The Diamond City Mud Wagon

Ephram Ellis looked up from the firewood he was splitting because he heard the sound of a wagon rattling down the rough road that went past his ranch. When it came around a bend in the road, Ephram saw that it wasn't a farm wagon like he'd first thought.

It was a mud wagon, one of the heavy passenger coaches that were built strong enough to handle the rough and rutted and often muddy dirt paths that served as roads between the small towns that dotted western Montana. He knew this coach was headed to Diamond City, one of the towns that had sprung up because of the discovery of gold in the Confederate Gulch.

It was called the Confederate Gulch because the initial deposits of placer gold had been found by former Confederate prisoners of war who had been released on parole by the Union. They weren't much inclined to violate the terms of their parole and rejoin the Confederate Army, so they headed west and landed in Montana where they discovered gold.

Diamond City had originally been four cabins laid out in a square, hence the name Diamond City. As word spread, more miners came to the area and Diamond City became a small, but bustling mining town.

Ephram had followed the news of gold and got to Diamond City in the spring of 1870. He hoped to strike it rich and live a better life than he had back on his father's ranch in Wyoming. What he found is that most of the easily mined gold was gone. He and his partner, Jerome Mason, had still staked and worked a claim for almost a year before deciding they'd had enough of working so hard for so little. Instead, they used what gold they had between them and bought three hundred acres of mostly grass with some trees and brush, and started raising cattle. There was a market for beef for the miners and for the general store and hotel in Diamond City.

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Ephram had seen that same mud wagon go past his cabin twice a week for the last year, on Tuesday going north to Diamond City and on Thursday going south to Salt Lake City, Utah, and he knew the driver, Buck Wilson. The mud wagons were the only way for passengers to travel from the Union Pacific station in Salt Lake City north to Diamond City and from there to Bozeman and Butte. That day was a Tuesday, so the coach was headed to Diamond City.

Normally, it didn't even slow down from the normal pace of the four horses trotting along. Ephram set another log in front of him and raised his ax. It was October and with winter coming, Ephram and Jerome would need a lot of wood to keep from freezing to death.

Ephram had split that log in half and was leaning one half against the other to split it again when the jangle of the mud wagon stopped. Ephram looked up again and saw the driver getting down from the front boot. He walked up to Ephram.

"Mornin' Ephram. Jerome about?"

Ephram shook his head.

"No, Jerome went to Diamond City to get some supplies for the winter. Won't be back until sometime tomorrow. What do you want him for?"

Buck grinned.

"I got a delivery for him. I'll just leave it with you if you'll help me get it out of the wagon."

Buck walked back to the mud wagon, unlatched the rear boot, took out a leather case and handed it to Ephram. Ephram almost dropped the case because it was pretty heavy. He looked up a Ephram.

"What's in this thing? Feels like it must have an anvil inside."

Buck grinned again.

"Don't know but that's only half the delivery. I'll go get the rest."

Buck walked to the side of the coach and raised the canvas flap on the side.

"Ma'am, you can get out now. We're here."

As Ephram stood there with his mouth open, a young woman in a green dress took Buck's hand and climbed down out of the coach. The first thing Ephram thought was that a woman with flaming red hair like hers probably belonged in the saloon in Diamond City instead of on a cattle ranch.

The second thought that crossed his mind was what was he going to do with her? The cabin he and Jerome had built had only one room and that room served as kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom.

Ephram looked up at Buck's grinning face.

"You gonna leave her here... with me? She cain't stay here."

Buck grinned even more.

"Well, I could take her on to Diamond City 'cause that's as far as I go, but she wanted to stop here. I guess you can ask her if she wants to go on to Diamond City until Jerome gits back."

Ephram only got the word, "Ma'am" out before the woman interrupted him.

"I am not going to Diamond City. They said in Claymore that Diamond City is a hellhole of drunken men and loose women. I'll be just fine here. Now, Mr. -- I don't believe I caught your name."

Ephram couldn't believe the woman had said "hellhole", but he answered.

"Ephram Ellis, Ma'am. My name's Ephram Ellis."

The woman smiled.

"Mr. Ellis, my name is Clarinda Mason. Please carry my bag to your house so I can wash and change my dress. I an absolutely covered in dust."

Buck tied the rear boot cover back in place and then climbed back up into the mud wagon boot. He grinned back at Ephram, then slapped the lines on the rumps of the wheelers and yelled "Giddup."

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When Ephram picked up the heavy leather case, the woman had already started for the cabin. He cursed under his breath and followed. When he got to the door, she was already inside.

Ephram lugged the case through the door and then closed and latched it. He turned to where the woman was standing.

"Miss Mason, what --"

Clarinda cut him off.

"Mr. Ellis, I am a Mrs., not a Miss. I'm Jerome's wife. Did you not realize we have the same last name?"

Ephram shook his head.

"That cain't be. Jerome ain't married."

Clarinda wiped her fingertip through the dust on the small kitchen table and frowned when she looked at it..

"Do you ever clean this place? My mother's chicken coop was cleaner."

She looked at Ephram then.

"Just because Jerome never told you he was married doesn't mean he isn't."

Ephram shook his head. The woman was out to get something. He wasn't sure what that was, but she had to be lying.

"Jerome woulda told me somethin' like that. If you're Jerome's wife, when'd you get married? Jerome and me been workin' together for the last three years so I know damn well it weren't then. You look too young to git yourself married three years ago."

Clarinda smiled..

"Mr. Ellis, I do not know what you consider a marriage, but Jerome is my husband and I am his wife. He placed an advertisement for a wife in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch a year ago. I wrote back to him and said I would come to Montana and be his wife if he built me a house. A month ago, he wrote me and said he'd built a house. He proposed and I accepted so you see, I am now his common-law wife and he is my common-law husband.

"I would suppose this is the house he wrote about. It's not much of a house, but I suppose it will do once I clean it up and put some curtains on the windows."

She smiled at Ephram then.

"Where might you live."

Ephram sputtered, "Where the hell do you think I live? Jerome and I pooled our money to buy this ranch and I worked right alongside Jerome to build this cabin. I live right here."

Clarinda frowned and shook her head.

"That will have to change. A man and his wife can't very well be man and wife with a stranger in the house, now can they? Still it wouldn't be right to cast a man out into the open. Might I suggest you move into the barn until you can build a house of your own."

"Ain't got no barn. Jest got a lean-to for the horses and some tools, and Lady, I ain't no stranger. I'm Jerome's partner."

Clarinda shrugged.

"Jerome wrote that he was living in a tent before he built the house. Perhaps you still have the tent?"

Ephram was beside himself. He'd met this woman all of ten minutes ago and now she was ordering him out of his own house.

"Lady, in 'bout two weeks it's gonna git cold enough to freeze off anything you ain't got covered up and we'll have snow ass deep to a Missouri mule. I ain't livin' in no tent. I'm livin' right here where I got my bed and my fire. You and Jerome wanna to be by yourselves, you can go live in that tent. Maybe you can keep each other warm."

Clarinda smiled.

"I think my husband might have something to say about the living arrangements."

Ephram had about had it with this woman.

"He'd damn well better have something to say. He's gonna have to explain why the hell he brought a woman here all the way from St. Louis without telling me anything and he's gonna have to tell me where the hell he got the money to do it. We ain't had that much money at one time since we bought this place. He's gonna have to explain why you think you can push me out of the cabin I helped him build.

"As for you, you need to decide what you're gonna eat and where you're gonna sleep 'cause I'm about out of food, and you ain't sleeping in my damned bed with me."

Clarinda frowned.

"Mr. Ellis I hardly think it is necessary for you to continually swear at me as you have been. As for how I managed to get here from St. Louis, Jerome did not pay my fares. I paid my own way here.

"I shall think about the situation I now find myself to be in, but right now I have a personal matter to take care of. When you and Jerome built this house, did you have the foresight to also build a privy?"

Ephram frowned.

"Yeah. Do you think we just walk out in the trees and do our business?"

Clarinda smiled.

"I should hope not but after having me you, it would not surprise me a great deal if you did. Now, if you would be so kind, though I am learning that is not your normal way of treating a woman, would you show me the way?"

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Ephram showed Clarinda the outhouse and then grumbled his way back to the wood pile. He kept talking to himself as he split the logs into quarters and kindling.

"Thinks she can just march in here and tell me what the hell to do. Well, I'll show her. I'm sleepin' in my own damned bed tonight. She wants to sleep in the cabin, she can sleep in Jerome's bed. Ain't fixing her nothin' to eat neither. She wants to eat, she can damn well cook it herself.

"Beings as how she acts -- all uppity and like she owns the world -- don't look to me like she ever cooked a day in her life. Probably her mother done all the cooking and she just sat around on her ass and looked pretty.

"Don't know how Jerome ever convinced her to come up here. Don't seem to be the kind of woman to be on a cattle ranch. More likely she'd be sitting in some fancy parlor in Bozeman or someplace and drinking tea out of a flowery teacup.

"Well, I ain't worked this hard to have some woman tell me to get out of my own cabin. Jerome gets back, we're gonna have us a talk. He wants her, he can have her, but it ain't gonna be in this cabin."

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As Clarinda walked back to the cabin, she saw Ephram splitting wood, but it looked to her like he was swinging his ax a lot harder than her father had. That had to mean that she'd angered him.

Angering Ephram hadn't been what she set out to do, but he'd sort of started it by nearly refusing to give her a place to live until Jerome came back. Clarinda couldn't let that happen. She'd already spent every cent she had to her name just to get there. She couldn't afford to go anywhere else even if that was something she'd consider doing.

No, she was here and here she'd have to stay until Jerome came back and they could explain what was really going on. Ephram would just have to live with that. Maybe he'd understand once Jerome was there to defend her. Maybe he would move out then.

Clarinda was pretty certain Ephram wasn't going to leave the cabin before that. How she was going to manage living in the same cabin with a man she didn't know and probably shouldn't trust, she wasn't sure. She had survived so far, though, and she'd figure out a way to survive this.

When she walked into the cabin, Clarinda had an idea. Maybe Ephram could put up with her if she showed him that she could do things for him. She wiped down the table and then walked out to the woodpile where Ephram was splitting wood.

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Ephram was facing the cabin as he split the logs into quarters, so he saw Clarinda walking toward him. He figured she was probably going to ask another dumb question or tell him to do something for her. Ephram looked back down and swung his ax at the log with all the strength his anger could muster.

If he'd have hit the log with the blade of the axe, he'd probably have split the log in one stroke. Unfortunately, he reached too far and brought the axe handle down on the log instead of the blade. There was a loud crack, and the axe head fell down on the other side of the log and imbedded itself into the ground..

Ephram cursed quietly.

"Damn her to Hell. As if it ain't enough that she wants me to leave my cabin, now she's gone and made me break my axe handle. It'll take me the most of tomorrow to make a new one."

Clarinda walked up beside Ephram as he was picking up the axe head.

"It looks like you broke your axe. Can you fix it?"

Ephram nodded.

"Yep. Take me a day or so, but I got some hickory and I can whittle out a new one. Done it before."

Clarinda smiled.

"I was wondering. What do you eat? If you'll show me your pantry, I'll cook something for supper."

Ephram was as surprised that she'd smiled as he was that she was offering to cook. He figured she was as mad at him as he was at her.

"Ain't got no pantry. There's a shelf on the wall beside the fireplace and that's where we keep everything. There's a sack of beans, another sack with half a side of bacon, and some other stuff. Don't got no other meat. I ain't about to kill one of our calves and it's too early to kill a deer. It'd just start to rot before me and Jerome could eat it all, so beans and bacon is all I got."

Clarinda smiled again. At least he hadn't cursed at her.

"I'll go see what I can do with them then. You go fix your axe."

Ephram bristled at the thought that she'd told him what to do again, but that soon passed as he watched her walk back to the cabin. From what he could see, she had a pretty nice figure, a nicer figure than half the saloon girls in Diamond City. If she'd just not been married to Jerome, he might have taken an interest in her, but not here in the cabin. It wasn't right for an unmarried man and woman to share the same cabin, let alone an unmarried man and a married woman.

Still, he was probably stuck with her until Jerome came back because he couldn't turn her out. He'd just have to figure out some way to get along with her until then. That wasn't going to be easy because though he and Jerome had separate beds, both beds sat side by side on one wall of the cabin. It wasn't going to be possible for either one to not see the other in their nightclothes.

Ephram sighed, picked up the axe head and started walking toward the lean-to where his tools were.

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Ephram found a big enough plank of hickory and carried it to the small workbench on the side of the lean-to, then decided it was too late in the day to start. The sun was dropping below the trees and already the shadows in the lean-to made it really hard to see anything up close. He laid the axe head and broken handle on the bench and then walked back to the house. He found Clarinda standing over the table and mixing something in a tin bowl.

She looked up and smiled.

"I have the beans soaking by the fire and I'll start them cooking in another few minutes. I found two other things too. I found a dutch oven and some cornmeal, so I'm going to bake some cornbread to go along with the beans. If I could get to a general store, I'd buy some flour, baking powder, and salt. Then I could make biscuits. Some potatoes would be nice to have too. You do like biscuits and potatoes, don't you?"

Ephram nodded.

"Them things is what Jerome went to Diamond City for, that and some canned goods and a couple bottles of whiskey. We need to stock up for the winter."

Clarinda put her palm on her chest.

"Jerome never told me he drank whiskey. That will have to change too."

Ephram smiled.

"He don't and I don't neither. The whiskey is just for if'n we catch a cold. A little whiskey in a cup of coffee makes you feel a lot better if'n you got a cold."

Clarinda frowned.

"I don't know if I believe that or not. Now, you get out of my kitchen until I get supper ready."

That set Ephram off again.

"Dammit Lady, where the hell do you want me to go? This cabin has only got one room and I ain't going back outside. This time of year, soon's the sun goes down it gets cold outside and I ain't gonna freeze my ass off waitin' for you to get done cookin'."

"Well, go read a book or something. I don't care what you do as long as you don't get in my way."

Ephram didn't say anything. He just walked over to his bed, took the worn deck of playing cards from a shelf on the wall, lit the lantern on that shelf, and sat down to play solitaire.

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After Ephram finished the bowl of beans and bacon and swallowed the last bite of his slice of cornbread, he was thinking that this woman did a good job of cooking and better than he or Jerome. He wasn't about to tell her that though. If he did, she might think he was giving in.

His second thought was that she still hadn't said anything about where she was going to sleep. Ephram decided it was time to get that decided.

"Ma'am, I don't burn no lantern much later'n sunset. I go to bed then, and that's where I'm headed. I'm sleepin' in my own bed. Where do you figure on sleepin'?"

Clarinda smiled because she'd already decided.

"I see there are two beds. I assume the other bed is Jerome's so I will be sleeping in Jerome's bed."

"Well, how you gonna do that? I ain't lettin' you see me in my longjohns."

Clarinda smiled again.

"Mr. Ellis, I have no intention of looking at you and I expect the same courtesy in return. As you probably will not be able to resist, you go to bed while I finish cleaning up. I will blow out the lantern before I undress and get into bed. You will not see me and I will not see you."

Ephram shook his head.

"What about in the mornin'?"

"In the morning, I will tell you when I'm going to get up. You turn your back to me until I tell you I am dressed. I will go build the fire and start breakfast while you dress.

"I warn you, though. If I should catch you looking at me while I dress, I will tell Jerome and I doubt he will be happy about that. You just keep that in mind."

Ephram walked over to his bed and saw the canvas cover of his old bedroll sticking out from under the bed. He smiled and walked out to the lean-to for a hammer and some nails.

Half an hour later, he'd nailed the canvas to the ceiling beams over the bed and to the wall against which the headboards were pushed. When he finished, he turned to Clarinda.

"Lady, you don't have to worry none now. I fixed it so's you cain't see me and I cain't see you. I'll bank the fire and we'll go to bed at the same time."

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The next morning was Wednesday, and Ephram woke up looking forward to Jerome riding up to the cabin. He'd have enough food in the panniers on the packhorse he'd taken to Diamond City to last them through the winter. Once Jerome got there, they'd have it out, and that meant that either he or Jerome and Clarinda would have to leave.

He was going to talk long and hard that since Jerome hadn't told him about bringing a wife to the ranch, Jerome should be the one to leave. When he thought about that, though, it seemed pretty cruel to force Jerome and his wife to leave the cabin. Jerome could build another cabin on the ranch if there was time, but it was too late in the year to get a cabin up before the cold and snow of winter set in. As much as Ephram disliked Clarinda, he couldn't send a woman out to freeze to death and that was what would happen.

That left him as the one to leave, but Ephram had no intention of spending the winter in the tent that was stored in the lean-to. The tent had a small stove, but he'd already spent one winter in that tent when he and Jerome were sifting through the sand and gravel of their mining claim.

What he remembered of that winter was waking up and seeing his breath, freezing until one of them got the fire going in the stove, and then feeling cold all day long. As long as you were close to the little stove, it felt pretty warm, but at the opposite end of the tent, a cup of water would stay frozen.

Nights were worse. Both Ephram and Jerome had just the blankets and canvas tarps of their bedrolls, and it took a long time to heat those blankets up after you got between them. He'd usually shivered for at least half an hour before he was warm enough to finally fall asleep.

Ephram was thinking about another alternative when he heard the rustle of Clarinda getting out of bed. She didn't say anything,, so Ephram didn't either. He stayed in his blankets until he heard the cabin door open. That probably meant that Clarinda had gone to use the outhouse so Ephram got up and dressed.

He was stoking the fireplace when she came back inside. She walked up beside him and asked if it was this cold every morning. Ephram chuckled.

"Lady, this ain't cold. You ain't seen cold yet. In about a week or two, the cold winds are gonna come down off the mountains and overnight the water in the water bucket will freeze solid less'n it's right by the fireplace. That's how cold it's gonna get. You better hope you got a coat in that bag of yours because you're gonna need it.

"We'll get snow too, not a lot at first, but over the winter, we'll probably get about three feet on the ground. I'll be digging a path to the woodpile and the outhouse after every snow. That snow won't melt 'til sometime in April, so we'll be stuck here 'til then... that is if you and Jerome decide to stay. Only thing good about the snow is once it gets up on the outside and roof of the cabin, it makes it a little warmer inside."

Clarinda frowned.

"Well, we'll have to decide once Jerome gets here. I saw you have some coffee and a coffeepot. I'll start a pot of coffee and then fry some bacon. We can have that and some of the cornbread for breakfast."

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All that day, Ephram worked to make a new handle for his axe, and also kept looking at the rough dirt road that ran in front of the ranch. That road was where Jerome would ride when coming from Diamond City and Ephram wanted to be sure he talked to Jerome before Clarinda did.

Ephram finished hafting the axe head that afternoon, but Jerome still hadn't come back. If it hadn't been for Clarinda, Ephram wouldn't have been too concerned. He'd have just kept splitting firewood and piling it up to the side of the woodpile.

She was there, though, and the longer Jerome was away, the longer he would have to put up with her.

Nightfall and another supper of beans and bacon and cornbread came and went and still Jerome hadn't come back. Clarinda asked Ephram if he was worried about Jerome. Ephram shook his head.

"No. He probably decided to spend a night or two with Martha, that's all."

"Who's Martha."

Ephram grinned because this was his chance to turn the tables on Clarinda.

"Martha is a woman who lives in Diamond City. I'm not sure what kind, but she has some sort of business there... or so Jerome says. I suppose Jerome never told you about Martha, did he? Well, they're just friends... or so he says. Said he helped her out once when this miner decided he wasn't gonna pay what she was due. Since then, when Jerome goes to Diamond City and needs to stay overnight, she gives him a place to sleep... or so he says."

Ephram shrugged then.

"Me, I don't know. Jerome always seems happy when he comes back from Diamond City. Maybe her bed is better'n his bed here. I wouldn't know. I never stay overnight in Diamond City when I go there."

Ephram smiled to himself. The look on her face made it obvious that Clarinda was upset by what he'd said, but he hadn't lied, well, not really. Everything he'd just said was true except that Martha Jones wasn't a whore like he'd implied. She was the wife of Thomas Jones, the man who ran the general store. Jerome had helped them out when a miner had tried to steal a side of bacon. Jerome had tripped the miner as he ran out of the store and then punched him in the gut twice before taking the bacon back to the counter. After that, any time Jerome was in Diamond City for supplies, Martha would offer him a bed over the general store.

Ephram had to stop himself from chuckling. There wasn't any harm in letting Clarinda think the worst. Let Jerome try to talk himself out of that. He deserved it for not telling him about Clarinda. If Jerome couldn't convince her, maybe that would get her back on the mud wagon and headed back to St. Louis.

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The next morning, Thursday, Ephram thought it felt cooler in the cabin when he woke up. Like the day before, he waited for Clarinda to go outside before he got up and dressed. He was sitting in front of the fireplace when she came back inside. Clarinda walked up to the fireplace to warm her hands.

"My fingers are freezing. You say it'll get colder?"

Ephram nodded.

"Always does, least the winters I been here."

Clarinda turned around to warm her backside then.

"It'll be hard to get out of bed and make breakfast then. I feel like I've been frozen all the way through. I don't know how the horse and cows out there by your shed survive."

Ephram chuckled.

"Well, they grow a lot of hair in the fall and it keeps 'em warm through the winter. If you had hair all over like they do, you wouldn't be cold either. I don't see that you have any hair anyplace except on your head... course, I cain't see everyplace.

Clarinda gasped.

"I'm stunned that you would even suggest that you'd like to see me naked."

Ephram smiled.

"I didn't say that. All I said was I couldn't see everyplace. That ain't the same thing."

"Well, you might have said it that way, but it's not what you meant."

"Lady, just how the Hell do you know what I meant?"

"I saw it in your eyes. You want to see me naked. Well, that isn't going to happen. Once Jerome gets back and I tell him about this, he'll... he'll... well I don't know what he'll do but he won't like it."

Ephram smiled again. She deserved to be as upset as he was.

"Well, we'll see. If'n you're gonna make breakfast, you'd best get to it. If'n you ain't, I will. I gotta get back to splittin' wood."

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Ephram stayed out of the cabin all morning. He wanted to let Clarinda think about what he'd said. He was hoping she'd decide to go back to St. Louis. That hope was dashed when the mud wagon going south stopped in front of the cabin.

Buck set the wagon brake and then climbed down from the boot and waved at Ephram. When Ephram got to where Buck stood, he saw that Buck was frowning so he asked Buck why he'd stopped by the cabin again.

Buck looked back at the cabin.

"That lady around?"

Ephram nodded and pointed to the cabin.

"She's inside. Why?"

Buck looked at the ground and then back at Ephram.

"Well, you ain't gonna like this and neither is she, but I don't want to be the one to tell her.

"Jerome ain't comin' back, Ephram. They buried him in the church cemetery yesterday."

Ephram's mouth fell open.

"He's dead? What the hell happened?"

Buck shook his head.

"He were loading up his packhorse yesterday morning with what he'd bought at the general store. He was walkin' around the horse to load the other pannier when one of them big six-horse freight wagons what hauls tools and such out to the mines was comin' down the street.

"Some yay-hoo miner was across the street in front of the saloon, and he was showin' somebody how fast he could draw his revolver. Shot hisself in the foot he did, but he'll be all right. He'll be walking with a limp for a while, but that ain't the worst part.

"Them horses heared the shot an' it spooked 'em. They took off down the street afore the driver could get 'em stopped. Lead team knocked Jerome down and the swing and wheel teams run right over him. It were just the off horses what run over him he might have come through that, but they kept pullin' that wagon until both off wheels had run over Jerome too. That wagon was loaded full and liked to have cut Jerome in half. Doc Williams said he was dead after the front wheel run over his chest."

Ephram was too stunned to say anything for a while. Ephram had liked Jerome and knew he was going to miss the man, but now he had bigger problems, one of which was that Jerome had taken most of their money to buy enough supplies to get them through the winter.

"Buck, you say they buried Jerome. What happened to his horses and what he'd bought at the general store?'

"Well, Thomas and Marsha took everything back into the general store and put the horses in with their team. Thomas said they'll keep everything for you until you can get to Diamond City to get it.

"If I were you, I'd go today, tomorrow at the latest. I talked to the driver who makes the trip from Diamond City to Butte. He said they got some snow up there and it looks like it's headed this way. Kinda early for snow, but it's happened before."

Buck frowned then.

"What you gonna do about that woman?"

Ephram shrugged.

"I'll have to tell her and see what she says. I'd bet she'll want to go back to St. Louis. With Jerome dead, there ain't nothin' to keep her here."

Buck sighed.

"Better you tell her than me. I can't wait here any longer, but I'll be goin' back to Salt Lake City on Thursday next. If'n she wants to go back to St. Louis, I can pick her up then. Well, I'd best be leavin' so's you can go tell her."

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Clarinda gasped when Ephram told her that Jerome was dead.

"No, no, no. That can't be true. If it is, I might as well just die."

Ephram was confused. Clarinda was upset, but not like he'd figured she'd be. He figured she'd start to cry. Women always cried when they got bad news, but Clarinda wasn't crying. She seemed to be more mad than anything.

"Ma'am, you ain't shed any tears. I guess that's since you didn't know Jerome except for his letters, but I'd think hearing that your husband was dead would make you at least a little sad."

Clarinda did cry a little then.

"I am sad that Jerome's dead, but what's to happen to me now?"

Ephram shrugged.

"Well, I figured you'd want to go back to St. Louis. Buck said he can pick you up next Thursday and take you to Salt Lake City so you can head back to St. Louis. We're about out of beans, but I need to go get Jerome's horse and our packhorse and supplies tomorrow. I'll be back tomorrow night so we'll have plenty to eat until Thursday."

Clarinda wiped her eyes then.

"I can't go back to St. Louis. I spent all the money I had to get here."

Ephram tried to be helpful.

"Well, you're a good lookin' woman and the saloon is always looking for good-lookin' women. Maybe you could work at the saloon in Diamond City for a while to get enough to get you back to St. Louis."

"No, absolutely not. I am not a whore."

Ephram couldn't believe she just said that word. Women usually just said "loose woman". He couldn't remember any woman ever saying the word "whore", well except the real whores did call each other that sometimes.

"Ma'am, there's women workin' in the saloon that ain't whores. They's just dancers and singers. Most of 'em ain't very good at dancin' and singin' so you'd do all right.

"If you don't want to do that, there's a telegraph in the assay office in Diamond City that connects to the telegraph in Salt Lake City. You could send your family a telegram and ask them to send you the money."

Clarinda shook her head.

"My mother and father died last summer. I sold everything they had to get the money to come here. There's no other family back in St. Louis who can help me. That's part of the reason I came here. I thought Jerome would take care of me."

Ephram slowly shook his head. Clarinda had put herself into a position that didn't seem to have a way out. She had no money and no way to get any except for doing something she said she would never do. If he'd had enough money to send her back to St. Louis, he would have, but Jerome had used most of the money they had to buy supplies. There might be a little left, but not enough for a stage ticket to Salt Lake City and then a railroad ticket from Salt Lake City to St. Louis.

"Well, I ain't gonna put my partner's wife out in the cold. I'll let you stay here until you decide."

}|{

The next morning after breakfast, Ephram told Clarinda he was going to Diamond City to get Jerome's horses and what he bought. Clarinda said she thought she'd go too.

"I want to see where Jerome is buried, and I want to see if Diamond City is as bad as they said it is."

Ephram shook his head.

"I don't know how you're gonna go. I don't have but one horse."

Clarinda smiled.

"I've ridden behind my father when he rode a horse. I'll ride behind you to Diamond City. When we come back, I'll ride Jerome's horse."

Half an hour later, Ephram rode his horse out to the woodpile and to the stump of a tree that had stood there.

"You climb up on this stump and I'll help you up behind me."

Ephram watched as Clarinda stepped on a log and then up onto the stump. When she gathered her skirts and pulled them almost to her waist, Ephram said a whispered, "Damn."

Clarinda looked up.

"Did you say something?"

"Well, I ain't used to a woman showin' me her legs."

Clarinda shrugged.

"I didn't see any other way to straddle a horse in my dress. You just look the other way. I'll put one leg over the horse and then pull myself up by using your shoulders."

Ephram looked over his horse's ears. He felt Clarinda's leg bump him in the back and then her hands on his shoulders. With one pull, she pulled herself up behind him, rearranged her skirts and then put both arms around his chest and said, "I'm on. Let's go."

}|{

It was only a little over an hour from Ephram's ranch to Diamond City, but after the first five minutes he was wishing it was a lot shorter. Riding with Clarinda behind him was getting uncomfortable.

The problem wasn't that he had a second rider behind him. It was the rider. The road was more of a trail and had a lot of bumps and dips. Clarinda was holding him around the waist and with every little bump and dip, she grabbed him tighter. Even through the light vest he wore, he could feel her breasts pressing into his back. Then there was the problem of her legs.

Clarinda's legs weren't just draped down over the horse's hips like a man would have done. To have a better grip on the horse, she'd moved them forward until they were usually pressing against the back of his thighs.

Ephram couldn't remember ever having so much of a woman pressed against him. He'd been raised that men and women never got that close until they were married. He'd had a woman touch his arm, and Elizabeth Marks had touched his chest once when they were both nineteen, but never had he felt a woman's breasts with any part of his body.

It wasn't just that they were there either. He could feel them moving around against his back If the horse went one way, Clarinda would go the other and then have to pull herself back up straight. In the process, she rubbed her breasts over his back and Ephram was feeling the firm but soft globes with every move she made.

Then there were her arms. Clarinda had started out holding him around the chest, but that was about as far as she could reach. Gradually her arms slipped down until she was holding him around the waist. Her arms were against the top of his thighs and her hands were almost in his crotch.

The result of all that was Ephram's manhood was half-hard most of the time. That was embarrassing enough. If she felt it... well, there was no way to explain it without making her think he was thinking about doing something with her.

}|{

When they got to Diamond City, Ephram rode straight to the general store. He threw his right leg over the saddle horn, dropped to the ground, and then reached up for Clarinda.

"Lean down and I'll help you off."

Ephram immediately regretted saying that. Clarinda leaned down and the front of her dress gaped open enough he saw the swell of her breasts. As if that wasn't enough, when he caught her by the armpits, he was also feeling her breasts against his wrists.

Ephram pulled her off the horse fast enough that Clarinda let out a little shriek and then sat her on the ground. Clarinda rearranged her skirts again and then said she was ready. Ephram tied his horse to the rail and then started for the general store with Clarinda behind him.

}|{

When he walked into the store, the woman behind the counter looked up, clasped her hand over her generous bosom and gasped, "Ephram Ellis, I hoped you'd come."

Ephram smiled.

"Martha, thanks for keeping all Jerome's things and for taking care of his horses. I don't know what I'd have done if we'd lost all the food and both horses. Probably starved over the winter, I expect."

Martha was looking at Clarinda.

"Ephram, who is this beautiful girl with you?"

"Uh... this is Jerome's wife."

Martha's brow wrinkled then.

"I don't remember Jerome ever saying he had a wife. What's your name, Sweety?"

Clarinda looked to Ephram like she was either blushing or embarrassed. He thought that was odd given the way she'd acted at the ranch.

Clarinda smiled an odd smile then.

"I'm Clarinda Mason. Jerome probably didn't say anything because I just got to his ranch."

Martha smiled.

"Clarinda is a pretty name for a pretty girl. Well, Clarinda, I'm so sorry for your loss. Jerome was such a nice man, just like Ephram here. He didn't deserve to die like he did. If it sets your mind at ease a little, the wagon company paid the undertaker and paid for a coffin. Preacher Mann buried him in the church cemetery and the wagon company has ordered a headstone for him."

Martha turned to Ephram then.

"I suppose you'll want to be on your way as soon as possible. I'll have Tom saddle Jerome's horses and bring them around front. He'll help you load everything."

When Martha went through the door behind the counter, Clarinda stood on her tiptoes and whispered, "Was that the same Martha you told me about?"

Ephram grinned and nodded.

"Yep, that's the same Martha. Only Martha in Diamond City that I know of."

Clarinda frowned.

"You lied to me then. You told me she was a whore. Well she's not a whore. She's too old and too fat to be a whore."

Ephram shook his head.

"No, I didn't lie to you. I never said she was a whore. All I told you was that Martha gave Jerome a bed if he had to stay over in town. You're the one who figured she was a whore.

Ephram grinned then.

"As for her size, you should walk down to the saloon and ask for Ruby. She's about the same age as Martha and she'd make two of Martha. From what I hear, she doesn't lack for customers."

Before Clarinda would say anything, Martha came back.

"Ephram, Thomas is bringing your horses out front. It'll take a few minutes to load everything. You and Mrs. Mason are welcome to stay for our noon meal if you'd like."

Clarinda spoke before Ephram could.

"Martha, we appreciate your offer, but I want to see Jerome's grave, and we really need to get back to the ranch. Mr. Ellis and I have a lot of planning to do now."

}|{

Once the packhorse was loaded, Ephram shook hands with Thomas. Martha hugged both Ephram and Clarinda, and said they should come back more often. When they both went back into the general store, Ephram offered to help Clarinda onto the horse. She shook her head and said she could do it.

Ephram didn't believe his eyes when Clarinda lifted her foot to the left stirrup, grabbed the saddle horn and cantle of the saddle and swung herself up. After a minute or so to spread out her dress, she said she was ready to go. Ephram turned his horse and led them to the tiny little church on the very edge of town.

Jerome's grave was marked by just a wooden cross with the words, "J. Mason" carved into the wood. Ephram held the horses while Clarinda walked up to the grave. He could tell she was saying something, but he couldn't hear her. A few minutes later, Clarinda swung herself back into the saddle and said she was ready to leave.

Clarinda didn't say a word on the way back, and Ephram didn't try to start a conversation. He figured she was thinking about her husband. She didn't seem to be grieving as much as just thinking. Once in a while he'd see her brow wrinkle, but she didn't shed any tears. That would have seemed odd to him had it not been for the fact that Clarinda hadn't actually ever met Jerome.

Maybe that was why. Maybe once Jerome was dead, Clarinda had decided she didn't think of much of him as she did back in St. Louis.

It wasn't until they got back to the cabin that Clarinda said anything, and when she did it was more of an order than a request.

"You bring all the food in and I'll put it away so I'll know where it is. Then I'll start supper."

}|{

When Ephram woke up the next morning something felt wrong. It took him seeing his breath when he exhaled to realize the cabin was a lot colder than it should have been at that time of year. Evidently, just like Buck had said, the winds had come down from the mountains and the temperature had dropped a lot.

He listened to see if Clarinda was awake but heard nothing except her slow, deep breaths. He rolled out of his blankets and then realized just how cold it was inside the cabin. They needed a fire and they needed it fast.

Ephram quickly dressed and then walked to the door for his heavy coat. That made him a little warmer so he went to the fireplace. He found a few coals still glowing red and tossed in some of the hickory shavings he'd made when he made the new axe handle. When those burst into flame, he kept adding bigger and then bigger kindling until he was feeling the heat of the leaping, orange flames.

When he was satisfied with sticks the size of his wrist, Ephram added four splits, each a quarter of a foot wide oak log. Those would burn for a couple hours anyway, long enough for a pot of coffee and some breakfast and then for him to carry in several armloads of firewood.

He heard Clarinda then and it sounded like her teeth were chattering.

"W-why-is-is it so- c-c-cold in he-here?"

Ephram stood up and walked over to Clarinda's bed.

"Buck said cold weather was heading this way. I didn't figure it'd get here this fast or this cold, but it's done this before. Give that fire a few more minutes to warm up the cabin some. You can get dressed then. It'll take me about half an hour to get enough wood back here to last the day."

With that said, Ephram put on his gloves and opened the door.

The sky was that off-white color that marks the impending rise of the sun, but Ephram didn't need more light to see that they had a bigger problem than just being cold. There was already a foot of snow on the ground and it was snowing hard enough he couldn't see the woodpile.

He shut the door and turned back to see Clarinda standing there fully dressed.

"Thought I told you to stay in bed until the cabin warmed up."

Clarinda frowned.

"I was cold in my bed already, so I got up to be by the fire. Why is it so cold?"

Ephram shrugged.

"Happens sometimes. One day you're outside in just a shirt and that night the water bucket freezes over. I didn't expect to get a snow this early but we did. There's about a foot on the ground now and it's snowing hard enough I'll have to wait for daylight because I cain't see the wood pile."

Clarinda frowned.

"Just as soon as I go outside, I'll make some coffee. Jerome bought some oatmeal too, so I'll get that started."

Ephram stopped her before she could get to the door.

"You can't go out there without a heavy coat and even if you had one, you can't see far enough to find the outhouse. You'll get lost and I won't find you until the spring thaw. Same thing happened to a miner I knew once. Tried to get from his tent to his sluice box and got lost even though it was only about fifty feet away. We found him a month later, froze to the ground. Can't you uh, sorta wait?"

The look on Clarinda's face told Ephram she couldn't. He sighed. He or Jerome would have just stepped out the door and done what they needed to do. He didn't know if a woman could do that or not, but he guessed Clarinda couldn't.

"All right, but I'm goin' first and I'm gonna leave a rope to guide you."

He reached for a small rope hanging beside the door.

"This'n should be long enough. When I go out, you keep hold of the rope and keep letting it slip through your fingers. Don't drop it or I might not be able to get back. You ready?"

Ephram had been down the path a thousand times, but the swirling snow made it hard to judge direction and distance. It took him fifteen minutes of sweeping back and forth before he found the outhouse. After tying his end of the rope to a log that stuck out from the rest, he pulled on it twice to make sure it would hold and then started back to the cabin.

When he got back to the cabin and opened the door, he found Clarinda there wearing the coat Jerome had left hanging by the door. She was holding the rope and shivering.

He frowned.

"I thought I told you to keep holding the rope."

"I did until you stopped pulling on it. By then my fingers were getting numb so I put my foot on the rope and put on this coat to get warm again. I wish I had some gloves too."

Ephram reached into the coat pocket of Clarinda's coat.

"This was Jerome's coat and he always kept his gloves in this pocket. Here they are. They'll be way too big for your hands, but they might do some good.

"Now, when you go out you pick up the rope and follow it to the outhouse. When you get done, you close and latch the door and then follow the rope back here. I'll keep the rope tight. It don't look like this snow is gonna stop anytime soon, but as soon as I can see, I'll nail the rope in both places so nobody will have to hold it."

Clarinda was gone for a long time, and when she opened the door, she was having trouble walking. Ephram asked what had happened. Clarinda's voice told Ephram she was really cold.

"N-nothing ha- happened ex-except I'm f-f-frozen now. I ha-had to pick up m-my dress be-because of the snow and my feet and l-l-legs got really c-c-cold. I c-c-can't f-f-feel my t-t-toes."

Ephram cursed to himself. He'd seen what Clarinda wore for shoes when she'd lifted her skirts to get on his horse behind him. They were just cloth slippers and while they were probably what most women wore in town, they weren't enough for cold and deep snow.

"Come sit by the fire but don't put your feet very close until you can feel the heat in them. Too close and you'll burn yourself before you can feel it. I'll get some coffee started to warm you up on the inside."

Once Ephram had hooked the coffeepot over the hook on the fireplace crane, he knelt down at Clarinda's feet, pulled her dress up to her knees, and pulled off the light shoes. He touched her bare toes first.

"You feel anything yet?'

"Yes, a little. My toes are still cold though."

Ephram then ran his hand up each leg.

"Tell me when you can feel my fingers."

His hand was almost to her knee when Clarinda said, "There, I feel something there."

Ephram took his hands away, but left her dress pulled up.

"You can put your legs a little closer to the fire then, but you pull 'em back if you start to feel the heat. I'll go start some oatmeal, but I'll check on you from time to time."

}|{

As Clarinda sat there feeling the heat bathing her bare feet and legs, she wondered at the change in Ephram and even more at the change in herself. Before, he seemed to hate her. When he learned that Jerome was dead, he'd softened some. Now, after she'd almost frozen her feet and legs, he seemed to really care about her. She couldn't figure out why. She hadn't treated him any differently that she could remember.

As for the change in herself, she didn't understand that at all. Riding behind Ephram to Diamond City had been an experience she'd never had before. She'd put her arms around Ephram to hold on so she'd feel safe. She'd done the same thing many times when she rode behind her father, but this was different. She had felt safe but there was another feeling too. It was the feeling of her breasts brushing against Ephram's back when she moved and the feeling of her breasts pressing into his back when she gripped him tighter.

Her mother had told her a lot of things about men and women, but she'd never told Clarinda that something like that would happen to her. It was a feeling that was hard to describe other than it was a feeling deep in her mind and in her core at the same time. In her core, it was a sort of tightening. In her mind it was a feeling that there should be more. She didn't know what that more would be, but she felt like something else should be happening.

When Ephram had touched her bare toes, she hadn't felt much, but when he slid his fingertips up her legs, that feeling in her core came back and it seemed to be a little stronger. The feeling in her mind was telling her to do something her mother had told her proper women never did.

Clarinda remembered her mother's words like it was yesterday.

"No proper woman would ever open her legs in front of a man, not even a married woman. Doing that always arouses the lust in a man, and any woman who would do that is no better than a common whore."

Ephram hadn't seemed to be aroused when he touched her legs. He just seemed to be worried about her. Why did she feel so much different that his touch had done what it did?"

}|{

About noon, the snow let up enough Ephram could make out the lean-to and the woodpile. He fought his way through snow up to his knees to the lean-to where he picked up a hammer and stuck a dozen spikes in his pocket. After putting the ropes he used to rope calves in the spring over his shoulder, he made his way to the outhouse.

Once there, he drove a spike half way into a log at the side of the door, bent the spike over, and tied the rope to it. He then followed the rope to the cabin door, and drove two more spikes half way into the side of the cabin, then bent them over as well. He tied the other end of the outhouse rope to one, and tied the end of the rope on his shoulder to the other.

It was harder walking to the woodpile because of a drift almost two feet deep, but once there, he drove another spike into the stump and tied the rope to it. Now, he had a guide for each path that would keep them from getting lost in the snow. He stuck the hammer in his coat pocket, picked up an armload of firewood and started back to the cabin.

Six times Ephram made that trip from the cabin to the woodpile and back, six trips of carrying firewood until it was stacked high on each side of the fireplace. After each trip, he stopped long enough to get warmed back up and to check on Clarinda.

By the time he'd stacked the last of the firewood beside the fireplace and then checked on Clarinda, her toes felt warm and her legs felt warmer than her toes. By that last check, Ephram was feeling warm as well, but it wasn't warmth caused by the fire. I was an internal warmth brought about by his fingers on Clarinda's skin. Ephram understood that feeling and was glad when Clarinda said she felt his fingers from her toes all the way to her knees. He thought her voice seemed a little softer and she wasn't stammering any more, so she was probably all right.

Ephram pulled Clarinda's dress down over her bare legs and then smiled.

"Looks like you got thawed out, but we'll have to find you some boots to wear or it'll just happen again. I think Jerome had a spare pair of boots under his bed. They'll be too big and they're half wore out, but if you put on more socks they'll be better than what you were wearing."

Clarinda frowned.

"What about my legs? They got almost as cold as my feet."

Ephram thought for a few minutes, then smiled.

"Jerome kept his clothes under the bed. If you can find a pair of trousers under there, they'll keep you warmer than a dress."

Clarinda got up and walked over to the bed, got down on her hands and knees and started pulling things out from under it. A few minutes later she stood up with a pair of trousers in her hand.

"I found some and I'm going to put them on. You turn around and promise not to look until I tell you that you can."

Ephram picked up another log, put it on the fire and then watched as the flames from the red coals licked at the wood until it charred and started to burn. It was burning nicely when Clarinda told him he could turn around again.

When he saw her, he had to chuckle.

"Those trousers are big enough to hold two of you. You're wearing one of Jerome' shirts too. I thought you'd just put on the trousers under your dress."

"Well, I found the shirt when I found the trousers and didn't see any need for the dress since the shirt would cover me up. I kind of like how it feels. It's been washed so many times it's pretty soft inside. I just had to roll up the sleeves a lot because my arms are pretty short. I had to roll up the trousers too. Now, the only problem I have is keeping the trousers up. I think I need some braces, but I couldn't find any."

Ephram chuckled again.

"I see what you mean. Jerome always wore a belt to keep his trousers on, just like I do. I don't have a spare belt, but you could probably use a rope to do the same thing."

Clarinda frowned.

"Women wear belts sometimes, but they just go around your dress at your waist. I don't know how to wear a belt with trousers. My father always used braces."

Ephram sighed.

"Let me cut some off what's left of the outhouse rope and I'll show you."

}|{

Ephram was fine when he braided a loop into one end of the short length of rope. He was doing fine when he back-braided the other end so it wouldn't unravel. He started to show Clarinda how to thread the end of the rope through the loops on the waistband of the trousers, but then thought better of it.

"I think you should do this part."

Clarinda hitched the trousers up a little.

"I don't think I can hold them up and do that too. You better do it or they'll fall down and I'll be naked."

Ephram's hands were shaking a little when he gingerly pulled the belt loop to open it while he pushed the end of the rope through. They were still shaking when he threaded the rope through the loop over Clarinda's left hip because he felt her hip bone under his palm.

He got really uncomfortable when he reached around Clarinda's waist with both hands, felt for the next belt loop, and then threaded the rope through it.

By the time he'd threaded the rope through the last belt loop, Ephram had a swelling in his crotch that he hoped Clarinda couldn't see. Feeling her firm, round hips through the trousers had set his manhood to swelling and there wasn't any way to stop it.

It didn't help at all when he put the end of the rope through the loop and then pulled it tight. The trousers tightened around Clarinda's small waist, but then Ephram could see the swell of her hips. That was almost as bad as when he felt her.

He put the end through the loop, tied a half hitch and then backed away.

"When you get 'em tight enough, all you have to do is make one loop and tie the knot like this. They'll stay up for you then."

Clarinda let go of the waistband of the trousers then, but her mind was on the feelings Ephram's hands had caused. That tightness in her core was tighter than ever and had been caused when his hands had touched the small of her back and the swell of her hips. Her mind was also telling her there should be more than just those touches, and Clarinda thought she knew what that more was.

All she could think of to say then was, "I found the boots too and some socks. I'll try them on now because I need to go outside again."

}|{

The snow didn't stop that day or the next. Ephram's trips to the woodpile became a struggle through a three-foot snowdrift that seemed to close back up as soon as he passed. Clarinda did a little better because both she and Ephram made the trip a couple times a day and the path to the outhouse was somewhat sheltered from the wind by the cabin and didn't drift shut quite as bad.

Their days were pretty boring. They'd wake up and while Ephram made the trip to the woodpile for firewood, Clarinda would get up and dress. Ephram would come back to the cabin and find her standing in front of the fireplace and holding up her trousers. She'd look at him and smile.

"Come do me again so I can fix breakfast."

Ephram wasn't feeling her hips like the first time, but just being that close and imagining what those hips probably looked like had the same effect. That was made worse by how Clarinda wore the shirt.

Just like the trousers, Jerome's shirt was too big for Clarinda. She rolled up the sleeves so she could do something with her hands and arms, but she couldn't do anything about the way the rest of the shirt fit. She never buttoned the first and second buttons at the top, so if she happened to be bending over, like when she poured Ephram a cup of coffee or when she dished pancakes from a pot lid onto Ephram's plate, the front gaped open. Ephram would find himself staring through the gape at the swell of her breasts and the separation between them. A few times, he even saw some darker skin.

Clarinda didn't seem to notice anything except for when Ephram tied her belt for her. Ephram didn't quite understand why her voice was a little softer, lower, and huskier then, but that's what happened.

}|{

Ephram had resigned himself to having to continue as they had been probably until spring. He'd never known it to stop snowing and warm up enough to thaw out anything before then. Usually when it got cold it stayed cold, and he'd seen Montana winters where the snow was six feet deep in some places.

He hadn't seen the mud wagon since that last day in October when Buck told him about Jerome. That would be because there was no way any number of horses could pull the heavy wagon through a snowdrift. It was also probably because no sane person would want to travel miles and miles through a frozen countryside with nothing to keep them warm but a lot of clothes and some blankets.

That meant Clarinda wasn't going anywhere until the spring thaw. Ephram wasn't worried about food. They had plenty of flour, corn meal and other staples, a hundred pounds of potatoes, and about fifty pounds of dried beans. When it stopped snowing he could get a deer or maybe an elk. The meat would keep all winter if it was hung inside the lean-to. They were in no danger of starving.

The problem for Ephram was that he was getting very comfortable with Clarinda and it didn't seem right to do so. She was a widow and if she'd been in a regular town would be wearing black for at least six months and probably for a year. There on the ranch she wore her trousers, shirt, and boots all the time, but Ephram still figured she was grieving.

It seemed to Ephram that Clarinda was getting comfortable with him too. She'd stopped talking to him like she was ordering him to do something. Instead, she'd ask what he wanted for a meal or if he thought they had enough firewood to last the winter or not.

Ephram was torn between trying to stay out of the cabin for as long as possible and not wanting to be away from Clarinda.

That changed about the first of the year, or at least what Ephram figured was the first of the year.

The snowdrift on the path to the woodpile had deepened to almost four feet. Ephram had made the trip to the lean-to for a shovel and tried to keep the path clear, but it was snowing some every day it seemed, and the wind kept drifting the path shut. As a result, Ephram couldn't carry firewood every day. After a week, there was only enough firewood in the cabin to keep the fire going until about noon.

After breakfast that morning, Ephram put on his coat and gloves and said he was going to bring in more firewood. When he finally reached the woodpile, he realized about all that was left was full logs. He cursed under his breath and then trudged through the snowdrifts to the lean-to for his axe.

For an hour, he split logs into quarters and some of the quarters into smaller sticks. When he thought he had split almost enough to last the day, he decided to keep working until noon just in case it snowed hard again.

Ephram had split another six logs before it started to snow again, and this time it was snowing hard enough he couldn't see the cabin. He gathered as much firewood as he could carry and then felt for the guide rope. He'd walked about ten feet when the rope in his hand went slack.

Ephram pulled on the rope in the direction of the woodpile and it was still tight. That meant the end tied to the house had come loose. He started walking in the direction he thought was right, but quickly found that the path he'd tramped down that morning was again filled with snow.

After several minutes of trying to find his way back to the cabin, Ephram dropped the load of wood and kept walking. As the wind whipped the falling snow into an impenetrable wall of white, he realized that he was just walking into trouble. He sat down and huddled himself into a ball in order to stay warm and wait out the snow.

}|{

When Ephram woke up, he was lying on his bed and he wasn't alone. He opened his eyes and saw Clarinda holding herself against him. It was then he realized he didn't have his shirt, trousers and longjohns on. A second later, he realized he was feeling Clarinda's bare breasts against his chest and her bare leg draped over his thigh.

"Clarinda, what are you doing? This isn't right."

She smiled.

"I thought you were going to die on me and I didn't want to lose you. I'm just trying to warm you up."

"That's what the fireplace is for."

Clarinda nodded.

"It would be if I hadn't run out of firewood. I did though and this was the only way I could think of to get you warm again."

Ephram shook his head.

"You need to start from the start and explain this."

Clarinda frowned.

"Well, when you didn't come back after you went to get firewood, I started to worry. It was still snowing then, so I couldn't do anything about it. It stopped snowing a while later so I put on my coat and went to look for you. When I saw that the rope on the cabin had come untied, I figured you'd stayed at the woodpile.

"I tied the rope to the nail again and then made my way out there. It was hard because the show was so deep. You weren't there and I got really worried then. I remembered how cold I was that day and you'd been out there a lot longer than I was. I started back to the cabin and looked on both sides to find you.

"You were about five feet from the cabin but about ten feet off the path. When I got to you I yelled at you and hit you until I got you to stand up. Then, I tramped down the snow for a few feet, went back to get you, and kept going until we were at the cabin. I got you inside and was going to sit you down by the fireplace like you did me that day, but by then, the fire had gone out.

"I remembered one winter in St. Louis when it got really cold. My mother and father put me in bed with them so I could stay warm. I figured it if worked for me then, it would work for you too. I got you on the bed and took off all your clothes, then took off mine and put the blankets off my bed on yours. Then I got in beside you and pulled you as close as I could get you. You were so cold it felt like I was hugging an icicle."

She chuckled then.

"It must have worked because you don't feel like an icicle anymore."

Ephram started to get up but she held him down.

"Let's just stay like this until I'm sure you're warmed up. Besides, I kind of like this."

"But Clarinda, you're a widow and if we stay like this, I'm sure you know what's going to happen. I'm just a man."

Clarinda smiled.

"I know, and I need to talk to you about that, but not right now. Right now, I'm hoping the man I'm with will do what he's thinking about. I've been thinking about it for a week."

}|{

Ephram did try to resist until he felt Clarinda's hand stroke down his side and then work between them. Her fingers on his manhood finished what her breasts against his chest and her thigh over his leg had started. He held her hand still.

"Clarinda, you sure you want this. I uh... I never have before."

She smiled.

"Neither have I, but I know how it's suppose to go."

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Ephram learned a lot that afternoon, a lot about Clarinda and a lot about himself. He learned that Clarinda's soft breasts were really sensitive. He learned that when she pulled his hand to her breasts and moved it so he was stroking her nipple, he felt that small nub stiffen and grow longer, and when he stroked it again, Clarinda moaned.

He learned that the hair between Clarinda's thighs was guarding some soft and satin smooth lips, lips that he felt when Clarinda opened her thighs and then pushed into his stiff manhood.

Ephram had never kissed a woman other than his mother, but when Clarinda kissed him he realized he'd missed a lot. If his manhood hadn't already been as stiff as a wagon tongue, that kiss would have made it that way.

He'd given in to what his body was telling him to do long before Clarinda kissed him again and then whispered, "I think I'm ready. Do it now."

Ephram didn't know what to expect. He knew what to do because he'd seen bulls breed cows and stallions breed horses. They just walked up, mounted the cow or mare, and pushed in. He started to do that, but stopped when Clarinda yelped and then whispered, "Don't stop, but go a little at a time."

Ephram tried and managed for a dozen or so tentative strokes. Then, Clarinda gasped and lifted her hips at the same time he was pushing in. He felt resistance and then suddenly, the way was open. He sank into Clarinda's wet warmth and groaned as the spurts of seed raced through his manhood and into Clarinda.

He tried to pull out then, but Clarinda held him tight.

"It hurts a little if you move, Ephram, but it feels good if you stay still. Let's just stay like this for a while."

A while was until Ephram's manhood softened enough it slipped out on its own. Clarinda still held him tight on top of her though. She kissed him again and then said, "I can tell you now."

She stroked Ephram's chest then.

"I lied to you about me and Jerome. He wasn't my husband. He was my half-brother. His mother died when he was born and our father hired a wet nurse to take care of him. She'd lost her husband to the grippe before her baby was born, and then lost the baby too.

"As time went on, my father liked the wet nurse more and more and he finally married her. I was born a year later. That was in 1853. My mother died in the cholera epidemic of 1866 when I was thirteen. I was old enough to take care of our house by then, so my father never remarried.

"My father owned a livery stable in St. Louis. A lot of people there in the city didn't have a horse and buggy of their own, so he'd rent them a horse and a buggy for a day so they could do their shopping or visit with people outside the city. He was doing a really good business and when I was eighteen, he wanted to expand his stable. Jerome had already left to go mine gold, and my father thought if Jerome had a business to run he might come back. He also wanted the business to be big enough to support my family and if Jerome came back, his family too.

"My father borrowed money from a banker to expand, and he made his stable twice as big as before. Everything was going fine until one day last September when my father complained that his chest hurt. I sent for the doctor, but by the time he arrived my father was dead.

"That left the business to me and Jerome, except Jerome wasn't in St. Louis. The banker came to talk to me. He said unless I paid all the money back right then he'd take the livery stable and sell it to pay off the loan. I told him I needed to talk to Jerome first, but he said he couldn't wait that long.

"Then he smiled and said if I was nice to him -- that's what he said, if I was nice to him -- he'd let me keep running the livery stable. When I asked what that meant, he grinned and said all women knew what that meant. Then, he tried to put his hand up my dress. That scared me to death.

"I ran home and packed everything I had and then opened my father's desk and took out the money he kept there for the household expenses. I walked to the train station to buy a ticket to Diamond City because that's where Jerome said he was in the last letter I got from him.

"The agent said I could buy a ticket to Salt Lake City, but from there I'd have to buy a ticket on a coach going to Diamond City. That's what I did, except I lied and told everybody I was going to Diamond City to be with my husband. I only lied because I'd heard on the train that only women who sell themselves travel alone and going be with my husband seemed to be a good reason for why I was by myself. The coach driver said he knew Jerome and he could let me get off at Jerome's cabin. That's how I ended up here."

Ephram asked why she hadn't just told him the truth in the first place. Clarinda frowned.

"I didn't know Jerome lived with anybody else because he never told me. I didn't know who you were but I thought if Jerome lived with you, you were probably a good man. It was when you told the coach driver that you couldn't keep me that I decided to tell you I was Jerome's wife. I thought a good man wouldn't do anything to his partner's wife and I was right."

Ephram scratched his head because he was still confused.

"Then why did you want to do what we just did?"

Clarinda stroked Ephram's chest.

"My mother told me that when I found the man for me, I'd know. I figured that out that time I almost froze to death. You changed a lot that day. Instead of making me feel like I was someone you'd rather was gone, you were worried about me and you took care of me. I thought maybe you were starting to like me. I hope I wasn't wrong, but that's why I wanted what we just did. Don't ask me any more because I don't know any more. It's just how I feel."

Ephram rolled onto his side and then gently pulled Clarinda close.

"What do we do now?"

Clarinda pressed her cheek against Ephram's chest.

"If you feel the same way about me, I'll stay. If you don't, I don't know. I can't go back to St. Louis. There's nothing for me there."

Ephram stroked Clarinda's side and then moved his hand over her rounded belly.

"Well, it looks to me like we're not going to go anywhere until this snow melts. Maybe we should make the best of things until then. I got used to you doing the cooking. I could get used to you sleeping with me too even if we don't do anything. Once spring comes, we'll go to Diamond City and talk to the preacher of that little church."

Clarinda stroked Ephram's chest again.

"We don't have to wait. In one letter Jerome told me that in Montana, you don't have to have a preacher marry you. All you have to do is say you're married and you are. He called it a common law marriage. After what we just did, I feel pretty married. How about you?"

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The rest of that winter, the snow was about normal. There was only another foot on the ground when the days got warm enough to start it melting. In the first two weeks of April, the melting snow cover had turned the road in front of Ephram's ranch into a river of mud. The first mud wagon stopped at the ranch on the first of May. Buck got down and waved to Ephram.

"Hey, Ephram. What happened to that little lady I dropped off here last year?"

Ephram grinned.

"Well, as it turned out, she wasn't Jerome's wife like she let on. He was his half-sister. She spent the winter here and we sorta married ourselves."

Buck laughed.

"The way she talked to you that day I offered to take her back to Salt Lake City, I figured you'd be glad to be rid of her."

Ephram grinned.

"Well, you can learn a lot about a person when you're snowed in for almost four months."

Buck looked up, saw Clarinda walking toward them, and grinned.

"So I see. When's the baby due?"

"Clarinda says she thinks in October but maybe in November. We're going to see Doc Williams next week and see if he knows any better. I guess I'll be building another room onto the cabin this summer."

Clarinda stopped beside Ephram and put her arm around his waist.

"We won't need another room for a while, but we do need a garden and a hen house. I keep telling Ephram that but he's got it in his head that we need another room."

Ephram just said, "I didn't say I wouldn't build a hen house and dig up garden. I just said I wanted to build on another room."

Buck laughed.

"Looks like you've met your match, Ephram. Well, it's been nice talking to you both, but I gotta go. Got three young women in my coach and they're headed for the saloon in Diamond City. Wouldn't wanna keep all them miners waitin' on their women. You two take care."

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Diamond City didn't last much longer. Like every boomtown before and since, it thrived as long as the miners kept the gold coming in. When the easy placer deposits played out, the people of Diamond City left for other gold and silver strikes. A few years later, all that was left were a few stone foundations and a relatively flat strip of land that had once been the main street through the town.

Not much is known about Ephram, Clarinda and their family other than that they lived on a small ranch outside of what had been Diamond City. Diamond City didn't have a newspaper, so records of the city and surrounding area are mostly the memories of elderly people who lived in the area and were written down by their children and then relayed to their grandchildren. Like most memories, the stories gain some and lose some over the years.

What is probable is that like most of the people who settled the west, Ephram and Clarinda didn't become rich and famous, but neither were they poor. They had each other and later on, their family. They lived their lives in a way that suited them, and for Ephram and Clarinda, that meant raising a family together and making life the best they could with what they had. Clarinda's great-great-great grandson still has a receipt showing that Ephram built a new house of sawn lumber when their family grew to four sons and two daughters. Evidently the ranch did well enough for Ephram to buy the lumber.

As other ranchers quit and moved to better pastures and a better climate, Ephram could have borrowed money to buy those ranches, but none of the family has any record of that happening. That was probably because Clarinda no doubt put her foot down. Because of what had happened to her father, she probably refused to agree to borrow money for anything.

That same great-great-great grandson thinks he remembers hearing about the times when the cattle market was down and the money got tight. He says Clarinda had her chickens and garden, and Ephram and his sons would hunt for meat instead of butchering a beef that would have sold for real money.

The ranch is still there, but the cabin, lean-to and new house are gone. The ranch wasn't big enough to support Ephram's sons when they married, so they drifted off to jobs in Bozeman and Butte. When Ephram died, Clarinda sold the ranch and moved in with her youngest daughter. The new owner tore down the buildings because he had no need for them. Cattle now graze where Clarinda's garden and chicken coop used to be.

Such is how history plays out. The very few settlers who became rich and famous have had their lives recorded in infinite detail. The majority of people just lived, loved, and then died only to be remembered by a tombstone with a name, and maybe a couple dates.

If you were to ask any of those original settlers today, they'd probably tell you they have few regrets. That's because regrets are for those who can't or won't change when confronted with disappointment or with something unexpected. Those early settlers were very good at using their wits and determination to turn disappointment into something better.

Both Ephram and Clarinda had disappointments in life -- Ephram having to give up becoming a wealthy miner and going back to ranching and Clarinda leaving St. Louis and everything she had and everyone she knew there to avoid becoming a mistress to a rich banker. They found each other and turned those disappointments in to something that made both their lives better, just like most of us do today.