The Cherry Tree Saga – # 10 (by Robin)

Summary:  Part ten of The Cherry Tree Saga

Word Count:  5200

The Cherry Tree Saga

Part 10

Chapter 1

The February thaw had started and there was a hint of an early spring in the air. Everyone knew they could have another big snow before the true spring began but it was nice to see that the worst of the long winter was really coming to an end.

“Well Big Brother, looks like you came to visit us here at the Ponderosa but are spending an awful lot of time visiting neighbors.” Joe teased as he sat down on the low table in front of the settee. Leaning over his shoulder, Joe Cartwright looked at his older brother. Adam was standing quietly a few feet away against the fireplace.

Joe realized his own impatience could likely get the better of him but he couldn’t resist teasing his brother. “Adam thinks he is being so discrete but he is as transparent as a piece of glass.” Joe thought to himself.

“What do you think about this Hoss?” Joe persisted. He pulled the checkerboard closer and started to arrange the red pieces.

“Gee, looks a lot like that to me too!” Hoss grinned. “I don’t know if we should be insulted by all this lack of brotherly interest. Here he stays away from home for months on end and when he comes back for a visit he hardly spends an evening with us.” He started setting up the black checkers.

“Gee Adam, we really are hurt by your …your…” Joe struggled for a word.

“Rudeness?” Hoss suggested. He moved his first checker into the middle of the board.

“Snobbery? Lack of affection?” Joe added looking at his next move.

“Down right gol durn poor behavior.”

Walking in from the dining room, Ben looked at his two younger sons. He raised his eyebrows. ”Don’t tell me they are going to start a fight?” he thought nervously. Ben was just thankful to see Adam at all so soon after his last visit and did not want anything to put a damper on the evening.

“Is there something wrong, Adam? Aren’t we hospitable enough for you? Or is there some one you like visiting more than your own dear family?” Joe grinned impishly. He picked up a couple of checkers from the board and shifted them from hand to hand.

“Boys, I think you need to lay off Adam for awhile,” Ben cautioned.

“Pa, we was just fooling around,” Hoss said laughing from his seat on the settee.

“Maybe you were, Hoss. But I sure wasn’t. Adam why don’t you tell us what you’ve been up to all these weeks? “Joe winked at Adam daring his brother to speak up. “

“What’s the matter Older Brother? Cat got your tongue or is it that big purple bruise on your forehead? Looked like you forgot to duck somewhere.” Joe knew how low the ceilings were on the second floor in Kate’s house. He tossed a checker at his brother’s shoulder.

Hoss gave Joe a warning look. “Don’t push him Little Joe.” But Joe persisted in harassing Adam. This was too much fun making his older brother sweat. Adam had kept Pa in the dark too long and he deserved to be needled until he fessed up. Ben would be delighted with the news. Joe tossed a second checker at Adam.

“Just what do you think you’re doing young man?” Ben scowled at Joe. “Is there something going on here that I don’t know about?”

“Adam? Pa asked is there something going on that he doesn’t know about?” He tossed another checker. This time Joe threw the checker harder.

Adam caught the checker in mid air and threw it hard at Joe’s head. Joe ducked and the checker clattered to the floor and skidded under the settee. Hoss leaned over and put the red checker back on the edge of the table.

Adam gave a soft non-committal sound. He raised one eyebrow and looked at Joe.

Adam knew his brothers were likely looking for an opening to discuss Kate but wasn’t certain he wanted to broach the subject just yet. Joe and Hoss had made the decision for him.

Ben moved to the side and sat down on his leather chair near the fireplace. What in heaven’s name were his two younger sons doing? He wished they would just quit pestering Adam like two flies buzzing around. There was no need for any of this during Adams short visit and it made Ben nervous to think they were spoiling the visit.

Propping a shoulder against the stone fireplace wall, Adam leaned against it trying to look nonchalant. He crossed his arms on his chest. Swallowing hard, he decided to jump right in. Why not? He was sure of his decision, probably more sure than anything he had ever done before. There was no need to be secretive about Kate anymore. She had said, “yes” to his proposal.

Adam turned away for a minute stifling a smile and trying his best to maintain his serious façade. Powerless to hide his happiness, he turned around to his family with a huge smile spread across his face.

“Kate said she would marry me,” he said as matter-of-factly as he could muster. Then he said it again. “Kate and I are getting married.” His face broke into a huge grin. He loved how the words sounded coming out of his mouth. “Kate and I are getting married.”

Joe jumped up and slapped his brother on the back as Hoss’ face broke into a wide grin.” I told ya Joe! I told you there was something goin on between them. I told ya!”

“That is the best news I ever heard Adam,” Ben cheered “Congratulations son!” Ben jumped up and grabbed his oldest son in a huge bear hug. Father and son embraced warmly. Ben finally comprehended what was going on between the boys and was embarrassed that he hadn’t realized what was going on.

“She is a fine woman son. You made a grand choice.” He told his son joyfully hugging him again. Adam hugged his father back.

”And just you watch out Big Brother, she has a mean left hook!” Joe teased rubbing his own jaw in mock pain.

“Hey, that’s how Kate got him to propose!” Hoss laughed slapping Adam on the back.

Chapter 2

The next morning, Adam decided he needed to start on some of the sketches for Dennis. If he could get a leg up on the work before he went back to Boston, he could finish things up much faster. Then he would be able to return home to Katie all the sooner. He checked around in his old bedroom for his drafting tools but they were nowhere to be seen.

Ben was working at his desk when his oldest son came down the stairs.“Pa, do you have any idea where my old set of drafting tools could be?” Adam asked his father.

“Aren’t they upstairs in your room?”

Adam shook his head. “No, I already looked there. You know which ones I mean. The set you bought me for my birthday before I went to college. The ones in the purple velvet box. I thought I could start on some work before I went back to Boston.”

Ben scratched his head. “There’s a lot of those boxes you shipped home over the years in the attic over the tack room. Maybe your trunk from college is in there too. Why don’t you check up there?”

“Thanks Pa” Adam headed out to look.

He climbed a ladder to the little storage attic and started to rummage through the boxes and trunks that had been arranged up there over the years he was gone. There were numerous wooden crates and trunks marked with his name on the shipping labels. Many contained artwork he had purchased in Europe and had shipped to the Ponderosa. Other crates contained pieces of furniture and other souvenirs from his travels. Someday they would all find a place in the house he would design for Kate. Very little light came in through the small window on one end of the attic and Adam realized that he would really need to get a lantern from the barn if he was going to find the drafting set.

He climbed back down the ladder went into the barn just as Joe came in the planked door. Joseph was carrying two cups of coffee. “Pa said you were in here poking around. I brought you some coffee.”

Adam smiled and reached out for a cup. “ Thanks Little Brother. What brings you out here so early?”

”I just wanted to tell you how glad I am you are coming back and to tell you how happy I am for you and Katie.”

”Thanks Joe. How about giving me a hand looking for my drafting tools in that collection up there?”

The two brothers climbed back up into the storeroom. Adam lit the lantern and looked about the dusty room. He ran his hand through his hair trying to figure what the most logical place would be to look first.

“How about over there.” He pointed to some trunks in the corner. One was labeled with his grandfather’s address and looked like the trunk he originally had taken when he left the Ponderosa for college. “Help me pull this one out, Buddy.”

Joe grabbed one end and Adam the other and tugged the heavy trunk to the center of the room. “What do you have in here? Assay samples? A dead horse?” Joe grunted. “Lead weights?”

Adam unlatched the lid and looked inside. The trunk was filled to the brim with neatly organized school papers, stacks of letters bound with ribbons, a pair of boots that must have fit Adam when he first went to college but were soon outgrown, a trophy Adam had won playing billiards and other long forgotten souvenirs of college life in Boston. Nestled to one side was a small plush box.

”Just what I was looking for. I can’t believe we found it on the first go around.”

”Guess this is just all round your lucky week.” Joe reminded him. Adam smiled thinking of Kate.

”It certainly is my lucky week.”

“Just what I was looking for.” Adam said as he pulled the set of drafting tools out of the trunk. He smoothed his hand over the case remembering how proud he was when his father had presented them to him. The gift was his father’s acknowledgement of all his dreams to study engineering that Adam had been too shy to share with Ben. He had since used more elaborate and finer sets but none was more important than the first set his father had brought him from San Francisco.

“What are all those letters?” Joe said pulling out a neatly bound bundle.

”Looks like they are all the letters I got while I was away in college. You don’t know how much I looked forward to getting them.” He took a bundle from Joseph’s hand and untied the red ribbon that held them in a stack. He pulled one out. “Here’s one from Pa.” Adam looked at the date and read “Dear Adam, The herd looks very good this fall and Hoss will be accompanying me on the drive. Little Joe put up quite a fuss but there is no way he can go with us and will stay with Mrs. Newkirk while we are gone.”

Joe shook his head, “I was sure mad at Pa for leaving me behind. I really thought I could ride herd with Hoss and they had to just about tie me up by Newkirks so I wouldn’t try to catch up with Pa. Dean wasn’t even old enough to go to school yet and I tried to get him to run off with me.”

“Here’s another one. ‘I think Hoss has an eye on Andrea the daughter of the Lowells.  She is a very pretty girl with red hair and a patient nature. They are the family who moved to town just about a month after you left for college. Little Joe plays with their young son Daniel and often sleeps there when the weather is threatening.  How did you do on your exams? I am sure you are studying hard.”

”Ever wonder what ever became of the Lowells, Adam?”

Adam shrugged “Lord knows. They left town when the uncle got shot. But I am sure Ramsey had lots of enemies if what he did to you was any indication of the kind of man he was.”

”What’s this?” Joe said pulling a larger envelope from the stack. It was in his own back slanting handwriting.

”Gee little brother, it doesn’t look like your handwriting is any much better now than when you were ten years old.” Adam pointed to the envelope.

He pulled out two pieces of paper folded crookedly together. Adam carefully opened the letter and smoothed it out to read it aloud. He shook his head when he realized what he was opening.

One was a letter written on lined copy paper. Adam read it aloud.

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

 

“Guess there was no doubt that I was not going to follow you to college.”

The second piece looked like a sheet of ledger paper that had been ripped from one of Ben’s ledgers.  Adam smoothed that page out too. Written in a childish hand was a long list of names. “Joe what is this? Do you remember what all this was about?”

The two brothers 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”

“What the heck did you send me?” Adam puzzled.

Joe held the paper in his hand. All the feelings that he had felt at the moment he wrote it came flooding back. He remembered all the anguish and fear of loosing his big brother. “It was bait to lure you back home. You had written Pa that you were thinking of staying in Boston and not coming back home. I didn’t know what your grandfather was doing to you” Abel Stoddard’s deception never failed to amaze the Cartwrights even years later.

Adam nodded silently. He thought he had put his grandfather’s deception behind him but he realized how much it had colored his ability to trust his own judgement in women. Not this time, Adam was sure Kate was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, here in Virginia City.

“I some how got it in my mind that it had some thing to do with pretty girls and restaurants. I was just a kid.” He looked at the list again “ Dances in the Bucket of Blood. Wonder if Pa knew that I was eyeing dance hall girls?”

“Did you know your bride was the one who helped me do this?” Joe asked.

”Kate? What did Kate have to do with this… this inventory?”

”Do you think I was smart enough to figure how to do this list on my own? I was so upset that you weren’t coming back home she told me to lure you back with this masterpiece?”
Adam laughed harder than he had in months. “Kate? Luring your brother back home? Sounds like this bait worked twice in my lifetime.”

“Maybe we should add her name to the bottom of the list ?”

”In great big red letter, Buddy. Big big letters.”

Chapter 3

The weeks Adam would be back east seemed like the longest piece of time in the universe to Kate. Every time she thought about him leaving tears came to her eyes. She knew that it had to be done but it didn’t mean that Kate had to like it. She completely understood that Adam had to go back to Boston to finish off things with Stoddard and Bruce and make arrangements with Dennis to develop the San Francisco office. Kate knew she would miss him desperately.

Adam had told her that he would be home when the fruit trees in her front yard were in bloom. He would return to her when the cherry tree was billowing pink but before the spindly lilac would put out its few fragrant purple flowers. She consoled herself with the image of Adam walking up her front walk with the cherry tree blooming overhead. Then he would be home to stay with her for good this time.

Both of them had immediately told Sam that they were getting married when Adam returned and the little boy was delighted. He adored Adam. Without a moments hesitation he decided he would rather be called Sam Cartwright and that they should have a big chocolate cake at the wedding party. Nancy Foster sat down and started making lists and planning the wedding details. “You should meet with Reverend Felcher before Adam leaves so you can reserve a date and all.”

The only time Adam and Kate had left to see the minister was the Sunday before Adam left. Kate arranged for Sam to spend the afternoon with Nancy and her boys after church while she and Adam met with the Reverend in his parlor. Mrs. Felcher invited them for dinner but Kate politely declined. She wanted to have be alone with Adam in her own house over their own Sunday dinner as she knew it would be a very long time until he returned.

He had booked passage on the Tuesday noon train and they had only a few days left together before he was gone.

Kate walked over to the kitchen table with two pieces of cocoanut cake for dessert. Kate stopped and placed a hand on Adam’s muscled forearm. He reached up and turned her to face him. Her chin was quivering noticeably and he placed a gentle finger against it. “I’ll miss you, Adam,” she said sadly.

“I’ll write you every day, Katie.”

“I will too. Sam even said he wanted to write to you.”

”I showed him Boston on the map, the other night when I put him to bed.” Adam rubbed the bruise on his forehead that he got banging his head into the doorframe in Sam’s little room. He continued to forget to duck his head in her upstairs rooms. ” Sam sort of thought Boston was near San Francisco. I showed him how to measure the mileage between places too.”

“Where did you get the map?” She asked as she refilled his coffee cup.

“We found an atlas in Mim’s book shelf the other night when you were finishing up at the Enterprise. We had pulled out some of the books to make part of a bridge for his blocks.”

Kate laughed picturing the two of them, head to head, sitting in the parlor constructing an intricate building project. Certainly this was something Adam had initiated as Sammy’s inventions tended to be more in the realm of puppet shows or battles between squadrons of tin soldiers fighting the wooden Noah’s ark animals. Sam called it the Monkey Wars. She was delighted that the two of them were getting on so well.

“Look what was stuck in the back of the book shelf behind everything.” He walked over to the shelf near the fireplace where he had neatly put back all the books that he and Sammy had pulled out. Adam came back with a big drawing pad and presented it to Kate.

She stood up to move the dishes over and make space for the pad on the kitchen table.

“Oh my goodness. It’s my drawings from when I lived here as a little girl. My uncle made me this pad from the ends of newsprint from the Enterprise. Mim must have saved it.” She took it from Adam and flipping through the pages. There were pen and ink pictures of crooked fruit bowls and a watercolor sunset over the mountains, pencil drawings of Foster and Mim, her parents and lots of pictures of horses. The last few pages showed a few attempts at what was clearly the barn on the Ponderosa.

“That’s the barn on your ranch.” Adam smiled as she recognized the picture.
”Keep going,” he grinned at his soon to be wife.

Kate flipped over to the next page and stared at a picture of the Ponderosa horse corral. Centered in the middle of the page on a rearing horse was a handsome, black haired cowboy that looked very much like Adam Cartwright with his hand tapping the brim of his hat. It was framed with garlands of hearts and flowers. She stared at the picture remembering the day she drew it and how Adam had always made her feel. “It was always you Adam Cartwright. Always. And it always will be you.” She looked up at him and smiled. She stood up from the table.

He rounded the table and took her hand. The drawing pad fell to the floor.

He tried to ignore the excitement coursing through his veins.  He touched her arm with just the tips of his fingers, and, when she didn’t draw away, slipped his hand slowly up to her shoulder. She shivered, and moved closer to him, into the circle of his arms. He drew her in to his chest, and she could feel the steady beat of his heart. He let his fingers trace lightly down the lines of her back to rest at her waist. Kate didn’t pull away.

Kate reached up, putting her arms around Adam’s neck. She drew his head down so that, standing on tiptoe, she could kiss him. “Adam Cartwright, I love you. I always have.” She whispered huskily.

Adam half closed his eyes and breathed in her perfume. He wanted this woman. In fact, he wanted her very badly for a very long time. “Kate, you’ll never know how much I love you.” He leaned down; his mouth hovered close to hers.

He could finally admit to himself how much he was hungering for her. Perhaps it was time for this to happen for both of them. He kissed her with more passion than he had ever kissed any woman before.

“Kate I love you,” said Adam as he kissed her with more heat.

“Don’t stop,” she moaned pulling him closer.

But still they kissed. Adam groaned as his hard body tensed with the effort of restraint. He wouldn’t make love to her unless she was willing. He finally broke from her, and smiled as he heard the small whimper of protest from her lips.

“Don’t stop,” she pleaded. Kate’s heart raced. She closed her eyes and tried to think clearly but all she could think of was what Adam was doing right that instant. Nothing else in the world mattered at all but the fire between them.

“I want you, Kate.”

He held off for a minute, allowing her time to think. Adam knew exactly what he wanted but this had to be Kate’s decision, not his.

Kate could hear his heart pounding as she rested her head on his chest. She opened her eyes, their depths showing no confusion. She knew he was allowing her the choice. There was absolutely no choice to make in her heart. She wanted him.

She wanted him to kiss her, and touch her. Finally, when Adam almost couldn’t stand it any more. She seized his hand and tugged him down the hallway. Adam followed, becoming increasingly excited. She knew what was coming, and she wanted him very badly.

“I want you, too, Adam.” She looked deeply into his dark eyes.

She took him by the hand and, led him into the back bedroom.

Chapter 4

“I need one of you to go up to deliver those horses to Otis Massey’s widow”, Ben announced at the breakfast table. Adam had left for Boston two days earlier and there was a lot of work to be done.

“Gee Pa I would just love to go up to Elm Grove, the armpit of Nevada Territory, but I would rather have a lunch date with a rattle snake in my bare feet.” Joe smirked. “Elm Grove?  I went last time. It’s not my turn to go to that stink hole.”

“Are you sure, Joe? Hoss?” Ben looked at both of his sons.

Hoss nodded sadly confirming that his brother was telling the truth. “Joe went up there a couple of months ago when Otis got that little herd of cattle he wanted for breeding. Remember he went with that feller who came from down near Tucson. Tom was his name. The one who wanted to go back home to marry the preacher’s daughter.”

”That’s right, Joe went last time.” Ben agreed. No one wanted to go to Elm Grove no matter what time of the year it was.

”Sorry Big Brother, guess it is your turn.” Joe put down his napkin and stood up from the table. ”Got to get going Pa. I want to see how Hays is doing with those horses if Hoss is going to be delivering them this week.” Joe was clearly relieved that he didn’t have to make the long ride up to Elm Grove.

“Are you still sure the widow wants those horses now that Otis is gone?” Hoss put a second helping of ham and eggs on his plate.

“I wrote and asked her. She said she did. Otis had a foreman running the place for him the last year or so and Mrs. Massey said she is keeping the fellow on.  And she wants the horses as soon as we think we can get them up there.”

By the beginning of the next week Hoss and two hands had brought the horses up to the Massey Ranch. It was an arduous ride through rocky, dry dessert until they reached the canyon where the Massey spread was located. Otis had the only spring for miles around and the ranch was a green spot in the middle of tan scrub and rocky outcroppings.

‘Mr. Cartwright, “ the foreman said as he checked out the horses, “Mrs. Massey said for you to come up to the house for dinner when you are done. She wants to go over the bill of sale papers. Your men can join the hands at the bunkhouse if they want. We got a good cook down here and some poker games going on.”

Hoss was tempted to join the men, but felt that out of respect for his father’s old friend Otis, he should have dinner with Widow Massey. “Sure, tell her I’ll be up right quick.” Hoss went over to the pump and tried to clean himself up a bit before he walked up to the main house.

“Oh don’t bother with that. Mrs. Massey said that you should ride right up there and the housekeeper would set you up with some hot water and all.” Hoss smiled thinking that some hot water and a good dinner would make up for the two day desert ride and a respectful visit to an old widow.

“Just ride up the road to the right, Mr. Cartwright. You’ll see the house as soon as you get over the rise. I’ll make sure your men gets dinner and a bunk”.

Otis had spared no money in building his elaborately gaudy turquoise house. It was filled with stained glass windows, turrets, and purple and pink ginger bread trim rising over a multi tiered porches and balconies. Hoss had never seen anything like it in his life. He tied his horse an iron fence in front of the house and walked up the pink marble steps to the massive front door. Before he could knock, the housekeeper opened the carved door and invited him inside.

“We saw you ride up. Mrs. Massey said that she would be in to join you shortly. Would you like to wash up Mr. Cartwright?” She took his hat.

”Thank you kindly, that would be mighty appreciated.” Hoss slung his saddlebags over his shoulder and followed the housekeeper to a bedroom.

She laid out fresh white towels and fancy milled soap that smelled like lemons. “There is plenty of hot water. Just call me if there is anything I can get you, sir. Dinner will be in an hour.”

Hoss thanked her. He washed up and pulled a fresh shirt out of his saddlebag. Checking his reflection in the mirror, he ran a comb through his hair and decided he was sufficiently cleaned up for Widow Otis and dinner.

Hoss walked down the ornate hallway to the parlor. The wallpaper was red flocked and oil paintings adorned every space available.  He stood with his hand on his chin looking at the various ornately framed paintings and marble and gilt statues of nymphs and goddesses. Just as he was trying to decide if he liked the painting of a fat woman reclining on a cloud he heard someone enter the room behind him.

A soft female voice called out “Mr. Cartwright, welcome to my home.”

Hoss turned to greet Widow Massey and was shocked to see a tall voluptuous red headed woman standing in the doorway. She was dressed in a ruffled green satin gown, diamonds at her ears and at her throat. He was tongue tied for a moment. He had thought Otis Massey’s wife was an old woman and here was one of the most beautiful young women he had ever seen in his life.

”Mr. Cartwright?” she repeated. Hoss nodded. “I hope my housekeeper gave you every thing you needed.”

”Yes M’am. Everything was just fine.”

”How was the trip from the Ponderosa?”

“Fine, M’am. I left my hands down with your foreman at the corral. He took care of the horses.” He stared at her trying to figure out why he felt so comfortable with someone he just met. He usually was not good at meeting strangers and he also was expecting an elderly widow not a young, beautiful woman.

Mrs. Massey nodded and smiled. “He is a very good man and he told me the horses will work out quite well, Mr. Cartwright.”

 “Jest call me Hoss, M’am. Mr. Cartwright is my Pa.”

She extended her delicate white hand to him. “Then you should call me Andrea, Hoss. You might be more comfortable with just calling me Andrea. You always did when we were in school together.”

Continue on to The Cherry Tree Saga Part 11

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