by Angela Lain
“Ben! I must not be seen out here with you.”
“Why not? Because I might compromise you, and you would be forced to marry me, instead of Abe?”
“Yes… No! You know it’s not like that. Abe has said nothing, but…”
“That is what Pa wants.”
“I think so. And if I was to be found here with you it would cause trouble, for you!”
“Could be, but I’m not sure that I care.”
“I care! I’ve had enough of not feeling safe, of not knowing where I stand. At least if this marriage happens I will be secure, for life.”
“And happy?”
She raised her chin to stare at him defiantly, the lights from the hall caught her eyes, and he could see the shine had returned.
“Maybe. What is it to you? Are you really interested in me? Or is this just some defiant gesture towards your father, because you feel he has cast you aside since you left?”
“No, I don’t… I mean… this has nothing to do with my father.”
“It all has everything to do with your father!”
“Charis… I like you, and I think, maybe… I would like to marry you.”
“Maybe!” Charis returned derisively. “Believe me, I’m not interested in marrying a man who won’t fight for me. I might as well be safe with Abe.”
“If he steps up.”
“Well, yes.”
“And if David steps up instead?”
She gave a small shiver. “Unlikely.”
“So you will accept Abe, and have a loveless, childless marriage?” She looked up at him again, eyes wide. “Oh, yes, I know my brother, and I know his intentions. I just hope he will tell you before you make the commitment.”
She hesitated for a few seconds. “You would save me from this?”
“I could try, if you are sure it’s what you want. It could result in us both being thrown out, and you would lose all contact with your old home.”
She hesitated again, and a gruff voice floated across the yard.
“Miss Lovell? What are you doing out here? It is most unseemly. Get back inside this minute.”
Charis stepped away from him and towards the voice.
“Oh, Mr. Ferguson, I was just on my way in. The deputy was reassuring me, I thought I heard something in the bushes, and I was concerned.”
Ben followed her with his eyes, he felt bereft the second she moved away from him. Maybe he couldn’t admit it in these circumstances, but he wanted her, as his wife, his lover and the mother of his children.
What was he going to do about this?
He followed her, his father stood at the doorway and ushered her inside, before turning to speak to him.
“You stay away from her. She will marry Abe, and I want no interference from you.”
From the look Charis threw back over her shoulder, he knew she had heard the words, and they didn’t fill her with joy.
CHAPTER EIGHT
C haris was happy to attend church that Sunday, the first day of December. The whole family, including Ruth, Caleb and Ben were there. She was not so happy that she was on Abe’s arm, and people were treating her as his intended. Thus far he had not spoken with her about any of this; maybe it mattered not what he said, if he was so subservient to his father, he would just do as he was ordered. That did not sit well with Charis. It was bad enough that she had no choice, if he too was married under sufferance, what chance was there to ever be happy?
She was aware that David was now eyeing her with something which resembled interest. It made her skin crawl. Abe, she thought she could stomach, but David… no. If Zac Ferguson changed his mind and married her off to David, she would run away.
She was scrupulously polite to Abe, and ignored David as well as she could, but he was the sort of man who got ‘in your face’, and it was not easy. She had been here barely a week, and already she was seeing marriage to Abe as the only way out of this situation. It only remained for Abe to say the words, and she would most likely give in, the tension was dragging her down.
It wasn’t just the personal situation, it was the whole running of the ranch house which was overwhelming. Since Maybelle had discovered Charis was a good cook and housekeeper, the girl had backed away and left her to it.
Maybelle helped at breakfast, and then disappeared for most of the day. Charis knew she sometimes went in to town, and also rode out onto the range with the cow hands. No-one seemed one bit surprised or concerned. As long as the work in the house was done, Maybelle could do as she pleased. Charis had no idea if the menfolk realized Maybelle had backed out of the running of the household. She had said she wanted to be able to do everything well, but she made little effort to learn.
All Charis had wanted when she had ridden back to the homestead, was a life with some sort of normality, like her early childhood had been. She’d had enough of the dangers of the city, people who would take advantage, fleece you for every dollar you had. Her father had fallen victim to that too many times, and she had suffered a life of drudgery as a result. How she had emerged with her virtue she knew not, but the life she craved was one which offered a degree of safety and stability. She wasn’t certain that this life she’d been thrown into was precisely what she had wanted, but it had to be better than living on the edge, as she had in the city.
By the middle of her second week, early in December, Charis was seeking relief from the endless, lonely work. She wandered out of the kitchen to look around the stables and barn. She was alone except for the older dog, Shay. He shadowed her every move. At first she wondered if he had been set to guard her, but it seemed a fanciful idea, anyhow, his company was pleasant. Since she’d been here she been virtually trapped in the house, her only outings had been the social, church, and a trip to the mercantile. True, it was cold, and snow threatened, but now she was out of the city she wanted to ride, to gallop her pony across the wide acres, to explore the foothills close to the ranch.
There was just one pony in the barn, and a mare who seemed heavy with foal. Most of the ranch herd was way across the pastures, her own pony was obviously with them. No doubt the men had considered they could use the animal, since it was eating their hay and corn.
This pony, a sorrel with a white blaze, whickered softly to her and came to nuzzle her ear. Charis recognized him as the buggy pony; too small to be useful as a riding pony for the men, he seemed to have just the one job. He seemed friendly. Charis wondered if she could ride him? If she could she might be able to take a ride out to feel the wind in her hair, to feel a little freedom.
There was no-one to see, so Charis climbed over the fence and slipped onto the pony’s back. He moved to the door, as if expecting to go out.
“Wait,” she ordered him. “I need a saddle and bridle.”
She slid from his back and went in search, but she was sadly disappointed, the only saddles were very large and heavy, there was nothing to fit. All she could find was a rope headstall.
Bareback? Improper, but would know? If Blaze, as she christened him, misbehaved she would get off, until then she would ride him bareback with this headstall.
She opened the stall door and slipped the headstall over his ears, adjusting it to fit, and then she led him to the fence and scrambled aboard once more. It was totally unladylike, but she was alone, and desperate. This risk was worth taking if it gave her some measure of satisfaction. She dug her knees into his sides and urged him forward, the pony obliged, steering easily with the rope headstall.
She rode out of the yard and headed along the trail in the cold winter sunshine, aiming for a small stand of trees a short way from the buildings. Rome was not built in a day, take it slowly, go a small distance and establish what was possible. Ten minutes later she reached the trees, flushed with success, she turned Blaze onto the open grassland and urged him into a trot. That was a bit bouncy, so she pushed faster, and soon she was cantering happily across the grass. It felt like flying.
Half an hour later she returned to the stall, well pleased
with her adventure. Pony and dog seemed happy with the outing, and no-one need ever know what she’d been doing. She went back into the kitchen feeling happier than she had for several days.
***
It was two weeks until Christmas and they had dropped into a routine. Nothing more had been said about weddings, or about who was in charge of this household. Charis was feeling very alone, her only confidants were Blaze and Shay, and they couldn’t offer much in the way of helpful advice. The one she wanted to talk with was Ben. She had felt him a kindred spirit. He had escaped from the stifling confines of the ranch, he could see things more clearly.
Unfortunately Ben was only here intermittently, and although she did talk with him, she never got the chance to speak with him alone. She was fairly sure he wanted to speak with her, she felt him watching her every time he was here, but his father kept a very tight rein on all his sons, even Ben. She had no freedom while Zac Ferguson was in the house.
There seemed nothing she could do about any of this, her father had sold her, intentionally as a bride, but unintentionally as a slave!
She was seriously beginning to consider escape, packing what little she had and running away. All that held her back was the knowledge that she would potentially have eight men on her trail! Running was most likely doomed to failure.
The men got up to leave the breakfast table, Maybelle vanished into the bedroom to put on her britches. The only housework she now helped with was preparing the breakfast. No-one seemed at all surprised when she dressed in her britches and joined the men.
The excuse seemed to be that David had business in town. That seemed to happen frequently, how they had managed before she was here to take over from Maybelle, she couldn’t imagine. Not that Charis minded David being absent, the further she could keep from him, the better.
She did wonder what he was about. Only yesterday she had overheard David and Joe talking in the barn. David had been trying hard to get his younger brother to go to town with him. He had cajoled and promised a good pay day if Joe helped him. Joe had declined. Charis had never heard exactly what David wanted him to do, but she had little doubt it was something not quite proper.
They had all disappeared to the barn, including Maybelle, when the door opened once again. It was Adam.
“Oh, did you forget something?”
“No, I just needed to… have a word with you.”
Charis turned to face him.
“Miss Lovell, nothing more has been said about your marriage to one of the family. I need you realize that it will not be me,” he stated woodenly.
“Yes,” Charis murmured. “I had realized. Ben told me on that first day. You have a girl, but you have not yet named a date, or told your father. I think you need to do so, else he will believe you have been… keeping things from him.”
Adam gave a small shrug. “I have been. He dislikes the idea of his sons leaving home.”
“Maybe so, but I think you have the backbone to stand up to him. He will respect you more if you do that. Maybe he will be angry, but if you have a proper aim in life, and maybe someplace to live lined up, ultimately he will accept your decision.”
Adam gazed at her for a few seconds. “Wise words. If you marry Abe, he will have a good wife.”
“And if I choose not to marry Abe?”
“Don’t choose David.”
He turned and left.
Her opinion of David seemed mirrored by that of his brother.
***
Abe moved to speak with her as she began the washing up after supper that night.
“Miss Lovell, could I have a few moments of your time, alone?”
Charis glanced up at him, knowing she did not want this conversation, but powerless to avoid it.
“Certainly, where and when?”
“Outside on the verandah, when you have finished here. We will take a short walk. Put your coat on.”
Twenty minutes later Charis stepped out of the door, her coat pulled around her against the cold wind. It felt like snow, she remembered that feeling so well from her childhood. Snow out here on the edge of the grasslands was very different from snow in the city.
Abe took her arm and steered her down the steps, leading her towards the barn.
“Miss Lovell, you must know what I need to say to you.”
“I suspect; I do not know. I had been told you did not wish to marry, has your father convinced you otherwise?”
Abe gave a heavy sigh. “I will marry you, but you have to understand, there will be no children.”
“But, surely that is the point? That is what you father wants, why he agreed to this. He wants the line to continue.”
“I know, but I decided, long ago, I will not have children.”
“Why?”
“I saw what it did to my mother. When I was young she was so… lovely. But Father kept on at her, and there were more and more children. It wasn’t just us eight, there were four others who died at birth. He used her like a brood mare, he thought it showed his virility. He wore her out, and she died before her time.” Charis was shocked at his scathing tone. “I will marry you to save you from what you dread.”
Charis stared at him, could he mean…?
“David keeps talking about having you as ‘his little wife’. I know you dislike him. I don’t blame you, I would pity any woman married to him,” He paused for a moment. “I think he has no soul.” He looked away into the distance. “And Adam already has a girl, he will not want to marry you. If you have to make the choice, I will stand up with you, but it will be in name only. I will not touch you.”
He turned and walked back to the house.
Charis wasn’t sure what to think, to escape David was a relief, but under such circumstances did she want to marry Abe? What sort of a life would it be? At a guess, little different to how she was living at this time, and that was far from ideal. She retired to her bed, despairing of her position.
CHAPTER NINE
B en was riding towards the ranch, the Lovell place stood maybe half a mile away on his right, over the past few years he’d ignored the house, but now he couldn’t stop his eyes from straying towards it. Then he saw it, a pony, at least he thought it was a pony, possibly it might be a deer, or even a steer; whatever, he was going to check it out.
He turned Jack towards the homestead and set him off at a steady lope. He was an officer of the law, he knew better than to gallop headfirst into an unknown situation.
As he closed the distance he could see it was a pony, a sorrel pony, a familiar sorrel pony with a white blaze. If he was not mistaken, it was the buggy pony from the ranch.
As he neared the house he could see a figure on the porch. It didn’t take much to see the red hair beneath her hat.
Charis.
What on earth was she doing here? Reminiscing? Cursing her luck at losing the property, more likely.
She looked up as he approached, but she didn’t get up, she dropped her chin back to her knees.
He pulled up next to the porch and looked down at her. The old hat she was wearing had been hanging on the peg in the house for months, it was pulled well down, and all he could see was her red braid poking from beneath. As he watched, Shay the dog, his father’s dog to be precise, trotted round the building and scrambled up the steps to sit at her side.
“Charis, what are you doing?”
“Nothing. Thinking. Escaping.”
“Escaping?”
“Don’t believe I have not thought of it!” She raised her head to look at him. “It’s tempting to pack my bags and ride away. If I went after breakfast it would likely be supper time before anyone knew I had gone. If I had a sensible means to escape, I might do it, but I can hardly ride away on Blaze.”
“Blaze?” He looked around at the pony tied at the far end of the porch. “Surely that is the buggy pony?”
“It is. And of course, he belongs to your father.”
“So why…?”
“Because he’s all th
ere is! My pony, the one I bought in Jessop Creek and rode home on, seems to have vanished into the Ferguson herd. If I want to leave the property, it is Blaze, or my own two feet.”
Ben stared in disbelief.
“They took your pony?”
“Yes, but I found Blaze, now at least I have company, him and Shay.”
“Company? Where is Maybelle? Surely…”
“Maybelle is out riding the cattle. David mysteriously vanishes every now and then. He did that the morning that you were last here. No-one says much, although your father complains mightily, that is why Maybelle went out to ride the cattle these last two days. She would rather ride out than stay home.”
“David vanishes? Where does he go?” Ben had heard nothing of this from his family, more proof of how much of an outsider he had become.
“How should I know?” She looked at him from under her hat brim. “I heard him trying to persuade Joe to go with him.”
He watched her, aware that everything she had said worried him. Was she truly going to run away? And what the blazes was David up to?
He took a deep breath. One problem at a time, that was how to deal with things.
“You hate it here, don’t you?”
“No, I actually like it here. I wanted to come home, but you know this is not what I wanted! I wanted independence, but I am in a crowded house, and… I am lonely. I have no friends, the only ones who really like me are Shay and Blaze. I don’t show up well against Maybelle, not with my ‘ghastly red hair’.”
“That’s not true…” Ben muttered.
“But it is. Tell me, am I anything like a woman any one of you would marry, given the choice?”
“Of course you are! Abe is going to marry you, isn’t he?” And Ben didn’t want him to, that was the absolute truth. Given the chance, he wanted her for himself, that was what he was here to do, defy his father and steal her away, but how could he do that if she had settled for a future with Abe?
“Ben…” she paused and sighed. “Yes, Abe has offered for me, he spoke with me last night, but surely you must know? You must realize?”
