Kat Tales — Volume 12 —Original Stories and Novels — February 2021 by Kathryn Kaleigh

Author:Kathryn Kaleigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: KST Publishing

Chapter 18

Samantha stepped out of the bathtub and dried off.

She ran her fingers over the soft blue material. The dress was painfully soft. A silky material. The bodice had a layer of opaque lace sewn over it. But the skirt was plain.

With a sigh of resignation, she slipped the dress over her head and smoothed out the skirt. It felt so good to have on something clean. Even if the dress was big at the waist.

She ran a hand over her stomach. She was too thin.

Somehow she’d gotten used to not eating and it didn’t bother her so much.

But now that she was clean and smelled like a summer flower garden, she picked up a slice of bacon.

And sat down on the edge of the bed.

She closed her eyes as she chewed.

She felt absolutely decadent.

Then, as usual, no matter how hard she’d fought it, her thoughts wound their way around to Brantley. But now she had a renewed reason to think about him.

Brantley Jackson was here.

In Whiskey Springs.

When he hadn’t shown up for their wedding, she’d known that something had happened to him.

Yet here he was.

Alive and well.

She would have bet her life that he’d been killed.

And she would have lost that bet.

It had been a long time ago.

So long it didn’t seem real.

Someone knocked on her door.

She jumped, nearly falling off the bed.

She went to stand behind the chair, as though it would protect her.

“Come in,” she said.

Natalie stepped into the room, her smile bright.

In another world, she and Natalie could have been friends.

“Oh,” Natalie said, coming forward, extending a hand toward Samantha, but stopped before her hand actually touched her. “Don’t you look beautiful?”

“You’re very kind,” Samantha said.

“Would you like me to do your hair?”

Samantha glanced at her reflection in the mirror over the dresser.

Her hair was already drying.

The dry western air was completely different from the humid air of the south.

It seemed like it had been so long since anyone had done her hair.

“You can’t do that,” she said, shaking her head and turning her gaze back to Natalie. “It’s your wedding day.”

“And I have absolutely nothing to do for three hours.”

Samantha didn’t know what to say.

“In fact,” Natalie said. “I insist. Since it’s my wedding day and I want you to be there.”

“Why would you want that?”

Natalie went to her trunk and searched until she found a blue ribbon.

She spoke over her shoulder. “Because Brantley is our friend. And… he’s your friend.”

Samantha swallowed. It seemed so odd to think of Brantley as a friend.

She thought of him as so much more than that.

But he would be at the wedding.

And he’d seen her looking like a street urchin.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if he saw her looking more like a normal person.

“I suppose,” she said. “that in that case, it would be ok.” She sat down in the chair.

Natalie grabbed a brush and came to stand next to Samantha.

“May I?” she asked, holding out the brush.

Samantha nodded. It didn’t seem right, having the bride doing her hair.

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