After a quick trip to the door, Garret returned to the task at hand. He helped Beth unbutton her dress and removed all the extra bits and pieces women wore.
“I need you to start running around again without your bloomers,” he teased.
He kissed her and moved down her body slowly, showing his appreciation for all her soft and delectable parts. When he reached the apex of her legs, he lifted her legs over his shoulders and settled between them. He teased her and each time she was almost to the point of coming, he would change tactics and move to her stomach or breasts.
It was delightful torment, and he kept at it for a long time. The pleasure became almost painful as he inhibited her from coming and she needed it so badly. When Garret could no longer contain his need for Beth, he buried himself in her. His thrusting in and out gave Beth an exquisite build-up of tension, and she came. So did he.
“Oh, Beth, I have sorely needed this,” Garret whispered in her ear. “There have been too many people in our house for way too long.”
They moved Jeb to the bunkhouse a few days later at his insistence. Even so, either Beth or Lettie checked on him every couple of hours during the day. Garrett made Abram a set of crutches, and he was moving around slowly. After several very long weeks, Beth and Garret had their bedroom to themselves again. Lettie and little Virgie still occupied the small lean-to room on the other side of the kitchen, but they were unconcerned about this, as they had already tested the privacy of their bedroom.
Regardless of the hard times, they had suffered recently, Beth and Garret were experiencing a renewal of sorts in their relationship. Suddenly, they were sneaking around again using every excuse to have hurried sex. Garret teased Beth about them doing it like bunnies. Beth, in turn, was giving Garret come-hither looks, sometimes catching him alone in the barn or the house, and whispering how she was bare and breezy under her skirts.
Garret took advantage of every one of those stolen moments. They visited previously used haunts for their personal business where Garret came to Beth eagerly.
Meanwhile, Beth suspected Lettie and Abram were beginning to like each other more. Abram was wearing down her friend’s resistance. Lettie would ask her to watch Virgie and disappear for a short period of time. Beth would see her walking in the direction of the creek where Abram would conveniently find the time to join her. Sometimes Abram was not keeping his hands strictly to himself.
Eventually, Beth was no longer merely suspicious. She knew it for a fact. She accidently ran into the couple being quite familiar and intimate with one another. She wasn’t exactly shocked, but she tiptoed away and told no one what she had seen.
Little by little, the Wakefield ranch was returning to a normal routine except the work on building the additional room onto the house had stopped completely. Down two men, Garret and Jasper had all they could do to stay ahead of the regular work.
“I’m thinking of hiring again,” Garret told Beth one night after they had gone to bed.
“You can’t replace Jeb and Abram,” Beth protested. “They were injured trying to protect me!”
“I’m not firing Jeb or Abram, but I still need help,” Garret replied. “I thought we could use some of the money we got from selling the scavenged furniture to hire a couple men for the rest of the summer. It would help us get back on track.”
Beth nodded. “I think it’s a good idea. You said before we aren’t hurting for money, but we’re certainly hurting for hired hands and labor. I’m awful tired, and we still need to get in the harvest.”
“I’m sorry,” Garret said pulling Beth closer. “I never meant for it to be this hard on you. You’ve been so brave through it all.”
“I haven’t been brave,” she denied. “I’ve merely done what any woman would do. We buckle down and get to work. So, when are you hiring these men?”
“First chance I get,” Garret said kissing her. “Let’s forget talking about our problems. We have our bed back, and I intend to take full advantage of it.”
***
After all the trouble, Garret was reluctant to leave the ranch even to hire help. He was also reluctant to foist the job on a fourteen-year-old boy even though Jasper had become like a son to him and Beth. Garret trusted the boy would be responsible, even so, the youngster had no experience determining who would be a good worker or not.
Abram had volunteered to make the trip, except that too might cause a problem. A colored man carrying enough money to hire men and buy supplies would make him a target. There were many southern men in the territory still harboring hatred for the loss of their way of life. Besides, Abram’s leg was still in a split, although he was managing almost all his work. It took him longer and sometimes he needed help, but Abram was getting the job done.
“I’m between a rock and hard place,” Garret told Beth.
Soon after, they were awakened early one morning by another visit from Captain Sumners and his Calvary troop. The men were tired and saddle weary. The captain asked if they could make camp down by the creek.
“Make yourself comfortable, only my wife had better not be missing any chickens or eggs while you’re here,” Garret warned.
The captain agreed with a chuckle. “I’ll put my men on notice, although I’ve already sent out a hunting party. I don’t think your wife is very fond of me.”
“My wife is not fond of any soldiers. I’m surprised she married me. She lost her family home to soldiers burning everything in sight as they retreated,” Garret explained.
“Was she southern?”
“No. As a matter of fact, her family were strong Unionists and abolitionists. Her people were part of the Underground Railroad and had been for generations. She was pro-Union, but it was the Union army who did her the most damage.”
Captain Sumners nodded his head in silent acknowledgment. “Has there been any sighting of Black Crow or his warriors in the area?”
“None I’ve heard of,” Garret responded guardedly. “We did have trouble from your deserters.”
Garret explained about Beth’s kidnapping, and the injuries inflicted on his family and friends. He left out the part of the story about Black Crow and his men rescuing his wife. Garret was telling the truth since he had not actually seen Black Crow or his warriors. He rearranged a few details of the story in order to not mention their involvement.
Captain Sumners commiserated and said he would think about how the Army could help Garret recoup his losses.
When Garret relayed his conversation to Beth, she snorted in a most unladylike manner. “Like they care how much harm they cause people!”
Much to their shock, Captain Sumners did come up with a plan of restitution. He talked to Garret several times before knocking on the door the following evening and offering the manpower of his troop to complete building the structures halted due to the injuries caused by the escaped deserters.
Garret accepted his offer, and the soldiers wasted no time. Captain Sumners knew how to get a job done. He split his men into groups of six each and divided them into crews. Some felled trees while others chopped off branches and hauled them to the work site. One crew raised walls while others were busy completing all the details necessary to build a cabin. The walls to the new room were completed on the first day, and the roof struts went up the second day. Another crew removed part of the back wall of the middle room and built a fireplace while the remainder of the men erected a much smaller one-one cabin. By the end of the week, the projects were completed.
Beth and Lettie had stayed out of the way during the construction, as did Jeb, Abram, and Jasper at Garret’s request. He kept the men from helping since Abram was still hobbling around on crutches and Jeb, no slouch with his work when healthy, was simply too weak. Garret wanted Beth and Lettie out of sight because his Army experience made him reluctant to have the women-starved soldiers eyeing either of them. He told Jasper to stay scarce and, except for helping Garret with the cattle, he was free to go fishing or hunting. Garret worked with Captain Su
mners supervising what he wanted to be done.
“I appreciate all you’ve done,” Garret thanked Captain Sumners at the end of the week. “I doubt I would have managed this much before winter set in.”
“Well, I could have initiated a requisition for restitution, but the chances of it making it through the rank and file would have been negligible,” Captain Sumners answered. “Tell your wife, not all soldiers are the enemy. We’ll be pulling out in the morning. Again, I’m sincerely sorry for the problems the escaped deserters caused you. Under orders from the Governor, my superiors are more concerned with wiping out the bands of renegades. It’s almost an impossible task, and we are severely handicapped. They move quickly and know this country, we don’t. I will report the deaths of the deserters and the cause. If there is a reward or bounty for those men, I’ll see you get it.”
After the troops had ridden out the next morning, Beth and Lettie went to inspect the building projects. The new room was exactly like the one they had built the previous year for Garret and Beth’s bedroom. They planned to shift the bedroom furniture into the new room and use the former bedroom with the new fireplace as their central living room. Beth and Garret were very proud of their house, as it now had three separate rooms, kitchen, living room, and bedroom.
They had seen the soldiers building the smaller cabin, but Garret did not tell Lettie it was for her and her baby until the women went to view it.
Lettie cried and hugged both Garret and Beth. “You did this for me? I can’t accept it. I don’t even work for you, yet you let me stay here, and you have taken care of little Virgie and me since we got here. I’m so beholden to you, I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“You have more than earned it already,” Garret replied firmly. “You don’t owe us anything. I don’t want to hear another word about it, except if you like it or not.”
“Oh, I love it,” Lettie exclaimed. “I can’t believe you’ve given me a cabin of my own. The only problem I can see is I ain’t got nothing to put in it.”
“We can sort that out in no time,” Beth promised with a laugh. “We still have two stalls in the barn full of furniture and no place to put it. What we don’t have, Abram can build.”
“It’s small, Lettie, but with the small stove in here, it should be comfortable come winter. If not, we’ll move you back into the house,” Garret promised.
“Miss Beth is right,” Abram promised Lettie with a wink. “Anything else you need, I’ll turn my hand to it.”
Garret decided to postpone hiring anyone now until at least the fall. By then he would know if Jeb and Abram had made full recoveries. With the construction jobs completed, he and Jasper returned to working the ranch.
Beth and Lettie spent most of their days together, cooking and doing what Garret deemed women’s work. Beth monopolized Garret and Jasper’s evenings to shift furniture from the barn into their new living room and Lettie’s cabin. With no one living in the little lean-to space, Abram built shelves, and it was used as a convenient pantry for the kitchen.
***
The day Jeb swung into a saddle was a good day for everyone. It meant both men were fit enough to resume their normal lives and routines.
For Beth and Garret, it also meant they could take a trip into town. They were in need of supplies and in need of something beyond work, work, and more work. Although it was a long trip, three full days one way if the weather held, Beth was excited. It was not often they were able to get away by themselves.
When the wagon rolled out of sight, everyone on the ranch immediately went about getting his or her work done. They all ate at the main-house kitchen. The original cabin structure was the kitchen now, and Abram had built a table large enough to seat everyone. After dinner, Jasper and Jeb returned to the bunkhouse while Abram stayed to play with little Virgil as Lettie cleaned and put away the dishes, and put beans on to soak for the next day’s meals.
Lettie carried a basket of clothes to mend, and Abram carried the baby to her cabin. Usually, Abram left her at the door and went on to the bunkhouse. This evening, he entered her comfortable little cabin behind her.
“Did you need something?” Lettie asked, taking Virgie and putting him in the box he slept in.
“Yeah,” Abram said. “I think it’s about time I was invited to sleep in your bed. We’ve been sneaking around for weeks, and I’m tired of pretending I don’t care for you because I do.”
Lettie glanced away and then met his eyes. “I would like it too, except I don’t want to be brazen about it. You can share my bed, but I want you to leave before morning. I have to face Jeb and that boy. What they might think is going on is a lot different from knowing it for a fact.”
“When Beth and Garret return, I want to take you to Denver and find a preacher,” Abram said. “I might be wanting to take liberties before we get hitched, but I want to be your husband. Are you gonna marry me?”
Lettie nodded her in agreement before walking to the bed and pulling down the coverlet.
It was all the encouragement Abram needed. “Lettie,” he murmured. “I’ve wanted this for so long, I haven’t much patience.”
“I didn’t ask for patience,” she said as he pushed her on her back. “I don’t know how much I have myself.”
Abram smiled although his hands were already undressing her. She was pulling on his shirt, trying to get it out of his pants.
“Are you in a hurry?” Abram chuckled.
“Yes,” she exclaimed. “We’ve been playing around for a while. I want the real thing!”
“I’ve got it, darling, and I know how to use it,” Abram promised as he removed the last bits of her clothing. He raked his eyes over her from top to bottom, taking in the ripe breasts. Her stomach had already flattened from having the baby. As much as he wanted to fondle her breasts, he wouldn’t touch them. She was full of milk for her baby. Instead, he pushed himself up on his forearms and hovered over her. His cock was hard and long, but he was not ready to use it.
He moved down and buried his mouth into her sex, as she opened herself to him for the pure pleasure of it. Lettie moaned with frustration. She wanted him between her legs. She caught his cock in her hands and began to pump it, and then it was Abram who was groaning.
“I’m coming, darling,” Abram gasped as he plunged into her.
He was thick and long and hard, and Lettie felt herself being stretched to accommodate his size. It felt so good! As he thrust into her, she wrapped her legs around his middle and then her legs kept climbing to move him into her deeper. His hips pumped into her, sometimes fast, sometimes slow to tantalize. He would withdraw until he was almost out of her and then slowly sink back in.
“Oh, God,” Lettie moaned as little Virgil began to whimper in his sleep. “Don’t stop now! Don’t!”
Abram shifted, wrapped her legs around his forearms, and plunged into her deeply. He rode her until she became slick and wet, and bucked and gasped. He still wouldn’t let her come but continued plunging and withdrawing until she rose to meet him and bucked under him again. This time, he fulfilled his need and sank into her over and over until he had nothing left.
They laid together, wet with sweat and gasping for breath, as Abram continued to finger and stroke and tease until Lettie came yet again. When neither of them could respond to the other, they held each other for a long time.
Abram and Lettie made love several more times during the next few hours until the clock began to chime and ended after ten strikes. Abram reluctantly kissed her, pulled on his clothes, and left for the bunkhouse.
“I’ll see you in the morning, and I’ll be with you again tomorrow night,” he promised.
“If something needs fixing, it might be sooner,” Lettie said with a sly smile. “Make sure Jeb and the boy aren’t around.”
Abram felt himself hardening. “I’ll think of something.”
Chapter Sixteen
Garret and Beth were enjoying their trip to Denver. It had been a while since the
y had spent any time together, only the two of them. They enjoyed the day-to-day companionship of Jeb, Abram, Jasper, and Lettie. It lightened the load to have so many people around who were all committed to helping each other. At the same time, privacy was hard to come by and fleeting. It was nice to get away.
Garret wanted this break to be a restful time for his wife. With the attack and the injuries behind them, they were all looking forward to peace and quiet. With Abram, Lettie, and Jasper at home taking care of the place, Garret and Beth had no need to hurry. This private time was precious as they talked a little bit about everything and had plenty of time to enjoy each other.
The trip, which usually took three days of hard travel, took them a little longer this time. It probably had a lot to do with how many times they stopped when one or the other got a sudden urge. As a result, they were not nearly as tired as usual when they checked into their hotel.
Denver, as a town, was showing remarkable growth. The Johnson’s Emporium was facing a lot of competition as three more general stores had opened on the same street.
Mrs. Johnson told them the Transcontinental Railroad had been completed the previous month. A spike of solid gold had been driven into the two lines, joining them at some place called Promontory Summit in Utah. Train travel was now possible from the east coast all the way to California. She showed them a stack of old newspapers covering the monumental event, and they bought one to read later and take home.
At one time, Denver had been in the running to be connected to the Transcontinental Railroad. However, a change in the political field had triggered a decision to go through Cheyenne, Colorado, instead. Cheyenne already had a limited rail system, and whenever the owners of the railroad could save a bit of time and money to make their deadline, they used it to their advantage.
The promoters of Denver did not let this minor hiccup stand in their way. They had already started a campaign to raise money to build a railway spur connecting Denver to Cheyenne. Men with money and power claimed it would be finished in less than a year’s time.
A Path Worth Taking Page 23
