tiring, that I fear I’m not myself.” He cleared his throat and began again.
“Sophie Hollis… do you promise to obey this man in every way until death do you part?”
She’d been a little miffed at Alfonso’s interruption until the preacher had mentioned the word ‘death’. The memory of her dear Nardin’s untimely demise made her forget her irk. Of course she should obey. It was, after all, the mode of the day.
“I do. I do.”
Her gasp was tinged with just a hint of a sob. Alfonso squeezed her hand in a comforting manner and sent her into spasms of delight. She could hardly wait. For everything.
“And do you, Alfonso Worthy, take this woman to be your wife? Will you take care of her and all that’s hers forever until one of you dies?”
“With pleasure,” Alfonso said, thinking of Sophie’s womanly body, and then amended by adding, “I do, too.”
Eulis felt euphoric. He was getting to the good part and hadn’t messed up yet.
“Then by all that’s holy, I say you’re man and wife. And no man here should put it under.” Letty groaned. “Asunder. The word is asunder.”
But Eulis’s second faux pas didn’t matter. As far as everyone assumed, the two were now legally wed. The gleam of relief in Alfonso’s eyes matched the lust in Sophie’s. Each had gotten what they most desired.
A rousing cheer went up.
“Food and drinks inside,” Alfonso announced, and stepped back as the crowd surged forward.
Sophie shivered in her shoes and pressed her new husband’s arm against her breast as she held fast to him to keep from being swept off the porch. When he caught an arm around her waist to steady her, she knew that she’d done the right thing. One day she would even confess to him that she’d figured out who her secret admirer had been, but for now, she was just happy to call him husband.
When Eulis would have willingly joined in the celebration, Letty grabbed him by the arm and hauled him off the porch before he imbibed too much to finish the rest of what he must do.
“Come with me,” she hissed.
Eulis yanked his arm free and looked back at the house. “But what about the party?”
Letty pointed toward an old man who was sitting astride a horse just outside Sophie’s fence.
“You don’t have time for partying. You’re the preacher, remember? That old trapper has been waiting for you to get here and bury his partner.”
She wiggled her eyebrows and glared. It was enough of a reminder to Eulis about the need to cover up their own dirty deed that he quickly bolted off the porch. A vision of the real preacher bouncing down into that deepened hole came back with full force. The few inches of dirt he’d tossed over the man would not suffice long unless the real corpse was laid neatly on top and planted beneath six feet of territory dirt as planned.
“Lead me to him,” Eulis said.
Letty did as she was told.
Henry Wainwright held his breath as best he could. He and Parson were about to take their last trip together. And when it was over, Henry would be going on alone. The need for haste outweighed whatever lingering sorrow Henry had mustered. Old Elmer smelled to high heaven, and that was a fact.
By the time they got to the outskirts of town and entered the cemetery, Henry was plumb light-headed from lack of oxygen, and the preacher and the whore in the two-tone dress looked green. They passed right by James Dupree’s marker which prompted Letty to a fresh set of tears.
“Maybe you’d best tip him on in and begin covering him up,” she suggested, unwilling to think of Jim, and desperate to have the last of her sin buried as quick and as deep as possible. “The preacher here can talk while you shovel.”
Henry nodded. It sounded like a plan to him. Will the Bartender had promised to come to the burying, but it was obvious that he’d forgone his promise for the celebration taking place down at the newlyweds’ home. No one else had bothered to follow them out of town. Possibly because Elmer and Henry had been strangers to Lizard Flats. And possibly because Elmer Sutter stunk.
Henry untied the travois from the horse and pushed it to the edge of the hole that Eulis had dug yesterday. A quick film of tears covered his eyes as the buffalo robe and all that it held slid down into the grave.
Dust boiled