Chapter 4

More good news: Sue had a litter of pups, an' there wuzn't a runt among them. With six new dogs ta train, I wuz gonna be right busy fer a while. At least, the crops wuz all in the ground, so we wuz in good shape there. Nothin' I planted wuz really bothered by weeds, so I could jus' let the farm slide while I took care of other thin's.

Wildflower wuz 'bout ready ta deliver, so our cabin wuz abuzz with anticipation. She wuz hopin' fer a boy, but I didn't care that much—I knew that I wuz gonna love whatever showed up. She wuz workin' on comin' up with possible names, an' the other women wuz helpin' her make two lists. She had a new favorite name every day, so I didn't make any effort ta try ta remember the current choice. I jus' showed interest every time when she came up with a new name.

We wuz rockin' along, enjoyin' life that sprin' an' early summer when we got hit with our next surprise. One day along 'bout noon, Holley Packer showed up at our door. She wuz a mess! Her back wuz laced with whip marks an' her nose wuz broken. I wuz out huntin' an' not expected ta be back fer another hour or so. The women didn't let that stop them. afore you could say Jack Sprat, they had Holley naked an' laid out in bed. They wuz doin' their best ta doctor her wounds an' git her nose back inta its proper shape an' place.

As soon as I got home with my latest kill, I wuz conscripted inta goin' ta her cabin an' doin' sumpthin' 'bout Asa, her husband, an' bringin' Holley's bed ta our cabin. I took Mable an' Elizabeth ta help me while Sarah an' Wildflower worked on Holley's injuries. Danny came along, too, ridin' on Mable's back. At least, he wuz happy.

When we got ta the Packer cabin, we saw what had happened in more detail. Holley claimed, an' we believed her, that Asa wuz havin' one of his crazy rages. He wuz directin' his rage at Holley because she had not given him any children. No tellin' where he got the idea, but he wuz shore that she wuz deliberately holdin' out on him. He figured, in his rage, that she would git pregnant if he whipped her an' then impregnated her. He wuz enough stronger than Holley ta manage it, so he stripped off her dress an' tied her hands ta a peg he had set up high in the cabin wall.

Asa whipped Holley fer a while until it dawned on her that he would quit whippin' her ifen she promised ta git pregnant this time. She wuz right, as soon as she promised ta git pregnant, he untied her hands an' threw her on the bed. Holley wuz in pretty bad shape, but she managed ta git offen the bed afore he mounted her.

She grabbed a skillet an' hit Asa with it somewhere in the chest. It didn't phase him, an' he swatted her in the face with his fist. This wuz what broke her nose. In terror, she hit him again with that cast iron skillet, but this time in the head. Asa's head cracked open, an' blood an' brains flew everywhere. In a panic, Holley slipped on her dress an' made her way ta our cabin.

When we got ta the cabin, we saw Asa lyin' on the floor in a pool of blood, obviously dead. Well, I dug a shallow grave an' we buried him near the cabin. I built a travois an' attached it ta Mable while Elizabeth an' Danny looted the cabin of useful thin's. The first thin' I put on the travois wuz the bed an' the rest of the stuff wuz piled on that. It made a pretty bulky load, but Mable wuz able ta handle it ifen we made two trips.

On the second trip, I picked up thin's like Asa's musket an' other weapons. Actually, he wuz a very poor provider, so there wuzn't a hell of a lot ta salvage. We got home in plenty of time ta set up the bed fer Holley ta use while she recovered. She looked ta me ta have a strong constitution, so I figured that she would recover pretty quickly.

While we wuz movin' Holley ta the new bed, I got a good look at her. She wuz a mighty fine woman ta look at, so my assessment of Asa as a prime fool wuz jus' reinforced that much more. We got her inta bed, lyin' on her front an' with her head turned ta one side ta keep pressure off her broken nose. Fortunately, the weather wuz warm enough that she didn't need cover fer warmth, so she jus' lay in the bed naked. That wuz alright with me, I appreciated the scenery. However, my wives saw me lookin' at Holley an' giggled.

Holley wuz pretty well recovered by the time Wildflower delivered a fine baby boy what she named Michael. I screwed up again when I joked that we wuz gittin'' overrun with kids. The women didn't think that this wuz one bit funny, so I marked up somethin' else I should never say again.

Wildflower an' Holley swapped beds. I didn't think much 'bout the move, because I knew that Wildflower needed room ta move around ta nurse Michael an' generally rest from the delivery. What I didn't realize wuz that I had inherited another wife. The women explained that Holley needed a husband an' they wuz willin' ta share, so I should shut up an' go along with the majority decision. Hell, I wuzn't 'bout ta argue! I jus' reminded them of the two times a night limit, except on special occasions. That night, I did do all three women in view of the fact that this wuz a special occasion. I promised Wildflower that I wouldn't fergit that she had missed out on the celebration an' wuz due some special treatment as soon as she wuz able ta join in the fun.

I wuz jus' gittin'' used ta four wives an' three kids when the women started talkin' 'bout the cabin bein' too small fer our growin' family. Well, I had ta admit that they wuz correct. Ifen each one of them had one more child, we wuz goin' ta be hard pressed ta find a place ta put all of them. The look I got fer that remark told me that wuz exactly what they had in mind doin'. In fact, I wondered if they wuz gonna stop with jus' one more, each. I swan, sometimes I have trouble keepin' up with the wants of four wives. Heaven help me ifen I had any more!

Anyway, their first idea wuz ta double the size of our current house, but ta build the new section so that a second storey could be added when we needed it. Dear Lord, how many kids did they want?

Well, it wuzn't gonna be a big problem ta add the addition ta the house, but I did say that, ifen we wuz gonna eventually need two storeys on the new addition, why not jus' add it in the first place? That earned me a whole flock of hugs an' kisses from all four women. Go figure!?! We wuz right in the middle of the summer dry spell, so, except fer the temperature, it wuz the best time ta build.

We still had some daylight, so we all went out mark off the dimensions of the new addition. We decided, ta make thin's easier, we would jus' put interior doors where the windows now wuz. We could cut them after the new walls wuz up so that we didn't have ta worry 'bout varmints wanderin' in where they wuzn't wanted.

The final decision wuz ta have two rooms on the ground floor of the new addition, with a stairway between them. That meant we had ta have two interior walls instead of one, but I liked the idea of the extra support fer the upper floor, anyway. We would leave the top storey as one big room right now so that we could fill it out ta suit when we wuz ready ta use it.

The hardest part of the job wuz gittin' enough flat boards fer the floor of the second storey. That wuz a hell of a lot of trunk splittin' an' adze work, but we did it, or, rather, Wildflower an' Holley did it. I had ta stop at harvest time an' Sarah, Elizabeth, an' Danny helped me. We had a bumper yield on everythin' we planted, especially them snap-peas an' butter beans. Man, I do love the taste of them thin's the way Sarah cooks them.