THIRTEEN

"So that was it?" Adam said quietly.

"Basically, yes." Ben opened his vest and reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out Linda Chadwick's letter she had written to him. She handed it to Adam who pulled it from its envelope and unfolded it.

"Read it out loud, Adam," Hoss asked.

"Just not too loud," Joe said. "I don't want everyone to hear our business-at least not yet." Joe looked around to see if anyone could hear but there was so much noise and the piano player was starting to jangle out some tunes that it appeared that no one was within hearing distance.

Ben was about to say something to Joe, say that since Percy was his brother-their brother, what did it matter, but his energy and resolve failed him and he sank into the chair.

"Benjamin,

I will be dead by the time you receive this-I have perhaps a month of my unhappy life left so I write to inform you that you and I have a son, Percival Benjamin Lawson Chadwick.

I had hoped that you and I could marry and then you would know your son but you destroyed that last hope. I set your son upon your beloved Ponderosa, for your son, he is. He may not resemble your other progeny but I often see you in his dark eyes.

My husband, Milburn knew-I had foolishly but idealistically confessed-and he used that knowledge over my head like the sword of Damocles; I never knew when or if it would fall and destroy me. I am going to tell Percival who his true father is after I entrust this last letter to Montague, faithful Montague. My loyal assistant, true friend and my last love.

Are you shocked, Ben, that I found love in such an unlikely place when I had such grand aspirations as to be the wife of first you, and then a Lord? Don't be. Montague brought me the only happiness I ever experienced. It is a shame that it occurred only after the passing of Lord Chadwick…so many years wasted.

Percival is your problem now as he is your son. Rest assured of that. But you will find him much like me. I only hope that you deal with him more kindly.

Linda"

Adam sighed deeply and refolded the letter. He handed it back to his father. "I suppose that's it, then?"

"Ain't that what they call a death-bed confession?" Hoss asked.

"Yes, of a type," Ben said. "It would hold up in court if I challenged it."

"Not if the letter conveniently disappeared," Joe said, tracing the water rings on the table with his index finger.

"That's enough from you, Joe." Ben stood up and Hoss drained his mug before he stood up with his two brothers.

"So, how old is…Percy?" Adam asked.

Joe giggled at their new brother's name. "Percy Cartwright. You ever heard anything so sissy-sounding?'

Adam crossed his arms and smiled at Joe. "No, Francis. I don't think I have." And Hoss guffawed and even Ben smiled.

"Percy is a little more than a year older than Joe. The dates work out. Trust me, my math isn't that bad and I did calculate." Adam put his arms around his father's shoulder and they all walked out to the buckboard.

After the initial awkwardness of introductions, between Hoss, Adam and Percy, Hop Sing served dinner but Adam and Hoss were quick to pick up on the animosity between Hop Sing and Percy who sat at table at Joe's right and Adam's left. Percival had dressed for dinner and although he hadn't been particularly warm to his two new brothers, deigning to smile and give each a cursory nod, he had refrained from sarcasm up to that point. But Joe and Percy barely spoke even though they had known each other for a longer time.

"I do say," Percy said, "I am amazed at the size alone of you two newly-revealed siblings. You, Hoss, must be corn-fed the way hogs are. Your mother's milk must have been packed with pure cream."

Hoss shifted uncomfortably. Percy, for a reason other than the fact that he had shown up so suddenly, made him anxious and Hoss couldn't figure out why.

In a low, emotionless voice, Adam informed Percy that Hoss' mother had died shortly after he was born.

"Oh, of course," Percy said and sat back as if annoyed with himself. "We all have that in common, don't we? All motherless. Poor, motherless boys. But our father is the same. How have you managed to outlive all of our mothers, Daddy?"

Ben shot Percy a glance that basically told Percy that he was treading on dangerous ground, not so much with him but with Joe, Hoss and Adam.

Adam decided to change the subject. "I think that tomorrow afternoon, I'll ride into town and see Mr. and Mrs. Jeffers. I'll drive the buckboard in case they decide to move in tomorrow so I can take their luggage over. But I was thinking that the place must need a good cleaning and the grounds, well, the bushes and such have probably overgrown everything and with Jeffers being blind…"

"Oh," Percy interrupted, "blind? How fascinating. I have always been intrigued with the blind. In one school, well, there was a student who was practically blind-wore eyeglasses this thick!" Percy placed his thumb and forefinger a good inch apart to indicate the width of the boy's glasses. "Well, we hid his eyeglasses one day and we laughed and laughed as he fell about the room trying to find those spectacles. We would put obstacles in his way just to watch him tumble!"

Adam, Joe and Hoss looked at one another as Percy laughed uproariously at the memory of the practically blind student stumbling around.

"Well, see iffen you think this is so funny," Hoss answered with disdain. "He was blinded when his musket blew up in his face durin' the war. That's why they decided to move out here, to get away from the fightin'."

"By his accent," Ben said, ignoring Percy who was recovering from his bout of amusement, "I assume he fought for the South."

"He did," Joe said. "I asked him why they decided to come to Virginia City and he told me why. He's really a nice guy. His wife didn't say much but she sure is pretty."

Percy laughed and the other Cartwrights turned to look at him.

"What's so damn funny?" Adam asked. Percy gave him an odd feeling as if there was an evil presence among them. It was difficult for him to even accept Percy as a guest in their house so much as an actual blood relation. Percy made his blood run cold and the small hairs on the nape of his neck stand out like the hackles on a dog.

"Don't you think it's grandly funny? What a wonderful sense of humor God has; to give a man a beautiful wife and then blind him. I think it's such wonderful irony! Like some morality tale or Greek drama." And Percy's trilling laugh rang out across the otherwise somber table.

"Most people would find that sad," Adam added. Hoss, Joe and Ben didn't move; this had come down to Adam and Percy.

"Perhaps most people would. Do you, Adam? Do you find it sad or do you find it a good opportunity?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Yes, you do." Percy leaned in toward Adam and Adam's first response was to lean back, to pull away from Percy, but he stopped himself; Adam wasn't going to give ground to Percy-not a centimeter. "You were on the stage with her, weren't you? That's what I heard. Is his wife lush? Is she arousing? Did you find yourself wanting her? Did the two of you exchange glances while her poor, blind husband sat there not seeing that you and she longed for each other?" Percy said with mock drama.

"Would it excite you to hear that?" Adam asked. He knew what Percy was doing; Percy had caught something, some shift in Adam's body, some expression that quickly came to his face and then vanished, something that alerted Percy's suspicions that Adam found Mrs. Jeffers attractive and Adam was determined not to be caught. Percy was a keen observer and Adam knew that he was going to have to be vigilant.

Percy laughed, relaxed and sat back. "Actually, it would, but not for the reasons you think. Beautiful women, beautiful men-they're all the same to me. Beauty should be appreciated in all forms, don't you think, Adam? I adhere to the Greek classical ideals of beauty. Now, you, oldest brother, you are built like a Greek god. Adonis, I would call you, instead of Adam. Adonis was ripped apart by a boar. Have you ever been ripped by a boar, Adam? Been rammed with a long, thick tusk? More enjoyable than you might think. But then, Adam, there's all that hair you have that some people may find unattractive. The Greek ideal is hairless except, well, where it counts. I think though that it may be pleasurable to feel all that hair-such a reminder of masculinity, of your dominance, of your ability to overpower and overwhelm. I myself find It most attractive. Do women like feeling that thick mat of hair or does it repulse them? Make them feel as if some bear is mounting and slavering over them?"

Adam's face never changed nor did he move. He was trying to read Percy, to understand him and find his weakness but couldn't quite get a grip on him. "Better a hot-blooded bear than a cold-blooded, slithering reptile, I would think." Adam turned back to his food.

Percy just laughed, delighted at Adam's response. He lifted his wine glass to his oldest brother. "Touché. Parry and thrust. Or as Hamlet said, 'A hit, a very palpable hit.' "

"It was Osric who said it," Adam corrected, reaching for his own wine glass.

Percy gave a small laugh. "My, you are superior, are you not? Superior in every way. I suppose that I had better drop to my knees in front of you in order to please you-just to show my obeisance and submission, of course." Percy raised his eyebrows with a look of lasciviousness.

"You flatter me," Adam said. "Please don't-it only makes me more suspicious of your motives."

"It's not flattery if it's true, brother. Apparently your mother's stock was sturdier than the elegance and delicacy of my mother's lineage." Percy gave a deep sigh. "Nevertheless, everyone needs to appreciate the comical aspects of this sad life we all lead. And I would so love to watch two beautiful people enjoy each other-in every way." Percy gave a slight smile; he realized that Adam had read him; saw that the one of Percy's goals was to disrupt the family order and to make everyone uncomfortable. In the homey language of the west, Percy thought, he would be referred to as "The fly in the ointment." Adam was going to be a formidable opponent; his mother's warning to beware of Adam was obviously true, Percy realized. And he needed to be wary-Adam was dangerous to his plans.

And as Ben desperately tried to turn the conversation back to how they were going to make the rental property habitable before their lodgers moved in, Percy surreptitiously watched Adam and observed the other members of his new family now that they were all together. Percy noticed that Joe had moved slightly away from him. It had worked; he had made Joe uncomfortable to have him in close proximity. And Hoss avoided looking at him all together. Percy smiled to himself. And not once had Ben reprimanded him or told him to be quiet but instead, watched helplessly while he and Adam had sparred. Percy considered that a small victory. And as the family decided that they would go out early to rip out weeds from the yard and walk of the rental house and see what repairs, if any, needed to be made, Percy smiled to himself; so far, he had not been given any chores and hoped it would remain so. Nevertheless, as the family talked, Percy remembered how, sitting by his mother's bedside as she lay dying, she had given him instructions and suggestions on how to bring down the Cartwrights; she had been correct in all her appraisals-particularly about Ben and most of all, about Adam.