The Cherry Tree Saga – #5 (by Robin)

Summary:  Part five of the Cherry Tree Saga

Word Count:  5800

The Cherry Tree Saga

Part 5

Chapter 1

Saturday morning the two older Cartwright brothers were on either end of a two-man saw, cutting logs into the proper length for the hearth. Little Joe’s task was to take the cut pieces and pile them against the house, and he was doing the job carefully, trying very hard to do it like Hoss had shown him.  As he worked he kept his eyes open for Pa’s return. “Shouldn’t he be back soon?”

”Just pay attention to your job, Little Joe. Pa will be home soon,” Adam repeated for the third time in fifteen minutes.

All three of them were upset. Earlier in the week, Adam had gone to the hiding place to retrieve the shotgun they had bought for their father’s birthday. It was gone. He quickly went from Hoss to Joe and asked if they had moved the weapon or knew anything about it. Neither brother had seen it in months, not since before Joe got hurt. Matter of fact, all of them had been too preoccupied with Joe’s injuries, the murder of Ramsey and the mysterious disappearance of the Lowell family to even think about their father’s birthday. Now months later, when Adam went to fetch the gift it was missing. Too much time had elapsed since any of them had seen it and too many people had passed through the tack room and barn for them even to consider what had happened. Adam swore his brothers to silence.

“We’ll never get that shot gun back who knows who got it and how long it’s been missing. Why let Pa be disappointed. Don’t even tell him about it.” Hoss nodded in agreement.

 “It sure was something special, Adam. No need for us to worry Pa.”

”Yeah Adam, I’m disappointed enough for all of us.” Little Joe frowned. “I don’t even have any more money for another gift for Pa.”

”Don’t worry Little Joe, “Hoss put his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Adam and I will take care of it. You’ll pay us back when you get back on your feet.” Now remember Joe, don’t ever tell Pa about that missing shot gun.”

“It sure was a beauty, Adam. You think we can ever find out who robbed it?”  Hoss looked at his brother.

Adam shook his head, “I’m positive it’s long gone.”

“Yeow!” yelled Hoss, for one of the logs had almost landed on his foot.  “Watch what you’re doin’. Or you’ll limping from my boot kicking your little rump across to Carson City.”

Joe picked up two more logs to carry to the woodpile, then dropped them to stare wide-eyed at the rider who’d just entered the Ponderosa yard. “Pa’s back!”

Ben dismounted from his horse and the boys called out a greeting as he climbed down.  Joe dropped the last log onto the pile and ran over to his father “Pa! Pa! Happy Birthday!”

Ben smiled at the warm greeting. All of them ran over to their father as he dismounted and greeted him with hugs and slaps on the back.  “Welcome home! Pa, we thought you’d have been back long ago.” Hoss said as Ben stretched out the kinks from his back.” Is everything ok?”

“Every thing is fine. I’m just tired. It’s good to be back home.”

“I’ll put up Buck, Pa.” Hoss took the reins of the large horse and headed to the barn. Ben smiled at his boys. Then with a ‘thank you’ to Hoss, Ben headed into the house to clean up and get a cold drink.

”I’m starving so let’s go inside.”

Little Joe slipped his arm around his father back and walked with him “Happy Birthday Pa. We got you a gift too!”

Ben suddenly remembered something he wanted to tell his eldest son. “Adam, we need to get some of the cattle moved tomorrow. I noticed that the grazing was looking a bit thin in places up there.”

“Will do Pa. Are you coming too or shall I take care of it?” asked Adam.

“You can take care of it for me. After all it’s my birthday and I would consider that a gift.”

“Look Pa, we got you a real gift! “ Little Joe didn’t want to hear about ranch business. He wanted to celebrate his father’s birthday.

”Wait until Hoss is done, Joe,” Adam urged. They all walked up to the house. ”Hop Sing, Pa is back!”

”Dinner in one hour, Mistah Cartwright “ the cook hollered from the kitchen, “You want cold drink now?”

”I’m going to get washed up and by then Hoss will be inside and you boys can give me that gift.”

A half hour later, the four Cartwrights sat at the dining room table waiting for Hop Sing to start serving.

“Well, here is your gift, Pa,” said Hoss.

Little Joe turned to his father and handed him a small box neatly in white paper and neatly tied with a thin blue ribbon.

“Thanks boys,” Ben smiled. He carefully unwrapped it to find a new pocketknife. It was a particularly fine one, with silver inlay on the handle and several blades that were suitable for a variety of uses. In the silver on the handle was engraved Ben’s initials, just as they had been on the missing shotgun.

“This is beautiful!”  Ben lifted it out and examined all the blades.

“Look Pa, it has a little cigar cutter too in case you need to nip off the ends of a cigar, “ Little Joe squeezed over to show him. “In case you ever smoke cigars.”

“This is quite a gift,” Ben smiled appreciatively at his sons. ”Thanks Boys.”

Adam, Hoss and Joe smiled but they all knew the missing shotgun would have been a far more wonderful gift. Little Joe, always the optimist, wondered if they ever would see that gun again. “Maybe some day.” Joe thought to himself. ”Maybe someday.”

Chapter 2

Kate Wallace stood the railing on the back porch of the Grange Hall. This was the worst night of her life. She stood with her back to the door of the hall. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She hoped no one saw her out on the porch by herself and she could hide until the dance ended. When her parents and Aunt Mim came looking for her she could finally go home.  She was totally miserable. In less than a month, she and her parents were moving to San Francisco. Her father had been offered a new position and her mother was delighted to take Kate to a more “civilized” place than Virginia City. Kate hated to leave her Aunt and her best friend Nancy Coffee. She would miss the afternoons riding out on the Ponderosa with Little Joe Cartwright.

In the shadows, Adam Cartwright stood with his left arm across his waist and the right elbow rested on left hand. He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger and watched her. Kate was wearing a mossy green dress that showed off her tiny waist and flattered her coloring. She was wearing her hair twisted up on top of her head and suddenly looked very grown up to him. “Was this pretty young lady Mim’s little niece who was always running around with my baby brother? I guess I must be getting pretty old when Little Joe’s classmates are turning into attractive young ladies.” Adam thought looking at Kate. He remembered Kate playing under the dining room table with Joe while her father tutored Adam in mathematics.

“What are you doing out here by yourself Katie?” he asked her protectively. “You look really pretty tonight, very grown up.”

”Kate looked up at him, suddenly realizing Adam Cartwright was standing next to her. “No one asked me to dance. I’m not very good at it.”

“I’m sure you are a very fine dancer Miss Kate, “ Adam said gallantly. ”Those yahoos and twits that my little brother pals around with are just not mature enough to appreciate your abilities. And they certainly are not worthy of your tears.”

He pulled out his clean white handkerchief and handed it to her. She wiped her eyes and handed it back to him.

“May I have this dance Miss?” Adam bowed deeply and kissed her hand dramatically.

“I’m not a very good dancer,” she repeated apologetically. She giggled at how silly he was acting.

“Oh I am sure you dance very well. It’s just the Virginia City school boys don’t know how to lead. And a lady is only as good as her partner.”

Adam took her hands and started to dance to the waltz that was playing inside. He was an excellent dancer and she was light in his arms. The music finished all too soon for Katie. She stood for longer than was necessary looking into Adam’s brown eyes.

Then Adam said quickly, “Thanks for the dance Miss Katie, I am sure my little brother and the other little boys were totally wrong about your talents.” He emphasized the word “little”.

She blushed. Impulsively, Katie jumped up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek with her soft lips. Adam, embarrassed, moved back from her.

“Thank you, Adam.”

“Don’t worry, Katie-bird. You are going to have every boy in Virginia City asking you to the next dance. Mim will have to chase them of your front porch with a broom.” Adam grinned thinking he was giving the girl a terrific compliment.

“I don’t think so, Adam. We are going to San Francisco soon. My father got a new job.”
”Then you will be breaking the heart of every young man in San Francisco, Miss Kate.”

He never realized that it wasn’t every boy in Virginia City or San Francisco that she longed for but it was Adam Cartwright Kate wanted with all her heart.

Chapter 3

The tale of Kate

At some point, Nancy Coffee gave up her child hood dream of marrying Little Joe Cartwright. She left him to all the bubble headed blonde girls that Joe always pursued with such enthusiasm and decided to find someone less wild and flirtatious. By the time she was sixteen, she had set her sites on finding a more suitable husband with both his feet planted firmly on the ground. She wanted a man who was cool headed and steady like her own father, Sheriff Roy Coffee.  She spent a few years dating Bill Felcher, the son of Reverend Felcher and other boys who were more “sensible” than Little Joe. Eventually she caught the fancy of Clem Foster, Roy’s deputy. After a few months of awkwardly eyeing each other Nancy asked her father what he thought of her going out with Clem.

“What took you so long to notice him, Nancy?” Roy laughed. “He asked me for permission to come calling on you two years ago and was just too shy to tell you.’

Within a couple of months Nancy and Clem announced their engagement and were married by the next June.

Dear Nancy,

I just got your letter and even though it is past midnight I had to sit down and write to you.

Of course I will come to the wedding and of course, you silly girl, I will be your maid of honor. I would never forgive you if you hadn’t asked me!

I can confess right now that Aunt Mim had told me what was going on between you and Clem and I had my fingers (and toes) crossed that you would finally see the light and accept his proposal. Finally!

I even picked out your wedding gift already and arranged for it to be shipped so that I won’ have to carry it with me.

 You and Clem so well suited to each other. It is about time you gave up on the likes of Little Joe and all those fellows you used to pine for and realized that Clem will be a fine match for you.

I will be making my travel arrangements and write you with the details. My mother sends her regrets, as she doesn’t feel comfortable leaving my father for so long with him being so ill. Give my best to Clem and your father. And to Little Joe who I am sure is glad you won’t be chasing after him any more ( ha ha) and all the other Cartwrights.

All my love,

Kate

 

Hollenberg, Levin, Belsky, and Mason Attorneys at Law
80 Boylston St,
Boston Massachusetts

Mr. Adam Cartwright
Ponderosa Ranch
Virginia City, Nevada

Dear Mr. Cartwright

We regret to inform you of the death of your grandfather, Captain Abel Stoddard on December 19^th. According to his wishes you will receive one-fourth interest in Stoddard and Bruce Ltd. The remaining interests will be divided in the following manner: One half interest to Mr. Charles Bruce, your grandfather’s partner, and the remaining one fourth interest to Mr. Dennis O’Mara both of this city.

We will be sending you copies of the legal papers to sign in care of your attorney, Mr. Levi Victor as Mr. O’Mara has directed. Please have him review them for you …….

Dear Kate,

The news of your father’s death came to me in yesterday’s mail with a package of letters from my father and brothers. I am so sorry it has taken me so long to send my condolences but the mail followed me from Boston to London and back to Boston again. It finally reached me here in Santiago, Chile where I am working on a railroad tunnel project

. I will always be grateful to your father for his inspiration to become an engineer and all the help he gave in tutoring me for college. The construction we are working on now is very much like the Fischer mine tunnels Hank designed years ago and I think of him often.

Not a day goes by when I don’t think of you and your family. Please keep in touch.

Affectionately,

Adam Cartwright

 

Dearest Kate,

I am so sorry to hear about your mother. Mim told us in church yesterday. Her death coming so soon after your father’s is a shock to all of us. She was a wonderful woman. I still use her recipe for chocolate cake and think of her each time I make it.

Clem and my father send their regards. Please come and visit soon. ! I would love to see you but my circumstances prevent me from traveling in the near future.

Nancy Foster

PS Do you like the name Clem Foster Junior or Roy Foster if the baby is a boy?

 

Dear Kate

Congratulations on your wedding. I wish both of you the best. Tell Mr. Striker that I said he is a very lucky man. Wish I could have been there to kiss the bride.

Love,

Joe Cartwright

 

Dear Pa, Joe and Hoss,

I will be stopping in San Francisco some time after the fifteenth of October on my way back from Chile to Boston. Dennis and I will be there for about three weeks finishing some meetings with the investors for the South American project I told you about. In addition we will meet a few people who are interested in some engineering work in for the railroads.

Pa, I think you may be interested in meeting Mr. Sloan as they are looking for some major suppliers of large quantities of lumber for the construction.

More importantly, I would love to see all of you if you could see it clear to make the trip. I hope the timing is good .As much as I am enjoying what I am doing, I sorely miss you all but don’t see any way that I will be getting out to the Ponderosa this trip.

Love,

 Adam

 

After a lavish dinner, Ben and Mr. Sloan returned to another meeting but the three brothers decided to have an evening on the town. Joe and Hoss knew that Ben didn’t really approve of drinking to excess or excessive gambling or saloon girls. Ben didn’t like it, but he tolerated it, as long as it was kept within reasonable bounds. But Joe decide what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. He and Hoss had decided that they were going to enjoy this visit with Adam for as long as they could. They wanted their brother and Dennis O’Mara to have a grand time visiting San Francisco.

“How about we get all gussied up tonight and hit the town, proper. We haven’t had a night out the whole trip. “ Hoss suggested to Adam and Dennis.

“If I sit in one more boring meeting with you and Pa I think my head is going to fall off my shoulders. I don’t know how you do this all the time Dennis.” Joe complained.

“Maybe you and Adam have more in common than he lets on. I think he runs off to South America and spends time off at sea whenever I force him to sit in too many of the business meetings in Boston.”

Joe looked at Adam with a curious look. He had never thought of his older brother in that sense. Adam was always the sensible one, the business head, the intellectual and scholar. Now he was hearing a whole other side of Adam from his business partner.“Hey let’s take Dennis to that big place up on the hill, that big fancy place with the red velvet drapes and the dancing girls,” Hoss suggested.” Sounds like you read my mind Hoss, “ Joe smiled devilishly.

A half-hour after dinner, the four men entered “The Palace” right on the edge of the Barberry coast. The four men stood watching as the crowds filed in and out. They saw men who were dressed in fine silk suits, obviously with money, entering and leaving as well as sailors and cowboys on the town One man, sitting at the far side of the entrance on a high stool at a table appeared to be in charge.

“He might be the owner,” pointed out Adam. The men were soon directed inside and escorted through a number of hallways decorated with red-flocked wallpaper to a larger room.

This was a room, full of poker players, gamblers and men on the town. The air thick was thick with cigar smoke, whiskey and cheap perfume. Drunks and revelers were out in full force. The huge space was brilliantly lit with gas light from the dozens of chandeliers all dripping with shiny prisms and gaudy crystal beads.

They saw a couple of strikingly beautiful women, serving up drinks. They were laughing and pouring expensive champagne down their customer’s throats. Over to the right was a circular marble staircase, obviously leading to the private rooms above. This seemed to be an exclusive gathering place for very special customers.

“This place hasn’t changed over the years.” Adam looked around the room. It seemed exactly as he remembered it.

“I don’t remember ever being in this part of San Francisco before. “ Said Dennis

 “How come you know it here?” asked Joe. Hoss couldn’t recall Adam telling him about the Palace before.

“Leave it to my little brothers to find interesting places and think they invented them,” Adam looked at Hoss and Joe and laughed.

“Oh, I came here once, years ago, before you two were old enough to appreciate beer or women.” He smiled mysteriously at his brothers.

“Boy, I don’t remember back that far,” Joe joked. “Was there ever a time when I didn’t appreciate beer or women?”

“Sure Dennis, Little Joe here was the only seven year old in Virginia City that was chasing saloon girls and swilling beer.” Hoss confided.

”Sure, I remember your father used to write to Adam about it all the time when he was in college. “Dennis smacked Adam on the shoulder with one hand and tipped Joe’s hat over his eyes with the other.

The four were soon seated at a round table and quickly ordered some liquid refreshment. Gas lights illuminated tables filled with throngs of happy revellers.

“If my Uncle Sean ever saw a place like this he would have thought he died and went to heaven.” Dennis stared at the gilt and satin panels and oil paintings of women in various states of undressed glory that decorated the vaulted ceiling. The painted pictures were as risqué as any of them had ever seen. Ladies barely wearing brilliant colored dresses. Their legs were showing from under their lace petticoats and their faces smiling sweetly, luring in painted suitors. Other panels were of ladies wearing pieces of dresses or no dresses at all reclining amongst clouds and mountains and waterfalls with chubby cherubs flitting about and leering into their décolletage.

At a nearby table a group of well-dressed men were playing high stakes poker. Piles of bills and chips covered the green felt covered table. Each man had a drink in front of him and a personal barmaid draped over his shoulders. The dealer was a heavy set man with sandy hair and piercing blue eyes. At his right was young man with dark brown hair and a moustache wearing a lavender brocade vest.

The cards were falling his way, and he had a couple of hundred dollars on the table in front of him. One of the players lost the fourth hand in a row to him.  He threw his cards into the table and leapt to his feet.

 “Ya gotta be cheatin’,” he yelled at the man in the lavender vest. “No one’s that good at poker.

“Sit down and stop your complaining,” the dealer demanded.

Dennis and the Cartwright brothers sat laughing and talking at the next table and ordered another round of drinks. Hoss and Joe hadn’t seen Adam since Christmas two years earlier and they had not seen Dennis for years. “Adam, did tell your brothers about the time we were washed over board off Cape May?”

“Are you joshing?” Hoss asked and Adam launched into another tale of his exciting adventures since he had left the Ponderosa.

Joe was distracted by a voluptuous red head in a low cut emerald green satin gown that came into the room on the arm of an affluent looking older man wearing a top hat. As she and her gentleman walked up the circular stairs, she looked over her shoulder at Joe and blew him a kiss.

 “Oh brothers, I think I am in love. There goes the woman I have been waiting for my whole life.” He started to stand up and Adam yanked him down by the back of his suit coat.

Adam laughed and turned to Dennis and Hoss and said, “Some things never change.”

“And for the right price she can be in love with you too Joe,” Hoss observed.

Dennis poured them each another round and launched into another story of how some ship owner had tried to cheat Adam and him out of half their freight. “He claimed it had been hijacked!” Dennis said, but the two of them had out witted the crook and retrieved all their goods.

“He picked up a piece of pipe and went after Dennis. You should have seen that guy’s face when Dennis showed him the manifest and grabbed him so hard by the throat his eyes bugged!”

”Some how Adam managed to catch the captain with a line like he was roping a bull and tossed him over the side until he cooled off a bit. By that time, we had gone home for dinner.”

 The four men dissolved into gales of laughter. Hoss pounded Adam on the back and Joe laughed so hard that his sides hurt.

At the next table a disagreement had broken out over the card game.

Ya gotta be cheatin'” he yelled. “No one’s that good unless they are a card shark, and Sir, I think you are!”

”Do you? Well maybe you are the cheat!” The other man shouted back.

The man who lost the most money, on the other hand, quite drunk, took serious offence at this man’s remarks. The slandered player was a handsome, well built young man with dark brown hair and a moustache.  “Why would you accuse me of such a thing?“ He quickly picked up all the scattered cards and shuffled them back into the deck. Now no one could see what hand any player had at the table.   He leaned back in his chair and looked straight at the man. He pulled a cigar from his brocade vest and stuck it in his mouth lighting it by flicking the match on his fingernail.

“No one cheats me!” The other man roared. He stood up and leaned across the table putting his face right into the other man’s face.

The cigar smoker straightened and responded with an arrogant stare and said “And what are you going to do about it?”  He also leapt to his feet.

“You are a stinking cheat,” he yelled. “You give me back my money, mister, before I fustigate you!” and he swung wildly at the man, but most unfortunately connected with the dealer rather than the cigar smoker. The other man, naturally enough swung back. Then the fight turned into a brawl. All of a sudden chairs, bottles and fists were flying. Women were shrieking and running to the other side of the room. A card player crashed across the Cartwright’s table and knocked their glasses over. Dennis quickly reached out and snagged the whiskey bottle before it overturned. “No sense wasting this, “ he grinned as he jumped out of the way and tucked the bottle into his coat pocket.

Adam tensed, but he didn’t say anything. He was drunk, but not so drunk that he couldn’t make a quick decision. “Let’s get out of here boys while the getting is good.” He had managed to stay safe in foreign ports by making quick decisions and avoiding confrontations with drunks that had nothing to do with him personally.  Knowing how much his younger brother loved to brawl, Hoss grabbed Little Joe’s arm just as he was about to swing a punch at someone he never met.

“Sounds like a good idea to me, brother.”

They all retreated towards the front door and had just hit the street when a horse drawn police wagon pulled up in front of the establishment and a dozen of San Francisco’s finest Billy club swinging police officers poured out.

“I think we should head back to the hotel and call it a night.” Adam suggested. “Dennis is getting too old for this kind of excitement. And I promised Amanda that I would keep a good eye on her husband.”

“Having five kids and another one on the way makes a man old, Adam,” Dennis quipped.” Let’s get back to the hotel.”

Chapter 4

Joe Cartwright stood in the lobby of the Cattleman Hotel in San Francisco, his eyes on the ornate clock on the wall. He was tired from last night’s celebration with Adam. They had finished the remnants of Dennis’s bottle passing it back and forth like truant school boys as they hiked back to the hotel singing at the top of their lungs. Ben was sound asleep when the four of them made there way back into the suite.  It was after three AM by the time they fell asleep and Ben had dragged them out of bed for breakfast at seven o’clock.

Hoss had already left to arrange for shipping some saw mill machinery they had ordered. Dennis had headed for the train station for the first leg of his trip back east leaving Adam to finalize their dealings in San Francisco. Ben and his oldest son spent the morning with Sloan of the Union Pacific in his office and had dragged Joe along despite his protestations. Joe finally managed to get away by reminding his father that he was expecting a telegram from the Ponderosa foreman giving an update of work on the ranch.

They all planned to meet up in the lobby for lunch.

Joe scooted back to the hotel and checked for the telegram and retired to the lobby. He figured he had at least an hour until his father and brothers would show up and debated going upstairs to the suite to catch a brief nap. Did he have enough time? He tried to figure if it would work out or just make more complications for him if he fell asleep too soundly and everyone was left waiting for him in the lobby.

Joe was fuzzy headed and suddenly felt something poking him in the ribs.”Hey mister, I’m looking to buy a pinto horse. Know of any for sale?” a voice asked huskily.

Joe spun around to see who and what was going on. Behind him stood a very attractive young woman in a green plaid taffeta dress. Her light brown hair was upswept stylishly beneath a small green hat set at a coquettish angle. She smiled at him with an old familiar grin.

“Oh my goodness! Kate!” Joe hollered and grabbed his old friend in a bear hug lifting her off her feet. “What are you doing here?”

”Looking for you and the rest of your family.” She threw her arms around his neck kissing him. “Mim wrote me that you all would be in San Francisco and I was just dropping off an invitation to come by for Sunday dinner at my place.”

Joe put her down and held her at arms length. “My, my Kate. Don’t you look pretty!” and gave her another hug.

Just at that moment Ben and his other two sons arrived and spotted Joe on the other side of the lobby.

“Ain’t that Joe over there? “ Hoss asked. “Well leave it up to my little brother to be hugging a pretty gal in the lobby of a hotel.”

Ben grinned despite himself and shook his head in disbelief. His youngest son always had the knack to find a pretty woman wherever they were. No wonder he was so anxious to hurry back to the hotel.

Adam stood for a minute chuckling next to his father when suddenly he too was dashing across the lobby hugging the young woman. “Pa, Hoss! It’s Kate! Come say hello.”

Chapter 5

“Pa there is something I don’t like about that guy,” Hoss said quietly when they were walking into the hotel lobby late on Sunday night.

“Kate seems happy enough though.” Ben answered looking at Adam and Joe. “Too bad her husband had to run out after dessert for that appointment.”

“I wonder what kind of important business crisis he had to attend to on a Sunday night,” Adam observed cynically.

“He sure rushed out of the flat like he had a band of Comanches chasing him.”

They both chuckled.” Guess he wasn’t so happy to have us for dinner guests talking about people he didn’t know back in Virginia City, “ Hoss tried to figure out what made Al Striker be so inhospitable. He had stormed out of the flat, cigar stuck in his mouth despite Kate’s urging him to stay.

“That little Sam is sure cute. Too bad Kate’s parents didn’t live to see him.”  Ben added thinking how the little fellow had taken a shine to him immediately. He looked just like his mother except he had a mop of brown curls rather than her straight hair. The three year old had spent most of the evening showing Mr. Cartwright all his toys and had fallen asleep in Ben’s lap.

Hoss looked as though he was searching through the thoughts in his head and he said “Pa have we met that Al before?  He seems sort of familiar.”

“You know, Hoss. Now that you mention it, he seemed familiar to me too. Like I seen him somewhere before. But I can’t put my finger on it.” Adam added. “Maybe back East, I don’t know.”

Ben said he was sure he had not met Striker before.  But as he was answering his son, his own thoughts were the same.  Al Striker hadn’t seemed familiar to him but there was something unpleasant about him. Strange that Hoss would pick up on that too. No, not really Ben reconsidered. After all, Hoss was the sensitive son and he had such a good heart.  If Hoss was being critical there had to be a good reason.

Joe yawned and added “I’m beat. Striker just doesn’t seem like the kind of guy I imagined Kate marrying.”

“What do you mean, Joe?” Adam questioned.

“I don’t know. Striker is kind of flashy and bossy … “ Joe struggled for what he was trying to say without revealing things Kate had told him years before. “Just she always liked quieter, smarter men who liked books and music and such.”

Adam looked at him quizzically. He was thinking about what a pretty woman Kate had become.

“Dinner was real good though,” Hoss grinned. “And Katie looked mighty fine. Joe, you missed your chance when you let her slip through your fingers, Little Brother.”

“Hoss, how many times do I have to tell people Kate and I were never like that. She was like one of the boys.”

Adam laughed and shook his head “Joseph, I am very disappointed in you, Little Brother. She always was one of the prettiest girls you ever brought around and if you thought of her as one of the boys… I don’t know.  Pa, you better get Joe’s eyes checked if he thinks of her as one of the boys.”

“Looks like Al Striker had the good sense to notice that, Little Joe “ Ben teased his youngest son.

“Ok, Ok, if you all are finished picking on me, I think I’ll call it a night.” Joe walked toward the stairway toward their suite. “ Let me say it for one last time. Kate is beautiful and a great cook and she and I were never, never, never sweethearts and Al Striker is a lucky man to have her for a wife! He hollered in mock frustration.  The few people in the lobby looked at the young man as if he were insane. What was the handsome young man screaming about standing on the grand staircase in the Cattleman’s hotel?

“And there is something about him that makes my skin grow cold,” muttered Hoss.”Like someone walking acrost my grave.”

Only Ben heard what he had said and looked at the big man with his eyebrows raised. It certainly was an odd comment for Hoss to make and set his own teeth on edge.

Continue on to The Cherry Tree Saga Part 6

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