CHAPTER4
Lee Chapman and his good friend Ellis Sanders, part of the Sanders family who were the wealthiest in town and owned most of the businesses in Treasure Falls, both had lucrative establishments. After the war, Ellis went home to Montana to run the family bank while Lee followed to operate the local mercantile.
It was a legitimate business, and it made enough money that Lee could afford what he wanted. Before his mother died, he would send home money for her and his sister. But now Mother was gone.
Beth he worried about daily. For the last six months, he’d been helping her, and he wanted her to move to Treasure Falls from Helena, Montana, but she refused.
Once a month, he sent her a hundred dollars hoping that would keep her out of trouble.
He glanced through her latest letter and feared for her safety. Seems that after his mother died, the landlord decided he didn’t want a single woman occupying the house she was renting.
The old buzzard had been trying to get them out of it for years. Now, Lee regretted not buying the dang place from the old man. But he always hoped Beth would move out here, and so far, she was staying put.
“Is she doing all right?” Ellis asked as they walked toward their home.
The sun was setting over the mountains, casting a pink glow off the snow-capped tops. He’d never lived in a prettier place, and he would never leave Treasure Falls. The pine trees, the rivers, the fields of flowers in the spring felt like home.
And he genuinely liked the people in their small mountain town.
He lifted his cowboy hat and pushed his dark sandy hair back. “I worry about her. It’s not safe for a woman to be living alone, especially in Helena.”
“She’d have her pick of husbands if she came to Treasure Falls,” Ellis said.
Ellis’s family, specifically his uncle and aunt, had started the town, though the hardships had been plenty to begin. The winters were cold, food could become scarce, and the blizzards were dangerous.
But there wasn’t a more beautiful spot in Montana.
“I’ve asked her repeatedly. There’s a man she says that she loves and she’s waiting for him to ask her to marry him.”
Ellis frowned. “How long has she been waiting?”
“Almost a year,” Lee said, frowning. “I’ve told her it’s time to forget about James. If he hasn’t asked her by now, it’s past time. I wish to God she would listen.”
Ellis glanced at him and frowned. “If the landlord kicked her out, where is she living?”
That had troubled him most of all, and he also wondered what happened to the personal belongings in the house.
“A room in a boarding house,” he said, knowing that sometimes those places could become dens of ill repute. Beth had no one in town besides her friends. Why would she not listen to reason and move here to Treasure Falls with him?
“Do you want to ride over to Helena and check on her?”
It was a tempting thought, but any day now, the women should be arriving. Any day now, they could be meeting their future wife and he was not about to miss that glorious day. He’d waited plenty long enough.
“No, I’m not going anywhere until after the brides arrive,” he said.
Ellis nodded. The man didn’t seem near as keen on getting married as Lee was. In fact, Ellis had only reluctantly agreed to the idea because Lee wanted a wife and family so badly.
The only requirement from Lee was that there were two husbands, not one. A woman alone didn’t have a chance in this world of raising children and putting food on the table. He’d witnessed it firsthand, and he would never leave his woman and children starving if something happened to him.
“Are you ready to get married?” Lee asked Ellis.
His friend, who was more like a brother, glanced at him. “I’ll do what I need to do. Just don’t expect me to fall in love with her and be a great husband. But I must say I can’t wait to fuck her.”
Lee grinned at him. “Thinking with your dick again.”
“Hell, I think with my dick way more than I should. It’s what keeps me in trouble.”
Lee knew what he was talking about, but he refused to bring up the subject. Not many people in town knew about his tragic love affair that had deeply scarred him.
“Are you certain this is what you want to do?” Lee asked, knowing that Ellis agreed to this marriage because of Lee’s desire for a family. He missed his mother and sister. He missed being part of a group of people who looked out for one another.
“Yes,” he said. “Don’t worry about me. As long as the fucking is good, I’m in. Besides, my family is clamoring for the town to grow and get bigger. We’re supposed to have lots of babies who grow up to make this town prosper.”
His family, the Sanders, pretty much ran the town and were justified for paying for women to come here as mail-order brides. Ellis’s older brother who owned the local mine had paid for eight women to come to Treasure Falls. Eight hopefully gorgeous, young, marriage-minded women who wanted to settle down and start a family. Exactly what Lee was wanting.
He was relieved. There wasn’t a woman here in town that interested him. No one that he fantasized about wanting to put his dick inside her cunny. No woman here in town that made him dream about raising her skirts and sinking deep inside her, paddling her ass, and making her theirs.
For the last three months, he’d been wondering what the women would look like. Would they find someone they both agreed upon for their wife? How long would they have to wait before they married her and took her home to claim her as their own?
“Don’t you think they found the women awfully quick? I mean, I would think it would take a while for them to find eight women who would agree to have two husbands.”
Ellis was right. From the last letter received from the matchmaker, the women were on their way and should be here in the middle to the end of June, depending on the weather.
“Agree, but maybe things are still really bad back east. The war has been over for ten years, but still we were stupid young’uns when we agreed to fight. Thank God, we made it out alive and came to our senses.”
They had met at the battle of Jonesborough, Georgia, and had marched into the city of Atlanta together. That was in the fall of 1864 and they had been best friends ever since. In fact, when they were released from the army, they spent three days at a bordello in Kansas City before catching a boat and coming home to Montana.
Those had been the worst days of his life, and now at the ripe old age of thirty, he knew it was time to have his own family. Children and a wife to replace the ones he’d lost.
“You won’t catch me signing up to go to war for anyone again,” Ellis said softly.
“Agreed,” said Lee. “But I have to say, we’ve done well since we returned home to Montana.”
“Yes, we have,” Ellis said.
Even though when they returned, they had learned that Ellis’s parents had died in a mine explosion. Many miners were either hurt or killed that day. And Ellis sought comfort in Arianna’s arms.
“Let’s hope that with our bride arriving in the next couple of weeks, our good fortune continues.”
“I just want to fuck her,” Ellis said with a laugh. “It’s been a long time since my cock was surrounded by a warm, wet pussy.”
Lee shook his head. “That kind of attitude is not going to impress a lady. We need to make certain that we treat her well.”
Ellis sighed. “You’re right, but again, I’m thinking with my cock. Look, I know I’m not near as excited as you are, but I’ll do my best to make her happy and to treat her well.”
It was true. He had no doubts that Ellis would eventually come around, but the man had suffered a terrible heartache that ended in tragedy, and love didn’t come easy for him. In fact, for over two years, he had avoided women.
“Let’s get home,” Lee said. “We need to clean our house and get it ready for a woman.”
“Yes,” Ellis said. “Things will definitely change when we bring in a wife.”