As always I must thank my two beta readers, Vickie Batzka and Larkspur, for their invaluable assistance. I owe a special thanks to Vickie for her
assistance with the beginning of the story.
Cartwright Is the Name
By Deborah Grant
February 2005
“Joseph, if you’re not ready in five minutes, I’ll go to town without you,” Ben Cartwright called, the impatience in his tone very evident.
“I’m ready, I’m ready,” Joe replied testily as he hurried down the stairs. “You’re not meetin’ Adam, Bronwen and the girls without me.” He turned to his bride of almost seven months, who had followed him down the stairs, and felt a surge of desire as he gazed at her perfect features and perfect figure. “Are you sure you don’t wanna come with us, honey? I know Adam and Bronwen are eager to meet you.”
“And I’m eager to meet them,” Annabelle Cartwright replied in her distinctive Boston Brahmin accent, “but I prefer it to be here in private rather than at a train station. Besides,” she added with a warm smile, “it gives you and Pa a chance to visit with them on the ride home. Now, tell me again: how old are your nieces?”
“Our nieces,” Joe corrected with a big grin. “Beth is eight and Miranda is seven; they’re just ten months apart. Gwyneth is five now and Penny is ¼”
“Two and a half,” Ben finished for him. “Now come on, Joseph,” he said, heading out the door.
“See ya soon, honey,” Joe said, giving his bride a goodbye kiss, and then hurrying out the door after his father.
Annabelle smiled as she watched her handsome husband disappear from view and let her thoughts drift back in time.
¼ When
I’d received the invitation from Emma Allerton to
visit her in
It is ironic, I reflected, that I looked down
on Emma for marrying a financier from
Our wedding was the
On my wedding day, my mother had nervously told me it was a wife’s duty to submit to her husband. “My advice is to think of something pleasant and let him do whatever he wants. It doesn’t last very long and it’s necessary if you’re to have children.” With her words running through my brain, I opened the door of the dressing room and entered the bedchamber, wearing my lovely white silk nightgown, embroidered with sprays of orange blossoms.
Thaddeus was waiting for me, dressed in a magnificent brocade dressing gown. He smiled when he saw me and motioned me to pirouette. “Yes, you are beautiful. I will be the envy of every man who sees you with me. We will need to leave early to catch our train, so I suggest we retire now, my dear.”
I replied nervously, “Yes, Thaddeus.” We both got into the large bed and he reached over and turned down the gaslight. I waited for him to claim his rights, but he only rolled over and went to sleep.
When we returned to his townhouse on
He left the townhouse and the cottage on
“No, Annabelle, now that you are a widow, you are once again my responsibility,” Papa stated firmly. “I will invest the money your husband left you, and give you a monthly allowance. Of course, since you are in mourning, your social life will be severely curtailed for the next two years.”
I wanted to assert myself—to say that I was no longer
a little girl to live under my father’s watchful eye—but the habit of obedience
was too strong. However, when I received
Emma’s invitation, I was determined to accept.
Papa tried to forbid me but this time I was able to remain firm in my
resolve. A fortnight later, I was
traveling by train with my maid, Mary. I
felt very adventurous even though we traveled by
I was impressed with
“You’ve met most of the women. Stephan has asked a client of his, Joseph Cartwright. He is a widower.”
“I hope you’re not playing matchmaker, Emma,” I said coolly.
“Of course not,” Emma said indignantly. “After all, you’re only going to be visiting
here for a few weeks and Mr. Cartwright doesn’t live in
I was chatting pleasantly with a friend of Stephan’s when Emma approached with the handsomest man I had ever seen. “Annabelle, allow me to present Mr. Joseph Cartwright. Joe, this is one of my oldest friends, Mrs. Thaddeus Winthrop.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. Cartwright,” I said, finding myself staring mesmerized into his green eyes.
“I assure you, Mrs. Winthrop, the pleasure is all mine,” he said in a light, pleasant tenor, and I noticed his eyes never left mine. He took my hand and held it to his lips, and I couldn’t stop it from trembling at his touch.
What is wrong with me? I thought. I have never felt this way before.
“Mr. Winthrop is a very lucky man,” he added, still holding my hand.
“Oh, Annabelle is a widow,” Emma said and Mr. Cartwright smiled.
He was my escort to dinner and it was as if the other guests ceased to exist and the two of us were alone. I can’t remember what we said—probably banalities. It was a warm evening and after dinner was finished, he asked me if I’d like to go for a stroll in the garden.
I could hear my mother’s voice in my head telling me how improper it was, but I didn’t care. We were both silent as we strolled to the summerhouse and when we stepped inside he said softly, “You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen—like a fairy tale princess.”
“I’m no fairy tale; I’m a woman,” I heard myself reply, and then he took me in his arms. I had gone to a lecture once where a professor from Harvard was trying to explain electric current. I hadn’t understood then, but at that moment I knew exactly what the professor had been trying to describe. Joe kissed me as I had never been kissed before and awoke feelings and desires I never knew I possessed. I didn’t want him to think I was a wanton woman and with great difficulty I forced myself to push him away.
“You must think I’m immoral,” I said in a voice so low it was nearly inaudible.
“No, and I hope you don’t think I am,” he replied quietly. “I haven’t felt this way in so long that it took me by surprise. I want to get to know you better. Could I take you to dinner tomorrow night?”
A part of me said I should refuse, but I knew I needed to be with this man just as I needed air to breathe.
The next few days were a blur. Joe and I explored
“Annabelle, four years ago my wife died and a part of
me died with her. I didn’t think I could
ever love again—until I met you. I don’t
want you to return to
I knew what my family would say. A
descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins who came to this country on the
Mayflower in 1620 does not marry a rancher.
The very idea is absurd.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t care what my family
thought. I wanted to be with this
man. If I said no and returned to
“Yes, Joe, I will marry you,” I said softly and felt something cool slide on my ring finger. I looked and saw a beautiful sapphire surrounded by diamonds. “Oh, Joe, it’s beautiful,” I breathed.
“Not as beautiful as you are,” he replied, lifting my
hand to his lips. “I think we should
marry soon. We could marry in
“But if your father is going to attend the wedding,
then we must wait for my family to travel here from
“I don’t think I could bear to wait that long,” he said. “If we aren’t going to have either of our families at our wedding then why wait at all? We could get a license and get married tomorrow.”
It was scandalous, but I felt wicked and scandalous. “All right. We can ask Emma and Stephan to be our witnesses.”
Our wedding night was simply glorious. There is no other word to describe it. I knew Joe was surprised when he realized I was still a virgin. He held me in his arms afterward and said, “I thought you were a widow. I would have been more careful—”
I put my fingers over his lips. “My husband never touched me. He liked collecting things, and I think he viewed me as another part of his collection like his Ming vase.”
“He must have been insane,” Joe replied. “No sane man could be married to you and never touch you.”
“Well,” I said, suddenly feeling ashamed, “he was much older; I think he was my father’s age.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Joe said soothingly. “Nothing matters but you and me.”
The next day we set out for his ranch. Mary told me that she wanted to go home to
her family in
When we were only an hour away from
“Yeah, I guess we haven’t talked much about ourselves and our families. The Ponderosa is beautiful and I know you’ll love it. We’ll be living there with my pa and I know you’ll like him. It used to be me and Pa and my brother, Hoss.”
“Horse?” I said, confused.
“No, not horse, Hoss.
My older brother. His name was
really Eric but no one called him that.
He was such a wonderful man. I
wish you could have known him, honey. He
was the finest man I’ve ever known. He
was big and strong, but so gentle. And
he loved all living creatures.” Joe
seemed so sad and I wanted to comfort him, but the comfort changed to
passion. Then we had to get dressed and
be ready for our arrival in
Joe’s father was there to greet us because Joe had
sent a telegram from
Mr. Cartwright was very polite, but reserved. That didn’t surprise me; he seemed to accept our marriage with more grace than I knew my family would. My mama and my sister-in-law, Pauline, would be shocked and Papa and Robert would be furious. Their long-distance fury couldn’t harm me, but it was important that I make a good impression on my father-in-law.
Joe went to see about our luggage, giving his father and me a chance to be alone, and I seized my opportunity. “Mr. Cartwright, I know our marriage was a surprise to you, but I promise you that I love Joe and I will be a good wife to him.”
“The suddenness of your marriage did surprise me,” he said, choosing his words carefully, “but Joe is happier now than I’ve seen him in a long time. I know that happiness is because of you, so I welcome you to our family, Annabelle, and I hope you’ll call me Pa as Joe does.”
“Of course, Pa,” I replied, relieved by his answer and warmed by the thought that he had already accepted me as his daughter.
The ranch house was rustic, but it had a grandeur that surprised me. The rooms were large and the furniture was beautiful. It was perfect and I knew someone had put a great deal of care into its selection. Perhaps Joe’s mother?
I was working hard to accustom myself to my new life;
I was used to rising at
The third morning I had been at the ranch, we were seated at the massive dining room table when Pa said casually, “Have you written Adam and Bronwen about your marriage, Joe?”
“No. I need to do that,” he replied sheepishly.
“Who are Adam and Bron ¼?” I asked, feeling rather excluded.
“Joseph, haven’t you told Annabelle about your brother and his family?” Pa queried, arching one eyebrow.
Joe looked guiltily first at Pa and then at me. “Uh, I guess, they haven’t come up in our conversations.”
“You mentioned your brother Hoss,” I stated carefully
and Joe said hurriedly, “Adam is my oldest brother. He left the Ponderosa back in ‘70 to
travel. The last place he visited was
the continent of
“They came to visit us back in ’77 when their two older girls, Beth and Miranda, were just babies,” Ben added, a slight look of exasperation crossing his features as he glanced at his embarrassed youngest son. “After breakfast, dear, I’ll show you the most recent photograph Adam sent us of his family.”
As I studied the figures in the photograph I commented, “Your brother is a very handsome man, but he doesn’t look anything like you, dear.”
“Adam and Joe are half brothers,” Pa said
quietly. “Adam is the son of my first
wife, who died in childbirth. Hoss, my
middle boy, was the son of my second wife, who was killed in an Indian attack
on our wagon train. I lived here on the
Ponderosa with my boys for several years before traveling to
“I was almost five when she died,” Joe said softly and I reached for his hand and squeezed it comfortingly.
“We lost Hoss five years ago,” Pa said sadly, “and as Joe said, Adam has been gone from the Ponderosa more than ten years. I’m always happy to receive photographs of my granddaughters, but I wish I could spend time with them. They’ve only been here once, when the two oldest were toddlers. That was the last time all my boys were together, too.” The anguished look on his face brought sudden tears to my eyes, as I could sense that he had never quite recovered from his middle child’s death.
“They’re all very pretty little girls,” I remarked, looking at the photograph again, hoping to bring his mind back to the present.“And this one,” I added pointing, “is absolutely beautiful.”
“That’s Beth,” Pa said with a proud smile, his slightly damp eyes meeting mine in an acknowledgement of my comment. “I know I’m prejudiced, but I think she is the most beautiful child I have ever seen.”
“I’m not prejudiced, and I agree,” I said with a smile. “The baby favors her mother,” I then commented, adding, “There is such a disparity of height between your brother and your sister-in-law.”
“The difference is even more striking when you see them in person,” Joe said with an enormous grin. “Say, the last time Adam wrote he mentioned that he and Bronwen were thinking of bringing the girls here so we could get to know them. Maybe if I write and let them know about our marriage, it will give them another reason to come for a visit. Wouldn’t that be wonderful, Pa?”
“It certainly would. Why don’t you write him write now and then I’ll take the letter to town,” Pa said with the same barely suppressed excitement.
Two months later a letter arrived from
When Joe and Pa retuned for supper that evening, the
minute they walked through the door together I said, “You got a letter from
“Hop Sing,” Pa called, “come join us while I read
Adam’s letter.” (It still seemed strange
to me that Pa and Joe treated their servant as though he were a member of the
family.) Pa picked it up from his desk
and then sat in his favorite leather chair by the enormous stone fireplace that
dominated the great room. Joe and I moved
to the settee while Hop Sing came in the great room and moved to stand behind
Dear Family,
First, Bronwen and I want to extend our congratulations to Joe and Annabelle. Welcome to the family, Annabelle!
I have talked it over with Rhys and we decided that this is a
good time for us to make the trip to
I’m looking forward to seeing all of you and meeting my new sister-in-law.
Affectionately yours,
Adam
“Is good Mistah Adam and Missy Bronwen come for visit,” Hop Sing said with a broad grin.
“It sure is,” Joe said, with the happiest smile I had ever seen. “You’ll like them, honey,” he said to me. “Adam and Bronwen like to read even more than you do.” I smiled a little at that.
“And I can hardly wait to see the girls,” Pa said, with a smile as broad as Joe’s.
I looked at each man’s face, seeing the happiness and excitement, and I found myself looking forward to meeting these new in-laws.
As the weeks went by, I was faintly amused at the
increasing sense of suppressed excitement and anticipation that filled the
ranch house. Joe spent time locating a
selection of ponies for his nieces while Pa and Hop Sing made sure everything
was perfect in the rooms the visiting family members would occupy. One day Pa and Joe returned from a trip to
“What, no dolls?” I asked in mock surprise.
“We’ve sent each of the older girls dolls as gifts so we didn’t think they’d need any,” Ben replied. “But I did buy Penny this little one,” and he held up a rag doll with black yarn hair and eyes made of purple buttons.
“You mean you asked Mrs. Penhallow to make this doll for Penny,” Joe corrected with a grin.
“I’ve never seen a doll with purple eyes,” I commented, as I examined the little rag doll.
“Oh, Adam’s written us that Penny’s eyes are the same color as her mother’s. Bronwen has beautiful eyes the color of violets,” Joe replied. I didn’t like the idea of Joe finding another woman’s eyes beautiful but then I recalled the petite woman in the photograph was not beautiful—merely pretty.
“Here are flowers, Missy Annabelle,” Hop Sing said, his voice bringing Annabelle back to the present. She thanked Hop Sing and began arranging the flowers she would place in the great room and Adam and Bronwen’s bedroom.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ben and Joe arrived at the train station in
“Adam, son,” Ben said in a voice choked with emotion as he embraced his firstborn in a fierce hug. He saw his son’s beard was beginning to be streaked with gray. Adam’s black Stetson was pushed back so Ben could see there were only wisps of curls on top although the black curls on the sides and back were as thick as ever. Adam, for his part, saw his pa’s grey hair was now snowy white while the lines around his eyes and mouth were more deeply etched.
“Don’t forget me,” Joe said with his flashing grin and the two brothers exchanged a brief bear hug. His little brother bore the marks of the sorrow and pain he’d endured since their last meeting, Adam saw, and his thick brown curls were liberally streaked with grey.
“My turn now,” Bronwen said, a warm smile lighting up her expressive features. To Ben and Joe she looked even smaller and more ethereal than they remembered, standing by her tall, broad shouldered husband. She handed Penny to her daddy before hugging her in-laws and kissing their cheeks. Then she stepped behind the three little girls who’d stood watching the adults greet each other with three pairs of enormous hazel eyes.
“Girls,” Adam said with a big dimpled grin, “this is your grandpa and your Uncle Joe.”
“G’day, Grandpa,” they chorused and then curtseyed—the youngest a bit wobbly. “G’day, Uncle Joe.”
Ben and Joe saw that Beth was even more beautiful than she appeared in the photographs Adam had sent. Joe thought of the fairy tale he dimly remembered his mama telling him of the beautiful little princess with skin white as snow and hair dark as ebony. Ben was struck by Miranda's continuing remarkable resemblance to her grandmother, Elizabeth, which he had first noted when she was just a baby.
Ben and Joe both smiled at Gwyneth, who was the image of her daddy with her unruly black curls and heavy black eyebrows over large, deep-set hazel eyes just like his. She even had his dimpled chin. The shorter skirts worn by little girls also showed she’d inherited her daddy’s long, slender legs. Even though she was a little more than two years younger than Miranda, she was only about a half an inch shorter.
“My, aren’t you girls pretty,” Ben said with a proud smile.
“A lady on the train said I was beautiful,” Beth commented smugly.
“And she said Gwyneth had the prettiest curls she’d ever seen,” Miranda interjected, sticking her tongue out at her sibling.
“Well, I think you are all three the prettiest young ladies I’ve ever seen,” Joe said quickly, with a grin at his brother and sister-in-law’s embarrassment at their children’s behavior. “Now, who is this little girl?” he asked, smiling at his youngest niece.
“This is my Kitten,” Adam said proudly, holding Penny so his father and brother could look at her.
Kitten is certainly an apt nickname, Ben thought, as he saw the baby’s heart-shaped face and enormous violet eyes, just like her mama’s.
“Kitten, can you say g’day to your grandpa and your Uncle Joe?” Adam asked, smiling at his baby girl.
“G’day, Ganpa. G’day Unca Joe,” the little girl said and then smiled at her daddy, who smiled back at her.
Oh ho, Joe thought, it’s obvious who has her daddy wrapped around her tiny finger, while Ben said, “And good day to you, Penelope.”
“I Penny,” the little mite insisted and Ben smiled and said, “Of course, Penny.”
“Annabelle didn’t come with you?” Adam asked then.
“She wanted to meet you at the house where it’s more private,”
Joe said quickly. “Jacob is going take
your trunks in the buckboard and we can all ride home in the surrey with
Beth sat in the front seat with Ben and Miranda sat in the second seat with Joe. The two of them chattered away on the trip home, peppering the adults with questions. Gwyneth sat between her parents while Penny sat on her daddy’s lap. They both watched the countryside with big eyes but seemed content to let their sisters do the talking. At least in the beginning, for about half the way there, Penny got restless so Adam played some finger games with her. Then she commanded, “Sing, Daddy.”
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Ben said. “Why don’t we all sing?”
“All right,” Bronwen agreed. “How about Sweet Betsy from Pike? We all know that one, don’t we girls?”
“Yes, I like that song!” Beth announced and Miranda added, “So do I.”
“Start us off, sweetheart,” Adam suggested to Bronwen and soon the eight of them were singing happily. Ben and Joe sang softly wanting to listen to the girls, who had clearly inherited their parents’ musical abilities.
“Sing Penny” Penny said excitedly when they’d finished.
“I don’t think Uncle Joe and I know that one,” Ben said but Adam interjected with a smile, “We just changed Cindy to Penny, and it’s Penny’s favorite.”
“Then Penny it will be,” Ben said and Joe turned around to grin at his baby niece.
The baby clapped her hands and grinned merrily as they all began to sing:
You ought to see my Penny she lives way down south
She's so sweet the honey bees swarm around her mouth
Get along home, Penny, Penny, get along home Penny, Penny,
Get along home, Penny, Penny, I'll marry you some day.
“Your turn, girls,” Bronwen said and the three older girls sang:
Oh Penny is a pretty girl Penny is a peach
She threw her arms around my neck and hung on like a leech
“Everyone sings the chorus,” Adam said.
Get along home, Penny, Penny, get along home Penny, Penny,
Get along home, Penny, Penny, I'll marry you some day.
“Now it’s your turn, Pa,” Bronwen inserted and so Ben sang:
I wish I had a needle as fine as I could sew,
I'd sew that gal to my coattail, and down the road I'd go.
Get along home, Penny, Penny, get along home Penny, Penny,
Get along home, Penny, Penny, I'll marry you some day.
“The last verse is mine,” Adam said, hugging his baby girl as he sang:
I wish I was an apple a-hanging on a tree
Every time that Penny passed she'd take a bite of me
Get along home, Penny, Penny, get along home Penny, Penny,
Get along home, Penny, Penny, I'll marry you some day.
“I wish I had a song about me,” Gwyneth said with a pout as Adam dropped a kiss on the tip of Penny’s upturned little nose.
“There’s no songs about Beth or me either,” Miranda said and Gwyneth brightened. Adam ruffled her curls and said, “Why don’t you choose the next song, Punkin, and then Miranda and then Beth?”
By the time they’d sung each girl’s chosen song, they could see the ranch house.
“Oh, it’s bigger than our house,” Miranda exclaimed admiringly.
“Ours is prettier though,” Beth announced and Gwyneth added, “Yes, ours is prettier.”
“That’s because I designed our house for you girls and your mama. I designed this house for your grandpa and your uncles.” He stopped, and Bronwen, Ben and Joe knew he was thinking of the brother who wasn’t there to greet him at the train station. She reached for his free hand and intertwined their fingers.
The children were oblivious to the adults’ mood and continued to chatter until Joe pulled the surrey up in front of the house.
“There’s your Aunt Annabelle,” he said with a happy grin.
Bronwen saw her new sister-in-law was breathtakingly lovely with a perfect hourglass figure, perfectly coiffed honey-blonde hair and perfect features. Bronwen suddenly felt very small and thin and wished she didn’t need to wear spectacles and that she had a larger bosom. Then she felt Adam’s hand squeezing hers and, looking up at him, she caught his wink and smiled.
Annabelle had been listening for the surrey and stepped out onto the porch as she heard it approach. She watched her husband and father-in-law climb out and help down two pretty little dark-haired girls, who stood and stared at her solemnly. Then she noticed the tall, broad-shouldered man dressed in a black frock coat and black trousers and wearing a black Stetson, climb out. He first picked up a curly-headed little girl and set her on the ground. She didn’t join her sisters but stayed close by him. Then he picked up a tiny girl with enormous eyes. The baby toddled over to her sister but the curly-headed little girl stayed by her daddy. He helped out a slender, bespectacled woman, who looked as delicate as porcelain figurine standing next to him. Annabelle noted that the woman was dressed fashionably in a suit of dark green delaine and a jaunty hat decorated with matching green feathers and a spotted veil. She walked toward them, smiling warmly.
“Bronwen, Adam,” Joe said, placing his arm around Annabelle’s shoulders, “I would like to introduce my wife, Annabelle. Honey, this is my brother, Adam, and my sister-in-law, Bronwen.”
“I’m very happy to finally meet you,” Annabelle said with a smile.
“Joe never mentioned you were from
“We’ve been eager to meet you,” Bronwen added and seeing
Annabelle’s slightly arched eyebrows said with a grin, “My accent is from
“Girls,” Adam said, “come meet your Aunt Annabelle. Annabelle, this is our oldest daughter, Elizabeth. We call her Beth.” The beautiful little girl curtseyed and said in the same unusual accent as her mother’s, “I’m pleased to meet you, Aunt Annabelle.”
He introduced the other girls, who all curtseyed, except for the smallest, but Gwyneth looked at her new aunt through her long black lashes and said, “You’re beautiful, like Sleeping Beauty.”
“Thank you, Gwyneth,” Annabelle said, her cheeks reddening slightly. “I was just thinking that Beth looks like Snow White in the fairy tale.”
Beth smiled while her three sisters looked skeptical and Joe said, “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Well, there isn’t any one fairest in the land,” Adam said briskly. “Beth is a pretty girl but so are her sisters.” The other three girls smiled while Beth pouted. Adam said sotto voce to his younger brother, “We don’t want Beth to become vain so please don’t praise her looks.”
“Oh, sure,” Joe replied in an equally soft voice, nodding his understanding.
Annabelle quickly stated, “Hop Sing has made lemonade and cookies,” and just then the cook came out the door carrying a tray laden with a plate heaped high with cookies, a pitcher of lemonade and glasses. His face was glowing with happiness as he surveyed the Cloncurry Cartwrights.
“Hop Sing!” Adam exclaimed, quickly covering the distance with his long stride just as Hop Sing put the tray on the table. “How are you?”
“Very fine, Mista Adam,” the small man replied, bowing respectfully. “Good to see Number One Son.”
“Hello, Hop Sing,” Bronwen said, for she’d followed behind her husband. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you again,” she added with a warm smile.
“Hop Sing happy to see you again, too, Missy Bronwen,” he replied, bowing to her.
“Come here, girls,” Adam called, motioning them over. “Hop Sing, these are our daughters.”
He bowed to each girl, and they curtseyed back until he got to Penny. She smiled at him and said, “G’day,” and he very gently stroked her soft black hair. Then he added, “I make plenty of cookies for little girls.”
“May we have some, Mama? Please?” Beth and Miranda asked eagerly.
“You may each have one cookie and I expect you to clean your plates at supper,” Bronwen answered.
“We will,” all four girls chorused.
“I’m going to have more than one cookie, and it won’t affect my appetite, I promise,” Adam said with a wink and Bronwen slapped his arm lightly, saying, “Oh yes, a fine example you set for our daughters.”
The girls all giggled and Ben said with a chuckle, “Adam has always had a sweet tooth, especially when it comes to Hop Sing’s cookies.”
“Hoss always said Adam would steal them and he’d get the blame,” Joe said quietly.
“So he did,” Adam replied softly.
There was a moment of silence as the four men and Bronwen thought of the family’s missing member and then Ben said with a forced gaiety, “Let’s all sit down and enjoy Hop Sing’s cookies.”
The girls ate their cookies and drank their lemonade in silence, listening as the grownups talked.
“So, how do you find life on the Ponderosa, Annabelle?” Adam inquired. “I imagine it’s been quite an adjustment for you.
“It is certainly different from
“Yes,” Adam said slowly, “it is. I think I’d forgotten how beautiful.”
“Of course, it’s also very isolated,” she added with a hint of wistfulness in her tone.
“Yes, I imagine it is,” Bronwen said with a slight smile of
sympathy. “I remember how difficult an
adjustment it was moving from a large city like
“Our nearest neighbors are miles away so I haven’t made any close friends here,” Annabelle stated and the others heard the sadness in her voice.
“We’ll have a party while Adam and Bronwen are here and that will give you a chance to meet more of our neighbors,” Joe said cheerfully.
“Really?” Annabelle asked.
“Sure, honey. We can hire some musicians and have dancing,” he said with a smile.
“I figured we’d have a party so I talked Bronwen into buying a
new party dress while we were in
“But you wouldn’t let me buy the dress I really liked,” Bronwen said, pretending to be affronted. “He claims he has better taste.”
“I’m just stating a fact, sweetheart,” he replied with another wink and Bronwen stuck out her tongue, causing the girls to giggle. “Now who setting the girls a bad example?” he drawled with a big grin, which Ben and Joe returned. However, he noted that Annabelle looked uncomfortable so he said casually, “I’m looking forward to the party. We haven’t danced since the last time we were here, and that was before Gwyneth was born. I have a real craving to trip the light fantastic with my wife.” Just then, he felt a tug on his coat.
“Daddy, when can we pick out our ponies?” Beth asked. “Uncle Joe said we could pick our ponies when we got here and he’d go for a ride with us.”
“You’ll have to change into your riding clothes,” Bronwen said. “I put them in our valise so you would have them when we got here.”
“And I’d like to change into some more comfortable clothes myself, so if you’ll excuse us,” Adam said to Annabelle, who nodded.
Ben added, “We thought Gwyneth and Penny could sleep in the room across from yours and Beth and Miranda in the room across from mine.” Adam nodded his acknowledgement of the directions and then turned to his two older daughters.
“Now, Beth and Miranda, I want you to help your sisters while Mama and I change,” he said firmly.
“Okay, Daddy,” the older girls replied, while Gwyneth said petulantly, “I can dress myself.”
“Gwyneth Marie, you do not address me in that tone of voice, nor do you contradict an adult. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Daddy,” the five-year-old said, her lower lip beginning to quiver and her eyes to fill with tears.
“No need to cry, Punkin,” he said, ruffling her curls. “Just remember not to do it again. Now, your sisters will help you if you need it.” He picked up the valise that Joe had set down on the porch and shepherded his family inside the house.
When they got upstairs, Bronwen handed the older girls their riding clothes and she gave Beth Penny’s dress. Adam walked the girls to their rooms while Bronwen went into Adam’s room and began to remove her suit and blouse. She was standing in her silk undervest and petticoats when he reentered their room. He didn’t say a word but locked the door, moved behind her, and began dropping kisses on her shoulders, while his arms reached around so he could cup her breasts.
“Oh, Adam, I don’t think we should right now—” but he turned her around so his kiss cut her off and she surrendered to their mutual desire.
Beth and Miranda had finished changing and headed down the hall to help their little sisters change clothes. “Listen,” Miranda said as they approached their sisters’ room on one side of the hall and their parents on the other. “It sounds like Mama and Daddy are jumping on their bed.”
“Right,” Beth replied. “And we get scolded if we do that.” The two girls shook their heads at the incomprehensible behavior of adults and went into their sisters’ room. They found Penny rocking in one of the little rocking chairs her grandpa had made, while Gwyneth was struggling to button her shoes. She hadn’t been able to reach the buttons in the middle of her back so she’d put her knickerbockers on underneath her dress.
“Here, Gwyneth, I’ll finish unbuttoning you,” Miranda said while Beth said, “C’mon, Penny, and I’ll change your clothes.”
The two middle girls finished first and Gwyneth ran across the hall and knocked on her parents’ door. “Mama! Daddy! Are you ready?”
“We’ll be along in a few minutes,” she heard her daddy’s voice reply. “Why don’t you and your sisters go on downstairs and wait for us there?”
“Right,” Miranda replied. “C’mon, Gwyneth, let’s go downstairs.”
“I wanna wait for Daddy,” Gwyneth said in a quivering voice.
“But Daddy said for us to wait downstairs,” Miranda commanded. “Don’t be a baby, Gwyneth. Maybe Uncle Joe’ll let us go choose our ponies.”
Gwyneth was torn because she loved to ride but she didn’t want to go downstairs with all those people she didn’t know. Just then the white-haired man with the very deep voice appeared in the hallway.
“Looks like you girls are ready to go pick your ponies,” he said smiling at them. “Why don’t we go downstairs together?”
“Gwyneth’s afraid,” Miranda said. “She’s always afraid of strangers.” She turned to her sister. “Grandpa’s not a stranger. He’s Daddy’s daddy.”
Gwyneth looked up at Ben through her long black eyelashes and her solemn expression brought tears to his eyes. Her curls had been stuffed in one of her cousin Llywelyn’s old caps and dressed in knickerbockers and a shirt, she looked exactly like her father had at age five. “That’s right, Gwyneth,” he said softly. “I’m your daddy’s daddy. I remember when he was five, he looked just like you do.”
Her big amber eyes brightened at that and Miranda asked quizzically, “Did he really?”
“He certainly did. He was shy around people he didn’t know, too. If you come downstairs with me, I’ll tell you a story about your daddy when he was five. Would you like that?”
She nodded solemnly and when he held out his hand, she shyly put hers in it. Miranda took his other hand and they walked down the stairs together.
Annabelle and Joe had come inside and were sitting together on the settee. Her eyes widened at the sight of her nieces, who now looked like her nephews. She’d thought her new in-laws had seemed refined, but now she was beginning to wonder.
“Would you like to sit on Grandpa’s lap, Gwyneth?” Ben asked the five-year-old and after a little hesitation, she nodded, so he sat in his big chair and lifted her up on his lap.
“Miranda, why don’t you come sit here by me and your aunt?” Joe invited so Miranda dimpled and sat beside Joe.
“I promised Gwyneth I’d tell her a story about her daddy when he was her age since right now she looks exactly like he did.”
“Now, that’s a story I’d like to hear,” Joe said with a big grin while Annabelle smiled politely.
“When your daddy was five, we didn’t live in a house like this or like your house in Cloncurry. Your daddy and I lived in a wagon,” Ben said, smiling into the amber eyes looking at his face so seriously.
“A wagon?” Miranda repeated dubiously.
“That’s right. But not just a plain wagon. We lived in what they call a covered wagon. It has sort of a bonnet on top made of homespun that’s watertight. We kept a mattress inside where we could sleep if it was raining and the rest of the time we slept under the wagon in bedrolls.”
“Bedrolls?” Miranda asked.
“Oh, that’s right,” Ben said with a smile. “I think your daddy told me they use a
different word in
Just then, Beth and Penny came down the stairs, hand in hand. Beth was dressed in boys’ clothes, just like her younger siblings, and Penny was dressed in a smocked frock of red gingham and a white pinafore. Joe put his finger to his lips and indicated they should sit by Miranda, but Penny toddled over to Ben and held her arms up.
“You can sit on Grandpa’s lap, precious,” Ben said with a smile as he helped Penny onto his other knee. “I was telling your sisters a story about your daddy when he was a little boy.”
Miranda wanted to ask another question. “Wasn’t Grandma with you?”
“No, your grandma was in Heaven,” Ben said quietly.
“Even when Daddy was little like Gwyneth?” Beth asked.
“Yes. Your grandma went to Heaven when your daddy was just a tiny baby.”
Gwyneth spoke up then and said shyly, “Grandma was pretty. Daddy showed us a picture of her and he let us listen to her music box, but we mustn’t touch it.”
Ben hugged her gently and said, “Yes, your grandma was
lovely.” Then he said, “Now, the reason
your daddy and I were living in a covered wagon was because we were traveling
here to the Ponderosa. We’d been traveling
a long time and we were in the state of
“That’s all? Just bread and milk?” Beth asked in surprise.
“We were poor and that’s all I could afford,” Ben replied, feeling the burning tears forming in his eyes at the memory of how poorly he’d been able to provide for his little boy then.
“But you and Daddy had each other and Mama says that’s more important than money,” Miranda said, frowning at her older sister.
“Your mama is right,” Adam’s voice said, and they all turned and saw Adam and Bronwen standing at the foot of the stairs. Adam was dressed in one of his old outfits—red shirt, black leather vest and waist overalls—while Bronwen had changed to a simple Jersey costume in pale yellow and her lustrous black hair hung down her back in one fat plait. “I may have had only bread and milk to eat sometimes, but I always had my pa to love me and take care of me.” And he smiled at Ben.
“Well, I’m still glad I can have more than bread and milk,” Beth replied firmly.
“And I’m glad you can, too,” Ben replied. “Now, at the store I met—“
“A real nice lady,” Adam inserted with a faraway, tender smile.
“Yes, she was,” Ben replied with an equally gentle smile. Penny began to squirm to get down so Adam quickly crossed the room and picked her up.
“I’ll take Penny upstairs so everyone else can enjoy the story,” he said quietly and Ben nodded as Bronwen seated herself in the blue velvet chair, eager to listen. Adam gently squeezed Gwyneth’s shoulder and said softly, “You stay with Grandpa, Punkin,” and she nodded slowly and watched her daddy and baby sister head back up the stairs.
With a smile, Ben resumed his story. “Now, your daddy wasn’t feeling well and instead of waiting in the wagon as I told him to do, he followed me into the store. The nice lady felt his forehead to see if he was feverish and then she had him open his mouth and she saw he had a sore throat. She gave me some medicine for him. I wanted to pay her for the medicine but she insisted it was a gift for your daddy because she liked children.” He smiled at Bronwen then saying, “I told Gwyneth that when her daddy was five, he was shy with strangers just like her. But he took to the nice lady right from the first.”
“We found a room at a boardinghouse and I fixed your daddy his bread and milk and he gobbled it down. Then I fed him the nice lady’s medicine. He didn’t like that so much but he told me how nice the lady was who give it to us. Just in case I hadn’t noticed for myself.” He smiled at Gwyneth and she shyly returned his smile. “Now, I gave your daddy his medicine that morning and that evening I hurried back to the boardinghouse just as soon as I could. As I got closer to our room, I could hear music and I recognized it: it was your grandma’s music box. Now, just as your daddy forbade you to touch the music box, I had forbidden your daddy. I was angry when I walked in the room and saw your daddy lying in bed, holding his mama’s music box. The nice lady from the store was there feeding your daddy his medicine. She must have seen that I was angry because she said very quickly that she had told your daddy it was all right for him to listen to the music box. I felt bad then for being angry with your daddy and the nice lady, whose name was Miss Borgstrom, invited me to supper at her house. I apologized to her and she and your daddy and I began spending a lot of time together.”
Joe smiled, for now he realized the nice lady was his brother Hoss’s mama, Inger. Ben saw his smile and smiled back warmly. “Miss Borgstrom talked me into letting your daddy go to school when his sore throat was better. Your daddy told me that first day over supper that the schoolmaster was going to send him home, saying he was too young, but Miss Inger (for that was what she’d told him to call her) convinced the schoolmaster that your daddy belonged in school. Your daddy and I had supper with Miss Inger and her brother often and we’d share a pew with her on Sundays. The man I was working for wanted to marry her, and he was jealous of the time she spent with me and your daddy, so I lost my job. I was packing up to leave that town when Miss Inger offered me a job at her store. At first I wouldn’t take it but then I realized that I loved her and I knew your daddy did, so I asked her to marry me. She was your Grandma Inger.”
“My middle name is Inger,” Miranda said.
“That’s right. Your daddy and I named you for your Grandma Inger because your daddy loved her so much,” Bronwen said quietly.
“And Gwyneth Marie is named for your Grandma Marie, Uncle Joe’s mama. But we’ll save that story for another time,” Ben said. “Right now, let’s go pick out your ponies.”
“I want Daddy to help me pick mine,” Gwyneth said so Beth replied, “I’ll go get him.”
“Beth, don’t run in the house,” Bronwen called, but her daughter was already halfway up the stairs so she shook her head.
“Is it the custom in
She frowned just slightly as she replied, “It’s a Cartwright custom for them to dress that way when they are going riding. Adam has taught them to ride astride and we don’t want them riding astride in dresses.”
Annabelle’s cheeks turned pink at the frostiness of Bronwen’s reply and she said quickly, “I didn’t mean to give offense. I had just never seen little girls dressed in boys’ clothes before.”
Joe and Ben appeared very uncomfortable while Miranda and
Gwyneth looked at each of the grownups worriedly. Bronwen decided she was at fault for being so
quick to take offense. “I shouldn’t have
been so easily affronted,” she replied with a slight smile. “If we were living in
“Daddy’s here!” Miranda said, spotting her daddy and baby sister coming down the stairs hand-in-hand with Beth in front. “Let’s go pick our ponies!” She started out the door while her younger sister jumped off Ben’s lap and ran to Adam and grabbed his free hand.
“Wait for me!” Beth yelled, dashing out the front door after her sister, followed by a grinning Joe, while her mama sighed and her daddy frowned. Penny spotted her mama and toddled over to her with a happy smile.
“Don’t be too hard on them,” Ben said. “They’ve been cooped up first on a ship and then a train. They just need to work off their excess energy.”
“They need to do it in a more ladylike fashion,” Adam replied, but then said, “Oh, I suppose you’re right.”
“I want to pick my pony, Daddy,” Gwyneth said, pulling on his hand while Penny grinned and clapped her hands shouting, “Pony!”
“I’ll come with you,” Ben said, standing up and moving quickly to the door. “Did you see Sport in the corral?’ he asked his son.
“Sure did,” Adam replied with a grin. “Sweetheart, throw me an apple, will you please?’ She picked one up from the large bowl on the coffee table and tossed it. He caught it easily with his free hand and then headed out the door followed by Ben, the two women, and finally, Penny, trotting as fast as she could on her short little legs.
Adam gave a low whistle as he approached the corral and the sorrel perked up his ears and walked toward him. “Daddy needs both hands, Punkin,” he said to Gwyneth and then pulled out his pocketknife and cut the apple in quarters. He approached Sport with half the slices in his open palm. “Here you go, boy,” he said gently as the gelding snuffled up the apple.
“May I feed him, Daddy?” Gwyneth begged.
“Sure thing, Punkin,” he replied. She climbed up so she could stand on the middle rail, and he placed the the rest of the apple slices in her open palm, which she then held out to Sport. The old gelding sniffed her hand before delicately taking the apple. Gwyneth patted his neck then saying, “Good boy.”
“Me! Me!” Penny shouted, running over and holding her arms up. Adam picked her up and held her so she could pet Sport, who seemed to be enjoying all the attention.
Meanwhile, Bronwen spotted the little perlino pony she’d ridden on her previous visit to the Ponderosa. “Rosebud! Do you remember me, girl?”
The little mustang whickered and, with a grin, Joe said, “Here, a lump of sugar will sweeten her memory,” handing Bronwen a sugar lump.
“You have a horse here, Mama?” Beth asked in surprise.
“Your daddy and Uncle Joe picked her out for me the last time we visited,” Bronwen said as the horse daintily ate the sugar from her palm. “Then your daddy taught me to ride on Rosebud.”
“She’s beaut, Mama,” Miranda commented, climbing up on the rail and patting Rosebud’s neck.
“These are the ponies I picked out for you girls,” Joe said, gesturing toward the three Shetland ponies that he had acquired as soon as he’d known for sure the girls would be visiting. One was dappled grey, one black with two white stockings and one was dun.
“I want the black,” Beth stated emphatically while Miranda claimed the dun.
“Looks like you have the grey, Punkin,” Adam said to Gwyneth, who nodded, with a smile that showed she’d inherited his dimples. “Uncle Joe, Grandpa and I will help you saddle up.”
“Why can’t I saddle my own pony?” Gwyneth said crossly, her lip coming out in a pout.
“You’d better pull in that lip, Punkin, or a kookaburra is going to come sit on it,” he replied
“No kookaburra’s here, Daddy,” she said with a grin.
“Well, then Hop Sing’s rooster,” he said, reaching down with his free hand to tickle her.
“Don’t, Daddy,” she squealed, moving out of reach. Adam turned to Bronwen, “I take it that you aren’t coming for a ride?”
“You can use my sidesaddle,” Annabelle offered.
“Well, thank you, Annabelle,” Bronwen replied, her cheeks growing pink, “but Adam taught me to ride astride as well and I wear knickerbockers just like the girls.” She said to Adam, “No, I think I’ll spend some time with Pa and Annabelle and go riding tomorrow,” and he nodded his agreement.
“Joe,” Adam said then, “could you take the girls for a ride?”
“Aren’t you coming with us, Daddy?” Gwyneth asked pleadingly.
“Daddy wants to visit someone,” Adam said quietly, and Joe nodded his understanding.
“Now, Gwyneth, my feelings are going to be hurt if you don’t come riding with me,” he said, assuming a woebegone expression. “You don’t want to hurt my feelings do you?’
“N-no,” the five-year-old said uncertainly.
“What about you, Kitten? Do you want to ride with Uncle Joe on his horse, or would you rather stay with Mama?’
“Stay Mama,” Penny replied, and held out her arms to Bronwen, who took her from Adam.
“Bronwen, would you mind if I went along with Joe and the girls?” Ben asked.
She smiled, knowing he wanted the chance to spend as much time as he could with his granddaughters. “No, of course not. It will just give Annabelle and me an opportunity to get to know each other better.”
“Me, too!” Penny said with a grin and her mama kissed her cheek and said, “That’s right, you, too.”
Gwyneth’s eyes grew enormous when she saw her daddy, grandpa and uncle carry out the ponies’ saddles from the barn, for the Western style saddles were much bigger and heavier than the English style they rode at home. Her daddy let her and her sisters put the bridles on their ponies and then the saddle blankets. Once the men put the saddles on, Ben and Joe started to tighten the cinches but Adam said, “No, the girls know what to do.”
“Too right!” Beth pronounced and her sisters nodded their emphatic agreement, while their daddy smiled proudly. Ben watched his next-to-youngest granddaughter, noting her intense concentration as she kneed the gray pony in the ribs and then quickly pulled the cinch tight. He shook his head slightly thinking, Son, she is so like you. It takes me back nearly forty years when you had that little cremello pony.
Joe said admiringly, “Older brother, looks like you haven’t lost your touch as a teacher.” With a wink he added, “I guess we’d better hurry and saddle up, Pa, so we don’t keep these young ladies waiting.”
As they all mounted up Adam said, “Remember, the girls haven’t been riding for a month, so make it a short ride.”
“Oh, Daddy,” the three chorused, causing their grandpa and uncle to chuckle, while their daddy said sternly, “Daddy knows best. You’re going to feel sore tonight even after a short ride. You just wait and see.”
“He’s right, girls,” Joe added. “See you later, Adam.”
Adam rode the well-remembered path leading to that special place by the lakeshore. As he approached the two well tended graves, with the crystal blue lake sparkling in the background, he felt the hot tears begin to burn his eyes. He stopped and ground tied Sport, then stumbled to the gravesite, sinking to his knees between the two gravestones, one old and weathered and the other scarcely marred by the passing years. He was beyond speech and hid his face in his hands cutting off the chiseled words Hoss Cartwright, Beloved Son and Brother, 1842 – 1878.
He struggled to regain control and put one hand gently on the smooth, hard granite and began to speak in a low voice that wasn’t quite steady. “Oh buddy, I miss you so much. For a long time I didn’t think I could bear to come back to the Ponderosa, knowing that you wouldn’t be there to greet me with one of your bear hugs. Those first weeks after I received the letter from Pa were the worst of my life. I couldn’t have gotten through them if it hadn’t been for Bronwen. She was my rock and I clung to her. And there were those beautiful little girls. They need their daddy and I have to be strong for them.”
“I wish you could know your nieces now. Beth still reminds me of you because she really detests her lessons, and Gwyneth has your tender heart. I still remember how gently you held Beth and Miranda, as I imagined the way you would hold your own children one day. I tell them stories about you. I know that it’s not as good as being with you, but you are real to them. They always want to hear stories about you and me when we were children and I love to remember those days.” He fell silent then, lost in memories, but after a time he looked up at the sky and realized he needed to start for the ranch if he was to arrive by suppertime. He got to his feet stiffly, realizing he would pay the price for his long ride and the time spent on his knees. He’d need a long soak in a hot tub when he returned. And Bronwen can give me a backrub, he thought with a tender smile. He gently stroked both granite slabs saying softly, “I’ll be back and I’ll bring Bronwen and the girls with me.”
After the others disappeared from view, Bronwen turned to Annabelle saying, “It’s such a pleasant day; why don’t we sit on the porch.”
“All right,” Annabelle said.
As they sat down, she noticed her little niece was rubbing at her eyes. She commented on it and Bronwen said quietly, “She needs a n-a-p but she’s overexcited and fighting it. If we talk quietly, I think she’ll relax and drift off.”
“She is the image of you,” Annabelle added with a smile. “Such beautiful eyes.”
“Thank you,” Bronwen replied, her cheeks growing pink since the compliment was directed at her as well.
“And you’ve certainly kept your figure,” Annabelle continued. “You must tell me your secret.”
“Unlike my husband, I don’t have a sweet tooth,” Bronwen replied with a little grin. “That helps, but I also go for a long walk every day. When the girls were babies, I’d push them in the baby carriage. When they got too big for that, then I’d take my walks in the evening when Adam could watch them.”
“He didn’t object to watching the children?” Annabelle asked in surprise.
“Not for an hour,” Bronwen replied with a little chuckle. “I will admit he always looked relieved when I returned. Now he takes the girls for a ride in the evening while I go for my walk; the girls love to ride and I go riding with them almost every morning. Then on Sunday afternoons, we all go for a ride.”
While they talked, Penny lost the battle to keep awake and Bronwen felt her slump against her. “I’d better take her upstairs and put her to bed,” she said softly.
“Could I watch?” Annabelle asked in an equally soft voice and Bronwen nodded.
Annabelle had never spent any time around young children and she watched with interest as Bronwen gently laid her sleeping child on one of the small beds, carefully removing her shoes and stockings, and then took the afghan off the foot of the bed and placed it over Penny. Finally, she very gently removed Penny’s thumb from her mouth before turning and motioning to Annabelle they should leave.
“I guess you’ve had lots of practice taking care of children,” Annabelle commented as they sat back down on the porch.
“I have now,” Bronwen laughed. “Before Beth came along, I hadn’t had much. I’m the youngest in my family so I couldn’t help my mother with any younger children. But most of my friends were already mothers by the time I married Adam and I’d seen them with their children. I could ask them or my mother for advice after Beth was born. I was so glad we didn’t move to Cloncurry until Beth was a few months old. Once we were there, I was on my own since my sister-in-law didn’t know any more about taking care of babies than I did, and I just didn’t feel comfortable asking any of the women in town.” She smiled then saying, “Oddly enough, Adam actually knew more about taking care of babies than I did.”
“He did?” Annabelle repeated incredulously.
“He helped Pa raise Hoss from infancy and he could remember some of the things Joe’s mother had done when Joe was small.”
“Oh,” Annabelle said, at a loss for words, trying to picture her tall, broad shouldered, extremely masculine brother-in-law helping to take care of babies. For that matter, it was difficult to imagine her handsome, virile, husband as a baby!
“Luckily Gwyneth was the only one of our four to be colicky. I would be at my wit’s end trying to soothe her, but Adam would take her and sit on the porch swing, rub her back, and sing to her, and she’d calm down like magic.”
“It-it just seems so unusual for a man to be able to quiet a colicky baby,” Annabelle commented.
“Well, the Cartwrights are unusual men,” Bronwen said proudly. “You and I are lucky women.”
As Adam approached the ranch house, he couldn’t hold back his laughter at the sight of his younger brother playing hopscotch with his three older daughters while his pa played “This Little Piggy” with the baby.
“I’m surprised the two of you aren’t playing hopscotch with Joe and the girls,” he remarked to Bronwen and Annabelle, after giving Bronwen a brief kiss.
“You can’t play hopscotch in long skirts,” Bronwen replied with a grin.
“Daddy!” Penny squealed, trying to wriggle off Ben’s lap. With a smile, Ben lifted her down and watched her run to her daddy with outstretched arms. Adam scooped her up and kissed each cheek before tossing her up and catching her while she shrieked in delight.
“Daddy!” the older girls called, “come play with us!”
“Not today,” he said, while tickling his baby girl. “Daddy didn’t take his own advice about not riding too far today and he needs a hot bath.” He walked inside the house, still holding Penny, and called, “Hop Sing!”
Hop Sing appeared in the dining room. “Yes, Mista Adam?”
“Do I have time to take a hot bath before supper?”
Hop Sing had expected this and was making fried chicken for dinner, planning to begin frying the chicken once Adam had returned. “No problem, Mista Adam. I knock on washhouse door when it time for you to get dressed.”
Adam dimpled, saying, “Thanks, Hop Sing,” before heading upstairs for clean clothes, accompanied by Penny.
When Hop Sing announced supper was ready and everyone trooped inside, the girls’ mouths formed O’s of astonishment at the enormous platter of fried chicken, bowls heaped with potato salad, coleslaw and fresh baked biscuits. Adam entered behind the others, now dressed in a cream-colored shirt and black trousers. He put Penny in her high chair, by Bronwen, who sat on his right. Gwyneth wanted to sit at his other side and he quickly decreed that Beth would sit by Penny and Miranda by Gwyneth. After Ben said grace, the food began to be passed around. There wasn’t much conversation as everyone concentrated on enjoying Hop Sing’s delicious food.
“Hop Sing make chocolate cake, so you be sure and save room,” he said as he brought a fresh pot of coffee out for the adults.
‘I don’t think I could possibly eat chocolate cake in addition to all this,” Bronwen said.
“Why don’t we all go for a walk,” Adam suggested. “Then when we come back, I’ll bet we have room for chocolate cake.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Annabelle said, remembering what Bronwen had told her earlier.
Penny had to be carried on the way back, but the others enjoyed their walk. (Adam and Bronwen were relieved that the girls had used up their excess energy. The ocean voyage hadn’t been bad because they could all go for walks around the deck unless there was a storm, but the train trip had been hard on the girls, who weren’t used to being cooped for long periods of time. It had been hard on their parents as well.)
When they came back, they gathered around the dining room table and ate Hop Sing’s delicious cake. (Ben had started to suggest they eat in the great room, but Bronwen had quickly recommended eating in the dining room. She knew Ben had forgotten that young children could be messy, and indeed, Penny knocked over her glass of milk. Ben smiled gratefully at his daughter-in-law, happy that the milk hadn’t been spilled on the brocade settee or leather chairs.)
After they had finished the cake, Miranda asked if they could play Twenty Questions.
“That’s a marvelous idea,” Annabelle said. “I enjoy that game very much. And maybe we could play some other parlor games.”
They all sat in the great room, Penny on her daddy’s lap and Gwyneth on her grandpa’s, and enjoyed themselves playing parlor games until Penny and Gwyneth were both rubbing their eyes to keep them open and their sisters were yawning.
“All right, girls, it’s time for you to be in bed,” Bronwen said firmly.
They looked as if they wanted to argue but one look at their daddy’s face showed them that would not be wise. Gwyneth, however, asked pleadingly, “You’re gonna read to us aren’t you, Daddy?”
“As soon as Mama tells me that you’re in your nightgowns, have said your prayers and are ready for bed, I’ll come and read a chapter,” Adam promised and all four faces brightened.
“May I come listen to the story?” Ben asked and Miranda added, “Please say yes, Daddy.”
“Of course Grandpa can listen to your bedtime story,” Adam said, his lips quirking up slightly. “Now, tell Uncle Joe and Aunt Annabelle goodnight, and then scoot.”
Penny giggled at that and then they all called goodnight and headed up the stairs, Gwyneth and Penny each holding one of their mama’s hands.
“You have a harem of real beauties there, older brother. Wish I could be there in a few years when the boys start coming around wanting to court them,” Joe remarked with a grin, which grew even wider as he saw the alarm in his brother’s eyes.
“That won’t be for years and years,” he said resolutely, frowning as his brother and sister-in-law shared a smile.
It wasn’t long before Bronwen appeared at the top of the stairs with Penny holding one hand and Gwyneth the other. Ben smiled as he saw them dressed in short-sleeved cotton gowns, Gwyneth’s hair in pigtails.
“We’re ready, Daddy,” Gwyneth called and Penny shouted, “We ready.”
“Grandpa and I will be right there,” Adam said. Then he turned to Joe and Annabelle. “It’s been a tiring day so I think Bronwen and I will probably go to bed early tonight.”
“Sure thing, Adam,” Joe said with a wink and Adam grinned before heading after Pa, who had already reached the landing.
Adam tucked Penny in before settling into the large rocking chair. Bronwen tucked Gwyneth in and then she, Ben and the two older girls made themselves comfortable at the foot of the two small beds.
Adam smiled at his girls and then began to read:
Everything had gone wrong with Polly that day. It began with her boots.
Of all things in the world that tried Polly's patience most were the troublesome little black buttons that originally adorned those useful parts of her clothing, and that were fondly supposed to be there when needed. But they never were. The little black things seemed to be invested with a special spite, for one by one they would hop off on the slightest provocation, and go rolling over the floor, just when she was in her most terrible hurry, compelling her to fly for needle and thread on the instant. For one thing Mrs. Pepper was very strict about--and that was, Polly should do nothing else till the buttons were all on again, and the boots buttoned up firm and snug.
“They sound just like my boots,” Miranda giggled.
“Mine, too,” Beth said, giggling along with her sister. The two younger girls joined in until their daddy cleared his throat noisily. Ben and Bronwen shared grins as the girls responded to their daddy’s reminder and quieted. Before the chapter was finished, Penny fell asleep and Gwyneth had drifted off by the end. The two older girls were yawning as they quietly exited the bedroom and went down the hall to their own room, where their mama and daddy tucked them in and kissed them goodnight. Ben had come along with them, and gave each girl a goodnight kiss and received one in return.
“This certainly brings back wonderful memories,” he said in a hushed voice as they stepped out in the hallway. “I remember all those nights hearing you say your prayers, tucking you in your bedroll and then lying beside you under the wagon.”
“And I remember you and Mama both hearing me say my prayers and tucking me in, and Mama giving me a goodnight kiss,” Adam said and Bronwen thought he sounded wistful so she put her arm around his waist and gave him a hug. He smiled down at her and put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her even closer.
“Then I had two little boys to tuck in at night,” Ben added with a smile that had a hint of melancholy.
“And I complained because I had to go to bed the same time as Hoss,” Adam said with his little half grin.
“Until I learned that unlike you, who always woke at the slightest sound, your brother could sleep through a thunderstorm,” Ben added with a quiet chuckle.
“Sounds like I now know one more way Gwyneth takes after her daddy,” Bronwen said with a grin.
“I, uh, told Joe and Annabelle that Bronwen and I were tired and were going to bed once we got the girls down.”
“All right, son,” Ben replied and they saw the twinkle in his eye, which caused Bronwen to blush, and that in turn made Adam chuckle. As he opened the door to his old bedroom, he said, “Sweetheart, you are absolutely adorable,” and bent down to kiss her. “That nice hot bath made me feel lots better, but I’d still like a backrub,” he remarked as he locked the bedroom door.
“Of course,” she said, and began unbuttoning his shirt.
He smiled and said, “I don’t want it just yet. I have another activity in mind first.” He unpinned her braids, tossing the hairpins on the chest of drawers, and then slowly, his long slender fingers freed her hair so it fell about her like a rippling cloak of ebony silk. She tilted her face up and stood on her tiptoes, and as they kissed, she enjoyed the feel of his hands cupping and squeezing her buttocks, molding her body to his.
Afterward, she lay with her head pillowed on his shoulder, letting her fingertips play with the mat of black curls on his chest and belly while he gently caressed her back. Feeling totally satisfied, she had nearly drifted to sleep when she felt him pinch her buttocks. “Now, how about my backrub?” he asked with a smug grin.
Joe and Annabelle noticed the dreamy smile on Ben’s face as he came down the stairs to rejoin them.
“Girls all tucked in?” Joe asked and Ben nodded with the same dreamy smile. “They looked as cute as a button wearing those knickerbockers and caps,” he added.
“I’m afraid I really offended Bronwen,” Annabelle said quietly.
“No, it’s okay, honey,” Joe said and placed his arm about her shoulders comfortingly. “Bronwen was like a she-wolf defending her cubs, wasn’t she?” he added with a chuckle and Ben joined him. “You’ll be the same way with our children. You just wait and see.”
“We talked about babies when we were alone. She told me that she hadn’t had much experience with babies when she and Adam married—that she learned as she went along. She also said Adam knew more about caring for babies than she did,” and she looked at her husband questioningly.
“Don’t look at me,” he replied feigning fright. “Adam may know about taking care of babies, but I sure don’t!”
“I’ve had some experience,” Ben said with a warm smile. “I learned the same way Bronwen did. I know each baby is different and what makes one happy may not work with another. Advice from someone with experience is nice, but ultimately, you find out on your own what works well with each child.” He smiled again adding, “I know you’ll be a wonderful mother, my dear.”
When Miranda woke a little before dawn, she experienced a moment of disorientation before she remembered she was at the Ponderosa visiting her grandpa and her Uncle Joe and Aunt Annabelle. She jumped out of bed but the room was dark except for the first faint streaks of light that filtered in through the bedroom window so she stumbled and fumbled before she was able to find the clothes she’d worn to go riding the day before and put them on. Beth was a heavy sleeper and slept through all this, but by the time Miranda was dressed, the sun was coming up and the room was growing light, so she shook her sleeping sister’s shoulder saying, “Wake up, Beth.”
“Mmumph,” Beth replied, turning away, but Miranda was persistent.
“C’mon, Beth,” she said, shaking a little harder. “We have to do our chores before breakfast and the sun is almost up.”
“All right,” Beth said crossly as she sat up and threw back the covers. “I’m awake. Hand me my clothes.”
Miranda gave her the knickerbockers and shirt she’d worn the day before and then began to make her side of their bed.
Beth dressed quickly and made her side of the bed and the two of them went quietly down the stairs. There was no sign anyone else was stirring but they could hear sounds coming from the kitchen and knew Hop Sing must be up. They walked as quietly as they could through the great room, which was almost totally dark, and then headed out the front door to the barn to take care of their ponies.
They were busy mucking out their ponies’ stalls when they heard a deep voice behind them say, “Mornin’, young ladies.”
They whirled around then and saw the tall, dark ranch hand who’d driven their trunks back from the train station, and Miranda remembered Uncle Joe had said his name was Jacob.
“G’day, Jacob,” she said with a dimpled grin and Beth echoed, “G’day, Jacob.”
“I’m surprised to see you up so early,” Jacob continued with a wide grin. “Your Uncle Joe asked me to take care of your ponies for you.”
“They can manage,” a sonorous voice said from the doorway. Jacob turned to see Joe’s older brother, dressed in a black shirt and black pants, and holding his hand was the little girl who was a diminutive replica of him. “I’m raising my daughters to take care of themselves,” Adam continued, quirking his lips in a half-smile. “I want them to be self-sufficient. That’s the way my pa raised me and my brothers.”
Jacob nodded his acceptance and turned his attention to some of the other horses in the barn. Joe came in the barn a few minutes later, startled to see his oldest nieces carrying a pail of water between them for their ponies while their younger sister waited with an armful of clean hay as her daddy mucked out her pony’s stall.
“G’day, Uncle Joe!” they all said, smiling at him.
Adam saw his brother’s quizzical expression and said in an undertone, “You took care of your pony when you were their age, didn’t you?”
“Sure, but ¼”
“I’m not raising my daughters to be hothouse flowers,” Adam said firmly. “I want them to be able to take care of themselves if the need arises.” Then he added with a grin, “Don’t worry. Bronwen is teaching them how to cook and sew. Beth loves to wear pretty clothes and play with her dolls. Miranda and her best friend, Emma, are a pair of bookworms but they like playing hopscotch and jacks. Now, Gwyneth’s best friend is Llywelyn; she has no interest in playing with dolls or playing girls’ games. She and Llywelyn play catch, climb trees and go fishing.”
“She likes to fish?” Joe said, both eyebrows shooting up.
“The first time I went fishing with Rhys and Llywelyn she begged to come along. She turned out to be a good fisherman, even if she won’t bait her own hook. Llywelyn teases her, but I’m glad she’s girlish enough not to want to do it.”
Meanwhile, Hop Sing had come into the dining room to set the table. He found Bronwen had already set out the plates, glasses, cups and saucers and was setting out the silverware while Penny followed behind her clutching the napkins in one hand and her little rag doll in the other.
“G’day, Hop Sing,” Bronwen said with a smile. “I’m ready for another napkin,” she said to Penny, who grinned and held up the hand with the napkins.
Hop Sing smiled and headed back to the kitchen to finish breakfast. Just as he was setting the platter of flapjacks on the table, Adam, Joe and the three older girls came in from the washhouse, where they’d cleaned up. The girls ran up the stairs to change into dresses while Bronwen called after them, “Girls, don’t run in the house!” Joe started giggling and quickly found two pairs of eyes—one violet and one dark hazel—glaring at him.
“You won’t find it amusing when it’s your children,” Bronwen said in a scolding tone.
“I help Mama,” Penny said, pulling on Adam’s hand to get his attention.
“Yes, she was a very good helper,” Bronwen said, smiling at her baby.
“Daddy is proud of his Kitten,” Adam said, picking Penny up and setting her on his shoulders. He ran around the great room as she giggled and shrieked, “Faster, Daddy! Faster!”
A few minutes later Ben and Annabelle came down so Adam stopped running and came to stand by Bronwen, with Penny still on his shoulders. Bronwen again felt small and dowdy next to her elegant sister-in-law. Adam could read her face like a book and reached for her hand, entwining their fingers. She looked up at him and he grinned, just slightly. Her cheeks turned pink, but she couldn’t help returning his grin.
Penny leaned toward Ben with outstretched arms, saying, “Gandpa.”
“Good morning, pretty Penny,” Ben said, taking her from Adam and kissing her soft cheek. “Where are your sisters?”
“They’re changing clothes,” Adam replied. “They’ll be down in a few minutes.” Just then they heard Gwyneth shriek, “Ow!”
“Beth must be combing Gwyneth’s hair,” Bronwen said with a sigh.
“Ah,” Ben said, nodding his understanding. “I was glad Adam liked his hair short because I remember what it was like trying to get a comb through those curls when they were long.”
“And Joe wanted his hair long, but he always hollered bloody murder when it was time to comb it,” Adam added with a chuckle. “Unfortunately, Gwyneth’s can’t be cut although sometimes I wish little girls could wear their hair short.”
“Oh, but her curls are adorable,” Annabelle protested
A few moments later the three older girls appeared wearing calico dresses and white pinafores. Beth’s black hair hung down her back, sleek and shining, while Miranda’s hung in ringlets, but Gwyneth’s thick, ungovernable black curls formed a corona about her head.
“Beth hurt me, Mama,” Gwyneth said accusingly as soon she entered the great room.
“Well, she wouldn’t stop squirming,” Beth said defensively. “I can’t comb her hair when she’s squirming around.”
“I’m sure your sister didn’t mean to hurt you, Gwyneth,” Bronwen answered calmly.
“I want to sit by Daddy today,” Miranda announced as they all moved to the dining room table.
“No, I wanna sit by Daddy,” Gwyneth said, sticking her lip out in a pout. “Please, Daddy,” she pleaded, looking at him with enormous hazel eyes.
“I’m sorry, Punkin,” Adam said gently. “You sat by me yesterday so now it’s Miranda’s turn. Why don’t you sit by Penny? Then Beth can sit by Miranda.”
Gwyneth continued to pout until she began eating Hop Sing’s delicious flapjacks and then she forgot about sulking.
As they were eating, Ben commented, “I thought we could have a picnic lunch at the lake today.”
“Beauty, Grandpa!” Beth exclaimed with an enormous dimpled grin. Her sisters both smiled happily and Penny clapped her hands and cried, “Booty!”
“I’m glad my idea meets with your approval, girls,” Ben said, grinning hugely.
When everyone had finished eating, Bronwen said to her older daughters, “Now, since Hop Sing prepared this delicious breakfast for us, I think the least we can do in return is wash and dry the dishes, Right?”
“Right, Mama,” they said with a sigh, and Ben said quickly, “It’s not necessary, dear.”
“It may not be necessary, but we’re making extra work for Hop Sing and it won’t take us any time at all, will it, girls?”
Beth said with a shrug, “No,” and Miranda nodded her agreement. Annabelle looked a little uncomfortable because it had never occurred to her to help Hop Sing. After all, the cooking and housecleaning was his job, and she’d never washed or dried a dish in her life because they had servants for that. .
As Bronwen and the girls began clearing the table, Adam turned to Gwyneth and said, “Well, Punkin, what shall we do this morning?”
“Could we play Old Bachelor?” Gwyneth asked hopefully. It was one of her favorite games and Mama had packed it so they could play on their journey.
“It’s more fun with more than two players,” Adam said.
“I’ve never played it, but I’m willing to learn,” Joe said, grinning at his niece.
“Yes, it sounds like fun,” Ben said, enjoying his granddaughter’s dimpled smile, thinking again how she reminded him of Adam at the same age.
“Penny is a little young to play; would you mind watching her, Annabelle?” Adam asked tentatively.
“Of course not,” Annabelle said. Penny was such a dainty and appealing little thing, she seemed almost like a doll, and Annabelle looked forward to playing with her.
Penny’s lower lip started to come out but Adam said quickly, “I bet Aunt Annabelle would read Mother Goose to you if you ask her nicely.”
“Pease, Aunt Ann’belle. Read Muver Goose,” Penny implored, turning her enormous eyes on her aunt.
“I’d be happy to, Penny,” Annabelle replied.
“The girls and I will go up and get the game and the book,” Adam said, lifting Penny up on his shoulders. He held onto her feet with one hand and offered the other to Gwyneth.
As they disappeared upstairs, Joe said softly to Annabelle, “Seeing Adam’s girls really has me looking forward to when we have children.”
“Yes, they certainly are sweet. Especially little Penny,” Annabelle replied.
It was only a few minutes later that Gwyneth appeared, carrying the old Mother Goose book that had originally belonged to Beth and been passed down to each of her sisters under one arm, and in her other hand she carried the Old Bachelor cards. Adam was right behind her with Penny riding on his shoulders. He handed Penny to her aunt and they settled in the blue velvet chair while the others sat around the dining table as Adam explained the game, showing them the colorful cards with different characters from fairy tales, and the Old Bachelor.
“Here’s how you play,” Adam explained. “You get rid of your cards by creating pairs and you want to avoid the Old Bachelor card. I’ll deal and then we check and put down any pairs we have. Gwyneth is on my left and she takes a card from Joe’s hand since he’s on her left. If the card she gets from Joe matches one of hers, then she puts the pair down. If it doesn’t match, it stays in her hand and then it’s Joe’s turn. When you run out of cards, you just wait and see who gets stuck with the Old Bachelor.”
“It’s lots of fun,” Gwyneth added enthusiastically.
Joe and Ben had a hard time keeping a straight face as Gwyneth would carefully stick the Old Bachelor card so it stuck out from all the others and when Adam would take it (with his lips quirked up in his little half smile), she would grin hugely. If she got the card from Joe, her face would assume a tragic expression and her lip would come out in a pout.
“Uncle Joe got the Old Bachelor,” she crowed at the end of the first game.
“It’s not nice to gloat, Punkin,” Adam said, but he couldn’t keep the twinkle from his eye and neither could his father and brother.
Meanwhile Annabelle was discovering that Penny had inherited her share of the Cartwright/Davies stubborn streak. After reciting:
Hot cross buns
Hot cross buns
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot cross buns
If you have no daughters
Give them to your sons
One a penny
Two a penny
Hot cross buns
she started to recite Pease Porridge Hot but Penny said firmly, “No! Want Hot Cross Buns.”
“I just read that one, Penny,” Annabelle said calmly. “Now let’s read Pease Porridge.”
“No! Hot Cross Buns!” Penny said loudly.
Not wanting to appear incompetent in Joe’s eyes, Annabelle quickly said, “All right, Penny.”
Poor Annabelle had no idea how many times a small child could enjoy the same thing over and over. She was on her tenth or eleventh recitation when Bronwen and the older girls returned from the kitchen. The girls immediately wanted to join the Old Bachelor game so Bronwen came over to check on her baby. She saw the rather desperate expression on her sister-in-law’s face and the moment she could hear Annabelle recite, she knew what was happening.
“Penny, Aunt Annabelle is tired of reading Hot Cross Buns. I’d like to hear Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake.”
Annabelle gave her such of look of gratitude that Bronwen almost laughed.
Gwyneth, meanwhile, didn’t fare as well once her sisters joined the game. “I’m not taking that card,” Miranda said crossly when Gwyneth tried to ensure she took the Old Bachelor.
“Gwyneth’s got the Old Bachelor. Gwyneth’s got the Old Bachelor,” she and Beth chanted as the five-year-old’s eyes filled with tears of frustration when she was left holding the card at the game's end.
“That will be quite enough!” Adam said sternly to them and they hushed immediately. He got up and lifted Gwyneth in his arms and sat back down with her on his lap. “Punkin, you can’t always win. Your sisters were wrong to tease you, but you’ve got to learn to be a good loser. Now, why don’t you pick one more game for us to play and then we’ll leave for our picnic.”
“Right, Daddy,” she said, her expression brightening. “I wanna play Blindman’s Wand.”
“Beth,” Adam said, “go and ask Hop Sing if we can borrow one of his wooden spoons to be the wand.”
With some help from her mama and daddy even Penny was able to join this game, and they all had fun. As soon as the game was over, Beth asked, “Can we ride our ponies to the lake?”
“I’m afraid the trip to the lake is too far, but we’ll tie your ponies and Sport behind the surrey and you can ride when we get to the lake.”
“Beauty, Daddy,” Beth replied and then turned to her aunt. “May I sit with you, Aunt Annabelle?” she asked and Miranda quickly added, “And me, too?”
Bronwen looked at Joe and said quickly, “Uh, girls—“
Joe cut her off and said with a grin, “That’s okay. I’ll just sit with you and my other nieces.”
“I wanna sit with Daddy and Grandpa,” Gwyneth said. “Please, Daddy.”
“Sit wiv Daddy,” Penny echoed, reaching for her daddy’s hand.
“I’m glad someone wants to sit with me,” Bronwen said, assuming an exaggerated hurt expression and her older girls grinned before running upstairs to change into their riding clothes.
When Adam pulled up the surrey at their favorite picnic place, the girls jumped out and looked toward the sparkling azure waters of the lake. “What a ripper!” Miranda exclaimed.
“Too right!” Beth and Gwyneth agreed.
The American Cartwrights all shook their heads slightly while Adam and Bronwen exchanged smiles. After a few minutes Adam said, “I’m starved. Anyone else ready for lunch?”
“Me, Daddy!” Penny said and Beth added, “Me, too. I wonder what Hop Sing fixed us?”
“Let’s spread out the blanket and then we can open the picnic basket,” her daddy replied, reaching out and giving her hair a playful tug.
In no time at all they were enjoying the roast beef and chicken sandwiches Hop Sing had packed along with homemade pickles and hardboiled eggs. He’d included some fresh sweet corn so Joe and Ben built a little fire and they roasted the ears and brewed some coffee. Finally, there were Hop Sing’s famous ginger snaps.
“I don’t know about the rest of you,” Ben said after he swallowed his last mouthful of ginger snap, “but I’m going to stretch out and take a little nap.”
“Sounds good to me,” Adam replied.
“But you said we could ride our ponies,” Gwyneth and Beth whined.
“I’ll be happy to go with you girls,” Joe said. “Do you want to ride with me, Penny?”
“No, I want Penny to take a nap with her daddy and grandpa,” Bronwen said firmly. “I think I’d like to go for a walk along the shore. Would you like to join me, Annabelle?”
“I’d love to,” Annabelle replied with a smile.
After the others departed on their rides and walks, Ben and Adam stretched out on the blanket with Penny lying between them.
“Tell me ‘tory, Daddy,” she commanded, but he gently suggested, “Why don’t we have Grandpa tell us both a story?”
“Gandpa tell ‘tory,” she agreed.
“What kind of story would you like to hear, pretty Penny?” Ben asked, stroking her silky black hair.
“’Bout Daddy and Unca Hoss,” the little tyke commanded.
“All right,” Ben replied with a warm smile, pleased that even Penny had a special fondness for the uncle she would never meet. He thought for a moment and then said, “Did you know it was your daddy and your Uncle Hoss who found this picnic spot?” She shook her head and Ben continued, watching his son’s wistful expression. “Your Uncle Hoss was just about as old as you are now and your daddy was the same age as Beth. One day I was mowing hay for my horse, your daddy’s pony and our milk cow to eat in the winter. Your daddy was supposed to weed our garden and watch your uncle. He finished weeding and decided he wanted to go for a ride on his pony. He wasn’t supposed to leave our house unless he had my permission, but he decided that since I wasn’t around, as long as he and Uncle Hoss got back before I did, it would be all right.”
Penny turned her huge eyes on Adam and said, “Daddy bad?”
He smiled and tweaked her little nose. “Yes, Daddy was a bad boy and Grandpa had a necessary talk with him.”
Ben cleared his throat and continued. “Your daddy saddled up his pony and he and your Uncle Hoss set off. Your daddy always loved this lake and so he headed in that direction. He and Uncle Hoss found this spot and he decided to try and show Uncle Hoss how to skip stones. They were having so much fun, your daddy forgot all about hurrying home ahead of me. I got home and both my little boys were gone and I was worried sick. I was just getting ready to start looking for them when they both rode up. Your daddy looked scared because he knew he’d been bad but your Uncle Hoss was grinning and started to tell me all about the pretty water and throwing stones.”
“I throw my ball,” Penny told Ben who smiled at her.
“Now, how about if Grandpa and I sing for you?” Adam said. “Hush, Little Baby?” he suggested to Ben, who nodded. They began to sing softly, with Adam harmonizing:
Hush, little baby, don't say a word,
Daddy’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird don't sing,
Daddy’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
And if that diamond ring turn brass,
Daddy's gonna buy you a looking glass.
And if that looking glass gets broke,
Daddy’s gonna buy you a billy
goat.
They saw Penny’s eyes drift shut and sang more softly:
¼ Well you'll still be the sweetest
little baby in town.
Bronwen and Annabelle returned from their walk first and smiled at the three sleeping figures on the blanket, Penny curled up next to her daddy, who’d put his arm around her.
“Your husband certainly is a wonderful father,” Annabelle said softly.
“Yes, and he had a wonderful example in Pa,” Bronwen replied. “He’s such a remarkable man to have raised three such wonderful sons on his own.” She smiled at her sister-in-law and added, “I’m sure Joe will be as wonderful a father as Adam.”
“Yes, I think he will. He’s really enjoying spending time with his nieces,” Annabelle said.
Joe, however, was in grave doubts about his parenting skills.
“Let’s go for a gallop, Uncle Joe,” Beth said after they’d ridden out of sight of the picnickers.
“I don’t know,” Joe started, for he wasn’t sure if Adam and Bronwen would approve, but Gwyneth interrupted.
“Daddy lets us gallop. C’mon, Beth, I’ll race you!” Before Joe could open his mouth, all three girls were riding hell for leather. He took after them and just as he caught up, Gwyneth’s pony stumbled. She managed to pull the pony up and keep her seat. Her two sisters were far ahead but Joe slowed and asked Gwyneth anxiously, “You all right?”
“She’ll be apples,” Gwyneth replied, and ignoring Joe’s confused expression added, “Stone the crows! I’ll never be able to catch up!”
“No more races,” Joe said firmly. “We’ll just canter and we’ll catch up to them.”
“Right,” Gwyneth replied, grinning, and he saw she’d inherited her daddy’s dimple.
Before long, they met the others, who were riding their ponies back at a walk.
“I won!” Beth announced jubilantly and Miranda said with a pout, “Oh, you always win.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Gwyneth said indignantly. “I win sometimes.”
“I think we need to be heading back or your mama and daddy are gonna wonder what’s become of us,” Joe stated, and so they all started back to the picnic site.
Ben, Adam and Penny were just waking up from their nap when the four riders returned.
“We had a race and I won!” Beth yelled as they approached.
Joe watched his brother’s face nervously to see how he’d react to the news his precious daughters had been racing. Adam only said mildly, “I hope you asked Uncle Joe’s permission before you started racing.”
“Too right,” Beth said, smiling at her uncle, who grinned weakly at his brother.
Penny picked up her cloth ball from the picnic basket, where Bronwen had packed it, and walked over to Ben. “Play, Gandpa?” she said smiling coquettishly.
“I’d be happy to, Pretty Penny,” Ben replied with a warm smile.
“May I play, too, Penny?” Annabelle asked, and the toddler grinned happily.
“I brought the horseshoes,” Joe said to Adam, who nodded saying, “I’m a bit out of practice.”
“Oh, I wanna play!” Gwyneth said excitedly.
“Me, too!” Beth added.
“I’m sorry, girls, but the horseshoes are too heavy for you,” Adam said but Joe interrupted.
“We could let them stand closer. Figure out how close they need to stand to throw far enough.”
“Please, Daddy,” Gwyneth begged and Beth added, “Please.”
“All right,” Adam conceded. Then he turned to Bronwen and Miranda. “What about you ladies?”
“I brought my book,” Miranda said and Bronwen said, “And so did I. You all go throw your horseshoes and Miranda and I will enjoy ourselves reading.”
The brothers got a kick out of watching the two little girls throw the horseshoes because they each had to used both hands to throw them, but neither would admit they were too heavy for them. As Bronwen read, she kept darting glances at her daughters playing their throwing games. Since two-and-half-year-olds don’t have very long attention spans, it wasn’t long before Penny came running over to ask her mama and sister to play Rosie with them.
“I’m sorry, Pretty Penny, but Grandpa is too old to fall down; I’ll just watch the rest of you,” Ben said, ruffling his youngest grandchild’s hair.
Once the horseshoe game finished (with Adam and Joe allowing the little girls to win), Adam said quietly, “I’d like to take Bronwen and the girls to visit Hoss and Marie.” Ben and Joe nodded so Adam shepherded his family toward the surrey. “Gwyneth, you and Penny sit between Mama and me; Beth and Miranda, you sit in the seat behind us,” he stated firmly.
Almost as soon as they began moving Gwyneth asked, “How can we visit Uncle Hoss and Grandma Marie? You said they was in Heaven with Jesus.”
“Yes, they are,” Adam answered in a gentle tone. “But we are going to see where they are buried.”
The girls fell silent, sensitive to the somber mood of their parents. As they were driving along, Bronwen suddenly said, “Adam, stop, please.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Nothing. I just wanted to pick some of those flowers to put on the graves,” and he saw she was pointing to some clumps of Windmills, Desert Marigolds and Indian Paintbrush. He nodded and brought the horses to a halt.
She took off Penny’s white pinafore and then she and the girls put the flowers they’d gathered on it. Adam helped Penny so she picked flowers rather than every plant she saw. When they finished, they put the pinafore full of wildflowers on the third seat of the surrey and continued on their way. The girls were unusually silent as their daddy drew up the surrey near the two granite gravestones that stood side by side. After Adam helped them out of the surrey, Bronwen gave each girl a flower to put on Hoss’s grave and another to put on Marie’s. Then she divided the remainder between herself and Adam. They laid their flowers down first, and then the girls laid theirs starting with Penny and ending with Beth.
Miranda was reading the inscriptions on the gravestones and said sadly, “Uncle Hoss died the same year Gwyneth was born.”
“That’s right,” Adam agreed. “But he knew Gwyneth was born; I still have the letter he wrote me telling me how happy he was to have another niece and how she was a good April Fool’s joke on your mama and me.”
“Uncle Hoss said I was an April Fool’s joke?” Gwyneth repeated, not sure if she liked the idea.
“He just meant that you were born on April Fool’s Day and that your mama had been sure you were going to be a boy.”
“Oh,” Gwyneth said. Then she asked in a worried tone, “Did you want me to be a boy, Mama?”
“No,” Bronwen said, reaching over and hugging her third born. “I thought you might be a boy but all I wanted was for my baby to be born healthy, and you were.” Gwyneth smiled up at her mama and her daddy gave one of her curls a teasing tug.
“But Uncle Hoss didn’t know about Penny,” Miranda said sadly and Bronwen said, “Oh your Uncle Hoss and your grandmas can look down from Heaven and see all of you girls.”
“That’s right. Your grandpa always told me that my mother—your grandma—was watching over me from Heaven,” Adam added. He looked up at the sky and said, “We’d better go get the others and head back to the house. It’s going to be suppertime when we get back."
The next morning was Saturday, and as they were all gathered
around the breakfast table, Ben said casually, “When I happened to mention to
Todd and Virginia that you were coming to visit,
“Not at all,” Bronwen assured him.
“I want to sing, too,” Beth said and Miranda added, “And me. Can we sing with you, Mama?”
Bronwen looked at Adam and he smiled and nodded, for he was proud of his daughters’ musical talents. Bronwen had been giving them singing lessons since they were Gwyneth’s age and they sang very well. Gwyneth had just begun joining the lessons and he and Bronwen both felt she had a beautiful voice, but she wasn’t ready to sing for strangers.
“We could sing Cwm Rhondda,” Bronwen said thoughtfully.
Adam noticed the bewildered looks on the other faces and said with a little grin, “It’s a Welsh hymn, but you know the English words.” He began to sing a capella:
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah!
Pilgrim through this barren land
Oh, he has a lovely voice, Annabelle thought as she listened to his mellow baritone, and then Ben’s dark bass and Joe’s light tenor voices joined in.
I am weak, but thou art mighty,
Hold me with thy powerful hand
Annabelle intended to join in but then she heard Bronwen’s rich and creamy mezzo soprano, and she just listened.
Bread of heaven,
Feed me now and evermore.
The men fell silent and let Bronwen sing the second verse in what Annabelle knew must be Welsh, and she was awed by beauty and richness of her sister-in-law’s voice.
As she started the third verse, Bronwen nodded to her daughters and their clear pure voices joined hers:
When I tread the verge of
Bid my anxious fears subside:
Death of deaths and hell’s destruction!
Land me safe on
Then Adam joined the rest of his family, his voice harmonizing with theirs:
Songs of praises
I will ever give to thee.
“Bronwen, you have one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard,” Annabelle said quietly.
“Thank you, Annabelle,” Bronwen replied with pink cheeks while her daughters all smiled. She turned to them and said, “I will sing the first verse a capella and, girls, you will sing the second verse—Beth soprano and Miranda alto—and Daddy will accompany you on his guitar. Then the four of us will sing the third verse in four part harmony.
They all nodded and Bronwen then asked, “Annabelle, could you watch Penny and Gwyneth while we practice?”
“Of course,” Annabelle replied and Ben added, “I’d like to help.”
“Count me in,” Joe said with a grin.
“Could we go for a ride, Grandpa?” Gwyneth asked and Penny said excitedly, “Ride, Gandpa!”
“Do you feel like going for a ride, Annabelle?” Ben asked with a wink.
“Why yes, I do,’ she replied with a little smile. “As soon as we finish breakfast, I’ll go change into my habit.” She smiled at Joe then saying, “Could you saddle my mare for me, dear?”
“Sure thing, honey,” he replied with a wink.
“What’s a habit, Aunt Annabelle?’ Beth wanted to know.
“It’s what I wear when I ride,” Annabelle explained. “You see, I don’t ride astride like you and your sisters; I ride sidesaddle.”
Adam saw the puzzled expressions on his daughters’ faces and added, “A sidesaddle is a special kind of saddle for women; it lets them sort of sit sideways on a horse.” He couldn’t hide his grin at the looks of total confusion on their faces. “Tell you what. Before we start our rehearsal, you may watch Aunt Annabelle on her sidesaddle.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” Beth and Miranda said in unison.
After breakfast, Gwyneth went upstairs to
change into her knickerbockers (with Bronwen along to help with those pesky
buttons in the back that she just couldn’t quite reach), and her older siblings
waited impatiently to see what their aunt’s riding habit looked like. Gwyneth changed quickly and joined her
sisters waiting for their aunt’s appearance.
When Annabelle descended the stairs, she was wearing a very fetching
habit of double Melton in peacock blue with a high-buttoned bodice and a tall
black hat with a veil tied around the crown.
“Pretty!” Penny exclaimed, clapping her hands.
The girls watched curiously as Joe assisted Annabelle in mounting. Then Gwyneth gracefully mounted her pony, which Adam had gone ahead and saddled for her, and Bronwen handed a smiling Penny to her grandpa, who carefully sat her in front of him.
As they turned to go back inside and rehearse their song, Beth said to Miranda, “I’d like a pretty habit like Aunt Annabelle’s, but I wouldn’t want to ride sidesaddle.”
“Me neither,” Miranda agreed.
As soon as they left the yard, Joe said quickly, “No races, Gwyneth, and no galloping.”
“Why not?” Gwyneth asked, and her tone was definitely petulant.
“Because I can’t gallop with Penny sitting in front of me,” her grandpa replied calmly.
“But Uncle Joe and Aunt Annabelle can gallop,” Gwyneth countered.
You are just like your daddy, Ben thought with a smile.
“Would you like to go for a gallop, honey?” Joe asked Annabelle.
“I believe I’d rather go for a canter,” Annabelle replied.
“Looks like you’ll have to settle for a canter,” Joe said to Gwyneth with a grin. Then he turned to Ben and said, “We’ll meet you at the fishing hole.”
“You fish?” Gwyneth said excitedly.
“Yeah. Maybe this afternoon you and me and your daddy and Grandpa can all go fishing. Right now, let’s go for that canter.”
The four of them were heading back to the ranch house, with Ben letting Penny hold Buck’s reins since he knew the old gelding could find his way back in the dark, when they met the rest of the family. Annabelle saw that Bronwen really did wear knickerbockers when she rode along with high boots and a Stetson. She had to admit that with her sister-in-law’s gamine features and slender build, the costume was very appealing.
“The maestra decided that we’d rehearsed enough and so we decided to come for a short ride,” Adam said as they all drew up their mounts.
“Daddy,” exclaimed Penny, and held out her arms to him.
“You want to ride home with Daddy, do you, Kitten?” Adam asked with a warm smile for his baby girl as he reached over and took her from Ben.
“Daddy, Uncle Joe said maybe you and me and him and Grandpa could go fishing after dinner,” Gwyneth said excitedly.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” he replied with a grin. “Hop Sing is fixing pot roast for dinner and I don’t want to be late, so I think we’d better head back.”
“Can’t we ride a little further,” Beth begged but her daddy shook his head.
“I think Mama has ridden long enough today. You don’t want her to be all sore and stiff, do you?”
“No,” Beth replied slowly but her disappointment was so obvious that the adults smiled.
“We can all go for a ride tomorrow afternoon after church. How about that, Princess?” Adam asked and Beth turned her dazzling smile on him. Her grandpa thought, In just a few years there will be young men who’ll give anything to have her smile at them like that.
After the others left to go fishing, Bronwen put Penny down for her nap and then she and Annabelle agreed to play Old Bachelor with Beth and Miranda. They’d played a few games when suddenly they heard a crash and the unmistakable sound of breaking crockery from the kitchen. They knew Hop Sing was working in his garden and Annabelle exclaimed, “What in the world!” Bronwen wasted no time on words but jumped up and ran for the kitchen followed by the other three. They all skidded to a stop in the kitchen doorway at the sight before them. Little Penny had managed to push a chair to the kitchen table and then to climb up on it. She sat on the table eating a cookie from the overturned cookie jar while the floor underneath was covered with the pieces of the jar she’d knocked off and the sticky molasses that had been in the jar. She grinned happily at her mama and sisters.
“Stone the crows!” Miranda exclaimed.
“Penelope Jane Cartwright!” Bronwen said sternly. “You know you are not to get out of bed until Mama comes for you, and you do not eat cookies unless Mama gives them to you.” At her mama’s tone and expression, Penny’s happy grin faded and her chin began to wobble and her eyes to fill with tears.
“I sorry, Mama,” she said tearfully.
“You should be sorry, but you still are getting a necessary talking to,” Bronwen said as she picked her baby up, carefully avoiding the sticky mess on the floor. She swatted Penny’s little behind once and she began to cry in earnest. Bronwen walked back over to the others who were still standing in the doorway. “Annabelle, could you take Penny while I get this mess cleaned up?” she asked, holding out her screaming child. “I’m glad Hop Sing is working outside. Hopefully, I can finish before he comes back.”
“I’ll help, Mama,” Beth offered.
“No thank you, Beth fach,” Bronwen replied. “I don’t want you or Miranda cutting yourselves on the broken pieces. I want you both to help Aunt Annabelle with Penny.” Her sister-in-law looked totally at a loss as to what to do with the screaming child and she sent Bronwen a grateful look.
“You were bad, Penny,” Miranda scolded as they started to leave but Bronwen called after them, “No, Miranda, your sister isn’t bad. She did a bad thing, but she isn’t bad.”
“Right, Mama,” Miranda said, nodding to show she understood the difference.
Bronwen managed to clean up the mess although she had to explain to Hop Sing what happened to his molasses, He shook his head and said with a rueful grin, “She like Little Joe.”
“If you mean she’s a mischief maker, I have to agree,” Bronwen replied. “And when she looks at her daddy with those big eyes, he just melts, so I have to be the disciplinarian.” She and Hop Sing shared a fond smile, for they both knew the truth in what Hoss had always said of his older brother: “Old Adam’s pretty soft once you break through that hard head of his.”
When the fishermen returned, with a fine string of trout for supper, Bronwen and Annabelle were playing catch with Penny while Beth and Miranda played with the jacks their grandpa had bought them.
“I caught three fish, Mama!” Gwyneth shouted, “and Uncle Joe only caught one!”
“Daddy!” Penny screamed, running toward him. He sat the basket with the string of trout on the ground and tossed her into the air and then kissed her.
“Don’t feel bad, Uncle Joe,” Miranda said. “She catches more fish than Llywelyn does, too,” and her daddy and grandpa chuckled at Joe’s discomfiture.
“C’mon, little buddy” Adam said sitting Penny down, “let’s get these fish cleaned so Hop Sing can fry them for supper.”
“Play jacks with us, Grandpa. Please,” Beth and Miranda implored.
“If I got down of the ground with you girls, I’m not sure I could get up,” Ben said with a regretful smile
“We could play on the table,” Miranda suggested so Ben agreed.
“But you’ll have to tell me the rules, girls. I’m afraid I’ve never played.”
“Never played jacks?” Beth asked in a disbelieving tone.
“It’s a girls’ game,” Gwyneth stated. “Can I play catch, too?” she asked her mama.
“Right. Just remember not to throw too high to Penny,” Bronwen replied.
That night as Adam and Bronwen were getting ready for bed, she said to him, “I had to have a necessary talk with one of your daughters today.”
“Now, why is it that my daughters are always naughty while your daughters are always angelic?” he asked, unfastening his waist overalls. “All right. Which daughter was naughty and what did she do?”
“When Penny woke up from her nap, she snuck down the backstairs, into the kitchen and managed to climb up on the kitchen table. She stole a cookie from the cookie jar and she knocked off the jar of molasses. Beth and Miranda helped Annabelle take care of Penny while I cleaned up the mess.” Her stern expression transformed to one of merriment. “You should have seen the look on poor Annabelle’s face when I handed her a screaming Penny and asked her to watch her for me.’
“How did Hop Sing react?” Adam asked apprehensively.
“He took it pretty well.
Said Penny was just like Joe.”
Adam nodded and grinned, and Bronwen continued. “He must have forgiven us because he pressed
all our clothes for church tomorrow. I’m
wearing the rose silk poplin and the new hat I bought in
“And you’ll look very fetching,” he said, bending over and nuzzling her shoulders as he unbuttoned her lace trimmed combination chemise and drawers.
Beth had slept with her hair wrapped in rags so she and Miranda would both have ringlets for church Sunday. All four girls presented a pretty picture in their smocked frocks of taffeta: Beth in rose, Miranda in emerald, Gwyneth in cream and Penny in azure.
“There won’t be any other ladies at church as lovely as the ones we’re escorting,” Ben said with a proud smile as he gazed on his granddaughters and daughters-in-law.
“Now that’s a fact,” Adam said.
“You took the words right out of my mouth, older brother,” Joe said, winking at his nieces.
As soon as Ben drew the surrey up before the church, friends and neighbors began to throng around.
“Sure good to see you again, Adam,” Todd McKaren said, thumping Adam on the back. “And you, too, Mrs. Cartwright.”
“Sweetheart, you remember Mr. and Mrs. McKaren, don’t you?” Adam said to Bronwen.
“Yes, of course. It’s lovely to see you again,” Bronwen replied.
Todd looked at Beth and Miranda and said, “Don’t tell me these are the two little girls that visited with you the last time? There’s no doubt whose little girl this is,” he said smiling at Gwyneth, “and this little girl is the spitting image of her mama.”
“I Penny,” the baby said with a grin.
“I’m pleased to meet you Penny Cartwright,” Todd replied.
“And this is Gwyneth,” Adam said, putting his hands on Gwyneth’s shoulders. “But our children aren’t the only ones who’ve grown. I almost didn’t recognize Davy,” he said, extending his hand to the good-looking blonde boy who looked to be fifteen or sixteen.”
“I, uh, prefer Dave, Mr. Cartwright,” he replied in a young man’s voice.
“Of course,” Adam said.
“And this is Andy and Susan,” Virginia said, putting a hand on the shoulder of two younger children—one a dark-haired boy who looked to be nine or ten and the other a little girl with blond pigtails, who Adam and Bronwen remembered was the same age as Beth.
“It looks like your family has also grown,” Bronwen added, smiling at another blond girl with her hair in pigtails who looked to be about the same age as Gwyneth but much shorter.
“This is Cindy,” Todd said. “She turned five at the end of March.”
“Gwyneth turned five on April 1,” Bronwen said. “She’s much taller than her sisters were at the same age so I think she’s going to be tall like Adam.”
“And how old is Penny?”
“She’s two and a half,” Adam answered.
“Oh my, she’s a tiny little thing, isn’t she?”
“I not doll; I Penny,” the two-year-old insisted, causing all the adults to smile. Paul Martin approached then.
“Adam, it’s wonderful seeing you,” Paul said with a broad smile as he shook his hand. “And of course, it’s a pleasure seeing you again, Bronwen.”
“The feeling is entirely mutual, Paul,” she said, extending her hand.
“Now, let me see if I can identify these lovely young ladies,” Paul said, turning to the girls. “I believe you must be Beth and you must be Miranda,” and they both smiled and nodded. “You’ve changed quite a bit from the last time I saw you. Miranda was about the same age as Penny. That means this young lady here must be Gwyneth.” She looked at him solemnly and moved a little closer to her daddy. “You are all even prettier than the photographs your Daddy sends.” Even Gwyneth smiled shyly then. Rev. Jordan appeared in the doorway and so Ben shepherded his family inside.
They filled the Cartwright pew and Bronwen held Penny on her
lap while Gwyneth sat on Adam’s. Before
the service proper began, Rev. Jordan stood and announced, “Brothers and
sisters, we have some visitors with us this Sunday. Adam Cartwright and his family are visiting
us all the way from the continent of
The girls did their best to sit quietly; if they started to fidget, their daddy would reach over and put his hand on their shoulder and they quieted. When Rev. Jordan indicated it was time for them to sing, Bronwen handed Penny to Ben and they moved quietly to the front of the church. Once Bronwen’s glorious voice began to fill the church, all the other sounds ceased and everyone listened, enraptured. When the two girls voices harmonized on the second verse the faces of the congregation were wreathed in smiles, and no one was happier or prouder than their grandpa. His joy was complete when his son’s and daughter-in-law’s voices joined in harmony with his granddaughters to sing the last verse of the well-loved hymn.
After the service, everyone gathered round to tell the Cartwrights how beautiful their singing was. To Annabelle’s surprise, Joe and Ben used the opportunity to invite everyone to the party at the Ponderosa that coming Friday evening. She had been planning on asking Bronwen to help her write the invitations the next day so they could be mailed on Tuesday. When she mentioned it on the ride home, Joe said, “Oh, we’re not that formal here, honey. Word’ll get around and just about everyone we know we’ll find out and plan on being here Friday.”
During the next week, while the men spent time with the girls, Annabelle and Bronwen decided how to decorate the house for the party and they gave Hop Sing their suggestions on the food to be served. As the two women spent more time together, they discovered their shared interests. Annabelle had missed being able to discuss literature and poetry and found Bronwen shared that interest; they discussed their favorite novels and recommended ones to each other. Every evening they either played games with the girls or they all sang. After the girls were put to bed, the men would discuss Cartwright Enterprises’ business while the women talked together or read.
The day of the party dawned bright and clear. The men took the children for a long ride and a picnic to keep them from being underfoot while Hop Sing and the women cleaned and decorated and cooked. They returned a little before sundown and children were fed sandwiches in the kitchen. Adam took Penny upstairs where he rocked and sang her to sleep. He gently tucked her in with a kiss to her cheek before heading to the washhouse for a bath.
He smiled as he buttoned his starched white shirt, enjoying the
sight of Bronwen—clad only in her petticoats—putting on her silk stockings, her
hair loose and flowing down her back.
When she finished, she reached for the new corset she’d bought in
“Not too tight,” he warned.
“Stone the crows! One time I had it too tight and you’ll never let me forget it,” she snapped. He arched one eyebrow at her tone and her cheeks grew hot. “I’m sorry. I just want to make certain I don’t look dowdy. I know Annabelle will be à la page.”
“Sweetheart, you aren’t in competition with Annabelle,” he said in his most reasonable voice.
“I know that,” she replied indignantly. “I-I just want to look beautiful for you,” she said more softly, dropping her eyes.
“Bronwen Marged Davies Cartwright,” he said, putting his finger under her chin and turning her face to his, “in my eyes, you are always beautiful.” He bent down and captured her mouth in a long sweet kiss. When it ended, he said with a wink, “Once the party is over tonight, I’ll show you just how beautiful, how desirable, I find you. Now, let me tighten this corset.”
Ben, dressed in his black dress coat, silver brocade waistcoat and frilled white shirt, was waiting impatiently for the rest of the family to join him in the great room. The first guests would be arriving any moment and he was becoming increasingly edgy. Joe was the first to come down the stairs, wearing a new dress coat of black broadcloth with a black silk collar, a black-and-white striped silk waistcoat, a starched white linen shirt and a black string tie. (Annabelle had tried to persuade him to wear a black silk necktie, but he’d refused, saying they were too uncomfortable.)
“Annabelle not ready yet?” Ben asked with a small grin and Joe nodded.
“Women have a lot more clothes to put on,” he replied with a wider grin. “She shooed me out, saying I was in the way.”
Adam and Bronwen were the next to descend the stairs, stopping to smile at their three oldest girls, who’d been given permission to watch everyone arrive from the top of the stairs before going to bed.
“Oh Mama! You look like a fairy princess,” Gwyneth breathed and her sisters nodded their agreement. Their mama was dressed in a low-cut, sleeveless bodice of emerald green satin trimmed with white lace, and the many-layered skirt of while silk was gathered at the back in graceful folds beneath her bustle. To complete her outfit, she wore white gloves that came past her elbows and her amethyst and diamond earrings and necklace. Her hair was worn in a chignon with tendrils carefully curled on the forehead and nape.
“And Daddy is my Prince Charming,” Bronwen said, smiling up at Adam, who looked very dashing in his black dress coat, black silk necktie, black satin waistcoat and white linen shirt.
“Now remember, girls: When the clock strikes nine, you must go to bed,” he said firmly.
“We will, Daddy,” they promised and their parents continued down the stairs.
“Bronwen dear, you are exquisite,” Ben said. “I trust I may have your second dance?”
“Of course, Pa,” she said with a smile. They all noticed Joe staring at the stairs, transfixed, and turned their attention there.
Annabelle was descending, dressed in a low-cut, short-sleeved bodice of deep rose satin decorated with lace and ribbons of a darker rose. Her skirt, which was of the same rose satin as the bodice, was tied back with dark rose ribbon in three bunches, exposing a flounced underskirt of pale rose silk. She wore her honey-blonde hair in a chignon with a spray of silk roses. Her accessories were quarter-length white gloves, pearl drop earrings and a stunning pearl choker.
She smiled at her nieces but they were too awestruck for speech so she swept past them and glided down the stairs.
“Honey, you are going to be the most beautiful woman at the party,” Joe said, and Adam put his arm around Bronwen’s shoulders and hugged her. “I’m claiming your first and last dances right now.”
“Since Bronwen is dancing the second dance with Pa, I’d be honored to partner you, Annabelle,” Adam said and she smiled her assent.
“And I claim your third,” Ben said. “I must have at least one dance with my beautiful daughters-in-law.”
“I’d like your third dance, Bronwen,” Joe said. She nodded and then Joe turned to Adam. “Wish there was some way we could keep our wives to ourselves, don’t you?’
“Indeed I do,” Adam replied, hugging Bronwen a little tighter. “However, I am afraid the other men attending this party aren’t going to agree.”
Once the majority of the guests had arrived, Ben signaled to the musicians and Joe swept Annabelle into his arms and began to waltz about the great room. After a couple of turns, Adam led Bronwen out and began a two-step waltz. Paul Martin was standing by Ben and said softly, “You have two lovely daughters-in-law, Ben.”
“Indeed I do,” he replied with a smile. “And Bronwen has given me four beautiful granddaughters.”
“Little Beth certainly is a beauty,” Paul said. “In a few years poor Adam is going to have his hands full when all the would-be suitors come knocking on his door,” and the two men shared a laugh.
“Since I was never fortunate enough to have any daughters,” Ben continued. “I am really enjoying this time with Adam’s girls. Beth and Miranda talked me into playing jacks with them,” he said with a broad grin, “and I’ve enjoyed watching little Penny play with her rag doll. She and I have played catch with her cloth ball and I’ve played the same little finger games with her I used to play with my boys. The other day, Gwyneth, Adam, Joe and I all went fishing together.” Seeing Paul’s expression he added with a chuckle, “She caught more fish than Joe.”
As the evening wore on, Adam was pleased to see that Bronwen was never wanting for partners and she was clearly having a marvelous time. So was he, for that matter. He danced with Virginia McKaren and Ann Lightly but he spent most of his time talking with old friends. He was standing by the stairway talking with Clem Foster when he felt something tug on his coattails. He looked down into the enormous violet eyes of his baby, who held her arms up.
“Penelope Jane Cartwright,” he scolded, ignoring Clem’s snicker. “What are you doing out of bed?”
She smiled at him and looking all around said, “Pretty.”
Bronwen was dancing with Mitch Devlin when she noticed a crowd of women around her husband, who was holding their youngest. “Oh, isn’t she precious,” she heard one woman say as she approached. “She has the prettiest eyes,” another said and her husband said proudly, “Just like her mama’s.” Penny spied her and squealed, “Mama!” and held out her arms.
“Penny, you are supposed to be asleep,” Bronwen said firmly. Just then she glanced up to see Gwyneth standing at the top of the stairs, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Adam followed her gaze and said with a sigh, “I’ll put them to bed.”
“We’ll put them to bed,” she replied and the women all smiled. They watched as Adam went up the stairs with Bronwen and Penny, scooped up the sleepy Gwyneth, and then they all disappeared from view.
“Adam Cartwright was always so aloof,” one woman said, “it is so strange to see him so domesticated.”
“I don’t agree,” Virginia McKaren said quietly. “All he needed was to find the right woman.”
“You must be right,” another woman said.
“I prefer Adam’s wife to Joe’s. At least she doesn’t give herself airs or act like she’s better than the rest of us,” another commented nastily.
“I can’t agree,”
“That’s right,” Ann Lightly said quickly. “Life here is very different from life in a
city like
Most of the other women agreed although a few held firmly to the belief Annabelle was cold and haughty.
“You two girls go to sleep and stay asleep,” Adam said sternly after he and Bronwen had tucked Gwyneth and Penny back into their beds.
“I only got up to see where Penny was,” Gwyneth said through her yawns, her eyes drooping shut. Her mama and daddy exchanged smiles and kissed their littlest girls goodnight.
“I hope the party doesn’t last too much longer,” Adam said softly as he put his arm around Bronwen’s shoulders. “I’m ready for our private celebration.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she teased. “I’m having so much fun dancing.”
“And I’m getting tired of seeing you in other men’s arms,” he said with a mock frown. “I’m stealing your next dance.”
“Oh, I don’t think I can disappoint my partner,” she replied, batting her eyes coquettishly.
“And I don’t think you want to disappoint your husband,” he replied, leaning down and capturing her mouth in a heated kiss.
“Well, perhaps Todd McKaren won’t mind,” she purred when their kiss ended.
The next morning as they gathered around the breakfast table the mood was somber as everyone but Penny was thinking of the Australians Cartwrights’ departure later that morning.
“You must be sure and say hello to your parents for us,” Ben said to Bronwen. “I know how much it will mean to them to see you and the girls.”
“Yes, I know they are really looking forward to it. I often wish we didn’t all live so far apart,” Bronwen commented wistfully.
“I know, but the letters and photographs you send help us feel connected. I’d really enjoy receiving letters from my granddaughters,” Ben replied quietly.
“I’ll write you, Grandpa. I promise,” Miranda said earnestly.
“Me, too,” Gwyneth said, “’cept I don’t write very good yet.”
“I’ll help you,” Adam said with a proud smile. Then he turned to his firstborn. “What about you, Beth?”
“Yes, I’ll write to you, Grandpa,” she agreed. “Will you write to me?”
“Of course,” Ben replied with a warm smile.
“It’s been lovely having you here,” Annabelle said. “Thank you for loaning me Far From the Madding Crowd, Bronwen. I’m enjoying it very much.”
“I think you’ll enjoy Henry James’ Washington Square and The Portrait of a Lady as well,” Adam said.
Annabelle smiled. “I’m
sure I shall. If I can’t find them at a
booksellers here, then I’ll look the next time Joe and I visit
“You and Uncle Joe need to get some little girls of your
own. Then you won’t miss us so much,”
Miranda said seriously.
“We’re working on that, Miranda,” Joe said, struggling to keep
a straight face. “Now me, I’d like some
little boys too,” he added, winking at his older brother.
“Yes, I’d like a little brother,” Gwyneth said. “Could you get us one, Mama?”
Poor Bronwen turned bright red while Adam coughed and then
said, “Don’t you think three sisters is enough, Punkin?”
“No, I want a brother,” Gwyneth declared emphatically and Joe
had to stifle his giggle into his napkin while Ben couldn’t stop the corners of
his mouth from turning up or his eyes from twinkling.
“Me, too,” Beth asserted and Miranda added, “Yes, I think I’d
like a brother.”
Bronwen had regained her composure and said very seriously, “Now all we need is to convince Daddy that it would be nice to have another male in the family,” and Adam rolled his eyes.
“Please, Daddy,” Gwyneth said beseechingly.
“Mama is teasing you, Punkin,” Adam replied. “It’s your Heavenly Father that decides whether or not you have sisters or brothers. I’m afraid I don’t have any say-so in the matter.”
“Oh,” Gwyneth said, disappointment written all over her face. Then her expression brightened and she announced, “I’m going to pray and ask God to give me a brother next time.” She couldn’t understand why her Uncle Joe and Mama giggled and her daddy rolled his eyes again.
After they finished eating, Bronwen and the older girls started to clear away as usual, but Hop Sing came out of the kitchen and said, “I will manage. You go spend time with your family before you go.”
“Let’s sing,” Beth suggested and everyone agreed that was a
fine idea. They sang all their
favorites, including Penny, to Penny’s delight, and they sang their
favorite hymns. All too soon, the
grandfather clock told them it was time to be on their way to catch their train
to
“I’ll say goodbye here,” Annabelle said. She kissed each of her nieces and hugged them, before hugging first Bronwen and then Adam. “I’m so glad I was able to meet all of you, and I hope someday, you’ll be able to make another visit.”
“Or you can come see us,” Beth said. “We can show you our ponies.”
“And our dog, Belle,” Gwyneth added.
“And our house,” Miranda said.
“I would like to see your house,” Joe said. “I’ve only seen the house where your mama and daddy lived when Beth was born.”
“Oh yes, Daddy said he’d take us to see where I was born when we’re visiting Tad-cu and Mam-gu,” Beth said with a big grin.
“Tad-cu and Mam-gu,” Annabelle repeated, obviously bewildered.
“It’s Grandpa and Grandma in Welsh,” Bronwen explained with a smile.
“We’d better be on our way,” Ben said, “or we’ll miss your train.”
They’d gotten such a late start that their train’s whistle could be heard as they arrived at the station. Luckily Jacob had been sent ahead earlier that morning with their two trunks so Adam didn’t have to worry about their luggage. Ben and Joe kissed the girls and hugged them, then Bronwen. She hurried the girls aboard, and Adam turned to his father and brother. There were no words to express his feelings at leaving them, so he hugged each man hard before jumping aboard the train just as it began to pull out. Ben and Joe stood on the platform, waving back to the girls, until the train was out of sight.
Ben put his arm about his youngest’s shoulders and said quietly, “Let’s go home, son.”
Epilogue
As Bronwen snapped the clean sheet on the large four-poster bed in the master bedroom, she heard the sound of running feet accompanied by voices yelling, “Mama! Mama!” and Belle’s excited barking. Her three older girls and their little terrier burst into the room. Three-and-a-half-year-old Penny had been sitting in a window seat playing with the wooden puzzle her daddy had made, and she looked up and grinned at her big sisters.
“You know you’re not to run in the house,” Bronwen scolded, “and young ladies do not scream like banshees.”
“We’re sorry, Mama,” nine-year-old Beth said hurriedly, “but we saw the mail coach! You and Daddy said the next time we got a letter from Grandpa and Uncle Joe it’d tell us about Uncle Joe and Aunt Annabelle’s baby!”
“Yes, it should,” Bronwen replied with a grin. “Here, each of you tuck in a corner, all right? As soon as all the beds have been changed, then we’ll walk to the Broomes’ store and see if we have any mail.”
“Can’t we go now?” Gwyneth begged.
“We can’t read the letter until Daddy comes home tonight, so there’s no point in putting off our work,” Bronwen replied and all three girls sighed.
As soon as Adam rode by the house on the way to the barn, all four girls ran down the steps from the verandah screaming, “We got a letter from Uncle Joe!”
Adam pulled Zephyr up then and said, “Who wants to help me take care of Zephyr? The sooner we get him bedded down, the sooner we can read Uncle Joe’s letter.”
“I’ll help,” Beth said quickly and the other three added their willingness. Penny held up her arms and Beth lifted her up and handed her to Adam, who sat her in front of him.
In record time, all six Cartwrights had gathered on the verandah—Penny on Adam’s lap, Gwyneth on the railing and everyone else in the wicker chairs. Adam opened the letter and began to read:
Dear Adam, Bronwen, Beth, Miranda, Gwyneth and Penny,
We have a son!
Benjamin Eric Cartwright arrived today at
Adam stopped then and with his free hand reached for Bronwen’s, entwining their fingers before continuing.
Pa is just as happy and proud as I am. There is a photographer in
Love to you all
Joe
That night as Adam brushed Bronwen’s hair he looked at her refection in the mirror and said softly, “You want to try again for a son, don’t you?” She nodded silently. “You know the odds are that we’ll have fifth girl.”
She turned to face him. “I know but I still want to try one more time.”
“I never could deny you anything,” he said with his little half smile. “No more French letters,” and he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to their bed.
References
For the lyrics to Cindy, I combined the ones on a couple of web sites:
http://www.playingbyear.com/resources/Lyrics.aspx?song=Cindy and
http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/studyg/west/htm/cindy.htm
I got the lyrics to Hush, Little Baby at http://www.bussongs.com/songs/hush_little_baby.php
(I changed Papa to Daddy since that’s what Adam’s girls call him.)
Adam reads to his daughters from The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney, which was published in 1881, two years before this story takes place.
For general information on clothing and fabrics in the era I
used Fashion in Costume: 1200-1980 by Joan Nunn. I also used http://www.marquise.de/en/1800/index.shtml