Cat put Silver Chief in her saddle bags, mounted Ginger and rode off toward the Mitchell ranch. When she got there, Mr. Mitchell was just coming out of the corral where he had been working with some horses. Cat dismounted and handed him the telegram. He read it, picked Cat up, gave her a big hug and called, "Mary come here! I have some wonderful news!" Mrs. Mitchell came out of the house and he waved the telegram at her. "Paul is coming home and he's bringing his girl with him! They'll be here next week!" He handed the telegram to his wife who also hugged Cat.
"Catherine, you have brought us the most wonderful news," said Mrs. Mitchell. "We haven't seen our son in two years and now he's coming home and bringing his girl. Come into the house and bring your puppy. I just took an apple pie out of the oven and made fresh lemonade. The messenger who brought us such wonderful news must be rewarded. Sit down and I will give you some pie, ice cream and lemonade." Then she walked to the door, called her husband and told him to come in for pie, ice cream, and lemonade also.
"That was very good pie, ice cream and lemonade Mrs. Mitchell," said Cat as she finished the last bite of pie. "I'm glad I was able to bring you such good news. I've got to go back to town now. I'm only going to be here two weeks before going to my new home in Nevada and I want to spend some time with my friends."
"Catherine, please wait a minute," said Mr. Mitchell. He walked into his bedroom, came out a few minutes later and put something in Cat's hand.
Cat looked at what she had been given. "A silver dollar! Gee thanks Mr. Mitchell! I've never had a silver dollar before! I'm going to keep it forever! Come on Chief. We've got to go back to town. I want to show this to Uncle Matt, Uncle Ben, and Adam."
"Catherine," said Mrs. Mitchell. "Isn't your Uncle Ben the man the Marshal said adopted you?"
"Yes ma'am."
"That makes him your Pa now and his sons are your brothers. You need to start calling him Pa instead of Uncle Ben."
"Yes ma'am Mrs. Mitchell. I'll try. I've never had a Pa before so I'm not sure if I'm going to like it or not."
"It doesn't matter if you are going to like having a Pa or not young lady. He adopted you and that makes him your Pa. He loves you enough so that he decided to make you his daughter. Start calling him Pa."
"Yes ma'am. I'll try and remember. He's been my uncle all my life, so it's strange to think of him as my Pa."
"I understand that, but you need to do him the courtesy of calling him Pa. Think about it every time you speak to him. If you do, one day, it will feel like he's always been your Pa. Now go on back to town and enjoy your two weeks here. Please come back out next week and say hi to Paul and his girl."
"Yes ma'am. I'll do my best. I would love to come out here next week and see Paul. It seems like forever since he moved to Sacramento. Mr. Mitchell, thank you again very much for my silver dollar. That was very nice of you. Oh, I almost forgot. Do you want to send a reply to Paul?"
"I forgot too," said Mr. Mitchell. "Yes, I do want to send a reply." He wrote his reply and handed it to Cat.
"Let's see, Mr. Brown said it was five cents for the first ten words and then a penny each for the rest of the words. You have eighteen words. That's five cents plus eight cents which equals thirteen cents." Mr. Mitchell handed her a quarter and Cat counted his change back to him. "Fourteen, Fifteen and a dime equals twelve cents change. I'll give your reply to Mr. Brown just as soon as I get back to town. Thank you again for the silver dollar, apple pie, ice cream, and lemonade."
When Cat returned to town, she went directly to the telegraph office and gave Mr. Mitchell's reply and the change to Mr. Brown who handed her a dime. "I know I usually only pay you five cents for every telegram you deliver, but I knew that the Mitchells would want that news right away and if you hadn't been in town, I would have had to try and find an adult to deliver it. I'm just wondering what took you so long. You're usually not gone that long when you deliver telegrams for me. Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I'm just curious."
"Mrs. Mitchell was so happy that she made me come in the house and have some fresh apple pie, ice cream and lemonade."
"You got fresh apple pie, ice cream and lemonade! Wow, if I had known you were going to get all of that, I would have left you in charge here and take the telegram myself. Thank you very much for running that telegram to the Mitchells. I'm going to miss you when you move to Nevada. Are you going to be in town the whole two weeks you're here?"
"I'm mostly going to be in town, I guess. I want to do some fishing and tomorrow, Uncle Ben, oops, I forgot I'm supposed to call him Pa now, Adam and I are supposed to go to supper at the Tanners. I don't know if I want to go. I'm still mad at Pete and Mike because of what they did at the train."
"What did they do at the train?"
"They wouldn't let me say hi to anybody and they almost hurt my puppy because they were fighting over him."
"They were excited to see you. That's why they wouldn't let you say hi to anyone and I'm sure that they didn't mean to hurt your puppy. Remember, you were hurt and had to leave in a hurry, so you didn't have time to say goodbye to your friends. I don't even think they know why you had to go away or that you're not going to be living here any more. Go to supper tomorrow and if they apologize without being told to, forgive them and tell them why you had to go away. You also need to tell them that you're not going to be living here any more. Now, as far as your new Pa goes, give it time. People who keep telling you that you need to call him Pa right away are wrong. They are forgetting that your father died when you were just a baby and that your mother died just as you were getting to know her. I also grew up without a Pa and was eventually adopted by an uncle, so I understand what you are going through. Right now, it's hard to think of him as your Pa but once you're living with him all the time, it will happen. One day you're going to say something to him and instead of calling him Uncle Ben, you're going to call him Pa. Once that happens, it will seem like he's always been your Pa. Now, go and let the Marshal know you're back before he worries himself sick over you. I'll find you if I need another telegram run to a farm or ranch outside of town."
Cat ran over to Matt's office and in through the door, startling her uncle who was busy with some paperwork. "Cat, how many times have I told you not to come running in here like a herd of wild horses. You could fall and get hurt. Now, what are you so excited about? Did you strike gold between here and the Mitchell's ranch?"
Cat laughed. "No, but Mrs. Mitchell gave me apple pie, ice cream and lemonade. Look what Mr. Mitchell gave me." She dug the silver dollar out of her pocket and handed it to her uncle. "I never had a silver dollar before."
"Wow! That must have been very good news in that telegram you took to them. Now, what are you going to do with your silver dollar?"
"I'm going to keep it forever. Will you please put it in your safe for me so I don't lose it?"
"Don't you want your Pa or Adam to hold it for you?"
"No, they might spend it. I want to keep it."
"Ok. I'll put it in the safe for you. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going back over to Julie's house. Her Ma said to come back later and she would measure me for the two dresses."
"Ok. Have fun. Don't be late for supper, although, after having had apple pie, ice cream and lemonade, you probably won't be very hungry."
"Uncle Maaatt, supper isn't for at least two hours yet. I'll be starving by then."
Matt laughed. "Go on over to Julie's before I change my mind and lock you up just to keep out of mischief." Cat stuck her tongue out at her uncle and ran out the door just as Doc was coming in. "I'm going to miss her Doc. It's going to be entirely too quiet around here. Did I really do the right thing by letting Ben adopt her?"
"Yes you did Matt and you know it. We're all going to miss her but you know as well as we do that it's what's best for Cat. She's nine now and it won't be many more years before she'll be too old to share that little room with you. What were you planning to do with her then? Thirteen or fourteen is still too young for a child to be on their own, so she'd have to live at Ma Smalley's or the Tanners. She's going to be fine. Remember, she'll be here most of the summer and you always have the option of going to the Ponderosa at Easter and Christmas. Festus, Newly and Quint can look after things here"
"I know Doc. I'm just missing her already and she's going to be here for two weeks."
"I can fix that in a hurry. Give me an hour and I'll bring the Tanner twins to town. Once they get together with Cat and start getting into mischief, you'll be glad Ben is going to have to deal with her wildness."
"Alright Doc. You win. I'll stop feeling sorry for myself. I'll pass on bringing all three mischief makers together for a while. I'm not really looking forward to supper tomorrow night at the Tanners."
"Those boys maybe full of mischief, but I seriously doubt that they'll act up in front of company. Don't forget, Cat is angry at them, so they'll be on their best behavior, trying to earn her forgiveness. Now, I want a rematch on our last game of checkers. It's high time I started winning." As Doc and Matt were setting up their checkers game, Cat came running back in. This time Doc scolded her for running indoors.
"Sorry Doc. Sorry Uncle Matt. I'm in a hurry. Julie's Ma wants to see the dress I wore at Little Bear's wedding."
"I understand, however, you still don't need to run when you're inside," said Matt. "I know you get tired of hearing me fuss at you about it, but I just don't want you to get hurt. I know that your Pa is not going to let you run in the house either. Now, stop running when you're inside."
"I'll try Uncle Matt."
"No Cat. This isn't something you try to do. This is something you do. No running inside. I'm sure if you ask your friends, they'll tell you that they have the same rule. Now, walk into the bedroom, get your dress, walk back outside and walk back down to Julie's house." Cat got her dress and as she was walking past Matt and Doc, Matt called her to him. He gave her a big hug and told her he loved her. He also reminded her that most rules adults had for children were to keep them safe and that's why he fussed at her so much about doing things that weren't safe. Then he gave her a swat and sent her on her way.
About an hour later, Mr. Brown entered Matt's office and told him, "Catherine is going to be late for supper and it's my fault. I had a telegram come in that needed to go out to the Stevens ranch. She is my most dependable messenger and it was important the telegram be delivered quickly, so I asked her to go. I'll have her join you at Delmonico's as soon as she returns."
"Thank you for telling me John. That will give me time to talk to her father and brother to see what they learned about her today. Well Doc, it's almost suppertime. Let's head over to Delmonico's and see if Ben and Adam are there yet."
Ben and Adam were already at Delmonico's when Matt and Doc walked in. "Where's Cat?" asked Adam.
"She took a telegram out west of town. She'll join us as soon as she returns. Did you talk to anyone in town about her? If you did, what did you learn?"
"Yes we did," replied Ben. "We've learned quite a bit. She doesn't get into much trouble, just mischief, but she has gotten into quite a few fights, some of which she started, and won some of them. Also, what's this about a boy trying to kill her? This is the first I've heard about it."
"Unfortunately, Cat does start some fights. She has a quick temper, which I've been trying to work on. Yes, a boy did try to kill her. It happened when she was five. The boy was eight at the time. His father taught him to hate and that it was ok to kill someone you didn't like. He decided to hate Cat because of the way she dresses and took a shot at her. Fortunately, he wasn't a very good shot and missed. His father tore up the school twice and was sentenced to five years in prison for that and teaching his son that killing someone you don't like is fine. He tried to escape twice and had two years added to his sentence. If he stays out of trouble, he'll be released in three years. The judge gave permanent custody of the boy to his uncle and he has been behaving much better than he was. I haven't had any problems with him since his father was sent to prison."
"I am very glad that boy missed and that he won't be anywhere around Cat. I had hoped she didn't inherit her mother's temper, but it looks like she has. We'll have to work on that."
"Pa, you've been 'working' on that with Little Joe for years now and he's still hot headed," laughed Adam.
"Well son, maybe I'll have better luck with your sister. Matt, I don't know what you did to Cat when she was five, but everyone tells me the same thing, she won't lie and that's very surprising for a nine year old."
"I did what I needed to do. I couldn't have her thinking it was ok to tell lies, so I'm afraid I was quite harsh with her."
Cat walked in a few minutes later and Ben called her over to him. "Come here silly girl." He took her in his arms, put her in his lap and asked, "How many telegrams did you take today?"
"I took three of them."
"Did the people send replies?"
"Yes they did."
"Did you have to give them change?"
"Yes."
"That means you used Arithmetic six times today. You used it when you gave the people their change and you also used it when you gave the money to Mr. Brown. I saw you buying some candy earlier, so you also used Arithmetic when you bought the candy."
"I know and it's really awful. Arithmetic needs to go away."
Ben hugged her and said, "You are a silly girl. Arithmetic will never go away. People use it many times a day. Adam and I will work with you and you'll get better at it. Now, what do you want for supper?"
"Chocolate cake."
"Catherine, you know that you can't have chocolate cake for supper. You need meat, potatoes and vegetables. You can have chocolate cake for dessert."
"You sound just like Uncle Rip. When I turn ten and take Uncle Sam's job, I'm going to make a law so kids can have chocolate cake for supper."
"You do that Kitten. But until you do turn ten and take Uncle Sam's job, chocolate cake is for dessert only. Now, go, sit down, and order some meat, potatoes, vegetables and milk." He put Cat down on the floor and gave her a soft swat.
During supper, Cat continued telling everyone all about her adventures since leaving Virginia City. She told them about Little Bear's wedding and how Silver Chief attacked Gray Eagle when he adopted her into his family. Everyone had a good laugh when she told them how the country's two top generals fought duels over her using sticks for swords. They were all very impressed when she told them how she and Mark McCain caught and fixed supper for them, Ben and Adam one night. Shortly after finishing her chocolate cake, Cat began yawning and having a hard time keeping her eyes open. "It's time for you to go to bed Cat," said Ben. "Take your puppy to do his business and go to bed. I'll be over to tuck you in shortly."
After getting good night hugs from everyone, Cat took Silver Chief to do his business, used the outhouse, walked over to Matt's office and got ready for bed. Ben walked in a few minutes later carrying a book. "Would you like to read a little bit before you go to sleep? This is something I did with your brothers when they were younger. We'd pick a book and, depending on how much time we had and how long the chapters were, I would read a page and then they would read a page until we had finished one or two chapters. If you think that's something you would like to do, we'll start right now."
"Yes, I would like that. Uncle Matt sometimes reads to me, but sometimes he's too busy."
"I'm glad you want to read with me. You've had a very long, busy day, so we'll just read one chapter tonight."
"How long will you do it for?"
"What do you mean by how long?"
"Will you still come and read to me when I'm all grown up and have children?"
Ben laughed. "You are a silly girl. I don't think that your husband will like it too much if your Pa comes over and reads with you at bed time, but I will read with you every night I'm home until you tell me you're too old and when you're all grown up, if I ever watch your children, I'll read to them. On nights I'm not home, one of your brothers will read with you."
"Oh ok. That's good."
"Let's see how you like this one. It's called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
After they read a chapter together, Cat said, "I think I'm going to like that book."
"That's good. I'm glad you're going to like it. Right now, it's time for you to go to sleep. I love you and I'm very happy that you're my daughter now." Ben kissed and hugged her goodnight, tucked her in, blew out the lamp and walked back over to Delmonico's. He ordered another cup of coffee and said, "Well, I just learned something else. Cat likes to read and she's very good at it."
"Why don't you and Adam plan on talking to her teacher tomorrow?" said Matt. I'll go and see Miss Jackson after breakfast and see what time she can meet with you. I do know that she wants to give you Cat's grades for this last term and I also believe she wants to discuss her strengths and weaknesses with you. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I need to go and walk around the town to make sure everyone's staying out of trouble."
"That's a good idea Matt. Adam and I will spend more time talking with people to learn what we can about Cat. This has already been a very interesting trip and we've still got two weeks to go before we head back to the Ponderosa."
After making rounds, Matt stopped by his office to check on Cat before going over to the Long Branch. He smiled when he saw his niece and her puppy sharing the pillow. "I'm going to miss this," he thought as he pulled the blanket up over the sleeping child and puppy. "But, as Doc says, I'm doing what's best for Cat. She needs a home and a family and I can't give that to her." He walked over to the Long Branch where he found Ben and Adam sitting with Doc, Festus and Kitty. Noticing the letter in Kitty's hands, he asked, "What are you reading?"
"It's the letter Julia Grant wrote to Ben. Cat sure did have some adventures when she was with her Godparents."
"Tell me about it," said Ben. "That girl's adventures are going to give me more gray hair than I got from Little Joe. Do you know that, after her horse was spooked by a rattlesnake sleeping in the road, Catherine wanted to find the snake and yell at it for sleeping in the road? She was afraid it might get hurt and was happy that the soldiers didn't kill it. The way she loves the wild things, I'm liable to wake up one morning to find a bear cub in my house!"
"I'll tell you what to do if you ever do find a bear cub in your house one morning," said Kitty, handing the letter to Adam.
"What is that?" asked Ben
"Pick it up and put it in bed with her and her puppy. She'll make a pet out of it."
"Just what I need, a pet bear in the house," he laughed. "I'll tell you one thing though. If I wake up and find a skunk in the house, I am not going to let her keep it as a pet."
"I don't blame you Ben," said Festus. "I shore wouldn't want one of them durn polecats in my house neither."
"Please don't get me wrong. I loved my sister dearly however, I find myself wishing Cat was more like her father than my sister."
Matt laughed. "Don't feel bad Ben. Don't forget, there was a time when I also dearly loved your sister. However, there have been many times in the last eight years when I wished Cat was more like my brother than your sister."
"I'm not so sure about supper tomorrow night with those boys and their family. They're awfully wild and I'm not so sure their parents can control them."
"Don't worry about them Ben. I can guarantee you that when they got home, their father made it very difficult for them to sit down. John Tanner doesn't put up with those boys misbehaving, especially in public. I remember when they were six, the twins and Cat tried to climb the water tower. When I saw him the next day, he told me that he used his belt on the boys' bare bottoms. He won't say or do anything to them in public, but he will take care of the problem when he gets them home. They'll behave tomorrow night. Cat is angry at them and they'll be on their best behavior trying to earn her forgiveness. I think part of their behavior at the train was due to the fact that they didn't know why Cat left town so suddenly and they were happy to have her back. She's going to need to tell them that she's only going to be here until the end of next week and won't be back until next summer. They're not going to be happy, but it will be better if Cat tells them than if their parents do."
Adam finished his beer, stretched and said, "Cat's not the only one who had a long day today. I'm going to check on her and turn in. I'll see everyone at breakfast." Ben decided he was going to go to bed also, so he said goodnight to everyone and walked over to Matt's office with Adam. They looked at Cat and Silver Chief sharing a pillow and Adam said, "She's so well behaved when she's sleeping. Too bad we can't get her to sleep all the time."
"You used to say the same thing about Joseph too."
"I still do sometimes."
"Son, you may not believe this, but you got into plenty of mischief when you were a boy, especially once we moved onto the Ponderosa and you began making friends. Now, we've got another busy day tomorrow, so we should go over to the hotel and get some sleep. There's no telling what your sister has up her sleeves for tomorrow and we need to be well rested. We need to spend time with her too, not just talking to everyone in town." Ben pulled Cat's covers up over her and then he and Adam walked over to the Dodge House.