Bill and Rebecca courted for about a year until they married in late 1943. Bill purchased 2500 acres of land west of downtown Houston and built a mansion on it. The mansion was a Palladian style villa with a sprawling front lawn, a Roman portico with two stairways leading up to a porch with a balustrade that ran the length of the mansion. The entryway to the mansion was designed with three tall Roman arches with Corinthian pilasters flanking them. The mansion had a large living room, several bathrooms, 10 bedrooms, a combination library and den, and a large kitchen and dining room. Soon after building the mansion and moving in, Bill and Rebecca met their neighbor, Annie Hickok, who everyone called "Cattle Annie." The name was apt since she was in the cattle business and one of the biggest cattle ranching tycoons around. She was unique for her time and place as a self-made woman and confirmed bachelorette. She lived on a similarly sized ranch next to Bill but had several other ranches across Texas.
A knock came at the door of the Houston mansion around dusk on a summer night in 1944. "I'll get it," Bill said, on the way to the door, calling to Rebecca who was in the living room.
"Howdy, neighbor!" a middle-aged blonde woman enthusiastically said as he opened the door. She thrust a bottle of red wine toward him and he took it out of politeness, not knowing the woman at his door.
"Thanks," Bill said. "Who are you?" he asked with a quizzical expression.
"Oh, my lands, I'm sorry! My name is Annie Hickok, but you can call me Cattle Annie. I'm your neighbor. I've been away for a while in West Texas, and when I got back, I heard that an oil man had purchased the land next door. You're not goin' to drill here, are ya?" she asked.
"No. I thought I'd start a small livestock ranch myself," Bill replied.
"Oh, good. I'd hate to have to look at those derricks interruptin' the landscape," she said. She rethought what she said and continued, "No offense. You bein' an oil man and all."
"No offense taken," Bill replied.
"Ain't ya goin' to invite me in?" she asked as Rebecca showed up behind Bill.
"C'mon in, Miss?" Rebecca asked while looking perplexed at Bill.
"Annie Hickok, but you can call me Cattle Annie," she replied.
"Well, Cattle Annie, I'm Rebecca. I'm Bill's wife," she said, taking in the colorful fashion of Cattle Annie who was dressed like a middle-aged Hollywood cowgirl or the president of the Dale Evans Fan Club.
She shook Rebecca's hand and turned to Bill in kind, "Nice to meet you too, Bill?"
"Houston," he said and they both led Annie to the living room.
Annie made herself comfortable on the couch while Bill went to the bar and opened the bottle of wine and poured everyone a glass.
"You sure do have a nice place here," she said, taking in as much as she could see. "And a beautiful wife," Annie continued.
"Thank you, Cattle Annie," Rebecca replied as Bill handed the women their glasses of wine.
Annie took a sip of her wine. "So, ranchin', huh?"
"Yes," Bill replied.
"Know anythin' about ranchin'?"
"I grew up on a ranch, and I've been wanting to get back to it," Bill replied.
"Seems to me, you'd be busy enough, doin' what you're doin'," Annie replied. "What kind of animals were ya thinkin' of raisin'?"
"Cattle and horses. Rebecca loves to ride horses and we're planning a family, and I'd like to keep my children grounded doing something with their hands," Bill replied.
"You don't have to convince me. I love critters. Have all my life. And I agree, carin' for animals is great for children."
Rebecca chimed in, "What is it that you do, Cattle Annie?"
"Well, I suppose to make it easy, I'd say that I handle the business end of a whole bunch of different cattle ranches in Texas, some dairy and some beef cattle. I have my own ranch next door as you can see, but I've scaled down on that quite a bit over the last couple of years. Other than a small herd of prize Angus cattle, I have some chickens, some cattle dogs, and a few barn cats."
"What does your husband do?" Rebecca asked.
"I don't have one," Annie replied.
"I'm sorry," Rebecca said as she blushed for prying.
"Oh, don't be sorry, honey. You might say I'm footloose and fancy free and it's just the way I like it," she said winking at both of them. "Hey. Do you mind if I smoke? I like to have a cigarette with my wine, if it's okay with you."
Rebecca looked at Bill, who just sipped his wine and smiled, and then she said, "Go ahead."
Annie lit up a cigarette and leaned back and puffed on it.
"How do you do it all yourself," Rebecca asked.
"I don't do it myself, honey. I'm rich," she replied with sass. "I've got lots of hands on my ranch that take care of things and I help out when I'm here."
"Oh," Rebecca replied.
"How long have you been ranching, Cattle Annie," Bill asked.
Taking a puff on her cigarette and exhaling, she said, "I'd say 'bout 15 years."
"That's pretty fast to become so wealthy," Bill said.
"I could say the same thing about you. That's what I've heard, anyway. You've gotta be a whole 10 or 15 years younger than me, but then again, I also heard about your family pedigree, so you probably had your foot in the door already," she replied.
"Probably," Bill humored her. Rebecca just smirked at Bill.
"You're quite the character, Cattle Annie," Rebecca said. "And refreshingly honest."
"Thank you, honey. I just wanted to come over here and meet you before the rumors all started flyin' around here."
"What do you mean?" Bill asked.
"Some people mistake this old single lady with the business mind and her straight-talkin' for someone without a heart. It ain't true, I'm here to tell you."
"Well, you seem nice to me," Rebecca said.
"Now, I didn't say I was nice, honey. Just that I have a heart, meanin', I care. I can be a low-down dirty bitch if there's a need," Annie replied.
"Can't we all?" Rebecca quipped.
Bill gulped his wine, but smiled afterward.
"Bill, I assume that you're in the market for some cattle and horses right now?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Well, I'm here on a social call and not a business trip, so if you'd like some cattle, I can give you a few for free to start your ranch and put you in touch with a man I know who deals in horses – good horses."
"Thanks, Cattle Annie, I'd be very appreciative, but, you don't have to give me the cattle. I can afford to buy them."
"Don't you worry about that. Consider it a gift," she replied.
"Cattle Annie, really, it's not necessary," Bill said.
"Suit yourself. If you want to buy them from me, I'd still like to give you a neighborly discount."
Rebecca shot Bill a look and said, "That would be nice, Cattle Annie. We'll take you up on that. And we'd definitely like the name of your horse man."
"Will do. When the time comes, I can help you find some ranch hands. Just let me know," Annie said.
Changing the subject, Annie continued, "Do either of you play poker?"
"I do," Bill replied.
"I'm open to learning," Rebecca said.
"Good. We're going to be great friends," Annie declared as she stood up. "Well, folks, I won't impose on your evening any longer. I just wanted to drop by and say hi to y'all and welcome you to the neighborhood."
"Thank you," Bill said. "And thank you for the wine."
"Definitely," Rebecca said. "I'll see you to the door." Bill poured himself another glass of wine as the two women left the living room.
A few moments later, Rebecca returned. "Bill, you really should have accepted her gift," she lovingly chastised.
"I hardly know her," he said.
"Still, it can't be easy for a woman like her to make such an offer."
"A woman like her?" he asked.
"She has to be strong like a man to achieve as much as she has. I'm sure people misunderstand her a lot, as she said. She probably gets rejected a lot or even ignored. She seems genuine to me. I like her. Don't turn down her kindnesses, anymore, okay?"
"Okay, I won't."
"We should set up that poker game soon. Why don't you take care of that? And maybe you can give me some lessons before we play. I have a feeling she'll clean house with the both of us."
"I got the same feeling," Bill said sipping his wine.
Cattle Annie left town again for a week and when she returned, the Houstons set up a card game with her on a Saturday night. The Houston's gardener, José Santos, was an avid poker player and joined them, each taking turns as dealer in an evening playing Texas Hold'em. José, a lithe man, with dark hair and a connoisseur mustache was the first to deal.
"So, Rebecca, honey, did Bill teach some about Texas Hold'em while I was away?"
"A little about that and Five Card Stud," Rebecca replied.
"I think you'll like Texas Hold'em a lot better. Right, Bill?" Annie asked.
"I prefer it myself," Bill replied.
"What are we playing for? I don't want to get wiped out, being an amateur," said Rebecca.
"Well, let's consider this a practice game. I suggest penny ante," Annie said as she produced a bag of rolled pennies. "I brought some to share."
"Cattle Annie, you shouldn't have," Bill said.
"Oh, hush, Bill. It's only pennies and next time we'll all bring our own and maybe move our way up to some bigger stakes," she said as she lit a cigarette and handed out the rolls of pennies in equal amounts to everyone at the table.
"Sounds, great Cattle Annie," Rebecca said. "This way, I won't lose my shirt."
Bill squeezed her upper arm and winked at her.
"Yep. And the best way to learn is actually playing the game, so let's get started, you love birds," Cattle Annie replied.
The four played the game for three hours, with Annie smoking and everyone drinking wine. Each person had won at least one hand but it was José that had cleaned up that night.
"Looks like we have a ringer here, Bill," Cattle Annie observed.
"I had no idea. I've never played with him until tonight," said Bill. "How long have you been playing poker, José?" Bill asked looking in José's direction.
José sheepishly grinned and said, "About ten years, señor."
"Bill, honey, don't be such a sore loser. You know that time playin' don't matter. He's just got a better poker face than you. Great job, José. I look forward to playin' with you again." She looked at Rebecca and said, "You too, honey. You've got a great poker face. You just need to work on your strategy. Practice will fix that."
"Guess I'll have to work on my poker face, like you suggested," Bill agreed.
"I would, honey. It will help you with more than just poker," she said as she puffed on her cigarette and winked at him.