“No!” Cassie cried.
“I didn’t take a blasted thing from you, Weston,” her father insisted, standing to his full height. It had been so long since Cassie had seen him stand without his shoulders curled, she forgot just how tall he was.
“That is for the constable to decide. One look at you and you may be headed for the asylum, not prison.” Weston tapped his fingers against the settee back. “However, you may always pay restitution and we can consider the matter closed.” Weston looked at Charles. “Oh, you are fired too. I am sure if there is one thief in the family, there are more.”
Cassie flew to Charles’ side. “Say something,” she pleaded.
“There is nothing to say,” Charles met Weston’s glare. “His mind is already made up.”
What were they going to do? She doubted her father would be able to find work, and her brother had been working at the factory since he was seven. Nearly fifteen years. Folks just didn’t find other employment – they worked at one factory until they died.
“Oh, Cassandra, you can deliver your jackets tomorrow morning and then you may seek employment elsewhere. I will write a reference for you, of course.”
“Fired? I’m fired as well?” Cassandra asked. It all seemed like a bad dream.
Mr. Weston nodded. “And you have 30 days in which to vacate the property. Unless, of course…” he grinned.
“Unless what?” Charles asked.
“Cassandra becomes my wife. Then this whole matter will go away. You can have your jobs back and she will be taken care of.”
“No!” Cassie’s father and brother said at the same time. Cassie felt as though she would faint. He was nearly three times her age!
She locked her legs to hold herself up. Mr. Weston was a widow. It was said he had a son, but no one heard about the younger Weston after his mother’s death. It was as if he disappeared as well.
Rumors, Cassie thought. They were just rumors.
“I’ll give you twenty-four hours to think about it and come up with the correct answer.” He walked over and took Cassandra’s hand, placing a sloppy kiss on the back of it. “I know I can make you happy, my dear. And you’ll be saving your father and brother from any further embarrassment.”
Cassie pulled her hand away and curled it up to her chest. “I would never marry you.”
“You might want to rethink that, Cassandra, dear. Your brother and father wouldn’t make it in prison.”
“My brother has done nothing. Neither has my father.”
“So, you keep saying. Several pairs of new pants disappeared. They haven’t been located yet, but I will find them.” He looked at his watch. “I have other families to see tonight.” He walked back to the door.
When the door shut, Cassie turned to her father and brother. “Care to tell me what is going on?”
Her father opened his mouth as if to speak, but Charles interrupted him. “I am pretty sure that it was one of the other lads framing Pa.”
“How can you be sure?” Charles thinned his lips. “What is it, Charles?”
“Because I got involved in some underhanded business in the factory.”
“Does that explain the pants you had in your bag?”
Charles looked ashamed. “I needed to give them to someone.” Charles stole a glance at their father. It was so slight, Cassie almost missed it.
“Did you know about this?” Cassie asked her father. He didn’t look at her. Instead, he chose to stare out the small window. “You did, didn’t you?”
Her father looked back at her. “I told you and Weston I didn’t steal a thing from him.”
“Then why does he think you did?” She turned back to Charles, since her father wasn’t providing an answer.
“Because I wanted out. Framing Pa is a message for me. But I’m in danger because they will come after me. You can’t say a thing to anyone, Cassie. Got me?”
“What are you going to do, Charles?”
“I’m going to fix this. But in the meantime, we need to get you and Pa as far away from here as possible.”
“You mean run away?”
“Do you want to get married to Weston?” Charles was rearranging things in his bag. Cassie shook her head. “Pretend everything is normal when you go to the factory tomorrow to turn in your sewing. I’ll get you on a train tomorrow night.”
“Where to?”
“West. Somewhere West.”
Cassie nodded and looked once more at her father. She almost felt sorry for him in that moment. Almost. “I better get packing then.”
Cassie went to take the basket of sewing back to her room. It was knocked over and the jackets were sitting in the dust on the floor. Cassie wanted to cry. She knew she’d be penalized for the dirt on the fabric.
She tried to brush the dust off, but it held fast. becoming a stain on the dark fabric. She wondered if this incident with her father and brother would become a stain on her as well?
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About Christine
Christine Sterling is the creator of the wildly popular Pinkerton Matchmaker Series and the Proxy Bride Series. She is an author in multiple collaborations, including: The Belles of Wyoming, Cowboys and Angels, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge and Silverpines, where her book Wanted: Medicine Man won best historical novel of 2018. She recently joined Sweet Promise Press as a historical romance author, writing for the Pioneer Brides of Rattlesnake Ridge series.
She writes sweet and wholesome historical western novels and published her first book in 2017. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, a spoiled Shih Tzu and a knucklehead German Shepherd, and too many rescued barn cats to count. She has been writing stories since she was 8 years old when her grandparents gave her a Sears & Roebuck typewriter with a hard-plastic cover for Christmas in 1977.
She spends her time writing, helping others to write and publish their first book and weeding her half-acre organic herb garden. Her favorite things are a good cup of tea, a movie that will make you cry and hearing from her readers.
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Changing Seasons
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
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Scriptures quoted from the King James Holy Bible.
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Changing Seasons ©2019 Christine Sterling
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