by Rita Hestand
Johnson came up to him, "So, why are we camping here?"
"This is where the brides are to meet." He told him.
"I see. Well, I'll talk with my people and see if they want to stay or go on, then."
Cully nodded.
Johnson paused and turned to look at Cully again, "Do you have a map?"
"Sure," Cully pulled out a map from the chuck wagon and spread it out on the church porch so Johnson could see it.
"Where exactly are we?" Johnson asked him.
Cully pointed on the map, "You're about thirty-five miles from Sacramento."
Abby had gathered all the women together of their train and they discussed their plans.
"This church is our meeting place. We're supposed to be here by September 15." She announced.
"Oh no," Rebecca looked at the original contract.
"What's wrong?" Abby asked.
"Today is the 15th." She cried aloud.
Abby's face drained of color. "Today."
Abby grabbed the contract, then the read the time, 9 o'clock in the morning. It had to be well past noon now. She'd missed him by hours.
Mr. Cranston was to meet her here this morning.
"Well surely, we can find out where he might be," Rebecca cried.
As Abby and the other women went inside the church they were amazed at the beauty of the building. Stained glass windows, and a steeple for the bell. It was gorgeous.
Some of the women were so happy they practically danced inside the church.
A preacher came out and stared at all the women. "Can I help you, ladies?"
"Oh, are you the pastor?" Abby asked him boldly.
"Yes, I am."
"Good, we were to meet a Mr. Cranston about the miners." She smiled.
"Miners, Cranston. Well, he left some time ago."
"Do you know where he went?" Abby asked.
"No, I didn't ask him. But he is probably at the mine headquarters." The preacher told her.
"Where is that?"
"About ten miles down the road. You could check there." The pastor told them.
"Alright, we need to camp tonight, can we use the church grounds for that?" Abby asked.
"Of course, just be sure and pick your trash up, as my groundskeeper quit yesterday." The pastor told her.
"Fine, we can do that, and thank you." Abby smiled at him. "Well, girls we made here, without losing anyone but Gwen and Rebecca so to speak."
"But don't we need to get hold of Mr. Cranston?" Alma looked worried.
"We will, not to worry." Abby told her putting her arm around her.
Several of the ladies sat in a pew and prayed. Abby was sure they were praying for good luck in finding a suitable husband.
She went outside to find Cully. He was giving some orders to Johnson. She waited until he was finished talking to him to talk to him.
"Cully," she approached him.
"Yeah," his tone was serious. "What can I do for you?" He cast her a quick frown.
"Well umm," she hesitated. "Mr. Cranston isn't here. It seems we missed him, and I was wondering if you would ride down the road with me to his headquarters, so we could talk."
He turned to look at her with a firm frown in place. "Miss Abby, I'm a wagon master first. But yes, I will accompany you to his headquarters as soon as I get everyone settled around here. I've got Johnson wanting me to take them on the Sacramento, you are wanting me to take you to Mr. Cranston, and everyone wanting to know where they are going next. Give me a couple of hours and I will be able to go with you." He turned away.
His abruptness seemed out of place.
She started to walk off, then turned to look at him. "Is something wrong? I guess I could go alone."
"I'll take you, but right now I'm busy." He told her firming his lips and turning away from her. "You see when I took on that extra train, I acquired more than I bargained for. Why isn't Cranston here, anyway?"
"I don't know, except, well, we were supposed to be here at nine this morning." She said sweetly.
"Well pardon me, I didn't realize there was a clock on the train movements. I got you here in one piece. In mid-September, I thought that would be sufficient."
"I'm not griping. I realize you did. I appreciate the fact. It's just that, if we don't contact him, he might think the contract is null and void." She sighed heavily.
"Alright, let's go, then." He barked.
"Mr. Cully, if you don't want to take me, I can manage on my own, I just didn't want to get lost." She protested as he headed for his horse.
"Let's go Miss Abby," he barked once more.
Unable to figure out his mood, she went to her horse and they took off down the road.
"Do you know where it is?"
"Yeah, I even know Cranston." Cully told her in a haughty voice.
"What's wrong with you today?" She asked as she had to hurry her horse along to catch up with him.
"Not a thing. Except," he stopped and turned to look her in the eye. "We weren't here a minute before you ran into that church hoping to catch Mr. Cranston. Not even, a thank you for all the hard work it took to get here. No, it was all about your finding a gold mining husband."
She looked as though he'd slapped her. Her face flushed. "I'm sorry. You're right of course. I didn't stop to thank you, but when Rebecca said we were supposed to meet him at nine this morning, I was afraid he'd be gone, and he was."
He turned around and headed down the street, she caught up to him. "I'm sorry Cully. It was bad manners."
"No problem, Miss Abby," he ground his teeth to hold his temper back.
"You're upset. I can't believe it. I thought you'd be anxious to get rid of us actually." She told him.
"Well, I should be. I don't think I'm ever coming back this way again." He told her.
Those words stunned her. She hadn't once thought of what the end of the trail would mean. Something inside her recoiled from his words.
"Never?" She asked.
"No ma'am." He didn't look at her.
"But you've come before." She insisted.
He seemed to think on his words, as though talking to himself. "That was a long time ago. I'd forgotten what a hell of a trip it could be. Maybe I'm getting old or something. But this is the last trip to California."
Sadness filled her. Never to see him again, went through her head. She went quiet, very quiet. All she could think of a bit ago was contacting Mr. Cranston and setting up the first meeting with the miners, but now, she realized what it meant.
I'm going to marry a gold-digging miner!
They pulled up to a brick building with a sign that read, "Mining Headquarters".
Abby stared at the sign. This was the dream she had come to. Or was it?
"I'll wait for you out here," he told her.
"You aren't coming in with me?" she asked.
"I don't think that's necessary." He told her.
She nodded.
But as she was about to go in, she ran to him, reached up and kissed him on the cheek, then smiled at him, "Thank you Cully."
"Yeah," he said tightly.
She went inside, her stomach in butterflies. What was she doing here? Why had she been so sure this was the answer to everyone's prayers. She suddenly felt as though she were walking to her own doomed future.
A million things ran through her mind as she walked up the stairs to the office. Had Cully been right all along? Was she giving up her freedom now for this life?
She turned the door knob when a woman answered.
She found a secretary sitting at a desk. "Can I help you, Miss?"
Abby stood paralyzed, "I-I yes, of course. I was to meet Mr. Cranston about the mail order brides."
"Oh, but that was this morning."
"I know, we just got here though."
"Well, I'm afraid Mr. Cranston is gone. He's at the Gold Tunnel Mine right now. He won't be back for some time or I'd offer you to wait."
"Oh, well, I can come back then…when woul
d be a good time?"
"Well, let me check his schedule here." She looked in a ledger and nodded. "Tomorrow afternoon he has a meeting at one, after that he could probably see you if you are here, say about two."
"That's fine, I'll be here."
She nodded.
Abby walked out the door and stood at the top of the stairs, wondering if she would be here. But then, the other women were looking forward to this, she had to be. So why did her heart tell her that this was not the solution.
Chapter Twenty-Three
She went outside to find Cully sitting on the boardwalk, leaning against a post. He never looked more handsome than sitting there brooding. She wanted to kiss and hug him and tell him how she felt, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She'd just now noticed he'd cleaned up, put a white shirt on, and a black leather vest, he looked great.
"He's not there, I'll have to come back tomorrow." She told him.
"Now that you know where his office is, you won't need me, will you?" He asked, glancing up at her.
"I-I suppose not." She admitted.
"Good."
When she got on her horse, he followed. "So, where you ladies going to stay until things are settled?"
"I don't know. With the wagon train until I talk with him, I should think. If we won't be a bother."
"No bother at all, Miss Abby, no bother at all." He repeated, but there was such an irritant in his voice now. What had she done to make him so angry?
But when she returned to the train, Rebecca was the center of attention as she was telling everyone about her engagement to Johnny. Everyone was thrilled for her.
"We've got to have a party and bring gifts for the bride. In fact, wouldn't it be fun to bring gifts for everyone when they get engaged. We've got so much to look forward to now, girls." Betty was saying.
Abby said very little but perched herself on the church porch and watched.
Later Rebecca came up to her a bit later. "So, did you talk with Mr. Cranston yet?"
"No, he wasn't there. I've got to go back tomorrow." Abby informed her.
"What's wrong, you look so forlorn? Like you just lost you best friend." Rebecca chuckled.
"I have!" Abby cried.
"Oh, no you haven't. I'm still here, and Johnny and I haven't figured out exactly what we'll do yet." Rebecca smiled.
"Will you go with me tomorrow to talk with him?" Abby asked her.
"Mr. Cranston?"
"Yes."
"But, I thought Cully was taking you."
"He took me today, and he's not at all interested in taking me again. He's quite busy, it seems."
"Did you two have a little tiff?" Rebecca questioned.
"No, we did not. He's just grumpy because I didn't praise him for getting us through."
Rebecca hung her head a moment. "I don't think that's all that's eating him. You two were close during the trip, and now it's over. Maybe he doesn't like goodbyes."
"I think he's very happy to be rid of us."
"Abby there is something between you two and you should settle it, one way or another." Rebecca prodded her.
"There's nothing between us. He said he's never coming back to California. That said everything."
"Well what did you expect, you'll be married by then anyway?" Rebecca told her.
Abby looked at her and pulled her away from the crowd of women. "Rebecca, I thought this thing up for us. I thought at the time, it's what I wanted to do, a fresh start. But now that I'm here. I'm not so sure. I understand why he warned me of it, now."
"Who warned you of it?"
"Cully. He said they are dirty miners who work all day, gamble and drink what they make at night, and get up the next day to do it all over again. And as we came through some of those mining camps, I can see he was right. I don't know if I have led these women to happiness or an early grave."
"Abby, no one forced them to come. Everyone wanted to get away from that place. And at the time all of us thought it was a better idea than staying there and getting beat up every day." Rebecca put her arm around her. "You need to meet with Mr. Cranston, and let the girls decide for themselves if this is what they want."
"I'm not sure it's what I want." Abby cried.
"You're in love with Cully, aren't you?" Rebecca smiled with understanding.
"I-I…."
"Admitting it is half the battle." Rebecca smiled.
"You don't understand. Cully isn't the marrying kind. He's a loner. He likes it that way. I think I'm just going to get myself a job and stay here. But I won't marry one of those miners."
"A job, doing what?"
"Well, I'm a good cook, I can wait on people." Abby told her.
"But originally, this was your dream."
"I know, but that's all it is, a dream."
Rebecca studied her a moment then her mouth opened, and she stared, "It's about what happened back there, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about," Abby turned away so she couldn't see her face.
"Abby, you killed him in self-defense. He killed your baby." Rebecca turned her around to see the tears flowing down her cheeks.
"He was asleep when I killed him Rebecca, that's murder. Even I know that." Abby cried aloud, then put her hand over her mouth so no one could hear her cries. "I can't live with myself, and I can't live with anyone else. I know that now."
"Oh, honey. I can't believe you've let that follow you all this time. It's time to let go. He's gone. Where he belongs, I might add. You aren't a killer. He killed your child, and he might have killed you. And the truth be known, he'd probably have done it again." Rebecca grabbed her and pulled her to her.
The other women came to listen and suddenly they were all around her.
"We're in this together Abby." One of the women came forward, it was Gladys, then Alma, then Betty, and then Mary.
Mary stepped forward. She was a big woman, a bit rough looking, but everyone knew she had a heart of gold. "We can't go on, if you can't. We were all in the same fix, Abby. Everyone of us. We all agreed that night we determined to come west. You know I killed my husband. I know you killed yours. But we had no choice in the matter. Would you have let the man kill another baby?"
Abby's tears rolled down her cheek now, "N-no!" she cried aloud.
Mary loosened her garment and let the women see what her husband had done to her suddenly and the women gasped aloud. "Tell me he didn't deserve it, Abby."
The whip marks had scarred Mary's entire back, like a big blister. Never had a woman been beaten so badly. Everyone agreed he deserved it.
"And you…. Losing your baby because he had to lay his hand on you. You couldn't have kept living with him Abby. And no law around would stand up for you, or me. But, Abby, thanks to you, it's over. Now we got another chance at being happy. You can't live in the past, Abby. That's letting them win. It's time for us to win."
"B-but, do you want to marry these men?"
"We don't know, we haven't met them yet. But if they'll treat us right. Appreciate us a bit, why not? I don't want to live the rest of my life alone. I guess what I'm saying is, if they could look at my back every night and not cringe, then, yeah, I'd have them. Heck, I'd help them dig for that gold, too."
"Me too!" Betty jumped out and said.
Abby sighed, then wiping her tears she nodded, "Alright, we'll go tomorrow, all of us to speak to Mr. Cranston."
The women dispersed, and Abby went off to think about what they said. All this time, she'd been prodding them onward, now they were doing the same for her. Was it time to put it all behind her and go on?
Chapter Twenty-Four
The next day all the ladies walked into the mining office. The Secretary had to find some chairs, so they could sit down. "Are all of you mail-order brides?"
"Most of us, yes." Mary nodded.
"Well, Mr. Cranston will be right out." She told them.
The women all looked about the beautiful office, with it's heavy brocade curtains, fine polis
hed mahogany desks and chairs, and beautiful oriental rug. There were huge ash trays, very decorative around the room, and a couple of spittoons, polished like mirrors. And old eight-day clock was mounted at a huge fireplace. All in all, the office was furnished beautifully.
However, it was an hour before Mr. Cranston came out and the women were a bit frustrated, while he was obviously overwhelmed.
As he moved toward the crowd of women he seemed a bit flustered. "I didn't expect all of you to show up."
Abby came forward. "Mr. Cranston, I'm Abigail Ashford, the one that contacted you. Look, we need to get settled here and we need to know how you plan on arranging the meeting with the men."
"Well, to tell the truth, I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment. But I'm sure we can arrange everything to your satisfaction. As for meeting the men, we will have a dance at the town hall on Friday. It will give you a chance to meet and mingle with them and see how far we can go with the marriage arrangements."
"Friday, no sooner?" Abby asked.
"Well, the men are all working, and won't be available before then, I'm afraid. But I'll arrange it and send you a message at what time."
As the women gathered around him to introduce themselves, he smiled and shook hands with some.
"How many are there in your party?"
"Fifty-five available for marriage." Abby told him.
He nodded. "Good, good."
"We believed we could pick and choose who we might want to marry up with."
"That's right, except there is another train full of women already here. They've met the men already, and whoever is left from that selection will be your selection."
"And if we don't choose anyone?" Abby asked.
"Then you are on your own for transportation home, or you are welcome to find a job here and stay. That's entirely up to you." Mr. Cranston said with a smile.
"And the bills who will pay them?"
"What bills?" He asked a bit confused.
"Dining and such."
"Oh, well, I'm sure I can handle that end of things."
"For how long?" she asked.
"I will for a month, after that, you are on your own."
Abby studied the man, he was middle-aged, with light brown hair that was thinning on top. His blue eyes twinkled when he spoke. But there was something in his manner that bothered Abby, she just wasn't sure what it was.
