CHAPTER THREE
Ponderosa Ranch
Nevada Territory
1862
Snowstorms kept the Cartwrights inside the ranch house for the remaining week of 1861 and into the new year, so Josie and Hoss used the time to train Pip. By the time the snow began to let up in late January, they could call out any family member's name, and Pip would find that person. For a sight hound, he had good scent-tracking skills. There had been a momentary dilemma when Hoss and Josie realized that "Josie" and "Joe" were too similar for the young dog to differentiate. Hoss suggested they use Little Joe's middle name, Francis, but Little Joe threatened swift and terrible vengeance, so they decided on "L.J." instead.
Josie and Hoss had great fun teaching Pip to seek out family members from greater and greater distances and had quite the laugh one afternoon when after ordering Pip to "Go find Ben!" the dog raced to the barn and dragged Ben back to the house by the seat of his pants. Ben, still not the canine's biggest fan, had not found the incident nearly so funny.
In mid-February, the entire family was cheered by the news that a heretofore unknown Union general named Ulysses S. Grant had captured two forts in Tennessee. This opened the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers for the Union, and Union supporters across the continent hoped their army could use these waterways to launch a full-scale invasion of the South.
By early March, the snow had begun to clear, and all five Cartwrights looked forward to the warm, sunny days of spring. Josie came home from the clinic one evening and announced that Dr. Martin was taking a two-week vacation to visit family in Carson City, so she'd be staying in the rooms above the clinic while he was away. Adam wrinkled his nose at the news.
"Why can't you work from here?" he asked.
"Because if someone needs a doctor, the clinic in town is the first place they'll look," Josie explained patiently. "Besides, I don't have the proper facilities here. I can't operate an entire clinic out of the guestroom, and the bunkhouse is full."
She had a point. The guestroom was fine for the typically simple complaints of the patients who sought Josie out on the Ponderosa, but she certainly couldn't perform surgery or deliver a baby there. And the bunkhouse was full just then. They'd recently hired a dozen more hands to help with the spring roundup and branding.
"You've got me there," Adam admitted.
"We'll drop into town from time to time to see how you're getting along," Ben added.
"And if I need anything, I'll send Pip home with a note." Josie grinned.
Ben shook his head. Hoss and Josie had successfully —and quickly—trained the hound to travel alone to and from town, and even Ben had to concede the animal might yet prove useful.
Josie, Scout, and Pip departed for Virginia City the following morning. The Cartwright men had a good chuckle as they watched her ride away.
"There goes the safest young lady in Nevada," Ben quipped.
Apart from her still-growing wolfhound—Pip had grown another four inches and put on thirty pounds since Christmas—Josie wore her Colt Navy on her hip and carried a rifle in her saddle scabbard. Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe smiled in amusement.
The men were kept busy rounding up the cattle, branding the new calves, and repairing fences and line shacks damaged in the winter storms, but every couple of days, one of them slipped away to check on Josie in town. When Adam visited at the end of the first week, he was pleased to find Margaret Crawford assisting Josie at the clinic. Margaret had been fascinated by Josie's tales of treating illnesses and injuries, so Josie had brought her on as a nurse and was training her to stitch up small wounds and treat fevers, much as she had done with Hoss at home. While Adam was there, Patience Lovejoy and Sally Cass both popped in to say hello to Josie, and Adam was thrilled when Patience invited Josie to her family's home for dinner that evening.
Josie loved running the clinic alone, and halfway through her second week, she fantasized again how grand it would be to set up a true clinic on the Ponderosa. She should speak to her uncle about it. She had a modest but steady income from treating patients, so perhaps Ben would build her a small clinic and let her repay him in installments. She was daydreaming about how she would arrange her office when she heard a knock at the door. It was nearly noon, and she'd had no patients that morning, so she leapt from her chair and flung open the door almost immediately with Pip right at her heels.
"Uncle Ben!" she cried happily when she saw the familiar figure on the porch. Pip let out a joyful yip and pushed his head past Josie so Ben could scratch him.
"Hi there, Josephine," he replied, his dark eyes lighting up. "I was in town for some supplies, and I thought I'd see if my best girl would care to have lunch with me." He leaned in to scratch Pip's head.
Josie grinned. "I'd love to. Just let me lock up." She had just turned back into the clinic when someone called her name. She turned around again and saw Sheriff Roy Coffee and one of his deputies riding up.
"Dr. Cartwright!" Roy called again as the two men dismounted. "Henry here could use some help."
Josie slipped past Ben and raced to the sheriff and his deputy, who was clutching his upper left arm. Blood soaked the man's entire shirtsleeve.
"What happened?" Josie asked as she pried the man's fingers off his arm so she could examine it. A neckerchief had been tied around the wound, which had, fortunately, nearly stopped bleeding.
"We were dealing with some claim jumpers over at the mining camps, and they started shooting at us," Roy explained. "Henry here took a bullet."
Josie loosened the neckerchief and saw a neat bullet entry hole in the front of the man's arm and an exit hole on the other side.
"In and out, clean as a whistle," she said. "It's just a flesh wound, but I'll need to clean it out and stitch it up. Come inside."
Roy followed Josie toward the clinic door, but Henry stayed put, his hand again clutching his arm.
"Come on, Henry," Roy urged.
"I told you, I don't want no woman doctor," Henry protested.
Roy cast an embarrassed look at Ben. "Henry," he pleaded, "come inside. Dr. Cartwright will get you fixed up just fine."
Henry didn't budge. "I'll wait for Doc Martin."
Ben was furious. He had known and respected Henry for years, and he took the man's rejection of his niece personally. He opened his mouth to give Henry a piece of his mind, but Josie beat him to the punch.
"Suit yourself," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Dr. Martin should be back in five days. That wound should be good and infected by then. But maybe you'll get lucky, and he won't have to amputate your arm." She started back inside.
"Amputate?" Henry asked weakly. Josie stopped and turned back toward him.
"Oh yeah," she said, her eyes wide. "Once an infection sets in, amputation is the only way to keep it from spreading to your heart and killing you. But I bet a big, strong man like you could learn to get by with only one arm. You won't be any good as a lawman anymore, but I'm sure you could figure something else out."
Henry shifted from foot to foot for several moments. "Fine," he said at last, thoroughly defeated. He scowled and slunk into the clinic behind Josie, who glowed with triumph.
"This will only take a few moments," Josie said to Ben. "Do you mind waiting?"
"Not at all," Ben replied, his eyes twinkling with amusement. As Josie closed the door behind her, she was certain she heard her uncle and the sheriff laughing.
After her two-week stint as Virginia City's primary physician, and especially her expert repair work on one of the town's deputies, Josie was busier than ever with patients coming to the ranch. Adam and Little Joe took a day off from their cattle duties to clear out and patch up the old bunkhouse near the old house so Josie would have somewhere to treat her patients. It wasn't an ideal setup for a clinic—there was no separation between Josie's office and the exam area, and she didn't have cabinets for her supplies —but it was better than dragging the sick and injured into the Cartwrights' front room.
The weather in April was beautiful, and when Josie wasn't in town or treating patients in her makeshift clinic, she waited on the porch for her boys to return from their day's work. No matter how hard their day had been, all four Cartwright men broke into wide grins when they rode into the yard and saw Josie waiting for them, her faithful hound at her side.
One evening, five horses rode into the yard instead of four. Josie had been upstairs washing up after treating a neighboring rancher's young daughter at the old bunkhouse, and she came downstairs, wiping her wet hands on her skirt. The front door opened just as she reached the floor, and Hoss's grimy, sweaty face poked in.
"Hey, Josie!" he greeted her cheerily. "Lookee who we found!" He stepped aside to allow Simon Croft to step into the house.
"Hi, Josie," he said shyly, removing his hat.
"Hi, Simon," she replied, suddenly feeling very awkward. She and Simon hadn't spoken much since Christmas when she discovered his feelings for her.
"Shingle looks good," he said, pointing behind him toward the front door.
"It does, thank you. I've been meaning to have Adam move it to the old bunkhouse where I've been treating patients, but he's been awfully busy."
"You're telling me!" Adam exclaimed as he stepped into the house behind Simon. He hung his black hat from a peg next to the door and unbuckled his gun belt and placed it on the sideboard. He, too, was covered in dirt and sweat, as were Little Joe and Ben, who entered the house behind him. Ben clapped a hand on Simon's shoulder, sending up a small cloud of dust from the younger man's shirt.
"We found this one over near the high country while we were rounding up strays," he said. "He looked too skinny, so we thought we better bring him home and fill him up with some of Hop Sing's cooking."
Simon grinned. "I was rounding up strays, too," he told Josie. "Have to do it every year. Our cattle just love Ponderosa grass."
"What's not to love?" Ben said. "Come on, boys. Let's get cleaned up."
The five filthy men took turns in the washroom cleaning off most of the grime. To avoid having to make awkward conversation with Simon, Josie spent the time helping Hop Sing finish up supper.
"Ugh," she said as she stirred more butter into the mashed potatoes.
"What?" Hop Sing asked as he checked that the others were out of earshot. "Is something wrong with the potatoes?"
Josie giggled. "No. I've just been doing such a good job avoiding Simon since Christmas, and now they've brought him home to dinner."
"It was bound to happen eventually," Hop Sing said sagely. He cast Josie a mischievous smile. "Would you like me to 'accidentally' spill something on him?"
The pair laughed. "That won't be necessary, but thank you for the offer," Josie said.
Supper wasn't as uncomfortable as Josie had feared. Though Simon sat next to Josie, Ben kept him engaged in conversation about the Lucky Star's upcoming cattle drive to Sacramento. Adam watched his cousin avoid making eye contact with Simon and sensed her embarrassment. He wished there was something he could have done to prevent putting her in this situation, but Ben had invited Simon to dinner as soon as they'd spotted him that afternoon. Adam had had no chance to tactfully intervene.
Hoss and Little Joe, however, didn't seem to realize that Josie didn't reciprocate Simon's romantic feelings, and they smiled slyly at Josie all through supper, as if hosting Simon were the luckiest thing that ever happened to her. After dessert was cleared away, Hoss looked out the window and commented on how beautiful the moon looked. Everyone joined him at the window and agreed it was quite lovely that evening.
"You know," Hoss said, nudging Simon in the ribs with his elbow, "I bet you could see it a lot better out on the porch."
"Oh, yeah!" Little Joe chimed in with a not-so-subtle wink at Josie. "It always looks better out on the porch."
Simon's face lit up. "That's a great idea!" he exclaimed. "C'mon, Josie, let's go have a look!"
Josie threw a desperate look at Adam.
"You know, it's probably cold out there–" Adam began.
"That's true," Simon interrupted. "You better get your jacket, Josie."
Josie had little recourse but to collect her jacket and go out on the porch with Simon. Adam gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry," he mouthed. Josie shrugged. She appreciated his attempt.
Simon led her onto the porch, where they stood at the railing and looked up at the moon.
"Well, there it is," Josie said. She spun around to go back into the house, but Simon caught her arm. "Oh dear," Josie thought. "Here it comes."
"Josie?" Simon asked quietly.
Josie forced a pleasant smile in reply.
"It's been so good having you nearby," Simon continued. "You know, I thought about you a lot after that first time we met as kids."
"You don't say." Josie shifted uncomfortably.
Simon didn't notice Josie's discomfort. "I sure did," he said, taking her hands in his. "You're the only girl who's ever caught my attention like that."
Josie smiled at the flattery despite herself. It wasn't that she found Simon unsuitable in any way. She simply wasn't interested in romance at the moment. She had finally gained some respect as a doctor in Virginia City, and she wanted to focus on building her practice, not courting. Unfortunately, Simon was a little too encouraged by Josie's smile, and he leaned in to kiss her. She realized at the last second what was about to happen, and she turned her head so Simon's lips landed on her cheek. He immediately stepped back.
"I- I'm sorry," he stammered. "I should have asked you first. I'm really sorry." He continued to splutter, but Josie held up a hand to cut him off.
"It's all right," she said. There were muffled voices and a loud clunk from inside the house, and they both turned toward the window, but seeing nothing, Josie continued, "Please don't misunderstand me. I like you. I really do. You're a great friend, but that's all. I'm just beginning to build my medical career, and that is what I need to focus on. You understand, don't you?" She smiled hopefully.
Simon tried not to show his disappointment. "Yeah," he said reluctantly. "But let's at least be real friends, all right? I don't want things to be awkward between us."
"Like they have been," Josie added.
"Exactly." Simon extended his right hand to Josie, who grasped it warmly and shook. Simon offered his arm and escorted her back into the house, where Ben was pouring brandy for everyone.
As Josie and Simon conversed on the porch, Adam watched from the window behind Ben's desk, his nose mere millimeters from the glass.
"Adam," Ben said in exasperation, "stop being so nosy. They're fine." Little Joe and Hoss, who were playing checkers near the fireplace, snickered.
Adam sighed. Pa was right. But just before he turned away, he saw Simon take Josie's hands. He stiffened. "Except he's holding her hands!" he exclaimed.
"Really?" Ben said, suddenly burning with curiosity. He'd been certain Josie harbored no feelings for young Mr. Croft. He rushed to the window and shouldered Adam out of the way so he could see. He gasped. "He just tried to kiss her!" he exclaimed.
"WHAT?" Adam roared. He hopped up and down behind his father, trying to see over him.
"It's ok, he missed," Ben narrated, still staring out the window.
"What do you mean 'he missed'?" Adam said. "How do you miss? Let me see!"
He tried to shove Ben away from the window, but the two of them collided painfully with the iron safe below the window, making the loud clunk that Josie and Simon heard out on the porch. Both men crashed to the floor. By the time they untangled their arms and legs and peered out the window again, Ben massaging a rising lump on the back of his head, and Adam rubbing his nose, Josie and Simon were shaking hands.
"That's strange," Ben said. "I can't say I ever shook hands with a girl who just refused to kiss me."
"They're coming back inside!" Adam cried. "Quick! Look casual!" He dashed out of the alcove, vaulted over the back of the settee, and grabbed the book he'd abandoned on the coffee table the night before. Ben raced over to the small table that held the decanter of brandy and a half a dozen snifters. He started pouring the brandy just as Simon and Josie reentered the house.
"Brandy?" he asked them cordially.
Beginning with "Not that it's any of your business, but…" Josie told the family later that evening about her conversation with Simon.
"I thought he looked mighty put out when you two came back inside," Hoss said.
"And I'll thank the two of you," Josie stabbed at finger at Hoss and Little Joe, "not to set me up like that again!"
Hoss and Joe looked shamefaced. "We're sorry," Joe mumbled.
"You certainly are," Josie huffed. "In any event," she continued, "that should be the end of that. Simon and I have an understanding."
Ben and Adam caught each other's eye, and they knew they were thinking the same thing: that Simon Croft had not given up just yet.