“You can be,” Sally said. “Smoke, you are a justice of the peace. You can marry them.”
“Sally, what are you talking about? I’ve never performed a wedding ceremony. Why, I don’t have a Bible, I don’t have a book. I wouldn’t know what to do,” Smoke said.
“For God’s sake, Smoke, this has to be done, just do it!” Sally said, cutting him off in mid-sentence. “You’ve been married twice now. You know what to say.”
“Lucy?” Smoke said. “Do you want me to do this?”
“Yes, please,” Lucy said, taking Pearlie’s hand in hers and squeezing it hard. “Please marry us.”
“All right,” Smoke said. “Pearlie, do you take this woman, Lucy, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love, hold, and honor, as long—” Smoke paused in mid-sentence, and when he spoke again, his voice broke. “As long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” Pearlie said.
“Lucy, do you take Pearlie to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love, obey, and honor, as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” Lucy replied, her voice so weak that she could barely be heard.
“By the power vested in me by the state of Colorado, I pronounce you man and wife.”
“We are married,” Lucy said. She smiled through her pain. “Pearlie, you are my husband.”
“Yes,” Pearlie said. “And you are my wife.”
“Kiss me, Pearlie. Kiss me quickly.”
“Lucy?” Pearlie asked, his voice breaking.
“Kiss her, Pearlie,” Sally said. “Kiss her before it is too late.”
Pearlie leaned over and kissed her, holding it for a long moment before he suddenly stiffened, then raised up. He looked into Lucy’s face, which, despite her death agony, wore an expression of rapture. The joy of her marriage was her last conscious thought, because Lucy was dead.
When Pearlie looked up, tears were streaming down his face. Stepping over to him, Sally knelt beside him, then held him as he wept.
As Pearlie tightened the cinches on his saddle, Sally came out to see him, carrying a cloth bag. “I baked a few things for you,” she said.
“Shucks, you didn’t have to do that.”
“I know I didn’t. But I wanted to.”
“I appreciate it,” Pearlie said, tying the bag to his saddle horn. He looked back toward the bunkhouse. “I thought Cal would come tell me good-bye.”
“Cal’s having a hard time with the fact that you are leaving,” Sally said. “So am I. So is Smoke.”
“Yeah,” Pearlie said. He ran his hand through his hair. “Truth is, I’m having a hard time leaving.”
Running his hand through his hair mussed it up a bit, and Sally licked her fingers, then reached up to smooth it out.
“It’s just that, well, with what happened to Lucy and all, I need myself some time alone.” Pearlie held his hand up. “This is no knock on you and Smoke and Cal,” he said. “Lord, there can’t no man anywhere in the world have any better friends. It’s just that—” He paused in mid-sentence.
“I know what you mean, Pearlie,” Sally said. “And I understand your need to get away. I just hope it isn’t permanent.”
“Pearlie!” Cal called, coming from the bunkhouse then.
Pearlie turned toward his young friend and smiled broadly. “Well, I’m glad you came out to see me. I was beginning to think I might have to leave without saying good-bye.”
“I want you to have this,” Cal said. He held out his silver hatband. “You can see that I have it all polished up for you. You have to keep it polished. Otherwise, it gets a little tarnished.”
“Cal, I can’t take this,” Pearlie said, pushing it back.
“I ain’t givin’ it to you permanent,” Cal said.
Sally started to correct Cal’s grammar, but she realized that this was a very emotional time for the two young men, so she said nothing.
“I figure if you’ve got my silver hatband, you’ll come back for sure,” Cal said.
Pearlie looked at the hatband for a moment, nodded, then slipped it onto his hat. Without another word, he swung into the saddle and rode off.
Chapter One
When some of the hands tried to put the saddle on the horse’s back, it broke loose and reared up, pawing at the air with its front hooves. Then it began running around the corral, its hooves throwing up clods of dirt. Those who were sitting on the fence had to move quickly to get out of the way as the horse seemed intent on brushing them off.
