Chapter Twelve #3
“I’ll demonstrate how a woman likes to be touched by a man.
If he satisfies her, too, she’ll be more open to experimentation.
He can then teach her in gradual stages how to satisfy any of his more …
creative … urges that she might not fully understand or appreciate.
My roommate assures me that the demand for her services is quite high. ”
“I don’t doubt that it is. Do you mind if I ask how you came to be such an expert on how to satisfy men?”
“My older sisters are the experts, not me. They share their experiences with the rest of us, the way our aunties shared with them when they were young, so none of us goes into marriage unprepared. I’ll pass on to men online what my sisters have learned from their husbands.
I’m sure I’ll make many mistakes at first, but I will learn from those too. ”
She couldn’t tell Jayce’s mother that she’d already erred by rushing her son through the steps of intimacy too quickly. Mothers didn’t discuss their children’s sexuality with them, which was why a daughter’s education was left to sisters and aunts.
“I wish I’d had sisters or aunts to share their marital wisdom with me,” Vanessa said. “Huck and I had to fumble through it on our own. I’m amazed our marriage survived.”
Vanessa didn’t strike Malika as the type of woman who accepted failure easily.
She would be a quick study. “You seem very happy together.”
“Most days, we are. When you run a business together, though, your quarrels tend to begin outside of the bedroom, not in it.”
“How unfortunate. I would have thought that sharing a business would be much like sharing a family. You each have your areas of responsibility, and decisions are made together,” Malika said.
“That sounds good in theory. In practice, it doesn’t go quite so smoothly.”
Something troubled Vanessa. Malika loved solving problems for people, and if she waited patiently enough, eventually, the older woman would confide in her and ask for her opinion, so she left her to her thoughts.
It was a lovely day for a ride, and if one discounted the bears, the woods were quite peaceful.
“Huck doesn’t understand conservation,” Vanessa eventually said.
“He believes everything on a ranch should pay its own way. He doesn’t give too much thought to endangered indigenous species, or how we were put on this earth to be stewards.
I try to give back to the land. I offered one field to the black-footed ferret program, and now, he’s angry about it. ”
That didn’t sound so terrible to Malika, but she didn’t know both sides of the story. “In what way does a black-footed ferret give back to the land?”
“It’s a natural predator of prairie dogs.
Prairie dogs keep pastureland from becoming overgrown.
They renew topsoil, and they encourage grass development.
But when they overpopulate, the damage they do to the land outweighs the good.
The black-footed ferret sets up home in prairie dog burrows and keeps their population numbers under control. ”
Malika thought for a moment. “Whose responsibility is it to look after the fields?”
Vanessa’s brow puckered. “Huck’s, I suppose,” she said reluctantly.
“Jayce’s, too, a little. I handle the finances and pay the bills.
I keep chickens for eggs, and some for the freezer.
But prairie dogs eat durum seedlings, and they strip crops clean around their burrows.
Ferrets are a more environmentally friendly solution to population control than poison, and I refuse to allow poison on the Ride No More Ranch.
It’s irresponsible stewardship. Huck knows this. ”
There had to be more to the story. Malika saw a man who adored his beautiful wife.
She found it difficult to believe he’d be angry with her over little ferrets who ultimately served a purpose, even if the fields were his responsibility, and he wasn’t consulted about their introduction. She’d have to learn his side from him.
The ground leveled off and she caught glimpses of open fields in the distance, through the trees.
They emerged from the woods at the base of the mountain.
The road widened as it cut through rolling foothills covered in wide swaths of grassland.
The windows of the ranch house, which sat on a rise facing the mountains, sparkled in the bright midday light. The air was much warmer here, too.
The horses, knowing they were now close to home, picked up their pace.
“Want to let the horses run?” Vanessa suggested, then put action to words.
Malika, never one to back down from a challenge, quickly followed.
They arrived at the stable, breathless and laughing.
Vanessa, her hair coming loose from its ponytail and her cheeks rosy, looked twenty years less than her age. She slid from the saddle and handed her reins to a man who stood near the paddock.
“Would you mind walking them for us, then wiping them down?” Vanessa said to him. “Jayce and Huck will be along shortly, and they’ll be hungry. I want to get their lunch on the table.”
She hooked her arm through Malika’s as they walked to the house.
“How do you know Jayce’s father will be with him?” Malika asked.
Vanessa patted her arm. “For the same reason I was the one who rode out to see why his horse came home without him. Because Jayce is his son.”