Milly was gone: married! I couldn't believe it when I first heard about it from Alice, but apparently it was true. She'd gone and married Adam Pontipee, the same backwoodsman who'd boasted about always getting what he set out to get.
-7-
Milly was only two years older than I, yet she seemed a lot older than that. She was the person who made the first move to befriend me. While all the other girls hung back that first Sunday, Milly marched right up and introduced herself to us. Her wide smile instantly reassured me and I knew that I would have at least one friend in the town.
It was Milly who introduced me to the other girls, and the seven of us made quite a lively bunch. Soon it got to be that the six of us were hardly ever seen without at least one of the others. Milly, being alone and a boarder, often had to work, though she made it to our gatherings as often as she could and usually was the voice of reason to us girls.
It took us a while to adjust to our loss. Milly had been like a second mother to us all. It wasn't until a few days later that I saw her again…
-7-
"Dorcas, Dorcas!" My little sister Maggie yelled, rushing into the parlour where I was doing some embroidery on my new dress.
"For Heaven's sake, what's the matter Maggie? Did Mrs. Johnson's son pull your hair again?" Marty Johnson was notorious for making fun of the girls; he was the bane of my sister's life, or so she would have me believe. Secretly, I knew she enjoyed it.
"Nope, Milly's back and doin' some shoppin' at the General Store." Maggie said as she sat down on the sofa beside me.
"Really?" I got up excitedly.
"Yup, came in a few minutes ago. She brought them Pontipee brothers with her." Maggie yelled after me.
I barely heard her as I threw my shawl over my shoulders and rushed out the door. I quickly walked to the General store, arriving on the boardwalk just in time to see that a fight was in progress.
I stood, unsure of what to do. They were fighting right in front of the mercantile door. I couldn't just walk up to where they were fighting. So I stood and watched, waiting for them to be finished before coming any closer.
From what I could see, it was three of our boys against one Pontipee brother. Well that's hardly fair now, is it? I mean three against one… my thought trailed off as I realized that the one Pontipee was holding his own.
The minister had spoken often against violence, and I knew that it was despicable. Yet as I watched, I couldn't help admiring the sheer power that the Pontipee was displaying. From the look on his face he seemed to be enjoying himself, and almost playing with the other ones. I gasped as he knocked one of our boys right into the mercantile window.
A few seconds later Milly came barrelling out the door, calling to the others to stop him. The other brothers made no move, so she grabbed the fighter by his shirt and yelled for him to stop. Three punches later the boys were out cold, draped over the railing like pieces of cloth.
"It's stopped," the man said proudly as he looked at the three boys.
"You get in that wagon," Milly hissed, eyes narrowed. "Get!"
He obeyed, hopping into the wagon easily, looking confused. Milly turned around and headed back into the store, taking what looked to be the youngest back in with her. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that someone half their size held such power over them.
I decided that now probably wasn't the best time to talk with her. Besides, it didn't feel right without the other girls with me. Especially since she now had her brothers with her. It wouldn't look proper at all. A few moments later they came out of the store again, her basket and his arms full of packages. She climbed into the wagon and they set off, all of them quiet.
I couldn't help but look at the brothers as they passed me. One of them met my gaze and my eyes dropped. When I looked up again shyly, his gaze was still on me. It was the fighter. I turned and walked back to my house, looking back once to make sure that the wagon was gone and out of sight.
"Did you talk to her?" Maggie asked me when I got home again. I shook my head in the negative and she frowned. "I miss Milly; she always used to give me candy in church. Now I'll have to get my candy from Old Lady Myrtle." She wrinkled her nose in disgust and I laughed. I sat back down on the sofa and picked up my work again. All afternoon I worked on the dress, I wanted it to be perfect for the barn-raising next week. Every once in a while I caught my thoughts drifting back to that afternoon, and a pair of deep brown eyes gleaming beneath fiery red hair.