The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,130

not necessary,” Dooley said. “I know about you and Joe Carver.”

Mary paled. “But how?”

Dooley shrugged. “Mostly people don’t pay me any mind, which usually means they say stuff around me that they might not say around others.”

“You knew and you’d still consider me for—”

Dooley put one huge finger across her lips, silencing her before she could finish.

“Miss Mary, I would consider you just about the prettiest, sweetest thing this side of heaven. I reckon that cowboy took advantage of your innocence and lied to you to have his way.”

Mary sighed. She could stand there and let him believe that and then have to live with the lie. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“No, Dooley. It wasn’t quite like that. I suppose he lied to me, all right. But he didn’t force himself upon me. I fancied myself in love with him and, and…” She shrugged.

“Do you love him, still?”

Mary frowned. “No.”

“Do you reckon you’ll be able to love that babe you’re carryin’?”

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully.

Dooley nodded. “Fair enough. Well, if after it gets here and you find that you can’t, I reckon I’ll pick up the slack.”

Again, Letty was struck by the strength of true love and wondered why she had been cursed to spend her life alone. Of course, technically she wasn’t really alone. There was Eulis. But they would surely never be able to share anything but the lie that bound them to each other.

“So?” Letty urged.

Mary’s eyes welled up again, only this time with shy, growing joy. This morning she’d planned her death. Tonight she would be planning her wedding. Sometimes life was just too confusing to explain. She looked at Dooley, and then nodded and managed a weak smile.

“Yes, Dooley Pilchard, I would be most honored to be your wife, and I will spend the rest of my life making sure that you never want for companionship or comfort for as long as you live.”

Dooley felt like shouting the news to the whole town. Instead, he tucked Mary’s hand in the crook of his elbow.

“Then I reckon we’d better go have a talk with your Pa.”

“Thank goodness,” Letty muttered, and thought to add. “My, uh… traveling companion, Reverend Howe, is a minister. He’ll be happy to perform the wedding. We’ll be staying at the hotel for the next two days. Just let us know.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Dooley said, as Letty strode away, confident that she’d completed her mission in true godly fashion.

“Don’t tell Father that I’m with child,” Mary begged.

“I won’t tell him anything but the truth,” Dooley said.

Mary paled. “And the truth is?”

“That I’ve been in love with his oldest daughter ever since she quit wearing pigtails.”

“Truly?” Mary asked.

“Yes, truly,” Dooley answered.

The horrible weight in her heart began to shift and lessen. By the time they reached the dry goods store, she was smiling.

In Sickness And In Health

Harvey Ditsworth, the barber, dashed into Farmer’s Dry Goods, yelling as he ran.

“Myron! Myron! Come quick. Mary has been in an accident!”

Myron Farmer dropped the bolt of cloth he was holding and ran out from behind the counter.

“What happened?” he asked as he followed Harvey out the door.

“The stage. Someone said she fell under the stage.”

Myron stopped. It felt as if all the bones in his legs had just turned to mush. How could this happen? Only minutes before she’d been in the store waiting on customers. When she’d disappeared so suddenly, he’d assumed she had gone to use the facilities. This just couldn’t be! He couldn’t bear to think of his beautiful daughter all mangled and bloody.

“Dear lord… no!” Then he thought of his wife. “Mama. Mary will be wanting her Mama.”

“Wait!” Harvey said, and grabbed Myron by the arm. “Look there! Dooley Pilchard is bringing Mary home.”

As they watched, Mary stumbled. Dooley promptly picked her up in his arms and began carrying her.

Myron gasped. Seeing her alive and walking when only moments before he’d been preparing himself for the worst was such a relief that he burst into tears and ran toward her.

Mary was still in shock, both from surviving the accident and accepting Dooley’s proposal. When she saw her father and Harvey, she stumbled.

Dooley caught her before she could fall and picked her up in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” she said, conscious of her weight and his limp.

“I’m not,” he said softly, which made her blush.

“My father. Someone must have told him about the stage.”

“Accidents happen.”

Mary studied on what Dooley just said and decided there were no underlying meanings. Dooley Pilchard was too straightforward