This is a story of romance, adultery, betrayal, consequences and revenge, not necessarily in that order. The setting is in The Old West during the late 1800's. The more the world changes the more it stays the same.
This is entirely fictional with no persons under the age of 18 having sex. I want to express my appreciation to NorthernHunter and baggyuk for advice and editing.
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DATE:
Summer 1868
LOCATION:
Comanche/Kiowa County line in the Red Hills of Southwestern Kansas. Peaceful Valley Ranch was 45 miles southeast of Dodge City. Ten miles to the southeast of Peaceful Valley Ranch was Coldwater, Kansas. In an effort to attract settlers to their town, organizers were misleading in the towns' name of Coldwater. Most of the year the town was a hot, dry, windswept prairie village. Water was a limited resource with only 26 inches of annual rainfall.
STORY:
One morning, 20-year-old Charles Bolton loaded the buckboard, left Peaceful Valley Ranch and headed the horses toward Coldwater. He was loaded with several burlap bags of wheat to exchange for flour and other supplies at the General Store. His mother Ester, had given him a piece of cloth as a guide for purchasing several yards of the material for a new dress. His father had some calves he needed to separate from their mothers and stayed at the ranch.
His father, Isaac Bolton was one of many men that served with the 51
st
Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He watched the wartime carnage and the death of a number of his close friends in the Battle of Petersburg, Virginia. Isaac vowed he wanted to live somewhere quiet, remote and peaceful for the balance of his life.
After reacquainting himself with his wife and five children, Isaac learned about free land for homesteading in Kansas. In the Spring of 1866 Isaac, wife Ester and youngest son Charles loaded their worldly goods on a two-horse Conestoga wagon and started the 1,200 mile walk to Kansas. The two Bolton daughters had already been married off and the older boys did not want to leave Pennsylvania for the prairie.
The Bolton family homesteaded a full section of land comprising of 640 acres as surveyed by the US Government. The signing of the Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty of 1867 mostly calmed the prairie. Peaceful Indians still wandered through the prairie looking for work and food before continuing south to the reservations in Oklahoma. Isaac paid the Indians to collect buffalo chips (sun dried buffalo shit) and stack them for later use in the Bolton's fireplace. Trees, other than in creeks or rivers, were an oddity. The untilled prairie had the appearance of oceans of grass.
This part of the Red Hills, named for the red soil and red rocks, had a number of homesteaders within 5 miles of the Peaceful Valley Ranch. There was only one neighbor to the north, that was the contiguous 6,400-acre ranch owned by Chester Lancor or Big Chet. He got that nick-name by weighing over 300 pounds on a 5-foot 8-inch frame. That was a weight estimate because the only scale that would hold that heavy a man was at the feed store.
His father, also named Chester, had claimed that land in 1867. He arrived with enough money to build an impressive set of buildings with lumber shipped in from Dodge City. Meanwhile, the other ranchers lived in dugouts and sod houses. The elder Chester died in 1868, leaving the ranch to Big Chet. Big Chet's son was a scrawny, short, sharp featured young man aptly nick-named Little Chet. Neighbors laughed as they said that Big Chet ate all their food and starved Little Chet; thus, the small frame. (Those with a Kansas twang pronounced his name as Lit'l Chet). Big Chet's wife, Adelia, died giving birth to Little Chet.
The Chester's named the ranch the Double X Ranch and registered their brand as XX on the left hip of their cattle. Rumor was the elder Chester could not read or write and just put two X's on the State of Kansas Brand Registration form line for name of ranch.
Neighbors called it the double cross ranch for Big Chet's business practices of cheating every time he had the chance. When farmers delivered grain for the cattle, Big Chet found something wrong with it or shorted the weight. When he sold cattle, he showed the buyer his best animals but delivered lame and weak cattle to the buyer's ranch. Since few things were put in writing it was hard to punish a cheater. (At this time in history, many men stated "My word is my bond." Then they shook hands, at least that's what honest men did.)
Double X Ranch had eight cowboys that slept in the bunkhouse and the main house usually had a young Mexican woman as a cook and housekeeper for Big Chet. The turnover of cooks was quite high as they seemed to become pregnant and leave the ranch.
As the tall rangy cowboy walked into Nellies Cloth and Notions Store in Coldwater a half dozen women turned to look him over. From their appearance, all of them were hard working, shapeless farm wives with rough brown hands and stooped backs. That is, all but one young woman; a rose in a patch of drought-stricken weeds. One that was looking straight at him. She smiled and said "I'm sure you'll need some help today, do you know what you're looking for?"
Charles stumbled toward the young woman, so captivated with her fresh beauty he knocked over a display of wooden spools of thread. Dozens of spools clattered and rolled around on the hardwood floor; much to the laughter of the farm wives and the young lady.
Holding out the cloth his mother gave him, a croak of "Four yards please." came out of his mouth.
"My name is Nora and the bolts of cloth are over next to the window. Do I know your mother? What's her name?"
"Ester Bolton and we live at Peaceful Valley Ranch northwest of here."
"I've met her and she will look nice in a new dress of this material. Don't you think so?"
"Oh, yeah she will."
The farm wives giggled as the pretty blond-haired Nora tried to get the tongue-tied Charles to talk to her. Eventually, the women grew bored with the awkward situation and returned to their gossiping.
Another woman came up behind Nora saying "I'm busy cutting the other ladies' cloth, why don't you two go to the drug store and have a sarsaparilla while I'm finishing up here.
Charles broke into a smile saying "Yes Ma'am, it'll be my treat." Nora also smiled as she took off her work apron and started for the door. Just as they stepped on the wooden plank walkway a couple of young men galloped by. Close enough that they raised the dust from the street and treated the couple to the smell of sweaty horses. He instinctively put his arm out to keep Nora from colliding with the horsemen and she was appreciative of the noble gesture.