Author's Note:

Happy New Year all! Unfortunately, I've been down and out with a pretty nasty bug ('tis the season), so I haven't been writing or editing as actively. This chapter is kind of just a gap filler, the next one I think you will all very much enjoy.

Take care!

XxXxXxXxX

Adam got his wish. Eula's father, Ian, made record time, arriving a week before the wedding was set to take place and carrying in his pocket the telegram she had hastily sent from Virginia City.

PA COME TO NEVADA AT ONCE STOP

GETTING MARRIED STOP

PLEASE BRING LYNDY STOP

LOVE EULA STOP

He shook his head and gave Ben a bemused smile. "These children of ours are apt to send us to an early grave, aren't they?"

"Think how it is to have three, my dear man, three!" Ben exclaimed, reaching out to ruffle Joseph's hair affectionately.

Belinda, called Lyndy for as long as Adam had known her, was undeterred by her long journey and flittered excitedly amongst the group, stopping every few moments to give Eula a hug and beam at Adam.

Lyndy was Eula's cousin and the closest thing, as an only child, that she had to a sister. Four years younger than Eula, the only daughter of her uncle Stewart, Lyndy was tall and auburn haired like Stewart's wife rather than dark haired like the rest of her family, which included five brothers. She had always been a jocular, effusively happy girl, all around a lovely and lively little thing in contrast to Eula's more subdued manner. If Eula was a wildflower, Lyndy was the butterfly which flew roving circles around it.

Little Joe watched her, starstruck. He was amazed by how she had turned from the tag along little girl he remembered into a beautiful woman. Once she and Ian had turned in to their respective rooms for an early night, he said as much.

"Joseph," Ben said sternly, cutting him off. "I think that one wedding is quite enough for the moment."

Eula turned her face to hide a smile. Watching Little Joe attempt to woo her cousin would certainly be entertaining, and a little lighthearted entertainment would be a welcome enjoyment after the ongoing drama of the past few months.

XxXxXxX

Adam and Eula had slipped away from the wedding preparations for a few quiet hours alone. They'd saddled their horses and left early in the morning, Eula leading the way to a pretty little meadow surrounded by pines and dotted with desert willow and the odd sagebrush. Away in the distance, between the trees, could be seen a glimpse of Lake Tahoe.

Adam started a small fire and set a pot to boiling, he'd brought tea leaves this time, and Eula threw an old patchwork quilt down on the grass, unpacking fresh biscuits and honey provided by Hop Sing.

Offering her a piping hot cup of tea, Adam took off his coat, threw his hat on top of it and leaned back in his shirtsleeves, propped up on one elbow. Eula leaned against him, her head on his shoulder.

"You know, this is where I fell in love with you," she said softly after a long and comfortable silence.

"It is?" he asked in surprise. He looked around but couldn't place it in his memories of her.

"Yes, I'll never forget it. Pa was coming over to see Ben, they had some business together but I forget now what it was. Anyway, I decided to come along. I'd only been to the Ponderosa once before, and I wanted to see more of it. We came through the trees over there and this pretty little spot here opened up, lush with grass and the desert willows. The sage hadn't bloomed yet, but the smell was wonderful - you know how it is before the weather turns hot. And from our horses we could look down the slope and see the lake just peeking through the trees."

Suddenly he remembered the day she was talking about. He'd been over there on the far side of the meadow repairing a corral with one of the hired hands. He'd worked like a dog in those days, Hoss and Little Joe had been too young to do much more than get underfoot and he'd worried their grasp on this vast paradise was still tenuous.

"It was a sunny day, and the water was as blue and sparkling as a sapphire," she continued. "But then I saw you, and everything else just... faded away."

Adam smiled and sat up, pulling her into his lap.

"You didn't notice us at first, you were cutting logs down into poles. You had your shirt off, which I suppose should have embarrassed me, but you were beautiful. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. You must have been 17 then. When you noticed us you picked up your shirt and put it on, I expect out of respect for me, but you only did up a few buttons. You came over to talk to Pa, you recognized him and it was a short, friendly conversation. Then you smiled up at me, and put your hand on my knee. It was just a friendly gesture, but it was like being struck by lightning. I was only 14 but I knew with absolute certainty that I loved you. I decided at that moment that I was going to marry you."

"And here we are," Adam said quietly, stroking her hair.

"Here we are."

He laid his fingers feather soft upon her cheek and captured her lips in a kiss. She wrapped her arms around him in response, in no hurry to end his affections.

Suddenly, he stood, pulling her up with him.

"Eula, I've been feeling bad about something."

She looked at him, puzzled.

"You agreed to marry me without my ever asking you properly. I know it's all set and within a few days we'll be man and wife, but it's something I want to do."

Eula crossed her hands over her chest, feeling butterflies churning in her stomach as Adam sank down on one knee, producing a ring from his pocket. An emerald glittered at the top of a golden band, framed on either side by a small pearl.

When she'd come to his birthday party and set in motion the events that would give him the courage to change his life, to find happiness at last, she'd been wearing a dark green dress. He hadn't forgotten that first moment he'd set eyes on her after all those years, and in the jeweler's case the emerald had leapt out at him as a reminder.

"Eulalie Grant, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

There was, of course, no hesitation. Eula agreed, flashing a jubilant smile as Adam slipped the ring onto her finger and took her in his arms, lifting her off the ground and letting out a shout of joy. She laughed as he covered her face with kisses.

"Listen," he said at length. "From now on, you and I have to be straight with each other. We lost each other once because we couldn't get around our own damned reticence. I should have told you that I loved you, I should have shouted it from the rooftops, we could have been together all these years. I know it's not in our nature, we play our cards close to our chests, but that has to change. I always want to know what you're feeling and what you're thinking. Let's leave everything open between us."

"Well, I don't see any rooftops Adam Cartwright, but I love you. If you want me to shout it to the chipmunks and the birds and the trees, I'll do it."

He kissed her again, pulling her as close to him as was physically possible.

"What I want you to do at this moment isn't honourable," he said, his voice thick with lust.

"Oh, my love," Eula sighed, "soon."