Chapter Thirty-Seven

"Shiloh?" yelled Adam as he and Bart hurried into the house, Bart carrying a large valise, and Adam carrying a canvas-lined leather gunnysack containing the work Bart brought with him and the mail Adam picked up in town.

As the two men shed their gloves and scarves and hats and coats…all those layers that kept them from freezing during the long ride back to the house, Amalee looked out from the sitting room where Abel and Aaron played. "Mrs. Cartwright isn't in the house. She went down to the stables."

Adam scratched his neck just below his ear. "Is there something that required her attention at the stables?"

Amalee smiled. "She said the horses needed some exercise."

Adam pressed his lips into a tight line and nodded. "Bart, let's get you settled in your room."

Bart followed Adam up the stairs to what would be his bedroom for the next few months.

Adam came down alone and strode purposefully to the front entry where he put all those things that kept him warm in bad weather back on and, without saying anything to Amalee, he quietly left the house.

Shorty had been doing an exceptional job at keeping the snow down to a walkable level between the house and the barn, and he'd stayed on top of coming out to retrieve horses when any one of the Cartwrights or Whitneys arrived. They didn't generally have visitors in storms as bad as the last few had been.

Adam pulled the barn door open just enough to step in. "Shorty, you in here?"

Shorty hurried out of his room at the back of the barn. "Right here, Mr. Adam," he said stepping around a stack of haybales. "I just finished up with yours and Mr. Bart's horses."

Adam looked for Spirit and frowned. "How long has Mrs. Cartwright been gone?"

"Oh, about ten minutes," replied Shorty. "Charlie come up from the stables. Told the missus her horses were getting restless. Wanted to know what he should do. Him and her rode down the hill together."

As Adam pulled the barn door open, he said, "Stay warm," just before he stepped through and closed the door behind him. Since Charlie had come for Shiloh and rode with her down the hill, he'd give her the rest of the hour to see if Charlie escorted her back to the house. Once back inside, Adam settled in the sitting room content to watch the boys play, leaving Anna to sleep. Even at almost three months, she still slept most of the time. She wasn't happy when she woke up until she'd had a bottle.

Abel and Aaron had been content to play with their wagons and animals, but now they pushed everything over in front of their father, telling him about each piece. While Abel regaled his father with every adventure his animals had had, Aaron made his way to his knees and rocked back and forth.

Adam froze. He'd never seen Aaron even make an attempt to crawl and had voiced his concern to Paul Martin who told him Aaron would move in his own time. He explained that many children with older siblings started normal things later than most because the older brother or sister did things for them. Adam had, indeed, observed Abel making sure his little brother was occupied ever since the sharing incident on the front porch of their San Francisco home.

But Abel alone had the attention of his father at the moment, and it seemed Aaron didn't want to be left out.

Adam kept an eye on Aaron while he held the animals Abel had given him as they were being explained and swapped out. With his smile growing ever wider, father watched son as Aaron tested his knees, then slowly moved a hand to the floor in front of him, swayed side to side, and then moved the opposite knee forward to steady himself.

Aaron stopped…his mouth open and his eyes wide. Then he did it again, but this time, he pushed himself backward on his bottom, waved his hands and squealed.

With a full smile, Adam's low laugh caught everyone's attention, and all eyes were on Aaron.

The child laughed with them, rolled from his bottom to his knees and tried crawling again, wavering between each attempt at forward movement until he reached his father's leg where he breathed through his mouth with his tongue out to one side, grabbed little handfuls of trouser leg, and pulled himself up to his feet. When Aaron saw his father's, mouth open as wide as his eyes, the child let go of the trousers intending to clap his hands, but gravity took hold and pulled him back down to his bottom.

Everyone witnessing held their breath.

Aaron was silent for only a split-second before he fell backward, kicked his feet furiously, swung his arms and screamed in frustration.

Just as Adam lean forward to lift the child into his arms, he heard a soft chuckle from the direction of the dining room. Looking up, he found Shiloh dressed in what he had come to refer to as her barn clothes…her buckskin britches, a white blouse, a lined buckskin jacket and buckskin gloves. Continuing on to pick Aaron up off the floor, he stood and walked over to kiss his wife. "How much did you see?"

"I saw all of it. But I was laughing at the look on your face," said Shiloh, pulling off her gloves. She frowned and moved past him, stopping short at the cradle. She'd seen Anna's arms fly up at Aaron's loud, angry squeal and wanted to settle her before she decided to join in the screaming.

Adam furrowed his brows. "What's wrong?"

Turning around, Shiloh tilted her head and raised her brows while moving her eyes toward the crying baby in her arms.

Slightly shaking his head, he said, "You were frowning before that."

She moved Anna to her shoulder, then moved a hand to his cheek. "Aaron's been trying to crawl and pull himself up for a couple of weeks. I hate that you're missing so much."

Looking away introspectively, Adam slightly pursed his lips. "It can't be helped. I have responsibilities that take me out of the house."

Shiloh sighed sadly. "I know." She headed for the stairs with Adam following close behind.

He stopped when Amalee appeared to take Aaron, who had calmed at the sound of his parent's voices. Adam gave up the child, then continued up the stairs. When he arrived in the bedroom, he closed the door just before Shiloh passed Anna to him. She pulled a bottle out of an inside pocket of her jacket and began to undress, removing everything before she pulled on her robe and asked for the baby.

"You do remember you don't have to do that?" Adam asked as he surrendered their daughter.

"I do," she said, already pulling Anna close and smiling sweetly at her. "But one of the things I enjoyed with the boys was the feeling of their warm, soft skin against mine. I think that warmth we shared was comforting to them, and I don't want Anna to miss it just because of the bottle."

Adam breathed in deeply and smiled, remembering this woman at twenty-three never wanted children. Now, at twenty-eight, she had three children she adored.

Turning on his heel, he reached for the door knob, but stopped and turned back to the nursery…and the rocking chair. "Bart's here."

Her head snapped up. "Bart?" Is everything all right?"

"Yes, everything's fine," said Adam. "He asked about coming to the Ponderosa when I was gathering work before I left the San Francisco office."

"Why didn't he come with us?"

"Because he had work to do that required his presence in San Francisco. I…ah…gave him George Hearst's house. He left as soon as he was sure he understood what Hearst wants, but he got caught in the weather. He was in town a week before he found me."

Shiloh grinned.

"What's that for?"

"You trust him a great deal, don't you?" she asked. "I remember when your new young men arrived. You were worried about him."

Adam leaned against the door frame of the nursery and crossed his arms over his chest. He pushed his lips out as he slowly nodded. "He got a taste of the satisfaction that comes with honest work." He took a deep breath. "I almost forgot." Was something wrong at the stables?"

As Shiloh looked down at Anna, smiling, she said, "No. Why?"

"Did you have to go in this weather?"

Shiloh's smile was instantly gone. "Do you think I can't find my way back to the house from right down the hill?"

Adam breathed out heavily through his nose. "Shiloh, this doesn't have to turn into an argument. I just think it's not safe for you to go to the stables while we're in whiteout conditions."

"Adam, I have a business to run, just like you. I don't see how my riding down the hill could possibly be worse than you riding to town and back under the same conditions. In fact, I'd wager you won't find one person who thinks my ride is even significant compared to yours." After she quite calmly stated her case, she stood and gently laid a sleeping Anna in her crib, then walked past Adam into the bedroom. As she passed him, she quietly asked him to close the door.

He watched her drop her robe on the bed and pull a warm dress out of the wardrobe, speaking as she dressed.

"I know you have this male need to protect me because I'm a woman. Even more so because I'm Isabella. But Adam, I can guarantee you there's no one around here who would care to bother Isabella in a whiteout."

"Isabella aside, you're not just any woman. You're my wife. You're their mother," he said a bit sharply, nodding toward the nursery.

"I don't see the difference. You're their father." She huffed and calmed herself. "Look, I'm not going to fight with you. I knew you would do this to me, so Charlie comes up at the same time every day. We ride down together, and when I'm done, we ride back up together. Who rides with you?" She hadn't kept the anger out of her voice, so she took a long, deep breath.

He remained silent thinking about what she'd said.

"You made me a promise before I said yes. I need to take care of my horses...my business, and to do that, I have to go down to the stables." Shiloh opened the nursery door and slowly lifted Anna out of her crib. Next, she took the bottle off the chest that held diapers and strode past Adam on her way downstairs and to the kitchen.

Stepping out of the bedroom, Adam watched her go, he assumed to tell Lo there would be one more for dinner. As he watched, Bart came out of his room.

Bart watched Adam watch his wife while wearing what looked almost like a smile, but didn't quite make it. The young man cleared his throat.

Without taking his eyes off the kitchen doorway through which his wife disappeared, Adam breathed deeply. "Are you ready to show me what you came up with for Hearst?" Now, he turned his head toward Bart.

"Uh, sure. If you're not...otherwise...occupied."

Giving Bart a genuine smile, Adam said, "I'm not."