The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,202

back, diners were gathering at the table, only Letty was noticeably missing. He felt a brief moment of panic and then backtracked.

Although it was still early, barely daybreak, the air was warm and still. The sky was a dirty color of gray and held a promise of rain. Eulis paused on the back stoop, listening for anything that seemed out of place, but heard nothing alarming. He was just about to go in search of Letty when she came around the corner of the inn.

She looked startled when she saw him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I was about to ask you the same question,” Eulis said.

Letty frowned. “I told you where I was going.”

“I know.”

“There was a line.”

“Oh… well, I was just coming to check, that’s all.”

“I’m fine. Let’s eat.”

Eulis followed her back into the inn, pausing only once to look behind him, and then firmly closed the door.

Mrs. Cocker was carrying in a huge platter of hot biscuits when Letty took a seat at the table.

“Good morning, Mrs.,” the innkeeper said.

“It’s Miss,” Letty said, and scooted over slightly so that Eulis had room to sit down.

The innkeeper arched her eyebrows, but said nothing more.

Letty glanced up only long enough to see if anyone had been paying attention, then breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that the men were too intent on eating to pay attention to what the two women had been saying.

Eulis leaned over and spoke quietly in Letty’s ear.

“Food looks good, don’t it, Letty?”

“Smells even better,” Letty said. “Sure beats what we’ve been calling food.”

“Now that we’re here, we’ll do better.”

“Not unless you do the cooking,” she said.

The only eating utensils were large spoons, but Letty could have cared less. She was starved for real food, and would have gladly eaten it with her fingers, if necessary. She picked up her spoon and was about to take her first bite, when she heard a familiar voice.

“Since there’s a preacher here at the table, don’t you reckon we oughta’ have him bless the food? Especially after the set-to we had last night.”

Letty felt Eulis flinch as she looked up. Boston Jones was staring at them from the other end of the table.

“Preacher? Who’s a preacher?” Mrs. Cocker asked.

Boston pointed at Eulis. “That man there is Reverend Howe. Right, preacher?” Then he tipped his hat at Letty and smirked. “Good morning, Sister Leticia. I trust you slept well after the trouble last night.”

“I slept fine,” Letty said, and then saw Mrs. Cocker smiling congenially, far more friendly than she’d been when they had arrived yesterday evening.

She glanced at Eulis, who was grim-faced and pale. She grabbed his hand beneath the table and gave it a squeeze, then picked up her spoon as if nothing was amiss and stared pointedly at Boston Jones.

“The preacher has suffered a setback in his calling since we last saw you. He no longer wishes to be referred to as preacher and in fact no longer wishes to be called by his given name. He has taken the name of his maternal grandfather, Eulis Potter. And in the same vein, I would appreciate just being called by my name, Leticia Murphy… or Letty. I’m sure you’ll understand.”

Mrs. Cocker looked disappointed, but didn’t comment. Instead, she shoved a platter of hot cakes toward Eulis, offering him first serving.

“Help yourself,” she said. “No ceremony around here.”

Eulis slid a couple of hot cakes onto his plate then passed the plate to Letty, who took a helping and passed it on. Conversation quickly resumed among the men. They were more than familiar with bad turns in life. For most of them it was the reason they were here hoping to strike it rich—hoping for a miracle. No one cared if some preacher had lost his religion. They cared even less that the ex-preacher had a female companion who was not his wife. But Boston Jones wasn’t as easily sidetracked. He leaned forward so that he was looking directly into Eulis’s face and pointed his spoon at him.

“So you’re saying that we shouldn’t be expecting any rousing sermons intended to save our souls?”

“That’s right,” Eulis said, then smiled at Mrs. Cocker. “Real fine biscuits, ma’am.”

She beamed.

“That’s a shame,” Boston said.

Letty was tired of his needling. She’d never liked the man anyway, but he was really starting to get on her nerves. She licked the gravy off her spoon, then pointed it at Boston Jones.

“Not half as big a shame as all the gold dust you’ll probably steal from the miners