Chapter 34

Clem’s Friday morning news about Howard was interesting to me, mainly because it was right in line with the El Paso history I remembered. Here is what Clem told me.

After Howard and Braxton left me yesterday, instead of going to Howard’s ranch, they rode over to the mayor’s house. They took the mayor down to the railroad station and sent a telegram to the governor in Austin. Bo, the telegraph operator, related that the mayor asked Governor Hubbell to dispatch some Texas Rangers to El Paso, because Mexican criminal elements from both sides of the river were perpetrating crimes all over the county. As an example, he cited how Judge Howard had been kidnapped and held for ransom by Mexicans in San Elizario.

This morning, the governor wired Mayor Cosgrove that he was sending a couple of senior Rangers to check out the situation. One thing I was going to try to change about history was the fate of the Ranger Company that the two officers from Fort Stockton formed while they were in El Paso. It was the only Ranger unit to ever surrender in Texas history. I was determined to change that, somehow.

I worked and worried my ass off all that day, trying to ensure our grand opening went off with out a hitch. Well, not actually all day, because at two in the afternoon after I had worked through lunch, Belle dragged me back to the apartment. I fussed and complained all the way, but she was adamant that I get a few minutes rest.

I had no sooner closed the door behind us than three very naked women grabbed me.

“Keep him here until at least five o’clock, girls, I don’t care if you have to tie him up,” Belle instructed just before she slipped back out the door.

I was laughing and Maria, Miranda and Connie were all giggling like crazy as they tugged me into the bedroom. I started mock resisting the closer I got to the bed. That turned out to be not the wisest idea I ever had, because I heard Connie give one of those war whoops and with my souped up peripheral vision, saw her jump up on the chair for my writing desk. The next thing I knew, her little Comanche ass landed on my back and knocked me face down onto the bed. Before I could right myself, Connie wrapped her thighs around my neck in a leg scissors.

Connie probably weighed a buck fifteen at the most, but she had powerfully muscled legs. For a minute there I thought she was going to break my neck, but she seemed to know just exactly how much pressure to apply. Meanwhile, Maria and Miranda were sitting on my arms so I was pinned to the mattress like a bug. It was a humbling experience.

“So paleface, are you going to behave or are we going to have to tie you up?” Connie asked.

Connie loosened her strangle hold on me so I could answer her. Never one to take the easy way out, I pretended to think it over.

“I don’t know,” I said. “What do I get if I behave?”

Turns out my three sweeties knew how to reward good behavior. It wasn’t my first foursome, but it beat the hell out of the ones that I used to have with three other guys on a golf course! The other two girls decided that it should be Miranda’s turn to receive a lot of attention, since she couldn’t get away to join us that often. Ganging up on devilish little Miranda was a blast.

Luckily for me, Maria and Miranda only stayed an hour. If they’d have stayed another five minutes, I don’t think I’d have been able to work for a week. They were barely out the door before I was asleep, spooned up against Connie’s muscular butt, my hand holding her small breast. Connie and I had the same snuggle magic that I shared with Belle. The three of us slept so entwined, we would have been comfortable on an Army cot.

Belle woke me up at five-thirty on the dot. She had my clothes laid out for me already, the women having decided that they liked me best in black trousers, white shirt and shawl necked vest {Editor’s Note: https://image.josbank.com/is/image/JosBank/8TEL_01_JOSEPH_A_BANK_BLACK_MAIN?$JABPDPSharpen$&hei=1080&wid=800&align=0, -1} covered by a morning coat. I usually ditched my suit coat and tie early in the evening, so I was always the most casually dressed man in the club, but I always started out as Beau Brummell. Belle made sure I was dressed to her satisfaction, then told me to hold down the fort while she and Connie prepared themselves for the evening. I kissed both women and headed towards the restaurant.

It was six on the dot when I entered Ramona’s, and the place was filled to capacity, with about thirty people standing in the lobby waiting on a table. Anna was handling the crowd with dignity and grace. She had a way of making every customer feel special. I walked back to the kitchen and made me a sandwich that I ate sitting at the table in the break area. From the restaurant, I wandered upstairs.

The upstairs dining room was also filled, and the partitions had been rolled back so the overflow was dining in Belle’s club. A few members were even taking their meals in the library. I walked around and greeted everyone at every table. The club members were almost unanimous in their praise of the rack of lamb that was the featured menu item that night. They were also highly complimentary about the service they were receiving.

After I walked through the upstairs club, I went down to the ballroom and checked to see if the Hombres were there. The Happy Hombres were not only good musicians; they were also great employees, because they were always on time and always ready to perform.

I had to smile at the new Charro Suits they were wearing. I had sent them to the haberdasher across the river, and the club bought them some fancy new suits. Looking at their new clothes made me kind of envious, because the suits were very cool. The Hombres liked them too, as they were all smiles as they tuned up their instruments. As I was standing there bull-shitting with them, Ernesto, the band’s leader and Miguel Calderon’s father, asked me if I was going to do a few numbers with them that evening. Does a hobby horse have a hickory dick?

“You will have to tie me up and gag me for it to be otherwise,” I told him.

Ernesto smiled at that and motioned to his son. I looked at Miguel curiously when he walked over to a table and picked up a parcel. Miguel handed the wrapped bundle to his father, who in turn shoved it into my hands.

“If you are going to play with us, Señor Ty, you need to be dressed appropriately.”

I ripped into the wrapping paper around the parcel and sure as shit, they had a suit just like theirs for me. I was grinning like a jackass as I held up the jacket with its silver piping. I wondered for a minute if the suit would fit, then realized that the haberdasher had my measurements from the Charro Suit I had him make as a surprise for Anna. I told the fellows I’d change right before we started the nine o’clock show.

Yeah, I had decided that on opening night, we’d have a floor show from nine until eleven, then throw the joint open for dancing. I didn’t really have a clue as to what kind of crowd we’d have, but I was counting on some of the dancers and bar girls dressing up and dropping by. Hell, if that’s the only audience we had, it would still be a pleasure to play for them. I guess I was some sort of reverse snob or something, because to me, the saloon women of El Paso were much better company than the regular citizens anyway.

While I was standing in the lobby chatting with, and introducing myself to people coming in the door, it hit like a thunderbolt that I was missing a huge opportunity by not turning the ballroom into a supper club. I mean, here we sat with people lined up waiting for a table in the dining room, while I could seat three hundred in the ballroom. How stupid was that? I hustled my ass into the kitchen to ask Hector about it.

Hector was up to his ass in alligators as he supervised the barely controlled chaos that was his kitchen, but he stopped and heard me out. My question was: what would it take to serve up to four hundred dinners in an hour or two? His goggled-eyed response was three more chefs and a kitchen twice as big. Since the kitchen was an L-shaped wing off the main building, there was plenty of room to make it grow.

“Good,” I said. “Starting Monday, we are going to make that happen. We’ll only be serving that many on Friday and Saturday nights at first, so we’ll work ourselves up to it.”

It was closer to seven-thirty when Belle and Connie swept into the lobby, but the wait was worth every minute. They both looked stunning, Belle the classically beautiful blond in a shimmering burgundy gown, and Connie exotically beautiful in a demure white gown that buttoned to the throat. I was one freaking lucky caballero.

The two women walked with me to the upstairs dining room to see how it was doing. I swear I was prouder than a man had a right to be, when I saw the women we’d hired taking care of business up there. To go with my pride, I was sort of shocked to see Naomi Singleton wearing one of the dresses she’d designed as she carried a tray of drinks to a table. Naomi was a different person in that low cut and full skirted dress. She was vivacious and poised as she gracefully moved between the tables. Naomi was older than the rest of the women, and she was much fuller figured, but a number of the club members had eyes only for her.

I nudged Belle and pointed out Naomi. Belle did a double take when she saw her.

“I didn’t ask her to come here, dear; she must have done it on her own. But doesn’t she look smashing in that dress?”

Before I could answer, Naomi saw us. She smiled and walked swivel-hipped over to us.

“I hope you don’t mind, but this job sounded like such fun, and the dresses were so flattering, I had to try it.”

Once again a woman started talking before I could get a word in. This time it was Belle.

“You look good, and yes, I could use your help occasionally. However, you should have asked me about it first. You know I’ll have to punish you for being so presumptuous.”

Naomi gave a little shiver and whispered a husky, “Yes, Belle.”