Blue Spanish Eyes

We,Tauna Petit-Strawn and Ghostwriter85, do not own the copyrights to Bonanza.

Chapter Five

The property in front of the Ponderosa's main house was quiet, and no one was outside working when Rosita walked around the barn. It was a good thing too as the woman was still fighting a very serious case of nerves. "One day at a time, remember, one day at a time." Rosita recalled she and Adam saying that to each other the day she'd lost track of the hours they'd worked. The day he'd kissed her and she knew for sure her heart had seriously been handed over to him. Now that she was actually on the Ponderosa, Rosita had no desire to get back to the twentieth century.

A dog barking, the sounds of horse's hooves, and men's voices let Rosita know that someone was approaching the house. Whether or not she was ready or whether she'd just made the biggest mistake was something she knew she was about to find out; she was sure of that.

"So you see…" Ben quit talking as his eyes went ten times rounder than normal as he spotted Rosita. The silver haired rancher couldn't believe he was seeing a woman who was the spitting image of the lady in Adam's sketches, one of which hung in Adam's room above his bed, standing on his porch. He then went into shock as he heard Adam gasp and practically fly off Sport. All Ben could do was to watch the reunion between his son and a woman he had not thought existed unfolding right in front of him.

Adam, elated to see the love of his life in his century, wasted no time in twirling Rosita around with laughter in his voice as he kept saying "Rosita, you're here! I can't believe you're here!" Adam then stopped talking and kissed the woman as if he'd known her all his life, and she kissed him back!

"Adam?" Ben found his voice as his son set Rosita down but continued to hold her close. "What's going on?"

Adam was smiling wide as he looked at his father. "This is Rosita Ramirez Cartwright, my common law wife."

"I..I…" Ben stuttered, absolutely confused. However, before another word could be spoken Hoss and Little Joe rode around the corner; they were just as stunned as their father and just as confused.

"Let's go inside." Adam led Rosita into the house, followed by his father and brothers. It was only when everyone was either seated or standing where they chose to the patriarch shut the door behind everyone and insisted on an explanation.

"How can you have a wife of any kind? She's never even set foot on this ranch, and she sure wasn't in the blasted room when you were fighting for your life!" Ben didn't actually bellow, but every emotion he felt; confusion, concern this was just someone paid to come and pose as the gal in the picture , and other such ideas could be heard in his voice.

"Pa, I don't know how to explain what happened, but Rosita might not be my wife in the eyes of the church, nonetheless she is my wife by common law." His father's face had, along with Hoss' and Little Joe's, easily been read. Adam kept Rosita on his lap as he sat in the chair nearest the stairs and talked.

"Common law wife? Since when did you believe in having a common law wife?" Little Joe scowled. "What happened to saying I do in front of a preacher or at least a judge?" Adam went to make an effort to explain only Rosita laid a finger on his mouth.

"Let me." Adam momentarily debated, but quickly gave in as he figured maybe the woman he loved more than life itself could indeed give a far better explanation then he. Rising from where she'd been sitting Rosita twisted her fingers together as she began to speak.

"Sir," Looking at Ben she spoke with all the sincerity her being was capable of. "I can't explain exactly what's going for the mere fact that if I did only Adam would understand what I was saying, and that wouldn't be fair to you or your other sons." That statement got her to first base. "But in my time people have been, and still are, working on the theory and actual process of time travel."

That got lifted eyebrows out of the men, but it did not stop Rosita from speaking. "When my cousin and I found Adam unconscious on the road I saw a faint blue light around him." That made all the men jerk slightly backwards. "I didn't say anything to my cousin for she; well, let's just say she's not the sharpest tool on the block and leave it at that." That statement got a chuckle out of all three men.

"The blue light seems to play a major part in all of this." Ben rubbed his forehead as he leaned against the couch.

"It does. Adam said the last thing he remembered was hitting a wall and waking up to a disappearing blue light." Rosita answered. That got Hoss' attention.

"I got mad and hit him real bad; it threw him against the wall. I never saw any blue light." Old guilt tried to latch onto the gentle giant, and Rosita hurried on hoping what she'd say would make the thing bury itself for good.

"Of course not, you and your family, understandably, were far more concerned with your brother's well-being than any particular color of light that might have been around." Rosita wasn't surprised when Ben piped up.

"Are you saying when Adam was thrown against the wall a blue light was already around?" He honestly didn't remember any such thing.

"There would have been a light, but not very strong. You'd have seen it otherwise." She glanced at Adam and then back at his family knowing she had to tell them everything while the truth was still on her side. "Considering what happened, I dare say the first one wasn't even blue." Rosita went on to explain, the best she could, time travel and the two ways it would happen. "First, there are people in my world who are too impatient. They jump too soon; they push buttons which make the wrong sequence which usually causes another color besides blue to appear. When that occurs, the danger fact increases." She took a deep breath and then said, "Second, and even rarer, is when the electric waves in a person's head are changed due to," she sighed as she looked at the sad look in Hoss' eyes, "to an accident of some sort."

"So, basically, he was living in two different worlds?" Little Joe couldn't hide his rolling eyes.

"Was he really living here?" Rosita answered bluntly.

"No, I guess not." Little Joe sighed not really comprehending much of what was being said, but knowing enough to realize Rosita was no liar.

"I did everything I could to help Adam. I was as honest with him as I knew how important honesty is." The stress she was feeling started catching up with her and she, unconsciously, hugged herself. It was a fact that got Adam on his feet and his arms wrapped around his wife.

Adam took over. "We didn't mean to get so close, but we did." Ben's heart went out to the woman who had regained her composure, yet still had tears in her eyes. Adam continued talking. "When push came to shove she insisted I come back to you. She knew you were my family. She could tell I didn't belong there."

Rosita's mouth tightened and her hands bawled up as she spoke up, "I promised myself then and there I would either find a way back to him or live my life as a widow before I'd let another man touch me. I kept that promise, even though it took me five years to find a way to come back as close to his original return date as possible." Rosita couldn't stop the tears from flowing anymore and Adam steered her to the now empty couch, Joe was by the fireplace and Hoss was standing next to his father by the time she'd finished speaking.

"Pa, Hoss, Little Joe," Adam pleaded with the tone of the 'old' Adam "We're not asking you to understand everything she's just said, but please, accept it. I've fought to keep going on without her, but I was getting close to losing what control I had. Now, she's here. I can't let her go."

Ben and his sons spent a few moments in silence. Finally, Ben arose and walked over to where Rosita's tear-stained cheek lay against his son's shoulder. "You and my son are right." Ben laid a hand on Rosita's shoulder and smiled. "I don't understand the events that brought you two together, probably never will, but I do know when I'm being told the truth. I can also spot two people who honestly care about each other. That being the case, I think Hop Sing needs to be told there's another Cartwright member to feed at supper. And I might add a very sincere apology, but you have to admit it was a bit much to swallow." His other two sons echoed his apology to Adam.

"Thanks, Pa." Adam grinned from ear to ear and then chuckled as Rosita stood up and threw her arms around Ben.

"Thanks, Mr. Cartwright for believing us." The woman's shining face got Ben to grinning wide. He beamed even wider as she asked if it was all right to call him Pa.