© 2000, as allowable

A friend challenged me to write a one-page story where the first and last lines were the same.  The result?  My very first Bonanza story . . . Lisa, it’s all your fault!!!

“He took everything from me!  Everything!” the young woman ranted as she paced through the rooms of the family house in Virginia City.  The skirt of her trim blue day dress swirled around her ankles.  “Oh, why couldn’t he leave me alone?”

Her younger brother, practically her twin with his blonde hair and lean athletic build, watched her warily.  “Dru, please settle down.  It’s all done with now.”

“It’s not all done with!” she exclaimed.  “He won’t get away with it.  I swear to you, Johnny, he will not get away with it.”

Johnny McCallan sighed and hung his gunbelt on the hook by the door.  “Look, Adam never meant to hurt you, you know that.”

Dru shot him a look that should have slayed him, but he was inured to his sister’s ways.  “I know you don’t like it—”

“Don’t like it!” she shrieked.  “How dare he!  How dare h—”

Johnny caught her as she passed and gathered her into his arms.  He stroked her long curls and she finally broke, wept.

“Shh, I know he’s arrogant and overbearing...”

“Thinks he knows what’s best for everyone,” she sniffled.

Johnny's mouth twisted in an odd smile as he thought of the tall man who’d just left.  He tilted her head up.  “And he’s usually right, isn’t he?”

She stomped a foot.  “No!  Not this time.  He had no right—”

“He had the right of friendship,” he said sternly.  “You’ve always valued friendship, Dru, more than I have.  You were right.”

“But how can I ever face him again?  He knows everything, now, and so will everyone else.”  She shook with her fear.

He shook his head.  “You know he won’t talk, not about this.”

Her palm rested on her still-flat belly and she whispered, “The baby...”

“I told you, he won’t talk.  No one will ever know, not if you don't want them to.”  Gratefully, he saw her begin to wilt, to lose that awful tension.

She raised tear-stained eyes to her brother.  “Johnny, I can't keep angry any more.  How can I stay strong if I’m not angry?”

He circled her shoulders with his arm, led her to the couch.  They sat close and he held her hand.  “You think about the child, and remember that babies need love.  Just think about the love, Dru, and you’ll make out just fine.”

“Adam told everyone he knew my husband, saw him killed, saw him buried.  He lied, Johnny.  He didn't know Wildon, and he knew we weren’t married.  Adam went after him, killed him with his own gun.  He dug the grave himself and buried him up on that mountain.”

Johnny rose and began aimless pacing of his own.  “That’s right.  He lied.  He did what I should have, what I would have, if I’d known.”

“Johnny?” she asked, her lower lip trembling.

He stood motionless in the center of the small parlor, his head hanging.  “I'm sorry, Dru, I should have been there for you.  I shouldn’t have let him take you home that night.  I didn’t know what kind of man...”

“But Adam did,” she murmured.

He raised his eyes to hers, tried to help her understand their friend’s gift.  “And he took care of you.  No one will shun you, Dru.  No one will shun your baby.  Because of Adam Cartwright, no one will ever know how that bastard forced himself on you, and your child will grow up happy and secure and loved.”

She looked up at her beloved brother and finally felt her spirit let go of the intolerable burden she'd carried for the last two months.  She smiled final grateful thanks to the dark-haired man who had restored her peace and sanity.  “He took everything from me.  Everything.”

THE END