Roses for Mama (18 page)

Angela hoped that Carter would call, but two days passed and still he had not visited.

“That trial must be dragging on and on,” she fumed in exasperation. Thomas nodded and went back to the farm account numbers on his sheet of paper.

It was Charlie who eventually brought the news.

When she heard the knock Angela jumped to her feet, brushing first at her hair and then at her skirt, sure that Carter was on the other side of the door. But when Thomas opened it, it was Charlie who stood there, a grin on his face.

“It’s over?” asked Thomas.

Charlie grinned wider.

“Come in,” welcomed Thomas.

Charlie moved into the kitchen, pulling his worn hat from his head as he did so. He beat the hat against his leg a couple of times to shake the loose snow from its brim, then tossed it toward the corner and moved to the warmth of the fire.

Angela held her breath. She couldn’t have said a word if the kitchen had been on fire.

“How did it go?” asked Thomas, though Angela felt that he already knew.

“I licked ’im,” boasted Charlie. “Licked ’im fair and square.”

Angela had never heard Charlie gloat in such a fashion before. For a moment she felt sick to her stomach.

“So you got your land?”

“They said the will stood—the way it was written.”

Thomas nodded, looking from Charlie to Angela. He wasn’t sure how to respond.

“That’s good,” said Thomas.

Angela said nothing.

“Yeah,” said Charlie, slapping his thigh with a heavy mitten. “Yeah.”

Then Charlie turned the conversation abruptly. “You busy tomorra?”

“No,” said Thomas.

“Wondered iffen you’d bring thet big team of yours and help me move my shack. I figured as how, iffen I could get about four big teams, I could skid it right on over here.”

“You’re going to move it?”

Charlie turned to Angela. “Remember how you once said to me thet I’d be welcome to live here?”

Angela nodded. She had said that—but things were so different then. What would Carter think about her harboring the enemy? Angela was sure Carter would consider Charlie the enemy now.

“Well, I thought as how I’d like to have thet shack right up there in the corner by the garden—iffen the offer still stands, thet is?”

Angela felt that it was hardly the time to tell Charlie they themselves might not be living on the farm for long. When she married, the children would go with her, and Thomas would go off to do his research work. She opened her mouth to speak, but Thomas shook his head. She closed her mouth quickly and turned to the stove.

“I don’t understand,” said Thomas slowly. “Of course you’re welcome here. But you don’t want your shack on your own land by the creek?”

Charlie began to chuckle as if he had just played a delightful joke on someone.

“Don’t have any land by the crick,” he informed them.

“But I thought you said you won.”

“I did. I did,” said Charlie with shining eyes. “They gave me the land—then I took the deed—and I looked young Mr. Stratton straight in the eye an told ’im thet I’d move my shack and he could have his land fer all I cared—an’ I handed thet deed right back to ’im.”

“But—but if you didn’t care about the land, why did you go to court?” asked Thomas incredulously.

Charlie’s eyes began to snap. “I weren’t gonna be pushed around by some young city-slicker,” he sputtered. “The land was mine. Fair and square. It was given to me by the
owner
. The
inheritor
doesn’t have no say so in the matter. He needn’t think thet he can jest walk in and stomp all over folks.”

“But court cases cost—”

“Didn’t cost me,” said Charlie, his eyes twinkling again. “Cost ’im. He had to pay the court costs.” Charlie continued chuckling. “An’ he got hisself laughed at, too. The whole court room was laughing. Here he spent all thet money, I won the case, and then I give it back to ’im. Iffen he’d asked face-to-face like a man in the first place, I’d a give it to ’im to begin with, but bein’ ordered around by a bunch of papers don’t sit well with me.”

Poor Carter
, Angela thought.
No wonder he hasn’t come around
.

Then Angela felt anger toward both men begin to seep through her. Carter was wrong to try to muscle his way with Charlie. But Charlie was equally improper to let the whole mess get to court just to prove his silly point. In Angela’s thinking they had both acted like spoiled children. She turned her back and headed for the stairway.

She stopped mid-stride, realizing she was being just as foolish herself.
Never return evil for evil
, she heard the words clearly in her memory. Her mama would have been ashamed of the way she was acting.

It took a moment of silent prayer for her to regain her composure, but at last she was able to turn and speak evenly.

“Cup of coffee, Charlie?” she asked and even managed a small smile.

———

It was almost the end of January before Carter finally got around to calling. Angela had begun to think she would never see him again. But when he came he was just as solicitous as ever, as though he had not been absent for an entire month. He seemed to take up right where he had left off, offering no explanation or apology for his long absence.

“I hear the trial is finally over,” Angela eventually said.

“Yes,” he nodded, seeming pleased with himself. “I have all my land back in one piece.”

Angela wondered if he had noticed the small shack tucked away by the back garden. If so, he made no comment.

“I am leaving soon for Atlanta again,” he informed her. “I have workmen coming to start on the house, but there are a few more things I need to finalize.”

He beamed at Angela, and she knew he expected her to be happy at the news. She simply nodded her head in acknowledgment.

He took her hand. “What special thing might I bring you, my dear, as an engagement gift?” he asked.

Angela was taken by surprise. She had not thought of an engagement gift and had no idea what would be appropriate.

“I—I don’t know,” she stammered. “Perhaps you should do the choosing.”

Her answer apparently satisfied him. He nodded as though it made the best of sense.

“How long will you be gone?” she asked.

“I have no way of knowing. I do hope it won’t take too long. I can’t bear to be away from you. Perhaps I can arrange for us to take a trip together later on. There are so many things I want to show you. There is so much shopping for you to do for your trousseau. There is so much for you to learn about the proper running of a house.” He flushed slightly and then hurried on, “Of course, I know you have kept house for years. But now you will have help with the work—it will be the supervision you will need to learn.”

Angela couldn’t imagine herself supervising rather than doing the work herself.

“We have so many things we need to talk about,” he went on.

“Yes,” agreed Angela. “We do.”

“Would you like me to look for an extra housekeeper while I am there?”

“An extra housekeeper?”

“For here. For the children.”

“Oh, but the children won’t be staying here,” Angela quickly said, wondering why it was necessary to explain this to Carter.

“You have some place else for them?”

“Why, they’ll be with me,” replied Angela.

“But my dear,” responded Carter with one of his measured smiles, “I plan to take you to live with me.”

Angela nodded. “Of course.”

Carter seemed to catch on at last. “You mean,” he said slowly, “that you propose to bring all of them along with you to my house?”

Angela nodded, her stomach beginning to churn. By the look on his face she realized he really had meant to leave the youngsters here on their own.

He shook his head slowly and then his eyes began to twinkle. “How you tease,” he laughed, giving her a playful shake.

“Carter,” said Angela, her back straightening, “I am not one to tease about such serious matters.”

She looked directly into his eyes and saw her own image reflected in them, a bit of a girl with honey blond hair. Her blue eyes held his steadily, and her small frame did not flinch. Carter shifted his weight to his other foot.

“You can’t be serious!” he finally exclaimed.

“They go—or I stay,” stated Angela simply. “I haven’t been much of a mother—but I am the only mother they have. I will not leave them until they have been properly raised.”

Carter shifted again. “I can’t believe you,” he said at last, his eyes narrowing. Then he smiled, but not his sweet, charming smile. “I’m afraid, my dear, that you are all set to be an old maid. No man will marry a woman who brings along three younger siblings—even if she is pleasing to the eye.”

Angela swallowed hard and nodded. “Then so be it,” she replied with all the courage she could muster. She moved to get his hat and coat and handed them to him without a word.

He looked at her, anger filling his eyes, and then he began to laugh, a coarse, bitter laugh that made Angela shiver. She felt as though she had been struck, but still she did not flinch.

“Good night, my dear,” he said.

“Goodbye, Mr. Stratton,” she replied and turned back to the fire until she heard him leave the room.

It wasn’t until Angela was in the privacy of her own bedroom that she allowed the tears to flow. She didn’t bother to remove her clothes before throwing herself onto her bed and letting the sobs shake her slender body.

“He’s right,” she cried into her pillow. “He’s right. I will be an old maid. No one will ever, ever marry me with three others to care for. I know it. I know it.”

Angela cried long and hard, but in the end she wiped her tears and resolutely got up to prepare for bed.

“I don’t care,” she told her image in the mirror. “I am quite ready to be an old maid. I made Mama a promise—and with God’s help I will keep it. I will raise them. I will. I will. And I will never—never look at another man again. How could I have been so foolish? Why did I say yes so quickly? Mama taught me more sense than that. Thomas was right. I never really knew Carter. I did not realize the kind of person he really is. I am just so thankful—so thankful—that I found out in time to prevent—to prevent a—a tragic mistake.”

She lifted her chin and straightened her back in resolve—but she couldn’t keep another tear from trickling down her cheek.

Chapter Twenty

Changing Plans

Charlie came in for coffee the next morning.

Angela sensed something was bothering him, but he made no comment. Instead, he talked with Thomas about the latest storm, wondered how Gus was getting along with his new boss, and promised Angela that come spring, he would help her with her garden.

“Is your cabin warm enough?” Thomas asked.

Charlie nodded, pride in his eyes.

“I helped the boss build thet little place. We made sure thet it was sound and solid,” he said, the gleam in his eyes again. “Got everything in there thet a man needs.”

So why aren’t you happy?
Angela wanted to ask, but she held her tongue.

Thomas asked the question Angela was thinking, though in a roundabout way. He simply gave Charlie the opportunity to bring up what was bothering him. “What can we do for you, Charlie?”

Charlie sat and stirred the cream in his coffee. Round and round went his spoon, and Angela imagined his thoughts going round and round, too. It was a long time before he spoke.

“Been doin’ some thinkin’,” Charlie said at last. “It really weren’t right the way I handled young Mr. Stratton. I mean—well, he is the boss’s boy—an’ I reckon iffen it had been me—I woulda wanted all of my pa’s land myself. I coulda jest given him back his land—not made a public show of it like I did.”

There was silence again. Charlie raised his head, his eyes troubled.

“Reckon yer pa would’ve done it different,” he said with conviction. Thomas nodded. “Reckon,” he agreed.

“Well, I been thinkin’ as to how I owe the young feller an apology,” said Charlie.

Angela stiffened. At one point she would have agreed, but after the events of the previous evening she had little compassion for Carter Stratton.

“Well, I figure as how I best hike myself on over there and speak my little piece. Don’t know if he’ll accept my words or not—but I gotta be a sayin’ ’em—iffen I want to live with myself, that is.”

Thomas nodded.

They sat in silence again. Angela wished to speak—wished to stir—wished to flee—but she did none of those things. Her own thoughts went round and round in her head.

“I watched yer folks fer a good number of years,” Charlie went on slowly. “I don’t think they would have taken things on—jest fer spite, like I done. Now, mind you—I don’t claim to be religious like yer folks were—but they was good folks. Funny—” Charlie hesitated and then chuckled softly, “I find myself thinkin’ about yer pa and askin’ myself, ‘What would Karl have done?’ An’ yer ma. Well, she was kindness itself. Never done a thing in her life fer spite, yer ma. One time she says to me, ‘Charlie, the Lord says we are to forgive seventy times seven,’ she says. ‘I figure as how I never get much past ten.’ She says thet to me, and she smiles an’ I think within myself thet I never get much past two. Fact is, I most often never even get started.”

Angela felt her face warming. She was harboring a little resentment of her own. Charlie was right. Her mama would want her to forgive—if indeed she had any reason to be angry at all. Other suitors had changed their minds about the person they had asked to marry. Certainly Carter had a right to a wife without—without a whole family to tend.

Angela went for more coffee. She would spend some time with the Lord in prayer just as soon as Charlie left on his little errand.

———

“Thomas…” Angela spoke slowly, hesitantly. She wasn’t sure just where or how to start. She could feel tears forming and willed herself not to cry like a silly child.

Thomas lifted his head and waited.

Angela turned her attention back to her dinner plate. She had determined that Thomas would be told of the change of plans before the children arrived home from school.

Angela lifted her head, took a deep breath and said, “There won’t be a wedding, after all.” Her voice was matter-of-fact and straightforward.