LOST AND FOUND - PART II

GOING TO TOWN

Chapter 13

Ben was surprised the next morning when he realized he had overslept, but glad to be back in his own home, he decided to take his time getting up.

When he left his room and went down the stairs he saw the dining room table was set for three. He glanced back when he heard footsteps; Hoss and Joe were coming down.

The three men had just taken their usual places when Hop Sing popped out of the kitchen door, coffee pot in hand. He bustled around the table to fill their cups.

"Where are Adam, Thea, and the children?" Ben asked.

"Oh, Mister Adam and children up early. They go outside. Missus Adam making special breakfast for you." He set the pot down on a trivet and hustled back through the kitchen door. They heard him say something in Cantonese and Thea's answering laughter.

"Stop that, I can't do this right if you keep making me laugh," Thea chuckled then said a few words in Cantonese too.

He spoke again.

"I didn't! I really just called you a chicken beak?" He laughed with her this time.

The three men at the table smiled at each other, pleased and relieved that he had accepted her so quickly.

In a moment Thea and Hop Sing came through the door, each carrying a large, flat, covered dish. They placed them on the table and he rushed back into the kitchen as Thea went around to kiss each man on the top of the head and say "Good morning."

Hop Sing appeared then with a third dish and placed it on the table.

"I was in the mood to do some French cooking this morning and decided to make you crepes, but with an American slant," Thea said as she removed the cover from one of the dishes and fragrant steam wafted up.

"These are onion crepes stuffed with scrambled eggs and bacon," she said then removed another cover.

"These are maple crepes stuffed with sausage, and these are cheese crepes stuffed with seasoned, browned potatoes," she finished as she removed the last cover.

"Save a little room for the dessert crepes, I made two kinds - spiced apple and strawberry." She handed the covers to Hop Sing saying, "I hope you like them," and gave them a sweet smile as she hurried out the front door.

Hop Sing had gone back into the kitchen when Hoss sighed, "It's too bad they can't stay here permanently," he said and his father and brother laughed as they all dug in.

They took their time over breakfast and when they were sitting back with more coffee Thea ran in the front door, scampered up the stairs, then came back down pulling on a pair of brown leather gloves. She smiled at them as she passed, "Adam is going to give me a lesson this morning," she explained as she hurried by and out the door.

"What did she say?" Joe asked.

"Something about Adam giving her a lesson," his father answered.

"I thought that's what she said. What kind of lesson, I wonder?" he said, both puzzled and interested.

"I don't rightly know," Hoss laughed, "but she has to wear trousers and gloves for it."

He and Joe grinned at each other then quickly stood and hurried outside. Their father shook his head at them, but followed closely.

When he came through the door he saw the twins sitting on the hitching rail watching their parents with Balor sitting at attention to the side. Adam was turning in one spot with his hands up, palms out, as Thea circled him, her hands clenched into fists and her eyes fixed on him with fierce concentration.

His eldest son was distracted only for a brief second when his father appeared, but Thea saw it and attacked. He caught her first three punches on his hands, but the fourth slipped past and would have clipped his jaw if he hadn't jerked his head to the side.

He took a step back and dropped his hands saying, "Good job! You didn't hesitate to take advantage of that break in my concentration. Now try to get another one through." He raised his hands again.

She continued to circle around him, but couldn't get past his blocks the next two times she attacked. "Come on, you can do better than that. Don't start turning into a weak female on me now!" he teased her.

Thea's face flushed red, her eyes flashed and her stance became more aggressive.

Two times she started to attack, but ended up retreating. Adam was watching her intently so when she did attack he was ready. Or so he thought.

She punched with her right and then her left, blows he easily blocked. Then she started to throw another left at him, but pulled it as she put all her strength into another right. Adam was fooled by the fake left and was not prepared to block the strong right that nailed him in the mouth.

His head snapped back and the two of them stared at each other in surprise for a second then Adam grinned with delight and rushed her, picked her up and swung her around. "Good girl! You actually fooled me! Where did you learn how to fake a punch?"

He stopped swinging her around and stood there, holding her in his arms with her booted feet dangling.

"I learned from watching you!" she laughed and he set her down as the rest of the family, including their children, applauded. Balor shifted his front feet and barked, looking as though he would have applauded too if he had hands.

Adam turned to his father and brothers. "Well, now that you three are up I can ask if you have any plans to go into town. I need to start looking for office space to rent and Thea will be going to see Matt and accept his offer."

His father answered, "Well, actually I do. I forgot to stop at the post office, and I need to stop by the feed store to see if a shipment came in."

"Joe and I better go along, just in case it did," Hoss said as Joe nodded.

"Well, let's get ready, people!" Adam said and they all went into the house.

Some time later the wagon and buggy pulled up in front of Matt's office. Across and half a block up the street Maisy stared wistfully from the saloon doorway. She watched Adam lift Thea down, then her eyebrows rose when she saw him lifting the twins down. "Geez, and he's got children too," she said and continued to watch, as the group of people seemed to be discussing something. Then the group broke up.

Thea went into Matt's office, Hoss and Adam started down the street on that side, and Ben and Joe each picked up a twin and crossed the street. The two men passed the saloon on their way to Roy's office. Maisy took a close look at Alexander and Annalise as they went past, "And, of course, beautiful children at that," she said under her breath then turned away with a heavy heart to get back to work.

Ben and Joe had gone to see Roy to invite him to dinner then quickly left to move back up the street. When they reached the Post Office they both went in. A tall, lovely woman with honey-colored hair was behind a counter sorting mail, but she quickly turned when the two men approached.

"Ben! Joe!" she said with real pleasure to see them. "How was your trip to San Francisco?"

"Eventful!" Ben said and Joe nodded his head saying "Nice to see you again Mrs. Jackson," as her smiling eyes fastened on the twins.

She nodded to Joe. "And who are these two wee people?" she laughed.

"This is my grandson Alexander and my granddaughter Annalise," Ben answered.

"Grandchildren?" she said and looked sharply at Joe who was holding Annalise. He quickly shook his head, both appalled and embarrassed.

Ben was highly amused by his youngest son's expression. "No, these two belong to Adam."

Her eyes opened wide and her mouth fell open, "Adam?"

"Yes, he came home for a visit, he's been living in San Francisco. I guess you weren't in town yesterday when we arrived so you didn't know yet."

"Oh," she said, still plainly baffled, but her innate good manners prevented her from following that line of questioning further and she smiled. "They're beautiful children," she continued, "How old are they?"

"Four."

"They're twins?" she said, startled again.

"Yes they are." Ben was enjoying himself as he grinned at her wickedly.

Catching on to what he was doing she gave a joyful laugh. "You are a naughty one, aren't you?"

Ben nodded and she laughed again saying, "I wish I could go with you when you shock your next victim!" She turned around, gathered his mail together then handed it to him as she turned back

"Please tell Adam I said 'hello' and 'congratulations'. And please ask him to bring his wife in sometime. I can tell she's a woman I would definitely like to meet!"

"Well, Thea is going into partnership with Dr. Harvey so I'm sure you will be seeing her around town when they move here in a couple of months."

"Good God, she's a doctor?" the poor woman was starting to feel stunned.

"Yes she is, but she is also a surgeon. Although she's planning on limiting her practice to women and children now."

"Well, I don't think I can wait until they move here, so please bring her by. I'll be dying of curiosity if you don't!" Her eyes were dancing with fun.

"We will," Ben answered as he and Joe left and started toward the feed store to show off his grandchildren some more.

Matt looked up from his desk and stood as Thea came in. She motioned for him to sit back down and he did as she took the chair next to his desk.

He smiled, thinking how lovely she looked this morning, and felt the familiar pang in his heart of unrequited love.

She looked at him with lively interest and her expression almost led him to believe she knew exactly what he was thinking. But that had to be impossible.

"Good morning. I came in to tell you I have decided to accept your partnership offer. But I have to tell you I won't be able to actually start until the beginning or the middle of December if you'd be willing to wait that long."

"December?" he said, puzzled.

"Yes," she said gently, "according to my calculations I'll be due in the third or fourth week of November."

His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he stared at her in shock.

"Matt, there really isn't any reason for you to be so surprised."

"Uh, yeah." He cleared his throat and looked away for a moment to get his expression under control. When he turned back to her she was still smiling that gentle smile she always gave him. He looked into her fine hazel eyes and saw true affection for him there, but nothing beyond that, and suddenly he felt ashamed of having nurtured his dreams of her ever being his. He cleared his throat again.

"I don't see any problems with waiting until December for you to officially join. I'll just move everything into the new office when my lease is up here at the end of September. That way you can see patients if you should feel you want to when you move here. Do you know when that will be?"

"In two months and probably in the second week of October."

"Good!" he said as he stood and reached for her right hand with his. They shook hands and Thea laughed. "Why don't we go look at that space for rent so we can start making some decisions about what to do with it." She stood.

"Good idea," he said as he held the office door open for her. This time when they were standing on the board sidewalk he offered her his arm without a trace of the look she had always dreaded. Her heart lightened and she laughed as she mentally acknowledged that Adam had been right again.

"Shall we, Mrs. Cartwright?" he smiled down at her.

"Yes I think we shall, Mr. Harvey," she laughed and the two began to walk briskly down the street.

Adam and Hoss were standing outside a small building on the other side of town and down the street a short way from the Sage Brush Saloon. They had just finished looking it over and Adam had pronounced it perfect for what he needed. He would be using it as an office to work out of while the regional office was being constructed.

"Would you mind going a little further down the street with me? I want to show you something," Adam said to his brother.

"Sure!" Hoss said, pleased to be having a little more time to spend with him alone. Adam always seemed to be surrounded by groups of people anymore.

The two men crossed the street and continued down, away from the center of town. In a few minutes they reached the cream-colored brick house.

Hoss stopped to look up, taking in the three stories and the towers, then followed as Adam went up the steps, pulled out a key, and unlocked the door. They entered a large front hall painted in a lighter cream color than the brick with honey oak moldings and floor. The hall was shaped like a "T" and the doors to the two towers were on either side of what would be the cross bar. Doors were set into the middle of the sidewalls and they were open revealing a formal dining room on their left and a large bedroom on their right.

The hall was two stories high with a staircase coming down on each side and a railed gallery that served as a hallway for the second floor bedrooms.

Hoss looked around at the groups of furniture that were scattered around and Adam smiled as he led him down the hall and opened a door at the end. The two men then entered a large kitchen that was painted a cheerful yellow, further brightened by wide, tall windows that let in the sunlight.

On the left side was the cooking area and in the center was a large oak table surrounded by at least fourteen chairs. Door-less openings on either side of the long room revealed the back stairs and a door to the back yard was on the right.

Adam was looking around the room when Hoss finally spoke. "You thinkin' about buyin' this place?"

His older brother turned to him with a satisfied expression and a smile, "No, I already did. I'm planning it as a surprise for Thea."

"Do you think she'll mind not havin' picked it out herself?"

"No again. We stopped by here yesterday and I saw her expression when she saw this place. I knew she would love it, but wanted to be sure and I was right, this is exactly the kind of house she would choose."

Hoss's face brightened at the firm conviction in Adam's voice.

"Now, you are the only one in the family that knows this secret and I'd like to keep it that way. Please don't say anything to Pa or Joe."

His younger brother nodded his agreement, pleased to be in on the surprise for Thea.

"I will be sending some people to get this place ready after we return to San Francisco, and I would appreciate your dropping by from time to time and letting me know how the work is coming along. Do you think you could do that for me?"

"I'd be glad to," Hoss said with enthusiasm and clapped Adam on the back making him stagger a little.

"Thank you!" Adam said as he offered Hoss his hand and the two men shook on it.

"Just remember that if Joe should happen to catch wind of this he'll be after you to find out what's going on, so be careful. You know how extremely nosey he can be."

Hoss chuckled and nodded as they left the kitchen and went down the hall and out the front door. Adam locked the door behind them and said, "We better get moving. I want to rent that building and sign the final papers on the house before we're supposed to meet up again at Matt's office."

The two men went down the steps and started back toward the center of town, walking along in companionable silence.

When they were a block down from the doctor's office they saw Thea, Matt and Joe come out, followed by Ben who had the twins holding his hands. When they spotted their father, Alexander called "Pa!" and the two ran down the sidewalk to him. Adam crouched down and swept the two up when they reached him and settled a child on each hip as he noticed other pedestrians staring. Alexander started chattering immediately.

"Grandpa took us to all the stores, and the Post Office, and the Liv'ry, and the 'Pothecary, and..." His little brow creased in concentration, trying to remember the other place.

"And the Sheriff's," his sister helpfully supplied the answer for him.

"Yeah, and we got to see the cells and everything!'

Adam smiled and waited for a moment to be sure his son's flow of words had stopped. "So you had a good time?"

"Uh HUH!" Alexander answered as his father looked down at Annalise as he reached the waiting group. "You too, honey?" he asked and the little girl just nodded, her beautiful green eyes shining up at him. He laughed and bent his head down to kiss her on both cheeks as she giggled.

Adam looked at his father, noting Ben's satisfied smile. "So...I hear you were showing your grandchildren off all around town today. Did they behave for you?"

"Perfectly," Ben said, completely unabashed.

"And I take it you were his willing accomplice?" Adam said to Joe.

His youngest brother nodded, "At first, but you wouldn't believe how many people thought they were mine!"

Adam chuckled imagining how embarrassed Joe must have been all morning, and his youngest brother gave him an irritated look.

"It wasn't funny!" he protested as the rest of his family joined in to laugh at his distress. The twins laughed too, even though they didn't understand why. They just thought Uncle Joe's appalled expression was funny.

The group broke up then and when they were on their way home in the buggy, Adam gave Thea a questioning look.

"So how did it go?"

Thea sighed and rolled her eyes, "I hesitate to tell you this because it will only give you a bigger swelled head, but it looks like you were right about Matt. After I told him we have another child on the way he seemed different, and I didn't catch him giving me one of those annoying looks even once."

Adam just smiled his superior smile and kept his eyes on the road.

"Aren't you going to say 'I told you so'?"

He shook his head, still smiling that superior smile as he reached into a pocket of his suit coat and handed her a small envelope.

Thea gave him a puzzled look as she opened it and pulled out a small card. She instantly burst out laughing when she saw the words "I told you so" printed in huge letters that filled the entire space. On a hunch, she turned it over and saw the same words printed on the other side.

"How long were you prepared to carry this around?" she gasped, and then dissolved into laughter again.

"As long as necessary," he said as he put his arm around her shoulders, holding her tight, and continued to smile that annoying, irritating, and now justifiably superior smile the entire way home.