The Wedding Party
by
Janice Sagraves

ONE

Eagerly she tore at the flattened blob of wax that sealed the flap of the envelope to protect its contents. She hadn’t gotten a letter from him in almost two weeks and to read his words again after such a dry spell made her giddy with anticipation. Finally it came loose to release its captives, and she eased the folded pieces of paper out lest she tear them. Upon examination she found that he had sent seven pages this time, never so many at once. Her heart thumped at the thought of what it took so many sheets to say. As her pale gray eyes lit upon each precious word in his bold script girlish excitement welled inside her like a bubbling fountain. Her hand went to her mouth to smother a tiny whimper before she had gotten halfway through. This one was different from all the others. They had professed their ardent feelings just as this one, but this time the sentiments were even stronger, and she suspected what he was asking her. She continued until she reached the last paragraph, and her fingers tightened on the paper. Slowly she let each syllable sink in, and then she read his name not once but twice. Gooseflesh covered her entire body and, as she closed her eyes, one word filled her mind. Yes.

*******

Dinner this day wasn’t filled with the usual talk between husband and wife. Adam Cartwright was so busy watching her pick at her food – her mind obviously miles away – that his held little interest.

For the past week-and-a-half Angelica Cartwright had been like a pent up watch spring, growing more agitated with each day. She didn’t volunteer to talk about what bothered her, but the slightest prodding from someone else would tap a wellspring. This day was no different.

“Is it the same thing?”

She nodded and pushed a bite across her plate with her fork. “I just don’t understand it. She’s never done anything so impulsive before. To simply pick up and go all the way to Virginia City without so much as a by-your-leave. And she didn’t even take Fiona along.”

“She is a grown woman, and I don’t think she needs her children’s permission to do what she wants.”

“Oh, Adam, honestly. I’m not saying.... What is it? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong exactly.” He took a folded envelope from his shirt pocket, and his dark hazel eyes ran over it before returning to her face.

Her deep violet eyes snapped purple sparks. “Is that what I think it is? And how long have you had it?”

“It came in this morning’s mail. It explains everything.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You read it?”

He nodded. “It’s addressed to both of us.”

“Well.”

“Don’t you wantta read it?” He held the envelope out to her with fervent hope.

“You tell me since you’ve already read it and didn’t see fit to enlighten me until now.”

Hope dead, he grimaced and smoothed back his heavy black hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I just wanted to wait for the right time.”

“To tell me what?”

He suspected how Angelica would handle the news – in fact – he wasn’t sure about his own feelings. “You’re Mother’s…” Oh, how he wished he could slither under a rock. “You’re Mother’s… getting married.”

“She’s what?” Her fork clattered against the dish, and she nearly came out of the chair. “To whom? She doesn’t know anyone out here that well!”

“Oh, yes, she does.”

“Who?”

“It seems they’ve been corresponding for over a year now.”

Her voice raised an octave. “Who?”

His pause was nerve shattering.

“My father.”

*******

The big red Overland stage creaked and lurched over the bumpy, uneven dirt road. A whip cracked as the driver urged the six-horse team on, careful not to hit one. The shotgun rider sat next to him, his weapon of choice across his lap and ready for any likelihood.

Angelica sat on the forward facing seat between her youngest sister and their housekeeper, each one holding a baby. Leaving the boys – just turned four-months-old – at home had not been an option since feeding them lay solely with her. But so far the babies didn’t seem to mind. Angelica believed that the rocking motion of the coach soothed much as their own cradle would. And since his sojourn into the wide, open world, Addy had become less excitable and calmer like his brothers, and it made travel easier.

Adam sat on the seat across from them, his eyes set right on his wife, who held Benjy, the middle born. Contentment in its purest form lit his face and swelled within his broad chest. Every chance he got he liked showing off his beautiful family, of which he was justifiably proud.

Angelica had slimmed down even more since the birth of their sons and was now closer to her previous, svelte weight. A truly lovely woman in face, body and soul, he daily counted his blessings in having her as his wife. For thirty-four years he had lived as a single man, but he hadn’t discovered true, fulfilling happiness until he had married.

And then had come the boys to deepen that happiness. Sometimes, when he held them or simply watched them, he felt as if he could bust every button he owned. After their arrival, he learned the joy that his own father must feel everyday of his life, and it brought him closer to the man who had raised him.

His father. He knew Pa was lonely for the companionship that only a woman could provide. To love and lose three who had meant so much had torn great holes, it had to. Adam found no fault, in fact, he was glad for him to finally find another share his life with. And Verina Cadence was indeed such a woman. He smiled secretly. At first he had been uncertain how he felt, but no longer. His father and mother-in-law had every right to this, and he had no right to interfere. Then his clandestine smile broadened as it occurred to him that his mother-in-law would also be his step-mother.

As his mind swirled back to the present, he became aware of those intense violet eyes fixed on him. Extending his hand, Angelica took it without hesitation, snuggled the baby close, and allowed Adam to pull her onto the seat next to him.

He looked at the face of his sleeping son and tenderly stroked the downy head then his attention returned to his wife. His smile and the light in his eyes said all he felt without the necessity of words. She leaned her head over so that the side of her face rested against him.

He felt her free hand take his and interlock with his fingers and squeeze. “I love you,” she whispered for his ears only, and his heart took off. It beat so that he knew the whole world had to hear it, and he was glad for it. He was not ashamed of how he felt for her, and he wanted everyone to know.

TWO

Verina Cadence was in the dining room of the International Hotel just finishing her dinner when the clerk that worked the front desk approached her.

“Mrs. Cadence, you asked me to let you know when the stage got into town. Well it came in not five minutes ago.”

She thanked him, and he returned to his job. She took the last bite on her plate then daintily patted her mouth with her napkin and laid it onto the table then left.

The stage depot was across the street and catty corner from the hotel. As she stepped out onto the porch, her eyes strained for just a glimpse of her family. Then she saw that black hat past the horses and her breathing hitched. She continued to wait, and her patience was soon rewarded. “Angelica!”

“Mother!”

Her fingernails dug into the weathered porch railing as they crossed the street in her direction. Her hands went to her mouth as they came up the steps, and her sight lit on the babies. “Oh my, I believe those boys have sprouted since I last saw them.”

“They are growing,” Angelica said as she hugged her mother around Addy. “Impending marriage agrees with you. You look fabulous.”

“I haven’t been this giddy since your father. Fiona.” She spread her arms and embraced her youngest – careful not to mash Benjy – then turned to her son-in-law. “And my Adam.”

Adam removed his hat and one side of his finely sculpted mouth crooked. “Mother Cadence,” his arms swallowed her then he held her back and that eyebrow rose. “Or should I just say Mother?”

“Are you disappointed?”

“That I could never be. I’ve always considered my father to be a man of impeccable taste, and he has proven me right once again.”

“That’s sweet of you to say,” she said and put her hand against his cheek.

“And quite true.”

“Maggie, dear Maggie, you are indeed a welcome sight.”

“Thank you, mum,” Maggie O’Shea said in her hearty Irish brogue. “They needed the extra set of hands.”

“I’m sure of it.” Mrs. Cadence touched little Hiram’s face as he shifted in the woman’s arms. “The demands with one are a lot but with three…” She clicked her teeth and looked at his brothers.

“Have you been out to the Ponderosa yet?” Adam asked as he stepped closer to his wife.

“No, and this is not to say that your father doesn’t come in to see me. But we both decided that my staying out there would be inappropriate, what with your brothers gone to San Francisco. We don’t want to provide fodder for wagging tongues. Now that you’re here, however, and the house will be filled they’ll be hard pressed to find anything to gossip about.”

“That’s an excellent idea. Now, how would you like to hold one of your sons?” Angelica asked as she held the baby out to her.

“I would love to.” Mrs. Cadence took the soft bundle from his mother. “Hello…” Her questioning gaze rose to her daughter.

“This one’s Addy,” Angelica said, her lips curved into a smile.

“Hello, Addy.” She stroked her grandson’s hair, and felt her heart swell.

“Where’s your luggage?” Adam asked, as he put his hat back on.

“I had it brought down this morning in anticipation of your arrival. It’s at the end of the admission desk.”

“All right, I’ll go rent a buckboard and team while you ladies have a little visit. Then we’ll get loaded up and started for the Ponderosa.”

They watched him as he went back down the steps and started for the other end of town.

“Such a fine man,” Mrs. Cadence said, as she began rocking the baby. “And like his father in so many ways. Now why don’t we go back inside where it’s cooler. I’ll tell you all about our wedding plans.”

“And I have something I need to tell you,” Fiona said, as her eyes darted to her sister.

They went inside – Maggie and baby Hi bringing up the rear of the procession – and sat on the purple circular sofa that graced the lobby. Silently, Angelica took Benjy from Fiona. Mrs. Cadence watched her youngest daughter as the girl slipped the kid leather glove off and held her left hand out.

Verina gasped as light caught in the single diamond of the golden band on Fiona’s finger.

“Steve asked me to be his wife, and when I get back to Bantree, we’re going to be married.” Fiona’s gray eyes traced her mother’s face. “Are you happy for me?”

“Of course I am, sweetheart, if this is what you truly want.”

“It is, more than anything.”

“Then you both have all my best wishes.” Verina took her daughter’s chin in her fingers and kissed her on the cheek.

“All right, ladies,” said a rich baritone. “As soon as the luggage is loaded we’ll be on our way.”

*******

Ben Cartwright sat at his substantial mahogany desk in the study side of the immense parlor. The books had been badly neglected in the past few weeks so he had decided to have at them in an effort to keep his mind busy. He hadn’t seen his Verina for three days and this was the one when – barring anything unforeseen – his oldest son and his family should arrive.

He had just dipped the pen into the inkwell when a buckboard clattered into the yard, at least it sounded too light for a wagon. He dropped the writing implement onto the blotter and shoved the green leather tufted chair back and came to his feet. Leaning forward against the high legged table beneath the window he looked out. “Adam.”

Adam had just helped his mother-in law down when his father came briskly out of the house. “I see you finally made it.”

“Well now you know I can’t miss an event like this. I’ve waited too long for you to find the right woman.”

Ben’s mind and body settled as he joined them. He had feared that his oldest son wouldn’t be as delighted about this as his other two, and he chastised himself for doubting his eldest. He should have known better.

“Would you just look at those boys.” Then his coffee eyes rose to his daughter-in-law. “They look so much like Adam at that age, but I can see their mother, too.”

“It’s good to see you father,” Angelica said, as she kissed his cheek, “and before long you really will be.”

Ben turned. “And Maggie and our Fiona.” Then a puckish gleam entered his eyes as they roved over the young woman. “I see that the boys aren’t the only one’s who have filled out. Fiona, you are a lovely young lady and will make a fine catch for some lucky young man.”

Fiona blushed and said a muffled ‘thank you’.

“I tell you what, Pa, why don’t you take everyone into the house while I get one of the hands to help me with the luggage?”

“All right, son. And after that long dusty trip I’m sure some lemonade would be welcomed.”

Mrs. Cadence stepped to him and took his arm. “And we can visit like we couldn’t in town.”

Adam watched them as they walked toward the house arm-in-arm then he became aware of his wife’s eyes focused on him. He could see the love between his father and this woman, and now he knew that she had, too.

*******

Hop Sing’s repast this night had been one fit for royalty, and no one left the table hungry. But now it was time for after dinner libations.

“Another fine meal,” Mrs. Cadence said, as she settled her ample figure on the end of the settee between her daughters. “Hop Sing is an absolute wizard in the kitchen.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Ben said, as he distributed the filled glasses from a silver tray. “He’s already insufferable enough as it is.”

“I hear that!” resonated from the kitchen.

“He also has ears like a cat,” Adam said with that raised eyebrow and took a sip.

They wanted to laugh but they knew he would hear this too, and they didn’t want to supply him with any further ammunition.

“So when are Joe and Hoss supposed to get back?” Adam asked, as he sat on the arm of the settee next to his wife. “I know they wouldn’t want to miss this for anything.”

“I got a wire from them this morning. They left today and should be back by the end of the week.” Ben’s dark eyes trailed to his intended, and the passionate light burning there no one missed.

Adam reached down and took Angelica’s hand and squeezed it. Another of his dreams was about to come to become a reality.

THREE

“Please, sweetheart, just calm down.”

“Calm down! My mother’s about to marry another man!”

“It happens all the time,” Charles Harper said, as he watched his wife stalking back-and-forth before the large window in the main parlor.

“Not to my mother!” Lucinda Harper snapped, as she whirled on him. “And while we’re on the subject, why did she wait so long to tell us?”

“Maybe because she knew you would react just this way.” He smoothed his tawny mustache then pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against and went to her. “Lucinda, this isn’t the end of anything,” he gently took her arms; “it’s a new beginning for your mother and this man.”

“This man!” She wrenched away from him, her gray eyes just the color of a storm cloud. “We both know who he is! He’s the father of that Adam Cartwright my sister saw fit to marry!”

“Well now, you can’t blame him for this.” He cocked back on one foot. “If you want to blame someone you should blame the man who almost killed him. If not for him Joe Cartwright wouldn’t have been in Bantree when your mother was, and the two families might never have come together.”

“Oh, Charles, don’t be flippant.”

“I’m not, but you are overreacting. If you think your mother has stopped loving your father I seriously doubt that. You should be proud that she has so much love to go around. And fate is never accidental.”

“And just what does that mean?”

“That these things always happen for a reason.”

“Well I don’t care what the reasons are; we’re leaving first thing in the morning. Someone needs to open her eyes to what she’s doing, and the sooner the better.”

“Lucinda, I think your mother is adult enough to know what she’s doing. And to be deserving of her love Ben Cartwright has to be a good man. Now we’ll go, but we’ll go because she wants us there, and not so you can break this up.”

“I didn’t say I was going to break it up, but I am going to make her see what she is doing. Now I’ve said enough on the subject for now. Let’s have supper and start packing.”

His mouth opened, but she flounced out of the room before he could say another thing. He riffled his fingers in his golden blond hair then thoughtfully rubbed his mustache again. He was going to have his hands full on this and he knew it. He dearly adored his wife, if he didn’t he wasn’t’ the kind of man who would have stayed with her for fifteen years. Headstrong, rigid and what some liked to call snooty, she was a challenge to live with, but he could hold his own with her. This time, however, he wasn’t sure if he could do anything. He had seen people live out their lives with regret, and he didn’t want to see that happen to Verina Cadence.

*******

Ben had just slipped his nightshirt on over his head when someone knocked at the door. “Come in.”

The door opened half way, and his oldest son sidled half in. “I hoped to catch you before you turned in.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, I just thought we could talk, but if you’d rather wait until a more decent hour.”

“I’m in no rush.” Ben motioned him inside. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a father/son chat.” He sat on the side of the big four posted bed he called his and finished buttoning up.

Adam pushed the door together and went to sit next to his father. For several seconds they sat in perfect silence as if afraid to break the stillness.

“I hope you don’t think that this means I love your mother any less.”

Adam’s intense eyes flashed around. “A child might, but I know better.”

“And what about Angelica? This is, after all, her mother. How does she feel about it?”

“I’ll admit that at first she wasn’t so sure, but we did a lot of talking and came to the same conclusion. We both know you, we both know her, and we both know that neither of you could do better. You’re entitled to your happiness, and so is she, and if you can find it together then so-be-it. Human beings aren’t meant to be solitary, not as a rule.” His mouth spread into a broad grin, and he slapped an arm around his father’s shoulders. “Now, it’s my turn to ask some questions.”

“Fire away.”

“How long has this been going on? I know that you’ve been writing to each other for a while, but you never gave any hint of this when you were together, and neither did she.”

Ben chortled. “A courting couple has to have some secrecy.” He took a deep breath and it expanded his full chest. “I’ve felt something from the first time I met her, but I guess I tried denying it.”

“When did it change?”

Ben’s expression went somber, and his hands clasped together in his lap. “Last year, when Hoss was nearly killed in that rock slide and all of you came home. I found her in his room, and she seemed so sad and vulnerable. She was frightened for Hoss, and missing the only man she had ever loved. I held her and let her cry…and that’s when I knew I couldn’t deny it any longer. It wasn’t long after that when the letters started.”

“Who wrote the first one?”

“I did, then sometimes two and three in one week. You know, I’m really surprised we weren’t found out before this.” A mischievous gleam entered his coffee eyes. “I don’t know about Angelica, but my sons are devious when it comes to digging things out.”

One side of Adam’s mouth crooked. “That only works when the person we’re after isn’t more so. And you must admit, Pa, that you’re a conniving old pirate, as I believe I once told you.”

Ben laughed and held his hands up as if in surrender. “Guilty as charged.” Then he looked at his son. “You know, we haven’t talked like this in a while, and I really am enjoying it…. I’m glad you came.”

“I couldn’t do anything else.” He slapped a hand on his father’s knee. “Well it’s late and getting later, and I’d better let you get to bed.” He stood and took a couple steps.

“Can’t you stay a little longer?”

Adam turned to him and a smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “I don’t think Angelica would mind.”

*******

Hoss Cartwright sat on a log before the cook fire out in the middle of nowhere, his beefy hands wrapped around a tin cup. The star studded night had long since fallen and camp had been made and the horses picketed. “You know, Joe, things have really turned around in these two years since we thought we’d lost Adam. We got a sister-in-law, three fine nephews…”

“And who woulda thought that when I met Mrs. Cadence that she’d wind up being our stepmother,” Joe Cartwright said, as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He sat on the log next to his brother and let the steam rise into his face. “And as far as I’m concerned, Pa made the right choice.”

“I’ll go along with that. They sure kept it hid, didn’t they?”

Joe snickered. “When Pa announced it, in a way I was surprised, and in a way I wasn’t.” The snicker turned into a giggle. “When they didn’t know I was around, I saw him kiss the palm of her hand.”

“And you never told nobody?”

“I figured they were entitled to their privacy, and they’d tell us when and if they wanted us to know.”

“That sounds like something our older brother’d say.”

“Why thank you, Hoss.”

The conversation lapsed for a couple minutes while they worked on their coffee then Hoss broke the lull.

“I sure do hope they like what we got ‘em for a wedding present.” Alarm rose in the full face. “You don’t suppose Pa’ll be suspicious.”

“I don’t think so. We went to San Francisco on business for him, not to buy a wedding gift. And if we play our cards right, we’ll be able to keep it from ‘em.”

Now it was Hoss’ turn to snicker. “Boy won’t they sure be surprised when they see it. I know Pa won’t be able to use it, but I heard her say once how she missed the one she had back home an’ how she hated havin’ to leave it behind.”

“I think I’m actually looking forward to seeing her reaction more’n Pa’s.”

“Me, too. Women make such a fuss when you give ‘em things.”

Joe’s eyebrows rose dubiously. “When you give ‘em something they want. If you don’t you’re sure gonna know it.”

“Yeah, whether they put it into words or not.”

The laughter of brothers rose into the chilled air to add its warmth. A coyote howled off in the distance, but even his melancholy aria couldn’t dampen their camaraderie. Their father was marrying a fine woman that they both admired and respected, they should get home some time tomorrow, and there was the chance that Adam and his family would be there when they did, so what more could any man ask.

FOUR

Hop Sing busied himself at the large cast iron stove, his mind more focused on the events to come than breakfast. There were so many plans and arrangements to make. He had his work cut out for him, and he knew it, but he was in his element.

“Good morning, Hop Sing.”

He looked around from stirring the gravy as Angelica came in with one of the boys in her arms. “Good morning, Missy Angelica.” His obsidian eyes roved to the baby. “And which one this?”

“Addy, say hello to Hop Sing.” She took a small hand and waved at him.

Hop Sing waved back at him with a bright smile. “I never able to tell apart.”

“After a fashion, Adam and I have learned. They may look alike, but they each have their own personalities.” Her eyes darted to the skillet on the stove. “Oh, Hop Sing, your gravy’s sticking!”

Muttering in rapid Chinese, he turned back to the stove and began stirring furiously.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disrupt your kitchen.”

“It all light, it not stick bad, and it not like family not eat lumpy gravy before.”

She laughed lightly. “Adam got especially used to it before Maggie came.”

As she watched him a frown wrinkled his brow, and he began looking around him as if searching for something. “Have you misplaced something?”

“I use last of flour in gravy. I have to get another bag from pantry.” He turned to her, and it was obvious that he felt embarrassed. “Would Missy mind to stir while I go get?”

“Of course not.” She shifted the baby then took the wooden spoon from him. “Addy can help so you go ahead.”

He thanked her then scuttled off. As he went into the well stocked pantry, his eyes began their search. He knew he had as least one bag left, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where he had last seen it. Finally, he found it on the top shelf. Pulling over the stool he always used, he stepped onto it and reached for the bag.

The sudden crash startled Angelica, and she dropped the spoon into the gravy. She whirled and ran in the direction of the sound.

“I think New York is perfect for a honeymoon, especially since Verina has never been there before,” Adam said as he followed his father down the stairs.

“She likes the idea, too.”

Suddenly, Angelica raced out of the kitchen white as chalk, the baby clutched in her arms. “Adam!”

The men froze on the landing.

“Angel, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Hop Sing! He fell in the pantry, and I can’t tell how badly he’s hurt! I think he’s unconscious!”

Adam and Ben flew down the remainder of the steps and ran after her as she dashed back into the kitchen.

Hop Sing lay in a heap on the pantry floor, bottles, boxes and bags – some broken – scattered over and about him. The overturned stool was beside him, and he didn’t seem to be aware of his current situation.

“Hop Sing?” Ben said as he knelt beside him. “Hop Sing, can you hear me?” He lightly patted the little cook’s face but still got no response.

Adam’s eyes lit on the stool, and his mouth went to a flat line. “He fell off that blasted stool. I was afraid this would happen some day. And it’s not like he’s never been warned about it before.”

“I know,” Ben said and patted again. “Hop Sing.”

Through the darkness Hop Sing became aware of what he thought was someone saying his name. He tried opening his eyes, and at first they didn’t want to cooperate, but he finally managed to raise his lids. A face hovered over him, and he had to blink to clear the haze. “Mista Cartlight.”

Ben sighed with relief and glanced at Adam and Angelica. “Are you all right? Does anything hurt?”

Hop Sing took a deep breath and shifted, but it only made him wince.

“Don’t try to move, old friend. Adam…,”

“I’ll go send somebody for Paul.” Adam eased out past his wife then his rapid footfalls left the kitchen.

“I solly, Mista Cartlight.”

Ben’s brow creased. “Sorry? Whatever on Earth for? You’re the one who’s hurt, not me.”

“I spoil wedding.”

“Oh, don’t be absurd. You haven’t spoiled anything. And if we have to wait, I know that Verina will go along with it without any reservations. She thinks very highly of you, you know.”

“She fine lady…. Hop Sing need to…” but a streak of pain cut off the words.

“Don’t worry about it,” Angelica said reassuringly. “Until you get back on your feet I know that Maggie won’t mind taking over.”

Hop Sing tried getting up, but more pain stopped him.

“Now let that be a lesson to you not to try that again. Just lay there until I can get somebody to help get you up. And that is an order.”

“Yes, sir, Mista Cartlight.”

“That’s better.”

Adam rushed back in breathless. “I sent Elroy for the doctor. How’s he doing?”

“I think he’s trying to get back to work.”

Adam stooped next to his father with a slight grin. “What were trying to do? Turn Pa’s wedding into a funeral?”

“I alleady tell father I solly.”

“As well you should,” Adam said and gave him a healthy pat on the leg. “You could’ve deprived me of the best Egg Drop Soup in the country, and I haven’t had any in a while.”

“When I get better I make whole pot just for you.”

“That’s a good man,” Adam said then turned his attention to his father. “Pa, we need to get him to his room before Paul gets here.”

“I think we’ve got plenty of time for that, but you’re right. Why don’t you go round up some of the hands and we’ll see what we can come up with.”

“All right,” Adam said then was gone again.

“Hop Sing able to get up on own long time. I not child.” He started to sit up, but the pain nearly cut him in two. Clamping his teeth on his bottom lip to stifle a cry he decided that getting up wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“Now maybe you’ll listen.”

Angelica sat in the floor next to her father-in-law, positioning herself so that the little cook could see the baby. Gentleness filled her sympathetic eyes, and she took one of his hands. “We’ll stay right here with you. Family never leaves family at a time like this.”

“Thank you, Missy Angelica.”

Hop Sing felt some of his fears diminish as she squeezed his fingers. He had no idea how badly he had hurt himself, but he did know that he wasn’t alone, and it made him smile. His family was with him.

FIVE

The family waited in the kitchen while the doctor – with Maggie’s able assistance – saw to Hop Sing. The boys had been put down for a nap, leaving the adults on their own. Angelica and her mother sat at the small table watching Ben and Adam pace back-and-forth, the coffee they had been drinking forgotten.

“The boys are still asleep,” Fiona said, as she tripped in. “Have you heard anything?”

“No, nothing,” Mrs. Cadence said, as her eyes followed the nervous stalking of the two men.

Angelica could see one of her husband’s outbursts building. As his long legs propelled him from one side of the room to the other and then back she could see his tension mounting. Hop Sing was very special to him and his father and brothers, as she had heard many times. She also knew that Adam’s usually calm nature – altered by what had happened to him at the hands of Vince Decker – could easily be upended. She had seen it before, and she knew that she probably wouldn’t have long to wait to see it again.

With a sudden jerk, Adam stormed into the pantry. When he burst out, he had the stool – one leg grasped in his fist – and stomped toward the parlor.

“Adam.” Angelica gathered her skirt and petticoats in her hands and ran after him.

Ben started to follow them, but Mrs. Cadence gripped his arm. “No, Ben. Let Angelica do it.”

Adam came to a dead stop in front of the huge stone fireplace and – without pause – gave the stool a savage fling into the hearth. Instantly the flames began to gobble and consume it and flickered in his eyes as he watched it consigned to the fire.

Angelica stepped next to him completely unnoticed and put a comforting hand on his back. “Does it help?”

“No,” he didn’t look away from it, “but this way nobody else is gonna fall off of it and get hurt.”

She took his arm and kept her eyes to him. “Hop Sing’s strong. He has to be to have put up with you and your brothers for all these years.”

Her attempt at humor failed dismally.

“I know, but it gave me a good shake to see him so…”

“Vulnerable?”

“I guess that’s as good a word as any…. We come home for one of the most joyous occasions in a human being’s life…, and something like this comes along and…” Her fingers covered his lips.

“We have to believe that he will be all right.”

His arm went around her waist and hugged her closer to him. “I want to more than anything at this moment…. Surely to goodness the fates couldn’t be that cruel.”

She stood clasped in his arms, embraced in their security, while they watched the object of Adam’s derision gradually being reduced to cinders. Their minds were so concentrated on it that they didn’t hear Ben come in behind them. He came around quietly to stand next to his son and grasped his shoulder and squeezed, his eyes going into the hearth, and not at Adam.

“He’s going to be all right.” Ben felt the muscles loosen beneath his hand. “Paul said he thumped his head a little and cracked a few ribs, but the worst he got is a broken arm.”

“Thank the Good Lord in his Heaven,” Angelica whispered.

The room went quiet save for the ticking of the big grandfather clock and the crackle in the hearth.

“Verina and I talked it over, and we think that we should postpone the wedding.”

Angelica’s head rose sharply. “Nonsense. Hop Sing wouldn’t want that.”

“I know, daughter, but with so much to do…”

“Angelica’s right. Hop Sing will be furious with himself if you do that

“Fiona and I can get take over his household duties, and Maggie is an absolute magician in the kitchen.”

“No,” Ben said and shook his head, “that’s simply too much to ask.”

“You’re not asking,” Angelica said as she came around and took hold of Ben’s arm, “I’m volunteering our services. I’m mean, it’s not everyday that a girl’s mother marries her father-in-law.”

Adam’s head tilted to one side and the lone eyebrow rose. “You might as well concede now, Pa. I haven’t bested her yet, and when she and Maggie gang up on you, you’re dead in the water.”

Some of the lines faded from Ben’s face. “Then I guess I might as well just sit back and enjoy the ride.”

*******

Adam quietly pushed the door to the little cook’s room open and it squeaked thinly, and he frowned. Instantly the obsidian eyes opened and turned on him.

Adam stepped inside with a tray in one hand. “I hated disturbing you, but it’s past dinnertime. Angelica insisted that you have something, and I said I would bring it.”

“I all light. I not have to be treated like child.”

“You’re not being.” Adam sat the tray on the bed table. “But it isn’t every day that a man almost kills himself and breaks a bone in the process. I think you’re due a little pampering after all the years you’ve put up with us and kept this house going.”

“But there Mista Ben’s wedding.”

“That’s all been taken care of. With four women in the house you needn’t worry about a thing.”

“You saying Hop Sing not needed any more?”

“I’m not saying that at all.” Adam helped Hop Sing to sit up, being careful of his right arm and those cracked ribs. “You’re help is always needed. What I am saying is that you should take it easy. Just sit back and let us handle things. I think you’ve earned a well deserved rest, so take advantage of this because it won’t last. As soon as you get out of those splints you’ll be in great demand again. I don’t think this house can run without you at the helm. Sure, Pa’s the captain of the ship, but you’re the one that keeps it afloat and off the rocks.”

“Since you put it that way.”

“What other way can I put it?” A broad grin flashed at the little man. “Now here,” he put the tray on Hop Sing’s lap, “you dig into this and enjoy. It’s some of Maggie’s good Mulligan and Angelica and Fiona collaborated on the bread. You’re going to get the royal treatment, so I suggest you just sit back and have fun with it.” Adam picked up the spoon and handed to him. “Somebody’ll be right outside if you need anything so don’t hesitate to holler.”

Adam got as far as the door. “Mista Adam.”

“Yes, Hop Sing, what is it?”

“I always thank ancestors that I there to save you life when you boy.”

“So do I, my friend. So do I.”

A look passed between them that was more than servant and master then Adam went out and closed the door behind him. Hop Sing looked down into the bowl and the delectable aroma brought home the fact that he was hungry. Cautiously, he tasted it. Hot and delicious, it revived him and softened the edges of the ache in his body. He took another bite and a smile came. For years he had kept a secret locked inside his heart, a secret that could hurt others if they knew and maybe cause jealousy. Mista Adam was his favorite Cartwright son.

SIX

Adam had just come out of the barn when he heard the drum of hooves drawing steadily closer. With his brothers away and Hop Sing laid up more of the work load had fallen on him, and he gladly accepted it. He stopped near the trough and turned just as the horses came into the yard.

“Adam!” Joe said with shrill glee. “When did you get here?”

“Yesterday. It’s about time you two got home. I was beginning think I was gonna havta handle things alone.”

“Well, now, brother, you didn’t think we’d be late for our own Pa’s wedding, did ya?” Hoss said as he stepped down.

“Certainly not,” Adam said with a wide grin, “but I know how my brothers are when it comes to relegating things to others when they can get out of it.”

“That’s not fair,” Joe said, as he led Cochise over by Hoss. “We’re always diligent.”

Adam’s mouth drew into an unconvinced pucker. “Um-huh.”

“Now when do we get to see them boys?” Hoss asked eagerly. “I bet they’ve growed like weeds.”

“That they sure have,” Adam said, as they walked into the barn. “And they’ve learned something new since you last saw them. I’ll have them show you what they can do when they wake up from their nap.”

“I bet Hop Sing made a real fuss over ‘em,” Hoss said, as he began unsaddling Chubb.

Adam’s expression darkened, and Joe caught it right now. “I’ve seen that look before. What is it? ”

Adam took a deep breath and leaned back against a saddle stand. “You know that stool we’ve warned Hop Sing about time and again.”

Hoss’ head shot around. “Oh, Lord.”

“Was he bad hurt?”

“Some cracked ribs and his right arm was broken. Paul said he also has a slight concussion, but he’s all right.” Adam snickered. “It’s been all we can do to make him stay in bed at least for today.”

“When did this happen?” Joe asked.

“This morning when he was fixing breakfast.”

Hoss shook his head. “Well now he’ll know not to use that thing.”

“It’s been rendered academic. While we were waiting for the doctor to tell us if he was all right or not, I threw it into the fireplace. It’s nothing more than ashes now.”

“Good,” Joe said flatly, as he returned to Cochise and finished removing his gear. “He sees now that we were right.”

“That may be so, but he’ll never admit it. Stubbornness isn’t strictly a Cartwright trait, though we do raise it to high art.” Adam pushed himself away from the stand. “Now while you finish up out here I’m gonna go back into the house and let Pa know that his wayfaring sons are home.”

They watched their brother went out and left them to their tasks.

“This couldn’ta come at a worse time,” Hoss said, as he put Chubb into his stall. “What with everybody runnin’ around trying to git things done for the wedding.”

“Well now, with Angelica and Mrs. Cadence, things will definitely get done.”

Hoss chuckled. “It won’t be long ‘til you’ll havta stop calling her that.”

Joe looked at him straight as if this fact had only just registered and giggled. “I hadn’t really thought of that.”

Hoss went to his little brother and slapped an arm across his back. “Let’s go. I wantta see Hop Sing and find out from Adam how Chris likes being an old married man for all of three weeks.”

Mischievousness danced in Joe’s emerald eyes. “With a woman like Amelia, he likes it just fine.”

Hoss jerked Joe’s hat off and ruffled the unruly dark brown hair. “You’ve got a dirty mind, boy. You know that?”

Joe gave him a knowing wink. “I know.”

“I wonder if Pa does.” Hoss jammed the hat into his little brother’s arms then went on out.

Joe’s face fell. “Oh, Hoss, you wouldn’t.” He stuck his hat on his head and rushed after him.

*******

As promised, after the boys awoke from their nap they were toted out for their uncles. Hoss was unable to contain himself, and he kept on until he wangled little Hi away from his mother. “You weren’t kiddin’ when you said they was growing.”

“Smile at him,” Adam said, as he stood before the fireplace jouncing Addy from side-to-side.

“Ain’t that what I’ve been doing?”

“Look right into his face and smile at him and see what happens.”

Hoss looked a trifle puzzled. He held the baby out in front of him, resting the little guy against his arms and gave it everything he had. To his amazement, the tiny mouth turned in a petite imitation.

“He smiled at me,” Hoss said all aflutter. “How long they been doing that?”

“Since last month,” Adam said, as he continued to jounce.

Joe hovered near the big red leather chair where his father sat holding his namesake. “Addy’s adventure last month didn’t seem to hurt him.”

“I didn’t,” Angelica went to stand with her husband. “In fact, it worked the opposite. You remember I told you how he used to box his brothers when he got agitated? Well he doesn’t do that anymore. He’s calmer and more settled.”

“And every now and then we catch sight of the man who took him just watching.” Adam handed his son to his mother.

“Doesn’t that scare you?” Joe asked, as he finally took a seat on the settee.

“No, if he let’s us see him there’s nothing to worry about.” Adam grinned as his dark eyes turned to his first-born. “I have no doubt Addy made an impression, and he just wants to see him grow into a fine man.”

“Do you have a problem with that, daughter?” Ben asked as his eyes rose from his grandson.

“No, I think it’s rather sweet and nice. And when Adam and the men are gone, I feel safer just knowing he’s there. Before I came out here I always heard that Indians are bloodthirsty savages and nothing else, and I must admit that I believed it. But after what happened and why I have learned better.”

With the break in the conversation came a knocking at the sturdy front door.

“I’ll get it,” Adam said, as he started around the low table, “since I’m the only one who isn’t sitting down or got his arms full.”

The second round of knocking had begun when Adam opened the door. “Evening, Hal.”

“Evenin’, Adam.”

Adam’s eyes flitted to the envelope clutched in the man’s hand. “Who’s it for?”

“Your missus.”

Adam looked over at his wife as she appeared next to him, her arms free of baby. He could plainly see the concern in her face. He fished some money from a britches pocket and paid the man with a polite thank you then closed the door.

Angelica could feel every eye on her as Adam handed her the envelope. She knew it could be nothing to worry about, what with the wonderful event coming steadily closer, but something inside her head told her not to bet on it. With a glance at Adam, she opened it with trembling fingers.

Adam watched her as her eyes followed the lines on the paper, and he couldn’t miss the purple intensifying in them. “Trouble?”

“It’s from Charles.” She looked up at him. “He and Lucinda left Bangor this morning on their way here.”

“Why would that be troublesome? I would think a daughter would want to be at her mother’s wedding.”

“According to Charles, she doesn’t want to attend it as much as she wants to…, stop it.”

“Well she’ll not,” shattered the tension in the room.

Everyone looked to the staircase as Mrs. Cadence finished coming down.

Angelica and Adam rushed to her where she stood at the foot of the stairs, and Ben joined them.

“This is going to be one of the happiest days of my life, and I’ll not let her tarnish it. We love each other and she’ll not do this, if I have to put her over my knee.”

Ben put his arms around her and could feel her quivering, but he didn’t know if it was from anger, frustration, fear or a mixture. “We’ll deal with it together when she gets here.”

Verina felt his arms squeeze her closer to him and some of the fierce emotion roiling around inside her dissipate at their touch. She had been blessed to have two such men, and she would not let her oldest daughter come between her and Ben Cartwright. Her eyes closed, and she wished she could stay safe in his embrace forever.

SEVEN

A chill had moved in with the darkness as had the appearance of the stars and crescent moon. Insects chirped and whippoorwills filled the air with their melancholy song in a combined sonata to the night.

Ben stepped out of the house and into the soft orange glow if the big porch lamp. He hadn’t seen Verina since right after supper – close to ten or so minutes, when he had seen her step outside – and his concern had driven him out after her. His eyes scanned beyond the warmth if the light, but he could discern little in the dark. “Verina.” He stepped off the porch and called to her again.

“I’m here, by the rose trellis.”

He followed the strong perfume of the flowers since it was difficult to see beyond the arc of the lamp. He could only just make out her shape.

“They smell lovely, don’t they? Roses have always been my favorite. Hiram used to always send me a dozen red ones for my birthday.”

Ben couldn’t miss the hint of sadness in her voice, and he couldn’t help wondering if she was changing her mind.

“What’re you doing all the way out here?”

“I just needed some fresh air, and this has become a favorite spot.”

“It’s always been one of my favorite places on the Ponderosa, too. But it’s getting late, and maybe you should come inside.”

“I will, but it’s such a beautiful night, and I would like to enjoy it a little longer before turning in. And since you’re here I would like for us to talk first. Children are so precious, but sometimes they do get underfoot, not that they mean to.”

“Do I need to ask what you would like to talk about?”

“I doubt it.”

For several seconds there was only the whisper of their breathing.

“It’s about our getting married, isn’t it? I know how much you loved Hiram, and I know that this is a big step for you, so I fully understand if you’re having second thoughts.” A warm, soft hand touched the side of his face.

“Oh, my sweet Benjamin, of course I’m not having second thoughts. It’s just that Charles’ telegram struck me kind of hard. But I haven’t been so sure of anything in such a long time than that I want to marry you. I’ll never forget my school girl excitement when I got your first letter.” She laughed lightly. “I had such a time keeping them hidden from Fiona.”

“You weren’t ashamed?”

“Oh, Heavens, no. But this was between us, and I wanted it to stay that way until we were ready for others to know.”

He reached up and took her hand and brought it to his lips and kissed it. “I have indeed been blessed. I have my sons, my grandsons, a dear daughter and now you. Who would’ve thought that when Joe went to Bantree that it could ever come to this. You mean so much to us all, and I don’t like thinking about my life without you in it.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “Verina, I love you so much.”

Verina felt as if her heart would swell and burst and tears began to sting in her eyes. As she stood there shivering with a mingling of emotion and cold his arms went around her shoulders, and he pulled to him. A grim resolve built inside her as she rested her head against his broad chest that Lucinda would not stop what she knew in her heart to be right.

*******

Adam put out the lamp then threw back the covers and climbed into bed next to his wife. His long arms engulfed her and held her close as they nestled against each other for more than just warmth. The scent of her lemon verbena melded with that of his Bay Rum and firmly ensconced him in solace and wellbeing.

“If Lucinda interferes and causes them pain, I’ll never speak to her again. It’s plain what they feel for one another. Did you notice how he watched her all through supper while she just picked at her food?”

“It was hard not to, and I wasn’t the only one. Joe and Hoss caught me as I left the stairs.”

“And how do they feel about this?”

“You know in what high regard they hold your mother, Joe especially. When my family thought I was…” He went silent, but her fingers in his hair encouraged him to continue. “She was so good to Joe. When he needed the comforting of a mother most, she filled the role and did so without reservation or hesitation…. And Hoss absolutely adores her.”

“She calls him her ‘big, strong Erik’.”

“And I don’t need to tell you how Pa feels. That first night we were here he and I had a long talk. This has been building since he first met her, but at first he thought it was only gratitude with some loneliness sprinkled in then last year when Hoss got hurt that all changed. He knew that it was more than that, and after we left he said it didn’t take long for him to start missing her. Aching for her was how he worded it.” He snickered softly so as not to disturb the boys. “In fact, he said that that night he had one heck of a time going to sleep for thinking about her. And when he couldn’t stand it any longer he finally had to put pen to paper, and the rest we already know.”

“I’ve had a good long talk about it with Fiona.”

“What does she think?”

“She wasn’t sure about it at first, but after Steve Balasco proposed she saw it in a whole different light. After Charles’ wire came when she got me to myself she told me that if I needed any help with Lucinda just to let her know.”

“She has definitely done some growing up since she first came out here. I have no doubt that she’ll make Steve a fine wife, and she’s getting a good man in return.”

“So did I.”

He could feel her soft breathing against his neck as she nuzzled closer then her lips against his throat. His arms tightened around her, and his mouth found hers. Steve wasn’t the only one lucky enough to have a Cadence woman.

*******

The shutters in the dining room and the red curtains in Ben’s study had been opened to allow the morning sunshine to enter and chase away the dominating shadows. Adam had come down ahead of the rest of the family and was in the process of poking up the banked fire when a mixture of adamant Chinese and fiery Irish Gaelic erupted from the kitchen.

“Now what.” He put the poker down and whirled toward the dining room.

Hop Sing and Maggie stood toe-to-toe – a wooden spoon dripping gravy clutched in her right hand – and he wondered if she was going to clobber the little man with it. He understood scant little of the Chinese and none of the Irish, but he didn’t need to know that tempers were flared.

“What’s going on here?”

But they were oblivious to him and continued their verbal sparring.

“Hop Sing! Maggie!”

Still he got no acknowledgement as their confrontation grew more heated, and he feared they would come to blows at any second. He thought about shouting again but knew it would be just as futile. His eyes lit on the large green bowl sitting in the center of the small table, and it gave him an idea.

The crash silenced the flow of angry words and nutmeg and obsidian eyes went to the broken green shards scattered over the floor.

“Mr. Adam,” Maggie said with obvious dismay.

“That’s better,” Adam said and crossed his arms over his chest. “Now would somebody mind telling what in the blue blazes if going on here?”

They both started at once and their words jumbled together.

“Enough!” Adam said and raised both hands, palm side out. “Hop Sing, why don’t you start?”

“This woman think she tell me what to do in my own kitchen.”

“This woman is it. Why I oughtta…” and her arm went back as if to strike him with the spoon.

“Maggie!” Adam dashed forward to relieve her of her weapon. “Mayhem isn’t gonna accomplish anything.”

“It’ll give me the greatest satisfaction,” and her eyes narrowed on the little cook.

Hop Sing – his eyes blacker than Adam had seen them in a while – held his splinted arm as if to protect it. “What did I just say?” Adam said, as he looked from one infuriated face to the other. “Maiming and general murder is not the solution. Now somebody please go on.”

“I was standing here at the stove doing a good Christian act when this ingrate comes in and starts telling me how to do this and that and findin’ fault with everything,” Maggie said and gave Hop Sing her most withering scowl. “I don’t havta be doin’ this, ya know. It’s only because you and Miss Angelica asked me to help out.”

“Yes, Maggie, and we appreciate it very much, and I’m sure Hop Sing does, too.”

Maggie snorted derisively and turned back to the stove. “May I have me spoon back, sir?”

“Only if you promise not to hit anybody with it.”

She had to think about this for a few seconds then resignation pinched the corners of her mouth, and she nodded with only a grunt. Adam handed it back, and she went after the sticking gravy with a vengeance.

“I think the two of you should work together, collaborate.” The looks he received made him wish there was a nearby hole he could jump into and pull in after him. “It’s the only way anything will ever get done, and right now we really need it. I know this is your kitchen, Hop Sing, but you’re not exactly in a shape to do this alone. And Maggie, I know how efficient and organized you are, but with a wedding coming up and guests arriving, you’re gonna need all the help you can get. So what’s it gonna be? Cooperation or all out war, which I will havta to arbitrate?”

The two just looked at each other through several inches of ice – Maggie’s stirring slowing to a crawl – and she was the first to give silent agreement.

“Hop Sing.”

Hop Sing’s answer didn’t come right away. “All light.” His eyes flicked to Maggie, who had turned back to the stove. “But if she not do what I say…”

Those fiery nutmeg eyes came around and squelched any further words.

“That works both ways…. Now I’m gonna leave the both of you to work this out, and I’ll be back if I have to.”

He watched as they seemed to retreat to their respective corners as two pugilists would. With serious doubt rearing its head, he went, or rather, escaped back to the parlor. For now they were quiet and cooperating, but a tempest lay just beneath the surface, and Adam knew this wasn’t over by a good long shot.

EIGHT

It had been three days since Adam had come between Hop Sing and Maggie before they seriously killed each other. So far no blood had been drawn, but since things were going along as smoothly as a stagecoach over a mountain road the family stayed constantly ready to duck. This morning’s breakfast – like the past two – had gone as well as could be expected under the circumstances. And it too had been hastily consumed to get as far away from the kitchen as possible as quickly as possible.

Adam was sitting on the corner of his father’s desk sipping a cup of coffee while Ben made out a bill of sale for some horses when Maggie slunk out of the dining room. The men couldn’t miss the smoldering fire behind her eyes or the way her hands twisted the tail of her apron as if strangling an enemy.

“That was another fine breakfast, Maggie,” Ben said cheerily, as he glanced guardedly at his son.

“No thanks to someone who shall go nameless,” she snarled, as her eyes darted back toward the kitchen.

“Is there something you need to talk to me about?” Adam asked and took a quick gulp of his coffee.

“Ya know that I’m not one to complain, Mr. Adam.”

“Of course I do. You’re the sole of tolerance.”

Now the fire flared. “But that man would try the patience of the most sainted of saints. St. Patrick himself…” she crossed herself, “would slay him like a serpent.”

“I know Hop Sing can be a bit demanding at times, especially about his own kitchen, but we’ve learned to live with it.”

“Demanding! The man is a downright tyrant. Nothin’ I do is ever good enough. Too much milk in the gravy, not enough milk in the gravy. This doesn’t go there, and that goes somewhere else. If I don’t throttle him meself I should be sainted.”

Ben conveniently dropped his pen and bent down to pick it up so no one would see his amusement.

“Well I’m counting on you get along with him the best you can. You know I would never have put you in this position if it weren’t absolutely necessary, don’t you?”

“I do, Mr. Adam, and I’m sorry for complainin’. I guess I just hadta get it out. Thank ya for listenin’.”

“It wasn’t a problem. It never has been.”

She thanked him again and curtseyed slightly then started back for the kitchen. “And I won’t even cut his throat,” she muttered barely loud enough for them to hear.

Ben finally came up from behind the desk with the pen and put it back in its holder.

“You were a lot of help.”

“I never get mixed up in domestic squabbles if I can help it.” Ben threw up his hands. “I’ve found that you go through life with a lot fewer scars and bruises that way.”

“I’ll remember that the next time you have trouble with Hop Sing. Which, unless I miss my guess, won’t be long in coming.”

Father and son just looked at each other for a long second then broke out into hearty laughter.

“Something must be terribly funny,” Angelica said, as she left the stairs, baby Hi in her arms.

“We were just talking about the foibles of having servants.” Adam put his cup and saucer down as his wife came to him.

“Are those two at it again?” she asked, as Adam took their son from her. “I know things still haven’t smoothed away, but I didn’t think they were quite so much at dagger’s points as they were.”

“If anything I’m afraid this is only the lull before the storm,” Adam said and joggled the boy in the crook of his elbow. “We could be looking at another civil war.”

They were interrupted by the sound of a buggy coming into the yard.

Ben went to the window and looked out. “I’m afraid that may still be a possibility…. Lucinda’s here.”

Angelica reached out to take her son back.

“We’re all right. And he likes it when Daddy has him.” He kissed the top to the soft head and snuggled the child closer to his chest.

Ben huffed. “Well I suppose we might as well go greet her.”

Angelica watched Adam as he went to the door with his father and understood perfectly what he was doing. He and Lucinda had met briefly at their wedding, and he had since talked about the fact that her sister didn’t like him. And even though he didn’t let on, she caught subtle hints that it did bother him some. So now with the opportunity at hand, he would put his best foot forward and Lucinda would meet the loving husband and father.

As they came out onto the porch, Charles was helping the driver unload the luggage from the buggy.

At the sound of their approach, Lucinda pushed back a strand of loose ash brown hair and turned toward the house. She couldn’t help it that her breath caught as her eyes went straight to the tall, dark man with the baby in his arms. She had conveniently let herself forget how altogether striking Adam Cartwright was. Then her gaze went to the big silver-haired man at his side. No wonder her mother and sister had fallen so hard, but she considered herself above such things.

*******

The bedroom Lucinda and Charles had been put in for the entirety of their stay was nice, in a rustic sort of way, but didn’t suit Lucinda’s more refined tastes. She had just closed up the big cherry wood wardrobe when the door opened and a dark head poked in.

“I didn’t see any necessity to knock,” Mrs. Cadence said and came inside and lightly pushed the door shut behind her.

“I’m just finishing with the unpacking.”

“Can I help?”

“No,” Lucinda went to the dresser and put some of her things into a drawer, “but you can visit if you would like. That is why you came up here, isn’t it?”

“Guilty as charged.” Mrs. Cadence sat on the side of the bed. “I don’t get you see you as often as I would like any more.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Please don’t start.”

She watched her eldest daughter as she moved gracefully back and forth, her skirt skimming the floor, and her shoes tapping out an unintelligible code. Verina could almost feel the crackling of the tension in the air, and it seemed to float over her skin.

“Ignoring it won’t make what’s bothering you go away.”

“Whatever are you talking about?” Lucinda stuffed one of her husband’s nightshirts into another drawer.

“You needn’t put on one of your little acts for me, Lucinda. I know why you’re here and what you have in mind to try to do. So you might as well give that notion up right now. I didn’t try coming between you and Charles when you wanted to wed, and I’ll thank you to show me the same courtesy.”

“I’m simply here for my mother’s wedding, nothing more.” Lucinda came back to the bed.

“Don’t you dare try that on me, Lucinda Cadence Harper.” Verina bounced off the mattress, and the bedstead squeaked. “Remember, I raised you, and I know you. And I’ll not truck that haughty attitude that you are so good at.”

“Well is it all right if I ask some questions?”

“Go right ahead, but I would watch how I phrase them if I were you.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Long enough to be certain of my feelings.”

“And what about his?”

“Do you think for one minute that I would have consented to marry him if I weren’t sure of his, too?” She firmly but gently took her daughter’s hands. “I love Ben Cartwright, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still love your father.”

“Does he know that?”

“Of course he does. And I know that he still cares deeply for the three women he loved and lost just as I did my Hiram…. The human capacity for love is infinite, and I don’t think we should put any limitations on it. Do you?”

“Now don’t you try?”

“Try what?”

“When father died you said you would never and could never love another man, and here you are about to marry again. Who were you lying to?”

Verina dropped her daughter’s hands, and her pale gray eyes darkened. “I wasn’t lying to anyone. I had just lost the man I had loved for my entire adult life, and I knew a hurt you couldn’t even imagine.” She stalked to the window then turned back to Lucinda. “Do you know what it’s like to be so lonely that you feel as if the very weight of it could crush you? To feel alone and separate in a room full of people? To get into an empty bed each night and reach for him even though you know he isn’t there? Of course you don’t, you have Charles…. And now I have Ben. His love and understanding, and his very presence erases that terrible loneliness, and I won’t give that up for you or anyone else. We make each other deliriously happy and that’s all you need to know and should care about.”

“How do you know it wasn’t this intense loneliness you speak of that drove you to this man?”

“I have no doubt that it had a hand in it. But Ben’s like no other man I’ve ever met in my life, and he’s the only other man I’ve ever known that makes my heart sing. The other was your father. I would think you would be happy for me. Angelica and Fiona are.”

“Angelica is biased, and Fiona is too young to understand.”

“Your youngest sister understands just fine. In fact, I think she understands better than you do. Now before you go any further, let me just say that I don’t want to hear anything against Ben Cartwright. You don’t know him, and you’re not exactly in a position to tell me how I should feel toward him. So that’s it, do you hear me?” She spun and stomped to the door then whirled back around. “And if you interfere or cause him or anyone else any pain or anguish, just remember that I’m your mother, and you aren’t too big to spank.” Then she yanked the door open and flounced out, slamming it behind her.

NINE

As the sun had begun its descent to the other side of noon things had cooled from the warmth of the morning and coats had become necessary. August in the Sierras wasn’t like what people from most of the rest of the country were used to. Usually the hottest month of the year, here it was when things began gearing up for winter. In fact, sometimes September brought snow.

After dinner Adam thought that his brother-in-law might like to see some more of the Ponderosa. His one visit when he had come for the wedding had been too brief for any sightseeing. And granted there wasn’t enough time left in this day to see it all, but they could take in some of the highlights. It had been contemplated to take a buckboard, but horseback allowed them more freedom, and Charles preferred it that way, as did Adam.

A cool breeze blew up the back of Adam’s neck – ruffling his hair beneath his hat – and he hunched forward, his dark hazel eyes darting to the sky. “We may have an early winter this year.”

“I can’t imagine it coming so early.”

“Live out here for a while and you’ll get used to it quick enough.”

Charles snorted and shook his head. “Oh, wouldn’t Lucinda love me for that. If I were to take her away from Bangor, especially to come to this brutal wilderness peopled with savages, as she once so eloquently put it, she would never forgive me.” He looked around at nature’s splendor that he found himself in. “But sometimes I think it would be nice to get away from the bustle of the city.”

“And what about your business?”

“Daniel could handle it. He’s got quite a business head on his shoulders. I was warned about hiring my frivolous younger brother-in-law, but he’s proved my decision to be a wise one. That’s why I made him my second in command.”

They rode on in silence for several minutes, the conversation seemingly at an end.

“Could I ask you something?” Adam asked as he shifted in his saddle.

“Go right ahead. We are, after all, family now, and it’s sad when a family can’t talk to each other, even those married into it.”

“Why is Lucinda so dead set against her mother marrying my father?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No and neither is Angelica. We’re just glad they finally found somebody to spend their remaining days with. It’s a sad thing to go through life lonely and without somebody to share it with.” Adam ducked his head. “I was beginning to think that would be my fate until the sun came through the clouds, and I found my Angelica.”

“I feel the same way about Lucinda. Oh, I know she can be a bit of a pill at times and is terribly set in her ways, but I love her. Some say I’m crazy and some say they wouldn’t put up with her, but I guess I see something in her most others miss and she knows how far she can go with me.” He snickered. “And she knows when she’s gone too far.”

Masculine laughter filled the chilly air.

“I suppose all women havta to push just a little to find and try our limitations,” Adam said on the tail of a titter. “Now you still haven’t answered my initial question. Why doesn’t she want her mother to become a Cartwright? Maybe we’re not the greatest catch in the world, but there are worse things.”

“It’s not so much your father as she still hasn’t forgiven you for splitting up the family. That, and the fact that she can’t come to grips with her mother being married to or loving anyone but her father.”

“I can understand that, and I think my youngest brother does even more than me. But he knows how lonely it’s been for Pa, and Joe knows this doesn’t change the love he holds for Joe’s mother. Would it help if I talked to her about it?”

“Well if you’re going to be alone with her I suggest you go with a brace of pistols and a hunting knife. Maybe even a cavalry saber.” Charles winked mischievously. “Just to be on the safe side.”

Adam’s brow knit into a troubled frown. “Does she hate me that much?”

“I think hate is too strong a word, but she isn’t one of your greatest admirers that’s for sure. And if you try to win her over she’ll see right through it.”

“Not good, huh?”

“Not with my Lucinda. When she comes around, it’ll be when you aren’t trying, and on her own terms.”

“If she comes around,”

“I’m afraid that is also a possibility.”

The horses ambled on, conversation once again nonexistent. Then Adam suddenly sat straight up and his rakish eyes shot to his brother-in-law.

“I don’t think we should let it spoil the day. I promised to show you some of the finer aspects of the Ponderosa and this isn’t accomplishing it. Do you think you’re a good enough horseman to keep up?”

“Let’s find out.”

The sun caught in the hazel and amber glinted as Adam gave his horse his knees and sped off in a flurry of hooves. Up for the challenge, Charles did the same and raced off after him.

*******

The buckboard came to a stop in front of Miss Purdy’s Ladies Shoppe, and Hoss got out and helped Mrs. Cadence, Angelica and Fiona out and onto the boardwalk.

“Now if’n you ladies don’t need me no more I got some things that need takin’ care of.”

“Go right ahead, dear,” Mrs. Cadence said and put a gentle hand on his cheek. “We can manage so you just go on. And thank you for taking time from your work to bring us here.”

“Weren’t no trouble a’ tall, ma’am.”

“Well there’s something that’s going to have to change,” Angelica said with a glance at her sister.

“I spose, but for now ma’am’ll do. Ladies.” He tipped his hat then started off across the street.

A small bell tinkled over the door as they entered the fair-sized shop. Bolts of fabric and tulle were stacked on tables and ream after ream of lace, ribbon and cording hung in spools from a wall rack. A large cabinet with drawers filled with beads and buttons sat to one side, and the room bore the faint scent of lavender.

“Good morning,” a demure, middle-aged woman said brightly, as she emerged from a back room through strands of beads. “You’ve come for your final fitting before the big day.”

“Yes, I said that I would before the week was out so you wouldn’t be so rushed.”

“Please come on back with me, Mrs. Cadence, and we’ll get right to it.”

“You go on, Mother,” Angelica said, as she ran her gloved-fingertips lightly over a bolt of pale green moiré. “We’ll just putter around in all these goodies until you’re finished.”

“All right, dear, this shouldn’t take too long.”

No sooner had their mother gone back with the woman when the bell tinkled again, and the girls looked around. Angelica instantly recognized Elmira Gannet, and it sank her spirits. She had met her once at the Ponderosa and heard many stories about her wagging tongue. There seemed to be at least one in every town and city and – today of all days – she had to encounter Virginia City’s.

“Well as I live as breath,” Elmira said cheerily and rested her hands at her cinched in waist. “If it isn’t Verina Cadence’s daughters.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Gannet,” Angelica said and forced a smile. Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, she thought. “I’m afraid Miss Purdy is busy with our mother at the moment, but it shouldn’t take long.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” Elmira said with a wave of her hand. “I was on my way to my son’s bank when I saw you, and I wanted to stop in. He does so love for his mummy to stop by for a visit, though I never stay long because he is always so busy, and I don’t like keeping him from his work. I suppose your mother is very excited about her wedding next week. I know I would be, especially if I were marrying Ben Cartwright.” She sniggered. “He certainly is one of the wealthiest and more attractive bachelors in these parts, and until you married him, so was his son Adam.”

Angelica felt her stomach knot as her brain raced in an effort to figure out how to rid herself of this bragging harpy. “I think all the Cartwright men fall into that category, don’t you?”

“Oh, of course I wasn’t trying to slight Joe or Hoss. I just meant…”

“I understand what you meant,” Angelica said a trifle more snippily than she meant to.

“I would have thought that your mother would have stayed at the Ponderosa when she arrived,” Elmira went on without missing a beat as she examined a spool of ecru lace. “But she insisted on staying at the International. If it had been me…”

“She knew how that would look, and she didn’t want to give the town gossips any ammunition,” Angelica said cattily. “You know how some people do like to talk and stick their noses into other people’s affairs.”

Angelica thought she noticed a blush tint the woman’s cheeks and it did her the world of good.

“Yes… I guess I do,” the woman stammered. “Well I really don’t want to keep you, and Judson is expecting me so I’ll be going. Tell Verina that Elmira said hello and wishes her all the best.” Then the bell sounded her exit as she scurried out.

Fiona stepped next to her sister and they watched through the large window as the woman rushed along the boardwalk. “If that witch causes Mother and Mr. Cartwright any trouble I’ll pull all that flaming red hair out and hang it from a tree.”

“I hope she’s too smart for that, but if she’s not she’ll learn the hard way.” An evil glint danced in Angelica’s deep violet eyes. “We’ll see to that.”

TEN

It had been two days since Angelica’s run-in with Elmira Gannet when Joe blew into the house like an infuriated cyclone just in time to spoil supper. Ben made his family keep their seats at the table while he went to see what the problem was.

Ben had seen his third-born flustered and angry before, and now was no exception. “Joseph.”

Joe jerked off his gun belt and hung it on the wall rack by the door next to his father’s hat.

“Joseph, what in the world?”

Joe slammed his hat down on the bureau then turned blazing green eyes on his father. “Somebody’s been spreading nasty rumors all over town about you and Mrs. Cadence.”

Ben felt a slow burn start at the base of his skull. “What kind of rumors?”

Joe’s eyes darted to his future stepmother as she came to stand next to her husband-to-be.

“Go on, Joseph. I want to know.” She took Ben’s arm. “We need to know.”

By this time the rest of the family had gathered around, and Joe looked at each one of them before speaking again.

“It seems… somebody got it into their thick head that maybe you’ve been slipping around behind your family’s backs to see each other…. There’s even talk that some of Pa’s trips on business were for a different kind of business…. If you know what I mean.”

“I’m afraid we do, son.” Ben patted the back of Verina’s hand.

“And I think we all know who we have to thank for this.” Angelica’s gaze went to her mother. “Elmira Gannet,’ she added through gritted teeth. “She accosted me and Fiona in Miss Purdy’s the other day when we went for your fitting. I got the sense that she was feeling things out so she wasn’t told much.”

“A person like that can make something out of the tiniest insignificant particle,” Lucinda said with a frown. “You shouldn’t have said anything.”

Angelica shot her a smoldering glare. “Do you honestly believe that would have stopped her?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Why is this the first we’re hearing about Elmira’s timely visit?” Adam asked, as he turned to Angelica.

“Both Fiona and I agreed to wait and see if anything came from it…. Apparently it did.”

“It’s too bad we’re not back in Bangor,” Charles spoke up. “I have connections there who know how to handle gossips.”

“We’re in my stomping ground now where I have the same kind of connections.” Adam stepped to his brother-in-law and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you would like to go into Virginia City with me tomorrow.”

“I’d like that just fine,” Charles said with a crafty smirk.

“You gonna need any help, brother?”

“I don’t think so, Hoss, but thanks for the offer. I think Charles and I can handle it just fine, but I’ll let you and Joe know if we need you.”

Ben’s arm stole around his intended, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. He watched as she closed her eyes and tears peeked out at the rim of her dense black lashes. He squeezed her closer as a wave of protectiveness rushed over him. He had no use for Elmira Gannet and her ilk, never had. He wasn’t exactly sure what Adam had in mind. He had intervened in his sons’ schemes before but not this time. But right now Ben Cartwright was in a vengeful mood.

*******

Verina Cadence sat in the rocking chair by her bedroom window. A warm, orangey glow from the porch light reached into the darkened room, but it did nothing to ease the ache that had become ensconced in her. She had never understood why people like Elmira Gannet wanted to spread such malicious and unsubstantiated gossip. It seemed to bring them to life at the expense of others. Oh, how she wished that wretched woman would vanish from the face of the Earth never to be seen or heard from again.

A light knock sounded, and her head turned toward the door. She didn’t want to see or talk to anyone, and if she kept quiet maybe they would think she had gone to sleep. The knock came again, and she decided not to be rude. “Who is it?”

“Lucinda.”

Her blood chilled. She had no desire to listen to her oldest daughter’s acid tongue, and she regretted answering. “It’s late. Can’t it wait?”

“Please, Mother, I only want to talk. And I promise not to stay long.”

Yes, but I know how you talk, Verina thought. “Very well.”

One of the hinges squeaked thinly as her daughter entered, and she wondered if she should use the oil can on it in the morning.

A slight smile curved Lucinda’s fine mouth. She sat on the side of the bed facing her mother and pushed a long ash brown braid back over her shoulder. Her fingers began to fumble absentmindedly with the wide satin sash of her pale yellow robe. “You really do love this man, don’t you?”

“Why is that so hard for you to believe? Do you find me so unattractive that someone like Ben Cartwright could never fall in love with me?”

Lucinda’s brows lowered into a pained frown. “That’s not fair, Mother.”

“Not fair? Let me tell you about not fair. Ever since your sister married Adam and I came out here to live and brought Fiona with me you’ve been like an angry stranger. For a short time when we returned to Bangor last year I thought you had finally come to your senses…” she looked back out the window, “but I see now that I was being overly optimistic.”

“You know how I can be sometimes better than anyone.”

“Yes, I do.”

“I may not know Ben Cartwright very well, but I do know my mother, and I know that every word of what is circulating in that town to be a vile lie…. And while I may not personally like Angelica’s husband, if he is like his father then I don’t believe it of him either.”

Verina’s head’s shot around, and her eyes snapped in the faint light. “His name is Adam. Is that so hard for you to say? And if that was an attempt at a compliment then I’m afraid it fell short. And while we’re on the subject, how can you say you don’t like him? You haven’t given yourself a chance to know him. Well you can take it from me that he is one of the most loving, caring, considerate and warm people I have ever met. I feel blessed every day that he is a part of my family, and blessed that Ben loves me. I never dreamed of being so fortunate ever again.” Her attention went back to the window. “Now if you wouldn’t mind I would very much like to go to bed.”

Sadness dissolved any trace of brightness from Lucinda’s face as she came to her feet. She reached out to touch her mother’s hand but decided against it and went to the door. Taking hold of the knob, she looked back around. “Good night, Mother.” But both she and her salutation went ignored so she simply left.

Adam came out of the kitchen with his last cup of coffee for the day and froze as he reached the edge of the dining room. Lucinda sat on the settee, her face hidden by her hands, and unless he missed his guess, she was crying ever so subtly.

“Coffee?” asked the rich baritone.

After discreetly wiping her eyes and cheeks, Lucinda quickly pulled her hands away and didn’t look at him. “No thank you.”

“Do you mind if I sit down?”

“I have no right to object here.”

“Yes, you do, so I’ll just go on upstairs.”

“No, please.” Her head came up and the firelight glistened in the remnants of a lone tear. “Do sit down.”

Adam parked himself in the big red leather chair near the hearth, crossing his long legs. He settled back into the overstuffing, and she became the focus of those intense hazel eyes. He took a sip and watched her over the rim of his cup.

Lucinda had met few people that made her this uncomfortable, and right now she wished she hadn’t insisted that he stay. She didn’t even know why she had. She had been watched before but never scrutinized so thoroughly, and it made her skin prickle. Her eyes flicked in his direction, and she hoped he hadn’t caught it. This man her sister had married was different from anyone she had ever met, and for the first time she couldn’t help wondering if maybe she wasn’t being entirely fair.

“Would you like to talk?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about.”

“I beg to differ, but it’s too late for a difference of opinion.” He took a long drag of his coffee then stood. “So I’ll just say good night instead.” He went around behind the settee and didn’t stop until he reached the foot of the stairs. “If you’ll let yourself, I think you’ll find that being in the same family as us Cartwrights isn’t such a bad thing.”

She looked up at him and caught a consoling smile before he turned and went on up the stairs. Her eyes never wavered until he disappeared down the hall then drifted to the flames dancing in the hearth. Why did he make it so difficult to dislike him?

ELEVEN

Adam and Charles were just leading their horses out of the barn when a buckboard clattered nosily into the yard. Two crates had been tied down in back to keep them from jostling out.

“I know it’s still a trifle early for deliveries, but I’ve never seen a place where French Champagne isn’t welcome at any time,” Steve Balasco said merrily as he reined in the team. He lightly bounded from the seat as they came to stand with him. “And if this wedding is a big as yours was you’re gonna need it.” He began undoing the ropes.

“I can always count on you to come through. Steve Balasco, I’d like for you to meet my brother-in-law, Charles Harper.”

“Charles,” Steve said cordially, and his hand shot out. His charcoal eyes roved over the saddled horses. “Don’t tell me he’s put you to work. I’ve always known he’s a slave driver, but this is ridiculous.”

Charles couldn’t help his laugh as he shook his head, and the man’s hand. “No, nothing like that. But we do have some urgent business in town that needs immediate handling.”

Steve returned to untying the rope. “Not anything serious, I hope.”

Adam glanced at Charles. “Nothing we can’t handle. I’d ask if you’d like to come with us but after the long trip from Bantree, I figure you could use the rest.” That lone eyebrow rose, and he gave Steve a friendly jab. “And the Champagne is probably just a handy excuse to come, anyway.”

Steve’s eyes were perfectly black as he looked around then went still as stone. “Am I that crystal clear?”

Adam chuckled. “I’d be lying if I said no.” He clapped a hand onto Steve’s back. “I tell you what, why don’t you go on inside, and I’ll get somebody to help me unload this.”

“I can do it,” Charles put in.

“Then it’s all settled. Now you go ahead.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Go on,” Adam said and gave him a slight push.

A wide grin presented pearly teeth. “Well since you put it that way. It’s been nice meeting you, Charles. You’ll havta come to Bantree some time, and I’ll set you up, on me. Now I’ll excuse myself.” Steve shook his hand again then started toward the house.

“He seems a nice enough sort. Have you known him long?”

“Quite a few years. He tends bar at one of the saloons in Bantree, and you couldn’t ask for a better friend.” Adam hefted one of the crates. “He’ll make a fine addition to the family.”

Charles nearly bobbled his load.

“That’s the man Fiona is gonna marry,” Adam went on as if not noticing.

“You think we’ve got problems now. Wait until this little piece of information gets to Lucinda.” He winced and hunched his shoulders.

Adam tried not to think about that eventuality. “We can dwell on that later. Right now let’s get this to the wine cellar and get on the road.”

Fiona was helping Angelica get the boys down for their morning nap when the bedroom door opened and their mother came in. Angelica put a finger to her pursed lips as she bounced the babies on the bed. They were fighting the inevitable but were obviously losing the battle.

“Fiona, there’s someone downstairs to see you,” Mrs. Cadence whispered.

“For me? But I don’t know anyone here.”

“Then I suggest you go downstairs. I’ll take over here.”

“We’re all right. I can manage.”

“Are you sure, Angelica?”

“Of course I am. It’s not like I haven’t done this before.”

With that assurance, they went out and Mrs. Cadence quietly closed the door.

Fiona was excited and frightened at the same time, and she wanted to run to the stairs and rush down them. She couldn’t imagine who could possibly be calling on her here. The urge to ask her mother again welled inside her, but she knew it wouldn’t do any more good than the first time.

Mrs. Cadence moved ahead and came to stand at the top landing, and something in her face made Fiona’s pulse quicken. “Mother, what…?” But she couldn’t finish her thought and followed her mother’s gaze.

He stood facing the large grandfather clock next to the front door, tall and erect. Closing his watch, he stuffed it back into its pocket of his dark red brocaded vest then straightened his deep blue jacket.

“Steve,” Fiona breathed and flitted down the stairs like a dragon fly, her skirt and petticoats rustling as her feet tapped against the treads.

A slight sound, he couldn’t be sure what, made him turn around. As he did his eyes went right to her and his heart took off like a frightened mustang. It had only been a few days since he had seen her, but to him it felt like an eternity. He took several steps into the room and waited for her to come to him.

“Steve,” she said and reached out to him as she approached, “what’re you doing here? I thought you couldn’t come.”

He took both her hands and they were warm and soft. “I got someone to take over for me for a few days. I brought a couple cases of Champagne for the wedding.”

“Is that the only reason you came?” Her head tilted demurely, and she squeezed his fingers.Steve swallowed a gulp and a hard breath shuddered into him. Why did she make his body behave this way? “Well I… I mean… Oh to heck with it. No, it isn’t the only reason, and not even the main one. I had to see you. There, I said it. Now are you satisfied?”

“Yes,” she said, and an impish twinkle lit her pale gray eyes.

“Why don’t the two of you go out onto the porch?” Mrs. Cadence said, as she stepped next to her youngest daughter. “I’m sure you have plenty to talk about.”

“Yes, let’s do,” Fiona said, as she took his arm. “It’s a beautiful day, and we have so much to talk about.”

Steve’s indecision lasted for less than a second. “I’d like that very much.”

He went out with Fiona, and the door had no sooner closed behind them when Lucinda came from the fireplace to stand by her mother. “Don’t tell me that you approve of him.”

“Very much so. I think Steve Balasco is a very fine man.”

“How serious is this between him and Fiona?”

“It’s quite serious. They plan to marry when we return to Bantree.”

“Marry! Mother, I can’t believe you condone this. How much do you know about him? And I have seen men dress that way before. What kind of work does he do, or do I dare even ask? Or does he even have a job?”

Mrs. Cadence threw her chin out haughtily. “He tends bar at The Wooden Nickel, one of the nicer saloons in town.”

Lucinda turned just the shade of parchment. “Mother, I can’t believe…”

“I don’t care what you believe. I know him a lot better than you, and Adam thinks very highly of him.”

Lucinda rolled her eyes back in her head and huffed. “Him again. I should have known that he had something to do with this. Nothing good has come from you coming out here, and he has only made things worse.”

“I have a fine son-in-law, am about to get another, a wonderful man who loves me, and has asked me to be his wife, and three beautiful grandsons. If you believe that is ‘nothing good’ then I pity you. And the worse thing is that you can’t see what’s right in front of you.” She firmly took hold of her daughter’s arm. “It’s all about wealth and society and putting on appearances with you. You need to open your eyes and look behind all that before it’s too late.”

“Before what’s too late?”

“Charles loves you desperately and would try to give you the moon if you asked, but even that kind of love can eventually be strangled and killed. What Angelica and Fiona have with their men is based on something stronger than mere position.”

“Adam is wealthy.”

“And if he lost it all tomorrow Angelica would still love him, maybe even more so. And she would certainly never abandon him. Steve isn’t rich by any stretch of the imagination. But then isn’t that one of the reasons why you can’t understand Fiona’s loving him so? Or maybe it’s because he works in a saloon? Either way, it doesn’t matter to her. Wake up, Lucinda, and see what’s around you.” Her fingers tightened on her daughter’s arm. “And don’t you dare try coming between Fiona and this man.” Her voice grew harsh. “I won’t allow it, do you hear me…? I won’t allow it.”

Mrs. Cadence roughly released her then went out onto the porch leaving a stunned Lucinda standing as if bolted to the floor. The gauntlet had been thrown down, and Lucinda had been warned not to pick it up.

TWELVE

Paul Martin handed his guests each a cup of coffee then took a chair at the kitchen table across from them. His blue-gray eyes roved over the face of the man he had known since a boy as he stirred cream into his cup. “All right, Adam, enough with the suspense. You said this isn’t entirely a social call.”

Adam’s gaze lowered to the dark brew as he inhaled the fragrant steam. “I suppose you’ve heard the ugly stories going around about Pa and Verina Cadence.”

“I have, and I don’t believe an ounce of it. As with you, I’ve known your father too long. But that still isn’t all of it, is it?”

Adam finally looked at him again. “No, Paul, it isn’t. I’m sure you pretty much know who started this as much as me and the rest of my family.”

Paul’s nose wrinkled in distaste, and his mouth drew in. “Elmira Gannet. Everyone knows that she’s had an eye on Ben for years since Raymond died.” He took a sip. “Some say even before.”

“You never saw her when she came out to the house to see Pa for whatever concocted reason. She’d fawn over him until I thought he wanted to shoot her.”

“I suppose this is her revenge for being jilted,” Paul said with a suggestion of a shrug. “I’m only surprised she didn’t do this sooner.”

“She cornered Angelica the other day in Miss Purdy’s. We think the woman was feeling her out in hopes of digging something up.”

“Did she?”

“Angelica says no, and I have no reason not to believe her.”

“Well, that would never stop Elmira.” Paul took another sip. “She’s like a bad smell you can’t get out of your clothes. Sickening and annoying.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Charles spoke up. “Adam said you might be able to help.

Paul clunked his cup into its saucer and its contents sloshed. “Me? What on Earth could I do?”

“Spread a little gossip of your own,” Adam said with a quick glance at his brother-in-law. “If it came from either of us, people would figure we were just trying to keep the family unsullied, and Elmira’s words would carry even more weight.” A mischievous light cast over his face. “But if it came casually from a third party, in strictest confidence, of course.” Adam chuckled. “Well, you know how secrets can spread, especially when the right ears hear them.”

Paul chortled. “Did anyone ever tell you that you’re devious?”

Adam grinned and took a slug of his own coffee. “Many times. It’s a combined Cartwright/Stoddard trait.”

“Just remind me never to get on the wrong side of it.”

“Any time.” Then Adam went serious. “Paul, if you don’t want to get mixed up in this, I’ll understand.”

“You’re father is a good friend, and I’m glad you came to me. Now I guess we might as well get started.” An evil glint darted through Paul’s eyes. “And I know just the place to plant the seed.”

Charles watched them as he took a jolt from his cup. He liked the men this untamed country bred, and he felt honored to have some in the family.

*******

Paul went into Drake’s Mercantile with the fervent hope that Adam’s little scheme worked. Braggarts and gossips left a sour taste in his mouth, and Elmira Gannet was both. The interior of the store was gray and cool, but that didn’t stop him from noticing two of Virginia City’s upstanding ladies in the corner looking at yard goods. He tipped his hat politely to them then his purposeful stride took him to the counter where Welsh Drake was working on some figures.

“Good morning, doc,” the stocky chocolate-haired man said cheerily, as he looked up from his ciphers. “What can I do you for on this bright day? A new pair of brogans, maybe?”

“Nothing quite so grand. I need some lamp oil and sewing thread. When a man lives alone and has to do his own mending, well, you know how that goes, being single yourself.”

“I sure do,” Welsh said with a chuckle, as he got down a spool of thread and thumped onto the counter. “Now I gotta get the oil from the back. It won’t take but two shakes.”

Paul watched as he went into the back room. He could almost feel the ladies’ eyes boring into the back of his head. Now – while he had their attention – he would make his move when Welsh got back, but the key to making this work was subtly.

“That gonna be all?” Welsh asked, as he put the container next to the thread.

“No, actually, I thought while I was here that I’d get a wedding present for Ben and his lady. But I don’t rightly know what, so maybe you can help.”

“Well, now, lemme see.” Welsh tapped an index finger against his teeth, and his eyes began scanning about. “You want something suitable for both a man and a woman, so that means clothes is out. And who gives clothes as a wedding present anyway?” He laughed. “Do you have anything in mind? I mean, Ben being a rich man he don’t need for anything I know of.”

“That’s true. That’s why I was hoping you’d have an idea.”

“Well now let me ponder this a minute.” Welsh scratched his head, ruffling his dense gray-streaked hair.

Paul could almost detect the cogs turning in the man’s head then a flash of inspiration seemed to go off.

Welsh snapped his fingers. “I think I got it!” He disappeared into the back again, and when he returned he held a beautiful ruby-hued dish with fluted handles on the sides and an ornate silver stem that attached to the glass base. “I got these in from New York two days ago, and just haven’t got one put out for display yet. Whadda ya think?”

Paul took the piece and it was heavier than he had expected. “It’s a pretty thing, and you how women love stuff like this.” But then a puzzled frown creased his brow as his attention went back to the store keeper. “What is it?”

“The drummer who cajoled me into orderin’ ’em called it a…,” his nose crinkled, “compote dish.”

Paul grinned. “I’ll take it whatever they call it. How much?”

“Twenty dollars.”

The doctor whistled through his teeth. “That’s a bit pricey.” He ran his fingers over the hobnail design of the glass. “But it is after all for a friend and a very special occasion. I’ll take it.”

“Sure thing, doc. I’ll put it in a box and wrap it right up for you.”

As Welsh went about his task, Paul let his eyes drift slightly so that he could catch sight of the ladies from one corner without being obvious about it. “Have you ever met Verina Cadence?”

“Can’t say I have,” Welsh said, as he stuffed packing material in around the dish so it wouldn’t break. “I hear she’s a fine lady, but then Ben Cartwright wouldn’t be marrying her if she wasn’t, now would he?”

“No, he wouldn’t. I’ve met her a few times, and judging from what I saw, Ben made a right choice.”

“I’ll take your word.” Welsh tore a length of brown paper from a large roll and cut it with scissors. “Whadda you think of these rumors going around town that there was some slipping around going on before the announcement?”

Paul noticed the women discreetly edging closer, and silently thanked Welsh for opening the door. “Hogwash. Ben is too upstanding for that, and he’d never fall in love with a woman who wasn’t. She comes from Bangor, Maine, and from what I know from Joe and Hoss; she’s of good breeding and has some wealth of her own. She’s a widow with seven grown children, and she’s known Joe since that awful time when we all thought Adam was dead.”

“It was a black time, all right.” Welsh finished tying green ribbon around the wrapped box. “There. All done.” He turned around and proudly presented his handiwork. “Whadda you think?”

“That looks just fine, Welsh. They’ll be pleased as punch and probably hate tearing into it.” He scrounged in his vest pocket and came out with a twenty dollar gold piece plus enough to pay for the oil and thread. “Here you go.”

As Welsh took the money his face fell into a more somber countenance.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t I give you enough?”

“It’s nothing like that…. I guess I just keep thinking about what folks’ve been saying, and it makes my blood cook.”

“I wouldn’t pay any attention to it. I’ve known Ben a long time, and I wouldn’t lie about it. And this talk isn’t all I’ve heard.”

Welsh’s interest was piqued. “What’ve you heard?”

Paul checked to make sure the ladies were listening, and he wasn’t disappointed. He leaned across the counter and lowered his voice, but not too much. “I heard that this was all started by Elmira Gannet out of jealousy.”

“No fooling.”

Paul leaned a little farther forward. “You know how everybody’s always suspected that she’s had her cap set for Ben Cartwright. According to what I heard, she used to drive Ben crazy when she’d go out to the Ponderosa. I personally think she’s just trying to get back at him. You know what they say about a woman scorned.”

“I sure do. Met a few myself. Well I wouldn’t put it past her, right enough.”

“You’re not the only one.”

Welsh’s attention was temporarily drawn away from the doctor. “Good day, ladies. Come back soon.”

Paul looked around just in time to see them scurry out the door, and one side of his mouth crimped. Unless he missed his guess, things were about to get under way good and proper.

*******

Dessert that night was peaches flambé – made with the canned variety – and Maggie served it with a flourish while Hop Sing glowered from the kitchen doorway. Midway through it Ben looked to Verina and got an approving nod. Coming to his feet he began tapping his butter knife against his water goblet. “May I have everybody’s attention please?”

All eating stopped except for Hoss until he noticed every eye in the room on him and his father’s less than pleased expression. “Sorry, Pa.”

“I have an announcement to make which may come as a surprise to some and not so to others.” Ben reached out and took Mrs. Cadence’s hand. “This is going to be a double wedding.”

Mouths fell open; there were gasps and murmurs and one feminine “What!”

Steve looked adoringly across at his Fiona, and she greeted him with the most ebullient smile.

“The four of us have talked it over, and we’ve decided that this would be the perfect time for Steve and Fiona to become man and wife.”

Without a word but with eyes burning like coals, Lucinda jerked up from her chair and threw her napkin onto her bowl. Her glare cut across the table like a hot knife, but her mother remained unflustered. With a huff, Lucinda flounced to the staircase and stomped up, still without uttering a word. They had to wait for it, though not long. The bedroom door at the other end of the hall slammed, soon followed by the wail of babies. Angelica excused herself and went to see to her sons, and Adam went with her.

Ben thumped back into his chair. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.”

“She’ll get over it,” Verina said, as her gaze once again rose to the second floor. But will we, she thought.

THIRTEEN

The next two days were like being locked inside a mausoleum for everyone living in the big roughhewn log house. Lucinda had become sphinx-like and when she did talk people tried avoiding the icy blast. But this afternoon Angelica decided that she had had enough, and she thought she knew the perfect ammunition to use to melt her rigid, headstrong sister.

She knocked at the bedroom door for the fifth time. “You might as well let me in, Lucinda. I’m not going anywhere until you do, and you’re going to get awfully tired of listening to my pounding. Not to mention that my knuckles will be badly bruised…. Don’t forget that I inherited some of that Cadence stubbornness, too.”

She stood there for maybe a second longer before the door finally opened. When she entered, Lucinda stood at the window staring out into the golden day.

“The least you can do is look at us.”

But Lucinda stood stiff and refused to.

“Addy wanted to see his Aunt Cindy.”

“Must you call me that?”

“You never minded when Daddy did.”

“I was a child then.”

Angelica went to her, and she still wouldn’t look at her. “Lucinda.” She touched her sister’s arm and felt the muscles tighten. “This isn’t helping anything. You should be happy and gay. Our mother will no longer be lonely and have only Daddy’s memory to cling to. I’m not saying that she’ll ever forget him or stop loving him. She won’t any more than Father Cartwright will the mothers of his sons. You should be deliriously ecstatic for her…. And then there’s Fiona.”

“Yes,” Lucinda’s head finally shot around, “by-all-means, let’s do talk about Fiona. This man works in a saloon, of all places, constantly surrounded by the dregs of society. And those girls who ply there trade on the men when they’re too drunk to resist. How do we know that he’s never…”

Angelica’s eyes turned deep purple. “Don’t even say it. And while we’re on the subject, Adam and his father and brothers frequent establishments like the one Steve works in. I mean, how do you think they met him in the first place? Would you call them ‘dregs’? And be forewarned before you answer that.”

The sisters just glared at each other. Then, as if aware of the tension, Addy began to wriggle and get fussy. His small, dark face scrunched, and his finely sculpted mouth pulled into a discontented pucker. Angelica shushed him and began to jostle and pat and speak calm and gentle to him.

Lucinda could see that it wasn’t exactly working and expected him to start bawling at any second, so she turned back to the window. If only she could blot it all out of her mind. She closed her eyes and fought back the tears they harbored, but then they flew open as she felt something placed in her arms. She looked down at the warm bundle wrapped in his blanket, and her heart thumped harder. “Please take him. I’m not very good with babies. For some reason they don’t seem to like me. Every time I pick one up it cries, so I just don’t anymore, if I can help it.”

But the words had no sooner left her lips than the baby began to settle. His straight, dark blue gaze locked with hers and a sensation like none she had ever known welled within her. Her posture relaxed and holding the baby began to feel comfortable to her. The sides of her mouth turned – not much – but apparently enough. This little man, who so much resembled his father, spread his mouth, and she felt all her troubles and woes evaporate. Her arms squeezed him closer to her. Her sister’s son, her nephew, was smiling at her. Now the tears found their avenue of escape.

Angelica hadn’t seen her sister cry but few times since she was eight-years-old or so. It was a good sign. “Why don’t I go out and let the two of you have a good visit?” Angelica said as she eased Lucinda to the chair. “And while you get acquainted I’ll get us a piece of Maggie’s pie and be right back….. We can talk some more.”

Lucinda looked at her, tears staining her flushed cheeks. “I would like that very much.”

Lucinda seated herself and Addy comfortably in the chair then Angelica gave her a loving pat and left them. Lucinda’s attention had never strayed from the baby who continued to stare at her. She couldn’t recall when or if she had ever seen a more beautiful child with his cap of heavy black hair and fine features. Then an arrant thought entered her head. She had seen two others just as striking. She lifted one of the tiny hands and examined each petite finger. Then she traced that much familiar mouth with her fingertip, but he was too fascinated by her to notice. “If only I could…. Charles has always wanted children, and he would make such a wonderful father.”

As Angelica came down the hall with two pieces of pie and glasses of milk on a tray she became aware of a sound like the soughing of a summer wind. She stopped outside the bedroom door, which she had left slightly ajar. Now she knew what she heard as her sister’s soft sobs floated out past her. “Good boy,” she whispered and decided not to go in just yet.

*******

Angelica sat at her father-in-law’s big mahogany desk going over a list of last minute details for the wedding. Weddings, she thought. The nib of the pen scratched over the paper as she marked items off and made notes. She didn’t notice that she was no longer alone.

“Is that necessary or do you simply need something to keep busy?”

Angelica looked at her mother and the corners of her eyes crinkled. “Some of both.”

“Is it all right if I ask you something?”

“Of course it is. You know that.”

“What has happened to Lucinda?”

Angelica’s eyes darted to where her oldest sister sat tranquilly in the big red leather chair before a crackling fire. Her mind appeared to be miles away.

“She seems lighter,” Verina went on. “It’s not so much like living with a tigress that could spring at any moment.” She cocked her head to one side, and her eyebrows rose into a graceful arch. “Did you have something to do with this?”

“We just talked and shared some pie this morning. Addy worked the magic. It’s amazing what getting a baby in her arms can do for a woman. ”

Verina was thunderstruck. “She’s never really liked to hold babies. She makes them cry, so she says.”

“Well this time she kept one from it. You should have seen the way he watched her. He had gotten squirmy and testy but calmed down almost from the instant I put him in her arms. Addy has always been the more sensitive one, and nothing escapes him. I knew if anyone could bring her out of this, he could.”

Verina turned around and took in her oldest daughter. The young woman had never been like her brothers and sisters, but then none of them were alike. This one, however, was less like her father and more like his oldest sister, her prim, stuffy Aunt Matilda. “It doesn’t really matter how you accomplished it, just that you did. Now it will be easier to live in this house, and things will hopefully be better on poor Charles.”

Angelica leaned her elbows on the desktop and began absentmindedly tapping the pen against her chin. “Sometimes I don’t know how he puts up with her.”

“If he didn’t adore her the way he does I doubt that he would, and certainly not for as long as he has.”

The pen stopped. “And therein lays another of life’s infinite mysteries.”

Verina tittered and turned back to Angelica. “I guess who one loves doesn’t always make sense to others. And we can’t help who captures our heart.”

“I know.” Angelica sighed deeply and seemed to look wistfully into the past. “But it’s a wonderful kind of entrapment.”

“With the right person.”

Angelica’s eye went dreamy-like, and she smiled furtively, tapping the pen again. He is, she thought.

FOURTEEN

Sunday dawned bright and early. The sun’s golden rays kissed the beckoning mountains and tipped the tops of the massive pines. And the clatter of wooden wheels shattered the silence as two buckboards made their way along the main road that led off the Ponderosa and to Virginia City. Adam drove the first one, carrying the women and the babies, while Hoss brought the men folk along in the second.

This was the last Sunday before the nuptials on Wednesday and today the plans would be gone over with Reverend Taylor after services. He didn’t know about this becoming a double wedding and they almost hated to spring it on him. But the tall, blond, easy going easterner never really seemed to mind when the members of his congregation sprang things on him. He would simply smile warmly and say, “That’s a part of why I’m here.”

*******

It was late up into the morning when Reverend Jeff Taylor finally saw the extended family out of the church. All the other parishioners had long gone home, and they had had the building to themselves while they worked out final details.

“I’m so glad you came, Mrs. Cadence.” Jeff took her hand and gave it a pat. “It gave people the chance to see that you’re not the serpent in the garden that some have made you out to be.”

“Is that terrible talk still going on?” Ben asked with a dark frown.

“I’m afraid so, though not as much, I’m glad to say. Another bone has been thrown to them with considerably more meat on it.” Jeff riffled his long fingers in his thick, wavy hair. “I’m not one to spread gossip, and I wouldn’t, but I think you should know what’s being said.”

“Please go on, Jeff,” Ben said.

“New talk has it that the whole thing was started by Elmira Gannet. Oh, I’ve heard several different variations as to why, but the main thread running through them is you, Ben.”

“Me!”

“Mainly they say she’s jealous about your upcoming marriage to this fine lady. But their other tangent claims that you are both the victim of a spiteful woman. Like lambs led to the slaughter, as Sam Comfort put it. And things have gotten pretty uncomfortable for Elmira around here. Even her son – with all his influence – can’t stem the flow of talk. And when have you seen or even heard of Elmira crying over anything? Well last evening I went to pay a call on her about some charity work, and I could plainly see when she opened the door that she had been doing just that. She tried keeping it from me, and I didn’t let on, but it was quite obvious. I’m sorry for it, but as the Bible tells us, “As ye sew, so shall ye reap.”

“I wish I could go talk to her and straighten out this whole mess, but I just can’t make myself do that,” Verina spoke up.

“I understand that, dear madam.” Jeff gave another pat. “Maybe later.”

“Do you have any idea how all this latest got started?” Ben asked.

Jeff couldn’t miss his coffee eyes dart to his eldest son, and Adam ducked his head, pulling his hat down in front. He covered his amusement with a hand over his mouth and went on. “No, but you know how all these things usually get started. One person says something to another who says something to another, and on and on, constantly being embellished and changed, until it takes on a life of its own. Eventually, however, it always dies down and is pretty much forgotten, though never completely.”

“But usually not until somebody gets hurt,” Ben said, his eyes still right on his first-born.

“I’ll go get the buckboard,” Adam blurted and spun on his heel.

“I’ll help you,” Charles Harper chimed in and rushed off after him.

Now Jeff had an idea who the culprits behind this were, and he didn’t really blame them. It’s amazing the lengths a man will go to to protect his family, he thought.

“Thank you for your time and help, Jeff, and we really were moved by your sermon, but now we need to get home,” Ben said, as he extended his hand. “I can only hope that Maggie and Hop Sing haven’t reduced the house to ruins.”

“I heard about Hop Sing from Dr. Martin. I do hope that he’s doing all right,” Jeff said, as he grasped Ben’s hand and pumped it firmly.

“He’s doing just fine, but you know how he feels about other people cooking in his kitchen. And then there’s the fact that Maggie’s Irish.”

“And it all make’s me glad that I’m not one who has to go back with you.”

“Afraid?” Ben asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jeff grinned. “That goes without saying.”

“You’re a lucky man,” Angelica spoke up. “Between those two it has been like living on a battlefield.”

Just then the buckboards rattled in and stopped in front of the church house. More thank yous and good-byes then Jeff stood back as the ladies and three increasingly restless babies were helped into the first one. Adam and Hoss were once more at the reins as they headed out of town for home.

Jeff smiled as he watched them drive away. The Cartwright family had grown considerably in the last year, and he liked the thought of how it had started. When a seed was planted one never knew what it would blossom in to, and sometimes it turned out to be well worth the wait and any pain endured.

*******

The heavy oak front door opened back and cheerful voices entered the house but quickly died. Maggie – wearing her coat and hat and carrying a valise in each hand – was just coming down the stairs.

“Maggie. Where’re you going?” Adam asked, as he stepped to her as she left the last step.

“I don’t much care just so long as it’s out of this house. I’ll not stay under this roof another minute with that heathen.”

Adam’s mouth crimped. “What’s he done now?”

Joe leaned closer to Hoss and whispered into his ear. “I can only imagine.”

“I’d rather not,” Hoss whispered back.

“Please tell me, Maggie.”

Her nutmeg eyes roved over the others then returned to Mr. Adam. “All morning he’s been badgering me about the way I do things, and that he would do them different and better. And he’s watched over my every move and hung over me like one of those ugly birds that eats dead things.”

“A buzzard.”

“That’s the nasty beast. Well, sir, I put up with it because I knew you and the family needed me, that is, until what he did next.”

“What did he do, Miss O’Shea?” Ben asked as he came forward.

“He got me so rattled that I burned a pan of shortbread, and the words he said to me weren’t fit for a decent woman’s ears, and in his own heathen language, no less.” Her face took on an expression of haughty pride. “So I threw a skillet at him.”

“Oh, Maggie, you didn’t hit him, did you?” Angelica asked, as her arms tightened on her youngest son.

“She miss but only by hair from dog,” came from the kitchen doorway. All attention went to the diminutive cook as the stomped through the dining room, cradling his arm in its sling. “She try kill Hop Sing.”

“Believe me, little man, if I’d been tryin’, ya wouldn’t be standin’ here talkin’ about it.”

Adam began gently trying to ease the luggage away from her. “You’re leaving isn’t gonna accomplish anything.”

“It make Hop Sing velly happy.”

“That does it!”

The baggage suddenly jerked Adam’s arms straight down as she quickly released it and one hand – opened flat – went back. He dropped the valises with a thud and put himself between the combatants in an effort to avoid mayhem. Everything happened so fast that Maggie couldn’t seem to stop the blow. It struck home but not at the target it had been intended for. A collective gasp filled the parlor and time stood still.

“Maggie!”

A swift breath ran through Maggie, and her hands capped over her mouth as she watched her stunned employer rubbing the side of his face. Hop Sing grinned like a Cheshire cat, and Adam felt as if he had been hit by a fully loaded stagecoach.

Angelica relinquished her son to her mother and rushed to her husband’s side and lightly touched his cheek. “Are you all right?”

“I think so,” he said, as he continued to rub. “You pack quite a wallop, me girl.”

“Oh, Mr. Adam, I am so sorry. I would never do anything to hurt ya or any of the family; I hope ya do know that, sir.”

He only nodded as Angelica continued to stroke his insulted cheek.

Tugging at her traveling jacket to straighten it, Maggie stiffened her spine and jutted out her chin. Her face went solemn as a judge about to pass the death sentence. “I’ll tender me resignation now, collect me things when we return home, and be obliged to leave your employ.”

“No, you won’t,” Ben said, as he trounced forward. “This whole mess is not your fault, and you’ll not be punished for it.” His darkening eyes darted to Hop Sing. “However…”

Hop Sing looked at each one of the grim faces and – cradling his injured arm – beat a hasty retreat back into the kitchen.

“Pa’s right. This isn’t of your doing, and I’ll not have you take the blame.”

“But I slapped you.”

Adam rubbed a little harder. “Well it’s not like I haven’t been before. And I’d be a fool to let you go over it. Now why don’t you take your baggage back upstairs, and I’ll talk to Hop Sing.”

“We’ll talk to Hop Sing.” Ben’s face had become just the color of ash.

“Well if you’re sure, Mr. Adam.”

“I am. Now you go on.”

Maggie did as she was told and Fiona tripped along after her. “I’ll help you unpack.”

Hop Sing was busying himself in the kitchen when he became aware of movement from the corner of his eye and turned. Mista Ben and Mista Adam stood in the doorway, and the expressions they wore made his mouth go dry. He had pushed before, but this time he wondered if he had pushed too far and would lose his job over it.

FIFTEEN

Verina Cadence flitted about her bedroom like a butterfly that couldn’t decide which flower to light on. The big day had finally arrived! Outside it was a morning like many others she had seen since coming to Nevada, but inside her she had known only one other. She tried sitting in the rocking chair by the window, but after two seconds a groan quickly brought her to her feet and the stalking resumed. A knock came at the door, and she nearly left her own skin. “Who is it?”

“Angelica.” The door opened a wide crack and a dark brown head poked inside. “Breakfast is just being put on the table.”

Mrs. Cadence crossed the room to the bed. “I couldn’t possibly eat.”

“Well if ever there was a day when you need to, this is the one.”

Mrs. Cadence just shook her head and continued pacing and wringing her hands together.

Angelica fought against the grin that wanted to form. Pushing to door together behind her she stepped to her mother, who darted away. “You aren’t even dressed yet.”

“I don’t want to have to twice so I thought I would wait until the dress gets here, if it gets here. And it doesn’t really matter since I’m not leaving this room. It’s bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the day of the wedding before the wedding.”

Angelica managed to corner her mother at the bed table and firmly grasped her hands. “Then I’ll bring your breakfast to you but first you need to calm down. You don’t want to make yourself sick. Not on today of all days.”

“How did you do it? How did you stay so calm the day of your wedding to that wonderful man?”

Angelica leaned closer and whispered. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I may have looked calm on the outside but inside I was pure jelly. Now you sit down, and I’ll go get you a plate.”

“I only want a biscuit.”

“You’ll eat bring or I’ll tell Father Ben.”

“Oh, please don’t do that! I’ll eat every morsel if you just won’t do that!”

“All right, if you’ll just sit down and eat.” Her mother sat on the side of the bed, and Angelica gave her a pat on the back of the hand. “That’s better. Now this won’t take a minute.”

When Angelica came out of the bedroom everyone was already seated at the table and dishing up.

“How’s she doing?” Charles asked, as he spooned gravy over crumbled biscuit.

“She’s nervous as a cat. It was all I could do just to get her to agree to have something.”

“You would think she has never been married before,” Lucinda huffed and took a bite.

“I have no doubt, my dear sister; she was just like this when she married Daddy.” Angelica put four strips of crisp bacon next to the large helping of scrambled eggs. “Marriage is a big step for any woman. And it has been a few years since she has been down the aisle.”

“Maybe I should go talk to her,” Ben said, as he put his napkin down and started to rise.

Angelica nearly dropped the plate she was filling. “Oh, no! That’s the one thing she doesn’t want. It’s bad luck, you know. Now you all go ahead and eat, and I’ll keep her company.”

Verina had just started to get up when her daughter came in, and she spied the plate. “I can’t eat all that!”

Angelica sat next to her and held up two forks. “I haven’t eaten yet, either. We can talk while we eat and when we’re finished I’ll get us some coffee.”

Verina reluctantly agreed, and they started in on the food, but the conversation didn’t continue right away. In fact, they didn’t say a word through the whole meal. After they were done, Angelica left with the empty plate and returned with two steaming cups. She handed one to her mother. “I thought today we could both use it black.”

“Today I could use it liberally laced with brandy.” Verina took a sip, and her pale gray eyes nearly popped then shot to her daughter.

“Bourbon. I didn’t think brandy was quite strong enough for this occasion.”

“I don’t care.” She took a hearty jolt and coughed.

Angelica parked herself in the chair so that she could look straight at her mother. “Were you this nervous when you and Daddy were getting married?”

“My goodness, yes. For a week I couldn’t sleep, and I think I wore a hole in the front parlor carpet.”

“I remember the night before mine and Adam’s wedding. I heard every little sound the house made, and stalked the darkness like a prowling cougar. But when the next day came – believe it or not – I calmed down. I guess every woman is like that the night before.”

“I suppose, but…”

The sound of rapid hooves beating into the yard killed the next words. Verina dropped her cup and saucer – coffee spreading over the ornate rug – and jerked to her feet.

Angelica sat hers on the corner of the bed table. “I’ll see who it is and be right back.”

The instant Angelica went out Verina began her pacing again, now more frenetic than ever. “What do I think I’m doing, getting married at this age? Maybe I shouldn’t go through with it. Oh, don’t be outrageous. You love each other, and that’s all that matters.” Her eyes shot to the door as she paused briefly at the foot of the bed. “Why doesn’t she hurry?”

No sooner was that said when Angelica – holding a long box tied with pink ribbon – returned with her sisters right behind her.

“The dress,” Fiona chirped.

Verina thought she would choke on her heart as she seized the box and put it on the bed. Her fingers fumbled with the bow, but she finally got it undone. The lid got a fling, and she clawed through the tissue paper then went perfectly still.

Fiona looked as if she would cry. “It’s black.”

“Not only is it black, it’s a widow’s deep mourning,” Lucinda said, as she reached out and touched the skirt of the ghastly thing. “And it’s that dreadful crepe.”

Angelica gingerly lifted it by the shoulders. “And it looks to be at least two sizes too small.”

“This is someone else’s.” Fiona’s voice had thinned. “They sent the wrong one by mistake.”

Angelica’s fine brows drew down. “And there isn’t time to go into town to take it back and get the right one.” She let it drop.

“Someone else has mine…. And it’s the softest of delft blue.”

While the others concentrated on the fiasco crumpled in the box Lucinda went to the big wardrobe and began rummaging through her mother’s clothes. “This will do,” she said, as she turned around, holding one of the dresses in front of her.

“Of course!” Angelica practically sang. “Your lovely pearl gray with the onyx buttons. It’s perfect.”

Verina stared vacantly at the dress Lucinda held. “But I did so want to look special for Ben.”

Lucinda lightly touched her mother’s arm and a smile accompanied it. “He’ll only have eyes for you and not what you’re wearing.”

Angelica chortled and put an arm around her mother’s shoulders and squeezed. “Lucinda’s right. You’ll be special no matter what you have on. Now let’s get you ready before the guests start to arrive.”

“I wish I could help, but I have to get ready myself. And I know I’m leaving you in good hands.” Fiona hugged her mother and kissed her cheek then started out.”

“Lucinda, why don’t you help her? Mother and I can manage.”

Lucinda handed the dress to Angelica then took her mother’s face in her hands. “I’m not always right.” Then she kissed her and followed after their little sister.

“I’m so happy for you that I could bust. You both deserve this and it’s been way too long in coming.”

They embraced each other, crushing the garment between them, and Verina hugged a little harder. Soon, she thought, he’ll be mine, and I only hope I’m good enough for him.

SIXTEEN

As with Adam’s, it had been decided to have the ceremony behind the house in full view of the majestic mountains. A cool breeze blew down their craggy slopes and wrapped around the company gathered to see this couple united in holy wedlock. The sons and daughters of Ben and Verina and their own families sat in the front rows. Steve and Fiona stood next to them. Small children and babies had been left in the house with Maggie and Hop Sing and things were running smoothly for a change.

“I now pronounce Benjamin and Verina man and wife. I now pronounce Steven and Fiona man and wife.”

*******

Adam had delegated himself to manning the punchbowls, and he couldn’t help dipping into the men’s more than he knew he should. But he loved his father’s brandy punch and had long had a weakness for it. His brows lowered into a frown as he watched Paul Martin making his way through the crowd.

“Punch, Paul?”

The doctor nodded. When he was handed his drink he took a good jolt. “I wanted to talk to you earlier, but this has been my first real chance.”

“Talk to me about what?”

“Elmira Gannet. I met her son on the street this morning before I came here…. She’s leaving Virginia City and going back to St. Louis where she has family.” One side of Paul’s mouth crooked. “According to him, folks have more or less turned against her, even those she calls friends. She’s finding out what it’s like to be on the other side of the fence for a change, and she doesn’t like it.”

“Well if you don’t wantta get burned…”

“I know, don’t play around the stove. But I have to admit that I feel a little guilty about it.”

“She fired the opening volley, and we simply returned fire. Maybe next time she’ll remember this unpleasant experience before she spreads talk like that again, though I seriously doubt it. Fortunately, this time it was taken care of before it got out of control. My father and Verina don’t deserve that, and I wasn’t about to stand around and just watch it happen.”

“Since you put it that way I don’t feel so bad. And while we’re on the subject,” he lifted his cup, “here‘s to the happy couples.”

Adam seconded that, and they drank a toast.

“Uh oh, here comes your father, and he looks disturbed about something. We’ll talk some more later.” Then he faded off into the crowd before Adam could say anything.

Adam had seen that expression before and now was neither the time nor the place for it, but it was there just the same. He took a sip and waited to see what the problem was.

“Have you seen your brothers?”

“Not in a bit. As soon as Jeff made the pronouncements and the newlyweds were presented they bolted.”

“And you don’t know where they went?”

“I caught them in the barn, and Hoss muttered something about Milt Sterling’s before he got one of Joe’s elbows in his ribs.”

“I have an idea it has something to do with a wedding present for me and Verina. They were probably keeping it at Milt’s so we wouldn’t run over it. You know how those two are.”

“Only too well.” Adam snickered and took another sip.

Ben eyed him warily. “How many of those have you had?”

“I never keep count. It spoils the enjoyment.”

“Then you’d better make this your last. It would be embarrassing to try to explain why my oldest son got falling down drunk at his own father’s wedding. Some might think you disapprove of my bride.”

“Not in a million years.” Adam snickered more stupidly. “Maybe you’re right. I am beginning to feel a trifle light headed. And when Angelica’s angry, it’s like sleeping with a block of ice.” He sat the cup down and gave an over exaggerated shiver.

A sudden hubbub went up in the room and displaced what they were talking about.

“They’re back!” came as more than one voice.

Ben and Adam had to part guests so they could look out the window in the study and did just as the big wagon entered the barn.

“Are we gonna go out on ‘em?”

“No,” Ben said and rested a fatherly hand on Adam’s shoulder, “let them have their fun.”

The tension in the room had become palpable when the front door swung open and Joe made his grand entrance. “Could I have everybody’s attention please? I need for you all to stand back and make plenty of room! Thank you!” Then he rushed back out.

When he returned he had a wooden bench, and Hoss was helping some of the ranch hands with a large object covered by a canvas tarp, which was deposited in the center of the parlor. As the men left the throng began closing in around the object. By this time, Verina and Fiona had joined their new husbands and were hanging onto their arms.

Without a word, Joe and Hoss stepped forward to their newest mother.

“You’re mainly why we got this, ma’am,” Hoss said, and his lips parted into a warm smile. “I mean Ma.”

Joe took her hand. “Now you really are my mother like you were in Bantree when I needed one.”

The light caught in Verina’s eyes and tears glittered. She looked to Ben, and he nodded. She eased closer to the thing, took one corner of its covering and gave a fierce jerk, and Hoss helped.

Gasps and murmurs raced around her as her hands went to her mouth. “A piano. A beautiful piano. Where did you find such a grand thing?” She ran her fingertips over the cool, polished wood.”

Joe puffed up. “In San Francisco. We thought while we were there that we’d find something special, and I remembered how you once said you missed the one you had back in Maine. Do you like it?”

“I love it.”

They each got a kiss and a neck breaking hug, and Hoss blushed.

“Why don’t you play somethin’ for us?” Hoss asked, as he pulled up the bench for her.

Ben gave her gentle a nudge. “Go ahead. I’ve never heard you play before, and I’d very much like to.”

She agreed then settled herself onto the bench and raised the lid that covered the keys. As she touched them it was like greeting an old friend after so many years parted. She looked over at Ben as he sat next to her, and his smile made it all complete. Then the soft notes rose toward the ceiling, and she began to sing. Everyone gathered around her and her beloved and joined in. She had never dreamed of being this blissfully happy ever again.

Hop Sing and Maggie watched from the edge of the dining room. She sniffled and blinked then felt something stuffed into her hand. It was a handkerchief. She looked over to the little cook and returned the smile she received then their attention went back to the joyous sight. The war was over.

*******

Fiona had never been so completely alone with a man, and here she was about to go to bed with one. She watched him as he slipped into the nightshirt, and her mind marveled at the build of him. Lean and muscular, she wondered how he kept his physique while simply working in a saloon. Her hands squeezed on the comforter as he finished with the last button and turned to her. An ardent light flickering in his charcoal eyes made her heart pound. The corners of his mouth curved then he blew out the lamp. The room was perfectly black, and she could no longer see him. Then the bed creaked slightly, and she felt him slide in next to her. His arms went around her and held her close to him, and she thought she would strangle on her own breathing.

“Are you happy, Mrs. Balasco?”

“More than I ever thought I could be.”

She felt his fingers in her hair then his moist, inviting lips covering hers. And she knew that if she died right now, she would die the most wonderfully happy woman in the world.

*******

Angelica finished tucking the blanket snuggly around the slumbering babies while Adam watched her from the side of the bed.

“I do hope they sleep through tonight. After today I need all the rest I can get.”

“And after all the brandy punch you had.”

He grimaced and ducked his head then looked at her beneath his eyebrows. “Pa told you about that?”

“He didn’t have to. I watched you, and I knew you were going to have a head too big to get through a doorway. It’s fortunate you stopped when you did.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “But I had enough to make it throb nicely.”

She came and sat next to him and began massaging his temples with her fingertips. “Does that help?”

He closed his eyes and nodded. “For now, but it’ll probably return if I have to live under the same roof with Lucinda for very long.”

“You don’t have to worry about her. I noticed her through the ceremony, and we had a long talk after the guests had all left. She admitted hadn’t mother that happy in a long time, and that she couldn’t find fault with any man who could do that for her. And then she completely surprised me.”

One dark hazel eye cracked, and he looked at her. “What did she do?”

“It’s not what she did but what she said. She told me that if father was like oldest son, mother had indeed done well.”

He clasped her hands in his and turned to her. “Did you do well? I know I did.”

“I did better that just well. I have my babies, I have you, and that’s all the world I need. I couldn’t and I won’t ask for more because it doesn’t get any better.”

He moved his hands to her shoulders and pulled her to him then kissed her. Then his arms closed around her, and she rested her head against his chest, and she could hear his strong heart beating. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into this wonderful being and become one with him. Yes, she had done exceedingly well and beyond even her own expectations. And she knew that father was like son, and she was glad for her mother, as well as herself.

*******

Verina Cartwright stood at the bedroom window looking out into the vast darkness. She took a deep breath and let her gaze trace to the blackened silhouette of the mountains against the midnight blue of the sky. So absorbed in the solitude of her own thoughts was she that she didn’t know he was there until she felt his hands on her arms and his broad chest against her back.

“Can’t sleep either?”

She shook her head. “I can’t remember ever being so wide awake.”

“Then that makes two of us.”

He nuzzled the back of her neck and it sent chills racing along her spine. “Ben, have you ever had any doubts that this was the right thing to do?”

“If I had, do you think I would’ve gone through with it.” His arms went around her and his hands clasped in front. “In some ways you remind me of Elizabeth, in some Inger, in some Marie, and in most like nobody I’ve ever known. And those are the ones that make me love you all the more.” Gently he turned her to face him. “You’re a beautiful woman in face and spirit, and I’m glad and proud to have you at my side.” He took her face in his hands. “You’re mine now, Verina, to honor, cherish and love, and I do. And I will do all that is in my power to make you as happy as I know you will me.”

“You already have more than I think even you know.”

The faint light caught in his silver hair as his head lowered. His lips brushed hers, and she felt herself dissolve at their touch. How much her life had changed since coming to this wild, vibrant country filled with wild, vibrant people. And now she found herself once more married, and to no ordinary man for a second time. She turned back to the window and looked out onto the breathtaking land known as Ponderosa. His cheek rested against the side of her head and again he held her in his warm embrace. Tomorrow would be the first day of the beginning of their lives together, but for now they would simply enjoy each other in solitude. There would be plenty of time for other things later.

THE END

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