Chapter Five

Hannah and Rachel stayed another two weeks, during which time no one made any mention of the huge blowout Rachel and Josie had had the morning of the party, though the two women gave each other a wide berth and avoided being alone in a room together. Rachel spent a good deal of time in town with Widow Hawkins and, the family suspected, Sheriff Coffee, and Josie began receiving patients at her new clinic for the first time.

While he wished Rachel and Josie would make up – any time the two of them were in a room together, the temperature dropped dramatically – Adam was glad Rachel was spending so much time in town because volunteering to drive her gave him an excuse to visit Molly. He liked taking Molly out to lunch or shopping at the general store, but he avoided being alone with her for too long at a stretch. He had never been so intensely desirous of a woman, and the attraction made him a little apprehensive; he worried that if he moved too quickly he would find himself in a physical relationship with only a tenuous friendship underlying it. That is what had happened with his ex-fiancée, and Adam was not keen to have his heart smashed again. It was difficult, though. It had been more than a year since Adam last enjoyed a woman's company, and that had been, regrettably, a less-than-satisfying drunken encounter with a saloon girl in Placerville.

Molly noticed Adam's hesitation, but she said nothing. She had sensed that Adam was a careful, methodical man, and she guessed correctly that quick courtships were not Adam's modus operandi. Molly was content enough for now just to spend time with him. She certainly was not vain, but she did enjoy the jealous looks she received from the other young ladies in town as she glided down the sidewalk on the arm of Adam Cartwright.

By the end of her visit to the Ponderosa, Hannah felt confident that Adam was well on his way to carving out his own path. She, too, sensed his hesitation to move too quickly with Molly, but she could see their connection in the loving gazes they gave each other and the way Adam placed his hand on the small of Molly's back as he ushered her through doors. It was also evident in the smile Adam always wore upon returning from a trip to town and in his increasing likelihood to join one of his siblings in pulling some small prank on the others.

The next to last evening of Hannah and Rachel's visit, Hop Sing cooked up a magnificent feast of roast duck, green beans, sweet corn, baked potatoes, and dinner rolls, topped off with a beautifully frosted chocolate cake for dessert. Widow Hawkins and Sheriff Coffee joined them, and the table was so crowded that the diners were elbow-to-elbow.

The dinner was a resounding success. Hop Sing had roasted the two ducks to perfection: crispy skin surrounding meat so tender it nearly melted on the tongue. Josie had to excuse herself from the table when Hop Sing nudged her and whispered in her ear, "Do you get it?" he asked, nodding subtly to the duck and then to Ben, who was being badgered once again by Widow Hawkins. "Ducky."

Josie caught Adam's gaze as she returned to the table, her eyes streaming from the fit of laughter that she had muffled with a towel in the washroom. Adam cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, and Josie mouthed the word "Later" to him.

Just as Josie passed behind Hoss to return to her seat, the ground lurched violently beneath her feet, and she grabbed Hoss around the neck to keep from falling. She glanced out the dining-room window and watched open-mouthed as the grassy knoll on the side of the house rolled in waves like the ocean. On the other side of the table, Little Joe's and Adam's eyes grew huge as they clutched at the table, which was chattering noisily against the floorboards. The family was nearly deafened by the cacophony of glass shattering all over the house. Josie cringed as she thought of her father's portrait that had been sitting on her night table and was now surely in thousands of pieces on her bedroom floor. Hop Sing reeled out of the kitchen to avoid being hit by the extra plates and cups as they flew off their shelves.

Rachel cried out in alarm, but Hannah was shocked into silence, her eyes wide with terror as she clutched Adam's arm. The earth surged again, and Widow Hawkins was thrown sideways out of her chair, landing neatly – and, Adam later thought, conveniently – in Ben's lap. The eldest Cartwright was too shocked to react and sat there holding onto Clementine as the ground continued to pulsate beneath them. No one tried to catch the bowl of green beans as it bounced off the table and exploded on the floor.

When the ground stilled after twenty interminable seconds, the Cartwrights stayed frozen in place, staring at one another. Finally, Hoss broke the stunned silence.

"Josie, you're chokin' me," he gasped.

Josie realized that she had Hoss in a stranglehold, and his face was turning purple. She released him and jumped back.

"What the hell was that?!" she shouted.

Even Rachel was too shocked to chastise Josie for swearing. Adam found his voice first.

"That was an earthquake!" he replied incredulously. Adam had felt an earthquake once before in San Francisco, but never here in Nevada. He had not studied much geology, but he supposed there must be fault lines running through the territory, too.

Ben suddenly became aware of Clementine Hawkins sitting in his lap and staring adoringly up at him as if he had just saved her life. He nearly shoved her off his lap and onto the floor but remembered his manners at the last minute and stood up slowly instead, allowing her to slide more or less gracefully to her feet. Like a proper New England gentleman, he let her to hang onto his arm; they had all just had quite a shock.

"Is everyone all right?" he asked, glancing around at his still-startled family and guests.

Everyone nodded dumbly before they all started talking at once.

"Holy smoke! Did you ever feel anything like that?!"

"Dadburnit, if that weren't the strangest thing!"

"Merciful heavens! Does that happen often?!"

"I'm gonna check on the men in the bunkhouse. Make sure they're all right."

Dinner forgotten, Adam rose on rubbery legs and headed outside to the bunkhouse. After ensuring the hands were shaken up but not injured, Adam made quick rounds of the exterior of the bunkhouse, barn, and house to check for structural damage. There was a small crack near the ground on the backside of the barn, but otherwise, all the buildings seemed sound, and he smiled with pride at his sturdy building designs. He stepped inside the barn to check on the horses, but Hoss and Little Joe were already there, soothing the frightened animals and replacing tools and tack on their pegs and shelves. He stopped by Sport's stall and reassuringly stroked the white blaze down his horse's nose before heading back to the house.

When Adam got back in the house, he found Sheriff Coffee and the ladies helping Hop Sing sweep up broken glass. The dining room was not too bad; they had managed to hold everything on the table except the green beans, and apart from the brandy snifters, the living room was all right, too. The kitchen, however, was wrecked. Shattered dishes transformed the floor into a field of razor-sharp snowflakes, and every time someone took a step, the shards ground noisily beneath their shoes. The kitchen was too crowded for Adam's liking, so he picked his way carefully over to his father's study, where Ben was bending down to pick up the fallen portraits of his late wives.

Only Inger's portrait had survived unscathed as it managed to fall forward onto the cushiony leather top of Ben's desk but Marie's and Elizabeth's portraits had fallen backward off the edge of the desk. Ben was shaking the broken glass out of the golden frame of Elizabeth's portrait when Adam stepped over and picked up Marie's portrait, which lay face-down on the floor. Its glass was shattered, too, and Adam mimicked his father in shaking the shards out of the frame. The forlorn expression on Ben's face as he stared at the broken pictures cut right through Adam, and he gently pulled his mother's portrait from his father's hands.

"These are all right, Pa," he reassured him. "The glass hasn't scratched the pictures, and these frames are real sturdy. See? Not bent at all." He held up the two portraits in his hands side-by-side to illustrate his point. Ben had made a smart decision when he had purchased solid-gold frames. "We'll order new glass for these, and you'll never know the difference."

Ben nodded and took the portraits back from Adam. He laid them lovingly on his desk and turned back to his son. "Well!" he exclaimed, regaining control of himself and the task at hand. "I'm going to find a broom to sweep this up. I'll let you take care of the bedrooms."

"Gee, thanks, Pa."

Fortunately for Adam, none of them kept many fragile items in their bedrooms. The oil lamp on Ben's nightstand had fallen over, spilling the noxious liquid across the floor, but miraculously, the globe had not shattered. Adam set the lamp upright and threw down an old towel to sop up the oil. Hoss's bucket of whittling shavings had spilled across his bedroom floor, but Little Joe's room was untouched apart from an armchair that had tipped over. When he entered his own bedroom, Adam discovered his drafting tools had been flung off his desk and onto the floor, where they joined the piles of books that had tumbled from his bookshelves. He held his breath as he picked up his guitar from where it had fallen onto the rug, and he was relieved to see that the thick wool rug had prevented any damage. Josie's bedroom was in a similar state. One bookshelf had fallen completely over, sending medical texts scattering, but the portraits on her dressing table and nightstand were undamaged, and even her map of Washington, DC, had stayed secured to the wall. Adam shook his head, marveling at the randomness of the damage, and returned downstairs to let everyone know that the effects to the second floor were minimal.

As Adam reached the first floor, he heard a horse thunder into the yard and a man's voice frantically shouting "Mr. Cartwright! Mr. Cartwright!" He shared a quick, concerned look with Ben, and they both hustled outside to investigate.

A young red-haired man leapt from his lathered-up pinto and tore over to where Adam and Ben were standing on the porch. Curious, Josie wandered onto the porch behind them.

Ben recognized the boy as Tim, one of their new miners, and his blood ran cold. "What's wrong, Tim?" he barked. "What's happened?"

"Cave in, Mr. Cartwright!" Tim shouted, though he was standing less than two feet from his employer. "Up at the new mine! We got almost two dozen men trapped down there!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Josie spun on her heel and dashed inside, and Adam knew that she was racing up to her bedroom to change into a pair of jeans and gather her medical supplies. Ben saw Little Joe meander out of the barn and shouted at him to start saddling horses.

"How did that happen?" Adam demanded, his eyes blazing. "I specifically ordered Jeb to cease mining operations until that new shoring was in place."

Tim shrank back a few steps. "That's what we were doing, Mr. Cartwright," he insisted, shifting his gaze to Adam. "The men were down there puttin' in the new shoring when that earthquake hit. Brought the whole thing down on top of them."

Ben turned to Adam. "I thought you said that shoring would be finished two weeks ago."

Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. "It was supposed to be," he sighed, "but we had a holdup with the lumber. I cut a last-minute deal with the Army for some timber, so the mine got bumped back. I never imagined we'd have an earthquake."

"It's not your fault, son," Ben assured him. "But we better get up there." He and Adam darted into the house with Tim on their heels. They grabbed their hats off the sideboard and were buckling on their guns when Josie joined them and pulled her own revolver out of the sideboard drawer where she had hidden it from Rachel. Hannah, Rachel, Roy, Hop Sing, and Clementine dashed out of the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about. Rachel's eyes widened at the sight of Josie buckling a gun around her slim, denim-clad hips, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Ben," Hannah said urgently. "What's happened?"

"Cave-in up at one of our mines," he replied.

Hannah pressed a hand to her heart, and Rachel clutched Clementine's hand and muttered "Heaven help us."

Roy sprang into action. "I'll ride into town and gather up some men," he offered.

"Get Dr. Martin, too," Josie requested. "There's two dozen men down there. If even half of them are hurt, I'm gonna need help."

"You got it." Roy snatched his hat off the sideboard and darted out the door. He sprang onto his horse with more agility than Josie would have expected from the aging lawman and sped off toward Virginia City.

"I'll come with you," Hannah offered.

Three pairs of Cartwright eyes turned and stared at Hannah.

"Oh, Mama," Josie sputtered. "I don't know. This could be pretty gruesome."

Hannah narrowed her eyes at her daughter and put her hands on her hips. She looked so much like Josie did when she was indignant that Adam would have chuckled had the situation not been so serious.

"Josephine Elizabeth." Josie's eyes widened as Hannah punctuated each syllable. "You are not the only woman in this family to have assisted your father in his clinic. I am coming with you."

Josie shrank back. "So you are," she agreed. "Hop Sing! Would you please hitch up a wagon and bring my mother up to the mine?"

Hop Sing nodded and hustled out the door.

"I'll come, too," Widow Hawkins said. "Don't know much about medicine, but I does know how to wrap a bandage."

"Yes, me as well," Rachel added.

"Fine," Josie said crisply to her aunt. "Just don't get in my way." She snatched up Little Joe's hat and gun and scooted out the door to the yard, where Little Joe and Hoss were already waiting with the Cartwrights' horses saddled and stamping impatiently. Josie tossed Little Joe his hat and gun and sprang onto Scout. She tied her medical bag to her saddle while her uncle and cousins mounted up, and with a series of loud "HA!"s, they wheeled away. Pip tore off after them, barking madly.

The three ladies coughed as the tawny cloud of dust the five horses and the hound threw up advanced onto the porch like an invading army.

"I thought you said she did not ride very well," Rachel addressed her younger sister.

"She seems to have improved," Hannah said with a small smile.

The situation at the mine was as bad as it could possibly have been. All twenty-three men who were in the mine at the time of the earthquake were now trapped behind a solid wall of rock and timber obstructing the entrance that was cut into the side of the mountain. A hot surge of anger and frustration burned through Adam when he saw the barricade. He pounded one of the rocks with his fist before flinging his hat into the dirt.

Still aboard Scout, Josie's heart sank. If Adam were visibly angry, the situation must be really dire, and she knew that despite Ben's reassurances, Adam blamed himself. She slid down from Scout and approached him. She picked up his hat, dusted it off, and handed it to him.

"I don't think we need you just yet, Josie," Adam grumbled as he accepted his hat.

"Yes, you do." Josie replied. She stepped around him and began helping the men who were already moving rocks away from the entrance.

Adam sighed and hung his head. "Yeah," he said to no one in particular. He jammed his hat back on his head and joined Josie and the men in moving the rocks.

Clearing the entrance was a slow, laborious process. Some of the larger stones required a team of men to move, and Adam stopped the operation frequently to check the stability of the rock pile and mine's entrance to ensure they would not bring more earth and stone down on top of both themselves and the men inside. As the sun dipped below the mountains, the men lit lanterns which they placed all around the work site. When Hop Sing rolled up in the wagon with Hannah, Rachel, and Clementine, he, too, jumped in to help.

After three hours of hard labor, everyone was tiring. Josie's hands were raw and bloody from the sharp rocks, but she wrapped bandages around them and kept working. Suddenly, a cheer erupted, and Josie whipped around to see Sheriff Coffee galloping up at the head of a group of at least a dozen men, including, Josie was relieved to see, Dr. Paul Martin. Exhausted, she dropped down next to a large oak tree and took a deep swig from her canteen. Pip trotted over and began bathing her face, and Josie shoved him away. She had just dropped her head between her knees to catch her breath when she felt someone nudge her left foot. She looked up into the twinkling brown eyes of Fionn O'Connell.

"Almost didn't recognize you," he said cheekily. "You look a bit different when you're not wrapped up in one of me sister's gowns."

"Sorry to disappoint, but this is what I usually look like," Josie replied, wiping sweat from her forehead with her grimy shirtsleeve. "What are you doing here? I mean, how did you hear about the cave-in?"

Fionn reached down a hand and pulled Josie to her feet so they were face-to-face. Fionn was only a couple inches taller than Josie, and she found herself staring straight at his freckled nose. "I was in town to drive Molly home," he explained. "Heard the sheriff come tearin' in like the devil himself was after him. Shoutin' and hollerin', he was. So I thought I'd help." He smiled at her. "By the way, I like you like this. More useful than you'd be in a dress."

Josie shifted uncomfortably. "Right," she said. She broke away from his gaze, glanced over his shoulder, and tipped her head in the direction of the mine entrance, where the fresh crop of men had taken over removing the stones. "They certainly could use your help."

Fionn was one of those people who smiled with his entire face – his eyes nearly scrunched closed, and his nose wrinkled in such an endearing way that Josie had to admit it was cute. "Aye, that they could," he agreed. He chucked Josie under the chin and scampered off toward the mine.

Dr. Martin strode over just as Fionn left and asked for an appraisal of the situation.

"Nothing at all yet," Josie grumbled, gesturing angrily toward the blocked mine entrance and now understanding Adam's immediate frustration when they had arrived. "We've been working for three hours and haven't even broken through to see if anyone's still alive."

Dr. Martin placed one hand on Josie's shoulder and scratched Pip's head with the other. "There are two dozen men in there," he said. "Odds are we'll have survivors. Be patient."

"Because we Cartwrights are well known for our infinite patience."

Paul smiled fondly at his protégé and told her to rest for a bit. Then he scurried off to help move rocks.

Josie flopped back into the dirt just as Adam trudged over and dropped next to her. She handed him the canteen, and he drank deeply, handing it back considerably lighter than it had been when he had received it. The cousins sat silently and watched the men work. The crash of rocks against one another as the men heaved them from the mine entrance to the growing piles scattered around the entrance sounded like thunder, and the displaced dust filtered through the lantern light, giving the entire scene a hazy, ghostly quality, like they were all caught up in some spectral storm, which, Josie mused, in a way, they were. Exhausted, she leaned back against Adam. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and patted her arm. He immediately regretted this as Josie's shirtsleeve sent up a cloud of dust that blew straight into his eyes, and he spent the next several minutes blinking and trying to rinse them out with water from the canteen.

Ten minutes later, another cheer erupted as the men finally broke through the rock wall. They had soon opened a hole near the top large enough for Little Joe, Hop Sing, and Fionn to wriggle through. Josie tried to join them, but Adam grabbed the collar of her shirt and held fast.

"Hey!" Josie protested. "Lemme go!"

"No way," Adam replied firmly. "Little Joe's been going into mines since he was a kid. He can tell which tunnels are safe and which aren't. You're staying right here, greenhorn."

Josie bristled at Adam's use of "greenhorn." After two years in Nevada, she was hardly a naïve newcomer. "I'll stick close to Joe," she insisted.

"Because Joe's always kept you out of trouble," Adam replied. "No. If you want to go in that mine, you'll have to leave your shirt behind, because I'm not letting go."

Josie looked over her shoulder and scowled at Adam. He simply shrugged his shoulders without releasing his grip on her collar. She thought about unbuttoning her shirt and slipping free just to embarrass him, but she was afraid some of the miners might enjoy that a little too much; men outnumbered women in the West two-to-one, and some of them grew mighty lonely.

As Adam and Josie squared off, a small contingent of women from town arrived including Patience Lovejoy and Sally Cass. Josie cringed as she recognized a few miners' wives. She could not imagine riding for two hours or more to find out whether the man she loved was alive or dead. Josie's stomach turned to ice as she saw Ellie Jenkins slide down from her horse with six-month-old Josephine in her arms. Ellie raced over to her, little Josephine giggling as she bounced along.

"Dr. Cartwright!" Ellie shouted. Adam released Josie and went back to work knowing that Ellie would keep Josie occupied. "Dr. Cartwright!" Ellie's cheeks were flushed, and her red-rimmed eyes told Josie all she needed to know: Isaiah was in the mine when it collapsed.

"We just sent some men in," Josie said in answer to Ellie's unasked question. "They're working to widen the opening so we can get more people in there." Josie waved to Rachel, who hustled over with the bucket of water she had been circulating among the working men. Rachel handed the dusty, dazed woman a full dipper and directed her to sit down under the oak tree.

"What a beautiful baby," Rachel cooed, trying to distract Ellie. "What's her name?"

"Josephine," Ellie muttered, staring at the group of men who continued to haul rocks away from the mine entrance.

"What a coincidence!" Rachel exclaimed brightly.

"Ain't no coincidence," Ellie replied, tearing her eyes away from the mine to stare vacantly at Rachel. "Named her after Dr. Cartwright. She saved our lives." Ellie pulled her baby a little closer to her bosom and stroked the child's pumpkin-colored hair.

Rachel snapped her eyes over to Josie, who shrugged. "Just doing my job," Josie mumbled.

"What happened?" Rachel asked, turning back to Ellie.

"Hard birth" was all Ellie could muster. She turned her gaze back to the mine and would not speak any more, despite Rachel's best attempts to engage her in conversation.

Josie was about to return to helping the men move rocks when she heard thundering hooves behind her. The lanterns' dim light was too dim to reveal the face of the rider, but Josie already knew it was Simon. She sprinted over to him and threw her arms around his neck the second he slid down from his horse.

"How did you know we were here?" she asked, her face buried in his neck.

"I rode over to the house to see if you were all ok after that earthquake. When I found the house empty, I scared up one of the hands who told me what happened, so I came over here to see if I could help."

"You sure can!" Josie exclaimed, kissing him swiftly. She led him over to the mine entrance, where a sweat-soaked Adam put him to work shifting rocks.

The men had made considerable progress widening the opening, which now gaped before them like the mouth of some prehistoric monster, the displaced stones scattered about like so many broken teeth. Ben and Adam were gathering a quorum of men to go inside to assist them when Pip scrambled through the yawning gap and disappeared into the mine. Everyone stopped and stared curiously into the black hole for a few moments when they heard Pip bark, his deep voice echoing through the vacant tunnels. Only seconds later, he reappeared, leading Little Joe, who was carrying Isaiah Jenkins. Adam let loose a small smile when he saw his baby brother bearing a man who was at least thirty pounds heavier than him. Little Joe was not as powerfully built as other Cartwright men, but he had every ounce the strength. He lifted Isaiah up to the mouth of the hole and handed him over to Hoss before pulling himself out of the mine.

"ISAIAH!" Ellie screamed. She thrust baby Josephine into Rachel's arms and made a mad dash for her unconscious husband. The surprised baby ripped her thumb out of her mouth and stared up at Rachel, a string of drool spilling from the corner of Josephine's tiny pink mouth and splashing silently onto Rachel's wrist. Rachel's lip curled in distaste as she stared at the little puddle on her arm, but with her hands full of baby, she could not reach her handkerchief to wipe it off. Instead, she rolled her wrist inward toward the baby and wiped the drool onto the little girl's diapered bottom. Baby Josephine broke into a wide smile and laughed as if it were all a fantastic game. Rachel had never been much for babies, but even she had to smile at the carrot-topped little girl's delight.

When Ellie reached Isaiah, she grabbed his hand and held it tightly as Hoss carried him to a bedroll Josie had spread out under the oak tree. Hoss laid the man down on the blanket, and Josie and Dr. Martin nearly knocked heads as they both bent over their first patient. He was bleeding badly from a gash on his forehead, and as he started to come around, he turned his head and vomited all over Dr. Martin's boots.

"Concussion," Paul and Josie chimed in unison. Josie left Dr. Martin to rinse his boots and tend to Isaiah as Fionn and Hop Sing lifted another man out of the mine.

For the next forty-five minutes, miners stumbled or were carried out of the mine in a steady stream, each man blinking as the light from the lanterns hit pupils still dilated from the gloomy cavern. Rachel set herself to the task of directing each injured man to a bedroll for Josie or Paul to examine. Hannah, Clementine, Sally, and Patience circulated with dippers of water to soothe dust-clogged throats and bandages to protect minor cuts and scrapes that did not require stitches. Mercifully, most of the miners had only superficial wounds, though one man would be out of work for some time with a broken arm, and Isaiah Jenkins' concussion would require weeks of rest.

As the clock rolled over onto a new day, Adam and Ben emerged from the mine carrying a man whose face they had covered with Ben's neckerchief. Everyone fell silent as the Cartwrights bore out the body of Tom Cook, a fifteen-year veteran of Ponderosa mines. They laid him gently near a ponderosa pine, away from the glare of the lantern light and the shouts of the laboring men. Reverend Lovejoy, who had arrived on the scene shortly after his daughter, knelt next to the body and began muttering a prayer. Miraculously, Tom's was the only life lost when the mine shaft collapsed.

"I think that's it, Pa," Little Joe said as he swiped at the dust and sweat on his face with his sleeve. His shirt, however, was so filthy that all this accomplished was smearing the grime around, leaving Little Joe looking like child who had just lost a mud-pie fight. "Jeb said there were twenty-three men down there, and that's how many we've brought up. Fionn and I were gonna make one last sweep, make sure there isn't anyone down there Jeb didn't know about."

"Good idea, son," Ben sighed in exhaustion as he laid a hand on Joe's shoulder. "Just be careful down there."

"Don't you worry, Pa. You know what a careful guy I am." Joe flashed his trademark grin, slapped his father's dusty shoulder, and sauntered back toward the mine.

Fionn and Joe retreated into the mine once more, and Josie gave herself a short break from bandaging and stitching. Simon ambled over and gave her a much appreciated swig from his canteen. Adam joined them to ask how the patients were doing when they heard the hoof beats of another approaching horse. The trio squinted into the inky night but could not make out who it was until a voice called out in a familiar Irish accent, "Adam? Mr. Cartwright?"

Adam lit up and hustled over to Molly's horse as she reined it to a stop. "Hello, Molly!" he cheered, then grimaced. He probably should not sound so chipper at the scene of a cave-in.

Molly took Adam's proffered hand and leapt down from her mount. She gave Adam a quick peck, but Adam could feel the hot anger radiating off her. Before he could inquire, Molly burst out, "All right! Where is he? Where is that no-good brother of mine?!"

"Fionn?" Adam replied. "He's down in the mine with Little Joe. They're checking to make sure we didn't miss anyone trapped down there. Don't worry, though, Molly. He's all right."

"He won't be when I get hold of him!" Molly thundered. "That no-good scoundrel, leavin' me waitin' at my shop for him! Was supposed to drive me home, he was, but did he show up? NO! Left me worryin' like an old grandmother with no idea where he was, and me already shaken halfway to the devil by that earthquake. He could have been carried off by Indians for all I knew! If it weren't for Sue at the saloon havin' spotted him ridin' off with the sheriff, I'd probably be plannin' his funeral right now! Though I should anyway because he'll be needing a funeral when I get hold of him!"

Adam recognized that Molly was more frightened than angry, and he took her into his arms and held her tightly. "It's ok," he said, stroking the back of her hair. "Fionn's all right. It must have been terrible being alone in your shop during that earthquake."

Molly sniffled into Adam's shoulder and nodded her head. "Sorry about that, Just Adam," she apologized, taking a small step back. "That little brother of mine can scare me worse than the devil himself."

"You don't have to explain little brothers to me," Adam said, smiling at her. She smiled back, tilted her head up and kissed him properly. Adam was seized with the desire to drag her off to the nearest line shack, but as second-in-command of the Ponderosa, he could not afford that luxury just then. He sighed, took Molly's hand, and led her to where Josie and Simon stood waiting.

No sooner had Josie and Simon opened their mouths to greet Molly then the earth lurched again. Adam had just enough time to yell "AFTERSHOCK!" before he and Molly were thrown into each other and onto the ground, Adam's head narrowly missing a sharp rock and his elbow slamming into Molly's ribs. Simon was launched backward, and Josie landed on top of Molly and Adam with a squeak of surprise. Adam wrapped one strong arm around Molly and the other around Josie and held them tightly while the earth trembled. Simon crawled on his belly along the heaving ground toward them and wrapped an arm around Josie, too.

Around them, the men shouted at one another to hold the horses or stand clear of the rock piles they had created. Women screamed, and baby Josephine broke out crying in terror. Every untied horse bolted, their pounding hooves adding to the guttural rumbling of the angry earth. Adam closed his eyes and prayed they would not be trampled. The four of them lay frozen in place, a tangle of arms and legs, for several long seconds after the earth stilled. Everyone and everything on the site fell eerily quiet – even the crickets had stopped chirping – waiting to see if the aftershock was truly over. At long last, when he was sure the earth would remain still, Adam glanced at Josie, saw that Simon had hold of her, and then rolled over to check on Molly.

"You ok?" he asked, brushing a strand of auburn hair off her cheek.

Molly massaged her ribcage where Adam's elbow had punched her. "Probably have a bruise tomorrow, but I'll live," she said, smiling up at him.

"Molly, I am so, so sorry!" Adam's hand found and caressed the spot on Molly's side that he had elbowed.

"Not your fault," she assured him, placing her hand atop his. "You didn't cause the earthquake. At least, I don't think you did."

Adam smiled and helped Molly to her feet while Simon did the same for Josie.

Then the shouting went up.

"It's collapsed again!"

"Did we get everyone out?"

"Little Joe and the Irish boy are still in there!"

This last comment cut through Adam like a knife. He and Molly stared at one another in horror while Josie let out a strangled sob and took off running toward the mine entrance, Simon hot on her heels. Adam grabbed Molly's hand and took off after them.

The mine entrance was still clear, but Jeb checked out the main channel and told Ben and Adam that the interior tunnels had collapsed again, presumably trapping Fionn and Little Joe.

"Trouble is, Mr. Cartwright, we don't know which tunnel the boys were in," Jeb explained.

Tears sprang to Molly's eyes, and Adam wrapped his arms around her shoulders, even as the weight of Jeb's news threatened to crush him. Josie fought back a wave of nausea and buried her face in Simon's chest. From somewhere behind her, Josie heard Hannah stifle a sob that sounded like "Joe." The color drained from Ben's face, but he immediately began issuing orders.

"All right," he said, "here's what we're going to do. Adam, Hoss, you're coming with me into the mine. There are only five tunnels in there, so odds are one of us will come across the right one. Any sign of Little Joe or Fionn, and you alert the other two. Agreed?"

Adam and Hoss nodded, and Josie released Simon and stepped forward. "I'm coming, too," she insisted, her chin held high.

Ben heaved a sigh and wiped his forearm across his grimy brow. "No, Josephine," he replied. "Enough people have been hurt by this mine already. The boys and I will handle this. Besides, you have patients to tend to out here."

"Paul has them covered," Josie argued. "And I've probably got patients in there." She gestured toward the mine entrance.

Adam could tell that his father had no energy left for an argument with Josie and was about to resort to "A mine is no place for a woman." Tempers would flare quickly after that, so Adam interceded.

"Josie," Adam said softly. He let go of Molly, stepped over to Josie, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "We almost lost you once. We can't go through that again."

Josie stared into the hazel eyes she knew so well and saw the sincerity behind them. She might not back down for Ben, but she would for Adam.

"All right," she muttered, pulling away from Adam.

Simon saw the despair and frustration on Josie's face and made a snap decision. "I'll go," he offered, stepping forward. Ben opened his mouth to argue, but Simon cut him off. "Little Joe and I have been friends since we were kids. He'd come after me if our situations were reversed. And we're more likely to find him quick if we've got four of the five tunnels covered."

Ben threw up his hands. "Fine! Let's just get going."

Josie hugged all four of them before they headed into the mine. "Be careful," she whispered in Simon's ear, the tears she had been fighting nearly breaking through.

Simon kissed her. "Don't worry, sweetheart. We'll bring Joe back to you. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Molly and Patience were bidding Adam and Hoss similar farewells, though they were less successful at containing their tears. Adam smoothed Molly's hair away from her face and promised to bring Fionn back, though his thoughts were with Joe. Patience kissed Hoss in full view of everyone, and Hoss blushed so brightly that if someone had fixed a handle to his head they could have used him as a lantern. Ben just shifted awkwardly as all the young people very publicly expressed their affection. Feeling a bit lost herself, Hannah went over to him and pulled her brother-in-law into an embrace.

"It'll be ok," she whispered. "I'm sure Joe's still alive in there."

Ben nodded and hugged her back briefly. He needed to stay all-business just now. "Come on, boys!" he called. "Let's go get Joe and Fionn!"

As the four men gathered up lanterns and shovels and headed into the mine, an idea popped into Josie's head.

"Pip!" she hollered. The dog came bounding over to her from where he had been "helping" tend to the injured miners. Josie pointed toward the mine entrance. "Go find L.J.!"

Pip barked and took off into the mine after Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Simon.

The four men and their canine assistant paused about a hundred yards into the mine where it branched off in five directions. Two of the tunnels were blocked off by fallen rock, so they decided to begin by investigating the three that were still open; no sense digging through more rocks if they didn't have to. Simon and Ben took off down separate tunnels to the left, leaving Adam, Hoss, and Pip with a tunnel leading straight ahead.

The brothers treaded silently down the rocky path, both their lanterns raised high and their ears straining for any sound of their little brother. Adam's stomach churned as his thoughts returned to the day he had accidentally shot Little Joe. The memory of Joe lying in the dirt close to death was as fresh as if it had happened only hours ago rather than six years ago, and Adam tried not to envision Little Joe in that condition now.

As if reading Adam's thoughts, Hoss muttered, "Hang on, little buddy, we're comin' for ya."

After a couple hundred more yards, they reached another wall of fallen rock, and Adam kicked the dirt in frustration. "Everywhere I turn, it's more damn rocks!" he shouted. Hoss selected a rock that looked secure and clanked on it with his shovel. The brothers held their breath and listened, but when they received no returning signal, Adam shook his head. "Come on, Hoss. Let's go see if Pa or Simon are having any luck."

They were turning back toward the main tunnel when Pip barked at them. Adam and Hoss turned and saw the giant dog pawing at the rock wall and whining. He looked over his shoulder at them and barked again.

"Adam, I think they're back there!" Hoss exclaimed. "Quick! You run and get Pa and Simon. I'll start moving these rocks."

Adam took off sprinting down the tunnel.

Outside the mine, Josie had tried to keep tending to patients, but most of the injured men had already been patched up and sent home. Dr. Martin kept repeating what a miracle it was that only one man was killed and the rest had only minor injuries. With nothing else to do, Josie paced back and forth in front of the mine entrance. Rachel, who was watching from a seat on a nearby boulder, finally asked her to stop.

"Come sit down, Josephine," she said as soothingly as she knew how – which was not very. "Everything is all right."

Josie stopped in her tracks and stared at her aunt. "You think everything is all right?" she asked in wonderment. "My entire heart is in that mine that could come down at any minute, and you think everything is all right?!"

Rachel glanced around, hoping no one had noticed her niece's rising voice. "I am sorry," she said, much to Josie's shock. "That is not what I meant. What I should have said is that everything will be all right. Adam will get Joseph out of the mine. Now please come sit down."

Josie reluctantly collapsed onto the boulder next to her aunt. "Yeah," she grumbled, shoving a lock of hair out of her face. "I just hope he gets him out in one piece."

Rachel reached over and patted Josie's hand – the first contact between them since their argument the morning of the party. "Don't you worry, Josephine," she said with a small smile. "Even if Little Joe is in pieces, I am certain you could sort him out. Why, if all the king's horses and all the king's men had consulted you, they would have had no trouble putting Humpty Dumpty to rights."

This remark was so absurd and unexpected that Josie burst out laughing. "I must be hallucinating," she said at last as she wiped her eyes. "For a second there, I thought you made a joke."

"Contrary to what you may have heard, Josephine, I was not tragically born without a sense of humor." Rachel caught Josie's eye and gave her a sly smile but then grew serious. "You really did save that woman and her baby, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Josie said, giving her shoulders a modest shrug. "Baby needed to be delivered quickly, so I performed a cesarean section."

"Josephine, that is the most incredible thing I have ever heard."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Hoss. He assisted me."

Rachel shook her head. "No, I meant that is the most amazing thing I have ever heard. You are a gifted doctor, Josephine. Everyone in this town says so."

Josie eyed her aunt suspiciously, waiting for the backhanded insult that was sure to follow. To her great surprise, it never came.

"As I recall," Rachel continued, "I opposed your enrollment in medical school."

Josie snorted. When she had announced her acceptance to the Female Medical College, Rachel had burst into tears – and they had not been tears of joy.

Rachel looked softly at her and took her hand. "I was wrong. You were meant to be a doctor, and you were meant to be here in Nevada. I am very proud of the woman you have become."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. And I am sorry I have not told you that before." Rachel squeezed Josie's hand, and Josie smiled at her. They would never be friends, but Josie knew that at least they were not enemies.

Deep in the mine, Ben and Simon were now helping Adam and Hoss clear the tunnel. As they had begun working, they had finally heard an answering clang against the other side of the rocks, so they knew that at least one of the trapped men was still alive. Fortunately, the cave-in was not so bad here as it had been at the entrance to the mine. The rocks were smaller, and Adam could tell from the hollow sound his shovel made when he tapped it against the stones that the blockage was not as deep as at the entrance either. Still, they labored for forty minutes before breaking through.

"Joseph!" Ben shouted into the gap. "Joseph!"

"Mr. Cartwright!" Fionn's voice answered back. He sounded weak, as if he had been fighting to remain conscious.

"Fionn!" Ben hollered. "Fionn, is Joseph with you?"

"Pa?" a thin voice croaked.

Ben and Hoss sagged against the rocks in relief while Adam ran a hand down his gritty face. Pip whined and put his front feet up on the rocks, trying to peer through the hole the men had cleared.

"Aye, Mr. Cartwright, he's here," Fionn replied. "But his leg's trapped under a huge boulder. I can't get him free."

"Don't you worry none, Fionn," Hoss called out. "We'll get through to you lickity split. Can you move some of the rocks on your side?"

"I'll- I'll try," Fionn wheezed.

Hoss caught Ben's eye and shook his head. It was clear Fionn was injured and would be of no assistance. The four men each took a deep breath and recommenced clearing the stones with renewed vigor. In another ten minutes, they had cleared a space wide enough to pass through. Ben charged through first and dropped to the ground next to Little Joe.

Adam's breath caught when he saw his little brother's predicament. Joe was face-down in the dirt, his left leg pinned beneath a boulder that was at least three feet across and about a foot tall. A gash on his forehead had stopped bleeding some time ago, but his face was smeared with a gruesome mixture of blood, dirt, and sweat, which Pip was now trying to lick off of him. Joe raised his head, looked up at Adam, and managed a weak smile.

"Hey, Older Brother," he gasped. "'Bout time you got here." He glanced over at Ben. "Told you I'd be careful."

As Ben gave Little Joe a few sips of water from his canteen and Hoss and Adam circled the boulder to work out how to free Joe, Simon tended to Fionn. Like Joe, Fionn had a nasty gash on his forehead, and he was dizzy from the blow and loss of blood. Simon made him sit down and slowly sip water from his canteen.

"Simon!" Adam barked. "C'mere. We need your help."

Because the boulder was flat on the top and bottom, they could not roll it off of Joe, so the men had no choice but to lift it. Fionn was no help in his current state, so Ben, Hoss, and Adam each grabbed an edge of it and on the count of three heaved with all their might. They managed to lift the boulder about a foot, at which point, Simon grabbed Little Joe's wrists and pulled him out from under the stone. Joe cried out in agony and turned so pale Simon was certain he would pass out, but Joe managed to cling to consciousness. As soon Little Joe was clear, the Cartwrights dropped the boulder with a thunderous boom. Adam cringed and hoped the sound waves did not cause another cave in. He held his breath for a full ten seconds while he listened to the crash echo away down the tunnel. When no more rocks collapsed, he let out his breath in loud rush.

Hoss shook his head at Joe's lower left leg, which was twisted at a grotesque angle that legs should not be able to manage. The youngest Cartwright was panting heavily, trying to breathe through the pain and stay conscious. Ben cradled his son's head in his lap and swept the bloody, sweaty curls from Little Joe's forehead. He looked up at Adam. "Let's get him to Josie," he said.

"Josie" Little Joe whispered.

"Yeah, Josie," Hoss echoed, patting Joe's shoulder. "She's waitin' for ya outside. You just hang onto Pa, and we'll have you there in no time."

Little Joe looped his arms around his father's neck as Ben slid one arm under his shoulder and the other under his knees. Joe cried out again when Ben lifted him and jostled his broken leg. Joe bit his lower lip so hard that a trickle of blood dribbled down his chin, leaving an angry red trail. Ben picked his way carefully over the remaining fallen stones and began walking very slowly toward the entrance to the mine. Pip raced ahead of him to lead the way and looked over his shoulder every so often as if to ensure that Ben had not dropped Little Joe.

"All right, Fionn," Adam said, turning back to Molly's brother. "Can you walk?"

"Aye," came the feeble reply. Fionn wobbled to his feet, took two steps toward Adam, and pitched forward. Adam lurched and caught him under the arms. He started to pick him up, but Fionn protested. "No!" he shouted. "I can bloody walk!"

"Sure you can," Adam replied, throwing Fionn's arm across his shoulders and threading his arm around the younger man's waist. "You just hang on and keep me from tripping, ok?"

Fionn chuckled weakly, and he and Adam began their slow journey out of the mine behind Ben, Joe, Hoss, Simon, and Pip.

It took them another quarter of an hour to reach the mouth of the mine, and when they finally emerged into the cool night air, a cheer erupted. Josie was still sitting with Rachel, but she when she saw Ben bearing Little Joe out of the mine, she screamed Joe's name and bolted for him. Molly's face lit up with hope, and she clutched Hannah's hand as Pip came bounding out of the mine like a victorious army general. When Adam and Fionn finally appeared, Adam still bearing most of Fionn's weight, Molly burst into tears and ran sobbing toward them. She caught Fionn up in a fierce hug and bawled into his shoulder.

"It's all right, Molly," Fionn soothed her. "I'm all right. Just a little bump on me noggin."

"Nothin' up there to damage anyway," Molly snuffled.

Adam helped Fionn sit down against a tree and hollered for Dr. Martin. When Fionn was safely seated, Molly turned and leapt at Adam, pulling him to her and kissing him over and over again.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said between kisses.

Caught off guard, Adam stumbled backward a few steps, but regained his balance and let Molly kiss him to her heart's content. After several moments, they heard Fionn yelp in pain, and they looked over to see Dr. Martin stitching up the gash above Fionn's right eye. Molly squeezed Adam's hands a final time and dashed through Fionn's blue haze of curse words to comfort him.

Adam hurried over to where Josie was making Little Joe as comfortable as she could on a bedroll in the grass. Wiping tears from her eyes, Hannah had rushed over and cradled Little Joe's head in her lap. She was now using her handkerchief and some water from a canteen to wipe the worst of the blood and dirt from his face. She started with the cut on his forehead, which, though ugly, was not terribly deep.

"I don't think this needs stitches, Josie," she said. "Just a little iodine."

"I'm running out of iodine," Josie said as she sliced open Joe's left pants leg with her pocket knife. "Use the silver nitrate."

Little Joe groaned as he remembered how badly the silver nitrate stung. Then he chuckled to himself for worrying about a little stinging when his broken leg was so painful he wanted to vomit. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as Josie ran her hands up his shin to find the fracture. Josie noticed the pain in his face and told Hannah to put him out.

Hoss dug into Josie's medical bag and extracted the little brown bottle of chloroform and a rag and handed both to Hannah. She doused the rag and held it gently over Joe's mouth and nose. "Just breathe normally, sweetheart," she instructed. Within moments, Joe had slipped into unconsciousness. Hannah continued to stroke his matted curls as Josie unbuttoned his shirt to check for broken ribs and internal injuries. Joe had a nasty bruise arising on chest from where he had hit the ground when the boulder fell on him, but otherwise, his torso was fine. Josie moved back to his leg and ran her hands along his shin.

"There it is!" she declared, finding a fracture about halfway between his knee and ankle.

"What do we have here?" Dr. Martin asked. Having finished stitching up Fionn and ordering the young man to rest for the next several days, he had wandered over to check on Little Joe.

"Clean break right across the tibia," Josie told him. "He's lucky; this should heal up nice and straight."

Dr. Martin trotted back over to his horse and retrieved a couple splints from his supplies. He returned to Joe's side and handed the splints to Josie. She laid them next to her, placed a hand on each end of the fracture, and deftly shoved the two pieces of bone back into alignment with an audible crunch. Even Ben, who had seen much uglier injuries during his time at sea and while crossing the continent, felt woozy as he watched Josie set Little Joe's leg. He sat down heavily next to Joe and gripped his unconscious son's hand while Hoss helped Josie secure the splints.

"Do we have any plaster of Paris at home?" Josie asked Ben as she finished lashing the splints to Joe's leg.

"I don't think so," Ben replied.

"Yes!" Adam cut in. "We used it to finish the ceilings in your clinic. There's a whole pail left. What do you need it for?"

"I don't trust Joe to keep this leg still," Josie answered. "I'm going to make a plaster cast to keep it immobilized while it heals."

Ben chuckled. "You know him well."

Before Hannah removed the chloroform rag from Joe's face, Josie gave him an injection of morphine.

"What's that you're givin' him?" asked Fionn as he tottered toward them, Molly clinging to his arm.

"Morphine," Josie answered. "For the pain."

"Could use a bit of that meself," Fionn muttered, his hand reaching toward the bandage over his eye.

Josie looked up and considered Fionn for a moment. "Here," she said, reaching into her medical bag and withdrawing a small sachet. "Willow bark tea. It'll take the edge off your headache."

"Thank you!"

"You won't be thanking her after you taste that tea," Adam muttered.

Fionn was too busy staring down at Joe's splinted leg to catch Adam's remark. "Will he be all right?" he asked.

"He'll be out of commission for a couple of months, but he'll be fine," Josie assured him.

"Good. Saved me miserable hide, he did."

"How's that?" Ben asked, glancing up from his seat on the ground.

"All I heard when that aftershock hit was a loud rumbling, but Joe knew right away that the roof was coming down on us. Shoved me out of the way and got pinned by that boulder himself for his trouble."

The Cartwrights fell silent and stared back down at Little Joe. Hannah had not yet removed the chloroform rag – she wanted to give the morphine injection time to kick in before Joe woke up – so Joe's only movement was the steady rise and fall of his chest. Ben reached over and wiped away a spot of dirt that Hannah had missed on Joe's cheek.

"Good man," he whispered tenderly to his youngest son.

Molly announced that she was going to take Fionn home, and the Cartwrights all bid them farewell, Adam embracing Molly one last time for the night. He kissed her lightly and promised to ride out to their farm in a day or two to see how they were getting along. Adam watched as Molly led Fionn to their horses and admired the way her hips swung as she walked.

When Molly vanished into the dark, Adam turned back to Little Joe. Hannah had removed the chloroform, and Joe was beginning to stir. The darkness of the moonless night made him think he was still trapped in the mine, and when Little Joe's eyes opened, he gasped in terror and struggled to sit up. Ben pushed him gently back down, reassuring him that he was safe. Joe peered up into the familiar faces of his family and started giggling.

"Wow, every last one of you needs a bath," he laughed. "You STINK!"

"We can move him now," Josie said. "He's not feeling a thing."

Joe kept giggling as Adam picked him up and started carrying him to the wagon.

"Hey there, Adam!" he exclaimed as if he had not seen his oldest brother for several days.

"Hey, Joe," Adam replied.

"Adam?"

"Yes?"

"Do you remember when we were on that cattle drive?"

"Which cattle drive are you referring to, Joe? We've been on about a hundred."

"Aw, you know," Joe drawled, waving a hand in the air and nearly smacking Adam in the face. "That one time, and I got real mad at you."

"That still doesn't narrow it down, Joe."

Little Joe sighed as if it were taking all his fortitude to endure Adam's stupidity. "Anyway, I shouldn't have gotten mad. You're such a nice brother. Let's never fight again." He reached up to pat Adam's cheek, but the morphine was affecting his coordination, and his intended pat turned into more of a flapping slap. Then his head dropped back limply, and he fell fast asleep.

"Whatever you say, little buddy," Adam replied as he shook his head, smiled down at his baby brother, and held him just a little more tightly as he ferried him to the wagon.

Once Joe was safely bedded down in the back of the wagon, with Hannah sitting on one side of him and Ben on the other, Josie tracked down Simon. She found him near the mine entrance, staring pensively into its yawning mouth. She laid a hand on his shoulder, and when he turned to face her, she caught him up in a tight embrace.

"I don't know how to thank you," she whispered into his ear. The tears she had been holding back since the mine collapsed on Little Joe began to flow, dampening Simon's shoulder. Simon held her for a moment and then stepped back and cupped her chin in his hand.

"Joe's a good friend," Simon explained. "I couldn't leave him in there any more than you could. But if you really feel the need to thank me, I can think of a way." A naughty grin spread across his face.

Josie's jaw dropped at his audacity, and she burst out laughing through her tears. "You scoundrel!" she declared as she playfully slapped his arm. She glanced over her shoulder. "You better not let any of my brothers hear that. Even with a busted leg, Little Joe would come over here to kill you."

"You make me forget all about my personal well-being," Simon replied as he gathered Josie into his arms once more and pressed his lips to hers. His hands slid to the small of her back, and he pulled her hips tightly against his, no longer embarrassed, wanting her to feel his arousal. Josie pressed back, suddenly considering things she had been taught that ladies did not do. A sharp bark from Pip reminded her that her family was nearby and waiting for her, so Josie withdrew her lips from Simon's with a long, shuddering breath.

"We need to get Joe home," she said, placing a fingertip on Simon's lips. "But maybe we could go on another buggy ride soon?"

Simon smiled at her. "You bet," he replied. He kissed her one final time and watched hungrily as she scurried back to her family.