Chapter 3: Hopes and Promises
With a big box and a broad smile, Mary left the dress shop, followed by Adam.
"Happy?", he asked with a wink and she nodded as they walked down the dusty road.
"Hey Cartwright!", came a loud voice from behind and Adam turned his head. "Ain't it great to wave your Daddy's money around, buying everything and everyone you goddamn want!", shouted Charlie.
"What do you want?"
"I don't want a kid like you telling me that I can't work on your stinkin' ranch." Charlie came closer and pushed his hands against Adam's chest.
Adam's eye started twitching and he bit his lip. "Why don't you sleep it off."
"Why don't you go to sleep?!", shouted Charlie, threw the first punch and made Adam stumble backwards. He quickly regained his balance and turned to Mary.
"Get to that corner and stay there!", he ordered before taking a swing at the assailant. Mary stepped back and watched the men fighting with big eyes, when suddenly, Frank appeared behind her.
"Mary.", he whispered and she turned her head, still clutching the box. Frank bowed down and looked at her with cold eyes. "Do you remember me? I'm a friend of your Pa's and I wanna get him out of prison. Would you like that?" Mary nodded. She remembered him visiting her father a few times. "But I need your help. Will you help me, Mary?" He smiled and displayed his yellow stained teeth.
"How?", she whispered while Adam and Charlie were rolling around in the dust with a few onlookers gathered around them.
"Meet me tomorrow at midnight behind the Cartwright's barn. And don't you tell anyone or your Pa is gonna rot in that hole forever.", hissed Frank and disappeared in a side street.
"Alright, Cartwright, I give up.", gasped Charlie after Adam had pinned him on the ground. He let go and Charlie stood up. "Now you can go home to your daddy and brag about it." He wiped his hands on his shirt and walked away with a big grin.
Breathing heavily, Adam stood in the middle of the street. After dusting off his pants, he walked to Mary. "Sorry you had to see that, let's get on home.
"No problem, saw my Pa fightin' lots of times." Adam wasn't surprised.
"What happened to you?", asked Ben as he stepped out of the house and saw Adam's bruised cheek and his torn shirt. He climbed off the buckboard and went to help Mary, but she had already jumped down by herself.
"Ran into a little trouble with a guy in town." Ben scrutinized his oldest. "Nothing serious, don't worry.", he said and started to unhitch the team.
"Mary, are you alright? And did you find something nice in town?", asked Ben
"Sure did." Mary pointed at the box on the buckboard.
"Good. You can show us at dinner.", cheered Ben and walked back inside.
oooOOOooo
"There you go.", said Hoss and handed Mary the bucket with chicken feed. She threw it on the ground and in the next second found herself surrounded by two dozen hungry beaks pecking the soil. Mary watched the little chicks running behind the big hens, trying to scavenge some seeds.
"Ain't you got a mama, Hoss?"
Hoss sighed. "I never even knew my real mother. And my stepmother died some time ago."
"Mine's dead too."
"I'm sorry. I know how lonely it feels sometimes… well, I'm lucky I got my Pa and brothers."
Mary suddenly stopped throwing feed on the ground, dropped the bucket and silently walked off. Hoss pulled a wry face and followed her.
"Sorry… I didn't wanna make you sad… I'm just a big fool sometimes." Mary didn't react but walked away towards the barn, leaned against the wooden wall, and took a deep breath, remembering the man from town whose name she didn't even know. This was the place where she was supposed to meet him tomorrow night. She closed her eyes and imagined her Pa riding up to the barn instead of the man.
"Do you wanna see the horses?", asked Hoss from the distance. Mary sighed and followed along.
"That's Little Joe's.", said Hoss and petted the animal. "He called him Lightning, 'cause he thinks he's the fastest horse in the territory." Hoss started to whisper. "He ain't, but don't tell him I've said so."
Mary touched the horse's nose. "Hi Lightning… you're beautiful, you know that?"
"Can you ride?"
"A little. But I only rode together with my Pa. He wouldn't let me go by myself… because of what happened to Ma."
"I understand."
"Can I feed him?" Hoss brought some grain and she gave it to Lightning. Whispering something to the horse that Hoss couldn't understand, Mary put her face against the animal's neck and slung her arms around it.
"What are you doing?", came a voice from the barn door. Little Joe strode towards them and Mary let go of the horse.
"She was just petting him.", said Hoss while Mary glared at Joe.
He led Lightning out of the stall, put a saddle on him and rode off without saying a word.
"Little brother sometimes gets up on the wrong side of the bed.", sighed Hoss and introduced her to the other animals.
oooOOOooo
"My… that's one pretty little lady! What a beautiful shade of blue.", cheered Ben as Mary walked down the staircase in her new dress. She hid her smile behind her hand and sat down at the dinner table with Hoss and Adam complimenting her as well. With big eyes, Mary looked at the rich food and was even more delighted by the taste. Suddenly, Hop Sing entered the kitchen. "Mr. Cartwright, foreman Hank just knocked on kitchen door. Say it is important."
"No rest for the weary." Ben threw his napkin on the table and stood up.
After eating a few bites, Mary and Joe accidentally exchanged glances. Mary distorted her face and stuck out her tongue. Little Joe made a fierce face and she returned it. He attended back to his food when suddenly, something hit his forehead. Swiftly, he raised his head and looked at Mary, who was pretending to ignore him. When he looked back on his plate, he was hit again. This time, Joe waited a while and as he eventually raised his head, he saw her holding several peas between her fingers, aiming them at him. Joe clenched his teeth, took his spoon and loaded it with mashed potatoes, peas and plenty of gravy. As soon as the spoon was about to overflow, he catapulted the load towards Mary. In the same second, Adam leaned forward to reach for the wine bottle and crossed Joe's line of fire. He yelped as the gooey missile spread over his cheek and hair and suddenly, all eyes were on him. Slowly, Adam wiped his face and turned to his little brother while Hoss and Mary hid their smiles behind their hands.
"Adam, I'm sorry… it was for her!" Joe pointed at Mary.
As he wiped the mashed potatoes out of his hair, Adam inwardly counted to ten to prevent himself from pressing Little Joe's face in his food. Hoss and Mary giggled loudly and Joe screwed up his face.
"What's so funny?", asked Ben when he came back to the table. The question became superfluous as he looked at his youngest and oldest son. "Joseph, would you be so kind and tell me what this is all about?"
"Pa, I didn't want to hit Adam. I wanted to hit her." Joe held up his spoon and gave Ben an innocent look. "She throwed peas at me."
Ben pursed his lips. "Well, Joe, since you like playing with spoons you will wash all the cutlery and the dishes for the rest of the week."
"But Pa, she sta…"
Ben held up his hand. "Joseph, I'm in no mood for arguments. Hank just gave me some very bad news and all I want now is a quiet dinner." He sat down. "And Mary, in the future you will keep your peas on your plate, understand?"
Mary nodded and Joe threw the spoon on his plate. "This ain't fair!"
Ben gave his youngest the look that all of his boys feared and it got very silent all of a sudden.
"I'll get washed up…" Adam gave Joe a final glare and left the table.
"What did Hank say, Pa?", he asked when he came back.
"Apparently someone spread the news that I cannot pay my workers, so five men quit their jobs… and that puts us in a big spot." All three boys gave their father a concerned look.
"We have to go into town tomorrow, get this rumor out of the way and hire some more men to watch over the herd."
"It wouldn't surprise me if that guy I got in a fight with today has something to do with it.", said Adam.
oooOOOooo
"Joe, where do you think you're going?", asked Ben after breakfast the next morning. Mary and Hoss were outside feeding chickens and Adam was getting the horses ready.
"Doing my chores…", said Joe meekly.
Ben raised his eye-brows. "First you will help Hop Sing, remember?" Little Joe sighed and changed his direction. "And Joe… please try to not get into any more quarrels with Mary.
"She started it. Why doesn't she have to wash dishes?"
"Because it was her first day here and she needs time to get adjusted. And because you know better than to throw food around the table."
Joe avoided his father's eyes. "Now do you?"
Joe sighed. "Yes, Pa." Ben gave his son a pat on the back and he dragged his feet to the kitchen.
oooOOOooo
"Ben, you saved me a trip.", said Roy as his friend walked through the door. "I got news."
"About Mary's relatives?"
"In a way… but first of all about the rustlers. A woman came by yesterday and testified in order to collect the reward money. She was a lady friend of one of the culprits and she said that one night he got drunk and told her that he paid for the liquor with cash he got for Ponderosa steers. However, the man that she was talking about is already in prison."
Ben gave Roy a questioning look. "It's Matt O'Conner."
"I see. He didn't do it all by himself obviously."
"He was part of a gang but the lady didn't know about any of his acquaintances. So, I was thinking that Mary might be able to tell us who her Pa was associating with." Roy paused for a moment. "Do you wanna press charges against O'Conner?"
Ben scratched his forehead. "No. He is punished enough. I heard he got twenty years for the shooting."
"What about Mary?"
"I can ask her, of course."
"How are things working out anyhow?"
"It's hard to tell after a day… but she and Joe sure started off on the wrong foot." Ben rolled his eyes.
"Oh?"
"Well… I reckon at his age, girls are just plain nuisances."
Roy laughed. "That'll change soon enough."
oooOOOoooo
Mary was lying in bed waiting for the grandfather clock to chime. After dinner, Ben had asked her if she could describe the men that her father was associating with. She had guessed that he meant the ones that she was about to meet in a few minutes, but she had played dumb and told him she was never around when her father had company. The sound of the clock told her that it was time to get ready, so she tiptoed downstairs and unlocked the front door silently. Mary nervously looked around as she was walking towards the barn. The little lamp she was carrying didn't help much in the dark and she tried to ignore the strange noises around her. After waiting for what felt like an eternity, she heard a psssst in the dark. Mary spun her head and saw a figure striding towards her.
"Hey, little girl. It's me.", said Frank.
"Have you heard from my Pa?"
"Sure, he misses you very much. He told me to say hi to you.", lied Frank. "Now I need to know a few things. Can you tell me where they have moved the herd and how many men are guarding it?"
Mary didn't know what he was talking about and told him so.
"Damn. Can you try 'n find out? Maybe they're already setting a trap. Find out as much as you can about the cattle. It's all for your Pa's sake."
"I try."
"You know, getting someone out of prison costs money. The Cartwrights have more money than they know what to do with. Can you get some?"
"They don't give me any money and I don't know where they keep it.", whispered Mary.
"But they must have valuables, silver spoons, knives, jewelry from all his wives… anything shiny and heavy. The more you get the sooner you have your Pa back."
"I have something like that."
"Good… good. Get more and meet me back here in exactly a week. Midnight again."
"Wait…", said Mary as the man was about to disappear in the dark.
He turned around. "What is it?"
"Can you tell my Pa that I love him?"
"Sure… bye.", he whispered and walked off to meet Charlie, who was hiding out in the brush and standing guard.
"Did she swallow it?", he asked.
"Every word." Frank smiled. "We'll soon have our information and a little something to live off in the meantime. Let's get outta here." They swung themselves on their horses and rode off.