Yankton

Chapter 57

Chapter 57 Still Working On That Marriage Thing

Eventually Wendy and Melonie gravitated over to the saloon taking seats at our employees table. Having already met my sister and Montana Wendy became more relaxed, and accepted a rum and coke. She hit it right off with Sockie having worked as a bartender while attending college, promising to teach Sockie how to make a few simple mixed drinks using only the ingredients we could get locally. She also seemed to do well around Montana's girls who were polite, but were rather reserved around her. All except Annie who came right out and asked her,

"I've been to your time,"

"So I've been told, what do you think?"

"I want to go back; I'm looking for a good man, someone like your brother, or Brian over there."

"Well that's interesting," replied Wendy, my brother tells me women don't have a lot of opportunities in this day and age, uh; tell me how did you get into this "profession?"

All the girls giggled,

"How does any girl get into it, I got r***d, everyone acted like it was my fault, after that I did what I had to do to survive, but for the fact of these gentlemen here I think god is giving me a second chance at things, I don't plan to ignore him. Tell me, Wendy what do you do?"

"I'm an officer, and a nurse in the navy, I was on my way back from the naval air station in Naples Italy heading back to Perl Harbor, when I thought I'd stop and say hello to my dear brother here." Annie just stared at her,

"You can actually do all those things?"

"I can, and more have faith Annie, times are changing, both you and Melonie need to get in touch with the suffragette movement." Then glaring at Mark and me, Wendy exclaimed,

"Would it harm anything if I helped to promote a little feminism around here" We just shrugged,

"Wendy, I think they are way ahead of you on that."

She spent a lot of time talking with everyone except for Narcissa which was unfortunate, as she was a wealth of knowledge about the antebellum south, and life on the river. I was only able to speak with her off and on, because whenever she took a break, I was usually singing and playing my guitar. Wendy seemed to prefer Melonie and Klara, as well as Oliver Whitworth. This was a rather interesting situation as well. Oliver was a "remittance" man from England who Mark and I suspected of cowardice at some point in his military career. He never gave us any specifics, but he just seemed to know too much about the British army in India to be a civilian. On top of that, whenever Mark and I would start talking about Afghanistan, or Pakistan, he got awfully curious about what we had been doing over there. I tried telling him we had been involved in liaison work with the British army,

"Rubbish!" came his reply, I have not now, nor have I ever heard of any such involvement between the British and American armies in that part of the world." Both Mark and I grinned at him and confessed.

"All right Oliver, you caught us, but what we say is actually true, and when the time is right, and you've made a few discoveries on your own, we'll talk again."

Anyway, by the time Wendy had shown up, he was really starting to come to grips with the idea that maybe we really were from the future. I remember just shortly before the wedding, Whitworth and Mark's sister were talking about England. I wasn't able to sit in on the conversation at the time, but she was telling him what modern day London was like. Another "incident" occurred two days before the wedding. The weather had dropped into the low thirties, and we had received our first snow for the year. It was around eleven at night, and I had just stopped by the clinic to ask Mark a question. He and Melonie were talking with Wendy, when the door banged open, with snow blowing in, three grizzled men stormed in carrying another man, who they claimed had accidentally shot himself with his pistol. As with every case of this sort of thing I ever saw, the man was drunk, and horse-assing around. By now Mark and Mel were used to this sort of thing, and in many ways it was all too much like the 'Stan, as marines rush one of their buddies into the aid station who had either been shot, or had steeped on an IED.

Mark and Melonie swung into action,

"Get him on that table over there" he exclaimed. Melonie was already going for the pot of hot water they always kept on the stove. As the drama began to play out, I stood back, and watched. Mark had always been good at doing three things at once. In this case, he directed the wounded man's buddies to step back out of the way and let him work. While He was doing that, he called out to his sister,

"Wendy, this is your lucky day, you're about to see the 1877 version of combat surgery, there's a gown and mask in the closet over there, scrub up and Mel will show you where the gloves are."

The other men started to object to two women working on their friend, when I stepped in and told them.

"You men just calm down, and keep quite, you've brought your friend to the best medical clinic in this part of the west, those women are damn good at their jobs. If you like, head over to the saloon, drinks are on the house; tell Sockie Brian said it was all right." This seemed like a good idea, so they did as they were told, leaving Mark and the ladies to their work. By this time Mark had the guy's boots, coat, and shirt off, as well as the top part of his long johns cut off. Melonie was now cleaning the wound, as Wendy finished washing her hands. I continued to stick around, as I was pretty sure Mark was going to require someone to shine the LED jacklight he kept nearby to light up the wound.

The bullet was lodged in the man's chest, and according to Mark looked like a .45 slug. I also noticed him do something else, he took charge of the chloroform, or anesthesia, letting Melonie and Wendy start in on the guy. I was standing by waiting for the request to hold the light, but just before that, took a picture with my iphone of Wendy and Melonie bending over what I took to be a buffalo hunter in an 1877 clinic. When I looked at it later, it was an absolute classic. The subject was incredible, the light was just right as well. Later, I gave both women enlarged copies which they cherished. I also noticed something else, although Melonie deferred to Wendy's experience, she didn't back down, sticking to her "guns" practicing the skills Mark had taught her. I think Mark noticed it as well, and although he had a surgical mask on, I caught that twinkle in his eye, as he watched them.

Wendy remarked on how the cold had kept the man's blood a bit sluggish as well as the wound in a semi coagulated state, preventing him from bleeding out. The three of them kept up a running dialog describing what each was doing, as well as what had to be done, so that by the time his friends returned, Mark was able to announce that the man would live.

Mark had a four lamp chandelier over the operating table he could lower, so he didn't need the jacklight anymore. According to his friends, Harmon was the unfortunate i***t who had accidentally shot himself. They had been sitting around their campfire, when Harmon decided to re-load his pistol for some reason. Somehow, as he was pulling it out of his holster, it snagged on something and went off. By this time, the operation was pretty much over, and poor Harmon was starting to come around. The women were finishing up as well, when the leader of the group who called himself Ned Stevens explained to Mark, that they had no money.

"Well your buddy here is going to have to stay here for a few weeks until that wound starts to heal. I will take barter, guns are good but I'd prefer them to be unique in some way. Gold, and Indian artifacts will do nicely as well. And speaking of which, if you should happen to come across any 45.70, or Spencer's that look like Indians owned them, bring those in too. I you bring me the right stuff, we can clear that bill right up, and I might even owe you money."

Lately, we had been keeping a wall tent set up for people coming through who had to wait while one of their own recuperated in the clinic. I sent them there as everyone removed their hair covers, and gloves. Wendy turned to her brother and kissed him on his cheek,

"Thank you Mark, this was absolutely incredible, I'm so used to all the modern life saving equipment and monitoring devices sometimes it's hard to realize what's actually at stake. Melonie, you were simply awesome, I can see that Mark has taught you well." Mel could only blush, and reply with a "thank-you."

This then led into the wedding two days later, Harmon was on the mend, but unlike his friends, didn't seem to be in any hurry to leave. He was constantly asking the two women to marry him as he basked in their attention. Klara, Sockie, and even Mrs. Moss began baking the "goodies" as well as the ham we brought back from 2014. Jenny Moss remarked that she'd never seen a ham as wonderful as that one, asking where it had come from. As much as we wanted to, her question had to remain ignored. The final line-up was now complete; reverend Gale had sent word that he would be arriving late Saturday for his first Sunday service, as well as the wedding to follow the service. I had to practically bribe Caleb to be the ring bearer, Inge was to be the flower girl, but this being the start of winter, and greenhouses being unheard of around here, there wasn't much for her to do.

Dora DuFran promised Montana she would stand as her maid of honor, with Annie, Kitty, and Maggie, as her bridesmaids. Wendy offered to be Melonie's maid of honor, followed by Melinda, Klara, and Narcissa. Colin would be acting as my best man, while Craig was standing for Mark. This was the sort of thing you didn't spend a lot of time pondering, but by god! In the end it all worked. The weather cooperated by staying in the mid 40's, along with no snow, allowing everybody to attend. Dora brought a few of her girls who knew Montana and Melonie, Sheriff Bullock and his wife, along with the doc, came as well. Mr. O'Rourke, Charlie Utter, and even Calamity Jane were there. A.W. Merrick was another. He was the editor and publisher of the Black Hills Pioneer, who wrote a good account of the occasion for his paper. I really fretted about this telling Montana.

"That's all I need is for this to find its way into the history books."

"Well is it?" She replied.

"Not as yet, but it could be, who knows what could happen?"

"Would that be a bad thing?" She asked,

"I don't know, maybe not, but who knows?"

As luck would have it, the issue the story appeared in didn't survive the years, thank god! Later I checked at the Deadwood historical society, and the local paper, only to discover that there was a large empty gap of newspapers known to exist due to fire, and the years in general. However, unbeknownst to the museum, and newspaper curators, there are four copies still in existence, but they'll never see them which is a good thing, as that paper also contains coverage of the Bob Wilber trial as well. Reverend Gale gave the sort of sermon you just don't hear in the twenty-first century anymore, and the wedding brought tears to everyone's eyes, mine included. Everyone did their part; even Caleb and Steinar were on their best behavior. Wendy and Melinda bemoaned the fact that we couldn't have flowers, but Dora had brought two small bouquets of flowers she had grown indoors at her place. Later, as was the custom of the time, Klara pressed them in large books to keep as mementos.

As I leaned over to kiss the now "Mrs. Yankton," all the events flashed through my mind that brought me to this point. Then as Klara banged out "The wedding march," on our piano, Mark and I escorted our new wives out the front door, amid whoops and cheers.

Although we would be repeating the ceremony at some point in the future, the first time was the real thing. Montana glowed, and both she and Melonie were the happiest I'd ever seen them, whatever secret dreams they had must have been realized. All our regulars were invited as well, with the saloon packed to capacity. Sockie, Annie. And Mrs. Moss really outdid themselves on the wedding feast. Probably eighty percent of the ingredients came from the future, which only added to the complements the women received for preparing it. We also broke out our best booze, and wine, much to the delight of Calamity, and our regulars. Mr. O'Rourke invited a fiddle player from Spearfish, and along with Colin, and Melinda who played the piano, the saloon floor shook with all the dancing.

As the four of us sat at our special table, I leaned over to Montana and said,

"Well Abbie, how does it feel to be Mrs. Brian Yankton?" She just smiled and gave me a kiss, as she pulled away, I could see tears in her eyes. After dinner, and innumerable toasts, the four of us stepped out on the floor and danced our first dances together as man and wife. Before the night was out I danced with Dora, Calamity, (who got a bit carried away) Klara, Melonie, Wendy, and even Annie. I told Dora that before she left, we had quite a few "supplies" for her.

"I also want to give you two hundred dollars in gold as a sort of donation to help any young ladies that might come your way who find themselves in an unfortunate situation." Dora hugged me and gave me a peck on the cheek.

"Of all the good people in the black hills Mr. Yankton, you, Mark and your new wives are the only ones I can truly count on as friends." Mark introduced his sister to her and her girls, which something must have "clicked," as I saw her talking to Dora quite a bit.

Mark, being who he is, also introduced Wendy to Doc Cochran who was worried about smallpox coming to Deadwood.

"Which type does it look like doctor?" She asked. Mark and I knew what was coming, and just stood back smiling to ourselves. Wendy started to describe the two forms of small pox, Variola Major, and minor, the contraction time, and where the disease attacks. Cochran looked incensed, as he snapped back,

"Madam, who are you to tell me of my business, what do you know of anything?"

Mark then stepped forward,

"Doc, my sister is an officer in the United States Navy, she is a surgical nurse, but trained in

Pediatrics." While the doc was trying to digest this information, Wendy spoke up,

"We don't see small pox that much anymore doctor, due to inoculations of children." The doctor glared at Mark who just shrugged,

"Sorry doc, times change, what can I say?" Then Wendy said,

"I read about disease outbreaks in Deadwood doctor, it's because of highly unsanitary living conditions, all that horseshit and garbage in the streets. I can't stay here to help, but I will see what I can do to maybe get you some vaccine." Cochran wasn't sure whether to ignore her or thank her, but Mark spoke up,

"1878 doc, the history books talk about a big small pox outbreak, we'll be glad to help where we can, but that's all I can offer you."

Judge William Kuykendall also attended, in company with sheriff Bullock and his wife. I had read a little about him, mainly that he had been a second lieutenant in the Confederate army, fighting in the battle of Carthage, the first battle of the war. I wanted to interview him for his story, but I could never seem to get away, and when I could, he was never in Deadwood.

Poor Bob wasn't too happy when I told him what happened to his brothers, he balled and wailed, and promised revenge," said the sheriff. "Oh by the way, the trial is scheduled for next Wednesday; I hope you and the others plan on being there."

"Oh we'll be there sheriff, but you might want to remind "little Bob," actions have consequences."

"I think he knows that," replied Bullock.

"Well you folks just have fun and enjoy yourselves," I replied.

Mark used the occasion to tell Mr. O'Rourke that he was out of the gold delivery business, while I told him I might be up for one or two more, but that I would work alone. O'Rourke didn't like what he was hearing, but knew why we were essentially out of it.

"Look Mr. O'Rourke," I explained,

"We have other obligations now, but if the money is right, and you positively, absolutely have to have a shipment delivered, I might consider it." He frowned, and said,

"I'm terribly sorry you boys won't be working for me any more, but I can't say I really blame you. I might have a job in the making, but with winter upon us…"

"That's the perfect time," I replied, where would I be hauling this gold out of?"

O'Rourke brightened when he saw that I was interested.

"From Silver City up to Spearfish, the bank there is well built, and the sheriff is a friend of mine, he won't let nothing happen to that gold until we can get it out on a wagon later on."

"Well keep me informed Mr. O'Rourke," I replied.

By the time the party was over, and our guests departed, I said to Montana and Melonie.

"Naturally we owe you ladies a nice honeymoon, in our time most people head for Hawaii, I'm sure Wendy has a few connections out there. Unfortunately, I don't think you ladies would enjoy being cramped up in a jet liner, Hell I don't like it. I do think we'll take one on our time, but it might have to wait until we get married all over again.

"As long as we get a room with one of those Roman baths," announced Montana.

"Oh you know it!" I replied.