Deborah Camp Read Free Page B

nose.
    Zach chuckled. “Luna has been around the maypole a few times.”
    “Has she been around
your
maypole?”
    He arched his brows, feigning shock. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”
    “And what’s that got to do with you, Zachary Thomas Warner?”
    He picked up the hefty law book and aimed it at her. Bertha gave a whoop and sought refuge in the outer office. Laughing under his breath, Zach set down the book and opened the Hastings file. Another divorce, but this one was a bit different. It actually perplexed him. After coming to Guthrie and handling hundreds of divorces, the cases had begun to all blur together. But this one was intriguing.
    What happened to Charles Hastings here in the Territory? Was he happily married when he arrived or was he looking for more than land? Did he decide to divorce his wife before or after he met Luna Lee?
    Most of the divorce cases in Guthrie had to do with a spouse trying to get shed of a drunk, abuser, or wastrel. Sometimes all three. But Charles divorced a beautiful, well-spoken, well-turned-out woman who was faithful to the marriage and supportive of his journey to rough and tumble Indian Territory to buy up some land.
    Instead of sending for her, Charles had divorced her and then taken up with Luna. While Luna was a good looking woman, she wasn’t exactly refined. She had smoothed some of her rough edges, but she was by no means a cultured lady. Although he didn’t think that Jennie was a blue blood or in the upper crust of society, she certainly was educated and resourceful. He had to admit he admired her gumption, arriving here with her young son in tow to stake her claim and make a life for them.
    Too bad she was in for a fall. From what he’d seen in those papers, he didn’t think she had prayer, but maybe Adam Polk would see it differently. Adam had been practicing law twice as long as him, although he hadn’t handled as many divorces.
    Divorce is what had lured Zach to Guthrie. He’d heard through colleagues that there was quick money to be made representing folks flocking to the Territory for a divorce. He’d left Louisville and arrived in Guthrie to find that he was one of about 100 other attorneys who had the same idea. But he’d done all right for himself, especially after making friends with Adam Polk.
    Already holding the view that coupling for a lifetime was a dying ideal, what he’d witnessed for the past year in court had hammered the final nail into that coffin.
    Shoving aside the musings, he went to grab his hat off its peg in the outer office. “Bertha, I’m going to check in on your husband.”
    “He is on the mend. Don’t need to worry about him, Zachary.”
    He smiled and sent her a wink. “Lock the door when you leave, will you? I’m going fishing.”
    The day was bright with spring sunshine. Wagons loaded with building supplies rolled along Harrison Avenue, hogging the street and making horses, buggies, and surreys bob and weave around them. Zach moved quickly toward the horse he’d tethered at the side of the law building.
    “Whoa, Mercy,” he said to the chestnut mare as he grabbed the reins and swung into the saddle. He reined her onto the street and set her at a fast walk, south toward a cluster of houses, one of which was claimed by Adam and Bertha Polk. When he passed the Harrison Hotel, he tried to see inside to perhaps catch another glimpse of Jennie Hastings, but it was too dark in there to see anyone.
    He turned the horse onto a street fronting some newly built homes. Nearly everything in Guthrie was newly built, but these residences still smelled of fresh lumber. Adam and Bertha had moved into their pretty, little cottage only a couple of months ago. More were being built in the next block. They couldn’t build them fast enough as more people settled, opened businesses, and sought their fortunes in the frontier town.
    He looped the reins around a sapling in the front yard and bounded up onto the porch where four rockers