PREFACE:

Adam Cartwright is a Union veteran of the Civil War. After being released from Andersonville, he returned back to the Ponderosa. But after about two years, he left for Boston to work as an architect at a prominent building firm. A few years later, he moved to Chicago soon after the Great Fire (which occurred October 1871), in order to help rebuild the city and advance his career.

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"Adam and Nicoletta" - Chapter 1 - "Easter"

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Adam hated his first Chicago winter. It was worse than Boston, primarily because it was unpredictable. Every few days the temperature fluctuated. A blizzard one week with temperatures below zero, then the next week it was 40 degrees and all the snow melted, resulting in flooded streets. At least the bad weather gave him a somewhat acceptable excuse for not attending church. Since the war, he all but stopped believing in a higher power.

He enjoyed sleeping in on Sundays, his one full day off of work. While recovering from his usual post-Saturday hangover, Adam would read the thick Sunday editions of all the Chicago newspapers and catch up on reading the newspapers from around the country that were sent to him in the mail during the week.

In the local papers, Adam frequently read about an avant-garde protestant church called Saint Sabina. It was led by an unconventional pastor who was considered radical by many. He preached many ideals that Adam upheld such as equality among the races and tolerance for sinners. Even going so far as to encourage parishioners to visit brothels to pay the whores to listen to the word of God. The church welcomed people of all backgrounds to attend: rich, poor, black, white, and even those with sordid backgrounds or alternative lifestyles. Before the war's end, it was one of the leading abolitionist churches in Chicago.

Adam was intrigued. If society and his business contacts were going to dictate that he attend church, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad at this one? He decided to attend services once the weather wasn't so brutal.

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In March, it finally started to warm up. The piles of dirty slush had melted and evaporated. Adam kept meaning to check out Saint Sabina, but procrastinated. Finally, on the last day of the month, Easter Sunday, Adam decided to make his way to the church. It was located somewhat near the red light district, but still in a semi-respectable area.

Adam knew the area all too well. For the past six weeks he had been frequenting Painswick's, an exclusive brothel that was just a half mile from the church, also just outside the red light district. It was run by a supposed brother and sister team who appeased officials by following the letter of the law as close as possible, plus making sure that the staff and clients were extra discreet. It also helped that they bribed them very well. As a result the brothel was tolerated being outside of the zone.

There were no indications on the outside of the building that it was a brothel. It just looked like a hotel with a well manicured lawn and a long driveway. The entrance was in the back, out of view from the street. Clients, and even the staff, had to arrive and leave via enclosed carriages, they were not allowed to walk up.

The sign on the front said it was a "private club". Clients were heavily screened for respectability. Both the whores and clients were regularly checked for disease. After arriving in Chicago, it took Adam over a month to find a current member willing to sponsor his application and then another month to be given membership.

Despite being wealthy, Adam was frugal with money and didn't appreciate all the hefty fees (application fees, quarterly dues, and a large deposit into an expense account so that no money was exchanged inside the club). But it was worth it to have an almost guarantee against catching a disease, plus the service was beyond exceptional. In addition, he made some good business contacts in the lounge area of Painswick's, ironically many of them the same people who insinuated that he needed to attend church.

He also found it ironic that he was heading to the same area two days in a row to do two polar-opposite activities. He had just left the brothel at 1:00 a.m. and was now returning to the neighborhood for the 10:00 a.m. church service. Adam wondered how much it would have cost just to spend the night at the brothel.

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Adam sat in a pew near the back of the chapel. He watched the extremely diverse congregation enter. He was a bit surprised to see in attendance the madam of the brothel, Miss Samantha Painswick.

The service and sermon were not especially unusual, maybe because it was Easter. Adam was disappointed to not hear one of the famous controversial sermons that he had read about. Announcements were made at the end of service which included an invitation to attend the special Easter coffee service afterwards in the church hall next door.

Nicoletta Ambrosetti made her way to the church hall and gathered with some of the more unconventional members of the Women's Guild, which included Samantha Painswick. They sat in their usual far corner table so that they could people watch.

She saw a man who must be new to the church enter the hall. He was just her type: over half of a foot taller than her with broad shoulders and a deep chest, like a tree that she could climb. He seemed to be in his mid-40s. His hairline was receding and it was thinning on top. His hair and beard were mostly black with some sprinkling of gray and two streaks of white on his chin. He was quite handsome and she imagined that in his younger days, before his skin weathered and with a full head of hair, that he must have looked like a Greek god. She didn't notice a wedding ring, but men didn't always wear one.

She sighed with sadness and frustration as the young single and war-widowed women of the congregation started to flock to him like moths to a flame. She thought to herself, "There is no way that I can compete with their slender figures, taught smooth skin, and firm perky breasts that don't sag when they take off their corsets."

Samantha saw that Nicoletta was staring at Mr. Cartwright. He was quickly becoming one of Samantha's favorite clients. He wasn't like most of the club members because he treated the courtesans with the utmost respect. She also could sense that he was there mainly because he was lonely and had trouble finding a wife because he had unique standards. Most of the other club members were there because they had overly high libido or were stuck with a frigid wife or had abhorrent sexual tastes.

Samantha was very discreet and would never let Nicoletta know that he was at her brothel every Saturday for hours on end. But she also knew that Nicoletta was the type of woman that he was truly seeking. Samantha had learned a great deal about him because he was always chatting her up, including dropping hints that he would rather bed her than the much younger courtesans.

Samantha wished that she could formally introduce the two of them, but alas could not. Despite having been born and lived her whole life in high-class brothels, she was a romantic at heart and Nicoletta held a special place there. They were close friends, but she so wished that Nicoletta loved her the same way as Samantha did her. Nicoletta at least tried to be romantic with Samantha a few different times. But Nicoletta eventually told her that she "didn't like licking down there" and also that she "enjoyed cock" too much to be a sapphist.

"Who are you looking at Nico?" asked Samantha

"Another man who would never love me" replied Nicoletta

That comment saddened Samantha and she squeezed Nicoletta's hand. "You don't know that sweetie".

Samantha was one of the few people that Nicoletta showed her true feelings. To most, she put up a thick façade of being confident, strong, and independent.

It pained Samantha that her dear friend seemed to be giving up on being happy and was starting to let herself go. She recently had to start reminding Nicoletta to have her upper lip sugar-waxed regularly, color her hair with henna to create copper highlights on her graying locks of dark brunette, plus she kept trying to get her to wear dresses that weren't so frumpy. At least Nicoletta still exercised regularly and always protected her skin from the sun which made her looked about 10 years younger than her actual age.

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Adam's already big ego was getting even larger by having a flock of young women walking up to him and introducing themselves. At 41 years of age, he was still able to attract women who were barely adults. However, it also bothered him that he was old enough to be the father of many of them.

A few were beautiful, but he actually no longer found attractive most women under the age of 30. They usually lacked the ability to stimulate his intellect. Plus, being brought up entirely during the reign of Queen Victoria made most of them extremely prudish. Adam didn't understand why any man would want to bed a cold fish or a virgin.

As such, long ago, Adam had started to appreciate and eventually prefer the looks of older women. He found women more attractive if they had lightly lined faces with slightly sagging skin which gave them a bit of soft flesh that he could sink his fingers into.

After about a half hour of polite and vapid conversations, plus with his head pounding from once again drinking too much the day before, Adam had enough of these giggling girls. He scanned the room hoping to find some way to part company. He saw one of his architectural firm's clients.

Henry Strallon was a bit of a bore, but he had to be better company. Adam excused himself and walked over to the man. They greeted each other by being pleasantly surprised to see each other at Saint Sabina. They then decided to take a seat near the dessert table to discuss business.

Samantha suggested to Nicoletta that they go get more coffee and sweets. Being a typical madam, she wanted to parade Nicoletta past Mr. Cartwright.

Adam continued to talk to Henry while looking out the corner of his eye at Miss Painswick and especially her companion. Adam was very intrigued by this other woman. She dressed plainly so he doubted that she was in the sex business and therefore why would she be associating with a woman of ill-repute?

He watched as she walked or rather glided across the room. As the hanging fabric panels on her dress bodice swayed, Adam could see that she had a lovely hourglass figure with breasts so big that even if he spread his fingers out wide, they still wouldn't fit in his hands.

As they got closer, Adam could then see her face clearly. She was very pretty, almost beautiful, despite wearing glasses. Her resting facial expression was somewhat dour. But when she smiled, her face became radiant. She appeared to be in her late 20s, a bit young for Adam's tastes, but he liked to keep an open mind. He saw no wedding ring on her finger. Since this apparently unmarried woman didn't throw herself at Adam like the others did, that made her more appealing to him.

At the coffee urn, Samantha could see Mr. Cartwright looking towards them, so she whispered, "Nico, take off your glasses and let that man you were staring at see your beautiful eyes. And don't forget to smile!"

This was far from the first time Samantha had done something like this. Nicoletta sighed and reluctantly decided to play the game. She took off her glasses and put them in her left hip pocket. She then smiled and looked from one side of the room to the other at all the blurry faces.

Then she turned her head towards Samantha and while continuing to smile, Nicoletta spoke through gritted teeth, "Ok Sammie, I smiled. Are you happy now? I feel like a piece of meat!"

As they walked past Adam's table, Henry Strallon acknowledged the women with a nod. Samantha noticed that Mr. Cartwright was still discreetly watching Nicoletta. She would have stopped and said hello to Mr. Strallon (with the hope that he would then introduce them to Mr. Cartwright), but Samantha knew not to push Nicoletta too hard or too fast.

Adam decided to ask Henry, "Who are those women?"

"That is Miss Painswick, a local 'entrepreneur' and Mrs. Ambrosetti, a respectable lady."

Adam's heart sank finding out that this mysterious woman was married. Adam caught onto the meaning of Henry's strange wording and inflection. Even though he already knew the answer, he then asked, "I'm curious. Are you insinuating that Miss Painswick is not respectable?"

"Yes. But this is a tolerant, non-judgmental congregation that welcomes all. Even so, I'm not sure why that widow would risk her reputation outside of this church by being friends with a brothel owner." Henry then leaned in and whispered, "There is speculation that they are lovers, but I don't think they are. However, they do both attend suffragist meetings, so who knows?"

Adam was a bit irritated at Henry perpetuating stereotypes about the type of women who wanted equal rights. At the same time, his heart lifted when he found out that Mrs. Ambrosetti was no longer married. She might be available or there was the possibility that she might not actually like men. He then started imagining the two women rolling around naked on a bed together which made his face flush and his manhood stir.

Adam put that image aside (at least for now) and then proceeded to think about his schedule for the week while Henry continued to blather on about some bullshit. With Adam trying to impress his new employer and business being brisk due to the rapid rebuilding efforts, he worked until at least 9:00 p.m. most weekdays. He didn't want to wait until Saturday to visit the club in order to ask Miss Painswick about Mrs. Ambrosetti. He had to find a way to clear his schedule.

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NOTES:

1) Saint Sabina is a real church in modern-day Chicago. Since 1981 it has had a social activist priest. In 2000, he actually did encourage his parishioners to buy time from prostitutes as a means of inviting the women to counseling and job training.

2) Apologies in advance for any dialogue in this story that is anachronistic. I am attempting to make this story as historically accurate as possible. But I'm not a linguist and I am only a history nerd, not a professional historian.

3) For this entire story: All recognizable settings, characters, and quotes are the property of their respective creators/owners. All original characters and plots are the property of the author. No plagiarism or copyright infringement intended.