The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,290

that there’s what’s left of him. He killed Eulis Potter, an unarmed man, standing in his own yard. Miz Potter didn’t do anything but get justice for her man.” He started to holster his pistol, then thought better of it and added. “One more thing. If I hear one unkind word said about that woman, I will take it real personal… you hear? There aren’t many men, let alone a lone woman, who could do what she just did. She rode the saddle for nigh on to twenty straight hours, riding hard through the dark in unfamiliar land, with one shot in a rifle she didn’t know how to reload. That’s the kind of woman a man would lay down his life for… which is what Eulis Potter did. It don’t matter whether you agree with her method. She just did what was right.”

Hamm was speechless, but the crowd was not. By the time Robert Lee had ridden out of sight, the story of Letty Potter’s prowess had spread through half the town.

Letty didn’t know and didn’t care. The easy part of her life was over. The hard part was learning how to live without Eulis at her side.

Katie Samuels was playing in the dirt near the front steps when she heard someone coming up the trail. She saw the horse, recognized the riders, and went running into the house.

“Mama Alice, Mama Alice… Miz Letty and Robert Lee are back!”

“Thank you lord,” Alice cried, and wiped her hands on the front of her apron as she ran from the house. But when she saw Letty’s face and the condition of her clothes, she was almost afraid to ask what she’d done.

“Letty… Letty… thank God you’re home,” Alice said, as Letty slid off the horse.

The reins slid out of Letty’s hands to fall dangling to the ground. Robert Lee grabbed her around the waist, steadying her stride before she fell.

Alice gasped and put a hand to her mouth. Her eyes were wide—questioning.

Robert Lee shook his head slightly as he tightened his grip on Letty.

“Come on now, Letty. Let me help you in the house. You made it this far. Just a little bit farther to go.”

Letty swayed against him, then looked up. When she saw Alice, their gazes locked.

“Where is he?” Letty asked.

Alice sighed and bit her lip.

“I laid him out in his coffin in the living room floor. A man is digging his grave right now. I’m right glad you made it back in time to see him put to rest. Did you catch who did it? Did you learn his name?”

Letty hadn’t thought past revenge for Eulis, but this was going to be a thing Alice would have to learn to bear.

“Yes, I know his name,” Letty said.

Alice waited.

Letty looked down at her boots, then back up at Alice.

“It was George… your husband… and I’m right sorry to tell you that I killed him dead.”

Alice’s face flushed, and then turned pale as a sheet as she covered her mouth to keep from screaming. Overwhelmed with guilt for what had happened, she fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around Letty’s legs.

“Lord, God… I am so blessed sorry. It’s my fault. I should never have stayed and put you and your family in this danger.”

“Get up,” Letty said. “It’s not your fault Eulis is dead. George killed him, not you. It’s something that happened, and it’s something we will get past.”

Then Letty looked past Alice to the front door. He was on the other side of those walls—waiting for her to tell him goodbye.

Robert Lee felt sick. He didn’t think Letty would survive this. She hadn’t eaten or slept in days. Now, the thought that she was going to have to face her husband’s funeral seemed a torture she shouldn’t have to endure.

“Letty?”

“I can do this,” she said softly, and started up the steps.

“At least let me—”

Letty stopped, then spoke without looking back.

“I need to do this alone.”

Alice sat down on the front steps and covered her face with her apron.

Katie slid beneath Mama Alice’s arm and hid her face in her lap.

Robert Lee didn’t move.

T-Bone laid down near the steps.

Letty walked into the house and quietly closed the door behind her.

No one moved.

A pair of butterflies flitted through the morning sunlight, landing briefly on the porch rail, before flying off in search of blossoms from which to feed. An eagle appeared just above the treetops north of the house, sending a flock of feeding birds to take flight.

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