Silver Strike Bride

By the last Saturday of the month, Hiram's leg was a lot better. He still walked with a bit of a limp, but the crutches had lain under the bed for better than a week and he'd been practicing walking from their room to the alley and back. As soon as Kirsten left to work in the dry goods store, he walked down to the freight company and asked about working there again.

When Kirsten came to their room after work that night, Hiram was sitting in a chair at the table. He grinned.

"I walked down to the freight company while you were gone. I start driving again on Monday, so you won't have to put up with me except for Sundays."

Kirsten had known this was coming, and now that it had, she felt tears forming in her eyes.

"I wasn't putting up with you. It was nice having someone here when I left work, and it was nice cooking for us."

Hiram tried to cheer her up.

"Well, you can sleep on the bed instead of the floor. I thought you'd be happy about that."

Kirsten wiped her eyes.

"I won't know what to do with myself while you're gone. I won't have anybody to talk to and I'll worry that you'll get hurt again and there won't be anybody to help you."

She sniffed then.

"...and you might decide not to come back to me."

Until that moment, Hiram hadn't really realized how much Kirsten cared for him. He'd thought she was just taking care of him because of something for which she somehow thought she was responsible. Now, seeing her standing there with tears streaming down her cheeks, he understood that she truly liked having him with her. He couldn't figure out why, but she did.

He also couldn't figure out why that bothered him so much. He told himself he should be grateful for Kirsten and everything she'd done for him. Then, he realized he already was grateful to her and had told her that several times, so something else was bothering him. Could it be that he liked being with her as much as she liked being with him?

When he first met her, he'd thought she was a woman out to marry a man she'd never met and he thought that was pretty dumb. When she'd started cooking for them both on the trail, he thought she was just trying to make up for asking him to take her along.

When Kirsten had brought him to the doctor, he'd thought she was just as interested in getting herself back to Denver as she was in getting him to a doctor. She had to bring him along or she'd have to explain why she'd left him to die.

After that, he'd started to see a little deeper, though he'd forced himself not to imagine the unimaginable. She felt sorry for him, that was all, and that's why she'd found a place for them to live. He was also some protection from any police from Chicago that might come looking for her.

When he thought about the last month or so, he realized that although he didn't like being fussed over, it was still comforting to know someone cared about him. Hiram had given up on that ever happening. Maybe it had happened and he'd been too wary of any relationship to see it, too wary to even let himself see that he was growing fond of Kirsten too.

Without thinking, Hiram stood up and put his arms around Kirsten.

"Kirsten, I'll keep coming back to you as long as you want me here."

Kirsten looked up a Hiram, at his crooked jaw and at the mask that served as his nose. He wasn't the man she'd dreamed of marrying some day, but then, she'd never known a man like Hiram before except for her father. In spite of his missing nose and crooked jaw, Hiram was a kind man and a strong man, a man she felt safe with and a man she realized she wanted to keep at her side.

"Hiram, if you really feel that way, give me something to show me."

"What could I possibly give you? I won't have enough money to give you anything until I've worked for a while."

Kirsten put her arms around Hiram's neck, stood up on her tiptoes, and kissed him, then looked into his eyes.

"You can give me something more than money could ever buy. You can give me you."

That night, Kirsten blew out the lamp, took off all her clothes, and then felt her way to where Hiram stood. She touched his cheek, and then whispered, "Hiram, make me your wife."

Neither was experienced so there was some fumbling about as they learned each other's bodies. Kirsten marveled at Hiram's muscular back and waist as she stroked him with her fingertips. She gasped when Hiram did the same to her. It was like every touch sent waves of sensation to her inner core. Her mother had not told her that would happen, but it was happening and she began to feel a need she'd never had before.

That need became more intense when Hiram laid her on the bed and then fondled her breasts. It was like something inside her was tightening, then tightening more. Kirsten opened her thighs and pulled Hiram between them.

"This is how my mother said to do it. She said it would hurt, but only the first time."

Hiram was also feeling that tension building. Never in his whole life had he felt skin so soft, and never in his whole life had any woman ever sighed when he touched her.

He was amazed that just stroking Kirsten's full breasts caused her to catch her breath. The men in his army unit had said if the woman was a whore, you could just stick it in when you got ready, but if she wasn't, you had to go slow and get her in the mood. Hiram was trying to go slow, but when he touched Kirsten's nipples, he found them to already be stiff and sticking up from her breasts.

He knew he should stroke the hair-covered lips between her legs and had started to do that when Kirsten pulled him between her upraised thighs and whispered, "I think I'm ready Hiram. Mother said if you do it fast it won't hurt as much."

Hiram hadn't intended to do it fast because his father had told him that would hurt the woman. He poised his manhood at the portal and when Kirsten spread her thighs wider, he pushed in.

The sensation of her wet warmth enveloping him made him gasp, and before he could stop himself, he pushed forward until he felt the resistance give way. Kirsten made a little yelp and he felt her fingernails dig into his back. He started to pull back out, but Kirsten whispered, "No. It didn't hurt much. Keep going."

Hiram thrust into Kirsten as far as he could and then eased back out. On his second stroke, Kirsten shuddered and lifted her hips. Hiram groaned when he slipped all the way inside her, then gasped as he felt the surge of seed building in his belly. He made a few more strokes and then groaned at the feeling of seed racing up his shaft. While Kirsten stroked his back, Hiram made four quick thrusts and then sagged into his arms. Kirsten pulled him down on top of her, stroked his back, and then whispered, "Now, we're really married."

On Monday morning, Kirsten kissed Hiram goodbye with tears in her eyes. He was leaving her for the first time since they'd met. She watched him limp as he walked toward the freight company stables and then smiled. Yes he was leaving, but he'd be back on Saturday night and they'd have all of Sunday together. It wasn't what she'd dreamed of as a girl, but it was more than she'd expected as a woman who'd been through what she'd experienced.

Three months later, Kirsten thought she might be pregnant. She didn't tell Hiram until it was impossible to hide. When she did tell him, he stroked her rounded belly and grinned.

"I didn't think this would ever happen to me. You've made me very happy, Kirsten."

Hiram was even happier when he came back from his trip six months later. When he walked into their room, Kirsten was bent over the stove cooking something. He walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist and then gasped, "Kirsten, you...it happened...what is it?"

Kirsten turned around, pressed a finger to Hiram's lips, and grinned.

"Shhh. You'll wake him up. On Tuesday I felt funny so I walked down to see Doctor Williams. He put me in bed and about ten hours later, your son was born. I think we should name him after your father. I like how Aaron Wainwright sounds. Come see him."

As Hiram looked at the tiny face that wrinkled up from time to time, he grinned, but then started to worry.

"Kirsten, we'll have to have a bigger place now and you'll have to stay home with the baby."

Kirsten smiled.

"We won't need a bigger place for a while yet. We'll keep living here and saving our money. In another week, I'm going back to work. It won't be like I've abandoned him. One of the owner's daughters is old enough to watch a baby, so I'm going to pay her ten cents a day to stay with him while I'm working. I still have to feed him several times a day too. We'll be fine."

They had lived in the room at the dry good store for a little over a year and Kirsten was pregnant again when the town sheriff walked into the store and up to Kirsten. He tipped his hat and then asked if she was Kirsten Vinter.

Kirsten was sure she blanched enough he would know she was lying, but she still tried.

"No, my name is Kirsten, but it's Kirsten Wainwright."

The sheriff smiled.

"Kirsten, I know it's you because your pastor in Chicago told the Chicago police you had gone to Denver and the ticket agent here remembered you asking how you could get to Rabbit Creek. You can relax. I'm not here to arrest you. I need you to come to my office and write a statement about what happened in Chicago. I'll explain when we get there."

Once in his office, the sheriff offered Kirsten a seat and then began.

"The information I got from the Chicago police is that Mrs. Hines did die from being poisoned, but Mr. Hines didn't. When the housekeeper checked on them, Mr. Hines was paralyzed but not yet dead. According to the doctor who treated him, Mr. Hines ate enough of the poison to make him very ill, but not enough to kill him. He recovered enough to tell the police that when the housekeeper looked in on him and his wife, she laughed and said she hoped he was happy being dead and that she was the one who poisoned them both. He also told them the housekeeper said she was taking his money because he'd told her she wasn't pretty. He's the one who gave the pastor's name to the police too.

"The "Chicago police were able to track down this housekeeper to a bordello in New York City and from there to the grave where she was buried about six months ago. It seems she was killed by a man who she was entertaining at the time. The man was found, convicted and executed, but he had no knowledge about what happened in Chicago. That leaves you as the only person alive other than Mr. Hines who knows what happened that day, and unfortunately, Mr. Hines did pass away shortly after he recovered from the poison. The doctor said the poison weakened his heart enough it just stopped working one night.

"In order to close the case, the Chicago police just need someone to verify the story that Mr. Hines told them. All I need you to do is write down everything you can remember about that day. After you'll write it out and sign it, I'll send it to Chicago."

Kirsten's hand was trembling when she wrote down what she remembered about that day except for the money Alice had given her. When she got to that part, she looked up at the sheriff.

"Did they find Mr. Hines' money?"

He looked at her for a minute, and then answered her.

"Kirsten, if I hadn't heard from my wife that you've earned the trust of most of the women on this side of Denver, and if I didn't know you were married to a man I also trust, I might think you were asking me that question for a reason."

He smiled then.

"No, the police in New York didn't find any money. They don't know what happened to it and neither do I. I think it's best we just let the Chicago police close their case, don't you? Now, if you're done, just sign and date it at the bottom and go back to work. My wife said something this morning about needing new stockings, and if you're not there to sell them to her, she'll be really disappointed."

They lived in the room at the dry goods store for another year and the birth of one more son. They'd saved enough money to buy a house, but Hiram had learned of an opportunity he thought he couldn't pass up.

The gold and silver mines were already winding down when Kirsten arrived in Denver. Two years later, the miners had extracted about all the ore they could by hand and most left Colorado for the new gold fields in Alaska. As the mines shut down, so did the businesses that supplied them. One of these was Miner's Freight Company. The office in Chicago had decided to close the freight office in Denver and drive the horses and wagons to the Union Pacific station in Cheyenne, Wyoming. From there, they'd go by rail to California and then by boat to Alaska.

When Hiram learned of the move, he asked the manager how much it would cost to purchase the team he drove with their harness and the wagon. Joel wrote some numbers down on a paper and handed it to Hiram.

"As it happens, I was going to have to hire an extra rail car for just one team and one wagon. That would have cost me more than the team and wagon are worth. This is a lot less than the usual price Hiram, but it'll still save me money."

Hiram looked at the paper, then asked what the number for the stable was. Joel smiled.

"The company was going to abandon the stable, but I convinced them that I could sell it. Hiram, you're the only one of my teamsters who isn't going to Alaska and you're the only one of my teamsters I think has a chance at making the hauling business successful. That deserves some special consideration. If you want the stable, all you have to do is pay me what it says on that paper."

That night, Hiram talked with Kirsten about what he wanted to do.

"I think there will still be a need for freight hauling even if it's just between the railroad station and businesses in town. It will take everything we've saved and we'll have to keep living here, but if things go like I think they will, we'll make enough money to get a whole house."

Kirsten smiled.

"If you think it will work then we should do it. I've waited this long. I can wait some more for a house."

Though the mines had mostly shut down, Denver was still growing by leaps and bounds. Hiram's business started slowly until people realized he was dependable, affordable, and most importantly, could be trusted to deliver everything that had been shipped to them. That had happened with other freight haulers. When delivered, the order would be short a sack of flour or a box of rifle cartridges and the driver would just shrug and say he had delivered everything that was put on his wagon. That never happened when Hiram hauled the freight.

When construction began on the Denver Pacific Railroad, he hired Jasper Roydes, a boy of sixteen, taught him to drive a team, and then bought another team and wagon. Jasper did the Denver hauling and Hiram hauled supplies to the rail workers.

When the Denver Pacific Railroad was connected to the Union Pacific, the resulting rail traffic brought real wealth to Denver in the form of a thriving business district with luxurious hotels to house people coming to visit those businesses. Hiram bought a pair of light horses and a carriage and set Jasper to ferrying people from the railroad to the hotels and businesses. He also picked up enough business that he needed more help.

When the mines shut down, a few men discovered the soil around Denver was good for growing carnations, and began shipping them by rail to all parts of the country. Hiram hired another young man to make a daily trip from the carnation grower's fields to the rail station.

By that time, Kirsten had born him another son. Hiram told her it was time they bought a house and that they had enough money to do so. Kirsten was ready because the owner of the dry goods store was in the process of building a new store closer to the homes of the new, wealthy residents. She could have continued to work at the new store, but she didn't relish the idea of walking so far or paying for a carriage to take her back and forth. She was pregnant again and looked forward to being the wife and mother she'd always wanted to be. They moved into a large house within walking distance of the stable.

If you look in the Denver phonebook today, there are a lot of Wainwrights listed and one of the trucking companies listed is Wainwright Logistics. That trucking company is owned by Lucas Wainwright, the great-great-great-great grandson of Hiram Wainwright.

On the wall in Lucas' office is a copy of a photograph and under that photograph is a little plaque that says, "The Beginning". The photograph is of Hiram and Kirsten standing in front of a freight wagon pulled by four horses. On the side of the wagon is a sign that reads "Wainwright Freight, Will Haul Anything That Will Fit In A Wagon".

They were in their forties when the picture was taken. Hiram still had a mask to cover his missing nose and his jaw was still crooked. Kirsten was still a beautiful woman, but the fresh beauty of youth was now the softer beauty of maturity. Neither are smiling, but if you look closely, you can see that they are holding hands. According to the family legend, Hiram didn't think anybody would want a picture of him and Kirsten had to hold his hand so he'd stand still long enough for the picture to be taken.

Fate sometimes brings two people together, two people who each need someone but don't realize it at the time. Such was the case with Hiram and Kirsten. Kirsten found a man who believed in her and tried to protect her from her past, and Hiram found a woman who could accept him as he was. Such is the magic that can happen between two people, a magic that most people hope for but many people today are unable to find. Perhaps that magic only happens when people are willing look below the surface and into the person inside.