Six

As the sun rose, Adam checked his pocket watch again; it was close to 7:00. He headed to the train depot to check the schedule. Maybe the train would be early. Maybe. But the train wasn't early.

"Not expectin' it 'til about 5:00 or 6:00. I suggest you get here 'bout 4:00 though." The clerk said. "It might be early. Just might." Adam snarled his thanks and headed back to the hotel. He rubbed his chin – he needed a shave and to wash. But he didn't want to face Sigrid after last night. Adam didn't understand; after all his experience with women, he had no idea what to say to the young woman waiting for her husband. It hadn't been Sigrid's fault; how could he expect her to know anything? She had been the dutiful wife, allowing him to do as he liked, to sweat over her, and she bore up under him, but he… Adam inwardly cringed. He had known better nights when he had behaved far differently, but those nights were with women who wanted nothing from him but the money. Knowing that it was a mere transaction and once he paid it was all behind him brought a certain lightness to those situations. But this…this was a marriage and as much as he hated to admit it, he had been selfish last night. Now, he considered, what would he say to Sigrid? How could he make things up to her? That is, if she was still there. It could be Sigrid took her $300.00 and went home to her father who would come after him that same afternoon with a double-aught shotgun looking to emasculate him.

Adam opened the door to the hotel room and Sigrid was sitting in her traveling suit on the side of the bed, her hands folded in her lap. She looked up at him and Adam's heart broke at her expression; she was bereft.

"You came back." She barely managed to get out the words.

"Of course, I did. Did you think I…" But Adam didn't finish. Sigrid burst into tears, covering her face. "Sigrid…" Adam dropped to one knee before her. "Please, don't cry. Please!"

She raised her head, tears coursing down her cheeks. "I thought you'd left me…that you had just walked away from me after last night and were never coming back! You've been so angry about everything and now… ."

"Sigrid, I…" He touched her cheek, attempting to comfort her. She gripped his hand with both of hers.

"I know I must have been a disappointment to you. I…I just…oh, Adam, I'll try to be a good wife, I just don't know what to do!" And she sobbed anew.

He rose and sat next to her on the bed, pulling her next to him, his cheek against her hair. "Oh, no, it's not you. I've been bad-tempered and mean and…and don't cry, darling, don't cry." The endearment came surprisingly easily. Yes, Sigrid was darling, and dear, and he was a bully and a brute and a bad-tempered lout. "I wouldn't leave you, Sigrid. Look at me." He tilted up her chin so they could look at one another. "See, this just shows how little we know each other, how little you know me. Why I'd never go off and leave my guitar behind?"

Sigrid stopped crying, surprised, and then, noticing Adam's devilish smile, she broke into laughter between sobs. "Oh, Adam…" Sigrid threw her arms about his neck and her held her close. Yes, Sigrid was warm and smelled like violets and he liked feeling her next to him. And he felt his blood pound in his ears, heating his blood.

"Now that's better. Let me see you smile - and use this." He had pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to Sigrid who dabbed at her tears. "Looks like you're stuck with me, Sigrid, whether you like it or not. I have to confess I'm hard to live with. After all, I'm used to living with men my whole life, if not at home, at school and in the army, just rough, crude men. So, living with a woman, a wife, well, that's going to take some getting used to. But in about 40 years or so, I might get the hang of it." He was rewarded with a tremulous smile. "And, Sigrid, as bad-tempered as I might occasionally be, as a husband, I'll always take care of you. I promise that."

"Yes, Adam. I promise I'll learn how to be a good wife. I already know how to cook and bake." Sigrid sniffed.

"You know," Adam said. "We have a long day of waiting ahead of us and I was thinking, if you don't mind putting off breakfast for an hour or two…"

Sigrid smiled and reaching down, slowly unbuttoned her jacket. Adam grinned; his bride was learning fast.

~ 0 ~

Adam and Sigrid waited at the depot, having had an early dinner or a late supper. He was determined to be more attuned to Sigrid, more attentive and considerate, so when she shyly took his hand as they sat together on a bench, he couldn't help but be touched and closed his fingers around her gloved hand. He knew she was remembering that morning and their intimacy. The bed wouldn't hold two comfortably but entwined with one another, it had sufficed as it had the previous night.

A man with a pushcart came through the station and Sigrid craned her head to see about Adam; a sweet odor filled the air as the pushcart came nearer.

"Would you like some candied pecans?" Adam asked.

"I've never had any before but they certainly smell good," Sigrid replied.

Adam grinned and paid ten cents for a paper cone filled with hot candied pecans. "Here," he said, handing the cone to Sigrid. "Now pull off your glove or you'll have the coating all over the fingertips." He smiled as Sigrid tasted the confection and offered him some.

"I'll have a few," he said, taking some off the top. As he watched Sigrid enjoy the treat, Adam couldn't understand the complexity of his feelings. He felt desire for Sigrid, the desire a man feels for a woman but in a manner, he felt protective and indulgent the way a father might his child. Perhaps, he reasoned, it was just introducing Sigrid to the world and yet wanting to protect her from it. Was that the way a man was supposed to feel about his wife?

"I've never ridden on a train before; it's a little scary. I mean with it moving so fast and it's so big and metallic – like a gun almost. Have you taken many trains?" Sigrid asked.

"More than I can count, actually. I took a train part of the way back east to school. I don't know how many times I had to change trains. I finally made it to Boston after a few days. I also took a train to New Orleans to clean up some inheritance mess for Joe. And in the Army, it seemed we were always piling on trains and then being left off at different places – usually the middle of nowhere."

"What was it like – the war, I mean?" Sigrid stopped eating. She noticed her husband's expression change, his face seeming to close-up while he remembered. "I'm sorry, Adam. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, no. That's all right, but I'd rather not talk about it."

Sigrid left it at that. The war must have been worse than she ever thought.

As they waited, two other trains came from the west as there were three separate tracks. but darkness was beginning to fall when a high-pitched train whistle pierced the air. Had it been earlier, they would have seen the smoke from the approaching train, but now it disappeared into the surrounding twilight.

Soon Adam and Sigrid were on their way to San Francisco, and Sigrid's apprehension was obvious.

"I'm sorry we don't have a compartment; I took what was available on short notice but this is no Pullman," Adam said to Sigrid as she sat beside him.

"What's a Pullman?"

"It's a line of trains that have dining cars and sleeper cars – very elegant."

"This is fine. Really. I can't see spending money to sit alone in a rolling room. But what if nature calls?"

"At the back of the car," Adam said, motioning with his head in the direction. "Just don't fall into it – you'll land on the tracks."

"What do you mean? The hole – the opening - goes…"

"Right onto the tracks."

"And I could fall through?"

Adam laughed. "No, it's not that big a hole. It was a joke. Now don't worry so much." He touched Sigrid's arm as comfort but she barely smiled. Adam knew she would have more than enough to worry about once they reached Australia – no reason to start now.

Sigrid tightly held her reticule in her lap, her valise strapped next to Adam's carpetbag on the rack above her head with the guitar case. She didn't look at Adam, was far too anxious for conversation and looked out the window. Her stomach roiled and suddenly she realized she didn't take well to traveling. The motion of the car kept her off balance so she removed her bonnet, closed her eyes, leaned back and rested her head.

Adam knew by her action, he was being dismissed. Suddenly though, he wanted to talk, wanted the company but Sigrid needed the silence. In that way, they were very different. But Adam had to smile – begrudgingly - Sigrid had beaten him at his own game and he hadn't even known he was playing; he had begun to fall in love with her, to delight in her voice and her profile, noting how her cheek and jaw flowed gently into her neck. She was lovely. But just like that, after laying with him and letting him indulge himself, Sigrid had the upper hand. Funny how that happened. Adam considered how his father had always been around Marie, always deferential, always adoring and maybe he was turning into that type of husband, always sniffing after his wife.

Adam took a deep breath and settled in for the ride to San Francisco. After another three hours had passed, the dome lights were dimmed and soon the others riding in the car were sleeping. Adam glanced over at Sigrid, her face turned away; she was asleep. He sighed, closed his eyes, and the rhythmic rocking of the train and the sound of the wheels on the tracks soon lulled him to sleep. And the night passed as quickly as the landscape outside the windows.

"Adam. Adam."

A gentle tug of his sleeve and the repetition of his voice woke Adam. It was early morning and he was having trouble waking; the past two sleepless nights had caught up with him. Sigrid was lightly shaking him awake. The brakes hissed as the train slowed, finally stopping under a water tower.

"What is it?' His head felt thick and Sigrid was leaning toward him.

"The conductor just came through and said we'd be stopped for about 40 minutes and could get breakfast in town. Are you hungry?"

Adam rubbed his face; he felt the stubble on his cheeks. He needed a shave again and was surprised he had slept so heavily, but he was hungry.

"I'd kill for a cup of coffee and some hot biscuits. Let's go."

It wasn't much of a town – mainly a water-stop for the train - with three restaurants. Adam and Sigrid debarked with the rest of the passengers, less than a hundred people, and chose a restaurant. Adam figured they were interchangeable, all offering the same fare as all three had faded wooden signs advertising bottomless cups of coffee. Hand-written signs in the windows proclaimed sausage, eggs and three pancakes for $1.00. It was high but apparently the three owners decided not to compete and underprice, but to settle on overpricing.

Breakfast was palatable to Adam but Sigrid whispered that the coffee tasted like mud, and she feared the sausage was rancid and the eggs were questionable, in the least. But Adam told her to salt the eggs and if she didn't want hers, he'd take them. The sausage he also decided to avoid, but the pancakes, butter and syrup were decent and it all managed to fill him. When Adam asked the waitress, an unpleasant woman who had impatiently asked if they wanted the "special", how far they were from San Francisco, she replied, "Too far for it to matter to me."

Once they boarded the train again, Sigrid gazed out the window, waiting to be on their way.

"What's so fascinating out there?" Adam asked.

"I was just wondering if Queensland looks anything like this." She looked at him then. "And our house? We do have one, don't we?" Something akin to panic stirred in her voice.

"Well, Caleb said we could have the house his previous partner and his wife lived in, said we were welcome to it although it needs work." The train started to pull away and Sigrid gripped the arms of her seat as she looked at him, leaning toward him.

"But what is it like?"

"I honestly don't know, but I would think if it had a floor, four walls and a roof, you'd be happy." Adam closely watched Sigrid. Did she understand his reference? She did.

Sigrid's face changed to an expression of annoyance. "Well, with your college degree in architecture, I'm sure you can make it the showcase of Queensland."

As she sat back in her seat and turned her head away from Adam and toward the window, a small smile touched his lips. His bride was beautiful – more beautiful, it seemed, with every passing moment, especially in comparison to others, and apparently, she was just as sarcastic as he was.

Adam settled down and closed his eyes, his hat over them. He would be able to catch up on his sleep now that they were moving again.

"Adam?" With one finger, he pushed up his hat and glanced over at Sigrid. "Why did your friend's partner leave?"

Caleb's letter had contained some vague language when he referred to his former partner, Mark Flynn. There had been something about the man's wife having to leave and Adam thought it odd, but he didn't want to worry Sigrid.

"Something about…I think it was homesickness." Adam decided that would suffice.

"Why did your friend ask you to join him? Were you good friends?"

"Why are you choosing now to interrogate me? You thinking of leaving me?"

"We haven't left the country yet. If I did return to Virginia City, would I have access to your money, to your family's since I am your wife?"

Adam scrutinized Sigrid's face. At least she was candid. "I'm sure my father would see you're taken care of. Are you leaving?"

"No. I was just wondering. But why would your friend want someone with an education in architecture?"

"You think my course of study was useless, don't you?"

"No, I didn't imply that. I've just been thinking that it's odd your friend would ask you to join him. Is it because you have money?"

Adam snorted to make his disdain obvious. "No, it's because he knows that the study of architecture includes many things such as building archways and supports for porches and inner walls– the same ideas are in mining. He also knows I'm involved in the mining interests on the Ponderosa – the shoring, the blasting. Now, do you have any other questions or can I get a nap."

"Well, I have more questions, but they can wait." Sigrid looked back out the train window and Adam, with a roll of his eyes, settled in to try to nap. He had to remind himself that Sigrid wasn't an annoying brother or a disapproving father; her future was now joined to his. After all, there were many nights ahead and he didn't want to face her disinterested back in their bed.

As they rode through the rest of the day and the nightfall, the conductor coming through with a basket of sandwiches and apples for dinner – hardly what Adam wanted but he was hungry. Sigrid occasionally asked how much farther it was to San Francisco and Adam's impatience and annoyance with things showed when he answered that they would be there when they were, and it couldn't be soon enough to please him. He had removed his tie and loosened his weskit but he yearned to be in casual clothes and well-worn boots instead of the polished leather oxfords pinching his feet. Having worn a military uniform for three years, Adam had eschewed formal clothes once he was home, but as his father had said, a man can't marry wearing a cowboy hat and boots with horse shit clinging to the soles. But he still longed for the soft cotton shirt, dungarees and his familiar trail coat rolled into his carpetbag. And before his trunk was stowed away, he would find his well-worn boots. He had no desire to travel the rest of the way to Australia dressed in his best suit. And he longed to be able to walk about and stretch his legs.

The train pulled into San Francisco at 9:16, according to Adam's pocket watch, and amid the confusion of passengers debarking and milling about the already crowded terminal, Adam managed to secure their luggage while Sigrid obediently waited where she was told her to wait. And when she saw Adam approaching her, she felt swallowed up by a wave of relief.

"You're back; I'm so glad." Sigrid moved to him. "Are we staying the night in a hotel?"

"Yes, now listen to me." Adam held Sigrid by her upper arms. "I'm going to put you in a hack to take you to the Queen Anne Hotel. Get us a room, one with a bath." He dropped his hands to pick up his carpetbag. "Here. Take my bag and guitar with you and…" He felt around in his pocket. He put two silver pieces in her hand. "Give one to the driver when he unloads the luggage and the other to the bellman when he delivers it to the room. Give them no more than this. After all, they might get the wrong idea if you start fishing down inside your blouse for more money." Adam grinned and Sigrid huffed; he had teased her earlier about tucking her $300.00 inside her chemise. "I'm going to the docks and find the captain of The Alliance; I want to talk to him before tomorrow." Adam kissed her cheek and raised a hand to secure one of hacks waiting at the train depot.

"Adam, wait." He turned to Sigrid's worried face. "I've never…I mean, I've never left Virginia City. I don't know that I can do this?"

"Sigrid, listen to me. You watched me get a room in Carson City, right?"

"Yes, but…you're leaving me alone to do it? Do women alone…I mean will they think I'm…" Sigrid looked down at her gloved hands and noticed her reticule swinging from her wrist. What if someone robbed her or the hackney driver was dishonest? What if the hack became lost in the large city? And what if something happened to Adam and he never returned? And what if the hotel clerk thought she was a woman of ill repute?

"Sigrid, listen. The hack will take you to the hotel. Then tip the necessary people. Remember, you're a married woman, Mrs. Adm Cartwright. Write Mr. and Mrs. Adam Cartwright in the register and ask for a room with a bath. It's that easy. Understand?" Sigrid nodded, tears welling in her eyes. Adam realized she was truly terrified. But as with her marital "bedding", there was a first time for everything. "I've stayed at the Queen Anne many times. They might very well recognize my name and give you one of the best suites. All right?"

"All right, Adam." Sigrid's voice dropped but she pulled herself up, ready to do what was needed.

Adam gave directions to the hack driver and paid the fare so Sigrid wouldn't have to. As the cab drove away, Sigrid leaned out to wave at Adam. And suddenly he wondered if the clerk would smirk at "Mrs. Adam Cartwright". After all, he had taken quite a few "Mrs. Cartwrights" to the hotel many times before.