Seth's first three years at home seemed to pass quickly. There had been no problem transferring all his parents' property and assets to him, as he was clearly the only heir. He reimbursed the city for the money that had spent to administer and "caretake" the ranch. His parents had left a sizeable bank account, and Seth immediately used some of it to buy a dozen head of Hereford cattle and two good riding horses, to go with a milk cow and two horses they already had. All the other tools and equipment he needed were already on hand.
He also doubled Jack's and Mel's wages. They protested (mildly) at his extravagance, but knew they were worth it, and were glad to have it.
Everything seemed to be going along well, until one day when Jack and Seth were replacing a section of fence. "Seth, I think it's time you quit making love to my wife," said Jack, without preamble.
To say Seth was surprised would have been a considerable understatement. "Is this something you're saying seriously?'
"No. Yes. Well, sort of. Look at it from my standpoint. You sweet talk and tease my wife. She starts acting like she's a teenager, again. She's always smiling and laughing, and that makes her look especially pretty - and she was damned beautiful to start with!
"Well, the results of your trifling with her often stick with her all day and into the night, at which time I frequently reap some benefits... Well, we won't go into that. I think you know what I'm getting it."
"Yes sir, I think I do know what you're hinting at. So, let me summarize. My attentions to your wife are making her happy. Her happiness is contributing to your increased happiness. I'm certainly happy. I don't see the problem. In fact, it seems to me that I'm performing an important public service. I may even be saving your marriage."
"My marriage is not in need of saving, thank you. When you state it as you have, it does seem like a good thing. But Seth, you're wasting your talents on a very married woman, who is very happy with her present situation. Don't you think it would be more logical, and more productive, to find a girl - woman - of your own? There must be somebody out there who would have you. You're still reasonably young, you're not especially ugly, you obviously have a way about you that some women would appreciate..."
"Like Mel."
"Leave Mel out of this. I'm talking about you finding someone you can devote your whole attentions to."
"Do you have somebody in mind?"
"Seth, you do not need somebody to find girls for you! You haven't looked at all since you came home. Go out and look."
Seth gave no response, and they finished the fencing in silence. Jack didn't know what to think of Seth's quiet. As they were gathering up their tools, Seth finally spoke. "I had a girl, once."
"You had a girl - a serious girlfriend? What happened to her?"
"Let's see. As I recall, her father pointed a loaded shotgun at me, and told me never to come near his daughter, again."
"You're joking, right?"
"I wish I was, but I'm not."
"Wow! So, what were you doing with his daughter that prompted him to come after you with a shotgun?"
"Nothing, absolutely nothing. That's what makes the whole situation so stupid and sad. I'll tell you the whole tale, if you like."
Jack "liked," and they retired to a nearby stone wall, and sat. "At the time, she was about 15, and I was 19. She lived nearby, we'd known each other our whole lives, and I think you could say that we were definitely best friends. But there had never been any romance. I'm not sure we'd ever even held hands. We just liked to be together.
"Now, in honesty, I think that was changing with us. She was no longer a 'little girl;' she clearly wasn't thinking of me as her big brother; and I think - at least in our minds - we were both considering the long-term possibilities. But, as I said, we hadn't yet done anything about it."
"So, why was Daddy so upset with you that he would threaten to shoot you?"
"Well, that's pretty hard to explain, even if you were there at the time, but I'll try. It all had to do with the War. Well, there wasn't a war yet, and few of us imagined there would ever be one. Probably everybody had some opinions about slavery and such, but out here in the West it didn't even seem to be a subject worth discussing. Well, except for people like her father.
"You've probably known of cases where an idea takes hold so firmly that the person holding it just can't think straight about it. I don't imagine there were many like him out here, but there were some who got so wrapped up in the idea that the northern states were out to destroy the South - by ending slavery, which kept their whole agriculture going - that they began to believe and talk about a 'Yankee' conspiracy. Her father had the idea that I and my family were anti-slavery - which we were, but just like anybody else's opinion - and he wasn't going to allow any 'Yankee influence' to get into his family. It didn't really have anything to do with his daughter and me.
"It was stupid - probably crazy - but the shotgun he was pointing at me was very real. I had never had anybody point a gun at me. I decided to leave the area, partly because I didn't want to be the cause of family trouble for the daughter, but mostly because I was really, really scared. I thought her father was just crazy enough that he might actually pull the trigger. Well, from what I heard about him later, I think he probably was going insane.
"I didn't tell my folks what had happened, but the next day I informed them that I wanted to travel around a bit before I settled down. I was old enough, so they weren't particularly surprised. I told them I didn't expect to be gone too long, although I had no idea what that actually meant.
"The last thing I did before I left town was probably one of the best things I ever did, but also one of the worst. I couldn't tell the girl I was leaving without telling her about her father, but I really needed to see her one time. When we met, I guess I was so upset and so keyed up that all my pent-up emotions just spilled out, and she had some ready to match mine. We were suddenly sharing all the kisses that we had never had before, and we spent an amazing hour or so, discovering a new part of our friendship. When I left without saying goodbye, I knew the next morning was going to be very hard on both of us. I felt like a cad, but those kisses stayed with me for weeks, like they were still happening. I doubt her feelings were as blissful when she discovered I was gone, but I really hoped her memories of the afternoon were as good as mine.
"It really was my intention to wait a year or so, until things had calmed down some, and she was a little older . Then, I was going to return, and take her away with me, no matter what her father said. Instead, I suddenly found myself in a war, a member of the Union Army, marching away from home, not toward it. By the time I mustered out, many years had passed, and I had been notified by the Army that my parents were dead. I came home with the unrealistic hope that she was here, waiting for me. Of course, she wasn't. Her father had died, her mother was living at their ranch, but she was married and living somewhere in New York State.
"End of story."
Jack thought about it for a minute. "Not a very happy tale, Seth, but now that you know..."
"Yeah, I know what you're about it say. Go find myself another girl."
***
One day in town, Seth chanced to meet Hettie O'Brien, and stopped to talk. Hettie and her husband, Henry, had owned and run the city orphanage for longer than Seth had been alive. There are stories in abundance about the horrors of orphanages, and unfortunately many seem to be true - bad care, poor food, mean attendants, harsh punishments, and personal abuse. In other words, prisons for homeless children.
Thankfully, none of that could be said about the local orphanage. Henry and Hettie took care of each of their charges as if each one was their own child. The building was bright and sunny, there was always good, adequate food, plenty of play and learning opportunities, and no corporal punishment.
"As Henry always says," said Hettie, "It ain't a family, but it's damned close!"
Seth laughed. "I believe it. There are quite a few of your 'graduates' living and working around town, and they all seem to be doing quite well."
"I should hope so! We sure try to give them all the loving care we can, and most of them do right well. It's easiest when we've had a child for his or her whole life, so they know they're loved and cared for by our standards, but they don't have anything else - any real family, good or bad - to compare with. When circumstances bring us older children who have had a family life, it can be tougher."
"You mean adjusting to the group living?"
"Well, that's what it comes down to, although every situation is a little different. We give our boys and girls a lot of love, and a lot of freedom to find their own way, but it's still different when you have a ma and pa, and a certain degree of independence that we just can't duplicate. That's why Henry says...
"It ain't a family, but it's damned close," Seth finished for her. "I think I get what you're saying."
"Good. Well, we got an example right now. This boy is - I forget, exactly - about 13 years old. He's lived with his parents his whole life, then suddenly both die during our last influenza outbreak. He has no other kin locally, and he's not old enough to be on his own. We're really his only option for a few years. He seems like a really good boy, and I don't think he'll be any trouble to us. But I think he could be trouble to himself. The change is going to be too great, maybe."
"Yeah, I can see how that might be. I was lucky to have a really good home life, but even parents not as good as mine would still be full-time parents." Seth was quiet for a few moments. "So, what do you do in a case like this?"
Hettie shook her head. "Not much we can do but treat him the best we can - try to figure out what are his biggest problems, then help him work those out. As I said, he seems like a good boy. We'll just have to see how it works out."
Seth went silent, again. "You got something particular on your mind, Seth?"
Seth chuckled. "Oh, I'm just having a little discussion with myself. You know my situation, don't you, Hettie? I came back from the War by myself, and have been getting the ranch producing again, with the help of Jack and Mel Davidson, who worked for my folks for many years. They must be about the age of the boy's parents, and don't have any children of their own. Me, I'm fancy free, but we're finding the three of us get along very well together. As Henry might say, "we ain't a family...' Well, as you were talking, I was just wondering if ours might be a situation that would be a comfortable transition for a boy like you're talking about. I suppose I'd be his guardian or something, and he'd just be part of our little 'family,' doing whatever we're doing, with space of his own, and a good outdoor farm like he's probably used to."
Now, it was Hettie's turn to be quiet for a moment. "So, Seth, you're thinking of having the boy - Andy is his name, by the way - come and live with you full-time?"
"I don't know what I'm thinking, Hettie. As I said, I'm just kind of brainstorming with myself, but I'm thinking it might work. I'd need to talk to Mel and Jack, to see what they think, then maybe come and meet the boy - Andy - and see how things look."
"My word! Well, I'm just doing a little brain work of my own, but I'm thinking you might have a real good idea. I'll talk to Henry about it. You'll be in touch?"
"I sure will - soon as Jack, Mel and I sort it out among ourselves."
***
That evening, Seth brought the Davidsons into the discussion. "Now, this is still just a half-baked idea with me, but the more I think on it, the better I'm liking it." He presented the whole story to them, and let them ponder it a few moments.
"So," Jack began, "You don't know anything about this boy, or his family?"
"Nope, just what Hettie told me. I just got to thinking about having a kid around. He's old enough that he wouldn't need a lot of care. He grew up on a farm, so he knows what we do. I suspect he would enjoy being in the outdoors more than he could be at the orphanage. Well, as I said, it just got me thinking."
"What would be our plan for him?" asked Mel.
That stopped him for a moment. "I guess I wasn't thinking about any 'plan,' as such. I was just thinking of having him as a part of our little family, just doing what we do. He'd help around the place, and he'd go to school and do the things that boys his age are supposed to do. We could do some special things together, like I could take him fishing."
Jack gave a little snort. "Well, you could take him fishing, all right, but if he really wanted to catch a fish, he'd better go with me."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Just what I said. It doesn't seem like it needs explanation, but maybe your understanding of the English language is as bad as your fishing skills."
Mel intervened. "Uh, little boys, you might wait and see if the new little boy even likes fishing - or even if he's coming here, at all."
"Damn," Jack exclaimed, " I hate practical women, Seth. Don't you?"
"Well, I suppose their only problem is that they're practical, and just won't let their imagination have a little room to wander around."
"Ha, ha. I've got as much imagination as you two, put together. Mine is running in other directions - like, how it would be to have a boy around who I could mother a little bit - something neither of you are equipped for."
Seth looked at Jack. "Well, I hate to admit that she might have a point, but mothering is something he might need, even more than fishing. Hettie tries to do that for all their kids, but there's only one of her. If the mothering doesn't turn into smothering, it might be just the thing.
"So, we're talking around the subject, but am I getting the idea that you two would be in favor of having him here?"
"That's a 'yes' from me," concurred Mel.
"I'm leaning that way, too," said Jack, "But obviously we need a little more info. How are you picturing it, Seth? Would you be his guardian, or adopt him?"
"Good questions, which I can't answer yet. If he wants to come here, at all - which is a big 'if,' so far - I'd think we'd keep it pretty informal for a while. For legal reasons - and also so any of us could change our minds if it wasn't working out - I suspect he'd stay a ward of the orphanage, and just be kind of 'on loan' to us."
"That sounds logical," Mel agreed. "So, what's our next step?"
"I guess go and meet the boy. How about this? I go to the orphanage, visit with Henry and Hettie, and in the process meet the boy - Andy - and talk to him, just socially, not about coming here. It's likely to be awkward, because he'll still be getting used to his new situation, and maybe meeting him will be all I can do that first trip. If I generally like what I see, we can talk it over again, and then go back with a proposal. If it seems like he's ready to talk that first time, then I'll just tell him what we've been talking about, and see his response. I'd probably invite him to come over here, and see the situation in person."
Jack and Mel both agreed that would be a good way to start.
***
Two days later, Seth rode to the orphanage. He visited with Henry and Hettie, then Hettie took him on a little tour of the area. As they had planned, after Seth had been introduced to Andy, Hettie excused herself to take care of "a minor emergency." (There wasn't one.) Seth tried to start up a conversation.
"Hettie - Mrs. O'Brien - told me a little about you. Losing both your parents at once - there can't be many things worse for a young man to have to bear. I lost both my mother and father in the influenza outbreak a couple of years ago. Well, I know my loss isn't anything like yours. I was grown and not living at home when mine died. I wasn't with mine every day, like you were with yours, but I loved them a lot and still miss them. Like you, I didn't have any other family in the area, so I guess I know a little bit about what you're feeling. I'm really sorry.
"I know these are confusing times for you, and you have a lot to think about. I don't want to explode your brain with more stuff, but this might be a good time to talk about one other thing. The law says you have to be in somebody's care for another couple of years, until you can look after yourself."
"I can look after myself, now," said the boy - his first words since Hettie left.
"I don't doubt it. It sounds like you've had a good, strong upbringing, and are much readier to face the world on your own than most boys your age. But the law deals in averages, you might say, so they pick an age when most boys could be ready to be independent. That usually means living at an orphanage, or some other care situation, for a couple of years.
"I've known the O'Briens my whole life, and I know they'll treat you well. As Mr. O'Brien likes to point out, they can't make the orphanage the same as a real family, but they're close. That works out pretty well for the boys and girls who have been in the orphanage their whole lives, and haven't known anything different. But we both know that it's going to be a lot different for you than it was when you were living and working at home with your family. I've been talking to the O'Briens about a plan that would meet their legal requirements, but that might suit you better than living here. Want to hear?"
"I guess."
"Good. Now, this isn't any decision you have to make right away. I'm just telling you the idea, for future reference. I have a ranch just a couple miles from here. Well, it's my family place, where I grew up, but I've been away at the War for some years, and I've just come back recently. A couple - Jack and Mel Davidson, who worked for my parents - are there with me. The place is in good shape, but hasn't been really worked since my parents died, and now the three of us are getting it started up, again. We've got some horses and a couple of milk cows, and I just recently bought a little herd of Hereford cattle. We're just planning a general farm-ranch area. If you wanted to be part of it, the O'Briens would let you live with us. 'Sound interesting?"
Andy was quiet for a few moments, obviously thinking. "So, I would come and work for you, rather than living here?"
"You wouldn't be working for me - wouldn't be a 'hired hand.' You'd be living with us, and would be a fourth member of our little team. You'd work - just like you have chores here - but it'll be the four of us doing whatever needs doing. You'd have a lot more freedom than you have here, and it would be in a situation more like what you're used to.
"Well, as I said, this isn't something that needs to be decided now. I wanted to give you something to think about. If you find you're interested, then the next step would probably be to get you over to the ranch to look it over, and to meet the Davidsons. Talk it over with the O'Briens if you're interested at all, and I'll keep in touch."
***
Seth returned to the ranch, and reported the proceedings to Mel and Jack. A week after that, Henry brought Andy for a visit. One week more, and Andrew - Andy - Tremont became the fourth member of the Seth McPherson "family.”
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