A knock comes at the outer door, and a young woman enters wearing too much lipstick and too much rouge, but a smile as wide as anything.  

"You must be Sarah Jane. I'm Josephina. Beau said you needed a room for a few days." 

"Yes, thank you." Sarah stands and picks up her bonnet pulling it back on. She's surprised to find she's struggling to hold back tears.

"Oh don't you cry. You really should not cry over Beau Carter. He's just a grumpy goat who done forgot all his good manners. You say the word, and we'll water down all his drinks, seeing how refusing him service won't do no good as he ain't never come asking anyway."

Sarah forces a smile. "No, it's not that. It's my fault. I thought… Well, I didn't think that's really the problem. Oh, you're Josephina! I have some patterns for you! Mabel asked me to bring them, but apparently, we dress like whores back east. Or at least that's what Sheriff Carter said anyway."

The sudden look of delight on Josephina's face makes everything better. "Did you really now!? Oh, I just can't wait to be in fashion again. I miss the shops, and all the pretty clothes, and everything but it's worth it in the end you know. Bein free from everything, makin' your own money, and decisions, and never answering to a man who thinks you should just sit still, look pretty." She takes Sarah's arm and sweeps her out of the Sheriff's office.

"I don't suppose you would let me look at your bonnet. It's so beautiful."

"I decorated it myself. I can help you do one just like it."

Josephina squeals with delight. "I knew from the moment you said you remembered my dress patterns that we would just be the very best of friends."

They continue down the street arm in arm, as they pass a man going the other way he tips his hat.

"Well hello, Ladies. I don't suppose you're working tonight Josie?" 

"It's Tuesday, you know I take Tuesday off. But, if you come by after nine, and bring me some fresh wildflowers for my room, I think I can make an exception for you Mister Mayor." She smiles and leans toward him a bit, still hanging on Sarah's arm.

"Well, I will see you just past nine then Miss Josie. You ladies have a good day now, you hear."

He heads on and Josie rolls her eyes.

"Nosy old bastard had to be the first person to be seen properly talkin to ya. Bet he don't even come by tonight." Josephina tosses her hair back and they continue on.

The makeup, the comment about her own money, the late appointment; Sarah is starting to feel like she's one step behind everything today.

"Are… are you a whore?" 

"Oh don't sound so scandalized. Two-thirds of the ladies in town are whores, or used to be and sometimes still do. Far as not whores there's Mabel, that's the Carter girl. She's Tom Jennings's wife, he runs the general store. Then there's Charlotte Murphy and her wife Angela Murphy. Charlotte is a lady doctor and she's real good. Then there's Mrs. Keller. She's Mister Keller's widow. Her boys run the Keller ranch now. She spends all her time being in everyone's business, but she's too old to keep even a bit of it straight in her head, so don't trust nothing she says. It's all fuddled. The Ladies Auxiliary meets at her house every Wednesday and Saturday and we have tea and biscuits and talk shit about the men. We were all quite sure you weren't coming at all. After you didn't answer when they proposed and then you didn't answer Mabel neither. Miss Margaret, that's my boss, she runs the Saloon, Florie and I work for her there. Well Miss Margaret said you were right not to marry them, it's one thing to flirt with seven boys and even to give 'em all a bit of a taste on the now and again but she wouldn't want to get married to one man and put up with his whining and his moods and have to listen to him every day in and out. But Miss Mary, she runs the gambling hall, where Ida and Lizzie work. Anyways, Miss Mary said, she thought it was romantic that they put it all out like that. You've never been able to give a Carter nothing but he shared it with the other six and if any men could love all one woman then they were the boys to do it. She said they done lost almost sixty dollars at poker between them, cuz' they was all so upset about you droppin' 'em. But you're here now! And that means true love does exist even if Beau is a sour goat. But anyway that's all ten of us girls. And you're here now too! It will be nice not to have an even number when we need to vote. We got in a good number of fights when the vote split on things." 

Sarah stands in front of the Saloon in absolute amazement. How one girl got that many words out in the hundred feet they traveled down the street she's not sure.

"I uh… I'm… did you breathe?"

"Oh! Through my nose." She bobs into a little curtsy and taps the side of her nose to make her point. "It's real good for, well, other things, but you'll figure that out after the wedding! Come on let me show you your room! It's so sweet you don't want to live with them before the wedding. Mabel got married up there and it is such a big beautiful house you know. I just don't see me settling down anytime soon. I like bein' free too much." 

They step into the saloon where an old piano sits at one end of the room, a card game is played by a handful of old men at another table, and the woman behind the bar is well past her best years, but her eyes are sharp and she reminds Sarah so much of Miss Jameson.

"Josie, are you done talking the poor girl's ear off? Watch the bar for me and don't give any free drinks out." The woman comes from behind the bar plucking a bottle as she goes and sweeps Sarah up the stairs with one hand on her back.

"I'm sorry about that. Josie could talk a Wooden Indian right to death." She leads Sarah into a ladies sitting room where another woman who looks remarkably like the first sits at a table with a cigar between her teeth and her stitching in her hand. "Oh Lord." She says and sets the Cigar in an ashtray.

"Sarah, this is my sister Mary. I'm Margaret. It's very nice to meet you." Margaret pulls out a chair and fetches three glasses from the side table.

"I'm sorry but I think I'd just like to lay down for a bit."

"Nonsense.' She pours a heavy-handed glass of amber liquid. "Laying down is for silly girls who want men to think they're too fragile to know their own minds. Have a drink. Heartbreak and drinking go hand in hand. Besides the only thing, you've got to do in that cold room is cry." She pulls a ledger over and flips it open. 

"How did you--?"

"Because every last one of the Carter Boys has had that look on their face for goin on two months now. Then Beau comes in looking like he lost the fight he just won and got you a room. But not till the preacher comes to town, just till the train runs. So it stands to follow you're thinking of leaving again with a broken heart. So sit down and have a drink. It's on me tonight. I just hate it when I'm right."

Sarah sits and picks up the glass tipping it back. It burns going down and she nearly chokes. 

"There you go. Go on and drink 'em out of your system." Margaret smiles. 

Mary picks up the bottle and refills her glass.

"I'm an idiot," Sarah says softly and takes a sip this time.

"Oh, we all are when it comes to love. Don't let it bother you none."

"I thought… I thought I was just gonna marry…" she chokes on a sob that turns into a hiccough, "one of them."

"Which one had your fancy then?"

"I don't know! I don't know who said what, or when, or how and what they really meant anymore. I just…"

"How do you not know which one you thought you were writing to?"

"I THOUGHT HIS NAME WAS CARTER CARTER BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS SIGN THE LETTER CARTER!"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Mary sniggers into her glass and drains the rest. 

"Those boys are damn fucking fools. But they're their father's sons all through."

They don't push and each woman, in turn, goes about her own business. Mary stitches what is slowly becoming a hummingbird into the cloth in her hands. Margaret works diligently at her books and Sarah just-drinks. 

Every now and then one of the sisters will comment to the other that it was quite rude of those boys to string Sarah along like that. Or one would mention how she feels every last one of the Carter Boys owes Sarah an apology. They should sort out which one it is she fell quite so in love with. There's no reason she should have to go home. After all, they're clearly wrong and they owe her a husband. Besides, there are at least a hundred men in the farms and ranches around Last Leg that would take her as a wife if she weren't interested in marrying a Carter after all.

She's not sure how long they sit there with the ladies exchanging the occasional remark. She does know that by the time a knock comes at the door she hasn't managed to empty her glass again but she's drunk so they must have been topping it off.

When Margaret answers Josephina is on the other side bouncing with excitement. 

"There's a few somebodies here to see Miss Sarah Jane."

"She doesn't seem to be of a mood to take visitors. She was just saying she needs to lay down."

Sarah stands up full of a determination that one only finds drinking whiskey neat with two badass business women who smoke cigars, keep their own books, and make no excuses.

"No, I have some things to say! And you know what? I came all this way, they're gonna fucking listen! And I don't care if Beau thinks I dress like a whore, I love this dress! I sewed it myself just to meet them! Besides John Moorely thinks my tits are hand fucking crafted by God so I must look good!'

"That's a girl! You go tell them what you think." 

Sarah sweeps out of the room and is halfway down the stairs before she actually sees the six young men, all freshly bathed and shaven in their Sunday best each holding a small bundle of wildflowers and each just as beautiful as the last if not more. Two are blonde but the rest share the same brown hair that Beau had. She reaches the bottom of the stairs and before she can gather her thoughts the first hands her the little bundle of flowers.

"Miss Sarah I'm Daniel." He smiles and steps to one side.

The pair of blondes approach next. "He's Markus," says the first, "and that's Silas." The other finishes. They hand her the flowers then suddenly dart in and each kisses her softly on the cheek before stepping aside. 

The next is still rolling his eyes as he steps up. "I can offer no excuses except they're actually not that weird after they calm down a little. I'm Luke." He hands her his bundle, careful to tuck them into her arm to keep her from dropping any of the rest.

The next steps up, his bundle is just one large flower.

"You said you ain't never seen a sunflower, and they just started blooming good, and I know I promised to take you out to see the field, but I thought, maybe, you'd like to have one now too. Because you've never seen one. Except now you have. Because I got you one. Just now."

"Thank you, Adam." She says softly before reaching out with her free hand to take it carefully from him.

"Oh, but I was supposed to tell you my name and I forgot. How did you…" he trails off blushing.

"Well, it seems you're going in order and that would make you Adam."

"Oh, right." Adam steps aside.

"Where there's a Will there's a way. I brought you a Bucket for all those so they don't get lost and wilt." He holds it out for her and the other five boys rush forward to help her put her flowers into it. Once they're settled and she holds her little tin pail of flowers she remembers her rage again.

"You know, I have some things to say. And you lot are going to listen."

They turn to her with rapt attention and she takes a deep breath and begins to talk without thinking too much about what she's going to say before it all comes spilling out.

"I'm not a whore!" Luke begins to say something and Daniel covers his mouth stopping him. "Not only am I not a whore I came here to marry Carter Carter because I am an idiot and thought I was just talking to one of you. But also because I fucking loved him." Silas begins to say something this time and Adam elbows him. "It's bullshit that I came all the way out here for nothing. Like I gave up everything! Like my whole everything, everywhere, with everybody. So you owe me a husband. But just one because I don't want to have to cook seven dinners, and mend seven sets of socks, and have like seven babies. Two!" She holds up two fingers. "I'm pretty sure we talked about that and I was like I want two babies and whoever said two was super fine! But two times seven is…'' she counts on her fingers nearly fumbling the bucket and someone reaches out to take it. Twice she loses count before Daniel holds his hand out, fingers spread and she can use his hand to count too before finally declaring, "Fourteen! And that good sirs is too damn high!" 

"And I thought there were a lot of us growing up." Markus manages to whisper and Will smacks him upside the head.

"So! We need to figure out which one of you I fell in love with and then I will marry the one I fell in love with. But just him and if it's nobody, then apparently there's like no ladies here. So I can just pick out a husband like I'm going to the Sunday Markets. Alright?"

"You thought, someone really got named Carter Carter?" Daniel asks.

"Shut your cakehole you… good lord, why did God make you so pretty? You are a very pretty man." She loses her train of thought looking at his eyelashes.

"Maybe, because he didn't want you getting mad at me?" Daniel grins and steps closer, taking her arm and guiding her across the room, to a chair around a large table where the others slowly take their own seats.

"Hey! This table seats exactly seven people! That's like super convenient!" She declares happily.

Will waves Josephina over. 

"Can we get a pot of coffee please."

"Your brother said I dressed like a whore!" She says directly to Will, who looks about the table before responding incredulously with, "Beau said you dressed like a whore?" 

"I absolutely did not fall in love with him. He's an asshole and he tried to break a man's face in the middle of the street." 

Daniel presses a mug of coffee into her hand.

"How much did you have to drink honey?"

"I don't know. There just kept being whiskey in my glass. So I kept right on with it because I know my mind! I am not fragile! I came all the way to Wyoming Tear Tory all on my own, and I had to take three trains, and two carriages, and then I got off the train to a great big nothin! Then I got up here on my own, and the first thing I see is Beau, 'I don't shave or make my bed,' Carter knocking a man clean out in the middle of the street! They arrest you for that in Boston you know!" 

Daniel pushes the cup in her hand up to her mouth.

"He is an asshole like that. Have some more coffee, honey."

"It needs milk."

One of the boys gets up from the table, and a moment later a cup of milk is set on the table beside her. 

"Thank you, which one are you?" She tries to tilt her head back to look, but it makes the room spin. He just pushes her head gently back forward.

"I'm Luke." He says softly. 

"Thank you, Luke, I like you. You're at the top of my list right now. It's you and then Daniel because Danny boy is so very pretty." She drinks her coffee, and as soon as the first cup is down, another is poured and topped off with milk. 

"I was looking forward to the garden." She grumbles.

"We were looking forward to helping you plant it." One of the blonde boys says that's Markus and Silas.

"You're the twins!"

"What gave that away?" The other teases.

"Maybe the fact that you look like you wipe the others ass when you shit." They both laugh at that, and she's glad they thought it was funny because to her own ear it only sounded mean. She scowls down at her coffee. She's not usually so mean.

"How the hell did you think all of you could marry just one girl? People would talk."

"I think your brain is still in Boston. You don't come out to live in a place like Last Leg to judge how other people want to live. Hell, our Doctor is a lady married to another lady. It's why Pops settled here. You know he was married three times and all of them were sisters." Adam smiles. 

"All at once?" She sips her coffee amazed. She heard that Mormons do that sort of thing but they said they were proper Christians.

"Nah, see he married Daniel's mom. Then she divorced him, and he married her little sister. She had the twins, and right after Mabel, but it was a lot and she didn't make it through the birth. So Daniel's mom come back to take care of Beau, Daniel, and Markus, Silas, and Mabel. Then she got knocked up with Luke. So they got married so Luke wouldn't be a bastard. Are you still with me?" Adam smiles warmly, she likes listening to him talk, he has a nice voice.

"I think so?" Three wives mean that they likely all share a mother with at least one or two others but they all have the same Dad. The fact they were all sisters explains why all the boys look so much alike. 

"Right so it's Daniel, divorce, twins, ten months later Mabel, widowed, remarried the first wife and then Luke. The problem was, that the problems they already had didn't go away just because there were more kids. Pops ended up cheating with her other sister. Now she got pregnant and so he got married to the last sister so the baby wouldn't be a bastard and they ended up having me. Well, Dad said seven was quite enough and refused to touch her. But she come down pregnant anyway…"

"Mom always said where there's a Will there's a way." Will fills in.

"Are you serious?" She may be drunk but it sounds like a ridiculous way to name a baby. 

"The man had eight kids, seven of 'em boys. They were out of relations to name us after." Adam takes up for his brother's unconventional naming. "But, they never got over the fight where he accused her of cheatin' when really he just got good and drunk and crawled into her bed. So they got divorced too.

"Wait so…" a fresh cup of coffee is pressed into her hand again this time by Will. She drinks it before she continues. "So it's Beau, Daniel, and Luke share a mom. Then Markus, Silas, and Mabel do too. And Adam and Will, being the last two."

The whole table goes silent. 

"Beau's mama wasn't one of the sisters." Daniel starts.

"He's the reason it's so important we weren't none of us bastards." Luke picks up.

"When Pops came out west it was just him and Beau." One of the twins starts and the other finishes. "He was the reason Pops went lookin for a wife, to help with rasin' him."

"Beau has got a big red bastard stamp on his birth certificate," Will says as he tops off her cup.

"He's still a bit sore about it," Adam says softly.

"The thing is Miss Sarah Jane, we don't want seven wives. It's hard enough to get a marriage to work, and more wives ain't the answer." Daniel takes up again. 

"We all fell in love with your letters." Will pulls one out of his breast pocket, and then down the line, each of the others follows. She begins to wonder if the six of them had ever done anything independent of the others in all their lives.