This is the fifth story in the Adam\/Hoss\/Joe “Destiny” series<\/p>\n
Summary:<\/span>\u00a0 Adam and Mary Lynn head to the site of the train accident, determined to find their son, Nolan.<\/p>\n Rated K+ (20,510 words)<\/p>\n Destiny Series:<\/strong><\/p>\n Blizzard of Destiny<\/a> <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Homecoming – Part 2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The injury was what the mountain man had feared, a skull fracture.\u00a0 The boy didn\u2019t need that on top of everything else.\u00a0 The left side of his body was already purple and there were at least three broken ribs. That was painful enough by itself.\u00a0 Worse yet, although the compound fracture in his left leg had set easily enough, the skin laceration around it had become infected.\u00a0 The man was keeping it as clean as he could, and he changed the dressing twice a day, which he was doing right now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He gave an involuntary shudder as he remembered finding the boy.\u00a0 Going from car to car at the accident scene, peering inside each one with his lantern, this patient was hard to ignore.\u00a0 Draped over one of the bench seats of the train such that his head hung down toward the ground, the first thing that could be seen was the white flash of bone.\u00a0 And then his knee above it.\u00a0 With the tibia exposed, the leg was swinging back and forth by its muscle tissue, dripping blood.\u00a0 Periodically the mountain man could see the blunt end of the tibia that was still where it was supposed to be inside the leg.\u00a0 Almost certainly the tibial artery had been severed.\u00a0 That had to be fixed, but he would not likely die from it.\u00a0 At least not right away.\u00a0 The man looked up and down the length of the car.\u00a0 He saw two people at the front struggling to get to their feet.\u00a0 They were ambulatory, he guessed.\u00a0 Using the hammer he\u2019d brought with him, he broke through the window glass and lowered himself into the car, turned over on its side.\u00a0 Moving cautiously, he noticed a young woman in a black coat several seats down from the tibial fracture.\u00a0 She was lying against the broken windows, now the ground, basically.\u00a0 She appeared to be curled up sleeping. There was a superficial cut on her cheek and her arm lay at an angle that indicated to him that it was broken, but there was no blood that he could find.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As he turned back to the boy, trying to figure how in heck to get him out of the car, he saw a uniformed railroad employee outside the car, checking for injuries just he had been.\u00a0 He hailed the man urgently and enlisted his help.\u00a0 The conductor lowered himself through the open window frame and gasped when he saw the injury.\u00a0 The mountain man was in no mood to mollycoddle the conductor, however; there was no time.\u00a0 He took a deep breath and told the ambulatory passengers in the front of the car to stay put until they were out, and then to see to the unconscious young woman, making sure all three of them got out.\u00a0 He told them to go toward the front of the train.\u00a0 When they nodded their comprehension, he addressed the conductor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTrain Man, we gotta get this kid out that window you came through without injuring him more than he already is.\u00a0 I\u2019ll carry his upper body if you can support his legs.\u00a0 Try to keep both legs straight and don\u2019t pay any attention to whatever noise he makes, because he\u2019s gonna start real soon.\u201d\u00a0 The mountain man held up his lantern to look at the conductor, whose expression was one of terror, even though his head was bobbing up and down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The mountain man started by getting behind the bench where the unconscious victim lay, reaching down to slide his arms underneath the boy\u2019s shoulders and back.\u00a0 He raised him slightly and expelled a breath.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis ain\u2019t no boy.\u00a0 This is a six foot man,\u201d he grunted, indicating with his head for the conductor to lift his legs.\u00a0 As soon as this happened, the injured man began to struggle and moan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cKeep goin\u2019, and if you see any able bodied person out there, get \u2018em in here.\u00a0 We need a third person,\u201d the mountain man muttered to the conductor as he fought to keep his grip while the injured man moved restlessly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inasmuch as they were moving straight up with the bleeding train passenger, the exit was slow and excruciating. The conductor found his hands and coat covered with slippery blood, which hampered his movement and left him in anguish that he would drop the young man.\u00a0 The mountain man bore the brunt of gravity as the bulk of the patient\u2019s weight slid down to him as he was moved upward.\u00a0 He was also closest to his face, which was now emitting screams of agony.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As the conductor struggled to reach the open window frame, he realized there would not be enough room to get himself and the man\u2019s legs out at the same time.\u00a0 He needed two windows side by side, or a third person outside waiting to take the victim.\u00a0 He stopped, breathing heavily from his exertion, but peering outside, on the lookout for an able bodied helper.\u00a0 Finding none, he briefly explained the dilemma to the mountain man, who very slowly and gingerly extracted his hammer from a back pocket.\u00a0 He passed it to the conductor whose bloody grasp on it was tenuous.\u00a0 The screams grew louder as the conductor used one arm to grasp the legs tighter against his body while he stretched to beat at the nearest window with the hammer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At last the agonizing screams brought along two men who assisted in the extrication of the young man.\u00a0 They stood out on the train\u2019s side and received his legs, which emerged first while the conductor scrambled out the new opening he had created.\u00a0 Then the three of them carefully managed to uphold the man\u2019s entire body after the mountain man carefully eased it out and followed out the exit the conductor had just taken.\u00a0 For a minute the five men stood there in the freezing January night air, in the Rocky Mountains, holding the passenger\u2019s injured body, watching the wreckage and chaos around them.\u00a0 The scene was hellish, even at night.\u00a0 Then the mountain man spurred them back into action, moving carefully toward the front of the train, stepping along the side of the car.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When they reached the open gap between cars, they realized they were going to need a litter or a large board, but there was none to be had.\u00a0 So they did what had to be done.\u00a0 They moved him to the ground, which was not as drastic a move as they had already made, but the decline was sharp enough that it renewed his screams, which had temporarily dwindled.\u00a0 They began a slow march toward a bonfire which had been started at the front of the train.\u00a0 They laid him in the snow near the fire for whatever warmth he might receive.\u00a0 He was still moving, now grasping at his leg with both hands, which came away bloody.\u00a0 The mountain man crouched beside him and held his wrists.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBoy, don\u2019t touch the bone, it\u2019ll be better that way.\u201d\u00a0 The suggestion wasn\u2019t noted by the patient.\u00a0 The mountain man left and returned with a heavy stick that he tied to the broken leg as a makeshift split.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His screams had attracted a circle of the curious, and the mountain man moved away to the place he had left his horse.\u00a0 A black leather bag was attached to the back of the saddle, and he removed it and returned to his patient.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He knew this area like the back of his hand, but in case he hadn\u2019t, he thought grimly that he could just follow the torturous screams.\u00a0 Once the young man got going, he couldn\u2019t seem to stop, and now he was shivering too.\u00a0 The bloody conductor was kneeling nearby, trying in a futile manner to help somehow.\u00a0 He made way for the mountain man, who set the bag down and removed a brown glass vial from it.\u00a0 He grasped the young man\u2019s jaw and dribbled a small amount of liquid into his mouth.\u00a0 He grimaced but swallowed, and as the bitter medicine went down he began to cough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The mountain man turned to the conductor.\u00a0 \u201cI have a place nearby.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take him there to set the leg.\u00a0 I was a doctor in the War.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The conductor watched as the young man was picked up again.\u00a0 He waited for the screams to start again, but saw his eyes roll back and his head fall back limply against the doctor\u2019s arm.\u00a0 The mountain doctor began to walk toward his horse.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDo you want me to try to find any of his belongings in the railroad car?\u201d\u00a0 He called after them anxiously.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The mountain man turned.\u00a0 \u201cNo, you won\u2019t know what\u2019s his and what isn\u2019t, and everything\u2019s scattered to the wind anyway.\u00a0 Thanks for your help, Train Man, you probably helped save his life.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As he plodded steadily along, his horse following behind, the mountain man looked down at his patient.\u00a0 \u201cTibia, I hope what I told Train Man was right.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t get you taken care of soon, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s gonna happen to you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam Cartwright stood woodenly in John Granger\u2019s office.\u00a0 He looked out the window, not seeing through the glass.\u00a0 \u201cI have to go home.\u00a0 I have to tell Mary Lynn about this.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAdam, do you think you should try to get additional information from the Central Pacific Railroad before you go?\u00a0 They didn\u2019t say much and you\u2019re going to need to know more.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Distracted, Adam looked at his attorney.\u00a0 \u201cWill you do that for me, John?\u00a0 I\u2019m the one who brought Nolan home for Christmas, and if it weren\u2019t for me, he\u2019d be safe at school right now.\u00a0 I need to get home,\u201d and he was walking out the door even as John Granger was agreeing to investigate further.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Riding home, Adam didn\u2019t even feel the cold.\u00a0 He held Sport\u2019s reins in bare hands even though he had heavy black leather gloves in his pockets.\u00a0 He let the horse move at this own pace while he stared straight ahead, seeing his son\u2019s face in his mind but feeling the hollow enormity of grief.\u00a0 When he got back to the Ponderosa, he took Sport into the barn and stayed there a long time.\u00a0 One or two ranch hands had come in and out, but they hadn\u2019t disturbed him.\u00a0 He stood by Pegasus, stroking his back, and finally resting his forehead against the horse\u2019s neck.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what he would say to Mary Lynn, or what she would say to him.\u00a0 He stood rooted to the barn floor until a red faced Logan came in with his black horse, Rocket.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhew, that wind is wicked today,\u201d he commented, leading his horse to the stall next to Pegasus.\u00a0 \u201cHi, Dad, how was everything in town?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam did not, could not, answer.\u00a0 If he looked at Logan he would drown in the grief he was attempting to hold at bay.\u00a0 He heard his son taking care of his horse, but when he heard the other stall door close, he knew it could not be put off much longer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDad?\u00a0 Is everything okay?\u201d\u00a0 Logan was standing outside Pegasus\u2019 stall, sensing trouble.\u00a0 His father would not simply stand by his brother\u2019s horse, holding onto him like that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam was still dry eyed.\u00a0 He looked briefly at Logan, let his eyes close, and pulled the telegram out of his pocket.\u00a0 After a few moments a strangled sound came from Logan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNo\u2026Dad?\u00a0 What does this mean?\u00a0 Dad?\u201d\u00a0 He opened the stall and came closer, beginning to understand why his father stood by Nolan\u2019s horse.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In his intensely logical way, Adam tried to explain.\u00a0 \u201cIt means there was some sort of train accident in the\u2026in the\u2026Rocky Mountains.\u00a0 Eighty-three people were hurt and they have not found\u2026not found\u2026\u201d he broke off, unable to continue.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNO!\u00a0 That can\u2019t be!\u00a0 NO!\u201d\u00a0 Logan shouted.\u00a0 \u201cHe was just here, he\u2019s fine.\u201d\u00a0 He looked at his father, who finally looked right at him, which meant he was also looking at Nolan.\u00a0 He was finally overcome by the wall of misery, reaching out to his son, who grabbed him and held on tight while his father wept silently.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Logan didn\u2019t know how long they stood that way, but Hoss eventually came into the barn, followed by Eric, and the news had to be told.\u00a0 Hoss was dumbstruck, and Eric hung his head in sorrow. Adam tried to regain his composure because the worst was yet to come.\u00a0 He had to be strong for his wife, who might hate him since he had caused this to happen.\u00a0 After a few more minutes, Adam used a neckerchief to dry his face and he left the barn alone to see his wife.\u00a0 There was silence in the barn as the three men looked at each other mutely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam found her in their room, fixing her hair.\u00a0 She smiled briefly at him through a mouthful of hairpins.\u00a0 All the children were still in school, so at least there would be privacy, he thought.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t bothered to take off his coat or hat, and he went to the window, waiting until she was finished.\u00a0 She was only seconds tucking the pins where they needed to be, and then she turned to him and he turned to her.\u00a0 Instantly she read the sadness on his face and she went directly to him, taking his face in her hands.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He put his hands on her shoulders.\u00a0 \u201cMary Lynn, there\u2019s been an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She frowned.\u00a0 \u201cWhat kind?\u00a0 What happened?\u00a0 Something in town?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo, not in town,\u201d he paused, searching for words.\u00a0 His mouth was open, but he couldn\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She took his arm and led him to their bed, where they both sat.\u00a0 \u201cIs it your father?\u00a0 Is Ben all right?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Once again he pulled out the telegram, but knew he couldn\u2019t just hand it to her.\u00a0 His hand closed over it.\u00a0 \u201cPa\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAdam, just tell me.\u00a0 Do we need to do something?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYes, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 There was an accident,\u201d he paused again, feeling his heart pound heavily.\u00a0 \u201cA train accident.\u00a0 Nolan\u2019s train\u2026\u201d he closed his eyes so he wouldn\u2019t have to look at the condemnation in the eyes of the person he loved most.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Her hands were on her cheeks then as she breathed, \u201cOh, no.\u00a0 Please, no.\u201d\u00a0 She grabbed his hand and he let her have the crumpled telegram.\u00a0 She looked at it for a long time before looking up again, her face pale.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt says missing, Adam, missing.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say dead.\u201d\u00a0 She grabbed his arms and squeezed with all her might as tears spilled out of his eyes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t know,\u201d he said, almost whispering.\u00a0 \u201cIt happened in the Rocky Mountains.\u00a0 There must have been snow.\u201d\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say it was the worst place he could think of for a train accident to occur.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe need more information.\u00a0 There must be more.\u00a0 Where did they take the injured people?\u00a0 Someone must have seen him before the accident.\u00a0 Someone must know something,\u201d she was insistent, shaking him as she spoke, her gaze boring into his.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cJohn is trying to find out more.\u00a0 I left to come home.\u00a0 To tell you,\u201d he swallowed hard and watched her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She pulled away and sat silently on the bed, looking at her hands in her lap.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t speak. After several minutes a tear splashed onto her hands, and then another, quietly.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t she scream, he wondered.\u00a0 She should be shaking the rafters with her grief.\u00a0 He watched her silently, his heart breaking into pieces that died as they dropped away.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSweet Nolan, my baby,\u201d her voice was shaky.\u00a0 \u201cSo sweet.\u00a0 Oh Nolan, where are you?\u201d\u00a0 She looked at Adam and saw the raw pain in his face.\u00a0 She reached out to him and he grabbed her close.\u00a0 They rocked together silently until they heard the children\u2019s school wagon return about fifteen minutes later.\u00a0 Hoss must have taken them in hand, because there was no loud burst of voices through the door, and no mad rush up the stairs.\u00a0 They would have to be told, and soon, but this short time was preserved just for Adam and Mary Lynn.<\/p>\n Chapter 2<\/p>\n The mountain doctor had carried Nolan a half mile along a winding, upward path to a level area where a crude log cabin stood.\u00a0 Pushing through the door, he was relieved to set his burden down on the single bed in the single room of the dwelling.\u00a0 It was warm, at least, and he moved to put a log on the fire, which had burned down while he was away.\u00a0 He left the cabin briefly to retrieve his black bag and secure the horse to the post near the door.\u00a0 The horse would be all right in the cold; he was sturdy.\u00a0 When he could, the doctor would put him away in the small barn behind the cabin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first order of business was to set the broken bone.\u00a0 Tibia was still out cold, but that wouldn\u2019t last forever.\u00a0 Lighting three lanterns, he set them on stools and overturned buckets around the bed to give him light.\u00a0 Not satisfied with the result, he moved everything around by swinging the end of the bed toward the fireplace, which cast substantially more light.\u00a0 Then he brought the lanterns close again. He undressed his patient, cutting off his pants. His clothes were wet anyway and he needed to be examined for further injuries. In one quick afterthought, he grabbed the jacket he had removed and went through its pockets for any identifying information.\u00a0 He found one scrap of paper with the name \u201cKaren Gregory\u201d on it and an address in New York, written in a feminine script.\u00a0 He checked the pants as well, finding nothing.\u00a0 He turned back to his patient. \u00a0He was concerned about Tibia\u2019s hips, but decided to wait until the leg was set before checking.\u00a0 If he had a broken hip as well, he was outside the doctor\u2019s ability to treat him, but that thought was brushed aside for now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Washing away as much blood as he could, the doctor examined the leg for a severed tibial artery.\u00a0 He found it torn but not severed.\u00a0 That was a stroke of luck.\u00a0 He would suture it.\u00a0 In this rough setting he laid out everything he would need on a clean towel.\u00a0 He washed his own hands and managed to place two sutures side by side in the artery.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t done anything close to this since the War.\u00a0 Now he only doctored himself and Pete, the horse.\u00a0 Still, he remembered what to do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Setting the bone was more complicated.\u00a0 He tied Tibia\u2019s wrists and one ankle to three of the bedposts and positioned himself at the end of the bed.\u00a0 When he had worked up the guts to do the job, he grasped the young man\u2019s lower leg and ankle.\u00a0 Pulling down on it quickly, he guided the bone back inside the leg.\u00a0 As expected, Tibia objected mightily through his stupor, shouting his pain through the roof and into the heavens.\u00a0 Feeling sweat roll into his eyes, the doctor thanked the Lord it had worked with one yank.\u00a0 Next he probed through the lacerated flesh to make sure the arterial sutures had remained intact, and that the bone connection was a proper fit.\u00a0 Both were positive, although at least two bone fragments were missing. He hoped these would grow back as the break healed.\u00a0 With a little help from above, Tibia would walk without a limp.\u00a0 A lot of that depended on his hips, though. Finally he sutured the laceration around most of the leg, but only after he had administered more laudanum.\u00a0 Before splinting the leg with two flat, clean pieces of wood, the doctor poured whiskey over the wound, and Tibia hardly even moaned.\u00a0 Grimly the doctor smiled to himself.\u00a0 Usually he used the whiskey to erase the hideous memories of the War, but tonight he\u2019d used it for a nobler purpose.\u00a0 The leg was bandaged, splinted, and wrapped tightly with clean cloth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The doctor sat back and admired his handiwork.\u00a0 He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and took a long draught of the whiskey.\u00a0 What had prompted him to go to the accident scene?\u00a0 Having heard the wreck when it happened, he could simply have turned over in his warm bed and gone back to sleep.\u00a0 He knew exactly where to go, however; he had worked on the Central Pacific crew that built the trestle.\u00a0 Anything but doctoring would do back then.\u00a0 He had not treated a real patient since the War, and that was the way he wanted it.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he lived in these Godforsaken mountains.\u00a0 He wanted to forget.\u00a0 He almost chuckled; it would have been easier to cut off Tibia\u2019s leg than go to the lengths he went to tonight.\u00a0 In the War, legs were cut off.\u00a0\u00a0 Arms were cut off.\u00a0 But time had passed; almost 20 years.\u00a0 Had the oath he had taken to become a doctor revived itself in his soul?\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t thought.\u00a0 He had just gone.\u00a0 And something about Tibia pulled at him.\u00a0 Maybe because he was very much like the thousands of boy-men who had died gruesomely in that War.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 He drank more whiskey and went back to work.\u00a0 Hips were next on his mind.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A blanket of near silence had settled over the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Since learning about the accident, the Cartwrights did very little talking; only what was necessary to basic living and working.\u00a0 No after-dinner conversations.\u00a0 No loud games for the children. Next to no smiles.\u00a0 Hop Sing could often be found in the kitchen wiping his eyes.\u00a0 Logan went about his ranch work with tears flowing freely down his face, which created raw skin in the January wind.\u00a0 Hoss was forced to put liniment on his nephew\u2019s face; telling him to stop mourning was not an option.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe went about his timber work with his mouth set in a grim line.\u00a0 Hoss\u2019 bright blue eyes showed a great sadness.\u00a0 Erin, Amy and Elizabeth dabbed at their eyes continually.\u00a0 Adam wanted to retreat somewhere far away where he couldn\u2019t be found, much as he had done when he had worried over Mary Lynn\u2019s pregnancy with Elizabeth eighteen years ago.\u00a0 But he couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 He had to live and be strong for his family.\u00a0 Mary Lynn was quiet but determined.\u00a0 Like a bull dog, she persisted with questions and demands for answers from the railroad.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John Granger had come to the Ponderosa on January 6 to report that the accident had occurred in the Great Divide Basin in the Rocky Mountains, 15 miles from the small town of Rock Springs, Wyoming.\u00a0 There had been snow that night.\u00a0 The train slowed down, but ice formed on the rails and after almost completing passage across a tall trestle, the last two cars of the train had collided and derailed, falling into the canyon below.\u00a0 A third car had also fallen, while five had turned onto their sides.\u00a0 This included the car that Nolan was riding in.\u00a0 The conductor\u2019s records showed that he had been riding in car #17, but he was not found there on subsequent searches.\u00a0 But that piece of information was largely meaningless since many people had escaped the cars on their own or with the help of others.\u00a0 Some had wandered away in shock.\u00a0 Twenty-seven people had perished in the cars that fell into the canyon.\u00a0 Some had also perished in the overturned cars, but the railroad did not have an accurate number of those to release.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many of the injured had been transported to Rock Springs, where they had been disbursed into the town\u2019s church, or private homes, since the town was hardly more than a settlement and didn\u2019t even have its own doctor.\u00a0 When stabilized, many of the injured would be moved to Cheyenne, where medical care was more readily available for them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Lynn had stood up then.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re going to Rock Springs,\u201d she announced.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll go from house to house if we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John Granger cleared his throat.\u00a0 \u201cMary Lynn, the Central Pacific has temporarily suspended service over the Rocky Mountains.\u00a0 They need to recover the cars and the dead.\u201d\u00a0 He stumbled over the last word.\u00a0 \u201cThere is also damage to the trestle that has to be repaired.\u00a0 One or more of the falling cars came into contact with the trestle.\u00a0 The crews will be put to work within the next few days, but as you might imagine, getting down into that canyon will be a difficult job.\u201d\u00a0 He cleared his throat again.\u00a0 This was most uncomfortable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Lynn looked at him helplessly and Adam slumped in his chair.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere has to be another way to get to Rock Springs, even if we have to take another train out of our way and rent a carriage.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a possibility,\u201d John said weakly.\u00a0 \u201cI could look into that.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDo it, please, John.\u00a0 If our son is injured somewhere, he needs our help.\u00a0 Please hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam had been rubbing his jaw throughout this exchange, and when he met his father\u2019s eyes, his own were swimming in unshed tears.\u00a0 He got up and moved over to the fireplace, bracing his hands on the mantle and staring at the flames.\u00a0 His father got up and went to put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him close.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As the family began to drift away to other duties, Mary Lynn continued discussing options with Mr. Granger.\u00a0 She suggested taking some other form of transportation and following another route to Rock Springs.\u00a0 She stood tall and dry-eyed.\u00a0 She had a plan and a mission.\u00a0 She would not give up her son without proof that she should, and she knew without a doubt that she would pursue him with more diligence than the railroad would.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cC\u2019mon, Tib, open up for me.\u00a0 You need this broth to get better.\u00a0 It\u2019s squirrel, but it\u2019s good.\u00a0 You been out for four days and I gotta get this in you,\u201d the man had propped him up carefully with pillows and was pushing a spoon between his lips.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tim, that must be his name, he thought, because the man kept saying it to him.\u00a0 Tim couldn\u2019t remember, though.\u00a0 Did he have a last name?\u00a0 He just knew that he hurt all over.\u00a0 His leg, his ribs, and his head, oh Lord, his head.\u00a0 He cooperated with the man, who had been leaning over him whenever he opened his eyes.\u00a0 He let the broth in and swallowed it.\u00a0 It was passable.\u00a0 He took some more, wondering where he was and what had happened to him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now look, Tib, I\u2019m Tom Walters, an\u2019 I been takin\u2019 care of you since the accident.\u00a0 You call me Tom.\u00a0 I figure after all we been through so far we\u2019re on a first name basis.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019re followin\u2019 along with me here.\u00a0 You have a bad broken leg that\u2019s got itself infected, you\u2019ve got broken ribs, and you got a skull fracture.\u00a0 You\u2019re gonna be here a while, but it\u2019s your good luck I\u2019m a doctor.\u00a0 Believe it or not, that\u2019s the truth.\u00a0 Served in the War, which is why I got myself as far away from civilization as I could.\u00a0 If you got a family, you need to tell me.\u00a0 They must be in a state over you by now,\u201d he stopped talking and sat back.\u00a0 Tib\u2019s eyes were starting to close again, but Tom had been feeding him throughout his speech.\u00a0 This was the first time Tib had been conscious enough to eat or comprehend anything.\u00a0 As he slipped back into safe, black sleep, Tim wondered who Tib, Tim and Tom were.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom realized he\u2019d lost his patient to sleep and he carefully eased him down flat on the bed.\u00a0 He brushed hair off Tib\u2019s forehead with one hand.\u00a0 He was certainly a handsome young man with his dark hair, muscular body and cleft chin.\u00a0 A black stubble of beard covered his face.\u00a0 Tom would have to shave him soon, and bathe him too.\u00a0 He had been more worried about the infection in the skin around his broken leg.\u00a0 He had been disinfecting it, washing it and changing the dressing more frequently, but it still had an angry red look to it.\u00a0 He really didn\u2019t want Tib to lose the leg.\u00a0 It might be more than he could suffer at this point.\u00a0 The skull fracture\u2014mostly conjecture on his part\u2014was beyond his medical ken.\u00a0 He was a basic Army surgeon, but he knew enough to recognize the signs of what he feared, and he had been consulting his medical books every day since he\u2019d brought Tib home.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Later that day Tib was thrashing in bed.\u00a0 Tom made a face; a man couldn\u2019t really thrash with one leg disabled, but Tib was making a good effort.\u00a0 Touching his face, Tom realized his fever had spiked.\u00a0 It had been going up and down as his body fought the infection in his leg.\u00a0 Tom had been so careful with that leg too, he was disheartened when the fever developed.\u00a0 It had been four days, and Tom wasn\u2019t willing to risk much more since Tib\u2019s body had other injuries to cope with.\u00a0 With a heavy sigh, he sat next to Tib and administered some more laudanum, just enough to quiet him.\u00a0 Unwrapping the heavy dressing designed to keep the leg immobile, Tom examined the swollen red flesh.\u00a0 It was hot to the touch and hard.\u00a0 His careful sutures lay below the puffy flesh.\u00a0 It was time for him to take action, and he only knew one thing to do.\u00a0 Half muttering to himself, he once again assembled his surgical instruments.\u00a0 When all was in order, he used a scalpel to make an inch long incision in the red skin.\u00a0 Blood and infected matter began to drain.\u00a0 He helped it along gently, glad that Tib was out cold again.\u00a0 After a slow and deliberate process, he repeated the same thing on the back of Tib\u2019s leg.\u00a0 He finished by placing sutures in each incision, disinfecting with whiskey and wrapping the whole wound site with fresh, clean, soft cloth.\u00a0 When Tib was covered comfortably once again, Tom cleaned and stored his instruments.\u00a0 Then he grabbed the whiskey, left the cabin and stood outside, breathing the icy cold air, and draining the bottle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Lynn had learned that the Union Pacific Railroad operated through Ogden, Utah into Wyoming\u2014Cheyenne, Laramie, Green River and Evanston\u2014before it moved on through Colorado Territory and east.\u00a0 She and Adam could take the Central Pacific into northern Utah and then make their way to Ogden to catch the Union Pacific.\u00a0 It would take them to Cheyenne, where the Central Pacific planned to move the injured passengers now housed in Rock Springs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam tried to point out to her that Utah and Wyoming were vast spaces of land with few towns, and that travel could be impossible in January.\u00a0 His wife was determined, however, and wasn\u2019t listening to \u201cno\u201d from anyone.\u00a0 Joe, Hoss and Ben all tried to talk her out of rushing off into regions that could be dangerous.\u00a0 Erin and Amy were sympathetic, and sought to console Mary Lynn, who wasn\u2019t having any consolation.\u00a0 Maybe one day she\u2019d have to, but not now.\u00a0 She demanded maps, and Adam promised to take her to the schoolhouse to see if it had what she was looking for.\u00a0 Eli and Susannah offered to look at the school maps for her so she wouldn\u2019t have to make a trip to town, but their mother hesitated.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t fully trust anyone to assist her because no one but she was as impassioned about finding her son.\u00a0 Yes, Adam would be if he could, but he was emotionally crushed right now.\u00a0 And she just flat out refused to believe her son was dead until she was given proof.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam did sense the hurt in the eyes of his second set of twins, however.\u00a0 He told them to look up everything they could find about distance from places in northern Utah to Ogden, and then he and Mary Lynn would come to school at the end of the day to see what they had discovered.\u00a0 This brightened their outlook.\u00a0 They, like the other Cartwright children, had been feeling disconnected from their parents, and they weren\u2019t sure how they should be acting.\u00a0 They cared, and they wanted to help. They were also sad and scared.\u00a0 Having something to do was infinitely more therapeutic for them than drifting from day to day in the unknown.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The unknown was what had crushed Adam so badly.\u00a0 He could hardly stand to look at Logan, who knew this and had thrown himself into ranch work, sometimes even eating and sleeping in the bunk house with the hands.\u00a0 Hoss, who knew that there were nights Logan worked in the barn until dawn, kept a careful eye on him.\u00a0 Despite their different personalities, Nolan and Logan had been as close as twins could be.\u00a0 Eli and Susannah, even with a very strong bond, weren\u2019t the same way because they were boy and girl.\u00a0 Hoss knew his oldest nephew felt almost a physical pain at the loss of his brother.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A week after the arrival of the telegram, Mary Lynn was talking to Adam about making the trip to Wyoming.\u00a0 It was night and they had gone to bed and turned out the light.\u00a0 She was going over logistics she didn\u2019t even understand, and Adam couldn\u2019t bear to listen to it anymore.\u00a0 He wanted to be cocooned in the dark, alone.\u00a0 He reached out and grabbed his wife\u2019s hand, holding it tightly.\u00a0 She stopped talking.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMary Lynn, please stop.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know if what you\u2019re proposing is even possible, and frankly, I don\u2019t think it is at this time of year.\u00a0 We could wind up perishing ourselves.\u00a0 Please let it go, just for a while.\u00a0 I want him back too, but this is too much for me.\u00a0 We may have to wait until spring.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Instantly she pulled her hand away from him.\u00a0 Tears burned her eyes.\u00a0\u00a0 They were not tears of mourning, but of anger.\u00a0 She was transported back to the night she told him she was pregnant with Elizabeth.\u00a0 Her news had created so much fear that she might die, as she almost had with Nolan and Logan, that he had retreated into his own miserable world.\u00a0 They had virtually separated, and were not reunited until Elizabeth was three months old.\u00a0 In his fear and grief for Nolan, was he going to go back to that place where no one was able to reach him?\u00a0 Was she being anything but a practical mother in wanting to know her son\u2019s fate?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAdam, I just have to know what happened to him,\u201d she said simply.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He sighed and she knew he was on his back staring at the ceiling. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m afraid to find out what that may be.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was a long silence between them, and then slowly they each turned away from each other in the bed.\u00a0 And, as it had been eighteen years ago, they lay awake for hours contemplating the unknown.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The following day, he took her to the school in Virginia City.\u00a0 They timed their arrival for the end of the school day.\u00a0 The teacher expressed her sympathy to them regarding Nolan.\u00a0 A number of people had done that, and it was disconcerting.\u00a0 Was it needed or not?\u00a0 Accepting it nevertheless, Adam and Mary Lynn found that Susannah and Eli had done their work well.\u00a0 Between the maps and the books in the school, as well as a little help from the teacher, they had been able to determine that the northwest corner of Utah was about 200 miles from Ogden.\u00a0 Everyone was quiet after this news was revealed.\u00a0 Of course it was not the information that was hoped for.\u00a0 If one train took them to northern Utah they would have to travel 200 miles on their own before reaching another train that could taken them to possible information about Nolan.\u00a0 Smiling tightly at the teacher, they took their leave, the children following dejected behind them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now even Mary Lynn realized that what she had hoped for was almost impossible.\u00a0 Would it be faster just to wait for the railroad to fix the trestle and reopen the Great Divide Basin?\u00a0 As they headed home, her thought focused on this single anchoring thought.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom, who had taken to sleeping on a pallet next to Tibia, was awakened a few nights later by his voice.\u00a0 \u201cKaren, I think it will be all right.\u00a0 The train seems to be steady now.\u00a0 Karen?\u00a0 Karen!\u00a0 Can you hear me?\u00a0 Where are you?\u201d\u00a0 He ended in a shout, his head moving back and forth restlessly on the pillow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom sat up quickly and reached up to feel his head.\u00a0 He was sweating, but he was not hot, thank goodness.\u00a0 The draining of the leg wound appeared to have pushed the infection toward resolution.\u00a0 There was no fever.\u00a0 Tib was having a nightmare, remembering the train accident.\u00a0 Quickly, Tom grabbed his hand to look for a wedding ring, something he had paid no attention to before now.\u00a0 He remembered that Karen Gregory was the name he had found on the scrap of paper in his jacket.\u00a0 Was Karen his wife?\u00a0 Had they been traveling together?\u00a0 Was she the young woman with the broken arm?\u00a0\u00a0 There was no ring on either hand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tib quieted down and for a time seemed to sleep again.\u00a0 Tom sat up, an arm over one raised knee, watching the fire.\u00a0 The young man had eaten obediently the past few days, but he still slept a lot, a sign of the head injury.\u00a0 Skull fractures often caused bleeding in the brain, and pressure against the skull, even sudden death.\u00a0 Tom admitted to himself he didn\u2019t know for sure if Tib had a skull fracture or a concussion.\u00a0 There had been a depression on the side of his head, the purple side, which lead Tom to suspect the fracture.\u00a0 Something had whacked him good, no doubt when he was thrown in the railroad car.\u00a0 If there was bleeding in his brain, there wasn\u2019t much Tom could do about it.\u00a0 Keep him quiet, hope that the blood reabsorbed.\u00a0 Unless Tib became more coherent Tom would not be able to assess the degree of mental injury, if any.\u00a0 So far he had not spoken except for the dream just now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wondering about Tib\u2019s future, Tom became aware that he was clutching the bedcovers in his hand.\u00a0 Was he still dreaming?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGo, Peg, move!\u00a0 Logan, stop! Slow down.\u00a0 Logan, there could be ice\u2026 Ohhh, damn.\u00a0 Hurry, Peg, hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n More dreaming.\u00a0 Tom hunted for a piece of paper and wrote down what Tib had said.\u00a0 He would repeat it to him as soon as he could to see if it was meaningful.\u00a0 Head injuries were so tricky. \u00a0They caused sleepiness, dizziness, amnesia, confusion, loss of speech.\u00a0 They could persist for months or years, or they could resolve spontaneously within days.\u00a0 As Tom lay back on his pallet he thought about the years he had imprisoned himself on this mountain. \u00a0He had achieved his goal, which was to get as far away as he could from humanity, to leave the gruesome killing behind, the stupid politics that resulted in wholesale killing of men and boys.\u00a0 But what advances had taken place in medicine while he had been hidden away?\u00a0 He had not treated patients, so until now he had never cared.\u00a0 What if there was a place that knew how to treat Tib\u2019s injuries better than he did?\u00a0\u00a0 Especially the head injury.\u00a0 He thought briefly about making a trip to Rock Springs, where he could send a telegraph message to his medical school for advice.\u00a0 That was an all day round trip, though, one he made twice a year for supplies\u2014and not in winter.\u00a0 Tib couldn\u2019t be left alone all day right now anyway, he thought, dismissing the idea.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The next day, in a flash of inspiration, Tom showed Tib a mirror when he was awake, hoping some kind of recognition would result.\u00a0 Tib studied himself in the mirror, felt his beard stubble, then looked at Tom, and back to the mirror.\u00a0\u00a0 Finally he handed the mirror to Tom, finished.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But Tom persisted.\u00a0 \u201cDo you know your name?\u00a0 What\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tib was quiet for a while before he responded, \u201cTim.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTim?\u00a0 Your name is Tim?\u00a0 Do you have a last name?\u00a0 Another name after Tim?\u00a0 Like mine is Walters, Tom Walters.\u00a0 What\u2019s your last name?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWalters.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom watched him closely.\u00a0 Tib wasn\u2019t playing games with him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know how to at this point.\u00a0 Tom sat carefully on the bed next to him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWho is Karen?\u00a0 Do you know someone named Karen?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tib\u2019s eyes moved slowly around the room.\u00a0 He said nothing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHow about Peg or Logan.\u00a0 Do you know them?\u00a0 Are they friends of yours?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom thought that a brief frown crossed Tib\u2019s face.\u00a0 He stared at his covers, but said nothing.\u00a0 Tom sighed.\u00a0 He would try again another time.\u00a0 At least Tib was eating well and the purple side of him was turning green as the bruising slowly healed.\u00a0 His ribs were wrapped and didn\u2019t appear to be causing him undue pain.\u00a0 Best of all, the infection in his leg was gone and the wound was also healing.\u00a0 The redness was all but gone, and the swelling had disappeared.\u00a0 Somewhere down the road, Tom would remove the stitches.\u00a0 Tib would always have a scar around his calf, but at least he would be able to walk.\u00a0 Tom had been unable to find any evidence of broken hips, which had removed a large concern of his, because that would have left Tib a cripple.\u00a0 Tom did not think Tib could have survived the surgical procedure that would have been required to make sure the hip was properly set.\u00a0 He would have had to let it heal its own way, which would probably have left Tib in pain for life. So physically Tom thought Tib would heal.\u00a0 He dearly hoped he would break through the skull fracture trauma.\u00a0 After all this, Tom wanted to know the person who Tib really was.<\/p>\n Chapter 3<\/p>\n Later that day while Tib was sleeping, Tom picked through some wood in the barn after seeing to Pete.\u00a0 He planned to make a crutch for Tib to use when he was well enough try walking again.\u00a0 And that depended on his recovery from the head injury.\u00a0 But no harm in being ready ahead of time.\u00a0 While Tom was in the barn selecting wood, Tib was dreaming again.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t calling out, but he was seeing pictures that felt familiar.\u00a0 He saw a ranch with hills and pastures.\u00a0 Pine trees.\u00a0 There were horses, cattle, and a lot of people who lived in a big house.\u00a0 He felt like he knew them, and they were very nice to him.\u00a0 His mind struggled to bring their names forward but he couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 One man was very big and tall.\u00a0 He was strong, but gentle.\u00a0 He spent a lot of time telling Tim jokes.\u00a0 There was a woman with blonde hair who hugged and kissed him.\u00a0 He liked her a lot and she smelled good.\u00a0 Another man was near her, and he seemed interested in Tim.\u00a0 He reminded Tim a lot of the face he\u2019d seen in the mirror.\u00a0 When it was time to eat, an oriental man brought in dishes and dishes of wonderful food.\u00a0 He knew that place somehow, he thought.\u00a0 He came slowly awake, remembering the dream.\u00a0 Looking around the one room cabin, though, he was confused.\u00a0 This was a different place.\u00a0 Maybe the man here had taken him to the big ranch.\u00a0 Maybe he would ask him about it\u2026sometime when he wasn\u2019t so tired.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On January 18, two weeks after hearing about Nolan, Joe returned from Virginia City with news from John Granger.\u00a0 The Central Pacific Railroad anticipated resuming service over the Rocky Mountains on January 24.\u00a0 After crossing the Great Divide Basin, Adam and Mary Lynn would pass Rock Springs, traveling to the next scheduled stop in Cheyenne, more than 150 miles down the line, then technically operated by the Union Pacific Railroad.\u00a0 Special word was also sent from the president of the Central Pacific Railroad that if the Cartwrights explained their situation to the conductor, the train would stop in Rock Springs to let them disembark even though there was no station there.\u00a0 The train would also stop for them if they were at the track at some later date when it passed by on its way to Cheyenne if they wished to go there.\u00a0 Furthermore, an official from the Central Pacific would be aboard the train to discuss who had been confirmed dead, who was missing, and who was injured, as far as the railroad knew.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Lynn grabbed Joe and kissed his cheek when he had finished his report.\u00a0 He smiled at her, glad to have brought a piece of information that made her happy, at least for now.\u00a0 His brother, Adam, who was sitting near the fire, having not gone back to work since the news came, looked over and met Mary Lynn\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 She looked back, her eyes pleading.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe can go, can\u2019t we Adam?\u00a0 Soon?\u201d\u00a0 She hurried over to him and knelt by his side, grasping his wrists desperately.\u00a0 It was as much contact as they had had in the past week.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He didn\u2019t want to go; didn\u2019t want to find out the worst, which he suspected.\u00a0 But he could not deny his wife this trip, this mother\u2019s passionate mission.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYes, we can go, as soon as we can make the arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She reached up then and put her arms around his neck, burying her face there.\u00a0 That\u2019s when she began to cry tears of release.\u00a0 She had reached a point of critical mass and Joe\u2019s news had broken through her reserves.\u00a0 She cried for Nolan, and for herself and Adam, and for Logan.\u00a0 As Adam gathered her on his lap, the other people in the room drifted away to allow them this moment of privacy.\u00a0 The ultimate news might not be good, but for them to come together like this was healing, and they allowed it to wash over themselves.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On January 27, Adam and Mary Lynn left Virginia City for Reno and the train that would take them to Rock Springs, Wyoming.\u00a0 Mr. Harold Stark from the Central Pacific would be aboard that train and he would ride with them as long as it took to convey the information he had.\u00a0 He had also arranged for them to stay at a boarding house in Rock Springs for as long as they needed to. In addition, there would be no charge for their rail travel on either the Central or Union Pacific lines.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They were the only passengers on the stage to Reno, and they said very little as the ride was rough and cold.\u00a0 They huddled together wrapped in blankets to keep warm and kept the canvas window covers buttoned.\u00a0 They were each lost in their own thoughts about what lay ahead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the train station in Reno, Mr. Stark had arranged for them to wait in a private room where refreshments were available for them.\u00a0 The train was not due for an hour, so they nibbled at the sandwiches and coffee while they waited.\u00a0 The train arrived ten minutes late, and as they moved onto the platform, Mr. Stark got off the train and found them.\u00a0 In no time a porter had loaded their bags and they were escorted to a private car by Mr. Stark.\u00a0 He was tall and bespectacled, with thinning hair.\u00a0 He looked to be about sixty.\u00a0 Wearing a dark three piece suit, he formally introduced himself and expressed his condolences to Mary Lynn and Adam.\u00a0 They sat down in plush seats in a car that was outfitted as a sitting area with a bar and round, polished oak table.\u00a0 They were first offered coffee, tea or any other drink they chose, but they declined.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMr. and Mrs. Cartwright, did you bring along a photograph of your son?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They had, knowing why that request had been made.\u00a0 The picture was of Nolan and Logan together.\u00a0 They handed it to Mr. Stark, who looked at it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHandsome boys,\u201d he said graciously, and then stopped short, doing the standard double take.\u00a0 \u201cThey are twins?\u201d\u00a0 The tone of his voice indicated he hoped the answer was no.\u00a0 \u201cWell, they look like you Mr. Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d said Adam in a low voice, staring directly at the railroad executive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trying to put off the discomfiture the photograph had given him, Stark began with the statistics they already knew.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThere were 163 people on your son\u2019s train on January 4, including the crew.\u00a0 Three cars fell from the trestle altogether, and 27 people perished in those cars.\u00a0 Your son was in car #17, and it was one of five that derailed and turned over.\u00a0 The accident happened at night so the only light available came from the lanterns that the crew had.\u00a0 Some of the passengers in the overturned cars were able to extricate themselves.\u00a0 Some stayed with the train, and some wandered off, apparently in shock.\u00a0 Three of them were located within the next twelve hours.\u00a0 Five passengers in the overturned cars perished.\u00a0 The engine of the train was dispatched 15 miles ahead to Rock Springs, Wyoming, which is a small town, but help was secured there and the train returned with help and equipment.\u00a0 All of the injured were taken to the church or private homes in Rock Springs, which does not have a doctor.\u00a0 It was the quickest help we could arrange for them.\u00a0 A doctor was brought in the next day from Cheyenne.\u00a0 In the meantime, when the sun came up, personal effects were gathered from the cars.\u00a0 We found your son\u2019s bag along with some books.\u201d \u00a0At this, Mr. Stark stood and moved to a small door which proved to be a storage space when he pulled it open.\u00a0 He took out Nolan\u2019s bag and three of his textbooks.\u00a0 He set them on the oak table they were sitting around.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam felt chilled to see his son\u2019s bag and school textbooks.\u00a0 Mary Lynn looked as though her face was about to crumple when she saw her son\u2019s signature on the inside cover of the books.\u00a0 They both took deep breaths.\u00a0 Mr. Stark opened the latch of Nolan\u2019s bag and pulled out his wallet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe found your son\u2019s wallet, with identifying information, in his bag.\u00a0 That\u2019s what makes it difficult in his case to determine exactly where he is.\u00a0 For most of the people who perished, there was some identification on their person.\u00a0 At least the men.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam took the wallet that was offered to him.\u00a0 He opened it and saw Nolan\u2019s identification and also his money, still intact.\u00a0 He handed it to his wife who inspected it and then kept it tightly gripped in her hand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSome of the passengers who were cared for in Rock Springs have already been moved to Cheyenne.\u00a0 Some have been sent on their way.\u00a0 Most were able to tell us who they were.\u00a0 But not all.\u00a0 You are welcome to see the people who remain in Rock Springs, talk to them, but I\u2019m told they have all been identified.\u00a0 That means we will take you to Cheyenne when you\u2019re ready, to see those who were more seriously injured.\u00a0 Not all of them were able to speak for themselves,\u201d he stopped and cleared his throat.\u00a0 \u201cI must also tell you that because we have not come up with a complete count of 163, there is the possibility that when the snows melt, we will find the remains of one or more passengers who wandered away from the site.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Everyone was silent for a few moments.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMay we have the picture back to show to the people we talk to?\u201d\u00a0 Mary Lynn looked at Mr. Stark earnestly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOf course, but if you take it, then you should be sure you also go to the undertaker in Cheyenne and let him look at it.\u00a0 That\u2019s where the people in the lost cars were taken.\u201d\u00a0 He handed the photograph back across the table.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam leaned forward.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about the crew?\u00a0 Can we talk to them?\u00a0 I\u2019d like to show them this picture if we don\u2019t find our son.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYes, yes, of course.\u00a0 Most of them travel this route back and forth in different shifts.\u00a0 Some will be on this train now and you can talk to them before we reach Rock Springs.\u00a0 We know who was on duty that night, so if you miss anyone today, we\u2019ll make sure you speak with everyone else who was on the train.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThank you.\u00a0 You\u2019ve been very considerate,\u201d Mary Lynn whispered, her eyes shining suspiciously bright.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Stark put his hand over hers.\u00a0 \u201cWe are so very sorry.\u00a0 This is the worst disaster our railroad has suffered, and we are grieving over it in our own way, too.\u00a0 I will leave you alone for a while, but I will just be in the next car if you want me for any reason.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When he had gone, Mary Lynn put her head in her arms on the table and wept.\u00a0 Seeing Nolan\u2019s belongings had been her undoing.\u00a0 Adam felt the same, but he simply rubbed her back gently and placed his other arm around the bag on the table.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tib had been with Tom for just over three weeks on January 27, and he continued to show signs of improvement.\u00a0 Although he slept more than usual for someone his age, he was now speaking in single words that generally made sense.\u00a0 He would, for example, sometimes tell Tom \u201chungry\u201d or \u201ctired.\u201d\u00a0 Tom remembered with interest that when he heard Tib calling out during the night, he spoke in full sentences. He still did not remember who he was or where he came from, however.\u00a0 The leg was healing very well, as were the ribs, so Tom was taking the small steps of progress with the head injury as good news.\u00a0 He had gotten Tib up twice using the crutch he had made.\u00a0 The first time they tried it, they had taken several starter steps.\u00a0 First Tom had Tib sit by the edge of the bed to see if that made him dizzy.\u00a0 Tib appeared to understand what \u201cdizzy\u201d meant and he answered \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 Then, very slowly, Tom helped him stand, propping the crutch under his arm.\u00a0 He reported no dizziness, but took longer to do so.\u00a0 Tom got himself under Tib\u2019s arm on the uninjured side and they took three baby steps away from the bed.\u00a0 Turning around was more complicated, but after that was figured out, they took the three steps back.\u00a0 That was the extent of the first \u201couting.\u201d\u00a0 The second had been easier, and Tib stayed on his feet longer.\u00a0 So every day there would be walking exercises, Tom decided.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tib was feeding himself without trouble, and had been for a good week.\u00a0 One evening when they were having dinner, which they generally ate in bed or on pallet, Tom asked Tib who his favorite U.S. President was.\u00a0 Tib looked up and smiled.\u00a0 \u201cLincoln,\u201d was his quick response, and was given in a tone of voice that indicated he had great respect for the martyred President.\u00a0 Tom smiled and nodded.\u00a0 So he remembered general knowledge.\u00a0 That was also a very good sign.\u00a0 Later Tom got out one of his medical books. He opened it randomly and pointed to a word.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s that word?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tib paused and stared at it.\u00a0 \u201cCranium.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGood for you.\u00a0 Try this one.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOp… off\u2026 ophthalmitis.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom squeezed Tib\u2019s arm and smiled.\u00a0 That had been a hard word, so his mind was reasoning logically.\u00a0 Now he needed to connect words to form sentences, and remember who he was.\u00a0 It would happen in due time, Tom told himself, in due time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Harold Stark sent every crew member on the train into the private Cartwright car to talk with Adam and Mary Lynn.\u00a0 The ones they spoke with looked carefully at Nolan\u2019s photograph, but either did not remember him or knew that they hadn\u2019t seen him on the night of the accident.\u00a0 It was a frustrating experience.\u00a0 However, Stark was quick to remind them that not every crew member from January 4 was on the train right now.\u00a0 He had a list of those who still needed to speak with the Cartwrights.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When the train began its crossing over the Rocky Mountains, Mary Lynn became tense.\u00a0 Adam put his arm around her and held her hand, which she grasped tightly.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t know if it was because she now feared another accident or because she was getting close to where something awful had happened to her son.\u00a0 Adam didn\u2019t tell her that his stomach ached, but he was glad when Stark came back into their car.\u00a0 Harold Stark sensed that this might be a difficult passage for these parents, and hoped that his company might help in some small degree.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHow much further before we reach the trestle where the cars derailed?\u201d\u00a0 This question came from Adam.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stark pulled on an overhead cord and a crew member entered the car soon afterward.\u00a0 Stark put the question to him, and after consulting his records, the answer was returned.\u00a0 They would begin to cross that trestle in about twenty minutes.\u00a0 It would be dark, of course, as it had been on the 4th, but there was no snow falling.\u00a0 They both nodded mutely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They had slept a little earlier on the trip, but they were wide awake now, just waiting.\u00a0 Adam realized they weren\u2019t really waiting for anything, but sleeping seemed not only impossible but irreverent.\u00a0 A short time later Stark informed them that the train was on the trestle, and he sensed both of his reluctant guests stiffen.\u00a0 He also let them know when the train left the trestle, which meant they were at the accident point.\u00a0 Mary Lynn\u2019s eyes closed and she bit her lip.\u00a0 Not very long after that, the train began to slow.\u00a0 They had reached Rock Springs.\u00a0 Their bags were brought and taken off the train, along with Nolan\u2019s.\u00a0 A carriage was waiting for them.\u00a0 The railroad had thought of everything.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Stark got off the train first and helped Adam and Mary Lynn off in the dim lantern light. He was planning to escort them to the boarding house, and would also stay there overnight, catching a train back the next day.\u00a0 The ride to the boarding house was not long.\u00a0 The small town was close to the train tracks.\u00a0 It was all dark, but it appeared to be a one street town, although a light was shining in one window, the boardinghouse.\u00a0 The sign on the two story house simply read \u201cRock Springs Room & Board.\u201d\u00a0 Carrying their bags, they found the front door unlocked.\u00a0 An older woman dozing in a chair woke on their arrival and gave them keys, pointing them to their rooms.\u00a0 The two rooms were on the first floor, next to each other.\u00a0 Before entering his room, Harold Stark gave Adam a sheet of paper.\u00a0 It contained the names and addresses of every house that had taken in an injured passenger after the accident.\u00a0 He also told Adam just to go to the livery whenever they were ready to catch the train to Cheyenne, and it would be arranged.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIn case I don\u2019t see you in the morning, please know I am hoping for a happy outcome and I am praying for your son.\u00a0 Please contact me if I can assist you in any way in your search.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve been wonderful.\u00a0 We thank you,\u201d Mary Lynn assured him, feeling herself tear up again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inside their plainly furnished room, Adam and Mary Lynn were so tired they just set down their bags, took off their coats and the minimal amount of clothing to make sleeping comfortable.\u00a0 Then they crawled into bed and fell into an exhausted sleep.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When they awoke in the morning, they realized they had slept later than they intended.\u00a0 In their hurry to wash and change clothes, they began snapping at each other.\u00a0 Even at breakfast, which they ate alone because they were so late, they were irritable.\u00a0 Mrs. Kelly, the owner, tip-toed around them.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t the first bereaved relatives of the train crash victims to stay in her boardinghouse.\u00a0 She had come to understand that moods could easily rise and fall with these people, and for good reason, poor souls.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Returning to their room for their coats before embarking on their search, Adam stopped his wife by putting his hands on her shoulders.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLook, Mary Lynn, I\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been short with you, and I don\u2019t mean to be.\u00a0 I think it has something to do with being in this town.\u00a0 Ever since we heard about the accident, there was nothing we could do, and now here we are, about to start an active search and possibly find our son.\u00a0 Part of me is excited, and another part is terrified.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t want to argue with you, and I don\u2019t ever want us to be pulled apart the way we were years ago.\u201d\u00a0 He pulled her close and kissed her forehead.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Lynn sagged against him.\u00a0 \u201cAdam, thank you for saying that.\u00a0 I feel exactly the same way. \u00a0I just couldn\u2019t put it into words.\u00a0 I feel as though we\u2019re about to find him and so scared that we won\u2019t, all at the same time.\u201d She put her arms around him and hugged him back.\u00a0 \u201cNo more harsh words,\u201d she said, and they both nodded.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Before leaving, Adam pulled out the piece of paper Mr. Stark had given him the night before.\u00a0 It showed where injured passengers had been taken.\u00a0 The church was listed.\u00a0 They sought out Mrs. Kelly to ask her about it.\u00a0 She told them that the church had been opened up as a hospital of sorts and had more patients there than any other single place.\u00a0 She agreed with Adam that it should be the first place they went to because a half dozen people still remained there.\u00a0 It was just a half block from the boardinghouse.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As they picked their way carefully over frozen mud and ice, Mary Lynn held tightly onto Adam\u2019s arm.\u00a0 Rock Springs was indeed a one street town surrounded by mountains.\u00a0 It had the requisite saloon, bank, dry goods store, caf\u00e9, livery, jail, lumber mill, church and boardinghouse along with about two dozen homes that could be called anything from shacks to cabins to houses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Walking up the few wooden steps to the church, there was a small entry, past which the pews had all been moved against the walls to make room for cots for injured people.\u00a0 They stood uncertainly at the front, their eyes taking a quick survey for anyone resembling Nolan, but not finding anyone.\u00a0 A man dressed in black was leaning over one of the cots.\u00a0 At the sound of the door opening, he stood up, and his cleric\u2019s collar showed.\u00a0 The minister.\u00a0 Smiling, he came toward them and introduced himself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Rev. John Westerhouse.\u00a0 Are you looking for someone?\u00a0 We\u2019ve had so many come here over the past weeks searching for people.\u201d\u00a0 He was a young man with a kind smile and a gracious way about him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As Adam and Mary Lynn began their story, and showed Rev. Westerhouse Nolan\u2019s photograph, they heard a startled gasp from the back of the church.\u00a0 They looked up quickly to see a tall young woman coming toward them.\u00a0 She wore a brown print dress and had curling, warm brown hair that hung down her back and over her shoulders. One arm was in a sling.\u00a0 She went directly to Adam and took his arm with her good hand, staring at him intently.\u00a0 Then she put her hand over her mouth.<\/p>\n Chapter 4<\/p>\n \u201cOh my, you must be related to Nolan.\u00a0 You look just like him!\u00a0 Er, or, maybe he looks just like you,\u201d she continued to study Adam\u2019s face.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t believe it,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Staring back, Adam silently handed her the photograph.\u00a0 She looked at it and at first she laughed, but then she quickly turned serious.\u00a0 \u201cHe said there were two,\u201d she explained, and then she blushed.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re his parents, aren\u2019t you?\u201d\u00a0 She spoke softly<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now Mary Lynn grabbed her arm.\u00a0 \u201cDo you know Nolan?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The girl nodded.\u00a0 \u201cWe met on the train.\u00a0 We sat together, and we talked for hours.\u00a0 We were going to write to each other\u2026\u201d she stopped talking and as they watched her, her eyes filled with tears.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cPlease, do you know where he is?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Putting her hand over her mouth, she shook her head as the tears spilled over.\u00a0 Rev. Westerhouse guided her over to one of the pews, where she sat.\u00a0 The reverend motioned Adam and Mary Lynn to follow.\u00a0 Mary Lynn sat next to the girl, and the two men stood.\u00a0 Mary Lynn handed her a handkerchief and she blotted her tears.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just the problem.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know anything.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember the accident, and when I woke up I was here in Rock Springs, and I haven\u2019t seen Nolan since,\u201d she looked up forlornly at Mary Lynn, who asked her name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she said, flustered.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I saw you, Mr. Cartwright, I was so shocked I thought I was seeing Nolan.\u00a0 My name is Karen Gregory.\u00a0 I got on the train in Winnemucca.\u00a0 I was on my way to New York to help my sister with her new baby.\u00a0 I had a concussion and a broken arm from the accident, and I\u2019ve been given clearance to leave for New York.\u00a0 I stayed a few extra days to help Rev. Westerhouse with some of the other passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAnd you don\u2019t remember anything about the accident?\u201d\u00a0 Mary Lynn was being very gentle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Karen thought.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I remember the initial collision, and the ones that followed.\u00a0 Nolan grabbed my hand.\u00a0 We had been sleeping since it was the middle of the night, and of course that woke us up.\u00a0 The train began to rock and some people were screaming, but Nolan said he thought the train was starting to steady itself.\u00a0 That\u2019s all I remember, until I woke up here.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been asking everyone I see about him, especially the doctor.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t let me go out by myself and check in some of the other places passengers were taken, so I haven\u2019t been able to look for him.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s all right, dear.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we\u2019re here to do,\u201d Mary Lynn assured her.\u00a0 She felt an immediate connection to this girl, who was perhaps the last person to have seen her son alive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Karen sat up straight and looked from Mary Lynn to Adam.\u00a0 \u201cOh, please, may I go with you?\u00a0 I\u2019ve been wanting to for weeks, and I\u2019m well enough to go now, especially if I\u2019m with you.\u00a0 I promise I won\u2019t slow you down or get in the way.\u00a0 There aren\u2019t that many places people were taken to.\u00a0 Reverend, would you mind?\u201d\u00a0 She was so eager that no one had the heart to refuse her, and she seemed almost as anxious as they were.\u00a0 She hurried away and returned moments later donning a black coat and hat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m ready,\u201d she announced intrepidly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They started out into the cold January day, walking carefully.\u00a0 Adam had an attractive woman on each arm.\u00a0 With Karen\u2019s help, they went from house to house in order.\u00a0 While everyone they spoke to was welcoming and understanding, the patient trusted to their care either wasn\u2019t Nolan on sight, by description, or by showing the photograph.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By mid afternoon, they had covered every location on Mr. Stark\u2019s list. They took Karen with them to the caf\u00e9 for a late lunch.\u00a0 They all felt disappointed, but not overly so.\u00a0 They knew that Cheyenne was their next stop and that more information would be available there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cQuite a few more passengers were taken to Cheyenne,\u201d Karen said as they sipped hot coffee and ate cold chicken sandwiches.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s also where they have the morgue,\u201d Mary Lynn noted dully.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s true, but we have to know, don\u2019t we?\u201d Adam was being characteristically logical.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTalk to the doctor there, Dr. Samuels,\u201d Karen urged.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s been the most involved.\u00a0 He was coming every other day at first, but now that most everyone is stable, he\u2019s coming once a week.\u00a0 He\u2019ll know how you should begin.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDr. Samuels?\u201d\u00a0 Adam was writing the name down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYes, Arthur Samuels in Cheyenne.\u201d\u00a0 Karen paused then.\u00a0 \u201cMr. and Mrs. Cartwright, would you do me a favor?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOf course, Karen, anything,\u201d Adam assured her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNo matter what you find out, will you please write to me and let me know?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a response, Adam handed her the paper with the addresses on it, along with his pen.\u00a0 Karen smiled and wrote down both her address in Winnemucca and her sister\u2019s in New York.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When they reached the church again, they all hugged.\u00a0 They had bonded because of Karen\u2019s sweetness and because of Nolan, who was their common interest.\u00a0 Mary Lynn and Adam invited Karen to visit the Ponderosa inasmuch as she lived in Nevada, and left her with an open invitation.\u00a0 As they left the church, Karen stood at the door.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be praying for you, Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright.\u00a0 I have been all along.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The next day found them waiting at the train tracks for the train bound for Cheyenne, Wyoming.\u00a0 The carriage driver from the livery waved down the train, and it stopped just as Mr. Stark had promised it would.\u00a0 The conductor helped them aboard, and they were escorted to the private car they had used before.\u00a0 They immediately requested to speak to three of the crew who had been on the train the night of the accident.\u00a0 Mr. Starks had also provided a list of the crew members\u2019 names, and one by one they were being checked off the list.\u00a0 Those three conversations yielded no further information, however.\u00a0 Adam pointed out to a discouraged Mary Lynn that there were still two crew members they had not yet spoken to.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Worn out and worried, they both slept during the trip to Cheyenne.\u00a0 The conductor came to awaken them when the train reached the station.\u00a0 They were able to hire a carriage to take them to the hotel in town.\u00a0 Cheyenne was definitely a more established, yet rougher, city that Rock Springs. It had sprouted quickly with the arrival of the Union Pacific railroad, and was a significant stockyard location where cattle were transported east by rail.\u00a0 Adam and Mary Lynn quickly obtained a room and got directions to Dr. Samuels\u2019 office, where they found themselves waiting nervously as the doctor finished seeing some waiting patients.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A short, wiry man with a handlebar mustache, Dr. Samuels received the Cartwrights in his office.\u00a0 He, too, had received similar visits from relatives of the train crash victims.\u00a0 He heard out their story and examined the photograph of Nolan and Logan.\u00a0 He shook his head, handing it back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t say that I recollect anyone looking like these boys,\u201d he stated.\u00a0 \u201cBut we do have a hospital of sorts and you should go there.\u00a0 It\u2019s two doors down from my office.\u00a0 If I were you, though, I would talk to the undertaker first.\u00a0 It might save you time, sorry to say.\u00a0 I do think a few passengers wandered off in shock as well, but I don\u2019t hold out much hope for them anymore.\u00a0 I wish I could give you more hope.\u00a0 It was a terrible shame, that accident.\u00a0 I believe the railroad took precautions, but I suggested to them that in the future if they encounter the same weather conditions on a trestle like that, they stop and wait until daylight before attempting to cross.\u00a0 Give the sun some time to melt the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n After a short fifteen minutes, they were back out on the street.\u00a0 Dr. Samuels had not been unkind or brusque, he had just given them straight information.\u00a0 But not the kind that raised their spirits.\u00a0 They had only to look across the street to find the undertaker, William C. Bell.\u00a0 He, too, was familiar with the kind of visit Adam and Mary Lynn were making.\u00a0 He spent time staring at the picture of Nolan and his brother.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t really matter which one was Nolan, but William Bell wanted to know.\u00a0 He got up from where they were seated together in a parlor and went into his office to check some records.\u00a0 He was thoughtful and didn\u2019t speak for quite a while.\u00a0 When he looked up at the anxious parents, he found them both watching him closely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He smiled briefly.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I think I have what ought to be good news for you.\u00a0 I\u2019m quite certain that this young man was not brought to my establishment.\u00a0 He\u2019s a strikingly handsome young man, and I would remember him for that alone.\u00a0 Even if he had not been recognizable, I don\u2019t recall any young male with this tall, slender body type or such black hair.\u00a0 Is his hair like yours?\u201d\u00a0 This last question was directed to Adam, who nodded.\u00a0 Mr. Bell stood up and actually ran his fingers through the curls at the back of Adam\u2019s neck.\u00a0 \u201cNo, nothing like this,\u201d Bell confirmed.\u00a0 \u201cTo the best of my knowledge, all of the victims from the train accident came here, although there is one other undertaker in town, at the end of the street and around the corner.\u00a0 I only have three victims who are unidentified, and I am absolutely sure that none of them is your son.\u201d\u00a0 He stopped talking then and watched Adam and Mary Lynn.\u00a0 He knew they so badly wanted to hear good news, to be directed straight to their son.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou should make sure to visit our clinic just down from the doctor\u2019s office.\u00a0 The passengers with worse injuries were taken there.\u00a0 To tell the truth, I\u2019ve been so busy I haven\u2019t been in there.\u00a0 You should also know that even if you look under every rock, you may not find him.\u00a0 There were some passengers who wandered off in the dark, probably in shock.\u00a0 They could only survive so long without help or shelter.\u00a0 Their remains may or may not be found,\u201d he hated to pound bad news into these people, but he also wanted to be truthful with them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cWe understand that.\u00a0 Thank you, Mr. Bell.\u00a0 You\u2019ve been very helpful, and we are very happy to hear you say our son was not brought here.\u00a0 We\u2019ll check the medical clinic.\u00a0 Thank you for spending your valuable time with us.\u201d\u00a0 Adam stood and extended his hand to the undertaker.\u00a0 Mary Lynn followed suit, and they turned and went back outside.\u00a0 Mr. Bell watched them turn and head toward the clinic.\u00a0 He stood silently for a moment, shaking his head.\u00a0 It was such a damn shame.\u00a0 Spontaneously, he took a couple of quick steps and opened the front door.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMr. Cartwright,\u201d he called after the pair.\u00a0 When they had turned back to look at him, William Bell called, \u201cGood luck to you.\u00a0 I hope you find him.\u201d\u00a0 Adam raised a hand and they resumed their mission.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the clinic, or \u201chospital of sorts\u201d as Dr. Samuels had referred to it, they were greeted by a uniformed nurse.\u00a0 They explained their purpose, and she nodded.\u00a0 Adam showed her the picture of the twins and she looked at it closely.\u00a0 She was thin and fully starched, with graying hair pulled severely into a bun.\u00a0 But she had kind eyes and distinct smile lines around her mouth, and after studying the picture, she looked up at Adam and Mary Lynn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThey certainly are handsome young men,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cBut do I understand that only one is missing?\u201d\u00a0 Adam confirmed that for her.\u00a0 \u201cWell, then, you\u2019ve already seen the undertaker, so you have good news there.\u00a0 We have 23 passengers as patients here.\u00a0 A few have been discharged, but most are still here.\u00a0 Their injuries were more serious.\u00a0 Some had surgery, one or two had amputations.\u00a0 And we have lots of broken bones, as you might imagine.\u00a0 You may feel free to walk through the clinic and see them.\u00a0 I would recommend showing this picture whenever you can.\u00a0 Follow me and I\u2019ll get you started.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan\u2019s parents spent two and a half hours in the clinic, talking to the patients, looking at every one, and showing their son\u2019s picture to everyone who was able to communicate.\u00a0 It was painstaking work, but essential for them.\u00a0 What hurt was that no one\u2019s eyes showed a flash of recognition on seeing the photo, and none of the patients they met was their son.\u00a0 It was tempting to start all over again after they had spoken to the last patient. \u00a0Mary Lynn wanted to shake some of them, exhorting them to think, to remember.\u00a0 But Adam shook his head.\u00a0 They thanked the nurse and left the clinic.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They were exhausted and hungry.\u00a0 Before returning to their hotel, Adam insisted that they talk to the other undertaker Mr. Bell had told them about, just in case he knew something.\u00a0 However, all they received for their trouble was a wicked wind blowing against them, and the undertaker\u2019s report that none of the train victims had been brought to him.\u00a0 Just in case, though, Mary Lynn made him look at Nolan\u2019s picture.\u00a0 She could see the pity in his eyes as he shook his head after looking at it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They returned to the hotel, worn out and disappointed.\u00a0 Other than meeting Karen, which had been the one bright spot of the day, they had gotten nowhere. They washed up and went to the hotel\u2019s restaurant for dinner, which was eaten in silence.\u00a0 There was nothing more to do except go home.\u00a0 Each was thinking of the grim possibility that Nolan had been one of those who had wandered away from the train in the dark that night.\u00a0 Even though it was early, when dinner was finished, they returned to their room and went to bed.\u00a0 Both were coming to grips with the now-real possibility that Nolan was not alive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMary Lynn, there is one more thing we can do,\u201d Adam said as they settled into bed and turned out the light.\u00a0 \u201cWe can make sure we talk to the remaining members of the train crew we haven\u2019t met yet.\u00a0 Someone might still know something.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She sighed.\u00a0 \u201cAll right, Adam.\u00a0 We can do that on the train.\u201d She agreed in words, but her tone of voice said her faith and determination was running out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One day at the end of January dawned bright but frigid, with an icy wind that found every crack and opening in Tom\u2019s cabin.\u00a0 Tib had still been sleeping when Tom got up and began to fix breakfast, but the smell of food cooking awakened him.\u00a0 He sat up in bed, rubbing his nose, which felt frozen.\u00a0 He felt his stomach rumble.\u00a0 He wished Tom would hurry so they could eat.\u00a0 He decided that sitting up in the long johns Tom had loaned him was too cold, so he slid back under the covers.\u00a0 He was glad to see Tom put another log on the fire, and glad to accept a plate of meat and potatoes that Tom turned around and handed him a few moments later.\u00a0 As they ate, Tom observed that Tib easily picked up a knife and fork and began to cut his meat.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t done that a week ago.\u00a0 This was more progress to record.\u00a0 Tom had started writing Tib\u2019s new accomplishments down as they occurred.\u00a0 He wanted to be able to keep track of them in a timeline.\u00a0 As they were finishing breakfast, Tib looked up at him and spoke.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCartwright,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCartwright?\u00a0 You mean like a wheelwright?\u201d\u00a0 Tom questioned, staring.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCartwright,\u201d Tib said it again, definitively, and used his finger to touch his chest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIs that a name?\u00a0 Is that your name?\u00a0 Are you Cartwright?\u201d\u00a0 Tom felt excitement welling up and he leaned toward his patient, sensing a breakthrough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tib nodded and looked at Tom intensely.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIs Cartwright your last name? Do you have another name that goes in front of Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now Tib frowned, but he was concentrating on the question.\u00a0 He looked at Tom with a look that said he didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom moved closer to him.\u00a0 \u201cYou know, I just started calling you Tib because the bone that broke in your leg is called the tibia bone.\u00a0 So when I first found you, I called you Tibia, and then just Tib, because I didn\u2019t know your real name.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not your real name.\u00a0 Your parents gave you a whole name when you were born, and I think you just remembered part of it, Cartwright<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tib nodded, still thinking.\u00a0 He kept rolling that name around in his head.\u00a0 Cartwright.\u00a0 It had a familiar feel to it.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know where it had popped out from.\u00a0 He had been almost as surprised to hear it as Tom was.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLook,\u201d Tom said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m going to stop calling you Tib.\u00a0 It\u2019s not your real name and it may just confuse things now, and we don\u2019t need that.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to call you Cartwright from now on, and if you remember anything else, you tell me, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cartwright nodded.\u00a0 \u201cOkay.\u201d\u00a0 He was responding more readily in gestures and words, too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom stopped right then and took out his timeline and wrote on it: \u201cJanuary 28, said \u2018Cartwright,\u2019 might be name, no more \u2018Tib\u2019.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Later in the day, after Tom had done some necessary chores, he sat down to examine the leg wound. He was a little surprised to see that Cartwright was still awake; he wasn\u2019t sleeping as much during the day anymore.\u00a0 Trying to decide how soon to remove the sutures he had placed, Tom went to a cabinet against the wall where he kept his medical supplies and books, and took out clean cloth to redress the wound.\u00a0 He left the double doors to the cabinet open as he often did, and for the first time Cartwright reacted.<\/p>\n \u201cHey,\u201d he said, pointing at the cabinet.\u00a0 \u201cChess!\u201d<\/p>\n Tom whirled to look, having forgotten that he had put his chess set in there, partly because the cabinet offered enough room for the board, but mostly because there was no one in his world anymore to play chess with.<\/p>\n \u201cCartwright, you play chess?”<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell I\u2019ll be damned,\u201d Tom said softly, and then, louder, \u201cYou up for a game?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d he said with a grin.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re on, Cartwright.\u00a0 As soon as I look at your leg, we\u2019re playing chess.\u201d<\/p>\n Now he would start finding out a lot more about his patient, Tom thought as he began unwrapping the bandage.<\/p>\n Chapter 5<\/p>\n The following day found a somber Adam and Mary Lynn boarding the Union Pacific train in Cheyenne that would take them back to Reno. Once again they were given a private car.\u00a0 Adam immediately consulted his list of crew members and inquired as to whether two particular people were on board today.\u00a0 Both were.\u00a0 The train hadn\u2019t even left the station when the first man came to see them.\u00a0 His name was Everett and he had been working up near the engine on January 4, supplying coal and wood necessary to fuel the locomotive.\u00a0 He looked at the picture but shook his head.\u00a0 He said the whole night had been chaotic, but he had stuck close to the engine since he had ongoing responsibilities to keep the engine running since it was being sent to Rock Springs for help.\u00a0 He mentioned that he built a bonfire on the track once the engine was separated.\u00a0 This was to help everybody keep warm.\u00a0 When asked if he recalled anything else, anything at all, Everett mentioned that he did recall an injured man who kept screaming in pain until he had been taken away, but that was all.\u00a0 He apologized that he wasn\u2019t able to help more, and left, promising to send in the second man.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam sat back and heaved a sigh, reaching up to rub his eyes.\u00a0 This just felt like more of the same.\u00a0 Pretty soon they were going to have to face up to the inevitable, he thought.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAdam, that man said he heard a man screaming until he was taken away,\u201d Mary Lynn was leaning forward.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think that meant?\u00a0 Where would he have been taken?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, sweetheart, to Rock Springs probably.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMaybe we should call him back and ask him more about\u2026\u201d she stopped her remark when the other crew member came in.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This man, who had been coming forward with purpose, stopped and gave Adam a startled look before introducing himself as Robert Powell.\u00a0 He had been the conductor on January 4 when the accident occurred. Once again the explanation was given, and the photograph taken out and handed across the table.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Powell seemed to pale slightly as he looked at the picture.\u00a0 Then he looked at Adam again and back to the picture.\u00a0 He did this several times before speaking, and he seemed shaken.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAre you his father?\u201d\u00a0 Powell whispered.\u00a0 \u201cI knew it instantly when I saw you.\u00a0 He looks just like you.\u201d\u00a0 His eyes were wide with surprise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the point Mary Lynn was gripping the edge of the table and Adam had sat straight up, not taking his eyes off Powell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLook at my uniform,\u201d Powell said, indicating the upper front of his navy wool railroad jacket.\u00a0 \u201cDo you see the stain?\u00a0 My wife has tried so many times to remove it.\u00a0 The railroad has ordered another coat for me, but it hasn\u2019t arrived yet.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam and Mary Lynn looked at each other in confusion, but then concentrated where Powell was pointing. \u00a0There was a dark ring around the area that covered his chest and stomach.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s his blood,\u201d Powell said.\u00a0 \u201cI had so much on me by the time it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At this both Cartwrights were on their feet, with Mary Lynn looking ashen.\u00a0 Adam moved to stand behind her, but his eye bore into the other man\u2019s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, Powell, tell us.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been searching everywhere for him.\u00a0 What happened?\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s voice was low and guttural at that point, and Mary Lynn knew he was struggling to control himself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Robert Powell gestured for them all to sit down, and he told them the whole story of how he encountered Nolan Cartwright after the train accident.\u00a0 He told them about the mountain man who had called him over to help, he told them about the wound and how it had shocked him to see it.\u00a0 He described the ordeal of carrying Nolan upside down out of the overturned rail car, of breaking out the window, about his fear of dropping him once he was covered with the boy\u2019s slippery blood, and he told them how he screamed endlessly from the pain.\u00a0 He noticed that Mrs. Cartwright had tears rolling down her cheeks, but she hadn\u2019t made a sound, and Powell kept talking, mesmerized as he relived that surreal night.\u00a0 He continued right up to the point where the mountain man had administered laudanum and then picked up the boy and walked away with him.\u00a0 And then he was done with everything he could remember.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Frantic, Mary Lynn reached for him.\u00a0 \u201cWho was the mountain man?\u00a0 Where did he take our son?\u00a0 What happened to them?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Powell shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know who was man was, but I do remember this.\u00a0 He said he had a place nearby and he would take the boy there.\u00a0 He said he was a doctor in the War.\u00a0 And then he just walked off, carrying him.\u00a0 We had so much else to do with all the injuries, we had to take care of the other people, too, and it looked like your son was in good hands.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the first time since he read the Central Pacific telegram, Adam felt a ray of hope.\u00a0 Nolan might well be alive and in good hands, but where?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMr. Powell, who would know if someone lived close to that trestle where the accident occurred?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Powell seemed nonplussed.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019 know.\u00a0 I only pass through the area on the train.\u00a0 The closest place to the trestle is Rock Springs.\u00a0 Someone there might know of someone living up in the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, then, can you arrange for the train to let us off at Rock Springs again?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Powell drew himself up and smiled.\u00a0 \u201cThat I can, and will, do right away, Mr. Cartwright.\u00a0 Leave it to me.\u201d\u00a0 Then he spun and was gone before they realized it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Instinctively, Adam and Mary Lynn grabbed each other.\u00a0 Their son, their boy, their baby, might be alive.\u00a0 Someone was taking care of him.\u00a0 But where?\u00a0 Where?<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCheckmate!\u201d\u00a0 Tom sat back and gave Cartwright a look.\u00a0 Not only could he play chess, but he was wicked.\u00a0 Someone had taught him well.\u00a0 He had whooped Tom more often than not.\u00a0 Not at first, though.\u00a0 At first he\u2019d been a little hesitant, a little unsteady.\u00a0 But even then Tom could tell he knew the game.\u00a0 And the more they played, the better he got with his openings and his strategies.\u00a0 Cartwright may have suffered a brain injury, but Tom was rusty as hell.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t played chess in sixteen years, and the brain injury was healing!\u00a0 Well, no more Mr. Nice Guy, he thought.\u00a0 He was unleashing the full power of his prowess on Cartwright.\u00a0 They spent hours playing, and they were both improving.\u00a0 With this last loss, Tom figured they were close to even with wins and losses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was getting dark.\u00a0 Almost time to start supper.\u00a0 Tom glanced over at his patient quickly.\u00a0 Cartwright had shaved himself that morning and he wasn\u2019t quite as steady as Tom thought he would be.\u00a0 He had nicked himself several times.\u00a0 Nothing serious, but not as smoothly as someone with as heavy a beard as he had could probably do.\u00a0 Tom had asked him to write \u201cCartwright\u201d on a piece of paper, and that hadn\u2019t been easy for him.\u00a0 He\u2019d completed it, but the result looked like a seven year old had done it.\u00a0 So there were still some residual fine motor skills that weren\u2019t fully functioning.\u00a0 And he still wasn\u2019t speaking in full sentences, although he was much better at making himself understood.\u00a0 Tom had asked him recently what he did for a living, and Cartwright had thought for a while before he replied \u201cschool.\u201d\u00a0 Tom looked at him in surprise and said he thought Cartwright would have been out of school by now.\u00a0 That required more thought, but then he said \u201cBoston.\u201d\u00a0 Tom was stunned.\u00a0 Could he mean he was a student at Harvard?\u00a0 Tom had gone to medical school there.\u00a0 Tom had mentioned Harvard then, but Cartwright hadn\u2019t reacted.\u00a0 Tom wondered if he needed to get him into the hands of people who understood the brain and its complexities better than he did.\u00a0 He wanted to see Cartwright make a complete recovery, and now fretted that he might he holding him back, keeping him here in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Earlier in the day, Tom had taken the stitches out of the leg.\u00a0 The flesh was healing nicely and all trace of infection was gone.\u00a0 The leg was still in a splint, and would need to stay that way for at least three more weeks.\u00a0 The bruising was still evident, but fading to a sickly yellow color, but at least green was past.\u00a0 Good old flesh tone came after yellow when it came to bruises.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That night Tom fried ham and potatoes for supper, along with dried apples he had in his root cellar.\u00a0 One thing he had discovered about Cartwright was that he loved chocolate.\u00a0 Tom usually bought a few bars when he went to Rock Springs for supplies, and one evening he had casually broken out a bar without giving it much thought.\u00a0 Cartwright\u2019s face had lit up like a lamp when he saw it.\u00a0 Tom would have shared it anyway, but when he laughed and asked Cartwright if he wanted a piece, he had instantly responded, \u201cYessir!\u201d\u00a0 Tom chuckled over it as he served up two plates of food.\u00a0 He had also discovered that Cartwright had a big appetite.\u00a0 He would often dive into his food, just as he did now, but on this night, when he finished, he became quiet, looking into the fire with a frown.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWatcha thinkin\u2019 about?\u201d\u00a0 Tom asked him after a while.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Slowly Cartwright turned his head to look over at him.\u00a0 He seemed serious.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNolan,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m Nolan.\u00a0 Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom came to attention.\u00a0 That was a sentence.\u00a0 It was short, but it was a sentence.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Nolan.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNolan is your first name?\u201d\u00a0 Tom asked this carefully, and received a nod in reply.\u00a0 \u201cSo your whole name is Nolan Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan nodded again.\u00a0 Tom reached out and squeezed his arm.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDo you know what this means?\u00a0 We can find your family now that we know your name.\u00a0 Do you remember where you live?\u00a0 Does your family live in Boston?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cBoston school,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOkay, you go to school in Boston.\u00a0 Think hard, Nolan.\u00a0 Where do you live?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOn\u2026a\u2026ranch.\u201d\u00a0 Another sentence<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCan you think of the name of the ranch?\u00a0 Is it in Wyoming?\u00a0 Or Utah?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan grimaced.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s okay,\u201d Tom patted his arm.\u00a0 \u201cAt least we\u2019re getting somewhere.\u00a0 Things are really starting to come back to you.\u00a0 You\u2019re making great progress.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom\u2019s mind was jumping ahead.\u00a0 The only way to start a search would be to get to a place with communication, and that would be Rock Springs.\u00a0 Could he make a 15-mile trip to Rock Springs with Pete and leave Nolan alone in the cabin?\u00a0 He was reluctant to do that.\u00a0 Would Nolan be able to tolerate a 15-mile ride on Pete along with Tom?\u00a0 Would Pete tolerate that?\u00a0 Too many obstacles, he thought to himself.\u00a0 Tom realized that he probably could stop the train as it went by and it would take him and Nolan to Rock Springs.\u00a0 No, that wouldn\u2019t work either, because Nolan wouldn\u2019t be able to walk from the train to the town through the snow with his crutch and broken leg.\u00a0 Were there other options?\u00a0 Tom could stop the train and ask the conductor to send wires at the next station they reached.\u00a0 Or Tom and Nolan could hop the train and take it to the next station and just bypass Rock Springs.\u00a0 Tom would chew on it for a while until things were clear. In the meantime, he broke off another piece of chocolate and passed it to Nolan before popping one into his own mouth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam and Mary Lynn were in the dry goods store in Rock Springs talking to the proprietor, Ed Wheeler.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, there is a guy who comes in twice a year for supplies.\u00a0 Keeps to himself.\u00a0 He lives 15, 16 miles west of here, somewhere up in the mountains, but I don\u2019t have the faintest idea where.\u00a0 Always pays in cash.\u00a0 Sometimes he orders things, and sometimes he gets mail which we just hold for him, so I could probably dig up his name if you want,\u201d Wheeler was scratching his head and wrinkling his brow while he talked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat would probably be helpful,\u201d Adam acknowledged, and prepared to wait while Wheeler disappeared into the back of the store.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He was back in a few minutes.\u00a0 \u201cHere\u2019s a piece of mail we\u2019re holding for him,\u201d he passed it to Adam, who looked at it with Mary Lynn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was an envelope addressed to Thomas Walters, M.D., Rock Springs, Wyoming, with a return address from Harvard Medical College, Boston, Massachusetts.\u00a0 They exchanged a significant look.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIs this the mountain man?\u201d\u00a0 Mary Lynn asked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, he\u2019s always dressed in buckskin when he comes in, so he does kinda look like a mountain man.\u00a0 Tall fella, about 55.\u00a0 Pretty powerful, too.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWould anyone around here have any idea where he lives?\u201d Mary Lynn persisted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, there is an old guy who lives at the boardinghouse.\u00a0 Name\u2019s Rusty.\u00a0 He\u2019s been around this area forever.\u00a0 Helped build the railroad and all that.\u00a0 He might know something, but other than that, I can\u2019t really think of anyone.\u00a0 This Walters fella\u2019s always alone.\u00a0 He\u2019s pleasant enough, but he doesn\u2019t make small talk or hang around.\u00a0 Just gets what he came for and leaves.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They thanked Mr. Wheeler and headed directly back to the boardinghouse, where Mrs. Kelly had given them a room again.\u00a0 When asked, she acknowledged that Rusty had lived there for the past two years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s quite elderly now, and doesn\u2019t come out of his room often. Generally I take his meals up to him,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDoes he make sense when you talk to him?\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s voice was urgent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, yes, for the most part he knows what he\u2019s saying.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMrs. Kelly, could we pay him a visit?\u00a0 He might be able to help us locate our son.\u00a0 We have some new information,\u201d Mary Lynn\u2019s voice had a pleading quality in it.\u00a0 \u201cWe just want to ask him a few questions.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mrs. Kelly looked doubtful, but she was also unable to resist the emotion she saw in the Cartwrights.\u00a0 \u201cWell, let me ask him.\u00a0 You wait here.\u00a0 I\u2019ll see what he says.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Lynn paced while Mrs. Kelly was gone, and was literally wringing her hands before the good lady returned.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, he\u2019s resting in bed, but he\u2019s awake, and he has agreed to see you, so please follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the end of a long hallway, she knocked on the last door and was beckoned to enter.\u00a0 A small, elderly man with white whiskers was sitting up in bed.\u00a0 His room was sparsely furnished, like all the boardinghouse rooms.\u00a0 An open book was lying face down on the man\u2019s lap.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Rusty,\u201d he announced is a surprisingly hearty voice.\u00a0 \u201cWhat can I do for you folks?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With his wife clutching his arm, Adam explained what Ed Wheeler had told them, and asked if Rusty knew Thomas Walters, or anyone else who lived in the mountains near the train trestle 15 miles to the west.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell I knew Walters after the War.\u00a0 We worked together building the trestle for the railroad.\u00a0 He was pretty scarred from the War and I got the feeling he wanted to be far away from any reminder of it. Thought he might be a doctor, but I can\u2019t be sure of that.\u00a0 Them docs saw horrible things during the War.\u00a0 It\u2019s no wonder he would want to forget.\u00a0 After the railroad work was finished, I stayed on, but Walters said he was going to live alone in the mountains.\u00a0 There\u2019s a few folks like that around here.\u00a0 If I recollect, he was looking at a spot not far from the trestle, but I couldn\u2019t tell you exactly where because I lost track of him.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be too hard to find, I imagine, but don\u2019t know that you could do it yourselves up in these mountains.\u00a0 Especially you, Mrs., in your long skirts.\u00a0 Twouldn\u2019t be safe.\u00a0 These mountains can be mean.\u00a0 Your best bet would be hire a tracker who knows the area.\u201d\u00a0 He stopped, looking from one to the other.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhere would we find a capable tracker?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, Mister, I\u2019ve been out of the picture for a couple years now.\u00a0 I\u2019d ask around town.\u00a0 There must be someone who\u2019d be able to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Knowing he had given them all the information he knew, both Cartwrights grasped his hand and thanked him before they left him in peace.\u00a0 Back in their room, they looked at each other.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gaining little bits of information, but each time we have to start on a new search,\u201d Mary Lynn said, sounding frustrated and allowing a little bitterness to creep into her voice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting closer to him, but still don\u2019t know exactly where to look,\u201d Adam agreed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhy hasn\u2019t he gotten in touch with us Adam?\u00a0 Surely he knows how we would worry.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMaybe he can\u2019t, sweetheart.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know the extent of his injuries,\u201d Adam told her gently.\u00a0 \u201cWe just have to be grateful that he\u2019s apparently in the care of a doctor, and one from Harvard, too.\u201d\u00a0 He put his hand under her chin and raised her face to meet his.\u00a0 \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go and rest.\u00a0 I want to walk around town and talk to as many people as I can.\u00a0 Maybe I can find someone who knows the area well enough to track for us.\u201d\u00a0 He bent and kissed her.\u00a0 He understood how dejected she was feeling. He wished his brother, Hoss, was here.\u00a0 No one tracked as well as Hoss did.\u00a0 As Mary Lynn reluctantly returned to their room, Adam left the boardinghouse with renewed spirit.\u00a0 They were close to something now, and he was going after it.<\/p>\n Chapter 6<\/p>\n The train was just coming off the trestle when the engineer saw Tom with his horse, waving him down.\u00a0 There was another person sitting on the horse.\u00a0 The train stopped slowly, and it took Tom a few minutes to walk up to the engineer.\u00a0 He asked if his friend and he could board and ride to Rock Springs.\u00a0 He gestured to Nolan\u2019s leg and crutch, explaining that he and the horse would otherwise ride the distance, but couldn\u2019t, and he had urgent business to take care of.\u00a0 The engineer nodded and blew a whistle that drew the conductor up front.\u00a0 The man serving that shift was Robert Powell. \u00a0He looked at Tom and Nolan with amazement.\u00a0 Tom smiled and shook Powell\u2019s hand, thanking him for helping rescue Nolan the night of the accident.\u00a0 Once again, Powell was nonplussed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDo you think if you blew the whistle at Rock Springs, someone would come fetch us?\u00a0 Nolan here can\u2019t walk through the snow?\u201d\u00a0 Tom asked Powell, prepared to go back home if the answer was no.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Robert Powell consulted with the engineer, who agreed that if the train just sat at Rock Springs and blew the whistle, sooner or later someone would come along.\u00a0 Powell and Tom helped Nolan get aboard the train. Once aboard, Tom slapped Pete on the rump, and the horse turned and headed back toward home.\u00a0 The barn door had been left ajar, and Tom knew Pete would head directly there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom tried to pay their fare, but Powell flatly refused.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to walk them back to the private car, but he sat them in a fairly secluded area in the second car.\u00a0 He looked closely at Nolan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou sure look different than the first time I saw you,\u201d he stated.\u00a0 \u201cYou sure can holler!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan frowned until Tom explained that Mr. Powell had been highly instrumental in his extrication from the train car and that it had necessarily caused pain for Nolan.\u00a0 \u201cHe helped save your life,\u201d Tom said, gesturing to Powell.\u00a0 Nolan put his hand out and Powell shook it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHis name is Nolan Cartwright,\u201d Tom said.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t know that for weeks because he had a skull fracture and wasn\u2019t communicating much until recently.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI know<\/em> who he is!\u201d Powell exclaimed.\u00a0 \u201cHis parents have been searching everywhere for him.\u00a0 I just spoke with them the other day.\u00a0 They were coming back from Cheyenne where they were checking the morgue and the clinic.\u00a0 I told them about you and let them off in Rock Springs to try to find out who you are.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know where you live, or your name.\u00a0 You\u2019ll probably find them there still.\u00a0 They\u2019re from the Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City, Nevada.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom was gripping Nolan\u2019s arm. He thought Nolan had perked up when he heard Powell\u2019s news.\u00a0 Tom himself had been isolated enough that he had not heard of the Ponderosa Ranch, but he had heard of Virginia City before.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDid you hear that, Nolan, your parents are in Rock Springs.\u00a0 They\u2019re looking for you.\u00a0 You were right about the ranch.\u00a0 It\u2019s called the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Do you remember Virginia City?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan smiled widely.\u00a0 \u201cThe Ponderosa.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIs Ben Cartwright your father?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cMy grandfather.\u00a0 His ranch.\u00a0 I live there.\u201d\u00a0 It was the most information Tom had heard him offer, and gave him credit for another sentence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Powell leaned forward.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s a twin.\u00a0 He has an identical twin brother.\u00a0 His parents showed me a photograph, and you can\u2019t tell them apart.\u00a0 And wait until you see his father.\u00a0 That\u2019s who he looks like.\u00a0 It\u2019ll bowl you over.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom turned to Nolan.\u00a0 \u201cYou have a twin brother?\u00a0 What\u2019s his name?\u201d\u00a0 Nolan sat back and appeared to be looking at a button on Powell\u2019s jacket.\u00a0 He was thinking.\u00a0 When he didn\u2019t respond, Tom explained that there were gaps in his memory, and he had just started putting words into sentences again.\u00a0 His brain was healing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Powell got up to go back to work.\u00a0 He put his hand on Nolan\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 He sure was glad to see him so much better.\u00a0 Tom settled back and watched the flat, snowy landscape pass.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be a very long ride to Rock Springs.\u00a0 With this new information, he guessed he should look for the Cartwrights first.\u00a0 His guess was to try the boardinghouse.\u00a0 He was thinking over his plans when Nolan nudged him.\u00a0 He turned and looked at him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLogan.\u00a0 My brother,\u201d he said with a nod of his head.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLogan.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the names you said in your dream, Logan.\u00a0 Good name.\u00a0 Logan and Nolan, the twins,\u201d Tom smiled at him.\u00a0 \u201cAny other kids at home?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This time Nolan smiled as though he knew a joke. \u00a0\u201cLots,\u201d he replied.\u00a0 Tom took in his expression and raised his brows.\u00a0 There was a story there, apparently.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s Peg?\u00a0 You said that name, too.\u00a0 Is she your sweetheart?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan laughed outright.\u00a0 \u201cIn a way.\u00a0 Pegasus.\u00a0 My horse.\u201d\u00a0 Tom rolled his eyes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When the town of Rock Springs came into view, the train slowed to a stop once again.\u00a0 The town wasn\u2019t more than a quarter of a mile away from the train tracks, but the snow was just too deep for Nolan to walk through, even with Tom\u2019s help, and Tom wasn\u2019t going to take any chances with his leg.\u00a0 Not at this point.\u00a0 The engineer blew three blasts on the train\u2019s whistle.\u00a0 After five minutes he did it again.\u00a0 And then once more.\u00a0 After the third try, a horse pulling a carriage appeared from around the last building in the short string that constituted the town. When he reached the train, the engineer recognized him as the livery owner who had been picking up the Cartwrights and others who had been searching for victims of the train accident.\u00a0 Tom hopped down and together, he and Powell helped Nolan down and into the carriage.\u00a0 As the driver was about to turn the carriage back toward town, Powell called out to Tom.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHey, mountain man!\u00a0 What is<\/em> your name?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTom Walters.\u00a0 Dr. Walters.\u00a0 You call me Tom,\u201d he waved as the train started up again and began to move on its way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The livery owner turned back to Tom, \u201cWhere you headed, Mister?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBoardinghouse, please.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In a short time the carriage had stopped at Mrs. Kelly\u2019s.\u00a0 Tom hopped down and reached out to help Nolan down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Farther down the main road, Adam Cartwright was heading back from a series of disappointing efforts to locate a good tracker.\u00a0 He had come close; a man mentioned by several people lived nearby, but he was gone for the winter.\u00a0 He sounded like the kind of person Adam needed; someone who could search the mountains around the railroad trestle to find cabins or other dwellings.\u00a0 He was frustrated, but resigned to the fact that they might have to wait until April or May before they could hope to locate their son.\u00a0 At least they had learned some encouraging facts, and had every reason to hope that Nolan was still alive.\u00a0 Walking head down against the cold, and watching his way in the frozen mud, he started to pass the livery carriage and almost ran into a man standing in the street near the boardinghouse.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first things Adam saw were a pair of boots and buckskin leggings.\u00a0 Buckskin. That resonated in his mind.\u00a0 He stopped and looked up at the rest of the figure, stopping just before colliding with him.\u00a0 The face he looked at wore an expression of amazement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom turned and looked at the man in the dark coat who was coming toward him, head down.\u00a0 Just when he thought he\u2019d walk right into him, the man looked up, and Tom found himself looking at Nolan Cartwright, but more mature.\u00a0 He blinked a couple of times and almost shook his head.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll bowl you over<\/em>,\u201d he said, echoing Robert Powell.\u00a0 It did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d asked the man, cocking his head.\u00a0 Then he turned his attention to the passenger sitting in the carriage.\u00a0 He gaped for a moment as a crutch was handed down and the man in buckskin helped another man slide down to stand carefully on the ground.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam knew his face crumpled as he looked at his son.\u00a0 \u201cOh, dear God,\u201d he said, gathering Nolan in his arms.\u00a0 Hugging him, Adam heard him wince and felt the other man\u2019s hand on his arm.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHe has some broken ribs,\u201d Tom explained, watching Adam take a small step back and look at his son from head to toe.\u00a0 \u201cAnd a broken leg,\u201d Tom tucked the crutch under Nolan\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam took Nolan\u2019s face in his hands and held it, knowing that tears were slipping down his face.\u00a0 Here he was, after these weeks of helpless waiting, seemingly out of nowhere.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNolan, is this your father?\u201d\u00a0 Tom gently made the suggestion, but he needn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan\u2019s eyes had filled with tears too.\u00a0 \u201cDad,\u201d he said, swallowing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam turned to Tom.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m Adam Cartwright.\u00a0 Are you\u2026 have you been taking care of my son?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYes, and we were coming to find you.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go inside and warm up.\u00a0 I\u2019ll explain everything.\u201d Together they helped Nolan inside.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They sat in Mrs. Kelly\u2019s parlor, where a fire burned in the fireplace, spreading welcome warmth.\u00a0 Mrs. Kelly came to greet them, and stopped short when she saw Nolan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOh, Mr. Cartwright, you found him!\u00a0 There\u2019s no doubt, is there!\u201d\u00a0 She laughed as she spoke.\u00a0 \u201cWould you like me to get your wife?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll get her,\u201d Adam said, standing.\u00a0 He turned to Tom and put his hands out.\u00a0 \u201cPlease.\u00a0 My wife is so anxious.\u00a0 Let me bring her here.\u00a0 Don\u2019t go anywhere.\u201d\u00a0 He almost dashed out of the room in his haste to get Mary Lynn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom laughed.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re not going anywhere, are we, buddy?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going anywhere,\u201d Nolan answered.\u00a0 The longest sentence so far<\/em>, Tom thought.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCan you stand up?\u201d\u00a0 Tom felt bad getting him up just after he\u2019d sat, but he had a feeling the boy\u2019s mother would be squeezing him no matter how much he cautioned.\u00a0 Moments later he sensed movement in the doorway and looked over.\u00a0 A very attractive blonde woman in a fitted navy wool dress stood there, staring at Nolan.\u00a0 She was biting her lip, and her hands were clasped under her chin.\u00a0 Her blue eyes were swimming in tears.\u00a0 She came forward and took his hands.\u00a0 Adam followed behind her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNolan, darling.\u00a0 I knew it.\u00a0 I knew<\/em> you were alive,\u201d she said softly and then she reached up to put her arms around his neck.\u00a0 In response, he shifted his weight to his good leg and put his arms around her.\u00a0 They stood that way for a long time.\u00a0 When they pulled away, Mrs. Cartwright wiped at the tears on her cheeks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMom,\u201d Nolan said.\u00a0 \u201cYou smell good.\u201d\u00a0 She put her hand on his cheek and kissed him. Then she turned to Tom and reached for his hands.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know who you are, but you are a saint for bringing him back to us.\u00a0 I\u2019m Mary Lynn Cartwright, and you met my husband, Adam, didn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They all sat down again, and this time Tom told them the whole story, taking his time and leaving out no details.\u00a0 Nolan sat between his parents on a settee with his mother holding one of his hands in both of hers and his father with an arm around his shoulders, rubbing his back occasionally. They had a lot of questions, and Tom patiently answered them all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNolan has made amazing progress in the weeks since the accident.\u00a0 Like I told you, I\u2019m only guessing that he suffered a skull fracture based on my observations.\u00a0 I would recommend that you have him see a specialist in a large city, maybe San Francisco, because he still has some fine motor skill deficiencies.\u00a0 He\u2019s beginning to put sentences together now, and that\u2019s a very good sign, but writing is still a challenge.\u00a0 My guess is that with time he\u2019ll make a complete recovery,\u201d Tom stopped and smiled at Nolan.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve been through a lot together, haven\u2019t we, Tib?\u201d\u00a0 He slipped inadvertently back into an old habit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTib?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom laughed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 When I first got him home he was unconscious for four days, and then when he woke up, he wasn\u2019t talking.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know his name, so I called him Tibia, for the bone he broke, and then Tib for short.\u00a0 It was a nickname.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t used it since he remembered his name, but it slipped out just then.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTib,\u201d Adam tried it out, smiling so that his dimples showed.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s kind of handy. We\u2019ll have to remember that one,\u201d and he ruffled his son\u2019s hair.\u00a0 Then he turned back to Tom.\u00a0 \u201cPlease, Dr. Walters, stay and have dinner with us.\u00a0 We can\u2019t begin to repay you for what you\u2019ve done for Nolan, but we can start by buying you dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, I am getting a little hungry, so I\u2019ll take you folks up on that.\u00a0 But you have to call me Tom.\u00a0 Only Tom,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam got up and went to arrange dinner plans with Mrs. Kelly.\u00a0 There were some good smells coming from the kitchen, too.\u00a0 Tom commented wryly to Nolan that it would be a nice change from eating his own cooking, but Nolan disagreed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTom\u2019s good cook,\u201d he told his mother.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam returned triumphant.\u00a0 Of course on this happy occasion Mrs. Kelly was glad to have Tom stay for dinner.\u00a0 The boardinghouse was never full in winter anyway.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over dinner, Adam asked Tom why he lived alone in the mountains, and Tom explained why we wanted to get away from everything he had lived through in the War.\u00a0 He hailed from Ohio, but the War had changed him and he just wanted to escape afterward. Adam nodded, understanding.\u00a0 In his own way he had been very troubled by the War Between the States, and even though service had not been required of him, he had thought about enlisting.\u00a0 However, his family had been young then and he had growing responsibilities to them and to the Ponderosa.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam asked him if he had gone to Harvard Medical School, based on the envelope he had seen at the dry goods store.\u00a0 Tom acknowledged that he had, and that gave him, Adam and Nolan something in common, which seemed like an amazing coincidence.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDo you think you\u2019ll stay here, Tom?\u201d\u00a0 Mary Lynn asked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he answered truthfully.\u00a0 \u201cAfter having Nolan as my house guest this past month, I\u2019ve gotten kind of used to having some company around, and<\/em> someone to play chess with!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWell, if you\u2019re a chess player, you couldn\u2019t have had anyone better keeping you company than Nolan,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cHe grew up playing chess, and he\u2019s darn good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAnd guitar,\u201d Nolan added.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d his father agreed.\u00a0 \u201cHe grew up playing the guitar, too.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom and the Cartwrights ended up talking well into the evening.\u00a0 Tom stayed overnight at the boardinghouse, and the next day all four of them were at the train tracks waiting for the train headed west.\u00a0 Tom would ride it only to the trestle and then hike the short distance to his cabin, and the Cartwrights would take it all the way to Reno.\u00a0 On the train, Tom gave Adam the timeline he had been keeping of Nolan\u2019s progress.\u00a0 He said the specialist in San Francisco would want to see it, and he said he would be happy to communicate with that doctor in whatever way would assist with Nolan\u2019s recovery.\u00a0 Adam made him promise to make a trip to visit them on the Ponderosa, which Tom agreed to, if for no other reason than to see the other person who looked exactly like Nolan.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When the train stopped just before the trestle to let Tom off, it was an emotional parting for everyone.\u00a0 Mary Lynn and Adam again could not\u00a0find the proper words to express their gratitude to Tom.\u00a0 When Nolan put his hand out to Tom, the doctor took it and pulled the boy into an embrace.\u00a0 Pulling back slightly, Nolan could see tears in his eyes.\u00a0 Tom leaned forward, putting his forehead against Nolan\u2019s and his hands on the boy\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re gonna make it, Tib.\u00a0 Take good care of yourself.\u00a0 Write down everything you remember.\u201d\u00a0 With that, Tom stood and gave the Cartwrights a tremulous smile.\u00a0 And then he jumped off the train into the snow.\u00a0 As the train began to move again, Tom stood near the tracks, and waved until it disappeared from view across the trestle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Logan was waiting in Virginia City when the stage arrived from Reno.\u00a0 He had insisted on being the only person to drive in to pick up his brother and parents.\u00a0 He told everyone else to stay home and plan the celebration.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam stepped down first and helped his wife disembark. \u00a0Anxious, Logan asked about Nolan, and Adam told him to see for himself.\u00a0 The next thing Nolan knew, Logan\u2019s head and shoulder\u2019s popped through the stage door.\u00a0 Satisfied that his brother looked the same other than the splint on his leg, Logan all but pulled him out, grabbing his crutch as an afterthought.\u00a0 After wrapping his arms around his brother, he held him back and looked at him, with tears welling up in his eyes but a huge smile on his face.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cFor Pete\u2019s sake, brother, this is the second time in two months we\u2019ve done this.\u00a0 Did they kick you out again?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou wish,\u201d said Nolan as he put his arm around his brother\u2019s shoulders to steady himself.\u00a0 \u201cYou wish.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the Ponderosa, there wasn\u2019t a dry eye in the house as Nolan came through the door with his crutch.\u00a0 Except Nolan\u2019s.\u00a0 He was just grinning to see all these people who loved him.\u00a0 The people from his dream.\u00a0 Until he saw Ben.\u00a0 When his grandfather made his way forward to greet his grandson, Nolan put his arms around him and let the tears come.\u00a0 No words were necessary, and Ben just patted his back gently until he could wait no longer to say what he had been waiting for weeks to say.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWant to play a game of chess, son?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Epilogue<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nolan did not return to Harvard that term, but was scheduled to return again in the fall.\u00a0 He and his father took a trip to San Francisco to the specialist that Tom had recommended.\u00a0 After several days and many tests, the doctor confirmed that Tom\u2019s diagnosis had most likely been correct.\u00a0 A skull fracture resulting in some brain injury was gradually healing.\u00a0 The progress Nolan had shown was strong evidence that he would continue to do so.\u00a0 He was already speaking in more complex sentences.\u00a0 He was given handwriting exercises to help strengthen his fine motor skills.\u00a0 Adam assured the doctor that there were plenty of people at home who would make sure he did them.\u00a0 He was also not to ride a horse for at least six weeks.\u00a0 That did not please Nolan, but he was given permission to visit Pegasus in the barn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam and Mary Lynn sent Tom a generous sum of money, knowing he would pick it up in a few months when he made his trip to Rock Springs for supplies.\u00a0 Adam also included a letter suggesting that Tom consider starting a medical practice in Rock Springs, which had no doctor and could certainly have used one the night of the accident.\u00a0 The railroad had also indicated to Adam that there was a good chance that Rock Springs would become an official stop on the rail line.\u00a0 Tom took Adam up on his suggestion, using the money to outfit his new office on the town\u2019s main street, with his chess board set up prominently in the waiting room.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mary Lynn kept their promise to Karen Gregory, and quickly sent off a letter to New York letting her know that Nolan had been found alive and safe.\u00a0 A long letter from Karen addressed to Nolan arrived just a few weeks later.\u00a0 Her description of meeting him on the train helped jog his memory more about her and the accident.\u00a0 He sat down right away to carefully and neatly pen a letter back to her.\u00a0 That began a series of letters flowing between New York and Virginia City, and started some good-natured teasing of Nolan by his sisters and cousins, which he tolerated with a smile.\u00a0 He already knew he would see Karen again as soon as he could.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One day in May, Adam showed Nolan a letter he had received.\u00a0 Nolan read it and smiled, thanking his father.\u00a0 He hurried off to find Logan to report the news.\u00a0 The next day they both rode into town to meet the afternoon stage from Reno.\u00a0 The last person to jump down was not, surprisingly, dressed in buckskin.\u00a0 He wore regular clothing.\u00a0 After catching the bag the driver tossed down to him, he turned to see Nolan and Logan standing before him, each with a wide smile on his face.\u00a0 They were dressed identically in black shirts, pants, hats and boots, and each had a paper sign pinned to his shirt that said \u201cTib.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tom threw his head back and laughed.\u00a0 \u201cHow am I gonna know? I can\u2019t tell!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll let you know when you get it right,\u201d one of them said as they turned the carriage toward the Ponderosa.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The End<\/strong><\/p>\n Next Story in the Destiny Series:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nDesert Destiny<\/a>
\nDestiny Next Door<\/a>
\nBrothers<\/a>
\nNo More Birthday Parties, Thank you<\/a>
\nIt’s Just for Now<\/a>
\nThe Homecoming Part 1<\/a>
\nThe Homecoming Part 2<\/a>
\nLogan’s Bride<\/a><\/p>\n
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