Charlie was quiet on the way home. Johnny kept his eye on her, observing, and then once, asking, "You alright, pequeno?"
"Yes," Charlie said, with a small sigh.
"I know it probably don't seem like it, but Burl really is better off there at the jail, with Val, than he would be all on his own," Johnny said.
Charlie nodded in response, but was quiet.
Once at home, Charlie unsaddled Gurth, and rubbed him down, and put away her own tack. It was while she was
placing her saddle in the barn, while Johnny was doing the same, that Scott came to the door of the barn.
"You're home earlier than what I expected that you'd be," Scott said.
"Burl decided to nap," Johnny said, in explanation, pausing at the door beside Scott. He gave a brief nod towards
Charlie, who was still working on setting her saddle just right, and he and Scott exchanged a look that spoke without words.
Scott nodded in return, taking in Charlie's subdued demeanor, and understanding that it had something to do
with the visit to see Burl.
When Johnny had gone, Scott stood, surveying Charlie for a few moments in consideration, before walking over close to
where she stood, rubbing at her saddle with a cloth.
Scott took a seat on one of the tall stools that Jelly sat at when he was sharpening things on the whetstone.
Charlie kept rubbing at her saddle, though there was nothing that needed rubbing off or cleaning. Scott waited her
out, sitting, and saying nothing.
Finally, Charlie hung up the rag, and turned to look at him. He gave her a half-smile of quiet understanding,
and Charlie came over to stand to his side.
"Feeling all mixed-up inside, hmmm?" Scott asked her, and Charlie raised her eyes to his.
She nodded, and then came around to stand in front of him, leaning herself in and laying her head on his
chest.
Scott wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closer.
"He's not ever going to be any better, is he, Scott?" Charlie asked.
"I don't know, kiddo. I wish that I did," Scott said, with regret.
"He's getting worse, you know," she said, rubbing her cheek against his shirt for comfort.
"He might be. Or, he might not be. It's possible he's just not able to conceal things as well as he did before," Scott said.
Charlie considered that. "Oh."
Scott rubbed circles on her back until he could tell that she was feeling somewhat calmer.
"I need to get back to work," he said. "And Maria has your lunch waiting for you in the kitchen."
Charlie sighed, and lifted her head from his chest. "Okay."
As Scott stood up, Charlie asked, "Where are you going to be working at?"
"Off in the upper pastures."
"Doing fence work?" Charlie asked, then.
"Uh huh."
"Can I go with you?" Charlie asked him. At what she thought was the beginning of him shaking his head to refuse, Charlie
went on. "May I? Please, Scott? I'll go and get my sandwich and eat really quickly."
"You've just unsaddled your horse," he reminded her, smiling a bit.
"I could ride double with you," Charlie said.
"You think you could, hmm?" Scott asked, running his hand over her hair.
"Yes," Charlie said, earnestly.
"It's going to get real hot later," Scott began.
"I won't complain," Charlie promised.
"I know you won't," he said, and then added, "Well, go and eat your lunch, and grab your hat, and then
come back out."
Lancer
Charlie rode double with Scott, also accompanied by Murdoch, and two of the hands to the fences that needed checking, and packing. She fetched
and carried when she was asked, and kept her eyes on the portions of the fence that Scott told her to watch. By the time
the afternoon had worn down nearly to a close, they were preparing to head back.
Murdoch had said something that Charlie only heard the last bit of. Something about a supper in town, and how
Scott should take care not to be late for it.
Once again riding behind him, Charlie asked about what she'd overheard.
"Do you have a supper to go to, in town?"
"I do. You remember a while back, when I went with Val and the two ladies to supper? Well, it's that same young lady."
"Oh," Charlie said, not understanding why she felt suddenly adrift.
"I shouldn't be late. I'll be home in time to read with you, I expect," Scott was saying. "And, if I'm not, by your bedtime, then
Murdoch will read with you."
When Charlie was silent, Scott patted one of her hands that rested on his waist. "Alright?" he asked.
"Yes." A sudden, worrisome thought occurred to her. "Is Mr. Val going to supper, too? With his lady friend?"
"Yes. We're all going together."
"Who will be with Burl?" Charlie asked. "If Mr. Val is out?"
"I imagine he'll have the deputy there, at the office," Scott said.
Lancer
When Scott had gone later, to town for his evening out, the rest of the family ate their supper of roast beef, and
potato pancakes, and carrot coins. Charlie ate her fill, which was quite a lot, finishing off her meal with a glass of milk
and a piece of rhubarb pie.
Johnny was eating pie, too, and debating about going out that night, himself.
"Where to?" Teresa asked, sounding as though she were scolding him.
"None of your business, hermana," Johnny answered.
Johnny ended up staying at home, though, and he and Teresa played a game of checkers, while Charlie sat with
Murdoch, as they sketched together.
When Charlie went upstairs to bed, she'd stayed up later, so she told Murdoch that he didn't need to read with her.
That she would wait to continue reading the latest book with Scott.
Charlie curled up under her quilts, feeling cozy. She hoped that Scott was having a good time.
Lancer
It was some time later, not long, after Charlie had fallen asleep, that she was awakened by a noise. She lay there, in the
darkened room, listening. She wasn't sure just what it was that she had heard. For a long few moments she only heard quiet.
Then, she heard it again. A sound of someone singing, it seemed, though she could not make out the exact words. It sounded as though
it was right below her window, too. The singing would start, then stop, then start up again.
Charlie scrambled out of bed, and went to kneel on the window seat, looking out of the window. It was hard to see anything, though
by the moonlight she caught the sight of a slight figure, before it was gone, off into the fields beyond the barn.
Charlie recognized that voice. That lyrical voice.
She went to the door of her bedroom, and was intent on making it down the stairs in a flash. A soft voice gave her
pause.
"Charlie," Teresa said, in a loud whisper, and Charlie stopped to look back, at Teresa standing in the doorway of her
bedroom, pulling on a robe over her nightgown.
"I think it's Burl!" Charlie said, in a equally loud whisper. "Did you hear?"
"Yes. I heard," Teresa said. "Go and wake Johnny."
"It's only Burl-" Charlie began to protest, though still in a raised whisper.
"You don't know that for certain. Go and wake Johnny," Teresa insisted.
Charlie sighed impatiently, and went to Johnny's bedroom door. Instead of knocking, which was sure to rouse Murdoch,
and would take longer, anyway, Charlie opened the door a smidge. She peered into the room, and then left the door
ajar so that the hallway light would shine in.
She crossed to the bed, and touched Johnny's shoulder. Thinking she might have to do it again, harder, she stretched her
hand out, but it was not necessary. At the first touch of her fingers to his shoulder, Johnny was sitting up, his hand going
automatically to the gun in the gun belt on his nightstand.
"What-Charlie?" he asked. "What is it?"
"There's somebody outside. I'm fairly sure it's Burl-" Charlie said, keeping her voice quiet.
Johnny stood up, dressed only in pants, his feet and his chest bare. Taking his pistol from the gun belt, he headed to the
hallway, and down the stairs, Charlie following.
Teresa was already downstairs, standing near the front door, and looking out the window from a lifted curtain.
"See anything?" Johnny asked her.
"No. Not now," Teresa said.
Johnny went to the door, opening it, and standing there, as if listening.
"You girls stay here," he ordered, quietly. And, then, he was gone, into the darkness.
L