Ronnie Coleinger: A Winter Collection Read online

  As they drove down the gravel road to the church, Robert told Billie about finding some gold with the mining equipment he had purchased. Billie giggled and said, “I saw the receipt for the equipment you purchased on the kitchen table when I delivered fresh eggs to your house yesterday. I suspect you will have to find a lot of gold to get a return on your investment. Few men find enough gold to buy tobacco for their pipe let alone enough to pay for the expensive equipment you now own.” She gently punched him on the shoulder and said, “I love you a lot, but I think you are daft if you think you will get rich with this scheme.” Robert turned to her and said, “I used to love you. Now I am questioning those feelings. You have hurt my feelings.” Billie slid her butt over on the seat and snuggled up against her man. She said, “I did not mean to hurt your feelings, but I have doubts about what you are trying to do.”

  As they walked into the church, Billie realized that she really had not hurt Robert’s feelings, but she was certain he felt disappointed that she did not approve of his mining adventures. As they listened to the minister’s sermon, Robert turned and looked at Billie. When she felt him staring at her, she looked into his eyes and tried to determine what he was thinking. He finally smiled and then returned his attention to the minister’s words.

  As they drove back towards Billie’s house to begin fixing the afternoon meal, Billie put her hand on Robert’s shoulder and asked, “Are you still angry with me for not supporting your mining operation?” Robert laughed and said, “No, I am not angry at you. I do, however, think you will have to eat your words when I place a bag of gold on your kitchen table.” Billie giggled and said, “I will not only eat my words, I will write a check to pay for your mining equipment.” Robert looked at her and said, “You should be careful what you promise. You saw the invoice on the kitchen table at my house; you know how much those words you just spoke could cost you.” Billie giggled again and said, “I will chance it.”

  As they prepared the chicken dinner, it seemed to Billie that Robert was much too quiet. She hoped her words had not pissed him off more than she had first realized. She tried to draw him back into a conversation about his dredging operation, but he quickly changed the subject and began setting the table.

  Once they had sat the food on the table, Robert walked out the back door of the old farmhouse and headed out to his truck. Billie watched him out the door, hoping he would not get into the truck and drive away. She walked to the door and then stepped out onto the porch. When he got behind the steering wheel and started the engine, she quickly headed towards the truck to do whatever she needed to do to settle Robert’s anger over her earlier words. Robert put the truck in gear and slowly moved it towards the house, rolling past Billie and stopping a few feet from the porch. He shut off the engine and then crawled out from behind the steering wheel. When Robert got out of the truck, Billie decided that he was just moving the old truck out of the hot sun and into the shade of the old oak tree.

  Billie stepped up to him to try make some sense of what he was doing. When he took hold of her hand and started towards the house, she quickly stepped up beside him and walked with him to the table. As they sat down and began eating, Robert still seemed anxious or nervous, and Billie hoped he would express his feelings as they ate and talked about their jobs.

  As Billie cut an apple pie on the kitchen counter that she had baked earlier in the week, she heard Robert get up from the table and walk back outside. She continued what she was doing, but tried to watch him out of the corner of her eye. Finally, she could stand it no longer and walked to the kitchen door to see what in the hell the man was doing in the truck. She saw him remove something from behind the seat of the truck. He had retrieved a brown leather bag from behind the seat was now bringing it inside the house. As she sat the two plates of pie down on the table, Robert carefully sat the bag down on the table. Billie giggled and said, “I suspect you will tell me what in the hell is going on with you in due time, but your actions today seem most peculiar.” Robert smiled at her and said, “I have something to show you and something to ask you. I have stalled as long as I can, but now it is time for me to man up.”

  Robert sat down at the table and put his fork into the pie. He cut a piece and then put his fork down and looked up at Billie. He said, “Billie, I know you are not very happy with me for spending so much money and time with this mining thing, but I have something to show you that might change your outlook a little.”

  Robert undid the drawstring on the top of the leather bag and removed the small glass jar he had placed in the top. He sat the jar on the table and then began pouring the contents of the leather bag into the jar. When the bag was empty, he picked up the glass jar of gold. He sat the jar down on the table beside Billie’s pie and said, “This is the gold I took from the creek at my farm this week. What you are looking at is the second container of gold this size I have found.” Robert removed his bankbook from his shirt pocket and opened it to the page where the bank teller had written the amount of his first gold deposit. He pointed to the deposit amount and said, “This deposit represents the first gold I took to the mining store and cashed in. This container sitting on the table in front of you actually has larger nuggets in it and should fetch a larger payout.”

  Billie sat looking at the jar of gold and then finally looked up into Robert’s eyes. She put her fingers over her lips and tried to stifle the cry that was about to explode from within her. She finally managed to get control of her emotions and said, “The words I said to you in the truck earlier where just that, words. I did not think you would ever find this amount of gold, but now I realize I owe you an apology. I am sorry for my words, and for doubting you.”

  Billie stood up, walked over to the counter and retrieved her checkbook. She sat down at the table, opened the book and prepared to write a check for the amount Robert had paid for the mining equipment. Robert put his hand on Billie’s hand and said, “You do not need to honor your bet. I cannot and will not take your money. I must admit that you hurt my feelings, but I cannot hold you to your words.”

  Billie closed the checkbook and slid it aside. She looked up into Robert’s eyes and said, “I feel the need to tell you once more time that I am sorry for my words. I love you and I should have known by now that you seldom do anything without thinking it through in advance. I am sorry for doubting you.”

  Robert put the jar of gold back into the leather bag, closed it and headed out to the truck. Billie watched him place the leather bag behind the seat and then shut the door of the truck. He leaned back against the truck door and lit up a cigarette, something he seldom did. Billie knew he kept some smokes in the glove compartment but had only twice before ever seen him light one.

  Robert finally calmed his nerves and his anger over Billie’s earlier words and decided to go back in and finish what he had planned to do today. He reached into the pocket of the seat cover and retrieved the small box he had stored there. As he headed towards the house, he realized that Billie was standing at the screen door, looking out at him. He walked up to the door, pulled it open and met Billie face to face. She reached out her hand and put it behind his head and gently leaned in and kissed him on the lips. When Billie stepped back so he could enter, Robert stepped inside and moved up close to her.

  As Billie stood looking at him, obviously about to cry, Robert kneeled down in front of her, opened the ring box and asked, “Billie, I came here today to ask you to marry me. The time has arrived. Billie, I love you very much and would like you to become my wife. Will you marry me?”

  Billie could hold her emotions inside no longer and she felt her tears begin to run down her cheeks. Robert stood up and looked her in the eyes. Billie leaned in, kissed him hard on the lips, and said, “Yes, I will marry you. I have wanted this day to come for many years. I have loved you since high school.” Robert took the ring from the box and slid it on Billie’s finger. She giggled and said, “It fits perfectly.” Robert smiled and said, “I borrowed your mother’
s ring from your jewelry case and had the jeweler check its size. He then made this one to match. The wedding band is also correctly sized.” Billie giggled and said, “Can I see it?” Robert smiled and said, “Not a chance. It is locked in my safe and will remain there until the wedding day.” Billie snuggled up into her man’s arms and said, “Do you think I would take the ring and run?” Robert hugged her and said, “No. However, I figure it would be just like me to lose the ring somewhere. With the ring in the safe, I know for certain I can find it when we need it.”

  The following morning, Robert stopped at Billie’s house to pick her up. She had asked to go along to the assay office to have the gold appraised. When Robert tried the back door, he found it locked. He peeked in the kitchen window and saw Billie combing out her long hair. She was standing beside an armoire linen press, which her grandfather had built from some of the old forest oak wood that grew on the property. She was looking into a small mirror mounted in the center door of an antique clock cupboard housekeeper’s dresser, sawn from the same oak logs as the linen press. Robert stood looking at the beautiful woman who would soon become his wife and realized how much he loved her.

  Billie finished what she was doing to her hair and turned around. Robert tapped on the kitchen door and drew Billie’s attention. When she opened the door, he stepped inside and gave her a kiss. She stepped up close and said, “Don’t stop. I need your kisses this morning. I dreamed about you last night and woke hoping to find you in my bed beside me. I am so very ready to be married to you. I love you more than you can ever imagine.”

  As they stepped into the mining store, the owner spoke to them. Robert asked if the assay office was open this morning. The owner assured him that the office was open and ready to help him assay his gold. As he and Billie walked up into the office, two old miners who were having their gold assayed greeted them. As the miners waited to get a price, they stuck up a conversation with Robert. One of the men asked Robert if he lived around here. Robert thought a moment and said, “Yes, I have a farm near here.” The man then asked if Robert had any luck finding gold on his property. Robert laughed and said, “No, but I did get lucky in a creek a few miles south of here on state land.” Billie looked at Robert, wondering why he was telling lies, but remained silent. The miner finally gave up with his questioning and decided that Robert was not going to tell him where he had found his gold, which was an accurate assumption.

  When the miners left the mining store, it was Robert’s turn to get a price for his placer gold. As the man weighed the small gold and inspected the larger nuggets, he said, “I will give you individual prices. The first price on my list will be for the small nuggets and fine gold, and then I will inspect and weigh each nugget. They are worth more money as nuggets than just their weight. I can sell these larger nuggets for jewelry; therefore, I can pay you a good price for them.” Then the man looked into Robert’s eyes and said, “Can you tell me if this gold is from the same mine as the last gold you brought to me. The last gold you brought to me was very pure. I will increase my spot price for this placer gold based on that assay.” Robert looked around to make certain no one was listening and then said, “The gold is from a creek, not a mine.” The assayer smiled and said, “Then I will base my offer on the last gold you brought in. I gave you 78% of the spot gold price, but that gold smelted at 82% pure. I will use that number for pricing this gold.”

  The man weighed each of the larger nuggets and then placed them on a sheet of paper. He wrote a price beside each nugget as he laid them down. Then he placed the remaining smaller nuggets in a pile and wrote a price beside the pile. Robert considered the offer a moment and realized that the man was not cheating him; in fact, the offer was very reasonable. Robert reached out, shook the man’s hand, and said, “I am very happy with your offer. I accept.” The man wrote the prices on an invoice form and then wrote the total at the bottom. He placed his calculator on the counter and said, “Double check my figures to insure I have not missed anything and then sign at the bottom if you are satisfied.”

  The man then asked if Robert wanted a check issued to the bank across the street, as they had done for the last sale. Robert agreed with the arrangement and waited for the check.

  When Robert put the check into his wallet, Billie had hoped to see the amount, but did not want to be too obvious.

  When they stepped away from the assay office and walked back into the mining store, Robert looked around, hoping to find some small metal containers to store gold in that would not break if he happened to drop one. He had always feared spreading gold from one end of his kitchen to the other or worse yet, having it stuck in his living room carpet. As he looked around, he soon found some small pint size stainless steel cans with screw on lids and picked out three of them.

  As Billie watched Robert shop, she stepped up close to him, giggled and said, “I would like to get married at the Justice of the Peace office this afternoon, please.” The metal cans Robert had resting in his arms went clattering onto the floor, drawing looks from everyone inside the store. As Billie helped him pick up the cans, she said, “Sorry for those words, but after you decided to purchase three cans, I assumed you might actually have enough gold to fill all of them. I just wanted to secure my portion of that gold in case a ten-pound meteorite hit you as you fed the chickens in the morning.” Robert looked at Billie and said, “Very funny girl. After those words, I rescind my offer of marriage.” Billie snuggled up close, kissed him on the lips, and let her tongue rub around his lips. Robert chuckled and said, “Okay, the wedding in back on.”

  Once Robert had made his deposit at the bank, he got back into the truck. Then he opened his savings account book and passed it to Billie. He said, “I just wanted you to see the current balance of our savings account.” Billie looked at the amount and then closed the book. She giggled and said, “New shoes. Maybe a shiny red Corvette to carry them home from the store would be alright.” She turned and looked into Robert’s eyes, hoping he realized she was teasing. Robert smiled and said, “Once I collect enough gold to pay off the mortgages on both farms and insure we are debt free, we can discuss the Corvette.”

  As they drove towards Robert’s farm, Billie spoke to Robert to let him know that she was only teasing him about marrying him for his gold. Robert said, “We have been together much to long for me to worry about our friendship or to second guess the trust that we have established between us.” Billie leaned over and kissed Robert on the cheek. When she moved back to her side of the truck, she said, “Have you thought about having a woman living in your home? I figure that I should sell my place and move in with you. I can put the profit from the sale of my place into a savings account for our retirement. Can you tell me what you are thinking?”

  Robert sat quietly as he drove alone the rough gravel road towards his ranch, but finally said, “I have thought a lot about having you live with me. I realize that we may not always agree on everything, but we seem to be able to find a way to compromise and work out the things that are important to us. I do think the cabin will become too small for us and we may have to add on. I am not certain that you will even want to sleep in my bed, since I can wake the dead with my snoring. That alone will probably force us to add at least one more bedroom. We may also want a second bathroom, in time. I guess I am not too worried about having you live with me, having you in my life is very important to me. We have not even discussed if you want to have children. I guess that is the next thing we should talk about.”

  Robert sat and waited for Billie to think about his words. When she spoke, her words put a smile on Robert’s face. Billie put her hand on his arm as said, “I have always wanted to raise a daughter, so I guess that I would like to have at least one child.” Robert looked at Billie and said, “What if I can only give you boys?” Billie giggled and said, “Chances of that are slim. Most of the women in my family give birth to more daughters than sons, but if it were to happen, I would love them just as much as I love you.”


  As Robert turned the truck into his long driveway, he stopped, put the truck in neutral and said, “You mentioned in the mining store that you would like to get married right away, were you serious about that? If I was to set a wedding date for two weeks from now, would you be willing to consider the possibility?” Billie turned in her seat and looked into Robert’s eyes. She laughed and said, “I am ready to do this, and have been ready to marry you for what seems like forever. Yes, I could and would marry you in two weeks.”

  Robert started the truck, put it in gear and let out the clutch. The truck stalled. Billie giggled and asked, “Are your knees trembling too hard to let out the clutch without stalling the motor?” Robert laughed and said, “I was just busy counting my money. If we have a wedding and a remodel of my home planned, I think we should spend the next few days in the creek. If we worked hard, we could pull enough gold out of the creek bed to pay for both.” Billie giggled again and said, “We could practice making a daughter first.” Robert looked at Billie and said, “My bed or the hayloft?” Billie laughed and said, “Hayloft.”

  Chapter 3 – Becky’s Night Out

  Becky giggled as she scurried out the partially open screen door and ran around the side of the house. Even at the tender age of three, she knew she should not go outside on her own, but the temptation was too great. Especially, since Sampson, the family’s Labrador retriever ran out the door to play.