TURNING BACK
INDUBITABLE
CHAPTER 13
A few days later Adam was sitting at the table reading a medical journal when he heard the rustle of silk skirts and the tap of heels coming down the stairs. He looked up to see Abby dressed in an elegant walking suit of black brocade and white lace.
He whistled in appreciation and Abby smiled her 'thank you' as she kept going toward the front door where Joe was waiting for her. He tipped his hat and gave her a quiet, "Wow!"
She laughed.
Adam called out, "Have a good time!"
She responded with, "Love you!" and received "Love you more!" from her husband. They were both laughing as she went out the door.
He was still laughing quietly when he realized Hoss had taken the chair across the table. Putting the journal down, he met his brother's bright blue eyes and raised his eyebrows, enquiringly.
"How long have you and Abby been married now?" Hoss asked, almost shyly.
"Soon to be thirteen years," Adam answered and just waited for his brother to get to what he wanted to know.
Hoss blinked a few times and anyone could see he was having a little trouble getting his next question out.
Adam tipped his head to the side and said, "Just spit it out, Hoss."
"Well, you two were saying things about...uh...about lovin' each other, but..." his voice trailed off and his face flushed a little as his older brother laughed again.
"You don't understand, Hoss, Abby and I were being sarcastic."
The big man frowned, not understanding, so Adam went on.
"Abby and I DO love each other, that's not what we were being sarcastic about. We were actually making fun of people who think marriage is all about hearts, and flowers, and being romantic."
"It's not?" Hoss asked.
"That's part of marriage, but it's so much more. It's...partnership, sharing, respect, and appreciating each other. I think you've noticed I thank my wife frequently and that's part of not taking each other for granted."
He paused to think a little more. "I love my wife, but more importantly, I LIKE her. Do you understand what I mean?"
By this time Hoss was nodding his head and looked like he was thinking deeply about what his older brother had said.
"I'm sure Pa could tell you some of this, but when you consider, in years, he wasn't actually married for very long."
Hoss's eyes opened wide in surprise, obviously, he had never thought about it that way.
After looking at him intently for a moment or two, Adam thought the conversation was finished so he sat back in his chair and picked up the medical journal again.
He hadn't even turned another page before Ben came in the front door and took his usual place at the table.
"Morning Pa," he said absently, but when he glanced up at Ben's face, he put the journal down, straightened up, and said, "What?"
"Where's Abby?"
"She went into town with Joe."
"Why?"
Adam laughed and said, "I don't know." And when Ben's irritated expression didn't change, he went on. "Pa, she's a grown woman, she can do what she wants." He paused, "Except drive into town by herself, but that's just good sense. Abby has a very bad sense of direction. If she went by herself, who knows where she would end up."
His father sighed and turned to look at the kitchen door when it opened and Adelaide appeared.
She smiled at her grandfather. "Would you like some coffee?" she said and Ben's expression instantly cleared as he smiled back and nodded his head.
Quickly, she went back into the kitchen then came out with cups and saucers. Then when she came back with the table coffee pot, she filled their cups and was about to go through the door when Adam put out a hand to stop her.
"Addy, do I smell chocolate Babka?"
The girl nodded and he pulled her into a big hug, then gave her a buzzing kiss on the cheek. When he let her go, she giggled and blushed a little as she fled back into the kitchen.
"Chocolate Babka?" Ben asked and Adam chuckled.
"Chocolate cake," his eldest son qualified, then turned to Hoss who was now sitting on the sofa, but had looked up at hearing the words 'chocolate cake', and motioned him over.
Adam stood and went into the kitchen, then brought back a cup and saucer and placed them in front of his brother.
After he sat back down, he filled Hoss's cup and gave him a smile.
"I believe Addy is making the chocolate Babka for you," he said, looking at his younger brother with a smile."She still feels bad about you getting 'baptized' by Alan."
The big man shook his head and chuckled. "Wasn't her fault," he said.
"I couldn't convince her of that," Adam said and shrugged his shoulders, then went on, "Addy and Aaron take their responsibilities very seriously."
Addy came back then, holding a tray with three pieces of the cake on small plates with utensils and napkins. She distributed everything quickly and fled back to the kitchen.
The three men grinned at each other, then Adam used a knife to cut his huge piece of cake in thirds, then stood to put one of the pieces on his father's and brother's plates.
He put his finger to his lips, then whispered, "Eat those pieces first," Then he quickly sat back down.
Ben and Hoss looked at each other then broke into muffled laughter.
"Hurry up!" Adam said. "I don't want her to figure it out."
They quickly obliged and looked at Adam in surprise.
"This is delicious," Ben said and Hoss nodded vigorously.
"Good," Adam smiled to thank them both and quickly ate his much smaller piece.
Hoss grinned, his blue eyes shining with humor and asking a question.
"If I ate as much and as often as my wife and daughter push me to, I would be twice your size."
Ben couldn't hold his laughter in and Adam rolled his eyes.
"They act like I'm starving to death, and I've had to become devious about it. Do I LOOK like I'm starving to death?"
The other two men were trying to laugh quietly but weren't succeeding at all.
"She'll make some man a wonderful wife someday," Hoss said and his older brother winced as though in pain.
"No, oh no," Adam shook his head, one hand raised in negation. "She is nine years old and I don't want to even think about that!"
Giving in to the urge to needle his eldest son Ben said, "Isn't it tradition for the father to pick out the daughter's husband?"
Adam gave his father a sardonic look.
"THAT is not going to happen," he answered and then realized the kitchen door was slightly ajar.
"Come on in, Addy, we might as well have that conversation now."
She came through the door, her face pink with embarrassment.
Her father nodded toward the empty chair at the foot of the table and she moved around him and sat on the edge with her head down.
Shaking his head he said, "Addy, look at me," and she did.
"Your grandfather is right, the Jewish tradition is arranged marriages but that will not happen in this family." He was glad to see her smile in relief.
"All your mother and I ask is you take our advice into consideration. Beyond that, Honey, you're on your own."
Laughing, she jumped up to give him a big hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she turned to her uncle.
"Did you like the cake?" she asked him and when Hoss nodded his head enthusiastically she ran around the table to kiss his cheek, then hurried on to kiss her grandfather's too.
Her face shining with happiness, she hurried back to the kitchen.
Shaking his head, Adam gave his father and brother a steady look.
"Besides," he said seriously, "she doesn't need to worry about that right now. She won't be keeping company with anyone until she's thirty." His eyes shifted to the kitchen door and he grinned, waiting.
Ben and Hoss burst out laughing, then laughed even harder when Addy popped through the door again and stared in shock at her father. "Thirty!" she almost yelled and her father just looked at her calmly.
"OK, twenty-five, but that's as low as I'm willing to go," he gave her a teasing smile and everyone laughed then.
Quickly, she went around the table, removing the now empty plates. She stopped on her way back to the kitchen to give her father a one-armed hug, saying "I love you Pa."
"I love you too, Addy," he said and patted her hand.
When she went through the door again Adam gave his father and brother a wicked smile and said, "She thinks I'm joking...I'm not!"
Shortly before noon, Adam was upstairs changing Alan when he heard the buggy pulling up in front of the house. Then he heard a loud husky voice yelling, "Idiot! Where are you?"
Laughing, he picked up his youngest son and said to him, "That's your uncle Robert yelling. You haven't met him yet, but I'm sure you'll like him."
Putting his youngest son on his shoulder, he hurried to stand in the door of the room and watched his other children come running to throw themselves at the incredibly tall and craggy man when he came through the front door with Abby.
She looked up at the head of the stairs where Adam was standing, "Look what I found wandering the streets of Virginia City!"
"You didn't pay anything for him, did you?" Adam asked as he trotted down the stairs. When he waded through his other children and reached his wife and partner he gave his wife a quick kiss, then handed the baby to Robert.
"This is Alan," he said and Robert smiled so wide it looked like the top of his head might topple off.
Alan looked goggle-eyed at this incredibly homely-looking man and into his warm, compassionate brown eyes. Then the baby blew an exceptionally large spit bubble at him and chuckled.
Robert leaned back and let loose a huge bray of laughter and the baby chuckled again.
"Like father, like son," he said to Adam and handed the baby to Abby as everyone else laughed.
He reached out to pull Adam into a hard, back-slapping hug, "Believe it or not, I've missed you, you big idiot."
"I've missed you too," Adam answered with a chuckle, then reached up to put his arm around the taller man's neck to pull him into a headlock. He dragged his friend over to where Ben and Hoss stood.
"Pa, Hoss, this is Robert Harrison, my medical partner," he said not loosening his hold on the other man's neck.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Cartwright," Robert grunted, giving Ben his hand to shake then managed to reach and shake Hoss's hand too.
"Come on, Idiot, I need to settle my horse in the barn," he lurched toward the front door, dragging Adam with him, still holding him in a headlock until Robert paused to stomp on his foot when they reached the door.
"Ow!" Adam yelled as he bent over. "You lumbering oaf!" he said as the other man opened the door and shoved him through. Robert closed the door quietly, then hurried to catch up with his partner, who was limping toward the barn.
Later that evening the four Cartwright men and Robert sat around a front table at the Sage Brush. Joe was leaning back in his chair, staring at Adam's partner, a little bleary-eyed.
Robert is what some would call "as ugly as a mud fence" but his eyes are notably kind, compassionate, and empathetic. He has huge hands and feet and shambles when he walks. The man almost looks like an animated tree.
"Is something wrong Joseph?" he looked up to ask the younger man, and Joe frowned slightly as though trying to remember.
"So, how did you get the nickname 'Idiot'?"
Adam broke in. "Oh no, you've got it wrong. HE'S moron, I'M idiot. At least according to professor Lingenschatz." He turned to his father. "He was our surgical instructor."
Robert nodded solemnly, "And wasn't he a huge bundle of fun...or psychosis if you prefer."
"Especially in the operating theater." Adam looked at Joe. "His favorite thing was to fling bits of the cadaver at the students and whoever it hit had to identify what body part it came from."
"But Adam and I were the only ones using those names. The rest of the medical students had different names for us." He glanced at Adam who answered his unspoken question.
"Go ahead Robert, I don't care."
Robert paused to consider. "Beauty and the Beast," he finally said and Adam's father and brother's burst out laughing.
"They called us that because we roomed together the first year of school," Adam explained, then turned around when a man seated behind him poked him in the shoulder.
"So you two fellas were a couple?" he asked grinning.
"No," Robert answered curtly from across the table and Adam turned away.
"Then, how's come..." the drunk poked Adam again.
Sighing, Adam shook his head and started to say something when the man poked him again.
In a split second, he turned back, grabbed the middle finger the man had poked him with, and bent it back to almost the breaking point.
The man fell to his knees and tears sprang to his eyes.
"Are you going to stop bothering me now? Make up your mind, because if you don't stop something even more painful than this is going to happen."
The man nodded, tears rolling down his face.
"Yes?"
The drunk nodded even more vigorously.
"Well, all right then," Adam said and let the man go.
The drunk rolled away and got to his feet, glaring darkly at Adam's back.
Unwisely, he chose to rush at Adam, who heard him coming and stepped to the side. Everyone else hastily picked up their drinks, so not a drop was spilled when the drunk crashed into the table.
Growling Robert grabbed the man around the neck and squeezed until he went limp and slid to the floor.
Adam laughed at his friend but shook his head. "You probably caused some brain damage."
"I don't think so," Robert glared down at the unconscious man. "You can't damage something that isn't there."
The other men laughed at his joke while Robert took his chair again and Adam took the unconscious man by the ankles and dragged him to a spot where there was less chance of him being stepped on. Then he came back to the table and sat back down.
Three different conversations started up and people moved around until Adam realized Robert was staring at him intently, then nodded at the piano across the room.
"No," Adam said emphatically.
"Come on, be a sport."
"No! I haven't played in a very long time..."
"Just play 'The Cure' and I'll do all the singing."
Sighing in exasperation Adam stood and walked over to the piano and sat on the bench. Robert followed him closely and stood to the right of the piano, leaning on the top with one elbow.
Adam started playing the rollicking tune and Robert began singing in a rich, full voice that didn't match his appearance.
Give Me The Cure
Give me the cure that the doctor got
Give me a cure that will stick
cause now that I'm seeing through clearer eyes
Old Lambeth is making me sick,
me sick,
Old Lambeth is making me sick!
Give me the Cure
Give me the Cure!
Cut out my throat and then leave me there
to flap like a fish on the deck
Give me the peace that the doctor got
when that devil done opened his neck, his neck,
when the devil done opened his neck!
Give me the cure that the doctor got
oh, pluck me away from this pit.
Now he's bathed in light and dressed up in white
And we're stuck in the mud and the spit, the spit,
we're stuck in the mud and the spit.
Robert bowed at the enthusiastic applause and laughter, then shook his head when some called out for more.
"No, no," he laughed, "I've annoyed Adam enough for one evening!"
"I'll say," his partner said, giving the laughing men at the table a dark look as he came back and sat down.
Ben leaned toward his eldest son and gave him a nudge to get his attention.
"Tell me more about your professor," he said and Adam grinned.
"Every time that man cut into a pancreas, part of it would come flying through the air, aimed at my head!"
"He did single you out," Robert broke in to say.
Nodding Adam turned to his partner. "Did I ever thank you for talking me out of putting intestines under his pillow?"
"Yes, you did."
"Turned out a pancreas was easier to smuggle in," Adam told his father, "even though the intestines illustrated my point better, Robert was right."
"Did it work?" Ben asked, shaking his head and glad to not know what a pancreas looked like.
Adam nodded.
"AND," Robert added, "since it was that particular organ he knew it was you, so he stopped attacking you at every lecture."
Conversations ebbed and flowed, and Robert seemed to be involved in each one.
The unconscious man eventually woke up and staggered out the front door and by that time Adam was sitting back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest and was staring off into the distance.
Robert spoke up, "Well gentlemen, it looks like Adam has checked out, and it's no wonder, he's had a very busy day."
They all stood then and started for the door and Adam stumbled slightly when Robert slung a heavy arm across his shoulders.
"Give Abby a hug and a kiss from me," Robert said as they left the saloon and the four Cartwright untied their horses and swung up into the saddle.
"All right," Adam responded, "But that's where I draw the line."
Robert waved them off, laughing and shaking his head as he went down the sidewalk and into the hotel.