by Sharon Sala
Boston Jones got out, eyeing the businesses, focused in on the saloon, and started across the street as Morris stepped out. He was looking for Shorty to register indignation about the abruptness of their arrival.
“I say, that could have been a much smoother approach.”
“Had to stop sudden-like,” Shorty said. “This little lady here fell right in front of the stage. Didn’t think I was gonna be able to miss her!”
Eulis and Letty got out in time to hear Shorty’s comment and both looked at the young girl in question. Grabbing onto the opportunity to insinuate them into the goodwill of the residents of Plum Creek, Eulis quickly stepped forward.
“Dear girl… won’t you let Sister Leticia assist you to your home?”
Mary shuddered. Home? It was the last place she wanted to be.
Letty saw the empty expression in the girl’s eyes and read it as more than shock. She slipped an arm beneath the young girl’s elbow.
“Mary is it? My name is Let… uh, Sister Leticia. Will you let me walk with you?”
Mary could see the woman’s lips moving, but she couldn’t hear her voice. Then she started to shake.
Without waiting for her to answer, Letty slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, then looked to the sheriff.
“Where does she live?”
He pointed down the street. “Her parents run the dry goods store. They live above it.”
Letty nodded, and then patted Mary’s arm. “Lean on me,” she said softly.
Mary was halfway home before she realized her feet were moving. She stopped, looked down at herself and saw a rip in the bodice and dirt all over herself. She’d lost the heel on one shoe and her face was starting to burn where her face had been skinned. She touched her face then helplessly tugged at the tear, trying to pull the torn sides together.
“It will be okay,” Letty said softly.
Mary swayed on her feet then looked up. She didn’t know the woman, but she saw kindness on her face, and it was enough to break the wall of her defenses.
“No, it will never be okay,” Mary said. “I am with child and this morning, they hanged the man who got me this way.”
Letty sighed. She’d heard plenty of similar stories from girls who’d worked in her position, but never from a girl of a proper family.
“Do your parents know?”
“No.”
“You need to tell them. They’ll know soon enough, as it is.”
The girl swayed where she stood then looked away.
“No. I’d rather die than see the disappointment on their faces.
Suddenly, for Letty, the near-fatal accident took on a whole other connotation.
“Look at me,” Letty said.
“I can’t,” Mary said. “I’m ashamed.
Letty took her by the arms and shook her.
“So ashamed that you’d kill yourself instead of face the truth?”
Mary covered her face with her hands.
Before Letty could speak, someone put a hand on her shoulder and turned her completely around. She found herself staring at the middle of a big man’s chest. At that point, she looked up then took a studied step back.
“Are you makin’ Miss Mary cry?”
Letty wasn’t in the habit of being intimidated by any man, no matter the size.
“No. She’s doing a fine job of it all on her own,” Letty snapped. “And who are you?”
“Dooley Pilchard. Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Dooley said, and then frowned at himself. He wasn’t sure that was true, but the manners that had been drilled into him as a boy had popped out without thought.
Dooley didn’t know that his heart was in his eyes as he looked at Mary Farmer, but Letty recognized the look. She’d seen it on a miner’s face as he’d promised to love and honor Letty’s friend Truly Fine until death did them part. Letty stared long and hard at the man, then back at the girl.
“Does he know?” Letty asked.
Mary gasped and looked up.
“Know what?” Dooley asked.
“Don’t!” Mary cried, and then covered her face again.
Dooley pulled himself up to his full height of six feet, seven inches, and gently moved Mary’s hands away from her face.
“Miss Mary, we need to get you home and those scratches tended to on your face.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
He frowned. “What you mean, you can’t? Are you hurtin’ in your limbs? I can carry you easy. Just let me—”
“Tell him!” Letty said.
Mary turned on Letty.
“Shut up! Shut up! I shouldn’t have told you. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Told her what?” Dooley asked.
“She’s with child.”
Mary groaned and started to wilt.
Dooley grabbed her before she could fall and then scooped her up in his arms.
“I reckon I’ll carry you the rest of the way,” he said softly.
“I don’t want to go home. I want to die.”
Dooley felt like dying himself, but he didn’t have time to let the feeling fester.
“Yeah, I already figured that out,” Dooley said. “Might near took me with you.”
Letty’s eyes widened. “Are you the man who saved her?”
“I reckon I am,” Dooley said.
Suddenly, it was as if good Lord himself leaned down from heaven and whispered the answer in her ear.
“I know how to fix this,” she said shortly.
Dooley pulled Mary away from Letty as if she’d just tried to attack her.
“You ain’t doin’ nothin’ to this girl or her baby. You hear me?”
Letty hid a smile. It might just work after all.
“I wasn’t going to suggest anything of the kind,” Letty said, then looked at Mary. “You got a baby that’s gonna be missing a daddy and you got yourself a man, here, who treasures the ground you walk on.”
Dooley’s face turned a dark, angry red as Mary gasped. She looked up at Dooley, and for the second time today, found herself unable to look away from those big blue eyes.
“I didn’t know,” Mary said.
Dooley frowned. “Didn’t matter then. Still don’t matter. I ain’t anyone you’d ever care for and I know that.”
“She needs a husband,” Letty said.
Mary’s eyes widened further as she began to understand where the woman’s conversation was leading.
“Put me down,” she begged of Dooley.
“Don’t reckon I will,” he said. “Least not until I’m sure you’re under the watchful eye of your folks.”
“I said… she needs a husband,” Letty muttered, unwilling to turn loose of her idea. “You got a problem raising another man’s child?”
Dooley looked down at Mary and slowly shook his head.
“I reckon it would be real easy to love any part of Mary Farmer, be it her or her child.”
Mary started to cry.
Dooley glared at Letty. “Now see what you went and done. I told you not to make Mary cry.”
Letty hadn’t survived all these years without persistence, and she wasn’t about to give up on what she considered was her first mission of goodwill.
“She’s not crying because she’s mad. Ask her and see what happens.”
“Ask her what?” Dooley said.
Letty rolled her eyes. “Save me from the stupidity of men. I reckon the Good Lord took more than a rib from man to make his mate. I’m thinking He took the smart half of their brain as well.”
“Are you insultin’ me?” Dooley muttered.
“I rest my case,” Letty muttered, and rolled her eyes. “Mr. Pilchard, ask her to marry you and see what happens.”
Dooley looked down at Mary, who had again, covered her face with her hands.
“There ain’t no way a girl this pretty would ever want anything to do with me. Besides, she gave her heart to another.”
“He’s dead,” Letty countere
d. “You’re not. I said ask.”
Dooley felt himself coming undone. This morning he’d gotten out of bed with nothing more serious than a good bait of ham and biscuits for breakfast. Now this. He didn’t know what to think. But he did know that he didn’t want to let Mary Farmer out of his sight for fear she’d try to do herself in again.
He cleared his throat.
Mary looked up. He was as dusty as she was and skinned up even more. That was when she realized she hadn’t even thanked the man for what he’d done. Without knowing her intent, he’d put himself in harm’s way to save her. She at least owed him a thank you.
“Dooley.”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“You put yourself in harm’s way for me. I thank you for that.”
He felt himself blushing.
Letty rolled her eyes and started muttering beneath her breath, which made Dooley nervous all over again.
“You’re welcome, Miss Mary.”
Letty made a sound between gritted teeth that sounded somewhat like a growl.
Being sandwiched between these two women was more female companionship than Dooley had encountered in some years. He didn’t know whether to run, or state his case. Then Mary Farmer touched his arm.
“Dooley, please don’t. My shame is not your concern.”
He frowned. “Well now… it could be, if you was to let me take up your care.”
“I’m sorry?” Letty asked.
The embittered whore in Letty shoved it’s way past Sister Leticia’s act as Letty punched Dooley’s shoulder.
“For God’s sake, mister, say it or get the hell out of my sight.”
Dooley was too startled by the rough words coming out of Letty’s mouth to argue. Instead, he took Mary by the hand and tried not to think about how tiny it felt against his palm.
“Miss Mary… I’m not presuming to think that you care anything for me, and that’s all right. I reckon if you was to do me the honor of being my wife, I could care enough for the both of us.”
Mary’s breath caught in her throat. She kept looking at this mountain of a man and remembering the strength in his arms and that he’d chanced his life to save hers.
“I can’t,” Mary said.
Both Dooley and Letty exhaled as if they’d been gut-punched.
“At least not until I confess my whole sin,” Mary added.
Both of them drew a new breath, taking fresh heart.
“That’s not necessary,” Dooley said. “I know about you and Joe Carver.”
Mary paled. “But how?”
Dooley shrugged. “Mostly people don’t pay me any mind, which usually means they say stuff around me that they might not say around others.”
“You knew and you’d still consider me for—”
Dooley put one huge finger across her lips, silencing her before she could finish.
“Miss Mary, I would consider you just about the prettiest, sweetest thing this side of heaven. I reckon that cowboy took advantage of your innocence and lied to you to have his way.”
Mary sighed. She could stand there and let him believe that and then have to live with the lie. She couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“No, Dooley. It wasn’t quite like that. I suppose he lied to me, all right. But he didn’t force himself upon me. I fancied myself in love with him and, and…” She shrugged.
“Do you love him, still?”
Mary frowned. “No.”
“Do you reckon you’ll be able to love that babe you’re carryin’?”
“I don’t know,” she said truthfully.
Dooley nodded. “Fair enough. Well, if after it gets here and you find that you can’t, I reckon I’ll pick up the slack.”
Again, Letty was struck by the strength of true love and wondered why she had been cursed to spend her life alone. Of course, technically she wasn’t really alone. There was Eulis. But they would surely never be able to share anything but the lie that bound them to each other.
“So?” Letty urged.
Mary’s eyes welled up again, only this time with shy, growing joy. This morning she’d planned her death. Tonight she would be planning her wedding. Sometimes life was just too confusing to explain. She looked at Dooley, and then nodded and managed a weak smile.
“Yes, Dooley Pilchard, I would be most honored to be your wife, and I will spend the rest of my life making sure that you never want for companionship or comfort for as long as you live.”
Dooley felt like shouting the news to the whole town. Instead, he tucked Mary’s hand in the crook of his elbow.
“Then I reckon we’d better go have a talk with your Pa.”
“Thank goodness,” Letty muttered, and thought to add. “My, uh… traveling companion, Reverend Howe, is a minister. He’ll be happy to perform the wedding. We’ll be staying at the hotel for the next two days. Just let us know.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Dooley said, as Letty strode away, confident that she’d completed her mission in true godly fashion.
“Don’t tell Father that I’m with child,” Mary begged.
“I won’t tell him anything but the truth,” Dooley said.
Mary paled. “And the truth is?”
“That I’ve been in love with his oldest daughter ever since she quit wearing pigtails.”
“Truly?” Mary asked.
“Yes, truly,” Dooley answered.
The horrible weight in her heart began to shift and lessen. By the time they reached the dry goods store, she was smiling.
IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH
Harvey Ditsworth, the barber, dashed into Farmer’s Dry Goods, yelling as he ran.
“Myron! Myron! Come quick. Mary has been in an accident!”
Myron Farmer dropped the bolt of cloth he was holding and ran out from behind the counter.
“What happened?” he asked as he followed Harvey out the door.
“The stage. Someone said she fell under the stage.”
Myron stopped. It felt as if all the bones in his legs had just turned to mush. How could this happen? Only minutes before she’d been in the store waiting on customers. When she’d disappeared so suddenly, he’d assumed she had gone to use the facilities. This just couldn’t be! He couldn’t bear to think of his beautiful daughter all mangled and bloody.
“Dear lord… no!” Then he thought of his wife. “Mama. Mary will be wanting her Mama.”
“Wait!” Harvey said, and grabbed Myron by the arm. “Look there! Dooley Pilchard is bringing Mary home.”
As they watched, Mary stumbled. Dooley promptly picked her up in his arms and began carrying her.
Myron gasped. Seeing her alive and walking when only moments before he’d been preparing himself for the worst was such a relief that he burst into tears and ran toward her.
***
Mary was still in shock, both from surviving the accident and accepting Dooley’s proposal. When she saw her father and Harvey, she stumbled.
Dooley caught her before she could fall and picked her up in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” she said, conscious of her weight and his limp.
“I’m not,” he said softly, which made her blush.
“My father. Someone must have told him about the stage.”
“Accidents happen.”
Mary studied on what Dooley just said and decided there were no underlying meanings. Dooley Pilchard was too straightforward to be referring to her pregnancy.
“Yes. That’s right. Accidents happen.”
It was all they had time to say before Myron Farmer’s arrival.
Myron took one look at the abrasions on Mary’s face and the condition of her clothing and knew what he’d just been told must be true.
“Is it true? Did you fall beneath the stage?”
She hesitated just a moment too long for Dooley.
“Well sir, Mr. Farmer, I saw it all. She miss-stepped and fell right off the sidewalk into the path of the oncoming stage. But she’s fine now as you can see.”
“Because of you,” she said softly. “And you can put me down. I can walk the rest of the way home.”
“No. I reckon I’ll be carrying you… just to make sure,” Dooley said.
Mary blushed.
Myron frowned as he looked from Mary’s clothes to Dooley’s clothes, then from the abrasions on her face to the same sort of wounds on his face and hands.
“I say, Dooley! Was it you? Did you save our Mary?”
Mary nodded. “Yes, Father. It all happened so fast I hardly remember it well, but I know he caught me and held me tight with one hand, and caught the team’s harness with his other until the stagecoach driver could stop.”
Myron threw up his hands and began crying anew, embarrassing Dooley to no end. He wasn’t accustomed to crying people, especially men.
“I just happened to be there,” Dooley said. “And I reckon we better get Miss Mary home and see to her face.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Myron said. “Follow me.”
Dooley did, still carrying the woman who was going to be his wife. He hadn’t completely absorbed the impact of all that had happened in the last thirty minutes, but he knew his life would never be the same. Then he looked down at Mary, remembered the loneliness of his life and decided that would be just fine.
Myron hurried into the store to find his wife waiting on a customer.
“Mother! Mary has had an accident.”
Elizabeth Farmer gasped as she saw the huge blacksmith carrying Mary into the store.
“Oh dear!” she cried, and ran to Mary. “What happened?”
“She fell off the sidewalk in front of the oncoming stage,” Dooley said, feeling more and more comfortable with his part in the lie.
“Dooley saved me,” Mary added, thankful that her part in the story was still the truth.
“Thank God and thank you,” Elizabeth said, and hugged them both. “Can you bring her upstairs?”
“Yes, ma’am. I reckon I’d be happy to.”
Then Elizabeth remembered her customer. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Dewar. I’ll get your order right now.”
The banker’s wife shook her head. “No, no. I can come back later. You tend to your child.” She patted Mary’s arm. “You are a very lucky young woman, and you sir, are a brave young man to do what you’ve done. You should be honored.”