by J. Rosemary Moss
Genre: Fan Fiction (Bonanza)
Rating: PG
LINK TO PART ONE
~
I was lounging in our cramped withdrawing room—the Monstrosity was still not complete—listening to Brian read me the paper, when the butler walked in and inquired if I was ‘at home’ to Little Joe Cartwright. (Yes, even my butler referred to him by the nickname ‘Little Joe.’)
I sat up in surprise. Of all the Cartwrights, Joe held me in the least regard. Adam, for all that he was determined to rescue me from myself, nonetheless respected my abilities. I suspect his father had some grudging respect for me as well. Hoss, I imagine, had no real opinion of me—I existed too far outside his spheres of interest.
But I knew Joe thought of me as a--well, the word he would use to describe me isn't fit for polite company. And he felt that way about me even before I ruined Jameson. Oh, he always strained himself to behave with casual politeness to me, but we had never gotten on.
So what did he want from me? He would never seek me out for his own sake. Had Adam sent him to complain about my handling of the mine? But I doubted that was the case. Since the incident with Peter Kane, Adam had seemed to lose interest in the outside world. He was still, as far as I knew, holed up at the Ponderosa.
I shook myself out of these thoughts. My butler was still waiting for a response. “Show him in,” I ordered.
I heard Brian lean in closer to me. “Shall I remain, sir?”
I shook my head. “No—consider yourself at liberty for the remainder of the afternoon.”
I heard the paper rustle as he stood up. “Thank you!” he said. And then I heard his footfall echo down the hallway.
I smiled to myself. Brian deserved an afternoon off—he'd been showering me with even more than his usual devotion of late. I had kept my word to him by paying for his fiancée’s passage and insisting that Jack plan a separate servants’ house near the Monstrosity. Brian had been pledging his lifelong loyalty ever since.
At length the butler returned and announced Little Joe. I stood up and held out my hand as the butler departed.
Joe gave my hand a shake—a brief, obligatory sort of shake. I invited him to sit down as I resumed my own seat.
“How may I be of service to you?” I inquired.
“Are you my brother’s enemy?” he demanded.
I wasn’t taken aback by his bluntness; this was Little Joe, after all. And I didn’t have to ask which brother he was referring to.
“It would be more accurate to describe me as a sometimes rival,” I said. “I don’t wish him any harm—far from it.”
There was a long pause at that. “Is that why you took such good care of him after the accident?”
I shrugged.
“Why did you ruin that fellow Jameson?” Joe persisted. “Adam said you hardly knew him—you just wanted to annoy him. Annoy Adam, I mean.”
I curled my lips at Joe, wondering what the point of this interrogation was. “I did it to teach Adam a lesson,” I said. “Now why are you here, Joe?”
There was another long pause before he answered. “Would you come to the Ponderosa with me?”
“Why?”
“To see Adam.”
“Did Adam send you here?”
There was a long moment of silence. “Joe?” I prompted.
“No, he didn’t send me,” Joe said at last. “I was shaking my head—I forgot that you couldn’t, well, never mind.”
I didn’t say anything to ease his discomfort. I waited for him to explain himself instead. He took his sweet time about it, but at length he spoke up again.
“You know about Peter Kane, don’t you?” he asked me.
“Somewhat,” I answered. “There have been all sorts of rumors in town. From what I understand, Kane was something of a lunatic. He took Adam prisoner in some god-forsaken desert and didn’t even seek a ransom.”
“Yeah, he was a lunatic,” Joe agreed. “He wasn’t after money. He tortured Adam, Drew.”
Joe’s voice was devoid of emotion. Somehow that fact made his words all the more shocking. I knew that Kane had held Adam hostage—but it hadn’t occur to me that the man had tortured Adam. It took a minute or two for that fact to sink in.
“What do you want from me?” I asked at last.
“I want you to come to the Ponderosa,” Joe repeated. “I want you to see Adam.”
“Why?” I asked again.
Joe sighed. “Look, it’s hard to explain. Adam’s not taking interest in much right now. I think you’re one of the few people who might, you know, get some reaction from him.”
“And what sort of reaction do you suppose that will be?” I asked with biting irony in my voice. “We did not part on the best of terms.”
“Oh, I’m hoping he’ll be angry as hell at you,” Joe said frankly.
That brought a small smile to my lips, but I paused before giving Joe an answer. I still had questions.
“Is Adam—is Adam still sound?” I asked at last.
“He’s fine physically and he hasn’t lost his mind, if that’s what you’re asking,” Joe said. “He’s just kind of withdrawn into himself. I mean, he still talks with us and he works on the accounts and rides fence and such. But he hardly speaks to the hands—except Rueben Cobbs and a couple of other new hires--and he won’t ride off the Ponderosa.”
He paused and took a deep breath. “So will you come?”
I thought about the fact that I was valuable only in so far as I might incite Adam’s wrath. On the other hand, I’d been chomping at the bit for a chance to renew my fight with Adam. And I wanted to find out for myself how he was faring.
“Very well,” I said. “I’ll call for my carriage.”
LINK TO PART FIFTEEN
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