The Monkees: Gold Rush

You Know She Hurt My Feelings Deep

It was Sunday and Mike found himself at his wedding. It seemed that it had become just a family affair. Mike and June stood at the alter in the church. The preacher was rambling on and on reading from his little book. June's brothers, only six of them since the other four moved away years ago, sat in the pews behind Mike and June. Her father was among her brothers. James had his pistols at his side under his suit just in case Mike got cold feet.
The preacher was saying somethings that was really long winded and boiled down to pretty much Do you want to marry June?
Mike nervously glanced over his shoulder and saw James tap the gun under his suit. There was no other choice. "I do..." Mike said nervously.
The preacher repeated the same long winded question to June. She didn't want answer. She didn't want to ruin Mike's life, but she also didn't want to be stuck with a baby and no one to help her take care of it. If she didn't get married her father would disown her and she couldn't have that.
"I do..." June said quickly thinking about the large mark on her face from where her father hit her when he found out the news. It hurt still. It hurt a lot.
The preacher sealed the deal with more wedding mumbo-jumbo and then told Mike and June to kiss. Mike didn't want to kiss her, and she didn't want to kiss him. It ended up a very quick, very forced kiss. Nobody cheered, nobody threw rice. Mike and June were just corralled out of the church and into a wagon which was driven back to the family's land.
June's father had a surprise. There was a separate house on the property that June and Mike could stay on until all of June's brothers got married and left and they were the only ones left to inherited the ranch house. Until then Mike and June had a small cottage far away from the main house and even further away from town.
The cottage was small with only a table, two chairs, a stove, an empty ice chest, and a bed. It was pitiful. June's father and siblings dropped her and Mike there then left them alone so that they could "enjoy" their honeymoon. Neither of them wanted to do anything. They sat awkwardly at the table staring at the walls of the room.
June finally stood up and looked in the ice chest for something, but it didn't even have ice in it. The room had cobwebs in the corners so June dusted them off with a broom that was hidden under the bed. She started to sweep just to have something to do. Mike sat at the table watching her clean because he had nothing better to do.
June opened the door to the cottage and swept everything outside. Soon the cottage was looking at least a little better than it has before. The floor was cleaner, but it could use a good scrubbing with water. June sat down at the table and whisked away a hair that was dangling in her face.
"Well... Now what?" June asked.
Mike shrugged.
The room reverted to silence. "Mike?" June said softly.
Mike looked over at her. "Do you think this is the worst thing that's happened in your life?" June asked.
Mike shook his head. "It isn't the worst, but it wasn't how I was planning to get married..." He said.
June looked out the door of the cottage. "Micky and Calphurnia's honeymoon is going to be spent extremely differently than ours..." June said.
Mike shrugged. "Theirs isn't going to be a shotgun wedding," He said.
June sighed. She touched her stomach. "It's hard to believe that there's somebody in there growing," She said.
Mike looked at June's hand. He stood up and walked over to her and touched her stomach gently. June cringed slightly under his touch. She was still very nervous.
Mike smiled slightly. "It is kinda hard to believe..." He said.
June looked up at him, and he looked down at her. "Do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?" Mike asked.
June shrugged. "At this point it's too early to tell," She said. "I'd start making guesses once I'm further along."
"I hope it's a little boy," Mike said. "I also hope he looks at least a little like me so no one will say anything."
"I want it to be a little girl with pretty, curly blonde hair," June said.
Mike thought for a moment about the day Peter brought Aponi home. He had taken June for another picnic. She had been very friendly, so friendly the picnic had laid forgotten for a long time. He hadn't expected that going back the next day to take her out again would end in a forced marriage...
"Mike?" June said.
Mike looked over at her.
"If you knew my father was going to force you to marry me would you have come back?" June asked.
Mike thought for a little bit. He shrugged his shoulders. "No..." He said. "I would have stayed as far from where you live as possible..."
June nodded her head slowly. "I guess this marriage isn't going to be a good one," She said.
Mike shrugged. "Who knows?" He said. "It might turn out better than anyone expects."
June smiled at him.
•••
Davy and Micky sat together in the saloon. Calphurnia was off entertaining a cowboy.
"I didn't think Mike liked June enough to marry her," Micky said frowning.
"Neither did I, but apparently they're getting married," Davy said.
"I wonder why..." Micky said.
Davy shrugged. Micky glanced over at Calphurnia. "I wonder if she'll quit her job when we're married," He said.
"I suppose she will," Davy said. "She will have to stay home and take care of the house and your children when you have them."
Micky smiled. "I want loads of kids," He said.
Davy looked over at him. "You'll have to work extra hard," He said.
Micky laughed. "I have it made. The general store is making more money for me than searching for gold could," He said.
Davy frowned. "I guess we're the only two that'll be buying that land..." He said thinking about it for the first time.
"Suppose so..." Micky said. "So we both'll have to split it fifty-fifty."
"Five hundred dollars each," Davy said.
Micky nodded his head. They grew silent. The saloon was almost empty besides a few cowboys. There wasn't any music playing. It was pretty quiet.
The saloon just hadn't been the same since Peter left. It was way to quiet without someone on the piano playing a simple, happy song.
•••
At one point June fell asleep on the bed. Mike had taken a seat at the table. He was starting to nod off, but he didn't want to go to sleep on the same bed as June. His eyes were getting heavy. Then he was asleep on the table. When he woke up in the morning a blanket was draped over his shoulders. He glanced over and saw June sleeping on the bed without a blanket. His brow furrowed and he stood up and draped the blanket over her.
Mike walked out of the cottage and took a breath of fresh air. It smelled like it had just rained, but Mike didn't recall hearing it. He took another deep breath in. A tree in the distance was dripping with what was left of the rainwater. A spider web was stretched between one of the branches. Small water droplets clung to the strings.
Mike looked around at the landscape. The grass was so green. It was calming out there. The only sounds that could be heard was the pleasant chirps of the birds as they sang to the morning sun. Mike yawned. He wished he had a guitar so he could play for awhile.
Mike turned around when he heard June stirring on the bed. Her eyes were still closed tightly, like she was having a nightmare. She was rolling around restlessly and letting out upset moans. Mike walked back into the cottage and sat down on the bed beside June. June rolled over and wrapped her arms around his waist. Mike smiled slightly and started to pet her hair. June opened her eyes slowly. She looked up at Mike.
"Good morning..." She said sleepily.
"Mornin'," Mike said.
June sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?" She asked.
"I don't know," Mike replied.
June slowly curled up and held her stomach as she covered her mouth. Mike watched her with concern. June was starting to turn a light shade of green. Mike didn't know what to do.
"What's wrong?" Mike asked.
"I don't feel well," June said looking up at him pitifully.
Mike started to pet her hair. She looked up at him with a small, grateful smile. She still looked very sick. He felt her forehead. She didn't feel hot. She let out a soft moan. Mike lifted her up and laid her head on his lap.
June suddenly sat up and ran out of the door of the cottage. She vomited and curled up on the porch of the cottage. Mike walked out to the porch and sat down beside her. He started to pet her hair again. June felt awful.
"I guess we aughta go to your father's house for food or something..." Mike said.
June clutched her stomach. "Don't talk about food..." She mumbled.
"You have to eat," Mike said.
June nodded, but didn't say anything. Mike picked her up bridal style. He was surprised on how light she was. "How far away is the house?" Mike asked.
"About a mile," June mumbled.
Mike let out a groan. "He just left us stranded here," He said.
Just as the words left his mouth Mike heard a horse whinny. He looked over and saw James riding up on a wagon. James had a smile on his face.
"Good morning!" He hailed them.
Mike shot him a dirty look. June had Mike put her down and vomited away from Mike. She hugged her stomach and rocked back and forth to sooth her screaming insides.
"How was your honeymoon?" James asked.
Mike looked over at June. She was still rocking herself.
"Can you bring us back to the house? June's sick," Mike said.
"That's what I'm here for," James said smiling.
Mike tugged on June's arm. She looked at him and stood up very slowly. Mike helped her to the wagon. Mike lifted June into the wagon. James slapped the horses into motion and drove the wagon back towards his father's ranch house. James got off of the wagon and unhitched the horse and put them back in the barn. June sat uncomfortably in the wagon without moving. Mike climbed out and moved to help June out, but James nudged Mike out of the way and helped his sister out of the wagon. He carried her into the ranch house. Mike followed behind.
June's father was sitting in his large chair. He had a large pipe in his mouth and was smoking. He looked up at his son and daughter as they entered.
"Breakfast is on the table," He said letting out a puff of smoke.
James carried his sister to the table and sat her down. Mike walked after them and took a seat at the table beside June. James sat across from June. He looked over at Mike.
"What are you goin' to do to support my sister?" James asked politely.
Mike shrugged. "I haven't have time to think about it," He said.
James nodded his head. "Suppose you'll just help dad with the ranch," He said.
Mike nodded his head and looked over at June. June was poking her breakfast with a fork. She still looked very sick. She took a bite of toast and slowly munched on it. She still looked sick, though less when she started to eat.
"Am I allowed to ride into town?" Mike asked.
James shook his head. "You and June are gonna stay on this property until the baby is born," He said.
Mike's eyes widened. "That'll be months!" He exclaimed.
James shrugged. "Ain't so bad," He said. "At least you two will have your own house."
"You call that little shack a house!" Mike growled.
James smiled. "It's nice an cozy in there," He said.
Mike was mad. He glared at James's smug face. He wanted to hit him across the face. Maybe give him a black eye or knock out a tooth or two.
James stood up and left the table. Mike looked over at June. She looked a lot less sick. She was frowning. Her light eyes looked sadly at him. "I'm sorry for all this," She said.
Mike felt horrible for her. "Hey, it's not your fault that your family is acting this way," Mike said trying to ease June's conscience.
June looked away from him. "It's my fault that they feel they have to act this way..." She said.
Mike shrugged. "I can't be all your fault," He said. "The kid had to have a father."
June looked over at the wall behind Mike. She messed with her fork and pushed around the eggs that were on her plate. She let out a sigh. "Why do you always have to be right?" She asked.
Mike stared at her.
"You just keep making me feel worse and worse..." June said. "I'm going out of my mind with guilt."
Mike shrugged. "Might as well pretend it's my kid," He said. "It could as well have been if you hadn't been pregnant when we..." He forced himself to cough quietly.
June kept messing with her food. She dropped her fork and started to walked out of the room. Mike watched her surprised. Her small feet barely made it off the floor. She seemed to drag them. She turned towards him at the door. "You're right, again..." She said quietly and left the room.
Mike knew he had done something wrong, and he felt bad. He thought of what the next part of his life might be like. He was going to have to raise another man's child. He had just been unwillingly married to a woman he liked but didn't love. Mike let out a sigh and rested his chin on his hands. "I wish this hadn't happened," He said quietly to himself too quiet for June's father to hear.

(Well, the next chapter is the last chapter. I hope I'll end it right. Sorry all this took so long to post. I just started school and it's been stressful. Apparently at one time school started in September and ended in May. Cats, what happened to those times? Also, heads up, I might be starting another Gene Vincent Fanfiction plus another original story soon. I thought about starting a Johnny Burnette fanfiction, but decided against it. Poor ol' Johnny Burnette never got the fame he deserved as a rockabilly singer, and the British Invasion kicked off the same year he died [same as Sam Cooke and Jim Reeves, bad year for American music.] after he finally found popularity as a pop singer.
Well, I think that's all I have to say... ~ Adde Away!)