Page 88 of Because I Could Not Stop for Death

He nodded. “Thank you.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

The next morning, Emily and I walked to the post office to mail her letter to her father asking him to buy Terror.

I wrung my hands the entire way.

“Don’t be so nervous about this, Willa. I know my father, and he will have a soft spot for this horse. If there is one thing I am gifted at it is writing appealing letters.”

I wished that I had Emily’s confidence.

Holden and his friends were sitting outside of the post office.

“Well if it isn’t Willa with Miss Dickinson in tow. You two are up bright and early this morning.”

Emily held up her letter. “We have much to do.”

“Yes, like finding a killer,” Salinger said. “You two are the talk of Amherst for the many questions that you have asked about Henry’s death. Do you really think that is wise? You could be gathering some unwanted attention.”

Emily looked down at him. “In my opinion all attention is unwanted.”

The men laughed as Emily walked into the post office, and I was close on her heels.

The bell over the door rang just like it had the last time I was there.

“We open in thirty minutes,” Mr.Milner called from the back room.

“We are just dropping off a letter.”

Mr.Milner pushed a cart into the room. “Miss Dickinson, I didn’t realize that it was you out here. I’m sorry to make you wait.”

“I thought you opened in thirty minutes,” Emily said.

“For the general public, yes,” he said with a red face. “But we are always open for a member of the Dickinson family.”

Emily nodded as if that was the only acceptable response he could have given.

Mr.Milner nodded to me as well. “Willa, it’s nice to see you again too.”

I nodded.

“Let me have that letter and make sure it gets off safely.”

Emily held it out to him.

“I see that it’s going to your father. His last letter in Washington, perhaps.”

Emily cocked her head. “My father receives a lot of correspondence, so I doubt it. I’m telling him about something happening at the stables that needs his attention.”

Mr.Milner’s eyes went wide. “Oh, and what is that?”

“It’s none of you concern, Mr.Milner. Please take care of that letter. It’s urgent that it makes its way to my father in today’s mail.”

He nodded. “Of course.”

Emily and I left the post office.

I tried not to worry about Terror for the rest of the day, and I prayed Emily’s letter would make it to her father in time. In many ways, saving Terror was an attempt at saving Henry, too, because I knew that’s what my brother would have wanted. I couldn’t let him down.

---