IX
Adam felt life had never been better—it made him leery. The architectural business of Cartwright and Spence was booming along with Sacramento and its environs. Bee manned the front office and did thee bookkeeping and Adam, after many interviews, hired an apprentice to do the less complicated designs. One of the partners, if not both of them, would go on-sight to give estimates on renovations and they would have consultations with a new customer at least once a week. Adam made contacts with the building contractors and a shipping line that would quickly import European supplies such as marble. Jess and he also contracted with an agent who lived in France and could travel across the continent to secure specific items. But Adam had a talent for making new pieces such as stair bannisters look aged and of much more value than they were in case the client had a small reserve of money for such things. Nevertheless, Cartwright and Spence would not compromise on quality.
And Adam cherished his wife, Nell. Each morning when he looked at her as she rose from bed, he was enthralled with her loveliness and light spirit. They laughed often together and she fulfilled his every desire.
The wedding had been quick and relatively small with just a few family friends of Mr. O'Connor's such as Abby and her parents, Jess and Bee, Nell's father and Ben Cartwright in attendance; Hoss and Joe were on a trail drive.
And despite having lost a potential son-in-law from one of the wealthiest families in Sacramento, Clancy O'Connor was pleased to hand his daughter over to Adam—a man who worked "not just with his hands but with his brain as well." O'Connor said. "I always had a lack of respect for Vincent in that he never had to work for what he had. A man has to work for something to know its value. Just be sure, child, that Adam knows your worth; I hope you haven't already given him what he should get only after the vows."
Nell had blushed but Adam laughed loudly and he and O'Connor shook hands. "I hope you know what you're gettin', son. You would save yourself a great deal of trouble if you turn her over your knee upon occasion, something I've never had the heart to do. So Nell has learned how to get what she wants from me with a few sweet words and a few kisses—and I would fancy she gets to you the same way."
"One kiss and I willingly do her bidding," Adam said, grinning. Nell, told them both that she had had quite enough of their talking about her and left to speak to her wedding guests who were at the house for dinner. After she left them, O'Connor took Adam's arm and drew him aside.
"I…well, Adam," O'Connor seemed unsure how to broach his subject, "my daughter, I was joking but there is a kernel of truth; all I ever wanted was for Nell to be happy and so I indulged her. After her mother passed, well, except for a hired nurse who helped raise her, she has had no mother, no other influential woman in her life except Mrs. Weems, Abby's mother and a flightier, more puddin'-headed woman, I don't think exists. Nell can be infuriating and many a time I've had to correct her—well, I tried but when she looks sad, my heart breaks. Promise me, son, you will be good to her, kind to her. She is my only child and I entrust her to you but Nell, she is so young, so clean…if you know my meaning." O'Connor seemed close to tears.
Adam placed a hand on O'Connor's shoulder. "I know well what you mean. I've argued with myself over marrying her—not because I haven't grown to love her—I have—I love Nell a great deal. But she hasn't really lived, hasn't been hurt by life and I find that I want to protect her from all pain and any suffering. I know I really can't, but I swear to try my damnedest."
O'Connor smiled, his eyes misty. "Let's go have a drink to that, my boy. An Irishman always closes his deals with a handshake and a good whiskey. I pass on that damn champagne. Get your father and join me in my den. I'll pull out the best I have."
Adam agreed and went to get his father who was in the middle of a conversation with some of the men. Adam had to admire how his gray-haired father stood out from the other men, most of whom had paunches and double chins but then they worked in offices and weren't out challenging themselves every day as his father was. And Ben wore his clothes well—a gray suit jacket with a vest of gray and light pink brocade. But Adam hesitated; his father had spoken to him in private in the hotel and had expressed his trepidation at what he termed, Adam's "atypical spontaneity."
"And how well do you know her?" Ben had asked.
"Pa…all right, I don't know her very well but what I do know is mighty attractive."
"There's more to a woman than beauty, Adam, but that brings up something else—she's so young."
Adam paused then and his voice dropped. "I know. I've thought about that, about things fifteen years down the line, twenty years, but who knows that I'll even be alive a year from now. Pa, I adore Nell, I really do and what's most important—she loves me. I don't feel that I deserve to be loved by her but she does and she's so happy just to be with me. Do you know what that feels like? To have someone bloom with happiness just because they can be with you?"
Ben sighed and paced while Adam buttoned his vest. "Yes. I know what it's like. It's as if the whole world has a special glow." Ben smiled sadly at Adam. "Your mother—she loved me that way. I would return from sea and she would be waiting on the dock. I usually saw her before she saw me and as small as she was, she would have to stand on tip-toe to see over people. I would start to laugh—she was so earnest in searching me out."
Adam noticed the far-away look in his father's eyes, as if he was back on the dock in Boston, the sea spray misting the air and the bustle of people around him while he searched for the woman he was to marry—and she searched for him.
"And then our eyes would finally meet and it was as if the clouds parted and the sun came out. That was pure joy, to see your mother's smile and I would grin at her determination as she pushed through the crowd to get to me. She was a determined woman—very determined to marry me. But there has never been—not with anyone else—another experience like that." Ben smiled at Adam and clapped him on the shoulder. "So you see, I know. And your mother was young as well—a mere girl of seventeen and I older and far more experienced but yet, the time we had together was bliss. I do know what you're experiencing, Adam, but I want you to be sure. Be very sure that Nell is the one."
Adam looked at his father; he had never seen that side of him before. "Thank you, Pa. You've never told me that type of thing about my mother." And then he grinned. "But Nell tells me she is the one for me and in the face of that, what can I say?"
Ben chuckled. "I suppose not much. I want you happy, son. I want you so happy that you'll think that it must be a dream. That's what I want for you—for each day to be paradise for you and for Nell to take care of you—and you, her."
"Pa, don't worry so much. I know what I'm doing despite how quick it all seems." And Adam shrugged on his dress jacket. "Ready to go?" he asked.
"Yes," Ben said but he still worried. He had often wondered if Elizabeth had lived, how happy they would have been. It was something he would never know. And that in itself was sad.