Page 44 of A Soft Kiss in Summer
He’d barely looked at the house to be honest and, according to Daisy, her grandfather had been up before dawn, gathering everyone together to show the house to them.
Guilt made her want to confess to him that the marriage was fake, but with so many others around, she held her tongue.The whole town didn’t need to know.
The wildflowers she collected were already wilting, the buds dropping now that she’d pulled them from the ground.Daisy had a bouquet nearly as large as the one she held and the way her heart hurt, she wanted to just toss hers to the ground but held on to them, despite her sudden change in mood.
She hurried back through the house and out the front door.Josiah was by his horse, Jake, talking softly to him.Their eyes met and for once, there wasn’t an ounce of emotion in his that she could read.
Daisy joined her on the porch and she watched her head to the wagon she and her grandfather had ridden out there in.Josiah was waiting, she realized, when she glanced back over at him.As much as she liked being held in his arms, she knew he probably didn’t feel the same way.
“You go on ahead,” she called out to him.“I’ll catch a ride back to town with Daisy and Gramps.”
“You sure?”
She nodded and gave him a tight smile.“Yes.I’ll be fine.”
He didn’t say anything else, just climbed onto the saddle and rode away as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do.
Her grandfather nudged her with his elbow.“Don’t let him get away from ye.”
She blew out a breath.“Gramps, pl—”
“—Don’t gramps, me,” he interrupted.“That’s yer husband.”
“But he’s not.Not really.”She blew out another breath and glanced behind her to see where the others were.She saw them out back and said, “It’s not a real marriage, gramps.”
“Sure it is.As long as that preacher was legit, then it's real.”
“But Josiah doesn’t want it to be real.”
“Then change his mind.”
“How?”
“You’re a woman.Use yer feminine wiles.”
She laughed.“My feminine wiles?”
“Women have been seducing men fer as long as they’ve been fornicating.He’s legally yer husband.Act like his wife.”
“You sound like Daisy now.”
“Well, great minds do think alike.”
He hurried to the wagon, and she glanced back at the little house.It was in rough shape, but it would be fun fixing it up.She had enough linens and house goods in her hope chest to decorate it and make it livable in less than a week.She could make a home out of it, a home she and Josiah could start a family in.
The thought made her chest ache, knowing it would never happen.She gave one last look to the cabin surrounded by pink wildflowers she’d never have and headed to the wagon.
The ride back into town was made in silence, the conversation with her grandfather still fresh on her mind.He’d told her to use her feminine wiles to get Josiah to change his mind about their marriage.But how exactly did she go about doing that?
He knew something was wrong the moment he got back into town.Bonnie was running down the road toward the mercantile, and the door to Doc Tibbens' office was standing wide open.
He spurred his horse into a run, not slowing until he reached the mercantile where Bonnie was banging on the store’s door.It was too early for anyone to be there, and she realized it as he dismounted and headed for the steps.“What’s wrong, Bonnie?”
She was crying, her face splotchy, her eyes blood-shot and red.“It’s Archie.He’s dying.”
He wasn’t sure if her words were an exaggeration or the truth, but he was headed toward Doc Tibbens' place when he saw the others who’d been out at the small house the town provided for the Marshall come back into view.
Bonnie ran on ahead of him and he glanced at Violet as she looked his way before he ran to catch up with Bonnie.Doc Tibbens was examining Archie when he made it inside and the old man looked up at him, a grim expression on his face.
