CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ellie Jenkins and her baby stayed at the Ponderosa for five days until Josie felt confident her incision was healing well and wouldn't become infected. As the Cartwrights helped Isaiah get Ellie settled in their wagon for the ride home, Ben asked the couple if they had decided what to name their little girl.
"We sure have," Ellie said, her face beaming.
"Well? What's the name?" Ben asked.
Ellie looked proudly over at her husband, who puffed out his chest and announced, "We've named her 'Josephine Elizabeth' after the doctor who saved her ma's life."
"Hey, how about that!" Hoss said, his eyes sparkling.
Josie blushed. "Oh, that's really not necessary," she sputtered.
"Course it is!" Isaiah exclaimed, looking slightly hurt. "Why, my Ellie would have died if it weren't for you."
Recovering her manners, Josie grasped Isaiah's hand. "I'm honored," she said, her hazel eyes glistening. "Thank you for your faith in me."
Isaiah patted her hand, bid goodbye to the Cartwrights, and took his wife and new baby home.
"How do you like that, Josie?" Little Joe crowed. "You got yourself a baby named after you!"
"I hope we don't get the two of you mixed up," Hoss ribbed.
"With all the red hair that baby's got, I don't think that's too likely, Hoss," Adam said, tugging playfully on a lock of Josie's raven hair.
"Thank goodness for small mercies," Josie quipped. The men laughed, and the family went back into the warmth of their home.
Their guests gone, the Cartwrights began preparing for their Christmas party that Saturday. Josie rode out with Ben to collect pine boughs for decorating, while Adam accompanied Hoss and Little Joe to ensure they selected a tree of appropriate size this year. Josie and Ben returned home well before the others, and they enjoyed hanging the pine boughs without Adam's nagging about aligning them symmetrically.
It was suppertime when the three brothers returned with the tree, so they set it up next to the fireplace and left it untrimmed while they ate their meal. Afterward, the Cartwrights returned to their tree and sang carols as they decorated it. When they finished putting on the ornaments and candles, Hoss and Josie climbed to the staircase landing to attach the star like they'd done last year. Josie clambered onto Hoss's shoulders and leaned over the railing to place the star at the top of the tree.
As her face drew near the tree, she caught a glimpse through the branches and saw a pair of beady black eyes staring back at her. She loosed a bloodcurdling scream and scrambled off Hoss's shoulders and clung to his back so he was between her and the tree, nearly knocking him over the staircase railing in the process.
The three Cartwrights on the ground, along with Pip, charged up the stairs toward Hoss and Josie, who was pointing toward the tree with the star still in her hand and sputtering nonsense.
Adam reached her first. "What is it? What's wrong?" He pried her off Hoss's back and set her on her feet on the landing.
"EYES!" Josie shrieked, still pointing toward the tree. "There are eyes in the tree!"
The Cartwright men exchanged puzzled looks.
"Can't be no ice left in this tree, Josie," Hoss said as he rubbed at the fingernail marks Josie had gouged in his shoulders. "It's been in the house for hours."
Josie stared at him for a moment. "Not ice!" she exclaimed when she figured out Hoss's mistake. "Eyes! EYES!" she pointed wildly at her own eyes, nearly stabbing one out with the sharp tip of the Christmas-tree star.
"Eyes?" Adam asked, still confused.
"YES!" Josie shouted, stomping her foot. "That's what I said! EYES!"
Ben and Adam exchanged a skeptical glance, but Ben stepped forward to inspect the tree anyway. He leaned over the railing and pushed aside some of the branches. He hollered and jumped backward, landing on Hoss's foot, as a squalling brown-and-black blur flew out of the tree and took off up the stairs and down the hallway.
The room erupted. Barking madly, Pip tore down the hallway after the creature. Each of the five Cartwrights started shouting orders at the other four, but all they succeeded in doing was tripping each other and falling into a precarious heap on the landing.
"What is it? What is it?" Little Joe shouted.
"It's a raccoon!" Ben shouted back. "Quick! Catch it before Pip rips the bedrooms apart!"
Adam and Hoss disentangled themselves from the family pile and ran upstairs to the bedrooms while Little Joe ran downstairs and grabbed his gun off the sideboard. Ben sat up and rubbed his forehead where someone—he never would figure out who—had elbowed him as they all fell. Josie, meanwhile, was hopping from foot to foot yelling "Get it! Get it! Get it!" Hearing the commotion and thinking there was real danger, Hop Sing charged out of the kitchen, brandishing his cast-iron skillet like a club.
"Hop Sing help! Hop Sing help!" he shouted as he raced up the stairs, leaping neatly over his employer, who was still sitting, dazed, on the floor. The cook dashed down the hall to where Pip, Adam, and Hoss were creating a horrible racket in Little Joe's bedroom.
"Don't let that raccoon in my bed!" Joe yelled as he, too, leapt over his father and ran, gun in hand, into his bedroom.
"Joseph!" Ben thundered in alarm. "Don't fire that gun in the house!"
The resounding blast of Little Joe's .44 nearly deafened everyone.
"You idiot!" Adam screeched over Pip's barking. "You'll kill us all!" Ben and Josie heard a scuffle from the bedroom as Adam wrestled the revolver from his youngest brother's hand.
"It's getting away!" Hoss bellowed.
The terrified raccoon shot out of Little Joe's room and raced down the stairs. Josie screamed again as it scrambled over her feet. Pip led the pack as he, Adam, Hoss, Hop Sing, and Little Joe stampeded behind the animal, all four humans squawking different plans to one another.
"Corner him! Corner him behind Pa's desk!"
"No, get him into the kitchen! We can close the door!"
"Shoot it! Shoot it!"
"Open door! Open door! Hop Sing get bloom! Sweep him out of house!"
Deciding Hop Sing had the safest plan, Josie leapt down the stairs and opened the front door, ignoring the blast of icy air that rushed in. Hop Sing flew into the kitchen, exchanged his skillet for his straw broom, and dashed back into the great room, where the brothers and Pip had, in fact, managed to corner the growling, snarling raccoon behind Ben's desk. Working together at last, they made a human-and-canine wall to prevent the animal from darting back into the main part of the house while Hop Sing used his broom to shuffle the raccoon across the living room and out the front door, Pip growling all the while. Adam and Hoss slammed the door shut, then turned and slid down it to sit on the floor, their chests heaving. Pip trotted over to them and began bathing Hoss's face, while Adam reached one hand up and plunked Little Joe's revolver onto the sideboard.
"Well!" he panted. "That was… an adventure."
By this time, Ben had regained his feet, dusted himself off, and now made his way toward his youngest son.
"Joseph Francis Cartwright!" he roared.
Little Joe tried to cower behind Josie, but she reached behind her, grabbed the front of his shirt, and dragged him out in front of his father. Adam and Hoss grinned at each other and stepped into the living room to get a better view of the show.
"Hey, Pa," Little Joe said in a small voice.
"'Hey, Pa!'" Ben sneered. "For twenty years I have worked to instill a sense of responsibility in you, and one raccoon gets in the house and everything I've taught you goes slap out of your head! What in the world were you thinking, firing your gun in the house?! You could have killed someone!"
Little Joe hung his head like a little boy. "I'm sorry."
Ben grunted, his countenance losing some of its sternness. "I should hope so. You pull a foolish act like that again, and I'll turn you out into the snow."
"Yes, sir," Joe replied.
"All right, then," Ben said. "Now, let's get that star on top of the tree and hope we don't have any more unexpected visitors."
The remainder of the decorating went off without the appearance of additional wildlife. When they were all finished, Josie helped Hop Sing make some hot chocolate, and then she snuggled up on the settee next to Adam as he read A Christmas Carol.
The Christmas party three days later was the largest the Ponderosa had ever hosted. After the influenza epidemic, the townspeople felt closer than ever before and were eager to come together to celebrate the holiday. There was sadness, too, though, as everyone felt the absence of those who had died. When Patience and Sally arrived, Josie pulled them into a tight hug. Their quartet was now reduced to a trio, and three survivors missed Margaret terribly.
But as the applejack and rum punch began to flow and the band started to play, everyone's spirits lifted. The guests roared with laughter as Adam and Josie regaled them with the tale of the raccoon in the Christmas tree, and several couples were surprised to discover they were standing under a sprig of mistletoe Little Joe had hung from the ceiling near the dining room, though Simon was less than pleased when Joe kissed his younger sister. He stamped over and ripped Rebecca away, giving Joe a scathing glare. Adam laughed as he watched the scene from across the room.
"Yeah, how do you like it?" he muttered under his breath.
While Adam basked in his Schadenfreude, Dr. Martin congratulated Josie on her successful cesarean section.
"I have to say, Josie, I wouldn't have attempted it, but I'm certainly glad you did."
"Thank you!" Josie said, beaming at the compliment. "I was terrified!"
"I want all the details the next time you come into the clinic."
Josie promised to give him a full report, and then went off to dance with Ben.
Just as Josie and Ben finished off a lively dance, they heard a familiar voice resounding from the front door.
"Why, 'ello, Ducky!" Widow Hawkins practically sang as she swept into the house. "Oh, it's so lovely to be 'ere in your 'ome!"
Ben's jaw dropped, and he gathered his niece and sons around him. "Who invited Widow Hawkins?"
"Now, Pa, that's a downright unneighborly thing to say," Hoss chastised.
"Why do you say that, Hoss?" Ben asked suspiciously. "Did you invite her?"
"Course not, Pa, I wouldn't do that to you."
"Adam?" Ben asked.
"Don't look at me, Pa. She'd be happy to sink her claws into me, too."
"Joseph?"
"I avoid her whole end of town," Little Joe insisted.
Four sets of eyes turned to Josie, who tried unsuccessfully to shrink into the floor.
"It… It didn't seem right not to invite her," she said in a tiny voice. "After all she did to help during the epidemic, opening her boardinghouse and all, and she sent a dish when Adam came home…" she trailed off.
Ben sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward. "You're right, Josephine. She certainly has been a good friend this year. I guess I better go and greet her." He turned to head over to the widow.
"Pa!" Little Joe cried.
Ben looked back over his shoulder.
"Watch out for the mistletoe!" Joe pointed at the sprig of berries hanging near the dining room.
"Oh, goodness gracious," Ben muttered as he went to greet their latest arrival.
Widow Hawkins was pleased to pieces to see Ben Cartwright approach.
"Oh, Ducky, 'appy Christmas!" she cheered. Ben moved to shake her hand, but the widow got right in his face and kissed his cheek. "It's so good to see you and under 'appier circumstances. Why, when your Adam showed up at my boardinghouse during the epidemic, I was so frightened 'ee'd take ill."
"Well, Josie was there, too-" Ben began, but the widow cut him off.
"And the way 'ee 'elped that little girl, why, me 'eart just soared! I said to myself, 'Clementine,' I said, 'Now there's a young man 'oo's been raised right, 'ee 'as!' and I so wanted to see you again."
"Oh, well, that's very kind-"
"So, when the good doctor—that's what we all calls 'er now, your niece—when the good doctor invited me 'ere to the Ponderosa, why I just knew I 'ad to come."
"We're delighted you could make i-"
"Well, now, Benjamin Cartwright, are you going to stand around all night talking, or are you going to introduce me to your other guests?" She linked her arm through Ben's and gestured toward the living room. Ben had no choice but to escort her in, though he was careful to give the mistletoe a very, very wide berth. He stuck with the widow for a quarter of an hour to avoid seeming impolite, but he passed her off on Sheriff Coffee at his first opportunity.
Simon and Josie spent a good portion of the party catching up. Due to the epidemic, they'd seen little of each other since Josie's birthday, and Simon expressed relief that she'd made it through the epidemic without getting ill.
"I was really worried about you," he said, tucking a lock of hair that had come loose from Josie's chignon behind her ear. Josie smiled.
"We Cartwrights are a tough bunch."
"I can see that," Simon said, noticing Adam keeping a close watch on them from across the room. "Come on, let's dance." He grabbed her hand and led her to the center of the living room.
Simon and Josie danced song after song, pausing only long enough to grab another cup of punch or to laugh at Ben and Adam as they tried to avoid being cornered by Widow Hawkins. Adam fared better than Ben did in this endeavor. By the final number when Adam cut in on Simon to dance with Josie, Ben had spent most of the evening dancing with Widow Hawkins who, much to Ben's embarrassment, announced to all the guests how grand it was to be in the arms of a big, strong man again.
At the end of the evening, as Ben and the Cartwright brothers headed outside to bid their guests farewell, Josie told Simon to wait a moment.
"I have something for you," she said. Simon's eyes lit up as Josie scampered over the Christmas tree and pulled a small tin container from under it. "It's not much," she apologized as she handed it to him.
Simon opened the tin, revealing a dozen miniature minced pies. "Thank you! Did you make these?"
"Yes," Josie said, suddenly shy. "It's my mother's recipe."
"I'm sure they'll be delicious," Simon said as he replaced the tin's lid. "I'll have to hide them from Pa, though, or I won't get any." He grinned at Josie, who smiled back. Then something caught his eye, and he looked up. "Oh," he said, blushing.
"What is it?"
Simon cleared his throat. "We're, uh, we're standing under the mistletoe."
Josie looked up. Simon was right. They were directly under Little Joe's mistletoe. "You better check it," she said. "The plants my cousins bring inside tend to be full of wildlife."
Simon laughed and gazed at Josie, who stared back, a coy smile flitting about her lips. He set the tin of pies on the floor next to his feet and took her face gently in his hands. He leaned toward her, and this time she didn't turn away. A shiver shot down her spine as their lips met, and she wrapped her arms around Simon's neck. When he finally drew back from the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers.
"Merry Christmas, Josie," he whispered.
"Merry Christmas, Simon."
They stayed thus for several long moments until they heard a throat clearing loudly from just behind Simon. They jumped apart, and Simon experienced a brief, yet terrible, moment in which he was certain Adam was about to murder him.
"Your folks is leavin', Simon," Hoss said, and Simon breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Hoss," he said, smiling again at Josie, who giggled. He took Josie's hand and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight, Josie."
"Goodnight."
Simon grabbed his tin of pies and made a hasty exit, leaving Josie standing beneath the mistletoe, her face glowing.
"Nice party this year," Hoss observed slyly.
Josie giggled. "Yes, it was."
"What a good party!" Adam exclaimed, stepping back into the house. "Did you see the look on Simon's face when Little Joe kissed Rebecca?" He laughed delightedly.
"Yes," Josie said, biting back a smile. "He was furious."
"Yeah," Hoss agreed. "I can't even imagine how angry you'd be if you caught someone kissin' Josie." He and Josie broke into giggles, and Adam raised an eyebrow.
"Yeeessss," he said slowly. Josie and Hoss must have had too much punch. "Anyway, we should start cleaning up."
Josie was only too happy to distract Adam from the subject of kissing and dived into the cleanup, leaving Adam none the wiser.
When Christmas morning rolled around five days later, Hoss and Little Joe had the good sense not to try to wake Josie at four-fifteen again, and they let the family sleep all the way to five-thirty. Everyone was delighted with their gifts—Adam especially enjoyed the set of ebony chessmen from his father, and even Pip seemed pleased with the leather collar Josie had bought for him—but it was Adam's gift to Josie that stole the show that morning. After all the other presents had been opened, Adam handed Josie a large rolled-up piece of thick paper.
"Just what I've always wanted," Josie said wryly. "Parchment."
"Unroll it, silly," Adam urged.
Staring suspiciously at Adam, Josie pulled the string off the paper and unrolled it on her lap. She immediately recognized the technical drawing as a blueprint, but it took her a moment to realize what it was a blueprint for. Finally, she noticed the title at the top of the page: "Josie's Clinic."
"I don't understand," she sputtered, even as understanding descended upon her.
Adam grinned. "Pa and I decided it's high time you had a proper clinic here, especially after you delivered Ellie Jenkins' baby in the guestroom. You can't drag all your patients over to the old bunkhouse, especially if they have to come here first to find you. We're gonna build this new clinic just a quarter mile down from our barn. You'll be on the main road but also close to the house if you need anything."
"The plans and the labor are your gift from Adam," Ben said. "The materials are your gift from me. Merry Christmas, Josephine." He smiled at his niece.
"Unfortunately, I won't be able to start building until the spring thaw," Adam said. "But it's a pretty basic frame building, so it should go up quickly. I have a couple men in mind who will probably help me out."
"Thank you," Josie whispered, still staring at the blueprint. Then the reality of what she was looking at sank all the way in, and she leapt from her seat and squealed with excitement. "Thank you!" she shrieked, throwing her arms around Adam and Ben at the same time. "I can't wait to write to Papa and tell him! My own clinic!"
That was the moment Josie decided she would never return to the East. She was a Cartwright on the Ponderosa, and that was where she would stay.