Chapter 93

Crow Creek Cattle Company May 13, 1889

They were always up before daylight each morning, cooking breakfast over the campfire, drinking coffee, eating fried salt meat and hot biscuits.

Today as they drank coffee and ate, Little Eli saw riders along the eastern crest of the valley.

“LOOK!” he yelled and ran to get his spotting scope and rifle.

“There are four of them. Wonder who they are?” Michi asked as they looked toward the east rim of the valley.

“That’s Dad and Martinez, with his friend, Stefani. There’s another woman with them, but I don’t recognize her,” Eli told them as they continued to watch.

“Wonder what’s up? Why are they way up there?” Caleb asked.

“Get your scopes and binoculars out, you’ll see,” Eli told them.

“Dad has one of the cameras. I never knew he could operate them,” Lilly Beth said as she looked through Ladd’s binoculars.

“I didn’t either, but he’s setting it up with it pointed toward the south end of the valley,” Ezra said as they watched through their binoculars.

“Look, they’re all pointing that way now. Wonder what he’s taking a picture of?” Samantha asked.

“Listen! Do you hear that?” Pike asked as they all walked toward the river bank and looked south. The didn’t see anything down along the winding river.

“I hear cattle in the distance,” Ladd said.

“That’s what that sound is, they’re bringing the Longhorn cattle up here!” Ezra shouted.

“Lets get saddled up and ride over there to where to Dad is. I heard them say it would be as many as ten thousand head,” Eli said as they pulled their belongings away from the fire, set the pans aside, then ran to their horses.

“Ten thousand head of Longhorns?” Cecily asked Pike as he saddled her horse.

“Yep, I reckon they’re going to bring them up here for now, since we got all this grassland for them to graze,” Pike answered.

When they had saddled their horses, they rode north to a place where the river was shallower and white water rapids rippled in the morning sun.

“I hope Dad takes a lot of pictures of all those cattle. That has to be a really awesome sight,” Ruby said as they walked their horses across the river just above the shallows where there was a solid bed of sand and gravel.

They raced their horses up the wide, eastern slope of the valley, each of them looking to the south, trying to catch a glimpse of the herd.

They stopped their horses next to the other four horses, back away from where the camera was set up.

“That must be Martinez’ sister, Rosa. She sure is beautiful,” Lilly Beth said as they looked the young woman over.

“She must know all about those cameras too, she’s already helping Dad set it up and now she’s under the hood, setting the focus,” Lee Yu said as they started that way.

“Whoa, she really is a beautiful woman. Albert will be a lucky man if she decides to be his wife after they went to Mexico to rescue her,” Ezra said as they neared Eli and the others.

“I knew all of you would be up here soon to see what we were doing. Look to the south end of the valley,” Eli said as he walked over to grab Lee Yu and Lilly Beth who were the first to greet him.

“Dad, who’s the beautiful young Mexican woman?” Lilly Beth whispered as she leaned her head over, looking around him to get a better look at the young woman.

“That’s Analisa Vasquez, she’s a friend of Rosa’s. They were held hostage together down in Mexico.”

“So you rescued her too? Dad, she is really beautiful, isn’t she?” Lee Yu said.

“Yes she is. I want you and Lilly Beth to come meet her and be friends with her. She’s been to a university down there and she’s very smart. Jon David and I have hired her to work in our offices back at Tulsa when he gets back from his trip.”

“Analisa, I want you to meet my daughters and my sons.

“All of you come say hello to Analisa Vasquez, she will be working for us in the offices back home,” Eli said as he stood back and watched as each of them came to shake her hand and welcome her to the family and to their new lands.

“Where did Jon David go on his trip, Dad?” Lee Yu asked, not letting him get away with that earlier remark.

“Well, he and Amanda, and Joe and Sissy took their boys and Shawn on a fast trip down to New Orleans,” he answered. He knew this was just the first of many questions to come.

“NEW ORLEANS?” Lilly Beth gasped.

“Yep, he had to go down there to close a deal I made while we were in Las Cruces, New Mexico,” Eli told them and grinned.

“Dad, sounds like you made a really big deal, since Jon David had to rush down to New Orleans to close it,” Little Eli said as he walked up to his dad and shook his hand, then handed his dad his marshal’s star.

“Well, now you’ll all have a place to spend your honeymoon in a few years, it looks like,” he said, loving the chance to tease them like he did when they were younger.

“Dad, what is this all about? What did you buy in Las Cruces, New Mexico that Jon David had to travel to New Orleans to close the deal on? This must be really big,” Ezra said as he came over.

“Well, I got into a fuss with the dining manager at the fancy hotel there in Las Cruces when he refused to let Willis eat in the dining hall with us. Then I met the owner of the hotel the next day to settle up with him over our meal,” Eli said, then grinned as he stopped.

“Dad! You’ve got to tell us and stop teasing,” Kia said as she hugged her dad.

“It turned out that I bought that hotel from the owner, then hired the mayor’s wife there at Las Cruces to manage it.”

“You bought a hotel in New Mexico?” They all echoed.

“Yep,” Eli said and grinned big once more.

“Then why did Jon David have to go to New Orleans to close the deal?” Little Eli asked, knowing his dad had more to tell about this deal.

“That’s where the main offices are,” Eli said.

“So that means there are more than one hotel?” Micah asked, smiling at the others as he figured it out.

“Yep. A hotel chain.”

“How many hotels does it take to make a chain?” Pike asked.

“I’m not sure about that, Pike, but we now own twenty, with two more being opened this fall.”

“DAD! Really?” Lee Yu and Lilly Beth both rushed him again as they laughed.

“Yep. Remember The Wyandotte we stayed at in Kansas City?”

“Yes, why? Do you own that one too?” Caleb asked.

“WE do. The Crow family owns the hotel chain. I told Jon David to make all of us part owners.”

“Dad, that is amazing. How do you keep finding these things to buy?” Kit asked him as she grinned at Little Eli.

“They just seem to come up at the right time and catch me when I’m ready to buy something.”

“Where are the two new ones being built?” Ruby asked.

“In Florida.”

“FLORIDA?” she said her eyes wide as she grinned.

“Yep. This should give all of you some fancy places to go when you feel like traveling.”

“Are they scattered all over the U.S. Like that?” Isaac asked.

“Yep, they’re all the way from San Francisco to Chicago to New York to New Orleans, to Houston and all in between.”

“That was a really big deal you made there, Dad. I bet that cost you a lot of money,” Michi said.

“Not that much, for what all we got in the deal. Jon David told me it was a good deal.”

“Is that Dad I see riding ahead of the herd with Jubal?” Pike asked as he looked around.

“It sure is, I need to get some photographs made,” Eli said, turning to the camera to see Analisa taking one after the other of the huge herd walking slowly along the east side of the river, spreading out to graze their way up the eastern slope of the valley.

“I have them already, Eli,” Analisa told him.

“Here comes Dad now. He sure is grinning,” Pike said as Moses rode up and stepped down from his horse. He was met by Cecily first as she grabbed him in a hug. Moses was about to get used to all the hugs he was getting from Cecily, and that girl sure did love to hug.

“Dad, we’re glad to see you. I hope all of you made it back without any trouble,” she greeted him.

“We did, Cecily. What do all of you think about the four vaqueros and their wives moving up here to work for you? They can live here and raise their kids with your kids when y’all get married.”

“Hey, I like that,” Pike said.

“Where will they live, Dad?” Cecily asked. Moses had yet to get used to her calling him Dad.

“They brought some army tents that Jud had in the barn. They can live in them this spring and summer until we get them some houses built.”

“Will you leave the cattle over here? We thought Martinez’ father may want to sell them or trade them for some land,” Ezra said as he walked over.

“Well, when we got down there, your dad and me talked about that and decided that we’d just buy the herd.”

“You and Dad, bought all of them?” Ezra asked.

“What Moses isn’t telling all of you is, he bought the cattle from Martinez and his family,” Eli told them and Moses grinned at him.

“Dad, you mean you own ten thousand head of Longhorn cattle?” Pike asked.

“There’s more like fourteen thousand head, this is about half of them,” Eli told them.

“Whoa, Dad. You really bought a big herd when you decided to get into the cattle business,” Cecily said.

“I bought them for all of you. We wanted to split them up ten ways and give each of you some cattle to start your own herds!”

“DAD!” Pike yelled grabbing Moses, nearly tripping him on the slope of the valley.

They were watching the cattle spread out even more as those from the rear pushed on north. Some of the lead cattle waded out in the river to drink before walking out to graze.

Analisa was taking photographs, and as she pulled a dry plate from the camera, she would lay it on the tray that extended from the top of the tripod.

When she bent to pick up a fresh plate from the case on the ground, Lee Yu looked her way.

She elbowed Lilly Beth and both of them ogled Analisa until she stood to place the plate in the camera.

With a quick nod at each other they walked over to talk to Analisa.

“Analisa, may we call you by your first name?” Lilly Beth asked as they came closer.

“Yes, you may. You are Lilly Beth and you are Lee Yu. I remember names well.”

“You sure do. Are you married?” Lee Yu asked.

“No, my father died when I was young and I was kept at the place where your dad, came to rescue us. I never had the opportunity to meet young men there that I liked. I was kept there as a servant until Rosa was kidnapped and brought there to live.”

“You sure are beautiful,” Lilly Beth told her.

“Thank you, Lilly Beth. I have been told that so many times since we came to America and I met your family. I have never been told that in a nice way until I came here.”

“Did you meet our mommas?” Lee Yu asked.

“Yes, your mother is Miss Tin Yu and Lilly Beth’s mother is Miss Clarissa.”

“You’re not only beautiful you really are very smart,” Lee Yu told her.

“Analisa, did they tell you about the breast corsets our mommas had made for those of us with big breasts?” Lilly Beth asked.

“Yes they did and your Aunt Rose gave me one of hers to wear, but she told me not to wear it when I rode up here with Martinez and your father.”

“Aunt Rose told you that?” Lee Yu asked, then turned to grin at Lilly Beth.

“Yes. You just smiled at your sister. Is there something I should know?”

“You’ll get used to Aunt Rose and the others. We know why she didn’t want you to wear one now.”

“You do? Why?”

“She wants our dad to like you a lot.” Lee Yu answered.

“Yes, she and your mothers and your other aunts told me that already, but they didn’t tell me that was why I was not to wear the breast corset.”

“Analisa, our dad likes big breasts on women. They want you to like him and they want him to like you,” Lee Yu whispered.

“Yes, they told me that, but it was strange at first when I met them. But Miranda had already come over to greet me first, and I like her a lot. She told me she was Eli’s wife and she wanted to be my sister.”