In this story, I touch on the subject of 'ladies of the night'
although absolutely nothing happens and there are no bad words or
graphic scenes to upset anyone, honest
Lynne

WHO'S THE FATHER?
by
Lynne C

"And when, exactly, was the last time you saw Joe, Candy?"

"Erm, I guess it was around ten o'clock last night, although I'm not
sure of the exact time," said Candy, unable to look Ben in the eye.
"We were havin' fun, not clock watching, but I guess it was about then."

"And who was this girl he went off with? Did you know her?"

"Not really, Mr Cartwright. Just another saloon girl, young, pretty,
as they usually are. Nothing that made her stand out from the rest."

Candy was finding it really difficult to discuss such things with his
best friend's father, who happened to be his boss, as well.

Candy and Joe had ridden into town, the night before, to let off a
little steam, after a long, two weeks, up at the lumber camp.
They'd started off at the Silver Dollar and then moved on to the
Bucket of Blood, when Joe's older brothers, Adam and Hoss, arrived at
the Silver Dollar.

"Come on Candy, let's go find some of our friends," said Joe. "I don't
wanna spend the night, with those two watching my every move. I wanna
have some fun and they still see me as being about five years old, and
think they havta tell Pa about everything I do."

That wasn't strictly true, but Candy did have to admit that the
Cartwright's were a close knit family and they did look out for each
other. And the others did forget, sometimes, that Joe was now
twenty-three and quite capable of looking out for himself. However,
Candy, having grown up an only child and without parents, after the
age of nine, often envied Joe having so many people caring for him,
while at the same time, teasing him about it.

So, Joe and Candy went over to the Bucket of Blood and met up with
Mitch and Seth, two of Joe's old school friends, plus some of the
younger hands from the Ponderosa.

Joe was never a big drinker, as it didn't take much to get him drunk,
but he had a few beers and then got into a poker game. All the while,
one of the saloon girls was watching him, and trying to gently rebuff
any other man who approached her, without being too obvious about it,
in order to keep herself available for when Joe finished playing cards.
Mitch tried to start up a conversation with her, but she soon let him
know that she wasn't interested, and so he moved on to someone else.
She was just about ready to admit defeat and allow another cowboy to
buy her a drink, when she could see that the game was over.

"Thank you gentlemen, for all your kind donations," said Joe, scooping
up the money, off the table, and stuffing it into the inner pocket of
his green jacket.

She rushed over to be at Joe's side, as he rather unsteadily rose from
his chair.

"Well, hello," he said, tipping his hat. "I can't say I've had the
pleasure of meeting you before. The name's Joe Cartwright," and he
took her hand and kissed it.

"Hello, Joe Cartwright," she replied. "And no, you wouldn't have seen
me before, as I only started working here, a few days ago. Would you
care to buy me a drink?"

"Be happy to, Miss, erm, you didn't tell me your name," said Joe, as
they made their way to the bar.

"It's Carrie," she said. "And I'll have a whisky, please, Joe."

Joe led her over to an empty table, near the back of the room, and for
the rest of the evening he stayed with Carrie, and hardly spoke to any
of his friends.

Candy wasn't surprised when Joe came over to him and told him that he
was going to be spending the night with the girl.

"You head back to the ranch, if you like," Joe said. "If Pa asks about
me, tell him I'll meet him at the livery stable, at nine, tomorrow
morning. He's coming in to see Roy about those timber thieves, and he
wants me to go with him."

Candy just smiled and said, "Well, I might be staying in town, myself,
but if I do go home, I'll pass on your message. See you tomorrow, buddy."

Candy did stay in town and so didn't get to speak to Ben, until the
next day, when he met him in the street.

"Do you know where the girl lives?"

"No, Mr Cartwright, I don't, but it can't be far away, as Joe left
Cochise in the livery stable."

"Yes, I know he did, as I've just been there to stable Buck and I saw
that both your horses were still there. Well, I have to go and see
Roy, so I'll leave you to look for Joe. I'll meet you at Daisy's Café,
in about an hour."

Candy tried several places in his search for Joe, but came up blank.
He then went over to the Bucket of Blood and had a word with Bruno,
the head barman.

"That girl that Joe went off with, last night. Do you happen to know
where she lives?"

"Yeah, Candy, she has a room on D Street, in Rose Benjamin's place."

"Oh, yeah, I know where you mean," said Candy. "I don't like to bother
him, but his father's just arrived in town and was asking where he was."

"After the pair of you left, last night, Adam and Hoss came looking
for you, to see if you were ready to ride home, and I told `em you
were both otherwise engaged," said Bruno, with a smile on his face.
"I've watched those big brothers of Joe look out for him, since he was
sneaking outta the house and coming here, at the age of fifteen. I
reckon they've forgotten that he's big enough to take care of himself,
now."

"Yeah, I reckon they have," said Candy, also smiling. "But I guess old
habits are hard to break, and at least they care about him."

"Oh, they sure do," said Bruno. "I don't envy you having to go and
fetch him, but it would be more embarrassing for him, if his father did."

"It sure would be. Do you know much about that girl Joe was with? I've
not seen her in here before."

"No, not a lot," said Bruno. "She arrived only a few days ago and
asked for a job. I had a vacancy and said I'd take her on, on a trial
basis, and we'd see how it worked out. Seems nice enough, but she's
not very chatty, at least not about where she comes from."

"That's not unusual, though, is it? I mean, a lot of the girls are
either running away from abusive parents or husbands and don't wanna
be found, so they invent a past, and often change their name, too."

"Very true, and as long as she does her job, then I'm not that
bothered about her past," said Bruno.

Candy walked along to Rose's house and knocked on the door. It took a
while for someone to answer him, as most of the girls were sleeping,
having been working all night.

"Good morning, young man, please come in, although I can't guarantee
there will be anyone to attend to your needs at this ungodly hour,"
said the middle aged lady, who answered the door.

"I'm just looking for my friend," explained Candy. "He came here, last
night, with a new girl in town. She's only been working at the Bucket
of Blood for a few days, so I'm afraid I don't know her name. Real
pretty she was, with dark hair, and she was wearing a green dress."

"Oh yes, I know who you mean," said the lady. "Her name is Carrie. I
haven't seen her, this morning, so your friend could still be in her
room. It's number 6, up the stairs, to the right. I don't want any
trouble, now."

"Thanks, and don't worry, I'm not out to cause trouble; I just wanna
find my friend. It's time we got back to the ranch."

Candy took the stairs, two at a time, and was soon at the door of room
6. He hesitated before knocking, as he really didn't like intruding on
Joe, like this. The two young men had quickly forged a close
friendship, since Candy had begun working on the ranch. They were
close in age and shared a similar sense of humour and loved playing
practical jokes on each other and on other ranch hands, including Adam
and Hoss.
With his brothers being so much older than him, Joe enjoyed having a
friend, at the ranch, who was the same age, as he was finding that
Adam and Hoss were not so keen on joining him for a night in town,
like they used to. Both of them were courting and it was looking like
they both might marry, in the not too distant future.

Joe was delighted when Carrie asked him back to her room. She was a
really pretty girl, but in addition to that, she was obviously quite
bright and they'd enjoyed a pleasant evening in the saloon.

When she leaned across the table and said, "Would you like to take me
home?" Joe needed no second bidding.

They were soon in her room and Carrie poured them out a drink.

"I think you'll find this is a much better quality whisky than what
they serve in the Bucket of Blood," she said, handing him a glass.

"Well, I ain't much of a whisky drinker, but I'll join you in a
night-cap," said Joe, who was sitting on the bed.

"Do you like living here, Joe?"

"Yeah, sure, but then I've lived here all my life, so I don't have any
where to compare it with. What about you? Have you travelled around,
much?"

"No, not really, this is my first time away from the town I was born in."

"And are you planning to stay? I mean, I really like you, and so hope
you are, cos I'd like to see you again."

"You haven't found out what I have on offer, yet, Joe, and once you
do, you might not be so keen to have me around."

Joe stood up, and placed his arms around her waist.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna be quite pleased with what you share with me,"
and he gave her a kiss. "You are one beautiful looking woman, Carrie."

Carrie enjoyed the kiss, and could feel herself falling under the
spell of this very handsome young man. However, she remembered, just
before she allowed herself to get carried away, why she was really there.

"Joe, do you recall a girl called Jennifer, who used to live here,
about a year ago?"

Joe, who was, at this point, not really thinking with his brains, took
a minute or two, to ponder the question.

"Jennifer? Yeah, I do remember someone of that name. She wasn't in
town that long. Nice looking girl she was, too. She just up and left,
must be about a year ago, now. Why do you ask? Do you know her?"

"Yes, Joe, I do and I think you did, too, in the biblical sense, I
mean. Mind you, she didn't tell me you were as good looking as you
are. I guess she was too hurt by the way you treated her to mention that."

"I never knew her, in the biblical sense, or in any other way, that
well," said Joe. "Like I say, she was only here for a few weeks, and
practically from the first time I saw her, she took up with Luke
Thompson and I never saw her much, after that. He used to visit her,
here, or so he said, and then one day I asked him about her and he
said she'd gone back home."

"Yes, she did go home, because she found out she was expecting a baby,
and when the father refused to help her, she came to me. I let her
stay at my place, and I tried to persuade her to give the baby up for
adoption, as without a man to support her, she was going to find it
hard to cope. She said she would, but when the baby came, she couldn't
bring herself to be parted from him, and so I said I would help her to
at least get some money out of the father, even if he wasn't prepared
to marry her. So, how about it, Joe, are you going to start to pay for
your son?"

Joe, who had been feeling slightly drunk, up until this point,
suddenly became stone cold sober.

"My son? I don't have a son, what are you talking about?"

"Oh don't play the innocent with me, Joe. This isn't the first time
you've come to D Street with a woman, is it? And you were quick enough
to agree to come with me. What did you think we were going to do, once
we got here? Play a game of checkers?"

"No, of course not, and no, I'm not gonna pretend that I ain't never
been with a woman, but I've never been with that woman. I already told
you, from the first night she was in town, she was with Luke,
exclusively, at least that's what he told me."

Carrie sat down on the bed, unsure of what to do, next. She had only
just met Joe, and yet she felt sure that he was telling her the truth.
But, if that was the case, then it was Jennifer who was lying.

"Jennifer and I have been friends since schooldays. Her parents died
in a cholera outbreak, a couple of years ago, and she was really down
on her luck. Another friend from school, Dave Murdoch, wanted to marry
her, but she never loved him and so decided to leave and make a better
life for herself, elsewhere. I tried to dissuade her from going, but
she was adamant, and so all I could do was wish her luck. Anyway, a
few months later, she returned, and told me she was expecting a baby.
She said that she'd only ever been with one man and that his name was
Joe Cartwright. She said when she'd told him about the baby, he denied
that it was his and said he wanted nothing more to do with her. When I
couldn't persuade her to give up the baby, I decided to come and see
this Cartwright, and try and get him to pay up. Now I don't know what
to do."

"Well, I hope you believe me, Carrie. If I was the father, I'd own up
to it, but I'm pretty sure that the only man Jennifer was interested
in was Luke. And I hate to say this, as I do know him, and regard him
as a friend, but I think he must've used my name, when he introduced
himself to Jennifer. You see, he's a fair bit younger than me, and his
Pa don't like him visiting such places, so he probably said he was me,
so that his Pa wouldn't find out."

"I do believe you, Joe, but how does this help Jennifer?"

"Well, I'll go and track Luke down, in the morning, and see if I can't
get him to do the decent thing by her. He's not really a bad kid, but
his Pa is pretty strict and so it was likely fear of him finding out,
that made him treat her like that. I know he's been very down, since
she left, and I've never seen him take up with another girl."

"Thanks, Joe, it's good of you to offer to help me. Now, it's late and
I think we should get some sleep."

"Is that all you want to do, sleep?" said Joe.

"Yes, it is. I'm sorry for the deception, but I wanted to talk to you
alone and this seemed the best way to get you here. But I'm not that
kind of girl, Joe. You're welcome to stay, but you will have to sleep
in the chair."

So that was what Joe did and when Candy knocked on the door, the
following morning, it was opened by a very bleary eyed Joe, who was
having trouble standing up straight, after a very uncomfortable night
sleeping in an overstuffed armchair.

"Morning pal," said Candy. "Sorry to disturb you, but your Pa's in
town and he asked me to find you."

"That's okay," said Joe. "Actually, I'm glad you've come around. I've
got a bit of a problem you could help me with."

"Now then, young Joe, you haven't forgotten all that I've told you,
already, have you? How far did you get, before you encountered the
problem?"

"Very funny, and it ain't that kind of problem," said Joe, crossly.

He pulled Candy into the room, introduced him to Carrie, and proceeded
to tell him why she was there.

"So you see, we need to get hold of Luke and get him to do right by
Jennifer. You remember her, don't you? She was a nice girl, not the
usual type you meet in a saloon, and I hate the thought of her
thinking it was me who let her down, even though she doesn't know that
the me she blames, isn't me. Am I making any sense?"

"About as much as you usually do," said Candy, laughing. "I agree,
though, we should help Jennifer and yes, I do remember her, she was a
nice kid."

"Okay, you go out to the Thompson place and talk to Luke. Get him to
at least come into town and see Carrie. Even if he won't help
Jennifer, she at least needs to know the real name of her baby's
father. I'll go and find Pa, and calm him down. I should've been going
with him to speak to Roy about those timber thieves."

Candy fetched Luke and the young man agreed to talk to Carrie. Joe was
right in thinking that he'd given Jennifer a false name, so that his
father wouldn't know what he'd been doing in town.

"I know he's gonna be real mad with me, but I've got to do the right
thing by them both. It's been eating me up, ever since she left, and I
would've gone after her, but I didn't know where she'd gone. I'm gonna
ask her to marry me, and I'm gonna tell my Pa that he's now a Grandpa."

Carrie was really pleased that Luke was going to stand by her friend,
after all.
Luke broke the news to his father, who was angry, but eventually came
around to the idea and said it would be all right for Luke and
Jennifer, and the baby, to live with him, on the ranch.

Joe caught up with Ben, and had to endure a lecture on his tardiness,
but Ben was pleased that he'd helped Carrie track down Luke.

"I would hope that if you ever did find yourself in that predicament,
Joseph, you would be able to tell me about it, and let me help you."

"Of course I would, Pa, but then I have the best Pa in the world and
not everyone is that fortunate."

THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne
August 13th 2005

RETURN TO LIBRARY