Infidelity at Double Cross Ranch

"You big dummy, I've been in love with you for some time. I thought you didn't care about me and that's why I wanted to leave. Nora was so pretty and I am so plain. I thought I wasn't up to your standards."

"She may have been pretty but she left my life while she was beautiful and I won't take her back under any condition. You are beautiful to me and to my sons. You're the one I want to live with me here, forever. Now we'll have to go see your father."

"Why see my father?"

"So I can tell him you are no longer an employee and I'll ask for your hand in marriage."

She squealed in happiness then could not keep her lips away from his face and neck. It was then she sensed something different, she turned her head and saw Harold and Edwin with big smiles on their faces.

"It's about time. You've been our mother for the past year. Dad is always talking about how wonderful you are to stay with us. Congratulations." came from Harold.

When no one had seen Nora for the past year the local judge granted a divorce to Charles so he could marry Selma. Even though Charles was consumed by keeping his ranch viable, he made a conscious effort to make Selma the most important part of his life. This woman was too good to let her become discouraged and leave him. Over their lifetime they had five children, three of the boys followed their father to live on the ranch.

In his first week in Dodge City, Little Chet acted like the city's laws were not for him to obey; like in Coldwater. A solid blow on the side of his head by Wyatt Earp's Colt 45 revolver changed his attitude. Without his father's money and power, Little Chet was not employable. He could talk his way into a job but within a few weeks he was usually fired. Mostly for being too drunk to perform his duties. He ended up cleaning horse shit out of the livery stable in exchange for sleeping there. During a cold snap in January, Little Chet froze to death while stumbling home drunk from the Long Branch Saloon.

Epilogue:

DATE: September 2021

LOCATION: Peaceful Valley Ranch, Inc.

Connor Bolton was walking from the cattle loading pens towards their house. Three semitrailers had just left with cattle destined for the feed yard outside of Dodge City. He was surprised when an SUV with Oklahoma license plates drove into his yard, a man got out and walked toward him.

"Mr. Connor Bolton, I presume?" called out the man in slacks and golf shirt."

"Yes, that's me. Can I help you?"

"Mr. Bolton, my name is Kyle Redhawk and as a result of many hours of DNA searches, I found that we share a great-great-great grandmother. Using '23 and Me' biotechnology, I made contact with some of our mutual cousins and they told me to contact you. They said you may have some information on Nora Bolton."

He continued "My sons in Dodge City for a basketball tournament. I'm between games and I thought I would drive over here to find a bit more for our family story. It seems that the only non-Comanche DNA in my family comes from our 3 times great grandmother."

"Since we live on the homestead tract, I was elected to take care of all the genealogy documentation for the Bolton family. If you have time, I can pull up my computer and follow the lineage for you, and me too, I guess. I don't recall any Indian blood in what I have done so far."

A half hour later Connor pulled up the page that displayed Charles Bolton married to Nora Windom with two sons Harold and Edwin. Connor was a descendent of Harold. Kyle was descendent of the Comanche men, there was no record of which one or ones.

There were several pictures of Nora and Charles, taken when they were married. Kyle was very appreciative for the pictures and a more extensive description of Nora and her ancestry.

Puzzled, Connor said "This is strange, Nora just disappeared after the Double X Ranch fire. Everyone thought she had died in the fire and coyotes got what was left of her. No record of her anywhere after that."

"She shows up as registering at the Comanche Indian Station near Lawton, Oklahoma a month after this fire you quoted. That's why you and I are related."

"A lot of other Boltons are related to Charles's second wife Selma. This does fill a gap on my side of the Windom family, I'm glad you stopped by."

"There are more Indian families related to Nora than white families. She had 9 children with 5 of them making it to adulthood."

They exchanged goodbyes and contact information as Kyle Redhawk headed back to Dodge City then on to his home in Tulsa.

As Kyle started to roll up his window Connor asked. "So I can look up her genealogy, what was her Comanche name?

Kyle smirked and said the English translation is "Screeching White Woman"

*******

Authors notes: The towns, counties and geology mentioned are real. The people and ranches are fictional.

For hundreds of years, lard has been used as an anal and vaginal lubricant.

Ranchers with native prairie grasses still utilize the same method of burning off last season's dry grass in the Spring. Only now they drive ATVs to spread the flames. Horses don't like to be around fires.