Free Heaven Sent by Pamela Morsi Page B

ignored them. He could barely hear for the roaring rage inside his head.
    It all made sense now, perfect sense. She needed a husband and he was simply the one best able to fill the bill. His reputation had done him in. No one would doubt that the genteel Miss Hannah had been seduced by the Whiskey Man.
    And he had believed her. He thought her sweet and innocent and foolishly smitten by him. He remembered last night, how she had pretended to be so frightened and he had wanted to spare her. He had wanted to spare her, and she had been rolling in the hay with God-knows-who for no telling how long! He slammed a hay hook into the back of the wagon in anger. The movement startled the horse and he had to hurry to the front to quiet the young gelding.
    He stood beside the animal, crooning softly, trying to calm himself as he calmed the horse. She had made a fool of him. She and her lover were probably laughing at him right now. He had thought he was doing her a favor, what a joke. It was a joke all right and it had been played on him. At least the rest of the community didn't know what a fool she had made of him. At least they didn't know it yet.
    He wondered why her lover hadn't married her himself. Maybe he was already married, or maybe she'd had so many men that she didn't know who the father was. No, he ruled that out. Had she been round-heeled, he surely would have heard of it. Things like that couldn't be kept secret. But an affair with a married man could be. Obviously it had been.
    Henry Lee stroked the soft nose of the horse and worried about what he should do next. He'd given her the benefit of the doubt when they'd been caught at the wellhouse. He didn't feel obliged to accommodate her anymore.
    How in the world did she think she would get away with this? Did she intend to pretend innocence in his bed and then claim the baby had arrived early? He heard of women trying to play those types of tricks, but he never thought that it would really work. In his heart, a man would know the truth, or his suspicions would drive him crazy.
    Henry Lee was tempted to just hop in the wagon and ride off into the sunset forever. He felt like such a dolt, falling right into her devious little scheme.
    He knew he wasn't the first man to have been tricked into claiming another man's son, but he sure as hell was not going to let her think that her evil little plan had worked. She was his wife now, and she would learn to rue the day she tried to make a fool out of Henry Lee Watson.
    * * *
    By the time Hannah and Myrtie had everything gathered up, she was very excited. She was going to have her own home, her own husband. It was like a dream come true. She had discovered a new closeness with her sister, and a kinship with her stepmother, and other women of the community. She was a married lady. At last, all the rights and privileges of that blissful state had been visited on Hannah.
    Talking with Violet as they sorted linens and packed baskets of fruits and vegetables, the conversation drifted to the concerns of governing a household.
    "Now I doubt that Henry Lee has much of a garden," her stepmother told her. "You best start right away getting whatever you can out of the ground, it's really too late to plant much but maybe squash and turnips."
    "Do you think he'll have much put up already?" Hannah asked her.
    "I doubt it. I suspect that bachelors don't even know how to put things up. Making his place into a home should keep you busy for a while."
    Hannah was suddenly very anxious to do just that. She knew she was an excellent housekeeper. She would make such a wonderful home for Henry Lee, he would never regret having to marry her.
    Her father carried out her things to the wagon as quickly as Hannah, her stepmother, and sister could get them ready. She kept waiting for Henry Lee to come back inside the house, but for some reason, he continued to tarry by the wagon.
    Finally when everything had been taken out and loaded up, Hannah said her