Several times I heard knocks on my door but I couldn't bring myself to respond. I hid my face in my knees. When a gentle hand touched my shoulder, I gave a start, lifting my head. Crouching beside me, Ben Cartwright had a concerned expression on his face. "Is everything alright?" he asked. "Hoss thought you were acting spooked after you went into town."

"I don't know," I admitted honestly. I rubbed at my face. "I heard...and I thought...I don't know."

"What did you hear?"

"The men who killed my father."

Ben's brown furrowed. "Are you certain?"

"Yes!" I said and then hesitated. I brought my hands up to my face. "I don't know. It sounded like them and what they said—" I broke off with a shudder. I was pulled into a comforting hug.

"Everything's going to be alright, Rosemary," Ben said, his voice rumbling deep in his chest. "Why don't you come out and tell us all exactly what you heard? You've worried the boys terribly by shutting yourself up in here and missing supper."

Had that much time passed? I didn't even feel hungry. Sniffing, I nodded and got to my feet with his help. Even though I knew the Cartwright sons were watching me, or maybe because of it, I kept my eyes on the floor when I walked into the great room. I saw down on the settee and clasped my hands in my lap.

In as few words as possible, and as much as I didn't want to repeat the words I heard, I told them. There was a moment of silence after I stopped talking. And then, "You're sure you heard the same voices?"

I sighed. "I don't think I could forget the voices of the two men who killed my father."

Placatingly, Adam held his hands up and sat back. "Sheriff Coffee is going to ask you the same question when we tell him this," he said. "It is hard to believe that those two would come to Virginia City when there are a hundred other, seedier places for them to go to."

"What are we supposed to tell the sheriff?" Joe asked, glancing at his father. "Rosemary heard two men who sound like the men who killed her father. No description. Nothing to go on. He'll laugh us out of Virginia City."

"Are you suggesting we don't tell him?"

"What good would that do?" Hoss asked. "Without some kind of description, Roy won't have anything to go on. And if these two skunks are in town, they'll get wind of Rosemary remembering them. They won't take too kindly to that."

"Yeah," Joe agreed. "If no one says anything, they'll just leave town and move on."

Adam raised an eyebrow at his youngest brother. "So we let two men get away with murder," he said bluntly. "That is your solution?"

"I think you're forgetting that Roy is out of town," Hoss said. "

Ben carefully put his hand on my arm. When I had first entered the house, he had tried to put his arm around my shoulder but I had recoiled from him. "I think we're forgetting the most important thing," he said. "Rosemary, what do you want to do?"

How could he ask me that right then? How could I possibly know what to do?

"Virginia City has become quite a place since they discovered silver here," he commented in an off-hand way. "Men come and go every day. Some are miners with big dreams but couldn't quite make it. Others are crooks and criminals who think they can take advantage of a boom town. There's only a handful of people left that have been here from the beginning."

Though I couldn't quite grasp what he was getting at, I knew there had to be a purpose to his words. "That's..not surprising," I managed to say, unable to think of anything else appropriate.

He shook his head. "What I'm trying to get at is there's not many who stay past a few weeks, Rosemary. Not unless they have something, a job or a family, that keeps them here."

"So, the men who killed my father will be gone soon enough?" My gaze flicked to Joe, who had taken on a smug expression.

"It's possible. You may walk the streets of Virginia City for the next fifty years and never hear those two voices again. On the other hand, though, you might turn a corner and you'll hear them talking. Or maybe you're walking some other street, years from now, and there they are."

As my father had done before, Ben was presenting both sides of the case. How well I recalled that feeling of frustration and how much I wanted my father to just tell me what the right thing to do was whenever he would do this. "I don't know what should I do?" The question left my lips before I could stop it. I already knew what he would say.

"I can't tell you what to do, Rosemary. All I know is that you're a brave young woman, whichever you decide."

For a moment, I thought about it, closing my eyes. I took a deep breath. This wasn't a decision to make lightly. Now that I was somewhat calmer, maybe it was time for me to consider the pros and cons, like my father taught me. "Can I think on it?"

"Take all the time you need."

As if he had been eavesdropping, Hop-Sing hurried in with a tea tray. He set it in front of me. "Missy need tea!" he declared before hurrying back out.

On instinct, I reached to pour the tea but my hands were shaking so badly, I couldn't grasp the handle properly. Ben caught my hands and said, "It's fine, Rosemary."

When Joe would have pestered me, Ben kept him from speaking his piece. The other two seemed to sense I needed space. This was something I had to work through on my own. As soon as I was alone, with Hop-Sing's excellent tea to warm me, I sat down to put it all on paper. Just as my father had shown me years earlier.

I had changed since San Francisco. If I returned there, maybe I would be able to find some way of fitting into a city that was bustling with life. My father had always told me, though, that you can't go back to something you once had because it is never the same and there were only disappointments. Firmly, I drew a line through that city's name, removing it from my list of options.

There were other choices left before me. If I went to the sheriff, everyone would know what had happened to me. They would assume, like I'm sure the Cartwrights had, that something worse had happened to me. Could I face their pity and know they thought I was no longer an innocent girl? Of course, I could stay and not say a word about my ordeal. Oh, there would be speculation about where I had come from and how I knew the Cartwrights but in a place like Virginia City one person's story was of no importance.

Or...I could leave. The Cartwrights had sworn to help me and I knew they would send me wherever I wished to go. But as had been pointed out, I wouldn't truly escape. I would always wonder if I would hear those two voices again.

If I didn't tell a law officer while I had the chance, two murderers will have gotten away with their crime without punishment. What kind of daughter allowed that?

I agonized over the facts and benefits all night. As dawn came, I knew there no other choice I could make. At least not one that I would be able to live with myself after I made it. Dressed in the pink dress, I went to the dining room to tell them my decision. "I want my father to have justice done, if it's possible."

The Cartwright patriarch nodded in understanding. "We'll take you to speak to the marshal."

"You don't have anything to be afraid of, Rosemary," Joe spoke up. "We won't let anything happen to you."

I wanted to believe him, but just couldn't.

The marshal kept quiet while I related my father's murder and my escape. I couldn't keep from glancing at the four men who had accompanied me as I spoke of how they had brought me out of the wilderness. When I was done, I waited for the questions to come.

They didn't.

"I sympathize, miss, I really do, and I'm sorry for your loss," he said, reaching for his coffee. "It sounds as though you've gone through quite an ordeal, and maybe you've understated it. But I'm afraid there's very little I can do. Not without an exact description of the criminals."

"Marshall, there must be something you can do," Ben said, frowning at the unhelpful marshal. Behind him,Joe stirred, but Hoss grabbed hold of him as if to hold him back. "Surely you can see that Miss Lawson is frightened."

The marshal nodded. "Yes, I do see it. That does not change the fact that I can do nothing."

"Miss Lawson is about to move into the schoolhouse to take over teaching," Adam spoke up. "Surely, you can give her some assurance that she will be safe."

"Naturally I can have one of the deputies ride past often."

Ben's mouth compressed into a thin line. "Sorry for taking up your time, Marshal," he said, stepping forward to take my elbow. I allowed him to pull me to my feet. "Come along, Rosemary."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cartwright," the marshal called after us.

Joe barely kept his indignation contained until we were out on the sidewalk. "I told you it would be useless. We should have waited for Roy. At least he would offered more than to send a deputy riding past the schoolhouse every now and then."

"You're not helping, Joe," Ben said with a sigh.

"Well, at least we know the marshal isn't the kind of man to go spreading this story," Hoss commented. "Those varmints won't know Rosemary knows they're here and won't have no call to bother her."

That was the only thing I was certain of: the Cartwrights would do everything in their power to keep me safe. I could only hope it was enough. Placing my hand at his elbow, Ben kept his hand over mine as if to make sure I didn't go anywhere. He began walking slowly and I had no choice but to keep pace. I found myself straining to hear every voice of the men who passed by.

"Hear anything?" Adam asked when he opened the door of the little restaurant for me.

I shook my head, my cheeks heating up with a blush. "It was a vain hope."

"What is life without hope, however vain it might seem?"

A smile, my first in twenty four hours, tugged at my lips. "Are you a philosopher?"

Joe gave a snort of laughter as he held a chair out for me. "If there's one thing Adam has no problem doing, it's philosophizing with big words and all that eastern college education."

"Just because I can pass my time considering matters other than the next bar fight, doesn't mean you should disparage it," Adam said in an oddly haughty way. A smile played on his face.

"Boys, enough," Ben said with a sigh. He glanced at me as he seated himself on my right. "Once those two get going, almost nothing will stop them."

Given how quickly Adam and Joe fell quiet when their father spoke, I didn't quite believe Ben's words. I was beginning to understand why people either loved this family or hated them. I would hate to be someone on their bad side.