but stern man. He lost his mother at a young age and was deeply scarred.\u00a0 Marrying my mother saved him for a time – until she <\/em>died.\u00a0 After her death he became hard.\u00a0 Impossible to please.\u00a0 I\u2026tried.\u00a0 I wanted so<\/em> to look after him and my younger siblings but, finally, I had to escape.\u00a0 I came to America and married.”\u00a0 Dora was near the staircase now.\u00a0 She had paused at the bottom and was looking up. \u00a0The late afternoon light that coursed through the window above the dining table struck her, setting her golden-blonde hair afire, causing his heart to skip a beat.\u00a0 She swung about to look at him just as Marie had often done.\u00a0 “It was a mistake.”<\/p>\n “Your late husband?”<\/p>\n She held his gaze for a moment and then moved on to the table that held the brandy snifter and goblets.\u00a0 As she ran her finger around the rim of one, she asked, “Have you ever studied the psychology of the brain, Ben?”<\/p>\n It was a new science. One Adam was fond of.<\/p>\n “I know of it.”<\/p>\n “Then you will know that we are bound to repeat our mistakes.\u00a0 My husband was as rigid as my father.”\u00a0 She paused, and then went on in a smaller voice.\u00a0 “He was a\u00a0 brutal man.”<\/p>\n Ben rose and went to her side.\u00a0 As he looked down on her – small-boned, petite, beautiful as a May morning – something awoke within him.\u00a0 Something he had not felt toward a woman since that day when Marie’s horse crushed her along with all his hopes for a happily married life.\u00a0 He fought to beat it down, but it rose like a living thing.\u00a0 He wanted to protect her.\u00a0 He wanted to cherish her.<\/p>\n He wanted to love her.<\/p>\n He was an old fool.<\/p>\n “Ben?” she asked.<\/p>\n The rancher shook himself and took a step back.\u00a0 “Did he harm you?”<\/p>\n “He tried, but then he\u2026died.”<\/p>\n Ben locked his hands behind his back – out of temptation’s way.\u00a0\u00a0 “How did you come to be a teacher?”<\/p>\n She bit her lip, charmingly again.\u00a0 “I\u2026told a bit of a fib before.\u00a0 I was nearly nineteen when I became a teacher. \u00a0This is only my second engagement.”\u00a0 Dora batted her lashes as she looked up at him.\u00a0 “Are you going to tell the school board?”<\/p>\n And have her dismissed? \u00a0Perhaps he should.<\/p>\n Lead me not into <\/em>temptation.<\/p>\n “Joseph says you are an excellent teacher.\u00a0 You have nothing to fear from me.”<\/p>\n She let out a sigh.\u00a0 Her bosom rose and fell within the confines of the white lace blouse that masked it.<\/p>\n “Thank you.\u00a0 Teaching is very important to me.\u00a0 I hope\u2026.\u00a0 It is my wish to help others avoid the mistakes I have made.”<\/p>\n “You said that before,” he commented.\u00a0 “What ‘mistakes’ have you made?”<\/p>\n Tears welled in her eyes.\u00a0 She shook her head.\u00a0 “I won’t trouble you with them.\u00a0 In fact, it’s best that I go.\u00a0 I wanted to apologize and I have.\u00a0 There is nothing to be gained by remaining any longer.”<\/p>\n As she turned, his hand shot out and caught her arm.<\/p>\n The touch was electric.<\/p>\n “It’s late.\u00a0 It won’t be safe for you to travel back to the settlement alone.\u00a0 You should stay the night.”<\/p>\n The look she shot him was almost comical.<\/p>\n “Oh. I\u2026I\u2026”<\/p>\n Ben smiled.\u00a0 “I didn’t mean that like it sounded.\u00a0 We have many guest rooms.\u00a0 One right over here, if you prefer.”\u00a0 He indicated the downstairs bedroom. \u00a0“My sons and I sleep on the second floor.”<\/p>\n “No. \u00a0I should go,” she said.<\/p>\n “Hop Sing can look after you.”<\/p>\n “Hop Sing?\u00a0 Who’s that?”<\/p>\n “Hop Sing is me,” his cook’s sing-song voice chimed in.\u00a0 “Hop Sing keep house for Mister Cartwright.\u00a0 Look after boys.\u00a0 Look after Missy Drummond too.”<\/p>\n As Dora turned to look at the Asian man – as Marie had done so<\/em> many times – Ben felt the absence of a woman in the house strike him like a hand.<\/p>\n “Missy Dora velly<\/em> pretty,” Hop Sing added with a wink.\u00a0 “Also velly<\/em> tired.\u00a0 She should stay here.\u00a0 Hop Sing fix her hot tea.\u00a0 Make bed fresh while she drinks.”<\/p>\n The young woman seemed almost persuaded, but something stopped her.\u00a0 “No.\u00a0 I should go.\u00a0 I don’t want to bring\u2026be any trouble.”<\/p>\n “Mrs. Drummond,” Ben said, assuming a formal air, “there are five strong men in this household.\u00a0 Not one of us is going to be comfortable with allowing a woman to travel alone the twenty miles back to the settlement in the dark.”<\/p>\n “Perhaps one of you could go with me?” she asked.\u00a0 “I really should get back.\u00a0 I have lessons to prepare for tomorrow.”<\/p>\n He had a sense that that was not the real reason she wanted to go, but it would have been ungentlemanly to push it.<\/p>\n “I’ll take you,” Ben said as he walked toward the rack by the door that held his hat and coat.<\/p>\n “Mistah Ben not go alone either!\u00a0 Must come back home!\u00a0 Highwaymen on road to town!\u00a0 Bad men.\u00a0 Indians too!”<\/p>\n “Hop Sing’s right, Pa.\u00a0 How about I go with you?”<\/p>\n He had been unaware of his middle son’s presence.\u00a0 Hoss was standing in the open doorway.\u00a0 “That way you and me can ride back together and I can look out for you.”<\/em><\/p>\n He heard a light lilting laugh.\u00a0 Ben looked down to find Dora smiling broadly.<\/p>\n “Touch\u00e9!” she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The next morning started as most mornings did on a spread as large as the Ponderosa, with a huge breakfast prepared by Hop Sing during which his sons laughed and jibed and traded stories and then grew sober as he laid out the day’s needs.\u00a0 Adam and Joseph were headed to town, his eldest to deal with business and his youngest to go to school.\u00a0 After school the pair were to meet up and go by the mercantile to finish picking up the supplies they would need for the long haul to the fort. \u00a0He knew they would be late returning.\u00a0 Most likely it would be after dark.\u00a0 With Adam along he had little fear they would run into trouble.\u00a0 His eldest son, if anything, was a little too <\/em>responsible – which made Adam a perfect balance for his baby brother who was too easily distracted.<\/p>\n To put it mildly.<\/p>\n Hoss, in the meantime, would set about the chores that needed attending at home.\u00a0 Even though preparation for the drive took most of their time and energy, there were still things that needed doing around the house – chopping wood so Hop Sing could cook, tending to the animals, and so on.\u00a0 Not for the first time Ben regretted the loss of their men to the Carrington’s new mine.\u00a0 His middle son’s talents were not necessarily wasted on daily chores, but he certainly could have used Hoss’ expertise elsewhere.<\/p>\n Ben glanced at his desk and then ran a hand over his chin and permitted himself a sigh.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the mountain of paperwork piled on it would occupy him most of the morning.\u00a0 The drive would take them over and through a number of different properties.\u00a0 He’d had to secure permission not only to move thousands of cattle across these men’s land, but for the needed grazing and water rights. Most of the men involved were used to such drives and had readily agreed, understanding that the annual movement of bawling beasts lined their pockets as well as his, but there was one new rancher who had proven quite implacable. Of course, Mansfield’s parcel of land lay smack-dab in the middle of all the others.\u00a0 The price he’d asked was outrageous and the last month had seen a series of letters – along with a few threats – flying between them.\u00a0 Only recently one of his friends had ‘hinted’ that perhaps one of the mine owners in the area – a man who for some time had desired to see the Ponderosa fail – might be behind it.\u00a0 Laying on the desk, waiting for his signature, was the final legal contract that would make the way clear for the drive. \u00a0The trouble was, the asking price was way beyond his budget at this moment.\u00a0 He would have to put part of the land up against it in order to secure it.\u00a0 Of course, if the drive went well, there would be no problem.\u00a0 The cattle were fat and there were literally thousands of them.<\/p>\n But, if something went wrong\u2026.<\/p>\n “Pa?”<\/p>\n It was Adam. \u00a0He’d opened the door and stuck his head in.<\/p>\n “I thought you and Joseph had already left,” Ben said as he rose and moved toward him.<\/p>\n “We were about too when three men rode in.\u00a0 I figured I had better ask their business.”<\/p>\n One could never be too careful living where they did – with what they had.<\/p>\n “And it was?”<\/p>\n “Looking for work.\u00a0 The younger two have all the marks of ranch hands.\u00a0 The oldest one said he’d handled the books in a mine before turning to ranching a couple of years back.”<\/p>\n He sensed something in Adam’s tone.\u00a0 “Did you believe him?”<\/p>\n His son stepped in and closed the door behind him.\u00a0 “I did.\u00a0 It’s just, well, I sense there’s something else.\u00a0 Something he isn’t<\/em> telling.”<\/p>\n “Something you think would affect his working for us?”<\/p>\n Adam thought a moment and then shrugged.\u00a0 “I don’t think so.\u00a0 Who knows?\u00a0 It may just turn out that he’s one of those men who keeps his own business close.”\u00a0 A smile broke across his eldest’s face. \u00a0“I wouldn’t know anything about that.”<\/p>\n Ben laughed, but then sobered as a thought came to him.\u00a0 “Where’s your brother?\u00a0 Is he out there alone with those three?”<\/p>\n The look Adam gave him said it all. \u00a0“Little Joe’s with Hoss. \u00a0I told\u2026.”\u00a0 His son paused.\u00a0 “I asked<\/em> him to stay in the barn until I got back.”<\/p>\n Relief flooded through him.\u00a0 That was another thing one could never be too<\/em> careful about.<\/p>\n The threat of kidnapping.<\/p>\n The rancher took a step forward and clapped a hand on his son’s shoulder. \u00a0“All right, then.\u00a0 I’ll go deal with these men while you get going. \u00a0At this rate, Little Joe will be late for school.”<\/p>\n Adam met his look. “Did you talk to Joe about\u2026you know?”<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 “I think the boy’s all right.\u00a0 While he might have a slight crush on Dora Drummond, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. \u00a0And as to the rest of it, Joseph has his head on straight.\u00a0 Your brother is just at a hard age.\u00a0 Everything will sort itself out in time.”<\/p>\n “So the next time Cora Carrington\u2026bumps into him, you think he’ll be able to keep things<\/em> under control?” Adam asked with a hint of a smile.<\/p>\n Ben considered it a moment and then said, with a hint of a smile himself.<\/p>\n “Maybe it’s time to buy your brother a bigger hat.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The three men turned out to be a God-send and exactly what he needed, which gave Ben pause for only a moment.\u00a0 Their stories were ordinary and consistent.\u00a0 The two younger ones were brothers.\u00a0 They were seasoned ranch hands as Adam had guessed, moving as ranch hands did from place to place to wherever there was work. \u00a0Though they were young – in their late twenties – they’d been at it since they’d been boys. Their parents had died in an Indian raid and while their younger siblings – all girls- had returned East to live with an aunt, they had chosen to set out on their own.\u00a0 A week or so back they’d run into the third man, who was also drifting and looking for work.\u00a0 The trio had hitched up for extra protection and, simply, for companionship.\u00a0 The older man, whom he guessed to be about his own age, had<\/em> worked on ranches – in fact, it seemed he had done just about everything in his life – but his knowledge and skill lay in numbers, figures, and paperwork.<\/p>\n Just like that pile waiting on his desk.<\/p>\n The younger pair were Matt and Lee, or Matthew and Levi, so named because of the Biblical pair.\u00a0 They were twins in everything but age; small-boned and wiry, each with a head of curls that rivaled Joseph’s unruly mop, but the color was palomino-gold instead of chestnut-brown. Like his youngest they were enthusiastic and full of a restless energy – and goodness! they could talk.<\/p>\n The man the pair had connected with was as different from them as night was from day.\u00a0 He was tall and broadly built, with straight brown hair graying ever so slightly at the temples. His eyes were brown as well, not so dark as Ben’s own, but dark enough it was hard to distinguish the pupil from the iris in the morning light. The man explained that he had been born in the East and spent a good portion of his life there working behind a desk.\u00a0 One day he decided he had had enough and left it all behind and struck out for California. \u00a0Though he hadn’t made it to the Golden State yet, that was still his aim. \u00a0Along the way he had found work and an appreciation for each territory he passed through.\u00a0 Nevada was his home now.<\/p>\n His name was Halbert Carton.<\/p>\n “Just call me Hal,” the big man said as he offered his hand.\u00a0 “Halbert is a family name.”<\/p>\n ‘”Hal, it is,” Ben said as he took it.\u00a0 “I must say, you couldn’t have come along at a more opportune moment.\u00a0 We’re short-handed due to the new mine opening.”<\/p>\n Matt shook his head.\u00a0 “I can’t imagine what would draw a man down into a pit when he could be on the back of a horse with nothing but sun and sky above him.”<\/p>\n “Money,” Adam remarked as he came alongside them.\u00a0 His eldest had gone to fetch his youngest brother.<\/p>\n “You couldn’t pay me enough money to work in a dark hole with tons of earth above me,” Lee said, his tone hushed.\u00a0 “Ain’t no fortune worth bein’ buried alive.”<\/p>\n “Well, hopefully that doesn\u2019t happen, in any of the mines,” Ben said as he turned.\u00a0 He’d heard the door close.\u00a0 Joseph was emerging from the barn, apple in hand – stolen, no doubt, from the supply Hoss kept as treats for the horses.<\/p>\n “And who might this be?” Hal asked.<\/p>\n Ben waited until Little Joe was beside him and then circled his son’s narrow shoulders with his arm.\u00a0 “This is my youngest, Joseph.” \u00a0He nodded toward the man in black beside them.\u00a0 “Adam, you’ve already met.\u00a0 He’s my oldest.\u00a0 Hoss is in the middle.\u00a0 He’s in the barn working.”<\/p>\n “So you have three <\/em>sons.\u00a0 You are a wealthy man indeed,” Hal said.\u00a0 “You and your wife must be proud.”<\/p>\n “Actually, my wife is dead,” Ben replied, feeling no need to explain further.\u00a0 “It’s been the boys and me for quite a few years now.”<\/p>\n “I’m sorry for your loss, sir,” Hal said.<\/p>\n “Pa,” Joseph said, “Adam and me\u2026and I, need to get going.\u00a0 Is it all right if we leave? \u00a0I don’t want to miss half a day of class.”<\/p>\n This enthusiasm for school was new for his youngest.\u00a0 He doubted it would continue once Miss Jones returned.<\/p>\n Turning to his oldest, the rancher opened his mouth, but Adam beat him to it.\u00a0 “I have the lists and instructions, Pa, plus the envelope to go in the post.\u00a0 I’ll see Mr. White this morning and then I’ll spend the afternoon recruiting.\u00a0 Joe and I will finish up at the mercantile, get some supper, and then head home.”<\/p>\n Ever efficient.\u00a0 That was Adam.<\/p>\n “Thank you, son.”<\/p>\n As the pair left, Hal remarked.\u00a0 “They seem to be fine young men.\u00a0 You must be proud of them.”<\/p>\n “As a peacock,” Ben quipped.<\/p>\n Hal puzzled a moment.\u00a0 “There seems to be quite a few years between them. \u00a0The youngest is still in school?”<\/p>\n “Joseph will turn fourteen shortly.\u00a0 He has a few more years.”<\/p>\n “Education is very important,” the newcomer said.\u00a0 “It’s good to know that, even out here in the West, civilization continues in the form of a good school with a fine educator at its head.\u00a0 I take it you have a certified schoolmaster?”<\/p>\n “We do.\u00a0 Miss Jones came highly recommended.”<\/p>\n “Ah.\u00a0 A woman.”<\/p>\n Did he sense a touch of censure in that tone?<\/p>\n “You don’t approve?”<\/p>\n “Oh, it’s really none of my business.\u00a0 I just happen to think that men are better able to keep order in a classroom. These young women are often soft when it comes to discipline.”<\/p>\n “I don’t think Mrs. Drummond will have any trouble in that regard.”\u00a0 The fiery young woman seemed more<\/em> than able to hold her own.<\/p>\n “Mrs. Drummond?\u00a0 I thought you said your son’s teacher was a\u2026Miss Jones?”<\/p>\n “She is.\u00a0 And trust me, Miss Jones has no trouble with discipline.\u00a0 The students are all frightened of her!” He laughed. \u00a0“She’s away and Mrs. Drummond is substituting.”<\/p>\n “I see.\u00a0 Well, as I said, it’s of no matter to me.”\u00a0 Hal looked at his companions and then back to him. “Now, Mister Cartwright, since we are your employees – tell us what to do!”<\/p>\n Matt and Levi he sent into the barn to talk to Hoss.\u00a0 Hal he took with him into the house.<\/p>\n Maybe he’d manage to climb that mountain of paperwork yet today!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n THREE<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Cartwright glanced at the note laying open on his school desk.\u00a0 It had been hand-delivered just after lunch by one of his former schoolmates who was old enough to have escaped classes and gotten a job.\u00a0 The note was from Adam.\u00a0 Older brother’s meeting had not gone as expected and he was going to be delayed.\u00a0 In the note Adam asked him to wait at the school until four-thirty. If he hadn’t showed up by then, he was to head home on his own – without delay<\/em> – so he would arrive before dark.\u00a0 Adam was as bad as Pa when it came to thinking he was a kid. Sure, the road between the settlement and the Ponderosa could be dangerous with robbers and Indians and such, but he had a rifle fastened to his saddle and he knew how to use it.<\/p>\n He could take care of himself.<\/p>\n “Joseph.\u00a0 Have you finished that task I assigned you?”<\/p>\n Joe started.\u00a0 He’d been daydreaming.<\/p>\n School wasn’t out yet.<\/em><\/p>\n “No, ma’am.\u00a0 Sorry I was\u2026.”\u00a0 He grinned at the pretty blonde lady staring him down.\u00a0 “I’ll just get that done now.”<\/p>\n He was good with numbers.\u00a0 Better than his brothers and Pa thought.\u00a0 Of course, he let them think that because he sure-as-shootin’<\/em> didn’t want to get stuck inside doing the books like stuffy old Adam. \u00a0Dora had given him a list of supplies needed for the schoolhouse and asked him to arrange the items in order of importance.\u00a0 Then he was to compare the cost of the items to the budget the school board had set for the month and let her know how many of them she could get.\u00a0 Miss Jones was a bit ‘Scotch’, as they said, when it came to buying things for the classroom.\u00a0 Dora told him she was going to make sure it was well supplied before her short tenure was over.<\/p>\n Joe leaned his chin on his hand and watched the young blonde woman turn and walk back to her desk.\u00a0 She was wearing that crimson skirt again today and another crisp white blouse.\u00a0 The blouse was tucked in and held in place by a thick black belt that cinched her waist.<\/p>\n She sure <\/em>was pretty.<\/p>\n “Must be nice bein’ the teacher’s pet,” a snide voice remarked from behind him.\u00a0 “If<\/em> that’s all you are.”<\/p>\n Joe closed his eyes, sighed, and then turned to face the other boy.<\/p>\n “Shut up, Wilson.”<\/p>\n “I’m<\/em> the top math student.\u00a0 How come she gave you that assignment to you?”<\/p>\n The other boy was right.\u00a0 Wilson was <\/em>smart.<\/p>\n He was also a smart-ass.<\/p>\n “I bet it’s because Mrs. Drummond’s counting on it keeping you after school.\u00a0 Maybe I’ll just come back and see what the two of you get up<\/em> to behind closed doors.”<\/p>\n Joe was gripping the table like it was his temper he was holding.\u00a0 His gaze moved to his teacher. Dora was at the other end of the classroom helping one of the little kids.\u00a0 He, along with the older boys, sat toward the back.<\/p>\n “Maybe you should just knock and I’ll come out and we can talk about it,” Joe warned.<\/p>\n “Maybe I will.”\u00a0 Wilson’s tone darkened.\u00a0 “I got about a foot on you, Cartwright.\u00a0 You better bring one of those older brothers of yours along.”<\/p>\n Wilson Smythe was new to town – well, kind of new.\u00a0 He’d been in the settlement about a year and in school about half of that. \u00a0His Pa had lived in England and been a barrister there, so Wilson and his brothers thought they were a cut above everyone else. \u00a0Joe glanced toward the window and noted the angle of the sun.\u00a0 Adam wouldn’t be at the school until four-thirty at the earliest.\u00a0 Dora usually let them out about two-thirty.\u00a0 He hadn’t promised her he’d stay after, but he imagined he would for an hour or so.<\/p>\n That gave him an hour to deal with Wilson.<\/p>\n “You bringin’ one of your<\/em> brothers?” Joe countered. \u00a0Wilson had two just like him.<\/p>\n “Of course not.”<\/p>\n “Then I don\u2019t figure I need one of mine.”\u00a0 Joe leaned back in his chair.\u00a0 “How about I meet you at the hanging tree at three-thirty?”\u00a0 The so-called ‘hanging tree’ was a big old oak.\u00a0 It had a skinned branch pale as a wrung neck reaching out over the water that was just about the right height for a noose.<\/p>\n Wilson thought a moment. Then he nodded.\u00a0 “That works,” he said.\u00a0 “Lookin’ forward to it.”<\/p>\n “Gentlemen.”<\/p>\n Joe blinked.\u00a0 He hadn’t realized Dora had started for them.<\/p>\n “Yes, ma’am?” he gulped.<\/p>\n “I believe you both have your own work to attend to.\u00a0 If you find the amount insufficient, I can always assign more.”<\/p>\n Wilson ducked his head and went back to his figures.<\/p>\n Joe stared at his teacher’s for a moment – figure, that was – and then did the same.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam Cartwright was one unhappy man.\u00a0 While the autumn cattle drive would provide sufficient funds to get through the winter, more capital would be needed to continue with business the upcoming spring.\u00a0 Pa’d bought a mine the year before.\u00a0 It wasn’t a big mine and no silver had been found in it, but it contained enough good and useful ore for them to turn a tidy profit.\u00a0 Pa had said just the week before that it should supply what was needed.\u00a0 Adam sighed as he shifted his hat back on his head.\u00a0 Pa was right\u00a0 It should have and would<\/em> have had John Carrington not come to the settlement with his seemingly bottomless purse and bought up just about every other mine in the area.\u00a0 No one knew where his money came from.\u00a0 It could have been, as the Englishman asserted, that he inherited it.\u00a0 Carrington claimed descent from England’s kings.<\/p>\n The young man snorted.\u00a0 He’d bet his last dollar it was a bastard line.<\/p>\n There was nothing, of course, to back up either of Carrington’s claims but his word.\u00a0 He was known as a good judge of horseflesh but in truth, his talents lay in sizing up men.\u00a0 Pa knew it and used him for it.\u00a0 That’s why he’d been at the meeting and not <\/em>Pa.<\/p>\n Simply put, he didn\u2019t like or trust John Carrington.<\/p>\n The same went for his only daughter.<\/p>\n Adam glanced at the sky, noting the time, and began to move across the street.\u00a0 He’d been standing on the porch of the saloon watching Cora ply her ‘wares’ to just about every young buck that walked past the mercantile.\u00a0 He wished one or more of them would take her up on the offer. \u00a0Maybe then she’d leave Little Joe alone.<\/p>\n The tall black-haired man sighed.\u00a0 No doubt that<\/em> thought was as wishful as the one he’d had about an hour ago concerning her father selling his mining interests and moving out of the area.<\/p>\n It was only the beginning, he knew, of this kind of problem.\u00a0 Joe was about to turn fourteen and was evidencing the signs of moving from boy to manhood.\u00a0 Little brother had always been slighter and slightly shorter than the other boys his age – he knew Joe despaired of ever growing as tall as the three of them – and while he didn’t think Joe would ever grow quite that <\/em>tall, the boy was sprouting up.\u00a0 The problem was that, as he sprouted up, little brother was changing from an awkward pre-teen into a devilishly handsome teenager.\u00a0 Joe had his mother’s looks – fair, sensitive, with enthralling green eyes and full lips that formed a perpetual pout.\u00a0 Not to mention those curls!\u00a0 Just the bait needed to attract every unattached female in the territory from eight to eighty.\u00a0 The eight-year-olds wanted to hold his hand.\u00a0 The eighty-year-olds wanted to pinch his cheek. \u00a0It was the ones in-between – the eighteen to twenty-eight year-olds – that he was worried about.<\/p>\n He could only guess just what they<\/em> wanted to take hold of.<\/p>\n Adam sighed.\u00a0 He remembered when he was at that stage.\u00a0 He’d had a different kind of charm from his brother – an older, more sophisticated one – but he’d been just as much of a target for the ladies.\u00a0 Fortunately, for Pa at least, he’d almost always been at the older man’s side.\u00a0 When he was Joe’s age, they’d still been struggling and were just beginning to build what was known as the Ponderosa today.\u00a0 He’d had little time – and even less opportunity – to get into trouble.<\/p>\n He adored the kid, but little brother was a magnet for it.<\/p>\n With a final glance at Cora Carrington, the tall man passed the mercantile and headed on down the street toward the schoolhouse.\u00a0 It was a little early – around four o’clock – but he thought he’d head that way and maybe step into the building and listen for a few minutes before letting Joe know he was there.\u00a0 He didn’t really suspect anything was going on, but now that he’d seen Dora Drummond, and noted her resemblance to Marie, his concern had ratcheted up a few notches.\u00a0 Would Joe’s budding crush blossom into an unnatural attachment to the woman?\u00a0 Would he cling to her as a surrogate for his mother?\u00a0 Or, and this was the kicker, might Joe feel guilty about his adolescent attraction to a woman who looked like his mother and do something, well, stupid?\u00a0 Knowing his kid brother, the latter scenario was the most likely.\u00a0 It was like something out of a Shakespeare play.<\/p>\n Adam missed a step.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the Bard had written far too many tragedies.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n No.\u00a0 He was letting his imagination get the best of him.\u00a0 Joe might be a little reckless at times – and a bit too ingenious for his own good – but he was a Cartwright and had a Cartwright’s head on his shoulders.\u00a0 Adam grinned.\u00a0 Even if there were <\/em>times when he was sure all those curls somehow interfered with the boy’s thinking processes.<\/p>\n “Do you find something amusing, Mister Cartwright?” a light voice asked him.<\/p>\n He’d reached the schoolhouse without realizing it.\u00a0 Dora Drummond was walking down the steps, carrying a stack of books.<\/p>\n It took him a moment to step back from her resemblance to Marie.\u00a0 Then he said, “Good afternoon, Mrs. Drummond.\u00a0 I’m here to get my brother.”<\/p>\n She looked slightly puzzled.\u00a0 “Joseph?”<\/p>\n “Well,” he laughed, “that is<\/em> the only brother I have who is attending school.”<\/p>\n The lovely woman laughed too.\u00a0 “Of course.\u00a0 How silly of me.”\u00a0 As she reached the bottom of the steps, she said, “Joseph isn’t here.\u00a0 He said he had a meeting to go to and would be back by the time you arrived.\u00a0 He seemed to indicate you were aware of it?”<\/p>\n “Oh, he did\u2026did he?”\u00a0 So much for that sensible Cartwright head. \u00a0“Do you know where he went?”<\/p>\n “Not really, but\u2026.”\u00a0 Dora thought a moment.\u00a0 “I did glance out the window and see him heading into the trees to the west side of the building, which I thought was odd.\u00a0 I thought perhaps\u2026”\u00a0 She blushed charmingly.\u00a0 “Perhaps he\u2026felt the call of nature?”<\/p>\n Adam laughed. \u00a0“Perhaps he did.\u00a0 I have to admit I\u2026.”\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 He had no idea why he felt he had to explain himself to this young woman.<\/p>\n “Yes?”<\/p>\n “There’s twelve years between Little Joe and me.\u00a0 I’m afraid, I tend to think of him more as my child than as my brother at times.”<\/p>\n “I understand his mother died tragically.”\u00a0 At his look, she shrugged.\u00a0 “People talk.”<\/p>\n And others listen, he thought.\u00a0 “Yes, Marie’s horse fell and she was pinned underneath. \u00a0Joe was only four when it happened.”\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 “Mrs. Drummond\u2026.”<\/p>\n “Dora.\u00a0 Please.”<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 “Dora.\u00a0 Did my Pa happen to mention\u2026.?”<\/p>\n Those green eyes, so like his step-mother’s, were fastened on him.\u00a0 “Mention what?”<\/p>\n “How much you – ”<\/p>\n Both of them pivoted toward the trees into which his brother had disappeared.<\/p>\n There had been a sharp cry for ‘help!’.<\/p>\n With a single glance the two of them came to the same conclusion and began to run.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fifteen minutes before his brother arrived at the school, Little Joe had made up an excuse to leave and headed into the woods to meet Wilson Smythe to settle the matter of what the older boy had accused him of.\u00a0 Wilson was right when he said he was a foot taller than him, but he wasn’t really worried about that. Hoss was more <\/em>than a foot taller – and over one hundred pounds heavier – and he’d beaten him fair and square in a fight more than once.\u00a0 His older brothers had made sure he knew how to use his smaller size and speed to win – and to survive.\u00a0 One night they’d pulled him aside. \u00a0They’d both been so serious it had scared him.\u00a0 Adam told him they wanted to make sure he understood about the kind of men who populated the West – hard men, criminals sometimes; miners and ranch hands and cowpokes who just liked to pick a fight or, sometimes, were looking for a boy to pick – and sell. Pa said he was an ‘attractive and sensitive’ young man.\u00a0 Joe made a disgusted face as he parted\u00a0 the brush in front of him and stepped out near the stream and the tall tree with the branch that overhung it.\u00a0 Adam and Hoss had put it a different way. \u00a0They told him he was pretty as a girl.<\/p>\n Yuck.<\/p>\n “Took you long enough, Cartwright,” Wilson Smythe said as he stepped into view.<\/p>\n “Dor\u2026Mrs. Drummond asked me to sort some books for her.\u00a0 I couldn’t refuse without looking suspicious.”\u00a0 Joe stopped in front of the other boy.\u00a0 “I didn\u2019t figure you wanted her to come looking for me.”<\/p>\n Wilson’s Pa didn’t hold with ‘fisticuffs’ as he called it.\u00a0 He said the Smythes were civilized men and should be able to settle matters in a more ‘enlightened’ way.\u00a0 Apparently none of his sons believed him. Or, at least, they didn’t listen<\/em> to him. All three were known for taking on any and all comers.\u00a0 Adam said Mister Carrington knew all about it and just pretended not to like it so he appeared ‘superior’ to what he called the ‘local yahoos’.<\/p>\n Him and his brothers being among them.<\/p>\n “Dora,” Wilson repeated, not missing the slip.\u00a0 “So you call her by her first name.\u00a0 Figures.”<\/p>\n “What do you mean, ‘figures’?”<\/p>\n The other boy shrugged.\u00a0 “Like father, like son.”<\/p>\n Joe bristled.\u00a0 “You better say what you mean, Wilson, and soon.<\/em>\u00a0 Otherwise -”<\/p>\n “Otherwise what?”\u00a0 Wilson loomed over him.\u00a0 “You gonna beat me up, shrimp?”<\/p>\n He went toe to toe and chin to chest with the older, taller boy.\u00a0 “You can count on it!”<\/p>\n Wilson eyed him for a moment.\u00a0 “Adley told me what your brother said, about how your pa caused a scandal when he brought your ma to the settlement because she was the ‘wrong’ kind of a woman.”<\/p>\n Joe was getting hopping mad.\u00a0 In fact, he was so<\/em> mad he almost missed what Wilson said.\u00a0 “Wait a minute.\u00a0 What are you talking about?\u00a0 Which<\/em> brother?”<\/p>\n Wilson smirked.\u00a0 “Which one do you think?”<\/p>\n He didn’t think either<\/em> Hoss or Adam would have said anything bad about his ma.\u00a0 But Wilson’s brother Adley was Adam’s age, so if one had\u2026.<\/p>\n “I don’t believe you.”<\/p>\n “Believe what you want. Adley said Adam said that people didn’t want your ma here.\u00a0 He told Adley he agreed with them.”\u00a0 The other boy sneered.\u00a0 “So that means Adam doesn’t want you<\/em> here either!”<\/p>\n Joe knew Wilson was baiting him, but he was so gosh-darn mad at Wilson – and Adam – and the world – that he was losing control.<\/p>\n Lost<\/em> control.<\/p>\n “You take that back!” Joe shouted as his fingers formed into fists.<\/p>\n Wilson moved in closer.\u00a0 He took a finger and punched him in the chest.\u00a0 “Why don’t you make me, Little<\/em> Joe?”<\/p>\n Joe’s lips twitched at one end and his nostrils flared.<\/p>\n “Maybe I just will.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam quickly outpaced Joe’s teacher. Dora was young and quick, but hampered by her skirts and high-heeled boots. The cry had been loud – amplified, he’d decided, by the open area near the stream that ran at the back of the school property – and so that was where he was headed. \u00a0It was a favorite haunt of the boys in the settlement, mostly for fishing, but also as a proving ground.\u00a0 The old oak tree that clung to its bank was an easy mark to find, and often set as a meeting point.<\/p>\n Most often, for trouble.<\/p>\n As he ran, Adam considered what might have happened.\u00a0 His little brother was often the target for bullies due to his slender stature and late development.\u00a0 Joe was almost fourteen, but could have been mistaken for a boy of twelve.\u00a0 He and Hoss had done their best to toughen him up and had succeeded – on the outside.\u00a0 He’d seen his little brother take on a boy nearly twice his size and emerge victorious – if battered – more than once.\u00a0 The problem was, as tough as Joe was on the outside, he was vulnerable on the inside.\u00a0 The boy felt things more deeply than anyone he had ever known, which left him open to trouble. \u00a0He’d tried to explain it to Pa when Pa was agonizing over the last poor choice his brother had made.\u00a0 It was no one’s fault, but Joe was – to put it bluntly – damaged goods.\u00a0 The blow had been struck the day his mother died and the wound was still festering and that left him angry.<\/p>\n And, as Hop Sing liked to put it, ‘A man in passion rides a mad horse.’<\/p>\n So, what Adam expected to find when he broke through the brush near the stream was his little brother standing with his fists in the air, breathing hard – most likely with a bloody nose and split lip – facing down some kid near his own age but twice his size.\u00a0 He wasn’t disappointed.\u00a0 Wilson Smythe was there, standing on the bank, staring at Little Joe.\u00a0 What he didn’t <\/em>expect to find was Wilson looking up<\/em> – at his \u00a0older brothers who were perched on the sizeable limb that jutted out from the hanging tree, dangling his<\/em> kid brother over the fast-running stream.<\/p>\n It took a second for him to decide what to do.\u00a0 Shouting, he knew, might cause more harm than good.\u00a0 He thought about firing off his pistol, but the result could <\/em>have been the same – Little Joe, released in a moment of panic, to plunge into the rushing waters below.\u00a0 Adam drew a long breath and held it.\u00a0 He waited for his heart to stop pounding, and then moved forward until he was clearly visible.\u00a0 Once in the open he stopped and stood there, saying not a word.<\/p>\n Let their own consciences shame them.<\/p>\n It was Adley who spoke first.\u00a0 He was holding Joe’s left arm.\u00a0 His younger brother, Darby, was holding the right one.<\/p>\n “Hey, there, Adam\u2026.”<\/p>\n Adam pushed his hat back on his head and looked up at the man on the branch – and Adley was a ‘man’.\u00a0 He was twenty-four.\u00a0 Barely a year younger than him.<\/p>\n “Would you care to explain to me what you\u2019re doing?”<\/p>\n Joe was looking at him with those big green eyes.\u00a0 There was a plea in them, but there was something else.<\/p>\n His brother was hopping mad.<\/p>\n “You know how it is, Adam.\u00a0 Joe got smart with Wilson.\u00a0 We were just teaching him a lesson.”<\/p>\n Adam ran a hand over his chin.\u00a0 One eye narrowed.\u00a0 “By threatening his life?”<\/p>\n Adley shifted his grip on Joe’s arm.<\/p>\n Joe panicked.<\/p>\n So did he, even if he didn’t show it.<\/p>\n “We weren’t gonna let him hit the water,” Darby said.\u00a0 “Just scare him.”<\/p>\n The black-haired man eyed the distance between his brother and the stream, and noted the trajectory of his fall.<\/p>\n “Well, if that’s the case, I would suggest you change your position – and while you’re at it,” Adam’s voice took on new weight and purpose, “get Joe down here. Otherwise I might have to take matters into my own hands.\u00a0 I believe there are rather severe consequences for attempted murder<\/em>.”<\/p>\n He and Adley were friends – or, at least, they had<\/em> been.\u00a0 Like many young men still living under their father’s roof, Adley felt the need to prove himself and to be the ‘big man’.\u00a0 No doubt he was trying to say something to his younger brothers by what he was doing.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, it was the wrong<\/em> thing.<\/p>\n “What\u2026what do you mean ‘murder’?” Darby stuttered.<\/p>\n “You can’t drown in a stream!” Wilson protested, speaking at last.<\/p>\n “No, but you can hit your head on a rock when you go into the water, or get tangled in something hidden underneath!”\u00a0 His anger was growing at their stupidity.\u00a0 “I am going to say this once, and only once.\u00a0 You will get my brother down from there now<\/em> and you will do it quickly and efficiently.\u00a0 If one hair on that curly head of his is hurt, there will be hell<\/em> to pay!”<\/p>\n Getting Joe ‘down’ wasn’t the easiest thing to do – mostly<\/em> due to his brother.\u00a0 Adley swung Joe up onto the branch and, of course, the kid took a swing at him, which caused Joe to lose his balance and almost plunge to the ground.\u00a0 After clinging to the branch for several heartbeats, Joe rose up and pushed past – again, almost falling off.\u00a0 Little brother clung to the trunk as he hurled a few\u2026er\u2026choice<\/em> words at the brothers, and then \u2026slowly\u2026made his way to the earth under his own power.\u00a0 Adley and Darby followed close behind.\u00a0 He half-expected Joe to go for them when they landed, but realized pretty quickly that his brother was in no condition to do so.\u00a0 Joe had gone white as chalk and was shaking like a leaf in a winter wind.<\/p>\n Adam waited until his brother met his gaze before asking, “You all right?”<\/p>\n Joe sucked in a breath to steady himself before nodding.<\/p>\n Adam nodded too.\u00a0 “Okay,” he said more to himself than to Joe, before turning to face the Smythe brothers who had formed a united front.<\/p>\n “If your kid brother could learn to keep his mouth shut, none of this would have happened,” Adley said before he had a chance to speak.<\/p>\n Crossing the distance between them, Adam stopped in front of his sometimes ‘friend’.\u00a0 “Let me get this straight.\u00a0 You find it perfectly acceptable for a twenty-four-year old man\u2026.”\u00a0 He glanced at Darby. \u00a0“\u2026along with his twenty-two-year old brother, to take on a thirteen-year-old kid, overpower him, and then threaten his life by dangling him over a running stream?”<\/p>\n “We were just defending our kid brother,” Darby insisted. \u00a0“You’d have done the same.”<\/p>\n “Defending your kid<\/em> brother?”\u00a0 Adam eyed Wilson Smythe who had a few inches on him.<\/em>\u00a0 “Who happens to be a foot taller and a good thirty pounds heavier than my<\/em> kid brother?\u00a0 I take it the boy has some medical condition?”\u00a0 His tone was biting.\u00a0 “Perhaps the lack of a backbone?”<\/p>\n Adley held a hand to Wilson’s chest as the younger boy exploded.\u00a0 “Your<\/em> kid brother is crazy!\u00a0 He went for me, I tell you!\u00a0 If Adley and Darby hadn’t come along, it’d be me<\/em> who was dead!”<\/p>\n He had to hold back his amusement.\u00a0 The picture was something akin to an elephant pointing its finger at a mouse and crying ‘help!’<\/p>\n “Let it go, Adam.”<\/p>\n The black-haired man swung around to look at his kid brother – and it was <\/em>his first real ‘look’ at him.\u00a0 Joe was in far worse shape than Wilson.\u00a0 He had obviously been roughed up before being dragged up into that tree.\u00a0 No doubt by the spineless trio before him.<\/p>\n His temper flared.<\/p>\n “I will not let it go!\u00a0 You could have been killed!”<\/p>\n Joe’s eyes were narrowed – partly because the one was swelling.\u00a0 They shot to the brothers.\u00a0 “I’m not afraid of them.”<\/p>\n Adam sucked in a sigh.\u00a0 He stepped closer to his brother and lowered his voice.\u00a0 “Well, you should be.\u00a0 Joe, you’re a kid and they’re -”<\/p>\n “I know I’m a kid!\u00a0 You tell me every day!”\u00a0 Joe’s lips were trembling and there were tears in his eyes.\u00a0 “Please, Adam, for me\u2026let it go!\u00a0 I just want to go home.”<\/p>\n He studied him.\u00a0 Joe was still shaking and his color had yet to completely return.\u00a0 In fact, he looked like he might keel over any minute.\u00a0 He had a black eye, a split lip, and various cuts and bruises on his exposed skin.<\/p>\n Pa was going to have a cow.<\/p>\n Adam thought a moment and then nodded.\u00a0 “You stay here,” he said as he turned back to the Smythes.<\/p>\n Joe caught his arm.\u00a0 “What are you going to tell them?”<\/p>\n The tall man grinned.\u00a0 “Tell them?\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 I’m just going to say goodbye.”<\/p>\n His steps were slow and measured.\u00a0 Still, they brought him to the trio in seconds.<\/p>\n “I suppose Joe lied about what started this whole thing,” Wilson said before he could open his mouth.<\/p>\n “My little brother doesn’t lie.”\u00a0 It was true.\u00a0 Adam bit back a smile.\u00a0 Of course, Joe did ‘prevaricate’ from time to time when it suited his purposes.<\/p>\n The older boy snorted.\u00a0 “Right.\u00a0 You Cartwrights are saints.\u00a0 Everyone in the settlement knows it.”<\/p>\n “Wilson,” Adley warned.<\/p>\n “Look, I don’t know what you have against us,” Adam said, “but I would<\/em> like to know what you<\/em> believe instigated your disagreement.”<\/p>\n Wilson sneered. \u00a0“You did.”<\/p>\n “Me?”\u00a0 Adam scoffed.\u00a0 “I wasn’t even here.”<\/p>\n “Yeah, well, you just ask<\/em> that kid brother of yours what happened when I told him what Adley said you – ”<\/p>\n Adley was frowning.\u00a0 He turned and cuffed Wilson on the head.\u00a0 “Shut up, you little idiot.”\u00a0 Turning back, his sometimes-friend said, “Look, Adam, this was between two kids.\u00a0 I’m sorry I let it get out of hand.\u00a0 You know how it is – something looks right and you’re smack in the middle of it before you realize it’s wrong.”<\/p>\n “Like dangling a thirteen-year-old over a fast running stream?”<\/p>\n Adley stared him down.\u00a0 “You have my apology.\u00a0 If you want to make something more of it, that’s your business.\u00a0 You know where I am.”\u00a0 He turned to his brothers.\u00a0 “Come on, we’re leaving.”<\/p>\n Adam opened his mouth to challenge them as they started to move away, but then thought better of it.\u00a0 He did<\/em> know where they lived and he would<\/em> do something about it – after<\/em> he got Little Joe home where he was safe and his cuts and bruises could be looked after.<\/p>\n Turning back, he was startled when he couldn’t find his brother.\u00a0 Then, he realized he was on the ground. \u00a0Hastening over, he knelt at his side.<\/p>\n “Are you okay?”<\/p>\n Joe gave him a weak grin.\u00a0 “Just resting.”<\/p>\n Adam waited a moment before asking, “Joe, how did this happen?\u00a0 I understand you taking on Wilson – he’s about as irritating a human being as I have ever met – but how did Adley and Darby get involved?\u00a0 Did you do something to make them mad?”<\/p>\n Joe’s demeanor changed in a heartbeat.\u00a0 His nostrils flared and he shouted, “Yeah, that’s right!\u00a0 It’s always the kid’s fault!\u00a0 Go ahead and take their side!”<\/p>\n He stifled a sigh.\u00a0 “I am not ‘taking their side’.\u00a0 I’m asking you a question.”<\/p>\n Joe scrambled to his feet and began to push past him.\u00a0 “Well, I don’t feel like answering it!\u00a0 How’s that!?”<\/p>\n Adam caught his arm.\u00a0 He winced as Joe let out a moan, indicating it was bruised.\u00a0 “Listen, young man, you will not speak to me that way.”<\/p>\n “You’re not my pa!” Joe shot back.\u00a0 “You can\u2019t speak to me<\/em> that way!”<\/p>\n “I may not be your pa, but I am your brother.\u00a0 It scared me to death when I saw you hanging over the water!”<\/p>\n “I’d of thought it would have made you happy, Adam,” Joe snarled.\u00a0 “You’d have been rid of me.\u00a0 That’s what you want, isn’t it?\u00a0 You don’t want me around!”<\/p>\n All the time they were exchanging verbal blows, Joe was wriggling and wiggling and trying to break free of his grip.<\/p>\n He held on more tightly.<\/p>\n “You little idiot!\u00a0 Whatever gave you that idea?\u00a0 You may vex me to the point of spitting nails, but I love<\/em> you!”<\/p>\n “Yeah, right.\u00a0 Tell me another one.”\u00a0 Joe put up a mighty effort to break free.\u00a0 “Now, let me go!\u00a0 Let me go or I’ll -”<\/p>\n “You’ll what?” he snapped back.<\/p>\n His little brother snorted like a raging bull as he raised his arm and made a fist.\u00a0 Knowing what was coming, Adam ducked, which in the end turned out to be both a good and bad thing.\u00a0 Joe’s punch missed him.<\/p>\n But it hit Dora Drummond.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FOUR<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Mistah Ben come inside.\u00a0 He stop worrying,” a voice said from behind him.<\/p>\n Ben closed his eyes and let out a sigh.\u00a0 It was past suppertime.\u00a0 He should have expected his long-time friend to seek him out.\u00a0 Joseph and Adam were late, and if there was one thing sure as the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening, it was Hop Sing’s punctuality when it came to the four of them sitting down at the dinner table – together – to a hot, fresh meal.\u00a0 It was true he was concerned that the boys were running behind, but worry wasn’t what had driven him outside.<\/p>\n It was his own guilty conscience.<\/p>\n Turning, he favored his housekeeper with a weary smile.\u00a0 “I’m not worrying, really. A dozen things could have keep the boys in town longer than anticipated.\u00a0 I\u2026just needed a breath of fresh air.”<\/p>\n Hop Sing was giving him that look<\/em>.<\/p>\n “Not think Mistah Cartwright worry about boys.” \u00a0The Asian man paused.\u00a0 Then, with a smile, he added, “Missy Drummond is velly velly<\/em> pretty.”<\/p>\n Ben snorted.\u00a0 “Am I that <\/em>transparent?”<\/p>\n “Mistah Ben been alone long time now.\u00a0 Almost ten years.\u00a0 It all right for him to notice pretty lady.”<\/p>\n Dora was more than pretty, she was beautiful, just as Marie had been.\u00a0 As a man he couldn’t help but notice her slender figure, lush golden hair, and wide green eyes, dark as the heart of the forest.\u00a0 But more than that he was drawn to the woman herself.\u00a0 Dora was<\/em> a woman and under twenty-five, but when she’d thought Joseph in need of her protection, there had been no hesitation in confronting him and telling him her mind.<\/p>\n Ben sighed again as he ran a hand over his chin.\u00a0 “You’re right, Hop Sing.\u00a0 There is nothing wrong with my noticing her, but\u2026.”<\/p>\n “You afraid you like her because she look like Missy Marie.”<\/p>\n “And acts like Marie!” he laughed.<\/p>\n Hop Sing nodded.\u00a0 “Mistah Ben miss her very much.\u00a0 Little Joe miss her very much too.”\u00a0 His cook tapped his chest.\u00a0 “Little boy have big hole here.\u00a0 In heart.”<\/p>\n If the truth were known, he had a big hole in his heart as well.\u00a0 He had loved both Adam and Hoss’ mothers fiercely – and missed them just as dearly – but there had been\u2026something\u2026about Marie.\u00a0 He had loved her with a passion that, in ways, passed understanding.\u00a0 He really had no business marrying her.\u00a0 She was too young for him, for one thing, and had been quite unsuited for the West.\u00a0 She’d done her best to fit in with the settler’s wives and daughters, with the members of the church congregation and so on, but for the most part she’d been alone.\u00a0 Maybe that was a part of what drew him to Dora Drummond as well.\u00a0 She had about her the same steel, but also the same fragility.\u00a0 Like a bird, Marie could take wing and fly as high as the sky, but once caught and brought to ground, it took nothing to crush her.<\/p>\n Hop Sing’s voice had dropped in volume as if he didn\u2019t want Hoss – who was sitting by the fire within, waiting on his brothers – to hear.\u00a0 “Little boy need new mama.\u00a0 Mistah Ben need new wife too.”<\/p>\n Ben glanced at the Asian man.\u00a0 “So, apparently you’ve added matchmaking to your skills, old friend?”<\/p>\n “Hop Sing inscrutable,” his cook said, using the word so often employed by white men of the Chinese.\u00a0 “Have many, many<\/em> skills Mistah Ben only learn about when he have need to know.”<\/p>\n “Well, I’m not sure in this case that particular skill will be needed.\u00a0 Dora is a lovely young woman, but she is that – young.<\/em>\u00a0 She’s just about the age Marie was when we met.\u00a0 The trouble is this old <\/em>man is fifteen years older!”\u00a0 Ben shifted and headed for the door.\u00a0 “Come on, Hop Sing, I imagine we’d better eat.\u00a0 Something has kept Little Joe and Adam, and if I know Hoss, he’s about to faint away from hunger!”<\/p>\n He had just opened the door when a sound caught his attention – not horses’ hooves, but carriage wheels.\u00a0 As they watched a smart black brougham rolled into the yard drawn by a team of horses.\u00a0 There were two other horses tethered behind.<\/p>\n Adam and Little Joe’s.<\/p>\n The carriage halted and a man debarked.\u00a0 Once on the ground he turned away and spoke to someone inside.\u00a0 It took a second, but Ben recognized the man as Adam.\u00a0 He waited for his youngest son to hop down on the other side.\u00a0 When Joseph failed to appear, Ben started toward the rig.<\/p>\n It was at that point that Adam turned to face him.<\/p>\n “Hey, Pa.”<\/p>\n Ben’s eyes roamed the carriage and its surrounds.\u00a0 Someone was inside, but he could tell by the silhouette that it was a woman.<\/p>\n “Where’s your brother?”<\/p>\n Adam winced.\u00a0 His oldest ran a hand along the back of his neck and then let out a sigh.\u00a0 “Well, Pa, it’s like this.\u00a0 I sort of\u2026lost him.”<\/p>\n “Lost him? \u00a0How could you lose<\/em> your brother?”\u00a0 Ben sucked in air as the seriousness of the situation struck him.\u00a0 “You mean to tell me you left a thirteen-year-old boy out there,” he pointed to the wilderness surrounding them, “alone in the dark!?”<\/p>\n “Pa, it’s a long story -”<\/p>\n “Mister Cartwright – Ben – please don\u2019t blame Adam. \u00a0I’m afraid it’s entirely my fault,” a woman’s voice remarked from inside the carriage.<\/p>\n Ben’s gaze shot to Adam – who winced again. \u00a0‘Who?’ he mouthed.<\/p>\n His question was answered a moment later as Adam went to help the woman debark.\u00a0 Her gloved hand appeared to grip one of the carriage struts.\u00a0 Even though her face was partially masked by the raised hood of her cloak, he instantly knew it was Dora Drummond.<\/p>\n The mystery deepened.<\/p>\n “Pa?\u00a0 What’s goin’ on?” a voice asked from behind him.<\/p>\n Ben glanced over his shoulder at Hoss and then raised a hand to ask for silence.\u00a0 As his middle son nodded, he turned back to the school teacher who was now standing directly before him.<\/p>\n “I apologize, Ben, for the nuisance I am proving to be to your family.”<\/p>\n Again he looked at Adam – who was looking at the stars.<\/p>\n “Nuisance?”<\/p>\n “First our\u2026confrontation regarding Joseph and then the rumors in the settlement, and now\u2026.”\u00a0 Dora hesitated and then she lowered her hood – revealing a shiner worthy of a first place ribbon.<\/p>\n Adam came up behind her.<\/p>\n “Like I said, Pa, it’s a long<\/em> story\u2026.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He was going to Hell.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, maybe not to Hell, but at least<\/em> to jail.\u00a0 Whatever way you looked at it, Pa was going to disown him.<\/p>\n For Gosh sakes!\u00a0 He’d hit a woman!!<\/p>\n Joe lowered his head into his hands, said ‘Ouch!”,and then fingered the darkening flesh around his left eye. As he did, shame flooded through him.\u00a0 He didn’t see much before he’d bolted into the woods, but he saw Dora on the ground and saw the mark of his knuckles on her skin.\u00a0 If only he hadn’t gotten so mad at Adam!\u00a0 He’d felt like he could spit nails!\u00a0 Pa was always telling him to look before he leapt and to think things through, but it just didn’t seem like that was something he could do.\u00a0 When he got mad, something rose up inside him and took over.\u00a0 It was like a bull seeing red.<\/p>\n Just like the red he saw on Dora’s cheek.<\/p>\n Joe shoved off the fallen log he was sitting on and started to walk again.\u00a0 He sure wished he had his horse, but he’d left him behind at the schoolhouse.\u00a0 Wilson had worked him over while his brothers held his arms, so he was stiff and sore. \u00a0He’d twisted and turned and fought to get free, kickin’ and makin’ contact a few times, but all that had done was get him kicked back, so he was limping as well.\u00a0 Joe sniffed and ran a dirty sleeve under his nose.\u00a0 He was fighting back tears as much from fatigue as from the fight.\u00a0 Maybe fighting back was what got him into so much trouble.\u00a0 He still shook when he thought about dangling over that stream!\u00a0 The curly-haired boy reached up to touch the side of his head where it was sore.\u00a0 Adley had hit him hard enough his teeth rattled and, before he could recover, the two older boys had thrust him up into the tree and over the side of that branch. He’d thought he was going to die. \u00a0Joe paused and sucked in a lungful of air to quiet his racing heart.<\/p>\n He’d really <\/em>thought he was going to die.<\/p>\n As he continued to walk, he thrust his hands into his pockets.\u00a0 He was about halfway home.\u00a0 On foot that meant he had another three hours to go.\u00a0 Joe glanced up at the moon and thought about how late that would make him.\u00a0 His pa sure was going to be mad!\u00a0 He’d have been even later if a fellow about Hoss’ age he knew hadn’t picked him up and given him a ride in his wagon.\u00a0 He’d made up some story about meeting Adam at one of their line shacks to get the man to put him down in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with no one in sight.\u00a0 Otherwise, he’d have been deposited on the doorstep of the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Joe’s hand went involuntarily to his backside. \u00a0He knew what would have happened next.\u00a0 Pa would have opened the door, rushed out, and given him a big old hug. Then he would have given him that look<\/em> –\u00a0 the one that said without words, ‘I’m disappointed in you, young man’.\u00a0 Then he would have scolded him in front of his smirking brothers and then –<\/p>\n Then<\/em> he’d have been escorted to the woodshed.<\/p>\n After that, well, he probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day for a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n This time he deserved it.\u00a0 He’d done a lot of stupid things in his life, but hitting a woman had to be about the dumbest one. \u00a0When he got home, he’d just march right up to his pa – who was sure to be in the red chair before the fire waiting on him – and take it like a man. \u00a0Joe’s pert nose twitched as he considered his father’s reaction.\u00a0 Maybe <\/em>he’d do that.\u00a0 Or maybe he’d just bed down with the horses in the stable since they wouldn’t judge him and wait until morning to face the music.\u00a0 Pa might be in a better mood after a few hours sleep.<\/p>\n If <\/em>Pa slept\u2026.<\/p>\n