Chapter 40
I once read somewhere that time was like a river upon which no one had traveled to the end. In fact, the present was as far as anyone knew about it with any certainty. You drift down the river one day at a time, never knowing what's around the next bend. The river's current kept you from going back the way you came, so you knew what was behind you, but you couldn't go back to it.
Yet here I was, Tyler McGuinn, washed up bull rider and the world's worst marriage prospect, suddenly upstream with a map in my head of the hundred years between where I was and where I'd been. I wanted to divert the river some, yet keep it flowing so it didn't pass by the Ty of the future. I spent a lot of time thinking about that little conundrum, and a plan was starting to gestate.
Those were my thoughts as Melosa and I ambled along behind Belle's carriage, the Monday morning after my talk with Anna. I had to smile when I thought about the five women sitting in that carriage, yakking away. I smiled because I loved each one of them totally, completely and each uniquely. What really made us a family now, was the addition of Anna, because now we had a matriarch. Belle and Feleena could be co-equal princesses, but Anna was the queen. It was amazing to me that Anna being with us in that capacity, was exactly what Belle and Feleena wanted, because they knew that it was exactly what they needed.
Belle and Feleena became even more like sisters with Mother Anna around to settle their hash if they stepped out of line. Connie and Mina thought it was great having Anna around, too, and often sought out her wise counsel. Anna never joined us on the big bed, and the other women never begrudged her the time I spent alone with her.
So here we were looking at the third place on our list. As luck would have it, it was the small two hundred acre spread that had belonged to William Braxton. It was the spread that Braxton bought after the death of its former owner, Chet Benton's client, Rudolpho Santiago. Belle knew of this place, in fact, she said Braxton bought it with her in mind. I liked the spread also, even though it was small.
Accompanying us, and leading our convoy in his own shay, was the head of the El Paso branch of the Bank of Texas, Oliver Merton. Merton was a short, paunchy, florid faced man who sweated profusely and apologized for it constantly. Of the properties that Merton had shown us so far that morning, this was the one he most wanted us to be pleased with. I didn't need his over dramatic sales pitch to know that.
I knew it, because Belle told me the terms of the note the bank held on this property were well outside the normal and customary practices of the Bank of Texas. With Merton's connivance, Braxton used the ranch as collateral on short term, no interest loans, so he wouldn't have to use his own money. With Braxton dead, Merton needed to get the loan off the books before the next audit, or his ass was grass.
The property was about as nice as you could want, and the hacienda was perfect for us. It was plenty big, and Braxton had already upgraded the bathrooms and kitchen with running water. I saw the outside bath house had the perfect roof structure for a sun-heated water tank that would be the source of my shower water.
The women and I huddled up to talk about the place. The women all loved it for all the obvious reasons, including it being less than two miles from town. I liked the place a lot, but had reservations because of its small acreage.
"I don't want to operate a feed lot, and the place is too small to graze more than forty or fifty head of cattle," I argued.
Belle said that it would be perfect for our main or city house, and we could breed and raise a few dozen horses. We could still look for a big spread to start a cattle farm on, she added. The partnership voted to make an offer on the place, so I walked over to where Merton was politely waiting.
"How much bad paper do you hold on this place?" I asked.
Merton's eyes widened in surprise, then he told me twenty-five hundred dollars.
"I'll pay you three thousand cash up front, if you'll issue us a five year mortgage for a thousand. I know that's a few dollars less than you wanted for the place, but it is a fair offer," I said.
In the end, Merton settled for the cash and a twelve hundred dollar, six year, simple interest note at three percent.
I was pretty proud of myself for the deal I'd made, because I could pay the three grand and cover the note on my own. It was important to me that I could put a roof over my sweeties' heads on my own. I told Merton I'd square things up with him the next morning and went over to tell the ladies of my coup.
The women were happy with my news, although Belle wasn't too happy about me using only my money or taking out the mortgage. I told her the spread would be in all of our names, but I wasn't taking a penny from them, and that the loan was a way for me to establish my credit and a relationship with the bank. I think Belle wanted to argue the point further, but Anna laid a restraining hand on her arm.
"He is our man, Belita, so it is only right that he do this," Anna said softly.
Belle shut right up about it after that.
I collected some nice kisses as I helped the ladies up into the carriage. They were already excitedly talking about decorating the house and getting us moved in. The furniture and such was something that I wouldn't grunt about them spending their own money on. I also didn't much care how they furnished or decorated the place, as long as I had a bed to sleep on and a dinner table to stick my big feet under.
The next morning, I took the three thousand dollars over to the bank and signed the note for the balance. I went from the bank to the court house, registered the deed for the property in all six of our names, and even filed the bank's lien against it for Mister Merton. I did that last thing because I was now the bank's local attorney, a position that became vacant when Charles Howard disappeared. Merton had hired me for the position when I went to pay him, and handed me a stack of legal matters that needed immediate attention. At this rate, I could pay for the ranch just from work I did for the bank.
I didn't see much of the ladies during the day for the rest of the week, as they turned the hacienda into a home for us. The house was already mostly furnished, but they decided to put their stamp on the place so most of the old stuff was bartered away to various shops on both sides of the river. I was barred from visiting the house until we moved in, so they could surprise me. That happened on Friday afternoon.
I was sitting in my office laboriously writing out the flowery legalese on a quit-claim deed for the bank, when Jose came to collect me. Jose and I were good friends by now, the lone males against the passel of women that surrounded us.
"You must come with me, amigo, and ahora mismo (right now). The women are waiting for you at the rancho."
I gladly put away the papers I was working on and grabbed my hat and gun belt. It didn't much matter why the ladies wanted to see me, because almost anything was better than scribbling out deeds at a buck a pop. I couldn't let Jose know that, though. I sighed theatrically as I walked towards the door.
"These women are very demanding," I carped.
Jose nodded owlishly.
"Yes, hombre, it is plain your life is hell," he deadpanned.
I rode up on the driver's seat with Jose for the trip out to Rancho Las Angeles. Jose was tickled to death that there was a nice room for him attached to the stables. He felt it was time for him to strike out on his own, and he considered working for Belle the best job in the world.
"Señorita Belle is going to keep me as head vaquero at your rancho. She says we will have many horses for me to tend, and that she might hire another man to drive the carriage and help me. Tia Anna and my mother are very proud and are looking for me a wife."
Jose talked on for the entire fifteen minute ride to the house. I listened to him, feeling good that he was so happy and full of plans. Sometimes I tended to forget that anyone besides me had plans and dreams for the future. I finally slipped in a few words just as we were arriving.
"We will need to build you a house soon, Pepe. A house befitting the manager of our rancho and his wife."
That put an even bigger grin on Jose's face.
"I will do a good job for you, señor," he vowed. "Already I am spending time with Señor Diaz, learning how to be a great vaquero like he is. And Rosalinda has a very beautiful sister named Yolanda. Maybe I will become the second greatest vaquero in the world."
Not a bad ambition, and Pedro Diaz was a hell of a role model for any young man. Not to mention, if Rosalinda's sister was anything like her, Jose better do his best to snatch her up.
The ladies all met me at the door, and nattering excitedly, pulled me through the house. I was taken from room to room as they proudly showed me what they'd accomplished. I was impressed and enthusiastically told them so. There was a large parlor all decorated to receive company, and a dinning room with a table that seated ten. The kitchen was comfortable, airy and very modern for this time period. A wall had been torn down to enlarge the master bedroom, and our furniture plus two more chiffarobes didn't make it cramped in the least. Anna had a nice cozy room off to one side of the master bedroom.
The big surprise for me was the room on the other side of the master bedroom; it was a study for me, complete with my chest of drawers, a couch and an Abner Cutler roll top desk. There was even a book case with about twenty books in it. I liked everything they'd done and I loved my little study. I told them that and thanked them sincerely, my eyes a little wet from their thoughtfulness. I made them all very happy when I said that and was hugged and kissed times five.
They had one more surprise for me though, and they dragged me outside to show me. They led me out to the nice sized barn and showed me the stalls and tack room. Both of my saddles were already sitting on saw horses and my other tack was hanging neatly on the wall. Out the other side of the barn was a paddock about three acres square, enclosed by a split rail fence. The pasture hadn't seen use in a while, so the grass was tall and verdant. Melosa was grazing contentedly in the knee high grass. I guess for a horse raised in the desert, this irrigated pasture was as close to heaven as she'd ever been. When I whistled a few notes of Alley Oop, she spun around and loped over to me so I could give her some lovin'.
Melosa wasn't the only horse out in the paddock, as Belle's riding mount was there, along with a good sized pinto mustang. Connie proudly pointed to the pinto.
"My horse," she said, "she is Comanche war pony."
I had to smile at how she said that, because of the way she slipped into the clipped Pidgin English spoken by many of the plains Indians. Even though Connie spoke both fluent Spanish and darned good English most of the time, her Comanche showed when she was excited. I think Connie was much, much happier out here on the ranch, where she was less constrained by the ways of the Whiteman.
So we moved out to the ranch that weekend and started our lives as a family for real. I say for real, because out at the Ranch of the Angels, and away from the prying eyes of the citizens of El Paso, everyone was free to be themselves. I fell in love with all five of them all over again.
Connie, of course, went native, and was as apt to be wearing the native dress of a Comanche woman, a long, flair skirted, wide sleeved dress and a pair of buckskin moccasins, as she was anything else. She also wore buckskin britches and jerkin when she went horse back riding. I thought she looked cute in her buckskin britches and jerkin, but once I convinced her to shorten one of the dresses above her knees, I decided it was the perfect outfit for her. It took a little experimenting, but soon I had her dress shortened until she looked like this cowboy's idea of a wet dream-girl. Connie soon figured out that if she put her hair in a pair of braids and wore the shortened dress, she was guaranteed to get lucky.
Connie was also my constant companion anytime I went riding. She was an amazing horsewoman, and absolutely fearless on the back of her mustang. I guess that could be expected, since the Comanche were known as the best horsemen on the plains. She scared the crap out of me, because she rode bareback, with nothing holding her on her pony but those incredibly strong thighs, as she galloped at breakneck speeds. And that damned horse of hers was buck-ass wild to boot. It would not stay in the barn, and only Connie and Melosa could get within ten feet of the critter.
Mina turned into a major horndog. Once she discovered how good sex felt, I think she started trying to make up for the seven or eight years of doing it she had missed. Mina enjoyed her sex a tad on the rough side, which delighted Belle very much. Mina was also much like Connie, in that she wore as little clothing around the house as possible. Of course being the helpful guy I was, I showed her how unrestricting it was to wear a shift cut off at mid thigh. It might have been Mary Quant who invented the mini-skirt in nineteen sixty-five, but in eighteen seventy-seven, it was your buddy, Tyler McGuinn.
As I said before, Feleena and Belle were both much mellower now. Belle was still intense about things, but she wasn't nearly as headstrong as she had been. I think a big part of that was because she'd at last found acceptance and even love for who she was. It was much the same for Feleena. Also, Feleena and Belle were so much alike, it was as if they had identical twin personalities. Consequently, they understood each other perfectly.
Then there was Anna, infinitely wise, infinitely patient and infinitely loving. If Anna said it, it was the truth, and whichever side of an issue she took was the right one. Everyone in the house knew that without the slightest doubt. Yet Anna never flaunted her position or butted her nose into anyone's disagreements without being asked.
As October flew by, only one event stood out as much as us coming together as a family. That event was the Ranch of the Angels Partnership's purchase of just over five thousand acres of land, located ten miles east-north-east of El Paso, smack up against the New Mexico border. All the groundwork for purchasing the land was done without my knowledge or participation. I found out about it one evening from Mister Merton, the banker, when he dropped by with the paperwork for me to sign as the purchasing agent for the partnership. I signed the papers without comment and didn't let my expression give away my surprise about all this.
As soon as Merton headed upstairs, (He was member number forty-one) I walked over to the restaurant to see Anna. I had to wait a couple of minutes while she seated some customers, before I could show her the papers Merton left with me.
"Did you know about this?" I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
Anna looked at the deed and shrugged.
"Of course I did, I'm a member of the partnership, after all," she replied.
I looked at her stupidly.
"I'm a member too, and I didn't have a clue about it," I complained.
"You weren't supposed to know, Charro, it was a surprise for you that Belle has been working on for two weeks. Did you really think we'd let you give up your dream just so we could have the nice house near town?"
I stood there looking at her, my face flushed at the thought that these amazing women thought that much of me. Still, land they'd bought set them back over eight grand; a sum way over the amount I had planned on spending. It was also an amount that I had a hard time believing the women could have scraped together. I knew Belle had some money from her family and that Feleena probably had a few thousand squirreled away, but I didn't figure Connie, Mina or Anna had much cash lying around. I chastely kissed Anna on the cheek and headed up to the piano bar to inform Belle that I had the deeds. There were three deeds, because they'd purchased three adjacent parcels that Merton had lumped together.
Belle was sitting at a table talking to a couple of our club members when I entered the room, so I walked over to the bar. Connie was behind the bar, putting away freshly washed glasses. I showed Connie the deeds, and she was tickled to death.
"We have cows now for us to herd, my vaquero, and plenty of room to race our horses."
When I asked her about the cattle, she told me that one of the spreads came with a couple of hundred head of longhorns, a dozen or so horses and even a few mules. As we were talking, Belle joined us and took the deeds out of my hand. She read them over and gave me a big smile. When she started talking, it was obvious that she had anticipated my feelings.
"It was too good an investment for us to pass up, Honey. We only kept it a secret from you so we could surprise you with it. I had hoped that we could spring it on you by all of us riding out there."
She went on to tell me that the smaller property was the key to the purchase, because it had a large creek on it that flowed year round. The creek also crossed our neighbor Wilfredo Acevedo's huge rancho. One of the other properties was a working ranch, while the third had been railroad property bought up by that scoundrel Toliver. That parcel became available when the spur line to the salt flats was canceled.
I couldn't help myself from mentioning how much money they'd spent. Belle had anticipated me doing that also.
"It is an outstanding investment, Mister Skinflint. We all pitched in, so it was also one we could well afford. Now you can bring your brother down here to run it for us, and we can build us a retreat next to the creek."
Once again, I had been out maneuvered.
November arrived, the weather cooled nicely, and it even rained enough to make everything green. The businesses based out of the El Paso hotel were still doing well. The crowds were still good, and we kept the quality of the entertainment, food and atmosphere high and fresh enough to keep people coming back.
During that first week of November, I turned my attention towards Thanksgiving Day. As had every president since Lincoln, President Rutherford B. Hayes proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November, 1877, a national day of Thanksgiving. I had some big plans for that day and evening. I was going to throw a feast for the employees of the club, restaurant and ballroom, and that night we were going to put on a free show for the public in the park down by the river.
Planning the show was actually a lot easier than planning the meal, mostly because much of what I considered Thanksgiving staples were hard to come by in 1877 West Texas. Just to give you an idea of the problems I faced, there wasn't a turkey within two hundred miles of El Paso. Mister Pritchett at the mercantile promised he could get me sweet potatoes and pumpkins from Mississippi, if I wanted to go to the expense. I told him I did. I finally settled for a menu of roast chicken, cornbread stuffing, candied yams, mashed potatoes, rolls and pumpkin pie.
The second week of November was when Belle finally led the shopping expedition to Austin. Connie and I saw the whole gaggle of them off as Belle took Feleena, Anna, Mina, a few girls from the club, and of course, Ray Jarvis. Connie said she'd rather go with me, because I planned on riding up to Portales, New Mexico to see my brother Ray about taking over our new ranch. Belle wanted him here yesterday, because she wanted our investment protected and making money. Belle was a hell of a business woman.
Connie and I spent the day that everyone left for Austin, preparing for our trip north. I had finally put my foot down, and made Connie ride with a saddle. It took a few days for both her and mustang to get use to the skimpy English rig I'd bought them, but they adjusted just fine. I was much more comfortable with her being in the saddle with her feet in stirrups, even though her breakneck riding style still occasionally scared me to death.
We headed out the following morning. I was wearing jeans and a shirt Naomi made me, covered by a light cotton duster. Connie was in full buckskins, her hair tucked up into the tall crown of a tan Stetson, with an eagle feather in the hatband. I was wearing a single holster with my short barreled Colt, and had my Winchester in my scabbard.
Connie had on a pistol belt with a big assed Arkansas Toothpick on
her right hip, and a 32 caliber colt in a cross draw holster on her
left. The pistol was fairly plain, but that knife she carried lacked
only a couple of inches in length from being a sword. The knife was
nicely balanced for throwing, double edged for fighting, and sharp as a
razor. Pen had given the belt, pistol and knife to Connie after
confiscating it from the mountain man I'd saved her from that night in
the Toro. Connie also had bought herself a Winchester chamber in the
same 32 caliber as her pistol. I had no doubt about her abilities to
use any of the weapons she carried. I felt a hell of a lot safer having
her traveling with me.