A couple days later, Adam and Adrien were back on the stagecoach. It was still hot, but thankfully not as dusty. The desert had turned into grassy plains, but the ride through Kansas was no more exciting than the ride to Colorado Springs.

"I am starting to see why you never went home while you were in college," Adrien told Adam sleepily, "I don't know that you'll ever be able to get me back in one of these things once we get to St. Louis."

"You're going to have to go at least go back to Colorado Springs," Adam reminded her, "Your uncle is planning a giant soiree that may wind up being bigger than our wedding."

"That's Uncle Horace for you," she answered, "He does everything to the extreme. It's even worse when he's teamed up with Catherine."

"That sister of yours is something else. She's a talented baker. We can't tell Hop Sing about what she can do when we get home."

"I know. I want her to go to cooking school. As much as she loves to bake, she'd make a great pastry chef. She could work in a really nice place in San Francisco or open her own café. I had her set up to live in San Francisco with Gabrielle for a little while. I thought it would be good for both of them to get some culture since Gabby is a budding little artist herself, but it was too much for Catherine to be off the ranch."

"She acts like she has to keep those brothers of yours in line," Adam chuckled.

"I'd be willing to bet that you're right," Adrien answered.

"Do you think that she will be out to the Ponderosa for the wedding?"

"No matter where we have the wedding, she will be there, but who says that it's going to be at the Ponderosa?

"Who says it's not?" Adam smiled mischievously.

"No one has said anything about anything because no one has let me plan anything!" Adrien exclaimed in frustration, "Every time I try to bring up any planning about anything, you tell me to wait."

"Easy, Adrien. I just didn't want you to get too much on your plate and then you got hurt. I just wanted you to get better. Then, as soon as you got better, this trip came up," Adam paused, pulled Adrien close, and kissed her.

"I can't wait to marry you though," he whispered, "really don't want to wait." He kissed her again.

"Then you should probably get a move on with planning your wedding, Mr. Cartwright," Adrien whispered back.

"We will as soon as we get home."

"Why don't we talk about it now?" Adrien asked a little louder, "Half of it all is deciding what we want, so why don't we pass the time that way."

"Can we still do some of this?" he asked as he kissed her again. Every muscle in Adrien's stomach tightened as he did.

"It depends," she responded breathlessly, "on how much planning we get done."

"As long as I get something that I want out of this," Adam replied giving her a quick peck on the lips, "fine."

"You'll get all that you want eventually," she whispered back, "but you have to be patient."

"I know. Good things come to those who wait. Waiting is hard." A small growl of frustration appearing in his voice.

The rest of the day on the road was spent making plans. It did help to pass the time, even though most of the planning was Adam saying, "Yes, darling," to just about everything she suggested. Then main thing that Adam had an opinion on was when. He wanted sooner rather than later, but it would probably be August before they returned, and it wasn't enough time to get everyone that Adrien wanted there to Nevada.

"John and Jessica won't even be back from their honeymoon until almost September. It would probably be October by the time they got out to us and you have to drive steers to market at the end of the month. I'm not going to be barely married and then lose my husband for almost a month."

They were sitting on the porch of little hotel that they were staying at before leaving the next day. Neither of them were really sure of where they were, but they continued to discuss their wedding plans and anything else that came up.

"I doubt that we have enough hands for me to not go. Travis is good, but I don't think he can handle it all on his own yet, and Pa likes for us to be hands on. It is our ranch after all."

"I agree. I don't know what would happen to Cedar Ridge if Conrad and Cordell weren't there. They are a little young and rough around the edges, but they manage the hands well. They are excellent horsemen. I miss cattle drives though. We got out of the beef business when I bought the ranch."

"You don't mean to say that you went on cattle drives?" Adam was surprised.

"Adam, I had to!" Adrien explained, "Most of the time we'd only go as far as Denver, so it wasn't as long as going to San Francisco, but I did go. I do kind of miss the excitement."

"Well, I guess the drive this fall could be our honeymoon," Adam suggested.

"Really?" she glared at him.

"Why not? What's more romantic than sleeping under the stars every night."

"Well, lets see...the company…the cows…the company!" she answered.

"What that doesn't sound like a great honeymoon?"

"No."

"Good," Adam answered, "I was joking anyway."

"It wasn't funny."

"Well, that takes us to November. My main issue with that is that means that we will be gone for Christmas, and that has your family on the road back during some very bitter cold."

"That's not an option then, and if we are worried about the cold for my family, December and January are definitely out too. I don't want a Christmas wedding anyway."

"So we're to February?"

"I don't want a Valentines wedding. It's too cliché," Adrien pointed out, "And it's still really cold for coming up here."

"That pushes us all the way back to March."

"I don't see an issue with March."

"Besides the fact that it's almost 10 months away," Adam whined.

"Adam, this isn't easy for me either, but what other choice do we have? It takes time to get things done, and it takes time to get everyone in one place."

"Oh, we have another choice. There must be a justice of the peace in this little town. I say we just find him and get it done and over with."

"And if it were just us to worry about, then I would be just fine with that. But we have more than us to think about. If we got married here tonight, then your father would be so extremely disappointed, and it would kill my grandfather. He literally has 2 goals in life right now. One is to give me away at my wedding. The other is to see the biggest ranch that he's ever heard of. I was hoping he could do both in one trip."

"I know. I know." Adam tried to calm down, "I just want to…"

"I know. I know," Adrien finished for him as she put her arms around his neck. She whispered, "Do you think that I don't miss falling asleep in your arms every single night? Do you think that I don't hate having you so close and without getting too close? Do you realize how many times I've thought about that no one will know if something happened? Do you know you tempting things have been since it's been just the 2 of us on that stage for the last 2 days?"

She stepped up on her toes and whispered in his ear, "If you only knew how much your voice, your touch, your scent are all kinds of torture to me."

Adam hugged her so tightly that she could hardly breathe. Her breath on his neck and ear was almost too much alone, but her words sent him over the edge.

"Adam, dear, I can't breathe," Adrien squeaked. He let go and took a step away from her.

"So, March…." he said, changing the subject back. "Do you have a specific date in mind?"

"Well, we could do the weekend after the roundup. Your father always has a huge party at the house anyway."

"But that means that our anniversary will always be…."

"That's fine, dear. It means you always have to take me out for our anniversary. You just have to promise to leave the bronc bustin' to the hands this year."

"The same goes for you," Adam retorted.

"I cross my heart," she answered. The mood seemed to have lightened again.

"I'll wire Pa in the morning and see when the round up is. I'm sure he will be ecstatic with anything we choose as long as he's there."

"I'm sure he will be, and your brothers will be happy that we are combining a time that they have to dress up. But I don't want to do a late wedding. I'd much rather do it in the afternoon, and we can have as long of a reception as we want to have."

"That's good with me. I don't want you worn out later that day anyway."

"Adam, you're terrible," Adrien giggled.

Upon arriving in St. Louis, Adam found that there was an ecstatic telegram waiting for him from his father:

Overjoyed STOP

Consider it a plan STOP

Let me know if there is anything I need to do STOP

-Pa

Actually, Pa, he thought, there is something you can do.

He quickly wrote out a reply

I'll be sending a letter with more details soon STOP

Until then have the mill ramp up production STOP

-Adam

This was something that he had thought about many times before. It was time to get it started. Up until the date was set, he wasn't sure about doing it. The time that they had already spent in Colorado had given him some ideas of minor changes he could make, but he was quite sure that Adrien would absolutely love the idea. He just needed to make the tweaks to the plans that he'd made and send them home.

I guess that it wasn't such a bad idea to bring that with me, he thought to himself again. He smiled as he pictured the look on Adrien's face. He wouldn't wait until the wedding, but it would still make a great wedding present.

"What are you working on?" Adrien asked one night 2 days after boarding the train in St. Louis. The miles were going by faster but the layovers were longer. The train they were on had gotten in a couple hours earlier, but it was too late for them to be able to get a hotel room. Since the next train was leaving early, they had just decided to wait it out at the train station. Adrien had fallen asleep for a little bit, so Adam had decided to get out his project and start on a few of the changes he'd decided to make.

"It's nothing," Adam answered as he closed the sketchpad that he'd been working in.

"That almost looked like you were drawing a house," she said, as she sat down on the bench beside him.

"Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't."

"Adam, why do you have to be like that?"

"I was just playing around to pass the time. I didn't feel like sleeping."

"I know. You slept most of the afternoon," Adrien replied.

"The train has a way of going faster if you just sleep through it."

"That's very true," Adrien answered, "So why don't you keep going with your little doodle."

She cuddled up to his side, laid her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

"It looked beautiful," she said as she yawned, "At least what I saw of it. It looks like the one you drew and hung up on the wall of your room in Boston." She yawned again, "I always liked it. I thought it was your best one."

Adam smiled. He grabbed his jacket and put it over her, then the swept a couple of stray tendrils of hair behind her ear. She was so very beautiful.

"I don't know how we're going to make it until March darling," he whispered softly. He waited for a response from her, but she was already asleep.

"Well, there's a face I never thought I'd see again!" John called out from the wagon as Adam and Adrien got off the train at the station in Charlottesville. It was sunset and getting dark quickly. The train had been running late starting that morning and had never caught up.

"John, it's so good to see you too!" Adam held out his hand to shake John's.

"What are you thinking, old friend?" John exclaimed and he reached out to hug his old roommate, "I'm not shaking you hand. We shared a room long enough to be practically family, and once we finally get you two married, we will be family."

John let go of Adam. "You look good, old man."

"You'd better not start with the old man stuff already, or I will have to show you what this old man can still do," Adam joked as he remembered the joke John had started in college once the realized that Adam was just a few days older than John.

"JJ, you never change, do you?" Adrien asked jokingly as she gave her cousin a big hug.

"Well, one thing that has changed is I really am trying to get away from being known as JJ," he answered.

"I know. It's just hard. You've been JJ since we were kids," Adrien answered.

"Well, let's get going," John segued, "Grandpa was about to bust with excitement at the house. He can't wait to see you. If we take much longer, he will probably try to head here. Mommas got some dinner waiting on you two anyway."

"She didn't have to that!" Adrien exclaimed, "I could have fixed something when we got there."

"You know how momma is, Adrien," John reminded, "She won't have a guest making their own food."

"I'm not exactly a guest," Adrien replied.

"You have to come by more often than every 3 years to be considered that."

"All right," Adam intervened, "before you two get started, can we load up and head down the road? I haven't been in the same place more than a night since Colorado Springs, and I am ready to be somewhere for a WHILE." Adrien and John laughed as the remembered Adam breaking up their little debates multiple times during their Boston years. They loaded up their things and John turned the wagon towards Watson's Valley.

"How's Grandpa doing, John?" Adrien asked once they were on the road.

"I think he's as close to himself as he's going to be now that Grandma is gone, Adrien. He still misses her fiercely."

"How could she not miss her? They were joined at the hip from the day they got married," Adrien added, "They had a marriage that we all should aspire to."

"Adrien, I know you mentioned before that she had passed but when did she pass?" Adam asked.

"A few months after you left Boston," Adrien answered quietly. She hated even mentioning that time anymore. It was still such a dark memory and a cloud over both of them. Adam would still wince at the mention of it.

"I can't wait to see how much Ellie has grown. She was such a little thing at Grandma's funeral."

"She's getting big. She's 10 now," John answered.

"It's hard to believe she's that old now," Adam said, "She was just a little wisp of a thing when I came down here from college with you."

"That was a long time ago," John replied, smiling, "Those other sisters of mine that were swooning over you have grown up too."

"Oh, I never knew about this!" Adrien exclaimed.

'What? About Marie and Ellen growing up, or them having a crush on your future fiancé?" John asked.

"The crush," Adrien retorted with annoyance, "These are the things a good cousin fills a person in on."

"It's not like it matters now," John answered.

"It didn't matter them either," Adam added, "What are they up to now anyway?"

"Well, Marie is done with nursing school and working at a hospital in Charlottesville. I think she's courting with a doctor there, but she hasn't told all of us about it yet. She sure talks about him a lot."

"Well, good for her!" Adrien exclaimed, "What about Ellen?"

"She's still a little lost. She's a secretary at the head office of one of the coal mines. She's pretty happy with it for now, but tomorrow that will change."

"Well, I know where there's a teaching position that's recently come open," Adrien quipped.

"You make sure and let her know," John answered, "and then be prepared to hear about it from Grandpa. He's still mad about you taking off all the way across the country."

"I'm here now," Adrien retorted.

"I know, but he doesn't like it. He says the family is getting too spread out and we all need to stay together"

"What is he going to do if you ever get on at a big newspaper?" Adrien asked.

"I don't know," John answered, "but he won't like it."

"We can't all stay in the Valley forever," Adrien continued, "My mother knew that. I know that, and you know that. We have dreams, and there's not enough here to full fill those."

"What about yours?" John asked, "How are you doing with those dreams? There's no ballet companies to choreograph for in the middle of nowhere."

"You never know. I could start one," Adrien replied, "I have other things to think about right now, and dreams change!"

Adrien took a deep breath. John knew how to cut down to her soul. He never let her hide from how she really felt for long, but she was able to cut right back.

"How is writing the great American novel going?" she asked.

"Not well," John answered.

"Why is that?" Adam asked with interest. He knew as well as Adrien that John had been working on a novel for quite some time, even since before he left home for college.

"I don't have a lot of time for it with the Gazette," John answered.

"How is the Gazette doing?" Adam asked.

"It's doing alright," John answered, "I have plenty of help keeping it going from the family, but I do all the writing."

"I'm sure that's exhausting," Adrien said.

"The valley writes their own paper and I print it," John continued, "but so many of us would be in trouble if I reprinted anything that they have given me."

"Those laws make no sense," Adrien muttered, "What's wrong with letting a person read and write?"

"I've never understood the reasoning for the laws this area has," Adam added.

"No one but the cruelest of people do," John answered.

"What happened to writing for one of the big papers in New York, New Orleans, or San Francisco?" Adam asked, "Then, you'd have more time for that novel rather than running the Gazette."

"They usually don't hire you until you've had some experience. What's better experience than running and writing for your own paper?"

"You've got a good point," Adam answered, "It's not the easy point, but it's a good point."

"What's Jess been up to?" Adrien asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well, besides planning like crazy, she's been teaching a few ballet classes in Charlottesville a couple days a week."

"Does she like it?" Adam asked, secretly thinking that it might be a good idea for Adrien after they got back home.

"She likes it alright," John answered, "She misses performing though, but maybe she will get used to it. It's only been a couple of months that she's been back here permanently instead of just being here in the off season."

"Oh, the off season..." Adam reminisced,

"It was usually more fun for us than it was for the girls."

Both of the men laughed heartily.

The wagon soon rounded the corner to the Watson house. The house was 2 stories tall, like most Virginia plantation houses, but it looked like it had been added onto multiple times.

"Momma! Daddy! Grandpa ! J. J. is back! Adrien is here!" a little voice screamed from the porch.

As the wagon came to a stop, a barefoot little girl with red pigtail braids came running from the porch.

"Adrien, you remember me?" the little girl asked.

"Hmmmm...I don't know..." Adrien wondered with a smile, "Do I know you? I remember my cousin Eliza Anne was a little girl with red hair. But I don't remember having her front teeth."

"They grew back! I'm Eliza Anne!" she answered.

"I don't know, Miss Cooper. She doesn't look anything like the Eliza Anne that I met before," Adam joined in.

"That's me!" Eliza answered, "I grew up."

"Now, Granddaughter, you need to leave that little lassie alone and come here," an old man with a thick Scottish accent called as he came down the steps. Adam quickly recognized him as Zebediah Watson, the patriarch of the entire clan. His long hair was white and thinning quite a bit on the top. His handlebar mustache was white as well. He wore a pair of denim pants and a plaid shirt. He looked more like a farm hand than the owner of all the property he had.

"Oh, Grandpa, it's so good to see you!" Adrien exclaimed, "I've missed you so much!"

The two hugged each other warmly and didn't let go.

"Grandpa, I can't breathe," Adrien quietly gasped. The old man eased his grasp.

"Aye, I'm sorry, Granddaughter. I dinna mean to hurt ye, but getting to hug ye has made this old man very, very happy."

He let go of her and held her out at arm's length.

"You look more and more like your mother every time I see ye," he smiled, "Your grandmother would say that you're too skinny though." He turned to Adam, "Are ye makin' sure she eats well, son?"

"I try, sir," Adam answered, "she usually fights me tooth and nail. She has a stubborn streak for sure."

Adrien glared at him with a look that said, don't encourage him.

"I dinna ken where a streak like that would come from," Grandpa answered with a grin, "it must have come from either her father or her grandmother. There never was such a streak of stubbornness in the Watson family."

He let go of Adrien and grabbed Adam by his shoulders.

"It's good to see you, Lad," the old man continued, "Adrien was so heartbroken when she thought you were dead. Havin' ye in her heart made her light up in a way that I had never seen her, and she has that light again now. Welcome to the family." He patted Adam's cheek like he was a child. "And I'll forgive ye for not askin' me for her hand in marriage first."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Watson," Adam answered, slightly startled, "I thought since her father was gone that…"

"That there was no one to ask?" the old man interrupted, "No, I'm not her da'. I'm grander than just her da', and that's my Adrianna, ye ken. She's important to me."

They both looked up at the porch at Adrien who was giving her cousins and Uncle John hugs as they came out the door to greet her.

"Well, sir," Adam began, "If it's alright with you, I would love to marry your granddaughter."

"Which one?" he asked with a laugh, "I think Marie is goin' to end up with that doctor lad, but I think Ellie is a lassie that hasn't been claimed yet, if you're willin' to wait a couple years."

Adam laughed along with him. He knew exactly where Adrien got her quick responses and knife sharp wit from.

"You're good for Adrien, Lad. We will keep you."

"Thank you, Sir," Adam answered.

"Let's get a couple things straight right now, ye ken," Watson said as he put his arm across Adam's shoulders.

"What would that be?"

"Adrien is the only link I have to my dear departed daughter. You need to take care of her, and if you hurt her. I will kill you. I may be as old as dirt, as my grandchildren like to say, but I will make sure I will be able to kill you with pain ten times worse than whatever you cause her. Ye ken?"

"Yes, Mr. Watson," Adam answered, solemnly.

"And secondly, stop with the Mr. Watsons and the sirs. I am Grandpa. You are family, so I am Grandpa. Ye ken?" Grandpa's tone became happier again.

"Yes, I understand perfectly sir… I mean, Grandpa."

"All right. Let's go in and have some supper."

"I'm surprised that you aren't in bed asleep," Adam said to Adrien. The sky had grown dark, and the stars could be clearly seen in the sky. Adrien sat out on the porch of the house in the pale moonlight sipping a cup of tea. The night had been very full of cousins and catching up. He was surprised that he had found her there. The lamp on the porch was still lit, and Adam had brought his sketchbook out to do some work on his plan since he assumed that Adrien was in the spare room of the house asleep.

"I'm basking in the delight of not having to go anywhere tomorrow," Adrien answered him.

"No kidding. Three weeks of traveling is just too much."

Adrien yawned and scooted over in the chair to give Adam room to sit by her.

"Yes, it is."

"The sky is beautiful here," Adam noticed.

Adam had always loved coming here during the holidays in college, but he had never been here with Adrien. John had invited him for Christmas the first year they roomed together, and he had gone every holiday he was there. Sadly, Adrien had never gotten to come with him since she was usually in the middle of a holiday show. Adrien would usually visit in the summer, but Adam was usually busy with helping his grandfather in the store and couldn't leave.

"Yes, it is," Adrien answered. Adam stretched his arm out to put it around Adrien. She cuddled up to him and laid her head on his shoulder. 'It's a bit chillier than I'm used to though. So it's a good thing that you're warm."

"I guess you are finally getting acclimated to Nevada summers?"

"I guess," she sleepily answered, "Why did you bring your sketch book out here with you?"

"I just wanted to sit out here and wind down before I went to sleep. It's been a long day."

"You've been sketching a lot lately. More than I've seen you do it since college. Do you have something on your mind?" Adrien asked as she yawned again.

"Yes, and no. I just have things that get into my brain and I need to get it out."

"You should build more and design more. All your professors bragged about you so much. You are so talented. You are meant for so much more than rounding up strays and busting broncs."

Adam squeezed her with the arm that he had around her and kissed her head.

"You always see more in me than I see in myself."

"Uh – Huh," Adrien sleepily agreed.

"And that's why I keep you around."

"Mmm-Hmm."

"Just like the drawing that used to hang on the wall of my room in Boston."

"Mmm-Hmm"

"You thought it was really something, and I just saw it as something I did for school."

"Mmm-Hmm."

"What would you think about calling something like that drawing home?" he asked.

"Mmm…Hmm," her answer came slower.

"Are you listening to me?"

There was no answer. Adrien had fallen asleep on Adam's shoulder.

Adam continued, "I do hope that you like what I have planned for us. I want it to be perfect before I show you."

He sat with her for a few more minutes and then picked her up and carried her in the house.

"Is she alright?" Aunt Olive asked, shocked to see Adam come through the door with Adrien in his arms.

"Yes, she's fine," Adam answered in a whisper, "We were talking on the porch and she fell asleep on my shoulder. I didn't have the heart to wake her."

"Her room in upstairs by J.J's. It's the one you would stay in when you boys were in college."

"I figured."

He carried her up the stairs and laid her down on the bed. He quickly took off her shoes and stockings.

"Adam, I'll take care of her. You go on downstairs." Aunt Olive whispered from the doorway.

He nodded and quickly kissed her on the forehead and brushed a stray hair from her face.

"Goodnight darling," he whispered. Adrien moaned very softly.

"Well, she's taken care of," Aunt Olivia said as she came down the stairs to the sitting room, "What were you two doing out there anyway?"

Adam set down the notepad that he had been working in.

"I was headed outside to work on something before I went to bed. I found her out on the porch when I went out. We talked for a little bit, and she fell asleep. I couldn't believe that she was still up."

"I can't believe that you are still up either," Olive added, as she picked up the quilt that she had been working on, "What are you still doing up? I figured you would have been asleep a long time ago."

"I keep trying to find an opportunity to finish this," he answered, pointing to his sketch book.

"What is that?"

"It's a house plan that I started in college. I did it as an assignment for a drafting class. I had it hanging in the room J.J. and I shared. I threw the original away, but Adrien brought it up a while ago. I remembered how in love with it she was. I'm making a few changes to it, but I am hoping to build it for Adrien as a wedding present. I'm going to surprise her with the plans when we get back to Nevada."

"You're a good man, Adam," Olive answered, "I've always liked how you take care of her."

"I try." He smiled a shy smile. He had always loved Aunt Olive. She was very motherly to everyone she met. She had always treated Adam like family, even before he and Adrien's relationship began. She reminded him of what Inger and Marie were like when he was younger, and some of the conversations that he had with her were ones that he imagined that he would have had with them.

"So, now that you know why I'm still awake, why are you?"

"Surprises aren't an easy thing to hide in this house," she answered, "I'm putting the finishing touches on this quilt. I'm hoping that with a little lost sleep, it will be done by the wedding."

"Well, you only have 5 days left."

"I will get it done. I had a little help anyway. Grandma started a quilt for each of her grandchildren for when they got married. They don't know that. I didn't know that until right before she passed. It will be a surprise for J.J. and Jessica, but I guess I just ruined it for you."

"You're fine, Aunt Liv. My lips are sealed, so it will still be a surprise for Adrien."

"So how long am I going to have to get that one finished?"

"You'll have until late March."

"That's more time than I need. Why so long?"

"Adrien wants to make sure that the trip isn't too hard on everyone. And we decided while making that trip, so it was at the forefront of our minds."

"So, no one has cold feet?"

"I definitely don't. I doubt Adrien does. She doesn't want a Christmas wedding, and we won't have enough time to plan a wedding by the time we get back to do it before the fall drive. And then there's the house, I'd like to have it done so that we can move in not too long after we're married. She doesn't know about that yet, but now I have the time. I'm going to mail Pa a list of what timber I'll need as soon as I can. He can have some of the men get started on it before we even get back."

"Well that sounds like a plan," she answered with a grin as she stitched, "If you need someone to bounce ideas off of, I'm here. I'll be up for a little bit."

"You know, that's a great idea," Adam smiled.

They both stayed up for a couple hours into the night talking about the house and Aunt Olive stitched away at the quilt. By the time that they called it a night, Adam had everything in order and ready to send to his father. Aunt Olive was almost done with the quilt. They said goodnight and went to bed in the early morning hours.

I can't believe that's done, Adam thought, I can't wait for her to see what I have planned. I can't wait to get home. And I can't wait for spring to come.