Author's Note: I do not know if Carson City had a railroad station when this story is taking place, but for the sake of the story it does.
*In all reality, the school "year" back in the 1800's was NOT the same as ours. However, for the sake of the storyline, school is being held for nine months out of the year.
Also, I'm currently writing on this story and a Big Valley, along with other things that are going on in my life so...no promises on how long this story will take.
Chapter One
The sound of the train rolling down the railroad tracks might have lulled Tabitha to sleep, but she was far too anxious to do anything like catch a few z's. *The school year was over, and she was going home for the summer. It was going to feel like heaven. Oh, sure, Thanksgiving and Christmas had been wonderful too, but they'd only been short visits. As she remembered those visits, they danced across the stage of her mind. She couldn't help but smile wide.
Filled with excitement Tabitha, who moments before had been rewarded with squeals of delight when her sister and brothers opened the presents she had brought them, hurried to open the last of her gifts. So far her family, which included her extended family such as her uncles and such, had given her a story book in Braille, new stockings and a new dress. However, her father had said they were saving the best for last. Due the fact that the box had holes in it, and there was a noise coming from inside it…a noise she easily recognized, Tabitha couldn't get the package open fast enough. Sure enough, moments later a puppy was in her arms. She could tell by the size of its large soft paws, it wasn't going to be a small dog.
"It's a German Shepherd. I talked to the superintendant of the blind school. He knows a family who lives near the school who will let him live at their place, and you can see him every day." Adam told her as he smiled at Hoss. His brother had helped him find a dog known to be good with people. Truth was, with their daughter having no sight; he and Laura Ann wanted Tabitha to have a constant companion.
Tabitha was still smiling, as she thought on Prince, who the railroad had allowed to ride in one of the boxcars until Adam picked her up at the station in Carson City. The dog had been such a source of comfort for her when it came to bad days. Oh, not that she had that many anymore; she didn't. Her Uncle Hoss had been right. She'd made new friends and learned a lot. And, this time, when she "saw" him, Tabitha promised herself she was going to thank him properly for convincing her parents to send her to the blind school. She still didn't know all the reasons why she'd had to lose her sight, but she had figured out one. More than once she'd been able to help one of the other students who were struggling with one subject or another. She'd also spent countless hours helping the teacher with one thing or another. Tabitha was now seriously considering becoming a schoolteacher when she got old enough, and her teacher had assured her the school could always use a good teacher. Even if, by some wild chance, her eyesight ever returned, Tabitha still thought teaching would suit her just fine.
As she thought on the students, she thought on the best friend she'd made that year, a young girl by the name of Gloria Benson. Maybe, just maybe, her friend was another reason Tabitha had to lose her eyesight. Gloria had suffered the loss of her father a few years before, and now her mother was remarrying. Gloria had been devastated; thinking her mother was trying to replace her father. It had been Tabitha that Gloria had turned to; knowing Tabitha also had a stepfather. Tabitha smiled wide as she remembered how Gloria had left the blind school the same day as she, to attend her mother's wedding. Instead of being dark and sullen, the young girl had actually been quite excited and full of anticipation. Only the sound of the train whistle and the train's brakes brought the young Cartwright out of her thoughts.
~oOo~
From where Adam stood, he could see the train approaching. He had arrived at the train station early, not wanting to chance that his stepdaughter arriving and having to wait at the train station alone. The last eight months had flown by fast enough he supposed. Thanksgiving had been good, though Tabitha had been quieter than she used to be. Christmas had been wonderful as the young girl was acting more like her old self, a child full of energy and smiles…she'd even pulled a few pranks on her siblings and cousins. He just hoped that meant that the rest of the school year had continued to help Tabitha develop and cope with the many challenges her disability caused.
"I tell myself not to think about it, and that's she's making progress." Adam looked at the living room window as he talked to Hoss, who continued to be both excited and scared to death when it came to the impending birth of the child Mary carried.
"Reckon you kin't help it, Adam. Yer her pa and ya want to know you did right by sendin' her away to that school." Hoss paused and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking out the window as he did so. "Reckon I do too."
When the train came to a stop, Adam waited until everyone but Tabitha, who had been told to stay in her seat until her stepfather came for her, boarded the train and made his way to where his daughter was sitting. She, at the sound of his footsteps coming towards her, stood up. "Pa?"
"Yeah," Adam smiled and laid a hand upon her shoulder, "It's me, but I wonder," he said teasing, "Are you sure you're my daughter? She's a good four inches shorter than this young lady in front of me."
Tabitha laughed as she could hear the humor in Adam's voice. Since her teacher had been kind enough to measure her height when Tabitha asked her too, the young girl came back without missing a beat, "Three inches. I grew three inches this year." She then asked, without missing a beat, "Where's Prince? Is the family with you?"
Adam couldn't help it; he started laughing. Leave it to a child to mention her dog before she asked about the family. "Your mother, sister and brothers are waiting at the house with your grandfather and everyone else for you. As far as Prince goes," Adam took his daughter's hands and placed them on his upper arm as he guided her off the train, "Let's go get him." Within ten minutes, the two had Prince and were heading to home.
