Will didn't look as though he believed him. Genevieve gave Adam an I-told-you-so look before turning back to the Meadows family.
'Adam does look like a gunslinger, but he really is a rancher. He and his brothers own quite a large spread outside of Blue Belle.'
'You own the land?' James asked Adam.
'Yes, sir, I do,' Adam replied.
James gave his son a quick nod of encouragement. The younger man immediately stepped forward again. He tried not to sound overly eager when he asked, 'Would you be looking to hire some extra hands?'
'I can always use more help,' Adam said. 'Are you looking for a job?'
'Yes, sir, I am,' Will answered. 'I can put in a long day doing any job you give me, and I won't stop until I get it done. I'm a good worker, sir, and I'm strong, real strong.'
'Ranching is hard work,' Adam warned.
'I'm not afraid of it,' Will replied.
'Then you've got a job,' Adam told him.
'We're headed for a new beginning. Jobs have dried up down south,' he explained. 'Where exactly might this ranch of yours be?'
Adam gave them directions to Rosehill. 'It will take you a good two weeks to walk all that way. I should be back home by then, but in the event I'm not, just tell my brother Cole you're there to work.'
'We'll make it without any trouble at all,' Will promised.
His wife grabbed hold of his arm and hugged him. There were tears in her eyes, and she was frantically trying to blink them away.
'I might be useful for you to hire too,' James said. 'I've got a few good years of work left in me.'
'Why don't we talk about this during lunch?' Genevieve suggested.
James looked as if he was about to decline the invitation. Adam thought he knew why. The family had obviously hit hard times, and they had probably used up all of their money too. They were dressed in clothes that were so worn they should have been thrown out. The little girls were barefoot, but aside from the dirt on the bottoms of their feet, they were spotlessly clean.
All of them looked in dire need of a good meal.
Genevieve wasn't going to take no for an answer. 'We were planning to have a picnic,' she announced. 'And we would love for you to join us. There's plenty of food, and I don't want it to go to waste. Isn't that right, Adam?'
The entire family turned to hear his reply.
'Yes, that's right,' he said.
'We'd be pleased to join you,' James announced with a nod.
Will and Ellie shared a smile. Genevieve beamed with pleasure. Adam knew she was relieved. She had obviously been worried about the family. She had seen the condition of their clothing and had assumed, as he had, that they were hungry, but unlike him, she had rushed forward to do something about it. Her generosity and compassion humbled him, and he no longer minded the delay in their journey at all.
They ate lunch by a stream about a half a mile south of the main road. While Adam took care of their horses, Ellie helped Genevieve spread the blanket on the ground and put the food out. There was cheese, salted ham, biscuits, apples, dried bananas, and sugar cookies for dessert. They drank cold water from the stream. Although Genevieve had enough food for all of them, she didn't eat much at all. She seemed content to nibble on a biscuit, and as soon as everyone had eaten their fill, she insisted they take most of the leftover food with them, using the excuse that she would have to throw it away if they didn't.
'How does a man like yourself end up owning a ranch?' James asked.
Adam shrugged. He wasn't used to telling anyone about his personal life. Private to the extreme, he decided to tell them that owning the ranch was a result of hard work and a lot of luck. Genevieve had other ideas. She decided to tell his life story.
He was too astonished to interrupt. She knew everything about him, which really wasn't all that surprising, since she had read his letters and Mama Rose would have filled in the gaps. What stunned him was the fact that she remembered so many details that even he had forgotten. She had a way with words, and by the time she was finished, she had romanticized the story until he barely recognized himself. She made him out to be a champion, a warrior, and a hero, and from the look in her eyes as she gazed at him and the sound of her voice as she spoke, he couldn't help but think that she really believed he was all those things.
The Meadowses were captivated by the tale. They stared up at him as though he had just grown a halo over his head. He gave Genevieve a look to let her know she was going to catch hell when they were alone. She smiled back at him.
Adam thought he and Genevieve should head for Gramby. Genevieve thought they should stay and visit for a spell. Will and James were full of questions about Rosehill. While Adam answered them, Genevieve sat by his side. She waited for a lull in the conversation and then suggested that he give Will and James an advance against their wages to secure their positions.
Adam knew what her real motive was. They needed money to replenish their supplies. Realizing how important it was for a man to hold on to his pride, she had come up with a solution that would be acceptable to them. James and Will both protested, and Genevieve must have thought that Adam was going to let them have their way, because she put her hand on his arm and pinched him.
He kept his attention centered on the grandfather while he put his hand down on top of hers and squeezed hard. She let out a little yelp and pulled away.
'If you work for me, you take the advance,' he told both men.
'Is that how it's done at Rosehill?' Will asked.
'Yes,' Genevieve blurted out.
Adam handed each man twenty dollars. 'I expect to see you at the ranch by the end of the month.'
He shook their hands to seal the bargain, told Genevieve it was time to leave, and then started to get up.
James Meadows changed his mind with his next remark. 'Adam, you've got the same noble look in your eyes that President Abraham Lincoln had when I saw him. Yes, sir, you do.'
Astounded, he asked, 'You saw Lincoln?'
'I sure did.'
Adam wanted to hear every detail. He sat back down, and for the next hour he listened in rapt fascination as James shared his remarkable experience of seeing the man Adam personally believed was the greatest orator and president of all time.
'He was on his way to Gettysburg,' James said. 'It was a terrible time back then. The war had already taken so many young men. Folks were scared, and rightly so, and when the war finally ended, everyone flooded into the cities looking for work. It was bad for a long spell, but then it got better for a while.'
'And now it's bad again,' Will interjected.
'Where is home?' Adam asked.
'The prettiest little spot in the whole country,' James boasted. ' Norfolk, Virginia.'
'Rosehill is very pretty too,' Genevieve said. 'I'm sure you're going to like living there, and soon you'll think of the town of Blue Belle as home.'
'I'm sure we will,' James agreed with a smile before turning back to Adam and asking him if he had ever been to Gettysburg.
'No, I haven't,' Adam replied.
'I walked the fields of battle,' James announced.
Adam wanted to hear all about it. He was impressed that James remembered the battles and the dates. He also knew details Adam had never read about.
While the men discussed the war, the twins took turns sitting on Genevieve's lap. She braided their hair and used the pink ribbons from the sleeves of her dress to tie bows for each of them. Ellie sat by her side. She and Genevieve whispered back and forth, and every now and then Genevieve would nod.
Adam kept glancing over at her. He heard one of the twins tell her she was pretty. He silently agreed.
It was going on three in the afternoon when Adam finally pulled Genevieve to her feet and insisted they get
