“I’ll probably say I fell out of bed.”
“See? You’re very good.”
“Or that you kick me in your sleep and I had to move down here.”
“Say whatever you like.” She yawned widely. “G’night.”
Laughter rumbled quietly at the back of his throat. “G’night, Lily.”
•••
Roen was aware of heads turning as he and Lily arrived at church with the children in tow. Hannah and Ham slid into the pew first. Lily and he followed with Lizzie and Clay coming in behind. Roen knew that strangers would find nothing remarkable about their family, except perhaps that the children were so well behaved, but Roen also knew there were no strangers in Frost Falls and he and Lily were attracting more than their fair share of attention.
Someone let the cat out of the bag. It might have been Maxwell Wayne, who had suspicions because of Lily’s cake order, or Mrs. Mangold, on account of the little bouquets that Roen bought for Hannah and Lizzie, or even Hitch, who’d sworn he wouldn’t breathe a word to his mother but hadn’t actually promised not to tell anyone else. If he’d mentioned it to Fedora, it was likely she had mentioned it to Ellie, and Ellie would have confirmed it with Ben and Ridley, and from there it would have spread like butter on a warm biscuit.
Roen made it his business to smile politely at members of the congregation who tried to surreptitiously glance his way. Lily had a different approach. She pretended she didn’t see them. Roen nudged her with an elbow. She poked him back. When it was time to rise for the first song, Roen held his hymnal high and grinned diabolically at Lily from behind it. She trod hard on his foot.
There was no escaping the genuine well-wishers and the merely curious who lined up to greet them following the service. Roen slipped his arm through Lily’s to keep her steady, but after accepting the first few congratulations, he realized it was unnecessary. Lily rose to the occasion and stood on her own, smiling as people she’d known all her life took her hand and shook it, folded her in a happy embrace, or bussed her on the cheek. There were exceptions, of course. Amanda Springer spoke all the right words. It was her delivery that was cool, distant, and vaguely skeptical, and based on the disapproving looks she gave her son, Roen believed she resented not being one of the first to learn about the marriage. Her husband, on the other hand, offered warm compliments and invited Lily, Roen, and the children to join him at the Songbird thefollowing evening for a congratulatory toast. Ginger beer or sarsaparilla for the children, he promised when Lily hesitated and Amanda looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. Jim Springer was so sincere in his offer, so hopeful for agreement, that Lily graciously gave in.
The children cheered her decision, but Roen was suspicious of it. When they were on their way home and the children were walking ahead chattering among themselves, Roen asked her why she had accepted Jim’s invitation.
“Amanda’s nose was already out of joint,” she said. “I couldn’t see the harm in tweaking it.”
Chuckling, Roen offered his elbow as they prepared to cross the street. “I’m beginning to realize there is a side of you that is just a little twisted.”
Lily looked up at him sharply as she took his arm.
Roen grinned and the sometimes dimple on the left side of his mouth appeared. “I like it.”
Chapter Twenty-one
When Monday evening came, Lily had doubts about her decision to go to the saloon. “You won’t drink, will you?” she asked Roen as he was helping her on with her coat.
“I’ll toast you with ginger beer, if you like.”
“You would do that?”
“I said I would. You have to learn to take me at my word.”
“I’ve heard words before. Promises. They’re hard to keep.”
The front door opened from the outside, and Clay ducked in his head. “C’mon. It’s cold out here.”
“We have our marching orders,” said Roen, tucking Lily’s scarf around her neck. “It will be fine.” When Clay opened the door a little wider, Roen turned Lily and nudged her forward. Her shoulders were stiff, braced as if for battle. He bent his head and whispered in her ear, “Amanda Springer’s nose.”
Behind her scarf, Lily smiled.
•••
The Songbird had been a fixture in Frost Falls almost from the time the town was founded. In the early days, it was nothing more than a large tent where ranchers and their itinerant cowboys came to drink and carry on after a cattle drive. The railroad made long drives a thing of the past, and the Songbird changed with the times. Some folks with long memories said the town grew up around the saloon, though it was true that Frost Falls came into its own when it had a stop and a station on the rail line.
Buzz Winegarten hadn’t always operated the Songbird, but he’d been the owner for more years than not. He was a gregarious individual when he wasn’t suffering with gout,friendly, if sometimes on the loud side, expansive in his gestures, and stubbornly set in his ways. People pointed to the canted sign above the saloon as proof that Buzz could not be moved to change his mind. The sign had slipped fifteen degrees below level years earlier, coincidentally at the same time his wife ran off with a cardsharp. Buzz said he kept it that way as a reminder of the perfidy of the female sex, but since his behavior toward woman suggested that was a lie, there were folks who thought he simply lacked motivation to make the repair.
Lily stopped short before entering the saloon and stared up at the sign.
“It’s not going to fall on your head,” said Roen. “No matter how much you wish it would. Go on. We’ve made it this far.” He hefted little Lizzie in his arm. Beside him, Ham was dancing with excitement. Clay and Hannah were only marginally more successful at containing their eagerness. They were standing on tiptoes trying to see past the doors to the interior.
Lily had expected to see customers when she stepped inside. The Songbird was open for business, after all, but the number of people crowding the bar and tables overwhelmed her. If Roen and the children hadn’t been pressing at her back, she would have turned and run.
