Chapter 2 – Number Six

Benny, Beau's oldest son, was spending his last year of school with us on the ranch, trying to decide if he wanted to go back to Baton Rouge or stay in the west. Spend five minutes with the boy and the choice was obvious – Benny had seen the last of Louisiana. As if that wasn't enough, Bret and me had been looking for someone, anyone, to sell us some Mexican Criollo horses for cross-breeding, and when we found some on the Texas/Mexican border, we planned a trip.

Just as we were getting ready to go, fever swept through the valley, and our trip was reduced from five participants to two. One of the two was my eleven-year-old daughter, Maude. We figured we could pick up some hands in El Paso, and we did. I've documented that story in a different place, titled The Yellow Rose of Texas.

By the time we got back from El Paso, we had more issues to deal with. Pauly had questions about Ben's house, and we all had an upcoming long-distance arrival and wedding to deal with. And we had three new ranch hands to train and get settled in, one of whom would eventually replace Cory Anderson as our breeding manager. Cory was a good man, but he never seemed to fit in the way Tim Demerest or, eventually, Lucien Walters did. We had a whole slew of new livestock to get settled and integrated into the herd, and two different cross-breeding programs to implement. And on top of that, I eventually thought that Maudie was cheating in school.

I don't mean to imply that the birth of another child falls somewhere after everything I've just listed, but you can understand why something could get lost among everything else. Especially after we'd decided to keep it under wraps for a while. I was well-aware that Doralice and me were going to be parents one last time, but I managed to forget the small fact that Doralice was a little older, and we'd had trouble when Lily Beth was born.

One by one the days passed and the tasks got accomplished. Ben's house was finished, our three new hands were trained and fell into line as employees, and the new cross-breeding programs got started. And then the joyous things began to occur . . . Ben and Ellie arrived from Baton Rouge, and Ellie Harris fit right in like she'd been part of the Maverick clan forever. The wedding was planned, then executed, and everyone at the ranch was thrilled that Ben had brought such a sweet soul into the family.

The whole valley was lucky. There were enough children in school this year that an extra teacher was actually needed, and Ellie Maverick fit the bill perfectly. She took the older group of kids, ten and up, and Maudie, Belle and Benny were fortunate enough to have her as their teacher. Maudie had always had a problem with arithmetic, and Ellie found a way around it. Maudie's grades even improved and, after a misunderstanding was corrected, I got my sweet, loving girl back.

Christmas passed, then the New Year, and Doralice got closer to having that last baby. We finally told the family right after New Year that she was expecting number six. Of course, the whole family was happy, especially Pappy. "Bartley, I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. And the thing that's most impressive is that you're good at it. You're runnin' two successful businesses, you built this place from the ground up, and you've got a beautiful wife that loves you. And those babies the two of you keep on makin' – those babies adore you. I want you to know how proud I am of you, son."

I was surprised and touched by the sentiments. "Not bad for the family screw-up, huh, Pappy? Let me tell you, I never expected to be raisin' five . . . almost six Maverick babies. I just hope I'm doin' right by 'em."

"You are, Bartley, you are. Whoever thought I'd end up with nine grandbabies? Wouldn't your momma be proud? And surprised!"

"And pleased, I hope. I've got one just like her, you know? Her namesake is her duplicate, and I mean that in the best way. Belle is everything momma would have wanted her to be. Quiet and sweet, always lookin' out for her brothers and sisters, tryin' to help us in any way she could. And they're all good kids, just in different ways. Every time I see Breton walking around holding Lily's hand and leading her everywhere so she's protected, I wonder how we got so lucky."

Still, it wasn't easy. We told the folks in town and got a mixture of congratulations and strange looks. Some of the people seemed to think there was something wrong with us, that we were still havin' babies at our age. Doralice and me decided that was their problem, and not ours. Soon enough we would have problems of our own.