-Part 1: Arrival-
The young woman stepped off of the stagecoach and looked around. The city seemed smaller, but rougher than Reno, where she had come from, but then again, she remembered that Virginia City was a small mining town. She was wearing a blue dress, and her blonde, wavy hair was tied in a low ponytail. She was carrying a small bag filled with the majority of her possessions, or at least, those that she was able to take with her. She looked around as she began walking.
"Excuse me, miss. Are you looking for something?"
She heard someone ask her. She looked in the direction of the voice. She saw a man walking up to her. He was tall with black hair and bright blue-grey eyes. He was wearing a red shirt, black vest, blue jeans, and a cowboy hat.
"Oh, not really anything in particular." she said, "Maybe just a hotel."
"You're going to a hotel?" the man asked.
"I just got into town. I don't really have anywhere to stay." she said.
"I'm sorry. I didn't even introduce myself." the man said, extending his hand in greeting, "My name is Adam Cartwright."
"Abigail Lawrence." she said, shaking hands with the man, Adam Cartwright.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Lawrence." he said. She was surprised at how polite he was.
"Please, just Abbie." she said, smiling.
"Alright then, Abbie." the man said, smiling, though, only for a moment before his face was serious again, "Did you come to town alone?"
"Yes. Just me." she said.
"Abbie, this town isn't safe for a young woman staying by herself in a hotel." Adam said. Just then, another man walked up to him. This man was slightly older with grey hair.
"Adam, what's going on over..." the older man started to say, but stopped to look at Abbie when he realized Adam wasn't alone. By the way the man talked Adam, she thought that he was obviously someone Adam was familiar with.
"I'm sorry, miss." the older man said, apologizing for the interruption.
"It's alright." Abbie said, smiling politely.
"Abbie, this is my father." Adam said.
"Ben Cartwright." the man, Adam's father, said, extending his hand in greeting.
"Abbie Lawrence." Abbie said, shaking hands with Ben Cartwright.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Ben said.
"Pa, Abbie just got into town. She's by herself and doesn't have anywhere to stay. I was thinking about asking her to stay at the Ponderosa for a while. It'd be safer than her staying in town by herself." Adam said to his father. Ben looked at his son, then at Abbie, then back at Adam again.
"You're right, Adam. It would be much safer for the young lady there. I guess it would be alright with me." Ben finally said.
"Abbie, my family owns the Ponderosa ranch outside of town. It would be much safer for you if you stayed there with us rather than staying in a hotel by yourself in this town." Adam said. That's right. Abbie had heard of the Ponderosa ranch and the Cartwrights before. Pretty much everyone that lived in Nevada had. The Cartwrights owned the Ponderosa ranch, a huge piece of land. She had even heard people say, "The Cartwrights own half of Nevada." Of course, that was an exaggeration, usually said by the people who resented the Cartwrights for one reason or another, but even Abbie knew that the Ponderosa was a huge piece of property.
"Are you sure that would be alright? I wouldn't want to be an inconvenience." Abbie said.
"It's fine. You wouldn't be a bother." Ben said.
"Well, alright. Thank you. I'll repay you some day, I promise." Abbie said. The two men smiled.
"You don't have to repay us, Abbie." Adam said. They walked over to where two horses were tied. There was a beige one and a dark brown one, both beautiful horses.
"Wait, I'm not going to... Am I?" she said, looking from Adam to Ben and back again, "I have no idea how to ride a horse." The two men smiled.
"It's alright, Abbie. You can ride with me. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." Adam said.
"Alright." Abbie said, "Who knows? It could be fun."
"That's the spirit." Ben said. Adam helped Abbie up onto the back of the brown horse, which obviously belonged to him. Then, he himself got up onto the horse, sitting in front of her.
"Whatever you do, just hold onto me, and you'll be fine, alright?" Adam said. Abbie nodded. Adam's heartbeat sped up, just slightly, as the young woman wrapped her arms around him, even though he knew she was holding on just so she didn't fall.
"Are you alright, Adam?" Ben asked as he got up onto his horse, which was the beige one. He could tell something seemed amiss with his son.
"Yeah, pa. I'm fine." Adam said, trying to calm himself.
They rode out of town, across a lot of land.
"This is all yours? It's amazing. It's so natural, untouched by civilization. I'll bet it's so nice to live in a place like this." Abbie said, looking around as they rode. Ben and Adam smiled.
"It's not always easy. But, I can't imagine living any other way." Adam said. He wasn't sure why, but hearing her compliment the Ponderosa gave him a good feeling.
Finally, they reached a ranch-house, which Abbie assumed belonged to the Cartwrights.
"Is this your house?" she asked.
"Yes, it is." Ben said, smiling at her. Adam got down off of the horse, then helped Abbie down.
"I'll take the horses to the barn. You take Abbie inside and introduce her to everyone." Ben said as he got down off of his horse. Abbie looked at him quizzically.
"My younger brothers." Adam explained as he led her inside, "There's also our cook, Hop Sing." Inside, there were two men playing checkers. One of them was a husky man with bright blue eyes. The other was a thin young man with black wavy hair and dark grey eyes. They both turned their attention to Adam and Abbie when they walked in the door.
"Who's this, Adam?" the husky man asked.
"What, are you, bringing home strange women, now, Adam?" the other, younger-looking man said, smirking. Abbie presumed the two to be Adam's younger brothers that he had mentioned before.
"Where's pa?" the husky man asked.
"He's putting the horses in the barn. He wanted me to come in and introduce you to Abbie. She'll be staying with us for a while. She just got into town and doesn't have anywhere to stay." Adam told them, "I expect you all to make her feel at home here."
"Hello, there, Miss Abbie." the husky man said, smiling politely.
"Hello." she said.
"This is Abbie Lawrence. Abbie, these are my brothers, Hoss and Little Joe." Adam introduced. Hoss was the husky man, and Little Joe was the thin, younger man.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Abbie." Hoss said politely.
"It's good to meet you." Abbie said, smiling politely.
"Hey, Abbie. Nice to meet you." Little Joe said.
"Nice to meet you, too." Abbie said.
"It'll be nice to have such a pretty face around here." Joe said, smiling at her. This caught her off guard, but it was a nice compliment. Adam, however, had a bothered look on his face, though Abbie wasn't sure why.
"Knock it off, Joe." Adam said, grabbing hold of Abbie's arm, gently, though firmly, "Come on, Abbie. I'll show you to one of our guest rooms. You can sleep there."
"Um... Alright." Abbie said as Adam led her away up the stairs. She was slightly confused, finding his change in behavior odd, as it seemed uncharacteristic to the way he had been until just now.
"Jeez, what's his problem?" Little Joe asked as he and Hoss confusedly watched them walk away.
"Yeah, that just ain't like Adam." Hoss said.
Adam led her up the stairs and down a hall to a room.
"This is one of our guest rooms. It's yours for as long as you want to stay here." Adam said. Abbie set her bag on the floor and looked around the room.
"It's beautiful. Thank you again for all you and your family are doing for me, Adam." she said.
"You don't need to thank us, Abbie. We're happy to help you. Don't mind Joe. He gets carried away." Adam said.
"It's alright. No harm done. It was a nice compliment." Abbie said, smiling.
"Oh. Alright." Adam said, looking away for a moment. Abbie couldn't help but get the feeling something was still bothering him.
"Adam." she said, "Are you alright?" Adam looked at her again. Her dark grey eyes were fixed on him.
"No." Adam said, "Well, I'll let you get settled. If you need anything, just let me know."
"Alright." Abbie said, "Thank you again." Adam started to leave the room, but stopped, turning around to look at her.
"Abbie, I want you to know that, uh, what Joe said was true." he said.
"What do you mean?" she asked, slightly confused.
"What Joe said, about you being attractive. I want you to know... I think that's true. You are attractive." Adam said. "Oh, that." she said, "Thank you, Adam." She was surprised, but happy. She never expected him to say something like that. She couldn't help but smile. Adam thought that she had a beautiful smile.
"Well, I just didn't want you thinking I didn't think that was true. I just want you to watch yourself around Joe." he said. With that, he left the room. Abbie stood, staring in surprise for a moment before she began unpacking her things.