Chapter 4

There was a crew of seven men who arrived shortly thereafter and John announced that he was representing my interests. “He won’t be with us this morning because his family is arriving sometime this afternoon and he wants to pick them up. In essence you are dealing with me.” He then proceeded to introduce me to the engineers, one other geologist, and the two men who ran the division of a company that might be doing the actual mining.

When they left for the claim, Mary said, “You’re very trusting.”

“I trust John and his reputation, and I also trust the reputation of the company doing the mining. That’s the beauty of being able search on the internet. I looked up the company’s website. John is listed as consultant. It also lists his qualifications. The website lists the different places and countries where they have opened mines for other companies. I’ll show your brother this when he is searching for an attorney who knows the industry.”

“I guess you have it covered. Pete, you do amaze me at times.”

“When you don’t know what you are doing, you hire those who do.”

An hour after John and the men left, we heard a vehicle stop outside. It was Sam driving a SUV. “There are two more cars full of us. We caught an earlier flight and rented rides.” After hugs and greetings, Sam asked, “What’s happening?”

Mary asked, “Where is Kenny? Pete needs a lawyer.”

“What did he do? He didn’t rough you up did he?”

“No, of course not. Oh, we are a couple now. We are going to need a preacher right off too. He wants to make a honest woman of me. Sam, this is about something that Pete discovered on the claim next to mine. It is quite valuable. He has engaged a geologist and a company to open up or sell a mine. They’ve just gone out there this morning. Maybe Pete will take you. He stayed here to meet you guys.”

Just then, the other two vehicles drove in. More hugs and kisses. I laughed when Mary advanced on her sisters-in-law and hugged them one at a time. I don’t think she had ever been this close to them before. They certainly didn’t know what to make of her.

She pushed Kenny toward me. “Talk to Pete. He needs an attorney.”

“Hi Kenny, we met when I had dinner at Sam’s place when he hired me to watch over Mary. I came out here with her. My job was to make sure she stayed safe. She put me to work digging for gemstones. I guess you know she found a beautiful one. The day before that happened I staked the claim next to hers. I was over there when she shouted for me to come see what she had uncovered. I turned quickly and fell down seeing an opening under a ledge. We went back a couple of days later and explored it. We managed to crawl into a cavern.

“I knocked off some samples from the walls and had them assayed. It turns out that the ore is quite valuable. Since then I’ve hired a geologist and a company to open up the mine. But I don’t know anything about mining. I do need an attorney to watch out for my interests.”

“Pete, I don’t know anything about mining either.”

“I don’t expect you do, but there will be some firms around here. Would you look one up that will fill my needs? The geologist I hired is great and he could put you in touch with one, but I want him working for me, not the company that is doing the work.”

“I can do that. When can we do this?”

“Maybe some of you would like to see what I found. We could go out there now as he is there with representatives of the company that is finding a contractor to do the actual mining.”

“It sounds like this is going to cost a lot. Where will the money for all of this come from?”

“The company that is doing the opening will give me money up front. The ore is easy to get to and its value is right out in the open and visible. They are going to do some test boring soon and tell me the projected worth of the mine. Actually, I won’t have anything to do with this at all. I’m going back home with Mary when she leaves here. I’m hiring representatives to do everything. You’re on the payroll right now and get paid as soon as I do.”

“Well, maybe I can advise you some. I’ll see what I can do to help you out.” He stopped speaking and then asked, “How are you getting along with my sister?”

“Great, the first preacher we come to will be the one to marry us. Maybe while you are here during this week.”

“You’re kidding, aren’t you? You know she is scarred up pretty badly. It makes me shudder to think about how bad that is.”

“Doesn’t bother me, it is what is inside that counts. When I first saw it, I determined that her mother had this done to her when she was a little child for whatever reason. I take it your stepmom was a little strange?”

“She was crazy. You do know all of our dad’s money went to Maria, Mary’s mother, when he died. We figured to make amends she left all the money from our Dad to Mary, when she, herself passed on. We did love our little sister and Mary has been great because she shared it with us brothers. How about you, do you have anything?”

“I didn’t make a move on her or ask her to marry me until I discovered the mine.”

“Well, I hope the mine is worth a lot. Sis may not look pretty, but we love her and want her happy. You also should know she has kept our wives and kids away from her after she heard three of them discussing her looks.”

“That may change. Look over there where they are standing. Emmy has her arm around Mary and Alice is laughing with her at something someone said.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. Guess I had better see what is going on.” Kenny, my new attorney, walked away. Ten minutes later, he was back with his four brothers. “Let’s go see what you’ve got. Mary says you are going to be a rich man.” There were three rows of seats in Sam’s SUV so we all got into that one and headed for the mining claims.

We parked next to the vehicle that John had come in. Mary and I were used to the long walk from there to her claim. A couple of her brothers were tired of it before we reached the path to begin the climb up the mountain. We followed the path Mary and I used to start, but then branched off toward my claim at one of the switchbacks.

“You’ll never get a truck up here to take out the ore if there is any.”

“There is ore and a lot of it. You can see it when we get up there. As far as getting it out, sure they will. If it is too difficult they will figure out something different. I’ve read about overhead rail systems or cable cars even. Luckily, I won’t have to figure it out. That’s what I hired this company for.”

When we reached the opening, we were struggling to catch our breaths. The entrance was still small and we had to crawl inside. I couldn’t see or hear anyone at first and Sam questioned me about that. “They are here because there are some packs over there in the corner. It is more than a mile to the far end and I’m sure they wanted to explore the whole cavern.”

Kenny asked, “Where is the ore that is supposed to be so valuable?”

I played my flashlight on the walls and close to the bottom of them. I picked up a chunk of rock. “This is a piece of ore that has four different salable materials in it. I understand after extraction about seventy percent is lead, thirteen percent is silver, some zinc, and some trace amounts of gold. Of course most of this object is plain old rock.

“Look closely at it and you can see specks that are different color. Probably you can’t see any gold for it is such a small amount, but it is worth recovering during the extraction. Now look at the walls. Look at the different makeup of the formation? That band of greyish rock is the ore body and it is all around this cavern for more than a mile. The crew that is here somewhere is making up an estimate. They will be doing some test boring to determining how far into the walls the ore body is.

“When they get that done I will know approximately how valuable this find is. Then the company I’ve hired will look for a mining company to get the ore out and extract the different minerals. They will award a contract to a company who can do this the cheapest and get the most value out of a ton of ore.”

I hadn’t planned this trip very well. I had only two flashlights and one the batteries were getting weak. “I think we had better go back outside. It may be hours before John finishes showing the mine to the company. I imagine they will go as far as I have been and maybe even further.”

We crawled out and sat for a while. Not much was said. “What happens now?”

This was Brian, a brother whom I didn’t know much about, asking. “Well, I pretty much own the mine. The men from the company who are in there looking it over are determining the extent of the ore. When they get that, they will market it to an actual mining company through a bidding process. John, my geologist, who is showing the mine, tells me that I am going to be extremely rich person.”

“Are you still going to stay with Mary?”

“That’s my plan. She is an amazing person and I want her life to be with me. She has had a lot to deal with in her life and I want her be able to come out of the darkness and join mankind, putting her past hurts behind her.”

“You may have trouble with that. She is a very revengeful person.”

“I know, but that is going to change. She has already redirected you to stop harassing Chloe for what she did to me while I was in the service.”

“You know about that?”

“Yes. It came out when Chloe’s husband blamed me as the one who was doing things to her vehicle. The authorities have already checked me out and decided it wasn’t me. Mary then told me all about asking of you to do the dirty deeds.”

“Don’t you have any resentment at all for what this Chloe did to you?”

“At first I did, but there was no profit for me in it. If I hadn’t an alibi, I would be in jail now. Where’s the profit in that? When I tried revenge on my own, I got my ass kicked, so I left her alone. I didn’t know anyone would take up for me so I can’t be blamed. I don’t know as I like it much either. However, Mary and I have settled it between ourselves and are going forward to a happy life together, I hope.”

“Are you going to contact, Chloe again?”

“I doubt I will. No reason to at this point, is there?”

“There might be. What we brothers did harmed Chloe more than we intended. Her husband left Chloe and we didn’t know it at the time, but the child they had has some health issues we didn’t know about. We are thankful we didn’t do more to harm her than we did,”

“Maybe something else should be done to rectify it, then.”

“The thought has crossed our minds. Do you want us to look into it when we get back home?”

“Yes, and I’ll make sure that Mary thinks it should be the right thing to do.”

“Christ, you can control her?” That’s something none of us have been able to do. Some of that is because we all are beholden to her for sharing the estate her mother left. Mary was generous to a fault, only putting the restriction of not telling anyone what she did for each one of us. It has caused hard feelings in the family because we couldn’t tell or share with our wives how we were able to have successful startups in our own endeavors.”

“That has all changed and you will find it out when you see your wives when we return today. Mary was to meet with them while you came here with me.”

“What is this power you have over our sister?”

“I believe it is called love.” I paused and wanted to get off this subject. “Let’s not discuss this any longer. I think we should go back now. Those guys may be down in the cavern for hours yet.”

There was a note at the cabin that Mary was going to the bank and move the Smoky Quartz gemstone to the prospectors club room and display it. Someone had come by and asked her to. She was willing. All of her sister-in-laws and the kids would be with her. She hoped I wouldn’t be late for dinner tonight coming back from the claim.

Her brothers and I stopped at a diner and had a light lunch before going into the club. The gemstone was sitting in the middle of a round table where everyone could walk around the table where it was displayed. It was slightly raised on a low pedestal. I wanted to see it again as much as anyone else.

Mary saw us come in and without hesitation came and hugged me putting her lips up to be kissed. Her face did turn rose-hued and I smiled for she had been kissed but little in her lifetime and only by me with passion. Emmy, Sam and Alice’s daughter, came and shyly said hi. I made the rounds and was introduced again to the women and kids. This had happened at the first dinner with the wives, but not the children. I would have a difficult time remembering their names. Maybe I would get them all in my mind before they left.

Kenny was telling his wife what they had seen at the claim. I immediately cautioned him and the rest not to discuss this at all. Luckily the kids weren’t listening so if the adults obeyed me, the word wouldn’t get out yet.

Mary knew several members of the prospectors club and we went into the bar where she introduced me. I was asked how I had thought of the method of freeing the gem from the mountain’s clutches. Mary answered for me. “Pete read a book one time.” She then had to explain that remark that this was a standard answer of mine, which brought a laugh.

Mary was asked if the whole family had come from Ohio just to see her mine and she said yes. They were all on vacation and wanted to see the exact spot so she would take them out to the claim tomorrow. I had a beer pushed into my hand and then the brothers bought a round for the men at the bar.

Mary moved me off to the side and said she had explained to her family why she had been so reserved with them. She told them she had heard them early on discussing her looks and actions and that was one reason why she hadn’t been friendly. Now she wanted them to accept her as one of the Goodell family just like her brothers.

“I told them that I would explain more fully tonight after the children went to bed. Pete, I’m going to wear a bikini and show them the stigmata on my body. I’m also going to tell them that you don’t think I’m wearing the mark of the devil and that you think my mother had it tattooed on me when I was very young. Then when she found that out, the priest didn’t believe her and he made her do penance. That was when she went off the rails mentally.”

“Do you want to put yourself through this with the family?”

“Yes I do, and if I’m asked why now, I’ll say you have seen it and now I don’t mind it at all. You have convinced me it isn’t something to be ashamed of. I may even tell them how it feels to be kissed there.”

“I wouldn’t. There is no need.”

“Okay ... maybe not then.” Mary wanted to get the gem back into the bank vault so we carefully wrapped it up and left it at the bank on the way back to the cabin. We would meet the family in the motel dining room later for the evening meal.

When we walked into the dining room, a half dozen of the children came running up to Mary. I had my own follower in Emmy because she came up and asked about my mining claim. I asked sharply, “How did you find out about it? It is supposed to be a secret.”

“I heard my dad and mom discussing it. They saw I was listening to them and cautioned me not to speak about it. I won’t. They said you are going to a very rich man. Are you still going to marry Aunt Mary?”

“That is my intention just as soon as we have time. Maybe next week even. You do like your Aunt Mary, don’t you?”

Emmy nodded. “I used to feel so badly for her. None of my aunts and Mom liked her and she looked so weird with the way she acted. My dad didn’t seem to feel that way so I figured she was better than my mom thought she was. Then you were invited to dinner and went away with her. Aunt Mary has changed an awful lot since I saw her last time. I like her a lot and I like you a lot too.” Emmy blushed when she said this.

“I like you a lot too, Emmy. If Mary needs an attendant at our wedding, I’m going to suggest that it be you.”

“Oh, I would be so thrilled.”

From behind Emmy, Mary spoke, “Emmy you aren’t trying to steal my man are you?”

“No, Aunt Mary, but I would if I was old enough. You are so lucky. He said if you needed someone to stand up with you, he would suggest he would ask you to choose me.”

“Emmy, I think that’s a great idea. Our wedding is going to be small. I promise that you will be one of the ones standing by my side when Pete and I say the words that make us husband and wife. Who would you like to stand up with Pete”

“Can I choose my dad? I know he is very close to you and always has been.”

“That’s a great idea. Are you okay with this, Pete?”

“I certainly am. I’ll ask Sam right now and announce our plans at the table tonight.” I drifted away to where Sam was talking to Kenny.

John came into the dining room and wanted to speak to me as we were finishing dinner. “Pete, the company is damned excited about your claim. They will be trying to market it right away. I’m going to give you the name of an attorney who will do the best for you to sit in on the meetings that the company will hold when the bids start. While that is going on, work will be continuing at the site getting the permits in place.

“You said your family had a lawyer. If he is available, he might want to coordinate with the one who I have chosen for you. I declare you should come out of this pretty well.”

“When will the actual mining begin?”

“It is difficult to say. It can’t start until the permits are in place. When this company markets the rights to mine, the mining company will begin payments. Of course if you want to sell the claim you can take the money and walk away. That’s the simplest form and you wouldn’t have to wait around for several months. It is always frustrating because it will seem as if roadblocks are always put in the way for this to go forward.”

“What would you do in my place?”

“Hard to say. I’ve been in this business all my life. I probably would not sell, but with you and not knowing anything about it, it might be better to sell outright.”

“I have some decisions to make then, don’t I?”

“There is no hurry; take your time. For now, enjoy the summer. You still have a couple months of good weather left.” Just then Kenny came to our side. I left John and Kenny to get more acquainted. When the dinner was over Mary and I left for our cabin. Three of Mary’s brothers and John were parked in the bar listening to John expand on the ins and outs of mining ore.

The next day, Wednesday, we were up and had the cabin straightened out when someone knocked on the cabin door. Kenny and John along with two men from the marketing firm stood there. There wasn’t room for all to come inside. Kenny was the only one.

Kenny spoke, “Pete, let’s go down to the diner and talk. The attorney who John suggested will be meeting me there. The company men want to begin the process of getting you signed up to use them for marketing the claim to a mining company. This is the ordinary way opening a new mining operation works.

“Today you will have three reps at the table working on your behalf. I am bowing out when I leave to go back to Ohio, knowing I’m leaving you in the hands of John Blackstone and Russell Carrier, the attorney, John has suggested Russell to replace me. So far I think you are handling this very well. You have chosen John to guide you through this and I don’t believe there is anyone better.”

We stepped outside. One of the men from the marketing firm said, “I understand that you have transferred ownership of the placer claim on top of your lode claim to a Mary Goodell just a few days ago. We would like to speak to her.”

“That’s correct. Why?”

“We are going to need a right of way across her claim to be able to go forward with a road in marketing your mine. Of course there are other rights of way to contend with, but that has to do with the federal government. As long as her brother is right here he could represent her in this.”

“I’ll bring her to the diner with me. Kenny, we’ll talk to Mary now. John, you had better come inside too. We’ll see you at the diner shortly.”

The three of us went inside. John explained to Mary what was of a concern in getting permits to mine my claim. John said, “Mary, you possible will make more money giving the mining company a right of way than you ever will from digging for gemstones. That is unless you find another smoky quartz.”

“John, would you negotiate for me. I never even thought about owning that claim until Pete insisted I take it from him.”

John laughed, “Damn, you two young people are racking up some serious money. Were you born under a lucky star?”

Mary answered, “We have had a bit of good luck. The best part of it all is that we have found each other.”

“That is great for both of you. I lost my wife seven years ago. I still carry on conversations in my mind when I have to make a decision about something. It helps with the sadness of missing her.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, Mary.”

We were spread out at a table in the rear of the diner. The firm that was going to do the early work getting the mine ready to put it up for bid was pleased that Mary would sign a release for a road to be constructed across the placer claim.

They had brought some papers for me to sign as well, making them the official company to do all the preparatory work. It was all spelled out what work was to be done on the copies. Russell said that this was standard and he said everything needed was included. There was even a approximate time line predicated on the permits in place by a certain length of time.”

“We will be working now inside the cavern so we can estimate how much ore is on the claim. Whoever gets this bid will have to come up with an amount for you before they start mining. Have you any idea how much you will demand?”

“No I don’t, but I imagine it will be a percentage of how much ore is mined. I’ll bow to John and Russell and your firm who is doing the marketing to come up with a figure.”

“Good, I was afraid you would demand some outrageous figure, you not knowing anything about mining.”

Mary said, “Pete has spent some time looking up stuff on his laptop. I can almost guarantee he knows more than you would think. I would even guess what percentage he will be asking for.” I made no comment.

We spent the afternoon with Mary’s family. Mary had always pushed her nieces and nephews away from her, and her sister-in-laws had reinforced this. Now the feelings were just the opposite. Emmy hung on her, finally getting up courage to ask when Mary and I were getting married. We hadn’t mentioned much about that when I said we might before they flew home.

Mary said, “Yes, I would like to be married before you return home. Today is Wednesday. Tomorrow is Thursday and Friday the contractor is going to have our cabin all torn up so we can’t sleep there that night. Let’s all get dressed up and find a pastor or the town clerk and ask them if they have time to perform the wedding during the afternoon. I’ll have Pete get us a room in another part of the Motel and we’ll stay there. Emmy, do want to go with me to get ready?”

“Aunt Mary, I’ve never been to a wedding before. I want to find all about it.”

“You know this is going to be a very small wedding, not big and splashy.”

“I know, but Pete and you love each other and that is what counts.”

“Emmy, that’s true and you are so sweet to realize how much we do love each other. Let’s go buy you and me a new dress. The bride and her maid should look nice and a new dress will do the trick. Go tell your mother where we are going shopping and if you see Pete, tell him to reserve a room for Friday night in the motel.”

“Don’t you have to ask him first that you plan on the two of you getting married?”

“He’ll figure it out. If he questions, you just tell him you read a book one time that Friday was a good day to get married.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, that’s a private joke between us. I’ll bet he laughs and then will explain it to you.” Emmy took off like a shot to find me.

I was standing talking with some of the family when Emmy came up and said, “Aunt Mary said for you to reserve a room for you two Friday night.”

“Why does she want me to do that?”

“Pete, I read a book one time and it said Friday was a very good day to get married.” I had to burst out laughing and then I had to explain.

She turned to her father. “Daddy, can I have some money to buy a new dress? I’m going shopping with Aunt Mary because I’m going to be a bridesmaid and should look nice.”

The women of the family decided they would all need new clothes too, so they trooped back to Mary and got into enough cars to go into town. Sam led me across the street and into a bar. In ten minutes all five brothers were being served with me. It was a good thing when Mary collected me that the mattresses were on the floor because I never would have been able to climb into the top bunk.

In the morning, Mary decided that we would go out to her claim and dig for gems. It was a long time for us to get there because the kids were always stopping to look at everything or climbing on some of the big boulders that had rolled down off the mountain. By the time we reached the claim, the kids were sick of walking.

We had brought our tools from the place at the foot of the mountain and I showed the kids (mostly) how to dig for gems. The women were interested too, so everyone was soon scratching around. One little boy was the first to pick up something and put it into his mouth. His mother grabbed it and it was a small perfect gem which excited everyone.

I took the men up to the ledge and showed them where Mary had found the Smoky Quartz. They could see how I had drilled into the ledge that held it before I could release it. We weren’t there for much over an hour when most everyone was sick of digging. Eight gems had been found along with some broken shiny pieces.

We went down the mountain, the kids running. They all seemed to fall but none got hurt. Emmy walked with me and I smiled for she thought the kids were beneath her now that she was a teenager. Mary and Alice were the last two off the mountain and were engaged in conversation so I didn’t bother to join them. They soon were far in the rear of the rest of us. Probably this was the longest conversation together they had even though they lived in the same house.

Alice, Sam’s wife, said, “Mary, it must be nice to be able to come out here and dig in the ground. I’ll admit what you found is very valuable, but I don’t know as it is a very profitable way to spend your time.”

“Alice, I know, but look what it has given me. I’m going to be married tomorrow to a wonderful man. Not only that, and the reason I love him so is because he has subtly nudged me toward being more family orientated. I’ve always resented the women of the family for different reasons. Pete has showed me the error of my thinking.

“It isn’t my fault that my mother was the way she was. I love my brothers and they were the ones who kept me sane enough to function. I used the money to pay them back for watching out for me. Foolishly, I took it out on all of you. I suppose I resented their happiness with you which caused me to resent you even more.”

“I suspect Pete and I will move to a more normal existence now since he discovered the mine, I probably never will come out here again. Finding the Smoky Quartz Gem was a wonderful experience. I can’t explain how I felt when I first uncovered it.

“But then I looked closer and saw it locked in the granite. I knew I would never be able to free it without breaking it. Pete seems to know just what to do. I won’t go into details, but he gently transformed me from a sour person into a wonderfully fulfilled woman.

“You don’t know this, but I have spent all but a little bit of the money from my inheritance. I worried about it and coming here this year was my last fling before leaving my brothers to go on with their lives without me.”

Alice broke in, “What do you mean--leaving?”

“I hadn’t got that far of how and when, but my mind had been made up. Sam and his brothers hired Pete to watch over me. That was a wonderful feeling to have them show they cared that much for me. That helped me some and then Pete showed he took it seriously by looking after me. He slowly introduced me to a way to enjoy interacting with other people by taking me out into some public settings. That’s not to fault my brothers for not doing that for me either.

“I always rebuffed their intents when offered. Pete slowly made me see that even though I was terribly scarred, I could still go out and have a good time. My life hasn’t been happy but Pete’s has really been slammed worse than me.”

“Tell me about it. Sam and the brothers know, I guess, but the rest of the family doesn’t. We know only that Pete worked for Sam in the store.”

“Pete did work for Sam. That was the good part of his life. Before that, Pete was in the service and engaged to be married. When he came home to pick up his life after leaving for the service, he walked into his apartment where his fiancée was living and found she was married and had spent all of his money.