For all of you who have been patiently waiting for Em to wake up, here is your special day! I have the full scene posted on Bonanza World, but this is the opening excerpt:

Chapter 13

She awoke slowly, as if a leaf floating to the crest of a wave after spending a long while submerged on the river bottom. A strong, kindly voice pierced her grey world like rays of sunshine. She followed the voice in her mind. It was so familiar somehow. In fact, it sounded like her Pa, like the voice he used when she was a child and would wake in the night after her Ma’s death. But where was Pa, her mind asked? She couldn’t see him since it was still to dark. But the voice continued, and she clung to it as her only lifeline to the real world.

“Pa!” she called, “Where are you? Please help me! Don’t leave me alone…you know I’m scared of the dark!”

The soothing voice suddenly stopped. She panicked, and through her sobbing called, “Pa, Pa help me!”

She sensed rather than saw the strong arms that wrapped her in their warm, safe embrace. She wasn’t alone as long as she stayed in the refuge of those arms. With a deep breath to stifle her tears, she bravely opened her eyes to face the world beyond the darkness. As her eyes opened and tears subsided, the embrace released her back to rest on the soft pillow. She saw the hefty man with the deep blue eyes and wracked her brain for some memory of his name. It seemed the polite thing to do, given the circumstances. His name was something earthy sounding and she remembered Little Joe had told it to her. She almost smiled as she thought how dissimilar Joe was from his brother, almost different as night and day. She had to say something to him…

“You’re…Hoss, right?” she asked timidly.

Sounds like a promising beginning to a wonderful relationship if you ask me. Of course Em has to survive first! But as the author I am hoping she does...as I admitted before this story has taken on a life of its own so even I don't know all that is in store for Em and the Cartwrights. That chapter has not been written yet. But it would be lots of fun to finish like Jane Austen always did her stories-a wedding