Wonder Woman was about to continue her questions about her accommodations at the Howard Bed & Breakfast when the back door opened and in walked a young woman far younger than Trish but there was a clear resemblance. She wore a tight little sleeveless, crop top dress that showcased her bare, midriff, a skirt that ended at mid-thigh and stiletto heels. Her body was tanned, her hair up in a sleek undo and had similar, glamorous makeup to Trish. In fact, the woman could have been Trish about twenty-five years earlier. Diana could only assume that this woman was one of Trish's aforementioned daughters.
"Diana Prince, meet mah eldest daughter, Ruby," Trish cooed, still rubbing her swollen belly, "Ruby works down at Bluebell's Day Care carin' fer them youngins. How were the lil' cuties today, Ruby?"
"Lahk angels, Mama," Ruby sighed, flashing a pretty smile.
"Ruby's gonna work there until she finds a feller of her own tah have her own lil' angel, isn't that right, sweetie pie?" Trish asked, and Ruby nodded but Diana observed that her serene smile broke for a moment and the twenty-something cast her head down in shame. Trish seemed to not notice this and continued to address her daughter, "Ruby, whah don't you show Diana here the room's she's lookin' tah be rentin' while Ah fish out the rental contract yer Pa keeps 'round here somewhere and fix us up some pink lemonade!"
"Sho' thing, Mama," Ruby said, the pretty smile returning. She then turned to Diana and invited her up to see the room.
Diana followed the full-figured girl up the stairs. The sight of Ruby's round backside swaying from side to side as she took one mincing step after the other up the stairs caused Diana to again get agitated at the situation she found herself in. All the while, she was half-listening to Ruby prattle on insensately about how much Diana will simply love the Howard Bed & Breakfast, and how they have never gotten a bad review by a guest since they opened. She added how nice the 'gals' staying at the Howard B & B were, as well as how nice everyone in town was. Diana bit her tongue at that latest endorsement for the raven-haired woman to stay with her family based on the utter nonsense she had heard and witnessed that day just coming into town.
"Well, here we are," Ruby said, as they arrived at the top of the staircase and the scantily-clad woman waved her hand in the air like a game show model would an extremely valuable prize. In this case, though, she was just presenting Diana a cosy room with what appeared to be a queen-sized bed, two dressers and a spacious looking closet. Ruby watched Diana look around and fidgeted in her stylish stilettos as she waited for her reaction.
"Well, it's certainly a beautiful room," Diana began, finishing her scan, "Ruby, I'll be honest, I'm looking for a nice, quiet and well... normal, place to stay. I know it's your family's Bed & Breakfast, but please be honest with me. There was a sign outside that mentioned 'gentlemen callers.' The girls here... They don't get too...wild, do they?"
Ruby began to laugh at this, her chest wobbling in the tight confines of her little dress. Finally, her laughter died down just enough to answer Diana, "Ah'm sorry, girl, but these are all good, wholesome Cutter Creek gals stayin' here. Sure they might bring home a fella every now an' then but Pa has made this place so it all stays quiet," Ruby's glamorously made-up eyes then grew wide and she minced over to Diana and whispered in the disguised heroine's ear, "Every room's been sound-proofed. Don't tell anyone Ah know that."
Diana swallowed hard at this odd new bit of information, but then she forced out a conspiratory smile and made a locking motion with her hand to her lips, "Ruby, your secret is safe with me."
Ruby giggled happily and exclaimed, "Does that mean you've decided tah stay here?"
"Yes, I think I will," Diana answered, thinking this was as good a place as any to set up camp in Cutter Creek. Especially if the walls were as sound-proofed as Ruby had said. Even if they weren't, Diana doubted she would find a better situation in Cutter Creek, "I'll just need some time to get settled. Bring my suitcases up and all that."
"No need tah wear a pretty lil' thing like yerself out. Big Zeke's been workin' on settin' up a gazebo out back an' the fella may be dumb as a post, but he's strong as a horse," Ruby said, before getting quiet and then smiled a naughty little grin, before whispering to Diana, "Hung like one, too! He'll bring yer things up to yer room. Oooooh, Ah'm so excited yer gonna be stayin' here, Diana! I jus' know we're gonna be friends!"
Diana laughed at Ruby's oddly sexual remark, but had to admit that the young woman's laughter and youthful energy was infectious. Still, having her suitcases brought up to her room by some man stood against her strict, Amazonian upbringing and her deep feministic beliefs. Besides, she wanted to show these women of Cutter Creek that a woman could do something for herself. Diana spoke, "Ruby, I'm sorry but I insist I bring up my own things."
"Ah know what Ma an' Pa would say here, Diana. They'd say that sounds like nonsense! Ah know yer a big city gal and y'all don't know this kinda stuff, but men are here tah help delicate lil' ladies out. Trust me, Diana. Ah know," Ruby cooed, batting her extra-long eyelashes and forming a sad little pout with her full, shiny lips, "Ah done went tah one of yer big city schools fer higher book learnin'. Went fer two whole years before Ah came back home tah Cutter Creek on vacation with mah roommate at the time, an' then Ah realized what a waste o' time it had been! Done dropped out an' here Ah am. Happy as can be. Only thing that'd make me happier if one of a nice gentlemen-caller o' Cutter Creek would put a bun in mah oven an' make me his blushing bride!"
Diana looked long and hard at the serene smile that spread over Ruby's face and realized that the twenty-something meant every single word of what she had said. To make matters worse for the symbol of female power that was Wonder Woman, she was proud of her declarations. And yet this girl had chosen to have gone to college at some point? There was more of a story here and Diana vowed to investigate further. Diana knew she had stumbled onto something in Cutter Creek, and it wouldn't end with simply finding her sister, Donna. She owed it to women everywhere to either enlighten these poor women, or at the very least stop whoever was making them into these big breasted, pregnancy-obsessed tarts.
"Well, good luck," was all Diana managed to say to break the silence in the room. Ruby giggled contently and then suggested they go back downstairs so Diana could sign the rental agreement and to taste some of her Mama's pink lemonade.
Diana and Ruby made their way downstairs and the heroine could hear a commotion going on in the front room of the Bed & Breakfast. Ruby led Diana into the room and there was Trish, along with a man in blue jeans and a plaid shirt that appeared to be in his mid-sixties with gray hair and what Diana assumed was yet another Howard daughter. The girl, who looked younger than Ruby, was holding a little boy of about two years old in her arms and showed signs that she was pregnant in her tiny little sun dress.
"Diana, I want you tah meet the man of the house, Mr. Roger Howard," Trish said, her beaming smile somehow becoming even brighter as her husband reached out to shake Diana's offered hand. Diana was impressed, this was the first show of respect she had received from a man since she entered Cutter Creek. Trish giggled lightly and then continued, "An' this, Diana, dear, is mah daughter, Lilly. And this handsome lil' man here is her son, Henry."
"Named after my father. Jus' took Lilly here to see the Doc about her next lil' child that already a-brewin' in her belly," Roger said with a proud smile, as Lilly handed the little boy over to her father.
"Pa! Don't put it like that!" Lilly exclaimed.
"That's basically how it works, ain't it?" Roger said with a hearty laugh, "Anyway, it's nice tah meet you, Diana. Trish tells me yer lookin' fer a room?"
"She sure is, Rog," Trish said with a smile.
"That is great news. And she's agreed to the house rules?" Roger Howard spoke in a jovial voice.
The three Howard women in the room all looked at Diana with big, questioning eyes and raised their perfectly-sculpted eyebrows at the woman. Diana felt herself being silently prodded into answering the man, "Yes, Mr. Howard. I agree completely to your rules as a tenant. Besides, you probably won't even know I'm here."
"Now, if'n yer stayin' under mah roof, Diana, an' payin' yer hard-earned money fer a room, then I insist ya get yer dollar's worth. Trish, honey, set out another plate. I want tah make sure Diana here has the best cotton-pickin' meal's she's done ever had!" Roger exclaimed over Trish, Ruby and Lilly's excited commotion that they were going to have another guest at their Bed & Breakfast. Roger Howard smiled over at his family and then proceeded to give Diana the rental agreement and a pen out of his shirt pocket for the raven-haired woman to sign.
As Diana was signing the agreement to stay, she heard the low rumble of a pick up truck parking up outside. Diana looked out the bay window and saw a familiar-looking truck from her time in downtown Cutter Creek, her brow furrowing as the same feeling of anxiety flowed through her. Then, she glanced back at the Howard family, finally noting the big, brunette hair all the women in the family shared, and that was when the pieces all began to fit together. Snapping her attention back to the truck, Diana grimaced as the same broad-shouldered boy wearing letterman's jacket from downtown stepped out of his truck before moving round to help his short, yet full-figured girlfriend out of the truck. No doubt about it, this was the remaining Howard woman, with the same figure and lustrous brunette mane as her mother and sisters.
"That'll be Clem and our youngest, Jessica," Roger smiled.