Spinning on my heel, I hurried to where Hop-Sing had the front door open. A quick word was all it took to send him off to lay one more place setting on the table. I was able to direct Mr. Clemens to the side guest room just off the dining room to get cleaned up while the Cartwrights went to their rooms to do the same. I helped Hop-Sing place the steaming dishes of food on the table.
Spirits were high at the meal. Joe seemed content to run through every second of their gun battle with Lash's men. Adam tried on every occasion to turn the conversation to the political aspects of what Mr. Clemens had uncovered. Hoss was content to inhale every bit of food around him, and Ben looked on with an amused, indulgent expression on his face.
"And what plans do you have for your future, Miss Lawson? Will you be visiting the Cartwrights for much longer?"
Startled by Mr. Clemens question, I almost choked on my roast beef. "I don't know," I said honestly as the Cartwrights quieted. As far as I knew, the Cartwrights hadn't told anyone my story. "I have no family left in San Francisco. No home."
Mr. Clemens raised an eyebrow at that. "I'm sorry to hear that, Miss Lawson."
"I have an idea," Hoss said suddenly. "Rosemary's stitching is so fine, I bet Miss Frances in town could use her in her dress shop."
Joe's snort showed clearly what he thought of that suggestion. "Is that the best you can come up with?"
"Well, then, what if Rosemary took over for Miss Jones? Ain't you been saying she's been talking about taking some time to bring her ma here, Adam?"
"Hoss, that's an even worse suggestion!" Joe objected, while Adam and Ben exchanged looks.
The newspaperman chuckled. "I'm almost sorry I brought this up."
"I do like children," I said, interested in the second suggestion. I may be good at sewing, but I hardly wanted to spend all day doing it! "I volunteered at an orphanage in San Francisco and enjoyed every minute."
"It might be worth looking into," Adam said, nodding thoughtfully. "Miss Jones has been telling the school board she wants to spend more time with her mother."
Ben nodded. "That she has," he agreed. "Virginia City may be a bit rough at times, Rosemary, but it's a good place to start over."
A new life. My former life had been unremarkable. Would this one be the exact opposite? As the Cartwrights all began talking again, I glanced between them. With the Cartwrights as my friends, I didn't see how it could be anything but exciting. Mr. Clemens caught my eye and shook his head with a smile.
With Lash arrested and the warrants rescinded, the Cartwrights were free to ride into Virginia City. Ben used his contacts, and called in a few favors with the school board. The fact that my father had been a teacher was a point in my favor. I was formally offered the position of schoolteacher, on the condition that I passed the exam for my teaching license.
In the midst of my studying for the exam, Mr. Clemens decided that he had done all he could in Virginia City and his time would be better spent elsewhere. He returned to town and packed up his belongings. On the day that he was to board the stage, I joined the Cartwrights to wish him goodbye and a safe journey.
Just before the stage left, the latest edition of the Territorial Enterprise came off the printing press and was brought for us all to hear the news: Judge Billington had been defeated and Henry Walker was the new judge of Virginia City. On that victorious note, Mr. Samuel Clemens, soon to be known by his pen name Mark Twain, left Virginia City.
But if I thought that life would calm down some, I was never more mistaken.
Joe was determined to teach me how to ride before I moved myself into the teacher's quarters in the back of the school house. He had me out on Belle every free moment he had, encouraging me to relax and trust the animal. My offer to take the mule Mr. Clemens had used to get around was met with disbelief and scorn. And when I argued that I wouldn't have my own horse was ignored with the offer of for the Cartwrights to give me a horse of my own.
Was there no limit to their generosity?
I passed the exam with flying colors and reluctantly began the arrangements to move. The Ponderosa had become my safe haven against the world and now I was faced with having to leave it. The Cartwrights assured me that I was no burden and was welcome to stay as long as I felt I needed to.
Oddly enough, it wasn't Adam who took me to meet the current teacher, Miss Abigail Jones. I had assumed he or Ben would be the most logical choice since they were both members of the school board. But it was Hoss who took me in the buggy, and he seemed secretly amused about something he wouldn't share right then.
Miss Jones was a well educated, pleasant woman. She took me through her curriculum and stressed that I would be faced with illiteracy as I had never seen before. It was when she began praising Adam Cartwright's education that I began to realize why Adam hadn't brought me. Miss Jones had the look of a starstruck teenage girl about her.
When it was time to leave and Hoss was driving the wagon away from the schoolhouse, I dissolved into laughter. He didn't ask what had amused me, only chuckled. "It's no surprise that Adam was eager for a new teacher in town," he finally said when he contained himself. "He just don't want to face Miss Abigail every time there's a board meeting or he has to deliver some news to the schoolhouse."
"Poor Adam," I said, shaking my head. "She seems so sincere."
There was no doubt that Adam Cartwright was a good looking man, with his dark features and deep voice, and I could understand why a lady would be attracted to him. I didn't share those feelings. It was difficult to think romantically of someone who had hauled you around like a sack of flour!
Hoss guided the wagon to the general store. "I just got to pick up a few things," he said as he set the brake. He climbed down. "It won't take but a few minutes. You want to come in or set a minute?"
"I'm fine right where I am," I answered with a smile.
Nodding, Hoss hurried into the general store. Closing my eyes, I tilted my head back to catch the sun's rays on my face. The sounds of Virginia City floated around me: hoofbeats on the ground, men and women talking as they walked from building to building, the shouts of Chinese men at work. It was a far cry from the sounds of the forest where the wind and animal cries had been my only companions.
"Look at all the pretty women, Mack."
Maybe it was because I was taking it all in, but that comment reached me clearly. My breath caught in my throat. I recognized that voice, although this time it was clear and free of the effects of drink. Entwining my trembling fingers together, I took a deep breath and tried to calm my heart. I had to be wrong. He couldn't be here. How could he be here?
"I'd say these respectable women have a little more class than the likes of you can expect to ever enjoy. You'll have to find some whore in the saloon."
"Well, if we'd have caught that gal we wouldn't need to waste good money on a whore."
A guttural voice, a laughing, uncaring note in it. The second man who had ridden into my father's camp and the one who had shot my father. I wanted to scream or shout, but I could barely breathe. My eyes flew open as I searched the sidewalk, pushing myself off the seat to get a better view. Why were there so many men walking on the sidewalk. My gaze flicked from one to the next, trying to recognize something.
"Rosemary? Rosemary?"
With a start, I dropped my gaze to find Hoss looking up at me. How long had I been staring at nothing, searching for someone who wasn't really there? "You alright?" Hoss asked.
"I don't know," I said honestly, my voice coming out strangled and tense. "I thought...I thought...it doesn't matter. I was wrong."
"Wrong about what?"
Shaking my head, I sat down. "I don't know."
Hoss tried valiantly to talk to me on the ride back to the Ponderosa. I kept my hands tightly clasped together in an attempt to hide the way they trembled. All I could think about were the two voices I had heard. Had I really heard them? Or was my mind playing tricks? Of all the places for them to have gone, what were the odds that they would come to Virginia City?
As soon as the wagon stopped in front of the house, I scrambled down without waiting for Hoss to help me. He called after me but I couldn't answer as I rushed to my room. Even with the door closed, though, I didn't feel safe. I paced the floor, suddenly full of nervous energy that wouldn't vanish no matter how much I moved.
"Well, if we'd have caught that gal we wouldn't need to waste good money on a whore."
Those cruel, heartless words came back to my mind and I shuddered. I had narrowly escaped a terrible fate, but the past had come back to haunt me. Tears brimming in my eyes, I collapsed against the wall and slid down. Would I never be free of what had happened? I pulled my knees up to my chest.