Alicia's Misfortune (18 page)

Galen sandwiched Addie in between Emory and him.
 
It was the darnedest thing that Emory made
her feel the same way that Galen made her feel. She felt all wishy washy
inside.
 
And she had thoughts of laying
down on the bed for him as well.

It was just because she was worked up, she told
herself.
 
She was not in her right mind
because of the news of her dad, she said.
 
But sitting next to Emory gave her tingles.
 
Tingles so comforting and pleasurable that
made her eyes close tight and drift a little.

The bumps of the rig didn’t help at all.
 
With her body humming and knowing what she
know knew about what exactly went on between a man and a woman, having her body
jolted in a similar way that Galen slammed into her the night before, did not
calm her any.

The buzz of the Black Eagle Falls was now not a bothersome
thing.
 
They were alluring.
 
Captivating.
 
Addie liked them this time as their sound got the strongest.

“The falls are right there, Galen.
 
He’s not from here.
 
Who’s to say he didn’t have himself a little
greenhorn accident?” said Emory.

Galen’s shoulder shook with laughter.

“You mean dump him? No.
 
I want to see what he’s done with the money and who has the farm.
 
I want those things back.”

Addie straightened up. It never occurred to her that she
might get those things back.

“You mean it?” she asked her husband with wonder in her eye.

“Don’t doubt it,” he said to her sure.
 
“You be straight with me and I will return
the favor.
 
You understand me?”

“Yes Galen I do,” she said.

All the way out to the sheriff’s, the magistrate
bargained.
 
He did everything but offer
Addie her money back.
 
Galen didn’t
budge.
 
Finally Emory ordered him to shut
up.

“I’m just saying,” said the magistrate.
 
“If you take me to the sheriff and they
decide I am a crook and they hang me, you’ll never find Addie’s father and
there goes any chance of Addie getting her money back.”

The preacher shook his head.

“Don’t listen to him, boys,” said the preacher. “He is the
devil.”

“Are you even a magistrate?” asked Galen.

“You’re running the risk of your wife going to jail, you
know that don’t you?” said the magistrate.
 
“It could go either way.”

“The devil,” said the preacher.

When they arrived in town, to the sheriff’s office and laid
out the story, the sheriff had another proposition. He suggested he send a wire
to Chicago to learn everything there was to learn about the situation from the
Chicago police.
 
In the meantime, the
sheriff could only charge the magistrate with trespassing and rustling if the
brothers wanted to prefer charges.
 

“Can you ask about Addie’s father?” inquired Emory.
 
“See if there is any record of his double
dealing and getting hung?”

“If they authorities hung him --” began the sheriff.

But Addie’s shook her head and interrupted him.

“It wasn’t a legal hanging.
 
He was lynched,” Addie barely managed to say.

“Ah, extra judiciously,” said sheriff. “Well if they are on
their game, the authorities will know about that as well.”

“If there are people residing in the farm have any claim?
You know like squatters?” asked
  
Emory.

 
“Don't worry Emory,”
said the sheriff.
 
“We'll sort it out.
Let me send this wire and see what's what. Go enjoy your weddin' day."

"It's not my wedding day," growled Emory.

Addie shrank. For the first real time, she felt truly
horrible about how she played with Emory's feelings. It actually confused her
she cared that much. Even though Galen himself was toying with her when he held
her the night before. She only had to close her eyes and feeling lingering
effects of his magic.

Many things were out in the open and that changed how it was
between all concerned. The three invited the preacher for a drink at the
restaurant at the inn where they were to stay.

“You all enjoy your meal,” said the preacher.
 
“I best be getting off.”

“You won’t have dinner with us?” asked Galen.

“No I have a fine meal waiting for me at home.
 
The missus is expecting me,” he said.

He tipped a phantom hat and left.

The town of Great Falls was boisterous and lively but it was
not Chicago.
 
The party was seated at a
dinner table and Galen ordered a bottle.
 
The first round was to the marriage of Galen and Addie.
 

It had been such a long twenty four hours since Addie
arrived.
 
In that time she fell in love
with a man and lay with him.
 
Now she
wasn’t so sure if she hadn’t fell out of love with him and in love with his
brother, whom she had feelings for first.

“You think they’ll find something out?” asked Emory.
“Wouldn’t that be something if they did?
 
You and Addie might be the proud owners of a Chicago farm.”

Galen laughed.
 
“Now
that would be something.
 
Not sure what
we would do with it.”

Addie’s insides twisted.
 
She could go home
was her first thought.
 
She must have had a sullen look on her face
for her husband touched her arm.

“You okay darlin’?” he asked tenderly.

She knocked her drink back in a very unlady-like fashion.

“I think it’s been a day,” she said forcing a smile.
 
“And there’s still daylight left.”

“Ah don’t be forlorn,” said Galen assuringly.

“Probably need to get some food in her,” said Emory.

“In all of us,” said Galen. “Let’s have our dinner.”

“I am fine,” she replied. “Kind of anxious to get out of
these clothes.”

Galen and Emory blinked.
 
And when the full weight of Addie’s remark hit her, she blushed from
head to toe.
 
Emory asked for waters all
the way around.
 
They ordered steaks with
mashed potatoes.
 
After Addie ate a
dinner roll and had some water, she felt worlds better.
 
Good enough to have a glass of wine with her
wedding meal.

They were finished with the main portion of their meal,
about to split a piece of cake when the sheriff himself found them.
 
His face was pleasantly animated.
 
The sheriff’s interruption was a welcomed
one.

“Mrs. Calhoun,” he said.
 
“The authorities have been looking for you.”

Addie nearly fainted.
 
She didn’t wait to hear what the sheriff had to say.
 
She already knew it.
 
The magistrate had been right.
 
He had been lawfully pursuing her and she was
going to be taken into custody.

“The Chicago police have been hunting down this ‘magistrate’
fellow but he has eluded custody.
 
They
are tracking down your deed and your father though on his score, I am sad to
say, may not have good news.
 
But what I
come to tell you is you are now the proud recipient for the reward for
apprehending this man.”

 
“Who knows, once the
house is vacated, with this reward, you’ll be sitting pretty,” said the
sheriff.

“She’s sitting pretty enough,” said Galen.
 
“Thank you sheriff.
 
Keep us posted.”

That was it for dinner.
 
The three headed up to their rooms.
 
Galen invited Emory into their room.
 
He poured everyone one last drink.

“You must admit, odd as this tale is, it has a happy
ending,” said Galen.

There was a knock on the door.
 
It was the sheriff again.

“I am so sorry to interrupt but I forgot, I need Addie to
sign for the reward money.
 
That part we
do resolve right away,” said the sheriff.

“I’ll go,” said Galen.
 
“I’m her husband.
 
She’ll conduct
all her business through me.”

“Very well,” said the sheriff.

“I’ll be right back,” said Galen.

“It will take an hour all together,” said the sheriff. “But
it is five thousand dollars.”

“I guess I can’t complain,” said Galen. “It isn’t every day
a man gets married and has his wife come into found money.”

It was awkward and a little bit dangerous for Galen to leave
Addie along with Emory.
 
If things had
been different, it might very well be Addie and Emory married.
 
She was smoldering in her church clothes
though.
 
She was dying to change into a
softer dress. There was a dressing screen in the room. Addie avoided the
awkward silence by busying herself.

“I’m switching out of my wedding clothes.
 
Excuse me,” she said.

“You can’t even look at me can you?” he said finally.

Emory took hold of her wrist, not brutally.
 
There was a kind of pleading to it.

“Can I tell you how sorry I am about everything?” she said
in a rush.

An unexpected wave of emotion burst forth.
 
Addie was quickly wiping her nose and her
eyes.

“Stop,” he said softly. “I can’t stand to see a woman cry.”

He put his arm around her.
 
Their contact was tantalizing.
 
Both Calhoun men had a similar effect on her.
  
They sent rushes through her that made her
crave them.
 
Whether it was the
mountain-crossing nature of the last few weeks and months – the last day --
Addie wanted to lose herself in his arms.
 
She needed comfort.
 

“I should get dressed,” she said finally after enjoying the
pleasure of his arms.

“You are dressed,” he remarked gently.

“Then I should get undressed,” she said looking straight
into his eyes.

Addie felt like a siren; a temptress.
 
She had virtually no experience and yet she
was playing the part of a seductress.
 
She wanted this man.
 
And he
wanted her back.

Emory took her face in his hands and kissed her.
 
Though she had only kissed his brother, it
was the most impetuous, passionate kiss Addie could imagine.
 
His lips were so soft and warm and
gentle.
 
They had a gentleness that
Galen’s did not. He kissed her like she belonged to him.

His tongue mated with hers.
 
He penetrated her and tasted all there was to taste.
 
His breath was so sweet and fresh.
 
It tasted of the whisky they just
shared.
  
He cupped the back of her head
to push her closer to him.
 
So that they
could devour one another.

Emory slipped her jacket from her shoulders and tossed it on
a chair behind her.
 
He worked the
buttons down her chest. Addie thought to shimmy them behind the screen to
conceal them.

 
Emory caught on.
 
He turned her around to the face the
wall.
 
He took her hands, one at a time,
and placed them on the wall. With great flare, he tossed her skirts up over her
shoulder.
 
Hidden beneath layers and
layers of fabric, Addie jutted her plump round bottom towards him and he
entered her.

The feeling of Emory inside of her, though she was tender
from the night before, was so exciting.
 
Her body clenched, drawing up tight around him.

She did not care if she were going to hell.
 
She did not care if Galen came in and shot
her.
 
She wanted Emory like nothing
else.
 
Even more than to be free from the
magistrate.
  
He wrapped his arms around
her belly and drew her to him.
 
He was
inside of her. There was no turning back.
 
Addie gave it her all.
 
She
relished this moment.

His hands found her heavy breasts and pushed them
upward.
 
He pushed into her like a
starving man, in and out of her vigorously.
 
Emory forgot himself and his cries and moans grew louder.
 
He reached between her legs and just like
Galen had the night before, he worked it, wagging his hands unstoppingly.
 
Addie was on her way to rapture.

But the unmistakable sound of a key in the door made
everything deadly still.
 
Adrenaline
coursed through her.
 
It traversed her
body, causing her to constrict her core around Emory’s hardness.

“Emory?” called Galen cautiously.

There was no hiding what they were doing.
 
Addie was sleeping with her husband’s
brother.
 
She was certain they were dead.
She closed her eyes waiting for the fury.
 
Galen crossed the room in a couple of strides.
 
He pulled back to drape on the screen.
 

“Bring her to the bed,” he said lustily. “Let us both give
her pleasure.”

Addie was consumed with lasciviousness. She had some idea of
what was going to happen and she could not contain her lust.
 
She had to have these two fine men.
 
They were bull-like and powerful.
 
Her future could be no worse than the past
and there was nothing better ever, than this moment right now.
 
If Addie was ruining any chance she had a
decent stable life by doing what she was doing, it felt to amazing to stop.

Connected, Addie and Emory waddled to the bed. Galen was
already bared, erect. Emory had Addie up on all fours, ramming her from behind.
Galen gently guided her mouth to him.
 
He
tasted sweet and warm.
  
The more her
mouth worked on him, the more Emory’s pumping worked on her. She was positively
alive with tingly and ticklishness and a craving for more and more.
 

The excitement was overwhelming. She had a great desire to
touch herself.
 
She followed her
instinct.
 
She pressed and moved her
fingers between her legs.
 
She lit a
wildfire.
 
With little effort, Addie
succumbed, tumbling in clouds of rapture.
 
Her body spasmed around Emory’s without control.
 
She nearly fainted as Galen pumped her mouth.

As she froze, paralyzed with pleasure, Galen adjusted his position.
  
Emory was seized by his own passion.
 
He chased her over that wonderful cliff and
fell, head over heels.
 
He was so
powerful as he came. Every cut ranch-hewn muscle jerked as he spent himself
inside of her.
 
He stiffened and tugged
as he struggled to move to the very end. He tumbled away and soon Galen was
inside of her, crying out as though he would die of ecstasy.

The three collapsed on the mattress. The cowboys were half,
half on the bed.
 
Addie hummed.
 
She never knew there was such delight possible.
  
It was a dream.
 
It was so sweet it could not be real.
 
Addie floated on a cloud of complete
satisfaction.
 
There was not a tense
ounce within her.
 
She could not remember
ever feeling this peaceful.

But the dream passed and everyone adjusted themselves so
that they were properly dressed.
 
It was
as if it never happened.
  
Addie sat on
the bed.
 
Galen sat in one chair and
Emory in another.
 
Galen tapped an
envelope as though he were thinking.
 
All
three of them acted as though what had just transpired between had no
happened.
 
But in fact it had.
 
They had mad passionate sex together.
 
Galen finally he spoke.

“The sheriff received a wire while I was at the sheriff’s
office,” he said gruffly.
 
“As expected,
they confirmed the demise of your father, Adaline.”

Addie held out a little bit of hope but that was
crushed.
 
Her father was officially
dead.
 
She turned her head, pushing the
emotion she felt, deep inside of her till she didn’t feel a thing.

“This magistrate fellow, or the man who calls himself a
magistrate, works with a band of four, including a woman.
 
The law back in Chicago says this magistrate
fellow was the front man and that he basically stole the deed to your
home.
 
None of the papers as far they can
see are legit,” said Galen.

“How do they know?” asked Emory.

“Well for one thing, some of the papers are sign
post-mortem,” said Galen.

Addie flinched.
 
A
little sound escaped her.

“Sorry about that.
 
They found your daddy. They put his time of death about a day before the
documents were falsely signed,” said Galen.

“What happened?” asked Emory.

“From what they gathered, because three of the four turned
on the magistrate which is why he followed Addie out, that they jumped her
father, forced him to turn over papers.
 
After he was deceased, they set about signing the property over to
themselves.
 
It’s prime real estate
according to the police,” said Galen.
 
“Worth a pretty penny, if that’s what your heart’s desire is.”

“It’s been in my family forever,” Addie remarked.

Addie’s heart’s desire.
 
She had stopped considering what that was.
 
She could do worse.
 
Galen Calhoun was a fine man.
 
But from the tone of his voice, it almost
sounded like he was giving her an option.

“Anyhow, the police say that place is yours.
 
Along with this reward money,” he said.

“That’s mighty fine,” said Emory. “What are you going to do
with a farm back there when you’re way out here?”

Addie kept her head down.
 
She did not want anyone to see how suddenly homesick she was.

“Well I’ve been thinking about that,” said Galen. “At first
when I learned Addie might come into the farm, I knew it had to be
valuable.
 
My original thought was that
one of us could go check it out.
 
It
would be kind of like an adventure.
 
City
farm, Montana farm.
 
How hard could it
be?
 
But then I got to thinking that none
of this would have happened had it not been for this sonofabitch being so
crooked and all.
 
Addie, you hadn’t given
any thoughts of being married before all this, had you?”

She shook her head solemnly.

“And you only did what you did because you had no other way,
correct?” he asked.

She could hear in his voice that he was afraid of her
answer.
 
But he was on to something.
 
He sighed.

“The truth is I read every one of your letters to Emory and
his to you. It was my distinct impression that you had feelings for one
another. Emory and I set you up to come out here to teach you a lesson. Because
you had expressed your feelings so genuinely.
 
We couldn’t figure how anyone could do that and those feelings not be
real.
 
I am thinking, now that I know
what I know, that those feelings were real.
 
They were, weren’t they?”

Addie nodded.

“But I have feelings for you too,” she promised him.

He smiled softly. “But you want to go home, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“That’s my ranch out there. My brother helped me every step
of the way.
 
But he won’t let me give him
half.
 
He wants something of his own. I
figure, especially after what just happened here, that this is the best
way.
 
I am fine with the three of us –“

He couldn’t finish his sentence, the subject was too taboo.
Addie burned with an out of control blush. Emory squirmed.

“I’d be pleased if you stayed and were my wife but I read
those letters you wrote to Emory.
 
You
two belong together.
 
You don’t belong
with me,” said Galen.

Addie rushed him. She threw her arms around him.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Galen stood up and shook his brother’s hand.
 
He picked up a piece of paper off a stack of
papers that he had as they checked into the room.
 
He ripped it up and walked out of the
room.
 
Addie examined the pieces of paper
Galen shredded.
 
It was their wedding
certificate.
 
Tears jeweled her
eyes.
 
Galen Calhoun was a good man.

“What do you make of that?” Emory asked shyly.

“It’s all so sudden,” said Addie. “But it feels right. Do
you think you can put with me in Chicago?”

“I think I am going to die trying,” said Emory.