Esther woke up groggy and disoriented. When she moved to sit up, a wave of pain radiated from where Grant had whipped and fucked her the night before. She softly groaned while gingerly trying to stand up.
Grant was cooking breakfast and looked up when he heard Esther stir.
"Let me help you," he walked over and helped her to her feet.
"Let's get you washed up and then I'll reapply the ointment." Esther nodded.
She leaned on him, taking small, sore steps as he led her to the creek they camped near. He helped her out of her night gown, and she grasped his arm, slowing lowering herself into a sitting position in the water. It stung at first making Esther wince, but the cold water soon numbed her abused skin.
After thoroughly rinsing her wounds, Grant helped dry her and carefully spread ointment on her lashes, and ass. Despite being sore, the pain was not nearly as bad as it'd been the night before.
After breakfast, Grant packed up their camp for the last time. They would no doubt reach his ranch on the outskirts of Branden, Texas before night. And then Esther would finally be free of their agreement and could find Rob, the father of the child she was pregnant with. Rob had moved with his family to Branden, and though it wasn't a small town, tracking him down would be easy enough.
Normally Esther would ride astride the horse with Grant tightly pressed behind her, but Grant mercifully added some cushioning to the saddle, and let her sit sideways while he walked on foot.
The closer they got, the slower time seemed to crawl. Esther was almost tempted to talk with Grant to pass the time, but her dignity wouldn't allow it. If he was going to treat her like an object, she might as well stay silent like one. She did what she had to for her unborn child, and soon she could put it all behind her and move on.
Grant was extra attentive, making sure she had enough food and water, asking if she needed any breaks, but Esther wouldn't soften her stony countenance.
Grasslands turned to farmed fields, with clusters of woods differentiating properties.
The sun was nearing the horizon when Grant pointed in the distance. "There it is."
Esther could just make out hundreds of dots amidst some dust clouds.
"They'll be rounding up all the cattle now," Grant explained.
Esther knew his ranch was doing well, but she hadn't anticipated just how large it would be.
The corrals were huge, several stretching along the path before passing large, beautiful barns. Grant explained the cattle normally slept outside, but sick, pregnant or young cattle used the barns.
There were dozens of ranch hands running around on foot, or horseback herding the cattle into the corrals from open grazing fields. There were many black ranch hands, and to Esther's surprise even women dressed the same as the men. When they saw Grant they lifted their hats and shouted greetings. Grant waved back but kept leading Sunshine towards the buildings where Esther guessed everyone lived.
There was a big, three story house, an independent kitchen, and another two story house. They were all a deep mahogany color, clearly well looked after, with beautifully carved white trim. Esther had never seen such lovely architecture.
A door opened from the main building and a man who looked like a smaller, younger version of Grant stepped out on the wooden porch. The man waved and yelled, "You're back! We were about to send a search party out for you!"
The man bounded down the stairs, and met Grant in the yard. Grant halted Sunshine, and turned to help Esther down.
"This is my cousin, Will." Will removed his hat, and shook Esther's hand.
"And this," Grant began before Will interrupted him.
"Don't tell me. Has Grant Wilson gone and done what none of us thought was possible?"
"No, Will. Not what you think. This is Esther, and she hired me to escort her to town."
"Well Esther, it's lovely to meet you, even if you're not the one to save Grant from dying a bachelor."
"You're one to talk," Grant retorted.
"Hey, that's not fair. You know it's not the same for me," Will said winking at Esther.
"Are you two hungry?" Will asked.
"Starving," Grant replied.
"I'll have someone take care of Sunshine. Supper's just being put on the table. I want to hear all about how the deal went."
"Make sure Sunshine gets an extra good cleaning, and extra oats. She's worked hard," he caressed his horse's face as she nibbled on his shoulder.
A breeze picked up the delicious smell of roasting chicken from the kitchen and Esther's stomach growled loudly. She kept forgetting to eat for two.
Will laughed. "Come on, Esther. Let's get you a proper meal. There's no way my cousin was feeding you well."
In the main house, like the organized chaos of corralling the cattle, ranch hands were running around with pots of steaming food, setting tables, fetching pitchers of water, and loudly talking and joking around.
When they saw Grant why would call out, "Hey boss!" or "Welcome back, boss!" or frequently, "The prodigal son returns!"
Grant led Esther to a small room next to the dining room with lines of small tables holding basins and pitchers of water to wash with. "We can freshen ourselves up in here," he explained.
The cool water on Esther's dusty skin felt heavenly. She thoroughly washed her face, neck, and hands before drying them on a clean towel.
"Let's eat,"said Grant.
The dining hall was about fifty by fifty feet, filled with sturdy tables and chairs. Some ranch hands were already sitting and wolfing down chicken, potatoes, and bread while others were talking, seeming to be waiting for buddies. They'd do a second take when they saw Esther, but no one stared.
Grant and Esther sat down near the end of a table right before Will came in the room and joined them.
Before she could blink, a plate loaded with roasted chicken thighs, potatoes, fried okra, and bread, with a healthy dousing of gravy was set in front of her. She attacked the food, tuning out Grant and Will's conversation.
"Esther, are you going to answer?"
"Hmm?" she looked up, clearly having missed something.
"Will asked if you'd like some beer with your meal."
"Oh, I've never had it before."
Will set down a sweating bottle by her plate. She sipped the cold, wheaty drink. It was cuttingly refreshing. She nodded as if to say it was good.
"There's plenty more where that came from, if you like it," Will said, playing the good host.
"Thank you," Esther said. She noticed Grant had forgone beer and was drinking water.
By the time the sun had set, Esther had polished off two plates of food, washed down by two crisp bottles of beer.
Someone else cleared her and the two men's plates. The hearty food and beer made her feel warm and content.
"I'm going to head to the house, but Will here will look after you. And you've got nothing to fear from him, he plays for the other side."
Esther didn't know what Grant meant.
Will gave Esther a little tour around the ranch. He explained that there was about 100 ranch hands, a percentage of whom lived in the big house, and the ranch was over 20,000 acres. Most of them were young, unmarried men who didn't mind working hard, and if they didn't blow it all on booze and women they could save a decent amount.
It was starting to grow chilly, so Will led Esther to a little bonfire where a few ranch hands were sitting and drinking beer.
They were all polite, introducing themselves to Esther. She accepted another beer to sip on, and listened contently to the men and women discussing certain cattle giving them trouble, making inside jokes, and generally enjoying each other's company.
Esther's parents had always said people who drank alcohol were willingly letting themselves be possessed by evil, but none of them struck her as evil. They just seemed like people who'd worked hard all day and were now relaxing.
"So Esther," Will quietly started a private conversation with her. "Did Grant say you came from Oklahoma with him?"
"Yes," Esther paused, not sure how much she should divulge. "I made a deal with Grant because, well, I need to find someone in town."
"Ah, I see. Do your parents know where you've disappeared to?"
"No, I, I couldn't stay anyway."
"I understand," he said giving her a small, reassuring smile. "It was Grant who took me in when he was basically just a kid himself after my parents kicked me out for being a homo."
Will laughed when he saw Esther's eyes widen.
"Never talked to a homo before?"
Esther shook her head. "I haven't. Excuse me, but you're not what I would've expected."
Will laughed again. "And what would you expect?"
"Well, my parents always said men who, um, are that way are hand servants of the devil. I guess I was picturing those illustrations in church books with red skin and tails," Esther giggled. If a year ago someone said she was going to be getting drunk with a homosexual she would have thought they'd been bit by a rabid animal.
As Will steadily got drunker, his tongue got looser.
"So what do you think of Grant?" he asked, elbowing Esther gently.
Esther blushed. Even if she'd been drinking there was no way she would start telling Will about their sexual exploits.
"You think he's a fine man? I know he can be gruff, but he has a good heart."
"I'm not sure about that," Esther impulsively responded. The alcohol was making it hard to stay in control of what she said.
"He mistreat you?" Will asked.
"It got... complicated," Esther cagily replied.
"My cousin can be complicated." He took a large swig of his beer. Everyone's got their demons. Don't know how much he told you about his father."
"He just said he inherited his small ranching business."
"Ha! He left him a couple cows after drinking himself to death. Used to drink all his money up, and wave his belt around, or his gun...Bah," Will waved his hand around, "I've said too much. Don't tell him I said anything."
