by C. J. Petit
Before they left Kansas City, however, Gus presented the two most important women in his life with matching emerald necklaces that he’d had made at a Kansas City jeweler. He told them that when he first saw the stones, all he could see were their sparkling green eyes. Eyes that filled with tears when the husbands put the necklaces around their wives’ necks. Eli even managed to get the clasp done.
After they returned to the Double A, Eli and Rachel moved into the big house and were treated like visiting royalty.
In early June, the men rode down and brought the Herefords back. Arvin had come along and met everyone and spent an extra two days with them. Helen had her baby, he told them, and Bryce had become fed up with the nightly crying and had just left.
Henry and Emma were married on June 20, 1885. The first day of summer. Henry moved into the ranch house.
Two days later, Sara surprised everyone, including herself, when she announced she was pregnant. Eli and Rachel were overjoyed at the prospect of a grandchild.
Gus and Sara remained connected at the hip. If you saw one, you’d see the other. It was hard to imagine how any two people could spend that much time together and not get bored or kill each other. It was simple. They were best friends.
Sara gave birth to a daughter in December. Neither parent had a doubt what her name should be. Rachel was in tears when she was shown her granddaughter, Rachel, for the first time. She looked into the baby’s bright-green eyes with her own and knew that the decision to move to Oklahoma was the second-best decision she and Eli had ever made. The best had been hiring an aging cowhand by the name of Gus Matthews.