Cutty (Prairie Grooms Book 8) by Kit Morgan

batch out to the men? I’m going to put more in the oven. The pies are already sliced. They’ll have to eat them with their hands – I’m afraid Constance doesn’t have enough plates to go around.”
    Constance shrugged. “Sorry.”
    “Understandable, dear,” Imogene assured her. “After you’re in your new home, we’ll order you some new dishes to go with it.”
    “Oh, but Cousin Imogene, Ryder and I can’t afford …”
    “Nonsense – I’ll get them for you. Consider it a late wedding present. Besides, you can’t expect the family to bring their own plates and forks each time you invite them to dinner.”
    Constance glanced at Sadie and Belle and laughed. “It worked the last time.”
    “By necessity, my dear.” Imogene said, pouring a cup of coffee for Cutty.
    She picked up the plate of cookies and headed out the door. When she reached the barn, he was just coming out. “Here, have a sip of this. It will do you good.”
    He took the cup from her. “Thank ya, Imogene.” He spied the cookies. “I’ll take some of those now.”
    Imogene looked this way and that, then leaned toward him. “What happened?” she asked in a low voice. “With Newton?”
    Cutty checked his surroundings as well, then slipped into his real voice. “He brought up our possible marriage, and asked what your last name would be.”
    She blanched. “Oh dear.”
    “Quite. What was I supposed to tell him? Come to think of it, how can we get married? I’ll have to use my legal name …”
    Imogene stared at him, wide-eyed. “Oh. Dear.”
    “As you said previously.”
    “Then everyone will know …”
    Cutty sobered. “And after that, they’ll likely hang me higher than Haman, and make you a widow.”
    “Stop that. No one is going to hang you.” She stared at him, her jaw tight. “At least I … well …”
    “You hope they don’t, right? Face it, Imogene, we didn’t think about this part of it. We’ve been busy worrying about Nettie and Newton’s reaction, not that of the entire town. We should’ve foreseen this complication –”
    “Cutty!” she said, looking to her left.
    Cutty glanced that way, saw Colin coming around the barn, and quickly switched back to his adopted persona. “Dagnabit! Pass me them cookies, will ya?” Then he whispered, “I gotta be more careful.”
    “Either that, or give up the pretense,” Imogene hissed back.
    “Easy for ya to say – it won’t be yer head in the noose …”
    “What’s going on over here?” Colin asked as he joined them, then spied the plate. “Cookies!” He reached for the plate and grabbed a few. “Thank you, Cousin Imogene.
    “We have coffee in the house if you’d like some.”
    “Certainly. One cannot eat cookies properly without coffee or tea. Besides, we’re due for a little break. Gentlemen!” he called to the men. “The ladies have made us a treat!”
    A cheer went up as the men began to disperse, some to the house and some to Imogene and her plate of cookies, which was fine with her. She was worried about Cutty more than ever. What if Colin or Harrison had heard him speak as Thackary Holmes? Waiting to see Newton and Nettie’s reactions was nerve-wracking enough, but the Cooke family … she didn’t want to think about what they might do.
    Imogene passed out her cookies, then went to the house for more, but had to calm herself on the way. How had she not thought about his last name – her last name once she married him? And now she might not be able to marry him at all – not if it was going to put him in danger.
    She loved her family, but what if they didn’t want her to have anything to do with Cutty after they found out his true identity? What if they ran him out of town even after all he’d done to redeem himself?
    “No! They can’t!” she muttered as she marched to the house. “They wouldn’t!”
    Or would they? There was really no way of knowing until they got the news …
     
    * * *
     
    Cutty ate his cookies, but didn’t