*Reminder: Unless Mary is talking I will be referring to Hoss by his name (Hoss). She, of course, continues to call him Fredrick.

Chapter Ten

Hoss guided his young niece though the door of the small cabin, Ben had said he and Mary could use while he was teaching Tabitha. Adam and Laura Ann had promised their daughter that, while they would not drop in every day, they would check on her on a regular basis. The truth was Hoss and Mary had urged them to stop by at least two to three times a week, maybe even four, but not to make it a daily habit.

"Not only do you have yer other children that need yer attention too, iff'n Tabitha is to adjust she needs to concentrate on learning…not simply existing until you stop by fer the day."

When Hoss let go of Tabitha, the eleven year old automatically tried to grab a hold of him with her good arm again. Making her let go of him hurt Hoss a lot, but he knew from experience how important it was that he…as badly as he wanted to… could not let her use him as a crutch.

"The room is small and square." Hoss explained. He started to describe the room, along with the facts that a couch set against the wall to her right, a small coffee table sat in front of it and two chairs sat against the wall to her left. "The kitchen is on the other side of the living room. There is no barrier between the two rooms. There are two doors that stood between the couch and the kitchen. Both of those doors led to bedrooms. The one right after the couch will be yours." He then turned her to face the wall that held the couch and two rooms, and began teaching her how to find her way around what could turn out to be her home for a few weeks. More than once, he reassured her that, sooner or later, she'd be able to learn her way around the home she shared with her family. "I promise," Hoss said as he looked with empathy upon his young niece, "I'll be watchin' you the whole time."

For Tabitha's part, she was still rather scared, though, like the family had hoped, the fact that she didn't have the stress of having to worry about not calling her uncle by his real name was helping out a lot. That and the fact that, due to his own experience with blindness, she knew she could trust her Uncle Hoss to know what he was talking about.

Slowly she began walking to turn around and bump into the table, Tabitha started crying and pounding a fist into her uncle's thigh. "I don't want to be blind, Uncle Hoss! I want to see again! You said you'd be watching me!"

"I was watchin' you, pumpkin and I do understand." Hoss, taking a hold of her wrist and holding her hand away from his body, told her feeling his heart go out to the young child once again. "Only you are fer now. The best thing you can do fer yerself and yer family is not let it keep you down. And, iff'n if you were in real danger, I'd have stopped ya." Hoss said as he moved his hand gently onto her shoulder.

"Huh? Keep me down? I'm standing up!" Tabitha snapped without meaning to, though she quit trying to hit him. She was already frightened and upset…she didn't feel like adding confused to the list.

Hoss couldn't help it; he started laughing. "I jist mean ya got to keep livin' yer life, learnin' and doin' things with a good attitude. Sure, you don't like not bein' able to see with yer eyes. I didn't either, but I had a choice…learn to really live in spite of it or simply feel like I was existin'."

Tabitha wasn't sure what he meant by 'really living', only she knew what 'simply existing' was and she didn't like it. Squaring her shoulders and lifting her hand in such a position as to protect her face as her Uncle Hoss had instructed her earlier, the plucky eleven year old made her way to the wall…following her uncle's directions.

By the end of the day Tabitha was tired and more than a bit homesick. Though, the homesickness was eased a little when her Aunt Mary sat on her bed, held her and sang the song Tabitha asked her to. Her aunt then had her say her prayers before she, Mary, tucked her into bed.

~oOo~

Hoss was standing on the porch and looking up at the sky; the stars were just starting to poke their heads out for the night, when Mary walked up beside him. Wrapping both her arms around his right arm, she rested her head against him and joined in him star gazing. Only when Hoss spoke were more than the night sounds heard. Remembering how his niece become frustrated more than once, but kept going after he'd talked her, Hoss was still feeling sorry for the child.

"She'll be fine, Fredrick, you'll see." Mary answered as she caught sight of a deer and her young fawn off in the distance. "I bet by the time Adam and Laura Ann come to visit, Tabitha will be able to show them this small home without our help." Then, due to a few comments Tabitha had made during the moments she was frustrated, Mary added as she looked at her husband with her own empathy showing, "She doesn't hate you or her parents, you do know this, yeah?"

Hoss gave her a smile and turned to face his wife. He remembered too well some of the things that had come out of his mouth when he'd first lost his eyesight. The fact that Mary had stuck by him in spite of his words and bad behavior, along with standing by him even after he'd 'come to his senses' as Klaas had put it, had endeared her to him forever.

"Let's just hope she realizes that by the time Adam and Laura Ann come to see her." Hoss answered as he led his wife back into the cabin and into their own room.

It had been a long day for both of them, one that had held little time for just the two of them. He intended to remedy that before they fell asleep for the night.