DECEMBER 14, 1861

Devany was sitting with Melissa, Michael, Paul and Adriane in the schoolyard eating lunch. “Marta and I have got Jimmy and Lee a washboard for them for their wedding present.”

“We got them a cook stove.” Melissa exclaimed, as she started rattling off exactly how the item looked. Finally, she stopped as she saw how sad Devany was. “But that’s because there were five of us. I think you and Marta got them a nice wedding present, too.” Devany’s head shot up and she smiled. Melissa smiled back at her. “You know Jesse, Zee and Blaine are working for my brother to earn some money to buy them something. I wonder what they are going to buy them?” She looked at Michael when she said that,

“Has Jesse told you anything?”

“No, he hasn’t told me what they’re getting Lee and Jimmy for Christmas.” He knew what the expression on Melissa’s face meant, and before she could ask, he said, “No, I’m not going to ask him. If he wants us to know, he will tell us.” Melissa nodded and said no more about it.

Later that day when the children were outside for their afternoon break, Melissa heard the Pony Express children discussing what they should get as a wedding present. “You haven’t decided what to get them yet. It’s only about a week to the wedding. You better hurry up and decide and get it at the mercantile or ask Simon to hold it for you because he may not have it when you do get ready to buy it.”

“She’s right.” Jesse agreed. “We should go to the store as soon as school lets out. Melissa can you tell Jedidiah that we’ll be a little late getting there today because we want to stop at Simon’s store to see what we want to get?”

“Sure, I’ll tell him.” Melissa affirmed.

So after school the three kids went to Cromwell Mercantile. They looked around the store, and the girls immediately spied a wooden box with floral and geometric designs, a porcelain knob, and a pull out mirror that they thought Lee would just love.

“It’s beautiful,” Zee exclaimed. “This is perfect for Lee’s wedding present.”

“Perfect for Lee, maybe, but what about Jimmy? I’m sure he rather have something else.” Jesse said. So the group looked around some more, and Jesse’s eyes stopped to rest on a hunting knife. “This would make a nice wedding present for Jimmy. He’s been eyeing this hunting knife for a while now, but I overheard him telling Kid that he didn’t want to waste his money because he’s going to have a wife to take care of now, and that he’s old hunting knife was still good.”

“That might be good for Jimmy, but I don’t think Lee would like it.” Zee told him, and Jesse reluctantly agreed with her. Blaine went over and picked up the box that the girls had wanted to get for Lee. She brought it over to Zee and Jesse. “Blaine, we decided against that. We need to get something for the both of them.” Blaine sat the box down and then picked up the knife. She opened the box and sat the knife down inside. Jesse and Zee developed a big smile on their faces. “Hey, that’s a great idea. We’ll get the box for Lee and the hunting knife for Jimmy.”

“First we have to see if we’ll have enough money for both of them.” Zee took the box from Blaine and carried it to the counter to show Simon. After they were quoted the prices, they realized they wouldn’t have enough money.

Simon felt sorry for the children and inquired as to how much money they would have. “Well, you know what? I forgot that I had put those two items on sale this week, and that money amount you quoted will be enough to purchase those two items.” The children’s faces lit up. “I’ll put them in the back and wrap them for you. They’ll be here when you want to get them.” The children thanked him and then hurried out to ride over to Jedidiah’s ranch.