Chapter 40

I once read somewhere that time was like a river upon which no one had traveled to the end. In fact, the present was as far as anyone knew about it with any certainty. You drift down the river one day at a time, never knowing what’s around the next bend. The river’s current kept you from going back the way you came, so you knew what was behind you, but you couldn’t go back to it.

Yet here I was, Tyler McGuinn, washed up bull rider and the world’s worst marriage prospect, suddenly upstream with a map in my head of the hundred years between where I was and where I’d been. I wanted to divert the river some, yet keep it flowing so it didn’t pass by the Ty of the future. I spent a lot of time thinking about that little conundrum, and a plan was starting to gestate.

Those were my thoughts as Melosa and I ambled along behind Belle’s carriage, the Monday morning after my talk with Anna. I had to smile when I thought about the five women sitting in that carriage, yakking away. I smiled because I loved each one of them totally, completely and each uniquely. What really made us a family now, was the addition of Anna, because now we had a matriarch. Belle and Feleena could be co-equal princesses, but Anna was the queen. It was amazing to me that Anna being with us in that capacity, was exactly what Belle and Feleena wanted, because they knew that it was exactly what they needed.

Belle and Feleena became even more like sisters with Mother Anna around to settle their hash if they stepped out of line. Connie and Mina thought it was great having Anna around, too, and often sought out her wise counsel. Anna never joined us on the big bed, and the other women never begrudged her the time I spent alone with her.

So here we were looking at the third place on our list. As luck would have it, it was the small two hundred acre spread that had belonged to William Braxton. It was the spread that Braxton bought after the death of its former owner, Chet Benton’s client, Rudolpho Santiago. Belle knew of this place, in fact, she said Braxton bought it with her in mind. I liked the spread also, even though it was small.

Accompanying us, and leading our convoy in his own shay, was the head of the El Paso branch of the Bank of Texas, Oliver Merton. Merton was a short, paunchy, florid faced man who sweated profusely and apologized for it constantly. Of the properties that Merton had shown us so far that morning, this was the one he most wanted us to be pleased with. I didn’t need his over dramatic sales pitch to know that.

I knew it, because Belle told me the terms of the note the bank held on this property were well outside the normal and customary practices of the Bank of Texas. With Merton’s connivance, Braxton used the ranch as collateral on short term, no interest loans, so he wouldn’t have to use his own money. With Braxton dead, Merton needed to get the loan off the books before the next audit, or his ass was grass.

The property was about as nice as you could want, and the hacienda was perfect for us. It was plenty big, and Braxton had already upgraded the bathrooms and kitchen with running water. I saw the outside bath house had the perfect roof structure for a sun-heated water tank that would be the source of my shower water.

The women and I huddled up to talk about the place. The women all loved it for all the obvious reasons, including it being less than two miles from town. I liked the place a lot, but had reservations because of its small acreage.

“I don’t want to operate a feed lot, and the place is too small to graze more than forty or fifty head of cattle,” I argued.

Belle said that it would be perfect for our main or city house, and we could breed and raise a few dozen horses. We could still look for a big spread to start a cattle farm on, she added. The partnership voted to make an offer on the place, so I walked over to where Merton was politely waiting.

“How much bad paper do you hold on this place?” I asked.

Merton’s eyes widened in surprise, then he told me twenty-five hundred dollars.

“I’ll pay you three thousand cash up front, if you’ll issue us a five year mortgage for a thousand. I know that’s a few dollars less than you wanted for the place, but it is a fair offer,” I said.

In the end, Merton settled for the cash and a twelve hundred dollar, six year, simple interest note at three percent.

I was pretty proud of myself for the deal I’d made, because I could pay the three grand and cover the note on my own. It was important to me that I could put a roof over my sweeties’ heads on my own. I told Merton I’d square things up with him the next morning and went over to tell the ladies of my coup.

The women were happy with my news, although Belle wasn’t too happy about me using only my money or taking out the mortgage. I told her the spread would be in all of our names, but I wasn’t taking a penny from them, and that the loan was a way for me to establish my credit and a relationship with the bank. I think Belle wanted to argue the point further, but Anna laid a restraining hand on her arm.

“He is our man, Belita, so it is only right that he do this,” Anna said softly.

Belle shut right up about it after that.

I collected some nice kisses as I helped the ladies up into the carriage. They were already excitedly talking about decorating the house and getting us moved in. The furniture and such was something that I wouldn’t grunt about them spending their own money on. I also didn’t much care how they furnished or decorated the place, as long as I had a bed to sleep on and a dinner table to stick my big feet under.

The next morning, I took the three thousand dollars over to the bank and signed the note for the balance. I went from the bank to the court house, registered the deed for the property in all six of our names, and even filed the bank’s lien against it for Mister Merton. I did that last thing because I was now the bank’s local attorney, a position that became vacant when Charles Howard disappeared. Merton had hired me for the position when I went to pay him, and handed me a stack of legal matters that needed immediate attention. At this rate, I could pay for the ranch just from work I did for the bank.

I didn’t see much of the ladies during the day for the rest of the week, as they turned the hacienda into a home for us. The house was already mostly furnished, but they decided to put their stamp on the place so most of the old stuff was bartered away to various shops on both sides of the river. I was barred from visiting the house until we moved in, so they could surprise me. That happened on Friday afternoon.

I was sitting in my office laboriously writing out the flowery legalese on a quit-claim deed for the bank, when Jose came to collect me. Jose and I were good friends by now, the lone males against the passel of women that surrounded us.

“You must come with me, amigo, and ahora mismo (right now). The women are waiting for you at the rancho.”

I gladly put away the papers I was working on and grabbed my hat and gun belt. It didn’t much matter why the ladies wanted to see me, because almost anything was better than scribbling out deeds at a buck a pop. I couldn’t let Jose know that, though. I sighed theatrically as I walked towards the door.

“These women are very demanding,” I carped.

Jose nodded owlishly.

“Yes, hombre, it is plain your life is hell,” he deadpanned.

I rode up on the driver’s seat with Jose for the trip out to Rancho Las Angeles. Jose was tickled to death that there was a nice room for him attached to the stables. He felt it was time for him to strike out on his own, and he considered working for Belle the best job in the world.

“Señorita Belle is going to keep me as head vaquero at your rancho. She says we will have many horses for me to tend, and that she might hire another man to drive the carriage and help me. Tia Anna and my mother are very proud and are looking for me a wife.”

Jose talked on for the entire fifteen minute ride to the house. I listened to him, feeling good that he was so happy and full of plans. Sometimes I tended to forget that anyone besides me had plans and dreams for the future. I finally slipped in a few words just as we were arriving.

“We will need to build you a house soon, Pepe. A house befitting the manager of our rancho and his wife.”

That put an even bigger grin on Jose’s face.

“I will do a good job for you, señor,” he vowed. “Already I am spending time with Señor Diaz, learning how to be a great vaquero like he is. And Rosalinda has a very beautiful sister named Yolanda. Maybe I will become the second greatest vaquero in the world.”

Not a bad ambition, and Pedro Diaz was a hell of a role model for any young man. Not to mention, if Rosalinda’s sister was anything like her, Jose better do his best to snatch her up.

The ladies all met me at the door, and nattering excitedly, pulled me through the house. I was taken from room to room as they proudly showed me what they’d accomplished. I was impressed and enthusiastically told them so. There was a large parlor all decorated to receive company, and a dining room with a table that seated ten. The kitchen was comfortable, airy and very modern for this time period. A wall had been torn down to enlarge the master bedroom, and our furniture plus two more chiffarobes didn’t make it cramped in the least. Anna had a nice cozy room off to one side of the master bedroom.

The big surprise for me was the room on the other side of the master bedroom; it was a study for me, complete with my chest of drawers, a couch and an Abner Cutler roll top desk. There was even a book case with about twenty books in it. I liked everything they’d done and I loved my little study. I told them that and thanked them sincerely, my eyes a little wet from their thoughtfulness. I made them all very happy when I said that and was hugged and kissed times five.

They had one more surprise for me though, and they dragged me outside to show me. They led me out to the nice sized barn and showed me the stalls and tack room. Both of my saddles were already sitting on saw horses and my other tack was hanging neatly on the wall. Out the other side of the barn was a paddock about three acres square, enclosed by a split rail fence. The pasture hadn’t seen use in a while, so the grass was tall and verdant. Melosa was grazing contentedly in the knee high grass. I guess for a horse raised in the desert, this irrigated pasture was as close to heaven as she’d ever been. When I whistled a few notes of Alley Oop, she spun around and loped over to me so I could give her some lovin’.