So the cold winter days of January began to blend together. Cecille was greatly comforted to finally get a telegram from Adam. Though missing his family, he said that all was going well and that a letter with more details was forthcoming. The next bright spot on the horizon was Hannah's third birthday celebration, but Kate was struggling with the preparations for the party. She was saddened to think that Hannah's memories of her parents were probably gone since she had stopped mentioning anything about her Mama and Papa. This spurred Kate on to make the celebration a memorable one. Yet she did not want it to be overly extravagant for the sake of the other children. Back in December, Kate had arranged with Clara Norton to make a new dress for Hannah's big day. And of course, Hop Sing would make a delicious cake for the occasion. In their spare time, Hoss and Joe had been working on a doll cradle for the new doll that Ben and Kate had purchased for her. Hannah had her rag doll that she slept with, but this new doll would grow with her, accumulate new outfits over the years, and maybe even have a carriage. Cecille was knitting a blanket for the doll, Hannah's gift from Adam's family. Ben and Kate did purchase a few extras hoping to keep 'The Green-eyed Monster' at bay. There was a small top for Benji, a miniature horse that Kate painted to look like Patches for Mary, and a tiny stuffed rabbit made with real fur for Elizabeth. In addition, all the children would receive a few pieces of penny candy. Since Hannah was receiving 'girl' gifts, Kate doubted there would be issues with Benji, just as long as Mary did not 'stir the pot'. So, when Mary began to show signs of being difficult the day of the party, Kate took her aside.
Kate placed her hands firmly on Mary's shoulders. "Now Mary, this is Hannah's birthday, not yours. I know that is a hard thing for you, but Uncle Ben and I are not going to allow you to spoil it for her."
The dark-haired girl looked at the floor.
"I want you to look at me, Mary."
The little girl brought her head up, but would not look Kate directly in the eyes.
"I don't want to do it, because it would make me very sad, but if you cause problems, you will have to miss the party and sit by yourself in your room. Do you understand?"
The little girl hung her head again and nodded.
'Now, let's put on a happy face and go get dressed in your Christmas dress for the party." Kate gave her a smile, trying to recover from the gloom and doom of her previous statements.
Soon the family was assembled for dinner, the men in their white shirts and string ties, the ladies and little girls in their holiday dresses, save the birthday girl. Hannah could not have looked more adorable. Her dress was a navy and medium blue floral print trimmed with light blue lace and bows at the neckline and hem, and matching ribbons for her blond curls. Her outfit brought out her already sparkling blue eyes that danced with excitement for her special celebration. Hannah ran from Ben to each of his sons to get a birthday hug and kiss. So sweet and endearing, they would have kissed her even if it had not been her birthday. Ben called everyone to the table. Hop Sing brought out Hannah's favorites: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, cooked carrots, and corn bread.
Ben smiled at his young niece. "Well, now, I believe someone is having a birthday today. Does anyone know who that might be?"
"Hannah!" The children shouted.
"My burfday! I'm fwree!" Hannah joyously informed them by holding up three fingers by forcing her pinky finger down with the opposite hand. Her enthusiasm elicited laughter from the adults.
"That's right, Hannah, you are three years old. My, you're getting to be such a big girl. We are so happy to be able to celebrate your birthday. I see lots of good food here that you like. Are you hungry?" Ben's eyes were twinkling.
"I'm hungry! Let's eat!" Hannah declared.
Ben chuckled. "The birthday girl has spoken. You may begin."
They enjoyed pleasant conversation with their meal, with the exception of Mary who ate in subdued silence. Kate gave her an encouraging smile, but Mary just continued to eat with almost no expression on her face. This worried Kate, thinking that maybe she had been too hard on the four-year old.
Kate made an announcement when they finished the meal. "I think it's time for presents."
The family moved to the living room. Ben sat in his chair, privileged to hold the birthday girl his lap. Mary sat with Hoss in the blue chair. Cecille held Elizabeth and Benji sat beside her on the settee. Joe and Jamie sat on the edge of the hearth. Kate handed the children their little gifts and candy so they would have something to keep them occupied while Hannah opened her gifts.
Mary grinned and showed Hoss her little horse. "Hoss, it's Patches."
Benji held up his toy for his mother to see. "Look, Mama, a top."
"Bunny, Mama, a bunny.", Elizabeth held it front of her mother's face.
"Yes, yes, how nice, children. What do who you say?"
"Thank you." The two young Cartwrights replied.
Mary looked at Kate and smiled. "Thank you."
Hannah looked at her candy and then gave Ben a worried look.
"Not to worry, Hannah. Your presents are over there." Ben pointed to three much larger gifts sitting by the fireplace. She gave him a big smile of relief. "Alright, Joe, would you hand me that box, please?" Joe handed his father a long rectangular box with a bright pink bow. "This is from Aunt Kate and me."
He helped her to open the box. Inside was a rosy-cheeked, curly-headed blond doll dressed in a dress that matched her birthday outfit. Hannah snatched the doll from the box and hugged it tightly to her.
"A Hannah dowwee." She held the doll out in front of herself, gazed on it, and then wrapping her arms around it in pure delight.
"Isn't that amazing, Hannah, your doll looks just like you." Ben looked lovingly at Kate.
Kate glanced away, slightly embarrassed.
"Here, Hannah, let's see what's in this one." Joe handed her a soft square package wrapped in floral paper.
"Bwlanket for dowwee." The little girl laid it carefully over her new doll.
Elizabeth hopped down from her mother's lap and went over to Hannah. She pointed to the blanket. "Mama..."
In a split second, Mary was next to Elizabeth. "That's Hannah's." Mary shouted and knocked Elizabeth forcefully to the floor between Ben's chair and settee.
The incident took everyone by surprise. Kate jumped up to gather Elizabeth into her arms.
Benji launched himself off the settee. "Don't push my sister!" He gave Mary a hard push backwards.
Joe's quick reaction kept Mary from falling against the fireplace and being seriously injured. Mary turned in Joe's arms to give Benji a fiery glare.
Ben reflexively clamped a large hand on Benji's shoulder. "That is not the way a young gentleman should act." His voice was stern, quite accustomed to dealing with unruly boys.
But the hurt in Benji's eyes suddenly made him realize that in his grandson's mind he had crossed the line between grandparent and parent, with his mother present in the room. Ben released Benji and the child immediately ran to his mother and hid his face in the skirt of her dress. Ben looked at Ceciile with regret. Joe was not sure who he felt most sorry for; Elizabeth, Benji, his father, or Cecille, taking in the situation with visible empathy.
"There, there, Elizabeth. I'm sorry you were knocked down." Kate tried to console the crying child.
With two of the other three children in tears, Hannah turned to Ben with tears building in her eyes and buried her head in his chest.
"Mama made...Mama made...Mama made bwanket for Hannah." Elizabeth finally managed to get her words out between sobs.
It suddenly became clear that from the beginning all Elizabeth had wanted to do was tell Hannah that her mother had made the blanket for her.
"Here, Elizabeth come to Mama." Cecille held out her arms to the tearful child. "Let's go upstairs", guiding Benji to the stairway.
Ben and Kate looked at each other with disbelief and uncertainty, wondering how the happy affair could have gone so far awry. Frustration began to take hold of Kate. "Mary come here please." The little girl walked carefully toward her aunt. "Are you hurt, Mary?" There was an edge in Kate's voice. Mary shook her head that she had not been hurt. "In that case, you march yourself up to your room." Kate left no doubt that the girl was in trouble.
Mary ran up the stairs hoping for a few minutes reprieve before her punishment was meted out.
"Boys, why don't you go ahead and give Hannah your gift." Ben placed comforting hand on her head. "I know playing with dolls is not exactly your strong suit, but it would be helpful if the three of you would keep her occupied for a few minutes. Kate and I have some 'issues' to take care of." Ben sighed.
He handed Hannah off to Joe and took Kate's elbow and accompianied her up the stairs. They paused briefly in the upstairs hallway and Ben whispered to her. "I will speak to Cecille if you think that you can handle Mary." Kate nodded. "Remember to take a deep breath before going into her room." He gave his wife a weak smile.
Cecille sat on her bed trying to comfort her children. She was not sure how to feel about the entire situation. Elizabeth had done nothing wrong and Benji was just trying to protect her. Cecille thought to herself. Oh, that Mary can be so galling!
She was beginning to get angry; angry with Mary for hurting Elizabeth, angry with Kate for having a niece who would act that way, angry with Ben for hurting her son, and finally angry with Adam for leaving her in this wasteland called Nevada when she should be with him in San Francisco. So when Ben knocked on her door, she was not really in the mood to talk to him.
"Cecille, may I come in, please?" Ben asked in a soft voice.
She hesitated, then answered flatly. "Yes."
Ben walked toward Cecille and the children. He laid his hand on Elizabeth's dark hair. "Are you feeling better sweetheart?" Ben leaned down to kiss the top of her head, then the little girl responded with a hiccup and a nod. "Cecille, I believe it is obvious now that this whole affair began with a childish misunderstanding. I am sure that Kate will ask Mary to apologize to Elizabeth, but it may be a while til that happens." Ben paused and took a deep breath. "The last thing I want is for a simple misunderstanding to cause long-term family discord. I am sorry for over-stepping my bounds with Benji. I know that things would have been different had Adam been present. I am afraid that I just reacted, but still I was out of line, and I apologize.
Even though upset, Cecille could not refuse his apology. He was actually being very gracious. Would that her own father could have been more like Ben when she was growing up. "I accept your apology, Ben. I should have stepped in, but it was all quite shocking and it happened so fast." Cecille conceded.
"As is often the case with children. They seldom give us fair warning." He gave his daughter-in-law a faint smile. "Do you think that we could try to put this behind us...for Hannah's sake? There is still a birthday cake downstairs that needs to be eaten. What do you say Benji, would you like some cake?"
Benji was standing beside his mother with his head down. When Ben mentioned cake, he looked up with anticipation and gave his grandfather a grin. Ben opened his arms to the boy. Benji took a flying leap toward Ben who caught him and hugged him tightly to his chest.
"Hey, you get much bigger, and you'll knock your grandfather to the floor. Oops, guess that was a poor joke." He gave Cecille a sheepish look.
Cecille laughed at his faux pax.
Ben ruffled Benji's curly dark hair. "Take a few minutes and then we will see you downstairs."
While Ben was smoothing things over with Cecille and the children, Kate was laying down the law to Mary. The little girl was sitting on the edge of her bed, tears running down her face with Kate on her knees in front of her. "Elizabeth was telling Hannah that her Mama made the blanket. She was not going to hurt Hannah and she was not going to take her presents. And even if she had, you do not push other children. We can't have that in this house. Do you understand?" Kate's voice grew louder with each statement. "Tomorrow you will have to tell Elizabeth that you are sorry for hurting her. What did I say would happen if you did not behave?"
"Stay in my room." Mary moaned at the thought.
"That's right. I'm sorry that you will not get to eat birthday cake, but that's the way it is since you did not listen."
"Can I have cake tomorrow?" Mary pleaded.
"I don't know if there will be any left. You will just have to wait and see." Kate rose and went toward the door. "I will tuck you in when I bring Hannah up to bed." Kate closed the door behind her. Kate was exhausted, the façade she had put on to deal with Mary was beginning to crumble.
There was a faint yet unmistakable sound of crying when Ben stepped out of Cecille's room, not the weeping of a child, but of a woman. Having just left Cecille, that only left one other possibility. Ben opened the door to his room and found Kate face down on the bed in tears. He felt like he was running from one emotional crisis to another. [i]What is this world coming to?[/i] This was so unlike Kate. He drew in a deep breath and knelt beside the bed. "Kate, sweetheart, what is the matter, love?" He placed a comforting hand on her back.
"Oh Ben, I'm sorry. You don't need this. I'm just so frustrated." She sobbed. "I wanted everything to be perfect for Hannah's birthday, but now it's been ruined and family members have hurt feelings. I just want to scream." The volume of her voice increasing.
"Shhh, Kate, shhhh. It will be alright. Come here." He pulled her toward him. Kate sat up and let Ben hold her for a moment. Then he pushed her back, fingered away her tears, and gazed into her green eyes. "I patched things up with Cecille and the children, so stop worrying about that. Yes, we will have to deal with the 'chief plan foiler' down the hall, but Kate none of what happened was your fault; you planned a wonderful party for Hannah. With children, one can never know what is lurking around the corner, whether heart-warming or heart-breaking. Trust me I understand your frustration. There were days when I would not have given three cents for the whole lot of my boys. That is the nature of the beast. You can only keep loving them and urging them on to be people of good character." He rose and poured some water into the basin."Come, wash your face. There is a little girl downstairs waiting to have birthday cake."
Kate stood and placed her hands on his chest.
"Thank you. I needed to hear that." She kissed his lips.
Ben took her face in his hands. "Just remember when everything else is turned upside-down, you can count on this." He gave her a full kiss. "I love you, Kate. See you downstairs in a few minutes."
Despite the chaos, Hannah was thrilled with her gifts, rocking her doll in the cradle and happily chattering away to Jamie and Joe when Kate returned to the living room. Fortunately Hannah was young enough not to be greatly bothered by the earlier upheaval in the celebration, provided someone was paying attention to her. Kate went to the kitchen and told Hop Sing they were ready for the cake, then she called everyone to the table. She lit three candles on the cake inscribed with 'Happy Birthday, Hannah, and a big number three.
"'Happy Birthday, to you'..." Kate led the family in song and the others quickly joined in.
Hannah was beaming when they finished singing to her. Kate served the cake and they enjoyed it immensely despite the earlier events of the evening.
Once the others went back to the living room to relax, Kate smuggled two pieces of cake into the kitchen. "Hop Sing, here is a piece of cake for you. It was delicious as usual. Thank you for making it for Hannah." She offered him the cake and a warm smile.
"You're welcome, Missy Kate. Who other piece for?"
"This is for Mary to have tomorrow after lunch. I'm afraid she was sent to her room for the evening."
"Too bad for little Miss to not be at party. I will put away cake for tomorrow." Hop Sing's face reflected the dismay that Kate was feeling.
"Thank you, Hop Sing." Then Kate rejoined the group in the living room.
The rest of the evening went smoothly, with Hannah and Elizabeth even play acting with the doll and the bunny. Upstairs a dark-haired girl had cried herself to sleep. Mary woke when Kate brought Hannah to bed. The girls quickly did their bedtime rituals and crawled into bed. Kate turned down the lamp and bid them goodnight.
Hannah fell right to sleep after having such a big day, however, Mary had slept a couple of hours during the party, and now she was wide awake. She listened carefully to each bedroom door open and close. When she no longer heard family members moving about she slowly opened her door and peeked down the hall. Then she tiptoed carefully down the back stairway and into the kitchen. The lamp was burning low on the table; so she turned it up slightly. As quietly as possible for a four-year old, she searched for any leftover cake. Hearing unfamiliar sounds in the kitchen, Hop Sing came from his room.
Though he knew the answer to his question, he asked quietly, "What you doing here little Miss?"
Mary jumped in surprise. Her head dropped as she confessed. "Looking for cake."
Hop Sing shook his head. "Missy Kate sent you to bed because you were bad that's why you not get cake." Mary nodded. Though cantankerous at times and definitely not keen on having children underfoot, Hop Sing could not imagine what Mary could have done that would have kept her from sharing in her sister's birthday cake with the rest of the family. "Are you sorry for being bad, little Miss?"
"Yes."
"You be good tomorrow and not cause trouble?" Hop Sing pressed on.
Mary answered honestly. "I'll try."
Hop Sing almost cracked a smile at her response. "Then Hop Sing give you cake, but it our secret."
Mary looked up at Hop Sing in wonder, and then ran and wrapped her arms around his legs.
"No! No! You sit at table, little Miss." He pried the little girl loose from his body.
A very happy little girl was grinning at Hop Sing when he returned with her piece of cake and a glass of milk. He sat down across the table from her.
"Cake good little Miss?"
Mary nodded, her mouth too full to respond.
When finished, she wiped her mouth with the napkin that he handed to her.
"Remember, our secret. Now you go to bed." Hop Sing directed toward the back stairs.
"Thanks!" She called over her shoulder before exiting the kitchen.
Only then did Hop Sing smile.
After lunch the following day, Kate asked Hop Sing for Mary's piece of cake.
"Hop Sing not know where it go. Maybe Mr. Hoss eat it." The cook felt no remorse for accusing Hoss given all the times the big man sneaked food from kitchen. He remained focused on the pot he was stirring on the stove.
Kate frowned. "That's too bad. Well, at least I didn't make a promise to Mary." It struck her as strange that the piece of cake had just disappeared from Hop Sing's kitchen and that Mary had not even once asked for cake today. "Hop Sing?"
"Yes, Missy Kate, you need something?" He kept his back to her and continued stirring the pot.
"Never mind. I think I found what I was looking for." A knowing smile came over her face. Hop Sing and Mary in cahoots. Nooooo. Who would believe it?