CHAPTER SIX
JOE SPOKE FIRST to Mercy Harris about the incident that had occurred in the schoolyard, having a word with her outside the earshot of the children after he dropped them off at school the next morning. The teacher's emerald eyes rounded as he outlined the true sequence of events.
"Oh, my goodness!" Mercy cried. "Mr. Cartwright...I can only apologize. If I had known about Nathan saying such things...and then picking up a rock..!" She shuddered and looked horrified.
"I'm sure you probably would have handled things differently, Miss Harris." Joe said expansively. "I'm planning on having a conversation with Mr. Riley so that he can be aware of his boy's behavior. Hopefully he'll set Nathan straight." Mercy sighed and bobbed her head.
"I'll resolve to be more vigilant in the future."
"Thank you, Miss Harris." Joe said, tipping his hat to the young lady. "Oh, and Hoss sends you his highest regards...again." She flushed, murmuring her thanks and returning Hoss' regards. Joe smiled to himself. At this rate, he wouldn't be surprised if Hoss and Mercy simply eloped before Pa could come home, the two were so obviously smitten with each other. He climbed into the surrey and clucked to the horses, grateful that his older brother was experiencing a romance that looked to finally be with the right kind of woman at the right time in their lives.
True to Mother MacGruder's prediction, Amos Riley did not like what Joe told him about Nathan.
"I want ya to know, Joe," the older man said to the youngest of the Cartwright brothers, "That I didn't raise my boy to believe he c'n say such terrible nasty things about other people. An' I can't say as I blame ya for being worried about 'im picking up a rock to smack somebody with—especially a boy Gabe's age! That's no way for Nate t'be acting."
"Just wanted to make sure you knew about your boy, Mr. Riley." Joe told him in a somber voice.
"Thank ya for it." Amos replied. "Fool boy coulda killed Gabe if'n he smacked the child with a rock." The older man rubbed his face with one hand. "I'll be sure t'speak to Nate about it. That's a promise." Joe nodded soberly and left, both of the men believing the matter to be settled.
Saturday, October 11, 1862
HOSS WAS, ONCE again, beaming brightly as he looked out over the colorful crowd of people attending the barn dance that the Muellers were hosting in honor of their very first grandchild's birth. He had, in each hand, a cup of punch and was scanning the throng to pinpoint Mercy's location.
"There can be only one reason you've got that look on your face, Hoss Cartwright," a voice said laconically, "And that's the fact that you an' that pretty little schoolteacher are sparkin'." The middle Cartwright brother grinned at the speaker—Lewis Jasper, a premiere blacksmith of Virginia City and a personal friend to Hoss.
"Well...nothin's official." the sandy-haired man hedged, eliciting a snort from the shorter, dark-haired man with the closely-trimmed facial hair.
"Don't go pullin' my leg, Hoss!" Lew retorted. "A party like this is supposed to allow all the unattached folk a chance to mix—an' that gal o' yours won't do more than give any fella a single turn...an' some of 'em none at all." The blacksmith nodded his head off towards his right.
"Now most o' the fellas around here know when to take a hint." Lew remarked. "But it looks like Barney Lathrup isn't one of them." Hoss followed the direction of Lew's nod and frowned a bit: the officious young lawyer was talking to Mercy, who didn't look thrilled with the conversation and was shaking her head. Barney persisted, however, leaning down towards the jet-tressed young lady.
"Pardon me, Lew."
"Not a'tall, Hoss." his friend responded, a grin stealing across his face at the sight of the big man's set expression. For somebody who was insisting that his romance of the pretty schoolmarm was unofficial, Hoss looked to Lew to be officially about to teach Barney Lathrup (the Third) a long-overdue lesson about poaching on another man's preserves.
"I've already consented to dance with you earlier this evening, Mr. Lathrup," Mercy was saying in a voice that reminded Hoss of a stretch of badlands: flat and hard, "I have no desire to dance with you again." The junior partner in Lathrup and Lathrup, Attorneys at Law wasn't taking the obvious hint, however.
"But, Miss Harris," he said in a rather whiny voice, "We so obviously suit one another! We are both educated, refined and well-bred. You could hardly do better than a match with me."
"I beg to differ." Mercy rejoined, but then smiled as Hoss approached with the cups of punch he had been kind enough to go get. She stepped eagerly toward him, holding one hand out.
"Thank you ever so much, Hoss." she told the big man, her voice now becoming as soft and warm as her expression. The sandy-haired Cartwright smiled back, bending down and giving her one of the cups.
"You're welcome, Mercy." Hoss replied politely, then cast a mild look Barney's way. "Is ol' Barney here bothering you?" The shorter man spluttered.
"If you must presume to be so familiar," the lawyer practically hissed, "Then it's Barnabus! You know I hate hearing my name shortened." Hoss merely looked benignly at him.
"I do believe that Miss Harris has declined to dance with you, Barney," Hoss told him pointedly, "So you'd best get to askin' another gal." The dandy raked the large rancher from head to foot with a scornful look.
"I'll believe it from Miss Harris' lips and no other."
"Then, for the fifth time, Mr. Lathrup—I don't want to dance with you." Mercy repeated succinctly.
"Fine, then." Barney spoke in a snippy tone. "I'll leave you to your fate at the oversize hands of this...this barbarian!" Hoss scowled at the smaller man and Barney hastily moved away. Mercy gave a sharp exhalation of breath.
"Don't pay any attention to him, Hoss," she bade the middle Cartwright brother, "Mr. Lathrup's nothing but a craven, anyway."
"Craven..?" Hoss prompted, immediately seizing on an opportunity to get Mercy to make that face he liked so much. She unwittingly obliged.
"Craven," she repeated, her lips puckering in concentration, "Caitiff, poltroon, wretch...a yellow-bellied sneak!" She glanced up at him, wondering why he was smiling. Hoss showed her his empty cup.
"As long as you're not dancing with Barney," he proposed, "How about taking a turn around the floor with me?" Mercy presented him with her own empty cup.
"I thought you'd never ask!" she agreed. Hoss took the cups and found a convenient horizontal surface to stow them upon before taking the dark-haired beauty and sweeping her into his arms onto the dance floor in a graceful waltz. Both of them thought the same thing: there was nobody else in the place except them.
"Is Hoss actually going to wait until Pa is back from his trip to the Old States?" Eve asked her husband, with whom she was dancing some yards away from where the second Cartwright son and the school teacher were circling the area. Adam spared his younger brother a speculative glance.
"That's a good question." he conceded. "Hoss is looking taken enough to just go find Reverend Jordan and tie the knot now."
"I almost wish he would." Eve rejoined. "Hoss has been getting preoccupied to the point of being almost useless around the barn. He keeps flooding the troughs." Adam glanced down at her, quirking an eyebrow. His wife chuckled.
"He starts daydreaming while he's pumping the water..."
"...and then he floods the troughs because he has the fair maiden on his mind." the eldest of the Cartwright brothers drew in his breath with a nod of his head as he realized what Eve was alluding to. "Well, I have been noticing that Hoss has needed...more reminding about his chores than usual of late. Buck up, Eve...Pa and Mama are due home in less than two weeks."
"I can only hope the Ponderosa can survive until then!" Eve quipped, eliciting a laugh from her husband. She chuckled again and caught sight of something past his shoulder that made her smile. "I see that Becky is finally getting back to normal." Adam glanced behind him to his left and saw his stepsister dancing with Rob Hollister—the pretty blond and the lanky redhead made a handsome couple. The eldest of the Cartwright brothers nodded.
"Rob's a good friend of Joe's." he said easily. "Becky's made an excellent choice...but...what do you mean by 'normal'..? I hadn't noticed anything odd about her—she hasn't been ill or anything without my knowing, has she..?"
"Well...it's not that she's been ill, Adam," Eve assured him, "I just...well...I've just noticed that for the past few weeks, Becky hasn't been as...demonstrative as she normally is." Once again her husband's skeptical brow elevated. The brunette sighed.
"I know you've known the Callahans since they moved into the territory," she qualified, "And you became even better acquainted with them when Cassandra came from Connecticut to help with the family, but you, of course, were far more involved with life on the Ponderosa. I, on the other hand, saw the lot of them almost daily when I was delivering mushrooms to the way station. Becky...is a very warm and loving girl—very friendly. Lately, however, she's been given to...periods of contemplation."
Adam thought for a moment, re-examining what he'd seen of Rebecca since the Cartwright and Callahan families had blended into one household at the Ponderosa. Becky had been nothing but loving and supportive after her adoptive mother married Ben, advising Adam on the occasion or three that had cropped up concerning the discipline of the children. Now that Eve had brought it up, the young lady in question had seemed a bit preoccupied, even as she quietly agreed with the punishment that Adam had decided upon giving to both Gabe and Naomi after the schoolyard fight.
It hadn't been easy, for he had immanently identified with the motives behind the twins' actions: Nate Riley had been teasing and belittling Naomi, so Gabe had reacted in her defense, while Naomi had seen Nate grab the rock he was going to hit Gabe with and had bitten the older boy to keep her brother from harm. Still, the point had to be made that they had to conduct themselves with each others' safety in mind before things came to blows. He'd spoken to Becky and she had agreed that a single stroke for each child was sufficient, along with making sure that each of them realized exactly what lesson the discipline was supposed to teach them.
The twins had understood completely, just as Rebecca had predicted they would...but now that he had time to think on it, the young woman had seemed a bit more subdued than usual. Not melancholy, really, but certainly a lot less sunny than she usually was.
Adam looked back to where Rob was drawing Becky to the refreshment table—his stepsister was smiling and nodding up at the earnest young man. Rob's father was a gunsmith and Rob was also in the business. The Hollisters were known to be honest tradesmen who did excellent work. It would be a good match if anything came of it, Adam thought.
"Thank you, Rob." Becky said with a smile as she accepted the proffered cup of punch from the redheaded man with her and sipped from it. She was being far too despondent, she knew—this was a happy community celebration and she ought to be mingling as much as possible...but her heart wasn't in it. So, although she had circulated about and spoken to the various young men she'd come across, Becky had only danced about maybe half-a-dozen times—once with Dr. Martin (who technically didn't count, as he was married) and two other dances with two of her stepbrothers. She suppressed a sigh and tried to appear to be interested in Rob's dialog about how busy things were at his family's shop. Her sapphire eyes strayed to where the only stepbrother she hadn't danced with tonight whirled past with Marietta Price in his arms.
Joe, it seemed, had absolutely no problem dancing every single dance with every single girl at the barn dance.
'Stop it—just stop it!' Becky chided herself firmly. 'He's your brother now, remember? You're not supposed to be jealous of the attention he pays to other girls—even if Marietta tends to lean a bit too closely towards all the boys she pays attention to.' Her interior dialog didn't seem to be helping her, however—Becky still couldn't seem to move past her rather selfish and inexplicable feelings.
"—don't you think, Becky...?" Rob's voice suddenly cut back into the blond's thoughts. Embarrassed that she had no idea whatsoever about what the redhead had been talking about, Becky immediately nodded and smiled.
"Oh, I agree completely with you, Rob." she said, still totally clueless about the subject at hand. Her dancing partner, however, smiled eagerly at her and then, drawing her arm through his, led her off the dance floor...and out of the barn. Becky groaned inwardly—this would teach her not to let her mind wander while she was with a boy. Even as she tried to think of some way to gracefully withdraw from the situation, Rob moved a few feet to one side of the door and stopped.
"You sure are pretty tonight, Becky," the tall, slender young man said earnestly, "That dress of yours makes your eyes look as bright as the summer sky."
It had been on the tip of Becky's tongue to make some excuse and move back inside, but Rob's attempt at romance caused her to hesitate—he wasn't exactly Shakespeare, but he was a far sight better than Levi Durham (who had told Becky that her lips reminded him of some salmon he'd eaten recently.) So, instead, the blond girl turned her gently-smiling face up towards the redheaded boy with her. Rob bent his head, leaning down and kissing her on the lips.
No, Becky decided, Rob was nice—but this was kind of like kissing Zach or Gabe. No spark.
Rob lifted his head, his expression a bit puzzled. He opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it may have been was destined never to be heard. Suddenly, Rob pulled away...or, to be more accurate, Rob was wrenched rather violently away. Becky blinked in shock as she witnessed the redhead get punched dead in the face. Then she screamed...
THE EVENING WAS going just fine and Mercy was feeling as though her feet weren't even touching the ground, dancing in the arms of Hoss. How different life here in the western half of the country was from that of Maryland. Instead of being at a barn dance, the venue in the older state would likely have been a cotillion of some sort, with the attendees all being part of the upper echelons of Baltimore society. The dances would all have been very refined and none of the ladies present would have given a thought to dancing more than twice with the same man—a fact they would have been able to keep straight thanks to the ubiquitous dance cards that were a must for any such occasion.
If Mercy had been told six years ago that she'd be dancing almost exclusively with a big, tall handsome rancher in a barn in Nevada, she would have laughed in their face and sent them away with a haughty flick of an ivory fan.
She really had to tell Hoss about that—feeling the way they did about each other, Mercy was convinced that he deserved to know the truth about her. Oh, she worried a bit that Hoss may spurn her once he knew all about her former life...but the jet-tressed teacher felt she knew him well enough to trust that his own ability to accept people for how they were rather than whatever had happened in the past would come to the fore.
At least, she very much hoped so.
"Hoss..." Mercy said to him, "...let's get over to the side. There's something I'd like to say to you, but we need a bit of privacy for it." The sandy-haired man smiled down at her.
"Awright, Mercy." he agreed, leading her from the dance floor and to a door that led outside the barn. Once outside, Hoss turned to her and looked at her with his heart in his eyes. Mercy lost herself in the depths of his veracious blue eyes for a moment. Even as she drew in her breath to speak, the man with her acted on impulse and kissed her with a sweet passion. Mercy clung to his shoulders for a moment, but then pulled herself away with some difficulty.
"Hoss...that's not fair." she chided, but smiled as she did so. "I need to tell you—"
The moment was forever shattered by a scream. Hoss was immediately running towards the sound, with Mercy only a fraction of a second behind him. They came upon a rather shocking scene around the corner from where they'd exited the barn:
Rolling around on the ground, trading punches as a wide-eyed Rebecca and Marietta Price stared in shock, was Rob Hollister...and Little Joe Cartwright. Even as Hoss and Mercy hurried up to the combatants, Becky seemed to snap out of the stupor she was in.
"Stop it! Stop it this instant!" she bellowed in a voice that would have had Hoss pause...and it was clear that Rob hesitated. Joe, however, was now on top of his best friend and drawing back his fist to deliver what was sure to be a very painful blow. Hoss reached down and literally lifted Joe off the redhead, holding his younger brother up in the air so that his feet couldn't touch the ground—no mean feat, as Joe was single-mindedly struggling to get back to beating on his best friend.
"What happened?" Mercy gasped, looking from Joe's grimacing face to where Rob lay, rubbing his aching jaw.
"Nothin' happened!" the redhead insisted. "I was out here with Becky—"
"You were kissing her! I saw it!" Joe snarled. Hoss speared his hot-headed little brother with a look of mingled disbelief and annoyance.
"And just how did you happen to see it, Li'l Joe?" he asked, not looking in the direction of Marietta, who flushed to the roots of her dark hair. The panting Joe merely leveled a deadly look at Rob.
"Hoss asked you a question, Joe." Adam's voice now spoke up. Becky looked around, suddenly realizing that Adam and Eve were now here. The eldest Cartwright swung his hazel eyes to where Hoss still had Joe around the waist, Joe's feet still being held up from touching the ground.
"I think you can put Joe down now, Hoss." Adam said quietly. The middle Cartwright brother hesitantly lowered Joe down until the young man was on his feet. Meanwhile, Adam helped Rob get up.
"Joe's right." Rob admitted. "I was kissing Becky."
"You can't do that! She's my—" Joe started to bellow, but cut himself off. Hoss rolled his eyes and Adam folded his arms.
"I appreciate that you're taking your duties as a brother seriously, Joe," Adam said evenly, "But simply interrupting them would have sufficed...unless Rob was taking more liberties than just kissing Becky?"
"He was not!" Becky denied hotly, herself blushing furiously.
"I would never..!" spluttered Rob at the same time.
"You still haven't answered Hoss' question, Joe." Adam pointed out implacably. "Just how is it that you were on hand to see what happened?"
"We came outside so that Joe could kiss me." Marietta confessed, drawing all eyes to her. Well, almost all eyes, for Joe instead looked at Becky, whose pink face had paled suddenly. However, Joe wasn't the only one to see this, as Eve's brown eyes were probing the expressions of both Becky and Joe.
"I think it's time we all went home, then." Adam said with a frown. "Apparently this barn dance has stirred up the wrong kind of excitement for our family."
Hoss drove Mercy home from the dance, but the events of the evening erased her impetus to tell him what she had started to bring up before the ruckus had started. The missed opportunity would come back to haunt her later.
THE JOURNEY BACK to the Ponderosa was punctuated by the conversation between Adam and Eve, who were in the front seat of the surrey. The silence from the opposite ends of the rear seat—upon which was Joe and Becky—was deafening. Once the vehicle stopped in front of the main house, however, Joe was out of his seat and around the surrey in a flash, reaching up and helping Becky out by putting his hands around her waist and lifting her out of the conveyance and onto the ground.
They stood for a moment in rather tense silence, with Becky staring fixedly at the ground as she waited for Joe to let go. The moment stretched out painfully until she felt his hands tighten ever-so-slightly. Startled, Becky lifted wide sapphire eyes up to get a glimpse of Joe's fathomless green gaze. Then he spun away, leaving with Adam to unhitch the horses and secure the surrey.
"Come on, Becky," Eve said softly, "We're going to want to check on Ma and the twins." The brunette's arm wound around the blond's shoulders and Becky found herself steered into the house, where the young women heard from Mother MacGruder and Hop Sing that the children had been well-behaved and had just gone to bed. Becky's sister-in-law drew her closer to the fireplace.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Eve asked in a low voice. Rebecca glanced up at the taller woman, a bit startled.
"There's nothing to talk about." she insisted, unable to keep her face from flooding with heat. Eve's cocoa-colored eyes stared levelly at the younger woman but then she shrugged.
"If you change your mind, then," Eve told her simply, "I'll be happy to lend an ear." Becky mumbled a hasty "good night" and fled to the sanctuary of her bedroom.
OUT IN THE barn, Adam and Joe were grooming the horses and bedding them down for the night in a silence that was also rather unusual. The elder Cartwright was waiting for the younger one to begin speaking. Since Joe didn't seem to be forthcoming, however, Adam spoke up.
"All right, Joe," he said firmly, "Would you mind telling me how it is that I get dragged from dancing with my wife to find you trying to beat the tar out of one of the best friends you have in Virginia City?"
"No." the youngest of the Cartwright brothers refused. Adam's eyes narrowed in Joe's direction.
"Listen, Joe," Adam said in a tone that smacked of him fighting to keep a rein on some temper, then went into a diatribe about how, while it was all fine and good that Joe was taking his brotherly duties towards Becky to heart enough to worry about her reputation, both she and Rob were grown people and deserved the benefit of the doubt before Joe jumped in and acted the way he had.
Well, at least, that's what Joe assumed that Adam had likely started pontificating about—he couldn't be one-hundred-percent sure as all he really heard was "Listen, Joe, blah blah blah." Joe's thoughts turned completely inward, because he knew that it hadn't been "brotherly duty" or even "defense of honor" that had prompted him to assault poor Rob...
He had been dancing with about a dozen or two different girls at the Muellers' party, trying to prove to himself that his emerging feelings for Becky were trivial. Joe was determined to confirm that he was still a fancy-free ladies' man and had, in fact, been sneaking out to the "privacy" of outside in order to steal a kiss or two from Marietta when she giggled and pointed out that the same idea had apparently occurred to Rob. Joe had looked over to see the girl that Rob was managing to claim a quick buss or two from...and saw that it was Becky.
Suddenly he was consumed in an inferno of jealousy. How dare Rob kiss Becky?
Joe had nearly said as much out loud, as well, for everyone had heard him yell at the man who was a very dear friend of his: "You can't do that! She's my—"
Just about everyone heard him cut himself off, and so would assume that his last word was "my"...as in "she's my sister." However, Joe knew that he hadn't been about to say that at all. His interrupted sentence was: "She's mi—"...as in "she's mine!"
Not the kind of sentiment a brother was supposed to express about his sister. Right now, Joe was equating himself with the horridly lustful Lug Dawson, and he didn't need to hear Adam join the chorus of self-condemnation.
"...after all, if you can get away with the odd kiss or two from the girls you see," Adam was saying, "Then you should trust that Becky can do the same. Of course, if she ever calls on you for help—"
"I'll apologize to them." Joe said suddenly. Adam paused, giving his younger brother a penetrating look. "I'll apologize to Becky and then I'll find Rob tomorrow and say I'm sorry to him, too."
"Good." Adam said with a nod. Both men turned their attention back to bedding down the horses for the night, the older one feeling that the matter had been settled.
The younger one felt that he'd be lucky to get any sleep at all tonight.
BECKY CHECKED IN on the innocently-slumbering twins and went to her room, swiftly changing into her flannel nightgown. Nights were definitely getting cooler in this part of Nevada and flannel was a must, although it hadn't yet gotten cool to the point of adding the mob cap to the ensemble. As she brushed out her hair, there was a knock at the door.
"Becky?" Eve's voice asked. "May I come in?"
"Yes, of course." The door opened and the older female came in, closing the door behind her before joining Becky by sitting beside her on the edge of her bed.
"I figured maybe it was time to lend that ear of mine." Eve told her with a smile.
"How's your mother?" Becky asked quickly, forestalling the obvious questions that the quick-witted brunette was bound to ask her. Eve looked at the blond for a moment.
"She's fine, thank you." Eve replied. "Becky...are you all right? That was a rather upsetting fight."
"I'm fine, really!" Becky insisted. "Rob didn't do anything, honest! He kissed me...and we were pulling apart when...when..." The younger woman shrugged. "I don't know why Joe did that. I could tell that Rob was going to escort me right back inside...it was a nice kiss, but nothing either of us were looking for...if you know what I mean." Becky's sapphire eyes looked beseechingly at Eve.
"You mean you're not in love with Rob." the brunette said baldly.
"Right...we could both tell that after we kissed." Becky agreed. "We don't love each other."
"You should tell Joe." Eve advised. Becky shrugged a shoulder, glancing off to her left.
"I...I don't see how it's any of his business."
"Becky, he was willing to attack his best friend because—"
"Because he jumped to some silly conclusion." Becky cut Eve off. "I don't owe Joe any explanations...not when he was dancing with every other girl at the party!" Her sister-in-law blinked.
"What does that have to do—"
"I'll think about what you said, then." Becky said in a rush. "I...I'm tired now, Eve...I'd like to go to sleep, if you please." The brunette hesitated, but then got to her feet with a nod.
"All right, then, Becky." Eve said, retreating to the door. "Good night."
"Good night." Becky answered, bending over the lamp in her room and blowing it out before climbing into her bed. She, too, had a hard time getting to sleep that night.