The Gambler (44 page)

"And suddenly little Caroline wasn't so tractable. Thought she had to protect you... from me!" he tsked.

"You killed her," Charm whispered, shaking with the rush of memories.

"You were perhaps four when she tried to leave me."

"You killed her," she whispered again.

"Yes." He nodded. "But your Jude saved you from the same fate. It took me years to find you again. Years of planning. But I realized finally that you were my ticket to wealth. Surely the old woman would pay to see you safely brought here to River Bluffs."

His face tightened with hatred. "Yes. I owe your Jude a great deal. But first I must get rid of you, for our lovely Eloise would grant you half her fortune. I can't have that. Not after all these years. I fear I need it all. And once you're gone I will."

She backed away again. "You're crazy," she murmured.

"Perhaps."

"Eloise will never marry you after this."

"I might be crazy my dear, but I'm not stupid. Eloise knows me as Benjamin. Very biblical, don't you think? I'm quite frail now you know. Beaten down by years and the injustices of life," he said dramatically then shrugged, easily dropping his act. "Eloise has a weakness for weakness. No. I'll climb down the trellis. They'll never see me in the darkness, and never consider I might be capable of scaling the wall to reach your room.

"Of course, this is hardly how I would have preferred it," he went on. "Did you know I promised Mr. Bodine a great deal of money to keep you away? Actually, I thought you must already be dead, for I searched for you at great length. Now it appears your brave father figure must have changed his name. It
was
Neil. Lucas Neil, I believe. All those years inquiring about the wrong man. And you...
Charm...
isn't that sweet? But how I ramble on. The fact is, Mr. Bodine came inquiring about the reward, but my dear Eloise had already hired Mr. Scott, so I enlisted Bodine to see to
my
needs. I couldn't have you barging in before the wedding." He shook his head. "I really thought Bodine would have enough stomach to kill you, but you can't trust anyone these days."

"You..." Charm scanned the room, desperately trying to think. "So you had him shot?"

"Mr. Bodine? No. It's funny how things happen, isn't it? Scott sent a telegraph telling us of your impending arrival.

All I had to do was hire a few men to watch the docks, make sure you didn't show up at the last minute. How they managed to shoot Bodine instead of you is a mystery to me." He laughed again. "But life goes on. Except for you." Suddenly there was a gun in his hand.

The door sprang open.

"Charm!"

Grady fired. Raven launched himself forward, blocking the bullet's path and falling with it planted in his body.

"No!" Charm screamed, crumpling beside him. "No."

Grady pointed his gun at Raven's head. "Always have a champion, don't you, my dear?"

"No!" Charm cried, desperately covering Raven's chest with her arms. "Please! Please no. I'll go away. I promise. I've never come back. Never. The money's yours."

Grady shook his head. "I wish I could believe you. But I fear I don't trust in the fruit of human kindness."

"Then..." She shifted in front of Raven, trying to shield him with her body. "Get rid of me instead. He's no threat to you. Please. Let him live. I beg you."

"So brave," Grady jeered. "Your mother's child. But now you die."

Footsteps charged up the stairs.

Grady swung his weapon toward the door and fired. Jude's gun exploded at the same time. Both bullets hit their targets. Both men fell. Jude's gun spilled to the floor.

Grady struggled to his elbows. There was an insane light in his eyes as he aimed at Charm again.

Desperately snatching up Jude's gun, Raven fired. There was a gasp of dying pain, a spastic jerk. Grady died, leaving the room in stunned silence.

"Raven?" Charm's voice wavered. "Raven!"

Blood oozed from his chest, seeping through his shirt and into his vest.

"Please, Raven, don't die. Please." She cradled him in her arms, rocking steadily like a child with a broken doll. "I couldn't live. Not now. Not without you." Silence answered her. "Please!" she gasped, letting her head fall to his' shoulder.

His hand lifted slowly, patting her back. She drew away shakily, tears smearing her vision.

"Raven?"

"Charm." He opened his eyes and moved his fingers to her wet cheek. "I love you, killer woman. More than life."

"Don't leave me, Raven. I'm begging you. I'll do anything." Her tears fell upon his shirt, diluted by the blood there. "Stay with me. I'll never try to kill you again."

"Promises, promises," he said weakly and let the darkness take him.

"Dear God!" Eloise gasped from the doorway.

"Evil. The evil one is dead! I feel it." Cora shrieked.

"Benjamin," Eloise said, rushing to Grady, but there was no life left there.

"He tried to kill her. Just like when I found her." Jude's voice was cracked and weak. "She was so tiny. So frail. But she's safe now. Safe."

"Kill her?" Eloise straightened, turning her head woodenly toward Jude. "Who are you?"

"Help the boy."

She shook her head, dazedly stumbling toward Jude. "You've been shot."

"Goddamn it, woman!" Jude exclaimed, pushing her hands aside to drag himself toward Raven. "Goddamn it!" he grumbled, finally grabbing Raven by the jacket. "I gave you the best I had, boy. Don't you leave her now."

"Jude!" Charm sobbed, trying to pull him away, but he pushed her aside.

"You hear me, boy? Don't you got no guts at all?"

Raven lay pale and silent.

"Boy!" Jude roared. "She deserves more than this. And so does yer mama!"

"Jude! Please!" Charm pleaded.

"Goddamn!" Jude yelled, shaking Raven with ferocious rage.

"What the devil are you doing, old man?" Raven asked, weakly lifting a hand to swipe at Jude's arm.

"Raven!" Charm breathed.

Jude went pale before finding his voice again. "Joseph. Abigail'd never fergive me if I let you die now."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't speak," Charm pleaded as Jude tore Raven's shirt open. "Please. Rest. Get a doctor. Somebody please. Get a doctor!" she yelled. But Jude only smiled and scoffed. "He ain't gonna die."

Raven scowled at him. "Can't I enjoy this little bit of sympathy from her? What the devil's wrong with you? And how the hell do you know I'm not going to die?"

Jude actually laughed now, though blood oozed through the hole in his pant leg. "'Cause she's a good-luck charm, boy. And now she's yours. And anyhow..." He reached inside Raven's vest to draw forth a punctured book. "Her goddamn Bible stopped the bullet. Must be an old wound that started up bleedin'."

Charm breathed a disbelieving whimper of laughter. Then she sobbed. "You're going to live, Raven," and fell to his chest.

Raven patted her back tentatively, waiting for her next words.

She drew away finally, a frown dissected by the salty tracks of tears. "You weren't faking again, were you?"

"Now, Charm..." he said soothingly, trying a smile, "you promised not to try to kill me."

"Were you faking?" She settled back on her heels to swipe shakily at her tears and stare at him.

"Here now," said Eloise, pressing Charm aside, but her gaze was caught on her niece's face. "Good Lord! Chantilly! You've got her eyes. But..." She drew herself from her reverie with a stern hand. "Later. Later. Things to do now."

"How's Bodine?" Raven asked.

"Got a hole in his arm and a bump the size of a watermelon on his head. Says you rapped him against the floor of the coach."

"Ingrate," Raven snorted.

"Relax now, while I see to your chest."

"Oh hell, he's fine," Jude scoffed. "It's my leg that..."

"Will you back off, old man," Raven said. "Who the devil do you think you are to barge in here and—"

"Your father." Jude's face was suddenly as pale as dawn. "I think I'm your father."

The wedding took place on the lawn of River Bluffs. Guests milled, drank punch, and gloried in the gossip of St. Louis' most notorious couple.

But the couple, notorious or not, had slipped away after cutting the cake. Now they lay beneath the gnarled branches of a maple that leaned over a sleepy curve of the Mississippi.

"So..." Chantilly Charm raised her gaze slowly to Raven's. "Have I convinced you of my love?"

"With that little hen peck?" he asked, keeping his expression sober. "It'll take more."

"Really?" She raised her brows at him. Leaning forward in their hidden hollow, she placed her lips up to his and her hand, feather soft, upon his chest. It was several minutes before they drew apart.

"Now?" she asked softly.

"I'm..." Raven began breathlessly, "I'm beginning to believe. Try me again."

She smiled, showing the shallow, twin dimples in her cheeks. "You're shameless."

Raven felt the now familiar ache in his chest. Unable to resist, he pulled her into his arms once more. "Lucky Charm," he breathed against her hair. "You would have given your life for me."

Her arms tightened around him, squeezing him to her. "In a heartbeat."

Raven kissed her ear, loving her with aching intensity. "It's difficult not to believe under those circumstances."

"So you finally agreed to make an honest woman of me?"

"What are you saying?" Raven asked, pushing her to arms' length. "I had
already
married you."

Charm tilted her head at him. "Because Jude threatened you with a leg wound."

A frown crossed Raven's brow. “The old bas..." he began, but shifted his gaze to Charm and softened his words and expression. “The old goat."

Charm, however, was not to be fooled by such poor camouflage of emotion. "He looked for you for years, Joseph. Tried to find you."

Raven lifted an arm to pull splayed fingers through his hair. "But he failed."

She touched his cheek. "He loved her so. I know now how it tormented him when he couldn't find Abigail. And you."

Raven scowled.

"He made mistakes. Horrible mistakes. But when he couldn't find you he tried to make up for it. Saved
me,
kept me safe. Even after he saw the ring you gave me and he knew you were his son, even then when he was scared to admit the truth to you, he was too loyal to leave, and he followed us. I couldn't have asked for a more faithful father, Raven." She smiled. "He's not perfect, but he saved me from Grady. And I think, in a way, he thought maybe he could make up for the wrong he'd done by caring for me."

Their private little alcove was silent for a moment. But there was no longer any reason for Raven to hide his thoughts from this woman who owned his heart. "Mother had left him a note."

"But you know Jude can't read," soothed Charm. "He explained it all. His attempt to reach the neighbors with the letter. His fall in the river. The note was washed away. He almost lost his life."

"Still..." Raven began, but Charm placed a finger gently on his lips.

"He used to tell me stories of my mother." She smiled. "Or so I thought. My mother with the golden hair and laughing eyes. My mother who would sing 'Old Dan Tucker.'" She watched Raven's face and laughed, remembering the first time she'd heard that song from his lips. She shrugged. "But now I find it was
your
mother he spoke of.
Your
mother he mourned, that I heard about all those years."

"Charm..." Raven pulled her closer. "I've been a selfish, whining child. I'm sorry."

"No." She shook her head. "I'm not sorry. I feel as if I know both of them now. Like they're watching us," she added, biting her inner lip and feeling somewhat silly for her sentiment. "From above. And smiling."

Raven watched her, the way her mouth tilted, her dimples winked. "I understand now."

"What?"

"How much a person can love. How much Mother loved Jude."

Charm shrugged. "He's a lovable man."

"He's a bas—an old goat."

"Eloise likes him."

"Eloise is driving him insane. And Clancy too. Won't allow them so much as a glass of punch."

"Jude has never looked healthier."

"Not even a cigar." Raven winced, commiserating.

"He said he wanted to see his grandchildren."

"Children," Raven said as an eager light gleamed in his eyes. "We'd best get right on that," he said, and kissed her. "For my dear old pappy's sake, of course."

"Of course," she sighed, melting into his embrace.

Their kiss was long and sweet and languid before Raven drew back, eyeing her from close proximity. "Charm?"

"Umm?" she replied contentedly.

"Tell me that's not our cake knife I feel in your pocket."

Author's Note

I hope you've enjoyed reading
The Gambler.
Charm is a character I've wanted to write about for a long time, a woman who has suffered abuse and is still able to open her heart to happiness and peace. I have many friends who have lived through similar kinds of abuse, and I know there are thousands of others who still suffer. I hope this book can remind them that there is hope, that there are people who are able to love and help them forgive.

Thanks to everyone who has taken time to read
The Gambler
and understand Charm's quirky ways, and thanks to all of you who have written to me in the past. Your letters mean more to me than I can express in words. God bless you all.

Lois Greiman PO Box 16 Rogers, MN 55374-0016

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