by Montana West
“Thank you, Cora.” He sighed. “You do know that when I am better, I am going back into the mines again?” He searched her eyes anxiously. “I am not cut out for farming and so I cannot lie that I will get a farm and settle down.”
Cora nodded. “I understand that you have to follow your heart’s desire and I will be by your side and urge you on.”
The two held hands and sat gazing into each other’s eyes for what seemed to be an eternity but was in actual fact a short time. Then Cora made a sound of disgust.
“What is it, my love?” Louis squeezed her hands gently.
“Mrs. Willows came by yesterday when you were asleep and she had a message for you.” Cora smiled. “She told me to tell you that you are the best tenant that she has ever had and she has prepared better quarters for you because she is aware that we are getting married soon. She said we will not pay her any rent until we are able to, and for as long as it takes, we can live in her house.”
“That woman is noble, she is just like my mother,” Louis had a pensive look in his eyes. “I cannot repay her for the good that she has showed me ever since I went to live in her house.”
“Mrs. Willows said the same thing about you, and she confessed that she owes you so much because you turned what was once a ramshackle of a house into a beautiful and habitable place and she never paid you, and she was so guilty that she even charged you for meals and let you go hungry when she could have just fed you at no extra cost to her at all.” Cora shook her head. “She was crying so much and Ma had a hard time comforting her and telling her that you do not think ill of her, and that since she was a widow with no other source of income, it was alright for her to be frugal with her money.”
“Poor woman,” Louis genuinely meant it.
“This morning she brought us some corn and wheat flour and promised that for as long as you would be recuperating, she would ensure that you are well fed. Ma decided to allow her to bring whatever she wants because she felt it made Mrs. Willows feel absolved from her guilt.”
As the couple shared their love in the days to come, Cora’s parents finally accepted Louis in their hearts and they discussed how they would support the couple once they got married.
“Louis will not take any money from us but I feel that we need to help them until they can stand on their own feet,” Walter said. “I told him that according to tradition which our family has followed for many generations, it is the bride’s father who takes care of all the wedding expenses apart from the groom’s own clothes.”
“Did he accept the story?” Mary was anxious. She had talked with Naomi Willows at length and discovered that Louis was a man of integrity because in all the time he had lived at Naomi’s house, he had not displayed any inappropriate behavior. Mary also felt guilty for having been very prejudiced against the young man and like Naomi, she sought to make amends for her shortcomings.
“He was reluctant at first but I managed to convince him that if he felt so strongly about being the one to pay for the wedding, he should consider the money we will spend on the wedding as a loan and whenever he is ready he can repay us.”
“That was good, Father, now my heart can rest easy,” Mary sighed. “It took a near disaster for our eyes to be opened. That Louis Albert loves Cora is obvious to everyone, and I know that he is just the kind of man that our Cora needs to tame her wild nature, while cherishing her at the same time. Very few men can do that.”
“Don’t I just know it,” Walter murmured, a twinkle in his eyes. “I seem to remember a certain young lady some years ago who displayed the same characteristics that our daughter has, and now I hear that she is a wonderful wife and mother of two strapping sons and a beautiful daughter. A little bird also told me that just like the young lady and her husband have a marriage made in heaven, our daughter and Louis will also have a marriage that could only have originated in heaven.”
Mary’s laughter not quite unlike Cora’s tinkled and floated out to the couple.
“My parents seem so happy and relaxed, as though a load rolled right off their backs.”
“It is because when you were in pain they shared your pain, Cora. They love you so much and now that you are once again the happy and carefree young lady you were before, their hearts are at peace.”
“I love you so much, Louis Albert.”
“And I love you more, Cora Richards.”
EPILOGUE
Cora was anxiously looking towards the gate of her parents’ compound. Michael, Henry and Louis had gone out to the Anna Albert mine early that morning.
“We are just going to look around and if possible retrieve the tools that we left in the mines,” Henry had tried to reassure Cora. “I promise that I will get Louis Albert back safely because woe unto me should I fail to deliver the groom back to his bride in two days time.”
“Please, Henry,” Cora had clutched her brother’s hand desperately. “Please do not do anything that will put all of you in harm’s way.”
“You have my word, Cora. Now get that frown off your face. You and Louis are getting married in two days’ time and no one wants to see a bride with wrinklesall over her face.”
As Cora paced the house, getting in everyone’s way, she thought about how things had turned out. It seemed like a lifetime since Louis and Henry were almost killed but actually only two weeks had passed.
When Louis has fully recovered, he insisted on returning to his own quarters to prepare for when Cora would be joining him as his wife, and true to her word Naomi had given him a larger double room which she told him had been where she and her late husband had lived. Because she was alone now, she did not need the space and so had moved into a smaller but still nice room.
Cora had convinced her parents to allow them to wed almost immediately because she could not bear to be apart from Louis for a long time. Her parents had no objections and now they would be getting married in two days’ time. But first, Louis had asked her permission to visit the mine once last time because he felt a deep urge to do so. Cora had reluctantly given her permission but insisted that Michael and Henry accompany him and her two brothers had agreed.
News of Louis’s recovery and the upcoming wedding had been received with joy by the members of Last Chance Baptist Church and a number of women had turned up at Mary’s home to help with the preparations while the younger members of the church had already began cleaning the church compound and the sanctuary. There was laughter all around but only one person had no cause to be happy.
Andrew Willard knew he was in deep trouble with his father and this was evidenced by the cold looks he got whenever they met. What made him even more scared was the fact that for the first time in his life, his mother was not on his side. She had even gone as far as to ask her husband to kick Andrew out of the house.
“Young men your age and younger have their own homes and are earning their own livelihoods and here you are, twenty-five years old and still sponging off of your parents,” she had scorned.
“But Ma,” he tried his charms on her but this time, Claudia Willard was determined that it was up to her to see that her son became a man that she could be proud of. She was done cosseting him and regretted that her own behavior had made him into the selfish and irresponsible man that he was.
“You could not even get that nice girl Cora to marry you,” Claudia shook her head. “I am deeply ashamed of you, Andrew, and I blame myself for pampering you too much even when your father told me I was hurting rather than helping you.”
“Ma, it is not my fault that Cora rejected me.”
“It is. No decent girl should have to live with a man like you who is very wild and violent,” he gave his mother a stricken look and she nodded. “Word gets back to us, son, we know of all the bad things that you have been doing and what is worse, you even tried to pretend that you are a Christian. I pray that you find your way before it is too late for you, Andrew.”
As was his usual habit, he was in Madam Fortune’s saloon already g
etting himself drunk, and he noticed that none of the saloon girls were approaching him as they usually did and he wondered why he was being treated coldly by the owner of the saloon herself. He was soon to find out.
***
Cora saw the rider on the horse riding furiously towards her parents’ house and fear clutched at her heart. He was a man she had not seen before and he seemed to be in haste.
“Sir?” She approached him fearfully when he jumped down from his horse and tied the reins to the wooden fence that separated the homestead from the farming area. “Is everything alright?”
“No worries, miss,” he tipped his hat at her. “My name is Reuben Smith and I have been sent to fetch Mr. Walter Richards at once by the sheriff. Is he home?”
“Yes, let me get him for you,” Cora ran into the house. “Pa, please come quickly,” she practically dragged him out of the house. “There is a man who says the sheriff wants to see you immediately.”
Walter and Reuben held a hurried discussion in undertones and Cora could not hear what they were saying but she gathered that it was something very serious indeed for shortly after that, her father ran to the barn and led his horse out.
“Tell your ma that I will be back in a short while, Cora.”
“Pa...” she called out but was left talking to herself when the two men rode out without looking back.
Cora ran back into the house and into the kitchen where she found her mother and Naomi Willows busy baking.
“Ma,” she fell into her mother’s arms, not caring that her mother’s hands were covered in flour.
“Cora, what is it?”
“It is Pa. A man came here and said the sheriff wants to see him urgently and then they rode off together. Pa told me to tell you that he would be back shortly.”
The laugher and cheer that had been in the house became subdued as the women waited, praying anxiously that nothing was wrong. The near tragedy of just two weeks ago was still fresh in everyone’s mind and they knew that the two Richards boys and Louis Albert had once again gone to the mines. And for Mr. Richards to have left in such a hurry meant something was wrong.
After about two hours of praying and waiting, the ladies heard voices coming from the gate and everyone stopped whatever they were doing and rushed out of the house to be greeted by a strange sight indeed. It seemed as if the whole town was on their way to the Richards’ homestead and ahead of the crowd were Louis Albert, Michael and Henry Richards and their father. All of the four men had their overcoats in their hands and they seemed to be carrying something in the overcoats.
Louis Albert caught sight of Cora and rushed towards her, dropping his belongings and hoisting her up into the air. “Cora, Anna Albert came through for us,” he twirled her around, laughing happily.
“What?” She was looking at him, quite shocked at his blatant display of affection when she had thought him a bit reserved.
“See,” he picked up his over coat and then opened it and all those present gasped. A large pile of gold nuggets lay in the overcoat. Henry, Michael and Walter also displayed their loot and there was a loud cheer all around.
Louis Albert had finally struck gold and all those who knew him cheered for him. The young man had suffered for a long time but finally his breakthrough had come.
Mary mobilized the women into serving food and drink to all who came to celebrate with them, not caring that whatever food they were serving was being prepared for the wedding. As they had an impromptu celebration in the Richards’ compound, Henry, Michael and Louis took it in turns to tell the story.
“Louis came to us yesterday and told us that he had received a revelation and he needed our help,” Henry began. Michael nodded.
“It is true,” Louis said shyly. He was not used to so much attention and he was happy to allow his soon-to-be brothers-in-law to be center of it instead. “I had a dream that my mother, for whom I have named the mine, came and told me that finally my breakthrough had come. She kept pointing at herself and saying Anna Albert holds the secret to my success.” He paused. “When I woke up, I was puzzled and I shared the dream with Mrs. Naomi Willows. I told her as a Christian I did not rely on the voices of the dead to guide or lead me, but she told me to think harder. And then she reminded me that I had named my mine after my mother and perhaps I should take one last look. Perhaps that was what the dream meant.” He smiled at Cora. “That made a lot of sense to me and that was why I came in search of Michael and Henry.”
Louis nodded at Michael to take over. He was done talking. Michael obliged. “We went to the mine early this morning and entered through the exit that Henry and Louis had used two weeks ago to get to safety. At first, all we saw were the discarded tools and we wanted to turn back but Henry insisted on going deeper into the mine. And when we walked towards the common mine entrance that had caved in, our lamps seemed to glow and sparkle. It seemed as though the whole cave was glowing.”
No one spoke, holding their breath. Henry took over. “Michael and I have never seen what a lode of gold looks like but Louis has and he yelled out. We drew closer to the walls to see what was making him so excited and we discovered that when the mine had caved in, it uncovered a lode of gold that would never have been discovered otherwise.”
The crowd almost went wild but Michael held his hand up. There was still more. “We could not immediately tell the value or amount of gold that was in that mine, and Louis sent Henry to call Reuben and the sheriff because he was staking his claim. He asked Henry to go and both of us would remain guarding the find because sometimes greedy people can grab what is not theirs. He also told Henry to tell the sheriff to deputize Reuben to call my father.”
“Sheriff Eli and Reuben first came to see with their own eyes and they were more than astonished because Anna Albert mine was abandoned three years ago and no one ever expected to find anything of worth in it again,” Henry said. “So the sheriff deputized Reuben to call my father and he sent for more of his men to come and help us protect Louis’s gold.”
“When Pa arrived, Louis divided the gold equally between the two of them as Cora’s dowry.”
All in all, the Anna Albert mine produced enough gold to see to the future meals and impressive homes of the entire Richards and Willard clans and more besides. Six months later, Louis Albert had married Cora Richards.
Cora and Louis’s wedding day dawned bright and clear in spite of the fact that it was the beginning of autumn. Even the birds sang louder, the cows in the Richards’ shed lowed in response and it seemed as though even nature itself was celebrating this wonderful day for the couple who had proved that true love could conquer all obstacles.
Louis nervously waited for his bride, bearing mocking looks from his brothers-in-law who had agreed to stand up for him as his groomsmen.
“Wait until your turns come,” he hissed at them. “I will be the first to ensure that you feel whatever I am feeling today.”
“Do not hold your breath for that,” Henry hissed back. “If you try to gloat, we will tell Cora and she will soon set you straight.”
“And if you persist in mocking me, I will tell Cora and you will bear the brunt of her displeasure today,” Louis said, a smug look on his face when his words shut the two men up.
Everyone agreed that the groom and his men made a striking picture indeed. Hitherto, everyone had only seen Louis Albert dressed in castoffs and shabby clothes but on his great day, they realized that even though he was not as tall as his groomsmen, he seemed to be standing a head taller than all of them.
After the young couple exchanged their vows, the town gathered at the church for a great fellowship. There, Mary overheard Zipporah Douglas speaking to a group of ladies, “It is sad what Victor and Claudia Willard have had to go through.”
“What happened?” Everyone was all ears.
“Apparently Andrew has been running wild with one of the girls from Madam Fortune’s tavern and now the girl is in the family way.” There were gasps of astonishment. “The
girl is apparently Madam Fortune’s niece, the daughter of her dead sister and early this morning, Mayor Willard and his wife were woken up by a very angry Madam Fortune. They were backed by a number of the girls and customers who bore witness to the fact that Andrew was a regular and exclusive customer of the girl and that the pregnancy was definitely his. Madam Fortune and the girl insisted that he should marry her and help bring up the child or else they were going to cause such a ruckus that would be heard in the halls of the White House in Washington D.C.,” Zipporah finished.
“And to think that I was almost fooled into giving my daughter to that man,” Mary shook her head. “We have to be careful, dear sisters, never to be rigid when it comes to our children,” she looked at her friends and they nodded in agreement. “Let us allow them to make their own choices and the most important thing should be that the men they choose are Godly men of integrity.”
“That is true, Mary,” Lillian agreed. “We are all glad that finally Cora and Louis are together because those two were made for each other.”
Though the mine yielded gold for less than a year, it was enough. The couple was rich beyond their wildest dreams. Louis purchased land and built his new wife a lovely home. But more than comfort and wealth, the vein of their marriage was rich in greatest treasures, riches that only grew deeper as they grew older together: faith and love.
THE END.
Thank you for Reading!
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