Chapter 19

Tommy showed up for work at seven-thirty on the Monday morning after his vacation, refreshed and relaxed, even though he'd only slept for four hours. His vacation had been great, but he was glad to be home.

He was the first one in that morning, so he unlocked the side door to the warehouse and he and Rex slipped inside. Tommy heaved a satisfied sigh as surveyed his realm, noting with pleasure that it was almost as neat and orderly as when he'd left. He went to his locker, shed his jacket and put on his denim work apron. He plucked the pending orders clipboard off the wall near the doors that led to the store, then walked over to the forklift and fired it up.

He had five orders that needed building: three deliveries and a couple of customer pick ups. Local farmers were gearing up for spring planting as the winter ebbed. The Farmer's Almanac was predicting a wetter than normal spring this year, so the farmers wanted cotton and corn in the ground early. Ranchers also wanted an early start on alfalfa and red clover to fatten up their cattle after the winter.

As he stacked bags of fertilizer, seeds and feed onto the pallets he'd spaced around the floor, Tommy thought about his vacation. Even Tommy's biggest fans would have been surprised at how complex his thought processes were. People, including those that loved him, assumed that Tommy was a simple man because he expressed himself simply; however, that was not really the case. Tommy had a much better grasp on the world now, and every day his healing brain grew stronger. Tommy's simplicity of nature was how he acted by choice.

Tommy had learned a lot during the week he'd spent with his sister, and he was well pleased at having reconnected to her as he had. Beth was no longer just another adult to him, now she was a complete and wonderful person who loved him fiercely. He was also happy that she filled in the holes in his history for him. It was wonderful learning how he'd spent some of the years between what he remembered and where he was today. Tommy knew his history now, even if he couldn't recall living it. In addition, he had answers as to why he knew certain things, even though he didn't recall how he learned them.

Meeting Marie Arcenaux had also been good for him. It was Marie who finally made him realize that being different was not necessarily a bad thing. Tommy's friends accepted his being different, but Marie celebrated the fact. To Tommy's way of thinking, his friends loved him in spite of his being different, while Marie loved him because of it.

Tommy was distracted from his musings when he saw Mama Rita standing by the door looking at him. He dropped what he was doing and sprinted over to where she was. He skidded to a stop in front of her and stepped into her wide held arms. Tommy sighed when she squeezed him tight; no one's hug could hold a candle to Mama's. When she let him go, he stepped back and gently took her small hand in his big calloused one.

"You were right, Mama. Beth is a hundred times better than the sister I remember," he said.

Rita smiled at him and nodded.

"I talked to her on the phone just yesterday. You made her very happy Tommy, and she is really excited about coming out here this summer. I'm proud of you for doing that, I know it took a lot of courage on your part to go face your past. I hear you even saw the girl you were engaged to," Rita replied.

It was Tommy's turn to nod.

"Yeah, her name is Cynthia. She is very pretty, but old Tommy was pretty dumb getting involved with her. She loves herself too much to love anyone else."

Rita laughed delightedly.

"Beth said Cynthia's asked a thousand questions about you, so you better watch out if you see her again," Rita teased.

Tommy didn't quite catch the tease in her voice, so he bobbed his head in agreement.

"Connie said the same thing. I overheard her telling Beth that if Cynthia tried anything, she was going to get a boot up her butt, because cowgirls didn't put up with that game."

Rita laughed and hugged Tommy again. That Connie was a hoot and it suited Rita just fine that she had converted from Hollywood starlet to Texas cowgirl.

Tommy walked back into the retail store with Rita to say hello to Harold. Harold was at the sales counter, ringing up a sale while three farmers and a couple of townspeople browsed the aisles. Harold looked up and gave him a genuine happy smile.

"Bout time you got back, Tommy-boy. It's been crazy around here with you gone."

Nothing Harold could have said would make Tommy any happier than that one little statement. Tommy thrived on being needed and productive.

Tommy stayed a few minutes late that first night, inventorying his warehouse and preparing an order for Harold to place, then he hustled home. He was anxious to see Ruth, because he and Connie had arrived home too late for them to really spend any time together.

He walked into the front door of his house to the wonderful smell of garlic and tomatoes wafting on the air. When he made it to the kitchen, Ruth was at the stove stirring a big pot of spaghetti sauce, while Connie was at the sink, draining noodles in a colander. Rex flounced over to the new doggie bed Ruth had bought him and curled up in it. Tommy stood in the doorway grinning goofily at the bliss that enveloped the kitchen. The scene was so sweetly domestic, it made his eyes tear up.

Ruth saw him standing there first and let out a surprised yip. Tommy laughed and stepped into the kitchen with his arms open. Ruth dropped the spoon on the stove and jumped into his embrace.

Ruth had missed Tommy more during this separation than she had while she was in New York at Christmas. Sure, she was with her family during the holidays and that counted for something, but still, the emptiness she felt without him around had more to do with Tommy's sweet love than it did with loneliness or boredom. She mashed her mouth to his and conveyed her feelings through her lips.

They sat around the kitchen table discussing their day over some very decent pasta. Ruth excitedly told them that the library volunteer program she'd started a few weeks ago had taken on a life of its own. The volunteer program took off because Rita Fricke and Madeline Dixon had been talking it up among their circle of friends. Suddenly, there was a women's reading group and a friends of the library committee.

As a result of all the volunteer help, Ruth was now able to actually perform her head librarian duties in a forty-two and a half hour week. In addition, book circulation was up by twenty-five percent. Ruth was thrilled with that, because the more the library was used, the easier it was to request funding from the state. After all her effort, Ruth finally had the viable community library she envisioned.

"They might even give me a bookmobile so we can serve more customers," she enthused.

When Ruth finished her update, Connie gave hers.

"I have some news too," she said blandly.

When her roommates were focused on her, she gave it to them. She tried to remain nonchalant, but it was hard to disguise her excitement.

"When I went home this morning, I had a message on my machine from my agent. I called him back at noon, and he told me that Hammer Films in England wants me for a role in their new Dracula movie. The actress they originally cast is too pregnant for the part, and someone thought of me. The money is good and thanks to you two, I'm ready to act again, so I jumped at the opportunity. It's a rush job, so I'll be flying out Wednesday. It is not a lead role, and Hammer shoots their movies on a tight schedule, so I should only be gone a week to ten days."

With so much good news in the air, Tommy decided they needed to celebrate. So as soon as the supper dishes were washed and put away, he piled everyone into his truck and headed for Dukes' Place.

There were only a few of the regulars parked on the bar stools at Dukes', so Tommy sent the girls back to the pool table as he sidled up to the bar.

"Name your poison, Tommy," Mister Dukes said jovially.

"We're celebrating. Do you have a bottle of Champagne?"

Mister Dukes smiled and slid back the lid of the cooler on his left.

"Got a couple of chilled bottles left over from New Years, as a matter of fact. It ain't imported from France, but it ain't horse piss either," Duke replied as he busied himself uncoiling the wire that held in the cork. "What you celebrating anyway?"

"The women had good things happen to them today," Tommy replied.

Then he leaned over the bar and pushed his Clark Kent glasses up onto the bridge of his nose.

"As for me, I work in a feed store, and yet here I am with two of the prettiest girls in Texas. I reckon I have even more to celebrate than them," he whispered conspiratorially.

Old Mister Dukes glanced up at the two women just in time to see Connie lean across the pool table, her formidable cleavage on full display. Dukes gave a chuckle, reached under the bar and pulled out three plastic stemmed glasses.

"I guess you do at that," Dukes said wistfully.

Tommy tried to hand Dukes a ten-spot, but the old man waved his hand dismissively.

"It's on the house if you send that Conchita over here to get it. I need me a closer look at them cantaloupes she's smuggling in that shirt."

Tommy chuckled and nodded. Conchita loved showing off, so he figured Mister Dukes would get his money's worth. Tommy walked back to the pool table and relayed Mister Dukes' offer to Connie. She grinned impishly, unfastened another button on her tight madras plaid shirt and pulled back her shoulders.

"One bottle of free bubbly, and one happy old geezer, coming up," she giggled.

Connie Delgado slipped off her high heel pumps and tilted her seat back as soon as the British Overseas Airways Boeing 707's pilot turned off the seatbelt lights. She flagged down a passing stewardess and requested a pillow and blanket. The pretty blonde stewardess reached into the overhead bin above Connie's seat and passed the items down to her with a cheerful smile. Connie thanked the woman, put the pillow against the bulkhead and covered herself with the blanket. Connie was tired; it was almost midnight and she'd been traveling since noon. Besides, she needed to catch a few hours sleep on the plane during the six hour flight. Because of time zone changes, it would be ten in the morning when they landed in London, and she was expected on the set at noon.

Connie closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift as she waited for sleep to catch up with her. Sleep didn't come immediately, but she was relaxed and cozy, so that was okay with her. While she waited for the sandman, she thought about the radical changes her life had undergone over the last six months. This very trip was irrefutable proof of that. The Conchita Delgado of old would have insisted on the star treatment, limos and a seat in first class. The woman she'd become had ridden to the airport in a pickup truck and was flying coach. Before Tommy, she thought of herself as an actress and celebrity, now acting was just a way to make some money.

Connie was mystified by the effect Tommy Bledsoe had on her. Before she met him, she slept with any man that caught her fancy, but never more than once. The day after meeting him, she was a one-man woman. It was as if Tommy had found a switch that instantly turned off her out of control wildness. Connie shivered under her blanket as thinking about Tommy sent a flare of arousal coursing through her body. It was, she decided, going to be a long ten days.

"Or maybe not," she thought, as the blonde stewardess suddenly slipped into the empty seat beside her with a shy smile and a couple of mixed drinks. Connie knew that smile, because it was the same one Michelle Arcenaux wore just for her. Sleep forgotten, Connie glanced around at the darkened, partially filled airplane. When she saw no one was paying them any attention, she lifted up the armrest that separated the two seats and leaned closer to the stew.

"Grab another couple of blankets," she said imperiously.

The young woman's eyes grew big and round but she nodded eagerly.

"Yes ma'am," she said excitedly.

While Connie was in Jolly Old England, Tommy started working toward stocking his ranch with the Angora goats he had been researching. Tommy had consulted with everyone, from the county's agricultural extension agent, to the Angora Breeders Association down in Rocksprings, Texas. Based on the advice he received, Tommy was going to start with twenty goats the first year and work his way up to a herd of two hundred in three years. He was starting small so he could learn on the job how to take care of his goats. Angoras were generally raised in the same manner as sheep, except the goats were not as hardy and required more care.

What made the Angoras worth the effort was the amount of mohair they produced. Unlike sheep, Angoras were shorn twice a year. An adult Angora produces about fifteen pounds of mohair a year. Mohair was price-supported by the US Department of Agriculture, with a guaranteed price currently at two dollars and fifty cents a pound. Angoras were also less active than dairy goats, and more easily confined. In addition, they were excellent browsers; they even grazed on weeds and leafy bushes.

Tommy located a Tejano rancher in Edwards County, whose goats were sturdier than most, and bought two billies and fifteen nannies from him. Tommy paid forty dollars a piece for the billies, thirty for the pregnant nannies, and twenty-five for the remaining nannies. The goats were at the upper end of the current price range, but hardier stock would pay long term dividends.

On Saturday, Tommy borrowed a stock trailer from Ben Crawford and the big two ton delivery truck from the feed store to pull it. Juan Luna insisted on driving the truck. Harold cut them loose from work at eleven, and they headed south on State Road 931.

Juan already owned half a dozen milk goats and was fascinated by the idea of the Angoras, so he wanted to check them out. Juan owned twenty acres of good bottom land. His bother Carlos owned the twenty acres next door, and his uncle Pablo owned thirty on the other side of him. The three of them farmed about thirty acres of the property; they raised corn and Serrano chilies they sold at the weekly farmers market. Juan thought that goats might be an excellent way to make some additional money for the three families, so he quickly volunteered his services to learn more about them.

Tommy and Juan made it back to Tommy's place with the goats about an hour before full dark. Ruth came out of the house and helped them herd the placid animals into the coral next to the barn. Tommy had nailed wire field fencing around the inside of the three rail coral so the goats couldn't escape. Ruth thought the shaggy white Angoras were too cute, and she was tickled that they were so tame.

"They act like someone's pets," she said, as she patted a very pregnant nanny.

Tommy gave her a happy nod in reply as he watched Rex and the larger of the billies get acquainted. Rex wasn't all that sure about what to make of the new arrivals, but he was giving them the benefit of the doubt for now.

Juan hung around for a few minutes as the goats quickly adjusted to their new digs, then departed for home to discuss the Angora idea with his family.

Ruth went back into the house to finish cooking supper. She was surprised by how much she liked cooking, and with the help of her Betty Crocker cookbook, was becoming pretty good at it. As a special surprise for her man, she was making Betty Lou's country fried steak and lumpy mashed potatoes that night, along with biscuits and gravy. Betty Lou had written out the recipes for her, and she'd picked up the ingredients on the way home from the library.

Tommy opened a fifty pound bag of Purina goat chow and dumped it into a couple of five foot feeding troughs he'd set up in the barn. He'd also spread a few bales of hay in the eights stalls for bedding. He finished at last light and carefully shut and barred the barn door, before walking quickly back to the house. He'd been thinking about what Ruth said about the goats being like pets, and he had an idea he wanted to run by her.

Tommy put the idea that Ruth enthusiastically indorsed into action the next day after church. With considerable help from Mama Rita, Tommy convinced the parents and grand parents of his little buddies from Sunday school to let Molly and Jamie spend the day with him. Ruth had lunch waiting on them. After a quick sandwich and some small talk, Tommy and Ruth took the children out to the barn to see the goats.

Jamie and Molly were leery of the goats, until the gentle animals convinced them they didn't need to be. The children were thrilled when Tommy told them that they each could pick a goat of their own to help take care of. Jamie immediately latched onto the smaller of the males and gave him the not very imaginative moniker Billy. Billy didn't seem to mind his new name though, as he bleated happily while Jamie hugged his neck.

Molly took longer to make up her mind as she walked among the goats, scrutinizing them as if she were actually buying one. Finally a short and very chubby nanny made the decision for her, when it started following the little girl around. Molly named her new friend Princess.

Ruth walked back to the house and came back with a couple of her old scarves. She helped Molly tie one of the brightly-colored squares around Princess's neck, and offered to do the same for Jamie. Jamie declined the offer with a shake of his head.

"Billy ain't no s-s-sissy," Jamie explained.

Ruth was perched on the top rail of the corral fence as Tommy taught the children about the goats. He had two bright and eager students as he went about his chores, because he had hired them both as his first official ranch hands. Ruth thought she even looked the part of the rancher's wife in the tight denim jeans and red checked gingham shirt Connie insisted she wear. She even had a straw cowgirl's hat and tall heeled, pointed toe boots, courtesy of a trip to a western outfitter up in Brownwood.

Ruth had a warm feeling inside as she watched Tommy interact with his little friends. Her man had the patience of a saint and would make an excellent father. As she thought about him and her and a baby, the warm feeling migrated south with a force that had her rocking back and forth. She finally hopped of the fence before she fell off and walked back to the house.

Ruth absent-mindedly squeezed her unfettered breasts as she stood in the kitchen. They had that ripe, almost oversensitive feel to them that meant she was at the peak of her cycle, and her nipples were painfully hard under her cotton shirt. She groaned in frustration when she saw it was only three in the afternoon. It would be another hour before Tommy took Jamie and Molly home, and probably an hour after that until he was back here with her. She'd be climbing the walls by then.

Ruth thought for a few seconds, then strode over to the crock pot and unplugged it. The pot roast would have to wait until tomorrow, because a filling meal was suddenly off the menu for Tommy. Instead, he was having dessert first, then if he was a good boy, she'd make him a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup later.

Tommy walked into his house at a few minutes after five. He kicked off his boots at the front door and walked towards the kitchen. He was in a great mood, thanks to Jamie and Molly. The afternoon had been such a success that next week he was going to invite the entire Sunday school class.

"Honey, I'm home," he called out.

When he didn't receive an answer, he continued on into the cozy kitchen. He scratched his head in confusion when he saw the kitchen empty and no longer filled with the delicious smell of roast beef. He turned and cut through the dining room, headed for the bedrooms in the back of the house, his curiosity turning to concern that Ruth had taken ill. Tommy skidded to a stop at the bedroom door, when he saw Ruth lying seductively in the bed. She was lying on her right side, elbow on the bed, head propped on her hand, left hand on her hip. She was wearing a cream-colored chemise, her long wavy hair draped artfully over her breasts.

Ruth was taking a page out of Connie's book of seduction. She was freshly bathed, shaved and as hot as a Texas Tech bonfire.

"Strip, shower, hurry," she commanded.

Tommy gulped and nodded, his manhood already harder than Superman's kneecap.

"Y-y-yes dear," he stuttered as he shucked out of his shirt.

Tommy arrived at work at eight-twenty Monday morning, his first time ever being late. He had a good excuse that he unfortunately couldn't share with anyone. After all, who would believe that a man as big as him had been held love prisoner by a five-foot two inch librarian with a hyped up libido?

Tommy need not have worried though, because Ruth had called the feed store as soon as Tommy ran out of the house.

"Tommy is going to be a little late this morning," she told Rita matter-of-factly. "I had him busy trying to make you a grandmother."

Tommy took a break from work at ten to make a phone call. Rita gave him permission with a smirk on her face that Tommy couldn't fathom. He took a card out of his wallet and carefully dialed long distance to Fort Sam Houston. Tommy lucked out when the phone was answered on the second ring.

"Glickman," a clipped voice said.

"Doctor Irving, this is Tommy Bledsoe."

Captain (Doctor) Irving Glickman, facial reconstruction surgeon at the Brooke Army Medical Center, smiled into the phone at hearing Tommy's voice. Irv considered Tommy his most special patient, and cited the young man's success when dealing with other severely wounded patients.

"Hello Tommy, haven't heard from you since Chanukah. How's life?"

Glickman was still awed that Tommy had sent him a Chanukah Card and a small clay Dradle for the holidays.

"Life is great for me Doc, but I need to hire you to help someone whose life is not so good. Can you fix a cleft palate and lip?"

Glickman was taken aback by Tommy's out-of-the-blue question. Then he smiled and leaned back in his chair. "This ought to be good," he thought.

"I'm familiar with the procedure, Tommy. Who is the patient and how old are they?"

"Her name is Molly and she is eight. Her parents can't get her problem fixed, on account of them being too poor. I have some money saved so I figured I could pay you to do it." Tommy replied.

Glickman frowned and flipped open his Day Timer. He glanced at his schedule and penciled in a note beside Saturday. He'd have to cancel a golf date Saturday morning, but other than that, his weekend was open.

"I'll come down Saturday, Tommy, and meet with Molly and her parents. Don't get your or her hopes up, though, because I might not be able to do anything. And even if I can, I won't be allowed to operate on her here. I'll need to find a hospital that is willing to extend me a courtesy."

Tommy was silent for a minute while he digested that bit of news. The hospital angle was something he hadn't considered. He was disappointed it wouldn't be as easy as he thought, but he wasn't about to be deterred from helping Molly. He had plenty of money from his disability checks laying around in his bank account, and he had a stack of saving bonds at home, so he figured he could hire whatever Doctor Glickman needed.

"Thanks Doc, I'll see you Saturday. We'll meet up at the library." he said.

Tommy hung up the phone and glanced over at Rita. Rita was staring at him with eyes as big as saucers. Hearing his side of the conversation had her in shock.

"Uh, Mama, can you talk to Molly's folks so they'll meet with Doctor Glickman next Saturday? And we need to talk to Margie to see if she can find a place to do the surgery if Doctor Glickman says he can fix Molly's lip."

Rita nodded her head slowly in understanding, but she had to put off picking up the phone until she had control of her emotions. If she tried to talk to anyone right now, she'd end up blubbering like a baby. Just when she thought that Tommy couldn't possibly do anything else to make her love him more, he came up with something like this.