The way home to Virginia City passed by in a flash, but even that seemed too long. However one afternoon Adam arrived there, not that dirty and torn out as after the round-up but the difference was rather marginal. He was directing his horse to the doctor s office, when he heard a voice calling him:
"Adam, how do you do? How was that cattle driving thing?"
He looked around seeking for the speaker. "Oh, hallo Miss..." he had seen that girl before but was not sure about her name. Oh yes, she was the daughter of that mining boss, that had came from New York. "...Calston, how do you do? Fine thank you very much, it went fine that ... 'cattle driving thing'."
"I am very pleased to hear that Adam, so there will be held that Barbeque at the Ponderosa again to celebrate the success of that cattle thing? Last time my father and I had not been able to participate so we will be very pleased to come this time!"
What was that girl babbling about? He wanted to see Charlotte, at once and not be forced to listen to that bumptious girl's chatter.
"Sure, yes, I mean if there will be a Barbeque, we will be pleased to see you there. Now if you will kindly excuse me Miss Calston, there are a couple of things to do after such 'cattle thing'."
"Yes of course Adam, I fully understand that there are duties for a man to fulfill, I'd never put myself above that! Then we'll see each other at the Barbeque, I am looking forward to it, thanks a lot for your invitation! Good bye Adam!" and she went on, leaving behind a rather clueless Adam.
What the hell had that been? Had that girl actually invited herself to an event, that wasn't even decided about yet? Whatever, at least she was not longer keeping him. He rushed into the doctors office, shouting "Hallo? Charlotte? Here's an emergency coming!"
Jillian hurried towards him: "Adam, anything wrong? We had not expected anyone of you back that early."
"No, I just came back a bit ahead of the others and when I happened to pass your house I thought I might drop in and say hallo."
Jillian suppressed a smile: "Oh that is so kind of you my dear, Paul will be awfully sorry that he missed you, he is at the Andersons place, the old man there is unfortunately not getting better."
"Errrr...and Charlotte?"
"Charlotte?"
"Please, Jillian!"
"So why don't you just say you came to see HER! Stupid boy, as if I would not suspect such a thing!"
"You do?"
"My dear, everybody who has seen the two of you recently does! And why not after all? You two would make such a fine match, although I was unfortunately asked to refrain from any matchmaking." Jillian managed to look a bit offended.
"Yes...well ... Jillian, I think I need to apologize for that, maybe I have been a bit overhasty in that regard. I mean I could need an ally to make her trust me, do you know what I mean? So if you could help me convincing her to confide in me, whatever it is that she has on her mind, I would be very grateful."
"Yes dear, I see what you mean, she seems to hold something back, something serious."
"I suspect the same, she seems to be sometimes anxious without any reason and as if she would fear something. I wished she would tell me about it, we surely can help her!"
"It will be my pleasure to highlight to Charlie, what a trustworthy, fine young man you are aAdam Cartwright, promised!"
He smiled at her "Thank you so much Jillian! And Charlotte, is she with Paul at the Andersons?"
"No my dear, she just went over to the mercantile and should be back in a few minutes. Would you like anything while you are waiting?"
"No, thank you. May I wait in the consulting room?"
"Sure, make yourself comfortable, I'll send her in."
In the practice room he sat down on the usual chair for the patient and noticed delighted that on the desk lay one of the books he had given to Charlotte. So she had actually read them. He very much hoped it a similar meaning for her than for him, knowing she had those volumes during the time of the round-up. He had however to stop himself musing about the question, whether she had read in them in her bed, this brought up again a most inappropriate reaction...
He had not to wait very long, the door to the practice was pushed open a short time later and a completely puzzled Charlotte looked at him. After she had overcome her surprise, she tried to smooth her hair that was that messy as usual and stuttered:
"Adam, what are you doing here? Did anything happen?"
"Nothing, except that the round-up had been finished successfully and I came here to see you!"
"This is...very kind of you, I am glad to hear that everything went fine, no accidents or the like?"
"No, just some minor bruises, Hop Sing was fully capable to take care of that."
"Good...well..." a little lost for words she noticed that Adam hold the volume of Donnes Elegies in his hands. "I have read your books!"
"You liked them?"
"Oh yes, very much! It has been such a pleasure to dig into that beautiful language or the adventures of D'Artangnan. I owe you something!"
"In fact you do Doctor, namely a meal in the International House together with our usual book discussion. May I take you there for dinner tonight?"
"But don't you want to go home after such a long ride?"
"No, I would find the Ponderosa empty; everybody else is still on the way back. I would stay at the hotel anyway tonight. Please do me the favor to accompany me."
"Alright then, it will be my pleasure! Shall I meet you there at let's say seven?"
"No please, give me the chance to make myself a bit more presentable, I'll pick you up here at eight, if you will not be starved until then."
"No, I can stand that. But I can come over to the hotel on my own!"
"I am completely sure you are able do so, but I would very much like to escort you, so please allow me to come here for picking you up."
"Alright then, so it will be here at eight!"
On the dot at eight Adam knocked again at the house of the Martins. Jillian and Paul welcomed him in the parlor and Jillian called for Charlie. Adam felt a bit like the new suitor of the daughter of the house, which still had to pass the careful examination of the parents. Well this was not too far from the truth, maybe except the fact that the 'parents' knew the suitor much longer and better than their 'daughter'. At any case the situation was not without humor, how a man of his age found himself in a scenery like a teenagers first rendezvous.
When Charlie came down the stairs his heart began - to his own astonishment - to beat in his throat. She seemed to have taken real care for her appearance this evening: Her hair was combed neatly out of the face and held back with a ribbon but felt loosely over her whole back. The dress was of a simple elegance and of an auburn shade that perfectly underlined her reddish hair, although most women he had dated so far, somehow showed some deeper neckline. But that did not matter; Charlotte looked more beautiful than he had dreamed of.
"I'll take good care of her!"
It was really as if he would take her away from her parents. When he made a playful remark about that on the way to the International House, he realized that Charlotte stiffened on this arm and he gathered from that again not to be too inquisitive about her background.
In the dining area of the International House they were welcomed with a lot of compliments and placed at a table, standing in one of the window corners and therewith a bit separated from the other guests.
"You seem to be a very good guest here, when I came here by myself they've never made such ado and placed me somewhere near the kitchen."
"Well they really should take care for us, we leave quite some money here and their steaks are that famous because it is all Ponderosa beef. Have you tried them yet?"
"No, but it seems I have to do it tonight!"
Looking around Charlie could not help but notice that some of the other people in the room were talking about them. Maybe she should warn him: "You should be prepared that you might be the subject of some talk of the town tomorrow, but when the others return from the round-up, there will hopefully some other topics to discuss."
"Do not worry about this, you are a female physician and I am from the Ponderosa, we will be a subject of the town s gossip in any case. Maybe it is a bit more of a sensation this time, because I had not been much in town since my engagement had broken."
"So you're signalizing tonight that you are back on the market?"
Charlie was startled - had she really said such a thing? This was sassy flirting, an absolute no-go. Apparently she was out of her mind this evening, why in the world did she came here? Well ... this was easy enough to answer, because she wanted to, wanted it with every fiber of her being but she needed to be careful, very, very careful. To make things worse Adam seemed not to have realized her confusion and went deeper into the topic:
"Back on the 'market'? Land deeds and livestock again? I should think that dining with a beautiful woman would rather signalize the opposite that I am explicitly not on any kind of market!"
Charlie needed to take the seriousness out of this: "Well maybe I give away a secret with that, but didn't you know that women tend in general to be much more interested in those men, which other women are having already laid their hands on?"
Adam frowned. He felt caught somehow, it s been just a few days ago when he had considered to make Charlotte jealous! To cover his confusion he looked quizzical at her, while she insisted:
"No, this is true, believe me! Let us assume Ms. Brown had recently rejected Mr. Smith but now becomes aware that Ms. Jones apparently intends to land that very Mr. Smith. Now, if Ms. Jones does see something in him, he cannot be that bad Ms. Brown concludes and all of the sudden she changes her mind and gives Mr. Smith a second chance."
Adam made a wry face: "Please let us stop speaking about an even theoretical Ms. Jones who intends to land a man!"
Charlie looked worried: "Did I poke into another unfortunate episode?"
"You have no idea!"
And while enjoying their steaks, Charlie was introduced to the story of the wooing of Abigail Jones.
After telling, hearing and laughing about this story, the mood between them had become easy and cheerful and Charlie acted relaxed and lighthearted in a way, Adam had hardly seen her before. The difference in her behavior was really striking: There was nothing left of the women who seemed always watchful not to miss the slightest opportunity to defend her autonomy also against imaginary threads, there was just a young woman, enjoying a meal and an apparently pleasant conversation.
"They actually ran away and let you alone on that porch? It does speak in your favor, that you are still so fond of your brothers."
"Well, do not give me too much credit there! If you would talk to Hoss and Little Joe, they will surely be able to fill you in with endless stories how I tortured or bossed them because I am the oldest, but when it matters we usually stick together, one for all and all for one, that could be us."
Suddenly a thought flashed through Charlies mind and involuntarily she cried out loud: "That's it!"
Adam looked startled at her "What is what?"
"Sorry if I frightened you, but I just realized something. While I was reading the 'Three Musketeers' I had all the time a feeling as if I was missing something, now I know what: You are like these Musketeers!"
"What? I am like three imaginary ancient French soldiers?"
"No, of course the three of you! You see - there is the rather serious and brooding one: Athos or Adam, then the sweet-tempered giant: Porthos or Hoss and finally the vibrant ladies man: Aramis or Little Joe! Isn't that striking?"
After some moments of surprise Adam answered: "There is really some funny resemblance in it, do you think we should sue Monsieur Dumas for using our family in his miserable little novel?"
"As famous as the Cartwrights might be in these parts, I assume it's not that way in France, I should think Monsieur Dumas is off the hook."
"You are probably right" he smiled, "but there arise quite some more questions: Who is our D'Artagnan? Pa?"
"No, he seems more the Monsieur de Tréville-type to me, or maybe the King?"
"Oh, there are so many more characters to be casted; being Athos you will understand that I am particularly interested in Milady de Winter."
"Do you? Why? You've delivered her to the executioner after all."
"Hmmm... sad but true, next time I'll think that over twice! To do, or not to do, that is the question: Whether 'tis wiser to the soul to send your felonious wife to the gallows or to take arms against a sea of remorses and by enduring them keep her?"
Charlie laughed out loud: "This would surely have been the soliloquy of the Comte de la Fère, well done, my compliments!"
"I am glad I was able to entertain you Milady."
"Milady?"
"Just an attempt, if you feel not criminal enough..." and in an animated and lively manner their discussion went on.
Later that evening Adam took Charlie home. "This was one of the most pleasant evenings I had in ages. Thank you for spending your time with me." he passed into the inevitable good bye.
"I have very much enjoyed it myself, I cannot think of having ever had such a pleasurable time, I have to thank you!"
He slowly bowed his head to kiss her, but with a short "Good night" she ran off.
'O.k.' Adam said to himself, 'we need obviously a few more appointments like that', well there were worse things to do.
This night he slept deep and good. Charlie however lay awake for quite some time; did she do the right thing? It felt absolutely right, but it was wrong for sure. But maybe she worried too much, maybe he was not too serious about the whole thing and in that case there was nothing wrong with a dinner or a dance. Deep down she did not believe that herself, but it helped for the moment.
