Chapter 17

"You keep out of it, you little snot," the man said with venom.

I guess that or the fact that the girl was being manhandled got to Sam as well. "You wouldn't know what to do with her if she gave herself to you," Sam told the man. "I'm sure your pecker is smaller than my little finger, so you wouldn't do her any good if you could figure out where to put it."

A couple of men at another table started laughing, but the abuser and his cronies didn't think it was funny at all. The guy who started it all pushed the girl off his lap and she landed on her ass on the floor. He got to his feet and said, "Maybe I'll just have to show you how big my pecker is, bitch."

"Okay, that did it," I said to Andy. "It's not your fight, Andy. It's my wife that was insulted."

"The hell it ain't," Andy grinned. "Let's teach these bastards some manners."

When Andy and I stood up and turned toward their table, the girl was still on the floor and Sam and Cassie were still standing, glaring at the men. I heard one of the men say, "Oh, shit."

I looked at Andy and said in a loud voice, "There are five of them. What do you think?"

"That's just enough to make it interesting," he said with a ferocious grin.

The five men got to their feet and all of them faced Andy and me. Cassie ran to the girl and helped her out of the way.

"That was my wife you called a bitch," I said. "I think you should apologize to her right now."

"Go to hell," the man said.

"I guess we'll just have to take your apology out of your hide then," Andy said.

I'll give them credit. They weren't cowards. The man who had pinched the girl threw a roundhouse right that Andy blocked with his left forearm. The other man on our side of their table launched himself at Andy as well. Two of the men on the other side of their table came at me and the other started trying to work his way behind Andy.

Cassie let out a shriek like all the demons of hell and landed on the last man's back. Her arms were around his neck as she tried to choke him. He was trying to throw her off and was trying to pull her arms from around his neck when Sam kicked him in the nuts. He sounded like he was choking as he fell to the floor.

I landed an elbow in one man's stomach as the other guy landed a punch on my left cheek. I thought for a second I might go down, but then as the guy drew back to hit me again, I brought my knee up under the guy's chin whose stomach had been introduced to my elbow. He was out of the fight.

I ducked when the second man threw another punch, then I slapped him with my open hand on his left ear. I knew it had burst his eardrum, but it didn't slow him down as I figured it would.

He swung again, a left this time and caught me on the ribs. I felt like I had been kicked by a mule. He moved in close to try to grab me, so I stomped the arch of his foot, then as he reacted to that I hit him with my forearm across the throat. He went down and I looked to see if I could help Andy. Both of the men he had been fighting were on the floor as well.

The landlord had come running over by the time the first fist had been thrown. He had been screaming for us to stop. Now he turned his full attention on those left standing.

"I want you out of here immediately," he yelled.

"We have rented two rooms for the night and we intend to stay here," I said calmly.

"Like hell you will. You come in here and pick a fight with my regular customers and you think you're going to stay here. I'll get the constable if I have to."

"Sir," I said. "The man lying there assaulted your serving girl, then he cursed at my wife. When we asked for an apology, he threw the first punch. If you'd like to bring in the constable, we'd be happy to talk with him. I know several other patrons witnessed the altercation, so you should get their names as well, so they can tell him what they saw."

"The guys were just having a little fun with the serving girl. Your wife butted in and that's what caused the fight."

"You know, maybe you're right. Maybe we shouldn't stay the night here. I think you just bought our meal, since your regular customers spoiled our supper."

"You're going to pay for the meals," he said then he turned on the girl. "Sarah, get your ass busy in the kitchen."

"Just a minute, Miss," Andy said. "Are you indentured to this man?"

"No, sir," the girl said.

"Then I think you should come with us. You don't have to, but I don't think you're safe here."

"I couldn't do that, sir. He's my uncle."

"Do you want to live with him and work here?"

"No, sir, but my pap said I have to."

"Where's your pap now?"

"I don't know, sir. He went off right after my mam died. Uncle Marvin said pap said I have to stay with him."

"How old are you, girl?"

"I'm eighteen."

"Then you're old enough to make your own decisions. You don't have to do what your pap says and you don't have to stay with this man if you don't want to. Do you have any other relatives you could live with?"

"No, sir. I would like to get away from here though."

"You can come with us if you'd like. Sam and Cassie will look after you until you decide what you want to do."

"... Okay... Can I take my clothes?"

"You sure can," Sam said. "Pack up anything that's yours and we'll get out of here."

"You can't do that," the landlord said. "This girl owes me money. She can't leave until she pays me."

"What does she owe you money for and how much?" Andy asked him.

"She owes me ten dollars for food."

"Is that right, Miss?"

"I don't know, sir. I've lived and worked here for over a year."

"Has he paid you anything during that time?"

"No, sir."

I could tell Andy was getting angry again, so I stepped in. "Mr. Landlord, I really do think we need to talk to that constable. It appears you've been using this young lady as a slave. What does a serving girl make these days? Even at a dollar a week and board, you'd owe her over fifty dollars. Are you ready to settle her wages now?"

"All of you just get out of here now. Take the ungrateful wench with you."

He spun around and disappeared into the back room. Cassie said, "He called you Sarah. Is it okay to call you that?"

The girl nodded. "Okay, Sarah, Sam and I will go with you to get your things while Ed and Andy and the kids get our things out of our room." She turned to me and said, "We'll meet you in the stable."

The men on the floor had gotten up and left, one at a time while we were talking. We didn't think they would be any more trouble, but we were alert for it if they tried to be. All of us had gathered in the stable within a half an hour. Andy and I were almost finished packing and saddling.

After we were on the road, Sam introduced all of us to Sarah, who said her full name was Sarah Elizabeth Warren.

We ended up camping for the night after all. We didn't do much talking that evening. I think all of us were worn out.

Day 81 - Tuesday, July 20, 1847

I think Sarah was up before any of us the next morning. When I got up to take care of my personal business, I saw that she had a fire going and coffee brewed.

I came back from the bushes and sat down across from her. She was looking pensive, so I asked, "Are you having second thoughts about going with us?"

"No... Yes... I don't know. I've lived in that town all of my life. I don't know anywhere else or any other way to live. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself."

"For the time being, you can stay with us if you'd like," I said. "We are traveling though. We're planning to go on down into Virginia and maybe even further south than that before we head north again."

"Where's your home? Why are you traveling?"

I had to laugh when I thought about where our homes were. "Well, let's see," I said. "Mine and Sam's homes were in Michigan. Cassie's home was in Vermont. Mindy and Mandy's homes were in Boston. Tommy and Andy were from New Jersey. We're traveling mainly just to see the country and to meet people. We're also just kind of killing time."

"What do you mean, killing time?"

"Well, Sam is pregnant and is going to have our baby next March. We had planned on going to Oregon next spring and starting a ranch, but we're afraid the baby will be too young to travel at that time."

"If it's a couple of months old, it should be able to travel, especially if you've got Cassie and Mindy and Mandy to help take care of it."

"I guess you're right. We'll have to think about it. We had originally thought to spend the winter in St Louis or St Joseph or Independence, Missouri. That might still be a good idea. That way if we decided the baby could travel, we could go ahead and latch on to a wagon train."

"I've heard a lot of people talking about Oregon. It must be a great place to live. I almost wish I was going with you all."

"You can, if you'd like. I've always loved the name Sarah Beth. Would you mind if I called you Sarah Beth?"

"No. Mam called me that sometimes. I just might take you up on going to Oregon with you if it wouldn't be too much of a bother. I'll have to figure out a way to make some money first."

"Don't worry too much about money, Sarah Beth. We're pretty well set. I think for a while at least, you should just relax and enjoy yourself."

"That's what we do," Sam said as she came up behind me and gave me a hug from behind.

I pulled her around in my lap and kissed her good morning. Sam looked up at Sarah Beth afterwards and said, "See what I mean?"

Sarah Beth giggled and said, "Ed says you're expecting."

"That comes from enjoying ourselves too," Sam grinned.

"We were just talking about whether the baby would be able to travel if we decided to go on to Oregon next spring," I said.

"With everyone here to help me with her, I'm pretty sure she would be. After all, sitting in a wagon wouldn't be much different than sitting in a living room."

"If we had a wagon with springs, anyway," I said.

"Oh, yeah. Maybe we could buy a buckboard or something."

"Let's at least think about it after the baby is born and we find out what his or her health is like."

Cassie came out about them and the three women started breakfast. When Andy came out, Sarah Beth gave him a big smile. When we finished eating, we saddled up and packed up and hit the road.

During the day, Sarah Beth spent a lot of time riding behind Andy. They appeared to be in earnest conversation most of the time. Sam and Cassie both pointed it out to me on different occasions.

We were getting close to the Nation's Capitol when we stopped at an ordinary for the night. We ended up getting three rooms. Sarah Beth and M & M took one room. Andy and Tommy took another. My wives and I took the third.

When we were settled in our room and cuddled up in bed, Cassie said, "I think our big friend may be smitten."

"I'd say the feeling was mutual," Sam laughed.

"If they end up half as happy as we are, I'll say he's a lucky man," I said.

That earned me kisses from both of my wives. That led to some petting and eventually to me sliding my cock into my youngest wife's very wet pussy. She only let me take about three strokes before she said, "Do me from behind, honey," and pushed me toward the foot of the bed.