CHAPTER THIRTEEN

As they trundled along the road toward the Ponderosa, Josie leaned her head back and let the hot sunshine beat down on her face. She smiled as she inhaled the fresh air and thought how horrified Aunt Rachel would be if she knew Josie were letting herself freckle.

Aboard his tall buckskin gelding, Buck, Ben smiled as he watched his niece take in the breeze and sunshine. Josie had blended seamlessly into the family during her last visit to the Ponderosa, and she had left an almost tangible hole in their lives when she had left. "She may be Jacob's daughter," Ben thought, "but she belongs in my world."

He reined Buck alongside the buckboard. "Wait until you see the new house, Josie. Your Cousin-Cousin did a fine job designing it."

Adam shot his father an irritated look at the mention of Josie's silly nickname for him. He didn't mind Josie using it, but he did not want the moniker to become public knowledge, either.

Josie giggled. "I can't wait!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms out wide. Adam ducked and barely avoided being smacked in the face by her flying right arm.

She didn't have to wait long. Though the ride from Virginia City to the ranch house took two hours, it was still only half as long as the ride from Carson City, and she was so busy soaking up the scenery and chatting with her uncle and cousins that she hardly noticed the time passing.

"Ooohhhhhh," she breathed when the house came into view. "Adam, it's beautiful!"

The two-story house was built from sturdy logs cut on the Ponderosa and was larger than Josie's home in Washington. A deep, covered porch spanned nearly the entire length of the front of the house, which rose to a neat peak above the second story. A hitching post stood on each side of the dirt front yard with a large barn opposite the house and a bunkhouse to the side. It was perfect.

Adam smiled sheepishly at Josie's praise. "Just a little something I thought up," he said.

He pulled the buckboard to a stop in front of the house, and two ranch hands emerged from the barn to take the horses as Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe dismounted. Adam jumped down from the buckboard and walked around to the other side to help Josie down. Josie thought how useful it would be to have a few pairs of blue jeans so she didn't have to worry about modesty while climbing up and down out of wagons. She'd have to do some shopping soon. Adam set her lightly on the ground just as Hop Sing emerged from the house.

"Hop Sing!" Josie squealed, running to him and giving him a warm hug.

"Dr. Cartlight! So good to see you again!"

Josie cringed at Hop Sing's slaughtering of her surname. "I haven't forgotten," she whispered in his ear, then drew back and gave him a mischievous smile. Hop Sing raised one eyebrow almost imperceptibly but gave no other indication he'd heard her comment. He turned to Adam instead. "Where you want luggage?"

Adam gave directions for his and Josie's trunks, and he, Hop Sing, Hoss, and Little Joe started carrying them into the house. Josie stood outside for a moment to admire the house.

"Which window is mine?" she asked Ben.

"You, my dear, get two windows." Ben took her hand and led her to the corner of the house. "That one," he said as he pointed to the last window on the front. Then he led her around the corner to the side of the house and pointed at another window. "And that one. You'll get light in your room pretty much all day long."

Josie beamed.

Just then, Hoss came around the side of the house. "Hey, Pa, Adam's getting impatient about getting the rest of this luggage inside."

"So, take it inside, Hoss!" Ben barked. Why would this require his attention?

"You're the boss!" Hoss said and swung Josie over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Hey!" Josie shouted in surprise. "Put me down!" Hoss ignored her protests. "I mean it!" She tried to sound stern, but she was laughing too hard to be credible. She pounded her fists playfully on Hoss's back as he carried her through the front door.

"Where d'ya want this one, Adam?" Hoss boomed.

Adam acted as if there was nothing unusual about Josie being treated like luggage. "Last bedroom at the end of the hall." He cocked his head in the direction of the staircase. Little Joe cackled as Hoss lugged Josie up the stairs.

Defeated, Josie dropped her arms and head limply against Hoss's back as he made his way across the great room and up the stairs. "This is so undignified," she moaned into his shirt.

Hoss tromped into Josie's bedroom and swung her off his shoulder. He set her on the floor a little harder than he intended to, and her knees buckled. She nearly fell, but he grabbed her arm just in time.

"Sorry 'bout that, Josie," he said, blushing. "You're lighter than Little Joe."

"Carry him around often, do you?"

"It's faster than waitin' for ol' Shortshanks to catch up."

Josie smiled and looked around her new room. The walls were the same mottled gray as the rest of the house, and the furniture was all fine walnut, polished to a deep shine. The bed sat against one wall, and an oil lamp hung from the wall just next to it. Hanging over the bed was a framed map of Washington, DC. To the right of the door were a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, and a dressing table with a tall mirror. Next to that was a small washstand. A writing desk sat under one of the windows, and next to the other window were two empty bookcases, waiting for Josie to fill them. Next to the bookcases was a crimson armchair for reading. The windows all sported gray Venetian shutter blinds and new curtains of sapphire-blue lace, which coordinated perfectly with the bedspread. A plush floral-patterned rug in shades of blue and red covered the floor next to the bed. Josie adored it, but her favorite touch was sitting on the bed itself. There, in front of a stack of fluffy pillows, was a brand-new black cowboy hat with a silver-studded band, just like Adam's. She laughed and popped the hat onto her head, cocking it over her right eye at the perfect rakish angle.

Ben, Adam, and Little Joe stepped into the room and chuckled at Josie in her new hat.

"How do you like your room?" Ben asked.

"It's perfect! Thank you so much!"

Adam looked around approvingly. This was his first look at his father's efforts with the room, too. He was especially touched by the map of Washington, DC. Josie would have a little piece of home watching over her every night as she slept.

"Well done, Pa," he said.

"I had a little help," Ben admitted.

"Mrs. Larson?"

"Yep," Ben said, then quickly added, "but the map was my idea."

"The hat was my idea," Hoss boasted, hitching his thumbs in his pants pockets and puffing out his chest.

All eyes turned to Little Joe, who suddenly became very interested in an imaginary stain on the wood floor.

"I- I didn't have any ideas," he murmured.

"That's a first," Adam muttered.

Little Joe stuck out his tongue at his oldest brother, who grabbed him in a headlock with one arm and mussed up his hair with the opposite hand. Joe hollered in protest.

"Come on, little brother," Adam said, letting him go. "Let's give Dr. Josephine Cartwright the grand tour."

Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe took turns showing off various bits of the house to Josie. She was duly impressed by the washroom, especially Adam's clever use of pipes from the kitchen to heat the running water. A small stove next to the tub provided additional heat in the winter and allowed them to boil water upstairs if needed.

"That is, by far, the biggest bathtub I've ever seen!" she declared.

"It had to be," Adam said. "Otherwise Hoss wouldn't fit."

Josie stared longingly at the tub. She hadn't had a proper bath since San Francisco, and she yearned to wash off the scent of sweat and horses.

But there was more house to see first. The men led her downstairs and let her take in the great room. Josie had never seen such a gargantuan fireplace. It was as tall Hoss and looked big enough to burn two or three entire ponderosa pines at a time. Opposite the fireplace was Uncle Ben's study. Josie admired the map of the Ponderosa that hung over her uncle's leather-topped desk and then followed her cousins toward the dining room and kitchen.

Hop Sing proudly showed off his kitchen and invited Josie to avail herself of it at any time.

"Sure," Hoss grumbled, "let Josie into the kitchen, but ol' Hoss gets beat with a rolling pin."

Hop Sing heard this and turned on Hoss. "Dr. Cartlight not steal cookies!" he scolded, poking Hoss in his ample belly.

"That he ever noticed anyway," Josie whispered to Little Joe, who snickered.

After the tour, Little Joe wanted to saddle up some horses and take Josie to the lake, but Ben recognized the fatigue in his niece's eyes and suggested that perhaps she'd prefer to settle in and wash off the trail dust. She smiled gratefully at him and within twenty minutes was sinking up to her chin in a tub of hot water.

"Adam is a genius," she thought as she held her breath and ducked underwater.

She washed her hair and scrubbed her body all over until her skin glowed pink. Then she sat back, closed her eyes, and basked in the water until it went cold. She pulled the drain plug and watched the water swirl down the drain and disappear.

"Brilliant," she said. "Positively brilliant." She was used to running water in Washington, of course, but she'd never expected such a fine example of modern conveniences way out here in the Nevada Territory, where many people didn't have a proper outhouse, let alone an indoor washroom.

"I must never underestimate Adam," she said to herself as she stepped out of the tub and wrapped up in a big fluffy towel. She poked her head out the door to check that the hallway was empty and flitted quickly back to her bedroom, where she pulled a day dress out of her trunk and got dressed. Even this simple dress was fancier than the everyday wear she had seen on the women in Virginia City, but at least her hair wouldn't be a problem. She'd noticed that the women here didn't wrestle their hair into the fancy up-dos that women in the East were expected to sport every day. A loose bun or a single braid was perfectly acceptable, and she marveled at how much time this would save her every day. For now, she left her long hair loose to dry and headed downstairs.

All four men leapt to their feet when Josie appeared at the top of the stairs, and she smiled. Uncle Ben certainly had instilled his sons with manners. She glided down the stairs and crossed to the settee, where she sat down between Adam and Hoss.

"Your turn!" she told Adam. "Though I must apologize, I'm certain I did not leave you any hot water."

Adam shrugged his shoulders and ambled upstairs to clean up. While they waited for him to finish his bath, Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe asked Josie all about medical school, and she enjoyed telling them about Michaela and Katherine. When Adam reemerged twenty minutes later, clean shaven and wearing a fresh shirt and jeans, the family sat down to supper. Adam forfeited his position at the foot of the table to Josie, as befitted her new position as the lady of the house, and sat next to Little Joe. They all folded their hands and bowed their heads as Ben said grace, then dived into the food. Josie was delighted to see that Hop Sing had made roast venison. She hadn't had venison since her last trip to the Ponderosa.

As they ate, Ben told Adam and Josie about the Independence Day festivities planned in Virginia City the next day and asked if they'd like to go. The cousins nodded vigorously. Adam loved watching the fireworks display, and Josie was excited to meet some of the townspeople, especially the town doctor, Paul Martin. She wanted to speak to him about setting up her own practice out on the Ponderosa to service the ranchers in the area.

After supper, Adam and Josie presented Little Joe with his birthday gifts. He was delighted with the saddlebags—they would match his saddle perfectly—and he guffawed when he saw the shirt Josie had bought for him.

"I owed you a shirt," she said, smiling. "I promise I won't slice a sleeve off of this one."

Joe grinned back. "I promise to stay out of that tree."

"That should be easy, considering it became firewood over a decade ago."

The two youngest cousins laughed while Ben, Hoss, and Adam looked on in mild befuddlement. They were all pretty certain Josie and Little Joe were referring to the incident that led to Josie's first attempt at stitches, but they didn't understand the connection with the shirt. The remains of Little Joe's ruined shirt from that afternoon at the duck pond had never been discovered. The three of them looked at each other, shrugged in unison, and let the matter rest.

Exhausted from their journey, Adam and Josie retired early that evening. The stagecoach way stations had improved little over the past decade, and Adam was grateful to be back in a bed that was long enough for his tall frame. He considered reading for a bit but knew he wouldn't last more than two or three pages, so he lay back, stretched his legs out to their full length, and folded his arms under his head. He typically sailed along on an even emotional keel, but tonight he was atypically upbeat. The house he began building eleven years ago was finally complete. His little sister was home. He closed his eyes and fell into the deepest sleep he'd known since John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.

In the next bedroom, Josie was grateful that she could climb into bed without first inspecting it for bugs. She sank back against her pillows and sighed happily.

"Dr. Josephine Elizabeth Cartwright," she whispered, "you have arrived." She giggled, blew out her lamp, and instantly fell asleep.