"Adrien," Adam called from the front door, "are you ready yet?"

"I'm coming, just hold your horses" she replied as she ran down the stairs. It had only been a few days since she arrived, and the two had not spent much time apart.

"I thought I told you six o'clock," he said sternly

"When do I ever listen? And besides, you know me, I like to be fashionable late." She kidded.

He gave her another stern look.

"Don't look at me like that." She retorted

"Adrien, why do you still act like you're performing but you're not the prima ballerina anymore."

"You aren't my father, and secondly, I am on time."

" It isn't just that."

"I don't see what you're so worried about, they can't start till I get there."

"Well, they could hire someone else." He retorted.

"Then tomorrow you're taking me into town, and I'm getting on the first stage out of here."

"No, you're not, you're staying and I'm finishing painting the inside of this house. I have what we need at the ranch."

"Finally, I want to get started." She kidded

"Don't worry, next week, I'll bring everything over and I'll get this place fixed up for you." He began to explain.

"Adam Cartwright, if you don't listen to me…"

" Alright, alright, I'll get started tomorrow"

"No, we'll get started tomorrow"

"Adrien, I can't let you…" he begged.

"You can't let me do this kind of work, well let me tell you something, I grew up on a ranch too, if you don't remember, and I've done just as hard of work as you have. And I don't want anything to do with you if you think you can underestimate me just because I'm a woman."

"Down girl."

"I'm not a horse either, Adam Cartwright." She nagged, but a gleam still in her eyes.

"Can we go, you can finish chewing me out on the way to town."
"Fine." She answered, mockingly indignant.

"Just one request, leave enough of me to fill that seat at the meeting." He stated, the mood still light.

"Alright, alright, I was finished with you anyway."

"Can we leave now?"

"I never said we couldn't" She opened the door and walked out.

Adam grabbed the reigns, and climbed into the buggy.

"Well aren't you going to help me up?" Adrien cried out indignantly.

"My word woman, first you don't want to be treated like a lady and now you do. When will I ever figure you out?"

He gave her his hand and pulled her up into the carriage.

"So what should I expect tonight?" she asked beginning to get nervous.

"Nothing you won't be prepared for." Adam sat silent for a moment. "My father's on there too."

"Why are you on if your father is too?"

"I'm the only person in town with a college degree."

"What's the point of this meeting anyway?"

"We want to make sure that you're the person for the job."

"But didn't you already hire me."

"Don't worry Adrien, you're the first teacher we've had that's passed their certification exam as well as you did. It's pretty much in the bag for you."

They rode on for what didn't seem long enough to be the mile and a half to the schoolhouse before it was in view. Adrien's stomach was beginning to tie itself in knots. Adam tied the horse to the hitching post on the side of the building and went to help Adrien down. After this was done, Adam headed for the door of the schoolhouse.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked as soon as he realized that Adrien was not following him.

"Adam, I don't know if I can do this," she answered, her nervousness beginning to show.

"Finally, feeling nervous? I thought I told you, you have nothing to worry about."

"This is different, it's not as simple as dancing or waiting tables in a café."

"No, it's not, but it's nothing you can't handle."

"But this meeting isn't all, what about after the summer's over and school actually starts?"

"Adrien, you can handle it. Now let's go."

He headed for the door again, this time she followed.

As she entered the room the eight men looked up and stared. Adam shut the door behind her, and moved to her side.

"Gentlemen, this is Virginia City's new teacher, Miss Cooper."

The men nodded and sat down at a long table that had been placed in the center of the room. She went to sit down but then she realized there wasn't a chair for her. Ben remained standing.

"Why don't you take a seat at your new desk?" he said.

She quickly sat down and tried not to look scared. This time she handled her nervousness by looking every one in the eye.

" First of all, Miss Cooper, we'd like to welcome you to Virginia City," Ben continued, "We hope you are happy here."

" Thank you very much, I'm getting along quite well."

"Well, we all know you have a new house to get settled into, so we won't be long, we'd just like to give you the interview that we couldn't get with you all the way on the east coast. Shall we get started?"

He sat down and another man spoke up.

"Shouldn't we introduce ourselves first?"

"Thank you, that almost slipped my mind," the first said as he again stood.

"This is Loren Slicker," he began, "he runs the local mercantile…."

The man he pointed to gave Adrien a slight nod, which she returned.

"… This is Jacob Bray," the man continued apparently going clockwise around the table, "he runs the bank. This is James Lodge, the head of the Miner's Association and then we have Gary Roberts who owns the hotel. This is Roy Coffee, the town sheriff, and then we have the head of the Cattlemen's association, Terry Ingram. This is our Mayor and head of the school board, Hamilton James. All we're going to do tonight is ask you a few questions to make sure you're the person for the job," Mr. Cartwright continued. He sat down and looked around the table waiting for someone to start.

"What have you been doing since you left school?" This time the question came from Mr. Ingram.

" I was a dancer in the Boston ballet for about three years."

"Why did you stop, Miss Cooper?" This question came from Mr. Lodge.

"My love for the dance was suddenly drained, and I was beginning to have a few problems in my legs anyway, and I had my sister to take care of too."

"Why wasn't your sister at home with your mother?"

"My mother died when Becca was born." She looked down at the desk.

"Why couldn't your father keep her?" Lodge was relentless.

She looked at Adam; this man was cutting to close. She could tell by Adam's face that he knew it too. Adam shot an angry look to his father, telling him these questions were not necessary.

"Mr. Lodge," Ben cut in, "why don't we let someone else have the floor?"

Adrien let her breathe go. Mr. Lodge did not say another word the rest of the night.

Sheriff Coffee spoke up.

"How much experience do you have in teachin' Miss?"

" I haven't actually taught on my own, but I did some tutoring in school. I graduated first in my class."

The rest of the night went on with questions like that of the Sheriff's, and no one mentioned anything about Rebecca, but that night Adrien never got back to the confident feeling she'd had before the mention of her father.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

That night, riding home, Adrien did not say a word. Adam could tell by her silence that Lodge had stepped on some toes. She had never talked about her father much before; Adam suspected he just was not a big part of Adrien's life. Any one could tell just from her conversation that she adored every one of her siblings. Her father, Adam concluded must be quite a rough subject if she panicked at his mention. He wanted to talk to about it, but he thought it could wait; she was too rattled tonight. But he couldn't let this go; she'd acted like something had been troubling her since she'd gotten here. He had to find out. He was not going to let this go.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

They pulled up to Adrien's house; she got herself down this time.

"Adrien, wait," he called out suddenly. He climbed out of the buggy, and walked up to the porch steps. The moonlight streamed from the sky and lit and shadowed her face.

"Adrien, I…I …I just wanted to tell you, he stammered as he took a few steps closer to her, I…I…I'm really glad you're here." He had Adrien in his arms now and he bent down to kiss her.

"Adam, please…" she turned her head away.

"What's wrong Adrien?" he asked confused.

"Things have changed, you said so yourself. I can't. We've changed too much."

He let her go and headed for home, wondering what she meant, his feelings had not changed for her, was she saying that hers had? But she acted like she still… He had never been more confused in his life.