It was September 15 1876 when Sally Cartwright said to her husband Adam, “Adam, isn’t it about time that we are going to live somewhere else at the ranch? Our family gets expanding next year.”
“Do you happen to mean that you…?”, Adam asked amazed.
“Yes, you are becoming a father again. The baby comes in March”, answered his wife.
A passionate kiss was next.
That morning Adam had taken his twins Mitch and Pam along to another part of the Ponderosa.
“Where are we going?”, Pam asked suddenly.
“I want to show you something”, answered Adam.
“What then?”, Mitch asked restless.
“You will see that when are there”, the twins got to hear.
The children knew that they weren’t allowed to nag and kept silent.
A bit later they arrived at a half finished house.
“Kids, what do you think about this?”, asked Adam.
“What a ruin”, Mitch said out of the ground of his heart.
“We are not going to live here, are we?”, his sister asked worried.
“I have started with this once but never finished it. Recently I showed it to your mother and she wants to live here with the little ones”, answered Adam.
“And now you want that we help to finish this house to live here?”, asked Mitch.
“That is the meaning. But I notice that you don’t feel like it”, said Adam.
“What’s wrong with living with grandpa?”, asked Pam.
“Nothing but it will be very busy. Mama and I have with you lot 4 already and uncle Hoss and aunt Betsy 1. Besides you get in March a little brother or a little sister”, answered Adam.
“Do you mean that mom……….?”, asked Mitch.
Adam nodded.
“Cody and Lucky may come along as well?”, asked Pam.
“Of course they are coming too. They belong to you”, answered her father.
They dismounted and looked at the house.
“Now I know why daddy asks for our help to finish this house”, said Mitch.
Adam already suspected the answer and didn’t want to hear it but his daughter was ahead of him.
“Well, tell”, said Pam.
“He is afraid that he has finished it when we come to visit with our children”, was the answer of her brother.
Pam found it funny but Adam clearly didn’t. He looked at his son.
“This reminds me of that certain day when you secretly helped you grandpa with decorating the Christmas tree. You were 3 years old”, said Adam.
“Alright. We help you with the house”, said Mitch.
Home again his wife Sally asked, “Adam, what did the twins think of the house?”
“At first nothing but later on great. They think that I can’t finish it without their help. I have told them about the little one though”, answered Adam.
“The twins have much faith in you. And what the baby is concerned: everybody will be able to see it in a while”, said Sally.
“We are going to start tomorrow”, said Adam.
“How do you think you need to finish it?”, asked his wife.
“Maybe 2 months. But the nursery will be alright as well. You look after the little ones, the twins and I are responsible for our new house”, answered Adam.
That evening Adam said suddenly, “Pa, Joe, Hoss and Betsy, Sally and I have something to tell you. The twins and I are going to finish the house which I started long ago to live there with Sally, Lisa and Rose.”
For a moment it was silent at the table.
“So you are leaving home? And I won’t see 4 of my 5 grandchildren not daily anymore?”, asked Ben, the owner of the Ponderosa and father of Adam.
“That’s right but that’s now just 4 but in March 5”, said Adam.
Four pair of eyes looked at him and Sally.
“Adam and I expect a baby”, said Sally.
Everyone congratulated them.
Betsy said casual, “Then I will make our good news also known.”
Her father-in-law Ben asked worried, “Don’t tell me that you, Hoss and Inger are going to live somewhere else too?”
“No, but the good news is that our daughter will get a playmate in March”, answered Hoss.
“Well, congratulations to you as well”, Ben said laughing.
Hereby the Cartwrights were even more motivated to get the house for Adam, Sally and their children ready even faster.
On the morning of November 15 at the new house. In the meantime Adam had gotten help from his younger brothers Hoss and Joe. Suddenly fate struck. Mitch was busy in the kitchen when a loose beam came down.
“Daddy!”, the boy screamed.
Everybody looked into his direction but the beam already had fallen upon Mitch. A plank fell on top of it.
“Mitch is a goner. Pam, go get grandpa and Candy right away”, said Adam.
Pam went away at once. The brothers went to save Mitch. Joe took the plank away and Hoss the beam. Adam examined his son who was unconscious. He lifted up the boy to a safer place.
“Mitch, wake up”, Adam said terrified.
Slowly the young Cartwright opened his eyes. He looked confused around him and felt then the pain in his left hand.
“Daddy, what has happened?”, asked Mitch.
“A beam and a plank fell down you. Where do you have pain?”, Adam asked worried.
“My hand. I can’t move it”, answered his son.
He held up his injured hand. Adam and Hoss checked the hand and knew enough.
“Mitchy, your hand is probably broken”, said Hoss.
The boy did a lot of trouble to fight off the pain but he failed. Adam put the hand and wrist in a splint while Hoss and Joe held Mitch.
“Just squeeze in my hand when it hurts”, said Hoss.
“Just look out Hoss. Because otherwise you will have a broken hand as well”, said Joe.
“If that is so I am going to teach my nephew how to play chess”, answered Hoss.
“I already can do that”, said Mitch.
“Then grandpa shall have taught you that”, said Joe.
Mitch nodded. He squeezed hard in the big hand of his uncle. Then came Ben and the foreman Candy Canaday there too.
“What has happened to Mitch?”, Ben asked worried.
“A balk and a plank fell on him. His left hand is broken”, answered Adam.
The rancher came off his horse and kneeled down by his only grandson.
“Mitch, what would you say if we go together to town to let your hand be treated?”, asked Ben.
“Alright”, answered the boy.
With a lot of help Mitch came on his horse and with Ben he rode back to the ranch.
“I will help you further”, Candy said while he dismounted.
At home Ben grabbed the carriage and he went with his grandson to Virginia City.
“Your father got an accident too when he was busy with that house. He was engaged to Laura Dayton then. But she ran off with a cousin. Your father fell off a ladder downstairs and became temporary paralyzed”, Ben said underway.
Mitch was silent from it because he didn’t know this.
“Daddy said that he had met mama in San Francisco”, he said a bit later on.
“I had sent your father to there for business and a vacation. Well, something very good has come out of that”, answered the rancher.
“Even though uncle Hoss and uncle Joe often don’t think not so”, Mitch reacted dry.
Ben couldn’t deny that.
At home Sally and Betsy waited for the return of Ben and Mitch. Pam kept herself busy with her little sisters Lisa and Rose and cousin Inger.
“I fear that the boys will pester Mitch quite a lot with his injured hand”, said Sally.
“I am afraid of that too but Mitch will get them back. We are there too and so is pa”, reacted Betsy.
“Adam has taught him to clip himself with words. And he does that with the girls too. And as soon as this one is born that happens too”, Sally said looking at her 5 months pregnant belly.
She put a hand on her belly.
“Ladies, you come along with me and no resistance”, they heard then a voice saying.
Sally and Betsy looked up and didn’t trust the visitor. Suddenly Sally recognized him.
“Greg Miller! What are you doing here?”, she asked.
“I am now the boss and not you! Come on!”, said Greg.
They got up and Sally got thrown onto the wagon. Betsy just looked and kept silent. They got taken along to the spot where the Cartwrights were busy with the house for Adam and his family. Greg had seen that both ladies were visible pregnant and rode for that reason hard on purpose. At the new house he stopped his wagon and looked at his loot. He began to laugh loud when he saw that his ex Sally had a lot of pain.
“Go on, off my wagon!”, he roared with laughter.
The brothers came closer and looked at the visitor.
“What is that with our wives?”, asked Adam.
“Your wives? That one there who is cramping happens to be my wife”, said Greg.
Adam didn’t listen any further and hit him to the ground. Here after Adam and Hoss helped their wives out of the wagon and put them against 2 trees. Joe and Candy put Greg into the wagon and let then the horses ride away. Hereby Greg and the horses wrecked.
“Adam, I am afraid that it’s coming now already”, Sally said with tears in her eyes.
“Joe, go get the doctor”, ordered Adam.
His youngest brother flew away at once. Adam stayed sitting by his wife who slowly calmed down. Hoss sat by Betsy who also had some pain but less than her sister-in-law.
“Who was that fellow?”, asked Hoss.
“That is my ex. My parents wanted that I married him. That’s why I went to Virginia City where I met some time later Adam and the twins”, answered Sally.
“Hoss, just take me home”, said Betsy.
Hoss looked at Adam and that one nodded.
“Just come little grape”, he said as he always called his wife fondly.
A moment later they were gone. Adam sat by his wife who got more pain by the minute.
“Adam, I am so sorry but I can’t stop it anymore”, Sally said with tears in her eyes.
“We will help you”, said Candy.
Not much later Sally had her newborn daughter in her arms who died on the spot. Adam sat by them and embraced his wife and daughter. For privacy reasons Candy left them alone.
Ben and Mitch came home at the same time as Hoss and Betsy. Hoss helped his wife immediately to their bedroom. Ben and Mitch got out of the carriage. The youngest Cartwright had his left hand and wrist in plaster and in a sling.
“What has happened? Where is your mother?”, Ben asked worried.
Pam told what she had seen.
“Mitch and Pam, you babysit the little ones. I go to your parents”, said the rancher.
The twins promised that. Ben went away at once.
“Who was that who took mom and aunty Betsy with him?”, Mitch wanted to know.
“I don’t know that but mom recognized him. Maybe it was that ex of hers”, said Pam.
The twins looked at the little ones who played with Cody and Lucky.
“Actually I hope that the ruin of a house where daddy and mom want to live never gets finished”, Mitch said suddenly.
“Why not?”, his sister asked amazed.
“Well, grandpa told me underway to Virginia City that daddy also got injured while making that house. He even became temporary paralyzed. I also got injured an now mom is taken there too I hope that”, her brother explained.
“I don’t want to leave here actually”, Pam confessed.
They knew that their parents depended on them and went to lay with the little ones, Cody and Lucky.
Doctor Paul Kay arrived at the spot where the Cartwrights and Candy were.
“The baby came too early and died just after her birth”, said Adam.
“I will examine your wife and the baby too”, said Paul.
That happened and Sally got declared healthy.
“How are you calling your daughter?”, asked Paul.
“She is called Caroline Cartwright”, answered Sally.
“We bury her at our private cemetery”, said Adam.
Paul understood it. Then they saw Ben coming. He stopped his horse Buck and dismounted. Candy went back to the ranch to take care of the children.
“Pa, do you want to hold your new granddaughter Caroline before she gets buried?”, asked Adam.
“Of course”, said Ben.
He kneeled down by his son and daughter-in-law and got his dead granddaughter to hold.
“Even though she isn’t with us anymore, Caroline will live on in our hearts”, said the rancher.
“We go home so that the others can see her too”, Adam said with tears in his throat an eyes.
He and Ben helped Sally on their wagon and then Ben gave Caroline to her. Here after they went back to the ranch house. The doctor went along for Betsy.
Candy had told the children already what had happened exactly and they were waiting on the porch. The cheerful mood had disappeared at once. Hoss sat by Betsy who didn’t have pain anymore.
“You stay in bed until the baby is born”, Hoss said determined.
“Alright, but then the caring for Inger comes down to you for the biggest part”, answered Betsy.
“I don’t mind that at all. The others are there to help out as well”, said Hoss.
Betsy knew that too.
When the others came home especially Candy and the twins how deeply shocked the grownups were. Adam and Sally went with Caroline to their bedroom and Paul went to Hoss and Betsy. He knocked at the door of the bedroom of Hoss and Betsy.
“Come in”, said Hoss.
The doctor came in and walked to the bed where Betsy laid.
“The pain is gone luckily and I felt the baby again”, said the young woman.
“That is good”, Paul said while he put his bag down.
“Betsy has to stay in bed until the baby is born”, said Hoss.
“Well Betsy, if I was you I would take good advantage of that. I will examine you now”, said Paul.
That happened and fortunately everything was fine with mother and child.
“Betsy, you keep bed rest and I come in a month’s time again. Unless I have to be here sooner”, said Paul.
She nodded and stayed behind with Hoss.
Ben was outside with his grandchildren.
“Has the baby really died?”, Mitch asked for the security.
“Yes son. She came far too early and that’s why she has died. Your parents has named her Caroline”, answered Ben.
Now the twins and Lisa knew it for certain they got tears into their eyes. Inger and Rose noticed that something was going on but they didn’t understand it really. Sometime later Adam came to get his children to see their little sister. Hoss took care of Inger.
Adam told the children what had happened exactly and looked then at the twins.
“Mitch and Pam, would you like to look after your little sisters? Mom needs a lot of rest and I must arrange the funeral”, he said seriously.
“We do that”, Mitch said on behalf of his twin sister.
They took Lisa and Rose along to leave their parents alone. They went back outside again. The little ones went to play again but the twins remained sitting on the porch. They didn’t say anything but understood each other that way too.
During supper it was silent at the table for a while.
“Do we not stay here to live here anymore?”, Lisa asked suddenly.
“I don’t know that. Your parents must decide that. But for the time being you still live here”, answered Ben.
“I don’t want to leave”, said Mitch.
“Me neither. That house only brings us bad luck”, Pam remarked.
The grownups including Adam looked at her.
“Daddy, you became paralyzed during the building of it. Mitch breaks his left hand and mom loses the baby by that house”, she explained.
“Lisa and Rose, do you rather live here too?”, Adam asked his 2 youngest daughters.
Both girls nodded. Adam sighed and looked at his children..
“Mom and I have already talked about it and had planned to stay on living here. Tomorrow Caroline gets buried and we try to get on despite the big loss”, answered Adam.
“But Caroline is not alone because mama is with her and our 3 grandma’s too”, Mitch said suddenly.
“And Amber and aunt Lily too”, Pam added to it.
“So in heaven there is a Ponderosa too, isn’t there?”, asked Lisa.
“Well Lisa, you can call it that way”, answered Joe.
Once again it was silent at the table because the children had to deal with this too.
The next day was it again a tough day for the Cartwrights because it was the funeral of Caroline Cartwright. Adam had made a simple funeral of it and kept it strictly private. The twins kept Lisa and Rose with them and tried to receive them even though they had to cope with the loss themselves yet.
Once at home Adam was there a lot for his wife and children who on their turn took care of them. Mainly by this the Cartwrights got over the loss of the newest Cartwright.
During the Thanksgiving dinner said Sally, “Even though we have lost the baby, Adam and I are thankful for our 4 healthy children. We will never forget Caroline.”
“Let’s toast to Caroline Cartwright. She was with us for a very little time but made sure that she will never be forgotten again”, said Ben.
There was a toast and again the unity of the Cartwright family was proved.