don’t
see how I could do that to you, Bat, even if I did want to say yes.
Between the store and the house, I have too many debts to marry
anyone.”
Without hesitation, Bat replied,
“I have plenty of money. I’ll pay yer debts. If ya want to stay in
Dead Horse rather than live on the ranch, we can live in yer house.
I don’t mind doing that for ya if ya will have me. It's taken me a
long time to figure out I love ya, Leta. Don’t know for the life of
me, why it took me so long to realize it. Now I know I want to
marry ya no matter what.”
Leta came to him and put her hand
on his cheek. “No matter what? Truth is, I must admit I was a
little quicker than you to realize I love you. I've loved you from
the first time I talked to you, Bat Kayhill. I just didn't have a
clue you felt the same way about me. You've been very good at
hiding your feelings.”
She stepped back behind the
rockers and paced back and forth as Bat's forehead wrinkled in
worry. “That's why your proposal surprises me. I thought you had
another woman in mind to give the bonnet,” Leta said honestly. She
stopped pacing and whirled to face him. “Wait a minute! I think you
owe me an explanation.” She rushed around the rockers and stood in
front of Bat with her hands on her hips. “You said you didn’t know
for sure you loved me until now. So what woman was the bonnet
really for? What happened? Did she turn you down so you decided to
settle for me?”
Bat scrunched his face up. He
hated to admit an answer to that question, but he didn't want her
thinking there was another woman in his life. The more agitated
Leta got with the way she was thinking might just make her turn his
proposal down. “Well --- well ----why did ya have to ask? I feel
like a fool telling ya the truth.”
Leta crossed her arms in front of
her and said, “Go on. You're not getting out of explaining to me,
Bartholomew Kayhill.”
“Ya see, it was like this. The
bonnet was a gift for whoever I found that would marry me. I didn’t
have anyone special in mind until now, but I intended to be
prepared with a gift when I chose a bride that would fit into my
life,” Bat stuttered as he grinned boyishly at her.
Leta gave him a disbelieving
sideways look. “Honestly? That's the truth?” Bat shook his head
yes. Her hand went over her mouth as she stifled a giggle.
“Unbelievable! Aren't you a real caution! You had me make a bonnet
for an imaginary woman?”
“Yip, that's the truth, Ma’am,”
Bat declared.
“Start calling me Leta again, and
I'll say yes. I will marry you, Bat.” She put her arms around his
neck and kissed him to seal the proposal.
That next Sunday after church, Bat
invited his daughters and sister to join Leta and him for lunch at
the hotel. The women in his life knew something was up from the way
Bat was smiling all the time.
At lunch, Bat told them he invited
them to eat with Leta and him for a reason. The two of them wanted
to tell his family he had asked Leta to marry him, and she said
yes.
After he announced they were
getting married, Bat told the story to his girls about Leta making
her own bonnet without knowing it. His daughters looked at Leta
with concern for her.
“That must have been difficult to
say the least, trying to figure out whether to make a narrow or
wide bill,” Tessie said, looking at her father like he was a
simpleton.
“How did you know if you should
use narrow or wide ties?” Ethel asked, amazed that Leta even took
the order.
“Well, it was rather a puzzle as
to how to style the bonnet. I didn't know who the woman was that
was getting it,” Leta said.
Tessie shook her head at her
father.
Ethel did some loud tongue
clicking before she asked, “Did you know about the bonnet, Aunt
Billie?”
“Yes, I knew he ordered a bonnet,
but it was only recently he decided whom to give it to. I'm glad
Leta knows the story. I was afraid your father wasn't going to tell
her the truth, because of what she'd think of him. She
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