McShannon's Chance by Jennie Marsland

Author:Jennie Marsland [Marsland, Jennie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781877546150
Publisher: Bluewood Publishing Ltd

brother. The four of them ended up fighting on the platform. Spencer told them he’d shoot them all if his fiddle got broken. Nobody complained about being bored, anyway.”

Holly grinned. “Remember the time Mister and Missus Thompson got into a shouting match? I wasn’t there, but I heard about it.”

“Remember?” Maddy’s infectious laugh bubbled up again. “I can still hear her. ‘Hank Thompson, I know you’re a jackass and so does everyone here, but for heaven’s sake pretend you’re not for ten minutes!’”

Beth giggled. “Sounds like a lovely pair.”

“Oh, they are.” Maddy reached for her scissors. “They’ve been fighting for forty years and loving it.”

Holly frowned as she righted a pattern piece she’d placed upside down. “Allie was only sixteen this time last year. They won’t be able to marry for a couple of years, but still . . .” Her voice changed, sounding very adult. “If anyone proposes to me when I’m sixteen, I’ll laugh in his face.”

Beth winced as she pricked a finger. “Ouch! I had my first proposal at sixteen. He was fifty.”

“Fifty!” Maddy and Holly laughed together, and Beth got the feeling Holly didn’t laugh often.

“Well, he was a little drunk at the time. It happened at a large dinner party my uncle and aunt were having. Mister Clark was a widower and I think he had the impression that Uncle Robert and Aunt Abigail were anxious to get me off their hands. He didn’t know them all that well. After dinner, he cornered me in the pantry and asked what I would think if he spoke to my aunt and uncle about a wedding on my birthday in the spring. I told him I couldn’t have cared less if he asked, but he was wasting his time. I didn’t exactly laugh in his face, but Uncle Robert did when Mister Clark actually spoke to him.”

Holly grinned. “How many others have you had?”

Beth smiled back. “Well, there were three more before we left Philadelphia. Two from proper young men who were interested in a social contract and a merger of bank accounts, and one from someone who I knew didn’t mean it. If I’d thought he did, I might have considered it. He really was very nice. Then we moved to Denver and I met Daniel Hunter. I thought I was in love. I thought we both were, but he never proposed. His parents wouldn’t let him.”

Beth’s dry irony wasn’t lost on Maddy. “And that one hurt,” she said quietly.

“For a while,” Beth acknowledged. She didn’t mind Maddy knowing.

Maddy shrugged as she finished basting. “Well, they weren’t put here to make our lives easier, they were just put here. Makes life interesting though.”

Beth chuckled. “True enough. Holly, are we ready to start cutting?”

“Yes, I guess so.”

Holly glowed with repressed excitement for the rest of the afternoon. Beth was glad the concert idea appealed to her. She just hoped they could pull it off.

Maddy lingered for a few minutes after Holly left for home. “I haven’t seen Holly up close for over a year.

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