Chapter 2

As soon as I reached Philadelphia the next morning I exchanged my ticket from coach to a small compartment. Many men were annoying me and one even grabbed my ankle as I slept. He ended up with a black eye as I kicked him in the face due to him being so aggressive toward me. One other man even asked me to accompany him to Chicago and be his whore. I was so angry that if I had Papa's revolver I would have shot him right then and there. At least one woman overheard the offer and she gave him such a tongue lashing. I couldn't say it any better. He crept out of his seat and went to another car. I thanked her and we chatted until we reached Philadelphia which was her final stop. So I sat alone for the rest of the journey and felt lonely but the alternative would have been a lot worse. If all men were like that, I would never marry.

I won't bore you with many things I encountered on my trip to Nebraska. Just to mention that it was so hot and humid on the way I had to strip down to my pantaloons and top. I still suffered from the heat. I paid a dollar for a jug of water in Philadelphia then I bought two more in Saint Louis. One for drinking and the other for washing. Needless to say it was a long arduous trip with the exception of two bad thunderstorms on the way. It was the worst storms I ever seen and it scared me very much. The winds were so strong I believed they would derail the train. But it being summer the humidity just didn't go away.

On the twelfth day of my journey the train pulled into Sidney. I had breakfast in the dining car long before we arrived. I looked out the window to see a large crowd of people gathered there. Most were wearing old clothes toting backpacks and tools like shovels, picks and other things. There were so many getting off at this stop I realized that these were going into the Black Hills to search for gold. They were getting off to buy equipment that would make them rich. I was the last to get off hoping that Miles was there to meet me. I only had seven dollars left and even at my young naive age I knew that the money wouldn't last me long.

"Miss Cassie?" I heard a man's voice behind me. I turned and was face-to-face with the most handsome man I ever laid eyes upon. He was clean shaven, wearing a suit with a derby hat all in black. The only thing that was dirty were his boots which were caked with mud.

"Mr. Graves?" I asked. I saw that the look on his face was warm as he smiled as if I were exactly like I pictured myself to be in my letters.

"You're so pretty," he grinned, showing his very white teeth.

"Thank you," I smiled at him. My heart was racing a mile a minute. He was better looking than his picture.

"Welcome to Sidney." he handed me a bunch of cut flowers. They were beautiful.

"Thank you."

"My buggy is over there," he pointed to a contraption with a horse standing there nibbling on some grass.

"All right," I noticed that he had an accent. I guess I had one too coming all the way from the east. He stooped down to pickup my suitcases. He had to be at least six foot tall and I felt like a little girl following him to his rig. He told me to stay right where I was while he stepped off the platform into the mud to load my luggage. He returned to pick me up and carry me to his carriage. My bonnet almost got away from me but I managed to hold on. He carefully put me on the seat and went to the other side. I noticed that he had stocked up on supplies. He had a barrel of flour, a large slab of bacon, a keg of molasses, some big sacks of corn meal among with other things.

"What is your middle name?" he asked me.

"Edith," I replied. "That was my grandmother's name," I blushed. For the first time since seeing this stranger I realized that we would be married this very day.