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it."
    }His breath was warm and husky in her ear, raising gooseflesh on the side of her neck and sending a strange, startling sizzle through Tulsa May's veins. She giggled nervously.
    }"Not one word," he whispered. "Start thinking of me as your brand-new beau."
    }He leaned back and looked over at her. His vivid blue eyes seemed even darker in the pale evening light. His voice seemed softer than Tulsa May remembered.
    }"When you can begin to believe it, everyone else in town will too."
    }If the beating of Tulsa May's heart was any measure, she was halfway to believing it already.
    }
    }If someone wanted to announce something to the entire community of Prattville, he had two options. He could speak with Erwin Willers about taking an advertisement in the Prattville Populist, or he could tell Fanny Penny.
    }Mrs. Penny, wife of local businessman Titus Penny, was the current gossip champion of the county. In fact, the woman could probably hold her own in a national competition.
    }Because his "courtship" was not something that could be easily explained in a newspaper ad, Luther headed down to the Penny Emporium on Main Street near mid-morning on Monday to leave a "discreet whisper" with the matronly town crier.
    }The Pennys' businesses had prospered through the years. The Emporium, a grand building, was adjacent to the smaller store, which had once been known as Penny's Dry Goods. The original building was now simply Penny's Grocery and Market. The Emporium, filled with the exciting and up-to-date wares of a fashionable department store, was the fanciest edifice on Main Street: two stories of bright red brick with cheery yellow trim. It perfectly matched the red-brick sidewalk that ran throughout the town. The year 1907 was recessed in brick near the top of the building's impressive facade. A year quite important for the history of the town: it was the year that Oklahoma achieved statehood, the year that the town was named as a county seat, and most important to Fanny Penny, the year the city fathers voted unanimously to change the town's name from Dead Dog to Prattville. An alteration that society matron Amelia Pratt Puser was quoted as saying was a "giant step toward civilization and modern life."
    }The entrance to the Penny Emporium was as grand as a church, with a wide double doorway with plate-glass windows on either side for display of an enticing array of practical as well as frivolous articles designed to lure even the most resolute passerby into the store.
    }Like everyone else, Luther took a long look into the glass case that morning before stepping across the threshold. A small brass bell tinkled at the top of the doorway, announcing him.
    }The store smelled of fancy soaps and new leather from the shoe department in the back. There was one long counter down the right side of the store. Behind it was a hive of pine drawers that extended from the polished wood floor to the high plastered ceiling. A tall ladder attached to a rail at the top could be moved from one end of the room to another to reach anything, anywhere.
    }Luther stepped up to the counter and leaned against it casually. He didn't shop for fine goods often, since he put most of what he made back into his business or into local real estate. And his biggest project was to save enough at the Prattville State Bank to send Arthel to the A & M College to study engineering.
    }From behind a curtain at the back of the store emerged a young blond woman who was so exquisitely beautiful her face would have put any of the Gibson girls to shame. Maybelle Penny was the belle of Prattville, the reputed beauty of the county and probably one of the loveliest young women in the state. Perfectly groomed and highly fashionable, at sixteen she already had the ability to set male hearts fluttering whether they were her own age or four times more.
    }"Well, good morning, Mr. Briggs." She moved toward him in a walk that was carefully calculated to show her at her best. Her hands were