He Had Told the Boys at Breakfast and Had Been Dismayed at Their Reaction

ADJUSTMENTS

A Bonanza-tale

Chapter 1

Ben Cartwright was a happy man. Not only had his oldest son returned from college a week ago, but today the woman he loved would be having dinner at the Ponderosa. Finally she would meet his boys. He had already met her children, a 14 year old boy and a 17 year old girl. The boy was a bit mischievous, but a great kid and the girl was lovely. He was sure the kids would get along fine. So he had asked Kelly to bring her children along for dinner.

He had told the boys at breakfast and had been dismayed at their reaction.

“Shucks, pa, why do I have to be there?” A glare from pa silenced the 11 year old Little Joe. He ducked his head and mumbled: “Okay, sir.” He had great plans for the rest of the week and no intention on spending that time on restriction or a sore seat.

Adam’s reaction hadn’t been any better. “I wish you had told me earlier, pa, I’ve already made plans” He didn’t say what kind of plans, because he knew pa wouldn’t be happy about him seeing Glory, one of the saloongirls.

“Well, then you’ll just have to change them, son, I would like for you to be here to meet Mrs. Taylor.”

“I don’t think that is really fair, pa. It would be rude to cancel my date this late.” Adam wasn’t going to give up on this.

Ben knew full well who Adam’s date was for the night, he was no fool and word got around pretty quickly. “Let me rephrase it for you. You will cancel your date and you will be here and you will be pleasant all evening.” And another glare, now directed at his 22 year old.

Now the old Adam would have known to let it go by now, but Adam had been away for 4 years and had only been back home for a week, so he was a bit out of practice in reading his father. He was also used to more or less doing as he pleased for 4 years.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t do that.”

Little Joe and Hoss watched in fear as their pa after a moment of being stunned put his hands on the table and pushed himself up a bit. He fixed his son was a furious stare.

“That wasn’t a question, Adam. You WILL be here.” He barked.

Adam’s memory flooded back to him and he knew he would have to back down now. He had forgotten that look, but it could still make him feel like a 5 year old. He bowed his head.

“Yes, sir.” But inside he fumed. Pa might have won this battle, but this wasn’t over yet.

“Good.” Ben sat down again. He looked at his middle son, Hoss. Hoss hadn’t said a word yet. He was still eating. He felt pa’s eyes on him.

“Oh, yeah, great pa, I’ll be here. Just wish I didn’t hafta change in that dadburned suit.”

Ben smiled. He should have expected that. Hoss wouldn’t mind as long as it involved a good meal.

“Okay, boys, I’ll see you tonight. Joseph, you better get to school and make sure you won’t be kept after school, you’re to come straight home, understood.”

“Yes, pa.” Staying out of trouble was almost impossible for the impulsive boy, but he always tried. He quickly gathered his things and went to the barn to saddle his pony.

As soon as the boy had left Ben talked the jobs for the day through with Adam and Hoss. That didn’t take long and they soon followed the little boy outside to get to work.

Little Joe was thinking about that night on his way to school. He really didn’t like the fact of his pa seeing some stupid old lady. And she had kids too. Fortunately she was from Carson City, so the boy wasn’t in his school. That didn’t make him feel any better though. And on top of all that having Adam back meant having another “pa” around. He had already started to hassle him about his homework, his manners, his hair. Boy, you’d think his big brother had never met an 11 year old kid before. So, even though he had been shocked at Adam’s word at breakfast, it had secretly felt good to hear pa bellow at old Adam.

At school he immediately went over to his best friends, Garry, L.M. and B.C. and told them all about it. But they didn’t have time to talk much, because Miss Jones rang the bell and they had to go inside.

Miss Jones had decided to try and teach the class something about Shakespeare and she was reading out loud from A Midsummernightsdream, which of course most of the children felt was boring. She was getting quite annoyed with all the whispers and giggles from the children but kept on reading. While she read she walked through the classroom, citing the lines with handgestures she felt appropriate for the parts. That of course made things worse.

She was becoming agitated and decided to make the next child an example.

She didn’t have to wait long. As she put her hand over her heart at one particular line, she heard a boy whisper: “Yikes, she’s getting all mushy on us.” She looked up and heard the response coming from Little Joe: “Yeah, as if anyone ever talks like that.”

“Little Joe Cartwright, get over here.” She shouted. Little Joe bristled at the name. She always had to call him little, he wasn’t little. But he knew this was not a good time to make objections. Reluctantly he stood up and walked up front.

“Yes, miss.”

“Who were you talking to?” Now, you could say a lot of things about Little Joe, but he wasn’t a tattletale. Unfortunately he wasn’t a liar either. So he did the only thing he could do: he looked at his boots.

“Alright, you have it your way.” She took out her ruler. “Right hand up.” Darn, she remembered he was left-handed. He had hoped to have at least an excuse not to write. He hold out his right hand, trying to look brave. She smacked the ruler down on his hand three times. Not enough to really make him cry, but it did hurt a lot and he was glad she stopped. He didn’t give her the satisfaction of rubbing his hand, so he just waited stoically to be told to go back to his seat. Miss Jones waited a moment, then put the ruler down and told the boy to return to his seat, which he did. As soon as he noticed she wasn’t looking at him, he rubbed his hand a little. Even though it hurt, he was very glad she hadn’t given him a note for pa. Notes usually meant trouble at home and since he was supposed to stay out of trouble today his pa would be angry with him and might decide he needed a necessary talking to. And that was something he wanted to avoid.

At recess Garry came up to him.

“Sorry about that, Little Joe, I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”

“Oh, it’s ok, didn’t hurt a bit. Just glad she didn’t give me a note or made me stay after school.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. Watcha gonna do about that Mrs. Taylor your pa’s been seein’?”

“Don’t really know yet, but I’ll think of something. Might need your help though.”

“Hey, you got it. And I’m sure L.M. and C.B. will help too.”

“Great, well, I’ll let you know. Oh, darn, we gotta go inside again.”

The afternoon was pretty uneventful. Little Joe managed to stay out of trouble and he was home in time for chores for a change.

“That’ll make pa happy. I sure don’t want him to get mad at me again.” He didn’t know he said that out loud until he heard Hoss say: “So you finally figgered that out, didya, Shortshanks?”

Startled the boy looked at his brother. “Oh, hiya Hoss. Well, I’m in time ain’t I?”

“Year, you are. But I’m mighty glad you’re home, cause Adam has been working himself up to a temper all day and I sure wish I could be somewhere else tonight.”

“Oh boy. That’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, no kiddin’!” Hoss sighed. “Well, better get inside and change into those dadburned suits.”

An hour later all three Cartwright boys were waiting downstairs for their pa and the widow Taylor and her children. Adam was pretending to read, but even Little Joe could tell he wasn’t. Hoss was fiddling with his.

Finally they heard a carriage in the yard. A couple of moments later the door opened. All boys stood up respectfully, although Adam did take a little more time and actually leaned a bit against the blue velvet chair he’d been sitting in.

“Kelly, these are my boys, Adam, Eric, but we call him Hoss, and Little Joe. Boys, I’d like you to meet Mrs. Taylor..” the boys shook her hand, eyeing the boy and girl. Adam suddenly seemed a little more interested at the sight of the lovely girl that had entered. “…her son Robbie and her daughter Valerie.”

Chapter 2

Hoss extended his hand to welcome Valerie, but was cut off by his older brother, who took the girls hand, saying: “welcome on the Ponderosa, Valerie, it sure is nice to have such a nice girl for dinner.”

Valerie blushed a little: “Thank you, Adam, it’s nice to be here.”

Hoss had retreated. He knew he could never beat his brother when it came to dealing with girls. He had always been shy and awkward and somehow Adam always knew what to say and how to say it. Even before he went to college there were always girls swooning over him. Heck even Little Joe knew how to talk to girls. So why couldn’t he? Life was not fair.

In the mean time Robbie and Little Joe had found each other as they talked about horses. Little Joe had his heart set on a pinto and he was giving Robbie a full description. Robbie had a feeling this boy could be fun.

At that moment Hop Sing entered. “Dinner leady, all eat now.”

“Oh and that is the last member of our family: Hop Sing.” Ben introduced the cook to Kelly.

“Nice to meet you, Hop Sing, Ben has been telling me so much about your cooking that I can hardly wait to try it.” She had won Hop Sing’s heart immediately. He gave her a big smile and hurried to the kitchen.

“And Hop Sing doesn’t like waiting, so we better sit down.” Ben laughed.

All during dinner Adam was looking at Valerie and Hoss was watching the both of them. Ben didn’t see any of this because he was too happy to have the woman he loved with him.

But he was a bit nervous about the announcement they would be making after dinner. He had a feeling that the children wouldn’t except the news easily. He was contemplating his speech, when he was rudely interrupted by some bickering. It seemed Hoss had taken the last corn that Robbie had wanted. Now Hoss had been taught better manners, after all they had guests. So Ben opened his mouth to correct the boy, when Kelly sternly said:

”Robbie Taylor, you stop pushing Hoss right this minute.” Ben had missed that. He stifled a chuckle, the boy had guts to push a boy as big as Hoss.

Robbie looked at his mom defiantly, although he didn’t say a word.

“You be nice, you know what I promised you would happen if you didn’t behave yourself.”

The boy paled slightly and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Sorry about that Ben, the boy knows better, but well, sometimes he needs to be reminded.” Robbie blushed and ducked his head.

“Oh, he wasn’t entirely to blame here. Hoss knows guests always come first, don’t you son?”

Now it was Hoss’ turn to blush. “Yes, sir, I jist plumb forgot fer a minute.”

And that was the only incident over dinner. Much too soon Hop Sing brought the coffee in and Ben knew it was time to tell the children the big news. He looked up at them and then looked at Kelly. They smiled at each other. He stood up, walked over to her and with his hands on her shoulder said:

“Boys, Valerie, your mother and I have something to tell you and we know it will come as a bit of a surprise for you, but we hope you will be happy for us.”

Adam looked up in shock, he knew where this was going to and he didn’t like it. He had been there too many times already.

Ben took a deep breath: “Kelly has agreed to become my wife.” Kelly put her hand on his hand and squeezed it. They waited for the explosion and it wasn’t long in coming.

“Ma…” Valerie whined. “How could you, pa has only been dead a year! How could you?”

Little Joe was pale as a ghost. A new mama? He didn’t want a new mama. He had a mama, even though she was in heaven.

“But I don’t want you to, pa. I don’t see why you would need a new wife. You’ve got us, haven’t you?”

Robbie just slumped back in his chair. He already had gotten one warning. He knew his mother never gave a second warning. But he sure didn’t have to like it.

“So, when’s the big date?” Hoss asked with a big smile, just as Adam stood up and said:

“I don’t think I can be quite as happy for you as Hoss here. You could as least have given us a warning. Then again, you didn’t do that last time either, when you brought Marie home, introducing her as our new mother. Well, all I ever see are women after our money, pa and somehow I don’t think Kelly will be any different.” And he started to walk out the door.

Well, they had known it wasn’t going to be easy, but they hadn’t expected them to take it this bad. Kelly was very upset and even though Ben was equally upset, he knew he had to do something.

“Adam you stay here.” The tone in his father’s voice stopped Adam in his tracks and he slowly turned. “Now, I understand this is a shock for you all, but fact of the matter is we love each other and want to be together. Now I think if you all gave it a try you could get along fine and we could be a family. Now, whether you like it or not, the wedding is in two weeks time and after that Kelly, Valerie and Robbie will be moving in, so I suggest you get used to the idea.” He tried to calm down, he didn’t want to cower them into “liking” each other. “Little Joe, why don’t you show Robbie your pony and Hoss, why don’t you show Valerie around a bit, maybe show her the corral. I’m sure she’d love that.”

A little reluctant Robbie followed Little Joe to the barn and Valerie went outside with Hoss. Adam remained standing in the room.

“Adam, I expect you to give a good example and use a decent tone of voice with me and Kelly. Now Kelly doesn’t mind you calling her by her first name, but you shouldn’t have done that before you had permission to do so and as for her being after my money, even though that’s none of your business, I can honestly say that she is wealthy enough not to need any of my money. So I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself and be polite.”