EPILOGUE
The door to the Ponderosa ranch house slammed shut behind the handsome curly-headed youngster that had just entered. "Pa!" he shouted. "Pa!"
A man's form appeared at the top of the stairs. His hair was white; the expression on his face one of long indulgence.
"Isn't it about time you learned to enter the house without raising the dead?" the man asked as he caught the rail and headed down the stairs.
The boy's curly blond head ducked. When he looked up, his face wore a sheepish grin. "Don't you think the dead need raisin' now and again?" he asked innocently.
The white-haired man sighed. Now he understood. No matter what he said to this child of his, it made no difference. The boy's enthusiasm for life was unrestrained, as was his penchant for getting into scrapes from which he had to be rescued – frequently.
"Eric," Joe Cartwright sighed. "What am I going to do with you, boy?"
"Well, you can't toss me out with the bath water 'cause I'm the oldest," Eric grinned as he headed for the table in front of the hearth and the bowl of apples waiting there.
Joe continued down the stairs. "And as oldest, you know, you should set an example for your younger brothers and sisters."
As he spoke, the door flew open and the rest of the troop blew in.
All nine of them.
Eric was seventeen. His youngest was just under two. He was just shy of fifty, and their sainted mother was forty-one.
And every bit as beautiful as the day he had married her.
Bella came in last on the arm of his father.
Ben Cartwright was over eighty and still ruled the roost – or at least Pa thought he did.
Joe finished his descent. He steeled himself for the onslaught he knew was coming. They had quite a crew. The most unexpected thing was that the girls outnumbered the boys. There were five of them and he swore every single one of them took after his mother for spit and fire.
Or more probably his wife.
There was Marie and Elizabeth and Inger, and then Laura and Alice. The boys were Eric Joseph, Levi Carnaby, Adam Martin, and Benjamin Coffee Cartwright. Ben was the baby Bella was carrying in her arms. Life was a circle, he decided.
His pa was nearing the end of his time on earth and his youngest son's life had only begun.
His family had been away for two weeks. Bella had taken them all to her mother's house in Virginia City. Her Pa had passed within the year and she'd wanted to visit to cheer her mother up. All the other Carnaby kids were out of the house and married. Sophie had managed to rope Rafe Ashton. He'd sold his share of the eastern shipping business to his sister Mary and they'd settled in San Francisco. Jack had gone to Europe and met up with brother Adam, who had given him a job. They were there somewhere still, booting around the continent together. Little Ben, as they'd all called Bella's youngest brother for years now, was hardly 'little'. He was twenty-eight and was the foreman of the Ponderosa. Ben hadn't married yet and sometimes they questioned just how old he was as he and Eric – their youngest – had been known to tear up the town.
Joe had meant to join them to see Bella's ma before they returned, but the business of the ranch had kept him bound to the Ponderosa. His pa had built an empire to leave to his sons and, since he was the only one remaining, he'd made damn sure to keep it in good stead in order to pass it on to Benjamin Cartwright's grandchildren. Like his pa, he made his boys work the land. Eric was a bit of a dreamer. In some ways he reminded him of his giant of a brother. Even though Eric was small like him and his mother, he had a heart as great as Hoss' and liked nothing more than a day sitting on the edge of the lake fishing and enjoying the beauty of God's creation. Adam Martin took after his namesake. He was a thinker. At twelve Adam was already coming up with plans to improve the ranch and move it into the next century. So far Benjamin did little but cry and gurgle, but it seemed to him that he took after his aged grandfather and one day would be a man among men
His girls worked hard too, though he had to admit, he was softer on them. Bella chided him all the time for it. Of course, she more than made up for any indulgences he gave them. It was his girls now, running the kitchen and cooking for Hop Sing who was still living and in his seventies. They took care of the Chinese man who had taken care of him, even though their former cook spent most of his time yelling in Cantonese and then translating it so they'd understand what they were doing wrong.
Five girls in chorus shouting 'Pa!' broke him out of his reverie and let Joe know he was in for it.
Little Alice was the first one to plow into him. Joe caught her and lifted her in an embrace. As she ringed his neck with her tiny arms, the second wave came. This time it was Laura and Inger. Marie was the oldest and she held back. Elizabeth, who wanted nothing more than to be like her older sister, stayed with her, though he could tell she was dying to jump into the melee.
Joe caught his pa's eye as the older man made for his red chair, which was still butted up against the hearth. Pa lowered himself carefully into it and then shot him a look that said, 'And I thought raising three boys was a challenge!'
Life had been good to them. Oh, they'd had sickness and their share of scares. Bella had almost died when Adam was born. She'd ended up with an infection and for a week he thought he'd lose her. She told him his love had called her back. He'd been frightened after that to be with her, for fear she'd get with child and he'd have to face it all again. Joe smiled as he sat on the step and let his youngest girls crawl all over him. In the end it had been Eric who had reminded him he had to live for the day. Just like Hoss, his oldest son told him he had to stop looking back and instead look forward.
Joe smiled.
That boy didn't even know what 'back' meant.
Bella had taken off her coat and hat. She stood with her hands on her hips, assessing the damage her homecoming had caused. Her blue eyes met his, asking if he needed rescuing. Joe smiled, pinched his nose, and went down under the tidal wave of women.
To the sound of his pa's laughter.
Later that night, when the brood was in bed, he and his pa sat before the fire. It was autumn. His birthday was passed and Bella's was on the horizon, which meant their wedding anniversary was just around the corner. Pa was reading a letter from Jamie. His little brother had gone off to veterinary school like he'd wanted. He'd had every intention of returning to the Ponderosa, but a pretty little filly with hair as red as his had put a stop to that. They weren't too far away. Just in Sacramento. Jamie had opened a practice there and was doing well.
"You look tired, Pa," he said as his father let the letter fall to his lap. "Would you like me to help you to bed?"
The older man's room was permanently on the ground floor now. No one slept in the rooms he and his brothers had occupied. Adam had jumped at the idea of designing the new wing and had come home for a year to supervise it as he promised. Since then he and his family had occupied it. But they'd always shared their meals in the old dining room and their evenings together in the great room with his father. The older man was not only the heart of the Ponderosa, but the biggest part of his heart.
He didn't know how he would survive it when he had to let him go.
His father stirred. "I was thinking about Bella," he said.
Joe grinned. Bella and his pa were best friends. It had been a joy to see a little of the emptiness the older man felt at the loss of the women he had loved filled with by her joyous presence.
"What about her?"
"You know, Joe, if it hadn't been for those men who tried to kill you, we never would have met Bella."
Cora Violetta Gertner's ne'er-do-well brothers had been out rustling cattle when, at seventeen, he'd stumbled on them. They'd been bound and determined he wouldn't tell anyone and had beat him and left him for dead in a burning cabin. Bella's folks had pulled him out of it, and then she had spent the next week or so looking after him.
Joe nodded as he stretched out a hand to touch the older man's sleeve. "It's like you always told us, Pa. God makes good out of bad."
His father smiled. "You have a fine family, Joe. Although I can honestly say, I had no idea what to do with those girls when they came along!"
"I don't have any idea what to do with those girls now!" he laughed. "They're an undiscovered country."
His pa nodded and then fell silent. The flames cracked and popped.
"I saw your brother," Pa said out of the blue.
Adam stayed in touch. It had been more than three months since they'd heard from his far-wandering brother, though. His father was probably confused.
"Adam, you mean?"
Pa shook his head. "Hoss."
Joe swallowed over a lump in his throat. "Pa, Hoss' been gone almost twenty years."
The older man lifted a trembling hand and touched his heart. "He's never gone. Your brother is here."
His pa was old, he told himself. He was probably just having one of his 'moments'. "So what'd big brother have to say?" Joe asked as nonchalantly as he could.
"He's proud of you."
"Me? What have I done?"
Ben Cartwright's lips curled with amusement. "Learned that you're not Adam."
He loved his older brother, but Adam was a stick-in-the-mud who wouldn't take a step forward without considering two behind and two ahead of it.
"Nine kids doesn't leave a man much time to brood," he snorted.
"They're beautiful children."
"Thanks, Pa."
"Your brother is watching out for them." His father made a 'tsking' sound. "Especially that oldest one." The older man's black eyes danced and his lips curled as he looked at him. "I think they call that 'karma' nowadays."
Joe supposed that was better than calling it 'payback'.
They sat in silence a time after that. Finally, as the clock struck ten, Joe said, "It's late, Pa. Don't you think you should be getting to bed?"
His father nodded. Then he looked straight at him. " Have I told you lately, Joseph, that I love you?"
His fingers brushed the older man's hand. "All the time, Pa."
"Tell your children."
"I do, Pa. Every day just like you taught me."
Twenty minutes later, after he had seen his father to bed, Joe sat by the fire with a book in hand, staring at the embers as they flashed a pale orange, pink, and blue. He was near fifty, an age a lot of men didn't live to see. He'd had a long and eventful life, and God had been gracious enough to see him through it to an end he could never have imagined. As a young man, all he had longed for was to measure up to the shadow his pa had cast. To be as good and as strong and as loyal and honest a man as Ben Cartwright. It was hard for him to admit, but he thought he'd done it. He had five beautiful girls, four sons, a wonderful wife, and a life that seemed at times to be something out of a dream. The Ponderosa was thriving. There would be plenty and to spare for all of their children when they came into their own. Like Job out of the Bible, he'd lost a lot – his oldest brother's presence, his middle brother, Alice and the child she carried – but like Job, it had all been restored.
A hundred-fold.
"Are you coming up to bed?" a soft voice asked him. Joe recognized his wife's touch as she wrapped her arm around his waist and sat beside him.
"Just thinkin'," he said.
Bella indicated the book in his hands. "What's that?"
It was one of Adam's. His brother's namesake had been reading it and left it on the table by the hearth.
"Hamlet," he replied.
"Hamlet?" Bella's eyes widened. "Since when, Joe Cartwright, do you read Shakespeare?"
He shrugged. "Well, I gotta be able to talk to the boy about something."
He'd read Hamlet, of course, years ago. It was one of the few plays by that Shakespeare fellow he actually liked. It was sad in some ways, but there was a lot of truth in it.
"What passage was Adam Martin on?"
Joe looked at her and then he slipped his finger into the book, opening it to the place that had been marked by a gold-edged leather strip. "Let's see," he said, "Act two, scene two."
Bella frowned. "Polonius and the king?"
Hamlet was pretending to be crazy so he could find out if his uncle murdered his father or not. His uncle, who was now king, was talking to his councilor, Polonius, who had found a letter Hamlet had written to his daughter Ophelia. The puffed-out old man thought the reason for the prince's madness was his unrequited love for the girl. He'd found a letter Hamlet had written and read it to the king. 'Doubt thou the stars are fire,' it said. 'Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love.'
Joe looked at his beautiful wife. He closed the book and replaced it on the table and then turned to her and took her face in his hands.
"I ain't no liar," he said, with a bit of his boyish charm. "Bella Annabelle Carnaby Cartwright, I love you.'
She snuggled up against him. "Joseph Francis Cartwright, I love you too, Joe."
And they lived happily ever after.
Forever.