Better Loved, Part Three

by J. Rosemary Moss

Genre: Fan-Fiction (Bonanza)
Rating: PG

LINK TO PART ONE

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The widow Hawkins set her tea tray down and stared at Charlotte. The girl had her head bent over her sewing needle. What clever fingers she had--and what an eye for fashion!

Clementine congratulated herself for taking her in--despite her color. Charlotte was designing two new dresses for her in lieu of rent. Wait till the neighbors spotted her in her smart new frocks! They would think she'd gone to some exorbitant modiste in San Francisco.

The girl deserved a shop of her own. Why, once they got a look at her work the spoiled wives of Virginia City's nouveau riche mine barons would beat down her door.

But setting up a shop took money and Charlotte hadn't a copper. Still, there was an answer to that. Clementine knew all about Adam Cartwright walking Charlotte home and asking to call on her. She'd been right upstairs, hadn't she?

Fool girl, turning him down. Charlotte was probably correct in thinking that her race would prevent a marriage between the two. But Clementine had spent her life among stage folk so she was untroubled by bourgeois morals. She saw no reason for Charlotte not to pursue another arrangement with Adam.

A man like Adam Cartwright could easily afford to set her up in her own shop—not to mention a sweet little home in town.

Clementine’s thoughts were interrupted when Charlotte set down her sewing and gave a dreamy sigh. She raised her eyebrows at the girl.

"Thinking of Mr. Cartwright, dear?"

Charlotte nodded. "I can’t help it. I can’t get him out of my head." She paused and gave her landlady a shrewd look. "Miss Clementine, I imagine you could take a secret to the grave, couldn’t you?"

The widow permitted herself a small smile. "You won’t be the first person to confide in me."

"Well, I have to confide in someone or I’ll burst. I’ve known Adam Cartwright since I was a little girl."

Clementine, who had been pouring a cup of tea, nearly dropped the kettle. "What’s that?"

"My full name is Antoinette Charlotte Corday Bon," she continued. "But Adam only knows me as Antoinette Bon. And he hasn’t seen me since I was seven. Oh, what a scrawny little thing I was then!"

She paused to blush. "He’s written me lots of letters, though—I’ve kept every one. He came down to New Orleans just before he went east for college. He was, oh, seventeen or eighteen, I suppose."

Clementine stared at her. "Went down to New Orleans?" she repeated blankly. "On his way to Boston?"

The girl nodded. "He stayed at my mother’s house. Part of the reason I chose Virginia City was to get a glimpse of him and his family—just to satisfy my curiosity. But I only meant it to be from a distance. I didn’t think I’d actually meet up with him again!"

Clementine felt as if she were all at sea. "Just a moment! Why was he in New Orleans? And—forgive me—but why would he stay with—with—"

Charlotte smiled. "With a black family?" She paused again and sighed. "Well, he came looking for us, you see…"

LINK TO PART FOUR