Chapter 21

June 4, 1845

I awoke with Abby still lying on top of me and a very amused Millie on one side of me. Lettie was still asleep.

"It looks like you've won another little girl's heart," Millie whispered.

"Yeah," I grinned. "She is a cutey, isn't she?"

"She certainly is. It makes me feel kind of funny that she's calling me Mama Millie when I'm only six years older than her. It does feel right though."

"I agree. I feel like her papa. You know, if she doesn't decide to go live with someone else, we have our first child."

"That's fine with me," Lettie whispered in my other ear.

I hugged Millie and Lettie closer. Our movement must have awakened Abby. I felt her stirring and we were all three looking at her when she opened her eyes.

"Good morning, Abby," I said.

"Good morning. I'm sorry I'm on top of you, papa. I got lonely during the night."

"That's okay. Are you hungry? Are you ready for some breakfast?"

"Yeah, I didn't feel much like eating yesterday. I'm hungry this morning though."

"Good. You get to help Millie, Lettie, and Tess fix breakfast."

Abby giggled and got up. She was as unselfconscious about being naked as Millie and I were when just the three of us were together. As she was getting dressed, Abby asked Millie, "Do you have any clothes like yours that would fit me?"

Millie told her she didn't, but I told her I'd check with mom and see if she brought any of Tess' old clothes.

After breakfast, I took off to scout ahead. I didn't know how far we'd make it that day because of crossing the big creek we had camped on. I was only about four miles from camp when I met up with a group of men heading in the other direction.

There were six men in the party. Between them they must have had twenty pack mules, most of them loaded with pelts. They stopped to talk for a few minutes and the leader told me they were heading to St Louis to sell their furs. He said they'd spent last winter trapping in the Columbia river area.

I asked him about the condition of the trail ahead and he said there was nothing really to worry about. I asked him to stop and talk with Ab for a few minutes and he said he would.

I didn't know how hard the creek crossing was going to be, so I ended up selecting a campsite that was only eight miles from where we had camped the night before. It was a good thing I did, because even that was almost more than we could do.

Abby was looking a little down as the women were fixing supper, so I asked her if she'd like to sit on my lap. She came over and snuggled in, so I put my arms around her and held her.

"Were you thinking about your ma and pa?" I asked.

"Yeah. I miss them. Being with you guys helps though."

"Well, we like having you with us."

"I've heard you all talking about me going to live with someone else. Are you going to make me live with someone else?"

"No, sweety. You can live with us for as long as you like. I would love to be your papa if you'll have me and Millie and Lettie would love to be your mamas."

"I'd like that, papa. I'd like to live with you for the rest of my life."

"Then that's where you'll live. Did you know we're gonna start a cattle ranch when we get to Oregon?"

"No. Is that where you raise lots of cattle?"

"Yep, and we'll let you ride a horse to help take care of the cattle."

"I like riding a horse. I rode behind Mama Millie all day today. Tomorrow I'll ride behind Mama Lettie."

"Before long, we'll let you have your own horse. Then you can ride by yourself."

"Really?"

"Yep. Really."

After dinner, Millie got me off to myself and said, "My monthly visitor finally arrived. I was thinking I could sleep under the wagon with Abby tonight. That way, you and Lettie could enjoy yourselves."

"You know you don't have to do that, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure Lettie will do the same for me when I'm capable again."

I pulled Millie close and kissed her like there was no tomorrow.

Lettie and I made good use of our time alone. I missed being cuddled between my two naked lovlies, but cuddling with one naked beauty was almost as good. This was the first time Lettie and I had even been alone together.

June 5, 1845

Lettie and I awoke at almost the same time. We kissed and told each other how much we loved each other. It was a very warm night and we were lying on top of the covers. Lettie had an arm and a leg draped over me and I was stroking her back and butt when we heard a giggle coming from the wagon box.

We looked up and there was Abby. "Good morning, Papa. Good morning, Mama Lettie," she said when she saw she had been discovered.

I didn't see any reason to panic and apparently Lettie didn't either. We both told her good morning. "Is Millie up?" I asked.

"She was still asleep a minute ago," Abby said.

"Why don't you wake her up, so you all can get breakfast started?"

Abby scurried down off the wagon box. Lettie and I looked at each other then started laughing. "Even when we have privacy, we don't have privacy," I said.

"She was bound to see us naked sometime, Love, so don't let it bother you," she said.

"I'm not. At least I didn't have a hardon."

"I could give you one really quick," Lettie said as she fondled my member.

"You certainly could, you little minx," I said before I pulled her into an earth shattering kiss.

When we finally broke the kiss, we decided we'd better get up before our new daughter decided to see what was taking us so long.

We only made ten miles for the day, but we camped on the other side of the Platte. We reached the crossing just after our nooning and Ab decided that there would be plenty of time to cross before we made camp. He was right. This was one of the easiest crossings we made.

I was told years later that the channel had deepened at this crossing and that wagons had to be floated across. One man told me that it had taken them three days to get all of their wagons across.

Abby claimed my lap while the women were fixing supper again. She didn't have much to say. She just wanted held. That was fine with me.

Millie and Abby slept under the wagon again.

June 6, 1845

Today was a pretty good for travel, although it did rain for a while. We made sixteen miles. Since it was raining when we had finished supper, we all retired inside the wagon. We talked and cuddled until bedtime, then all of us slept in the wagon.

June 7, 1845

I passed Poison Springs early and I figured the wagons would be passing there around noon. Someone had put up a sign that said, "Poison Springs." I wasn't sure if the water was really poison, but I wouldn't let Sin drink there. Ab told me later that the water was good if it was settled, but if the mud on the bottom was stirred up, anything drinking from it would die.

I ended up selecting a place Ab told me was called Soap Springs for our camp. The ground around the spring was marshy, but otherwise it wasn't so bad. There was a nice grove of cottonwood trees, so we had plenty of firewood.

I hadn't seen any buffalo dung since we crossed the Platte, so I assumed we were coming out of buffalo country. Ab later confirmed that. I guess that meant I'd have to start hunting again.

The country we were going through since we crossed the Platte has been very dry. The only water to be found was at the springs. Grass was also scarce. So far we had found enough that the animals weren't suffering.

June 8, 1845

We reached the Sweetwater River not long before noon. At this point, the Sweetwater is only about a hundred feet wide and not more than two or three feet deep. About a mile farther along, we came to Independence Rock.

We nooned there. Independence Rock is an oval outcrop of rock, that is a third of a mile long and about 700 feet wide. It stands well over a hundred feet high and is very smooth. I had never seen so many names in one place. It seemed like everyone who had ever come through here had painted or carved their names in the rock.

I got a chisel and a short handled sledge hammer out of the wagon and we carved our names in deep. I carved Jase Tackett, Millie Tackett, Lettie Tackett and Abby... Before I could carve in Abby's last name, she asked, "Jase, am I a Tackett now?"

"Do you want to be a Tackett?" I asked.

"Yes, I'd like that, Jase."

"Then Abby Tackett is what you'll be," I said, then I proceeded to carve it in the stone to make it official. Abby was grinning from ear to ear as she watched me carve it in.

After lunch, we went on about a mile and crossed the Sweetwater. The water here was about two feet deep at the deepest. Even with the long nooning and the river crossing, we made seventeen miles for the day. Ab said we'd follow the Sweetwater all the way into south pass.

Ab said that many people called Independence Rock the half way point on the trail to Oregon. He also said that if you got to Independence rock by the 4th of July you'd make it through the mountains before there was snow.

While the women were fixing supper, Abby came over and sat on my lap. She put her arms around me and leaned her head on my shoulder. I hugged her back and waited to see what she needed.

Abby was quiet for several minutes, then she said, "Papa, Bobby Lewis said that pa was a murderer because he shot ma and then shot himself. He said ma was a slut. What is a slut?"

I didn't know how to answer her, but I didn't want to lie to her. Finally, I just said, "A slut is a woman who does bad things."

"I can almost understand why pa shot ma. She's been awfully mean to us for a while. Why would he shoot himself, Papa. Didn't he think about me? He didn't know you were gonna take me in. Did he want me to die too?"

"Abby, sometimes people do things without thinking. I'm sure your pa didn't think about what would happen to him or to you when he shot your ma. He did it because he was mad about the way she was treating you and about some other things that had just come up."

"Bobby says she was trying to get Mr. Smith to have sex with her."

Oh God! Now what did I say? I decided that if I were Abby, I'd want people to be honest with me. "Yes, she was, Abby. Your pa found out about it and he was really mad."

"But, why did he shoot himself?"

"I'm sure that after he shot your ma, he realized he'd done a really stupid thing. He would have realized he would be punished for what he did."

I paused for a moment and Abby looked up at me with wide eyes, so I went on. "I'm not saying what he did was right, Honey. I can understand it though. If he had had to stand trial, a lot of attention would have fallen on you. More people would have known what happened."

"I think everyone knows what happened now," she said. "Bobby wasn't very nice about how he was telling me what had happened. Then he started calling pa a murderer and some other words that I don't know what they mean."

"I'll talk to his parents about it, Honey. I'm sure they'll make him stop."

"I don't think he's gonna say any more anyway, Papa. When he started calling pa names, I gave him a bloody nose. I was gonna do what pa said I should do and kick him in the ballocks, but he started crying and ran off."

Okay, I was trying to keep from laughing, but then Lettie, Millie, and Tess cracked up. I held off as long as I could, then I burst out too. John joined us and our whole family was laughing until the tears were running out of our eyes. I kissed Abby on both cheeks, her forehead, and then the end of her nose. "I love you, Abby," I said when I could speak again.

After we had all calmed down, Abby said, "I miss pa something terrible, but you make a good papa."

My heart melted. I don't care what would have happened or who might have been against it. Abby was ours now.

June 9, 1845

Ab says that during the spring runoff, the Sweetwater is so muddy that one man said he didn't know whether to swim it or plow it. At this time of year it was clear and tasted great. It was a little warmer than the Platte had been, but the Platte is muddy year round and it was only in the creeks that feed it that we could get drinking water.