Chapter Five
It was a slow two-day ride back to Sacramento. The throbbing in Adam's head and stomach eased, but he didn't sleep well on the trail – even with the sheriff and six deputies, Adam felt uneasy having Josie that close to George after the man's comment about getting to know her. He was worried, too, about how cold it was getting in the mountains, and he knew if he and Josie didn't move quickly, they could get caught up in snowstorm. Snow wasn't common quite this early – it was only September 30 when they returned to Sacramento – but it wasn't unheard of, either, and Adam resolved to purchase a few more blankets before leaving town again.
By the time the entourage trotted into the state capital in the late afternoon, Adam was exhausted, but Josie was in high spirits. She had enjoyed swapping stories with the sheriff and his men – including Deputy Miller who was the epitome of chivalry after Josie embarrassed him – and all of the men had been highly entertained by Pip, who basked in their attention and showed off all of his best tricks. After locking up George and Eli in the town jail, Sheriff Hammond led Josie and Adam over to the First Bank of Sacramento with the recovered money. Adam had found all ten thousand dollars in Eli's saddlebags, and the bank manager's eyes welled up as the sheriff handed him the sacks of money. He thrust his hand into one of the sacks and counted out five hundred dollars, which he handed to Adam with outpourings of gratitude. Adam shook his head and pointed to Josie, who happily accepted the money. She counted up half and handed it to Adam, but he shook his head again.
"No, Josie," he said. "You were the one who caught them. You and Pip. Keep it all and stock the library."
Tears streamed down Josie's cheeks as she threw her arms around Adam's neck and thanked him over and over again. When she finally let him go, she looked into his face and saw how badly the lack of sleep was catching up to him. He was drawn and pale, and puffy bags had sprung up under his eyes.
"Come on, Cousin-Cousin," she said. "Let's go find a hotel and get you to bed."
Adam agreed, but the sheriff wouldn't hear of it. He insisted that Adam, Josie, and Pip stay the night at his house with him and his family. Adam would have declined, but Josie accepted the offer so quickly that he never had a chance. Therefore, two hours later, he found himself sitting down to dinner with the sheriff, his wife, and their twenty-year-old daughter, who spent the meal casting coy glances at Adam. Adam, however, was too tired to notice and too in love with Molly to care even if he had, and he went to bed immediately after supper.
The next morning, after a quick stop at a general store to buy a couple more blankets and, in Josie's case, a new pair of jeans, Adam and Josie bid farewell once more to Sacramento and set off for home. It was, indeed, much already much colder in the mountains than it had been even five days ago when Adam and Josie left town the first time, and Adam abandoned their hunting plans and took them down the shortest path through the mountains. He knew Josie was disappointed over losing the chance to catch a cougar, but he couldn't risk them getting caught in bad weather.
Midway through their third day, as they were about to descend the eastern side of the mountain range, Pip stopped dead in the middle of the trail, growling softly as the hair on his back stood up. Adam glanced around and spotted a fresh set of mountain lion tracks right next to the trail. He shook his head in disbelief, gestured to Josie to keep quiet, and directed the horses off the trail, following the tracks. After only a few yards, he slid down from Sport and wrapped the horse's reins around a tree branch. Josie followed suit with Scout, pulled her rifle from its scabbard, and followed Adam as he crept deeper into the trees. They rounded a clump of trees, and there atop a rocky outcropping stood a magnificent, tawny mountain lion. He was huge – easily eight feet from nose to tail, and Adam guessed he was at least as heavy as Pip. Adam laid a hand on Josie's shoulder and guided her down into a crouch behind a large boulder.
"You won't get a better shot," he whispered. "Take it."
Josie pulled her rifle to her shoulder and sighted along the barrel. She had a clean shot aimed directly at the animal's heart. She cocked the hammer.
Adam held his breath, waiting for Josie's gun to fire. He couldn't wait to see that cougar up close. If Josie was careful with her shot, she'd wind up with a beautiful trophy. He almost snickered as he pictured the mountain lion's hide replacing the elegant wool rug in Josie's bedroom.
Several seconds ticked by, and Josie didn't pull her trigger.
"Josie, take the shot!" Adam hissed through his teeth. "He's gonna move on!"
Josie sighed and lowered her rifle. "I can't do it, Adam," she said, her head hanging. "Look at him! He's beautiful. And he's not bothering anybody. Just trying to survive like every other living creature. Let's leave him be and go home."
Adam smiled at Josie's kindness even as a twinge of regret tweaked him; he hadn't seen such an impressive animal for several years, and with as many cougars as the mountain men and ranchers were killing, Adam knew he might never see such a fine specimen again. But he took Josie's free hand in his, and the cousins made their way back to their horses.
They enjoyed their final night on the trail. After abandoning their mountain lion, Adam shot a fat hare, and he and Josie roasted it over their campfire for supper. That night was especially cold, and though they had enjoyed their adventure together, both cousins were glad the following afternoon when they crossed onto Ponderosa land.
As they trotted around the barn and into the front yard of the ranch house, Ben and Hop Sing came outside to welcome them home. Josie leapt off of Scout and pounced on her uncle in a huge hug.
"Hello, sweetheart!" Ben greeted her, laughing at her enthusiasm. "How was your trip?"
"It was wonderful!" Josie gushed. "Thank you for the rifle! It's incredible!"
"Well, only the finest for Ben Cartwright's best girl." Ben looked over at Sport and Scout and then addressed Adam. "Couldn't find a cat?"
Adam sighed as he slid out of his saddle. "Oh, we found one. But we decided to leave him be."
Ben raised an eyebrow at Josie. "I couldn't do it, Uncle Ben," she confessed. "I had a clean shot, but I just couldn't kill him. If he'd been a danger to us or the ranch, I would have, but he's just trying to live his life."
Ben caught Adam's eye, and the two men exchanged a smile.
"I hear you still got to try out that gun, though," Ben said, turning a sly smile on Josie.
"What do you mean, Uncle Ben?" she asked. There was no way he could have already heard about their encounter with the bank robbers, and to protect Adam's pride, she hadn't planned to tell anyone anyway. She hadn't yet figured out how to explain the sudden appearance of five hundred dollars in the library fund, but she thought she could cross that bridge when she came to it.
Ben grinned and suggested they all go inside and relax for a bit. With befuddled glances at one another, Adam and Josie handed off their reins to Baxter and Danny, grabbed their bags, and followed Ben inside. Once everyone, including Pip, was seated in the living room, Ben turned to Josie.
"So, my dear, what was the most exciting part of your trip?"
Josie almost blurted out the bit about finding Molly's engagement ring, but she caught herself at the last moment and instead told Ben about her birthday dinner and the necklace Adam had given her. Ben listened politely and then asked Adam the same question.
"Oh, definitely Josie's reaction to her necklace, Pa," he said, leaning back in the settee and trying to look casual. He wasn't keen, either, to tell his family that Josie had had to rescue him.
"Really?" Ben asked. "Nothing else exciting at all?"
Adam knew they were cornered. "Out with it, Pa."
Ben snickered as he fairly skipped over to his desk and returned with a sheet of paper bearing a news story that had come in over the wire that morning. It was a stroke of luck that he'd been in town to receive it; Morris had chased him halfway down Main Street to deliver it. He handed the article to Josie.
"Nevada cousins capture bank thieves," she read aloud. Her eyebrows shot up, and she was too surprised to read further. Adam snatched the paper from her and continued reading out loud.
"On Sunday, cousins Adam and Josephine Cartwright, both of the Ponderosa Ranch, Nevada Territory, captured George Nelson and Eli Walnut, who stole ten thousand dollars from the First Bank of Sacramento on September 25." Adam turned to Ben in shock. "How did you get this already? The Sacramento Bee only comes in once a month."
"Chuck Hammond wired it to me as soon as it ran. Thought I might like it as a keepsake. I'm thinking about putting it in that box I have of all the drawings you made as a boy."
Adam groaned, but Josie giggled.
"What's so funny?!" Adam demanded.
"Eli's last name is 'Walnut'?! He had to have made that up!" She burst into hysterics.
Ben took the paper from Adam and scanned the article. "Ah, yes, this is my favorite part. 'While Mr. Cartwright was incapacitated, Miss Cartwright shot Mr. Nelson through the shoulder while her dog attacked Mr. Walnut. A medical doctor, Miss Cartwright then proceeded to stitch closed the wounds of both robbers.'" He reached down and scratched Pip's head. "Good boy, Pip!" The dog yipped and wagged his tail. Ben then grew serious and stepped over to Adam. He tilted Adam's head back so he could look at the healing cut over his eye. "You all right, son?"
Adam sighed dropped his gaze to his lap. "Yes, sir. Just embarrassed I let myself get jumped again."
"Not your fault, son. Those were lawless men with no regard for human life." Ben squeezed Adam's shoulder and then turned to Josie. "I'm just glad you were there with him. Good job, Josephine."
Josie dropped her gaze, too. "I don't feel very good about it," she admitted. When Adam and Ben made no comment, she explained. "I took oaths to protect and revere life. I was using an unfamiliar rifle. What if my aim had been off? I could have killed him."
Ben crouched in front of her and took both her hands in his. "Josie, there's no telling what those men would have done if you hadn't intervened. Adam could have been killed. I assume you gave this Nelson character fair warning before you pulled the trigger?"
"Oh, yes, sir!"
"Then that bullet was his choice, not yours. Don't second-guess yourself for another minute, you understand?" Ben smiled as Josie nodded. "That's my girl. Now, why don't you go upstairs and get cleaned up? A hot bath will do you good."
As Josie disappeared upstairs, Ben sat down on the settee next to Adam and put his arm around his son's shoulders. "I'm glad you're all right, boy. This family needs you."
Adam gave a half smile. "Thanks, Pa. I'm just thankful Josie's such a good shot."
"Speaking of thankfulness," Ben said, rising to his feet and hustling over to his desk again. When he returned, he handed Adam another piece of paper. "Take a look at this."
Adam broke into a full smile as he skimmed the paper. "A Proclamation of Thanksgiving," he read. "From President Lincoln!" He glanced over the president's words explaining that in the midst of a civil war, he hoped all Americans would pause to thank God for the "singular deliverances and blessings" He had bestowed upon them. "'I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,'" Adam read aloud. "This is great, Pa! We should have a big supper that day!"
"My thoughts exactly, son. We'll invite the Lovejoys, Molly and Fionn, and how about the Marquettes, too?"
"Perfect." Adam grinned at his father. "If you think you can spare me one more day, I'd like to go into town tomorrow to see Molly."
"I'm a step ahead of you. Molly and Fionn are coming by for dinner tomorrow."
Adam's face lit up, and he grinned again. "Even still, Pa, if you can spare me, I'd like to go see her."
Ben chuckled. "Absolutely. Give her my best."
Whistling, Adam darted upstairs to wait his turn for a hot bath.
After breakfast the next morning, Adam saddled up Ruckus, a dapple gray stallion he had purchased a year or so earlier, to ride into town. Ruckus didn't intuit his wishes like Sport did, but after several days riding through the mountains, Adam felt his beloved chestnut deserved a rest. Ruckus was, however, quite fast, and Adam made it to town in less than two hours. Just in case there were any mares in heat in town today, Adam left Ruckus in a high-walled stall with a locking door at the livery stable and then walked over to Molly's shop.
Molly was unfurling a bolt of red silk, which she dropped to the table with a thump when Adam came in. They smiled at each other from across the shop for several seconds before Molly dashed around the table and flung herself into his arms. They exchanged no words as Adam caught her around the waist and pressed his lips to hers, but Molly cut the kiss short as she noticed the healing gash over Adam's eye.
"Adam! What happened?!"
"It's nothing. Well, not nothing, but it's a long story. I'll tell you later. I'm ok, I promise. Josie gave me a clean bill of health."
"Completely clean?" Molly asked with a sly smile.
"Completely."
Molly put her "closed" sign in the front window, grabbed his hand, and led him to the back room, where she bolted the door behind them.
As they cuddled afterward, Adam was overcome by such a powerful wave of love – both for Molly and from Molly – that his eyes welled up, and he had to bite his lip to keep from proposing to her right then and there.
"Adam, my love," Molly whispered, brushing his cheek with her palm. "Are you all right?"
"Never better," Adam whispered back.
"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked as she brushed his hair from his brow.
"With you beside me, how could anything be wrong?"
Molly understood. Adam would never ask for comfort aloud, but the way he curved himself around her spoke volumes. She kissed the scabbing cut on his forehead and pulled him into her arms, where they lay well past lunchtime and into the afternoon.
Josie had spent her day riding out to the Silver Dollar Ranch to check on Delphine, whose pregnancy, she was thrilled to discover, was still progressing well. Dell was nearing the end of her first trimester, and Josie was beginning to let herself hope that she would be able to carry the baby to term. When Josie got home and began dressing for dinner, she chose a green cotton dress. It wasn't as fancy as her blue silk, but it was nicer than a typical day dress, and its low neckline allowed her to show off her new diamond necklace.
Just before supper, Adam and Molly rode in together from town, arriving only moments before Fionn, whose eyes popped at the sight of Josie in the low-cut dress. He leapt from the wagon and swung her around in a big hug as Conall and Pip raced circles around them and barked.
As they all sat around the supper table, Adam and Josie regaled everyone with their tale of capturing the bank robbers. Molly was horrified by the whole story, but Fionn burst out laughing when they reached the point of Josie shooting George.
"That's my Hey, You!" he said, pinching Josie's cheek. Josie beamed at him. Fionn complimented her again when she revealed that she was giving all of her reward money to the library, and for a second, the Cartwright men stared, certain that the young Irishman was about to plant a kiss on Josie right there at the supper table.
"Oh, Josie," Little Joe piped up, breaking the tension. "Me and Hoss and Fionn made that apple cider while you were away."
"You made it without me?" Josie asked in a small voice.
Fionn glanced apologetically at her and took her hand under the table. "I'm sorry, Hey, You, but the last of me crops are nearly ready for harvestin', and we had the apples, so we thought we'd better get it made while we had the time. I promise you can help next year."
Josie smiled at his mention of next year. "All right," she said. "But if it turns out terrible, I want all of Virginia City to know I had no part in it!"
After supper, the group retired to the living room for brandy and more stories of Adam and Josie's trip. Molly glowed as Josie told them how excited Elizabeth Pearson had been to see Adam and how she had dragged him all over the house for a tour.
"Oh, I'm so sorry I didna get to see that!" she said. "How darlin'!" She beamed at Adam with such intensity that Ben's eyebrows shot up, and he crossed the fingers of his right hand behind his back.
"They are pretty cute together," Hoss added. "Can't wait until Patience and I start havin' some so ol' Uncle Adam here has playmates again!"
Ben crossed the fingers of his left hand behind his back, too.
Toward the end of the evening, Josie noticed Fionn getting antsy – he wasn't good at sitting still – so she suggested they go for a stroll around the yard. While Fionn got their jackets, Josie pulled the box of Belgian chocolates out of the sideboard. Fionn raised an eyebrow but asked no questions as he helped Josie into her jacket and held the door for her. The moon was only about half full, but it let off enough light that Josie and Fionn could see well enough for a little walk around the yard. As they walked hand-in-hand, they chatted about Josie's trip to Sacramento and Fionn's fall harvest. He would finish bringing in his crops in the next couple of weeks, and he was pleased with his first year's efforts. He had plenty reserved crops to see him and Molly comfortably through the winter and enough cash to buy seeds and supplies for next year.
"I'll be glad to have a break from all the work," Fionn said as they circled back to the house and leaned against the porch railing. "I do love workin' me land, but it'll be nice to have more time to spend with friends." He smiled at Josie and squeezed her hand. "So long as the weather's not too bad this winter for me to get out here, that is."
"Pip loves the snow," Josie said. "I'll send him out to blaze a trail."
Fionn laughed and draped his arm around Josie's shoulders. "I missed you, Josie. Next time you leave, I'm stowin' away in your carpetbag."
Josie giggled and stepped close to Fionn's side. "If you do that, I won't have any space to bring you home presents," she said. She pulled the little box of chocolates out of her jacket pocket and handed it to Fionn. "These are for you."
Fionn grinned when he opened the box and revealed its contents. He immediately popped one of the truffles into his mouth and closed his eyes. He sighed as the chocolate melted on his tongue and staggered dramatically over to the rocking chair and collapsed into it, arms flopped over the armrests and legs splayed out in front of him. "I think I just died of sheer happiness," he said when he'd finally swallowed the truffle.
Josie laughed at his act and offered him her hand. When she pulled him to his feet, she found herself nose to freckled nose with Fionn. Her breath caught, but Fionn laid a finger on her lips so she wouldn't get the wrong idea and then leaned in and kissed her cheek.
"Thank you," he whispered. "Those are the best chocolates I've had since I left Ireland."
Josie swallowed hard, not sure whether she should step back or lean in closer. She played for time. "Do they have good chocolates in Ireland?"
"Oh, aye!" Fionn exclaimed, sounding startled that such a question even needed to be asked. "There's the most incredible little confectioner in the Ring of Kerry, of all places. Mam and Da took us there one summer to visit some cousins. I couldn't have been more than about ten, I think. There's a little village called Portmagee, and we took the boat from there out to Skellig Michael – it's this ancient monastery built on what's really nothin' more than a giant rock about seven miles off the coast. It's about six hundred feet to the top, but we climbed the whole way up – even Mam did. You wouldn't believe the view, Hey, You! And all the puffins! They nest there durin' the summer, thousands upon thousands of 'em. Seals, too. And- oh, listen to me, jabberin' on." He blushed and dropped his gaze to his boots.
Josie placed her hand under his chin and tilted his head up. "It sounds beautiful," she said. They stood in silence for a time until another thought that had been niggling at Josie finally demanded to be spoken aloud. "What happened to your mother?"
Fionn snapped his gaze on hers, surprised by this sudden change of subject. "Cholera," he said at last.
Josie's face crumpled. "Oh, Fionn, I'm so sorry. That's a horrible disease." Cholera outbreaks had been a threat throughout Josie's lifetime. There had been one in New York when she was nine years old, and another in California about the time Adam was returning home from college. When Josie was nearly fourteen, an outbreak in Chicago killed about 3,500 people – five and a half percent of the city's population. And it was a common scourge in the army camps now.
"Aye. The spring I was fourteen, there was a bad outbreak in London, and it ain't far from London to Dublin. Killed thousands of people. People who had just survived the potato famine. Can you believe that? You live through the famine just to die of sickness right after." Fionn shook his head. "People who talk about 'the luck of the Irish' have never read a history book. Anyway, Mam and Molly both took sick. Molly pulled through, but Mam, well, she got sick one afternoon and died the next mornin'. Da was never really the same after that. Within a year, we were pullin' up stakes and headin' for America." Tears swam in his dark eyes, and Josie was about to offer him her handkerchief, when Fionn took a deep breath and bit down hard on his lower lip. The tears disappeared, and he smiled again. "Goodness, Hey, You, how did we get from talkin' about chocolates to such a sad topic?"
"Me being nosy. I'm sorry."
"I like your nose," Fionn said, giving Josie's nose a playful little pinch. "Don't change it." He offered her his arm and escorted her back into the house.