Courting Miss Hattie (43 page)

Obviously pleased with her words, Reed nevertheless gave her a wry look. "You may be ready to go in," he said, "but I think I'd better wait a couple of minutes."

At her quizzical expression, he glanced downward. Her gaze was drawn to the front of his trousers, and she blurted out a naughty giggle.

The final hymn before the preaching was in its last chorus before Reed and Hattie Tyler walked down the center aisle of the church. The high color in the newlyweds' cheeks only added to the speculation about their late arrival.

When the benediction was pronounced and the last "amen" declared, Reed took Hattie's hand. If he'd planned to steal her out of the church, though, he was doomed to be disappointed. The
Tyler
family surrounded them, offering hugs and kisses. After they had each had a turn, the rest of the congregation approached with congratulations and
curiosity.

As they slowly made their way to the back of the church, Hattie saw
Ancil
waiting at his pew, his children looking lost and confused. Her step didn't falter, partly because of the warm surge of strength she drew from the feel of Reed's hand at her waist.

"Good morning,
Ancil
," she said. Her gaze was direct and without any pretense of concern or challenge. "Preacher Able brought the news of our wedding to you?"

"Well, sure he did,"
Ancil
replied crankily. "But I think you owe me an explanation yourself."

She paused, determined to find the right words to account for her actions, but was prevented from doing so as Reed stepped between them.

"I'll straighten this all out with Drayton," he said casually to her. Taking the older man's arm in a not too gentle grip, he turned
Ancil
to the door. "Hattie would like a few minutes alone to talk with the children."

The rest of the congregation had filed out the door, and Hattie found herself alone in the church with seven young faces looking up at her.

Their expressions, curious and sorrowful, put her at a loss how to begin. As she hesitated, the heavy silence dragged on. The deadlock was finally broken as the youngest threw
himself
against her legs and begged to be picked up.

Hattie eagerly pulled the child into her arms and hugged him. "I've missed you, Buddy," she said. "Have you been a good boy?"

Buddy nodded vigorously, though his devilish smile made his answer questionable. She smiled at the child, delighted and saddened. Buddy needed a mother, and soon he would have one, but it wouldn't be Hattie.

"You married Mr. Tyler?" The question came from
Ada
, who was sitting in the end of the pew between her sisters.

"Yes, I did," Hattie answered.

"Does it mean that I have to give my doll back?" she asked anxiously as she eyed the rag-filled toy in her arms.

Smiling warmly, despite the sharp shard of steel that pierced her heart, Hattie started to assure her, but was interrupted by
Cyl
.

"Don't be dumb,
Ada
," she said, her voice rough with anger. "Of course you can keep the stupid doll. She doesn't want it." Rising from her seat,
Cyl
sidled out of the pew, stopping only for an instant to stare Hattie in the face. "She doesn't want it, and she doesn't want us," the girl spat out. Her fury was mighty, but she was unable
to
hide the tears in her eyes as she turned and ran out the door.

Ada
looked like she might be likely to cry, too, but Mary Nell shushed her immediately. "Don't be a baby.
Cyl's
just having a fit over nothing. We'll be getting another mama, and that's a certainty."

Ancil
Jr. stood up and took his little sister's hand. "I'll take
Ada
to
Cyl
," he said. "They
ain't hardly never
parted, and they maybe need each other now. Congratulations on your wedding," the young man added with stiff politeness. "We're all hoping you'll be right happy."

"Me too," Luke said simply, and followed his brother's retreat.

Fred stood also. His bewildered expression revealed his mixed loyalties. "I always liked Reed Tyler," he told Hattie.

She tenderly raffled the thatch of reddish-blond hair that was sorely in need of cutting. "He's a fine man, Fred, and I really love him," she said, surprising herself at her own admission.

The young boy shrugged with acceptance. "Well, I guess it's all right, then. Is it true he's young enough to be your son?"

Hattie blanched at the comment, and Mary Nell's giggle quickly turned her face from white to scarlet. "I am older than he is," she said, "but not old enough to be his mother."

The boy nodded, reassured, then held out his arms for his brother. "Come on,
Shorty
," he said to Buddy. "You can't be hanging onto the women's skirts forever."

Delaying the inevitable, Hattie hugged the child one more time and planted a soft kiss in his curls, then turned him over to his brother. She watched as the two walked hand in hand out of the church and down the steps before breaking into a run. The toddler tried without success to keep up with his older long-legged brother. Briefly Hattie mourned the loss and offered a quick prayer that someday her own boys would go running down those steps.

"I don't see what the big fuss is about." Mary Nell's voice broke into Hattie's reverie. "It's not like you're the last woman on earth. Preacher Able is already
settin
' up an introduction to the widow
Blackburn
from over at
Carson
's Flat." Sighing loudly, Mary Nell shook her head with dismissal. "To my way of thinking, one stepmother is pretty much the same as another."

"And you don't want one, no matter who she is," Hattie said.

"I want one, all right," Mary Nell answered, surprising Hattie. "Believe me, it was
nothin
' personal. I want someone
to
take over the housework and minding the kids. I'm deathly sick of it, for sure." The young girl's exasperated sigh was telling. "It weren't that I didn't like you, Miss Hattie. I just wanted you to understand, right off, that I'm plumb grown and I don't need
no
mothering and I don't take no orders."

"So you don't mind if your father remarries?" Hattie asked.

"Oh, it really don't matter much to me," the young girl said lightly, rising to her feet and cocking one hand on her hip. At that point Hattie noticed her dress. She was clearly attempting to portray herself as a woman several summers older than thirteen years. "I'm
plannin
' to marry up pretty soon, by next spring anyway, so I'll be
gettin
' out of that house for good."

Hattie was appalled. "Mary Nell, you are not near old enough to marry."

The young girl raised her chin defiantly. "I most certainly nearly am. I got my woman's curse last winter."

"You're so young," Hattie insisted. "You have years of fun and friendship before you need to settle down to marriage."

Mary Nell shook her head. "I'm
marryin
' soon. Do you think I want to wait around like you did and be passed over by every man in town?"

The cruel words caught Hattie unaware. In the months that she'd been courted and during the last few days of marital bliss, she'd already forgotten that she was nobody's first choice for wife.

Some of her self-doubt must have shown in her face. Mary Nell walked over to her and patted her consolingly on the arm. "That's all right, Miss Hattie. You got you a man anyway. And believe me, I couldn't agree with you more."

"Agree with me about what?"

"If I had two men
itchin
' to marry me for my land, I'd choose the young stud over the old geezer myself."

* * *

Reed led Drayton gently but persistently away from the church, conversing about the weather. Given a choice, he wouldn't have wasted an extra breath on
Ancil
Drayton, but he wanted Hattie to have her private moment with the children.

"I think I gotta right to be riled," Drayton said, finally shaking free of Reed's grip and stopping. "I spent a couple of months there softening her up, and you just came in and nabbed her."

Reed raised one shoulder in a careless gesture, unconcerned about Drayton's annoyance. "Sometimes that's the way it happens. I'm sure you'll find someone else."

"Well, sure," Drayton replied, making it clear that he was not suffering from his loss. "I'm goin' to start calling on the widow
Blackburn
next week, though her land ain't much. Not like Miss Hattie's. I sure had my heart set on that piece of ground."

They had reached the shade of one of the scrub oaks near the buggies, and Reed figured they were far enough away for Hattie to be spared any annoying comments from Drayton.

"I'm sure you'll make do with the widow's acreage," he said as he turned to leave, eager to get back to Hattie.

Drayton nodded. "Sure I will. And it ain't all bad. Widow Blackburn's a fine-looking woman. Even with that good piece of ground,
marryin
' up with
Horseface
Hattie didn't set too well with me. I suspect you feel about the same."

Reed turned back, his face white with anger. His eyes narrowed dangerously, but his voice was deceptively quiet. "I do not want to hear my wife referred to by that name ever again."

Drayton laughed. "It ain't like I made it up, Reed.
Folks been
callin
' her that since she was a schoolgirl."

"I know." Reed's words were even and controlled. "But I don't want to hear her called that ever again."

Unaware of the depths of the other man's anger, Drayton attempted to counter his unkind words. "I ain't saying she's not a wonderful woman. Lord knows, she works harder than a dozen of these young gals and she's real kind. She was real kind
to
me," he emphasized. "From the neck down, she's passable, but
facts is
facts, boy. That woman's got a face that would curdle milk."

Drayton gasped as Reed suddenly grabbed him by the shirtfront, lifted him off the ground, and slammed him into the trunk of a tree.

Reed's eyes were no more than slits, and his words were released between clenched teeth. "Don't
ever
call my wife by that name again, Drayton. I'd hate to have to beat up on an old man like you."

A crowd immediately formed around the two men, with Preacher Able struggling to get through.

Eyes bugged out, and strangling on
his own
fear, Drayton was eager to accommodate. "Whatever you say, Reed. From now on, I'll call her Hattie."

Pulling his victim forward slightly, then slamming him against the tree trunk again, Reed said, "You call her Mrs. Tyler, and tell your friends to do the same."

Reed felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Harmon beside him. He glanced around at the wide-eyed crowd, shocked by his own actions. He was not a man prone to brawling or displays of temper.

He released his captive, abruptly, and Drayton might well have fallen
to
his knees had Harmon not propped him up. Before a word could be spoken between Drayton and Reed, Harmon threw an arm around Drayton's shoulder and hustled him away.

Reed heard his friend telling Drayton in a most amicable tone, "I agree with Reed one-hundred percent, and if I hear you speaking cruel of Miss Hattie, I'll try to get to you before Reed does."

As his friend and former rival left, Reed found himself standing beside Bessie Jane. Casting a disdainful glance in the style that had made her the belle of the county, Bessie Jane froze the gawking crowd with one look. As the churchgoers quickly discovered other interests and moved on, she turned to face Reed. "Are you all right?" she asked.

He looked down at the sweet heart-shaped face with the determined little pointed chin and wide blue eyes, and smiled. "I guess I lost my temper," he admitted.

"Sometimes that's the best thing to do. At home I was taught that a lady never shows her temper. But Harm has convinced me that coming right out with what you think and feel is a much more honest approach to life."

She looked so serious, so thoughtful, that Reed found himself intrigued by this new Bessie Jane. "Are you happy?" he asked, surprising himself with his curiosity.

She nodded, smiling. "Yes, I'm very happy. I know it must have seemed irrational to be engaged to you for so long and then suddenly ran off with another man. But Harm and I have really known each other for a long time."

"He was the one, wasn't he?" Reed asked. "The man before me."

She looked puzzled for a moment,
then
bit her lip. "You knew?" she asked incredulously.

"No," he assured her. "Not until Hat—
Let's
say I finally figured it out."

"It was terrible to use you like that, Reed," she said. "Daddy hated Harm and wanted me to marry you. I thought if we did that, I—I could forget the man I really loved."

He shrugged. "It doesn't work out that way."

"You were so gentle with me, Reed, but it's just not the same as when you love someone."