Chasing Charity (17 page)

Charity read on, searching for some shred of hope. She read clear to the bottom without finding it. The room swirled and seemed to inhale sharply, sucking the air from her lungs. Shamus still hovered just above her face, and though she couldn’t bring him into focus, she became acutely aware of the smell of him—manure, the open field, burnt oil.

Oil!

She pushed to her feet, forcing Shamus to stumble away. Glaring at him, she shook the paper in his face. “I understand it all now. I know why you’re doing this.”

His determined gaze grew wary.

“You don’t want our land,” Charity spat. “You’re after what they drilled on it.”

At the mention of their gusher, Mama moaned and wailed louder.

Shamus set his jaw. “It’s a fair bet between me and your pa, Charity. Neither of us knew the future when we made it.”

He snatched the document from her hand, blotting at the tear-smudged ink with a filthy rag before cramming it into his pocket. “This paper will hold up under the law, too. I already checked. So consider this official notice. I’ll be taking possession of your place directly after Amy Jane’s wedding. Make sure you’re cleared out by then.”

He shoved his hat down on his head and marched to the door, pausing on the threshold as if something had just occurred to him. “You should count yourself lucky that well came in before the wedding. At least you’ll get something out of it before you lose it.”

He left, leaving the door standing open behind him. Charity jumped up to slam it, desperate to shut him out along with the terrible news he’d brought in with him, but it was too late. One look at Mama told her the damage was done.

She had scrambled to the middle of the bed and pulled her knees close to her body. Deep, heartrending sobs ripped from her throat, loud enough to disturb the other guests. Charity crawled onto the bed behind her and shielded the tiny body with her own.

“Don’t you cry, Mama. Don’t you fret now, you hear?” Charity cradled her, rocking and stroking her hair. “Hush now. Everything will be fine. You’ll see. Everything will be just fine. I promise.”

Too angry to pray, she rocked until Mama slept while her mind whirled with a plan that would help her to keep her promise.

With a grunt, Daniel heaved a feed sack onto the growing stack he’d raised in the corner of the barn then propped his arms against the burlap bag and leaned his head to rest. The pungent odor of jute mingled with grain assailed his nostrils, reviving him a bit. Up since dawn, he’d tackled and finished a long list of chores, though it wasn’t yet ten in the morning. For a man to be bone-weary two hours shy of midday was just plain no good.

He’d found little rest the night before. The minute his body grew still enough for sleep, his head kicked up, filling his thoughts with long black curls and a wide, laughing mouth. He fared no better with the morning. Charity had come to him in his waking hours, just as she had throughout the night, teasing, taunting, hovering just out of reach.

Longing for her one minute and cursing her the next, the weight of conflicted emotions had bruised his insides. Whether he felt more anger toward Charity, Emmy, Buddy Pierce, or himself he couldn’t tell and grew weary from trying to sort it out.

Daniel jerked up from the feed and forced Charity out of his mind. He’d have to work harder, stay too busy to think. Better worn out and sore than tormented by his own thoughts.

He rubbed the stiffness from his aching shoulders and headed out to fetch another bag from the wagon beside the barn. When he stepped outside, the Dunmans’ dogs across the road were barking, so he glanced up to see what had caused the commotion. Not that their braying was uncommon. Those two set up a ruckus with very little goading, but he could tell from their excitement something unusual was afoot.

He shaded his eyes and peered closer. What he saw set his heart to racing, though good sense told him his bleary eyes were seeing things. He rubbed them with the heels of his grimy palms and took another look ... and there she was. The phantom that robbed his sleep at night and plagued his soul by day stood just outside the gate.

Down off her horse, Charity hovered near its flank, bent over with her back to Daniel.

Hesitant, he crossed the yard. He couldn’t think what to say to her when he got there, couldn’t imagine her answer. Still, he walked.

She jerked around when he opened the gate. “Goodness, Daniel! You gave me a start.”

He smiled and nodded. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to.”

Reaching down, she cradled the horse’s hind foot and ran her hand around the shoe, her long fingers moving gently over the soft inner flesh. Daniel waited for her to speak. When she didn’t, he latched the gate behind him and eased closer. “What you got there? A rock?”

Charity answered without looking up. “She was favoring one side a bit. I thought I’d better check.” She let go of the mare’s hoof and dusted off her hands. “Whatever it was seems to be gone now.”

“What brings you out this way?” Even with hope frolicking inside his chest, he hated himself for asking.

She stared across the street at his neighbors’ shuttered windows. “Mama sent me to the Dunmans’ on an errand, but from here, it looks like no one’s home.”

He shook his head. “Took the train to Houston to visit kinfolk. I’ve tended their dogs all week.”

Charity glanced at him. “Is that so? Well, that’s odd. Mother Dane usually gets wind of such things before anyone else.”

He nodded toward the house. “They left in a rush. Sickness in the family, I heard.”

Daniel didn’t quite know what to do with his hands. He finally rested them on his hips, but then, feeling like an old woman, he let them drop to his sides. “I see you got shed of that old red hound.” He winced and cursed himself for reminding her of that day.

Charity glanced around her legs, as if she might find the dog there. “It seems I have. For now, at least.”

She smiled slightly and Daniel returned the expression, ashamed of the joy it stirred in his heart. His mind reeled. Why were they discussing horses and neighbors and dogs with all that lay between them?

“I guess I’d better head on home.” She took the horse’s reins in her hands and prepared to mount.

Daniel surged forward and clutched her wrist. “Charity, wait. I know why you’re here.”

Her body stiffened. “Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean I’ve thought of you night and day since I saw you last. Now fate has set you right outside my gate. It’s meant to be, sugar. Can’t you see it, too?”

She relaxed her shoulders and faced him. Was that a smile tugging the corners of her mouth? He felt sure of it, and the sight quickened his heartbeat.

“Fate, Daniel?” It was all she said, but the way she said it, and the fact that she seemed not the least bit eager to mount the horse, told him volumes ... and gave him courage.

He stepped closer. “You’ve missed me, too. Don’t deny it, Charity—I can feel it.”

She stood between him and the horse, staring at the ground by his feet, her big eyes veiled by long, dark lashes. She had on a blue dress he’d never seen before and wore her hair pinned up in back, though several dark curls had escaped, teasing her delicate face. He was near enough to smell her, and it made him dizzy.

When she didn’t retreat from his advance or react to his nearness, he let eager arms encircle her waist. She tensed up a bit but didn’t pull away. Too far gone to control himself, he buried his face in her hair and drew in her scent while he had the chance. When his lips brushed the soft skin of her neck, she withdrew, alarm in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, honey.” He took an unsteady breath. “I’ve just missed you so. I’ve gone mad thinking of you.”

She nodded then looked around his shoulder toward the house.

He followed her gaze. “Don’t fret about Mama. She’s not at home. Besides, I don’t care anymore what she thinks.”

Charity closed her eyes and reached trembling fingers to his face. “You really mean that?”

He clutched her hand and drew it to his lips. “I never meant anything more in my life. I want you for my wife, Charity. I want to be with you forever.”

She sagged against the horse, but Daniel caught her and pulled her close, laughing as he held her. “Oh, sugar, I know. You’re as relieved as I am. We’re together again now, and I promise to do everything in my power to make it up to you.”

“Anything, Daniel?”

With her face pressed so tightly against his chest, Daniel barely heard the muffled question. He rested his cheek against her head, thanking his lucky stars for such good fortune.

“Anything, sugar. Anything at all.”

Charity rode away from Daniel’s house with shattered emotions. It amazed her how easily she had deceived him, how effortlessly she’d slipped into the role of a jezebel. At the same time, it frightened her how natural it felt. Mother Dane’s long-held hope that Charity’s behavior would rub off on Emmy may have worked in reverse. Emily Dane herself couldn’t have carried out what Charity had just accomplished.

It was settled. She and Daniel would marry in three days’ time.

“The sooner the better,” he had said.

Yet how hard it had been to embrace him, to let him hold her. She’d had to close her eyes and imagine Buddy standing there, Buddy’s arms around her, Buddy’s cheek beneath her fingers. A brazen device, still it would get her through the coming days. After the wedding, she’d have to put such faithless thoughts out of her mind, and Buddy out of her heart forever.

Daniel had balked when Charity asked him to keep their plans a secret, insisting no one could know there was a wedding afoot until they were officially husband and wife. He believed she feared his mama would stop the marriage. She let him think what he wanted, so long as he complied with her wishes.

I did it, Mama. Now everything will be fine. Just like I promised.

She knew her mama wouldn’t be happy at first. It would require some fancy talking to get her to go along with the scheme. Charity would just have to convince her there was no other way. In the end, she’d come around to Charity’s way of thinking. She had no choice.

“You done what!” Mama slammed the brush on the dressing table and whirled on Charity, her face so red with rage that Charity expected fire to blast from her nostrils.

“Mama, just listen for a minute.”

“I ain’t having it, Charity. Do you hear me? I’ll go to my grave poor and homeless before I’ll see you married to that uppity, no-account scalawag.”

Charity tried to stay calm, but hysteria crept into her voice. “Surely you see this is the only way?”

“To have you marry a lying, cheating fool? The only way for what? To ruin your life? I won’t let you do that for me.”

“After all you’ve done for me? It would be an honor to ruin my life for you, but that’s not what I’m doing. I’m saving us.”

Mama’s eyes flashed. “I already got me a Savior, daughter. He don’t need no help from you.”

“You know what I mean. It’ll save our home. Besides, Daniel loves me. He really does. I can feel it.”

Mama’s eyes became slits, and she grunted. “Then what was that foolishness with Emmy?”

Charity flicked her hand, as if the gesture or her next words could ever take the sting out of what those two had done. “Emmy turned his head for a bit, that’s all. You know Emmy can do that to a man. But Daniel’s in his right mind now. He knows what he wants, and it’s me.”

“You don’t say? And what do you want?”

She averted her eyes. “I almost married him once, with your blessing. It must be my fate.” Daniel had used the same word. Now it rang hollow in her ears.

“A fate worse than death.” Mama spat the bitter epitaph and scowled like she could taste it.

“My goodness. Straighten that terrible face.” Charity wrapped her arms around her mama’s waist and whirled her around the room. “Come on now. Just think of it. I’ll be all set. A proper married lady. Plus it will keep Shamus Pike’s conniving hands off of our land. It’s a perfect plan, and you know it.”

Mama broke free and backed away. “I asked you a question, Charity.”

Busying herself at the dressing table, she shrugged. “What question?”

“I asked what you want, except I reckon I already know the answer. There’s a bigger, better man in your thoughts than that dirty scum of a Clark boy. A real man, one worthy of you.”

Charity turned her face away, but Mama took hold of her arms and shook her. “I’m dead right,” she cried. “I can see it right there in the mirror. You’re in love with Buddy Pierce. How can you think of marrying anyone else?”

She fought the tears. That would be all it took to have Mama forbid her. Forcing a smile instead, she measured her words. “Like I said, it’s my fate to marry Daniel.”

“Honey, no! Why not just marry the man you love?”

Charity turned from the mirror and pulled her mama close. “Because he’s never asked me, that’s why.” She bit her lip hard to hold back a sob. “Anyway,” she said, staring across the top of Mama’s head through brimming eyes. “Buddy’s not here right now, is he?”

Emmy paused to wipe her feet on the tattered rug at the back door. Mama said it would stop Nash from tracking in half the barnyard, and it worked when he remembered to use it. Emmy had a good share of the outdoors on her own shoes, so she took care to wipe them well.

Easing the door open, she slipped through to the kitchen, ears alert. She didn’t relish another confrontation with her mama and avoided her whenever she could. Things hadn’t gone well between them since the day Emmy climbed out of the window in her nightdress.

Mama had listened to her claim that she’d been in the barn tending Rebel. She even sat quietly through Nash’s version, but it was clear she wasn’t convinced. She’d cast long, suspicious looks at the conspirators before sending Nash outside to work and Emmy to her room. And for the first time in her life, Emmy felt bad about telling a lie.

The events of that day had strained their relationship more than ever, to say the least. It vexed Emmy to no end and caused an ache in the pit of her stomach. The only bright spot of late had come in the form of a telegram from Papa. Urgent business held him up north for six more months at least. So he never needed to see what she’d done to his horse, and Mama wouldn’t tell. Despite her reprieve, Emmy faithfully took care of Rebel, though it was Nash’s job. She felt it was the least she could do, and the old horse seemed pleased by the arrangement.

Commotion from the parlor caused her to pause midstride. She recognized Auntie Bert’s voice, and she sounded upset, so Emmy tiptoed to the door and listened.

“What am I to do, Magda? I cain’t let her throw her life away on that boy. It just ain’t right. Especially now that she loves someone else.”

Emmy’s heartbeat quickened. Were they discussing Charity? Charity in love with someone besides Daniel? Impossible! If so, on what boy was she about to throw away her life?

The way she saw things, this could only work to her advantage. She eased closer and pressed her ear to the door.

“When did all this come about, honey?” Her mama’s voice was low and soothing, in that tone she only used with Aunt Bert.

“This morning. Charity broke it to me over at the hotel not an hour ago. Poor little thing, acting so cheerful for my sake when I know her heart is breaking.”

Was Aunt Bertha crying? Emmy’s pounding heart lurched. She’d never heard her cry before. Mama said she cried buckets when Uncle Thad passed, but Emmy never saw it.

She suddenly wailed from behind the door, dispelling any doubts and sending a chill through Emmy’s veins. “I had to get out of there. I couldn’t stay in that room another second and watch her put on a brave face. I know she’s doing it for me, and I cain’t stand it.”

“Don’t let her do it, Bert.”

“I don’t want her to. You know that. I tried my best to sway her, but that stubborn girl’s mind is set like flint. She says after Shamus takes our place, we’ll lose the oil company money, too, and then we won’t be able to afford the hotel. We’ll have nowhere to go.”

“You and Charity ain’t at the mercy of Shamus Pike. You can live with me. You know I would take care of you both ’til the day I died.”

After a lengthy silence and a sniff, Aunt Bert finally answered. “I know you would, honey, but that ain’t right, neither. And with things turned inside out between our girls, it won’t work. Charity’s not about to stay here, and this time I won’t stay without her.”

“So what, then?”

Aunt Bert sighed before she answered. “I guess I can see it clear now as bad as it tastes in my mouth. We got no choice. I pray the good Lord will show us another way, but meanwhile we got us a wedding to plan.”

“What about Buddy?”

“I’d wager he feels the same about my girl as she does for him, but he ain’t here to ask. By the time he comes around again, it won’t make no difference. She’ll be married to someone else.”

So Charity was in love with Buddy Pierce. It answered the first part of Emmy’s question. A twister spun into her chest. If Charity loved Mr. Pierce, exactly whom did she plan to marry?

“It makes me see red, though,” Aunt Bert continued. “That other one ain’t nothing but a cheating scoundrel. I’d sooner see him dead than married to Charity. Daniel Clark don’t deserve my little girl.”

Emmy reeled from the door, hoping they hadn’t heard her gasp. She reached for the table to steady herself and fell into the nearest chair. Lowering her head, she clutched her face so tightly her fingernails bit into her flesh.

Daniel was going to marry Charity. After all they’d meant to each other, after what she’d sacrificed. She could no longer tell herself he hadn’t meant what he’d said that day on the trail. He meant it, all right. She didn’t matter to him and never had. He loved Charity instead, and she would be his bride.

“Emily Bertha Dane, how much did you hear?”

She shot upright, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. Mama and Aunt Bert loomed over her, their faces tight with rage.

“Why, she heard it all, Magda. You can tell that by looking at her.”

Her mama took her by the wrist and jerked her to her feet, causing the chair to tip over and hit the wall with a bang. Strong hands dragged her away from the table, and her anklebone took a sharp rap against the carved wooden leg. She howled in pain to no avail. Mama hauled her into the parlor and forced her to sit on the divan, then stood over her with Aunt Bertha.

Emmy stared up at them, more afraid than she’d ever been in her life. She didn’t recognize the squint-eyed women crouched above her like bobcats on a rabbit.

“Emily, I asked you a question. How much did you hear?”

She drew back, desperate to put distance between herself and Mama’s red face. “I didn’t hear anything. Honest!”

“Don’t you dare lie!”

“Why?” Emmy shrieked. “Why does it matter so much what I heard?”

Aunt Bertha beat Mama to the answer. “Oh, it matters all right, little gal. It matters a heap.”

Emmy’s wide eyes shifted to her mama. “Won’t somebody please tell me what’s going on?”

“Emmy, I’ll sit on you for three days if I have to, to make sure you don’t ruin this for Aunt Bert and Charity. You’ve dealt them enough pain as it is. Come to think of it, you’re the cause of all this trouble.”

The weight of the words struck them dumb as the truth hung heavy in the room. Then Emmy started to cry. Deep, wracking sobs rolled up and out from her middle, breaking the painful silence.

Her mama eased down beside her and pulled her close. “There, there, now. I didn’t mean to hurt you, baby. I just can’t understand why you insist on doing what you know is wrong. Listening behind doors, for instance. How many times have I warned you about it? I told you it would catch up to you someday.”

Still rigid with emotion, Aunt Bert sat down on the other side. “This here’s that day. Emmy, I need you to tell me what you heard us talking about. It’s important.”

“And no more lies,” Mama added.

Emmy wiped her eyes and sat up. Whatever was going on, she’d never seen the two of them act so strangely. She took courage from Mama’s arms around her and decided to try the truth for a change.

“I heard you say Charity’s in love with Buddy Pierce, but she’s fixing to marry Daniel.”

Mama and Aunt Bert shared a grim expression.

“And I heard something about Shamus Pike taking your land.”

Aunt Bert leaned forward and slapped her legs with both hands. “Well, that’s it, then. Our goose is cooked.”

Mama released Emmy and scooted around to glare at her with one raised brow. “No, it ain’t, because she won’t tell. Will you, Emmy?”

“Tell what? Land sakes, you two are talking in riddles.”

The older women sat in tense silence, obviously deciding whether to enlighten her or not.

Emmy gathered her nerve and dared to ask the only question she wanted answered. “Why is Charity marrying Daniel if she’s in love with Buddy Pierce?” She looked back and forth between them, waiting for one of them to speak.

Aunt Bert fixed her with a piercing stare. “Emmy, do you love your Aunt Bertha?”

“Yes. Of course I do.”

“Do you have any feelings left for Charity?”

“You know I do!”

“Then sit up and listen good, because I’m about to trust you with our very lives. What I’m going to tell you ain’t ever to leave this room.”

Aunt Bert gave her a look so intense the force of it pressed Emmy against the couch. “I won’t tell a soul, Auntie Bertha. I promise.”