Pauly began building the house, and Beau thrived at Ben's. Of course he would, he had Ellie making sure he ate three meals a day and getting plenty of sleep. As the stress melted away he began to look like the old Beau. Joseph was a happy baby; he seemed to flourish no matter who he was with. Benny worked hard and continued to get glowing reports from Lucien.
Everything was quiet and peaceful, no fights or disagreements. I kept waitin' for somethin' to happen, and sure enough, it did. Ben didn't trust Dani, so they'd had the financial agreement put in writing, which she signed. Beau filed for divorce in Texas and she was willing to go along with everything, until almost the end of August. Then she decided that one-third of the land development business wasn't enough; she wanted half. Smithson Talbot moved to put a fast end to her demand. Since she'd signed the agreement, and it specified one third rather than one half, he sent her a telegram advising her that if she wished to contest the provision she would have to appear in a Texas courtroom to do it. She dropped her demand.
With that out of the way, Beau's divorce proceeded. Every day he looked better and better, and finally he came to me and wanted to try riding one of the Criollo horses. I fixed him up with Little Britches, and the two of them seemed to get along well. Abby wanted to ride, too, so Maudie got her Zanzibar, now that Benny was ridin' his own horse. The three girls went out with Beau one afternoon and had a great time.
Abby must have told Beau about Benny's desire to have his own ranch, and an idea started bouncing around in Beau's head. He discussed it with Bret, and Bret encouraged him to pursue it. After that he talked to Benny and the two must have reached a deal, because the number of bedrooms in the house Pauly was building got changed to three, with no nursery. Joseph was going to get a full-sized bedroom.
Benny worked even harder to learn what he needed to be successful on a ranch of his own, and Beau began searching for small homesteads that were for sale. Even Abby began thinking about going to work in the city . . . maybe San Antonio or Houston or Dallas. She was just weighing her options, as she had no intention of leaving until Beau was fully recovered and Benny was settled in his own place.
By the beginning of September, all the little ones were back in school. Belle was about to leave for college, and she and Maudie were saying their goodbyes. It was a good thing that Abby would still be sharing a room with Maudie for a bit, as my oldest daughter was a little nervous about having an entire bedroom to herself. I told her she could go to college with Belle, but she loved the ranch too much to even think about leavin.'
Instead, Maudie started a new project. When Bret and me and Dandy went to Laredo for Bret's mustangs, he ended up with some that he wasn't going to use. I bought them off of him and gave them to Maudie. She now had a crop of cross-breed foals, and they needed her full attention. She found that working with Uncle Jim helped her get a leg up on their training, and they made good progress.
In the meantime, Beau found a small ranch that he thought Benny might appreciate and they went to look at it. Benny liked the place enough for Beau to make an offer, and within a few days Benny was a ranch owner. He fully intended to pay his Pa back for the initial investment, and he began spending nights and weekends there trying to get the place fixed to his liking. It was only a matter of time before we lost him as an employee.
Lucien and me began lookin' for another young man that wanted to learn the business, and that's how we came to find Lee Patterson. He was seventeen and just beginning to fill out, with a shock of dark hair and emerald green eyes. He was the most polite young man I'd ever met, even worse than Adam, our bartender at Maude's, had been. Everything was 'Yes, sir' and 'No, sir' and 'Mister Maverick,' no matter how many times I told him to call me Bart. He even called Lucien 'Mister Lucien.'
I had a funny feeling about Lee but I couldn't pin it down. Something told me he was going to play an important part in my life, but I couldn't see how. I guess it was God's way of teachin' me patience, because it was quite a while before I understood just what he would come to mean to me.
We'd determined we had enough of the Criollo/Arabian cross-breeds to hold an auction at the end of October and we began preparing for it. Maudie played a big part in gettin' everything ready, and it was a good thing she had something to distract her because Beau's house was finished. That meant Abby would be moving out soon. Ginny and Ellie went to town to buy Beau furniture, some of which the Emporium had expanded to actually have on the premises, and they arranged for delivery the next day, along with just about everything else he could need.
"Maudie, we're gonna leave Belles's bed right where it is since she'll be comin' home on breaks from school. Is that alright with you?"
"Sure, Pa, I can pretend she's still here."
"Does it bother you that she's not?"
"I miss her, sure, but I'll get used to it."
"You sure you don't want to go to college, Maudie?" her mother asked her.
"I'm sure, Mama. You know the last thing I want to do is sit in a classroom again. Everything I want is right here on the ranch, with you and Pa and the horses."
"You're not gonna meet anyone out here on the ranch."
"What would I want to meet someone for? So I could end up like Belle, cryin' over everything? No, not for me, Mama. I don't care if I never meet somebody."
Doralice turned her attention to me. "How can you let her stay here like this, Bart? She'll never find somebody to marry."
"So what if she doesn't? If she's happy like this, that's all I care about."
That was the end of our discussion.
About a week later Ginny and Ellie had Beau's house ready for him and Abby and Joseph to move into. Ben and Ellie were sad to see Beau leave, and Ellie let it be known around town that Beau was going to need a housekeeper, cook and nanny, hopefully, one person to do all three jobs. In other words, a Lily Mae for Beau. I was doubtful she'd ever find another Lily Mae. I was soon proven wrong.