Thirty Six Ways to Get Out of Trouble

by Marla Fair

Sequel to 'Keep Your Eyes on the Sun'. Third in the Ben and Rosey series. Things seem normal at the ranch, Ben, Adam and Hoss are hard at work and Little Joe is in trouble. What Joe's family cannot know is that his trouble will soon draw them into a war that will end only when the victor possesses an ancient Chinese stone that, unbeknownst to them, has come to the Ponderosa.

1. Prologue

Thirty Six Ways to Get Out of Trouble

'Of all 36 ways to get out of trouble, the best way is – leave.' Chinese proverb

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PROLOGUE

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A furtive figure hugged the shadows, quickly making its way along the edge of one of Eagle Station's side streets. Though the settlement had grown and prospered in the last few years with the passage to, and then occupancy of men seeking their fortunes, it was far from being a town.

What could one say about a place that got its name from a man shooting an eagle off of the trading post wall?

Not much.

And yet, it had potential. Only this year Abraham Curry had talked of buying the trading post with its outlying businesses and scattered, hastily erected homes. Curry believed that the rag-tag collection of squalid buildings – along with the few finer ones – would one day become the state capital, and to this effect he had left a ten acre plaza at its center as he laid out his plans. On the edge of that plaza there were several stores, one of which bore the name 'Tomorrow's Flower Milliners'.

It was this shop that was the secretive figure's destination.

The woman's pallid hand clutched the collar of her midnight-black cloak, seeking to draw it closer to stave off the rain that had ridden the day into the falling night. While the afternoon had been chilly, the evening was just plain cold. The settlement badly needed the rain, but – of course – this being Eagle Station, it couldn't attract what the local natives called a 'female' rain. That is, one that made things grow. No, this was a hard 'male' rain, as hard as the besotted and bewhiskered men it pelted, and it had turned the streets to mud.

Pausing at the end of the street that held the millinery shop, the cloaked woman glanced down at the heavily embroidered silk shoes she wore. They were ruined.

Much as her life was ruined.

Much as, she feared, her shame would ruin Ming-hua's.

With a sigh the desperate woman began to move again, stopping when she came to rest beneath the sign that hung above the millinery. There was a light in the shop. It shone out onto the night, casting weird shadows on the weather-beaten boardwalk that fronted the establishment. The woman stepped back into the shadows as someone came to the door, rattled the handle as if checking to see that it was locked and then, satisfied, retreated. Drawing a breath, she held it until she was sure they would not return and then stepped into the light. A moment later she reached into her cloak and drew out an envelope. Tears filled her eyes and fell to wet her cheeks as she looked at it.

Once it was delivered there would be no going back.

Before she could change her mind, the woman knelt and thrust the envelope beneath the door.

Then she ran.

Through the rain and into the shadows lining the street she ran, reaching them just as the shop door opened. Clutching the hood of her cloak about her face, the woman turned back.

Shame over took her. What had she done? Why had she done it?

Should she have done it?

With a sigh, she admitted it did not matter. In the end, there was no choice.

'Man has a thousand plans', her mother had taught her. 'Heaven but one.'

She could only pray that one agreed with her own.