Hardscrabble Pt. 01

The sole survivor of the gang waited a few minutes before slowly riding his horse back into the quadrangle, hands high in the air. He stopped in front of the Carr porch, and Silas stepped out.

"My name is Jefferson Davis Hays. I'm sorry it came to this, young man. You did your best. At one time he was a good man, but losing his wife, his plantation, and his arm in the war, and being mistreated in a union prison camp for two years, changed him. My brother made it worse, always getting in trouble, lying about it, and begging Pa to get him out.

If you're willing, I'll toss Pa across his saddle and take him home. I'll leave the rest of them to your conscience, but as far as I know none has family in Texas, and certainly none in this area."

Silas agreed, and helped Jefferson tie his father on his saddle.

Just as they finished they heard the sound of running horses. Silas looked at Jefferson, who said, "I don't know, but we best get inside!"

They ran into the house; Gwen and Lilly both covered Hays with their weapons, and he raised his hands to show his intentions. Silas slammed the door and stuck his rifle through the slot, prepared to do battle again. The running horses slowed, and someone shouted, "Hello the house! This is Ranger Wallace and your fathers; do you need our help?"

Samuel yelled from the barn, and doors flew open all around the quadrangle. Family members poured out of each house, but Silas stayed in place, just in case. When the posse appeared and he recognized them all, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to 'his women'; the ones he rescued and brought to the settlement, the ones he had killed for, and who had stood by his side today. Perhaps they had killed for him; he didn't know where the shots that downed the outlaws came from, so he didn't know. Nevertheless, he knew they fought!

Jefferson Hays stood back and waited as Silas gestured to Gwen and Lilly. They flew to him and wrapped their arms around him. Neither was crying, but he could feel their emotions through his shirt. "Shhh, it's all right now. We're safe."

Jefferson met his eyes and smiled. He had hated his life, but stayed out of love and concern for his deranged father. Now he was a free man, and he wanted to be someone people looked up to and pretty women hugged... someone like Silas, who was only a few years younger than his 22 years, but was leaving a positive mark on people.

Silas turned his attention to the windows and watched the joyful, tearful reunions going on outside. He saw his mother talking to his father, and saw them both look toward the house. "Okay, ladies, Jefferson; it's time to go outside and meet my father, his brother, Ranger Wallace, and the other men of the settlement."

He walked out first, but stopped, turned, and waited for the others to join him on the porch. They walked four abreast toward the suddenly quiet celebrants. "Papa, Uncle Lonnie, Ranger Wallace, Mr. Townsend, Mr. Gaddis, and Mr. Simmons, may I introduce Mrs. Gwen Thomson, Miss Lilly Thomson, and Mr. Jefferson Davis Hays. They are my new friends, and are friends to our settlement."

Ranger Wallace dropped his pistol back into his holster and spoke up. "Jefferson Hays. You're the 'good son', if I remember correctly. You have no wants or warrants that I know of, but why are you standing here rather than lying on the ground with the others?"

Silas interjected, "Ranger, I offered all of them the chance to leave. Jefferson tried to persuade his father, and when he refused, Jefferson raise his hands and rode away. After the fight, he came back to claim his father's body and we heard running horses so he came inside with us in case we were facing another fight. When it turned out to be y'all, we came back out. He's Elijah Hays son, but I believe, as you said; he's the 'good son'."

The ranger nodded and said, "Good enough for me. Now, tell me which one of these lovely ladies is which again -- I got distracted!"

The introductions were on a personal basis this time, and Uncle Lonnie, fresh from five years with the Seventh Calvary, was stunned by his introduction to Gwen. She shook his hand and smiled at him; he held her hand and gawked.

Silas chided him: "Come on, Uncle Lonnie! You're supposed to be a galante, a man of the world; can't you even say hello?"

Lonnie did come to life, and spent the rest of the evening proving why women generally found him irresistible. Gwen, however, merely found him entertaining, and Lilly ignored him to watch Silas as he endured seemingly endless rounds of congratulations for the things he had accomplished since they left. Humble as ever, he blushed and gave the credit to others, then changed the subject.

***

A year later, Silas attended Gwen's wedding in San Antonio and congratulated Lorenzo for "the greatest achievement of his life!" The morning after the wedding and reception, he hugged his family, and then Gwen and Lilly, who had tears running down her cheeks. He hoisted his duffle onto his horse, and rode to the station to catch the train going north, to Austin and Georgetown.

For the next several years, he would be matriculating at Southwestern University. Southwestern was formed a few years earlier, in 1873, from the consolidation of the four other Methodist Universities in Texas. That included the first, at Rutersville, in Fayette County, chartered in 1840, where a well-known Methodist minister -- a distant cousin - had been one of the early presidents.

His education was being paid for with scholarships raised by the Texas Rangers, with the understanding that he would study law and consider serving the State of Texas in some capacity after he read for the bar.

He took Tiberius on the train with him, and fully intended to return home from time to time during the summers. Those plans were thwarted by the desire of various state officials to have this 'up and coming young man' serve as an intern for them when school was not in session, and it had been three years since he had been home.

After Gwen and Uncle Lonnie married, they decided to return to the Thomson ranch, which Lonnie had kept in good condition while no one was living there. Lilly moved with them temporarily, but soon enrolled in Ursuline Academy, which was the premier secondary education program for females in the region. It was located on the river in San Antonio, and the daughters from the best families from Austin to San Antonio went to school there.

He hadn't heard from Lilly in over a year, but his sisters kept him abreast of her educational and societal achievements via their letters. They also joyfully kept him apprised of her many beaus, and her celebrity in the social scene of San Antonio, as if they were rubbing it in.

They needn't have bothered; Silas dated the daughters of state officials and the upper crust of Austin and central Texas society, many of whom were Lilly's classmates and friends. They kept him well informed about her exploits, although, because everyone seemed to think he and Lilly were romantically involved, he suspected their versions were shaded to her disadvantage.

For some reason, hearing of her educational achievements was satisfying, but hearing of her many beaus and suitors was discomfiting. Silas knew he couldn't complain, for his own standing in Austin society was at least her equal.

Though he would never speak of it, there were many maidens he had successfully courted, including the current governor's oldest daughter. In spite of his success in satisfying her needs, however, she married the son of a wealthy donor, and now lives in Dallas. He pretended to be heartbroken by her decision, but, in truth, was happy she was gone. There were many fair fish in his little village by the river and the surrounding environs, and he intended to catch his full share. To make it better, the governor was embarrassed by his self-serving hand in his daughter's decision, and tended to favor Silas thereafter by way of apology.

Although he had learned much of value at the University, his advanced education had come at the hands of a wealthy widow who owned the ranch adjacent to Southwestern where he stabled his horse. She was 38 to his nineteen, and she took a shine to him immediately upon meeting.

He lingered to enjoy tea and crumpets with her after caring for his horse in the afternoon, then stayed to enjoy the evening meal with her. Within a week, she was serving his supper, waking him in the most delicious way, and then serving him coffee and biscuits with gravy for breakfast, followed by a kiss before he returned to university.

Tillie was born into wealth in England, but traveled extensively and frequently lived in France and Italy with her parents. While in Paris, she met and was charmed by wealthy cattleman. He convinced her to give up her life of leisure and French sexual liberation to marry him. They moved to one of his big ranches just outside Georgetown, and she adapted well to life here, even though it was radically different from the life she had led before.

They had been happily married, though childless, for ten years when he was killed in a stampede on a cattle drive, and she was distraught. To compound her agony, her parents were lost only a few months later when their ship sank crossing the Atlantic to come see her.

She mourned for two years before she began accepting suitors. Her suitors, however, were not to her liking, primarily due to their primary interest being spending her fortune.

At age thirty-five, she was in the prime of her life, single, beautiful, and a very wealthy woman, yet she had been celibate for two years... before Silas came on the scene.

Because she was a woman of the world and quite experienced in its ways, her beliefs about sex were very different from that of the women of Silas' world, where the purpose of sex was procreation, and enjoyment of the act was not discussed in polite society. In fact, the inference was that women who enjoyed sex were hussies.

Lilly laughed at such backwater thinking, and went about teaching her young protégé the manifold ways of pleasuring your partner. She skillfully trained and tutored him on the finer points of finding and properly addressing the female erogenous zones, both external and internal. She taught him the use of foreplay to inflame and prepare, and that the skillful use of cunnilingus can make a woman speak in tongues or howl at the moon.

Not that it was one sided: her skillful fellatio kept him satisfied until she believed he was ready to proceed to intercourse, which she depicted as a rather athletic event in which both partners seek to meet the needs of the other in the course of satisfying their own. She was quite frank in explaining that orgasm for men was a simple physical act, while for women it was a complicated event that relied on emotion as much as physical stimulation.

Her training ended after the first half-year, and the final two years of his university experience were about perfecting his techniques. Just before she bade him farewell, Tillie pronounced him the best lover she had known, and warned him to use his gifts wisely and discriminately.

He had "tested" his techniques on several young women and a lonely young widow, none of whom expected more of him, and he had gotten rave reviews.

Tillie was now engaged to an equally wealthy man to whom Silas had introduced her, and they were happily inseparable. He wished them well, and agreed to serve as best man when they married in the fall.

And so, in 1880, at the ripe old age of 22, he graduated university and successfully passed the bar. The Attorney General issued an offer to join his staff; he agreed, with the stipulation that he would begin after a two-month sabbatical. The AG quickly assented, and Silas made plans to return to Carr Settlement for an extended visit.

Two days later he loaded Tiberius on the boxcar provided for horses, and presented his ticket to San Antonio to the conductor.

No one knew he was coming, and the impromptu celebration when he arrived went on well into the night. It was too late to kill the fatted calf, but his father promised they would have a celebration to beat all celebrations next Saturday. Word was sent out far and wide, and a grand crowd was expected.

"Uncle Lorenzo and Gwen will be arriving Friday night; they will stay in the guest house out back that he and your father built before they moved to the ranch," his mother informed him on Thursday. Then, with a devious smile, she innocently informed him, "Gwen asked if you would be willing to take the buggy to San Antonio on Friday and pick up your old friend Lilly at the Academy. Would you be willing to do that?"

Knowing he was being set up, he returned her innocent smile and replied, "Of course, Mother. Will she be bringing a guest or a fiancé, perhaps? I hear she's quite popular with the gentlemen in San Antonio."

His mother arched an eyebrow. "As you are with the young ladies in Austin, we hear. No, I doubt she will bring anyone, but our new covered buggy seats four, so there will be sufficient room."

Smiling at her retort, he asked, "And at what time should I be there to pick up 'the darling of San Antonio society'?"

With the eyebrow again arched, Mother answered, "Her classes are completed at noon. Perhaps the 'prince of Austin society' would like to arrive a bit early to make his presence known among the young people?"

He chuckled and kissed his mother on the forehead, "I had no idea you had spies in Austin, Mother Dearest."

"If you want your private life to remain private, you should stop dating Lilly's classmates and friends from Austin, Son. Texas is a large but sparsely populated state, and word travels faster than trains."

***

Silas changed horses at Ben Wallace's ranch, located about mid-way to San Antonio. Mrs. Wallace informed him that her husband was away on Ranger business, but would be back in the afternoon.

With a smile, she cautioned him to expect to spend some time in conversation because her husband was going to be excited to see him after several years.

He could have arrived as early as 10, but chose to explore the downtown area before proceeding to Ursuline Academy to pick up the girl he had not seen in more than three years. He knew she would have grown and changed by age 18, as compared to when he last saw her at age 15, but he was confident he could spot her. If nothing else, her red-gold hair would identify her.

Would she recognize him? Probably, but he was two inches taller and twenty pounds heavier than when they last saw each other, and he was wearing a broadcloth suit rather than denim.

He parked the horse and buggy under the shade of a Live Oak and wandered toward the campus. He hadn't been told specifically where she would be, but the three story building housed classes and the offices, so he would start there.

He didn't make it to the building; one of the Robertson girls he had dated (and bedded) saw him walking toward the building and intercepted him. After a hug and kiss, she excitedly asked why he was there, and he informed her he was there to pick up Miss Lilly Thomson and take her home to see her parents.

"Oh, so it is your graduation party she is attending! I should have known by the catty way she informed us of her plans! Be careful around her, Silas; she is shrewd and has quite the way with men!"

Did he discern more than a hint of jealousy in her warning? Certainly, no well-bred young lady of this enlightened age would speak ill of another without cause?

He chuckled quietly, knowing full well that they would gladly shred one another to grasp an advantage with a desired beau.

They walked arm in arm toward the boarding house where Ruth was certain she would be, and her jealousy of Lilly could not have been more obvious. He doubted it had much to do with him; she just seemed to view his old friend as a mortal enemy.

There was a small crowd of young men in a semi-circle around a fashionably dressed young woman who was standing on the front porch of the building. As he got closer, he caught the glint of gold highlights in the red hair of the young woman, which was piled on her head. Her back was to him, and he could see that her very fashionable dress had a bustle in back, but otherwise flowed along her frame.

If that is Lilly, he thought, she certainly appears to have filled out quite nicely.

"Good day!" He boomed toward the congregants, "I'm here to see Miss Lilly Thomson. Could someone please direct me to her?"

The frowns on the men's faces told him what he suspected; the object of their attention was Miss Lilly! She turned with a sanguine smile, affecting a look of mild surprise. That look hardened rather quickly when she saw the busty girl hanging on his arm.

Although he was certain she recognized him, she replied, "I'm Lilly Thomson; who are you and why do you seek me?"

Two could play that game. "Oh, I didn't recognize you, Miss Thomson; it's been a lengthy time since I last saw you. You probably don't remember me, but my name is Silas Carr. Your parents sent me to pick you up and bring you home.

Will it be only you, or are one or more of these gentlemen coming along?"

"Oh, Mr. Carr, I didn't recognize you either! It certainly has been a long time! No, I'm the only one traveling."

"The buggy is parked by the main building; shall I bring it around?"

"Please do! Perhaps I can impose on these gentlemen to assist me with my luggage. It's quite extensive, as I'm going home for the summer. Do we have room?"

"I'll bring the buggy and we shall see."

He kissed Miss Robertson on the cheek, told her he enjoyed seeing her and hoped to see her again soon, and then strolled off toward the buggy, which was several blocks away.

The gentlemen and ladies were standing beside the road when he returned. There was enough room, for the luggage and chests she brought, but barely! She kissed all the men on the cheek, air kissed Ruth Robertson, and allowed one of her suitors to assist her onto the buggy. Silas started the horse, and she made a minor production of waving and saying goodbye yet again.

"So," she said, turning to face him after they had departed, "you got a university degree to become a carriage driver?"

He saw her devilish grin from the corner of his eye, so he looked straight ahead and replied, "It is one of the many things I do well, but the reason I'm here is your mother; she asked me to come get you. Since it was your mother, of course I said yes.

And what about you? Are you still majoring in social events and suitors?"

"Actually, I'm the most outstanding academic on this campus!" she replied haughtily, and took a cut of her own: "For some reason, the young men do like me, so it's true that I don't lack for male companionship, but social events and young men are hardly my major interests! I'm here, with young women of the finest families in Texas, acquiring a first-class education!"

"That's good to hear. Strangely, my sisters only seem to know about the parties and beaus. I assume you don't write to them about your academic achievements?"

"Perhaps they only tell you about the other. Besides, why do you care?"

"I'd hate for your family to waste their money developing another social butterfly. Texas needs educated men and women, not more flighty debutants who marry for money and status."

His answers were not unexpected, but she had been listening beyond the words and watching his facial expressions as well. Staring straight ahead made it hard to read his eyes, but he sat stiffly in a stilted position, which spoke volumes. Normally, he would be looking around and establishing eye contact with her, but his obvious effort not to do so was telling.

"What about your, Mr. Carr? From what my Austin friends tell me, you are quite the social butterfly and pursuer of flighty debutantes yourself! Are you trolling for a rich wife, or are you intending to use your university education to benefit Texas?"