Mrs. Hughes solicited the help of one of Daniel’s miners so that they could ride into town properly. Hannah was thrilled to have the kind housekeeper helping her in the wedding. She was the matron of honor.
When Hannah slowly walked up the aisle towards her beau, she smiled so big that Daniel felt as though his heart had grown wings. He grinned lovingly back at her, fighting back tears of joy. She however didn’t fight her own tears. She was the picture of the perfect blushing bride. In that moment, he felt as though he could not possibly love her more.
“Dearly beloved,” the minister began. “We gather here to join these two souls in holy matrimony. As it is said in the Book of Peter 4:8: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
Hannah and Daniel held each other’s hands, gazing into each other’s faces. Though they knew that they were surrounded by the caring townsfolk and the words of the minister rang through the church, they only had eyes for each other.
“Hannah Diana James,” the minister continued, “do you take this man as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to honor and obey, forsaking all others, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”
She beamed up at Daniel. “I do,” she said.
Daniel’s heart was racing with excitement and euphoria.
Now it was his turn. “Daniel Wesley Bishop, do you take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to honor and protect, forsaking all others, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” he said, almost before the minister could get the entire question out.
There was some tittering in the pews and Hannah smirked at him. He smiled shyly back at her. The minister seemed amused, and because he was so used to performing ceremonies like this, he knew a truly happy couple when he saw one.
“Then, by the power vested in me by the church and the great town of Coloma, California, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
A cheer went up but all Daniel cared about was the happy look on Hannah’s face. She practically leapt into his arms at the minister’s cue, and Daniel kissed her ever so tenderly. She kissed him back and her glee was so apparent that he could almost feel it through their lips, like a shock in the most wonderful way.
****
Hannah twisted her new rings around on her finger, admiring them with a huge smile on her face. As a jeweler, she of course had more of an eye for things like rings, and Daniel was relieved to see that she appreciated the ones that he had chosen for her. “Now that we are married, my love,” she told him. “I want to help you in your business. As the minister said, ‘for richer or poorer.’ I believe that we shall be quite rich if we work together.”
Daniel raised his eyebrows at her. He tutted a bit. “I had no idea you were so interested in riches. Though you have certainly come to the right place for that… I believe that you will be a far greater help for me if you will be here in my house, keeping things like home. Mrs. Hughes will stay on as the housekeeper if you like, but I really rather hope you will be my sweet housewife.”
She pouted somewhat at him. “That is quite a lot to ask,” she told him. “After all, I am a woman of business. It would feel so strange to me to just sit at home, day in and day out, not doing anything with myself. I believe I could really make a great business for you, selling gold jewelry in town. I noticed that there is a real lack of such things and it is hurting the town’s prosperity. Why, if there was a jewelry store, there would be better options for the ladies in town. You have to admit that things are rather sparse here.”
Daniel was resolute. “I appreciate that you would like to help, darling, but I really do not think it is safe for a lady like you to be out on her own, selling jewelry. You are new to town still. You don’t know how dangerous some of the men can be, particularly the ones who are hoping for a bride of their own…”
He did not like to think it, much less discuss it, but the town did attract its share of bandits. There remained some vestiges of the war in certain areas, and some men who came to California for the gold rush were less the working kind and more the stealing kind.
Hannah did not wish to argue with her husband. After all, he knew the town better than she did, and he likewise understood the men of the town in ways that she perhaps would never be able to. Still, she was clearly frustrated by the limitation that Daniel had given her.
She stayed at home for the next several days whilst he went out to work. She attempted some needlework and explored the house while he was gone, but she was ever so restless and longed to explore more of the landscape outside. Hannah had not travelled all the way across the country to just sit indoors and while away the hours. She felt that she was wasting her skills and talents when she should have been putting them to use as she had back in the city.
One day not long after the wedding, Hannah decided to venture forth from the house, on a mission to explore and see about finding some gold for herself. Daniel couldn’t be cross with her selling gold if she was selling her own findings! She didn’t imagine that it could be too difficult to find gold in a cave. Otherwise, how had so many men done it? On the premise that she was simply going into town to inquire about some yarn from Mr. Ephraim, Hannah borrowed the horses and the cart. She knew how to drive horses, though she had of course never done such a thing in a place like California before. They were much easier to control in the tight space of the city streets than they were in the open dirt roads of Coloma.
Instead of going into town, Hannah drove the horses towards the mountains and woods of the mines. She was determined to prove herself to her husband. She wasn’t afraid to strike out and try new things, and she wanted to make that very clear to Daniel.
****
Hannah did not have any kind of proper mining gear, but instead, believed that she could simply march into one of the caves and pick at the rocks with a shovel. After stopping the horses at a safe distance from the mines, she took up the shovel that she had borrowed from her husband’s barn and went into the cave. It was so dark inside that she didn’t even have to go too far in before wishing that she had thought to bring a torch or something. “I shall not go far,” she said to herself, as if she had any other option but to agree. The trouble was, as she walked along and picked at the stone walls, it became more and more difficult to know quite where she was going. Which direction had she come from? She touched one of the stone walls and bit her lip. All of the walls in this cave felt the same: moist and rather frigid. Hannah was becoming rather frightened.
Daniel returned home from work several hours later. He was exhausted and ready to spend some quality time with his wife. “Sir,” Mrs. Hughes said, alerting him with her voice alone that there was a problem.
“What has happened?” he asked her, frowning and concerned. “Where’s Hannah?”
“That’s exactly the trouble,” Mrs. Hughes told him. “She took the cart into town to buy some yarn and she has yet to return. She’s been gone for hours.”
“Why didn’t you send for me?” he asked. He didn’t like to sound accusatory, but he was beginning to panic. He knew that Hannah could be somewhat stubborn when it came to doing things on her own.
Without waiting to hear Mrs. Hughes’s answer, he left the house again at once and got atop his horse. He quickly rode into town, hoping to find Hannah somewhere. Perhaps she had gotten lost or distracted by something. He prayed that she had not been distracted by anything or anyone dangerous.
“Has my wife come by to see you?” he asked Ephraim after looking through the entirety of the man’s general store. “She would have come in asking for knitting supplies.”
The store owner shook his head, appearing concerned for Daniel’s wife. “No, sir. I have not seen her today. Mightn’t she be at the saloon, or exploring some of the other shops?”
Daniel shoo
k his head a little. He found it highly unlikely that Hannah would have much interest in going to the saloon by herself, and what on earth could a woman want with mining supplies or lumber?
Then he knew. Of course! “Thank you,” he said distractedly to Ephraim before rushing from the shop and getting back onto his horse. He rode to the mines in the mountains nearby with fervor. As he approached, he saw the familiar cart and pair of horses. Dismounting, he left his horse there with them and ran at top speed into the mine. In his haste, he had failed to bring a torch to light his way, but he knew this particular tunnel well enough to at least be able to feel around for his wife.
“Hannah?” he called, careful to not yell too loudly and risk having an avalanche of rocks fall on them.
For a moment, the only sound that came was the echo of her name, sounding fainter and more urgent as it ricocheted against the damp walls of the mine.
Daniel took a deep breath, trying not to panic.
“Daniel?” Hannah’s voice suddenly called back. She sounded so terribly frightened. His heart jumped at the sound of her. She was alive. She was near!
He smiled in the darkness, though she certainly would not be able to see it. “Keep talking, sweetheart. I can find you if I can hear your lovely voice.”
“I am so sorry,” Hannah said, and it became clear at once that she was crying. She sobbed out her words. “I should have listened to you. I was so careless. I didn’t even think to bring a lantern.”
“It’s okay,” Daniel said, carefully moving along the wall in the direction of her voice. “I forgive you. I am so relieved and happy that you are safe. I was so worried that you had gotten hurt or lost. This cave is one of the trickier ones, because it spirals in on itself. You see?”
Hannah gingerly touched the wall near her right shoulder. “I did do an awful lot of twisting and turning, trying to find my way back out. I feel like such a fool.”
“Shhh,” he said, so close that he could hear her breathing now. “No, you are not. Accidents happen, unfortunately. But I’ve found you, and that’s all that matters right now.” Daniel wrapped his arms around the woman’s small frame, and he could feel her trembling inside his warm embrace.
Together, holding hands and not letting go, they walked back towards the entrance of the dark cave. They took their time to ensure that neither of them tripped or injured themselves.
Daniel knew the cave well enough to know to follow the relentless sounds of birds signing to find the entrance. They walked into the fading sunlight and Hannah threw her arms around Daniel, hugging him tightly. Her heart filled with joy when they reached daylight, but she began crying from the panic of getting lost and fearing for her life. “I would surely be lost without you!” she cried. “Thank you for rescuing me. My sweet hero.” As she pulled back from him, she brushed her lips against his. “I love you.”
Daniel smiled at her. His heart still soared when he looked upon her. Despite her foibles, or maybe even partially because of them, he loved her even more. “I love you, my darling. Let’s get you home. It is getting frightfully chilly out here.”
He tied his horse to the cart and they rode back together, relieved and grateful that things had turned out okay. They were going to have much to discuss once their nerves had subsided.
****
“I will never do something like that again,” Hannah told Daniel when they were sitting together quietly in the living room after their dinner that evening. “You were only trying to protect me. I should never have been so stubborn and defiant. I should have trusted your opinion and taken your advice.”
He looked at her and sighed a little. He agreed with that, but he knew too well what it was like to come to the West with a head full of dreams of adventure and riches untold. “I should not have been so quick to say no. I understand that you want to make a life for yourself out here. Who am I to tell you to become a housewife? That’s not the lady I met and asked to marry me, so why should I expect you to change after the fact?” Daniel gave her a smile. “I love that you want have passions and wish to continue your jewelry business here as you did back East. I shall do whatever is in my power to help you with that.”
Hannah gasped. “Oh!” she said. “That’s all that I want!”
He nodded. “It is as you said: husbands and wives should support each other. Rather than feeling fortunate to have a wife who had her own aspirations as I should have, I wanted you to be as other wives. But you are clearly special because you are so driven. And that’s why I love you. I want to share everything with you. So tomorrow, if you like, let’s go into the mines together. I will teach you how to find some gold for yourself.”
Too excited to sit still, Hannah rose from the couch and jumped with glee. “This will be wonderful! Oh, thank you, Daniel. I promise to listen to you and take your advice to heart from now on.”
Now that he had had more time to think on it, Daniel believed that it wouldn’t be so terrible to have his wife working in a shop in town. As she had told him, she wanted very much to contribute to their finances. The last thing he wanted was for her to become bored with him and their home. “You came out West to find your true destiny. I want you to have every happiness and to feel the same fulfillment I feel with my work.”
With that, he stood up from the couch and they gave each other a warm and loving kiss. Hannah had learned a lesson from all that had transpired, and Daniel believed that he had learned a very important lesson as well. She had wanted to move west to start a new life, and it had been presumptuous of him to assume that that ended with when she became his wife. He should have been the gatekeeper to her finding new wonders; he should not have tried to lock her up inside.
The next morning, Daniel and Hannah rose early. She made sure to wear one of her less beloved and fancy dresses, because she knew from her last expedition that the cave was dirty and likely to rip her gowns as well. She settled on a simple light pinkish dress that she had been thinking about replacing anyway… if ever Coloma were to get a gown shop. Daniel greeted her in the dining room and she looked as beautiful as ever. He did not worry himself with dresses. In his eyes, it was she who made the dresses lovely, not the other way around.
“You look beautiful,” he told her as he helped her into her seat for their early morning breakfast, pushing the chair up to the table.
Hannah blushed and smiled at him. “In this old thing? I picked this dress because I didn’t mind it getting dirty.”
Daniel chuckled a little. “You’d be beautiful even in a dirty dress,” he said with a wink.
Mrs. Hughes smiled at the lovely couple as she brought in their breakfast of eggs and juicy ham. She was so glad to see how happy the two of them were in their new marriage. Now that they were together in holy wedlock, the housekeeper had moved back into her nearby home. She wanted them to have privacy and space, and she could see now how wise of a decision that had been.
“Be careful this morning,” she said, giving them each a serious look. She was good at being a mother hen to the two young lovebirds. Neither of them had family out West, so she was the closest thing that they had. Well, besides each other.
After eating their hearty breakfast and promising the housekeeper that they would stick together and be careful, they were off and on their way. Daniel drove the horse cart to the mines on the mountainside and Hannah took note of how different these ones were. They were better constructed, with lanterns already stationed outside of them.
“Ah,” she said with a smile. “That’s the secret. I should have known well enough to go to one of the mines that is still in use.”
Daniel chuckled. “Quite true. But I do believe you were trying to avoid me finding you.” He gave her a knowing look and her blush made him laugh harder. He parked the cart and the horses a good distance away from the mouth of the cave and then brought out some ropes and picks for their day’s excavation.
“Now,” Daniel told her as he carefully wrapped a rope around Hannah’s waist, “I am goi
ng to teach you something important that I learned from the war.” Gently, he yanked on the rope twice. “This will mean, ‘Are you okay?’ If at any point, you are wondering about how I am doing or you want my attention, do that to signal me. And, to answer back, pull three times that you are okay. If you need help, pull once. Is that clear?”
Hannah watched as he tied the rope to himself. She felt absolutely thrilled that he was even allowing her to do this, but now she could see that it was going to be complete teamwork. There was a huge grin on her face. “Yes, that makes perfect sense to me. I’m so excited. This is wonderful!”
Daniel handed her a pick. “Please be careful with this. If you find a place that’s difficult to cut into, let me know and I will come find you and help.” Then he held up the shiny tin tray that was used for collecting the gold nuggets. “We’ll share this. There’s a lot of slack on this rope, but please don’t wander too far from me. The tray will be between us and we’ll use it as needed.”
They went into the mine and Hannah tried her hand at using the pick. She was careful and dainty in her efforts at first, chipping away as if the cool stone could feel pain. Eventually, with Daniel’s help, she learned how to hit it properly and soon the ground at her feet was filled with small rocks and pieces of coal that she had removed. She was sweating and she was dirty, and she loved every moment of it.
The two of them spent several hours in the mine, but they were so busy working that they didn’t feel as though much time had passed at all. Suddenly, Hannah’s pick fell onto something that didn’t feel the same as all of the other bits of rock and coal. She heard the clatter as whatever she had struck fell into the tin at her feet. She looked down and gave a triumphant shout. Everything she had hoped for… All of her dreams for California were coming true!
Daniel was alerted by the sound of her cry from a few feet away in the darkness. Somehow, while they worked, they had ended up quite far from each other, but it was okay as long as they still wore the rope that held them together. He tugged twice on the rope to see if she was doing all right.
Annie: A Bride For The Farmhand - A Clean Historical Western Romance (Stewart House Brides Book 3) Page 9