Chapter 10

When we got back to the ranch late that afternoon, the place was in an uproar! In a near panic, I asked the housekeeper, "Maria, what's wrong?"

She answered, "The baby is on its way an' it's early!" Then she winked at me!

I did a quick calculation—today was almost exactly 9 months since the first night I spent in Jane's bedroom, so I winked back. I asked, "What's the situation?"

"Juanita, who is also our midwife, and her mother are with Miss Jane. Please don't go in. She doesn't want ya to see her the way she looks, now."

"Oh, Hell! OK! Please tell them that I'm home. I want to see Jane as soon as she'll let me. I'll be at the corral or stable 'til supper time. Please call me ifen anythin' changes."

"Si, Senor, I will."

I went out to the stable and found Sam currying his horse. "That's a good idee. At least it's sumpthin' ta do while ya wait," I said as I turned to do the same. "How long do these here things take. I've heard of it takin' hours."

Sam said, "Yep, Mary took nearly 17 hours ta deliver Jane. It nearly drove me crazy, but there ain't no way I know of ta hurry it up."

"Shit! I wonder ifen this here horse kin stand ta be curried that long? He prob'ly wouldn't have no hair left ifen he did!"

"Well, we picked a good day ta go ta Johnson. One of the maids told me that she's already been in labor fer 6 hours. That gives ya a little bit of a head start on yer 17 hours!" Sam said with a grin.

We stayed in the stable, fooling around, for another hour, before a maid came running up. "Senor Bill, the baby is come! She's a girl! Miss Jane wants ta see ya!"

I don't know what I was doing at that moment, but I dropped whatever it was and ran to the house. The maid had to jump back before I ran over her! I skidded to a halt at the door and knocked. Mary opened it and said, "Jane's ready to see ya. Come on in." Ha! As if she could have stopped me!

"Oh, my darlin' Jane, how are ya feelin'?"

"I guess I'm feelin' 'bout as well as I could hope ta. I'm awfully tired and sore, but it was worth it! Here she is. What do ya think?"

She held up the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. NO, I AM NOT BIASED! I know what I saw! "I think she's beautiful! Just like ya are. Kin I hold her?"

She handed our baby to me and I almost fainted with joy! I might have fainted if I had not been holding the baby, but I was able to control myself. It was difficult, but I managed.

Jane asked, "Have ya thought of a name fer her, yet?"

"Yes, I did. On my way in, I thought of what may be the perfect name fer her. Ifen ya agree, I'd like ta name her 'Mary Jane Lang.' Is that OK?" Both women beamed, so I guess that was to be her name. Mary was also the name of my mother, God rest her soul, and I was getting two for the price of one!

At that moment, Mary Jane began to wail, so I handed her back to her mother and kind of staggered out of the room, leaving a bundle of smiles behind.

The rest of the week slipped past me without making much of an impression. Oh, hell, I may as well admit that the only part of that week I can remember was when I was holding my daughter. I just knew I was going to spoil her rotten, and I didn't give a shit! I was in hog heaven!

I finally came to myself 5 days after Mary Jane was born. I was in the room with Jane while she was nursing Mary Jane and my vision suddenly seemed to open up and I could see the rest of the world beyond Mary Jane. It was kind of a rude shock, but I guess I deserved it. Jane looked at me and started laughing. She said, "Ya look like ya just woke up! Kin ya see the rest of the world, now?"

I laughed, too, and agreed that things did look different from what they did the last few days. I said that I had not meant to be so selfish and lock out her and everybody else but Mary Jane.

Jane said, "Honey, I'm glad ya have come out of yer daze, but it was so sweet to see ya so devoted ta our daughter. Most fathers don't care that much 'bout daughters. I'm glad ya ain't like that!"

"I am too! I'd hate ta be that way. I love ya both with my whole heart!" I said this as I stood up from my chair and went to give them both a heart-felt kiss. Then, with a wink, I asked, "When kin we start workin' on a son?"

Life continued in this vein for two more weeks, but I got a message to come in to Joe Alfred's office in Johnson at my earliest convenience. Sam and I left the next morning to find out what was going on. We assumed that it must be in relation the the sheriff business, but it was too early to hear if Joe's estimate had been correct. I figured that the whole thing had fallen through, and I found that I was very disappointed at that thought.

We arrived at Joe's office and were ushered in immediately. Joe stood up to greet us, and the first thing he said was, "Howdy, Sheriff, how was the trip to Johnson?"

The old saying, "You could have knocked me over with a feather," would have fit me exactly. I had no idea that the appointment could have gone through so quickly. I just stared at Joe with my jaw down around my knees.

He laughed and said, "I thought I would catch ya by surprise, but I didn't expect this much of a reaction! Yes, Bill, the appointment came through a whole lot quicker than any of us expected. Apparently, somebody in the governor's office knows ya. No real persuasion was required. As soon as yer name was offered, the nominations were closed. The governor signed the appointment yesterday an' I got the telegram the same day. That was action so fast that it was scary. In any case, congratulations ta ya an' ta all of us! So, what's our new sheriff goin' ta do as his first official act?"

"I hadn't given that any thought, but I think that I'll need to hire some deputies. As soon as I find out how much I can pay, I start ridin' around the county looking fer some likely prospects. Ya got any suggestions?"

"Not at the moment, but I'll make some inquiries."

"I'd appreciate that, Joe, but make sure that there ain't no political hacks on the list. I'd hate ta have ta shoot my own deputies!"

"Yes, sir, I'll make sure that's on the job description. I'll add your last comment as a footnote!"

"Good. Now, where kin I find out jus' what I kin and can't do as sheriff. I really don't know much about the official laws of NMT and Chaves county."

"As far as I know, there ain't many laws ya'll have ta worry about, it's jus' mostly common sense and custom. Ya do have to carry out court orders, but most judges are pretty straight forward with their decrees, so ya don't have nothin' ta worry 'bout there."

"I don't have ta move ta Roswell, or nothin' foolish like that, do I?"

"Nah, ya kin have yer office at yer ranch ifen ya want. I would recommend that ya maintain some sort of token presence here in Johnson, though, 'cuz of our telegraph office."

"The El Paso and Pacific Railroad is goin' ta run a line through my property next spring and we'll have a telegraph office less than 2 miles from the ranch house."

"Yeah, I fergot 'bout that. When that happens, ya won't need to have any branch offices ifen ya don't want to. Ya will have to pick a place fer a county jail; I 'spose ya'll want it ta be in Hixville, since that'll be the closest ta yer ranch."

"Yeah, I'll talk ta Sol Sedgwick. Maybe I kin rent some cell space from his jail on a as-needed basis. Well, I'll worry 'bout that when the time comes."

Sam and I spent nearly an hour in Joe's office talking about various problems in this end of the county that I, as sheriff, should know about. Rustling was down, but bank, stage, and train robberies were up. That was stuff I needed to look into.

I figured that since I was already in Johnson, I could pay a courtesy call on Ed Harper, the marshal. Sam and I walked into Ed's office and greeted him. Ed said, "Howdy, Bill, Sam. What kin I do fer ya?"

"Nothin' ya kin do fer us, right now, Ed. I just stopped by to say howdy and to tell ya that I'm the new Sheriff of Chaves county. My appointment came through yesterday and I just found out a couple of hours ago."

"No, shit! Congratulations, Bill. They couldn't of found a better man! So, ya gonna have yer office here in Johnson?"

"I don't think so, Ed. Right now, I plan ta have my office in my ranch house an' rent jail space in Hixville ifen I kin get Sol to agree."

"I'm sure he'll agree. The town kin always use the money. Well, kin I buy ya a spaghetti lunch ta celebrate?"

"That's right neighborly of ya, Ed. We'd be much obliged. Kin we go pretty soon? Sam an' I are a bit hungry."

When we got to the restaurant, we went in and found an empty table. When the waitress came over, Ed said, "Mable, ya better be real nice to this here gentleman, he's the new Sheriff. Give him a hard time and he'll close ya down!"