Free The Marriage Cure by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

face . Although he had not made a formal declaration of love, she knew how he felt, as he knew her heart . He did mean to make her his wife; he just had yet to talk about the matter with her.
    â€œIs she?” Payton said . “Well, hell, boys, it’s a wasted trip then . These boys need wives and I thought mayhap we’d found one . Guess we’re too late.”
    â€œYe are that, ” Johnny said .
    â€œWell, we can still set and visit a spell, ” Payton said, directing his sons with a toss of his bearded chin to dismount . “Surely you have a bite to share with a neighbor.”
    There was little choice . Frontier hospitality meant they would share a meal with the men and if they did not, the simmering hostility between them would fan into open conflict . Although he was not afraid, Johnny doubted he had gained enough strength to fight so he forced a smile.
    â€œAye . There’s turkey cooked and she can bake a cornbread to go with it, ” He looked at her and she nodded, slipping away along the edge of the field . “Let me finish this row and we’ll go back to the cabin.”
    Johnny doubted Sabetha would want the rather dirty men in her neat cabin so he settled them outside, directing them to tie their horses to the posts of the open barn . They sprawled on the ground, Payton talkative, his sons taciturn until she began bringing out turkey, hot cornbread, and butter . They fell on the food like starving animals during a hard winter, spilling crumbs down their already dirty garments and crunching bones between their few black teeth . He ate little, sitting in the shade feeling none so good as he had earlier . His brief stint in the field had tired him and the strain of entertaining these strangers weighed heavy on him . He caught Sabetha watching him and winked at her so she wouldn’t worry.
    Payton talked of coming to the rugged country, of his wife and ten younger weans at home, and of his home back in Georgia . Then he shifted the talk toward Indians and Johnny’s already knotted stomach tensed.
    â€œOl’ Man Rawlings said you were Cheroke e, ” Payton said, picking a shred of turkey from between his teeth. “Are you?”
    â€œI’m part, ” Johnny said, clenching his jaw so tight it hurt . “I’m more Irish, though.”
    Payton nodded . “You looked like a breed, I thought . Heard about all them doings over to the Indian Nations? No? Why, it was the talk of the settlement . Seems like the Injuns who come first don’t cotton much to them that come later so they’re fussing and feuding . The new ones that Ol’ Hickory sent are led by a near white man, Ross, and they say he wants to take over the whole Cherokee nation.”
    â€œDo they?” Johnny asked . The beginnings of a headache throbbed at his temples and he had little desire to hear more.
    â€œYes, sir, they sure do, ” Payton said . The big, greasy man appeared to be enjoying torturing him . “They’re holding them a big ol’ meeting, thousands of Indians is coming in to the Fort Gibson . Sounds like a bad thing to me . Most of them Injuns are drunk and likely, there is going to be a fight.”
    A Dhia, h e thought. And Davey right in the midst of that . He’ll be too drunk to know what happens if he’s not dead yet from either drink or fever.
    Aloud, he said, “Ah, well, what’s to be will be. ”
    George Payton choked with laughter at that, and then pounded him on the back.
    â€œYou’re a philosopher, too, then, Devaney,” h e crowed . “It m ust be the Irish in you.”
    Johnny nodded, willing them to mount up and go . He had endured more than enough of their company and he thought the man’s sons were both asleep in the grass . May the ticks devour them, he thought, and chiggers too . The pressure in his temples burst into a full headache and he closed his eyes for one moment, wishing it would