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Part 2 of 14

by Robin

Chapter 1

Late Summer

Boston  1871

 Adam kept a careful eye on his wife’s face, waiting for some sign that Katie was tiring and needed rest. She seemed more energetic than he felt.They were sitting in the guest room in the O’Mara house admiring two day old Elizabeth Miriam Cartwright.

Sam didn’t think in those terms and chattered like a magpie telling his mother about everything that had just gone on. Emily had quizzed both him and Robert in Latin and he knew far more than the older boy. Sam was busting with excitement and Adam was prouder than a peacock about his ten year old son’s brilliance.

The small boy perched l at the head of the bed, while Katie half-sat propped against a stack of pillows, another pillow carefully placed to support her arms as she held the new baby sleeping in her arms.

“I think it is time to book our train tickets back home, Adam. School starts back in Virginia City in another month and by then this baby will be old enough to travel back home.”

“Do you think you are up to it?” Adam Cartwright answered from his comfortable seat in the armchair.
” Adam, if I stay here with the O'Maras one extra minute, I will go insane. I want to go home. Home to our own house. We certainly have enough people to give me a hand between Doctor Smith and your father and Joe and Philip.”

”And me too Mama” Sammy smiled proudly. “Uncle Joe is afraid to drop Elizabeth but I know how to carry her. Pa showed me.” He was really enjoying the job of being the big brother. His father had told him how he had taken care of Uncle Joe as a baby and Sam liked to imitate everything his father did. He still thought it was pretty funny that Uncle Joe had been a little baby and his Pa had carried him around.
”Uncle Joe still has a cast on his arm and that is why he is afraid. Another few weeks, when Uncle Joe has the use of both arms he will be just fine and we will all go home.”

“Together,” Adam smiled. “Just like Joe wanted.”

“Not only us but we have two babies to take home too. Elizabeth and Eric! I’m not the youngest one any more.” Sam smiled. The Cartwrights had miraculously been reunited with Hoss’s widow Andrea and her infant son Eric.

“Philip Bartlett is coming out here?” Adam asked leaning back in the chair. “What brings him out to Boston? I thought he was taking care of the Enterprise for you until we got home?”
”I can’t hold him any longer. They can manage running for a few weeks until we get back. Phil has to meet with the publishers and with some senators and such. So he is coming here for a few weeks and then will probably head out to Chicago at the same time we are going home and will travel at least part way with us. He is also going to help check out all that Cherry Creek business. He knows some men in the Federal government who can look into the Bureau of Indian Affairs and he has some people who can look at the railroad interests too. Maybe we can finally make some head way with all this.”

“And Flanagan?” Adam grimaced thinking of the man who had almost killed him and Sammy in the Stoddard house.
”And former territorial governor Flanagan too.”  Kate nodded. ”Let’s talk about all this later Adam.” She smoothed her index finger gently over her sleeping daughter’s black hair. She looked so much like Adam.

He nodded observing that Sam was getting upset at the mention of Flanagan, the man who had tried to kill them. Sam stood up and moved to sit on his fathers lap. He always felt safer when his father had his arms around him.

There was a tap at the door and Joe stood smiling. “Is this a private party or can I come in and see Elizabeth too? Pa and Andrea are taking Eric for a stroll. I think he wants to show him off to everyone in Boston. I can’t get over how much he looks like Hoss. And he’s huge too. ” Joe gestured with both hands, one arm still encased in a plaster cast.
”We were just talking about how Phil Bartlett is on his way out here, Uncle Joe,” Sam smiled. Sam liked Phil from all the time that the boy had spent helping his mother at the Enterprise. Phil always talked to him like he was a grownup and had shown him how to set type just as he had shown Kate as a child. Sam especially liked that Phil had told him a lot of stories about his Uncle Foster Wallace who had started the Enterprise. Foster was very smart and brave but had been murdered when Kate was just a girl.

”Good. Last time he was here, he had dinner with the O’Maras and he and Emily argued so much that she thinks he Phil is a monster. Or at least that he has no manners.
They all laughed at Joe’s description. Having poor manners was high on Miss Emily’s list of sins.

“ Maybe Emily can get to see he isn’t such a bad fellow and he can do me a favor to boot,” Joe walked over to sit on the edge of the window seat. “Did you tell Emily to get opera tickets for me? She thinks I like that stuff. Did you tell her that?”
”Opera tickets?” Kate smiled. She had been trying all summer to orchestrate a relationship between her brother in law Joe and their host’s sister Emily. Somehow time and circumstance stood in the way of romance. Joe was either too ill recovering from his extensive surgery or Emily was too busy or there were always too many people around for them to spend any time together on a romantic evening.

“Yes, Katie. Opera tickets for opening night. Ballet the next. Do you think I can sit through that no matter how pretty Emily O’Mara is. Opera and ballet and a top hat and tails and stiff fancy people. What were you thinking?”
Adam chuckled. Joe would sooner go to his own funeral than sit through such a long cultural evening all dressed up.

” Opera and ballet both. Top hats. Sounds like I would rather get shot in the ….”
”Joseph! Watch your language. There is a lady and a baby here!” Adam protested.

“Katie? Is this your doing? Is it?” Joe glared at her. “What a fool idea!”

“I think every one should go out now I think I need to rest and take a nap.” Kate closed her eyes and pretended to go to sleep.

“Kate! Adam? What should I do?”
”Wear a top hat and have a good time. “ Adam smiled. He was enjoying watching Joe squirm. “Or get her another escort. Sammy? You want to go to the opera? “

“Sounds like fun to me Uncle Joe.” Sam smiled. “Pa can I get a top hat?”
Adam laughed.” Let’s see if that is in fashion for boys in Virginia City when you get back home.”

”How about Phil, Uncle Joe? He likes music and he will be in Boston by then.”
Joe nodded and patted Sam on the back. “Smart boy you have, Adam. Figures out how to get me saved from being bored to death. And we won a bundle of cash betting on him too. My little Latin Scholar and genius boy.”

 Adam, Joe and Dennis O’Mara had placed bets to see if Sam Cartwright could learn more Latin than Robert O’Mara and Sammy won hands down. Adam and Joe had made Dennis pay up. The three men had also bet that Joe would be unable to tame Dennis’s son and make him behave. Joe had succeeded in that project too and wound up winning a hundred dollars between the two bets. Robert was leaving for boarding school with his brothers the next week much better liked and with a bit more Latin in his head than anyone had ever thought possible.

“When you and Miss Emily come back from taking Robert to the train, you and I are going to have some fun. I told you I would buy you a big treat!” Joe laughed and Sam smiled at the idea.
”Ice cream?”
”Oh all the ice cream and candy you want and some toys too and books.”
”Latin books and a top hat, Sam.” Adam teased.

“A beer in the Golden Shamrock too,” Joe teased back.

“New colored pencils and chalk and paint and a big atlas and ice skates,” Sam decided. “And a guitar like Pa’s”

Chapter 2

Virginia City

Spring, 1859

It was moving on towards six o’clock, and there was a damp chill in the late spring air when Little Joe and Hoss rode, stirrup to stirrup, into Virginia City. It was Friday night and most of the families in town were headed for the schoolhouse box dinner social. With Ben and Adam still in San Francisco, Hoss was under strict orders to keep a close eye on his younger brother. Despite his best efforts to keep ahead of him, Hoss was sure that his seventeen-year-old brother had some thing up his sleeve besides his arm.

 Both of the Cartwright brothers had put on their Sunday best and spent a long time getting washed up and sweet smelling for all the fair young ladies who were packing dinners to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Joe had even stolen some of Adam’s bay rum cologne and doused himself with it. He was yet to learn the nuances of subtly and figured if Adam used a little bay rum, more would be even better. Hoss told him the gals would be able to smell him all the way to Carson City. Joe thought that was a good idea.

The young lady had the obligation to join the highest bidder and share the meal Much whispering and conspiring was going on among the girls and their sweet hearts to make sure the right young man purchased the correct decorated basket or box meal.

A cluster of young girls hurried down the street holding their dinner boxes. Nancy Coffee had her special apple pie that she was hoping would attract her father’s deputy, Clem Foster. The young ladies clutched their packages tight against their chests, as if for protection as they hurried toward the schoolhouse.

Melissa Peters knew that her fiancé Jack Fischer would make a large and showy bid on her white and pink striped box. They would be getting married the following Saturday and no one in town had yet realized why the engagement had been so short. Melissa hoped that her corset was laced tight enough to make sure no one would start counting off nine months on their fingers.

The men touched their hats, and Joe hollered, "’Evening, ladies!” as all the girls waved up at him. A few hoped that Joe would bid on their dinners as he was considered one of the handsomest boys in town and as a Cartwright, one of the best catches. It didn’t much matter what the girls wanted, as Joe already knew whose dinner he wanted to snag. He had even put every last cent he had saved into his pocket to assure that happening.

Further on down the street, another man was loading his family of what seemed like a dozen children into the back of his wagon. “Hi Boys!” Mr. Hall greeted the Cartwrights. “You headed up to the school house for the party?”
The two brothers nodded “Heard its gonna be a real blow out!” Hoss shouted happily as they rode by the family.

The next wagon they passed belonged to the Circle D ranch. Mr. Duprey was a heavyset blonde man with a sour expression. His wife, in shawl and deep, frilled bonnet, sat up on the front seat with a covered basket in her arms. Out of respect, Joe and Hoss touched their hats to her as they rode by. Amy and her younger sisters sat in the back of the wagon with their blonde heads together. The three pretty girls were giggling with excitement.

“Hi girls,” Joe smiled warmly as he rode past.

Amy smiled and waved at Joe. Her mother and father would surely not approve of young Joe Cartwright, however handsome, greeting her in the street. It was deliciously frightening.

“Better watch out, Short Shanks. If her Pa thought you had your eyes on his Amy, he’ll come after you with a shotgun. Mr. Duprey don’t cotton to any Cartwrights setting foot on his ranch no less courting his daughter.”
”What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Joe grinned impishly. He turned and smiled boldly over his shoulder at Amy. The pretty girl waved at him as they passed and held up her dinner box so that Joe could see how it was wrapped and bid on her offering. Joe nodded and she lowered the beribboned box back into the wagon. The wide satin ribbon was the same shade of blue as Amy’s eyes and the box was wrapped in shiny yellow paper. Her new dress was the same shade of sunny yellow. She had promised Joe fried chicken and butter cookies and a special surprise if he won her package. Joe hoped the surprise was something of a personal nature rather than some of Mrs. Duprey’s pickles or some potato salad.

“Joseph, quit your foolin’. Mr. Duprey and Pa haven’t gotten on since you were knee high to a toad and you are gonna get both you and that little gal in a heap of trouble if you keep on.”

“Hoss, if I just bid on a box dinner and the school house gets a few dollars and it winds up that Amy and I just have to have sit together, how could Mr. Duprey or Pa get mad?” Joe patted his pocket. He had all the money he had saved for a new rifle with him to insure no one would out bid him. He would show Jack Fischer who could make the biggest bid. Just because Melissa dumped Little Joe for Jack didn’t mean that young Cartwright couldn’t put Jack in his place.
Hoss just shook his head. “When you get your head set on some gal Joe…”
”Hoss, she ain’t just some gal. I love her. I really do. She’s special and I don’t care if her family and the Cartwrights haven’t gotten on forever.”
Hoss laughed loudly.” Wait until Adam hears this. Little Joe is in love again. I could never have guessed. What is it, two, three weeks since you fell in love with that Melissa? No, she pushed you aside right sudden for Jack Fischer. Miss Sylvie at the Altamont or was it Jessie Louise? Then it was one of the Hall girls.”
”Hoss this is different” Joe said as he kicked Cochise to a faster pace.

Chapter 3

After supper as the sky darkened to cobalt blue, Joe rode onto the Circle D ranch crossing over Cherry Creek and entering forbidden territory from the northern boundary of the Ponderosa. He was squirming in his saddle with anticipation.  As calmly as he could, Joe sat on a rise over looking the spread. He hadn’t been there since he was very young and needed to figure out where he had to go. At the box social, Amy and Little Joe had sat in the corner with their heads close together and arranged this evening. They almost got caught conspiring when Allison Duprey came upon them and told Amy that their father was looking to head for home. Meg stood next to her and said “Hurry Amy you don’t want Pa Pa to shoot Little Joe.”

Joe tried to follow the plan to the agreed upon details. The Duprey spread, together with its collection of barns, outbuildings and corrals was different in layout and design from the Ponderosa, but it was clearly a well-tended ranch. The house and out buildings lay in a green fold of the land with a pine grove close by the house and a small orchard further up the slope of the hill. It was the prettiest spot Joe had seen on the entire spread and now he knew why Mr. Duprey would always brag about his place and refuse any offers to sell out.

The fine, white house glowed in the dark evening. Mrs. Duprey had little flowers planted all along the front and there were two big bushes on either side of the front yard. The leaves on those bushes were heart shaped, like green valentines and the purple lacy flowers were fully in bloom. Joe couldn’t remember the name but they were pretty and smelled sweet. Lilacs that was what those flowers were called. Lilacs.

 There was a white painted wood trellis on the side of the house with early blooming pink roses climbing up to the second floor front window. Joe knew that it was Amy’s bedroom from what she had told him. Joe smiled to himself. He figured he could climb right up that trellis and go right into Amy’s room just like that Romeo that Adam told him about. He had climbed up the side of her house to Juliet’s porch. No it wasn’t a porch it was a balcony. Joe figured he could climb down that trellis too if he ever had to get out of her bedroom fast. That is, if he ever got the chance to go into Amy’s bedroom.

 A pale, misty moon, now not quite full, rose over the barn on the other side of the yard, its steady light reflected by the whitewashed fence boards of the picket fence. Amy had told him to wait for her behind the smoke house.
Joe tied his horse to the split rail fence that was around the empty pigsty. Mr. Duprey had yet to get a pig, as it was still early in the season. Joe knew no one could see him from the house if he stayed on the far side of the barn and kept in the inky shadows.

 Upstairs and down, every window spilled the yellow light of oil lamps. Joe could see Mr. Duprey sitting in the parlor smoking his pipe and reading a book. Mrs. Duprey and her youngest daughter, Meg were washing the supper dishes in the kitchen. Allison, the middle girl was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework. It was so strange to Joe to think he could stand in the shadows, unseen and so clearly be watching the Duprey family tend to their ordinary home tasks as if they were players on a stage.

“Joe,” a sweet feminine voice called to him from the shadows near a cluster of pine trees. “Joe.”
It was Amy. He ran into the darkness and they embraced.

“I wasn’t sure you would come.” A little smile settled on Amy’s lips. She snatched his hat off his head and tossed it over her shoulder giggling.

Joe could see her bright blue eyes looking at him in the moonlight. She reached out and wound her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her and kissed him That was exactly what he had in mind the entire day and most of the night before. Joe’s eyes widened and then half closed as he began to enjoy himself more than he had fantasized.

Joe pulled her closer and leaned back against the trunk of the tree and pulled Amy down next to him. The thought that her father could catch them at any minute made Amy’s kisses all the more exciting to both of them.

Amy flung her arms around Joe’s neck and twisted her fingers into his curly brown hair. Dragging his head down, she clamped her mouth firmly onto his. She held him close and kissed him deeply as they lay under the pine trees. He drew her soft body against his and kissed her until she pushed her hand on his chest. “I can’t breathe, Joe. I need to catch my breath.”
Joe sighed and stopped kissing her for a few minutes until she caught her breath. Then he kissed her again.

Chapter 4

Adam Cartwright rode up to the North Pasture to see how the fence repairs were going. The storm two nights earlier had caused some of the herd to bust down the fence. Strays had scattered for miles. Now the men were busy rounding up the missing heads of cattle and running a new fence.

As Adam approached he could see his brother standing and drinking from a canteen. “Hey get back to work, Little Joe! It’s a long way to quitting time, boy. I have to go into town and get the payroll set.”
Joe glared at him. “We got one more post to do and we’re done, you old coot. No thanks to you, Mr. High and Mighty riding around on your horse all day telling us lowly cowhands what to do and heading into town at mid day to drink beer.”

Hays Newkirk, the Ponderosa foreman, looked sharply at Adam, "You Ain’t got no call to jump on the boy the way you been doing. He’s been hard at it all day. He was out here while you all were still having breakfast Adam.”
Adam’s dark eyes widened in amazement. That certainly was not typical Joe behavior. Usually his young brother was the last one up and the slowest one to get to work.

“ Just because you got your hands full, don’t take it out on your brother. Ain’t his fault that Hoss hurt himself and the Doc wants him off his feet all week"

“You’re right, Hays,” Adam nodded to the foreman. He would apologize to his brother later up at the house.

No doubt in Adam’s mind that Joe was transforming before his eyes into a man that summer, well muscled and tan, taking on a good share of the work while Hoss was laid up with a twisted knee and their father away for two weeks dealing with some contract problems in San Francisco. For some reason, Pa didn’t seem in any rush to get back to the Ponderosa either. Ben had made some vague comment about spending time with a friend while he was in San Francisco but didn’t mention whom it was. Adam didn’t think to ask either. His Pa just seemed very happy when he left Virginia City.

Adam leaned wearily in his saddle and watched his brother reaching for the sledgehammer on the ground. Joe raised the heavy tool over his head and effectively finished pounding the last post into the ground. He only needed to use a few blows. Last summer he barely had the muscle to swing the heavy sledge hammer.
”Last one Adam. I’m going to go back and see if I can find the rest of those strays. Dean already headed over toward the creek. I think I’ll go up that way and catch up with him.”

Adam nodded. “I’ll see you back at the house for dinner. Just keep your eyes open. There is talk that Ka-Pusta was seen up by Eagle’s Nest and down near the Dayton spread.

Joe vaulted onto the back of Cochise. “Not to worry, I’m going in the other direction toward the creek and Circle D.”
“Didn’t mean to holler before, Little Brother.”
 “Don’t worry about it Adam. I’ll see you for dinner,” Joe called over his shoulder as he headed toward the Duprey boundary of the Ponderosa.
”Adam needs to get out more and find himself a lady friend,” Joe thought smiling as he rode off.

Chapter 5

As he headed over the rise, Joe could see more trouble than he ever would have anticipated. In the distance Joe saw four Indians were chasing Dean on horseback. He was galloping hard, the horse’s hooves thundering, but the four were close on the boy’s tail.

If he could have had his way, Little Joe would have kicked Cochise into a flat out run and left them sitting in his dust. But it was too late to ride off and leave his friend behind. Joe pulled up behind some brush at the top of the hill and waited to see what he should do next. He had only a pistol having left his rifle back at the fence line with Hays. He would not be able to get off an accurate shot at this distance.

The Indians had surrounded Dean. The riders had him hemmed in at the edge of a steep rocky bluff and there was no way for the blonde boy to escape. One man held on to Zephyr’s bridle. Another man caught Dean and pulled hem off of his horse at gunpoint. The horse reared and broke off from the Indians.

Joe could see Dean’s horse, Zephyr galloping off riderless toward the hills and Dean standing on the ground surrounded by Indians. The Indians had Dean hemmed in and there was no way for his pal to escape.

Joe looked back over his shoulder praying that his Pa or one of his brothers would show up but he knew they wouldn’t. Pa was in San Francisco. Hoss was back in the house and Adam was headed off to Virginia City. No one would even miss them until sun down, if that soon. Joe would have to handle this totally on his own.

Joe knew he had to act quickly before the Indians spotted him or any harm came to Dean.  He drew his gun and boldly galloped over the rise right into the middle of the Indians. As he got closer, Joe realized that these men were not Ka-Pusta or any band of Paiutes. The largest man had the bluest eyes Little Joe had ever seen and the heavyset man on the black horse had a thick blonde moustache. They were all using the kind of saddle that a working cowboy would use, not riding bareback like a Paiute would. Joe realized that it was a bunch of white men dressed as Indians. What was going on?

With his left hand, Joe drew his Colt out of his holster. Everything that Adam had taught him presented itself readily at the forefront of his mind: keep the pistol aimed low, lock his wrist but not the elbow, be ready to take a second shot if you need but making the first one count was better. Clearest of all was his Pa’s first lesson, never, aim a gun at a man unless you were prepared to shoot him and never shoot unless you aim to kill. Joe aimed at the center of dark haired man’s chest. He had no hesitation to kill this phony Indian to save Dean Newkirk.

“Let him go.” Little Joe tried to make his voice sound ominous and deep.

The men were now openly glaring at one another, one with hostility, and the other with fear in his eyes as Joe drew his gun. .

The hazel eyes that looked into their face showed no trace of the fear Dean knew was there in Little Joe. His friend looked as cool and as dangerous as a gunslinger drawing a bead on the man who was holding him. All the times Joe had practiced looking grim in his bedroom mirror or faced down school yard bullies or played poker with older boys had honed his ability to stare down any man.

“Now drop your guns and let my friend go.” Joe growled menacingly. He kept his eye on the black haired man who was holding on to Dean Newkirk. “Don’t make me have to shoot you.”
The two-armed men tossed down their guns and Dean pulled away from the man who was holding him. The blonde haired boy reached down and stuck one gun in his belt and pointed the other at the man who had just a minute before been about to shoot him or throw him down the steep side of the bluff.

Joe reached down with his right hand and pulled Dean on the saddle behind him. He still kept his gun aimed at the tall dark man with the sapphire blue eyes. Joe pulled back hard on the reins and Cochise half reared before feeling Joe's heels dig into her sides and she leapt forward to freedom. Dean hung on to Little Joe for all he was worth. It was not the first time Dean Newkirk had ridden behind Joe and clung on to his friend but he sure hoped it would be the last.

Responding to the quick jerk of the reins, Cochise put distance between them and galloped forward to freedom.

"I think we just made it,” Joe shouted to Dean.

“Who were they?” Dean stammered. He was still clinging tightly to Little Joe. It took a lot to shake up a Newkirk but this encounter sure did it.
”I sure don’t know but they sure weren’t Paiutes neither.” Joe answered heading for the south.

 The men sat on their horses watching Joe and Dean disappear over the ridge into the tall pines. “That’s not the last we’re gonna see the Cartwrights. Let’s get out of here.”

"I think we just made a huge mistake,” the blonde man said, watching Joe and Dean disappear into the tall pines.

"You're right we should have killed that kid.”

“Both of them kids,” the blue-eyed man muttered.

“Now someone is going to come nosing around here. Colonel Chadwick better not know about this. Ted Flanagan neither. Don’t want the Territorial Governor thinking we can’t do the work he hired us to do.”

Chapter 6

Ponderosa Ranch,

 Early Summer, 1859

As he sat back in his saddle on his big buckskin, Ben Cartwright felt a great pride in viewing his ranch and how well the work on the fence line was proceeding well ahead of schedule. His son Hoss sat beside him on Chubb and Adam was slowly riding up behind them on Sport A few men were loading the last of the fence posts and the tools into the wagons to head back to the barn. Joe had already gone back to start the evening barn chores and tend to the horses in the corral.

For as far as Ben could see in fading light, all was fine, and all they’re hard work over the last few months was worthwhile. Hoss was up and around as good as new and all the trouble that had sent him to San Francisco a while back resulted in an unexpected order for more lumber for some shipyards in California. He also had a very pleasant private visit with his lady friend far away from the prying eyes of Virginia City gossips or his son’s comments. There were some relationships that Ben felt were best kept private. Only Roy Coffee had made notice and he swore to keep his friend’s business their secret.

Sitting at the top of the hill, he allowed his eyes to trace the line of the new fence Ben saw two rows of shiny silver wire, tightly stretched with no breaks between new posts that stood as upright as sentries on guard duty. The new wire followed faithfully the uneven terrain as it curved down out of the north, marking out the familiar boundary of his property, separating his lush grazing land from the Duprey ranch on the other side of the boundary.

“You and the men did a good job on that new fence line, Hoss.”
”Even Joe did more than his share this time. Mr. Duprey came up a few times to make sure we stayed on our own land. He ain’t very neighborly.”
”I’m not surprised about that. That stubborn fool won’t ever give up and let bygones be bygones.”
 “At least Joe kept his sassy mouth shut and minded his manners when Mr. Duprey was nosing around. Bet Duprey figures we are going to tunnel a few miles into the Circle D corrals and steal some of his horses,” joked Adam. He rubbed Sport’s side as he looked over at his husky brother. Duprey was one stubborn cuss when it came to grudges.

Hoss chuckled at the image of a huge gopher tunnel big enough to pull horses from the Duprey spread on to the Ponderosa Ranch. “Probably Joe would be the first one through sneaking over to spark Amy Duprey.”

Ben smile turned grim for an instant thinking of his youngest and Duprey’s pretty blonde daughter. Joe certainly talked a lot about her lately. She was a sweet pretty girl with wide blue eyes and long blonde hair. Ben could tell by how they looked at each other in church or when Joe saw her in the mercantile that they both were crazy for each other. Even the owner of the Enterprise, Mim Wallace had teased Little Joe about the romance the last time she had invited the Cartwright’s for Sunday dinner. Ben was not at all happy that the boy was involved with Amy.

 “Pa, you had a falling out with him so long ago I wonder if Mr. Duprey even recalls what started it all.”

“Oh no, I am sure that bitter man remembers every detail and reminds himself every morning when he wakes up and every night when he goes to bed. That man likes to get his own way no matter what. ”

“I heard around town that Bob Harrison was back in Nevada nosing around over to the Duprey’s looking to buy him out, “ Adam informed his father. “Harrison is always looking to buy up what ever he can. He was going after the Dayton place again too. Harrison just rides up and down Cherry Creek looking for more land.”

“Little Joe said that Mr. Duprey tossed Harrison off the place and said he would sell out to him as soon as Governor Flanagan became queen of England and the Ponderosa started raising sheep.”

Ben chuckled at the picture of Duprey loosing his temper with Bob Harrison. He was glad not to be the only target of Carl Duprey’s rage. “ I suppose Amy told him about that.”

“I suppose so, Pa. He spends an awful lot of time with her.”  Adam watched to see his father’s reaction to that bit of news.

”Little Joe hanging around Amy Duprey don’t make that man relax neither, Pa.” Hoss observed.

Ben sighed and kicked Buck forward and started down the hill back towards the Ponderosa ranch house. It was starting to get late and it would be dark by the time the three of them got back to the house for dinner.

Maybe it would be wise to send Joseph off with Hays to buy some horses in Denver or with Adam to San Francisco to help out with the next round of contracts and get the boy out off the Ponderosa for a while. Then it would be fall round up and Joe would be working moving cattle and too far away and too tired to get into much trouble for weeks. Maybe Joe and his romance with Amy would cool down a bit and Joe would move on to someone else by winter. Half his gray hair was caused by his youngest son’s escapades and reining Little Joe in.

“I told that boy to behave himself and go find himself some other gal, but your little brother thinks he is in love again and won’t listen to me one bit. He claims he and Amy want to get married.” Ben looked at his middle son. Hoss’s deep blue eyes looked out towards the Duprey ranch. He also knew that expression on his son’s face, from long experience. Hoss had something to say. It just took him a while to get round to saying it. Ben also knew his boys also frequently covered up for each other when they didn’t want him to know what they were up to. Something was going on between Joe and Amy and Hoss clearly knew more than he was willing to say.

Adam nodded in silent agreement with his father. Ben noticed he wasn’t saying a word either. Not even a sarcastic comment or a complaint about Joe not doing his job.

“Adam and I told him the same thing Pa. But you know ‘Kissing Joe’. If there is a gal to be had nearby is where you find that boy. “

“At least he didn’t disappear on Hoss doing the fence. Matter of fact, he’s been working pretty hard lately.” Adam thought about instead of lollygagging around, Joe was rushing to finish his work to get cleaned up and ride off somewhere.

“I suspect that just makes that purty gal Amy all the more appealing to our little brother. You telling him to stay away makes her all the more sweet. I spoke to him too.” Hoss added.
”And?” his father raised his eyebrows. He suspected there was a lot more going on between Joseph and Amy Duprey than any of his boys were letting on. He was worried that of all his sons, the impetuous hot blooded youngest was the one most likely to make him a grandfather first and Ben Cartwright really didn’t relish the idea of buying a new dark suit for a shotgun wedding. And he certainly was not looking to go to a wedding of any of his boys over on the Circle D.

“And not to worry, Pa. We all will watch out for him. We always have.”

Hoss wasn’t about to tell his Pa how many times he had caught Joe and Amy wrapped around each other by Cherry Creek or in the willow grove or behind the Cartwright barn. Hoss recalled Adam’s lecture to Joe at the branding corral about keeping his britches buttoned up and watching out that he didn’t get sunburned in the wrong place made Hoss suspect Adam had caught their hot blooded little brother in a risky posture too.

Adam waited for Hoss to say something and when he didn’t he remained silent too. He was certainly not going to be the one to tell Pa that Joe had already proposed to Amy Duprey and she had accepted. Let Joe break that news to Pa himself. If he was man enough to get married at barely seventeen then he better be man enough to tell their father on his own. Adam just hoped he was there to witness the explosion when it happened. He could use a little entertainment.

Hoss smelled smoke on the wind. “Pa you smell something?” he sniffed the air. “Smoke coming from the Duprey’s. Smells too much to be the cooking fire.”

As Ben and his two sons came to the crest of the next hill they turned to look towards the Duprey spread. Fire was blazing furiously in the distance lighting the darkening horizon with a bright orange flickering glow.

“Boys, that looks like Durey’s house or barn is ablaze. Let’s go!” He looked at the smoke billowing up from the cluster of buildings in the distance as he kicked Buck into a gallop and rode toward their neighbor’s spread.

Chapter 7

Joe slapped the reins against the broad rumps of the horses, urging them to a faster pace, and they responded with an extra burst of speed. The rumble of the buckboard’s iron rimmed wheels was loud on the surface of the hard packed dirt road leading to the Duprey Ranch. Little Joe was anxious to get Mrs. Duprey to her home and see his Amy.

“Thanks for inviting me to come back to your place for dinner Mrs. Duprey,” Joe smiled sincerely. His greenish hazel eyes lit up and the woman could understand why her daughter was so taken with young Cartwright as well as why her husband was so concerned with him coming around to visit her.

In the last year, he had filled out and young Joe Cartwright suddenly looked much more like a full-grown man than the slender young boy he had been in her mind. Mim and Rebecca Newkirk had pointed out that the forbidden fruit was always the sweetest. Perhaps, making Joe welcome and having the young people see each other in the front parlor where she and Carl could supervise what was going on would be much better. She certainly didn’t want Amy in some sort of fix like Melissa Peters and Jack Fisher.

Emma Duprey and her youngest daughter, Meg had spent the afternoon with many of the Ladies Guild quilting at the Newkirks. Both Rebecca Newkirk and Mim Wallace had convinced Mrs. Duprey that young Joe was a dependable young man and that he had sincere intentions towards her daughter even if he was high spirited. When she and her daughter were about to head home, she had stopped by the corral where Joseph was tending the horses and asked Joe to drive her home in her wagon and stay for dinner and visit with Amy. He thanked her profusely for the invitation and tied his horse to the back of her buckboard for his trip home. He had no mother but his father had raised his boys to be respectful and mannerly.

In addition to helping the young couple, Mrs. Duprey was quite nervous going home in the dark with Ka-Pusta rumored to be about and felt safer with Little Joe Cartwright accompanying them It was getting dark early and she did not want to be caught alone with Meg on the road connecting the two ranches if there was danger lurking about.

“No trouble at all, Joseph. I truly appreciate you getting me home. We ladies just lost track of time finishing up that quilt and I forgot just how early it gets dark at this time of year. Besides, I know you wanted to see Amy and she is certainly longing to see you. She really has her heart set on you, Joseph.”

Meg giggled from the back of the wagon. She was only twelve years old and had a close resemblance to her sister, just as blonde and just as pretty. ” Amy really misses you Joe. She hasn’t seen you in such long time.” Meg teased Joe. She knew that her sister had been sneaking out to meet Joe behind the smoke house after their parents went to sleep but she was not going to let on. “A long, long time.” She giggled. She thought Joe Cartwright was so good looking and wished he had two younger brothers that she and Allison could chase after. Then the three sisters could all get married to three Little Joes and live happily ever after.
He smiled at Mrs. Duprey trying to ignore Meg. “I have my heart set on Amy too, M’am. I really do.” He pushed his hat back and looked directly at her.

“I feel so bad that Mr. Duprey and your father can’t see eye to eye on much of anything and you two young folks are stuck in the middle of all this foolishness. Mrs. Newkirk and I thought my husband would have less to complain about if you came by with me for dinner and Carl got to know you a bit better face-to-face and man to man. Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Newkirk certainly think the world of you, young man.”
”They know me my whole life.” Joe made a mental note to go thank Mim next time he was in town visiting the Enterprise office. He was sure she was the one who did the best convincing. Mim was terrific at convincing people of her side in any topic.

“ I always knew you are a fine young fellow and I just want my husband see that for his own mule stubborn self.” Joe was shocked to hear her defiant comment. He thought she had always sided with Amy’s father in how he felt about all the Cartwrights. His Pa and Mr. Duprey had never gotten along since Joe could remember. Mr. Duprey claimed his Pa had shortchanged him on a cattle deal. He even had taken Ben to court and the court agreed with Ben Cartwright. Duprey still held an irrational grudge against Ben Cartwright and anyone who lived on the Ponderosa ranch. He wouldn’t even hire any hands if they ever had worked for the Ponderosa.

“Thank you M’am” Joe grinned appreciatively. “I know it must be hard to stand up to your husband and take my side with your daughter.”

”Joe, you’re a decent young man and I know you will always watch out for my daughter. Her Pa will come around if you just mind your manners and bide your time. Your Pa too. They are just two stubborn fools fighting over a few head of cattle but you and my daughter will just be more stubborn than those two jack ass old men who forgot what it is like to be in love.” Mrs. Duprey smiled warmly at Joseph.

“Is that clear? You mind your manners and show my husband what a decent sort you are and I am sure, if you and Amy are patient her father will give his blessings to the both of you.” It certainly was safer for her daughter to be visiting with a young fellow in the parlor than sneaking off to meet him. Mrs. Duprey had her suspicions about what was going on and how Amy was getting grass stains on her dresses and why she was so tired each morning at breakfast.

”Thank you Mrs. Duprey. I really love Amy. I really do and we want to get married.” He turned bright scarlet as the words rushed out of his mouth.

“Some day you will, son. “She smiled at him. “Just you wait and see.”Mrs. Duprey emphasized the word “wait”.  She patted his well-muscled arm as he drove. He was such a handsome sweet young man and he was clearly so in love with her daughter. She knew Little Joe Cartwright would do right by her Amy if given half the chance.

The road turned again as it left the woods, bending to the right around the line of fir trees and thick brush, and then ran straight across grassland towards the nominal boundary line of the two ranches. The Duprey ranch was on the other side of the hill, bordering Cherry Creek.

As they came over the rise in the road to the gate of the Duprey Ranch, Joe could see a cloud of thick, black, acrid smoke. The gate to the ranch road was wide open and swinging in the breeze. Joe drove through as fast as he could. Joe whipped the horses into a gallop and the wagon lurched and rocked the last half-mile down the road to the yard. Meg held tight in the back of the wagon as they bounced about. Joe pulled up the team in the front yard. 

Both corrals were completely empty. They could see the house was gone and all that was left was a charred frame with her iron cook stove sitting at a bizarre crooked angle in the middle of the smoking rubble. The barn was engulfed in flames that shot into the violet darkening sky.

“Oh my God!” Mrs. Duprey screamed. “Carl! Amy! Allison!”

Joe set the brake on the buckboard and wrapped the reins round it. Then he leaped down from the seat and swung Mrs. Duprey down. Joe dashed toward the burning barn with the frightened woman following close behind. Meg jumped out of the wagon on her own and ran after them. The barn door was wide open and Joe could see intense orange flames consuming everything inside. The thick black smoke poured from the roof and from the hayloft.

”Amy!” he bellowed. “Amy!” Joe’s eyes searched for any sign of her around the shadows. He spun his head around and at the shadowy corner by the smoke house a yellow spot caught his eyes. Amy’s new dress.

Joseph Cartwright spun around and ran over. He found the girl he loved lying face down in the mud. Joe fell to his knees and picked her limp body up in his arms and held her to his chest. Her dress was ripped half way off and her throat slashed from ear to ear. Joe froze in the horror of what he was seeing. His breathing grew ragged and loud in the following silence. Amy was dead. And he had a good idea who did it.

For as long as he lived, Joe would never forget the horrific mournful scream that split the air when Mrs. Duprey saw her daughter’s bloody body cradled in Little Joe Cartwright’s arms and the never ending shrieks that came from Meg.

Chapter 8

Virginia City

Late Summer 1859

 “How’s Little Joe these days? Ain’t seen much of him the last few weeks?” Roy Coffee stood near the iron potbelly stove in his office. “This coffee is hot but it’s been sitting here since this morning.” Roy lifted the lid of the coffee pot and looked in at the black oily liquid. “Maybe this was from yesterday morning, I’m not sure.”
”If I don’t need to chew it, its fine.” Ben held up one of Roy’s chipped crockery mugs. “It’s getting mighty cold out there.” Adam held up his cup as Roy poured the last of black coffee from the graniteware coffee pot.

“Pa sent him to Denver with Hays Newkirk and Hoss to see about some horses. “ He took a sip of the bitter coffee and wrinkled up his face and pushed his cup onto the edge of Roy’s desk. He was not going to risk his life drinking Sheriff Coffee’s noxious brew.
Oblivious to Adam’s behavior, Roy shoved some scattered papers to the side on his desk and lowered himself into his chair. “Last time I saw him, he and young Dean came in here all fired up about the men who killed the Dupreys. The boys insist it warn’t Paiutes. They said they has no proof otherwise.”
”Miss Barbara at the Altamont Saloon seems to think the same thing,” Adam commented.

“ Only Paiutes would… you know tear up the place and the women folk that way.” Roy shook his head.
Ben shrugged. “Joe took this whole business pretty hard. That’s why I sent him up to Denver.”

The night before the funeral for the Dupreys, Joe had disappeared and Ben finally found Joe weeping in the dark by his mother’s grave. The boy confessed to his father all that had gone on between him and Amy and that they had made plans to get married. He even told Ben how Amy had suggested they allow her father to catch Joe in her bedroom so he would force them to get married but Joe had refused. He had told his Pa that he feared Carl Duprey would have shot him first and called the preacher for a funeral, not a wedding. And if Mr. Duprey didn’t Ben would have. He said he never would disappoint his Pa like that.
”Joe spent a few weeks helping Emma Duprey and the other little daughter. Little Joe was over there trying to pick bits and pieces of anything salvageable from the fire  and put the place to rights.” Adam leaned back the other wooden chair, tipping it back on two legs. He crossed his arms across his chest. He was pretty proud of how responsibly his kid brother had handled the awful job and how kindly he treated Mrs. Duprey and her little girl.

“Harrison came over right quick and bought up the place.” Roy commented.

“I never thought he would swoop down so fast. The man is like a vulture. I would have given Emma twenty percent more for the place, but I didn’t feel it was respectful to approach her so soon after, after the deaths. Harrison had no such concern and shoved the papers in her face before the dust had even settled. Carl Duprey had refused to sell to him just a week before he died.”
”Joe came home that night wild. He knew Harrison had skunked Mrs. Duprey but he and Hoss and Dean were trying to round up what was left of her herd when Harrison came by.” Adam added

”Bet that son of a gun knew just what he was doing and waited until Emma and Meg had no one around to tell her to wait or consider another buyer.” Roy frowned. He shuffled some mail around on his desk and pulled out a few notices about wanted outlaws. He picked a stubby pencil and made a few notations on a few.

“You think Harrison had anything to do with all this?” Ben raised an eyebrow and put his half empty cup down on the edge of Roy’s desk. Roy made the worst coffee in Virginia City and having bad, stale over boiled coffee was more than Ben’s stomach could handle.

The sheriff put down his pencil and made a steeple out of his fingers. He looked at his old friend quizzically. "What is it you’re askin’ me, Ben?"

“I don’t know Roy. He just seems to be taking advantage of people selling land.
”There is nothing illegal with being a cold hearted business man. Ain’t got nothing more going on than that.”
”At least Joe and I convinced Mrs. Duprey to let Fred Thackery broker the livestock for her.” Adam added. He wished he had something else to eat or drink. Roy’s coffee had left a bitter burned taste in his mouth. “He was mighty decent to her and got her top dollar for what little she had left.”

“I think she and the little girl went back East.” Roy stood up and lifted the coffee pot. “There’s a bit of coffee left, either of you fellers want it?”
”Oh no thanks, Roy,” both Adam and Ben shook their heads. “Pa let me buy you a beer…”

“I thought Emma had a sister or some kin near Denver. Carl’s people were from back east. “ Ben regretted having had the half cup of coffee as his stomach was suddenly growling and knotting up. “Adam, I think we better get going. It’s getting late.” Ben jammed his hat on his head and walked over to the door of the sheriff’s office. “See you Roy!”

”Take care Ben, “Roy didn’t even look up from his paper work. “Always have a pot of coffee on the stove. Come by next time you are in town and we can play some checkers and drink coffee. “

”Sure thing, Roy! “ Ben couldn’t wait to get out the door and see if Doc Martin had some bicarb powders in his office.

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