Page 17 of Mail Order Moonlight

“Hi, Abigail. How’s business?”

She shrugged. “Mostly good. Now that Bob’s gone, it’s easier to do what I want to do here. I don’t have to listen to his ideas for meals or keep his drunken self from scaring my customers away.”

“That’s good.” He looked behind her to the menu written on a blackboard across the room. “I want chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and sweet tea to drink.”

Alice had been so busy watching the woman flirt with her husband, she hadn’t even looked at the menu. “I’ll have the same,” she said.

“Who are you anyway?” Abigail asked.

“I’m Alice Dailey, Albert’s new wife.”

The waitress looked annoyed and spun on her heel to go back toward the kitchen.

“Who was that?” Alice asked.

“She’s a girl who went to my school. She married Bob as soon as she turned sixteen, but Bob turned out to be an unpleasant sort. He was killed in a shootout in Hell’s Half Acre, and Abigail is panting after any man who crosses her path as a result.”

“I see.” Alice felt better hearing him talk about the other woman that way. She’d been worried he had feelings for her. “You never courted?”

He laughed. “She wouldn’t have given me the time of day. She only flirts with me now because she’s a widow with two small children, and she wants to find them a father. If I was interested, I’d have already married her.”

“That makes sense.” Alice looked down for a moment, pleased that she didn’t have to be jealous of the pretty waitress. “Tell me about the girl you wanted to marry.”

“Oh, Sarah? I just had a crush on her in school, and then I found out she was going to marry an old school friend, so I moved on. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“So, if you found out tomorrow that he’d been run over by a billy goat and died a horrible death with the billy goat’s horns stuck through his eyeballs, you wouldn’t wish you hadn’t married me?”

Albert looked at his wife with wide eyes. “Are you saying you want her husband to be murdered by a billy goat?”

“Not at all. I’m just asking a question.”

“It’s an odd question,” he said.

Alice shrugged. “My teachers always said my imagination ran toward the macabre.”

“I can agree with that.” Albert shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t be interested in her. Why would I? I have a beautiful wife who my family already loves, who I am growing to care about more every day. Sarah was just a girl who didn’t return my affections.”

“Well, I guess that’s good.”

He laughed. “Are you really jealous of Sarah?”

“Jealous? Not really. More curious than anything else. I wonder if she has long dark hair and beautiful eyes. What attracted you to her?”

“She didn’t ask a lot of questions,” Albert said, winking at her.

Alice laughed, but still she was curious. “Will I meet her in church tomorrow?”

“You will.”

“I’ll look forward to that then.” Meeting the girl he’d hoped to marry would be interesting for her. What if she really did have long chestnut locks? Alice had always thought her blond hair and blue eyes were boring. Suddenly, she felt inadequate. She hoped the feeling went away quickly.

Chapter Seven

Alice barely slept on Saturday night, nervous about meeting her new church family for the first time. Even though she knew she’d have Susan and Albert both there, it still felt like it was a scary thing that was about to happen.

She finally gave up on sleep around half past four in the morning and went out into the parlor to sew by lamplight. She preferred to sew by natural light because then she could see her stitches more clearly, but she had to occupy her hands if not her mind.

When Albert got up just before six, she went into the kitchen to start cooking their breakfast. “Are you all right?” Albert asked, noting her bloodshot eyes and exhausted countenance.

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