Kathleen T. Berney
RATING: G
SUMMARY: Adam faces what may be the most terrifying moment of his life.
The Longest Walk
By Kathleen T. Berney
With heart racing a mile a minute, and hands trembling, Adam tried once again to properly knot the black string tie hanging limp and slightly wrinkled about his neck.
"Adam . . . maybe y' better let me," Hoss offered, noting with growing concern his older brother's rigidly tensed body, and face, white as a sheet. Most unsettling were those golden brown eyes, round as saucers, staring back at him the way a cornered, a rabbit, hopelessly trapped, stares back at the predator.
Adam nodded mutely, as he slowly lowered his arms and gave himself over to his biggest brother's ministrations. Doubts relentlessly assailed him, one after the other, after the other, like the rapid firing of a Gatling gun. For every reason he came up with for going through with this . . . he found a hundred reasons why he shouldn't. He swallowed nervously, as his eyes left Hoss' face and settled on the fast closed door, set into the wall directly facing him. On the other side, no more than ten yards away, stood the hitching post to which his and Hoss' mounts were tethered . . . still saddled . . . still ready to ride.
"It would be so easy . . . ." Adam mused silently, as tiny beads of sweat began to dot his brow, ". . . so easy . . . . "Just a quick side step, followed by a mad dash across the room, and a quick sprint to his horse, he would well on his way, headed for the proverbial hills, before anyone could even think of stopping him.
"Adam?!" Hoss' voice, filled with apprehension, cut through his desperate thoughts of escape like a hot knife through butter. "Adam . . . you alright?!"
"F-Fine," Adam barely managed to stammer. "I . . . I'm just fine."
Hoss' anxious frown deepened.
"I AM fine, H-Hoss . . . honest."
"There. Your tie's on straight, 'n tied proper," Hoss said, fighting to keep down the rising tide of panic within himself. Adam was just about the bravest man he knew . . . next to Pa, of course. This oldest brother of his had faced down things that made HIM turn to jelly inside, . . . cool as the proverbial cucumber, without so much as batting an eyelash. Seeing Adam as he was now, with his entire body tensed, ready to bolt at the slightest provocation, unnerved him.
"Mister Cartwright?" a deep, sepulchral voice inquired.
Adam and Hoss turned their faces slowly to the place from whence that voice issued. A man, tall and reed slender, attired in black from head to toe, stood before the other door in the room, the one set into the wall on their right, with his long, thin fingers wrapped loosely about the door knob.
"It's time."
"Come on . . . let's get your coat on," Hoss murmured softly as he helped Adam on with the jacket of his good black suit.
Adam immediately abandoned his mad plan of escape and resigned himself to the fate awaiting him with a fatalistic aplomb. He swallowed again and turned his face toward the door, now opening out onto a large room, filled with people. "This is going to be the longest walk I've ever taken in my entire life," he mused in fearful silence as he stepped up to the open door, his eyes tracing out the path that lay ahead of him. He closed his eyes and took a deep, ragged breath, as he balled his hands into a pair of tight, rock hard fists to hide their trembling.
"Adam . . . you SURE you're gonna be alright?" Hoss whispered, as he followed his brother toward the door, now standing wide open.
"I'll be fine," Adam whispered back. He drew himself up to full height, squared his shoulders, and then stepped through the door, walking a few steps behind the tall, thin man with the deep, sepulchral voice. Hoss followed, uneasy and uncertain . . . .
**********
"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God to join this man . . . and this woman in the bonds of holy matrimony," the man with the deep, sepulchral intoned, gazing out onto the sea of faces gathered into the church sanctuary.
Adam turned to gaze upon the beautiful woman standing beside him, bedecked in a white gown of silk and lace, her face demurely veiled, her small hand resting trustingly within his own. He smiled, and felt his heart swell to near bursting, when she smiled back. His fears, so palpable, so real were all but gone now, swallowed up in a veritable ocean of the deep, abiding, all consuming love between himself and this woman, whom he would, within the next few minutes, take for wife.
The Beginning.