I was very surprised that Belle knew so little about sex. Sure, she was completely uninhibited and open to anything I wanted to try, but her experience was limited to missionary sex with her husband, a very unsatisfying one time fling with George Howard, and some fumbling experimentation with her best girlfriend back in Mobile. Belle was the quintessential Victorian woman; she was very intelligent, well read and had impeccable finishing school manners. Unfortunately, like Molly and Liz, she didn't know diddly about sex or her own body. I figured it was only right that I was educating these poor unfortunate women on what they were missing. I guess I'm just noble that way.
I'm not saying sex with Belle wasn't good, because it was actually fantastic. It might have lacked technical skill, but there sure was a heap of emotions driving us. I think I finally figured out how deep those emotions were, when I let Belle be on top. She sat astride me with her hands on my chest, her china blue eyes boring into mine.
"I love you, Tyler McGuinn," she whispered.
I almost bit my tongue off to keep from asking her to be Wifey number five when she said that. I didn't doubt she meant what she said even a little bit, because she was looking at me the way Rosalinda looked at Pedro Diaz. I managed to choke down the proposal that was on the tip of my tongue and asked her a question instead.
"I have feelings for you too, Belle, but isn't this kind of sudden? We've only known each other a couple of weeks. Falling in love is easy; it's staying in love that takes work. Do you think we are ready for that?"
Belle stopped her gentle movement above me and gave me a smile.
"I'm more than ready, Ty. I think everything that has happened in my life was all to prepare me for you. I knew within ten seconds of meeting you that we were meant to be together. Our relationship will be unconventional, but I'm going to make sure you are the happiest, best cared for man in Texas."
She looked like an angel perched on me like that and the things she said made good sense to me. I knew what she was suggesting was for me to put my personal life in her hands. That was a big step for me, but considering how I'd managed to screw up when left to make my own relationship choices, it was not a foolish decision. I mean, how bad could it be when my honey was out recruiting other women to share with me?
We spent another hour making lazy love and talking. I shared my dream of owning a ranch with Belle and having a house full of children. She smiled and said it sounded like a great plan to her, but in the meantime, we still needed a place of our own out of sight from prying eyes. I mentioned the manager's apartment at the El Paso hotel that would be part of my pay for running the gentlemen's club. I told her we could check it out the next day.
Belle and I cleaned up and walked downstairs at a quarter of six that evening. The smells coming from the kitchen were heavenly and drew me like a magnet. When we arrived at the kitchen, Molly was just pulling a roast out of her wood fired oven, and Anna Lopez was carefully slicing a loaf of home made bread. Both women took a minute to kiss me on the cheek before they evicted me from the kitchen. Belle stayed to help, and I wandered into the parlor to visit with Clem and Joaquin.
Dinner tasted even better than it smelled and the conversation around the table was pretty damned good too. After the meal, the women shooed us men out of the dining room, so we went out and sat on the porch. Clem produced half a dozen big fat Cuban stogies and Joaquin had a bottle of Mexican brandy. With the two railroad conductors goading us, we fired up the cigars, sipped the brandy and did the male bonding thing. Clem and Joaquin were two of the good guys. They were both honest and hardworking. They were both also smart enough to know what lucky dogs they were, because Anna and Molly were about as fine a pair of women as they'd ever meet.
Anna came out to get us when the women finished in the kitchen, so we trouped after her into the parlor. When we walked into the formal room, Belle was sitting at Molly's small piano, as the two women flipped through the pages of a dog-eared Columbian Harmony Shape Note Hymnal.
"Oh I love this one, Belle, can you play it?"
Belle nodded, set the hymnal on the piano's music stand and played the hymn's intro. Hey! I knew that song, in my future time, Judy Collins had a big hit with it. The song was 'Amazing Grace' and Belle could play and sing the hell out of it. I made myself a mental note to make sure we had a piano at the El Paso Gentlemen's Club for Belle. Belle had talent and I had a feeling, that with a little showmanship coaching from your's truly, she was going to be a major attraction.
I wasn't the only one who enjoyed her playing and singing, as everyone applauded and complimented her when she finished. I know it sounds old fashioned and boring, but I enjoyed the hell out of standing around the piano as Belle played and we all sang along. We sang hymns of course, but Molly also had a couple of paperback, magazine size books of popular songs. I know it sounds corny, but we all had a good time as we harmonized our way through some Stephen Forster favorites.
Belle and I excused ourselves at eight forty-five and hustled over to the Toro. We'd cleared it with Pen to come in at nine. I saw what I thought was a potential problem with Belle working at the Toro, especially after my speech to the dancers about not dating any of them because we worked together. I mentioned that to Belle, and she said she would only sing that night and talk to the other women to see if her being there would create a problem.
Belle did join our little show that night as she sang a couple of traditional songs and three that I'd written for her. I had fixed up our act during our slack days this week, and had a nice solid hour of songs that were original to the Toro. I divided the act so that we all took turns singing, so that the women from other saloons had a chance to hear Belle, the Hombres and me, even if they only stayed for twenty minutes. The influx of women had worked itself out so that one crowd came in at ten and the other at ten-thirty. By now, the male population was aware that the Toro Cantina was the place to be between ten and eleven.
I had a surprise in store for everyone that night. I had been working in secret on an act that was so over the top, it was easily the most outrageous thing my big ham ass had ever done. Before I tell you about that, I have to fill you in on what inspired me. In my old life, I made at least one trip to Las Vegas every year between 1969 and 1977 to see Elvis Presley perform at the International Hotel. Yeah, I was a huge fan of the King of Rock and Roll, and my status as a minor celebrity when the rodeo was in town was my ticket to the show. I met Crazy Cora Leigh at one of those shows; she was an even bigger fan than I was.
So, my idea was a campy take off on Elvis, with a nod towards Walt Disney's "Zorro" franchise. When old Tyler steals from the future, he thinks big. On Thursday night I opened the show by singing 'Ring of Fire', then hustled to my office to change into my costume. Man oh man, did I ever have a costume, thanks to my new friend Naomi Singleton and the haberdasher down in El Paso Del Norte.
First on were a new pair of tight black trousers with gold lightning bolts piped up the legs, second was a loose, black silk shirt and then a black silk mask just like Zorro's. Around my neck I threw on a black opera cape with a gold silk lining and on top of my head, the coup de grace, a black sombrero the size of a Conestoga wagon wheel, with gold lightning bolts to match my trousers. Before I put on the sombrero, I slicked my hair back with a glob of Doctor Denning's Sassafras and Beeswax Pomade. In that get up, I made The Cisco Kid's fancy outfits look drab.
When I was ready, I tapped on the door and told Pen to announce me. I had written a little self-effacing introduction for him to read. When the Hombres finished the song they were playing, they played a couple of flourishes and Pen, in his perfect diction introduced me.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Cantina El Toro is proud to announce that we have managed to secure for a one night engagement, a man famous throughout Europe and the Americas. He has sung in every major opera house in the world before Kings, Queens and presidents. All the women want him, all the men want to be him; he is the mucho, macho caballero, the bandito de los besos de amor, yes the kissing bandit of love, he is Romeo Romero."
Not too shabby, eh? I came out of my office after he rolled my stage name off his lips. I was preceded by two of the dancers who were carrying baskets of roses. I made my way to the stage amid hoots, stomping and clapping from the women. I lifted my upper lip in a sexy sneer as Conchita and Muriel took off my cape. When the cape was ceremoniously folded, I picked up my guitar and put my fancy new black and gold strap over my shoulder.
I raised my arm and wind milled a chord on my guitar, gyrated my hips, curled my upper lip and started singing.
A little less conversation, a little more action please
All this aggravation aint satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and satisfy me
The Hombres looked at me as if I was insane, because this wasn't the way we rehearsed the number, but they did a yeoman's job keeping up. As soon as the women stopped screaming at the end of 'A Little Less Conversation', I said "Thank you, ah, thank you very much," then launched into another Elvis classic.
Lord almighty
I feel my temperature rising
higher and higher
its burning through to my soul.
For fifteen minutes that evening I was just what the song said, I was "a hunk, a hunk of burning love" and while the men looked at me strangely, the women went nuts, as for my finale, I walked around giving out the roses and collected kisses as I sang...
Love me tender;
Love me true,
all my dreams fulfilled.
For my darling I love you,
and I always will.
For the three or four of you out there who haven't figured it out, I am probably the world's biggest ham. I was playing it strictly for laughs, but since no one here in 1877 had ever seen Elvis in concert except me, the women took my over-the-top performance seriously. The second woman to whom I gave a rose turned her head when I started to kiss her on the cheek and grabbed onto me as if I were the Titanic's last life jacket. She had me in a wrestling hold that George 'The Animal' Steele couldn't escape. It took Conchita, Belle and Muriel to pry her off me. The same thing happened a half dozen more times before I finished passing out the flowers.
I decided that if I ever repeated this dog and pony show, the kissing was off the agenda. I swear to God, one of those women had a tongue the size of a Herford cow. When she stuck it in my mouth, it blocked off my windpipe and I almost passed out from oxygen deprivation.
That night after closing, Belle helped me wash the pomade out of my hair as she laughed about what a sexy hit my little show had been. I tried to explain to her that I was only trying for a few laughs, but she didn't believe me for a minute.
"After that last song, you could have had almost any woman there tonight," she said.
I smiled and kissed her.
"I left with the prettiest and sweetest woman there anyway," I reminded her.
Belle and I were both tired from our long day, so we weren't up for any mattress calisthenics that night, but we did do some powerfully satisfying snuggling. Sleeping with Belle was just one more indication of how good we were together, because we woke up still wrapped around each other. We hadn't moved an inch all night long.
The rest of the week went by rapidly. Belle and I were extremely busy preparing for our upcoming trip to Santa Fe on Monday, while taking care of business at the Toro and supervising construction at the new club. We did get to check the manager's apartment at the hotel. Belle wasn't that impressed with it but said it might do temporarily. Hell, I thought it was great; it had a spacious sitting room, a big bed, and even came with an indoor water closet.
Friday, Belle helped me pick out two new suits to wear in Santa Fe. One of the suits was charcoal grey with narrow, widely spaced chalk stripes, the other was dark blue.
We took the suits to Naomi to have them hemmed and cuffed. Naomi was all smiles when we walked into her shop. When I took her in my arms and gave her a big smooch, she turned fire engine red, but her smile grew even bigger. Not to be outdone, Belle kissed her just as thoroughly as I did.
Naomi looked startled and intrigued by Belle's kiss, but she didn't seem offended.
"What was that for?" asked Naomi.
Belle smiled and put her arm around my waist.
"We come as a set, you can't have one without the other," answered Belle.
Naomi didn't appear to be scandalized by what Belle said. Instead, she looked over at me.
"Really?" she asked.
"Really," I answered.
We hung out with Naomi for half an hour as she worked on my suits. Both Belle and I flirted with her as she sewed. Naomi seemed to really enjoy the attention. When we left, it was with two toe-curling kisses and a promise to come visit Naomi after we returned from Santa Fe.
Once we were back on the street walking towards my room, I had to ask Belle how she knew that Naomi wouldn't run away screaming from that first kiss.
"I have had a feeling about Miss Naomi for a while now, just from the way she looked at me," Belle said, "but I was too cowardly to do anything about it. Then today, with you there, I felt courageous enough to at least see if I was right."
I told Belle I agreed and asked her what was next. She replied that no one would be with us before Maria, but Naomi was definitely in our future. The way she was talking had my Johnson wrestling to get out of my union suit.
My union suits were something else I'd modified since my arrival. I cut off the sleeves and legs and had Naomi hem them. The result was a much cooler set of underwear.
Saturday was another busy day, mostly spent at the El Paso Grand Hotel. I finalized some plans with the carpenter and praised him to the heavens with how quickly he was getting the job done. All the partition walls were already up and lathed in preparation for the plasterers.
The taciturn old carpenter eyed me up and down and told me that the rough carpentry was the easy part. It was the finishing that took all the time. I shrugged and clapped him on the back while telling him how much faith I had in his abilities. I know the old boy thought I was some kind of moron, I could tell by the way he rolled his eyes.
What Mister Master Carpenter didn't know yet was that I was not always so easy going. If I thought he was dragging his feet, I'd be up his ass like Preparation-H. I had a lot riding on this club idea and I was totally committed to it opening as soon as possible.
After a few minutes with the carpenters, I went down the wide grand staircase and walked through the dining room into the kitchen. I had the thought that if I could bring my favorite songs back from the future, why couldn't I bring back some of my favorite foods too. My first suggestion was for a ground beef patty on a homemade roll. Since there was no ham in it, I dubbed it the 'steak burger'. Henry J. Heinz was already marketing ketchup and mustard from Dijon, France was a staple in every restaurant, so condiments were no problem.
Hector and Ramona were dubious at best as I explained burgers and fries to them, but they gamely helped me put a couple of pounds of beef through the sausage grinder and watched me cut a couple of spuds into strips.
I formed the ground beef into patties and threw them into a frying pan and flung the potato strips into a pot of hot lard. Pretty soon the sizzling burgers started to smell good, and the fries were bubbling away merrily. I told them the burgers would probably taste better on a mesquite fired grill.
They weren't the prettiest burgers ever made, but I slapped a couple on some bread and slathered on the mustard and ketchup anyway. Hector and Ramona both took tentative bites then gobbled them down. They thought they were great, as did Maria and Belle. The results were the same when the fries were done. I told Hector and Ramona to experiment with adding ingredients until they had something they would be proud to serve.
Sunday found poor Melosa harnessed to the shay again, as Belle and I went to pick up Maria for church. I told Belle that we needed to get her a horse, because I wasn't going to keep strapping Melosa to some damned buggy. Belle nodded and said she'd do that after we returned from Santa Fe. Then she laughed and said she hoped I'd grow to love her as much as I did my horse.
We picked up Maria with less flack from Hector this week, and fell into the rear of the Lopez's wagon train headed to the mission. Church was uneventful, save for the dirty looks Feleena shot my way when she saw me with Belle, Maria and Miranda. She nodded curtly when both Belle and I wished her a good morning.
My day became much more eventful after dinner at the Lopezes' when Belle, Maria and I walked down to the river. We were all alone again, just like we were on the Fourth of July. I hadn't planned anything more than some talking and kissing to happen, but Belle had a very different agenda. Maria took us to a more secluded spot than we normally went to and before you could say it, the three of us were making out again. Belle was more aggressive this time, and was actively caressing Maria's body. Maria loved the attention, so I started touching her too.
Maria was leaning back against a tree with me on one side, my hands full of her breasts and Belle on the other side, with her hand in Maria's bloomers. I was busy kissing Maria when she gasped then moaned into my mouth as something bumped my leg. I broke the kiss and looked down and almost came in my pants at what I saw. Sticking out from under Maria's ankle-length dress, were the lower half of Belle's legs. I started kissing Maria again and held her upright as Belle worked her magic. Judging from the noises Maria was making, I figured that Belle had been paying attention to my technique when I went down on her.
Maria had a huge orgasm about three minutes into Belle's assault under her skirt. By then, the only reason Maria hadn't fallen down was because I was standing behind her as she sagged back into my arms. Belle stood up when Maria finished coming, and gave us the look that Sylvester the cat wears when he has Tweedy Bird stuffed in his mouth.
Maria and I gave Belle the same treatment, only it was me on my knees with my head up Belle's skirt as Maria plundered her breasts.
Before we returned to the hacienda, Belle made plans to stop by the
restaurant on Wednesday to take Maria shopping. I didn't know at the
time that they had made other plans for Wednesday also. Plans that
included me, my room and my bed.