Chapter 8

Stunned for a moment from the rapid succession of events, Ben surveyed the ravaged room. Roy ran to help Emily as Ben found Adam trapped under Charlotte's body. Orders were being shouted as the extra men assisted where they could. He vaguely heard someone send for the doctor.

Roy was able to get Emily untied and shoved the chair away. He wrapped her arm to stop the bleeding. Seeing that she was unconscious Roy covered her with several borrowed jackets until the doctor arrived. He asked Hiram, who had followed the rescue party, to stay with her while he checked on Adam and confirmed that Charlotte was dead.

Adam felt gentle, strong hands lift his head off the filthy floor and push a jacket under it. That simple gesture of comfort shot more pain through his body. He tried to get away but each movement only made the pain worse. He felt like he was suffocating; he pleaded, begged for help to breathe.

"Pa, I...I ...c-can't b-breathe."

"Adam hold on. We'll get you free. Somebody get this damned body off my son and bring a knife to cut these ropes!"

A moment later a great weight was lifted from Adam's chest and after a while he felt his hands and legs go free.

"Pa…. Emily. Help her. Don't let her die. Please. Pa? Please...d-don't …." Adam's eyes closed and his head became dead weight in Ben's hands.

Ben's heart stopped. His vision clouded over. A quiet voice behind him told him Adam was untied and they needed to straighten him out on his back. Through the fog in his mind Ben knew the voice was Paul Martin's. He continued to numbly cradle Adam's head while others worked around him. After what seemed an eternity, Adam was ready to be moved to Paul's office. Several men carried him out as Ben watched through a veil of disbelief at how quickly life could change.

Paul took Ben's arm and guided him out of the shack. He had to give his friend a status report but didn't know how much of it would register. "Ben ride with me back to my office. I've got the bleeding stopped but I've got to get the bullet out. He's lost too much blood for me to give him anything for the pain. I've got to work fast to have a chance to get it out before he comes around. Emily just has a deep flesh wound but she's badly traumatized. I've given her some laudanum so she'll sleep for a while. They're both probably dehydrated as well given how hot that room was. Roy told me he's already sent someone to the ranch to find Joe and Hoss."

Inside the doctor's office Paul left Ben in the waiting room while he went to prepare for surgery. Ben sat with his head in his hands, his mind whirling and his heart aching for his son and daughter-in-law.

Two hours later, Ben still sat in the waiting room. The front door banged open making him jump. Hoss and Joe rushed to their father; they were covered in sweat and dust having ridden in from the herd.

"Pa! What happened? How's Adam and Emily? We were heading home from the herd when Tuck Brewer found us. Said you needed us to help find Adam." Hoss sat by his father while Joe stood in front of him ready to take on the person who attacked his family.

"Roy stopped us as we rode in and told us Adam'd been shot. Who did this to my brother? Pa, any word yet? Where's Emily?"

Ben put his hands up to stop the barrage of questions from his sons. He filled Joe and Hoss in as best he could about Charlotte and what happened at the old shack, and told them they'd all have to wait for more from Paul. Ben finally convinced Joe suppress his anger and to sit down as they continued to wait.

Splitting the silence, yelling was heard down the hall. With a vague memory of Paul's words, Ben guessed what was happening. He ran to the surgery with Joe and Hoss on his heels. Bursting in he took in the situation and immediately issued orders.

"Hoss, take Adam's shoulders; Joe, go to the other side of the table."

"Hold him down! I've just missed that bullet twice now."

"Pa! Can't….breathe. Can't ….Emily, no!..."

"Easy brother, it's all over. Just stay still, Adam. Doc's almost done."

"Hoss? No! The pain, Emily's dead, no, I've failed to…." Adam tried to push up but Hoss held him down hard.

"Dadburnit Adam, just lay still. Ya can't move right now. Doc can ya hurry any?"

The three men held Adam down for all their worth until they finally heard the clink of metal in the bowl behind the doctor. Paul worked furiously to finish up and finally finished his last stitch. By that time Adam had passed out again. Paul assessed his status and deemed him stable but still in danger. He called for a couple of assistants to stay with Adam while he cleaned up and spoke to the family.

Everyone sat in Paul's office drinking small shots of whiskey. They were all numb by the events of the past few hours.

"Adam will recover. The bullet tore through a lot of muscle and nicked his thigh bone. He'll be laid up for a several weeks. The next step for him is to avoid any infection. We'll know more in the next twenty-four hours." He sighed and sipped his whiskey.

Hoss looked around the room and when no one else seemed able to ask, he spoke, "Paul, what about Emily? Ya haven't said anythin' yet about her."

Paul set his glass down and looked at each man there. "Her arm was cut deeply by the bullet but it'll heal fine. It's the baby I'm worried about. Oh, it's strong enough but she evidently had some contractions at the shack. I can't detect any now but she's closer to having that baby that she was last week." He dropped his head into his hands.

Ben leaned over and put his hand on Paul's arm. After a moment of silence he spoke. "Paul what can be done for Emily to help her keep the baby."

Paul shook his head. "The best we can do is keep her in bed for at least the next month. If she can make it that long then the baby has a good chance."

"Then that's what we'll do. We can set Adam and Emily up at the Ponderosa until Adam can get around. Hop Sing can help take care of them both. We can rotate shifts for ourselves."

Joe and Hoss looked at each other. "Uh, Pa. Joe and I are gonna be gone on the cattle drive."

Joe looked up, "Maybe we can get some friends from town to help out during the day."

Paul chimed in, "Listen, you all have about a week to figure this out. That'll be the earliest I'll release them. I need to go check on my patients. Hoss and Joe, can you both help me in a few minutes to move Adam to a bed?"

Both brothers nodded.

When Paul left everyone went silent, lost in their own thoughts. Later that evening, Paul was resting and Ben sat with Adam. Hiram had volunteered to stay with Emily for a while. Joe and Hoss were resting in a hotel room knowing they would have later shifts at the doctor's office.

As sunlight broke into the room the next morning, Ben's eyes fluttered open. He slowly stretched the kinks from his body and looked around. Adam was finally sleeping peacefully. It had been a hard night. Adam kept waking up and trying to get to Emily. He was delirious with the pain from his injuries and a low fever. Hoss had to hold him against the bed at one point during his watch to keep him from tearing open the stitches in his leg. Ben checked his watch and realized he and Adam had both been asleep for about three hours.

Quietly swinging the door open, Hoss walked in with some coffee for his father and a cup for himself.

"You get any sleep, Pa?" He handed the cup of steaming liquid to his grateful father as he glanced over at his sleeping brother.

"Yes. About three hours, I guess. I'm hoping Adam has turned a corner and will be more comfortable now."

Hoss slowly nodded with a frown creasing his brow. Ben wondered if his son had something on his mind.

Hoss motioned toward the door. "Joe'll be here in a minute an' he can sit with Adam. I just checked on Emily. She's still sleepin'. Paul says she's calmer but is beggin' ta see Adam."

"I'll go and see her in a bit." In the hall, they passed Joe who barely nodded his greetings and went to sit with Adam. Ben noticed his youngest looked just as weary. "Looks like we all are suffering from a rough night. Let's sit out here. I get the feeling you have something on your mind, son."

Hoss stood uneasily as he held his coffee cup. Finally, he put the cup down and looked at his father, sinking his hands deep into his pockets.

"Pa I think I have an answer fer someone ta help take care of Emily. Elsa." He studied Ben to gage his reaction.

"Elsa? Hoss, I agree she would be a good choice but don't you think that would be asking a lot for her to drop everything and come here for a month or more? I'm sure we can find someone in town who can help." Ben could see the conflict cross Hoss' face.

"Pa, this ain't the way I planned ta tell ya but ...," he kicked at the rug on the floor. "That last night I was in Sacramento, I asked Elsa to marry me an' she said yes. I was going to ask ya if I could stay longer in Sacramento after the drive ta help her pack some things up. Ya see we want to get married this fall but she'll need help movin' so, well...Dadgummit Pa! Now I don't reckon I know what ta do. Iffn I told her of our need here she'd be on the next train, you know that. But, well, what do ya think I oughta do?"

Ben stood and placed his hand on Hoss' shoulder. "Son, it's a wonderful idea and I'm very pleased she'll be joining the family. When Adam is awake enough to understand everything, you can tell him your news and your suggestion. I think he'll be quite pleased with both."

Hoss smiled a bit with that idea. "Iffn ya don't mind, Pa, I'd like ta keep this between us till I can tell Joe.

"Of course son."

After lunch, Hoss sat near the window in Adam's room at Paul's office. He watched his brother toss and turn in a pain and fever induced sleep, trying to escape whatever demons were running through his troubled mind. When Adam finally seemed to settle down, Hoss let his thoughts drift to Elsa and what he needed to tell her in the telegram. He had written it over and over in his head but couldn't figure out how to relay the news and the need for her help.

Sensing a change in his brother, Hoss glanced over to the bed and found two dazed, hazel eyes looking at him. Hoss immediately moved his chair over to the bed and checked his brother's head for fever. It was cool and damp with sweat. Hoss took a clean cloth and, dipping it in the water bowl, began to pat Adam's face to clean off the sweat.

"Hey, brother. Looks like yer fever is broke. Not too bad this go-round. How ya feelin'?"

Adam tried to get his voice to work, "Not sure. Where am I? What happened? Is Emily alright?"

Hoss got his brother some water then sat down to fill him in on everything.

"Doc Martin's put you back together pretty good. You'll have a bruised arm for a while an' your wrists'll heal from the ropes. It'll be that leg that'll keep ya down fer a while, though. Paul says it'll heal but ya gotta stay off it fer at least two weeks." Hoss watched his brother grimace at that idea. Adam hated being down for even a minute.

"What happened to Charlotte Landry? I hope she didn't get away."

Hoss took a deep breath. "Nope. She's dead. Pa shot her just as she shot at Emily. He didn't see you on the floor behind her though. She fell right on top o' ya."

Adam gave Hoss a glowering look. "Emily, is she alright? You haven't said anything. What's going on, Hoss?"

"Emily's doing fine. Her arm was just grazed by the bullet. The baby's strong too. It's just that Paul's said she must have had some contractions cause she's closer to having that little one than she was last week."

Adam's eyes opened wide with concern. "Oh no! She can't have it now, it won't survive." He tried to get up and fell back down to the bed with pain shooting through his left leg and arm. Hoss stood up to hold him down, and looked at him with firm eyes.

"Don't you try that again, Adam. You'll tear out the stitches in your leg. Paul says the contractions have stopped and he wants her to stay in bed for at least the next month. We're working on getting Emily in here ta see ya soon. She's right anxious to see with her own eyes that you're okay.

When Adam finally relaxed, Hoss released his hold and continued. "Roy says he wants ta talk to you and Emily whenever you both are up to it, just so's he can close out his report."

Adam was silent for a while. "I'm not sure what I can recall from that time. It's all a blur right at the end." He covered his eyes with his uninjured right arm. "Hoss, she was crazy, insane. There was no reasoning with her. If we said anything or made a sound it set her off on a hellish tirade. She kept talking about how her father played sick games with her and Jason, and she was doing the same with us. All she wanted was to kill both of us because her brother was dead, because I killed him and married Emily."

Adam shook his head to clear the memories. "I'll talk to Roy but I don't want Emily to go through that again. Will you tell him for me Hoss?"

Hoss laid his hand gently on Adam's injured shoulder. "Sure I'll tell him. You don't have to think about it right now. Roy won't be by ta talk with ya till you're out at the ranch, next week."

Adam gave Hoss an inquiring look.

"Doc said you an' Emily are gonna stay here fer about a week. Pa and I have worked out a plan that will help you and Emily while you recover at home. Are ya ready ta hear it?"

Adam relaxed under Hoss' hand and nodded. "Guess I don't have a choice."

"You're right, ya don't." Hoss said with a crooked smile. "But I don't think you'll mind."

Hoss settled back in the chair with his arms behind his head and smiled a cat-and-canary smile at his older brother. Adam was still groggy but managed to figure out Hoss had a secret and he was supposed to guess it.

As Hoss studied his brother's face he saw it go from confusion to focused thinking to a dawning idea. "It has something to do with the ring you picked out for Elsa. Am I right? You asked her to marry you?"

Hoss' face split into a Ponderosa-sized grin. "You ain't hurt that bad iffn you can figure it out so fast. You're right, older brother. I asked her ta marry me an' she said yes. Lordy, Adam, I get all tingly inside jest thinkin' about spending the rest o' my life with her."

Adam couldn't help but grin, though it made the cut on his cheek pull. He reached his right hand out to his brother to congratulate him. Hoss took it and Adam pulled his bigger brother into a small hug.

"I'm very happy for you, Hoss. Elsa's perfect for you. Have you set a date?"

"Well, that's part of the plan that we got to work out. We want ta get married in the Fall after you and Emily have recovered and she's had the baby. Elsa wants Emily to stand with her at our wedding. But, I'm gonna ask Elsa to come now and help take care of you and Emily till you're both back on yer feet. You'll be up an around in two to three weeks but Emily's got to stay in bed till the baby comes. So Elsa is the perfect one to help, don't ya think?"

Adam grinned, "Well I can't argue with it since it will be good for Emily to have her there. And I bet you'll enjoy having Elsa a bit closer too, right?" He winked at Hoss who blushed and looked away.

"Aw shucks, Adam. You know I will. But you forget, me an' Joe'll be on the drive for the next several weeks so I won't even be here during most of her stay."

Adam couldn't help but laugh at that and deeply enjoyed seeing his brother so happy and in love. After a lighter conversation Hoss noticed Adam's eyes beginning to close.

"You get some rest. I'll see what I can do to get you sittin' up for dinner an' maybe even have someone to eat with ya."

Adam smiled at that thought as he drifted off into a healing sleep.

After Adam fell asleep, Hoss left to send his telegrams. He decided to tell both Elsa and Theodore what had happened. When he returned, Joe came out of Adam's room.

"I figured I'd sit with him for a while. He's still sleeping but he looks a lot better. Did you know his fever is gone?" Hoss nodded. "That's got to be a record for him. Usually, he gets one that lasts several days."

Hoss agreed. "Listen, is the doc around? We gotta persuade him to let Emily see Adam and maybe even have dinner with him tonight."

"Oh, no need to worry about that, brother. Pa is way ahead of you. He's already fought that battle and won. We found a wheel chair for Emily to use and we'll bring her in to see Adam as soon as he's sitting up and the food is brought in. Doc Martin agreed to fifteen minutes and no longer."

Hoss grinned. "That sounds mighty fine. I think it'll do Adam and Emily a world of good."

A couple of hours later it was all set up. Ben had managed to convince Paul to eat dinner away from the office and let his boys handle the patients for a couple of hours. Adam was propped up against a lot of pillows and bowls of steaming soup, bread and tea were waiting on a small table nearby. It was decided that Joe would help Emily and Hoss would assist Adam to eat. Paul didn't want Adam using his left arm for a few days while the bruise healed.

There was a quiet knock at the door and Adam and Hoss looked that way in unison. Joe pushed the door open then wheeled Emily in and over to Adam's left side. The couple just stared at one another for several seconds when Hoss cleared his throat and tugged Joe toward the door. "Uh, we'll be right back. You two behave yerselves while we're gone."

Out in the hall, Joe looked at Hoss. "What are you doing? We're supposed to be helping them eat. They only have fifteen minutes."

Hoss cut him off. "Joe, they've been through a lot. They need some time alone. Ya get my meanin'?"

Joe looked back at the closed door and it finally dawned on him what Hoss was talking about. "Oh, oh yeah. I guess you're right. So we'll just stay out here for a few minutes right?'

"Now you're thinkin' little brother."

Emily laid her hand on Adam's left hand and let her eyes roam over Adam's face until they met his. Adam carefully moved his left hand so he could hold her hand. He drank in her face and the feel of her hand in his.

Emily began to cry. "Adam, I…."

"Shh, my darling. We don't need to talk now. Let's just be satisfied to hold each other." He carefully moved his left arm outward to reach for Emily and draw her to him. She shifted and was able to lay her head next to him while he rested his arm on her shoulders.

That is the way Hoss and Joe found them when they knocked and entered the room. Neither knew quite what to do but Adam did. He slowly moved his arm so Emily could sit up.

"You two can come on in. I think we're ready to eat now." He gave a small wink to Emily and was warmed all over to see her smile back.

Their brief dinner together was filled with joyous conversation as Hoss told Joe and Emily about his surprise and the plans with Elsa over the next couple of months. After dinner, Hoss and Joe took the dishes to the kitchen, thus giving Adam and Emily a little more private time together.

Returning from the kitchen, Hoss and Joe sat down to chat with Adam and Emily some more. Soon the conversation turned to the upcoming cattle drive.

"Adam, Joe an' I are goin' home t'morrow. We leave on the cattle drive the next day. We're both glad you and Emily'll be okay. Pa said he'll get word to us if the baby comes. I reckon Elsa will be here by the end of the week, about time you two get ta head home."

Adam nodded and looked at both his brothers. It had hit him hard just how close he'd come to never seeing them again. He was glad to have this time with them.

"You two be careful on the drive. Joe, you know to watch your expressions if you have to haggle on the price. And Hoss, you've got some good men working this drive. If the weather holds you should be in Sacramento in less than a month."

Adam paused to look at the strange expressions on his brothers' faces. Even Emily couldn't keep a straight face. It was like they weren't taking him seriously. He was about to say something about that when suddenly Joe and Hoss broke into side-splitting laughter.

"Older brother, you sound jest like Pa does just before we leave on a drive. Now I know you're gonna be alright."

Joe leaned on Hoss as he dried his eyes from laughing so much. "Adam, if you'd rather go on this drive I guess we can work something out with Paul. Right Hoss? Think you could boss the drive from the back of a wagon, big brother?"

Neither Adam nor Emily could contain their laughter any longer. They joined in until a flustered Paul and joyful Ben walked in to see what the devil was happening. Paul fussed over both of his patients but it was all done with a bright smile in his eyes. Satisfied all was well, he stepped out of the room and let the Cartwright family enjoy their time together.