Chapter 91

“So, how’s everything been while we were gone?” Eli asked as they stood by the trail near the long line cattle passing by.

“Been good, Eli,” Joe said, finally looking at Eli.

“Where’s all my Little Bucks and Little Crow Girls?” Eli asked.

“Jon David took them riding about an hour ago, Eli. No telling where they got him off to by now. They’d live on a horse if we’d let’em,” Duncan told him.

“Eli, how many head did you bring back? This sure looks like a bunch of ‘em,” Joe said as the cattle continued to walk east toward Pecan Ridge Ranch headquarters.

“Joe, this is about half of them, I reckon. We must have brought back close to fourteen thousand in all.”

“Wooooweee! That sure is a lot of Longhorns!”

“Yep, we’ll let the vaqueros and Kansas boys take them on up to the valley where the Bucks’ new land is. They can start their own herds now,” Eli told them as they stood beside the trail.

“I reckon they told you that the Bucks and all the girls have already gone up there. They wanted to spend a week or so together up there before the carpenters arrived,” Duncan told him.

“Yep, Don told me. I’m glad y’all let them go, Duncan. They’ve sure grown up a lot here lately.”

“They sure have, Eli. Even more so since you’ve been gone. They’re up at daylight, patrolling this whole place like they were grown and owned it all.”

“Let’s get mounted up and go find John David. I need to see my Little Bucks and Little Crow Girls. I got some good news that all of you will be shocked to hear too,” Eli told them before turning to help Analisa step up into her stirrup and sit in her saddle.

Eli turned to see Joe looking up at Analisa. He grinned at Joe.

“Joe, don’t stare at her. She’s bashful enough as it is,” he said and Joe’s face turned red.

“She’s sure a pretty woman, Eli,” Duncan told him before they mounted.

“Yep. She’s gonna work for us back at Tulsa. She’s been to school and she’s smart as hell too.”

They had ridden only a mile or so when they looked up to see Jon David on his horse. He was riding between two more horses with Jon Jr., Chane, and Shawn on one horse, and Maryanne, Karly Jo, and Clara on another horse as they rode toward them.

Eli hit the ground running to meet them as Joe, Duncan, and Analisa watched. Analisa had tears in her eyes as she watched Marshal Crow run to his young kids and grandkids.

He grabbed the three girls from their horse, hugging them and kissing their faces as they laughed and hugged his neck.

“Daddy, we are so glad to see you. Did you steal all the Longhorn cows they had in Mexico?” Maryanne spoke excitedly.

“Not all of them, but I stole most of them I reckon. How’s my Little Crow Girls been?” he asked as he hugged each of them and put them back on their horse.

“We’ve been having lots of fun, Daddy. We’ve been getting to ride horses a lot and now we want a horse of our own,” Clara told him.

“Yeah, Daddy. A black and white one like Eli, Lilly Beth, Aunt Sissy and Uncle Joe ride,” Karly Jo added.

“Daddy, Aunt Rose told us that you would get all of us a horse from your friend, White Elk. Will you?” Maryanne asked, smiling a big smile.

“If he has any you like we’ll get all of you one.”

The three girls were laughing, screaming and clapping their hands when Eli walked around their horse to see his Little Bucks.

“How’s my Little Bucks?” he said as he held his arms up for the three boys to bail off their horse so he could catch them.

“Daddy, we are so happy to see you. Did you get to ride your horse on the train in Mexico?” Shawn said as he leaned back to look at his daddy.

“We took our horses on the train, but we didn’t ride them until we got to Mexico. We put them in a big cattle car and let them ride by themselves. Then us men rode in the Pullman car.”

“We saw the cattle cars at Crow Ridge, didn’t we, Chane? Didn’t we, Jon?” Shawn said and all three boys agreed that they knew what cattle cars were.

“Grandpa, we want to go to Mexico with you the next time you go on a rescue. Don’t we, Jon, don’t we, Shawn?” Chane said and Eli laughed at his Little Bucks. They reminded him so much of his Young Bucks when they were that age.

The boys were hugging his neck and he was kissing their faces as they laughed.

“Dad, did you have a good trip? I suppose all of you made it back without any bullet holes, scars, or permanent injuries,” Jon David said as he stood beside his horse.

Eli lifted the three Little Bucks up onto their horse and turned to Jon David.

Jon David reached out to hug Eli and the two men held each other close while the Little Bucks and Little Crow Girls watched.

Analisa looked on as the man she thought was so tough and almost untouchable, showed his love for his family. Tears came to her eyes again as she watched him hug his grown son. She had never seen a man hug his grown son and it moved her to tears.

“We had a really good trip, Jon David. We came back with way more cattle than we planned, but I’ll have to tell you about that later.

“Walk over here with me; I want you to meet a young woman we rescued along with Rosa. They were schoolmates at the university down there and they were held hostage at the hacienda together until we rescued them.

“Jon David, meet Analisa Estela Vasquez.

“Analisa, meet my eldest son, Jon David Crow.”

“Analisa, it is a pleasure to meet you. Dad just told me you that you had attended a university down in Mexico. Perhaps you would like to work in our offices back in Tulsa?” Jon David said as he held the young woman’s hand.

“Yes, I have been schooled just as Rosa has. Your father has told me that I could have a job when we get back there to Tulsa. I have been so nervous about meeting all of you. I have never been to America before and I had never even met an American until I saw your father and Alberto the day we were rescued. Please forgive me if I am nervous still,” she said in her perfect English with only a slight accent.

“You have no reason to be nervous. We’re a big family and when my wife and Dad’s wife, and the rest of the women meet you, you will feel welcome. They will make you feel like one of the family, you’ll see.”

“Thank you, Jon David. Your father has told me this, but it is all so new and I feel like I am not only in a new land, but I am in a new world.”

“I can imagine. You’ll be alright though. You and my wife will get along just great, you’ll see.”

“Jon David, I have some news for you. You’ll never believe what I bought while I was in Las Cruces, New Mexico,” Eli said.

He turned to take Analisa’s hand, helping her to her saddle once more as Jon David watched.

“Dad, she is a beautiful young woman.”

“Yes she is, Jon David. She’s smart too. She just needs to have a little more confidence in herself.”

“What was it you bought? It must be big, the way you’re smiling.”

“I bought us a hotel chain!”

“A WHAT? A hotel chain?” Jon David said, laughing as he looked at his dad.

“Yep, there are twenty hotels now in operation, two being built and three more planned with the property already purchased.”

“Tell me all about it while we ride back. How did you pay for all of that?”

“I haven’t paid yet. You’ll need to take a trip with Amanda so you can close the deal and pay the man,” Eli told him and pulled out the big shiny key ring with keys halfway round it

“Take a trip? To where?” he asked. He hadn’t stopped grinning at his dad as he took the key ring and looked it over before stuffing it deep into his pocket.

“New Orleans.”

“Dad, are you serious? Amanda was telling me not long ago that she wanted to travel there one day when we get caught up. When do we leave?”

“As soon as you can. I even thought you and Amanda may like for Joe and Sissy to go along. They never get to go anywhere and they would be good company. Jon Jr. would have Chane to play with on the trip.”

“YES, I’d love to have them go with us. Could we leave from Little Tree? I brought all our bank papers and check books.”

“If you leave from Little Tree, you can go south through Texas and right on down to New Orleans. That would be even better. We’re supposed to pay the man within thirty days and you could be there in less than two weeks this way.”

“Dad, lean over here,” Jon David said as pulled his horse close and leaned over in the saddle to hug his dad’s neck.

“You always manage to amaze me each time you make one of your business deals. I know you’ll tell me the whole story, but how did it happen and how much did you have to pay for it all?”

“It is a strange story the way it happened and I’ll tell you all about it tonight when I tell the others. I thought the man just wanted me to buy his hotel in Las Cruces, but then he asked me to buy all of them and started naming them off.

“Would you believe, we now own The Wyandotte in Kansas City? Rose will scream when she learns about that. She and I stayed there the first time way back in ‘74 when I went back to Missouri to get her.”

“Dad, how much? I know you got a deal or the man would still own them.”

“One and three quarter million, lock, stock, and barrel. The whole kit and caboodle, was the way he put it.”

“And there are twenty hotels in operation already, two more under construction, with three more planned with real estate purchased?” Jon David asked, repeating everything in the deal.

“Yep, the two in Florida are set to be completed this fall sometime.”

“Dad, that sounds about reasonable. That would be close to eighty thousand each even if you excluded the three proposed construction plans and called it twenty-two total by adding the two that are under construction.

“I’m not up on what it takes to build, furnish, and outfit a new hotel, but this sounds like one hell of a deal you’ve come up with. I forgot to ask, how many rooms do they have and do each of them have the same number of rooms?”

“Each one of them has forty rooms, even the new ones that will open this fall.”

“I can see this as an investment that will pay off even more if America continues this growth boom the professor predicted four years ago. We’ve already seen some changes he predicted coming true, with our coal shipments to the steel mills and the electric generating plants increasing the way they have.”

“I had a feeling you’d see it even better than me and I could see the deal making a lot of money in the coming years.

“When we get this deal done, Jon David, we need to plan a trip each year to one of our hotels. The women have earned it and so have we.”

“I love it, Dad. I’m glad you think of our womenfolk as our partners too. After all, they have the babies and raise them to be somewhat civilized,” Jon David said with a grin, as he nodded toward the Little Bucks.

He and Eli had a few more laughs as they planned their future in the hotel business. They even talked of other ways to invest money and not be dependent upon oil forever in case the prices fell back below four dollars a barrel again.

Analisa rode alongside Eli with the Little Bucks and Little Crow Girls riding their horses between Eli and Jon David. She listened to their talk about profits and expenses and how much money they would make off each hotel.

“Analisa, perhaps you would like to keep the records for us on our new hotel chain when we get the books set up?” Jon David said as he looked across the young’uns, and past Eli to speak to her.