Thunder Rolls

Chapter Seven

The sun had finally peeked around a small rain cloud as the rest of the clouds slipped away leaving only the moistened ground below. Adam, his brothers and Sheriff Coffee either stood or sat in the living room of the Cartwright home talking about Ben and the fact that no one was having any luck finding him. The sheriff's next words didn't help bring any peace of mind either.

"I'm calling off the search." Roy hated saying those words, but he had too. It had been nearly two weeks since Ben first went missing. He still had a job to do, the other men did too. They couldn't continue looking for someone they obviously could not find. The lawman, Adam and Hoss weren't surprised when Little Joe jumped to his feet and objected. "You can stop lookin' Roy! My pa's out there somewhere hurt, we have ta find him! We jist have to!" He started for the door only to find Hoss blocking his path.

"Hold on, Short Shanks," Hoss said as he placed both his large hands upon Little Joe's shoulder, "I hate to admit this; you gotta know it, but, Roy's got it right. We've looked all over this here ranch, Virginia City and every inch with ten miles of Carson City. I figur' we gotta accept the fact that he's gone and we ain't gonna find any sign of him. He mighta been hurt real bad, and couldn't get home. Ifin he could he woulda been here. Joe I don't like facing this any more than you do, but Pa may be dead."

Little Joe was shocked into silence. Out of the three of them, Hoss had been the loudest when it came to insisting that their pa was alive. He'd been the one pushing the hardest during the search and he was saying what? Little Joe took a step backwards and stared at his giant of a brother, and then at Adam and the sheriff. He could see resignation in Roy's face and grief and sorrow in Adam's. "No! No! I won't accept it! He's not dead! He's not!" He bolted for the door and, this time, he made it. Before Hoss or anyone could stop him, Little Joe had left the house.

Hoss started to go for him, but Adam stopped him as he raised his hand and spoke, his voice twisted in pain, "Let him be, Hoss. He needs time to accept fact. What we need to do is be here for him and continue running this ranch the way pa would want us to."

Because Hoss could hear resignation in his brother's voice, he didn't fight him. After all, what good would it do? "I'm sorry, I jist…" Hoss shifted his weight, "…I..jist want things to be back to normal. I wanna wake up and find out…" Hoss quit talking and whirled around as he heard Little Joe's through the opened window; Roy and Adam's heads snapped in the direction also.

"Pa! Pa!" Little's Joe's screams of pure delight and joy grabbed all three men and they ran for the front door. Once outside they couldn't believe their eyes. Ben Cartwright, his arm in its sling, was sitting on his horse accompanied by a woman who was riding next to him.

"Hello boys, hello Roy." Ben smiled and dismounted his horse and then helped Callie down the best he could. "Sorry for scaring everyone and I know I did. This is Maribeth C Adams, but folks call her Callie. She saved my life."

The smiles upon his sons and Roy's face grew tenfold and "thank you" could be heard more than once and even a few hugs were exchanged and they all headed back inside.

Once inside, Roy sat down on the couch and looked at Ben, who was sitting in his chair. "I have to ask what happened to you Ben. You've been gone for weeks." If any law had been broken, he needed to know. If it was simply an accident, he had other things to do.

"I was robbed." Ben went on to explain where he'd been and what had happened. The moment he said there were two men, Adam sat straight up while Hoss and Little Joe exchanged glances. Not knowing about the man the sheriff in Carson City had had in his jail. However, Ben did not make the connection as had his sons.

When his father finished speaking, Adam asked, his voice dangerously low, "Did you say the second man was short, maybe five feet four inches and sported blonde hair?" It was all Adam could do to ask the question and keep the sound of anger out of it, though he had plenty buried deep in him.

Ben looked at him quizzically and leaned forward, "Do you know him?" He hoped the man wasn't a new friend of Adam's. He'd hate for that to be the case; friends were too hard to come by.

"I met him." Adam spoke through clenched teeth and told his father about the visit that he, Adam, had paid to the Carson City Jail. "I bet you ten to one, they let Mr. Tyler Mitchell out. I mean, they had nothing to hold him on, no proof he was even there."

Concern leapt onto Hoss, Little Joe and Roy's faces. "Iff'n they let him out and he finds out Pa is alive…" Hoss started to speak only to have Ben wave his good arm and hand through the air.

"Let's not worry about that right now. Roy can contact the sheriff's office in Carson and put out a wanted poster. I hardly think the man would come anywhere near me. Besides he doesn't know I'm alive."

Adam wanted to object, in fact Adam wanted to head off to Carson City right now and track this Tyler Mitchell and make good on a promise, but the fact was his father was alive and well, and home safe. He needed to focus on that and lap up the moment.

Ben watched his oldest boy brew for a second," Adam, I'm home, that's all that matters. And I'll bet you boys have plenty of work to catch up on. Roy I'll meet you in town in a couple of days to make a statement." Ben was too tired and his arm was hurting. He didn't want to worry about the man at the moment.

"Thanks Ben that will be jist dandy. You get yer rest now and I'll get moving, I've got a mountain of paper work ta catch up on." No one argued as they all walked back outside with their friend.

"I'm sure glad you showed up alive, Ben." Roy was still grinning as he mounted his own horse. "These kinds of outcomes I can handle." Heaven knew he had enough of "the other kind" to last a lifetime. As much as he wanted to stay and visit, he needed to get going. After all, his life didn't revolve around just the Cartwrights, though some days he wished it did. He just hoped that once he made it known that this Tyler Moore was now wanted for robbery and conspiracy to help commit murder.

"See you Roy." Ben stood with his sons and Callie and waved as the man rode around. Once their friend was out of sight, he turned to his sons. "I asked Callie here to stay on while Hop sing is away, and tend the house and make the meals."

Ben received no complaints from his sons because they were all tired of taking turns cooking in the kitchen. Well, all but Hoss-though even he wasn't going to argue with someone else taking over. Besides, this woman had bought their father home, safe and obviously well doctored. The least they could do, without making a real fuss and embarrassing Callie, was to side with their pa and make sure she had a job and a place to stay.