Blue Bonnet by Fay Risner Read Free Book Online

at
that young woman from behind at church on Sundays. Her golden hair
was always in a tight knot on the back of her neck, resting on the
lacy collar of her prim and proper checkered dress.
    Miss Tilly was the schoolmarm in
Dead Horse. She had been for the last two years and was well liked
by the students and their parents. If he was marking younger women
off his imaginary list, Sarah Tilly would be marked off in a hurry.
As well as she liked her teaching job, it wasn't likely she'd move
to the ranch with an old man, such as him, to become a rancher's
wife.
    At his age, he knew he shouldn’t
be so particular, but most of the available women in Dead Horse
didn’t strike him as wife material. Not to his liking for settling
down with at any rate. They might do quite well for some other man.
When he compared the prospective females in town to his late wife,
he just couldn’t see being happy with any of the
choices.
    After church, Bat walked Billie
home like always. He sat at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of
warmed over coffee while she fixed dinner.
    “With a little suggesting from me,
you checked out Sarah Tilly this morning in church. Any notions
about her?” Billie asked as she stirred fried potatoes in a
sizzling cast iron skillet.
    “None at all. I'm not goin' to try
to strike up a conversation with her. As pretty as she is, Miss
Tilly is way too young for me and bound to have half the young men
in the county after her already. I ain't no match for that kind of
competition.”
    “Oh, that's right. You weren't
going to choose a woman young enough to bare children,” Billie said
as she grinned to herself.
    Bat shifted uncomfortably in the
chair as he joked, “Especially with one as young as the schoolmarm.
She has a lot more energy right now than I've got left in me. I'd
rather not have a heart attack right after I took me a bride
home.”
    Billie twisted at the stove and
frowned down her nose at him.
    Bat figured she didn't like what
he was referring to. He best change the subject before she gave him
a lecture on what he should and shouldn't talk about with his
sister. “How much do I owe ya for cleanin' the ranch house up,
Billie?”
    Billie set plates and silverware
on the table. “You don't owe me a thing, and you know it. I was
glad to do it if having a clean house helps your matrimonial cause
any. I must admit I didn't expect you to be quite so particular
about wife criteria.”
    “I wouldn't say I'm that
particular. Not exactly anyway. This week I've paid attention to
the unmarried women in town just like ya told me to do. So far I
ain't seen one yet that strikes my fancy. This wife huntin' may
take awhile.” Bat frowned. “As hard a job as this one is, I figure
the house is libel to be in the same dusty, rodent infested fix
again before I make up my mind about a bride,” he said
seriously.
    “Well, I hope not! Before you do
show a woman where she might be living, may I suggest you get that
painting of Hannah off the parlor wall like I told you to do,”
Billie said.
    “Uh oh, I forgot about that. I'll
take it down in the morning,” Bat agreed. “Where should I hang
it?”
    “No where in
your house. The only possibility is hide the painting in the attic
if you can't bear to take it out of the house. I do have a better
suggestion. Why not hang the painting at your daughters house? I
think they would like a remembrance of their mother, and you can
enjoy the painting when you visit them.
    Take it from me, no woman likes
competition alive or dead, and that's what Hannah is.
    All a woman has to do is catch you
gazing lovingly at that painting just once. That woman, you're
trying to spark, will walk out of your life as fast as she can get
back to town,” Billie predicted.
    “All right, if you say so,” Bat
said reluctantly. He decided he best keep his mouth shut about
already comparing women to Hannah. That was exactly what Billie had
already told him not to do. “I'll take Hannah down tomorrow