Chapter 15

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..."

It took Betty Lou a few seconds to catch Regina's cryptic meaning. When it dawned on her, she looked at her step-daughter goggle-eyed.

"We'll talk about that later!" Betty Lou yipped.

"Good idea, Mom," Regina cheerfully agreed.

Even Tommy caught the gist of Regina's meaning. He blushed furiously and turned his complete attention to the meat loaf on his plate.

Bucky was oblivious to anything other than wolfing down his food. He was in the middle of a growth-spurt, and puberty was on him like mange on a hound dog. Consequently, all he could think about was eating and pounding his pud. As a matter of fact, as soon as he finished supper, he had a hot date with his right hand and a fourteen by twenty inch poster of Conchita Delgado is a tiny yellow polka dot bikini.

The last member of the family was dozing on a rug next to the kitchen door. Every once in a while, his legs twitched as he dreamed about chasing big, fat, tabby cats up tall, skinny trees. Rex only had the good dreams when Tommy was in the same room. Funny, but Ruth and Connie shared that trait with the nondescript yellow dog.

Regina and Betty Lou retired to Regina's room as soon as the supper dishes were washed and put away. Regina had decided a few days ago that she was not going to sneak behind her stepmother's back in sleeping with Tommy.

"I am not going to college a virgin, Betty Lou, and I'm not losing my cherry to some grunting high school Romeo in the back seat of his father's car. You've been a great Mom to me and I love you to death, but you might as well know that I am going to ask Tommy to be my first lover as soon as I'm eighteen. On the other hand, I'm not interested in being one of his girlfriends, like you, Connie and Ruth."

Regina's candidness left Betty Lou pretty much speechless. She finally forced out the first thought that came to mind.

"Then we need to start you on the pill right away."

Regina nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, and Melody, too," she replied.

Tuesday morning, Tommy excitedly told the Frickes about the message he received from Mister Mills about the ranch he wanted. Rita and Harold were both thrilled for him, and sent him over to the bank as soon as it opened.

Otto Mills confirmed everything Betty Lou told him. Tommy did not have the experience to doubt that paying his car note on time for three months qualified him as a good prospect for a mortgage. Mills even helped Tommy with the paperwork to transfer his money from the credit union to the Brantley Savings and Loan. While they were at it, they also did the forms to have his retirement check deposited into his Brantley account. Tommy was fine with the idea that it would be a week to ten days before the property was available.

Tommy kept busy that third week of January. On Monday and Wednesday, he worked late at the feed store, helping Bucky finish stocking the shelves.

Tuesday evening was spent at Ruth's bungalow, working on his diction. Unlike Saturday night, the two women were all business.

The friendship between Ruth and Connie was growing by leaps and bounds. The more time they spent together, the more they liked each other. Also, every minute they spent together with Tommy reinforced the feeling that the three of them were made for each other. They were three people with completely opposite backgrounds and personalities, yet they complimented each other perfectly.

Thursday night was the first choir practice Tommy had been able to attend since the incident at the VFW hall. He almost didn't make this one either, because he had a doozy of a headache. It took a six pack of Goody's Headache Powders to ease the pain enough so he could go. Tommy had a headache of varying degrees of severity since he had been discharged from the hospital. Today's was the first that was severe enough to concern him.

Tommy took his place in the choir loft next to Leo Dixon. He and Leo had just enough time to shake hands before Maddie Dixon started pounding out the intro to the first song to be practiced. They were two lines into Nearer My God to Thee, when Leo cocked his ear towards Tommy. He stopped singing to verify what he thought he was hearing. Tommy's voice, normally a thin, slightly off pitch tenor, was suddenly a very pleasant baritone. Tommy raised his eyebrows at Leo's antics. Leo grinned and leaned towards him.

"Sing louder, Tommy. You sound real good tonight," the older man whispered.

That night, Tommy found out that the latest insult to his brain housing group had restored his normal singing voice, but had erased his ability to mimic other singers. That pretty much ended his solo career, which didn't bother him a fig.

Friday night was another speech class with Connie and Ruth. Tommy's headache was back with a vengeance before they'd been at it thirty minutes. Tommy stopped reading and opened a new packet of Goody's.

Both women looked at him worriedly.

"What's wrong, Baby?" Connie asked.

Tommy explained about the headaches. It was the first time he'd mentioned them to anyone.

Connie thought that Tommy needed to go back to the doctors as soon as possible, but Ruth just looked at him speculatively. Something in his explanation was giving her a different idea. Ruth picked up a Life Magazine off the coffee table and thumbed through it until she found a small print advertisement.

"Read this for me, Honey," she said.

Tommy took the magazine and squinted at the small print. He leaned over so that the magazine was under the lamp on the side table and read the ad.

Ruth was standing by his shoulder as he read. She reached forward and covered his left eye. When she did that, Tommy stopped squinting. When she switched and covered his other eye, he held the magazine a little further in front of his face and continued to read. As a librarian, Ruth had been trained in resolving reading disorders, bad vision included.

"I think you need glasses, Tommy. Your eyesight is probably giving you these headaches."

Since more reading would only make Tommy's headache worse, he decided to take his girlfriends to Duke's Place for a change of pace. For Tommy Bledsoe, a trip to Duke's with a pretty woman was a sort of therapy; it always cured what ailed him.

Ruth hurried into her bedroom and put on a nice cashmere skirt and silk blouse. She wiggled into a pair of smoky grey pantyhose, slipped on a pair of flats, and brushed out her curly black hair. A smear of frosty pink lipstick and she was ready to go.

Connie was wearing a pair of snug jeans and a green cable knit sweater that draped alluringly over her prominent breasts. Her hair was in a ponytail secured with a green ribbon that matched her sweater. Her make up was minimal, save for crimson lipstick and a dab of eye-liner.

Tommy thought they both looked fantastic.

There was a nice sized, Texas honky-tonk, Friday night crowd at Duke's. Tommy received a rousing welcome from Duke and his patrons as they all greeted him and inquired about his health. Tommy greeted everyone in return and politely introduced Connie and Ruth, even though everyone probably knew them already. They strolled back to the pool room and found an empty high-top table.

It was Ruth's first ever trip to a honky-tonk, so she wasn't sure what she was in for.

Connie had never been in Duke's Place, but she'd trolled for cowboy bed partners in dozens like it.

Ruth's feelings of being out of place lasted only a couple of minutes as she was swept up in the fun everyone seemed to be having. Ruth was amazed at how much fun it was for her too. She was also gratified that everyone accepted her because she was there with Tommy. She somehow knew that showing up at Duke's with Tommy was the first stage of her status changing from outsider to transplanted Texan. Soon enough, she was swilling down a deliciously sweet Long Island Iced Tea with a pool cue in her other hand. Ruth smiled to herself as she realized that shooting pool and flirting with Connie and Tommy in the nondescript Texas honky-tonk was more fun than an evening at the Copacabana in New York.

The three friends were at the pool table shooting a game of rotation, when Connie remarked, "Too bad you have a headache and we don't have the word lists with us, because this is a perfect place to practice speaking. All this noise would help you develop your concentration."

Ruth nodded in agreement, but Tommy just shrugged.

"We cans still do that if you want, I remember the words on the lists," Tommy replied matter-of-factly.

Both women gave him that look women reserve for husbands and boyfriends who say something stupid. Tommy was familiar with 'the look', and chuckled as he lined up his shot.

"There were four lists, Tommy, and over one hundred words. It would take hours to memorize them," Ruth patiently explained.

Tommy sunk the seven ball and walked around the table to where the cue ball rested against the rail.

" ... aardvark, Arapaho, Amarillo..." he recited in a sing-song voice.

" ... badger, bison, Biloxi..." he continued.

Connie and Ruth looked at him in wonder as he kept talking and shooting. Tommy had a rhythm going between his pool shots and his recitation.

" ... llama, languid, lexicon..." he flawlessly regurgitated.

Tommy was on a roll, both at the pool table and speaking the words from the list. He sank the last ball and finished the list at the same time, not missing a beat in either task.

" ... zoology, zydeco, Zeus..." he finished with a flourish as the last ball dropped into the side pocket.

Ruth was the first of the gape-mouthed women to regain her tongue.

"That's incredible, Tommy!" she exclaimed. "How in the world did you remember all those words?"

Tommy had a theory about that and was happy to share it with his friend.

"Mama Rita says that sometimes, when something is taken from us, the Lord makes up for it by giving us something else. I think that when all my memories were erased from my brains, it made lots of room for me to remember other stuff, so the empty places would have something in them. Only I don't have as many brains as I use to have, so I don't know how long remembering will be so easy."

Ruth started to say something, then shrugged and nodded. For a second, it had been on the tip of her tongue to point out the illogic of Tommy's assertion. She didn't, though, because, with as little as was known about the inner workings of the human brain, Tommy's theory was probably as good as anyone else's.

Connie had a different take on the subject as she clapped her hands delightedly.

"That was marvelous, Tommy. Ruthie, did you notice that he didn't stutter or stammer even once? I think when we get home, that he needs a big reward for that," Connie raved.

Ruth, halfway through her second long Island Iced Tea, giggled and waggled her eyebrows.

"Or maybe one big reward," Ruth said, staring pointedly at Connie's generous bosom, "and one littler one," she continued, looking down at her more modest décolletage.

Tommy gave her a grin, leaned towards the women, and whispered conspiratorially, "Good idea. And while we're at it, maybe a little reward for Connie, too."

Connie smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

Ruth shivered and took another gulp of her sweet, potent drink.

"I think that could be arranged," she said huskily.

The trio headed to Ruth's house as soon as they finished their drinks. This evening, Ruth and Connie were much more sober than they had been on the previous Saturday's date with Tommy, and they planned on staying that way.

Ruth and Connie made hot chocolate when they arrived back at Ruth's bungalow. While the women were busy in the kitchen, Tommy fiddled with Ruth's stereo until he found a station playing romantic favorites from the fifties and sixties. Tommy figured the women might want to dance with him and each other, just like Regina and Melody.

The women walked into the living room, Ruth carrying a steaming mug of cocoa, Connie carrying two. They placed the mugs on the coffee table and sat down, one on each side of him. Tommy picked up his cocoa, blew across the top and took a sip. He was pleasantly surprised that it tasted of rum. He looked over the rim of his cup, looking back and forth at the women.

"This is tasty, but too hot. What say we dance while it cools?"

Both women smiled in agreement, but Connie put her hand on his arm when he tried to stand up.

"We'd love to dance, but we need to talk to you for a minute first," she said.

Tommy nodded and settled back onto the couch. He was too inexperienced to know that 'we need to talk' were the scariest words a woman could utter.

Connie took a deep breath, exhaled and started the conversation.

"We both love you, Tommy, and we know you love us. We also have feeling for each other. We are happiest when we are with you, and we want to make that permanent."

Tommy turned and looked at Ruth for verification.

Ruth blushed and bobbed her head up and down in agreement.

"Connie and I have discussed this quite a bit over the last week. We are attracted to each other and that attraction is multiplied by ten when you are involved. I know the three of us are going to cause some raised eyebrows, but in today's world, plural relationships are not that uncommon," Ruth added.

Tommy was silent for a few seconds as he thought out what to say. Finally, he hugged both women to him and replied.

"I do love you both like crazy, but what about my other friends? I love them, too, and I have promised a couple of them I'd help with something personal."

Connie leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"Baby, you are forgetting that most of your friends are our friends, too. We aren't asking you to neglect them. But listen, most of them don't want or need you in their lives full time like we do. If it becomes that way for someone else ... well ... I know anyone you take to will be a good person, and there is room for more love in all of our hearts."

Connie was repeating the mantra of the late sixties and early seventies with the 'more love in our hearts' speech. But that's actually how she and Ruth felt about it. After all, it was the generation of love, and Tommy made it easy to feel that way. Tommy was the innocent personification of that elusive, pure, unconditional love the gurus touted.

Tommy was excited by the idea of establishing his own family, and he loved that he even had a home for them. He wouldn't know how much work the house needed until the following day when Mister Mills was going to show him around, but according to the banker, the place was in good shape. He shared that information with the women and they enthusiastically volunteered to help him fix and decorate the house.

With the talk out of the way, it was finally time to dance. Tommy stood up and extended his hand out to Ruth first, because she was the only one of his friends he'd never danced with. Soon enough, they were swaying to the Platters as the group sang about The Great Pretender.

As soon as Tommy and Ruth started dancing, Connie stood up and walked to the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror, she contorted her hands behind her back and unfastened her bra. She slipped the straps off her shoulders and pulled the Playtex 'Cross Your Heart' bra out of the sleeve of her sweater. Connie returned to the living room just as the song ended. She smiled when Ruth sighed as she stepped out of Tommy's arms.

Ruth started to sit back down on the couch, but Connie stopped her, leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"Lose the bra and pantyhose, Munchkin. You'll be more comfortable."

Ruth didn't even blush as she gave a quick nod and hustled towards her bedroom. When she emerged two minutes later, she could only stare at Connie and Tommy as they swayed in the nearly dark room. She tingled all over as she watched Tommy's right hand busy under Connie's sweater as she nibbled on his neck.

The song ended a few seconds later, but Connie stayed in Tommy's arm as her lips sought his. When the pair came up for air, all three of them were breathless. Connie turned and gave Ruth a wink.

"Next," Connie said, her voice betraying her excitement.

Ruth stepped forward towards Tommy, but Connie stepped in front of the diminutive librarian.

"You've already danced with him; it's our turn now," Connie said huskily.

Ruth had no problem moving into Connie's welcoming arms, especially with Tommy standing there nodding his approval. Ruth realized that this dance was the start of the relationship that all three of them wanted. She and Connie had purposely waited until Tommy was with them before exploring their sexual attraction to each other. They did that because it was Tommy's unquestioning and unconditional love that gave them the courage to explore their feeling for each other.

There was no shyness in Ruth as she responded to Connie's seduction. She willingly - no, make that eagerly — opened her lips to Connie's probing tongue. When Connie pulled up one side of her sweater, Ruth attached herself to the large firm breast like a leech.

Connie motioned Tommy over while Ruth was occupied, and mouthed for him to take off Ruth's blouse. Tommy winked and reached around Ruth, using both hands to nimbly unfasten the pearl buttons on her silk blouse. Tommy tugged the blouse out of Ruth's skirt and separated the last button from its hole. He separated the two haves of the blouse, exposing Ruth's small perky breasts to the cool air.

Ruth moaned as her nipples hardened to crinkly pink bullets. She dropped her arms from around Connie's neck so Tommy could remove the blouse completely.

Connie, her hands tangled in the thick curly mass of Ruth's hair, guided Ruth's talented tongue to her other breast.

"Now the skirt, Baby, I want to see more of our little girlfriend," Connie ordered.

As soon as her skirt hit the floor Ruth pulled her head away from Connie's breast.

"Bedroom," she moaned, burning with lust.

Tommy scooped Ruth up in his arms, stalked to the bedroom and tossed her in the center of her queen-sized bed. Before Ruth had bounced once on the firm Serta mattress, Tommy was tearing off his clothes. Connie was already shimmying out of her bikini panties while Tommy was still struggling with the buttons on his shirt cuffs. A trail of clothing littered her wake from the living room.

For the next couple of hours, the three lovers cemented their new relationship. The three-way synergy was all that any of them could have hoped for. Ruth proved to Connie that she was as flexible as Tommy had bragged. Tommy and Connie ganged up on Ruth first, and then Ruth helped Tommy wear Connie out. After a rest and some water, the women took care of their man.

They spent the night snuggled up in Ruth's bed. Surprisingly, for three people accustomed to sleeping alone, Ruth's bed was plenty big enough. They all discovered that they loved sleeping snuggled up to one another.

Tommy went to work at the feed store at seven-thirty Saturday morning with an indelible grin on his face. Friday evening's activities were partly responsible for the grin, but the major reason was the conversation over coffee he and the women had before he departed for work. In that twenty minute conversation, they made their initial plans for a life together. As soon as he finished work for the day, the three of them were going to meet at the house Tommy was buying. Betty Lou and her kids, the Frickes, Ben Crawford and Ramon Salazar had also promised to drop by. Mister Mills gave Tommy a key on Friday afternoon so everyone would have there first look at the inside.

Tommy arrived at the ranch at twelve thirty, but he didn't unlock the house. He wanted everyone to be there before he did that. Instead, he and Rex walked around the place. Rex was in heaven with all the room he had to run around in. When the yellow dog wasn't racing around Tommy in big looping circles, he was peeing on everything that didn't move, emphatically marking his new territory.

Tommy's friends started showing at ten minutes before one. Ruth and Connie were the first to arrive. Both women were dressed in jeans and western shirts they bought just that morning at the mall up in Brownwood. The outfits were Connie's idea; the denim

Levis were the first pair Ruth had ever owned. Ruth was slightly embarrassed that Connie found her size in the boys' section of Sears Roebuck, but Tommy thought the jeans looked good stretched snugly across her small solid butt.

Everyone else arrived almost simultaneously about five minutes later. Even Margie showed up, dragging Cyrus Wagner along.

Mister Mills also showed up to answer any questions Tommy might have. Rita Fricke noticed the shy looks that Otto and Betty Lou exchanged and smiled to herself. Tommy Bledsoe was the best thing that ever happened to Betty Lou, but long term, Otto Mills was better suited for their shy, old fashioned young friend.

Tommy shook hands with the men and hugged all the women, then sidled up to the door and unlocked it. Once inside, the men gravitated in one direction, looking at what repairs might be needed, while the women breezed through the rooms with decorator's eyes.

Everyone except Mister Mills was surprised that the house was partially furnished. The dining room had a walnut table with six chairs that matched the built-in china cabinet and side board. Two of the three bedrooms had double beds with sturdy brass headboards, and all three bedrooms had dark walnut chifforobes. The largest bedroom, the one without a bed, had a roll top desk that matched the chifforobe. The living room was bare, except for a couple of round end tables in the same dark wood. Mills explained the furniture when Connie asked about it.

"When Mister Maldonado died, his heirs didn't want most of this old furniture. They said it was too dark and old fashioned. These are some well-made pieces, so I couldn't see scrapping them when I had the house cleaned for resale."

Tommy loved the furniture and so did Ruth and Connie. It fit the house perfectly.

In addition to the furniture left behind, the kitchen had a serviceable range and refrigerator.

Harold Fricke summed up the work he thought the house needed.

"All it needs is some paint and refinishing on these heart-pine floors. The chimney might also need cleaning out and chinking to make it draw properly. You might need to fiddle with a couple of windows, and they all need new screens. Other than that, the place is in good shape, Tommy-boy."

After checking the inside of the house, Tommy and the rest of the men folk went out the back door to check the out buildings.

The thirty by sixty, twelve stall pole barn was in reasonable shape and dry inside. It didn't need much more than a good cleaning. The second, smaller building was a combination workshop and storage area for tools and equipment. The former owners left a good selection of the hand tools and equipment needed to maintain a ranch.

Behind the workshop building were a few farm implements, including a brush hog, hay rake, disc harrow and back blade. All that was missing was a tractor to pull them.

The inspection took nearly an hour, although everyone didn't stay the duration. By a quarter of two, only Connie, Ruth and the Frickes were still there.

While the women were standing on the porch gabbing about curtains and rugs, Harold was telling Tommy what he thought of the place.

"You got yourself a nice piece of land and a solid house here, Tommy. What are you going to do with the place?"

Tommy had already given that some thought and had even researched the idea.

"Connie wants us to buy a few horses. I can't ride now, but when my brains are healed, I want to learn. There isn't enough land to run cattle, so I'm going to buy some goats."

Harold raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Goats!?" he said.

"Yeah," Tommy replied, "Angora goats, the kind that you get mohair from. They aren't easy to raise, but the government has subsidized raising them since World War Two."

Harold and Rita left a few minutes later. They were both impressed with Tommy's choice of the property and his plans for it. Rita was also happy that he would not be living there alone.

After everyone else was gone, Tommy, Connie and Ruth stood on the porch and discussed how they would clean, paint and furnish the house. They set a goal of being moved in by Valentines Day, a little over three weeks away. Connie had a list of notes of what they needed to do. Number one on the list was buying a king-sized bed.