Chapter 2

SALLY

I felt better after talking with Tammy. I was really confused with what he said about a boyfriend — what was that all about? And then Tammy told her about what Hank said: "I'm takin' over the ranch management from Jake and I will move in to that big old house after Jake moves out.

What was Jake going to do? Where was he moving? That damn cowboy!

I had to admit I was having feelin's for him. I think I was just mad at myself for drinkin' all those beers. And then hearin' him sing that awful song. I thought that was what he thought of me. I didn't know what to think now.

When I went to the doctor this morning she told me what I already knew — I was gonna have another baby. I knew it was Jake's — I hadn't been with anyone since I kicked that cheatin' louse of a husband out year 'fore last.

I had to admit to myself that my life was purdy well screwed up. I had my babies though... and the new one I knew I already loved. They came first and I had to protect them.

Later Tammy came by and I told her what the doctor had said. She was so excited — I'd already told her I was sure about the baby — that she liked to peed her panties.

We started planning the party. She didn't know any more about what Jake was going to do but she was sure he would be there. I had to let him know somehow that I didn't have a boyfriend. I wanted to let him know that I liked him more than I let on. I guess I'd just have to see what happened.

Then Tammy dropped the shocker on me:

"Honey, Hank proposed to me last night! And I... well, I said yes. I'm gonna live with him in that big ranch house. Except for the kitchen and dining room the first floor will be offices and we have the second floor for ourselves. The third floor is ours if we want it, you know, if the family gets bigger."

She looked at me and shyly looked away, "Sally, Hank asked me if I wanted kids? I'm so excited. I love your two and... and I think I'll make a good momma. Don't you think I will, honey?"

I gave her a big hug, "Sure Tammy. My twins love you 'most as much as they do me."

We had some coffee and something looked like it was bothering her. Finally I had to ask.

"Sally, when I talked to Hank this mornin', he said Jake and a couple of the hands were moving Jake's stuff out and picking his clothes and things up from his place in town and out to the old ranch house. Oh, honey, I guess Jake's moving!"

"Did Hank say when... or... where?"

"No, honey, he didn't. He did say that Jake would be there for the party. He also asked Hank if he could quietly make sure you didn't bring your boyfriend. What boyfriend is he talking about? You don't have time to see anyone. I think Hank is as confused as I am."

"I don't know, Tammy. Unless — he can't believe that Timmy is my boyfriend! Oh, God. He can't believe that, can he?"

We talked more on the party and got it all figured out.

The next day I got a huge bouquet of two-dozen roses with a letter from Jake. The flowers were beautiful but the note made me sad. The words tugged at my heart and I cried a little. I admitted to myself that I liked him a lot — maybe more than a lot. I had to find a way to see him more, to find out if we had anything more than that one night and the dancing in common. And he didn't know about Bobby and Missy, either. Maybe he didn't like kids.

I debated not taking Timmy to the party but it seemed it might be fun to introduce him to Jake and see his shock. I decided to leave the kids with my dad so Jake wouldn't get hit with too much at once. Tammy had a friend that was going to be a DJ for the party — maybe I could get Jake to dance with me.

The day of the party dawned sunny with a hint that it would be a little cooler — well, 'round here in the summer the low nineties seems cooler - than it had been.

Tammy was already out there. She stayed over with Hank the night before so she could get everything set up. I wanted to go out early but she said she was okay. I called Timmy and asked him to pick me and the twins up in time to drop them off at dad's ranch and get to the party 'bout eleven.

When we got there the place was deserted — there was no one 'round. Then Timmy saw a sign that said to drive on up the hill. When we got there we found about thirty cars parked and there was this huge white house sitting there. There were a couple of big tents and a band was playing. I looked at Tim, totally mystified, but he just shook his head and opened the door for me. I swear I could see a little smirk at the corners of his mouth.

Than we started walking to the back of the house where all the people were... just as Jake came out a side door, almost bumping into us. I froze up and just stared at him... I didn't know what to say.

JAKE

The deal I worked out with Jules was that each ranch manager got a decent bonus; they would get one per cent equity in their ranch for each year they showed a profit — up to ten per cent max — and would get five per cent of the profit on the ranch they managed every year. I basically got the same thing except it was for all three ranches and any additional ranches we planned on buying. Jules particularly wanted me to find a couple well-located hay farms so we could grow our own.

For the houses each ranch manager would own their house if they stayed ten years. This was a great incentive for me since I would get the big house. My bonus was pretty good so I wanted to make this a big party; sorta let people know who we were. I talked to Jules about it and he liked the idea — he said he would stop by himself for a couple of hours. He had some stuff in the safe he wanted to take with him. He said I could expense all the costs such as food, drinks and tents. I had to pay for the bands myself but I was more than happy to do that.

We had everything set up: there were two tents, one for food and the other with a big dance floor. I talked a couple of kids from the local high school swim team to volunteer as lifeguards. The bands got there at ten-thirty and would work half-hour on and a half-hour rest. In the middle of the day I would give both bands an hour break and had a local Mariachi group coming in to play for that time.

I was doing a good job of delegating so I had some time on my hands. I saw the dust from Timmy's car coming out so I stood just inside the side door they would have to pass. I wanted to catch Sally unawares and kinda keep her off balance all afternoon. I noticed that the bag she brought with her was really small so I was hoping for great things in the swimsuit department.

When they were just about even I opened the door and stepped out quickly. Sally was as startled as I expected her to be so I stepped close and kissed her on the cheek and said, "Hi, Sally. Welcome to the ranch... again."

She turned at least as red as her hair.

I put my hand out to shake with her brother and welcomed him, "Hi, Tim. It's great to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, Jake. By the way, we have loan approval so you and Hank can go ahead and buy those cattle."

Sally was standing there looking at one of us, then the other. She looked totally confused. "But you guys don't... wait... do you two know each other?"

"Sure, Sally. My boss said Hank and I could each run a hundred head of cows with our own brand. Hank and I decided to throw in together and our brand is the Circle S/T."

Hank and I had on identical cowboy shirts with a logo of a circle with S/T in the middle. I pointed to the logo and told her, "This is our brand; we've already registered it and we're going to look for cattle next week. Hank's throwing in the feed store and we're renaming it the Circle S/T too. We met with Tim a couple of times this week to get financing for the cattle. Tim's a great guy and you should be proud to have him for a brother."

I took her arm before she could ask — or figure out that the S/T stood for Sally/Tammy. "Come on back and look at the set up." As we came 'round the corner, I pointed out the tents — the band was already playing — and I showed her the swimming pool. There were already a number of adults and a half-dozen kids splashing 'bout.

I steered her down to the tent with the dance floor. The band was on a small stage in the middle of one side against the tent wall. Without giving her a chance to say anything I nodded to the bandleader and they switched to Jim Reeve's classic, "Welcome to my World."

I started waltzing with her and she tried to pull away and say something. I leaned over and gently pressed my lips on hers and whispered in her, "Just dance and listen to the song."

She relaxed a little and the lead singer started with a great voice for the song:

"Welcome to my world won't you come on in.
Miracles I guess still happen now and then.
Step into my heart leave your cares behind.
Welcome to my world built with you in mind."

Sally relaxed and put her head on my shoulder and I could feel her body moving with gentle shakes as she started crying. I'd hoped that I understood women enough to know that this might happen so I had asked the band to keep playing slow waltzes until we left the floor. By the third song she lifted her head and looked at me with a small smile — I wiped the tear tracks away with my thumb and then we both focused more on the dancing. We were really good together.

The day went along great. Food was always available and a big steer was on the spit cooking for dinner. After dinner we were planning on a big dance. The lifeguards were going to stay on and baby sit so the parents could dance.

I did get a chance to swim with Sally. She looked great in the small two-piece suit she'd had in her bag. Her stomach looked like someone had taken a paintbrush dipped in a bucket of freckle paint and flipped it across her body. There was a sprinkling of freckles on the upper slope of her breasts also and I seemed to 'member they were in other, you know... intimate places.

I was able to arrange with Tammy to set up a table for her, Hank, Sally and I. Later Timmy found a girl that was a teller at his bank and joined us. When the first band took a break I went up to the stage and welcomed everyone. I told them about the ranch and the changes we were making. I emphasized that we would be buying supplies as much as we could locally and would be looking for three or four more cowboys over the next few months.

I nodded to Hank and walked back to sit down with Sally. Hank pulled Tammy along with him to the stage. He tossed his hat back to the table, grabbed the mike and got down on his knees.

"Tammy, I've loved you from afar for a long time but never had the nerve to tell you." He reached into his watch pocket and pulled out a ring. Taking her hand he put the ring on her finger. "Tammy, I tell you before all these friends and neighbors of ours that I truly love you and ask for your hand in marriage."

She fell down on him - knocking him over - and started kissing him. I guess everyone took that for a yes. The band started playing a fast two-step and they started to dance. After a minute, I took Sally's hand and pulled her onto the floor. A bit later everyone joined in.

It was a lot of fun - even though the young cowboys kept cutting in on me - so I only wound up with three or four dances with her. When the band took its break and the other was tuning up, I took Sally out for some fresh air.

We walked a little and I took her hand. After trying to tug it away, unsuccessfully, she gave up and let me hold it.

She stopped and looked up at me. "I see now from what you said that you are going to be running several ranches and that Hank will be working for you. I think you are a good man for that and I know you'll do a great job." She looked a bit worried and said, "Tammy said you were moving. Is it going to be so far away?"

I looked down at her and something in her eyes made my heart skip a beat. "Wal, honey (I drawled this, like a true Texan) I reckon it ain't so far. How far would you come to visit me?" I said this in a teasing way not really expecting an answer.

I turned her toward the house and told her, "This is our new house honey. What do you think?"

"Wow! You're gonna live here? Wait... what do you mean it's our house?" She seemed to be having trouble concentrating.

"Oh, did you think I meant me and you? I'm sorry. I just meant that I planned on having a passel of kids; I mean this is such a big house. So by 'our' I meant the kids and I. Let me show you the house."

Taking her arm again I walked her up to the porch. As I opened the door and pulled her through, I leaned over and whispered in her ear, "... and all the kids will have flaming red hair."

This brought out a serious flush to her face and her neck, gosh I wonder how far the blush goes?

"Did anyone ever tell you that you are really pretty when you blush like that?"

Of course, that changed the red to scarlet. I walked her through the house. There were six bedrooms each with a bath. There was a separate baby room with blue wallpaper decorated with pink baby animals. For this room instead of a bath, there was what Jules had called "baby changing central." It had a large padded table with flip up, locking sides, lots of storage, a large sink and a heavy duty washer/dryer combo suitable for washing anything.

The really neat thing was a baby bathtub. It was a claw-footed tub in the old style sittin' on a platform making the tub at the perfect height for bathing a baby. I could see Sally lustin' after that.

If she was entranced by the baby room she was shocked by the kitchen. It was a very large room with commercial type equipment, all in stainless steel. There was a large butcher-block table (four foot by six foot with a large sink and a disposal). There was a large six-burner stove and two large ovens plus a warming oven. Add the two large built in refrigerators and the walk-in freezer and the very large walk in pantry, it was equipped to feed an army. Copper pots and pans of all sizes and copper accessories were hanging from a rack over the butcher-block.

The final touch was a built-in wine storage unit that held 128 bottles — which Jules graciously said I could have. There was also a large wine cellar in the basement fully stocked. I never did say how many oil wells Jules had.

Topping everything off was a huge heavy oak table with twelve oak chairs scattered 'round. This was in an oversize bay window with an almost overwhelming view of the ranch.

I thought Sally was gasping a little so I showed her the master bedroom. Well, she did like it. The bed was big (huge), the room was almost too large, and there were two bathroom/sitting room suites — one on each side of the bedroom. She took off and wandered 'bout by herself for a while. I waited a little and found her in the ladies side walk-in closet (I knew it was the ladies side 'cause the bathroom had a bidet) and caught her pulling out one of the built-in cedar-lined shelves and rubbing her fingers over the soft texture of the wood.

I walked up behind her — she looked lost in thought — and nuzzled her neck with my lips. In a quiet whisper as I kissed her ear, I asked her, "Is this the closet you want to use?"

Turning a new shade of red, one I hadn't seen before, she ducked under my arm and ran from the bedroom. I took her down to the huge basement. It was set up as an audio-visual center and all the teens, there must have been over twenty of them, were dancing to some kind of loud music... I think it was music.

We went out and danced some more but finally the evening was over. When I walked her back to her car, I asked her if she had a good time. She just nodded.

Finally I screwed up the courage and asked, trying to be casual about it, "Would you like to go dancing next Saturday?"

She looked up at me with a too serious look that made me think a rejection was coming but she finally said, "Okay, yeah, okay that'd be great. Only... well, you have to come over for dinner at my place first. I make a mean brisket."

I nodded that that was fine with me and then she surprised me by standing on her toes and kissing me briefly but firmly on the lips. Leaving me a little shaken, she jumped in the car and Timmy drove her away.

SALLY

I'd had it all rehearsed: I'd introduce Timmy as my brother right away. That should knock the wind out of Jake's sail. I don't know how he got the idea that Timmy was my boyfriend.

I was startled when Jake came out of that side door. When he kissed my cheek and said that about "welcome to the ranch... again," I was flustered and my plan went out the window. When he started talking to Timmy like an old friend... I became really confused.

Jake did that all afternoon — kept me off balance, that is. I thought he was moving away but he was staying here — and in that big house. I was impressed when I found out that he was running all the ranches for his boss. I was so proud of him.

Then he got me on the dance floor and the band played that song by Jim Reeves... I lost it for a while. I had been fighting my emotions that made me want to spend more time with Jake. I'd blamed him for what happened at the house but it was really both our faults. I just got so mad at him for singing that song — about me being only a one. Tammy said I made too much of that; it was only Jake being a typical man and singing in the shower. Then the whole panty episode threw me off.

When I heard that song while Jake was holding me close:

"Step into my heart, leave your cares behind.
Welcome to my world, built with you in mind."

Well, my heart just dissolved. Later when we went swimming I was kinda shy about wearing such a skimpy bathing suit. I did like the way he was looking at me though.

It would be like that all day; I'd get comfortable then he'd knock me for a loop. The worst was when he said that about "our" house. I'd wondered if I'd misunderstood him and he went on about the red-haired babies. Darn... little did he know!

I loved the house. The kitchen was incredible, almost intimidating. I could see giving my new baby a bath in that tub. Then that bedroom: the bed alone was bigger than my bedroom at my apartment. Then I went to look at the beautiful bathroom. It was so lovely. Then I almost got lost in the walk-in closet — I was picturing my clothes hanging there and realizing it would still look empty. Jake seemed to have this sense of timing. While I was in the closet daydreaming when he snuck up behind me and asked if that was the one I wanted.

I was excited about fixing him dinner. From what Tammy said he still had no idea about the twins. I was thinking it would be fun to show him my babies... but what if he didn't love them? He had to. He kept on about my red hair and my kids had hair the same as mine.

Tammy came over the next day all excited about marrying Hank.

"I'm moving right in, honey. I don't want to give him a chance to change his mind. We're getting married the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Hank wants to have another big shindig and we will have both the ceremony and the reception at the ranch."

We talked a while about all that had happened — she was as stunned as I was about how fast things had happened.

She took my hand and said, "Sally, you know that Jake loves you, don't you?"