Free Promise of Yesterday by S. Dionne Moore Page B

this afternoon. One of the tools I’d ordered came in, and Edgar’s man is delivering it this afternoon.”
    Sally stiffened and drew away from him. She seemed at a loss for words.
    Jenny took the chance the silence offered her. “Then you can stay and wait for the dress.”
    “No,” Sally spit out. “I won’t be staying. Perhaps I’ll just cancel my order if you’re not able to keep your end of the bargain.”
    “That’s fine,” Jenny allowed.
    Sally’s chin jutted. “Fine.” She hooked her arm back through Aaron’s. “Consider my order canceled.”
    Aaron’s eyes darted between Marylu and Jenny, finally settling on Jenny. He looked sorrier than sorry to Marylu’s mind but allowed himself to be wheeled around and tugged toward the front door. He held it open as Sally made her exit and sent one last pained look toward Jenny.
    As soon as the door shut behind them, Marylu lumbered upward and gathered her friend into her arms. Words of praise died when she felt Jenny’s shoulders sag and heard the sharp intake of breath that indicated tears.

twelve
    Cooper’s recovery was slow. Between Marylu, Miss Jenny, and Chester, they took turns checking on him during the day and through the night.
    Marylu and Chester worked on his words and speech. He became even more pleased with his progress when Marylu and Jenny could understand his talking, even if the words were simple and the letters not the ones that gave him trouble.
    His presence in the home simultaneously gave him a sense of family and smote him for not getting over to Mercersburg to see his mother and sister. But his hesitation, he realized, stemmed more than anything from his desire to return to his mama whole. Or as whole as he could be with only half his tongue. He wanted her to be proud of the man he had become, but he feared the rumors of his master’s death had reached her ears. She would be able to look at him and know he had suffered for it. She would understand how far and how long he had run to escape, not only those who searched for him to kill him for the deed but also the specter of his own failure at being a man of worth.
    The failure ate at him. As he entered Cooper’s cabin, Chester clutched what was in his pocket and forced his mind to review the instructions Marylu had given him that morning. “Make sure he drinks his tea. And give him some firm slaps on the back to dislodge the mucus in his chest.” It was the same thing she’d told him for the last three days.
    Chester slipped over to the bed, satisfied to see the man sleeping. He turned to leave when Cooper’s voice caught him. “If ‘n I’m awake, you promise not to force me to swallow that tea Marylu’s been having you make?”
    Chester grinned, noting that Cooper’s voice seemed less hoarse than it had in the past week.
    “You’re a good friend keeping up with me, Chester.” Cooper wiggled himself upright in bed. “Marylu’s forced enough of her herbal teas down my throat to heal a tribe of Indians.”
    Chester nodded. He produced the tin of loose tea he’d bought at Hostetter & Sons’ Grocer and held it up for Cooper to see.
    The old man groaned. “If the cough don’t put me six feet under, the tea sure enough will. You know she makes me drink it with garlic?” Cooper shook his head. “She’s something else, that’s for sure.”
    Somehow it didn’t seem right to simply smile a response and act like he hadn’t noticed Cooper’s preoccupation with Marylu. At first he had taken Cooper’s flapping over Marylu’s care for him as a man not enjoying being sick. Understandable. But then he realized that the old man’s griping was more to mask other things. Deeper feelings. Chester had seen it in the way Cooper’s rheumy eyes followed her every move, and though his mouth got saucy right back at Marylu, it was those times Chester caught him watching her that spoke the truth.
    Chester heaved a sigh and raised his hands. He pointed at Cooper then to his chest to