Thank you all for your kind words! I'm glad that this is being so well received. Here's another long chapter... I had a lot of 'splainin' to do. ;) Hopefully it all works out in the end!
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He was getting tired of waking up in unfamiliar surroundings.
The faint, familiar scent of horses drifted under his nose, but there was no hint of bay rum and pipe smoke. He could hear the low murmur of men playing cards and drinking coffee around the bunkhouse on a morning break. The thin, coarse fabric covering him was not his familiar quilt. It scratched at his bare arms, pestering his brain until he slid his eyes open. He shifted his hips, trying to relieve the sharp ache of inactivity in his lower back.
"Hey, Billy! Go fetch Mrs. Hinston! He's coming around!" Adam's eyes squeezed shut, the loud yell reverberating in his skull.
"You should get some water in 'im afore he flops again." A lighter voice called from the back.
"Hey, Youngfella." He felt a soft touch on his shoulder. "Think you could sit up? Grab the pillow off my bunk and throw it here, will ya?" A gentle arm reached around his shoulders and lifted him up. A battered tin mug appeared under his nose.
"Easy now, but try to drink something, 'kay?"
Adam reached up and grabbed the mug with both hands like a child with his first cup. He slowly sipped at the water, the cool wet trickling down his throat. Too soon, he forced himself to lower it to his lap. He heaved a sigh and nodded. "Thank you..." He looked up under his eyebrows in question.
"They call me Mack around here. Mrs. Hinston's Foreman." He was an older man with greying hair and dark eyebrows. His arms were tan and muscular from years of hard work.
Adam nodded slightly, a small smile on his face. "Thanks, Mack."
The door on the opposite side of the bunkhouse opened and thin figure, closer to boyhood than man, poked his head around the frame. "Boss Lady's coming in! She said to make sure you're decent!"
"Honestly, Billy! Could you maybe be a little louder next time? I don't think they heard you all the way in California."
The men milling around the bunkhouse bit their lips and covered their laughs with a well-placed hand. Billy's face fell, his head drooping down to his shoulders.
The door opened the rest of the way and an older woman stepped inside. With one look around the room, all the hands save Mack ducked their heads and found something to do outside of the bunkhouse.
Her skirts rustled around her ankles as she quickly crossed the length of the room to Adam's bunk. A stray lock of dark, graying hair escaped the tight coil at the base of her neck and floated in rhythm as she moved. Green eyes narrowed in study and concern as she bent over her patient, a gentle hand immediately on his forehead to check for a fever. Much like Marie when one of her boys was sick or injured.
"Nice to see you joining us in the land of the living, Young Man." Satisfied of the relative cool touch of his skin her hands found their way to her hips, her toes thumping on the floor. Also eerily like Marie. If he didn't know better he would be running for the hills. Or at least enjoying the last few minutes of his backside making comfortable contact with his bed. "Just what in the world did you think you were doing, traipsing off into the desert on foot? Did someone knock loose your common sense when you got that shiner, or is that something you've always been lacking?"
Adam swallowed hard, trying to keep his face from wincing. Nope, that was a yell worthy of Pa if he ever heard it. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off before he made a sound.
"Of all the harebrained ideas that one has to take top prize. Walking home in the desert in the hottest stretch of weather we've seen in twenty years! I oughta let you wander off and barbeque yourself!" The woman turned on her heel and walked the few steps to the window, hands still on her hips.
Adam picked at his thumbnail. "I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you, Ma'am. And I thank you for looking out for me. I guess I take after my Pa a little too much. We both have a touch of what my little brother calls a 'Yankee Granite Head'.
A long moment passed before her shoulders shook with silent laughter. "Just a touch, I'm sure."
"You can't fault a man for addled thinkin' when he's been out in the sun, Mrs. Hinston." Mack spoke up.
The woman turned around, a sly smile on her face. "Or some men for thinking in general, I suppose. You said something about your brother, Mister…?"
"Cartwright." Adam said extending his right hand with a smile. "Adam."
"Maggie Hinston." Crossing back to his bed she sat on the edge and took his hand. "I'm sure under normal circumstances this would be a pleasure. But your brother, he's not out in that desert, is he?"
Adam's mouth pressed into a fine line. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I was supposed to meet him at Signal Rock about two weeks ago, but I was… detained. Knowing that boy he probably turned around and tried to back-track my trail. I gotta get home and make sure he's okay. Start looking for him if he isn't there."
"And if you don't find him?"
Adam felt the heat in his gaze, his fists tore at the coarse blanket. "That won't happen. I won't let it."
"I thought the same thing, once." Maggie's voice grew quiet. Her eyes turned to the floor. "My big brother, Robert. You remind me of him. He was built like you, had that same silly grin of yours, dimples and all."
Adam felt his face flush slightly. "What happened?"
"He went off to fight in the war. We were kids, really. No business worrying about anything but our chores and growing. But Robbie had other plans. He left one afternoon in the summer, determined to be a part of the revolution. He never came back. A parcel arrived in the mail from Mexico a few months later with a few of his things and a letter saying he was sorry. Nothing else.
"I tried to go out after him. Made it all the way to town before my father caught me. I kicked, I screamed. Begged for him to let me go after him. But there was nothing I could do to bring him back. It's foolish to risk your life, running out after a person when there's nothing you can do. Or when you have no idea which way to go. You said yourself you don't even know if he's out there."
Adam thought carefully for a moment, a knot working in the pit of his stomach. "But he could be. What if there was a chance that Robbie was out there, maybe lost, hurt. Needing you. Wouldn't you at least have to try?"
Maggie shifted to face Adam again. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears of memories. It was a long moment before she wiped her eyes with the tips of her fingers and sucked in a deep breath. "I'd feel much better if you'd rest here for a few days; regain your strength before setting out."
Adam shook his head. He was determined to make up for the mistakes he made in the desert. Joe and Hoss wouldn't suffer because he wasn't strong enough. "I've wasted too much time already. I've got to find him."
"Alright," She sighed, throwing her hands in the air. "This goes against my better judgment. It's the middle of the season and I don't have too much to offer you. But I have a mare you can have. She's not greased lightning, by any means, but she's a sweet old girl and she'll get you where you need to go. As long as you promise to take good care of her and put her out to pasture to retire when you get home she's all yours."
"I gratefully accept. She'll have all the hay and oats she can eat for life when we make it back. If I can ever figure out something to equal what you're doing for me I'll send it back."
"I still think you're a stubborn, foolish man, Adam Cartwright. But don't let me be the fool who stands in your way, you Yankee Granite Head."
"If I didn't know any better I would think Joe had been out this way already."
"Wait." Mack spoke up. He stood from the table where he retreated to get out of the way, his hands in his pockets. "Cartwright? Your brother is Joe Cartwright? As in the Cartwrights from that big spread out Virginia City way? The Porter-? Pawtuckett?"
Adam's face lit up. "The Ponderosa, that's us! You've seen Joe?"
"Not as recently as you hope, I'm afraid. He did me a good turn a few months ago, kept me out of some major trouble and my nose intact. I owe him quite a bit."
"Sounds like another Cartwright trait of picking up strays. My brothers always manage to keep everyone out of trouble but themselves. They must both get it from Pa."
"Oh, certainly. I'm sure you had nothing to do with teaching them by example." Maggie cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Somehow she couldn't picture this charming young man turning anyone away, even after speaking to him for only a few minutes.
"Not when it comes to the two legged kind." Adam protested. "It's one thing to lend a helping hand or to give a push in the right direction. Hoss and Joe really do take it above and beyond the call of duty. But they do have their hearts in the right place, even if they don't always think things through before they jump in." Adam tried to clamp down on his tongue, wondering where the words were coming from. There was something gentle and grandmotherly about this woman that coaxed out thoughts he never wanted to express to anyone.
Maggie just shook her head. "How are you feeling, Adam? Are you sure you want to head out today?"
"As soon as possible, please." He flattened his palms against the mattress and lifted his upper body up just slightly to stretch his back. He grunted as the snaps and pops loosened the tight muscles. "If it's all the same to you. Under normal circumstances I would take you up on your offer in a heartbeat. But you just said yourself, these aren't normal circumstances. Besides, I'm already feeling much better than I was even a few minutes ago. I do thank you for everything, but I really need to find Joe."
"I take it there's no arguing with a Cartwright either, once he's made up his mind, eh?" Maggie couldn't hide a small laugh as she patted the younger man's knee. She anchored and slowly pushed herself off the side of the bed into a standing position. She moved stiffly, shuffling her feet until she was standing straight. "Alright, then. Mack knows the old girl I'm talking about. How about if he tacks her up and gets her ready while I get something light to fill that belly of yours? Think you could take some broth? Maybe I'll set you up with a grub bag for the trip."
Adam held his hand up in protest. "You've done more than you needed to already. You shouldn't go to all that trouble."
"For land sakes! I'm not going to save your sorry hide just so you can starve on the way home to your Pa. And I won't hear another word about it! You lay back and close your eyes until I come back with a tray for you, you hear?"
"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!" Adam held his hand up in mock salute. As Maggie turned to walk away Adam couldn't hold his tongue's sly remark. "Are you sure you were never in the Army?"
"You're just lucky you're still an invalid or I'd be finding some lye soap to wash that sass out of your mouth." She waggled a finger at him for a moment before her eyes grew soft. "Just promise me something, Adam?"
"Name it."
She leaned down and cupped his thin cheek with the palm of her hand. "Promise you'll send me a note when you get to your spread so I know you made it alright? But mostly, make sure you tell your Pa and brothers how much they mean to you first thing when you see them."
"They know how I feel about them." Adam shifted uncomfortably on the mattress, his eyes dodging hers.
"Maybe so," she said. She kept her gaze on his face until he was forced to look into her eyes. "But it never hurts to remind them." As if someone flipped a switch she dusted off her hands and spun on her heel. She called over her shoulder as she walked out of the bunkhouse door. "It's nearly dinner time. I'll bring something in and we can eat together before you head into that Godforsaken wilderness."
Adam starred where Maggie had been for a few moments, thoughts whirling through his mind. Only a clunk from Mack's boots brought Adam back to the present. "Dinner in the bunkhouse?" He asked Mack. "Won't Mr. Hinston be opposed to the idea?"
"Hasn't been a Mr. Hinston for quite some time." Mack answered. His voice was soft and a frown briefly flashed across his features. His eyes found the ground, as if hiding from Adam's forming questions. "But that woman just never seems to let it affect her for too long. She's the picture of getting right back on the horse." Without another word he left the bunkhouse and quietly shut the door.