Chapter 20

June 1, 1845

Nothing exciting happened on the trail today. We had a few more hills than yesterday and we only made sixteen miles. Our camp was on a little stream that barely had enough water flowing to satisfy our animals. We'd all started the day with full water barrels so that was all that was really needed.

I stopped by to see Ab before I left on scout. The told me that Winnie had done it again today. This time, she stood and talked to him for a minute before moving on.

June 2, 1845

I found a large creek today about ten miles out. It had plenty of water and more grass than we'd seen since leaving Fort John. There was also a plentiful supply of wood for fires. I decided that even though it would be a short day of travel, it would be a nice stop and it would allow the animals to recuperate from their lack of food the last few days.

When I came back and told Ab about my decision, he agreed. We were camped by mid afternoon. Millie, Lettie and I walked almost half a mile upstream and found a nice place to swim and bathe. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and each other. Millie and I made love on the grassy bank while Lettie kept watch for us.

When we got back to camp, our hair was still wet. The first person we ran into was Ab. He asked if we had been swimming and we told him about the nice pool we'd found. He said he just might go up there and take a bath himself a little later. We didn't know at the time that Winnie Wilson had heard us too.

When we got back to our wagon, Caleb was there waiting for us. We sat down and talked for a while then Tess and John came over. The three women started fixing supper after a while.

While they were busy, Caleb said, "I was wondering if you guys were going to be keeping all of those horses you bought."

"Well, I'm not sure, Caleb. We ended up with three more than we actually figure we need."

"I was wondering if we might be able to work out a deal on any you don't want to keep."

"I'm sure we could, Caleb," John said. "What did you have in mind?"

"I'm not sure, John. I am a little short on cash, but I do have some things I might be willing to trade for them. I was also thinking that since I'm gonna be trapping all this winter, I might be willing to trade you some peltries for them."

"Don't worry too much about it, Caleb," I said. "We'll work something out. We might even have to trade working for each other to get a place ready to live in this winter. Why don't we all just see where we think we are and who owes who before we decide? You've been doing most of the herding since we left St Louis. That's gotta be worth something."

"That sounds good to me. Have you guys given any thought as to where you are gonna end up?"

"Yeah, we were talking to Ab about it and he says he knows where there are three or four little valleys that would be perfect for a horse or a cattle ranch. He says he's already staked one of them out for himself. We're going to take a look at them before we look anywhere else."

"Maybe I'll have to look there too," Caleb said as Ab came walking up.

We all said our howdies and then Ab asked if Caleb and would take a walk with him.

When we were away from the camp Ab said, "Jase told you that I thought Winnie Wilson was flirting with me, didn't he?"

Caleb agreed that I had.

"This afternoon, Jase and Millie were telling me about this great place up the river where they had taken a bath."

Caleb and I both nodded.

"Winnie must have heard you telling me, or she just followed me. I went up there not long after I had talked to you, Jase. I stripped off and got into the water. I was in just about waist deep when Winnie came walking out of the bushes."

I thought I knew where this was going, but I was listening intently.

"She walked over to the bank and said, 'It sure is a nice day for taking a bath.' I didn't know what to say, so I kept my mouth shut. I know my mouth had to fall open when she started removing her clothes and hanging them on a bush. I told her to get her clothes back on and get out of there until I finished. She just laughed and continued undressing."

"Oh shit," Caleb said.

"Oh shit is right. When she was completely naked, she just stood there on the bank for a few minutes. I kept trying to talk her into getting dressed, but she just ignored me. Finally, as she started into the water, she told me she'd like to wash me and she'd like for me to wash her."

"What did you do?"

"I waited until she was in the water almost as far as I was and I got out of there as quickly as I could. I grabbed up my clothes and boots and ran off about a hundred yards before I stopped to put them on."

Caleb and I broke out laughing and when Ab started to look a little angry, I said, "Ab, we're not laughing at the situation. We're laughing because we're picturing you running, naked as a jay bird, clutching your clothes."

Ab had to smile. "Okay, so what do we do about this?" he asked.

"You're the wagon master," Caleb said. "What do you think we should do about this?"

"Caleb, I don't have a clue as to what we should do. I guess the first thing we should do is tell Jeff Wilson."

"I agree," Caleb said. "I don't know how he's going to react, but we have to tell him. After that, I don't know either. A lot depends on what he wants to do."

We talked for a while longer, but we couldn't come up with anything else we could do until we had told Jeff. Ab decided that tomorrow was going to be a day of rest and said that he hoped we'd get something worked out before we had to be traveling again.

Caleb went off to find Jeff. Ab didn't think he should show up around Jeff's camp until after Jeff had been told and I wanted to get back to my wives.

After we were snuggled in bed, I told Millie and Lettie about what had happened when Ab went to take his bath. Both of my beauties took a giggling fit that I thought was going to go on all night.

When they'd get themselves calmed down, one of them would start thinking of Ab running away and she'd start giggling again. That would get the other one going as well.

June 3, 1845

We were still sound asleep when Caleb banged on the side of our wagon the next morning. I roused myself enough to ask who it was.

"Get up and get dressed, Jase," he said. "I need you to witness something and I need you right now."

I was getting dressed before he had finished speaking. When I got outside, I asked him what was going on.

"You, me, and Jeff are going to be inside Ab's tent when Winnie comes by this morning. We're going to listen as Ab talks to her about what happened yesterday."

I figured that made sense. "When I told Jeff about this last night, it seemed like he wasn't sure he believed me. I had the feeling he thought Ab might have been making it up, so I suggested this."

"Okay. Do you think she'll come by?"

"I think so and Ab thinks so. I hope so, because it's going to be hard to convince Jeff if she doesn't."

Jeff was very grim faced when he joined us. He probably didn't say five words before we were all inside Ab's tent where we had to be quiet.

Ab got his cook fire going and was sipping on his first cup of coffee when Winnie came by. "Good morning, Ab," she said.

"Good morning, Winnie. Could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure. Is this about yesterday?" she asked as she walked over beside him.

"Yes. Winnie, I wanted to apologize for running away from you. I was afraid that if I let you get too close to me, with both of us naked, I wouldn't be able to control myself."

"I didn't want you to control yourself, Ab."

"But, you're a married woman."

"The man I'm married to isn't worth the powder and lead it'd take to shoot him. Jeff doesn't know how to take care of a woman. I think you do. Besides that, your equipment looks much better than Jeff's."

I felt Jeff stiffen beside me, so I laid my hand on his shoulder. When he looked at me I just shook my head.

"Well, in that case, I'm very sorry I ran away from you yesterday."

"If we're staying in camp today, we could try it again," Winnie said.

"That might be fun," Ab said.

"Why don't you meet me back at the same place at nine o'clock. I really would like for you to wash me all over."

"Okay, Winnie. I'll see you then."

"You'll see every bit of me," she said with a giggle as she walked off.

When she was gone, Ab opened the tent flap and we all got out. "Well, do you believe Ab now?" Caleb asked Jeff.

"Yeah, I believe him. What should we do now?"

"I think we should catch her in the act of trying to seduce Ab," Caleb said. "I think we should hide out and see what she does when Ab comes up. Right now, she could say she was just teasing and you'd never know for sure."

We all agreed we'd meet at the pool at 8:30 and be in hiding when Winnie showed up. "Jase, I think you should bring Millie, Lettie, and Tess along. I think we need some women for witnesses as well," Caleb said.

When I got back to our wagon, the women were fixing breakfast. I let Millie, Lettie and Tess know what was going on and told them we'd like for them to go with us as witnesses. All of them agreed.

The women and I actually got to the swimming hole around eight o'clock. We looked around until we found a place all of us could hide where we could see and hear everything that was going on.

Jeff and Caleb showed up right at 8:30 and we all went into the hiding place. Winnie showed up just before nine and she quickly stripped and went into the water. She soaped herself and had just finished rinsing herself off when Ab came and stood on the bank.

"Hi, Ab," Winnie said. "Get naked and get in the water, Honey."

"I thought you might like to undress me," Ab said.

"I think I would like that," Winnie said with a grin. She got out of the water, as naked as the day she was born. When she started undoing the laces on Ab's tunic, we all stood up and walked out into the open.

Winnie screamed, then she said, "Oh, Jeff, I'm so glad you showed up. I think he was going to rape me."

"Get your clothes on, Winnie. We've been hiding in the bushes here since before you got into the water."

Winnie was crying as she got dressed. She was still crying as Jeff gripped her upper arm and led her off to their wagon.

So, what happens now?" Lettie asked as we were heading back for our wagon.

"I have no idea," I said. "If you were Jeff, what would you do?"

"First off, let me say that what we're doing is nothing like what Winnie was doing," Millie said. "Winnie was cheating on her husband. The three of us decided together that we wanted a three way marriage. None of us are cheating because we are all in agreement that this is what we want."

Lettie and I both agreed. "I don't know what I'd do with her if I was Jeff. I know I'd never be able to trust her again."

"So, what are Jeff's options?" I asked.

"Well, he can tell her to go to hell and leave her at the next settlement or trading post," Lettie said.

"Do they have any kids?" Millie asked.

"I think they have one little girl," I said. "Ab said she's around nine or ten."

"So, what happens to the little girl if Jeff leaves Winnie?" Millie asked.

"Well, I suppose Jeff would raise her," I said.

When we got back to the wagon, John was waiting for us. Tess filled him in on everything that had gone on. We sat around and talked for a while. I was really enjoying it, because I had an arm around Millie and my other arm around Lettie.

The girls were getting ready to start lunch when we heard a shot, far off in the distance. "Well, someone bagged some game," John said. A few minutes later, there was another shot.