Chapter 7

"Is that little vixen of mine bothering you?" Pris asked.

I had to laugh.

"She is coming on a little strong, Pris. I love her though, so I don't mind. My wives and I agreed we'll let her kiss and cuddle all she wants, but we won't let her do anything more until she's fifteen. Maybe by then she'll have completely forgotten about me."

"That's not gonna happen, Jase," Pris grinned. "That girl has it bad for you. If you said the word, she'd have her drawers off and her legs spread, in less than thirty seconds."

"You sure don't hold anything back,, do you, Pris?" I laughingly asked.

"Not when I'm with a good friend. Jase, I consider you and your wives and Tess and John to be the best friends I've ever had. I know that if Wanda does manage to trip you, then get under you before you hit the ground;, you'll marry her, and take care of her. I want you to know that if that happens, I won't put the blame on you."

"Pris, Wanda is as pretty as a spring sunrise. She's loving and caring and giving, and an all around fine young woman. My whole family loves her. If the need arises, we'll go ahead and marry her, but I still won't have sex with her until she's fifteen."

"If she sets her mind to it, I don't know if you can keep from it, Jase."

"There are lots of ways to make a woman happy without actually having intercourse," I said.

Pris giggled then asked, "Would you believe I never knew that, until I met Ab?"

"That's really more than I needed to know, Pris. I'm glad you're happy with Ab, though. He's a good man."

"That he is. You know why Wanda is going so overboard right now, don't you? She's jealous of Eve."

"I thought it might be something like that," I said with a laughed. "Would you mind if I held your daughter on my lap and kissed her and petted on her this afternoon, Pris?"

Pris linked her arm through mine, and smiled.

"No, I wouldn't mind. It might help to reassure her. I was a little hesitant at first, when she fell for you. You already have three wives. I've seen how you treat your wives, though., so if you treated Wanda just the way you treat the others, neither she nor I should have any complaints."

When we got back inside the house, I took a seat over by the fireplace to warm up. Millie moved over beside me, so I whispered that Pris thought I should reassure Wanda. Millie smiled and nodded.

"Wanda, could you come over here for a minute?" I asked.

Wanda looked a little puzzled as she walked over to stand in front of me. I took her hand and pulled her down on my lap. Her grin spread clear across her pretty face, as she snuggled in with my arms around her.

We sat there for several minutes, then I nuzzled her ear and whispered, "I want a kiss."

She turned her face up to me and I gave her a gentle, loving kiss. She sighed as she snuggled back in. We sat that way most of the afternoon, with Wanda either on my lap, or between Millie and me, with our arms around her.

Wanda helped Pris with supper, and it was great as usual. Shortly afterwards, Wanda and Pris disappeared for a while. I told Ab about our wolf problem, and he said he'd been fighting them ever since he'd been here. He was impressed that we had fourteen hides hanging in our house.

When Wanda and Pris came back, Pris looked at me and winked. Wanda came over to Millie and me, and asked if we'd take a walk with her. Once we were dressed for the weather and outside the house, Wanda got between Millie and me and held our hands.

She said, "I told Mom I'd like to come and live with you guys. She said it was up to you."

"Wanda, it's still almost two years until we said we'd marry you," Millie said.

"Mom said she talked to Jase, today and he said you'd marry me now, but he just wouldn't have intercourse with me until I'm fifteen," Wanda said.

Millie looked over at me and I shrugged and said, "Pris has a big mouth. I told her 'if it was necessary', we'd do that."

Millie grinned and said, "I think one of us here thinks it's 'necessary'."

"What do you think, Honey?" I asked.

"I don't see how it could hurt anything. We've all agreed we'll marry her in two years, anyway. Do you think you could be married to her and not have sex with her for two years?"

"I didn't say we wouldn't have sex with her. I said I wouldn't have intercourse with her. I reminded Pris there are many ways a man can make a woman feel good without having intercourse."

"It helps that you have three other wives who are willing to have intercourse with you at any time," Millie giggled.

"There is that," I said with a big grin.

"Would she sleep with us and be there when the rest of us are making love?" Millie asked.

"That would be up to Wanda. I don't see anything wrong with that, though."

"I'd like that," Wanda said.

"Wanda, honey, we can give it a try. If Emma or Letty object, we'll have to rethink it, but I don't think they will. This wouldn't have been brought on because Eve is living with us, would it?"

Wanda blushed and said, "Well, maybe it was, a little."

"Honey, we love you whether Eve is living with us or not," Millie said.

"I know that, Millie. It just doesn't seem fair, though. that she gets to live with you, when I love you all as much as I do, and I wasn't living with you."

We all stopped walking, and Millie and I hugged Wanda.

After we were back inside, Pris said she'd make up a pallet for Millie and me. and that Abby, Eve and Mary, could sleep with Wanda and Lelah. Wanda promptly informed her that she'd be sleeping with Millie and me. Pris winked at me again. and Ab just smiled and shook his head, knowing that objecting was useless...

When we got in bed, Wanda snuggled in between Millie and me. We both kissed her goodnight, then Wanda took my hand and pulled it up under her tunic, where it was cuddling her wonderful little breasts. I'll swear they had doubled in size since I'd seen them this fall. Now, they were about the size of a small peach cut in half.

Millie leaned up on her elbow, then slipped her other hand under Wanda's tunic too. She touched my hand and moved her hand over so she was cupping Wanda's other breast. Wanda let out a gasp, then a sigh. We all went to sleep that way.

November 24, 1845

Wanda was grinning from ear to ear when I woke up. I don't think any of us had moved during the night. Millie and I were still holding Wanda's lovely little breasts.

"I could get used to this," Wanda whispered.

I kissed her good morning, and we just laid there waiting for Millie to wake up. Pris smiled at me as she passed us going to the kitchen., so I told Wanda to stay where she was for a while, and followed Pris.

Pris had just put the coffee pot on when I got to the kitchen, and had settled down at the table. I took a seat opposite her. and said, "Wanda told us last night that you said she could live with us if we were okay with it. Is that really how you feel?"

"That girl has a mind of her own, Jase; and she's as stubborn as a mule. It wouldn't do me any good to oppose her, and it probably wouldn't do you any good to oppose her, either. It's not what I had planned for her, but being with you guys is probably the best thing that could happen to her."

"That was pretty much what I was thinking, too. We can make her happy and we can make her feel loved. If at any time between now and the time she's fifteen, she changes her mind, then she won't have lost anything."

Pris smiled and said, "I'm not sure about that, Jase. Most men wake up in... shall we say... a state of readiness? Don't be too surprised if you wake up some morning, and she's taking advantage of that state of readiness."

"I'll tell her that if she does, she's on her way home to you that same day," I said.

"Don't tell her that, Jase. Look, I was only a year older than Wanda, when my first husband and I were together for the first time. I don't expect my daughter to have any more willpower than I did."

"I'll talk to Millie about it. We all love Wanda, and none of us want to hurt her. If you're okay with it, we'll be taking her with us when we leave."

Pris nodded and said, "You're going to stay another night, aren't you?"

"We'd planned to. Eve and Mary seem to like it here; and I know Abby does."

"Mary is a little doll," Pris said. "Eve seems like a fine young woman. It's hard to believe that her father was the Reverend Green."

"Yeah, she's nothing like her father. Nothing like her brother either, for that matter. He'll be lucky to survive the winter if he keeps calling Tess a half-breed, or a squaw."

Pris broke into a fit of giggles.

When she finally calmed down, she said, "I sure wouldn't want Tess mad at me."

Eve picked that time to walk in. "I'm afraid my brother isn't very bright, Pris. Anyone whose brain was working at all, would know you don't insult a family who has taken you in and is feeding you."

"You're right, there," Pris said. "What's the Justice boy like?"

"He's too young to have picked up any really bad ideas or habits," I said, just as Wanda came in and sat on my lap. Millie and Ab followed Wanda in.

"Is there anything that needs done around here that you could use an extra pair of hands for?" I asked him.

"Not that I can think of, Jase. We're pretty well set for the winter. Timmy is a big help, even on my trap line."

"Have you ever done any exploring on the other side of the big valley we came through to get to our places?" I asked him.

"Very little," Ab said. "I know there is one large valley off to the east, and it'd be great for cattle. But, there just isn't any place to build a ranch house, except right out in the open. We'd be old men before we could get trees to grow up enough to protect you from the winter winds and summer storms."

"Where's it located?"

"It's about half way between here and your place. Stop in and take a look at it on your way home."

"We may do that. Not that we don't like the valley we're in or anything like that. I just kinda like to know what's around me."

"So, are you taking my little girl here with you?" Ab asked.

"She wants to go with us, and Pris says it's okay with her. Unless you object, I guess we will."

"You have my blessing, Jase. Just treat her well."

Wanda came over and hugged Ab, then kissed him on the cheek.

The one good thing about winter on a farm or ranch is that there's not a lot that has to be done. If there's a lot of snow, you have to check on your horses and cattle to see that they can get to their graze; but so far, we hadn't had any snow this winter at all.

After Ab got back from checking his traps, and we all just spent the day relaxing and talking about what we were going to be doing next spring. Wanda and Eve had known each other on the wagon train. They hadn't spent any time together because of the Reverend Green. Now that Wanda had established her position in the family, she opened up to Eve. and they got off by themselves, and spent a lot of the day talking.

Of course, Wanda did spend a lot of time on mine or Millie's laps as well. Pris would smile indulgently once in a while. Wanda never seemed to notice her mother or Ab watching her.

We had the same sleeping arrangements that night.

November 25, 1845

We left early this morning, when Ab took off to run his traps. This time Wanda was behind me, and Eve was behind Millie. Abby and Mary were still sharing the other horse as well.

The air had a real chill to it this morning, and before we were half way home, we started to see some snow. There wasn't a lot, but it made it seem even colder than it was.