Chapter 17

“Why does this always happen to us?” Opal Anne asked as I held her tight. “We need to move to the city if for no other reason than not having to drive this trail to get to town.”

I quietly whispered to her, “We have more than enough money to do that right now. We can turn around and go back to town and have a place in Denver in a matter of days.”

She stiffened a bit and turned her head to look me in the eyes and returned my whisper.

“No. I want to make another baby on the plain and I want to take as much gold out of that place as we can. I’m sorry for being a weak woman. I won’t let this country or the ruffians in it beat me.”

“Opal Anne, my love, I just told you that you are the bravest woman I know. Now, add that you are the strongest woman I know. If our daughter grows to be half the woman you are, she will be mighty.”

We joined my brothers and their wives and children around the fire for dinner. Rory and I had brought Mick down out of the wagon. We filled him in on what had happened.

“Damn it, Paul! I can’t believe that I was so crippled up that I couldn’t even save my own family.”

We were in the process of calming him down when Thumper began to act up. Rory and I stood. His shotgun was cocked, and my pistol was out and at the ready. I looked over at Opal Anne’s pet mule and then looked in the direction that he was looking. His ears were straight up, and his nostrils were flared.

“Hello the camp!” A voice called out from the dark.

“Stand and identify yourself!” I called back.

“Is that you, Paul O’Dell? This is Sheriff Jack Cleese. Can we come into the camp?”

“Who is we, Sheriff?”

“I have three men with me. We’re a posse, looking for three men.”

“A Swede, a Mexican and a cowboy?”

“Oh no,” he paused for a bit to speak words I couldn’t make out to his posse. “What happened?”

“Come on in, slowly, and I’ll tell you,” I called back.

A few minutes later the Sheriff and three men rode into the light of the campfire. Rory immediately aimed his shotgun at the closest man, who had a rifle resting across his legs. I had my pistol trained on the man next to the Sheriff and suddenly, Opal Anne was next to me her pistol in hand and drawn down on the third man.

“Paul take it easy. These are men I trust.”

“I don’t.”

“Men put up your guns. NOW!” Jack barked out an order without looking away from me. “Unless you want what those two fellas got in town the other day. These are good people.”

The subtle sound of pistols sliding into holsters and a rifle sliding into a scabbard brought down the tension. Opal Anne lowered her pistol and laid a hand on my shoulder.

“Sheriff, come on in. I won’t shoot you, I promise,” she called out before I could speak.

“Thank you, kindly, Mrs. O’Dell.” I hope his men could detect the serious tone in his voice, although Opal Anne was just extending the old joke.

The Sheriff rode into the campfire light and dismounted. His three men did the same, slowly and after Jack handed his horses reins off to one of the men, he reached out a hand to me. I shook it and took a closer look at the other men.

“Come on over, Jack. Have some coffee. Your men too,” Opal Anne, reached out a hand and shook Jack’s in welcome.

Jack walked over to the campfire and shook hands with Rory and Mick before tipping his hat to their wives. His men tipped their hats to all and accepted tin cups of coffee from the women. Rory stood among the men; Mick remained sitting on a small barrel, his wrapped leg up on a keg of black powder.

“OK, Jack, what’s going on?” I asked after everyone was relaxed and not on the verge of shooting each other.

“Just after you left town, I got word that three men had broken into Daisy O’Rourke’s place and raped Daisy and three of her girls. Seems they thought it was a whorehouse. When they found that the girls were all pregnant, they kind of had themselves a party.”

“Is Daisy OK?” Opal Anne asked with great concern.

“No, she got raped and beat up pretty bad. One of the girls lost her baby and another looks like she’s gonna die.”

“The thirteen-year old?” Opal Anne asked.

“Yes. She was raped and then delivered her baby. The baby is gonna make it, but doc says it doesn’t look good for her.”

Opal Anne turned her back to the group and walked off to cry on Thumper’s neck.

“The leader was called Swede, and he rode with a Mexican and an older cowboy.”

“You can stop looking, Jack,” I said turning from my wife to the Sheriff. “What’s left of them is out on the prairie about a hundred yards that way.” I nodded my head in the direction of the three bodies.

“Jack, they rode in and got the drop on us,” Opal Anne said as she returned to the group wiping her eyes. “They threatened to kill our kids and our husbands if we didn’t give ourselves to them. While Swede was in the act with me, I got to the knife in my boot and cut off his cock and then stabbed him in the throat. Raylene shoved her knife up and into the Mexican’s balls and then finished him off. Betty Mae took a long slash across the cowboy’s throat and cut him wide open.”

“I thought I saw the Swede’s face on one of the posters I was going through. There is a bounty on all of them.”

“I don’t want to fill out any more papers, Jack. Just give the money to Daisy. She’s gonna be OK, right?”

“Yeah, she’s a tough old bird.”

“Well, when you go back, you tell Mr. Banks to give her everything she needs to get her place back to normal and give the dead girl and baby a decent burial. I’ll foot the bill,” I instructed.

“What about the three?” Jack asked.

“The buzzards and the maggots will take care of them,” I said.

“Well then that’s all I need to know. Do you mind if we stick around until morning?”

“Nope. Just stay away from the Sorrel mule. He’s a little protective of my wife,” I cautioned the three men.

“Is that the mule that squashed that one fella,” one of the riders asked.

“Yeah, he’s the one. Sweet as the day is long, unless you mess with her,” I said looking at Opal Anne. “I think he’s in love.”

“That seems weird,” one of the guys said.

“Yeah, but he treats me right,” Opal Anne explained with a very serious look on her face. “One day Thumper was being rough with Paul, so Paul whipped out his cock and showed it to Thumper, now Thumper has nothing but respect for my husband.”

The three men didn’t know how to take the story, since Opal Anne’s tone was just as serious as a heart attack. I just looked at them and smiled and shrugged my shoulders. Jack led his men off before the lies got too outrageous.

Jack and his men took care of their horses and then started a fire and bunked down several yards away from the wagon. Rory and I helped Mick back into the wagon, Betty Mae and Michelle got in with him. Rory, Raylene and Roddy all snuggled up together, with Rory’s shotgun beside him. Opal Anne, Pauli and I settled down over by the stock line, it seemed to calm Thumper down.

Thumper woke Opal Anne and me the next morning. I sat up and noticed one of Jack’s men taking a piss in the river.

“It’s OK, beast. He’s one of the good guys,” I said to the hobbled mule.

Thumper calmed down and went back to doing whatever mules do when they’re not carrying heavy stuff. I rolled towards my wife and nursing daughter. Pauli was closest so I gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. Next came Opal Anne and I gave her an equally gentle kiss on the lips.

She returned my kiss with one that was a lot more passionate.

“When we get home, I want you pumping seed into me for the next five days. Every time you feel like you’ve had enough rest, I want you pumping inside me all the time. If I don’t have another of your babies as soon as possible, I’m going to be very hard to live with.”

I was going to say something about ‘going to be?’ but I didn’t. Instead I moved my hand between her legs and rubbed her hard and fast through her pants. The heat and moisture seemed to soak through the heavy material, and she bit down hard on her blanket when she reached her peak. Only Thumper knew something was going on.

We got up and went to the river to relieve ourselves. By the time we got back, Rory had stoked up the fire and started the coffee. The Sheriff and his posse were all packed up and left us after a cup of coffee and a walk out to look at the bodies of Swede and his friends.

“I have to ask, just out of curiosity, you know, but who put the Swede’s cock in his mouth?”

“That would be me, sheriff,” Opal Anne said. “I guess I was a little upset.”

Jack shook his head and looked at me. “Paul take care of your family and I hope to see you in the fall,” Sheriff Jack said, as he waved and began to ride off.

Opal Anne and I waved back, then we went to the wagon and Rory and I helped Mick use his crutch to get to the river and piss. Betty Mae was on the side that didn’t have a crutch and held his cock for him. I felt a little ashamed that I wondered why Rory’s wife hadn’t held his cock for him. Maybe they had, indeed, gotten back to a normal relationship.