Loving Beth Book One by Ward Bonnie Rose

Author:Ward, Bonnie Rose
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Samuel Tree Publishing
Published: 2023-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

Horace opened the door for Delilah to enter the mercantile.

Delilah took one step in, then jumped back out. “Get back! Get back!” she whispered loudly, back-pedaling.

Horace ran to the corner and darted around it. Delilah was only a step behind him. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Jacob and those brats of his is in there!”

“Good,” Horace said. “Now we can go get our money—”

Delilah slapped him. “You dunderhead! You think he’s gonna pay us?”

Horace rubbed his cheek. “He said he would. His mama said he would.”

“That goody-goody woman is gonna tell him everything what happened.”

Horace shrugged. “I’m his blasted cousin. He’s gonna believe me before some unknown woman.”

Delilah raised her hand to slap him again. “As purty as she is? He’s gonna fall all over hisself to do anything she wants. Don’t be stupid.”

“He still owes us the money—”

She slapped him.

“Ow! Now, stop that.”

“We gotta move on.”

“But where is we gonna go?”

Delilah scowled. “I don’t know. We could head on back to that abandoned cabin we found.”

“It’s cold there.”

“Well, cut some dagburn firewood.”

“I ain’t got no ax, remember?”

Delilah nodded. “Well, go get one. Just wait for him to leave the store.” She peeked around the corner. “Looks like he’s going now.”

A few minutes later, Horace and Delilah entered the mercantile. Horace headed back to the hardware section, but Delilah stood close to the front, standing behind a tall display. The way she saw it, the fewer people who could recognize her, the better.

An elderly woman who stood at the front counter across from the store owner pounded her cane on the wood floor. “You look again!” she demanded loudly. “I know I have mail from my son!”

“Oh, Mrs. Woodrow,” the storekeeper said kindly. “I know you bring letters to him all the time, but they just sit here—”

“Why in tarnation don’t you mail them?”

“Mrs. Woodrow, I’m sorry.” The woman lowered her voice. “You don’t have a son.”

The elderly woman slammed her cane against the counter. “What do you know?”

The storekeeper stepped back. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Woodrow. Do you want Emmett to take you home?”

“I will walk! I’m not as helpless as you seem to think I am!” The elderly woman swung around and, leaning heavily on the cane, thumped out of the store.

Another woman, whose gray hair was pulled back into a tight bun, stepped up to the counter. “She never had a son, did she?”

“Nope.” They both clicked their tongues and shook their heads.

“Poor old soul. She’s done lost her marbles.”

Horace returned to Delilah’s side, carrying an ax.

Delilah waved him away. “We ain’t gonna need it,” she whispered.

“What? Why?”

“Put it back. I’ll explain later.” Horace set it on the table holding soaps.

Delilah punched Horace, and he followed her from the mercantile.

Once they were outside, Horace turned to Delilah. “What was that all about?”

Delilah grinned, displaying her half-missing decayed teeth. “We just got us our goldmine.”

“How you figure?”

She nodded at the old woman walking down the street. “Old woman lost her marbles. Thinks she’s got a long-lost son.” Her grin broadened. “So, let’s go.

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