Thanks to anyone who is reading. I think one more chapter after this one should do it.

Ponderosa Prosperity

Within two months, the sawmill on the Ponderosa was producing high-quality material and not only was Mr. Collier, the lumberyard owner, paying top dollar for the planed and refined boards, but many builders worked directly with the Ponderosa, omitting the middleman. Whenever one of Cartwrights went into Virginia City, they came home with a handful of wires from as far away as San Francisco and as close as Carson City bearing orders for specific lengths and widths of wood with some builders requesting customized-cut lengths of wood other than pine. Adam was backlogged with orders but promised what he could and made it a selling point to deliver on time, even taking a hand in setting the uncut lengths on the belt himself. He was also working on the plans for the steam-powered sawmill, visualizing it before he dropped off to sleep or getting out of bed to add something else to the plans, another measurement or an additional gear.

Once word spread the Cartwrights paid well and jobs were secure through cutting season as long as a man was dependable and worked as hard as the boss, there was no lack of lumberjacks. Another reason to sign on was the series of one room, two-bed cabins built just for the lumbermen and stocked with foodstuffs, clean pallets and a bottle of decent whiskey that was replaced every two weeks. Adam even managed to find a sawyer who split and hewed wood to the proper length for various handles and then, using glasspaper and his own specialized tools such as a spokeshave, shaped and sanded the wood until it was smooth as glass and felt good and secure in the hand the hand. He would then oil the pieces and let them sit until seasoned. Then Hoss took them to the to the hardware store and the sawyer was paid 6 bits of every dollar received.

After Hoss and Adam had earlier marked the trees for cutting, Hoss and Joe worked with the ranch foreman and the hired hands to move the herds among the various pastures while keeping an eye open for panthers and wolves. One evening, Hoss brought home a dead panther draped over the hindquarters of his very nervous horse; within a month, Hoss had a cured panther skin, skull and claws attached, to hang in his bedroom. On a visit to the Ponderosa, Rance and Race stared at the skin in fear until Hoss convinced them the animal was beyond harming anyone; they would run to tap it and then run back to hide behind Hoss' legs. The Ponderosa was indeed prospering again and even Ben Cartwright seemed to worry less and enjoy life more, often going to Joe's during the day to spend time with his grandchildren.

Deborah always greeted Ben as the old acquaintance he was and while Greta hovered about her charges, in the front yard, Ben would play ball with Rance and Race, teaching them how to catch it , "…but not with their faces," Ben said to Hoss and Adam once evening at dinner. On many afternoons, Ben would pull out his pocket watch and with Melinda watching her children enjoy their time with their grandfather, the twins would run one at a time, depending on Ben to give accurate times and to settle disputes that started with the faster one being pushed and shoved by the slower; eventually, Ben decided to make their times exactly the same but it only took a few races for the twins to catch on that "Grampa" was fibbing.

Some lovely afternoons while leaving Greta at the house, Ben, carrying Amy in his arms, would take walks with Rance and Race, teaching them the names of the many trees and then they would sit in the meadow and Ben would help Amy make "daisy-chains" and the twins, for once, would sit still and be quiet, even shushing each other whenever deer or rabbits or even a solitary coyote passed through in the distance. "At last," Ben thought, 'I have time to enjoy my grandchildren, something I couldn't really do with my boys." And Ben often thought how much his old friend Horace would enjoy his grandchildren.

~ 0 ~

It was an early October afternoon and Ben rode up to Joe and Melinda's house. The front door flew open and both Rance and Race came running out yelling, "Grampa, Grampa!" They hugged his legs once he dismounted and laughing, Ben picked them up one at a time, kissing them on their ruddy cheeks and reveling in their laughter and chatter. Deborah stepped out onto the porch with Amy who jumped up and down for 'Grampa" to pick her up. Ben swept her up and the twins clung to his trousers, jerking on the fabric to get his attention.

"Oh, Ben!" Deborah said, smiling. "Come in, come in and join us for lunch. Now, boys, let Grampa Ben be for a bit and you can tell him all your news once everyone has full bellies. Let's go, my darlings," she said while ushering them in as if they were a clutch of baby chicks.

While the children ate their lunch of sliced ham, bread and butter and applesauce, Ben cajoled Amy to eat while showing her how good the ham was with the applesauce. "A little salty and a little sweet." Amy, sitting in Deborah's lap, was won over and decided to eat her lunch but then Amy would have done anything her grandfather wanted.

Deborah was happy to have Ben over. She even allowed Greta to eat her lunch peacefully sitting on the back porch and Ting, who now only came to do the laundry, dusting and mopping twice a week, wasn't there. Deborah preferred Ting not underfoot as Ting, who Deborah credited with having a malevolent stare, made her wary. She, therefore, wouldn't allow Ting into the kitchen lest she pour some Chinese poison in the milk or coffee. And Ting was just as pleased to not have to be close to Deborah.

"Oh, Ben, you're so good with the children. Melinda will be sorry she's missed you but she's at the church; they're planning a Harvest Ball."

"Yes, I noticed a change in the air just yesterday. A chill in the morning and cold at night. But even if Greta wasn't here to help with the children, you seem to be able to handle these little ruffians all on your own," he said, reaching over to tousle Race's hair, "and our little princess too."

"They bring me such happiness," Deborah said, gazing on Amy's dark curls and lifting up a few of the fine delicate waves. "They do love you, Ben, and after you leave, they chatter all about you and everything you and they did. But the best is that unprompted, the twins have been putting you in their 'God Blesses' every night."

Ben's face radiated joy. "I love spending time with them," Ben said. "And now that Adam is home, I can. He's lifted so many burdens off me, seems to enjoy staying busy and with his mind, he's always thinking of better ways to do things such as a steam-generated sawmill. And it's not that costly, well, according to him."

"Oh, Ben," Deborah said with a slight laugh, "all that machinery and sawmills, all if it is beyond me. But I hear that Adam is seeing that lovely Mrs. Kirby, the one who made this lace on Amy's dress here. I went to buy some antimacassars from her last week; they're on the divan and chairs in the parlor. I'm glad to help a poor war widow. From what Joseph said, there seems to be a serious romance between Adam and Mrs. Kirby and who could blame her with Adam an eligible, rich bachelor. Why all her problems would disappear should they marry. You know, Ben, I was thinking the church ought to do some fund-raising for all the war widows; help them out of penury; not all of them can catch a wealthy husband you know. Here, Amy, try a bit of bread and butter." Deborah broke off a piece and Amy took it with her small hand, pushing it in her mouth. "Careful, careful, not all at one time," Deborah cautioned.

Ben was flummoxed; he couldn't tell if Deborah was sincere in her wish to help Flora or implying that Flora Kirby was a fortune-hunter since experiencing what was close to poverty and that she had her sights on Adam. But what Ben didn't know was that Deborah had written a letter to the department of the U.S. Army inquiring if the body of Corporal Royal J. Kirby had ever been found as she would like to have him interred in Virginia City. Or was it possible he was still alive? Deborah had signed the letter Mrs. Royal Kirby but the address was the postal box Deborah had taken out when she made her home with Joseph and Melinda. After almost a month, a letter had arrived with a perfunctory answer stating that Corporal R. Kirby had been officially declared dead. Deborah was most dissatisfied with and disappointed in the response.

"Yes," Ben said, "Flora is lovely. Adam's brought her over for dinner a few times and she's still the lovely girl she always was. Her father often did work for the Ponderosa, that is when he wasn't busy with other jobs. A hard-working man and all the ranchers and homesteaders about here hired him. He would bring Flora with him when he'd come to the Ponderosa and she and Adam with Hoss trailing behind, would find all sorts of trouble to get into."

"Trouble?" Deborah inquired.

"Oh, you know…things like trying to get some honeycomb from a hive, setting snares for rabbits and catching squirrels instead, climbing into the hayloft…that kind of thing. But once Flora was about 8 or 9, we didn't see her so much. Guess she outgrew that tomboy stage and stayed in town with her mother."

"How nice to have such a long history with others. I suppose Adam and Flora are more like brother and sister than anything else." Deborah broke off another piece of bread for Amy while Rance started saying he was finished and wanted down from his highchair. Race followed with demands to also be let down.

Ben stood to help the boys out of their chairs. "From what I've seen, Adam and Flora are anything but brotherly and sisterly."

Deborah smiled at Ben's remark as she felt a smile was what was required. "Perhaps they'll marry and although Mrs. Kirby unfortunately had no children with her husband which suggests a possible womanly issue, who knows what God has in store; she's not too old yet to bear them. The Ponderosa could soon be overrun with Cartwright children, cousins for Joseph's children and perhaps, one day soon, even Hoss'. The Ponderosa may have to be cut into innumerable slices like a cake when unexpected guests arrive."

Ben looked oddly at Deborah; he wasn't quite sure how to take her comment. But then, "Grampa," Race said as Ben helped him down, "we got chicks! Let's go see the chicks!" and Rance added, "We can't hold 'em yet. Papa says they're too tiny!" And Ben was again swept into their world.

~ 0 ~

"Well, was it any different now that it's legal fornication?" Adam asked, his eyes closed and a smile playing about his lips.

Flora lightly slapped his chest and raised her head to see Adam's face. "Don't be such an incorrigible."

"Ah, woman," he said, slipping an arm about her waist and pulling her closer, "I am incorrigible and completely irredeemable-and hopelessly in love with you," he said, reaching up with his free hand to caress Flora's face. "And you best hope that if it's a boy, he doesn't take after me or you'll never control the little dickens."

"That's a fine way to speak of your offspring-to-be." Flora ran her fingers through Adam's hair, pushing the tousled waves off his face. She bent down and kissed him, feeling his lips part and noticing their softness among the roughness and tug of his whiskers. "I hope your family, your father will be pleased when you bring home not only a wife but a future grandchild all in one fell swoop. I should have said yes to you earlier, when I still had my respectability."

"I prefer you as a tart and a wench and the woman who loves me and gave up everything for me."

"Oh, Adam, I had nothing to give up but my celibacy and that had become a burden once you touched me, kissed me. But I would have given up anything for you…anything. And, I know it's silly of me, but I confess I felt wonderful when you wrote 'Mr.&Mrs. Adam Cartwright' on the hotel register."

Once Adam had signed the Carson City hotel register, the clerk had turned the book to look at the name and obviously recognizing "Cartwright", smiled and asked Adam if he would like the best suite as it was available. Adam replied yes, but when the clerk rang the bell for the bellhop, there were no bags to carry upstairs. The young man looked about, not knowing why he had been called from the corner where he had been dozing.

"The only thing to be carried up the stairs is my new bride," Adam had said to the desk clerk, "and I'll do that myself. Send up a steak dinner—rare—all the trimmings and a bottle of your best champagne." Adam had swept Flora into his arms, eliciting a cry of surprise from her and then laughter as he began to climb the stairs holding her. "I swear, woman, that baby must weigh twenty pounds!"

And in their post-coital intimacy, Flora said, "I still think we should have gone to Dr, Turner instead of this doctor here in Carson City, and then, once we found out for certain, be married at the courthouse and gone to the Ponderosa to tell your father."

"No," Adam said, pushing aside her lush curls with one hand. "Don't worry about telling my family. All in good time. But I wanted tonight to be different from all our other nights together. Now, unless that little beggar in your belly objects, I would like to enjoy my wife again." He rolled Flora onto her back and began to kiss her neck. And Flora shivered in anticipation of the pleasure to come.

~ 0 ~

Deborah walked into the bedroom and stood over Melinda but she didn't open her eyes; Melinda knew by the footsteps who it was.

"Joseph said you're not feeling well. What is it? Are you with child again?" Deborah stood with her hands clasped in front of her.

"No, Mother. I'm very careful about that." Melinda opened her eyes and looked at Deborah. "Right before Joseph and I left the Ponderosa, while he was getting the buggy and I was standing on the porch with Hoss, Hoss told me…Oh, Mother, I don't think I can bear it."

"Melinda, bear what? What could be so awful?" Deborah sat on the side of the bed, her heart thudding, her mind swirling over what could have upset Melinda so much. Last evening when Melinda and Joe left for the Ponderosa to welcome Adam's new bride, Melinda looked glorious! Even Joe was stunned at her extraordinary beauty and praised the expensive beaded gown that emphasized her narrow waist and her elegant neck. "What is it?" Deborah asked. Melinda lay her head in her mother's lap, and Deborah stroked her daughter's hair, pulling out the hairpins that still remained from her updo the evening before. "Tell me, my darling. You know you can tell me anything. What has upset you so that you're crying?" Melinda slowly sat up and Deborah pulled a handkerchief from her waistband and dabbed Melinda's eyes.

"Hoss told me—said it was being kept a secret for a while, but Flora is with child. Oh, Mother, they've been lovers all this time! I was right! I told you Adam's enthralled with her and I can't get the picture of them in each other's arms, his hands and mouth on her and her moaning in pleasure out of my head! It's making me mad!" Melinda threw herself back on the bed, trying not to let the tears of hurt and frustration escape.

Deborah drew herself up taller to deal with this matter. "Melinda, why are you so concerned with Adam and his paramour and what happens between them? Granted, the pregnancy is another matter, but have you done something irrevocable concerning Adam?"

Melinda sat up again and wiping her eyes, said, "I know what it's like to kiss Adam! I kissed him the first time we visited the Ponderosa. He didn't kiss me, Mother, I kissed him, threw myself at his head. I humiliated myself and he…I grabbed him and kissed him, so I know what his sweat smells like, tastes like, how hot his mouth is and the firmness of his arms. Oh, Mother, I long to yield to him, have him overpower me and be dominated by his desire, my desire! Mother, I could stand having Adam disinterested in me as long as there was no other woman but now there is—Flora and their child! And last night, Adam barely acknowledged me. She was all he saw. I'm certain he's told her about the kiss I forced on him and how ridiculous I was. Oh, I can't bear it!" Melinda covered her mouth to stop a sob escaping.

"Stop these hysterics," Deborah ordered, "before I have to slap you!" Melinda forced herself to calm down and looked at her mother's stoney face. "Now, you listen to me. No one gets everything they want in life and why you think you would prefer Adam over Joe, be better off with him, I can't imagine. But even if, God-forbid, anything should happen to Joe, Adam wouldn't want you. He apparently had a chance from what you've told me, and rejected you and chose that woman! How can you still feel these violent passions for him?"

"I don't know, Mother…I don't understand any of it. Oh, help me Mother."

Deborah reached for Melinda's hand and holding it in one of hers, covered it with the other. "Melinda, you're breaking your own heart, wanting something, someone you can't have. Besides, if you did have him, you would probably find out he isn't what you wanted…" Suddenly Deborah's face changed as she thought of something anew. "Now stop crying over this. Everything will work out, I assure you." There was a knock on the door. "Now dry your eyes, my darling. You don't want the children or Joe to see you this upset, do you?"

"No. Mother," Melinda said, smiling and using the edge of the sheet to dry her eyes.

Deborah rose to open it and Joe stood holding a tray. "Come in, Joseph. Oh, look, darling," she said to Melinda.

"I brought you up a tray of tea and toast. Hop Sing always said tea cures everything." Joe, suddenly noticed Melinda had been crying and placed the tray on the nightstand. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Do you need the doctor?" He sat beside her and caressed her cheek.

"No, Joe. I was just feeling sorry for myself. It's this headache and just now, my mother was telling me that a little food and a hot drink would help and then you showed up with everything I need."

Deborah stood and watched the two young people. What a foolish thing Melinda had always been and still was and Deborah knew she would have to solve Melinda's problem quickly since her own days were numbered.