Erin and Molly arrive in Oregon with their family where they have been granted six hundred and forty acres of land under the Organic Laws of Oregon. They must build their home, farm the land, and eke out a living on this piece of raw land. Wolves, bears, and wildcats are the least of their worries in this new land. Hard work and trusting that each will do their very best are the keys to conquering the wilderness as they pioneer their lives on the high plains of Oregon!
Come along as the Herriot family lives a life few have attempted in this wilderness near the Blue Mountains of Oregon. You won’t want to miss Pioneering, the final half of the fantastic pair of prequels to Vetted and Vetted Further!
CHAPTER ONE
“Six hundred acres! Can you farm six hundred acres?” Molly marveled when Erin explained.
Erin chuckled and shook her head. She too was amazed at the present they had been given for traveling to Oregon. “Well, maybe not this year,” she answered modestly, sharing a huge smile with her wife. She waited a moment and said with a note of wonderment in her voice, “Six hundred and forty acres. Who’d a thought?” Why, the farm back in Ohio had been only forty acres and they had fought for it with trees and Indians and rocks. She looked at the land they were heading for, thrilled to realize that all they had to do was work it and improve it to claim it. “We can also raise cattle, horses, and sheep,” she reminded her, their seed stock having made the trip with them.
“You already filed?” she asked, sounding slightly hurt.
“I did. I didn’t know what I’d find here, and I wanted to claim it for our family before someone else filed on it.”
“Is the area settling up?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea. We didn’t see anyone for days, and it will take us a couple days to get there. But it’s ours, Molly, all ours!” she said, putting her arms around the smaller woman and swinging her around and around as she shouted.
“What? What’s ours? What’s going on?” the children came running. Queenie started barking at the noise.
“Your pa has found our homestead and filed on it,” Molly announced, pleased to be the one to tell them.
The children cheered and clapped, happy to hear this news and asking questions a mile a minute.
“Wait, wait, wait. We have to head down to our land tomorrow, and it’s going to take at least a couple days to get there.”
“Can’t we go now?” someone asked.
“Well, we could get in a couple miles,” she looked around at Molly, wondering if they should. It was late in the afternoon and she was as anxious as any of them to head down to what was now their land.
“No, it’s too late in the day, and I don’t want to camp by lantern light in a strange area. We will start out tomorrow,” Molly vetoed, getting up to put together a dinner for them all.
“Let’s move those sheep, so they continue to crop the grass until sunset,” Erin encouraged the children, signaling the dogs to move them. She didn’t need the children, but unless Molly called one or two to help with dinner, it would keep them out of her hair. Erin scooped up Timmy, lifting him high in the air and hearing his giggles. She was happy, and she wanted to share it with her family.
“What’s it like?” Molly asked her as they lay side by side later in the tent, the lantern turned low, so they could see each other as they talked.
“There’s trees, excellent farmland, and many acres of grazing land,” she answered, sitting up to talk, too excited to sleep yet.
“We’ll have to plant first thing,” Molly marveled aloud, her arms folded under her head.
“We’ll have to build a cabin first thing,” Erin corrected, already planning it out in her head.
“Shouldn’t we–” began Molly, but Erin, in her excitement, interrupted.
“We probably should do everything, but we have to get these children under a roof and then, the stock.”
Molly nodded, agreeing but a little aggrieved that she had been interrupted. She let Erin talk on.
“There is a stream nearby that runs through the valley, so we should be able to dig a well for our farm,” she continued. “Some of the upper hills are a little parched and won’t be good for anything but grazing, but those fields should give us good crops in the coming years...” she would have gone on and on but noticed Molly’s silence. Turning, she tried to peer though the dark at her. “Is something wrong? Don’t you want the farm anymore?”
“I would say you are making all the decisions these days.”
“You did promise to obey me...” she started to tease, referencing their marriage vows.
Molly sat up slightly, indignant. “I won’t obey against my better judgement...” she began angrily and then, realizing the tone in Erin’s voice, lay back down with a harrumph.
“Molly, I just couldn’t take a chance to let someone else file on it. I rode all over that place, and I think it just might be perfect. I was on pins and needles as the clerk went through the section and checked the filings. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything so badly before in my life.”
“Anything?” Molly asked in a voice that had Erin turning towards her quickly.
Taking Molly in her arms, Erin answered huskily, “Well, not just anything.” She began to turn her excitement over the land into excitement over making love to her wife, kissing her ardently.
Molly immediately returned her adoration, kissing her back, hard.
Erin realized it had been too long since they’d been alone, neither had their periods, and Molly hadn’t been ill. She responded immediately, pulling at Molly’s clothes to feel her naked skin against her wife’s, pressing close, hearing the catch in her voice at the contact.
Molly had worried at the length of time Erin was gone in search of their homestead and being relieved at her return, as well as overjoyed at her find, she expressed herself physically, wrapping her naked body around her wife, rubbing, and murmuring in enjoyment.
Erin kissed her way across her wife’s jaw and down her neck, then paid homage to the breasts standing up and peaking in their excitement. First one, and then the other, received devotion as she licked, sucked, and gently used her teeth. The catch in Molly’s breath told her how much her wife was enjoying the attention. Her hands weren’t idle as she caressed her wife’s luscious curves, remembering how she had looked and felt when they had been able to make love without children nearby.
Molly was enjoying her wife’s dedication to giving her enjoyment. She was equally determined to love Erin in return and kissed, suckled, and caressed all the bare skin she could reach.
Erin could scent Molly’s arousal and that made her want to taste. She slowly made her way between her wife’s legs, pleasantly surprised to find that she had bathed recently, and she was fresh and clean and tasted heavenly. Her first lick had Molly arching into her mouth in supplication.
“More,” she gasped, reaching for Erin’s head to hold her in place.
Erin smiled against Molly’s clit, enjoying herself as she licked away the juices from the appendage that stood at attention waiting for her. Suckling slightly, her fingers slipped inside and made a come-hither motion, bringing Molly up off their blankets only to fall back helplessly as she touched the tender tissue within.
“Oh,” she moaned and then stifled it by putting her fist into her own mouth, knowing the children were simply yards away. Her body wasn’t under her control as Erin played with it.
Erin began an in and out motion with her fingers, and on every third thrust she ‘accidentally’ curled them to hit the spot that Molly so enjoyed, causing her to gasp at the sensations that were building. Her mouth gently suckled on Molly’s clit as her tongue swirled around it. She could tell from Molly’s breathing that her crisis was nearing. She held on as her wife’s body convulsed in her arms, smiling as she came not once but twice in succession.
Molly couldn’t believe how incredibly her wife aroused her. She hadn’t known these feelings were inside herself until Erin taught her so long ago. She�
��d never thought of touching herself, knowing she was meant to save herself for her someday husband’s pleasure. She didn’t know the woman could receive pleasure too. Learning that another woman could and would give her pleasure had been a revelation and she reveled in learning her body and its responses. Realizing that Erin was learning as well had been such a delight. They learned together, exploring each other to discover whatever means they could to obtain this pleasure. Finding that she could orgasm, that it wasn’t an experience solely for men, had been a revelation. She forced herself to come down from her high quickly, entirely satisfied by what Erin had done to her body as she rolled their heated and sweaty bodies over and began to lave attention on Erin, doing many of the same things to her tall, lanky body in return.
Erin loved this moment when Molly turned the tides of their lovemaking. She was hoping that someday they could come at the same time; she was certain it was possible. She didn’t analyze it too strongly as she was enjoying herself far too much to think coherently. Molly had been a willing student, and when she realized Erin was learning too, she became less defensive. As each found what pleased the other, they discovered a part of their love they hadn’t known was missing. Now, they had it down pat and could instantly push the other’s buttons to quickly arouse them and make them replete. Erin was already aroused from making love to her wife, and it didn’t take long for her to come against her wife as she thrust her fingers inside. Seeing her licking them afterwards aroused Erin again, and she took advantage that, rubbing against Molly’s leg as she ground herself into completion once more. Molly’s answering smile told her it had been deliberate. She turned off the barely lit lantern, so they could go to sleep.
“Maybe I should build a bathhouse first,” Erin murmured sleepily afterwards.
“First? Why?”
“So, we can take a hot bath together without the children barging in and seeing us,” she answered, tweaking Molly’s still hard nipple through the nightclothes she had put back on. She clearly recalled the view of Molly in their house in Ohio, the thin towel barely covering her lush body, her long, dark hair loose about her shoulders. She had modestly tried to cover herself, but the view was forever burned in Erin’s mind.
“That sounds wonderful,” Molly said as she stretched, not quite as sated from their lovemaking as she had thought. The tweak had caused a corresponding twinge in her crotch, and she really wanted to continue, but they both heard the growls of the dogs.
Erin quickly got dressed and went out, carrying her pistol in her waistband and slinging her rifle over her shoulder as she peered through the darkness to see what the dogs were upset about. It was difficult to see as the moon was behind some clouds, but she could hear the dogs on the far side of the herd. She could see the silhouettes of the cattle all looking off to the west. Billy snorted a challenge of sorts, letting whoever or whatever know he was ready for them and willing to fight. Walking slowly, so she wouldn’t spook the animals, she found both dogs alert and posing, looking off into the night. They had stopped growling. Erin quietly petted both dogs, praising them for she knew not what. Still, whatever had upset them might be gone. When she could see the cattle cropping grass again and the hackles on the dogs had gone down, she started to make her way back to their camp.
“What was it?” Molly asked, having pulled on more clothing just in case she was needed. Her shotgun was nearby and ready.
“I don’t know, but whatever it was wasn’t willing to take on the dogs and Billy.”
Molly didn’t blame whoever or whatever it was. She wouldn’t like her odds either if those three came at her. “Do you think someone was trying to see if they could get our cattle?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. She was tired now, and all thoughts of further lovemaking were gone from her mind as she worried about taking her family to the remote area of Oregon she had filed on. They would have to get supplies soon but only after she had built them a strong cabin against the winter snows. She had heard it didn’t snow in certain parts of Oregon but having seen some of the mountains they came through, she was pretty sure it would snow where they were. She would soon need the money she had forwarded to Oregon and wondered how long it would take to arrive after the letter she had sent. She heard Molly snoring slightly and decided she would join her after she mentally thought through the building of their cabin. It took a while to walk herself through that. She had never built a cabin but had listened avidly as the settlers and mountain men in their wagon train had spoken of it in detail. She knew the cabin couldn’t be very big. She wasn’t certain she could do it, but she had to try; she had promised them all a home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They packed up the next morning. It was odd how alone and different camping felt since the wagon train had moved on. Putting the cages of poultry up on the sides of the wagon, she was disappointed to find one of the chickens dead. Still, they had suffered relatively few losses, and not counting those marked for eating, they had a lot of stock left to rebuild their flocks. They put the chicken in a bag to be plucked and baked later for their dinner.
Erin walked a wide arc with the dogs, who snuffled avidly, but she saw no signs of man or beast that might have caused the animals to become upset the previous night. Returning to the fire, she shrugged at Molly’s look.
The children asked a million and one questions until Erin shushed them. She was concentrating on keeping the cattle at a walk on the odd trail she had taken in the previous days. There wasn’t an obvious wagon trail south from where they were heading, and she worried if they would be able to get through in a couple places or if they could become lost. Still, their teams and both sets of yoked oxen were strong and pulling the Conestoga wagon effortlessly across the land didn’t seem to faze them. She watched as the pigs kept up easily under the back of the wagon in their accustomed place.
There was plenty to graze when they stopped that first night, and the animals fell to cropping it as quickly as they could. The children were disappointed that they weren’t on ‘their’ land that first night, but Erin explained that a horse and rider could travel much faster alone than their large wagon and all these animals.
On the second day, Erin had to ride ahead a bit to make sure they were on the right path. She hoped her memory of the previous trip was accurate. Some of the trail wasn’t good for the wagon, and they had to be creative in how they got through, around, and over some of the obstacles.
“Come on, you can do it,” she encouraged the teams as they pulled up a rather steep grade. She saw Theo, who was walking, had stopped the flock of sheep behind them, waiting to follow the large wagon. She looked farther behind him and Tabitha was sitting on the mare and signaling to King to slow the cattle, who took advantage of the moment to crop at the grass.
It started raining as they drove along that afternoon, and they had to make camp in the rain that night. It wasn’t a gentle rain. They had been warned that some of the rains were coming in off the ocean and would hit the mountains west of them, including Mount Hood, which was now north and west of them. Erin thought about that far-off mountain they said had been a volcano once. She wondered what would happen if it went off. She’d heard stories of volcanoes but had never seen one. It sounded like they must be like the fires of hell.
Coping in the rain, nothing new after their long trip out here, they made a small fire and used lard to cook the chicken, so they could all have a hot meal. Erin had rigged the awning off the wagon, so they could have the fire and keep a relatively rain-free space. The smoke went out both sides of the awning as it flapped in the wind. As she ate, she watched the ducks and geese stretching their necks out beyond the cages trying to catch some water and pecking at the grasses they were placed in to find things only they could see. She was looking forward to getting them out of the cages but wondered at how vulnerable they would be out on the farm, especially in an area that had never seen domesticated animals and birds before.
“It isn’t going to be a farm with that man
y acres,” Molly teased her as they wearily got ready for bed. The children had been tucked into both the wagon and the other tent that night. The cats weren’t liking having to share ‘their’ beds in the wagon again.
“Oh, what is it then?” Erin asked, pulling at her boot and pleased when Molly brushed aside her hand to pull on it for her. Her shapely derriere was a fine sight in the low light of the lantern. Erin helped push on the boot with her other booted foot and pointed the toe on the foot between Molly’s legs. The boot came off easily with their combined efforts, and Molly took one unbalanced step before turning for the other boot. Both boots were soon off.
“With that many acres, it’s a ranch,” she contended.
“I think it’s a farm or a ranch, whatever we want to call it.” She pulled off her pants and changed her shirt for a men’s nightshirt, doing it quickly, so her bindings wouldn’t be exposed too long. That was something she had done many times on the trail until it became automatic.
They chuckled at their teasing, eager to get to their new home, but a wagon was slow traveling, and it took days.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Other books by Shadoe Publishing & K’Anne Meinel:
What does SHADOE mean? Have you ever Googled it?
Shadoe ~ The hottest girl you'll ever meet. Very good when it comes to things in the bed. A crazy lover who can go all night. At the same time, the sweetest, most caring girlfriend ever. Will be one you want to hold on to.
That Shadoe... she's the perfect girl!
Molly didn’t know what kind of life to expect when she fell in love with Erin Herriot—her schoolmate, her best friend, and a woman. She had been grateful for Erin’s friendship when the bank swindled her after selling her parents’ farm and she was invited to live on Erin’s parents’ farm.
After making the difficult decision to live life as ‘man and wife,’ Molly gladly accepted the challenges before them. Together, they made the decision to sell Erin’s farm and embark on the journey of a lifetime...on the Oregon Trail.
Vetted Again Page 37