Chapter 17

May 17, 1845

Neither Millie nor Lettie could walk by me this morning without touching me on the hand or the arm or the chest. We were all feeling very happy and all feeling very loving. Before John and Tess showed up, I asked, "So, how do each of you feel about what we did last night?"

"Jase, I feel good about it," Millie said. "I don't feel like it hurt our marriage at all. In fact, I think it may have brought us even closer together."

"Okay, how about you, Lettie? Any regrets?"

"Not a one," Lettie smiled. "I feel loved and I feel very close to both of you."

"Do you still feel like an outsider?"

"No way. I feel like the three of us are one."

"That's just the way I feel," Millie said. "How about you, Jase?"

"I feel like the luckiest man in the world. I have the two most beautiful women in the world for my wives."

That got me a kiss from both of them just before John and Tess walked up. I gave my sister a big hug then asked, "So, when is the ceremony?"

"Reverend Green says at nine o'clock. I guess that makes sense."

"Have you been over by your new wagon yet?" Lettie asked.

"Yeah, we caught Clem just before he took off. I almost feel like we cheated him on the wagon," John said.

"You ladies went through it yesterday. Did it have pretty much everything that is going to be needed?" I asked.

"Pretty much," Tess said. "Clem's wife had everything well organized. There's everything you'd expect them to have been taking on a trip like this."

"We put all of the money together last night. We have quite a pile. Ab says we're going to be going by a trading post or two before we hit the mountains, so if there's anything you need, let's get it before we get to Oregon. We don't even know what we can buy there."

"How much money do we have?" Tess asked.

I looked around to see if anyone was close enough to hear before I answered, and even then I lowered my voice. "A little over four thousand dollars," I said.

Tess' mouth fell open and John choked on his coffee. "That's a fortune," Tess finally managed to get out.

"Pretty much," I said. "We have to keep that quiet. That much money could get us all killed."

"That's for sure," John said. "I've heard of people being robbed and killed when they had less than a hundred dollars."

"That's why we have to keep it quiet. It seems like a lot of money, but we're going to need quite a few things for the ranch too. We're going to have to buy at least six horses. We should each have a spare for working the cattle."

"Should we buy more cattle if they are available?" John asked.

"I think so," I said. "We can't get too many or we'll never be able to herd them through the mountains. We figured out last night that we have fifty cows right now and one bull."

"One very happy bull," Tess said.

"Sis, you think just like Millie. Those were her exact word."

This got all three women giggling. "The only reason Lettie didn't say it is that I beat her to it," Millie said.

Lettie blushed and said, "Yeah, probably so."

The Reverend Green was as long winded for Tess' wedding as he had been for the others he had performed. We stood through it with good graces though. Tess seemed very happy and we were happy for her.

Millie, Lettie and I walked around to talk with Caleb and Sally after the ceremony. "So, how's your job as Captain coming?" I asked Caleb.

"You young pup. I aught to skin you for getting me into that. It's surprising how many growed men act like little kids. They come to me to settle disputes that four year olds shouldn't have."

"I'm sorry Caleb. I just wanted to make sure Calvin wasn't elected Captain. He'd have been right in there fighting with the rest of the four year olds."

"Jase, you shouldn't bad mouth a dead man, especially when his widow is standing there beside you."

"Caleb, I probably knew Frank's faults better than anyone. Jase isn't going to offend me with anything he says about Frank."

"It's still not right to speak bad about the dead, Mrs. Calvin."

"Since Jase and Millie have asked me to be their partner, I've decided to use the last name of Tackett from now on, Caleb."

"But... Does that mean..."

"Don't worry about it, Pap. It was my idea," Millie said.

"I'll bet Jase is a very happy man," Sally laughed.

"Yes, and I'm a very happy woman, Mom," Millie rejoined.

Sally cracked up. "You'll have to tell me about it sometime, Daughter."

"I think we're too old to hear about something like that, Sally," Caleb said. "I don't think our hearts could take it."

I had been afraid of how Sally and Caleb would react, but after the initial shock, they seemed to be doing okay. "Just think of Lettie as the daughter you never knew you had, Pap," Millie said.

We talked for a while and we were telling them about the wagon we had bought for Tess and John. After a while, Caleb said, "So you don't have a saddle now, Lettie?"

"No. They traded it off for the wagon. We're gonna get one when we come to a trading post that has them."

"We still have Bob's saddle," Caleb said. "You're welcome to use it if you'd like."

"Would you be willing to sell it, Caleb?" I asked.

"Well, I suppose we would," Caleb said as he looked over at Sally. Sally nodded so he said, "Yeah, we'd sell it."

"What would you want for it?"

"Would five dollars be too much? It's almost new."

"I'll tell you what. We'll give you seven dollars if you'll throw in the saddle blanket, saddlebags and the bridle."

"Sold," Caleb smiled.

Caleb pulled the saddle out of his wagon and I carried it back to ours. "Let's go see Ab," I suggested.

We walked over to his tent, but he wasn't there. I knew he hadn't gone far because his horse was grazing nearby. We walked around until we found him.

He was talking with Sam Stuart when we found him. We went over and said howdy to both of them.

"I want to talk with you a little later," Sam told me. I figured it had to be about Ellen.

"Any time, Sam. We're just out visiting. If we're not at our wagon, just come find us."

Sam nodded and said he'd better get back and help Becky tar their wagon.

"So, how are you doing, Ab?" I asked.

"I'm doing okay. I'm going to disappear and have me some private time in a little bit. How are you doing, Mrs. Calvin?"

"Please don't call me that, Mr. Smith. I'm Lettie Tackett now. You can call me Lettie."

"Okay..."

"We've adopted her," Millie said.

"Ah, but..."

"Don't ask, Ab," Millie said.

"Okay. None of my business anyway. So how are you doing, Lettie?"

"I'm doing just great," Lettie said. "We're accumulating cattle for our ranch. Do you have any suggestions as to where would be a good place to set up a ranch in Oregon?"

"Well, folks, most of the people on the wagon train are probably going to end up in the Willamette Valley. If it were me though and I was gonna start a cattle or a horse ranch, I know of three or four little valleys that would be perfect."

"Would you be willing to show us where they are, Ab?" I asked.

"Sure. There's one of them I've staked out for myself. All of them are in this same range of hills. They're way off the trails, so I'm sure no one has claimed them yet. They're sheltered from the worst weather and all of them have streams and they're just loaded with fur bearing animals. I plan to be trapping in one of them this winter."

"They sound ideal, Ab," Millie said. "You wouldn't mind having us for neighbors?"

"We'd be neighbors, but not very close neighbors," Ab said. "There's probably ten miles between each of the valleys, but no, I wouldn't mind having you for neighbors."

"Jase and I were next door neighbors in Kentucky, Ab. We were two miles apart. We're used to houses being few and far between."

"That's good, Millie. Some of the people on this train are going to have a hard time getting used to not having neighbors within spitting distance. I know you folks will do fine."

"Well, Ab, there are five of us who are partnered in this ranch, so we'll always have people close."

"That's the three of you plus John and Tess?"

"That's right. We're all sort of one big family."

"You folks know there's gonna be a lot of work for the first few years, don't you?"

"Yeah. There'll be work building a house, work with the cattle, we'll be doing some farming, and John and I will be doing a lot of trapping at least during the first few years. None of us are afraid of work though."

"No, I don't suppose you are."

"We need to let you get off for your personal time and we need to go see Ben Jacobs. He said he wanted to talk with us this morning."

"You guys enjoy your days of rest then folks. I'll saddle up and get away from these people for a while."

We stopped at our wagon and fixed up some lunch before we went on over to the Jacobs' wagon. While we were eating Lettie asked, "Do you guys mind that I told Ab and Millie's parents about me being Lettie Tackett now?"

Millie started giggling. "I thought pap was gonna swallow his tongue," she said. "I knew mom wouldn't have a problem with it. Actually pap did a lot better than I thought he would."

"Well, I thank you for telling them it was your idea, Millie. I know your pap was probably thinking that I was trying to take Jase away from you."

"Yeah, he probably was. He always called me his little angel. I wonder what he thinks of me now."

"If he's thinking wrong, Sally will get him straightened out," I said. "I've learned that women run the family."

"Just you remember that," Millie laughed.

Ben Jacobs was happy to see us. "I was just thinking about walking over to see you," he said.

"How are things going, Ben?" I asked.

"Well, we sure don't have anything figured out as yet, but Sam and I are talking about it. One thing Sam and I both agree on is that we don't want Ellen pregnant at thirteen. We also agree they're pretty serious so we don't think it's a good idea to separate them when we get to Oregon."

"I'm more worried about what they're gonna be doing now than I am about when they get to Oregon," I said. "It'll be a lot easier to keep track of them after you're settled."

"That little Ellen is a feisty one, ain't she? After Sam and I had talked we got the two kids together and talked with them. I asked them just what the hell they thought they were doing. Ellen said they knew just exactly what they were doing and they had been doing it quite well if it was any of my business."