Summary: First story in the Cherry Tree Series
Word Count: 8830
The Cherry Tree Saga
Part 1 of 15
Introduction
Clouds were everywhere. Pink fluffy fragrant clouds and he was surrounded by them …No, they weren’t cloud they were blossoms. Hundreds of pink cherry blossoms and he was reaching his hands up, up through the blossoms to the blue sky. Joe felt so happy he was laughing. He threw his curly head back and laughed and laughter surrounded him. How did he get up so high in the sky? Joe was so high up and tall. He realized he was sitting on his father’s broad shoulders and Pa was lifting high up in the air to touch the pink cherry blossoms. He heard the tinkling laughter from somewhere far below him.
“Benjamin! Be careful with my baby!” Mama laughed.
“Higher Papa “ little Joe squealed in glee reaching over his head. “Pink snow!”
“Don’t worry Marie, Cartwright boys don’t break so easily.” His brother Adam said from somewhere far below, far away. Joe squirmed in his father’s strong arms trying to see his Mama, trying to see her face and see Adam.
His father smiled and lifted him up again.
“Higher Papa! Higher! Pink blossoms floated all about. One petal landed on his nose and tickled.
He tried to swat it away and it kept tickling him.
“Come on Joe, Pa said to come eat breakfast, “
“Breakfast?” Joe looked up. There were no blossoms just his older brother’s face looking down on him. Hoss was dangling one of Little Joe’s socks over the smaller boy’s nose, teasing him awake.
“Got to get dressed, Shorty.”
“Go way…” Joe growled trying to roll over and go back to his dream.
“Looks like something was making you smile, Little Brother.’
Joe tried to pull away from his grasp. But it was too late. He was awake and the dream was over.
But some how the sweet ring of his Mama’s laughter still echoed in his ears.
Chapter 1
“How could a day that started out so well end up so bad? “ Little Joe Cartwright thought as he shook out a cramp in his left hand. The knuckles were scraped and streaked with dried blood from the fight. His trousers were streaked with mud and there was a tear in his favorite blue striped shirt.
His Pa was not going to be pleased. No indeed his pa was going to be mighty displeased with him. He didn’t hold his temper and once again was in big trouble.
Joe could hear his father’s voice in his head. “Joseph ” he would say. “Your brothers never got into this must trouble. Not even if I put all their misbehaving together in one sack it would never equal the sack of trouble you get into. What am I ever going to do with you, son?”
Joe figured that this time, he would be stacking wood and cleaning stalls clear until his big brother, Adam got back from college this summer… maybe longer.
Joe stood facing the black board in the Virginia City School house writing “I will not fight in school” on the black board for the seventy third time. The too warm air in the crowded classroom smelled from wet wool, long winter underwear and necks that had not been washed often enough. It was the first warm spring day after a snowy, long Nevada winter and the children were restless as the afternoon wore on.
The schoolyard was filled with large puddles and plenty of mud from the melting snow and most of the children had not gone out at recess time. That combined with the over crowded classroom added to the short tempers.
Joe tried to catch the eye of his best pal Daniel Lowell sitting in his regular seat on the right side of the room but Daniel was industriously working on a page of sums and didn’t look up. Or wouldn’t look at Joe for fear of Tucker Beck and Jack Fischer.
“What a pal, “Thought Joe. “I get in trouble helping him and his little sister and he can’t even look at me.” He looked down at his muddy trousers and boots. Surely his pa would not be pleased at his getting into trouble again. There was no way he would not find out either as Pa was already right here in town doing business at the bank and would be waiting for him right outside the school house at dismissal time. No way Little Joe would get by this scrape.
“Joseph!” Miss Lambert said softly but firmly. “No one told you to stop. Continue writing until you reach 100.” Brushing a loose wisp of blonde hair back off her warm forehead, the teacher turned her back to Joe and gave her attention to the 3 first graders. They were crowed together on the bench in front of her desk trying to make sense of the alphabet in front of them. She too was tired and looking forward to dismissal time. It had been a long day and she was trying very hard to keep the children focused on their studies.
Joe heard snickering from the left side of the schoolroom. Out of the line of the young teachers vision, Tuck Becker and Jack Fisher were grinning at him. Tuck, the biggest boy in the school shook his fist in warning at Joe and mouthed “ You are dead meat.”
Carly Lambert glanced back at Joe over her shoulder trying the best she could to look sternly at the boy.” Joseph, back to work. There is no fighting in this school and I want you boys to remember that. No fighting. “ She mopped her warm forehead with the embroidered handkerchief she kept tucked in her sleeve.
Joe was a handful. He was a bright boy with a good heart but his hot temper and daredevil nature got him into more than one scrape and disrupted the order of her classroom. She knew he was basically a good fellow, but his impulsivity got him into more than one fight. She found it difficult enough to teach all these children when everyone was obeying her, but as soon as fights broke out the young teacher knew she could be totally overwhelmed. Some of those boys were almost full-grown men and she was nervous as to how she could ever deal with things if the classroom got truly out of control.
Two years earlier, when the Virginia City school board hired her she was worried if she could handle the job. She truly loved the teaching and the smaller children and was anxious to earn her own way. Her enthusiasm for books and learning was contagious. Only nineteen, when she started, she had a hard time keeping some of the children in line. Carly Lambert was not much older than her oldest students that year, but most of the older children had been well mannered and helpful in keeping order. Joe’s older brother Hoss had broken up more than one fight. Auburn haired Andrea Lowell was a big help with the smaller children. Watching over them like a mother hen she drilled them in their spelling or played games with them at recess.
By the end of that term, most of those older children graduated or had left school to work. One girl, Sally Beck had even gotten married to young logger. The next school year was harder for Carly with out their help. This year, Miss Lambert had even more students in the crowded schoolhouse and fewer cooperative older ones to help out.
Joe continued to write his punishment. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Miss Lambert had her back to him as she read a story to the first graders. Something about a boy whose father gave him a little hatchet. The fool boy had chopped down his father’s favorite tree.
“Wish I had hatchet’ Joe thought glumly. “Then I would show that Beck and Fisher who they could pick on ……”
Joe realized if he took a half a step to the right and turned slightly at an angle he could see out the window that faced Main Street. The schoolyard was muddy and filled with puddles of melting snow.
Little Joe could see Mr. Lowell’s hardware store across Main Street. Right in front of the store, his brother Hoss loading some nail kegs into the Cartwright wagon. Hoss was 16 but as big as a grown man, bigger than some. He was already eye-to-eye with his Pa, and Hoss was still growing.
Joe sincerely missed having Hoss in school with him. No one started up with him when his big brother was around. But Hoss was finished with school and worked full time on the ranch. The middle Cartwright brother was much happier working with Ben and the ranch hands than trying to fit his big frame into the small schoolhouse seats and struggling with sums and reading and writing.
Miss Lambert missed Hoss in her class almost as much as Little Joe. Neither of them knew how the other felt. “One more year,” Carly thought. “ Only one more year.” By the end of the year she would have saved the money she needed to help her beaux buy his herd and they could get married.
Looking through the window again, Little Joe squinted his eyes and caught the flash of Andrea’s coppery hair through the stores front window. She worked as the clerk for her father in the store since she left school.
A paper wad stung his left ear. And he head Beck laugh again. Joe spun around and glared at his tormentor. He took two steps forward clenching his hand into a fist when Miss Lambert turned and shouted “Joseph turn around and go back to your work.”
Daniel had reached up from his desk and grabbed the back of Joe’s suspenders. “Joe, calm down, you are only gonna make it worse. ‘His pal pleaded.
“Gee Miss Lambert, I can’t imagine what got into Joe today… must be spring fever” Fisher smirked from the back of his room. “I didn’t do anything.”
Miss Lambert hadn’t seen anything but somehow knew the older boy was provoking Joe. But she hadn’t seen anything.
“Joe, you have 10 more to go. Finish up.’ She turned back to the story she was reading.
The boy in the story had chopped down the tree and his father was asking who did the deed? Who did it? It was the father’s favorite tree, a beautiful cherry tree.
Joe turned back angrily to his writing. He noticed if he held the chalk at just the right angle, he could make an annoying squeak. By the time was up to the last sentence and was able to get a loud squeak on each letter. A few of the younger boys were giggling at Joe’s musical talent.
“Joseph. You are finished. Now go sit on the girl’s side until the end of the day. “ Miss Lambert said firmly trying hard to sound harsh but finding his antics quite funny. He really was a good boy, high spirited but well meaning. Maybe she could avoid another fight and Joe just might be embarrassed enough to behave himself for a few days. She just wanted this school day to end and be done with these fidgety children. She continued to read to the class.
Joe glanced through the window again towards his brother. Hoss was carrying a lumpy burlap sack of something over one shoulder and loaded that into the back of the half filled wagon.
Little Joe saw his Pa ride up beside the wagon and tie his horse up at the hitching rail. Ben must have finished up his business at the bank. Hope he couldn’t see into the schoolhouse and see what was going on. Maybe he would never find out the trouble Joe was in that day. Joe tried to imagine what excuses he could make for his clothes to cover up being in the fight but could not think of any.
“Son who cut down my cherry tree?” Miss Lambert read
Joe sat down in the girl’s row between Nancy Coffee and Kate Wallace. The room was stuffy but sitting between the girls Joe could still see out the window. He was pretty mad at the trouble he was in and had no interest in doing any schoolwork. Not today. Not ever.
The father asked the fool hatchet boy if he had chopped down the tree, the cherry tree, the darn fool cherry tree.
Joe could hear his father say “Joseph did you chop down my tree?” If Joe had a hatchet he would know better than to chop down any cherry tree.
“ ‘Tell me the truth,’ son said the father,” read Miss Lambert.
“Pa, I am a darn fool and I don’t know a cherry tree from dry fire wood, “ Joe muttered under his breath. Kate laughed and the Nancy Coffee gasped at Joe’s rude language. Miss Lambert glanced their way.
“Joseph Cartwright, you go stand in the corner. You are being disruptive and impertinent and rude.”
Little Joe slowly dragged himself up to the front corner and faced the wall. “How could a day that started out so well end up so bad? “ Little Joe Cartwright thought again. The room was even hotter and stuffier on this side. He was angry at Beck. He was angrier with Fischer. And he was the angriest at himself for loosing his temper and messing up Adam’s battle plan
.Hoss had told him to be patient and it would work. Pa was patient.
“Be like Pa, “ Hoss encouraged him each morning in front of the school house. “Be smart like Adam. Use that head of yours for something other than a hat rack Short shanks, be patient. Hold your temper.”
Joe let his hot temper get the best of him again.
Joe wiped the sweat off his face with shirtsleeve. He swiped his forehead with the back of his hand pushing his thick curly hair off his forehead. His mind wandered in the stuffy schoolroom.
“A haircut, “Joe thought. Pa was going to take him for a haircut after school. Joe hated getting a haircut. The day was only getting worse.
“ I can not tell a lie the boy said” Miss Lambert droned on.
Chapter 2
The fight hadn’t been his fault.
Jack Fischer and Beck delighted in teasing the younger children and picking fights with the boys. Fischer was the ringleader most of the time but rarely got into trouble. No adults ever caught on to what was going on and thought of him as model student and a fine young gentleman. His father owned of one of the mines and was the boss of many of the other children’s fathers.
Sandy haired and tall, his usual strategy was to get Tucker Beck or one of the other Town boys to do the fighting, while he feigned innocence and watched from the sidelines. His favorite sneaky trick was to extend his long legs into the aisle of the classroom and trip one of the other youngsters. He would even apologize profusely and help the victim to his feet, sometimes pinching his side or twisting his arm as he dusted him off. He would needle a child until they lashed out in frustration. Jack had a knack for finding out what a boy’s weakness was and preying upon it.
If it were big ears or freckles that bothered a fellow, Jack would tease him and call him jug head or polka dotty. He insulted sisters, mothers and girlfriends and snatched lunches, homework paper and mittens until his victim lost his temper and initiated a fight. The trapped boy would start, but Fisher, Beck or one of their pals would finish it.
That is exactly what he did to Daniel and Little Joe that day. Prudence, the youngest red haired Lowell girl, the one that was called Puddin’, was wearing new hair bows. Jack Fischer knew that those hair bows could cause quite a ruckus if he just tweaked things right.
Daniel Lowell had been Joe’s closest Town friend since he had moved to Virginia City from Massachusetts with his family five years earlier. They had hit it off right away. They were the same age and height when they first met and had similar brown curly hair. That was where the resemblance ended. Daniel was quiet and studious and fearful of most new things. He was intrigued by Little Joe’s adventurous spirit and willingness to have fun. Joe taught him to ride his pony and took him fishing with his brother Hoss.
Daniel, as Ben put it gave Little Joe some ballast.
“That boy is like a clipper hauling full sails in a hurricane,” Ben once complained to Mr. Lowell. “Matter of fact that boy is a hurricane. Good thing your Daniel is so level headed he’s kept that youngest boy of mine from crashing into a reef more than once.”
“Don’t be so hard on him, Ben. His heart is in the right place even if he is tends to leap in with both feet before he looks. I’ve seen fellows with a hot temper and no heart and that is a dangerous combination. You have two good boys, “Jacob Lowell said admiringly.
“I have three, “ Ben smiled. “My oldest son, Adam, is back east in college. I guess I am pretty proud of all of them.”
”Really, now. That surely is something to boast about. My Missus would love for Daniel to go back East to study. But I told her, no going back for the Lowells. Virginia City is where we are and we are here to stay. All of us. “
Ben always thought it was serendipitous that his youngest boy should find a new friend from the east just has his beloved oldest brother went east to college. Little Joe was finally settling into living with out his mother, when Adam went off and the little boy was taking it hard.
Daniel’s serious calmness reminded Ben of Adam at that age. Both Daniel and Adam quietly examined and analyzed things before acting. Hop Sing, often reminded Little Joe after one of his mishaps “Prudent man talks before he acts.” However, Little Joe usually paid little heed to that advice.
Ben often thought Daniel’s personality seemed more like Adam’s than his own youngest brother. Unlike Joe, who jumped into life with both feet kicking and both arms swinging, the Lowell boy held back a bit on the edge. No wonder Joe took to him so fast.
On the other hand Joe and Daniel looked more alike than Joe and any of his own brothers or Daniel with his sisters. The both had the same brown curls and slight builds. Similar coloring and similar heights, more than once the two friends were mistaken for brothers. Joe and Daniel delighted in the error and even convinced a passing drummer or customer in the Lowell store that they were brothers.
Shy Mrs. Lowell laughed at their antics until her coppery curls bounced. Little Joe was a good friend for her Daniel and she enjoyed having him around. Their second winter in Virginia City he even slept in their little home over the hardware store a few nights a week.
Ben had been concerned about Little Joe making it back and forth to school the first winter he was attending school without Hoss. Previously, Hoss would have made sure they made it safely home before any bad winter weather hit. Hoss knew to watch the clouds and the wind and leave school early enough to make it home before a storm caught them. Cartwright could count on his dependable middle boy to protect his little brother even if it meant Hoss breaking through the drifts on foot leading Joe on their horse or even carrying his brother on his shoulders. Hoss could always be depended on to protect Joe.
Left to alone to his own impulses, Joe would never make it home safely. He would stay too late in Virginia City or ride carelessly, his coat wide open and get lost head first in a snowdrift. He was far too young and lacked the judgment to make his way safely.
One afternoon as he helped repair the barn door, Little Joe said, “Pa, I have a good solution to getting me back and forth to school” Joe was smiling devilishly.
“Hand me another nail son, ‘ Ben said as he hammered the new board. “What’s your idea?”
Joe handed him a nail. “Why don’t I just quit school?” Ain’t that a good idea?”
”Isn’t Joseph, not ‘aint’. No son, it isn’t. I don’t think you will be quitting school for quite a while. Certainly not for years and years.”
”But Pa…” the little boy argued.
“This one is not negotiable boy, so don’t even try.” Ben gave the nail one last extra hard blow for emphasis.
The next Sunday, after church Mr. and Mrs. Lowell came up to Ben and gave him a perfect suggestion. They offered to put Joe up on the nights neither Hoss nor his father could see to his safe passage home. Ben knew this was perfect answer to his dilemma. He couldn’t always spare a hand to ride into town for the boy or stop his work on the ranch. Little Joe would share Daniel’s bed and go off to school with his buddy and his red haired sisters.
Even Joe was delighted with the prospect, If he couldn’t quit school altogether, this would be a fine compromise. Daniel was his best friend in town and Mrs. Lowell made the best nut cakes and ginger cookies he had ever tasted. She would even kiss him good night, just like she did Daniel when she tucked them into at night. Joe had forgotten how nice it was to have a soft-cheeked Mama tuck him in at bedtime.
After she turned out the lamp, the two little boys giggled under the covers and told each other scary stories. Daniel was the better of the two and Joe listened to his friend with rapt attention just like he listened to Adam’s tales. Joe was the only one who knew about shy Daniel’s remarkable ability to imitate any voice he heard. Many nights, in the dark, the two friends invented tales of murderers and pirates and wild painted Indians until Andrea had to come in and tell them they were keeping the whole household awake.
As soon as she left the two friends would continue their fun until Mr. Lowell came in.
”If you two boys don’t quiet down, you’ll have to sleep in the out house,” he would tease them. The two curly heads would pull the covers over their faces and laugh even more.
Finally Mrs. Lowell would come in and put an end to their fun with a firm “Good Night” and a final hug and kiss on a cheek that Daniel would rub with the back of his hand off and Joe would savor.
Chapter 3
“Pa, why don’t I take Little Joe into town with me in the wagon this morning. I have to leave soon anyway to get those papers to Mr. Victor for you anyhow. I can make sure Little Joe gets to school on time too.”
Joe had a bad record of lateness and truancy when left to his own judgment in getting to school. Many mornings, just as she was about to pull the rope on the school house bell, Miss Lambert spied Joe racing up the road full tilt on his pony A few times she even dawdled herself in pulling the bell rope so he could win his race and not be marked tardy. Joe always left home in plenty of time, Ben or Hop Sing always made sure of it but the boy always seemed to find something to side track him along the way from the ranch to town.
This morning, Joe would ride into town with Hoss in the wagon and get to school on time for once. That is what Hoss had told their father. Hoss would take Little Joe with him on the wagon and make sure he got into school on time.
“I’ll watch out for him and get him there on time.”
That was not entirely true but the Cartwright brothers did not want to tell their father the entire story. The two boys figured Ben would either want to get involved himself or he would be mad at his sons.
Neither son told Ben that the idea was Adam’s battle strategy.
“Little Joe, if Pa knew Adam is in on this he is going to be mad. He has enough on his mind now any way.” Hoss explained as he hitched the team to the wagon.
Hoss was dead wrong. If his father knew of Adam’s involvement he would have been touched at the closeness of his boys and that Adam was still watching out for his brothers from thousands of miles away.
Chapter 4
Ben Cartwright sat at the head of his dining room table. Hop Sing brought him a second cup of coffee and cleared off the boy’s breakfast dishes.
As he drank the steaming coffee, Ben smiled to himself at what a grand day this was starting out to be. The sun was shining. The knee he had hurt last winter was almost back to normal and he hadn’t felt the need to favor it for a few weeks. The paper work for that lumber bid was finished and ready to submit. Ben had really sweated over that one. Adam had encouraged his father to attempt the bid. The Virginia City silver mines needed lumber for bracing and the Ponderosa had plenty of fine trees. By expanding his mill and hiring on another timbering crew he could turn out what was needed. It was one of the biggest jobs he had ever bid on but Cartwright had meticulously gone over every detail and was confident his crew could handle it. If the mine superintendent accepted it, the money could carry the Ponderosa through the next year and expand what he was building for the future of his boys.
The sun was shining. The gray winter was ending.
Joe was going to get to school on time. And he had a smile on his face too.
Cartwright was sure of his bid submission.
But most important Adam was coming home. Home to the Ponderosa.
My dearest Father and Brothers,
I made up my mind and want to tell you that I will be returning home to the Ponderosa at the end of the term this spring. I miss you all very much. I wish I could be there sooner but there is much to do here before I can leave.
Boston does not truly hold what I thought it would offer and this is not where I want to remain.
I beg your forgiveness for all the worry I caused you this winter.
I will always appreciate what Marie did for me and will be forever grateful to both of you.
Pa, It is impossible to tell you how thankful I was of support and encouragement you gave me all the years I was at college. I will try very hard the rest of my days make it up to you. Thank you for your patience in allowing me to make this decision as my own man.
My grandfather is disappointed in the decision I have made but despite his anger I know I have chosen correctly .If he remains angry at my honest decision, so be it.
You raised us to be truthful and honorable men. Pa. I will never go against what my father taught me in his words and deeds. I know my brother will do the same when the time comes to face the world because they are your sons.
I can now understand what you must have experienced with my grandfather
. I know now that here are many things you never told me about him out of your respect for my mother and in your love for me that will remain unsaid.
I will be coming home to the Ponderosa and my family. I am sure now the Ponderosa is where I belong.
I miss you all very much. And wish I could get there sooner.
Your faithful son and brother,
Adam
The letter in yesterday’s mail was the happiest news Ben and his boys had received in a long time. His oldest son was coming home. Only a few more months and Adam would finally be home from college.
Ben was confused about some of the things Adam alluded to in his letter. What did Little Joe’s mother have to do with all this? She had died before Adam left to go east.
And something had happened between Adam and his Grandfather. Abel Stoddard, Elizabeth’s father. Something that sent him home to Ben.
“It doesn’t matter what it was, Adam was coming home.” Ben smiled to himself.
Last night, Little Joe and Hoss were so excited that neither of them could go to sleep until far past 10 PM.The two younger boys danced all over the house whooping with joy. Hoss carried Joe up the stairs in a crazy jig, both boys singing at the top of their voices “Adam is coming HOOOOOOOOOME !”
Immediately after dinner, Ben sat at his desk and written Adam a letter telling him how happy he was about the decision he was making and all the updated plans he had for running the ranch with his help – the timber bid, the new machinery for the mill, the horses they could supply to the army. Each of the younger boys had included a brief message to their brother expressing their joy in his decision and their love for him.
Ben rushed Hoss and Little Joe to finish their letters. He wanted Hoss to put the letters on the morning stage hoping that Adam would receive them before he left for home. He wanted his son to know how happy they were to welcome him back to the Ponderosa.
Since early November, Ben had been waiting nervously for Adam to make his decision about returning to the Ponderosa. Adam had written the family a long and carefully worded letter. His studies were going well. He never had imagined how much there was to learn and how much more there was each time he learned more. The libraries and the books and the museums were beyond anything he imagined when he was a boy. Marie had told him he would love the studying back East and he would always be grateful to her for her encouragement and in his father for giving him this opportunity. And he was very much enjoying life in Boston. The concerts and restaurants and parities were more than he had imagined.
Then Adam told them how his grandfather had offered him a junior partnership in his shipping firm, Stoddard and Bruce, but Adam unsure if this was the best place for him. His grandfather, Abel Stoddard, very much wanted him to stay in Boston when he graduated but Adam missed them, missed Nevada, missed the ranch and needed some time to make up his mind. He had just met a lovely young lady, Amanda Bruce, the daughter of Grandfather’s partner Mr. Bruce. She was very lovely and the offer grandfather was making was very tempting. He missed them all. He missed the Ponderosa. He truly loved standing on the deck of one of his Grand father’s ships with the wind in his face but he desperately missed riding the mountains and prairies of home. He missed his brothers and his father but Boston was so exciting. And Amanda Bruce was very lovely.
He wasn’t sure what he should do and he hoped that Ben understood that he needed time to weigh his options, to think, make up his mind. He needed time. Adam was not sure what choice to make and he was sure his Pa would know what that must be like for a young man. Please let his brothers know what was going on .He knew the younger boys would be concerned about him but no matter what the out come, Adam wanted them to know he loved them very much but he needed time to make the right decision. Please be patient with him he had begged.
He loved them and he missed them but he wasn’t sure what he should do. He needed time to make up his mind. He hoped his father understood.
Ben’s heart stopped. Time stood still and his stomach churned.
Ben smoothed out the paper with both hands and slowly reread the letter. Abel offered him a partnership. Abel introduced him to a lovely young lady.
” So lovely Pa” the letter read.
He never saw such a lovely girl before. She had violet eyes. Coal black hair. Maybe he never would again. His grandfather had introduced them.
Ben felt the hairs rise up the back of his neck as he reread the Adams letter. He clenched his jaw. For an instant, the black pen marks all blurred into a gray swirling mass in front of the rancher’s eyes.
Ben had been assuming his oldest son would be returning home late in the spring and now that assumption was blurring into a gray mass of confusion.
Ben could surely understand what it was like to be a young man facing a hard decision about staying or going, to be facing life spread out to the horizon with endless choices and opportunities and not knowing what course to sail. Ben had also felt that sea spray in his face. He had ridden his horse across the mountains and prairies of the Ponderosa. Abel Stoddard had introduced him to a lovely, lovely girl, Abel’s own daughter Elizabeth, and Adam’s mother.
Ben had also known what a clever and stiff-necked man his father-in-law could be when his mind was set on keeping a young man at his side. And how Abel Stoddard would use any means in keeping that young man tied there including finding that young man a wife. And he knew that the anger Abel could create with that tight control could fester and simmer and force that young man to not talk to Abel for decades.
Ben had learned more from Abel Stoddard than he could count – how to sail a damaged schooner through the roughest seas, to calm the most frightened crew during a dangerous voyage, to manage a business ledger, how to meet the enemy head on and face death. He also learned how to make a young man hate you by hobbling him with too short a line. Abel’s own self centered need for power and control was manipulating and deceiving a young man once again. Ben knew the young man was his son Adam and he was helplessly watching the retelling of a familiar story.
Ben knew that only Adam could make his own decision. He could badger his son or insist on Adam returning but Adam needed to make up his own mind. If not, both father and son would regret it for the rest of their days.
More than anything, Ben wanted to know his son was by his side by choice, not by being bound with a short line.
Ben was a very patient man. He had learned that patience from Captain Stoddard by watching the man for months on long sea voyages. He would need that patience now.
Ben Cartwright knew all he could do was wait. Wait and pray that Adam made the decision Ben longed for.
Chapter 5
The Trap is baited
Adam hurried through the door of the Stoddard and Bruce Shipping Company carrying a leather case filled with papers in one hand and rolled charts in the other. He had finally finished drafting plans for the docking area and was ready to show them to his grandfather. Every detail was perfect. I t was Adam’s best work. He was sure his grandfather would agree.
He hoped Dennis was still at his worktable. Adam wanted to share his final draft with him before Dennis left for New York City.
He dashed up the wooden stairs to the wood paneled workroom and called to Dennis O Mara.
“Good, you’re still here!” Adam cleared a space on the long wooden table under the window and rolled out his drawings.
“You almost missed me. I’m leaving in tem minutes. Can’t miss the train and embarrass myself to the Captain before I even get started. “
Dennis was a few years older than Adam. He worked as the chief draftsman and had become Adam’s closest friend in Boston. He had unruly sandy hair and gray eyes. Dennis was just as tall but thicker around the shoulders and chest. He was as jolly as Adam was reserved and they made a fine team. Young O’Mara had attended Harvard for one term but sadly, his college days came to an abrupt end when his father, a captain on one of the Stoddard ships, the Sea Breeze, was lost in an Atlantic storm. Reluctantly Dennis left college and went to work to support his mother and sisters. Adam’s grandfather offered him a job at the urging of his wife.
When Adam came east, Abel Stoddard had asked young O’Mara to watch out for his grandson. Initially, Dennis resented the assignment but obediently went along with the orders his boss had given him.
“Now I have to nursemaid the Old Man’s spoiled grandson,” he complained loudly to his mother and sisters at the dinner table.
As he got to know the younger man, he was glad to spend time with Adam outside of the office. Dennis was delighted to discover Adam was no “spoiled rich boy” but was level headed and dependable. What Dennis originally took for shyness or lack of concern was just Adam’s style of thinking things out before he spoke.
He was delighted to show his new friend all the sights of Boston .He helped him select a wardrobe more suitable to Harvard than riding the range and to sort through the etiquette of proper Beacon Hill dinner parties. Adam, in return, shared every textbook he read and snuck Dennis into many of his classes. He told him all about his two brothers and his father and life out west. Dennis, living as the only male in a household of females reveled in the tales of the boisterous Cartwrights and the company of young man close to his age n the office filled with older married men.
It was hard for Adam to be so far away from his family, but that first fall he was so busy with his studies and the excitement of the city that he didn’t have much time to give in to homesickness. He wrote long letters home each week describing his amazing experiences far from home and waited for the letters his family sent him with news from home.
As the days got colder and darker and the end of the semester approached Adam realized how home sick he was becoming. Sensing how difficult it was for young Cartwright to be so far from home, Dennis invited him to come to the O’Mara’s home for a Christmas celebration.
“Thanks Dennis, but I really can’t. My grandparents expect me there for church and dinner and all…. With Grandmother being so ill, it is going to be pretty quiet. “Adam looked pretty sad.
“I have an idea, College boy. I am sure your folks will be done with all your celebrating by three or four on Christmas afternoon. Why don’t you come join my family on Christmas night for supper? My Ma always serves up all the leftovers and the kids eat and we sing and some of my uncles come over for a few drinks and toasts. … Just come over. You’ll have a grand time and I am sure it will cheer you up.”
Adam’s first Christmas in Boston was hard for him. On one hand, he was especially proud of his excellent grades his first term. Adam had proved to all concerned he could compete with any other student who had come from fancy Eastern boarding schools. Before Adam had left home, Hank Wallace had told him not to worry about his mathematics and he had been right.
The education that Adam had received in his early years had been very scattered and patchy. As he and his father had moved around so much it had been impossible for Adam to attend school for more than a couple of months at a stretch. However, Adam had a great desire to learn and, when Ben could afford it he would buy Adam books or stay a little longer in a town so the boy could finish a few weeks more of formal schooling.
Ben spent time at night teaching him all the math he had learned and how to navigate by the stars as he had at sea. If they crossed paths with someone who could teach Adam any subject Ben would negotiate for tutoring in exchange for some work by himself or his son. In this way, Adam would learn a bit of Latin and Ancient Greek from a minister in Missouri and he learned European History from an Englishman who was headed to farm in Kansas. Adam would get his father to buy him books and paper and was more than willing to wear worn out boots or too short pants if given the choice. As they made their way west, Adam would sit in the back of the wagon reading and writing if Ben gave him a spare minute from chores or driving their team.
By the time the Cartwrights were established on the Ponderosa and his two brothers were born, Adam’s education had pretty much surpassed what was offered in the newly established one room schoolhouse in Virginia City. He had been nervous about his educational limitations once he came to college but his success in his first term shot any of these doubts to pieces.
In Boston, the young rancher was invited to many parties. Initially the invitations came out of politeness for his background as he was also the grandson of Captain and Mrs. Stoddard but he was always invited back as on his own merits as Adam Cartwright of the Ponderosa.
By December, he was painfully homesick for his father and brothers. Just few days before the holiday, Adam did a bit of soul searching to decide if he should give up Boston and return back to the Ponderosa. He decided he would wait until the end of the school year in June, to make up his mind.
When he became particularly homesick, he walked the streets until he came to a section high on a hill above the harbor that was less built up than the rest of Boston. He found a cluster of pine trees that he could sit under and be alone. The fragrance of the pines reminded him of the Ponderosa and was some how comforting to him.
Adam confided his homesickness to Dennis and told him he was thinking of going back at he end of the semester. “Don’t give up Adam. At least stay until June and finish the year. I am sure if you stay until June, you will stay to graduate. “ Dennis encouraged him.” I would have given anything to have been able to continue at school after my father died.”
Christmas dinner at his Grandparents was served at noon. It was a quiet meal served by the butler to Adam, and his grandparents after they attended church and quietly opened a few gifts in the parlor. His grandmother, who had been in fragile health when he arrived, grew weaker as the fall turned to winter.
“Adam,” she said smiling at her grandson. “You don’t know how joyous it has made me having you back in this house. I never thought we would ever see you again…having you here has made this a very happy Christmas for me.”
“And for me too,” said the Captain. He held up his glass and proposed a toast. “To my grandson Adam!”
Chapter 6
By spring, Martha Stoddard weakened and took to her bed. Adam spent many afternoons at her bedside sharing conversation or reading to her or telling her about his life on the Ponderosa.
“I wish your mother could have seen you. She would have been so proud.”
Adam, promise me that you won’t give up on your studies. When things get difficult, don’t give up. I have faith in you, Dearest.
Adam nodded and held her hand. She grew weaker day by day and died just before Easter.
Adam missed her greatly. He had only had really known Martha Stoddard from her letters to him growing up on the Ponderosa and she clearly cared deeply for him. He was eternally grateful that he had come to Boston when he did and had the opportunity to spend any time with her no matter how brief it was. His grandmother told him about Elizabeth’s childhood and things that she had done as a young girl, how Adam had looked as a baby and how much she missed him when Ben and he had gone west.
Adam never had the courage to ask her what had happened between his father and Captain Stoddard. Once she was gone, he certainly never had the courage to ask his grandfather. And certainly Abel never offered to give the story.
Adam rushed between classes and studies and working at Stoddard and Bruce. Occasionally, he and Dennis O’Mara would share a round of beers at his uncle’s tavern, the Golden Shamrock, after work.
Slowly, Dennis came to know Adam as hard working and intelligent and was surprised that the “Old Man” had such an honorable grandson. He had already observed that Stoddard was often willing to bend the facts in his favor to strike a lucrative deal or get his way in a debate. But Adam was nothing like him.
“Where I come from a man’s word is his bond, “ Adam explained. “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. Besides, that is not how my Pa raised us. He would tan our hide if we lied to him. And trust me, Dennis; we were punished much more for the lie than for any bad behavior. So you learned to tell that man the truth on the first go round rather than be found out later on.”
Dennis laughed at the thought of young Adam quaking in his boots giving his father a confession.
“And does that honesty carry over to how you Cowboys treat their young ladies?” Dennis asked taking a swallow from his beer.
”Sure, don’t want to be facing the business end of some angry father’s shot gun or have some pistol packing brothers showing up one morning with the preacher.” Adam laughed.
“And how honest are those young ladies?” Dennis asked him, his voice suddenly serious.” Ever been in love, Adam?”
Adam blushed, thinking of what to say to his older friend. Dennis drained the last bit from his glass and signaled his uncle behind the bar for another beer.
“ Ever been in love with an honest woman? Nothing will break a man like being in love with a dishonest woman.”
Adam raised an eyebrow quizzically and took a pull from his glass. “Are you that broken man, my friend?”
Dennis nodded. “To be sure, my boy. I was once in love with a raven-haired lass and she broke my heart. She told me that she loved me too. But to tell the honest truth, College Boy, it seems I was not rich enough for neither her nor her fancy pants, upper crust father. She sailed to Europe and never answered my letters. Not a one.”
He took another swallow of his drink and stared at his reflection in the mirror over the bar. Sean was at the other end of the bar talking to a few sailors as he wiped the top of the bar with a rag.
“So Adam, my boy, that is the sad tale of being in love with a dishonest woman and the story of my broken heart. And let it be a lesson from me to you on something very important but right now I am too drunk to tell you what.”
Adam smiled and nodded. “Well, I guess you could have wound up on the business end of a shot gun..” he teased.
“That may have been easier.”
Chapter 7
“Dennis, what do you think?” Adam said as he rolled out the sketches. Cartwright was appreciative of all the help Dennis had given him the last four years and was happy to show him his latest work. “The front side will be faced in stone. And with the ramps on the east end, the ships can be offloaded right to the warehouse much more quickly. And I added the extra bracing to the pilings like you suggested.”
Dennis nodded as he examined the plans with his arm draped over Adam’s shoulders. “You did a grand job, my friend. You certainly did. I am really proud of you. ”
He shook Adam’s hand. “I won’t be back until after New Years. So write to me and tell me what your grandfather had to say. I am sure it will take me at least that long to examine all those new Bruce properties in New York and write all the reports Captain Stoddard wants.”
He helped Adam to gather up the papers. THE old man, er CAPTAIN Stoddard wants to see you up in his office, Adam. Show him the plans. They are more than ready, Adam.”
Dennis straightened out Adam’s lapels and patted him on the shoulder.
“Good Job, son, “ he said in mock seriousness.” Just don’t trip over those big cowboy feet as you walk down stairs, College Boy.”
Grinning, Adam stacked all the papers together. “Do you really think it is ok?”
”Just go talk to your grandfather and stop fishing for compliments.” Dennis said as he shoved his friend towards the stairs leading to Abel Stoddard’s Office.
“Dennis, have a good trip!” Adam shouted over his shoulder.
Adam clattered down the stairs. Adam hesitated for a moment at his grandfather’s office door and stood for a moment, just holding the cool smoothness of the handle in his hand, looking at the rich polished grain of the dark wood. He knocked firmly on the oversized carved oak doors leading to the captain’s office.
“Adam? Come in, my boy. ! “
Cartwright opened the door and walked over to his grand father’s desk.
“Good afternoon Grand father, I brought these plans to show you and …Oh, I didn’t realize you weren’t alone.”
”Adam you know Mr. Bruce?”
Charles Bruce stood up from t his straight back chair and shook Adam’s hand vigorously.
“And Miss Amanda Bruce. May I present my grand son Adam Cartwright?”
Sitting to Mr. Bruce’s left was the loveliest woman Adam had ever seen in his life. She had black hair and an alabaster complexion. Her wide violet eyes looked straight into Adam’s eyes and she extended a gloved hand. “ Mr. Cartwright. Your grandfather and my father have told me so much about you. I am so pleased to finally meet you.” She smiled at him.
Adam clasped her tiny hand.
”Amanda has just returned from school in Switzerland. She was there the last few years.” Charles said. “ We just came by to see if you and Abel would join us for dinner. It is time Amanda met some suitable young gentlemen now that she is back in Boston”
“Well Charles, I don’t know. Adam here may already have plans…”
”Oh no, Grandfather. I have no plans. I would love to have dinner with Miss Bruce. “Adam smiled.” And Mr. And Mrs. Bruce too.” He added awkwardly.
I would cancel any plans I had and to spend time with this beautiful girl. I would swim across Boston Harbor towing an anchor in my teeth. Adam thought. “I have no plans.”
He realized he was still holding her hand and blushed as he reluctantly let it go. She smiled and her violet eyes looked straight into his. He returned her gaze.
“Good, Abel, Adam. We will see you at eight O’clock” Bruce said walking to the door.” Amanda?”
“Goodbye Captain Stoddard, Mr. Cartwright. I will be looking forward to this evening.” Amanda smiled coyly over her shoulder at Adam as she followed her father out of the office.
The trap was baited.
Continued in Cherry Tree Saga Part 2
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