Black-Eyed Susan by Deborah Camp

Author:Deborah Camp [Camp, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780380775644
Publisher: Avon
Published: 1990-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

September brought cooling breezes to hot, dusty Tulsa. The school bell rang, signaling the end of a long summer and sending the children back to their books.

Not much had changed between Susan and Logan. Days slipped by, witnessing their peculiar lovers’ quarrel where no hot words were spoken and confrontations were few and seldom seen.

Not a day went by that Susan didn’t tell herself she’d end the silent struggle, she’d approach Logan and tell him his distance was killing her spirit, tearing chunks from her heart, and making her hate herself and him. But then he’d trot off, night after night, to that blasted saloon, and she would retreat into her shell of feigned indifference and swear that it would be a cold day in hell before she’d apologize to a man who would rather cavort with soiled doves than take company with his wife and children.

In the deepest pocket of night, she’d tell herself that he’d break down the wall between them soon. He was a man of passion, and he’d surely snap one dark night and come to her, bent on pursuing his husbandly rights. And she’d surrender … willingly.

But he never came to her. Instead, he went to the Bloody Bucket most nights and came home drunk enough to sleep like the dead. The day before, she’d grabbed a calendar and counted the weeks since she and Logan had shared a marriage bed. The number had struck her a hammer’s blow. Four weeks. One month. That’s when she began to worry that he might not storm her defenses after all. Maybe he’d already made a conquest at the Bloody Bucket and was no longer interested in her bounty.

She began to fret in earnest, going through the motions of her day’s errands while her mind and heart worried over her dilemma.

After dropping Etta and Jacob off at school, Susan stopped at Hall’s and left her shopping list with the merchant to fill, then headed for the tiny post and telegraph office. Mr. Finch, the postmaster, waved two envelopes at her.

“Got some letters,” he told her. “And one of them is addressed to you.”

“Oh?” Susan’s heart bumped against her ribs. It had to be from her family, as they were the only ones who knew her whereabouts. Sure enough, the writing on the envelope was her mother’s. Seeing it brought tears to her eyes. “It’s from my mama and papa back in Missouri,” she said, more to herself than Mr. Finch.

“The other one’s for your mister.”

“Yes, thank you.” She glanced at the longer envelope addressed to Logan and bearing a territorial seal. “I’ll be sure he gets it,” Susan murmured, moving in a trance from the post office and back home, her envelope held tightly in her gloved hands. She hoped they weren’t so angry at her that they didn’t want to see her again. Her father was a proud man who didn’t take kindly to anyone defying him. Catherine had been his favorite, or he would have disowned her when she’d gotten with child before marriage.

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