The Miner's Girl

Chapter 46

(((February 15, 2016)))
Nicole's POV
"And Tony isn't up here, so I don't have to deal with him while we go look at my claims." Parker was saying as he sat on the end of the bed.

"That's good, baby." I said as I brushed my hair. "But why are we looking at ground to buy when you're leasing ground from Tony?"

"Part of the business, baby. Always gotta know your options, and I want my own ground, honestly. Tony's a asshole of a landlord." He said as he was trying to talk, think, and write in his notebook at the same time.

"Let me help you." I said as I glanced over and saw him running his fingers through his hair.

I sat down beside him and grabbed his notebook and pen. "Okay, so we have to figure out what it's going to take to start up the operation next month. We should come up here and get everything going and be sluicing by April."

"Okay, so tell me everything we need and how much it's going to cost." I said as I got comfortable sitting.

"Okay, first of all,..." He started telling me things we needed: equipment, fuel, the new wash plant, workers, and other things.

We talked about business and money for about two hours, and he was determined that he would make a lot of money this year. He wouldn't have as much expenses, which would make his net profit higher.

"And we need money if we're going to plan a wedding anytime soon." He smiled as he wrapped his arm around me.

I giggled. "You haven't asked me to marry you, Parker."

"Trying to make sure that I can take care of you and get us what we want."

"You know that I don't care about your money, right? Like we could just have a small wedding and stay in my trailer, and I would be the happiest little wife on earth, regardless of anything else."

"I know, but I want to give you everything you've ever wanted. Your dream wedding, your log cabin, and I want us to have a good life together. I mean, I'm not used to worrying about anybody but myself, but now I have you. And I know that hopefully, in a few years, we'll have our own little family." He smiled.

"I hope so." I smiled.

He kissed my forehead. "I never thought that I would actually want to get married and have a family, but I do. I do with you."

"I do with you, too." I smiled. "I can't wait to have a wedding, and have a little baby of our own."

"Me too, baby." He smiled as he hugged me. "And I promise that we'll have that, one day."
***
We drove around all day, looking at various claims that he was interested in. It seemed like every time one had a good price, he didn't think that it would be good ground, or it wouldn't last long. And the good ones, they all wanted more than a million or sometimes even two million for it. Of course, he says he's still going to consider all of them, but right now, he's not buying anything. Tomorrow we're checking on his claims from Tony, and the day after that, we're looking at more claims that he might buy. Ah, to be with a gold miner.

We were driving back to the hotel from the last claim we looked at before it got dark.

Out of the blue, Parker asked me, "What do you think our baby would look like?"

I looked up from my phone and saw the smirk on his face. I smiled. "I don't know, but I bet the baby would be really cute."

He smiled. "Well, how could it not be? It has you for a mama."

"And you for a daddy." I smiled.

"Well, I'm not that cute, babe."

"Yeah, you are. You're the most handsomest man in the world." I grinned.

He smirked at me and held my hand. "Do you want a boy or a girl?"

"Well, I would love the baby either way."

"I know that, babe, duh. But for real, boy or girl?"

I smiled. "I've kinda always wanted a baby boy."

Parker squeezed my hand and smiled at me. "Me too."

"Oh my gosh, quit talking about a baby! You're making me want one." I chuckled.

Parker laughed, smiled, and winked at me. "We can have fun practicing."

"Hush." I said as I playfully slapped his arm. "I'm serious."

"Me too." He smirked.

"I can't have a baby right now and you're over there talking about a baby and now I want one." I pouted.

He picked up my hand and kissed it. "I promise, baby, when we get married, and get a house, and I can support you and a baby, we'll have a baby."

"Yeah, I know." I grinned. "We're not ready for a baby now."

"Nah, we got some things to do before then, right?" He smiled. "Be young and in love?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "And I enjoy every minute of it."

"Me too." He smiled as he kissed my hand. "Oh, guess what, baby."

"What?" I smiled.

"We're going to see Rick this week when we get through up here."

"We're going to Wisconsin?" I said as I raised my eyebrows.

Parker chuckled. "No, he's going to come see us in Haines."

"Thank goodness. I thought I was going to have to go to Wisconsin."

"Nah, Rick is going to spend a few days in Haines. He'll be there when we get back."

"Oh, cool." I nodded. "I've never met Rick before."

"You'll like him. He's cool."
***
Over the next few days, we drove all over the Yukon. We walked around in the freezing cold looking at frozen snow-covered ground. But, he always does what I want and need to do with me and he takes care of me, so I was happy to follow him around.

On Thursday morning, we left for Haines.