Bridget looked at him and smiled. She had never seen Adam being so nervous. She was sure he'd do anything in order not to be here. "Well, are you ready?"

„No."

She took his hand. "Come on, Adam. You've observed all the others for nearly half an hour. We will manage it together." Bridget wanted to go, but Adam stopped. "Adam ... what are you afraid of? We just want to dance." He took a deep breath, and she went nearer to him. "You've really got a problem when you suddenly are to do something that you cannot." Adam didn't look at her. His gaze was fixed on the other dancing couples. Bridget put her hand on his chest at the level of his heart. "Adam, you can't always control everything to be prepared for any situation. You're someone who learns quickly and believe me, it can be a lot of fun."

Adam looked at Bridget. "It can?"

She smiled. "With the right partner in any case."

His face relaxed a little. "Yes, I'm rather prepared for anything, and your idea today was very ... spontaneous."

She slowly took her hand off his chest. "Then today you won't only learn to dance, but to be quite spontaneous sometimes, too."

Adam looked past her to the dance floor. "I'll be standing more on your feet, than dancing properly."

This time, when she walked off with Adam at the hand, he followed her. "Then I'll make you a proposal. If you step on my feet you have to go out with me for diner. But only the two of us. No Frederic and no Giovanna. And if you'll step five times on my feet, we'll have five appoin ... Ouch!" She looked down first and then back to Adam, who grinned. "Adam ..., that only counts, if we dance."

"Oh ... then I've probably misunderstood something."

Smiling, she shook her head. "Well, then let's get started now."

As she had suspected, it didn't take him long to keep up with the dance steps. For this he had observed the other couples long enough. "Adam, try to relax a little. You love music. Just remember how to play guitar. You're dancing with this same feeling, too."

But after the third song he wasn't much more relaxed. "Adam, maybe we should have a drink."

They left the dance floor and went to their place, where Frederic and Giovanna already were having a drink. Frederic's grin could be seen from afar. "And Bridget? How is your schoolboy doing?"

"I am very pleased but ..." she looked at Adam, "... I think we will still need a few lessons."

Frederic and Giovanna looked at each other. "Don't let us stop you, my dear sister."

Frederic took another sip and took Giovanna back on the dance floor. Adam gave Bridget a glass. She took it with thanks and drank. "Will you tell me what's bothering you?" He raised an eyebrow. "Adam, I've known you now for quite a few weeks, and if you're so quiet and have these views, then there's always something bothering you."

He put his glass on the table. "I have a little problem of ... relaxing."

"Why? I mean, if we're all together, and you are playing guitar and sing, you're relaxed, too. Here we only move with the music, and you're doing it also very good ..." she smiled a little, "….. unfortunately."

Adam looked at Bridget. Then he pulled himself together. For the next few hours he could somehow allow a few emotions. He took her hand and returned with her to the dance floor. "I promise. Now it'll be better. I just thought too much with my head."

She looked at him a little confused. "What else should you think with?"

Adam didn't answer but just smiled.

XXXX

It was in February. Although there was no more snow, it was wet and cold and moisture crept through all bones. Adam was on the construction site taking some notes. "How do you do, Adam. As I see you're already very busy."

Adam looked up from his notes and saw Mr. Francois standing beside him. "Mr. Francois ... "

Frederic's father looked around at the site. "Good Mr. Graham has indeed landed a large order."

Adam looked back at his notes. "You didn't expect that?"

Mr. Francois laughed. "Of course not. His company normally doesn't take such orders."

Adam raised his head and looked at Mr. Francois directly. "Mr. Francois, may I ask you what you are doing here?"

He instantly raised his hands. "Don't worry, Adam. I'm not here to spy or to sabotage. Even if you don't believe me, I'm no sore loser." His gaze became serious. "I did let you go."

"Do I have to thank for that?"

Both men looked at each other assessingly.

"Adam, even if you think so. I've no anger toward you. I just don't understand, even if you have tried to explain it to me. You're moving in my circles, as if you had always lived there, and yet you reject this world completely. You could achieve such a career here in Boston, but you prefer to go back to Nevada."

With a slight smile Adam looked at him. "You still don't give up, Mr. Francois."

Frederic's father looked again a little more friendly. "Mr. Francois, I don't reject your world completely. Remember, Frederic and Bridget are very good friends of mine, and they aren't the only ones. I only have my problems with the way of your thinking, and that many of you think of yourselves something better, just because they own more money. What I said before - first I only view the man and not what he represents."

"What about your job?" He pointed to the construction site. "This is also a very big project, and I'm very sure that Mr. Graham hasn't hit upon the idea to submit an offer all by himself. How can this project be agreed with your opinion to protect nature?"

"You want to know why we have been awarded the contract and not you?"

Although Mr. Francois seemed very friendly and calm, Adam was sure that he was annoyed he hadn't got the contract and had lost just against Adam. "Sure it would be interesting, too, but I think I won't get an answer from you."

"Correct. Because I don't know, and if I did, I couldn't tell you."

"Very loyal! And what about your philosophy of life?"

Adam wondered if his former boss really tried to understand him. "We don't intervene here much into nature. The construction site is located in the city. The old building, which stood here just needed to be torn down so that a new one can be built. We work with what already exists. What I've told you before, I'm not against progress. I'm just trying not to fulfill all the wishes rashly. And to fill up Charles River so that rich students could have a better look to the sea, goes way too far in my eyes."

Frederic's father put his hands in the pockets and look at Adam once again. "Adam, I'm telling you honestly why I absolutely want to have you with me ..." Mr. Francois hesitated a little. "... I know that Frederic will never be my successor. Although he continues to improve thanks to your help, he'll never be able to lead such a big company." He gave a short laugh. "And that my daughter will ever find a husband with her attitude towards life, I doubt. Therefore I can expect no successor, too."

Amazed and disconcerted Adam looked at Frederic's father. "Don't look so surprised, Adam. You've got everything a good businessman needs. You'll have a good degree. You can move in the right circles without putting people's backs up, and you don't let yourself be put off. Nevertheless, you've got the farsightedness to listen to the opinion and advice of others. Take another ten years then it won't be easy to do business with you. Even now it's hard to see through you." Adam still didn't know what to say. "Adam, I think I've never seen you speechless for the whole time. Perhaps you think it over after all and consider to stay here. I had intended to eventually withdraw from business and to make you and Frederic equal partners."

Adam took a deep breath. "Yes, Mr. Francois, I am speechless. I mean, how can you present me such an offer after such a short time? You don't know how my friendship with Frederic might develop."

"Of course I don't know. That's why I wanted to have you in my company. So I could have observed, if all worked out as I intended."

Adam looked at the construction site in front of him. Mr. Francois' offer was of course very tempting, but he'd have to stay in Boston which he didn't want. He looked back at Mr. Francois. "You won't expect an answer of me now?"

Frederic's father put his hand on Adam's shoulder. "No. Then I'd be disappointed by you. Because then you have lied to me all the time. Then you'd just go for the money."

Mr. Francois was about to leave when he stopped again. "Adam, I'd be delighted if you could accompany Frederic for dinner at our home next Sunday."

"I will consider it, Mr. Francois."

Frederic's father slapped him lightly on the back and left the site.

XXXXXX

It was a sunny day. Few clouds were in the sky. Adam climbed down the rocks, went briefly to the edge, then sat down at the rock face and looked at the sea. If he was here today, he also could try to find the silence deep in him. So he closed his eyes taking a deep breath. It didn't take long and the noises around him disappeared, and he only heard his heartbeat.

When he opened his eyes again after some time, he was glad that there was still this harmony in his soul. The balance of body, mind and spirit he hadn't lost again since last year. Then he suddenly stopped breathing. He felt he was no longer alone on the rocky plateau. Slowly he turned his head to the right. There was Bridget leaning against a rock and smiling at him. "I didn't mean to disturb you, but I was afraid that exactly this would happen if I go up again."

"You're not bothering me. I'm also done with ... thinking."

She sat next to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Happy Birthday, Adam." He smiled briefly and then looked back to the sea. "Frederic told me why you don't spend this day at home. So I thought, maybe I'll find you here." He kept looking at the sea and didn't answer. "I just wanted to wish you all the best. I won't disturb you any longer."

Bridget was about to get up when Adam held her by the arm looking at her. "No. Please stay. I'm glad that you're here. Just because I don't like to spend the day at home, it doesn't mean that I don't like to see anybody."

She sat back down on the ground. "I've got a little gift for you. May I give you that?"

"I won't fight against it."

Bridget took a sketchpad out of her bag. She opened it and gave it to Adam. Adam looked at the drawing and smiling, he stroked gently with his hand over it. "Frederic told me how important the Indians are to you." She looked with him at the drawing. "I've never seen an Indian village, but maybe the village at your home looks more or less like that."

"It's already very close to the village of the Gosiute."

Bridget pointed to a young Indian. "As I don't know how Koko looks, I've drawn her only from behind. Maybe I was good in meeting reality a little."

Still smiling, he looked at Bridget. "The dark hair matches, but Koko doesn't always wear the clothing of the Indians."

"I always thought all Indians wore these clothes."

"Koko's only half Indian. Her mother's a white woman and her father's the chief's son. And they don't live in the village but on a farm."

"Of Indians I know next to nothing. Although we also have some Indian tribes in the area, I was never in their villages. They are said to be not very friendly towards white, and that there are Indians who live on a farm, I haven't heard yet."

"Koko's parents wanted Koko to get to know both worlds, so when she's done with school, she could decide in which she wants to live."

At the next question Bridget looked down. "And where you will live later? On the farm or in the village?"

Questioning Adam looked at her. "You think Koko and I?"

"Well, I thought, if you're back at home, you'll get married soon. Given how much you miss her."

Adam looked at the drawing. "Yes, I miss her. Very much indeed, but we won't get married."

"Why not? Indians marry, too, don't they?"

"Though our hearts beat in the same rhythm, it's not the rhythm of love."

Bridget didn't understand a word of what Adam told her, and he had to laugh. "Please forgive me Bridget, but my father looks at me the same way, when he doesn't understand what I want to tell him."

Shortly Adam thought how he could explain his relationship with Koko in a different way. "I love Koko in a way that I cannot really describe in words. Her father once had said, our souls are in love."

He could see that she was still looking at him blankly. Then he thought for a moment. He trusted her already as he trusted Koko. "If you're interested I can tell you how I met Koko, and why her family means so much to me."

Bridget nodded. She really wanted to hear. She didn't know why, but something about the way Adam spoke about Koko, she didn't feel so jealous any more, even if she didn't understand how the relationship between the two was.

Then Adam began to tell how they had arrived in Nevada, and he and Koko became friends. He also told her how Amarok began to teach him the Indian way of life, and how much this wisdom had helped him in recent years increasingly. How important they were to him when his father went away, and he was in charge of the ranch. And for the first time he spoke with an outsider about the Kohuana. Of course, he didn't talk about the details, but it was important for him that Bridget knew not every Indian tribe was peaceful. Also he told her about the problems Koko and he had with Buck and Mitch. In the end Adam hoped that he could bring her closer that Koko and her home were his second family for him, and how it looked like living in Nevada. She said nothing, when he had finished. Both looked to the sea as the sun slowly disappeared on the horizon. Then Bridget exhaled and spoke very softly to him. His words had made her thoughtful.

"Adam, even if you say that people here in Boston are superficial and don't care about the others, shouldn't you still feel more comfortable here? When I listen to you, there might be more cooperation but also more violence at your home. I'm still a little shocked when I think about Mitch and his friend, for example." She looked at him with a doubtful look. "Adam, you were just kids when the two went off with a knife on you."

"This is my world, Bridget, and it's completely different than yours. Maybe there are people from my world that could live here, but I cannot. The city restricts me. I need the freedoms that I have at my home and the people there. I'd never be happy here. I'm sorry, if I can't say it so clearly, but I'm counting the days until my studies come to an end. I firmly believe that no one from here, and certainly not a woman, can live in my world. As I told you back then by the campfire, regardless of the weather, the animals must be taken care of. No one will come along and bring the wood for the stove. We need to do it all by ourselves, and if the ranchers are at the cattle drive in summer for weeks, the women have to cope alone at home. They aren't to be afraid to use a gun."

They fell silent again, each lost in their own thoughts. "Thank you for trying to bring your world closer to me. Now I understand a little, why you want to go home again, and what Koko means to you. Family seems to be very important to you, and freedom of nature you apparently need like others need the air to breathe."

He took her hand. "I hope my story didn't change your good mood, you had."

The beams in her eyes, which he liked so much, slowly got back. "No. You made me just a little thoughtful." Her eyes went back to the water. "But I think we should go now, before the sun has completely gone and it turns cold."

She grabbed her things and Adam helped her to her feet.

"Tell me ... how many times do I have to invite you to dinner?"

She grinned at him. "Four times."

"Then I would like to settle a part of my debt today, if you like."

"But only if you tell me something about your brothers. About them you've almost hardly talked."

"I didn't want to shock you even more."

She slapped him at the arm. "You're impossible."

"I know, but you're going to dinner with me anyway."

"But just because today's your birthday, and that's the only reason I'm nice to you."

He just looked at her with a smile. When they were back up on the way, Adam offered his arm to Bridget and she linked arms with him. They then went back to the city.