This is now the final chapter of the story, which describes how I always thought the Adam-story in thr TV-show should have ended. Thanks a lot to every reader and to everybody who encouraged me to go on, you all have been a wonderful help!

A couple of weeks later, Mr. and Doctor Cartwright were traveling. At first they had spent some days in New York and Boston just for pleasure. After that matters became more serious and they went to Philadelphia. They met the Pinkerton Agents, who had investigated the matter of Charlie's house and the trust funds. From those agents they learned, which lawyer's office in Philadelphia had taken care of the funds as well as of the house through all the years and they made an appointment with a Mr. Brackenridge from that law firm, which was one of Philadelphia's oldest and most reputable lawyer's offices how the Pinkerton agents assured them.

The next morning a visibly nervous Charlie and a much calmer, but however very curious Adam took a cab to the office of 'Brackenridge, Patton, McCutchins & Brackenridge'.

"Darling, you are completely shaken, why? Although I am not totally unbiased I can assure you that you look absolutely gorgeous in that new dress. Believe me, I don't say it just because I had to force you into buying it!"

Charlie smiled a little. "No, it's not that! The dress is wonderful, you were right about it. I just wonder whether I will wear it rather in the practice or during house visits."

"Darling please, don't start that again!"

"No, no I won't, it is just ….. to be here again ….. I wasn't prepared for how much this would affect me!"

"You are not alone this time and he is dead, it will be totally different!"

"Of course, you are right."

Charlie looked straight at her husband and could again not help to wonder again, how much her life had changed since she had been in Philadelphia the last time.

"Did I ever thank you sufficiently for saving me from that mess I lived in?" she asked, taking his face in her hands. Adam took one of her hands and kissed her palm

"You have saved yourself dear, I was just lucky enough to help you with that! Nobody could have done anything if you hadn't decided yourself to end taht misery. Keep that in mind! You are incredibly strong; you will be able to stand your bad memories that are connected to the place here. If you insist however ….. we can come back to that 'thank-me-sufficiently-thing' tonight."

On the dot of 11 they were shown into the office of Mr. Brackenridge, who rose from behind his huge desk to welcome them with outstretched hands:

"Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright! So you are the niece, Mrs. O'Flaherty made the arrangements for so many years ago! I am so pleased that we finally meet you in person!"

Mr. Brackenridge asked them to sit down and asked:

"Please forgive my curiosity, but wasn't your name Mathews also after your marriage?"

Charlie took a deep breath and nodded:

"Yes, my first husbands' name was also Mathews, but he is dead. I am now married to Mr. Cartwright here."

"I see! Now, I assume that you want to have your properties here in Philadelphia registered in your new name, respectively your husbands' name?"

"No Mr. Brackenridge, actually we hoped that we could ask you some questions about the past, about the time, when my Aunt made the arrangements for the funds and the house."

"Oh I see!" Mr. Brackenridge was visibly surprised. "In this case it is a pity that my father - the first Brackenridge in our companies' name - has already died 5 years ago. It was actually him who took mainly care for the arrangements ordered by Mrs. O'Flaherty."

"We are sorry to hear that Mr. Brackenridge" Adam joined into the talk "but our questions can hopefully also be answered from the files you surely still have about the transactions with Mrs. O'Flaherty."

"Sure, everything is filed and kept in perfect order!"

Mr. Brackenridge confirmed with pride and patted a thick package of papers on his desk.

"What is it in particular you are inquiring about?"

"At first we are interested why Mrs. O'Flaherty had chosen your office. I mean she came from down South and had probably not much contact with lawyer's offices back East!"

"Oh no Mr. Cartwright, I am sorry but I have to disagree strongly: Mrs. O'Flaherty was in contact with quite a number of lawyer's offices here in Philadelphia as well as in New York, Boston and also in Washington if I am not mistaken, who handled her transactions here back East. We had been very proud that she decided to entrust our company with the representation of her interests here in Philadelphia! And - if I may say so myself - we've never disappointed her as long as she lived and even after she had died that early, it was our utmost concern to handle all further matters in her best interest as if she had been still among us."

"Aunt Freddie had interests to handle in New York and Boston? But ..."

Charlie was apparently stunned.

"Yes sure", Mr. Brackenridge explained "I am of course not informed about that in the very detail, you would have to approach the offices there, who handled her matters. We for example take care – besides the property in Market Street and the funds for it - for example her stakes in that steel manufactory in in Scranton, what was that name again? Would you like a list, which law firm represented her in which city?"

Adam had to answer:

"Yes; thank you very much Mr. Brackenridge, that would be very kind.",

because Charlie had not yet digested her surprise:

"Aunt Freddie had some stakes in steel manufactories?"

"Well I do not know whether it was more than one, but basically - yes! Your aunt was a very farsighted person. Once she told us that she did love the South and its culture very much but did not believe in its ability to go on like they did. You see that was years before the war! And look how right she was! Let me go and ask my clerk for the list of law firms, I'll be back in a minute!"

When Mr. Brackenridge had left, Charlie looked at Adam and was just able to shake her head. He took her hands in his to give her some comfort and said:

"I was already suspecting something of that kind, but apparently I still underestimated your Aunt Freddie!"

"What do you mean, what does all that mean?"

"I've never believed that it took Aunt Freddie's last penny to pay for your education, how you put it once. Of course I haven't been sure about that, but I think your Aunt was wealthier than you thought."

"What makes you say that? I told you, she can't have had much, just her portion of the Mathews-heritage. My Grandfather disliked her so deeply because she married a poor immigrant."

"Maybe that immigrant was poor when they got married. You told me about that Equinox thing, didn't you? I remember to have seen or heard something of an 'Equinox brewery' down South, which was rather famous. Probably their brewing business had been going quite successful."

Mr. Brackenridge returned and handed Adam a list of five law firms in different cities at the Northern East coast, one address was however in Savannah, Georgia.

"This law office here in Georgia" Adam inquired, "do they represent Mrs. O'Flaherty as well?"

"Yes, 'Burke, Malone & Chelmsford' in Savannah are handling the private matters of Mrs. O'Flaherty, here in the North she needed only representation in connection with her business affairs."

"Private matters like a last will for example?" Adam asked.

"Exactly, yes such kind of things."

"Farsighted as Mrs. O'Flaherty had been, I assume that there was a last will when she died?"

Mr. Brackenridge nodded. "Of course there was! When Mrs. O'Flaherty had died 'Burke, Malone & Chelmsford' informed us about that as well as that this will would not be executed yet. Everything should be held in trust as per her last instructions for the time being, until there could be disposed about the inheritance and so we did until today."

"Do you know why the will was not executed yet?"

"No Mr. Cartwright, I don't, but even if I would, I would not be authorized to disclose this to you!"

"Of course, I see. There is one more question Mr. Brackenridge, which you might find to be a bit strange, but it is very important for us. At the beginning of our little meeting here you suggested to have my wife's properties here in Philadelphia registered in her or my name."

"Yes, that is the usual approach!"

"I just wonder – do you happen to remember whether Mr. Edwin Mathews, to whom my wife was married before, asked you to change the registration in the deeds to make him the legal owner of the properties? When we started our research we learnt to our surprise that everything - the land plot, the house as well as the funds - were made out on my wife's name, which we found to be rather unusual."

"Yes, yes it is." Mr. Brackenridge took off his glasses and cleaned them carefully before he went on:

"Well ... in fact Mr. Mathews did come here and asked to sign the properties over to him several times, but we could not do so because…..yes, here it is, my father made this note: 'Certificate of marriage'."

"What does that mean?"

"Mr. Mathews had never presented a Certificate of marriage to us, which would be of course the basic precondition to have the properties registered in his name! For a while he showed up here rather regularly and insisted on fulfilling his demands ... well …. not too politely. Please forgive me"

he tended towards Charlie.

"I do not want to speak ill of your late husband, but as far as I remember he wasn't a very pleasant person. Please forgive me."

Charlie shook her head

"There is no need to apologize Mr. Brackenridge, I couldn't agree more! Please go on!"

"Mr. Mathews only stopped bothering us with his demands after my father had called for some constables to throw him out, but you see - without that Certificate there was no legal reason at all to make him the owner of the properties!"

"I daresay Mr. Brackenridge that Mrs. O'Flaherty would fully agree with you, you are doing an excellent job in representing her interests!" Adam added. "You have already been a tremendous help. There is however one thing I want you to do for us."

he continued and looked for something in a briefcase he had carried along.

"Here is our 'Certificate of marriage' as well as my wife's diploma, confirming her medical degree. Will you be that kind to update all her ownership deeds to 'Charlotte Virginia Cartwright M.D.'?"

"No Adam! I couldn't set a foot into that house again; I don't want it, no!"

"If you prefer, we can ask Mr. Brackenridge to sell it, but the deeds have to be updated anyway. You will defeat him once more by that!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

That evening Adam and Charlie were having dinner at their hotel:

"I still can't believe it." Charlie repeated probably for the tenth time "I feel like I hadn't known Aunt Freddie at all!"

"Nonsense! Why would you say that? Did she ever claim to be poor?"

"No, never! Actually she hardly ever mentioned money; it seemed not to be important. Apparently she could afford what we needed and that was all that mattered."

"You are aware my dear that only rich people can afford not to speak about money - because it is just there. This is another hint that she had always been wealthier than you assumed."

Charlie nodded thoughtful: "Yes, that makes sense and moreover it is one of the loose ends we can tie in now: Edwin married me because of Aunt Freddie's money that seems to be clear now. I just wonder….."

"What is it?"

"Well there is no doubt that he was after the money. So why didn't he just show old Mr. Brackenridge the Wedding Certificate? When he had had the properties he could have sent me away without a Penny, so why did he let me finish medical school? Why was I still of importance as he said in the coach? It just doesn't fit, don't you think?"

Adam hesitated a bit before he answered: "There is just one possibility why he did not produce that Certificate: He simply did not have it."

"But why not? Who had it then, my Grandfather?" "Maybe, I don't know, but I think it is clear now what we have to do next."

XXXXXXXXXX

A couple of days later Adam and Charlie were approaching an old manor house in a carriage some miles outside of Atlanta. When the house was in good view, Adam stopped the carriage and asked with a slightly disbelieving undertone:

"This is Aspenvale Manor?"

Although it was visible that the house once had been an impressive, beautiful building, it now looked shabby and bedraggled. Window glasses were missing and apparently nobody had taken care to remove broken furniture from the big porch.

"Well at least it once was Aspenvale Manor." Charlotte answered. "When I had been here the last time it looked of course not that uncared-for. It had not been easy after the war I suppose."

They moved the carriage closer to the house, into the wide doorway and when Adam helped Charlie down, they heard a clicking behind their backs and a rough voice said:

"Get the hell away from here, you have no business here!"

An old black man in a worn out footman's uniform was pointing a rifle at them. Adam wanted to shove Charlie behind his back but she made a few steps forward:

"Are you Toby? Don't you remember me? I have actually business here, I am Henry Mathews Granddaughter and I came here to see my Grandfather. Can you please take us to him?"

"Miss Charlotte?"

"Yes Toby, it's me!"

"Oh Miss Charlotte, what luck you came here! He is not doing too well your Grandfather, you know?"

"Yes, that was, what I was thinking, when I saw the general condition of the house. Most of the staff has left I suppose?"

"They ran away, yes!" Toby answered grimly "But not so me, I stayed."

That's very noble of you Toby, considering how he usually treated you."

"I wouldn't know where to go Miss Charlotte."

"May we see my Grandfather now?"

Toby took them into a big room, which once had been the library of Aspenvale Manor. Now there were hardly any books left. The shelfs were empty in some places and from the furniture there was just one armchair left, which stood besides the fireplace, in which a fire was heating the air in its close surrounding.

For a moment Charlies thoughts were distracted and flew back to the big fireplace in the Ponderosa ranch house as well as to the one at their new home, their Paradise ... But when she became aware of the scraggy figure sitting in the armchair and looking into the fire, she was back at once.

"Hello Grandfather!"

At first the figure did not react, but then - very slowly - the head was turned to look at the entrants. Charlie made some steps towards him, closely followed by Adam. When they stood right before the armchair, Adam was stunned how much the color of the old mans eyes resembled those of Charlie. However, while Charlie's eyes always seemed to glow in a warm, greenish gold, the gaze, with whom he was scrutinized now, reminded him of that of a wolf.

"What do you want?"

Henry Mathews snapped at Charlie.

"There is nothing left you could steal from me! Don't you have enough?"

"A good day for you as well Grandfather! We do not want any money; we wanted to talk to you, because I have a couple of questions about the past."

"The past!" He snorted disdainful "The past is over and done, nothing's left from the past!"

"Maybe it is as you say, but I have some questions about that past and I hope to be able to answer them with your help."

The old man did not react but starred into the fire again.

"May I introduce someone to you?"

Charlie tried to arouse his attention.

"This is my husband, Adam Cartwright!"

"Liar!"

The reply came that instantly and in such a sharp tone that both Adam and Charlie winced.

"Liar! You're lying and cheating just as that that lying sonofabitch you were given to!"

"No, I'm not! I'm not a bit like that jerk you forced me to marry. Edwin is dead. I killed him in self-defense, when he tried to abduct and to kill me. Now I am married to the man I love!"

„Love - nonsense! What had it ever been good for…."

the old man mumbled to himself. Then he looked straight at Charlie: "You killed Edwin? There seems to me more in you than I had expected, judging from your worthless parents. And whom have you married now? Another have-not like that bloody 'Paddy', Frederica ran after?"

This time Adam answered:

"I am not a rich man, but am doing rather well. We live in Nevada, where I own stakes in the biggest ranch and some other properties."

"A country gentleman? So you fought for the Confederation in that war that once will be known as the end of all civilization?"

Despite the strained situation Charlie could not completely suppress a smile - that thought was too absurd. Adam had visibly to fight to remain calm:

"No I did not and I daresay the end of slavery might become an initial spark to the beginning of any civilization!"

"Idiot!"

This came out again that vigorous, as they had seen Charlies Grandfather in the beginning of their talk.

"Might that be as it is" Charlie tried to come forward:

"I wanted to ask you something Grandfather: Why did you marry me off to that Edwin? He was a brute, beat me up every now and then and disliked me thoroughly. Why? I was just 16 years old! Couldn't you have waited a few more years, maybe there had come a decent man, which might have been to your liking as well?"

Her last words sounded rather hoarsely, speaking about Edwin still put a lump in her throat. Adam took one of her hands, which made her feel better at once.

"Liking?"

He practically spit out the words:

"That Edwin had never been to my liking, I saw from the beginning that he was rotten through and through. And I was right!"

To the surprise of Adam and Charlie he started to laugh without any humor. Now Adams fuse was at it's end:

"You handed over a 16 year old girl, your Granddaughter moreover, to a guy you consider yourself to be rotten through and through? How rotten must a man be himself to consider such a thing or even worse pull it through? What did you intend to punish Charlotte for?"

"Charlotte?"

Now the old man rose from his armchair and continued with a gaze at Charlie that was so filled with hatred that even Adam was shaken to the core:

"I don't give a damn about bloody Charlotte. It was because of the money only! Freddie had money! Instead of giving it to that silly girl, with her silly plans, she should have given it to me, to bring up the family estate again! She owned me something because she ran off with that Irish beggar! As she wouldn't pass it to me by herself I had to take care for that. When she conveniently died I sent for the girl - had been her ward all the years anyway - and called for Edwin. Knew he had some debts to pay and he came from a good stock so I thought I could rely on him in that business. He would marry the girl and we could share the money. But he failed, that Edwin was a total failure, even worse than my own son, from which I didn't expect anything, but Edwin….. He seemed to be cut from the same cloth like me when I was young. But then he could not lay his hands on the money, made excuses, which became more and more ridiculous. I was even ready to wait until you had finished your so called study! What a crap! Then you bitch ran away and we had nothing. I made plans how to get you back, which legal measurements we could undertake to get a grip on the money without you but then he came out with the truth: We had no legal claim on you nor your damned money at all, because that idiot had been married already. Took a whore he had met somewhere in Atlanta and was bloody stupid enough to marry her and was therefore not able to register your marriage officially. So everything was in vain, everything. You bitch ruined all my plans, you..."

and with these words the old man seemed to get ready to move towards Charlie. She was apparently nailed to the floor, in part because of the disclosures, in part because of fear.

Adam dragged her away from the reach of her Grandfather and shielded her behind his body when he asked:

"Tell me one last thing: What was to happen with Charlotte if your plan had worked, after you had received the money of your sister?"

A repulsively malicious grin distorted the face of the old man when he answered:

"I couldn't care less and it wouldn't have been my problem - throw her into the street gutter or anywhere else - not of my business!"

Charlie wasn't able to do a thing; she had to use all her strength to remain upright. Adam took a deep breath and said:

"Darling we are done here for good! Let me take you away from this rotten, poisoned place. You do not belong here, you've never did!"

Without any word Charlie let him guard or rather drag her outside. They overheard the "Miss Charlotte, Miss Charlotte"-calls from Toby and rushed to their carriage as if the devil was chasing them. When the house was out of sight, Adam stopped the carriage and drew Charlie fiercely into his arms. This seemed to wake her up somehow and finally she was able to let her tears flow. After Charlie had cried most of her shock and horror away, she asked, still sobbing:

"Can we go home now, can we please go home to our little paradise? I think I cannot stand more of my relatives here!"

Adam dried her tears and said softly:

"There is just one more thing we have to do, after that nothing can stop me from taking you home: We need to go to Savannah to Aunt Freddie's lawyers. If I am not very much mistaken the last ends will be tied in there."

XXXXXXXXXX

A few days later Adam and Charlie were again heading to an appointment at a lawyer's office, this time at ‚Burke, Malone & Chelmsford' in Savannah. They were asked into Mr. Burkes office who greeted them with the utmost courtesy:

"Miss Charlotte! Please excuse me for calling you like that, but you had been 'Miss Charlotte' to us through all those years, during which we had hoped to see you!"

"You hoped to see me? Please excuse my ignorance Mr. Burke, but how did you know I was existing at all?"

"Oh Miss Charlotte, of course we knew everything – or let's say nearly everything - about you by all the arrangements, your dear Aunt Mrs. O'Flaherty had made in your favor. You are the beneficiary of her will, and now that you are here, we are finally able to execute that will."

"So Aunt Freddie did actually bequeath something to me?"

To Charlie's surprise, Mr. Burke busted out with laughter.

"Something? My dear Miss Charlotte, this is quite a way to express it!"

Still chuckling he went to his desk and came back with a huge folder, which he carefully opened:

"I think I will read the will to you at first, so you will understand why we can execute it only now."

And he took an old looking paper from the folder and read: 'Last will and Testament of Frederica O'Flaherty. I, being of sound mind and not acting under duress or undue' … and so on and so on… 'do hereby make, and declare this document to be my Last Will and Testament.'"

He looked up:

"I think I can leave out a couple of lines, in which she determined our firm to be her representative. The deciding passages are: 'I devise and bequeath my property, both real and personal and wherever situated, as follows: My sole heir shall be my Grand-niece Charlotte Virginia Mathews, currently living at Equinox Mansion, Georgia. She shall be entitled however to dispose of all the properties not before she will have finished medical school or after she will have reached the age of 30 years. Everything shall be held in trust until that day, whatever happens to be earlier. The incomes from the properties shall be used to provide my Grand-niece with all means she requires to attend and to finish medical school or shall otherwise be reinvested.'"

Mr. Burke looked up again:

"You see, your Aunt was anxious that there might be fortune hunters after your money so she took care that any husband of yours could not keep you from finishing medical school. At the age of 30 she thought you should benefit from the heritage with or without a college degree. She was a real smart woman your Aunt!"

"Fortune hunters?" Charlie looked surprised. "Is there actually that much to inherit that I could have become a target for fortune hunters?"

Now Mr. Burke looked surprised:

"My dear Miss Charlotte, I daresay there is! Your aunt was probably one of the richest women in Georgia. When her husband had died, she sold the little brewery they built up very successfully and she invested the money very, very farsighted. The war, which had destroyed so many big fortunes here down South made her even richer because she had invested everything in steel and railway, ships and liners – all very modern and profitable investments. And as you dear Miss Charlotte, had never requested anything from the incomes, we reinvested everything according to the instructions of your aunt. I think one could say, you are a downright heiress, rich beyond imagination."

Charlie and Adam looked at each other speechless. r. Burke woke them up because there had a lot of paperwork to be done: Their documents, the diploma and the Certificate of marriage had to be presented, copied, confirmed and filed and after that there had to be signed a lot of papers. After one and a half very confusing hours they stood again at the street in the middle of Savannah.

Charlie was the first to speak up:

"I need a drink, will you join me?"

Adam just nodded and they went into the first bar they could find and ordered two whiskeys.

"To Aunt Freddie!"

Charlie lifted her glass and tossed back her drink. Adam just played around with his glass.

"What's wrong, dear? Don't you like it here?"

Looking at his introverted gaze, Charlie began to realize:

"Oh no, don't tell me it's about the money! You were the one suspecting that Aunt Freddie was rather wealthy. Now, that you had been right again, you are sulking?"

"I'm not sulking and we are not speaking about wealth – you are 'rich beyond imagination' and I am ….. a cow hand!"

"Adam please, don't let that happen to us! That money had been the curse of my life for so many years; don't let it destroy the good things we have now! We can do something good with it. Finish your school-library, make it twice as big as intended! Aren't there any investments on the Ponderosa, you feel to be necessary but your father does not want to pay for? Try them! Didn't you want to travel? Let us travel – to old Europe or anywhere else! Once and for all times Mr. Cartwright – if there is someone 'rich beyond imagination' – it's the two of us. Have I made myself clear?"

When Adam lifted his face, Charlie could see that he was grinning again:

"Do you remember, once I told you I would marry you just for your money!" "

"Yes I do! Apparently you are just as farsighted as Aunt Freddie was!"

and they kissed each other. Charlie broke the kiss and whispered:

„Please, let us go home!"

"To the hotel?"

"Home to our paradise!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Epilogue:

During the following February ‚Burke, Malone & Chelmsford' in Savannah were approached by an Atlanta-based law firm, informing them that their client Mr. Henry Mathews had died, heavily in debt. Very politely they inquired whether Mrs. Charlotte Cartwright M.D., being Mr. Mathews' only descendant would feel liable for the payments of the debts or at least would provide for the funeral ceremony. ‚Burke, Malone & Chelmsford' sent back a gracious check for the funeral with the comment, that they and their client therewith considered the matter to be finished once and for all times.

At Easter that year in Virginia City the 'Elizabeth Stoddard Cartwright'- Library was opened, mainly available for the school and its students but also for all other interested readers.

At the beginning of the next term at Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia the headmistress gladly announced that there had been donated a scholarship as well as a new pathology department in the name of Mrs. Frederica O'Flaherty. Further on a house in Market Street near to the college was also donated to offer a kind of boarding house for students, who could not afford other lodgings in Philadelphia.