"Well you did all this with your good business sense," Emeline commented, "by investing in the mines in Virginia City. I was doing all right with the cafe, and I had no idea what I was getting into."
Finances hadn't been discussed until after they were married, and she had to wonder if that knowledge earlier on might have changed the course of things. Not that she doubted she loved him, but she might have been worried that he would think she was after him for his money. Of course, it would still be a win for Barnabas, as he would have had her as his wife either way!
"It's going to take some getting used to, but I know we'll manage." Laughing, she took a sip of coffee. "This house will be more to manage than the two bedroom I had been thinking of, but there's more room for more children!"
And she planned on filling this house with children, the more the merrier!
"Perhaps after the holidays we can have Miss Steelegrave come out?" she suggested. "All the chaos of Christmas will be over, and Winter will slow any progress on the building. We can even put her up in one of the rooms for a night or two, if she'd be interested in seeing more of the place...the horses."
She wasn't sure if Leah would be interested in seeing the Morgans, but she was proud of them and wanted to show them off.
"Well sure we could do that. Be nice to have her and maybe Doc Danforth up for supper." Pike responded to the idea. This place could surely use some comp'ny. I mean she's big enough, maybe a bit too big, but then again, was we to have this brood you've been chattering about, then she could be too small." He chuckled at the idea of the house being too small.
"But sure we could have anyone you wanted up here just about any time and for anything. This house was built for people to come visit, 'er ta grow up in. Fer you an' me ta grow old together. To have it full of laughter an' some tears along the way, but I ain't for havin' us be hermits." He added.
"Oh, but I think you'd make a wonderful hermit!" Laughing, Emeline pinched his cheek. "Just like the one in 'Three Billy Goats Gruff'! Or was that a troll?" She shrugged, giving him a cheeky smile. "No matter, you won't get the chance to be either, you'll just have to settle for being plain Mr. Pike."
Of course, she loved 'plain Mr. Pike' with all her being, and knew he was anything but plain, and the house, under his leadership, would be a place of joy and prosperity.
"I'll send invitations after the Christmas party, or just ask them then. By then, I should have the guest rooms ready, and it wouldn't do any harm to have Dr. Danforth make sure that the pregnancy is coming along properly." No complications this time!
"Plain Mister Pike? Can't say as that'd be possible, I mean ain't hardly nothin' plain about me." He said, "Is there? I mean was I to be just plain Mister Pike, why I'd'a never been the man to marry you. An' no, I ain't about to be no hermit, not hardly with you around, an' alla them kids you keep goin' on about havin' ta raise."
"After Christmas, now that'd be good, weather permittin' an all. Folks can get plum busy around Christmas time. But, what say we have a Christmas party up here, again, weather permittin' 'er would you rather not? I mean, would you be up to a house full'a folks?" He asked after his suggestion of a party. "Now don't be inviting Elias Steelgrave, I mean I'd like to be on his good side, if he has one. I'd drother meet him on even ground to see if we can't co-exist."
"We can certainly take care of Miss Steelgrave and Dr. Danforth." The two would be an easy introduction for her to hosting guests, and she suspected that there would be more guests, people she didn't know, and that were accustomed to the best in everything. Not that she minded, but this was something she wasn't familiar with.
"I've never had any animosity toward Mr. Steelgrave," she continued, "but I don't know if you've had any personal run-ins with him...would there be any harm in inviting him over?"
Merely a gesture of goodwill, right? But then...
"Or do you think he would see that as boasting? Or a challenge?" That was a distinct possibility, although she didn't understand why...she just didn't think that way.
"I've never had any animosity toward Mr. Steelgrave," she continued, "but I don't know if you've had any personal run-ins with him...would there be any harm in inviting him over?"
Barnabas looked at her, taken aback by wht her admission, even though it was more than possible a good number of folks had nothing against Elias Steelgrave, he certainly did.
"Or do you think he would see that as boasting? Or a challenge?" That was a distinct possibility, although she didn't understand why...she just didn't think that way.
"Perhaps a bit of both, and then there is the idea he may well decide that a war with us would be quite a bit easier to wage than with Lost Lake." He replied, "Seriously. I have no real idea what the man might think or do, but so far as I'm concerned, Elias Steelgrave is an enemy of the community, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon."
"You think he'd try to cause trouble here?" Emeline hadn't thought of that since they were a new spread, barely even established, but that made them all the more vulnerable. "What could he want?"
Sighing, she muttered, "Horses, cattle," answering her own question, "the chance to throw his weight around. We don't want to antagonize him, but we shouldn't have to live in fear of him."
She hated to think that they might have to always be on edge, that wasn't a way to live, especially once they had children running around.
"Have you told the men? To at least be on lookout for anything unusual."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa how." Pike said holding up his hands. "Be a miracle if he didn't know we was here and settled in. We brung seven hundred and fifty cows, yer morgans, a remuda, and some fifteen hands along with a chuck wagon to this here ranch. He knows we're here.
"A girl, we ain't about to be livin' in fear of a tin horn fourflusher like him!" He stated flatly, "'sides, he's busy lookin' fer a fight with Thornton and the Lost Lake crowd. I surely ain't about to tryin' ta be friendly with him. I doubt he's even seen this place, but he knows we're here." Then he smiled, "I'll get with Frank Teal and lay it all out for 'em again, like we did before." That would be the best thing, he figured, have the boys on alert.
"You know, I thought this through before I had the place built. I figured it was worth the risk, that we were worth the risk." He declared.
"He'll be sorry if he ever tries starting anything around here!" Emeline declared. She wasn't about to let anyone ruin her happiness, now that she'd found it and started over! To that end, there were shotguns here and there about the house, and even in the barn, and Emeline carried a derringer most of the time.
"At any rate, we'll do our best to avoid conflict." She frowned. "So, if there is trouble, we'll support Lost Lake?" Of course, but she didn't know what that might entail.
"Now that's how I feel, he sends his boys here, there'll be hell to pay, sorry, but can't be said no other way." Barnabas said. Don't cotton to no range war, but he comes asking, we'll be providin' the answers. But I don't see him wantin' to try two spreads at the same time. Lost Lake'll be a handful enough."
He paused, thinking on how to answer the last statement she had made about supporting Shade and the Lost Lake. "Yeah, we'll stand with him if need be. I full well intend to talk to the boys about this, and about the need to be vigilant, not just cuz of him, but Case as well. He's been suspect in some of the rustlin' that's gone on, 'cept no one can prove he was with the rustlers." Then he sort of smiled. He did bring in the man that took the shot at Speed, that's sayin' somethin'."