The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,300

up the list.

“Coffee… cornmeal… beans?” He scanned the rest of the items she’d written down and then frowned. “I didn’t realize you had access to a cook stove.”

Delilah smiled coolly, when she really wanted to slap his face. “Like everyone else, I require food to live. I do not live in the hotel. It’s just where I do my business, remember?”

Milton flushed nervously. He didn’t particularly want it known that he had taken advantage of her services, and decided that the best way to deal with it was to get her list filled and get her out of the store as soon as possible.

“I’ll be getting these for you right now. If you want to wait out—”

She glared. “I’ll be right here.”

Milton flushed.

“Yes, of course. I won’t be long.”

“I’ll just bet,” Delilah muttered, as he began scurrying about the store.

“Sometimes, they just grate on your last nerve, don’t they?”

Delilah flinched, and then turned around, surprised that a woman was actually speaking to her. Then she recognized the woman and her surprise deepened.

“Mrs. Potter?”

“Call me Letty,” she said, and smiled. “My husband and I lived across the hall from you a while back. Maybe you remember?”

Delilah flushed. “Yes, ma’am, I remember. I’m real sorry about your husband and all. I would have come to the services, but I knew it wouldn’t be proper. Still, you have my sympathies.”

Letty nodded.

“Thank you.” Then she pointed toward the new crates being unpacked in the back room. “Did you come for coffee, too?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Letty smiled again. “Your name is Delilah, isn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am. Delilah Carter.”

“Where are you from?”

Delilah rolled her eyes. “You name it.”

Letty understood. She eyed her closer, guessing her age at about twenty, maybe twenty two. She was a tall, pretty girl with auburn hair and blue eyes. Her skin was smooth and clear, but there was a hard look in her eyes that Letty recognized. The young woman had no trust left in her.

Milton came scurrying by, then glared at Delilah as if she was overstepping her bounds by even speaking to Denver City’s richest woman.

Letty saw the look and glared back at Milton, startling him to the point that he got flustered and dropped the bag of beans he’d been carrying. It hit the floor with a splat and burst open, sending dry, speckled beans in every direction.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” Milton gasped, and ran for a broom and pan to scoop them up. They had to be washed anyway, so he didn’t figure they’d come to any harm.

“We’ll get out of your way for a bit,” Letty said, and pointed toward the corner of the store where the fabrics were kept. “Join me… will you?”

Delilah was more than surprised. She was shocked.

“Thank you, ma’am, but I don’t think it would be—”

Letty took her by the arm and all but dragged her away from the counter.

“Don’t look so startled,” Letty said. “I have something to ask you.” She put her hands on her hips and eyed the young woman from head to toe. “Do you like what you’re doing?”

Delilah frowned. “If you’re about to preach at me, ma’am, then I’d just as soon you kept your thoughts to yourself. You’ve obviously never been in my position, or you wouldn’t ask a question like that?”

Letty led with her chin and kept talking.

“That’s just it, honey… I have been in your position… for years back in the Kansas territories… in a watering hole in Lizard Flats called The White Dove Saloon.”

Delilah’s lips went slack. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

“I don’t get it. If this is true, then why are you telling me this?”

“Because I thought if you were interested, you might consider changing your occupation.”

A muscle jerked near Delilah’s left eye, but her voice never wavered.

“I didn’t choose my occupation. It chose me. Believe me, not a day goes by that I don’t wish the redskins had killed me, too, when they killed my Ma and Pa.”

“Where were you when this happened?” Letty asked.

“We’d just crossed the Mississippi.”

“How did you get away?”

“I wasn’t in camp when they attacked.” Tears suddenly pooled in Delilah’s eyes and rolled down her face unchecked. “I hid when I heard the war cries. Then I heard Mama screaming and closed my eyes. When I woke up, it was night and they were gone. They scalped my folks and took the wagon and horses. A pair of French trappers found me.”

Letty hurt for the child Delilah had been. Their lives were too similar to ignore.

“How old were you?”

“Ten.”

“Lord,” Letty