Her skin was smooth and silky white. Daniel wondered if she perhaps had some Irish ancestry in her family. At that thought, he hoped that she wouldn’t catch a sun burn from the harsh rays that fell on these parts. Thankfully, almost as if she had read his mind, Miss James reached down into her suitcase and produced a small yellow parasol. It matched her yellow and white floral gown splendidly. Daniel couldn’t keep himself from smiling. In his eyes, she was the picture of perfection.
“You certainly seem as though you’ve come prepared,” he told her appreciatively, picking up her suitcase and carrying it to his carriage for her. She graciously took his arm as they walked, which made him feel like he was floating instead of walking.
“I learned a long time ago to make a point to remember such things,” Hannah told him sagely as they walked through the dusty platform together. “My mama warned me about early on and I have the freckles to prove that I didn’t heed her warnings soon enough.”
This caused him to laugh softly. She was a delightful lady, he could see that already. She wasn’t at all like the shy, demure creatures that he had seen when he was a younger man. Such women always left him feeling so uneasy. Conversely, Hannah James was bubbly, warm and easy to talk with.
“How were your travels?” Daniel asked Hannah as he helped her climb safely into the back of his carriage. He knew that the train ride could be long and bumpy, particularly for someone who wasn’t used to riding in trains. He certainly hadn’t been during his first trip, though he did suppose that it being his first trip was the reason why.
She continued to smile at him sweetly. “Oh, I thought they were divine. I had never been on a train before, so it was all quite fascinating and exciting for me. I worried about how I was going to sleep, but wouldn’t you know that I slept like a baby the entire time?” She grinned at him for emphasis. “Thank you so much for purchasing the ticket for me. I’m thrilled to be here and to meet you finally.”
Smiling back at her, he climbed into the carriage next to Hannah once her suitcase was tucked away in the trunk. He didn’t have a driver, so he held onto the reins and controlled the horses himself. Hannah seemed transfixed by this; the gentlemen in New York never seemed to do such things for themselves. Rather than being shocked or horrified, she felt a certain gratification watching Daniel take charge like that.
Daniel was far more capable than what she was used to. He could sense this right away, and it made him proud of himself and his abilities. He took it for granted that he had to be that way, but apparently, it made him all the more special in her eyes. He could stand to keep feeling that way. He didn’t feel that he was special or even necessarily worthy of such a woman’s attention, but then again, he would have felt tremendously disappointed if she were to have ignored him or taken him for granted. He was so used to spending time amongst cold women, especially the women in his family. The hoity-toity aunts who haunted his waking thoughts at times. He wondered what they would think of him now. They sometimes wrote to him, but he tore their letters up without reading them. He knew that they were only interested in his gold.
The carriage ride wasn’t particularly long. Daniel lived in a modest-sized house considering the wealth he had accumulated. Instead of acquiring material things, he chose to reinvest the majority of his earnings back into his thriving mining business. Hannah admired the stone and wood home with a look that was both curious and delighted. “Did you build this yourself? It’s so quaint and lovely.”
He blushed a bit. “I built it with the help of several of my good friends. One of them works in the lumber mill nearby, so he knew what he was doing more than I did. I’m more a digger than a builder.”
Hannah’s green-blue eyes sparkled with delight. “I like that. You’re my little mole, aren’t you?”
Daniel would never have thought of likening himself to a mole, especially because they were not known as cute animals. But she said it in a way that showed she found him endearing, so he would take it as a compliment. “I suppose I am,” he said shyly.
He parked the carriage in his small barn and let the horses into their paddock after helping her out of the carriage. Hannah admired the barn as he worked, taking note of the horses and the conditions in which they lived. Daniel did not bother himself with owning many animals, but his duo of black and white horses were his absolute pride and joy.
Once the horses were taken care of, he grabbed her suitcase from the back of the carriage and led her slowly up to his house. He opened the door and showed her inside. Hannah admired the architecture and simple furnishings of the home. He had all of the essentials: a sofa and two comfortable armchairs in the living room, a chestnut dining table with six matching chairs around it. All the comforts of home. Hannah seemed pleased, which was a relief to Daniel. He wanted her to feel at home with him, of course.
“We won’t be alone here, of course. My housekeeper is in the kitchen. She lives in a room on this floor, and then your room will be down the hall from mine, so you shall have all the privacy you would like,” Daniel explained. Just because the West was wild and still largely untamed did not mean that society’s rules of decorum would not still be adhered to. As soon as he explained this, he gestured for Hannah to have a seat in the living room and then left to place her things into the bedroom that had been prepared for her.
“Mrs. Hughes?” he called as he went.
An older woman came into the living room, drying her hands on her white apron. She was plump with gray hair held up in a bun. She reminded Daniel of his mother, which was one of the reasons he had hired her so readily. There was no way that he would be able to cook for himself and keep the house tidy while working in the mine all day, so her help was invaluable and greatly appreciated.
“Hello,” Mrs. Hughes said to Hannah, smiling genuinely. “You must be Mr. Bishop’s guest. We’ve been so looking forward to meeting you. Welcome.” She offered her hand and Hannah shook it gladly.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Hughes,” she replied. “I didn’t know that Mr. Bishop had a housekeeper living with him. I must confess that having you here does put me more at ease.”
“I didn’t used to live with him,” Mrs. Hughes explained. “I had a small house nearby, but when Mr. Bishop began planning for you to move here, he asked me to come move into the spare room in this house. I do believe he enjoys having someone to look after the house for him while he’s away working so hard every day.” She smiled, taking pride in the fact that her boss considered her invaluable.
Hannah nodded. “This arrangement makes a lot of sense,” she said. “I have never had a housekeeper myself, but I do believe that I shall enjoy counting you amongst my friends.” She smiled kindly back at Mrs. Hughes. She meant what she said. The prospect of living with a fellow lady nearby had not even crossed her mind as a possibility before, but it brought her tremendous comfort now.
****
Daniel did his best to allow Hannah ample time to relax and get used to life in California. As soon as her things were placed into her room, she went inside and took a nap for a while. He was eager to chat with her, but he knew that it was going to take time for her to settle in and feel at ease. As she relaxed in her room, he busied himself with some paperwork for his mining company. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hughes saw to it that dinner would be ready by the time Hannah had awakened from her rest.
Hannah was not a shy, little flower. As soon as she awoke from her nap, she came out of her bedchamber and down the stairs to the living room in search of Daniel. The kindly old housekeeper in the kitchen made her feel emboldened enough to spend time with him. He set aside his papers when he saw her approaching, and gave her a warm smile. “I hope you received your much well-needed rest,” he said to her. “I know that the journey from the East can be rather arduous.”
“Thankfully, my journey was not as bad as I have heard other people describe. It was lengthy, but I quite enjoyed it. I wonder if it is fun to be a train conductor.” Hannah’s eyes glistened a bit at
the thought.
Daniel chuckled a bit. “I’m sure I don’t know the first thing about it,” he told her. “The only experience I have with trains is selling them coal. That’s the majority of what I do with the coal I find, for it’s not the coal that I’m after.”
Hannah beamed and smiled knowingly. “I cannot imagine having much use for coal when one is after gold.”
Daniel blushed a bit at the mere mention of his job and its findings. “Coal keeps people warm,” he countered coyly.
She nodded. “That’s true. My coming here warmed me the whole way. I am so glad that I found your advertisement in the newspaper, Mr. Bishop. You have given me such a great opportunity.”
There was something so business-oriented in the way Hannah spoke. It felt at times as if she was hoping he would hire her rather than marry her. He didn’t want to read too much into that, but he couldn’t help his mind from wandering to those thoughts from time to time. “Please call me Daniel,” he said, changing the subject. “I hope that you shall think of me as a friend, not as someone who needs a title.”
It was Hannah’s turn to blush somewhat. “I’m sorry,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve grown so used to speaking to people like that. I suppose you could say that I didn’t have a great many friends back in New York. That is to say… I appreciate being here with you now. Your letters were quite sweet. I only hope that I can be to you what you have already been to me. I want ever so much to be a good wife to you someday.”
He smiled at her. “I do believe that friendship can help with that.”
He briefly explained to her what he was doing, what the papers on his table were about. “It’s not unlike bookkeeping in your jewelry shops, surely,” he said. “I keep track of the mine’s quantities and of course factor in the income that we make based on sales of the coal that we find.”
“And what about the gold?” she asked. Hannah seemed especially interested in the gold, which Daniel could not exactly fault her for. It was what made things unique here. Coloma was known for its gold.
“Yes,” he said. “I keep track of that as well. But that goes into a separate ledger.”
“I can see now why you didn’t go into such detail about all of this in your letters,” Hannah said. “It seems like quite a lot to manage.” She smiled and he noticed that she had faint dimples on her cheeks. “There is something else that I was wondering about. You can probably better explain this in person as well.”
Daniel tilted his head slightly. “Oh? What was that?”
“You closed your last letter with a P.S,” Hannah said. “It was a bunch of lines and dots and I didn’t know what to make of it. Was that some kind of code?”
He smiled at her. She was a smart lady, even if she didn’t know quite which code it was. He was proud of her for being intelligent and curious about the world. That was after all why he had sought this woman from the jewelry store and not some young lady who lived at home in a mansion with her parents. Daniel was not judgmental of the ladies like that, of course, but he preferred to marry a likeminded woman who shared his interests.
“It was indeed a code!” he told her warmly. “It’s Morse code. I learned how to use it during the war with the Mexicans. It saved my life more times than I can remember.”
Hannah’s green-blue eyes widened a bit. She was aware that he had fought in the war, but the fact that he had utilized something from his time there intrigued her. “What did your code mean, in the message to me?”
His smile shifted slightly and he looked down at the floor. He supposed that he should’ve known that he would have to come out with it soon enough. It was just so much easier to write than it was to speak sometimes…
“I love you,” he told her. “It says, ‘I love you.’”
Hannah smiled and blushed at that. “Oh,” she said, giggling a little. “Oh my, that’s so sweet. I do believe that…I love you too.”
Daniel felt the airiness of butterflies in his stomach. He waited for her to be in town before proposing and now he felt as though it was the perfect moment. Nervousness and excitement mingled within him, causing his hands to shake a bit. At once, he stood up from his chair and rushed from the room and into his small library which contained a thick wooden desk with four drawers. He opened the top and retrieved a small box.
Hannah appeared perplexed when he returned to the living room. “Is everything alright?”
Nodding, Daniel sank back down into his chair. He held the small black box in his hands, not trying to hide it but not calling attention to it either. How strange, he thought, that plunging into the darkness should be less frightening than plunging into marriage…
“I know that we have only known each other a short time, especially if you take into account that we’ve only just met in person,” he said. “But I was hoping that… Would you do me the immense honor of…?” Daniel gulped back his nerves as best as he could. “Would you marry me?”
He opened the box and took out the gold ring. He hoped that he wasn’t being too hasty, but he knew that everything took time and he certainly did not need more time trying to decide if this was what he wanted. He loved Hannah and he knew that they would be very happy together. Did Hannah feel the same way?
Hannah rose from the couch in her surprise. She was smiling a shy sort of smile. The hour was getting late and supper was about to be done. The smell of ham and potatoes wafted in from the kitchen area even as they spoke. Daniel wondered if he should have waited until after dinner. “Oh, Daniel,” Hannah said then.
The use of his given name filled his heart with joy.
“I would love to marry you,” she answered.
Gazing lovingly up at her, he carefully moved so that he was kneeling before her. He took her left hand in his and placed the ring on her finger. He then stood back up and gave her a gentle hug.
“Of course, I want you to get fully settled first,” he told her. “But we shall be married as soon as you like.”
Mrs. Hughes invited them to sit down for dinner and Hannah loosened her hold on Daniel. She smiled up at him. “Tomorrow,” she teased. “I know it’s not realistic. But I’d marry you tomorrow if I could.”
****
The upcoming wedding gave Daniel some much needed zeal. As they ate dinner together, they shared some of their ideas that they most wanted for their special day. Hannah was clearly much more versed in this sort of thing, so he took her at her word when she said things such as “I simply must find a dress!” and “We will want to invite as many friends from town as possible.” The only weddings she had really been a part of before were her sister’s wedding and of course the ones that had utilized her jewelry.
“Future brides would come into the shop all of the time to look at earrings and necklaces. All sorts of things. I must admit that I was jealous of them, but in an admiring way, of course.” She smiled merrily. “I would not wish to deny anyone that happiness. I think weddings seem to be so sweet.”
Daniel noticed a dreamy look in her eyes. He could imagine that it was the sort of thing she had dreamt about all her life. Ladies looked forward to marrying their Prince Charming and having wonderful parties. It didn’t matter that they were out West, far from the grand mansions and ballrooms of the city. Hannah wanted her wedding just the same, and Daniel was determined to give it to her.
Once dinner was over, Hannah retired to her bedroom, a big smile on her face as she went. It pleased him a great deal to see how happy he had made her thus far. She had seemed a bit shy and overwhelmed at first, but the prospect of marrying a successful gold miner managed to perk her right up. He supposed that he shouldn’t have been surprised that when they discussed the mine she saw dollar signs. That was a normal reaction to discussions of wealth. He hoped, however, that she would not become disappointed when she saw exactly how much coal he collected as well. Everything was useful to the people out West. And everything had a price.
He returned to work reinvigorated the following morning. Meanwhile, he
entrusted Mrs. Hughes with helping Hannah find an appropriate wedding gown. Daniel knew very little about such things and didn’t think that he would be much help, or indeed missed while they went on their shopping excursion.
“I recommend Ephraim as a tailor,” he suggested. It was the only piece of advice he could think of.
The piece of the wedding planning that he was most keen to take care of was securing a place for their ceremony. There was a small church in the center of town that Daniel believed would do nicely. As there were not many marriages to carry out in Coloma, he didn’t believe that there would be much trouble securing some time with the minister.
Hannah enjoyed going into town with Mrs. Hughes. There were not as many shops as she was hoping to find, but the housekeeper already had some white fabric that could be used for a wedding gown. If Ephraim was worth his salt, he would be able to supply the other much-needed dress elements.
Several hours later, the ladies returned home with their bags and grins on their faces. Daniel met them inside, tired from working in the mine all day. The smile on Hannah’s face made him break out into a grin of his own. “I take it that you had a successful day.”
She held up her bags. “We didn’t find a dress to purchase, but we found everything we’ll need to make one!”
The wedding was planned for that weekend.
****
With much help from Mrs. Hughes, Hannah was able to create the perfect wedding dress. It was not quite the sort of gown she was envisioning for herself, but then this wedding was not quite the sort of wedding a girl from New York could imagine. Coloma was unlike the city she had grown up in, and that was a big part of what made this wedding so exciting to her.
Daniel let the ladies take his horse cart to the church. “I will fetch a ride with my friend Thomas.” The friendly miller was of course invited. After all, he was so helpful in his advice to Daniel. The two had been friends for practically all of the time he had lived out West.
Annie: A Bride For The Farmhand - A Clean Historical Western Romance (Stewart House Brides Book 3) Page 8
