The Last Ranch

by Michael McGarrity

  “That’s perfect,” Mary said, squeezing his hand. “But tonight you’re all mine.”

  Giddily, she led him back to Erma’s party.

  They entered the apartment and spotted Erma across the room, who took one look at their silly, lovestruck smiles and rushed over to hug them both.

  ***

  The next morning, Erma was gone from the apartment when Matt and Mary got up. The party mess had been cleared away and there was a pot of fresh coffee on the stove along with a note from Erma saying she had gone off to meet with her Saturday-morning drawing group and would be back early in the afternoon.

  Over breakfast they discussed how they wanted to get married. They decided on a simple ceremony with a few friends in attendance, including Gus and Consuelo Merton; Mary’s landlady, Mrs. Lorenz; and Jimmy Kendell, the navy vet they both liked. Of course, Erma would be the maid of honor and Matt wanted Al Jennings as his best man.

  Matt asked Mary about inviting her parents, but she had no desire to do so. However, she wanted Patrick to give her away.

  “He can be mulish. What if he refuses?”

  “If you tell him he’s going to be a grandfather soon, he’ll come,” Mary predicted. “I’d also like Jim and Millie to be there.”

  “Anyone else?” Matt queried.

  Mary shook her head. “Not right now, but we have to keep it small since we have to pay for everything ourselves.”

  When the breakfast dishes were done, they walked to a downtown jewelry store, where Mary decided, much to an eager salesperson’s dismay, that she didn’t want a diamond engagement and wedding ring set; just a plain gold band would do. She picked one that fit perfectly. Given the difference in price between diamond rings and a gold band, Matt gladly paid for it on the spot.

  They got back to the apartment before noon. Once inside, half-starved for each other and in a trembling rush to make love, they started tugging at their clothes, laughing, falling half-naked on the couch. They’d barely put themselves back together when Erma burst through the front door.

  “Am I interrupting?” she asked innocently, taking in Mary’s disheveled hair and the lipstick smudges on Matt’s face.

  Mary bounced off the couch. “Nope, your timing was perfect.” With a mischievous grin, she reached into her purse and showed Erma the gold band.

  “Oh, my, you two didn’t waste any time. It’s beautiful.” She faked a pout. “Hank never gave me one, the bastard.” She shook off the memory with a brilliant smile. “But on to happier matters. So when are you getting hitched?”

  “We haven’t gotten that far yet,” Matt replied with a grin.

  “Except you’re my bridesmaid,” Mary added.

  “Of course I am.” Erma dropped her sketchpad on the side table and sank into the easy chair opposite the couch. “Let’s dream up something for your wedding.”

  Over the next hour they made a list. They’d need a license, the names of people to invite, a date, time, and place for the wedding and the same for a small reception to follow. What should they serve at the reception? Did they want a preacher, a judge, or a justice of the peace to marry them? What about flowers? Certainly a new dress for Mary and a new suit for Matt were called for. And what about the wedding pictures? Did they want music at the reception?

  Finally, Matt threw up his hands. “Whoa.”

  “What?” Erma asked, looking quickly up from the notebook she was using to keep the list.

  “I don’t mean to throw cold water on the plans, but we need to keep this shindig small and not too expensive.”

  “What do you suggest?” Erma asked sternly, unwilling to budge from her personal idea of exactly what her very best friend’s wedding should be like.

  Mary gently took the notebook from Erma’s hand. “We don’t have to rush. We’ll figure something out.”

  Erma sighed, stood, and reached for her sketchbook. “My first and probably only attempt to actually plan a wedding and I get shot down.” She sniffed her hand and made a face. “No matter, I have to bathe and change anyway. We were out all morning sketching cows at the college Ag barn. What lovely, smelly creatures they are, but Maynard Dixon I ain’t.”

  She charged up the stairs before Mary could accuse her of being melodramatic. “We can pare it down,” Mary reassured Matt. “I have some money set aside if we need to use it.”

  Matt shook his head. “You hold on to that money. Tonight at dinner, we’ll ask Gus and Consuelo for their advice. I bet they can at least put us on to a judge willing to marry us, and give us some ideas on a place to rent for the reception.”

  Mary nodded absentmindedly, cocked her head, and listened. “Hush, Erma’s running the tub.” She slid close to Matt and started unbuttoning her blouse.

  ***

  That night, over a glass of wine in the library before sitting down to dinner, they announced their engagement to Gus and Consuelo, who, delighted by the news, demanded that the wedding and reception be held at their casa. Gus would arrange with a friend who was a retired district judge to officiate, Consuelo would oversee preparations for an early afternoon wedding ceremony in the large, high-walled, enclosed courtyard, with a reception immediately to follow near the adjacent outdoor kitchen, where tables and chairs would be set up for the guests. Consuelo would choose the menu and do the cooking, Gus would select the spirits, and the food and drink would be served buffet-style. It would all be very easy and informal. In case of inclement weather, everything would simply be moved inside to the spacious living and dining rooms.

  Matt’s offer to pay for the cost of the reception was dismissed out of hand. All they needed from the couple, Consuelo announced, beaming with pleasure, was a date for the wedding and the number of invited guests. Mary decided on the last Saturday in March, three weeks hence. She required at least that much time to prepare. She needed to buy a dress, pick out shoes, select the proper stationery, address and mail invitations—plus do a dozen other little things.

  At the dinner table, she announced she’d finish out the school year before resigning her teaching position. Surprised, Matt hadn’t thought that far ahead, but her decision made sense. Remaining in town, close to medical care if needed, was a sound idea. He wondered if it might be best for her to stay in Las Cruces throughout her entire pregnancy.

  All of a sudden he realized that he didn’t have a clue as to when the baby was due. He didn’t even know if Mary had a doctor, if her pregnancy was normal, what the hospital would cost, or what they’d need to buy for the baby. He was so over the moon in love and excited about becoming a father, he hadn’t done any hard thinking about the situation.

  The growing awareness that he faced a brand-new reality drained the color completely from his face. Across the table a worried Consuelo asked if he felt all right. He covered it up with a cough and a swallow, fibbing that something had momentarily gotten stuck in his throat.

  They finished a wonderful evening at the front door saying good night with hugs from Gus and Consuelo and promises made by all to stay in constant contact so that everything would proceed smoothly. On the drive to Mary’s apartment, Matt learned that the baby was due in late September or early October, and that according to her doctor everything was normal. In addition, she had already started setting aside money to buy baby clothes and other necessities. At an appropriate time in the early summer Erma would host a baby shower. Furthermore, on one of his future trips to town, they needed to shop for a crib. She’d recently spotted several in good shape at reasonable prices in a local secondhand furniture store. She asked him to stay over through Monday. That way they could go to the county courthouse after school to apply for their marriage license. Oh, and they needed to start thinking about boy and girl names for the baby. She would start a list. And what did he think once the baby was born about asking Jim and Millie to move from the casita to the ranch house? The casita might be a little cramped, but w
ould afford them more privacy. And she’d already decided that since the ranch now had electrical power, she would get a new washing machine with her own money, which would make the chore of keeping the baby in clean diapers a lot easier.

  After verbally tussling over who would pay for the washing machine and finally conceding to Mary’s wishes, Matt realized he was no match for a woman fully engaged in nest building.

  ***

  For Matt, the weeks preceding the wedding passed quickly and for the most part without a lot of demands on his time. Mary, Erma, and Consuelo took charge of all the preparations and necessary details like a trio of combat-hardened field marshals mounting a major campaign against Matt’s bachelorhood. They kept him informed every step of the way, mostly after the fact because of his frequent time away at the ranch, where he spent a good deal of effort putting the casita in tip-top shape after relocating Jim and Millie to the ranch house. He didn’t see the need to wait until the baby was born to move into the casita, and besides, like Mary, he wanted the privacy it afforded.

  Jim and Millie were happy to oblige, and Patrick enjoyed having them closer at hand for kibitzing, company, and nightly sessions in front of the radio.

  As they shopped for the crib, the washing machine, and other baby necessities, Matt happily discovered that Mary was very frugal with money—an extremely important virtue for any ranch wife. She even suggested they get married in their military uniforms to save the cost of buying wedding outfits. The idea of a military wedding also appealed to both Erma and Jimmy Kendell, who decided to join in and wear their navy blues. When told, Patrick wanted no part of it. Tickled at the thought of becoming a grandfather, he’d gladly give Mary away in a pair of clean, pressed jeans, a fresh white shirt, and polished boots, but he damn sure wasn’t wearing his moth-eaten Rough Rider uniform.

  In addition to her duties as maid of honor, Erma also volunteered to serve as the official wedding photographer, enlisting Ernie Downs, an aspiring artist and newly acquired boyfriend, as her assistant. Consuelo would prepare the bridal bouquet from the spring flowers blooming in the hacienda courtyard, and as a courtesy to Gus, retired Judge Horace Van Patten—the very justice who had sent Fred Tyler to prison years ago—agreed to marry the couple for one of Gus’s good Cuban cigars and a glass of the twenty-five-year-old port he kept hidden away in his library.

  Given the short interlude between the engagement and wedding, the three field marshals running the campaign agreed an announcement in the paper wasn’t needed. Nevertheless, rumors about the reason for the sudden marriage started to spread, which Mary ignored with an easy grace. Matt kept an eye on her in case she was hurt by the rumors and faking it, but she appeared truly happy and immune to the gossip. Besides being a knockout, the gal had grit and gumption.

  At Consuelo’s urging, arguing that it was only proper to do so, Mary reluctantly wrote a note to her parents informing them of her engagement but made no mention of the wedding date. A week later, she got a terse letter back from her brother, Tom, wishing her good luck, and saying that her mother had died of cancer two years ago, her father was living in a church-run rest home because of severe, crippling arthritis, and Tom was about to sell the ranch and move his family to California.

  Although it may have been unintended, her brother’s message freed her from her last ties to her family and closed that painful chapter in her life. She felt a huge sense of relief. Now everything was brand-new, with a bright and exciting future with Matt ahead.

  ***

  The wedding went off without a hitch. With his hair slicked down, neat and tidy in appearance, and a smile on his face, Patrick walked Mary from the hacienda to the old cottonwood tree in the center of the courtyard, where Judge Van Patten cleared his throat, asked them if they agreed to their pending union, and upon their unanimous assent, pronounced them to be married. Matt controlled his jitters, slipped the ring onto Mary’s finger, and gave her a lingering kiss that the well-wishers greeted with whistles, catcalls, and applause, with Al Jennings among the loudest. After Erma’s boyfriend Ernie finished taking the wedding-party pictures, Consuelo and Gus sprung surprise entertainment on the gathering by ushering in three musicians who rolled an upright piano to the patio and got the party under way with some really good dance tunes.

  Matt had invited Rosella Gomez, his former landlady from the barrio. She had come alone, all dressed up and looking somewhat uneasy. Consuelo and Mary sat with her for a spell chatting in Spanish, which quickly put her at ease. Soon she was smiling and clapping her hands as the dancing couples whirled by. Matt made it a point to dance with her and she jokingly chided him for not marrying one of her nieces and moving back to the old neighborhood. She giggled with delight when Matt replied none of them had measured up to her. He returned her to her seat and took Mrs. Lorenz for a whirl next, who remarked in his ear that he’d married a true treasure of a girl and he darn well better treat her right. Matt promised to do so.

  Jimmy Kendell, handsome in his navy aviator uniform, danced repeatedly with all the women, smoothly and expertly guiding them around and around with his one arm, much to the delight of Brenda Jennings, who loved to dance and was married to a man with lead feet. Al took it with good humor and even awkwardly shuffled through a slow tune with Brenda to prove his devotion and love. Matt tried hard not to laugh at the look of painful determination on his best friend’s face.

  Even Jim and Millie Sawyer, whom Matt figured would stay chair-bound at a table, kicked up their heels to a tune or two.

  By six o’clock, most everyone was a little tipsy from making too many toasts, stuffed from eating too much good food, weary from all the dancing, and ready to call it quits. All except for Patrick, Judge Van Patten, and Gus, who’d long ago retreated to the library and had to be herded out to say goodbye to the newlyweds. With everybody assembled, they saw Matt and Mary off at the front door as they drove away to change out of their uniforms at the apartment and drive to El Paso, where they’d spend their wedding night in a deluxe room at the Hotel Paso del Norte.

  They made love at the apartment and again immediately after checking in to the hotel. Mary had splurged on some frilly undergarments that Matt took no notice of whatsoever. She teased him about it over dinner at the best steak house in town. He promised to take a longer, closer, slower look when they returned to their room. Mary rather doubted it.

  The manager, told of the special occasion by the hotel clerk who had booked the table, had their waiter serve dinner with flair. The food was delicious. Neither had had much to eat at the wedding and they cleaned their plates. The salads were fresh with a light, tangy dressing, the steaks grilled perfectly, the young asparagus crisp, the small, roasted potatoes tender, and it was all topped off by a glass of red wine each, compliments of the house. Other patrons at nearby tables, who’d been made aware of their newly married status, smiled and raised their glasses in congratulations. Mary blushed at the unexpected attention.

  After dinner they ordered cordials and toasted each other privately for surviving their wedding day, which they admitted had been exhausting, fun, and no mean feat. Matt vowed to take her on a proper honeymoon someday when time and money allowed. Thinking of the baby to come, she smiled and told him the best honeymoon she could possibly ever have would be living with him on the 7-Bar-K Ranch. It was a dream come true and she was antsy for the school year to end so they could be together permanently. When he shook his head in mock dismay and said that she might quickly tire of him on a daily basis, she punched him hard on the arm and made up for it with a smooch.

  They left the restaurant arm in arm and walked around the nearby old downtown plaza. Matt stopped in front of a saloon filled with Saturday-night revelers and told her that a speakeasy had once inhabited the building and charged customers a dollar for a one-day membership.

  Mary peeked inside. “It just looks like an ordinary bar.”

  “Ah, but in its day it was filled
with gangsters, rumrunners, and molls. Not a place for a respectable married woman,” he teased.

  At a corner lamplight, he kissed her and said she was beautiful. She truly believed it and it made her love him all the more. Although she’d thought she knew better, she’d started her wedding day hesitant about marrying, wondering if Matt really loved her or was merely acting honorably. But the feeling had passed, leaving her with the crystal-clear knowledge that she’d found her perfect mate and truest friend.

  Strangely, now that it was done, she still didn’t feel married at all. Perhaps that would come with time. In a way she hoped not; living with a lover seemed a much more enticing and interesting prospect than having a husband. She smiled at the thought of it.

  “What?” Matt asked, wanting an explanation of her dreamy smile.

  Mary raised his hand to her lips and kissed it. “Nothing. Just happy, that’s all.”

  17

  The promising spring of 1950 became the summer of war and the beginning of a punishing drought. By the time Mary moved to the ranch the grass was already scorched and the hottest temperatures on record had been reported in towns and villages surrounding the Tularosa Basin. On most afternoons the thermometer Patrick had tacked to a post on the veranda hovered near the hundred-degree mark and clouds in the sky were as rare as the sound of live water. Within weeks, North Korean soldiers began pouring across the border into South Korea, driving the South Korean army almost into the sea. There was speculation that the Chinese would join in the fight to ensure the entire peninsula became a communist state.

  According to James Kaytennae, Pvt. Jasper Daklugie had completed his army basic training and was enrolled in an advanced infantry course with the hope of attending jump school to earn his paratrooper wings after graduation. James was sure Jasper would see combat and come home safe. Matt hoped so, and wondered aloud to Mary if the world had become a place constantly at war. She refused to believe it.