Here to Stay by Margot Early Page B

work.
    He just wanted to save animals. As many as he could.
    “I’m not sure I should get married,” she whispered beside him.
    He wasn’t going to touch that one.
    She clearly didn’t expect him to. It was almost as though she’d been talking to herself, and she moved off a short time later.
    Would she really marry Clark? Elijah had the strange feeling that if the orthodontist and Sissy actually married, Sissy’s husband might find he’d gotten something more—something else —than what he’d bargained for.
    As she walked away, an impish idea rose inside of him. The band leader was heading toward the stage, and Elijah crossed the floor to waylay him.
    “Would you like to dedicate it to the couple?” the leader asked politely. He wore his black hair slicked back, a short, clipped mustache, and his singing reminded Elijah of a Latin Elvis Presley.
    Elijah briefly considered this possibility. “Just say for the true romantics.”
    And as the man nodded with satisfaction and continued on his way, Elijah looked about for the Athertons to say good night.
    June 4, 1969
Echo Springs

    S ISSY SAT on the upstairs balcony of her parents’ house, just outside their bedroom, addressing a wedding invitation. Most of them had been sent out weeks before, but if she happened to run into an old friend…well, she couldn’t not invite him.
    She consulted an address on a cocktail napkin.
    Elijah Workman.
    As she addressed Elijah’s invitation, she reminded herself of all the reasons Clark was the right man for her. Not to mention the vaguely humiliating moment when she’d asked the band leader, “Did someone ask for that song?”
    The Brylcreemed creep had looked a little too knowing when he said, “The tall, handsome gentleman…Ah, he is gone.”
    Yes, Clark was right for her, and she shouldn’t wonder about Elijah’s requesting “Let It Be Me,” then leaving.
    Sissy believed herself to be a passionate woman. While a student at Sarah Lawrence, she’d fallen for one of her professors and had begun a brief, tempestuous affair before learning from another student that he had a wife in Boston.
    After that, she’d become careful. Around her, everybody in the country seemed to be going mad. Protestingthe war, rioting, civil rights—it was so chaotic. She supposed that if it hadn’t been for that one bad experience, she would be throwing herself into all of the insanity. Instead, she’d returned to the world of dogs, the security of the family kennel, life in Echo Springs and right into the sphere of someone like Clark Treffinger-Hart.
    Why do I think of it that way? she wondered. Why “someone like Clark”?
    Because some suddenly sick part of her wondered if there were many men who would suffice, if he was simply a type who would fit the bill.
    She remembered the days she had danced with Elijah to “Let It Be Me,” the days she’d sung that song alone in her room like a prayer. He was the only one she’d really wanted. And she had never loved like that since.
    The balcony overlooked the kennels. She watched Teddy and his brother Polar rush to the fence to bark at some birds.
    This is crazy, Sissy. You don’t want to marry Clark. You don’t even want to be lovers with Clark.
    Was that true? It couldn’t be. She was attracted to Clark. He was handsome. Everyone said so. He believed her to be a virgin, and she’d never disabused him of the idea. She hadn’t lied, of course, just never volunteered the mistake of her past. She knew if she’d told him, he’d have wanted to enjoy her charms; he’d have been unwilling to wait for the wedding.
    So why was she making him wait?
    Sissy stared at the name she’d scrawled on the envelope. If she were marrying Elijah Workman, would she make him wait?
    But you’re not marrying Elijah, Sissy dear.
    Instead, Clark was driving down from Kansas City the coming weekend.
    If you’re going to marry him, Sissy…
    Yes. Of course, she was willing to make love with him. Why had