By: Sherri P.
November 2002
“Pa, I’m not sure if sending
Joe alone is such a good idea,” commented Adam, as he gingerly pulled himself
from his seat.
“Adam, we’ve already
discussed this. You can’t go anywhere for the next week with that bruised
tailbone,” Ben explained, as he watched Adam struggle to stand up from the
settee.
“Dang it
pa. I was looking forward
to this trip. Who do you think arranged it in the first place?
Me! Now I have to stay, while Joe goes.” Shooting a glare over at
his youngest brother, he looked over to where Joe sat intensely studying an
apple in his hand. “Joe and his shenanigans!”
Joe’s head shot up on
mention of his name, defending himself he stoutly replied, “Hey now, if you had
been looking where you were going you would have never stumbled on those
marbles!”
Throwing his hands up in the
air, Adam spat out in disgust, “And what is a nineteen-year old man doing with
marbles out on the floor?”
“I already told you that
Adam,” sighed Joe, as he took another bite of his apple. Laying the apple
on the side of the hearth, he strode over to where Adam hovered next to the
settee, and offered his arm to assist Adam, but stopped when another glare was
darted his way. Holding his hands up in a motion of “okay” Joe moved
away. “I found those marbles buried away in Hop Sings kitchen, and the
bag was so frayed that when I walked through the living room the bag broke,
spilling the marbles everywhere. Then that is when you decided to come barging
in through the front door, not even bothering to listen to my warning.”
“What warning?” Adam
snarled, whipping his head around to stare at Joe.
“Well,” admitted Joe as a
smile stole across his face, “I was about to warn you, but a marble slipped
under your foot before I could tell you. Besides, I’ve already
apologized.” Leaning against the side of the settee Joe watched as Adam
slowly walked from the settee to the steps, as though he had a saddle tucked
between his legs.
“It’s not funny, boy,” Adam
growled as he dropped the word boy out of his mouth with distaste. Looking up
the stairs, Adam put one foot on the bottom step and in a howl of pain put his
foot back down on the floor. “PA!”
Sighing to himself, Ben
pulled himself from his comfortable seat and walked over to Adam, helping him
back away from the stairs. “What do you need, son?”
Reluctantly accepting Ben’s
help, Adam slowly moved away from the stairs and headed back to the settee where
he lowered himself back on the cushions. Trying to be extra careful with
his backside, he frantically motioned for Joe to push the circling of pillows
towards him. Sliding the pillows over, Joe quickly moved out of Adam’s
way as his body slowly descended down onto the settee. Settling down,
Adam didn’t say anything as he adjusted himself on the pillows. Feeling a
little bit better, he let out a big breath of air, finally answering Ben’s
question. “I was going to go upstairs and get a book.”
“What book?”
“Dante’s Inferno,” replied
Adam, as he leaned his head on the back of the settee.
“Joe, would you go upstairs
and get Adam’s book,” Ben instructed, as he moved away from the settee and
settled back down into his chair.
Just having sat down on the
hearth, Joe couldn’t help but whine. “Why me?”
Throwing a look of
impatience his way, Ben requested again, “Just do it Joe.”
Rolling his eyes, Joe turned
away and placed his apple on the side of the table before making it over to the
stairs, where he took them two at a time. Returning from
“Pa,” announced Hoss as he
looked over at Joe holding a book in hand. His attention redirected, he
looked at the book in Joe’s hand, and read it. With a puzzled expression
on his face Hoss couldn’t help but ask, “Mary
Sue’s Wild Adventure. What’s that about Joe?”
“Don’t know Hoss,” Joe
grinned as handed the book to Adam watching as he turned a deep shade of red,
“it’s Adam’s book.”
“Adam?” questioned Ben
having already guessed it was reading material out of the ordinary for his
eldest.
Stuttering for an answer,
Adam would open his mouth and then just as quickly shut it while Joe stood next
to him looking as pleased as a cat that ate a canary. Looking up at Hoss,
Adam attempted to redirect the conversation away from him. “Say Hoss, do you
have the horses ready for town?”
“Yup,” he replied.
Then looking at Ben he remembered what he came inside to say, “I hooked up the
buckboard
Nodding Ben stood up from
his chair, deciding to hold off the question about the book until later.
Walking over to towards the door, he turned to Joe and asked, “Do you have your
bag ready?”
“Yes sir,
got it over there by the door.” Throwing a glance over to Adam, he
couldn’t help but throw a jab in, “Be careful though, I’d hate for two of you
to be sitting there with a bruised tailbone.”
“Ha ha,” answered Adam from
the settee. Grabbing a pillow, Adam uttered a low moan from moving
abruptly on the seat as he aimed it at Joe, watching with pleasure Joe’s
expression as it landed dead center in his face.
Ready to retaliate, Joe
picked up the pillow from the floor and was prepared to throw it when he heard
Ben clearing his voice. Looking over at the impatient face of his pa, Joe
instead tossed the pillow over to the chair and followed Ben out the
door. “See ya in a few weeks Adam!”
Listening as the door
slammed shut as they left the house, Adam muttered under his breath, “Damn
kid.”
************************
As the Overland Stage coach
pulled up into
Settling down in his seat,
Joe leaned out the window and waved to his family. “Bye pa! I’ll
see ya in a few weeks, and Hoss take good care of my horse, ya hear?”
Leaning back, he quickly leaned forward again, “Oh and tell Adam, I’m sorry
about the marbles.”
As the stagecoach moved
away, Joe could feel someone stab a finger in the side for him to sit
back. Turning around, Joe saw that it belonged to a rather large man,
whose belly seemed to swell over his belt. Looking up into his face, Joe
could sense that the man already had a certain dislike directed towards him
even though he had just sat down in the coach. The man’s beady dark eyes
matched his dark hair, while his hair looked as thought it was in the process
of balding in the back. Glaring at him, Joe leaned back into the coach,
and settled as best as he could on the hard seat and began to look around the
compartment of the coach. Glancing quickly around the interior of the
stagecoach, Joe counted six passengers, with him being the seventh. Out
of the three females, it was the youngest one that captured his
attention. With light brown hair, he was able to catch a glimpse of
reddish highlights in her hair, as the sun would drape across it from the windows
of the stagecoach. She sat between two other women. The woman on her
right had her hair tied tightly above her head in a severe looking bun and was
struggling with a squirming child sitting in her lap. The child looked to be
about seven years old, and apparently didn’t like her mother giving her a spit
bath, washing the dust off of her face. On the other side of the bench,
there was a woman who looked in age to be much older than the other two
women. Wearing a soft yellow dress, the scowl on her face destroyed any
feelings of friendliness that Joe may have directed towards her. Snapping
at the youngster sitting next to the big man on Joe’s left,
the woman glanced at Joe before directing her attention to the big man next to
Joe. Not able to completely see the youngster to his left, Joe guessed
that he was about 10 years old.
It wasn’t long before Joe
began to feel the pressure from the large man beside him squeezing him into the
hard wooden wall of the coach. Trying to squirm in his seat, Joe groaned
to himself when he thought of the rest of the trip being in such
quarters. Deciding that a little conversation would help pass the time
away, he turned to the youngest of the women.
“Afternoon ma’am,” Joe
nodded as he flashed a bright smile her way. “My name’s Joe. Joe
Cartwright.”
Shyly looking at Joe, the
girl fingered the edges of her sleeve as she softly replied, “Afternoon.”
“And,”
prompted Joe. “Your name
is?”
Lifting her eyes at him, she
whispered, “Carrie.”
“Well Miss Carrie, I’m glad
to meet you,” complimented Joe, as he turned to greet the others in the
coach. But when his eyes would meet the other women, they would glance
away. Giving up on the opportunity to be friendly, Joe continued his
conversation with Carrie. “I’m headed to Wells to check out some horses
that my brother Adam had heard about. He and I were supposed to be
traveling together, but he ain’t going, because, well,” laughing, Joe stopped
for a moment. “Let’s just say, he had an accident and will be unable to
sit down comfortably for awhile.”
Watching Joe’s laughing
eyes, Carrie couldn’t help but smile. Feeling a little more relaxed she
took a quick glance towards the man beside Joe as though asking permission,
before introducing the rest of the coach to Joe. “The gentleman next to
you is Mark Simmons, otherwise known as Papa Mark,” then motioning towards the
young boy on the other side of him she continued, “and that is Mark junior,
Sarah’s boy.” Pointing to the older woman next to her, she explained, “This
is Sarah, Mark junior’s mother.” Nodding, Joe listened intently as she
continued to introduce him to the other members of the coach. “Next to
me, this is Esther, and in her lap is her daughter Dilly.” Looking around
her, she nodded in satisfaction of having satisfactorily introduced Joe to the
members in her coach. Feeling very relaxed, she
and Joe then continued to talk and laugh, never realizing that the man beside
Joe sat watching them with a deep scowl on his face.
“Where are you headed?” Joe
asked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sack of beef jerky.
Answering Joe’s question,
she watched as he opened the bag in his hand. “We’re traveling to
“Good, then we get to ride
together until we get to Wells,” Joe answered as he opened up the bag. “
Shaking her head in
response, Carrie’s attention was diverted when she was offered some beef jerky
from Joe’s sack.
”What is this?” she asked, as she sniffed at the object, while the others in
the stagecoach ignored Joe’s offer of jerky.
Laughing, Joe explained,
“This is beef that has been dried. It is great for when you can’t stop
and eat, easy to travel and carry.” Hearing a gasp, Joe turned to see the
one name Esther throw her hands up to her mouth.
“We aren’t stopping?” she
asked.
“No ma’am,” answered
Joe. “After the stop in
Opening her mouth, then shutting it, she tried hushing the cries of her
daughter’s plea for food. Turning her eyes towards Joe, she reluctantly
asked, “Do you mind if my daughter could have a piece of your jerky?”
“My pleasure, ma’am,” Joe
replied as he opened the sack, offering it to the youngster. Watching as
her cries slowed down to a whimper, she reached into the bag and pulled out a
piece of jerky before climbing back onto her mother’s lap.
“Thank you sir,” Esther
replied, as she cuddled her child, shaking her head when Joe offered her some
jerky for herself.
Leaning back in his seat,
after finishing off his piece of jerky Joe could feel his eyes getting heavy as
he rested his head on the hard surface. Drifting off to sleep, the next
thing he could feel was the jerk of the stagecoach as it pulled to a
stop. Slowly opening his eyes, he peered out the window and just in front
of the stagecoach he could see a corral of horses ready for their next journey
on the stage line. Yawning, Joe stretched as best as he could in the
cramped space and reached over to open the door. Pushing it open, he
stumbled out of the coach and turned back around to help the ladies down.
Feeling someone shove him aside, Joe whipped around and saw the large frame of
Mark pushing him aside. Protesting, Joe sputtered in indignation then
decided it wasn’t fighting for, as long as someone was there to help the ladies
down. Moving away from the coach, Joe picked up his bag and bedroll from
where the driver had tossed it to the ground, before he turned his attention to
the station house. Groaning, he could tell it was a small building, and as he
pushed the door open could count two bedrooms off from the main room.
Looking out a window, Joe could see a creek off in the distance and decided
that fresh water for the evening would be nice. Placing his belongings
inside, he looked around both inside and out for a pail, and found one leaning
against the building. Grabbing it, Joe walked out just as the women and
Mark were entering the building. Moving out of their way, Joe waited
until they were inside before walking down to the creek. He was on his
way towards the creek when he heard the door swing open and someone call out
his name.
“Joe!” Turning around
he saw that Carrie was running towards him, her skirt dancing up dust from
beneath her feet. “May I go with you?” she asked, as she caught up with
him.
Grinning down at the woman
before him panting slightly from the exertion it took to join him. Turning
to look at her, he replied, “I’d be delighted.” Then he took her hand and
placed it in his own and lead the way down the hill,
“Let’s go get that water.”
Talking on the way down to
the creeks shore line, Joe found out what Carrie liked and disliked, discovering
that she grew up in California while she shared with him many of her dreams for
the future, while he shared with her his own family and dreams of his
own. Setting the empty bucket down, Joe rested his right foot on it as he
looked into Carrie’s face. Her greenish-blue eyes were glowing with
excitement as she tilted her face towards his, almost in anticipation to what
was to come. Bending down slightly, Joe rested his lips onto the soft
full lips of Carrie’s and shared a brief, yet passionate kiss.
Hearing a noise in the
distance, Carrie looked over Joe’s shoulder and could see Mark standing in the
doorway looking at them with rage. Whispering into Joe’s ear, she pulled
away, “I’m sorry, I need to get back inside.”
Pulling her back towards
him, Joe couldn’t resist planting another kiss on her lips before releasing
her. Watching as she walked back towards the station house, Joe made sure
she made it safely inside before turning back towards the water. Dropping to
his knees, Joe dipped his hands into the water, splashing some onto his face
and neck before sinking the bucket into the water. Standing up Joe
stretched, trying to get some of the kinks out of his back. Catching a
glimpse of a shadow behind him, he turned to see who it was when he felt a
sudden jarring pain on the back of his head, before darkness overtook him.
************************
Groaning, Joe slowly opened
his eyes and could feel the rough material of a couch beneath his body.
With a moan he remembered the blow to his head. Moving his body, he
grabbed his head as the sudden movement sent a flare of pain through his
head. Stifling a groan, Joe couldn’t help but grunt as he tried to sit up
and look around the room. Smelling the light smell of daisies flood his
senses, Joe could feel the tender touch of someone probing his head.
Letting out a yelp at the pressure placed on a swollen spot, Joe reached out
and grasped the hand, following it up the body, and looked into the blue eyes
of Carrie.
“Carrie,” Joe sighed, as he
released his hold on her hand and leaned against the cushions on the couch,
“what happened?”
Dipping a cloth in a basin
of water, Carrie squeezed out the excess water and gently placed it on his head
before answering. “I don’t know Joe. You were taking so long
bringing in the water, and Dilly was begging for water that I went out to see
what was holding you up.” Watching as Joe squinted his eyes in pain, she
released the hold on the cloth and wiped away the blood from his thick hair, “When
I went out there, you were laying down by the
water. I tried to wake you up, but there was no response so I found Mark,
who told me to get the station master.” Dropping the cloth back into the
basin, she was about to go through the process again, when Joe again grabbed
her hand.
“Who hit me?”
“We don’t know Joe,” she
replied, concern lacing the edges of her words, “there was no one around, and
you were out there for quite some time.” Tilting her head sideways,
Carrie looked into Joe’s face, “You are looking a lot better than when I found
you outside.”
Pushing her hand away from
his head, Joe tried to think beyond the headache that was pulsating through his
head. The last thing he remembered seeing was a dark shadow of someone,
before he fell unconscious to the ground. Grabbing hold of the cloth, he
squeezed the water from it and placed it on his head as he pushed himself from
the couch. Walking over to the door, he saw that darkness had already
fallen, and any evidence he might have been able to collect this evening would
have to wait until morning. Sighing to himself, Joe looked over to where
Carrie sat, watching Joe with a puzzled look on her face. Smiling
briefly, Joe walked back over to the couch and sat down next to her. Leaning
his head back, he let his eyes roam over her face, capturing the look of her
kissable mouth as she chewed the inside of it in nervous worry.
“Where’s everyone?” Joe
asked, as he looked around the room, noticing for the first time the lack of
people.
Waving over towards one of
the bedrooms, Carrie explained, “Esther is putting down Dilly and Mark junior
for the night, and Sarah is in the bedroom with Mark.”
Nodding, Joe glanced over to
the table. “Did you already eat?”
“Yes, but I saved you a bowl
of stew,” Carrie said, as she stood up. “Hardy, that is our stagecoach
driver, is sleeping out in the barn and he has already eaten. And Pete, the
station master is out there also.” Fumbling around at the table, she
found a clean spoon and napkin and laid it aside as she uncovered the bowl of
stew for Joe. Watching as Joe made an attempt to stand up,
she waved him to sit down. “Just stay there, I’ll bring the food over to
you.”
Enjoying this attention, Joe
didn’t need to be told twice. Plus, the sudden movement to stand up had
caused him to get a bit dizzy for the moment. Sinking back down into the
couch, Joe watched as she puttered around the kitchen, before returning to
where he sat.
“Here’s your spoon,” offered
Carrie as she handed the utensil to Joe. Watching as he positioned himself on
the couch, Carrie handed him the bowl of stew before moving back into the
kitchen. Feeling the eyes of Joe on her as she worked, she had to admit
to herself that she was enjoying the attention of this young man. It was
making her feel so feminine once again, like a woman instead of a little girl
in dress up. Smiling to herself, she thought back on the kiss that they
had shared down at the creek that is until she saw Mark standing by the house
glaring at them. That old pompous fool, she thought, why can’t he leave
her alone! With the thoughts going through her mind, she faintly could
hear the sound of a spoon clattering into an empty bowl. Turning around,
she saw that Joe had just finished his soup, and was in the process of trying
to get up from the low couch.
“Oh no you
don’t!” Carrie protested as she
quickly moved to him and swiped the empty bowl from his hands, placing it on
the table next to him. With the other hand, she gently pushed him back on
to the couch watching as he grabbed her waist, bringing her down next to
him. Feeling safe in his arms, Carrie felt so relaxed she could have
sworn she could have easily sat there for the rest of her life.
As he felt Carrie’s weight
rest against him, Joe was having trouble fighting the sleep that threatened to
take over as he leaned his head on the back of the couch. Muttering more
to himself than her, he said, “You are so soft and smell so good.”
Placing her hand into his, Joe rubbed her fingers but soon that stopped as he
drifted off to sleep, his relaxed head falling from the back of the couch
before it slipped onto Carrie’s shoulder. Joe was in such a deep sleep
that he never heard the door creak open from Mark’s room, nor did he see the
dark look of anger on his face when he looked over and saw the comfortable
position that Carrie was in.
Hearing a growl from across
the room, Carrie opened her eyes, and could feel a shudder run through her body
as she saw Mark peering at her. Squirming away from Joe, she pulled her
hands from his and carefully laid his head on the couch, while she quickly
moved away from the couch. Trying to whisper to Mark, the words got stuck
in her mouth as she watched his hand swing down and clamp down onto her
shoulders.
“Get into that room with
Esther and git to bed!” he roared, not caring who was asleep in the
house. Looking over at the sleeping form at Joe, Mark uttered a low oath
as he stormed back into his room. Watching as Carrie rubbed her sore
shoulder he made sure that she was in her room with the door closed, before he
slammed his own door shut.
Hearing the sudden noise,
Joe jerked awake and looked around him. Blinking his eyes, he sat up
abruptly, disoriented. There was no one around and all the doors were
shut. Shrugging his shoulders, Joe reached over, grabbing the wet cloth
and placed it on the back of his neck. With the headache from earlier
intensifying, he walked over to his bag and bedroll, and shook loose the
bedroll before carrying it back over to the couch. Not even thinking that
perhaps he should sleep in the barn, he quickly
stretched and rolled his shoulders before sitting back down on the couch.
Letting the damp cloth fall to the floor, he loosely wrapped the blanket around
his body as he pulled his legs up on the couch and lay down. Within
minutes he was asleep.
It didn’t seem like but
minutes later when Joe could feel something bouncing up and down on his
legs. Groaning, he struggled to open his eyes as he tried to capture
whatever it was that was pulling him awake. Opening his eyes to a sliver,
he saw the slight frame of a young girl crying out, “Ride the horsey!” as she
bounced on his legs.
Feeling the bones in his
knee’s jammed together in succession Joe couldn’t help but complain, “Ouch!” Leaning up and opening his eyes fully, he was
able to recognize the young girl as Dilly, Esther’s daughter. Not
completely awake, and cranky from this unusual wakeup call, Joe waved for the
girl to get off his legs. “Not now, Dilly,” he requested, as he tried to
clearing his voice, gritty from the lack of use.
“That’s right Dilly,”
bellowed Mark, “let the little boy get his sleep.”
Feeling the hair on the back
of his neck bristle from being called a boy, Joe sat up and glared at the man
across the room. Sitting at the table with the women bustling in the
kitchen, Mark was sitting there barking out directions as to how to cook his
food, not bothering to help in any way. Getting up from the couch, Joe
was pleased to note that the pain in his head had subsided to a point that he
could hardly tell it was there. Running his fingers through his hair, he
snatched his bedroll from the couch, then reached down and picked up his bag
from the floor before pulling the door open and walking outside to take care of
his needs. After he finished, he glanced down towards the water, when he
remembered that he had planned on looking around for footprints. Stacking
his bag and bedroll against the side of the house, Joe went down the hill and
stopped next to the shore of the creek. Not seeing anything out of the
ordinary, Joe leaned down onto his haunches to try and get a closer look of
where the prints should have been. Strange, he thought, I don’t see any
footprints. Standing up, Joe looked around him when he thought back to what
Carrie had told him. She had come down to the water to get him, and tried
to revive him. Unable to do so, she went and got Pete, the stationmaster
to bring him in. If that was the case, then where were their
footprints? In fact, where were his? The more he stared the more
frustrated he became as he realized that whoever it was had wiped clean all the
footprints. The only person Joe could think of who would have any thing
against him would be Mark, but why? Puzzled, Joe sat there a little bit longer
until he heard the driver calling out for everyone to load back into the
coach. Standing back up, Joe stretched then walked back up the hill and
retrieved his belongings. Scratching the back of his head he looked once more
towards the creek before he shrugged his shoulders realizing that he wouldn’t
find out now who it was at this point. As he looked inside the cabin, he
could tell that all the food preparation was cleaned up and put away.
Seeing an apple inadvertently left on the table, he walked over and grabbed it,
stealing a bite from its crunchy body as he heard the call from Hardy to load
up. As Joe approached the stagecoach, he watched as Mark stood to the
side, not bothering to help the ladies into the coach, rather barked orders out
behind them to hurry up and get in. Shrugging his shoulders, Joe waited
until everyone was loaded before he tossed up his belongings to Hardy and
climbed into the coach.
“Morning Carrie, ladies,”
Joe greeted as he found himself once again on the other side of the big man.
Rolling his eyes to the cramped quarters, he was tempted to suggest riding up
on top, when he caught a glimpse of Carrie. This morning, she had taken
time to brush her hair up from her face, allowing tendrils of curls to frame
her delicate face. Smiling, Joe pushed aside any thoughts of leaving the
coach and decided that sitting next to Mark was worth the discomfort.
With her eyes flickering
over to Mark, Carrie bit the bottom of her lip as though trying to decide if
she should say something. Finally, she opted to speak, “How are you doing
this morning Joe? How is your head?”
“Much better, thanks to your
good nursing skills,” Joe replied, flirting with her as he reached his hand to
the sore spot on his head. “My headache is gone.”
Lowering her eyes, as she
felt the intense glare from Mark, Carrie shut her mouth tightly, while Joe
watched her with puzzlement on his face. “Are you okay?”
Nodding, she didn’t dare
look into his eyes, knowing that his mesmerizing green eyes would pull her back
into conversation. Hearing him laugh, she couldn’t help but look
up. Trying to stifle a grin, her grin broke free, as it became a smile
while she watched Joe try to get Dilly to pull her thumb from her mouth.
Watching his antics, she broke in laughter. Looking up at Carrie, Dilly
pulled out her thumb and giggled, while pointing at Joe’s faces.
Relieved that the mood in
the coach had lightened somewhat, Joe still could feel the strange mood in the
coach and felt a little reluctant to start a conversation. Looking out
the window, he let his mind wander as he watched the sights outdoors.
Watching the tree’s as they flew by, Joe already exhausted from the previous
day’s journey and from the hard knock on his head didn’t fight the sleep that
threatened to overtake him. Resting his head on the hard side of the coach, he
couldn’t help but wish for the soft shoulder of Carrie to lean his head
on. With a smile on his mouth, he drifted off to sleep. Several
hours later, Joe was slowly waking up when he felt the stagecoach slow down.
Yawning, he looked out the window and saw in the distance the frame of an old
house, with a rickety old well barely standing in the front yard. Feeling
the stagecoach pull to a stop, Joe stretched his arms forward before pushing
the door open and putting his foot out. Before he could take another step
out, he could feel a hand press against his back and shove him out of the
coach. Sprawling to the ground, Joe’s temper was raised when he saw the
big body of Mark towering over him. Picking himself from the ground, Joe
stood before him and demanded an answer, “Why did you push me?”
Barely even looking at him,
Mark answered, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Then he turned his
back to Joe and helped the ladies and children from the coach.
Clutching his hands in a
fist, Joe was ready to punch him. He knew he was lying, but Joe had to
admit, that without proof he didn’t want to start a fight especially with
ladies in their presence. Wiping off the dust from his pants, Joe stalked
off and went towards the well. While he threw down the bucket, he felt
the presence of Carrie standing next to him as he began to draw up the bucket
from the well.
“Joe, are you okay?”
Putting the bucket on the
side of the well, Joe tossed some water on his face and neck before turning to
answer her. Feeling his body and temper cool off some, he turned to face
Carrie. Just by looking into her calm blue eyes helped to soothe his raw
nerves. “Yeah. I guess I just didn’t like
the idea of being bullied.”
As they leaned against the
well talking a few more minutes, Joe looked up and could see Mark sitting down
on an upturned bucket, staring at Joe and Carrie. Keeping his eyes on
Mark as he stood up, Joe turned to Carrie and asked, “What is the deal with
that man? He is either always glaring or provoking me. I know he
doesn’t like me, but I can’t figure out what the deal is.”
Touching Joe on the
shoulder, Carrie began to speak, “I may know why Joe. He…” Suddenly her eyes
widened at the sight of Mark coming towards the two of them. Feeling his
strong hands dig into her shoulder, she watched with shock as his big, flabby
hand went flying through the air and slapped her fully in the face.
Shocked, Carrie could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she reached her
hand up to her face and felt the stinging sensation on her cheek. Turning
her eyes towards Joe, she watched in horror as he flung himself at Mark,
swinging his fist at the large beefy man.
As Joe swung his fist into
Mark’s face, he was fighting with the anger of a man who didn’t like to see a
woman hit. The size of Mark didn’t concern him,
it was the principle of the matter. Feeling his hand connect to the man’s
jaw, Joe threw another punch into his stomach while Mark was caught off guard.
Unfortunately, those punches were the only ones that made an impact on the big
man. Pushing Joe from him, Mark stood to his full height and with a roar
rushed towards Joe. Tripping over a bucket on the ground, Joe fell to the
ground just as Mark’s massive frame followed him to the ground. Placing
well-planned hits to his face, side and stomach, Joe was soon gasping for
breath while trying to block the flurry of blows. Finally, the one
sided-fight was over, leaving Joe on the ground writhing in pain. Rolling
over to his side, he grunted out as he watched Mark grab hold of Carrie.
Dragging her over to where Joe lay on the ground, he shook her as he yelled,
“You stay away from my wife you hear!” Then lifting his foot, he kicked
Joe in his side as he shouted to Carrie, “You mess with him again, and I’ll
give you the same medicine I’m giving him.”
Feeling the pulsating pain
reverberate through his body Joe couldn’t help but be stunned by the words
tossed to him while he lay sprawled on the ground. Stay away from my wife? What
the heck? The thoughts swirled in his head, as he tried pushing himself from
the ground. Groaning in pain, he could taste blood in his mouth.
Spitting out onto the ground, Joe spit out onto the ground saliva and blood as
he checked with his tongue to make sure all his teeth were intact. Man,
Joe thought as he worked his mouth into a grimace, that guy has a powerful
fist. Reaching up with his left hand, he could feel the tenderness on his
jaw and the split lip that was sending the blood into his mouth. Shaking
his head, he moaned again at the pain that seemed to saturate every pore in his
body. Wrapping his arm around his chest, Joe slowly sat up and looked
around the area. Nothing had changed, yet it seemed like it should have
with such a revelation. Barely standing on his two feet, Joe began to
notice the two children who were looking up at him with a slight look of pity
on their faces. Watching as Joe began dabbing at the cuts on his body, the
young girl, Dilly spoke up.
“Mister Joe, my papa don’t
like you none messing with Aunt Carrie.”
Puzzled, Joe just stared at
her, while the word papa swirled in his head. Rubbing his forehead, he tried to
make sense of what the little girl was telling him. “Who is your mama?”
“Esther, and Carrie is my
auntie, and Sarah is my auntie also.”
“Wait a second,” Joe
panted. The pain in his side was killing him, but he was equally
determined to figure out what was going on. “Who is your pa?”
“Why Papa Mark!” she
answered, while stomping her foot on the ground with indignation.
Pointing to the older boy, she tried to explain, “That is my cousin Mark, and
Papa Mark is his pa to.”
“But who is his mama?”
“It’s Sarah.”
Total confusion seemed to be
the name of the game within Joe’s head. It was bad enough that the pain
from the fight was hampering his senses, but it seemed like things should be
clicking better. Looking at the two faces in front of him, Joe could
distinctly pick out the characteristics of Mark in each of them, and it was then
that everything made sense. The candle inside his head was lit, when he
recalled an earlier conversation with Carrie about them going to
“Are you going to be our
Aunt Carrie’s second uncle?”
Staring at the young child,
Joe couldn’t say a word other than to shake his head. Saddened by the
thought that a child at such a young age had to experience this life, he moved
away and headed towards the house. Not hearing any noises coming from the
house, Joe slowly pushed the door open and looked across the room to see Carrie
sitting at the kitchen table, her face turned away from him. Limping over
to the table, he caught his breath a moment as he lowered himself into the
chair next to her. Breathing heavily for a moment, his chest began to
ache as he leaned over to speak, “Carrie, I’m sorry for bringing this on to
you, and for kissing you. I didn’t realize you were married.” Even
though she still had her face hidden from him, Joe couldn’t help but see the
tremors coursing through her body as he spoke, “Carrie, please look at me.”
With a sob, Carrie shook her
head, refusing to turn around. Grabbing hold of her shoulder, Joe
immediately let go when he heard her cry out in pain. Not even thinking
of hiding, she turned around to grab hold of her sore shoulder, allowing Joe to
see her face. Gasping out, Joe could see that her left eye was swollen,
and within hours he made a pretty good guess that it was going to be black and
blue. He also noticed that she had a knot developing on her forehead,
along with a split lip. Empathy immediately went out to her, as he dug
into his pocket for his handkerchief. Pushing away from the table, Joe
groaned slightly as he stood up and walked over to the kitchen counter. Finding
some stale water in a cup on the counter, Joe brought the cup back over to the
table. Stifling any noise from his mouth, Joe gingerly sat down at the
table and dipped his handkerchief into the water. Wringing it out, he began to
dab at her lip before she pulled her head away.
“Don’t do that, please,” she
gasped, as she felt the pain radiating across her face.
“Carrie,” Joe asked, as he
looked into her eyes, still grasping the wet cloth, “did he do this to you?”
“Joe, just leave me alone,”
Carrie begged, as she tried to move away from him. “I’m sorry for all the
trouble I’ve made. You were beat up because of me.”
Gently pulling on her arm,
Joe was just as determined to be heard, “Carrie, you did nothing wrong out
there for you to be deserved to be hit like that. No woman deserves to be
hit by a man.”
Turning away from Joe, he
could barely hear her answer as she carefully dabbed at her eyes with the
sleeve of her dress, “I got you hurt. You weren’t supposed to get hurt, I just enjoyed the attention you were giving me.”
“Carrie, please don’t
apologize for what happened out there. Has he done this type of thing
before to you?”
“It doesn’t matter,
Joe. Please let it go.”
“But it does matter,
Carrie!” Joe insisted, as he reached for Carrie. Feeling his ribs cry out
in pain, Joe cursed his injury as he bent over in a gasp of pain from his
side. He could still feel the powerful strength of Mark’s fist pounding
into his chest, stomach and face. He didn’t even want to imagine how it must
have felt for Carrie to experience his fist. Joe was a man and was able
to fight back, but with Carrie it was a different matter all together.
Pulling himself back into an upright position, Joe
reached over and gently touched her on the cheek, as he continued, “He has no
right to hit you like he did. Please, let me help you.”
Trembling from the touch of
Joe’s hand on her cheek, Carrie looked up into the dark expressive green eyes
of Joe’s and stammered out a reply, “But I can’t Joe. I’ll belong to him
and become his property."
Cursing, Joe couldn’t help
but want to shake his finger at the brainwashed girl sitting across from
him. “Confound it girl! You are no one’s property! What
happened to the strong girl who I’ve been speaking to these past few days, you
deserve better than this! You can fight back.” Frustrated with
Carrie’s apparent lack of interest to fight back, Joe began to say something
else when he felt his shoulder caught in a crushing squeeze by a powerful
hand. Feeling tears run to his eyes from the pain being inflicted upon
him, Joe tried to squirm out of the stronghold.
“Leave my wife alone,
boy! Told you once, and I ain’t telling you again!” Digging his
nails farther down into Joe’s shoulder, Mark released his grip on Joe when he
went over to where Carrie sat and pulled her from her seat. Making a move
towards Carrie, Joe could see the pleading eyes from Carrie as she begged him
not to do anything.
“I’m fine, Joe. Really
I am.” Forcing a smile on her face, she reached up and began to caress
Mark’s arm as she followed him into a back room. The door slammed with
the sight of Carrie’s white face looking up into Mark’s face.
Staring at the door, Joe
dropped his gaze. Feeling the pain in his shoulder throb where Mark’s
hand had been, Joe clutched his side while he used his free arm to push away
from the table. Seeing Esther and Sarah knitting in the far corner he
made his way over to where they sat. Trying to start a conversation, he noticed
that anything he said was ignored, or they would just look away. Giving
up, Joe limped over to the kitchen and went fumbling through the shelves, until
he found what he was looking for, a first aid kit. Carrying it with him
over to the kitchen table, he carefully lowered himself into the chair and
opened the box up. Rifling through it, he located some ointment and
bandages. Treating himself, he was just checking out his ribs, and was
letting out a sigh of relief at the knowledge that he had no broken bones, when
he heard a noise coming from the bedroom. Puzzled, he looked over towards
Sarah and Esther, both of whom had strange looks on their faces. The
noise in the room became louder, with the sounds of a woman crying intermitted
with a moan. Standing up, Joe made a motion to go into the room, when
Esther cried out.
“Don’t go in there!”
Stopping in his steps, Joe
took another glance towards the door before turning to face the women, “Why
not?”
“Because she’s getting what
she needs.”
“You mean,
he’s hitting her again?” Joe asked, as he began clinching his fists.
“No, she’s getting what she
needs, I said. She’s getting hers now, but it’ll be our turn again when
he’s finished with her.”
Standing next to the closed
door, Joe could hear the soft grunts coming from within the room and suddenly
realized what they were talking about. Feeling a deep blush spread across
his face, Joe stepped away from the door and walked over to the front
door. Pulling the door open, he heard Carrie cry out once again as though
she was in pain, but in light of what he had just heard, he walked outside,
closing the door none to gently behind him.
************************
Sitting with his back
leaning against the well, Joe sat chewing on a weed while tossing loose pebbles
into the pail of water. By not moving around much, he could barely feel
the spots where bruises were sure to develop. Hearing the cry of laughter
from the children behind him, Joe thought back to his trip. From the
moment he met and talked with Carrie, she had never made an indication that she
was married. Disgusted with the fact that he even kissed the woman, he
had to admit he had no regrets for his fight with Mark. The man had no
right to hit any woman. Feeling the sun move from its hiding place from behind
the well, it pushed Joe into a state of relaxation. Just as he was
nodding off, he could hear the call of the stagecoach driver.
“Come on everyone!
Time’s getting’ late and if want to get to Wells before nightfall, we gotta get
a move on now.”
Pushing himself from the
ground, Joe stretched out his legs feeling the pull of his muscles as he walked
towards the coach. Hearing the door to the house creak open, he turned to
see Esther and Sarah calling out to the children, followed by Mark. Next
to the big man stumbled Carrie, her hair hastily pushed down around her face as
she struggled to straighten up her skirt. Limping slightly, she walked
over to the stagecoach and settled down onto the seat, ignoring everything
around her. Waiting for the ladies to climb in, Joe nodded as they went
past him, helping the youngest child to reach the step just out of her
reach. Seeing that Mark had already pushed himself into the coach, Joe
groaned to himself when he saw the small spot next to the wall left for
him. Squeezing into the spot, it felt like to Joe the air from his body
was being squeezed out, as the fat around Mark’s body seemed to settle onto
Joe. Clutching his side, Joe moved as close to the wall as possible when
he looked up and noticed that Carrie sat directly across from him.
Smiling at her, he realized with a sigh that she hadn’t even acknowledged that
he was in the vehicle. Not even paying attention when the stagecoach
driver slammed the door Joe could barely hear as he settled into position on
top of the rig and started the horses forward.
Feeling the repetitious
movement of the stagecoach, Joe could tell that the movement was affecting
Carrie pretty hard. Watching as she grimaced at each bump, Joe couldn’t
help but ask. “Carrie, are you okay?”
Biting her lip at one
particular hard bounce, she nodded as she replied in a stiff voice, “Yes.
Thank you for your concern, but I am well.”
Not very satisfied with the
answer, Joe again asked the question just as a particularly hard bump threw Mark
against him. It felt as though the man was throwing all his weight
against him, which in turn was squeezing him tightly against the wooden walls
of the coach. Already bruised up, Joe couldn’t help but let out an
“OOPF!” as another bounce sent Mark plowing Joe into the wall. Realizing
that if this kept up, he would end up with bruises all over his upper body, and
at the moment he wasn’t sure if his bruised ribs could handle much more.
Just as the stagecoach went over another particularly bouncy spot, Joe was
ready and with both arms clutched around his ribs, he leaned forward just as
Mark went sideways, pounding himself into the wall of the coach without Joe
there to ram into. Sitting there with a slight grin of satisfaction, Joe
looked up into Carrie’s face and was able to catch a shadow of a smile across
her lips, before it flitted away.
After riding like this for
several miles, all the occupants in the coach sighed with relief when they
heard the stagecoach driver holler out, “Wells three miles ahead!”
Suddenly a violent sound of wood breaking echoed throughout the
cabin. Without further warning, they felt it as the stagecoach shuddered
along the road, before it tumbled to its side, sending the passengers inside
topsy-turvy and flung out the open doors and windows. Rolling twice from
the speed it was traveling, it came to rest upside down with all it’s wheels gone, except for one, spinning out of
control.
Having been tumbled numerous
times within the coach, Joe slowly moved his arms and legs, relieved to find
them still attached. Sore, but unbroken. Unfortunately, as he crawled
from the coach, he discovered the same couldn’t be said about his ribs.
Apparently, his fight with Mark earlier in the day hadn’t bruised his ribs,
rather cracked them, and then this tumble in the stagecoach had succeeded in
doing what Mark had been unable to do. Break them. Gasping for
breath, Joe leaned against the coach and fought the dizziness and pain that
seemed to swirl around him. How he ended up being the only one kept from
being tossed from the coach, he didn’t know. Looking around him, he could
see debris from the stagecoach littering the ground, and scattered from the
road to where he stood.
Hearing a sound in the
distance, he could just make out the staggering shape of Hardy moving towards
him. “Yoo-hoo!”
“Over here!” Joe called out
as he reached his hand up to wave. Realizing the stupidity of that, he
had to pause to pace the pain out of his breath. Pressing his hand
against his chest, he slowly walked over towards Hardy, meeting up with him
near a boulder where Joe leaned against it listening as Hardy wheezed out the
story.
“We wus going so fast, that
I never saw that damn log across the road. The horses made it across, but
we cracked an axle. Saw them horses racing for town, so’s I expect
someone should be along soon to help us.” Shaking his head, the driver
surveyed the damage across the area. “This is my first wreck with this
stagecoach line, and I damn well hope it will be the last.” Looking over
at Joe, he peered into his face, “How ya
doing?”
Grimacing slightly, Joe replied, “Busted ribs, and a bit banged up, but
otherwise fine.”
“You
sure?” Hardy questioned, as he
eyed a cut just above Joe’s eyebrow. “Ya gotta nasty cut on your head.”
Looking around, he suggested, “I’m gonna go look and see who made it besides
us.”
Nodding, Joe reached up with
his hand and dabbed at the cut on his forehead before bringing his hand down to
eye level. Surprised to see blood on his fingers, he still didn’t feel
the pain associated with it. Shrugging his shoulders, Joe pushed off from
the boulder and tried to help out with the search of the area. Off to the
left of the coach, Joe could see Hardy helping up Esther and two of the children
from the ground, although it was apparent that the boy had a broken arm from
the way he was clutching at it. Dilly, crying heart out, sobbed for her
mama as her mother sank back to the ground in a faint. Knowing that Hardy
had it handled; Joe followed the path back up to the road and as he turned back
around, could see the shape of a body hidden beneath the luggage near the
stagecoach. Slipping down the hill towards the stagecoach, Joe cried out
in pain as he tried to ignore all the areas of pain that ran throughout his
body. Stumbling over to the coach Joe slowed and he looked down at the
body hidden beneath a mound of luggage. Half-fearful of what he was going
to find, Joe moved aside some luggage and let out his breath, as he peered into
the hateful eyes of Mark. Snarling and cursing, Mark was struggling to
push aside the luggage that was pinning his legs down.
“My legs are pinned!
Move the damned luggage away!”
Glancing down to the
luggage, Joe saw that there was nothing trapping Mark. The luggage was not
there. Looking back towards the man, Joe struggled to find the words to tell
the man. “There is no luggage, there is nothing holding you down.”
As he continued to struggle
in his captive state, Mark finally calmed down enough to look down and with
surprise saw that what Joe said was true. Shooting a glare at Joe, all
the man’s pent up anger exploded. Pounding his fist towards the sky, he
began to curse and cry out. “Why am I being punished for this sins of the young!” Dropping his hand down, the
big man turned his attention towards Joe. Pointing his finger at Joe, he
spit out his anger, “YOU! It is your fault! You tried to steal my
wife you God-forsaken son of a b….”
Hearing a cry behind him,
Joe turned away from Mark’s litany and saw the stage coach driver bringing
Carrie towards them. Cuts slashed across her face, but from the beating
earlier that day it was hard to tell what was from the accident and what was
not. Watching as she cradled her wrist in her arms, Joe could tell that
she also had not escaped without injury. Meeting up with Hardy and Carrie
next to the stagecoach, Joe pulled her from the stagecoach driver’s hands and
wrapped his arms around her shoulders as he asked, “Carrie, are you okay?”
Nodding, she looked into
Joe’s emerald eyes as she replied, “I’m fine Joe. My arm hurts, but how
are you?”
Giving her a crooked smile,
he groaned as he moved. “My ribs are a bit sore, but other than a few
scrapes and bruises, I think I’ll live.” Grinning down at her, his eye’s
saddened briefly when he remembered all the events that had happened that day.
Touching Joe on the arm, she
smiled as she looked into his face. “Joe, I want to thank you for your
help earlier.” Carrie began, as she wiped a tear away, “I’ve decided a few
things from our talk that I want to share with you when we get to town.”
“Why don’t you tell me now?”
Answering with a tinkling of
laughter in her voice, she replied, “I would, but I would rather wait until we
are some place a little more comfortable.”
From his position on the
ground, Mark fumbled around in the luggage as he watched with a growing
dissatisfaction the behavior of the youngsters before him,
primarily Joe who he knew was stealing Carrie away from him. Finding the
luggage he was searching for, he threw open the latch and reached in as far as
he could go for the hard object buried deep within. Pulling it out, he
cocked the trigger on the small pistol and aimed it directly at Joe.
Looking over her shoulder,
Carrie caught a glimpse of the glare of metal from Mark’s pistol as the
sunshine shined upon it. Watching as he aimed the pistol towards Joe,
Carrie cried out as she grabbed hold of Joe and flung herself in front of him,
staring into Joe’s eyes. With a gasp of pain, she felt the bullet as it
traveled through her body, until it rammed into her heart. After that she
felt nothing more as her body slumped lifelessly in Joe’s arms.
Puzzled at the cry of alarm
coming from Carrie’s mouth, Joe looked up and over Carrie’s shoulder as he
looked towards Mark in horror, recognizing the sound of a pistol firing.
It was then that he realized that Carrie had thrust herself in front of
him. Feeling the sting of pain, as the bullet lodged itself into his shoulder, he stared into the lifeless blue eyes of Carrie as
he felt himself sag against the stagecoach in pain before sliding to the
ground, releasing his grip on the girl. Lost in a world of pain, Joe
could hear the distant report of gunfire as he looked at Carrie, lying still in
front of him. Joe watched in a daze as the blood oozed from the wound on
the left side of her chest, before being soaked up by the fabric of her
dress. Vaguely hearing noises around him, in a fog he lifted his head and
saw several men on horseback looking down at him. Feeling the hands of
someone lifting him up, he couldn’t help but cry out in pain the jarring of his
ribs and the bullet in his shoulder. Listlessly he watched the trees pass
by him as men carried him by his arms and legs to the buckboard. Feeling
his head being laid on the floor, he watched with no words in his mind as
someone laid a blanket over him and spoke to him. Not recognizing what
was being said, Joe could feel his head spinning from the torture his body had
been put through. Someone brought one of the children into the buckboard,
and as they sat down they jarred his right shoulder causing him to give one
more cry out in pain, before he fainted dead away.
************************
“Pa!” Joe cried out as he
stretched. Having just woken up, he was surprised to see the figure of
his pa on the edge of his bed. “What are you doing here?”
Wiping his nose in a hidden
motion of a scratch, Ben shifted his position on the edge of Joe’s bed.
“We received a telegram from the sheriff here in Well’s about the accident and
shooting. I came as soon as I could.”
“You certainly got here
fast.”
“Fast?” Puzzled, Ben looked down at his son.
Putting his hand on Joe’s forehead, he noted that his fever was nearly gone, although
by his shifting on his bed he was still obviously in pain with his ribs.
“You’ve been ill for over a week. I didn’t get here until two days after
the accident.”
Incredulously Joe asked, “A
week?”
Nodding his head, Ben placed
his hands on his knees as he stood up, “Yup. In fact, that has given Adam
more than enough time to get healed and join us here in Wells. He’ll take
over now, and see about those horses.”
“But, pa…”
Holding his hand up, Ben
expected a response, “No. My mind is up, there will be no discussion
regarding this.” Reaching down, he straightened up the covers on Joe’s
bed as he moved away from the bed, prepared to leave the room, “You need to get
some rest now. I’ll be back in later.”
Shifting on his bed, Joe
could feel the pressure from the bandages on his chest digging into his
skin. Rolling his shoulders, he was quickly reminded of the gunshot wound
as pain swept through his shoulder. “Pa, wait a second,” Joe asked. “What
happened to the others in the stagecoach?”
Turning around from the
door, Ben paused. “What do you know son?”
Grunting as he turned his
head towards Ben, a grimace crossed his face as he bit his lip to keep the pain
in. “I know that Carrie was shot,” pausing briefly, he continued, “after
she stood in front of a bullet that was meant for me.” Looking down at
his hands, Joe could still see the blank look on Carrie’s face just after she
was shot an image that haunted him even in his dreams. “It killed her
instantly pa, I don’t think she felt any pain.”
Nodding, Ben took a few
steps back to Joe’s bed, laying a comforting hand on his arm. “The men who came upon the horses on the road, immediately came
to the scene of the accident. From what they reported, they fired at a
man by the name of Mark a second too late. But, even so, the gunshot they
fired killed him instantly.”
Still shaken up by the
visions in his head, Joe could see the image of Carrie as the bullet had
entered her body. One minute her eyes were a vivid blue and full of life, and
then the next, empty. Gone. Trying to shake the image
from his head, he asked, “What about Esther, Sarah and the children?”
“They are doing well.
Mark junior had a broken wrist and a banged up ankle, while Esther had a few
internal injuries, but she is expected to live also.” Looking down at
Joe, Ben became concerned at the sweat that had developed on his upper
lip. Grabbing a rag from the table, he blotted Joe’s face as he
continued, “Sarah, had a badly broken arm and fractured her leg, then the youngest
child Dilly escaped with no broken bones, just bruises and scrapes.”
Taking it all in, Joe
fiddled with his covers before turning his head up to look into Ben’s
face. “You know, we all lived initially from the crash. If Mark
hadn’t been filled with so much rage, everyone would have lived.”
Watching as Joe licked his lips, Ben reached over to the desk next to Joe, and poured a
small quantity of water into a glass. Sliding his hands behind Joe’s
head, he carefully held him as he set the glass against his son’s lips and
watched as he drained the glass. Hearing Joe whisper his thanks, Ben knew
that his son needed his rest. “Sleep well son,
and I’ll be by later this afternoon.”
Not even hearing the sound
of his pa leaving, Joe drifted off to sleep.
Closing the door behind him,
Ben leaned against the door in a sigh of relief. From all that he had
heard of this trip, he was relieved that Joe had escaped with his life.
Looking up from his musings, he saw Adam leaning against the pole just outside the
doctor’s office. Opening the door Ben went out and joined his eldest son.
“Adam, how’s your…?”
“Don’t even start with that
one pa,” Adam asked as he pulled away from the post. Watching as Ben
opened his mouth again, Adam continued, “Yes I saw the doctor and he said I was
fine. Can we drop the subject now?”
Smiling, Ben wrapped his arm
around Adam’s shoulder and went towards the hotel, to meet Hoss for
lunch. Seeing his middle son down the street, he saw that he had a small
child with him. As they walked closer, Ben greeted him while asking,
“Hoss, who is this pretty young girl?”
“Pa, Adam, I’d like you to
meet Dilly Simmons. She was on the stagecoach that crashed with Joe and
the others inside.” Bending down to Dilly’s height he pointed up to the
men standing in front of the young girl. “Dilly, this man here is my
pa.” Then pointing to Adam, he introduced them, “And this man in black is
my brother Adam.”
Watching as the men tipped
their hats to her, the little girl giggled. “You as
funny as Joey.”
Laughing, the men couldn’t
help but smile at the sound of Joe’s name coming from the mouth of this young
child. Ruffling the top of her hair, Ben had to ask, “Would you like to
see Joe, and your mama perhaps?” Seeing the tears well up in her eyes,
Ben couldn’t resist bending down to hug her. Looking up at Hoss, he
asked, “Where did you find her?”
“She was hiding out behind
the stable. I heard what sounded like an animal crying, and went around to check and ended up finding her.”
Reaching his hand out towards
her, Ben offered, “Why don’t we take her to lunch with us, then we can head
back to the doctor’s office so she can be with her family.”
Picking the little girl up
in his strong arms, Hoss carried her to the hotel’s dining room and chatted
with her as the rest of his family ordered the food. During the course of
the meals, they found what happened in the days that Joe was gone.
Suddenly eager to speak with his son, Ben pushed away from the table and held
his hand out to Dilly. “Miss Dilly, would you like to go with me to see
Joe and your mama?”
With a big grin widening
across her face, she eagerly slid down from her chair and went around the
table, grasping hold of Ben’s hand. “Oh yes sir, please can we please do
that!”
Smiling, Ben nodded at the men
still eating at the table. “I’ll see you fellows later. Adam, why
don’t you take Hoss out with you to see about those horses?” Then
glancing down, he made sure his hand was clasped with Dilly’s, as he led the
way out of the dining room.
All too soon, Ben stood in
front of the doctor’s office, and through the window he could see that the
doctor was at his desk. Pushing the door open, Ben led Dilly into the
room and greeted the doctor. “Evening doctor.”
“Evening Mr. Cartwright,”
the doctor replied, looking up from his paperwork. Seeing the young child
with Ben, he turned his attention to her. “And how are you doing
Dilly? Do you feel okay?”
Plugging a thumb in her
mouth, Dilly just nodded at the doctor’s questions. Seeing that he wasn’t
going to get any replies from her, the doctor stood up to face Ben. “Her
mother is doing well, and has already been up and walking. Sleeping now,
but should be rested enough to see her daughter in awhile.”
Nodding, Ben listened, as he
pulled the doctor aside. “I was wondering doctor, if I could take Dilly
in to see Joe. There are some things that she told my son’s at lunch that
I that would like to clear up for Joe.”
Briefly nodding, the doctor
led the way into Joe’s room. Seeing his patient’s eyes open, the doctor
moved to the side of the bed and sat down on the bed next to him. “And
how is my patient doing this afternoon?”
Tossing a glance towards
Ben, Joe replied, “I’m great. When do you think I can leave this place?”
Smiling, the doctor answered
his question with a chuckle. “I’ll tell you what. Let me check you
over and then I’ll give you the answer to that.” Pulling the covers down
from Joe’s chest, he arranged them so that he could have full access to his
upper body. Probing Joe’s ribs, he could tell that the bones were setting
correctly even though the pain was still there, watching as Joe tried to hide a
grimace. Once his ribs checked out fine, the doctor guided his hands
towards the gunshot wound and after a few grunts at the progress of it, he turned and put his hand on Joe’s forehead.
Standing up from the bed, he
switched his glances between both Joe and Ben as he answered the question on
their faces. “I expect him to be in bed at least another week or two,
preferably two, before he can even expect to get up. If I need to find
the biggest and toughest man from the saloon to do that, I will hire
him.” Turning to Joe he explained, “I don’t want any of those ribs
puncturing your lungs or spleen before you are ready to get up. Besides,” he continued
with a smile on his face, “all my beds are taken up. I need a place to
sleep!” Then turning to Ben’s little guest, he guided Dilly over to Joe’s
bed. “You have a visitor here.”
Thanking the doctor, Ben
turned his face back to Joe, watching as the mixed emotions from seeing this
child spread across his face. Reaching down to her, Joe patted her on the
head.
“Hi there
Dilly.”
“Hi mister
Joe,” she whispered as she looked up into Joe’s face. “My auntie Carrie
was telling the truth when she said you had pretty green eyes.”
Attempting to smile, Joe
couldn’t help but gasp at the sudden movement on his bed jarring his ribs,
caused by Dilly crawling up. Feeling her soft body snuggle next to his
legs, he listened as she continued to talk. “I was telling the nice man
there,” pointing to Ben, Dilly continued, “about Carrie supposed to be my
auntie, but she won’t be anymore because she is asleep forever.”
Looking over at Ben, Joe
mouthed the words, “supposed to?” over Dilly’s head. Looking at Dilly laying
against Joe’s legs, he nodded and explained what she was talking about.
“Dilly here told us an interesting story at lunch. Carrie…”
Before he could finish, he
heard a noise at the door. Turning his head, Ben saw a slender woman
leaning against the doorframe. Gasping out in pleasure her eyes
rested on the small child sitting on the bed.
“Dilly my
darling child!”
“Mama!!!” Watching as the woman and child embraced, Ben
stood aside and waited until the hugs and kisses were over with before assisting
the woman over to a chair next to Joe’s bedside. Helping her as she sat
down, he reached down and placed Dilly into her lap, before moving over to sit
on Joe’s bed.
Kissing on the top of
Dilly’s head, the woman looked over at Ben, “My name is Esther, and I was on
the stagecoach with Joe.” Looking down at Dilly she smiled as she
continued, “My child has a tendency to talk about things that don’t actually
concern her. But,” looking over at Joe she smiled, “I have a feeling this
is something you need to hear anyway.”
“Carrie’s family had
arranged with Mark Simmons to marry her, never knowing that he was already
married. Carrie’s folks were Mormon’s also, but didn’t see the purpose of
plural marriages and raised Carrie up the same way. Unfortunately, “ Esther explained as she brushed a hair from her face,
“Mark never told them. By the time that Carrie found out, it was too
late. She was far from home, and when she protested Mark had a way of
hitting her so that she wouldn’t rebel. Everything was fine until Joe
came on board. We were going to
Shifting Dilly in her lap,
Esther turned to face Joe. He could see the glistening of tears in her
eyes as she finished her tale. “I want to apologize to you Joe.
Actually, I know that Sarah feels the same way. Carrie and Mark were not
married, and he had no right to claim her as his. We should have stood up
for Carrie, but we were scared. We were scared of what Mark would do to
us.” Her voice fading, she looked up into Joe’s face. “Can you
please forgive me?”
Shocked from what he heard,
Joe had to ask, “So that afternoon at the cabin, after Mark had beat me up, there were not married? You mean I could
have saved her from him even then?”
Nodding, Esther reached up
and wiped her nose. “Joe, there’s something more I need to tell you, but
not if you are going to look at me like that,” she replied, watching as Joe’s
hands clinched on the sheets on top of him. Just watching him, she could
see the flash of emotions cross his face, as he tried to understand. The
look on his face scared her.
Looking up, Joe tried to
erase the memory of that fateful day, before the accident, before the episode
inside the cabin. Thinking back, he remembered, ever so faintly
remembered a conversation outside by the well. There she had been about
to tell him something, and in light of this conversation he had an idea as to
what it was. Knowing that Esther and Sarah weren’t completely to blame,
he sighed. Turning to look at Esther, he pushed himself up from the bed,
grimacing when the broken ribs ground together. Resting his left arm on
his ribs, he rubbed his chest as he reached over with his right hand and
touched Esther on her arm. “Esther, I forgive you.”
With a sigh of relief,
Esther could feel the tears running unbidden down her cheeks. Patting his
hand with her own, she reached up and wiped her tears away. Clearing her
voice, she spoke, this time softly, “Sarah and I were discussing whether or not
to tell you, but I said there was no reason not to share it with you.” Pausing
a moment, she straightened the hair on Dilly’s head, before looking up at
Ben. Glancing back over to Joe, she sighed, “Carrie had whispered to me
that morning of the accident, that she was planning on
leaving Mark as soon as we made it to
Hearing all this, Joe had to
know what happened at the cabin, “Why then did she go with him into that back
room then?”
“She knew that Mark had
already beaten you up, and she felt enormous guilt for that. Having
already been thrown around the inside of the cabin, she was afraid of what
would happen if she refused.”
Setting Dilly down on the
ground, she picked up the little girl’s hand and placed it in her own and stood
up. Moving towards the door, she had one last thing to say. “I know that
when she stepped in front of that bullet that was aimed for you, she did it out
of love. She also did it to prove to herself and to Mark that she was no
longer going to be bullied and stand aside to let other get hurt because of
her.” Opening the door, she pushed Dilly out the door before she offered
one last suggestion, “Take care Joe, and please get better.”
Watching as the door closed,
Joe continued to stare at the door long after the footsteps on the other side
faded away. Lost in his thoughts and memories, he sat speechless.
What could he say? Carrie had experienced so much in her short lifetime,
yet had made such a mature choice. A priceless gift,
her life. Feeling the overwhelming sense of loss, Joe turned his
eyes towards his pa. Ben as though sensing the sorrow that lay just
beneath the surface gently touched Joe on his arm. Looking up at him, Joe
wordlessly shook his head and watched as Ben enveloped him into a hug, allowing
the emotions that were welled up inside of him to break free from the dam.
************************
Sitting outside of the
hotel, Joe leaned back in the chair and waited for someone from his family to
bring the buckboard around. After three weeks in recovery, Joe was
itching to go home. He’d rather ride his horse home, but the dag-gum
doctor was just as insistent that he not ride a horse for a few more
days. Thus, given the choice of staying in Wells for a few more days or
taking a buckboard home, he chose the buckboard. Looking off towards a
stagecoach that was just pulling into town, he thought back to when the
Simmons’s family had left. Dilly was a little nervous about getting back
into the stagecoach, but with Mark junior helping her onboard she soon forgot
her fears. Wishing them luck, he had waved farewell to them earlier in
the week while they continued their journey to
Hearing the sound of hoof
beats and the jangle of a harness in front of him, Joe pulled himself from his
musings. “Hey little brother,” hollered Hoss. “What do ya think of
them horses that Adam and I picked out?”
Grinning, Joe let the front
two legs of the chair plunk back to the ground as he pulled himself from the
chair. Leaning against the pole outside of the hotel, he looked and saw
the string of horses that were being led behind the wagon. Nodding he
answered, “Looks like a great bunch of horses there.” Looking around for
his other brother, he asked, “Where’s Adam?”
“Oh, well…” Hoss stuttered,
“there was a slight problem with one of the horses.”
“Hoss?” questioned Joe, as
he sensed a really good story coming on. “Where’s Adam?”
“Dang it
Joe!” Cursed Hoss, as he
stepped from the buckboard to the sidewalk, “I
promised Adam I wouldn’t say a word.”
Pushing Joe aside Hoss was
determined not to break his promise, as determined Joe was to pry the
information from his brother. Hearing Joe’s pleas behind him, Hoss walked
into the mercantile next to the hotel and looked around the premises. Not
seeing what he wanted, he waited until the shopkeeper had finished with his
customer before speaking. “Yes sir, I need…” Taking a look at Joe
standing next to him, his face taunt from his effort to hear, Hoss shrugged his
shoulders. “I need some pillows. Soft ones
preferably.” Looking down at Joe’s grinning face, he warned him,
“I didn’t say a word to you, and don’t ya
dare say a word to Adam neither.”
Not able to stop the giggle
that was erupting from within, Joe moved away from the counter and peeked out
the doorway. There he could see his brother gingerly walking towards the
buckboard, with Ben helping him along the way. He could also see the way
Adam kept looking around that he was looking for his little brother.
Laughing, Joe popped out of the doorway just as Adam and Ben approached the
buckboard. “Hey Adam!” chirped Joe, as he jumped from the step to the
ground. Groaning a moment, he made a face when he was reminded of his
injury. Quickly hiding it, he was briefly pleased that his pa hadn’t
noticed his error in leaping.
Unfortunately for Adam, he
was too lost in his misery to even notice that someone else was recovering from
an injury. Seeing Joe in front of him, was more
than enough to make him decide he’d rather stay in Wells. “Pa, I think I should
just stay here for awhile.”
Firmly holding onto Adam’s
shoulders, Ben gently pushed him to the wagon. “You heard what the doctor
said. You’ll have no problems traveling, as long as you have pillows
around you.” Looking up to see Joe standing there doing nothing, Ben
waved him towards the mercantile. “Go get Hoss, I need his help.”
Carefully stepping up onto
the sidewalk, he ran into Hoss carrying an armload of pillows. Relieving
him of some of them, Joe pointed to the buckboard and relayed the
message. Watching as Hoss tossed the rest of the pillows into the
buckboard, Joe did the same and stood aside as both Ben and Hoss maneuvered
Adam into the buckboard. Looking down on the action in the buckboard, Joe
waited until Adam was comfortable before asking the question that was burning
within him. “So, who is going to tell me what happened?”
“Fool horse,” Adam muttered,
as he fumbled with the pillows.
Looking over at Hoss, Joe
waited as he tapped his foot for an answer, before stepping down off the
sidewalk. Looking at Adam, Hoss shrugged his shoulders. “I guess
being as Adam is here I can tell ya. There’s an ornery horse back there
at Fuller’s ranch that seemed to have the mind of its own. Adam here was
standing up, straddling the fence,” laughing a moment, Hoss stopped when a
glare was cast towards him. Swallowing hard, he continued, “anyway, as he
straddled the fence that ornery horse came over and nudged him.
Apparently he wasn’t ready for it, because Adam here fell back onto the fence
rather hard, and ended on falling on a bunch of fence poles lying by the coral.
And well,” Hoss continued as he looked at Joe with a twinkle in his eye, “he
busted that same tailbone again.”
“He what?” yelled Joe, as he
burst out in laughing. Laughing so hard, he was having trouble catching
his breath. Gasping, he leaned against the buckboard while he tried to
ignore the look of worry that crossed Ben’s face.
“Joe, get up into that
buckboard.”
“But pa…”
“Do you need Hoss and me to
help you into that buckboard?”
Clearing his throat, Joe
recognized that the look on Ben’s face and knew that nothing would stand in his
way of going through with his threat. Shaking his head, Joe sighed as he
moved to the edge, then slipped his bottom over and pushed his way over to where
Adam lay. Finding a place more comfortable than the others, Joe pushed
some pillows under his chest as he leaned over on his elbows. Sitting
there looking at Adam, he just couldn’t resist asking, “Say Adam.”
Grunting, Adam replied,
“What?”
“Did you bring your book?”
“What book?”
“Mary Sue’s Wild Adventure.”
Vaguely
hearing the howl of pain coming from Adam, Joe more than felt the swat that
landed on his backside.
“I’ll take that as a no,”
Joe answered as he felt the wagon move towards home.