ELEVEN

Feeling every ache and pain he'd earned in his sixty-plus years, Ben Cartwright carefully dismounted his horse. After watching Jamie do the same, he stepped up to the rail, tethered the horse, and then turned to look at the small town they were in. There was much about Walnut Grove that reminded him of the early days in Virginia City when the town had been nothing more than a small gathering of framework buildings – before the discovery of silver and all the other rich minerals that made it boom. There was a feed store, a mercantile, a small bank and a post office, a church with a fine white steeple and bell, and, of course, a mill. By the shingle hanging on it, he could tell he had been right about his old friend Lars Hanson. Lars was still in Walnut Grove. He and Jamie had stopped by the mill first but found it closed.

"Where do you think we should head, Pa?" Jamie asked as he joined him.

Ben clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder. Jamie looked tired, but then they'd both been worn to the nubbin by worry and the weariness of a seven day journey by train. They'd arrived in La Crosse, met with Daniel Jacobs, and then hired two horses and backtracked into Minnesota by land. Dan had word that the man who owned the livery in Medary had sold a horse to someone answering to Joe's description nearly three weeks before. He said the man was headed east, taking the road that ran through Sleepy Eye and Walnut Grove.

So, here they were, headed west.

"I'd say the mercantile or the church," he replied. "That's where people gather." He lifted his hand from Jamie's shoulder. "If there's something to know, the townsfolk will be talking about it. They wouldn't be used to strangers in these parts."

"It's so different from back in Nevada, Pa."

Jamie hadn't seen much of the world. Once they found Joe, maybe they'd take a tour of the East before returning to the Ponderosa.

If they found Joe.

"There's folks going in the church now," the boy said.

There were indeed.

Ben frowned. "Is it Sunday?"

Jamie laughed. "Yeah, Pa. Didn't you know?"

To tell the truth, he had lost all track of time. Lord forgive him!

Clapping a hand on the boy's shoulder again, he said, "Why don't you and I attend the service here? That way when its over, we can ask if anyone has heard of Joe."

By the time they arrived most of the congregants were seated. The minister greeted them with haste and then moved to the front of the church. He and Jamie slipped into a pew at the back and joined in the opening hymn before sitting down. It was a quaint church and reminded him of some of the simpler ones back East. This one, no doubt, had been built by the men sitting in it. They looked like simple honest businessmen and farmers. There were times he envied them. His life had been spent building an empire; its only importance, that it be passed on to his sons.

If Joe was lost there would be no one.

Ben looked to his left where Jamie sat with his head bowed, listening to the prayer.

No. That was wrong.

There was Jamie.

"Good morning everyone," the minister said. "For those of you who find yourself attending for the first time, I am the Reverend Robert Alden. Whatever your reason for being in our fine town, you are welcome. Please stay afterward so you can be greeted properly and share in our social time."

From there the Reverend Alden went on to address some church business, and then he had everyone bow their heads again for a second prayer in anticipation of the sermon. It was a good one based on First Thessalonians Five, verses sixteen through eighteen.

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

When the minister was finished he looked out over the congregation, focusing on a family seated near the front. There was a blonde woman with three stair-step girls. Beside them was a man. The sight of the back of the man made Ben's heart ache. Whoever he was he had a head of thick curly hair that was so like Joseph's younger self.

The minister beamed. "We want to acknowledge the return of our brother, Charles Ingalls, to the service today. As you know, Charles ran afoul of some evil men and was beaten quite severely. The Lord has seen fit to heal him and return him to us for which we give thanks."

There was a general round of applause and a few hearty whistles. Obviously, the man was well liked and respected.

"Charles, would you like to say anything?" the Revered Alden asked.

The man stood up slowly. Ben watched his wife take his arm and rise with him. "Thank you, Reverend," he said. His voice had that edge – the one a man has after a long recuperation. "I'd like to ask for continued prayers for the man we have with us. If there's anyone here who doesn't know, he saved my life – maybe at the price of his own."

The man turned and Ben felt the earth slip out from beneath his feet. Beside him, Jamie sucked in air and asked in a tense whisper, "Pa?"

He shook his head. It wasn't Joe. This was just an odd coincidence. It was said that somewhere in the world everyone had a twin.

They had just found Joe's.

"The Doctor is with him now. The fever just won't break. He's worn down to practically nothin' but he's still fightin'. If you would tonight, before you lay down your heads, please join me in a prayer for Joe Cartwright."

Ben was on his feet before he realized it.

The man who looked so much like Joe walked slowly down the aisle. In his eyes, Ben saw impossible recognition.

"Mister Cartwright?" Charles Ingalls asked. "Ben Cartwright?"

Ben couldn't speak. He actually had to sit down. Around them the church broke into chaos with the minister hastening everyone out the door, telling them to begin the social immediately. Ben heard the doors close behind him, but he still couldn't move.

It took a gentle hand on his own before he could manage to breathe.

"Mister Cartwright, I'm Caroline. Charles' wife. Can I get you anything. Water?

"My...son," he said, disbelieving, 'he's here? Joe's here?"

Charles sat in the pew in front of him. "Yes, sir. He's at our house."

"We've been caring for him." The woman's smile was genuine. "He is quite a young man. He saved my husband's life."

"You said Joe was sick?" Jamie asked.

Ben turned and looked at him. He'd all but forgotten the boy. Jamie looked just as shaken as he felt. "This is my son, Jamie. Joe's brother."

Caroline smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Jamie."

"How's Joe?"

Charles answered. "It's a long story. We can tell it here, or you can come to our home and hear it after you see your son."

Ben nodded. "I'd like that. Jamie and I rented horses. They're outside." He blinked, still stunned. "Is it far?"

"Just three miles outside of town, Mister Cartwright," one of the Ingalls' children answered. Ben looked up to find a row of precious little female faces looking at him. It was the middle one that had spoken. "It don't take long at all when you got a horse."

"I'm afraid I ain't movin' as fast as I usually do," Charles apologized as he rose. "Give us a minute while we get the wagon ready and loaded."

Ben managed a smile. He indicated the girls. "You have quite a precious load there."

"Sure do. Wouldn't trade them for all the money in the world."

The older man wondered what tale he had yet to hear. From the look of the man – and the look of wary happiness in his family's eyes – it was one that very well could have been a tragedy instead of a triumph.

Ben rose. He nodded to Jamie.

They had yet to find out which it would be for Joe.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Ingalls in their wagon led them to a modest house about three miles outside the town. As they traveled, he learned that Charles had built it with his own hands. It seemed that, on top of being a farmer, he was a carpenter – something of which his young daughters were quite proud. The family struck him as a good solid one, deeply devoted to each other and to God. He learned as well a bit of the reason Joe had come to know them. Apparently his son had almost died once before, saving their middle girl – the one named Laura who had spoken to him.

Ben smiled sadly, wondering how that name had effected Joseph.

Before he could be told any more they reached the house. A man in black that Ben instantly recognized as a doctor stepped out. When the blond man saw him and Jamie riding behind the wagon he frowned.

"That's Doc Baker," Laura said. "He's been tendin' Joe."

He looked at the man. He wished he could tell just from a look whether or not he was competent.

Then again, he had saved Charles.

As the wagon drew to a halt, the doctor came forward. "Charles. Caroline." He eyed him with much the same suspicion. "And who do we have here?"

"This is Joe's Pa," Laura told him as he dismounted. "And his brother."

The doctor's lips were pursed. He assessed them with a professional eye. Then he held out his hand. "Doctor Hiram Baker, sir. I assume that means you are Ben Cartwright."

"Yes. How's my son?"

The blond man grew sober. "He hasn't given up, but the fight's almost too much for him." Hiram scratched his head. "Truth to tell, I think the boy needs something to live for." He paused. "Or someone."

"Can I see him?"

Again the doctor's eyes assessed him, like he was looking into a microscope. At last he nodded. "I think it will do him good. Come on."

The interior of the Ingalls' home was warm and inviting. It was not large, but it was spacious compared to some structures of the time. Ben noted a woman's touch – flowers on the table, a throw on the back of a chair; lace curtains.

Sometimes he forgot how much he missed that.

"He's in here," Caroline said as she entered, turning toward the room near the front. "I'm afraid he was too big for Carrie's bed. We have him on a ticking on the floor. We've been careful to keep him warm."

Jamie was beside him. "Pa? Ain't you gonna go in?"

Fear had gripped him. Fear that it wouldn't be Joe. That all his hopes would be dashed the second he entered that room.

"Mister Cartwright?" The woman was watching him closely. "Are you all right?"

He nodded, unable to speak, and went in.

It was dark in the corner where the bed lay. The room was illuminated only by the sunlight streaming in the window and it didn't reach that far. He crossed over to the pallet and stood for a moment looking down. All that was showing above the blankets was a portion of a thin drawn face and a mass of silver-grey curls. Lowering his body to the floor, Ben sat down and reached out and pulled the blanket down.

To reveal his son.

Tears flooded his eyes. His hand trembled as he reached out and touched his pallid cheek. Until he did, he wasn't certain he was real.

"Joseph," he said softly. "Joseph, it's Pa."

His son moaned and shifted, wincing as if uncomfortable.

'I don't mean to intrude Mister Cartwright," the doctor said from the doorway. "I just wanted to fill you in quickly on what your boy's been fighting. That bear that he drove away from the Ingalls' girl bit his arm and leg. The arm's healed."

"What about his leg?"

"To be truthful, I thought he might lose it, but the infection's abated enough that I chose to try to save it."

"Abated? Not gone?"

Doctor Baker shook his head. "And it should be by now. Joe's weak. I think he needs someone else's strength to pull him through."

Ben nodded. "God willing Jamie and I will be enough."

The blond man hesitated. "He's talked about you and his brothers." He cast a glance at Jamie whom Caroline had seated at the table and was placing a piece of pie in front of. "He never mentioned a younger one."

"Jamie's adopted. Joe was talking about his blood bothers."

"And they're both gone?"

Ben nodded. No point in going into it. "Yes."

"He seems a young man to whom family is everything."

The older man looked up at him, surprised. The last two years he had begun to doubt it.

"Charles told me he's been depressed, ever since the death of his wife and child."

He glanced at his sleeping boy. "Yes. Alice. Joseph loved her very much."

The doctor scratched his head. "He's talked about her too or, rather, talked to her."

"What?"

"Bold as anything. I got the feeling that she was here," the blond man said, his smile rueful. "And that she was giving him what-for."

Ben laughed.

It felt good.

Beneath his hand, Joe shifted at the sound. His son's eyelids fluttered and then Joe's eyes opened. The boy looked confused, so the older man took hold of his chin and turned him so he could look directly in his eyes.

"Joseph, what is this?" he asked, his tone lovingly stern. "Laying in bed for weeks? Those horses the army needs are waiting for you at home."

Joe blinked back tears. His son's hand lifted toward him. "Pa? Is it...you?"

Ben gripped it. There were tears in his eyes as well. "Yes, son. It's me. Jamie's here too."

Joe's gaze wandered to the doorway. The doctor retreated so Jamie could take his place. Ben couldn't help but smile. The boy had blackberry juice on his chin.

"Hey, older brother," he said as he wiped it with a napkin. "We've been tryin' to find you."

"Well...here...I am," Joe said with a snort.

"Joseph." Ben squeezed his son's warm fingers. "Are you ready to be found?"

Joe looked at him. All of the yearning of a child long away from home, lost, now recovered, was in that stare.

"More than ready to be found." His son grinned. "Pa, I'm ready to go home."

His boy was looking at him, love shining out of his eyes. And there was something else there. Something Ben hadn't seen for a long time.

Life.

Joseph was going to be just fine.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

They stayed with the Ingalls another week. Ben tried to talk the couple into letting him and Jamie get a room in town, but Caroline insisted they needed to be there whenever Joe woke up. He and Jamie were used to sleeping anywhere and so, after much discussion, she said it was all right for them to bed down in the barn. Ben smiled as he watched Caroline Ingalls walking with his son in the light of the day, carefully leading Joseph forward step by step and letting him lean on her for strength. She was quite a woman and in a way reminded him of all his wives. Gentle intelligent Elizabeth, bright beautiful Ingrid, and Marie, who had never backed down.

"So you're gonna leave us?" a familiar voice asked.

Ben turned. It was still slightly unnerving to look at Charles Ingalls. The man looked more like Joseph than any of his brothers did, including Marie's other son, Clay. If Joseph's hair had not gone grey – divine justice no doubt for all of the hairs of the same color his youngest had added to his father's head – they would have been twins.

"The Doctor said Joseph would be well enough to travel tomorrow. I think it's time we head home."

Charles looked back toward the area beside the house where his girls were running and shouting. Jamie was with them, egging them on. "Those three young ladies are gonna be heartbroken."

"Just three more in a long line," Ben laughed.

"Don't surprise me," the farmer said with a snort indicating the pair before them. "If he wasn't a gentleman, I might have to worry about Caroline."

He was kidding, of course.

"How are you, Charles?"

The farmer shrugged. "Better. Not best. Winter's comin' so I'll be able to rest up some – once the work is done, of course."

It was waiting for them at home as well. With Joseph still too weak to do chores, he would have to hire someone to do them for him. It would be too much for Jamie alone.

Ben hesitated and then he said, "I would like to thank you for returning my boy to me."

Charles frowned. "Not sure what you mean."

At that moment there was a burst of infectious laughter. They both looked and found Caroline wiping her eyes.

"It's been two years since I have heard that laugh," he said quietly. "Two long years."

Charles shrugged. "We just reminded Joe of what he already knew. If anyone can take any credit, its Caroline." He grinned, so much like his son. "She said I was too soft on him."

"Sometimes it takes a woman's touch." Ben sighed. "I miss Alice too. She was so good for Joe."

The other man fell quiet. "Can't imagine," he said at last. After a moment he looked at him. "You mind if I ask you a question?"

The older man shook his head. "No. Ask away."

"Joe said you lost three wives?"

"Yes."

Charles pursed his lips and shook his head. "Seems like more hurt than one man could take."

"I had my sons." He nodded toward the giggling girls. "Just like you would have your daughters. You would go on for them." Ben looked at Joe again. He and Caroline had stopped at the stump by the log pile. Joseph was sitting down. "God gives and He takes away," he said quietly, "and He gives again. He's seen fit to answer my prayers. My son is coming home, and not just in body but in spirit."

"Hey, Pa!"

Ben sighed. There were times when he thought he would never hear that phrase again.

"Yes, Joseph?"

"You gotta hear this. You know that old battle-axe at the mercantile? You gotta hear what happened when she went camping with the Ingalls."

He rolled his eyes. "Joseph, its not proper or gentlemanly to call a woman a battle-axe..." He stopped when he felt Charles' hand on his arm.

The farmer shook his head. "Ain't worth it. Harriet Oleson is a battle-axe."

Ben laughed all the way to his son's side.