Ruth Silverman returned from New York City on the Tuesday after New Years. She had to wait until Tuesday because of all the college kids traveling on Sunday and Monday. She picked up her Volkswagen at the long term parking facility at the Dallas airport and sedately chugged towards Brantley. Her forty-five horse powered bug not exactly burning up the pavement. As she drove, she had time to reflect on her visit with her parents.
All in all, she admitted to herself, it had been a nice trip. Her parents were overjoyed to have her home. Both of her parents noticed that their only daughter had changed while she'd been away. They appreciated that she was calmer and less eager to spout militant feminist rhetoric. In turn, Ruth was much more comfortable with her parents. For the first time in years, their wealthy lifestyle and social status didn't bother her. Her father had accepted Ruth's behavior change as a function of her maturing, but her mother wasn't so sure. Rose Silverman was an astute and no nonsense woman in the same vein as Rita Fricke. Rose went looking for answers the first opportunity she had alone with her daughter.
"I am pleasantly surprised at how serene you are now. Texas must be good for you," was Rose's opening gambit.
Ruth gave her mother a smile and decided to make it easy for her.
"It's more like someone in Texas is good for me," Ruth corrected.
Rose, who knew of her daughter's penchant for the company of other women, approached the subject delicately.
"Ahhh ... and this someone ... do they have a name?"
Ruth laughed, leaned over and hugged her mother.
"Relax, Mother, his name is Thomas Bledsoe."
Ruth laughed again as Rose's face lit up in glee. Ruth could almost see the visions of grandchildren dancing in her mother's eyes.
"Really!?" Rose exclaimed.
Ruth nodded then gave her the bad news.
"Really. Thomas is an amazing young man, but I'm pretty sure he is not who you and father envisioned for me. His story is long and complicated, but for one thing he is not a Jew. For another, he is firmly blue collar. He is the warehouse manager and part owner of a feed store."
Rose gave Ruth a slightly chastising look.
"You are the only one in the family raised in wealth and privilege, Ruth Ann. My father was a cobbler and Saul's was a butcher, as you well know. As for him being born Gentile ... well that is something I'm sure can be worked out with a Rabbi. He could convert, but regardless, since our lineage passes down from the mother, my grandchildren will be Jews anyway."
Ruth gaped open-mouthed at her mother. Never in a hundred years would she have expected her mother to accept the idea of Tommy so easily.
She sat down with her father that same evening and told him the same story. Her father nodded and expressed his fatherly concerns.
"He sounds like a good man, Munchkin. Does he know about your trust fund?"
Ruth's grandparents started the trust fund at her Bat Mitzvah. In the thirteen years since then, her parents and grand parents had substantially added to it. Even though she could have started drawing from the fund when she turned twenty-one, she'd never touched it.
Ruth smiled and shook her head.
"No Papa, but even if it did, it wouldn't influence him. Tommy won't even let me buy him lunch, although I make probably twice what he does. He is stubbornly proud and determined to make it on his own."
In trying to solve the riddle of her sexuality, Ruth went out on three dates while she was in New York. The first date was a favor for her father. It was with a young arbitrageur at her father's investment bank. His name was Stuart Moscowitz, he was thirty years old and well on his way to becoming obscenely wealthy.
Fifteen minutes into the date Ruth knew Stuart was a mistake, but she pasted on a smile and endured dinner and drinks afterward. Luckily, it didn't matter to Stu that she was quiet because he dominated the conversation by expounding on his favorite subject: Stuart Moscowitz. They only time Stuart included her in the conversation was when he mentioned how appropriate it would be for him to win the hand of the boss's daughter since he was destined to one day take over the bank.
He dropped her off at her parents' Manhattan apartment with a hand shake and a jaunty, "Till next time."
Ruth figured next time would be about fifteen minutes after hell froze over.
After the Stuart calamity, Ruth instigated the next date. It was with a man who had a reputation for being a skilled and discreet lover. He was fifteen years older than Ruth and only a few years younger than her father. Ruth had to admit that Ronald Platt, Esquire, was everything he was touted to be. He was more technically proficient than Thomas Bledsoe, and had little trouble wringing numerous orgasms from her. The orgasms were numerous but they were no better than she could do with her own fingers. Her climaxes with Ron had lacked the gut wrenching intensity that Thomas evoked, but the experience was not unpleasant in the least.
Ruth's third 'date' was with Rachael Simms, her first real lover. Rachael, two years older than her, had been her roommate during her freshman and sophomore undergraduate years. Rachael was now a well respected psychotherapist plying her trade among the affluent housewives of Manhattan.
Ruth's reaction to Rachael's lovemaking was identical to her reaction to Ronald Platt's. It felt good, but lacked the intensity she shared with Tommy. As a bonus, Rachael helped Ruth clear up any confusion about her sexuality by explaining the concept of bisexuality.
As Ruth drove into Brantley late that Tuesday afternoon, she was at peace about who she was, and she was more certain than ever about her feelings for Tommy. She was going to share those feelings with him the first chance she had. She was also going to tell him about her sexuality so there would be no secrets between them. With that in mind, Ruth drove straight to the feed store.
Ruth ran into Rita Fricke right inside the door of the sales portion of the store. Rita was working with Bucky Grimes hanging display hooks on the peg board portion of a shelving unit. The first shipment of product was due to arrive the next day and the hooks were the last preparations needed.
Ruth commented on how nice everything looked as Rita excused herself from Bucky so the two women could talk. Rita quickly but carefully, informed Ruth of what happened to Tommy on New Year's Eve. Ruth was appalled at the unfairness of something like that yet again happening to Tommy.
"Tommy probably saved my daughter's life when he dove across that table, Ruth, so how do you think it makes me feel? But, anyway, Tommy's seems to be doing fine and recovering from this set back, so tell me about your trip home."
Rita listen with undisguised approval as Ruth told her about the New York trip. Ruth trusted Rita enough that she left nothing out. When she wound down her narrative with the decision she'd made about Tommy, Rita gave her a hug. Rita was as proud of Ruth for taking the bull by the horns and working things out on her own. The city girl was starting to act as if she were a Texan.
"Tell you what," Rita said with a grin, "why don't you go grab Tommy and tell him all that. It's close enough to closing that you can drag him home with you for all I care."
Ruth practically sprinted out to the warehouse. Tommy broke into a gigantic smile when he saw her. Ruth was about to launch herself into his arms when she remembered his recent injury. She stopped in front of him, unsure of what to do. Tommy laughed and pulled her to him for a kiss that left her breathless and unsteady on her feet.
"I missed you like crazy, Ruthie," Tommy whispered as she clung to him.
She nodded into his chest.
"I missed you too, Tommy. We have so much to talk about," she replied.
Tommy didn't leave the feed store with Ruth. Instead, he took Rex and Bucky home at five, but he hot-footed it to her house as soon as he took a shower and changed clothes. Ruth jumped into the shower also and was set to go when Tommy arrived at her door a little after six, just as the early winter night fell. The couple had a quick supper at the Bypass Truck Stop and was back at Ruth's bungalow by seven-thirty.
Ruth wanted nothing more than to race him to the bedroom, tearing off their clothes as they went. That's what she wanted, but what she did was sit him down on the couch as she made them both a cup of hot chocolate. When the cocoa was ready she took two mugs into the living room, handed one to Tommy and took a seat next to him on the couch. While, Tommy sipped his cocoa, Ruth carefully and completely explained what she had done in New York.
"Tommy I went out on a few dates while I was visiting my parents. The second man I went out with took me home with him and we spent the night together. I also went out with my college roommate and she and I slept together."
For Ruth, the most embarrassing and she thought, potentially trouble causing part of her story was her admission to having sex with a woman. She watched Tommy carefully as she talked. Tommy face contorted into a frown of confusion when she finished speaking. All of this was completely over his head as he had no experience or frame of reference to understand what she was saying. Finally he made the only connection he could think of; he related her story to what he felt for the women in his life.
"So you found some other people you love, besides me. That's good, but I will miss you when you go to be with them in New York," he said sadly.
Ruth looked at him in horror.
"That's not the case at all, Tommy!" she exclaimed. "It's complicated why I thought I needed to have sex with them, but love wasn't the reason. As a matter of fact, being with them convinced me how much I really love you. I told you what I did because I always want to be as truthful with you, as you are to me."
Ruth's heart soared at the look of relief and love that Tommy beamed her after her remarks. She also marveled that he didn't think she was some sort of pervert because she liked women. His comments about that intrigued the hell out of her.
"I have some other female friends who like to do things to each other, too. The three of us have had some great times together," he said sagely.
Ruth tried to worm names out of him but Tommy wasn't about to do that. So instead, she dragged him to the bedroom and let him show her how much he had missed her. Since he'd brought a change of clothes with him, he showed her twice more that night and once more in the morning before he hustled off to work.
Ruth stayed in her warm and cozy bed after Tommy departed for work. She felt to gloriously satiated to move an inch. As she lay there cocooned in her flannel sheets, she gave the future some serious thought. Her well ordered mind understood completely the challenges that would come in her relationship with Tommy. She could marshal orderly rows of reasons for forgoing all that. In addition to all Tommy's mental and emotional problems, was the fact that at least four other women also had a claim on his affection. All those good arguments were pointless to her heart, however, because, to it, all that mattered was the love she felt for Tommy. Decisions made, Ruth jumped out of bed and dashed to her shower.
With all the attention he was receiving from his friends and family, Tommy should have been his usual happy self. That, however, was not the case. Tommy became more discouraged with every day that passed because of the sudden erasure of all the progress he'd made since coming to Brantley. He right leg tired easily now and his right arm was weaker than before. In addition, his speech that had been slowly improving was actually worse than before he arrived. Tommy solution to his physical problems was to work even harder at the feed store. His rationale was that the more he exercised his muscles, the quicker they would recover. Most days when he left the feed store his right foot was noticeably dragging.
He took a different approach to his speech impediment by speaking even less when in public, but practicing like crazy when he was alone. Rex was the beneficiary of Tommy's oratory and the yellow dog though he spoke just fine.
Rita Fricke watched Tommy beat himself up for four days before she'd seen enough and called another Saturday afternoon meeting at the library for Tommy's lady friends. When she laid out the problem as she saw it, Ruth, Margie, Betty Lou and Connie were all eager to help.
Margie Wilcox, their resident medical expert, pointed out that Tommy's exercise and hard work wouldn't cure his right side weakness. As it was with stoke victims, only time and his brain healing again would do that. Rita nodded her understanding.
"You need to tell him that as soon as possible. He'll listen to you about anything medical. I'll slow him down at work and Betty Lou can keep a watch out for him at home, just to make sure he remembers what you tell him."
Ruth and Connie cane up with a scheme to help him with his speech. Connie actually had the idea a few weeks ago but had been waiting for Ruth to return to discuss it. Connie idea came from remembering the voice coach Beau had hired early in her acting career. The dialog coach taught her to speak with whatever accent the role required, from California beach bunny to Transylvanian princess. Connie figured that the librarian would know where to find books that would allow them to become Tommy's speech coaches. Since Connie had the free time and Ruth had the resources, they were going to work on the project together.
Margie broke the news that she had another date scheduled with Cyrus Wagner, the county sheriff. Since New Years, she and Cy had been to lunch together twice. She liked the lanky, laconic lawman and he seemed very interested in her.
After the meeting, Connie stayed at the library so Ruth could find some speech therapy books. The McCulloch County Public Library's reference section was thin on the subject with only a couple of old textbooks, so Ruth used the state library catalog to inter-branch transfer a selection of more up to date volumes. Connie was taking one of the on hand books home to study and Ruth kept the other.
There working together was the first time they had been in a one-on-one situation and Ruth thoroughly enjoyed Connie's company. Ruth thought that Connie was vivacious, beautiful and very alluring.
Connie was very aware of the affect she had on most men and some women. She picked up on Ruth's interest right away, even though the diminutive librarian tried to hide it. Connie's time in Hollywood had included a couple of liaisons with other women, one of them a very well know leading lady, so Ruth being attracted to her didn't bother her a bit. She smiled to herself and started a little innocent flirting.
Tommy felt better about things when he started work that third Monday of January, 1970. His talk with Margie Saturday afternoon about his rehabilitation made him feel much better. Margie told him that he needed to work and keep his normal routine and his strength would return soon enough. Tommy would do exactly as she recommended because Margie had always given him good advice.
Saturday night his morale received another boost when Connie and Ruth came by to take him to dinner. Tommy was happy and pleasantly surprised that both of his friends came for him because he thought it would be just him and Connie that night.
The trio had dinner at a steak house up near Brownwood that was first rate. Tommy had a rib eye steak the size of a garbage can lid. The conversation at the table was as good as the food with Connie regaling her friends with some of the funnier things that she'd seen in Hollywood. Although both Ruth and Connie engaged Tommy in conversation, they didn't make an effort to keep him talking. They figured that could wait until they were alone so he wouldn't be embarrassed. Tommy didn't know it yet, but a big part of the rest of his evening was going to be spent working on his diction.
When they left the restaurant, Connie casually tossed Tommy her keys and asked him to drive since she and Ruth had drank a few cocktails. Since Connie had driven them there in her big Cadillac Eldorado, Tommy was all for it. After all, it wasn't every day that a boy had the opportunity to drive around with two gorgeous women in a Classy Caddy convertible. They all three climbed in the front seat with Ruth in the middle. A minute later they were roaring down the highway, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising blaring from the eight-track.
The three cosmopolitans she'd consumed put Connie in a playful mood. With a wink at Ruth she hitched the petite librarians skirt halfway up her thighs.
"Tommy, doesn't Ruth have the nicest, prettiest, muscular legs you've ever seen?"
Tommy glanced down and whistled at the sight of Ruth's pale thighs softly lit by the instrument panel.
"She sure does, and she can bend them every which a way because she knows that yoga stuff," Tommy replied.
Connie squealed and dropped her hand casually onto Ruth's thigh.
"You know yoga? That is so cool. I saw a demonstration once at an ashram in the mountains where we were filming a movie. Do you think I could learn being all overdeveloped like I am?"
Ruth was just tipsy enough that her inhibitions were forgotten. She looked pointedly at Connie's chest and giggled.
"I don't know Connie; those things might make some movements difficult."
Connie grinned impishly and took a deep, bodice straining, breath.
"Oh, I'll bet you know how we can work around these," she said suggestively. "And besides, I'm fairly limber anyway, huh Tommy?"
Tommy thought Ruth and Connie sounded just like his friends, Regina and Melody, so he good naturedly chipped in his feeling on the matter.
"You bet she is Ruthie. Connie is also really strong. I'll bet you she could even learn that trick where you put your foot behind your head if you helped her."
Connie slipped her hand further yup Ruth's thigh.
"Oh yeah! I really want to see that, Connie exclaimed.
Tommy casually dropped his hand on Ruth's other thigh and nodded his agreement. Ruth closed her eyes and sighed. The contrast of the two different of hands on her was electrifying. Connie shot Tommy a wink just like Melody's and slipped her hand an inch further. Tommy smiled and did the same.
By the time the big Caddy glided to a halt in front of her house, Ruth was about to explode. She was sodden 'down there' and she her arousal hung in the air like Confederate Jasmine on a still summer night. Ruth wasn't sure what was planned but, so far, she was enjoying the hell out of the evening. Connie opened the door and tugged Ruth out of the car.
"Come on Ruthie, time for Tommy's first speech lesson."
Just like that, Connie reverted to being all business. Ruth blinked in confusion but nodded her head.
The three of them worked out an excellent method for Tommy's voice training that evening and Tommy was thrilled about the whole process. He saw immediately the benefit of the exercises that Ruth and Connie patiently practiced with him. Working with his friends was great in that Tommy was relaxed and comfortable. As a result, his speech was at its best. He stammered and stuttered less through the repetitious exercises. It might have been wishful thinking on his part but he felt his speech was already improved after the hour and a half of reading aloud and reciting lists of tricky words.
Connie came up with a novel way to keep Tommy motivated as she and Ruth shared a bottle of Merlot. It started with kisses for a reward and progressed to show and tell. By the time the women started on the second bottle they were topless and giggly.
Ruth looked at Connie's gravity defying breasts with unconcealed admiration. The wine loosing her inhibitions even more as she was swept along on the tide of Connie's raw sensuality.
Tommy took his friends' actions as more proof that they wanted to have fun with him just like Regina and Melody, so he acted accordingly. He shocked both women when he pulled them together in front of him.
"Now kiss each other. I know you want to."
Ruth froze in disbelief at Tommy's request but Connie grinned and pulled the smaller woman into her arms.
"You heard the man, Ruth. We better cooperate or we might set his recovery back."
Connie didn't wait for Ruth to answer before dipping her head down and cementing her lips onto the dumbfounded librarian's. Ruth hesitated for a moment then avid returned the kiss. When Connie finally broke the kiss, Ruth gave the actress a disappointed moue. Connie laughed and pulled Ruth towards her so that their breasts were mashed together.
"Back to work, Tommy has two more lists to read," Connie chided.
The evening might have heated up even more if Ruth hadn't gotten sick from mixing her booze. After a bout of prayer to the porcelain goddess, Tommy and Connie tucked her in bed with a trash can next to her. Tommy walked home at ten-thirty and Connie spent the night on Ruth's couch.
The next day while Tommy was singing in the church choir, Ruth and Connie had a serious talk about him and them. By the time Connie drove home later that afternoon, she and Ruth had pretty much decided that a three-way relation ship between them and Tommy was a goal worth striving for. There was just too much attraction between the three of them for it to be any other way.
While Tommy was having his good day at work that Monday, Ruth Silverman was taking the first step toward realizing her and Connie's future with Tommy. She took that step down at the Brantley Saving and Loan sitting at a conference table with Otto Mills, the bank's president. Spread out on the table was a map of the county and a plat for a sixteen hundred acre parcel of property off Highway 836. Otto was explaining the property to Ruth.
" ... so as you can see, the original Maldonado Ranch was sixteen hundred acres. It has been subdivided into four separate parcels in the hope it would sell better in smaller pieces. There is the hundred acres parcel that you are interested in and three parcels of pasture and trees encompassing about five hundred acres each. This northern-western most tract butts up against Miss Delgado's property. Mulberry Creek is the property line and water rights are deed restricted, so if the creek changes course both properties still have access to the water."
At first her intent had been to buy the parcel Tommy wanted so it wouldn't be sold to anyone else. Learning that Connie's ranch was adjacent to the property immediately changed Ruth's plans.
"How much will you discount the price if I by the original tract in its entirety?" Ruth asked.
Mills raised his eyebrows and scanned the folder that listed the bank's exposure from the failed first mortgage.
"$159, 900 and half the closing costs," he replied.
Ruth gave him a look then glanced back at the map. The price Mills quoted seemed fair and was well within the means of the trust fund she'd never touched, but she was her father's daughter.
"$158,000, you pay for the closing, and we have a deal."
Otto Mills smiled and stuck out his hand, "Sold!"
Ruth used Mills' phone to call her father to put transferring the money in motion. Saul Silverman was pleased as punch that his daughter was finally taking some responsibility for her ever-growing trust fund. He told Ruth to stay near the phone and rang off so he could call a bank in Dallas with which he had conducted business in the past. Saul knew that in Texas his man's word on the phone would be enough to guarantee his daughter's ability to pay.
Thirty minutes and two phone calls later, all arrangements for closing had been completed. The actual closing would been seven days from now, but with everyone's word given and taken, it was just a formality.
Ruth had one more bit of business with Otto before she went back to work.
"Mister Mills, I would appreciate you letting Tommy know that the price on the property he wants has been reduced to twenty four thousand dollars, and he is preapproved for a twenty percent down, thirty year mortgage at six percent. I want the sale handled strictly between the bank and him. He doesn't need to know I was involved in this in any way."
Otto Mills was a happy man when Ruth walked out of the bank. The Maldonado foreclosure was the biggest of six that he'd been struggling with for almost a year. Getting rid of the property at a slight profit was a huge weight off the small savings and loan's balance sheet. Otto felt good enough to splurge on lunch over at the Bluebonnet; and who better to have celebrate with him than Betty Lou Grimes?
Yes, Otto had feeling for his long time employee, especially since she'd become so much happier in the last few months. Otto and Betty Lou had much in common, being widowed early and being extremely shy, two of the biggest. Otto used the excuse that he needed Betty Lou to pass a message to Tommy for asking her to lunch.
For her part, Betty Lou hoped she hadn't broadcast the pleasure she felt at being asked. She'd had a secret crush on Otto Mills for at least two years and this was the first inking she had that he might be similarly disposed towards her.
Betty Lou relayed Otto's message to Tommy that night at supper. Tommy smiled big at the thought of being able to buy the ranch without spending all his savings. Tommy promise to take everyone to visit the place before he committed to it and the conversation shifted to the next thing on Betty Lou's mind.
"So Regina, your birthday is less than a week away. It's going to be difficult to find a gift for you after the haul you made at Christmas, got any ideas?"
Regina smiled sweetly and fixed her eyes on Tommy.
"Actually there is something I've had my eye on for a few months now, and it won't cost much at all..."