A Worthy Pursuit (13 page)

Setting down the carving knife, Charlotte turned to face the girl she loved like a daughter. “Why don’t we sit for a minute?”
she suggested as she wiped her hands on her apron. Charlotte nodded toward the chairs encircling the kitchen table, and without a care, Lily hopped off her stool and skipped over to them.

Charlotte followed more slowly. Lily expected Miss Lottie to have all the answers. But she didn’t. She didn’t know anything. Not about raising a daughter, not about how to handle Stone Hammond, and certainly not how to explain his presence in a way that wouldn’t inspire anxiety.

Forcing her legs to continue at their usual sedate pace toward the table instead of whirling around and fleeing out the back door as she wanted to, Charlotte fingered her mother’s cameo and silently asked God to give her the right words.

Lily gazed up at her, her eyes full of innocent questions. Yet her mouth turned down a bit at the corners, proof that she’d sensed Charlotte’s unease.

“Well now,” Charlotte said as she pulled out a second chair and slid onto the seat. She smiled at the girl beside her and reached over to pat her hand where it lay atop the table, hoping at least one of the two actions would serve as reassurance. Heaven knew she wished someone would pat
her
hand and tell her everything would be all right. But that was a child’s wish, and she’d ceased being a child long ago. “Let’s see if I can explain.”

Lily scooted to the edge of her chair, her upturned face glowing with trust.

Charlotte swallowed, brushed the wrinkles out of her apron, then folded her hands in her lap and began. “Do you remember the night we left the academy? How it was still dark outside when Mr. Dobson drove us away?”

“Yes.” Lily’s eyebrows scrunched together. “What does that have to do with Mr. Hammond?”

“I’m getting to that.” Charlotte gave her one of the you-need-
to-be-patient looks that Lily collected as frequently as Stephen did his springs and bolts. “The reason we left while it was still dark was because I wanted to keep our leaving a secret. I knew your grandfather expected you to go home with him.”

Lily sat straighter and nibbled a bit on the side of her thumb. “But Mama said I was supposed to live with you. She didn’t want me to live with Grandfather.”

“That’s right.” Charlotte recognized the lost little girl she once had been when news she hadn’t wanted to hear bombarded her despite her wishes. She pushed her chair farther away from the table and opened her arms. “Come here, sweetheart.”

The instant the invitation was offered, Lily bounded from her seat and into Charlotte’s lap. Charlotte wrapped her arms around the girl and held her tight, leaning her cheek against the top of Lily’s head.

“I promised your mother I would take you home to live with me and love you as if you were my own little girl. And I do. Love you. So much.” The catch in her voice surprised her.

She was supposed to be in charge—of the children, of her home, of her emotions. Order out of chaos. It was how she survived. Control meant safety, protection. Yet, with Stone’s arrival, control had begun slipping from her grasp, leaving her—and those in her care—vulnerable.

Be strong and of a good courage . . .
The verse she had memorized long ago, the one that helped her fortify her defenses whenever she felt exposed, ran through her head. She clung to it, to the promise inherent in the words.
Fear not, nor be afraid of
them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that
doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee.

He won’t fail me. He won’t forsake me. I can be strong. Strong for Lily.
Strong for the boys.
Inhaling a shaky breath, Charlotte pushed the emotion back down where it belonged.
When she spoke, her voice once again resonated with the calm, steady tone she’d worked for years to perfect.

“Your grandfather didn’t like the fact that I took you away without telling him where I was going, so he sent Mr. Hammond to find out where you were. Which he did. However, because Mr. Hammond suffered several injuries yesterday, it didn’t seem right to just shoo him off without giving him the chance to recuperate. Especially since he very likely saved Stephen’s life. So we discussed matters, and I agreed to let him stay with us for a while.”

Lily pulled away from Charlotte’s arms and tilted her face until she could look her teacher in the eye. “So he’s not going to take me away? Back to Dorchester Hall? Because Mama told me to stay with you.”

Not knowing how to answer that question since Stone hadn’t yet made that determination, Charlotte decided to do a bit of gentle probing on her own. “Do you
want
to go back to Dorchester Hall?”

The girl shrugged. “Visiting once in a while would be okay. See how my cat is doing. Eat some of Mrs. Johnson’s chocolate cake.” A grin curved the girl’s lips. “It’s my favorite.”

“Mmm. That
does
sound delicious.” Unfortunately, chocolate was a luxury Charlotte could no longer afford. At least not until she secured another teaching position.

She wished she could go to the cupboard right now and bake the most decadent chocolate cake Lily had ever tasted, but other things took precedence. Like ensuring Lily and the others were safe.

“Would you want to see your grandfather?”

Lily dipped her head and shrugged. Charlotte had been around children long enough to recognize the look of someone who wanted to say no but didn’t think she should. “He’s
always so busy,” Lily blurted. She slumped a bit, leaning back into Charlotte’s hold. “The only time he ever played with me was when his business friends invited us over for dinner.”

“He took you with him to dinner parties?” That seemed odd. Usually children were excluded from such adult activities.

Lily’s chin brushed across Charlotte’s chest as she nodded. “I used to really like those parties. Grandfather would buy me a pretty new dress and tell all his friends about how smart I was and how I would grow up to be just as good at investing as he was. He would hold my hand and take me around the house, introducing me to everyone and showing me all the different rooms filled with interesting things. Especially the libraries and studies because he knew I liked books.” Lily grew quiet for a moment, as if she were reliving the occasion. “I felt special,” she said at last, her voice soft. “Grandfather didn’t forget about me during those dinners. He wasn’t too busy. He was proud of me. Wanted me with him.”

Charlotte ached at the longing in the little girl’s voice. She recognized it far too well. The longing to be loved and appreciated by the people who mattered. How many times had she practiced until her fingers cramped in an effort to please her father? Pandered to his pride with extravagant compliments when he fell into bouts of melancholy? Organized his music folders, arranged his tutoring sessions, even kept his financial records updated, all in an effort to prove herself important to him. Only to discover she wasn’t important enough.

Men like her father, like Randolph Dorchester, stole energy from those around them for their own purposes. So what had Dorchester’s purpose been in taking Lily to those dinners? Perhaps he thought to impress his associates with his warm, familial nature by parading Lily around and visibly doting on her. Or maybe he thought to impress another way.

“Lily, did your grandfather ask you to show off your talent to his friends?” Heaven knew her own father had loved making her play to an audience when she’d been a child. She’d submitted but hated every moment of it. All the eyes on her. The fear that she’d make a mistake and embarrass him. Then watching him accept all the congratulations and accolades for himself as if she’d been nothing more than a puppet and he the one holding the strings.

But Lily was shaking her head. “No. He told me to keep it a secret. He said it was part of the game, and if I told anyone, I’d lose, and he wouldn’t get me new books anymore.”

What kind of game would Dorchester play with a child at a dinner party? And why the need for bribery and secrecy? Those two ingredients rarely came together to make anything good.

“What kind of game did you play with your grandfather, Lily?”

The question was the one that had formed on Charlotte’s tongue, but the deep male tones definitely did not originate in her throat. She jerked her head around, knowing what she would find even before her eyes confirmed it—Stone Hammond lounging in the doorway.

13

Stone stayed where he was, leaning his shoulder against the wall. He should’ve kept his mouth shut. But when Charlotte had hesitated over asking the question burning a hole through his brain, he hadn’t been able to help himself. Something told him the answer to that question would determine which course he followed.

“D-did my grandfather put a bounty on my head, Mr. Hammond?” The hero worship had disappeared from Lily’s gaze. Worry, if not outright fear, shone in her blue eyes now when she looked at him. “Is that why you’re here?”

A sledgehammer to the gut would have hurt less.

“Not a chance, squirt.” He wanted to go to her, to squat down in front of her and reassure her. But he held his ground, afraid any movement would scare her. “I gave up bounty huntin’ years ago, remember?”

“Like Dead-Eye Dan?”

“That’s right. Dan took up ranching, and I took up—” He was about to say “retrieving,” but that sounded too much like bringing in bounties. So he opted for the language her teacher
had used. “Hiring myself out to people who need help findin’ things.”

“And you found me.” She didn’t look completely reassured. Smart kid.

He dipped his chin. “That I did. And let me say that you are much prettier than the stud bull Mr. Haymaker paid me to find last year. Whew! That beast was ug-ly. Stinky, too.” Stone made a face and fanned his hand under his nose. When Lily giggled, the vise constricting his chest finally eased.

Straightening slowly away from the doorjamb, Stone shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and ducked his head slightly, trying to make himself look as harmless as possible. “Would it be all right if I joined you ladies at the table?”

For the first time since he’d alerted them to his presence, he focused his attention on Charlotte. Her face gave away little, that serene mask of hers firmly in place. But he sensed outrage simmering beneath the surface. Yes, he’d butted in where she didn’t want him, but he needed to be a part of this conversation, and she was intelligent enough to recognize that fact and not try to stop him. Even as he watched, she nodded slightly, granting him permission to join them. Yet her blue-green eyes clearly threatened violence upon his person if he did anything to hurt the girl in her lap.

Stone chose an arcing path, careful to give the females plenty of space as he made his way to the table. He grabbed hold of the ladder-back chair Lily had vacated, scooted it a couple feet farther away to give them a buffer, then flipped it around and straddled the seat. Draping one elbow over the top of the chair back, he glanced at Lily. “Tell me about this game you and your granddad used to play.”

The girl looked to her teacher before answering. Charlotte nodded her approval.

“He called it a treasure hunt,” Lily said. “When everyone was standing around talking before dinner, I was supposed to slip away and search for treasure. Grandfather said he and his friends liked to hide secrets from each other, and whoever uncovered the other’s secret first won. If I helped him win the game, he’d order me whichever book I wanted from the Montgomery Ward catalog.”

Stone worked to keep his expression bland even as tension crept up his back and into his neck and shoulders. He didn’t like the direction this story was heading.

“The hard part was finding the right treasure since I didn’t know what it looked like. Grandfather said the best treasure was usually hidden in the study, in desk drawers. The more buried, the better. If I could wiggle a locked drawer open, that would be worth the most points, but I was never to break anything. That was against the rules. So I was always careful. I only ever got one locked drawer open. I found a paper with lots of signatures on it that looked important. It was about a new railroad line going to a place called Seymour. A bunch of people from the town had written a letter about how they were raising money to get the Wichita Valley line to go there. I didn’t understand the rest, but there was a map under the letter, too. When I drew it later that night for Grandfather, he was so proud of me, he let me pick two books out of the catalog.”

Stone met Charlotte’s shocked gaze above Lily’s head. Yep, she understood, too. Randolph Dorchester had made his fortune in land speculation. For a man like him, being able to predict where the railroad planned to build would be money in the bank. Stone didn’t doubt for a second that if he went to the land office in Seymour, Texas, he’d find records of Dorchester’s company purchasing tracts of land all along the proposed rail line that Lily had so innocently drawn for him. Shoot, the man
probably even helped the townsfolk raise the money they needed to entice the railroad to build there. All out of the goodness of his heart, of course.

The man had turned his own granddaughter into a criminal, having her steal company secrets. And now he’d hired Stone to get his little spy back.

“When the books came in the mail, Mama asked where I’d gotten them. When I told her about the game, she got really mad. She told me Grandfather was wrong to ask me to play that kind of game and that I wouldn’t be allowed to go to any more parties with him.” Lily twisted in Charlotte’s lap to face her teacher. “I told her I was sorry, that I didn’t know it was wrong.”

Charlotte stroked Lily’s hair. “She knew that, honey. She wasn’t mad at you.”

“I know. She told me. She even let me keep the books. But she did make me promise never to play that game again.” Lily fell silent for a moment, her head down. When she finally looked up, her chin was wobbling. “But I did play it again. Twice.”

“Why—?” Before the teacher could finish her question, tears started rolling down Lily’s face.