Chapter 22

What Right Has This Woman…

As much as the trio in the living room perked up their ears, they didn’t hear any more heated argumentation from the upstairs’ room.

“Things seemed to have settled down now,” Doctor Martin said with a nudge of his head toward the stairs. “I have to admit I was a bit worried for Adam earlier. This lady does have a temper!”

“Well,” Ben replied. “They seem to get along quite well usually.” Doc Martin lifted a questioning eyebrow at that. Ben just shook his head and shrugged. “Of course, they are bantering most of the time as far as I understand. I can’t really see why, but Adam seems to enjoy that immensely.”

“Anyhow that’s a mystery in itself, Ben. Nobody gets along well with Miss Heatherstone, or so I heard. People seem to consider her as pretty strange.” Paul Martin couldn’t help but chuckle. “But then again, people consider your eldest as pretty strange sometimes, too!”

“Paul, you should know better than to listen to gossip. Miss Heatherstone might be a bit…strenuous some times, but to me she seems to be an open minded, well-meaning person. Perhaps people should start looking behind her….” He was at a loss for the right word.

“Behind her Queen-of-England-ness?” Paul Martin prompted.

“Not you too, Paul,” Ben scolded, albeit half-mockingly. “But yes, behind that facade of coolness and wall of manners.”

“Wall of manners…well put, Ben. Do you think she’s trying to hide something behind this wall?”

“No,” Ben answered. “I think she’s trying to protect something. Probably herself.”

The doctor rose from his seat. “You may be right with that, Ben,” he said. “Well, I better see that I get myself home now. Tomorrow’s gonna be another busy day.”

“Thank you, Paul, for everything.” Ben made to rise too, but the doctor stopped him.

“No need to see me out, Ben. Stay put. You’re going to have a long night, I suspect. Well, I’ll stop by tomorrow evening, but if Adam takes a turn for the worse, send for me at any time.”

“I’ll do that, Paul.”

The doctor made his way out of the house and shortly after that Ben and Hoss heard the sound of the doctor’s buggy leaving the ranch yard.

Hoss turned to his father. “Pa, don’t ya think Joe should be back by now?”

“No, there will be a lot of paperwork at Roy’s. He won’t make it before midnight, I suppose.” Ben rested his elbow on the coffee table and stared into the blazing flames of the fireplace.

Hoss gingerly strolled over to the hearth and crouched next to his father’s chair. “Adam’s gonna be alright,” he offered.

“I know. I know.” Ben shook his head and made to stand up. “I just want to be sure…I’ll go upstairs now. I can’t really see why I should be neglected to see my own son.”

“Pa,” Hoss put a hand on his father’s arm. “Please wait. Adam said he wanted ta see Miss Juliet first—”

“The time for first has long passed by. This is my house, and I won’t be shut out—”

“Pa!”

Ben threw Hoss a surprised glance. Since when had his pacific middle son’s voice-repertoire harboured the quality of rebuke?

“Pa, Doc is right. They need ta talk.”

“What is this all about? They can talk later when I’ve seen to Adam. What right has this woman to impose on him like that?”

Ben’s second attempt of standing up was again prevented by Hoss, who was now crouching before him, his big hands on Ben’s knees, fixing his eyes on his father’s.

“Pa, they really need ta talk. It’ll do Adam good. No one can cheer him up like Miss Juliet these days.”

Ben studied his son with an intense stare as if he was trying to read something that laid just behind Hoss’ eyes. Eventually he frowned and looked down. “I guess you’re right,” he said hesitantly and leaned back in his chair. A faint smile slowly crawled its way on his face. “I guess you’re right. Interesting….”

They sat like that for a long time, silently gazing into the fire, never changing another word, just taking comfort in each other’s presence. Tragedy could have struck the family today, but yet again, they had been lucky, and the latest events of the day proved to be at least, as Ben had said, interesting.