Bonnie Gardner - Sgt. Billy's Bride

She just hoped that Mrs. Hays wouldn’t be too upset about the truth.

BILL POURED his mother a glass of orange juice and watched as she drank it. It saddened him to see her so weak, and he felt so helpless not to be able to do anything about it. She’d been so strong when he was growing up, and now she seemed so frail.

“Happy Birthday, son,” Momma said. “In all the excitement last night I plumb forgot about it. We’ll have your party tonight. Along with your birthday, we’ll have something else to celebrate.”

“Something else?”

“Well, surely you want to announce your engagement,” she said. “I called Lougenia first thing this morning and told her all about it. She was so excited.”

Damn, Bill thought. Now what do I do? Why in the hell did I think we could get away with it? We should’ve told her the truth last night. “Momma, I wish you hadn’t done that,” he said, tempering his anger. After all, he wasn’t mad at Momma. He was mad at himself.

“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.