Chapter 8

“Adam, I only want you to be careful. Merry has a lot to worry about now, and I think you need to make sure there is no more that she has to deal with before your wedding.”

“Pa, what happens between Merry and me is really our decision.”

“You never do listen to me when I give you advice.”

“I do listen, but when I disagree with you, you say I’m not listening. Disagreeing and not listening are two distinctly different reactions.”

“I only want the best for you.”

“Pa, I know that, but I need to make my own decisions based on my own thoughts. What would you have done if your father had been out here telling you how to build the Ponderosa?”

“Well, I would have listened to him.”

“And then done it your way.”

Ben couldn’t help it. Adam had pegged him exactly with that one. He smiled. “Yes, and then I would have done it my way. I’m just so very concerned about Merry. I know she has suffered through some terrible things. I only want her to be able to heal and move on with her life.”

“Pa, you have to believe me when I tell you that she is. She is amazingly resilient and strong. Just think of what she has survived already, and she still has spirit and kindness in her. She is exactly the kind of person I need. I love her very much, and I would never do anything to make things harder for her.”

“I trust you, son. You made a good choice with that one. She’s going to keep your life interesting and challenging though. I hope you have the energy for her.”

On the first night that Merry was back on the Ponderosa, Ben couldn’t sleep. When he came downstairs to get something warm to drink, he had found Adam and Merry in a passionate embrace on the settee. They had gone up to their bedrooms when he interrupted them. Then the night before, with the storm still raging outside, Ben was going to come downstairs again but halted at the top of the stairs when he saw Merry sitting on Adam’s lap and the two were kissing passionately again. He had gone back to his room and didn’t sleep well at all. So on this morning, he wanted to get Adam to tone down his behavior with her. The conversation did not accomplish anything other than letting Adam know that his father had likely seen them the night before. They had not made love, but they certainly had been intimate. They enjoyed their time together and found it was difficult not to touch and kiss when they were alone.

Wondering how much his father had seen, Adam thought probably not much based on his relatively mild rebukes but had likely and correctly guessed the rest. It was just that whenever Adam was near Merry now, he wanted to kiss her and hold her. He wanted her so much all the time. They were planning some work in the snow for the day so that would help. They needed to get some of the snow off the roofs and shovel paths to the stable. Then there would be all the chores that needed doing as well. What the cold didn’t do to cool his ardor, the hard work would. He was thinking that by the time he was ready for bed, sleep might be all he would be thinking about. Then he smiled for he knew that wouldn’t be true. Ben looked over at him and had a pretty good idea what was going on in his mind.

After breakfast, the three sons dressed for snow removal. The roof was first, and Adam and Hoss volunteered for the duty because both knew Joe’s distaste for heights. Hoss was the anchor for a rope around Adam’s waist. The recent warm weather had created some icy spots on the roof of the house that were now covered with snow and undetectable until you slid on them. Several times Adam fell but Hoss made sure he didn’t go anywhere. Adam had tied a small rope to the shovel and secured it to his wrist so he wouldn’t have to worry about that either. Inside, Ben and Merry heard several thumps from the rooftop.

“What’s that?”

“Probably Adam slipping and falling.”

“What!”

“No, no, don’t worry, Merry. Hoss will have a safety line on him to make sure nothing bad happens. They’ve done this a number of times before.”

“But why doesn’t Joe do it? He’s a lot lighter.”

“Joe doesn’t like heights. He’s probably shoveling paths to the stable and later to the woodpile. The hands will take care of the bunkhouse and the other outbuildings as needed.”

There was a lot of snow to move, and it was lunchtime before most of the work with the snow was done. Adam invited Merry to join them in the stable as they groomed the animals and fed them. He told her she could help.

“But I don’t know how to do any of that.”

“You did once. You’ll remember soon enough. If you’re going to be living on a ranch, you need to know these things.”

“We’re going to be living here?”

“Well we need to talk about that and about when we’re getting married. We need to set a date.”

As they dressed and walked to the stable, Adam and Merry discussed the other questions they would need to answer. When Merry suggested June as a nice month to get married, Adam groaned and his brothers laughed. They knew exactly why he groaned, and although they sympathized with him on that, it was funny too. They guessed they had about four months to tease him about it.

“April is a good month too. Spring and all the flowers starting to bloom.”

“Now Adam, don’t you try to talk your fiancée out of that June wedding. Joe and I understand completely why she wants it then. April and May can have some right cold days, but June is always so nice.” Hoss grinned at Adam who threw him a scowl. Soon Joe and Hoss were laughing, and Merry had a pretty good idea why. She had not considered that when she picked a date.

“Adam, perhaps we could get married in April and then have a party to celebrate when the weather is nicer in June?”

With a smirk directed at his brothers, Adam agreed that Merry’s plan was fine with him. Then they got busy grooming the horses, mucking out stalls, getting hay down from the loft, and making sure the ice in the water buckets was removed. With all the work and the animals in the stable, it seemed reasonably warm in there. All of them took off their heavy coats as they worked. Adam found a problem in Sport’s halter so he removed it, replaced it with another, and sat on a bale of hay working at fixing the damaged one. With the work done, Merry sat next to him as Hoss and Joe retrieved their coats to head to the house.

“It is warm in here.”

Looking down at Merry, Adam had some idea what she was thinking. “It’s even warmer in the tack room if we fire up the stove that’s in there. We do that sometimes when we need to work on bridles or saddles and such when it’s cold out.”

“I probably need to be reminded how to take care of all of that tack. Perhaps we could spend some afternoons in the tack room working on my education.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea. But there will be no more working on your education in the house. I think Pa almost walked in on us last night. He made a few remarks that led me to think he had some idea what we were doing.”

“I wish you could just come to my room. I loved the night you spent there sleeping by my side. It seems so lonely now to go to bed.”

“Merry, would you be offended if I asked you to marry me now?”

“You already asked me to marry you.”

“No, I mean to get married now. We can still have a big party in June, but I miss not being with you too. We could have just a small ceremony here at the house with your sister and her family, and perhaps Roy and Paul.”

“Adam, that sounds wonderful. I only said April before because you had mentioned that. Now would be wonderful. Then we only have to behave ourselves for days instead of weeks or months.”

For the next several days, Adam and Merry spent a lot of time working on the tack. No one went to bother them because they didn’t want to embarrass themselves or the couple by walking in on them. That all changed on Friday. The February sun had been melting a lot of the snow. Roads were passable, and the Ponderosa had a guest, but he had some gruesome news. After Hoss went to find Adam and Merry at Roy’s request, they all gathered in the great room. It was clear from Roy’s demeanor that he did not want to have to say what he was going to say.

“Merry, Adam, there just ain’t no easy way to say this. There was fire last night, Merry, at your sister’s house. It burned plum clear to the ground before we could do anything about it. Now your nephew, Andrew, is over to Doc Martin’s place. He’s got some minor burns on his hands and feet but nothing serious. He got out by climbing out his window and sliding down the porch roof into the snow. If there hadn’t a been snow on that roof, I don’t know if he coulda gotten outta there before the fire got to him. That porch roof was right above where the fire burned hottest. Merry, I am so sorry to have to tell you that your sister and her husband perished in that fire.”

Knowing those words were coming didn’t help Merry accept them. She sagged back into Adam’s embrace, and he helped her sit on a chair. “What happened?”

“We don’t rightly know. The fire coulda started from the fireplace or from a lamp, but the fire started up in the hours just before dawn. Now that’s pretty odd, and I have no ideas at this point. I tried to tell your mother what happened, but I have to tell ya, she’s done buried herself in a bottle since Sunday. She couldn’t even understand what I was telling her.”

“Roy, what’s going to happen to Drew?”

“Well, Adam, now that’s the other thing. I can’t hardly let him live with his grandmother seeing as how she’s been drinking so much. I was wondering if you had room for him out here seeing as how Merry is his only other relative?”

Looking to his father for an answer, Adam held a quietly sobbing Merry in his arms. Ben answered Roy. “Of course, he can come here. When will he be ready to travel?”

“Well, today, actually. Doc said he’s just got some minor burns, and we know Hop Sing can handle that as well as any doctor. Ifn Merry and Adam was to come to town with me, we could get the proper papers signed, and then he could come back here with them.”

“Hoss, could you come with us? I think I might need some help.”

Hoss nodded immediately at the unaccustomed request for help from his older brother. “I’ll go hitch up the carriage right now.”

Ben agreed but added a caveat. “Joe can help and then the two of you can saddle up our horses. We’ll all go.”

The ride to town was quiet. There didn’t seem to be anything to be said that could help. Adam drove the carriage with Merry by his side. She wrapped an arm around his as he drove and rested her head against his shoulder. Adam kept a blanket across their legs for warmth, but it was a mild day for February. In town, Adam and Merry went directly to the doctor’s office. Ben and Hoss went to the undertaker to make sure that arrangements were made. Ben then went to their minister to ask for his assistance as Hoss went to the burned out house. Joe was already there and walking around.

“Hoss, what do you make of this?”

“Looks like a woman walked this way and then back again the same way. Her feet sank in further on the way to the house than on the walk away. Wonder why that is?”

“I might have an answer for you. Look over here. It’s still too hot to get in there and grab them, but what do those two things look like to you?”

“They look like syrup or oil cans.”

“Can you smell it when you stand right here?”

Hoss looked at Joe and grimaced. “When do you reckon we oughta tell Roy and Adam that this fire was set with coal oil?”