Sgt. Billy's Bride. Bonnie Gardner

more about love today than she had seen in her entire life. She drew in a deep breath, pasted on a smile, and prepared to face the guests and the rest of the party.

      IN SPITE OF the crush of guests around him, the only thing Bill could think of was that kiss. That wonderful, breathtaking, unexpected kiss. Maybe he should have anticipated the possibility—hell, probability—of kissing Darcy, but he hadn’t. And now that he had kissed Darcy, he wanted to keep on doing it. But he knew he couldn’t.

      It wouldn’t be fair.

      Not to him, not to Darcy, not even to his mother, for that matter.

      He and Darcy had to figure out a way to make this engagement look good for now and then make it come to an end without hurting anybody. Talk about an impossible task!

      He wasn’t used to lying. Pretending to be engaged to Darcy was a lie, even if he wouldn’t mind if it were true.

      Bill looked across the room to where Momma seemed to be sinking lower into her chair. He saw that she was tired. Excitement had been replaced by dark smudges beneath her eyes. He wondered how to ask the guests to leave.

      “Hey, little brother, I’ve got one sleepy little quarterback here,” Earline said, drawing Bill out of his thoughts and saving him from having to come up with an excuse. She guided a drowsy Little Edd toward the door while Big Edd followed with Chrissie in his arms. Leah, their oldest, brought up the rear.

      “Hey, Uncle Bill, I like Miss Darcy. You got a real keeper,” Leah said. She turned toward Darcy. “Can I be in your wedding? I’m the only girl in my class who hasn’t been a bridesmaid yet.”

      Darcy looked startled, but she recovered quickly enough. “We’ll have to see, sweetie. We haven’t started to make plans,” she finally said.

      It seemed to satisfy Leah, and she left happily enough. Too bad they wouldn’t be able to follow through.

      Lougenia, announcing that Momma was tired, followed Earline and her family out. Soon the rest of the guests took the hint, leaving Bill and Darcy alone with Momma.

      “I’ll just take my bedtime pills and then leave you two alone,” Momma said. “I’d love to help you clean up, but I just don’t seem to have the energy anymore,” she said as she shuffled into the kitchen for a glass of water.

      “That’s all right, Nettie. We can handle it,” Darcy called after her. “You go ahead and get your rest.” She started clearing the dining-room table while they waited for Momma to finish in the kitchen.

      “I’m sorry Leah put you on the spot like that,” Bill said as he watched Darcy stacking plates from the ravaged dining-room table.

      “Me, too. I hate to disappoint her,” Darcy said, piling flatware on top of the plates. “She’s a nice girl.”

      “No nicer than you,” Bill told her.

      After Momma went up to bed, he followed Darcy into the kitchen and watched as she deposited the plates on the sideboard and filled the sink with sudsy water. “I’ll dry if you wash,” he suggested, hoping for a way to be close to her without crowding. He knew that Darcy had been just as uneasy about the kiss they’d been forced into as he had, but they’d had to do something or they wouldn’t have made their fake engagement look real.

      Or ever heard the end of it.

      “You’re on. Though, I’d rather you’d wash and I dry,” she said as she lowered the first glass into the water.

      “I don’t expect we ought to risk that slippery, wet china with these big mitts,” he said, holding up his hands.

      Darcy tossed a dish towel at Bill which he deftly caught. “Remind me to pick up some rubber gloves in town,” Darcy said. “Or maybe a dishwasher,” she mumbled just low enough that Bill had to strain to hear.

      Bill chuckled. “We’ve tried for years to get Momma to let us give her one, but she wouldn’t have a thing to do with it. Said she’d raised five kids without having one, so why’d she need one now?” He thought for a minute. “Now that it looks like there’s gonna be a new Mrs. Hays, maybe we can swing one.”

      Darcy dipped a soapy glass under the running water. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I won’t be here that long, and it’s a big expense. I can make do. After all, you don’t have twenty people over for dinner most of the time.” Darcy looked up at him, her eyes wide. “This isn’t a regular thing, is it?”