Page 69 of A Soft Kiss in Summer
Everyone looked at her when she straightened up.“Oh, maybe he didn’t.”
“Well, what did he look like?”
Violet gave them the description of the man who’d stood with her and Josiah by that creek bank and married them.He was hard to forget.Although there were lots of men with white hair, the reverends had stuck out all over his head, making him look half-mad.
He’d had a bulbous red nose too, and his voice was quite squeaky for a man.The moment she was finished describing him, one of the girls who worked the saloon had her face scrunched up as if thinking.
“What is it?Does he sound familiar to you?”
“Kind of,” the girl said.“He sounds a bit like Amos but, he’s not a preacher.He’s too big of a drunk to be a godly man.”
The brunette Bonnie knew looked out over the room.“I think I saw Amos earlier.”
Violet’s pulse leaped as she turned back to the bar.There were so many people there and cigar and cigarette smoke hung heavy in the air.
She craned her neck, and even climbed the steps to the upstairs rooms to get a better look and when one of the girls said, “there he is,” she saw him.Near the front of the saloon next to the man playing an upbeat tune on the piano.
He had a girl in his lap, his hand up her dress, and when he lifted his head and grinned, Violet did the same.
She’d just found Reverend Peele.
Commotion by the door brought Josiah’s head up.The raised voices that followed brought the deputy on duty to his feet.He’d still been napping, but jumped to attention when the door slammed open and Violet walked in—trying to drag someone in with her.
She turned and grinned at him, her hands clenched on the arm of a man who was trying to get away.When Bonnie stepped into the doorway and gave the man a shove inside, he finally got a good look at him.And smiled.“You found him!”
Violet laughed.“I sure did!He was in the saloon.”She gave the man’s arm another pull before saying, “Meet Amos Goodbody, aka Reverend Peele.”
The Reverend—Amos—he corrected himself, looked half drunk.His eyes were bloodshot, his clothes disheveled, and that shocking head of white hair was everywhere.
He managed to pull away from Violet and flopped down in the chair by the sheriff's desk and leaned against it.Then just blinked at everyone in the room with him.
“Amos,” the deputy said.“What have you done now?”
“You know him?”Josiah asked.
The deputy huffed out a laugh.“Who doesn’t know him?He can usually be found on one street corner or another, passed out drunk.”
“So, he’s not a preacher?”
The deputy laughing was all the conformation he needed.He glanced at Violet and knew the moment she realized what he did.
They weren’t really married.That license they’d signed was fake, which meant Edwin had come to Silver Falls to marry her with a fake preacher and a fake license.
But why?
The sheriff chose that moment to come back into the office.He took one look at Amos, rolled his eyes, and swung his arm out, pointing to the empty cell next to his.“Throw him in there, Ned.I don’t want him passing out on my desk again.He’s too heavy to carry when he’s nothing but dead weight.”
“Hold on,” Josiah said.“He can identify Edwin.Take him over to the undertaker and see if he can tell if it's him.”
The sheriff sighed.“I just came from the undertakers.”He gave Violet a look before walking around his desk to sit down.“Do you know how embarrassing it is to ask to see a man's private parts?Especially when said man is dead?”
Violet gave him a sympathetic smile.“I’m sorry you had to do that, sheriff, but better you than me.”
The sheriff banged his fist on his desk, startling everyone, especially Amos, who still sat slumped over.
When Amos lifted his head, the sheriff asked if he knew Edwin.
Amos nodded, his eyes closing again.
