Sgt. Billy's Bride

“Oh, did you want to save it till the party this evenin’?” She looked apologetic. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to steal your thunder by telling your sister.”

“It’s all right, Momma. We’ll sort it out later.” The sooner it happened, the better it would be for everyone, Bill couldn’t help thinking. At least, Momma hadn’t told his sister Earline. If she had, everyone in Pitt County would know by now.

“Why didn’t you tell us about your sweetheart, son?”

Bill drew in a deep breath. Why didn’t he just get it over with now? He looked up and saw Darcy coming down the hallway toward the kitchen. Might as well wait until they could do it together. “We haven’t known each other very long. She’s been away in school.” It was the truth, as far as it went.

“Why, good morning, Darcy. Did you sleep good?” Momma’s face lit up like a runway strobe light when Darcy entered the room.

Darcy looked so fresh and beautiful in a well-scrubbed way, even after their late, late night and sleeping in a strange bed. Bill knew he couldn’t have her, but he sure wished he could. Listen to him. He sounded like he was talking about a stray puppy, not a person with real feelings and needs.

“Yes, ma’am. Like a baby.” Darcy shot a questioning glance Bill’s way, and he shook his head slightly in answer to her unspoken question.

“Bacon’s ready, and I’ll have eggs scrambled in a couple of minutes,” Bill said. Anything to change the subject.

Darcy smiled at Momma, then hurried over to Bill. She spoke to him in a low whisper. “Should your mother be eating eggs and bacon, considering her condition?”

Bill started to answer, but Momma answered for him. “Ain’t nothing wrong with my hearing. I know I can’t eat that high c’lesterol stuff, but I keep it on hand for Bill when he comes. Already had my oatmeal.”

“Darcy just graduated from nursing school,” Bill volunteered, perhaps as a way of explaining her…what? Concern?

“Well, that is so wonderful. Earline wanted to go to nursing school, but she married Edd instead. Did get her Licensed Practical Nurse Certificate at the vocational school. But she don’t use it since the kids come along.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Darcy stood awkwardly between the table and the stove and hooked her thumbs in her belt loops while Bill scrambled the eggs. “Can I help with anything?”

At least he could give her something to do. “Here, put the bacon on the table.” Bill didn’t wait for her to do it, but poured the beaten eggs into the skillet. The eggs sizzled as they hit the hot surface, and he quickly stirred them up. “Coffee and mugs are on the counter.”

“Will you be staying here the whole time of Bill’s leave?”

“No, ma’am,” Darcy said as she put the bacon down and reached for a mug and coffee.

“Please, hon. You make me sound like an old school teacher or something. Call me Nettie if you can’t call me Momma.”

“Yes, ma—I mean, Nettie. No, ma’am. I have to look for a place in Montgomery.” She stirred some powdered creamer into her coffee from a jar on the counter, then settled at the table across from Momma. “I thought there might be some hospitals in town with openings for nurses, so I thought I’d apply. I’m so ready to get a job and live on my own after all the rules and restrictions of school.”

He had to hand it to her, Bill thought. She was covering herself well. So far, she hadn’t lied, but she hadn’t said anything that would get him in any serious trouble, either. He scraped the eggs onto two plates and carried them to the table.

“Thank you,” Darcy said. “I could get used to being waited on.”

“Well, you’d best get what you can now,” Momma said. “Once you start at a hospital, I reckon you’ll be waiting on everybody else.” She turned to Bill. “Son, get some silverware and set down before everything turns to rubber.”

Darcy smiled. Bill had seemed so in command when she’d met him on the road. When they’d talked in the car and at the restaurant, even when he had allowed her that brief glimpse of his vulnerable side, she’d had the feeling that he was in charge. Now, she could see that his mother had him wrapped around her little finger.

“What’s so funny?” Bill said as he plopped a fork down in front of her and took another chair.

“Nothing. I was just enjoying watching your mother boss you around.”

Bill grimaced, the wry expression softening the angular lines of his face and making him look briefly boyish. “Believe me, I have people telling me what to do every day.” He scooped up a forkful of eggs.

“You know something, hon,” Nettie said abruptly, interrupting the pleasant banter. “Doctor Williamson in Pittsville is looking for a new nurse. I’d bet he’d hire you in a minute.”

Darcy swallowed her eggs, almost choking on them. Every time she thought she was about to extricate herself from this mess, she found herself in deeper. “I was really looking forward to hospital work,” she said. “They pay better. I do have to support myself, you know.”

“Don’t be silly. You can stay here with me. After all, you’re going to be part of the family. Doc’s my doctor, and he’s just about ten miles down the road. You’d have much better hours, and you could save what you earn toward your weddin’.”

“You think you have it all figured out. Don’t you, Momma?” Bill said. “Darcy wants to live on her own for a while before she gets tied down with marriage.”

“Psh. It’s lonely livin’ by yourself. I should know. And I know too darn much about working odd shifts. I did enough of that at the cotton gin when you were growing up.” She smiled at Darcy. “At least, think about it, hon. I could surely use the company.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll think about it.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go on and set on the porch for a while. I do love to swing and smell the flowers while it’s cool in the mornings.” She pushed herself up out of her chair and slowly made her way toward the front door.

“I thought we were going to straighten out this mess first thing in the morning,” Darcy hissed, the minute she thought Nettie was out of hearing range. “You can’t keep lying to your mother like this. The longer it goes on, the harder it’ll be for us to explain our way out of it.”

“I know,” Bill said slowly. “I tried this morning before you got up, but damn it, she’s already gone and told Lougenia about it. Lou’ll probably tell somebody else, and so on and so on. If she’s told Earline, it’ll be all over the county by nightfall. I don’t know what to do.”

“You tell your sister the truth,” Darcy said firmly. “She’s not old and sick. She can handle it.”

As much as she hated lying, Darcy hated hurting Bill’s mother more. She liked this gentle woman who, in spite of her obvious poor health, had welcomed Darcy into her home with open arms. She’d offered Darcy her home, her love, and Darcy felt like a number-one heel for leading Nettie on like this. “We have to straighten this thing out, now.”

Bill just sat there, an impassive look hardening his face and making him look more like the trained military man he was than the farm boy she’d first supposed him to be. Had he even heard anything she’d said?

Darcy wanted to hit him.

His face brightening, he looked up and grinned. “Think about this,” he said. “And I want you to listen to my entire proposition before you say anything.”

“Something tells me I’m not going to like this,” Darcy said warily.

“Just hear me out. It’s important to me.”

“Go ahead.” Bill had done her a big favor; she might as well listen.

“You know about my mother’s health problem. As a nurse, you know how precarious her situation can be.” He took Darcy’s hand, sending a tremor of…excitement?…running through her. “You with me so far?”

Darcy nodded, still wondering where he was going with this. “Go on.”

“My family has been trying to get Momma to allow somebody to come in and help her out, but she will have nothing to do with the idea. Says she doesn’t want some stranger in her house messing with her things. Earline does what she can, but she has her own family. She stops by on her way to work, and her daughter Leah—she’s twelve—comes in to sit with her and do some light chores after school, but there’s nobody here with Momma at night. Even with Leah here all day in the summer, we worry.” He met her eyes. “As you may not have noticed last night when we came in….”

Darcy blushed, remembering how she had fallen asleep and slept all the way through Montgomery.

“Anyway, we live a good ways from town. If Momma needed help, it would be a long time coming from Pittsville. And then she’d probably have to be transferred to Montgomery anyway.” He paused and looked at her as if trying to gauge her reactions.

“What are you getting at?”

“It would sure take a load off my mind if you stayed here. Momma wouldn’t have a stranger messing with her things, and you would have a place to stay until you got on your feet.” He looked at her, his face radiating hope. “What do you say?”

Darcy stared at him, speechless. How could she possibly respond to this? Bill had promised her that they’d untangle this mess in the morning, not make it even worse.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but think about Momma. She needs you, even if she won’t admit it.”

“I…” Darcy struggled for some kind of response. The thing he was asking her to do was…was…preposterous. “I’d feel like a heel for deceiving her. She deserves better than that.”

“She deserves to be well and healthy enough to enjoy retirement after working two or three jobs to feed us.” Bill drew in a ragged breath. “But she won’t get that.” His voice broke. “At least, make her last days easier.”

Talk about a guilt trip. But why should she feel guilty about this? Nettie wasn’t her mother. Why should she get involved at all? The last thing she needed was another fiancé when she’d just gotten rid of the last one. Even if Bill was only a pretend one.

Darcy tried to consider all the angles, not easy to do with Bill sitting just across the table looking at her. He’d given her some of the most compelling reasons to stay. But they couldn’t justify lying.

She’d been living a lie for the last six months. She’d been pretending to be someone she was not. Darcy did not want to have to do it again.

Then she thought about Nettie Hays who had been so kind to her, so welcoming. The woman was ill. She didn’t have much longer to live. If it would make Nettie’s last days easier, maybe she could do it. After all, Bill would know that it wasn’t real.

She knew it wasn’t real. Nobody was fooling anybody.

Except Nettie.

And, the reality was that Nettie needed someone to be with her, and Darcy needed a place to stay. A place to think about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life without the distraction of her parents, her uncle and aunt and Dick. Maybe Mattison was the perfect place to hide while she got her head together.

She glanced out the kitchen window to where Nettie Hays sat swaying gently back and forth on the porch swing, humming a tune that Darcy couldn’t quite catch. She looked across the table to Bill.

He must have sensed her wavering thoughts, for he reached across the table and captured her hand in his large, strong one. He squeezed it gently, almost seeming to telegraph his feelings through his touch. That’s when Darcy knew she’d agree to do this foolhardy thing. Bill seemed to understand her unasked question. “I promise it will be nothing more than a business arrangement. I won’t expect anything of you except to help Momma,” he said huskily.

Bill needed her.

He needed her to be his eyes and ears and to take care of his mother when he couldn’t. To be here for him when times were rough and he couldn’t come. Bill had helped her out when she needed him. What else could she do?

Knowing she would probably regret this, she swallowed hard and looked at him. “All right,” she said, feeling the warmth of his hand on hers. “We can try it. After all, who could it hurt?”

Chapter Three

Darcy hung up the phone and sighed gustily. What had made her think that she’d be able to find someone to tow her car out of that roadside ditch and repair it, when she didn’t know the name of a single garage and tow company in south Alabama? And it didn’t help that she wasn’t exactly sure where the ditch containing her car was.

She’d already spent a huge amount of time calling long distance trying to get somebody to take care of the problem, but she’d gotten the royal runaround. And she’d thought military bureaucracy was hard to circumvent. She’d never tried to work within the system of a small Alabama town, and she was doing it blind from a hundred miles away.

At least she had been successful in getting an appointment for an interview with Dr. Williamson for the opening he had. It amazed her that he still kept his office open on Saturday mornings.

Darcy wondered if landing the job would be as easy as landing the interview. No, she told herself. Nothing had ever come easy for her before. She might as well be prepared for a long, hard haul. Still, it would be nice to have a job lined up right away.

She started to try again to find someone to tow her car, but stopped when she heard the sound of a car pulling into the drive. Had Bill returned from Barney’s General Store, or had the first of the party guests begun to arrive?

When she’d agreed to pretend to be engaged to Bill, she hadn’t known that the family was planning a party tonight. If they were really in love, she would have known that Bill had celebrated his twenty-eighth birthday alone while he’d been in Nevada on the last training exercise. It might be a birthday party, but it was too much to hope that the “engagement” would not come up.

Still, she hoped for a miracle because it was going to be hard to lie to his friends and relatives without having her partner in crime standing at her elbow. After all, they had to be able to keep their stories straight.

At least, for a little while.

Darcy breathed a relieved sigh as she heard Bill call from outside. “Come open the door. My hands are full.”

She scurried to the door and let her “fiancé” in. She had been trying to force herself to keep thinking of Bill as her intended so she wouldn’t slip up in front of his guests, but when she was alone it was hard to do. Now that she could see him again in the flesh, her breath caught in her throat. Any woman would be proud to be engaged to him. She could stare all day at his broad chest, showed off to perfection by the form-fitting T-shirt the color of Carolina blue skies. And those faded, snug jeans were bleached out in the most interesting places and made her wonder what lay beneath.

She almost wished she really was.

Darcy drew a deep breath and forced herself to speak. “How did that short list grow to three full grocery sacks?” she asked as she took the bag dangling precariously from Bill’s right hand and headed with it to the kitchen. “I thought you were getting milk and ice.”

“Got two more bags in the Cherokee,” he said as he lowered the two he carried onto the kitchen table. He shrugged. “You know how it is. You see stuff you need….” He paused and grinned. “And you see stuff you don’t really need but you kinda want, and pretty soon your short list has grown a foot long.” He turned to go back to the car, but looked back over his shoulder. “I saw Earline at the store.”

“And…?” Darcy asked, hoping the comment wasn’t prefacing bad news.

“She’d heard the news from Lou and was already blabbing to Barney. Who knows how many other folks she’d already spread the word to by then? Don’t reckon we’ll have to make much of an announcement tonight. Pretty much everybody in the county’s gonna know.”

Darcy sighed. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

FOR SOME REASON everyone was late this time. Bill stood by the front window watching for the first car to arrive. The lateness of the guests, family mostly, had given him a little more time to get his story straight with Darcy, he supposed, and it saved Momma from the stress and commotion of all the kids so soon.

Still, he couldn’t help thinking that he wanted to get this over with as soon as he could. It was one thing to stretch the truth to his mother for a good reason, but another thing to announce it to half the town. If they weren’t careful, they would find it in the local paper, and he sure wanted to prevent that.

And was it really a white lie?

It was one thing to let Momma think what she thought, it was another thing to carry it on as if it were true. Damn, when did life get so complicated?

“How do I look?”

He turned to see Darcy standing in the hallway to the back of the house.

“I don’t have any party clothes with me,” she said, smiling apologetically. “I wasn’t expecting to be engaged quite so soon.” She struck a pose, holding her arms out and doing a slow turn. “This was the best I could do.”

Billy whistled, long and low. If that was short notice, he’d like to see what she looked like when she was really trying.

No. He wouldn’t. This was make-believe, he reminded himself. They were pretending for Momma’s sake.

Darcy was wearing jeans, and he wondered if she had any other clothes. This pair was newer, and instead of a T-shirt, she had on a sweater set in a soft blue that hugged her curves, yet looked delicate and demure. How’d she manage that? And why did he keep thinking about her as if she really were his fiancée?

“Oh, you look fine,” he murmured, shaking his head appreciatively. “More than fine.”

“Thank you,” Darcy answered primly. “I didn’t have anything dressy with me. I thought I’d be able to send for the rest of my clothes when I got where I was going and before I needed anything special.”

She hadn’t really thought that, consciously anyway, but she had sent most of her things ahead—to Dick’s place—and had only brought the bare minimum with her. Mother and Aunt Marianne had enjoyed shopping for the honeymoon trousseau she hadn’t really wanted, and she’d left that behind when she’d taken off. All she had were the clothes in the duffle bag she’d left in the car.

Strange, she thought, that she’d packed enough in her bag for the trip from school in North Carolina to keep her going until she landed on her feet. Even when she hadn’t known she was going to run. Or had she?

She had an oyster-colored linen suit, badly in need of ironing now, her best uniform left from nursing training, and some jeans and T-shirts. She certainly had packed much more than she needed for the trip to Hurlburt Field.

“Will I pass inspection?” she asked him.

Bill whistled again. “You will do just fine. I might have to fight the other guys off my gir—” He suddenly realized what he’d said. “I’m sorry.” Bill shrugged. “I know we’re only pretending for Momma’s sake.”

“Apology accepted. After all, we have to make it look good.” Darcy grinned. “Feel free to fight off any interlopers you feel like. It’ll do my ego good.”

“I don’t know about your ego, Darcy. But it’ll damn sure do mine just fine.” Bill grinned. “I don’t exactly have the reputation of a ladies’ man around here.”

Darcy arched an eyebrow. “You couldn’t prove it by me. You sure did a good job of picking me up.”

“Ha ha,” Bill said dryly. “I might have come to your rescue, but it wasn’t exactly on a white charger.”

“No, just a dark green Jeep Cherokee. That was good enough for me.” Funny, she hadn’t noticed the color of the Jeep when he’d picked her up.

Now she noticed everything.

Like the way Bill’s chest had expanded when he’d looked at her. And the way he cared for his mother, and his wide-open face, and his green eyes and the touch of his hand…No, she couldn’t be thinking about that. It isn’t real.

It isn’t real, she reminded herself again.

She shook her thoughts away, and looked up at Bill, only to find herself drowning in his deep green eyes. She forced herself to look away before it was too late.

For what?

“What else do we have to do to get ready?” Darcy asked, though she knew they were as ready as they could be. She had to say something to change the subject. Anything. They were heading toward dangerous territory if they didn’t switch to a different topic of conversation.

Bill shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Everything is pretty much under control for now. Lou and Earline are bringing the party. All we had to do was make sure everything was cleaned up and ready.” He smiled crookedly. Odd that they were both acting like a couple of teenagers on a first date. But then, this was more like a first date than a birthday-slash-engagement announcement party.

At least on a first date, they would have been alone.

The crunch of tires on the gravel driveway saved him from any more deep thinking.

“Looks like the first wave is here. I reckon we better get to battle stations.” He glanced out the window. “It’s Earline and Edd and the kids.” With Earline’s kids around, at least, he wouldn’t have time to think.

BILL WAS RIGHT when he’d told her they wouldn’t have to make an announcement, Darcy thought as she assessed the crowd in the small living room. It seemed as if everyone who came in had already heard. It might have saved them from having to stand up in front of the group and tell a bald-faced lie, but it hadn’t made it any easier.

Because everyone already knew, she found herself fielding questions that she and Bill had not prepared for.

Like, when was the wedding?

Since there wasn’t really going to be a wedding, they hadn’t thought that anyone would ask. Both of them had severely underestimated the curiosity of the residents of Mattison, Alabama.

“You really ought to set a date soon, girl,” Ruby Scarborough, Bill’s first-grade teacher, said as she cornered Darcy in the nook by the fireplace, far across the room from Bill.

Bill had told Darcy that Mrs. Scarborough considered herself a member of every family in the community since she’d educated all the kids and most of the parents as well. She attended every party, wedding shower and reception, whether she was invited or not.

“Gosh, Mrs. Scarborough, Bill and I hadn’t even thought that far ahead,” Darcy told her truthfully. “We’ve only just gotten engaged, and we want to enjoy that part of our relationship for now.”

Mrs. Scarborough took her by the arm and pulled her farther to the side. “You know, Nettie doesn’t have much more time,” she said in hushed tones. “Perhaps, you should think of doing it sooner instead of later.”

“Yes, ma’am. We know. But I’ve just gotten out of nursing school, and I want to work for a while first.” Darcy knew her reply was lame, but what else could she say?

Bill came to her rescue. “You’ll excuse me, Miz Scarborough, if I steal my fiancée away.”

“You’re excused for now. But I will not forgive you if you don’t set a date, and soon. Your momma needs to see you married and settled.”

“Yes, ma’am, I know. But, I’m going to be busy with several training schools for the next few months, so we won’t be able to schedule anything until I’m done.”

“Until you’re finished with them,” Mrs. Scarborough corrected. “You’re only done if you’ve been baking at 350 degrees for about five hours like a turkey,” she added.

“Yes, ma’am. When I’m finished.” Bill steered Darcy across the room.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered quietly into Darcy’s ear. “I hadn’t expected the news to spread like wildfire. I could throttle Earline.”

Darcy turned and whispered back. “It’s all right. We should have asked your mother to keep it quiet.” Then she stopped. “But, that would have been unfair to her.”

“Yeah,” Bill said. “I should’ve straightened it all out last night.” Then he looked across the room to where his mother was seated regally in a chair, her attendant guests surrounding her.

No, he was glad he’d given her these few moments of pleasure. He and Darcy could pretend to have a falling-out later. He did have that long string of specialty schools coming up. It would be a perfect reason for the engagement not to work out.