Chapter 35: Mary's Christmas

I got home a couple of days before Christmas Eve, and spent a little of the pre-Christmas time with mom and dad, most of it at the ranch. Somehow, mom didn't seem to notice I wasn't wearing a bra, and I tried not to wear anything that would make her notice.

I told Aunt Bessie and Beth all about the study group and our guys and the horses and the business. I had brought a folder of copies Alex made of Will's drawings, the nudes of me, some of the erotic stuff. I gave Aunt Bessie a color copy of one of Will's nudes of me as a Christmas present. I had another present for her I could let mom see.

Beth liked the erotic pictures best. Aunt Bessie loved all of it, especially the horses. The drawings of The Bay especially. We talked about how to get him over his fear of ropes, and spent hours talking about every aspect of Western Pleasure Riding. I told them a lot about Will and his love of horses and erotica. I promised to bring him to the ranch.

Dan arrived home. Seems he's changed his mind a bit and instead of engineering or whatever, he's planning to be a working rancher after all. The reason is Consuela Hermanos, just over five feet of Hispanic beauty from New Mexico. He's crazy about her. She was due to come to the ranch for Christmas with her folks. She'd already been there at Thanksgiving with her folks and Beth had come to know and really like her. So either Beth will run Bessie's ranch and Dan will end up on the Hermanos spread or something, but it's a positive thing all around.

Mom and dad and I went to Aunt Bessie's for Christmas dinner. We met the Hermanoses, who were good-looking, comfortable ranch people. Christmas dinner was the family, mom and dad and I, los tres Hermanos, Jesse and the hands.

Consuela was just what Dan had said, tiny and lots of fun. I liked her instantly and we talked together through dinner like a couple of magpies. When the hands left the table, Beth and I excused ourselves to do the dishes. Consuela came with us, started helping out like any good, ranch-raised girl. We chattered while we worked. Made me feel really good that Dan had found someone who would really fit into their life-style.

After the kitchen was cleaned up, Consuela said to Beth, "Did you mention to the boys that we might drop by?"

"Yes, I did. Mary? Want to see how Johnny, Manuel and Paul are feeling about now?"

I wanted nothing more, so we went out the kitchen door toward the bunkhouse. When we got there, the three guys were playing cards. Consuela took off her shirt. Beth and I stripped, too. When Consuela took off her jeans and panties, she was a dream.

"Cut the deck, guys," she said. "Alphabetical order — high man gets Beth for firsts. Second card gets me."

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying ourselves in front of the bunkhouse fire, on the sofa, or in one of their beds.

Late that evening, I drove home with mom and dad, went to sleep alone again. God, how I've come to hate that.

Three or four days after Christmas, I came back from a day at the ranch and climbed the stairs to my room. It was snowy and I was cold and tired from riding all afternoon. I wanted a long, hot shower. By the time I walked into my room I had my shirt half off. My mother was in my room, the folder of Will's drawings in her hand.

"Slut!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Whore!" her eyes were wild. She raised the folder of drawings, waved them at me.

"Ungrateful, disgusting bitch!" she raved. "I've spent my life trying to keep you clean..." she slammed the folder on the dresser, "and as soon as you get out of my sight you turn into the Whore of Babylon."