And then he was there, at her feet. She stared down at him—and at last she saw what had heretofore escaped her notice.
"Sam! Oh, Sam…" Her voice said everything. It was the voice of a woman long-gone in love. "Sam Fletcher, you went and cut your hair!"
So deeply moved was she, that she forgot momentarily that she was still holding a gun. It fell from her suddenly limp fingers. Several quick-thinking patrons hit the floor once more. But luck was with them. Brendan, who'd moved behind the bar when Delilah leapt up on it, caught the gun before it could go off and actually hurt someone.
A collective sigh of relief went up from the awestruck crowd.
And it was as the sigh faded that Delilah Jones leapt from the bar and into Sam Fletcher's waiting arms. He caught her without effort. His lips came down on hers.
Neither of them noticed the cheers and catcalls. They were lovers, loving, and the rest of the world meant less than nothing at all for a time.
Eventually, though, they came up for air. And that was when Sam said, "I love you, Delilah Jones."
And Delilah, hearing those precious words at last, felt her heart rise up, light as a sunbeam, carrying her with it, into an infinity of bliss. She said, "And I love you, Sam Fletcher. Till death do us part."
"So what does this mean?" Jared was still demanding. "He still hasn't said he'll marry her."
"He's marrying me," Delilah told her brother, never taking her eyes from the man who held her in his arms. There was a cut over his left eye. She gently wiped the blood away, clucking, "Oh, Sam…"
Oggie cleared his throat, "Uh, Sam, I gotta ask you. About The Mercantile…"
Delilah looked at Sam with appeal in her eyes.
"Keep it," Sam Fletcher growled, smoothing Delilah's hair. "I got everything I wanted out of you, Oggie Jones."
Oggie winked at Patrick, who stood over near Owen Beardsly, by the curtain to the back room.
Delilah said, "I have everything I ever wanted, too. Now Sam, may we please go home?"
"Which home?"
"It doesn't matter. Your house or mine. Home is either one of them, as long as you're there."
With a deep, joyful laugh, Sam Fletcher hoisted his woman high in his arms. He turned for the double doors.
"He gave up The Mercantile and that fine truck of Brendan's just to get him the schoolmarm," Rocky Collins declared in total bafflement, as Sam pushed through the double doors.
"Was she worth it?" some smart aleck nearby inquired.
"You better believe it, bud," Sam tossed the words over his shoulder as he kicked open the door.
Delilah sighed and laid her head against his heart as the man she loved carried her out of The Hole in the Wall and into a magnificent starry spring night.
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WAGERED WOMAN Page 21