Posted February 12, 2022
"Of course I'm beautiful, every night!" Batting her eyes at him, she took Barnabas' hand and gave it a squeeze. It was fun to tease with him, and he gave her every opportunity! "Just don't let me do anything too silly tonight, I'd hate to embarrass you."
Then they were escorted to the Garden Room, and Emeline almost gasped aloud...she'd never seen the like! "Oh, goodness...this is...incredible!" The domed glass ceiling was magnificent in its own right, but with the low sun shining through, the beveled glass cast colorful patterns across the floor, and the array of plants made it feel like a fairy kingdom!
"I don't think I ever would have imagined creating such a place, much the less actually doing it!"
Posted February 12, 2022
"Of course I'm beautiful, every night!" Batting her eyes at him, she took Barnabas' hand and gave it a squeeze. It was fun to tease with him, and he gave her every opportunity! "Just don't let me do anything too silly tonight, I'd hate to embarrass you."
"I ain't real sure that'd happen." He responded. "But you keep tryin', if'n ya want. Need ta clean up my speech some, sound like some Texas near-do-well!"
Then they were escorted to the Garden Room, and Emeline almost gasped aloud...she'd never seen the like! "Oh, goodness...this is...incredible!" The domed glass ceiling was magnificent in its own right, but with the low sun shining through, the beveled glass cast colorful patterns across the floor, and the array of plants made it feel like a fairy kingdom!
"That it is, that it is. Thais is what money, and lots of it can build."
"I don't think I ever would have imagined creating such a place, much the less actually doing it!"
"A bit more'n our place, that's for sure." Pike said as they arrived at the table, Bill rising with a wide smile to greet them. "Bill, this is my wife, Emeline, Em? Mister William Sharon owner of this establishment and an old friend from my Virginia City days."
"Misses Pike, a real pleasure to meet you. Yes, Barnabas here and I go back some. The early days, well, I guess not so early so far as the discovery went, but early enough, eh? He never liked to be called Barnabas, even though most folks knew his name, he preferred Pike, or what was it? Oh, yes, Pronto. Ha, yes. Pronto. The Kings liked that name as well. Sit sit, no use standing around, I have waiters for that." He raised his hand and that summoned a waiter close by.
Posted February 12, 2022
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Sharon." Emeline extended her hand, then settled into her chair with a mischievous grin. "Pronto, is it? Oh, I suspect you have many good stories about Pronto! And you have a willing audience."
She smiled sweetly, then added, "I need to know what I got into, marrying a man called 'Pronto'! Oh, I know him as a good man, kind and caring, but that could just be a ruse!"
Posted February 13, 2022
Bill Sharon laughed, "Mostly I knew him as Deputy Pike, with the County Sheriff's office. That could be a rough job up there. If I remember right there were a hundred and ten saloons and all of the were booming around the clock, as were the cribs down on 'D' Street. Mixing hard drink with hard men could, and did present substantial problems."
Barnabas sort of shook his head remembering those times things went sideways on 'C' Street, or a fight broke out in one of the cribs. Not only the men were dangerous, but the women as well, and men in authority need to use caution when intervening.
"Your man here displayed all of the attribute you mentioned, but he was, shall I say, up for the job." He continued. "Has he told you how he came by his wealth? That Misses Pike is a story in itself. and, if he doesn't mind I'd be happy to tell you, from an outsiders point of view." Pike closed his eyes and shook his head.
Posted February 15, 2022
"Well, I know he has invested in mines." Emeline hadn't actually put thought into that, just that he 'invested'. "You don't mean to say he stood in the middle of a river and worked a sluice?" The image that conjured actually made her smile. "Or working a pick inside a mountain?"
Well, she didn't know much about mining, that was certain! "Do tell, Mr. Sharon, what was my husband up to?" There were many nights in their future, she reckoned, where they would have to sit and talk about old stories, the steps that had led to this point in their lives, and she looked forward to that.
Posted February 15, 2022
"Guess maybe I should tell her what happened, eh Barnabas?" Sharon said.
"Might sound better commin' from you." Pike replied with a smirk. As if it was something sordid. Something he didn't want revealed, when in actuality he seldom thought of it.
"Well Misses Pike, your husband was well known and respected on the hill, as were any number of men not given to wealth that was there to be had, well, if a man was in the right place at the right time, and under the right circumstances." Sharon began. "Those days entertainment was found at the card tables in the saloons along 'C' Street, or the houses and cribs along 'D", but Barnabas here was a man confronting a great loss at the time, took his solice playing cards. Not strong drink, or the ladies, but playing poker."
"Wait Bill, I believe I should tell her of the great loss, myself." Pike stated, interrupting the story. Not remembering if he had ever related the story to her.
"Oh, yes, yes, please do, I, I had no way to know-"
"It's quite alright Bill." He looked at Emeline.
Posted February 18, 2022
There had been hints in conversation of something...or someone...in his past, but Barnabas had never elaborated, and Emeline had never pursued it, reckoning that he'd tell her in his own time, if that time ever came.
Now, it seemed a bit awkward, now that it had been brought up, provided the topics were even the same.
"Oh, you needn't go into it if you don't want to," she offered her husband an out, "although I must admit, I'm intrigued. Of course, my imagination can fill in any details..." She grinned and reached over to quickly pat his hand.
Posted February 19, 2022
He sort of hesitated as he formed the words he would use in his explanation to Em. It was not as if there was something to hide, far from it, the story of his betrothal was really no secret, he just had not seen the necessity to tell her of it, until now.
"When I got there, well not right off, but there was a woman, Miss Julia Dey, and we hit it off, as they say. Well, as time past we became engaged and were planning our wedding, but," there was a pause, "pneumonia took her before that could happen. Maybe not the same as your loss, anyway, I don't give it much thought. It was five, six years past now and you're here, right where you're supposed to be." He smiled, his eyes glistening as it had been difficult for him to reflect back. He took hold of her hand.
Posted February 19, 2022
Emeline had heard some of Julia, but never anything specific, and she gave his hand a squeeze. "You can't not think about it," she murmured softly, "you just can't let it rule your life." And both had managed to do that. She thought fondly of Andrew, and the memories were bittersweet, but since meeting Barnabas, those memories no longer occupied most of her thoughts.
"It's no easier," she assured him, knowing the passion with which he loved, and that the loss stung just as much, even though he hadn't had the chance to marry her, and perhaps more, since there was a bond that could only be had with that intimacy.
"The hardest for me is the children." Glancing at Mr. Sharon, she explained, "I lost my daughter at a very young age to cholera, and the child I was carrying shortly after. It's difficult to lose the promise."
Shaking her head, she managed a smile. "Such grim conversation. Certainly, Barnabas caused his share of trouble?" She raised an eyebrow as she glanced at her husband. "Or was it Mr. Sharon who was the troublemaker?"
Posted February 20, 2022
Pike listened to what she was saying about thinking about Julia, but he had grieved as he rode away from Virginia City and his quest to find a new start, it wasn't the promise of California, nor was it riding the grub-line into Arizona and back out again. By the time he had reached Kalispell, the remnants of his past were just that, pieces of a past.
"There was a time I thought of her often, but that's long passed now. Fact is Em, you're what I think of most all the time. What happened back then, needs to stay buried back then." He said. "But, there's pieces of that past that are relevant to us today, and that's about the holdings on the hill. Holdings that mattered little to me till we met. Them holdings will provide us with a future a saddle tramp like I once was could only dream of."
He grinned then, "We both had our share of troubles, but they're well in the past, and need have no control over either of us. Now as to who caused the trouble? What trouble? Why we were the modem of decorum up there. Right Bill?"
"Right as the rain Pronto, right as the rain. Why, other than them 'Silver Kings', we were the steady hand!" Sharon added supporting Pronto's tall tale."Without us, the hole thing collapses on itself."