I stayed where I was, certain I was out of sight, until the sun began to peek over the horizon. I dressed quickly and took myself off to the sheriff's office. Roy Coffee listened to my tale with a concerned frown and then returned with me to the schoolhouse.

He found the prints left behind by the horse and a mark that could have been a boot print under my window. Any fear that I might have imagined the whole thing vanished.

"You sure you don't know anyone who might try to scare you, Miss Lawson?" the sheriff asked as he straightened up from his inspection. "Or any reason a man might be interested in what you are doing?"

"I think I may be the most uninteresting girl in all of Virginia City," I said honestly. True, my arrival may have been unconventional, but beyond that... The men who had killed my father had already faced justice. "I honestly can't think of anyone who would be interested in me or what I am doing."

"There's no young man you might have disappointed or turned down?"

Of course he would ask that. "No, nothing like that." I wrapped my arms around my waist. My head was aching from lack of sleep.

The sheriff shook his head. "I don't like this. An honest girl shouldn't have to worry about whether a man is looking through her window at night," he said with a frown. "I'll keep my eye out and make sure to pass by as often as I can. You still keep a gun close by?"

Once I assured him I did, he returned to his office. I threw myself into preparing for the day. Coffee-the hot liquid-was a must if I were to have any hope of getting through the day, and I was convinced I would be drinking it every hour to keep myself awake. I could only hope my students wouldn't notice the shadows under my eyes.

When Ron Cowan sauntered in, smirking in my direction, I wondered if I should have mentioned his name to the sheriff. I could easily believe he would try to scare me, thinking it would be funny. But...I didn't have any proof beyond him having a poor attitude in class and being a cocky boy.

I kept my eye on him, just in case. It also happened to be a day where the smallest students needed my attention, so it wasn't a peaceful day. By the time three o'clock came, I was exhausted and my head felt as though it were going to split in half.

So, of course, Ron would pick this time to make a nuisance of himself.

"You don't look so good today, Miss Lawson," he said, leaning against my desk.

"Thank you for offering your opinion, but I did not ask for it," I said, glaring at him. "Good day, Mr. Cowan."

"You're just going to throw out a student who wants extra time to learn?" he asked, widening his eyes and making his tone dramatic. "A real dedicated teacher wouldn't do such a thing. You can't mean it, Rosemary."

My first thought was to pull my pistol out of my desk drawer and show him just how much I did want him to leave. I restrained myself, however, and simply glared at him. "I am not in the habit of repeating myself, Mr. Cowan. Have a good afternoon," I said firmly. "I have work to do."

"Come on, Rosemary," he said, leaning closer. "Life is about having fun. You and I could have fun."

"No. Please leave."

He didn't move. I'm ashamed to admit my hand did begin to creep towards the drawer where I kept my pistol during class. Someone cleared their throat. Ron and I both turned our heads. Adam Cartwright stood in the doorway. "I hope I'm not interrupting," he said.

Ron recoiled from my desk, his neck flushing a deep crimson. Without a word, he ducked his head and rushed for the door. Adam stepped aside just enough to allow the young man to leave. "Joe, let him go," he said through the door.

How embarrassing! Adam and Joe had both witnessed my lack of control over what happened in my classroom. How much of the conversation had they seen?

"How often does that happen?" Adam asked, focusing on me.

"Not often," I lied as I stood up. "What are you doing here?"

"Rosemary, if that boy has been bothering you, I need to know." The seriousness in my friend's tone told me that he wasn't going to let it go. "Has Ron Cowan made a habit of annoying you like I just saw?"

Sighing, I nodded. There was no point in lying about it, and I didn't have the energy to keep it up, anyway. "Someone told the older boys that I am not much older than them," I admitted. "So for the past few weeks, Ron has been...trying to flirt with me I hoped he would grow bored when I didn't respond, but he hasn't."

"I ought to go knock some sense into him," Joe growled from behind Adam at the door.

"Hold on, Joe," Adam said, reaching out to grab his brother's arm. "Rosemary, is it possible Mr. Cowan is the one outside the school last night?"

Though I had wondered about it myself, I shrugged my shoulders. I don't know. Maybe? But if I'm completely honest, the man I saw looked bigger than Ron Cowan."

Adam nodded, his expression both serious and thoughtful. "Well, Hoss will probably be able to tell if the tracks are still there."

Hoss had come as well? Did the sheriff ride out to the Ponderosa first thing after he left me? The only way this would be any more mortifying was if...

"Pa would have come, but he had an appointment he couldn't put off," Joe informed me. "But he wanted us to make sure you knew that you can come back to the Ponderosa with us, and we'll escort you back into town each morning. Older brother was supposed to start off with that."

As usual, Adam ignored Joe's implied criticism. "The decision, of course, is up to you, Rosemary. If you don't feel safe, you are welcome to come back with us. But if you think it isn't serious, more of a prank than anything else, we'll understand if you chose to stay here."

It was always like that. They always managed to give me a choice, whether it was what I wanted for my future or if I wanted to pursue the men who had killed my father. Even when I wanted someone to just tell me what would be the best thing to do, the decision was left to me.

Now. Did I want to be the brave, independent young woman most expected me to be and remain at my post. Or would it be better to go where I knew I would be safe?

"Well. I won't know how worried I should be until I know what Hoss sees out there," I said carefully. That was the best thing to do, right? Wait until I knew more facts before jumping to any conclusions?

The dark-haired Cartwright seemed to approve of because he gave a nod. Joe's scowl revealed he was not so impressed with my caution. They let me go out ahead of them. Once I stepped into the yard, it wasn't hard to miss Hoss crouched on the ground, making a thorough examination of the dirt.

"Do you see anything, Hoss?" Joe called out impatiently.

Glancing over, Hoss straightened up. "There are a lot of tracks through here, most of them made by the kids," he responded. "But, I do see a track that looks a lot like the one we found in the north pasture on Friday."

"So whoever has been trespassing on the Ponderosa came creeping around the schoolhouse in the middle of the night?" Joe asked, his tone incredulous. "Why? That doesn't make any sense."

I had to agree with him. It made no sense. What could possibly connect me to trespassers?

"I can try to follow the tracks, see where he went, but this close to town—" Hoss broke off, shaking his head. "I don't expect I'd get very far."

"Well, that settles it," Joe said, turning to me. "Rosemary comes back with us."

"No. She is capable of making her own choices, and this is no exception," Adam corrected. But then, he too faced me. "My advice would be to come back with us. Pa won't like that someone might be planning to cause you trouble to get at us. But again. It's up to you."

There were too many unknowns for me to consider being independent, and I was smart enough to take good advice when it was given to me. "I'll go pack my things."

For the rest of the week, my nights were spent at the Ponderosa and one of the Cartwrights would ride with me to the schoolhouse in the mornings. At the end of the school day, one of them was waiting to escort me back to the ranch. Every time I stepped foot out of the yard, I was alert for anyone who might be watching me.

No one had managed to make heads or tails of the matter. Who was sneaking on to the Ponderosa and what did he want? Why had he tried to spy on me at the schoolhouse in the middle of the night? Would I ever have answers or would this fade away into unimportance after some time?

Staying on the Ponderosa while I taught was a much different experience to spending the weekend there. I had my students' work to correct and grade each evening, nevermind how much Joe tried to get me to leave it behind. There was little time for singing.

Ron Cowan didn't show up for class the whole week, a fact I couldn't muster any concern about. I was not ready to deal with him. Adam, thankfully, had not mentioned my student's insolence. Maybe he was giving me time to decide the best course of action.

It was a relief to lock the schoolhouse on Friday afternoon. Once the harvest was in, classes would resume once again.

"Hurry up," Joe said impatiently.

"Why? Do you have somewhere you need to be?" I asked, deliberately slowing my steps. Honestly, after the previous weekend when he'd stayed late in town with his friends, I was surprised to see him.

"We don't have much time," he complained. "Not before Pa and Adam start to wonder where we are, so come on. We need to make the most of the time we have."

"We? What is it we have to do?" I asked as I mounted Belle.

Joe grinned at me, his expression suddenly full of mischief. "We are going to ride through Virginia City and have a good look at all the horses that are tied in front of the buildings."

"Why?"

"You and I both saw the horse the trespasser was riding when we were by the lake, right? If we recognize it, we'll be that much closer to finding the guy." He sounded very proud of his logic.

And...very serious about doing just what he said.

"I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Well, for one, I'm pretty sure I can't tell one brown horse from another brown horse," I said. "And two..the streets of Virginia City aren't the safest place to be once it becomes evening. Your father has warned me of that often enough."

He shook his head, undeterred by my logic. "It's not evening, and it's not as bad as Pa might say. We'll be out of town before there is any kind of trouble. And it doesn't matter if you think you won't remember the horse. I will. I just need a chance to look and now I have it."

What I really wanted was to just go to the Ponderosa where I could convince Hop-Sing to heat water up for a bath. But... I shook my head. "Ten minutes," I said, trying to be as firm as I could. "And if we don't see anything by then, we give it up. Deal?"

"We'll find something," Joe said confidently. "Where else could the man be staying?"

I nudged Belle into motion. "Since I managed to survive on my own in the wilderness, without a horse, I'm sure a man could easily do the same. Especially if he's had time to prepare or if he had friends to help him."

But Joe didn't want to listen. He wanted something to do, and I couldn't blame him. I had done my share of waiting in my life. It was torture at times to sit and wonder what would happen next. I'd had more opportunity for it since I couldn't just ride out and do everything I thought might help.

Well, I could, but the rest of the world wouldn't look kindly on it.