Chapter 4

What I found was a naked woman hiding in the shade under one of the wagons. She had a chain running to a collar around her neck with the other end fastened to a wagon wheel. Her skin was too dark for her to be a normal White woman, but I could not tell if she was Mexican or Indian. I had enough Spanish to get me by, so I asked her if there was anybody else in the camp.

She answered me in common English, "I am the only one here. My captors rode off earlier this morning. You should leave before they return. They will surely kill you if they find you."

"Thank you for the warning, but I have already killed them. I do not expect any more trouble, but I am prepared if it comes up. I suppose that I can guess, but why are you naked?"

"My captors seemed to prefer me this way. They raped me every night, and I guess that keeping me without clothes just emphasized my position as a sex slave. I was told that I would be sold to the Comanches one of these days as a slave. They thought that they could get some extra money from me because of my unusual skin color."

"Well, one thing for sure: as of now you are a free woman. But I am curious. Why is you skin that color? It is almost yellow-brown."

"That is because I am an octoroon. That means that I am 7/8^th White and 1/8^th Nigger. That little bit of being less than pure White makes me a Nigger."

"Well, I ain't no slaveholder! As far as I am concerned, you are just as free as I am. I do not hold with owning slaves, even though I am a Texan through and through! Do you know where the key is so we can get you loose from that chain?"

"I ain't sure if it is still there, but it usually hangs on a hook behind the driver's box of this wagon. My chain is too short for me to climb into the wagon to look. You can be sure that I would be gone from here if I could get to the key."

"Well, I will look for the key. You can bet that one way or another, you will be free to go anywhere you like in just a few minutes." I dismounted and climbed into the wagon. There it was on the hook! I took the key back down to the woman and unlocked the chain at both ends.

"What is your name, if you please? I am Josh Huston."

"I am Ella Mae. I am a slave, so I ain't got no last name. I have been a sex-slave most of my life, but I ain't never had any kids. I guess I will take your name of Huston, if you do not mind."

"I would be honored, Ella Mae Huston.

"On another topic: is there anything in these wagons worth taking? If so, we might as well grab it. Them Comancheros no longer have any need for it."

"I ain't sure what there is in the wagons. I was captured about a week ago, and there has nothing been added to the wagons since then. Well, there are some dresses in the other wagon if you will permit me to put one on. This damned sun is very uncomfortable even on my darker skin."

That was when I remembered my manners and helped Ella Mae to climb into the wagon to look for some clothes. I will admit that I admired the view as she climbed in. Well, okay, I did push gently on her ass to help her up that last step into the wagon. That woman had a body to drool over! It was easy for me to see why she had spent her life as a sex slave!

Neither wagon was very full, but the wagons, themselves, seemed to be in very good shape, so they were worth having. We were lucky in that Ella Mae could drive, so we would be able to take both wagons with us.

I did ask if she could shoot, and she was appalled that I would ask such a dumb question. No Nigger slave would get close to a gun for fear of being shot by the first White person he encountered. Well, without a doubt, we were going to have to fix that if Ella Mae stayed with us. However, in the meantime, I had her drive the lead wagon while I drove behind her so that I could keep an eye on her for her safety. Hell, she was nice to look at even now when she was wearing a dress and a bonnet. We had not found her any shoes.

It took a while for us to get home, and Ma had beat us by a couple of hours. All of the stuff from her wagon had been unloaded and the mules tended to by the time we got there. I explained what I had found, and everybody was pleased to meet Ella Mae. As expected, one of the first things the women talked about was where Ella Mae was going to sleep. That was not as complicated as it might seem.

Charlotte and I were now sleeping in the "master" bedroom because of the large bed, and Ma was sleeping in my old room and old bed. Mary had her old room and the bed was a little larger than the one Ma was using. The logical thing was for Ella Mae and Mary to share her bed until we could get a new bed built, though Ella Mae was still going to have to sleep in the same room with Mary.

Once that was settled, I left the women to do some work in the barn. I was there about an hour until I was called in for supper. There was a new layout for the places at the table. I sat at one end and Ma sat at the other. Charlotte sat to my right on one side and Ella Mae sat on my left on the other side of the table. Mary sat on the side between Ella Mae and Ma. I should of seen that something was coming up, but I was as dumb as a man usually was when he was facing the plans of a bunch of women.

After supper, I went out on the front veranda to sit in the swing while the women cleaned up things after supper. I was idly swinging when Charlotte came out and sat in the swing with me, but at the other end. The swing was large enough for three people, and I did wonder what was going on, since Charlotte always sat close beside me, and that put her in the middle of the swing.

Charlotte said, "Josh, Honey, please move over and sit beside me." I was surprised by her request, but I did not suspect any chicanery, so I moved over. As soon as I had moved, Ma, Mary, and Ella Mae came onto the veranda. Ma and Mary sat in rocking chairs and I was kind of startled when Ella Mae sat down beside me in the swing. I was now sandwiched between Ella Mae and Charlotte. Uh-oh, I was slow to catch on, but I began to smell a plot afoot!

Ma said, "We women have been talking it over, and we want Ella Mae to stay with us. Her only choices are to stay with us or to be sold as a slave, and none of us like the idea of her being forced back into slavery. We have discussed all of the possibilities, and we women think that you should take Ella Mae as your wife. She is used to sex, and she likes sex, and you, Josh, are the only man on the property. Therefore, you seem to be the one elected to take care of that problem.

"Charlotte has agreed to you having a second wife. For one thing, she thinks that she is knocked up, and will want to cut down on her sexual activities when her belly gets too big. At least, that happened with Jimmy. Therefore, Ella Mae has arrived at an opportune time to take up the slack for you.

"Ella Mae saw how you reacted to seeing her naked and did not miss the opportunity to touch her bare ass cheeks when you helped her into the wagon. Therefore, she hopes that you will accept her as wife number two.

"How do you feel on the subject?"

"Hell, I ain't no fool, at least, not that big a fool. Sure, I will take Ella Mae for a wife if both she and Charlotte agree. I do think Charlotte should have the main say-so because she is my first wife, and always will be that. However if both women agree, I plan to jump at the chance!"