{"id":7050,"date":"2010-04-30T21:37:42","date_gmt":"2010-05-01T01:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=7050"},"modified":"2025-02-27T12:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T17:23:55","slug":"a-different-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=7050","title":{"rendered":"A Different Wind (by Cheaux)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 <\/strong>What Happened next for \u201cDifferent Pines, Same Wind.\u201d\u00a0 Struggling with heartache and loss, Joe receives comfort from an unexpected source.<\/p>\n

Rated:\u00a0 T —\u00a0\u00a0WC \u00a07541<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Disclaimer:\u00a0All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Different Wind<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss Cartwright stood with one foot on the lower rail of the fence separating the meadow from the front yard, watching the new-born colt cavort around its mama.\u00a0 The mare continued to graze lazily even as she kept a watchful eye on her offspring who was trying out his new legs in ever-widening circles.<\/p>\n

Although still a little nippy at this hour, the dawn held the promise of another warm day\u2014a sure sign that spring was finally here to stay after a fitful start following the long and tedious winter.<\/p>\n

Hoss clicked softly and the mare came to him bobbing her head as if to say\u00a0\u201cSee, what I made?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou shore did a good job, little mama,\u201d Hoss said and gave her a rub on the nose before producing an apple which she took gingerly from his hand.<\/p>\n

Hoss reached up and pushed his hat back, inhaling the cool spring air.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re up early this morning, son,\u201d said Ben Cartwright as he approached the fence, two steaming coffee mugs in hand.\u00a0 \u201cI figured you might be out here since breakfast isn\u2019t ready yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, Pa,\u201d said Hoss taking one of the mugs. \u00a0\u201cJust checkin\u2019 on Miss Lulubelle.\u00a0 She had a rough time of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, she sure did, Hoss,\u201d Ben acknowledged nodding.\u00a0 \u201cShe wouldn\u2019t have made it if it hadn\u2019t been for you.\u00a0 She\u2019s way too old to be foaling for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShucks, Pa,\u201d Hoss said.\u00a0 \u201cTwern\u2019t nothin\u2019.\u00a0 Lulubelle did all the work.\u00a0 I just talked her through it, is all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben took a draught from the mug remembering Hoss\u2019 mother, Inger, talking another mare through a rough delivery on their way west.\u00a0 She had held up an entire wagon train to do it, but Samuel Simon\u2019s prize mare came through just fine because of her \u2018talking.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Giving Hoss\u2019s shoulder a squeeze, Ben said simply, \u201cYou have her touch, son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss smiled, knowing who his father meant without his saying so.\u00a0 He loved listening to the stories about his Swedish mother and how she cared for all living creatures.\u00a0 Even though she died when he was just a baby, he felt her presence nearby every time he tended a sick or injured animal.\u00a0 His Pa always said she was like a clean, fresh sunrise.\u00a0 Hoss inhaled the spring air deeply and sighed.<\/p>\n

As they sipped their coffee companionably and watched the colt nurse, Ben said softly, \u201cI swear I\u2019ve never seen a mare look more contented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat she is, Pa.\u00a0 That she is,\u201d Hoss agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMakes me wish . . . ,\u201d Ben\u2019s voice trailed off leaving words unspoken.<\/p>\n

Neither Cartwright said anything for a long while, each content to watch the joy of a new life discovering the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that you always used to tell Adam and me, Pa, when we got to fussin\u2019 about how long it was takin\u2019 to find our little piece of heaven?\u201d Hoss asked. \u201cIf wishes were horses . . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeggars would ride,\u201d finished Ben, smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that\u2019s it,\u201d chuckled Hoss, leaning down and picking an early wildflower that had pushed its head up beside the fence post.\u00a0 Turning around he leaned his back against the rail and studied the lines and deep shadows under his father\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 Hoss knew his Pa\u2019s tiredness was not just because it was early.\u00a0 It was the worry and weariness of arguing with his younger brother for the last few weeks that had left its mark.<\/p>\n

Joe and Adam, now they were flint and steel and when they went at it, sparks surely did fly, but rarely was there any combustion, Hoss mused.\u00a0 But when Joe and Pa locked horns, they smoldered hot and long like a banked fire. \u00a0Most times Joe\u2019s fire would die out of its own accord.\u00a0 But every once in awhile Pa poked and poked until the embers ignited into a raging fire.\u00a0\u00a0 And Pa\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. well Joe could be like a zephyr wind fanning the flames of a forest fire until nothing in the vicinity was left unscathed.<\/p>\n

This winter had been hard on them all.\u00a0 Snowbound for much of it and suffering from cabin fever, they had each retreated to their own corners\u2014Pa to his study and Joe to his room, while he kept busy in the tack room or barn.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe still set on going then?\u201d Hoss asked, warily.<\/p>\n

Ben merely nodded and took another sip of coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d sighed Ben, \u201cI got him to agree to see Paul Martin first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss wrinkled his brow, \u201cHeard tell Doc Martin was over to Pyramid Lake helping out with that measles epidemic on the reservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMmmm,\u201d Ben smiled, raising an eyebrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cSneaky, Pa,\u201d Hoss said in appreciation.\u00a0 \u201cReckon he\u2019ll give Joe a clean bill of health when he gets back?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben rested his mug on the fence post and rubbed his face with his hands.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know, son, I just don\u2019t know. \u00a0Part of me wants nothing more than to know Joe is mended and well, but\u2014God help me, Hoss\u2014another part of me wants Paul to say he\u2019s not fit to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen\u2019ll Doc be back?\u201d Hoss asked, not sure he or Hop Sing could take much more of the constant bickering Pa and Joe had engaged in for weeks now.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonday,\u201d Ben yawned audibly.\u00a0 \u201cNot soon enough in my book.\u00a0 I am plum tuckered out arguing with that mule-headed brother of yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s mighty stubborn, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Hoss snorted, then under his breath said \u201c.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0just like you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that, Hoss?\u201d Ben asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing, Pa,\u201d Hoss said and then grew quiet.\u00a0 \u201cHe was mighty fond of her, Pa.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t gonna be easy talkin\u2019 him outta doin\u2019 what he reckons is proper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I do know, son.\u00a0 I don\u2019t agree that he has any responsibility in the matter, but I do know he\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0cares.\u00a0 And cares deeply.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I don\u2019t want him shouldering this burden alone.\u00a0 Not so soon after Emily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emily Anderson McPhail.\u00a0 Ben\u2019s blood boiled just thinking about her.\u00a0 The woman was a pathological liar who had hurt Joe badly the previous fall, not just by suddenly turning up in Virginia City after disappearing five years previously in response to Joe\u2019s marriage proposal, but by telling lies that nearly got him arrested for robbery and murder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fortunately, Marshal Calhoun was an honest, careful lawman not prone to jumping to conclusions no matter how bad the circumstantial evidence might be.\u00a0 After a thorough investigation, he proved that Joe was not involved and that the driver had killed the guard and then shot Joe before dying.<\/em><\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Joe, the process of healing\u2014both his shoulder and his heart\u2014was set back by the brutally cold weather and record snowfalls which kept him inside, housebound and brooding for much of the fall and winter.\u00a0 Robbed of the opportunity to exercise and recondition the arm through ranch work, his mood further darkened when he learned that Kerri Pickett had passed on.\u00a0 Joe usually visited the old woman in the fall but had been prevented from making the trip by the injury.\u00a0 Now that spring had come and the ground thawed, Joe felt compelled to see to it that she was properly buried, even though\u2014in Ben\u2019s opinion\u2014any number of people could have handled that detail without Joe\u2019s supervision.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what was ya wishin\u2019 for?\u201d asked Hoss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d Ben asked, coming back to the present.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said you were wishin\u2019.\u00a0 For what, Pa?\u201d Hoss asked again.<\/p>\n

Focusing again on the mare and her colt, Ben replied,\u00a0 \u201cOh\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0wishing you could do for Joe what you did for that mare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was birthin\u2019 a new life, Pa.\u00a0 I had nothin\u2019 to do with it, except to gentle Lulubelle when she needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMmmm.\u00a0 And Joe needs some \u201cgentling\u201d himself if he\u2019s to bury the dead and get on with life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss thought it was his father that needed gentling more than his brother.\u00a0 Joe was single-minded in his intent, but not irrational\u2014not really.\u00a0 Despite his outgoing, gregarious personality and social nature, Hoss knew his younger brother needed solitude from time to time to figure things out.\u00a0 Sometimes it was the lake where Joe went, other times it was a secret place he and Joe shared that no one else knew about.\u00a0 Joe didn\u2019t need gentling\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0he just needed time and space to sort out his feelings\u2014neither of which Pa was giving him.<\/p>\n

Being cooped up all winter hadn\u2019t helped.\u00a0 Talk about a banked fire!\u00a0 \u00a0Joe and Pa had smoldered for months, igniting anything that came near them.\u00a0 He gladly removed himself to the frigid outdoors tending to stock, making repairs after each storm passed, anything to avoid the inferno inside.<\/p>\n

Things got worse after the holidays.\u00a0 When there was no word from Adam by Christmas, they\u2019d all been worried.\u00a0 Even if he couldn\u2019t be home, Adam never missed sending a letter for each of them and gifts if possible.\u00a0 When a package finally arrived in late February, their enthusiasm was short-lived as there was only one letter inside addressed to them all.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t what Adam had said as much as it was the tone.\u00a0 While Pa read the letter out loud, he and Joe had locked eyes as the realization slowly cut through them like a hot knife.\u00a0\u00a0Adam was never coming back.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, then,\u201d was all Pa had said, carefully returning the letter to the\u00a0envelope before standing and placing it on the mantel Adam had built.\u00a0 Then Pa rubbed his hands lovingly across the wood and walked silently upstairs to his room.<\/p>\n

The brothers\u00a0never broke eye contact despite the tears that flowed freely down both their faces.\u00a0 After a long while, Joe took a deep breath, set his jaw, and walked out the front door. \u00a0They never talked about the letter again, but from then on the winds of change began to blow.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

Doctor Paul Martin was surprised to find Joe Cartwright waiting outside his office in Virginia City on Friday morning when he returned from Pyramid Lake. \u00a0His father\u00a0Ben had been a close friend since the early days of Virginia City and Paul had watched his sons all turn into fine young men. \u00a0While Adam had left to seek his own fortune in the world, it seemed Hoss and Joe had their roots planted firmly in Ponderosa soil.<\/p>\n

Joe may have been his best patient, but he was certainly not a willing one.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul had doctored the whole family through the years, but had spent infinitely more time tending the youngest than the others put together.\u00a0 As a result, Joe had a tendency to avoid Paul except in strictly social situations.\u00a0 Paul didn\u2019t mind, but did find it mildly amusing\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0and today, just plain curious. \u00a0If Joe was voluntarily making an unsolicited visit, there must be a darned good reason.\u00a0 Knowing Joe, however, he had doubts he would hear the truth of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorning, Joe.\u00a0 What brings you here this fine spring morning?\u201d Doc said as he unlocked the door.\u00a0 \u201cCome on in.\u00a0 I\u2019ll make coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo need, Doc,\u201d Joe said holding his hat in his hands.\u00a0 \u201cI was in town and just thought I\u2019d stop by on the chance you were back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGot back last night.\u00a0 Most Army doctors don\u2019t know much about childhood diseases which is why I volunteered to go up there.\u00a0 Turns out though, Major Lewis is the oldest of 14 children, so he had plenty of experience!\u201d the doctor chuckled.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo kidding?\u201d \u00a0Joe laughed along.\u00a0 \u201cListen, Pa\u2019s been itching to try out that chess board Adam sent him from India.\u00a0 I came by to invite you to dinner tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be just fine, Joe.\u00a0 I could use one of Hop Sing\u2019s fine meals after those Army rations, and a game or two of chess is just what this doctor ordered!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s great, Doc.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be seeing you then,\u201d Joe said, flashing his best smile as he headed for the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cNice try,\u201d the Doc said, catching his arm, \u201cNow, take off your jacket and let me look at that shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gunshot wound had been serious, but not as bad as other injuries Joe had suffered over the years.\u00a0 He\u2019d been shot from low and behind, the bullet entering just below his right scapula passing through muscle and tendons and exiting through the upper right chest wall, miraculously missing arteries, organs, and bone.\u00a0 What had impeded Joe\u2019s recovery, however, was being snowbound during one of the harshest winters anyone could remember.<\/p>\n

Because of the severe weather and the impassable roads to the ranch, Paul had not been able to supervise Joe\u2019s rehabilitation as closely as he would have liked.\u00a0 Although he left explicit instructions\u2014and certainly Ben and Hoss had had plenty of experience in tending the injuries of the youngest Cartwright\u2014Joe was very, very good at hiding his true physical state.\u00a0 Sometimes, Paul knew, the father saw only what he desperately wanted to see and the son was skilled at fostering the illusion that all was well.<\/p>\n

Joe had been shot during the commission of a robbery and for a time, the suspicion had fallen on him, mostly due to a fabricated story told by an ex-girlfriend.\u00a0 Paul could see how profoundly affected Joe was by his fianc\u00e9\u2019s lies and he suspected that it was this sense of betrayal more than anything else that overwhelmed the young man.<\/p>\n

Things went from bad to worse when news reached the Ponderosa that old Kerri Pickett had passed.\u00a0 From that moment on, the light just seemed to go out of the young man\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 He followed instructions, but did his exercises half-heartedly; he ate only enough to keep his father off his back; and, although he slept almost all the time, it was not a healing sleep.<\/p>\n

Then in early March with the first signs of spring finally showing, Joe started talking about attending to the old woman\u2019s burial which had been postponed until the ground thawed.\u00a0 Ben vehemently objected and he and Joe had argued incessantly.\u00a0 A casual observer might have believed Ben would win out in the long run by sheer force of will, but the doctor knew from personal experience that the youngest Cartwright matched his father tit for tat in the stubborn department!<\/p>\n

Joe was here, Paul decided, because he was seeking an ally to bolster the claim he was fit for the trip. \u00a0The wound was healed, but the surrounding scar tissue was painful and limited Joe\u2019s range of motion.\u00a0 He needed to get moving and using the arm more than he had been.\u00a0 More than that, the doctor knew that this trip was something Joe had to make in order to come to terms with his fianc\u00e9\u2019s betrayal and the subsequent, unrelated loss of a dear friend.<\/p>\n

So, despite what Ben wanted, Paul supported Joe\u2019s desire to go to Crescent City and with a handshake and a deep sigh, Paul sent Joe off with his blessing.<\/p>\n

He did not look forward to seeing Ben that evening.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

“He what?!!” exploded Ben.<\/p>\n

“Now, Ben,”\u00a0 Paul responded.\u00a0 “Calm down.”<\/p>\n

“I am calm!!”<\/p>\n

Hoss rolled his eyes and excused himself from the room quickly.\u00a0 It was a little early to bed the stock down, but it was as good an excuse as any to get out of the way of an erupting volcano.\u00a0 Hoss whispered, “Good luck” to\u00a0Paul as he brushed past him on the way out the door.<\/p>\n

Ben had been perplexed but delighted when his friend had unexpectedly\u00a0showed up\u00a0for\u00a0dinner and a game of chess.\u00a0\u00a0 He hadn’t expected the doctor to return from Pyramid Lake until Monday.\u00a0 When Paul explained that Joe had invited him to dinner that morning, Ben exploded, pounding his fist on the table.<\/p>\n

Hop Sing came running in from the kitchen, waiving a wooden spoon, “Why you yell?\u00a0 Make kitchen go shake shake, cake fall flat.\u00a0 No dessert for you,”\u00a0and exited the dining room shouting a torrent of Chinese.<\/p>\n

“And I suppose he isn’t staying in Virginia City tonight, either,” fumed\u00a0Ben.<\/p>\n

After months of being cooped up, Joe had taken advantage of the\u00a0warming trend\u00a0and had gone riding\u00a0for awhile\u00a0each day this past week to build his stamina.\u00a0 Ben had approved as long as he didn’t over do it.\u00a0 The rides were short\u2014almost always up to the\u00a0lake to visit his mother’s grave as was his custom.\u00a0 This morning\u00a0Joe had\u2014again with Ben’s approval\u2014said he was going to\u00a0try riding ‘a bit’ farther.<\/p>\n

When Joe hadn’t returned by late afternoon, Ben began to worry, but then a ranch hand delivered the news that Joe decided to stay ‘in town’ tonight and would not be back for dinner.\u00a0 At that moment, Ben did not consider riding all the way into Virginia City as ‘a bit’ farther, but allowed as how Joe may have actually showed good sense by deciding to stay over if he was tired.\u00a0 At this moment, however, he was fit to be tied.<\/p>\n

“Well, Ben,”\u00a0Paul said carefully, “he didn’t specify ‘Virginia City’ when he said ‘town’ now, did he?”<\/p>\n

“Semantics!” Ben yelled, opening the front door and shouted, “Hank!!”\u00a0 And again, louder, “HANK!”<\/p>\n

One of the hands coming\u00a0around the corner of the house,\u00a0said “Can I help you, Mr. Cartwright?”<\/p>\n

“Find Hank Caruthers and\u00a0get him in here\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0NOW!”<\/p>\n

The hand blanched, but responded smartly, “Yes sir!”\u00a0and hurried off to\u00a0the bunk house.<\/p>\n

Ben turned around, leaving the door open, and began pacing.\u00a0 “Of all the stupid, pigheaded, irresponsible, . . . .”<\/p>\n

“You needed me, Mr. Cartwright?” Hank asked, looking pale.\u00a0 He couldn’t imagine what he’d done to upset the elder Cartwright.\u00a0 He’d only been working on the Ponderosa a short time, was enjoying the work,\u00a0and thought he had settled in fairly well.<\/p>\n

“When did you see my son?”<\/p>\n

“Sir?”\u00a0 Hank said, perplexed as he had seen Hoss come out of the house not five minutes ago.<\/p>\n

“My son Joseph!\u00a0 When he gave you the message about staying in town\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0when was that?”<\/p>\n

“Oh.\u00a0 This morning, sir, on my way into\u00a0town to pick up the new valves for that\u00a0\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0,”<\/p>\n

Ben cut him off abruptly.\u00a0 “And what time was that exactly?”<\/p>\n

“Just after dawn, sir.”<\/p>\n

“Just after dawn, sir,” Ben repeated, seething, his dark brown eyes narrowing.<\/p>\n

“Yes, sir,” Hank replied, looking\u00a0nervously at\u00a0the other\u00a0white-haired\u00a0man in the room, not knowing who he was.<\/p>\n

“And you waited until just before dusk to tell me this?”<\/p>\n

“Well, ah\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0Joe said that pump was\u00a0important\u00a0and the valves couldn’t wait . . .\u00a0 that\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0that it would be okay to tell you whenever I got back to the bunkhouse.”\u00a0 Hank looked back and forth between Ben and the other man, not sure if he should continue.\u00a0\u00a0“Joe, he, ah, he said one other thing I forgot to men. . . ,”<\/p>\n

“And just what was that?”\u00a0 Ben could barely contain himself.<\/p>\n

“It was, ah . . . ‘Good luck with the game’?” said Hank, uncertainly.<\/p>\n

At that point Paul\u00a0quickly ushered the young man out of the house and shut the door firmly\u00a0behind him.<\/p>\n

“Now, Ben . . . .”<\/p>\n

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!”<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

Joe figured that between his leaving at dawn and Hank\u2019s delivering the message right about the time Doc was arriving for dinner, he had bought at least three days before anyone caught up to him.<\/p>\n

Three days of peace and quiet without the family fussing over him.<\/p>\n

Three days to sort out the morass of emotions and feelings that he\u2019d been wrapped in since last fall with no one poking at the scabs.<\/p>\n

Three days to finish one last chore for the most stubborn, cantankerous old woman he had ever known.<\/p>\n

He laughed out loud remembering the day she had gotten the drop on him with a shotgun claiming she was trying to catch a man to do for her.<\/p>\n

“I was fixing to catch myself a man.\u00a0 You’ll do real fine with the muscles you got,” she said, feeling Joe all over.\u00a0\u201cTie up yore animal.\u00a0 There’s chores to be done.”<\/em><\/p>\n

He had originally gone to the wooded area of Crescent Mountain to prevent Jason Milburn from claiming on the land that would turn the 3,000 acres of watershed below the mountain into a dust bowl.<\/p>\n

Along with Pa, Hoss, and a land agent named Jenks, Joe had witnessed with alarm Milburn\u2019s clear-cut timber operations.\u00a0 Unfortunately, as Jenks had pointed out, under the Preemption Act, if you didn’t already own any land in the Territory you could make improvement on a 1\/4 section and claim it for $200.<\/p>\n

Milburn had his men file claims and sell him the timber for $1.\u00a0 It was legal but despicable.\u00a0 In studying the map Jenks had with him, Joe figured out that a quarter section of unclaimed land lay between Milburn\u2019s operations and the watershed and that without access to that land, Milburn wouldn\u2019t have water or a way to get the timber out.<\/p>\n

With the flip of a coin, Joe divested himself of his interest in a piece of land he and Hoss owned, leaving him free to claim the pivotal section.\u00a0 He took off for Crescent Mountain with the intent of making improvements on the land and filing a claim by the end of the week.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t counted on meeting up with likes of Kerri Pickett.<\/p>\n

She thought he was trying to steal her land.<\/p>\n

He was only trying to save it for her.<\/p>\n

By the time they parted, he knew he had met someone he would never forget.<\/p>\n

\u201dJoe, I ain\u2019t seen the like of you since my Amos and before neither.\u00a0 If I had me twenty years less . . . ,\u201d sighed Kerri.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if I had me twenty years more, \u2018cause I ain\u2019t never seen the likes of you neither.\u00a0 You\u2019re stubborn and you\u2019re cantankerous and they just ain\u2019t making girls into women like that no more.\u00a0 I know.\u00a0 I looked around.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGoodbye, Kerri Pickett.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGoodbye, Joe Cartwright.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Only it wasn\u2019t goodbye.\u00a0 Not then.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

As Joe picked his way along the trail leading to the deep piney woods where Kerri\u2019s cabin was, he thought back on all they\u2019d been through together.<\/p>\n

She hadn\u2019t been kidding about wanting a man to do for her.\u00a0 Her hand was hurt and she tricked him into cooking for her and cleaning up her messy cabin and then they\u2019d argued about who owned her land.<\/p>\n

“This is government land,” Joe told her.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Taint possible!\u00a0 It’s mine and It’s gonna stay mine as long as I draw a breath.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Ma’am, it ain’t yours. and it’s not going to stay yours unless you file a claim and pay the government $200.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“My Amos built this cabin and he left it for me and I don’t have to claim on what’s already mine.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMa’am, it\u2019s the law.\u00a0 It’s the law.\u00a0 If you don’t file you’re gonna find your piney woods stripped clean.\u00a0 Jason Milburn is going to log out the whole side of Crescent Mountain.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Doc Belden worked for Milburn filling out claim forms and hadn\u2019t practiced medicine in some time.\u00a0 Despite his loss of self-respect, the Hippocratic Oath still resonated with the Doc so he followed Joe up the mountain and tended Kerri\u2019s wound.\u00a0 The prognosis was bleak; she had blood poisoning from the animal bite and the doctor told Joe the hand had to come off.<\/p>\n

“Oh, Joe.\u00a0 I told you I told you I told you I told you.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Now, Kerri, Kerri, take it easy.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“I told you, Joe.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Take it easy.\u00a0 Doc are you sure?”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Oh, Joe, don’t let him do it. Don’t let him.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Kerri, it means your life.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“I don’t care if I live.\u00a0 I don’t care.\u00a0 I got ready to die before you came.\u00a0 See?\u00a0 I put on my Chiney silk scarf that Amos give me for a wedding present that I been treasurin\u2019 for my buryin\u2019.\u00a0 I just want to die here near my Amos.\u00a0 You promised, Joe.\u00a0 You promised.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Kerri, everything’s going to be alright.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Just so he doesn’t take off my hand.\u00a0 Promise!”<\/em><\/p>\n

Everything did turn out all right.\u00a0 Doc Belden put a drain in and produced a claim form already filled out for Kerri to sign.<\/p>\n

Although Milburn\u2019s henchmen got a few punches in, Doc Belden came to his rescue and Pa, Hoss, and the land agent Jenks arrived in the nick of time.\u00a0 Kerri kept her hand and her land.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you alright, Joe?\u201d she had asked.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yeah.\u00a0 I\u2019m fine.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you worry about me.\u00a0 What about you?\u00a0 Sure you\u2019ll be alright up here alone?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I\u2019ll be fine.\u00a0 You know, I can hardly believe it.\u00a0 I was so scared for so long and now all of a sudden everything is alright.\u00a0 You done it for me, Joe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He never wanted her to be scared again so he started making regular visits on one pretense or another.\u00a0 She feigned surprise at his coming; he protested at all the chores she had stored up for him.\u00a0 Neither was fooling the other.<\/p>\n

Joe knew no one quite understood what kind of relationship there could be between a man in this late twenties and woman in her late sixties.\u00a0 He had tried to explain it to his family, mostly without success.\u00a0 After a time they stopped openly teasing him, but he saw the looks that passed between Pa and Hoss when they thought he wasn’t watching.\u00a0 He eventually stopped trying, but did not back down from his position.<\/p>\n

In the fall he went to hunt, butcher, and preserve meat, chop enough wood for winter, and help with the canning so the root cellar was full.<\/p>\n

In the spring he went to repair winter storm damage, turn the garden soil for planting, and bring fresh supplies, including a new dress and some ribbon or lace.<\/p>\n

Though she protested that it was an unwarranted extravagance, he saw the light in her eyes as she fingered the cloth.\u00a0 It brought him an exorbitant amount of pleasure to pick out colors that would complement her once copper hair.\u00a0\u00a0 Though graying, when the light was just right he could imagine how glorious it must have been in her youth.<\/p>\n

Whatever his family thought about their relationship, the spring and fall trips fell\u00a0 within a realm of reasonableness he could justify to his Pa.\u00a0 But the summer trips were the ones that always cost him capital with his family because they took him away from the Ponderosa during the height of the busy season on the ranch.<\/p>\n

To compensate, he had learned to delegate more which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing from a management point of view\u2014and something Adam would certainly have approved of\u2014but it also rendered him vulnerable when Pa asked if he had directly supervised the cutting of timber or the moving of cattle or the breaking of horses.<\/p>\n

He was adept at turning around less-than-specific instructions to fit his needs, but he wouldn\u2019t lie to his Pa and he assiduously strove to avoid the inevitable arguments that were sure to ensue if Pa found him out on a technicality.<\/p>\n

So, where possible, he tacked his visits onto the beginning or end of trips that took him away from the ranch on legitimate business.\u00a0 He didn’t fool himself into believing that the family was ignorant of these extensions.\u00a0 Pa or Hoss or both undoubtedly knew what he was doing, but at least they had stopped riding him\u2014perhaps because they had seen a change in him.<\/p>\n

He could feel the change as well.<\/p>\n

The time spent on the mountain was balm to his soul.\u00a0 On those summer visits, chores didn\u2019t follow a schedule.\u00a0 He slept late, enjoyed fishing for trout in the streams and going for long walks with Kerri in the piney woods looking for mushrooms or berries or herbs.\u00a0 But evenings were best when they sat on the front porch Joe had added to the small cabin, gazing at a magenta sunset reflected on the still lake waters or listening to the shushing of the pine needles.<\/p>\n

“What do you hear, boy?”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

“The wind talking to the pines.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“Why that’s just as my Amos used to say it.\u00a0 Pure mountain man, my Amos.\u00a0 Couldn’t live nowhere else than the deep piney woods.\u00a0 Couldn’t breathe nowhere else.\u00a0 You be feeling that same way, Joe.”<\/em><\/p>\n

She showed him the twin pines in the lake grove below which Amos was buried.\u00a0 They talked about how Amos and Kerri met and had wound up in the piney woods, eking out a living trapping; how his Pa had married three times and had a son by each wife before finding his dream and how he was still looking for his; how Kerri wasn\u2019t sorry she never had children and how Joe wanted them; how horses were his passion and how much he missed Adam.<\/p>\n

Summer was the last time he\u2019d seen her.\u00a0 In the fall he was shot and then winter came early and hard.\u00a0 When he was too sick to travel, he had Hoss send a wire to Doc Belden asking that someone dependable go up the mountain to take her supplies and get the cabin ready for winter.<\/p>\n

It was too late.<\/p>\n

A blizzard hit early and they’d found her frozen in a snow drift in the lake grove, clutching the remnants of a pink china silk scarf.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

Joe reached the cabin early Saturday morning and turned it upside down looking for the dresses he had given her but aside from one or two bodices and some rags, he found no trace of them.\u00a0 Well, life was hard up here and he supposed the thinner cotton material just didn\u2019t hold up like the heavier woolen skirts she was used to wearing. \u00a0He wanted to lay her out in something better than homespun, but all that really mattered to Kerri was that she was buried with that silk scarf Amos had given her.<\/p>\n

The wind blew the door open with a bang.\u00a0 Joe moved to close it and then saw the wagon approaching with a lone driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood to see you, Joe,\u201d the doc said as he halted the wagon in front of the little cabin and climbed down to shake Joe\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are you Doctor Belden?\u201d Joe asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy practice is going well, thanks to you.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what my life would have become if you hadn\u2019t knocked some sense into me when you did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo thanks needed, Doc.\u00a0 I appreciate what you did for Miss Kerri, both her hand and . . . and for last fall,\u201d Joe\u2019s voice caught.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish it could have been more.\u00a0 That snow storm came out of nowhere and caught everyone off guard.\u201d\u00a0 The doctor started walking towards the lake grove and Joe followed.\u00a0 \u201cBy the time the roads were passable, the drifts were six foot or more.\u201d<\/p>\n

They walked in silence for a bit, finally stopping where twin pine trees stood in the middle of the grove, their branches intertwining.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found her here,\u201d Doc said.\u00a0 \u201cI have no idea why that crazy old woman would venture out in a blizzard wearing nothing but a thin cotton dress and the remnants of an old silk scarf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe dropped to his knees with the back of his hand pressed against his mouth to suppress a sob.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wasn\u2019t crazy,\u201d Joe choked.\u00a0 \u201cShe went to meet Amos.\u201d<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

The doctor backed off quietly leaving Joe alone with his grief.\u00a0 He returned to the wagon and threw the canvas cover off.\u00a0 Underneath was a pine box, two shovels and some rope.<\/p>\n

After a time, the doctor returned to the where the two pines stood and handed one of the shovels to Joe.\u00a0 Amos was buried beneath the one on the right, so they started digging on the left.\u00a0 They worked silently, sweating in the breeze of a spring day made cooler by the canopy of pine boughs overhead.<\/p>\n

His Pa was right; he wasn\u2019t fit and he needed the help as his shoulder began to scream in protest before they were even half way through digging.\u00a0 Although Kerri\u2019s small stature had not necessitated a large coffin, the earth was still slightly frozen and the digging was slow going.\u00a0 At last they finished and were able to lower the box into the grave using the ropes.<\/p>\n

They had started shoveling the dirt back into the hole when Joe cried out, \u201cStop!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d Doc asked, alarmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scarf.\u00a0 Is she wearing the scarf?\u00a0 She\u2019s got to have the scarf,\u201d Joe insisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scarf?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u00a0 The pink silk scarf.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh.\u00a0 Yes,\u201d the doctor said, remembering.\u00a0 \u201cThere wasn\u2019t much left of it, but she was clutching it so tightly I figured it must be important to her.\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t have been because it gave much warmth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the dress?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dress?\u00a0 Oh\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0the one she had on when we found her\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0there wasn\u2019t no other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue with little pink flowers?\u201d Joe looked at the doctor pleading, his eyes red and swollen.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0yes, I believe it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u00a0 Good.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was wearing it, that\u2019s why I couldn\u2019t find it in the cabin.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Okay.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Let\u2019s finish.\u201d\u00a0 Joe wiped his eyes with his sleeve and continued to fill the hole.<\/p>\n

The doctor studied Joe for a long, long time and then quietly followed suit.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

When they finished, Joe trudged wearily down to the lake, removed his shirt and dunked it into the water.\u00a0 The lake, fed by mountain streams, was still frigid.\u00a0 He squeezed out the excess water over his head and then slapped the cold cloth around his neck and returned to the cabin, collapsing on the porch.\u00a0 The wooden planks had absorbed the heat of the day and felt soothing to his shoulder as he lay there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long has it been?\u201d asked the Doc, already sitting on the porch.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour shoulder.\u00a0 The scars look new.\u00a0 How long has it been?\u201d he asked again.<\/p>\n

\u201cFour-five months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the reason you couldn\u2019t come last fall,\u201d the doctor surmised.<\/p>\n

Joe nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not your fault.\u00a0 You couldn\u2019t have done anything more than what was done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe covered his eyes with his arm but otherwise didn\u2019t move or say anything.<\/p>\n

From under the driver\u2019s seat of the wagon, the doctor retrieved his medical bag along with a parcel wrapped tightly in brown paper and tied with a blue ribbon.\u00a0 He walked back to the porch and laid the parcel down.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe left this with the Sheriff in town.\u00a0 It\u2019s addressed to you.\u00a0 He heard I was coming up here today and sent it along.\u201d<\/p>\n

The doctor opened his medical bag, pulling out a jar of salve.\u00a0 \u201cUse this tonight.\u00a0 If your shoulder is still hurting in the morning, stop by my office on your way home and I\u2019ll give you something to ease the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe still didn\u2019t respond and the doctor thought maybe he had fallen asleep, but then he heard a soft, \u201cThanks, Doc.\u00a0 For everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeast I could do,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

Do maybe, but he wished there was something more he could say to bring comfort to this young man who had helped him turn his life around.\u00a0 He retrieved the shovels and rope and threw them in the back of the wagon along with the canvas tarp, then slowly climbed into the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were right, Joe; she wasn\u2019t crazy.\u00a0 She went to meet Amos, knowing it was her time.\u00a0 You being here or not\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0wouldn\u2019t have changed anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe lowered his arm and laced his fingers across his abdomen.\u00a0 He took a deep breath, but didn\u2019t reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve it son.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t rest easy if she knew you were hurting.\u201d\u00a0 And with that said, the doctor slapped the reins and drove away.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

Joe was gentled by the warm sun and the rustling of the wind through the pines.<\/p>\n

“What do you hear, boy?”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

“The wind talking to the pines.”<\/em><\/p>\n

He slept for hours on the porch dreaming of Emily and the happy times in Monterey where they met and fell in love.\u00a0 He relived the long rides and picnics and dinner parties and the oh-so-exquisite, lingering kisses that stirred his body still.<\/p>\n

Emily was right about one thing.\u00a0 Marriage was not made by the droning of words and the signing a county register.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe, marriage is in the heart. True marriage,\u201d she\u2019d said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd you\u2019re in my heart, and I don\u2019t think you can look at me and say that I\u2019m not in yours.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, Emily.\u00a0 You\u2019re there.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t enough he saw now.\u00a0 It took two hearts, beating as one\u2014like the twin pines in the grove standing so close as if both shared the same tap root, the same heart.\u00a0 Pa had it with all three of his wives.\u00a0 Kerri and Amos had had it.<\/p>\n

He truly believed he had loved Emily with all his heart, but in hindsight he realized that she hadn\u2019t loved him, not really.\u00a0 In love with the idea of love, perhaps, or just hoping he would take her away from her father.<\/p>\n

When did the lies start, he wondered.\u00a0 If her father hadn\u2019t interfered, would they have married?\u00a0 Would life with Emily have become a living hell filled with doubt and deceit?\u00a0 He shivered at the thought and became anxious even in his dreams, but a warm wind caressed his body soothing him back to sleep.<\/p>\n

In the end, Wade McPhail had apologized for his wife.\u00a0 Joe had replied that they were all sorry about a lot of things.\u00a0 And then Doc Martin had insisted his patient return home and Joe never saw her again.<\/p>\n

With each push of wind that ruffled his hair and kissed his skin, the image of Emily grew dimmer until\u2014in a final gust\u2014her face separated into tiny fluffs and floated away on the breeze like a spent dandelion.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

Joe awoke lazily, not realizing at first where he was, then remembering.<\/p>\n

His shirt was dry now and he put it on against the late afternoon chill as the heat of the day dissipated.\u00a0 He went down to the corral to feed and water Cochise and then realized he hadn\u2019t eaten all day and was really hungry.<\/p>\n

Despite the cooler air, it was too nice an evening to be cooped up inside after being housebound all winter so he made a campfire outside the cabin.\u00a0 Hauling more water from the lake, he put coffee on to boil and some beans and bacon in a pot to cook.\u00a0 He really should have dug a new well, he thought, so Kerri wouldn\u2019t have had to lug water to the house at her age.\u00a0 He guessed that chore would belong to someone else now.<\/p>\n

While supper cooked, he straightened up the cabin putting away the items he had torn apart in search of a burial dress.\u00a0 He separated what should be burned and what could be left for the next occupants.\u00a0 There was surprisingly little left of Kerri\u2019s life to be disposed of and that saddened him.\u00a0 He meant to ask the Doctor whether Kerrie had had anything else on her.\u00a0 Knowing Kerri, however, she would have taken with her what she wanted.\u00a0 Still, he wished he had something to remember her by.<\/p>\n

By the time he finished with the cabin, it was full dark.\u00a0 Joe sat cross-legged on the porch and ate his supper in the comforting glow of a kerosene lantern accompanied by the serenade of piney woods\u2019 critters.<\/p>\n

God, it was good not to be arguing with his Pa.\u00a0 He hated when they got like that . . . snapping and sniping at each other.\u00a0 He tried to hold his temper and shut his mouth, but sometimes it was like a stranger took control of his brain and he couldn\u2019t stop himself.\u00a0 Hoss said it was because he and Pa were too much alike and they each knew where the other\u2019s soft underbelly lay.<\/p>\n

He hated the thought that he could intentionally hurt his Pa.\u00a0 Sometimes he thought about leaving so he wouldn\u2019t cause anymore harm, even unintentionally.\u00a0 He envied Adam in a way\u2014seeing the world, having adventures in exotic places like his Pa used to do in his youth.\u00a0 He wondered if he could be happy somewhere else.\u00a0 He thought he\u2019d like to try.<\/p>\n

Emily had talked about going to South America.\u00a0 It had sounded so funny when she said it, but part of him desperately wanted to go.\u00a0 What if they had?\u00a0 Would it have made a difference?\u00a0 Would Emily have loved him then?<\/p>\n

And what of Adam?\u00a0 Was he happy wherever he was?\u00a0 When Adam left to see the world, he convinced himself it would only be for four years just like when Adam went away to college.\u00a0 In retrospect, he guessed Pa had thought the same thing because when that fourth anniversary passed and there was still no Adam, there was a subtle but palpable shift in the way they all related to each other, and it unnerved him.<\/p>\n

The wind had picked up again.<\/p>\n

He told Kerri that the same wind blew on the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Now he wasn\u2019t so sure.\u00a0 He thought it was a different wind that blew tonight.\u00a0 And he wondered what that meant.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

Returning to the porch after putting another log on the fire, he spied the package the Doctor brought.\u00a0 There was an envelope under the ribbon and he opened that first.\u00a0 It was a letter from Jenks, the Carson City land agent who had filed Miss Kerri\u2019s claim.\u00a0 He read it and then turned up the lantern to read it again, stunned by the words he saw.<\/p>\n

Kerri Pickett had transferred her ownership interest in this quarter section of Crescent Mountain to him.\u00a0 What he couldn\u2019t figure out was why.<\/p>\n

\u201cPure mountain man, my Amos.\u00a0 Couldn’t live nowhere else than the deep piney woods.\u00a0 Couldn’t breathe nowhere else.\u00a0 You be feeling that same way, Joe.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMiss Kerri, I\u2019m a rancher, but I care about the forest, too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe closed his eyes and breathed in the deep scent of pine.\u00a0 She was right; he couldn\u2019t imagine living anywhere there weren\u2019t pines.\u00a0 And now this piney woods was his.<\/p>\n

Trembling, his fingers unwrapped the rest of the brown paper and unfolded the cloth he found inside.\u00a0 At first he didn\u2019t comprehend what he was seeing.\u00a0 Then, as his eyes travelled across the field of concentric circles he recognized bits and pieces of the dresses he had given her and it slowly came to him that the reason he hadn\u2019t found the clothes in the cabin was because she had cut them up to make this quilt.<\/p>\n

His hands continued to move across the cloth following the tiny stitches and touching each piece of fabric until his eyes fell on something that took his breath away.\u00a0 At the convergence of each concentric circle was a piece of pink china silk.<\/p>\n

\u201dJoe, I ain\u2019t seen the like of you since my Amos and before neither.\u00a0 If I had me twenty years less . . . ,\u201d sighed Kerri.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if I had me twenty years more, \u2018cause I ain\u2019t never seen the likes of you neither.\u00a0 You\u2019re stubborn and you\u2019re cantankerous and they just ain\u2019t making girls into women like that no more.\u00a0 I know.\u00a0 I looked around.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGoodbye, Kerri Pickett.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGoodbye, Joe Cartwright.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In each corner of the quilt was a pine tree and there was a note pinned to one of them.<\/p>\n

Wiping his eyes, he read,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt be said the first person to sleep under a quilt will have their dreams come true.\u00a0 Keep looking, Joe. She be out there waiting for you.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cKerri Pickett, you stubborn, cantankerous old woman,\u201d Joe whispered, his voice breaking.\u00a0 \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

A different wind talked to the pines that night as he slept cocooned in the quilt.<\/p>\n

He dreamed of Adam, smiling and finally content in a place warmed by the sun.<\/p>\n

He dreamed of his Pa bemused by the bubbles coming out of his pipe, surrounded by giggling children.<\/p>\n

He dreamed of Hoss at their secret happy place walking hand in hand with Inger.<\/p>\n

He dreamed of green forests and riding Cochise through fields of amber.<\/p>\n

He dreamed of a tall woman with auburn hair standing on a bluff, the sun behind revealing her shapely silhouette.\u00a0 When she turned toward him, he saw her eyes were the same shade of deep turquoise as the lake behind her.<\/p>\n

She reached out to him, beckoning, and\u2014as the wind gently kissed his brow\u2014he smiled, peaceful at last.<\/p>\n

It was a wind of hope.<\/p>\n

\u2014The End\u2014<\/p>\n

April 2010<\/p>\n

Author\u2019s notes:<\/em><\/p>\n

Many thanks to Suzanne Clauser for her splendid story and to Irene Tedrow for her rich characterization of Kerri Pickett in Different Pines, Same Wind<\/em>.\u00a0 Thanks also to writers Preston Wood and Elliott Gilbert for\u00a0Emily<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The name of the doctor in\u00a0Emily<\/em>\u00a0was actually Dr. Lewis, but the actor who played him was the same Harry Holcombe who played Dr. Paul Martin in numerous Bonanza episodes, so I chose to use the name Paul Martin in this story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/g><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 What Happened next for \u201cDifferent Pines, Same Wind.\u201d\u00a0 Struggling with heartache and loss, Joe receives comfort from an unexpected source.<\/p>\n

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