Page 48 of The Gold Rush Bride

He smiled, bent down and gave her a tender kiss. “You must have needed it. You can’t be working so hard in your condition.”

“I have to. The harder we work, the sooner we can get out of here.”

He sat back on his haunches. “We’ve made a bunch of money. The gold ended up weighing more than I thought it would.”

Her eyes shot wide. “I knew we had a lot in those bags I’ve almost filled another one, just today. That vein is solid.”

“I know. I bought some dynamite. We can cut it into smaller charges and break up the vein.”

“That would make it a lot easier to get to the ore.”

“My thoughts exactly. I want you to stay in the tent when I’m using it. You don’t need dirt and rocks raining down on you.”

“You don’t either.”

“I’ll be out of harm’s way, but the dynamite is dangerous stuff, and I want you safe.”

She thought that was incredibly sweet.Maybe he has some feelings for me, after all.

“Okay. I’ll stay here. Then, after you’re done, I can help you with the panning. Now I need to get up. I have to add to my sourdough starter so I can bake tomorrow. If I don’t do it now, I’ll forget, and it’s already almost too late.” She got out of bed and went to the shelves on the other side of the woodpile next to the stove.

“I’ll start dinner. I got some more potatoes and carrots while in town.” He grinned.

“Why are you grinning?”

“You haven’t asked how much gold we had in those big bags.”

She stopped, jerked around and put her hands on her hips. “Well, are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?”

He stood, walked to the table, and sat. “Guess.”

“Well, those were the twenty-five pound sugar sacks and none of them were full. I’d guess eighteen pounds of gold each. Am I close?”

He nodded. “Yes, you are. There were one-hundred-fifty-two plus pounds in total. I opened a bank account in both our names at the Dawson City Bank. I deposited fifty-thousand dollars and kept out two-hundred and change. That will keep us in whatever supplies we need for a while.”

She walked to him, sat on his lap, and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “We’re rich and I bet we get more than that out of the vein after you dynamite it. I bet I took at least fifteen pounds out of it today.”

“I’m thinking that if the vein plays out, we still have enough to go somewhere, buy a house and live where it’s not frozen all the time.”

“We aren’t frozen now. We’re muddy now. Is this the way summer always is? Muddy?”

“We’ve had some drier days, but now that it’s September, we’ll start getting the first snows. They’ll be light and melt quickly, but the days will be much colder.”

“I can tell already.” She stood and pulled one of Barnaby’s wool sweaters from his cot over her head, glad for the extra room. It accommodated her expanding middle nicely.

Barnaby stared at her.

“What are you looking at? You appear as though you’ve never seen me before and you can be sure that you have.”

“No, I don’t think I have. Looking at you now and seeing your belly expanding with our child has shaken something loose inside me. I don’t want you working in the creek any longer.”

She put her hands on her hips. “That’s ridiculous. I’m still quite capable of doing my share.”

He looked up as she sat back on his lap. “Sadie, I don’t want you to hurt yourself or this child.” Barnaby placed his hand gently on her stomach.

She covered his hand with both of hers. “I would never do that. I want this child more than anything. If it came down to perhaps hurting him, I’ll leave the gold and take my child out of here.”

“Let’s see what’s revealed from the dynamite and decide then.”