# Car 54

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© 2005 / revised 2014
K Pelle

### Chapter 56:
Avalanche Zone - Beware of Falling Rock

Some of the visits we had were a lot more eventful than others, for instance one night in late October, Carissa and Jackie dropped around for a surprise visit. It was late evening, so we were having coffee as we sat watching the fire in the fireplace, when it suddenly became clear that this was no normal visit.

Carissa came over and sat on my knee, leaned over and kissed my cheek, then whispered in my ear, "I went to the doctor today, and it's official, I'm going to be a mommy."

Almost instantly I concluded that she was telling me she'd gotten pregnant on the weekend that Sandy, Jackie and the Nunez family had gone shopping in Calgary. She sat back and must have guessed my suspicion that the whole thing was planned by the look on my face.

"This wasn't planned and the baby probably isn't yours, at least I strongly doubt it. My pregnancy isn't my fault either. Well, in a way it was my fault, but even then it was an accident," she said quietly. "Sometimes I lose track of whether I've taken my pill in the morning or not and a couple months ago so many things happened to us that I probably missed a day or two, maybe several."

"So, what do you plan to do?" I asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, I'm not having an abortion and I'm not giving the baby up for adoption, but at the same time I'm not expecting to marry the guy who knocked me up or have him support me and the baby either. He's just not the type of guy I'd choose to be a father figure for my kid," she said vehemently. "Jackie and I can easily raise a baby and we're making enough money working for Mom's accounting business to support ourselves. Still, if you want to act like the kid's daddy or just his favourite uncle I'd welcome that because I think a kid needs a father figure of some sort."

"Jeez, I've gotta think about this, but if you can keep it quiet from the gossip mongers for a while it might make it easier on you. It doesn't matter what happens or what you say, they'll spread the tale that I got you pregnant," I frowned slightly. "They know Sandy is pregnant now and I've heard that they're spreading rumours that I'm the guy who got Lucille pregnant. I mean, it's going to look to the gossips like I'm out to impregnate the world."

"But, I'll just say you didn't do it and pretty well everyone in town has a good idea who did," Carissa frowned at him. "Do you remember Tex, the tall, rangy guy who was working for Clarence when they built Juan and Conseula's house? His number came up at the draft board in the States, so he had to go back to join the army, then go to Vietnam. He was all upset about that when he came out to our place one Saturday night, carrying a bottle of whisky and looking for sympathy. Jackie and her brothers didn't want anything to do with the whisky, but I thought he needed a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, so the two of us got drunk and we passed out on the living room floor. I don't remember it happening, but the next morning I knew we'd had sex. That's why I made sure you wore a condom every time we had sex when I was here that week, because I didn't know then if he had a disease or anything."

"Yeah, but if you remember we had two of those old condoms of yours break on us," I snorted.

"Which is why I was glad that I'd gone to the doctor and had myself tested for any sort of sexually transmitted disease and the tests came back clean. Only when I went back to get the results I hadn't had a period so I asked about that and he gave me another test, which is when I found out I was pregnant."

"Well, since you didn't pick up a disease I guess that's a relief, but what are you going to do about this guy, Tex?"

"Well, besides telling Daddy that I was pregnant when I was in town today, I asked him if he knew of any way to get hold of Tex, so Daddy guessed that he's the guy who knocked me up," Carissa said quietly. "Not only that, but other than my folks, the only people who need to know that I'm pregnant are the four of us in this room."

"As if you could hide it," Sandy snorted. "Jess already heard about it from a gossip who works in your dad's office. She called me earlier and asked if it was really someone else who had done the deed and not Chris."

"Oh, frigging great!" I snorted. "Now there will be rumours about that and I'll be involved, just like when Lucille admitted she was pregnant."

"Nah, don't worry, Chris, your women have got your butt covered for anyone who pries into any of the pregnancies," Jackie snorted. "Lucille just laughs at the gossips and points to Jerry with his puffed up chest, then tells the gossip, 'You tell Daddy Jer that and see what he says.' Besides there were earlier rumours about Lucille and Jerry that circulated after old Mr. Bender's funeral, mostly about Jerry being the one who calmed her down and comforted her. Most of the town was there and saw that happen, then he started to make trips to Calgary to see her and only a few months later the two of them announced they were getting married. Besides, they know you and Lucille are related and how close your family all are. I mean your father walked her down the aisle at her wedding, for goodness sakes. Then you guys gave her a house for a wedding present. So forget the rumours about you and Lucille, because nobody with a grain of common sense believes them."

"Well, that's a relief," Sandy sighed. "So Carissa, do you think your dad will say anything about Tex?"

"Daddy sure wasn't hiding his feelings when we left him," Carissa laughed sardonically. "I think anyone inside of a block of his office must have heard him blaming Tex for knocking me up, so there's no way we'll hear any rumours about Chris being guilty of this pregnancy either."

"That bugger deserves to be blamed too, just to get back for all the rumours he started," Jackie grouched vehemently. "After that night the bastard went into town and bragged about spending the night at our place. Only according to him, he kept us both up all night and screwed the two of us silly. That's probably why we ended up with so many guys wanting to take us out over the past while and you can imagine the rumours that are going around the school about me. If I could get my hands on him, I'd nut the S-O-B!"

"Yeah, like I said, he's not the sort I'd go looking to have as the father of my kid," Carissa sighed. "In that respect I wish it was Chris."

"Well, I don't know what to say," I sighed. "I do know that if I'm going to help raise him, then when the kid is old enough to understand, I'd rather he knew the truth about his father. Heck,if the kid spends a fair amount of time with me while he's growing up he could even call me his foster dad. Only ... I just don't like the idea of any child being raised to live with a lie, if you know what I mean."

""As if that would be a problem. I don't know anyone I'd rather have be the father to my kid!" Carissa grinned. "In fact if you want, I'll make it legal and write out a living will. That way if anything ever happens to Jackie and I, there wouldn't be any legal problem for you and Sandy to have custody of the baby."

""Hah! Since I'm involved just by living with you, and since my biological father is still trying to get legal custody of me, that's probably a darn wise decision anyway," Jackie snapped. "I mean, it's stupid how far he's going. I'm over eighteen and legally he can't do anything, but now he's trying to get me declared mentally incompetent and trying to get a legal hold over me that way. Of course I know that all he wants to do is to ship me off to that enclave at Bountiful. Sometimes I think he must have been promised thousands of dollars for delivering my body to that outfit, but he's gone completely crazy about losing all his influence over his kids, especially me. He absolutely hates you, Chris, and he blames you for all his problems."

"Well, he lives in Calgary and I'm living out here, so right at the moment he's not one of my major worries," I sighed and looked at Sandy. "What do you think gal, are you willing to take on the possibility of having an extra kid around the house?"

"Sure! We could easily do that," she grinned.

"Well, I was talking about it with Daddy and there might be a little problem with that," Carissa winked at me, but with her head turned so Sandy couldn't see.

"What problem?" Sandy demanded.

"Just that you and Chris should be married to make any chance of a custody battle extremely difficult for anyone else," Carissa said flatly.

"That's not fair!" Sandy snapped loudly, then she paused and she seemed to be thinking and I saw a calculating expression cross her face. "There might be a way I'd give in to your coercion though."

"So, what do you want? We're listening," Carissa frowned impatiently.

"Well, I think I told you guys about the secret marriages of the FLDS, didn't I?" Sandy smiled. "That's sort of what I want. I'll marry Chris openly, if you marry him secretly, but it would only be fair if Jackie is included too."

"Are you telling me that you haven't married him because you're still holding onto that stupid multiple marriage thing with one guy and a bunch of women," Carissa sat up straight and glared at Sandy.

"Hey, wait a minute, Lover," Jackie tried to calm her down. "There are some advantages to that idea for both of us and we certainly don't have to stick to the FLDS rules. Besides, what she's suggesting isn't all that different to what we have now, except we might be spending more time down here at the ranch."

"You're going to have to explain to me how there are any advantages to the idea, because I don't get it," Carissa snapped.

"Well, first off, your kid would be Chris's step-child, so he or she would grow up calling Chris daddy. Then if you got a package in the mail, and opened it to find a letter and a ring enclosed, it could look like your 'secret' lover was asking you to marry him. Now being engaged isn't quite as bulletproof as being married, but since your father is raising all kinds of crap about Tex, it gives that rumour a stronger basis."

"And what if Tex comes back to town for some strange reason?" Carissa asked.

"Oh, I doubt that! I'll bet by now your father has already composed a nasty letter to him about 'ruining his daughter' and I'll bet Tex would read it and count his blessings that he's in the Yankee army about now. Of course you could guarantee that he'd never come back with a carefully worded letter of your own," Jackie giggled.

"And how would either Daddy or I write to him? We don't even have his address."

"Ah, but I'll bet Clarence does, since Tex worked for him for long enough to be on the books and there are taxes and benefits that Clarence has to take into account," Jackie responded instantly.

"Shit, knowing that address might get Daddy off my back. He's been on my case about not knowing how to contact Tex or his parents," Carissa laughed, sounding slightly relieved. "But you said the idea was advantageous to both of us, and I don't understand how it could be any advantage for you?"

"Oh, that's easy. I'll just get word to Mom that I'm Chris's third wife and let Daddy jump to the same conclusion that Sandy's folks did," Jackie laughed aloud, then frowned slightly. "It might even ease his anger with Chris, especially if Daddy wasn't promised some sort of reward for sending me out to BC."

"Let me get this straight, you want me to get into some kind of secret marriage with all three of you?" I stared at each one of them in turn. "That's nuts! What in hell would I tell my family?"

"You don't have to tell anyone anything, except that you and I are getting married," Sandy said quietly. "Carissa, Jackie and you are going to have a secret marriage, not an open one, and your family already knows that the three of us are involved. Since there won't be any big changes that will be obvious for others to see, I think everyone will just accept that nothing much has changed. The only thing anyone might notice would be that we'd all be wearing a ring, but we don't have to tell them it's your ring."

"I think we should all have different rings, but rather plain ones," Carissa nodded, then she smiled. "I'm actually growing to like the idea."

Both Sandy and Jackie beamed at that, then the three of them set out to convince me. In the long run I went along with the idea even if I considered it to be crazy, but only after talking to Mom and Dad and telling them what was going on. Mom was actually the one who convinced me that it was probably the only way I'd ever get Sandy to marry me. Dad just rolled his eyes and said it was my life, but he admitted that he did understand how I had become involved with all three women.

"The Crawfords and Benders have always had relationships with women that bent the normal lines of society a bit," he smiled and I knew he was thinking of Mama Kate and Mom. "Toby would have understood what you're going through, since he was involved with multiple women and in a way, so do I. After all, there was a period when I was in love with two women at once, so I can understand how it can happen."

So, Sandy and I had a very simple marriage ceremony in front of a magistrate, then went on a holiday to Las Vegas, but not to gamble, we went there to visit a few horse ranches. It was the first time either of us had flown and we both enjoyed ourselves. While we were down in the States we took a smaller plane and made time for a side trip to Dallas, where we bought two rings and mailed one of them back home to Carissa. That ring, coming in a package mailed from Texas, gave some form of credence to the rumours about her Texan lover and her pregnancy. It also got her father off the warpath, hopefully before he did something irrevocable.

I do have to comment about a few things I noticed while we were down in the southern states. The first thing I noticed was the barren lanscape and decided that I shouldn't complain as much about how hard it was to grow things on the 'Frenchmen's' half section, not after seeing those desert areas. The second thing I noticed were the racial inequalities and how the people with Mexican backgrounds were treated much differently, maybe not quite so much in Texas, but definitely in Nevada.

We did see some nice horses while we were down there, but I'll be honest, I thought our stock was just as good, if not better. One strange happening was having Sandy spot a batch of goats that looked almost like a match to ours, except they didn't have the heavy coats. Actually in the baking sun and dry heat I think they'd have roasted if they had the coats our goats did. We stopped and tried to talk to the young fellow who was herding them along the edge of the road, but his English was terrible and our Spanish wasn't great, even though we had been trying to learn. While we were talking to him though, we did discover that there were goats roaming wild in the hills, but that his family owned the ones he was herding. When Sandy told him we were from Canada and we used goats like his to clear back the underbrush on our ranch, he just stared at her in disbelief. I doubt if his interest in his family's goats went little further than the stew pot.

While we were visiting a big ranch in Texas I noticed a very nice Appaloosa stallion that was on sale for a relatively cheap price and wished he was on a ranch much closer to home. After we were back in Alberta, I showed Beth a picture of the horse and she was all set to find some way to buy it, but when she called the rancher, the horse had already been sold. So other than buying the rings and having a good holiday, all we really accomplished in Nevada and Texas was to make a few contacts in horse breeding circles.

We came home after ten days of T-shirt weather down south and got to the ranch just in time to be snowed in for a week. We had company for that week though and I certainly wasn't bored. It was late Friday afternoon when we drove up the county road and Jackie was just coming home with Maria, so she stopped at her home while we drove Maria the rest of the way to the ranch.

Half an hour later Carissa and Jackie arrived at our house, each one carrying an overnight case, then only a few hours after that the blizzard blew in. The two of them were there for the whole week and after a little private ceremony in front of the fireplace that evening, they declared that the four of us were on another honeymoon. I'm not going to say much about that week, except that each night I slept with only one woman and that it was never the same woman two nights in a row. Okay, I lied and I will make a few comments.

During the day things were much calmer, because both Conseula and Maria were often there. Often they were helping out around the house, teaching Sandy and me Spanish or just visiting, but even Juan came over once or twice a day. The gals did try to tame things down a bit more when any of the Nunez family was in the house, but were slightly more open if only Marie and Conseula were there with us. However if Maria was there alone, Carissa seemed to delight in making bolder statements and teasing her even more. If she could tease both Maria and me at the same time she seemed to enjoy that the most though. The problem was Maria had a slight crush on me, and I felt I should protect her in some way, but at the same time I didn't want to get Carissa annoyed, because she had developed a fiery temper at times.

Actually Maria seemed to just grin and take Carissa's teasing, then to my surprise she started to tease Carissa back and by the time the week was out she had found ways to stop Carissa's teasing. Her method involved doing her best to ignore Carissa while playing up to me in some way or another, almost as if she was warning Carissa that the teasing was driving her to flirt with me. Somehow the idea of a fourteen year old teasing and flirting with me just didn't sit well in my books though, so it was a darn uncomfortable time for me.

Thankfully the winds slowed and the snows eased off after about six days, so I was soon involved in digging us out and opening the roads. I just about froze for three days after that storm, because I was out on the John Deere crawler plowing out the road to the Dumfries' ranch. Our section of road wasn't bad at all, but from the corner where our ranch road met with the hydro company's extension and all the way to Jason Dumfries' yard, it was socked in solid. That proved those caragana hedges we'd planted worked well, at least on the portion of the road where they'd been established and even after only one summer of growth. I was quite happy about what had happened, because it proved our theory about the hedges, but also because that job reduced my outside debt. The work I did on those three days virtually wiped out my debt to Charlie Engels for the cost of the little John Deere crawler; he had the contract to clear the road, but I did the plowing and booked the time against my debt.

Once the roads were clear, Jackie and Maria headed back to town so they could go to school and Carissa went home to check that the McAdam boys had looked after her chickens and horses. As for me, I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Having three or four women in the house at once is just a bit too much," I told Sandy as I hugged her tightly.

"Yep, I agree," Sandy chortled. "There were a few times when I wanted to belt Carissa for the way she was acting. When she got to teasing Maria it was almost too much, but it did accomplish one thing, Maria is more open with you than she was. Besides, both she and Conseula have figured out that you have three women, so we don't have to be so secretive while the bunch of us are here on the ranch."

"You think that's a good thing?"

"Sure!" she broke into her 'little girl' giggle. "Only unless things change a lot in four years, I think when Maria turns eighteen she's going to want to join the marriage."

"Hell, I can't handle three of you," I growled. "If Carissa keeps on the way she was acting most of the time I think I'll throttle her though, which might clear up part of the problem."

"I'll have a talk to her," Sandy said firmly, then quietly changed the subject.

I never thought much of that conversation until later, but I did notice that Carissa seemed to have calmed down a lot with her teasing and she seemed to defer to Sandy more. It was some time later that I realized a definite pecking order had been established between the three women and Sandy definitely ruled the roost.

The rest of that winter was a rough one as far as weather was concerned.

About four days before Christmas we had an freezing rain which did more damage than any other storm we'd had in a long time. We lost a yearling heifer and two calves from the previous spring when one of the fences had fallen because of the weight of ice that formed on it. We can only guess, but we think some of our younger cattle had been spooked by the noise of the fence coming down, then had wandered out of their shelter. All we really know is that the three animals that died had wandered away from the ranch buildings and we didn't find them until the next morning, but by then it was too late. All we could do was put them out of their misery, then pile wood on the three bodies and burn them, but since the ice storm had knocked down whole trees we had lots of wood to do the job. I was upset by the whole episode, but Juan took the whole thing very hard and I had an extremely difficult time convincing him that it wasn't his fault.

Christmas was going to be a quiet one, since the roads were too iced up to drive anywhere. The power was off, so we were running on our generator and I was glad that I'd bought the new generator unit because it easily handled the demand. The old one just hadn't been powerful enough, so I'd sold it to Carissa and I was hoping she was happy she had it about now. The phone was out and our only contact with friends and family was by way of the CB radio, but since that had always been limited by the valley walls, we could only call down the valley. That meant all our outside contacts were through my folks, Uncle Tom's family and George's folks.

Unfortunately no one had heard from Carissa or any of the folks who lived up on the upper plateau. So, on the day before Christmas I decided to run the John Deere crawler up the hill to Carissa's and Matt's places to check on them. I only managed to get there because the crawler had relatively new steel cleats on the tracks, but even then I slid around a good bit. The group were all fine and had all the supplies they needed, but the ice storm had damaged the antenna lead to Matt's big CB antenna, which was the reason they hadn't contacted anyone. Both their hydro and phone lines were down as well though, so everyone was staying at Carissa and Jackie's house because Carissa had the generator. Matt and the boys had managed to string an extension cord across the road to keep their oil furnace running, which meant they could sleep at home. They didn't have enough power for much else though, and as a result the guys spent most of their days with Carissa and Jackie. I didn't stay there long, just long enough to make sure everyone was okay, then I headed back home. Even with the steel cleats on the little cat's tracks, my trip home was somewhat of an adventure, especially on the downhill sections of the road. Once I was home I let Dad know that the folks who had leases on the 'Frenchmen's' half section were okay, so he could pass the message on to the people in town.

Of course we expected that Christmas Day would be extremely quiet since the only people on the ranch were Conseula, Juan, Maria, Sandy and me. Then shortly before we were planning to sit down to Christmas dinner we heard a strange, loud noise and we all rushed outside to see a huge military helicopter come in for a landing in the nearest pasture. It seemed the military was checking the isolated ranches to see if anyone needed help. Since we happened to be the last ranch on their list and there were only five crew members on the chopper, Sandy and I invited them to join us for Christmas dinner.

They had to radio in to get permission to take a break though and I was surprised that they could make contact with someone in Calgary while their chopper was on the ground. That's when I realized that I should do some work on all that old shortwave radio gear I'd bought at an auctions the year before. When I mentioned that to one of the airmen, I got immediate agreement that it would be a good idea. So when the young woman who was using the radio was free again, she and I had a short chat about getting involved with shortwave. She explained what I would need for equipment, how much I could expect improvements to my equipment and antenna's to cost and an idea of what I'd have to learn to get a ham operator's license.

Then it was time to eat. I don't know how they did it, but Sandy, Conseula and Maria managed to stretch a meal that had originally been prepared to feed five people and made it serve ten. There were even lots of leftovers. I'm positive that some of that meal had to have come out of the freezer, and that Sandy's microwave oven must have worked overtime. I know some of the military people who came in on the chopper were astonished when Sandy casually mentioned that almost all of the meal came from the ranch.

"Oh, come on! You served fresh lettuce and cherry tomatoes, and I'm certain you didn't grow those here at this time of year," the pilot of the chopper scoffed.

"Oh yes, they did," Maria giggled. "Chris and Daddy built Sandy and Mom a big greenhouse, so we have fresh vegetables all the time now. Mom already had the tomatoes seeds started before they built the greenhouse though. She was going to try to grow them in the window of our house this winter, but she moved them to the greenhouse once it was finished."

"Well, Maria and Conseula helped grow the corn and peas we had, but those were frozen during the summer, then stored in the freezer. They helped grow the carrots, parsnips and potatoes too, but we store those in a cool room in the basement. The pickles are all from home grown vegetables and we canned them ourselves," Sandy grinned. "I have an incubator down in the basement and I use it, so the turkey was one I raised from the time it was an egg. The ham is from one of our pigs, which we had one of our neighbours butcher and he smoked the meat for us. He cured the bacon and made the sausage used in the turkey stuffing as well, but even that was done using pork and beef we raised on the ranch. The bread is home-made, but from flour and yeast that I bought. The milk you're drinking and the cream in your coffee is from our cows, and I churned the butter you spread on your bread. The desserts are a different story though, the only things used in those that we provided from the ranch are the pumpkin and strawberries in the pies and the whipped cream, the spices and everything else were purchased. So as you can see, we're fairly independent and relatively self-sufficient."

"Wow!" the radio operator laughed then. "You guys might be isolated, but you're definitely able to take care of yourselves. I've been meaning to ask, just how big is this place?"

"Including all of the leases?" I asked, with a grin.

"Well, yeah, whatever you farm or ranch."

"Well, we have about five thousand acres here on Mile High Ranch, but on top of that we sub-lease the lower two thirds of our main lease to our extended family. Then we have a separate lease on the upper plateau to the east of us, and we own another half section up there as well, but we've let some of our extended family hold a pair of leases on twenty acres of that," I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess altogether the whole setup is probably close to twenty thousand acres, maybe a bit more and maybe a bit less. I know my lawyer mention that it's well on the way to being a full township."

"Holy crow!" her eyes grew huge. "This has to be the biggest ranch around here then."

"Nope! Not really, but only because of the way it's split up. The two families here look after this ranch and most of the upper area, but there are those two mini farms on the upper plateau, so that's four families. Then the lower lease is under the control of another three family groups. So altogether you could say it was a half dozen farming and ranching businesses of various sizes. Let's just say that the whole setup is complicated, but in one way or another it's all one big family arrangement. And except for the Nunez family we're all related in one way or another, but we've sort of adopted them as well."

"Yeah, and Chris probably wouldn't say anything, but because of his grandfather's will, he's the biggest shareholder in this ranch, which controls the water rights on all the rest of the property," Sandy bragged with a smile.

"The way the leases are set up, that doesn't mean much," I laughed. "I'm just happy to live here. That way I can raise horses and cattle, but I can let everyone else do their thing. For instance Sandy raises goats, heritage chickens, and turkeys, but she has a lot of help from Juan, Conseula and Maria. As for our miniature donkeys, I'd have to say those are Juan's babies and his addition to our zoo."

Of course once I had mentioned the animals, all the servicemen wanted to see them before they left. Perhaps it was to assure themselves that our livestock were alright, or perhaps it was so they could make a report when they got back to their headquarters, I didn't care which. So Juan and I took them out to show them around the barns and shelters. I think they were duly impressed. I know the gal who worked as a radio operator really liked the look of our horses and got a great kick out of our little donkeys. All good things must come to an end though, so very soon it was time for them to leave and for us to finish our afternoon chores.

Two days before New Years we had another blizzard, but until several inches of snow fell there wasn't much drifting, because all the snow was sealed under a skin of ice. However the result once the snow did start to drift was a real pain in the butt. Even the John Deere crawler was nearly useless with the loose snow sitting on top of the ice. For once I couldn't make it up our hill to the upper plateau and we were stuck for over a week.

We heard later that Lucille started to have labour pains at six in the evening on New Years Eve and Jennifer Elizabeth Dolens was born at 12:16 AM, January 1st, 1971, weighing in at 7lbs-7oz.

We couldn't get to town to see her for almost two weeks, but when we did, I looked down at a face that I recognised, only I'd dredged up that image from a memory of an old picture in Mom's family albums. Jenny looked exactly like a much younger version of my sister, Beth. However I was smart enough not to say anything and to congratulate both Papa Jerry and Grampa Frank when they each handed me a cigar. Lucille never said a thing to me, but I did notice that when I happened to be holding Jenny she'd get a strange smile on her face. So I was fairly certain who Jenny's daddy really was, but there was no way I was about to rock that boat and I was positive she wouldn't either.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, things were progressing normally. Both Sandy and Carissa's bellies were swelling and both of them had been lucky, neither one had suffered from morning sickness. After that session when the helicopter had dropped in on us, I'd dug out the shortwave radio gear. Then with the help and advice of Bob Grant, I'd checked over all the bits and pieces and found that I could set up a complete shortwave station, so I was learning morse code in order to get a shortwave license. I was already planning how I would set up the necessary equipment in my office and where I would set up a tower for the antenna I'd need, but that would have to wait for the summer and warmer weather.

I didn't get a lot of time to spend on it until about February though. You see Sandy happened to overhear Maria and her mother talking about a family celebration that was happening in late January, bemoaning the fact that they couldn't be there. After all they had done for us since they had arrived on the ranch, I just snorted and called a travel agent in Calgary, booking three round trip tickets to Winnipeg and back for them. So Juan, Consuela and Maria took two weeks holiday in late January and they flew to Winnipeg to take in a big family celebration of some sort. I'm not sure what it was, but I heard Conseula use the word Quinceanera, and although I was curious, I never did get around to asking what the word meant.

It was after they had left that I came to the rude awakening that the winter workload on the ranch had almost doubled since the year before. Sandy had never like the cold anyway, and being pregnant that winter she didn't want risk a fall, so she couldn't help me. Meanwhile I was facing much more work than any previous winter, but since I was so busy, time actually seemed to fly by. Okay, so I was on my own, but I didn't begrudge the Nunez family their holiday, because they had been so much help that I felt they deserved the break. Besides, they hadn't seen their family for almost five years and that's just too long for anyone to be out of contact with their relatives.

I was sure happy to see them when they came back though. Not only was Juan back to work within hours, but as well as that, he and I began work on his old truck for two or three evenings of every week, but rebuilding it took all winter long. First we stripped his old truck down and removed everything we found that showed any sign of damage. Then we slowly rebuilt it, using the best parts we had on hand from the two trucks and repairing or replacing anything that was damaged. Before anything was put back into place it was painted, or at least undercoated so it was ready for the final paint coat. The new engine, clutch and transmission were assembled while the engine was mounted on my engine stand and then the whole assembly was tested before it was installed in the truck. The most annoying task we had was finding and replacing the old rubber seals around the doors and windows, but Frank came to the rescue again. Somehow he managed to find a set of those seals for us.

When we had everything ready, Art Dumfries came out to do the final finish sanding and apply the cream and brown colours that Conseula and Juan had chosen for the body. If you judged by the looks on Juan and Conseula's faces the first time they drove it to town, you would have thought they were driving a Rolls Royce. It certainly drew a lot of attention when they picked up Maria from school that afternoon.

It was about then that I got a call from Clarence, which surprised me to no end.

"Hi Chris. Look, I don't know either John Coulter or his daughter, Carissa very well, but I just got some disturbing news from Tex's parents and I thought perhaps you might be the one to tell them. Tex was training for the paratroops, but during one practise jump his chute didn't open. As far as I know, his folks didn't know anything about Carissa, and I'm sure she wasn't registered in his will, so there won't be any survivor benefits or anything."

"Oh boy," I sighed, thinking that lies always come back to bite you. "Did they know that Carissa is pregnant?"

"No, and I didn't tell them either, since I didn't want to add to their grief or cause any complications. From the way John Coulter was talking, I'm not sure that would have been wise anyway. I think it's best just to let it lie, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean," I sighed deeply. "Look, I'll handle it, no problem. Since Carissa lives so close by I can look in on her and help out if necessary."

"Thanks, buddy. I owe ya."

"Like hell, not for this you don't. Carissa is a long time friend of mine."

So I passed that bit of info on to Carissa. What she told her dad was between her and John. Carissa and Jackie had created the story, so I felt it was up to them to handle the results. Inside of a week though, Carissa was getting sympathy cards in the mail and the rumours were flying that she was heartbroken. I know that wasn't the truth though, in fact she was relieved.

Eventually spring came rolling in and the snow melted, but along with the warmer weather came the usual flood of young animals. We had cows calving, mares foaling and we had goats dropping kids. Then Juan's first pair of donkeys surprised all of us, his favourite jenny had a jennette, then inside of two weeks the second two jennys added to his herd. As well Sandy's incubator began turning out chicks for both her and Carissa until both of them had a few dozen new chicks of each of the two breeds they were raising. She knew it would have been easier to order the chicks from a hatchery, but no hatchery could provide either Rhode Island Red or Plymouth Rock chicks. Finally she set a half dozen turkey eggs again, just so we could have turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but then she added a half dozen goose eggs and a dozen duck eggs to the mix. I'm not sure if she wanted to have a zoo, or just a menagerie.

Spring was also the time when the goats had to be combed to recover the inner coat of cashmere they had grown for warmth over the fall and winter. Juan was reluctant to sheer the goats, but if he had to, he wanted to wait until later in the year even though the goats would begin shedding their inner coat soon. Sandy knew that if the cashmere was combed out of the longer hair, the process could be started earlier, that way less cashmere would be lost and there was much less sorting and cleaning required. Although Sandy was heavily pregnant and couldn't work at the combing for long periods, Conseula could and did spend hours at the task. So with Maria helping her on the weekends, Conseula did the most of the combing of the goats. On top of that first combing though, the goats would have to be combed every week or two until early summer, because all the cashmere wasn't shed at once. Sandy was very appreciative of all their work, but did say that sheep would be much easier and she wished there was such a thing as a cashmere sheep, because she'd prefer to just sheer the darn things and be done with it.

I just shook my head and told her she had an 'Old MacDonald's Farm' complex, wanting all the animals mentioned in the song. Then I warned her that if she wanted sheep's wool, we could buy it, but any sheep that appeared on the ranch would be shot, stuffed and hung on a pole as a warning to all other sheep. I simply wouldn't allow sheep of any kind on Mile High Ranch, because they did too much damage to range grass unless they were constantly herded from place to place and we didn't have time for that sort of nonsense.

Along with everything else that had been going on at the ranch, I hardly had time to notice the land we'd worked over on the 'Frenchmen's' half section the year before. Then one day as I was driving Sandy in for another prenatal appointment with her obstetrician, I happened to glance over in that direction as we drove along the hydro easement road.

"Holy cripes!" I slowed the pickup and pulled to a stop, staring past Sandy and out the passenger's window.

"What are you looking at? What's wrong?" Sandy stared around in surprise, probably looking for something dangerous.

"Look at the growth out there on the right where we did all that work last year, then look over to the left of the road at the untouched section," I grinned.

"Oh, I see. The part you worked over is coming in almost solid green all over, but the other side is just a few clumps of grass and brush. A lot of that on the right is just short scrub brush growing back though isn't it?"

"Maybe, I'll have to get out there with the flail mower and chop it all off in a few weeks. That'll stunt the bushes a lot more than it will the grass. I don't mind doing that at all though, in fact I'm quite happy to do it," I grinned then. " Sandy, we're going to have another hayfield, which means we can raise even more animals than I originally counted on when I first moved to the ranch, either that or we can sell more hay."

I was grinning from ear to ear the rest of the way into town because one of my so called 'weird' ideas looked like it was going to pay off. My upbeat mood didn't last very long though. Unfortunately the doctor decided Sandy had been doing too much and since she was due in something like three weeks anyway, he wanted her to stay in town rather than live out at the ranch. Lucille must have phoned Jennifer Dolens, because she met us outside the doctor's office. Jennifer insisted that Sandy should stay with her and Frank, that way someone would always be in the house, just in case. Sandy was originally planning to stay at her parents' old house with her sisters, but since I knew she wasn't really comfortable in that house since her parents had died, I agreed with Jennifer.

We made a quick trip home to get some clothing, books and knitting supplies for Sandy, then I delivered her to the Dolens' house. After that I drove over to Frank's service station and car lot to warn him that he had a house guest. Of course he knew about it already, since Lucille had phoned him too. I did emphasize that the doctor had said she had to take it easy. Of course he'd already heard the same thing from Lucille, it seemed that she'd been briefed by the doctors assistant, which was why she'd called in Jennifer. I told Frank I just might have to give his daughter-in-law a hug and he just laughed, then said I'd have to stand in line and that I'd probably be behind half of the town. Then he passed on a message that I should call Clarence, who hadn't been able to get through on my phone for some reason. I realized it was getting late then and that it wasn't fair to Juan to leave him with all the chores at that time of year.

On the way home I was thinking about several small details that I wanted to do around the house before Sandy and the baby came home. Only by the time I got home I found Conseula was already a mile ahead of me, then Mom, Beth and Maria got into the act. Over the next few days that house was cleaned and polished from top to bottom. Any cloth object was washed, dried, ironed, folded and put in its place. If there was a scratch in any painted surface, I was handed a paint brush and told to touch it up. Then for a few weeks I tiptoed around that house for fear of messing something up and I swear either Conseula or Mom followed behind me, mopping up any dust I might have dropped.

I was actually relieved when Lucille called me to warn me that Sandy's labour pains had started and she'd been taken to the hospital. We'd just eaten after evening chores, so I hollered to Conseula telling her what was happening as I ran out the door, then hopped into my pickup and rushed to town. Sandy delivered an 8lb-1oz baby boy at 9:01 PM on Friday, May 21st. Arthur Tobias Crawford was named after his great-grandfather and his great-great-uncle, but little Toby was the first Crawford to be born with red hair.

Then life took another weird twist. Carissa was with the group in the waiting room and she became quite excited when Sandy's and my son was born, perhaps too excited. At 1:12 AM on May 22nd, she was admitted to the hospital in heavy labour and Kristina Ann Coulter was born that morning at 5:25 AM weighing it at 6lbs-15oz.

I was standing at the viewing window into the newborn's room later that morning and thinking heavy thoughts when I felt someone's hand rest on my shoulder. I turned to face John Coulter, who had a smile on his face.

"Are you looking at your son, or your namesake?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm, I'm sure Carissa must know that my name starts with a letter 'C' and I'm sure the name Christina is usually spelled the same way." I frowned slightly, wondering where this conversation was heading.

"Carissa never did learn how to spell very well, but her heart is in the right place and I think she thought the different spelling was wise." he sighed, then bit his lip. "She's asked me to do her a favour though. She told me she knows I'll be a wonderful grandfather, but she says little girls need a father figure too. I'm supposed to sound you out to see if you'd be willing to be that figure."

"Well, there is a complication or two," I grinned in relief. "If I do that, my father is going to want to get into the act as another grandfather, and that will bring in the rest of my family. Do you think both you and Carissa will be willing to accept that sort of complication?"

"Huh, since Corrinna and Wil are already involved, that won't be any problem at all, but it might make some future genealogist scratch his head," he grinned, then held out his hand to shake mine. "Thanks, I owe you."

"Not for that, you don't. Oh, and I guess I should say 'Welcome to the Bender clan' and warn you that withdrawing is a hell of a lot harder than gaining entry, just ask Lucille."

We both had a quiet chuckle over that, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief that things had worked out the way they had. There were times when luck was far better than planning, but to be honest I think there was a lot of both involved that day.

We worked it out later and as far as we can figure, Toby was born a couple of weeks late and Kristina was born a week or two early, but luckily both of them were healthy and fully developed. After only a few days Toby was sleeping for five or six hours each night, but Kristina never settled into sleeping for more than three hours at a time for over a month. Then suddenly both of them were sleeping all night long. The only reason I know about their sleeping habits is because inside of days, both kids were living with us in the house at the ranch.

You see, Sandy took to motherhood like a duck to water and instead of suffering from postpartum depression, I think she enjoyed postpartum elation - if there is such a thing. Meanwhile Carissa was having a rough time of it and couldn't seem to get a handle on all the essentials of life as a mother. Since Jackie was in her final month of grade twelve and needed to devote herself to her studies, she wasn't much help either. As a result Carissa was home alone during the day and she seemed to be floundering, so we moved her and the baby down to the ranch after only a few days.

Thank goodness Mom and Conseula were often available and willing to help out, because Matt had taken on the job of running a backhoe for Charlie Engels, so Juan, John and I were extra busy with ranching duties. The animals all had to be cared for and jobs like tattooing, earmarking, inoculating and other treatments that young foals, calves, piglets and goat kids needed took up most of our time. All the older animals had to be checked as well and special details like hoof trimming had to be looked after. Then we had to do chores like cleaning out and spreading the winter's accumulation of manure from barns, shelters and corrals as well and I complicated matters by insisting all of that years manure was spread on the 'Frenchmen's' south quarter. The fences all needed to be checked, and any breaks in them had to be repaired. Washouts and other damages to our trails around the ranch had to be repaired. Then Matt ran into a bind and Charlie needed an extra operator for a bulldozer, so John went off to help him out. And of course it wasn't long before the big alfalfa field had to be mowed, raked, and baled, then we had to shift the bales off the field in order to begin irrigation since we wanted to grow a decent second cutting later in the year. That was on top of the normal hours we spent milking cows, feeding pigs, chickens and calves, shifting animals to accommodate breeding and weaning, or other regular day to day chores. I was often working for fourteen to sixteen hours a day for most of the summer, so it seemed as if the only times I saw the two babies they were either sleeping, being fed or having their diapers changed.

Maria and Jackie joined in with the care giving group once school was finished for the summer, so Mom could spend more time at home after the first of July. Of course once Beth was home from school, she and Corinna came up to see the babies and Mom often came with them. Then too Lucille and Jenny would come out for a visit and when she came she often brought along Wilma Coulter and Jennifer Dolens. Of course the 'grandfathers' and 'uncles' got into the act as well, coming for a visit on the days they weren't too busy. In other words those two babies were spoiled silly even if I couldn't help much.

Thankfully by late August, Carissa seemed to be getting her act together. She wasn't exactly happy right then though, because Jackie was planning to head off to Edmonton to take training as a nurse. Schooling in Calgary would have been closer, but Jackie felt uncomfortable about studying there since she was still afraid of her father and terrified of what he might do if they ever met. I really didn't blame her, even I had minor trepidations about the man. I thought he was unstable, but Jackie did have a court order for 'no contact of any kind' against him. In fact he wasn't supposed to call her on the phone, write her a letter or come within a quarter mile of her at any time.

Of course the last time I'd heard all that much about Bill McAdam he'd been trying to kidnap Jackie from the hospital in Edmonton, but had failed. At that time he'd told his sons that he felt John Coulter was paying several of the Edmonton police officers and a few of the RCMP officers who worked highway patrol between Calgary and Edmonton were on my payroll. So if he was convinced of that, I thought Jackie would be relatively safe going to school in Edmonton.

### Chapter 57