Joining Hearts- Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Chapter 1 (part 2)

         Later that day, Katie went upstairs to take a nap thinking that if she could sleep her days away, she could avoid facing reality. When she woke up, she pulled back her curtains to look outside. “Still snowing.” She said glumly. Normally Katie loved the snow but today, being mad at the world, she flung the curtains closed and entered the hallway to go towards the stairs. As she started to pass her father’s room, reality set in. He was never coming home, he was gone forever. That thought alone crushed her and almost took her to her knees. She started to go into his room and paused. It seemed so wrong to even consider going in there. It was almost as if it were a sacred place not to be disturbed. Everything was just as he had left it with one exception. She noticed her father’s hat and cane were lying on the bed. She knew that he had taken them with him and wondered how they had ended up on his bed. Katie went downstairs to ask John about it and completely forgot what she was going to do when she found him sitting in the study. Her fathers study had always been a place of comfort for Katie. She loved to come in and sit in front of a blazing fire, snuggle up under a blanket and read a good book. Aside from spending time reading, any given day she could walk in and find her father sitting at his mahogany desk surrounded by all his law books and papers, smoking his pipe. Now it only held memories, fresh ones at that, being she could still smell the slight hint of tobacco in the air. Oh how she missed him so much already.

         “I’ve sold the house.” John announced as he held up a telegram, bringing Katie back from her trance.

         “What!” Katie exclaimed throwing her hands in the air. “How could you do that? We have lived here our whole lives!”

         “I know that, Katie. I agonized long and hard about this decision and if you will take a moment to listen to me, I have a plan.”

         “Fine.” Katie said despondently, plopping herself down in the nearest chair. “Let me hear it.”

         “We are going to go West.” John said simply.

         “Are you crazy?” She cried out, rising from her chair. “There is nothing for us out in that dry, barren land. I don’t want to go. I want to stay here in Boston. It is our home.”

         “Sit back down Katie. It is too late for that. The paperwork for the house is being drawn up as I speak and I have made arrangements for everything to be auctioned off next week. Once the auction is complete, we will buy the provisions we need for our trip and prepare to leave.”

         “First you sell the house without consulting me and then you tell me you are selling everything we own! We are going to be out on the street begging for food within a month! This is your idea of making everything all right?” Katie’s mind was in turmoil. Everything was happening so fast. In just a few days time, her life had been turned completely upside down. She took a moment to look around the room at everything she was about to lose, and her tears started falling all over again.

         “It will be okay Katie,” John said as he softened his voice and stepped forward to hug her. “I know you are having a rough time, I am too but Father is gone now and we have no money. I have not finished enough school to get a decent job so I had to come up with something. I have been hearing about people heading out West and starting new lives. They are farming their own land and ...” John hesitated.

         “And what?” Questioned Katie.

         “Well ... people are finding gold out West.” John said quietly, waiting for the expected reply.

          “Gold! This is all about the gold isn’t it!” she demanded as her sadness began to turn to anger. It was bad enough that she was being told that she was leaving her beloved home but to do it to go on a wild goose chase to find gold, that was just unacceptable!

         “No it isn’t Katie!” John exclaimed. Yes, I do agree that it does sound like a crazy, desperate plan but we don’t have that many options. Sure, finding gold would be great but I also want a new life, regardless of whether or not we ever find gold.”

         “Well, you can just leave me out of this grand scheme you have planned. I’m not going to cross this country to go to uncivilized territory where God knows who or what is living. There are ... there are outlaws and savages out there. Neither of which is something I want to be friends or enemies with.”

          “I know you don’t want to leave, Katie. I don’t either but I told you that I have already sold the house and that can’t be undone. We have no family to stay with and how long do you think we could impose on our friends? We are on our own now, just you and I.”

         “But where exactly will we go John? The West is such a big place.”

         “I haven’t pinpointed an exact location yet. I have heard stories of a few settlers finding gold in a place called Pikes Peak in Colorado Territory. I figured somewhere near there might be a good place but we can make that decision when we get there.”

         “How long before we leave?” Katie asked.

         “Probably some time in the next month or so. We still need to auction everything off so if there is anything sentimental you would like to keep, you ought to choose what you want. Make sure it is nothing too big though, as we will have limited space on our trip. I will need to make a list and buy everything we need so it will take some time to get it all done.” John noticed Katie’s downhearted expression and decided to put a positive spin on the situation. “Come on Katie, look at it this way, it could be like old times. You and me on one of our crazy adventures together just like when we were kids. Who knows, maybe we will even find some of that gold everyone is talking about.”

         “Okay, John”, Katie said hesitantly. “You could be right. I guess I’m in but I am counting on you to make this work,” she replied cautiously. Silently, she was hoping that John was right. She would rather this be a great adventure than a huge mistake.

*****

         The next few weeks passed and Katie survived her fathers’ funeral, the selling of the house and watching all but a few cherished possessions be sold to complete strangers. They left what once had been their home and began the long journey west. Somewhere along the trip they joined up with some other settlers crossing the country. Among the people in their group, Katie met Thomas and Laura Kincaid. The Kincaid's had two little boys named Carson and Elijah and Laura had recently found out she was expecting their third child. Katie also found out that Thomas and Laura were forced from their home by land developers and decided to go West to try their luck there. Thomas had figured that between farming and maybe finding some gold, they had great reasons to look forward to a bright future for their family. Friendships had been formed and everyone decided that once they reached their destination, they would find some land available that would allow them to live near each other. That destination ended up in Central City, Colorado.

         “This is what John was looking for?” Katie asked herself silently as they finally reached their long awaited destination. Central City was not a huge town, in fact, compared to Boston it was very small but it seemed just as noisy. As they entered the town she saw that it wasn’t quite as primitive as she expected. It wasn’t as modern a town as Boston was, being fairly new and crudely built, but she assumed it would modernize itself over time. Looking about, she could see a few stores that she would definitely be frequenting once she got settled. There was a general store and a millinery shop where she could buy material and try her hand at making clothes. She didn’t have much experience at sewing but figured it shouldn’t be too hard. Could it? There was a hotel, a shoemaker and a blacksmith. She noticed a busy livery stable and that there was even a post office. Now if only she had someone to send mail. The memory of her father sent her into a temporary melancholic mood, knowing she would never see him again but she composed herself and continued looking on. At this point, Katie noticed not one but several saloons. She couldn’t possibly miss them because it seemed all the men in town were either coming or going from these evil places. Katie never had an opinion on saloons until her father’s accident. Now, she couldn’t stand the sight of them. In an effort to pretend they didn’t exist, she turned her focus from the saloons back to the people in the street. Katie couldn’t help but notice that there were a great deal of people milling around and they seemed to be mostly men. She didn’t see very many women at all and that concerned her a bit.

         “Why don’t I see many women, John?” Katie quizzed him looking warily up and down the street.

         “Unfortunately, wherever they are mining for gold you are going to see an abundance of men but I had no idea there would be so many of them. This must be a popular area. I imagine that there are some women here but they are probably up in the hotel or already have homes of their own . I promise you Katie that we will build our own home just as soon as we can.”

         “Are we going to be staying here in town?” Katie asked John uncomfortably as she noticed a few men leering at her as they passed by.

         “Not for very long Katie-bug”, replied John using an endearment that he hadn’t used in years. Katie took this to mean that he probably saw them too and was trying to comfort her in a small way. She supposed it worked a little but couldn’t wait to get out of sight from these men.

         John pulled the wagon in front of a tent at the other end of town that had a sign in front of it that said Land Office. Before she had a chance to ask about it, John offered the answer.

         “I need to go into this tent for a few minutes to get some information about the land that is available and how the process works. The people in here can tell me where we can build our home. I am also hoping to talk to someone who knows about the mining and if there are any laws I need to be aware of. Will you be okay waiting here in the wagon until I return?”

         “I suppose so,” Katie spoke slowly. “I guess I will be okay. Just hurry John.” Inwardly, Katie was nervous about being left alone in a strange town but wanted to appear strong for her big brother. John got down from the wagon and disappeared inside the tent. Not long after he vanished, two scraggly looking men sauntered her way.

         “Hey sweet thing,” the first man drawled as he drank something from a bottle he was holding. “You looking for a good time?” he finished, laughing.

         “No way Charlie,” the other one responded as he playfully punched his buddy in the arm. “She’s mine. You interested in a roll in the hay beautiful?” he said as he reached for Katie.

         “Get away from me!” Katie yelled as she screamed for her brother. Hearing her cries, John immediately came running out of the tent to see what the commotion was. Noticing the men standing next to the wagon, he knew he was going to have to say something quick to get them to go away.

         “Hey fella’s, she’s with me so go on back to whatever you were doing.” He watched the men for a moment, not sure how they were going to respond. After seeing them exchange questionable glances, he decided to change the subject. “Here’s a few coins, go buy yourself something to drink.” John said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out some loose change.

         “Gee thanks, Mister. Come on Gus,” Charlie said taking the money. “This one’s no fun. Let’s go get a drink.” Katie and John watched the two men wander off down the road and into one of the saloons. John turned to comfort Katie, somewhat confident in the fact that she wouldn’t be bothered again.

         “I want to go back to Boston.” Katie managed to say as her nerves began to calm.

         “You know we can’t do that.” John said regretfully. “It took most of the money we had to get here. Look now, the men are gone. See? That was just one bad experience and they won’t bother you again. I will always look after you. I promise. Another thing you need to remember Katie is that a lot of these men are drifters and they are always looking for the next big thing. They will probably never find the gold they are looking for, get tired of coming up empty handed and move on. In the meantime look what I got.” John said holding out some papers for her to see. “I managed to get the information I need so we can go find our land and start building our new home. I promise we will have a good life. Now let’s go find the Kincaid’s.”

         “Okay John, I am going to trust you to be right on this.” Katie said.

         “Good. I will always be here for you and I will never let anything bad happen to you. I love you Katie-bug.”

         “I love you too John.” Katie smiled and settled comfortably next to him as they went to look for their friends.

*****

          As time passed, she realized that she truly enjoyed her new life out west more than she thought she would. It was much quieter and serene and the scenery was beautiful. Everywhere she looked she could see trees or mountains around her and it was so green. It was certainly not the dry, barren land she thought she was coming to. She also hadn’t seen any outlaws or savages. She really only had to deal with half-drunk miners and that was only when she went into town. On those days, she made sure John drove her. In fact, he had even purchased a gun for additional protection of his little sister.

         In the beginning, John and Thomas had been busy building both cabins. The men did not want the women to stay in town alone during that time so a tent was set up on the land between the two home sites and the women had used that time to get to know each other better. Katie also loved playing games with Carson and Elijah. Having had no younger siblings or any family around, she had limited experience with children and never truly knew how much fun they could be. She couldn’t wait for the day when she could have a family of her own.

         Once both cabins were complete, Katie and Laura parted ways so they could go decorate their homes. The men had left the women to their craft and spent time outside where Thomas used his experience with farming to show John how to plant crops and build pens for the animals he would be purchasing.

         The inside of the cabin was much nicer than Katie would have imagined. She had been able to bring a few select pieces of furniture from her old home and from time to time it made her smile when she looked at them and recalled memories of her life in Boston. The living room was her favorite area. It had a good-sized fireplace and the men had even added stone around it for a nice effect. John had also thought to add large enough windows for her to comfortably see the mountains off to the west.

         Katie and John had individual bedrooms of course but she missed having her indoor plumbing. Oh, how she hated having to use an outhouse. It was so inconvenient having to get dressed and put on shoes to go outside. Not to mention having to look out for any wild animal that could venture into the area. She had expressed her hesitancy about this to John and in return, he had suggested she use her father’s cane. It was the same cane their father had used when his arthritis acted up and Katie had brought it as a small reminder of him. She agreed and took the cane as a form of protection with her every time she would have to go outside, especially when it was dark.

         Recently, Katie started to notice that John had begun disappearing for hours at a time. One day, she looked out the window and watched him ride off on his horse, not to return until it was almost dark. When confronted with this, John confessed that he had started looking for gold. At this point, Katie reluctantly gave her permission so that he wouldn’t feel he had to sneak away. Thus began Katie’s days of solitude.

         Today, from the sounds on the roof, it was starting to rain. As she went to the kitchen and got out her recipe book, she looked out the window and saw that it was almost completely dark outside . When she realized that John hadn’t come home yet, she began to worry. It was not like him to miss supper.