Chapter 30
Such Stuff as Dreams
The sun was high in the clear Wyoming sky, and the temperature had risen considerably during the hour they had spent inside the courthouse. When they stepped outside, despite the attention her purple dress attracted, Charlotte was relieved she’d opted for needle and thread instead of her cloak.
An excited voice shouted, “Charlotte! Sheriff Walker!”
They turned to see Janelle, her pregnant belly noticeably larger in only a matter of days, waving excitedly as she crossed the street.
“Slow down,” her harried-looking mother-in-law exclaimed. “Or did you forget you’re expecting?”
“Given my immense size, how could I possibly forget?” the expectant mother complained.
“Humor the grandmother of your child, dear. Please.”
When she stepped up on the boardwalk nearby, Janelle fanned herself but relented. “All right, but I have to wonder why you’re having trouble keeping up. I only have two speeds—waddle and slower waddle.”
“Maybe because I’m carrying all our purchases?” Letty returned, coming up alongside her loaded down with bags and parcels.
“I’m sorry,” Janelle exclaimed, taking two of the bags from her. “After I picked up the telegram, I got so excited, I just ran off and left you.”
Aaron, who had exited behind them, immediately took them from her. “I thought you were resting today,” he asked while also relieving his mother of her bags and packages.
“I had an appointment with the midwife.”
“And how did that go?”
Janelle rubbed his arm reassuringly. “She said everything is progressing as expected.”
“What about your swollen feet?”
“She advised her to rest more,” Letty answered for her.
“Then that’s what you’re going to do. And get out of this heat, which can’t be good for either you or the baby.” Aaron glanced up and down the street. “Where’s the buggy?”
“In front of Mrs. Mayhew’s dress shop,” Letty helpfully supplied.
“I’ll go fetch it. Don’t move from this spot until I return,” he ordered Janelle, softening his words by placing an affectionate kiss on top of her head. “No bonnet either, I see.”
“They burn me up worse than the sun. You know how much I hate them.”
“I do. Your constantly pink nose reminds me,” he said, already on the move, his long strides taking him quickly down the block.
Janelle sighed, a hand resting on her distended belly. “I’ll be glad when this baby comes and I’m not so restricted. The boredom is getting to me.”
“We can revisit this conversation when you’re elbow-deep in diapers and facing the constant demands of a newborn,” Leticia said gently.
“When is the baby due?” Charlotte asked.
“In two months, if I make it that long.” Janelle looked down at her burgeoning belly. “When you’re vertically challenged, you run out of room quickly, I discovered.”
“Vertically challenged,” Letty repeated with a laugh. “Or short, right? You say the most amusing things.”
“Charlotte!” Janelle suddenly exclaimed, holding up what she’d been waving earlier. “Before Aaron gets back and whisks me away to resting and knitting booties ad nauseam, this telegram came for me.”
“Um, how nice for you?” she replied, not understanding why that mattered to her.
“I’m sorry. I should have mentioned it came ‘care of Janelle Jackson.’”
Suddenly, it clicked. “A response, especially by telegram, this soon, is unexpected. What does it say?”
Janelle’s smile faltered, replaced by a look of unease. “Do I look like someone who would read private correspondence?”
“You do because you did,” Letty declared.
Janelle gasped at her mother-in-law’s betrayal. “I saw, it’s true, but he handed it to me as is,” she hurried to explain. “No envelope. Not even folded—”
“This is true,” Letty allowed. “And she didn’t tell me what it contained. But I’m dying to know what this is all about.”
“Ladies, if I may…” Seth slipped the telegram from Janelle’s fingers and gave it a cursory glance. “It’s from Mr. Paul Abernathy,” he announced. Looking at Charlotte, a dark brow arched, he asked, “Shall I read it?”
“Please,” she replied, already anxious about the news.
Mrs. Dunn. Stop.
Relieved to hear from you at last. Stop.
The will presented by Jael Eldridge in court was likely forged. Stop.
You have an excellent case if you contest it. Stop.
I will happily represent you. Stop.
Awaiting further direction. Stop.
“Who is Mrs. Dunn?” Leticia asked.
“That would be me,” Charlotte explained. “Dunn is my late husband’s name.”
“And Jael Eldridge is…” Seth inquired.
“My stepmother. I was very young when my mother passed. My father remarried, hoping a new wife could help fill the void for both of us—as if that were possible. Jael despised me from the moment she laid eyes on me and was most cruel when Papa wasn’t around. Everything got worse when he passed.”
“You poor thing,” Letty breathed.
“I always wondered how my father could have left her everything except the horses, and in charge of my trust.”
“Why exclude the horses?” Janelle asked.
“After Mama died, they were the only thing that brought Papa joy, which made Jael hate them more than me. She never saw the value, only that they were loud, smelly, and a drain on resources. She never tried to hide how much she despised the stables. Everyone for miles around who knew my father and our stables would have found it suspicious if he left the horses to her over me.”
“So, you were an heiress, robbed of your rightful inheritance by your greedy, envious, evil stepmother,” Janelle breathed. “Just like Cinderella.”
“I was hardly an heiress, but Jael was definitely all of those things.”
“I know that story as ‘The Little Glass Slipper,’” Letty put in. “By a French author I can’t recall.” She eyed the sheriff. “That makes you Prince Charming, I assume?”
From his puzzled expression, Seth had no idea what they were talking about.
“He certainly is,” Charlotte agreed, also recalling the story, which her mama and papa had read to her often as a child. “And all the Jackson women who have befriended me and helped me at every turn are my fairy godmothers.”
***
Emotional from the events of the morning, Charlotte hardly said a word on the ride back to Seth’s house. After he escorted her inside, he left her alone with her thoughts. That was nearly an hour ago, and she hadn’t moved from his cozy reading chair in the front parlor.
She looked down at the papers in her hand, at a loss over what to do next.
One was a court order from Judge Simpson releasing Fenton’s funds solely to her.
It meant she could return to the Red Eye and try to rebuild the business.
The other was the telegram, essentially an invitation to another legal battle with no guarantees.
The reward, if she won—Eldridge House and the stables—was her childhood dream come true, and one she thought was forever out of reach.
Pursuing either path would cut Seth out of her life.
“You’re unusually quiet.”
She glanced up. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over his broad chest, watching her intently.
“I didn’t hear you come in. How long have you been there?”
“For a little while,” he remarked casually. “I can practically hear the whirring and clicking of the wheels in your head. What’s on your mind?”
“Everything, I’m afraid,” she admitted, a tremor in her voice betraying her distress.
“With good reason.”
He crossed the room and sat next to her, close enough their thighs touched. “What does your heart tell you?”
She couldn’t reveal what was foremost in her heart—her love for him. It wouldn’t be fair. So she shared what was a distant second.
“Eldridge House was my home, and the place I was happiest—when my parents were still alive. I always dreamed of it and the stables being my future.” The papers crinkled as her hand tightened into a fist. “Is it possible I could get it back?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
She shook her head, her voice almost a whisper. “I never considered myself a coward, but I’m hesitant to face Jael alone.”
“You won’t have to because I’ll be with you.”
She asked in stunned surprise, “You’d come to Virginia?”
“All that’s keeping me here is a job, and frankly, I’d rather be with the woman I love.”
Elated and heart-hurt all at once, she breathed, “I love you too. But we can’t. My past—”
“Will be in the past because this will be a fresh start with a new name.”
She hadn’t thought of that last part. “Yes, at home I’d be Rowie again.”
“Rowie Walker,” he clarified.
She blinked, startled. “What was that?”
His eyes twinkled as he grinned. “I’m asking you to marry me, darlin’. And not doing a very good job of it, evidently. As my wife, a new last name would come with that fresh start.”
As tears welled up, one hot tear escaped, tracing a path down her cheek. He gently wiped it away. “I never imagined my proposal would make you cry.”
“These are happy tears. I promise.”
Seth’s warm breath brushed her lips before his gentle kiss stirred a whirlwind of emotions inside her—love, happiness, longing, and optimism. The tender touch, a simple gesture, spoke volumes of the deep connection they shared, a bond palpable from the start.
The familiar knot of apprehension tightened in her stomach. Things rarely went right for her, so doubts crept in. She pulled back, her eyes searching his, seeking reassurance and answers in their depths. “What if Mr. Abernathy is wrong?”
“Between what’s in the bank and what you’ll earn from the sale of the Red Eye, and the money I have stashed—”
“From bank robberies?” she asked, alarmed.
“From reward money,” he clarified.
“Right. Sorry.”
“Even if you don’t get Eldridge House back, we’ve got enough to buy a place of our own and a full stable.”
“That sounds like heaven.” She blinked away tears. “But…”
He groaned. “Is there always a but with you, Rowie?”