New Mercies by Dallas Sandra

Author:Dallas, Sandra [Dallas, Sandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2007-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

We had dated for more than a year when David and I became engaged. From the beginning, we had assumed we would marry, but we were having such a swell time that we were not in a hurry. David was thoughtful and romantic. Still, he did not propose with roses and candlelight, as I’d expected, but in an offhand manner, which came as a surprise. We had gone to the mountains to see the aspen, which had turned a glorious color, the leaves spilling onto the ground like golden coins, and decided to prowl through the Georgetown cemetery, where we read the tombstones.

“Listen to this,” David said. “ ‘Little Freddie, age two years nine months ten days, 1880–1883. Oh, you must be a lover of the Lord or you won’t go to heaven when you dies.’ ”

I smiled at the epitaph, then pointed to the gravestone of a couple, both born in 1841. She died in 1868. He lived until 1920. “Do you suppose when he got to heaven, she said, ‘I’m not married to that old man’?” I asked.

“Think of all the things he had to tell her about—automobiles and airplanes.”

“She’d more likely be interested in vacuum cleaners and window screens.” I rubbed my hand over the faded letters carved into the stone. “ ‘Forever rest together.’ ”

“Do you think you could stand to lie beside me for all of eternity?” David asked.

“I shouldn’t like to do anything for all eternity.”

“I am serious, Muggs. You’re a first-rate girl and the best pal a fellow could have. You know I love you dearly. It would be grand being married. I think I’d better snatch you up before some other chap does it.” He had been sucking on a stem of dried grass, which he took out of his mouth, then kissed me. “You will marry me, won’t you?”

I did not realize how much I loved David until that moment, when a great sense of happiness came over me. And, of course, I said yes.

After such a wonderful courtship, we had a dreadful engagement. David was uncomfortable at the parties that Mother and Henry’s friends gave in our honor. He’d never been crazy about social gatherings, and these were especially difficult for him because he was the center of attention. Mother had given her share of engagement parties for her friends’ children, so it would have been rude of me to turn down the reciprocal invitations. David sulked when he got each week’s social schedule, and he flat out refused to attend one party.

“I’ll feel like I’m on display, like a lamb chop at the meat market,” he said when he received an invitation for the tea that our neighbor Elvira Doud was hosting for us.

“With or without the skirt?” I asked, for we had always laughed at the paper frills the butcher put on the lamb chops.

David did not find that amusing and didn’t reply.

“Oh, David, we have to go. Mother had a party for Mrs. Doud’s daughter, Mamie Eisenhower, when she married.

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