I do not own the copyrights to Bonanza
Authoress' note: This is an AU story NOT cannon only in the sense Captain Stoddard remarried before Elizabeth passed away. However; she is not actually in this story -only mentioned.
Motivation for Marriage
Scene four
Yet again, Charlotte found herself talking to Ben and Adam. However- this time- it was outside on the porch with Hoss and Joe riding off with a couple of new cowhands. They'd been the voices she'd heard the night before.
"I twisted my hands, I'm sure of it when Elizabeth's father began speaking again. Nonetheless, I made no effort to move other than that." Ben and Adam let her continue without interruption.
"I know your grandfather wants a captain for a new boat he bought. No one really wants to work for him." It was a fact which normally Stoddard would have kept under wraps but, considering what he'd just seen, the good captain spoke freer than he might have in the past. "If I approached him about the job I know he'd not turn me down."
"How can you be so sure?" Charlotte couldn't help but snort. I mean no insult Captain Stoddard but my grandfather is a selfish man, surely, a younger captain would be more inviting to him. One that was quickly 'climbing the ladder', one that would put him up a notch with any of the other merchants." She then sighed. "Maybe, if my father were still alive and had not taken that job on Lake Superior things would have been different. He'd have hired you without question."
"Your father perished on Lake Superior?" Adam was stunned. "I thought all your family business was off the shore of states like Massachusetts.
"No." Charlotte shook her head. "When I was just a little girl he sailed Superior more than my mother would have liked. And trust me…" the captain's widow shuddered. "When the natives say Gitche Gumee never gives up her dead, they are not exaggerating." Again the lady found herself shivering. "That lake is a monster when it rears its ugly head. I love oceans, lake and sailing. Nonetheless…" Her eyes went wide. "You couldn't pay me, or Stoddard, to sail those waters; not even before the captain took his last breath."
"I'll take your word on that."
"Anyhow…" Charlotte looked at Ben who had stayed silent and took up where she'd left off.
"Aye, he would at that." Captain Stoddard leaned forward, "But if you were my wife it would be a different story." He quickly explained his train of thought for there was no missing Charlotte's gasp. "It would be in name only for as long as you wished; I'd not touch you as man would his wife unless you said it was okay."
"Why? Why would you suggest such a thing? True, my grandfather would most likely hire you in that case, but marrying me isn't that going a bit far?"
"Like I said, I had another route in mind at first. One that would be just as fair to you as to me. However…" He pointed towards the window where the lighthouse's beam could be seen shining in the distance. "It makes me ill to my stomach to think of you going back to your grandfather's home. Marrying you would keep you out of his clutches. Though…" His eyes hardened. "I confess the idea of him missing at sea on the few trips he has taken no longer bothers me."
"I was half afraid of what Morgan would do. I even thought he might arrange for my grandfather's disappearance only his sound reputation told me it wasn't likely something he'd be guilty of."
"Surely, your grandfather had to have protested behind closed doors?" Ben sat straight up. "You two courted so openly in spite of any age difference, not to mention so fast it made our heads spin. We...most of us- that is the ones in my circle - had no idea your grandfather was so violent; therefore; it was a shock to our system when the marriage occurred." He shook his head. "Elizabeth was furious."
"I know. Didn't help the captain had agreed to let me call him Morgan."
"You're nothing but a gold-digger! You just want this house and all the money he has managed to save up. And he goes by the name of Abel, not Morgan!" Elizabeth screamed at Charlotte who now sported an engagement ring.
"That's enough, Elizabeth." Captain Stoddard spoke as he entered the room. "We're both old enough to know what we are doing. Not to mention you are acting as if…" His eyes narrowed. "You are some young child being robbed of her inheritance."
"Morgan had made it clear from the start Elizabeth would lose nothing. So, her actions did not make him happy. And…" Charlotte spoke softly, "I think, even if you didn't know the truth, it hurt him when you failed to back him up."
"I understand you are lonely." Ben spoke when he'd returned from his last trip at sea. "But she's closer to my age than yours. Surely, you can find a wife elsewhere."
"Might have been different if you two had been honest with us." Ben couldn't help but defend his actions.
"How?" Charlotte lifted her hands and shook her head. "With the way my…. Grandfather... was? And my other relations back east aren't much better. As long as he, and they, thought my heart belonged to the captain I was convinced none of my relations would fight it, but if Mr. Painter knew why your father-in-law was really courting me so quickly? No…" Charlotte shook her head. "He'd have fought it tooth and nail. As long as he thought I'd spent the night at one of my friend's home, which Jack did take me too, everyone was safe enough." Her body relaxed as she told Ben , and Adam, about the courtship Ben had partially witnessed but finished only after they were on horses and watching the cattle being branded the next day.
