Chapter Twenty-Five

After lunch, Shiloh showed Etta and Rachel to their room next to the nursery. Abel was awake and chewing on his cloth doll, so Shiloh took him downstairs and left Etta and Rachel to unpack and situate their belongings in their room.

In the meantime, Robert had excused himself to the office while Hoss, Adam and Micah talked in the sitting area. They stopped when Shiloh entered.

"Please don't stop on my account. I need to hear this, too. In fact, I really want to know what happened. I heard some from Annie, but Pa really wouldn't tell me anything except I'm as welcome there as I ever was." She sat down next to Adam on the sofa. As she began to settle Abel in her lap, Adam reached for him and laid the baby in the crook of his leg, facing him.

Taking a deep breath, he said, "You know I went to speak with him about hiring a foreman."

"Yes, I know that. But how did it deteriorate to this? Have you separated yourself completely from the Ponderosa?"

Adam scratched his nose. "Yes, for the time being. Until I'm needed."

"So you're counting on him coming to tell you he was wrong?" she asked.

When Adam's nostrils flared, Hoss spoke up. "Shiloh, it's not a question of who's gonna apologize first. Adam's right. We cain't keep doing things the way we've always done 'em. We just cain't keep up, especially when we're all thinkin' about startin' a family."

"All?" Shiloh asked surprised. "Who's all?" she asked, looking at Micah.

He raised his hands up in front of him. "Not me."

"Joe?"

Hoss winced. "Well, not Joe either. Me and Annie."

"Look," started Adam with a grimace. "That's not the point. The point is the Ponderosa has got to be able to handle more work if we're not going to start losing business to other ranchers who're improving the way they work. The Flying W already adjusts well with Hank there. We can prove that to Pa by putting our part of the Ponderosa under Hank along with the Flying W. It means we'll have to hire a few extra hands, but we'll be able to take on much more. The Crocker contracts will all be moved to Flying W land. We'll build a sawmill to handle them. And we'll get the mine going as soon as Roy and Chuck find out who's responsible for the explosion. How can he deny what he sees with his own eyes?"

Everyone breathed in at the same time, no one completely confident that Ben was going to even pay attention.

"Micah, we'll get you set up at the Flying W, and you can handle the books for the ranches and the mine, continued Adam. I'll come over in the mornings to meet with you and Hank, and then Hank can run it. If he has trouble, he'll come to you, and if I need to get involved, you can send word. I trust Chuck Evans to run the mine. He can meet with us in the mornings as well. And I still have the plans for the sawmill on the Ponderosa. I'll give them to Jim Tyler and get a price from him to build it. Until I have to get involved in something, I'll be doing Slater and Cartwright work. And I fully expect that unless it's an emergency, we'll all be home for dinner every night."

Shiloh had listened, but as soon as Adam mentioned dinner, she looked over at Micah. He'd be alone in that house...all day. Still looking at Micah, she asked, "Adam, why can't Micah stay here? That way he won't be alone in that house all day, and he won't have to worry about preparing a meal from the chair."

Adam looked over at Shiloh, and seeing worry lines across her forehead, he knew it wasn't going to settle well if Micah didn't agree. But knowing Micah, he wasn't going to. He looked over at Micah and nodded toward Shiloh.

"Little Sister, I don't have a problem being alone. And I'm not gonna be confined to the house. Adam's gonna build a ramp for me to roll off the front porch."

"How are you going to prepare a meal?" she asked with a long face.

"Like I always have. I'll just have everything moved down to the lower shelves. I don't need a lot of dishes and pans for just me. And I'll stay in the downstairs bedroom."

She folded her hands in her lap and fidgeted. "And has Dr. Martin said you can put your feet on the floor? If he hasn't, how are you going to get from the bed to the chair and back by yourself? And who's going to redress your feet?"

Micah moved his hand to his mouth and cut his eyes toward Adam. "I haven't moved yet. I suppose there's still some things to be worked out."

She said no more, and turned her attention to her child who was trying his best to get his father's finger in his mouth. As endearing as it was, it drew no smile.

With the sudden silence in the room, Hoss decided it was time to go, so he pushed himself out of the chair he occupied. "Well, it's a start. I reckon we need to wait and see what Pa's gonna do, and if it's continuin' to go like we've been goin', I may not be seein' much of you." As Adam passed the baby to Shiloh and stood, Hoss continued. "You may not be seein' Annie much either. Dr. Martin's asked her for some help with the women in the area. Seems some of 'em ain't too keen on seein' a male doctor for…" He bowed his head as color rose in his cheeks. "…well, you know…female kinda things."

Shiloh smiled and rose, holding Abel to her shoulder. "I'm sure she's happy to be getting some patients besides Cartwrights and Whitneys. But Hoss, didn't you want to continue with the horses?"

Folding his lips into a frown, he answered, "I just don't know, Shiloh. I told Pa again that's what I wanna do, but the way things are now, I just don't know if I'll have the time."

When she looked over at Adam, he expected to see some anger, but what he saw was disappointment. Even though she tried to smile, it faded quickly. "I'll say goodbye now then. I should go see if Etta needs anything." She didn't kiss either Hoss or Micah as she normally would, but rather left them watching as she climbed the stairs.

"Adam, I…"

Holding up his hand, Adam put his arm over Hoss's shoulder and gave him a half smile and slight shrug. "Your first responsibility is to the Ponderosa. She's not ready to start training anyway."

After Micah was loaded into the wagon, and he and Hoss were on their way back to the main house, Adam went into the office where he and Robert worked on the plans for the Hotaling Building and the elevation drawings for the new apartment row at Jackson Square.

Shiloh fed Abel, then changed into her work clothes. She showed Etta around the house, discussing her new responsibilities, then ducked her head in the door of the office. "Adam, we're on our way to the stables. I expect to be there for several hours."

Excusing himself, he left Robert and met her at the door, leaning in close and speaking quietly. "I thought maybe you'd reconsidered."

"Why would I?" she asked softly. "The sooner I get back on a horse, the sooner I'll work out the soreness. And I need to see what Cotton already knows. She seems fairly tame already."

Raising his brows, he said. "We still need to talk about recent events."

Her mouth twisted as she cast her eyes down to the middle button on his shirt. As she reached out and fiddled with it, she said, "After dinner," barely loud enough to be heard, then turned and left without another word.

Adam watched the women collect the things they were taking with them from the heap they had deposited at the foot of the stairs...curious things like a picnic blanket, a small valise, and a large oblong, but shallow basket. Only when the door had closed behind them, did he turn back into the office.

As the women walked down the hill toward the stables, Etta stole several glances Shiloh's way. Ma'am, may I ask a question?"

Shiloh smiled, continuing to face forward. It was obvious being friends would come slowly in their current arrangement. "Of course."

"I done think I've ever seen a grown woman wear trousers. Why do you wear them?"

Shiloh blew out of her mouth. She'd thought the battle of the buckskin pants was over. "I wear them because of the work I do with my horses. I don't just ride them. I train them. And they're not usually broken when I get them, so I tend to spend a significant amount of time on the ground or bent over working on their feet. I used to wear them all the time, but Mr. Cartwright seemed to take exception to them, so now I only wear them when I'm working around the ranch."

Etta stopped walking. "You work around the ranch. I thought you were a singer."

Shiloh motioned her forward. "When I was young I used to help my father on our ranch. That ranch is the Flying W. When I was sixteen, I was sent back east to school..." she glanced at Etta to see her reaction. "...college...Vassar." Etta stopped again, and Shiloh grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. "Why don't we stop here? You and Rachel will have a good view of the horses." The ladies began to spread the picnic blanket on the ground, then set the valise and basket on the blanket. "When my father died, I returned to run the ranch, so you see, I'm used to the ranch work. I wasn't going to sing when I came home, but Adam convinced me to try it one more time. And then when we were married, he took over the work of the ranch. When Micah came home, they began running the ranch together."

Etta took Abel from his mother and lay him in the basket, then laid a light blanket over the handle, allowing him to see the sky, but shielding him from the sun. Rachel sat quietly on a corner content to play with her doll. "How did you come to train horses?"

Standing and making sure everything was where it needed to be, Shiloh nodded and smiled. "My father was a well-known horse trainer. He taught me a good bit before I went back east, but most I remember from watching him." Shiloh waited for the next question, but it seemed Etta was all out at the moment. "If you get bored, there's a bench over there with a beautiful view of the lake," she said, pointing. "But you'll need to keep a close watch on Rachel. The hill down to the lake is very steep and rocky."

After Etta nodded and smiled, Shiloh continued to the stables where Tom and Johnny were exercising the black horses in the corrals. Both men dismounted wearing smiles to greet their boss.

Removing his hat, Tom said, "Mrs. Cartwright, we were beginning to wonder if you'd given up on the horses."

Returning his smile, she reached up and rubbed Eli's nose. "Never in a million years," she said. "I need two things. Put Cotton in the training pen, and then saddle Spirit."

"Mrs. Cartwright, are you sure you wanna ride?" asked Johnny. "It'll be uncomfortable after so long."

"Yes, I know. I'm just going to get up and sit today. Tomorrow we'll take a few steps. The next day, a few more."

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Sitting next to Robert at the drawing table, Adam pointed to a line on the plans they were working on. "Now, with the extra supports you just drew here and here," he said, indicating another line on the plans, we can put a beam all the way across this room without a support in the middle. You end up with a completely unobstructed space."

That line, being the last line of the first floor of a two story apartment, prompted Robert to set the drawing aside and pull over the specifications for the walls that would be shared by two apartments on each side and across the back. "Now, what did you have in mind for the specification that shared walls between apartments be built in such a way that fire will not jump from one apartment to another?" asked Robert.

"Have you ever heard of asbestos?" asked Adam.

"No. I can't say that I have," answered Robert.

"It's a combination of minerals that forms thin crystals. In ancient times, the Greeks, Romans, and Italians made cloth out of it. They'd throw the cloth into a fire to clean it. The fire would burn the dirt and debris away without harming the cloth."

Robert looked sidelong Adam. "Even if that was something more than a myth, how is an unburnable cloth going to help us here?"

Adam chuckled. "It's not. At least not as cloth. H. W. Johns Manufacturing in New York is testing asbestos applications as fire resistant roofing. I contacted them to find out about it, and once I explained what we'd be doing, they were more than happy to provide us with material." It was obvious to Adam, based on the skeptical look on Robert's face, he was unconvinced that asbestos was the way to go. "Here me out," said Adam, reaching for an envelope wedged between two books sitting on a shelf above the drawing table. He pulled a thick letter out of the envelope and passed it to Robert. As Robert skimmed over there letter, Adam continued. "Johns has shipped a bucket of white paint mixed with the asbestos crystals to me. The idea is to use double brick for the walls between the apartments with a coat if this asbestos paint between them. The apartment side of the brick will be an interior wall."

Tossing the letter onto the drawing table, Robert said flatly, "Just how do you expect to sell this and justify the additional cost. It's unproven."

Still wearing a smile, Adam replied, "That's what the first bucket is for. We'll test it here, and if it works, we'll be able to demonstrate it when we present our bid. It's supposed to be here day after tomorrow."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then we'll use a triple layer of brick like everyone else. We'll still have the advantage because of the courthouse," Adam answered, taking another sip of his coffee.

Robert stood to stretch his legs. He walked across the room and turned, laughing under his breath. "And just how did you come up with this idea?"

Adam laughed and looked up at Robert from under his brows.

"Oh yes. Greeks and Romans," said Robert, rolling his eyes.