The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,255

at which point, he’d quietly made himself scarce. It gave her an odd feeling to know that he’d stood up for her like that.

When she reached the corner of the sidewalk, she paused to wait for a stagecoach to pass. Eulis promised to meet Letty in their room, and she was fighting the urge to run to him. Instead, she crossed the dusty street with her head held high, and her steps long and steady, unconscious of the stern jut of her jaw. When a man on horseback rode too close to her, T-Bone barked, and then nipped at the horse’s heels. Letty was already in the hotel by the time the cowboy had his horse under control.

The young clerk was back at work. He smiled when he saw Letty.

“You did something real brave today, Ma’am,” he said, and then blushed.

“A little foolhardy, too,” Letty said.

The clerk shook his head.

“No, ma’am. It was amazing, and so are you.”

Uncomfortable with the unexpected praise, Letty hurried up the stairs and down the hall with T-Bone at her heels. She was almost running when she reached their room. The door was ajar. The pup ran in, headed for his bed in the opposite corner, and was already in it and settled as Letty entered.

Eulis was standing at the window. His pants were hanging a little loose, and there was a small tear just below his right knee. His gray shirt was a collar-less homespun with long sleeves he’d rolled up to his elbows. His face was lean and expressionless, delineating his rough-cut features more than usual. He could have used a shave and a haircut, but to Letty, he looked just fine. It occurred to her he’d been watching her from the window as she’d crossed the street. What had he been thinking? Was he upset with what she’d done?

“Eulis?”

He took a deep breath and then turned.

“Come here, girl. I need a hug.”

Letty hurried across the room and walked into his arms. When they closed around her, she shuddered.

“Oh Eulis… that poor woman… and that baby… that poor, poor baby. We laid in our bed and listened to her dying.”

“We had no way of knowing,” Eulis said.

“I should have done something sooner. If I had, maybe—”

“No. Stop thinking like that. The only person at fault is the man who did it.” He kept hold her close as he rubbed at the middle of her back, gentling her as much as himself. “You did a real dangerous thing today, but I have to say, I’ve never been prouder to know you, girl.”

Letty struggled with tears until she finally let them fall.

“It’s okay,” Eulis kept saying, as he did all he could to ease her pain. “Shoot. I could’a told that George Mellin that he’d done the wrong thing when he ticked you off. I remember how your temper used to spew just because your bath water wasn’t ready.”

Letty laughed, which was exactly what Eulis intended. He led her to the side of the bed and pulled her down beside him.

She grabbed his hand, and as she did, a notion she’d been harboring in the back of her mind took rise.

“Eulis… I’ve been thinking…”

He groaned. “Now, that can’t be good.”

She punched him lightly on the arm and crawled the rest of the way up on the bed, hugging her pillow against her belly like a shield.

“I’m serious,” she said. “I want out of here. There are too many people down here trying to mind our business for us.”

Eulis frowned. “But honey, there ain’t no other place to go. We don’t have any furniture, and Robert Lee has settled in real good in the cabin.”

“I don’t care,” she said. “We slept in and under our wagon all the way across the prairie, then up the mountains to Denver City. I’d sooner sleep back under the stars with you, or on a blanket in the floor of that new house, than spend another night under this roof.”

Eulis grinned.

“Then I reckon that’s what we’ll do,” he said.

“Good. I’ll pack up our stuff in here. You go get our wagon. T-Bone and I will be waiting when you get back.”

Eulis wrapped his arms around her and gave her a slow, gentle kiss, then grabbed his hat off the bedpost and headed out the door.

The pup raised its head and looked to Letty.

She grinned.

“We’re getting out of here, T-Bone. Tonight, we’ll be sleeping in our own home.”

The pup didn’t know what she’d said, but the tone of her voice made