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Tears burned Emma's eyes. Amanda was her best friend, and the only person in town who knew the circumstances of her return home. Only with Amanda could Emma be completely honest. But it was time to do what was best for her. "I'll be coming into town quite often," Emma assured her.
"I don't know how I'll get through the rest of this pregnancy without you," Amanda said, patting her stomach.
Emma chuckled. "You'll get through it the same way you got into it. With James."
Amanda held her hand on her stomach as the baby kicked. Her voice took on a dreamy quality. "Oh, yes, I remember now," she joked. "I didn't need you, did I? Speaking of which, about your wedding night, what will you do if Sam wants to ... you know ..."
Emma felt her face flush. "He promised he wouldn't expect anything."
Amanda's eyebrows lifted. "That won't last."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because men can't go without a woman, that's why. So he'll either want to bed you, or he'll go to another woman. Then you'll have a decision to make."
"You're wrong."
"We'll see."
***
Saturday dawned sunny and warm. A hint of a breeze floated through the open bedroom window, filling the room with the scent of roses from the bush outside. Crushed petals from the same rose bush hung with her wedding dress on the back of the door.
Emma breathed deeply, willing her stomach to settle. Why was she so nervous? It wasn't as if this was something she dreaded. No one was forcing her to marry Sam, yet her stomach was revolting with the same trepidation she assumed she'd feel if she was being led to slaughter.
True, she should have thought the matter through a little more thoroughly before she offered herself to Sam. More times than she could count she'd given herself the same lecture, and most of the time she regretted it when she let her impulsive nature overrule her brain.
But this time there hadn't been time to think about it, a little voice inside her head protested.
Once more, her stomach threatened to revolt. She closed her eyes took a few deep breaths until the queasiness passed.
Ridiculous! You're being downright silly!
Getting up, she crossed to the dressing table and studied her reflection in the mirror. Her face was pale, and her fingers trembled as she reached up to pinch her cheeks to give them a little color.
Amanda had spent the last hour with a hot iron curling Emma's hair and piling it on her head, then tucking tiny pink rosebuds she'd picked from her garden into the curls. A few tendrils of hair hung down, softening the look. Then she'd gone home for a few minutes, leaving Emma with nothing to do but become more and more nervous. Even the trill of a robin in a nest outside the parlor window had startled her a few minutes before.
Emma glanced at the clock. Amanda would be back in a few minutes to help her into her wedding dress. She hadn't had time to order a proper wedding gown, so she'd settled for a dress she'd bought in New York, a confection of white silk with a row of pale pink embroidered flowers bordering both the hem and sleeves. She'd purchased the dress the day before the accident--
She wouldn't think about that now. Today was the beginning of a new life.
She looked at the clock again. In another hour, she would be a married woman and the mother of three children.
Mrs. Samuel Jenkins. Joseph, Nathan and Rebecca Jenkins' mother.
If she lived long enough to get to the church, she thought miserably as another wave of nausea washed over her.
***
While Amanda chattered to James in the front seat of the buggy, Emma sat in the back, her thoughts centred on the silence around them. The streets of Charity were practically empty, and for the first time that she could remember, a closed sign hung in the window of the mercantile.
Where was everybody? They couldn't possibly be ...
As they rounded the corner, the steepled church came into view, and Emma let out a panicked sound. "Oh ..."
By the number of wagons and horses cluttering the dirt road leading to the church at the edge of town, it seemed that the wedding of Emma Witherspoon to Sam Jenkins was an occasion not to be missed.
She should have known, yet somehow she was surprised. It wasn't often the citizens of Charity found a reason to celebrate, and they didn't miss the opportunity when it presented itself. A wedding was a good excuse to put aside their day-to-day problems for a few hours and socialize with their neighbors.
