Sunlight and Shadows

by Christine Cross

  A moment later, Joshua pulled away from her, his face still red.

  “So will you do it?” he asked. “Will you run away with me?”

  “Only on one condition,” she said.

  “And, what’s that?”

  “Marry me.”

  To her surprise, he let out a small chuckle. Her heart began to sink before he answered.

  “Isn’t it the man’s job to ask the question?”

  “Usually,” her heart rising again in relief. She smiled cheekily at him. “But, I wouldn’t call our situation particularly usual.”

  He gave her a wide smile in return.

  “Well, in that case, Eliza Howlstead,” he said. “I accept your unusual proposal.”

  She felt a joy rise in her heart as he leaned carefully over the child that bore his name and met his lips with hers.

  As she placed one hand around his shoulders to welcome his kiss, she felt a sense of security, safety she had never known before, not even in her father’s home.

  Even though there were still so many unknowns. Even though they might not make it past tomorrow. She knew that they would be together. She, Joshua, the baby. The three of them would be a true family. And that was all that mattered.

  THE END

  Bonus Story 10 of 20

  Silver Boom

  Silver Veins

  New York, 1859

  “You coming Wes?” Daniel Barret asked as the train began to pull away.

  “I’m coming!” he called, grinning as he blew a kiss to a pretty girl who stood on the boardwalk at the train depot. He ran hard to catch up to his friend, clasped his hand and was yanked up into the train car.

  “It’s about time you used your brain,” Daniel chuckled. “You keep making time with the ladies and you’ll be broke and single for life.”

  “Nah,” Wesley grinned. “This is going to make us both rich.”

  “I doubt it,” Daniel smiled. Still, the two friends were too deep into their silver mining expedition to turn back now. “But, if I break into the black, I’ll be satisfied.”

  The train trip from New York to Chicago was uneventful and from there Wesley and Daniel joined a wagon train that was headed to the Utah Territory. Two months after the announcement of the discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode, the two friends touched their feet down on that very same land. After quickly surveying the mining town of Virginia City, the two headed for the boarding house.

  “Hello, gentlemen,” an older woman said as she stepped into the sitting room.

  “Hello, ma’am,” Daniel said, quickly removing his hat. “My friend, Wes, and I were wondering if you had any available rooms for rent?”

  “Well,” she smiled. “Follow me and we’ll see what we can do.

  “We’re awfully busy right now, she said as her blonde curls bobbed up and down with the motion of her walk. “With the discovery of silver up there at the Comstock Lode, it’s not a wonder that we’re almost always booked solid for weeks on end. However, you two just happen to be in luck. You’ll have to share a room, but I have one available. I’ll even cut you a deal on the rent. Normally I charge twenty dollars a week per resident. For you two though I’ll go thirty on the both of you.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Wesley said, adding a grin. When the older woman winked at him he chuckled. He carried his luggage up the stairs behind Daniel and once they shut the door to their room, sunk down in a chair.

  “You shouldn’t encourage her like that,” Daniel chastised. “She’s nearly old enough to be our mother.”

  “Oh please,” Wesley scoffed. “It does no harm as we both know nothing will ever come of it. An innocent flirtation never hurt anyone.”

  “And what if she thinks it was more than that?”

  “I’d have to respectfully decline,” Wesley said. “You know me Danny. There’s no way I’m going to take advantage of any woman, no matter how willing she seems. I know God has a woman out there for me and when it’s my time, I’ll find her.”

  “Not if you keep turning the heads of women you know aren’t her.”

  Wesley didn’t pay much mind to Daniel’s rants. He figured his friend meant well so he often let it go. Tomorrow they’d obtain their mining licenses and pick a spot to dig for their fortune. More tired than he would have figured, Wesley fell asleep where he’d settled down, within an hour of doing so. The next morning he woke with a sore back and stood up to stretch out the muscles. Looking around the room he noted that Daniel had beat him up, as usual.

  “Morning,” his friend said, lifting a hot cup of coffee. “I figured you were tired. You snored loud enough to wake everyone in the territory.”

  “Please,” Wesley grinned. “It was you keeping me up half the night with your nocturnal mumblings that made me so tired in the first place.”

  “Nocturnal mumblings,” Daniel laughed. Wesley took the cup Daniel handed him and sat down to enjoy a biscuit. “You ready for today?”

  “I feel I’ve been ready my whole life.”

  “What will you do if you find silver?”

  “Save it up. I’d like to purchase some property and find a woman to settle down with. Raise some cattle and horses, have some babies, make a life worth living for myself.”

  “And if you go broke?”

  “I’ll pull myself up by my bootstraps and make the best of the life I’ve been given.”

  He could tell Daniel hadn’t liked that. His skeptical friend, who’d almost forcibly agreed to come with him on his exploration, had since the beginning been convinced that they’d both go broke trying to find silver, let alone gold.

  Their first week was grueling. Sixteen hours in the mines worked their muscles to the bone. “I’m so tired,” Daniel said as they entered their room. “I can’t even think straight.”

  “I’m exhausted,” Wesley agreed. “I honestly never imagined it’d be this hard, to work like this for next to nothing.” Even pooled together, the two friends barely had enough to feed themselves without having to take money from Wesley’s inheritance. “I’m skipping dinner tonight. I’m going to wash up and sleep. We need to be right back out there tomorrow.”

  “I’m doing the same. I can eat in the morning when I’ve at least gotten some sort of rest for my body.”

  Three weeks later both Daniel and Wesley had become accustomed to the grueling work that the silver mine demanded of the men who came to mine there. They’d seen at least two men drop from the intense heat and decided then and there to carry water with them. When Wesley’s pickaxe broke, he had to purchase a new one from his cash fund, an expensive, but necessary eighty dollars. He had no doubt that the blacksmith was grossly overcharging, but there was little to be done about it considering he was the only blacksmith in the small but thriving town.

  “You get anything?” Wesley asked Daniel when they stopped for a quick bite to eat. They’d learned to purchase their food in bulk and pack their lunches as it was an economical choice that saved them considerably on their costs.

  “Just some almost minute pieces. You?”

  “Nah, not yet.”

  By the time they’d been mining for close to three months, the two friends were nearly at the end of their rope. They’d whittled down Wesley’s inheritance until there was barely anything left, save maybe three or four more weeks of rent. If they didn’t hit something soon they’d likely starve and be thrown out on the street.

  Since the beginning, Wesley and Daniel had always mined relatively close to one another. They worked the gruesome and bone tiring hours to time and time again return home with next to nothing to show for it. Today Wesley had decided to spread out a little and picked a previously dugout mine to tackle, keeping Daniel only within earshot when someone’s pickaxe wasn’t ringing in his ears.

  He hefted his pickaxe over his shoulder, swung out hard and chipped off a sizable rock. Picking it up, he tossed it onto a pile. Once again he hefted his pickaxe, striking out again. This time the pickaxe made a ping sound that ech
oed through the mine. Wesley lifted his lantern to see the wall of the mine and a grin split his face like a kid on Christmas morning. In the hole where he’d pulled the rock from was a beautiful, if dirt covered section of silver that shone out like a beacon. Working for more than five hours without a break, Wesley carved out a silver nugget of considerable size. By the time Daniel came to find him, he’d managed to loosen the nugget quite a bit, from its natural resting place.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  “If you think it’s a nugget of silver that’s going to more than pay back what we’ve spent, then yes, sir.” It was all Wesley could do to not jump up and down and smack his six-foot frame on the wooden supports that made up the walls of the mine shaft. Daniel went back for his pickaxe and together the two friends worked tirelessly to free the nugget from its resting place. Then they used a crude wheel barrow to extract it completely from the mine itself. The next two days were spent watching their nugget go from a dirt covered ore to a shiny nugget of significant value. Weighed out both Wesley and Daniel walked away with more than enough to recompense what they’d had to spend to survive.

  “I’m going back home,” Daniel said, two weeks later. Since their large find, they’d managed to scrape together another decent payout from smaller silver nuggets and silver dust deposits they’d had to sift. “I’ve more than doubled what I thought I would get from this experience and truth be told, this sort of living isn’t where my heart lies.”

  Wesley knew this day was coming, had been coming for quite a while. Ever since they’d worked on the large nugget together, Daniel had been itching to head back to the city. “I’m going to miss you brother,” Wesley said, holding back his feelings. Daniel had been his brother as long as he could remember and though they didn’t share the same parentage, they’d been nearly inseparable from the start.

  “I’ll miss you as well, my friend,” Daniel said. “Let me know if you are still in need of a good woman in six months. I’ll send one your way.”

  “I’ll do that,” Wesley laughed, but two days later he waved farewell to his best friend, sorely afraid he’d never see him again this side of heaven. With Daniel gone back to the city, Wesley was left with too much time on his hands and took to sketching out how he wanted to set up his home and land. After checking with the land office, he purchased three hundred and twenty acres a couple miles outside of Virginia City.

  His first purchase after the land was enough timber to fence it completely around the outside perimeter and cut large sections through the property for grazing and crop growth. Working with a local contractor out of Virginia City, Wesley spent nearly six months working on a modest two bedroom log cabin with a stone fireplace. He purchased a brand new wood burning stove, a massive bed, a smaller bed for the spare room, dressers and armoires. He found rugs, a kitchen table, a sofa, and two chairs for the living room. And hoping he’d someday have a wife to do the decorating, he left the smaller details alone, figuring she’d probably want to put her own touch on the home they shared.

  Once the house was finished, the cattle and horses came next. Wesley even bought a pair of oxen to help him plow the fields. Nearly a year after leaving the only home he’d ever known, Wesley had found his own home by building it. The one thing he couldn’t find was a woman within a hundred miles of him who wasn’t already spoken for. With little hope left of ever finding a woman he could court in the Utah Territory, Wesley spent some of his earnings on an advertisement for the one thing he couldn’t buy, love.

  ***

  Anna McFarland sat in the reading room of her parents’ home. Having just finished Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, she found herself longing for the kind of love that jumped off the page between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. If only she could find a gentleman who understood her as well. It wasn’t easy to do when you didn’t talk. Most people by now assumed that she couldn’t talk and therefore wrote her off as an odd relative of the predominant McFarland family. She found she preferred it that way as none of the people her family associated with were worthy of the McFarland dowry she’d take into a marriage, not as far as she was concerned.

  Picking up the paper she scanned the latest headlines. A gentleman by the name of Mr. Abraham Lincoln had lately given a speech to support one of the candidates for governor. When she came to the letters to the editor section she grinned at all the things people took issue with. Everything from one room school houses to public transportation. Then her eye caught a very interesting advertisement for what seemed to be a wife from a gentleman in the Utah Territory.

  March 1860

  Dear Prospective Women,

  My name is Wesley David Stockton and I moved to Utah Territory nearly a year ago. Upon my arrival I didn’t take notice of the severe shortage of single and available women in Virginia City and the surrounding areas. Nothing seemed to matter back then except finding silver.

  Since then I’ve settled down and started a cattle and horse ranch that I hope to make prosperous within a year. I have ample means to provide for a young woman who would be willing to travel here to consider entering into a courtship with me that may one day lead to marriage.

  I do realize that this is a huge step to be taking and will gladly pay any and all traveling expenses in advance. Please respond as soon as possible as I would enjoy the close company of another human being as my only friend moved back to New York nearly eight months ago.

  Sincerely yours,

  Wesley D. Stockton

  Upon first reading the missive, Anna giggled to herself, thinking the man at least partially impaired. The more she read and reread the letter, however, she began to feel differently. She understood what it was to be lonely. While her family loved her and tolerated her condition, they did little to include her. They didn’t cast her off necessarily, but she knew that right now her siblings and parents were downstairs enjoying a lively conversation, while she whiled away the hours in her rooms. While they didn’t purposefully exclude her, they didn’t look for opportunities to invite her to join them either. Lonely was a state of being for Anna and her heart was moved by Wesley Stockton’s plight.

  Pulling a quill from her drawer, Anna sat down and wrote her own letter to the rancher who seemed in desperate need of a friend. Just as desperate as she was.

  March 1860

  Dear Mr. Stockton,

  My name is Anna Darlene McFarland. I must admit that I found your letter rather humorous, until I realized that you must be terribly lonely in Utah by yourself. I for one understand what it is to be lonely. I was involved in a terrible situation when I was much younger and since that day have not spoken a word out loud.

  It is not that I cannot talk, but rather that I can’t seem to get my mouth to form the words I’d love to say, not anymore. I don’t remember much of the incident, except that when I woke up, I couldn’t talk. Please don’t take this as a symptom of muteness, as I am not mute. My doctors say that I will one day regain my ability to communicate verbally, although I’m loathed to think that will happen as long as I am stuck in my parents’ home. They love me too well I’m afraid. Always afraid to hurt my feelings, so they inadvertently exclude me from almost every function. At twenty-three I’m afraid I will die a spinster if I don’t find my own path in this incredible world. Please consider sending for me as I think not only do we have something in common, I truly think that getting out of Connecticut would prove beneficial to finding my own sense of independence and healing.

  Your friend most truly,

  Anna D. McFarland

  Anna posted the letter for the next morning and sat on her hands practically every day until she received a reply nearly two weeks later.

  April 1860

  Dear Miss McFarland,

  Let me first say that I am wholly sorry for the situation that caused you to stop talking. Your letter touched me in a way no other respondents did. I felt a connection, perhaps of loneliness, that tugged at my heart. Please find enclosed a banknote to cover your
travel. I’m already awaiting your arrival and have taken the liberty of reserving you a room for the next six months at the local boarding house. I’m not sure if six months is too long or too short, but I figured it was a good length of time to start with.

  Awaiting your safe travels,

  Wesley Stockton

  Anna packed her bags that night, said a peaceful and happy goodnight to her parents and siblings, wrote them a lengthy letter, and slipped away just as the sun was coming up.

  *****

  Embraces

  Wesley Stockton sat at the edge of Virginia City waiting for the wagon train to pull in. After an hour he got up and ordered a cup of coffee, paying for another two in advance so it’d be ready when Anna arrived. He couldn’t stop his hands from shaking without the coffee cup so he held onto it even after he’d drank the contents down.

  Another forty-five minutes went by before the wagons started to arrive. Several people disembarked to use the facilities or grab something to eat. Wesley caught sight of a gorgeous young woman with long dark red, curly hair that was quickly escaping its pins. She was tall and very fair of face. His heart leapt in his chest, until he saw a man accompanying her toward the food stand. Then he sat back down to wait, hoping Miss Anna McFarland would be able to find him.

  It wasn’t until the man left with the wagon train an hour later, without the young woman, that Wesley looked her way again. He watched her for a moment or two, until he noticed that she didn’t speak, even when someone said something to her. A smile split his lips as he approached her, his hands still grasping the cup. “Would you by chance be Miss McFarland?”

  Breathtaking blue eyes turned his way and Wesley inhaled sharply when she smiled. A perfect set of matching dimples creased her cheeks that were flecked rather nicely by brown freckles. “I’m so glad to see you made it safely. I would have come over sooner, but I thought you were with the gentleman who dropped you off.