A Great Catch (29 page)

Emily shook her ringing head and blinked away the stars behind her eyes. Laughter from the crowd drowned out Carter’s words.

He lifted her to her feet and kept a firm hold of her arm. “Are you okay? What was that all about?”

“William DeSoto—”

“Emily, I told you not to worry about him.”

The disbelief in his voice hurt more than the knot forming on her head. As the Bloomer Girls began to converge on them, she pressed her hand to it and winced. The high-pitched fury of panicked voices made her squeeze her eyes shut for a moment.

Yeula raced over and held out her open palm. “I thought they were shooting blanks out there!”

Carter stared at the bullet. “Where did you find that?”

She pointed beyond first base. “I felt something whiz by my cheek. What kind of game is this?”

“Easy, Yeula.” Maud punched her glove. “Does this have anything to do with your tumble?”

Emily nodded. “Someone shot at Carter.” She turned to him. “It was William DeSoto. That’s why I ran back. I saw him aiming at you. I was trying to warn you, but I tripped.”

“And your little accident probably saved my life.” He touched the purpling area above her temple. “Let’s get you off the field.”

“What about Mr. DeSoto?”

“I’ll take care of him.”

As they approached the benches, some of the Owls joined them, along with the umpire. Carter filled them in as he scanned the crowd for the man who’d shot at him. His insides burned as he thought about what DeSoto had done. What if he’d hit Emily or one of the Bloomer Girls?

Then he spotted the coward lurking in the shadows of the stands, directly down the first-base line. When their eyes met, DeSoto took off through the crowd, pushing and shoving anyone in his way.

He turned to Ducky. “Take care of her.” He burst into a run after the corrupt banker.

Emily didn’t give Ducky time to stop her. She sprinted after Carter, only to be passed by most of her Owl teammates. DeSoto shoved his way through the spectators standing off to the right of the field. When he finally reached an open space, Carter tackled him.

Carter planted his knee in DeSoto’s back and pinned the banker’s arm behind him. The teammates skidded to a halt at the scene.

DeSoto fought to get up. “Get this guy off me before he breaks my arm!”

“Taylor, you take him.” Carter stood up, pressing his knee harder into DeSoto’s back in the process, and pushed a clump of sweaty curls from his forehead.

With a firm grip on DeSoto’s collar, Elwood hauled the banker to his feet. “Stockton, maybe you missed your football calling. What’d this guy do?”

Still out of breath, Emily held out the bullet. “He shot at Carter after his last hit.”

“He tried to kill you?” Elwood gave the man an angry shake. “That wasn’t very neighborly. Stockton can be annoying, but shooting a decent pitcher on the Fourth of July is downright un-American.”

Questions flew from the various Owls, and finally Carter held up his hand. “I promise to explain it all later. All you boys need to know is I found out he stole money from Emily’s grandmother at the bank, and he wanted to stop me from telling the authorities.”

Ducky turned to Emily. “How’d you get involved?”

“I went to see my brother and overheard him talking to Mr. DeSoto, who planned to kill Carter because he had figured his whole scam out.”

“Your brother?” Surprise followed by relief washed over Carter’s face.

Emily’s eyes widened. Was Carter still so angry with her that he’d be glad her family was suffering? “That makes you happy?”

“No, I’m sorry. You must be devastated. But I thought
my
brother was involved.”

“Afraid not.” Martin walked up with the sheriff. “It was me, but I’m owning up to my mistakes.” He draped his arm around Emily and hugged her. “I’ll do whatever it takes to set things right.”

After convincing his teammates to return to the game, Carter explained to the sheriff what had happened and how he’d discovered the bank manager’s involvement.

“Mister, it looks like you’re under arrest.” The sheriff grabbed DeSoto’s upper arm and turned to Carter. “I’ll take care of him. Meet us at the Manawa jail after the game to give your statement. It’d be good to have someone from the bank there too.”

“I’ll find my brother,” Carter said, placing his hand on the small of Emily’s back.

The sheriff nodded. “Come on, mister. Let’s get you to your new home away from home.” He paused. “Who’s that?”

For the first time, Emily spotted Olivia hurrying toward them, her eyes wild with worry. “It’s Mr. DeSoto’s wife. I’ll speak to her.”

“She can visit him in the jail after four, but don’t let her show up earlier.” The sheriff walked away, pushing his prisoner before him, with Martin walking behind.

Emily took in Olivia’s frantic expression. Gone was every shred of the woman’s usual composure. Something unfamiliar tugged on Emily’s heart. Olivia needed a friend, so could God be trying to tell her it should be her?

She turned to Carter. “You’d better go back to the game.”

“I’m not leaving you to handle her alone.”

“Carter, I think God’s calling me to help her—if she’ll let me.”

“God’s calling you?” He quirked an eyebrow. “Why do I get the feeling we have a lot to talk about?”

“More than you know.”

“I know my husband! He wouldn’t steal money or hurt someone.”

Emily drew Olivia away from the crowd to the shade of a grove of trees. She laid her hand on Olivia’s arm. “He tried to kill Carter. I saw him and I heard him planning it beforehand.”

“You’re lying.” Tears filled Olivia’s blue eyes. “Please, Emily, tell me you’re lying.”

“I wish I was, but you were standing next to him. Where was his gun pointed?”

Olivia pressed a hand to her mouth. “He can’t do this to me. What will people say?”

What will people say?
Her husband had tried to kill someone, and the only thing Olivia could think of was her public persona? Emily took a deep breath.
Lord, what do I say to this woman?

“Olivia, let’s take one day at a time.”

“He betrayed me! You don’t know how it feels to be betrayed by someone you love.”

“Yes, I do know.” Martin’s image formed in Emily’s mind. Never in her wildest dreams had she suspected him. But Carter? The thought pierced even now. “And worse, I know what it’s like to betray the trust of someone I care about.” Emily glanced toward the crowds, again on their feet cheering and setting off their guns. “We’d better get you out of here before the game is over. There will be a lot of questions.”

Following the game, Carter arrived at the Manawa jail with both his father and Nathan. He glanced at Emily and Olivia sitting in straight-backed chairs. Dank and musty, the small jail wasn’t a fit place for ladies.

The Bloomer Girls had won and destroyed his perfect season. He smiled. It didn’t matter anymore, but he hadn’t even had the chance to tell Emily what a success the game had been.

A thought hit him like a medicine ball to the gut. Someone was going to have to tell Emily’s grandmother that her grandson had stolen from her. He swallowed. That someone was probably him.

“Okay.” The sheriff dipped his pen in an inkwell. “Let’s get down to business. Miss Graham, why don’t you start?”

Carter cleared his throat. “Maybe I should do that, sir. I’ve been investigating this for a while.”

The door swung open, and Martin entered, his face pale and drawn, with his grandmother on his arm.

Kate’s gaze swept the room and rested on Emily. “Sheriff, I’d like a word with you and Mr. Stockton in private, if I may.”

The sheriff sighed. “And you are?”

“Mrs. Graham, sir. It is my money in question.”

“Ma’am, if you don’t mind waiting outside, we were about to begin.”

She stepped in front of his desk. “I’d like to speak to you, sir—now.”

Carter chuckled. She was a hard woman to say no to. A lot like her granddaughter.

“You heard the lady.” The sheriff flicked his wrist, indicating everyone should leave.

When Nathan made no attempt to follow the others, Kate looked at him. “Aren’t you going?”

“You said you wanted Mr. Stockton to stay.”

She nodded to Carter. “That Mr. Stockton.”

“But I’m—”

Angus Stockton inclined his head toward the door. “Come on, Son. You do not want to argue with Kate Graham.”

She turned to Emily. “And this private meeting doesn’t include you either.”

“But Grandma—”

“No buts, dear. Trust me.”

A contrite Martin sat beside Emily on a bench at the Grand Pavilion, watching fireworks explode in the air.

Emily couldn’t believe her ears. Somehow her grandmother had convinced the sheriff not to file charges against Martin or William DeSoto for the theft of the money.

“Grandma told the sheriff that technically the money was mine all along since she’d given me unlimited access to her accounts.”

“Why did you do it, Martin?”

A brilliant burst of red and yellow cascaded above them. Martin waited until the colors faded. “It was all about pride. I made a bad investment, and the business hasn’t been doing so well. I didn’t want Dad to come back and see I’d failed.”

“And now?”

“And now I have to live with knowing I failed a bigger test—a test of character—and the people I love like you and Grandma are all aware of it.” His voice barely above a whisper, he added, “Can you forgive me?”

Emily looked at the sky and watched the trails of a white Catherine wheel spin into space. “Yes. I understand a little something about wanting to measure up in the eyes of others.” She sighed. “What’s going to happen to Mr. DeSoto? He still tried to kill Carter.”

“Carter offered not to press charges against him, but the sheriff said the state still had to.” He squeezed her hand. “He wants you to come in tomorrow and give your statement about what you heard.”

Emily sighed. “I’ll have to go early.”

“Plans?”

“Carter and I have a long overdue talk.”

“Are you going to work things out?”

“I’m not sure we can. We live in different worlds and want different things. Besides, I really made a mess of our relationship and hurt him terribly.”

Martin draped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her against his side. “After today, the one thing you should be sure of is God is great at fixing our messes.”

An unfamiliar female voice chirped outside the cabin and paused Emily’s morning toilet. As she peeked out the window, her heart stopped.

Mary Jane Coggeshall was here. Here. Right at her grandmother’s cabin.

Emily stuffed her stocking-clad feet into shoes and grabbed her hat. Placing it on her head, she quickly stuck the pins in, poking her scalp in the process. She exited the cabin in record time, careful not to let the screen door bang shut.

She pretended to act surprised when she approached the table and found the woman she so greatly admired having tea with her aunts and her grandmother. “Mrs. Coggeshall, how delightful to see you again. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“I’ve come to talk to you, actually.”

“Me?” Emily sat down.

“After our meeting, I was so intrigued by your unique idea concerning the Bloomer Girls’ game that I took the liberty of writing Carrie about it.”

Carrie Chapman Catt? Had Emily heard that right? Mrs. Coggeshall had written to the president of the National Woman Suffrage Association about her?

“Carrie wired me back immediately. She feels you are a perfect fit for a new position she’d like to begin on the national level.”

Emily swallowed hard. “Me?”

Mrs. Coggeshall smiled. “We’d like a younger woman such as yourself to go to college campuses and recruit the ladies in the student body to the cause. We believe your creative ideas would be the perfect way to get the attention of these young coeds.”

“Me?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Aunt Ethel set her cup down. “Can you say something more intelligent than that?”

Aunt Millie twittered. “I believe the cat has her tail.”

“Her tongue,” Aunt Ethel corrected.

“Are you sure? I was certain the saying was ‘a cat has her tail.’”

“She doesn’t have a tail.”

“Sisters.” Grandma Kate glared at them.

“What do you say, Miss Graham?”

Everything in her wanted to shout yes. A chance to work on the national level and to make a difference everywhere was her greatest wish.

But what about Carter? That Sunday watching him play ball with the younger boys had brought a new wish to her lips for a future that might include him.

The thrill of the moment faded like last night’s fireworks.

“When do you need to know? I really need some time to pray about this.”

“I understand.” Mrs. Coggeshall stood and handed Emily a piece of paper. “This sheet tells you where you can wire Carrie. She asks that you let her know by the end of next week. She also said to make sure you know you’d make a most welcome addition to the team.”

Emily got to her feet. “May I walk you back to the dock?”

“No need. I have a driver waiting on the service road.” She paused. “Sometimes this fight seems so long and arduous, but when I meet young women of vision like yourself, I’m filled with hope. God bless you, Miss Graham.”

Emily watched her go, then stared at the paper in her hand containing the contact information for Carrie Chapman Catt. The pulse in her temple pounded, and she pressed her fingers to it. Smiling through her tears, she turned toward her grandmother. “How am I ever going to decide?”

“Nathan?” Carter quickly tucked in the tails of his shirt. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a man come to take his brother out for breakfast?” Nathan swept his gaze over the Owl Club rooms that several members of the club called home during the summer, and frowned.

“He can, but you don’t.”

“I am today. Hurry up.”

Carter chuckled, slipped into his striped jacket, and grabbed his hat from the hook. “Okay, let’s go.”

Nathan led him to the Grand Pavilion, and they found a table in the open-air section. Both men ordered plates of biscuits and gravy, which were delivered immediately.

Carter forked a bite of biscuit drenched in the creamy gravy. “So what do you want to talk about?”

“Your future.” Nathan took a swig from his coffee cup and held up his hand. “And before you say it’s none of my business, hear me out.”

“Okay.” Carter leaned back in his chair. “Shoot.”

“As you know, there’ll be an opening at the bank now.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe it’s time—”

“No, it’s not.” Nathan paused. “I watched you at the game yesterday, and I had to finally admit something to myself. You’re good. Really good. Then I talked to Ducky, and he said you’ve been offered a contract by a man named Gibbs.”

“But I’m not so sure it’s what I want now.”

“Because of Emily Graham?”

“Her work is here. I can’t ask her to leave.” Carter took a swig of coffee. “Don’t you think I can handle the bank job?”

“I have no doubt you can. If I had doubts before, your handling of Mrs. Graham’s affairs disproved them admirably. I apologize for implying you couldn’t handle the job and for accusing you of impropriety.”

A little grin escaped. “So what’s the problem?”

“You’d hate it.” Nathan folded his napkin and set it beside his empty plate. “I wanted you to be there, but I wanted it for myself. Something inside me said if my little brother followed in my footsteps, then I must have done my job right. After yesterday’s game, Dad pointed out that raising you was his job, not mine, and he’d done it quite well.”

Carter chuckled. “So, I don’t belong in the bank, and I don’t want to leave this place. Any suggestions?”

“Actually, what if I told you Dad and I came up with an idea that would let you play baseball and be a businessman?”

“I’d say I might be interested in hearing what you have in mind.”

After speaking to the sheriff, Emily checked her watch and headed to the bandstand to meet Carter.

Dalbey’s band struck up a brassy tune as soon as she arrived. She stood behind the park bench–style seating and searched the area for Carter. Not seeing him, she moved away from the bandstand and found a quieter bench to ask God to help her make the right choices.

All her life she’d wanted to make a difference, to rise above being the girl who tripped over her own shadow. And now that her dream was within her grasp, she wasn’t sure what to do with it. Taking this job meant leaving her grandmother, aunts, parents, and Martin. Worst of all, it meant leaving Carter.

But she still didn’t know where she stood with him. Would he want her back after the things she’d said? Carter had incredible skills. If they married, would that keep him from becoming who God wanted him to be?

She shook her head. Married? Where had that thought come from?

Lord, I gave my life to You all over again. I want to follow Your will, but You’re going to have to help me see what it is.

Suddenly two hands covered her eyes and a man spoke behind her. “Guess who.”

“Hank?” She giggled.

“You wound me.” Carter came around to the front of the bench and dropped down beside her. “I really don’t like that guy.”

“You don’t?” Emily flashed Carter a smile. “He was rather sweet.”

“So is molasses, but I don’t care for that either.”

“You were jealous?”

“Me?” He held his hand over his chest. “No, of course not.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“Okay, maybe a little.” Carter stood and pulled her to her feet. “So now that you’ve made me humiliate myself, are you ready to have some fun?”

“Fun?” He kept hold of her hand, and she couldn’t bring herself to pull away. “Aren’t you still angry with me? We have a lot to talk about, and I have something important to tell you.”

He led her to the path. “And we can do that at the rink.”

Emily halted. “You’re taking me skating? You really are still mad at me.”

“What can I say? I need a good laugh.”

“So you’re already planning to laugh at me.”

“
With
you. Not
at
you.” He captured her hand and tucked it in the crook of his arm. “Besides, I was only joking about skating. I have something else planned.”

“What is it?”

“All you have to do is come with me.”

“What about our talk?”

He held up a finger to her lips. “Later.”

Emily walked beside him in silence, not daring to bring up the topics wedged between them. Had Carter really forgiven her for doubting him? And how would he take her news about Mrs. Coggeshall’s offer?

Carter led her past the Grand Pavilion filled with patrons and buzzing with activity. Dalbey’s band continued to pipe a tune, and the flowers in the many planters burst with colorful blooms like last night’s fireworks displays. Some families picnicked on the neatly mowed lawn, and one of them had set up a game of croquet.

Her heart squeezed. She’d miss this place if she left. Six summers on these shores. Here love grew, families played, and people enjoyed all life had to offer. Would she be able to return next year? How big would Marguerite’s Tate be by then? Or Lilly’s baby Levi? And where would Carter be?

The lake beside them lapped at the rocky shore, and she glanced at Carter. He merely smiled back. Were they ever going to talk? At least he seemed to have forgiven her already.

When they reached the Yacht Club, Emily’s curiosity grew. They passed beyond that, and Carter led her toward the boat shop owned by Trip, Marguerite’s husband. Marguerite greeted them at the door. “Ready to go sailing?”

Emily turned to Carter. “You know how to sail?”

He shook his head. “Trip and a couple of his friends are taking us out. I arranged it earlier today.”