"I won't be needing your services for a few days, Edna. I've been summoned by the all powerful Cartwright patriarch," Blythe said to her cook and housekeeper.
"What does that mean?" Edna asked meekly.
"It means I'm to pack my bag and get in the buggy with this lout," she gestured at Jim, one of the Ponderosa's longest serving ranch hands, "and join my husband at his family home."
Jim turned his hat in his hands, embarrassed.
"Is she always so persnickety?" he asked, when Blythe had gone upstairs to change into a travelling dress and pack.
"She's often worse," Edna said in a hushed tone. "I feel powerfully bad for Mr. Cartwright sometimes."
"I reckon I'd feel bad for him all the time," Jim answered, smacking his hat down on his head again.
It was still a bit chilly to host a party outdoors, but the ranch house was more than big enough to welcome many friends. They'd strung wires near the ceiling and suspended paper lanterns from them. Several tables were piled high with sweet and savory foods, bottles of wine, whiskey, and a bowl of punch.
A fiddler and guitar player had been contracted for the evening and already they were tuned up and beginning to fill the room with music.
"Where's Blythe, shouldn't she oughta be here on your arm?" Hoss asked, a square of cake already in hand.
Adam glanced somewhat nervously at the staircase.
"She'll come down once most of the guests have arrived. She likes to make an entrance."
Only an hour prior they had had an argument in his room. Adam had tried to keep his voice low, conversing tersely, but he feared his father had overheard them.
Ben appeared at his elbow just as the guests began to arrive, greeting each one with conviviality. A dozen had come in and made themselves at home when the door swung open once more. Adam glanced up and felt his heart leap into his throat.
A dark haired woman swept her eyes around the room, pulling off a pair of black gloves, gloves which matched the black trim on her dark green dress. When she saw Adam she paused, her mouth opening slightly. Neither of them blinked nor moved, Adam felt as if a lightning bolt had come through the ceiling and struck him.
"Eula!" Ben exclaimed, crossing the room and putting his arms around her. "We're so glad you could make it! Adam, come and say hello to Eula."
Adam excused himself from the conversation he had already so rudely lost track of and came to stand before their guest.
He hadn't seen her in years but she looked just as he remembered her. The sun kissed skin, a smattering of freckles over a straight nose and high cheekbones. The soft brown eyes. She offered him her hand and he took it, feeling its sinewy strength and long fingers. He couldn't help but glance quickly at the other hand at her side, looking for a wedding ring. There didn't appear to be one.
"Haven't you a kiss for an old friend?" she asked, offering her cheek.
Adam leaned in and pressed his lips against the warmth of her skin for only a split second, though he would have liked it to be longer.
At just that moment Blythe came down the stairs, looking rather frilled and expensive. When she saw her husband kissing a strange woman's cheek she felt a rage overcome her, turning her alabaster cheeks red. She marched down the stairs and looped her arm through Adam's.
"I'm Adam's wife," she announced without preamble.
"Yes, I know," Eula said, not so much as flinching under the woman's hard gaze.
"You... wait, I know you. You're that hussy Adam was courting when we met. Ellie."
"Eulalie," Eula corrected, unperturbed as Adam admonished his wife for her rude behaviour.
"Don't you try and hush me Adam Cartwright. I'm the lady of the house and I'll say as I please to this... woman. Now come along, Archie and Rose are here and I want to say hello."
She practically dragged him away from Eula, who had not moved.
"I'm really terribly sorry about that. Blythe gets carried away sometimes, I don't know what came over her. Of course you are most welcome here, my invitation was sincere," Ben said, feeling angry and embarrassed at his daughter-in-law's behaviour.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Ben. It takes a lot more than that to rattle me," Eula said, falling into the familiar terms they'd once been on.
Her eyes followed Adam's retreating back, expecting - correctly - that he would take a chance on stealing another glance at her over his shoulder.
She gave him a small smile before accepting an invitation to dance from Little Joe and a cup of punch from Hoss.
Over the course of the evening, she could feel the tension between Adam and his wife. It fairly emanated from them, as physical as heat from a stove. Despite this, Blythe missed no opportunity to hang from her husband's arm, giggling loudly and behaving rather foolishly; dancing regularly with the married men present, but pouting like a child any moment that Adam didn't pay complete attention to her.
Several times, Eula caught him glancing at her. His eyes seemed to show remorse, and express an apology for his distance. They had been so close once, and now, even in the same room he could not ask her even to share a cup of punch. He would not risk the scene Blythe would make.
For her part, Eula danced with old friends and acquaintances and did her best to avoid Adam, for his own sake. But when the night came to a close, and all of the guests were being given fond farewells at the door, he took her hand in both of his own and gave her a look that lasted longer than his wife would have liked.
"I'm glad you came," he said quietly.
"So am I," she answered.
A moment passed, which might have been 30 seconds or 30 minutes, before Eula gave his hand a tender squeeze and withdrew her own from his grasp. He gave her a sad smile and she turned to leave before he could see the tears welling in her eyes.