Charlie left the room, albeit reluctantly. She went to stand just outside the door, and then went on to the kitchen. Maria was gathering up her
things, preparing to leave for her own home for the evening.
Teresa, meanwhile, was setting cups onto a tray. Both women looked up as Charlie came into the kitchen.
"How is it going?" Teresa asked.
"They're talking," Charlie said.
Maria said goodnight, and both girls answered her. When Maria had gone, proclaiming that she would see them in the morning, Charlie
sidled up closer to Teresa, and said softly, "They threw me out!"
"What?" Teresa asked, looking surprised.
"I think they were getting ready to give it to Katherine, but good! And they told me to leave the room!"
"Hmm," Teresa said, looking thoughtful. She lifted the coffee pot from the stove, using a hot pad, and set it on the tray with
the cups. "What's it all about?"
"She said something about me boarding at the school in Bakersfield, and Scott started telling her off!" Charlie relayed with
excitement.
"Good for Scott," Teresa said. She lifted the tray, and said, "Hold the door for me, will you?"
Charlie pushed open the door leading out of the kitchen. "Are you taking that to them?" she asked Teresa.
"Of course I am. I don't plan to drink all this coffee by myself."
"You'll be able to listen, then," Charlie said, in glee. "And then you can tell me what they say!"
"Charlie," Teresa said, giving the little girl a look that was meant to discourage her.
At the door of the library, still half-ajar, as Teresa prepared to enter the room, Charlie whispered, "Don't let them know
I'm out here. Please?"
Teresa shook her head in dismissal, and pushed the door open with her hip.
In the hall, Charlie stood against the wall, trying mightily to overhear the conversation taking place. It seemed as though it stopped,
and then, just a couple of moments later, Teresa reappeared.
"Why didn't you stay in there?" Charlie whispered.
Teresa pressed her finger to her lips, and stepped away, before saying quietly, "Murdoch told me to set the tray down. I don't think
he wanted me in there, either."
"Aww," Charlie whispered, in disappointment.
Teresa pressed her finger to her lips again, and then stepped back over to the wall next to the library door. Charlie grinned, and stationed herself
next to Teresa. Even with the door half ajar, though, it was difficult to hear much. At one point, Katherine's voice was raised enough
for them to hear the words, "No thought to myself!"
Then, without any pre warning, the door was pulled open, and Johnny came out. When he saw them standing there, pressed against the
wall, he lifted an eyebrow, and then pulled the door shut.
"Hear enough?" he asked them in a low tone, trying to appear disapproving.
"Hardly anything," Teresa said.
"And now that you shut the door, we won't be able to hear at all," Charlie complained, in a whisper.
"You don't need to be hearin' it, anyway, pequeno," Johnny said, reaching down to tap Charlie's nose with the tip of his finger. He
went off toward the kitchen, and, after exchanging a look between them, the girls followed him.
Johnny busied himself pouring a glass of buttermilk.
"Maria left a big piece of chocolate cake for you," Teresa told him.
"Sweetest lady livin'," Johnny said.
"I'll get it for you," Teresa said, amused.
As she was getting the cake, Johnny sat at the kitchen table, the glass of cold buttermilk in front of him. Charlie came to stand
beside him, right at his shoulder.
"What's happening?" she asked him.
Johnny, finishing a long swallow of milk, wiped his hand across his mouth. "It's gonna be okay, pequeno," he said.
"Well, what does that mean?" Charlie demanded.
"It means it's gonna be okay," Johnny repeated. "You'll find out more once they're all done talkin'."
"Do I have to go to that boarding school?" Charlie persisted, her face scrunched up with worry.
"I don't think that you do."
"Well, what else? Did Mr. Beets and Scott tell Katherine off?" Charlie asked.
"You don't have to worry. They're all lookin' out for ya," he said, as Teresa set the plate with a piece of cake in front of Johnny.
"I don't see why I had to leave," Charlie grumbled. "Just when it was getting good."
Johnny reached out and pulled Charlie over to sit down on his knee. "Is there any more cake?" he asked Teresa. "I feel low, eatin' it
in front of you two."
"There might be some more," Teresa said, and after a couple of moments, she set another plate on the table, with a piece of cake
half the size of Johnny's.
"Here," Teresa said, handing Charlie a fork.
The three of them sat there, eating cake, mostly quiet. When the kitchen door was pushed open, Murdoch face appeared.
"Here you are," he said. "Your aunt is leaving to go back to the hotel. Come and tell her goodbye."
He went back out, the door swinging closed. Charlie took another bite of cake, licking the frosting from her fork. and not budging from Johnny's
knee.
"Better go," Johnny prodded her.
"I've waited on her plenty of times before," Charlie said. "Let her wait on me."
Johnny reached and took the fork from Charlie's hand. "Scoot," he told her.
Charlie sighed dramatically, and got up, going to push the door open, and walking towards the front door, where she
could hear all their voices. Murdoch was going out the door, saying that he would pull the buggy up to the house.
Someone who didn't know Katherine very well, someone who hadn't spent years observing her mannerisms, well, that person might
not have noticed anything different or off-kilter about Katherine. But Charlie noticed. There were still bright spots of color on Katherine's cheeks.
A sign, Charlie knew, of her temper. Her demeanor was decidedly frosty, towards Mr. Beets and Scott. At least it seemed so to Charlie.
Once Charlie had come into sight, Katherine turned and said quite plainly, "I'm going back into town now, Charlotte. Tomorrow I'll be
returning to Stockton."
She stood, looking at Charlie, seemingly waiting for something. A comment.
Charlie looked towards the two men, and then, unsure of what to say, she said simply, "Good night."
That was not the right answer. At least, according to her aunt. Katherine's face became even more heightened with temper.
"It's been agreed upon and decided that you and I will have luncheon together tomorrow, before my stage departs," Katherine said then.
"Oh," Charlie said, again looking at Scott. She didn't really want to have lunch with Katherine. Not at all. But, since it appeared that she was
not going to have to return to Stockton immediately with Katherine, she supposed she should act as though it was alright with her.
"Alright," she said.
"Someone will bring you into town," Katherine went on, and Charlie nodded.
"Good night," Katherine said then, and swept thru the door, to go with Murdoch.
When she'd gone out, Scott waited a moment, and then closed the door behind her.
Charlie looked at Scott and Mr. Beets, thinking that surely now they would tell her what had transpired in the library earlier.
She was to be disappointed.
"Would you like a nightcap?" Scott was asking Mr. Beets.
"Sounds good," the other man answered. He looked down at Charlie with a smile. "Will we be riding again together tomorrow?"
"Yes, sir, if you want to," Charlie said.
"I'd enjoy it, very much." He smiled again, and when it looked as though he and Scott were prepared to walk back to the library, Charlie couldn't stay
quiet.
"Excuse me," she said, and they both stopped, turning to look at her. "Can I know what happened? What's going to happen? With
Katherine and I, I mean?"
"We have some things, some issues, that we all still need to iron out between us," Mr. Beets answered. "So the details aren't set,
as yet. But, you will not be going to boarding school. Not at this time. And, you don't have to worry about not being able to come to
Lancer to visit. The visits will continue."
"I want to live here, though!" Charlie burst out, without thinking.
Mr. Beets looked to Scott, and then said, "Scott? I'll leave this part to you." He smiled at Charlie again. A smile that was meant
to be encouraging. But Charlie felt as though there were a hundred butterflies in her stomach.
Scott nodded, and as the banker walked on towards the library, Scott turned his attention to Charlie, leaning down
so he was on eye level with her.
"This is good news," he began, sounding calm. "You don't have to go far from home, to a boarding school. And we don't have to
worry about Katherine saying that you can't visit here any more. We made a lot of progress tonight."
Charlie looked unconvinced, her forehead scrunched in worry and puzzlement.
"Do I get to stay here, though?" Charlie asked.
"For the time being, you do. The rest of the summer, at least."
"And then what?" Charlie asked.
"And then, well, we'll see," Scott said.
"What does that mean?" Charlie demanded, sounding upset.
"It means, that we'll see," Scott repeated. "Murdoch and I are still working on things. We can't expect to get
everything that we want accomplished in one night, can we?"
Charlie subsided. "I suppose not," she admitted, glumly.
"I tell you what," Scott said. "You go on upstairs, and get into your nightgown, and I'll make sure Mr. Beets doesn't
need anything else for the evening. Then I'll find our book, and come up so we can do our reading. Alright?"
Charlie nodded in response, and Scott straightened up.
"How about some cocoa?" he asked. "You interested in that?"
"Yes," Charlie said, brightening somewhat.
"Alright. Go on. I'll be up in a few minutes."
So Charlie went upstairs, trying to puzzle things out in her mind the whole time that she was preparing for bed. And Scott
said his goodnights to their houseguest, and then went to the kitchen. Preparing to make hot cocoa, he also fielded
questions from his brother and Teresa.
"Has the dragon lady gone?" was Johnny's first question.
"She has," Scott said.
"What happened in there?" Teresa asked. "Johnny acts as though it's privileged information or something. He won't tell me
anything."
"It's not my place to tell anything," Johnny protested, and Teresa waved a hand at him.
"No boarding school," Scott told Teresa. "And she can stay the remainder of the summer."
"Well, that's good," Teresa said, watching Scott's face as he went about the task of preparing the two cups of cocoa.
Thinking that he seemed preoccupied, as though his mind was far away, she asked softly, "What is it, Scott?", reaching out to touch his sleeve.
"Nothing," Scott replied, and then gave Teresa a half-smile. "Everything. It's not anything that I can put my finger on. Just
my worries tugging at my mind, I guess."
"The kid really regrets havin' to leave the room, just as it was gettin' exciting," Johnny said, with a grin.
"I'll bet," Scott agreed.
"Mr. Beets helped, though?" Teresa asked Scott. "He stood up to Katherine?"
"He did," Scott said, with a nod.
Teresa gave a yawn. "I'm tired. I'm going up to bed." She snapped her fingers in remembrance. "I forgot, there's cups and things
in the library that need cleaned up."
"I'll get 'em," Johnny told her. "You go on to bed."
"Thanks," Teresa said, and leaned down to kiss his cheek. "Night, Scott," she said, patting his shoulder as she passed by.
Both men told her goodnight, and then, left alone in the kitchen together, Johnny finished his cake, and said, "I'd best
leave the whiskey decanter out, you suppose? Murdoch's likely to need a drink after drivin' the dragon lady back to town."
"That's the truth, I imagine," Scott agreed.
L
Scott carried the two steaming cups and the book up the stairs, and found Charlie's bedroom door ajar. She was sitting, cross-legged on
her bed, in her nightgown, with her hair loose around her shoulders.
"Here you go," he said, coming over to the bed, and handing her one of the cups.
"Thank you."
"I hope it's sweet enough," Scott said.
Charlie took a sip, and nodded. "It's good."
Scott sat down on the bed as well, taking a few drinks out of his own cup, and then setting it on the night table.
He opened 'Alice in Wonderland', and said, "Ready to read?"
Charlie nodded, and scooted over so that she was leaning against his arm, as he read. After finishing half of a chapter, Scott
marked the page, and said, "Alright if we stop for tonight? It's been a long day. I'm tired."
"It's alright," Charlie said, in agreement.
Scott closed the book, and then reached for his cup from the table.
Charlie kept her cheek against his arm, as they sat in quiet, each finishing their cocoa.
"Are you taking me into town tomorrow?" Charlie asked presently. "When I go to have lunch with Katherine?"
"I don't know for certain," Scott said. "It will depend on what work is needing done, I guess. If it's not me, then Murdoch might
take you. Or Teresa."
"Was it her idea to have lunch with me? Or did Mr. Beets force her to?" Charlie asked.
"She wasn't forced, Charlie. Truthfully, she seemed to like the idea."
Charlie gave a sort of a 'hmph' sound, signifying her puzzlement at that.
"I need to apologize to you about something," Scott said then, and Charlie lifted her face from where her cheek had been
resting against his arm.
"To me?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes. To you. I told you to come back to the library after supper, and right after that, it started to get argumentative. So, then
it was best for you to leave the room, so you didn't have to hear all the adults arguing. But I shouldn't have made you come back
in there. I should have known better."
"It's alright," Charlie said.
"Well, I'm still sorry for it," Scott said, laying a hand on her knee, and patting it.
Just as Charlie was giving him a dimpled smile, thinking how unusual he was for a grownup, Scott said slowly, "Now,
let's talk about earlier today. When you didn't answer Maria and Teresa, and had everyone searching for you."
Charlie's smile faded.
"We didn't know, any of us, whether you were alright, or how far away you were, or anything like that." Scott said. "I
understand about you being reluctant to see Katherine, but while you were avoiding her, you caused us all a lot of worry."
"I'm sorry," Charlie said.
Scott sensed that she was sincere, and he nodded. "I think you are. There's so many things that can happen on a ranch
like this. You could get cut by wire, or tossed from a horse. You could go out walking, and lose your direction. Dehydration
can happen fairly quickly, if you don't have water with you. And then there's the snakes to consider. All in all, staying hidden
like you did is really being thoughtless of everybody here."
"I won't do it again," Charlie said, in earnest. "I promise, Scott!"
"Alright." He gave her knee another pat. "Time for sleep. Hop under there." He held back the quilt, and Charlie
slipped underneath of it. Still sitting up, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Scott hugged her and then covered her with the quilt as she laid down. He reached over to turn down the lamp on the
bedside table. "Sleep well," he said.
"You, too," Charlie said, already sounding sleepy.
Scott took the two empty cups, and the copy of 'Alice in Wonderland', and went out.
L
Charlie drifted off to sleep, wondering what in the world she and Katherine would find to talk about the next day at lunch.
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