Chapter 10: Another Generation

I always figured one day I’d grow up and have a family. You know. A boy to carry on the family name and a girl for me to dote on and spoil like a papa ought to spoil his daughter. Well, I got the daughter in another time and she turned out to be my great-grandmother. How fucked up is that?

You see, I met Laramie Wyoming Bell as a young man meeting a beautiful young woman, falling in love, and letting nature take its course. Kyle could have left Laramie and been happy with Kat if it hadn’t been for me interfering and getting him killed. I felt damned bad about that. I ruined that kid’s life. But I didn’t know Laramie was my great-great-grandmother. It didn’t feel like incest or anything. I just loved that woman. But I could never have felt that way about Kaylene. Hell, she was my daughter. Yes, I know she was my great-grandmother, but she was still my little girl. I loved her like a daughter. I just wished I’d been there to see her grow up. The feelings I had for her weren’t the same as the feelings I had for a great-grandmother. I got so confused.

In my dreams, I still made love to Laramie. For that matter, I made love to Kat, too. After Arthur died, she was alone with two kids and they were often with the Bells. I felt Kat and Laramie held each other together and they were both happy for my visits.

So how does that work? They were both my great-great-grandmothers. Was my mind just whipping me around to justify stuff that never happened? Do our dreams let us be with people we loved a hundred years ago, or are they just random firings of our synapses that give us a measure of wish-fulfillment? I didn’t get snatched out of my skin, but I continued to dream.

I got the shock of my life when Ashley and I had just managed to give Mary Beth an orgasm that was probably heard at her parents’ house half a mile away. I was still pulsing in her vagina and could hardly breathe.

“She was here!” Mary Beth gasped out. “She was here with me!”

“What are you talking about?” Ashley asked. “Who was here?”

“Laramie Wyoming Bell,” Mary Beth panted. “I swear she came as hard as I did. I felt her. It was like she was inside me, just repeating over and over, ‘I’m here. I love you.’ Cole, she was giving us her blessing. I felt it. I know she was here.”

That shocked the hell out of all three of us and we were crying and confused and trying to figure out what it meant. Laramie visited Mary Beth? And not me?

Revelation

I guess nothing is ever over. I was sitting in the office going over the books for the ranch. Our buyout of stock in March had been two cents above the guaranteed option. Beef prices were strong and Joe’s cattle were auctioned off with his estate. Turns out he’d borrowed against the assets of his brokerage clients and they were pissed. Geneive did her best to delay things, but there was too much pressure to settle. The land went cheaper than it deserved because of the quick sale demanded by the bank. I didn’t bid. I didn’t want any of the property he’d grabbed. We had enough back in our little homestead.

The extra guards were dismissed the middle of April, though two of my new ranch hands had extra responsibilities the others didn’t know about. One would be responsible for security for our herd when we drove them to the upper range in May. The other would be permanently on staff at the ranch, responsible for security at both homesteads. I wasn’t cutting our parents loose to be on their own. I owed too much to Angus, Lily, and Mom. Our drivers were the last to go when it was deemed that we were safe. That was after Phil’s investigator decided Joe had acted on his own to hire thugs and wasn’t into any major crime syndicate. We breathed a sigh of relief over that.

The inquest ruled Joe’s death an accident, even though it was obvious he didn’t have his headlights on. I guess it was an accident that he died instead of me. There wouldn’t have been any benefit to having him declared a murderer or attempted murderer. Dead is dead. I don’t hold with trying to punish a man’s memory. It wasn’t Geneive’s fault and she’d be the only one to suffer. He was stupid to use his very recognizable sports car to try to run me off the road. The F350 dually weighed more than twice the Corvette.

“Cole, we’d like you to run for sheriff in the special election,” Obert said. There was a delegation of ranchers from our side of the county standing on my front porch. “We know that whatever it was that happened this winter, you were at the heart of it. Not that any of us would say anything about it, but we just know. You could win this election hands-down.”

Shit. That would be just what I need. An interim sheriff had been appointed by the governor and a new sheriff would be chosen in a special off-year election in November. Like Joe had been. I really didn’t want anything to do with it.

“Obert, Jack, Josh, thank you all for expressing your faith in me. But guys, put on your Stetsons. Which one of you would give up your ranching to be a sheriff?” They all shook their heads. “This land, them steers, that’s what I love. I’m only twenty years old and I don’t want to hold the keys to a jail. I want to ride the range and love my wife. I’d like to finish college and that’s already been delayed at least a year. I appreciate what you’re saying about me, but I’d be a lousy sheriff.”

Ultimately, they agreed and wished me well. They all said if I changed my mind they’d support me, but they understood and said my dad would be proud of me.

The contest was heated with both sides pledging to clean house. I forget who won. It doesn’t matter.

The Gold Watch Cattle Company had taken a pretty severe loss on feed, subsidies, and hired security, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been if prices hadn’t sprung back. That was another thing I really didn’t care about. It was only a few million. When things settled down, we’d look for another way to use the billion dollars we had in reserve. I put the Gold Watch Trust report in the safe.

Ashley and Mary Beth came into the office, dressed in parkas and boots.

“Come on, Cole. You promised. It’s the first of May. The slopes on this side are clear. We’ve got the ATVs sitting by the back door all packed. Come on,” Ashley nagged, pushing at my arm playfully. I laughed.

“Are you sure you want to do this? When Joe went to his secret stash the cupboard was bare. Hell, for all I know, Kaylene used it all in the Great Depression. We don’t even have partial records.”

“But we’ll see where,” Mary Beth said. “We’ve been waiting all winter.”

“And you’re sure you want to stay out there tonight?” I asked. “You know it still gets close to freezing that high up at night.”

“We’ve got our love to keep us warm!” Ashley sang. Well, there was a reason that Ashley only mouthed the words to hymns in church. She sang that one line in at least three different keys. I kissed her rather than risk another bar.

“Okay. I’m trustin’ you two. I haven’t looked at any of the supplies you packed. If I freeze my fingers, I’m going to put them someplace warm.”

“Here. Wear your gloves.”

“Nobody loves me and my hands are cold,” I whined.

“God loves you and you can sit on your hands,” Ashley shot the standard response back at me. We went out the back and I took the ATV with the supply wagon while Ashley and Mary Beth took the two-seater. In a matter of minutes, we were running up the cattle trail, ostensibly to check the conditions of the upper range. I don’t think there was a ranch hand who didn’t know what was really going to happen when the three of us camped for the night.

What they didn’t know was that we were going treasure hunting. And it was going to be a challenge. The last time I was here, I was dead. I know we’d approached the narrow track below the ridge from the direction of Laramie’s old hut. That was where we planned to spend the night. We could make the distance on the ATVs that we couldn’t on horses. It was still slow going.

When we got to the old hut site on the west side, it was still pretty snowy but there was water in the thermal spring and we could have taken a bath if we were crazy. We could set up camp in the open on snow, go back over the ridge to our usual summer site, or head into the shelter of the woods. We opted for the woods and then cleared a pit for a small fire. It was hard to get stones dug out to line it, but with the help of the ATV, I hauled a dozen from the east side of the ridge. Our camp was beneath the old Mountain Douglas that had Laramie’s and Kyle’s initials carved in it. In a way, that made it feel like home. Once we had warmth and food, we crawled into the tent and piled on top of each other on the air mattress and our sleeping bags. The little tent was surprisingly warm the way we heated it.

“We both want you tonight out here in the wilderness, husband,” Ashley said. “I want to feel you moving inside me and filling me while our lovely Mary Beth holds us tightly. Then I want to hold you both as you light up our tent with your love.”

“What got you so poetic, tonight, lover?” I asked. “First you were singing—no, you don’t have to do it again—and now you’re talking like a romance novel. What classes are you taking this spring?”

“Cattle breeding. Just lie back and I’ll tell you all about it,” she said. Both her hands were on my chest, just like mine were on hers, so it must have been Mary Beth that was stroking my cowboy up to his full potential. I let go of Ash’s left tit to reach out and pull Mary Beth closer to us. She kissed me, then raised up and kissed Ashley.

“You ready for this big boy, sweetie?” she whispered.

“Honey, I’m so ready for it I’m leaking. Put it in me, MB.” Mary Beth stroked my cockhead through Ashley’s wet slit then held it steady for her to sink down on it. I noticed, she didn’t pull her hand away, but kept it between us and stroked my cock when Ashley rose and her clit on the down stroke. “Oh, I like this so much, loves. I am ready to burst.”

“Let the dam break, wife. I’m here to catch your flood and to flood you in return,” I said. I wasn’t so awful bad at romantic talk. I guess it was enough, anyway because Ashley started moaning and squealing and the way she clamped down on me had me spurting on the next stroke.

“I feel it!” Mary Beth said. “I feel it going into you, honey. You’re both so wet.” I think Mary Beth had a little come, too. Her other hand was down between her legs.

We just lay there and kissed and hugged while Ash and I caught our breath. It got a little chilly and we pulled the blankets over us. I held both girls as close as I could and counted my blessings.

“Cole, it’s nice to cuddle up to you in spoons, but my front-side is cold. Isn’t there a way you can warm up my front?” Mary Beth complained. By this time, she could already feel that my cowboy was reviving and was poking her in that very warm backside.

“Sure, honey. You want to roll over on top of me?”

“No. Then my back would get cold. I want to use you as a blanket.” Ashley was giggling against my back and pushing at me to help out “poor Mary Beth.” Mary Beth rolled toward me and I settled down on her, supporting most of my weight on my arms. It’s hard to get purchase on an air mattress, but I was working on it. Ashley was doing her best to help, having reached between us to grasp the cowboy and get him in position.

“I love you, Mary Beth. I would never let you get cold if I could help it.”

“Just start moving so you heat up the rest of the tent,” Ashley giggled.

“Is this what you want, honey?” I asked as I pressed forward.

Every time. Every time I press my hardness into the soft core of Mary Beth’s body, it’s like the first time. She consumes me, bit by bit, until I’m buried in her and all my senses focus on that pinpoint at the center of our being that holds us together. She was right in sync with me.

“Do you remember our first time, honey?” she asked. “I love all the ways we make love and all the combinations of the three of us. Don’t forget I love you, Ashley. I’m just so absorbed in our man right now. I like everything we do, but when you are on top of me like this and so deep in my puss, it’s always like the first time and I’m so happy.” We were building up. Mary Beth was panting as I plunged in and out of her with Ashley’s hand gently caressing my balls. “This is our first time, honey.”

“Is it, Mary Beth? Is it our first time?”

“Yes, Cole, my love. It’s the first time I ever made love to you knowing I was pregnant with our child.”

And then that damned hawk screamed.

Traveling: Grandma

“Baby?” I screamed. I love coming back in time to my family, but damn it! This wasn’t the most opportune time. Mary Beth just told me she was having our baby. Holy shit! I was going to be a daddy in uptime. For real, with me there to love and protect her and see her grow up to be a fine young woman. Don’t ask me how I knew my firstborn would be a girl. I just knew!

“Papa?”

“Kyle! You’re here.” The first voice was my little girl, my Kaylene who was struggling in bed. She cried out again. The second voice was Laramie, my beloved, hovering near Kaylene to help her through.

Through what? Please, don’t tell me you brought me back here for another death. Not my baby! I wrapped my spirit around the two women and was immersed in Kaylene’s pains. Not dying. Giving birth. I whispered to them, “I’m here. I love you.” For having no physical senses, the agony that burst through my awareness as Kaylene pushed her daughter through the narrow channel almost sent me back to my own time without the damned hawk.

“That’s it, baby,” Laramie soothed her daughter. “The head is out. Just push one more time and I’ll have my grandchild in my hands.” That push came. It was less agonizing than the last and I just kept soothing and comforting my daughter as if I was really there. I wanted to be holding her hand and wrapping her in my love, so that’s what I did.

“Papa’s here, baby. Papa’s here and I love you. You’re going to give us a beautiful granddaughter.”

“Papa,” Kaylene whispered. “My baby girl?”

“She’s here,” Laramie said proudly and laid the baby on Kaylene’s tummy.

“Oh, she’s perfect, Mama. I have a perfect little girl.”

“I heard you, Kyle,” Laramie said. “You knew it was a girl. I’m so glad you’re here to be with us. I dream of you every night and I listen for you every day, Kyle. Every day.”

I could feel a noisy car approaching the house. Car? What year was this? If this is my Grandma Mildred being born ... God! I’ve been gone seventeen years.

“Oh Laramie, darling. I didn’t know it had been so long. I love you and I miss you and I didn’t know it had been so long. I love you like the day we met.” A door slammed and two men came through the house and opened the bedroom door.

“Kaylene, I got the doctor,” said the first. “Look at there! We’ve got a baby.”

“Robert, meet your daughter,” Kaylene said.

“Well, it looks like I wasn’t all that needed,” the other man said. “Ranch wives always seem to get things done on their own. Let’s just take a look.”

“Uhn!” Kaylene groaned.

“That’s just the placenta giving way and coming out, girl. You’ve seen enough cows give birth to know what’s happening.”

“Do I have to lick it and chew through the cord, Doc?”

“Well now you have to talk to your Mama about that. I don’t know how you Indians do it. I usually just tie a knot in the cord and cut it off.”

“That will do, Doctor,” Laramie said stiffly. “My mother and my husband were white as you are.”

“Now don’t get huffed, Miss Laramie. You know I was just kidding. Don’t matter to me what color a man is, just how well he lives. I’m sorry I never knew your husband.”

I wrapped my spirit around Laramie to soothe her and wondered how much racist crap she had to put up with in 1925. It pissed me off, but I kept that to myself as the doctor continued to clean things up and check the baby’s health. Robert kissed his wife and left to take the doctor back to town. I was impressed that Centennial even had a doctor, but I sensed that he was old and not really practicing much medicine anymore.

“Look at my baby, Mama. Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Well, she will be after we clean her up a little,” Laramie laughed.

“I never thought I’d have a baby, Mama. I’m thirty-five years old. And then Robert came along.”

“He means well,” Laramie said. I wasn’t sure she was that pleased about her son-in-law. “He just isn’t that dependable. The doctor would have been here in plenty of time if he hadn’t insisted on finishing the chores first. You know you’ll have to raise this little girl mostly yourself, baby.”

“Just like you raised me, Mama. I knew what I was getting into.”

“And what is the name of this little treasure? She’s trying to get her lips around your fat teat. Help her a little.”

“Ow! Oh, she’s gonna be a handful. I’ll name her Mildred after Robert’s mother. Write it in the Bible, Mama.”

“I’m ready to take a little walk right now, baby. We’ll clean the two of you up after you’ve rested and she’s had her fill. You have a glass of water here. You need anything else?”

“No Mama. You take Papa for a walk. I love you, Papa. Thank you for being here.”

Laramie left the room and I paused to hug my daughter and her daughter in my mind. “I love you, too, Grandma,” I said. Kaylene giggled a little. “I love you, little girl,” I repeated to Kaylene. She sighed.

I caught up with Laramie outside. She was walking toward the promontory where the graves were. I was thankful to see none had been added. She spread her skirts and sat next to my stone.

“The ranch has grown,” I whispered as I wrapped her in my arms.

“New barn. Second floor on the house so Kaylene could raise her family. Close to a thousand head on their way to the upper range for the summer. I come out here and talk to you all the time. I know you’re not there, but I keep hoping you’ll come back and talk to me again. Hold me in your arms. You wouldn’t want to kiss these old lady lips or suckle my saggy breasts anymore. I’m getting old.”

“Love, I still see you as young and beautiful as the day we first made love. Every day I long to kiss your lips and suckle your breast. Every day I miss you and would be here with you.”

She relaxed in my embrace, dreaming of when we were young. I gave her a feather caress across her lips and down her body as I passed her breasts and her stomach and ruffled the hairs around her cunt. She sighed.

“Are things all right here on the ranch?”

“Oh yes. We have a good life for two women and a scatter-brained man. And now a baby. Kaylene wanted this so badly. He sleeps in the house most nights, but runs home to his Mama on the weekend. I don’t think Mildred even knows she has a new granddaughter. I should go to town and tell her myself. She doesn’t approve of our Indian blood.”

“Is there a lot of that thinking?”

“They still pay good money for our cattle.”

“Do you have plenty of money?”

“Not as much as we once had, but we have the ranch and the house now. Even a truck that Robert drives around as if he owns it. I went to the new college and learned about investing. I’m buying some stocks as we can.”

“Laramie, next year, start taking all your money out of the bank, sell the stocks, and keep the money in a safe place. Don’t do it all at once and leave a little there so you look poorer. If you need more money, go up to the cave and take what you need. Don’t let any of the hands go with you or see where you go. Hard times are coming.”