Page 25 of Sugarplum Dreams
“Wilson McBride. Look at you over here in the corner by yourself.”
Charity looked up to see Beth Gibson walking toward them.
Not that Beth was looking at Charity. Not at all. Her eyes were fixed on Wilson. And Charity couldn’t blame her. Wilson was quite good-looking, and she wouldn’t stop looking at him if it wouldn’t make things so awkward.
“Aren’t you going to take another bite?” Wilson asked, and she wasn’t sure he even had turned his head.
“I am. I want to make it last though.”
“Wilson? Did you hear me?” Beth stopped at their table and leaned down on it. Her shirt was rather low, and there was a good bit of cleavage that spilled out.
Charity looked up, saw the cleavage, blinked, and looked back down quickly at her plate, embarrassed.
She couldn’t imagine wearing something so revealing. Mostly because it was not modest, and the Bible commanded Christians to be modest, but also because…it was just so weird, the idea that a person would show their private areas to anyone who cared to look.
“It’s a nice day, Beth. Thanks for stopping by, but I’m with my fiancée, and we’re on a tight schedule, so if you don’t mind,” Wilson said, causing Charity to look up. Really? His fiancée? She supposed she was, but she didn’t have a ring.
“I don’t see a ring. Fiancée? Why haven’t I heard about that?”
“It just happened, and even though I didn’t have a ring, she agreed to marry me anyway.” Wilson’s words were smooth.
“What’s she doing with you? Is there something she’s blackmailing you over? I mean, come on, this is Charity Ames. She’s got five kids. She’s the one whose husband ditched her, couldn’t stand her, and ran off with that woman who was butt ugly, because he was so desperate to get away from her. I heard he fled the country and is living in Austria or something.”
It was Australia, but Charity wasn’t going to correct her. She just said all the things Charity thought in her mind to herself. She wasn’t worthy of Wilson.
“You know, it’s funny, because I was wondering what she is doing with a man like me. Someone as talented and amazing as Charity is. She’s challenged my views on the Bible, giving verses to back up her position, and I really love having intellectual conversations where the woman I’m talking to doesn’t just agree with everything I say but has opinions of her own. Her intelligence is really what I fell in love with to begin with.”
Now he was making it up. Because he hadn’t fallen in love. They’d talked about that. They didn’t believe in it. And yet here he was telling Beth that’s what happened.
Charity was a little annoyed at that, and maybe Wilson saw her face. Because his hand descended on hers, and he squeezed until she looked up at him.
“Are you okay?”
“I am.” It was true. He was being so solicitous and sweet. How could she not be okay?
“So you’re saying Charity is smart? She didn’t even go to college. She got married right away and started popping out babies.”
“I guess I don’t think that going to college makes you smart. I spent some time in school with people who didn’t know a whole lot but were there because Mommy and Daddy wanted them there. I guess I would rather be with someone who knew what she wanted and went after it and wasn’t afraid to not do what everyone else was doing.”
That was her, that was for sure, Charity thought to herself.
“Well, I am going to be spreading this all around town. I don’t think anyone knows that Wilson McBride is now a taken man. Of course, engagements don’t always last, do they?” Beth said, looking at Charity. “Just like marriages don’t always last. A woman’s husband might leave her for someone uglier and worse than she is, just to get away from her.”
Beth wrinkled her nose and straightened up from the table.
“I’ll leave you two to your meal. Since you’re on a tight schedule.” She said that in a rather nasty way before putting her nose in the air and walking away.
Charity wanted to cry. Everything that Beth said was true. Absolutely true, and it was what the entire town said and thought about her. And yet Wilson wanted to marry her. Maybe he didn’t understand how badly everyone thought about her. It was up to her to let him know.
Chapter Twelve
What Beth Gibson had done, the way she had insulted and belittled Charity, could have ruined the rest of the meal. Wilson would have allowed it to ruin his. But he hadn’t counted on Charity.
It had upset her, of that he was sure, but after Beth left, she put another bite in her mouth, swallowed, and then looked at him. “She’s right. All that stuff is true.”
“It wasn’t nice,” he said. It didn’t matter whether it was true or not. Of course he didn’t want people going around telling lies, but just because something was true didn’t mean it had to come out of a person’s mouth.
“But it’s good that she did that. I… You should know what you’re getting into.”
