As we stood by the corral, we could hear a truck coming down the lane from the highway. It was a brand new diesel 5 ton stake truck. It came roaring in and slid to a stop. A young dark haired girl in jeans and western shirt jumped out. She quickly glanced at Faith and me, then turned her gaze to Jake. They stood there staring at each other.
“Alona, this is Jake, the one you’re staring at. And this is his brother Clay, he’s mine. The father to them both is in the house with your mother. It’s like the Eagle told us; you remember, in our dreams?”
Alona drew some circles in the dust with her boot toe. She was looking at Jake through lowered eyes. A small smile was growing bigger, showing her pearly white teeth. She said, in a voice just above a whisper, “Jake, would you like to see my Barrel Horse?”
“Yeah, sure I would, do you Rodeo?”
“Yes, of course. I know you do too. Did you win last night?” Jake had his composure back. I seen his chest puff out some, he said, “Sure did, I guess you could call it that anyway, I took second place money on a pretty bad bull. Anytime I stick for eight seconds; I call that winning.”
“I call that winning too.” She said, as she motioned for Jake to follow her. She wouldn’t have had to do that, because he sure would of followed on his own. Course he was a couple of steps back so he could appreciate the view.
Faith gave me a wink, as we watched them walk off toward the barn. “I think they like each other, don’t you?” Faith said, then added, “Would you like to see our swimming hole? It’s just a short way. Alita likes to crawl in the grass, there’s a lot of shade there.”
“Sure, I reckon.” I said, as I adjusted Alita’s position in my right arm, as I still had my left arm around Faith. The swimming hole was a natural slow backwater off of the river. The grass grew right down to its edge.
Faith sat down cross legged with her peasant skirt flared out around her. She said, “Just put her down beside me.” I did so. Alita immediately started to crawl toward a Dandelion plant. She picked it and started to put it in her mouth, I grabbed it and said, “Hey not in your mouth; let’s put it in your hair.” I put it above her ear, she gurgled at me. Then I picked her up and went to set beside Faith. Faith took her and put her in her lap. Alita leaned back between her breasts and started to doze off.
It was pleasant sitting there in the shade and listening to the water and the birds and the bees. Faith cocked her head at me and said, “Well, what do you want to know about me?”
“I reckon just about everything. You seem to know more about me, than I do you.” I said, as I took her hand in mine, and looked at the well manicured nails. Then I said, “I’ve never seen a ranch girl with nails like yours?”
“There’s nothing to say that a ranch girl can’t keep herself up, just because she lives on a ranch, is there?”
“No, of course not. But I get the impression that you haven’t always lived on a ranch, have you?”
“No, I haven’t, you’re right. I grew up in the Napa Valley in California. I had a Basketball scholarship to Arizona State. That’s where I met Theodore, he was an Agriculture Major there. We got married right after graduation.”
“Basketball? You don’t look like a basketball player.” I said.
“What does a basketball player look like?” Faith said, pinching my hand a little bit.
“Well you know, sort of butch, I guess?” She pinched me a little harder.
“Do you think I look Butch?” She said.
“No, not the least little bit, you’re beautiful. But on second thought, from what I seen in your room, you have muscles in all the right places.” She smiled.
“Yes, and I bet you do too. Would you like to go swimming? Alita is asleep.”
“Well, yeah, I guess. But we don’t have any suits; we’d have to go back to the house to get them.” I said.
“We don’t need suits, nobody can see us.” Faith said as she laid Alita in the grass. Then she stood up and said, “Come on, stand up, I’ll help you with your clothes.” I did as instructed. Ever since we got here I was doing what I was told. I guess I was still in shock. She unbuttoned my shirt and pushed it back off of my shoulders. Her fingers made a trail down toward my belt buckle, before I knew it, I was stepping out of my jeans. She started to pull my shorts down, I stopped her.
“Not till you’re, you know, take yours off.” I said. She smiled and dropped her skirt, like I said she didn’t put any underwear on. Then she slowly took her blouse off. I stood there transfixed. Then she reached out and pushed my shorts down a ways, then used her right foot to push them down all of the way. She had a big smile on her face.
I said, “Hold on a second. Do you know what you’re doing? I’m sort of old fashioned. I’m not saying that I’ve never had sex before, but somehow, between you and me, I want something more. What about you?”
“Of course silly, we’re going to get married. I told you I’ve had dreams about you. And I don’t mean in just a general way. I know every bit of your body. For instance, I haven’t seen your backside, have I? No…what would you say if I told you that you have a heart shaped birthmark on your right hip? Now think about me, you may not think you have ever seen my body before, but think hard, close your eyes and tell me where I have a mole, you couldn’t of seen it before in the bedroom, because it’s hidden.”
I closed my eyes. Her body came into my mind. On her inner thigh, up close to her groin was a mole, it couldn’t be seen, where it was at. She was right I had seen her in my dreams, in a very intimate way. I thought they were just sex dreams; I didn’t know they were about anybody in particular. I opened my eyes, she was standing close up to me. “See, I told you.” Then she took my hand and we got in the water…..
We lay beside each other, drying in the soft breeze. Alita was still sleeping. Faith’s breasts were swelling with milk, one of them was dripping a little bit, I wiped it away. Faith sighed, “I suppose I had better wake Alita up, I feel like an old milk cow that needs milked.” Alita latched on with enthusiasm. I sort of envied her.
“I guess we had better be getting back, I should help set the table. Ester does all of the cooking, they think I don’t know how.” I held Alita while Faith got dressed, then Faith took her and I started to get dressed. Faith watched my every move.
We walked back hand-in-hand. Alita was gurgling and cooing and pointing to all of the animals. “Faith,” I said, “you know this is not going to happen again till we get married?”
We stopped walking, Faith looked up at me and said, “Yes,” in a soft voice, “I know, it’s just that I couldn’t help myself. Even before Theodore died, I had dreams about you once in awhile. I didn’t know what they meant, then. I thought they were just sex dreams, like you know everybody has.”
“I know, I have been having the same dreams and I thought that was just what they were, dreams. But now we know that they were more than that, color me old fashioned, but I believe that sex and marriage go hand-in-hand.” I said, as I leaned over and kissed her.
We continued walking, with Alita on my right hip and Faith pressed tightly up against me on my left side. I can remember my mother carrying Jake on her hip; just like I had Alita. It may not be manly to carry a baby that way, but it sure was easier.
When we got back to the house, Jake and Alona were just coming from the barn. They weren’t holding hands, but they might just of well had been. They were walking side by side, joking and laughing. Alona’s eyes sparkled, they couldn’t take their eyes off of each other.
When they seen us approaching, they stopped in their tracks, and stared. I couldn’t blame them, you really couldn’t tell where Faith left off and I began; as close together as we were. Plus I guess with the baby thrown in the