Fetching Charlotte Rose (7 page)

“Much like you,” Tim dared to say.

Max smiled. “Maybe so. I reckon there are worse things to be compared to than my father, God rest his soul.”

Tim looked down. “I hope I am never compared to my father.” When he looked up, all mirth had disappeared from Max’s eyes, replaced by a spark of anger.

“I’m sorry, Tim. I’ve had my suspicions of his treatment of you, but I wasn’t sure.”

Tim shrugged and turned his attention to cleaning up the mess he’d made. The next day, Max informed Tim that he’d spoken with his father and arranged for Tim to live with him, if he so wished. Tim felt surprised, then overjoyed. The day he moved in with Max was the day his life became something worth living.

Nearly two years later, as Tim walked to the telegraph office, he realized that his love for Max far outweighed his fear of his father. He came to a halt and leaned against a hitching post. Covering his forehead with his hand, he thought hard about which telegram would work better in Max’s favor. He shook his head, feeling great distress and confusion. He couldn’t decide, so he didn’t send either. He turned away from his errand and walked home.

* * *

Charlotte was in love. Every hardship and annoyance slid off her back like ice off a hot plate. She wrote to her mother and gushed about her new beau and all the wonderful things he said and did. She left out the spanking, of course, though it was in the forefront of her mind. She sat at her desk in her room at the boardinghouse and gazed out the window, recalling the discipline over Max’s lap. She decided she wouldn’t like a spanking much harder than what she’d received, but she liked how it made her feel, especially when Max held her in his arms and comforted her afterwards. The spanking had made her feel soft and vulnerable and, as a result, able to enjoy the full benefit of Max’s strong and tender care. She overflowed with a sense of well-being like she’d never experienced before.

Max took her to dinner nearly every evening, despite his long work hours. She felt guilty that the task of quickly building and repairing the schoolhouse furniture, along with keeping up with his other work, caused him fatigue, but she comforted herself by knowing he would be paid by the county. She still awaited word from Tucson regarding the exact sum available. She’d read her contract again, which made no mention of funding, so she wired the superintendent requesting information and payment. She was impatient to receive the money to hand to Max.

A little more than a week after they began courting, Charlotte set out toward Max’s house on a cool Sunday morning, carrying the book she’d promised Tim. Birds chirped around her, adding a spring to her already light step on the dirt path. Max’s house was about a half-mile outside of town, so it was an easy, pleasant walk.

Shortly after the start of her journey, she heard the sound of raised voices ahead. When she rounded the corner and saw who they came from, she stopped. Tim and Simon stood in the middle of the road, engaged in a heated argument.

“I’m not going anywhere, Simon,” Tim said to his father. “I want to stay with Max and continue working for him.”

Simon held a shaking fist up to the boy’s face. “Are you addled? You have less brains than a headless chicken if you think I’ll back down. You are your mother’s son.”

“Good,” Tim replied. “Though I’m about as fortunate in that regard as I am having you as my father. I’m going to stay with Max and remain his employee when I come of age.”

“You do that, I’ll ruin him. I’ll make his life so miserable he’ll wish he’d never met you.”

Tim’s eyes flashed with anger, and his hands closed into fists at his sides. He looked away from his father’s face, and that’s when he noticed Charlotte. His brow furrowed.

She reluctantly walked in their direction. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Charlotte said meekly, feeling ashamed that she’d eavesdropped and also alarmed by the conversation she’d overheard.

Simon turned around slowly to face her. “Well, if it isn’t the charming schoolmarm. How do you do, Miss Rose?” He smiled, but it looked more like a grimace.

“I’m well. I’ll be on my way to see Max.” She continued walking and passed them.

“
Max
, is it?” Simon sneered. “Are you that familiar with the blacksmith?”

“Yes,” Charlotte said simply, stopping with a half turn to look at him. “Max is courting me.”

Simon snorted. “Well, isn’t he a lucky man? How did he manage to garner your affections? Was it his soot-stained breeches you found attractive? Or perhaps his sweaty pits?”

Charlotte turned around fully to face him. “Perhaps both,” she said, with a haughty lift of her chin. “I respect a man who makes an honest living.”

Simon laughed without humor, then turned his attention back to his son. “Perhaps you should escort the lady to your master’s house. I’ve said all I need to say. It’s your turn to do what needs to be done, and you’d best remember this: I’m quickly running out of patience.”

Simon tipped his hat to Charlotte and walked in the direction of town. Tim stared after him for a bit, then sauntered to Charlotte’s side. They walked together in silence for some time before Tim said quietly, “How much of my conversation with Simon did you hear, Miss Rose?”

“I’m sorry, Tim. It was terribly rude of me to listen for as long as I did, and I’m afraid I heard enough to alarm me. I heard your father say he would ruin Max. What was that about?”

Tim sighed. “I’m in a bind. I’ve been trying for weeks to be shed of it. Normally I would seek Max’s advice, but I don’t want to with this. I feel lost at sea.”

“Perhaps I can help?” Charlotte offered.

Tim didn’t say anything, so Charlotte changed the subject. She handed the boy her copy of
Huckleberry Finn
. “Do let me know what you think. I love talking about literature with folks. I hope to find more people in town with a love of reading.”

Tim took the book from her. “Thank you.” A moment later he added tentatively, “It’s my love of reading that got me into this quandary.”

Charlotte eyed him with surprise. “How? I’ve never heard of reading causing problems, only the lack of it.”

Tim drew a deep breath. “There’s a book club in town. I’ve been attending for over a year.”

“That sounds like good fun,” Charlotte said.

“It was, until I got it into my head to take an exam offered by a recruiter who attended. It was to test my readiness for college, which I’d never intended on going to. I took the test for the heck of it, but I ended up scoring very high. Higher than everyone else, and I was offered a scholarship. The first to find out was me, the second was Simon.”

“That’s impressive, Tim! What did Max say? He must be very proud.”

“That’s the thing, Miss Rose. He doesn’t know, and I don’t want him to. I want to stay with Max and be a blacksmith, not go off to some fancy college. Not that it would happen even if I wanted it to. The scholarship money would be placed in the hands of Simon, since I’m not yet eighteen. Simon knows this and has told me he intends to keep it for himself. I wouldn’t see a penny.”

Charlotte felt surprised that Simon had threatened something so dubious, but also skeptical about its likelihood for success. “The college would know the money had been stolen when you didn’t attend. There’s no way your father could get away with that.”

“He’s already figured out a way. If he bullies me into leaving town, he’ll be able to say he gave the money to me and I skipped out with it. No one would be suspicious of him.”

Charlotte took in a sharp breath and felt angry on the boy’s behalf. His own father wanted to frame him for theft. “So, from what I understand, you’re refusing to accept the scholarship and leave town, and Simon is angry because that means he won’t be paid. But why and how would he hurt Max?”

“Simon knows that the best way to make me do what he says is to threaten harm on the one person I care about. He’d find a way to take away everything Max holds dear.” Tim gave Charlotte a sidelong glance. “That might include you, since Max is sweet on you. You should stay away from Simon. He wouldn’t think twice about hurting you if it suited his purposes.”

Charlotte rubbed her forehead. “Yes, I’ve already been warned. I don’t know what to say, Tim. There must be a way out of it, surely.”

“I keep trying to think of something. The way I see it, either way, Max gets burned. If I do Simon’s bidding and leave, Max will lose his apprentice. If I stay and incur Simon’s wrath, Max will keep me as his apprentice but might lose a whole lot more.”

Max’s cabin appeared ahead of them, and the two walked in silence a few paces. Finally Charlotte said, “I’m glad you told me. No one should deal with this kind of problem alone. I will try to think of something.”

“Thank you, Miss Rose, but please don’t tell Max.”

Charlotte sighed. “It’s not for me to tell him, but I think you should. He’s good at fixing things. He might be able to fix this.”

Tim stopped suddenly, bringing Charlotte’s steps to a halt as well. “Miss Rose, perhaps I don’t need to tell you this, but as tough as Max is, he’s also very kind. He wouldn’t think twice about sacrificing himself for me. He already has, you know. He’s paying Simon for my work, despite also providing my room and board and spending countless hours teaching me everything he knows. He has protected me ever since he knew me, to his detriment. I don’t want him to do that in this situation. I won’t let Simon win here, and I’m determined to figure out a way out of this so that Max doesn’t get the short end of the stick. If I tell Max, he will set in motion a plan to my benefit, not to his own. He still thinks of me as a child, a child he needs to protect, and I want to be the man here and finally do right by him.”

Charlotte listened without interrupting, a lump growing in her throat as she did. The love between Max and Tim was apparent. When she reflected on Max’s gentle and protective treatment of the abused boy, she saw that it resembled his care toward her. Tim and Charlotte were also alike in their need to prove something to Max. Tim wanted to prove he was a strong man, not a scared boy, and Charlotte wanted to prove she was a capable woman, not a foolish girl. She fully understood Tim’s reticence to involve Max in his troubles.

“I won’t tell him, Tim, and I’ll help you however I can.”

Chapter Seven: Charlotte’s Secret

Charlotte’s classes began. The children sat on sturdy new benches and wrote on desks without splinters. Max was able to finish all the work before school started. He even surprised Charlotte by building a brand new desk for her using rich mahogany wood. She entered the schoolhouse an hour before the children showed up on the first day. Her eyes immediately fell on the beautiful desk in the front. She ran to it and opened the top drawer, which contained a pink rose and a note.

Good luck on your first day, Miss Rose. I wanted you to have a little something extra. Love, Max

The gesture was practical and sweet, just like Max, and it brought a huge smile to her face that lasted the entire day, which was a difficult one. She learned that most of the children were a couple of years behind in their education and required more attention than she’d thought they would. Still, she enjoyed the work more and more as the days passed, and she adored the children, most of whom were eager to please and studious in their homework.

After a couple of weeks of teaching, she received her first paycheck, which gave her a sense of pride and accomplishment. Sitting at her desk in her room at the boardinghouse, she struggled to write out a spending plan for the next two weeks. Teaching came naturally to Charlotte, but budgeting did not. She chewed her pencil and wrote down each expense she could think of. Her rent at the boardinghouse cost the most, but she would receive another check before the rent was due and so could use her first check to buy food and other necessities. She also had a little money in savings to fall back on.

It was during this budgeting session that she heard a knock at her door. Upon opening it, she found a lad holding a telegram. “From Tucson, miss,” the boy said.

Charlotte thanked him and returned to her desk to read it. Her heart sank and her breathing became labored upon reading its contents. It was a message from the superintendent.

Miss Charlotte Rose

No funding available for school furniture

Please make do

Thanks for your dedication

Superintendent Ed Haskins

Charlotte stared at the note for some time, overcome with multiple feelings—anger at the superintendent for denying such a basic need, anger at herself for assuming the need would be met, followed by guilt and embarrassment over asking Max to perform such a large task without verifying the funding to back it up.

She felt terribly foolish. How could she have been so naïve? She imagined the conversation she might have with Max, telling him she’d been wrong about the money. She groaned. She loathed the thought of telling him. Charlotte paced the room, furious at herself and furious at Max too. He would be understanding. He would tell her not to worry about it. But it would be another foolish mistake he’d have against her. Damn him. She knew her anger toward him was illogical, but she worked herself up to such a state of dismay over her error that she became determined to save her pride. Above all else, Max could not know about this.

She came to a decision. Sitting back at her desk, she made hasty calculations and rushed to the bank to exchange her check for money. Following that, she walked to Max’s shop. He smiled upon seeing her and set down the metal file he held.

“Hello, darlin’,” he drawled.

Tim greeted her from the other side of the room.

Charlotte walked to where Max stood by the forge and handed him the money, all of her income for two weeks of teaching. “I got the money from Tucson for the furniture today. Is that enough?”

Max rifled through the bills and counted the money quickly. “This is just fine. It pays for all the supplies.”