When Mary arrived at her house, she put her horse in the barn and went into the house where she hugged and kissed her husband. Then she looked at the dogs and said, "Why don't you two go and find Mike? I know he'd love to see you."
The two dogs walked into Mike's room and he was very happy to see them. He hugged them and said, "Lassie, Chief, if you're here, that means Ma is home. I wonder if Cat is better." He rushed into the living room and hugged his mother. "Ma, you're home. Is Cat better? Can I go and see her?"
Before Mary could answer, Mitch walked in with his arms full of firewood. After depositing it in the wood box, he hugged his mother and asked the same questions his younger brother did.
"I'm only home for a little while. Cat is still a very sick little girl, so you won't be able to see her for a while. I promise that you will get to see her as soon as she's well again. Mike, I need to talk to your father and brother about some grownup stuff so why don't you get Cat's dogs a drink of water and find something to do for a little while? I promise not to take too long."
Mike sighed and went to do as his mother said. Once he left the room, she said, "It's a good thing I went over to the Ponderosa on Sunday to see if I could help with Cat. You should have seen the chaos in her bedroom. Paul and Virginia bundled her up in quilts and a scarf before they headed for home and all five of them were in her room trying to get the quilts and scarf as well as her hat, coat, gloves, and clothes off of her. They were all still wearing their hats, coats, and gloves while trying to get Cat undressed. I had to shoo all of them out of the room and get her into her long underwear and wool socks before getting her into bed. That night, Ben had six blankets, including Virginia's quilts on her and extra logs on her fire. That room was like an oven. Hoss opened one of the windows so it would cool off in there while Adam and Abel took half of the blankets off of her. Dan, I need you to come back to the Ponderosa with me. The two of us, Abel, Hop Sing, and Adam if he's home, are going to have a long talk with Ben about the way he's treating Cat. He's expecting a nine year old child to think and act like an adult. He was going to scold her because he thought she was being rude when she told her dogs to take me to Mike's house. I have a feeling he treated Joe that way too and that's why he spent so much time over here." She told her husband and oldest son more of the ways Ben was expecting his nine year old daughter to think and act like an adult.
"Mitch, you are Joe's best friend and I need you to talk to him. I don't know what his problem is, but he's gotten lazy and uncooperative and he's got Hoss acting the same way. Among other things, he spends a lot of time complaining about Cat getting preferential treatment right now.
During the blizzard, she wanted to go outside and watch it snow, so we bundled her up and let her sit in the dining room for a while so she could watch it snow. She's been sleeping on the settee during the day and since she wasn't on it, Joe and Hoss took the opportunity to sit there. Cat fell asleep and they refused to move when Adam carried her back into the great room. Hoss moved after Hop Sing hit him with a big spoon and said he wouldn't get any dessert, but Joe refused to move. He complained that he had to stay in bed when he was sick and his sister should have to also. Hop Sing finally had to set Cat's dogs on him to get him to move." Mary told Mitch and Dan about the other things Joe had been doing, including complaining about not being allowed to take cattle to the Paiutes so he could see Winnemucca's daughter and waking Cat up.
"Sure Ma. I'll ride over there with you and Pa and talk to Joe today."
"You won't be able to talk to him today. He's not home. Joe, Hoss, Charles, and two hands took three wagons and a buckboard into Carson City to buy hay, grain, and salt for the cattle and horses."
"Why isn't Ben buying from John Winter and why did Charles need to go with them?" asked Dan.
Mary told him about Seth's comments about Ben and Cat the day that he and his brother ripped up one of the school's copies of Little Women. She also told him about how they apologized the next day. "Ben is trying to teach Margaret a lesson about not allowing John to discipline their sons and teach them right from wrong before they end up in jail or dead. He figures that the way she loves money, losing the Ponderosa's business is going to hurt them financially and she may start letting John be a proper father to their sons. Ben said to be sure to tell you that he doesn't want you, Ted, or anyone else buying in Carson City because he is. He doesn't want to put John out of business. He just wants to teach Margaret a lesson. Charles is with them because they're using his wagon. They gave the Ingalls two horses for Christmas and part of their present was that their hayloft would be kept full. He said that since some of the hay, grain, and salt was for him, the least he could do is help to get it."
"Alright. I won't say anything to Ted about Ben buying his feed in Carson City when I see him. Did Ben say anything about how long he plans to keep buying his feed there?"
"No, but since we've already had one blizzard, my guess is that today will be the last trip before spring. I'm not sure, but I think that he's planning on either going to John's store or his home to see if the boys will give him a proper apology before deciding if he's going to start buying his feed from John again or continue buying in Carson City. I've got to put some clothes in a carpet bag. I'm going to stay on the Ponderosa until Cat is feeling better. She needs me. Poor girl. Ben always seems to be angry with her and she hasn't done anything wrong. He was going to scold her when she said she didn't like breathing steam, wasn't going to do it, and pulled the towel off of her head. He knows she's never been this sick before but that doesn't matter. That's one reason I want you to come back there with me. Maybe you can talk some sense into him before he loses that little girl. If the cold wouldn't make her worse, I'd bring her home to stay with us until her uncles decide what to do. Unfortunately, that would require Mike to sleep in Mitch's room and while I know Mike wouldn't mind, it wouldn't be fair to ask him to give up his room."
"I think that a large part of Ben's problem is that he's not used to dealing with a young child. Remember, it's been many years since Joe was a boy and Cat's only been spending a few weeks a year on the Ponderosa and that's only been since she was five. I'm positive that the reason Joe spent so much time here is because he has two older brothers who were always telling him what to do. It wasn't bad until Adam got home from school. He expected Joe to still be six and thought his ten year old brother was running wild and decided that he was going to do everything in his power to keep the boy restricted to the yard. I remember one Saturday, Adam rode over here looking for Joe because he wanted the boy to clean the barn. I asked Joe if he had done his chores and he said yes. I also asked if he had his father's permission to be here and he said yes. So I told Adam that Joe was doing nothing wrong and unless Ben came over here and told me that Joe needed to clean the barn, he was going to spend the day fishing with Mitch. I talked to Ben about it at church the next day and he said he would speak to Adam and tell him to leave Joe alone, but Adam ignored his father's instructions. I finally confronted him in front of Ben one day and he said that a six year old shouldn't be running wild. Ben and I both reminded him that Joe was ten and was doing things that ten year old children do."
"From what Mike has told me, Adam hasn't changed much," added Mitch. "Cat told him that when she gets home from school, if Adam is there, he tells her to do her chores and homework. When they race here after school, he wants to know why she's late getting home and acts like he hopes that she got kept after school. He keeps going through her bedroom to make sure she doesn't have anything he doesn't think she should. When Mike and Jasper were at Gerald's shop helping Cat with her Christmas presents for the family, even though she had Mr. Cartwright's permission to be there, Adam kept trying to find out what she was doing. I don't know if you know this or not, but Joe told me that Tommy and Billy forced Cat to go to town and look under the saloon doors. Adam caught them and took them to Sheriff Coffee and ignored Cat when she told him that the boys threatened to do something bad if she didn't do what they said. Even though he's not even supposed to spank her, Adam gave her a bare bottom whipping. She's only nine and he used his belt on her fifteen times. He also gave her fifteen more on her bare bottom on the way home because she wouldn't say sir to him, said she wasn't Mr. Cartwright's real daughter and wanted to ride her horse. But he made her ride behind him and trotted his horse all the way home. Joe said her bottom was so red it looked like it was on fire. He told me that he managed to punch Adam a few times before his father stopped him and when Hoss got home the next morning, Hop Sing distracted Mr. Cartwright while Hoss took Adam out behind the barn."
"From what I've seen since I've been there, Adam is doing his best to change. He's teaching Cat how to draw better and he was the one who brought her back to the settee when she fell asleep watching the blizzard. He's also been taking care of her horses since she's been sick and brought a book from her room in case she felt like reading while almost everyone was gone from the house. On Thursday, I went over to see how Caroline was doing and she told me that Charles went with Adam, Hoss, and Joe to get feed in Carson City and he told her that Susan Winter spent Tuesday night on the Ponderosa. She and Adam had a long talk and she said some things to him that made him take a long look inside himself. He asked Charles if Susan was right and he told him to think on it. He asked Hoss the same question and got the same answer. He spent the rest of the trip to Carson City thinking and realized that Susan was right. Charles said that Adam rode part way home with Joe and apologized for the way he treated him when he came home from college, so I'm pretty sure that he apologized to Cat also. Don't forget, when Cat got sick in church even though he could have given her to Ben, Adam carried her over to Paul's office. Well, let me get my things packed so we can go over to the Ponderosa."
"I was thinking," said Dan. "It might just cheer Cat up if we took the boys with us. Since they've both had bronchitis, it will mean more to her if they tell her how important it is to breathe the steam than if adults keep telling her. Since all of the adults are going to be in the dining room talking, Mike can keep her company."
"I'm concerned that Michael will hear things he doesn't need to know right now."
"Mary, Mike and Cat are best friends and spend a lot of time together. Don't you think that Cat has already told him everything that's been going on since Ben adopted her? Mitch has already told us some of what Cat has told Mike."
Mary laughed. "I didn't think about that. You're probably right. Mitch, will you please tell your brother that the two of you are going to come to the Ponderosa with us and he can spend time visiting Cat? I know that will make him very happy."
As his mother predicted, Mike was thrilled when his brother told him that the entire family was going to the Ponderosa. He grabbed a bunch of papers off his desk, put them in his saddle bags and walked over to his brother. "You'd better take a book to read in case Cat is sleeping," said Mitch.
"If she is, I'll just read one of hers. She said I could borrow any of her books as long as she wasn't reading it. If nobody's been reading to her, I'll use her copy of Little Women and read a chapter or two to help her get caught up to where the rest of us are."
"You're a good friend little brother and from what Mr. Cartwright told Ma and Pa, you're pretty thoughtful too. I was there when he told them about you going outside to use the necessary over Christmas so you wouldn't wake Jasper and Cat's cousin Mark. Although I suspect that Jasper and Mark weren't asleep and the three of you wanted to know what the adults were talking about. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I've done the same thing myself many times so if I let on to Ma and Pa that you were eavesdropping at the Cartwrights, they'd want to know how I knew and then I'd have to tell them about all of the times I did the same thing. So I think we'll just keep this little secret between us. Just be careful not to get caught because I'm sure you know what the consequences will be if you did get caught."
"Yes I do. I am very careful. I used to watch you when I was little and you never got caught. So I try and do the same things you did. We'd better go before Ma and Pa change their minds about letting us see Cat. But you're probably going to be talking with the adults while I'm sitting with Cat. I guess I'll take my arithmetic book with me and see if Adam will help me with some of it."
"That's a good idea. I never was very good at it and if Adam hadn't helped me, I wouldn't have graduated with the grades I did. Get your book, pencil, and tablet and let's go before Ma and Pa decide to leave us here."
Adam was walking out of the barn when the Devlins reached the Ponderosa. He greeted them and asked why Dan, Mitch, and Mike were there.
"Mike is going to keep Cat company while everyone else, you, your grandfather, and Hop Sing have a talk with your father about the way he's treating your sister," replied Mary.
"I've been busy helping get hay and supplies and haven't been home much these last few days. What is he doing now? He promised to stop being so overprotective and everyone has been on him to keep that promise, so I know that's not the problem."
"He's expecting your nine year old sister to think and act like an adult."
"Great," groaned Adam. "I'm doing my best to fix my relationship with Cat and he's trying to drive her away. Well, let's go and see what we can do to remind him that she's only nine and that Joe is nineteen and still doesn't always think or act like an adult. You've seen that for yourself since you arrived on Sunday."
Hop Sing greeted them when they walked in the door. "Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Abel in dining room. Missy Cat sleeping on settee. I bring coffee and hot cocoa. Missy Cat need breathe steam when she wake up. Get Hop Sing and I boil water with herbs for her."
Mike walked into the great room and saw Cat's drawing tablet on the table. He picked it up and looked through it and thought, 'Her drawing is getting better. Adam must be working with her. I wonder if he could teach me to draw.' After looking at Cat's drawings, Mike picked up her copy of Gulliver's Travels, sat down in Ben's chair and started reading.
While Mike was reading, the adults were in the dining room talking. "Ben," said Mr. Devlin, "Mary has told me much of what has been happening here since Cat got sick and I want to know why you are treating that little girl the way you have been. You are still being overprotective, always seem to be angry at her and are expecting a nine year old child to think and act like an adult."
"I am not being overprotective and am not always angry at her and I don't expect her to think and act like an adult."
"Yes you are and do," said Abel, Mary, and Hop Sing together.
"I'm afraid that they're right Pa," added Adam. "Ever since that rabbit spooked the team the day Cat was driving the buckboard, you have been treating her like a china doll that will break if it gets moved. She's going to be ten in June but you want her to ride a pony instead of a horse. You've talked about not letting her ride Fury when he's old enough. At Christmas, you were so angry that she and the boys were out in a snowstorm that you were going to burn her sled and break the blades off of her ice skates and throw them in the rubbish. You also said that she was going to spend the rest of the winter in the house and would never be allowed to leave the yard without an adult. The only reason you didn't do those things is because Matt and Rip said that they would nullify the adoption and Cat would go back to Dodge with Matt and Kitty. You acted like it was her fault that it snowed enough so the kids had to wait it out."
"You don't understand. Your sister had never been out in a snowstorm before and was out at a mountain thirty minutes from the house."
"Yes she was out there but she wasn't alone. Cat was with two boys who have lived here all of their lives and you knew it. Lucas wasn't worried and his son was out there too. They don't get much snow in New Mexico, but he knew what everyone else did. You were angry because it was a situation you couldn't control. You know as well as I do that if she had been out there alone, Hoss, Joe, Andy, and I would not have left her out there at the mountain. We would have gone after her as soon as it looked like it was going to snow."
"You have also been angry with her ever since she got sick," added Abel. "You started to scold her because she didn't want to breathe steam. You got angry when she wanted to bring Fury into the house, and you started to scold her when she told her puppies to take Mary to Mike's house because you thought it was rude that she didn't tell them to take Mrs. Devlin home."
"We're trying to help you Ben," said Dan. "If you don't stop treating Cat the way you have been, you are going to lose her. Either your sons will take her to Arizona or you'll wake up one morning and find her gone. We know that you're not used to having a young child in the house, but you have got to stop expecting her to act and think like an adult. You have also got to stop being so overprotective of her. You keep saying that you're going to, but your words and actions say otherwise. I know that you worry about Cat, but that's no excuse to try and keep her from doing things an almost ten year old child should be doing. Mike just turned eleven and even though Mary and I worry about him, we let him do things a boy his age should be doing."
"But you don't understand," replied Ben. "I'm trying to keep her from getting hurt. She's my little sister's little girl and I can't let anything happen to her."
"Hogwash!" exclaimed everyone at once.
"Getting hurt is a part of life," said Abel. "You can't keep someone from ever getting hurt. Cat could trip and fall down the stairs. She could drop her school books or a pieced of wood on one of her feet. Her horse could step on her. She could get pecked by a chicken while gathering eggs. She could get stung by a bee while helping Hop Sing in the vegetable garden. I remember a young cabin boy who, when making some tea for me, accidentally poured hot water on his hand instead of in my cup when one of the mates knocked on the door and startled him."
"What about Matt and Rip?" asked Adam. "Cat is their little brother's little girl and the only child on their side of the family, but neither one of them is trying to keep her from getting hurt because they know it's impossible. Yes, they have safety rules for her, but those are to keep her from becoming badly hurt or worse. Also, neither one of them expect her to think and act like an adult, so why do you expect it of her? She's nine, not nineteen. Don't forget, Joe is nineteen and he still doesn't always think and act like an adult. His actions when the family was in Carson City and ever since Cat got sick are prime examples. He kept eighteen people, including six children waiting out in the cold so he could buy a new suit that he didn't need just so he could impress the girls. He had a temper tantrum because you wouldn't let him take cattle to the Paiutes and woke Cat up. When we let her watch the blizzard, he refused to get off the settee until Hop Sing set Cat's dogs on him. If my nineteen year old brother doesn't think and act like an adult, why do you expect my nine year old sister to?
You're so busy paying attention to what you think she's doing wrong that you ignore everything she does right. Ever since Cat and Andy had their talk, she's been trying very hard not to run in the house. Everyone else, including Hop Sing have noticed how hard she's trying and compliments her, but you haven't even noticed. I'll tell you one other thing you haven't noticed. Right now, my nine year old sister is more responsible than either of my brothers are. When Grandfather arrived before Thanksgiving, all of us forgot about the horses hitched to the surrey, so Cat risked being seriously hurt and took care of them. When the fire went out in her room the night Susan spent here, she started to go outside in just her nightgown and slippers to get some wood for it. The last day of school before Christmas vacation, all six children took care of the team that was pulling the surrey. She spends so much time brushing Fury that you can almost see yourself in his coat. Last night after you talked with them in the barn, instead of bringing firewood into the house, my brothers were sitting on the porch swing and expected me to bring the wood in and do their barn chores. Do you remember what she told Andy when they talked? She thinks you would be glad if she got killed while running through the house because you hate her."
When Ben started to say something, Adam continued, "Yes, I know that Cat said the same things about me. However, unlike you, I have been trying to fix my relationship with her. Susan and I had a long talk the night she spent here and she said some things that made me look deep inside myself. I asked Charles and Hoss about what she said and they both told me that I already knew the answer and needed to think about it. So, I spent half of the trip to Carson City the next day thinking about what she said and realized that she was right. I have apologized to both Joe and Cat for the way I have treated them and, although my relationship with both of them is not where it should be yet, it is better than it was. Grandfather, Hoss, Joe, and I have talked. If you don't stop being so overprotective and being angry at her all the time, we are going to take Cat to Matt when we return home from Boston. We'll still have the Barkley's rail car so we won't have to worry about being attacked and robbed on the trail. I'm sure that Aunt Victoria and the rest of the family won't have a problem with us using it again. In fact, if it weren't for Audra being jealous of Cat and threatening to kill her, we'd take her to California. Of course that would mean starting a new school near the end of the term and having to make new friends, if there are any children her age.
"You have from now until the end of the month to start treating your daughter the way she should be treated or when we go to Boston, I will not be closing up my house," said Abel. "Instead, Adam and I will take Cat to the places we talked about and when we return here, your sons and I will take her to Dodge and I will return to Boston and live out my days there. I am certain that Matt and Rip will allow her to spend some time with me every summer so I will still get to see my granddaughter."
"The choice is yours Ben," said Dan. "Either start treating Cat right or lose her forever. If Matt and Rip annul the adoption, I may ask them to allow me to adopt her. That way she'll have a mother and a father as well as two brothers. Since she'll still be your niece, Catherine will be allowed to spend time here if she wants to, but she won't be living here."
"I would love to have Cat as a little sister," added Mitch. "Mike will have to bunk with me until spring when we can add a new bedroom onto the house, but I know that he won't mind if it means that Cat will be living with us."
"Number one son treating little sister much better. Why Mr. Cartwright not do same?" asked Hop Sing. "If Missy Cat leave forever, Hop Sing quit and go back to China forever. Mr. Matt and Mr. Rip be very angry at Mr. Cartwright and he maybe no see Missy Cat ever again. Adam, Hoss, Mr. Abel, and Little Joe be able to see her but not Mr. Cartwright."
"Well Ben," said Dan. "There you have it. Either stop being overprotective, angry, and expecting your nine year old daughter to think and act like an adult or you're going to lose her. The choice is yours. Are you going to keep acting the way you have been or are you going to change your behavior toward your daughter?"
Before Ben could answer, Cat woke up and started coughing. Mike walked into the dining room and said, "Excuse me, but Cat's awake and she's coughing real bad."
"Thank you Mike," said Ben. "I'll be right there."
Hop Sing went into the kitchen to boil water for Cat's tea and so she could breathe steam with herbs in it while Ben went into the great room and picked Cat up to carry her into the downstairs bedroom to take care of her personal needs. "Stop carrying me everywhere!" demanded Cat. "I'm not a baby and can walk by myself! What if all the kids at school find out? I'll be teased until I graduate."
"Paul said he doesn't want you walking around too much," replied Ben.
"Cat's right," inserted Mary. "You don't have to carry her everywhere. Yes, carry her up and down the stairs until she's feeling better, but she can walk into the bedroom down here without any help. Even though she's sick, a little bit of exercise is good for her. She's been spending a lot of time resting and sleeping so she needs to walk around a little bit before her leg muscles get weak."
"I promise I won't tell anyone, not even Jas, Laura, or Mary," said Mike. "Ma and Pa used to carry me everywhere too the first time I got bronchitis but Dr. Paul said that I needed to walk around some too."
When Cat returned to the great room, she sat down on the settee and asked, "Pa, why don't you love me any more? You used to love me when you were my uncle, but now that you're my Pa, you hate me. Why?"
Ben was stunned and hurt by Cat's question. "I don't hate you Sweetheart. I love you very much."
"No you don't. 'Cause if you did, you wouldn't always be mad at me and I don't even know why. Andy said that you were so mad the day that it snowed when Jas, Mark, Mike, and me went sledding, you were going to burn my sled and break the blades off my ice skates and throw them in the rubbish. You even thought I made it snow hard so we could stay out at the mountain. You were going to yell at me before Mrs. Devlin went home but she asked you to saddle her horse so you couldn't. You probably even think I got sick on purpose so I wouldn't have to go to school. I've been trying real hard not to run in the house ever since Andy and I talked, but you're always yelling at me for running in the house, even when I'm not. You won't even let Adam, Hoss, and Joe show me how to get around the ranch."
"I do love you very much Sweetheart and I'm sorry that I make you feel as though I don't. I think a lot of what you think is me being angry at you is the fact that I worry about you all the time. You are unlike any other little girl I've ever met and sometimes want to do dangerous things. I want to wrap you in cotton wool and put you on a shelf so you won't get hurt, but you want to ride your sled down the highest mountain on the ranch and think that jumping your horse over fences and large objects is fun and neither of you will get hurt. I want you to ride a pony so if you fall off you won't get hurt, and you want to ride the bull and teach Fury how to fly. I sometimes do get angry with you and that's my fault, not yours. It's been so long since I had a young child in the house, I forget that children don't think and act like adults. Remember, Joe turned fifteen the same day you turned five, so I need to get used to having a young child in the house and remember that you are just a little girl, not an adult. As far as showing you around the ranch is concerned, go and look out the dining room window. Then come back here and tell me what you see."
Cat looked out the dining room window, returned to the great room and said, "I see a lot of snow."
"Exactly and besides the fact that you are very sick, that is why nobody is showing you around the ranch right now. Hoss, Joe, Charles, and two hands have gone to get more hay, grain, and salt for the last time until spring. Adam has made what will probably be the last trip to get supplies for Hop Sing until spring. All anybody is doing on the ranch right now is making sure that the cattle have enough hay and salt and we're putting extra out for them in case we get a blizzard that lasts for several days. If it doesn't snow too much tomorrow, I'll probably have your brothers cut more wood so we have enough in case a blizzard lasts a long time. This is your first winter here and you don't know what blizzards are like. They can last for up to five days and except to get meat from the smokehouse, bring firewood into the house, and feed the horses, chickens, and your pig, nobody goes out in one. It's not safe. People have died just a few feet from their front door because they couldn't find it. That's why the wood is stacked against the house and bunkhouse, and we have ropes going from the house to the barn, chicken coop, smokehouse, pigpen, and bunkhouse. There are also ropes going from the bunkhouse to the barn and smokehouse. Unless it's an emergency, except to let your dogs out, in which case, you will be on the porch, you will not be going outside during a blizzard. I will tie two ropes to the porch and you will tie them around your dogs' necks before they leave the porch. Then I won't have to worry about you or them.
I know that you did not make it snow that day, but I was so worried about you, I forgot that Jasper and Mike have lived here all of their lives and know what to do in a snowstorm. I also know that you did not get sick on purpose and Paul is giving the bill for your treatment to each of the women who caused you to get sick. I truly am very sorry that I have made you feel as though I don't love you and I am going to do my best to change. I am going to ask your grandfather, brothers, and Hop Sing to remind me that you are only nine years old when I start expecting you to think and act like an adult. I am quite sure that Hop Sing will enjoy hitting me with his spoon when I forget that you are just a little girl. Here's Hop Sing with some boiling water so you can breathe steam and get well."