Under Starry Skies by Judy Ann Davis

Author:Judy Ann Davis [Davis, Judy Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense, Western
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2014-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

As the night wore on, Maria was glad to see the crowd was gradually dwindling. Husbands began to escort their wives home, stopping to peer into the crowded barroom where Charlie and Amos were dispensing whiskey and ale with flying hands.

Abigail walked the town mayor and his wife to the door and into the twilight and stood in the center of the wide, three-sided porch, watching the carriages pull up in front of the steps to gather their guests. Her mind scrambled with thoughts, she made her way to a side door leading into the office. Once inside the room, she found the office lit with a single oil lamp on a side table, giving off a rosy glow, and she remembered Amos had told her he planned to have a light in every window of the inn to chase away the evening shadows and welcome the entire town. She slipped back outside and looked at the structure’s massive front and smiled. Warm yellow light spilled out every window and made the building glow like a huge beacon. She made a mental note to thank Amos and the entire staff for all their long hours and hard work.

Inside again, her thoughts strayed to her aunt and her bizarre behavior. What had caused Emma to act so maliciously and to leave so suddenly? As she pulled the shade down on the window for more privacy, she paused and looked toward the manse on the hill. An almost full moon lit the sky. Clouds scudding across the night sky and past the moon shed an eerie light bouncing off the slate roof as if goblins were dancing atop it.

She sat at her uncle’s rolltop desk and noticed Amos had neatly stacked all the inn’s bills for the evening’s event in a corner of the desktop. Rummaging through the bottom right drawer, she searched for some blank paper for ciphering but discovered instead a small black book she had overlooked in her early perusal of the desk and its contents. It was a ledger of sorts, dog-eared and tucked beneath piles of assorted bills and papers. Leafing through it, she realized it was a collection book instead with columns and entries of people who had given her uncle money over the last few years. She noticed the name, Aeron O’Donnell on the fifth page. Her father! She hurriedly riffled through the remaining pages until she found more entries where her father paid as little as twenty-five dollars and as much as two hundred dollars to her uncle over the last ten years. The only explanation for the payments was a simple entry, “for Irene M” written beside each entry.

Abigail stared at the pages, horrified, as an ache began in the pit of her stomach. Why had her father sent Uncle Henry money? And who was Irene M? It was preposterous to think her father had a mistress or illegitimate child. Or was it? With shaking hands and her stomach twisting itself in knots, she slammed the ledger shut and shoved it back into the drawer.

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