Chapter 80

Eli watched as Kit and his son, Eli walked back over to sit with the others. He had a knot in his throat as he watched them. He was so proud of those two.

Kia looked over her shoulder at Kit and Little Eli as they sat down near her, then she looked back toward her dad standing by the corral. Kia waved her hand at him and smiled as he motioned for her to come over to where he was.

When she stood, Jonny Bill looked up at her and started to stand. She leaned down, put her hand on his shoulder and spoke to him, then walked proudly toward her dad.

She was smiling as she came closer, then she ran the last few steps, right into his open arms and grabbed him as he held her tight.

“Dad, I’m so happy right now,” she said and he felt her sob as she spoke.

“I’m happy for you, Kia. I remember you as a baby, and all through the years as you and Michi grew up in the family. I remember the time you girls asked me to let you be my Crow girls and how happy that made me. You’ve always been special and the other girls have always looked up to you and Michi. Now both of you have grown into beautiful young women. I’m happy that you and Michi have met the two grandsons of White Elk. They are smart, handsome, and they have good manners. I’m looking forward to having a personal talk with each of them and getting to know them better.”

“Dad, I never thought I would meet a boy like Jonny Bill. He is so handsome, just as you said, and he is such a gentleman. I’m already falling in love with him and I am so excited just to be with him. He treats me like a lady and makes me feel special. I already want to love him as my man, Dad.

“Are you shocked to hear me say such things?” Kia said as she smiled at her dad.

“I was hoping you’d meet a boy who makes you feel this special. Since you and my other Crow girls haven’t had many chances to meet boys, I wanted to try and help you along. It’s hard for a man to try and pick out a boy his girls will like and he will approve of too. I wanted boys with good educations and a good family behind them.”

“You picked the best for Michi, Lilly Beth, Lee Yu, and me, Dad. Lee Yu and Lilly Beth are falling in love too, just like Michi and I. I am so happy for them. I know how they feel and I know both of them are like me, they are already wanting more.”

“You and Michi still have another year or so to go before you’ll be seventeen, Kia. Have you thought about how you’ll handle that?”

“Dad, we really need to talk about that too. I’m not sure I can wait, and I already know in my heart that I don’t want to wait.”

“Kia, you and Michi are young women now. You’re old enough to decide what you want your future to be like and who you want to love. I was hoping all of my boys and girls would wait until you’re seventeen to marry though. I want you to be sure of what is in your heart before you marry. You’ve only known your new friends a week or so. Do you really know them well enough to plan a life with them?”

“Dad, Michi and I have talked about that too. I can’t speak for what’s in my sister’s heart, but I can tell you now, I want to love Jonny Bill. But as much as I love him already, I won’t go against your wishes. As much as I want him to be my husband and my mate, as much as I already want to hold him and love him like man and woman, I will wait.”

“This is hard for me to talk about with my girls, Kia. But I wanted to do this for each of you – and for me. I knew Miranda and your aunts would try to keep you from rushing into something and try to make sure none of you even thought about boys, and love, and marriage until all of you were older.

“I just want to ask you not to have babies until you’re married,” Eli said as they looked at each other. He wasn’t sure he could talk about these personal things like this with his girls, but he knew he had to try.

“Dad, Michi and I have talked about that too and we both agreed we’d never go against your wishes and let that happen. You know that still leaves a lot of things unsaid, don’t you?”

“I know it does. But that’s all I’ll ask of my girls. I know how it feels to love. I know how hard it is to wait. What you do now, is up to you, Kia. You’re a young woman, you decide how you want to live your life.”

“So ... as long as I don’t have babies, I can love Jonny Bill the way I want to? Is that what you’re saying, Dad?” Kia asked. She was smiling at him. She could see him struggle to talk with her about personal things like this. She loved her dad even more than ever, for trying not to stand in the way of how she felt about Jonny Bill.

“Kia, all I’m asking is that you don’t have babies yet, the rest is up to you,” Eli whispered to her.

Kia put her arms around her dad’s neck and stood on her toes as she hugged him.

“Up until now in my life, I’ve felt like a girl and I’ve thought of myself as a girl. You just told me that I’m a woman and that now I have to start being a woman and making my own decisions.

“Thanks, Dad. I know I have the body of a woman and I think I’m going to love being a woman. I know I will love my man just as you love your women. I want to make him happy, just as they make you happy,” Kia said.

“Good. Now bring Jonny Bill over here so you and I can make sure he knows what both of us expect from him,” Eli told her and she laughed.

“Are you sure you want me here with you when you explain things like that to him?” She said and laughed.

“Yes, I’ll need your help, now get his attention, he keeps looking this way.”

“He sees me now and here he comes. Dad, he’s going to be embarrassed to talk about love and sex like you and I just did,” Kia said as she stood with her arm around her Dad’s waist.

“Kia, we didn’t talk about sex. I’m not sure I can talk about that with my girls or their boys.”

“Yes we did, Dad. You just didn’t say the word. You really need to catch up with the times, Dad. Your daughters do talk about sex and yes, we think about it too,” she said and laughed when he looked at her.

They were still laughing when Jonny Bill walked up.

Without hesitation, Jonny Bill stepped close to Kia and put his arm around her waist as he smiled at Eli. He was glad they were laughing.

He knew they must have already talked about Kia and him and now they were still smiling.

“Marshal Crow, is this where we have that talk you spoke of when we met on the trail?” Jonny Bill asked with a smile of his own.

“Yes it is. Kia and I have already been talking about her feelings for you, and her future. She just told me that I needed to catch up with the times and stop worrying about saying the wrong things.

“Jonny Bill, tell me what your intentions are with my daughter,” Eli said.

Kia and Jonny Bill both looked at him.

Kia smiled, Jonny Bill looked shocked.

“Marshal, I am already in love with Kia. I think I may have fallen in love with her from the photograph you gave my grandfather of you and your daughters. When I saw her in person at Little Tree, I knew in my heart that what I felt truly was love and not a made up dream. I would like to have permission to court her, and if I can prove myself worthy to her and to you, I would like to one day ask Kia to marry me. With your blessing, that is,” Jonny Bill said as he looked from one to the other.

“Kia told me the same thing you just told me.

“Kia, tell Jonny Bill what I told you,” Eli said and Kia jerked her head to look at her dad. He had turned it around on her and now it was up to her to say the things to Jonny Bill that she and her dad had talked about.

Kia took a deep breath as she looked from Jonny Bill to her Dad, then she began to speak, “Jonny Bill, Dad knows how I feel about you and he knows how you feel about me. He and I have decided that I can do whatever I please with my life, and you and I can do whatever we please when we’re alone, as long as we don’t have babies until we’re married,” she said, smiling at Jonny Bill the whole time.

“Uh, Marshal Crow ... I’m not sure I know how to talk with you about these things,” Jonny Bill said as he looked at Eli.

“If you’re brave enough to talk to my daughter about them, then you better be able to tell me your opinion of what she and I have agreed to,” Eli told him.

Eli never smiled.

“Kia?” Jonny Bill said as he looked at her. She was smiling and he glanced at Eli. He too was smiling now.

Jonny Bill took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before he began.

“Marshal, I can see who Kia and her sisters get their attitudes from. They are all very happy and they’re not one bit afraid to talk about anything, even personal things. I suppose it will take me some time before I’m able to talk to you about personal things in front of Kia, but I have to tell you, I love Kia.

“I’ll tell you too, I want all the things I just now told you and I want more. I give my word that we will not go against your wishes. I see Kia smiling, and I think I know what she’s thinking,” he said as he looked at her.

“Tell Dad so he’ll know how well you know me already,” Kia said, daring him.

“Kia is good at listening, she hears what is said and she hears what is not said. If I know her as well as I think I do, she has already pointed out to you that there are a lot of things left unsaid, when you told her not to have babies until she’s married,” he said, gulping for air at the last part.

“That’s exactly what I told Dad. I also told him that I love you, Jonny Bill. You just proved to Dad and me that I was right about you.

“Didn’t he, Dad?”

“He sure did, Kia.

“Jonny Bill, you’ll have to wait a little over a year before I give you permission to marry Kia. You and Kia could sneak off and get married before then, but she would be the one who would hurt later if you talked her into that.”

“Marshal, Kia and I will wait to marry. I love her too much already to ask her to go against your wishes,” Jonny Bill said, looking at Kia as he spoke.

“Jonny Bill, I heard those words you didn’t speak. All I can tell you is, never hurt my daughter.”

“Marshal, I’ll never hurt her, I give you my word. Not her heart or her body. We have agreed on the other part and I’m not as bold as Kia when talking about those other things, or I would have included that in my promise.”

“I’m not as bold as she is either, Jonny Bill. But you’re the one who has to please her now. You better not let her down either,” Eli told him.

Kia reached out and pulled Jonny Bill close to her as she stood next to her dad.

“When I’ve had a chance to talk to to the others, along with their girls and their beaus, all of us will meet with Doc and Lettie. I mean all the Bucks, Crow girls, and Blasingame girls. Not the mommas, or aunts. Doc and Lettie have tried to help me do this right and see things different. It’s been a big change for me, but I feel like I’m doing the right thing, helping my Bucks, my Crow girls, and all their new friends get ready for life as a grownup.”

Eli reached out both arms to pull both of them to his chest for a hug.

“Jonny Bill, make her happy and I will be a happy man,” Eli told him.

“I heard the unspoken words there, Marshal. I’ll make sure Kia is happy and I’ll make sure you still approve of me when we bring your grandchildren to see you.”

The three of them were still laughing when Jonny Bill and Kia walked back to sit with the others.

Michi had been looking over toward the corrals as Kia and their dad talked. When Jonny Bill had gone over to meet with them, Michi knew tonight was the night she would get to talk with her dad about her feelings too.

She didn’t wait for him to wave to her. As soon as Kia and Jonny Bill sat down, she leaned over to speak to Jere Joe, then rushed across the barnyard to where her dad stood.

He was smiling as she ran to him.

“Dad, I was hoping I’d get a chance to talk to you tonight. I know you have a lot on your mind and I’m so happy that all of you are here from Crow Ridge. I love you, Dad,” Michi said as she spoke in a hurry.

“Michi, there was no way I was going to make you and Kia wait to have our talk. I hope you and I can be as plain spoken as your sister and I were. I feel good about her and Jonny Bill now. I want you to feel free to tell me whatever is in your heart. This is why we’re out here away from the others. Then I want you to bring Jere Joe over here so we can all talk.”