The Gambler

by Lois Greiman

  "But..." Charm felt lost. Cora. Caroline. Eloise. Did the names trip memories in her mind? Or did she only wish it were so? "Raven might need..."

  "You're pale as a ghost," Cora chided. "And I ain't havin' no chile of Cari's faintin' down here midst common folk." The old woman wagged her frizzled head and spoke firmly. "Come now."

  Charm followed like one in a trance, not thinking, not feeling; only moving up the stairs, through the huge, old manse.

  "Yer mama's room," explained the old woman, lifting her lamp in a feeble grip.

  Charm peered in, feeling goose pimples trip across her flesh.

  "Thet's right, it was hers," said the crackling voice. "My sweet Cari's. Go on in. Lie down. Out of harm's way," she croaked, shifting her gaze about the room. "I'll call y' if'n you're needed," she said, and closing the door, left Charm alone.

  The room was blue and white with a canopy bed and double doors that opened to a high porch. She was in her mother's room. Perhaps. Dear God! An inexplicable loneliness swelled within Charm. She swept toward the door, needing Raven.

  "Chantilly?"

  The name came from the porch. Charm turned with a start, breathing hard, hearing the voice as if from the depths of a nightmare. "Who's there?" she gasped.

  A man in a tan hat stepped into the flickering light of the lantern. Her father! Randall Grady! She knew him immediately. Recognized the face, or the voice, or the evil aura. She wasn't sure which, but suddenly memories flooded her senses in a confusing backwash of terror.

  "You're dead." Her words were barely audible. "Raven said so. Jude killed you when I was ten."

  "On the contrary, my dear..." Grady stepped forward with a smile. Although Charm knew she should run, she was frozen in place, like a child with no hope of escape, only able to follow him with her eyes as he moved toward the door. "Jude, as you so charmingly call him, didn't kill me. I owe him a great deal." He removed his hat, and Charm saw now that he was no longer handsome, for his nose was strangely bent and his face scarred. "Yes, I'll have to be sure to repay your Jude somehow, for you see, your dear Aunt Eloise didn't recognize me. Of course, she was only a child when I wooed your mother. Once I heard the old woman was gone I knew it was my chance to return. There'd be no one here to remember me. Except maybe a darkie. But they hardly count. I think old Cora distrusts me," he said with a laugh. "Crazy old bat. She'll be the first to go once I marry."

  He took a step toward Charm. She retreated, stiff with terror and dark, rising memories. "What do you want?"

  Grady shook her head as if she should not have to ask. “The money, my dear child. Always the money. It was supposed to be mine all along, you know. But your mother was foolish enough to get herself disowned." He laughed again, but the sound was low and frightening. "I did my job too well. She was infatuated and wanted nothing but to leave with me. And then you came along."

  Charm backed stiffly toward the wall, remembering him reaching for her as a child. Remembering screams as a cigar burned into her thigh.

  "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.

  Chapter 32

  "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

  Discover Lois Greiman on Kindle

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  About the Author

  Lois Greiman was born on a cattle ranch in central North Dakota where she learned to ride and spit with the best of them. After graduating from high school, she moved to Minnesota to train and show Arabian horses. But eventually she fell in love, became an aerobics instructor and gave birth to three of her best friends.

  She sold her first novel in 1992 and has published more than thirty titles since then, including romantic comedy, historical romance, children’s stories, and her fun-loving Christina McMullen mysteries. A two-time Rita finalist, she has won such prestigious honors as Romantic Times Storyteller Of The Year, MFW’s Rising Star, RT’s Love and Laughter, the Toby Bromberg for most humorous mystery, and the LaVyrle Spencer Award. Her heroes have received K.I.S.S. recognition numerous times and her books have been seen regularly among the industries Top Picks!