Pig in a Poke Chapter 9 I’m a rich man

A Deal is a Deal
courtesy free clip art

When I got back to our cabin I told Charlie what happened and he said, “For half of that mine I would marry anyone.”

I said, “I know that is the way I feel also but I would rather do the choosing instead being bought.”

Charlie said, “She can’t be all that bad.  I saw her down at the creek washing herself, and from the back she looked real good.”

I said, “I’m going to sleep on it.”  As usual I was up early and had breakfast.  I then took off for Bartlett’s with my decision in hand.

I knocked on the door real hard and woke Bartlett up.  Cindy was up cooking and was half dressed.  He came and opened the door after telling Cindy to go and get dressed. He said, “Have you made up your mind yet?”

I said, “Yes, I’m going to be your new son- in-law.”

He just about broke my ribs hugging me and yelled for Cindy to come and kiss her husband to be.  She still wasn’t fully dressed but she was close enough for me to give her a big kiss on the mouth.

She looked stunned for a minute and then grabbed me around the neck and proceeded to kiss my face all over.  Bartlett said that’s enough of that for now.  Perhaps you can save it till after the wedding.

I told them both that we were going to be like married folks right off and no messing around like I had heard about some people.

Bartlett told me that I would have to give her some time to get used to the idea and I said, “She has until the preacher get’s here to get used to the idea and then we are going to be married just like other folks.”

Cindy said, “Stop fretting Pa, that’s all alright with me, I didn’t want to get married anyway but since I am going to I want to get on with it.”

Bartlett said, “Okay if that’s the way you want it go ahead.”  It took two hours for the preacher to get there and fifteen minutes to do the marrying.

He just happened to have a supply of wedding rings so I bought the one Cindy picked out for herself.

The words; “I now pronounce you man and wife” seemed to be the end of a process that was meant to be for always.  

The camp expected a celebration with food and drink. Due to the short time he had, Bartlett had the settlers bring in a lot of food which he paid for and he had some sprits he passed around.  In the end everyone enjoyed my wedding as much or more than I did.

It was very late when the celebration was over and the bride and groom were exhausted.  Cindy slept in her bed and I slept in an extra bedroom in Bartlett’s house. It didn’t seem wise to do otherwise due to the worn out state we were both in.

In the morning we were up by daylight and headed to the city.  This took us two days getting to our hotel arriving in the afternoon.  Without our fast horses we could have been on the road for four days or more.  After a good meal we prepared for bed and I was surprised that Cindy was unashamed and removed her clothes right before me and put her night gown on and hopped into bed.

I was still standing there with her looking at me and she said, “Well come on.”

I started removing my clothes with her staring at me till I couldn’t take it anymore and I blew out the light.  The next night I had got beyond my reticence and left the lamp lit.

She started to giggle and I had to laugh at myself.  After three days we headed to San Francisco (some still called it Yerba Buena) and spent ten days enjoying the hills and the bay and of course each other.

As I thought about this time I realized that never once did I think about whether she was a raving beauty as some of the publications described pretty women or not.  The one thing I had to agree with her Pa was she was extremely shapely. And that made all the difference in the world.

She went to a hair salon and they showed her how to fix her long hair and how to wear a bonnet for the best effect.  I must admit she looked a lot better after several trips to different salons for women.  

After our time was up we packed up our purchases and returned to Sacramento for a night before heading home.  Bartlett had sent an escort down to go with us for safety purposes.  We didn’t have any trouble although we saw some men that could have been trouble if the heavily armed men hadn’t been with us.

Bartlett was glad to see us; actually mostly it was Cindy he wanted to see. She started at the beginning and told him everything that had happened leaving out no detail and that embarrassed me again for she was shameless.

I figured I must have done something right on the honeymoon for she wouldn’t leave me alone.  I couldn’t get used to calling Bartlett Pa so I continued to call him Bartlett.

A few days later he said he had to go to San Francisco and that I would be in charge of the mining operation.  

He then added, “What I mean is Cindy will run things for she has pretty much done it since she was ten.”   He continued saying, “If you do what she says you won’t have any trouble.”

I told Cindy, “I didn’t exactly understand what Bartlett had told me,” and she said, “Honey you are in charge but I will help you if you need it.”  She went on to say, “I will show you how everything runs around here and you will pick it up in no time.”

I told her, “I will be glad for your help for yo Pa left everything of importance to me and that is a lot of responsibility.”