Hello again, and welcome back to my week of pre-release excerpts from What Shows the Heart (Cowbird Creek 3)! Today's excerpt is from Chapter 7.
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Jake started out by strolling around the town square, seeing places people were working hard and half envying them, half glad he didn’t have to do any heavy work just that minute. He cast an eye at Madam Mamie’s as he approached, glad to see that no one was causing any obvious ruckus. Mamie was out on the small front porch, seemingly at ease in a well-made rocking chair, fanning herself with something black and lacy and foreign-looking. She used it to beckon him closer. “Good afternoon! Are you enjoying your walk in our balmy summer weather?”
He laughed. “It’s this or sit somewhere letting my dinner weigh me down like a prize pig.”
Mamie stood up. “Would you like company, or would you rather not remind the local citizens that your visit to town started with your setting foot in a parlor house?”
“Ma’am, the day I let people’s opinions worry me, I hope someone kicks me in the rear hard enough to straighten my head out. If you don’t mind leaving that shade behind, I’d be happy for you and your fan to come along.”
She stepped down, light on her feet for a woman carrying those generous curves, and handed him the fan, saying, “You’re taller, so you can do a better job. Where are we headed?”
“Hmm. I’ve already been down by the creek. What’s the opposite direction?”
Mamie gave him a wry smile. “Not a whole lot. But it’s pretty enough. And ‘not a lot’ suits me, as it happens.”
Which sounded worrisome, but he could hardly say so. “I’m with you. Lead on.”
That had come out a little more serious-sounding than he’d intended. He didn’t look at her for a minute or two, in case she was staring at him. Finally he glanced over, to see her evidently lost in thought. He said nothing, waiting for her to get through whatever was on her mind, as they reached the edge of town and the street became a footpath running across prairie grass.
Bird calls and their own footfalls kept it from being altogether quiet. When Mamie spoke, her voice was quiet too. “I’ve been wanting to say something. Something I never said before I ran away.”
He stopped and pivoted to look straight at her. “Ran away? I didn’t see it like that, not really. You had a right to go when you wanted to. And not a whole lot to stick around for.”
She looked down at her feet and then back at him. “I don’t suppose you know whether my family saw it that way.”
He chewed his lip a moment before saying slowly, “I can’t say as I ever noticed your family paying much attention to what all happened to you. And once you were gone, I had less reason to care.”
The sound she made was too bitter to call a laugh. “Can’t say as I disagree with that observation. . . . Anyway, thank you. For standing up for me when no one else did. For trying to help me.”
He turned away and started walking again. “Me trying didn’t do you much good, did it. Just gave people more to snicker at.”
She caught up and put her hand on his arm to slow him down. “It did me good that someone thought enough of me to take a chance, defending my reputation. You knew well enough you might suffer for it. You didn’t have to do that, and as bad as I felt at you getting punched and knocked down, I was still grateful. I didn’t even stay and make sure you were all right. Were you?”
He shrugged. “They broke my wrist.” She winced, and he added quickly, “The doc set it, and it healed up fine. It was all better by the time I left town myself.”
They walked a few more steps, breeze sighing in the tall grass, before she said softly, “I’ve wondered about that. About when you left, and about why. Did you just get tired of being pushed around?”
If only. “No, I knew it wouldn’t make much difference where I was until I got strong enough to defend myself, and learned how.”
She didn’t ask, but he could hear the question as clear as if she’d hollered it. He’d better say something, if as little as he could manage. “It was a family thing. With my brother and my father. One of those fights there’s no way back from.”
Mamie made a little noise as if she’d started to say something and thought better of it. He almost asked what, but the odds were he wouldn’t want to know.
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