Chapter 19

The next day AJ announced that he and Frank Jr. would explore the range around them, making a concerted effort to gather more stray cattle into their little herd. The women were left to do whatever was needed while the men were gone.

AJ got Bella's rifle and put it in the scabbard on Frank's horse. They might hunt while they were out too. As they left Frank felt like a real man for the first time in his life.

Ten hours later he wasn't sure being a real man was worth the effort. His butt hurt like fire, and he was sure he was going to fall off the horse because he was too tired to hold on any more. At least they were walking now, slowly moving eight steers toward home. Only two of them had the same brand on them, and most of them had resisted being herded. Some had resisted hard, charging the horses.

Frank had found out how valuable a good cow pony was. All he had to do was stay in the saddle, for the most part. There was some yelling and swinging of his coiled lariat, but other than that it was just staying off the ground.

He saw the crescent of forest that meant home and almost cried with relief. The insides of his legs were raw too, but he hadn't said anything to AJ. He was trying to be a man.

When they rode into the depression, and the eight steers almost joyously joined the rest of the herd, AJ found out what kind of shape the boy was in when Frank tried to step down from his horse and fell instead, moaning piteously.

Bella had heard them ride in, and gone out to watch. She ran to her son, getting there about the same time as AJ did.

"I forgot how much this can take out of a greenhorn," said AJ.

They got the boy to his feet, but he walked excessively bowlegged, and had to have help getting into the house. Becky, who had been chopping vegetables for stew, left off of that and hovered around them.

"We need to get his pants off," said AJ. "Do you have any salve?"

"I'll get it," said Bella.

She got up and started digging through a pile of things in one corner. By the time she returned with a jar, AJ had wrestled Frank's pants off. The boy resisted, insisting he was fine, but didn't have the strength to resist successfully, especially when Becky started helping AJ.

Bella's eyes took in the flaming red skin on the inside of Frank's thighs and she clucked her tongue.

She knelt between his legs and untied the string that kept the cloth top on the jar of salve. Dipping her fingers inside she pulled some out, warned Frank that this might sting, and then smoothed it onto the inside of his left thigh. He hissed, but that was all. She did the other side and he made no noise at all. Going back and forth she rubbed it in and was amused to see his penis stiffen as the stuff began to dull the pain.

"Sorry," he said. His eyes flitted to his sister, who was standing there watching.

"Don't stare," said Bella. "You'll embarrass him."

"Oh!" said Becky, who looked suddenly disconcerted. She turned around quickly.

Bella looked back at Frank, who had a funny look on his face.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "It's normal for that to happen."

"Happens to me all the time," said AJ, grinning.

Bella slapped at him, but said nothing else. Finally she finished and leaned back.

"Don't wear pants for the rest of the night. They'll just irritate the skin."

Frank was smart enough to think of the obvious.

"What about Becky?" he asked.

"We'll cover you with a blanket," said his mother.

That would have been the end of it, had it stopped there. Frank was told to just lie there and let the salve work. The rest of them went on about the evening tasks. But, when it was bedtime, and Bella went to put another coat of salve on him, she found out about the shadows the fire cast on the oil cloth.

She looked up to see AJ hand a bowl that had been used for supper to Becky, who was washing the dishes in the Dutch oven. The clarity of what was happening was remarkable. It was when AJ, preparing for bed, took his shirt off that she realized what her children had been able to see these nights past.

She looked down at Frank. He had another erection.

"You've seen our shadows," she whispered.

He looked scared.

"You have!" she said firmly.

"Maybe a little," he admitted weakly.

"A little?" Her voice went up. She remembered the things they'd done since she'd had "privacy" and her face flamed, unseen in the dark of the enclosure.

She called to AJ. Both he and Becky came to see what was wrong.

"AJ, you stay here," ordered Bella. "Becky, you go over on the other side of this wall and take your dress off."

"What?" Becky's voice squeaked. "Why, Mamma?"

"Just do it!" snapped her mother. "AJ will stay here."

AJ looked at her face in the almost dark. "Just wait," she said. "You'll understand in a minute."

Becky was so addled by her mother's instructions that she didn't think about the shadows. She unbuttoned her dress and slowly slid it down off her shoulders.

On the other side of the wall, Bella softly said "Look," to AJ. He looked to see the silhouette of Becky's naked body come into view as the black rumple of the cloth that was her dress was pushed down. He looked back at Bella.

"They've been able to see everything we did," she said.

"Oh," he said weakly. Somehow that didn't make him feel as bad as he thought it should. After all, they both had to learn some day, and it appeared as if Frank wouldn't have to have a whore teach him, like AJ had.

"You can put your dress back on now," Bella called through the wall.

"Momma! What is going on?" moaned Becky. It was as she bent over to pull her dress back up that it clicked in her mind. Hastily she turned away from the wall and pulled the dress up over her shoulders. She buttoned it quickly. She was blushing brightly when her mother and AJ came around the wall into the fire light.

"You and your brother have been watching us at night," she accused.

"We couldn't help it, Mamma," moaned the girl. "It was just there."

"You could have said something," said her disturbed mother.

"What could we have said," asked Becky, who thought this was very unfair. It made her mad that her mother was blaming her for being able to see. She conveniently forgot that she knew she and her brother weren't supposed to watch. "I see you having sex with AJ, Mamma," she said loudly. Her anger surged. "It looks like fun, Mamma!" she finished.

AJ snorted and tried to hide the grin on his face. Bella glared at him, but returned her attention to her daughter.

"You're too young to be seeing things like that!" she barked.

"Weren't you just saying how I need a husband?" argued Becky. "Isn't my husband going to want to do all those things to me?"

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The Bad Bet

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