Doubt That The Stars Are Fire

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PART TWO

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FIVE

Bella had never been so glad to set her foot down on solid ground as she was when she stepped out of the coach and onto the boardwalk at the stage depot in Virginia City. The minister and his wife, Mister and Mrs. Watson, agreed. In the end the pair turned out to be just about as nice as nice could be. Samuel explained that they were returning to the town after a short absence to resume the post he had held for some six months. They knew the Cartwrights well since theirs was the church the family attended. When she mentioned Joe by name, Emma Watson shook her head and grew sad. The older woman told her that she and her husband had come to Virginia City just after the tragedy and had witnessed the heartbreaking aftermath of Alice Cartwright's death. The whole town had been stunned. She hadn't known Alice personally, she said, but everyone had told her that the young woman had been sweet and beautiful and completely devoted to Joe. God had given her an upright and honest young man to marry, Samuel remarked. Unfortunately, Alice had been less blessed in her relatives. Her brother had been a shiftless ne'er-do-well and it had been his excess and weakness of character that had brought about Mrs. Cartwright's untimely end.

Benjamin was standing beside her gawking. Her little brother had hopped out of the coach as soon as it rolled to a stop, his deep brown eyes wide with wonder. While they'd passed through a number of Wild West towns, none of them had come close to being as impressive as Virginia City. Bella watched with amusement as Ben took in the numerous shops and saloons before his eyes settled on the sheriff's office. He stared at it as if – at any minute – he expected some desperado to come flying out of the door, guns blazing to make good his escape.

Instead, the brown-haired man she had known as Roy Coffee's deputy opened the door and came out stretching as if he had just awakened from a nap. Clem scratched the back of his neck and then ambled over toward the coach. In one of his earlier letters Ben Cartwright had mentioned that Roy might retire. From the sheriff's badge on Clem's vest, it looked like he had.

Clem tipped his hat. "Mister and Mrs. Warson," he said, looking past her to the minister and his wife. After nodding to them, he turned his attention to her and her brother. "Ma'am, welcome to Virginia City."

Bella couldn't help it. She giggled. "Hello Clem. It's nice to see you again."

The blue-eyed man frowned as he looked from her to Benjamin and back. "I apologize, ma'am, if we've met. I don't seem to..."

She held her hand out. "Bella. Bella Carnaby Ashton."

Clem looked like someone had struck him. "Bella? Little Bella?"

They hadn't had a lot to do with each other, but they'd met once or twice in the months she'd spent with the Cartwrights. "So you're sheriff now?" she asked.

He nodded. His eyes went to Benjamin again. There was puzzlement in them. "And you're...Mister Ashton?"

This time she laughed out loud. "This is my brother, Benjamin Joseph." As Ben nodded in greeting, she sobered. "My husband's name was Michael Ashton. He died recently."

Clem removed his hat. "I'm sorry to hear that, Ma'am."

"Oh, for gosh sakes! Call me Bella," she said. The blonde woman glanced at the mercantile and then her gaze traveled over to the saloon. She tried to sound only casually interested as she asked, "So have you seen Little Joe lately?"

The sheriff snorted. "Little Joe? I bet you're the only one can get by calling him that now." Clem had been smiling, but he sobered too. "Joe was in town last week. It's been, maybe, four or five days."

Relief flooded through her. Joe had been in town and he'd been all right! Still, from the sound of Clem's voice, it seemed the encounter had not been a pleasant one. Bella waited for Clem to elaborate. When he didn't, she decided to drop it.

She'd know soon enough.

"Benjamin and I need to get to the Ponderosa. Where would you recommend we hire a rig?"

Clem returned his hat to his head. "Well, seeing how it's Sunday, I don't know that you're going to find anything. You'll need to wait until the livery opens tomorrow morning. You could stay at the International House tonight."

She didn't want to stay in town. She wanted to get to the Ponderosa as soon as possible. Benjamin, on the other hand, seemed to perk up.

"Is that a saloon?" he asked innocently.

Clem shot her a look. A pitying look. "No, son, it's a hotel. It does have a dining room and bar, but from the look and size of you – unless you want to visit my jail in an official capacity – I think maybe you should give the bar a wide berth."

Benjamin flushed red up to his ears.

She took her brother's hand. "I'll see that Ben stays in out of mischief, Sheriff Foster."

"Clem's fine, Bella." He eyed her brother warily, as if he wasn't sure she could do what she promised. "For both of you."

The driver was tossing their luggage to the ground. As her brother went to retrieve it, Bella offered the sheriff her hand. "Thank you, Clem," she said as he shook it. "It was nice to be greeted by a familiar face." As the brown-haired man nodded and moved to talk to the Reverend Watson, she turned to her brother and asked, "Are you hungry?"

"As a grizzly!" Ben replied.

Bella shook her head. Ben was always hungry as a grizzly. Even though Benjamin was slender as Joe had been at eighteen, he had Hoss' appetite.

Thinking of the big man, Bella grew sad. Benjamin would never get to meet Hoss and she would so miss his gentle, loving presence. She couldn't imagine how devastated everyone in the Cartwright household had been by his sudden passing.

Especially Joe.

"Bella."

She turned to find Clem approaching her.

"Yes?"

He nodded toward a horse and rider racing into town. She didn't know who the man was. He sat tall in the saddle and looked like he might have been over six feet in height. He had wavy light-brown hair cut short and wore a black hat, vest, and pants, and a deep wine-red shirt. There was a black kerchief around his neck as well. He reined his horse in, vaulted out of the saddle, and began to run.

Turning back to Clem, she asked, "Who is that?"

"That's Candy Canaday," he said. "Foreman at the Ponderosa."

A chill snaked along her spine. "What do you think he's doing?" she asked. "Why is he in such a rush?"

Clem said nothing. He merely nodded again.

She looked. Candy Canaday had reached his destination. The door banged shut behind him as he went inside, setting the shingle hanging above it swinging.

The shingle with Doctor J. P. Martin's name on it.

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Ben Cartwright sank wearily into his red chair in the great room. He was completely and totally exhausted. Nearly a day had passed since Joe's horse had come into the yard unsaddled and alone. He'd fed and watered the animal and then, along with Candy and a handful of the ranch hands, begun to backtrack along the path Cochise had taken to reach the house. There were no surprises so far as that was concerned. Joe's pinto knew his way home and he'd made a beeline for it. The fact that he was unsaddled gave the older man some small hope in spite of the dried blood he'd found on the animal's hide. Joe was all right, he told himself. After all, his son would have to have been on his feet to remove all the heavy gear and send Cochise running.

He didn't want to consider the other option, that Joe and Jamie had been waylaid by outlaws and robbed, and Cochise had somehow managed to escape.

They'd started out as early afternoon turned to late, with only a few hours of light left to search by. It hadn't taken him long to figure out where Joe had going. His defiant son had obviously bought some of that new-fangled barbed wire he was so all-fired up about and headed out to one of the boundary fences to put it in place. Still, in spite of the fact that Ben was sure he knew where his son was, he and the other men were forced to make camp as night fell and they found they could no longer see.

Every sleepless hour was agony.

Ben knew that under normal circumstances Joe could take care of himself and his younger brother. But circumstances now with Joseph were about as far from normal as could be. On the ride out, the older man had managed to drill Candy and what his foreman told him was chilling. Even though it had come from Paul's new assistant, he couldn't manage to dismiss it entirely. It wasn't that he didn't like Julian Corwin. He was a fine young man, it was just that he lacked experience. His head was full of all the latest unproven medical theories and techniques from abroad. Having Julian make a diagnosis as opposed to Paul Martin would have been tantamount to trusting a man who had only read about the procedure to castrate one of his prize steers. Paul knew his son. The older man knew all Joe had overcome. Julian, on the other hand, had known Joe less than seven months. Candy hadn't come out and said it point-blank, but Doctor Corwin thought Joseph was a danger to both them and himself and needed to be... Ben drew in a sharp breath.

Joseph needed to be locked up.

Of course, he would never do that. Not even if what Corwin believed was true. He had lived over sixty years on this earth and firmly believed there was nothing that love and compassion couldn't overcome.

Throughout the morning, Candy had ridden at his side lending his silent support. His foreman was a good man and a loyal friend to Joe. He couldn't have asked for a better man to ride at his son's side now that his brothers no longer could. Candy was struggling with the doctor's prognosis. His main concern wasn't that Joseph was losing his mind, but that his friend might hurt himself deliberately. Paul Martin had expressed the same concern the night Alice died. The physician had brought him the bottle of laudanum he'd used to ease the pain of Joe's burns for fear his son might take all of it at once.

Ben let out a long, low sigh and shifted in his chair. Much as he wanted to, he simply couldn't ignore the possibility that both men were right. Joseph Francis Cartwright had a will to live that was unlike any other man he had known. It had brought the youngest of his three sons through illness and injury that would have laid most men in the grave. Joe's mother had been driven by the same zest for life. It had carried her through until the accident where her body was broken so badly sheer will alone had not been enough.

Unlike his mother, Joseph's body was not broken.

It was his soul.

Ben shifted again, restless. A moment later, as if on cue, Hop Sing came out of the kitchen and to his side. He looked up at the man from China and favored him with a half-smile, which was about all he could muster at the moment.

"Is there something I can do for you, Hop Sing?" the older man asked.

"Mistah Cartwright ready for food now?"

No, he wasn't. But eating was Paul's prerequisite for being allowed back in the room where his sons lay.

Ben's nod was less than enthusiastic.

"I bring it right away," his cook said. Before he left, Hop Sing placed a hand on his shoulder, lending his silent support. The gesture took no more than two or three seconds, but it was what he needed.

"Thank you," he said, holding back the tears. "Thank you, old friend, for everything."

Hop Sing had gone with them in search of Joe and Jamie. At the last minute, as he and Candy prepared to set out, the man from China had appeared, medical salves and bandages in hand. Without speaking a word he'd taken a seat in the wagon and looked at them, waiting for their cue. Hop Sing's sometimes almost supernatural perception where Joseph was concerned was something he didn't question. His old friend had known Joseph nearly as long as he had and, in some ways, was probably closer to the boy as they had spent so much time together after Marie died.

He felt no jealousy because of it, just gratitude.

Ben turned toward the fire. As he stared into it, he scowled. He wished now that he hadn't argued with Joseph about using that different type of barbed wire along the boundaries of the ranch. It had seemed to him that it would injure as many animals as it would save. They'd used barbed wire before, but this was the new improved 5.5 gauge patented only that year. No one on the range had much experience with it and to him it looked deadly. Joe had vehemently disagreed and had apparently gone to town without his permission to get the wire and set out to prove him wrong. Somewhere along the line he'd picked up Jamie, who had most likely been eager to go with the big brother he adored. Jamie was having a hard time understanding what Joe was going through. Most likely the boy had thought he could talk to him.

It had been noon by the time they neared the stretch of land that led to the farthest boundary of Ponderosa land. The autumn sun was riding high in the sky. He and Candy had pulled ahead of the others who were beginning to tire of the search and lagged behind. He'd turned back to hasten them onwards when Candy's shout spun him in the saddle.

Something was laying at the bottom of the ravine to the right of the road.

Ben had scrambled off his horse and made it down the steep bank quicker than the younger man. It took only a moment to recognize the sled they sometimes used to haul bale wire and the dead horse beside it.

Candy followed him. When it became obvious that neither Joe or Jamie were trapped beneath the broken vehicle and animal, his foreman had walked a few hundred feet in both directions to make sure they hadn't wandered off. Ben felt a weight lift off his shoulders with Candy's return. Still, his relief lasted only seconds.

He still had to find his sons.

The fire in the great room cracked, drawing Ben Cartwright back to the present. He closed his eyes and shuddered.

He would never forget the moment when he did.

He'd been the one to spot Jamie's horse standing at the side of the road munching on some grass. Dismounting, he'd approached the animal and it was then that he saw his son Joseph lying on the ground beside it. Ben had barely had time to get over the shock of the blood that coated his son's arms and face when he saw the travois and Jamie laying on it.

The boy was barely recognizable.

Candy set off without a word to get Paul Martin. Hop Sing had done what he could to treat and bandage the boys' wounds and then they had set off for home, carrying both Joseph and Jamie in the wagon. Both were unconscious. Fear had gripped his innards as they traveled. It looked bad. But God chose to be merciful. As they got to the road that connected to several of the outlying spreads, they heard the jingle of a harness and suddenly a buggy appeared. Coming down a different trail than the one Candy had taken was Paul Martin. The physician was returning to town after delivering a baby.

Glancing at the stairs, Ben let the tears fall.

It had been an answer to prayer.

"Mistah Ben eat now," Hop Sing said softly as he placed a tray on the table. "I bring soup and bread. Not too much for worried father."

He looked up. "Thank you, old friend."

"You want Hop Sing sit with you while you eat?"

Ben considered it as his eyes returned to the stair. "If you would. Hop sing, go up and see if you can get Paul to tell you anything."

Both his boys were in Joe's room. Paul said it would be too much for him to run back and forth and, as they both needed the same care, it was just as well they keep them together until he had them stabilized. His old friend rarely cursed, but he had done so when he saw what the barbed wire had done to them both.

Ben closed his eyes, sickened.

He had cursed as well when he had seen it.

"Hop Sing go now," the man from China said and disappeared up the stairs.

Ben didn't know how he did it, but somehow he choked the soup and bread down. Just as he finished he heard footsteps on the stairs. He expected Hop Sing and was surprised to find that it was Paul Martin who approached. The doctor looked exhausted.

He said nothing as Paul moved to the settee and dropped onto it. The physician's eyes looked haunted.

"That was worse than anything I could have encountered on a battlefield," his old friend said softly.

Ben's jaw tightened. "How are they?"

Paul ran a hand over his face. "Jamie's cuts are showing less infection than Joe's. I'm afraid when Joe fell, dirt and debris must have been driven into them. They both have fevers." The doctor's gaze sought his and held it. "If I was you, Ben, I'd send some of the hands out for ice just in case."

"You think their fevers will go that high?"

"Joe's will. Maybe Jamie's. Some of those cuts are deep, Ben. Very deep. The ones you saw on Jamie's face and chest are nothing compared to his back. Its looks like he landed hard on the stuff."

"And Joe?"

Paul Martin hesitated. "It's his shoulder that's the worst. The infection's a concern, but...there's more." His old friend paused as if considering his words. When Paul spoke at last, sympathy shone from his eyes. "There's hope. This kind of accident rarely proves fatal."

Ben blinked. "Fatal? I thought you said earlier – "

"I know what I said." Paul Martin sank back against the padded sofa. "Ben, the problem is, Joe has given up." He held a hand up to silence his protests. "You know I have seen that young man through just about everything – gun shot wounds, perilous fevers, broken bones, and just about every kind of emotional trauma there is. Every time there was something there – a spark of life that refused to dim." The doctor pinned him with a sympathetic stare. "It's gone out."

Ben shifted forward, ready for a fight. "No. I refuse to believe that!"

"Ben." His old friend continued to hold his gaze. "I think Joe's been through more than he can bear. We all have a limit. He's reached his."

He felt betrayed.

"So you're giving up? You're just going to let me son die?"

"Now Ben, you know I don't mean that. I will do everything I can to save him, but Joe has to help me! He has to want to live and right now, I don't think he does."

Ben fell silent as his mind grappled with what the doctor had said. If it was true, there could be only one explanation.

Joe must feel responsible for what happened to Jamie.

"Can you tell what happened – how the boys were wounded – from their injuries?" he asked at last.

Paul leaned forward. His eyes took on a faraway look, as if he were analyzing it again. "Not really. It seems Jamie became entwined somehow in the wire. Joe's injuries suggest he was not in it, but trying to pull Jamie out of it. The deep cuts are mostly on the one shoulder and Joe's arms, though there are superficial ones on his legs and lower torso as well." The doctor shook his head. "That wire, while it may be a miracle for protecting land, is a misery when it comes to a man tangling with it."

"And the infection comes from the mud and other debris being driven into the wounds?"

"As well as the fact that a man is not meant to have metal in him." Paul scowled. He looked up the stairs and his anger eased. "Thank God for Hop Sing and his Chinese remedies. I've seen before how they help wounds close quickly. By tonight, hopefully all the bleeding will have stopped."

Ben paused. "Is Joe awake?"

The physician scowled. "I suppose you want to talk to him?"

He could tell Paul did not approve.

"If I could."

Paul Martin regarded him with a clinical eye. "I don't think it's wise while Jamie and Joe share the same room. Once Hop Sing is done putting on the salve and binding the worst of the cuts, we'll see about moving Joe into another room. Then, if he's willing, you can talk to him." His old friend looked directly at him. "You need to understand this Ben. I won't have Joe upset any more than he already is. He needs support, not a father's scolding." The older man hesitated and then added in a quiet voice, "Really, I think what Joe needs most of all is absolution."

Ben frowned. "Absolution? For what?"

The doctor sighed. "For not being fast enough or strong enough or brave enough, or any of the other things he thinks he wasn't that allowed Alice to be murdered and William Tanner to do what he did to him. For not taking it on the chin and bouncing back. For not being the kind of man he thinks he needs to be."

Ben sensed something unspoken. "What are you trying to tell me, Paul?"

The doctor rose and came to his side. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "You cast a mighty big shadow, Ben. Joe compares himself to you – to the man who buried three wives and a son and remained unbroken – and finds himself lacking."

He shook his head. "Paul, no."

"Yes. Just remember, it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Joe."

He felt as if he had been struck.

"Do you think I can help him?" he asked, his voice shaking.

"It may not be you, Ben. If it's not, the good Lord willing, He will send someone who can get through to him. Someone who can bring the old Joe back." Paul looked up the stairs and added sadly, "All we can do is pray He sends them soon."

Paul left him then to return to the sick room from which Ben found himself banished. Everything that was in him wanted to be in that room with his older and younger sons, but he knew, at the moment, he would only be in the way. If there was anyone he would have trusted to do all they could to care for them, it was the two men who were with Jamie and Joe. Paul's love for the youngest of his three, for Joe – whom it seemed had spent more time in Paul's office than he had in school – was deep. And as he had come to know his quiet, reticent adopted son, the doctor had grown to love Jamie as well. Paul knew the joy the boy continued to bring into their lives after Hoss' unexpected death.

As to Hop Sing, well, there were no words.

Ben rose to his feet. Bending down, he picked up the tray that lay on the table with what remained of the bread and his empty soup bowl. He had just headed for the kitchen when the door burst open and Candy rushed in.

"Mister Cartwright! Mister Cartwright!"

He pivoted back, concerned. "Candy, what's wrong?"

His foreman was out of breath. "I came as soon as I could. Doc Martin wasn't in his office. I rode out to the Manners' place where he was supposed to be, but they said he'd left. I – "

"Candy. Candy, it's all right," Ben said as he approached the other man. "We ran into Doc Martin on the way back. He's upstairs with Jamie and Joe right now. So is Hop Sing."

Candy's relief was palpable. "The Doc's here?"

"Yes."

The brown-haired man turned his attention to the stairs. "How's Joe? And Jamie?"

Ben suspected Joe's friend knew his answer was only a portion of the truth. "Both are holding their own. Joe has fewer wounds than Jamie, though some of them are deep and infected. Paul expects their fevers to rise."

As he spoke the older man heard the sound of a rig rolling into the yard. The door stood open and a glance over Candy's shoulder showed him it was the kind you could rent in town.

His eyes went to Candy. The foreman didn't seem surprised.

"You've got visitors, Mister Cartwright," he said.

Ben pushed past the man and stepped out into the yard. A young man had hopped out of the buggy and was rounding it, headed for the other side. The sight of him took the older man back. The boy was about Joe's height and reminded him of his youngest when he'd been in his teens. Whoever it was, was slender and had a thick head of curly hair, only its color was a deep auburn instead of brown. The boy glanced at him before offering his hand to someone in the buggy. As she stepped down, Ben saw it was a woman – a young blonde woman wearing a pretty teal blue dress. A second later, she turned toward the house and lifted her head. Her blue eyes went to Joe's bedroom window.

Ben drew a sharp breath as he recognized her. God did indeed answer prayers.

It was Bella.