Ben changed clothes and much to the amusement of the three children, reluctantly grabbed the rope swing and launched himself into the pond. He landed with a loud "OOF", causing everyone to start laughing. He looked at Cat, pretended to growl and said, "Laugh at me will you? This is what happens to little girls who laugh at their Pa." He picked Cat up and tossed her farther into the pond. The boys attacked him and he picked each of them up and also tossed them aside. Everybody played and swam for quite a while until the ladies decided it was time to eat dinner. After dinner, everyone fished and swam until it was time for Ben and Cat to go home.
The ladies walked up to Ben and Mrs. King said, "Ben, Mary and I have talked. We decided that Catherine should not be raised as the only female in a house full of men. You're doing the best you can, but you are raising her like a boy. A young girl should be wearing dresses not buckskins and learning to sew and cook, not running around half wild, racing horses, and using a bow and arrows to hunt. She needs a mother she can take her problems to and who will teach her the things she needs to know as she grows into womanhood. Catherine can live here with me and my family half the month and with Mary and her family the other half. Of course she can be with your family on the weekends."
Ben struggled to keep his temper. He looked at his friends who just shrugged their shoulders to say they had no idea what their wives were up to. "Thank you ladies but the answer is no. Catherine was born on the Ponderosa and that is where the family wants her to be raised. Hop Sing is teaching her how to cook and sew and Caroline Ingalls has already offered to teach her everything a girl needs to know as she becomes a woman. If I did as you suggested, her uncles would have the adoption nullified and she would return to Dodge until she was too old to share a room with Matt. Then she would go and join Rip at his fort in Arizona. I would only be allowed to see her if I went to either of those places. As far as her clothing goes, Catherine has been wearing buckskins since she was four. We have compromised and she has agreed to wear dresses to church. Remember, it hasn't been all that long since her world was turned upside down. She has been through Hell in the last three months and I am not willing to risk her happiness by insisting she dress like a girl. Caroline seems to think that as she grows up and starts to court, Catherine will begin wearing dresses more. Here come the children now. Let's see what Catherine has to say about your idea."
Ben told Cat what the ladies had suggested. She thought about it for a few minutes and said, "It would be nice to not have three big brothers bossing me around all the time. Jas and Mike are only a year older than me so they won't boss me around. I've got a better idea."
"What's that?"
"Mrs. King and Mrs. Devlin can have Mr. Bossy Boots Yankee Granite Head."
Ben laughed. "I thought you liked Adam."
"I do but he's too bossy. He bosses me around more than Hoss and Joe do together."
"What if Michael and Jasper don't want him to be their brother?"
"They don't have to have him. When Adam is at Jasper's house, Jasper can be with me on the Ponderosa. Then when Adam goes to Mike's house, Jasper can go home to his house and Mike can be with me on the Ponderosa. Hoss and Joe won't mind because Adam bosses them around all the time too and this way, they'll have two little brothers. Adam's strong so he could help Mr. Devlin and Mr. King on their ranches. Besides that, Mrs. King and Mrs. Devlin probably wouldn't let Lassie and Silver Chief sleep in my bed and they've been sleepin' with me ever since I got them."
Mrs. Devlin started to say something about Ben letting Cat's puppies sleep in her bed when her husband stepped in. "Alright Mary. That is enough. You told Ben that ridiculous plan you and Betsy concocted and he said no. He is raising Cat the way her family wants her raised. It is nobody's business but Cat's family how Ben is raising her. Cat, I'm sorry sweetheart but Michael and Jasper cannot come and live at the Ponderosa with you, even if you give us Adam."
"AWWWW! But I really want Mike and Jas as my brothers. Adam is too bossy. Maybe I can trade him to Mr. Ingalls for Laura."
Mr. Devlin laughed. "Sorry little one. Mr. King and I want to keep our sons and I'm quite sure that Mr. Ingalls will not trade Laura to you in exchange for giving Adam to him. I'm afraid that you are stuck with three older brothers."
Before Cat could say anything else, Ben picked her up, put her over his shoulder and said, "Come on Cat. We need to go home. You still have homework to finish and your chores need to be done before supper. Remember, Hop Sing can't cook if his wood box isn't filled. Say goodbye to everybody. You'll see them in church tomorrow." He turned around so Cat could see everyone. She said goodbye and so did Ben. He put her on her horse and then put her puppies in their bags before mounting his own horse and starting for home. Ben was fuming about the women's plan but since he didn't want to upset Cat, he didn't say anything to her. After Cat went to bed, he told his sons and Hop Sing what the women had suggested. They couldn't believe that more women were telling Ben he was raising Cat all wrong, but had a good laugh at Cat's solution to their suggestion.
Before beginning the church service the next morning, Reverend Long told everyone that Miss Winter had an announcement she needed to make. She stood up and said, "I would like to thank the school board for their wonderful donation of books and bookcases for the school's new lending library. Six crates full of books arrived yesterday. They will need to be cataloged and put on shelves before students can start borrowing them. I will begin that process after church and would greatly appreciate any help you wish to offer. Remember, many hands make light work. The sooner the books have been cataloged and shelved, the sooner my students can begin to borrow them. Realizing that the students have chores to do along with their regular schoolwork, students may borrow one book at a time for three weeks. If they do not finish it in that time, they may borrow it for another two weeks. After that, they will have to return it and give others a chance to borrow it. If a book is returned late, the student will have to pay a ten cent fine, which will go toward the purchase of more books."
After church, many of the children asked for and received permission to help Susan at the school with the new books for the lending library. Ben was talking with Paul, Roy, and Reverend Long and said, "I declare, if one more woman in this town tells me that I am not raising Catherine correctly, I am going to lose my temper and give her a piece of my mind."
"I'm sure they mean well," said Reverend Long. "Exactly which women are you referring to? And what did they say?"
"Margaret Winter started the night of the school board meeting when we discussed the repairs. She said that Catherine should not be dressing like a boy and if she won't wear a dress, I should whip her until she agreed to wear one every day. She also said that Cat's puppies should not even be allowed in the house and should not be sleeping in her bed. Margaret criticized me for allowing her to play with Indians and call one of them her brother. And she also said I was allowing Catherine to run wild.
Yesterday it was Betsy King and Mary Devlin. Just like Margaret, their sensibilities are offended because Cat doesn't wear dresses all the time, I allow her puppies to sleep in her bed, she races horses, hunts, and she's the only female in a house with five men. They also think that I am allowing her to run wild. They even had the nerve to suggest that my daughter should live with each of them for two weeks out of the month and she would be allowed to spend weekends and holidays on the Ponderosa."
The men couldn't believe what Ben was telling them. "That last idea is preposterous!" exclaimed Paul. "As a physician, I can unequivocally state that right now, unless everyone else in the family is sick, separating Cat from her family for any longer than a school day would be very harmful to her. She has been through a lot in her young life and needs to be with her family as much as possible. Since she has only been living on the Ponderosa for around two months, I would say that she probably is still uncertain about what being part of a family is all about. How are her nightmares? Have they gotten better since the boys took her to her parents' graves?"
"Until Millicent showed up at the house on Friday, her nightmares were better. She had another very bad one Friday night. You are right when you say that she doesn't know what being part of a family is all about. Adam said that when he talked to her about coming straight home from school, Cat couldn't understand why someone would be worried about her if she came home several hours late. She's been left to her own devices so much during her life that she thinks she doesn't need people and can take care of herself. Matt did the best he could given the circumstances. His job took him out of town a lot and Cat was left in the care of a local family. I think if it hadn't been for them, she would be wilder than she is now. I can't even begin to tell you how much I wish my sister had stayed here instead of going to our father after Michael was killed in the war."
"Ben, that was eight years ago," said Paul. "You can't change the past, no matter how much you want to. All you can do right now is to take the best care possible of that precious child who has been entrusted to you. I'll have Virginia talk to the women and get them to stop pestering you about how you're raising Cat. She is healthy and happier than she was when you brought her home. Those things are much more important than what she wears or if her puppies sleep in her bed."
"That's a good idea Paul," said Reverend Long. "I don't know if it will do any good but it's worth a try. I am going to say something next Sunday before the church service begins and hope my lecture does some good."
"I know that she's not being allowed to run wild," said Roy. "Whenever we have a chance to talk, one of her biggest complaints is that besides you and Hop Sing, she has not just one, but three older brothers telling her what to do. She also deeply resents the fact that she had a lot of freedom in Dodge but has very little here. I know she's only been home two months and you want to keep her safe, but you've got to start giving her more freedom before you lose her. She's already told me that she knows how to get to her uncle's fort in Arizona and I have no doubt that she will try and get there on her own if you don't stop holding her so close. Yesterday is an excellent example of what I am talking about. Millicent had just been out to the Ponderosa on Friday afternoon and threatened Cat but instead of leaving her with the Kings and Devlins, you wanted to bring Cat to town with you even though you knew full well that there was an excellent chance of running into Millicent. By wanting to keep her with you, you were potentially putting her in harm's way."
"Roy is right Ben," said Paul. "When I was a young man just out of medical school, the doctor I was apprenticed to told me a story about a young girl whose mother was overprotective. She was a happy energetic child until her twin sister was killed in an accident when they were twelve. From then on out, the girl's mother wouldn't let her out of her sight for more than a minute and used to get up several times during the night to check on her. The mother watched her bathe and watched her in the outhouse. The mother walked her to school and stayed in the classroom all day. The girl was not allowed to play with her friends. Instead, she had to sit on a bench next to her mother while all of the other children were playing. The doctor, all of the mother's friends and her husband tried telling her that she was harming her daughter but she wouldn't listen. This went on until the girl couldn't take any more and one night, she found her mother's bottle of laudanum and drank half of it, killing herself. She was only fourteen. You aren't nearly as bad as that mother was and Cat has another avenue of escape but you will lose her just the same. Think about it Ben and decide if being overprotective is worth the potential consequences."
"Alright!" said Ben. "I get your message. I'll start easing up on Cat and start showing her how to get more places on the ranch. We're going to be starting to move the cattle to their winter pastures in a few weeks. She can chase strays while we're moving the main herds. It will give her something important to do while keeping her away from the herd in case it stampedes."
"Now you're making sense," said Paul. "You're letting Cat help with the ranch work and keeping her safe at the same time. By the way, where is Cat?"
"She and her friends are over at the school, helping Susan Winter with the books that were delivered."
"Is she sick?" asked Roy. "She's hated school ever since she first started but she's over there on a Sunday? What have you done to our little Wild Cat?"
"I haven't done anything to her," laughed Ben. She still hates going to school. The only reason she's there is because of the books. She loves to read and is no doubt looking at titles she'll want me to add to her collection. Except for arithmetic, Cat really doesn't hate school. She hates being cooped up inside and having to sit still. I'm quite certain that if school was to be held outside, she wouldn't mind going so much."
"Knowing Cat," said Paul. "I wouldn't be surprised by anything she does, especially if it's outside. I'm positive that she'd move her bed outside if you'd let her."
Ben laughed. "Why don't the three of you, Joanne and Virginia come to supper on Friday night? Except for Roy who finds excuses to ride out to the Ponderosa at meal times, you haven't been out for supper since the first night Cat was home."
"Why don't you make that Saturday night?" asked Paul. "That will give Cat time to do some hunting. I'm dying to taste some of that rabbit stew I've heard so much about."
"Roy?" asked Ben.
"Can you persuade Hop Sing to have supper at five instead of at six? Then I will be able to get back to town before things get crazy. The ranch hands tend to get rowdy when they start drinking and the Circle B hands are the worst of the bunch. It wouldn't be fair of me to leave Clem to handle them all on his own."
"I don't think he'll have a problem with that. So it's settled then. We'll see you on Saturday at five for supper. Now I had better go over to the school and make sure my daughter isn't trying to bring all of the books home with her."
"I'll walk with you," said Paul. "My wife is over there helping with the books also. David, I believe that I saw Joanne walking that way too."
"Paul, I'll see you and David later," said Roy. "Ben, I talked to the judge and I'm taking Millicent to him at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. He's pretty angry at her but it wouldn't hurt if you and Adam were there too. Since Adam was at the ranch when Millicent was there and threatened Cat, he should be the one to tell the judge what she did and how long it took to find Cat and calm her down. She complained about the fact that Adam wasn't going to do anything about Cat going fishing after school and about the way he talked to her. I want you to tell her in front of the judge that how you raise your daughter is nobody's business but your own and that anybody who lives and works on the Ponderosa has every right to tell anybody who doesn't belong there, to leave."
"Thank you Roy. Adam and I will be there in the morning."
Ben, Paul, and Reverend Long walked over to the school where they found twelve children and six adults, including Ben's sons, Virginia Martin, and Joanne Long helping Susan Winter catalog and shelve the books. It was obvious that everyone had been working hard as four and a half crates of books had already been put on the bookcases. Joe was sitting at the teacher's desk writing something on a piece of paper. When he finished, he handed it to Susan and asked, "What do you think of this? Now you'll be able to keep track of which student has which book, when they borrowed it and when they returned it."
Susan took the paper and said, "That is wonderful Joe. Thank you for thinking of that for me."
"I'm glad you like it. I'll take it over to the newspaper office and see if Dan DeQuille will print a bunch of copies for you. That way you won't have to take the time to make up a new form everytime one gets filled up." Joe left the school, walked over to the newspaper office and returned a few minutes later. "He said he'll be more than happy to print a bunch of those forms up for you. He said they'll be ready in about thirty minutes."
Dan DeQuille walked into the school just as the last book was put on a shelf. He handed a stack of papers to Miss Winter and said, "Here you go Miss Susan. I printed twenty five copies for you. Let me know whenever you have anything to send home with all of your students and I'll gladly print it for you. Don't worry about paying me for anything. I'm just happy to see a teacher in this school who truly cares about the children. You are the first teacher since I moved here, to encourage the children to read by starting a lending library. As the publisher of a newspaper, I know how important it is for children to know how to read. In fact, I'll gladly spend a day teaching the older students exactly what is involved in publishing a newspaper."
"Thank you Mr. DeQuille. I appreciate your kind offers and will definitely take you up on them. In fact, it may help the older students' writing abilities if you were to teach them how to write articles for a newspaper. I would like to discuss that possibility with you whenever it is convenient."
"I would welcome discussing that possibility with you. Why don't we meet at the café after school on Wednesday? That will give both of us time to write down our ideas we want to discuss. Now, please tell me how much work these children did in putting all of those books on the shelves."
"They did most of the work. The adults uncrated and cataloged the books but the children did all of the work putting them on the shelves. They even decided how to arrange the books."
"That is wonderful. It does my heart good to see children so interested in books. Children, Miss Winter says all of you worked very hard and I see that there were a lot of books to put away. So, I have decided to reward you. I know you haven't had dinner yet but today you will be having dessert before dinner. We are all going over to the International Hotel where I am going to treat all of you to ice cream in the restaurant." The adults tried to protest and say that the children should eat dinner first but Dan scoffed at them and said, "Nonsense! It won't hurt these children one little bit to have ice cream before dinner for a change. They've been working hard and deserve to be rewarded. Let's go children. We'll let the adults take care of the empty crates and straighten up in here." The children eagerly followed Dan over to the International where they each enjoyed a bowl of ice cream.
Before beginning lessons the next morning, Miss Winter held up a board clip with a copy of the form Joe had drawn, on it. She said, "As you can see, all of the books for our lending library are on the shelves. When you borrow a book, I want you to fill out a line on this paper. It has spaces for your name, the book title, the day you borrowed it, and the day you returned it. You are responsible for taking care of the books you borrow and if they are lost or damaged beyond repair, your parents will have to pay for a new copy. I know that you are eager to look at the books but we have lessons to do. I will allow you time at the end of the day to select books to read. Remember, I expect you to do all of your schoolwork and chores before reading the book you select."
While Miss Winter was beginning the school day, Ben and Adam rode into town so they could be in the courtroom while the judge was dealing with Mrs. Warren. As expected, she complained loudly about being arrested when all she had been doing was collecting money for the church and parsonage roofs. She also complained about the way Adam treated her when she was on the Ponderosa and blamed Cat for the slingshot attacks on her. "I know that little brat is responsible for the attacks on me. I saw it with a slingshot just before I was attacked on Saturday."
Ben was tired of being polite and said, "Millicent, you are a very ill woman and need to be locked up in an insane asylum before you seriously injure my daughter or someone else! Catherine does not even own a slingshot and she was at the King ranch on Saturday in the company of four adults and two other children. Adam is my eldest son and as such, he was completely within his rights to order you off of our property! My other two sons can also order you off of the Ponderosa as can any of the hands who work for us. You are not welcome on the Ponderosa. You never have been and never will be! You have threatened my daughter for the last time. The next time you come out to my ranch and threaten my daughter, you may be leaving with your bottom full of buckshot and if it happens to be one of the hands who does it, that man will get a bonus when I pay him! If I knew which children were responsible for the attacks on you, I would give them money, candy, and all of the rocks they can carry in their pockets so they would be able to continue attacking you. And furthermore, I am sick and tired of hearing you refer to Catherine as an it or a thing. She is a sweet, innocent child who has done nothing to you and does not deserve to be treated the way you are treating her!"
Mrs. Warren's lawyer tried to keep her from saying anything but she didn't listen. When she tried saying something about not knowing where Cat came from and that she should be in an orphanage or a work house, Ben exploded. "I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD MY DAUGHTER! WHY DO YOU REFUSE TO BELIEVE WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS TOWN KNOWS? CATHERINE IS MY SISTER'S DAUGHTER AND WHEN SHE WAS MURDERED, I ADOPTED MY NIECE! WHY DO YOU INSIST ON QUESTIONING HER PARENTAGE WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD SEVERAL TIMES WHO HER PARENTS ARE AND THAT SHE WAS BORN ON THE PONDEROSA? JUDGE, IF YOU DO NOT DO SOMETHING ABOUT KEEPING THIS WOMAN AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER, I WILL NOT GUARANTEE HER SAFETY IF SHE COMES OUT TO THE PONDEROSA AGAIN!"
"Ben," said the judge, "I am going to excuse your outburst because I understand how frustrated you are that Mrs. Warren continues to verbally attack your daughter and physically threatened her after being ordered to stay away from your family. I highly suggest you go outside for a few minutes and cool down before your temper gets the best of you. I do not want to have to fine you for being in contempt of court." Ben walked outside and the judge continued. "Adam, I believe you were home when Mrs. Warren went out to the Ponderosa. Will you please tell the court what happened?"
Adam told the judge how Cat was several hours late coming home from school and he was getting ready to ride out in search of her when Mrs. Warren drove her buggy into the yard at the Ponderosa. He said that he politely asked her to leave several times but she ignored him and continued talking about absolutely nothing at all. The judge smiled when Adam told of Cat riding into the yard with what she thought were, "More fish than even Hoss can eat." He told the judge how Cat became very frightened when she saw Mrs. Warren and he sent her into the house to keep her safe. Then he said that Mrs. Warren called Cat a "Disobedient, ill mannered, impudent brat" and said that he and his father should take his sister out behind the barn and give her a good thrashing with a razor strop. Adam further explained that Mrs. Warren stated that Cat needed to be whipped until she couldn't sit down for a month. Then because he made no move to do anything with his sister, Mrs. Warren said that because he was just standing there and not doing anything about her, she would and that, "Somebody needs to teach that brat a lesson and you and your father don't seem up to the task so I will do your job for you!" Adam continued by saying that Mrs. Warren picked up her whip and started to get out of her buggy when he ordered her off the Ponderosa and told her she was never to return there again.
"Thank you Adam. What happened after Mrs. Warren left the Ponderosa?"
"I sat on the porch and waited for my sister to come out of the house. She needed to get her chores and homework done and I needed to explain to her why it was important for her to come straight home from school. I waited for fifteen minutes and when Catherine did not come out of the house, I went inside to look for her. I went into the kitchen and Hop Sing told me that he had sent her upstairs where she would be safe while he stood guard with a large knife in his hands in case Mrs. Warren should enter the house and try to harm her. I walked upstairs, knocked on her door and called to her. When she didn't answer, I went into her room and looked for her. I found her puppies hiding under her bed and found Catherine curled up in a ball on the floor of her wardrobe. She was too frightened to come out so I had to pick her up and bring her out. She was shaking like a leaf. It took me more than thirty minutes to get her calmed down to the point where we could go downstairs and ask Hop Sing for some lemonade and cookies."
Mrs. Warren started to say something but the judge cut her off. "Mrs. Warren, I am warning you right now. If one sound comes out of your mouth, I will have you gagged. I have had more than enough of your outbursts, complaints and demands that a child, who has done nothing to you, be whipped. Adam, please continue."
"It was more than an hour after Mrs. Warren left the Ponderosa before Catherine and I were able to clean the fish she had caught. After I helped her with her chores, we sat on the porch and I explained why it was important for her to come right home from school and not stop to go fishing unless Pa had already given her permission. Then I sent her off to take care of her colt and start on her homework. Pa has a rule that unless she needs help with something, Catherine's homework must be finished before supper. Even though she was late coming home because she had been fishing, had Mrs. Warren not been on the Ponderosa, my sister would have been able to finish her homework before supper was ready. However, due to Mrs. Warren being on the Ponderosa, there was no way Catherine was going to finish the homework before supper and she was afraid she would be in trouble for not doing it. I had to reassure her several times that Pa would understand why it wasn't finished on time and that she would not be in trouble."
"Thank you Adam. Do you have anything else to add?"
"I just want to echo my father's words that if Mrs. Warren shows up on the Ponderosa again, her safety cannot be guaranteed. With the exception of one hand, everyone on the ranch likes my sister and would do anything they had to in order to protect her from harm."
Ben returned to the courtroom while Adam was talking. Once he finished, Ben stood up and apologized to the judge for his outburst. "I accept your apology Ben. I know that all of this must be very hard on you and your family. Please try to control your temper if the circumstance should arise where I need to hold another hearing like this one. Mrs. Warren, do you have anything to say for yourself? Before you begin, if you say a single word against Catherine Cartwright or her family, I will pass judgment on you without you having had the opportunity to defend yourself against the charges of contempt of court and assaulting Sheriff Coffee and Deputy Foster when they attempted to arrest you."
"I was completely within my rights to go out to the Ponderosa. I was there to solicit a donation for the church and parsonage roof fund. That is a perfectly acceptable thing to do. The sheriff and his deputy were attempting to force me to go with them and I was defending myself."
"I see. Did Reverend Long ask you to collect money for the roofs?"
"No. I always do the collecting for anything the church needs. I am better at collecting money than everyone else in this town."
"Did Ben Cartwright or any of his sons invite you to go out to the Ponderosa?"
"No. I didn't need an invitation to collect money for the church."
"It has barely been a month since you were in front of me, on trial for attacking and injuring Catherine Cartwright. At that time, I specifically told you that you were to stay away from the Cartwright family and were not to go out to the Ponderosa."
"Sheriff Coffee, when you went to Mrs. Warren's house with your deputy, did you inform her of your reason for being there?"
"Yes I did. I told her that Ben Cartwright had signed a complaint against her for threatening his daughter and I was placing her under arrest until you had time to deal with her. She refused to come on her own, so my deputy and I were forced to try and carry her. She fought and kicked us until a couple of cow hands came out of the saloon and offered to carry her for us. They said they were used to being kicked by broncos and steers so Mrs. Warren's antics wouldn't bother them at all."
"Thank you Sheriff. Millicent Warren, I find you guilty of contempt of court for going out to the Ponderosa uninvited and threatening Ben Cartwright's daughter. I also find you guilty of assaulting Sheriff Coffee and Deputy Foster when they were attempting to do their duty and arrest you. Since two weeks in the Virginia City jail did not seem to teach you a lesson let's see if spending more time there will help you learn your lesson. I hereby sentence you to spend one month in the Virginia City jail. The same conditions as before apply. No special privileges except being allowed your Bible and, if someone wants to bring it to you, your needlework. If one of the ladies wants to bring a set of clean clothes for you once a week, that will be acceptable to the court. I am warning you now, if I see you in front of me again for these same offenses before a family member who is willing to take you, can be located, I will have no choice but to send you to prison. I highly recommend you spend the next month reading your Bible and asking God to help you do the right thing as I do not want to send a lady of your age to prison. Sheriff Coffee, have you had any success finding a relative of Mrs. Warren who is willing to take her?"
"I've sent several letters out but haven't received any replies yet. I've got more written that I had planned on sending out in today's mail."
"Thank you. Please let me know if you have any success."
After Roy and Clem left the courthouse, Ben said, "Thank you Your Honor. Now I need to go over to the school and let three children know of the good news. Because I was worried that Millicent might show up at the school and try to harm Cat, I got permission from Dan Devlin and Ted King for Michael and Jasper to bring their slingshots to school with the understanding they were not to use them unless Millicent showed up at the school. I know you probably think I'm crazy, but that woman could have seriously injured Cat or worse before anyone could get Roy. I also need to let my daughter know that for the next month at least, she won't have to look ever her shoulder whenever we're in town."
"No Ben. I don't think you're crazy. You are a father who will do anything within his power to protect his daughter. I don't know of many fathers who would not do the same thing. Who knows, I may be in your shoes one day. Sally is pregnant with our second child. Come spring, Andrew will have a little brother or sister to play with when he or she is old enough. Go and tell the children they won't have to worry about Mrs. Warren for a while."
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a/n: The earliest forms of clipboards were patented in 1870-71 and referred to as board clips. A picture of one can be found at pin/440156563554400718/