Maybe she would never find the exact answers to all of her questions, but she was going to get as close as she could to the truth. She needed to know the whole truth; she couldn’t live with lies any longer.
Maybe, she would find members of a new family out there—people who would love her and help her understand where she fit in. Lily heard her mother talking with Emilia. She hoped that her mother would forgive her when she left to find answers.
She knew in her heart that she probably would, she had never doubted that Carolyn loved her and she wasn’t about to start now.
Emilia was right. Lily did have a family here, but she also might have family out there somewhere. She felt almost as if she owed it to the mother who had birthed her and the father who had died before she was born to go out there and discover who they were.
Chapter 24
Emilia woke with a start. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep the night before, when she and Lily had been talking. It had been a whole day since Lily had found out that she was adopted.
The day before, she had been quiet and withdrawn. Emilia was worried about her. She had insisted on going into town and Carolyn hadn’t stopped her. Emilia had a feeling it was because she was feeling guilty about not telling her sooner.
The night before, they had talked late into the night and Emilia had done her best to console her cousin, but she had a feeling she had done little to help.
Emilia looked over to Lily’s bed. It was empty. She had probably gotten up early to go talk with Carolyn.
Emilia hurried to get dressed and prepared for the day and then rushed into the kitchen. She would take care of the room later. For some reason, making her bed and tiding things up didn’t seem important. She needed to find Lily and make sure she was all right. Carolyn was cooking breakfast with a sad look on her face.
“Good morning, Emilia. Have you seen Lily this morning? She was so upset last night. I think we should talk,” Carolyn said with a worried expression.
“You didn’t already talk with her? She wasn’t in her bed this morning. I assumed that she had gotten up early and was out here with you.”
Worry touched Carolyn’s face again. “I haven’t seen her all morning. As far as I knew, everyone was still asleep.”
Before Emilia could answer, the twins came barreling into the kitchen like two racing horses.
“What’s for breakfast?” Eli asked.
“Do you need our help, Ma?” Eddy offered.
“Have you two seen Lily anywhere this morning?” Even as she asked the question, Emilia was fairly certain about the answer. They had clearly just rolled out of bed, judging by their messy hair and half put-together clothing.
“No, we haven’t. Why, did she go somewhere?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t the two of you go and look around outside? Look in the barn and the other buildings. See if any of the horses are missing.” Carolyn finished pinning her hair up behind her head. “I’m going to check out back and you, Emilia, check the house everywhere, in case we’ve missed her somehow.”
Emilia nodded grimly. She was replaying the conversation she’d had with Lily the night before in her mind.
Had she been encouraging? Had her words pushed Lily to leave and find her past? Now that she tried to remember, the details of what they had talked about were fuzzy, and she couldn’t place exactly how she might have come across.
She bit her lower lip as she carefully checked all the bedrooms in the tiny cabin and the parlor and kitchen once more. There was still no sign of Lily.
Judging by the way that she could see the twins checking all the buildings for a second time, she had a feeling that no one would be finding Lily this morning.
Emilia sat down on one of the parlor chairs, a sigh escaping her lips. As she did so, her hand brushed against a piece of paper on the edge of the chair. It must have fallen off of the armrest.
It was a sealed envelope. Emilia didn’t need to have known Lily long to recognize the handwriting on the front. It was certainly hers. Scrawled in messy black letters was the word, ‘Mama.’
Emilia took the envelope carefully and went outside, around the back of the cabin. Carolyn was coming back from the line of trees at the back of the ranch, separating them from some of the pastures. She looked very discouraged.
“Did you find anything?” For a moment, Carolyn looked hopeful. Emilia hated to dash those hopes by giving her the letter she had found. She had a feeling it had to contain very bad news.
“I just found this. It was in the parlor,” she said sadly. Emilia held out the letter.
Carolyn took it and ripped it open. Unfolding the paper, she began to read. Emilia watched as her aunt took in whatever bad news Lily had left.
Emilia could tell that it was bad by the tears streaming down her aunt’s face. “What is it? Where is she? Does she say where she went?”
Emilia didn’t mean to pry, but she was worried. She felt so anxious about Lily.
“She’s gone to Bransford to find her natural father’s family. I just don’t know what to say.” A shocked look settled on Carolyn’s face and Emilia could certainly understand why.
“You mean, the father that died before she was born? She never even met him. Why would she go looking for him now?”
Carolyn nodded, looking numb. “Yes, I don’t understand. Wasn’t she happy here? Why would she want to go and search for a past that is buried?”
“I’m sorry, Aunt Carolyn. I thought that she would get over it. I should have known. We talked about it last night, but I didn’t know she would…”
Carolyn reached out and put her hand on Emilia’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault, dear. This is all because I didn’t tell her the truth a long time ago.”
“Do you think she’s going to be all right?”
“We aren’t just going to let her go. She could get hurt. She has no idea the dangers that she could run into. A young woman traveling alone attracts the wrong kind of people.” Carolyn shook her head anxiously.
Emilia turned to see a rider coming up the path from town. It was George. “What is George doing here?”
“I don’t know. He said something about visiting Lily the last time I saw him. We should tell him what is going on. Maybe if we get the sheriff and a few other people quickly, we can catch up to her.”
“Okay, I’ll go tell George. I think the twins are getting worried. We should tell them what the plan is,” Emilia said distractedly.
Carolyn nodded and tried to straighten her shoulders. Normally, she appeared to be strong, as if she could handle absolutely anything, but right now, she looked as if she could break under the slightest bit of extra pressure.
It was almost scary for Emilia to see her aunt so distraught.
“What’s going on? Where’s Lily?” George asked, looking around as he dismounted.
“She’s gone missing.”
“Missing? What do you mean by missing?” Emilia was surprised to see such concern on George’s face. It seemed as if he really cared. Maybe she had been wrong about him, after all.
“Well, not missing, exactly. It appears she went to Bransford to find her father’s family.”
“Her father? He passed away…”
“She didn’t tell you she was adopted?” Emilia knew that Lily had only known for a day, but she still expected for her to have told George.
When Lily had left for the entire afternoon the day before, Emilia had assumed that was where her cousin had gone.
“No! I haven’t seen her for a while now, which is why I stopped by. I always thought she looked a little different than the rest of the Carson family, but… adopted?”
Emilia nodded. “I shouldn’t have told you. It’s not really my news to tell, but now that you know… she wanted to find out more about her birth family. So, she apparently went to Bransford to find them. That’s what she wrote in the note to my aunt, anyway.”
George ran a hand through his hair, his mouth creased into a deep frown. �
��I can’t believe this. What gotten into her? It’s dangerous on that road. Anything could happen. Even a man doesn’t take that road alone. There are often bandits in that area, and even a few injuns show up now and again.”
“I’m sure she has a plan…” Emilia began.
“I’m sure she doesn’t have a plan,” George interrupted her. “I’m sure she isn’t thinking clearly. How is she going to protect herself? What are we going to do? What has your aunt said?”
“We need to get the sheriff and find her before anything happens.”
George nodded and mounted his horse so fast that it startled Emilia. “Now that sounds like a good plan. I’ll get the sheriff and a few other men. We’ll go after her. Don’t even worry about it. Just stay here and keep your aunt calm.”
Emilia watched as George rode off, her mouth slightly open. She had never expected to see such action and worry from George. She imagined that Lily would have been happy to see it. At the thought of her cousin, Emilia’s stomach twisted. What had Lily done? She had never expected her cousin to act so recklessly. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, really, but it had been something much more cautious.
“Where has George gone?” Aunt Carolyn asked, walking up behind her with two sad-looking twins by her side.
“He’s gone to alert the sheriff and get a few men to go with them. He said they would go after her and we were just to wait.” Emilia tried to feel hopeful. She also hoped that Lily wouldn’t be angry when they caught up to her.
“Can’t we go, Ma? We want to help find Lily.” Eddy was tugging at his mother’s skirts.
It warmed Emilia’s heart to see his love for his sister.
“You can’t go, Eddy. I’m sorry. The two of you are just too young.”
“We’re not too young, Ma. Derek says we are the men of the house, now.” Eli had an indignant look.
“I know, son. You are the men of the house, and that’s why I need you here.”
Eli didn’t look at all happy about her words, but he kept quiet and looked longingly out at the trail leading away from their house. Emilia wondered where Derek was, and if George would tell him that Lily was missing.
She couldn’t do anything about it now. She would just have to wait and see what happened.
She hated feeling useless. She wanted to be out there just as much as Eddy and Eli did. It would make her feel better to be taking some kind of action. She was sure of it.
She wrapped an arm around her aunt’s shoulders. “It’s going to be all right. George was very worried about her. I am sure he will do everything he can to bring her back.”
Emilia was surprised that she believed her own words about George. Maybe he had seemed like something different, but in this moment of hardship, he had actually proved himself—or, at least, she hoped he would.
Chapter 25
Derek’s heart felt heavier as he approached the town. He had no idea what he was doing. First of all, how could he have been so insensitive to Emilia to not tell her how he felt?
He had known for a while now. He cared for Emilia, so much. Maybe he even loved her. And yet, when she had told him that she felt the same way, he had frozen, unable to put his feelings into words.
He had wanted to tell her. He really had, and now, he had to find a way to make it up to her. He had a feeling that flowers and apologies wouldn’t mean much to her, so he had a different plan.
He was going to find out exactly who it was that had spread her secret around town. Who would even know about her secret, besides her family?
Derek stopped at the mercantile, the logical place to start. It wasn’t just a shop for everything you might possibly need. It was also the place of gossip, where everyone got the latest tidbits of information about someone in town, or out of town, for that matter.
Today, the little ding from the bell above the door made Derek cringe.
“How can I help you this morning?” The eager man behind the counter looked as if he had been ready for customers for hours but had remained luckless. It surprised Derek every single time he saw his eager face.
The sun had barely risen, and he would have liked to still be asleep himself.
“I actually just have some questions.”
“This early in the morning? They must be important questions.”
Derek nodded. “They are, very important. You know the Carsons’ cousin, Emilia, right? You may have seen her around town with me in the past few weeks. She came here because her lungs were weak and she’s been sick.”
The man nodded, his eyes sparkling with interest. Derek wanted to swallow his words and walk the other way, but he couldn’t just leave things like this.
As much as he was finding this out for Emilia, it was also important for him. He hated a person who would spread rumors about others only to hurt them.
“I need to know who was spreading her family history all over town.”
“Oh. Well, I can’t say where the rumor originated. I’d suggest you ask at the saloon. That’s where most news starts.” The man shook his head, “Poor girl; must be terrible living with the fear of going crazy over her head.”
“She’s not living under the fear of going crazy. Emilia would never go crazy.”
The man looked sympathetic. “You may think that now, son, but sometimes people just change. It’s hard to tell what triggers it exactly. There’s plenty of them crazy folks in the asylum in the city, you know. A lot of them was just normal folks and then, poof… they went crazy-like.”
“I’ll be on my way, then. Thanks for your help.” Derek turned and walked out of the mercantile, ignoring whatever parting words the man said as he continued his dissertation on crazy folks.
He wasn’t interested in talking to the man any further. No wonder Emilia had been so upset. It was true that these people had come to their conclusions and expectations about her, just over rumors of her father going crazy. They hadn’t even known the man.
But just because some of them had drawn these conclusions didn’t mean that all of them had. Derek knew that there were good and bad people in every town, and this one was no exception. He just hoped that she would stick it through and wait around to meet the good ones.
He hurried down the street to the saloon. The sun had taken its spot high in the sky and was burning into his back with a vengeance. It wasn’t a surprise to see the saloon’s doors swung wide open to let some air in, even though the air outside couldn’t have been any cooler than the stale air inside.
There wasn’t any music, but there was plenty of noise. Derek wasn’t sure if it was filled with people who had drunk all night, or people who liked to party early in the morning. There was a lot of raucous laughter and shouting as the men celebrated in their drunken joy.
He had a feeling that most of them were the first group of people, but he didn’t care, anyway. He was here for answers, nothing more. The man at the mercantile had been right about one thing: rumors did originate at the saloon. Derek knew enough about saloons to know that.
He knew drunken men loved to spill their secrets and spread them around town. By the next morning, when they were sober, they didn’t remember a second of it and had to face the consequences of their drunken words.
It took a moment for Derek to adjust to the air inside the saloon. It was heavy with cigar smoke and the scent of whiskey. It was a miracle the place hadn’t caught fire and burnt to the ground with all the fuel it had on its shelves, floors, and tables.
An Enduring Love to Heal Her: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 19
