The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,305

you ill?”

Letty shaded her eyes with her hand as she looked up.

“I have been a bit under the weather this morning, and would appreciate a ride back to the house.”

Robert Lee was surprised by the request, but more than happy to oblige.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said softly, and helped her mount. “Just hold onto the horn. I’ll walk you back, myself.”

“Thank you,” Letty said, thankful that she wouldn’t have to make the trek back on her own.

Robert Lee gave her a nervous glance as they started toward the house at a slow, easy pace. The rocking motion of the horse didn’t sit all that well with Letty, but it was still better than making the walk back of her own volition.

“I’d be happy to ride down and get Dr. Warren,” Robert Lee said.

“There’s no need,” Letty said, and lifted the heavy fall of her hair away from her neck.

Robert Lee frowned. “But you said you weren’t well.”

Letty sighed. It seemed odd that Robert Lee was going to be the first one she told, but she had to start somewhere and he was the closest.

“Well, if this morning is any indication, I reckon I’ve got a few more months of being sick ahead of me,” she said.

Robert Lee paused, then turned around and looked her square in the face. There was a glitter in her eyes he’d never seen before, and a softening of the sternness around her mouth.

“What are you saying?”

“That I’m with child.” Her chin quivered just the least little bit, but she didn’t give way to the tears in her voice. “I was just giving Eulis the good news. He didn’t have much to say on the subject, but you know how he is. Even when he’s happiest, he’s still a quiet man.”

Robert Lee’s heart stuttered to a stop, then started back up so suddenly that it hurt the inside of his chest. He looked at her body, picturing the way it was going to change, and was instantly ashamed that he was jealous of a dead man.

But then he smiled, and as he did, Letty was startled by the way it changed his face. It was the first time she’d actually seen Robert Lee as the man he was, and not just an employee and a friend. It also struck her that, for a man who’d lived such a hard and dangerous life, he was actually quite handsome.

“I’m proud for you, ma’am,” he said softly. “It must give you a real good feeling to know that Eulis is still with you after all.”

Letty thought about it a moment, then nodded.

“You’re right, Robert Lee. You put a good name to the feeling that’s in me. I’m sad that my baby will never know its father. Still, I’ve had a dream all my life of one day sitting out on the back porch of my house with my child at my feet, watching the sun go down and the moon come up. And as the darkness comes to the land, we’d be listening for the first call of the whippoorwill. I used to do that with my Mama before she died. Then, after the way my life turned out, I never thought I’d get to do it with one of my own.”

Robert Lee heard the longing in her voice and wanted to weep. Instead, he pulled his hat down a little lower over his forehead and urged the horse forward. With every step that brought them closer to the house, Letty Potter was growing farther and farther away from him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Within the month, everyone in Denver City knew that the Widow Potter was carrying her dead husband’s baby. Even the hardest of men were touched by the situation.

After a quick examination, Dr. Warren pronounced Letty and her baby healthy and forbid her to ride until after the baby was born. For Letty, it was a small price to pay for the joy of becoming a mother. At first, she’d been uneasy that Alice would be upset, maybe even envious that Letty was having a baby when hers was dead. But she wasn’t. It was Letty’s first lesson in knowing how the heart of a mother can work. Alice had taken Katie into her life as readily as she’d accepted the baby to whom she’d given birth. One had been taken away, but another had been given. Life wasn’t easy. Raising a child to adulthood was even harder. Alice knew that firsthand. Letty