Author's Note: This chapter is the turning point. It's got the mean spirit that the entire story has had, but one of the women says something profound and the other has to listen. I won't say who because it would give the story away. Adam also has a big role in this chapter.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

Candy opened the door after the first knock. Joe stepped through the opening with his hat in his hand as his friend stepped back. They nodded in hello.

"Where's Wolf?" he asked as he walked through.

"She left early this morning. I was just about to take the kids into town." Candy replied as he slipped on his gun belt.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"Not at all. Bear! Carson! We're going to town."

The sound of feet running towards them was loud. The children ran circles around the men before flying out the door. Bear was holding the reins to Candy's horse. Candy set him on the big animal and smiled when he hugged the horse's neck. He was just like his mother, in love with animals.

Carson was placed on Cochise. She was a little more skittish but when she got used to the horse, she was happy. She took the reins and helped Joe.

The two adults steered the horses into town at a leisurely pace.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

Wolf dropped to the ground outside the ranch house and went inside without knocking. Ben was working in the northern pasture with a few of the hands. They were driving the strays that had been missed the day before. Joe had disappeared the night before and Candy was heading into town.

She had left that morning to find some herbs and mix an old Indian remedy for Adam. She felt bad for the man but she didn't feel guilty. It hadn't been her fault. She had done what she had been taught; stay hidden and don't make a sound. That's how she'd survived for twenty-two years.

Amanda was coming down the stairs when she shut the door. She had heard the heavy wooden door open and wanted to see who it was. The women looked at each other; one with anger and the other trepidation. Wolf walked up the stairs, passing the Cartwright woman by completely. Amanda followed anyway, knowing where the Canaday woman was going.

Adam was propped up in bed staring at the ceiling. It was an obvious factor that he was bored. He had taken the nasty medicine the doctor had prescribed and had lain in bed since Ben had ordered it. Amanda had been grating on his nerves because she had been hovering the entire time. She kept asking if he was okay or if he needed anything and that was bothering him to no end.

He was preparing to yell when the door opened and he sighed. Wolf was a sight for sore eyes. After being shot, he had passed out. Since Amanda had been hovering, he knew she was okay, but he didn't know if the other woman he had been trying to protect was hurt worse. He'd heard she'd been shot as well but since she had disappeared he never saw for himself how bad she was hurt.

She had a bandage wrapped around her right bicep. Obviously she had been shot as well but not as bad as he had. She sat down and peeled off the bandage covering his bullet wound. For some reason he couldn't look away from her face. It was etched with different emotions that he couldn't read.

"You were shot by a war party." She said as she carefully unwrapped the soiled bandage.

"I know. Amanda told me." He replied. The wound on his chest was bigger than he thought. It must have been a shotgun.

"Did she tell you the whole story?"

"I remember some of it. We were coming to help you check fences when we heard the gun shots. You were bogged down and I started laying cover fire. After that I don't remember much."

Wolf glanced at Amanda as if she were agitated. She probably was but wasn't going to say anything just yet. "You were running to help me. You sent Amanda my way and came from a different angle, using the bushes as cover. She heard the shrubs rattle behind her and screamed, giving away our hiding spot."

"How'd you get shot?"

Wolf applied her salve and wrapped his shoulder once again, forcing him to lean against her as she did so. "You were shot first. Amanda was screaming bloody murder. I pounced on her to shut her up. She bit me once. When I turned around, there was a gun in my face. Amanda started begging and he turned to her, giving me time to kick his knee. He stumbled back and his gun went off, nailing me in the shoulder. I didn't have time to worry about it. I had to get you back here. There was no way I could get you back here without leaving your wife behind so I sent a warning."

"How'd you do that?"

"Little Joe. I sent Wind back to him. Any time that horse comes back alone he knows something's wrong."

Adam groaned as he laid back against his propped up pillows. Amanda hadn't moved from the door, a look of shame on her face. "Was Amanda hurt?"

"No."

"So in other words you save her life?" Wolf nodded as she poured something from her canteen. "Thank you, on both our behalves."

"You're welcome." She handed him a steaming cup. "Drink this. It'll make you stronger."

He took the cup in his good hand. The liquid was warm and had a greenish tint to it. He glanced at her but she was busy mixing something else. Braving it, he took a sip and, much to his surprise, he liked it. "Mint?"

"And oak and pine nuts all boiled to a thick syrup then thinned with water."

"It's really good."

Wolf nodded and set the jar on the bedside table. She patted his shoulder and left the room.

Amanda followed close behind, angry at the intimate moment that had just passed between his husband and another man's wife. "You think you're so great, don't you? All because you save his life."

"I saved your life, too." The other woman replied as she went to Ben's desk, pulled out a piece of paper, and started writing.

"I think I'd rather have died than to be save by you."

"I'll keep that in mind." Amanda was so angry she swiped her hand across the desk, knocking the ink onto the paper and Wolf's hand. Wolf stopped writing and stared at the desk. "You better walk away before you get hurt."

"Ever since I came here, you've had it in for me. No wonder my father never wanted me to meet any Indians. You're all the same."

"By whose standards?"

"The men who destroyed your homes. They all said you were heathens. Now I know that they were right. No Indian can be tamed. And what's worse is they pass that gene down to their children."

"My children behave like white man."

"Only because your husband raises them that way. They probably get made fun of because they're half white, with their mother being a squaw."

Wolf quit cleaning up the mess on the desk and raised her gaze. Pure hatred blazed there. Amanda took a step back, realizing she had gone too far. :"Hop Sing."

The cook scurried into view. "Yes, Mrs. Wolf?"

"Lock the kitchen." Hit didn't argue as he went back to his room. There was a scratching sound as he pushed something in front of the door.

Amanda hit the railing of the stairs. "You're going to attack me aren't you?"

The other woman shook her head as she stalked her quarry. "No. what I'm going to do is far worse. You almost killed your husband. You almost killed yourself. You would left your children without any parents had that Indian shot you and killed Adam. What's worse, he would have taken you back to his tribe and made you his prisoner, his squaw. You would have had no rights and no voice." Amanda gasped at that. But Wolf wasn't finished. "You have no sense of decency or respect, much less self-respect. You flaunt your wealth, which has no standing here. This is Nevada, to New York or Boston. You think you're better because you're educated. Well, Adam's educated but his heart's here. I see it every time I talk to him you may be his wife but you're not his first love and you will never be. Once you realize that, your life will change."

Amanda stared in shock at her rival. She hadn't touched her but her words were like a double edged sword. She was telling her things she had never thought about before. There was nothing she could have done about it. It was now out in the open. Wolf must have realized this when she married Candy. This ranch had become their home and they knew it.

"What's going on here?" Ben asked. He had come right in the middle of the conversation and had no idea what it was about but he had a pretty good idea.

"I gave Adam some Indian medicine. He should be fine in a day or two." Wolf replied. "I made a mess on your desk when I was writing the instructions. Let me clean it and I'll be gone."

Ben watched as his adopted daughter-in-law cleaned the mess on his desk. He was quite certain there was going to be a stain because she had let the ink sit for a little bit. She picked up a set of rags and wet them to scrub the ink off.

"I'll see you later, Mr. Cartwright." She said.

"Don't let her go, Pa." They all looked at the stairs as Adam came down.

"Adam, should you really be up?" Amanda asked.

He looked at his wife. "We'll talk later." She nodded miserably. Adam turned toward the ink covered woman. "You have no qualms talking out, do you?"

"Not when it's the truth." Wolf tossed the soiled rags in the trash and headed for the door. Adam caught her arm. "Let go."

"I'm tired of this. The two of you need to learn to get along if you're both going to live here."

"Don't worry about that. Once we move off the Ponderosa, everything will be fine."

"You don't have to leave the Ponderosa." Ben said.

"Obviously we do if this is going to be a constant. I lived here because no one judged me based on my skin color. Now that's changed. We'll find a place shortly and be out of your hair." She jerked away and left the house.

Adam stared at the door with a clenched fist. "Amanda."

She walked over to him with her head down. "Yes, Adam?"

"That woman saved your life and you tell her she is proud for it? She killed a man to keep you safe and this is how you repay her? With words of slander against her skin?"

Amanda huffed up at the accusation. "You look at her with such longing that you never look at me. It's like she's your soul mate."

"She understands this more than you do. I grew up on the Ponderosa. I helped raise my brothers on the Ponderosa and I worked the Ponderosa with my blood, sweat and tears. This has and always will be my home. Does that mean I'm uncivilized as well?"

"Adam, I….I didn't know."

"You didn't know? She just spelled it out for you. Yes, I look at her with admiration because she's a woman who knows what her husband's first love is. That's how she and Candy have survived these last three years. They know the other inside and out and they know what the other's first true love was. You have yet to learn to set you biases aside and see with a different eye."

Amanda had never been spoken to in such a way in her life it made her cry. She swept up the stairs and went to their room. After packing a bag, she grabbed Michael from the crib and went down the stairs with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm getting a room in town for a few days." She replied as the tears slid down her face.

"Leave the children."

She gawked at him. "I will not leave my children here."

"You can't hold the baby and drive the buggy at the same time. Michael and Benji stay here." Adam was not moving on that. He stared at her until she handed Michael over to Ben. Throwing her shawl over her shoulders she picked up her bag and walked out the door. With her head high, she got in the buggy and rode on the way to town.

"Adam, was that the right thing to do?" Ben asked as he looked down at his grandson.

"I'm tired of their constant arguing. I've talked to Wolf. She's given her a chance to get along with her but Amanda isn't making that possible. I'll do whatever I have to do to get them to work this out."

"Hey, Pa, where's Amanda going?" Joe asked as he and Candy rode up with the other two children. They set them on the ground and watched them take off to the barn.

"She's going to be staying in town for a few days." Adam answered.

Candy pinched his the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. "Wolf's been up here, hasn't she?"

"Yes, she came to give me some of that Indian salve and tea. While she was here, Amanda laid into her. I think she was the reason there's an ink stain on Pa's desk."

"Was Wolf angry?" Joe asked.

"I wouldn't say angry but annoyed. She was very sharp with her."

"Were you listening at the top of the stairs?" Ben asked. Adam nodded. "Then you heard the entire thing?" Another nod. "Well, what was it about?"

"Wolf saved mine and Amanda's lives and Amanda was ungrateful for it. She claimed that I looked upon Wolf with love instead of admiration."

Candy frowned. "She thinks you love my wife?"

"Yeah."

"Do you?"

Adam looked at the foreman. He wasn't scared. He was more interested than anything. "I look upon your wife with admiration. She can tell what's important to you and flaunt that. Which is why I'm going to ask this. Candy, don't leave the Ponderosa. It's as much your home as it is ours. It wouldn't be the same without you. Plus, your children have grown up here. It wouldn't be fair if you moved them because of some squabble."

Candy looked between all the Cartwrights. This was his home and he didn't want to move if he didn't have to. "I do love working here and I know Wolf does too. Not to mention Bear and Carson have enough space to run and be free and not worry about anyone trying to hurt them." The men nodded in agreement. Candy nodded. "All right. We'll stay but it's going to be a war when I tell Wolf."

"I have a feeling she's going to be happier about staying her home than she will be angry with you."

"Hey, Adam, aren't you going to town to get your wife?" Joe asked.

"No. She can stay there and cool off. It's much more peaceful without her here at the moment. Hop Sing must have lunch ready for us by now."

They all went inside and helped the cook put his kitchen back together before eating.