“I seem to remember that Mrs. Cunningham told you that I would be able to handle any of your questions if you had any for me,” she said sweetly. Annabelle gave her a defeated look, seeing that she wasn’t going to be able to see Chase as she wanted to. Charity imagined that she wanted to talk to Chase about more than just breeding the horses, and that is why she was so insistent on seeing him herself.
“Very well, I was here to find out which of the animals you are going to be breeding this fall,” she said with a dry tone. Annabelle smiled. She didn’t know the answer, but she knew if she said the right thing, she could convince Annabelle to leave without having to tell her the truth.
“Well, I know that he is still deciding, and since he doesn’t have to make the final decision for a few days, he isn’t going to until then,” she said with a dry smile. Annabelle was clearly not happy with the answer, but she could see that she wasn’t going to get very much at all out of Charity. Charity crossed her arms and smiled, giving her the most charming face she could muster.
“Is there anything else I can help you with? I’m sorry that there wasn’t more I could do for you this morning,” she said with a dry smile. It was difficult for Charity to be as nice to the girl as she tried to be, but she was still going to do her best. She didn’t want to do anything that would cause tension between the two families, but it was difficult for her to be entirely decent to the girl.
“No, that should be it. Tell Chase that I’m sorry I barged in on him unexpectedly, and make sure you let him know that it was still rude of him to leave me standing out here like I am no one important! I don’t care if it was inconvenient, he is supposed to be working with me on this, and that is what I expect.” She gave Charity a large smile, though it was clear that it was a forced smile.
Charity did her best to return a warm smile, but hers was strained as well. After another awkward pause, Annabelle gave her a stiff nod and turned on her heel, walking deliberately out of the house and closing the door loudly behind her. Charity walked over to the window, looking out and smiling to herself as Annabelle climbed into her buggy and told the driver to take her home.
She looked over her shoulder at the house as she was driven off, clearly looking for Chase. Charity shook her head. She knew that there had to be something else that girl was up to besides wanting the money for the estate and the horses. She had to be wanting to win Chase back over to her side, and though Chase didn’t seem to be interested most of the time, Charity worried that the girl would somehow be able to win him over if she worked hard enough.
She shook her head as she turned to go back to the dining room and finish her breakfast. Mrs. Cunningham smiled and asked how it went, but Charity merely smiled and shook her head.
“You know Miss Jackson, she is always on fire for what is next, and never wants to keep her mind here and now in the moment.” Charity smiled as she sat down, and Mrs. Cunningham laughed.
“That she does, that she does!” she said with a laugh. Charity smiled and sipped her tea.
Scarlett finished her own breakfast chatting away, but Charity knew better than to try to interact in the conversation. When the woman spoke that way, she wasn’t looking for someone to answer her, she was merely looking to fill the room with her own voice, and Charity let her do it. She had learned long ago that it was far easier to allow the woman to happily chat away to herself than it was to try to engage in the conversation—and she didn’t want to offend by interrupting or saying something that she shouldn’t.
As usual, when Mrs. Cunningham had finished with her breakfast, she took a tray up to her husband, and Charity found herself left alone with her thoughts. She tried to focus on the things she was going to do that day, but she couldn’t ignore the urge to think about Annabelle. There were so many things about that girl she just didn’t understand—from the way she treated her to the way she treated Chase.
If the girl did want to win back his affections, she was certainly going about it in an interesting way, and Charity knew it. If she were in the same position, she would do many things differently, but at the same time, she had never been in that position, and hoped she never would be. Even the thought of finding someone else to court made her feel overwhelmed, and she wondered how she was ever going to overcome the giddy foolishness that Annabelle was currently engaging in.
The thought of her finding someone else also caused a feeling of sadness to wash over her, and she sighed. She sat back in her chair and clasped her hands in front of her, surprising herself at how much she allowed herself to slump when she was alone. A lady should never sit the way she was sitting right now, but of course, being alone in the room she felt she had every right to sit how she wanted to, especially after dealing with Annabelle earlier that morning. Charity didn’t know if she was the only one, but every time she interacted with the girl she came away from it feeling drained.
The door opened and Olga walked in, ready to clear the table of the breakfast dishes. Charity sat up quickly and adjusted herself in her chair, embarrassed she had been caught by the girl in such a casual fashion. Olga knew better than to say anything about it, and instead went about her work in silence. Charity couldn’t help but marvel at the West. Things were so different out here than they were back home, and though she knew that they weren’t as rigid in their lives as the other wealthy men and women she had met in the past, she couldn’t help but wonder that the girl didn’t mention it to her.
“Thank you, Olga, but I think that is enough for now,” she said as the girl offered her more tea. She rose from the chair and walked over to the door, debating whether she wanted to go outside. It was a chilly day with grey clouds covering the expanse of the sky. A few rays of icy sun peeked through in scattered places, but it looked cold out.
Blue, the name she had given the new horse Chase had purchased from Norman, was running about the corral as quickly as the space would allow him to move, looking agitated that he didn’t have the space to go further or faster. She felt bad for the animal, seeing the potential that he had over the other horses that Chase had purchased from the Jacksons, but she didn’t feel that it was her place to say anything.
Chase had made it clear to her that he wasn’t happy with the situation any more than she was, in fact, he was likely a lot less happy about it because he was the one who was going to have to continue to handle it long after she left. It was his father’s choice to allow the Jacksons to come in with their stock, and it didn’t really matter what Chase had to say in the matter, he was going to be mixing the bloodlines whether he liked it or not.
Charity didn’t understand the way the contracts worked, and she wished there was a way for her to help. She didn’t know why Chase couldn’t just tell Annabelle and her father that the animals were his to do as he pleased with, and that he no longer wished to be in a contact with them. Of course, she also didn’t understand why he chose to sign the papers in the first place. She knew that he did so to make his father happy, but then, if his father really wanted to trust him with the well-being of the ranch, she felt that he ought to trust Chase in his decision about the animals they brought onto the estate.
She sighed as she turned away from the window, wishing there was something she could do for the horse that was in there was well as the man who was upstairs in his room. If she could set them both free from the cages life had put them in she would be more than happy to do so, but she felt useless when it came to either one.
The most help she felt she had been to Chase was that she had dealt with Annabelle when the girl had once again arrived at the house when she wasn’t welcome—and considering everything that Chase had to deal with, Charity didn’t feel that was nearly enough to justify saying that she had helped in any way. The gloom of the air settled into the house, and she felt that she, too, was trapped in a way.
Bound by the expectations that were placed upon them and forced to conform to the rules and standards of others. She was beginning to realize that it didn’t matter how
much money one had, or the size of the inheritance one was going to inherit—or not inherit, in her case—lives were controlled by those around them, not the people living them.
She felt she was just as much a prisoner as that horse out in the corral.
Chapter 20
Chase had heard the exchange that took place between Annabelle and Charity, and he couldn’t help but smile to himself when it happened. Though he knew both women disliked being in each other’s presence, there was something about listening to Charity not budge when Annabelle tried to bully her that made Chase feel proud. It was as though the woman whom he could consider a friend more than anything was standing up for him to the girl who had done her best to destroy him.
He felt Annabelle was trapped in the thinking that she was going to end up being with Chase eventually—if she was able to force herself around him enough. He was too much of a gentleman to tell her that he refused to work with her when there was a contract between the two families in place.
Chase paced back and forth in his room for a few minutes, lost in thought. He didn’t want to see anyone, he didn’t want to talk to anyone. If there was any way that he could, he could end the contract—and the connection—he had with the Jacksons, but he knew that he couldn’t even do that. His father had made the decision to enter that contract, and through the breeding season, he was going to have to honor it.
But, he had to look at the different language that was involved with the wording. He didn’t like that they were allowed to do as they pleased, and he certainly didn’t like that he wasn’t able to argue—it even seemed to him that his father wasn’t allowed to argue with anything in the contract, either, at least, that’s the impression Chase got when he tried to tell his father that they should pull out of the contract as fast soon as they could.
He knew his father was sick, but at the same time, he knew that his father was well enough to understand what was going on with the contract—and with the Jacksons. His father had been there when things hadn’t gone well with Annabelle, and he was the one how told Chase in the first place that he would rather not have any dealings with the family.
Chase didn’t know why things changed with his father, and he wished there was a way he could get him to go back on what he had decided—but he had to understand and change the contract in order to make that happen. Feeling frustrated, Chase decided that he was going to take a ride out on the prairie. The estate was very large—they owned the land as far as the eye could see—but Chase didn’t want to stick to their own land. He wanted to get on one of the horses and just start riding—riding as far as he could for as long as he could until the horse was too tired to run any further.
He knew that he wasn’t going to be able to get too far—he probably wouldn’t be able to even get off the property before he would have to turn around and come back to tend to the other affairs of the day. Chase hated to admit it—and he rarely did admit it to anyone but his own private thoughts, but there were times when he felt very overwhelmed. There were times when he felt that he wasn’t going to be able to manage the estate like he wanted. All Chase really wanted was to make his father—and his family proud.
But, without Troy around, he didn’t know if he had the confidence to be able to run the estate like he wanted to. If Troy was there, Chase felt that he would have someone to talk to—someone who would be able to support him and give him advice when he needed it. Troy had always been there in the past when Chase needed him, but ever since he had gone overseas, Chase had felt lost.
He didn’t always doubt the decisions that he made, but the closer they drew to his parents leaving, the more Chase felt that he needed someone to support him. Annabelle had never been the kind of support that he needed—the entire time that he had courted the woman he had leaned on his brother for support and advice. Right now, he missed Troy more than he had in a long time—and he would have given anything to be able to see him for a few minutes.
To just talk to him and hear what he had to say about the situation, and to listen to other points of view on the situation than what he was already dealing with. Perhaps a ride out on the prairie would be just what he needed to clear his mind and focus—perhaps by the time he got back to the house he would be able to think about things clear enough he would be able to handle Annabelle when she arrived later that night to check up on him once more.
Chase knew that she was really just trying to see what he was doing—she wasn’t at all concerned with the horses like she tried to make everyone believe that she was—she was far more worried with what he was doing and whether she had any chance of getting back together with him. He could see it in her eyes when she talked to him, and he could see it in her behavior when she talked to or around Charity.
It was clear to Chase that the girl avoided Charity as though there was something horribly wrong with her, and though there were times that it made him smile, he knew that it was mostly because the one girl was jealous of the other. As he yanked the door to his bedroom closed behind him and headed up the hall, he couldn’t help but shake his head. He was feeling frustrated after the conversation he had had with Charity, and he wished that things had gone better between them.
If there was a way he thought he could convince the girl to stay with him, he would, but she had said that she was ready to leave—perhaps not in so many words—but that is essentially what she had told him. He wasn’t going to press her if she didn’t want to stay, there was no other way around it.
Chase stopped suddenly when he reached the top of the staircase. He had thought that everyone was in their rooms or occupied in the reading room, he wasn’t anticipating seeing Charity standing near the door and looking out the window. She hadn’t seen him and didn’t know that he was standing there watching her, so he took the opportunity to see what she did when she didn’t know that he was around.
She looked beautiful with her shawl wrapped around her and the light illuminating her silhouette through the window. With the way she was standing and the way the light was pouring in through the window, he could see every womanly curve on her figure—even the bun that was pulled tightly against the back of her head. Her long dress reached clear to the floor, while her beautiful dress shone in the pale sunlight. The gloominess of the day only caused her to look all the more beautiful, and he felt his breath being taken away.
She turned, clearly lost in her own thoughts, and he started down the stairs, deciding it would be better for her to see him coming than it would be for her to suddenly realized he was standing up there and watching her while she was looking out the window. He smiled as he reached the floor, and she looked at him in surprise.
“I thought that you had gone outside,” she said, and he shook his head.
“I was still thinking about the visit from our contractor this morning,” he replied, and she smiled at the terminology.
“She really wanted to speak with you,” Charity said, and he shrugged.
“I’m sure she’s going to be back later tonight. She seems to feel as though she has to be here to check on the horses a couple of times a day. Although, you would think that someone in the line of work that I am would be able to manage a few horses without the supervision of a young woman,” he said with a chuckle.
“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Charity agreed with a smirk of her own. Chase walked past her toward the door, not wanting the conversation to last so long that it became awkward between the two of them. The last thing he wanted was for them to have any sort of tension, and he felt with the way they were already careful about how they interacted with each other, tension could happen at any time.
But, just as he reached the door, he had a thought come over him. It wasn’t the time when he would often take her out on the drives, but he suddenly wanted to spend time with Charity regardless. There was nothing in particular he wanted, just to take her out and go riding with her, to see her on a horse and to be completely carefree with her. He knew that if there was anyone
who would be able to put him at ease, it would be her.
She was so easy to talk to and be around, even though there was a lot of tension between them when they discussed things that had to do with her leaving or with the estate, but he didn’t want to talk about anything like that. Right now, for the first time he could think of, all Chase wanted was to spend some time with her—and only her. He didn’t want any of the hired hands to come along, and he didn’t want to have to do it for his mother or anyone else.
“Say, I was thinking of just taking a ride across the prairie—do you want to go with me by chance?” he asked as he suddenly turned. Charity looked at him in surprise, then looked down at the floor, her eyes moving back and forth as though she were looking for the answer down there.
“A ride? You mean just because?” she asked, and he nodded.
“I do it from time to time when I am feeling like I want to get out of the house for a while—or when I want to get away to think. With the way the morning went, I thought that it would be nice just to head out and see how things are looking. Winter is on the way, you might want to enjoy the freedom of being out when you want while you can,” he smiled, and Charity was clearly taken aback by the proposition.
“I don’t know,” she said, and he shrugged before he turned to go.
“It’s up to you, but I thought you might enjoy it,” he said as he was walking out the door. Chase pulled the door closed behind him, ignoring the disappointment he felt at her rejection. He walked to the barn and grabbed his horse, but he was surprised when Charity suddenly appeared.
“What are you doing?” he asked as she walked up.
“I decided I was going to come along,” she said with a smile. He could see that she was still feeling uncertain with herself, but he wanted to put her at ease rather than make her feel more uncomfortable.
“Here, I’ve got just the horse for you,” he said as he walked over to one of the gentler rides. She followed him with a curious look on her face, and he could see that she was genuinely interested in the horse he was going to choose for her.
Mail Order Bride: A Bride's Unexpected Love: A Western Romance Book Page 14