This follows directly the last scene of Part 2. if you haven't read the first two parts, this won't mean much to you. there are some (I hope) good sex scenes, but if that is what you want, other writers are better. In this chapter, Rick hears the end of the Aunt's tale, and discovers his relationship and purpose, when he is asked to do the unmentionable. enjoy. jb7
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They settled there, camping out that year. The lake did its magic, and while it was cool some nights, there was no snow, although both the north and south ends of the valley were snow blocked. Game was plentiful, as were edible roots and fruits. By the next summer, Peggy was with child. Judah had built a cabin, and set out claim markers all along the peaks lining their small paradise. That fall, a military garrison was established where the trail exited the southern end of their valley, on the bank of the river curling around the peaks creating the valley's western wall.
Judah filed his claim with the commander of the troops, as the only government representative in the area. He pointed out his cabin, as evidence he had improved the land, and contracted to sell harvested aspen logs to the Army to build a garrison. The commander accepted and recorded Judah's claim as legitimate.
Travelers found their way to the valley. They were not happy to learn Judah had claim to the whole valley, nor that the claim had been approved by the Army. They also did not like that Judah had built on the only suitable ground by the lake. He had taken the only site not invaded by the aspen.
As long as the root structure of the trees was not disturbed, the trees, cut to the ground, would have saplings two feet tall within three years. If the roots were dug out, a lengthy process, it would take five years for the trees to reappear, but reappear they would. No one could explain why Judah's lot stayed clear.
Judah made a deal with the settlers, and set up a system of long term land leases, initially based on the earning power of the lessee, and laying out the boundaries of the village, thereby limiting the growth of the village. He also hired some of the men to build and operate a lumber mill, to supply lumber to the village, the fort, and the community which sprang up around it.
Peggy grew large early, and Judah was worried. He took her to the doctor at the fort, who confirmed there was more than one baby, maybe three. The old trader was ecstatic, three sons, all at once. He knew immediately he wanted Patrick and Robert as names for his sons, but could not decide between Steven and Michael. When he asked Peggy, she just laughed, and asked, "What if they're all girls?" Judah wouldn't even consider the possibility.
When the girls were born, Stevie, the youngest, was a surprise. Judah was, simply put, as happy as if they had been sons. Four daughters to spoil, four little princesses.
The birth took a lot out of Peggy. Judah hired a woman from the village as a wet nurse to help Peggy feed them. When she had recovered her strength, and the babies had been weaned, the woman stayed on to help with the house work.
With the demands for building supplies from the fort and surrounding territory, the Village was thriving. A carting company, for both short and long haul freighting, was started by a newcomer, Caleb Younger. He was a tall, comely, well built lad, who had no problem attracting the fair sex. The problem was, he became obsessed with Peggy after seeing her shopping in the village one day when the girls were about seven. He knew who she was, who her husband was, but wanted her for himself.
All the attraction and obsession was on his side. Peggy was as much in love with Judah as she was on the day they left the Indian village. If she spoke to Caleb, it was to tell him as much, and to ask him to leave her alone. But the poor man was besotted with her. Asking him to leave her be was as much as asking him to stop breathing.
One Saturday, Judah and Peggy were in the village shopping, for the girls' eighth birthday, and had separated for some individual errands. Caleb was driving his wagon through the main street when he saw Peggy. He stopped and jumped down in front of her. Grasping her by the shoulders, he implored her to go away from Judah, with him. At that moment, Judah returned, and seeing what was occurring, seized Caleb's whip from his wagon and laid it across the teamster's back, eliciting a horrible scream of pain.
"You steal my money with your outrageous freight charges, now you try to steal my wife!" Three more times the whip found Caleb's back before passers-by stopped Judah. "Get out of this valley," he ordered Caleb. "The next time I see you on my land, I'll shoot you like a rabid dog." That night, in the new bed Judah had built in their bedroom, Peggy was got with child again, against the advice of doctors and midwives.
Good advice, as it turned out. As the baby grew, Peggy lost strength. At four months into the pregnancy, she was confined to bed. Still she declined. About half way through the sixth month, the baby made it plain it wanted to be born. Neither he nor his mother survived.
Judah was devastated. He blamed himself, and could not bear it. He was gone from the valley even more frequently than he had been before, and for longer periods, sometimes as much as six months.
Peggy had been a good mother. She made certain the girls could read, and were schooled in their figures, able to add and subtract. She had encouraged Judah to bring them back books from his travels so they were aware of the outside world. She had women in from the village to teach them how to clean, to do laundry. She also encouraged them to exercise and to play, and taught them to ride.
When the girls started to look like young women, Judah noticed. He gathered them together on their fourteenth birthday. "You are becoming young women, and soon the men in the valley will be dogging you, wanting to join with you. As long as you are by the lake, no harm will come to you. If you must leave the lake, leave only in pairs. As long as there are two of you together, you will be safe from all harm. Always wait for me here, until I return."
"What if you don't return, Papa?"
"I"ll always return, lass. I may get sick, or hurt, but the only way this old earth will get shut of me is for someone in this valley to kill me, and that is unlikely to happen. If it does, then wait for the man to come who will love you like I do."
When they were seventeen, Bobbi and Stevie were in town together, shopping in the general store. Not paying attention to where the other was, they got separated. A group of four or five roughs saw Stevie and decided to have some fun, and maybe something more. Surrounding her, they hustled her from the store into a nearby alley.
Bobbi felt her panic and went looking for her. As soon as Stevie saw her at the open end of the alley, her sense of control returned. She and Bobbi focused their thoughts on the roughs, who were soon on their knees, retching their breakfasts, soiling and wetting themselves.
When the girls got back to the street, Bobbi turned and looked at the wretched creatures kneeling on the ground. She muttered something under her breath and thought of a twisting sac. With satisfaction, she saw the men double in pain and heard their hurting howls.
