”I walked out to where the men were drinking. “Men, thank you for the presents. I never had much and I appreciate it more than you know. You’ll ...ind Berta will too. We’ll see you on Tuesday.” I had to turn away; I was so touched by this.Berta came out as I pulled up. She had a large blanket roll and a large food basket. “Sheila sent the remains of the cake.”“What was left of the cake wasn’t that much. I’m hoping there is some bacon for breakfast in there. Notice I have a stove to cook it on?”“I. “It was an idyllic lifestyle. Running a cattle ranch, even with five hired hands, is hard. There’s always work to be done; animals to be cared for, fences to be mended, supplies to be gotten and most of all mouths to be fed. Back in Texas, we had a cook and a housekeeper; here, however, those jobs fell on my shoulders. We ate as a family; three men of Mexican decent, two Apaches, one Englishman, and one Alien, all sitting around the table sharing a simple meal.“Each fall five of us would drive. Zane finally left after a very crazy day. Of all the girls he’d thought he might fuck today, Carly wasn’t the one he expected. Still, despite that mind-blowing performance to end the day, by the time he arrived back home, his mind was on Julia.Carly could not have been happier. To her mind, Zane’s play on Bella was brilliant. Everything he’d said was theoretically wrong as to how the secret vote worked, but he had set himself up as having total control over the vote, whether there was a tie or. *The intense discomfort resulting from all the shaking andrattling was most probably why she did not notice the onset ofthe withdrawal symptoms sooner. That, and the shivering coldfrom her wet clothing, but by the time she did recognize what washappening, those symptoms were well established and compounded bythe chill she had taken from her earlier soaking.Bone-deep chills now alternated with the more familiar burningheat while the chilly air made the perspiration feel clammy onher cheeks and.