Chapter 14

“Girls, stop and think about what you are saying,” Opal Anne chided the wives. “You don’t think your men will trust you and maybe you shouldn’t have switched husbands. With thinking like that why the hell would a man trust you?”

“Opal Anne do you really think it’s that simple? To tell you the truth I find things about Mick that I love more than Rory,” Raylene said.

“And I find things about Rory that are much more attractive than Mick,” Betty Mae added.

“But that doesn’t matter! Don’t you remember the part about for better or worse during your wedding? Or the part about forsaking all others?”

“Opal Anne, I know. I guess I wish I’d have taken the time to know Mick and Rory more before I married Rory,” Raylene complained. “But it’s too late now.”

“Raylene, is it really true that you don’t know if Rory or Mick is your baby’s father?”

“Yeah. After you and Paul left us, we kind of went crazier. We were fucking all over the camp, anytime night or day. It was like the stories in those French books we used to get. Sex. Sex. Sex. Sometimes a dozen to fifteen times a day with one man or the other. It was crazy. Rory and Mick would switch back and forth and back and forth. I never knew which one was shooting into me.”

“Same for me, obviously. The fact that both brothers have sandy hair didn’t help solve the problem.”

“And how do the brothers feel about it?” Opal Anne asked.

Betty Mae looked at the other two women and spoke almost regretfully.

“They understand that it’s the price we are all paying for just fucking around. They took up what we began to tell them; it’s all in the family.”

“But now you’re finding that the brothers wish that they knew, right?”

“Yeah,” Raylene said quietly.

“And they want to have children with their real wife, right?”

“Yeah, but not right away. They want us to wait until we hit it rich and move to the city. And to tell you the truth, I don’t know that I want to have another baby with just Betty Mae helping. She’s my friend,” Raylene patted her friends’ hand, “but I would like to feel a lot safer with the next baby.”

“Yeah, me too,” Betty Mae said returning the pat on Raylene’s hand.

“Well between what you four are finding and what Paul and I are finding, I think we can expect a big change in our lives by winter,” Opal Anne said confidently.

“So, you two have struck it rich? I knew it!” Betty Mae said.

Opal Anne looked at her friends with a serious face, “We haven’t struck it anything. We’re working hard and pulling out what we can, just like you four, when you’re not fucking all over the place.”

“You really are disappointed in us, aren’t you?” Betty Mae said.

Looking back and forth between her two friends and their children, she sighed and smiled.

“Look, I always dreamed of finding a man who would love me in spite of my past. A man that could put my life as a whore behind me and move forward to make a wonderful life for the two of us. Now I have him and his child. I can’t begin to describe how happy and fulfilled I feel every day. My little redheaded girl is just frosting on the cake for Paul and me. I wish that you two could share that feeling as well.”

Pauli fussed a bit as they were walking back into the hotel, s and and that set off the other two babies.

“Looks like it’s dinner time,” Opal Anne said as she stroked her daughters curly red hair. “If you two don’t mind, I would like to spend my feeding time in my room with just my little girl. I love sharing this quiet time with just her.”

Betty Mae smiled and said, “Go ahead. I know what you mean.”

The three women kissed and walked up the stairs to their separate rooms.

“How are my two favorite girls?” I asked, quietly entering our hotel room.

“We are fine. Come and sit with us,” Opal Anne said patting the mattress next to her.

I sat down and looked down at this little girl with her lips wrapped around her mother’s hard bright pink nipple. My wife’s hard nipples turned bright pink when she nursed. If she was in the mood, she would let me latch on and take the last of her milk when she switched sides.

This was one of those times.

“If you keep that up your daughter is going to starve, Paul.”

“What? Opal Anne, have you forgotten how to make more?”

That earned me a familiar punch in the shoulder and a kiss on the nose. Pauli was asleep, like always after she nursed. Opal Anne and I were cuddled on the bed, her now fully empty left breast resting next to my cheek. She was stroking my hair.

“How did it go at the assessor? Really.”

“Opal Anne, we are going to be two of the richest people in the State, maybe the entire western part of the country, by the end of summer. At some point we need to talk about our next step.”

“You mean moving to the city? Having another baby? Bringing your brothers into the business? Which one of those steps, Paul?”

“Well first would be a baby. I’ll be ready whenever you catch again.”

“Daisy told me that I probably won’t catch again until I stop nursing a lot. It seems that having one hungry mouth slows down a woman’s ability to make another one,” she giggled.

“So, until you slow down your nursing, we can go at it like goats?”

“I’m not sure what would change, but yes, husband. I’m more interested in our living arrangements.”

“Opal Anne, to tell you the truth, I’m conflicted. There are some things I really like about living on the plain and in the hogan. And yet there are some comforts in the city that I think I would like on a day to day basis.”

“How many of these things have to do with running around naked all the time?” She smiled.

I looked at my wife and returned the smile before turning my head and kissing the bottom of her breast.

“You are pretty easy on the eyes, Opal Anne. And I have to admit that the idea of being able to make love wherever and whenever is a never-ending cause of joy for me.”

“Nothing says that we can’t do all of that in the city, Paul.”

“I guess, if we had a big enough piece of land and a big enough house.”

“If we have as much money as you say, I don’t see that as much of a problem.”

“Maybe not. Maybe a part of it is also the comfort of the hogan. The closeness. The being all alone together.”

“I understand, Paul. There is something wonderful about being the only people in the world.”

I rolled off my wife’s stomach and stood up. I always thought better on my feet and moving. I began walking around the small room.

“I’d like to stay in the hogan for another year at least. I’d like us to have another baby there. In a year I can pull enough gold out of the ground so that we, and our children, will be set for life. We can sell the claim and walk away. Then we can become high class city folks.”

Opal Anne slowly rose from the bed and lay Pauli down. My little girl was curled up in a ball and looked like the bundle of joy she really was. Opal Anne stopped me in my tracks and hugged me.

“Paul, I just realized something. I’m so sorry that it hasn’t hit me sooner. Pauli and I are the only things you need in order to be happy, aren’t we? The gold is secondary. You could live out your life with me and our kids on the plain and be perfectly happy, couldn’t you, husband?”

I kissed the top of her head and held her tight. I thought about making a wise-ass comment about living with her red hairy pussy and her milk-laden tits as well, but then thought better of it.

“I guess I could, wife. I’ve always been a simple man with simple needs. I guess that’s why I got on so well in the cavalry. Food, shelter, love. What more does a man need?”

“How about a challenge?” Opal Anne asked.

“OK. Add to that list something to do. A profession. A job that is fulfilling. Right now, for me that would be our claim and developing the plain.”

“Paul, honestly, if we stay on the plain for another year or two will it make a difference in how rich we are?”

“Opal Anne, we are rich right now. In a couple of years our family, our children, our grandchildren and maybe our great grandchildren will be rich beyond measure. If the claim stays in the family or not. I’ve made investments with the money that will be paying off for a very long time.”

“Then we need to set up a way to protect the money and to be sure that our descendants don’t turn into assholes.”

“How the hell do we stop our great grandkids from being assholes? I’m not sure we can stop ME from being an asshole!”

“I know!” Opal Anne said with a faux frown.

“Thanks!”

“Seriously, we need to find a way to tie the money up in such a way that our descendants learn to appreciate it, or maybe earn it.”

“I think they should have to join the cavalry.”

“Or the Navy. They need to learn love of country and the appreciation of teamwork that comes with it.”

“OK, I can see that. What about education? You and I both know how to read and write, many don’t. In the future, I’m sure that an education will be important for people to be successful.”

“I agree. So, before our offspring can lay hands on our fortune, they have to serve in the military and get an education. What if all we have is girls? They can’t be in the military?”