Samson and Sunset Read Free

the
best.”
      I saw alright.
      Dane’s plan was for us to go out of
state and marry (that way his name wouldn’t be on a marriage
document in Nebraska.) We’d come right back, he’d leave the state
for a while, file for divorce, come back, and that would be
that.
      I’m sitting there listening to plan B
and I’m thinking to myself in my small mind, This man is going to
marry me, I’ll be going by the name Kathrine Dalton, the baby,
gender unknown, but already named by me Kelly Quinn, will also be
going by Kelly Quinn Dalton. Everyone knows everyone’s business in
this town and nobody is ever going to know he’s married? Gotcha!
Man, if he was that stupid, I wasn't saying anything. Kelly came
before me. We set the date to go to Centerville, Kansas.
      On the day of our wedding we went to
the western Saddle Motel to get dressed. As I came out of the
shower, Dane threw me on the bed, saying, “You know, baby, it’s all
too bad. You’re so pretty and actually… you are awfully
innocent.”
      Then he forced himself on me, saying
we had to do it before the wedding, as he didn’t want to consummate
the marriage. I cried at first; then I got real quiet. I was
praying. God, I said, if this is not the right thing for this child
and me, please give me a sign. I waited and looked, but there was
no sign, I just kept feeling God was telling me he had my back, so
on to the church we went. Every word I said at the altar of God was
spoken in truth from my heart and soul. I couldn’t speak for Dane
or judge him. I went into marriage with Dane Dalton with the
complete belief that what God had joined together, no man could put
asunder.
      I wore a white dress, white heels and
a white hat with a veil. Mom had given me some beautiful, fresh-cut
flowers from the garden. We got married and drove the three hours
home in silence. I got out of the car at my parents’ house. Dane
shut the door and drove away.
      A few weeks later, his parents
summoned me to their home. Dane, coward that he was, saw to it that
he wasn’t present. I’m sure Dane thought if I had to face his
parents alone, they could have terrorized me into an abortion. Mr.
and Mrs. Dalton, the two professors, sat across from me in two
chairs. I sat on their sofa.
      “What do you want?” Mrs. Dalton asked
coolly.
      I stared them down. “I want nothing
but my baby, so if that’s all you wanted to know, conversation
over.”
      Apparently that was all they wanted to
know. The meeting had clearly been an intimidation tactic. Boy, did
they get a wrong number. They looked like two people with egg on
their faces as I left their home, never to return. Hard times for
this little child and me, and she wasn’t even born yet.
      Apart from being called a whore that
day on the street from his motorcycle, the only other time I saw
Dane before Kelly was born was one night when I walked in the dark
to the West Side. He was in his garage working on his ’40 Ford
Coupe and I hid across the street behind a big tree, tears dripping
from my eyes, watching him. I held my hand over my stomach.
      “There’s your daddy,” I told Kelly
softly. “Isn’t he handsome?”
      ***

    The judge awarded me child maintenance and
separate maintenance because I was a separated mother. I said I
didn’t want anything, but he said I had no say in the matter. After
that I got a good job working for my attorney while I was pregnant.
With my maintenance money and good job, I rented a big house on the
right side of the tracks and moved Mom, Dad, and myself in while we
awaited the arrival of the baby.
    ***

    Susie and I were always riding around
together. I guess I was Susie’s driver (she had no car.) She always
wanted me to drive her around looking for this guy she liked, Shay
Westover. Yes, the same Shay Westover whose life Dane Dalton just
had to have. On one of our drives in search of this Shay Westover,
we found what Susie was sure was his car in a driveway. No heads
were