Three

"Ben!"

Ben heard his name called, turned and Roy Coffee who was strolling across the street raised his hand in a wave. Ben sighed; he didn't need Roy to needle him about his grandchild arriving without her parents.

"So you're meeting your first grandchild today?" Roy said as he stepped up on the sidewalk. He pulled out his watch. "The stage is late. Where're Hoss and Joe?"

"Home—actually they better be out cutting cattle for spring branding. I thought it would be best if we didn't overwhelm her. She is just a child."

"What's her name again?"

"Lilly. Lilly Elizbeth."

"Lilly. That's a pretty name. I guess Elizabeth after Adam's mother. Wonder why Adam never told you about her before. Don't you wonder that Ben?"

Ben was annoyed. "Yes, Roy, I've wondered." But his attention was drawn away as he saw first the dust and then the coach approaching. "Here she comes," Ben said as he stepped back. He was suddenly aware of how nervous he was. Adam's daughter. His and Elizabeth's grandchild.

The coach came to a stop and the depot master came out with the steps for the people exiting the stage. Ben stepped back but remained standing, waiting. He wasn't disappointed because the first people out were an older, plump woman staidly dressed in a brown traveling suit and once she debarked with the assistance of the depot master, she turned and put out her hand and small girl with her tried to manage the steps. She clasped a rag doll in one arm, obviously an old one that was well-loved from the shape it was in.

Ben found he couldn't speak. He stared at the child who was probably around three years of age. She was beautiful with Adam's black hair that fell in ringlets and her eyes were a deep brown like his own. Her complexion was pale but she possessed the rosy, round cheeks of a small child and the cupid-bow mouth. She was dressed in a deep-rose velvet dress and a matching manteaux with lace on the edges of the white cuffs and collar and the ends of the pantalets that showed under the skirt of the dress. It had multiple petticoats making it full. She also wore pristine white stocking and black patent shoes and topping it off, a dyed blue straw boater with a ribbon holding it on under her chin.

The woman stood holding the child's gloved hand and stared at Ben who was in awe of his beautiful granddaughter. The child looked up at him.

"Ben." Roy nudged his friend and Ben returned to the moment.

"Mrs. Maxwell?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. Are you Mr. Cartwright?"

"Yes, and this must be Lilly." Ben kneeled down to see the child at eye-level but the girl hid her face in her nurse's skirt.

"Now, Lilly, remember what you father told you, that you would be meeting your grandfather and that you must love him as he loves you. Now can you be a polite young lady and give him a kiss on the cheek?"

Lilly, her face still his in her nurse's skirt, shook her head, no. The nurse began to chastise her for being rude and Ben interrupted.

"It's all right, Mrs. Maxwell. I'm certain that all the traveling has taken its toll on the child. She just needs to settle down. I brought the buggy and—oh, let me introduce you. This is a friend of mine who just so happens to be the sheriff of Virginia City—Roy Coffee."

Roy removed his hat and smiled at Mrs. Maxwell. Roy thought she had a friendly, kind face and she put out her hand and told him that she was pleased to meet him. "Let me help you with your luggage," Roy said and he picked up the portmanteaus that had been placed on the step by the driver and the station master. He placed them in the boot of Ben's buggy and then stepped back.

"Thank you, Roy," Ben said. "Keep them company for a bit while I send Adam a wire telling him that they're here." Ben rushed off to the telegraph office and hurriedly wrote the slip for the telegram, placed the cost and a bit more on the counter and then hurried back. Roy and Mrs. Maxwell were conversing, Lilly pulling on her nurse's skirts and asking to go home, and Roy seemed to be more gracious than usual. "The old dog," Ben muttered to himself.

"Well, excuse us, Roy. Let me get my granddaughter home." Ben swept Lilly up and placed her on the seat and then helped Mrs. Maxwell up to sit beside the child.

With a quick goodbye to Ben and his guests, Mrs. Maxwell waving from her seat, Roy watched the Cartwright buggy head toward the Ponderosa.

"He seemed to be in an awful hurry," the depot master said as he stood by Roy and watched the buggy leave.

"Yeah, he did. I think Ben's nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. He's got a grandchild he never knew about and she didn't seem to take to him any. Life's a strange animal, ain't it?" Roy said.

"It sure is. You're goin' along fine and then the ground drops out from under you." The depot master sighed. "Well, got to send the stage to the livery for a stock change." He turned and left but Roy watched until there was nothing of the buggy but the dust settling from where the wheels had raised it.

On the way to the Ponderosa, Ben tried to get Lilly to look at him or say something but she crowded next to her nurse, trying to move as far away from Ben as she could. She had tried to climb onto Mrs. Maxwell's lap but the woman told her to sit politely like a lady between her and her grandfather. So after unsuccessfully trying to engage Lilly, Ben decided that he would wait until she became more comfortable around him; then he would begin anew but it was hard not to hug her to him and kiss her and he was surprised at how he had so quickly and thoroughly fallen in love with the child.

"Well, Mrs. Maxwell, did you have a nice trip?"

"Yes, sir, fine." But then she rethought. "Actually, sir, it's been quite stressful, not just for me but for Miss Lilly too. So much has happened and then to be sent away…I'm sorry, sir, about her behavior. We aren't in the habit of indulging her but she's been through so much." Mrs. Maxwell put her arm around Lilly who laid her head in her nurse's lap. Mrs. Maxwell untied the ribbon and removed the child's hat and still hugging her doll, the child seemed to relax and within a few minutes she was gently sleeping, the movements of the buggy rocking her.

"Have we far to go, sir?"

"It's quite a distance, Mrs. Maxwell, and I don't want to rattle Lilly by going too fast, so it will be longer than normal. She seems to be sleeping."

"Yes sir. She hasn't slept much, my poor lamb."

"Mrs. Maxwell, my son wrote that his wife, Lilly's mother-I'm assuming she was Lily's mother-died and that he was 'indisposed'. What exactly happened?"

Mrs. Maxwell started to speak and then thought better. "I wasn't aware she had died." Ben noticed that Mrs. Maxwell seemed truly upset and she looked down at Lilly again. "Are you sure that the Mister said that she died?"

"Well…" Ben started and then he paused, thinking. "Perhaps I made a hasty assumption. My son said, I believe, that she was no longer with them. I just, well, no, he didn't say that she had died." Ben noticed that Mrs. Maxwell seemed relieved. "What do you know about the situation?"

Mrs. Maxwell pulled herself up straighter. "My employer prefers to keep such matters private and to be honest, sir, I'm not sure that I could give you a satisfactory answer. All I can say is that…Mr. Cartwright gave me instructions to bring Lilly to you and to stay with her; that's all I know. That is if it's to your liking that I stay."

"Of course, it is. Besides, after seeing the two of you, I think Lilly would be distraught if you left her as well. If you can tell me, did Lilly, well, was she close to her mother?"

Mrs. Maxwell looked ahead and seemed to be trying to control her emotions. "I believe she loved Lilly very much. She was always kind and good to the child—and to me as well."

"My son…he loves her as well?"

"Oh, yes, sir. I think he loves the Missus despite his actions…oh, you mean the child." Mrs. Maxwell bushed slightly. "Oh, yes, sir. He adores Lilly. Never have doubts about that."

Ben smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Maxwell. I think that loving parents makes a child secure and happy—and if the parents love each other, well, that makes things even better." And as they rode across the Ponderosa on their way to the house, Ben pointed out various trees to his guest and they even saw deer and a jackrabbit and Mrs. Maxwell smiled. But Ben was puzzled over her comment about Adam and "the Missus."

"I think Lilly will enjoy being here," she said. "Fresh air is good for a child. Will there be other children around? Any other grandchildren? Neighbors?"

"I'm sorry to have to say no. I have no other grandchildren and we live far from the nearest neighbors but they have no children anyway. But don't worry; Lilly will have enough company."

Ben smiled when he saw that the answer pleased Mrs. Maxwell and he was happy; he had his first grandchild with him and even though she seemed to be apprehensive toward him, Ben knew that with time, she would be hugging his neck and he would be able to hold her and kiss her pink cheeks. But Ben wondered what Lilly's mother had looked like and if Adam had loved her—really loved her. And Mrs. Maxwell's' words, "…despite his actions," stayed with Ben and he wondered just what they meant.