Free Painted Montana Sky: A Montana Sky Series Novella by Debra Holland Page B

young woman—more attractive, perhaps, than some. But Lily wasn’t vain about her looks. If she could, she’d trade a healthy hip and pelvis and the ability to have children for a plain countenance.
    She took a step back, and her ugly limp shattered the image of the pretty girl. That was why, in her room at home, Lily only had a round mirror over her dressing table. Then she never had to see the reflection of her lower limbs.
    Lily knew the others waited for her to join them. For the last five minutes, the low murmur of voices from the main room had penetrated the wood walls. But she didn’t move to leave the room. The dread growing in her stomach weighed her down and made her cling to the safety of her solitude.
    At home, she attended church and had a small group of friends who were all very familiar with her affliction and paid her limp no mind. But strangers stared. Strangers asked nosy questions. Strangers gossiped. She didn’t want to go to the ice cream social and be around people she didn’t know, forced into uncomfortable interactions.
    Lily wished she could be more like her middle sister. But even without an injured hip, she didn’t have Sophia’s self-confidence and dramatic beauty, the affects of which blazed forth when Sophia swept on stage or into a drawing room. From babyhood, Sophia had possessed that magical sparkle and had adoring fans by the time she could toddle.
    Wishing for her two sisters made Lily feel a pang of homesickness. If Sophia were here, she’d draw all the attention, leaving Lily safely in her shadow. And the youngest, Emma, would cosset and support her—the role she’d taken on ever since Lily’s accident.
    She tried to take a deep breath to bolster her courage, but the constricting lacings of her corset stymied the attempt. Another thing she hated about dressing up—tying her corset tighter.
    With a sigh, Lily picked up a lace-edged handkerchief scented with lavender and tucked the wisp of material in her cuff. With no further excuse to linger, she forced herself to open the door and move into the other room, doing her best to walk evenly.
    Mrs. Pendell stood next to her husband at the hearth, her hand tucked into Habakkuk’s arm. Both wore black, Habakkuk in a homemade suit and Mrs. Pendell in imposing cashmere. Aaron and Hank stood off to the side of the settee, wearing clean, starched shirts under striped vests. They carried their hats in hand, their hair slicked back.
    Oliver and his father wore matching gray shirts, although Tyler also had on a black suit. Lily had a sudden urge to paint them together.
    At her entrance, everyone turned to look. To her relief, she saw only kindness on their faces. Except for Tyler. He had an admiring look in his eyes that Lily had never seen directed her way, although she’d witnessed the like all too often when Sophia made an appearance in front of males of any age.
    A glow rushed through Lily’s body, sending heat into her cheeks. A wave of feminine power swept through her, making her feel beautiful. She took a step forward, forgetting to be careful of her leg. The resulting dip in her stride snuffed out the warmth and settled a knot in her stomach. Once again, she was awkward, afflicted Lily.
    Tyler extended his arm. “You look lovely, Lily.”
    When she didn’t respond, he glanced around at the other men. “Doesn’t she, gentlemen?”
    They all nodded.
    Habakkuk cleared his throat. “Reminds me of my dear wife.” His seamed face creased in a smile. He patted Mrs. Pendell’s hand. “When we were courting. Although you’re just as beautiful now, my dear.”
    Color sailed into Mrs. Pendell’s cheeks. She gave her husband a flirtatious sweep of her eyelashes and squeezed his arm.
    Lily doubted, with the woman’s wooly hair and bulldog chin, that Mrs. Pendell had ever been beautiful. But in her husband’s eyes she was. And isn’t that what matters? She felt a stir of envy.
    I won’t have a lifetime, but I have this week. Lily