Chapter Two
Adam and Josie spent their third day on the trail riding mostly downhill as they started making their way out of the mountains. When they stopped for lunch, Pip's nose shot up, and he started sniffing the air, a soft growl rumbling low in his throat. Adam and Josie pulled their rifles out of their saddle scabbards and kept them close while they ate, but their meal passed undisturbed. That afternoon, Adam spotted a set of mountain lion tracks near the trail and pointed them out to Josie.
"I bet that's what Pip smelled at lunch," he said.
Josie grinned. "D'ya think we can track it down on our way home, Adam?!"
"Oh, I bet we probably could," he replied with a wink.
Now that their elevation was so much lower, their third night was a good ten degrees warmer than the first two, but Josie slept cuddled up between Adam and Pip anyway. Hopeful as she was that she would see a mountain lion, the idea spooked her a little, too, and while she would never say so out loud, she felt a lot safer wrapped up in Adam's strong arms.
By midafternoon the fourth day, Adam, Josie, and Pip were trotting into Sacramento. Josie hadn't seen the city since she'd rolled through on the stagecoach a little over two years ago, and she was surprised by the changes the last two years had wrought. California's capital city had experienced devastating flooding in December 1861 and January 1862, and much of the city had had to be rebuilt on a higher grade. Adam pointed out the new levees along the river bank and launched into a detailed explanation of everything the city's engineers were doing to protect the city from the whims of the mercurial Sacramento River.
Adam knew Josie was eager to do some sight-seeing, but after four days on the trail, they were both ready for a bath and a proper meal, so he led them straight to Ebner's Hotel on K Street, neither of them noticing the open-mouthed stares they were receiving from the townspeople as they spotted the enormous wolf-like creature trotting placidly beside the young lady on the black Appaloosa. The thirty-six-room hotel had a cupola that towered over the other buildings in the city, and Adam and Josie had been able to spot it even before they reached the city's borders. Josie marveled at the towering blond-brick structure – it was the tallest building she'd seen since leaving Boston, and she'd almost forgotten what cities looked like. Adam reined to a stop outside the hotel, and he and Josie slid from their horses and stretched.
"Adam, I don't think I'm dressed properly to go inside," Josie said, staring up at the hotel.
Adam laughed as he untied his carpetbag from his saddle. "They're used to people rolling in off the trail," he assured her. "No one will say a word."
Josie untied her own carpetbag, and her medical bag, too, told Pip to stay put next to the horses, and followed Adam inside.
"Ah, Mr. Cartwright!" the clerk greeted them. The balding man with the wire-rimmed glasses darted out from behind the front desk to shake Adam's hand. "So good to see you again! And this must be your lovely cousin!" He beamed at Josie and kissed the back of her outstretched right hand. Josie felt a little ridiculous at this grand gesture, given that she was dressed in an old brown shirt she had swiped from Little Joe, a pair of jeans, and her boots, but she smiled at the man all the same.
"Yes, Dennis, may I present Dr. Josephine Cartwright, formerly of Washington City, now of the Ponderosa Ranch, Nevada Territory," Adam replied.
Dennis smiled at Josie. "It's a true pleasure, Dr. Cartwright. Your family has been patronizing our hotel for years, and I'm honored to finally meet the beautiful young lady I've heard so much about."
Josie blushed and thanked the man, who zipped back around the counter to retrieve a room key.
"As promised, Mr. Cartwright, the penthouse suite." He handed Adam the key with a low bow.
"Thank you, Dennis," Adam said. He turned to Josie and gestured toward the stairs. "Shall we?"
"What about the horses and Pip?" she asked.
"I'll take them all to the livery in a bit. Let's get you settled."
Josie grinned and let Adam take her carpetbag and lead her upstairs to the fourth and top floor. There was only one room, and Adam unlocked it, swung the door open, and nudged Josie inside.
Josie gasped when she saw the room. Their suite took up the entire fourth floor, and the door opened onto an opulent sitting room with vaulted ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows that flooded the room with sunlight that reflected off the tiled floor. Two Corinthian columns stood in front of the windows, which were draped with red velvet curtains. On the far side of the room was a towering fireplace with an ornately carved mantle. A burgundy-striped settee and two matching leather armchairs sat near the fireplace, and behind them was a small mahogany dining table. There was a bedroom door immediately to the right of the suite's front door, and another to the right of the fireplace. To the left of the fireplace was another door, which Adam said led to their washroom.
Josie turned to Adam and threw her arms around him. She fought tears as they embraced.
"You didn't have to do all this you know," she whispered.
Adam grinned and kissed the top of her head. "Happy birthday," was all he said.
Josie followed as Adam carried her carpetbag to the bedroom nearest the fireplace. Josie's room was every bit as luxurious as the sitting room. It boasted the same vaulted ceilings, tall windows, and rich curtains, and the massive bed, which Josie figured could have held all five Cartwrights with room to spare, was covered with a plush burgundy-and-gold-striped comforter. A little door next to the bed led directly into the washroom, which Josie was delighted to see boasted the same indoor plumbing as the ranch house on the Ponderosa.
Adam set her bag down on the floor next to the bed so it wouldn't get the comforter dusty. "Why don't you hang up your clothes and get a bath," he suggested. "I'll go get the horses and Pip bedded down at the livery."
"Do you think they'll take Pip?"
"They will. I already arranged it." Adam gave Josie another kiss on the crown of her head and headed out to take care of the livestock. By the time he returned, Josie was in the bathtub, sunken to her chin in hot water.
They had dinner that evening in the hotel's restaurant. Josie was glad that she had brought along her red calico dress. It was a bit wrinkled from being in her carpetbag for the last four days, but she didn't think anyone was looking closely enough to notice. Unbeknownst to her, her sapphire-blue evening gown was hanging, neatly pressed, in the wardrobe in Adam's bedroom, waiting to surprise her on her birthday two days later.
The next morning, the cousins treated themselves to a lie-in. They were wiped out after four days on the trail, and Josie thought she had never experienced anything as heavenly as lying wrapped up in the soft sheets on her bed's feather mattress. She was almost disappointed when Adam knocked on her door, but then she remembered they were visiting Elizabeth Pearson that day, and she sprang out of bed. She darted into the washroom, where she splashed some water on her face before scampering back into her bedroom to get dressed. She was glad that Adam had suggested they send some of their clothes to be pressed the previous afternoon, as she now pulled on her navy-blue skirt and favorite green blouse, both items wrinkle-free.
Josie was sitting in a velvet-covered armchair and buttoning her shoes when Adam knocked again, and Josie invited him in. He stepped into the room and smiled at her.
"Hungry?" he asked. He was wearing a clean pair of jeans and a crisp white shirt. He held his hat in one hand and already had his gun belted low around his hips.
"Sure am!" Josie replied with a grin. "Just give me one second." She got up and pulled her Derringer out of her carpetbag and strapped it to her right ankle. Dropping the hem of her skirt to conceal the weapon, she turned to Adam. "I'm ready!"
Adam chuckled and shook his head as he offered Josie his arm and led her downstairs to breakfast.
After a hearty breakfast of pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and, to Josie's delight, fresh oranges, the cousins headed out of the hotel and toward the livery stable to collect Pip. The wolfhound had never been left with strangers before, and he was so excited to see Adam and Josie that he pounced on Josie and knocked her onto the stable's straw-strewn floor, where he commenced drenching her face with his tongue.
"Pip! Stop it! Bad dog!" Josie protested, even as she shrieked with laughter. She tried to push him away, but Pip outweighed her by a good forty pounds; she may as well have been trying to budge Hoss. Adam wrapped his arms around Pip's chest and hauled him off of Josie.
"You all right?" he asked, still clinging to Pip while the stable boy offered Josie his hand and helped her to her feet.
"Yeah," Josie giggled as she brushed straw off of her clothes. Pip was struggling to get out of Adam's grasp, and Josie turned to the dog and ordered him to sit. Pip obeyed, and Adam released him and slowly stepped away, ready to tackle him if he tried to jump on Josie again. He glanced down at his chest and saw that his once-clean white shirt was now covered in rusty brown fur. He did his best to brush the dog hair off of himself, but Pip's wiry strands clung tightly to fabric, so there was only so much Adam could do.
Once they were certain that Pip had control of himself and Adam dropped a few coins into the stable boy's hand for feeding the dog, the trio set off down the street toward Elizabeth Pearson's house.
It was about a mile to Elizabeth's, and Josie's skin crawled as they strolled along. She glanced around and saw that the eyes of everyone on the street were locked on her and Adam. She nudged Adam in the ribs with her elbow.
"Why is everyone staring at us?" she muttered. "I don't have a hole in the back of my skirt, do I?"
Adam chuckled. "They're not staring at us, Josie. They're staring at Pip. I don't think the good people of Sacramento have ever seen a wolfhound before."
Josie followed the gazes of several of the gawking passersby and realized that Adam was right. While Virginia City's citizenry had had the better part of two years to get used to Pip, the sight of the three-foot-tall, 160-pound animal placidly following the slim, dark-haired young lady was quite unexpected in Sacramento. Josie smiled and ruffled Pip's fur, proud that she owned such a magnificent animal.
They walked along for another ten minutes before Adam steered them onto a side street lined with sycamore trees. The road was paved with red bricks and, Adam noticed, sat at a slightly higher elevation than the main part of town, so it had been spared from the flooding. About halfway down the street, Adam stopped them at the gate of a white picket fence, beyond which stood a handsome two-story house, also made of red bricks. Three large clay pots on the wide, covered front porch held the last of the summer's yellow daisies, and sailing back and forth on a wood-plank swing that hung from a low-hanging branch of a massive blue oak in the front yard was little Elizabeth Pearson.
Recognizing the child, Pip let out two excited yips, and the girl's head snapped around.
"Adam!" she shrieked. She leapt from the moving swing and soared through the air for a good ten feet before landing on both feet in the grass and tearing over to the gate.
"Hey, Elizabeth!" Adam called back as he pulled the gate open. He, Josie, and Pip had just enough time to get through the gate before Elizabeth reached them and launched herself into Adam's arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.
"I missed you!" she snuffled as tears ran down her face.
Adam fought a rising lump in his throat as he clung to the child as if he would never let her go. "I missed you, too, kid."
Josie smiled through her own tears at the reunion as Pip ran circles around the group before nosing at Elizabeth's leg. The little girl squealed as Pip's cold, wet nose found a bare patch of skin on her calf, and Adam set her down so she could greet Pip and Josie. She gave Josie and Pip each a big hug and then grabbed Adam's hand and dragged him toward the house.
"Aunt Peggy! Aunt Peggy!" she called. "They're here! They're here!"
The blond woman the Cartwrights had last seen boarding a stage in Virginia City stepped out onto the porch and smiled when she spotted her niece hauling Adam Cartwright up the front walk with Josie and Pip right behind them.
"Adam, Josie, so good to see you again!" Peggy Stewart said as she clasped first Adam's hand and then Josie's. "And you, too, Pip!" Pip's tongue lolled out of his mouth as Peggy scratched his head. "Won't you please come in?" She ushered both humans and the canine into the house.
Once inside, Peggy's husband, Walter, greeted them, too. A California state senator, Walter had taken the day off from his duties at the capitol to visit with the people he credited with saving the life of his wife's niece. Indeed, even Elizabeth was getting a day off today. As it was a Tuesday, she should have been in school, but the Stewarts had decided that Adam and Josie's visit was well worth missing a day's classes.
Peggy tried to seat Adam and Josie in the parlor, but Elizabeth still had a death grip on Adam's hand and insisted on giving him a tour of the house. Chuckling, Adam had no choice but to follow Elizabeth as she led him all over the first floor, down into the cellar, and then all the way up to the second floor to see her bedroom. Josie and Pip followed along, Josie doing her best not to feel like she'd just won second prize at a county fair. She smiled, though, when she poked her head into Elizabeth's bedroom and saw the doll she'd bought her sitting in the place of honor in the center of the little girl's bed.
"This is how we know how big I'm getting," Elizabeth boasted, gesturing to three pencil marks on one wall. She pointed to the lowest one. "This is how tall I was when I moved in, and then this second one is from my birthday in February." Then she stabbed her finger at the highest mark, which sat about level with the top of her head. "And THIS is from the first day of school a few weeks ago!" She beamed at them.
"That's some pretty fine growing," Adam said.
"Yeah," Josie added. "You keep that up and you'll be as big as Hoss in no time!"
"I hope not!" Elizabeth said, and they all laughed.
"Come on," Adam said, picking her up. "Let's go back downstairs. I smelled cookies baking when I came in, and I'd like to have a few."
Adam carried Elizabeth downstairs, where they all sat in the parlor and refreshed themselves with lemonade and the sugar cookies Adam had detected. The Stewarts thanked them again for everything they'd done to pull Elizabeth through her bout with influenza the previous year and then asked polite questions about the Ponderosa and Virginia City. Elizabeth wasn't interested in the conversation, but she was content alternating between playing on the floor with Pip and curling up in Adam's lap, her head resting on his chest. After lunch, however, she'd had enough of the boring "adult talk" and grew restless. Familiar with squirming children after years of living with Little Joe, Adam suggested they go outside for a while. Elizabeth beamed at him and raced out the front door. Adam beckoned for Pip, who sprang to his feet and followed Adam outside.
"Would you like to go with them?" Peggy asked Josie. "I promise we won't think you rude."
Josie smiled at her and glanced out the front window to see Elizabeth already settling in her swing so Adam could push her.
"No, thank you," she said, returning her attention to the Stewarts. "Let them have some time together."
"Elizabeth speaks very highly of you, too, Dr. Cartwright," Walter said, refilling Josie's tea cup. He frowned as he saw that Adam had abandoned his untouched.
Josie grinned. "Oh, I'm sure she does. But I also know that no one can hold a candle to my Adam." The trio laughed and soon fell into conversation about the progress of the war back east.
Outside, Elizabeth was laughing as Adam pushed her in her swing.
"Higher, Adam! Higher!" she giggled.
"All right! Hold on!" Adam said and gave her a mighty shove. Elizabeth shrieked with joy as she soared so high that her toes brushed the leaves on the tree's lower branches.
After a few more good pushes and several hilarious minutes in which Elizabeth tried to push Adam in the swing, the pair collapsed in the shade of the oak tree and watched Pip chase a squirrel. Elizabeth sighed and nuzzled up next to Adam, resting her little head on his broad chest. She grabbed one of his hands and held her palm up to his and studied the difference in size. Adam could tell she was organizing her thoughts, so he stayed quiet as her skinny finger traced the heart line across the top of his palm.
"Aunt Peggy says someone bought my parents' farm," she said at last, her voice hardly more than a whisper.
"Yeah, someone did," Adam replied.
"Are they nice?"
"The nicest. Their names are Molly and Fionn. They're a brother and sister from Ireland. Molly even makes dresses, just like your ma did. She's got a shop in town and everything. Back in the spring, she made Josie the most beautiful dress you ever saw."
Elizabeth smiled at this. "Are they farmin' the land good?"
"Yeah, Fionn's doing a good job. He had quite the corn crop this summer, and it looks like his fall harvest is going to be a good one, too." Adam leaned in close to whisper in Elizabeth's ear. "Don't let Josie know I told you this, but I think Fionn's sweet on her."
Elizabeth clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles. "I bet Simon doesn't like that," she said.
"Oh," Adam said as he realized the seven-year-old wasn't up-to-date on Virginia City's gossip. "Simon and Josie aren't courting any more. They had an argument, and then Simon moved to San Francisco, and, well, things just didn't work out. That happens sometimes."
"That's too bad. I liked Simon."
"He was ok. I like Fionn better, though. He makes Josie laugh."
Elizabeth's green eyes lit up with sudden excitement. "Adam, do you think they'll get married like Hoss and Patience?!" The child had been over the moon when Adam told her about Hoss's engagement, and now it appeared she had weddings on the brain.
"Oh, goodness, I don't know. But can I tell you a secret?"
Elizabeth nodded excitedly.
"Well, after Hoss's wedding in a couple months, I'm gonna ask Molly to marry me."
The little girl squealed with joy, threw her arms around Adam's neck, and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "Oh, Adam, can I come to your wedding?!"
Adam laughed and poked Elizabeth in the belly. "I haven't even asked her yet, you silly goose! But if she says yes, then I will absolutely invite you to the wedding."
Elizabeth squealed again and climbed into Adam's lap. "Can I tell you a secret, too?" she asked.
"Of course."
"Well, Aunt Peggy ain't tellin' anyone yet, but she's gonna have a baby next spring! I'm gonna have a little cousin just like you do!"
"Elizabeth, that's wonderful! And I promise I won't tell. But you know, it's a funny thing about cousins. Sometimes they're just cousins, but sometimes you get real lucky, and they're actually like a brother or sister."
"Like you and Dr. Cartwright?"
"Exactly."
"You think my cousin will be a little brother or sister?" Elizabeth asked.
"Seeing as how you'll be raised together in the same house by the same people, I would bet so."
Elizabeth smiled and rested her head on Adam's chest, and the pair of them sat together in the shade of the oak tree until Peggy called them inside for supper.
Adam and Josie said a tearful goodbye to Elizabeth that evening after supper. Adam had to promise the little girl five times that he would invite her to the wedding, and he made her promise to write to him.
"You're seven years old and going to school," he said. "You should start writing letters."
Elizabeth promised she would and then buried her face in her aunt's skirt while Adam, Josie, and Pip turned and walked away. Halfway down the street, Adam turned around for a last glance.
"Kid gets under your skin, doesn't she?" he said.
"She sure does," Josie agreed.
Adam thought he detected a faint smirk on his cousin's face. "What are you so smug about?"
"Oh, nothing," Josie replied, still smirking. "When did you want to go ring shopping?"
Adam cut his eyes to her. "Well, not tomorrow. Not on your birthday. Maybe Thursday?"
"Thursday sounds good. What are we doing tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow is a surprise," Adam said with a grin. He gave Josie a wink and would say no more.
Adam let Josie sleep until 8:30 the next morning before he knocked on her bedroom door. He smiled when he heard her mumbled "Come in," and he stepped into the room to see nothing but a spray of black hair spilling out from the top of the covers on Josie's bed. He stepped across the room to the side of Josie's bed and threw back the blankets.
"Hey there, sleepyhead," he said, grinning down at her.
Josie's eyes screamed as daylight poured into them, and she flung one arm across her face. "Hey yourself," she grumbled, sticking her tongue out at Adam.
"Happy birthday."
Josie cracked open one hazel eye and gave Adam a smile. "Thanks."
"Get up," Adam said, tossing her a dressing gown from the wardrobe. "Breakfast is here."
"Here?"
"Yep, here." Adam reached down and tweaked her nose. "I had it sent up. So hurry! The coffee's getting cold!" As he left the room, Josie swung her legs out of bed and wrapped up in the dressing gown Adam had given her. She stuffed her feet into a pair of slippers, also provided by the hotel, and scurried out to the sitting room, combing her fingers through her long, dark hair as she went.
Adam was waiting next to their dining table, now heavily laden with coffee, doughnuts, a huge bowl of fruit salad, a towering stack of pancakes, a vat of steaming oatmeal, and a small cauldron of scrambled eggs. He, of course, was already dressed in a pair of jeans and a red shirt.
"Holy smokes," Josie breathed, surveying the spread. "Are we supposed to be able to eat all of this?"
"I don't think so," Adam said with a little chuckle. "We'd be hard-pressed even if we had Hoss here. I just wasn't sure what you'd want, so I ordered some of everything."
Josie shook her head as Adam pulled her chair out for her and she sat down. When Adam sat down across from her, she laughed as she realized she couldn't see him around the huge stack of pancakes. She grabbed her fork and plunged it into the top two flapjacks and dropped them onto her plate. Adam laughed, too, as he saw what was so funny, and he grabbed two pancakes of his own.
"Hey, I can see the top of your head now!" he called over the food.
Josie giggled. "Keep talking, Adam! It's the only way I can tell where you are!"
The cousins revealed each other bit by bit as they ate their way through breakfast. At long last, they leaned back in their chairs, unable to stuff in another bite.
"Whew!" Josie exclaimed, patting her stomach. "I won't need to eat again for a week!" She wondered why this comment caused Adam to look mildly alarmed, but as quickly as the expression had crossed his face, it vanished again.
"We may at least skip lunch, that's for sure," he said. The grandfather clock struck nine, and Adam sat up straight. "You better get dressed. We don't want to be late."
"Late for what?"
"Never you mind what," Adam said with a grin. "Just be ready in thirty minutes."
"What should I wear?"
"You're asking me?"
Josie laughed and scooted into her room. Thirty minutes later, she re-emerged in her red calico day dress with her hair hanging in a neat braid down the middle of her back. Someone had cleared away the breakfast dishes while she'd been dressing, and the table now sported only a lace doily and a vase of fresh red roses.
"Ready?" Adam asked. Josie smiled, accepted Adam's proffered arm, and let him lead her out of their room and down the stairs.
Josie hoped they would stop at the livery stable to collect Pip, and she was a little disappointed when Adam turned them down the street in the opposite direction. They walked for a mile and a half until they reached the river, where Adam steered them toward a dock where a huge white riverboat was moored, water lapping gently against its red paddlewheel. Josie's eyes lit up, and she gazed hopefully at Adam.
"Dr. Cartwright, may I present the Delta King," Adam said with a flourish of his arm.
"Are we going aboard?!" Josie squealed.
"Of course. I thought you might like a little river cruise of Sacramento."
Josie flung her arms around Adam and gave him a big hug. "I'd love it!"
Adam grinned, pried Josie's arms free from his waist, and led her up the ramp onto the boat. Once on board, he extracted two tickets from his shirt pocket and handed these to the waiting crewman.
"Thank you, sir," the man said. "Right this way." He pointed them to a viewing area on the top deck, where Adam and Josie found seats on a bench amongst two dozen or so other passengers. Ten minutes later, the ship's captain blew the horn, and the Delta King shoved away from the dock and nosed its way to the middle of the river. Josie sprang to her feet and leaned against the deck rail. Adam joined her, and together they watched Sacramento slip by. As they sailed along, crewman circulated amongst the passengers, pointing out landmarks, including the abandoned Sutter's Fort and the rising California Capitol Building.
"Pa's friend John Sutter established that fort," Adam told Josie. "It's been deserted since I came home from college, though. Once they discovered gold near Sutter's Mill about fifty miles northeast of here, everybody left."
Josie especially liked seeing the incomplete state capitol building, which was modeled directly after the federal Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
"It looks like home," she sighed.
Adam knew Josie considered the Ponderosa to be her home now, but it made sense that she would long for the city of her childhood, especially since it still represented her father. He threaded his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side as they continued to watch the city sail by.
At noon, a dinner bell let out a loud clang, and the crewmen ushered everyone down one level to the dining salon. Lunch was light – salads and chicken breasts with a small dish of ice cream for dessert – a fact for which Josie and Adam were grateful, as they were both still rather full from their enormous breakfast. As everyone ate in the tall-windowed salon, the boat made a large u-turn and headed back for the dock. Shortly after 1:30, Josie and Adam touched back down on dry land to walk back to the Ebner.
"Thank you for that," Josie said, giving Adam's arm a squeeze. "That was wonderful!"
"You're very welcome." Adam smiled down at her. He very nearly opened his mouth to tell her about dinner, but bit his tongue at the last second, not wanting to give away the surprise just yet.
They arrived back at their hotel suite by two o'clock, and Josie announced that if Adam had no other plans for a while, then she was going to take a nap.
"Good idea," Adam agreed. "I have to run out for a minute, but I won't be long. You rest up for this evening." He gave her a wink and darted out the door before she could ask any more questions.
"What are we doing this evening?" Josie called after him, but Adam was already gone.
Josie returned to her bedroom, loosened her hair from its braid, stripped to her shift, and climbed under the soft sheets of her bed. Sighing happily, she drifted off to sleep.