Chapter 3
December 25, 1849
"Louise! What are you doing here?" From the other room I could hear the sound of a voice that sounded like Frieda.
Louise looked at me and started to laugh, "Alex, don't you think that you might want to put up your gun?"
I realized that I was holding my pistol in my hand. With some effort I put it back into the holster and kept looking at Louise. She got up and gave me a hug, "The story of what happened reached us last week. Frieda and I knew we had to get here for you. I missed you all so much!"
I gave Louise a hug and a kiss. Going to the door I saw Josh standing in the hallway with a look of confusion on his face. I didn't hear any sounds like anyone was being killed in the next room so I waved at Josh, "Get your mothers and tell them your Mom Louise and Frieda are here."
As he went by he asked, "Dad, what makes women act the way they do?"
"Like what, son?"
"Like they can't bear to let go of you one minute and suddenly can't stand to have you near them the next."
I put one and one together and came up with three, "Did you tell Sun Lee about Frieda?"
"Kinda."
"Kinda?"
"I told her I asked permission to spark Frieda from her father."
"And no one told Frieda about Sun Lee", I stated to myself.
"Dad, how could I? We just got here yesterday!"
"What happened when Frieda saw Sun Lee?"
"That's what I don't understand. She was in my arms kissing me, then she slapped me and burst out crying. That's when Sun Lee told me to go away and closed the door in my face."
I just shook my head, "Ask your mothers. Maybe they can answer but I think that even if they do you won't understand. Women are good at that."
Josh set off to fetch his mothers and as he went I heard him mutter, "So are fathers!"
When my other wives arrived they found Louise being held in my arms listening about what had happened after she went home with Corrie. They jumped in and began telling things from their viewpoints and I just sat back and let the sounds of their voices flow over me. The tension that I had felt coming back began to evaporate again. I began yawning and the next thing I knew I was waking up in bed between two warm bodies with a third nestled in front of Claire. I raised my head and spotted Josh. He was sleeping on the floor in our room so I assumed that he had not been given permission to enter his room yet.
I didn't want him to have to stay on the floor for the remainder our stay here so I got up, and followed by the sleepy Elizabeth, got dressed and ready to face the day. Elizabeth and I got finished about the same time that Claire and Louise began to stir followed shortly afterward by Josh and the girls. After everyone had a chance to wash up we went downstairs where the sheriff wandered by.
"Damn it Alex! Don't you ever leave anyone alive who threatens your wives! We just got finished picking up the bodies from the ambush site. We picked up 8 bodies there. One of the deputies who was there told me that he found 12 horses so you still have 4 men around out to kill you. I know I told you to wait until the 27th to see me but I changed my mind. Go back to your town. The Muir is leaving today and you and your wives will be on it." I protested that Josh couldn't leave town yet.
"I understand that Josh has some paperwork to pick up on the 27th and I'll make sure he gets the paperwork and gets out of here safely. Alex you're just plain trouble", the sheriff replied.
We began to protest that we wanted to stay with Josh until he got his paperwork and go back as one party. The sheriff just sat there until our protests started to die down again, "Look Alex, I promise I'll keep young Josh at my home at night. I will either be with Josh or have a deputy go around with him until I get him on a boat headed back to you. There's just too much danger here for you and your wives. You don't know the people and you don't know the area. The trick to living a long time at this job is to get the opponent to come to you in an area where you know everyone and the surroundings. I've already booked passage for your party on the Muir and everything is set up for you. Go home Alex."
Sun Lee and Frieda looked stubborn when they were told they had to leave. Josh looked at them and seemed to come to a decision with himself. Standing up he reached out and grabbed a hand of each He pulled and both girls had to stand up, "Frieda, Sun Lee, come with me." Frieda looked like she was going to refuse when Josh gave her a glance that made her shut her mouth and she quietly followed Josh.
I looked at him as they walked away. Josh was going to be a formidable man soon. I glanced at my wives and they were looking at them too. We exchanged a look of pride between ourselves. The sheriff looked at Josh as well, "I wish I could get my wife to listen to me like that." He never understood why we suddenly began to laugh.
Before we left Oregon City my wives had to indulge in one feminine rite. Shopping! It was kind of funny and kind of scary at the same time. The sheriff had his best shots on top of the highest building down town looking for anyone who seemed overly interested in any of my wives or me. Other deputies accompanied us while they shopped. The quantity and quality of goods had begun to improve rapidly with the gold coming into Oregon from the California gold fields and they must have hit every shop in Oregon City before they were finished. Well, every store but one. The shop where Claire and Louise got hurt saw them coming and shut their doors before they arrived. They must have spent over a hundred dollars each in the stores before we boarded the Muir. We had the livery wagon full of clothes and other assorted goods before they got through.
The captain of the Muir acted like he wanted to charge me more when he saw the amount of goods my wives were bringing aboard, but a glance from the sheriff made him keep quiet. Sun Lee and Frieda had gone shopping as well with some money Josh gave them and I was amazed at how much such little girls could carry. Josh gave both of them a big kiss before they boarded and for a second I thought they were going to follow him off the ship. I glanced at my wives and saw the look that they exchanged between them. I wouldn't be surprised if there was another multiple family before too long. I called Josh over and talked to him about listening to the sheriff and being careful. He nodded and I had to hope he was listening. I gave Josh $50 in gold eagles for his expenses and gave him the shotgun to carry with him for backup. As the Muir pulled away from the dock we waved at Josh as he stood by the sheriff. Frieda and Sun Lee kept watching Josh until he was completely out of sight and then started bawling on each other's shoulders.
My wives descended on them like a flock of gulls on a school of fish. I just stood there thinking about what was going on. What did a Russian have to do with all this? I tried to remember what was going on in the world this year. The United States was still considered a minor power in the world while the big powers of the day were in Europe. We would not be trying to buy Alaska for several years, sometime in the late 1860's I thought. Russia was involved in the Crimean war but I didn't have any idea why they would be interested in Oregon.
I continued chewing the facts while we traveled up the river. I enjoyed the leisurely journey more than I would have thought. I guess I had been under a lot of pressure lately as I felt myself begin to sleep soundly, without waking up several times a night. It helped that one of my wives made sure that we spent at least 30 minutes or longer making love every night. I found myself relaxing and enjoying the company of my wives without the pressure of the job or the children around. It was like the honeymoon we never had, and we acted like it. Every time we came to a landing, the Muir would pull ashore and unload or load cargo and passengers.
If it was going to take more than 4 hours we would go ashore and explore the area. We received quite a few outraged looks from the citizens of the towns we stopped at but I was surprised at the numbers of well-wishers as well. My wives received almost as many requests for meetings as I did. Even Frieda and Sun Lee were included in the meetings of the women. I met with the law people when I could find them and we discussed what I had learned during my interrogations of the slave ring members.
Once I helped make an arrest of one of the suppliers of the slave ring. He had hired a so- called 'gunman' as a bodyguard and lived in one of the more affluent areas of the town. The sheriff was an older man who had never had to handle violent men and wasn't sure what to do. He was also nervous about arresting a man who had such close ties with the mayor and the local assemblyman.
He deputized me and several other men, as well as my wives and Sun Lee, at my insistence. When we got near the house the 'gunman' came out and was going to challenge us when he had three guns pointed at him while he was beginning his speech. Not being an idiot, he loosened his gun belt and let it fall on the ground when told to do so. I left Elizabeth and Sun Lee to watch him and we continued on the house of the slaver. He was giving a small party and was furious that anyone would dare to disturb him and his guests.
He started to bluster about his connections and his position until Louise put him into a neck lock and I tied his hands together and then tied them to his neck. He continued to bluster until he saw his 'gunman' under guard. Apparently he hadn't known that his employer had been engaged in enslaving women because the 'gunman' spit on him as he passed. He lost his bluster after that, especially when I told the sheriff to take him to Oregon City where the US magistrate was trying all the cases involved with the slavery ring. The 'gunman' was informed that he was to leave the town and preferably Oregon. Elizabeth decided to show him what a real gun woman looked like and gave an impromptu exhibition of shooting that made him become pale when he realized what the soft talking young woman would have done to him if he had drawn his gun.
After 10 days we finally got to Salem, where I reported to the Sheriff and the magistrate with my reports of the cases and my expense reports. After being chewed out for being gone so long, both men congratulated me on the results and we spent most of the day talking about the slavery ring and the attempts to kill me that had occurred. When I told them that I recognized the accent of the leader of one of the groups as Russian, they had no idea why a Russian would be involved either.
January 11 - April 3, 1850
We returned to our claim and three days later Josh arrived home. The sheriff of Oregon City had kept his word and Josh had been escorted everywhere either by the sheriff or one of his deputies until he was placed in the boat that brought him to Salem. He showed us his land claim and we celebrated with Frieda and Sun Lee hanging on to Josh while the adults looked at them benevolently. Frieda was there visiting with Ola and Willy while Sun Lee was with my wives. We had been working on the new bathhouse I had been building when I discovered my wives had been kidnapped.
When Willy had seen the limestone he had asked what I was planning to do with it. When he found out that I was going to try and burn it to get lime to make cement he laughed at me. I hadn't realized how much work it was to make cement. Apparently it took at least two grinders to make cement and a high temperature to cause the lime and clay to combine into cement. He advised me that I could use fly ash from the coal that was being used in the blacksmiths as a substitute or we could mine coal and make our own from one of the coal beds he knew of in the area. I would never have thought about using fly ash but he assured me that it would work although it was a lot slower to dry.
We had been gathering the fly ash from several blacksmiths since I had returned and using it to create the tub section of the bathhouse. Sun Lee was a great help since she had used a bathhouse like I wanted to make before. She kept me from making several mistakes during the construction. I had forgotten to make plans to easily drain the soaking pool until she mentioned that I would need to clean it at least three times a year. I had planned to make the pool level with the floor, somewhat like a swimming pool. She warned me that this would cause the water to get dirty a lot faster due to runoff from the showers so I raised the sides 12 inches. This made my hole I had dug too deep so I had to raise up the bottom 12 inches.
There were several changes she had me make while we were designing the bathhouse. One thing she had me make was an iron oven like affair that led into the pool from the outside of the bath house. I didn't need a boiler after all. It looked somewhat like a bootleggers still but didn't have quite as small pipes. It heated water inside from the sun shining on it and led to the pool where it transfered heat to the water in the pool. I had made sure that I could use a fire to supply extra heat as well if we needed it. I found that the temperature was hot enough most times to satisfy everyone.
Everyone who worked on it was eager to try the bathhouse out, but no one as much as Sun Lee. She hadn't had a real bath since she left Japan and was eager to try out the one we were building. While my wives had been dubious of the idea at the start, they had warmed up to the idea of trying it at least. When Josh arrived we had just gotten through laying the tile on the bath floor and were celebrating the completion of the job. We had to let the floor set and then do the tub area and we would be ready to use the bathhouse.
During this time we had heard nothing concerning the slavery ring and my duties as a deputy and the town doctor were pretty light as well. I had needed this time of rest and was beginning to as Elizabeth put it,"Act like a human being again, instead of a grouchy bear!". My wives had begun to tease me again and I realized that they had not teased me since I had last seen them at home. Our children were also happy see us. They were old enough to miss us but too young to realize that there had been something special about the last absence. I hoped that they would never experience something like this when they did get old enough to understand. This was an idyllic time for the family and I wished it would never end. End it did though and in a way that I would never have thought.
My thanks to Drahkan for his editing. It was my mistake for the last chapter duplication. I changed it and thought I deleted the original chapter.