Chapter 11
D wight flicked the reins against the horse’s rump and looked over at his wife as she sat primly beside him in Doc’s buggy.
It was a bright, pleasant, early-fall day and the thought occurred to him that things couldn’t be much better—in spite of spending a sleepless night in bed with his wife, separated by their makeshift bundling bolster that he had silently dubbed the Great Wall of China. He’d been fervidly aware of every breath she took and every move she made. Hours into the night, he had laid awake as he listened to Mary’s soft breathing—a sweet, cute kind of snore, which wasn’t a snore at all. It was endearing, and for some reason it made his heart turn to mush.
At one point, he had carefully sat up in the bed so that he could see over the top of the China wall and watch her as she slept. In repose, her lovely face was almost ethereal and bathed in moonlight. He’d noticed she unconsciously kept a hand on her belly, cradling the tiny life within. The sight made a strong emotion well up inside him—a feeling not unlike that of possessive protection, as if a mighty hand gripped his insides in a tight fist. He knew he would move heaven and earth to protect both of them from any and all harm…and he wished wholeheartedly that the baby she was carrying was…his.
At that moment, he realized he had fallen, lock, stock and barrel, for this girl who was his wife.
But oh, what problems that could generate. What if she didn’t feel stirrings toward him? What if she merely needs a man in her life to bring stability, and to give her baby a legal name? What if, in spite of a certain amount of attraction that she seemed to feel toward him—chemistry, for lack of a better word—her heart wasn’t engaged? What if, once the baby arrived, she smilingly repacked his things in his portmanteau, thanked him for his service, and showed him to the door? What would he do?
What would he do? Walk out the door a broken man.
But after his overactive imagination had finished delivering that opening argument, the budding lawyer inside him rose up and declared, “I object, Your Honor!” Just as the law of the land said a man was innocent until proven guilty, he was her husband until, and if, she turned him away. And until that time, all was fair in the cosmic law of love and war.
During the long, sleepless night, Dwight had determined he would woo his wife. He would court her, albeit surreptitiously, and make her fall in love with him. And then, as the last dregs of the dark night had waned, he had closed his eyes and prayed hard that this situation would, indeed, turn out to be the blessing he had originally believed it to be. And he prayed for God to help him in his quest…to soften his wife’s heart toward him.
Now, as they rode along, a feeling of contentment swept over him as he thought about how his life had changed in the month since he had come to Brownville.
He enjoyed working for David, and he still wanted to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He was actually studying to become an attorney—and David had complimented him several times on his aptitude, telling him that he will make a good lawyer. That was high praise in Dwight’s opinion, because he already revered his boss for his sharp mind, keen wit, and legal proficiency. The latter he found purely amazing. Their exhilarating daily discussions of cases and theories he was studying in the books were the highlights of his days.
Beyond the enjoyment of his job, he gloried in the fact that he was married to one of the sweetest young ladies he’d ever had the pleasure to know. Granted, they still weren’t married in every sense of the word, but… He knew deep down that Mary felt something for him. He could see it in her eyes and sometimes he’d catch her looking at him with a wistful expression, before she would quickly avert her gaze elsewhere.
Right now, she was softly humming a happy sounding tune as they rolled along the road.
Dwight smiled as he remembered his boss telling him that morning that Doc had asked if they would look into what happened regarding his patient. David then informed Dwight that he wanted him to ride out to the farms, in the vicinity surrounding the Swigert’s, and interview the residents to find out if they had seen anything suspicious the previous morning. Offhandedly, he’d also suggested Dwight take his bride along and perhaps enjoy a picnic lunch. They could make a day of it if they wanted, as he foresaw no need to rush back. In the recesses of his mind he suspected that David and Doc were in cahoots together in some sort of matchmaking scheme. If they were, he certainly wasn’t going to put up a fight.
Even as he suspected his boss had a soft spot for romance and was obviously trying to help Dwight and Mary’s get off the ground—and in the process unknowingly aid Dwight’s newfound intentions—Dwight had half-heartedly argued that interviewing possible witnesses should be the job of the sheriff. But David had brushed that aside, mumbling something about the sheriff having gone out of town and taken all but one deputy with him, namely Tobias, and he wouldn’t want to leave his post. Ah well, no one ever accused me of looking a gift horse in the mouth, no sir.
“It’s such a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Mary’s comment interrupted his thoughts as she tilted her head back and allowed the breeze to ruffle the loose tendrils of her
