they're mean, and they ain't true, neither. I want you to apologize to her."
Calvin apologized to Julia, but he still insisted that a woman who got herself in that kind of trouble did not deserve to get married in a church, so he brought a preacher to the ranch for the wedding. That he did not want people looking on when Calhoun tied the knot was another reason to perform the marriage out at the ranch. So what if everyone in the territory knew he had fathered a child?
They didn't need to be reminded that he was just a kid not even old enough to grow whiskers. The newlyweds took over the bedroom Calhoun,
Caleb and Caliban were sharing, and Caleb and Caliban moved into the room that had been built for Darcie's baby.
They reserved Callie's old room, the smallest, for Calhoun and Julia's baby. They had a son, and named him Clay after Calhoun's father. Seven people living in the house, including two married couples, was a tight squeeze, and with Darcie able to conceive, it was clear they would soon be adding more bedrooms.
5.
Seven years later they had taken on ten permanent hired hands, and they had built three rooms onto the house and doubled the size of the kitchen to fit in the dining room table Calvin built, big enough for their rapidly growing family. He had built a lot of furniture. He was most proud of the porch swing, pieced together out of solid oak, with fancy-shaped back slats and a single plank seat five feet wide and three deep, all painted pink and grey and attached to the porch overhang by steel chains shiny as silver. It was supposed to be for the kids, but Julia had made it her spot.
Calvin had to admit she looked pretty sitting there in her pink dress with her feet curled up under her. Calhoun would come out and sit with her after the kids had been put to bed, and they would smooch.
Calhoun now had two sons, and Calvin and Darcie
two girls, with a third baby on the way. The children had two of the bedrooms. Caleb and Caliban shared the third because Calvin was saving Caliban's old room for the son he hoped Darcie would have. "It won't do to put 'im in with Calhoun's lot," he said. "Brothers is one thing; cousins is another. I don't want kids getting mixed up as to who's whose." Caleb, now going on twenty-six, did not mind
having to share a room with his thirteen-year-old brother.
He and Caliban had become best buddies. He did not feel a need for privacy. When he wanted to have sex, he went into town and got himself a whore. "Now don't you go telling Calvin where I'm going," he'd say to Caliban, and Caliban would answer, "You better not get in no fights and come back with your knuckles all bloody, or he'll know you been making the rounds of the saloons."
Caliban didn't have to tell; Calvin knew anyway, but he pretended not to. For the time being, Caleb showed no signs of wanting to get married, and Calvin did not want to press the issue. His moral convictions notwithstanding, he would rather that Caleb paid for his women. Getting married would mean more children, and more children, if they were boys, would mean parceling out the land when they grew up.
* * * *
The ranch had had a few setbacks and adventures. A month before Calhoun's second son, Jared, was born fifteen months after his brother, Caleb had returned in mid-afternoon after a night of watching the herd with the news that a steer had been killed, and from the look of it by a 4grizzly.
Keeping an eye on the cattle was not much of a
chore on the ranch. The hard work came at the spring and fall roundups, when you drove the herd into the coral one small group at a time, separated the calves from their mothers, and roped and branded them, and on the trail drive. Then you had to watch the herd carefully, with a thousand head or more, and two men stayed up all night in shifts to do the job. With the steer fenced in, you could let the herd break up into small groups and go off to graze where they felt like it. Rustlers posed less of a danger,
Calvin apologized to Julia, but he still insisted that a woman who got herself in that kind of trouble did not deserve to get married in a church, so he brought a preacher to the ranch for the wedding. That he did not want people looking on when Calhoun tied the knot was another reason to perform the marriage out at the ranch. So what if everyone in the territory knew he had fathered a child?
They didn't need to be reminded that he was just a kid not even old enough to grow whiskers. The newlyweds took over the bedroom Calhoun,
Caleb and Caliban were sharing, and Caleb and Caliban moved into the room that had been built for Darcie's baby.
They reserved Callie's old room, the smallest, for Calhoun and Julia's baby. They had a son, and named him Clay after Calhoun's father. Seven people living in the house, including two married couples, was a tight squeeze, and with Darcie able to conceive, it was clear they would soon be adding more bedrooms.
5.
Seven years later they had taken on ten permanent hired hands, and they had built three rooms onto the house and doubled the size of the kitchen to fit in the dining room table Calvin built, big enough for their rapidly growing family. He had built a lot of furniture. He was most proud of the porch swing, pieced together out of solid oak, with fancy-shaped back slats and a single plank seat five feet wide and three deep, all painted pink and grey and attached to the porch overhang by steel chains shiny as silver. It was supposed to be for the kids, but Julia had made it her spot.
Calvin had to admit she looked pretty sitting there in her pink dress with her feet curled up under her. Calhoun would come out and sit with her after the kids had been put to bed, and they would smooch.
Calhoun now had two sons, and Calvin and Darcie
two girls, with a third baby on the way. The children had two of the bedrooms. Caleb and Caliban shared the third because Calvin was saving Caliban's old room for the son he hoped Darcie would have. "It won't do to put 'im in with Calhoun's lot," he said. "Brothers is one thing; cousins is another. I don't want kids getting mixed up as to who's whose." Caleb, now going on twenty-six, did not mind
having to share a room with his thirteen-year-old brother.
He and Caliban had become best buddies. He did not feel a need for privacy. When he wanted to have sex, he went into town and got himself a whore. "Now don't you go telling Calvin where I'm going," he'd say to Caliban, and Caliban would answer, "You better not get in no fights and come back with your knuckles all bloody, or he'll know you been making the rounds of the saloons."
Caliban didn't have to tell; Calvin knew anyway, but he pretended not to. For the time being, Caleb showed no signs of wanting to get married, and Calvin did not want to press the issue. His moral convictions notwithstanding, he would rather that Caleb paid for his women. Getting married would mean more children, and more children, if they were boys, would mean parceling out the land when they grew up.
* * * *
The ranch had had a few setbacks and adventures. A month before Calhoun's second son, Jared, was born fifteen months after his brother, Caleb had returned in mid-afternoon after a night of watching the herd with the news that a steer had been killed, and from the look of it by a 4grizzly.
Keeping an eye on the cattle was not much of a
chore on the ranch. The hard work came at the spring and fall roundups, when you drove the herd into the coral one small group at a time, separated the calves from their mothers, and roped and branded them, and on the trail drive. Then you had to watch the herd carefully, with a thousand head or more, and two men stayed up all night in shifts to do the job. With the steer fenced in, you could let the herd break up into small groups and go off to graze where they felt like it. Rustlers posed less of a danger,
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