The Lost Girl

by Liz Harris

  A blush of pleasure spread slowly across Phebe’s face.

  She pulled her shawl more tightly around her. ‘I’d better get back now. Sam’ll come right on up. And we’ll come this evenin’, then; if you’re sure you’ve enough for three extra. Thomas is gettin’ a real good appetite.’

  ‘I’m sure, honey,’ Martha said firmly. ‘There’ll always be enough for you. You’re family, aren’t you?’

  She stepped forward, put her arms around Phebe, pulled her close to her and hugged her with every bit of her strength.

  ‘Phebe came to see us the mornin’ after you told her, Sam,’ Martha said, putting a mug of coffee and a slice of apricot pie in front of him, and sitting down opposite him. Hiram came across to the table with a piece of pie and joined them. ‘I was darnin’ when she came,’ she added. ‘Hiram and Charity were here, too.’

  Sam nodded. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, looking at the table. He raised nervous eyes to his folks. ‘I’m real sorry.’

  ‘We know you are, son,’ Hiram said quietly.

  Sam turned to Martha. ‘And you believe me, Ma, don’t you?’

  She smiled at him, and patted his hand. ‘Yes, Sam; I do.’

  He nodded again.

  ‘Phebe didn’t find it easy to break her promise to you, son, you know?’ Martha went on. ‘You could tell she felt mighty uncomfortable about it.’

  ‘She told me why she did it.’

  Martha leaned across the table, and stared hard at Sam. ‘I sure hope you heard more than just her words; I hope you heard the love, ’cos that gal loves you. You’d become so full of hate for the Chinee that you couldn’t see anythin’ else. But she could, and she knows you well enough to know that if Joe had been caught, you’d never have gotten over it, not only for what it did to us, but for what it did to you.’

  ‘Yesterday, I wouldn’t’ve agreed, but today I’m sayin’ you’re right. I’ve bin awake all night, doin’ some thinkin’, and I reckon I’ve bin gettin’ more and more jealous of Joe over the years. Minin’ ain’t what it used to be, and for years now, while I’ve been afear’d about losing my job, there’s Joe doin’ what he wants to do, and it’s makin’ him happy. I guess I wanted to wipe that happiness off his face. I don’t like that about myself, but I can see it now. I’m always gonna hate the Chinee who’ve made me like this, but I’m gonna try and think about Joe in a kinder way.’

  ‘I’m mighty pleased to hear that,’ Hiram said. ‘I know you’ve never bin close, you bein’ five years older and different in your likin’s, but you’re flesh and blood, and it’s good for a man to think of his brother with warmth.’

  ‘And with Phebe as your wife, you’ve got a chance for a happiness of your own,’ Martha said with a smile.

  ‘If she still loves me after all the things I’ve done or tried to do.’

  ‘Oh, she does,’ Martha said. ‘I’ve never been more certain of anythin’. You’ve got a good gal there.’

  Sam nodded. ‘Thanks, Ma. I reckon so, too.’ And he pulled the pie towards him.

  When he’d finished eating, he sat back. ‘That was a fine pie,’ he said, and he paused a moment. ‘I’m gonna ask you both somethin’ now, but you don’t have to tell me. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t trust me yet. But I sure am curious to know how they got away with it, ’cos I reckon they went through with that weddin’ of theirs and were long outa Carter by Monday mornin’. But, as I said, you don’t have to tell me.’

  Hiram and Martha glanced at each other, then back at Sam.

  ‘We don’t mind tellin’ you, Sam, ’cos we do trust you,’ Hiram said.

  ‘And you know I wouldn’t want the white miners knowin’ my brother had wed a Celestial,’ Sam added wryly.

  Hiram smiled.

  ‘It was very simple,’ Martha said. ‘They brought everythin’ forward a day, and ’cos we knew about it, we could help. They got wed early on Sunday in the tong. After that, Charity came back here and said goodbye to Hiram. Then she and I took a bag of her clothes and walked to the plain. Anyone seein’ us would’ve thought we were goin’ foragin’. Joe met us out there with the wagon. I stayed on a while after they’d left, and then went back through the centre of town so no one would notice Charity wasn’t with me any longer.’

  Sam looked from Martha to Hiram. ‘Sayin’ goodbye must’ve been hard.’

  ‘Charity said the hardest thing about leavin’ as they’d originally planned would’ve been not being able to say goodbye to us to our faces,’ Hiram said. ‘And we would’ve found that difficult, too. So in a way you did us a favour, Sam; you and Phebe, too. Thanks to you, we got to say goodbye to them and wish them well.’

  Martha shrugged. ‘Hiram’s right. But I always knew Joe would leave Carter again one day and I’d have to say goodbye at some point, and that helped, even though he’d’ve been able to come back, and now he won’t.’ She paused. ‘But we believe they’ll be happy on the ranch we’re sure Joe will get, and that makes us content. And one day, we might even get a message from him, perhaps through Seth, tellin’ us where that is. We’d know it was from him, and so would Seth, but others wouldn’t.’

  ‘I sure hope you get that message, Ma, and I really mean that,’ Sam said, standing up.

  ‘I know you do, Sam; you’re a good lad at heart.’ She stood up. ‘And now I’m gonna get some vegetables for that stew I’m gonna do for you and your family tonight.’

  Martha started to move towards the store-closet, then hesitated, turned back and walked across to Sam. Standing in front of him, she opened her arms wide.

  He looked at her face, at the forgiveness and love in her eyes. A choking sob escaped him, and he stepped into her embrace.

  The sun was shedding a vivid red-gold glow over the plains as Joe and Charity reached a waterhole lined with trees. As Joe brought the wagon to a halt, a flock of dark birds rose from among the leaves, wheeled around in the air above them, and then sank again to the upper branches.

  He glanced at the sky. ‘It’ll be dark before long. There’s wood for a fire and water, so I suggest we spend the night here. We no longer need to push ourselves in the way we’ve been doin’ for the past week.’

  Charity slid along the wooden seat and nestled close to him. ‘That’s good,’ she said, smiling up at him. ‘We’ve not had a moment to think since we left Carter.’

  He put his arm round her and hugged her to him. Resting her head on his shoulder, she fell silent.

  ‘So what are those thoughts you didn’t have time to think?’ Joe asked after a few minutes.

  ‘I was thinking about our weddin’,’ she said dreamily. ‘By goin’ over it in my head, I’m hopin’ to make sure I don’t forget a single detail.’

  ‘I know I won’t. I’m real grateful to the priest – he gave us a weddin’ that was way beyond anythin’ I’d expected.’

  Charity had been the first to get to the tong. She was wearing her best blue dress, which she often wore on Sundays. Her golden tiger was pinned to its front. Joe had arrived soon after in the leather jacket and jeans he always wore to the stable.

  ‘You look real grand, Charity,’ he’d said, his face breaking into a smile as she turned to him. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t dare wear fine clothes,’ he’d added apologetically, glancing from Charity to the priest. ‘We’re not a family of churchgoers and I’d’ve stood out if I’d bin lookin’ unusually smart. Folk know I go to the livery every day.’

  ‘I know Chinese brides wear red,’ she told the priest, ‘but I didn’t have a red dress.’

  The priest gave a slight bow. ‘Red colour is for strength, good luck and good fortune, and I think you and Joe need much good fortune. There is red cloth in the room upstairs. You wear this red cloth over dress.’ He turned and moved towards the stairs. ‘You come now,’ he said with a smile, and he started walking up the stairs.

  Hand in hand, they followed him up to the landing, glancing as they went at the paintings on the wall of social scenes in ancient China and of careful
ly laid-out gardens surrounding elaborate pagodas.

  The priest crossed to the right, and opened a door. A strong spicy scent instantly hit them, and they noticed in surprise that cut-outs, duck-shaped and of the phoenix and dragon, had been stuck all around the doorway.

  As they went into the room, they saw a deep red banner stretching from one wall to the other, with two large lighted candles flickering on a table beneath the banner. The aroma of incense rose from a censer in the middle of the table. Glancing around them, they saw that more small red cut-outs had been stuck to a large mirror at the back of the room and on all of the cupboards.

  Charity looked questioningly at the priest.

  ‘I get tong room ready for wedding,’ he told them. ‘It is custom to have double joy stickers throughout the house on wedding day and in bridal room, and to have red banner in front of houses of man and woman. This announce that joyous event take place.’ He gave them a wry smile. ‘I think it not a very good idea to have red banner outside Walker house today. Instead, we have banner in here.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, a wave of emotion rising in her.

  ‘Chinese wedding is ceremony of ritual and custom. I bring red cloth, Charity, and you put cloth on shoulders. In China, bride also wear red veil, but we not have veil. Is no need – Joe already see your face,’ he said, and he smiled at them both.

  She and Joe beamed at each other.

  ‘It is also custom for man to give woman a pair of dragon and phoenix bangles,’ he went on, turning to Joe. ‘She wear these during ceremony and after. Dragon and phoenix symbolise great happiness of man and wife – is perfect union. This we do today.’ He slipped his hand into the fold of his outer garment and brought out two bangles. ‘I give bangles to you, Joe.’ He held them out to Joe, who took them. ‘They are now your bangles. You now give bangles to Charity.’

  Joe slipped them on to her wrist, and squeezed her hand. She smiled up at him, and with her free hand lightly touched the golden tiger.

  ‘Come,’ the priest said, walking over to the table beneath the red banner. Taking his place behind the table, he indicated that they stand on the other side, facing him. ‘Wedding now begin,’ he said solemnly.

  At the end of the ceremony, the priest led the way down to the front door. Reaching the door, he bowed to them. ‘I hope wedding bring happiness and good fortune,’ he said, ‘and many sons.’ He straightened up.

  ‘I’m mighty grateful to you,’ Joe said. ‘We couldn’t have had a better start to our life together. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.’

  ‘And from me, too,’ Charity said, a lump in her throat. ‘I haven’t the words to tell you how I feel.’ She started to slip the bangles from her wrists.

  The priest had put up his hand to stop her. ‘You keep bangles, Charity. I give them to Joe. Joe give them to you. They are for you now. They are symbol of marriage.’ He’d slipped his hand into the fold of his robe and taken out a piece of paper. ‘And I have this for you, Joe. It is written in Cantonese and in American. It says you are wed. And you are wed, Joe and Charity. In my Chinese heart,’ he’d touched his chest, ‘I know that is the truth.’

  Stepping forward, he’d opened the door for them and together they’d walked out, man and wife in their hearts.

  His arm still around Charity, Joe looked up at the sky. The deep blaze of red was giving way to an ever-widening band of the darkest blue. A scattering of stars had appeared on the horizon.

  ‘If we sit here much longer we’ll not be able to see to build our fire,’ he said. ‘We’d better get movin’.’

  He jumped down and held up his hand to help Charity from the wagon.

  When her feet were on the ground, he pulled her gently to him. Slowly he slid his hands down the back of her bodice and over the flare of her hips. Beneath his fingers, he felt her tremble in excited anticipation.

  ‘I love you, wife,’ he said, his eyes burning into hers with passion.

  ‘And I love you, husband. Very much.’

  Her arms closed around him.

  As he bent his head towards her face, she raised herself towards him on her toes, and their mouths met in the heat of their mutual desire.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Seven weeks later

  At the very moment that Joe and Charity reached the top of the slope, a shaft of golden sunlight broke through the clouds that had hung low over the land they’d been driving through since leaving the last small town they’d stopped at – a town so young in age that the pine wood used to build the shops, houses and boardwalks was still yellow with newness.

  Motionless, they sat on the wagon and gazed down on the lush green grass that stretched from the east to the west, and rolled back from the foot of the slope to the blue-hazed mountains that lay to the north, their snow-capped peaks agleam in the sun. A river meandered through the heart of the valley, bordered by solitary cottonwoods and willows, their leaves shimmering bronze in the shifting rays of the sun.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ Charity breathed. ‘It’s everything the man in town said it was, and more. And look!’ She raised her hand and traced with her finger the outline of the mountain peaks, her dragon and phoenix bangles jingling loudly. Then her arm fell to her side and she turned to Joe. ‘Did you see that?’ she cried in excitement.

  ‘Not really,’ he said with a grin. ‘What was I meant to see?’

  ‘The peaks are shaped like the pagodas in the paintin’s on the walls of the tong. Don’t laugh, Joe, but I feel as if we were meant to find this place.’

  He shook his head. ‘I’m not laughin’, Charity; I feel that way, too. This is gonna be our land,’ he said, his voice trembling with emotion, and he looked back ahead of him. ‘It’s got everythin’ we need. The town’s only half an hour’s ride away, and the river will always be fed with water from the mountains, so even if the water level drops in the summer, it won’t dry out. Those cottonwoods tell us that – they like to keep their feet wet. And there are trees enough to give us wood and shade, and as for the grass – well, you couldn’t want better-looking grass than that. This is ranchin’ land. This is the sort of place I used to dream of havin’.’

  ‘And the man in the office said it’s not yet been staked, so it could be ours.’

  ‘It sure could.’ He inhaled deeply. ‘You can smell the freshness of the air, and you can’t hear a thing except the sound of the wind and the birds. But the best thing of all,’ he said turning to her, his eyes shining with love, ‘it’s where the two of us can live together. My life would never be complete if you weren’t part of it, Charity.’

  She trailed her hand across his back and leaned her head against his shoulder. ‘And all I’ll ever want is to be with you, Joe, mornin’, noon and night. I love you.’

  He swung round, took her face in his hands and brought his lips down on hers in a kiss that was both hard and tender. Then he jumped from the wagon, took a few steps down the slope and stopped. Charity climbed down from the wagon after him, and went and stood at his side.

  ‘So,’ he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and looking down at her with eyes that were ablaze with love. ‘Shall we definitely do it? Shall we make this land our home?’

  Her gaze travelled across the valley as she slid her arm around his waist. She slipped her free hand into the pocket of her skirt, wrapped her fingers around the small wooden tiger painted in gold with black stripes, and clutched it tightly. ‘Oh, yes, Joe.’

  A smile of deep happiness spread across his face.

  ‘And I say yes, too,’ he said quietly, tightening his arm around her shoulder.

  The words hung in the air.

  Their hearts beating fast, they looked at each other, and together they turned to face the grass-covered valley that was to be their home. Then raising their eyes, they gazed up above the mountains to the Wyoming sky, a sky that was vast and blue and empty, and waiting for them to fill it with their lives.

  * The End *

  We would love to he
ar how you enjoyed The Lost Girl. Please leave a review on the eBook store where you purchased this novel. Reviews on retail stores really do help the author. Thank you!

  Find out more about Liz and her novels next including a preview of A Bargain Struck.

  Thank you

  For ten months, I lived in my head in Carter Town, Wyoming, in the 1870s and 1880s. Throughout those months, as I watched Joe and Charity grow into adulthood, I shared in their hopes and their dreams and their fears. And I loved every minute of those ten months.

  Setting a novel in Wyoming again, a State that I came to love when I first went there for research, has been sheer pleasure, and my fervent hope is that you’ve enjoyed following the lives of the characters – American and Chinese – as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

  If you did so, and if you have time, please do take a moment to tell me. My contact details are under my author profile, and I should love to hear from you.

  If you are also able to leave a review on the retail site where you purchased this novel or Goodreads, that would be tremendously kind. Not only are reviews very helpful to readers, but they provide invaluable feedback for authors from the most important of people. After all, for whom is the book written if not for you, the reader?

  Happy reading!

  Love,

  Liz

  Read about Liz and her novels next ...

  About the Author

  Liz was born in London and now lives in South Oxfordshire with her husband. After graduating from university with a Law degree, she moved to California where she led a varied life, trying her hand at everything from cocktail waitressing on Sunset Strip to working as a secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company, not to mention a stint as ‘resident starlet’ at MGM. On returning to England, Liz completed a degree in English and taught for a number of years before developing her writing career.