Chapter 8 – Go Now

It was Saturday, and the little girl sitting on the horse next to him was his oldest child, Maude Belinda Maverick. She and her twin sister Belle would be nine years old in another month; he could hardly believe it. They'd taken one of their normal trips to the B Bar M Ranch to check on the progress being made on the construction of Bret's house – when the project started, it appeared to be a race between the completion of the house and the birth of Bret's third child. There'd been virtually no rainy season this year . . . which meant no interruptions, and it appeared the house would be done before the baby was born.

Maudie came with her father on a regular basis, almost as involved in the construction of the ranch as Bart was. She'd made several suggestions for improvements that had already been implemented, and there were two or three more that were being considered. Bart wondered at first if she was really interested in the construction of the B Bar M, but she continued to watch the building as closely as he did. In addition, the brothers Maverick had taken some of their own time to lay out and build several of the corrals so they would have someplace to put the breeding stock they continued to acquire.

Once Bret's house was finished, the crew would be split into two pieces . . . the original group would begin building the next house, a residence for Pappy, and the splinter group would start on construction of the general barn.

Bret and Ginny were both sticking close to home for the time being . . . eagerly awaiting the arrival of their third child. Doralice continued to tease Ginny that it must be a boy since he was late being born. And then the race was over, as just today Pauly told Bart that the first house was finished!

"Somebody has to ride over to Uncle Bret's and tell him the house is finished. He'll want to start movin' in as soon as possible."

"Can I go, Daddy? I promise to be careful."

Bart looked at the child next to him, who was beginning to turn into a young lady. She'd already grown like a weed and was as tall as her mother. "Straight there and back? No dilly-dallying along the way."

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

"Alright, but if you're not back in twenty minutes I'll tan your hide."

Maudie wasted not a moment. She was riding her mother's horse, Candy, and she kicked him into gear and took off like the devil himself was after her. In less than two minutes she was down the road and out of sight. Bart chuckled and waved Pauly over to where he was sitting. "The house looks good. You got the last changes we made to Pappy's house, didn't you?"

"You mean the extra bedroom? And the water pump in the kitchen? Yessir, Mr. Bart, we got those. Mrs. Donovan don't require anything else, does she?"

"Better build in one of them 'bath rooms', too. That seems like a real practical idea."

Maude had gone back to being known as Mrs. Donovan sometime after Cristian died; it was easier than Mrs. de la Torres. And nobody was shocked that she and Beauregard intended on living together, only with a spare bedroom . . . just in case. It was unknown if they loved each other for sure, but they were comfortable together, and there had always been a flirtatious attraction between the two of them. At their ages it was preferable to being alone.

Bart wanted to see inside the completed house but decided to wait for his brother. Some fifteen minutes later Bret and Maudie came into view, and Bart got down and tied Blue up to the hitching rail. "It's really finished?" Bret asked, almost out of breath.

"So says the man that built it."

"Good, let's go have a look. Come on, Maudie, you come in, too."

Maude slid down off her mother's horse and tied him with the others. It was a nice size house, with three large bedrooms and a big kitchen with an indoor water pump. And it had the rather unique 'bath room' attached outside of the kitchen, in the very back of the house. There were windows in every room and two fireplaces – one in the front room and one in the back bedroom, the one that would be Bret and Ginny's. Bret was pleased.

"Can I start movin' things in, like right now?" the new owner asked.

"Don't see why not," his brother replied.

"Maudie, I need you to do Uncle Bret a favor. Ride back to town and send your momma out to my old house to stay with your Aunt Ginny. Just your momma, honey, and not any of your brothers or sisters. Tell her to get there as soon as she can. Go on, go now." Bret waited until Maude's horse could no longer be heard, then turned to Bart. "Come on, we're gonna go get as much of the furniture and personal stuff as we can."

"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Bart moaned. "Do we have to?"

"Yes. I want Ginny in the new house when the baby's born."

Bret and Bart needn't have hurried. It was almost a week later before Bodeen Joshua Maverick made his way into this world, the second and last son of Bret and Ginny Maverick.