CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Josie spent the next few days unpacking her things—the books took the longest—meeting the ranch hands, and organizing the few medical supplies she'd brought with her. At the beginning of the following week, Adam drove her into town so she could buy some clothes and order more supplies.
"Pay attention to the route we're taking," he said as he helped her up into the buckboard. "I want you to know how to get to town and back in case you ever have to make the trip alone." He intended to teach her everything he could about living in the West so she'd never be helpless.
Josie paid close attention during their journey as Adam pointed out various landmarks, and before she knew it, they were rolling to a stop in front of Cass's General Store. She selected several shirtwaists, a few simple skirts, including two split skirts for riding, and a couple pairs of blue jeans. The store owner's daughter, Sally, was fascinated to meet a female doctor and asked Josie all sorts of questions about women's seminaries. Sally and Josie were close in age, and Adam hoped they'd become friends. He knew Josie missed Michaela, and it would do her good to have female companionship nearby.
After Adam loaded up the buckboard with Josie's purchases, he told her they needed to stop at the bank to transact some business for Ben before they went to the International House for lunch.
"Actually, would it be all right if I met you there in about an hour? I wanted to pop into the clinic and talk with Dr. Martin." She gestured across the street to the clinic.
Adam studied his boots. Ladies were generally safe in Virginia City, but he disliked the idea of Josie going off on her own so soon after arriving. She didn't yet know who was friendly and who should be given a wide berth.
"I don't know," he said, shifting his weight.
Josie grinned. "Don't worry. You know what a careful girl I am." She hitched up the hem of her skirt just high enough to reveal the Derringer strapped to her right ankle.
Adam's eyes popped. "Where did you get that?"
"It was a graduation gift from Papa. I've been wearing it since we left Philadelphia."
An image of Josie strapping the Derringer to her ankle under the blue gown she'd worn to the captain's reception as they sailed out of Philadelphia flashed through his mind, and he shook his head. "You wore this on Independence Day?"
"Of course."
Maybe he didn't need to worry about Simon Croft so much after all.
"All right. I'll see you at the International House in an hour." He pointed down the street to the hotel. "Just remember, you only get one shot with that gun."
Josie grinned. "Some of us only need one." She pecked him on the cheek and crossed the street to the clinic.
Josie hesitated, her stomach fluttering, before she knocked on the clinic's door. She enjoyed speaking with professional colleagues, but the men who dominated the medical profession rarely recognized her as such. She hoped Dr. Martin wouldn't think she was attempting to displace him. That certainly was not her intention.
"Pull yourself together, Cartwright," she muttered. She took a deep breath and knocked firmly on the door.
Dr. Paul Martin himself answered her knock.
"Good morning," Josie began brightly. "I'm–"
"Dr. Josephine Cartwright!" Dr. Martin finished. He chuckled at the surprised expression on the young woman's face. "I've heard a lot about you. I would have recognized you a mile away. You look just like your cousin Adam."
"Well," Josie said, collecting herself, "I like to think I'm prettier than he is."
Dr. Martin laughed again. "That goes without saying." He extended his hand, which Josie shook. "Dr. Paul Martin, at your service. Please, come in."
Josie stepped into the clinic and looked around. It was smaller than her father's clinic in Washington but well outfitted with shelves and cabinets of bandages, instruments, salves, liniments, and medicines. Dr. Martin had a desk in the front room, and there was a door next to it that she presumed led into the exam room. She nodded approvingly. Dr. Martin gestured to a seat in front of his desk, and Josie sat down. Once she was seated, he settled himself in his chair on the other side of the desk.
"So, Dr. Cartwright, what can I do for you this morning?" He was a middle-aged man, about Uncle Ben's age, and his pleasant face and friendly demeanor set her at ease.
She was encouraged by Dr. Martin's use of her professional title. "I was hoping to get your advice on setting up a small practice for myself out on the Ponderosa." This was where it got sticky, and she took a deep breath. "But I want you to know, I'm certainly not trying to take anything away from you. Obviously, you're the senior physician here, and–"
Dr. Martin waved a hand. "Dr. Cartwright, I could not be more pleased that you have come to Virginia City. Your presence here provides me with a unique opportunity."
"Oh?"
"Yes. For the first time in fifteen years, I can take a vacation."
Josie stared blankly at him for several moments and then laughed. "You have no idea how relieved I am! I've been wanting to speak with you but dreading it at the same time."
"I've been wanting to speak with you, too," Dr. Martin said. "I agree it's an excellent idea to set up a practice out on the ranch. Having another doctor closer to the ranchers and miners would take a huge load off my shoulders. But I also have a proposal."
Josie raised an eyebrow, and Dr. Martin marveled again at her resemblance not only to Adam, but also to Ben. She shared many of his mannerisms. He wondered which of Hoss's and Little Joe's qualities she harbored as well.
"It's going to take the townspeople some time to get used to the idea of a lady doctor, so how would you feel about working out of this clinic two days a week, say, Tuesdays and Fridays? It would give me some much-needed rest and give you the opportunity to gain the trust of the citizenry. You can use the supplies here and repay me for them out of the fees you charge."
Josie was stunned. She was so touched by Dr. Martin's offer and acceptance that she nearly burst into tears. "I would love that," she said at last, her voice choked with emotion.
"Wonderful! I'm sure you're still settling in at the Ponderosa, so why don't you come in next Tuesday?"
"Perfect." Josie grinned, and she reached across the desk to shake his hand again.
They chatted a few moments more about frontier medicine. Dr. Martin was both surprised and pleased that Josie's father had been using willow bark tea to treat fevers and aches and pains for so many years. Most eastern doctors scorned the natural remedies from the West. He laughed as Josie recounted Adam's reaction to his first cup of willow bark tea.
"Adam's the easiest of the three," he warned her. "You should see the fuss Little Joe puts up anytime I have to get medicine into him."
Josie giggled and glanced at the clock over Dr. Martin's desk. Her stomach jumped when she realized she was to meet Adam in five minutes. She leapt from her seat and apologized for having to rush out. He shook her hand once more and said he would see her on Tuesday.
She darted out of the clinic and scurried down the street to the International House, where Adam was already waiting. Relief crossed his face as he spotted her nearing the hotel. He'd been about to start looking for her. She surprised him by tackling him with a huge hug. Her led her into the hotel, and over lunch, she told him all about her meeting with Dr. Martin.
After the cold reception she'd received on Independence Day at the hands of Laurel Bailey, he was relieved her meeting with Dr. Martin had gone so well.
"We'll have to get you on a horse if you plan to come into town twice a week," he said. He laughed at the dismayed expression that crossed her face. "It'll come back to you."
"I never really had it to begin with," she muttered.
When they returned to the Ponderosa that afternoon, Adam helped Josie carry her purchases to her bedroom and then instructed her to put on a pair of her new jeans and join him at the barn. Knowing what he had planned, she changed her clothes as slowly as possible. By the time she finally made her way to the barn in her new jeans, a red shirt, and her black boots and hat, Adam had already saddled and led two horses out of the barn: his own chestnut gelding, Sport, and a second gelding, a tall blue roan with a black mane.
Adam smiled as he watched her trudge through the yard, her head down and boots scuffing through the dirt. He knew she was reluctant to return to horseback, but if she were going to have any sort of independence, she was going to have to ride.
"Geez, Adam!" she exclaimed when she looked up at the horse Adam had selected. "Did you have to pick the biggest one in the barn?"
Adam grinned. "Josie, meet The General." He gestured to the gelding. "He's a tall old man, but an old man all the same. Very gentle, and he could make his way to and from town blindfolded. You remember how to mount up?"
Josie nodded and slowly approached The General, who nickered and nudged her with his nose as she approached. She smiled despite herself and rubbed the animal's nose. He bent his head down so she could scratch all the way up between his ears.
"He's a big flirt, too," Adam said.
She gave The General a final pat and stepped over to the horse's left side. She stuck her left foot in the stirrup, grabbed the saddle horn, and hoisted herself into the saddle. Adam nodded approvingly and set about adjusting her stirrups.
"Oh, thank goodness," she muttered. She thought she might have died of embarrassment if she had thrown herself into the dirt like she had done the first time she attempted mounting a horse.
Adam sprang onto Sport and led Josie slowly out of the yard. He considered taking her down to Lake Tahoe, but he remembered how sore they'd both been after that ride when he'd returned from college and decided to keep her first ride out short. He took her past the old house, long since converted to a carriage house for all their wagons and buggies, and toward the Ponderosa's high country, though he turned them around long before they reached that difficult mountainous terrain. He caught her glancing nervously down at the ground from time to time, but otherwise, she seemed fairly steady in her saddle. An hour later they were back at the house, and she slid gratefully onto the ground. She led The General into the barn behind Adam and Sport and paid close attention to Adam's refresher course on untacking and grooming a horse.
"A good rancher always sees to his horse before himself," Adam instructed. Josie nodded and finished picking out The General's hooves. They heard several horses trot into the front yard, and they stepped out of the barn, Adam draping an arm around Josie's shoulders.
Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe, sweaty and dusty from a day rounding up cattle for the upcoming drive to San Francisco, slid off their horses and greeted Adam and Josie.
"Just get back from a ride?" Ben asked.
"Yep!" Adam said. "She did great, too." He tapped the brim of Josie's hat with one finger, pushing it down over her eyes. She giggled and tipped it back up.
"Aw, Josie," Hoss said, "you're cute. Ain't she, Joe?" Little Joe nodded in agreement. He felt Josie resembled him in that regard.
"Well, come inside," Ben said, smiling. "It's nearly time for supper."
Adam and Josie followed the rest of the family indoors. As they ate, Josie told Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe about her conversation with Dr. Martin and his offer to let her work out of his clinic two days a week.
"Josephine, that's wonderful!" Ben exclaimed. "You'll enjoy working with Paul. He's a good man. I expect there's a lot you both can learn from each other."
"And think of all the riding practice you'll get going back and forth to Virginia City all the time!" Little Joe teased.
"Ugh," Josie said.
"Take a wagon," Hoss suggested.
Josie shook her head. "Horseback is simpler, and probably faster, once I get used to it."
"One of us will go with you," Adam said. "I'll ride into town with you on Tuesday, and Hoss or Joe can meet you at the end of the day to come home."
Josie wrinkled her nose. "I can't let you do that. That's eight man-hours gone. I've been paying attention on our way to and from town, and you said yourself The General could get there and back blindfolded. I'm sure he and I will be fine."
Adam shifted in his seat and glanced over at his father. Josie noticed the exchange and knew he was working up a lecture on safety and hoping for support.
"I'll wear my Derringer and take a rifle," she said.
"You've got a Derringer?" Little Joe asked.
Ben waved off Little Joe's question. "She's got a point, Adam. We can't accompany her indefinitely. Tell you what, Josie. One of the boys will accompany you each way the first week, and if you're feeling comfortable with the route and The General at the end of the week, then you can ride alone." Adam opened his mouth, but Ben raised a hand to silence him. "From what Jacob has told me, Josephine is more than competent with a gun. If we get her comfortable on horseback, there's no reason she won't be perfectly safe going to town and back on her own."
Josie beamed triumphantly while Adam screwed up his face in disgruntlement. Ben decided it was a good time to change the subject.
"Now, Josephine," he said, "tell me about this Derringer of yours."