Summary: Part eight of Home
Word Count: 10,700
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Chapter 1
August 23, 1872
Ben,
I am scheduled to testify before Congress when they resume in the fall in regard to Governor Flanagan, Major Chadwick and the forged land records. We are trying to get approval of Federal funds to assist in the investigation. I am hoping that you and Levi will be able to persuade Ka-Pusta to testify in a deposition.
Phil Bartlett
September 18, 1872
Philip,
There is no way any of us would be able to get any testimony from Ka-Pusta. Ben and I have tried to get word to him through Miss Barbara but he is not going to come out of hiding under any circumstances. The man fears for his life and no way is going to let his whereabouts be known in a court or even to us. He claims that the cavalry will come after him if he reveals where he and his men are hidden.
We will continue to try. Any word if Flanagan is alive or dead? I heard there are rumors that he showed up in Europe and is living under an assumed name. Clem Foster heard that Major Chadwick had been seen in California but that is not substantiated.
Levi Victor
Chapter 2
Virginia City
September 1872
Joe Cartwright stood next to his brother’s desk with a serious look on his face. Joe had shown up unexpectedly at Adam’s office in Virginia City in the middle of a busy workday. He pushed his hat back on his head and made the point he had come to make.
“Don’t you and Katie see that you are raising a soft city slicker, Adam? Sam has absolutely no idea how much we work on the Ponderosa. Does your son have any idea how hard you worked as a boy, Adam building the ranch? Look how much responsibility you had growing up. You worked like two full grown men when you were his age.”
Adam looked up from his desk at his brother. “I did work hard, Joe. We all did. Pa was first building the Ponderosa when I was Sam’s age. I thought you and Pa were short handed and snowed under with work on the Ponderosa. What brings you here in the middle of the day, Joe?” Adam put down the contract he was reading and looked up at his brother.
“Had to get the cattle prices and make some arrangements to sell the herd. The drought is doing them in, Adam. Needed to hire on some men for the drive too.” He rubbed the back of his neck wearily.
“Stay for dinner. Katie will be glad to have the cook put on another plate for you,” Adam pointed to a chair but Joe shook his head and remained standing next to his desk.
“Katie already fed me lunch. I have to get back home now, you are my last stop,” Joe continued with his original point of discussion. ”Do you want Sam to be a spoiled rich man’s son like Pierce Winslow or Jack Fischer’s snotty, sissy boy, Stanley? Nothing will make Sam appreciate his Pa more than a few days of riding the trail and eating dust and looking at the rear end of cattle.” Joe said seriously. He sat on the corner of Adam’s desk balanced on his hip. “Even if that boy winds up living back east as some sort of Latin professor or working for you and Dennis or running the Enterprise, he should know how the Ponderosa is run. Adam he is a Cartwright and he has to know.”
Joe knew just what to say to change his brother’s mind. Go for the family loyalty and raising a fine responsible son.
Last time Joe had a beer with his brother, Adam had commented on how twelve-year-old Sam had sassed him back when Adam had him do some chores and how irresponsible the boy was with the new guitar Adam had given him.
“We sure can use Sam’s help with the cattle drive. I decided we need to start early with the drought and all. We are loosing too many. Pa tried every which way to hire on some more men but we are still real short.’
“He’ll miss school, Joe. I know that school isn’t important to you…”
”Sure it is Adam. Maybe when I was a kid, it wasn’t but I know how important Sam’s education is to you. But it will only be a few days and you can send him with his books. I’ll make sure he keeps up.”
Adam raised his eyebrows.” You are going to make Sam do school work? Joe, you are ram-rodding the drive. How are you going to make sure the boy does his lessons? You didn’t do your own lessons.”
”Well, maybe I won’t but Pa certainly will. And I’ll be sure Casey sticks to him and makes sure he is safe too and none of the men give him a hard time. What do you think, Adam? We really need you too, but…”
Adam smiled. He had just returned from San Francisco and his desk was piled high with work. Joe had thought of all of his arguments and Adam knew his was right. “As long as Kate agrees.”
Joe put his hat back on his head and was halfway out the door and turned and said, “Oh she thinks it is a fine plan. I spoke to Kate first. She already has Sammy packed up and waiting on the front porch for me to take back to the Ponderosa. Kate just wanted me to get your go ahead, Big Brother.”
Adam nodded and laughed as Joe closed the office door behind him.
Chapter 3
“I hate to see what these greenhorns are gonna do if this thirsty herd gets stirred up tonight in a storm Joe,” Casey Newkirk sat down next to him with his tin plate of beans. “I really think the weather is gonna turn tonight.” The young man had grown up on the Ponderosa and was maturing into a dependable, hard working hand. “We sure need the rain but I don’t know about the thunder and lightning too.”
“What could happen? Sam Cartwright asked as he walked over to the circle of men .He handed Ben a plate of stew and beans and sat down between Casey and his grandfather with his own dinner.
“The herd might stampede. These cows are pretty skittish and mighty thirsty and the hands are having enough trouble, as it is, Sam. That is why we needed your help and your father let you miss some school to help us out.” Joe answered his nephew.
The boy nodded. He had been born in San Francisco and had spent most of his life living in Virginia City had never seen a cattle stampede and was almost hoping to have the chance. He had seen runaway horses but never a whole herd of cattle thundering out of control. On the other hand his grandfather had told him how dangerous it was to have hundreds of panicked cows charging pell mell over each other and trampling any thing in their path. The cattle would even trample the men on horseback who were trying to slow them down and keep them from scattering to the four corners of the range.
”I think so too, Boss,” said Dave Dooley, one of the few seasoned men on the job. “What do you think we should do?” He took a bite of his food.
Joe sighed and pushed his hat back on his head. He rubbed his chin and thought for a minute looking around the range. Joe closed his eyes for a minute trying to picture in his mind what was over the rise and around the next bend of the trail.
“Give me a stick Sammy.” His nephew handed him a charred twig from the campfire.
“There is a box canyon down this way.” Joe drew a map in the dust with the stick. “If we head the herd up that way, they are hemmed in if the weather takes a turn for the worse. With the short crew we won’t have any trouble managing. The cattle will have nowhere to go and the men only need to watch the open end. By morning the weather will have settled. Then we can push them a bit and get to the rail head by night fall.”
“Sounds good to me, Mr. Cartwright,” said Ike Fletcher the new hand looking straight at Joe. He was one of the few experienced men that the Cartwrights had managed to hire and Joe had assigned him to ride in the front of the herd.
“Looks like it will work just fine. Joe, how did you get the idea? “ Casey Newkirk added looking at the map.
”Someone far smarter than I am figured it out a long time ago on another drive.” Joe looked at his father with a nod and a wide smile. Ben smiled back proud that his son remembered him driving the cattle into that canyon so many years earlier. Joe couldn’t have been more than six or seven years old when Ben had used that strategy. Ben always was amazed at how much Joe had been watching when he was small.
“We’d better finish up eating and start moving those cattle.” Dave and Casey stood up. Ike poured the remnants of his black coffee into the dry dust.
”Doc, you give the cook a hand packing up.” Ben ordered his grandson. Sam gathered the men’s dirty dishes and brought them back up to the chuck wagon.
The hands walked over to their horses and rode out towards the herd leaving a cloud of stirred up dust in their wake.
“Hope that plan works, Pa.” Joe confided swallowing the dregs of coffee in his tin cup.
“I couldn’t have done better myself.” Ben said softly and Joe’s tired face lit up with the compliment. He stood up and squeezed Joe’s shoulder. “You are doing fine, Joseph, just fine.” Ben walked back out toward his horse in the remuda. “I’m riding up towards the herd.”
“I’ll be up in a bit. I got to check with the chuck wagon on how he is gonna head up and make sure Sam pulls those books out.” Joe sat back on his haunches for an instant looking at the map. He picked up the stick and wrote his name, like he did when he was a kid. He scratched JOE in the dust and stood up and headed for chuck wagon. He would tell Sam to ride up on the chuck wagon and do his school work. Joe didn’t want Adam to have any complaints with how he supervised Sam while the boy was with him.
Chapter 4
Sept. 3, 1872
Dear Meg,
Are you mad at me? I wrote you four letters and got no answers at all. Are you all right? I am worried about you. Please, please write back. I’m coming up to Genoa next week. We need to straighten this out. I can’t make you love me if you don’t. I can’t make your heart feel what it doesn’t feel Meg, but I sure love you.
I love you so much and miss you more than ever.
Joe
Sept. 10, 1872
Dearest Joe
I am so glad you came to visit. I missed you as soon as you rode out this morning.
I am glad you are not seeing anyone else. Like I said last night, I don’t see anyone else but you. If I loved you I would have been even madder about not seeing you.
I’m sorry we fought but it sure was nice making up. Could you come back here in two or three weeks? I want to invite you to my brother Peter’s birthday party on the ninth of September. Do you realize we never danced together? Daddy hired some musicians and it should be a lovely evening.
Hugs and Kisses,
Meg
I’m so glad you came to see me. No, I won’t marry you. I won’t marry anyone but if I did decide to get married, maybe it would be you. Maybe, but right not now.
September 11,
Dearest Kate and Adam,
Thank you so much for your invitation for Eric and me to visit and surprise Ben for his birthday. We will arrive on the afternoon stage on Thursday so that the children can spend time together before the party. Eric is so excited and keeps talking about his cousins and seeing his grandfather and Aunt Kate and his uncles. You are so wonderful for including me in your family.
Affectionately
Andrea and Eric Cartwright
September 18, 1872
Dear Meg,
Miss you so very much. I had a great time visiting with you and your family. Did Peter like my gift or was he just faking about the shirt? Pa’s birthday is at the end of the month. Come and visit here and we can dance again. I think of holding you in my arms all the time. Can’t believe old Pierce is still nosing around you. I thought he was courting that banker’s daughter. Do you want me to set him straight next time I come around? I sure would love to knock some sense into his darn fool head.
The round up was fine and we got a fair price considering the situation. You were right on target with your price estimates. How did you do at the last auction?
Thinking about you so much all the time got me in trouble the other day when I was fixing some fences and was so busy thinking of you I almost hit one of the men with the sledge hammer. If Pa hadn’t come by at the right time and hollered I would have pounded him instead of the fence post. He said we are short handed enough with out me hitting anyone by mistake.
Love,
Joe
PS Marry me?
September 25
Dearest Joseph,
Don’t go hitting yourself or anyone else with a sledgehammer. No need to talk to Pierce either. I think I can handle Pierce on my own. I always managed fine on my own dealing with things and suspect I always will. Thank you all the same.
Even if you did want us to get married and were foolish enough to ask me, I do doubt that I would ever agree to it. That is what I told Pierce and every other man who asked and that is what I would tell you too.
Can’t make it this time. Wish your father a very happy birthday. I do care for you but can’t come to the Ponderosa this time or any time soon. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to see you for a while.
About those three horses you were looking at last month, if we can’t come to terms on the prices why don’t we just draw cards and high card wins? If you win, I’ll let you pay the price you wanted. If I win, you pay what I specified.
Meg
September 30
Dear Meg,
Drawing for high cards sounds fair enough. I’ll even trust your deck of cards.
I have some other things we can draw cards for. If I get the high card you will have to do what I pick for the evening. Sounds good to me. Ha ha.
See you in less than two weeks. Is Pierce still minding his manners?
I love you even if you won’t agree to get married right now. I won’t give up that easily.
Joe
October 1, 1872
Dear Kate,
The testimony before Congress went well. They will be funding the continued investigation but the sympathies lie with the Rail Roads and the Mining Interests getting their deeds corrected first. I suppose their lobbies are the strongest. The private ranches and farms will be the next deeds cleared and the Indian lands won’t be taken care of for years. Please keep running those editorials as they are generating a great deal of support back east. The Washington Post and NY Times have both quoted you, Katie and I have included the clippings in this package.
Please send Emily and my best to Adam and Joe and wish Ben a Happy Birthday. I hope to be in Virginia City after New Year. Kiss the children too.
Philip
Chapter 5
The Ponderosa Ranch
Nevada, October, 1872
The Ponderosa ranch house was filled with happy guests celebrating Ben Cartwright’s birthday. Adam had hired musicians for the evening and Joe had most of the furniture moved out to the barn so there was plenty of room for the crowds of guests to dance. Hop Sing out did himself with the refreshments
Ben was honored and delighted to have so many friends and relatives honoring him. He was especially delighted that Andrea had traveled all the way from the Massey Ranch in Elm Grove with little Eric to surprise him.
Eric had leaped into his Grandfather’s arms and hugged and kissed him. “Surprise! Grandpa Ben Cartwright. We came to say happy birthday day to you and kiss you too.” Eric had been the hit of the party and insisted on talking to every guest and introducing himself to them all with a smile and a handshake.
“I can’t believe Eric is so friendly around all these people,” Kate smiled to Andrea.
“I can’t believe it either. We are so used to being so isolated up at my ranch. He so loves being with Elizabeth and Sammy,” Andrea answered. “Eric has never been with many children.”
“Would you ever consider moving back here?” Katie ventured. She took her sister in laws hand in hers as they stood and watched the dancers and the children running in and out.
Andrea shook her head. “ Not right now. I just couldn’t face people’s prying about me quite yet. Maybe someday.”
Kate put her arm around her waist. “Think about it. We so would love having you and look how Eric loves being here.”
Andrea nodded and hugged Kate. “Maybe someday. Lets go see to Hip Sing’s cake in the kitchen. I think folks are getting ready for some dessert.”
Eric ran over to Ben and hugged him around his knees and said “There is a big cake for you too!”
“Looks like your grandson is running for governor, Ben,” laughed Hays Newkirk “Hoss would have been right proud of him. The boy looks just like him.”
Elizabeth tried to dance with her father. He whirled her around the room as the musician played a lively tune.
“I can’t do it Papa. I will fall down.” Adam lifted her so her little feet landed on his boots. “Try harder Elizabeth. Dance on Papa’s boots and you can do it.”
The little girl giggled and held tightly to her father as he danced. “I did it Papa!”
“Yes, you did!” Adam smiled proudly at her.
By nature, Elizabeth was shy and stayed glued to the people she knew. She was dressed in a brand new plaid taffeta dress and her favorite patent leather shoes. By the middle of the party she was so upset by strange people complimenting her pretty dress and how well she danced with her Papa and kissing her that she made Ben or Joe or her father carry her around with her face hidden in their collars.
Adam was a bit embarrassed by her shyness but Kate told him that she was barely three years old and he shouldn’t worry. “Not everyone in the family will run for governor, like Eric,” she teased.
“That’s right Adam, someone has to bring you broth when you are old and sitting by the fire. Elizabeth said she is her Papa’s girl.” Joe added. “What would you do if she wanted to dance with all the cowboys at the party? Elizabeth might just run off with some handsome fellow, Adam. Anyway Pa is having a grand time carrying her around.”
Adam blushed because he had told Joe that he wouldn’t permit Elizabeth to get married until she is sixty years old and Joe was never going to let him forget it.
As was the habit of the two of them during parties, Sam and Joe Cartwright sat in their accustomed perch on the middle of the stairs. Sammy sat on a step lower than his Uncle and leaned against Joe’s legs. They would sit with their plates of food and watch the guests and make jokes. Usually Joe would scoping out which pretty young lady he would dance with or flirt with or ask Sam who he thought was the best looking or most charming. This evening, Joe was not interested in any of them even when Sam pointed to an especially pretty girl. Not one woman attracted him the way that Meg Thackery did and Joe wished she had accepted his invitation. Both Joe and Sam dug into full plates of dinner and viewed the party from their spot on the steps.
“So Doc what do you think of riding round up?” Joe Cartwright asked his nephew. Joe reached over his nephews shoulder and stole one of the pickles off his plate. Sam laughed. “Don’t do that again, Uncle Joe. Sheriff Coffee and Clem Foster are in the dining room and I’ll have them toss you in jail for pickle stealing.”
“But Sammy, you need a witness to make that stick. And there ain’t no witness,” Joe shoved the rest of the pickle in his mouth and chewed it loudly with his mouth open. “And no evidence of that stolen pickle left.” Joe swallowed the remains and Sam playfully smacked his uncle’s leg.
Sam shrugged.” I sort of liked the round up. I liked being you and Grandpa an awful lot, Uncle Joe.” Sam didn’t want to hurt his uncle’s feelings but he really preferred going to school and eventually working with his Pa in the office or writing for the Enterprise far more than working on the Ponderosa.
Maybe he would be a doctor like Doc Martin. Sam liked that idea a lot. Sam always liked helping sick or injured people since he was very small. He had helped his uncle the whole year Joe was recovering from his serious injuries and even helped him when they were in Boston. That is why people called him Doc. Or maybe he could be a vet for horses. He liked riding horses and tending horses. He loved monkeys too. He certainly wasn’t going to tell Uncle Joe that he had no desire to work on the Ponderosa and hurt his feelings. Unless of course Uncle Joe would start raising monkeys on the Ponderosa and needed a good Vet who ran the newspaper too.
“So are you ready to take over the cattle next year?” Joe asked stabbing a forkful of potato salad off Sam’s plate. Sam took a fried chicken leg from Joe’s plate.
”Quit stealing my food, Uncle Joe!” the boy yelled waving the crusty morsel at his uncle’s head like a club and laughed.
“Don’t think so. Pretty soon you’ll hear some really good guitar playing and singing though.”
”Says who?” Joe teased.
“Says me. And my Pa said so too. Pa taught me to play the song. We are going to sing for grandpa. Just wait. Pa said we sound really fine. I taught Eric and Elizabeth all the words too.”
Just before the cake was served Adam stood up and called for attention. He drew his father over to the fireplace and sat him down in his red leather chair. Then Sam explained how hard the children had practiced and how much they wanted their grandfather to enjoy their song. He and Adam sat on the stone heath. Sam picked up his guitar and played “Clementine” and Eric sang along sweetly.
Elizabeth sat between her father and her brother and sang one line. She looked up and saw the entire party looking at her and she turned red and climbed on to Ben’s lap and hid her face in his shoulder. She whispered the words in her grandfather’s ears but refused to turn around and look at the rest of the people in the room.
Eric so enjoyed the audience’s applause and cheers that before his mother could stop him he jumped up on the stairs and sang the song a second time.
Kate chuckled and told Andrea not to be so embarrassed.” Eric is wonderful. Look how Ben is smiling.”
Andrea nodded. She so wanted the Cartwrights to like her son.
Kate continued reassuring Andréa. “Don’t forget this family survived Little Joe’s antics. Eric has quite a ways to go before he upsets any one in the Cartwright family with his adorable singing. Joe would have sung some bawdy song he learned in the back of the Silver Dollar Saloon when he was three years old,” Kate exaggerated.
Andrea threw her head back and laughed at the thought of a tiny Joe singing a rude bar room ditty.
When Eric finished his encore he ran over to Ben and scrambled up next to Elizabeth. The chubby blond boy exuberantly hugged both of them. Ben shifted them around so he had one child on each knee.” This is the best party I was ever at Grandpa!” Eric shouted with glee.
”This is the best party I was ever at too, Eric,” Ben hugged the two little ones close.
As the cake was served the musicians in the dining started playing again. Kate pulled Joe to the floor for a dance.
“You look awfully quiet tonight, Little Joe. Bet you are missing your lady friend,”
Joe nodded and spun Kate around in time to the music. “She wouldn’t come. Meg claimed that she was too busy with things to make the trip.”
“You sound like you don’t believe her.”
”Maybe. We do have a great time when we are together. But I wish she was here tonight.”
“So, go get her and bring her back here and marry her and stop complaining about missing Meg, “ Kate ordered him.
“No this is really ok. We do have a lot of fun when we get together. We really do Katie,” Joe spun her around as the music got faster.
“Make up your mind pal, do you want to marry her or have one of those ‘we are lovers for decades and then we both die all alone relationships’?”
”Katie, you embarrass me,” stood still for a minute and then resumed dancing.
“Little Joe Cartwright, Is that something new?” She smiled up at him.
”What?”
”That I embarrass you,” Kate snickered as they twirled around the other couples.
Joe threw his head back and laughed loudly. “No, Katie, you’ve been embarrassing me since second grade.”
“Second grade? What about first grade?”
”I was still too young in first grade to get embarrassed, Katie Bird,” Joe smiled. The music stopped for a minute and Joe kissed Kate on her cheek “Thanks for the dance Mrs. Cartwright. I think my brother wants you back. His own lovely partner seems to have fallen asleep.”
Adam handed his sleeping daughter to Ben as he stood talking to Clem and Nancy Foster near the refreshment table. Then he walked over and smiled at his wife as Joe finished the dance.
“Notice who Joe is dancing with?”
”Not really, Katie.” Adam pulled her closer as they started to dance. “You look very pretty and I was only looking at you tonight. And Elizabeth.”
Kate smiled “Thank you. I mean who Joe is not dancing with. He didn’t dance with one unmarried lady over twelve or under fifty. He has danced with Nancy Foster, and Widow Hall and Bessie Sue and Elizabeth three times and me. And Bessie Sue Hightower’s daughter.”
“She is a very big girl, Kate.”
“Just like her mother.” Kate quipped.
” Joe danced with her just to save Sam from her aggressive affection. Sam ran out to the kitchen to hide as soon as saw her. Never saw that boy so interested in dish washing.” Adam laughed and twirled Kate around another couple.
“Joe is sad and lonely without Meg. He really misses her”
”He certainly is quiet. Maybe he should ask her to get married once and for all.”
”Maybe you should tell him that.” Katie looked up at her husband with a smile.
”Maybe you should. He never listens to me like he does you.”
“That’s true. But I’m usually right and you aren’t.”
Adam squeezed his wife close and whispered in her ear “I just let you think that, Katie.”
Chapter 6
The night was clear and warm and some of the guests drifted outside to get a breath of air or a bit of quiet conversation away from the music and dancing.
Joe Cartwright leaned against one of the porch uprights. Eric sat near him on the edge of the porch happily eating a piece of cake as retired Sheriff Roy Coffee and Doctor Paul Martin each sat in one of the wooden chairs. Levi Victor strolled outside to smoke a cigar and stood near them. Joe looked at three of his father’s oldest and closest friends. He decided to ask the men the question that had been floating around his mind for a long time. “Think there was ever anything between Pa and Miss Barbara?”
Roy smiled and rubbed his index finger across his thick moustache. Roy didn’t say a word but looked into his cup of punch as if the answer would appear in the red liquid.
“Gee, Joe. Didn’t you ever hear about patient and doctor confidentiality?” Doc Martin teased. “I’m sure you don’t want me blabbing about things you have said in my office when I stitched you up or set one of your broken bones.”
Joe tried to remember if he had ever told Paul anything so private and couldn’t remember anything other than years ago when he was cutting school and almost broke his neck falling off a wild horse and begged him not to tell his father.
“You know your pa never quite got over loosing your ma. He sure loved Marie and she sure loved him.” Said Roy Coffee taking another sip of the punch.
Eric walked over to his uncle and slid his little hand into Joe’s.
“And Miss Barbara had someone too.” Levi added. He took out a cigar and pulled off the paper band. He handed Eric the ring and showed him how to put it on his finger. Joe struck a match on the sole of his boot. As he had since he could remember, Joe lit Levi’s cigar. The attorney blew a big smoke ring into the air.
Little Eric stood at Joe’s side fascinated by Levi’s smoke rings. He had never seen such an amazing trick. “More smoke, Mr. Victor!”
“Who?” Joe asked smiling at Eric’s excitement over the lawyers tricks.
”Who what?” Levi smiled taking a long puff of the cigar and blowing out another smoke ring. Eric reached up to catch it and Joe swung his nephew up to catch the smoke.
“Who is the one Miss Barbara loves so much?” Joe asked Levi.
“Can’t say, Joe. You’ve heard of client confidentiality and attorney privilege. I can’t share secrets and privacies a client tells me ”
Joe watched Eric fascination with the smoke rings. “Is it Pa?”Joe asked the three older men.
”No, son, not Ben Cartwright, but some one that Barbara loves an awful lot. Just like your pa loved Marie, maybe even more than Ben loved your mother.” Levi puffed on his cigar.
”Make more smoke puffs, please” Eric told Mr. Victor. Levi smiled at the boy and gladly complied.
Joe lifted Eric up in the air higher to catch the next smoke ring. The chubby blonde boy chuckled at the game, much as Joe had at the same age and reached out his hands to catch the gray cloud.
Joe was puzzled and thought hard. Some one Miss Barbara loves? Someone still alive? Who could Barbara be in love with? Levi Victor? Roy Coffee? No, neither of them. Levi was devoted to his wife. And Roy Coffee was not the type Joe could imagine carrying on a secret romance with the owner of the Altamont Saloon. Not Doc Martin either.
“Who could it be?” Joe thought to himself. “It wasn’t his Pa. Maybe it really was some European king or gypsy or even an Indian chief like all the stories he heard growing up. Joe decide he would have to ask Adam what he thought the next time he and his brother were alone together.
Maybe Adam had an idea who Miss Barbara of the Altamont Saloon was in love with.
Chapter 7
October 8, 1872
Dear Joe,
You left your paper work for those horses when you were here and I will bring it when I come up next week. Looking forward to seeing you. Meg
October22, 1872
Meggie, Sorry we fought, Joe
November 12, 1872
Mr. Cartwright, You are a very big dumb, stupid cowboy and I never, ever, want to see you again.
Miss Meg Thackery
November 30, 1872
My dear Miss Thackery
You are a bigger fool and don’t worry about ever seeing me again. I am sick of all your fussing and fighting.
Joseph Cartwright
December 8,1872
Joseph,
Maybe we should call all this off, Meg
December 8, 1872
Meg, Maybe we should stop seeing each other for good. Joe
WESTERN UNION
December 18
Joe Cartwright-Ponderosa Ranch- Virginia City
Tell me that to my face-STOP- Merry Christmas.
Meg
December 18, 1872
Meggie, That sounds fine with me. Maybe I should come and visit and we can celebrate New Year’s and we can talk face to face. I miss your face so much. Love Joe
PS Tell Pierce that if he doesn’t mind his manners he will have to answer to me.
January 5, 1873
Dearest, I miss you so much when we are not together. Come here for Peter’s wedding. My parents would love to have you stay right here in the house. I want to show you off to all my friends. Happy New Year, to you and all your family.
Meg
Chapter 8
Virginia City
February 1873
“How did my brother get you to marry him?” Joe Cartwright asked Kate. They were sitting in at Kate’s kitchen table. She was making apple pies and Joe was supposedly helping. He was sitting next to Elizabeth but Joe was eating more apples than he was peeling.
“How?” Kate laughed. “You and Hoss showed him how foolish he would be to live without me. He asked me and I said yes. That’s it.” She poured the bowl of sliced apples into the piecrust and sprinkled sugar over the top.
Elizabeth sitting pertly at Joe’s right repeated “That’s it.” She had no idea what the adults were talking about but decided she should be part of the conversation. Kate had braided the little girl’s thick dark hair and at Elizabeth’s insistence had tied big green ribbons on the end the matched her flowered dress. Then Elizabeth made sure she was wearing one of her mother’s aprons tied around her like a pinafore so as not to “muss or spot” her new dress. She also insisted on wearing her good patent leather shoes because Uncle Joe had come to visit.
”That’s it?” Joe stared at Kate and reached for another piece of apple. He handed it to his niece and then took one for himself.
”Yes that’s it.” Kate smacked his hand as he reached for more of the apples she had sliced.” At least peel a couple before you eat these. I promised these would be ready for the school house fair tomorrow.” She sprinkled cinnamon over the top of the filling and started putting the top crust on the pie. Then she helped Elizabeth sprinkle some sugar on the top crust. The little girl did it precisely and neatly. She not only looked like her father with his wavy black hair and dark eyes but she had his exacting personality too.
”I forgot you were in love with him forever.” Joe pinched off a piece of the piecrust and nibbled thoughtfully on a piece of raw dough.
“Joe! Quit, that pie is going to look like rats gnawed at it if you keep picking at it. No one will buy it.”
“No one will want that pie, Uncle Joe. Don’t be a rat.” Elizabeth corrected him. She looked straight into his hazel eyes with her dark brown eyes. Then she put her little fingers on the tear and tried to smooth it over.
Joe smiled and said “If no one buys that pie, Elizabeth, then I’ll have to bring it home and we can eat it all up for all for dinner. Wouldn’t that be better? Pie for dinner?”
Elizabeth nodded and poked the hole back in the crust. She smiled at her uncle. “I’d love pie for dinner,”
Joe leaned over and kissed her forehead and snipped of another morsel of raw crust.
“Joe Cartwright! What kind of foolishness are you telling this child? Pie for dinner!”
”It always amazes me Kate how much this one is like her Papa.”
”I’m Papa’s little girl and Mama is Papa’s big girl, Uncle.” Elizabeth smiled. She didn’t have a crumb on her where as Joe had a smudge of flour on his face and slivers of apple peel in his hair. “I’ve asked Meg to marry me.” Joe announced.
Kate smiled and dropped the spoon she was holding. “Wonderful! When is the wedding?”
”Oh, she won’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’…I ask her every time I see her. She says things like ‘maybe’. Or ‘someday’ or ‘Not right now.’ Her best excuse is saying ‘if I were going to get married, I would marry you, Joe.’ I really love her Katie. I tell her all the time.“
“Does she tell you?”
Joe shrugged and thought for a minute. “Not in so many words… I know she does though. Kate. I’ m really very sure. Katie, she is just like the wind.”
“So your Meg is like the wind? Is she blowing ice in your face or warm at your back?” Kate smoothed out the damaged piecrust. Then she put the pie in the oven before Joe could nibble any more out of it.
“Can’t quite tell, Katie. Some time she is like a gentle summer breeze at my back and sometimes that girl blows bitter cold like the worst winter wind off the lake that freezes me clear down to my boots. Meg is like the wind and I can’t eve quite catch her. No matter how hard I try.”
“Try harder, Uncle Joe.” Elizabeth patted his arm and handed him the last slice of apple in the bowl.
Joe pulled her onto his lap and gave her a big hug. “Sounds like a wise plan to me, Miss Elizabeth.”
“Do you want to be one of those pitiful couples that people talk about at their funerals? He loved her and she loved him and the were lovers for eighty years but never had the good sense to get married. Too bad they died alone. Do you want to die alone?” Kate stared at her brother in law and wiped up the table with the dish rag.
”Try harder Uncle Joe,” Elizabeth repeated wiping the flour off her uncle’s cheek with her little hand. She still had no idea what the conversation was about but she definitely liked Uncle Joe’s idea to eat pie for dinner.
Chapter 9
Stockton California
February, 1873
His brother had talked about Meg so much over drinks in the hotel bar, that Adam Cartwright had rolled his dark eyes back in his head and groaned. “Joe, Katie told me you would make me crazy listening to you go on about your sweet lady friend but I thought my wife was just exaggerating.”
At his wife’s suggestion, Adam had even insisted on getting separate adjoining rooms because he was sure Joe wouldn’t let him sleep with all his enthusiastic chatter about Meg. “Joe, you told me I needed a nice restful trip. Brothers spending time together and all that and your going to yammer me to death. I got to have a stack of contracts to double check and need a clear head for the meetings with the railroad men tomorrow. Those Union Pacific agents will be glad to steal the teeth out of our heads if we don’t watch out. I’m getting too old to sit up all night talking about pretty women with you and then coordinate negotiations for both Stoddard and Bruce and the Ponderosa interests in the morning. I need a clear head”
“Need to get your sleep Adam? Guess so you old gray haired coot.” Joe grinned and smacked his brother on his broad shoulder. “Should I order you some broth or gruel for your dinner, you old toothless codger?”
”Look if you going to try to get your lady to go to dinner with you don’t you think you should go change into something that doesn’t smell from Cochise? I know she likes horses and all but I don’t think she wants to go out on the town with one.”
”Nope, I’m sure she loves me and my horse even though she won’t say it. I’m sure Meg thinks we both smell quite delightful,” Joe grinned. He rubbed his hand over his chin. “Guess I’ll go get a bath and a shave and get changed. Maybe even a hair cut too. Don’t want her to say no to my invitation.”
“A haircut too Joseph? Pa would sure like any gal that gets Joe Cartwright to go for a haircut. Where are you taking Meg?” Adam asked.
”That nice restaurant you took Kate that time you were here. Kate said they even had music and it was pretty romantic. Really romantic was her comment.”
”My wife told you that? What else did she tell you?”
”Nothing. Should she have told me something else, Older brother? Something about romantic restaurants and you?” Joe wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
”Joe, you have a one track mind. Did Kate tell you to make a dinner reservation at this place? That’s what I meant. They get pretty busy and with the crowd here for the auction you had better make a reservation. Go run around the corner before Meg gets here and make a reservation.”
“I’ll do it after I’m done with the haircut and all.”
He stood up and headed out of the bar. “Don’t wait up for me, Big Brother. Don’t want you to be worn out for your meeting tomorrow, you doddering old man.”
“Sounds like you are sure she is going to want to spend the evening with you.”
”Adam, how can she resist the best looking Cartwright?” Joe grinned. He was quite sure Meg would enjoy spending the evening together but it was next week and next year that always eluded him.
”And hopefully the best smelling too? “
”Mind if I borrow some of your bay rum cologne? I sort of forgot some things when I packed. And a tie too.”
”I’m married Joe. Why would I bring cologne here when Katie is home? To smell good for you? Do you think those Union Pacific men are going to be kissing me if I smell sweet and giving less attention to the contracts?” Adam laughed and leaned back against his chair and finished his drink. “But I do have a tie you can borrow. I’ll put it in your room when I go up.”
Chapter 10
Major Chadwick sat in the hotel lobby bar, nursing a brandy. He had told the bar keep to leave the bottle in front of him as he really didn’t want to talk to anyone more than he chose. He was waiting for Ted Flanagan and the men he hired to come into Stockton. There was a big livestock auction going on in town and the hotel was filled with ranchers and cowboys hoping to buy or sell cattle or horses.
Flanagan had insisted that this would be a good place for them all to meet they would be unnoticed in the crowds of strangers. Chadwick felt it was safer in a quieter town or even some out of the way spot on the desert, but his partner was confident that no one would recognize either of them.
Once the men all arrived they would make their final plan to hunt for the money and documents Danny Lowell and his pal Will had stolen from them years earlier. If they could come up with the bundles of counterfeit money and the plates, Flanagan and Chadwick planned to go to Mexico and live the life of kings. No US government or Nevada investigators would ever find them in Mexico.
Chadwick had spent most of the morning reconnoitering the area, walking around town, eavesdropping on people as they gossiped in the street or men who were discussing the livestock they were buying or selling. So far, he had heard nothing of interest or anything that should arouse his concern. Flanagan was right about them hiding in plain sight. Why camp out in the dessert or go to some little dirty town when they could enjoy a decent hotel and some fine food in the restaurant and whatever else Stockton offered. They could stock up with whatever weapons or supplies they needed and be comfortable. Flanagan said, “We are both too old and have worked to hard to sleep with dust and rocks and rattle snakes and vermin. Unless of course we hire the snakes and vermin to do our dirty work for us.”
Major Chadwick figured he’d spend a little time in the hotel and see what he could pick up there. Earlier in the day, the bar was almost empty. As the day wore on the place became so crowded and noisy that Chadwick had a hard time finding a place to sit down. He waited until two men finished drinking at a round corner table. First, the younger one left and headed for the stairs leading to the hotel rooms. He was a handsome man in his early thirties with curly brown hair. He looked vaguely familiar but Chadwick couldn’t quite place him. He had seen so many young men pass through Fort Mead as troopers and scouts over the years. The young man’s companion, a taller, older man with graying dark hair in a dark business suit, finished his beer and he too headed for the upstairs rooms.
Major Chadwick thought about asking the bartender if he knew their names. They had probably paid the bar tab by signing their room numbers as hotel guests, but decided that might arouse suspicion. It really didn’t matter who the men were Chadwick decided. The retired major decided he the men looked familiar because he had seen them walking around town with the others who were there for the livestock auction.
So far, since no one had shown up in the hotel looking for him. Chadwick decided to wait a bit longer to see if he could learn anything of interest. He sipped his drink. He figured to finish his whiskey, and then retire. Perhaps Flanagan and his men would show up the next day. He would check the telegraph office for any wires that Flanagan may have sent.
Just as Chadwick took the last sip of his whiskey, he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder.
”We are here, “ Ted Flanagan slid into the battered chair next to Chadwick. Chadwick looked up as a crowd of men pushed open the saloon doors. Six dusty, angry looking men walked in behind him and stood at the bar.
“Beers” ordered one of them. “Make them cold and wet.”
“New friends?” Chadwick gestured to the thugs. Two of the men were sitting in the adjacent hotel lobby with their feet stretched out blocking the path of an older couple. One of them pulling a pint bottle out of his coat pocket and taking a pull on it. The other man cleaned his filthy nails with the point of a hunting knife.
“The best the Federal Penitentiary system graduates and $100 dollars buys. All good with guns and itching to use them.”
Chadwick nodded and smiled appreciatively. Flanagan always had a knack for finding the type of men who would kill as easily as most men breathed. His years on the run had honed this skill to a fine edge.
“These boys enjoy what they do so much and were itching for action and a good fight. They were so hungry, that I didn’t even give them the entire amount up front. All I had to give them was $20 gold piece each up front and promised them the rest as well as a bonus when we recover our property at the Massey Ranch.”
Chadwick smiled and poured Flanagan a stiff drink. “Good thinking. They will be sure to hang with us to the completion of the mission if they are waiting to be paid.”
“I wanted the hardest men I could find for this last venture.” Flanagan watched as one of his men shoved a customer aside and took his beer and place at the bar. The other customer started to argue but walked away when he saw the aggressor’s belligerent face.
“Came to buy cattle, not get in a gun fight,” the rancher said to his companion as they both backed away from Flanagan’s crew and hurriedly left the bar.
“You wanted the hardest men you could find,” Major Chadwick smiled as he poured himself another whiskey.” Looks like you found them.”
”I usually do,”
Chapter 11
Joe caught his breath when he saw Meg on the other side of the crowded hotel lobby. Every time he saw her, it was just like the first time when he watched her at the auction that cold winter day with his cousin Will.
She was squeezed between one of the tall pillars and the front desk opposite the lobby entrance to the hotel bar. As she walked towards him, she was so beautiful his heart jumped in his chest. Meg was wearing the midnight blue velvet opera cape that showed off her eyes. Joe strode across the lobby to her side. She was looking in the other direction and when he touched her arm lightly, Meg flinched with surprise.
“Joe! I was looking for you,” she gasped. The crowd of men in the lobby had put Meg on edge as she stood there alone waiting for him.
“I was just around the corner making a reservation at that fancy French restaurant. Adam said the food was excellent. They have a violin player too. I’ll even order some champagne for us.” He bent over and kissed her cheek. She didn’t look at him but was watching the cluster of men who were monopolizing the lobby. She finally faced him and gave him a quick hug.
“Where is your tie? You need to wear a tie for that restaurant” Meg clutched onto his arm. She was still watching the crowd in the lobby nervously. In particularly she was watching a group of loud drunk men who seemed angry and looking to start trouble. They seem strangely out of place mixed in with the jovial auction crowd that filled town.
“Your tie, Joe.” Meg repeated holding his arm tightly but looking all around at the people.
”Oh I forgot. Adam is lending me one and its upstairs. I’ll be right back.” Joe turned and started for the stairway. Meg followed closely behind him.
Meg tugged on the back of his suit coat as Joe turned to go up the stairs. “Wait! I’m going with you. I don’t want to stay down here in this lobby alone. Those men scare me.” She looked at the same group of burly men who were spilling in and out of the bar into the lobby.
Joe was surprised by her distress. He had never heard Meg say she was intimidated by anyone or anything. “Come on, then. Adam left me that tie in my room.” He offered her his hand and Meg squeezed it tightly. He had been so caught up in admiring how pretty she looked that Joe hadn’t even noticed the rough noisy crowd in the lobby.
They headed upstairs to Joe’s room. Meg was silent as Joe fished in his pocket for the brass key and opened the door of his room.
“You seem so scared,” He hugged her,” Not that I am complaining, but it is not like you to be so shook up by a bunch of noisy cowboys. Drunk or otherwise.”
”I know it isn’t I don’t know what it was with that crowd downstairs. Some of them were not the ordinary crowd going to an auction. I never was so scared before for no real reason, Joe. I’m just very glad you came into the lobby when you did.”
”Did those men talk to you, Meg? Did they bother you or touch you?” Joe held her closer. He was all set to charge downstairs and punch out whoever bothered his girl.
”No, they didn’t do anything. That is why it is so strange that I’m so upset by all this. They just looked so scary to me.” She prided herself on her independence and her courage and here she was trembling and hanging onto Joe Cartwright for all she was worth. Meg was embarrassed to let anyone see her being so vulnerable. As much time as she had spent with Joe, Meg had never allowed him to see this side of her.
“I’m sorry I’m making such a fuss over all this,” she apologized. She leaned her head against Joe’s chest. She could hear his heart beating and he smelled so nice from his barbershop shave.
“I’m not. You can hang on to me any time you want Meg as much as you like. You know I even prefer it. I like it an awful lot.” He pulled her closer. “It’s kind of a nice treat to have you alone up here. You’re shivering, Meggie.” He smoothed her hair gently. Meg was trembling. He smoothed his hand slowly over her cheek and kissed her again.
“It must be cold in here,” she made excuses and reached her arms around Joe’s waist so her hands were inside Joe’s jacket.
Joe gazed lovingly down at the beautiful blonde woman in his arms. Her cape swung open and he could see that she was wearing his favorite soft ruffled purple moiré dress. At length, she raised her head again and looked up. Their eyes met first followed closely by their lips in the briefest caress of a kiss.
Then they kissed again, this time longer and more heatedly. Meg rubbed her hands on his back and pressed herself closer to him.
Joe sighed and swallowed hard. He loosened his arms around her but Meg clung tightly to him. She pulled him closer again. He could smell her sweet lilac perfume and he closed his eyes briefly, intoxicated by her scent.
“Meg we better go downstairs and go to dinner or I won’t be able to stop.” He whispered into her ear.
”Who told you to stop, Joe?” She pulled him closer and kissed him again. This time he didn’t even think of stopping and neither did she. Joe held her for a moment, then the embrace ended and they smiled at each other, neither knowing just what to say next. Joe chuckled to himself despite the pounding ache in his lower body and the heat suddenly pouring out of her. “I guess you aren’t so scared up here, Meggie.”
Joe could see her bright blue eyes looking up at him in the dim room. She reached out and wound her arms around his neck and pulled him back close to her and kissed him again.
She twined her arms around his neck to pull him closer and began to whisper in his ear. “I’m never scared when I am with you Joe, here or anywhere else.” Her hands reached around the back of his curly hair and pulled his face into hers.
That was exactly what Joseph had in mind for months before. Joe’s eyes widened and then half closed as he began to enjoy himself more than he had ever fantasized during the long lonely nights when they were apart.
Joe hugged her tightly to him and leaned back against the bed and eased Meg down next to him. “I guess now that you took advantage of me, you will have to marry me Meg.” He whispered in her ear.
He never needed Adam’s tie that night nor did they need the reservations in the French restaurant around the corner from the hotel.
Chapter 12
The loud noise woke up Adam in the middle of the night. At first, he awoke with a start and wasn’t quite sure where he was. For an instant he reached out his hand to see if Katie was next to him but when he felt an empty narrow bed instead, Adam realized he was alone in the hotel. Some one was making a lot of angry noise in the hallway.
Adam had gone to bed totally exhausted after a quiet, solitary dinner in the hotel dining room. Three solid hours of reviewing the details on a stack of lumber contracts for the Ponderosa and interfacing them with the Stoddard and Bruce sketches for a trestle for the Union Pacific had exhausted him and given him a pounding headache. Adam had pulled off his clothes and fallen into the lumpy narrow bed. He was sound asleep by eight thirty, knowing he had to be on his toes for the meeting the early the next morning. Adam Cartwright had no idea that his brother Joseph and Meg Thackery had also fallen asleep exhausted from their own evening’s activities in the adjoining hotel room.
The lovers had no idea what time it was or that Adam and most of the other guests had retired for the night. The last time Joe had looked at a clock, it was six thirty and he was making dinner reservations at the French restaurant. Meg and Joe were contently entwined sleeping in each other’s arms when they too awakened by Pierce Winslow pounding on Joe’s hotel door.
“Joe Cartwright! Where is Meg? You open this door!” Pierce bellowed drunkenly.
Joe quickly yanked on his trousers from the heap of discarded clothes on the floor and pulled sleepy Meg out of their warm, rumpled bed. He wrapped a blanket around her and opened the door to his brother’s adjoining room, shoved her into what he assumed was Adam’s empty room.
Adam could hear his brother Joe and some other man arguing in the next room.
“What the hell do you want?” Joe hollered.
“Where is Meg?” Pierce shouted as he pushed his way into the room. The door thudded against the wall with a loud bang.
Joe quickly kicked all the clothes under the bed. The only thing he missed was one of Meg’s purple satin slippers.
”I thought she was here!” Pierce raged at Joe. Joe saw the purple shoe out of the corner of his eye. Before Pierce could spy it, Joe kicked the shoe with his bare toe. The delicate slipper flipped up in and arc and flew through the half open window to the dark street below.
Adam squinted in the blackness and suddenly realized someone was in his hotel room. He sat up in bed. His bare back rubbed against the icy cold iron headboard as he reached for his gun belt that was looped on the bedpost.
“What the heck is going on here?” He demanded sleepily.
”Adam, don’t shoot! It’s me, Meg, Thackery!” she whispered hoarsely. Adam’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could see Meg standing in his room. Moonlight was pouring in the window illuminating the room with silver brightness.
“What is going on?” Adam started to get out of bed but realized he was wearing only his drawers, and they were the last pair he had packed, the pair that had a big worn hole in the seat. They were the same old pair Kate had tried to throw in the rag pile but he had defiantly pulled from her hands and shoved in his saddlebag. As Adam’s eyes adjusted to his to the dim light he also realized that Meg only wearing a blanket draped around her. He could see her tousled blonde hair and bare white shoulders shining in the moonlight that was streaming through the window. “What is going on here, Meg?” he repeated.
”Your brother, Joe and I are getting married,” she said matter of factly as if it was the most ordinary way of announcing an engagement and spending an evening with a future brother -in-law. Every book of etiquette said “ Let the blanket draped bride wake up the groom’s barely dressed brother and calmly say ‘Guess what Adam? Joe and I are finally engaged’ while the future groom argues with her former finance in the next hotel room.
“I’d come over and wish you congratulations but this may be more awkward than you need know. Kind of looks like you two had the honey moon already though “ Adam laughed. He grinned shaking his head at how the night was progressing. Only his brother Joe Cartwright could wind up like this.
Adam could hear his brother and some other man shouting from the adjoining room. Then they both heard the sound of a fist hitting flesh, some thing crashing against the wall and glass breaking. For a minute there was silence and then the door slammed and they heard Pierce Winslow holler from the hallway “ I thought she was in there!”
And Joe hollering back “I guess you saw she wasn’t and don’t you bother me anymore, Winslow. Or my Meg neither. My Meg not yours!” Joe hollered. And the door next door slammed again.
Joe opened the door between the two rooms and stepped into Adam’s darkened room. Adam saw Joe was bare footed and bare chested. He was wearing only his blue suit trousers. “He’s gone, Meggie.” Joe smiled triumphantly and reached his arms out to hug her to his chest. The quilt started to slip off Meg’s shoulders.
From his bed, Adam cleared his throat. “ Ah hem Er, Joseph, I didn’t know we were having an engagement party in here tonight, Buddy.”
”Adam? I didn’t know you were in here.” Joe pulled the quilt securely around Meg.
“Uh, it is my room and it is almost midnight.” Adam awkwardly pulled his own blanket around him as the night was chilly and he remembered how little he was wearing around Joe’s pretty blanket wrapped young lady.
“Gee, I didn’t realize it was quite so late. Guess you and Meg had a nice visit while I straightened Pierce Winslow out once and for all.” Joe rubbed his scraped knuckles. Then he smiled at Meg and pulled her closer. “I don’t think he is going to be bothering you any more after tonight. I just don’t know where your shoe wound up. I’ll have to buy you a new pair if we can’t find it.”
“Guess we did have a nice talk, Joe. I understand congratulations are in order. Anything else we need to chat about before I can go back to sleep?” Joe had embarrassed Adam many times over the years but this was probably the most awkward situation his brother had ever put him in bar none.
”Meg and I are getting married.”
”So I heard. Congratulations again to the both of you. Can I please go back to sleep?” Adam pleaded and yawned.
”Don’t let us stop you. Good night, Adam.” Meg smiled and blew him a kiss. She pushed Joe back into his room and closed the door firmly behind him.
“Good night Adam. Sweet dreams.” Joe shouted from the other side of the door. Adam could hear them both giggling in the other room and the bed creaking as he fell asleep.
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