Unable to sleep that night, Kate tossed and turned in her bed, which was in the same room as her brother’s, only separated by a makeshift wall that was just a wagon canvas. Her heart clenched when she heard him creep out of his bed and make his way to her side. She was facing the wall with her back toward him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in German.

She didn’t reply but rolled her head to look at him and held out her hand. He quietly walked over and lay next to her. It was something they had done most of their lives without giving it a second thought. She turned over to face him and placed her hand on his face, caressing his cheek with her thumb as she admired a face that had some semblance to hers.

“What did that woman really say to you?” he asked, twirling one of her freshly washed curls and bringing it up to his nose for a whiff.

“Nothing of importance. Go to sleep. You and Pa have a long day tomorrow,” she said as she grabbed his hand and turned away from him, pulling his arm over her waist and threading her fingers with his.

“You always smell like rosemary water,” he whispered.

“Do you like it?” she asked in a barely audible voice.

“I love it,” replied a drowsy Thomas before his amber eyes closed.

Kate listened to the sound of his breathing as it slowed down to a rhythmic pace. Feeling his muscular arm around her waist sent goose bumps down her spine and when her thoughts turned to his letter, warmth coursed through her entire body. She closed her eyes and tried to expel dirty thoughts, but the moisture between her legs made it impossible to focus on anything other than her ardent desire for someone she wasn’t supposed to see that way. Kate shifted onto her back to look at him, lightly running her fingertips down his arm and stopping when he stirred. Biting on her lower lip when he rested his hand above her stomach, she waited and made sure he had not woken up. Unable and unwilling to stop herself, she ran her hand down her body until it disappeared under the covers.

Her lips parted when she found herself and a tiny gasp escaped as her fingers explored her most sensitive spot. She could feel the weight of the fabric from her chemise rubbing against her tender breasts and wanted nothing more than to take it off, or better yet, have Thomas rip it off himself before ravaging her entire body. She had never seen him naked, but over the years Kate witnessed more than a few erections, especially in the mornings before he went outside to the privy to relieve himself. Although not having anyone to compare his to, the bulge under his pants was larger than most of the men she knew from town. Kate suddenly felt a warm wave of euphoria wash over her, spreading from between her legs to her whole body. Wanting to cry out in ecstasy, she squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath, trying to avoid making noise. When she opened them, they quickly watered over as the depravity of her sinful actions dawned on her. She let the tears stream across her temples and onto the pillow as she stared at the wooden ceiling, lying next to her brother.

The next morning, Kate and Ma were packing goods in the wagon for the men. They were to go to Beaver and meet with a wealthy rancher looking to build a barbed wire fence around his rangeland. Kate was crying as she hugged her brother, worried she’d never see him again.

“How long will you be gone?” she asked, still holding on to him.

“Six to eight months if all goes as planned,” responded Pa as he climbed into the wagon.

Kate sobbed into Thomas’ chest and clung to him, not wanting to let go. Pa saw him whisper something to her and kiss her forehead. She looked up at him and smiled through her tears.

Ma looked at Pa, who simply nodded in his direction. They were people of few, if any words. Everyone who had contact with the family was completely floored that Kate was related to them. Thomas, although brash at times, could get away with it.

That following Sunday, the Streicher women made their way to church for the midday service when Kate noticed a well-dressed man get off his wagon and approach Mr. Billings, who owned the largest building in town, which he rented out to business owners. The man’s wagon was full of items that made it clear he was moving in. Billings snapped his fingers and a couple of boys who went to school with Kate scurried off and started unloading his belongings.

The two men shook hands and entered the empty office space in the building.

When the boys noticed Kate approaching with no Thomas, they egged each other on to see who was brave enough to talk to her.

“Hi, Kate!” they yelled out simultaneously and looked at each other.

Mr. Billings’ eyes lit up like the Fourth of July when he heard the commotion and saw Kate walk past the storefront, quickly opening the door and stepping outside to greet her.

“Good afternoon, Kate.” His thin lips curved into a smile. “Ma’am.” He cordially nodded at Maddalen, who just made a groaning noise.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Billings.” Kate forced a smile as she continued walking, praying he didn’t start a conversation. Thomas despised him. He said the way he looked at his sister made him want to punch his face in.

Kate noticed a freshly painted sign on the storefront window and quietly read it out loud.

“Doctor Jack Ford, medical… physician?” Kate looked through the window and saw the well-dressed man inside observing a desk before moving it around.

After church, she decided to go to Doctor Ford’s practice and inquire much to Ma’s annoyance.

“I’ll meet you at home. I won’t be long,” she said to Ma, who told her to hurry.

Doctor Ford was arranging medicinal bottles on a shelf, so Kate gently knocked on the glass window to catch his attention. He looked up, smiled, and motioned her to go in.

“Hello, young lady, what can I do for you?” he asked kindly.

“Good afternoon, Doctor,” she responded, taking in the room full of medical equipment. “I hope I’m not disturbing you, but I was just curious. We don’t see many doctors traveling through here, much less live near here. I suspect you will be the talk of the town for quite some time.”

“Yes, I suppose so, Miss…?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Katarina, but everyone calls me Kate,” she replied, picking up on the whiskey scent as she continued to look around and spotted a pile of medical books. Her eyes widened with wonder.

“So can you really cure all sorts of illnesses?” She looked at the older gentleman and noticed a veiled sadness that clung to him.

“Well, cure is a definitive word that should be used with great caution in this field, Miss Kate. Some things simply cannot be cured, but as a doctor, you do your best to alleviate or ease the patients’ illnesses,” he responded. “Does medicine interest you?”

Kate nodded enthusiastically as she pointed to an anatomy book. “May I?”

“Please, go right ahead. I haven’t opened that one since my school days actually.”

He watched as she picked up the book and flipped through pages with awe. Doctor Ford chuckled and Kate quickly smelled the whiskey on his breath.

“How old are you, Kate?”

“I’ll be seventeen in three weeks,” answered the petite girl.

“And you’ve lived here in Benton all your life?”

“No, we came all the way from Germany when I was two,” she responded.

Ford tilted his head. “Oh, very interesting. You speak German then?”

“Natürlich,” she replied to an impressed doctor Ford. “Well, I’m sure you are very busy settling in, so I’ll be on my way. Thank you for your time.” She held out the book for him to take and smiled.

“My pleasure. I’ll tell you what, why don’t you hold on to that and stop by if you have any questions.”

Taking him up on his invitation, she stopped by almost every day after that. Over the coming months, she became a sort of assistant to Ford. He taught her how to alleviate common diseases using natural remedies and gave her access to all his medical books, which she read and took notes on.

One quiet morning, Kate went into town to tend to the doctor’s practice as she usually did before he arrived (regularly late and hungover). To kill time while she waited for him, she would practice in front of a mirror her “doctor voice” as Ma started calling it.

While she was practicing, she heard a thump next door. She found it odd since the space was not being rented and quietly walked over to the wall separating the rooms, removing the doctor’s framed diploma and peeking through a hole. As her eye scanned the area, the thumping got louder as did the moans.

When she saw who it was, Kate stepped back and covered her mouth in shock. Their lovemaking got louder and she could now hear her schoolteacher Ms. Abbott moaning and crying out for “John” as she straddled him on the chair he was sitting on. John was better known as Mr. Billings to everyone in town. Hearing his groans and growls made Kate cringe. She tried to keep from laughing as she kept watching. Mr. Billings was the wealthiest man in town but what God gave him in money and success, he surely did not in looks. He was rather short, slightly pudgy, with a balding head and a permanent sweaty brow. As a topless Ms. Abbott rode him harder, Kate grimaced when she saw him kissing her breasts. He looked like a piglet suckling on its mother’s teat.

As the thumping next door reached its climax, Kate had an unbrotherly thought that made her ache with arousal. Truth be told, she had been having many unbrotherly thoughts more often than she cared to admit. She turned her back against the wall, sliding down in shame until she was seated on the floor, trying not to think about fucking her brother and failing miserably. Next door, her Sunday schoolteacher cried out in ecstasy and everything went quiet.

When Kate heard shuffling and footsteps, she walked over to the window and crouched as she watched the God-fearing Ms. Abbott walk out. Flashbacks to the last lesson she gave made Kate’s blood boil.

“Self-righteous cow,” she mumbled to herself.

She thought about telling someone what she witnessed, but she had the upper hand by keeping this knowledge to herself. God himself wouldn’t be able to help Ms. Abbott if she ever brought up Thomas’ letter again.

Kate stopped attending Sunday school not long after her revelation; finding it too infuriating to keep listening to that woman go on about living on the right path to God. Putting effort into a valuable trade like medicine was much more important, especially for a woman. Taking advantage of what was at her disposal, she read every single book inside of Ford’s practice, diligently taking notes and asking questions. As the months wore on, the good doctor’s drinking increased as did Kate’s responsibilities. It was a match made in heaven.

It was early October and Thomas and Pa were sitting in a saloon in Cherryvale drinking whiskey after a day of being on the trail back home. They had been gone for the good part of a year and had completed the arduous task of building a barbed wire fence for a wealthy rancher.

As the music played, women wearing knee-length colorful petticoats worked their way around the room and entertained the men. Ceiling experts, scarlet ladies, soiled doves, the nicknames went on and on, but their eye-catching makeup made the nickname painted ladies the more common one. A pretty blond one in a crimson petticoat with black stockings and garters spotted Thomas and made her way over to him.

“Hello, handsome. Won’t you ask a lady to dance?” she asked playfully as she sat on his lap. Thomas cleared his throat and looked at her for a moment.

“I don’t dance,” he replied as he motioned to the bartender and ordered an entire bottle of whiskey.

A scarlet lady would typically start the night off dancing and chatting up a gentleman, getting him to purchase liquor for an additional profit. It was a gold mine and some girls made more money in one night than some men would make in a month.

“That’s very generous, Mr.?” she asked, still sitting on his lap and looking at the bartender who nodded approvingly.

“Thomas. That’s Armin,” he replied as he pointed to his father, who was sitting back in his chair smoking a cigar. He nodded at the pretty girl.

“Pleased to meet you, Thomas and Armin. I’m Jane. My boss over there behind the bar would like me and the girls to show you a good time tonight. Now, did I just hear a little bit of an accent there?”

“German,” he replied when he spotted another girl across the room and put his hands on Jane’s waist as he began getting up.

“Armin loves to dance,” he said, glancing over at his father, who was gulping down whiskey. He kissed Jane’s hand and thanked her for her time as he walked over to the prostitute standing by the piano, drinking champagne and surrounded by a couple of men.

Jane looked over at Pa and with a big smile asked him for a dance. Pa took a puff of his cigar, sat back in his chair, and gulped the remaining whiskey. With a nod, he slammed down his glass and stood up, forgoing the cane.

The girl by the piano grinned as Thomas approached her.

“My goodness, you’re as big as a stallion,” she said as she looked up at him. The men who were surrounding her silently agreed as they slowly made their way to other girls. Thomas held out his hand and she took it.

“You want to dance?” she asked as she began leading the way.

“No,” he replied coolly. She stopped in her tracks and looked back at him. “You have money?”

Thomas nodded.

“Okay, stallion. Follow me,” she said with a wry smile as she walked toward the staircase.

Pa was dancing and singing a German song to Jane when he looked up and made eye contact with Thomas, who was being led up the staircase to a private room by a scarlet lady with dark auburn hair. It was not the first time.

“Ah, he likes the gingers!” said Jane with a giggle as she looked in the same direction.

Pa’s forehead puckered, but he quickly looked away and cleared his throat, continuing to entertain Jane with his German.

Thomas hung his jacket on the chair and sat in the private room with the redhead while she went over the “rules” and “menu.”

“You got that?” She knelt between his legs and ran her hands up his thighs with a seductive smile. He thought she would look a lot better without the ruby red lips and flashy costume jewelry, but even without makeup, she would still fall short.

Thomas reached out to touch her hair, feeling the soft curls, and leaned over to smell it.

He sat up and stared at her for a moment. “I have a request. I can… pay… extra.”

She stopped rubbing his legs and tilted her head as she watched him reach into his coat pocket and pull out a small perfume bottle. She sniffed it and looked at Thomas.

“Is that… rosemary water?”