Today she made a decision to seize her own path, no longer bound to a place that suffocated her. The act of making a choice had taken a weight off her chest. She could take a deep breath without choking on her unhappiness.
She looked around the cabin and thought about what she would need as a prospector. Warm clothes to be sure, tools, gloves, dried meat since she couldn’t count on game. She would bring her weapons and ammunition. Thank goodness she had a gelding, because she couldn’t carry everything on her back. However, she would bring only a small part of her belongings. The rest would have to stay behind.
Excited by her future for the first time in a very long time, Charlie began sorting. The pile to take grew on her worktable. She scrutinized her picks and decided to make a traveling case from the pelts she had rather than sell them. Convenient to have animal skins as a hunter.
As she searched for a needle and sinew to create her new bag, a knock came on the door. She stopped midmotion, her hand straying to the knife still strapped to her back.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Mason.”
She breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door to her brother-in-law. The shaggy-haired former professor had been the big brother she never had, taking care of her as if they were blood relations. He gently touched her face as the captain hadn’t.
“I’m so sorry, little one. I can shoot whoever hurt you.”
She shook her head. “I shot one of them already.”
“Of course you did. How foolish of me to ever doubt that.” He smiled. “I came to tell you Eli is currently in Isabelle’s care in the treatment room. He appears to have broken his wrist and cut up his face.” Mason peered at her while she absorbed the information about Eli.
Her heart thudded and the insane urge to run to him overwhelmed her. She beat it back with effort. “How did he get hurt?”
“He isn’t being very forthcoming about what or who hurt him. The new captain accompanied him.” Mason raised both brows. “According to my lovely wife, the captain is courting you. I wonder why he is with Eli, then, since that young man has been in love with you since the moment he met you.”
Charlie sat down hard and put her face in her hands. “What a mess I’ve made.” She didn’t want to hurt either man, not to mention that Jane girl from the bakery, who would be hurt as well.
“It appears so.” Mason sat across from her and peered over the top of the pile. “May I ask why half your belongings are on the table?”
“I’m leaving,” she blurted before she could keep the words stuffed inside her throat.
“I see. Your sister and Eli don’t know, I presume?”
“No, I’ve just decided today.” Charlie wanted to run into her sister’s house to see Eli. Worry over his injuries warred with her need to escape from the fort, from her life, from the foolishness her actions had wrought.
“Do you know where you are going? Perhaps to see Francesca or Josephine?”
Her other sisters lived with their families southwest of the fort. Each had full lives, which pleased Charlie as much as Isabelle’s similar situation. Fortunately, only the youngest Chastain was twisted into the knot of an unhappy life.
“No, I’m going somewhere else.”
“And you don’t want to tell me.”
“No, I don’t.” Charlie could only imagine the lecture Mason would give her. A thirst for gold had been the reason he had come west. Of course, if he hadn’t, then he wouldn’t have met Isabelle.
“I won’t press you for more, little one, but you know you can confide in me.” Mason patted her hand. “Now that I’ve kept you long enough from Elijah’s side, I should release you.”
Charlie got to her feet and rushed out the door. She was glad Eli was in the treatment room. It was a separate room, like her cabin, built on the opposite side. Patients came to see Isabelle there for doctoring and it was where she cultivated the herb garden she used for medicines.
Charlie slammed into the room and stopped short. Eli had his shirt off again. Her visceral reaction to his naked chest confirmed she wasn’t done with her attraction to him. Their one night of passion was only the beginning. For now she had to beat her body’s needs back into submission and focus on his injuries. Kenneth stood against the opposite wall, his arms crossed. To her surprise, Jane Flanagan stood beside the captain.
Isabelle was wrapping Eli’s left wrist over wooden splints. She glanced at Charlie before returning to her work. “I wondered how long it would take for you to arrive.”
Charlie stepped up beside the examining table. Eli’s face was bloodied from scrapes and cuts, gravel and dirt caught in the skin. She wanted to hug him, kiss him, hold him.
“Can we go a few days without one of us needing bandages?” Her voice was husky with emotion.
He smiled crookedly. “Good morning, Charlie.”
She shook her head. “It sure as hell isn’t good.” She turned her gaze to Kenneth. “Who did this? A soldier? Is that why you’re here?”
“Volner.” Eli winced as Isabelle tied off the bandage. “He threatened both of us, tripped me and then escaped out the side gate.”
Anger and fear swirled around inside her. “He’s back?”
“You should have told me what he did,” Kenneth interjected. “It’s my job to mete out punishment to my soldiers.”
“What did he do?” Jane piped up. “Sergeant Volner makes me want to run the opposite direction. I do my best to stay out of his way.”
“Smart girl.” Charlie didn’t want to like the other woman.
“Sergeant Volner needs to return to the fort so the Army can determine his guilt and, if necessary, his punishment.” Kenneth had straightened, his shoulders as tight as a bowstring. He was hiding something. “You should have told me what he did.”
“It doesn’t matter to you or anyone outside of my family.” She couldn’t count on help, regardless how much of a gentleman Kenneth was.
“It matters to me and everyone at this fort.” He glanced at Jane. “Women need to feel safe here. That’s my job. Volner is mine to punish.”
“If I see him again, I’m going to fucking kill him.” Charlie spoke from her heart. She would never be a victim again. Going out hunting alone was stupid and she paid the price for it. Thank God Gunther had been following her or she might be six feet under, after a painful death at Volner and Oxley’s hands.
Jane’s face blanched and Kenneth shook his head. Eli nodded. Charlie didn’t look at her sister, not willing to accept judgment.
“Then you would be arrested.” Jane was braver than Charlie expected.
“It would be worth it. The man was going to kill me, no doubt after he raped me,” she snarled at the smaller woman. “I winged him, and if we’re lucky, that wound will slow him down.”
Isabelle finally spoke. “What do you mean you winged him?”
“I shot him in the shoulder. At least that’s where I think I hit him. My memory is blurry after the punch to my jaw.” She resisted the urge to touch her sore face.
If possible, Jane grew paler. “What in the world is happening at this fort?” She turned to Kenneth as if the captain had the answer.
“Things that shouldn’t happen to any woman. Ever.” Kenneth spoke to Charlie. “I will find him.”
It was a threat and a promise. She wanted to tell him to mind his own business, that she would find Volner, but she didn’t. She wanted the sergeant dead, but she wanted to escape the fort more.
“If Volner was shot, the ball might still be lodged in his shoulder. Without medical care, his arm could turn septic, or become infected, perhaps even cause hallucinations if it gets bad.” Isabelle had started cleaning Eli’s cuts on his face.
“Then he could die a painful death? Good.” Charlie took Eli’s right hand in hers. Isabelle raised her brows but said nothing.
Kenn
eth offered his arm to Jane. “Miss Flanagan, may I escort you back to your uncle? It seems Mr. Sylvester has all he needs here.”
Charlie recognized a goodbye when she heard one. The captain had given up on her. She should have been brave enough to be honest with him. Instead she opted for bravado and loud words. Another crack in the lopsided pieces of her life.
Jane glanced at Eli. “I hope you’ll be all right.”
Eli tried to smile but winced at the motion. “Thank you, Jane. And I’m sorry. For everything.”
She looked at Charlie. “Take care of him. He’s a good man.” Regal as a queen, Jane tucked her arm into the captain’s and they left the treatment room.
“Do you two want to talk about what just happened?” Isabelle focused on her task, but her voice was tight with disapproval.
“No, and it’s none of your damn business.” She spotted Mason in the doorway. “Now that all of you are here, I have something to tell you. I’m leaving the fort and I’m not coming back.”
Shock rippled through Eli at Charlie’s pronouncement. Leaving. She was leaving the fort. Forever.
Isabelle’s eyes widened before she turned to look at her sister. “Would you care to explain that?”
“I can’t stay here any longer. I’ve got something I need to do.” Charlie didn’t look at Eli when she spoke. “You have a good life here with Mason and the boys, but it’s not my life.”
Eli heard an undercurrent in her words, but he still didn’t know the full story of everything that happened to the woman he loved. She was a complicated being and he had looked forward to unraveling the puzzle she was made of. Now he might not get the chance.
“Where?” It was the only word he could get out of his throat. It had tightened to the point he could hardly swallow.
Charlie stared down at their joined hands. Her fingers were callused, dirt beneath the nails. Very unladylike, but it was part of who she was and he couldn’t imagine her any other way. He didn’t love her because she was a delicate, feminine flower. He loved her because of who she was, not what she was.
“South of here.”
His heart cracked a little.
Isabelle slammed a fist onto the exam table, startling both of them. “I forbid you from going off on your own to do God knows what. You’re not invincible, Charlotte Marie Chastain.” The raw emotion echoed in the small room. “You may not gallivant off into the world without a word of where or what.”
Charlie’s head snapped up. Her jaw tightened, along with her hand on his. “You can’t forbid me from a damn thing. I’m twenty-five years old, Iz.”
“I will pack my children and my husband and follow you if need be. You will not do this.” Isabelle rose to her feet like a beautiful, angry angel. “No force on earth will stop me.”
Mason finally spoke. “The gold entices you, doesn’t it? It’s calling you. I heard about Cherry Creek from plenty of fools with stars in their eyes.”
Isabelle’s mouth dropped open. “You’re going after gold? Are you mad?”
Eli had no idea what Charlie was thinking, but he couldn’t let them run roughshod over her. He had to be her knight in shining armor. “Charlie is a grown woman. She talked to me about it but hadn’t made up her mind yet. She wanted to tell you sooner, but I told her she should wait. I wanted to convince her that I had to go too.”
Three sets of surprised eyes turned toward him. Everyone knew he was lying, but no one would call him on it. Charlie would’ve left the fort on her own, unprotected, impulsively seeking something only she understood. Eli was used to her antics, but this was the first time she’d decide to leave the fort permanently.
“That’s interesting. Certainly an unexpected development.” Mason had listened to Eli’s confession on who to marry and what to do. The older man wouldn’t betray his confidence, but that didn’t mean Mason wouldn’t spear him with an intense stare, daring Eli to lie again.
“We’ve been best friends for ten years. Why wouldn’t I go with her?” Eli refused to look away from Charlie’s face.
“I don’t want either of you to leave the fort. This is your home.” Isabelle returned to cleaning Eli’s cheek.
“No, it’s your home, not mine. I don’t belong here.” Charlie stared out the open door, escape evident in her expression.
“Where she goes, I go.” Eli hadn’t planned to change his entire life, but Charlie was the most important thing in it.
Chapter Ten
The morning dawned cool and clear, a perfect spring day. Charlie stared at the pile of goods bundled in her new traveling bag. The sum of her life was much smaller than she had expected. Granted, the furniture wasn’t packed up, but all her clothes were, her tools and hunting gear. She bought a few items at the mercantile for gold prospecting like a shovel, a small pick and a pan. There was another sack with basic food necessities.
Her stomach flipped this way and that. She was leaving the fort for good. Ten years had passed since she arrived here with her sister and Mason. And so much happened in the six months between when she left New York until they settled at the fort. A lifetime of experiences, some good, some bad, some terrifying.
Now she would wipe her slate clean and begin again. It was what her sister Frankie had tried to do when their family left New York. In her case, the past followed her, sinking its teeth into her fresh start. In the end, she discovered the man she loved and settled into a wonderful life.
The same wasn’t true for Charlie. Her past lumbered around the fort like a shadow, a hulking brute who reminded her with every glimpse what happened to her. Her past also echoed through the wood from the wagon used to build the cabin her sister lived in.
She could—and she would—leave it all behind. There wouldn’t be a reason to return except for Isabelle and her family. Charlie could see them at holidays at Frankie’s ranch and keep her distance from the fort. It had become the prison that kept her hostage without bars. Leaving would free her and she would finally be able to take a deep breath.
She would be free.
A knock at the door made her jump. She blew out a shaky breath and wiped her clammy hands on her trousers. With a wry grin, she turned to open the door. At least there weren’t any dresses in her traveling bag.
Mason stood there, his expression grave. “I wanted to speak with you alone before you left.”
Charlie wasn’t surprised to see him. Since she’d announced her intention the day before, she knew he would try to talk her out of it. Gold prospecting was a dangerous business, and he knew that more than anyone.
“Come in.” She waited while he walked in, examined her belongings and then sat.
“You seem to be ready to embark on the journey of a lifetime.”
“I have to leave here, Mason. I can’t stay.” Charlie wouldn’t be dissuaded. “Nothing you say is gonna change my mind.”
He sighed and sank into the chair. “I believe I already knew that. I came to ask you to correspond with Isabelle. She’s heartbroken right now, but I think with time, and copious amounts of letters, she will get past the hurt.”
Charlie winced. “I don’t mean to cause her pain.”
“I know that, little one. You have your own secrets and we won’t ask you to reveal them unless you wish it.” Mason was the type of man who was a wonderful husband, father and brother-in-law. “Please do not let your guard down while you are out there in the world. Use your fists, knives and other weapons of choice. Let Eli be your hero and your partner. He is a good man, Charlotte.”
“He is. The very best.” Charlie folded her arms. “He’s giving up everything. For me. I’ve never treated him fair and here he is heading off into unknown danger with a broken wrist.” She swallowed the lump in her throat with difficulty. “I don’t deserve him.”
“You deserve every happiness in the world. Don’t ever think otherwise.” Mason spoke with an urge
ncy in his tone. “You are one of the most honest, genuine people I know. No matter what happened to you, that was yesterday. Seize your future with both hands.”
Charlie wanted to do just that, but she wasn’t sure if she was strong enough. Perhaps if she left her past behind, she would be able to.
“I’ll try.” She picked up her bag. “I need to say goodbye to the boys and Iz.”
“I have writing supplies to tuck inside while you’re saying your farewells.” Mason got to his feet. “Along with several handkerchiefs for tears.”
“I’m not goddamn crying.” Charlie scowled at him.
“Oh, no, they’re for me.” He smiled and took her bag. “I plan to weep plentiful tears.”
In his silly words, she heard a kernel of truth. Her sister had been lucky enough to fall in love with a hell of a man. They walked together around the side of the smaller structure to the main cabin. The sight of the boys sitting on the step with long faces made her heart pinch.
The three Montgomery boys were similar in many ways—they were smart and mischievous, and each had musical talent. The older two, Andrew and John, had Mason’s dark hair and eyes, while little Samuel was the spitting image of Charlie with his frizzy hair and hazel eyes.
“I don’t want to see such frowns or I might not give you my goodbye gifts.” Charlie put her hands on her hips.
“Gifts?” John—the oldest, at eight—perked up.
“I wouldn’t go away without giving you all something to remember me by.” She sat down between them and gestured to Mason to put the bag down. “I’m sure your Papa wouldn’t want you to be sad either.”
Mason shrugged. “They can be sad if they need to. It’s a normal human emotion and part of growing up.” He ruffled Samuel’s hair. “I’ve purchased plenty of handkerchiefs.”
“I don’t want you to go.” Samuel turned sad eyes on her. “Who else is gonna untangle my hair?”
Charlie didn’t want to dwell on the thought of leaving her nephews. It would hurt too much. Instead she reached into her bag and pulled out three small figures she had carved from animal bone over the last winter. She’d planned to give them to the boys for their birthdays, but now seemed a better time.
The Gem: The Malloy Family, Book 12 Page 9