Summary:\u00a0 Adam Cartwright sentimental?\u00a0 A certain day and a certain blue velvet chair hold bittersweet memories.<\/p>\n
Word Count: 3019<\/p>\n
Rated: G<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Forget Me Not<\/strong><\/p>\n *********<\/p>\n 1862<\/p>\n Adam Cartwright paused at the door, hat in hand.\u00a0 So far he had made it\u00a0 down the stairs, all the way through breakfast, back up the stairs to change, and returned to the entry without incident.\u00a0 On his way he heard no stifled snickers or furtive whispers.\u00a0 No one moved too quickly, ducked around a corner, or exchanged one of ‘those’ looks with someone else.<\/p>\n He must have gotten up on God’s good side this morning.<\/p>\n As he stood there, his hand on the latch, two sets of approaching footsteps alerted him to the fact that he had better let go and move back, otherwise he could end up with a bloody nose.\u00a0 A moment later the door was flung open and his two younger brothers rolled in sporting smiles.<\/p>\n Sneaky<\/em> smiles.<\/p>\n “Hey, Adam!” Little Joe tossed off casually as he headed for the table before the fire and its bowl of enticing apples. \u00a0“We decided you must have sneaked out the back door and were halfway to San Francisco by now.”<\/p>\n “We sure<\/em> did!\u00a0 How come you’re draggin’ them fancy boot-heels of yours, older brother?\u00a0 We got work to do.”\u00a0 Hoss frowned.\u00a0 “You ain’t\u2026scared of nothin’ happenin’ today, are you?”<\/p>\n Baby brother had taken a seat by the fire and was happily munching his apple as he warmed himself.\u00a0 It might have been April, but it was cold as December outside and the two of them had been waiting for him in the wagon.\u00a0 They were due to head to town.<\/p>\n “Scared?\u00a0 Me?” he asked as he followed Joe into the great room.\u00a0 “Now, what reason could I possibly have to be scared?\u00a0 After all, I have the two best<\/em> brothers in the whole wide world with whom I share a deep fraternal love.”\u00a0 Adam eyed them each in turn.\u00a0 “I know neither of you would ever<\/em> do anything to hurt me.”<\/p>\n “Hurt you?\u00a0 Of course not!” Little Joe replied.\u00a0 “We love and respect you, older brother. Don’t we, Hoss?”<\/p>\n The big man was nodding his head.\u00a0 “Sure do!”<\/p>\n He wasn’t buying it.<\/p>\n “Even on April Fool’s Day?”<\/p>\n Baby brother batted those black eyelashes of his and put on his best ‘innocent’ face.\u00a0 “Oh?” he asked, “is it April Fools Day?”<\/p>\n Adam crossed his arms.\u00a0 “I’d have to be a fool to believe you didn’t know.”<\/p>\n Joe tossed the remainder of his apple into the fire and then rose to his feet.\u00a0 “I’m all grown up now, Adam,” he said.\u00a0 “I haven’t pulled any practical jokes in years<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Which was precisely<\/em> why he was expecting one.<\/p>\n “You done pulled some doozeys when you was a little tyke, Joe,” Hoss snorted.<\/p>\n Adam sighed.\u00a0 He remembered some of those early ‘doozeys’.\u00a0 Little Joe’s co-conspirator had often been his mother.\u00a0 Marie had a wicked sense of humor – and a penchant for mischief just like her son.<\/p>\n Unbidden, the black-haired man’s gaze shifted from his mischievous youngest brother to the Romanesque chair beside him.\u00a0 It’s vibrant blue color shouted in defiance, anchored as it was in a masculine sea of sober wine and brown.<\/p>\n April Fools Day.\u00a0 It always reminded him of Marie.<\/p>\n And of why he loved that chair.<\/p>\n *********<\/p>\n 1844<\/p>\n “What do you think we oughta do?”<\/p>\n Fourteen-year-old Adam Cartwright looked at the area to the right of the hearth and then drew his fingers across his chin in unconscious imitation of his father.<\/p>\n “I’m thinking\u2026maybe you and I should ask Pa if it’s okay if we go camping tonight.”<\/p>\n “Ain’t it too cold?”<\/p>\n April was proving to be a challenge this year.\u00a0 Still\u2026.<\/p>\n “It’s never too cold for camping.”<\/p>\n Or escaping.<\/p>\n Eight-year-old Hoss scratched his reddish-blond head.\u00a0 “How’s that gonna help?\u00a0 If Pa sees that there thing sittin’ there, he’s gonna\u2026.”<\/p>\n “We catch him outside.\u00a0 Before<\/em> he sees it.”<\/p>\n “You think Pa’s gonna be\u00a0 mad?”<\/p>\n The older boy halted, his hand on the latch.\u00a0 “I don’t know.\u00a0 Usually Marie can get by with anything, but Pa’s pretty\u2026bull-headed when it comes to certain things.”<\/p>\n “Whoo-ee!\u00a0 You ain’t kiddin’, older brother!\u00a0 I remember me that time I came down the stairs wearin’ my Sunday pants with my work boots.”\u00a0 Hoss shook his head slowly as he let out a long, heartfelt sigh.\u00a0 “It weren’t a picture!”<\/p>\n It certainly hadn’t been.\u00a0 He’d thought their father was going to collapse from a fit of apoplexy. \u00a0He didn’t remember much about living in Boston, but he remembered enough.\u00a0 There had been rules for everything – how to sit, how to stand, what time to eat; which fork to use and when.\u00a0 Pa was just as strict about ‘attire’.\u00a0 Even when they’d been a part of a wagon train heading west, the older man had always seen to it that they looked like gentlemen.<\/p>\n Beggarly ones at times, but gentlemen.<\/p>\n Pa told him once that, even though it was true that the West was peopled by uncouth, uneducated, and uncivilized men, his sons would not<\/em> be counted among them.<\/p>\n Adam’s hazel eyes flicked to the offending object.\u00a0 There was nothing wrong with it.\u00a0 It was just that, considering everything else <\/em>in the house, it was\u2026well\u2026out of place.<\/p>\n “When Ma took it out of that there crate she didn’t act like she was skeered of Pa none.”<\/p>\n Adam swallowed his chuckle.\u00a0 Marie wasn’t afraid of anything.<\/em> \u00a0No, that wasn\u2019t right.\u00a0 The lovely woman did <\/em>have her fears and most of them concerned Little Joe.\u00a0 \u00a0But she wasn’t afraid of Pa.<\/p>\n Not one whit!<\/p>\n Their father was away.\u00a0 He’d gone to the settlement to deal with business, so he hadn’t been around to see Old Charley roll into the yard, or<\/em> to help remove the gigantic crate from the back of his wagon.\u00a0 When the sturdily-constructed wooden box marked ‘San Francisco’ hit the ground, he couldn’t help but note how it was almost as tall as his stepmother.\u00a0 Marie had clapped her hands with delight and Little Joe – he was two and easily influenced – did the same while letting out a loud whoop!\u00a0 After that, the two of them joined hands and did a little dance.<\/p>\n It was rather confusing.<\/p>\n When they stopped, he asked Marie what was in the crate.<\/p>\n ‘A surprise, mon loulou!” <\/em>she beamed.<\/p>\n That was her pet name for him – mon loulou<\/em>.\u00a0 Marie assured him it was a term of endearment in France applied only to men and it meant ‘my wolf.’\u00a0 Hop Sing, however, told him it’s other form – mon loup<\/em> – actually meant ‘sparky’.<\/p>\n Sparky.<\/p>\n Sadly, Little Joe loved the feel of his nickname on his tongue.\u00a0 Every time Marie used it, Joe used it too – as he understood it.\u00a0 His baby brother would grin from ear to ear as he declared, ‘Adam is loopy.\u00a0 Adam is loopy. \u00a0Adam is\u2026.”<\/p>\n Marie had quite<\/em> a sense of humor.<\/p>\n “Hey, Adam!\u00a0 You hear that?\u00a0 Pa’s comin’!”<\/p>\n Even as Hoss declared their doom, a sound made Adam turn toward the stairs.\u00a0 What he found reminded the fourteen-year-old that God had a sense of humor too.\u00a0 Marie and Little Joe had been upstairs.\u00a0 She was headed their way now carrying their baby brother in her arms.<\/p>\n The two of them were singing ‘Frere Jacques’ at the top of their lungs.<\/p>\n As the song waltzed down the steps before them, the door opened and their father – their tired, half-frozen, saddle-sore and bone weary, father walked in.\u00a0 The older man’s gaze settled on him first and then moseyed on over to his over-sized eight-year-old brother who was standing close by.<\/p>\n “Is something wrong?” Pa asked, a note of angst in his tone.<\/p>\n “No, sir. \u00a0Everything is fine,” Adam answered quickly.<\/p>\n “Then why are the two of you standing so close to the door?” Pa inquired as he hung his hat on the peg beside it.\u00a0\u00a0 “Were you looking for me for some reason?”<\/p>\n Hoss spoke up.\u00a0 “Me and Adam was gonna ask if we could go campin’ tonight, Pa.”<\/p>\n Their father’s bushy black brows knit together in the middle.\u00a0 “On a school night?”<\/p>\n Oops.<\/p>\n Adam winced.\u00a0 “Sorry, Pa.\u00a0 I thought it was Friday.”<\/p>\n “Well, it’s not.\u00a0 It’s Thursday<\/em> and about time you both got to bed.\u00a0 You need your rest and – ”<\/p>\n Dead silence was never a good thing.<\/p>\n Though Pa’s raised voice was worse.<\/p>\n “What is THAT?”<\/p>\n “It’s a chair, Pa,” Hoss replied.\u00a0 “Don’t you know what a chair is?”<\/p>\n The older man strode over to the hearth and halted beside the elegant Romanesque chair.\u00a0 It had been a pipe dream to hope he might miss it.\u00a0 The bright blue-velvet chair looked as out of place in the red and brown great room as a beeve in a chicken coop.<\/p>\n “Great Jehoshaphat!” Pa exclaimed.\u00a0 “What is that<\/em> doing here?”<\/p>\n “Is it not marvelous, Mon<\/em> moiti\u00e9?”<\/em> Marie asked as she made her appearance amidst a swish of satin skirts and the scent of French cologne.\u00a0 Little Joe was balanced on her hip and he was beaming as broadly as his mama.<\/p>\n “Papa!\u00a0 Papa!\u00a0 Look!\u00a0 The seaty place blue like Hoss’ eyes!”<\/p>\n “Yes.\u00a0 I can see the ‘seaty place\u2026the chair is blue,” Pa said, his tone matching the growing color in his cheeks. \u00a0“It’s the only<\/em> blue thing in the room, how could I not<\/em> see it?”<\/p>\n Little Joe was only two but he knew that tone.\u00a0 Of course, it usually came just before a swat on the britches.<\/p>\n “Don’t you like blue, Papa?” he asked, his little voice trembling.<\/p>\n “Oui, Mon Cher<\/em>,” Marie echoed.\u00a0 “Do you not like blue?”<\/p>\n Pa hesitated. \u00a0After all, this was<\/em> Marie and – most times – Marie could do no wrong.<\/p>\n “It’s not, well, that I have anything against blue, my love,” \u00a0Pa answered.\u00a0 He was speaking slowly; choosing his words carefully. \u00a0“But, do you see any other<\/em> blue in this room?”<\/p>\n “Of course not, that is why I bought it,” the lovely woman answered, her tone implying that Pa had the IQ of the village idiot.\u00a0 Marie met his intense gaze with a sharp one of her own.\u00a0 “It is an ‘accent’ chair.\u00a0 The room needed\u2026.” She frowned, searching for the word or phrase.\u00a0 “Comment dites-vous?<\/em>\u00a0 How do you say\u2026.\u00a0 Waking up?”<\/p>\n “There is nothing wrong with this room!” Pa declared.\u00a0 ” I happen to like it sleeping!”<\/p>\n “Papa mad!\u00a0 Papa is shouting!” Little Joe wailed as tears formed in his eyes and streaked down his chubby cheeks. \u00a0“Little Joe don’t like Papa shouting!”<\/p>\n “Benjamin, you are upsetting our son,” Marie breathed.<\/p>\n Or maybe, seethed.<\/p>\n “Well, you’ve upset me, woman!” Pa countered – and regretted it as soon as the words were out of his mouth.<\/p>\n “Woman?\u00a0 Woman!”<\/em> his step-mother shrieked.\u00a0 “Mon Dieu!<\/em>\u00a0 I am your wife, Benjamin Cartwright, and you will treat me with respect.\u00a0 If not, then perhaps I will take our son and go back to New Orleans where the men are ‘gentle’ men!”<\/p>\n Pa sputtered.\u00a0 “You will do no such thing!”<\/p>\n Marie went toe to toe with Pa, which was amusing since Pa was over six foot and Marie barely topped five foot four.<\/p>\n “Just you try me!” she warned.<\/p>\n “Pa.”<\/p>\n Both Marie and his father turned to glare at him.\u00a0 Pa took a step forward.<\/p>\n And then dissolved into laughter.<\/p>\n Little Joe was terrible confused.<\/p>\n So was he.<\/p>\n “Pa?”<\/p>\n His father came over to him and planted a hand on his shoulder even as he used the other one to swipe a tear from his eye.<\/p>\n “I’m sorry, son.\u00a0 Will you forgive us our little joke?”<\/p>\n “You sure that was a joke, Pa?” Hoss asked.\u00a0 “Ain’t no one laughin’ but you.”<\/p>\n Pa’s free hand went to his little brother’s shoulder.\u00a0 “Do you know what day it is, son?\u00a0 Sons?” he added looking back at him.<\/p>\n Adam thought a moment. \u00a0\u00a0What ‘day’?\u00a0 Why would that <\/em>matter?\u00a0 It was April.<\/p>\n April first.<\/p>\n April Fools<\/em> day.<\/p>\n Marie was shushing Little Joe.\u00a0 She wiped away his tears and then turned to look at him.\u00a0 “April first, Adam. \u00a0Do you remember?”<\/p>\n He blinked.\u00a0 Remember?<\/p>\n “Remember what?”<\/p>\n The lovely woman came toward him.\u00a0 She handed Little Joe off to Pa and instructed the startled man to take their weeping and wailing little boy to the kitchen for a cookie before coming to stand before him.<\/p>\n “This day,” she said.\u00a0 “One year ago.”<\/p>\n One year?<\/p>\n Last <\/em>year.<\/p>\n Good Lord!\u00a0 How could he have forgotten?<\/p>\n It had been a frigid beginning to the month – cold as this April was turning out to be.\u00a0 A late snow lay on the ground.\u00a0 He and Marie had quarreled about something – he had no idea what any more.\u00a0 He had grown so mad he’d thrown, well, a tantrum, the end of which saw him slamming the door and taking off into the cold without a coat.<\/p>\n Marie followed him.<\/p>\n She found him up by the lake half-frozen.\u00a0 He’d gone there to think.\u00a0 He’d decided that, at thirteen, he was old enough to be master of his own destiny and was contemplating running away.\u00a0 Marie, God bless her,\u00a0 brought his winter coat and a pot of hot coffee with her.\u00a0 She came out of nowhere to drop the garment about his shivering shoulders and then sat down and poured them both a cup.<\/p>\n They sat in silence with the steam rising up into the air for some time before she spoke.<\/p>\n “I am sorry, Adam. \u00a0I should not have made you angry.”<\/p>\n “You didn’t\u2026make<\/em>\u2026me angry, Marie,” he confessed.\u00a0 “I am quite capable of doing that for myself.”<\/p>\n “You remind me\u2026.”\u00a0 She stopped.<\/p>\n “Remind you of what?”<\/p>\n A slight smile curled her full lips.\u00a0 She took a sip and then said, “Of me when I was younger.”<\/p>\n “You?!”<\/p>\n The beautiful woman nodded.\u00a0 “My maman<\/em> remarried when I was young. \u00a0I did not like him.\u00a0 I made his life\u2026mis\u00e8rable.<\/em>”<\/p>\n “Marie, I don’t\u2026dislike you.”<\/p>\n She turned toward him.\u00a0 Her eyes were misting. \u00a0“But you do not like me?\u00a0 Oui?”<\/em><\/p>\n He felt like a heel.<\/p>\n “It’s not that. It’s\u2026.”<\/p>\n “I am not Ingrid.”<\/p>\n He frowned.\u00a0 “I know you’re not. \u00a0I don’t expect you to be.”<\/p>\n “Non<\/em>.\u00a0 I do not mean that.\u00a0 I mean, ‘I am not <\/em>Ingrid’.\u00a0 I will not die and leave you.\u00a0 Dieu<\/em> willing, at least.”\u00a0 Marie held his gaze.\u00a0 “Do not be angry, Adam.\u00a0 This I must say.\u00a0 You are afraid of me.”<\/p>\n “No, I’m not!”<\/p>\n “Oui<\/em>, you are.\u00a0 You are afraid to love me because you fear I will leave you as Ingrid did – as your own mother did.”<\/p>\n His jaw was tight.\u00a0 He said nothing.<\/p>\n “There is a remedy for such pain,” she said as she drew her cloak closer about her neck.\u00a0 “I believe you know what it is.”<\/p>\n He shook his head.<\/p>\n “You are fond of Mr. Thoreau’s writings are you not?”<\/p>\n That<\/em> took him by surprise.\u00a0 Marie knew, of course, that he was.\u00a0 The nicest book of Thoreau’s writings he owned had been a gift from his step-mother.<\/p>\n “There is no remedy for love\u2026” she began.<\/p>\n “\u2026but to love more,” he finished.<\/p>\n Marie had the most amazing green eyes.\u00a0 They settled on him as she said, “Wise words\u2026from a wise man.”<\/p>\n She didn’t mean Thoreau.<\/p>\n She meant him.<\/em><\/p>\n Marie touched his cheek with her fingers, pulling him back to the present.\u00a0 Little Joe had stopped wailing and Hoss, deciding that the war had been averted, had retired to the settee and was reading a book.\u00a0 It was just the two of them, standing by the door.\u00a0 Normally he avoided touch, but somehow – at this moment – it seemed right.<\/p>\n Adam covered his step-mother’s fingers with his own and said, “I remember. \u00a0That was the day you and I became friends.”<\/p>\n “Oui<\/em>.”\u00a0 Her lips curled with that same smile.\u00a0 “But there was something more.”<\/p>\n “Oh?”<\/p>\n “Do you remember what I said to you as we climbed into the buggy to return home?”<\/p>\n He\u00a0 thought a moment.\u00a0 “You told me that I needed a better place for contemplation.\u00a0 That the one I had chosen was\u2026.”<\/p>\n “Blue as your nose on a cold day.”<\/p>\n Adam’s eyes flicked to the chair.<\/p>\n “This one is blue as forget-me-nots,” Marie said as she took his hand and led him over to the chair and waited until he had taken a seat.\u00a0 “It is a gift from me to you, so you will remember me when I am gone.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ******<\/p>\n 1862<\/p>\n Adam blinked back tears.<\/p>\n “Hey, Adam. You okay?”<\/p>\n He had been unaware of his youngest brother coming to his side.\u00a0 \u00a0Adam braced himself and then turned to look at Little Joe.\u00a0 There were times the resemblance to his mother was startling and this was one of them.<\/p>\n “I’m fine,” he replied with a sniff.<\/p>\n Hoss slapped his back as he joined them.\u00a0 “Well, then, older brother, we best get to work.\u00a0 Pa ain’t gonna be happy if that lumber don’t make its way to Old Man Morgan’s and make it on time!”<\/p>\n Adam nodded.\u00a0 ‘Of course.\u00a0 We should go.”<\/p>\n Little Joe moved toward the door but stopped just short of it.\u00a0 With a grin, he said, “Age before beauty, older brother.”<\/p>\n He had a soft spot for his little brother.\u00a0 At the moment it was deepened by the memory of his mother, standing by that very door with her hand on his cheek. \u00a0Hurrying over to his hat, the black-haired man anchored it low on his forehead to hide the mist in his eyes.\u00a0 Hoss stepped away as he did, sensing he needed his space.<\/p>\n “After you, big brother.”<\/p>\n With a nod Adam put his hand to the latch and pulled the door open and stepped outside.\u00a0 As soon as he did, he knew he’d been had.<\/p>\n His boot struck a rope.\u00a0 There was a sound.<\/p>\n Seconds later he was dripping water and staring at the empty bucket at his feet.<\/p>\n Adam turned to find Hoss wiping his eyes and Little Joe rolling on the floor clutching his middle.\u00a0 He could see they were laughing, but it wasn’t either one of them he heard.\u00a0 What he heard was a light, \u00a0lilting, feminine laugh.\u00a0 It echoed across the years to warm his sodden form and touch his heart.<\/p>\n Marie needn’t have worried.<\/p>\n He could never <\/em>forget her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tags: \u00a0<\/strong>Adam Cartwright, Ben Cartwright, Family, Hoss Cartwright, Joe \/ Little Joe Cartwright, Marie Cartwright, wife \/ wives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary: Adam Cartwright sentimental?\u00a0 A certain day and a certain blue velvet chair hold bittersweet memories.<\/p>\n Word Count: 3019 Rated: G<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10058,"featured_media":30493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[23,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-prequels","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-30-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Young-Adam-scaled.jpg?fit=1863%2C2560&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10058"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}