Chapter 32

Luckily, when the wagon made it back it was two instead of just one. We had a good day of packing and then we took off. Bob, Tom's stable hand, was going along too and so we had plenty of help getting all the stock to follow right along.

It turned out we made money, or at least gained stock, along the way. Several groups of two or three men just couldn't resist trying to steal a horse or two and it was where Conroe and the men who'd come with me really paid their way. They really were hell on wheels with their bows now and they were clearing saddles seemingly all the way back. We left with twenty-four horses and had forty-nine when we arrived.

When we finally rolled into the Hero's Ranch I was glad to get there. I let Ben and his men deal with the horses and went straight into the house with Mary and Bertalee. Bill was happy to see me and we settled on Mary having my bedroom. I also took Bill aside and let him know if Mary got to missing me too much while I was gone he should offer his services to help calm her down. He also told us there was a room right near mine Bertalee could have and we were set. I left Mary moving in and went to find Terri.

She was surprised to see me, especially in her room, but she came into my arms right away when I entered and shut the door.

"Are you ready for the next part of your life?" I asked her.

"I guess I am, but what part is it?"

"The part where you leave here and go to stay with me."

"Can I, really?" she asked.

"I think you can and I'm going to try it. Things will be a lot different there though. You can come back here if you don't like it," I told her, but I knew there was no way I could explain what was about to happen to her. She'd have to trust me, and apparently she did. She wanted to get naked and celebrate right now, but I had her table the motion and told her we'd have a little celebration tonight after we went to bed. I set her to packing up her things.

When I made it out to the kitchen I found Kala, Mary, and Bertalee were all fast friends and looked like they'd be thicker than thieves any second. Mary and Bertalee knew what I really had on my mind and I'm sure Kala had a good hint, because something hit the frying pan before I even sat down.

Mary made a show of wiping off the table and did a good job of showing me her titties while she did it. Bertalee and Kala concentrated on putting a meal together and Bertalee showed Kala how to make mashed potatoes just the way I liked them. It was a little like old home week at the ranch and it continued until all the others showed up to eat too. All we were missing was old Skinny, who had long since passed away. We had plenty of kids at the table though since a few of Bill's grandkids were eating with us now.

After we were done eating Terri started helping Kala and her new helper clear the table, but Kala sent her on with Mary, Kitna, and I and the poor girl was destined to a life of debauchery. She went to her fate willingly though and soon enough I was in bed with three naked women and all of them seemed to be trying to get me harder than the next. I had a whole lot of licking to get to and I was happy enough all of it was done after I put the wood to Mary good and proper.

Of course she'd already greased two asses and fingered her two accomplices to giant comes before I climbed between her thighs. They all slept in the next morning and I made my escape down to Kala's kitchen where she and Bertalee were in cahoots to get me as fat as Bill had once been. I ate all I could and then made my way outside to give George the happy news about sealing the joints on the pipe.

He felt as stupid as I had when I gave him the details, but he was mixing milk and vinegar up to try it right away. He was ready to apply it shortly, but I had to burst his bubble and tell him it wouldn't work with the tar still on the pipe. He promptly pulled all the old fittings off, cut the dirty ends off the pipe and began the process. He had his air supply completely changed over before lunch time and he was busily walking around checking to see if the glue was dry yet for the rest of the day.

That night in bed Kitna and Terri had a surprise for Mary. They greased her ass this time and encouraged me to give her the anal business. How could I say no? Mary liked it a lot better than she'd first thought she would and before I knew it she was yelling for me to do it harder and faster. Of course she insisted the other two take their punishment in the same way after she got her wind back. I was oh so happy to oblige.

Mary was snuggled right up close to me the next morning and there was no chance I could get away without waking her.

"You're going to take Terri back to Earth with you, aren't you?" she asked.

"If it works I am, but I'm not sure it will."

"How are you gong to do it?" she asked.

"I'm going to put the fallen hero's ring on her in the bank vault," I said.

"It'll work, but don't loose the ring. The powers that be will try to get it away from you when you show up with it in Crossroads," she said, though I didn't know how she knew.

"I've had a run in with them once before, and I don't think they want to have any more dealings with me concerning the rules. Are you sure you don't want to go back?" I asked.

"Not to Cassandra for sure, but I might like to visit Earth if you can work it out." she said.

"I'm pretty sure I can get it done. I take my Caretaker down to the house whenever I want to now, and we got Cowboy Jack's Caretaker to move there too.

"Let me think about it," she said, and then gave me a toe-curling kiss and shoved me out of bed.

I dressed and went to the kitchen first, of course. Kala and Bertalee were already cooking and Bertalee had showed Kala how to fix hash browns and cream gravy for the biscuits. I ate like a pig, except I don't think I made too many of the grunting noises. Damned if both of them didn't smile the whole time about it though.

"I know you two have got something cooked up, I can see it in your eyes," I said.

"Bertalee told me how I could put Bill back on the see food diet," Kala said, and I could tell she was delighted with the scheme Bertalee had come up with.

"Well, don't keep it a secret from me?"

"She said all I had to do was keep after him on his exercise. She said if I did, all the extra he ate would just turn to muscle instead of fat. Damned if I don't think it will work. He still walks two or three miles a day," she said.

"I can tell you it will work. Just keep your eyes on him and if he starts getting big around the middle tell him you're going to have to start cutting back on his portions if he doesn't knuckle down on his working out. He'll get the message.

They both grinned like mean little kids then and started whipping up some pancake batter. I got the feeling Bill would have muscles on top of muscles the next time I showed up.