A Window in Time

by Carolyn Lampman

  “Nobody’s asking you to. This is a private matter between me and my son. We don’t need the advice of a nosy stranger.”

  He glared pointedly at her for a long moment, but Charisse held her ground. No bully was going to intimidate her.

  “Charisse isn’t a stranger, Pa. My knee was hurt real bad until she fixed it,” Toby said, looking back and forth between the two of them with an anxious frown. “And she isn’t nosy. I like her.”

  “You’re hurt?” Toby’s father was instantly concerned.

  “Sorta. I fell off a fence and skinned my knee a little. But Charisse washed it off, and it’s fine now.

  “If you’re worried about him being injured, I suggest you stop shaking him around like a rag doll,” Charisse pointed out.

  Toby’s father gave her another irritated glance, then sighed and gently set the boy down. “Look lady, he put himself in danger today by running away. He needs discipline, not coddling.”

  “I agree but frightening him is not the way to do it.”

  “Charisse said you’ll want to make sure I don’t run away again,” Toby said hopefully. “I know better now, so you don’t have to whup me. I already learned my lesson.”

  “Is that right?”

  Toby nodded solemnly. “It’s dangerous, and I could get hurt even worser than I did this time. From now on, I’ll stay with Molly no matter how boring it is.”

  “It’s a little late for that now. Molly refuses to have anything more to do with us.”

  “Well, at least something good came of this,” Charisse muttered.

  “That’s all you know about it.” Toby’s father glared at her again. “I had a hard time finding someone to watch Toby for me. Molly was a godsend.”

  “From what Toby told me, you’re well rid of her. She was apparently more interested in her beau than your son.”

  “I didn’t ask you, and I’m not in the habit of taking advice from strangers on how to raise my son.”

  “Well, maybe you should. The next time you find a nanny, make sure she’s someone who understands Toby and truly has his welfare at heart. Anyone with half a brain can see he’s just full of energy and has a tendency to do things without thinking.” Charisse raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he hadn’t inherited that from his father. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll bid you both a good evening.” With a toss of her head, she brushed past him and marched down the street and around the corner out of sight.

  Luke watched her go, his eyes wide with astonishment. It wasn’t often anyone took him to task, especially a beautiful woman with eyes like a stormy sea. He found himself wondering what color her hair was underneath the ugly poke bonnet. Probably bright red, the way she’d ripped into him.

  “Don’t be mad at her, Pa,” Toby said in a small voice. “She was trying to help.”

  Luke glanced down at his son in surprise. “You really liked her, didn’t you?”

  Toby nodded earnestly. “She didn’t even get mad when my ball hit her, and she fixed my knee. See, it feels lots better now.”

  Luke looked at the raw, scraped skin. It must hurt like the devil. “Then I’m most grateful to her.”

  Suddenly the door behind them crashed opened and a wizened old woman hobbled out onto the step. “You there, are you the boy’s father?”

  Luke raised an eyebrow. “I am.”

  “Then I demand you pay for my broken window.”

  “What window?”

  “That one,” she said pointing her cane toward a cracked second story window. “The brat broke it with his ball.”

  “Is that true, Toby?” Luke asked, frowning down at his son.

  “Kinda.” He squirmed under his father’s gaze. “It bounced off the lamp post at the corner, then flew up and hit the window before Charisse caught it.”

  “I see.” Luke pulled out his purse and extracted several crisp bills. “If you’ll tell me how much—”

  The old woman’s claw-like hand moved with amazing speed as she snatched all the bills from his hand. “That should do it,” she said, then whisked herself inside, her slow, shuffling gait miraculously cured.

  As the door slammed behind her, Luke’s frown turned to a fierce scowl. It occurred to him that she’d had plenty of time to come out earlier but hadn’t bothered until he and Toby were alone.

  Toby’s hand stole into his father’s as they started down the street. “I’m sorry I broke the window, Pa. And I’m sorry about Molly,” Toby ventured in a tentative voice. “Do you think it would help if I ‘pologize?”

  “No, she’s even madder at me than she is at you.”

  “She is? What for?”

  “I lost my temper with her.” Luke sighed. “I wish you’d told me she was spending so much time with her... uh... friend.” Toby shrugged. “You said I had to get along with her.

  Who’s going to take care of me now?”

  “I wish I knew. It’s going to be tough to find someone.”

  “How about Charisse?”

  “Charisse?”

  Toby nodded eagerly. “My new friend. She’d take real good care of me.”

  “You can’t just ask anybody you meet to take on a job like that. She’s probably too busy doing... whatever it is she does. Besides, I’ve decided to go to Oregon.” Actually, Matthew McNesby and Allen Pinkerton had decided for him. For the dozenth time, Luke wondered why his superiors were sending him off on a wild goose chase. If it weren’t for Toby, he’d probably be more exasperated than anything else. As it was, he found the prospect daunting in the extreme.

  “We’re going to Oregon?” Toby asked breathlessly. “In a wagon and everything?”

  Luke grinned as he reached down to ruffle his son’s hair. “Yep. I’m going to buy the wagon and team tomorrow. We’ll leave Friday.”

  “Maybe Charisse is going to Oregon, too.”

  Luke snorted. “Women like her don’t go traipsing off to Oregon. The exposure to the elements isn’t good for their lilywhite skin. I’m sure there will be a woman on the wagon train who wouldn’t mind looking after you during the day.”

  “Can we at least ask Charisse?”

  It was on the tip of Luke’s tongue to say no, but something

  in Toby’s expression stopped him. The boy had given up everything familiar to go with a father he barely knew. Since then they’d been able to spend very little time together. Luke didn’t think he could bear to disappoint Toby. “We’ll probably never see her again,” he said. “What do you say we go get cleaned up and have some supper?”

  “Can we go to Benson’s like we did for breakfast?”

  “Sure, why not?” Luke smiled down at his son. “It sounds like you had quite a day.”

  Toby nodded eagerly. “I had a great a’venture…”

  Luke felt his heart swell as he listened to his son’s story. How he loved this child, this part of himself, this miracle. Maybe bringing Toby along hadn’t been the smartest thing he’d ever done, but his only regret was the years they hadn’t spent together.

  Toby was still chattering half an hour later when they walked through the front door of Benson’s.

  “Look Pa, there she is!” Toby pointed across the room to where Charisse sat at a table by herself, posture rigid as she ate her lonely meal. “I’m going to go ask her if she’ll go to Oregon with us.”

  Luke reached out in a futile attempt to stop his son who darted across the restaurant, then dropped his hand to his side. Maybe this is the best way, he thought. She’d been compassionate to Toby before; surely she’d let him down easy.

  As he watched, she looked up and smiled as Toby called her name. Luke sucked in his breath in surprise. He spent a moment fantasizing about what it would be like to have that beautiful smile directed toward him rather than his son. It was a short step from there to imagining her eyes luminous with passion and her lips parted in silent invitation. He could almost feel the long graceful fingers trembling against his chest in sweet anticipation as he bent to k
iss her.

  With a start, Luke jerked his thoughts back to reality. Damn, he couldn’t even remember the last time a pretty face had inspired more than a flash of appreciation in him. Maybe it was the aura of sadness that hung about her as she sat alone in the crowded restaurant, or even the way she’d stood up to him. Whatever it was, he was thankful there was no chance of her accompanying them to Oregon. The unexpected trip into the wilderness was going to be tough enough without a distraction like her.

  Toby gave his father an anxious glance then said something to Charisse. With a nod, she stood and followed him across the room. With his impassive mask securely in place, Luke leaned negligently against the door frame and waited for them. He’d be properly disappointed that she couldn’t go along, of course, and maybe even invite her to join them for dinner. That will help soften the blow to Toby, he told himself.

  “We meet again,” he said. “Quite a coincidence.”

  “Not really. I’m staying in the hotel next door. I always eat here.” Charisse looked up at Luke doubtfully. “Toby offered me the job as his nanny. He assures me he has your permission to do so.”

  Luke shrugged. “I told him you probably wouldn’t be interested.”

  “On the contrary, I’m seriously considering his offer.” She frowned. “That is, if it comes from you as well.”

  “To tell you the truth, Miss...”

  “Jones,” she supplied with a slight hesitation.

  “Miss Jones, I’d hire you in a heartbeat if we weren’t leaving on a wagon train headed for Oregon in a few days.”

  “Then you are looking for someone to go to Oregon with you?”

  Luke managed a regretful look. “I’m afraid so.”

  A moment later he discovered first-hand how it felt to be on the receiving end of her smile. It was like being wrapped in a sunbeam, warm and sweet.

  “That’s exactly why I’m applying for the job, Mr. McCabe,” she said.

  Luke straightened in surprise. “You’re willing to go to Oregon with us?”

  “Not only willing, but anxious to. When were you planning to leave?”

  “Our wagon train is pulling out on Friday.” He frowned. “That is, if I can find a wagon by then. I didn’t have much luck today.”

  “I have a wagon.”

  He raised his brows in surprise. “You do?”

  “I bought it in St. Louis and came up the Missouri River by steamboat, like most immigrants do.”

  “Then I fail to see why you’d want to throw in with us.”

  “It’s quite simple, Mr. McCabe,” she said. “The man I hired to drive disappeared about two days out of St. Louis, and so far, I haven’t been able to find another driver or a wagon train that will take a single woman.”

  “But you know nothing about me.”

  “I know that you need a nanny, and I need someone to drive my mules.”

  “Mules?”

  Charisse raised her chin a trifle defiantly. “They’re faster than oxen and can live on prairie grass better than horses.”

  “I’ve never driven mules.”

  “They’re a lot like horses,” she said with a shrug. “I suspect you drive them the same way. Frankly, Mr. McCabe, you and Toby are the answer to my prayers.” She flashed him another brilliant smile. “And it looks like I may be the answer to yours.”

  The answer to my dreams maybe, Luke thought cynically, but certainly not what my saner self needs. Taking off on one of McNesby’s crazy adventures that involved a two-thousand-mile trek would be difficult in the best of circumstances. Doing it with his seven-year-old son and a woman who looked like Charisse Jones bordered on insanity. “Do you realize how hard this trip is going to be? A good half of the people who go never make it.”

  “It’s actually closer to a fourth, and I’m willing to take that chance. I’m considerably tougher than I look, Mr. McCabe. The way I see it, you need me to take care of Toby as much as I need you to drive my wagon.” She stuck out her hand. “Is it a deal?” With a feeling of impending doom, Luke shook her hand. “I’d be stupid to say no, wouldn’t I?” As Toby danced around them in unconcealed joy, Luke couldn’t decide which he wanted to do more, join his son in joyous celebration or run for cover.