No words, but he was chuckling now.
Back in his voice, “Molly, you’re a wonderful lover. Thank you so much.”
Molly again, “Pounding that beast inside me like that should hurt. But it doesn’t. It’s so amazing that my body can take that. And, right now, it just feels so good down there. It’s just glowing. The heat waves that started down there are just radiating through my whole body.”
Her Bart voice again, “Yeah, Molly, me too.”
A quiet chuckle.
“Calm down, Bart. You don’t have to talk so much after sex.”
Another chuckle.
“I can’t believe I won’t need surgery after that.”
They were in the kitchen preparing dinner, each with a glass of Scotch. The plan was to get the lasagna in the oven, then enjoy happy hour outside. The sweet Italian sausage was sizzling in the cast iron pan. Bart was grating sharp and medium cheddar to go with the ricotta. She was layering the lasagna with large flat pasta noodles and the cheese and sausage mix. They layered until the pan was full, sprinkled the remaining cheese on top, put it in the oven, and took glasses and the Glenfiddich out to the Adirondacks. The dogs were running around in the woods somewhere. They’d be showing up soon for their own dinners.
“Molly Omak?”
“Long story.”
“I have time.”
“Well, I was born Molly McGuire, but all the men in my family were nicknamed Mack. The Mack is from McGuire, of course. I’m surprised you don’t have some Macks in the McKinnon family. My great grandfather was Archibald McGuire, a good Scottish name, but he only went by Mack. It just became a family tradition. All the McGuire men were called Mack. So my grandfathers are Mack 1 and Mack 2. My father is Mack 3 and my brother is Mack 4. I couldn’t really be Mack 5, so I became Molly Mack and rode professionally as Molly Mack.”
“Makes sense.”
“The year after I graduated from high school, I was Queen of the Omak Stampede. As I’m sure you know, a rodeo queen has many responsibilities. The queen leads the Stampede parade through downtown Omak, and she leads the Queen’s Ride that opens the rodeo. And, of course, the queen gets paid a salary and expenses to represent the Omak Stampede at all the otherregional rodeos. For that, I dressed head to toe in Omak Stampede regalia and carried the Omak Stampede flag around the arena for the Queen’s Ride at all the rodeos. The back of my shirt said Omak Stampede over a dramatic rendition of stampeding horses.”
“I can picture it.”
“Well, I was a barrel racer, so I entered the race as Molly Mack at each rodeo. That was my start in professional riding. I did okay and loved it.”
“I like the image.”
“And, of course, even after my term as queen was over, I continued to wear Omak Stampede logo clothes and pretty soon Molly Mack became Molly Omak.”
“Got it.”
“The hometown paper really had fun with that. Jo and I won the barrel race at the Omak Stampede a bunch of years, so the local newspaper really worked the name. Molly Omak this and Molly Omak that. And pretty soon, I was Molly Omak all over town.”
“I like it.”
Molly wasn’t expecting Bart’s next question. “So if you have a son, he’ll be Mack 5.”
“Yes, if either my brother or I have a son, that will be his fate.”
“So are you planning a family?”
“Does it look like I’m planning a family?”
“Still have time. Lots of families get started in the thirties these days.”
“You need a man to start a family. It’s not something most women do on their own.”
“But if there was a man, might there be kids?”
“They’re not ruled out. In my case, it’s going to depend on the man, if I ever find one who’ll put up with me. Remember, I’m a barrel racer.”
