Chapter 15

May 11, 1845

We made another fifteen miles today. We should be getting close to the South Platte crossing. Ab and I have talked about what I need to be looking for to find it.

We didn't hear anything from or about Ellen and Gill today. If we don't hear anything tomorrow, I'll talk to them again.

May 12, 1845

I woke up between two beautiful naked women again today. One of them was NOT Tess. In fact, Tess wasn't even in the wagon.

Both Millie and Lettie were snuggled up to me and I had an arm around each of them. I was watching Millie when her eyelids started to flutter. When her eyes came fully open, she smiled at me and I kissed her softly.

"Good morning, Love," I said.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"I slept like a baby. How about you?"

"I slept very well. It looks like Lettie did too."

"Looks like," I said.

"I did," Lettie said, then she stretched and her breasts pushed even tighter into my side.

"Is Tess up already?" Millie asked.

"I don't know. She wasn't here when I woke up," I said.

" I had a hard time falling asleep last night," Lettie said. "I've got so many things running through my mind, they kept me awake until late. Tess hadn't come in when I finally did fall asleep."

Millie was grinning from ear to ear when she said, "I'll bet the lovely Tess was bundling with John last night."

"I hope that's all she was doing," I said. "Pap would be pulling out his shotgun if they're into anything else."

"I'll find out what went on today and let you know this evening," Millie said. "By the way, are you aware you have your arm around a naked lady who isn't your wife?"

"Yep."

"Okay, just so you're aware of it. Now, I need a kiss before we get up and fix breakfast."

I kissed Millie with all of the love I had to give.

Fourteen miles that day brought us to the Brule Crossing of the South Platte. The river at this point looked to be a mile wide, but the channel wasn't more than a couple of hundred feet wide. People who had crossed prior to us had marked the sandbars that would support a wagon.

It didn't look like the crossing would be too bad, but you can never tell until you get into it. I rode Sin across following the marked passage and I didn't even get my moccasins wet.

Gil was working the livestock when I came back, so I rode over beside him. "Have you told your folks about what Millie caught you and Ellen doing?" I asked him so no one else could hear.

"Not yet, Jase. I was just kind of waiting for the right time."

"Well, you need to be sure you find the right time this evening," I told him. "If you don't then I'll find the right time to tell them in the morning. Would you pass that on to Ellen too, please?"

Gil gulped, but didn't say anything. He just nodded and went after one of the hogs that had strayed too far.

After supper, I told Millie and Lettie what I had told Gil. They both got a laugh out of it. Tess and John disappeared soon afterwards, so Millie filled us in on what she had learned about Tess.

"If we can believe her, they were just bundling. She said they slept with all of their clothes on. She says that Ab told them we are going to spend a couple of days resting up at a place called Ash Hollow. I think they're planning on getting married then."

"Well, it's probably for the best," I said. "I never felt right about her sleeping with us and watching us make love."

"Does it bother you that Lettie is sleeping with us?"

I looked over at Lettie and she looked like she was afraid of what my answer would be. "Not really," I said. "Does it bother you?"

"No. There must be something wrong with me, Jase. It's kind of exciting for Lettie to be there."

"How do you feel about sleeping in the same bed with us, Lettie?" I asked.

"I may make you guys mad at me, but I'm going to tell you the truth. For the most part, I like it very much. I really liked you having your arm around me this morning, Jase. I liked the way my breasts felt pressing against your side. When the two of you were making love the other night, I wanted to turn over and watch. I wanted to yell out 'I'm next'."

"What don't you like about it?" Millie asked.

"What I don't like is that I'm an outsider. Even if I yelled that I was next, it wouldn't do any good. I'd still be an outsider."

"Lettie, we've only known you for five days, but I feel as close to you as I would my sister. If you wanted to turn over and watch, it wouldn't bother me and I don't think it would bother Jase. If you yelled, 'I'm next' I'm not sure how either one of us would react right now. You'd better be careful though because Jase just might take you up on it."

Okay, so when we went to bed, I was feeling a little confused. What Millie had said hadn't really bothered me that much. I had grown close to Lettie over the last five days too. I mean, when I had woke up this morning, we were both naked and I had my arm around her. It didn't embarrass me and I had definitely responded to her body.

Yes, Lettie is a beautiful woman and is very sexy. I guess I had just been thinking of her more as a sister than I had as a potential lover. I was in love with Millie. Period. I resolved to talk to Millie about it tomorrow.

May 13. 1845

I awoke between two lovely naked women again. I had an arm around each of them and each had her head on one of my shoulders. When Millie woke up, we shared a good morning kiss, then she laid there watching Lettie as she slept.

After a while, she whispered, "She is very pretty, isn't she?"

"Yes she is. I love you, Millie. Please don't forget that."

"How could I?" she asked. "You show me every day."

"You and I need to talk later," I said.

"Yes, I guess we do," she smiled. Millie reached across me and ran her fingers over Lettie's face. Lettie's eyes popped open immediately.

"Good morning," she said and then stretched. Her left arm was across my chest just below Millie's. She hugged me and said, "This feels so good, I hate to get up."

I kissed her on the end of her nose and said, "Get up, woman. You've got breakfast to cook and we've got a river to cross."

Millie giggled, then said, "This is his caveman personality, Lettie. Just ignore him and he'll be back to normal as soon as he realizes he's not impressing us."

Both women laughed, so I hugged them both at the same time, then extricated myself so I could get up.

I knew we weren't going to get in a lot of miles today, so I didn't even bother to go out on scout. I found Ab and we talked about the best way to get across. We rode across the river following the same trail I had used yesterday.

"You're right, Jase. It doesn't seem that bad. The trail must have been marked recently. Otherwise, I'm sure the sandbars would have changed."

"I'd say it was probably the wagon train that Calvin joined. They're probably two or three days ahead of us now from the signs I've seen. They seem to be pushing pretty hard."

"I was thinking the same thing. You know, pushing too hard can be dangerous."

"That's what I was thinking," I said.

"I'm feeling pretty good about our progress. We got a nice early start out of St Jo and we haven't had any major holdups since. If things keep up the way they have been, we'll be through the mountains well before the snow flies."

Of course things didn't go as well as we'd hoped. We had one yahoo who got off the marked trail by no more than twenty feet. He had sunk in to the axles before he realized his error. It took almost three hours to get him out.

When it came time for lunch, our wagon was already across. Lettie, Millie, Tess, and I were sitting on our horses watching everyone cross. "Lettie, would you and Tess mind fixing us up some food?" I asked. "Millie and I need to talk for a few minutes."

Both of them agreed and they went back to our wagon to get it started. "You want to talk about what I said to Lettie last night, don't you?" Millie asked with a smile.

"Yep. That's pretty much it."

"Do you disagree with me?"

"I don't disagree that Lettie is a nice person. I've come to like her a lot in just a week too. I guess I just didn't understand completely what you were saying."

Millie has a beautiful laugh and she used it now. "I'm not sure I understood what I was saying either. Frank Calvin was a worthless piece of shit. Lettie deserves a good man and I just don't see any of them walking around."

"Millie, I'm not very bright. Could you spell it out for me?"

Millie laughed again. "Jase, you are the smartest person I know. Okay, how's this for making myself clear? We've asked Lettie to be a partner in our ranch. How would you feel about making her a partner in our marriage as well?"

"That's where I thought you were headed," I said. "That's an awfully big step, Millie. Aren't you afraid she'll come to mean more to me than you do?"

"No. I expect she'll come to mean as much though. Jase, you and I have loved each other for years. There's nothing in the world that's going to change how we feel about each other."

"What about the sex thing? Doesn't it bother you that I might have sex with her?"

"I don't think there's any doubt that you ARE going to have sex with her. Does it bother me? No. I think the three of us could have something very special, Jase. I know there has to have been other people who have done this. We just don't hear about them."

"Okay, I'll admit, I am very attracted to Lettie. I think I could easily fall in love with her, in fact I may have already fallen in love with her. That's what scares me, Millie. I don't ever want to do anything that would hurt you."

"If we did start having a closer relationship with Lettie and it started to bother me, would you quit?"

"Of course. In an instant."

"See what I mean? I don't have anything to worry about."

Gil came around right after that and said that he and Ellen had both told their parents about what they'd been doing. He said that both sets of parents wanted to talk with me when we got to Ash Hollow.

We managed to get everyone across during the afternoon. We only made about three miles, total, for the day. That was okay, because Ab said we were going to stay in camp tomorrow for wagon repair and to rest up after the crossing.

We had been on the trail for almost two months and everyone was tired out. Ab said we'd reach Ash Hollow in a couple of days and that we were going to spend two days there, just resting up. He also told me about this big hill we'd have to go down before we got there. He said it is the steepest hill on the trail and that he'd be surprised if someone didn't lose a wagon there.

As we were eating supper, John told me that him and Tess would like to get married when we got to Ash Hollow. He seemed to be very sincere, so I decided not to tease them about it. After we finished, Millie and I went over and told mom and pap. Pap wasn't thrilled, but mom smiled at me and nodded, so I knew she was okay with it.