Anna Beth made sure to wash herself well while she was in the river. She wasn’t going to smell like a fish; the way her sister often would after tending to the farm and children all day. No, she always liked to look and smell nice whenever she had a date with Oroville. When he told her that he wanted to see her later that night, her blood grew warm and she could barely wait to wrap her legs around him.

She took extra time braiding her hair and putting it in pigtails because she knew that he liked it that way. She wore a green dress that sat right above her knees and left her panties in the drawer; no sense in putting them on just to take them back off.

For her makeup’s finishing touch, she painted her lips the rosiest shade of red and popped them against one another for good measure. One last check in the mirror before leaving. Her green eyes shone with excitement but, to her, they couldn’t hide the years of loneliness and wanting that was buried deep within.

Despite all of her deep longings, she clung to Oroville and her vows.

The spring on the trailer door was pulled tight, and then the door slammed shut as she left the house and strutted across the field towards the farm house.

An emerald gem in the moonlight.

*

Inside the house, she rode Oroville like a horse. He reached up and cupped her breasts with his hands, and when her moans became too loud, he covered her mouth so the sound wouldn’t wake the children. She held off the climax and timed her orgasm with his so they could finish together.

Breathtaking bliss.

Lying next to him in the bed, in the dark, she placed a loving hand on his chest and felt it rise and fall with the pounding of his heart.

“My god, woman. You’re going to kill me one day.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve got the vitality of a man that’s twenty years younger than you.”

“I love you, Beth. I love you so very much.”

He was the only one that called her Beth, and she didn’t mind. Her preference was to be called Anna, and that’s what everyone else called her, but when it came to Oroville, she didn’t care what he called her.

Lying on his bed in the stillness of the dark house, Anna twirled her fingers through his chest hair.

He turned his face to hers. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

“I know you better than that, Beth. Something’s on your mind. Come on out with it.”

“Don’t you ever just want to go some place new? Get out of these hills for a change and see the world?”

“Everything I could ever want is in these hills. Why would I want to leave them?”

His hand gently ran up the small of her back, and she tensed at the pleasing touch.

“I hear that traveling is good for the soul. Makes you a better person, even.”

“You’ve been on that social media in town again, haven’t you?”

Anna pulled away from the warmth of his body and propped herself up on one elbow. “No.”

“Is this about the baby again? Look, we’re trying. Don’t give up on the hope of it yet.”

Anna was not her sister. Josaphine bore nine children with Oroville, all-natural and at the house in a bathtub with nothing more than Anna there to assist her. Jo even began pulling the babies out herself after the fourth one.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

But throughout all the years, Anna was unable to conceive with Oroville, so she knew that the fault was with her and not with him. Still, Oroville held on to the belief that they would someday have a child of their own.

Deep down, she knew she was barren.

She nodded but couldn’t look him in the eye as she spoke. “I haven’t given up on hope. Just a little stir-crazy is all. You know how I get sometimes.”

“Lord, do I.” Oroville pulled himself up to sit straight in the bed. “Tell you what. Why don’t you go into town tomorrow, do a little shopping, maybe catch a bite to eat at that diner you like? That’ll make you feel better.”

Indeed, those were all things that she enjoyed, but nothing that could fill the hole inside of her heart. She wanted a baby more than anything, and now being a woman in her late thirties, she knew the chances of becoming a mother were becoming less by the day than they already were. Again she nodded, but kept her eyes down.

Oroville took a deep breath of frustration, sympathizing with her. He wanted more than anything to have a child with her as well, and he knew how much it meant to her. “Have you still been taking the pills that the doctor gave you? The ones that can help you get pregnant?”

“Yes.”

After a moment, Oroville softly brushed her golden hair from her face with the back of his hand. “Then that’s all we can do. Rest of it is out of our hands. Sometimes, trying is the best we can do. And that counts for something whether we get what we want or not.”

She smiled at him. “You’re right.” A gentle kiss on the lips. “We’ll keep trying. I’ll go to town tomorrow and clear my head a bit.”

“That’s my girl. You need money?”

“I’m good. Thank you.”

He kissed her on the head. “After you get back tomorrow, we’ll try again. Then again, and again after that.”

“Okay.”

The night continued on.

With Oroville snoring beside her, Anna laid wide awake with streams of thoughts running through her head. After an exhausting amount of time trying to silence the voices inside her mind, she finally found a moment’s peace and drifted off to sleep.

*

In the morning, she woke to an empty bed as Oroville always woke before dawn. Still tired and not wanting to start the day, she laid there in the darkness wondering what her life would be like with a child of her own. She loved being an aunt to her sister’s children, but it just wasn’t the same.

Sleep took her again, and the next time she woke, it was to the crow of the roosters. She hated those roosters, especially “Big Red”; the Cogburn that would chase anyone that came near the barn other than Oroville. Many times, she’d been flogged on account of that rooster, and no matter how hard she kicked him across the dirt driveway and back towards the barn, he kept coming back for more, hellbent on driving all intruders away from his property. The old rooster had even run off a fox one time, or so it’d been said.

“One day, I’m going to kill that chicken,” she mumbled and threw a heavy arm over her head. After thirty more minutes of crowing, she’d had enough. “Alright, I’m up, I’m up.”

Showered, dressed and perfumed, Anna was ready to hit the town. She’d taken her time easing into the morning too; the clock on the radio inside the pickup truck reading a quarter after one. The drive to town was ten miles of winding, mountainous, dirt roads until it hit the pavement, then another winding thirty miles to the town of Cowen. Country music was all that came through the radio, but she preferred the windows down and the sound of the road as she drove. And though the truck was only five years old and practically in brand-new condition, she always drove with the windows down in the summertime and never used the air conditioner.

Something about the hot sun on her skin and the wind blowing through her hair on an open road.

After making a quick stop at the dollar store for some snacks and a pop, she went to the general store and shopped for a new pair of pants. And a new shirt to boot.

After trying them on, she liked the way they looked in the mirror. Her hips were narrow, not child-birthing hips like her sister’s—the kind the men talk about when they’re among themselves. All the men that she knew liked something to grab onto, something she didn’t have much of, but she didn’t really care what they thought anyway. She was her own worst critic, thinking of herself as inadequate and blaming the creator for giving her a body not fit for children.

Still, she drew looks wherever she went because most men found her attractive. And Oroville always acted more alive when he was with her than when he was with Josaphine. Anna Beth—the wild one. The bobcat, as Oroville often referred to her.

After having paid for the clothing, she went to her favorite diner, ordered a beer and sat at a table by herself. It didn’t take long for a tall man with dark hair and a handsome face to take notice, and she gave him a polite grin when he spoke to her.

“Mind if I sit next to you?”

“It’s a free country.” Anna kept her eyes on the television as she replied, hoping that he would be on his way soon.

On such a nice day, she preferred her own company.