II.

Hoss is already on his feet, ready to follow Adam, to make him come back and see reason—but then he notices Pa's face. There's anger in it, tiredness, and hurt. As if this conversation with Adam has robbed Pa of his last reserves. It's plain that right now Pa needs him more than Adam. Even though his older brother isn't half as unaffected by Pa's disapproval as he wants to let on, he will get along on his own very well for the couple of moments it'll take Hoss to calm Pa.

And so Hoss redirects his steps to Pa's side and crouches down next to him. "Adam didn't mean it," he says.

Pa snorts. "Oh, I think he did mean it all right."

"Yeah, well, maybe just now he did. But he'll soon run outta steam, and come back and…" Of course, Adam will not run out of steam. If anything, he will work himself up into a real frenzy, and nothing short of a miracle will be able to deter the mule that is Adam Cartwright from following his intended course. But dang it, Hoss doesn't happen to have any miracles on hand right now.

No, Adam is not Joe. He hasn't left because his temper got the better of him and he won't come back once he's got himself back under control. Hoss knows that, and Pa, too.

"He won't." Pa shakes his head. "He's been brooding ever since we got here. I should have seen it coming—but who'd have thought he would come up with something like this?"

Hoss knows he's not expected to answer. No one can ever tell what will come from Adam's brooding. It started right after Roy had told them the culprit was already under arrest and who it was. Adam looked surprised, asked Roy for details, and then fell silent.

The arrest didn't surprise Hoss, though. Will Kettler had arrived at Virginia City four weeks ago with too wide a smile on his face and too bright brand new paint on old Meriwether Kettler's ancient prairie schooner. He'd taken over the wagon and the business after his uncle had retired after more than fifty years living a vagrant's life. Meriwether Kettler had come to Virginia City every year since the time before the town got its name, and had been well respected by everyone. Will's eyes were sharper than his uncle's had ever been, his fingers nimble and skilled, and his personality open and friendly—but he still was a complete stranger, seemed too eager to make friends, too curious about people and dealings; and so business had been slow and difficult to start. In the end, however, the need for repairs won out over the initial mistrust, Will's bright smile and charming words at least won him the inclination of the town's women, and he made good money—which he spent for beer and cards, and for Carole Miller, whom he'd met when he'd come to the Millers' to mend a hole in the kitchen sink.

To everyone's surprise he turned out to be a serious competitor to Joe, for Carole wasn't immune to his rough charms. But then Joe played a card the tinsmith couldn't: he invited Carole to go to the theatre, thus fulfilling her greatest wish. Of course, Will could have invited her, too—only Carole's father would never have allowed her to go with him. As a matter of fact, he forbade Carole going with Joe, too. But Joe had two of Virginia City's best negotiators at his hands, and when even Pa's father-to-father talk didn't change Mr. Miller's heart, he just turned to Adam for help. It took Older Brother less than an hour to make Horace Miller see that refusing his daughter this might make her turn her affection from Joe to Will.

Joe, of course, was over joyed and pledged Adam eternal gratitude, and Will got himself drunk and vowed eternal revenge against his rival.

Then, on Joe's and Carole's great evening, on their way to the theatre, Joe got shot. Shot in the back, at medium distance from somewhere in the bushes next to the street. The bullet caused a small wound in Joe's back, shattered two ribs, grazed his lung, and ripped a gaping hole where it exited on his front. Even though by some miracle it didn't fatally damage anything vital inside of him, Joe almost bled to death even in the short span of time that it took to bring him to Paul Martin's office. By sheer luck the doctor was at home—otherwise Joe would already be dead.

It still isn't clear that he will survive, but Joe's a fighter, and he has hung on for much longer than estimated already, and Hoss just knows his little brother will make it.

He will.

It's in no way a consolation, but still, to know the man who's responsible for Joe's suffering won't go unpunished is satisfying. And he will be punished. Will Kettler might be insisting on his innocence, but he's lying right through his teeth, of that Hoss is sure. Hoss, Pa, Paul Martin, Sheriff Coffee, the whole of Virginia City are sure of that—only Adam isn't.

"Sometimes," Pa's voice jolts Hoss back to the present. "Sometimes I wonder what's going on in that college-educated mind. Why everything is a question for Adam, even the things that are abundantly clear to everyone else." He sounds puzzled, and also forgiving. Fond, almost.

And so Hoss tries a lighter tone. "You know how he is," he says. "It's typical; he thinks just the opposite of what everyone else thinks. And then he goes and fights his case and annoys everybody on the way, right up until he's proven he was right from the beginning."

He chuckles, Pa chuckles, Paul chuckles—they've all belonged to the annoyed party at one time or the other.

Yeah, being contrary is in Adam's nature, thinking further and beyond, never being content with the obvious without questioning it at least once. Admittedly, most of the times it turns out he's right.

…it turns out he's right. "Dadburnit."

"Or he's stirring up trouble," Pa says at the same time.

They stare at each other for a moment, then Pa closes his eyes and exhales with a groan. "Go after him, Hoss."

ooOoo