by J. Rosemary Moss
Genre: Fan-Fiction (Bonanza)
Rating: PG
LINK TO PART ONE
~
The dinner was much easier than Charlotte anticipated. Adam’s father was a charming gentleman, Hoss made sure she felt right at home and Little Joe made her laugh by constantly complaining about how white his family was.
She felt as comfortable as if she were with her own kin. Which, she reminded herself, she was.
She told them all about her side of the family. She talked about how Therese was on her fourth husband--Ben was surprised to hear of someone else who'd been widowed three times--and about Monique and her husband and all their children.
After dinner she went outside on Adam’s arm. They stood together for a time, staring up at the night sky. Then she closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of pines. It was almost a foreign smell to her.
“This seems like a different world from New Orleans,” she commented as she pressed closer to Adam.
He smiled down at her. “Do you miss that city?”
She shrugged and returned his smile. “Yes and no. But I’m not like Therese. I can make a home anywhere.”
He smiled again and drew her into his arms. He didn’t speak again until some time had passed.
“How do you like the Ponderosa?” he asked at last.
“I love it,” she answered. “And I love your family. Did you see how well Little Joe and I got on? You can tell that we’re related, can’t you? We’re like kindred spirits.”
He grimaced. “I noticed.”
Charlotte frowned at him. “What’s that face for?”
“I was just thinking of all the mischief you two can get into if you put your heads together.”
She laughed. “Oh, we’ve already come up with some ideas. But don’t you worry—you and Hoss should be able to extricate us.”
They fell into another long embrace, but her face grew serious when they parted. “Adam,” she told him, “I changed my mind.”
“About what?” he asked.
“I don’t have to be a nice girl. I could—I could be your mistress.”
“I don’t want you for a mistress,” he said softly as he stroked her hair. “I want you to be my wife.”
She shook her head. “You can’t marry me, you know that.”
“Why not?” he asked. “I went to St. Mary’s before I came to fetch you. Father Patrick is willing to perform the service—as long as I promise that the children will be raised Catholic. My father made the same promise when he married Marie.”
She bit back a smile. “And did it take, sir?”
He grinned. “More or less. Joe’s nominally Catholic. But I don’t think he knows or cares much about doctrinal differences.”
Charlotte gave him a mock look of disapproval. “And sometimes he goes to church with you heretics,” she teased. “It won’t be that way with our children, Adam Cartwright."
"Are you going to force me to make papists out of them?" he teased back.
She nodded. "Yes sir, whether or not they’re legitimate.”
He smiled and kissed her forehead. “Charlotte,” he asked, “why won’t you consider marriage?”
She put her hand on his cheek. “Did you see the way people stared at us, just when you were driving me out of town? Adam, that won’t be the worst of it. If you just keep me, people will still point and stare. But in the end they’ll just shrug their shoulders and leave us be. As long as you don’t get any political ambitions we should be fine.”
She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “But if you marry me and bring me here—they’ll hate me. You know that’s true. And they’ll treat your whole family differently. They’ll stop doing business with the Cartwrights and they’ll put us both through hell. Why do you think Marie wanted to keep her secret from Joe?”
He pulled her to him. “Business doesn’t matter, Charlotte.”
She rested her head on his chest. “Yes it does,” she insisted. “I don’t want to be the cause of problems on the Ponderosa—I would hate that. Adam, this is for the best. Besides, I really do want a shop of my own. And I can’t run it from the ranch.”
She felt him sigh, but she knew her words made sense to him. He knew as well as she did how the world worked.
“I’ll never be satisfied just to keep you,” Adam said at length. “But there’s nothing to stop us from marrying quietly. You can still live in town—I’ll divide my time between the Ponderosa and Virginia City. We’ll keep it between ourselves, our families and a few choice friends. Everyone else can believe what they’d like.”
She frowned. “But then you could never have a white wife.”
He laughed. “I think you’ll keep my hands full enough, Charlotte.”
She looked up at him. “Will a secret marriage satisfy you?”
He kissed her forehead again. “No,” he answered, “but it’s a start.”
She smiled and nestled closer to him. “All right then. At least we’ll make Kevin happy.”
He glanced down at her for a moment, puzzled. But then enlightenment struck.
“He predicted this, didn’t he?” he asked. “I’d forgotten all about that.”
“I didn’t. I was awake when he insisted that you would marry me. But you didn’t believe him.”
Adam laughed again. “I should have,” he said. “That was one of his tamer prophecies.”
Charlotte broke apart from him and gave him a sly look. “You two were very close. Therese had some conjectures about the pair of you.”
“I’m sure she did, but I’ll thank you not to repeat them,” he said with a smile.
“Oh, she knew that there was nothing improper between you,” Charlotte assured him. “I remember a conversation she had with Kev one night. She told him that he was wasting his time; that you’d never stray from the straight and narrow. Kevin said he knew that, thank you very much, and more’s the pity.”
Adam shook his head at her. "He might have been teasing her.”
Charlotte was surprised. “Don’t you know? One way or the other, I mean?”
“No, I don’t," he answered. "He might have been playing along with Therese or might have been perfectly serious. You could never tell with Kev.”
“But you must know something,” she persisted.
He shrugged. “He knew a lady or two in his time. But his tastes might have been varied.”
Charlotte considered that. Adam didn't seem to think it mattered. At length she decided that he was right.
“Well, either way I miss him,” she said as she put her head back against his chest.
She heard a wistful smile in his voice as he answered. “So do I.”
~
Back inside, Little Joe was taking out the brandy. He solemnly poured a glass for his father, another for Hoss and finally one for himself.
“Those two are going to have a hard time of it, Joseph,” his father said. There was a sadness in his eyes and Joe knew that he was looking down the long years ahead.
“We know, Pa,” said Hoss. “But I like her. I’m going to stand by Adam, whatever they choose to do.”
“We all will,” said Joe. “That goes without saying.”
He paused and lifted up his glass. “Here’s to Charlotte,” he said and then he drank deep. He smiled as he came up for breath and finished his toast. “And thank God it’s not Laura!”
~The End~
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