Ok, I had a hard time with this one! But then I realized that the topic
would help me with another story I'm just finishing up. It's called Shadowed
Glass. It's not a Bonanza story, but this part has some Bonanza references.
I know I'm throwing you into the middle of it, but I think you can get the
gist of this little bit from context. Enjoy!
Excerpt from `Shadowed Glass'
by
J. Rosemary Moss
Aaron stared at his sister. She was still dozing peacefully on the couch.
He
drummed his fingers on the counter again, wondering how to break the news
to
her.
She'd be just as relieved as the rest of them that Caro was unharmed—and
that, one way or another, she was returning. But he didn't know how she'd
react to the rest of the news.
At length he walked over to her. He forced himself to crouch by her side
and
shake her gently.
"Wake up, Chana," he said.
She opened one eye and immediately shut it again. "Go away. I'm having
a
dream about Little Joe Cartwright."
Aaron rolled his eyes. "You watch way too much *TV Land*."
Chana stuck her tongue out at him, still keeping her eyes shut. "No,
I
don't," she retorted. "Little Joe's still cuter than any of the
characters
on today—except maybe Dr. Burke from *Gray's Anatomy*."
"Well, I'm not the one to judge. Come'on, get up."
She opened both eyes this time and treated him to a withering glare. "He's
in a bathtub."
"Who?"
"Little Joe!"
Aaron grabbed her arms and pulled her to a sitting position, ignoring her
moans and protests. "Sorry," he said. "I hate to interrupt
a good dream,
but—"
Chana cut in with an elaborate sigh. "Don't worry," she said.
"It wasn't
that good. I had Joe in the tub but all he was doing was singing 'Rubber
Ducky.'"
Aaron laughed as he released her. "Sounds like a waste of a good bath
tub
scene."
"It was," his sister agreed. She paused and gave him a wan smile.
"Caro
always preferred Adam to Joe. We used to fight about that whenever we
watched *Bonanza* reruns together."
She shook herself suddenly, as if shaking off the memory. "So what's
going
on?"
"I just spoke to Vincent. He had some news about Caro." Aaron
paused to take
a deep breath. "She—she got married."
He watched his sister closely. It took a long moment for the news to sink
in.
"Married?" Chana repeated at last.
Aaron nodded.
"Who—who's the lucky person?"
"Uh, Timothy," he answered, making sure that he kept his voice
even. He
wasn't thrilled by this news either—this had all happened way too fast—but
he didn't want Chana to sense his misgivings.
Chana's mouth dropped open. "She hardly knows him," she said at
last. "And
we don't know him at all."
Aaron shrugged. "Well, I'll bet they've been thrown together quite
a bit.
Look, she and Tim are returning together. We're going to have to be
supportive."
"Why?" Chana demanded. "Why should we be supportive? Caro
must have lost her
mind! She doesn't—you know how she is. She's not even into men—the only
man
she ever cared for was Adam Cartwright."
"I know. But people change. And she's been through a lot."
"I don't care," Chana insisted as she stood up and began pacing
the room.
"I'm not going to be supportive! I never heard of anything so insane.
She
marries a guy who's all but a stranger and you expect me to be happy for
her? Come on, Aaron—you and I both know that she's made a big mistake. The
sooner she signs divorce papers, the better."
"We don't know anything," Aaron reminded her sharply. "Look,
things can't
have been easy for either Caro or Tim. Maybe that's what drew them together.
For all we know, they're head over heals with each other."
Chana opened her mouth as if to respond, but then shut it again. "You're
right," she said at length. "God, you sounded just like Adam there.
There
was this episode where he reminded Little Joe not to jump to conclusions
by
saying that."
"Saying what?"
"Saying 'we don't know anything,'" she answered as she stepped
back over to
the couch and allowed herself to collapse onto it.
"All right," she continued. "I'll play nice—I won't say a
word when we meet
Timothy. But if it turns out that she has lost her mind, don't expect me
to
keep quiet."
And that, Aaron reflected later, was about the best response he could hope
for.