Chapter Twenty-Five
After locking the door behind them, Adam trotted to catch up with her as she left the hotel and made her way to the long white stairway that went all the way down into the business terraces. She was taking the stairs at fairly quick pace, and when he caught her and took her hand, he pulled back, forcing her to slow down.
"Why are you in such a hurry? We have some time to kill. You should be enjoying this view." She stopped and breathed deeply. When she turned to start down the stairs again, he pulled her back. "Are you going to sulk every time I tell you 'no?'"
"I don't know. What are you going to do the first time I tell you 'no?'"
"I left you alone."
"What?"
"A few nights ago at Jim's, you turned away and said you had a headache." Her mouth twisted. "Shiloh, there are certain things I won't do because I know you wouldn't want me to. There are certain things I don't want you to do. And it has nothing to do with your ability or inability to do them. I don't want you to get hurt, and I don't want you to get overwhelmed. You told me the night I asked you to marry me that you can't do it all yet you're still involved with everything you were doing. I'm not going to add to it."
"Are you telling me there was nothing at all about me in that newspaper article?" Adam winced. "See, it does have to do with me."
"It was nothing that you had to or could handle. What the article said was that there was a rivalry between Will and me over a woman, and that you, Mrs. Cartwright, are none other than the Shiloh Whitney who inherited the Flying W and Isabella Whitney, the singer. Now you tell me; what is there for you to do?"
She thought for a moment, started to speak, then didn't, but rather sighed.
He put his arms around her waist and held her against him. "Now, this is the last week and a half of our honeymoon, and then it's back to reality, and even though reality has somewhat followed us so far, it hasn't followed us here. We have no worries while we're here. Alright?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. Her face took on a slightly lost expression while her arms hung limp at her sides. Raising her chin with a finger, he said, "Sweetheart, we will deal with it all when we get home. Can you forget about it for a little while?" he asked, moving his face closer to hers as she backed away.
"What are you doing?"
"Attempting to help you forget it," he said, kissing her.
"Adam…" He kissed her again, and ended with a crooked smile.
"Someone might see us."
"I don't care," he whispered as he surrounded her with his arms, and kissed her again, long, slowly, deeply. "Forgotten?"
"Almost," she said as she moved her arms around his neck, and after the next kiss, she said, "For now."
Smiling, he took her hand and they walked slowly down the stairway, then perused the shops along the main street.
"Adam, what is this?" she asked, holding up a shell.
"It's abalone; the shell of a sea snail."
"This looks like mother of pearl."
"That's because it is."
She walked into a shop, and looked around the shelves that held rosewood boxes, brushes, hand mirrors, trays, and all manner of items inlaid with mother of pearl. Next, she stopped at a counter behind which was a display of mother of pearl jewelry in addition to jewelry made from brightly colored corals. Adam watched her as she looked at the jewelry, asking the merchant to let her see a set of ear rings; tiny dangling roses carved in a pink-orange coral. She went back to the rosewood boxes and opened one, looking at the velvet lining, then running her hand over the smooth outside with intricate mother of pearl inlays.
Turning to the merchant, she said, "It's all very beautiful. Thank you."
Adam took the rosewood box from the shelf and set it on the counter, then asked for the ear rings she had viewed. "Would you ship these to the Flying W Ranch, Virginia City, Nevada Territory?" he asked as he paid the merchant. When the transaction was completed, the merchant thanked him, then nodded to Shiloh, smiling.
Adam held the door for her, and she stepped out onto the sandy path. "Adam, you didn't have to do that. I can do without them."
"You don't have to," he said, putting his arm around her shoulder, and continuing down the street.
After browsing several shops, they ended up on the beach walking hand in hand toward the shipwreck. The keel of the ship was embedded in the sand and the surf broke over her decks. "What was she?" asked Shiloh.
"A schooner. Look, there's part of her name… E. I can't make out the rest."
"She's smaller than the Sovereign, isn't she?"
"She only had two masts where a clipper ship has three."
"I wonder how long she's been here."
"Hard to tell…a year, maybe less. I'm sure she was salvaged, though I don't know why she wasn't taken apart for the wood. She was probably a lumber ship." Looking up at the sky, he said, "It's probably around five, and you were famished as I recall. You ready for dinner?"
Smiling, she took his hand, and they walked back up the beach to the path that led to the street. In a few minutes, they were seated at an outdoor table with a view of the small harbor and the bay. Sipping white wine while waiting for their dinner, Adam watched as Shiloh looked out over Monterey Bay. He reached over and covered her hand. "How are you?"
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I like this little town. It's calm…peaceful…beautiful. It's what I imagine our home could be without…"
"Don't," he said, squeezing her hand. "Just imagine home like this…for now."
She looked down at his hand on hers and smiled wistfully. "Tell me about the Meders."
"Pa met Moses Meder in San Francisco almost twenty years ago. At the time he was building lumber mills and shortly after that he bought part of a rancho. He turned it into a dairy about ten years ago."
"Why do you want to see it?"
"I have an idea for the Ponderosa and the Flying W…a dairy. We can make butter and cheese and sell it in Virginia City, Gold Hill, Carson City, and even Genoa. We have plenty of cows. We might as well use them."
"How in the world are you going to add anything else to what we already have?" she asked, laughing. "You keep saying you have a plan up your sleeve. If you'd share that with me, it would probably go a long way to ease my mind."
"It's simple. We get out of the business of doing everything ourselves and become managers. For instance, you have Johnny and Billy taking care of the day to day chores with the horses, right?"
"Yes, mostly."
"And Hank takes care of the day to day running of the ranch and the cattle." She nodded. "There's no reason we can't apply that to the Ponderosa. Either Joe or Hoss can become a foreman or we can hire someone else as foreman and let the ranch hands do the work. We can do the same with the dairy…hire a manager. That way we only have to oversee it, and that leaves us to do as much or as little of the physical work as we want." He lifted her hand to his lips. "And that leaves me time to design buildings."
"What about the timber?"
Adam grimaced. "I'm not sure I want to give up the oversight of the cutting just yet. The crews aren't always the same men, and sometimes we have to stay on top of them. But there are four of us who can run a lumber camp."
"I'm not sure I want to give up the physical work that I do," Shiloh said, thoughtfully.
"Then you don't have to. But in reality, Sweetheart, that's exactly what you've done with Hank. You meet with him in the morning and go over the day's work and leave it to him. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about."
Glancing up at him with a timid smile, she asked, "Would you promise me something?"
Leaning forward and propping his elbow on the table with his chin in his hand, he looked at her with a loving smile. "Of course."
"Would you make sure you carve out a little time for us…just us?"
His smile turned into a wide grin. "You bet."
After a dinner of succulent lobster, Adam moved his chair next to Shiloh's, and they sipped wine while enjoying another striking sunset. When Shiloh became giggly, Adam ordered coffee.
"Why coffee?" she asked.
"Because it's getting a little chilly, and I thought it might help keep you warm."
She giggled. "Liar."
"Alright," he said with a satisfied smile. "Because I don't want to have to carry you up all those steps to the top of the hill." Taking her hand in both of his, he added, "And I don't want you to fall asleep too soon tonight." A familiar feeling of titillation welled within her as she turned away, smiling shyly and blushing. The next thing she felt were his lips on her neck. "Hm…there's those goose bumps," he said softly.
It was dark by the time they reached the top of the steps near the hotel. On the way up the stairs to their room, Adam started pulling ribbons, combs and pins out of her hair, one by one. "Stop it," she laughed when she turned to face him at the door. He stepped into her, pressing her up against the door as he kissed her, and at the same time, he searched for the key in his pocket, then fumbled with the lock of the door. Pushing it open, he wrapped an arm around her waist and swept her inside. Both started unbuttoning each other amid her giggles and his chuckles. He reached around unfastening her skirt, and moving his hands underneath the back of her blouse, he untied her corset. Soon they fell on the bed in each other's arms, rolling in order to remove the last of those garments that were in the way.
Well into the night, they lay in each other's arms, their passions sated. As they basked in the afterglow, the moon bathed them in a soft white light through the French doors that led out to their terrace.
Adam started to pull his arms from around her when she grabbed hold of him. "I thought you were asleep," he whispered.
"Why did you think that?" she whispered back.
He chuckled, and kissed her ear. "Because your eyes were closed. I'm just going to pull the curtains closed."
"Leave them," she said, holding on and smiling contentedly. "This feels too good to move. Just close your eyes if the light is bothering you."
He nestled back up against her with his head next to hers, his nose against her cheek, placing tiny kisses on her jaw, and soon they both settled into a comfortably sound sleep.