Summary: Part two of The Cherry Tree Saga
Word Count: 11,100
The Cherry Tree Saga
Part 2
Chapter 1
For weeks Ben Cartwright had thought about the letter Adam had sent him from Boston saying he might not return to the Ponderosa after he graduated.
Ben had read the letter over and over in the next few weeks until knew every word by heart. He would wake up late at night and wander the house sleeplessly trying to decide what he should write to his son. He wanted Adam to come home, to help build the ranch for all the boys. There were nights Ben wished he could saddle his horse and ride day and night to Adam in Boston, hog tie him and drag him back home.
This is where Adam belonged, here on the Ponderosa.
Ben Cartwright wrote the letter in his head as he tended the cattle and fixed the fences. He thought about it as he watched his ranch hands bring the herd into the winter pastures. Ben sat at his desk and wrote letters to Adam over and over. Again and again he rejected each draft fighting with the words until the words became meaningless. His big hands were stained with ink and his head was pounding from frustration.
The wrong words could work against him. The right words might bring his son home. Ben Cartwright needed to be a patient man.
Ben hadn’t wanted to tell his two younger sons about the letter but his boys clearly could see his distress. He put their questions off but he never lied to them.
It all came to a head about three weeks after he received the letter. Ben had been up all night chewing out his dilemma, arguing with Adam in his dreams, tossing and turning and dreaming of an argument he had with Abel over two decades before. The fight got all twisted up in the dream. In the nightmare, Ben had his hands around his father-in- law’s throat and Ben was screaming at him. Adam was an infant and was crying relentlessly somewhere nearby. Ben searched franticly but couldn’t find his son in dark, cold Stoddard house, the house Ben last saw close to twenty years earlier.
Ben Cartwright sat bolt upright in his own bed in a cold sweat, his heart pounding. The blankets and sheet were knotted around his legs. His hands were clenched as if he were still trying to choke Stoddard. The ranch house was still and quiet around him, A full moon was shining brightly outside his window and he could see Lake Tahoe like as silver thread beyond the bare trees.
Climbing out of bed, Ben put on his blue robe that had been hanging on a brass hook by his door and walked barefoot down the moonlit hallway. His heart was still beating in his ears like a drum. The nightmare left with a dry mouth and a feeling of panic rising in his throat.
He looked in at his sons in their beds. Hoss was snoring loudly, sleeping on his back, his big feet sticking out the end of the quilt. He walked into Little Joe’s room The small boy’s feet were at the top of the bed and his curly head was at the foot. His father gently rearranged the boy covered him with his blankets. The house was getting cold. He missed his oldest son with all his heart.
Ben walked downstairs into the great room. He walked over to the sideboard and poured himself a snifter of brandy from the decanter. He took a swallow of the golden liquid. Then he took another and felt the warmth trail down his throat into his belly.
He walked over to the large stone fireplace and looked into the hearth. Holding the snifter of brandy in his left hand the rancher, picked up the heavy, black iron poker in his right and prodded the banked fire back into life. Sparks shot up the chimney. He reached into the wood box and tossed some small logs into the fireplace. Sitting in his red leather chair, Ben starred into the flames and drank the brandy.
“Abel, I did what you asked. I gave you a second chance with Adam. I let him come to know you on his own… to make up for all the years that were lost to you… I let him go to your college, to see your world, to read all the books… I kept my part of the bargain…. You keep your part, Abel you sneaky jealous bastard and don’t you steal my son.”
Chapter 2
“Adam, come in here,” Abel’s voice echoed down the hall to his grandson. Adam was studying in the front parlor. “ I need to talk to you.”
Adam walked down the long paneled hall to his grandfather’s book lined library. Abel was seated at his desk facing Adam as he entered. Charles Bruce was sitting on the right side of the desk in a high backed chair.
“Son, I want to have a serious talk with you. Sit down.” Captain Stoddard pointed to a brocade-covered chair to the left of his massive desk.
“You are a very capable young man. I have watched how well you are doing in college and am very pleased about everything I hear about you in the office. Mr. Bruce here has noticed too,” Stoddard stood up next to his seated grandson.
Broad shouldered Adam was a head taller than his grandfather. Stoddard always made a larger man sit while he stood over him. He could look down at his adversary as they spoke. It forced the other man to look up at him and made him feel vaguely intimidated by the Captain. This strategy let the Captain feel more in control of the situation and had earned him victory in many conflicts.
“Adam, “ he continued.” I want to offer you a junior partnership in Stoddard and Bruce. I want you to stay here in Boston and make this your home. “
Adam was taken aback. He loved Boston but had never really considered not returning home to the Ponderosa. He had been corresponding with his father for many months about projects they could work on once Adam returned home. They wrote about expanding the mill and providing lumber for the mines, improving the herds, things that Adam knew would work and was looking forward to implementing.
“I… I don’t know what to say, Grandfather. I really hadn’t thought about this …staying here…I sort of was planning on going home after graduation. I am truly honored by your offer. Thank you, sir.”
“How can you refuse, boy? Someday Stoddard and Bruce can belong to Adam Cartwright. I’m an old man. And Charles Bruce has no sons.”
“Let me think about this Grandfather. I need to weigh this out. I am not sure what to do.”
The analytical Adam spoke.
“Damn “ thought Stoddard. Any other young man would have leaped at this chance. Why did his grandson have to be so infuriating. I will just have to sweeten the pot.
“Certainly, son. Certainly. You have a few months until graduation and I am sure something will help you make up your mind to see that my offer is an opportunity you can not refuse.”
”I want to show you something Adam I wasn’t really going to share this with you quite yet, but you forced my hand.”
Stoddard walked over to the safe and opened it. He pulled out a black lacquered box that he had brought back from a long ago sea voyage. Inside was a purple velvet pouch, the as purple as Amanda’s eyes.
“This belonged to your grandmother. She wanted you to have it when the time was right.” Stoddard smiled thinking of his late wife. She was the only one who ever could tell hem what to do or how to do it. She had died the spring after Adam had come east. She had been so happy she lived to see her grandson again. In her final days, she watched her husband Abel attempt to make some sort of relationship with the young man she thought had been lost to them forever.
“She wanted you to have this, when the time was right.” Abel pulled a diamond ring from the pouch. “ This is for you to give to a young lady.”
Adam smiled thinking of Amanda Bruce.
“I don’t know what to say, Grandfather. I…I just don’t know what to say. Could you give me some time to think?”
”Don’t take too long, Adam. Such lovely girls are very rare and have many suitors. You don’t want to miss your opportunity.” The Captain carefully put the diamond away in the violet velvet sack. “ You may never catch the wind if you don’t raise your main sail fast enough.”
Chapter 3
It was midnight.
Adam Cartwright hurried home, to the Stoddard house through the cobblestone streets of Boston. The sound of his footstep echoed off the buildings .The night was cold and he turned up the collar of his coat against the wind gusts coming off the Charles. A full moon lit the sky. The stars seemed brighter than he had ever seen in a Boston night sky. It was a magical night.
He couldn’t believe his good fortune these last few weeks.
All within a few days he had earned the highest grades in his class, had been offered a position in his Grandfather’s firm and had met raven haired Amanda Bruce, the most lovely woman he had ever known.
He had been her constant escort these last few weeks to parties and dinners and the opera. He had held her in his arms and smelled her flowery perfume. He had kissed her cherry red lips and gazed into those violet eyes until he thought he would explode.
How had he existed before he met Amanda?
Tonight, he had escorted her to the Winter Ball at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Van Dyne. Adam Cartwright and Amanda Bruce had taken the dance floor first, surrounded and admired by the other guests. They made a handsome couple, he in his silver waistcoat and mid night black suit, and she in her swirling, blue dress. Her amethyst earrings glittered in the candlelight and she smiled up at him. He held her, gingerly at first, very much aware of all the eyes on them. Adam knew he was with the most beautiful woman at the party and the envy of every man that evening.
As they danced, Adam ran his hands over her bare shoulder blades and down her back to her waist, feeling the warmth of her body through blue satin of her dress. Her waist was so small he could span it with his hands. He felt the touch of her breath on his face and smelled the sweetness of the perfume in her hair He became very much aware of the closeness of her body as they danced.“I love you Amanda,” he whispered in her ear. Then they melted into each other’s arms, drowning in each other’s eyes, and for all Adam knew, or cared, the rest of the world might have ceased to exist.
After dancing, she had led him into a dark corner of the hall and reached up pulling
Adam’s face down to meet her face. Their lips met and she kissed him passionately. He drew her tightly to him and closed his mouth gently over hers in a long, and lingering, kiss.
Adam’s head spun. He had never met such a lovely woman And she was a lovely woman who not only allowed him to kiss her, but who encouraged him to kiss her, to hold her, to crush her to him until he couldn’t think clearly.
He was a very lucky man Adam thought.
Chapter 4
Ben awakened many mornings more tired than he went to bed the night before. He had black circles under his eyes each morning and looked haggard. Finally the sleepless night were starting to get the best of him.
Two nights before, he had awakened again from his nightmares about trying to find Adam. He got up and walked down stairs to drink brandy and stare into the flickering fire. Another sleepless night of worry about Adam’s decision. This was becoming a nightly routine. Nightmares, brandy, sitting downstairs until he fell asleep on the settee or in his red leather chair.
Just before dawn, Cartwright awoke sitting in his chair, the blue blanket from Hoss’s bed covering him. Joe and Hoss were sleeping toe to toe on the settee covered with Ben’s coat from the hall rack. His boys had come down to “guard him” in the night. They were worried about their father.
“ I can’t let this go on,” Ben thought. “ I am making these boys take care of me, a grown man, instead of me protecting my boys.” He gently picked up Joe and carried him back up to his own bed. He left Hoss on the settee and covered him with the blanket.
Hoss had noticed how worn and upset his Pa was and was doing his best to shoulder more chores. Ben had had another sleepless night. He had only the taste for a cup of coffee that morning despite Hop Sing’s arguments. Even Little Joe commented on his Pa’s lack of appetite and lack of conversation.
”Pa, are you mad at me and Hoss ?” his smallest son asked him in a soft cautious voice. Joe looked pretty upset. His green eyes looked up at him . The boy was trying not to cry. Hoss poked at the eggs on his plate, clearly too disturbed by his father’s behavior to eat.
Ben looked at each of his beloved son’s up turned faces and realized by saying nothing about Adam’s letter he was hurting the boys more than if he told them what was happening. He had to explain what was going on to both of them. The man realized that in his concern for one son, he was abandoning the other two.
Ben cleared his throat. He took another sip from his coffee cup and put it down on the table.
“No boys, I am not mad at you. I just have a lot on my mind right now. Adam wrote me a letter a while back. He had wanted me to share some news with you so you wouldn’t worry. Your brother loves you both very much but I guess I didn’t trust his judgment about this. I figured that not telling you boys what was going on between us would be better. But I was wrong. I am sorry for worrying you boys. I was wrong and Adam was right. I just didn’t want to worry you.”
Joe and Hoss looked at each other. Little Joe was pretty scared. What had his brother written? He didn’t recall his pa ever saying any thing such a pained tone. Was Brother sick?
Cartwright rose from the breakfast table, walked over to his study and fetched Adam’s letter from the carved, mahogany box on top of the shelf near the window. Ben stared for a minute at the map of the Ponderosa hanging on the wall. He turned and walked back to the table. The grandfather clock ticked loudly in the silence of the ranch house.
“Ok boys, here is what I have been keeping from you.”
He took another swallow from his coffee cup. He took a deep breath and started to read the words he almost knew by heart.
Both young brothers listened earnestly as their father’s deep voice read the letter to them. Lovely girls, books, restaurants, parties and the offer by Adam’s grandfather. Half way through Little Joe got up from his seat and climbed into his Pa’s lap. He needed to be closer to his father and to see Adam’s words for himself. Ben pulled his smallest boy closer as he read his oldest son’s words. His left arm was wrapped around Little Joe in a tight hug and he held Adam’s letter in his right hand. Ben rested his unshaven cheek against Joe’s curly hair drawing comfort from the closeness of his youngest boy. Little Joe stared at the white paper in Pa’s big calloused hand struggling to make sense of the words Adam had written.
Hoss took a deep breath. He had to think about this, take in all of the words his father had read.
“Pa, what do we do? ‘Hoss asked. “Can’t you just tell him to come right back home?”
Joe nodded, his eye wide.
“No Boys, we just have to wait and let Adam think this one out.”
”No Pa, you go get him and bring him home to me. “Little Joe demanded. “Go now Pa! I miss him. He said he was coming back when he went away. He promised. He did Pa. He can’t stay with his Grand father.” Joe started to cry.
Hoss looked stricken and stared down at the cold eggs on his plate and put down his fork. “Pa, Joe is right. Adam promised to come back.”
”Boys, we have to wait this one out.” Ben pulled Joe to him and held him close.
“Some times you just have to be patient and let things take their own course. Like waiting for the tide to rise or winter to end.”
Hoss got up from the table and put his arms around his brother and his father. “Guess you know best Pa… but I wish there was more we could do.”
“All we can do it wait, son. Your brother has to make up his own mind. He is a grown man now.”
Joe was not good at waiting and he knew he needed to figure some way to convince his brother Adam to get home. Adam had promised him. Cartwright brothers stuck together. Little Joe knew he had to do something to bring Adam home.
Chapter 5
Three weeks after Ben received Adam’s letter, he and Hoss were riding up the snowy trail to check on the stock in Long Meadow. Both were bundled up against the cold gray day.
“Take the right fork son.”
“Pa, you sure you want to go that way through the woods? It is pretty steep going…icy too. Maybe we should head around the south side. It may be a bit longer but it is flatter and less iced up’
”Just go.” Ben growled impatiently. Ben kicked his heels into the side of his horse and headed up the trail ahead of his son.
The lack of sleep was definitely taking its toll on his nerves. The midnight brandy and morning coffee was not helping out and the dark mood did little to make being with Ben easy. The hands were giving the boss wide berth. The men stuck their noses into their chores and only spoke to big man when they had no other choice. Only easy going Hoss could stand being with him that day. Ben was bone weary and there was plenty of work to do before the winter early nightfall. The dampness in the air and chill in the gusting wind told both riders that more snow was on the way. Hoss studied the sky again, for the third time that morning. He had a bad feeling about the looming clouds and northern wind that was whipping off the lake. He was certain there was going to be another snowstorm, and soon. As he urged his horse along the bluff, he decided to tell Pa that they should finish up their chores and head back for home.
“Pa looks like we’re in for a big blow.”
Ben nodded grimly looking at the darkening sky. “Looks like that to me also, son.”
Tall in the saddle, Ben was lost in a fog of worry about Adam and not paying attention to the snowy trail or the low hanging pine limbs. Frosted with the weight of the damp snow, many of the boughs dangled over the trail.
”Hustle up Hoss.” Ben snapped leading his son down the trail. “It is getting dark I want to be done checking that stock before nightfall.”
Carelessly, the rancher turned around in the saddle to look over his shoulder at his son with out thinking about the low hanging evergreen branches.
“Pa! Look out!” Hoss shouted.
Before he could avoid it, Ben’s head thudded into one of the sagging branches. His hat flew off and a shower of wet snow sprayed to the ground. Ben’s horse hit an icy patch, stumbled and pitched Ben headlong down the hill.
Hoss quickly pulled his mount to a halt. The sixteen year old leaped off his horse and half ran and half slid down the slope after his fallen father. Ben lay sprawled in a heap at the base of a drift.
“Pa! Are you ok! Pa!”
Ben looked up at his bellowing bearlike son lumbering down the hill. He didn’t feel any pain more than foolish hurt pride at the tumble he had taken. He was sat up and laughed at the sight of the Hoss barreling down the slope like a crazed grizzly.
By the time Hoss reached him, Ben was checking himself out for injuries.
“Pa are you ok?”
The boy picked up his father’s hat from half way up the hill and dusted the snow from it.
There was a gash on Ben’s forehead from the branch and a few scrapes but he felt ok.
“I’m fine son, guess all these heavy clothes and the snow kept me from getting hurt too bad. I have a pretty hard head.”
“Did you hurt anything?” the worried boy asked handing his father his hat.
”Just my pride. Give me my hat and a hand son. I feel like a dang fool”
Hoss extended a big paw to Ben and yanked his father upright.
”Ooof!” Ben grunted. “All except my left knee. Whew.” Ben let out a breath as he put his weight on his legs to stand up and his knee buckled. Help me up the hill, Boy.” He gritted his teeth and leaned against his husky son.
Ben rested his weight on the right leg and Hoss put his arm around him. “Lean on me Pa, I’ll bring you over to that rock and then I’ll go get your horse.”
Hoss helped his father over to a rocky out cropping and went back up the hill to lead his father’s horse over to him. With his son’s help, Ben grabbed the saddle and swung himself up on his horse, still feeling more foolish than hurt.
Father and son rode carefully back home.
By the time they reached the house, Ben’s knee had really started to swell and get hot and he started to feel even more annoyed with himself about his carelessness. Hoss helped him into the house and bandaged him up.
“Want me to ride into town for the Doc?”
”What for Son? To tell him your Pa has a hard head and less sense than the town drunk? No boy, you did just fine.”
Ben realized he was lucky he wasn’t hurt more seriously. “Can’t believe what I did,” he said to Hoss.
. “I really have to think about my other boys… if I break my fool neck and Adam stays in Boston…. What would become of them? He knew he could not let this fog in his brain destroy what he did have. Nothing was more important to him than his sons and he had to start taking care of them like the father, not his boys taking care of some fool drunk riding around the Ponderosa crashing into trees with his head.
Ben spent the next few days resting on the settee with his leg propped upon a pillow. Hop Sing fussed over him and muttered in Chinese. Doc Martin had ridden out one afternoon to check on Ben after Little Joe taking Kate Wallace’s suggestion, “accidentally” bumped into him after school and let it slip out that his Pa was laid out on the settee with a hurt leg and big bump on his head.
Ben finally figured out what he would write to his son. He limped over to his desk and put pen to paper.
Dear Adam,
I know how hard this must be for you, my son. I was once a young man not knowing whether to stay in the East or go west. A man must pick his own path in life for himself from his own heart and his own head.
Whatever decision you make, whether you chose to stay in Boston or return here to the ranch, must be yours to make. I respect your ability to make this choice on your own and plot a true course on your own life.
Whatever the out come, I am very proud of you and will always be proud of you, my son.
Adam I love you with all my heart.
I will be waiting patiently for you to decide what path to pick.
We all miss you very much.
Your father
Then it was a just a matter of waiting.
His mood turning grayer as the winter days wore on but Ben Cartwright drew on a reserve of patience he never knew he had.
Chapter 4
“Little Joe, what’s wrong with you?” Kate sat next to her friend at recess. “Are you sick?”
Joe Cartwright was sitting very quietly in the corner of the schoolyard, his back to the clapboard wall of the building. Usually he was at the epicenter of the running and jumping herd of little boys chasing each other around at recess time.
“Leave me alone.” Joe muttered. She realized he was crying and didn’t want anyone to see him. He wiped his nose on his sleeve.
“Are you sick?” Kate persisted. She was not known for backing down when she wanted to know something. Her mother said she was just like her Uncle Foster, the editor of the Territorial Enterprise, in this respect.
“No, I’m not sick. Its something my Pa told Hoss and me. He said my brother Adam might not come back home.”
Katie vaguely remembered Adam. He was much older than Little Joe and had often come to her house to visit with her father, Hank. He would bring Joe to play with Kate while Adam sat with her father at the dining room table. Adam used to Kate’s father about becoming an engineer and Hank helped him study the mathematics he needed to pass the entrance exams for college. Even now there would be letters sent back and forth between them.
“Why is he doing that?” Kate asked. She slid down next to Joe and leaned against the wall. Joe’s eyes were red.
“I don’t know. “Joe sniffed one last time. He was embarrassed that any of the boys should see him crying but he knew Kate wouldn’t tell anyone. They often trusted each other with secrets.
“He wrote a letter to my Pa and said there are all these things for him in Boston, like pretty ladies and places to eat.”
Kate nodded. She had never seen Joe so sad and she felt terribly for him. “I got to do something, Kate. Pa said we have to wait for him to make up his mind but that ain’t good enough for me. I can’t wait that long. Do you think I should go to Boston and bring him back?”
”Gee Joe, that is awfully far away. It would take you weeks to get there. ” Kate shook her head at Joe. Didn’t he ever do his geography homework? “Maybe you could write to him and tell him that you want him home.”
”But he said there are special things for him in Boston. That’s what Pa read in the letter. “
”So tell him there are special things here in Virginia City and then you can lure him back home. Just like when you go fishing and put a big fat juicy worm on your line.”
Joe laughed at her remark and he pictured himself throwing a big worm and pulling his oldest brother out of the lake. “Would you help me write the letter?”
”Sure I will.” Kate smiled; glad she could cheer him up. “What are friends for, Joe?”
Chapter 5
Adam looked at the envelope sitting on the marble topped table in the front foyer of the Stoddard home. Even without even picking it up he recognized Little Joe’s backward slanting handwriting. Adam picked up the envelope and slit it open with his pocketknife. He pulled out two pieces of paper folded crookedly together. Adam carefully opened the letter and smoothed it out to read it.
One was a letter written on lined copy paper:
Dear Adam,
I hate school very much.
I hate it every day except on Saturday and Sunday.
I miss Hoss in my school. No bullies picked on me and my friends when he was in the school.
Please tell Pa that I should not go to school and I can work with Hoss on the ranch.
Pa hurt his nee.
I miss you very much.
Your brother,
Joseph Francis Cartwright
The second piece looked like a sheet of ledger paper that had been ripped from one of Pa’s ledgers. Adam smoothed that page out too. Written in a childish hand was a long list of names.
“What the heck is little Joe sending me?” Adam puzzled. He still wasn’t quite used to the idea that Joe was old enough to be reading and writing and in fourth grade. He still thought of his little brother at six, the age he was when Adam went east.
He looked down again at the ledger sheet and tried to make sense of it. Neatly printed but filled with misspellings was the title “ eating places in vir. City” with an alphabetical list starting with Buket of Blud and ending with Zelda’s café (reel good pie)
The next column on the ledger was label “Ladies” and had a list of female names accompanied by hair color and an occasional notation like “smells good in church”,” very pretty “ or “has all her teeth” or “ dances in buket of blud” “lovely and pretty nice pie”
Adam tried to make heads or tails out of what was clearly a major effort for the little brother who hated school so much.
He stood staring at the lists in front of him and scratched his head in confusion.
He heard soft footsteps behind him.
“Hello Adam”
”Liza!”
He turned to see Liza Bruce and enveloped her in his embrace. Tall. Adam lifted her off her feet with his enthusiasm and spun her around the hallway. “What a wonderful surprise! What are you doing here?”
” My father is meeting with Captain Stoddard and he suggested it would be nice for me to come along in case you showed up for dinner. You can’t study until midnight every night”
Adam pulled her closer and looked down at her heart shaped face. Her violet eyes met his gaze. “ You are not only beautiful but you are a very smart woman. And that is why I love you.”
She pulled away from him. She smiled. No gentleman had ever called her a woman. Other men had professed their love to her but no one had called her a woman. It was usually “young lady”. There was something very appealing about Adam’s comment. Something that raised her temperature and made her heart beat more rapidly. She licked her lips unconsciously.
In that instant Liza Bruce decided if she couldn’t have whom, she wanted she would havewhat she wanted. Her father be damned.
“What do you have there?” she smiled coyly putting her hand on his sleeve. She gently squeezed his arm.
”Ok Miss Bruce. Maybe you can help me with this mystery. I just got this from my baby brother Joe. Maybe you can figure out what business he is keeping records for. It sure doesn’t look like anything my father raises on the ranch. ”
“Let me see. “ She reached out for the papers.
He handed Liza the letter and stood studying her as she read. He was glad she was occupied so he could stare without her noticing Her black hair was piled high upon her head showing of the graceful curve of her neck. The tight bodice of her cobalt velvet gown was low cut revealing more cleavage than most proper young ladies in Boston would usually reveal. Tall Adam enjoyed the view as she read Joe’s letter.
Liza felt his eyes upon her but continued to read. She knew she was beautiful tonight and no man in Massachusetts would disagree with that idea or resist her charm.
”Too bad Joe’s letter was so brief and Amanda reads so quickly, “ Adam thought. She is going to catch me staring at her.
She looked up. Her eyes met his downward gaze. She totally was enjoying his stares. She smiled at him catching what he was doing and moved closer. So close that they were touching. Facing him, Liza rested her right hand on his chest.
“He seems so sad Adam., “ she said tracing her finger on the front of his starched white shirt. “ Can’t you do something about his troubles? And your father is hurt…”
Pa hurt? Distracted by Amanda, Adam hadn’t even noticed that part of the letter. How did it happen he wondered. What else was going on back home that he doesn’t know about? How was Pa managing without him there to help?
Amanda’s perfume filled his nostrils. She smelled like something familiar from long ago. Lilac? Roses? Like pink cherry blossoms.
“And Miss Bruce, the second document…” Amanda held one side of the page and Adam the other. He pulled her closer still and took a few steps forward gently pushing her into the little alcove under the staircase.
“What do you think this thing is? He breathed in the perfume in her raven hair. For an instant he thought “who cares what Little Joe wants as long as I can stand this close to Amanda” He felt the heat of her body next to him and he felt himself harden at her nearness.
I hope she can’t hear how loud my heart is beating. He ran his index finger slowly down the side of her face. Amanda sighed.
“It looks like he spent a lot of time counting the citizens in your town.”
”Just the female citizens.” Adam added. “Females and restaurants…very mysterious.” He smiled and hoped he sounded casual and sophisticated. He couldn’t breath for the nearness of her.
He pulled her closer and closed his eyes. Nothing could be better than what he had in his arms here in Boston. Nothing.
Amanda melted against him, returning his heat as he buried his face in her raven hair. He pressed himself against her.
Quietly, Abel Stoddard and Charles Bruce stood in the shadow at the end of the hall. They could see the image of young couple reflected in the tall hallway mirror opposite them. Facing the other way, Adam and Amanda and had no idea they were being scrutinized.
Certainly Adam would not be so boldly embracing Miss Bruce had he known her father was nearby watching them.
The two older men had just finished a meeting with their attorneys drawing up a contract to merge some of their most important assets
They gazed down the hall looked at the young couple embracing in the little alcove.
Captain Stoddard smiled.
Abel thought his grandson was a very handsome young man. Strong and tall and smart, Adam Cartwright had a bright future in front of him. Amanda would make him a wonderful wife. He could imagine the many handsome black haired sons Adam would give him to carry on the Stoddard Shipping Line. Everything Abel had planned for the boy in the last years was working just as he had hoped, just as he had arranged. Just like an easily won game of chess and he was ready to say “Check and mate”
He had baited his trap, and waited patiently. Patience was always the key; patience and the correct motivation.
Adam would be the son he never had; the son Charles Bruce had lost when the Sea Breezesank off of Nantucket. Adam would eventually take both their places as the head of Stoddard and Bruce.
And someday, a third of Ben Cartwright’s precious Ponderosa would be part of those holdings.
Captain Stoddard smiled at that thought: Ben Cartwright’s ranch as part of Stoddard and Bruce. Nothing pleased Abel more than that bonus.
Captain Stoddard and Charles Bruce turned and walked back into the book-lined study.
Charles quietly closed the door behind them while Abel reached for a bottle of French cognac on the polished sideboard. The bottle had arrived on one of his ships the same week his grandson had arrived in Boston. Taking it as a sign for the future, Abel had put the cognac aside for just such a day. He slowly poured two generous portions into crystal glasses and offered one to Charles Bruce.
“To the merging of our holdings!” Captain Abel Stoddard toasted enthusiastically
“To the merging of our holdings.” Bruce repeated with a smile. “To the merger.”
Chapter 6
“Adam!” a voice shouted to him as he walked across Boston Common.
Adam Cartwright turned to see who called have been calling him.
“Dennis!”
Dennis O’Mara loped down the path to his friend, his face split by a broad grin. His gray eyes were shining.
“Dennis! What are you doing here! I thought you would be gone passed New Year’s! How was New York! What are you doing here so soon!!!” The words came tumbling happily out of Adam’s mouth.
The two friends grabbed each other around the shoulder and shook hands. Their breath made clouds in the cold air.
” New York was wonderful. Adam you would love it. Better than Boston. The people are much friendlier and less caught up in who they are and who they their relatives are.”
“How did the work go?”
”Great! The properties are more than even the Captain expected. This was really my chance to get a leg up and prove myself to The Old Man…. To prove myself to this entire damn city! Your grandfather sure put one over on Bruce. But then again, Adam, Bruce deserves it…”
”Why would Dennis say that?” Adam thought. “What did he have against Amanda’s father?”
“I worked like a dog to impress your grandfather… he never thought I could get everything done so fast. You should have seen his face when I came into his office this morning. I thought he would swallow his pipe.”
Adam laughed at the thought of his Grandfather being astonished at anything.
“Was it lit?” Adam asked with mock seriousness.
“Was what lit?”
“The pipe Dennis. Were you going to get the privilege of getting him to swallow a lit pipe?” Adam clasped his friends arm and looked him straight in the eye.” Lit or cold?”
Dennis smiled broadly at the picture.
“Thanks for watching out for my mother and the girls while I was gone. Adam. I really appreciated it.”
“Oh no thanks needed. It was my pleasure. You would have done the same for me, Dennis. It wouldn’t have been Christmas night without supper at the O’Mara’s and your Uncle Sean’s liquid refreshment.”
“Sean said that you were mooning over some new lady. My mother said that my sister Peggy had really thought you would wait for her to grow up, but I guess now you would have to match her up with Little Joe. “
The two friends laughed at the thought of nine-year-old Peggy and nine year old Little Joe.
“Who is this ravishing siren that has roped you, Cowboy?” Dennis teased. “She must be something quite special for you to give up our Peggy.”
The bells on the North Church chimed noon.
“Oh no. I’m going to be late for class.” Adam realized pulling away from his friend.
”Dennis, what are you doing tomorrow night? I’ve really got to go or the Professor will have my head. Grandfather is having a party. I am sure he would be glad for you to be there. Plenty of food. Music too. The servants have been setting up all week. Then you can meet her. I can’t wait for you to meet each other.”
”Tomorrow? I’ll see you then. I can’t wait to meet the young lady that has my best friend so smitten.” Dennis laughed.
“Tomorrow!” Adam shouted over his shoulder as he ran off.
Chapter 7
Adam Cartwright, resplendent in new black broadcloth, was standing in the foyer just outside the parlor door waiting for Amanda to return from upstairs. He was done with socializing for the time being, and just watching the guests who milled about as they arrived. Wilson, the butler greeted each guest and directed the other servants to take coats or bring refreshments.
Adam held a tiny crystal cup of the punch in his hand and he had planted himself where he could see both the stairway as well as the arriving guests. He leaned on the doorframe enjoying the party. Adam couldn’t wait to introduce Dennis to Amanda. He was so much in love with the wonderful Amanda Bruce and he wanted to show her off to everyone, including his best friend. Especially his best friend. “Adam?” He heard her call him and his heart leaped in his chest. He looked up and saw Amanda coming down the long staircase with some of the other female guests. She had never looked more beautiful. She was wearing an amethyst satin gown richly trim with beads and embroidery that contrasted with her pale complexion. Her shiny black hair was twisted in an elaborate up swept style and adorned with a jeweled comb.
Adam stared at her eyes as she approached. Their eyes met. Her beautiful eyes violet framed with long black lashes as always they took his breath away. Adam felt he could drown in their sparkling depths. He took a deep breath.
“Were you standing here long?”
”Does it matter?” he smiled, glad that she was standing near her.” No, not really.” She smiled coquettishly at him and took his arm. “Has your friend arrived yet?” “No, but he should be here soon. I can’t wait for him to meet you…for you to meet Dennis.”
”Dennis? “ Amanda took a sudden breath. Her eyes widened in surprise. ”Adam, let’s dance. The music is lovely” she pulled at his hand trying to get him to move towards the party.
“In just a minute, the next dance.” Adam stood his ground.
The front door opened again with a cold blast of night air for another group of guests and the foyer became very crowded. Amanda was squeezed between Adam and the doorway to the dining room. Her view of the front door suddenly blocked by her escort’s broad shoulders.
“It’s very crowded, here. Let’s go dance.” She pulled his hand with increasing urgency. “I want to dance, now.”
“Adam!” a voice called. A hand waved above the guests’ heads.
“Dennis over here!” Adam waved above the throng of guests. He grabbed his friend’s arm as Dennis politely squeezed past a dowager in a green satin gown and her white haired husband. “Excuse me, Mrs. Van Dyne. Good evening Mr. Van Dyne.” He nodded.
Adam began the introductions ”Amanda, may I present.”
”Dennis? “ her eyes widened with recognition.
”Amanda?” Dennis was clearly stunned at seeing Amanda Bruce standing next to Adam Cartwright in the front foyer of Captain Stoddard’s home. His jaw dropped open and his face immediately flushed.
Adam looked back and forth to the shocked faces of his best friend and the raven-haired young woman. “What in the world was going on here?” He thought. His eyes went back and forth trying to figure out what was going on.
Just at that instant, one of his grandfather’s friends, Mr. Carroll pulled at his arm “Adam, come here a minute I want you to meet Mr. Pauling. He has been looking for you all evening.”
”Go Adam, I’ll wait for you here.” Amanda directed sharply. She stared at Dennis.
“I’ll send him right back, Miss Bruce.” Carrol nodded courteously oblivious to the scene unfolding in the foyer.” We won’t be but a minute.”
Adam followed Carrol through the crowd, still mystified over what had just occurred between Dennis and Amanda. Did they know each other? What was going on? Adam was totally disoriented.
It took no more than five minutes for Carrol to introduce Cartwright to Mr. Pauling and for them to exchange courtesies but by the time Adam wended his way back into the foyer, both Amanda and Dennis had disappeared.
Adam spent the next half hour anxiously circulating through the crowded Stoddard house looking for them. He went upstairs and then down again to the dining room. He even asked Mrs. Caroll to check the bedroom that had been designated for the lady’s to primp. To see if his young lady was in they’re fixing her hair. No one seemed to have seen either of them. His best friend and his lady seemed to have evaporated.
As Adam walked down the stairs, he stood there for a minute high above the party and scanned the celebrating crowd trying to spot either Amanda’s amethyst gown or Dennis’s sandy hair.
He saw his grandfather pulling Charles Bruce by the arm down the hall to his study. “Maybe her father knew where Amanda was “ he thought Adam hurriedly squeezed through the crowd trying to catch up with the two older men.
”Excuse me, excuse me,” he muttered to guests as he squeezed past and made his way down the hall. The tables of elaborate refreshments were barely touched at this end of the house. The crowd thinned as he made his way from the front foyer to the back of the house. “Mr. Bruce, wait!” Adam called to Amanda’s father.
He walked a few paces suddenly found a man and woman embracing in the alcove under the stairs. In a flash, Adam realized it was Dennis and Amanda.
What was Dennis doing with Amanda?
Adam was neither seeing, nor thinking, too clearly. All he could think was Dennis was kissing Amanda. His best friend was kissing his girl.
Suddenly Cartwright took two swift steps towards Dennis, reached out and grabbed a handful of his coat yanking the man around to face him. O”Mara was caught off guard and Adam slammed a fist into his face He grabbed Dennis by his left shoulder and spun him around. Amanda shrieked.
Adam was enraged. He buried a hard driven fist in the depths of Dennis’s belly. He quickly followed it up with a sharp upper cut to the jaw that jarred his head back and knocked the larger man off balance sending him sprawling on the floor. Dennis lost his balance, knocking over a table and sending plates of fancy pastries crashing to the floor.
He careened backward into a table of refreshments sending it all crashing to the polished floor. Crystal and porcelain dishes shattered loudly the contents of the crystal punch bowl splashed onto the wall in a bloody red wave.
Everything around Adam was twisted and loud and out of focus. The study door swung open with a bang and Abel and Charles ran out to see what the commotion was all about. The orchestra suddenly stopped playing and guests pushed into the hallway to see what was going on.
Blind rage blasted its way through Adam’s mind. He would have jumped forward, about to leap on top Dennis but for the rough hands that held him more or less upright.
“Stop it this minute!” Abel demanded.”Adam!” He clutched his Grand son’s arm but Adam yanked free and moved closer to Dennis.
“What the hell in going on Dennis! What the hell are you doing with my girl?” bellowed Adam Cartwright. His angry voice echoed off the paneled wall. His shoes crunched on broken dishes. Someone grabbed him and held him firmly from behind. Adam was unable to continue to fight. One of the butlers, Wilson, held him in a tight grip, his forearm bent around Adam’s throat. Wilson’s strong arms were around him, holding him tight against the barrel of his chest.
Despite his shock and pain, Dennis’s instinct was still to get scramble to his feet. Somehow, amid the broken glass and squashed pastries, he struggled up onto his hands and knees, clutching himself where it hurt most. Guests were reaching out hands helping him to stand.
“Hey, Adam! Adam. I’m sorry Adam.” Dennis stammered trying to make apologies.
“ Adam! Stop, I love him! Amanda screamed clutching at Adam’s broad cloth coat. “I love Dennis, not you! I never loved you!”
The words hit him like a shotgun blast to his gut.
“I don’t love you. I never did “
Wilson grabbed Adam tighter as he attempted to break away. For an instant, hearing Amanda’s words, Adam stopped struggling. Wilson caught off guard lost his grip. Like a trapped mustang, Adam pulled loose, pushed past the shocked guests and bolted out of the Stoddard house.
Chapter 8
Adam burst through the front door and stumbled down the front steps. He almost knocked over two late arriving guests and he hurled himself away from his grandfather’s house.
Running down the street in a panic-stricken rage he barely avoided being run over by a handsome cab that was coming down the street.
Adam ran until he could no longer run any more. Then he walked through the dark streets not knowing where he was headed or why.
What had just happened to him? “ What was his girl doing with his best friend?” His mind was racing as he walked. She said she never loved him. Never. He was devastated and embarrassed. How could she betray him like that?
Adam walked aimlessly through the cold night until he realized he was near the Charles River at the spot he used to go to think. He couldn’t go back to the Stoddard house. Not now. He would kill Dennis if he saw him. Adam had never felt so confused or betrayed in his entire life.
The cold wind off the river cut right through his suit. Adam realized tears were streaming down his face. His feet hurt and he needed to sit down. Adam ran his fingers through his black hair wiped his sleeve across his face. He stared sadly out at the river shivering in the cold damp night air. Just a few hours earlier he had thought his life was wonderful and in an instant it had all ended.
Sitting down under the cluster of pine trees Adam rested his back against the trunk of the tree. He rested his face against his raised knees and closed his eyes.
He must have fallen asleep as the next thing he realized the sky was getting light.
Adam heard someone calling his name and looked up and saw a gray haired man coming towards him. For an instant, he thought he saw his father, Ben Cartwright coming towards him and wondered how Pa could be in Boston.
“Adam? Laddie we been looking all over for you, son.” Adam rubbed the crustiness out of his eyes and realized it was Sean O’Mara, Dennis’s uncle, approaching him. “ Adam, are you ok?” Sean bent down to extend his hand to Adam.
“Leave me alone Sean” Adam growled pulling away from the older man.
”Adam, Dennis and I have been looking for you all night. He needs to set things straight with you. Son. Let him talk to you for just a few minutes.”
”Sean if he comes near me, I’ll kill him. What the hell was he doing kissing Amanda?”
Over Sean’s shoulder, Adam could see Dennis coming up the path. His eye was swollen closed and his lip was split from the blows Adam had dealt him. “Adam, let me explain.” Dennis pleaded.
Sean grabbed the front of Adam’s coat and yanked him up from the ground. The bar keeps pinned him against the tree trunk. Adam tried to pull away but he was cornered between O’Mara and pine.
“Hold still boy and give Dennis five minutes. If you still want to kill him, I’ll let you at him. Is that fair?”
Adam nodded. He tried to pull free, but years of keeping order at the Golden Shamrock had honed Sean’s skill at keeping the most enraged men under his control.
He yanked Adam’s arm behind his back and ordered once again” I told you, listen to him for five minutes and then, if you still want, I’ll let you have a go at him. Understand?”
Adam nodded and winced as Sean pulled his arm tighter. “Ok, Sean.”
“Adam, I’m sorry. “
”Dennis, once Sean lets me go, I am going to kill you with my bare hands.”
Sean twisted Adam’s arm harder. “I told you to listen boy.”
”Remember I told you about the woman I was in love with…” Dennis started again.
“Adam, it was Amanda. We were together five years before you even met her. We were going to be married. When my father was alive, Bruce felt I was a suitable son-in-law but as soon as my father was killed… “
Dennis stopped for a minute and took a breath. “As soon as my father went down with the Sea Breeze, we had no more money. All my father’s assets were tied up in that ship and I was no longer good enough for Mr. Bruce. Charlie Junior went down on that ship too. Do you think Amanda’s father would let her marry the son of the Captain of the Sea Breeze? ? “
Adam froze for a minute. Sean eased up his grasp on his arm. “Amanda was the one you were in love with? The one you said lied to you?”
Dennis nodded. “She didn’t lie. She still loves me. It was her father. He sent her away and made sure she didn’t get any of my letters. I wrote her every day for weeks, for months and he made sure she didn’t get a one. He told her I had married someone else. The son of a bitch told her lies and that I even had two children with this woman. Bruce told her that.”
Dennis stopped for a minute. “Charles Bruce made sure Amanda hated me. He even named the children…Dennis Junior and Joseph Francis.”
Adam shivered. Joseph Francis? That was his brother’s name.
“She never loved you, Adam. I’m sorry.”
Sean let go of Adam. Cartwright didn’t move. “ She loved you not me?”
Dennis nodded. “I’m sorry Adam.’ He put his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Can I just ask you one question?” Adam whispered hoarsely.
“What is it?”
”Did my grandfather know about this?”
Dennis and Sean were silent.
“Dennis, tell me. Did my grandfather know about this?” Adam bellowed. “Did he? You have to answer this.”
Dennis nodded. “Yes. Stoddard knew all about it. It was his idea.”
Chapter 9
Late the next morning, Adam Cartwright stood on the icy marble steps of his Grandfather’s house. He hammered with both fists on the carved doors of the Stoddard house until one of the grim faced servants opened the door. He burst into his into the house demanding to see his grandfather.
The butler led him down the hallway, past the alcove under the staircase, to Captain Stoddard’s study.
Stoddard was sitting at his desk. He gestured for his the young man to sit in the straight back chair opposite him.
“So Grandson. There is something you want to talk to me about” Abel Stoddard sat behind his massive desk. “Where were you last night?”
Furious and filled with rage at the deception, Adam sat stiffly in the chair opposite Abel his jaw clenched.
“Adam, I am speaking to you! Where were you last night? Answer me when I speak to you, young man!” Captain Stoddard demanded standing in an aggressive stance.
“I …I needed to walk. To think about what was really happening and what Amanda said… what she said last night .I’m going home after graduation. I…I can’t stay here. Dennis told me everything.”
”What ever Amanda said, she is wrong. Dennis is wrong…” the Captain started. “The are both liars.”
“Grandfather, Amanda Bruce doesn’t love me. She said that she never loved me. She. She always loved Dennis, not me.” Adam struggled.
“Never me, “ he shook his head.
Figuring that the best defense was an offense, Abel Stoddard desperately attacked his grandson.
”Your behavior is unacceptable!”Stoddard bellowed. “Fighting, brawling, breaking up my house, embarrassing me in front of my guests. This is the Stoddard house not a cowboy saloon, young man!”
”This is Boston not the wild west! I don’t know how your father raised you. I always knew your father was second rate and incapable and.”
“Stop!” Adam exploded. He stood up abruptly with such force the chair flipped over with a crash.
“You just shut your lying mouth, Old Man” Adams voice echoed off the walls. He leaned over the desk his face in his grandfather’s face. “ Don’t you ever, ever say anything about my father and how he raised me you despicable manipulative son of a bitch.“
Adam stood facing his grandfather. Abel tried to stare him down but finally looked away. He had met his match years earlier with his son-in-law, Ben Cartwright in the battle that made Ben leave Boston taking Adam from him. Now Stoddard was reliving that battle with his grandson and he refused to loose this time at any cost.
“Now, I understand why he never had anything to do with you after my mother died. You must have treated him the same way you treated me! “
”No Adam, you are wrong! “Stoddard banged his fist on the desk. “Your father rejected every opportunity I offered him and saw fit to take you away from your Grandmother and me to live far away from civilization and decent people.”
Stoddard was willing to use any weapon he had. He did not care what price any person paid as long as he won what he wanted. Now the Captain was willing to win at any cost. He reached for the final weapon.
“Do you think your step mother wanted you around? Why do you think she wrote to me years ago? To get rid of you Adam. To get rid of my daughter’s son and have Ben Cartwright all to herself. To have Ben Cartwright acknowledge only her boy not you.”
”Marie? What does Marie have to do with all this? She’s been dead for years. “
“She wrote to me. Marie wanted to get rid of you and needed me to take you off her hands”
Adam thought – that can’t be true. He is lying again.
Sure, Adam thought, when Pa first married Marie, Adam and his stepmother had not initially gotten along. But he knew now it was all his doing. Marie had always loved him but young Adam refused to let her win his heart. Marie was the one who encouraged him to learn math and taught him music and drawing. She read poetry to them at night before he and Hoss fell asleep. She even supported him in writing to his grandparents back in Boston while his father ignored them. By the time Little Joe was born, Adam was as much her son as he was Ben’s.
No, Marie would not have wanted to get rid of him any more than she would have wanted to get rid of Little Joe. His Grandfather was lying.
“How can you say that Abel?” Adam demanded.
“I’ll show you! “ His grandfather opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of letters bound in a bundle. He shuffled through the stack until he found a particular envelope. “Look, read this!”
He thrust a letter into his grandson’s hand.
Seeing Marie’s handwriting so many years after he lost her was suddenly startling to Adam. But it was comforting in a strange sort of way to him also. She may not have been the mother that gave birth to him but she was the mother of his heart.
“Read it Adam. She did not want you around. She wanted Ben for her son.”
My Dear Captain and Mrs. Stoddard,
I beg your forgiveness on my impertinence in contacting you with out being formally introduced but I feel that this is a matter of great importance .The welfare of your dear grandson is far more important than any breech of etiquette.
My name is Marie Cartwright. I recently married your former son-in-law Benjamin Cartwright. Young Adam is now my stepson.
He is a very dear boy and in good health. Adam is a very intelligent and almost eleven years old. His hair and eyes are dark. Benjamin tells me he looks much like his mother. Adam reads and does mathematics extremely well. He is a very talented in music and a responsible and intelligent child.
I am writing on this sweet child’s behalf to see if there is any interest on your part in writing to him. I know you had a falling out with his father upon the death of your daughter. My dear husband refuses to elaborate to me the details of this rift.
I beg you not to let Benjamin know that I am in contact with you. My love for my son is more important than any unease this may cause in my dealings with my husband.
Adam has come to me with questions regarding his late mother’s family in Boston and why he no longer has contact with anyone from Elizabeth’s family.
I anxiously await your reply to me.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Benjamin Cartwright
Adam read the letter slowly.
My love for my son is more important than any unease this may cause in my dealings with my husband.
Little Joe? Her son Little Joe.
He read it a second time. There was nothing in this letter saying she wanted to get rid of him. Nothing in the letter asked for the Captain and his grandmother to take him away from her. Adam was almost embarrassed at the love and pride she had for him.
He is a very dear boy and in good health. Adam is a very intelligent and almost eleven years old. His hair and eyes are dark. Benjamin tells me he looks much like his mother. Adam reads and does mathematics extremely well. He is a very talented in music and a responsible and intelligent child.
Almost eleven years old?
Not her son Little Joe, her son Adam.
Adam looked at the date on the letter. This written was during the time he was the most despicable to his stepmother. This letter had nothing to do with her wanting Joseph to be Pa’s son and not Adam. Joe hadn’t even been born yet; she couldn’t even have been pregnant with him when she wrote to Abel. The letter was written purely out of love for Adam and to help him to reconnect with his lost grandparents. Not to get rid of him. It was just like Marie to try to find a way to help him find something he didn’t even know he needed.
It was just like Abel Stoddard to distort the facts to suit his purpose.
He remembered those years well. Whenever he would ask his father about his grandfather, Ben would say, “Your grandfather likes to believe his version of reality is the truth. He and I parted on bad terms, Son.” Ben refused to discuss it saying someday Adam would be old enough to understand.
Now Adam understood why.
One day, Marie surprised him with a letter from his grandparents. Adam had always assumed that they had initiated contact with him. Now he knew otherwise. Marie had made it happen out of her love for him.
The Adam and his grandparents started to write to each other, for years. Even after Marie died, he continued writing to them. They had invited him to come to Boston to study and eventually Adam convinced his father to let him go. Maybe this was why Ben Cartwright had been so uneasy with the plans laid out by his grandfather.
“Adam, “ he had said the night before his son went east “There are some people who think only with their heads and don’t let their hearts get involved with anything they do. They think people are just things to be moved around at their whim like so many chess pieces. Like so much property not like a living soul. I raised you to use your head and your heart, boy and be honorable no matter what. I would rather lose my land than my honor, Adam. Remember that no matter what happens.”
Marie didn’t arrange to send him away. She arranged for Adam’s grandparents to get to know their only grandchild. She probably even defied his father to help Adam accomplish this. Only Marie would dare defy Pa like that.
Pa had told him ““Your grandfather likes to believe his version of reality is the truth.”
The long ago conversation he had with Dennis swirled back into Adam’s consciousness.
“I’ve seen more than one fellow get shot or hung from a noose for short changing someone in a poker game or a horse trade. “ For a moment, Adam wished he had a gun or a length of rope to loop around his grandfather’s skinny neck.
“ I’m going home after graduation. I can’t stay here. “ Adam Cartwright turned his back to his grandfather to walked out of the house he had lived in the last four years of his life. “I’ll send someone for my things.”
He walked down the hall and out the front door with out looking back or saying goodbye.
Stoddard sat heavily in his chair. He had lost Adam for the second time. The first time was when Elizabeth died and Ben Cartwright carried the screaming baby out of this house. Captain Stoddard did not want to accept defeat then had worked so hard and so long for a goal. He wanted Adam.
Stoddard looked at Marie’s letter in his hand, the letter written by a woman who was long dead.
“I wonder how long it will be before Marie’s son is old enough to go to college?” He thought.
Continue on to The Cherry Tree Saga Part 3
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