Hey, ya'll! It's me Bonnie Celt. Since my LOTR story was gone so well, I thought I'd try something new! Hope ya'll enjoy!

Chapter 1

The year 1861, and seventeen-year-old Tharyn is wondering in a hilly, mountainous region of the Nevada Territory. Tharyn is the younger sister of the twin stage robbers known as the O'Riley Brothers. Well, actually she is not related to them at all; she had been kidnapped by them when she was eighteen months old. While her twin "brothers" were obviously Irish with flaming red hair, Tharyn had chocolate brown curls that reached her waist.

Her brothers had never treated her all that great. They had protected her from other bandits and such, but at the cost of never allowing her to leaving their hideout. Tharyn had never had any friends because of this, and her so-called brothers left her alone for extended periods of time as they "made their rounds" robbing stagecoaches. This always had made Tharyn wonder about Seamus and Sean. They said they were her brothers, but they never act like what Tharyn thought brothers should. They never played with her when she was little, and they never just talked to her now. They kept her holed up in an abandoned hunting cabin way up in the mountains, and they never once, in Tharyn's memory, told her that they loved her. Surely brothers said that kind of thing sometimes.

On the others hand, they brought her new dresses when the old ones were starting to get holes and such in them, and new shoes when she out grew the old ones. They had even once brought her a strand of carved wooden beads as a necklace. She wore this always, trying to show them that she loved them and wanted to be with them. At least, until she found out that they had kidnapped her and killed her real family in a stagecoach hold-up.

Sean and Seamus had been gone three weeks and would not be back for another one. For some reason their room in the cabin had been off limits to Tharyn for as far back as she could remember. However, she had been doing laundry, which included some of their clothes. She had washed them, hung them up to dry, and folded them up neatly.

"Well," she told herself, "surely they won't be mad at me for putting their clothes up for them." So, she pushed the door open and went over to the rickety dresser the two shared. Opening a drawer, she got ready to put the shirts and pants away when a newspaper clipping in the bottom of the drawer caught her attention. She carefully put the clothes in the drawer, and picked up the yellowing piece of paper.

At the top were two pictures. One was of Sean and Seamus in their late teens. The other was of a handsome man and his pretty wife who was holding a baby girl in her arms. The headline read:

O'Riley Brothers Murder Knight Family And Kidnaps Baby

Tharyn could not believe it. The couple in the picture was the same couple in the picture Sean and Seamus had said was theirparents. The picture was setting on Tharyn's nightstand right now. Tharyn looked closer at the picture. Sean and Seamus bore no resemblance to either one of her parents. Yes, they were her parents; she could tell the baby in the picture was herself. Sean and Seamus, the ones she had loved as brothers for seventeen years were her kidnappers! Tears welled up in her eyes. She crumpled the article in her hands. Anger such as she had never known before rose in her chest at their betrayal. No wonder they had never seemed to care her; she was not their sister at all! Yanking off the wooden beads at her throat, she ran to bedroom and pulled a small satchel out from under her bed. She stuffed a few articles of clothing in it, the picture of her parents from her bedside table, and the now folded news article. She threw on her worn shawl and pick-up one last thing, a small velvet box from a corner of a dresser-drawer. In it was a pair of pearl earrings that belong to her mother. She had worn them in her picture. With that she dashed out of the cabin, wanting to get as far away as possible before her bro-no, captors returned.

She decided to head to a town. Sean and Seamus always avoided towns and cities. The nearest town she knew of was called Virginia City. She had listened to the O'Rileys enough to know which direction to go, but what she did not know was that her path would take her right through a ranch called the Ponderosa.

Chapter 2

Three days later…

Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe Cartwright were sitting around the breakfast table discussing the plan of action for the day.

The silver-haired father looked over at his three sons. "The foreman said a section of fence in the east pasture was knocked down in last night's storm. Adam and Hoss, you two ride over and check it out. Joe, you and I will go and check the traps we set up in the hills. It's been awhile since I've been up that way."

"Yes, Pa." the young men chorused. The four Cartwrights finished their wonderful breakfast, courtesy of their cook Hop Sing, and saddled their horses. Hop Sing came out with canteens of water and some food for them to take along for their lunch. Thanking him, the foursome rode out, each pair going in their own direction.

It took an hour or so for Ben and Joe to reach rocky, hilly region that marked the edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Only a few of their traps had been touched on the lower parts of the hills, however, so they headed up into higher altitudes.

Joe was keeping his eyes peeling for their traps when he heard his pa call him. The young Cartwright turned to where his father was pointing. It appeared that something was in a clump of bushes, and it was a little big to be an animal. Ben and Joe quietly dismounted and slowly drew their guns for their holsters. At Ben's nod, Joe quickly pulled the bushes back so that they could see what it was in there. Or rather, who it was in there, for it was a girl, lying there asleep. Both men were astonished. How and why would a girl be wandering alone in the wilderness?

The girl was young, about sixteen to seventeen years old probably. She wore a grey cotton dress, black leather ankle boots and a woolen shawl, all of which were well-worn. A small brown leather bag was slung across her shoulder. Her face was pale and drawn, and there were dark circles under her eyes. There were a few small scratches on her face and hands. Her long, dark brown hair was a tangled mess of curls and there were small twigs and leaf bits in it. Clearly, she had trekked quite a way on her own, in the dark as well as daylight, and had hidden in the bushes to rest.

Ben put his gun away in its holster as he slowly knelt be the girl. Joe did the same. Why on earth was she out here, alone? Ben reached out and gently shook her shoulder. When she did not wake, he called softly to her and shook her again. Once again, she did not respond.

"Gee, she must really be exhausted." Joe whispered.

Ben nodded. "I think we'd better get her back to the house, Joe. We need to find out who her folks are." Joe nodded in understanding. Ben mounted his bay horse and motioned for Joe to pass her up to him. Joe gently picked her up and eased her into her father's arms. Then, he mounted his own horse, and followed his father back down the trail to the ranch house.

Once they got back to the house, Joe took the horses to the barn while Ben took the girl inside. He carefully laid her out on the couch in the main room. She was running a slight fever, but that was not all that surprising, seeing as she had clearly stayed out in the elements last night. He found a quilt and draped in over her small frame. Then, he went to find Hop Sing and tell him about their young guest.

Joe came in from taking care of the horses, dropped his hat and gun-belt on the table by the door, and went over to the couch. He leaned over the back of it and looked down at the sleeping young woman. In spite of the fact that her face looked like she had not slept or eaten in days and her hair was an absolute mess, she was still kind of pretty. Ben called him, and with a sigh, Joe left the girl to slumber.

It was around two in the afternoon when Adam and Hoss returned from fixing the fence in the east pasture. Ben was just about to see if he could wake the girl again when they came in the door. Ben and Joe had eaten lunch hours ago and Hop Sing had made some broth for the girl. It was getting along in the afternoon, and Ben was sure that she had not eaten in a while, so, he decided to see if he could get her to eat.

Hoss and Adam came in and saw that someone was laid out on the couch and their pa had a bowl of soup in his hands.

"Uh, hi, Pa." said Hoss. "What's goin' on?"

"While we were up in the foothills looking for the traps we found her asleep in a bush." Little Joe explained as he came down stairs. "How was the fence?"

"Pretty much demolished." answered Adam. "What was she doing up there? Was she alone?"

Ben sighed. "Well, as far as we could tell, she was. I have no idea why she would have been up there." He looked down at the girl and passed the bowl to Joe for him to hold. "I was just about to wake her up and see if she would eat. I think it's been awhile since her last meal." He sat on the edge of the cushion and gently shook her arm. This time she woke up immediately, and Ben found himself looking into one of the prettiest pairs of big brown eyes he had ever seen. The girl instantly sat up, fear etched in her face. She looked around wildly as if afraid of something in particular being there. "It's alright." Ben soothed. "We're not going to hurt you; we just want to help you." The girl looked up at him and the boys with fearful eyes. She then closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. She opened her eyes. She seemed to have calmed down a bit and nodded that she had understood what Ben had said.

Ben smiled. "You'd better lie back down. You're still pretty weak." She slowly complied, her eyes never leaving his face. "Here, our cook, Hop Sing, made some soup for you. You must be hungry." He said, taking the bowl back from Joe. The girl nodded. Ben dipped the spoon in the soup and held it out her to take a bite. She hesitated.

"Go on, anything Hop Sing makes is good!" encouraged Hoss.

"Yeah, we can tell," laughed Joe. "You eat enough of it!" The girl gave a small grin at the look Hoss sent Joe's way. She opened her mouth and took a sip from the spoon Ben was still holding.

"What I tell ya. Good, ain't it?" Hoss smiled down at her. She gave a little smile and nodded. As she took another bite, Hoss introduced himself. "And what might your name be?" he asked gently.

Chapter 3

When Tharyn woke up surrounded by strangers in a strange house, she was scared. She immediately looked around for the O'Rileys. Thankfully, they were nowhere in sight.

She was lying on a couch and a kind-looking, silver-haired gentleman with blue eyes was sitting on the edge next to her. Standing beside him was a young man with dark wavy hair and dark eyes who looked only a few years older than herself. Looking over the back of the couch were two more young men. One, who said his name was Hoss, was very tall and muscular built. He looked like he could have been Goligath's brother but he had such a round honest face that Tharyn liked him right away. He had fair hair and blue eyes. The other was tall too but a bit slimmer built. He too had dark hair and eyes like and appeared to be the oldest of the young men, with the gentle giant next, and other young man last. They all seemed to be the silver-haired man's sons

"Tharyn, Tharyn Knight." She answered Hoss's question softly. She had almost said "O'Riley" but she caught herself in time.

"Tharyn, that's a pretty name. I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Adam." The oldest son said with a smile.

"I'm Little Joe, at least, that what everyone calls me." The youngest piped up. Then the father spoke.

"I'm Ben Cartwright. We found you up in the foothills this morning. Why were you up there? Do you live up there somewhere?" Slowly, Tharyn nodded. "Well then, if you just tell us were your folks live, we can take you home…"Ben was suddenly interrupted by Tharyn shaking her head fiercely.

"No, please don't!" she pleaded. Ben frowned.

"Don't you want to go back to your family?" he asked.

Tharyn bowed her head. "I don't have a family anymore." she murmured. She slowly drew the old newspaper article out of her bag on the floor. She handed it to Ben. Joe looked over his shoulder and gasped. Ben's eyes widened as he read the title.

"What is it, Pa?" Adam asked. Wordlessly, Ben handed the piece of paper over. Adam and Hoss read it in disbelief. "Your parents' murderers kidnapped you?" Adam asked in astonishment.

Tharyn nodded. Tears welled up in her eyes. "And I've been living with them as their sister for sixteen years." she wept. "Sixteen years! And I never suspected a thing until three days ago when I found this clipping." She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead on them.

"You've been livin' with 'em?" Hoss exclaimed. "These O'Rileys told you that you were their sister?" Tharyn nodded and gave a muffled affirmative. Ben reached over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Tharyn." Ben whispered. She raised her head and thanked him, trying to dry her tears as she did, but tears continued to flow. Ben quickly hand the bowl of now cold soup to Joe, and pulled the crying girl into a gentle embrace. "It's alright." He whispered. "Just let it all out." He wasn't sure just how long he sat there with Tharyn crying into his chest, but it must have been awhile, because Joe took the bowl back to the kitchen and all three boys went back outside to do their chores. Eventually, her sobs quieted and her breathing became slow and regular. When he was sure she was asleep, he gently laid her back down, and went out to find his sons.

Chapter 4

Ben Cartwright found his three sons in the barn, grooming their horses. As he approached, he could hear that they were talking about Tharyn Knight.

"Poor little filly," Hoss was saying. "Growin' up thinkin' she had brothers only to find out they were her kidnappers!"

"And her parents' killers." added Adam. "How a man could do a thing like that…" he said.

"It's simple." said Joe. "They were born without hearts." Just then, Ben entered the barn.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you boys have taken some interest in her." He said. "Tomorrow I'm going into Virginia City to tell the sheriff about her. She may have some family back East. Until then, I think she had better stay here with us." Adam, Hoss, and Joe agreed.

A couple of hours later, Hop Sing was calling the Cartwrights in to dinner. As they walked in the door, Hoss took a deep sniff. "Mmm, fried chicken!" he said with a smile. Then, they all four stood still. Tharyn was standing next to Hop Sing…..with an apron on. "What in tarnation are she doing up and about?" Hoss asked, concerned. "Hop Sing, why didn't you make her lie back down?"

Hop Sing shrugged. "She come into kitchen, ask to help. I tell her, 'You weak. You better lie back down.' She say she fine, and she can cook. She want to help Hop Sing fix dinner. I let her."

"I really didn't do much," Tharyn said quickly. "I just set the table, and kept an eye on the chicken while Mr. Hop Sing cooked the green beans and mashed potatoes."

"Ahh, you forget, you help season chicken." Hop Sing said. "Miss Tharyn told Hop Sing to put rosemary on chicken."

Tharyn became embarrassed and looked down at her shoes. "It was just a suggestion." She mumbled.

"Well, we'll find out how good of a suggestion it was, won't we?" Ben said with a smile. As the men sat down, Tharyn turned with Hop Sing to go back to the kitchen. Ben stopped her. "Are you going to eat with us?" he asked.

"We really wish you would." said Adam. Tharyn looked back at Hop Sing who nodded.

"I'll help with the dishes when I'm done." she promised.

"Oh, no. You help in kitchen before dinner. You no help in kitchen after." said Hop Sing firmly.

"But…"

"No buts. You guest. You eat and rest, Miss Tharyn." Hop Sing turned and went back into the kitchen before she could argue anymore. Tharyn walked around to the empty seat across next to Joe. He immediately rose, held the chair out for her, and helped her scoot back in. Tharyn blushed at the gentlemanly conduct; the O'Rileys never did anything like that for her. Ben said the blessing and they all dug in to the wonderful looking meal provided by Hop Sing.

"Hoo-wee, this is good chicken!" Hoss said, looking across the table at Tharyn, who blushed.

"Is there any fried chicken that you didn't like?" Joe asked teasingly. Hoss thought for a minute.

"No, I don't think so." came the rather predictable answer. They all laughed.

Throughout dinner, the Cartwrights told Tharyn about themselves. The things they had done, the innumerable scrapes they had to get each other out of. They were all courteous and kind. They treated Tharyn like she was one of the family. The O'Rileys never asked her opinion on this, or what she thought about that. They had rarely even talked to her in recent years.

After dinner, they all went into the living room. Ben took his cup of coffee with him and sat in one of the armchairs and got out a book. Adam was on the sofa reading as well. Hoss challenged Joe to a game of chess. Tharyn sat next to Adam on the couch.

"What are you reading?" Tharyn asked. From what the others had said, she figured it was a scientific book of some kind. She was pleasantly surprised when Adam said it was some of Shakespeare's sonnets and plays. "You read Shakespeare?" she asked.

"Do you?" he countered.

"Yes! I love Shakespeare! I absolutely love 'A Mid-Summer's Night Dream'!" she answered.

Ben looked up from his own book. "Really? How did you get a hold of Shakespeare?" he asked, amazed.

"Sean and Seamus gave me a book of his plays in story form." she said. "They told me that I would be able to understand it better. Of course, it was easier to read, but more than half of the dialogue was lost."

"I imagine it would be." said Adam. "Here, I think 'A Mid-Summer's Night Dream' is in here." He offerd Tharyn the book he was holding.

Tharyn shook her head. "But you're reading it."

"Tharyn, there are plenty of books for me to read. Here, go ahead." He offered the book once more. This time Tharyn hesitantly took it from him. She immediately found the page number for her favorite play and began reading. Adam and Ben looked over at her, watching her fall into the world of one of Shakespeare's immortal plays. As Adam retrieved another book from the bookshelf, he heard a little giggle come from Tharyn and smiled as he sat back down on the sofa.

Just then, Joe and Hoss looked up from their game of chess.

"What are you reading, Tharyn?" asked Joe. He got no reply, so engrossed was she in the book. Joe looked over at Adam.

"'A Mid-Summer's Night Dream'." Adam replied.

"Shakespeare?" Hoss and Joe exclaimed in unison. Tharyn looked up.

"What's wrong with Shakespeare?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," assured Ben. "It's just not their cup of tea."

"Oh." she giggled. "What's the matter? Don't you like daring sword fights, magic spells, and tragic or comedic romances?" Hoss and Joe just shook their heads.

Suddenly, the clock on the mantel chimed out nine 'o' clock.

"Well," said Ben. "It's getting late. I'd better show Tharyn her room." He rose from his chair.

Tharyn reluctantly got up to, and handed Adam the book back. "Thank you for letting me read your book, Mr. Adam." she said.

"You're welcome to read it anytime, Tharyn, and, like I told you at dinner, there's no need for the 'Mister'." Adam replied.

"Oh, right,…Adam." She answered hesitantly. Picking up her bag, she followed Ben up the stairs. At the landing she turned and leaned over the railing. "Good night, everyone." she called. A chorus of "Good night, Tharyn." replied. Ben opened the door to the guest room.

"This will be your room. Call one of us if you need anything." He said.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Cartwright, especially this afternoon." Tharyn replied. "Good night, sir."

Ben smiled. "Good night, Tharyn. Pleasant dreams." he said before heading to his own room. Little did he know that in a few hours he was really going to be wishing that his 'Pleasant dreams' had come true for her.

By the way, her name is pronounced just like "Sharon" except with a "T". I know it's an unusual name, but I found it in a book that took place in the late 1800s-early 1900s, so I figured it would work.