Chapter Seven

Fredrick, who had gone to check on his and Mary's team of horses, found himself stopping dead in his tracks as he came to a nice looking black stallion. He looked strangely familiar, yet Fredrick knew there was no way he could have known him before, as the animal couldn't be a day over six or seven years old. At least, he didn't think so and he had a knack with knowing what was what when it came to animals. Only when he heard someone else enter the barn did Fredrick turn his attention away from the horse. "Nice looking horse ya've got there. What's his name?" He said as Adam stopped walking and stood beside him.

"Chubby, well, he's actually Chubby the second, but we just say Chubby." Adam answered honestly, and watched for any sign of recognition to the name of his brother's former horse that had had the misfortune of having to be put down after he'd tried to jump a fence and broke his leg.

Fredrick stiffened as a scene from just that morning came to his mind.

"I like Chubby the best. Pa says if I'm good and help take care of him then, in a few years, he can be mine." Kristine's words from the discussion she'd been having with her older sister that morning rang in Fredrick's ears. Then, as now, Fredrick felt strongly he should know the name, but how?

While Fredrick was thinking on the girls' conversation, Adam was recalling a talk he'd had with his father.

"One of us needs to ask him, pa." Adam stood next to his father's desk talking about Hoss and the fact that, after a solid night sleep, it might be okay to deal with his amnesia and the family.

"I know, but I keep on thinking about what Dr. Martin and Paul said." Ben sat back in his chair. "I'm afraid of doing more harm than good."

"And I'm afraid that, in the long run, if we don't, he won't trust us. I mean, if we keep his identity from him, if he wants it, he might resent it."

Seeing the look that had come into his brother's eyes, and having prior permission from his father to approach the subject if he saw fit, Adam took a deep breath and asked, "May I ask you a question?"

Fredrick wasn't going to tell Adam no; if for no other reason than he was curious as to what the man in black wanted. "Go ahead. Don't know that I kin give ya an answer, but ya can ask."

Adam leaned against a nearby stall and asked, "If there was someone who could tell you who you were, and could prove what they said, would you want to be told?"

Fredrick, who had gone back to looking at his horses, turned to face Adam, a surprised look on his face. Those words were the last thing he'd expected to hear Adam Cartwright ask. Actually, the more he thought on it, they weren't even on the list of possibilities. Turning away from Adam, Fredrick ran his hand through his rather thin brown hair, as he rolled Adam's question around in his mind. How did he feel about trusting someone else telling him who he was? More importantly, how would he know if they were telling him the truth? Then again, this was Adam Cartwright who was asking and he, Fredrick knew because of research he'd done before writing the Cartwrights in the first place, was an honest man. If Adam said he knew someone who could give him back his past, ten to one he could do it. On top of all that he, Fredrick, did know the scenery and the Cartwrights somehow.

"I…." He started to answer only to have his heart jump, as did Adam's, when they heard Laura Ann screaming for her husband. Both men took off running faster than a racing horse being let out of the starting gate. By the time they flew through the door Ben was kneeling down by Tabitha, who lay at the bottom of the steps unconscious.

"What happened?" Adam asked, fear for his stepdaughter in his voice, as hurried over and knelt down on the other side of his daughter.

"Not really sure," Ben answered, "I was reading." He then looked at Laura Ann, who was beside him. His eyes asked her if she had seen everything from the start.

"I'm not really sure." Laura Ann, who felt sick to her stomach, answered as she looked from her father in law and husband, to the stairs and then to her oldest child. "One minute she had finished descending the stairs to the middle platform, the next she was falling down the stairs that lead to the living room."

Adam carefully picked up his daughter and carried her to the guest bedroom that sat off to the side of the kitchen; Fredrick held the bedroom door open so Adam could enter the room and lay his daughter down. "I'm going for the doctor." Adam said as he stepped out of his wife's way; she was making her way to the side of the bed to be near their daughter. Seconds later, Adam had disappeared out the front door.

~oOo~

Fredrick walked out onto the porch to find Kristine sitting on the porch looking rather scared. His heart went out to her and he made his way over to where she was and sat down beside her. He let his arms rest on his bent legs while his hands hung downwards. As he heard a few birds flying overhead, he looked upwards.

Kristine, who expected him to say something, followed his gaze when he didn't. "Tabitha likes birds. We watch them together all the time." She spoke softly, but Fredrick still heard the fear in her voice.

"She'll watch 'em with you again, just ya wait and see." Fredrick did his best to comfort the scared child. "Your pa and ma, along with the doctor are with her right now."

Kristine turned her eyes away from the birds as they disappeared out of view and looked at the man whom her parents and grandfather said remembered nothing about who he was or his past. And, due to the fact she'd only been told not to mention he was her uncle, thought nothing about voicing the fear that was in her heart. "What if she gets am…amne…" she struggled to think of the word her father had used.

"Amnesia," Fredrick gave her a sympathetic smile, but wondered how come a nine year old child knew the term. "Don't ya worry, I'm sure she'll be fine."

Again, thinking she was only supposed to avoid calling him by his real name, Kristine asked, "But what if she gets it? I don't want ten years to go by and her not know who I am." She wiped a few tears off her face as she sniffled.

Fredrick sat up straight. "If there was someone who could tell you who you were, and could prove what they said, would you want to be told?" Adam's words from the barn came back to him. Fredrick had had amnesia for ten years and Adam's daughter had now used that same amount of time in expressing her fears for her sister. "Yer sister will be fine. I'm sure of it." He patted her knee and stood up.

The moment they knew the young girl called Tabitha would be fine, Fredrick had a couple of men he was going to talk to.