Page 157 of Head Room
My wedding dress slid over my head and settled around me with barely a tug.
I’d swear this occurred at the precise minute designated on the spreadsheet.
In less than an hour, Tom and I would be legally and officially married after Wedding One.
The final primping done, I left the room set aside for brides to prepare at the Catholic church in Cody and went to a small courtyard between the church and rectory.
Tom had his back to me.
He wore a black suit and no cowboy hat, the most formal I’d seen him.
I walked close to him, then stopped.
“Tom.”
His head dropped forward.
I put my hand high on his back.As he turned toward me, my arm naturally went over his shoulder.
Another step from each of us and we’d be in each other’s arms.
But he stopped.
He had tears in his eyes.
“Tom?”
“It’s real.”
“It’s real.Unless you—?”
“Oh, no you don’t Elizabeth Margaret Danniher.Nounless.”
We kissed.More than once.
Only after did he step back and look at me.
“You look—” He swallowed in a way that was better than any words.“That dress...”
I looked down at it.“I love it, too.I hope we didn’t wrinkle it too badly, since it also has to hold up for tomorrow’s full performance.”
“Not a wrinkle in sight.”Another swallow, then he cleared his throat, a sound I felt to my toes.“In fact, you clean up real nice.”
I chucked his shoulder with the heel of my hand.“You, too, Burrell.”
He looked at me, not with the smile I might have expected.“You’re chewing on Nance getting killed, aren’t you?”
“Sorry.I can’t turn it off.That and this cop with many names.”
“No apologizing.I know what I’m getting into.”
“Do you?Do you really?I’m a journalist.I’m nosy.I want to find out things and share them with people who need to know.It’s good for society.It’s good for Cottonwood County.It’s good for Wyoming.It’s good for the country.It’s good for the world.But it might not be good for you or our family.And I can’t turn it off.”
He maintained his level-eyed regard as if awaiting another spate of words.
No more word spates in the wings.
Finally, I said, “What?”
