Summary: Written for the 2018 Advent Calendar, based on the quilting prompt, “Rocky Road to California”

Rating: G 1,540 words

 

Rocky Road to California

 

 

“Pa!”

The wail caused Ben Cartwright to take several steps and open the bedroom door.  His legs took the brunt of the collision with his night-shirt clad son.

“Pa, Adam said we’re not gonna.  He’s wrong; ain’t he?  It’s the first of December, Pa.  We gotta.”

Ben went down on his haunches and gazed directly into the eyes of the troubled child.  “Of course we will, Hoss.  Just as always.”  He rose to his full height, placed his hand on his son’s shoulders, and turned the boy to face the doorway.  “Now go dress.”  Hoss took off.

“What is it we must do, mon amour?”  Ben turned and smiled at his wife.

“A family tradition.”

She put down her hairbrush and stepped toward him.  “What is this tradition?”

“Well, it’s just…  You see when we, Adam and I and then Hoss, when we were on the road to California all that time, well, it wasn’t as it is now.  It was rather a rocky road and there was often little money and no place of our own at Christmas time…  Well, to make Christmas special I used stories and remembrances, and over time it became our tradition that starting December 1^st we take time each evening to retell a special story or remembrance especially about one of our Christmas things.  Hoss is so young I suppose he can’t remember a time when we didn’t do it just that way.”

“Your Christmas things?”

“Oh, we Cartwrights have some treasures tucked away for special times of the year.  Some may surprise you though.”

Marie smiled up at him. “Like what?”

“Ohhh..”  He tapped his chin.  “A slightly chipped blue bowl for the barn elf’s porridge.”

Her nose wrinkled in puzzlement.  “The barn elf?”

Ben shook his head.  “No, no, you must wait until the twenty-fourth for that recounting, my love, for it is always saved for last.”

“So I must wait, must I?”

“Yes.”  His arm slipped around her waist and drew her close. “But we shall make the wait a pleasant one.”  His arms encircled her, and they kissed.

“Very pleasant.”  She placed her hands on his shoulders and titled her head back to gaze into his face.  “It seems a charming tradition, my husband.  Why would Adam tell Hoss that it would no longer happen?” Except that he thinks I am set on breaking everything in his life.

Ben’s eyes clouded.  “Brothers tease brothers.”  And my eldest seems set on spoiling so many things right now.  “I shall speak with him about it.”

Ben’s long strides quickly took him to his eldest son’s room.  He found the boy buttoning his shirt.

“Adam.”  Ben’s tone was sterner than he had intended.

“Yes, Pa?”

“Why did you tell your brother that we wouldn’t be telling our stories this year?”

“I didn’t suppose we would.”  The twelve-year-old focused on his buttons far more intently than necessary.

“You supposed in error, son.”

The boy turned his back to his father and reached for his boots.  “Well, if you and Hoss want to, that’s fine, but, I’m, well, I’m too old for that sort of thing.  I’ll just…”

Ben had closed the distance between them.  He took his son’s arm and turned Adam to face him.  “You will be joining the family just as always.  Do you understand me, Adam?”

“Yes, sir.”  The words were compliant; the tone and the look in Adam’s eyes were not.

“In fact, you shall have the pleasure of telling the first story tonight.”

There was a pause as each held the other’s gaze.  Then Adam remembered what was always chosen as their first Christmas treasure.  “Yes, Pa.”

***

Hoss squirmed in his chair.  “Come on, Adam, we’s all ready.”  Hoss’s voice filled the room, and he gazed over at his father and stepmother sitting on the settee.  “We’s ready, ain’t we, Pa?”

“That we are, son.”

Adam entered the room his arms filled with a lovely quilt.

“Over me, Adam.  Over me, while ya tell.”  Adam complied with his brother’s demanded and draped the quilt over Hoss.  Then he took an orator’s stand before the fire and fixed his eyes on his stepmother.

“My mother Elizabeth’s family lived in the same place for many, many years and gathered many treasures.  My mother was a very smart woman.  When she and her beloved talked of journeying west, she knew that she could not take all of the treasures her mother had left her.  There was a whole chest of just Christmas linens and table dressings alone.  My mother though was very, very wise.  She decided that if she could not take them all, she could take a piece of each of them and with each piece a special memory.  She decided to make a unique quilt for her family to use at Christmastime.”  His hand gestured to the quilt now draped over his brother.

Marie had taken note of the challenge in her stepson’s voice and the special emphasis Adam placed on the word mother each time he said it.  She met his eyes.  “And a lovely quilt it is.”

“She talked to her cousin Emma for Emma loved my mother Elizabeth dearly as did all her family and often cried at the thought she would be leaving them. They spoke of what pattern should be used in the quilt.  One afternoon, Emma came to my mother with a pattern.  Emma told my mother that the pattern was being called the rocky road to California.  My mother smiled and thought that it was fitting.  When her loved ones used the quilt, it would be a reminder of not only the Stoddard home and treasures but a memory of the journey that had led them to their paradise in the West. So, my mother and her cousin pieced the quilt and another like it to be left with Emma and one more for my Grandfather Abel.  They spoke of memories and filled each quilt with love.”  Adam’s voice grew increasing forced and brittle.  “And each time her beloved ones use it, it is not just the quilt’s warmth but her love that we feel.”  Adam’s gaze had become a glare, and he threw his next words toward Marie like a challenge.  “And we always will!”  He snatched the quilt from around his brother and raced from the room.  No one else moved until after the bedroom door slammed.

Ben rose and took a step forward, but Marie’s hand caught his arm, and when he looked back at her she gave a shake of her head.

“He took the quilt.”  Hoss’s words were a wail.  Marie went to him.

“I think, mon fils, it is Adam that has the most need of the quilt tonight.  There are many more nights before Christmas for you to use the quilt.  Go with your papa now and drink the chocolate that I made.”

Hoss smiled and hopped from the chair.  Marie went to the room of her eldest and entered without knocking.  The room was dark, but she could distinguish a lump on the bed.  She lit the lamp.

Adam knew from her step that it was Marie in the room.  “Go away.”

“I shalln’t, you know.  I am here to stay.”  Adam was curled up completely covered by the quilt. She walked over and perched lightly on the edge of the bed.  “I think we must make a bargain.”

Adam’s head appeared.  “A bargain?”

“Everyone has things that are special to them at Christmastime.  You, Hoss, my Benjamin, and even me.”

“So.”

“They are not always the same things even among families.  My mama she loved the cake of the three kings as do I, but my papa not so much, in truth- though it amazes me- he did not favor it at all.  Still, he did not spurn it or spit it from his mouth.  He ate just enough to make my mama happy.  Sometimes, Adam, we must all swallow down something to make others happy.”

“You spoke of a bargain.”

“You do not wish me to use this quilt.”  It was spoken as a statement not a question, so Adam did not bother to affirm it.  “The bargain is this.  This Christmas and others to come, you will allow your father, your brother, and even me to enjoy those treasures that are important to us.  You won’t sulk but will enjoy those that have meaning to you and swallow down the rest.  For I shall have my crèche and the cake of the three kings…”

Adam straightened up.  “If that’s my part of the bargain, what’s yours?”

“I shall not touch your mother’s quilt.”

“Not ever?”

“Not until you ask me to.”  Marie extended her hand.

“I never will.”

“None of us knows how long never will be.”

Adam reached out and shook her hand.  “Agreed.”

The bargain was made and kept.  Each evening the Cartwrights told tales and remembrances and cherished their Christmas treasures.  Adam found Marie’s crèche beautiful and the kings’ cake easy to swallow.  As to the quilt, never lasted a year for after Adam told a gentler version of the Christmas quilt’s tale, he draped the quilt around Marie as she held his baby brother Joseph.

---

 

Click here for next story in the 2018 Advent Calendar Collection – Day 2 – Hole in the Barn Door aka Pieces of the Whole by Questfan.