The Proper Thing To Do

Elizabeth quietly asked if that was why he'd helped her get away from Mayor Ellington.

Samuel looked at her and smiled.

That was part of it, I guess. I knew what he was going to do. He was going to keep you here until you agreed to do what he wanted just like he did to most of the people in town. I knew you didn't want that, so I decided it was time to stop him."

"What was the other part?"

Samuel sighed.

"You probably don't want to hear the other part."

"But I do, I really do."

Samuel looked at the ground.

"Well...like I said, since I lost Barbara, I never found a woman like her...until you asked me if I could help you out. You'll think I'm crazy as a skunk with the rabies, but I wondered if Barbara had sent you to make up for her being gone."

Elizabeth put her hand on Samuel's arm.

"Maybe she did. I didn't have anything ahead of me in St. Louis until I read that advertisement for a schoolteacher in the newspaper and I never used to read those advertisements. Something just made me read them that night. I still don't know why.

"Mary says it was God, but I think God has too many other things to do besides worry about me. Maybe it was your Barbara or my Johnathan."

Samuel put his arm around Elizabeth's waist.

"So if they did, what should we do now?"

Elizabeth felt a wave of warmth spread over her because of Samuel's arm. She fought back the urge to put her arms around his neck, and instead, stroked one finger down his chest.

"I wouldn't want to disappoint them, so maybe we should find out it we like each other enough to...well, if we like each other or not. Do you have any ideas about how we might do that?"

Samuel thought for a second and then tightened the arm around Elizabeth's waist enough she had to move closer to him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. We need to have a celebration. Ellington is gone so you're safe and the people of Leland can relax and get on with their lives. Also, my men got back yesterday morning from driving this year's herd of cattle to the stockyards in Abilene. We always have a barbecue at the end of a drive. We'll just make this one big enough for the whole town to come.

"I'll drive a carriage into town and take you to the ranch. Oh, and be sure to tell Pastor Branson and his wife they're welcome too and that I'll send another carriage to take them to the ranch and back."

When Elizabeth told Pastor Branson and Mary about the barbecue, Mary grinned and winked at Pastor Branson. He grinned back.

"Sounds like you and Mister Horn like each other."

Elizabeth blushed.

"Well, Mister Horn is a nice man and he saved me from Mayor Ellington. Yes, I like him. I think I'll go to bed now. It's been a long day."

The barbecue gave the town a huge boost in self-esteem. Pastor Branson said it felt like the town was before Mayor Ellington took over. The people ate barbecued beef and beans until they were stuffed, and then sat around the fire and talked.

Samuel and Elizabeth talked too, but they talked as they walked toward the main house and away from the crowd.

Samuel chuckled.

"You know what Juan told me when we got home that night? He said he thought I wanted to get you away from Ellington more than I wanted to get Ellington out of Leland. He said if that was true, I shouldn't let you get away."

Elizabeth slipped her hand in Samuel's big hand and smiled when he gently squeezed it.

"Mary said kind of the same thing. She said men never make up their minds about a woman unless they have a little help and that I should help you."

"Is that what you were doing that night in the cemetery?"

"Yes, sort of, I guess. I've thought a lot about you ever since that day you yelled at Mayor Ellington in the dining room. That's when I named you 'Big Sam'."

Samuel laughed.

"I've been called a lot of things, but never that. What caused you to do that?"

"Well, since I was a little girl, I gave names to people I didn't know. Sometimes it was because I thought I'd like them and giving them a name made it seem kind of like I did know them. Other times it was because I didn't like them at all so I made up a bad name for them.

"I named you 'Big Sam' because I thought I'd like you. Turns out, I was right."

Samuel chuckled again.

"Elizabeth, you don't know much about me, so I don't know why you think you'd like me."

Elizabeth stopped walking and when Samuel turned to see why, she put her arms around his neck.

"I know the things about you that are important, the things you do without thinking, like the day you stopped your wagon so I could cross the street and the day you came barging out of the hotel dining room and almost ran into me. You didn't run into me though. You stopped, tipped your hat and told me to have a good day.

"I also know that you risked a lot to get me away from Mayor Ellington, but you said it was just the proper thing to do. I don't need to know much more except that you'd take care of me and let me take care of you."

Samuel put his arms around Elizabeth.

"Doesn't sound like you'll need much courtin'. That's good because I'm not very good at dressin' up to go courtin'."

Elizabeth raised up on her tiptoes then.

"You don't have to be dressed up to kiss me and that's all the courting I need."

After the barbecue, the town was abuzz with the news that Samuel and Elizabeth were courting. That only lasted about a month because that's when Pastor Branson married them in the Leland church. Juan was Samuel's best man and Mary was Elizabeth's maid of honor.

Their wedding night was spent in the big house on the ranch. Both Samuel and Elizabeth were a little nervous, Elizabeth because she thought Samuel would probably compare her to his dead wife and Samuel because of his size relative to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth changed into a white night dress in a small room adjoining the bedroom. She smiled when she saw the rocking chair and the cradle sitting there. She knew that room was for a baby. It adjoined the bedroom so the mother of that baby wouldn't have to go far to nurse the baby or to take care of it during the night.

Samuel changed into a nightshirt in the bedroom proper. It felt strange because he hadn't worn a nightshirt since before he went to war. During the war, he slept fully clothed if there was any risk of a night attack. If his unit was in safe territory, he slept in his union suit. In the nightshirt he felt almost naked.

When Elizabeth came back into the bedroom, his fears about his size doubled. When dressed, she looked a lot larger than she did in the thin nightdress that stretched out over her breasts and then hung straight down. When she walked up to him and put her arms around his neck Samuel was hesitant to return the embrace.

Elizabeth asked if she looked like he'd imagined, and Samuel replied, "You're so little. I'm afraid I might hurt you."

Elizabeth smiled and stroked the back of Samuel's head.

"Big Sam, Pastor Branson married us, but only you can make me your wife. I'm ready for you to do that."

Samuel barely remembered making love with Barbara. Like most women of the time, she'd been a passive partner in bed. Samuel had known to excite her so she'd be ready to accept him and he'd managed to figure out what made Barbara that way. He had no idea about Elizabeth's likes and dislikes.

The first thing he realized is that Elizabeth wasn't going to be a passive partner. He figured that out when she stepped back and pulled her nightgown over her head without blowing out the lamp. He was staring at her pert breasts, flat belly, and wide hips when she chuckled.

"I don't think this is going to work very well if you keep that nightshirt on."

Samuel turned around and pulled the nightshirt over his head, then took a deep breath and turned back to face Elizabeth.

She smiled when she saw his erect manhood.

"I think you like how I look. Come show me that you do."

After saying that, Elizabeth lay down on the bed and held out her arms. Samuel climbed in beside her and put his big hand on her firm breast.

"If I do something you don't like, you'll have to tell me."

Elizabeth sighed at that touch and the warmth it caused in her core.

"Just keep doing what you're doing. I like how it makes me feel."

Like most men at the time, Samuel didn't know much about exciting a woman. He knew their breasts were sensitive. Barbara was so sensitive he had to make his touches very gentle. She'd said his hands were rough and made her nipples hurt.

For that reason, he didn't touch Elizabeth's nipples at first. It wasn't until she put her hand on his and pressed his palm down on her nipple that he understood that Elizabeth wasn't that way. He felt her nipple stiffening under his palm and then chanced a light touch to the thick nub with a fingertip.

When Elizabeth moaned, Samuel thought he'd hurt her and whispered that he was sorry. Elizabeth whispered back, "You didn't hurt me. You just made me feel like I want more. Do it again."

By the time Samuel had stroked both Elizabeth's nipples until they were stiff and sticking up proud from her taut, wrinkled nipple beds, she was moaning at every touch. Samuel felt her slide her hand down his belly and then groaned as her fingers closed around his rigid manhood.

He'd never felt that before and the feeling made his manhood twitch. Elizabeth didn't say anything. She just began gently stroking him. Only when he began to rock his hips when she stroked did she say anything, and then it was just a whisper.

"I want you Samuel. Make me your wife now."

Samuel was surprised when he knelt between Elizabeth's spread thighs and probed for her entrance. What he felt was a little coarse hair and puffy lips, but inside those lips Elizabeth felt very wet and slippery. He pushed his manhood forward but stopped when Elizabeth moaned.

He felt her adjust her position a little and then her whispered, "Don't stop again. It doesn't hurt at all."

Samuel felt Elizabeth shudder as he slowly pushed his manhood inside her. He felt like groaning again because while she was slippery, she was also a very tight fit. He felt every ripple of her passage massaging his manhood with every stroke. He also felt the way Elizabeth began lifting herself up with every stroke.

It wasn't long until Samuel felt the surge building in his loins. Barbara had once told him she got pleasure from feeling his manhood throb as he filled her with his seed. This first time, he wanted to give Elizabeth that feeling so he tried to hold back.

He wasn't ready for Elizabeth to gasp and for her thighs to begin to shake. He wasn't ready for the way she lifted herself up even after his manhood was deep inside her. He wasn't ready for her to fall back down, then shriek as she raised up again, dug her nails into his back, and began rocking herself up and down over his manhood.

There was no way Samuel could hold back with that going on. He groaned, pushed his manhood deep and then groaned again as the surge became a flood filling Elizabeth with his seed. Even after he'd pulled out his throbbing manhood and then pushed it deep inside her three times, Elizabeth still hung there, held up off the mattress by her legs, and quivering all over.

When she did ease back down, she pulled Samuel down on top of her and held him there until the contractions that tightened her core mostly stopped. Then, she stroked his back and whispered, "That never happened before. What did you do to me?"

Samuel, thinking he had indeed hurt Elizabeth, raised up enough he could see her face.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I won't do it again."

Elizabeth pulled him back down enough he felt her breasts flatten out against his chest.

"I just said it never happened before. I didn't say I didn't like it. I want you to do it again and again and again."

Well, a lot of things changed in Leland after that. The town held an election for Mayor and even though he hadn't expressed any interest in the job, Pastor Branson was elected. He proved to be a fair man who had the best interests of Leland at heart.

He led the town council to do things to better the town. One of those things was to hire a new town marshal. Peter Dobbs was an older man who had served in the Union Army during the war as a Captain. Since Texas had technically been a Confederate state, some of the council were nervous until they spoke to him in person. He promised the council that as far as he was concerned, Texas was a part of the United States and he wouldn't treat anyone any differently.

He upheld that promise when a group of renegade former Union soldiers descended upon Leland and robbed the general store. Marshal Dobbs organized a posse and rode off to find the robbers. The posse found them camped in a blind canyon. When Marshal Dobbs ordered them to surrender, the men opened fire. When the smoke cleared, there were six dead robbers in the canyon and no one in the posse had been injured.

Marshal Dobbs left the men where they fell, but brought back everything they'd taken from the general store. He also brought back the men's horses, saddles and bridles, and their weapons, and told Pastor Branson the town should sell everything and use the money for something for the town.

After that incident, word got around to the other towns around Leland that if you came to Leland, you'd best be on your best behavior.

The Leland school opened, but it opened a year later than Elizabeth wanted. That was because it took that long for the council to find a schoolteacher in Dallas who would come to Leland. Elizabeth had decided that having Big Sam's babies was more important than teaching school. Their son, the first of four children they would have together, was born ten months after they were married.

That's about all there is to say about Samuel and Elizabeth except that Samuel decided Elizabeth needed a name to go with what she called him. After their wedding night, she always called him "Big Sam". One night while she lay in his arms, he said he'd thought of a name for her too.

"I'm going to call you 'Little Lizzy' on account of you're so little compared to me."

Elizabeth stroked his chest then.

"You can call me anything you want as long as you call me your wife."

Soon the ranch hands and sawmill workers knew about both names but when they spoke of Samuel or Elizabeth, they always called them Mister and Missus Horn or if they were vaqueros, Senòr and Senòra Horn. They had too much respect for both to call them by anything but a formal title. Part of the reason for their respect was Samuel paid well and never asked for more than a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. The other reason was that, Mexican, Negro, or white, Samuel treated them all like his family.

The only man on the ranch who didn't follow along was Juan. One day when he and Samuel were driving the wagon to town, Juan chuckled.

"I hear Missus Horn calls you Big Sam."

Samuel nodded.

"Yes she does."

"And I hear you call her Little Lizzy."

"Yes I do."

Juan chuckled again.

"I think I'll start calling you Big Sam too. It takes too long to say Senòr Horn. You won't shoot me if I do, will you?"

Samuel smiled.

"No. You started out with my daddy and I learned how to ride a horse and run a ranch from you. When I came back from the war, you'd kept the ranch going. There was also that time you shot Ellington before he could shoot me. I couldn't ever shoot a man who saved my life."

He grinned at Juan then.

"Besides, it took you two shots to put Ellington down. Years ago, you'd have done it with one. I couldn't shoot a man who's getting so old he can't aim a revolver. It just wouldn't be the proper thing to do."