Read Online Half Past Mourning by Fleeta Cunningham - Free Book Online Page B

arranged for him to meet other girls, anyway. I know that he had to take some of her friends’ daughters out from time to time just to keep peace at home. Maybe those dates weren’t always at Marigold’s instigation.”
    “But you don’t know that,” he reminded her. “And even if all Tinker said is straight, you still can’t account for the fact that you and Danny did get married. No pretense, no sham, no lie in that, is there? Do you want to know the status of that marriage or not?” Peter stepped back, his arms folded across his chest, waiting.
    Nina didn’t answer directly. “My parents had such an incredible marriage,” she told him. “Losing them both at the same time was awful, but in a way it was only right. I can’t imagine either of them going on without the other. That’s the kind of marriage I dreamed of, the kind I thought I’d have with Danny. Where the commitment was total, and each one was living half the life of the other. Dad never left the house without kissing Mom. Every day he’d tell her she was the reason the sun came up, that she was beautiful, and his day only started when he got home to her. I thought all marriages were like that and that mine would be, too.” She reached across the table to the corner shelf and took down a picture. Her parents looked back at her from the silver frame. “Dad never looked at another woman. They had arguments, of course, and Mom had a pretty short fuse, sometimes, but nobody ever doubted they were married for life.” She wiped back a lingering tear. “Somehow I don’t think Danny and I would have had the same kind of marriage they did.” The doubts she’d never acknowledged surfaced. “I think he did see other girls, and I don’t think marriage would have changed him.”
    Peter crossed the room and sat on the arm of her chair. His warm hand engulfed hers. “If that’s the kind of man Danny was, a man who couldn’t keep his commitment to you, he would have broken your heart.”
    “He’s done that,” she answered, limp from the warring conflict inside her.
    “So do we go forward with the search, Nina? Do we try to find Danny Wilson and resolve the question? Do you want to know if he planned to abandon you? And if you find that Danny did leave you at the church on purpose two years ago, what do you want to do about it?”
    “What I want to do depends on what actually happened two years ago.” Empty of emotion, too worn from the events of the day to go on, Nina put her glass and the picture of her parents down and breathed a weary sigh. “You’re right, I still don’t know the truth. I don’t know what to do. Even with what Tinker told me tonight, the situation isn’t any clearer. I guess I go on searching.”
    Peter’s grip on her shoulder tightened. “I think that’s the thing to do, Nina. Find out what really did happen to Danny. And I have a place to start in two or three weeks.”
    Nina could think of only one thing that would give Peter a place to start—the car. “Something about the T-Bird? You found something else?”
    “About the car, yes, but I didn’t find anything else. Not like the knife or Danny’s license. I got in touch with the woman I bought the car from in Barlow. Betty Andrews is a very nice lady who’s busy with her daughter’s wedding plans. She remembers her husband buying the car because they had some strong words about the practical aspects of buying a car she couldn’t drive. She says she has his letters from when he was in Saudi, as well. As soon as the bride and groom are safely on their way, Mrs. Andrews will get those letters out and see if they have information we can use. She can’t do it before that. She says the house is in enough turmoil with the wedding. So I can see her in about three weeks. It’s not much, but it’s some kind of starting place, Nina.”
    Three weeks! Nina groaned at the idea of waiting another three weeks. “And there’s nothing we can do before that, is