Summary:\u00a0 Adah Menken and John C. Regan return to Virginia City stirring up old emotions and creating new trouble for the Cartwrights. A sequel to my story ‘I’ll See You Outside’ – extended<\/p>\n
Rated PG-13 for western brutality, violence and adult situations, see author’s note at the end.<\/p>\n
Word count: 55, 282<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Whose Sin is Her Love<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ONE<\/p>\n \u201cPa.\u00a0 Pa!\u201d\u00a0 Footsteps sounded as a lone figure in black crossed the well-worn boards of the Ponderosa ranch house and headed for the massive stone fireplace that was the center of his home.\u00a0 \u201cPA!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you yell for?\u00a0 Mistah Adam yell like father!\u201d\u00a0 Hop Sing bustled into the room and over to him, hands and apron flapping.\u00a0 \u201cYou wake up Little Joe!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u00a0 Upstairs?\u201d Adam looked toward the staircase.\u00a0 \u201cI thought Joe was out mending fences.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe come home early.\u00a0 He yell at Hop Sing too.\u00a0 Stomp up stairs.\u201d\u00a0 The Asian man shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing quit soon.\u00a0 Go some place quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh, come on now,\u201d he said as he placed a hand on the older man\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cYou couldn\u2019t live without us and you know it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing can try.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam chuckled as he removed his hand.\u00a0 \u201cWhat was Joe mad about?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe couldn\u2019t do the work.\u201d\u00a0 The man in black pivoted toward the staircase as his father appeared at its top.\u00a0 \u201cI tried to talk to him.\u00a0 Joseph was so sullen and angry it wasn\u2019t any use.\u00a0 I left him in his room to stew in his own juices.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStew!\u00a0 Juices?!\u00a0 Hop Sing forget food!\u201d\u00a0 The little man turned on his heel and headed for the kitchen.\u00a0 He stopped when he reached the table.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Ben tell number three son come down and eat.\u00a0 Boy too skinny.\u00a0 Need stew and<\/em> juices!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d do that, but he\u2019s sound asleep,\u201d the older man replied as he reached the main floor.<\/p>\n \u201cAsleep?\u201d\u00a0 Adam was surprised.\u00a0 \u201cIn the middle of the day?\u00a0 Is he all right?<\/p>\n \u201cYour brother is still recovering, Adam, not that he will admit it.\u00a0 He pushes himself too hard.\u201d\u00a0 Pa plopped down in the red chair before the fire.\u00a0 \u201cDo I expect too much?\u00a0 Is that why Joseph feels he has to prove himself day after day?\u201d<\/p>\n He took a seat across from his father.\u00a0 \u201cDid he hurt himself?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost.\u00a0 I sent Joseph out to work with Jim and Dan.\u00a0 Jim told me Joe had just finished placing a post when he turned and stumbled.\u00a0 When Jim suggested your brother take a break, that little scamp told him \u2013 in no uncertain terms \u2013 where he could put the sledge he was holding and stormed off in a huff.\u00a0 According to Jim, your brother swung up onto Cochise and went right over the other side!\u201d\u00a0 His father shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cJim said Little Joe was out for thirty seconds.\u00a0 Dan came over and ordered him to head for home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Joe listened to him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour brother respects Dan.\u00a0 Sometimes, I think, more than he respects me.\u201d\u00a0 Pa sighed.\u00a0 \u201cAt least he listens to Dan better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you think this has to do with what happened last month?\u00a0 You know, in the desert?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shuddered with the memory of the tragedy that had almost occurred.\u00a0 He and Hoss had arrived too late to see their little brother lying on the boiling sand, trussed up like a steer waiting for the kill. \u00a0Just like they\u2019d missed Little Joe\u2019s feeble attempts to beg water from the man who meant to kill him.\u00a0 What they hadn\u2019t <\/em>missed was the ride home.\u00a0 Little Joe nearly died from what Sam Wolfe did to him.\u00a0 If it hadn\u2019t been for the soldiers they\u2019d come across along the way, they would have lost him.\u00a0 As it was, they only just<\/em> got him to Yuma in time.\u00a0 The doctor there diagnosed his brother as suffering from sunstroke, dehydration, and a myriad of other ills. \u00a0Once the crisis passed, the man told them it would be at least a month before the teenager even approached<\/em> normal.<\/p>\n Joe, of course, being Joe turned those four weeks into three.\u00a0 On the twenty-first day the kid rose from his bed and came downstairs \u2013 without permission, mind you!\u00a0 On the twenty-third, Pa relented and allowed him to rejoin the living.\u00a0 He gave Joe a\u00a0 few chores, light work mostly, in the yard and around the house.\u00a0 This morning \u2013 day twenty-five \u2013 Joe\u2019d insisted he was \u2018fine\u2019 and complained and cajoled until their father gave him permission to ride fence with Dan and Jim.<\/p>\n That <\/em>had gone swimmingly.<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean what happened with Sam Wolfe?\u201d\u00a0 Pa shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cYou know your brother.\u00a0 He holds himself responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor Emiliano\u2019s death?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor not being smart enough or fast enough or strong enough.\u00a0 For not stopping Sam Wolfe on his own.\u00a0 And, yes, for Emiliano\u2019s death.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam hesitated.\u00a0 Still, it had to be said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m amazed Joe held his own as well as he did.\u00a0 He\u2019s just a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s gaze flicked to the stair.\u00a0 Adam winced as his followed.\u00a0 Fortunately, there was no irate little brother standing there, fists formed and nostrils flaring, ready to start a fight.\u00a0 A slow smile curled his father\u2019s lips as he agreed.\u00a0 \u201cYes, he is.\u00a0 But don\u2019t you ever<\/em> tell your brother I said that.\u201d<\/p>\n The man in black frowned as a vision of that \u2018kid\u2019 swaying in the saddle and almost toppling off on the way back to Yuma flashed before his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe I should go check on him.\u00a0 That must have been a bad fall\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI looked in before I came down, but I don\u2019t think it would hurt for you to do so.\u201d\u00a0 Pa rose and headed for the kitchen.\u00a0 \u201cI have a couple of things to go over with Hop Sing before supper.\u00a0 If Little Joe\u2019s awake, see if you can get him to come down and eat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure thing, Pa.\u201d\u00a0 Adam headed for the stair.\u00a0 As his foot hit the bottom step, his father called him back.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI forgot.\u00a0 You were looking for me.\u00a0 Was it something important?\u201d<\/p>\n He stiffened.\u00a0 Dear Lord!\u00a0 How could he have forgotten?<\/p>\n His father sensed the shift in his mood and came closer.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is it, son?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.\u00a0 He held it out to his father and watched as the older man quickly scanned the type-set it contained.<\/p>\n The look of surprise on Pa\u2019s face was to be expected.<\/p>\n \u201cAdah?\u00a0 She\u2019s back in town?\u201d<\/p>\n The paper was a playbill he\u2019d snatched off the side of the Palace Theatre.\u00a0 It announced that Adah Menken or, \u2018The Menken\u2019 as she was now known, was due in Virginia City for a return engagement.\u00a0 The beautiful woman was displayed in all her dubious glory, seemingly naked and bound astride a charger.\u00a0 The copy read: \u2018THE PALACE, unprecedented success, Miss Adah Isaacs Menken Regan as Mazeppa!\u2019<\/p>\n Adam shuddered.<\/p>\n Adah Regan.<\/em><\/p>\n He found his voice a moment later.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019ll be here shortly.\u00a0 The engagement lasts a week.\u201d<\/p>\n His father frowned at the playbill and then looked up at him.\u00a0 \u201cI want you to know, son, that any feelings I had for Adah were driven out by her callous behavior.\u00a0 First of all, she left with that man and, secondly, she did so without knowing whether your brother had survived the beating he took at John C. Regan\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam winced.\u00a0 \u201cRead it again, Pa,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cBe careful to pay attention to the banner at the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n His father stared at him and then did as he asked.\u00a0 Pa\u2019s near-black eyes ran over the copy at the top once more and then moved to the smaller print at the bottom.<\/p>\n His hands started shaking.<\/p>\n \u201cHow could\u2026?\u201d\u00a0 The older man looked up with a mixture of incredulity, and a bit of the wrath of God in his near-black eyes\u00a0 \u201cHow dare<\/em> he?\u201d he roared.<\/p>\n Adah wasn\u2019t the only one coming back for a return engagement.\u00a0 Her husband was traveling with her.<\/p>\n John C. Regan was coming back to town.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Little Joe Cartwright sucked in the agony that was his body and shifted so his feet were off the bed.\u00a0 Pa\u2019d thought he was acting like a four-year-old when he came into the house and told him so.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t care.\u00a0 Making Pa angry kept the older man from seeing just how bad off he was.\u00a0 From the time the White One\u2019s hooves had made contact with Cash Wolfe\u2019s body everything had gone downhill \u2013 he\u2019d had a gun turned on him by a friend, been chased through the desert on the back of Colonel Greene\u2019s horse, watched that magnificent animal die by his hand, and then been treated like an animal himself, trussed up and ready for the kill.<\/p>\n He\u2019d<\/em> killed Emiliano.<\/p>\n He hadn\u2019t held the gun that shot the vaquero, but he might as well have.\u00a0 Emiliano had taken that bullet for him.<\/p>\n So he could live.<\/p>\n There were times when that was okay.\u00a0 When he understood.\u00a0 He\u2019d have done the same thing for the other man.\u00a0 But there were times \u2013 like today \u2013 when he was wore out and couldn\u2019t even lift a sledge that made him feel like a complete and total failure.\u00a0 \u2018Little\u2019 Joe.\u00a0 Little boy<\/em>.\u00a0 So young he had to have someone look out for him.<\/p>\n So young, he had to be protected.<\/p>\n \u201cDamn!\u201d Joe snarled as he pushed himself to his feet and headed for the window.\u00a0 He was nearly eighteen, after all, and a man.\u00a0 He was old enough to be married and practically old enough to have children of his own!\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t a kid or a little boy anymore and yet everyone treated him like he was and he was sick of it!\u00a0 So what if he was a little weak?\u00a0 He\u2019d seen Pa take a bullet and be up and out of bed in two days.\u00a0 Adam and Hoss and Pa would have tied him down to the bed rails and fed him soft food for a month if it had been him!\u00a0 Hoss and Adam didn\u2019t give up when they were a little sore.\u00a0 Why did Pa think he needed to go to bed just \u2018cause he\u2019d fallen off his horse?\u00a0 It was unfair and aggravating and just\u2026.<\/p>\n Joe took hold of the blown glass aftershave bottle on his dresser and threw it so hard it crashed against the wall.\u00a0 He stood, panting, watching the oil run down and ruin the wallpaper until someone cleared their throat.\u00a0 The sound made him turn toward the door.<\/p>\n Adam stood there, one shoulder propped against the side-jamb.\u00a0 \u201cFeel better?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s nostrils flared.\u00a0 He nodded his head.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n His brother entered the room.\u00a0 \u201cYou won\u2019t feel so good when Pa makes you strip and replace \u2013 and pay<\/em> for \u2013 that strip of paper.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa had good taste.\u00a0 The paper was hand-blocked \u2013 and expensive.<\/p>\n He swallowed hard.\u00a0 \u201cI got savings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure you do, and probably have a much better use for them than buying wallpaper.\u201d\u00a0 Adam sat on the edge of the bed.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, what\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing,\u201d he snapped as he turned back to the window.<\/p>\n \u201cThe shattered glass at your feet begs to differ.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe closed his eyes and counted to ten.\u00a0 His relationship with Adam was odd, to put it mildly.\u00a0 There were times when that tone set him off, making him mad as a rattler on a spit, but there were other times \u2013 like now \u2013 when it brought back memories of his childhood and the supportive talks he\u2019d had with his older brother.\u00a0 Along with that came a warm rush of feelings \u2013 love, feeling safe.<\/p>\n Being protected.<\/p>\n The handsome teenager glanced at his brother.\u00a0 He forced a smile.\u00a0 \u201cJust feeling, well, like\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike a fledgling held under the wing when it knows it can fly?\u201d<\/p>\n The smile broadened.<\/p>\n \u201cCome and sit down, okay?\u201d Adam asked.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re making me nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow come?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re old enough to fly, Joe, but not out of a two-story window.\u201d<\/p>\n There was more to that statement and he knew it.<\/p>\n Joe plunked down on the bed.\u00a0 \u201cSo what do you want to talk about?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n His brother held up a hand.\u00a0 \u201cGive me a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe crossed his arms and leaned back against the headboard.\u00a0 \u201cOkay.\u00a0\u00a0 Shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam smiled.\u00a0 \u201cHow do you feel?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe, it\u2019s me.\u00a0 Really.\u00a0 How do you feel?\u201d<\/p>\n The teenager twisted his lips.\u00a0 \u201cI hurt like hell.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve been doing too much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, I can\u2019t sit around all day and heal.\u00a0 I\u2019ll go nuts!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGranted,\u201d his brother answered.\u00a0 \u201cHow<\/em> do you hurt?\u00a0 I mean, should I go get Doctor Martin?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor land\u2019s sake, Adam, I wouldn\u2019t have told you if I thought you were gonna \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust give me an honest <\/em>answer.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe thought a moment.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 And that is<\/em> the truth.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been having headaches.\u00a0 They make it hard for me to concentrate sometimes.\u00a0 I get tired kind of easy and my muscles cramp.\u00a0 None of that is bad enough to need a doctor.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen you and Pa in worse shape and you kept going.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re right.\u00a0 You\u2019re not a boy anymore, you\u2019re a man, and we have to trust you to know when something is too much for you.\u201d\u00a0 His brother pursed his lips.\u00a0 \u201cCan<\/em> I trust you on that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure, you can.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right then.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t come up here just to check on you \u2013 though Pa thought I did.\u00a0 I came up here to ask you to ride the line with me and check out the shacks before winter sets in. \u00a0But I have to know I can count on you and that you aren\u2019t going to keel over on me.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to be a long way from help, little brother.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have to rely on each other and ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe brightened visibly.\u00a0 \u201cReally?\u00a0 You want to take me along?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t think of anyone else I would rather have at my side.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe frowned, suspicious.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about Hoss?\u00a0 How come you didn\u2019t ask him<\/em> to go?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam looked him straight in the eye.\u00a0 \u201cBecause I want to take you.<\/em>\u00a0 We\u2019ve never done it together before \u2013 at least, without someone else along.\u00a0 It will give us time to get to know each other.\u201d<\/p>\n The teenager snorted.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve been back from college for seven years, Adam.\u00a0 I think we know each other pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n His brother rose to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll admit I know \u2018Little\u2019 Joe, my baby brother, but I want to get to know Joe Cartwright, the man.\u201d<\/p>\n He was touched \u2013 and a bit astonished.<\/p>\n \u201cGosh, Adam\u2026.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what to say.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t say anything,\u201d Adam replied.\u00a0 \u201cJust be ready at 5 o\u2019clock tomorrow morning to head out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFive?!?\u201d<\/p>\n His brother pinned him with his whiskey-brown eyes.\u00a0 \u201cUnless you\u2019d prefer four?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo\u2026five\u2026is fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll have Hop Sing prepare us a couple of kits.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be gone for about three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Three weeks away from his mother hen of a father.\u00a0 He\u2019d miss Pa, but he sure<\/em> would enjoy being treated like a man instead of that little boy.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n The man in black had reached the door.\u00a0 He turned back with a smile. \u00a0\u201cNo thanks needed.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to it, and Joe\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou might want to take it easy until we leave.\u201d<\/p>\n He started to protest, but knew his brother was right.\u00a0 \u201cWhat am I gonna tell Pa?\u00a0 He\u2019ll think I\u2019m sick if I skip my chores tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEat supper and then ask to be excused.\u00a0 Pa already thinks you\u2019re pushing too hard.\u00a0 Hoss and I can handle the chores.\u201d\u00a0 Adam pointed a finger at him.\u00a0 \u201cAnd remember, I expect you to be dressed as well as bright eyed and bushy-tailed when I knock on your door at four-forty-five.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam closed the door to his brother\u2019s room and leaned against it.\u00a0 He felt like a louse.\u00a0 It was true the line-shacks needed looking after and that he\u2019d intended to do it soon \u2013 as in, about a month from now.\u00a0 It was also true that he\u2019d intended to take Hoss with him.\u00a0 Traveling with Hoss was like wearing an old shoe \u2013 comfortable and easy.\u00a0 He and Hoss could ride for hours in companionable silence, enjoying the scenery and their own thoughts.<\/p>\n Traveling with Little Joe was like pulling on a brand new pair of store-bought boots.\u00a0 They protested when you shoved your feet in and continued to complain with every step you took for the next few weeks.<\/p>\n Joe was a man now, but he was a young one.\u00a0 Depending on the month, there were twelve years between them and, at times, he felt like it might as well have been twenty.\u00a0 His brother was excitable and unpredictable, on top of the mountain one minute and at the bottom of a chasm the next; feisty and funny and absolutely irritating at one and the same time.\u00a0 You couldn\u2019t help but love him, but most of the time Joe made you want to do one of two things \u2013 gag him or smack him upside the head.<\/p>\n That was, if you didn\u2019t want to hug him.<\/p>\n Adam let out a sigh as he pushed off the door and headed downstairs.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard Hoss return.\u00a0 It surprised him to find that middle brother still had his coat on and was planning on heading back out to take care of a few things in the barn before supper.\u00a0 He decided to join him.<\/p>\n So they could talk.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he bought it, eh?\u00a0 Hook, line, and sinker?\u201d Hoss asked as he reached for a pitchfork to toss some hay.<\/p>\n Adam pushed the door closed behind them and even took the extra precaution of dropping the bar into place.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u00a0 I told Joe we\u2019d been gone about three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n His brother nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s more than enough time for Miss Menken and that there Regan feller to do what they gotta do and get out of Virginia City.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam studied his brother.\u00a0 \u201cThanks for suggesting Joe come with me instead of you.\u00a0 It\u2019s an elegant solution to the problem.\u00a0 Or to one problem, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss stopped in mid-pitch.\u00a0 \u201cYou got more?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I do.\u00a0 You<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe might look like an angel, but Hoss won hands-down for the best \u2018Who me?<\/em>\u2019 innocent look.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you mean me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI need a promise from you.\u201d<\/p>\n His brother was wary.\u00a0 \u201cWhat<\/em> promise?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat you won\u2019t go after Regan.\u201d<\/p>\n The big man let out a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cYou know I can\u2019t promise you that, Adam.\u00a0 That man done near killed<\/em> little brother the last time he was in town.\u00a0 I ain\u2019t gonna let that bully go and get by with doin\u2019\u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n He placed a hand on his brother\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cYes, you are, and, yes, you will.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want a promise that you won\u2019t take on Regan while I\u2019m gone.\u00a0 Otherwise, I won\u2019t take Joe with me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut Adam, you gotta!\u201d\u00a0 Hoss tossed the rake to the barn floor.\u00a0 \u201cIf Little brother gets wind that prizefighter is in town, he\u2019ll go try and take him on.\u00a0 You heard what Little Joe said last year after it happened.\u00a0 Regan told him if he ever saw him again, he\u2019d kill \u2018im!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam crossed his arms.\u00a0 \u201cNevertheless, I won\u2019t take him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re joshin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I\u2019m not.\u00a0 I will not take one brother up into the high country to save his life, just to sacrifice the life of my other brother.\u201d\u00a0 He met the big man\u2019s incredulous stare.\u00a0 \u201cI need that promise and I need it now<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss muttered under his breath for a few seconds before nodding his head.\u00a0 \u201cOkay, you got it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI got what?\u201d<\/p>\n The big man sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI won\u2019t take on John C. Regan alone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOr in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOr in any way.\u00a0 Gol-darn<\/em> it, Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI need another promise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat else<\/em> do you want?\u00a0 I done said I\u2019d leave that there monster alone!\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I believe you,\u00a0 The second promise doesn\u2019t have to do with you, Hoss.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s it got to do with then?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI need you to promise me that you\u2019ll make sure Pa doesn\u2019t take on Regan either.\u201d<\/p>\n Their father had vowed revenge that night as he sat at Little Joe\u2019s side \u2013 they all<\/em> had.\u00a0 The boy had been so battered he was almost unrecognizable.\u00a0 Pa swore then that if Regan ever came back to Virginia City, he\u2019d make sure justice was done.<\/p>\n Trouble was, Pa believed in frontier <\/em>justice.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll try, Adam.\u00a0 But you know Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I do, and unfortunately there was no way of getting around telling him that Adah was coming back to town \u2013 with <\/em>Regan.\u00a0 I knew someone else would let him know if I didn\u2019t, or he would see the posters the next time we went to town.\u00a0 I spoke to Roy briefly before I left and asked him to keep an eye out for any trouble.\u201d\u00a0 Adam grinned.\u00a0 \u201cIf it comes to it, Roy said he would trump up a charge and toss Pa in jail and keep him there until Adah and her entourage leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss couldn\u2019t help it.\u00a0 He grinned too.\u00a0 \u201cPa in jail?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s better than in the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n TWO<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright watched as his youngest and eldest son took off together and then turned to their brother.\u00a0 Hoss had his hand raised to shield his eyes and was following his brothers\u2019 departure.\u00a0 The big man was dressed for travel, as was he, in his winter coat and gloves.\u00a0 It was a good thing Adam had chosen to move up the trip to the check out the line shacks.\u00a0 It looked like winter might make an early appearance this year and the inventory needed to be taken and repairs made before the snow flew and trapped them all.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ll be fine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hoss dropped his hand and looked at him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just glad to see Little Joe ridin\u2019 off in the opposite direction of town and trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n Adah was set to arrive in Virginia City today, along with her entourage.\u00a0 Some of the ranch hands \u2013 who were enthusiasts of prize fighting \u2013 had told him that the monster known as the \u2018Benecia Boy\u2019, John C. Regan, wouldn\u2019t make his appearance until a few days later.<\/p>\n He wanted to talk to Adah before he did.<\/p>\n Ben nodded.\u00a0 It had been imperative that they keep the news of the pugilist\u2019s arrival from Little Joe.\u00a0 Even at full strength \u2013 and Joseph was far from that \u2013 his slender, one hundred and thirty pound boy had no hope of surviving a bout with Regan, who was nearly a foot taller and over twice his weight.\u00a0 It had been all Hoss could do to come out alive.\u00a0 Regan, along with being a fighter, was a hired thug \u2013 a strong-arm man who \u2018protected\u2019 shady businessmen and the like, pulverizing and, if the rumors were true, at times killing for money.\u00a0 Within the last year he had become the toast of Europe.\u00a0 The \u2018boy\u2019, as Regan was called, had fought another contender and, though the match had been a draw, gained notoriety and fame by claiming he had won and was now \u2018champion\u2019 of the world.\u00a0 The odd thing was, the man he \u2018beat\u2019 was now traveling with him; the two of them appearing in exhibition fights.<\/p>\n Apparently Virginia City was their next venue.<\/p>\n \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, son.\u00a0 I was lost in my thoughts.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss eyed him.\u00a0 \u201cYou think it\u2019s right smart to go into town?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI need to speak to Adah.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow come?\u00a0 I mean, I know you ain\u2019t gotta tell me, but I\u2019ve been wonderin\u2019.\u00a0 I thought you said you was done with her after what happened to Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n He was \u2018done with her\u2019.\u00a0 Any feelings he\u2019d entertained for Adah had been driven out when he realized that, not only was she remaining with Regan, but that she showed no remorse for what the bully had done to his boy.\u00a0 He could never love such a woman.\u00a0 The attachment had begun innocently enough.\u00a0 Adah, a Creole beauty, reminded him of Joseph\u2019s mother.\u00a0 She was high-spirited, knew her mind, and was not afraid to speak it.\u00a0 The actress was also vulnerable; helpless, in a way, to help herself.\u00a0 Like Marie, life had not treated her kindly.\u00a0 Adah had been used and abused by a long line of relatives and lovers.\u00a0Being\u00a0<\/em>Creole meant that she was often rejected; considered worthless as Joseph\u2019s mother had been.\u00a0 The theater offered her a chance at redemption.\u00a0 People cared little about the pedigree of one who entertained them \u2013 so long as they\u00a0kept\u00a0<\/em>them entertained.\u00a0 Adah Isaacs Menken was the toast of America, traveling from coast to coast; performing a dozen different plays at once.\u00a0 She made people forget their troubles, if only for the hour or two that the gaslights were lit.<\/p>\n Sadly, Adah found no such release.<\/p>\n Early on she\u2019d married Isaac Menken, a Jewish merchant from Cincinnati.\u00a0 From what he understood the man deeply loved Adah, but there was something wild in her that would not let her be tamed and so the match did not last.\u00a0 After that, like a beautiful butterfly, the actress flitted from man to man until she settled on John C. Regan.\u00a0 Impossible as it was to believe, it seemed she truly loved him.\u00a0 Adah married Regan and for a time it appeared, from what the papers reported at least, that she\u2019d found happiness.<\/p>\n It proved fleeting.<\/p>\n All too soon the rumors began to fly.\u00a0 Adah had not officially divorced Menken before marrying the prize fighter.\u00a0 The critics who had praised her now called her a \u2018whore\u2019 and \u2018bigamist\u2019 and sought to destroy her.\u00a0 Her public \u2013 those who had cheered her \u2013 turned like the crowd did on Christ and called for her blood.\u00a0 Perhaps that was why she\u2019d returned to the West.\u00a0 Perhaps Adah felt a kinship with the women who peopled the bawdy houses, those who were maltreated and misunderstood, and who \u2013 in time \u2013 were tossed away as refuse.<\/p>\n Or maybe she was hoping to make a new start.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I told your brother, there are many kinds of love,\u201d Ben replied.\u00a0 He paused, seeking the words that would communicate his inmost feelings.\u00a0 \u201cI still love, Adah, but not as a man loves a woman he would marry.\u00a0More as a friend or, perhaps, a father.\u00a0 She is as much a child as your teenage brother.\u00a0 Adah needs someone to guide her, to make her see that the road she is walking can only have one end.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat end is that, Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n He was a perceptive man.\u00a0 Everyone would tell you so and none more than his sons.\u00a0 His feelings and intuitions had saved them from harm more times than he could recall.\u00a0 Ben\u2019s intuitions were alive now with fear for this woman he had loved and lost, because she would not \u2013 and could not \u2013 love herself.<\/p>\n How<\/em>\u00a0would it end?<\/p>\n He had no idea, but he knew it would not be well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam glanced at his youngest brother.\u00a0 Joe was chipper and chattering away like the group of New World Warblers that had recently winged over their heads.\u00a0 Anytime they escaped the confines of the Ponderosa \u2013 and got away from Pa and Hop Sing, whom his little brother regarded as mother hens \u2013 Joe\u2019s naturally ebullient nature surfaced.\u00a0 The only problem was, it faded just as quickly as it appeared.\u00a0 Joe could be footloose and fancy-free for an hour or two \u2013 maybe even a\u00a0day<\/em>\u00a0or two \u2013 but it never lasted long.\u00a0 His brother\u2019s highs were matched by his lows.\u00a0 The kid thought he had everybody fooled, but he and Hoss knew better.\u00a0 Little Joe Cartwright lived his life waiting for the other boot to drop.\u00a0 He\u2019d watched him as a child and noted the change every time they rode away without him.<\/p>\n Every time they did, Little Joe was sure one of them would die.<\/p>\n It was understandable.\u00a0 He\u2019d felt that way as a kid after Inger passed, but life hadn\u2019t given him time to wallow in his fears.\u00a0 He had to get on with being a man \u2013 at the age of eight.<\/p>\n Adam glanced at his brother again and smiled.<\/p>\n Thank God Joe had been given more time.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see something funny?\u201d Joe asked with no edge to his voice.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, you.\u201d\u00a0 Adam chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cYou bounce one more time in that saddle and Cochise is going to move out from under you and let you fall.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe tossed his head to free his eyes of wind-blown curls.\u00a0 Little brother wasn\u2019t wearing his hat \u2013 or his gray corduroy coat or gloves.\u00a0 Joe loved cold weather and fare thrived on it.\u00a0 The color was up in his cheeks and his green eyes were bright as the sun on the pines.\u00a0 He was dressed today in a dark blue shirt and gray pants with black belt and boots.\u00a0 He cut quite a dashing figure.<\/p>\n Fortunately, out here at the edge of their property, there weren\u2019t any pretty girls to notice.<\/p>\n \u201cOlder brother, you gotta get your nose out of those boring old books of yours more often.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m perfectly happy with my \u2018boring old books\u2019, thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe cocked his head.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you know?\u00a0 All work and no play makes Adam a dull boy.\u201d<\/p>\n The man in black clucked as he urged his mount around a pile of rocks that had tumbled onto his side of the trail.\u00a0 They hadn\u2019t been up this way since the late spring rains, so there were bound to be obstacles they would have to pass.\u00a0 He hoped all were as easy as that last one.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should try being a \u2018dull\u2019 boy now and then, Joe.\u00a0 It has its own rewards.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou mean you think I should be like you?\u00a0 A man of culture and intellect?\u201d\u00a0 Joe had his nose in the air.\u00a0 \u201cNo thank you, brother!\u00a0 Not if it puts a gal like Abigail Jones on my tale.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam resisted groaning.\u00a0 The last time they\u2019d gone to town Miss Jones had actually tracked him down.\u00a0 Her excuse was that she wanted him to help judge the annual spelling bee, but by the way she took hold of his arm like a grizzly sinking its teeth into a trout, he \u2013 and everyone around him \u2013 knew it was much more.<\/p>\n \u201cYou think Pa\u2019d like to have Miss Jones as a daughter-in-law?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing for sure, your kids would have a long way to look down their noses!\u201d<\/p>\n That\u00a0<\/em>did it.<\/p>\n Adam took a swipe at his brother, but Joe was already gone.\u00a0 Trailing back, along with the dust and cold wind, were words.<\/p>\n \u201cCatch me if you can, old man!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben hesitated outside of the Palace Hotel, his tall figure lit by the streetlight and his eyes trained on the window of its best suite.\u00a0 It was a familiar spot, one that had been occupied by Lotta Crabtree and Adah Menken during their visits to town.\u00a0 There was a great deal of similarity between the two women.\u00a0 Both had come from middle class families and gone on to know wealth and fame.\u00a0 While Lotta\u2019s origins were known \u2013 the beautiful woman had been born in the gold mining hills of California \u2013 the reports of Adah\u2019s varied greatly.\u00a0 Most believed she was the legitimate daughter of Auguste Th\u00e9odore, a free man of color and his wife, Magdaleine Jean Louis Janneaux, also a Louisiana Creole.\u00a0 Adah had been reared Catholic, but embraced her Jewish heritage.\u00a0 As such \u2013 a Creole, a Catholic,\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0a Jew \u2013 she was often disparaged and had spent most of her adult life unaccepted on one level or another.\u00a0 Both Lotta and Adah became performers at a very young age and found the acceptance they longed for in the theatrical world.\u00a0 Both could sing and dance and act with a vitality and ability that made them the toast of two continents.<\/p>\n Both were utterly miserable.<\/p>\n He had done his best to instill three things in his sons.\u00a0 Faith, belief in, and obedience to the Almighty was the first.\u00a0 Honor and loyalty to country and home, the second.\u00a0 Third?\u00a0 That they had worth.\u00a0 He wanted his boys to know that they were loved unconditionally and would be accepted no matter what mistakes they made or errant paths they chose.<\/p>\n These two women had none of these things.<\/p>\n For Adah, the lack of these values meant a life of extremes.\u00a0 She had fame and the adulation of thousands on one hand, and a string of broken relationships and bouts of melancholia on the other.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen her first when, as a young man, the ship he sailed had put into a port in Cuba.\u00a0 At that time she\u2019d been a dancer.\u00a0 There was a brief marriage to a man before Menken and he\u2019d met her between husbands.\u00a0 They\u2019d shared a table and a brief exchange and then he had pulled out of port, never dreaming he would see her again.\u00a0 Their second encounter came many years later after Inger had been killed.\u00a0 On his way to New Orleans to pay the debt he owed John Di Marigny, he\u2019d gone to the theater in Houston, Texas and been surprised to find Adah on the bill.\u00a0 By then she\u2019d become an actress and was, by all accounts one of the best.\u00a0 He\u2019d gone to her dressing room and invited her to dinner.\u00a0 The evening proved to be both pleasant and disturbing.\u00a0 He had feelings for her, but she was already married again.\u00a0 Ben chuckled.\u00a0 He should have heard the alarum bells sounding then.<\/p>\n Two husbands in barely two years!<\/p>\n Adah\u2019s relationship with Isaac Menken was destined to be short-lived.\u00a0 By the time she\u2019d come to Virginia City \u2013 about a year back \u2013 she\u2019d left the merchant and become engaged to John C. Regan.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t known it at the time, though it was readily apparent, that the two were so close.\u00a0 Ben blew out a sigh.\u00a0 He supposed he\u2019d hoped he could change her mind \u2013 that he could make Adah see that she had worth, at least in\u00a0his<\/em>\u00a0eyes.\u00a0 Before Joseph\u2019s attack, he had even thought of following her to her next venue to continue the pursuit, hoping he could talk her away from the thug and bully who dominated her life.<\/p>\n As he hoped to do now.<\/p>\n The light had gone on in her suite.<\/p>\n It was time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The harsh weather had done a number all right.\u00a0 The second shack they came across \u2013 just as the sun was setting behind the mountains \u2013 had been hit by a rock slide, driven no doubt by a rush of water overflowing the nearby stream\u2019s banks.\u00a0 The complex, that consisted of a small wooden building with two rooms, a work shed, and an outside privy, had taken a direct hit.\u00a0 While the shack was standing \u2013 albeit a bit crooked \u2013 the fencing around the complex as well as the work shed were in shambles.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the privy was intact!<\/p>\n Adam placed his hands on his hips and blew out a sigh.\u00a0 He\u2019d hoped to get farther away from the ranch before they had a reason to remain in one place for more than a few hours.\u00a0 They\u2019d put less than half a day between them and the trouble that awaited his kid brother in Virginia City.\u00a0 It would be all too easy for a passerby to stop and mention that John C. Regan was back in town.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to convince baby brother to keep going, saying they could catch this one on the way back.\u00a0 Joe had refused, citing their father\u2019s almost preternatural sense when it came to him shirking his duty.<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t really argue with that.<\/p>\n After a slightly heated discussion, they\u2019d divvied up tasks.\u00a0 Joe would take care of the horses and secure something for their supper, while he made sure the shack was structurally sound and fit for them to sleep in.\u00a0 The foundation was stable enough.\u00a0 The force of the rockslide had pushed the upper part of the structure an inch or two to the side, but he didn\u2019t think it was in danger of collapsing.\u00a0 Tomorrow they would have to set about removing the roof and re-setting the beams and planks and securing them against another such attack.\u00a0 These shacks were absolutely essential for the winter, especially one this close to the house.\u00a0 Nevada was a fickle mistress.\u00a0 One day she would kiss and caress you, and the next cuff your head and crown you.<\/p>\n You never knew what you would get.<\/p>\n Adam glanced out the door.\u00a0 It was a little disconcerting to see the world beyond it at a ten to fifteen degree angle, so he cocked his head to make it right and frowned as the sun descended behind the mountains.<\/p>\n Joe should have been back.<\/p>\n The man in black caught his rifle up from where he\u2019d propped it beside the door and stepped outside.\u00a0 The light was almost gone.\u00a0 It would be hard soon \u2013 no, nearly impossible \u2013 to track his brother should the need arise.\u00a0 Adam stifled a sigh as he stepped over one of the beams that belonged to the shed and headed out of the yard.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u00a0 Little Joe?!\u00a0 Answer me!\u201d<\/p>\n The wind howled, carrying with it the sounds of the forest but nothing else.<\/p>\n He advanced a yard or two and tried again.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u201d<\/p>\n Something.<\/p>\n A sound.<\/p>\n No, a cry.<\/p>\n He started running. \u00a0\u201cJoe?\u00a0 Where are you?\u00a0 Little Joe?!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n The man in black halted.\u00a0 He drank in air before replying; his heart pounding.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m here!\u00a0 Where are you?!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam!\u00a0 God!\u00a0 Adam, help!!\u201d<\/p>\n Help?<\/p>\n What had the kid gotten himself into this time?<\/p>\n The woods grew thicker as he ran.\u00a0 He was blind as a man in love but fear drove him forward.\u00a0 Each time his brother called, his voice was feebler, as if Joe was weakening.<\/p>\n \u2018Think, man!\u2019 he told himself.\u00a0 \u2018Think!\u2019<\/p>\n Then, he had it.<\/p>\n Turning sharply to the right Adam began to climb, leaving the land and the swollen stream behind.\u00a0 They\u2019d camped at the bottom of what was a high bluff.\u00a0 As a kid he\u2019d taken on the challenge and pushed to the top so he could stand and look out over the land that would \u2013 one day \u2013 be his.\u00a0 Joe probably did the same.\u00a0 The sun\u2019s rays cut through the trees as he reached the summit, yielding control and setting the pines afire.\u00a0 The sight of it was breathtaking.<\/p>\n Or would have been, if he hadn\u2019t been so afraid.<\/p>\n At first the man in black was surprised.\u00a0 There was no one there.\u00a0 Then a whimper made him spin around and suck in a breath.\u00a0 A second later he was stretched out to full length and looking down.<\/p>\n God was good.\u00a0 Little Joe was there.<\/p>\n Hanging on by a thread.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The sight of her was intoxicating \u2013 for one or two beats of his heart.\u00a0 Adah was a beautiful woman with deep chestnut hair, naturally golden skin, and a waist a man could span with both hands.\u00a0 Her hair was piled high on her head and held in place by a pair of gold combs dotted with rubies and pearls.\u00a0 She still wore her traveling dress; one made of a rich garnet taffeta with a tartan plaid overskirt.\u00a0 Her feathered hat lay on the table behind her, along with her velvet cloak.\u00a0 If he hadn\u2019t known her like he did, he would have mistaken her for a well-off woman.<\/p>\n But he\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0know her.<\/p>\n Adah had carried a sadness with her the year before when she arrived in Virginia City.\u00a0 He\u2019d thought it intriguing then.\u00a0 Now, that sadness had ripened into despair.\u00a0 Lines marred her heavenly face.\u00a0 They cradled her deep-set eyes and formed channels on either side of her painted lips.\u00a0 Adah had lost weight and not in a good way.\u00a0 She was gaunt.<\/p>\n In fact, she looked like a ghost.<\/p>\n The woman he\u2019d loved smiled.\u00a0 \u201cBen,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s good to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019d said it, but he doubted she meant it.<\/p>\n \u201cAdah.\u201d<\/p>\n The actress let out a little sigh.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m tired.\u00a0 It was a long ride from Placerville.\u00a0 Perhaps tomorrow\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I have to say will only take a minute.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cWill Regan be here tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n The lines on her forehead appeared.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t know?\u00a0 You\u2019re married to the man, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n Adah met his stare and then turned and moved into the room.\u00a0 \u201cCome in, Ben, since it seems you won\u2019t go away.\u201d<\/p>\n He closed the door behind him.\u00a0 By that time the actress had taken a seat on the settee that graced the room\u2019s eastern wall.\u00a0 Adah met his gaze, defiant, but only for a second.\u00a0 Then she lowered her head into her hands.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Ben\u2026.\u00a0 What have I done?\u201d<\/p>\n He went to her side.\u00a0 His urge was to kneel \u2013 to take her hand in his and comfort her \u2013 but he wouldn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n For Joe.<\/p>\n \u201cYou tell me,\u201d he said, somewhat sternly.<\/p>\n She glanced up at him.\u00a0 \u201cI thought\u2026I\u2019d hoped\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Adah leaned back.\u00a0 \u201cI was a fool.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor thinking a brute and a bully could be something other than what he is?\u201d<\/p>\n The actress winced.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t know John.\u00a0 He\u2019s \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe kind of a man who would kill a seventeen-year-old boy to take revenge on another man who had done nothing to him; nothing but offer the woman he loved a better chance at life.\u201d<\/p>\n She leaned her chin on her hand and looked toward the window.\u00a0 \u201cI told you, Ben.\u00a0 I don\u2019t deserve a chance at life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut Joseph did \u2013 and does.\u201d<\/p>\n She looked right at him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sure John doesn\u2019t intend to \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you?\u00a0 Are you\u00a0sure?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Ben walked to the window, drew the curtain aside, and looked out on the near empty street.\u00a0 \u201cAre you certain Regan is not coming back here to follow-up on the promise he made?\u201d<\/p>\n Adah rose and came to his side.\u00a0 \u201cWhat promise?\u201d<\/p>\n He faced her.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 Did John make you a promise before we left?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe promise was made to my son.\u00a0 Regan told Joseph that if he survived the beating, he would come back and kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n Her hand flew to her lips.\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u00a0 Ben.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure John spoke out of anger.\u201d<\/p>\n He fought to rein in his own fury.\u00a0 \u201cUnlike other bullies, John C. Regan is a pugilist.\u00a0 His \u2018anger\u2019 is his weapon, and his weapon is his fists!\u00a0 He used those fists to batter and bruise and break my boy until Joseph was terrified to leave his house \u2013 his room \u2013 to live his life!\u201d\u00a0 The rancher gripped her arm.\u00a0 \u201cDo you know how long it took the boy to get over it?\u00a0 Do you?!\u00a0 I\u2019m not certain Little Joe is over it even now.\u00a0 Regan\u2026broke him.\u201d\u00a0 Ben choked.\u00a0 \u201cAny man who would do that to a boy on the cusp of manhood deserves to rot in\u00a0Hell!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Adah pressed her head into his chest.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re right, Ben.\u00a0 You\u2019re\u00a0right.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>And I deserve to rot there alongside him!\u201d<\/p>\n The feel of her heart pounding against his own and the honest tears that wet his shirt took the edge off of his righteous anger.\u00a0 Ben hesitated, and then placed his hand on the actress\u2019 silken hair.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Adah.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, yes, you did.\u201d\u00a0 Her voice was muffled against his shirt.\u00a0 \u201cAnd you were right to.\u00a0 John C. Regan is a brute and a bully and\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you love him.\u201d<\/p>\n She sobbed audibly.\u00a0 \u201cGod help me!\u00a0 I do.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben took Adah\u2019s hand and drew her over to the bed and sat beside her.\u00a0 He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and used it to dab the tears from her cheeks before handing it to her.\u00a0 After she had blown her nose and quieted a bit, he spoke.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy, Adah?\u00a0 Do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n She shook her head and then, seeking permission with her eyes, leaned into him.\u00a0 \u201cWhen\u2026when he wants to be, John can be charming and debonair.\u201d\u00a0 Her lips curled slightly.\u00a0 \u201cHe knows how to show a girl the town.\u00a0 He\u2019s strong and able.\u00a0 He protects me.\u00a0 He\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNeeds you like I don\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n That took her aback, but then she nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes, he needs me.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben refused the handkerchief when she offered it back.\u00a0 He took his thumb and wiped away another tear.<\/p>\n \u201cAdah, I wish I had words to give you that would make you see yourself as I do.\u00a0 You are a beautiful and talented woman.\u00a0 You have so much to give.\u201d\u00a0 Ben leaned back.\u00a0 \u201cBut there is a difference between accepting that gift and\u00a0needing\u00a0<\/em>it.\u00a0 John C. Regan\u2019s only way to fill his \u2018need\u2019 is to suck dry the well of your happiness and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n She straightened up.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re wrong, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat well went dry many years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe?\u00a0 Joe!\u00a0 Hang on!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam was reaching down as far as he could.\u00a0 With the light gone, he could barely see his brother.\u00a0 Little Joe was about ten feet down.\u00a0 The only thing that was holding his brother in place was Joe\u2019s fingers.\u00a0 The kid had them entwined in the roots of a tree that stuck out from the side of the crumbling hill.<\/p>\n His own position was, to say the least, precarious.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam!\u00a0 Forget\u2026it!\u201d Joe called out, his tone losing its desperation and passing into acceptance.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re\u2026gonna fall\u2026too.\u00a0 Let me\u2026go.\u201d<\/p>\n The man in black shifted his gaze to the stream some thirty feet below as he stretched out even farther and felt the ground shift beneath him.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle brother, I made Marie a promise when you were born.\u201d\u00a0 His fingertips brushed his brother\u2019s.\u00a0 \u201cI won\u2019t\u00a0ever<\/em>\u00a0let you go!\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s face was hidden, but his eyes shone with tears.\u00a0 \u201cAdam\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShut up!\u00a0 And that\u2019s an order!\u201d\u00a0 Adam shinnied forward a bit more until he felt Joe\u2019s hand within his grasp.\u00a0 \u201cFor once, do what you\u2019re told!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, I\u2026.!\u201d<\/p>\n He held his breath as part of the ridge jutting out over the stream crumbled away; pebbles and dirt tumbling toward the water below.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you anchor your feet on anything to help me?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe\u2026the tree?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStick the toe of your boot in the roots.\u00a0 Anchor yourself.\u00a0 Do it, Joe!\u201d<\/p>\n There was a moment of silence.\u00a0 \u201cGot\u2026it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, see if you can reach up and take hold of my arm.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe did as he was told.\u00a0 It was a good thing too because the moment he felt his brother\u2019s touch, more of the ridge gave way.<\/p>\n \u201cUse both hands!\u201d he yelled.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c<\/em>No back-talk.\u00a0\u00a0Do it now!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Ten fingers wrapped around his wrist like a vise.\u00a0 There was a horrible moment when Adam had to take on Joe\u2019s whole weight and he thought he was going to drop the kid \u2013 but it was over in a flash and they both were lying on the sopping wet ground.\u00a0 An ominous rumble warned him that they needed to move and so, exhausted as he was, he took hold of his baby brother\u2019s thin frame and tossed him \u2013 and then scrambled after him just as the edge of the ridge gave way and tumbled down in a steady stream of rock and dirt to the water below.<\/p>\n It took several minutes before he found the wind to ask, \u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe was silent a second too long.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow\u00a0<\/em>fine?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m alive, aren\u2019t I?\u201d his brother snapped.<\/p>\n It was pointless.\u00a0 Once they got to the cabin he\u2019d check him out.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you walk?\u201d Adam asked as he climbed shakily to his feet.<\/p>\n Joe deflected, as usual.\u00a0 \u201cAren\u2019t you gonna ask how I ended up down there?\u201d<\/p>\n He put his hands on his hips.\u00a0 \u201cLook, Joe, I can ask you here or I can ask you at the line shack where there\u2019s food and a fire.\u00a0 Now, answer me.\u00a0 Can you walk?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can walk,\u201d his brother replied \u2013 just before he sucked in air like a drowning man and groaned.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI stood up.\u00a0 What do you think I did?!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n His brother sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know whether I should kick or kiss that tree.\u00a0 It kept me from falling but, well, I scraped my leg good on it on the way down.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs that all?\u00a0 You \u2018scraped\u2019 it?\u201d<\/p>\n His brother gulped audibly.\u00a0 \u201cI think that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam reached out blindly, moving forward until he encountered his brother\u2019s form.\u00a0 Joe was trembling like a sapling in a Nor\u2019easter.<\/p>\n Good Lord!\u00a0 Now what?<\/p>\n With a sigh, he lifted the kid\u2019s arm and draped it over his shoulder.<\/p>\n \u201cHey!\u00a0 I said I can walk!\u00a0 I don\u2019t need \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, you do!\u201d Adam snapped.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m tired and hungry and you\u2019re going to do what you\u2019re told until we reach the shack \u2013\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0after.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf I don\u2019t what?\u201d<\/p>\n A sly smile curled his lips.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll see just how dull a boy Jack is!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THREE<\/p>\n Hoss Cartwright occupied a chair in the saloon across from the Palace Theatre.\u00a0 The hustle and bustle that filled the establishment earlier had faded with the sun.\u00a0 When all the gals was swishin\u2019 their skirts and smilin\u2019 pretty, the piano playin\u2019, and the drinks and cards flyin\u2019 fast and free, it seemed a right happy place.<\/p>\n Now it was sad and sorry.<\/p>\n The big man turned his beer glass with his fingers.\u00a0 He\u2019d drunk about half and then lost his thirst.\u00a0 As he sat there starin\u2019 at the batwing doors and waitin\u2019 for his pa to appear, he couldn\u2019t help but remember the commotion that had filled this very room nigh onto a year before.\u00a0 He\u2019d been tossin\u2019 back a second drink when Little Joe came bustin\u2019 in fit as a rogue calf waitin\u2019 to be tied.\u00a0 Joe\u2019d got into a lot of fights in just over seventeen years.\u00a0 Some with good reason, like when some no-good low-down snake said somethin\u2019 bad about his mama.\u00a0 Maybe that was why little brother was so all-fired up about Miss Menken, her being from New Orleans and all.\u00a0 He\u2019d laughed at Joe, of course, and thought he was right cute <\/em>for poppin\u2019 him on the chin.<\/p>\n Hoss took a swig of warm beer as he shuddered with the memory.\u00a0 When he found Little Joe in that alley, he sure enough thought baby brother was dead.<\/p>\n Little Joe\u2019d lived, no thanks to Mister John C. Regan, and no thanks to that there actress neither.\u00a0 Hoss blew out a bit of foam as he leaned back in his chair.\u00a0 No thanks to him<\/em> neither!\u00a0 He\u2019d taken that prizefighter on and near gone down himself.\u00a0\u00a0 It was brother Adam \u2013 Hoss snorted, \u2018sneaky<\/em>\u2019 brother Adam \u2013 who saved the day by tellin\u2019 him to forget fightin\u2019 him and squeeze that there bully like a sack of grain.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want another one, Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n The big man looked up to find the bartender, Sam, standin\u2019 by him with a couple of mugs of beer in hand.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d he said, shoving the near empty-glass away.\u00a0 \u201cBut make it a whiskey this time.\u201d<\/p>\n The barkeep\u2019s black brows edged toward his graying hair, but he said nothing.\u00a0 A minute later Sam reappeared and placed a shot glass in front of him.\u00a0 Hoss eyed it like it was a rattlesnake and then downed the fiery liquid in one gulp.<\/p>\n \u201cMy heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains my sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,\u201d a quiet voice said.<\/p>\n Hoss looked up to find his father standing beside him.\u00a0 He favored the older man with a half-hearted smile.\u00a0 \u201cFor a minute there, I thought older brother was back.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa took a seat.\u00a0 He indicated the empty glass.\u00a0 \u201cWhiskey?\u201d<\/p>\n The big man pursed his lips and nodded.<\/p>\n His father turned toward the front and caught Sam\u2019s eye.\u00a0 He held up two fingers. The barkeep arrived a minute later with two glasses \u2013 a full one for Pa and another half-full for him.<\/p>\n \u201cFigured you might need this, Ben,\u201d Sam said.<\/p>\n He would know.\u00a0 The saloon owner would have heard that Adah was back in town and, of all people, he\u2019d know the painful memories that came with her.<\/p>\n Sam loved Little Joe too.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks,\u201d Pa said.<\/p>\n \u201cSaloon\u2019s open \u2018til two.\u201d<\/p>\n The older man nodded as the barkeep walked away.\u00a0 Pa sipped his whiskey and then let out a sigh.<\/p>\n \u201cTo women?\u201d Hoss asked as he raised his glass.<\/p>\n Pa chuckled as his met it.\u00a0 \u201cTo women.\u201d<\/p>\n They fell silent after that, each lost in his own thoughts.\u00a0 Finally Hoss mustered up enough courage to ask.<\/p>\n \u201cHow\u2019d it go with Miss Menken?\u201d<\/p>\n His father shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cAs expected.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe still defending Regan?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa looked at him.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStill loving <\/em>him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGoldarnit<\/em>, Pa!\u201d\u00a0 He banged his hand on the table so hard his empty glass jumped.\u00a0 \u201cHow can she after what that monster <\/em>done to Little Joe?\u00a0 How can she even stand to look at him?\u201d<\/p>\n The older man shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not sure your brother understood what I meant that night when I said there were \u2018many kinds of love\u2019.\u00a0 Not all of them are wholesome or healthy.\u00a0 Adah fears being hurt, Hoss, so she chooses a man she cannot trust \u2013 knowing<\/em> he will hurt her.\u00a0 It\u2019s too much to think of loving a man she believes in.\u00a0 Because of all she has suffered, she believes such a man will ultimately betray her and that<\/em> kind of wound she cannot survive.\u201d<\/p>\n He scratched his head and admitted, \u201cI ain\u2019t sure I understand that, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNeither am I,\u201d his father replied as he stood up.<\/p>\n Hoss followed.\u00a0 \u201cYou plannin\u2019 on headin\u2019 home?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 I rented two rooms for us at the hotel.\u00a0 It\u2019s too late to travel.\u00a0 The weather is shifting.\u00a0 It began to sleet as I walked over here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSleet?\u201d\u00a0 The big man\u2019s gaze went involuntarily to the batwing doors and beyond them to the northern land his brothers inhabited.\u00a0 \u201cYou think Adam and Little Joe is gonna be all right?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure they will be.\u00a0 There are at least two line shacks within a day\u2019s ride of the house.\u00a0 I imagine they\u2019ve taken shelter in one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t think they\u2019d head back home, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 Adam knows what is at stake.\u00a0 He\u2019ll find a way to keep your younger brother out of town and<\/em> out of harm\u2019s way \u2013 in spite of the weather.\u201d\u00a0 Pa\u2019s black brows peaked.\u00a0 \u201cAt least until Regan and his exhibition have come and gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss beamed.\u00a0 \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Adam can be right sneaky when he has a mind to.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cI wonder where older brother gets that from?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa dropped an arm around his shoulder and gave him his best innocent look.<\/p>\n \u201cI was<\/em> warned about Elizabeth\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He needed to take his brother home.<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t take his brother home.<\/p>\n Damn! <\/em><\/p>\n Adam plopped down on the floor of the shack where he\u2019d laid his bedding.\u00a0 He was bone-weary.\u00a0 Due to the shift in the weather the trip from the ridge had taken twice as long as usual, and the two of them had been thoroughly soaked by the time they arrived.\u00a0 Little Joe, of course, had been wearing nothing but his thin shirt and pants.\u00a0 It was unclear as they made their way slowly through the woods whether Joe\u2019s shivers came from that<\/em> or from the fright he had taken.<\/p>\n The kid could have died.<\/p>\n Sudden death was to be expected in the West.\u00a0 He\u2019d learned that as a young man \u2013 no, as a boy really.\u00a0 One of the greatest scourges of the westward journey had been cholera.\u00a0 They\u2019d held a celebration one night, marking an important victory in their trip.\u00a0 Most of the company drank coffee, but a few had consumed an herbal tea.<\/p>\n All of the tea-drinkers were dead by the following night.<\/p>\n Life was brilliant but brutal here.\u00a0 There was nothing like the scent of pine and wood-smoke, the vast and unending mountain ranges, the blue skies, and the almost Elysian beauty of both sunrise and sunset.\u00a0 It was magnificent.\u00a0 Beautiful.\u00a0 Such beauty, though, commanded a high price.\u00a0 All it took was one misstep.\u00a0 One mistake.<\/p>\n He glanced at his brother where he lay on the shack\u2019s cot.<\/p>\n Or one injury.<\/p>\n Considering Little Joe could easily have died, the teenager had come out of the whole thing relatively unscathed.\u00a0 Little brother had chosen to do the same thing he\u2019d<\/em> done as a kid \u2013 stand on the edge of the ridge and stare out at that magnificent view \u2013 when suddenly the edge gave way and sent him plummeting toward the stream below.\u00a0 Joe\u2019d managed to swivel \u2013 the kid was agile as a mountain cat \u2013 and catch hold of the tree roots that were jutting out of the cliff-face, saving himself from a messy death.<\/p>\n The trouble came on the way down.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the tree roots were old and nearly petrified.\u00a0 Little Joe\u2019s lower leg encountered one that sliced through the fabric of his pants \u2013 and his skin \u2013 easy as a knife through warm butter.\u00a0 The cascade of dirt that followed peppered debris into the open wound.\u00a0 Adam ran a hand through his hair and leaned his head back against the wall.\u00a0 He\u2019d done his best to clean the cut out.\u00a0 Maybe even done it well enough.\u00a0 So far \u2013 at least \u2013 little brother had no fever.\u00a0 The man in black glanced at his brother again.\u00a0 After suffering the agony of having half of the shack\u2019s store of alcohol poured into the wound, the exhausted teen had curled up into a ball and fallen into a deep sleep.<\/p>\n Adam let out a sigh as he straightened up.\u00a0 He had a decision to make \u2013 one that was nearly as profound as Hamlet\u2019s query about whether to live or make his quietus with a bare bodkin.<\/p>\n To go home or not<\/em> to go home.<\/p>\n Aye, there was the rub.<\/p>\n Little Joe said he was fine.\u00a0 Of course, the kid always<\/em> said he was fine.\u00a0 If little brother was able to help finish the work here tomorrow, the next shack was only a day away.\u00a0 That would put them barely more than two days away from the house should anything\u2026happen.\u00a0 Surely, he would note any sign of his brother\u2019s condition worsening.\u00a0 Joe couldn\u2019t hide a rising fever or debilitating weakness.\u00a0 Still, the idea of heading further out bothered him.\u00a0 He could be putting his little brother\u2019s life at risk just as much as if he\u2019d left him hanging on the edge of that cliff.<\/p>\n Or let him go to town to face John C. Regan.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n He started.\u00a0 He\u2019d thought his brother was asleep.\u00a0 \u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat for?\u201d<\/p>\n There was a pause.\u00a0 \u201cFor being the little kid who always needs to be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it, Joe.\u00a0 We all need saved from time to time.\u00a0 I take it you didn\u2019t deliberately jump over the edge of that cliff and drag your leg across a rock-hard root.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you think I am?\u00a0 Stupid?\u201d<\/p>\n He sighed.\u00a0 The kid could turn anything<\/em> around.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I don\u2019t think you\u2019re stupid.\u201d\u00a0 Accident-prone, maybe, but not stupid.\u00a0 \u201cIt could happen to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, but it didn\u2019t.\u00a0 It happened to me<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 His brother\u2019s voice cracked.\u00a0 \u201cIt always<\/em> happens to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam thought a moment before replying.\u00a0 \u201cCan I tell you a story?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe stirred.\u00a0 He thought maybe the kid sat up.\u00a0 They\u2019d put out the lamp so it was hard to tell.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was, I don\u2019t know, somewhere in my early teens.\u00a0 Pa wanted to look at a plot of land that was for sale.\u00a0 We rode out together to see it.\u00a0 The man who owned it had come west to find his fortune, but gave up and went back East.\u201d\u00a0 Adam shifted so his dicey back was braced better.\u00a0 \u201cWe decided to stay overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo you camped out?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSort of.\u00a0 There was a shack on the property, kind of like this one.\u00a0 A storm had taken part of the roof off and it was open to the sky, but it sheltered us from the wind.\u00a0 Pa told me before we went to sleep to stay put.\u201d<\/p>\n Something in his voice must have alerted his brother.\u00a0 \u201cBut you didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNope.\u00a0 I woke up midway through the night and needed to take a piss.\u00a0 That was all right.\u00a0 What I did next wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhich was?\u201d<\/p>\n He grinned at the memory.\u00a0 \u201cI went exploring.\u00a0 Before we left, one of the men told me there was silver on that land.\u00a0 So I went looking for it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI take it, it didn\u2019t go well?\u201d Joe asked, his tone brighter.<\/p>\n \u201cHardly.\u00a0 I failed to see the rotten boards covering the top of an old well.\u00a0 I stepped on them and went right through.\u00a0 My leg broke when I hit bottom.\u201d\u00a0 He frowned.\u00a0 \u201cIt took Pa a couple of hours to get me out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOlder brother, you make me feel like a genius!\u201d Joe giggled.\u00a0 \u201cI stopped wandering away and fallin\u2019 into wells before I was ten!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam masked the smile in his voice.\u00a0 \u201cThe point is, Joe, you didn\u2019t intend <\/em>to fall over that ridge any more than I intended to end up at the bottom of that well.\u00a0 It just happened.\u00a0 So stop kicking yourself and get some sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid Pa kick you?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n The man in black slid down into his bedding.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the way back to the Ponderosa.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben wasn\u2019t sure what time it was when he woke up.\u00a0 He went to the window and pulled back the curtain so he could look out on the scene below.\u00a0 It was then he realized the sun was<\/em> up, but was veiled by a thick gray haze.\u00a0 A glance at the building next door told the story as the rail out front glistened like the hard-worked forehead of morning.\u00a0 Sleet.\u00a0 Or ice.\u00a0 Neither was welcome.\u00a0 Either would make the journey home difficult.\u00a0 The rancher turned and headed for the stand by the bed.\u00a0 He\u2019d slept in his clothes, shedding only his belt and shoes.\u00a0 He imagined Hoss had done the same.\u00a0 Just as he imagined the big man was already up and moving as he was.\u00a0 The life of a rancher rarely afforded a man the luxury of malingering in bed.\u00a0 Not unless he was sick.\u00a0 The older man chuckled<\/p>\n Or named Joseph Francis Cartwright.<\/p>\n As he pulled on his belt and buckled it, Ben\u2019s thoughts flew to his missing sons.\u00a0 A line shack provided shelter, but very few creature comforts.\u00a0 It would have been a cold night for them.\u00a0 Still, while both Adam and Joe enjoyed the comfortable home he had made for them, they were young and also enjoyed roughing it.<\/p>\n \u201cNot so this<\/em> old man,\u201d Ben muttered as he tied his tie.<\/p>\n The expected knock on the door came a second later.\u00a0 \u201cPa?\u00a0 You up?\u201d<\/p>\n There was something in his son\u2019s tone.\u00a0 \u201cHoss?\u201d he asked as he opened it.\u00a0 \u201cIs something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n Rage was written into every line of Hoss\u2019 massive frame.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could say so, Pa,\u201d he growled.\u00a0 \u201cJohn C. Regan\u2019s in the dining room.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It took Ben ten minutes to arrive.\u00a0 He\u2019d had to restrain Hoss and, in the end, sent his son to the livery to fetch their horses to keep him out of harm\u2019s way.\u00a0 Before doing anything else, he stopped at the front desk and asked the clerk about Regan.\u00a0 The man said the pugilist and his entourage had pulled in sometime after midnight.\u00a0 The rancher steeled himself as he approached the dining room.\u00a0 John C. Regan had a big voice and an even bigger ego.\u00a0 The prize fighter was holding court, regaling the hapless hotel guests with tales of his prowess and power.\u00a0 Ben drew a deep breath and let it out.\u00a0 Then he took another.<\/p>\n Then<\/em> he showed himself in the archway.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy don\u2019t you tell these good people about your greatest victory?\u201d Ben suggested, pitching his voice so all could hear.\u00a0 \u2018About how, just under a year ago \u2013 in this fair city \u2013 you accosted and nearly beat to death a defenseless teenager!\u201d<\/p>\n John Regan was an enormous man.\u00a0 He stood six-feet-seven and weighed nearly three hundred pounds.\u00a0 Regan had a face only a mother could love.\u00a0 Due to his vocation, the flesh had been pounded and punished and pushed in a dozen directions until it resembled a lump of dough.\u00a0 Set directly in the middle of that misshapen mass were a pair of narrow, nut-brown eyes.\u00a0 The bully hadn\u2019t even bothered to remove his hat before dining.\u00a0 It sat on his head, pushed back at a jaunty angle, and spoke loudly of the kind of man he was.<\/p>\n Bold, brassy, brazen, and brutal.<\/p>\n The prizefighter pushed his chair back and rose to his feet with unnecessary noise.\u00a0 \u201cWell, now, if it isn\u2019t Ben Cartwright.\u201d\u00a0 Regan indicated the empty chair next to him.\u00a0 \u201cCare to join me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly,\u201d he said, taking satisfaction in seeing surprise register on the other man\u2019s face.\u00a0 As he approached, the rancher noted how the other patrons began to move away.\u00a0 He had pushed back his coat and made it abundantly clear that he was wearing a gun.<\/p>\n Sadly, Regan wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n The pugilist recovered quickly.\u00a0 He shoved the extra chair away from the table with his foot before plunking his considerable bulk in its mate.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just having breakfast,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cMolly, bring Mr. Cartwright whatever he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMolly won\u2019t have what I want,\u201d Ben said as he took his seat.<\/p>\n Regan\u2019s brows popped up.\u00a0 \u201cOh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think the dining room has justice<\/em> on its menu.\u201d<\/p>\n The bully picked up his napkin and tucked it under his chin.\u00a0 \u201cJustice?\u201d he repeated as he jammed a bit of meat into his mouth \u2013 again, with unnecessary force.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know what story that kid<\/em> of yours told you, but he was asking for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s fingers gripped the table\u2019s edge.\u00a0 \u201cWould you care to explain yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, I know boys will be boys,\u201d Regan drawled, \u201cbut that young one of yours?\u00a0 Who-ee!\u00a0 I caught him in Adah\u2019s room.\u00a0 He tried to take advantage of her.\u201d\u00a0 The pugilist popped another bit of beef into his mouth and began to chew.\u00a0 \u201cJust ask her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdah said nothing of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWomen,\u201d he snorted.\u00a0 \u201cProbably found it flattering.\u201d\u00a0 The bully swallowed and then washed the beef down with a swig from his glass.\u00a0 \u201cWhat was I supposed to do?\u00a0 I had to defend her honor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy nearly killing <\/em>a seventeen-year-old boy?\u201d<\/p>\n Regan leaned in close and lowered his voice.\u00a0 \u201cSeven or seventeen, Ben,\u201d he said with a wink, \u201cany man knows how to open the gate and bring the ship snugly into harbor.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher shook his head as Molly attempted to put a plate of steaming food in front of him.<\/p>\n He thought he might vomit.<\/p>\n \u201cYou, are as pathetic an excuse for a human being as I have ever encountered,\u201d Ben snarled.<\/p>\n John Regan\u2019s gaze went to the weapon on his hip.\u00a0 \u201cYou gonna shoot me?\u00a0 An unarmed man?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben was on his feet before he knew it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a gun.\u00a0 Go get it.\u201d<\/p>\n The brute rose as well.\u00a0 He laid his napkin down and raised his fists.\u00a0 \u201cHow about we try it my<\/em> way, cowboy?\u201d<\/p>\n As Ben released the strap on his holster, he called out to the concierge.\u00a0 \u201cYou can place the cost of any damages on my bill.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow about reimbursing the city for a day and night in jail?\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher pivoted on his heel.\u00a0 His temper flared when he saw Roy Coffee step into the dining room.<\/p>\n It flared even higher when Hoss followed.<\/p>\n \u201cHow dare you?!\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n Hoss was eyeing Regan like he was a cougar crouched to kill.\u00a0 \u201cPa, this ain\u2019t the way.\u00a0 You said so yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy nodded.\u00a0 \u201cNow, Ben, you just come away from that table nice and easy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have no right<\/em> to stop two men from settling their differences with their fists.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy pulled at his whiskers.\u00a0 \u201cWell now, Ben, I hate to tell you, but you\u2019re wrong.\u00a0 Seems the city\u2019s got an ordinance \u2013 fact is, I think you helped to draft it \u2013 says no violence will be tolerated in public places.\u201d<\/p>\n He eyed Regan who was eyeing him back \u2013 and<\/em> sneering.<\/p>\n \u201cThen we\u2019ll take it into the street.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t do that either, Ben.\u00a0 That\u2019d be public brawlin\u2019 and I\u2019d be forced to arrest you and Mr. Regan here.\u201d<\/p>\n The pugilist snorted.\u00a0 He looked at Roy with disdain.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d like to see you try.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy scratched his head.\u00a0 \u201cWell, sir, I\u2019m sure you could overpower me and probably two or three of my deputies at one time.\u00a0 That\u2019d be all right.\u00a0 I\u2019d just take my black eye and sore back over to the office and serve a warrant on that there show of yours and shut it down.\u201d\u00a0 The sheriff paused.\u00a0 \u201cCourse, I\u2019d have to confiscate the box office take and all that money that\u2019s been laid down on whether you or that English feller wins.\u00a0 Seems like that might amount to a couple thousand dollars.\u00a0 I imagine that\u2019d be enough to give the office a nice re-do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t dare!\u201d<\/p>\n Roy drew his gun and pointed it at the prize fighter.\u00a0 \u201cJust you try me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStay out of this, Roy,\u201d Ben warned.<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t do that, Ben.\u00a0 It\u2019s my job to uphold the law.\u201d\u00a0 The sheriff came close and laid a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cAnd to keep someone I love and respect from bein\u2019 bull-headed and dab-blamed foolish enough to get himself killed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa,\u201d Hoss said, \u201che\u2019ll kill ya.\u00a0 Plain and simple.\u00a0 You gotta think of Joe.\u00a0 He\u2019s just a little feller. He needs you.\u00a0 We all <\/em>need you.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, the horror of what had happened the year before shuddered through Ben.\u00a0 He was five-feet-eleven and two-hundred and fifty pounds.\u00a0 Hoss was six-foot-four and over three hundred.\u00a0 Joseph weighed in on the shy side of one forty and was barely five-foot-nine.<\/p>\n It was only by the grace of God that his youngest still walked the earth.<\/p>\n Ben drew a deep breath, pulled his hand away from his gun, and turned and headed for the door.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t over, Cartwright,\u201d John C. Regan called after him. \u201cI haven\u2019t forgotten \u2013 or forgiven \u2013 what you did to me.\u00a0 You and<\/em> your sons.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs that a threat?\u201d Roy asked.<\/p>\n The pugilist sneered.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sheriff, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a promise.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re certain <\/em>you\u2019re all right?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe Cartwright rolled his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI swear, Adam, you\u2019re as much of a mother hen as Pa and Hop Sing!\u00a0 You took a look at my leg this morning.\u00a0 You said it looked good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI said it didn\u2019t look bad.\u00a0 There\u2019s a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam was back on the shack\u2019s roof.\u00a0 They\u2019d risen early and removed the old one without too much difficulty and spent the better part of the morning shoring up the walls before replacing it.\u00a0 Fortunately, there\u2019d been enough wood lying around that they didn\u2019t have to cut any.\u00a0 Since the shack would be sound and the privy was usable, they\u2019d decided to forgo repairing the shed until their return trip.\u00a0 There were still a lot of shacks to go and the weather wasn\u2019t looking too pretty.\u00a0 There had been more sleet overnight.\u00a0 In fact, Joe was surprised older brother hadn\u2019t thrown in the towel and headed for home.\u00a0 After all, he<\/em> was just a kid and would probably be stupid enough to go out in the snow to pee and then decide he was some kind of explorer and go looking for silver or something, but Adam?<\/p>\n Joe snorted and then he sneezed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat was that?\u201d<\/p>\n He winced.\u00a0 \u201cGot somethin\u2019 in my nose.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike a cold?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t got a cold and I haven\u2019t got much patience either!\u00a0 You gonna take this beam and finish that roof or make me stand here so long I take root?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam caught the other end and took it from him.\u00a0 His brother stared at him a moment before returning to work.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam scowled. \u201cWhat \u2018what\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you looking at me like that for?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo now I\u2019m not allowed to look at my brother?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot like that!\u201d<\/em> he snapped.<\/p>\n \u201cLike how?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike there\u2019s something wrong with me.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam laughed as he hammered in a pair of nails.\u00a0 \u201cShows what you know.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe waited a few seconds.\u00a0 \u201cWell, are you gonna tell me or not?\u201d<\/p>\n His brother halted what he was doing and then put the hammer down and turned toward him.\u00a0 \u201cYou want the truth, I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam slid so his feet were dangling off the shack\u2019s roof.\u00a0 \u201cI intended to bring Hoss with me on this trip.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe felt deflated.\u00a0 \u201cSo, I was<\/em> second choice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t take it wrong, Joe.\u00a0 Hoss is, well\u2026\u00a0 You have to admit he could have moved this whole building back onto its foundation by himself in less than a minute.\u00a0 When I travel the line, he\u2019s a great help.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019m not?\u201d he squeaked.<\/p>\n His brother slid off the roof and came to his side.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I was looking at you, I was thinking the exact opposite.<\/em>\u00a0 I would have missed something special if you hadn\u2019t come along.\u00a0 I\u2019ve enjoyed the time we\u2019ve spent together immensely.\u201d\u00a0 Adam grinned.\u00a0 \u201cWith the exception of the little detour over the edge of the ridge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo what you\u2019re saying is that what I lack in size I more than make up in enthusiasm?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Adam laughed as he placed a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 All too quickly, the smile on his face was replaced with a frown.\u00a0 \u201cJoe\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n He stepped back, shaking off his brother\u2019s hand, but Adam was not to be put off.\u00a0 Older brother followed him and this time that hand landed on his forehead.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got a fever.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe wrinkled his nose.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s only a little one.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam puffed out a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I knew you\u2019d make a big thing out of it like you are!\u201d\u00a0 Joe threw his hands in the air.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m fine!\u201d<\/p>\n Older brother continued to stare at him for several heartbeats before he nodded.\u00a0 \u201cOkay.\u00a0 Just let me know if it goes any higher.\u201d<\/p>\n And with that, he returned to the roof.<\/p>\n Joe stood there, mouth agape.\u00a0 Not only was he stunned, but he was something else<\/em> for the first time since he and Adam had ridden away from the ranch.<\/p>\n Suspicious.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n FOUR<\/p>\n There was a knock on the door.\u00a0 Adah left what she was doing and went to answer it.\u00a0 A small part of her hoped Ben Cartwright had returned.\u00a0 He was the best man she knew \u2013 kind, generous, gentle, and loving.\u00a0 Life to him was a gift, a blessed thing; something to cherish and nurture.\u00a0 That was the reason she\u2019d turned him down when he proposed.\u00a0 Isaac Menken had been such a man.\u00a0 They\u2019d been happy for a time, but then the discontentment \u2013 the longing and need<\/em> for something more \u2013 had risen up within her and spewed forth, black as bile, poisoning everything they had. \u00a0Isaac asked for a divorce.\u00a0 She gave it to him.<\/p>\n She had to admit the prison she lived in was of her own devising.\u00a0 It was her personal and private hell.\u00a0 There was enough goodness left within her that she would not condemn another to it, not unless they deserved it.<\/p>\n Like the man waiting outside the door.<\/p>\n She\u2019d seen his carriage roll into town and stop beneath her window.\u00a0 She knew the large dark shadow that disembarked as well as she knew herself, and knew as well that she didn\u2019t have the power to resist him.<\/p>\n Adah drew a breath and turned the knob.<\/p>\n \u201cJohn,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n When she said nothing more, he pushed past her.\u00a0 Without pause, the mountain of a man made his way to the decanter of expensive champagne that sat on the hotel\u2019s table and poured himself a glass.\u00a0 After he tossed it back, he indicated the bottle with a nod.<\/p>\n \u201cCartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n She shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s from the management of the theater.\u201d<\/p>\n John dropped into the chair beside the table and reached for the bottle again.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019ve got taste.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou would know,\u201d she said, her tone curt. \u00a0\u201cAfter all you\u2019ve been wined and dined by the finest in the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou could have been there with me, Adah.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know why I didn\u2019t go! \u00a0Why I couldn\u2019t!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He pretended to look around.\u00a0 \u201cYou have the brat hidden somewhere?\u201d<\/p>\n Adah sobbed.\u00a0 Her hand went to her now empty womb.\u00a0 The silence there echoed the despair in her heart.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t be cruel.\u00a0 You know.\u00a0 Your child\u2026our<\/em> child is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n John put the bottle down and rose to his feet.\u00a0 Once he reached her side, he stopped; his shadow covering her like a blight.<\/p>\n \u201cGet this straight.\u201d\u00a0 His words were meant to hurt.\u00a0 \u201cYou and I were never <\/em>married.\u00a0 If you had some man\u2019s brat, it sure as Hell wasn\u2019t mine!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have the papers to prove we\u2019re married!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose papers mean nothing.\u00a0 Even if there was a ceremony, it wasn\u2019t legal\u201d\u00a0 His finger shot out and punched her in the shoulder.\u00a0 The contact was painful.\u00a0 \u201cYou lied to me.\u00a0 You were still married to Menken.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI did not!\u00a0 Isaac and I were divorced\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy a rabbi?\u201d\u00a0 He sneered.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t tell me you were gullible <\/em>enough to believe a Rabbinic divorce would hold up in a Christian <\/em>court.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are <\/em>married!\u201d she shouted as she took hold of his vest.\u00a0 \u201cJohn , we are!\u00a0 Our child was legitimate!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour child was a bastard, fathered by some fool <\/em>stupid enough to believe he loved you.\u201d\u00a0 He caught her by the throat.\u00a0 \u201cSome fool stupid enough to think you know what love is.\u00a0 Face it, Adah.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about you.\u00a0 It\u2019s always been<\/em> about you.\u00a0 There\u2019s no room in your heart for anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re wrong!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAm I?\u201d\u00a0 He pulled her close.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about Ben Cartwright?\u00a0 You could have had him and <\/em>his money.\u00a0 Why\u2019d you turn him down?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2026was in love with you.\u00a0 I\u2019m not anymore.\u00a0 You\u2019re despicable!\u00a0 \u00a0Ben was here.\u00a0 He\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n John\u2019s grip tightened.\u00a0 \u201cI know he was here.\u00a0 He and I had\u2026words.\u201d\u00a0 He snarled.\u00a0 \u201cBen Cartwright will never look on you with anything but horror and disgust.\u00a0 I nearly killed his precious boy and you did nothing!<\/em>\u00a0 You were in my bed within the hour!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2026\u00a0 I\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 She sobbed.\u00a0 \u201cI was frightened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWere you?\u00a0 Or were you aroused by the violence \u2013 the power?\u201d\u00a0 John\u2019s grip tightened as he gazed into her eyes \u2013 before he released her and shoved her to the ground.\u00a0 \u201cFace it, Adah, you\u2019re worthless.\u00a0 Whoever\u2019s kid that was, it was lucky<\/em> it died.\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine you as a mother!\u00a0 You would have sucked it dry and spit it out before it turned two!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJohn, no\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n He stepped over her and went to the door.\u00a0 \u201cI came here to tell you that, just because I am riding your coattails, doesn\u2019t mean I want anything to do with you.\u00a0 You\u2019re all washed up, Adah.\u00a0 I know you had<\/em> to come out West because none of the reputable theaters in the East would have you, and that\u2019s saying a lot<\/em> considering the type of women who take to the stage.\u201d\u00a0 John paused with his hand on the knob.\u00a0 \u201cCome to think of it, you\u2019ll fit in here just fine here.\u00a0 I hear Virginia City has more whores than the Barbary Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n His words were a knife to her soul.\u00a0 Adah raised her hands above her head to ward them off.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a pathetic excuse for a human being you are.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t you just end it and put us all out of our misery?\u201d<\/p>\n With those words, her husband, her lover \u2013 her taunter and tormentor, was gone.<\/p>\n Adah lay where she had fallen as the sun passed its zenith and began its descent, heralding the end of another day of desolation and despair.\u00a0 Her fingers clutched the thick lush fibers of the Oriental carpet she lay upon.\u00a0 She used them to drag her weary body up and onto the settee.\u00a0 Beside it lay the leather-bound journal she used to record her thoughts.\u00a0 Her hand shook as she took up the pen and opened the journal and began to write.<\/p>\n Where is the promise of my years;<\/em><\/p>\n Once written on my brow?<\/em><\/p>\n Ere errors, agonies and fears<\/em><\/p>\n Brought with them all that speaks in tears,<\/em><\/p>\n Ere I had sunk beneath my peers;<\/em><\/p>\n Where sleeps that promise now?<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I can but own my life is vain<\/em><\/p>\n A desert void of peace;<\/em><\/p>\n I missed the goal I sought to gain,<\/em><\/p>\n I missed the measure of the strain<\/em><\/p>\n That lulls Fame\u2019s fever in the brain,<\/em><\/p>\n And bids Earth\u2019s tumult cease.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Myself! alas for theme so poor<\/em><\/p>\n A theme but rich in Fear;<\/em><\/p>\n I stand a wreck on Error\u2019s shore,<\/em><\/p>\n A spectre not within the door,<\/em><\/p>\n A houseless shadow evermore,<\/em><\/p>\n An exile lingering here.*<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The pen dropped. \u00a0Trembling, her hands went to her face.\u00a0 Adah drew in a long breath and then rose and went to her valise where it lay open on the bed.\u00a0 She set the lavish clothing aside and removed from its false bottom the casket that held her jewels.\u00a0 Beneath that casket was another smaller one.\u00a0 It held two things: a silver rattle that belonged to her dead son and an elegant cobalt blue tear catcher bottle over-laid with gold and dotted with pearls.\u00a0 Lotta Crabtree had given the bottle to her.\u00a0 The other woman understood.\u00a0 Tears were precious to the Lord God of Israel and between them they had shed enough to flood the river Jordon.<\/p>\n A river she would \u2013 sooner than later \u2013 have to cross.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cBack so soon?\u201d a husky voice asked.\u00a0 Hoss turned his head toward the bar where Sam occupied his usual spot.\u00a0 \u201cSeems funny seeing you without your brothers,\u201d the barkeep said.<\/p>\n The big man nodded.\u00a0 He felt<\/em> funny without his brothers \u2013 kind of like a part of him was missin\u2019.\u00a0 The saloon was fairly full, but it felt empty without them at his side.\u00a0 Most of the occupants were local.\u00a0 There were only a few he didn\u2019t recognize.<\/p>\n \u201cPa\u2019s havin\u2019 a \u2018talk\u2019 with Roy Coffee,\u201d he said as he took a seat at an empty table.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t tell me your father broke the law!\u201d<\/p>\n The big man leaned back.\u00a0 \u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou want a beer?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust a sarsaparilla.\u00a0 Thanks.\u00a0 I done had enough liquor for one visit to town.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss frowned as his stomach let off a long, loud growl.\u00a0 \u201cFact is, I\u2019m right hungry.\u00a0 I ain\u2019t et anythin\u2019 today.\u00a0 You got any vittles?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCheese and salami.\u00a0 If you give me a minute I might be able to rustle up some crackers to go with them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re a lifesaver, Sam!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat Pa of yours not feeding you?\u201d the older man asked as he began to hunt.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t really want to go into why they hadn\u2019t eaten at the hotel.\u00a0 \u201cYou know Pa.\u00a0 He\u2019s all about business.\u201d<\/p>\n The sound of the barkeep scrounging around was shortly followed by an \u2018aha\u2019!\u00a0 A minute later Sam came to the table with a big old hunk of cheddar, half a salami, and a bowl of crackers.<\/p>\n \u201cI keep \u2018em for the poker games, but you can have them. You look like you might just fade away from hunger.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI sure do feel like a ghost.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss patted his stomach.\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t gonna be anythin\u2019 left of me soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Sam laughed as he returned to the counter.\u00a0 He\u2019d been polishing glasses for several minutes before he asked, \u201cWhere are<\/em> those brothers of yours?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRiding line up north,\u201d the big man answered as he dug into the vittles.\u00a0 The cheese was sharp, just like he liked it, and the crackers some of Beth Riley\u2019s best.<\/p>\n \u201cMaking sure the shacks are stocked before winter, eh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYep.\u00a0 You know Pa.\u00a0 He wants them shacks fit as a fiddle and ready to go in case anyone needs them to hold up in durin\u2019 the cold weather.\u00a0 Us included!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t you usually go with Adam?\u00a0 Seems to me I remember Little Joe sitting here pouting about being left behind just about this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss laughed.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019d be little brother.\u00a0 Pa probably brought him to town to keep him out of trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow old is<\/em> Joe now?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019ll turn eighteen on the thirty-first.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll Hallows Eve, eh?\u201d\u00a0 Sam grinned.\u00a0 \u201cSomebody trying to send a message?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss snorted his sarsaparilla through his nose.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you let little brother hear you say that.\u00a0 He\u2019ll pop you in the nose.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike he did you a year back?\u201d<\/p>\n Something clutched his heart.\u00a0 Like a hand closing hard.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, Hoss.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean to bring back bad memories.\u201d\u00a0 Sam paused.\u00a0 \u201cI hear Regan\u2019s back in town.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou seen him?\u201d<\/p>\n The barkeep shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo, and he\u2019d better not darken my doorstep again.\u00a0 I don\u2019t serve bullies and would-be murderers.\u201d<\/p>\n Murder.\u00a0 That\u2019s what John C. Regan had tried to do to Little Joe.\u00a0 Kill him.\u00a0 And he\u2019d <\/em>stopped his father from taking revenge. \u00a0Twice.<\/p>\n It was the hardest thing he\u2019d ever done.<\/p>\n \u201cYou all right, Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI sure am.\u00a0 I just think, well, I better check on Pa.\u00a0 He was right upset this morning.\u00a0 Sheriff Roy took him over to the jail to cool off.\u201d<\/p>\n Sam\u2019s grizzled brows rose.\u00a0 \u201cOh?\u00a0 With or without a key?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss shrugged.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t rightly know.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou will let me out of here, and you will let me out of here now!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNow, Ben, I\u2019ll let you out of that there cell just as soon as you cool down.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher\u2019s fingers gripped the cell bars.\u00a0 \u201cI am not going to \u2018cool down\u2019 so long as I am unjustly incarcerated!\u201d<\/p>\n Roy pulled at his chin.\u00a0 \u201cWell, let\u2019s see.\u00a0 Threatening to do bodily harm to another man and pulling a weapon in a public place\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI did not pull my weapon in a public place!\u00a0 You<\/em> stopped me before I could!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell then, thinking <\/em>about pulling it!\u00a0 There\u2019s got to be a law against that somewhere in the books.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher leaned his head against the bars.\u00a0 \u201cLook, Roy, if I promise I won\u2019t tear John C. Regan limb from limb, will you unlock the door?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would, Ben, but I don\u2019t know as I can trust you.\u201d\u00a0 At his look Roy added, his tone grim. \u201cIt\u2019s just about all I can do to trust myself not to shoot the sorry bastard.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI may not have seen that boy of yours, but I saw that alley, Ben.\u00a0 There was so much blood in it, it looked like a pig had been stuck.\u201d\u00a0 The lawman swallowed.\u00a0 \u201cThe law\u2019s fair and just, but there are times it ain\u2019t right.\u00a0 Sad to say there\u2019s nothin\u2019 either of us can do, lessen Regan does somethin\u2019 stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike trying to kill Little Joe again?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHas he threatened to do that?\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher ran a hand through his thick white hair, forcing it back from his forehead.\u00a0 \u201cHe did, last year.\u00a0 Joseph told me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWould Little Joe make a statement and swear to that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe would if he was here, but he\u2019s not.\u00a0 I sent him away.\u201d\u00a0 Ben dropped onto the bed in the cell.\u00a0 \u201cHe and Adam are riding the line, checking the shacks.\u00a0 I wanted him nowhere near John C. Regan.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou afraid the boy will try to take that monster on by himself?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben snorted.\u00a0 \u201cI know<\/em> he will try to take him on.\u00a0 Joseph has never truly recovered from what happened before.\u00a0 It left him\u2026vulnerable in so many ways.\u00a0 Roy, my son is no weakling.\u00a0 Little Joe can take on a man twice his size and win \u2013 if <\/em>the fight is fair.\u201d\u00a0 He ran a hand over his jaw.\u00a0 \u201cJohn C. Regan doesn\u2019t know the meaning of the word.\u201d<\/p>\n A sound alerted the lawman to the fact that someone had entered the jail.\u00a0 Hoss\u2019 massive form appeared in the cell block doorway a moment later.<\/p>\n \u201cYou come to take your pa home?\u201d Roy asked with a grin.<\/p>\n \u201cYou gonna let him go?\u201d<\/p>\n The lawman shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m thinkin\u2019 about it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRoy, look,\u201d Ben began.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t promise I won\u2019t confront Regan.\u00a0 He tried to kill my boy and the man needs to pay for what he did.\u201d\u00a0 At his friend\u2019s look, he went on.\u00a0 \u201cBut I can<\/em> promise you this, I will not kill him.\u00a0 Much as I want to, if I did, I would be no better than him.\u201d<\/p>\n One side of Roy\u2019s face twitched.\u00a0 He turned to Hoss.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about you, boy?\u201d<\/p>\n His son frowned.\u00a0 \u201cI want to kill Regan with my bare hands, Sheriff Roy, but Pa\u2019s right.\u00a0 That\u2019d be wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow about poundin\u2019 the livin\u2019 daylights out of him?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss winkled his nose.\u00a0 \u201cI cain\u2019t for sure swear I won\u2019t take a swing at him if I get a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy nodded.\u00a0 \u201cGood enough.\u201d\u00a0 A second later he jammed the key into the lock and opened the door.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to let us go?\u00a0 After what Hoss just said?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am.\u201d\u00a0 The sheriff pointed the key at his son.\u00a0 \u201cJust you make sure that any poundin\u2019 you do is out of my jurisdiction.\u00a0 You understand?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss grinned.\u00a0 \u201cYou got it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n The big man raised his eyebrows.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is it, Sheriff Roy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou be sure to give that arrogant bastard a good <\/em>one for me.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was late by the time he was liberated and so they decided to stay in town again.\u00a0 Ben wanted to avoid the hotel where Adah was staying, but the performers and crew that accompanied both her and Regan had filled the lower price establishments.\u00a0 All that was left was an expensive suite directly across from hers.\u00a0 The rancher made a vow as he and his son wearily climbed the stairs that he would not<\/em> seek her out.\u00a0 He\u2019d stated his intentions and made himself clear that morning.\u00a0 There was no need for another confrontation.<\/p>\n Sadly, he found himself drawn to her like a moth to flame.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the suite had two rooms.\u00a0 Hoss was already asleep and snoring away behind a closed door.\u00a0 He loved his son dearly, but sharing a room with the big man and <\/em>getting a peaceful night\u2019s rest was tantamount to getting old chief Winnemucca to allow his daughter to attend the harvest ball!<\/p>\n Ben sat on the bed and reached for his boots, but stopped and walked to the window instead.\u00a0 He\u2019d noted it before as they approached the hotel \u2013 a large tent being erected at the edge of town.\u00a0 No doubt it was for the exhibition match between John C. Regan and Tom Sayers, which was set for early Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 Nearly every post and pillar they passed had been plastered with handbills, announcing either the match or Adah\u2019s performance.\u00a0 Virginia City\u2019s streets were lined with hawkers selling tickets and souvenirs.\u00a0 Little boys made boxing gloves out of paper sacks and strings and pretended to spar with one another, while the little girls adopted Adah\u2019s latest hairstyle \u2013 shoulder-length sausage curls \u2013 and sang and danced hoping, just maybe, they too would be discovered and transported to the world of fame and fortune as she had been.<\/p>\n A world that bore very little resemblance to the bleak one \u2018The Menken\u2019 inhabited.<\/p>\n The rancher lifted his eyes to the land beyond the town, to the tall pine trees that were barely visible and stood as mute sentinels pointing the way home.\u00a0 He missed his home.\u00a0 He missed his boys.\u00a0 By now Adam would have Joseph far beyond John C. Regan\u2019s hatred and<\/em> his reach.\u00a0 Joseph would be angry when he returned home and realized what they had done.<\/p>\n Still, he\u2019d rather have an angry and alive son than a dead one.<\/p>\n An unexpected knock on the door brought him out of his reverie.\u00a0 Ben frowned as he headed for it, wondering who waited on the other side.\u00a0 It was the hotel manager.\u00a0 They knew each other well enough for him to see that the man was troubled.<\/p>\n \u201cIs something wrong, Matt?\u201d<\/p>\n The young man pulled at his collar.\u00a0 Embarrassment colored his peach-fuzz cheeks red.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cForgive my presumption, Mister Cartwright, but I couldn\u2019t help but hear the other day.\u00a0 I take it you know Miss Menken\u2026well?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cWe are of old acquaintance.\u00a0 Why?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 She refused her lunch and, when the girl went to take her supper, she found the door locked.\u00a0 Miss Menken gave no response to her calls.\u00a0 Molly left the tray outside but it\u2019s gone untouched.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdah didn\u2019t respond at all?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, sir, and there is no light on in her room.\u201d<\/p>\n A chill snaked through him, almost a premonition.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a master key I presume?\u201d<\/p>\n Matt pulled it from his pocket.\u00a0 \u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 I hesitated to go in.\u00a0 You know actresses. \u00a0They can be as unpredictable as they are temperamental.\u201d\u00a0 The young man frowned. \u00a0\u201cNo offense meant.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNone taken.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa, is somethin\u2019 wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben turned to find the suite door open and Hoss standing in it. \u00a0His son\u2019s feathery hair winged out on both sides, giving him the appearance of a bird in flight.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing I can\u2019t handle.\u00a0 Go back to bed, son.\u201d<\/p>\n The big man was staring at the hotel manager.\u00a0 \u201cYou sure?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n His son shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cOkay.\u00a0 You let me know if you need anything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will.\u00a0 Now go back to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss yawned widely \u2013 and loudly \u2013 and did as he was told.<\/p>\n Turning back to Matt, Ben said, \u201cGive me the key.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWould you like me to accompany you?\u201d<\/p>\n He shook his head. Whatever was wrong, he wanted to do his best to give Adah her privacy and preserve whatever dignity remained.<\/p>\n \u201cVery well,\u00a0 I will go back downstairs.\u00a0 There\u2019s a bell pull in her suite like there is in yours.\u00a0 Use it and I will come immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Matt.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure I can handle it on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n A moment later Ben was headed across the hall.\u00a0 Adah\u2019s door was at the opposite end of the suite from his.\u00a0 He paused outside it and struck the painted surface with his hand.<\/p>\n \u201cAdah?\u00a0 Adah, it\u2019s Ben.\u00a0 Let me in.\u201d<\/p>\n There was no reply.<\/p>\n \u201cAdah?\u201d<\/p>\n Again, nothing.<\/p>\n Ben hesitated to use the key.\u00a0 Adah was a woman, after all, and could be in various states of undress or going about her personal business.\u00a0 She might have taken a draft and fallen asleep and would not welcome his intrusion.\u00a0 Still, the sense that told him when his boys were in danger was tingling.\u00a0 There was nothing to back it up, but he had a feeling something was terribly and horribly wrong.<\/p>\n He knocked again.\u00a0 Harder this time.<\/p>\n \u201cAdah?\u201d<\/p>\n The silence was all.<\/p>\n Ben placed the key firmly in the lock and turned it.\u00a0 Adah\u2019s door swung open with ease.\u00a0 He stepped into the room and waited for his eyes to adjust.\u00a0 The curtains were drawn and it was black as a night without stars.\u00a0 Once he had his bearings the rancher walked to the window and pulled the drapes to one side, allowing the moonlight to stream in.\u00a0 He turned \u2013 and then he saw her.\u00a0 Adah lay on the bed.\u00a0 She was still dressed.\u00a0 One arm was thrown haphazardly to the side, while the other lay on her chest, clutching something.\u00a0 Her skin was white as marble; her lips lapis lazuli blue. With dread and caution he approached her.\u00a0 It could have been the moonlight, but he didn\u2019t think it was.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t seem to be breathing.<\/p>\n Ben clutched the brass footboard, his knuckles gone white.<\/p>\n \u201cAdah,\u201d he breathed, \u2018what have you done?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe had no idea what he done,\u201d the weaselly little man said.\u00a0 \u201cI was pretty slick.\u00a0 Slipped in and out of the saloon without him even knowin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSpare me the details of your prowess.\u00a0 Just give me the facts,\u201d John C. Regan said.\u00a0 \u201cOtherwise, no money.\u201d<\/p>\n The cowboy nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI was sittin\u2019 there when that big ape started talkin\u2019 to the bar-keep.\u00a0 He spilled the beans right there and then.\u201d<\/p>\n The pugilist\u2019s hand shot out to catch the slat-thin man\u2019s collar in his hand.\u00a0 He lifted him up and off the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere\u2026is\u2026Little Joe Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cR\u2026ridin\u2019 line, Mr. Regan.\u00a0 Him and his brother.\u00a0 They\u2019re on the north side of the Ponderosa.\u00a0 I\u2026I worked for old Ben a few years back.\u00a0 I can take you to right where he is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d betray the man you worked for?\u201d<\/p>\n His informant spat as his feet touched the ground.\u00a0 \u201cOld Ben fired me \u2018cause of them brats of his.\u00a0 All them Cartwrights can stand to be took down a peg or two.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow long will it take to get there?\u201d<\/p>\n The man shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cDepends on how far they traveled today and what they found. There\u2019s a lot of damage from the spring floods.\u00a0 My guess is him and Adam aren\u2019t too far along the line.\u00a0 A day.\u00a0 Maybe two.\u201d<\/p>\n Nature intended a smile to be an expression of happiness, so the look on John C. Regan\u2019s face could only be described as a sneer.<\/p>\n \u201cShow me the way there and you\u2019ll get your money.\u00a0 Assist me \u2013 and <\/em>keep your mouth shut \u2013 and I\u2019ll double the amount.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you gonna do?\u201d<\/p>\n The pugilist ground his hands together in anticipation.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one \u00a0– and I mean no one<\/em> \u2013 makes a fool of John C. Regan and lives.\u201d<\/p>\n