Heal Thyself
by
Janice Sagraves

ONE

He knocked again and still got no answer. He hadn’t seen Doc Statler in several days – come to think of it no one had – and this only suited to fuel his disquiet. His knuckles once more sounded on the weathered wood. Silent as a mausoleum. He tried the knob. It wasn’t locked so he pushed it open and stepped inside. The second he entered the small parlor he knew that calling out would be an exercise in futility. He took his bandana from a back britches pocket and capped it over his mouth and nose. The already overpowering stench would only worsen as he got closer to its source. His boots thudded against the bare floor as he moved toward the back of the house. He swallowed hard and pushed the bedroom door open. His eyes watered, and he thought he would gag. The buzz of frenzied green flies filled the space around him, and his stomach churned. Doc lay on the bed, and from his bloated appearance, Lee Haymes knew that he didn’t need to check to see if he was dead. A blind man would have known.

*******

Adam Cartwright could see Galen Statler in the man that now stood before him. He was tall and slim with a head full of ashy brown hair, and sky blue eyes, which he had undoubtedly inherited from his mother, looked out of a much younger version of a familiar face. He wore a tan suit typical of most Easterners, and he held a well-worn leather medical bag in his right hand. And Adam couldn’t fathom why he had brought it along unless it was purely out of habit. “Mr. Haymes asked me to make his apologies for not meeting you as he had planned, but something came up, so he asked me to. But he assured me that he will meet us at your father’s house.”

Dr. Evan Statler held onto the bag as if it were a lifeline. “I understand how we have to make allowances and adjustments for the foibles of life. It’s one thing that being a doctor has taught me well. In Mr. Haymes’ letter he said that my father had died of natural causes, but other than that he didn’t go into any great detail. Is he sure that it wasn’t…?”

“Murder?” Adam thumped the suitcase into the back of the buckboard. “Reasonably. Both our doctors here in Bantree checked your father’s body and found no reason to think it was anything other than natural. But after being locked up in a house with all the windows and doors shut tight, and in this August heat, well, you get the picture.”
For a second, Adam regretted his bluntness, but this man’s blasé attitude irked. “I’m sorry that your first visit to our neck of the woods hasta be under such unpleasant circumstances. And if there’s anything you need while you’re here all you havta do is ask. You’ll find your neighbors to be willing and ready to help. And you being Galen Statler’s son will go a long way.”

“Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Cartwright, but I plan on staying here only as long as it takes to get my father’s affairs in order. And that I will do with all great haste so I can get back to my family and my patients.”

Adam rested his hands on the side of the buckboard. “All right, but things can still come up even in an hour, so don’t hesitate to let somebody know if you need anything. Now if you’ll just get in we’ll get started.”

“Mr. Cartwright, I think we need to get something straight before we go any further. My father was thirty-years-old when I was born, and I’m little older than that now. My mother died in childbirth, which explains why I’m an only child, and I think his relationship with me was strained because of it. This isn’t to say that he didn’t love me, in his own way, and that I never cared for him. I partly became a doctor because I admired him, but you might as well know that when he retired to come out here some nine years ago we parted with a bitter argument between us. I’ve always returned his letters unopened – which finally stopped coming about five years ago – and never wrote to him since I felt there was nothing more to say. Now, does that answer all the questions you wanted answered?”

“Most but the others can wait until later when we know each other better.”

“You might as well ask them now. I don’t plan on being here long enough for us to become true and fast friends.”

Adam stared at his hands for a long moment then those discerning dark hazel eyes came up. “They can wait. Right now you have more important things to attend to.”

The rebuke, subtle as it had been, came as a cold slap, and Evan hadn’t been prepared for it. “I suppose you have a low opinion of a son who could so completely sever ties with his own father.”

“I admit that it is hard for me to imagine, since I’ve always been so close to mine, but it’s not really up to me to pass judgment. The Galen Statler I knew may not have been the one you grew up with.”

“And I suppose you can’t imagine growing up and thinking that your own father blamed you for your mother’s death, not that he ever came out and said as much.”

A strange light came into those hazel eyes that unnerved Evan.

“I hate to shatter any illusions you may have, but you’re not the only person who’s ever had to live under that burden. My mother died giving me life, too. For three days after I was born my father hated me, and he’s been trying to make it up to me ever since.” Adam sniggered, and took on an expression of pure irony. “A few years back I never would’ve talked about such personal things so openly, especially to a stranger, but things happen and people change, like maybe your father changed. Now, the sooner we get going the sooner you can get this over with and get started back home.”

Evan watched him as he got into the buckboard, and the seat creaked beneath his weight. This man was as candid as few he had ever met and he wasn’t yet sure if he liked him or ever could. Maybe it had to do with the fact that
Adam Cartwright had driven home the realization that he wasn’t the only one in this lifeboat, and it gave him a good, strong shake.

“Dr. Statler, please get in.”

*******

The little house – more a hovel by Evan Statler’s standards – sat near a small stream that trickled and meandered its way through a copse of oaks. A buggy with its traces drooped to the ground like the ears of a sad basset hound occupied a lean-to on the other side of the modest dwelling. All-in-all it was a lovely place to live, but the reason for his being there tainted it, and he wondered if it always would.

As Adam reined the horse to a stop Lee Haymes – a cup in his right hand – stepped out onto the porch. “I was beginning to give up hope that you would ever get here. I’ve been here for almost half-an-hour.” He took a sip.

“The stage was a little late, but we’re here now.” Adam got down and went back to get the suitcase. “Lee Haymes, this is Dr. Evan Statler.”

“I can see that,” Lee said, as he came down the steps. He moved the cup to his left hand and extended his right. “It’s good to meet you, Doctor. I’m terribly sorry about your father. He was a good man and will be sorely missed.
That last week when anybody saw him, we should’ve seen this coming, but I think we were too wrapped up in our own lives to pay enough attention. And he had always been there so I guess we fooled ourselves into believing that he always would be.”

“Why should you have foreseen this? Had he been sick?”

“There’d been a small outbreak of measles, and the midnight oil got burned a lot. He just wore himself out, and not being a young man anymore I suppose he just couldn’t bounce back this time.”

Evan’s eyes narrowed. “He came out to retire to a quiet life.”

Lee ran his fingers through his wispy brown hair and gave his scalp a brief scratch. “That may be, but that’s the one thing he didn’t do. Galen Statler wasn’t the kind to deny others his ability to heal. And a lot of folks are alive right now because he couldn’t. He was a lot closer out here than the doctors in town, and we all relied on him maybe more than we should’ve, but he never said anything. And I don’t think he knew the meaning of the word complain. I’d think you’d be proud of him.”

Evan’s gaze ran to the house. “You’d think.” Then he went past Lee and up the steps then inside.

Lee watched him in what could only be called downright astonishment then turned back around as Adam stopped in front of him with the suitcase.

“I’ll explain later unless he does before then.”

“But I would’ve thought…”

“So did I.”

Evan stood just inside when Adam and Lee came in, the medical bag clutched in his fist. The faint odor of decaying flesh still hung in the stale air and caused a slight wrinkling of his nose. “He didn’t have much furniture.”

“Doc didn’t need it,” Lee said in a matter-of-fact tone, as he sat his cup on a little table beside the front door. “And, like I said outside, he wasn’t the kind to complain about it.”

“Where’s the bedroom?”

“There at the back,” Lee said, and nodded in that direction.

The bedroom door opened, and Evan stepped into the opening. The odor was strongest here, probably due to the absence of a window. His eyes scanned about the small room which held only a bed and chest-of-drawers. “Where’re the mattress and the bedclothes and pillows?”

“This is where I found him, and the only way to get the smell out was to burn them.”

Evan spun around and almost bumped into Adam and Lee who stood close behind him.

Lee continued. “But we can get you some, that won’t be any problem.”

“It certainly won’t because I’m not staying here. I’ll get a room at the hotel in town and come out as I need to.”

“It’ll be a lot of unnecessary trouble to come out here everyday.”

“Yes, Mr. Haymes, it will, but I didn’t come all the way from Philadelphia just to remind myself of what my father gave up so that he could come live in this squalor.”

“Well, there’s a way around that. You can come and stay with me and my family. I’m sure my wife won’t mind. We have plenty of room and one of the finest cooks in the state. And there you’d be closer than you would be in town.”

“Thank you, Mr. Cartwright, but I don’t wish to impose.”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I thought you would, and the squalor won’t be so bad there.” Then Adam spun on his boot heel and moved back into the parlor.”

Evan’s eyes followed after him as he walked away, and he wondered if he could, even in a lifetime, ever accustom himself to this man’s frankness and sarcasm. Well, it looked as if he was about to find out, at least, for a few days and short of a lifetime.

TWO

From the moment the buckboard passed along the road through the trees that ringed the large clearing, and he caught first sight of the house, he found himself in complete awe. Had he even bothered to try, he couldn’t have conjured up such an impressive dwelling, not even in his wildest imaginings. He had never thought of a mansion as being made of roughhewn logs, but this one definitely was.

It took about fifteen minutes to reach it, and Evan found it more striking up close. The buckboard pulled to a stop before the deep porch that was a room unto itself.

“You live here?”

“I sure do, and I designed and built it with my own two hands. Of course, I did have some help.” Adam sprung from the seat and went around to the back.

Evan alit and his gaze roved to the second story, but the click of the front door latch brought his eyes down. They set upon an exquisite creature in pale gray as she left the shadow of the porch. Her dark brown hair was piled to the back of her haughty head, and she held an agitated, black-haired child that Evan guessed to be about one or so.

Adam glanced around as he unloaded the suitcase. “Dr. Statler, this if my wife Angelica.”

Evan came to stand before her and couldn’t help a smile as he watched the boy squirm. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Cartwright.”

“And you, Doctor.” She shifted the fussy child. “I was saddened by the death of your father, and just as saddened that I never got to know him that well. I only met him the one time at my husband’s birthday party last year. From what I saw and what Adam has told me, he was a fine and wonderful man, and we both owe him for much. I am sorry for your loss.”

He thanked her and his smile broadened into a grin. “Someone is definitely unhappy about something.”

“Yes, and I’ll thank his father to come take him.”

Adam reached out with his free arm, and the boy was handed over to him. In an instant, the child settled down as he perched against his father’s shoulder. Not until then did a pair of familiar eyes take notice of the visitor.

“And this is my son, Adam Joseph Cartwright, but we just call him Addy most of the time. And I guess we will until he decides he’s too old.”

“Hello, young Mr. Cartwright,” Evan said, as he took the lad’s right hand and gave it a petite shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”

But the boy just stared at him with one eyebrow raised as if uncertain whether to accept this foreigner.

“Now if you’ll please excuse me, I’ll go inside and get a room ready for you. And once again, Doctor, it is very nice meeting you.” Then with a dip of her dark head, she went back inside.

“You have a very fine family, Mr. Cartwright.”

Adam’s mouth spread. “That I am well aware of. And you’ve met only half of it. I have two more sons, so let’s go in so I can introduce you to them.”

Upon entry Evan found himself awed even further. Though rustic in every way with quaint feminine touches scattered about, the Cartwright home was definitely what he didn’t expect so far from decent civilization. “You have an impressive home, Mr. Cartwright. You and yours must be very comfortable here.”

“We like it.” Adam put the suitcase down, and his voice rose. “I don’t see the rest of my boys.”

The door to the kitchen swung open and two more little ones emerged. Small eyes brightened and mouths widened as they saw their father. With a squeal of glee they stampeded through the dining room. A large brown, wire-furred dog loped after them.

Adam Cartwright had gone from cool and reserved to a doting husband and father. “Come on.”

If the little tykes saw the strange man they gave him no notice as they rushed to their father, who had gotten down on one knee. The dog, however, set up an instant growl as it positioned itself between this interloper and its family.

“Buddy.”

The dog flicked a look back to his master then sidled closer to the boys. The growl had stopped, but the animal remained alert. His ears had drooped, but his chocolate eyes still held menace, and the hackles of his back hadn’t completely lain down.

Evan would have been a fool not to get the message. The animal had just said, ‘You mess with my family, you mess with me, and me you don’t want any part of.’ He pulled his attention from the threat to focus on the children. His eyes went from Addy to his brothers, back to Addy then to their father. “Triplets. That you don’t see so very often. And it’s quite obvious whom they favor.”

“My wife often tells me that she could deny them, but I never could.” Adam’s arm squeezed around the bigger boy. “This is Benjamin Erik, and Hiram Jason is the youngest.”

The kitchen door sounded again, and they were joined by a stern-looking woman with silver-streaked mahogany hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck.

“Dr. Statler, this is Maggie O’Shea, that excellent cook I told you about.”

Maggie O’Shea was a tall, well-built woman with keen nutmeg eyes whose expression told plain that she would brook no nonsense. She made Evan think of a Celtic warrior queen, so he decided that he had to be on his best behavior while in her realm. “It’s good to meet you, Miss O’Shea. I’m looking forward to a sampling some of your cooking.”

“Well, ya’ll soon get yer chance, Doctor,” she said in a hearty Irish brogue. “I’ll take the boys upstairs. They haven’t had a nap today, and ya know how testy that makes ‘em. They wouldn’t settle until their da got home.”

She took charge of the boys and disappeared up the staircase with them.

“You’re a very lucky man, Mr. Cartwright. You have everything a lot of men only dream about.”

“I have indeed been blessed. But it’s been a long, rocky road to get to where I am. Still, to have what I do, I’d go through it all again if I had to.” Adam picked up the suitcase. “Now let’s go up and see if your room is ready. I know you’ve had a tiring day and want to get settled and freshen up for supper.

“I’d like that very much.”

Adam started up, and, after he gave the expansive parlor a final look-over, Evan followed him.

*******

“You weren’t exaggerating about your cook’s talent,” Evan said, as he dipped his spoon into the bowl of piping hot food. “I’ve never had this before. What is it?”

“Mulligan Stew, one of Maggie’s specialties. And you haven’t lived until you’ve had her corned beef and cabbage.” Adam took a bite.

“Well, she certainly is a culinary master. I always thought our Mrs. Brooks out shone everyone in the kitchen until now.” He chortled. “But I’ll certainly never tell her that.” He emptied the spoon’s contents into his mouth then broke off a bite of crusty bread and poked in after it.

“Is she your housekeeper?”

Evan looked up at Angelica and – for the first time – realized that her eyes weren’t brown as he had initially thought but the deepest of violet. “Among other things.”

Angelica took a dainty sip from her wine goblet. “Then you do have a family back in Philadelphia.”

“Yes, there’s my wife Minerva and five daughters ranging in age from five to eleven.”

“Little girls. Adam and I would so like to have a little girl. What are their names?”

“Well, the oldest is Merrielle, she was named for my mother then Virginia was named for Minerva’s. Nella is our middle child, and her younger sisters are Treah and the baby is Jenna.”

“What lovely names, and I know that you miss them terribly. We were gone from ours for two weeks last month, and we could hardly wait to get back to them. Children are such a wonderful gift.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Mrs. Cartwright.” A saddened smile turned the corners of his mouth. “Minerva and I have always wanted a son, but it has just never happened.” He broke off another piece of bread and pushed away the gloom. “But our daughters are our little jewels, and we love them dearly.”

The adults were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn’t notice the kitchen door open or hear the soft pad of baby feet.

Adam felt a light touch on his leg and looked around. He grinned and helped his son climb into his lap. “The boys eat in the kitchen with Maggie where it’s warmer, but every night Hiram slips away and comes to share supper with Daddy.” Adam fed the child a small bite. “We try not to spoil them, at least not too badly, but when they’re this age it’s difficult not to a little.”

“And when you don’t get it as a child yourself you tend to lavish it on your own. If not for Minerva’s guiding hand I think I would ruin ours.”

Adam became aware of his wife’s dark gaze fixed on him, and he knew she had to be thinking the same thing he was. “My father was never what you would call a spoiler either, but the family cook more than made up for it. And if our father didn’t approve, he never said anything.” Adam gave a snicker. “With Hop Sing discretion has always been the better part of valor.” He gave the baby a tiny sip of his wine, and the small face scrunched just like it always did.

“I think he prefers the stew,” Evan said, as he ladled up another, smaller helping.

“Growing boys usually do prefer food, and parents find that there’s no way to fill them.”

Evan sat back and watched in pure satisfaction as Adam Cartwright fed his young son. He was glad to be here in this home of life and love instead of that cold, empty shack that still reeked of death. And he didn’t look forward to having to go there. But for tonight he would concentrate on this fine meal with side excursions into the family warmth that surrounded him.

THREE

Evan flopped over on his stomach and clamped the pillow over his head to block out that insistent pounding. He didn’t get the chance to sleep in very often, and this morning he had planned to. Then the noise stopped, but he had only a couple seconds to revel in it before the door banged open. He sat up with a jerk as Adam Cartwright came in with a fair-sized trunk.

“Don’t people sleep or knock around here? What time is it?”

“Almost five and I did knock. Breakfast will soon be ready. I hope you like sausage gravy with hot biscuits and fried apples.”

Evan started to let fly with a cutting retort about pounding as opposed to dignified knocking when he noticed the trunk as Adam put it on the floor. “What’s that?”

“It was your father’s. Lee had been keeping it at his place. He brought it over last night so you could get an early start going through your father’s possessions.”

“Do you know what’s in it?”

“We opened it just to see what it was, but we didn’t go through it. Now I’ll leave you alone to get dressed.” A devious twinkle entered those dark hazel eyes. “And you don’t havta be in any really big rush. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.” Then he went back out and closed the door behind him.

The light that had spilled in from the hall had been closed off, and Evan found himself once again in blissful darkness. He lay back on the bed, but he couldn’t seem to be still. He couldn’t get his mind away from that blasted trunk. His eyes strayed to where he knew it sat, and his brain started to scream at him. With a low, guttural growl, he swung the covers back, and his bare feet slapped the cool floor. His slumber had been disastrously destroyed so he might as well get his day going.

The lamp blossomed to life as a warm, amber glow filled a little over one quarter of the large room. He tried to keep his gaze diverted away from the trunk but curiosity – which had been one of the things that had driven him into medicine – got the better of him. He got down into the floor, but for some reason he couldn’t make himself touch it. It felt like pins had been stuck into the tips of his fingers, and the palms of his hands had grown sweaty. Then, with a groan, he just went ahead and opened it up in one fell swoop.

Everything that had been stuffed into this leather and brass bound trunk was all that remained of the life of Galen Statler. And, along with the house, what little bit of furnishings it held, and a weather beaten buggy, it wasn’t much. His father had reduced himself to the poverty level just to get away from what he had called ‘over civilized civilization’, and for what? To live like a hermit in the wilds of Nevada?

On top was a threadbare, folded over quilt that covered the contents. He started to pull it back to see what lay beneath, but he simply couldn’t make himself do it. With a sudden shudder, he slammed the lid shut and drove his fists into it. No, he was absolutely not going to fall into Adam Cartwright’s intricately set trap. His father had severed all bonds between them, and he, Evan, was not going to go all mushy and sentimental simply because his father was dead.

He pushed himself up from the floor and stomped over to the huge oak wardrobe and jerked the doors open with a vengeance. He grumbled and cursed – a thing he didn’t do in front of his wife and daughters – as he yanked out the clothes he would wear for that day and tossed them onto the side of the bed. Evan Statler was in a surly mood, and he only hoped he could keep from blowing up all over someone, especially if that someone happened to be Adam Cartwright or any member of his family. He had heard about cowboys and theirs guns.

*******

“You are the most exasperatingly pig-headed person I have met in a long time!”

Adam’s frustrated words still rang in Evan’s ears. For what felt like an eternity right after breakfast the man had tried to talk him into going out to his father’s house, but stubbornness had confronted stubbornness. “He was my father, not yours, and I don’t think that you have any right in trying to coerce me into this! I’ll go when I get ready, not you!” came back to haunt him.

“Yes, he was your father, and I would think that you would care more about doing this for him than this!”

Evan’s eyes clamped together. “This is really none of your business!”

“Well I’m making it my business! And by-the-way, if all you intended to do was just sit around on your hands, why did you even bother coming out here? Or did you only come because your wife forced you to?”

And that was when Evan had almost hit him. “You have no right to drag her into this!”

“She’s a large part of this! And I’m only saying that maybe she cared more for your father than his own son! Maybe you should take a good long look inside yourself and find out! Now I’ve got work to do! I don’t have time to stand around butting my head against a wall all day. And if you should change your mind, just let me know!” Then Adam had blown out of the study and ridden out alone and in a huff.

Evan had kept himself awake for what had felt like ages the night before in an effort to figure out what Adam Cartwright had shoved in his face almost half-an-hour ago. He grimaced as he continued to pour over the myriad of volumes that lined the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf along one wall. Maybe, after all that soul searching, he had to admit, if only to himself, that he still respected his father for his conviction and the doctor for his compassion. Even if he did think him a fool.

Evan had given up on finding something to read and had just left the study when someone called out his name in frantic succession. From the agitated appearance of the housekeeper, no one had to tell him that something was wrong. “Miss O’Shea, are you all right?”

Maggie stopped before him, breathless and more than a little shaken. “I’m fine, Doctor, but the missus has fainted in the kitchen. Please come.”

Evan’s eyes darted in that direction. “Of course.”

Maggie entered first, and the instant he came in behind her, Evan’s attention went straight to the bundle of taffeta and ruffles beside a small rough wood table. A blackened baking pan lay on its side nearby, and raw bread dough had flopped out onto the floor. They rushed forward and dropped down on either side of her.

Evan took one of Angelica’s hands and began to slap the back of it. “Mrs. Cartwright. Mrs. Cartwright, can you hear me?” When he got no response his gaze rose to Maggie. “Do you happen to have any smelling salts?”

Maggie nodded. “In me room.”

“Would you please go get them?”

Without a word, Maggie scrambled to her feet and rushed for the door near the big iron stove. It took her less than a minute to return, her hand clutched tight around something.

She got onto her knees and extended her arm out to him. “Here ya go, Doctor.”

Evan thanked her and took the little blue glass bottle. He removed the stopper and waved it under Angelica’s nose.

It didn’t take long to work as Angelica coughed and spluttered as she began to come to. The dense, black lashes fluttered, and her eyes opened. At first she appeared to be disoriented.

“Mrs. Cartwright, do you know where you are?” He handed the bottle back to Maggie.

Angelica took a deep breath in hopes that it would clear the fog from her head. She looked toward the voice and blinked to clear her vision. “In the…” She took another deep breath. “In the kitchen.”

A smile of relief lit Evan’s face. “More to the point, you’re in the kitchen floor. Do you remember what happened?”

A puzzled frown creased Angelica’s delicate brow. “Did I faint?”

Maggie put on her most chastising look. “You most certainly did, and scared ten years outta me.” Angelica started to sit up, and Maggie’s scowl vanished. “Do ya think that’s wise, mum?”

“I’m all right, Maggie.” But as Angelica started to sit a wave of wooziness made her head swim, and everything began to undulate and spin. With a moan she lay back against the floor.

“You just lay there for a few minutes, Mrs. Cartwright.” Then a hint of concern cast over his face. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“It was the strangest feeling. I was helping Maggie with the making of the bread then I got so dizzy. I thought it would just go away as it usually…” She bit down on her lower lip. “I tried to grab to keep from falling, and the next thing I remember is the two of you bending over me.”

Evan’s eyebrows rose. “Have you done this before?”

Angelica went a little sheepish and hesitated to answer. “This is the third time in this week, and sometimes I don’t completely lose consciousness, in fact, most times I don’t.”

“I see.” His eyes narrowed on her. “And have you ever done it before this week?”

“Yes, it has been going on for while now.”

“Uh-huh, and what about before that?”

Angelica kept her eyes focused on the doctor’s face. “Year before last.”

Maggie’s jaw dropped.

“When precisely?”

Again Angelica hesitated, and her eyes flicked to Maggie. “Not long before I found out that I was going to have my sons.”

“Are there any other similarities to that time?”

“Quite a few, actually.”

He gave a thoughtful nod. “Well, then, I’d say it’s probably the same reason this time, but I suggest that you go see your doctor just to make sure.”

She reached up and took hold of his hand. “Could you do it, Doctor Statler? It would save time and that long trip into town.” She smiled like a little girl asking a favor from a parent. “And I could tell Adam that much sooner.”

He gave the back of her hand a gentle pat. “Of course I can. Now let’s get you up out of this hard floor.”

With gentle hands, Evan and Maggie got her onto her feet, and she swayed a little in their supporting hold.

“Do ya need help in gettin’ to your room, mum?”

“No, the doctor and I can manage.”

“Are ya sure, mum?”

Angelica smiled and patted the back of her hand. “Quite sure. You just stay and finish the bread, and don’t worry. I’m sure everything is fine.”

Maggie gave a reluctant nod, took a step back and watched as the doctor helped her mistress from the room. Then she turned around and picked up the bread pan and spilled dough from the floor.

*******

It was shortly after noon when Adam finally blew back in. He had just closed the front door when Angelica and the doctor came out of the bedroom he shared with his wife. His eyes widened, and his mouth took on an odd quirk as he saw them. His fingers froze on the buckle of his gun belt, and his head tilted to one side. “Hello.”

Angelica’s head yanked around, and the doctor’s color dropped a shade.

“I see you’re finally home,” she said cheerily. “We didn’t hear you come in.”

Adam’s lone eyebrow rose. “Obviously.”

Evan cleared his throat. “I think I’ll go see if I can get a cup of Maggie’s good coffee. I’ll leave you both alone to talk.” Then he made a strategic withdrawal into the kitchen.

The expression on Adam’s face made Angelica want to laugh. She could just imagine what was going on in the recesses of that dark head. And while it didn’t work like most people’s she had ever met, it still belonged to a man, and she knew she had better explain herself and quickly. She started for the settee. “You missed your dinner.”

He put his hat on the table by the front door then took his gun belt off and hung if from a hook on the wall. “I ate with the Haymes’. Lee and I had some things to talk over.” He took a few steps closer to her. Then his arm swung in a wide arc that took in the bedroom, kitchen and dining room. “What was that all about? I’m gone all morning and come home to find my wife leaving our bedroom with a man she’s known less than two days. Of course you have a valid explanation.”

She fought against the laughter as she sat down on the settee and patted the seat beside her. “Come sit with me. I have something very important to tell you.”

“I can imagine that you do.”

She patted the seat again. “Come.”

He went to take a place next to her. She took hold of his arm and pulled herself closer to him. “It would appear that that fiasco of our honeymoon had an unforeseen outcome we hadn’t planned on.”

He cocked back and looked at her. “There was something other than your getting arrested, and my breaking my wrist that I don’t know about?”

She nuzzled his neck and kissed his ear then brought her face around in front of his. “I fainted in the kitchen and Maggie was there. I have fainted before, but this is the first time I got caught. And Doctor Statler was simply checking to see if it was what I suspected.”

He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “Are you all right? You didn’t hurt…?” His eyes probed into hers as if they sought an answer. “What you suspected?”

“Adam, dearest…” she caressed the side of his face, and her eyes became tender pools of violet, “… we’re going to have a baby.”

Adam just stared at her then started to stammer around. To say that he was tongue-tied would have been a flagrant understatement as he couldn’t seem to formulate a cohesive sentence. “A baby?” he finally managed to squeak out. “Is he sure? Forget I said that. Of course he’s sure.”

“Are you happy about it?”

He just sat there for a long moment then threw his arms around her, and she thought he would break her in two.

“Oh, sweetheart.” He held her at arm’s length. “This time I hope it’s a little girl that we can dress in ruffles and ribbons and lace. And she’ll be beautiful with violet eyes just like her mother.” He clutched her to him again. “And we’ll name her Elizabeth Verina, after your mother and mine.”

Angelica adored her Adam as she felt no woman ever adored a man. When he became like an excited little boy – which didn’t happen near often enough to suit her – she adored him all the more. And she wasn’t about to ruin his jubilation with the suggestion that it could turn out to be another son.

As they sat in each other’s embrace, tiny hands touched their legs, and they looked around. Threes sets of hazel eyes searched their parents’ faces, and petite mouths spread into smiles.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Adam, they just escaped me, as they’re wont to do if ya don’t keep yer eye on ‘em every second.”

Adam smiled as he pulled Benjy into his lap. “That’s all right, Maggie. This will be their little sister, and there’s no reason they can’t share in the happiness, too.”

With a polite duck of her head, Maggie went back to the kitchen. Addy and Hiram were pulled up with their brother, and all three were taken into their parent’s embrace. The boys snuggled between their mother and father and were held in the warmth and safety of loving arms. Soon the family would grow again, and there was plenty of love to go around.

FOUR

After Angelica had dropped her little bombshell on him, Adam had flitted around like a sprite for the rest of the day. And it hadn’t taken long for the hands to find out why. The men had been just as happy and excited about it and mainly because this would be the Boss’ child, which made it special. Then, unable to confine his elation to the ranch, Adam had ridden into town to spread the word among his friends, with plans to tell Lee and Becky Haymes on the way home. And it all made Angelica warm all over just to think about it.

She was hoeing what would probably be the last crop of the year when a voice brought her from her musings.

“It’s a beautiful morning.”

“Yes, Doctor, very beautiful. But that is common practice out here. This country is like nothing I had ever been in before I came. And I like it so much that I don’t miss Bangor at all.”

“You’re from Maine.”

“Me and all my family back four generations on my mother’s side and five on my father’s. Now, if you will excuse me, I don’t mean to be rude, but I really do need to finish with this. I still have so much more that needs to be done and what with the days getting shorter.” The hoe began to bite into the ground once more. “But that doesn’t mean we still can’t talk.”

He stepped to the edge of the plot. “I feel guilty just standing here watching you work. Can I help?”

“You’re a guest, and you weren’t brought here to work.”

“I know that, but I really would like to help.”

“Have you ever hoed out a garden before?”

“For my grandparents when I was a boy. But I have to admit that it has been a while.”

“It’s like breathing. Once you learn, it just comes naturally. There’s another hoe in the shed just over there.”

As she continued to work he dashed for the small building, disappeared inside, and it didn’t take long for him to reappear with the implement. “Where do you want me to start?”

“At the other end in the parsnips will be fine.”

The sound of the second hoe as it chomped into the dry dirt joined hers. And for several minutes they just worked and said nothing at all.

“Mrs. Cartwright, do you mind terribly if I ask you something?”

“Not at all, please do.”

“Do you think I’m wrong in not staying at my father’s house?” He stopped and leaned on the handle of his hoe and watched her work. “I know that your husband certainly does. He has some definite ideas about it.”

“Adam does have his own opinions and isn’t afraid to share them with others. But in answer to your question, you’re the only one that can decide that. And please bear in mind, that what is right for one person isn’t necessarily so for another. Galen Statler was your father and no one else’s, and it is entirely up to you.” She snickered. “So don’t let Adam bully you into something that you aren’t entirely comfortable with.” She moved from the bean row into the carrots. “Death is a hard thing, and with as much as we know it is going to happen, it is still difficult to deal with. You never get used to losing someone you love.”

“My father and I were not as close as a father and son should be. Like I told your husband, I believe the death of my mother in childbirth stood between us. And then he properly put me in my place.”

She raised, and her eyes had gone more of a purple.

“I guess in my self pity, all these years I have labored under the idea that I have been the only one who has ever had to live with that. But he cleared things up for me, and quite succinctly, I might add.”

“Oh dear. I hope you weren’t offended by anything he may have said.”

“Not offended but I did feel about three inches tall. And I deserved it.”

“Adam has always been very sensitive about that. His brothers told me that, up until two years ago, he never would acknowledge his birthday. According to them, he felt that celebrating another year of his life celebrated her death. But now he enjoys a good birthday party as much as anyone I have ever met, maybe even a little more. He once told me that he has so many to catch up on.”

“What brought about such a drastic change after so long a time?”

“You will have to ask him or Lee Haymes about that.”

“Lee Haymes? What has…?”

“Just ask.” She went back to work.

His eyes followed her movements, and he decided not to pursue this line of conversation any further. He couldn’t understand what Lee Haymes could have to do with the transformation of Adam Cartwright so – his insatiable curiosity now piqued – he would definitely inquire on the matter. One side of his mouth turned as he thought of a lighter topic as he returned to his chore. “I couldn’t help noticing how your husband floated about last night after you told him about the baby.”

*******

Evan sat on the side of his bed, and put his medical bag in his lap. He examined the fresh blisters then opened it and took out a bottle of liniment, removed the cap, poured some of the creamy white liquid into his palm and began to rub it in. It had been a while since he had done this kind of work, and it had taken its toll on his tender hands.

As he worked the strong-scented ointment in, his eyes flicked to the trunk that had been pushed off into a corner of the room. Since Adam Cartwright had brought it to him the previous morning, Evan had made a point to avoid it like one would a biting dog. He had no idea what all was in it, but he guessed it to be the usual flotsam-and-jetsam one accrued in life or clothes that he had no use for. At any rate, it had nothing to do with him. He recapped the bottle, and put it back into the satchel and snapped the clasp closed. Then he went still as stone.

“Who’re you trying to fool?”

His eyes strayed back to the trunk. Why had he been so adamant about not getting this done so he could go back home? Hadn’t that been why he had come out here in the first place? And how could this have nothing to do with him? Whatever was in there had belonged to his father, and probably had been very important to him so, for that very reason, it should be important to him as well.

He sat the bag down then got up and closed the door. Whatever he was about to let himself in for required quiet and solitude. The only sound was the clack of his shoes as he crossed the room. He pulled the trunk from its place of exile and got down in the floor before it.

“I might as well get this over with.”

With the lethargy of an aged man, he raised the lid. His fingers lightly brushed over the quilt then he took it out and lay it down beside him then turned back to the contents. Why on Earth would his father keep an old, battered pair of shoes? He picked them up, and it didn’t take long to realize that they had been his when he had been a boy. He had always assumed that they had just been thrown away. Yet here they were, locked away for safe keeping. With them was the cap his Uncle Orland had given him for his sixth birthday. A reader from his first year of school, a small, leather bound Bible and other things from his childhood. He took out a little tortoiseshell chest and opened it. Inside were a woman’s brooches and necklaces, hair combs and ear fobs. He swallowed hard, and his hands clenched on it. These had no doubt belonged to his mother. With the tenderness that one would show a child, he closed it and put it aside with the other things.

Now he turned his attention to the stacks of envelopes tied with twine off to one side. The corners if his mouth crooked as he recognized Minerva’s handwriting on a good portion of them. She had been writing to her father-in-law all these years and had kept it her own little secret. Inside some of them he found locks of his daughters’ hair, tiny mementos of a granddaughter that he would never see again, and her sisters that he would never know except through their mother. In one there was a card with violets pressed inside it, and a verse of poetry. He hadn’t realized how much his wife had loved his father, though he should have from the way she had wept when they had seen him off at the train station.

When he finished with Minerva’s correspondences, he turned to the ones that remained, and these were the worst of all. Here, in four stacks, were all the letters his father had written to him, and he had thoughtlessly returned, still unopened. He took one from the top and pried the flap free of the wax seal that had held it captive for so long. The paper crinkled as he took it out and unfolded it. But the second his eyes lit on the date his heart dropped in his chest. This one had been written long after they had stopped coming, and Evan was forced to realize something about his father. Some people keep a diary but his father had apparently continued to write letters that were never even mailed. A heavy sigh shook him as his eyes began to trace over the lines.

June 18, 1864
My dearest son,

At the risk of repeating myself, let me say how much I love and miss you and Minerva and the children. It is difficult to be so far from those I love so dearly. And maybe the hardest part is to realize that I have never met four of my granddaughters and most likely never will. I do not think it could do any harm for you to bring yourself and your family for a visit. If not for Minerva’s letters I do not think I could bear the separation. A neighbor name of Lee Haymes brings them to me every time he goes into town. This is a good man that I know you would like, as I know you would all the people out here if you would only give them a chance. At the absence of you and Minerva and the girls, they have become my family. I have delivered their babies and seen to their illnesses and injuries, and been with them when a loved one passed. I have eaten with them and they celebrate my birthday by bringing me pies and cakes and gifts that they have made themselves. Last year the ladies presented me with as beautiful quilt as I have ever seen. I know it took a lot to work it into their busy days, but it was a labor of love, and love always finds a way.

Evan’s eyes drifted down to the neatly folded quilt.

My days start early as they always have, and being so terribly needed keeps me going. I know I came out here to retire to a quiet, peaceful life away from the city, but from the first time someone appeared at my door, I could not turn them away. So much has happened since I have been here, but something occurred in the past week that has made me realize how much I am where I belong. Lee Haymes came to me right in the middle of my dinner. As long as I have known him, I can safely say that I have never seen him so agitated. And once he told me what was wrong, I knew I could not say no. After all, I can always cook more food, but I am a doctor and will be for as long as I live, and I must go when and where I am summoned. When I got to his house I found a dying man, badly beaten and brutalized beyond the ability of mere words to describe. He had been kicked and bludgeoned with a gun, as well as stripped of his clothing and his dignity and left to die by the side of the road as if of no consequence. It was a struggle to save his life, but I am glad to say that I was successful, though I believe most of the credit lies with him and the Good Lord above. But now the real battle has begun. He does not know who he is, and it is painful to see how hard he tries to get his life back in order as much as he can, what with his memories obliterated as they have been. But he is maybe the most determined man I have ever met, and he makes me ashamed that I have ever thought of quitting. The Haymes boy has taken to calling him Stretch in lieu of his real name, but I think he is only glad to have a place to stay and to be with those who care about him. I wish you could meet him, Evan. I think you would learn from him what I have, that no matter how difficult things become and no matter what we lose, as long as we are alive we cannot give up.
Now I must go for someone is knocking at my door. Tell Minerva and the girls how much I love and miss them and kiss them for me And please take care of the only son I was ever fortunate enough to be blessed with.

With all my love,
Your father

The words on the page blurred as tears misted Evan’s eyes. How had he been so blind to the fact that his father felt this way about him? He blinked hard to clear his vision and pinched the bridge of his nose. Now he knew the awful truth. He blamed himself for his mother’s death, not his father, as he had always believed. He had given the wrong perception to what had happened through their years together. It was always easier to think that someone else thought ill of you than it was to think that you were the one who did.

He dropped his head and began to rub his temples at the throb that had begun to form. “Why didn’t I open my eyes and see what was before me before it was too late?” He looked up at the ceiling as tears streamed down his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Father…. I am so sorry.”

*******

Adam stood on the front porch of the little house and looked out toward the evening sun as it continued to sink lower toward the horizon. He had been coming here a lot more than he ever had when Dr. Statler was alive, and for that he felt a sting of guilt. He owed the man for his very life, but after he had gotten his ranch established, and most especially after his boys’ arrival, he had come less and less. He knew that Galen understood for he had said as much, but it wasn’t enough to placate Adam’s feelings of neglect now. And, as if that weren’t bad enough, the man’s own son didn’t seem to want to make time to mourn the passing of his father, for Pete’s sake.

With a grunt, Adam’s mouth set into a rigid line, and he stomped down the steps. He jerked the reins loose from the hitch rail and climbed onto Dusty’s back. His eyes roved over the little house in which the last years of a man’s life had been spent, and his fingers gnarled in the leather strips. Maybe he would be meddling where he had no business, but, in his estimated opinion, this had gone on long enough. He gave the big black a nudge in the sides and started out past the copse of trees. He had to do something to bring Evan Statler around. He owed Galen at least that much.

FIVE

When Adam stormed into the house Angelica was setting the table. She thumped a plate down hard and sharp violet eyes turned on him.

“Do you have to always come into this house like a rampaging bull?”

He took off his hat and gun belt and hung them on the wall. “Where’s the doctor?”

“Upstairs in his room. He has been almost all day. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, but I think it’s about time we had a serious talk about a few things.”

She put the stack of plates down and rushed after him as he started for the stairs. “Adam,” she took hold of his arm, “he’s been in there since late morning…. He’s going though his father’s belongings.”

Adam’s eyes flicked toward the second floor.

“Maggie took him some dinner, and she said he was reading some letters.”

“Letters?”

“Yes, and she said he barely noticed her when she came in. So maybe you shouldn’t disturb him.”

Just then Maggie came out of the kitchen with a loaded supper tray. “I thought that the good doctor would still be too busy to come down.”

“Why don’t you let me take that up to him?”

“Thank ya, sir, that’ll let me get back to me duties.”

Adam took the tray, and Maggie went back into the kitchen. He couldn’t miss the expression of uncertainty on Angelica’s face. “Don’t worry, I’m only gonna take him his supper. I promise not say or do anything you would disapprove of.” He gave her a peck on the cheek then started up.

She watched him until he disappeared upstairs then – with a snicker and a shake of her head – she returned to the dining room to finish with the table.

Evan, who had moved into the big wing chair by the window, had just returned a letter to its envelope when someone knocked. “Come in.”

The door opened and the tray and Adam’s top half appeared. “Maggie thought you would rather eat up here, so I said I would bring this.”

“Thank you, I have to admit that I am hungry. I’m afraid I haven’t eaten much today,” he inhaled deep, “and the wonderful aromas emanating from the kitchen have constantly reminded me of that fact. “

Adam looked at the envelopes that lay about the doctor’s feet and in his lap. “Well, sometimes we get ourselves into things that keep our minds too occupied for food. Where do you want me to put this?”

“Just set it on the bed, and would you please stay? I would like to talk to you for a few minutes, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind. To be truthful, that’s the main reason I came up here. Supper was just a handy excuse.” Adam stepped all the way in and pushed the door together with his foot.

Once Adam had put the tray down and taken a seat on the side of the bed, Evan held an envelope out to him. Adam eyed it warily. “What’s this?”

“It’s one of my father’s letters. But it isn’t one of those that I so thoughtlessly returned to him unopened. It seems he took to writing them like most people keep a diary. I would like for you to read this particular one. I think he would want you to.”

With only a shrug, Adam took it and removed the paper and unfolded it. As the hazel eyes ran over the page, Evan saw a change take place. Some of Adam’s dark coloring faded from his face as he read. His fingers chomped into the sheet and it gave a light crinkle. When he had finished he lowered it, but his gaze stayed fixed on his legs.

“You’re Stretch, aren’t you?”

For a long moment, Adam just sat there then he finally looked at Evan. “Yes, I am, but how did you know? From this it could’ve been anybody.”

“You are peppered throughout my father’s later letters, and I just sort of put two-and-two together. He thought very highly of you.”

“And I him.”

“That explains why you’re so protective of him. He saved your life, and you feel you owe him.”

“I do, but it’s not only that. He was my friend, and one of the finest men it’s ever been my privilege to know. And even though he’s gone I don’t feel that that in any way ends my obligation. I feel like now it’s left up to me to see that what he would want is done.”

“You mean, what you think he would want?”

“That’s right.” The corners of Adam’s mouth deepened into a smile. “It would please him to know that his letters are finally being read by the one they were intended for.”

Evan looked at the ones in his lap and a blush rose into his cheeks. “And it’s long overdue. If I hadn’t been so headstrong and unrelenting… It should never have gone this far.” He looked to Adam again. “I’ll always remember that stupid argument the day before he left. You see, he hadn’t told me about his plans until he had no choice, and I can only imagine that it was because he knew how I would take it. The last time I ever saw him was bitter and angry.” He heaved a heavy sigh. “And all because I couldn’t admit that maybe I was wrong about something for a change.”

“My father and I haven’t always seen eye-to-eye either, and I think it’s more because of how much we’re alike than different. They say that opposites attract and maybe so. But I know as fact that those who are of the same nature, by that very nature, tend to butt heads harder. I’ve been told that my father and I are so much alike that our personalities are hardly discernable from one another, and I don’t know if I go along with that. But I do know that we’ve had some arguments that would make the battle of Gettysburg pale in comparison.” He snorted. “But a more wonderful man has never lived, and I wouldn’t change a thing about him even if I could.”

“Have you ever parted on angry words?”

“A few times, but we’ve always managed to work things out.”

“But I would wager that it didn’t take you six years. Well, I did, and now it’s too late.”

Adam got up, stepped to the chair and rested a hand on his arm. “You’re making up now, and who’s to say that he doesn’t know. Now I’ll leave you to eat before your supper gets cold and finish with those.”

Adam got as far as the door and had started out when Evan said his name, and he looked back around. “Yes, Evan, what is it?”

“In the morning, would you drive me out to my father’s place…? I think I need to stay there for a while.”

“Sure, Evan. We’ll go right after breakfast.” Then he went out into the hall and closed the door behind him.

As Angelica left the top stair she just stopped. Adam stood at the other end of the hall outside Evan Statler’s bedroom – head down, shoulders slumped and face covered by one hand. Like the swish of a breeze she went to him and gently took hold of his arm.

The look in those treasured eyes that greeted her sent a rush of breath into her. They were bottomless, and the pain that lived within their depths was like a wound to the soul. With a light touch, she brushed the backs of her fingers against his cheek. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

He took both of her hands in his and squeezed them against his chest. “Promise me that when the time comes you’ll let me go first.” His gaze searched her face, and his grip tightened. “The worst thing in the world that can happen to a human being is to lose somebody you care about and be left behind to grieve. And it’s only made worse when you don’t even get to say good-bye.”

Her eyes flicked to the door. “Did he say something to you that brought this on?”

He shook his head. “Just seeing what he is feeling was enough. And he let me read one of his father’s letters. It would seem that I had quite an impact on Galen Statler with that first meeting.” He snickered. “I bet you didn’t know I have such a way with people.”

“Of course I did and do. Look at the way you have with me.” She pressed closer to him. “I’m mere clay in your hands to mold any way you want to.” A warm smile tipped her eyes. “And I love it.”

“And I love you.” Teasing amber lights filled his eyes. “Now I think we had better go down before Maggie comes after us and catches us this way.”

“Let her. If anyone will understand it’s her.”

She gave her nose a little wrinkle and kissed him on the cheek then rested the side of her face against his chest, and his arms went around her and held her in their warm shelter. She could hear the powerful thump of his heart and it gave a sense of wellbeing that few other things could match. And if it were given her to stay like this for the rest of her life, the only thing she would change would be to have her boys with them to complete the circle.

*******

The house had settled quiet in the hours before midnight. Clocks throughout chimed to announce its arrival but no one heard any of them save for one. And even he gave them scant, if any, attention. The faint glow of lamp light formed a narrow strip at the bottom of Evan Statler’s bedroom door that stood out in the darkness of the hall. Silence had regained its reign, though muffled movement within attested to his restlessness as he went through the letters that his wife had clandestinely written to her father-in-law. He had always known that Minerva loved his father but until now, he hadn’t realized just how much.

He finished with the last one and returned it to its envelope. “Bless you, Minerva.”

He put the letter in a jumbled stack with the others; he would sort them out in the morning and return them and the other things to the trunk. As he came out of the chair, he stretched his stiffened muscles and realized just how beat he was. He eyed the bed with longing and – for the first time – noticed that he was still fully clothed. It was late, and he was tired, but he doubted he could sleep for all that ran through his mind. Still he would try. He put out the lamp and sat on the side of the bed. In the dark he took off his shoes and let them drop to the floor with a thud. He flopped back on the soft mattress and let his weary body sink into it. The thick feather pillow fluffed about his head and welcomed him into its soft embrace.

In the dull gray light that filtered in around the edge of the draperies he set his eyes on the ceiling. This trip west had turned out to be so much more than he had expected it to. He had found his father and discovered a part of his wife that made him proud of her. He yawned and let his eyelids fall, and the last thought he had was of a man he was just beginning to truly know before sleep took him into its nurturing hold.

SIX

When the buckboard had come to a halt in front of the little house, Evan got down and took his valise and medical bag from the back. He stepped closer to the porch and just stopped.

“Are you sure you don’t want to spend one more night with us?” Adam asked, as he stood next to him with the trunk that held Galen Statler’s treasures.

Evan looked around at him. “Aren’t you the one who thought I should stay here from the very beginning?”

“I’ll admit that I did. But as I look back on it, I think you did the right thing. It gave you a chance to catch your breath and get things sorted out in your mind if nowhere else.”

Evan looked back to the house. “I suppose so. But I think this is going to be maybe the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I turned away from him while he was alive and it just seems hypocritical to come back to him now that he’s gone.”

“We all make mistakes, some bigger than others. You made one, and this is your chance to erase at least some of it. Sure, it would’ve been better if you had done it while he was still alive, but this is better than not at all. You need to make your peace with him and yourself and move on.”

“I know, but I still feel lousy about it. Not about actually doing something that will bring me closer to him but that it took so long.” Evan looked over the place where his father had lived for the past nine years and tried to imagine him there. It was difficult. A crisp voice next to him returned him to the here-and-now.

“Well, let’s go on inside. There’s a lot to do get you settled in. Some of the ladies cleaned the house right after you came to stay with me, and I’ve found that when ladies clean they mean serious business. This is your house now for as long as you stay with us, and we need to make it yours.”

It took a few seconds for what Adam had just said to sink in, and Evan gave him a quizzical look. “Stay with us?”

“Whether you want to own up to it or not – at least for a short time – you’re a part of this community. And people for some distance are quite aware of your presence.”

“How? I’ve only met you, your family and Lee Haymes so far.”

Adam grinned. “I like to call it the ‘ladies’ telegraph’. Another thing I’ve learned about women is how much they like to talk, especially to one another.”

Evan’s eyes twinkled in the morning light that filtered through the dense canopy of the trees. “You cannot tell me anything about the mysteries of the fairer gender that I haven’t already experienced first hand.”

Adam cleared his throat. “And talk isn’t completely a feminine pastime.”

Evan allowed himself a chuckle, the first since before he had learned of his father’s death. “This also is true.”

Adam gave him a sly wink then they started inside.

*******

Adam and Evan had been there for about fifteen minutes when Lee had shown up. He had set right in to helping them rearrange the place. The furniture – what little there was – had been scooted back out of the way for cleaning and not returned to its proper places.

The three of them had been going at it pretty strong for a bit when Lee’s attention was drawn from resetting the mantle clock. He went to the front window and looked out. The sides of his mouth set into a satisfied smile, and he glanced back at Adam and Evan. “We have company.”

Adam and Evan put down the shabby settee they had been moving and joined Lee at the window.

“Your welcoming committee,” Adam said, and rested an arm on Evan’s shoulders.

Evan felt a thrill tingle through his body as wagons rumbled into the yard and stopped in front of the house. Men, women, young people and children filled them and the bright, eager faces stirred him.

“I think we should go out and properly greet them and ask them down, don’t you?” Adam gave the doctor a pat on the back.

Evan looked first at Adam then Lee. “I think that’s a splendid idea.”

“All right then,” Adam said, and yanked the door open then gave a sweep of his arm toward the outside. “After you, Doctor Statler.”

Evan was met by a chorus of cheerful voices and enthusiastic greetings as he stepped out onto the porch. This he had not anticipated and it reawakened his faith in human kind that had lain dormant for some time. “Welcome, friends. Please get down and come inside.”

*******

The scent of death had been overpowered by lye soap and the aroma of pies, cakes, fresh baked bread, copious amounts of coffee and the remains of a large pot of vegetable soup. Life had taken precedence and moved right in to make the little house its home once again.

Evan sat in the aged rocking chair in front of the small stone fireplace, where he knew his father had probably spent many such an evening. He popped his last bite of a piece of Mrs. Bendell’s peach pie into his mouth and let his mind continue to wander. The crackle of the fire and the sound of crickets outside only added to his contentment here in his father’s house. So much had happened to him in the past few days since his arrival. He had discovered his father anew and met the man that he hadn’t known, even worse, hadn’t let himself know before. He had met people who had loved his father more than he had allowed himself to. And he had found a part of his Minerva that made him adore her all the more. He took a deep breath and let the fire’s warmth embrace him as light played in his eyes. He didn’t know how it could be possible, but he was happier and more content right now than he had thought he could been in this place. And the only thing that marred this perfect happiness was that he missed his family and his father.

The clock on the mantle struck nine o’clock. He had had a long, productive day, and he was blissfully exhausted. But it was a good exhaustion, the kind that reminded a man of what he had accomplished and made him feel good about himself. He used his fork to scrape up the flaky remains of the piecrust and licked them from the tines as a child would. With a grunt, he pulled himself to his feet. He put the plate next to the clock then – with the movements of a mummy – he banked the fire. After he gave a few rubs to his stiff back, he picked up the lamp and headed toward the bedroom. Yes, it had been a long day, but it had also been a good day, and for the rest of his life, one that he would never forget.

*******

Thunder cracked and Evan jolted upright in the bed. As he sat there he cocked an ear to listen, and hoped he could hear over the turbulent hammering of his heart. It didn’t take long to discern that it wasn’t the approach of a storm that had awakened him but a loud pounding at the front door. Without hesitation, he threw the covers back and swung his legs over the side. Oh, how he hated to leave the warmth of the generously donated feather bed and quilts. He snagged his robe from the bedpost but – in his haste – neglected to put on his slippers as he dashed out into the parlor.

Here the incessant pounding was louder and appeared more frantic. “All right, all right,” he muttered as he tied his robe belt around him. “I’m coming.”

When he looked out the window in an attempt to see who was calling at such an indecent hour it dawned that he hadn’t brought a lamp.

“Doc! Doc!” a voice called from the other side of the door.

Evan didn’t want to open up to a stranger in the dead of a black night, but, being a doctor, he felt it his duty to find out what the problem was. He jerked the door open and could only make out a tall, dark silhouette before him.”

“Whew, I was beginnin’ to think you wasn’t gonna ever wake up. Doc, you gotta come. It’s my little Kayley. She’s real bad.”

Now Evan knew that the anxious man before him was Leif Simmons. “What’s wrong?”

“She fell off the front porch. Scared me and the missus more ‘n half to death. At first she ‘peared to be all right, but, Doc, she ain’t movin’ no more. She just lays there like a cold lump o’ coal. She can hardly breathe and wheezes like a bellows. Please, Doc, you gotta come.”

Evan’s brow furrowed as he thought it over, but he didn’t think long. He was a doctor, and he didn’t need to. “All right. Let me put some clothes on and get my medical bag and I’ll be right with you. Please, Leif, come in where it’s a shade warmer.”

As Leif stepped inside and closed the door, Evan sprinted back to the bedroom. The urgency of the situation negated fooling with the lamp so he would just go about this in the dark. He blew his warm breath on his hands and furiously rubbed them together. It still perplexed him how it could be so scorching hot through the day and so absolutely freezing cold at night. He peeled out of his robe and nightshirt and had never, in thirty-odd years of life, gotten dressed with such alacrity. His fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt then he stuffed its tail haphazardly into the top of his trousers. His already icy feet were jammed into his chilled shoes without benefit of socks, and he didn’t tie them. There wasn’t time now, and he could do it later. He snapped up his medical bag from the side of the bed then rushed back out.

“All right, Leif, let’s go.”

“Sure thing, Doc.”

Then the men rushed out, and the door slammed.

With his medical bag tucked securely under his arm, Evan groped his way down the steps and onto the wagon seat. The night was black as a dungeon, but he managed without mishap. He felt more than saw Leif climb up next to him. With a shout and a snap of the reins the wagon gave a hard lurch, and they were off. And, from what he had been told about that darling little girl’s condition, he could only hope that they didn’t have far to travel.

SEVEN

In the desperation of the journey, Evan had lost track of time and wasn’t sure how long it had taken them to finally reach the Simmons’ house. When they rattled into the yard, he instantly saw that someone – probably one of the myriad of Simmons children, judging by the height of the lamp glow – waited for them outside.

“They’re here, Ma! Pa’s back with the doctor!”

The two men scrambled down, and ran toward the light as quickly as the dark would allow.

“Ma was starting to think you weren’t gonna get back in time.”

“How’s your sister?” Leif asked his son as he bounded up the steps.

“She still ain’t breathing so good.”

The boy pushed the door open then followed inside after his father and the doctor.

Evan had seen meager living conditions in Philadelphia before and it always disturbed him how some people were forced to live. The cabin was one large room with one bed – undoubtedly for the parents and the smallest of the seven children – and bedding in the floor. There wasn’t a sign of a cook stove but a huge stone fireplace – where a fire now blazed – took up the entire back wall.

Hannah Simmons, who sat on the side of the bed next to her troubled daughter, glanced around. “Thank the Good Lord, you’re finally back.”

As Evan went forward he saw little else but the desperate child. He put the medical bag on the pillow beside her head. “Son, bring that lamp closer over here.”

The twelve-year-old boy looked to his father and got a stern nod.

“Hold it down closer so I can see better.” In the glow of the lamp, Evan at once noticed that the girl’s lips had begun to turn blue. He raised one of her hands and saw that the beds of her fingernails were doing the same. He took out his new stethoscope – a gift from a colleague and close friend – and put the tips in his ears. He pressed the bell end to the child’s chest and didn’t care for what he heard. Her little heart raced, and she did wheeze like a bellows. “Mrs. Simmons, I need for you to come around on the other side of the bed so I can get in here closer.” Once the woman had done as he asked his gaze rose to her anxious face. “Put your hand over your daughter’s eyes, I think it will calm her.” Once the woman had done that, he took out a box which contained cotton pads, and another that held small, glass tubes. He then brought out a bottle of carbolic acid.

Next came a scalpel from the bag, and Leif’s eyes went round as wagon wheels as he caught sight of the instrument. “Doc, what’re you doin’?”

“I’m going to fix it so that she can breathe. If I don’t, she can’t last much longer. Now Leif, I need for you to come around on my other side and hold her head perfectly still. Don’t let her move at all. It’s vitally important that you do that.”

“Ain’t you gonna put her to sleep with that stuff that other doctors use?”

“You mean chloroform.” Evan shook his head. “I have used it but I’ve found that with this kind of operation it’s safer for the patient if I don’t.” His gentle eyes turned back to the frightened child. “But she’s a brave little girl.”

“All right, Doc. She’ll move nary an inch.”

Evan saturated the pad with the acid then wiped over the girl’s throat and the blade of the scalpel then discarded it.

“This is going to sting a little bit, sweetheart, but you’ll be breathing just fine in no time.” Evan looked to the girl’s mother. “Now I need for you to not move at all. Your father is going to help you to be as still and quiet as a little church mouse.”

Leif got a firm grip on either side of his daughter’s head. “All right, Doc…. Go ahead.”

Evan mouthed a silent prayer. Please guide my hand so that I may save this child’s life. Then he put the keen blade to the tender flesh. He could feel the little girl try to move as a thin rim of red appeared. He used a clean pad to control the blood that inevitably ran from the incision. He laid the scalpel aside then parted the flap of pale skin and inserted a glass tube about half way. The tissue closed around it and held it securely as a mother would her baby. In an instant, the girl’s breathing evened out, and she began to pink up as oxygen entered her small body.

“You can take your hand away now, Mrs. Simmons.” As she did, Evan leaned down and brushed back a wisp of blonde hair from the child’s face. His gentle gaze and reassuring smile seemed to comfort her. “I was right. You are a very brave little girl.”

“That beats anything I ever seen,” Leif said, and riffled his fingers in his thick hair.

“She must have hit her throat on something when she fell. It swelled until it was closing off her airways, and she couldn’t breathe. I just gave her another way to do it.” Evan smiled at the child and caressed her rosy cheek. “I think she’ll be all right now. I’ll spend what’s left of the night, and we’ll take things as they come tomorrow. Now why don’t you and the family try to get some rest? I’ll sit with Kayley.” His smile broadened. “We’ll keep each other company until she goes to sleep.”

Mrs. Simmons’ eyes took on a sharp edge. “I’ll not leave my baby.”

“Well, I see no harm in you lying down beside her. I’m sure she would love to have her mother with her.”

The girl tried to nod.

“Don’t move your head, sweetheart. You need to be still as that little mouse I told you about.”

Hannah Simmons took the doctor’s lifesaving right hand in hers and kissed it. “God bless you, Dr. Statler, you’re a good man just like your father.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Simmons; I take that as a compliment.”

Evan’s eyes began to mist as he turned his attention back to Kayley. His smile crooked a little more. He liked to think that his father would be proud of him because, for sure, he knew he was proud of his father.

*******

Evan stood out in front of the Simmons’ cabin with a cup of hot, strong chicory. He had never had the concoction before, and he couldn’t say that it wasn’t entirely to his liking. The smells of dinner wafted about him and reminded him that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was on the ravenous side. It had been a long night, as he knew it would be, and he hadn’t gotten enough sleep to pay him to stretch out, at Hannah Simmons’ insistence, in the floor with the other children. When he woke up, Kayley’s four-year-old brother James was enclosed in the doctor’s arms. He raised his head and allowed the sunshine to warm his face as he took a sip.

The thump of horses’ hooves brought Evan’s attention back to earth just as two riders appeared through the trees. At first he couldn’t make them out, but after several minutes, his mouth curved, and he took another slow sip.

“Finally,” Adam Cartwright said, as he reined his horse in before the doctor. “So this is where you were spirited away to.”

“We tried the Bendell’s and the O’Brien’s first,” Lee Haymes said, as he leaned forward on his pommel. “Have you been here all night?”

Evan nodded. “Leif woke me up late some time about to bring the door down. I’m not sure just when.”

“What happened?” Adam asked.

Evan took another sip. “His little Kayley fell off the porch and must have struck her throat on something. It had really swelled to where it severely hampered her ability to breathe. By the time I got here she had already started to turn blue.”

“How is she?”

“She’s doin’ just fine, thanks to the doc,” Leif said briskly, as he came around behind the horses. “Now why don’t you gents get down? The missus is just cooking up dinner, and she always has plenty.”

Adam knew better, but he wouldn’t insult the man’s pride. “We’ll take you up on the getting down, but I think it would not set too well with Becky if we didn’t show up after all her hard work.”

Leif shook his head with a loud guffaw. “I know how that can go. A few times when I was late I thought my missus was gonna cleave my head with an axe. Now I’ll just leave you three to talk. Come in when you’re ready, Doc.” Then he went on inside and closed the door.

Adam and Lee dismounted and came forward, each leading their horse.

Adam’s eyes flicked to the house. “How is she, really?”

“Pretty good, actually. The resiliency of children never fails to amaze me. They seem to bounce back from things that would kill an adult.”

Adam’s eyebrow rose. “And you being ever the thorough doctor, you’ll stay here until you’re sure you can safely leave her.”

“That’s about it. I don’t know when I’ll be heading back home now, which brings me to one of the reasons I’m glad you came. I have another letter for one of you to take into town. It’s on the table at my father’s house.”

Adam’s brow creased. He had hoped that this man would start to think of the house as his. “We’ll take care of it.”

“So it’s a good thing you happened to be out here.”

“Yes, it is. If Leif had had to go all that way into town and back just to get a doctor…” Evan’s eyebrows knit into a heavy frown, “I don’t think the child would have made it.” He dropped his head, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That little girl was dying right in front of me.”

“Like when your father walked in on a dying man three years ago.”

Evan’s head yanked up, and he saw that a stranger now stood before him. A mingling of emotions had turned the dark hazel eyes into something ominous. That this man could kill, Evan had no doubt.

“Lee, I’m gonna head on back. You can catch up with me when you’re ready.”

“All right, Adam, I won’t be more ‘n a few minutes. I have something to talk with Evan about.”

“All right.” Then Adam slipped his foot into the stirrup and swung into the saddle. He tipped his hat to the doctor and they watched him as he headed out.

“It still haunts him, doesn’t it?”

“He wouldn’t be human if it didn’t.” Lee turned back to the doctor after Adam left their sight through the trees. “And your father meant a lot to him. Just like he meant a lot to everybody out here and now that he’s gone.”

“There isn’t a doctor. I was wondering when someone would get around to bringing that up.” A smile rose to Evan’s eyes. “And I would be lying if I said thought hadn’t passed through my mind.” He shook his head. “But this isn’t just about me or what I think or believe in. I have a family that I need to be concerned with, and they must always come first.”

“Your wife wouldn’t stand in the way of any decision you might make.”

“No, Minerva would never do that, she doesn’t meddle into affairs that she feels she has no right to.” He tilted his head to one side. “Whatever happens will be my decision and mine alone.”

“Then I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see what you decide.” Lee gave him a friendly slap on the arm then got mounted. “You know, Evan, you’re more like your father than I think you realize, and the sooner you come to grips with that reality the better off you’ll be. He didn’t have to go back to full time doctoring but after he saw how much he was needed out here he told me that the decision was more-or-less made for him. So who knows, maybe you’ll come to the same conclusion that you’re needed out here more than you are back in Philadelphia.”

“We’ll see.”

“That we will.” Lee’s smile suddenly turned into an uncomfortable grin. “Now I’d better catch up to Adam and get back to the house. I don’t want my head cleaved with any axe. And if you need anything you know who to come to.” Then he gave his horse’s head a jerk and headed off after his friend.

“Yes, I do, and don’t think I won’t.” Evan took a drink of the now tepid chicory, and his nose wrinkled. He stood there until the sound of thudding hooves had died away, then he turned and went back into the cabin.

*******

Two days had passed since the operation, and Evan had watched the child improve with each passing hour. Hannah sat next to Kayley and held her daughter’s hand while the rest of the family had gathered at the foot of the bed. Fear shone in the little girl’s eyes as well as her mother’s as they darted to the doctor’s face.

“Now what I am going to do, sweetheart, is put my thumb over the end of the tube, and I need for you to breathe on your own.” He glanced to the parents. “All right, here we go.” Carefully he blocked the open end of the tube.

But rather than breathe, the child began to panic and thrash about.

Evan pulled his thumb away. “It’s all right, sweetheart, there’s nothing to be frightened of.” He reached out and touched the side of her face. “You know, you remind me an awful lot of my youngest daughter. Her name is Jenna. She has blue eyes like mine and soft brown hair like her mother’s, and she’s only one year older than you. Her favorite color is pink, and she loves butterflies.” His gaze never broke connection with Kayley’s. “When you get better you can tell me about some of your favorite things.” Clandestinely, he covered the end of the tube, but his demeanor never changed. “Like what you like to do on a summer day, and your favorite kind of pie.” His eyes flicked down, but he kept right on talking. “And don’t you dare tell me that you don’t like pie. Why, I never met a little girl that didn’t.” He leaned closer to her, and her soft, gentle breathing filled his ears like the sweet strains of a sonata. He lowered his voice. “My favorite is peach. And that’s just between me and you.” Then he gave her a wink and sat back.

“Kayley, child, you’re doing it.” Tears glistened in Mrs. Simmons’ eyes. “You’re breathing on your own.”

Leif put a work callused hand on his daughter’s forehead. “I knew you could do it, girl.”

Kayley’s large, bright eyes flitted first to her mother then her father then returned to the doctor. Evan could read pride in her accomplishment in her angelic face. He gave her a nod and a warm smile.

“You have a real trooper here. She should be just fine now.” Evan shook his finger at her with mock sternness. “But you’ll still have to stay in bed for a few days longer, young lady. You’re not quite ready to run any foot races yet.” He patted the back of her hand.

As he watched the child, his thoughts strayed to what would have happened to this precious little girl if he hadn’t been here. And what would happen after he returned to Philadelphia.

EIGHT

As a doctor’s wife, I think you can imagine the elation I felt when that dear little girl began to breathe on her own. It was like bringing a new life into this world, and, in a sense, I guess I did. I was able to remove the tube, and her recovery has been miraculous, to say the least.
I can see why my father liked being out here among these people. They have a way of making you feel like you belong, and they aren’t ashamed to come at all hours, be it for their needs or yours. Adam Cartwright and Lee Haymes, the two men I told you about with my last writing, comes here as often as they can. I think they are trying to talk me into staying, but I always let them know how much is at stake for you and the girls if I did. You know that

The sound of a wagon as it rumbled into the yard interrupted Evan, and he laid the pen next to the inkwell. The letter would have to wait.

Evan stepped out onto the porch. “You’re bright and early this morning. It’s not even seven yet.”

“I’ve been up since four. This is late in the day for me.” Adam looked about him at the condition of the property. “You know, for the longest time this place has needed a barn. A lean-to is fine for straight down rain or snow, but the way the wind whips it up around here, well…” Without asking permission, he climbed down from the seat. “So I brought you some lumber.”

Evan’s balled hands went to his hips. “And who is planning on building this edifice? I’m no carpenter.”

Adam went around to the back of the wagon. “Finding help won’t be a problem and what with everybody who’s willing to pitch in, we should get it built in short order.” He glanced up at the sky. “We’ll have it done before snow time.”

“You’re taking a lot for granted, aren’t you?”

Adam began to pull a board from the back. “Not really. Even if you don’t stay you’re still gonna want to sell the place and get top dollar for it. Well, a barn will make it that much more appealing.”

Evan rubbed his fingers over his chin. This man wasn’t fooling him one bit. “You have a valid point there. It will improve the property. And how much is this going to cost me.”

“Not one red cent.” Adam dropped the board and it landed with a loud thump. He brushed his hands off on his britches legs and stepped forward. “This is for your father. As much as we owe him we were never be able to pay it back in his lifetime, so you have inherited the payments. You have become his proxy, so to speak.” He turned back to the wagon. “And what are neighbors for if not to help each other?”

“I’m not really a neighbor.”

“You’re just splitting hairs. Now how about you come down here and give me a hand? This’ll go a lot faster with two. We can stack it over next to the lean-to.”

Evan eyed him warily through slits then started down the steps.

*******

After the boards were stacked in a jumble alongside the lean-to – since neatness hadn’t really counted – Evan invited Adam inside for coffee. It had been hard work, at least for a doctor who wasn’t used to it, but it still hadn’t taken too long. Evan had just put the pot on the stove when another clatter arose in the front yard, and this time there sounded to be more than one wagon.

“Sounds like you’ve got more company,” Adam said, as he pulled his long fame up from the rocking chair.

“So it would seem.”

Evan crossed to the front door with Adam right behind him and yanked it open. The doctor shot a look at him then they stepped out onto the porch.

There were Bendell’s, Simmons’s, O’Brien’s and Haymes’s in every shape, size and age imaginable. Even Turner and Olivia Kelby were there. The women and youngest children and babies were all piled into one wagon.

Evan turned narrowed eyes on Adam. “You knew about this, didn’t you?”

“You might say I was the advance scout.”

“Good morning, Evan,” Lee said, and bounded down from his wagon. “I can see by the look on your face that Adam kept his secret well.”

“Quite well. What’s this all about?”

“A barn raising,” Leif Simmons said, as he came forward with little Kayley held in one arm. “I just bet you ain’t never seen one back home.”

“No, there aren’t many calls for barns in the heart of Philadelphia.”

“Well they be quite a few in Kentuck,” Leif said, as he came up the steps.

Evan peeked under the bandage around the child’s throat. “And how’s my little patient?”

“Oh, she’s doin’ just fine, Doc. It’s all me ‘n her mother can do to keep her still so’s she won’t get hurt again. Now, Doc,” Leif handed his daughter over to Evan, “why don’t you take her while I help unload this lumber?”

Evan had no choice but to take the child as her father and Adam went down to help. Then he could do nothing but step back out of the way as the women and girls came up with babies, cooking pots and utensils and sweets of all sorts. They were followed by Lorcan O’Brien with the biggest ham Evan knew he had even seen, followed by his brother with a bushel basket of fresh vegetables that beggared description. Then the corners of his mouth turned as he snuggled the child against his shoulder. This was shaping up to be a fine day.

*******

By the time work stopped for the dinner break, appetites tended to the voracious side. While the men and boys washed up, the ladies and their daughters brought out the food. The long tables were, in actuality, boards placed on top of sawhorses. And such a spread had not been seen in these parts in a while. Fried potatoes and onions, wild greens, sliced tomatoes, bread, mashed parsnips, carrots braised in fresh butter, green beans cooked with a hunk of fatback bacon and of course the ham. Cakes, pies and puddings that had been made at home sat to themselves at one end. And then there were pitchers of milk, water and Wade Bendell’s homemade spruce beer.

Once the tables were set, the benches, which were only more boards set atop large nail kegs, were filled with hungry people. But before anything was dished up – and the backs of children’s hands were smacked to insure this – heads were bowed to give thanks for this bounty and the warmth and companionship of family and friends.

“Amen.”

It became a feeding frenzy as bowls and platters were passed and glasses filled to the rims. To Evan – the reason for this gathering – went the honor of carving the ham. As was proper, the men got first slices, then everyone else with the women last.

Adam sat directly across from Evan, and his eyes continually darted to the man’s face interspersed with the filling of his plate. That Evan was enjoying himself could have not been more evident, and it gave rise to the hope that maybe he would soon make the right decision. Or, at any rate, Adam thought it would be the right decision. He speared several slices of juicy, ripe tomato and placed with his green beans. New families were always welcomed, as the Simmons had been the previous year. And, at least for Adam, the fact that this area needed a doctor was only a small part of it. He liked Evan Statler as he had his father, and one could never have too many friends.

*******

It wasn’t a large barn as barns go, but it was more than adequate for a doctor’s use. Evan lifted his head and sniffed the scent of fresh cut wood. Boots crunched on the sawdust strewn ground behind him.

“It’s a nice barn, if I do say so,” Adam said, as he stopped beside Evan.

“Did you design this, too?”

“It was a combined effort. We all threw in ideas.”

Evan’s eyes roved to the loft. “You make it difficult. But then I think that was the purpose of all this.”

“Make what difficult?”

“I think you already know the answer.”

“You mean going back home.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

Adam shrugged. “This could be your home.”

Evan’s head dropped, and he looked around. “In all my life I have never been out of Philadelphia until now.”

“Then maybe it’s time for a change. I think you and your family would be happy here. And there’s nothing like it for raising children. And if you aren’t, Philadelphia will still be there.”

“Have you lived here all your life?”

“Most of it. I won’t pull any punches and say that it’s an easy life, but I think it is more rewarding than anything you can find in a city.” Adam sniggered. “Would you believe that I actually was going back to Boston to live, that is, until I met my Angelica, and she opened my eyes for me? She helped me to see what I had come to take for granted, and that no city, not even one like Boston or, for that matter, Philadelphia, has to offer what this country does. Springs are rejuvenating, summers are abundant, autumns are glorious and winters, though usually harsh, are spectacular. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen it ablaze with fall colors or dressed in a white coat of sparkling snow.” Adam turned and looked out across the yard into the increasing dusk. “And if you decide to stay, that house is definitely gonna havta be enlarged. It was fine for your father but is totally inadequate for a growing family.” Adam turned back to him and clapped a hand onto Evan’s shoulder. “But it is entirely up to you. Now I’d better head on home too, or Angelica’s gonna have my scalp.” Then he gave Evan’s arm a slap and went back out into the yard.

Evan snorted as he watched Adam climb into the saddle and wheel the animal around. He received a two-fingered salute, which he returned, then this man that he had come to respect as he knew his father had rode out at a gallop.

Evan turned back around into the silence of his new barn and took a deep, invigorating breath. Whether he decided to stay or not had never been entirely up to him, and that reality had never been more obvious than it had been today. He grinned, and he shook his head then went out. He had a letter to write.

NINE

The Cartwright family and everyone that lived beyond the main road fork was in Bantree to greet the stage. A big day had come for the people that made up that part of this community and they wanted to do this up right. The women stood close to the wall of the depot with the smallest children while the older youngsters played tag. The teenage boys – too grown up for such nonsense and beyond their mothers’ apron strings – stood with the men along the boardwalk.

“Evan, would you just stand still and stop fidgeting like a chicken standing on a hot stove? You make me nervous.”

“Sorry, Adam, but how would you feel if you hadn’t seen your wife and children for almost five weeks and they were finally almost here?”

Adam’s finely sculpted mouth crooked at one side as he shifted Benjy and Addy in his arms. “Worse than you, I think.”

“Here she comes!”

Evan didn’t even know who had spoken as his eyes found the big, faded red stagecoach as it rumbled and rocked closer. Minerva and the children would soon be with him again, and his anticipation was about to eat him alive. Every night since he had left home, he had let his mind paint images of their sweet faces against the night dark. But soon that would no longer be necessary. Soon they would be together again, and this land would truly become home as he shared it with them.

Just as the big conveyance halted at the edge of the boardwalk the depot man rushed out. “Good run, Charley?”

“Not bad, Luke” the driver said, as he climbed down. “And you wait’ll you see my passengers. The prettiest things you ever did see.”

Luke opened the door, and helped the woman out first, a petite brunette in a dark green traveling suit. Her chestnut eyes roved over the gathered crowd then stopped on one face, and a smile lit her lovely visage. Then out came the children. Five girls – all a mixture of both parents, and all in lace and ruffles – clambered out behind their mother.

“Daddy!”

Evan couldn’t wait a second longer, and he broke for them. “Minerva.” Keeping his decorum proper in this public street was difficult at best, and he did nothing more than take his wife’s hand. “You don’t know how much I’ve missed all of you.”

Minerva Statler put a gloved hand against her husband’s cheek. “Yes, I do. Since you left, every night and every day has been empty of my truest light.” She glanced around at her daughters. “And the girl’s have constantly asked when you were coming home. But it looks as if we were the ones who came home.”

“And it can be a home now.” Something tugged at Evan’s trouser leg, and he looked down at a smiling Jenna. He scooped the four-year-old into his arms and nestled her into the crook of his elbow. “Have you and your sisters been good girls while I was gone and done everything your mother told you?”

Jenna nodded and dark ringlets bobbed about her shoulders.

“Good.” Evan’s gaze went to his wife. “Now there are some fine people I would like to introduce you to.” He went up onto the boardwalk with his family. “These are our neighbors. This is Lee Haymes, the man who wrote the letter that brought me here.”

“Mr. Haymes,” Minerva said, with a slight dip of her head, “it is very good to finally meet you.”

“And this is Adam Cartwright, the man who opened up his home to a stranger who didn’t know his own mind. He helped to open my eyes to what I needed to see.”

Adam looked at Angelica as she stepped next to him with Hiram. “Welcome to Nevada, Mrs. Statler.” His attention drifted to the girls. “And to you, young ladies.”

Jenna’s eyes roved from one boy to the next. “Mamma, they look just alike.”

This elicited laughter from the adults, and one could see that Jenna enjoyed being the center of attention.

The women and children joined the men and introductions were exchanged. The community had just swelled by six, and it was necessary to welcome them properly.

*******

The wagons and buckboards clattered into the yard of what had once been Galen Statler’s little house. And the minute Minerva saw it her mouth fell agape.

Minerva’s eyes sparkled like dewdrops caught in the morning sunshine. “Oh, Evan, this can’t be it. Your letters led me to believe that it was only a shack.”

“It was when I got here, but when you have good neighbors, it’s amazing what you can accomplish in a relatively short time.”

“Daddy, is this grandpa’s house?” seven-year-old Treah asked

“It was, but it has been passed on to us and now it is our house.”

Minerva was helped from the buckboard. She moved closer to the porch as her gaze roved over her new home. The house had been enlarged and a second story had been added, as well as shutters and a fresh coat of paint.

“How many bed chambers does it have?”

Evan stepped next to his wife and took her arm. “Five and ours is downstairs.” He squeezed. “Do you like it?”

Minerva looked at him, and her face exuded pure delight. “It’s more wonderful than I could ever have imagined. The only thing wrong with it is that your father isn’t here to share it with us.”

Evan grinned. “Oh, I think he is, and will be for as long as we live here.”

Adam, with his family, came to stand with the doctor and his. “And I know he would be happy that his legacy has been passed on. I think that what a man leaves his children says a lot more about the kind of person he is than he realizes in his lifetime. And your father left you a good one.”

Evan nodded. “It’s going to be difficult to fill his shoes.”

“Don’t try to. You have your own to fill, but it won’t hurt if you walk in his footsteps now and again. Just be the best man that Evan Statler can be, that’s all that anybody can ask.”

“Adam’s right,” Lee Haymes said, as he came forward with his two-year-old son, William. “As long as you give the best you have in you, you’ll do all right. And in doing that, you’ll leave your legacy for your own children, for better or worse.” He moved his son to his other arm.

Minerva’s hold tightened on her husband’s arm. “At first I wasn’t sure I was making the right decision by leaving the only home I have ever known.”

“And now?”

She looked at Evan then her daughters and the people gathered around her. “Next to marrying you, I know that this is the most right one I have ever made. And I know that we can only be happy here.”

Jenna tugged on her mother’s skirt. “Mama, when are we going to eat?” Her voice dropped. “I know I smell cake.”

Minerva touched her daughter’s cheek. “It won’t be long, dear.” She turned back to her husband. “Will it?”

Evan patted the back of her hand. “I don’t see why we can’t go in right now.”

“Then what’re we waiting for?” Leif Simmons shouted from the back of the group.

His motion was seconded and everyone trooped inside. The house emanated with the sounds of living like it never had as it welcomed a new family. The voices of life drifted to each corner, and the laughter and giggles of children touched the walls and rose to the rafters.

Adam came out onto the porch and stepped to the edge – a piece of pie on a plate – and focused his attention out across the yard. This day was one that would always live in his memories. As he stood there and let his thoughts run freely, he felt as if someone had just put a warm hand on his back. He turned around to see who had come out, but no one was there. He looked about him but the only living things he saw were the horses. The sides of his mouth crooked for he knew. His eyes lifted to the sky. “You have a fine family, Galen, and we’ll look after them. After all that you did for us, that much we can do for you. Rest easy, friend.” Then he turned and rejoined the others inside.

THE END

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