Chapter 10

I decided the next morning that I had better ask Mum to meet Joe, so I sent off a wire to her.

A couple of days later, I had a reply saying she'd love to come.

When a stage from Oregon pulled into Virginia City the next week, I was ready to welcome Mum with excited, open arms.

As soon as she stepped off the stage, I was in her arms, telling her how glad I was she could come. I took her luggage and linked arms with her.

As we walked to the hotel, I told her all about Joe, the Cartwrights, the picnic and the ball.

"Does your Father know about this?" she asked, stopping for a moment.

"No. And I don't really want him knowing about it, either." I replied.

"I understand."

When we reached the desk at the hotel, I booked my Mum a room. Luckily, there was a free room next to mine, so she took that one.

"So," she said when we reached her room. "when do I get to meet the young man?"

"Well," I began excitedly. "we have organized to have lunch at their ranch tomorrow."

"Sounds good." She squeezed my arm. "Oh, I'm ever so pleased for you!" She pulled me into a big, warm hug.

"Thanks, Mum." I replied.

We had a rather late lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking Mum's belongings. Mum said she might have an early night, as she was rather tired after the long journey, and I agreed that it was a good idea.

I decided to have an early night, as well.

"Mum, I'd like to introduce to you Joe Cartwright."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am." Joe kissed my Mother's hand.

"Delighted." She turned to me. "What a charming young man." she murmured.

I giggled embarrassedly. Trust Mum to say something like that in front of everybody.

"Thanks." I told her.

I heard a little cough. I looked over at the rest of the Cartwright family. The cough had come from Adam.

"Uh, and these are Joe's brothers, Adam – " I pointed at each in turn. " – and Hoss. And this is their Pa, Ben."

Ben stepped forward and offered Mum his arm. "Please, allow me to escort you to the table."

"Oh, thankyou." She accepted his arm.

I smiled as Mum and Ben walked into the dining room together, then I accepted Joe's arm.

We passed an enjoyable lunch, dining on salad and cold ham. The objects of discussion were just the general sort, which was a great relief to me.

After lunch was over, Mum thanked the Cartwrights profusely. Adam offered to drive us home. I was about to step into the buggy, when Mum held me back with her arm.

"No," she whispered. "You go on with your Joe. I'll see you at the hotel later."

"Sure?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now, go on and have a good time."

"I take it you approve, then?"

"Oh, of course, dear! Go." She waved me away.

I giggled. "Thanks, Mum."

Joe walked up to me and asked me to spend the afternoon with him. I accepted the invitation.

We waved Mum and Adam off, then Joe turned to me. "Shall we?"

I took his arm, and we went for a long walk around parts of the ranch. Finally, we stopped at a secluded spot of forest near the lake.

"So," Joe began as we sat down. "what did your Mum think of me?"

"Oh, she thought you totally inappropriate for me." I rolled my eyes.

"Ah, so that's why she let you spend the afternoon with me, eh?" he grinned.

"Yep." I grinned back.

Most of our afternoon was spent at that spot. When we finally left that evening, my dress was really grassy and my feet were wet. Joe offered to dry my feet with jacket so I wouldn't have to go barefoot. After several "I'm sure's" in response to my protests, he dried my feet for me so I could wear my shoes without getting them wet.

"Thanks." I said.

"Oh, no need to thank me," Joe said. "Any man would do that for you, I'm sure."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Any man?"

It was almost seven o'clock by the time I reached my room. I had hardly spent a minute in there before I heard a knock at the door. I opened it. The person at the door spoke before I could see who it was.

"Have a good afternoon?"

It was Mum.

"Yes, I had a very good afternoon." I blushed.

"That's good."

"You won't tell Dad about it, will you?" I begged.

"I already said I wouldn't."

"Good."

"Well, I'll say goodnight and see you tomorrow morning."

"What about dinner?" I asked, surprised.

"Oh, I've already had mine. Very nice. You enjoy your meal." With that, she was gone.

"She must have had an awfully early dinner." I said to myself.

I hurriedly changed my dress and went down to have dinner. After dining, I went to my room to see if I could brush any of the grass out of my dress. At first, it proved almost impossible, but, after a while, the grass gradually came off. I was rather tired, so I had an early night, after writing a Diary entry.

Dear Diary,

Mum arrived yesterday. I was so pleased to see her! We had lunch with the Cartwrights today, then Adam drove Mum back to the hotel while Joe and I had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. I can't begin to describe our afternoon! But it will stay in my memory forever, I'm sure.

Signing off,

Elizabeth.

At breakfast the next morning, Mum casually said, "So, you had a good afternoon, huh?"

"Yes."

"That's good."

There was silence. I figured she might have been wanting more information than just that. So I said, "Okay, Mum, what is it?"

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"Mum." I said in a warning tone, my eyebrow raised.

"Oh, I was just wondering why you were so grassy when you got home, that was all."

I had been wondering why she didn't say anything the night before, but I hoped she hadn't noticed. I was wrong – she had.

"Uh, n-nothing." I stuttered, feeling embarrassed at the spotlight on my appearance.

"Sure?"

"Uh-huh." I said numbly, quickly shoving a forkful of bacon in my mouth.

"Hmmm."

"Well, grass can be very…grassy, can't it?" I said.

"Well, depends." she said thoughtfully.

I hoped fervently that she wouldn't pick up on anything further, for I felt she had already formed her own conclusions.

After breakfast, Mum said she might take a look around the town, but I offered to go with her, she told me to go and do my own and not worry about her. Reluctantly, I agreed to her plan.

I went out for a leisurely walk at half past eleven. Wandering aimlessly around town, I suddenly heard my name being called. I turned to see Joe running over to me.

"Joe!" I exclaimed.

"I was just coming to see you." He slid to a stop and planted a sweet good-morning kiss on my lips.

"Oh, were you?" I asked after.

"Yep. I was wondering where your Dad is?"

"Dad?" My eyes went wide with surprise. "No, why?"

"Well, there has been someone hanging around the house last night and this morning and he, well, looked like the description you gave me of you Father."

"Oh, no!" I gasped. "I don't know if it is, but, if it's him, I'm so sorry. I just don't know what he'd be after."

"Don't apologize if it is – you can't control his every move."

"Suppose not." I sighed.

Just then, Adam walked up to us.

"Good morning, Elizabeth." He lifted his hat politely.

"Good morning, Adam." I returned.

He turned to Joe. "Did you, uh – "

"Yeah, Adam, I told her."

"We don't mean to accuse him, you understand, it's just – "

I cut him off. "I understand."

"Good." He smiled.

We talked for some moments, then decided to have lunch at a nearby café.

"Joe, you don't mind if I escort the lady to the table, do you?" Adam questioned.

"Oh, naw." Joe replied. "Might get a bit jealous, but you deserve your turn, I s'pose."

I laughed and took Adam's offered arm.

Then I heard a familiar voice beside me. "This ya boyfriend, eh?" It sneered.

It was Dad. I glanced at Joe. "Looks like we know where he is, now." I muttered.

I turned to Dad, trying to get a defiant look in my eyes.

"No, he isn't." I stated simply. "How do you if I've even got a 'boyfriend'?"

"Well, I know you have one, and I also happen to know that it's one of them Cartwright boys." he said.

I was a bit surprised at the way he was speaking – I'd never heard talk like a cowboy before. "How do you know?"

"I have ways."

"Well, this isn't him."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then perhaps you ought to show me who it is."

"Ought I?" I flung back. "Well, in that case, this is him." I caught hold of Joe's arm and clung to him like a limpet.

"Oh?" Dad eyed Joe disdainfully. "Well, you never did have any sense in men."

"You! You and your creepy spies!" I cried. "I don't want to see you ever again! I thought I made that clear!"

It was then that I noticed several rough-looking men behind Dad. They advanced menacingly. Uh-oh…I thought. …not good.

One of the men caught hold of my arm.

"Let go!" I shouted. "Joe!"

But another man had grabbed Joe, and Adam's arms were being pinned behind his back.

"Okay, let them go." Dad said. "C'mon." He turned back to me. "Goodbye, darling." And he was gone.

I felt rather shaken. Joe must have noticed, for he held me protectively.

"You need something to drink." he said, putting his arm around my waist.

"Let's go." Adam said.

We went to the café and had lunch. I felt much better after we finished.

"Why don't you go and rest?" Adam asked me considerately. "After all that excitement…"

"Okay." I agreed.

Joe quickly offered to walk me to my room.

I was still feeling a bit remorseful after that morning, but Joe kept reassuring me it was okay, so I stopped asking about it.

"It's – it's okay," I faltered, "if you hate him after this…because I do."

Joe laid his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him. "I don't think you hate him as much as you think." he said. "But thanks for your permission. I just don't like what he's doing to his daughter."

"Maybe not," I sighed. "but he is hard to live with."

"Yeah, I can tell." By this time we had reached the door. "Well, rest up and I'll see you tomorrow." Joe placed a light kiss on my cheek and, replacing his hat, which he had taken off, made his way back downstairs.