Teresa came back downstairs, dressed in a light blue dress that Charlie hadn't seen before. Her dark hair was swept up on one side, and fastened with
a tortoiseshell clip. Charlie, who'd been having another glass of milk, and a few of Maria's oatmeal-raisin cookies, paused at the bottom of the
staircase as Teresa came down.
"You look so beautiful," Charlie said.
Teresa smiled, pleased. "Thank you."
"I hope you don't get married very soon," Charlie said, without thinking.
"You mean like next week?" Teresa asked, laughing.
The reality was too close to Charlie, and she didn't smile in return.
"I'm teasing you," Teresa said.
"I know. But, I don't like to think about it."
"It's not going to be next week, Charlie," Teresa said.
"But-it's going to be someday, and I don't want you to go," Charlie said.
Their intimate conversation was interrupted by doors opening, and voices, and boot steps.
"Here's my girls," Murdoch said, walking up. "Teresa, you look beautiful."
"Thank you," Teresa told him.
"What time is Cole coming for you?" Murdoch asked her.
"He should be along anytime now."
"We'll have a drink in the library with him when he brings you home again," Murdoch said.
Teresa nodded. "I've got a cake in the oven for you all," she said, as Johnny and Scott walked in. "I should check it, I don't want it to
burn."
"I'll check your cake, hermanita," Johnny told her.
"Hullo, kiddo," Scott greeted Charlie, laying a hand on her hair. "How was your fishing?"
"It was a good day for it," Charlie said.
"Are we feasting on fish tonight, then?" Murdoch asked her.
"No. I lost the stringer of fish along the way home," she said, honestly.
"How'd you manage that?" Scott asked.
"Galloping, I guess," Charlie said.
"Well, that's a shame," Murdoch said.
"There's a beef pot pie in the oven for your supper," Teresa said. "That and some rolls. And the cake."
"Sounds wonderful," Murdoch told her, and patted her hand. "We'll get along fine. You're to enjoy your evening out."
As if on cue, there was the sound of a horse neighing outside and then a rapping on the front door.
"There's Cole," Teresa said, and went to let him in.
"I think your hair needs a good brushing," Scott said, running his hand over her curls.
"Yes. Teresa was going to help, but she didn't have time. I already had a bath."
"Already?" Scott asked, as they walked towards the kitchen.
"I had to. Maria said I was-" Charlie paused, trying to remember, "Ves un disastra, or something like that."
Murdoch chuckled at that, and Scott smiled.
"Well, it's good you had a bath then," Scott said. "We'll have supper, and then I'll help you brush out your hair."
"Oh, yes, I didn't help you with that, Charlie," Teresa was saying, as she and Cole walked into the room. Murdoch went forward
to shake Cole's hand. Greetings were exchanged and conversation for a few minutes. Charlie went off towards the kitchen without saying much
to Cole. Johnny was taking pans from the oven, and the smell of the beef pot pie and cake made Charlie's stomach rumble with hunger.
"I had two glasses of milk and some cookies, but I'm still hungry," Charlie said.
"Well, you get the table set for us," Johnny told her, snatching his hand back as it touched a hot pan, and then blowing on his fingers to cool them.
As Charlie got down plates and silverware, Murdoch and Scott joined she and Johnny in the kitchen.
As they sat down, the four of them around the small table, to enjoy the simple food, Charlie pushed down her feelings of
guilt for trespassing and ate her supper.
L
The next morning it was three that set out for church services in the buggy. Charlie was tucked into the middle of the seat between Murdoch and Scott.
Teresa had a headache, and so had chosen to stay at home. Johnny, as was common, didn't attend.
Murdoch offered the reins to Charlie, who took them gladly.
"I hope Teresa's alright," Charlie said.
"She's be fine after she gets some rest," Murdoch said.
"What will we do, if he marries Teresa, and takes her far away?" Charlie said.
"That's nothing for you to worry about now," Murdoch said.
"But, it could happen."
"Teresa won't go far," Murdoch said, patting Charlie's knee.
"I hope not," Charlie said, fervently.
She felt Murdoch and Scott exchange a look over her head.
"It's a fine thing," Murdoch said, "That you and Teresa have grown so close to one another. But, we have to remember, darling, that
Teresa has her own wishes and dreams for her life. She's entitled to those."
Charlie sighed. "I know. I want Teresa to be happy." She looked up at Murdoch. "I do!"
"Of course you do," Murdoch said.
"It's just-I like things the way they are," Charlie said.
L
At church, before the services began, Monte gave a wave to Charlie, and she waved back again. During the services she sat between the
two Lancer men, again, and listened to the preacher talk. As usual, Charlie's mind wandered, and she, also as usual, looked in the direction
of Monte's family in the church pew. Monte, sitting beside his mother instead of his father, dared to cross his eyes and make a comical face
at Charlie. Charlie looked away to hide her mirth, nearly giggling aloud.
After church when folks stood about in the church yard, talking, Charlie stood by Scott and Murdoch as they talked with a neighboring rancher
and his wife. Monte waved from across the yard, for Charlie to come over to him, away from the adults.
"Monte wants to talk to me," Charlie told Scott. "Can I go for a little bit?"
"Don't wander far. We're going to be leaving," Scott said, and Charlie nodded, and walked over towards Monte.
"See that fella right there?" Monte said, nodding his head in the direction of a man, dressed fine, standing with another man and two
women. Charlie recognized them as regular church-goers, although she couldn't remember their names.
"Yes," she said.
"That's the Old Coot," Monte said, low.
"The one with the traps-"
"Yeah. That's him."
"Which one?" Charlie asked, feeling a prickle of definite unease.
"The fat one."
"Oh," Charlie said, and studied the man. The man looked just ordinary, not like a man who caused pain to animals intentionally.
Of course, appearances could be deceiving, Charlie knew that.
"He needs to come to church more than once a week, the way he was swearing," Charlie said.
"I just figured as I oughta tell ya which one he is."
"Well, I guess it's good to know-but, I'm not gonna go back, anyways," Charlie said.
"Not even to see the baby foxes?" Monte asked.
Charlie shrugged, and then felt as though the trap man was looking right at she and Monte.
She stood up straighter, and crossed her arms close to her chest.
"He's looking at us," she told Monte, in a loud whisper.
"Aw, let him look," Monte said, carelessly.
"But what if he knows it was us that was tripping his traps?" Charlie said, again in a loud whisper.
"He don't know anything," Monte said.
Charlie wasn't reassured by Monte's easy-going manner.
"See ya tomorrow," Monte said, as his father beckoned to him.
L
As they began their ride home, Murdoch again offered the buggy reins to Charlie. She shook her head slightly.
"No, thank you," she told him.
"Are you feeling poorly?" Murdoch asked her, teasing. "You must be, if you're turning down the opportunity to drive."
Realizing that she was drawing attention that she didn't want, Charlie said, "No, I'm fine," and held out her hands. "I'll drive."
"You don't have to, lassie," Murdoch said. "I was only teasing you a bit."
"I want to," Charlie said, and Murdoch handed over the reins.
Over her head, as she drove, Murdoch and Scott carried on their conversation. About a cattle sale that was approaching soon. Murdoch was saying
that he might like to attend with Scott. Ordinarily, Charlie's ears would have perked up, and she would have been listening intently, and thinking
about how to approach one or both of them about going along. Right at this moment, though, she had her thoughts full of worry about the fat trap-setting man
at church. After all, there was Monte's bright red hair to consider-and, also, Gurth. He was not only a beautiful horse, but he had distinctive
markings. If the fat man had any sort of decent eyesight at all, he'd have been able to take note of one or both of those things.
Charlie's worried musings were interrupted by Scott reaching to put his hand over Charlie's. "Whoa there, kiddo-you're going to take us
off the road."
"Oh," Charlie said, snapping her attention back to her task of driving Bartholomew.
Lunch was simple. Cold roast beef with Maria's bread and a plate of fruit. Teresa and Johnny had been sitting together in the great room
when the three church-goers arrived home.
"How is your head now, darling?" Murdoch asked Teresa, as she got to her feet and came to greet Murdoch.
"Much better now."
"Good. I'll go up and change and then we can have lunch," Murdoch said.
Johnny told Scott he wanted to talk to him about something, and Scott nodded, and said, to Charlie, "You go up and change, too, before lunch."
L
It was while they were eating the simple lunch that again the conversation washed over Charlie, without her really taking note of any of it.
She knew that Teresa talked about the evening before, and the entertainment at the party that she and Cole had gone to. A pianist who had done
a remarkable task of playing the piano. According to Teresa.
Charlie kept thinking about that man at church. It had been unnerving to have him looking towards she and Monte that way. Frightening.
She realized that the rest of the family was finishing, or close to finishing, their meal. Johnny was up, and scooting up his chair to the table.
"There's some cake left," Teresa said. "We can have some coffee and cake-"
"In the library," Murdoch agreed. "Let's all enjoy our Sunday for a bit-"
"Will you help me?" Teresa asked, and she and Murdoch headed towards the kitchen together.
Before standing up, Scott reached over and tugged a strand of Charlie's curls. "You need to eat, kiddo. You've hardly touched your food."
Charlie realized that her plate was still more than half full.
"Oh," she said, and took a bite of her cut up roast beef. She hurriedly finished her food, as Scott and Johnny began clearing the table,
and the family a few minutes later headed towards the library.
The rest of the afternoon was spent mostly in relaxation, although Johnny went outside later to work with his new horse. The horse was
still shy of people, but had taken a liking to Johnny. Charlie was mostly quiet, she sat with Murdoch, and they drew together in sketch pads
for a bit. Alone with Murdoch, after Scott and Teresa had gone as well, Charlie paused in her drawing, watching as Murdoch
detailed the edges of the flowers he was sketching.
"Can I ask you something, Murdoch?" she ventured.
"Of course," he said. "You can always ask me anything."
Charlie returned to her sketching on the other side of the pages. "If someone is doing something that's wrong- isn't it right that
others do something to stop it?"
"That's a very involved question," Murdoch said, sounding somewhat surprised. "Wrong in what way?"
After a long moment's thought of how to voice it, Charlie said, "Doing something hurtful."
Murdoch put his pencil down, and said, concerned, "Are you being hurt? You must tell us if you are-"
"No," Charlie said, hastily. "Not me."
"Well, I'm glad of that," he said, relieved.
"It's nothing like that," Charlie said. "It's that somebody is doing something that's wrong, and it's something that they don't even have to do. I mean,
it's not a necessary thing that has to be done."
"They're breaking the law in some way?" Murdoch asked, his tone full of concern again.
"Well...no," Charlie said.
"Sounds mysterious," Murdoch said, laying the sketch pad to the side and focusing directly on Charlie. "I think you need to tell me more about it. Then
maybe I'll be able to answer your question better."
Nearly sorry now, that she'd approached the topic with Murdoch, Charlie hesitated.
"Being cruel to an animal," Charlie said. "That's wrong, isn't it?"
Murdoch, no doubt thinking Charlie meant a case of dog-beating or such, said, "It's unkind. And unnecessary."
Even though Charlie knew he didn't totally understand what she was talking about, she was still satisfied enough by his answer to nod and hook her
arm thru his. "That's what I think, too," she said.
L