Free Shotgun Groom by Ruth Ann Nordin

of coffee. Sep stil held the gun, but Joel
    didn’t seem to notice. She handed them their cups. Sep sat
    down at the table, but Joel took it and headed for the parlor.
    Pretending she didn’t notice the way he avoided eye
    contact with her, she cal ed out, “I even put a bit of honey in
    it,” in the sweetest tone she could muster, and sat across
    from Sep with her own cup.
    “What did you two do out there?” she asked.
    “He didn’t think I did a good enough job repairing the
    damage he did to the barn yesterday, so he redid it.” Sep
    rol ed his eyes and lifted the cup to his lips.
    Unable to avoid grinning at his sarcastic tone, she said, “To
    be fair, he did the damage. It’s his due to fix it.”
    He took a drink and set the cup down. “I did it just fine. He
    doesn’t think I can do my job around here. I’m not a little
    kid.”
    “No, you’re not.” In the two years she’d been married to
    Harvey, Sep had to grow up fast. Sometimes she forgot he
    was fourteen. “He’l learn you can hold your own.”
    “The sooner he does, the better.”
    She lowered her voice. “You don’t like him, do you?”
    “I don’t like being treated like I don’t know what I’m doing.”
    “That’s understandable.”
    A moment’s silence passed before he spoke. “Do you like
    him?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s good with Nora. I don’t
    know many men who have a soft spot for children.”
    “No. I guess there aren’t many.”
    She took a drink of her coffee and set the cup on the table.
    Brushing her thumb along the rim of the cup, she asked,
    “So when should we get the preacher involved?”
    “It’s too cold today. If it’s warmer tomorrow, then we’l have
    to do it. He can’t go anywhere today.”
    Deciding not to argue that if Joel real y wanted to leave, he
    would, she cleared her throat and tucked a stray strand of
    hair behind her ear. “Do you think the preacher wil perform
    a marriage Joel doesn’t want?”
    “Joel wil do it as long as there’s a gun pointed at him.”
    “We can’t hold a gun to him with a preacher in the room.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because the preacher is a man of God. He won’t tolerate
    a man being forced into a marriage.”
    “He wil if the story is right.”
    It took her a moment to figure out what he meant. She
    gasped and whispered, “No. We can’t do that, Sep.”
    “Who’d know any different? It’d be Joel’s word against
    ours, and the preacher wil believe you since you’re a
    woman.”
    “No. It’s wrong. Joel’s nothing like Harvey or Lou. He
    wouldn’t take advantage of the situation. I can’t sul y his
    reputation like that.”
    Sep leaned forward and kept his gaze focused on hers.
    “Sul y his reputation? You are aware that it’d be your
    reputation we’d be sul ying, right? No one thought anything
    of Harvey catting around, but if it’d been you—”
    “Yes, it would sul y his reputation. And it’s important his
    reputation remains clean. He assists the doctor. People
    need to think of him as a healer, not a…a…”
    Before she could think of the right word, Sep shook his
    head. “I didn’t think you were so naïve. After al you’ve been
    through, you honestly think people care if a man fools
    around?”
    “Yes, they do. Good, honest people care, Sep. Our problem
    is that we’ve been far removed from that type of people.
    We haven’t even gone to church since Pa died. It’s just
    been us.”
    “Those people knew about Harvey and didn’t bother
    warning us before you married him,” he replied in a bitter
    tone that surprised her. “Why should we go to church?
    Those good and honest people, as you cal them, didn’t
    speak up when they should have.”
    “That’s not fair.” She lowered her hands into her lap,
    shoulders slumped. “Most of them didn’t know. And the
    others… Wel , I suppose they believed he changed for the
    better.”
    “You’re too trusting of people, April. Even now you believe
    the best