A/N: New and improved chapter two!

Long Lost Lover

Chapter Two

"Then how'd she get out?" Little Joe asked, sitting on the edge of his seat with his legs stretched out, eyes wide.

Carlos stared above the fire at the mantel and shook his head. "I do not know. I have thought her to be dead for so long…"

Adam crossed his arms. "Sounds a lot like what happened to Isabella."

"It is, Adam. Almost exactly what happened to her. But a lamp that was left burning caused the fire at Raquel's rancho. Not soldiers."

"How do you know this?"

"Because no one disliked the Gonzales'. No one held anything against them, and the war did not begin for another three years. It had to be a natural cause." Carlos sighed and looked at the floor. "When I found mi tio's home in ruins, I couldn't believe that I had lost not only Raquel to a fire, but my sister too."

Hoss stood up. "So then, how'd she get out?" he repeated the question that Joseph had asked earlier; the question that was on all their minds.

Carlos shrugged, finally making eye contact with someone in the room. "One of the vaqueros from our rancho heard in town about the fire. He came back and told us all. Isabella cried for days. I left home for nearly a week."

Little Joe spoke up again. "What did her father say? When you asked to marry her?"

"He had agreed. I was going to ask her the next day, but when I was told about the fire…" Carlos broke off, glancing back at the door to Ben's room.

For the next several hours there was no news. Little Joe fell asleep on a chair, Hoss dozed near the fire, Carlos paced, and Adam watched him.

Hoss straightened in his seat and settled his right ankle on his left knee. "What about Isabella? Shouldn't somebody tell her?"

Adam nodded. "But we might as well wait until morning. By then we'll have something definite to tell her."

Hoss crossed his arms and looked at Little Joe, then glanced up at Carlos.

Carlos continued to pace vigorously. His heart still pounded, and his mind raced with thoughts of what could and might happen. He was full of mixed feelings; glad to find out Raquel was alive after all these years, but scared about the bloodstain by the front door. He wondered about her life. Had she ever married? And just what was she doing here again? Dressed in men's clothes with a bullet in her side, nonetheless. And then there were the all-around questions that everyone was asking themselves: would she even live? And how had she escaped the fire?

Carlos finally stopped pacing and sat down. All at once, Isabella came to mind, and he wondered how he should tell her. She'd been through so much after losing her best friend; the whole ordeal with him leaving her with their aunt and uncle, the place burned to the ground with her the only one to survive, and then her experience coming home alone.

If Raquel didn't make it, what would he tell Isabella? That her dead friend came back from the grave, only to return to it without so much as a word of explanation to anyone? She would think he was crazy. Not to mention how much it would hurt her. Not to mention how much it was hurting him.

On the other hand, if Raquel was fine, she had a lot of explaining to do. About the fire, why she hadn't come back and told everyone she was fine, and what had happened to her.

Carlos glanced up at the Cartwright brothers. Little Joe still slept soundly in the rocking chair. Hoss, who sat on the bench closest to the fire, seemed to have joined him in slumber. And Adam was lost in thought, but not enough to keep him from looking at the bedroom door every time the slightest noise came from behind it.

PONDEROSA

Carlos's right eye slid open, causing him to start at the sight of sunlight. Morning? How had he managed to fall asleep after the commotion of the night before?

Nonetheless, he had, and as he glanced around the room, he found that so had Adam, and Hoss and Little Joe had never awakened. Neither Ben nor Hop Sing was in sight, which meant they were still with Raquel.

That could not be good.

Carlos stood and took a deep breath, only to find his throat was dry. He glanced at the door again, not wanting to leave for the mere sake of water in fear that he'd miss any news. Good news, bad news, he almost didn't care at this point. If there wasn't anything soon, he'd end up crashing the door down.

Finally deciding that if he'd waited all night, he could wait a few more minutes. So he left the house and walked to the well for a drink.

I am going to miss something. I am going to step back inside, and Ben will be standing there, telling the boys what is happening, and then he will have to repeat it all to me.

Carlos nearly ran back into the house, only to have trouble getting the door open. The minute he did, he laid eyes on Ben, who was standing outside of the bedroom door. Ben had just finished saying something to Adam and Hoss, but with all the banging on the door, Carlos had missed it.

Ben looked at Carlos, and Carlos tried to read his expression. It was nearly impossible, for lack of sleep did not wear well on Ben Cartwright. His eyes were dark and at half-mast as he stood with his hands on his hips.

"Carlos, Adam just told me about you and Raquel. I'm so sorry about what happened."

For a moment Carlos thought Ben was talking about the present moment and panic struck him. "Raquelita…"

Ben let out a sigh that sounded like he had to tell a young boy that his dog had just died. Carlos felt the panic rise to an extreme level, but at the same time, complete devastation sunk deep inside.

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