Chapter 1

I sat in my office waiting for one of my deputies to return after investigating a complaint about some cattle being rustled. It was getting late and I wanted to get home to the ranch before dark. Jessie never complained about me being away from her and our three kids. Felicity was the oldest and not of my blood, but I was the only dad she had ever known.

It was six years ago--no, seven, that I had come here to take over the Ryeback ranch. Kenny Ryeback was in Territorial Prison and I was working to get him out after being released myself. At the time I was released Jessie was married to Bradley Wilcox and pregnant. That first year was so exciting. I got slightly tangled up with an Indian woman and though unplanned, this squaw, Mary Eustis, became pregnant. I was busy getting my life organized near Button Box and making ready for Kenny's return.

Learning of Bradley's death and the birth of Felicity, I went south for cattle and came home with Jessie as my wife and Felicity as my daughter. Unknown at the time that she was to have a baby, Mary Eustis came to live with Kenny when he was discharged from prison.

The condition was soon certain and I was made aware of what our union's results were. I talked with Kenny about what had transpired. He was all right with what went on between us and understood. He claimed the baby as his own, but as time went on, it was clear to me anyway, the child was mine. Jessie, I believe, was unaware about Samson's parentage. To tell her would have caused her pain and I loved her too deeply to do that to her. The child was born big and continued to outstrip in size other kids of his age.

Pete Ryeback, Kenny's cousin, was a terrible cattle rancher, but his strength lay in dirt farming and raising crops. He and his wife, Hattie, lived only a short distance to the west where they raised the crops. They kept the ranch and all of its inhabitants supplied with vegetables and were soon planting fruit trees and berry bushes on the hillsides.

The next year, my father-in-law, John Comstock and his wife, Miss Sylvia, followed through on some inside knowledge and bought barren land close to the ranch and near the town of Button Box. This land lay between the ranch and the town and I had to cross it on my way to and from the ranch. Not barren anymore, it had blossomed with buildings and businesses. The far end of it had stock pens, as the cattle drives were becoming less and less as time went on. Cattle were now being moved by railcar.

The ranches were getting smaller as well and the beef breeds were changing. Angus bulls had been imported from Scotland and Herefords from England. These cows didn't graze like the old breeds of long-legged, slab-sided, big-horned cattle that had been driven up from Texas and the border states to the south. These cattle were coddled like no other. They weren't used to digging down through the snow for feed either. A whole new business had grown up and haying crews were coming around and contracting to cut hay. The glades and small well-watered valleys away from the general range were reserved for this.

John Comstock was the front that the public saw on his way to getting rich, but it was Miss Sylvia with the vision. Some vision came from operating a new and bigger tea room where the women of the town came to gossip while they shared a biscuit with their tea. She and John had two children, a boy and a girl. Miss Sylvia declared that was enough with John now in sight of being fifty. Jessie related that she and Miss Sylvia both were taking a potion they had from Mary Eustis to prevent pregnancy.

Jessie and I had been married for seven years. Easy to keep track of the anniversaries as Felicity's age was the same. James was six because he came barely thirteen months after Felicity was born. Martha, named after Jessie's mother, came two years later. Samson, my son by Mary Eustis, was only six months younger than Felicity. It was a lot of fun having the kids as close in age growing up together.

Jessie and Miss Sylvia were now in Virginia where the twins, Judy and Cindy Bellows, were attending a finishing school. The twins had been there two years and a great ball was planned for their graduation. They needed a sponsor and it was Miss Sylvia who had stepped forward if Jessie would travel with her. It gave Jessie a chance to see more of the country and how people lived differently than we did here in the rural west.

Mary Eustis in her dreams declared that the two women would have a marvelous time and would return safely with the graduates in tow. She would care for the many small children, just saying she could call on some of the squaws from her clan if need be. There were others I could call in if I felt it was needed.

Hattie and Pete had three kids and Hattie was pregnant again with the fourth. They had two boys to start and the third was a girl. She was the same age as Martha. I thought back sometimes to the day when I had chased Pete off the ranch, but had relented when Hattie found me in town and begged me to let them return to the line shack to live. Such a wise move. I had made other wise moves since the time I had turned on the two men who were about to do Jessie and her grandfather harm. Chet Comstock was nearing seventy now and Pat, the drunk I had picked out of the saloon in Button Box seven years ago, was at least seventy-five.

Whenever the three of us had a moment, the talk always turned to Judy and Cindy. Kenny had promised he would have them polished enough to be accepted into the so-called polite society. Miss Sylvia had done much in this area as well. We missed the girls more than any of us would admit while they were away. The town did too and the small ones who were old enough to realize they had gone, cried each night for the hole they left in our lives these last two years.

Miss Sylvia crossed my mind sometimes as well. She was my wife's best friend and my mother-in-law. She claimed to be too young to be a grandmother when our children addressed her as such and consented to be called aunt. I asked Jessie one time about what Miss Sylvia's past was before she came to settle in the town and opened her first tea room. "I have no idea. She never discusses it, but she has polish. I think she must be from a good family somewhere. I'm not going to pry because she is my friend." That settled that.

Back to the twins. Kenny and Miss Sylvia had given them polish, but one forgotten item, they forgot to take away their guns. I had presented them with matching pistols when they turned sixteen. Not always having a purse to carry them in, I had the saddle shop construct holsters for them to wear under their dresses where they could be reached through their pockets. The pistols were a small-framed .32 caliber, engineered by the manufacturing firm of Harrington & Richardson. It was amazing after practicing, how accurate the twins could be. Fast too. Almost as fast as I was with my new H&R .44.

Judy and Cindy were at the school only two months when I received a telegram asking that I come and get them. It seems as though they had had enough of put downs from the hoity-toity easterners about where they came from. Sick of the harassment, they had shot up the living room. Three young women had fainted and two had to change their underwear.

By return wire, I gave answer, Investigate further. These girls had to have just cause. You might give thought to having the twins teach the other young ladies at your school how to protect themselves by getting used to firearms. They are responsible! I await your determination. Territorial Sheriff, Sam'l Jones.

Two days later, I received another wire from the school. Territorial Sheriff, Sam'l Jones, the holes in the ceiling are being filled and the ceiling restored to its former pristine condition. You owe $67.39 for the repairs. Your suggestion about teaching our young ladies the use of firearms has been taken under advisement. If as you suggested, and the new course is instituted, $100 will be subtracted from your next quarter payment. Was this an apology?

I received other wires over the two years the two girls were absent from Button Box and the Ryeback ranch. Sheriff Sam'l Jones. I must report that Judith and Cynthia Bellows were absent from these premises without excuse for two days. This cannot be tolerated! Ultimately, they were tracked down and returned safely. Please inform these young women that one more absence will cause their dismissal from this house of learning and deportment. Respectfully, Miss Sistine Palmer.

The excuse to us by letter composed by the delinquent twins, was that the boys' school nearby and the girls' school had had a dance. Judy was quite enamored with the brother of one of their classmates and had, first gone home with the classmate, and then been enticed to the boys' school to give a demonstration of her shooting prowess. But in fact, both girls stayed overnight with their classmate, who did have permission to be at home. The rumors in and about their school had them as the playthings across town at the boys' school.

I sent a wire. Judith and Cynthia Bellows, you have two choices. Finish school with honors or come home and go to work for Bertha Bates and George Wilcox at the hog ranch. I await your decision. Sam. Nothing more was heard from the delinquents and apparently what they were in the east at school for was taking hold.

This was all in the past and by letter, I knew when Miss Sylvia, Jessie and the two girls were boarding the train back to our arms. When they were well on their way, I was startled to receive a wire from Chicago, stating that there would be a guest accompanying the travelers. There may be a wedding in the near future. I'll explain when we arrive at the end of our destination. Your lov'ng wife, Jessie Jones.

A pang went through me. I knew this was coming. The two girls, young women now and lovely as all get out, were bound to attract many men, young and old. They were old enough to have married and set up homes before this, except we at the ranch wanted them to have every chance to be more than children of a western rancher. This was the reason we had sent them east. I took stock of my feelings.

Judith should have a man and I wanted one for her. Cynthia though, I hated the thought of her being loved by someone. Where did this painful feeling come from? For the moment I just put it down to Cindy being my favorite of the twin girls. It couldn't be more than that. Didn't I love Jessie with all of my heart and soul? Of course I did!

Jessie flew into my arms, pushing aside our children to get to me. Five weeks she had been gone. It seemed like an eternity. She turned to our kids and gave them the same affection. Cindy and Judy, now much more beautiful than they were two years ago, stood waiting to greet me. Judy smothered my face with kisses, babbling how much she missed me and also about a young man she wanted me to meet, because he was the one! He was standing slightly behind her. She whispered, "His name is Jonathan."

The man appeared to be slightly older than Judy. He was well set up and better dressed than any of us now meeting the arrivals. Finally, Cindy had her chance to greet me. Laughing she said, "Judy doesn't change and I don't know if I want to kiss you after she has slobbered all over you. Sam, I've missed you more than I can say. I hope you have thought about me sometime. I know I have thought of you and often."

"Cindy, I do think of you." One kiss was all, on the lips, and that was brief. The hug though, conveyed her true feelings and suddenly I didn't want this to end. It did, as Felicity was tugging at her arm for attention. Cindy turned away to the child. Briefly she turned back to me and smiled. There were thoughts and feelings fully displayed in that moment. The twins would be twenty-one in the spring and were certainly growing up.

Pat, getting feeble now, had tears in his eyes when we reached the ranch and he received what the rest of us got. Gramp, still spry and loving the twins since he first set eyes on them, basked in the joy of having them home again. The twins had left as girls and now returned as ladies. The fun loving spark that had made them so lovable was still in them. They regaled us with some of their antics at school and it was a wonder they hadn't been forced to leave.