by Rose Dumont
“Okay, Charlotte.”
Charlotte walked out the door and went back to her room. She stayed in there until the next morning when she heard a knock on her door.
***
Charlotte opened the door surprised to see Jarrod standing there. She thought it would be Cheryl, or maybe even Grayson. “Why, hello Jarrod.”
“Morning, Miss Charlotte.” Jarrod removes his hat, pressing it to his chest.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well, Grayson picked Cheryl up earlier this morning and took her back to the ranch. Grayson felt bad you wouldn’t have anyone in town to talk to for awhile so he asked if I would come in and see if you would have breakfast with me.”
“I don’t need anyone to pity me. I’m fine, thank you.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean it to sound like that. When I met you yesterday, even though it was brief, I thought you seemed like a real nice gal. I had to come into town anyway to pick up some things. Even if Grayson hadn’t asked me, I still would have stopped by and said hello.”
“That’s kind of you Jarrod. You’ve said hello, but do you really have the time or even want to have breakfast with me?”
“I do. I honestly do. Miss Jean fixed me something at the ranch this morning, but it don’t matter ‘cause I’m pretty much always hungry. And the food here at the hotel is pretty tasty.”
“Well, I guess you’ve convinced me. Let me just fix my makeup and I’ll be down right away.”
“Makeup? You don’t need to fix anything. You look beautiful just the way you are.”
“You really must be hungry.”
“Well, yes. I am. But I mean what I say. You are pretty.”
“And flattery will get you everywhere, including to the breakfast table.” Charlotte smirked. “Shall we?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Jarrod presented his arm which Charlotte accepted. He walked her down the stairs into the dining room and pulled out the chair for her.
“I didn’t think you wild western men would have such nice manners.”
Jarrod removed his hat and sat down after Charlotte. “Why, yes, Ma’am. Grayson and I and most men out here always treat women with the greatest respect, even if we don’t like ‘em. It’s how we were raised.”
Charlotte laughed. “Well I hope you like me.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Please call me Charlotte.”
“Yes, Miss Charlotte.”
“Just Charlotte is fine.”
“Okay, Ma’…I mean Charlotte.”
Charlotte and Jarrod ate their breakfast, but then spent at least another hour talking to each other. They found they enjoyed each other’s company. Jarrod was not Grayson, but he had a charming way about him which Charlotte really liked. And he did have the same good-looks as his brother: tall and muscular, chestnut wavy hair, dark brown eyes and a strong chiseled face. Charlotte was certainly still heart-broken about Grayson, but was enjoying this distraction.
Jarrod was surprised he enjoyed talking to Charlotte and being with her. He really never talked to women, except for a few minutes of chit-chat every now and then. He was close to being married before, but he found out she cheated on him and vowed never to be involved with another women again. She broke his heart and he didn’t want to feel that much pain and vulnerability again. Over the last couple years, he was content being alone and doing his own thing. Working the ranch when he wanted to, hunting when he wanted to, going to the saloon when he wanted to. He had no interest in getting to know another woman. At least not until now.
“Gosh, the time has flown by. I got to get going.” Jarrod wiped his face and then threw down the napkin on the table.
“Well thank you for breakfast. I had a nice time talking to you too.”
“Me too, Charlotte. I haven’t talked this long to a woman in years.”
“Will you be in town again before I leave?”
“I hadn’t planned on it, but it would nice to see you again. I could meet you the day after tomorrow and we could have dinner. I would say sooner, but I there’s some things I need to take care of on the ranch.”
“Yes, that would be nice. I’m only staying here to work things out with my sister before I leave, but it sure would be nice to have someone else to spend time with before I go.”
Jarrod got up from the table and then pulled out Charlotte’s chair and extended his hand to help her up. “I’ll see you Thursday for dinner then.”
“Yes. I look forward to it.”
Charlotte went back to her room with mixed feelings. Just yesterday, she lost her would-be husband that she thought would be the love of her life to her sister who betrayed her. And this morning, through one long conversation and meal with her ex-beau’s brother, she experienced a feeling of connection, perhaps even romance.
After getting his supplies, Jarrod rode back to the ranch and all he could think about was Charlotte. In some ways he didn’t want to have any thoughts. He even tried to think of other things, but Charlotte’s beautiful face kept returning to his mind’s eye. He thought to himself, Is this even right? This was my brother’s girl. What would he think? Before Jarrod would have dinner with Charlotte, he would have to talk to Grayson about it. He wanted to know it was okay. Family always came first.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jarrod walked through the door to find Grayson, Cheryl and Miss Jean having lunch.
Grayson wiped his mouth and looked up at Jarrod. “Well you’ve been gone for quite some time. I know you had breakfast with Charlotte, but it shouldn’t have taken that long. Did you have trouble getting supplies or something?”
“Naw. I didn’t have any trouble.” Jarrod didn’t want to tell everyone that he had spent all that time with Charlotte. He wanted to talk to Grayson in private later. “I sure could eat though.”
“Have a seat. We’re just finishing up.” Grayson rose from the table and carried his dishes to the wash basin. “I’ll be back around supper time. I want to check on the herd and make sure those coyotes aren’t back. Then I’m gonna check on the diversion ditch. The water’s not flowing like it should.”
“Want any help?” Jarrod asked with his mouth full.
“Naw, I’m good. I can handle it myself.”
Grayson had talked to Cheryl some after he picked her up from the hotel on the way back to the ranch, but any issues between them were far from being resolved. He just wanted to do some ranch work to keep his mind busy with thoughts other than his marriage. He grabbed his hat and headed out the door.
Both Miss Jean and Cheryl sensed Grayson’s anxiety and thought it was best to not say a word and let him be. Cheryl knew she had to win back his heart and, more importantly, his trust. For now, she would be silent and let him be. All she wanted to do was to give him a big hug and kiss, but knew he wouldn’t be receptive to it right now. She hoped to begin convincing him later that evening.
Miss Jean pushed over what was left of the stew and the last three rolls to Jarrod. “Do you think this will be enough to fill that endless pit of a belly of yours or at least to keep you from starving until dinner?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I think it’ll do.”
Cheryl and Miss Jean cleared off the remaining dishes from the table and washed and dried them. Miss Jean turned back to Jarrod still eating, “Do you think you can do us the courtesy of washing your dishes all by yourself?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Thank you kindly. Now I think I’m going to take a rest out on the porch. I could use some fresh air.”
“I’ll get Jenni and we’ll come outside and join you.” Jenni was playing with her doll in the next room. “Come on, Jenni. We’re gonna go outside with Miss Jean.”
Jenni played while Miss Jean and Charlotte sat on the porch. For a good five or ten minutes, neither woman spoke a word. Cheryl knew that Miss Jean was angry with her. And Miss Jean was. Finally, the silence was broken. “Let me ask you one question.”
“Yes, Ma’am?”
“Do you l
ove Grayson with all your heart?”
“Yes, I do. I love Grayson and Jenni more than anything. I know what I did was wrong. My initial intentions did not come from a good place, but after getting to know Grayson and Jenni, things changed. It wouldn’t have mattered to me whether he was rich or poor. I still would have married him.”
“A man can’t be with a woman he can’t trust.”
“I know and I would never lie to him again. Aside from pretending to be Charlotte, I never have lied to him about anything else since we’ve been together. I would never deceive him again. I love him and just want to be his wife and a mother to Jenni.”
“Well I do believe in the sanctity of marriage, for better or for worse. This would definitely fall under worse. I do hope Grayson can find it in his heart to forgive you.”
“I do too. I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t.”
“Just pray and ask for forgiveness. That’s all you can do.”
“Yes, Miss Jean. I will. Every moment that passes.”
Cheryl sat there with Miss Jean for a few more minutes and then suddenly felt very ill. She ran inside and vomited several times. Then she returned to the porch.
“I was gonna come check on you. What’s wrong? Somethin’ not agreeing with you?”
“I don’t know. Lately I’ve been feeling kind of queasy and really tired. I’ve been having headaches and even my back hurts. I thought that was from churning butter, but I don’t know why I’ve been feeling so awful lately. I was gonna go to see the doctor if it got worse.”
“By gosh, are you in the family way?”
“Family way? I don’t know. I’ve never been before.”
“Well of course not, but haven’t you been around someone who has?”
“Well, no Ma’am. Not that I know of.”
“We need to get you to the doctor today. Come on. I’ll take you. No need to bother Grayson with this.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Miss Jean rode Cheryl into town with Jenni to see Doctor Turner. Cheryl was scared to think about being with child, especially with all this strife between her, Charlotte and Grayson. Miss Jean was silent on the ride in, only thinking to herself, shaking her head back and forth every few minutes and praying.
***
Jarrod met up with Grayson out near the creek where he was cleaning out the diversion ditch that sent water to the trough.
“How’s it going?”
“It’s flowing much better now that I got all that debris from the storm out.”
“Good.” Jarrod paused. He was somewhat hesitant to talk with Grayson about Charlotte, but he knew he had to.
“I think I’m pretty much finished here. Did you come out to help?”
“Well, yes. If you needed it. But I also wanted to talk to you.”
“About what? I don’t really want to talk to anyone right now about Cheryl. I got some thinking to do on my own about that. I’ve heard yours and Miss Jean’s words about it, now I got to figure it out for myself.”
“Naw, I’m not gonna say another word about Cheryl to you. I…I want to tell you something about Charlotte.”
“I really don’t need to hear anything about Charlotte either, at least not anything to do with me and her being together.”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Well then what is it? I supposed you talked to her at breakfast. I’m glad you did that for her. But I don’t need to know what she said.”
“No. Just listen for a second. I just wanted to know if it was alright if I met with her for dinner.”
“Dinner? Well that’s nice of you to have another meal with her. Sure. Why not? Why are you asking me?”
“Well I was checking to make sure. I know we always said we wouldn’t court a girl that either of us had been with before.”
“Court? I thought you were just having a meal with her to keep her company. Are you serious?”
“Well, no. I’m not sure. I don’t exactly want to court her. But she’s different than most of the women around here. I really liked spending time with her this morning.”
“Oh, that’s why you were so late. I would have never guessed, Mr. I’m-Never-Getting-Married.”
“No one said anything about getting married. I just want to spend some time with her while she’s here, that’s all.”
“Well I have enough on my mind to worry about besides you and Charlotte. So I reckon I won’t. Go ahead. Spend time with her. It is kind of weird for me. But if my brother is actually interested in a woman, even if it’s Charlotte, then I won’t stop you. You need someone to take care of you besides me and Miss Jean.”
“You and Miss Jean don’t take care of me. I’m fine just by myself.”
“Never mind. But don’t get your hopes up. She plans on leaving by the end of the week.”
“Yeah. I know. But if things turn out right, maybe I could change her mind.”
“And then what?” Grayson throws up his arms. “We’ll all live here on the ranch, happily every after?”
“A man can dream, can’t he?”
“Boy, you must be in love.” Grayson knocks on Jarrod’s head with his fist. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother Jarrod?”
“Quit it.” Jarrod pushes Grayson away and gets back on his horse. “You’ll see.”
“See what?”
Jarrod doesn’t reply. He quickly gets on his horse, smiles at Grayson and then gallops away.
Grayson wasn’t really sure how he felt about his brother and Charlotte being together. He wanted to give Charlotte the week to spend some time with her sister to patch things up, knowing she would be gone after that. But how would he feel to have her around longer or even potentially have her as a sister-in-law? He wasn’t even sure how he felt about Cheryl. He certainly had some praying to do as well as have some longer talks with his wife.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Where’s Jarrod? He’s always on time for supper?” Cheryl asked.
“He had some things to take care of. He said he probably would be a little late and not to wait for him.” Grayson replied without looking up from his dinner plate.
“What’s he doing?”
“Stuff.”
Cheryl could sense that Grayson wasn’t in the mood for questions or any discussion. But she knew she had to talk to him sooner or later about her visit to the doctor. She was scared to see what his reaction would be. He already was having doubts about their relationship and now this.
After they finished supper, Cheryl finally got up the courage to speak with him. “Grayson, I need to talk to you.”
“Well I reckon I’m gonna need to talk to you too. I can’t live like this, wondering if I can trust you or not. I love you and I don’t want to dishonor our vows, but I need to be sure this is right.”
“I know. All I can say is that I am a trustworthy person. Before all this between me and you, I never acted in such a way.”
“I just don’t know, Cheryl. I thought I knew who you were, but I really didn’t. Me and Charlotte wrote to each other for months and got to know each other that way. I only received one letter from you and really only knew you for less than a week before we got married.”
“But we’ve been together now for nearly a couple of months. Don’t you think you know me by now?”
“Well I thought so, until Charlotte came to town.”
“Yes, Charlotte. Do you still have any feelings for her?”
“No. Not really. Well maybe some, but I decided to block her out of my mind since this problem is between me and you now, not her.”
“Well the reason I wanted to talk to you is not about Charlotte or what I’ve done.”
“What else could it possibly be? What else could be more important right now?”
“Grayson,” Cheryl’s voice quivered. “Grayson, we’re going to have a baby.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yes. Miss Jean took me to Doctor Turner this afternoon and confirmed it.”
“A b
aby? Our baby?” Shocked, Grayson dropped his fork and leaned back in his chair.
“Yes.”
Grayson was silent and then realized this was a joyful moment. His wife was carrying his unborn child. This changed everything about how he felt towards Cheryl. She was his wife, for better or for worse, and this was for better.
Grayson got up, walked over to Cheryl, took her hand and pulled her up from her chair and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you, Cheryl.” Then he looked down and placed his hand on her lower abdomen. “And I will love our baby. He will have two loving parents and an older sister to look after him always.”
“He?”
“He or she. It doesn’t matter.”
“Do you forgive me?”
“Yes. I do. I don’t know how soon I’ll forget, but I will forgive. But your word must always be true with me as will mine with you.”
“Oh Grayson, I will never do such a thing to you again. I just want to be with you and Jenni and our baby. I just want to grow old with you and watch our children and grandchildren grow up. I just want to love you and our children and be a family together.”
“Then that is what it will be, God willing.”
Grayson and Cheryl hugged again and then called Miss Jean down from her room to tell her the news. She knew about Cheryl being with child, but was worried about Grayson and what his decision would be.
“Miss Jean?” Grayson called up the stairs. “Miss Jean?” The sound of a door being quickly shut and then opened again could be heard from upstairs.
“Yes?”
“Can you come down for a moment, please?”
“Yes. I’ll be right there.” Miss Jean slowly made her way down the stairs until she got to the last step.
“Miss Jean, me and Cheryl…”
Miss Jean cut Grayson’s words off and replied, “Congratulations. I heard the whole thing from upstairs. Thin walls, you know.”
“Why your hearing is better that I thought, especially behind a closed door and all.” Grayson smirked.
“You know, somehow my door was cracked open. I need you to check the latch.”
