A Husband for Margaret by Ruth Ann Nordin

you
did.” He stood beside Margaret and put his arm around her
shoulders. “You came in time to see me get married. Will you be
having a seat on my side?”
    Debra pressed a hand to her heart
before she let out a chuckle. “Oh, you must think I’m still
entertaining the affections of Bernard Winslow. I assure you that I
am not.”
    Out of the corner of her eye, Margaret
saw Bob roll his eyes at Doug who snickered. She wondered about the
exchange but gave it little thought as Joseph replied to Debra’s
announcement.
    “ I’m sorry it didn’t work
between you, but I don’t see what that has to do with this
wedding.” He gave Margaret’s shoulders a slight squeeze and glanced
at her, “Shall we get this started?”
    “ Yes,” Margaret agreed. She
saw no reason to draw this whole thing out. After all, this was her
day by golly, and she was going to enjoy it, even if it killed her!
“Get on back up to the preacher and I’ll be there.”
    Looking relieved, Joseph quickly
obeyed.
    Though she knew it was a bad example in
front of the boys, she stuck her tongue out at an angry Debra. As
she figured, Bob and Doug giggled at what she knew to be a childish
display. Oh well. Maybe it would be good for them to know that even
adults had their moments. She tapped them on the shoulders and
said, “Go on ahead and my pa and I’ll follow you.”
    They went to stand in front of
her.
    “ Wait.” Margaret grabbed the
baskets and handed them to Debra. “You may do the honors if you
don’t want to take a seat.”
    Doug and Bob looked very happy to get
rid of those baskets and marched down the aisle as the fiddler
began playing the tune.
    “ This isn’t over,” Debra
hissed.
    “ It is for you,” Margaret
said.
    And that was all she would
say to this horrible person who made it a point to come all the way
to Omaha just so she could try to ruin her wedding day. The woman
had a lot of nerve, but in no way was Margaret going to run off in
defeat just because Debra Potter was no longer entertaining the affections of Bernard
Winslow . Nope. For now on, she’d ignore the
unwanted guest. She had much more important things to attend to.
Like walking down the aisle. She followed her father’s lead, aware
that Debra watched her, probably glaring and seething. But she’d
give Debra no more thought.
    Instead, she turned her gaze
to Joseph. Her heart sped up at the sight of him. So what if Debra
was there, looming in the background? If nothing else, this was
proof that Joseph meant it when he told her that it did matter to
him who he
married. And that made her feel pretty good. Other men might have
felt that marrying her meant settling for second best but Joseph
didn’t. As long as he didn’t, then who cared what anyone else
thought?
    By the time she made it to Joseph, she
could hardly hear what the preacher was saying. This was it. She,
Margaret Williams, was actually getting married. The day she’d
dreamed about since she was a little girl was finally coming to
pass. True, the day had not included someone trying to stop it, but
it was happening nonetheless—and that’s what mattered.
    She glanced at Joseph and saw him smile
at her. The happy look on his face put her at ease, but only
slightly. It was impossible to fully relax when people sat and
watched everything that was going on.
    When the preacher began to speak, she
made an effort to pay attention but couldn’t—not really. However,
when he asked if anyone had any objections, she looked over her
shoulder to see if Debra would intervene. Even Joseph took a moment
to glance back. But she wasn’t there. A quick scan of the area
assured Margaret that the woman was, indeed, gone. She wondered
about it. Surely, Debra wasn’t going to leave them alone. In
Margaret’s experience, people like Miss Potter didn’t give up that
easily.
    The preacher spoke again, continuing
the ceremony, so she dutifully turned her attention back to him. It
puzzled her. Maybe it shouldn’t. Maybe