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Fortune Favors the Devious (or Adam and Sibella Become Partners)

The Visitor

Sibella Cartwright trotted her thoroughbred up the curving drive that led to the house designed by her husband, Adam. He had pulled out plans created years earlier for a potential marriage, one that never came to fruition. He made design changes, telling Sibella he was adding at least 15 extra bedrooms for all the children he expected her to deliver. She knew he was mocking her as she had once stated that society saw women as nothing more than a uterus, never realizing they also had a brain. Initially, she had married Adam, determined to take her money and go to New York and join the marches and protests to demand the complete end of coverture and the establishment of voting rights for all women and to restructure divorce laws that always favored the husband. But she hadn't counted on falling so madly in love and the thought of leaving Adam left her shaken

Because she couldn't bear the thought of Adam loving another woman, holding another woman in his arms, Sibella did wonder about the earlier fiancée; was she beautiful? Was that woman kinder, more genteel than she, and did she know what it was like to lock her legs about Adam's waist, to feel his hot mouth on hers, muffling her cries of pleasure. Sibella once asked Adam about the woman, but he had succinctly parried her query, telling her the matter was in the past, in another life before the war. Sibella knew that was how Adam saw things, saw himself-before the war and after. But she would have preferred he saw it as before she came into his life and then after, their life now. But Adam wasn't particularly romantic but more realistic, and Sibella accepted him as he was. For the most part. But there were still things she hoped to change about him despite her mother having told her that if she did manage to change Adam Cartwright after marriage, which she doubted, Sibella would regret it.

Sibella refrained from complaining about the progress of the house as best she could, impatient with the uncompleted house and now work had paused waiting for the arrival of more bricks and cedar planks for lining closets. But it was either live with the ongoing construction or at the Ponderosa with no privacy and visiting an outhouse or the chamber pot under the bed. But once the land for the house was cleared and leveled and before the beginning of construction, Adam had dropped what was called a septic tank into the ground for inside water closets—two of them! He had ordered it from San Francisco along with what seemed miles of cast iron pipes. So, since no carpenters or masons or plumbers were on the job, Sibella wondered who was lounging on the lengthy porch and whose horse was tethered to a hitching post. Suddenly she smiled as recognition dawned; it was her friend and confidante from Sacramento, Alan Pembroke.

"Alan, how wonderful to see you!" Sibella quickly dismounted and ran into Alan's arms. He swung her about and then, taking both her hands, took a step back.

"Let me look at you!" He said smiling. Sibella, with her bright blue eyes, slender figure and auburn hair, was still the loveliest woman he'd ever known. And he would have married her, especially with her mother's urging, but then they wouldn't have been friends anymore, merely an unhappy husband and wife who were forced to look elsewhere for sexual satisfaction. "Well, my dear, you are absolutely glowing! Adam must be assiduous in his marital duties." He raised one brow lasciviously.

"Oh, don't be so silly! It's just the exercise, that's all!"

"Why that's exactly what I meant, my dear! Exercise!"

Sibella laughed, so happy to see Alan was still the same with his risqué comments. But she knew she looked lovely in her new riding attire—a gray split skirt and matching vest, new black boots and a stylish shirt and hat. "What do you think of my outfit?" Alan, dropped her hands and Sibella twirled about. "Wearing something new always makes me 'glow,' as you say, and these arrived just yesterday. Do you like the hat? It's based on a man's style—so au courant!" She tapped the top of it.

"Well, it could be the new clothes or it could be that handsome husband of yours keeps you so rosy-cheeked. I assume both sets of cheeks?"

Sibella blushed deeply. "Oh, Alan! Really! Sibella was well aware Alan had a male crush on Adam, found him handsome and most desirable as did she, but Sibella also knew that Alan only shared those feelings with her. "Let's go inside, but first…Chauncey!" A man of indeterminate age stepped out of the barn.

"Mrs. Cartwright, glad you're back. Want I should take care of your horse?" He looked askance at Alan.

"Yes, please." Sibella smiled and then turned back to her friend. "Alan, why were you waiting outside? Mrs. George should have offered you coffee or lemonade or something to eat."

"Your guard dogs would let me no further than the porch. Your housekeeper barred the door and that old man in the barn watched me the whole time through that small window, as if I couldn't see him. Probably had a shotgun aimed at my person, ready to blast me apart!"

"Well, they just…Adam worries about my being here alone and has given orders. They've picked up his bad habit of suspicion of strangers. Let's go inside. You must stay for dinner, Alan. Actually, you must stay with us. We have a partially furnished guest room."

"Well…" Alan seemed befuddled and Sibella found it odd; Alan was always so even-keeled and witty. "I suppose…"

Sibella called, "Chauncey, would you please put away our guest's horse as well? He's staying the night." Chauncey nodded and took her horse into the barn; he wasn't too happy about the elegant and arrogant blond man staying and wondered how the Mister would take it. Alan picked up his carpet bag and Sibella slipped her arm through his as they continued to the house.

Upon reaching the front door, Alan stopped and said, "Sibella, I think you should know Thorne came with me—or I came with him. Oh, and I have a present to deliver from your mother, and Sibella, shame! Only one letter to your dear mother in five months? But, tomorrow, early tomorrow, I need to head to Virginia City where Thorne is now getting us rooms. He has some business in Virginia City, some debt he has to collect, you know, him being a professional gambler and all, and…well, I'll definitely stay the night but only," he wagged his finger at her, "only if the guest room is right next to yours. Then I can put my ear against the wall to listen to the two of you going at it and imagine it's me in your place."

"Oh, Alan! Really!" They laughed together as they went inside. But Sibella had been caught off balance knowing Thorne Culhane, her former fiancé, was in Virginia City and she had a nagging suspicion Alan was keeping something else from her.

~ 0 ~

Hearing voices, Mrs. George came from the kitchen and Sibella informed her there would be one more for dinner; Mrs. George nodded but looked disdainfully at Alan. After all, he had demanded to be allowed inside to wait for Mrs. Cartwright but Mrs. George had lived far too long to simply take a stranger at his word. Besides, who was he to demand anything!

Sibella walked Alan upstairs to his room and once inside, he tossed his carpetbag on the bed and hung his fedora on the bed post. "Very nice, Sibella." He walked over to the window and opened it. "All the warmth of a cheap hotel." He laughed and Sibella smiled in delight. How she had missed him. Alan was still the most elegant man she had ever known and so handsome with his white-blond hair and soft brown eyes. It was a shame he wasn't devoted to women.

"Now give me my present," Sibella demanded, sitting on the bed, waiting.

"Oh, all right! Still the spoiled little girl who on Christmas day would be surrounded with new dolls and toys of every type and would still have her small hands out grasping for more! How I envied you as all I ever received were clothes and perhaps a wooden pull train or a game of checkers. My goodness—it's always me, me, me."

"I deserve everything I receive!" Sibella said, lifting her chin.

"Be careful, Sibella. That sounds ominous." Alan pulled his shirts and neatly folded trousers out of the carpetbag and finally, a worn satin-covered jewelry casket with a jeweler's gold insignia embossed on the lid. He handed it to Sibella and barely breathed while she opened it and then gasped.

"Oh, my heaven, it's the sapphire set. Oh, Alan! How brave of you to bring these pieces all this way as valuable as they are! I must write my mother and thank her." She ran her fingers lightly over the pieces and then pulled out the ring and slipped it on her right-hand ring finger. "It's too big for that finger…" She slipped it on her index finger and stared with admiration at the glittering gems. The sapphire set was finally hers.

"It's a shame your mother has to bribe you to write her, Sibella. Here's her note." Alan pulled an envelope out of his pocket and as Sibella tore it open, He reached over and closed the lid. "I have so many things to tell you and I won't have your divided attention. Now, let me tell you about Lyle and me and then you can ask me all you want about Thorne. I'm sure you're curious."

~ 0 ~

Adam hung up his jacket and unbuckled his shoulder holster. Since the war, he had found a shoulder holster not only more comfortable, but easier as the only buckle was across his chest. This one had been created and hand-tooled by his old friend and fellow veteran, Morgan Graham. Adam placed it on the top shelf of the hat stand in the foyer and smiled when Sibella came rushing in, dressed far more elegantly than usual.

"Adam" she said excitedly, "we have company. I hope you don't mind."

"You mean you don't look this lovely just for me?" He held her face with one hand and kissed her, then loosened his tie that he despised, and started to remove it. Sibella had ordered three silk ties of various patterns from a fashion house back east and insisted he modernize his clothing for business purposes. "Chauncey told me someone was staying but whether or not I mind depends on who it is." She reached up and tightened his tie. "Sibella, I…" He loosened it again despite her scowl. "I've been wearing this damn thing all day."

"Please, Adam. It's Alan Pembroke—you remember him. He's come all the way from Sacramento and I've invited him to dinner and to stay the night. Can't you put on your jacket and, well, look more…?" Sibella looked up at him trying her best to look fetching.

"No, Sibella. But I'll leave my tie on, loosened but on. And be satisfied I'm giving that much ground." She frowned and Adam noticed her jewelry. "I've never seen that set before. A gift from Alan?"

"No, from my mother—a complete set. Aren't they beautiful?" She touched the earrings to make them swing and held up her right hand displaying a large blue sapphire ring. "My mother sent them along with a note, of course, asking me to write more, but aren't they lovely? When I was about six, she was wearing the ring and let me try it on—it didn't even fit my thumb. She told me there were matching pieces, and that one day they would all be mine and today's the day!" The necklace had a center drop of a cabochon sapphire surrounded by large, glittering diamonds. Adam guessed the center stone was about 30 carats. Graduated sizes of the same pattern of sapphires and their diamond halos created the rest of the necklace. In Adam's estimation, each earring had a round diamond of about 3 carats from which hung a pear-shaped, cabochon sapphire of about 10 carats each. The ring was of the same pattern as the necklace, a large sapphire of about 10 carats surrounded by diamonds that overwhelmed Sibella's hand. "The ring is a bit large, I admit, and a bit heavy, but this set's been in the family for years. Why the only time I saw my mother wear it was when some important politician came to dinner."

"It's a little gaudy, isn't it? I'm surprised you don't need a sling to support your arm." Adam held her small hand and looked at the large stone. Sibella irritably pulled away her hand.

"Oh, Adam, this parure has been in my family for generations. Remember that portrait of my grandmother? The one that hung in the dining room? In it, she's wearing this set and I think she looks very elegant. One night when I was about 10, my uncle Ross told me about theses gems. The story is my great-grandfather who was a notorious pirate, stole a huge chest of gems from a Spanish ship destined for their queen. He had these sapphires and diamonds set in gold for his mistress; he became a wealthy man from his ill-gotten gains, and later married his mistress, Sonia; she was my great-grandmother. And now these lovely Ceylon sapphires that I have long coveted, are mine." She smiled triumphantly.

"Yes, well, that story explains a lot about you." Adam started toward the parlor.

Sibella reached for his arm. "Now what do you mean by that?"

Adam grinned. "I always thought you had a bit of the crafty pirate in you, wench." He pulled her to him and kissed her again and Sibella felt one large hand cup a buttock. And then, with a throaty chuckle, Adam turned and entered the parlor; Sibella heard him say, "Well, Alan, how are you?" In a manner, Sibella was flattered by Adam's assessment of her 'inherited' traits, although she was certain it was an insult.

Note: Should I make this M? That would mean more mature language and more graphic scenes. If you review, please let me know.