Posted February 9, 2023
Location: Lickskillet Cafe, the Pike Ranch, and back.
JulieS: Timeline Note: Date: Sometime between 23 April and 12 May 1876 (Best guess for the timeline - some things are mentioned that don't happen until after Emeline and Barnabas get married on 12 May 1876).
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It was near seven o'clock in the morning. Barnabas "Pronto" Pike was busy saddling both horses for the promised Sunday ride with Em. As he worked he considered just how lucky he really was. He had found a place to call home, something he thought was not in the cards after Julia Dey passed, but he was wrong.
Kalispell Montana had been a pleasant surprise for him, in more ways than one, the most important being his meeting Emeline Blakesley, and that she was not attached romantically. Just the thought of her made him smile. And then there was Speed Guyer, a man that excepted him for who he was and included him in keeping the peace in Kalispell.
Yet thinking of his friend, he wondered about him. The one ad only time he had ever seen him with a woman was at the Spring Festival dance when he appeared with Leah Steelgrave, but then left to make his rounds, so he wondered, as there were many a single females in town.
With the horses saddled and ready, he mounted and trotted both animals to the cafe where he stepped down and tied them up, fortunate to find room at the hitch rails. He skipped up onto the board walk and opened the door, stepping inside.
"Ready when you are, Em." He said with an ear to ear grin.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Posted March 26, 2021 / Emeline Pike
Emeline had been in the kitchen, finishing packing lunch when the sound of footsteps caught her attention and she smiled, looking forward to seeing Barnabas, and looking forward to the day ahead with him. After he had given her her own horse for Christmas, she had made a split-skirt for riding, so she didn't have to wear over-sized men's britches any more, and along with that, she had on a hunter green shirtwaist and riding boots. Her hair was pulled back in a braid, and she plopped on a floppy straw hat as she turned to face Barnabas.
"Just in time!" she declared with a grin, stepping over to give him a hug and a kiss that probably lingered a bit longer than proper, but what matter? It would all be right and proper soon enough!
"I'm ready! Let me grab the food and we're off!"
Posted March 27, 2021
“You know me, Em, never late, if I can help it. I figger an early start gives us more time together.” He said, adding, “Reckon we can worship the Lord under the open sky today. ‘Course, most of us been doin’ that off an’ on fer some time now. Don’t figger He minds none.” He was excited for her to see the progress that the boys and he had made on the house.
It was no cabin, it was a house, with two stories, plenty of room for a growing family. He would be able to regale her with how the barn would be next, along with pole corrals. And all the while the falls would be the music they would hear.
He went in to help her with the food, thinking he should have had a pack mule, but they would make out alright, and it really wasn’t all that far out.
Posted March 28, 2021
"I like the idea of having our worship in the open air, and I don't think God will mind on occasion." Smiling, Emeline closed and locked the door, then strolled with him to the street, giving Noel a greeting hug before swinging easily up into the saddle. She'd been a little rusty with her riding when Barnabas had gifted her the horse on Christmas, but since then her skills were back to what they were when she'd been a wild young teenager in the Ohio plains.
"I'll carry the basket," she commented, "and the other parcels should be all right in the saddle bags." As promised, she had a couple of pies for the workers, and those had been too big to put into containers that would protect them on the trip.
Posted March 28, 2021
"Well, as said afore, I doubt the boys'll be up there, bein' Sunday an' all, but they might." He replied with a smile, but then she always made him smile. "'nother thing, it'll be good ta get outta town for a spell. Plumb tired of that jail."
He stepped into leather and looked at her. "An' no racin', this here's us a goin' up to the place! takin' our sweet time about it too. Ain't like we get to do this ever' day yet." The he laughed. "Sides, it'd ruin them pies an' our lunch!"
Posted March 30, 2021 / Emeline Pike
"Oh, of course!" Emeline gave him a sweet smile, patting Noel's neck as they started out of town, then leaning forward to whisper -- loudly -- to her horse, "He's knows we'd beat them!"
Then she laughed and sat up. "The pies will keep until tomorrow, so we can just leave them there...a nice treat when the workers show up tomorrow!" She glanced over at Barnabas, unable to stop grinning, she was so happy to be out with him alone for a day. ""I'll bet those jaspers in the jail are happy not to see your face for the day!"
She laughed again, but then added, "I'm more than happy to look at that handsome visage all day!" And she silently vowed to do her best not to think about the fate of the men in jail.
Posted March 30, 2021 / Barnabas Pike
"Oh, of course!" Emeline gave him a sweet smile, patting Noel's neck as they started out of town, then leaning forward to whisper -- loudly -- to her horse, "He's knows we'd beat them!"
"Oh see, now there you go. Tellin' that poor horse you'd win the race, when you both know that ain't the truth." He prodded back.
Then she laughed and sat up. "The pies will keep until tomorrow, so we can just leave them there...a nice treat when the workers show up tomorrow!" She glanced over at Barnabas, unable to stop grinning, she was so happy to be out with him alone for a day. ""I'll bet those jaspers in the jail are happy not to see your face for the day!"
"Be a nice surprise, if the varmints don't get 'em! But we'll make sure that don't happen." He answered. "Now them boys in the lock up'll just have to miss out out on yer vitals and my face. I'm bettin' ol' Speed'll figger somethin out. Maybe the hotel, 'er the Star Dust."
She laughed again, but then added, "I'm more than happy to look at that handsome visage all day!" And she silently vowed to do her best not to think about the fate of the men in jail.
"Thank ya for the kind words ma'am. I surely do appreciate them!" Came the response to her compliment. "I 'spose you'd like ta talk about this here weddin' of ours comin' up right soon now."
Posted April 3, 2021 / Emeline Pike
"It seems like it was so far off," Emeline chuckled, "and now, just over a week." Of course, she'd been married once already, and even then hadn't cared for anything too elaborate in a ceremony. Sure, she wanted more than just to run off to the justice of the peace, but to spend so much money that you could buy a house just didn't make sense.
"Everything is on track, especially since we're doing a potluck, most of what's left is last minute, like gathering flowers." She glanced over at him with a cheeky grin. "I only have a little left on my dress, and...did you want the standard vows, to write our own, or maybe a combination?"
Posted April 3, 2021 / Barnabas Pike
"Everything is on track, especially since we're doing a potluck, most of what's left is last minute, like gathering flowers." She glanced over at him with a cheeky grin. "I only have a little left on my dress, and...did you want the standard vows, to write our own, or maybe a combination?"
"Just a week left on ma own. Reckon I best have a look about an' see what's left I ain't done yet." He chided, with as serious a face as he could muster.
"What was that? About the vows? Never heard of folks writing' up their own, but I 'spose if the sky-pilot don't mind. What is it you want ta do?" He asked, "Weddin's ain't about the men folk, they're all about you ladies. All about them gowns, an' the fixin's, an such. Don't matter how big 'er how small, how plain 'er how fancy, it's a day for you ladies. This ol' ex-Ranger knows that much. Been to enough of 'em. So Whatever it is you wanna do, we'll do do 'er." He had his own thoughts, but those were for the honeymoon.
Posted April 3, 2021 / Emeline Pike
"You're going to be there, too, you know." She glanced over at him, then raised an eyebrow. "You will be, right? You'd better be, I need it all official so I can have you legally in my clutches!"
She laughed, then nudged her horse closer to his so she could take his hand. "I have no objection to the normal vows...'Do I take you', and all that...but I might just be brimming with things to say...good things! And I might not be able to hold back. But if I do, that doesn't mean you have to as well." She shrugged. "I can tell what you're thinking just by looking at you...mostly!"
Posted April 4, 2021 / Barnabas Pike
Pronto looked across to her as she spoke. 'Funny thing about women,' he thought, 'they get a bee in their bonnet and a man just oughtta stand back.' "You can?" He asked. Clutches was it?
"I plan on bein' there. Last I knew it took two, that'd be the both of us, ta get married." He said, trying to hold a straight face. "As far as what we gotta say one way 'er tother, seems like it's just what we wanna do. You wanna write 'em, then we'll do jest that. Don't see no problem there."
Suddenly they were at the foot of the hill and the wide trail that had been cut out of the bank leading up to the main part of the property. It would be easy to get a wagon up there, far easier for people on horse back.
"After you, Em."