It was a late spring night and Ben Cartwright was sitting in his favorite chair with a book in his lap. He had been trying to read for the past two hours but couldn't concentrate on what was written on the pages.

Supper had been over for more than two hours and she still wasn't home. He was positive he knew where she was and why and he knew she could take care of herself, but he still worried about her and was very upset that she was so late. The later it got, the angrier he got and swore she was going to get a good tongue lashing when she finally did walk in the door. He thought about sending her to bed with no supper, if she hadn't already caught and eaten something, but this was the final week of school before summer vacation, she had exams in the morning and needed a good hot meal and a good night's sleep. She was too old for a thrashing, not that it did any good with her anyway. "Doggone that girl!" he exclaimed aloud. "She knows better than to be so late on a school night!"

Adam, Hoss and Joe tried to reassure their father. "You know where she is and why Pa." said Joe.

"I know son. I was hoping that she'd forget this time."

"How do you forget something like that?" asked his youngest son. Don't you think she'd like to forget what happened to her all those years ago?"

"It was storming over that way earlier and she probably took shelter to wait out the storm," Hoss chimed in.

"She can take care of herself Pa." Adam tried to reassure his father. "She was better able to take care of herself when she was ten than we were when we were her age, and she's got her dogs with her. They won't let anything happen to her."

Ben knew that his sons were right, but he had to do something. "I'm going to look for her," he said as he got to his feet.

Just as Ben was getting to his feet, a slender young girl about sixteen or seventeen rode into the yard on a large black horse, accompanied by two dogs, a collie and a large silver white dog that looked more like a wolf than a dog. "Would you two please let Pa know we're home? I know he's fit to be tied because I'm so late," she said to the dogs as she slid down off her horse's back. "I'm going to get Fury rubbed down and fed. I hope someone has already fed Angel and done my chores. I've got my history and reading exams tomorrow. I need to get some food in me and head for bed so I don't fall asleep in school tomorrow."

The dogs obediently walked up to the front door and barked.

"She's home. Now will you please relax?" asked Adam. "You know she'll be in just as soon as she gets her horse rubbed down and fed."

A few minutes later, the front door opened and the girl walked into the house followed by her dogs. Her long brown hair was in neat braids. She wore a buckskin shirt, trousers and moccasins instead of a dress and shoes. She had a bow and quiver of arrows slung over her back and the head of a small hatchet stuck out of the quiver as well. She put the bow and arrows along side her father and brothers' guns on the armoire near the door. "I'm home Pa," she said as she walked into the living room.

"Where have you been young lady?" her father demanded. "Do you know how late it is and how worried I've been about you?"

Just for a moment, the girl stared at her father, almost not believing what he asked. "You know where I was Pa. I went to visit my parents' graves." she said quietly. "It's been nine years today since my mother was murdered and sixteen years since my father was killed in the war. I also put flowers on Aunt Marie's grave while I was up there. I'm sorry I'm so late but a storm blew up just as I was starting to head for home. I barely got a lean to and fire built before the rain started. It was storming pretty bad up there and I had to wait for it to stop before I could start for home."

Ben hugged his daughter close. All thoughts of a tongue lashing left his mind with her reply. "I was hoping that you'd forgotten about that this year. I'm glad that you're home safe. Have you had anything to eat?"

"I can't forget about it Pa. No matter how hard I try, I just can't forget what happened nine years ago. I wish I could forget. Please tell me how. No I haven't eaten. I knew that you'd be worried because I was so late so I ran Fury almost all the way home once I got onto dry ground and I didn't stop to catch anything to eat. Don't worry, I made sure he was completely cooled down before we got home."

"I wish I could tell you how to forget what happened that day. I wish I had a way to make you forget. Hop Sing has been keeping a plate of food warm for you in the kitchen. You'd better go and tell him you're ok and ask him for it. I think he's been more worried about you than I was. I wasn't worried about your horse. You take better care of him and your dogs than you do yourself"

"Alright Pa, just as soon as I get my chores done. I've got you, Hop Sing and my brothers to take care of me and in ten and a half months, I'll have Thaddeus to take care of me too. My dogs and horses only have me to take care of them"

"Don't worry about your chores little sister." said Hoss. "We've already taken care of them for you."

Hoss's statement was greeted with a big smile and an even bigger hug. "Thanks lots big brother. I really appreciate it."

"Don't worry about your chores tomorrow morning or Wednesday morning either," said Joe. "You've got final exams tomorrow and Wednesday, so get a little extra sleep so you can do well on your exams."

"Right now, you'd better head to the kitchen and let Hop Sing know you're home safe before he goes crazy. I think he worries more about you than he did the 3 of us when we were little," said Adam. "Also, you've got to eat. You won't get a good night's sleep if you're hungry."

"You mean Hoss actually left some food for me?" laughed the girl. "It's a wonder I haven't starved to death before now the way the three of you, especially Hoss, eat."

Hoss pretended to growl. "Get along with you now brat before I decide to eat your plate of food and make you get up early to do my chores and yours before breakfast." The girl just laughed, dodged a pretend swat that came from her older brother and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey Joe, what are you getting me for my eighteenth birthday week after next?" asked the girl as she headed toward the kitchen.

"I keep telling you brat that it's not your birthday, it's mine," teased Joe. "What are you getting me?"

"My mama gave me to you a long time ago. She said I was your present for your tenth birthday. You've got me. What else could you possibly want?"

Ben chuckled to himself as he listened to the familiar banter between his children. "Cat, it's getting late and you've got exams in school tomorrow. Go and get your supper so you can get a good night's sleep. Besides that, if you don't let Hop Sing know that you're home safe, I'll never hear the end of it."

"Alright Pa. I am hungry enough to eat a side of beef. I hope Hop Sing has a big plate of food for me." The girl ran into the kitchen. "Hop Sing I'm home and I'm hungry enough to eat a side of beef."

The Cartwright's Chinese cook came out of his room, hugged the girl and then proceeded to give her a good scolding in a combination of Chinese and English. "Missy Cat vely late. Miss big supper. Hop Sing get vely angry when Missy Cat miss supper. You much too thin. Need to eat more. Get big like Mister Hoss." Hop Sing continued his scolding as he took a plate of food out of the oven and set it on the table. "You eat all of it now. You no be hungry while Hop Sing is here. You want more, you tell Hop Sing and he get it for you. Where you been? Why you so late?"

The girl did her best to keep from laughing during the scolding. She knew that Hop Sing loved her as though she was his own child and the scolding was just his way of showing it. She looked at the plate of food in front of her and said, "Thanks Hop Sing. This looks delicious. I don't want to get as big as Hoss. Thaddeus might not love me as much if I did. I went to visit my parents' graves and got caught in a storm."

"You no go up there any more. You get sad when you go up there. Hop Sing no like it when you sad."

"I had to go up there today. My mother was murdered nine years ago today and it's been sixteen years since my father was killed in the war. I also put flowers on Aunt Marie's grave while I was up there."

"Hop Sing no care. He no like it when you go up there and get sad. You no go up there any more. Now you stop talking and eat. Mister Thaddeus no love you if you too skinny either."

The girl knew better than to keep arguing, so she just said, "Ok Hop Sing. Whatever you want," and ate her food. The plate was almost empty when Hop Sing piled more on it. The girl laughed and said, "Hop Sing, I wasn't really hungry enough to eat a side of beef and I don't want to get as big as Hoss."

"You stop talking and eat. You got exams in school tomorrow and need to eat. I save big piece of cherry pie and ice cream for you."

Thirty minutes later, a very full girl walked back into the living room.

"It's late. You'd better go and get ready for bed Cat. You may be graduating on Friday but you've still got exams tomorrow and Wednesday. Go on now and I'll be up in a few minutes to say goodnight."

"Alright Pa. I am tired. Oh yeah, I won't be coming home right after school tomorrow."

"Oh?" One of Ben's eyebrows went up. "Why not?"

"My arithmetic exam is on Wednesday. Adam promised to meet me after school and we'd go someplace quiet so he could help me study for it. Uncle Matt will kill me if I don't do well on it and Thaddeus said he doesn't care if I'm eighteen or a hundred and eighteen, he won't marry me until I graduate, so I've got to do good on that arithmetic exam."

"Well," said Ben. "I don't know how you're going to graduate on Friday if you can't use proper grammar. You've got to do well on the exam. Now go and get ready for bed."

"Alright Pa. Lassie, Chief, let's go."

Ben watched and smiled as his daughter ran up the stairs followed by her dogs. When she was born, her mother had been told she couldn't have any more children, so the girl had been named for both of her parents. His sister had been called Katherine or Kate but she and Michael decided to call their daughter Catherine. Catherine Michael Cartwright. Wild Cat they called her. She wasn't even two years old when she earned that name. Hoss said that she was as wild as the West Texas wind and harder to tame. That statement hadn't been too far from the truth and still wasn't.

A few minutes later he got up from his chair and walked upstairs. He had a little less than year left to sit with her and read before she went to sleep. Her eighteenth birthday was coming up soon. After it, she would go and spend the summer in Dodge with her father's brother one last time. Ten months after her birthday, Cat would marry the man who saved her life nine years ago and had been waiting for her ever since. He would miss the ritual they had shared almost every night since she had come to live on the Ponderosa, but just like with his sons, Ben knew its time would be ending before he knew it.

He walked into her room, picked up the book they had been reading off the night table and sat down in the bed next to his daughter and hugged her close. "Penny for your thoughts," he said as he looked at the girl.

"I was just thinking about what happened to my mother," she said.

"Don't go starting to blame yourself again. You know as well as I do that if you had gone with her and her husband, you would not be alive now."

"I know. I just wish that there had been something I could have done."

"You were only eight years old. There was absolutely nothing you could have done to prevent what happened. The only way it could have been prevented is if somebody had known about it ahead of time. Now, stop worrying about the past. You can't do anything to change it, no matter how much you'd like to. Now, we've barely got enough time to read two chapters before you have to go to sleep." He looked at the cover of the book in his hands. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Sam Clemens was an old family friend and had dedicated the book to Cat saying that her love of life and adventure were his inspiration for both Tom and Huck. She did love adventure and that meant more gray hairs for him.

A short time later, he walked back downstairs, picked the book up out of his chair, set it on the table next to the chair and started thinking about the past. The day his niece was born, Ben had promised his younger sister if anything should happen to her and Michael; he would take care of their little girl. Had it really been nine years since he received the telegrams that changed his life?