It was an exciting time for the Cartwrights. Each moment the family could become bigger with the birth of the baby of Adam and Mary Cartwright. Their eldest, Mitch of eight, was very good prepared for it and looked forward for his new playmate.
On February 8 the Cartwrights went to church like every Sunday morning. When Adam and Mary entered the church all visitors looked of course at the extremely pregnant Mary.
“Why are they all looking at me? Have they never seen an extremely pregnant woman in church before?”, she asked her husband.
“Not an attractive one like you”, Adam answered dry.
They went to sit where after the service began.
After the service Abigail Jones talked quickly to the young couple.
“It won’t be very long before the baby will come?”, the teacher asked.
“It can come any moment now. I will be very pleased with it”, Mary answered.
“I wish you the best of luck and strength with the delivery”, Abigail said.
Then she walked out of the church. The Cartwrights did the same thing.
Juliet Harris knew that the wife of Adam Cartwright, Mary Cartwright, was back in his life and also that she was extremely pregnant of their second child. This brought the former teacher to mind to keep her and Mitch hostile for a large ransom.
On Saturdaymonring February 14 the mean woman brought a visit to Mary Cartwright. Mitch was at home as well with Cody. Juliet knocked at the door. Mary got up with much difficulty and walked to the door. When she opened she looked into the eyes of the arch-enemy of her family-in-law. Juliet pushed the door open and held mother and son under range.
“You are coming with me now. No resistance or Ben Cartwright can order some coffins”, the former teacher said hatefully.
Mitch grabbed by way of precaution his baseball glove along and Cody got taken along as well. Mary and Mitch got tied up with a strong rope. Cody got muzzled. Juliet blindfolded her two hostages in the wagon and rode to her house. Arrived there Mary and Mitch saw where they were.
“You might be a Cartwright, here you are my servant-girl. Take care of it that the whole house is clean and lunch is exactly on the table at one o’clock sharp”, Juliet said fierce.
She went away.
“Mom, let’s get out of here. She is a danger of life”, Mitch said softly.
“I would like to but the baby is due any moment now and besides we don’t have any transport”, Mary said.
“You don’t want that my sister will be born here, do you?”, the boy asked self-confident.
Mary shook her head.
“Now then. We have Cody here and my baseball glove. If you wrote a note to daddy, I put it into my glove and then Cody can deliver it to daddy”, Mitch suggested.
He took the muzzle off. Mary wrote the note and put it into the glove of Mitch. The boy gave it to his dog and sent him away. Cody ran back home. Mary went to sit and pulled her son near her.
“I hope that your plan works because I don’t really feel like having the baby here. You came very quickly and then this one will probably come much faster”, Mary said tired.
“It will work. I am not a child of Uncle Hoss and/or Uncle Joe. Daddy says that their plans always fail”, Mitch reacted sober.
“You are indeed Adam’s and my child and that’s why I known that you won’t be doing dumb things very quickly”, his mother said as she was feeling something in her belly.
“Is the baby coming?”, Mitch asked concerned.
Mary sighted and said, “No, she kicked hard.”
When the Cartwrights came home for lunch they noticed already that there was something going on. It was abnormally quiet at the yard and that for a Saturday morning. Usually Mitch was practicing with his glove and bat. Hoss saw Cody coming and suspected trouble right away.
“Hello Cody. What do you have there in your mouth?”, he asked.
He grabbed the glove and found the note that Mary had written. He read the note.
“Adam, Mary and Mitchy are being held prison by Juliet Harris in her house. Cody came home with this note which was in the glove of Mitchy”, he said excited.
“If that monster touches Mary and/or the kids, she is a goner”, Adam groaned furious.
“Woof”, Cody said while he twisted excited with his tail.
“The sooner we have Mary and Mitch back, the better. Especially now Mary is due any day now”, Ben said.
They prepared the horses and the carriage and the rifles and revolvers got loaded. After that Cody led the men to the deserted house of Juliet Harris.
Suddenly Juliet came home again. She had now her son Jason with her.
“Have you been sitting around doing nothing? You are my slaves and they will know that too. Now, get to work!”, Juliet snapped.
“The slavery was abolished a long time ago. Leave my mother alone. She knows too what you have done with me when I was four”, Mitch reacted fierce.
“That was because your father wasn’t watching you too well”, Juliet said angry.
Jason came to stand opposite Mitch and looked at him with a railed look. Mitch didn’t hesitate and sold his arch-enemy such a hard kick that Jason fell against the fire place and broke his neck that way. The both women shocked from the sudden death of Jason. By the unexpected action of Mitch Mary got into labor. She grabbed her belly and breathed heavily.
“You may have your delivery but not in my clean house. Get that bawler of yours outside in the cold”, Juliet said.
Mary went outside where Adam got hold of her and brought her into safety.
“Finally”, Mary said quickly.
Adam took his wife down to their carriage. Ben, Hoss and Little Joe got nearer the house to get Mitch in safety too. Mitch held a bottle of nitroglycerine in his hand and looked at the former teacher with a challenging look in his eyes.
“Give that bottle here. That is 100% champagne and much too expensive for a brat like you”, Juliet said angry.
“For you too”, the young Cartwright answered.
Mitch walked to the door, opened it and threw the bottle into the open fire. Then he ran away hard where after the house exploded including Juliet and Jason. Ben caught his grandson and looked with his sons and daughter-in-law how the house burned down to the ground.
“Can we go home now as it is time”, Mary said.
“We go home at once because Mitch can use some rest as well, looking at him”, Adam said concerned.
Candy warned the doctor.
They arrived just in time at the Ponderosa. Mary went straight to bed supported by Adam.
Mitch stayed behind with the others. Ben took his grandson into his arms.
“Boy, what you did was very courage but also dangerous. I don’t want you to do such a thing as long as I live. Understood?”, the rancher asked serious.
“Understood Grandpa. But then I must wait a very long time of course”, Mitch said.
“How do you mean?”, Ben asked amazed.
“Well, you are now already very old. By the time that I am the same age as daddy now you are probably still alive”, the boy explained.
Hoss and Little Joe couldn’t stop laughing. Ben didn’t know what to say anymore and decided to keep silent. Mitch went to bed by himself to recover from the nasty hostage.
Then Paul Martin and Candy came home.
“Mitch has gone to bed by himself and Mary has gone to bed as well to have the baby”, Ben said.
“Then I will firstly examine Mitch and then help your daughter-in-law”, the house doctor said.
He went upstairs to do his duty. Fortunately Mitch didn’t matter nothing but he was deadly tired.
In their bedroom Mary got undressed. First she looked at her big belly and then at Adam.
“Just keep it up. Soon our little child is born and then you have forgotten all the pain”, her husband said quiet.
The next moment Mary got a very painful contraction. Herby Adam’s hand got totally squeezed. When the contraction was over Mary got into bed. Now she knew for sure that the baby was coming soon. She was lying in bed having much pain. The doctor came in.
“Mitch is alright and asleep now. Let’s help this patient”, Paul Martin said.
During the delivery Mary was calm. She had a lot of pain but Adam didn’t leave her alone.
“Isn’t the baby coming yet? I have heavy contractions and it hurts so much”, the mother to be said.
“Not for now. The second baby comes often a bit faster after the contractions have started. But you are doing well. Just try to keep it up. The baby is coming”, Paul Martin said.
Not much later Mary felt push contractions.
“I cannot stop the urge to push anymore”, she said.
“As soon as you feel the contraction coming push as hard as you can”, Paul said.
The young woman nodded. She took a deep breath and started to push. When she felt the baby coming Mary screamed it out.
“I cannot keep it inside me anymore”, Mary said gasping.
Paul examined her again and knew enough.
“Just push very well because the baby is coming”, the house doctor said.
Mary started to push again and gave a moment later life to a daughter. She screamed when she brought the baby into the world.
“It is a girl and in perfect health”, Paul said when he saw which sexe the baby had.
Adam kissed his wife while Mary got the baby in her arms.
“We call her Elizabeth”, the proud and deliriously happy mother said.
The young couple enjoyed the baby.
“And?”, Ben asked worried when the doctor came downstairs again.
“Mitch will be better within two days time. He has just a lack of sleep. What your daughter-in-law concerned: mother and child are doing fine. Go and have a look”, Paul said.
Ben ran upstairs. He opened the bedroom and a tired but happy Mary lying in bed with her daughter in her arms. A from ear to ear smiling Adam sat near wife and child.
“Pa, do you want to hold Elizabeth?”, Mary asked.
The rancher didn’t know what he was hearing.
“Of course I want to hold her”, Ben said.
He got the baby and held her tight carefully.
“We have named her after mom. If it was a boy he would have been called Benjamin”, Adam said.
“Adam, I am sure that your mother would be very pleased with this if she was still alive”, the rancher replied touched.
Despite it had been a terrible day for the Cartwrights still it ended very good.