Page 21 of Earning Tia’s Trust

TWENTY-ONE

The following day, Tia dealt with the children, who were clinging and afraid she would leave them again. Robert explained that he would be back and went to find out what had transpired on the ranches and in town during their absence. He drove Ellen Novak to her small house, invited her to Saturday dinner, and then explained that she and her children could ride with Rainer and Francine.

“Maybe next week,” Ellen suggested. “I have a lot to catch up on, and school reopens in a few weeks. The new nine-month curriculum will be easier than the old eleven-month. Francine has purchased books, supplies, new desks, another chalkboard, and even foldable cots and blankets for the upstairs rooms in case of bad weather. I have to find a place to store everything.”

“If you need bookshelves or trunks built, just say so. I’ll see that it gets done,” Robert offered.

Robert went to the bank, deposited Tia’s check into her account, and spent a few minutes catching up with local issues.

Francine eyes widened at the size of the deposit. “The books were accepted?”

“I’ll let her tell you what transpired, and this information is not to be public. She’s decided to publish under a different name.”

Francine nodded and smiled. “I knew she was talented!” Her eyes widened further at the check he slid under the cage to deposit in the family account.

“Except for friends, I have no ties to Austin now,” Robert said.

The next stop was the mercantile. James Grover had handled the position of mayor while he’d been gone. James admitted that he was running for office in September, and Robert shook his hand enthusiastically and told the grocer that he could continue doing the job until the election.

His office was next, and he was greeted by Horace, who handed him a thick envelope and said Judge Bentley had dropped it off when he returned to town. There were other notes from potential clients. After paying Horace to continue to watch over his office, Robert headed to William’s house and pounded on the front door.

“Where the hell have you been?” William growled.

“Austin on business,” Robert said. “I sold my house there, so there’s no changing my mind. How did your case go?”

“It was long and drawn out,” William said, pouring a glass of liquor. He motioned the bottle in Robert’s direction and made a face as Robert shook his head.

“Hanging men has never been my preference,” William said. “But in this case, it was warranted. The convicted men were brothers. They were a Texas version of Jack the Ripper. Twelve women were raped, tortured, and tossed away like trash. Twelve women that we found out about. Who knows how many they disposed of, and the bodies were never found. Three of those women survived and came forward with testimonies. The Hobkins brothers had wealthy parents who thought they could buy their sons’ freedom. Now, they are fighting to overturn their own cases of trying to bribe a judge. Did you get the news about Raymond Kingston?”

“Yes, from James Hogg himself,” Robert said. “Are they sure?”

“Yes, the warden identified them,” William said with a frown. “Why are you asking?”

“Because Tia has had nightmares every night since I told her,” Robert said. “I wish I hadn’t, but she’s not assured.”

“Raymond Kingston is dead,” William said. “The warden identified him, and the prisoners didn’t get past the second wall of the prison. Even if he wasn’t killed, and he was, the prisoners who survived will never see the light of day again. They’ll be in solitary for the rest of their lives. Most prisoners in those conditions rarely live a decade, and they brought this on themselves,” William said. “How are you doing?”

“I’m settling in and liking married life more every day,” Robert said. “Our new house is almost finished, and I bought the Harris ranch. Now, we breed horses and beef. The best news is I won’t be the next mayor. James Grover is going after that title.”

“What happened to our trio of bachelors?” William demanded. “First you, and now Rainer is talking about marriage to the school teacher!”

“Francine isn’t the school teacher now,” Robert said. “She is the Head of the School Board. You should set your cap on the new school teacher. She’s a widow with two small boys, but I doubt she’ll be single for long. She’s a looker.”

“I saw her a few times, but then she disappeared,” William said.

“She went to our place to help with the children when my mother and brother were called home on an emergency. You’re awful attentive if you noticed her absence. She has only been at the ranch for a few days,” Robert teased.

William shook his head and made a rude gesture, but Robert just laughed and slapped his friend on the back. “Not this Saturday, but the next; come to the ranch for supper. We can make room for another, and if you want to bring the new teacher, go ahead.”

Having run all his errands, Robert headed back to the ranch. He detoured to the new house and was pleased with the progress, but he’d missed the workers, and there were working locks on the doors. He’d talk to Jim Hawthorn in the morning.

Robert spent the rest of his evening playing with the children and planning a fishing trip with Sammy.

“I’m exhausted,” Tia said as she walked past him, but he captured her and pulled her into his lap.

“I am too, but not so tired that I don’t want some privacy with my wife,” Robert said. “Are you ready to call it a day?” Tia closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder.

“That’s answer enough,” he said, scooping her into his arms as he stood up from the chair and carried her upstairs to their room. Robert was planning a seduction, but he realized Tia was exhausted because she’d already fallen asleep. He gently removed her clothes and tucked her under the blankets.

Since she’d been told about the prison break, Tia had been having nightmares. She had questioned the validity of Raymond’s death. Hearing the name alone made her shudder with worry, and she’d been waking in the middle of the night with the shivers. Being home made no difference. The clock struck two o’clock, and she jolted and tried to fight her way out of his arms.

“Good morning,” Robert whispered, tightening his hold around her. “Calm down. You’re safe, and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I’m sorry I keep waking you,” Tia whispered.

“It’s no problem, sweetheart,” Robert replied. “I’ve had Raymond’s death verified by the men who would know. He will never hurt or scare you again. He is dead, and his body has been buried in the prison cemetery.” He turned Tia to face him and kissed her. “Are you up to making your husband a happy man?” He cupped her buttocks in his hands and rolled over so she was on top of him, and she could feel the hardness of his manhood. Tia straddled her husband as he filled her, then he rolled so he was on top. He took her nipples into his mouth, using his talented tongue to swirl and enjoy her breasts.

Robert removed himself as his fingers stroked her center. Pushing her bent legs apart, his fingers were pumping inside her where she was already damp and in need of him. Parting her private folds, he stroked her clitoris with his tongue and pleasured her. He loved when she writhed, her need for him making her moan and gasp with desire.

Robert always made love to Tia this way, and she loved the attention even as she wanted him inside her. She wanted to feel him thrust and pound into her body.

Tia bucked and cried out at her first orgasm, but Robert wasn’t through. He loomed over her, raising her legs over his shoulders, and he pounded his sex deeper into her. She shivered as her body tensed and gasped as she came closer to another orgasm, even as he began to smack her bottom. There was a rhythm to his spanking her. Thrust, redraw, and then a stinging smack, over and over.

Every thought in her mind disappeared when they made love. They instinctually knew what the other wanted. With every deep thrust of Robert’s hips, Tia felt the pleasure and need to have him inside her.

Robert had taught Tia what he wanted of her when they joined their bodies. She’d come to him a virgin, and he knew to treat and teach her so both of them would enjoy the benefit of marriage. He liked taking her to the very edge of an orgasm before backing off, only to drive her to that edge of pleasure again and again.

Suddenly, Tia was abandoned as Robert turned her over and pulled her to her knees. Tia’s fingers curled around the headboard as Robert slammed into her. She rocked backward into him, letting him take her deeper. Her cries of pleasure were muffled into a pillow, and the only other sounds were the slap of skin-to-skin and the smacks on her bottom. The movements between them were a little rough, but this was how they liked it. When a tidal wave of sensations made her entire body shake, she felt Robert stiffen and empty himself.

Robert collapsed beside her, and they turned to each other and smiled. “Now, I’m exhausted!”

“That’s too bad because we’ve got a lot to catch up on today,” Tia announced. “We have to figure out what has and hasn’t been done in our absence.”

“I’m sure Mrs. Putney, Mr. Harris, and Hank have been doing their jobs as usual. I’m also sure Mrs. Putney and Hank were probably glad to be rid of my family members. My mother can be overbearing, thinking her way is the only way, and Barton has been his own boss for so long, he thinks his way is the only way.”

“Is that why you took a different path?” Tia asked.

Robert nodded. “Being the youngest in a large family isn’t easy. I have nephews who are only a couple years younger. Everyone had an opinion of what I would or should do. I left for law school at seventeen. I didn’t return home for five years. By then, I was a junior attorney working for a law firm representing political staff.”

“Can you be happy ranching instead of lawyering?” Tia asked.

“I haven’t given up the law,” Robert said. “My skills will still be needed, but I’ll support people who need my legal help. It won’t be a full-time job. Both ranches have good managers, so you won’t be alone when I am needed elsewhere. On top of that, I married a writer who will need my representation. I’m a busy man!”

“I’m still in shock,” Tia said. “I have to start editing the books they haven’t read, and I have to talk to Francine.”

“It’s time to go to work,” Robert said as daylight filtered through the window. “It’s almost seven. We should have been up by five!”

“We were a little preoccupied,” Tia teased.

* * *

After breakfast, Robert and Tia talked to Hank and were pleased when he reported no problems in their absence. Then, they rode to the new house and walked through it with Jim Hawthorn. Jim pointed to a carriage house that was almost done.

The downstairs was complete, including wallpaper and paint on the walls, but otherwise empty. The exception was stoves. A large six-burner Winsor kitchen stove was already in the kitchen, and a parlor stove was in a room designated to be an office.

“These are the biggest stoves I’ve ever seen,” Tia exclaimed. “What will we do with the one in our kitchen?”

“We’ll move it over to the cookhouse,” Robert said. “We still have a lot of work to do. We need to take measurements for the rest of the furniture. We need to hire someone to sew or order window curtains. We also have to decide on furniture and get it ordered. The only bed frames we can keep are the brass and iron ones from the children’s rooms. It could take weeks, or months, for the furniture to be freighted here.”

“The Grovers should have catalogs,” Tia said, turning circles in the room that would be a dedicated library. “It’s so big but smaller than the house you sold in Austin. I don’t think I’m up to decorating a house.”

“Sure you are,” Robert said. “But, if you need help, ask Francine and your other female friends. A woman’s home should be her sanctuary, where she can feel comfortable and happy. I want that for you, me, and our family. Except for sharing our bedroom, the only other room that I’m concerned about is my office.”

Tia’s eyes filled with tears.

“What?” Robert demanded. “What did I say that has upset you?”

“Your assumption is that I know how to be a woman,” Tia said, wiping her eyes. “I’m on what Francine calls a learning curve. It’s something she learned about in that teaching college. I’m still learning how to be a woman.”

“That’s nonsense,” Robert said. “You’re all woman, and the books that you’ve written prove it. Your stories are about romance, yet you were pure when we married. You might have been masquerading as a tough tomboy, but that was because you were mistreated by men that I can only describe as idiots. Your writing clearly proves you’re a woman full of love, and that’s all that counts.”

Robert borrowed a Montgomery Ward Catalog from Grover’s Mercantile, and they pored over the catalog to agree on furniture for the new house.

They decided not to order anything until the freight wagons from Austin arrived. Meanwhile, Jim Hawthorn and his crews were finishing the new house. They were also building a temporary smokehouse where the few pieces of furniture they were keeping would be treated with sulfur smoke to kill any termites. They hadn’t seen any but were taking Jim Hawthorn’s advice, just in case. Another section of the old house porch had collapsed. The idea was to destroy the remnants of the termites and start a new phase of their married lives.

On Saturday, when Rainer and Francine visited, they joined in on the furniture search and admitted that they would be doing the same in a few months. Another surprise was that he’d proposed to Francine. They were planning to be married in January. Rainer’s bid had been the highest of the three bids for the house. He now owned a nearly empty house, and he and Francine were ordering furniture. Francine would continue to work in the bank, and she promised to help Tia edit her books, although they argued about her being paid for her efforts. Francine didn’t want to be paid. She considered editing to be something a sister would do. The four friends agreed that the author of the books would remain a secret known only by the four of them.

Day after day, the new house was becoming more of a reality. The furniture they wanted to keep had to be treated with sulfur smoke for days before moving to the new house. The children’s toys and even the books had to be smoked. Mrs. Putney’s pots and pans would be smoked because they had wooden handles. Even their clothing had to be smoked and then washed to remove the smell.

While waiting for the shipments, the sheds, barns, and other outbuildings were sulfur-smoked, repaired, and painted.

Finally, the day came when two freight wagons arrived. The new furniture was uncrated and carried into the new house. A week later, two more freight wagons arrived. Then, a letter was delivered to Robert stating there would be a four-week delay before the last shipment arrived, and Robert decided it was time.

“Today, we move into the new house,” Robert announced at the breakfast table. “Mrs. Putney, when you have cleaned the pots and pans you used for breakfast, take them to the smoke tent. We’ve been planning this for weeks, and now it’s time! The last straw was Sammy falling through the back porch steps and spraining his ankle.”

Everyone on the ranch knew what was happening. The wranglers roped a hundred feet parameter around the house and pumped water into every bucket they could find. Mrs. Putney took the smaller children to the new house. It was a gray day, and the skies were getting darker. With a wet mist falling, it was a good time to light a fire. Nature would keep the fire contained. Robert lit a torch on one side of the house while three other men set fire to the other sides of the house. He stepped back with one arm around his wife and the other around Sammy. As the flames rose, Sammy limped over to the horse he’d been riding, mounted, and rode toward the new house.

It didn’t take long for the empty structure to burn and fall in on itself, along with Mrs. Putney’s cabin. The Kingston ranch was now history.

Sammy had renamed the ranch the same day he told Robert that he wanted to change his last name to Grayson. The boy’s logic was simple. Everyone else carried the Grayson name, and he didn’t want to be different. The paperwork had been filed immediately. When asked what the boy wanted to call the ranch, he’d come up with a name that wasn’t connected to anyone’s last name. Sammy renamed the ranch and painted a new sign anyone could read as they approached.

The sign was only four words: The No Regrets Ranch.

Sammy had overheard Robert asking his sister if she had any regrets about all the changes in their lives over the past year. She’d answered him by saying simply. “I have No Regrets at all.” They were getting used to the new name.

“Any regrets?” Robert asked Tia as they walked away from the fire.

She shook her head. “It’s too late for regrets. Let’s go home. I think of the new house as home now. It hasn’t been that long, but all our lives have changed for the better.”

“I think they’ve been good changes, too,” Robert said. “Do you want to ride or walk?”

“Walk,” Tia said, untying the reins of her horse, and he did the same.

Robert motioned to Hank that they were leaving, and the foreman nodded, accepting the responsibility of putting out the fire.

Tia and Robert walked side by side on what had become a beaten path over the last few months.

As they came into full view of the new house, Tia stopped. “I want to tell you something,” she said, turning to face her husband. “We’ve had our ups and downs since we married, and I know sometimes I’ve been a pain in the ass. I don’t think many men would have done what you did without an ulterior motive.

“I could have found someone to fulfill the demands of Hayward’s will, but they would have done it to get the ranch. I don’t think any woman wants to be used, for whatever reason.

“Except for Hank, who takes second place, you are the only man I have ever learned to trust completely. Rainer has slipped into that category, too, but I don’t want to talk about him. It’s taken me a while, but I am proud to be your wife. Someday, I hope to be the mother of your children. I didn’t trust you initially, and I was waiting for you to pull some deceitful deed to steal the ranch. I didn’t understand my feelings then because I hadn’t trusted anyone for a very long time. Now I know those feelings were fear and distrust. Those feelings are gone now, and you proved to be a man I could and would trust with my life.”

“Finally?” Robert said.

“Hush!” Tia exclaimed. “I can be a slow learner sometimes and stubborn, but I have finally realized that those strange feelings I’ve had for a while are love. I love you!”

Robert wiped away the tears on her face and hugged her. He tilted her face upward to look into her eyes. “After what you have suffered, I couldn’t blame you for not trusting me. Going into this marriage, I knew I would have to earn your trust. It was my priority, and I’m glad you’ve finally figured out what those three words mean.

“I love you, and we are going to have a wonderful marriage and life together. We’re going to grow old together. We already got a good start on the children, but I’ll start trying harder to produce those babies.”

Tia laughed and pulled his face down to her level to kiss him. “I’m going to ride you so hard tonight you may change your mind,” she whispered.

“Can’t happen,” Robert teased. “Besides, I heard Jenny saying damn this morning. That means I owe you a spanking.”